Flyte - Easy Tiger
WHEW I love Flyte. They're a three-piece British band with my heart in their hands. Their debut record The Loved Ones felt like a secret I kept between me and the band, an Easter egg in an 8-bit video game I revisited again and again, continually charmed and surprised. It's a gorgeous, passionate, musically beautiful album, which rounds out with an acapella cover of "Archie, Marry Me" by Alvvays. I think about it all the time. It's desperate and haunting. It's one of those covers that hops in your bones. But enough about their LP (but for real, open your window and listen to it), I'm here to tell you about "Easy Tiger."
"Easy Tiger" is a break-up track. It's a predator with a thorn in its paw. It's brought low, it's humble, it's sad. It's brilliant for all of that. Will Taylor has a giant vocal register, but he is so subdued on this track, the emotionalism is totally carried by the instrumentation. The music is anxious in "Easy Tiger," while the melody is steady, rhythmic and calm. It's the embodiment of trying to keep your cool while you see an ex at a party: on the surface, you're collected, inside you are an ocean.
Give Flyte the love they deserve today. I reckon a new record will be dropping soon from them, so listen to The Loved Ones and their 2019 EP White Roses after you give "Easy Tiger" a spin.
— Hannah Lupas on May 28, 2020Evan Nachimson - Waffles
Start your morning with “Waffles,” the feel-good new single from Brooklyn-based artist Evan Nachimson. Complete with a funky hook, upbeat keyboard melody, and infectiously catchy beat, “Waffles” is the perfect mid-tempo bop to keep you moving (and grooving) easily through even the darkest days. Nachimson’s vocal, clear and pleasing, is an inevitable burst of sunshine, and his lyrics, which start with coffee and waffles, hold surprising depth: “I used to tread in negatives / They’re easy to hold on, harder to move on / Disregard the evidence and the good going on.” The central message is simple and accessible: to be happy, live day by day and just keep looking up. That message is embodied in the instrumentation, which is lush with fun, psychedelic synths, and pumping, R&B-style percussion. “Waffles” is a happy and hopeful track that's worth playing on repeat.
— Britnee Meiser on August 20, 2019Clairo - Softly
Bedroom pop phenom Clairo blossoms into a refined, yet unflinchingly sincere songwriter on her debut album Immunity, released August 2 via FADER label. With "Softly," Clairo gives queer girls an outlet to dance around their bedrooms full of youthful infatuation. It captures the subtlety of a soft brush of fingers and stolen glances in the early stages of an innocent crush without the pressure of labels on a relationship or sexuality. Wistful lyrics over a lax, off-rhythm guitar melody improvised by Rostam further the song's whimsical energy. "I got this feeling / Telling me girl, I gotta know," she croons in a way that young queer girls can look up to, while also tugging at the heartstrings of older queer girls who felt confused and repressed. As a children's choir echos "I don't care what they say" in the background, Clairo asserts that she's exploring her sexuality on her own terms; she's "doing it differently," and although some look down upon queer love, this blissful feeling is the only thing that matters.
— Ysabella Monton on August 20, 2019Someone - Playground Love
Indie pop artist Someone’s new song “Playground Love” sounds like walking through a dream. The opening track on her new EP, Airspace, showcases ambient, spacey synths, twinkling, reverberating keys and raw guitar tones working together to create soft, pumping mood music. Someone’s vocal, sung just above a whisper, is dark and velvet-smooth as she beckons her lover like a siren: “I’m your high school lover / And you’re my favorite flavor.” She holds your attention as the instrumentation builds, even when it’s not clear where her voice ends and the strings begin. The lush composition is mysterious and surprising, using slapping percussion and deep, swinging bass to give the song a pulse while amplifying the strings to emphasize the song’s hopeful, emotional center. Perfect for those quiet, contemplative hours of the night, “Playground Love” is soothing and surreal.
— Britnee Meiser on August 19, 2019Maude Latour - Ride My Bike
19-year-old pop songstress Maude Latour is making music for the ears that spent their final years of grade school filtering every experience through the low-humming draw of Lorde’s Pure Heroine. Today, the college freshman (who plans to be the first president to perform at her own inauguration) shares her latest single, “Ride My Bike.” Catchy and expansive, Latour’s vocals sulk through vocoded harmonies before erupting into a chorus of dance-y, bubblegum brightness. If “Ride My Bike” is meant to sonically characterize the very same runner’s high the song celebrates, it succeeds. An optimistic ode intended for getting one out of their head and into their body, keeping still becomes near impossible when set to the refrain’s effervescent lyrics and pulsing house beats. “Have I told you that I’m really fucking scared to die?” Maude divulged on her earlier single, “Superfruit.” “Baby for the very first time / I’m not afraid to die,” she amends with her latest and most energetic release.
— Lindsay Thomaston on August 19, 2019Jesse and Forever - Hologram Lover
“Hologram Lover,” premiering today from Brooklyn-based songwriter and instrumentalist Jesse and Forever, is a lush and full amalgamation of pulsing, eerie soundscapes and catchy, head-bopping beats. The track is just two minutes long but has an arresting composition, packed most notably with nostalgic samples, a groovy bass line, and grungy, rippling guitar. Jesse Scheinin’s vocal—dreamy and wistful in a hypnotic soprano—is transfixing as it guides you through the arrangement, keeping you hooked even though specific lyrics are sometimes hard to make out. Hazy, atmospheric moments awash in oohs which are offset by strikingly clear lines like “You can lie to your friends but you can’t lie to me.” It’s a distorted but pleasant listening experience where latching onto the vocal forces you to lose yourself in the arrangement, and once more, you’ll love every second of it. Surrealist and vibrant, “Hologram Lover” is a unique and carefree party song.
— Britnee Meiser on August 16, 2019Pearla - Quilting
Pearla, the folk-tinged project of Brooklyn-based songwriter Nicole Rodriguez, has a knack for evoking worlds that exist slightly off-center. On her recent release "Quilting", Rodriguez's imaginative lyricism is on full display as she weaves esoteric sentiment into her reflections on love and loss. Smoldering, dreamlike production and a kaleidoscope of sounds—like the creaking of a closing door, or humming overheard from the next room, settle like a haze over Rodriquez's steady folk lilt. Aching turns of introspection—"I should be fine on my own / I was born there / now I’m reaching out with both hands and nothings there"—pull us from the abstract into her inner world, where she parses through the notions of isolation and impermanence. Check out our recent Buzzsession with Pearla, where she performs two tunes from her upcoming release Quilting and Other Activities, out Sept 6 via Egghunt records.
— Emma Bowers on August 16, 2019Marika Hackman - send my love
Marika Hackman unveiled a dynamic, emotive, and unapologetic dose of intimacy in her new album Any Human Friend, which dropped August 9 via Sub Pop Records. Wedged right in the middle is “send my love," a track that doesn’t fail to grasp your attention. Hackman captures the biting mix of feelings that arise when something comes to an end with her poignant songwriting and swirling production. The harshness and self-deprecation ripple from beginning to end, “Are you coming home to feel alone / Did you love me tonight, or any night of our lives / It's never gonna be like it was before.” It’s an effort to put herself in the other person’s shoes and examine a turning point in a relationship that can’t seem to be undone. "Send my love" is a sort of reckoning in the aftermath of a difficult situation, which we’ve all experienced in one capacity or another.
— Meredith Vance on August 16, 2019Velvet Kove ft. DummyFresh - Hazel-Green
Velvet Kove, a 23-year-old artist hailing from Richmond Virginia, is breaking out in the Brooklyn music scene with the help of DummyFresh, a recording artist hailing from Maryland with a background in jazz and classical piano. The two have collaborated on a new track, "Hazel-Green," a song which grieves the loss of a relationship, one which is kept in the present through the small details which only exist between two lovers: waking easily, taking over Park avenue, the feeling of rain entering the apartment. As the artist sings, “You’re the woman in my dreams / I awake easily / My thoughts turn hazel green / Help me”, she is learning how to yearn for what is gone, begging for the past to become reinvented in the future. Velvet Kove and DummyFresh are both members of goodstuff, a new artist collective and record label based out of Brooklyn. With this new track, they are not only creating a name for themselves but for local New York musicians who are putting their heart into music, only asking to be heard, not unlike a song meant for a past lover.
— Samantha Weisenthal on August 15, 2019Chastity Belt - Ann’s Jam
Chastity Belt reminds us that the simpler moments in life are worth remembering with the release of “Ann’s Jam”, the first single off their forthcoming self-titled album. The comforting track progressively floats along as lead singer Julia Shapiro warmly sings about old times the group has had and revels in the meaningfulness of possibility. Chastity Belt masterfully paints the picture of youthful experiences and how things used to be, “We were driving South in your parents car / Singing aloud to scratched CDs / Feeling meaningful, thinking / This is a start / And it'll go on.” At the same time, their narrative tone isn't filled with wallowing—they point towards a hopeful kind of change, a chance for a new start. “Ann’s Jam” is an ode to the friendship that the Seattle outfit continues to share. It also reminds the listener that where your story started isn't always something to skip over or forget. Chastity Belt is officially out September 20 via Hardly Art Records.
— Meredith Vance on August 15, 2019Long Beard - Sweetheart
Long Beard, the moniker of New Jersey-based Leslie Bear, released her debut album, Sleepwalker, back in 2015 and is now back with her latest single, “Sweetheart.” The new track is an ambient, indie-pop musing in which Long Beard gives herself over to the impulse to wax nostalgic about a high school sweetheart. The song lulls you into a daydream with a warm guitar loop and rhythmic drums that lead into Bear’s breathy, alluring vocals. Bear hovers around melancholic throughout the track, singing “I think of you way too often / looking out every window that I can,” and before you know it, you’re walking down memory lane right alongside her. The dreamy melody is soon lit up by gleaming keyboard, elevating it from hazy to luminous and Bear’s breathy voice glides effortlessly with the motion. Long Beard’s lovely and lonely “Sweetheart” is the first glimpse into her sophomore album, “Means to Me,” coming out September 13 via Double Double Whammy.
— Brigid Moser on August 14, 2019