Week in Pop
Natalie Smith & Eric Jackowitz are Cape Weather who have just signed to Future Gods & present a listen to their new single “Telephono” that rocks with a timeless modern feel that bops like a clandestine luxury lounge classic. Having played in variety of groups prior, the group operates in a modernist mode where vintage arrangements & deliveries are delivered with something set to ignite the senses.
Take in the Matthew Hoffman & Taraka Larson music video for Prince Rama’s “Fantasy” found off their recent Carpark album Xtreme Now that finds the Larson sisters taking their conceptual future pop framworks out to exotic locals that bend & break the conventions of time. From a medieval return to a more Arthurian era; Prince Rama illustrates imperial dreams of the past & future that illustrate baby being knighted among strange rituals involving a sacrificed chiken & all kinds of eccentric fun.
For those late to the Soccer Mommy party, we bring you Sophie Allison’s opus Collection (available now via Fat Possum) that reaffirms the power of the inspired artist & their DIY dreams by all means necessary. The NYC based artist offers personal glimpses into interior narratives on the opener “Allison”, the earnest determination of “Try”, to the self-destructive thoughts on “Death by Chocolate”, to the over-worn concerns of comfort on “Out Worn” & sad, intimate pop landscapes experienced on “3 AM at a Party”. Observations of heartbreak & loss are expressed in images that move from public party scene to the more inward settings, as exhibited on “Inside Out” that offers up a privy view into affectionately charged memories, to the sinus-stuffed serenity found on “Benadryl Dreams”, to the closer “Waiting For Cars” that is an anthem for today’s fast-paced mobilized & enabled generation.
Mr. Lif & Akrobatik’s (The Perceptionists) present their new video for “Dirty Drumz” directed by Rove Lab featured off their anticipated reunion record Resolution available now via Mello Music Group. The collaborative forces take things back to the grit & grimy undergrounds to the utility catacombs with an industrial backpack beat that blends your cult favorite cuts of the past with the prestige promised by the beats & real rhymes that point toward preferred futures painted with tales of today.
Norway’s own Sløtface got us rocking in our own patios & stoops with the punchy energy of “Backyard” featured off their debut album Try Not To Freak Out available September 15 from Propeller Recordings. Illustrating the adventures one can enjoy close to home, the Norwegian quartet balls up a bundle of ecstatic choruses & rhythmic progressions that will encourage everyone and all to embrace the amazing outdoors that are in your same zip code, province, et al.
In further Propeller Recordings news, we offer a listen to the illustrious electronic sequencing heard on Hanne Hukkelberg’s “Embroidery” that offers sounds of the Norwegian artist’s stichery featured off album number five titled Trust available October 20 from Propeller Recordings. Emotion & the intertwined evocations of expression function as Hanne’s needle & thread handiwork that sews audio illustrations together in a unison of spirit.
Edinburgh’s own Stephen McLaren offered up the piano decorated new single “I Sing To You” that echoes a host of expressions that surface between the keys. That quality of resonance is carried swiftly from wooden stage floors, the dingy studio booths & control rooms that ride from the host’s heart to that of a loved one who may (or may not) recognize that this song was indeed directed at them.
Los Angeles duo Freedom Fry comprised of Marie Seyrat & Bruce Driscoll brought a listen to to “Strange Attraction” off the Strange Attraction EP available September 7 that brings about songs to close the curtain door of summer 2017. Cool cruising pop radio rhythms roll like a joyride through the streets of LA in some sort dream where all the traffic has vanished and it’s just Marie & Bruce riding in an audio vehicle of their own devising.
Dead Leaf Echo took us to the dream drawn “Temple” on their new single off the album Beyond.Desire available October 13 through PaperCup Music. The Brooklyn group recorded their new record with Guy Fixsen & Jorge Elbreht at Mexican Summer’s studio that provides the group with extra sonic turbines that are turned all the way up & set for celestial stratospheres.
Brooklyn’s own Weird Owl brought the battle cries of “War” found off the new album Bubblegum Brainwaves available October 13. Sporting production by Psychic TV’s own Jeff Berner plus a cameo by Genesis P-Orridge; foreboding castles of fortitude rise up from the audio particles to make for a towering inferno of angst & more.
After Hours Radio delivered the electro-dance inspirations with “Maryland” featured off the What Happened? EP available September 27. The University of Michigan upstarts embrace a freeing feeling where amplified instrumentation & arrangements offer an ecstatic element of liberation.
Sofi Tukker’s remixed Julietta’s single “Beach Break” that brings about a bouquet of beat arrangements & vocal edit samples to keep the spirit of summer 2017 alive & well deep into the autumn season of truncated days & early evening bedtimes.
Playing September 10 at NYC’s C’Mon Everybody—Brooklyn’s own Iris Lune brought the beauty & boldness with the crafty “Paper Mache” found off the forthcoming Lost in Chatter EP available later in November. Electronic ebbs & holistic flows find the group bringing together arts of the inward observances outward to the exterior of a world of challenges & changes.
Angus Powell shared the understated early winter expressions of “Shiver” featured off the forthcoming Before The Grey album debut available September 29 through Halogen Music. The mid-Wales artist takes all the introspective elements and gathers them together in an organization of song.
Catch the cover of Edwyn Collin’s eternal classic “A Girl Like You” courtesy of ALASKALASKA & Bullion that blends restrained vocals & brass inflected rhythms to ride forward toward new suns & new moons.
Llovers just released their new single “I Don’t Mind” across all available outlets that was mixed/mastered by Chris McManus at Blank Studios that casts all concerns & doubts out of sight & consciousness. The twinkling production illuminates all the ecstatic & intriguing underlying emotions & inklings of expressions that converge together in ways that are often hard to convey through the conventions of both speech & song respectively.
DC’s own ultra-heavies Caustic Casanova just released the radical 7″ Pantheon: Vol 2 via Retro Futurist Records that brings about some lead-weight riffs to rock your weekend/work-week proper. “Lord Pinto” on the a-side dazzles with cathartic rhythms & progressions to bring down the house, followed by a cover version of the Melvins’ “Cow” that maintains the chorus cadre of big ripping riffs that are guaranteed to whisk you away to awesome places in the mind & heart. Catch them on a self-booked tour happening throughout this fall.
