Week in Pop
Darto’s Human Giving album will be released in conjunction with a split 7″ alongside friends WAND available September 8 stateside, September 22 in the U.K. via Aagoo Records. The Seattle group presents a listen to their harmonic electric hymns with “I Am” that spells out a series of self-actualized/described statements amid an electric blend of understated instruments.
Fall into the subtle yet expansive frame work that is “Severed Seams” featured off of Happy Abandon’s album Facepaint available August 25 through Schoolkids Records. The track itself builds from understated chords that blossom into vocal harmonics that entertain the magnitude of something worthy of an entire festival unto itself.
Circuit des Yeux announced the Drag City debut Reaching for Indigo with a visual both edited / curated by U.S. Girls’ Meg Remy for the fluttering & fascinating assortment of voices & dazzling keys “Paper Bag”. Not your conventional kind of lyrical video; Remy blends together a wild assortment of vintage clips that makes for an adventure that feels like slipping through a media wormhole in the chronological conventions of time & space.
LA electro producer Midoca graced us this past week with the new single “Baby” that works in cryptic & mystic manners of audio alchemy. Engaging in electronic atmospheres that offer up a bevy of feelings from confidences to doubt; Midoca traverse from the surface layers to the piano speckled sounds of the regions that exist south beneath the subterranean sectors.
Midoca introduced the new single with the following insights:
“Baby” is a dark, cinematic and atonal audial vessel into pure bad vibes.
Becca Richardson announced the album We Are Gathered Here available October 6 with a listen to the tense & wandering season of outlaws on the run with “Wanted”. Dead & alive sorts of sentiments set the action in motion to showdowns in parts unknown where dangerous parties express grieviances in manners of honesty both volunteered & forced in manners like the moodiest of climactic-cinematic scenes.
Providing a listen to a studio recorded half an hour version of what is essentially a three hour score; we give you DRILL, from $3.33, oka Madeline Hollander courtesy of the esteemed folks at Noumenal Loom. Originally performed at Signal, NY last year with no less than dancers & a score by Celia Hollander; understated & cinematic electronic essences buzz, hum & collect like an assemblage of insects congregating together for a cause. Proceeds from this $3.33 release will be donated to Critical Resistance devoted to ending our world’s prison industrial complex.
Arrows of Love are readying their album Product for release August 11 through I’m Not From London Records & we’ve been thrashing, slam dancing & the like to “Signal”. The rising UK darlings put on a show that hearkens back to the gnarliest & most clandestine of dives & underground shows promoted via channels more guarded than the fickle social media networks.
Grooms delivered the moody embraces featured in the video for the haunting “Turn Your Body” featured off the upcoming album Exit Index available October 20 from Western Vinyl. Sublime sorts of expressions are sung in ways that reach the most core sections of the soul while the art of showing love is exhibited in an odd & artfully earnest portrayal.
Portland’s Matt Lande dropped the stratosphere shattering single “Underground” featured off the album Boxes. Dreamy textures move from power pop affectations toward ultra-dream machine weapons of beautiful design.
Emmit Fenn offered up some sentimental strings with a privy view and listen to “Modern Flame” feat. Yuna. Mario Fabrri’s visuals allow the viewer & listener to experience the expressions of the stringed progressions from an up close & personal experience.
JOME brought the meditative single “Crystalline” that offered some warm pop reflections to share your late summer nights with.
Myke Bogan dropped the smooth & viscous cut “Gravy” ft. Michael Christmas featured off the upcoming album Pool Party” dropping August 18 from the imprint EYRST Records (founded by Neill Von Tally with former Portland Trail Blazer Martell Webster). Sporting production from Tim Fontane, the PDX emcee exhibits a wild array of world play that inquires about the conundrum of whether or not one holds onto dreams (or do dreams hold onto them?). Bogan & Christmas offer up expressions of desires crossed with insights into life experiences past & present mixed with the right about amount of hedonistic indulgences.
Church Girls presented a listen to the fist-clenched hopes of “Better Off” off the upcoming album Hidalgo available September 15. The Philly band embraces alternate routes of passage & opportunity illustrated in a blaze of righteous riffs that Chruch Girls’ own Mariel Beaumont described with the following reflections:
The melody and lyrics to “Better Off” came much more easily than usual for me. As a band, we knew it had potential, so we recorded nearly five versions of it before landing on this one. We’re really happy with the textured, dreamy element Erik Wofford (producer) brought to the track. It’s about a creative relationship that began with promise but ultimately crumbled. I think we’d seen some things in each other that couldn’t be unseen. Writing the song helped me confront some of the mistakes I’d made, and eventually helped me move past them.
Hear “Out There” courtesy of Lomelda featured off the upcoming album Thx available September 8 via Double Double Whammy. Understated tones offer up early morning meditations that dwell upon the thoughts that wander about the musings of wha the day may bring from sunrise to sunset.
ExSage cast the electro-burner “Under Your Spell” featured off the Total Devotion EP available September 22. The alchemy & wizardry of intents, focuses & purposes is exhibited with a whole lotta cold & cool cadences of delivery that describes the most desired of exchanges with a certain someone in particular on their mind.
Featuring visuals shot in a California desert; Majken Christensen, oka Majken, dropped her Ericka Clevenger co-directed video for “Here and Now” that expresses the urgency of embracing the thrills & impulses of the moment. From arid, exotic landscapes & desolate roads; Majken’s moody synth song is complimented with an expansive sand-strewn environment where anything feels possible.
Dominique offered up the inviting single “Use Me” that beckons forward a connection beyond the mixed signals while utilizing a minimalist economy of electronic components that sparkle & shimmer with illuminated synths, sparse rhythms & back up vocal.
See Through Dresses recently released Horse of the Other World via Tiny Engines & present the Nicholas O’Bradovich & Ben Semisch directed b/w video for “Lucy’s Arm”. Dabbling in an array of effective minimalist lighting effects, See Through Dresses bring about an emotive passion that makes your emo & alt rock & roll dreams & latent wishes rise up higher than the hopes & altitude of a wayward phoenix straddling the stratospheres.
Joe Goddard (of 2 Bears, Hot Chip) dropped the following remix of Flight Facilities’ “Arty Boy” that deals with all the aesthetic dabbling & dalliances in the most delectable manners of beat-beautification.
Southern California’s Private Island lived up to their moniker with the youthful indiscretions & indulgences of “Juvenile”. The resonating cadence of a far away beach somewhere in an unknown paradise is heard amid the wash of synths that spell out summer-kissed sensations.
Denmark by LA’s Galimatias shared the intimate single “Blowback” that expresses those sensuous stream of thoughts that one has in the evening time when recollecting the more tender & sublime moments that rhythms & blues help illustrate in full.
Duane Lauginiger with Jessica Reynoza (of WILLOWZ), Jess Rees (of Russian Baths) & Gondola’s Tim Plunkett are BIRDS who are readying their album Everything All At Once available August 18 through Greenway Records sharing the perception exploding “See It All”. For all those that are in need of an assist for visions & inspirations; look no further than BIRDS’ own high flying new single of inspired rhythms & confident deliveries.
Warm Body, oka the passionate project from Brooklyn’s own Ryan Foster (of Lost Boy ?, TOONS, Lights Resolve, etc) shared the spirited new single “Sunglasses” that shades the rays of light on a sunny August day off the debut album Nightshade Honey. “Sunglasses” rolls with an organic sense of impetus that carries with it a host of sweeping arrangements that showcase Foster’s own imaginative approach to song compositions/arrangements. In Ryan’s own words on the new single:
Nostalgic ennui in the ether glow.
Lauv dropped the TRU Concept remix for “I Like Me Better” that introduces new percussion sequence designs for a song about preferring the self above others.
