Tennis - Need Your Love
Tennis' music is a jaunt that glides effortlessly from past to present. It's a vintage pop-soul project with feet firmly planted in the present. That's what makes the duo's newest single, "Need Your Love" so infectious and romantic: it's a beautiful balance between their nuanced rock sound and the doo-wop vibe that's intrinsic and unique to them as a band. Their aesthetic for this song is '70s soul, with frontwoman Alaina Moore sporting her signature blonde fro and bell-bottom corduroys. Passionate, gripping and indelibly retro, Tennis delivers another single that reminds us of old-time beauty. "Need Your Love" is one of two tracks dropped in the last three months in preparation for their upcoming album Swimmer, which is set to release in February.
— Hannah Lupas on January 15, 2020(Sandy) Alex G - In My Arms
Alex Giannascoli, better known as (Sandy) Alex G, released his new LP House of Sugar a couple of weeks ago via Domino Records. In the project, he offers up a series of enduring narratives that bring more comfort upon each listen. Alex G’s music can be described as mysterious or unclear—this effort holds a unique open-endedness that takes you down multiple avenues of possibility. At the tail-end of the record sits “In My Arms”, a folky, sweeping ballad of desire and circumstance. The bouncing, acoustic strumming sets the pace as Giannascoli’s voice skates along and he dives into his bittersweet recollection. He provides a warm snapshot of the intimacy we all yearn for, “I take it in, I do without / I never care what we talk about / Pull up the car outside your house / Took out the seats so we could lie down.” The track offers a glimpse into his imagination of what a picture-perfect situation would be if he was with someone meaningful; co-existing in blissful silence with that ideal person is something that we have all dreamed of.
— Meredith Vance on October 3, 2019Ryan Egan - Cruel Times
Eerie, ambiguous and dark, Ryan Egan's most recent single "Cruel Times" lives up to its sobering name. The song is deep, dark synth-pop at its finest. It possesses Egan's precise command of production: a style that entices the listener with equal parts accessibility and surprise. Egan's vocalization is especially emotionalized in this track, taking on a harsh dichotomy between the chorus and verses. His typical dreamy falsetto is contrasted with baritone talk-singing—speaking his verses like melodic slam poems. The lyricism is politically charged, venting frustrations with apathetic leaders regarding their climate indifference.
— Hannah Lupas on October 3, 2019Anna of the North - Dream Girl
Scandanavian artist Anna of the North further cements herself as a pop force with her newest single “Dream Girl.” It’s light and catchy with bright keys opening the breakup track. She cycles through all the traditional breakup emotions as she sings about visiting their old spots in hopes of bumping into her ex before launching into a bit of denial in the chorus, “In my dream world / I’m still your dream girl / No if, but or maybes / I’m still your baby.” It’s the song for everyone who hasn’t yet reached the “I hate you” phase of a breakup. You still want that person to love you back. The animosity hasn’t built up in your system. Just like Anna, you might pick up the phone at 3 am just to hear their voice even though you know it won’t yield the results you’re hoping for. “Dream Girl” is the first single and title track to Anna of the North’s sophomore album due out October 25.
— Corey Bates on October 2, 2019Gardens & Villa - Rosie
LA indie rockers Gardens & Villa have released the dreamy, atmospheric single “Rosie.” An early collaboration with the late Richard Swift, the lo-fi jam is like a psychedelic walk through nature. Nostalgic guitar tones, spacey synths, and a wispy flute are vivid additions to the arrangement, which is lush with colorful, mystical sounds and imagery, and is perfectly suited to the season. Soothing, washed-out vocals and a faint, cozy piano add depth and darkness, while the lyrics serve to further immerse you in the folk-rock track’s catchy, swaying beat: “Midsummer night's / Dreamy eyes of a fool / When I’m drinking with you again.” Mysterious and warm, “Rosie” is a feel-good track for cloudier days.
— Britnee Meiser on October 2, 2019King Princess - Ain't Together
King Princess craves commitment and certainty with her partner on "Ain't Together," the latest in a string of singles preceding her debut album, Cheap Queen. A listless sense of longing permeates the song as King Princess, aka Mikaela Straus, finds herself stuck with someone who will say "I love you," yet deny to others that they're in a relationship. Self-consciously, she ponders, "Do you think labels make it taste much better?" desperate to sound nonchalant. "Baby you ain't gotta worry about nothing," Straus assures her partner, though it's clear that it's herself she needs to convince. With a breezy choir humming casual "Ah's" and "Do-do-do's" throughout the track, you almost start to believe she's comfortable in the in-between, until she admits, "Oh it kills / I ain't chill at all, at all." The song features a drumbeat from Father John Misty that's as effortlessly compelling as her hazy, psychedelic rock guitar. Alongside previous rock-driven single "Prophet," "Ain't Together" has Straus traversing genre without losing her delightfully unique melancholy-tinged pop essence. Cheap Queen is due out on October 25, marking the first full-length album to be released on Mark Ronson's Zelig Records.
— Ysabella Monton on October 2, 2019Brittany Howard - Short and Sweet
Timeless and emotional, “Short and Sweet” is an entrancing acoustic ballad from Brittany Howard’s debut solo album, Jaime. The stripped arrangement, inspired by blues and old soul, is soft and intimate, like walking peacefully into a dream. Singing with just a guitar and a wash of white noise, the track finds Howard, the lead singer and guitarist of Alabama Shakes, at her most vulnerable. Channeling the likes of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone,Howard’s vocals are close, raw, and so gorgeous. The lo-fi production emphasizes the track’s timeless feel, giving Howard’s voice a velvety, hypnotic sort of appeal. The lyrics, much like the song title, are simple and powerful, and Howard’s easy croon makes them feel effortless. “I may be a fool to dream of you,” she sings, “But god it feels so good to dream at all.” “Short and Sweet” proves that the queen of modern soul does quiet just as well.
— Britnee Meiser on October 1, 2019Corinne Bailey Rae - Jersey Girl
"Don't you know that all my dreams come true when I'm walkin' down the street with you?" Corinne Bailey Rae's dreamy revamp of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" is made of the same stuff Old Hollywood love was built on. The British soul singer is part of the upcoming Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits, a Tom Waits cover album featuring names like Aimee Mann, Phoebe Bridgers and The Wild Reeds. For her part, Bailey Rae picked the 1980 hit that was on Waits' Heartattack And Vine album. In an interview, she explained that she loves how the song expresses so clearly "the rush of first love" and "the thrill of finding the one in a crowd of many.” The song, which was already memorable to those of us who have been in love with our own Jersey girl, gains a new life with Bailey Rae's sweet and captivating voice and allows a whole new set of feelings to settle in the hearts of the listeners. After all, "Nothin' else matters in this whole wide world, when you're in love with a jersey girl." Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits comes out on November 22.
Painted On - Passed Forward
Today, Brooklyn-based indie duo Painted On premieres their second single, “Passed Forward.” The melancholy song is somewhat of a more austere ballad in comparison to the band’s first release, “Fall,” which creeps through an electronic ascension of slow, ambient percussion. In “Passed Forward,” Painted On’s comprising members Hillary Capps and Anthony Farina explore their signature cinematic crescendos alongside something folksier and more stripped down. Sounding not entirely unlike Of Monsters and Men’s 2012 sensation “Little Talks,” Capps and Farina find a vocal meeting place amid layered echoes and exultant chants with the refrain’s grounding hook: “You’re my home.”
— Lindsay Thomaston on September 27, 2019Ackerman - A Day At The Beach
Ackerman’s “A Day at the Beach” follows “84 Palms,” their first trippy, Animal Collective-inspired single from their upcoming EP, A Million Sunflowers, due out November 1. The Brooklyn trio started out as the solo USB-microphone recording project of singer Jordan McAfee-Hahn, but the “yummy collaborative effort” has evolved to include over a dozen members. That sort of sprawl is present in everything they touch—“A Day at the Beach” is a six-minute song, more than half of which is instrumental, taking its sweet time with an echoing guitar solo. On “A Day at the Beach,” the band concerns itself primarily with the feeling they evoke. When Bernardo Ochoa sings the opening lyrics, “Come sink / To the sea / It’s so sweet,” he sounds like a siren, beckoning the listener to join him, to float endlessly away. In the lead-up to the release of “A Day at the Beach,” Ackerman has been teasing the song with photographs of band members on beaches, accompanied by the song’s other terse lyrics: “The sun / Over me / And the beach,” or “My toes / Are sandy, yeah.” Sprawling, moody, and self-aware.
— Daniel Shanker on September 27, 2019Blu DeTiger - Tangerine
From the moment she declares, "The crown look good on me, don't it," Blu DeTiger demands your full attention on her funky new single, "Tangerine." DeTiger transports you to the world that flashes in your mind when you lock eyes with someone in a chic Lower East Side club: a vibrant reverie of glittering lights, where her name is scrawled on the walls in Glossier lipstick and she's made a throne for herself among silk sheets in your bed. Her voice, while more commanding than on her other tracks like "Mad Love," remains distinctly languid, and is the perfect vehicle for "Tangerine"'s allure. "Roses at my feet if I let you," she sings. If you're with her, she's in charge. "There's a vulnerability in admitting what you want," she says of the song, "It’s flirty, cheeky, empowering, badass, and the groove just glides." Produced by Benjamin Ruttner of The Knocks, her signature syncopated, "gasoline"-tinged bass sits at the forefront, while splashes of new wave guitar, punchy horns, and futuristic glitchy synths meet to create a high-saturation sound as fresh as tangerine.
— Ysabella Monton on September 27, 2019