Artist and Songs

Salvador Zamora, Diana Mendoza, Entertainment Editor, Staff Writer

Artists often get recognition with their music being played on the radio or from their work becoming a TikTok trend. However, there are obviously still a number of great artists and songs that don’t have mainstream attention despite being available on apps such as Spotify and YouTube. Furthermore, this list will highlight artists and songs that don’t receive much attention. 

First Salvador Zamora will share his list of underrated artists and songs. 

Spotify’s biography of the artists will be used to describe the genre of music for “Desire” and “Double Mixte.” 

“Desire” is an electronic pop band that formed in 2009; mainly composed of vocalist Megan Louise, producer Johnny Jewel (Chromatics, Glass Candy), and drummer/synthesizer Nat Walker (Chromatics). Mainly having recognition from their song, “Under Your Spell,” which currently sits with over 37 million listens on Spotify; their profile states they just have a mere 331,000 listeners a month. 

A band with such incredible electric sound that is also pushing the boundaries of technological sound is not something to be ignored. Sure, over the years electronic music, “synthwave,” or “pop” (which branch out from electric-pop) have found their audience with cyberpunk and neo-noir lovers but there’s a reason for that. 

For example, “Under Your Spell” is prominently known for its use in the 2011 film, “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling. The film has a reason to use the music as it reflects the feeling of the character despite him not saying much. The use of sound and often minimal and simple lyrics that blend well together get the message across perfectly as listeners are transported to moments and images they may have only felt briefly within their lives. 

The genre is sometimes criticized for its lack of emotion but the sound speaks for itself. Of course, there is a reason for that complaint but songs such as “Under Your Spell,” “Don’t Call,” “Saturday,” and “Bizarre Love Triangle,” which is a cover for a New Order song of the same name, “Tears From Heaven,” “Dan Mes Reves,” “If I Can’t Hold You,” “Mirroir Mirroir,” “Escape,” Don’t Call – Guy Gerber Rework,” and the recently released “Zeros,” say otherwise. 

Double Mixte on the other hand debuted in 2019 and is an electric French duo (according to Spotify) composed of Clara Apolit and Thomas Maan. Some notable works of theirs are, “Chambre 48,” “Tirage En Croix,” “Future Lights,” and “Romance Noire (On Film).”

Don’t worry, there’s more to these bands than mentioned and their music is available on Spotify, YouTube,  and For more from the genre, just look up Italians Do It Better (the band’s record label) for more amazing-sounding music.      

Now Diana Mendoza will share her list of artists with underrated discography. 

On the topic of music, I have a couple of songs that I feel don’t get the attention they deserve and I really wish I could see more people talk about them.

First up, we got the entire “Discovery” album by Daft Punk, I am aware it is quite old considering its initial release was on February 26, 2001, and a lot of people have probably listened to it but as of 2021 I don’t see anyone talk about how good this album is! This album is full of songs that fall under the genre of homework to a house style that’s heavily influenced by disco, post-disco, garage house, and R&B. I’m pretty sure everyone has at least listened to “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” as it is one of their most popular songs from that album but the other songs on this album are equally as good, my personal favorites being “Something About Us”, “Digital Love”, “Crescendolls” and “Face to Face”. I highly recommend you take a listen to the album if you haven’t already.

“Crucified” by Army of Lovers and “Blue Monday” by New Order are two of my favorite songs to listen to when I need a little confidence booster, they just make me feel a certain way. I really think people are sleeping on these bops, “Crucified” is so good- it’s just really catchy and gets me going, and “Blue Monday” is really groovy and the dissonance in the line “how does it feel” with the downwards cords and the few flats that play after really just brings it all together.

“Dead Man’s Party” and “No One Lives Forever” by Oingo Boingo are also such groovy songs, I really love listening to them and imagining what it would’ve been like listening to these at a club in the 80s. Oingo Boingo really is an underrated band. They have such a unique sound and I wish more people knew about them.

Overall, we believed these artists/songs deserved more recognition than what they have and we can guarantee, they are worth a listen.