If you have been following this blog for the last few months, you may have noticed how much I have started to enjoy the music from Johnny Franchino. He is an artist who totally goes against the grain of what most people would associate with Milwaukee when it comes to the music scene. In fact, there are not many artists making music today in general that I could try to compare to him. Johnny Franchino with his Punk/Pop Rock band The New Grey, which has been putting out music since 2018 and has steadily been on the rise(They actually have a new song called ‘Peligrosa,’ and if you are into Reggae-infused Pop-Punk music, you should definitely check that song out). Over the last year or so, Johnny Franchino has put focus into his solo music, starting a series of tracks called AESTHETIX which has been taking online Dance Music communities by storm. As I mentioned earlier, Johnny Franchino’s AESTHETIX series is unlike anyone else currently making music I can think of. He fuses so many genres/types of music into one, making an individual and eclectic sound that stands out in the best way. After debuting his AESTHETIX series back in February with the track ‘AZ Showers,’ Johnny Franchino has been prolific in his output. He released an EP in April and has also dropped several stand-alone singles throughout the year to keep his momentum going. In the last month or so, Johnny Franchino has dropped two new singles in his AESTHETIX series, ‘Single’ and ‘Good Looking.’ Below, I wanted to highlight both of these tracks. Please let me know in the comments how you feel about Johnny Franchino and his AESTHETIX series, and also comment the names of some other up-and-coming artists that you think I should check out!

The first track that I wanted to highlight today, ‘Single,’ came out about a month ago on September 22. This is a groovy, high-energy Dance track with an extremely lively feeling to it. Whereas a lot of Johnny Franchino’s music from his AESTHETIX series has felt retro, this track feels very modern. The tempo and beat for this track have a newfangled Deep House music sound that fits so well into the landscape of what is popular within Electronic music today. The melody for this song, which is provided by highly saturated synths with an ethereal feeling, is very dark and funky. This melody is very gritty; it has the kind of energy that gives me a “stank face” when I hear it, which I absolutely love. Johnny Franchino sings with a lower and more gruff tone on this track than I am used to hearing from him. The tone of his vocals on this track provides so much texture to the track, and it shows a side to Johnny Franchino’s vocal abilities that I did not know was in his arsenal. ‘Single’ is a nifty House music track that would be perfect for any club, as it makes me want to dance the night away when I hear it. The second song that I wanted to highlight in this write-up is ‘Good Looking,’ which came out about a week ago on October 20. This song has a much brighter sound than the song that precedes it. Whereas ‘Single’ has a darker tone to its melody, this track has a bit more of a vivid tone. Even though the melody does have a bit of a shimmery tone, the synths that provide this melody are so distorted that they give the song a tough and almost murky feeling. It is as if the distortion in the synths contrasts the actual sounds they are creating, making the melody so interesting and animated. The beat on this track brings back the 1990s-esque Hi-NRG music influence that Johnny Franchino has shown in the past that he loves so much. The beat for this track gives it an old-school feeling that fans of classic Electronic music should really appreciate. The vocal performance on this track is super cool and vigorous; Johnny’s vocals are very cheeky and dynamic, making the song feel all-encompassing. ‘Good Looking’ is a super cool track with a nostalgic feeling that should appeal to anyone who was a fan of the club music that was big 20-30 years ago. With ‘Single’ and ‘Good Looking,’ Johnny Franchino goes with two distinctive kinds of Dance music, proving how eclectic he can be within the confines of that genre. These are the latest examples of why he is one of the most riveting artists coming up in the Milwaukee area right now(and in Dance music, period), and it makes me very excited to see what he does next.