[Watch] Wrabel - "11 Blocks" (Lyric Video)

stolen from Wrabel's Instagram, taken by the also incredibly talented Mr. Hudson

I was honestly getting worried for a moment there that we'd never hear from Wrabel again after his debut EP. Turns out fam just needed a moment to find himself.

As you recall from my live encounter with him almost 2 years ago, the kid's pipes and overall presence stuck with me more so than the EP I stumbled across on Rdio (RIP) on a random New Music Tuesday. That said, it's important to remember that just because you have excellent songwriting skills and a powerful voice doesn't mean you're a qualified producer, arranger, etc. Kid had to find the sound that was the most himself.

"I Want You" clearly taught him that he doesn't want his fans to sit still, but our friend with his small tuff of curly goldie locks knew that it wasn't *just right* yet. 

Enter: "11 Blocks", which just dropped today. Not an EDM anthem, but not solely a piano pounder either. It's just right because it's finally him, all the way down to the hand written lyric video complete with his signature doodles one could find on his Instagram (or his body for that matter) at any given moment.

No more auto tune or chest rattling bass, just an authentic representation of his talents carefully crafted together with the help of some people who took the time to invest in his talents the way that we should be doing with every single artist we choose to get behind.  

Every artist should be able to say, "it's me. it feels like me." with every single thing they put out. I'm very excited that you all are able to finally see what I was able to see for myself on September 10th, 2014 at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2. 

💖YAY WRABEL!💖 

Now that you've fallen in love DON'T FORGET TO, YOU KNOW...

GO BUY IT. 

(Also, you should follow him on Snapchat because his #content is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 I am just saying.) 

[Listen] Special Q - Play A Part EP (Full Album Stream)

Soundcloud submissions are always a crapshoot, but man did I hit the jackpot with Special Q!!! Yes, I just used three exclamation points! That's how excited I am about this! 

When I was in college I have this distinct memory browsing around the Tower Records in downtown Nashville when I came across the first VHS or Beta record, Le Funk. The packaging was fairly low-key except for this sticker on the jewel case that said, "The French stole our disco and we stole it back."

That sticker is what came to mind the second I hit play on Special Q. It's been a hot minute since I've given anything nu disco a shot, but this Venice, Italy-based producer has sure as hell stolen my attention. 

AND HE'S GINGER! 

That feels like a unicorn to me. I can't think of any Italian redheaded producer/DJs off the top of my head, can you? I mean that's not relevant to the fact that there are some serious ass vibey disco jams going on here. I will likely follow up with more selects from his current catalog, but for now, you definitely need to check out his Play A Part EP that dropped earlier this month on So French Records. "Summer Love" is just BEGGING for Poolside to give it their own retouch. I am going to be spending some quality time with Special Q and I hope you do the same. 

[Night Out] Jesse Ruben @ Gramercy Theatre (04/18/2016)

Holy crap, I know what Jesse Ruben looks like not performing at any of the multiple Rockwood Music Hall stages now! After releasing his latest single, "This Is Why I Need You" late last year, the homey is gaining momentum at a nice pace. In addition to hopping about on The Hype Machine charts, he's also been romping around in Europe over the past couple of months playing shows.

Last week, I got to see him charm the pants off of a crowd in Gramercy Theatre that was very eagerly waiting to see American Idol season 8 winner Kris Allen. Jesse is charming as fuck, let's be very clear on this. Fortunately he's as talented as he is charming. Dude had that crowd wrapped around his little finger by the end of his set. There was even a nice swarm of fans, presumably old and new, lined up to meet him after the show. I guess I'm normally navigating to one of the bars to get more wine when this part happens at Rockwood, so it was adorable to finally witness. 

Don't worry though, I know how to make sure to keep Jesse feeling humble. All I had to do was pretend to be one of the overzealous future #teen fans that will inevitably fall for him and want to add him to their Snap stories. He did not know how to handle that at all, lolol. Fam is a little skittish around social media, but I will break him into it, best know. 

[Night Out] VOWWS, Night Club, & Winkie @ Baby's All Right (04/16/2016)

OUR DARKLING CHILDREN CAME TO VISIT US!

As you may or may not know, SKOA has been long time supporters of the glorious gloomy duo that is VOWWS. We've endured all the name changes. We reluctantly watched them pack their bags and head to LA, where they finally hit a nice streak of luck that they rightfully deserve. Now we also make sure to show up every time they're in NYC and wave our figurative pom-poms in support. This time I even brought home made chocolate chip cookies for them. Gotta make sure the kids are eating on tour even if it's just cookies!

Swear to god, the day this all finally comes together for them (which it most certainly will), I'm going to be that mother in every movie ever dabbing her eyes with with a handkerchief blubbering about how proud I am of them. It hasn't even been that long since the last time we saw them and already they're infinitely tighter than I've ever seen them. They also managed to look even more like they just left the after after party in hell. I mean this in the most loving way possible, obviously. 

Not only did our prodigal children come home to Baby's, but they brought a couple of their fun friends from LA with them! Night Club were super retro-dancetastic and fun, although I do worry about singer Emily Kavanaugh's knees from all that sliding around. Hopefully she took her own advice and got some knee pads. 

It was also very nice of Brooklyn's Winkie to spend some time out of the graveyard that it seems they've been living in to come open the show. Sprout was particularly enamored with singer Gina's black veil, which we learned courtesy of Instagram that it was made possible by Brooklyn designer Amy Lehfeldt. I forget that all the gloomy kids didn't abandon us for Los Angeles. I will have to make it a point to see Winkie again very soon. 

VOWWS ARE COMING BACK THROUGH BROOKLYN THIS SATURDAY AT AVIV SO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE AND COME DANCE IN THE DARK WITH US. 

[Night Out + Interview] Austere Magazine Issue #17 Launch Party featuring Sam Lao @ Roll Gate Studio (04/09/2016)

Remember that "not #squad but gang" I rolled with to Humans? The majority of those crazy kids were all Texans who are part of a really beautiful magazine called Austere. They trekked out to Bushwick all the way from Dallas to throw a party for the 17th issue called URL/IRL, which HELLO is kind a little too fitting for yours truly to attend. In addition to various pieces curated together by Baby Art Gallery, one of my (now) new favorite experimental hip-hop artist, Sam Lao, also from Dallas, performed that evening. 

Do you know Sam Lao? You should know Sam Lao. Especially if you're the type at person that feels you should never take shit from anyone who tries to discriminate against you for your race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. and that we all should be treated equally as humans. 

I'd say she champions for equality, but really she's a feminist warrior. I was made known of this within the first 2 minutes of her set when she opened with the first track off her latest album, SPCTRM, "Reminder (Bitch I'm Me)", when she shouted the chorus, "Bitch I'm me! Bitch I'm me! Fuck what you want me to be!"

Um, SWOOOON. 

In addition to being a singer/rapper, Lao touts herself as an alchemist, artist, and an outlier. She started out doing slam poetry in high school, which soon ended after she started college for her BFA in Visual Communications. Unfortunately, during her last semester in college she was forced to drop out because she couldn't afford tuition. "I was a month into the semester," she recounted, "I had already done the first project and I was getting ready [to graduate] and they were like, 'Nope you gotta get out. You haven't paid for it.'" Frustrated by her financial situation, this setback would leave her depressed to the point that she removed herself from all of her creative outlets. "I was doing nothing creatively and it was just like soul wrenching and terrible".

It was through the help of her friends in the music community that Lao was able to pull herself out of her depression by turning to music.  "I always had a love for music but I never felt like I was good enough to pursue it," she explained, "It was just one of those like, 'Oh I'll just keep this little hobby here for myself and it makes me happy." Through some persuasion, she agreed to start writing in the studio with her friends. "[My music] just sort of blossomed from there." she said. In 2013, she released her first EP, West Pantego, to further pull herself out of depression. 

According to Lao, the city of Dallas really took to the EP. "Suddenly I was performing all the time, I had all these shows and people were stopping me at random places [while I was out] to tell me how much they loved my music," she recounted, "So when it was time to make [SPCTRM] there was suddenly pressure there that wasn't in the beginning. That was a process to overcome. There was a lot of perceived outside pressure."

Just as she was wrapping up SPCTRM last fall, an unfortunate event that happens all too often to musicians happened to her: she lost her entire album due to a hard drive crash. "We were in the final mixing and mastering stages when I lost all the tracks," she explained, "Everything was gone. All I had was my lyrics." Over the course of the next 4 months Lao would remake her album from the ground up, complete with new beats and new music. 

While her music is deeply rooted in hip-hop, Lao experiments mixing in various genres of her choosing. She's sampled Carlos Santa, Coldplay, and other artists in her music. "I like to listen to all different genres of music, so experimental hip-hop is a good sphere/little bubble there [to create in]," she said. Lyrically, she writes mostly about the experiences of women and the situations that the majority of women frequently endure. Songs like, "Pineapple"  defiantly remind men that women aren't entitled to womens' bodies with lyrics like, "Don't police my areolas!", while a track like "Gold Link" calls out the absurdity of how taboo it still is for a woman to hit on a man while out at a club. While the subject matter may be forcefully feminist, according to Lao, she typically receives an equal amount of praise from both men and women after her performances. 

I'm not sure when Sam Lao will be back in New York City but you can be assured that when she's back that you will be the first to hear about it. 

Have a listen to her latest album, SPCTRM, below. 

You can have a look at the photos from my night out with the latest addition to the #SKOAfam, Sam Lao, below. 

#NewMusicFriday Guide - 04/15/2016

I wish I could explain to you how my big beautiful brain works when it comes to digging around to finding music. Just be thankful that I'm not afraid to waste a few hours of my day muttering, "This looks interesting! Why not give this a whirl?" before putting random things in my ears. This was a bit of a slow week in terms of new releases. I'm assuming because of Record Store Day that they opted to keep the awesome on the light side of things for the week. 

Don Diablo feat. Dave Thomas Jr. - "Silence" 

On the heels of the announcement that his label , Hexagon, has joined the Spinnin Records family, the homey Don Diablo dropped his latest track, "Silence" featuring Dave Thomas Jr on vocals (no relation to the Wendy's franchise, lol). It's been awhile since Diablo released something this downtempo. If his tracks are normally referred to as "bangers", then this song is most definitely a "stunner".  Oh yeah, go read my interview with him. It's very good if you want to get to know someone really dang awesome. 

Logan Takahashi - NoGeo

If the name Logan Takahashi sounds familiar, it's because he's one half of Teengirl Fantasy. It may also be because I included "Reckr" on this week's diSKOAver weekly playlist. Anyway, I happened to stumble across a preview of the album on Hype Machine last week. This record is very lovely and suits being on Ghostly International based on its subtle elegance. Just play the damn record already. 

Ours - "Stronger" (from the Transformers Roll Out Soundtrack) 

After their last full length, Mercy...Dancing For The Death Of An Imaginary Enemy was released in 2008, I kinda fell off with Ours. I enjoyed Jimmy Gnecco's solo record The Heart a good bit, despite not hitting up any of his Rockwood shows that I've seen in emails in the past year. Speaking of emails, I didn't know that this was going to be on the Transformers Roll Out Soundtrack until I got one about 2 hours ago. It's funny that this is coming to me 2 days after I geeked out spotting him at The Kills show at Warsaw.

Anyway, hi everyone. Jimmy Gnecco has a voice that should make him a household name. This is a good song. I know he's got some shows coming up at Rockwood soon. Sounds like I've got some advanced plans to make. 

Larkin Poe - Reskinned

Yay for Larkin Poe release day! Their single, "Trouble In Mind", was well received amongst those following along the diSKOAver weekly playlist. I haven't spent a ton of time with the record to tell you which songs are my favorite, but if you liked "Trouble In Mind", you aren't going to be let down in the very least. 

Mock Orange - "High Octane" 

If you are an aging emo kid like me, your brain is skimming over the name of this band and is going, "Wait, like that Mock Orange?" Yes, that Mock Orange. As a #teen I REALLY REALLY liked The Record Play. It would appear that with all of the constant reuniting happening that bands we loved a decade ago are feeling a little brave and are coming out of hibernation to see if the internet will help them relocate their old fanbases. I am not upset in the least about this with regards to Mock Orange. "High Octane" is super great and will get you all aboard the hype train for their upcoming album, Put The Kid On The Sleepy Horse, which is out on May 20th. ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT NEW MOCK ORANGE? I'm excited. 

Black Plastic - Black Plastic

Okay so I am going to do more reconnaissance after I wrap up this post, but this was a case of "awesome by association" because Kevin Grady aka Black Plastic is on Cleopatra, which is the same label as VOWWS. I'd actually be curious to hear what those kids would do if they all got together to work on things. Regardless, this has this twinge of industrial that sort of fills the void that Binary left when they broke up. I want to listen to this more before I give it a final verdict, but so far so awesome, you know?  

[Watch] LANY - "WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS (Official Video)"

Have you ever encountered a song that is such a #selfie you find yourself chuckling as you bob and dance around to it because it's just too real? My latest "song #selfie" comes from Los Angeles group LANY. The track, "WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS", now complete with an accompanying video (below), details a Friday night alone consisting of wine and the internet thanks to some [presumably] flakey friends. 

Um, hi. lol. That was mostly me when I first moved to New York and occasionally me now when I think I have a show but I don't. It's funny that the only thing that's changed in 10 years is I went from Sparks to fancy pants wine, but the sentiment is still the same. 

Anyway, I'm fairly certain everyone can identify with this video, which features lead singer Paul Klein awkwardly trying to navigate a party despite being obviously disconnected from all of them. Klein was fortunate enough to pair up with director Nadia Marquard Otzen for the video. “There needed to be vibe but not at the expense of narrative," he said, "I was insanely lucky to work with Nadia on piecing together a concept that delivered both.” 

The band is currently gearing up for the first ever headlining tour in May, which equally surprises me and doesn't that it has already sold out. They'll also be making the rounds at a bunch of festivals, so hopefully you'll luck out seeing them in your town. 

Check out their latest EP, Make Out along with their upcoming dates below. 

LANY On Tour

U.S. HEADLINE TOUR DATES

May 1                    Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour *Sold Out*
May 2                    Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour *Sold Out*
May 10                 Dallas, TX @ The Cambridge Room at House of Blues *Sold Out*
May 11                 Dallas, TX @ The Cambridge Room at House of Blues *Sold Out*
May 12                 Houston, TX @ The Studio at Warehouse Live *Sold Out*
May 16                 Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel *Sold Out*
May 17                 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair *Sold Out*
May 19                 Brooklyn, NY @ The Knitting Factory *Sold Out*
May 20                 New York, NY @ The Marlin Room at Webster Hall *Sold Out*
May 21                 Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live *Sold Out*
May 24                 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge *Sold Out*
May 25                 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue *Sold Out*

FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES
May 14                 Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
May 27                 George, WA @ Sasquatch! 
June 5                   Cincinnati, OH @ Bunbury
June 9                   Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
June 16                 Dover, DE @ Firefly
June 26                 Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest
July 22                   Oro-Medonte, ON @ WayHome
Aug 5                     San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands

[Night Out] HUMANS @ Baby's All Right 04/08/2016

I have only recently become a fan of Vancouver duo HUMANS, but let me tell you, fam, my love is REAL. 

How real? 

1:30am set time real.

Yes, just writing that made me yawn for a second remembering how tired I was the next day. But you know what? MORE THAN WORTH IT! 

It had been awhile since I went to a show with someone, let alone more than just rolling with Sprout. I ended up strolling into Baby's on Friday night with 8 people, not including myself. By my calculations, that was not a #squad, that was a gang. Have you ever tried to herd a gang before? That shit is intense. 

By the time the gang was finally situated inside and ready to dance into the wee hours of the morning, we were promptly informed that the airline misplaced their gear and our earholes would be graced with a DJ set instead of their usual performance. Gotta say, for having to throw something together last minute, you could've sworn that it was the plan the whole time. There was scarcely a motionless booty in the crowd. I like it when New Yorkers stop being too cool to dance. It makes it more fun that way. 

How loud is the @dashumans show rn? Well...

A video posted by [stephanie] kibbe (@heylookitskibbe) on Apr 9, 2016 at 12:08am PDT

I am going to take a moment now and get Rock Mom on everyone about the importance of taking care of your ears when you go experience live music. I am fairly certain that I was the only person amongst all those happy dancing people with earplugs in. It gets LOUD in Baby's. It's was loud enough for the drinks we rested on the side of the stage to SLIDE AROUND because the bass was so heavy. If you want to keep being able to hear all of the wonderful sounds that Humans and other musicians make, please take a minute to invest in a pair of earplugs that you can keep on you "in case of random awesome things" that you might encounter. 

If you have not taken time to get to know Humans, I would highly recommend you doing so. I had admittedly spent more time with their latest Water Water EP and had only given their last LP Noontide one super distracted spin before coming out to the show. Since then, I have discovered that I might love Noontide a little too much because I keep telling people I want to start a religion because of songs like "Cold Soba" and "Watusi". No wonder it got nominated for a Juno. Hnnnnng. 

In addition to a perfomance coming up this weekend at Coachella, the band have a few more dates in North America, so make sure to live your best life and go see them if they're coming to your town. 

You can check out the photos from my night out below. 

Oh did I mention that as soon as their set ended their gear showed up? lol