[SONG OF THE DAY] The Scribes - "Righteous (feat. Leon Rhymes of Too Many Ts)"

still taken from The Scribes - “Righteous” video

It’s VIBE O’CLOCK ON FRIDAY FAM AND HERE WE GOOOOOO.

Hot off the presses comes the lead single from Bristol hip-hop trio The Scribes. “Righteous” is our first taste from their forthcoming LP, Quill Equipped Villainy, and features one of our bruvs from another mum, Mr Leon Rhymes of Too Many Ts.

Along with the bouncy single full of throwback vibes the band has shared an accompanying video which features the group (and Leon) as various characters of “righteousness” *best Stefon voice I can muster* this video has everything. A shamanic medicine man wandering the woods and healing the infirm, a door-to-door preacher passionately preaching the gospel of hip hop, a voodoo witch doctor exorcising demons, and even a vicar presiding over a wedding ceremony with an unusual amount of swagger.

Quill Equipped Villainy drops later this year.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Christinna O - "Lay It Down"

Photo Credit: Shabnam Ferdows

Philly-based poet-turned-singer Christinna O has shared the second offering from her upcoming EP, Girl In Passing. “Lay It Down” is about intimacy. Speaking on the song, she explained, “It's a choice and a permission, to let someone else know that they are welcome and they are the one I’m ready to lay down my burdens with. To feel valid in my vulnerability but ultimately, love." The song follows her debut single, “Shelter”, which focused on the complicated pain of a passion of love being taken for granted.

A rare queer voice in R&B, the 19-year-old is also a rising spoken-word poet who's competed in the NAACP's national slam poetry competition and leads Temple University’s poetry collective Babel, a tight-knit group of poets, rappers and musicians at the school where she’s a sophomore.

Girl In Passing is due this spring.

[SONG OF THE DAY] La Bouquet - "Sad People Dancing"

Earlier this week LA trio La Bouquet shared the video for their latest single, “Sad People Dancing”, which is also the title track from their forthcoming debut LP that drops on March 29th. The band consists of Bryan Sammis (formerly of The Neighbourhood), Jake Lopez and Drew Bruchs. Following “Names Like Songs”, this new track is a beautifully sad synth-pop number that will have you dancing it out, tears and all.

The band is slated to perform on March 30, 2019, in Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones to celebrate their album release. They’re also confirmed to perform at The Hi Hat in LA on April 4th. Additional tour dates are forthcoming.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Royal Teeth - "Show You What I Can Do"

Today synth rockers Royal Teeth unveil their dopest flex to date, “Show You What I Can Do” along with the accompanying video. If we’re to interpret the the momentum that we’re seeing from the band, I feel like we all need to brace ourselves for what they’ll release next. Last year the band released tracks, “Never Gonna Quit” and “It’s Just The Start”, which build from determined to reassuring. This new track is explosively assertive and has the chops to back up that the band clearly has some tricks up their sleeves that they haven’t shared with us yet. The track also features the sensational NPR darling and Flint-native Tunde Olaniran, who brings his signature flavor to the song. 

Speaking on the track, singer and guitarist Gary Larsen of Royal Teeth shared, "The song is about showing the world what you're made of. We tend to hide pieces of ourselves because we are afraid of negativity, and I've noticed from my own experiences that it only holds me back from truly being myself and achieving my goals in life. This song is saying that it's time to be brave and be yourself."

The aforementioned accompanying video itself is reflective of the band’s current energy. With singer Nora Patterson staring as an aspiring race car driver and bandmates cheering her every step of the way, Patterson trains in her “Underdog” car before *spoiler alert* crushing her competition.

Larsen added, "My Dad is a race car driver and I used to go a lot as a kid. When we started thinking of ideas for the music video, I became obsessed with using the race track as the location, and from there, we brought the idea to life with the help of Solar Cabin, Tunde Olaniran, and the Whitlow family. My dad is even in the video as Nora's coach, and Nora is driving his car "Underdog". A fitting name for the song and for this band."

ROYAL TEETH LIVE

4.13 New Orleans, LA - French Quarter Festival

4.28 New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

[SONG OF THE DAY] San Scout - "Science"

Lovely London lads San Scout are back with a brand new single, “Science”.

Yes, every time I’ve played this track I’ve thought of this:

Following up their previous track, “Soap”, which contrary to the belief of certain outlets isn’t entirely about personal hygiene, this new song is about the frustration that comes with reclaiming your sanity. Speaking on the track, the duo explained, “We wanted to make something that was aggressive - again, to juxtapose that sedentary lifestyle.”

I wish I could sound this lovely when I get aggro. Maybe I need to head to The Pharmacy and see if there are any clues on perfecting this for myself. Have you peeped that little immersive world of theirs yet? It’s def worth a look around, if only to find their phone number so you can text them really nice things.

Speaking on texting these dudes, working on an interview in the coming week so keep an eye out for that.

Okay one more time for good measure:

You love me. Admit it.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Yuksek - "I Don't Have A Drum Machine"

On Friday my most favorite Frenchie, disco-house producer Yuksek released his latest track, “I Don’t Have A Drum Machine”, which is his first release on Classic Music Company. In true Yuksek fashion, he’s carefully crafted a timeless disco delicacy that is effortlessly cool. Apparently I am the only person on the internet that cares to know the nitty gritty on this track’s most prominent feature, which is the voiceover that Yuksek utilizes to gradually layer on more dancetastic elements. The voice of the OG drum machine is none other than Philly disco soul drummer Earl Young (of The Trammps fame) explaining his four on the floor drum beat that created the recognizable disco drum beat we all know and love. Apparently this track was originally previously available on the internet as part of a Recover Re-Edits compilation via Yuksek’s label Partyfine that features the likes of Jean Tonique, CLAAP, and Santana. You can check out all of that over on the Partyfine Bandcamp.

YUKSEK LIVE

02 mar: Washington / Flash
03 mar: San Diego / CRSSD fest.
08 mar: Queretaro / Basis sound lab
09 mar: Mexico city / De Frente fest.
10 mar: Tulum / Gitano
16 mar: Lille / Nuits de la filature

[SONG OF THE DAY] Summer Heart - "Buckle Up"

Summer Heart @ Knitting Factory on February 21, 2019. credit for all photos in this post: William Helms, The Joy of Violent Movement

On Thursday night Brooklyn got some much needed summer sunshine when Swedish sweetie Summer Heart kicked off his east coast tour with analog animal Brothertiger. He kicked off the night with my gateway drug to the world of Summer Heart, “Pretty Haze”, rounding out the night with his latest track (and last song of the #12songsofsummer series), “Buckle Up”. It was a packed crowd full of people who were dancing like it hadn’t snowed earlier in the week, additional layers be damned. With this being my first time catching him, I had hypothesized that there would be mainly two types of attendees at a Summer Heart show and I totally nailed it: there are folks who 1)- happily dance and sway basically the whole time and 2) - those who choose to stand on the sides of the stage, head in their hands while resting their elbows on the stage, who just swoon and sing along in their own version of a pretty haze.

Side note: if there were an award for Musician With The Most Infectious Smile the dude David Alexander would win all day every day. His joy performing is infectious, making the whole experience even more enjoyable than you thought it could be.

East coast fam def don’t miss this tour. Dates below for your convenience. 💖

SUMMER HEART ON TOUR WITH BROTHER TIGER

Feb 23 Norfolk, VA - Charlie's American Café

Feb 24 Greenville, SC - Radio Room

Feb 26 Atlanta, GA - 529 bar

Feb 27 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa

Feb 28 Houston, TX - Continental Club

March 1 Austin, TX - Barracuda

March 2 Dallas, TX - RBC

March 3 Tulsa, OK - Chimera Lounge

March 5 Kansas City, MO - Riot Room

March 6 Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen

March 7 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop

March 8 Columbus, OH - Spacebar

March 9 Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo

March 10 Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA

[SONG OF THE DAY] Miro Shot - "Leaders In A Long Lost World"

Miro Shot (live performers, from left to right): Alex Parsons, Kashman Harris, Jamie Keegan, Roman Rappak, Tom Carter, Hinako Omori, Jay Udo-Udoma, Timothy Han

Today sees the launch of global collective Miro Shot and their debut single, "Leaders In A Long Lost World" along with its accompanying music video, courtesy of AllPoints/Believe. The genre-bending track carefully weaves together a variety of textures, from orchestral movements to delicate synths, all layered atop a bed of pulsating electronic beats. Do not be thrown off from them releasing a single and assume that Miro Shot is a band that just calls themselves a collective to sound cool. One quick glance at the video and you'll see that there is much more to this than just music from the erratic nature of the dazzling visuals that showcase the essence of their live performance as the compilation demonstrates the open source mixed media collaborative ethos at the heart of Miro Shot.

Music is merely the nexus to centralize the group of artists, graphic designers, and coders who flesh out the current roster of the collective and focus them on their primary objective. For the video specifically, the full scope of the collective was utilized, including award-winning VR filmmaker Nicole McDonald, VFX supervisor Haz Dullul, artist and roboticist Charles Aweida, and graphic novelist Oliver Harud. At the helm of the collective is frontman and de-facto leader Roman Rappak. Speaking exclusively with Some Kind of Awesome, Rappak shared the collective's origins, his optimistic outlook that technology will have on our future, and Miro Shot’s aforementioned primary objective.

In 2017, the early members of the collective located a space for them to collaborate in Dalston, which acted as a “lab” of sorts as Rappak would refer to it. It was a place where they could tinker on multiple levels. They developed the early versions of their app for their immersive VR experience, test AR and VR ideas, and also work on music. Feeling eager to put their efforts to the test, they applied for and were awarded a grant by the Dutch government. As Rappak explained, “[The Dutch government] is really into AR/VR events. And we said [to them], “Look, we’re gonna put on a concert that’s like a different take on a normal music show.” In May of that year, Miro Shot premiered a VR show at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Amsterdam. The performance lasted around 8 minutes and the band played to roughly 10 people. As luck would have it, BBC happened to be in attendance. As they would later describe the performance,

“The band became graphic versions of themselves before the audience was suddenly flying over an empty landscape and then a giant blue head of a woman emerged.

The show is designed to appeal to every sense: Electric fans wafted specially-concocted fragrances over the audience. Some people were quicker than others to work out that the event is 360 degrees: It's a good idea to look up or down and turn to see what's behind you.”

After the debut performance, a major visual effects company reached out to offer their services and they began to work on writing more music. “Suddenly we’re in Macedonia recording an orchestra,” Rappak recounted, “Then we were having to learn Cinema 4D and all these different tools that we hadn’t used before.” Since then, the band has continued to perfect their immersive VR show at various locations in Amsterdam, Paris, and London, ranging from galleries, cinemas, theaters, and even squats.

Miro Shot’s focus on technology comes from the collective’s notion that technology makes things better, or in this case specifically, how technology can enhance your appreciation for music. While the public majority views the ever-rapid technological advances as the means to the demise of humankind, Rappak has a more optimistic approach to the onslaught of breakthroughs. “It isn't because there is “too much technology” or because human beings are lazy or evil,” he explained, “It’s because tech is so new and so powerful. We are adjusting to a new world that is being built around us. As much as your phone has more computing power than the computers that sent rockets to the moon, it is incredibly primitive compared to what’s ahead. Not only is it primitive, it is badly designed, it is bad for your eyes and your world view.  But every day it improves.”

“We are adjusting to a new world that is being built around us.”

— Roman Rappak, Miro Shot

As we discussed the inspiration that informed his personal contributions to the music portion of Miro Shot, obvious renowned shows like Mr. Robot and everyone’s favorite techno-paranoia Twilight Zone rework Black Mirror came up. These are not the kinds of futurism-centric art that Rappak gravitates to. “I actually don’t like science fiction that’s really kind of… ‘light saber-y’ *laughs*.” In his mind, these futuristic worlds that are clearly a different timeline from our own make us feel inherently bad about our present because that particular future is essentially unattainable. “I actually like [science fiction] things that feel like they can happen,” he gushed, “Because that’s more optimistic and makes me think, ‘Maybe we’re not fucked!’”

Which leads us to the purpose of the collective’s existence. “War, poverty, pollution are not there because someone evil decided to ruin our day - they are organisational problems,” Rappak explained, “Problems that really well-made technology can help us fix.” As ambitious at it may sound, Miro Shot aims to be a catalyst for impactful change on society by leveraging their network and pool of resources to present a window into a world that could be. They understand that it’s unrealistic to assume they can do it all themselves, but recognize that by showcasing the future’s potential for greatness on a smaller scale, they have the opportunity to inspire action in someone else.

They're literally acting as leaders in our long lost world.

Miro Shot does not end at the current collaborators that worked on the the variety of multimedia elements that one can currently experience, but eagerly encourages newcomers to sign up to be part of the collective on their website. Pre-today’s public launch the collective has amassed around 450 already (including yours truly). You can head to their website to sign up now.

You can also find the band on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.