[SONG OF THE DAY] NVDES - "Mind Body Soul Music"

Alright Monday LET’S GOOOOOOO!

Last week LA’s NVDES announced that on November 2nd he’ll be releasing his debut full length album, Vibe City Utah. On the heels of the announcement he also released the 2nd track from VCU, “Mind Body Soul Music”. Like previous NVDES releases, “Mind Body Soul Music” is bursting at the seams with its unique brand of erratic indietronica. Almost instantaneously the song goes barreling through your eardrums at 100 miles a minute. It’s the perfect amount of energy to launch you into the work week full of all the right vibes.

Be sure to keep an eye out this week for the first of eleven total visuals to accompany the upcoming album. Also you can head over to his site to pre-order Vibe City Utah, there are plenty of options to choose from based on your level of fandom.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Mellowdrone - "Let It Out"

I would apologize for the Bojack season 5 binge that delayed me getting to today’s SOTD, but considering the depth of the subject matter for both the series and Mellowdrone’s latest single from their upcoming EP, 3, I’d say it’s pretty kismet that I decided to pour myself into both of these things today.

Enough Bojack! I’m so glad that Mellowdrone is back! Admittedly I’ve been a more committed Big Black Delta fan, but it’s very exciting to see frontman Jonathan Bates going back to this project along with his bandmates guitarist Tony DeMatteo and drummer Brian Borg.

Other things I’m really excited about: Jonathan Bates is sober!🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙌🏻

You can’t see me right now, but I’m waving invisible pom-poms so hard right now after writing that last sentence. Bates has hinted at his relationship with alcohol on Big Black Delta material in the past, but apparently has made the decision to get clean and put a priority on himself. I couldn’t be happier for him.

As he starts this new chapter of his life, “Let It Out” is his opportunity to explore what it means to be a man. As he told Buzzbands.LA, “[…]Being raised as a male in my generation, you’re never allowed to show feelings.” In “Let It Out”, however, Bates is doing the exact opposite, specifically in the chorus where as he described there’s, “[…]a group of people operatically crying and a dude is saying, ‘Just let it out,’” 

I will point out that of the three Mellowdrone songs we’ve been blessed with this year that you can smell some Big Black Delta fumes on this one, which I actually think was a very beautiful conscious choice. Within the first few seconds you’re ears perk up due to some familiar sounds from whoRU812, a record meant to be the final purge of art he created in response to his father passing away. It’s not lost on me that after making an ambient instrumental album and then switching to a different project where he very candidly opens up that somewhere we’d find traces of what will likely be his ongoing mourning.

Bates has actually been at the top of my mind a lot lately because my father passed away in July. Knowing that such beautiful things like Trágame Tierra, whoRU812, and now these new Mellowdrone songs can be the product of such deep loss has been very comforting for me, which is part of why I’m so happy that Bates is doing better.

Thankfully we don’t have long to wait for the 3 EP, it’s dropping on September 26th. In the meantime, if you’re having a much needed self-care Sunday, spend some time with this much needed three minutes and fifty-nine seconds of taking care of yourself this evening.

[SONG OF THE DAY] SAKIMA - "Holy Water"

photo credit: Anna Partington

Our first taste of SAKIMA’s upcoming full length, Project Peach, dropped yesterday, which means your Saturday is about to get hella sexy. In true SAKIMA fashion, “Holy Water” is a come-to-Jesus (heh) moment between lovers. It’s a beautiful moment of vulnerability all the while maintaining a sense of self-worth. You can’t be more up front with someone than saying, “So if you make me love you like I think you are then boy, I’m fucking sacred, better treat me like I’m holy water”. Even though I’m of the opinion that SAKIMA could sing the phonebook and I’d be on board with it, if this level of intimacy is what we’ll be getting for this upcoming album, it’s going to be just peachy.  🍑

[SONG OF THE DAY] Tom Aspaul - "Going Down"

Photo by Alice Rainis

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It’s the best day of the weeeeeeek! I am happy to alert you to one of the best humans to ever grace the internet. Today London’s Tom Aspaul released his latest single, “Going Down”, a catchy little number surprisingly enough about dealing with grief and depression. He’s really crafted a perfectly pain-filled pop song, the kind of tune that makes you do a double take at what he’s actually saying because you get lost in the poptastic production. I’m one for dancing my problems away and this is going to be one I reach for from now on when I’m having one of those days.

If this is your first taste of Tom, please make sure you get well acquainted with the variety of music projects he’s been a part of.

Also, love yourself and follow him on Instagram. I live for his IG story bubble to come up and I know plenty of friends who stan equally as hard for them.

[SONG OF THE DAY] St. Lucia - "Bigger"

Even though I’m in bed battling what feels like it could be a cold my heart is so full today.

You guys, last night I finally got to see St. Lucia live! 😍🙏🏻💖✨

Unbeknownst to me, I am apparently amongst the top listeners of St. Lucia on Spotify. Jokes on them, because I’m just now looking at my #data on Last.fm and based on the time period that I listened to them most I probably listened to them the most on Rdio (RIP) than I have on Spotify. At any rate, I got invited to a #SpotifyFansFirst event last night where they played their upcoming album, Hyperion, in the background while we snacked and drank for a bit and then played a set full of old favorites and newer nuggets we will be obsessing over in the coming weeks.

Of all the new tracks they played, “Bigger” (which dropped last week) by far encompasses everything that I have grown to love about this band in the past 7 years. There’s something so undeniably heartwarming about Jean Grobler’s voice on it’s own, but the music itself is always ethereal and expansive, as if it were impossible to contain the notes because they just dissipate into the atmosphere. When you factor in the genuinely heartfelt lyrics on this song, well, “Bigger” is just one of those songs that when you hear it you’re briefly concerned that your heart might float out of your chest.

It was truly a magical night and playful streaming-related shade aside I’m very grateful that Spotify facilitated me being able to see one of my favorite bands.

Hyperion drops next Friday (September 21st) as does their extensive tour starting at the Pier 17 rooftop here in NYC. You can see the full routing for their tour over on their website.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Jaded - "Young"

It’s been a little over a year since I casually slipped UK indie electro-pop trio Jaded in diSKOAver weekly with their breakout hit, “In The Morning”. Since then, I’ve followed along with these dope dudes on Instagram, who have been responsible for me laughing to myself like an idiot on the subway no less than twice. It’s only fitting that they would release a song like, “Young” last week, as it’s *almost* as playful as they are. Almost. This is hands down the care-free anthemic song you need in your life. It’s the perfect microdose of escapism that you need amidst the chaos of everyday life.

Fair warning though: if you’re walking around while rocking this jam you might find yourself pouting, shimmying, and mouthing the words in front of strangers at a crosswalk or something.

Not that I am speaking from experience. 😳

[WATCH] Moritz Simon Geist Makes Techno With Music Robots

Hey! Wanna see something that will break your fucking brain? 

I have had to sit on this video for an entire week and basically since I saw it I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. 

My two favorite things have collided courtesy of Moritz Simon Geist, an electrical engineer turned musician based in Germany. From his upcoming debut EP, The Material Turn (out on October 12), please feast your eyes and ears on his first offering, "Entropy", which I am having trouble not watching for the 30th time while writing about this. For this EP, Geist has built robots to act as his musical instruments to make techno music. As in, there are no synths or traditional instruments involved (unless you count the "drone guitar," which is essentially a motor attached to an electric guitar). 

Robots. Making. Techno.

CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!? BECAUSE I CANNOT!

I think the thing that I love the most about this is how he's managed to bring a deeply tangible aspect into electronic music through this project. As the music making process becomes increasingly simplified, the performance aspect, especially in electronic music, has a problem of essentially being a table, a laptop, and confetti cannons/LED screens/etc. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dance party, but I feel like a lot of times we take the craftsmanship that goes into these records for granted because the only way to make a live show interesting is to add pyrotechnics. I am now more upset than I was previously about not making it to Moogfest this past year because I would KILL to see this live. I know I'd be conflicted about dancing to this because I'd be taking my eyes off him tuning a robot who plays water glasses. Or would I be more entranced watching little styrofoam balls pulsating through a cylinder as a "pneumatic hi-hat" of sorts that I'd forget to dance? I DON'T KNOW BUT I WOULD LOVE TO FIND OUT! 

okay imma stop talking now WATCH THIS!!

Now that you're obsessed too, you can go pre-order this EP over on Bandcamp. There's also a full-length (!!!!) coming November 16th that's appropriately titled Robotic Electronic Music. Meanwhile, if you want to see how some of these dope robots are made, you can watch the below behind the scenes video. 

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! 

[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Monster (feat. Jamie Lidell)"

I. Am. So. Happy. These. Dudes. Collaborated. Again. 

Y'all remember the awesomeness that was "Clean" off of Big Data's 2.0, which featured vocal stylings of now Nashville-based powerhouse Jamie Lidell. Well the two have teamed up to REALLY own the Black Mirror pop genre that I playfully invented when "See Through" materialized a few months back. I happened to be starting in on the mini stack of books that Big Data mastermind Alan Wilkis has been casually recommending via his Instagram stories, starting with his #1 recommendation: Life 3.0 Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence  just as "Monster" dropped on Friday. 

Y'all.

The second I got to the chorus of "Monster" I couldn't grab that book fast enough. First of all, I was covered in goosebumps because this first person narrative as sung by Lidell is the kind of story that technologists everywhere : creating technology that we later deeply regret because it ends up being really harmful to mankind. We are definitely living in peak "just because we can make it, SHOULD we make it?" era right now. It's very obvious (and honestly really comforting) that Wilkis has spent a great deal of time pondering this about various technologies we're semi-normalizing in culture and giving us plenty to reconsider before blindly believing that every technological advance is inherently good for us. 

Suffice it to say, every second that I have downtime I am reading that book. Already two chapters in I'm already starting to gain a deeper understanding of the concerns Wilkis' has. It's made me hope that other Big Data fans get curious and equally concerned about our future. 

We're currently 3 songs deep into 3.0's album cycle with no concrete release date in sight, BUT our favorite data driven dude will be hitting the road as he headlines the Sirius XM Alt Nation tour starting in mid-October, so my Kibbe-sense says we'll probably have the whole shebang by then. 

Also in 310 pages I will be making our impending interview official, so know that's coming too. 

BIG DATA Tour Dates:

October 14th - Shelter - Detroit, MI

October 15th - HiFi - Indianapolis, IN

October 16th - Chop Suey - Chicago, IL

October 18th - Rumba - Columbus, OH

October 19th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Cleveland, OH

October 21st - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT

October 22nd - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA

October 23rd - Foundry - Philadelphia, PA

October 24th - Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY

October 25th - Songbyrd - Washington, DC

October 27th -  Underground - Charlotte, NC

October 28th - The Cowan - Nashville, TN

October 30th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Dallas, TX

October 31st - Bronze Peacock @ HOB - Houston, TX

November 1st - Antone’s - Austin, TX

November 2nd - Lowbrow Palace - El Paso, TX

November 4th - Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ

November 5th - Voodoo Room @ HOB - San Diego, CA

November 6th - Resident - Los Angeles, CA

November 7th - Chapel - San Francisco, CA

November 9th - Dante’s (Take Warning) - Portland, OR

November 10th - Chop Suey - Seattle, WA