I MINORED IN MUSIC.

L: A. Sinclair - “Cars”

Do you think you’d ever rock light blue hair? And would you give up surfing for skateboarding because you think you actually look better with paler skin and tighter jeans? And you’d put your savings toward buying a beat up old orange Volkswagen van and a really dope amp for your old, beat up Les Paul? 

L: Wevor Trill - “Drop”

Whatever you think may be happening in the intro to this track, you won’t be prepared for the audio twist that Wevor Trill drops around 1:10. You’re all - okay, I’m cool and can get down with a street style beat. You’re mentally prepared for someone to start flowing; you’ve already accepted the alley skateboard vibe.

L: mndbd - “ebb & flow”

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a wisp of smoke? I’m not fucking crazy or high or anything, “ebb & flow” is just the audio embodiment of that kind of spiring, rising, barely visible flow. And yo - I’m not talking about billowing smoke. I’m talking about the smoke that comes from burning some incense, where that smoke takes its fucking time flowing around the room. It’s beautiful and mesmerizing and meditative - and so is this track.

L: Glass Animals covering Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”

L: Vagabon - “Cold Apartment”

Rarely does a rock song have this kind of emotion. Vagabon is a different kind of being altogether though - the woman behind the band, Laetitia Tamko practically bleeds for this song - with her words, with her voice, and with her ideas. “Cold Apartment” is so raw that it sounds like we’re getting a glimpse into Vagabon’s very being; like the song just poured out of her and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. I mean honestly, how much talent must it take to be able to compose and write and perform something that sounds like it took no effort at all? 

L: Daniel Caesar - “Death & Taxes”

L: HOMESHAKE - “Every Single Thing”

This is arguably the most extraterrestrial song I’ve ever heard. When I hear the funky usage of keyboard/synth and the ultra-dynamic range of vocals, I imagine a skinny green alien wearing a flat-brim floral-patterned baseball cap doing the moonwalk. His name is probably something post-biblical, like Evan, and his diet consists of organic, hand-made pop-tarts and Surge. He takes his coffee like he takes his whiskey, neat with whiskey stones, and his girlfriend is decidedly NOT an alien - she is a purple-haired free spirit who likes to take photos of landscapes that remind her of the Arizona desert.

L: Cherry Glazerr - “Had Ten Dollaz”

Listening to “Had Ten Dollaz” automatically gives you cool-kid cred. Clearly, with this track being released like 2 years ago, I’m slow on the uptake, but at least I’ve finally made the discovery.

L: GRMLN - “War”

THIS IS THE SONG I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR MONTHS. “War” is pop. “War” is garage. “War” is rock. “War” is post-punk. And damn, “War” is solidly SO right.

The beat pauses are used so cleverly here - like Sleater-Kinney and The Strokes gave GRMLN personal lessons in how to kill it. The production on this track is really well balanced, too - GRMLN has a grown-up garage sound, and the recipe is just right here: a hint of that blown-out lo-fi in the guitar, a little grunge in Yoodoo Park’s voice, and that perfectly crazed drum that sounds like a comparable cousin to Matt Helders’ vibe. GRMLN hits the nail on the head, and to boot, Yoodoo, the guy behind the moniker is a cool Asian guy in SF. This is a fucking blog, so I’ll keep emojis out of it, but guys... the heart eyes emoji, so hard. He’s basically my long lost brother.

L: Gothic Tropic - “Your Soul”

Guys, I never say this shit, but holy fuck, TGIF. It’s been a tough one (I’m being titillated with beautiful weather outside - stuck studying inside like a hermit, but just wanting to say fuck it, because deferred gratification only gets you so far), but Gothic Tropic is here to turn this all around.

L: Maybird - “Turning Into Water”

This track by Maybird is The Strokes meets Kasabian meets Franz Ferdinand meets Rooney. It’s got hints of all the best aspects of these artists when they were in their prime, which is saying a fucking lot. “Turning Into Water” is one of those tracks that hits your ear and immediately you know this is going to be a hit. The melody is fresh, and Maybird has done a really excellent job of laying it after a titillating and stacked intro sequence. 

In all honesty, this is a pop-rock track; however, by writing in chromatic steps and using a lot of 7ths, Maybird makes it so that the simplicity of the bass line is made more thoughtful and complex.

L: Vince Staples - “BagBak”

Damn, Vince. Dunno what he was tripping on when he came up with this beat, but like, please save me some of that. It gives me these sort of race-through-a-tunnel and flying-neon-lights vibes, which, you know, kind of makes me excited to live life. 

As always, Vince Staples can flow better than pretty much anyone else I’m listening to these days - he’s got talent for days. His words are caustic, which is just as well - the attitude completely parallels the bass-synth sound in its tone.

L: Cigarettes After Sex - “Apocalypse”

Have you ever seen Melancholia? I know Lars von Trier is sort of a creepy, ingenious artiste, but that film did THINGS to me, dude. No exaggeration, I needed to sit in silence for a solid thirty minutes after watching it just to process what was happening in my head. It was intense - I didn’t know whether to cry or to celebrate or what, but I’m positive that Melancholia seriously shifted my world.

So, obviously we are not here for a review of Melancholia. It’s just that, guys, “Apocalypse” is Melancholia in its auditory reincarnation. It might be devastating, and it might be romantic, but above all, it shifts your world. It colors the world around you in melancholy, hazy shades and leaves you feeling like you could only be so lucky as to hear this at the time of your individual apocalypse.

L: Clans - “Alibi”

Any track that starts with such a groovy (does that word date me? dammit, there is no better way to describe this..) beat deserves a wholehearted listen. On this Clans track, I’m just going to go ahead and shut the fuck up, because the beat and the adorable melody really speak for themselves. I don’t need to describe the cleverness of the instrumentation, or laud the smooth composition of the bridges. Just pay attention, and..

L: Night Panther - “Fever”

L: Puzzle - “I Saw An Angel”

Disclaimer for you ultra word and lyric consumers: this is not for you (lyrics unabundant, if that is a word).

That being said, disclaimer for you impatient attention deficit disordered listeners: this is not for you (ADD, yes, but impatient and song-fast-forward types, no).

L: ETHEREAL - “How’d It Happen? (feat. Lil’ Yachty & Lord Narf)”

Dude, you are SO COOL for listening to this, honestly. Minimal trap makes you feel that way - even though you’re probably actually a weird nerd who sits in front of his/her unblemished Macbook pro sipping on fair trade dairy-free cafe au lait and wear the latest colored Warby Parkers even though you totally got Lasik last year, you’d like to think you rub shoulders with artists like ETHEREAL. 

I don’t blame you. This track for sure lets me imagine that instead of studying like an asshole for like 14 hours yesterday, I was in my head actually somewhere cooler like at a warehouse party in downtown Oakland with a bunch of cool skinny black kids who think Kendrick Lamar was so 3 years ago and that recreational drugs make you disingenuous.