We the Commas - I Will
Celebrating the sun-kissed California sand and surf isn't only a treasured feeling or a beloved aesthetic for We the Commas. For the three San Diego-based brothers, their breezy brand of surf R&B is a loving tribute to their California roots. "I Will," a track from the brothers' debut EP, SARB, reflects how personal the trio feels about creating music that reflects their beloved homestead and tight bond. The track begins with an ominous-sounding organ to draw the listener into the sound, encouraging us to be present in the moment for what the brothers are about to deliver. However, just as quickly as we're drawn into the somber-but-still-sexy-sounding intro, fueled by the sounds of a swirling trumpet, the mood suddenly changes, and we're transported into a joyous celebration of young love and commitment, a love letter of encouragement to release all expectations and surrender to the infinite possibilities a relationship can bring.
SARB is now available via Flying Boy Entertainment.
— Taylor Hodgkins on November 16, 2020Nature TV - Solid Door
Nature TV is a rock quartet from Southern England. Solo, Josh, Guy and Zal are the main ingredients in this ensemble, and the energetic gloom of their latest jam, "Solid Door," nods organically to their new wave British company.
Guy's voice brings a heaviness that lasts well after the song is over. Somehow, he illuminates the echoing, mournful groove while simultaneously inciting dark, emotional gravity. The rich contrasts in this style of production are a rare event. It's as if they've reimagined psychedelia to integrate the darkness of our own generation with that of generations past. Here, the "Solid Door" in question seems an intentionally ironic ambassador for set boundaries. Doors have a funny way of opening, closing, and opening again.
— Daphne Ellis on October 6, 2020Channel 1 - The Breaks
Cute. Charming. A bit whimsical. Saturday morning cartoons and eating cereal. All of these associations come to mind when listening to Channel 1’s upbeat key groove “The Breaks.” The track opens with a quick flitting drum machine rimshot and quickly launches itself into earworm territory. Grooving bass conjures memories of being ten years old and absolutely having a ball digging ambient online game music as deep into the psyche of your parents as your own. Densely layered with sparkly synth timbres and vocal effects that sound like teleporting through a tunnel, it’s an adventure complete with its own sound effects. It’s so infused with humor and catchy riffs that the lyric center of the song remains somewhat elusive. Until, that is, you do some mild internet detective work and pull up the lyrics on Bandcamp. Despite the somewhat goofy exoskeleton, the core of the song is about being alone, and the juxtaposition of extreme discomfort and extreme relief that comes with it. Through our lives, we’re constantly constructing and reconstructing our self-concept. Who we are and what we do are critical pillars of that self-definition. It’s generally a good thing, and relatively accurate. However, it’s also easy to get wrapped into a cloak of definitions of who you are in relation to other people. Who you’re trying to be like, who you’re not trying to be like, who you’re in a relationship with, who you’re related to on your father’s side. What you do for living, what you do for fun, what your favorite kind of music is. It goes on and on. It can be pretty comfortable and easy to spit out to strangers at parties. However, when one of those things goes missing or changes? It’s an unwelcome dose of exposure that leaves you feeling vulnerable. But a break like that also allows you the opportunity to remake yourself in the image of a fresh canvas, ready to create something new.
— Allison Hill on October 6, 2020LPX - My Best
"My Best," the energizing new single from LPX, invites us to let go of the things we cannot control and seek joy in life in spite of it. The solo project of MS MR's Lizzy Plapinger, LPX reframes the notion of pop music into something evocative, vibrant and unflinchingly authentic. “It’s like why am I so scared to discover / That chaos starts and ends with me” finds Plapinger encouraging you to harness your inner madness, to be hyperaware of how whole you are on your own. A raw garage rock spirit invokes that very disorder and permeates her polished package of clever alt-pop, while warped synths and a soaring chorus put sound to the "fight or flight" response, kinetic like the energy on a roller coaster's downhill dive.
Lately, days play out like a broken record. I wake up to a brief moment of thoughtless zen before remembering that I have nowhere to go. There's no office, no show tonight at Trans Pecos, no reason not to stretch out the wear time of this week's t-shirt. "Anxiety's exhausting me, it's a self-made bed," Plapinger sings, before insisting that "it only feels like a threat if I let it." As I've had to re-learn how to take care of myself, I find that my "best" vacillates from manic productivity to being proud that I even made my bed, and that's okay. Written before 2020, the track was never intended to be included on her upcoming record to be released later this year. But, as circumstances change, "My Best" now rises as a fitting anthem rooted in solidarity, Plapinger's way of reminding us she's on our side. Photo by Remy Lagrange.
Porridge Radio - 7 Seconds
Brighton-based Porridge Radio’s latest, “7 Seconds,” is an introspective indie rock tune full of garage-worthy guitars and frontwoman Dana Margolin’s searing voice. The band has a certain knack for making sad, lonely songs sound like a song you’d want to show your parents, and “7 Seconds” is no different. Catchy melodies, driving guitars and danceable choruses all work towards the bait and switch, and all of a sudden you’re crying in the club. This track in particular finds Margolin searching for the end of something that never felt right: “'Cause you can't hear me, you can't hear me / You can't hear a word I'm saying / And you're not here but your body is getting closer every day," she sings. The track swells and then fades as all but a tender guitar and Margolin’s voice are alone as she seemingly whispers into her own ear, “Do you ever think about who you were then and who you are now?” — an attempt to reflect on the past and look forward to what’s ahead.
— Jonah Minnihan on October 5, 2020Tyzo Bloom & Minke - Bedroom
Tyzo Bloom and Minke bring a frenzy of light and color to their latest collaboration. "Bedroom" offers snapshots of early love through all of its confusion and wonder. It takes off with an aquatic synth that fosters an atmosphere for bliss and simultaneously points to the unexplored depths of the partners in question. Emotionally conflicting images are costumed with playful melody as if to honor the speaker's resilience. Minke's delivery is sturdy and unapologetic. Though she longs for another, she maintains an honest relationship with her own needs. The chorus repeatedly pleads, "give me more of you," to encourage the momentum necessary for active commitment. This is a reminder, led by example, that vulnerability is essential to romance.
— Daphne Ellis on October 5, 2020Mackenzie Shrieve - In the Before
When I first heard "In the Before," I didn’t have any words to describe it other than “pretty... just so pretty.” The heart of the song is a gorgeous acoustic guitar melody that’s warm in the same way a cup of coffee is when you’re across the table from somebody you’ve been looking forward to seeing all week. The instant the guitar finishes introducing the melody, Mackenzie Shrieve’s voice jumps in — like the lyrics are announcing thoughts that have been lingering at the tip of her tongue for ages already. Her voice picks up melodic threads from the guitar, weaving and bobbing in a way that feels as unique as it does familiar. Sweetness coats every syllable as you sink deeper into the story. It’s a love story, though the lyrics never mention the word "love" at all. Instead, they narrate the quiet way you start to notice mutual whispers of affection. Lyrics that could almost be for anyone. A slightly lingering step as you pass by their door, wondering if they’re home. Delicate affirmations that your relationship is valued. They always stop short of a dramatic gesture, remaining in the hazy realm of something you only notice because you know each other so well. Each verse welcomes a subtle new instrumental layer that bubbles under the surface. It’s a slow but inevitable build until the song suddenly swells with so much love that it bursts at the seams. Finally expressed and fully reciprocated, the song re-centers to its heart. The acoustic guitar closes the chapter, as lovely as it began, ready for what comes next. "In the Before" is sonic storytelling at its best. It just sounds how love feels.
— Allison Hill on October 5, 2020Norma Tanega - A Street That Rhymes at 6am
My best friend moved back home to Australia last year, and when I miss her I put this song on. She told me once that Norma Tanega’s lyrics seem like things I would say to people I don’t like — she’s a really direct lyricist and the vocal recordings are so beat up and crackly, like she’s carried them around in a suitcase for years. Also. Harmonica. Underrated. — Fenne Lily
Be sure to follow Fenne Lily on Instagram so you can stay up to date on her latest endeavors and tune into The Bathtime Show, where every Wednesday via Instagram Live she broadcasts from her tub with a different musical guest.
— Lilly Rothman on October 2, 2020Okkervil River - Okkervil River R.I.P.
I was on an early-on date with someone I really liked, within the first few weeks of seeing each other. They’re at my flat, we’re listening to music and talking and drinking and they put this [Okkervil River] song on. I’d never heard it before and it hit me like a truck. Out of nowhere I started crying, proper crying, from my diaphragm, the way you cry when you’re a kid, whole body shaking. And I couldn’t stop, it wasn’t at all the right move for a date but I couldn’t help it. I still can’t explain why it made me so deeply sad, so suddenly — something about it just made me feel like I was mourning the loss of something I couldn’t define. I have to skip it if it comes on in public, I’m nervous of what’ll happen. — Fenne Lily
According to Dead Oceans, the title for Fenne Lily’s new album, BREACH, was inspired by a conversation she had with her mom about her own birth, wherein she was born upside-down or in breech. In many ways, BREACH acts as a soundtrack for rebirth and self-acceptance, confronting nostalgia and past memories but always with subtle hints of forward motion.
— Lilly Rothman on October 2, 2020The Shins - The Great Divide
The intimate lyrics of this single, co-written and produced by The Shins’ James Mercer, Jon Sortland and Yuuki Matthews, are a beautiful reminder of the notion of interconnectedness. “The Great Divide" was released last week via Mercer’s own label Aural Apothecary and Monotone Records.
Your hand in mine / the great divide
A stitch in time / then we recombine
The way it was / well dust to dust
Has led us here to collide
In every experience—especially in love or love’s longing—there seems to me to be an accordioning slide between the sharp freshness of the current moment and the velveted backlit tunnels of nostalgia. A constant reconstitution of memory, experience and hope into something new. Everywhere we’ve been and everyone we’ve shared our lives’ moments with have brought us to each subsequent spring-green point of "present" — an unbreakable link that exists despite, even, “the great divide.”
You’ve set us wandering
So let me ride through the night
Til love is everything
How we define “the great divide” may change from day to day: our communion with nature in the cycle of life and death, loss or separation of a forced or chosen kind, or shades of all of the above. Regardless, what tends to remain in the end, in starkest relief, is the realization of where love was or where it should have been.
— Talia Pinzari on October 2, 2020Wolf & Moon - Eyes Closed
Electro-folk duo Wolf & Moon offer a drawing of love’s attention span through “Eyes Closed,” their latest single. The racing pulse mentioned in the second half of the track is reflected in its very rhythm, aligning the physicality and musicality of a beating heart from its exposition on. Two voices fall in unison, as if to explain the sensation, through a series of focused, affectionate expressions.
The voices of Stefanie and Dennis compliment one another, calling forth the component of love that exists not in the personal body, but in that of another. Repeated lyrical fragments place great significance on small details (“Your mouth is, your mouth is, your cinnamon”). A collage of reflections like these join the listener to their enchantment.
— Daphne Ellis on October 2, 2020