Ela Minus is, in the best way possible, a guerrilla tech geek using machines as a poetic extension of her anti-capitalist ideology in the EDM world. Heavily influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk, Minus talks enthusiastically about the special relationship she has with her synthesizers, the unique quality they each have and how she cares for them like friends. When you understand that she has built and programmed most of them herself, the idea of a personal connection with a machine begins to make a lot more sense. We’ve grown used to seeing artists and DJs on stage, lurking behind the faint glow of an Apple logo, but Ela Minus is uninterested in using a laptop to arrange her music. She writes, produces and performs on an analog rig covered in neon pink tape. Her pedals, synths and voice are the only tools she uses to create her hypnotic techno-pop beats. Gabriela Jimeno, the one-woman whirlwind behind Ela Minus, is no stranger to the DIY scene. Jimeno drummed for a hardcore band in Colombia from the age of 11 to 18, eventually making it to SXSW in 2009. She then left the band and her hometown of Bogotá to double major in jazz drumming and synthesizer design at Berklee College of Music. It was there that Ela Minus was born, first as a moniker for her graphic design, and then later as the solo music project now releasing subversive singles such as “el cielo no es de nadie.” 

In a low whisper reminiscent of Billie Eilish, Ela Minus peels back the layers that separate the peaceful intimacy of your bedroom and the anonymity of a packed dance club in Berlin, making them somehow indistinguishable. “el cielo no es de nadie,” like most of her songs, is about empowerment, and rejects the notion that lovers must go to the moon and back for each other. In a breathy voice that barely rises above the strobing backbeat, she tells us the only person who can give you what you need is yourself. Fitting for someone who would spend her college weekends going out to clubs—not to hook up, drink or do drugs—but just to close her eyes and dance.

Ela Minus's forthcoming album acts of rebellion is out October 23 via Domino. It is of course performed, produced and recorded entirely by herself. Photo by Teddy Fitzhugh.

Long Beard, the moniker of New Jersey-based Leslie Bear, released her debut album, Sleepwalker, back in 2015 and is now back with her latest single, “Sweetheart.” The new track is an ambient, indie-pop musing in which Long Beard gives herself over to the impulse to wax nostalgic about a high school sweetheart. The song lulls you into a daydream with a warm guitar loop and rhythmic drums that lead into Bear’s breathy, alluring vocals. Bear hovers around melancholic throughout the track, singing “I think of you way too often / looking out every window that I can,” and before you know it, you’re walking down memory lane right alongside her. The dreamy melody is soon lit up by gleaming keyboard, elevating it from hazy to luminous and Bear’s breathy voice glides effortlessly with the motion. Long Beard’s lovely and lonely “Sweetheart” is the first glimpse into her sophomore album, “Means to Me,” coming out September 13 via Double Double Whammy.

Although it is only her second single, Lune Rose’s “Can’t Be Sure” is a sweet and mellow soundscape masterpiece. The dreamy alt-pop track narrates a long-distance relationship and the uncertainty it brings. In it, Lune Rose struggles to understand what her partner is thinking when their only interactions are through a telephone. In a voice so calm it’s almost eerie, she sings, “when I’m guessing all your emotions, I can’t be sure that this is real.” Although the narrator is unsure of where she stands, Lune Rose’s vocals are steady, echoing mystically throughout the song. “Can’t Be Sure” is at first carried by a few melancholic guitar strums but it soon expands into something cavernous, with each sound magnified and pulsating. Lune Rose is delicate, absorbing, pensive, and profound and although “Can’t Be Sure” is teeming with bewitching noise, it somehow emulates the lonely silence on the other end of a phone that we all know and fear. This hopefully only the beginning for the emerging artist, who is set to release her debut EP this fall.

Boot is convinced the grass is greener on the other side. “Heaven Is A Place In Queens,” the opening track from the debut EP by the Brooklyn band is a gentle modern folk song about big little dreams. Singer Benjamin Carbone’s dreams are realistic—plummeting Millennial homeownership rates especially in a market as expensive as New York City notwithstanding—in their details, from hyperspecific references to individual intersections and exact down payment percentages all the way to wondering whether or not hypothetical children, once grown, will want to live in the old family house or rent it out. It’s a clever way to combine his past and his future, illustrating how the former informs the latter. Even when the song picks up, first with a steady stomp-and-holler folk beat and then with a frantic psych-rock energy, the unmistakable tenderness with which Carbone speculates ensures that the idyllic future he envisions is always at the forefront of this impressive debut.

“LEMONHEAD” is the shimmering, retro pop jam you’ll be blasting with the windows rolled down on blazing hot days. The song is the title track off of the new EP from Kid Bloom, the indie rock project of singer-songwriter Lennon Kloser. In “LEMONHEAD,” Kid Bloom drops you straight into an 80’s movie—right at the scene where the kids are cutting class to hit the roller rink or sneaking out to jump the fence at the local pool. The track features a dynamic array of crisp, nimble drumming, glamorous keyboards, and a theatrical electric guitar. Despite the fun-infused melody, Kid Bloom drops some hints that the song may be darker than it first appears. “It’s hard to explain / out on a bender / losing a day,” he sings over the electrifying music and if you’re not careful, you might shimmy right past the more ominous implications in the lyrics. Kloser keeps his energy sky-high for the entire track with captivating, throaty vocals that never waver in their confidence and the instruments follow his lead, staying upbeat and feel-good the entire way through. "LEMONHEAD" is the perfect way to end the summer with a bang and you can also find the full 6-track EP out now as well.