Disco Naïveté , a new music blog - 2009-2023(‘ish)

It’s been a pretty wild ride but since I haven’t posted in little over a year (and to be honest, I was already slacking pretty hard a while before that as well) it’s time to properly call it quits. But not without a proper goodbye….

I started Disco Naïveté in 2009 as an outlet for all my musical findings because my friends were sick of me spamming them new music every day and wanted to steer my obsession away from them (thank you for that!). The blog took proportions I never expected it to take and I was offered opportunities I could only dream of (being mentioned on Pitchfork, The Guardian and the NY Times, hosting SXSW showcases, an internship at XL and Young Turks) which still make me a bit emotional to this day. Discovering and supporting new artists was something that gave me a lot of energy and inspiration and helped me learn the in’s and out’s of the industry and meet a lot of great people working in it for which I am forever grateful as it has helped shape my life as it is today. For those who are not aware: I quite my job as a lawyer in 2015 and have been active as an artist manager (with some consultancy on the side) ever since. A step I could only take because of the network and knowledge I built up through this little internet hobby “thing.”

2009 - 2015 was a very specific time on the internet where artists uploaded new tracks to the internet with only a small or no proper team behind them and the blogosphere randomly (or not so randomly) discovering them, sharing them and helping the artist get to overnight fame. Some of those are currently rightful superstars (Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Haim, Marina & the Diamonds, The xx, Lorde, Charli XCX - to name but a few) and I consider it a privilege to have them watched blossom from day 0 and have played a (very very very) little part in their early careers by excitedly sharing their music. And while new music is still being uploaded and shared every second (more music than ever, apparently) it’s undeniably a very different landscape than the golden years of bloggers and also hard to keep up with it all if you have a proper job. That’s not to say I don’t miss discovering new music (and I try and keep up with a Spotify “New Music” playlist that’s still being updated every Friday) - I get excited about new artists and music every single day of my life but cannot find the time to do blurbs on them on the internet anymore.

I want to thank you for being part of this story and the support and love I gained from all of you over the years. When I started Disco Naïveté I had no ambitions of doing something in the music industry at all and throughout the years I was apparently able to shape all of this love for music and internet-knowledge into some sort of proper “job” - who would have thought! If you wanna keep up to date on those adventures, just follow me on Instagram or Twitter where I’ll continue to stay active.

There’s no words to really sum up how I feel right now but I hope my message has come across somewhat.

Lots and lots of love,

Jarri 

(picture taken by Tina Herbots)

“Go back to the country where you belong / Siri can you tell me where I belong?” Is anyone also tackling racism as directly as Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul in pop culture nowadays? I highly doubt it. Converting their pain into a strength they take that line (amongst many others like “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like”) and flip it and reverse it so drastically it kind of sounds like the most cheerful thing you’ve ever heard. Blenda is taken from their forthcoming debut album Topical Dancer which promises to tackle a whole lot more of today’s toxic climate. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and to be released on their DEEWEE label on 4 March 2022.

There’s something truly special about the Ydegirl record - it’s sort of serves you eleven lullaby’s but not in the typical soothing kind. Lyrically it feels more like poems and production- and structure-wise she doesn’t take the easy path: repeating lines like “You’re dead inside / Still wanna have a good time” bodies on the beach / what a charm baby” it may sound gloomy on paper but actually it feels very healing . And like most artists Ydegirl describes her own work best with this line in breezing back and forth between (one of the album’s highlights): “Emotionally in baroque”. Stream the self-titled debut below and continue exploring her world in this interview with Dazed.

Even though there is a soft breeze running through the whole of Shangri-La, Sylvie Kreusch slowly pulls you more & more into her idyllic little world. Everything here is balanced perfectly: the slow-burning percussion, the joyful backing vocals and the subtle trippy touches that really put you in that mood. A paradise for the ears, Shangri-La is the latest single taken from miss Kreusch’ forthcoming debut record Montbray (out Nov 5 - pre-order here - gag over the artwork below). Hips slide, side to side…

This ain’t Baba Stiltz first time at the rodeo but it certainly won’t be his last. On new single Rodeo (taken from his forthcoming EP Journals - which has us hoping it won’t be long before a proper full length drops) he gives us that classic doo wop pop reminiscent of Connan Mockasin, LA Priest and all your other indie favs.

While Seinabo Sey burst onto the scene a few years back with a grand production pairing that powerful voice of hers (we still think Hard Time would have been a perfect fit for a Bond movie) her return is beautifully melancholic. Sweet Life is a lovely EP that very much feels like a diary documenting a heartbreak and while the artwork concept was done slightly better by Symone the music certaintly diminishes all competition.

Devoted as we are to her 2018 full-length debut Devotion, new Tirzah is always a blessing. Send Me marks the return of the the enigmatic artist and sees her collaborating again with Mica Levi and Coby Sey. An absolutely marvelous return from an artist that can create such a strong emotional response with such a lush sound - pair that with lyrics about healing, love and gratitude and we’re sobbing.

Contrasting the despair of artist’s feelings during lockdown with a fractured disco production, Charlotte Adigéry creates peak pandemic pop on new single Bear With Me (and I’ll stand bare before you). The video directed by Alice Kunisue enhances the “confined, confronted” feeling in a single angled video that reflects that narrowness of thought that we all experienced this past year, but opens it wide up with a series of animations of last year’s events and more playful nods which make us remember the afternoons we filled playing as a child with just our endless imagination. Bear With Me is lifted from Foundations, the first compilation from the DEEWEE label fronted by the Dewaele brothers (Soulwax/2manydj’s).

The genius pairing of Joviale and Bullion returns after two year of silence with more meticulously crafted alt pop after her 2019 debut Crisis. Blow! continues the path, a beautifully textured balance of a more organic jazz (that sax at 1:50 will have you swooning) approach and subtle electronics, and comes with a self-directed video. Taken from their forthcoming EP Hurricane Belle out on May 21 we can only hope this is just a taste of the heavens awaiting us.

We’ve been Mykki Blanco stans since forever - this video of them strolling the NY streets is basically printed on the inside of our eyes. From Cosmic Angel to their self-titled debut, Blanco formed the blueprint of a brand new genre that opened doors for the likes of Le1f and Zebra Katz. Today they return with Free Ride, their first release on Transgressive - and boy, what a glow up this is. Co-produced by FaltyDL and Hudson Mohawke, Mykki pushes hip-hop into new territory with funk and choirs uplifting the general tone of a track to what is probably their happiest track to date. Talking about a glow up!