Week in Pop
We give you the s a r a s a r a video for “sun” that was filmed with a just-invented Tondoscope (from director Michiel Robberrecht & made by Gust Van Den Berghe) camera that showcases is a surreal ritual with breathy chants & strange motions. Found off the upcoming debut album Amor Fati; songs of fatal attractions & all kinds cryptic treats await. The camera inventor introduced the video with the following words:
Tondoscope is a film in a circle, an image without corners. It’s an attempt to picture paradise as the world before the world. You picture the world as its true planetary shape, a world that’s still intact, connecting that shape to the microscopical form of elements. I like that with the circle. It’s easy to shoot, everything looks good in a circle, the aesthetic balance is quite different. To tell a story is complex. You never have the wide shots, the feeling of distance. The only thing you have is details. You have to tell your story through these little details.
OddKidOut delivered the 1403 collaborative EP Full Circle EP & we offer up the following listen in full. It’s London meets Philly with tracks like “Thoughts (Intro)” that floats to new frontiers of feelings, flying upwards of “30,000 Feet” & soaring still on “Angel Dust”, busting out the romantic vibes on “Blush”, riding off in the blissfull botanical beauty of “Wonderfull”.
Kidepo, managed by Metro Boomin’s people, just released the new single “Ramada” found off the forthcoming debut EP Reunion. “Ramada” is a track that illustrates future waves of rhythm, blues & a whole lotta ambience that draws inpirations from an international array of eclectic audio arts.
Introducing the rising star of Arlo that offered us the debut single “Ivory” that illustrates a dedication to autonomy amid all forms of adversity. Conflicts & contrasts are depicted & overcome in a manner of confidence that stands up tall against all the meaningless b.s. that life’s throws at us. Arlo introduced us to the single with the following perspectives:
“Ivory” is about the feeling of constantly being let down and disappointed. It’s me promising myself that I won’t be heartbroken any more—you’ll never find my heart at home anymore.
Wy offered up their new single “Bathrooms” via Hybris that showcases the duo taking their incredibly ethereal & intimate sound to an empty marble ballroom that makes for an expansive environment for their earnest audio elements to dwell. “Bathrooms” provides that sanctuary room of emergency escapes from the rest of the world that constantly nags you (for no real reason), where the one place of any sort of emotive/personal/biological/spiritual/cosmic release always awaits with open arms.
Luke Reed recently released his debut album Won’t Be There through The Native Sound & we gift you with the precious, passing breeze vibrations experienced on the single “Just Want To Hold You”. The Somerville Massachusetts artist who you might know from his work in Bent Shapes and Mini Dresses provides the latest edition of emotion that shimmers in an unreletning emotion that offers up some of the most beautiful & romantic meditations you might hear this spring.
Paris duo Sacre brought us the atmospheric sky-bound single “The Call” that follows up their previous cut “Gaia”. The twosome brings in all the beautifully styled synths that deals in all those infectious tones that continue to put Franco pop on the map.
Amadee shares a first listen to the brand new How To Change EP that illustrates the fluxes of evolution that occur in our worlds with a host of bright electric pop textures. “Howl” gets the party started with a statement of presence, that moves toward all sorts of feels on the illustrious title track, offering more digital atmospheric essence with “Huntress”, that dives into the deep wide sea dimensions of those places & parts that are known to only few hearts & souls. Keep an ear out for further pop gems from the Tucson, Arizona artist to follow.
On the heels of their release Sharpener, Hackney Colliery Band announced their live album available May 12 from Veki and presented us with their rendering of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” that rolls hard with the big band brass with no apologies.
RG Lowe, oka Balmorhea’s Rob Griffin Lowe presents the single “Spring the Lock” off the upcoming album Slow Time available June 2 from Western Vinyl. Sharing an upbeat dance approach springs forth from his work with the Austin group that presents a thoughtfully collected cycle of rhythmic thoughts and personal perspectives & connections & so much more…
Off their May slated album Slow Wave, The Velveteins burned some of the midnight oil in the Nicholas Posthumus, Gina Lomas & Max F Sims video for “Midnight Surf”. The group offers up late night odysseys that illustrates cosmic occurrences that draws the trio into the picture frame.
Feature off their forthcoming Punchbuzz release available June 2 from Nevado Music; Melbourne duo Husky delivered their paranormal new single “Ghost” that delivers some halloween pop vibes to gel with your spring/summer holiday plans. Late night horror camp tropes collide with super electric FM radio pop excesses.
Nashville’s Jake McMullen has sent word of his forthcoming Giving Up EP slated for later this year & shared a listen to his super popular cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” that takes the heartbreak disco party to new places of feeling & fist clenched confidence. Displaying an evocative vulnerability where all essences of emotion are worn on McMullen’s sleeve like a badge of honor in an hour of desperate need of unrequited desires for another that has moved onward & elsewhere.
Karriem Riggins remixed fellow Stones Throw artist Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s new single “Crawl” (found off Gabriel’s recent debut album Jardin). The producer/jazz drummer/beat-smith gives “Crawl” a creative new look where rhythms fire off at a rate that is off the charts that makes for a euphoric array of evocative feels.
Birmingham’s Pleasure House brought the serenity destroyer “Calm” featured off the forthcoming Sentient EP available May 26. The midlanders roll with the big crunchy chords and some howling harmonies to keep your weekend raging to here knows when.
Those seeking some retro-contemporary charged fashions would be right at home with the cool new “Kill the Noise” cut from Me Not You. The track is a dreamy steady burner that turns midnight oil into dawn-lit sun beams of a day’s brilliance.
London’s Fang Night took us on a crushed-out late drive with the devout & devoted electric pop cut “Steady Cruising” that will cruise steadily straight into your heart.
Jason Achilles Mezilis dropped the cinematic Tyler Jackson video for “Tokyo Drift” that takes you from the freeways, street/sidewalk to club scenes in an odyssey that drives forward toward an unknown eternity. The chords & glittering keys set the tone as we follow the adventures of a heroine enjoying the hedonistic indulgences of a neon soaked city that involves all sorts of excesses that include defacing a Hollywood star.
In case you missed it, strut along in time to MICKY’s new single “Carry Myself” that will have you carrying yourself & feeling yourself in some kind of cool & confident sort of way & swagger.
Norfolk, UK rising artist Soham De has been gaining a lot of traction & we present the emotive & earnest new single “Ecstasy” available April 27. Soham offers up a very privy view to the pangs of excitement & all the emotional underlying substances & subtext that lies beneath the surface. The Northern England artist introduced his new single with the following thoughts:
The song is a song that sums up a lot of things and not one I thought I’d write, it came together and just felt really fitting.
Norwegian artist Stian Høyberg creates music under the handle of Analog Monoxide presenting the single “Playing Tag” off Songs For the Road available April 15. The track takes the playground running games & expands it into a restrained & understated electronic track that your entire body can move along to with a serene sense of style & serenity.
WATERS readies their record Something More! available May 19 from Vagrant/BMG & shared the jam “Molly Is a Babe” that trades in the romantic slacker style worthy of making a music video that Beavis & Butthead might lampoon.
Peter Buffett, songwriter/philanthropist extraordinaire & son of Warren Buffett shared a reflective cycle to help cope with our current era titled Songs in the Current. The channels of reflections both on levels of civic, social & global concerns turn & turn from the reflective & freewheeling “Joy Ride”, the construct calling “Imaginary Kingdom” all the way to the vision quest seeking finale of “We Can Find the Daylight”. These are thoughtful vignettes that revolve around our complicated connection to the material world.
Philadelphia’s Fire in the Radio delivered the title track off their upcoming album New Air available May 5 from Wednesday Records that sings out while seeking out new atmospheres to inhale in the hopes of new inspirations & more.
The Mark Lanegan Band dropped the evening summoning atmosphere-awakening “Nocturne” that delivers deeply felt grievance that ring straight from a pained & post-apocalyptic heart. Find this stratosphere-slicing selection & more on the forthcoming album Gargoyle available April 28 from the prestigious folks over at Heavenly Recordings.
DRÆMINGS keep their doom-gazing narrative reeling on the single “Great Escape” that makes a dash for the nearest exit hatch. Featured off the self-titled EP from Kimi Recor’s Play Like a Girl imprint, further realized dreams await that offer up an elemental array of enlightenment.
Celebrating the release of Everything Is My Family & an epic tour; Londons’ Crystal Fighters saw their new single “In Your Arms” receive the Nebbra Remix that gets elongated toward some new realized sentiments of sky soaring serenity.
Djustin shared the new single that shimmers like a brand new synth-sound-set on “New Preset”. Found off of Djustin’s debut album VOYAGERS available May 5 from Labrador Records, listen as the key-choices send out neon flares to light the sky in a dazzling array of neon firework effects.
