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Nothin But Fuckin Love Songs vol. 4
OH HULLO! ✨👋🏻
How’s my Valentine!?!?! 💘
Yo remember when I had a lot of intense but well meaning things to say about love on Valentines Day when I dropped vol. 2 back in 2021? I just had such a moment looking back at that post now, it’s so beautiful to be able to witness myself at the beginning of this healing journey I’ve been on. I’ve really been committed to making space for everyone to feel loved since I got in the thick of this. (She’s always been such a sweet sweetie! 🥹)
So wild to think of how little space I was actually making for myself in that moment.
It can be really hard to see the love around you, let alone be open to receive all of it. I didn’t realize just how bad I had gotten at receiving love until I was fortunate enough to enroll in yoga teacher training in the fall of last year. During the week when we were covering the heart chakra, we were told we would be doing an exercise where we were going to sit in a circle with our knees touching, hands on our knees, and then have someone sit in the center of the circle. That person was then supposed to make eye contact with you, say something they loved about you, and you were just supposed to take a breath and receive whatever they said while maintaining eye contact.
You had to rotate and have this experience with every single person in the circle.
Yeah.
I remember thinking to myself, “OMG That sounds so uncomfortable. Watch, they’re going to make me go first or some shit.”
THEY TOTALLY FUCKING DID. 😂
Let’s just say thankfully(?) it was just about as overwhelming for everyone else as it was for me. 😮💨 I probably had the most snot on my hoodie tho 😪. It was so fucking sweet. We all got so much closer after that.
I’ll never forget that experience. It’s made me think a lot about how it seems like it’s become just as hard to receive love as it is to feel comfortable asking for it, and not just from other people, but also from ourselves.
I’ve recently started to use love songs as a litmus test to see where I’m at with my relationship with myself on any given day. 🧪 If I catch myself hung up on a song and I’m feeling anxious as a result, I pay attention to how the lover is addressed in the song and show up for myself in that way. When the song goes back to feel good vibes that’s how I know I’ve done my job effectively. It’s a pretty cool concept to experiment with. I invite you to give it a try with your favorite love songs. Alternatively, as per usual, I’ve assembled another stack of songs from my stockpile for my annual offering, so if you’re open to receiving some love from me while you venture inward, amazing. You can also just listen to these and pretend like they’re all for you, too. You know how to love yourself best (or you should anyway), so take all the love you need from these pixels you’re interacting with right now.
Sending you Lots of love, Valentine! 💖
![[SONG OF THE DAY] Whethan (feat. Honne) - "Radar"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671498373402-I55P7319VI9LG92PFHQO/image-asset.jpeg)
[SONG OF THE DAY] Whethan (feat. Honne) - "Radar"
As if Chicago’s Whethan couldn’t be any more of one of my new favorites, he goes and collabs with my HONNE hunnies for his latest track, “Radar”, resulting in vibes that make you feel like you’re getting serenaded to at a rave in the best possible way. HONNE already has what it takes to keep your hips constantly shaking, but then you factor in Whethan’s signature wonky wobbles and heavy bass into the mix, resulting in your body suddenly being unable to sit still for 3 minutes and change. It’s a shame this came out literally at the end of the summer because this song was built for dancing on rooftops until the sun goes down.
“Radar” comes from Whethan’s forthcoming project Life Of A Wallflower Vol. 1. In the spirit of celebrating this project, Whethan has hit the road making the rounds in the US through the end of October. Dates and more info below!
“LIFE OF A WALLFLOWER” TOUR DATES
For more information: http://lifeofawallflower.whethan.com/
Sept 25 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Sept 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Sept 27 – New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
Sept 28 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall
Sept 29 – Columbus, OH @ Skully's
Oct 2 – Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
Oct 3 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
Oct 4 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
Oct 5 – Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
Oct 6 – Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
Oct 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre
Oct 9 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Oct 12 – Seattle, WI @ Showbox SoDo
Oct 13 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Oct 14 – Portland, ME @ Wonder Ballroom
Oct 16 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater
Oct 17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Club
Oct 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
Oct 19 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Oct 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo
Oct 21 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
Oct 27 – Honolulu, HI @ The Republik
[2016 Recap] A Few Of My Favorite Things
bless Topsters for assembling this graphic infinitely easier than prior years
Surpriiiiseee!! I'm going to do my year end wrap up differently than most of the ones I've seen. Mostly because I have so many to share, but mostly because I like to let the music do the talking and help you get better connected to the artists themselves. Instead of recaps of each record, I'm going to point you to my favorite tracks so if any of these are new to your ears you'll have the best starting point I can give you.
Personal Observations for 2016
This was a weird year for me in terms of listening/discovery habits. Instead of fighting against music consumption trends, I decided to play along. I dove head first into my Discover Weekly playlist. I even followed some of my friends' in order to see what I would find and set up an IFTTT recipe to archive everything recommended to me so I could go back and reference it later if I wanted. I barely touched my SKOA inbox, which probably upset a lot of publicists. Anyway, according to Last.FM's data (since Spotify never ended up sending me mine), I listened to 1,919 new artists this year, which is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. But really when you think about how much music Discover Weekly puts in front of you, it's really less than what everyone had the potential to check out (which is 1,560 if you figure we get 30 new tracks a week for a year). I am in the 98th percentile in music listening per Last.FM (meaning I listen to more music than 98% of people who still scrobble to Last.FM) and I found myself panicky and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that Spotify thinks I can get through on TOP of the music I already love and want to enjoy, or the random rabbit holes I end up falling into that typically bring me great new baby bands. I guess most people approach Discover Weekly differently than I do, letting artists come and go as they please, but knowing the transformative power that music possesses, I'm always wary of passing on an opportunity to be affected and share those experiences with others.
It's crazy to think that 20% of what stuck with me this year was randomly generated by The Algorithm and not delivered to me by humans. I almost said that the human delivery was through cosmic forces, but really, if music finds its way to your ears/hearts by friend or by Algorithm, both are cosmic in a way, no?
This is my struggle at present. I value the connection that happens when a humans experience music together, whether it be by recommendation or attending shows together. I worry this experience will continue to be diminished the more we silo ourselves into our algorithm-based echo chambers. I really hope I'm just out of touch and someone will point me to where this is the opposite, but I can't ignore how self-serving shows feel now every time I treat myself to a Night Out. This has been on my heart/mind too much lately to ignore it, so expect some changes to how things go down on the site (starting with making more time for this now that my new job isn't crazy busy for awhile).
What music moved you this year? Did you like some of these records but different tracks? I'd honestly love to know so please drop me a comment. Also if you want more than favorite tracks out of me for these records, feel free to bug me on Twitter I am happy to share!
My Favorite Things Of 2016
#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!
![[Night Out] HONNE @ Bowery Ballroom (3/11/2016)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671499250100-O36VUMM4W4ZI8VPUXTCB/image-asset.jpeg)
[Night Out] HONNE @ Bowery Ballroom (3/11/2016)
photo credit: Liz Morrison
Oh hello there, HONNE fam! Nice to see you again. When last we met these huggable fellows they were keeping us warm on a cold cold night at the Mercury Lounge. Last night, however, Sprout and I witnessed them keep us sweaty on a semi chilly night in a sold out room that is more than double the size: my most favorite of spaces, the Bowery Ballroom. You can tell that they've been touring a good bit since November because they were a lot more at ease than previously witnessed. I guess once you conquer that first show crossing the pond it's hard to feel unstoppable.
Amidst the collective booty shaking I was able to be reminded of how INCREDIBLY AWKWARD it is to accidentally make eye contact with a complete stranger while singing lyrics such as, "we could be getting frisky girl til 3 o'clock in the morning." I've joked previously about their music making me pregnant, but there's nothing like remembering what you're singing along to while making eye contact with a stranger and subsequently trying to visibly chuckle and glance away as quickly as possible.
Near the end of their set the duo debuted their next single, "Someone Who Loves You", which they dedicated to [presumably] a fan named Ricardo who has apparently been having a rough go at it. The single, which prominently featured their fierce backup singer, is expected to be available for the rest of the world to hear in the coming weeks.
I had a nice #rockmom moment during their final number, "All In The Value", when James went to perform his *ahem* HONNE-SOLO (sorry) which prompted an eruption of excited lady screams as he wailed on his guitar. Definitely not the same band I saw less than 6 months ago, that's for sure.
Check out the photos Sprout snapped from last night below. The band has a handful of sold out shows left in North America, so hopefully you'll be at one of them.
Get acquainted with the fellas if you haven't already courtesy of their latest EP.
New #Content Alert: The 'di-SKOA-ver weekly' Playlist
"Play it! Don't you wanna hear what's next?!"
I've noticed that a lot of my friends who use Spotify have developed a new habit. Every Monday morning without fail I watch in my friend feed as they all pour over their Discover Weekly playlists throughout the course of the day. This is all well and good. I'm actually happy to see that my friends in and out of the music business are anxious to find new music to bring them joy.
In terms of what happens post-playlist, though. I'm never really sure. I only really hear about when the magical Spotify-powered algorithm "fails" someone during any given week. I never hear the celebratory "THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE BAND!! THANKS ALGORITHM!!" or "GOING TO SEE MY NEW FAVORITE BAND TONIGHT THANKS TO A PLAYLIST!"
How does one communicate with a playlist/algorithm exactly?
This is where yours truly comes in to play.
Starting today, I'm launching what I will playfully be referring to as the di-SKOA-ver weekly playlist. (You know me and my love of puns! I couldn't help myself.)
This is how I intend to run such a playlist:
- Just like Spotify, once a week the dedicated playlist below will be updated with a fresh crop of songs.
- Just like Spotify's playlist, some will be old, some will be new.
- I will mostly be sourcing the music on my own, but will occasionally be taking recommendations from Sprout, Shey, and Fam Like You!
- Unlike the Spotify playlist, should you find yourself in love with a song/band, upon adding that music to your own collection YOU'LL HAVE A HUMAN TO TALK TO ABOUT IT.
- Another important thing! All the artists in said playlist I will learn things about before updating the playlist for the week so when we talk it'll actually be a stimulating conversation!
- More importantly, if I notice that a ton of people are interested in the same artist, I'll make it a priority on the site to do more coverage for them in the form of tour updates, interviews, etc.
Obviously you are encouraged to follow this playlist from your Spotify account, but I'll also make sure the playlist is sitting pretty on the homepage for your convenience.
BTW we can be friends on Spotify too if you're into that. I love stalking my friend feed for new music and getting inboxed things to try!
ALRIGHT LESS TALK MORE ROCK ENJOY THESE JAMS, FAM!
#skoaradio 11/07/2015 liner notes
Really feeling this week's mixtape you guys.
Can't stop. Won't stop. Can't stop working. But it's chill though, the atmosphere I've been launched into has me surrounded by people who are music junkies just like me! In fact, I found Michl courtesy of one of my dope new friends at the office I'm in right now. (Thanks dude!) Sprout and I also hit up Honne on Tuesday this week where we hung out in the dungeon of a basement at Mercury Lounge and chatted with with James and Andy before they got the entire place pregnant. It's good to be busy. Then we had Flagship at Rough Trade on Friday night. Those guys were super great too. Can't wait to interview them and officially usher them into the skoa fam. But yeah, there's a lot going on but the majority of it is awesome. I guess you could say I'm #stressedbutalsoblessed. I hope you enjoyed this week's show. I'd love to hear from you if I just introduced you to your new favorite song (I know I'm kind of obsessing over SOULS right now).
Until next week!
<3
- The 1975 - "Love Me"
- Last week we had an album name, this week we have a release date!! I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it will be dropping on February 26th!
- RAC feat. Penguin Prison - "Hollywood"
- On tour now with the homey Big Data (we'll be at the Warsaw show tomorrow come hang okay?)
- Speaking of their tour, they released an EP/single where they covered each others songs. It's super fun, you should go have a listen.
- Atlas Genius - "Stockholm"
- Inanimate Objects is out now.
- They've got a few more shows to close out the year.
- VOWWS - "Losing Myself In You"
- GO. BUY. THEIR. ALBUM. OKAY. IT'S. SO. AMAZING.
- They also have limited edition shirts on sale rn that are DOPE.
- Big Data (feat. Kimbra) - "The Glow"
- On tour with RAC!
- Like I said, you should peep their lil cute tour EP/single thing.
- Oh yeah! Here's those Big Data glasses I was talking about.
- Art Brut - "Bad Weekend"
- Singer Eddie Argos is selling a limited run of paintings this week only! If you want to get me something for Christmas this would be the thing to get. Or you could get one for yourself.
- Played this song because I forgot that NME is free now. That's so crazy to me.
- HEALTH - "STONEFIST"
- Get on that DEATH MAGIC fam it is so good.
- SOULS - "I Wait For You"
- There is so much digging to be done on this dude. Apparently he doesn't know who is singing on his own track? That's nutty.
- Holy wow this song though, right!?
- Electric Mantis - "the one"
- You can haz this track for $FREE.99 (you're welcome)
- Kate Boy - "Midnight Sun"
- Omg One is out NOW and it is GORGEOUS!
- You should come out next week and see them with us! They're also playing a handful of dates in the US if you're not in NY.
- Professor Green (feat. Lily Allen) - "Just Be Good To Green"
- So I can't *legally* watch the full documentary that aired on BBC3, but here are some clips from it. Fire up your UK proxy servers US fam!
- Oh and dude just released an autobiography whaaatt!?
- Nodaway - "Hairspray"
- You should grab 500 Days of Whatever (or whatever)
- Synkro - "Changes"
- Got this bad boy on limited edition white vinyl, but you can have it as a digital download (unless you go to Rough Trade, I saw some there last night!).
- Michl - "Kill Our Way To Heaven"
- Oh look another mysterious producer. I'm keeping my eye on this dude.
- You can haz this for $FREE.99 too. :)
- Lucius - "Hey Doreen"
- Still trying to understand this #goodgrief series they've started tweeting. idk
- Mayer Hawthorne - "Where Does This Door Go"
- OMG MSG MAYER I'M SO PROUD OF YOU DUDE! He's. Opening. For. Hall. And. Oates. WHAT!
- Calvin Harris feat. Disciples - "How Deep Is Your Love"
- Have you heard Disciples new EP yet? It's quite nice.
- Bummed I didn't see them during BEMF. I really need a clone.
- Hot Chip - "Started Right"
- Just announced dates in Australia in the new year! Still touring like crazy.
- Jamie Woon - "Skin"
- Seriously this new record is so damn good. Do you have it yet?
- HONNE - "Love The Jobs You Hate"
- How'd you like that interview guys? They were so nice!
- You should grab their new EP! It's fantastic!
- Battle Tapes - "Valkyrie"
- Polygon drops in 2 weeks! (11/20). It's amazing. I can't wait for you all to hear it too!
- Galantis - "Peanut Butter Jelly"
- Flagship "I Want You"
- Saw these guys last night! So good!
- Grab their latest EP Faded okay?
And here's the headlines I rushed through that you can read more about (and you should so you're smarter than everyone else):
- Adele's 'Hello' is the first song ever to sell a million downloads in a week
- Facebook adds song clips from Spotify and Apple Music to your News Feed
As always, feel free to snag the Spotify playlist below so you can listen to the sweet jams I picked out for you on the go!
![[Night Out] Honne @ Mercury Lounge (11/03/2015)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671499295772-EJI479N5MO0FRZ4AKXBQ/image-asset.jpeg)
[Night Out] Honne @ Mercury Lounge (11/03/2015)
The huggy homies Honne @ Mercury Lounge (11/03/2015) photo credit: @sproutdr
NYers know that Mercury Lounge is essentially the "tipping point" venue for a lot of artists. Usually the trajectory for bands goes something a little like: Cake Shop/Pianos/Arlene's Grocery, Mercury Lounge/Rough Trade, and then the likes of Bowery Ballroom/Music Hall of Williamsburg/Gramercy Theatre, before moving on to the Terminal 5s, Town Halls, United Palace Theatres etc. of the world. Sometimes bands don't graduate to the next level of venues, but then there are other times like Honne on Tuesday night at Mercury Lounge that the energy was so electric that I felt like my hair was going to start standing straight up. It was already common knowledge that after their Merc and Rough Trade gigs this week that they'd be back in March 2016 for a show at Bowery Ballroom, so I think that heightened everyone's overall level of excitement.
To me, there's nothing better than realizing you're watching a pivotal moment for a band where all their hard work is finally about to pay off in a big way. I knew it the second we walked up to Mercury Lounge that night and heard some girls in line ahead of us giggling in excitement because they had seen Andy and James leave the venue a few minutes ago. A lot of times the people seeing shows at Merc are either jaded or too cool to show their level of excitement, but everyone in line was SO. STOKED. TO. BE. SEEING. HONNE. That made me even more excited for my pre-show interview with the band, which was awesome. Sprout and I were immediately greeted with hugs as we all introduced ourselves. Our chat was honestly super great. I can't wait to transcribe it for you all to check out for yourselves. These are some really legit dudes who are worthy of the success that is about to hit them like a semi-truck.
Like I hinted at before, their performance was electrifying. I haven't seen that much dancing in Mercury Lounge in awhile. I'm also fairly convinced that come 9 months from now that there is going to be a baby whose middle name is Honne, Andy, or James, if you catch my drift.
Is it March 11th yet?
If you haven't bumped their latest baby-making jams yet, you most definitely need to check out their new EP Over Lover:
You can also have a look at the photos Sprout took of the night in the slideshow below: