Baby Rose - Show You
It is an unequivocal fact that Baby Rose has one of the most unique voices of this decade. From her appearance on "Without You" with Insightful, to being featured on Ari Lennox's Shea Butter Baby Tour, to the August release of her first album, the Atlanta artist is having quite the year.
A lyrical weightiness, coupled with a sultry, cavernous voice in "Show You" underscore a maturity and musicality not often found in many peers of Baby Rose. Certainly a reflection on an uncertain relationship, lines like "Tell me baby / How you like me now? / Wasn't life beautiful / When I was around?" sit delicately atop classic R&B hi-hats and a jazz-inspired bass line. Filled with equal parts feeling and energy, "Show You" demonstrates only a fraction of the versatility, talent, and timelessness encapsulated in Baby Rose's music.
— Jazzmyne Pearson on October 10, 2019Brittany Howard - History Repeats
You may know Brittany Howard as the powerhouse vocalist at the helm of blues-rock group Alabama Shakes, but on her debut solo track “History Repeats,” her performance is softer (though still not soft), subtler, and much more personal. It was released along with the announcement of a debut full-length titled Jaime, named after her late sister who taught her how to play the piano, and due out Sep. 20 via ATO Records. “History Repeats” is the opening track on the album. Funky and immersive, it’s quick to differentiate its sound from any of Howard’s other projects. A drumline pound coupled with a punching, urgent kick drum and psychedelic guitar open the track, evoking a sense of persistent unease over a smooth groove. Howard’s vocals are washed out and doubled as she sings about the exhausting inevitability of repeating old mistakes, adding to the hazy, twirling effect of the arrangement. “History repeats and we defeat ourselves / Come on everybody, one more time again,” she sings in the chorus, repeating the line over and over. The song ends on an audible phew from Howard, whose enormous effort fuels the song with a contagious vigor. Clocking in at just over three minutes, “History Repeats” shows an impressive display of growth from one of indie music’s strongest female voices.
— Britnee Meiser on July 17, 2019Ritt Momney - (If) the Book Doesn't Sell
Ritt Momney's track "(If) the Book Doesn't Sell" is a poetic fever dream in autotune totality. A half-ballad lament of religion long-forgotten (and evidently resented), the Mormon-raised Ritt Momney uses colorful storytelling to communicate his ongoing frustration with the worldview he was raised in. Though sung through an auto-tuned filter for the entire track, his vocals are somehow mesmerizing and very compelling. The conviction of his tone isn't lost because of this but is actually amplified by the auto-tune affectation. The message of Ritt Momney's "(If) the Book Doesn't Sell" seems evident and can be summed up simply by the lyric "The Devil speaks / Your God and I put all our differences to rest and the man's actions are his own, but man will blame us nonetheless." The artist is pleading to be taken seriously as he endeavors to determine his own beliefs regarding the divine and pleads with other kids being raised in religion to ponder their independence and humanity in a similar way. It's a song of genuine yearning and struggle that many coming-of-age types can relate to.
— Hannah Lupas on July 16, 2019Darcie - Modern Day Housewife
Up-and-coming singer and multi-instrumentalist Zigi Porter, who operates under the moniker Darcie, strikes an inimitable balance between subtlety and spaciousness with her minimalist songwriting and maximalist production style. The eclectic, Manchester-based solo artist’s recently released track “Modern Day Housewife” captures the essence of what makes her both a no-nonsense storyteller and a mystical tour de force. The song is an artful, left-of-center rumination on the life and unbending expectations of millennials. With down-to-earth yet unapologetically honest phrasing like, “We are we are / Cosmetically / Replacing our brains” Porter points to the ways in which our obsession with constantly improving our outward appearance is rapidly contributing to our inevitable demise. Although this phenomenon affects each and every one of us, female and feminine-identifying people often feel a certain pressure to build up these fabricated, social-media-constructed personas. That being said, Porter doesn't use any gender-specific language other than the term 'housewife' which she adapts in an all-inclusive way. Porter’s lyrics might appear overly critical on the surface, but it’s important to keep in mind that as a young millennial woman she is highlighting problems that she herself faces. “Modern Day Housewife” is a communal effort to help us all understand ourselves in this current day and age a little better. Darcie’s ethereal, lo-fi pop-soul sound is truly genre-bending and impossible to classify—there is nothing else like it. Look out for Darcie’s debut EP Conversations with a Hot Dog due for release at the end of July.
— Andrea de Varona on July 15, 2019L. Martin - Summer
L. Martin's newest single "Summer" leads with zippy punches of synth and his effortlessly entrancing voice, as he sings of the prospect of grasping onto something that will not be transient. Formerly the vocal front runner of indie-rock five-piece, The Walters, L. Martin, (a.k.a. Luke Martin Olsen), continues to create art with vigor on his own time. When inquired about the meaning of "Summer," he responded: “It’s essentially about my experiences in the music industry that have made me rethink its importance in my life”. Balancing optimism instrumentally and slight discontent lyrically, the track tugs us in with its initial 80’s feel-good sound and holds onto us with its meaningful draw. L. Martin will be releasing his EP, KICKS, which is promised to be equally as energetic as this single on August 9th.
— Laney Esper on July 15, 2019Samia - Ode to Artifice
Sharp-toothed and honey slick: somehow Samia, the 22-year-old New York songstress whose warbling wit has captured the attention of acts like Father John Misty, manages both. The singer’s latest release, “Ode to Artifice,” stands as no exception, serving up a relatable dose of anxious self-reflection wherein she begs her authentic self and stage persona to just merge already! “Keep it together for both of us,” she pleads, her desperate itch for a confidence supplemented by more than just makeup and party tricks sanded down into an inviting, retro-groove. Such vulnerable self-cynicism—a phrasing that would sound utterly oxymoronic to the uninitiated ear—is nothing new to the artist, who often uses her work to explore the ugly and uncomfortable through a feminist lens. It’s enough to argue that Samia goes down kind of like a top-shelf whiskey; in her warmth and smoothness, there's a potency that will absolutely kick your ass if you’re not careful.
— Lindsay Thomaston on July 12, 2019Generationals - Breaking Your Silence
Generationals are a beautiful anachronism. They write the kind of songs you might (quite reasonably) assume were hits decades ago the first time you hear them because their soulful, retro stylings are more than an excuse to write soulful, retro songs, but are instead an inseparable facet of the band’s identity. But they seem to love smoothing over these potentially jarring juxtaposition—in the accompanying video for their latest single, “Breaking Your Silence,” a truck mounted with a video billboard shows the band performing in front of a vanilla concrete wall while driving through the idyllic wilderness. The truck, with its abrasive video screen, seems out of place at first, but dogs still frolic in its wake. The drum kit sounds like it’s covered in a layer of dust and the chorus explodes with a wall of sound like the Motown greats, but these techniques are used in the service of a sound more akin to trendsetters like The Strokes than to other retro-soul reenactors. Generationals’ fourth full-length album, Reader As Detective, is due out July 19th.
— Daniel Shanker on July 12, 2019Casey Dubie - Confetti*
Vermont-born singer-songwriter Casey Dubie has arrived with a stripped down version of her folk-pop ballad, “Confetti.” Feather-soft musings of both ache and fondness cascade around the listener like the very squares of rainbow tissue the song is named for. Such lightness is thanks in part to Dubie’s chiming harmonies echoing in the background, which lend a fuller, more mesmerizing tone to the song’s acoustic approach. Fans of acts like Daughter and Oh Wonder will appreciate “Confetti*"'s warm glow and accessible lyricism.
— Lindsay Thomaston on July 11, 2019Spoon - No Bullets Spent
“No Bullets Spent” is a Spoon song. It was released as part of the announcement of Spoon’s upcoming greatest hits album, Everything Hits At Once,and it has all of the hallmarks of what defines Spoon—the introduction has Britt Daniel’s snarling voice echoing with the reverb of their more experimental outings before Jim Eno’s simple drumbeat highlights the dual staccato guitar hits. Outside of numerous song placements in films and TV shows, Spoon has never quite hit the mainstream, although they perhaps came close when a video surfaced of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg playing the instantly recognizable piano riff from “The Way We Get By.” A perpetual cool-kid’s band, able to co-headline with The Shins but open for Cage The Elephant, Spoon’s remarkably consistent and perhaps intimidatingly deep catalog—spanning nine full-length albums—is an obvious candidate for a greatest hits collection. In an era of playlists and single song streams, Everything Hits At Once is a way to canonize the work of a beloved band for future generations and “No Bullets Spent” is a summary of an astounding career and a commitment to continue forward. This is Spoon.
— Daniel Shanker on July 11, 2019Arlo Parks - george
London-based Arlo Parks’ twitter bio reads “poetry baby with a little side of soft rock,” and that is truly the best descriptor of the 18-year-old singer/songwriter’s sound. Her latest single, “george,” is a perfect example of this—blending elements of jazz, R&B, and soft rock together with some masterful lyricism to create an ambient, magnetic track. Parks’ newest song was named for the famed English poet and notorious narcissist and heartbreaker, Lord George Gordon Byron, and his legacy is reflected in the poetry of Park’s lyrics and her message on reckless loving. Her story builds as she describes the mess a careless lover can leave behind and stays grounded in both the melodic anchor of the guitar riff that plays coolly under her vocals and the arresting visuals Parks creates. Vivid colors appear all over the track—rose quartz, purple rose petals tracked around a pool, powder blue walls—creating a more complete sensory experience than we have any right to expect from a song. Parks hauntingly illustrates the marks her lover leaves, singing, “you leave a bit of blood in every room,” and describes how those marks linger with her somber chorus line, “I know that you’ve been here.” Arlo Parks reveals wisdom beyond her 18 years, but “george” also proves that the intensity of these feelings is something that transcends age as well as era.
— Brigid Moser on July 10, 2019Rayland Baxter - 2009
With his smooth and steady voice, Rayland Baxter pays homage to the life of the late rapper Mac Miller with his cover of “2009”. Rayland’s typically folky vocals sport a new outfit, gliding over the jazzy piano and showcasing a different domain wherein his talent resides. While the track does take on a sound unique to Rayland Baxter, the charm and lyrical mastery of Miller remain. This is the second-released track from his upcoming EP, good mmornin, which will consist solely of covers of Mac Miller’s work as a tribute to his life. “2009” is a glass-house glance into the troubles and triumphs throughout Miller’s life, sung with love and respect by a dedicated, and endearing self-proclaimed fan.
— Laney Esper on July 10, 2019