Week in Pop
In honor of the decade anniversary of Tegan and Sara’s The Con—hear Goon’s cover of “Monday Monday Monday” that turns the most dreaded day of the wake into a moment of transcendent pause & introspection. Slowing it down to a maudlin sort of pace & medley; Goon exhibits almost everything that many of us associate with that dreaded start of the week that the band introduced with the following words:
Always loved this tune by Tegan and Sara and thought it would be fun to make a sorta bummed out melancholy cover of it.
Introduce your senses to the linguistic expressions of “Language” from San Francisco’s MÒZÂMBÎQÚE featuring Jordan Corey. Corey recently appeared on the RAC album Ego, where intimate exchanges are expanded to the most endearing air & atmosphere of swelling sounds.
Queens, New York’s Big Breakfast brought us a listen to the vibrant with the competitive chill cassette Sports Plus featuring appearances from KOOL AD, Rich Jones, CZN Brady & GDP that makes for one of the autumn’s most chilled back & based east coast releases. Showing off stream of conscious deliveries & self-designed production; BB brings the full boss mode with “INTRO/SPORTS PLUS”, knowledge dropping on the enlightening “LIL KNOWN FACT”, to the stoney haze of “DESERT EAGLE” ft. KOOL AD that is the sound of an uplifting afternoon outing of unbridled inspiration. Freeplay of signs & signifiers flow freely on “SADE JOINT”, the business briefings of “GREASY” ft. CZN Brady, the slow-jam sensations of “Capworld”, to the ingredient overtures of “ONIONS” ft. Rich Jones, the goldmine swimming sick styles of “I LUV GOLD”, reflecting on post-modern mesh of memories heard on the cool closing cut “WARPED TOUR ’03” ft. GDP that will leave you wanting either seconds or an epic brunch.
Cars & Trains provided a listen to the just released album Fictions from the Fake Four Inc that continues the creative & expansive narratives provided by the one & only Tom Filepp. From the classical modernists & much more, materializing realizations & reckonings on “The Colors and Shapes”, the cycle spins of “Rise and Fall”, the pensive pulsing rhythm of “Bridges”, further explored on “Every Morning”, to the space odyssey thought drifts experienced via “Scientific Method”. Cartographical conundrums are made into electric entities on “The Map Becomes the Territory”, orbiting about the “Moon and Earth”, leading the listener to some beautiful & brilliantly illuminated key & percussive arrangements that mesmerize the spirit/heart/mind axis on “New Histories”. This is one of the most incredible releases of the year that is deserving of being front & center on your radars of interests.
California by way of Boston, by Minnesota, Seattle & currently based out of Brooklyn band Antagonista present a listen to their single “Schedules in Reverse” that provides a mathematical pop alchemy that ruminates about everything that exists between regiments & sleepy eyed desires. Sean Davenport, Michael Alan Hams & Andrea Monorchio paint intimate portraits of the wants & needs that itineraries & prearranged plans do not always take into consideration. From an array of keys & passionate rhythms, Antagonista highlights the frustrations of life & romance in the current era where diametrically opposed routines keep the closest of hearts away from one another.
Bird Language brought the heady, fuzzy-headed vibes with the Ben Vogel video for “Koncentr8” feat. f;ck that that spins your audio/video conventions on the head. Stream of conscious thoughts on self-medicating & the like spill forth in a kind of unfiltered array of electronic essences & resonance that bring collective introspection to the equation.
Saudade Sisters returned with the harmonic choral echoes that burn like cathedral candles with the psychic senses that haunt “Curse On Virginia”. Jena Pyle & Claire Morales summon spirits of the present & the ancients that combine together in melodies that float like the olden wood vapor fragrances of rain soaked forest pines.
LA’s own Falcons graced us with the electronic rhythm essences of “All Over Again” ft. Tzar. Available now via Fools Gold, chilled & slowed elements encircle the listener with future vibrations that push the production envelope toward higher levels.
KR presented the Michael Blevins video for “You Deserve Better” that features production from Dinuzzo & featured off The Intermission EP available now. The rising Los Angeles artist offers lyrical & visual views into the confrontational street warrior realms that are weighed in conjunction with the rollercoaster of emotions, tribulations & trials that loved ones experience when their own beloved is caught up in the battles of egos & ends.
Celebrating the release of their Part Time Punks Session EP—Athens, Georgia’s own Pylon Reenactment Society present a live look & listen to “Beep” recorded December 12, 2016 at LA’s The Cave courtesy of Josiah Mazzaschi & Michael Stock. The angular & jagged guitar party (presented like an energetic rekindling of the no-wave NYC era) is commanded with the confident cool swagger & leadership by Vanessa Briscoe Hay along with Damon Denton, Jason NeSmith, Joe Rowe & Kay Stanton keeping every instrumental item in a continuous state of centrifugal rhythms.
Poland’s own Trupa Trupa presented a look at the b/w Tomasz Pawluczuk & Wojciech Juchniewicz art house video for “Coffin” video found off the album Jolly New Songs available October 27 through Blue Tapes/X-Ray Records & Ici D’Ailleurs. The group’s sound moves about various suites of rhythmic distortion as the visual component gives the audience the feeling as if they’re caught within the spinning tilt-a-whirl wheel of a mechanical Zoetrope.
Stockholm trio VERO brought us a bouquet of electro-tinged pop with the time out of mind/out of body single “Out Of My Head” that reaches toward other consciousnesses & states of mind that break through the static routinces. Amanda Eddestål, Clara Gyökeres & Julia Boman combine powers to create a maximalist ode to conscious expanding indulgences & wayward, wild & unbound desires that extend beyond the containment.
Melissa Bel delivered the fancy Hubert Wigier video featuring styling by Giselle Michel-Gendre for “Big Boys Don’t Cry” that turns the tables on traditional gender normative pop for something bright & full of an immediacy of unbound confidence.
Scotland’s own Joell. presented the Woozie & Mark Chong visuals for the the moody number “DEAD.” produced & mixed by CRKD_FNGRS & Jake Karno. An arboreal setting unveils an ancient cemetery that makes for a maudlin setting to accompany Joell. with reflections that extend beyond the life & death continuum.
TyC & Joselyn Rivera’s covered Taylor Swift’s boisterous & massive new single “Look What You Made Me Do” that slows it down to accentuate the emotion & electronic resonances. The surreal remake of the original accentuates the levels of distrust & self-empowered dialogues that work to retain the reign of omnipotent pop powers.
Blu and Exile dropped their collaborative album Below the Heavens a decade back & now present a listen to 14 cuts taken from those 2007 recording sessions via In the Beginning: Before the Heavens via Dirty Science. The California duo takes it back to their formidable oughts that features appearances from Lyric Jones, Dr. Oop, Aloe Blacc, Blame One, Co$$, Trek Life, Donel Smokes & a whole lot of chill vibes to make your day or night a little more lifted.
Peep the performance footage from Nicholas Posthumus for Birds of Bellwoods’ visual rendering of “Let You Go” that brings about the big pop FM radio passions & more fronted by Stephen Joffe from Alias Grace (based on the Margaret Atwood novel).
Go for a fun golf tour with Guantanamo Baywatch via the video for “Mesa” featured off their Suicide Squeeze album Desert Center full of desert palms, antics, & enthralled free-wheeling thrills. An homage to bandmate Jason Powell’s hometown & filmed on location in Mesa, Arizona; the GB sound stays surfing toward those Pacific dreams while embracing aspects of their southwest desert roots.
Belfast’s New Portals shared a listen to “Sober” with proceeds from the new single being spent as part of the Macmillan Cancer Support’s Go Sober For October. The sobering quality of the duo’s song celebrates a celebratory buzz that seeks a sort of naturally invigorated substance that is outside the kinds you can purchase from a pub, dispensary, dealer, doctor, pharmacy, and so forth.
Berlin’s Sumera followed up the recent single “Animal” with the devotion & pensive reflections of “F A i T H” that is part of the artist’s single trilogy via the imprint Hexagon. Ambient environments move in sinewy patterns in time to Sumera’s delivery with sparse rhythms with a chamber pop resonance.
We bring you “High Rise Lies” courtesy of Chicago trio The War On Peace that channels war of atrition into the voids of deceit & false flags. An ode to those odious concrete castle executive suites & their sordid suitors that are chanted down through a blistering & blazing blare of beauty mixed with a sardonic pinch of thinly veiled dissent.
Nashville’s own Fox Grin offered a listen to the warm world of “Black Tree” featured off their upcoming album King of Spades. Atlanta transplants Thom Chapman & David Bean present an analogue slice of lo-fi love that offers up a host of feels that resounds like a timeless reflection into an arboreal portal into parts of the lesser known variety that still hold vague & sublime familiarities.
Clayjay brought us the new cold & smooth rolled back cut “Ride” that features Toronto emcee TOBi that keeps the August feel moving in the autumn afternoon shine. With a rhythmic rollicking progression, TOBi offers some learned sung & spoken songs of wise experience amid the Clay’s production that brings an illuminated aura of street driving serenity.
Bay Area’s Ren Geisick presents a listen to the earthy & evocative debut album Ren, love song (featuring production courtesy of Jesse Harris who penned Norah Jones’ massive “Don’t Know Why”) that shares a series of modern day reflective & earnest vocals that hone in on the most precious & cherished of human dialogues. Geisick music works like moving pastoral portals into memory & heart found feeling that beam with a genuine honesty as heard on “Too Late”, the memory hop-along jangle of “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”, a hearty blue club style take on the standard “Miss Your Water”, the ghost twang echoes of longing on “I Probably Won’t See You For a While”, to pizazz big band presentations of “Lover” & more. This is a song for both personal chambers & the introspection pastures & valleys where one reflects upon their heart’s most treasured values.
From their Fountain Tropical EP & playing the Rickshaw Stop in SF October 24; Bay Ledges present a spinning view of arts in progress like a carousel view of home made pop arts & crafts created in an uplifting DIY spirit.
Newcastle, UK group FEVA brought the world their debut single “Blind” that chugs like a rhythmic locomotive toward dissonant realms unknown. The quartet moves into the obfuscated shadows that work to ratify harmony in the air of electric distortion.
Gaffa Tape Sandy shares the new beekeeping inspired bounce & boisterousness that comprises the single “Beehive” available now through Antigen Records. GTS bring music with enough energy to keep a party buzzing until the first light winks of early dawn.
Brooklyn artist Jared Saltiel shared the slow buring & ascending single “Wayward Queen” that moves singer-songwriter pop upwards toward towering heights with an elaborate outlay of strings & sentiments.
RIVVRS brought us the gift of the passionate & devotional “Don’t Give Up On Me” that extends arms up in an outpour of emotive utterances. With blues & rhythms all wrapped up in earnest, the sentiments are raised up to the limitless skies with outstretched reaches of tear smeared hopes.
Jordan Chini, oka Boy Dude presents the Jerry Scott Lopez animated video for “Rainbow Waterfall” off the album Cassette For You available November 3 from Hobo Camp Records that is guaranteed to take you to tranquil places of deeply endearing feelings. That 70s shine of a bright sunny & stoned-out day is expressed through colorful images in motion that feel as if they were carved out of a daydream’s sojourn.
NYC’s Anna Nordeen & Reni Lane are Fever High present a listen to their new single “Good Advice” that features some insights from none other than Jeff Goldblum providing some stream of rambling fashionista insights. Featured off the duo’s upcoming debut album available November 10, produced by Adam Schlesinger (from Fountains of Wayne); Anna & Reni cast off the kind considerations to blaze their own path of styles & sensibilities.
Chicago’s own denizens of distortion Longface provided a look at the animated video for “Howdy” from Nnamdi Ogbonnaya featured off the upcoming album Hillbilly Wit available October 27 through Sooper Records. Watch as a cool reindeer & physiological human diagram become the best of bed fellows in a cartoon world that works to match the towers of noise that Longface dish out sonically.
Satica delivered the debut Drippin’ EP via Moving Castle that moves rhythm & blues toward expressive areas of intimate discourse. “Dysfunctional” ft. Sakima illustrates the frustrations from a lack of responsibility & care, to the light as air hedonism of “Honey Whiskey”, the immediacy & sensuality of “You Are Here”, to the autumn twilight shine song of “Fine” that rounds out the four song cycle.
Athens, Georgia’s Juan de Fuca provided a listen to the inventive & intriguing new single “All the Time” hot on the heels of the announcement of their January 12 debut album for Arrowhawk Records titled Solve/Resolve. Jack Cherry, Howard Stewart, Jack Webster, Clarke Brown & Declan Farisee issue an echo-effect heavy ode to the incessant clamor of everything that constantly permeates our own existence with a jambalaya mix of wild guitars & crazy rhythms to tide you over until the beginning of next year.
Ukraine’s On The Wane sent word of their upcoming album Schism available November 20 & presented a listen & live look at the single “Human Race” live at Лампова Muzmapa. The quartet of Daria Maksimova, Anna Lyashok, Eugene Voitov & Eli Demyanenko make a sound that deals with inquiries into life’s own lack of logic about the hows & whys matters of both civic, socio & economic work the way they do. Daria Maksimova provided some insights about the ironies at work that inspired the song “Human Race”:
Mankind as a race is quite an absurd thing. We strive to survive but we are killing ourselves. We’re beautiful and ugly, lovely and cruel but, anyway, we are not infinite.
