[SONG OF THE DAY] LEFTI - "Get Right"

VIBE

OCLOCK

FRIDAYYYYYY

OH GOD I’M SO EXHAUSTED BUT WE STILL COMMITTED TO THE GROOVE TODAY HANGOVER AND ECLIPSE + NEW MOON ENERGY BE DAMNED!

Brooklyn bopmaker LEFTI has dropped a brand new track today, “Get Right” and it’s the perfect way to keep the party going on this long holiday weekend. The track features vocals from Los Angeles singer Jane Holiday, who LEFTI co-wrote the track with.

If you happen to know what’s good in the hood, then you’ve already RSVP’d to go hang while he spins at the Cruel Summer party tomorrow at Brooklyn Beer Garden in Bushwick. The plan is to swing by when I get out of work and dance it out a bit, but we shall see.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Close Counters - "HEY!!!"

Melbourne duo Close Counters are prepping to follow up their debut full-length SOULACOSTA with an EP fairly soon. In the meantime the guys have shared another cut from said EP, this one with a fun little story behind it. While creating “HEY!!!” the guys were challenged by friends to set a timer for 20 minutes and to assemble something by completely relying on the visuals from the waveforms and never listening to the sounds. You’d think that this would end up being a big mess, but the result is the fun main loop, which obviously the track is titled from.

So fun, right? Probably not as fun as the final product, but still!

[SONG OF THE DAY] Syrup - "Ride Safe"

lovingly lifted from Syrup’s Facebook

Another day another Aussie baby band to share through, lol

Happened to notice a couple months ago that the Slum Sociable sweeties were bragging on a project that they recently produced. The teaser they shared had piqued my interest enough to keep tabs on this project that was set to launch days later. Enter: brand spanking new Brisbane duo Syrup who you may have caught in diSKOAver weekly early last month with their debut track, “Something To Wear”. The indie pop duo have followed up with another song, “Ride Safe”, taken from their recently announced forthcoming debut EP, The Sponge, which is slated for an August release.

The band is comprised of childhood friends Harry Pratt and Henry Anderson. As the story goes per Gum Magazine, Harry had been working on instrumentals on his own for awhile before reaching out to his friend Henry for feedback, who was studying at the Conservatorium of Music on the Gold Coast at the time. Although Harry was aware of Henry’s outstanding guitar skills, he had never heard him sing before. As you’ll hear from the track below, his voice is lush and exuberant, making the pairing with Harry’s tracks a match made in musical heaven.

Looking forward to hearing how this project continues to take shape. They’ve certainly made one hell of a first impression on me with these songs.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Mayer Hawthorne - "The Game"

photo credit: Yana Yatsuk

Cali-based crooner cutie Mayer Hawthorne is really on a creative spree at the moment and I am ALL FOR IT.

He’s been making the rounds in recent months with new bops from Tuxedo, his project with producer extraordinaire Jake One, but Hawthorne has decided to release some solo music as well. I can’t believe it’s been a little over 3 years since he dropped Man About Town. Time certainly flies! At any rate, his first offering in too many moons, “The Game”, is a slow jam that feels a lot like a more mature version of his Strange Arrangement days. As he’s spent time exploring the depths of his solo sound, it’s simply showcased his vocal prowess all the more. He’s really one of those dudes who can literally sing the phonebook. I’d be like, “ok and how much did you say it was gonna be to have him sing 3 pages of people with K last names? $500? cool I’ll Venmo you now”.

The song is the first of what is supposedly more to come. It’s wild that we’ll likely be getting Tuxedo and solo Hawthorne stuff simultaneously. What a time to be alive! The next Tuxedo album, titled Tuxedo III, will be dropping on July 19th just in time for their upcoming 21-day North American tour. Dude certainly likes to keep himself busy!

[SONG OF THE DAY] Yung Bae - "Bad Boy (feat. bbno$ & Billy Marchiafava)

As of yesterday the future funk sensation that’s sweeping across the nation, Portland’s Yung Bae dropped his latest album, Bae 5. His latest single, “Bad Boy”, has been on repeat a good bit in the week leading up to the release so of course I gotta make sure you have a listen.

Bae enlisted some extra help from rappers bbno$ and Billy Marchiafava to get the party going on this one. You can really tell that the yungest of baes had so much fun making this record. It really comes through on tracks like this one.

If you haven’t snatched tickets yet to his upcoming North American tour, then clearly you’re not into having any fun and imma pray 4 u.

YUNG BAE TOUR DATES

Fri Oct 11 - Austin, TX @ Parish
Sat Oct 12 - Dallas, TX @ Trees
Sun Oct 13 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Tue Oct 15 - Atlanta, GA @Aisle 5"
Thu Oct 17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
Fri Oct 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry
Sat Oct 19 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
Sun Oct 20 - Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
Tue Oct 22 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Wed Oct 23 - Columbus, OH @ Basement
Thu Oct 24 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Fri Oct 25 - Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
Sat Oct 26 - Detroit, MI @El Club
Tue Oct 29 - Kansas City, MO @ RecordBar
Fri Nov 01 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
Sat Nov 02 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
Mon Nov 04 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Thu Nov 07 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
Fri Nov 08 - Vancouver, BC @ Celebrities Underground
Sat Nov 09 - Portland, OR (Night 1) @ Holocene
Sun Nov 10 - Portland, OR (Night 2) @ Holocene

YUNG BAE FESTIVAL APPEARANCES

7/14 @ High Seas West
7/20 @ Camp Bisco
8/2 @ Summer Meltdown
8/30 @ North Coast
9/21 @ Life Is Beautiful
9/29 @ CRSSD
11/17 @ Corona Capital

[SONG OF THE DAY] Joywave - "Like A Kennedy"

Rochester indie pop rockers Joywave have announced that their forthcoming 3rd LP is on the way.

Hell the fuck yes.

While they wrap up the record, the band have released a new single, “Like A Kennedy”.

This is a track that absolutely captivating from the very first second that singer Daniel Armbruster opens his mouth. As he explains, “It's a song about complete exhaustion and media burnout. It's an anti-chaos song.”

Although the choice of words here paint the unsightly picture that is media burnout quite vividly, I’m sure a lot of folks will interpret it to be politically driven as he practically whimpers things like “Do they think they’ll bomb us all?. I don’t know.”, “Do you think they’ll build the wall? I don’t know.”

I believe I am required by law to take as much time as is needed to talk about Daniel’s performance on this song because y’all his choice of phrasing will literally knock the wind out of you if you’re not careful. His voice is notorious for being such a powerful instrument, but his decision to be very tender with these words will punch you right smack dab in the feels. There was a clear decision to be made with these lyrics that they could either demonstrate the chaos that exhausts us all or to deliver one of the most powerful universally relatable songs I’ve heard in a very long time. The latter was undoubtedly the right decision in my opinion as I have been on the verge of tears by the end of this song more times than I’d like to admit since this dropped on Friday. This one really sits deep in your soul. I haven’t been this deeply moved by something in a minute.

Daniel adds, “I don't think people should check out, but I think it's beneficial to at least zoom out and not take the bait every time. It feels like everything is designed to keep us enraged 24 hours a day,

We deserve a little bit of sanity.”

💖

[SONG OF THE DAY] Bronze Whale - "Slowing Down"

Austin duo Bronze Whale have returned after dropping their debut LP, The Shape Of Things with a brand new track, “Slowing Down”. The duo teamed up with Joe Pincus, known to the rest of the world as Aire Atlantica during a writing trip to Los Angeles. In true Bronze Whale fashion where they just keep churning out feel good vibes, the band are prepping to release a remix EP in July. Speaking of remixes, their sneak peeks from that EP might have passed you by, but as per usual I gotchu fam. Def wanna give these a whirl. Charlie Crown’s rework of “Cruising” has this fun new energy that builds quite nicely and Cloudchord’s edit of “Gold Grain” takes the song to a more downtempo/relaxed vibe.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Blood Cultures - "Best For You"

New Jersey’s four-piece anon-act Blood Cultures have returned with their second single from their forthcoming sophomore album Oh Uncertainty! A Universe Despairs, which is slated for a September release. “Best For You” is a hazy hypnotic little number full of glitchy vocal slices sampled throughout. This one’s a definite earworm that has the ability to keep you awake with it ringing through your head even though you only played in a couple of times, and of course I mean that in the best possible way.

The band has very strong convictions about remaining anonymous, which they have detailed in a recent manifesto that they’ve shared (and I’ve included below as well). On the one hand, I totally get their intentions here, but as much as it’s nice to just get really invested in a piece of art, there is a communal aspect of it too when it comes to connecting to the artists who made the thing you like.

Perhaps this is something I should hop on the phone and discuss with them soon. 🤔

THE BLOOD CULTURES MANIFESTO
Our hope is to create genuine, emotive art for individuals to connect with in a unique way. We choose to not publicly reveal any information about the project and ourselves in order to effectively carry out this mission: We believe that disclosing our personalities, politics, alignments, intentions, orientations, etc could detach the listener further from the personal connection that they have made with the music.

We must support and respect the unique truths and individual meanings that the listeners generate themselves from the tracks and the visuals. Art is not what the artist intends it to be, but rather what you make of it. If we are simply the vessels, who are we to take meaning away from something by imposing our own views, biasis, intentions, etc?

We choose to be the blank canvas. We want our listeners to find their own significance in the pieces by looking inwardly and seeking the answers within themselves rather than from us: disclosing the context of the work could shatter the individual’s distinct value of the piece that they have created for themselves. There is only one true meaning, and it is that which the listener has concluded is their truth.

Despite not sharing ourselves in the traditional and physical sense, we instead exclusively share our raw emotional selves by exposing our most personal thoughts, moments, and feelings in the music. Anonymity allows us the freedom to be candid and void of restraint, repercussions and fear. This music is the most personal thing I have ever done, so the relationship we have with our listeners through this channel is an extremely intimate one.

If you feel the music, you understand it, you understand us, and just like that, we are connected. Regardless of our potential differences, we are there together, in the same emotional landscape, through this music. And that is worth preserving.

Though we're seen, we will never be seen: just like you

Though we’re heard, we will never be heard: just like you

Though we're known, we will never be known: just like you

Love,

Blood Cultures