Week in Pop
Coasting off a sample from Chicago’s Southside gospel group Pastor T.L. Barret & the Youth For Christ Choir; Akron, OH artist Floco Torres with Shorty Slim on the ones & twos also takes from some of the tunes from the Netflix program Barry (about young Barack Obama) presents “Nobody Knows” off the just released again EP. Recorded at Akron’s Focus Week Studios, Torres shines a light on the obfuscated truths, purposes & passions that rarely to never get the attention, acknowledgement & light they deserve. This is the track that will make all the trials & tribulations of life feel worthwhile & all around blessed.
TV On The Radio’s own Kyp Malone with Samiam’s Sean Kennerly, Sean Powell with Fuckemos, along with Giselle Reiber of Midnight Masses are Ice Balloons who offer up a first listen to the interior roaming single “Calypso Heartworm” featured off their upcoming album Fiesta August 11 via Volar Records. Like a parasitic agent looking for a new host, the supergroup sends out their own sinister sound worms of what to seek out new bodies & spaces to inhabit & infest.
Don Mykel offered up a view of the Elevator visual for “Return of the Don” that features the artist showing off some fancy katana blade moves around abandoned & fenced-off locales. A single that will not appear on Don’s upcoming Infinite release; the Bronx by Harlem artist follows up joints like King Mykel: The Rebirth & G.O.D. Mykel: The Last Martyr in a bid to become the rightful regal prince of NYC’s hip hop game. From confident & cool mic handling with an assertive presence; Mykel is making 2017 out to be the true year of the Don.
Casting out the conventions of transgressions & that sort of thing, HAWK, oka Julie Hawk, brings the passion and the pain with “Sin” that exudes the power of the human experience without the frame of judgment or baggage that dogmas bring. The guitars grind out a plethora of firmly planted statements that remain dedicated to the self regardless of what anyone says or does with chord progressions that churn & burn with pure inspiration.
Donnie Owens’ oldie but goodie “Boo Hoo” is slated to appear on the compilation Mid-Century Sounds available on double vinyl June 23 via Fervor Records. Boasting deep cuts from the desert, Owens vintage chord jangler adds some of that old scholl flair that is sure to catch ear & interests from the class of 2017.
Ontario’s own artist Chris LaRocca offered up a listen to the floral-electro goodness of “Roses” that blossoms with a whole lotta digital & natural types of bloom. LaRocca dabbles in blues, rhythms & reflections in a hypnotic track that feels like an introspective walk through a clandestine garden.
Featured off the upcoming debut album Vaquita, LA’s Flood Coats offered up a view of the breathtaking Joel P. West visuals for “Billowing Open” to offer some summer sensations. Sentiments of being swept up in all the excitement provided by the season of sun, Flood Coats takes us to all sots of twilight lit locales that expresses a season to remember (right up until the candle is extinguished by the lapping tides).
From Rome, Italy; meet Sweat who offered up their Federico C & Raffaele Capasso video for “Ruckus” available now from Slimer Records. Featuring some psyched-out screen-tests from the band created in brilliant & vibrant analog; the group’s lo-fi glamorous sound rings through with an unruly fervor that has no time for hi-fi conceits.
BRAUN, one half of Mackintosh Braun announced word of the forthcoming solo album Silent Science available October 6 through Diving Bell Recording Co. & we present the Czech Republic reflecting single “Prague”. Like the sensation of an ecstatic evening spent exploring the nooks & crannies of Eastern Europe; BRAUN brings out the big pop muscles to make an electrified anthem that is certain to ignite all available senses.
Brooklyn’s spirited Spirit Plate delivered the single “Daily News Headline” that bubbles with a bouquet of good news found off their upcoming release Youth Moose available August 4 via Campers Rule Records. “Daily News Headline” has all the invigoration of everything a snappy & punchy masthead can be with a whole host of eccentrically layered arrangement that defies any notions of expectation. Leader Brian Russ balls up all the ups & downs of BK living as observed from the various shifts & changes the beloved borough has gone through in recent eras.
Public Service Broadcasting released their new album Every Valley Today via Play It Again Sam [PIAS] & offered up the following track for track breakdown. From historical coal-mining strikes & a host of all sorts industrial inspired insights; PSB provide the following privy view into the inception for their new record.
Ireland’s own studious bunch The Academic dropped their big grizzly pop single “Bear Claws” that is more fun than devouring an entire box of pastries or wrestling a bunch of furry wild things. The track has that sentiment of all the festival ready vibes that are sure to sprinkle some extra sun on top of your summer.
filous delivered the new tied up sentiments of the single “Knots” featuring klei featured off the upcoming For Love EP available this fall. Feelings of being all twisted up are expressed through evocative electronic elements that percolate throughout the heart, mind & ears as filous seeks to unravel the strings & bonds that bind.
Rising star Arlo presented us with the single “Refuge” that seeks better futures, greater passions with a host of expansive audio visions. With an instantly catchy pop sound, Arlo seeks some sort of solace while making motions to create greater tomorrows for all living beings. Arlo described the single to us with the following reflections:
“Refuge” came at one of my lowest moments, I was filled with this feeling of worthlessness and misery. I really couldn’t pull myself together. Nothing in my life was going good I knew I had to make some changes and it had to start with me getting better. Refuge is me seeing that light at the end of the tunnel.
Yassassin announced their debut EP Vitamin Y (available September 1 via Babelogue) & offered up a look at their visual for “Cherry Pie” that shares a slice of down-home goodness & a lot of heavy attitudes & chords. From lyrical fortunes, and a whole lot of convulsions that propels the song & video toward further histrionics & dissonance mixed all sorts of chemically addled delights.
Seattle’s Olive Jun, oka Lushloss shared the moving single “Shame”off of Asking/Bearing available July 28 from Hush Hush Records. A swell of sentiments rise up from within as you listen and bask in the feelings of identity, misgivings & all those interior aching pangs that make for restless, sleepless nights of pensive thought streams.
We Are The In Crowd leader Tay Jardine, oka SAINTE, presents the visuals for “Eyes Are Open” off the smile, and wave EP. From director Raul Gonzo with glamorous styles by Alysha Marcantonio with hair stylings from Kayla Loren; Jardine’s world is transformed to a bright pop art array of catchy colors & fashions to ignite your imagination with all kinds of dazzlings of cool couture & all around decorum.
New Jersey’s own Blood Cultures dropped the super smooth & silky electro single “Detroit” featured off their forthcoming debut album Happy Birthday available July 21. The group creates the feel of driving deep at night through the Michigan freeways, highways & roads that illustrate cities & infrastructures in transition & redevelopments in process.
Lily McQueen dropped the Joe Nankin video for “Say Something” feature off the new Electric Love available now from Concierge Records. Observe some behind the board magic where the studio pressures to say or sing something are presented in a manner that respects the process of making pop tunes come together in blissful unison.
Born from the remains of Reckless Serenade, Broken Bellows present their first single “In The Deep” found of their forthcoming The Card Table EP will be available August 25 via Fervor Records. The group shines up their original blueprints with a host of high definition aspects of luster that illustrate the sentiments of what it feels like to be in too deep with anyone or anything.
