[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

#NewMusicFriday Guide - 04/08/2016

So. Many. Albums. Are. Coming. Out. This. Month. Seriously. I knew that April was going to be awesome, but not this awesome.

If I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up, I imagine you are, too. Since I already do this on a weekly basis for myself and sharing is caring, here is an overview of what I'm excited about that came out this week: 

Mayer Hawthorne - Man About Town

After venturing out on various side projects, Mayer Hawthorne has returned to his retrofitted swoonerific sound. I'm still confused why there are so many women moaning on this record, but I guess he does have that kind of effect on the ladies, so I'll allow it. Either way, I look forward to spending some quality time with this record. 

M83 - Junk

Everyone on the internet has very strong emotions and opinions about how the followup to M83's 2011 blockbuster of a record, Hurry Up We're Dreaming is supposed to sound. The headlines that I've seen for the reviews of this record indicate that Anthony Gonzalez has made a lot of critics very upset because they didn't get what they wanted. Guys, the record is literally called JUNK. Pretty sure he knew critics were going to thumb their noses at this record. Whatever, I think it's fun...and that's  not just because "Time Wind" features Beck. 

Wildlife Control - Particles

This is a fun kind of album release because there's an ultra neat way to experience it. The brainiac brothers that are Wildlife Control leveraged Instagram's API and coded up their own tool to search and carefully piece together a hundred or so hyperlapse videos from Instagram as a way to take in their record. I actually got to chat with these guys last night at an intimate party to celebrate their record coming out and boy did we get nerdy. That interview will be coming soon. 

Deftones - Gore

Deftones are back! And there was much singing and much rejoicing! There are so many people in my timeline that are SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS RECORD. This includes me. I actually have not kept up with any of the new singles or anything related to this album, so I consider myself kind of hashtag blessed that my first listen of this record is going to be spoiler-free. 

Honne (feat. Izzy Bizu) - "Someone That Loves You" 

Honne fam dropped a new track! If you are part of my Snap fam you got to hear a loud garbled snippet of this track at their Bowery Ballroom show last month. As much as I like the illusion of premium #content, I'll admit that this professional recording is better than my snippet. Also, Izzy Bizu! I need to spend more time with her music. Her vocals on this track are so sensual. Everything Honne puts out makes you want to practice baby making. These are just the facts, fam. 

Digitialism - "Go Time"

This is the fourth track from Digitialism's upcoming album Mirage, which comes out on May 19th. Last week it was on Soundcloud. This week it can be streamed for many micropennies. It is good. #bye

Moving Units - Damage With Care

I am embarrassed because I forgot Moving Units still made music. I took to them very quickly with their debut, Dangerous Dreams, but then they fell off my radar. This is an example of why I'm making this list now. It's just as much for you as it is for me. I have no idea if this is any good, but I really hope it is. They have more albums, too. This might take awhile. Fingers crossed! 

Culture Abuse - Peach

You may have diSKOAvered these guys a few weeks back. If you didn't, bummer for you. Either way their album is out and it's fuzzy lo-fi fun times and I like it a lot. For some reason when I listen to Culture Abuse I'm always fighting the urge to not walk around with that signature Mick Jagger pouty/kissy/duck face everywhere I go. You know, this face. It's okay, I don't know either. Anyway, it's nice feeling like a bratty #teen listening to this. 

What came out today that's got you rushing to your record store or swift to stream immediately? Let me know in the comments below or @ me! 

[Watch] Steady Holiday - "Open Water"

From her forthcoming debut album, Under The Influence, LA songstress Dre Babinski aka Steady Holiday has unveiled the video for her latest single, "Open Water". It's possible that in the recent past you've caught a glimpse of Babinski perform live as she's been in a several LA bands in addition to opening for the likes of Fitz and the Tantrums and Fun.. Since then she's decided it was high time to step out on her own, thus here we are today. 

"Open Water" is equal parts seductive, melancholic, and almost saccharin-level-sweet. In this particular instance, I liken Babinski to a siren who is breathlessly luring us all out into open water, where the depths of our darkest memories could swallow us whole. The accompanying video is just as entrancing as the song itself. 

If you're heading to Coachella for either weekend, Steady Holiday will be performing on both Sundays, so be sure to keep an ear out. LA fam who aren't going to Coachella can catch her at her residency at The Satellite every Friday in May. 

Under The Influence is out June 24th courtesy of Infinite Best Recordings. 

Steady Holiday On Tour
04/17 - Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/24 - Indio, CA @ Coachella
06/06 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite
06/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite
06/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite
06/27 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite

[Night Out] Electric Mantis, Said The Sky, & Illenium @ Highline Ballroom (04/01/2016)

You thought I was done going to shows for the week!

THAT'S ADORABLE! 

How could I POSSIBLY quit my streak when one of my new favorite finds was in town!?

I can't remember exactly what took place that one fine day a few months back on Soundcloud when Anchorage producer Electric Mantis fell into my lap, but I have been vibing out to his tracks ever since. The track that sold me on his abilities was "The One"but i've made sure to spend some quality time rifling through his Soundcloud profile feeling him out.

While he hasn't quite hit his stride of cranking out nonstop bangers yet, I can tell that the homey has just started to find his footing and is starting to dig into his signature sound. Let me be clear: this dude is going places. I mean, the dude has already racked up a few MILLION streams on Soundcloud. (Calm down, that wasn't all me, although I definitely have contributed to those numbers since then.)

Also, remember when like 100k streams per song felt like a huge ass deal? That feels like another lifetime now. #MySpace 

ANYWAY. I had completely spaced on this show. I knew it was coming almost a month ago but the date just got away from me. Luckily, despite it being a sold out show miracles do happen and about a half hour before our hero took the stage I found out I was able to step foot inside Highline Ballroom and confirm my suspicions that he is in fact the real deal. I sadly arrived late to his set because I was camera-less in Bushwick getting shit done with StyleIt, who graciously lent me her camera so I didn't have to double back to Harlem to get mine. It was quite the scramble to get there to make sure I got maximum exposure to someone who is typically 4,500 miles away from yours truly at any given moment.

It was definitely worth all the effort. Despite not including a ton of his original material in the part of his set I was able to catch, I reveled in all of the creative decisions he made. Even in his remixes I could hear the little bits of his personality peppered in. It's not often that a producer's style translates from his original tracks to his reworks this early on, which is why I can confidently infer that we're patiently waiting on a diamond in the rough to get trimmed down and polished with this guy. 

It's admittedly been since the night of the Don Diablo interview that I really spent a full night at an "EDM" show. Even then, I wasn't really... out with "the people", per say. I forgot how many characters will come out of the woodwork to take drugs and dance the night away. 

This show started fairly promptly at 7 though, so the exponential "lit-ness" part was confusing. I did have a few favorite fans from the night. There was the GoPro #teen that was engrossed in getting quality footage of all of the DJs for the night. He was next to a quintessential EDM bro in his baby blue tank top who was rolling like crazy and was convinced I was trying to snap photos of him all night (I did get snap video of how ridiculous he was acting but that's about it). 

I live for this sweet GoPro #teen tbh

And then there was #EDMShey. It's coming up on a year since Sprout and I went across the pond to drink and get in as many hugs with Shey and Kim, so occasionally when I find myself missing one of them I end up running into their doppelganger in some random place. I don't think #EDMShey was on drugs, but man was he high on life. #EDMShey was so happy and danced harder than anyone else in the front row. He noticed that I was trying to capture him as he danced the night away and chose to pause to pose for a snap. 

#EDMShey is bae, but cannot replace actual Shey

I should say that Said The Sky and Illenium both nailed their sets as well, I just wasn't as emotionally invested in them as I was Electric Mantis, who was great. 

Did I mention Electric Mantis is great?

He's great AND he's going to be heading out on his first official tour in May on the west coast! It's going to be great, if you're on the left coast, you should definitely make it a point to check him out. 

You can check out my photos from the show below along with the dates for Electric Mantis' upcoming tour. 

[Night Out] Soundcloud Go Launch Party @ Flash Factory (03/31/2016)

Bob Moses performing at the Soundcloud Go launch party @ Flash Factory 

Last week, one of my favorite music services for stumbling across baby bands, Soundcloud, made an interesting move that I'm honestly very anxious to see how it plays out. The soon to be 9 year old streaming site announced a new offering: a paid subscription service that boasts more tracks along with ad-free and offline listening. To celebrate, they threw quite the fun shindig over at Flash Factory that I had the honor of being invited to. 

The plan for the night was to catch as much of The Saint Johns as I could at Gramercy Theater and then make a run for it to Flash Factory in time to see Jr Jr, who I had been informed would be there, along with A$AP Ferg and Chance The Rapper. 

By the time I managed to get to Flash Factory I could tell from the vibrations outside that I had absolutely missed Jr Jr, which was a major bummer. I hadn't seen them in a few years and was really looking forward to seeing them, especially since I enjoyed their self-titled album they dropped last year. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. 

Something about those vibrations that I could hear sounded familiar as I waited in line to get in. It wasn't A$AP Ferg, who I assumed would be next. "Who is that? Oh, they're playing Bob Moses in between acts. That's cool." As I get closer I noticed that they're playing a lot of the new Bob Moses record, Days Gone By, but it's out of order....and sounds very live. Naturally, I can't help but turn to the person putting my wristband on and exclaim, "IS THAT BOB FUCKIN' MOSES!?"

IT WAS! 

They were a last minute addition to the lineup, which was both awesome and unfortunate. It was awesome for me because I have been *dying* to see them live, but it appeared that other attendees were unaware of their splendor. Don't worry, I made sure to turn to as many people as I could after their set and say, "Yo, not joking, you need to buy/stream/whatever that record as soon as you can and get ready to want to make out to that record for the rest of your life!" That record is dark and sexy as hellllllll. If you haven't heard it yet, you should get on that. 

I was honestly so pleasantly caught off guard by the last minute lineup addition that it just further intensified the rest of the evening. After the Soundcloud co-founders came out and said some heartfelt words about how excited they were for this next chapter of Soundcloud's legacy, A$AP Ferg took the stage and got the crowd riled up and ready for Chance the Rapper to spit some crazy amount of fire. His performance was further heightened for me as I was conveniently standing next to a gentleman who was apparently one of his biggest fans. Actually, everyone around me were all genuine music fans, which doesn't happen often when you're in VIP. But that's why Soundcloud is great, because they actually employ big music fans. It was nice because we all collectively geeked out together throughout the evening.

I actually ended up going out with a few of them after the party was over. It was a late night out, but it was a great night out for sure. 

You can peep my photos below. I will be giving Soundcloud Go a whirl in the next few days and will report back with my thoughts on that as well, so keep an eye out for that. 

[Night Out] The Saint Johns @ Gramercy Theatre (03/31/2016)

With such a plethora of music happening in NYC at any given moment it's often overwhelming to attempt to squeeze in as much awesomeness as possible. Lucky for me on Thursday night I was able to make time for former Florida fam The Saint Johns' set at Gramercy Theater before beelining it to the Soundcloud Go launch party at Flash Factory. 

The Saint Johns aren't *actually* Florida fam in the sense that we all knew each other as we were growing up in Florida (them in St. Augustine while I was in Orlando). I simply consider us to be kindred spirits because we all have had stints in Florida, NYC, and Nashville, the only difference being they went from NYC to Nashville and I did the opposite. At any rate, Nashville suits them well as they performed cuts from their latest album, Dead of Night, which turns a month old today. 

It was a good warm up show for the night I was about to have, that's for sure! Have a peek at the photos from the show. If you're not in NYC, the band is currently still on the road, so scroll down just a little bit more to see if they'll be in a city near you soon! 

The Saint Johns on tour w/ Judah & The Lion
4/5 - St Louis, MO - Off Broadway
4/6 - Fayetteville, AR - George’s Majestic Lounge
4/7 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
4/8 - Austin, TX - The Parish
4/9 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live Studio
4/13 - Waco, TX - Common Grounds
4/14 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom
4/15 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
4/16 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre
4/19 - San Diego, CA - The Loft
4/20 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
4/21 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
4/22 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
4/24 - Eugene, OR - Hi-Fi Music Hall
4/26 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex

[Night Out] YAK @ Berlin (03/30/2016)

Sometimes I don't want a big fancy show where I'm singing along with 700+ other people smart enough to like the same artist as me. 

Sometimes I just want to sweat and have some sassy guitarist randomly fling himself in the middle of a crowd and almost knock me on my ass in the process. 

This was the case with last Wednesday night at Berlin. As a #teen this was a regular occurrence for me, so where some people would get really irritated to have someone fling their entire bodyweight in your direction or get sprayed by a bottle of water, but these kinds of shenanigans leave me squealing in delight. 

Fresh off their stint at SXSW, London's noise-rock trio YAK has thrashed their way around North America and directly into my heart. As soon as singer Oli Burslem wandered onto the stage with his pants and belt undone yelling about how he just needed to take a piss before they started their set, I immediately knew that I would need to be on high alert for the next 30something minutes of my life or else I might get kicked in the head or something of that nature. 

YAK are as playful as they are loud. Burslem made sure to multitask his beer breaks, occasionally playing guitar using his beer bottle or enabling the occasional sip for drummer Elliot Rawson like he was giving a baby some milk. This was before the occasional thrash about into the crowd, which sent other folks snapping photos into a frenzy every time.

The nice thing about being a band who doesn't give a fuck is if you feel like playing a song over because you think you could do it better the second time around, you just do it. This was an added bonus for me considering of all of their songs I attempted to learn as quickly as possible, my favorite is "Victorious (National Anthem", which is the one that received the special do-over treatment. 

YAK's debut album Alas Salvation will be dropping on May 14th, courtesy of Octopus Electrical. Be sure to have a look at my photos from the show below to see all the fun you missed out on / prepare yourself for awesomeness for when they roll into your city! 

YAK ON TOUR

Apr 7       Amsterdam Paradiso w/The Last Shadow Puppets
Apr 15      Festival Printemps de Bourges
May 11      Birmingham The Rainbow
May 12      Sheffield Bungalows & Bears
May 13      Glasgow Stereo
May 14      Manchester Deaf Institute
May 15      Leeds Brudenell Social Club
May 17      Reading Purple Turtle
May 18      Bristol The Exchange
May 19      Leicester Cookie
May 20      Southampton Joiners Arms
May 21      Oxford The Bullingdon
May 24      London Dingwalls
May 26      Paris Point Ephemere
May 28      Lille La Peniche
May 29      Gent Big Next Festival
May 30      Nijmegen Merleyn
May 31      Amsterdam Paradiso
Jun 1         Hamburg Molotov
Jun 3         Nimes This Is Not A Love Song
Jun 4         Clermont-Ferrand Europavox
Jun 30       Garorock Festival
Jul 2          Eurockennes
Jul 7          Lyon Les Nuits De Fourviere

[Watch] HUMANS - "Water Water"

I have been hypnotized by Vancouver outfit HUMANS' latest track, "Water Water" for the past couple of weeks now. You may have enough noticed how I low key included it in last week's diSKOAver weekly playlist, all 9 minutes and 47 seconds of its sexiness. Now the song (the radio edit of it anyway) has a video, which is mostly just an ad for these baller jackets that feature the artwork from last year's album, Noontide, which is currently up for a Juno for Best Electronic Album. I should make myself clear that when I say baller I mean this on multiple levels. In addition to looking really awesome, you literally have to be a baller to afford one at it's actual retail price of $600. Oof. The band admits that the jackets are, "'spensive" but hopes that you will pony up because co-founder Peter Ricq apparently has a crush on the girl who embroiders these baller jackets, so "by ordering this jacket you are likely being a great wingman / winglady."

For those of you who are at SXSW sipping margaritas while having a skim here, the band will be performing a handful of shows throughout the week so if you are free during any of the times during the flyer below be sure to check them out. For everyone else, the band will be heading out on tour in support of their new EP Water Water, which just dropped via Mom + Pop. Obviously I will be at Baby's because I love myself, so be sure to say hi if you're there, too! 

HUMANS TOUR DATES

March 25 - Celebrities - Vancouver

March 26 - Velvet - Toronto  

April 7 - Underground Arts - Black Box - Philadelphia

April 8- Baby's All Right - Brooklyn, NY

April 9- Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge

April 26 - Schubas Tavern - Chicago

April 27 - Soda Bar - San Diego

April 28 - The Echo - LA

April 29 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco 

April 30 - Barbosa - Seattle