Week in Pop
Fat Spirit just released their Nihilist Blues album via the venerable folks over at Citrus City and we give you taste with a look & listen with the J.D. Burrow VHS video for “Easter”. The Richmond, VA quartet of Ian Mcquary, John Graham, Matty Seabass & Robert Lindstedt follow up their debut album Super King, their Something Terrible EP & Sisters 12″ split with Tungs with album that vocalist John Graham introduced to us with the following insights:
The songs on the album lyrically are influenced by my relationships with friends/loved ones, growing up, death, tripping, the hopelessness of existence, blah blah. I came up with the title Nihilist Blues because I think a lot of the songs come from trying to reconcile that existence is meaningless and chaotic and at the same time wrought with meaning and purpose.
John Graham also provided an introduction to the video for “Easter” that couples the comets of scuzz with DIY campy-horror fare that sends the Fat Spirit spirited sound deep into the darkness of those patchy-parts unknown to most:
The video is inspired by classic horror. The song is about how events in your past and greater human history have set us on a path that seems largely out of our control and there is an overall sense of doom. In a lot of that older horror you see someone ignoring all these signs that foreshadow something terrible and you the viewer say, Don’t go into the woods, what the fuck?!. I see a parallel there.
Amy Steele presents the sunny & sweet shining new single “Saltwater” featured off her forthcoming Memories in Watercolour EP that dabbles in reflections on minerals & those special somebodies in our life that quench a thirst deeper than hydration. Moving in understated tones like the way the the midday sun glows & casts down light rays of love & warmth throughout the world; Amy offers up some of the smoothest sounds you might hear all spring long.
Discover what the rest of the world already has with Brooklyn’s own beloved supergroup Cende who shares the single “What I Want” taken off the forthcoming #1 Hit Single album available May 26 from Double Double Whammy with a stateside tour launching June 2. The story goes that the group was initiated by the members living at a joint called David Blaine’s The Steakhouse that saw the colliding forces of Porches percussionist Cameron Wisch, LVL UP drummer Greg Rutkin, rounded out by bassist Bernard Casserly & guitarist Dave Medina. With a moniker inspired by the Descendents, the group infuses a host of desires & affections running rampant & wild that makes their forthcoming debut one of spring’s most sought after releases.
Riding high off last year’s debut W.I.L.D. EP; Jersey by LA’s Rugby Wild returns with that a listen & look at that good, good “Topanga” life directed by Darrell Nash for GVC TV, featuring production from Saul Luzeus Lawrence Casseus. For those late to the Rugby Wild party, this is must-witness entertainment that blends vintage new-romantic synth-styles with equally classic croon & rhyme school of charm & prestige. R. Wild continues his climb (even dropping a number for a Jeep commercial) as word has it that his upcoming album Millennials is slated for a jubilant release this summer.
Keeping the celebration of their lauded new LP Young Brothers available now from Southpaw Records; Brontez Purnell & The Younger Lovers keep the mood lively with the anticipated Gary “Fembot” Gregerson video for the big single “Whiskey and Water”. Brontez & his boys soak up the suds & fun from flashy, vintage-looking performance art to splashing about in personal metal outdoor bathtubs; The Younger Lovers continue their reign as one of the Bay Area’s greatest forces for greatness with an inclusive sound for all restless rabble-rousers worldwide. Read our recent headline feature with The Younger Lovers here.
Sarah Solovay recently released her second track “Trick Me” that dabbles in the treats, smoke, mirrors & more that tricks more than treats.
MC Lafa Taylor & Aabo reveled their new cut “Falling” featuring Goapele that can be found off of their new album FEEL available this summer. Recorded between the Bay Area and Tokyo, Aaron Bortz & Lafa Taylor’s new single bursts in a series of pop fireworks that make for pure dance floor fire for you & all to enjoy thoroughly.
San Francisco’s High Sunn kicked it old school with their glittering & gorgeous new single “Joy of Romance” featured off their forthcoming PNKSLM EP Hopeless Romantic (recorded by the revered Dylan Wall) available May 19. This is that extra-special slow dance prom song that you never heard, from the dance you never went to, with the date that would never give you the time of day from those mythologized moments of yore.
Presenting the JOATOUCH video for “Can’t Blame Em”, featured off Husser’s forthcoming debut album Geto Rock For The Youth slated for release this fall. The track offers up a weird mix of clashes between classes & the like as the member from Montreal’s The Posterz finds his own footing & swagger in a sea of technocratic business suits & sharks.
Sarah Solovay follows up her previous single “Rough Draft” with a listen to the track about smoke, mirrors & other illusory & elusive maneuvers on “Trick Me”. Treats & tricks run parallel lines in an electro rhythm array of bright & confident pop textures.
Brooklyn producer Elbows delivered us with a listen to the conscious & consciousness raising track “Think Twice” from the debut EP available May 19. From an emotively expressive brass section & harmonic lyrics; Elbows bring us a pause to reflect on with a reminder to slow down & re-examine the reasons & whys behind why we do on an every day/moment basis.
LA’s Pr0files offered up something for inspecting faces & going places with their new slick single “Money” that basks in the sentiments of riches that extend beyond monetary obsessions with a whole lot of electric pop energy.
Sweden producers Superwalkers shared some mutually inclusive romantic vibes with their single “I Got You”. This is that extra special jam to enjoy with a loved one as the lights dim & the allure of the evening awaits for just the two of you to inhabit/takeover.
Classixx remixed Night Drive’s “Rise and Fall” featured from their debut album available June 16 from Roll Call Records. The remix finds a new groove to roll & rock along to that invites a host of various effects & accouterments to entertain & enjoy.
Black Asteroid presented a look at the Sebastian Mlynarski video for the single “Howl” ft. Zola Jesus featured off the upcoming albumThrust available this summer from Last Gang Records. ZJ’s powerful vocal presence shines high above the hard pusling electronic rhythms that are set to b/w visuals that move between Zola and various natural movements seen across images of harsh displays of natural, rugged topography.
Stalking Gia introduced us to her new single “Siren” with the hilarious introduction of “a song about a flesh eating mermaid” that then delves into an illuminating array of electronic salty sea essences. With invitations to “sink with me”, Stalking Gia offers up some of the most intriguing & oddball pop that operates with a sophisticated mode of fanciness & sea sparkling flair.
Austin’s own fearsome & fearless trio Crooked Bangs presents the tomorrow smashing future of “No Future” found off their just released second album ii via Nervous Intent out of Berkeley, California. The group grabs the the threat of the next day by the throat with a slam, crash & thud while continuously delivering the unrestrained storm of their unbound sound.
In more Nervous Intent Records news, we give you Berkeley’s own Street Eaters who brings us the minimalist & radical video for “Witch”. The flagship group that operates Nervous Intent are readying their sci-fi concept album The Envoy available May 12.
Also rock, roll, rage & more with Street Eaters again on their recently unveiled track “Take What I Don’t Need” that basks in all sorts of indulgent & awesome excesses. SE are Berkeley’s it band & have a new cool label to keep a close ear on.
In case you missed it, the always incredible Sevdaliza released the single that confronts self-inflated interests with a piercing & psychic delivery of feeling & pointed purposes that are expressed in the most haunting melodies & delivery you can think up.
From his debut album Jardin from Stones Throw, take in Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s deluxe, piano key decorated video for “My Balloon” directed by Santiago Carrasquilla. Expressions & exchanges of companionship & deeper connections carry on in a musical dialogue between Gabriel & Kyiona Carswell that moves from chambers, to pools to the extents of the sea in a must sea video for a must hear single.
Bedouine announced the forthcoming self-titled available June 23 for Spacebomb & we have the debut cinematic single, “Dusty Eyes”. Connections of old reflected in the new light of day are collected together in one timeless arrangement.
Clever Thing brought the big swinging heavy sounds with their single “Major Swing” available April 28 from Be Pacific. The Brighton band offers up one of the scuzziest sounds around their hometown that will instantly put a smile on your face as they trade in some of the seriously nasty & remarkable rhythm chords.
LA ‘s Umm (Stef Drootin from The Good Life and Big Harp, fka Bright Eyes/She & Him) along with guitarist/husband Chris Senseney (also of Big Harp) presented their groovy electric single “Black Summer”. Their debut single offers up the reasons why Southern California houses a certain mystic allure that engulfs the utopia aspiring feeling of that perpetual sense of summer fully realized in practically inexplicable ways apart from hymns like these.
Leeds’ own wide-eyed dreamers Colour of Spring shared the luster & beauty of their single “Echoes” that reverberates in the most sublime sorts of ways. Featuring production & mixing/mastering work from Matt Peel, the group offers up a sound that will lift you up to the most incredible elevations of stratospheres & areas of elated feeling.
Touring May with Ásgeir, check out the emotive & understated new single Axel Flóvent with “Quiet Eyes” that offers up a wealth of feelings that bubble up to the surface in the most personal & expressive of manners.
Available today from Funnel Music just released the debut EP from New Zealand by way of Bristol artist Pelorus titled Perfect Storm & we deliver the evocative single “Alive”. Pelorus, oka Leon Van Dijk arranges an assembly of strings & subtlety electronic elements that makes for the feeling of a spring even that is met with warmth & light April showers.
Michael Ford, Jr. & Ben Ford formerly from The Apache Relay are Airpark who delivered the intimate b/w Stewart Copeland directed video for “Plenty to Pine For”. Found off Early Works, Volume 1 available now from Eugenia Hall Records, the duo is depicted in an intimate dance floor space shared by disco light, a lamp, a rug & the recipe of a drum kit & a guitar for proper measure.
Brooklyn’s own GunFight! celebrates a decade of being a group with their anticipated second album Stripes, with a very special anniversary show happening at Queens, NY’s The Footlight April 22 sharing the seasoned rustic rock of “Veteran’s Bridge”. Showing off the chops that are well over 10 years old in the making, GunFight! reminds their longtime & newfound fans why they are a staple of the BK musical fabric.
Having just wrapped up their tour with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard with their new album As Above So Below available now from Rebel Union; Stonefield brings the big mean & unapologetic chords with a listen to “Sister”. Victoria, Australia sisters Amy, Hannah, Sarah & Holly Findlay prove to the rest of the world why they are force to be reckoned with as they threaten to crumble the mightiest of structures with every fist clenched chord.
Get a gander of the Eoin Glaister video for the entertaining single “Human” from Liverpool’s All We Are upcoming second album Sunny Hills available June 9 from Double Six. What occurs are plans for a freeway that ruffles some feathers among the local villagers who are far from pleased with the proposal where full out squablles bring out among the locals to the tune of AWA’s energetic new single.
