Week in Pop
Houston’s own T2 Ghetto Hippie dropped the single “IDGAF” featured off the forthcoming EP Double Cups & Taco Trucks available later this summer that reflects the local states of mind & reflections from T & the crew. Chilled-out sounds of sunny summer afternoons are heard that provides some shine from their Houston front & backyards.
Chicopee, MA by LA’s Tony Pops dropped his latest smooth rolling jam with a listen to “We Belong” that offers up the sound of connections & the associative connotations that bind them. Pops’ style strolls strong in what is the perfect jam to play while you’re cruising with that special someone that you’re going steady with.
Husalah of Mob Figaz delivered the prayer “Protect Your Soul” sporting production from L-Finguz. The Bay Area emcee walks the lyrical tight ropes of life’s yins & yangs with a redux of Sade’s “Bulletproof Soul” that Hus introduced with the following insights:
My mom, who had me as a teen, used to rap – she’s the one who started me rapping. She was a big fan of Sade and I’ve always loved everything about Sade too, including the things she stands for; her music is refined, she’s elegant and pure. But she had a dark side with the heroin addiction. This is my version of her “Bulletproof Soul” soul song. Even though I’m a gangsta, I just love Sade. I’m an iron fist with a velvet glove.
NYC’s elusive artist Shodé Non offered up a listen to J O U S K A vol. 2 that compiles two years of work into a half an hour mix cycle. A host of succinct vignettes spin before your senses with “*r*p*n”, the rhythm shifts of “it’s different”, the transcendent “(of, or peculiar to the tropics.)”, the evening allure of “Night Pull”, the sweet strolling “soft sidewalk”, the ambient discovery “k e e p _i t_ L o o s e”, the pensive journey of “further n further”, the cave-like cadences of “*YES”, the atmosphere & air of “TEMP”, ascending upward to the elevated echelons of identity on “what u were”. Ecstatic encounters are entertained on “Laughing all the time)*”, the relief experienced on “phew””'”, the new alien frontiers of “a.n.o.t.h.e.r.”, breaking through the dissonance on “Q111”, the cycles of revolution on “get Bak”, to the enlightened end of year feels on “Dec.27”, the restrained calm of “s t i l l”, scaling the stratospheres of “DDDD*maybe”, the stillness & commerce flipping “Shoppers*Jam”, the resonance of “S Q U A L L”, right before everything is rounded off with “mui gui” that ties together your electronically enabled ambient adventure.
Gifted & Blessed & Yeofi from A Race Of Angeles are The Steoples who dropped the Alan Algee video for their Stones Throw single “From The Otherside”. Visuals of intimate exchanges illustrate these privy moments of peace & passion that are interspersed with visuals of day to day life shown as if each frame was a canvas as The Steoples stir up one of the most amazing & atmospheric productions of mood & feeling.
AyGeeTee has joined the Memory No. 36 family to challenge what we understand as conventional electronic compositions & orchestrations for the most discerning of tastes. The result is Forward Elegythat pushes the creative conversation forward with the dazzling opener “Just Because(n’t)”, spinning you into the environment whirl of “What Happened Next”, the toxic spin cycle of “Hep 2”, the dark ride of “Doom Smilers” to the fuzzy understated electric-ambient wonder that is “Double Header, Lucky Stare”. Blizzard storms of electro-buzz-saws are taken to concepts of supply & demand laws of commerce on “Only 10 Left”, the emotive pause of “Hearts” right before getting weird on you & hitting you with the gabber house beat down of “Mighty (Tired)”, the atmospheric anxiety arenas of “Doubter’s Worry”, right before dropping down deep into the ambient suite of “1st Time in a Long Time Never”, sending you out down the river Styx with a super creative couplet with the closing two tracks “Outward-Forward Elegy” & “Just Because” that showcases some of the sharpest electronic dance music you will hear within the global & labyrinth underground communities.
House and Land are Sally Anne Morgan (from Black Twig Pickers) along with Sarah Louise (revered guitarist) offered up a live b/w visual for rustic Southern gothic string winder “The Day is Past and Gone”. A smoky slice of the Appalachian trail-ways that offers up a glimmer of the beguiling & mystic nature found in creative acoustic re-inventions of traditional style playing. Discover this & others on Sally & Sarah’s self-titled debut available June 16 from Thrill Jockey.
GAYTHEIST are readying Let’s Jam Again Soon for release June 16 from Good To Die Records & shared the single “Let’s Get Astrophysical” that takes the physical act & arts to the astral plane. Following up GAY*BITS, GAYTHEIST makes no apologies & panders to noone while offering up a world ripping rager for all time.
Sweden’s own Summer Heart, oka David Alexander provided us with a listen to the title track off the upcoming 101 available August 25. Restrained electronic elements bring the conversation & considerations back to the basics with a little something you can cut loose to on the dance floor.
Brooklyn’s Teen Vice stars Tammy Hart, from JD Samson’s MEN/, previously of Making Friendz & more, sent word of the upcoming Saddest Summer EP available July 14 along with a listen to the raging “Kiss it Goodbye” that rocks with double birds blaring & blazing high. The is the track for anyone & everyone that needs some musical inspiration to get over & get away from anything, anyone & any situation that they are so over with.
Blond Ambition, the solo outfit of Brian Harding (former frontman of Ex Cops) dropped the debut album Slow All Over via Swoon City Music & presents the Hunter Hampton video for “Stupi Boy / Girl”. An anthem for the LGBTQ & everyone; gender fluidity is exalted in a dance party where everyone rocking all sorts of cool & eclectic styles are all welcomed on an inclusive dance floor.
CHANCES are back with the single “Leave The Light On” that request at least one source of illumination to brighten the night’s pull of darkness. CHANCES cast hope upon a candle lit flame that never goes out with a whole lotta fist clenched pop passions that seek a kind sacred solace & safety.
Tye James along with Jonathan Buscema are KNGDAVD who present their new single “Shame” that pits Tye’s vocal delivery against Jonathan’s instantly attractive arrangements. Feelings of guilt or anything resembling remorse are eschewed for a plethora of succinct & neat electronic zaps & swaths of swagger.
Behold the art pop throwback visuals from Dylan Jackson Scott that pays a generous tribute to Warhol’s infamous screen tests (conducted circa 1964-1966) that provides minimal film portrait b/w visuals for “Sad Boy” by LA’s Rad Horror starring Karol Queiroz. The aesthetics of modeling for stage & screen is presented as a sophisticated high art spectacle coupled with a sound set for the summer festival stages worldwide.
Check out the Ida Neverdahl animated video for Sløtface’s social/internet sleuth song “Nancy Drew” found off the debut album Try Not To Freak Out. The significant other from hell is described as the over-obsessive other that is able to tap into your every check-in & geo located move in a lamentation of romance in the era of smart devices.
Moonrise Nation provided a reflective & intimate visual for the title track off their upcoming album Glamour Child available July 28 from Zinc Records. Creative winter innovations offers up a wealth of warmth to light the heat of a thousand summers.
Gracie and Rachel offered a view of the Persistent Productions visuals for “It’s Time” that offers inner ruminations about the day to day processes & seeks outlets to escape from the worlds that we know only too well. The methods of making a chance are illustrated through b/w visuals that inspire the art of changing up one’s act & turning a new leaf in the hopes for better & newer directions.
Sleep Good, Sound Team’s Will Patterson, offered up the wondrous carousel spinning single “Somewhere” featured off the forthcoming Bohemian Grove album available August. With plenty of cinematic sound design experience under his belt, Patterson has the ability to bring the silver screen spanning style of orchestrations for something you can rock on your ear buds.
Atlanta’s own Lil Baby delivered the visuals for the BassGod produced single “For You” featured off the mixtape Perfect Timing. Exchanges are recalled in verse & visual that move from trap houses to real relationship inquiries that pit the worlds of monetary obsessions with the desires & needs of the heart.
Office Culture delivered a listen to their new album I Did The Best I Could from Ball of Flame Shoot Fire’s Winston Cooke-Wilson that offers a cycle about the best of intents & strides to do the proper thing. From “Big Scheme” to “News” & more; Winston & company emphasize the things that matter outside of the fiduciary obsessions that obfuscates the things that are truly important in our lives. Winston Cook-Wilson introduced the full-length album with the following perspectives:
The album is about trying to care about the right things when most things in the world are pointing you toward caring about the wrong ones—also, about wasting all your money.
Offering up a taste of that life in the diamond lane; LA’s ME ND ADAM presents a bit of expedience on their new single “Fast Lane, Hard Love”. This is the track to play while cruising at ridiculous miles per hour in the far left lane while keeping cautious of both fellow drivers & the ever-ubiquitous highway patrol.
In more news from Athens, Georgia; we bring you the new single from Wieuca with “Slow War” that attacks the notions of endless wars that we continue to deal with as a world that is constantly under some sort of threat from somebody or something. That low-anxiety & exhausting idea of an infinite battle is expressed via the civil battles we endure as clashes of egos & ideals govern the discourses & conflict that further contribute to our understanding of humanity’s own globally shared shortcomings.
