Multi-instrumentalist Henika is back with the release of her quirky track and official video, 'The Future of the Species', written from the point of view of the female bird choosing her mate, and accompanied by a self-directed video featuring her own handcrafted paper mache masks, adding to its whimsy. Speaking of the track Henika says, "In the avian kingdom, it's often the male that has to prove his worthiness for reproduction by putting on an attractive display and it's the females who are in the position of power. I loved the idea of turning traditional gender tropes on their head, especially in a hip-hop inspired context where misogyny is still so rife. It's a tongue-in-cheek foray into a genre I have never really experimented with before but the core message genuinely resonates with me. "The song features sampled NZ native birdsong recorded on predator free sanctuaries which was then manipulated to form the rhythmic and melodic ideas. The lead instrument is a theremin, a hundred year old electronic instrument that is played without any physical contact." The video represents some of the native birds featured in her upcoming album; a kokako, kakapo, tieke, kiwi and tui, adding to the fever-dream that is her self-made video. "The half bird, half human idea is a way of bridging the gap between us and them. I want people to relate to the birds as having similar struggles but I also just love the surreal aspect of it. I wanted the video to look like something somebody taped off the TV on their VCR, and it's only just been found after 30 years. I set the video in the past so that the 'future' the song talks about becomes 'now' giving the message a new sense of urgency. I was inspired by 90s hip-hop videos, especially the wacky humour of the Beastie Boys. The dancers are from a troupe called Street Candee. They did all their own choreography on the spot."
The retro-pop duo Magdalena Bay are releasing their proper debut album, Mercurial World, in a couple months. They announced it with the dreamy 'Chaeri' and are now back with another new track, 'Secrets (Your Fire).' It’s gliding and smooth, another impeccable blend of a whole lot of R&B/pop tropes. “Secrets is about interconnectivity, privacy, and digital anxiety,” the band said in a statement. “It’s also about a need to keep sharing, to keep giving up more and more of yourself to faceless strangers in the hopes of making friends or fans.” Watch the track’s music video, in which the band rocks out inside a very ’00s desktop, above. [via Stereogum]
Two-piece songwriting partnership Before Breakfast have laid out plans for their new album I Could Be Asleep If It Weren't For You. Out on January 14, it finds the Sheffield duo blending alt-folk with some deeply personal lyricism, words that touch on personal independence, feminism, and more. Songwriting that explores shifts in perspectives, the new album affords Before Breakfast space to truly analyse their own lives and positions. We're able to share new single 'Wreck' and it's a pointed, intense return, one that blends their organic, acoustic elements with biting lyrics that dissect the aftermath of a break up. The story of a potential future being erased, 'Wreck' deals with the emotional turmoil that erupts following the end of a relationship. Gina Walters comments: “I thought that relationship was it: we were going to have babies, and when that ended it wasn’t really about losing my partner. It was about losing this whole future I thought lay ahead of me, this whole family I would lose, my house, my cat… it was an absolute bombshell, and it still gets me over a year later.” [via Clash]
MarthaGunn have shared the video for new song 'Minute Of My Time'. The band's new single is out now, a punchy blast of indie energy ahead of debut album Something Good Will Happen. The record lands on September 17, with 'Minute Of My Time' exemplifying the dichotomous elements of their songwriting. Lyrically, it deals with a one-sided relationship, adding fuzzed out synth sounds to those snapping guitar lines. MarthaGunn's Abi Woodman comments... “The most valuable thing we have in this life is our time and who we choose to give it to. It’s so important to have balance in relationships. If you give someone more than they give you, you are wasting valuable life. Equally, to take time from someone else knowing you won't give back that same energy is wasting their time. This song is the moment that you see something or someone for what it is, and suddenly you have the power to decide whether you want to stay hanging on a thread, or to let go.” The video is online now, and it features the central character playing a Scrabble game to remember. Abi adds: “Words can mean a lot. It’s so important to be direct with people and communicate what we really feel. Anything else feels dishonest…unless of course, you are playing Scrabble. In which case it is entirely acceptable to play word games.” [via Clash]
Bristol-based punk trio Grandmas House have announced that their self-titled debut EP will be landing via Brace Yourself Records on October 15, revealing snarling new’un ‘Golden’ to get us excited for what’s to come. Speaking about the new track, the group say, “We wrote Golden about the government and other big powerful organizations ruling the show and getting richer from each other, whilst literally destroying the world.” [via DIY]
The Shivas first new music since the pandemic is the aptly titled Feels So Good // Feels So Bad, with the latest single specifically honing in on the cyclical nature of these extreme feelings. “‘Undone’ was written by myself as a kind of homage to the times in our life when we rebound from periods of darkness to states of exuberance that easily go too far into the realm of darkness all over again,” shares drummer Kristin Leonard, who also sings on the track. “When we bounce back from times of depression and anxiety and then find ourselves enjoying life a whole lot… Life’s about finding balance. But in order to find that balance, some healthy reflection and acceptance about where we’ve been is necessary to push us forward with love and wisdom on our journey. So Undone is me reflecting on those aspects of myself. And I think most of us can relate.” On a lighter note, the video that arrives with the tunneling psych-pop single reflects another quick succession of emotional extremes: the long-anticipated return to dive bars and the subsequent expulsion from these bars after dancing behind the bar while the bartender is away. “The video was shot by the wonderful and extremely talented Claude Cardenas, a.k.a. Yr First Crush,” Leonard continues. “I’m obsessed with everything Claude makes. He’s able to capture such a stylized beauty that is uniquely his own and carries through in everything he creates.” [via FLOOD]
Canadian musician and model Dana Dentata has released her latest single and music video, 'Apology,' produced by Dylan Brady of 100 gecs and directed by Kathleen Dycaico in New York City. The artist also announced her upcoming album, Pantychrist, due September 3. Additionally, Dentata recently made history as the first female solo artist to sign to Roadrunner Records. On 'Apology,' two different personas fight for control. The first is an intimidating voice that practically growls at listeners until it crescendos into blood-curdling screams, telling listeners—and herself—“You need to look in the mirror.” The second is a more melodic voice that lives in the background. It’s completely at odds with the other sounds in the track, adding impossibly beautiful harmonization to the chaos. The hyper-distorted drum beats and lyrics feel designed to make the listener uncomfortable. It’s a perfect match to the two contrasting personas, creating a unique listening experience where you can feel the artist’s frustrations oozing from every pore. [via Alt Press]
Toronto-based punk band Bad Waitress are set to release their debut album No Taste on Sept 3 via Royal Mountain. Following on from previous singles 'Strawberry Milkshake' and 'Delusions of Grandeur', the band are sharing their new track and video 'Rabbit Hole'. Speaking about the new track, the band said "'Rabbit Hole' plunges you headfirst into an airless spiral. You’re unreachable, growing comfortable in the bleak nest you’ve found yourself in, knowing those you love will tire of trying to dig you out. The song begins with rising tension that, with a rough shove, gives way to a deep sludgy conclusion. Dissonant guitars and jarring vocals bring you to that dark place and swallow you whole."
Sarah Barrios has released her latest single, 'Thank God You Introduced Me To Your Sister'. “This song is one big messy, book-inspired, bisexual daydream and I can’t wait for the world to fall into it with me," she explains. "In my head, I’m way more confident and cool than I am in real life. I have crazy adventures, wild situations and get lost in way too many love tropes. After coming out earlier this year, I was really nervous about how I would talk to women, so I spent a lot of time daydreaming up crazy stories and this song was one of them.” 'Thank God You Introduced Me to Your Sister' was co-written by Sarah Barrios with Evan Gartner who also the producer of the track.
Pearl & the Oysters' latest video, for 'Evening Sun' is out now - it's a gorgeous psychedelic trip from Pear Juice Productions, "a non-traditional female-run visual art and film production space that allows for learning, growth, story telling, and dreaming into being." Here's a quote from the band about the song: "One of the more somber tracks on the album. The idea for this song was to turn the ‘Endless Summer’ trope on its head, following our own reckoning with the fact that the once paradisiac promise of eternal Summer had actually turned into a dystopian menace—old Florida tourism ads and classic sunshine state iconography seem particularly eerie nowadays. The lyric was also inspired by our rediscovery of long June days in Paris, when the sun doesn’t set until 10pm, and the correlated experience of having become strangers in our hometown. We recorded the basic rhythm track with Greg Bette (aka Garçon de Plage) and Alexis Fugain (aka Biche) at Alexis’ Studio Claudio, located on a very peaceful property nearby a duck pond, about an hour outside of Paris. Back then the song wasn’t fully fleshed out, but it magically came together in the studio. Working with Alexis on the initial arrangement of this track remains one of the highlights of the making of Flowerland."
Three years on since the release of Saturn, Nao has announced that her eagerly-awaited third album And Then Life Was Beautiful will be arriving on September 24, and now she’s sharing new single ‘Wait’ to get us excited for what’s to come. “The song is really just voice and piano, and I don’t think my audience has heard me so stripped back,” Nao says. [via DIY]
Last month, Ohmme’s Macie Stewart announced her debut solo album Mouth Full Of Glass with 'Finally.' Now, she’s back with another new single, 'Garter Snake,' a lovely tangle of warm guitars and horns (played by Sen Morimoto) in which Stewart positions herself to strike: “New, alone, and awake, I am a garter snake.” It comes with an eye-popping video directed by Emily Esperenza. [via Stereogum]
Boston-based artist Carissa Johnson’s forthcoming LP Blue Hour–out November 12–is a ten-track collection of kinetic, synth-laden indie-rock songs that serve as a chronicle of a year spent inside oneself; a study of loneliness, self-doubt, frustration and motivation backed by dreamy electronic production and driving percussion. Lyrically, many of the songs on Blue Hour are reflective of the isolation in which they were born, but musically, the record buzzes with the energy of collaboration, a sea of disparate influences coming together to create a modern indie-pop masterpiece. With New Wave-inspired synths backing Johnson’s moody, expressive vocals, 'Wasting Dreams' sets the tone for Blue Hour, blending driving rhythms and catchy melodies with intimate lyricism. “‘Wasting Dreams’ is like a quarantine fever dream,” says Johnson. “It’s about that feeling of being so wrapped up in your head that you can’t even understand one ounce of reality. When everything shut down, I started to not feel like myself and was constantly asking myself ‘What am I working for? Is this going to go anywhere?’ I felt like I was chasing after something, but didn’t know what.” [via SPILL]
'Big Sunglasses,' the second single from TRISHES‘ upcoming debut album The Id, brings together pop music and psychology. The track’s title is a nod to the uniform that participants in Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment wore if they were assigned to the guard position. Zimbardo was studying the effects of perceived power and how a group of volunteers would change their behavior based on whether they were assigned the role of guard or prisoner. Zimbardo was inspired by Stanley Milgram’s experiment that took note of volunteers’ obedience to authority figures when they perceived another person to be in pain or danger. The latter experiment is referenced in the video for 'Big Sunglasses.' TRISHES says, “In the Milgram experiment participants were asked by a supervisor to shock another participant, who was secretly an actor, with increasing intensity for a study they were told was on memory. The study has been noted as one that shows the power of authority over our minds, but I think it tells us more than that. I think it gives us insights into how permission structures give us a sense of anonymity.” She adds, “I’ve always been interested in the idea of anonymity and how it changes us. I think a lot about the human condition and how it has brought our society to a place of continued injustice and environmental collapse. Looking at who we are when we think no one is watching us—I think that reveals a lot about humanity—and understanding our darkest tendencies feels integral at this pivotal moment in human history.” In the video directed Jessica Lorenzo, the one-woman act splits herself into three, playing both teacher and learner. [via FLOOD]
Bloxx have dropped their brand new EP, Pop Culture Radio, and followed it up with a video for the title track. The first collection of music since the release of debut album Lie Out Loud last August, it features the previously released singles ‘Everything I’ve Ever Learned’ and ‘Magnet’. Talking about the EP, Bloxx’s Fee Booth explains: “This EP solely signifies a turning point in life (and is also my most favourite thing we’ve ever done). I think I finally went “Wow I’m fucking old, everyone is young and I’ve wasted my life… and, I probably have some problems I need to fix.”. I think my substance abuse/mental health issues helped (in a weird way) to solidify just how real I was going to be with this record.” [via DIY]
Los Angeles rockers Dead Sara are back with a rousing new song called 'Heroes,' their first new music since the one-off release of the single 'Hands Up' last year. Along with the new tune, Dead Sara unleashed a high-octane music video for 'Heroes,' directed by Matthew Odom. The clip shows the band performing from their garage, living room, kitchen, and pretty much anywhere they can occupy some noisy space. 'Heroes' features singer Emily Armstrong’s strong, snarly voice as she delivers the anthemic chorus: “All my heroes are dead now/ But they’re living in my head/ I’m giving up, I’m giving up now.” [via Consequence]
UK electro-pop crooner Katy B is back, having just released a new single called 'Under My Skin' that serves as her first piece of solo music in five years. Katy B sounds right at home on 'Under My Skin,' scaling falsettos and low notes with ease while singing about a love gone sour. Musically, it’s a light and catchy number with snappy percussion, buoyant synths, and vocal runs galore. Part of that instrumentation is thanks to P2J, the Nigerian musician who co-wrote and produced the single. In a statement, Katy B said it was a “dream” to work with P2J on the song: “He’s a fellow south Londoner like me and went to school with my brother. He told me back in the day my brother was always saying to him ‘you have to work with my sister’ and when we met, I instantly felt at ease. We wrote the song in my studio in my house and it just flowed. He’s such a wizard with drums and even though the song is quite up tempo, the instrumentation had a pull of sadness too. I was feeling quite shocked and heartbroken at the time which is reflected in the song but I still wanted the lyrics to have a conclusion of hope, perseverance and self worth.” In the song’s accompanying music video, directed by Ash K Halliburton, Katy B can be seen lounging around on leather sofas and reclining in a stylish, vintage car. Around her, lights flash between deep reds and vibrant blues, emphasizing the moody undercurrent of the otherwise airy track. A few kaleidoscope shots are spliced throughout that give Katy B an opportunity to strike a pose while singing. [via Consequence]
It’s been over two years since Lizzo exploded in popularity, partially because of the release of her 2019 album Cuz I Love You but also because of the surprising long-tail of some earlier singles, including 'Good As Hell' and 'Truth Hurts,' which made Lizzo a chart and pop cultural force to be reckoned with. Since that flurry of award-winning activity, though, Lizzo has been quietly working on a follow-up to all of that commotion. Now, the first fruits of that labor are upon us: 'Rumors,' Lizzo’s first new track in two years, is out now. It boasts a guest feature from Cardi B and is presumably the kickoff for a whole new Lizzo album cycle. [via Stereogum]
Produced by Fyfe and co-written with James New, Litany has a gift for painting specific memories as if she’s commenting on them live, which makes ‘Adult Movies’ engaging from its very first line. Two friends are drunk, high and watching adult movies ironically, which inevitably leads to more intimacy than either of them had planned. And then lust leads to love in the most unexpected of ways. It’s a song that feels like the story to ‘Sleepover’ told from a different perspective. Litany says, “Neither I or my best friend had voiced that we'd been harbouring feelings for one another in the months leading up to New Year's Eve but introduce a load of drink, kitchen scissor haircuts and soft porn movies and naturally we ended up sleeping together (it was awesome). A few days later, I was just sat smiling in bed recalling all the cute and crazy shit we did that night, applied a melody and a couple hours later ‘Adult Movies’ was born.” [via xsnoise]
Sydney pop artist Mia Rodriguez is back with her first new single of the year, a collaboration with Yung Baby Tate called ‘Billion Dollar Bitch’. The track showcases Rodriguez’s sugary vocals juxtaposed with sharp lyrics, gritty percussion and an edgier sound than her past releases. Meanwhile Tate – who linked up with Tkay Maidza for ‘Kim’ earlier this year – also injects her own flavour into the pop tune. A dark music video for the song sees a gothic Rodriguez devour an array of gold chains and other necklaces. Tate then appears as a surgeon, removing them from Rodriguez’s stomach. [via NME]
It’s been a minute since Soulé’s last single, but now she’s returned with ‘Queenish’ and it’s been worth the wait. The Balbriggan singer has taken her time with new music since the beginning of the pandemic and having dominated the airwaves in 2019 with her Love Island-synced ‘Love Tonight’ the expectation was that her next single would be another anthem. She’s delivered with the dance-inducing ‘Queenish’ and simultaneously reaffirmed her status as one of Ireland’s most exciting pop stars. Speaking on Instagram about the colour palette around her new single Soulé said, “The colour orange represents warmth and excitement. After ‘Love Tonight’ I wanted to keep the theme of having a colour go hand in hand with my songs.” Continuing the Diffusion Lab artist explained more about the new track saying, “The song is about being a boss independent powerful woman. All these things describe my mom. She was the inspiration for this song”. [via District Mag]
Bittersweet or perhaps deceivingly sublime? Tragicomic? Is that anything? Needless to say, it can be difficult to perfectly capture the highs and lows that make up much of Gen Z's defining juxtaposing mood shifts. And few arguably do this better than chloe moriondo, an artist who stakes their claim on effortlessly wrapping all their anxieties and frustrations in a euphoric sonic bow. Joined by fellow enviable up-and-comer mazie, 'not okay' sees moriondo reveling in the joy of being anything but okay. Over whimsical production flourishes that betray the underlying sense of melancholia, moriondo and mazie trade verses on everything from potential sexual innuendos, losing friends, to existential dread. The entire affair plays out with an infectious degree of emotional sincerity, leaving you unsure if you're meant to dance, cry, or do a bit of both. Speaking on the collaboration, moriondo commented, "I love mazie so much, I'm so grateful to be a part of this song!! It's really perfect and I connect with Grace [mazie] so much, so this collab felt perfect :')." mazie added, "Working with Chloe on 'not okay' was such a dream. This was my first time getting to work with another artist and Chloe is a literal shining star. We had so much fun. I really enjoyed writing the song - I think everyone has been going through being not okay and I hope people find company in knowing that we aren't okay either." 'not okay' is a lot of things. It's an unexpected but welcomed collaboration from two of our favorite artists in the bittersweet pop space. It's an earworm of a song guaranteed to find a place in your head and your heart. But most of all, it's a salient reminder that not being okay is part of the human experience, and whether you find yourself laughing, crying, or dancing through the pain, we've all been there. [via Ones to Watch]
