Week in Pop
Hamilton’s own Calcedon presents the David Schuurman video for the single “Sparrow” that celebrates the the flights of fancy that comprise the doings of each passing day. With home studio visuals of various artistic disciplines; Clacedon’s song celebrating nature’s song birds is coupled with images of sculptures, ceramics & other elements that compliment the electronically enhanced ballad of seemingly infinite beauty & prestige. Calcedon introduced us to the video with the following insights:
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. It is a slow and painstaking artistic process which transforms the object, making it more beautiful, unique and valuable than it was before it was broken. The metaphorical and poetic depth to this art form is rich, and I wanted to explore the concept of our brokenness being our strength in this video.
London’s Ella Mai announced the DJ Mustard produced EP READY available today from 10 Summers Records, sharing the cut of confidence & reckoning with “Anymore”. Perspectives of both the before & after play out in essences of elegance & late evening emotions & boss-like attitudes.
Behold the Jordan Minkoff video for “Moment 2 Moment”, taken off Mozart’s Sister’s beloved new Arbustus album Field of Love where we get a front row seat to a breakup in progress. Caila Thompson-Hannant continues her glorious DIY pop reign in a video that goes from the cellular back & forth, dance rehearsal, the big move out, the big performance right before our champion Caila ascends to her new home in the theatre’s celestial rafters.
A Tribe Called Red celebrates Canada’s own Indigenous origins in the video for “Indian City” that features First Nations drum collective Black Bear squaring off in Toronto against traditional First Nation dancers & more. Find this off their recent release We Are The Halluci Nation available now.
Introducing Ahsh Eff from Brooklyn that arrived on the scene with the bombast “Kozart” that goes all Wolfgang-like that twists the iconic composer/concertist into something more sinewy, smooth, suave & out right delivering the sinister with a smile. Production provided by Ryan Scott & Stelios Phili keeps the entire shriek-synth synced up next to the slow stomping queen-boss beat structure that allows Ash to reiterate both her rising reign & focuses. 2017 artist to listen & watch out for, for sure.
For those keeping up with all of our coverage of Philadelphia’s Shadow Band, we share with you the following stream of their just-released album Wilderness Of Love from Mexican Summer. Mystical numbers like “Eagle Unseen” soar high above the maudlin skies, while songs like “Daylight” cast rays of light in the minds & eyes of all wide-eyed wandering souls.
From Brian Purington & Skye Ashbrook; witness my education’s beautiful sky flying, road driving video for their evocative “Class A” found off their March 3 slated Schiphol album from Headbump Records/Golden Antenna.
Embrace your counter-culture spirit with the electrified dance floor of Sofi Tukker’s “Greed”. Contemporary capitalist concerns & constraints are rolled up & reduced to some of the most incredible & overwhelming anyone has ever heard previously.
Presenting the follow-up feature to “The Bird”; Allan Rayman delivers the second installment of the film short with “The Cage”. From Steph Verschuren & Gabriel Adelman starring Rayman with Lindsay Vrckovnik; Allan’s performance of “25.22” off Roadhouse 01 (available today) is taken to the intimate places of memory & the soul for a sentimental & sensual effect.
Nashville artist Thad Kopec shared the lovely single “Second Best” with us found off the forthcoming second album The Shadow and the Caster available April 21. A composer who has been seen touring with Liza Anne provides some choral accents to further illuminate our lives with symphonic strings that strike straight to the core nucleus of the heart.
Tei Shi delivered the single “How Far” from her upcoming album Crawl Space available March 31 from Downtown Records that deals with the length & expanse of expressions & actions. Via a restrained electric arrangement, Shi’s style & sound provides a new sort of chamber style for the spaces & environments of the future & present.
Anna Coogan’s upcoming album The Lonely Cry of Space & Time will be available April 28 & we have the single “Burn for You” that works in grand operatic forms that captivates all available faculties of attention. “Burn For You” exhibits the fire from within in an outward fashion that will beguile & mystify all with ears to hear.
Sweden’s Marcus Norberg from YAST and the Disappointments delivers the solemn single “Take It To The Grave” about the things taken into the after-lives courtesy of Adrian Recordings. Norberg’s illustrates emotion through evocative lyrics and arrangement that underlines & emphasizes all involved matters of feeling that progressively becomes more mighty & grandiose as the song runs its three and half minute course.
Pell from New Orleans dropped the track “Patience” featuring production from Atlanta’s London On Da Track that meditates on the merits & tenets of pivotal virtues. The result is an electric lover’s rock jam that gets the conversation started, courtesy of Red Bull Sound Select.
Australia’s Phebe Starr shared the single “Two Hearts” from her upcoming Chronicles EP available March 31 that illustrates through electronic pop overtones what happens when the rules of attraction initiate the onset of a relationship.
SISTERAY are readying the forthcoming project 15 Minutes for release April 14 via Vallance Records & we have the rip-roaring single “Faaast Food” that keeps the tight time constraints in mind all the while. This is a jam for the drive-thru whilst patiently awaiting your turn in the queue to order via the barely decipherable PA at the light-up-menu.
Courtesy of On-U Sound; get an early listen to Sherwood & Pinch’s new album Man Vs. Sofa features legends like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Skip McDonald of Sugarhill Gang & more that contribute to Adrian Sherwood & Rob Ellis’s percussive music for living rooms & all living spaces.
Brooklyn’s Jimi Tents just turned 21 and gifted us the single “Domino Effect”, produced by TheVamp that keeps the vibe hazy & woozy. Vibes cast the track in an atmospheric feel & glow that keeps all instrumental items floating about in the mix as Jimi lays out tales from the main stage.
Austin’s Desert Culture delivered an oasis of interest with the destitute surf-rocking “Elva”. Seeking next of kin & perhaps a cozy place to rest one’s head; Desert Culture conjures up the sense of being in an arid environment surrounded by sand & sun in excess.
Brooklyn’s Madam West shared the single “L” that speaks in cryptic tones about vague & elusive topics in a colloquial approach. Madam keeps the mood conversational with a leisurely approach that keeps the mood cool, mysterious & subversive that will have you hanging on to not just every word—but every single, solitary letter involved.
Typhoid Rosie turns the tables on male chauvanist pigs by capturing & torturing dudes in the entertaining video for “Baby I Want You”. With a little help from Geronimo Frias, Kira Bursky, Zackery Irick & Kimberly Matela; Rosie takes real life inspirations from a deranged stalker & turns it into a fun with bondage event that sticks it to the creeps with the upper-hand.
The Gold Setting offered up some romantic fare for when the lights are down low with “My Love” off the upcoming EP Volume and Tone available April 7. Sultry sentiments & more percolate in a warm & comforting cut that will provide a sense of warmth for even the coldest of hearts & ears.
Siamese presents “Older Hands Prevail” featured off the debut EP The Mesmerist available March 3 where the Dallas quartet takes their theatrical personas to task. Having recorded at Elmwood Recording studio with producer Alex Bhore; the glamorous foursome take on sounds, sentiments & style that will intrigue & entrance with an aesthetic & ethic of oppulence, decadence & excellence.
Originally made for Nate Parker’s film Birth Of A Nation—Yellow Shoots shared the celestial “Heaven” ft. Skyzoo that looks upward toward the the infinite reaches of the sky. With reiterations of “we’re all just trying to make it up to heaven”—YS & Skyzoo keep their sites set on the destiny of the unknown dimensions.
Miami’s Gigi Rowe presented her Pancho remix of “Run the Night” where the self-styled glamorous runaway finds new percussive dimensions that expound upon her already neon drenched sound & style.
Filmed on the NYC Metro between Brooklyn & Queens finds Andy Suzuki & The Method enjoying themselves with company on an underground car in the Mike Berlin and Elys Muda video for “I Can’t Live” featured off the album The Glass Hour. Experiences discourse & disagreements in real time as the entire tram-car gets into the action & act as the musical emotion pours out.
Sweet Spirit dropped the powerful-glammy single “The Power” featured off their upcoming album St. Mojo available April 7 from Green Mile Records. The track pulls no punches and makes the sound of the slippery 70s arise alive & well here in the present day of 2017.
Emperor X dropped the catchy single about debts & witholdings via the infectious “€30,000” off the upcoming Oversleepers International available from Tiny Engines on May 5. “€30,000” is the track for our times, where the money is all tied up and the debt collectors & micro-managing scumbags are running the entire prison of the world.
The Blaze presented us with the Benoit Soler video for their title track, “Territory”, featured off the upcoming debut EP available April 7. The Franco production team tackles the concepts of the places we call home that is arranged in illustrious electronic percussion textures that keeps the moods & feelings constantly moving.
Comprised of members from Brooklyn groups Superhuman Happiness & Rubblebucket; we introduce you to Touch/Feel, who make their live debut March 4 over at National Sawdust in BK, but first share the electro-fied single “Ashes/Gold”. The digitized gold glaze that the group operates in shines forth like witnessing the interior of the most guarded vault containing the most rare & elusive jewels & gems.
Featured off the forthcoming Cascine EP Each Moment A Diamond from Roland Tings, bask in the electronic beauty & luster of “Higher Ground” ft. Nylo that pushes toward smoother & sweeter altitudes. Behold Roland’s neat & succinct arrangement of beats while Nylo’s serene vocals keep the synths & rhythms building upward toward great new levels of being & feeling.
Norway’s Bloody Beach, comprised of Chris & Kim of Modular’s Young Dreams, comforted us with the single “You’ll Be Fine, Sister” featured off their upcoming album Boys available from Brilliance Records in May. Following-up their beloved debut album, Bloody Beach Pirate Radio Presents; the quintet is about to dazzle the world further with music for a million manic tomorrows.
Levi Randall, star of stage & screen tries his hand at the singing & songwriting game under the moniker of VACAY that sings a song of vicarious imagination that places him in someone else’s boots on “Shoes”. Feelings & dreaming intersects in a stew of sentiment that shines through the gently strummed arrangement that fancies what it would be like to walk in moccasins of an enviable other.
Playing Mercury Lounge March 31; check out Brooklyn’s own Violet Sands as they take you to poly-chromatic beaches & more with “Hello, I’m Free”. The talents behind Williamsburg’s YouTooCanWoo Studios, Savoir Adore leader with MGMT’s producer in the mix; Violet Sands make music to inspire dialogues of the future.
The Legends announced their forthcoming album Nightshift available April 21 from Labrador Records, and label boss Johan Angergard presents the fiscal concerns & constraints of capital & more with the electro-banger “Cash”. Angergard exhibits all the tongue firmly planted in cheek self-absorbed attitudes & style exhibited in the vocoder & synth saturated deliveries of lines like, “I’m the kind of guy that everybody wants to be, they’re throwing all their cash on me.” In Johan’s own words about the limitless thrills of discovery & more on account of technology & instrumentation:
I love Futurism. I love the dynamism of modern technology. I love the endless possibilities.
