diSKOAver weekly: Week of December 8, 2021

Hello gorgeous internet friends!🥰✨💖

Did you miss me? I sure missed you.

I think the hiatus is over? IDK. I feel like I keep saying that, but I’m pretty sure this is the real deal this time, haha.

In the past I have spent a lot of time overthinking what I share on this silly little site because I want it to be an equally fun and informative space that also happens to be aesthetically pleasing to My People. Plus there’s that pressure to figure out how to monetize the thing that makes you happy 🤑, which can easily become a thing that makes you really unhappy when you get caught comparing your internet offerings to someone else’s. Juggling all of those feels on top of a pandemic made trying to express myself even more stressful so I gave myself as much space from this as I needed until I missed it so much that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

And some of you even reached out a few times to ask when the next update was coming. 🥺 You’ll never know how much that meant to feel like my contributions are actually meaningful to y’all even though most of the time I feel like I’m gushing into the void, lmao.

Anyway I hope you all are doing well and have been stuck at least twice by now. 💉

Enjoy!

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1. Mickey Kojak - ”Club Is On Fire”

   Okay so for whatever stupid reason when I want to take myself seriously about loving on this Sydney sweetie I always tell myself his full name is actually Michelangelo Kojak. I might have dreamed that once? Either way, that’s not even remotely true. I know his real name is actually Michael Dable and yet here we are lol. At any rate, our fateful hero has been doing his part during the pandemic to regularly drop techno treats on Tuesdays of his choosing to keep the fire burning in our hearts for his adorkable ass while he continues to work on new music. Luckily we managed to get a remix and two originals from Mickey in 2021, “Lights Out” and “Club Is On Fire”, the latter being the more splendidly chaotic of the two.

2. Pat Lok x Party Pupils - “So Fine”

   Over the course of 2021 the Twitter homey Pat Lok has been doing the Lorde’s work by keeping us satiated with shit that slaps. His recent collaborations with Party Pupils have been especially hitting the spot as of late. “So Fine” is an obvious fave because it makes it easier for me to pretend like I’m getting the attention I know I deserve, but I also really love their latest, “I Want You”. Which is also more attention seeking from me I guess? lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Lxury - “PAD MA”

   I was really glad London’s Lxury snuck in another EP after last year’s No Real Rush. This new one, Smart Digital Life is a lot more airy and brighter than NRR. There’s not a track I’d cut. In a parallel universe I would’ve included “Up High” but I was really feeling the high energy of "PAD MA” to compliment everything else in this weeks playlist.

4. Simon Hinter - “Wanna Make Love - Mixed”

   I love a good DJ Kicks mix, which is where I fell for German producer Simon Hinter. While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire mix that Disclosure put together, “Wanna Make Love” easily stands out as a moment to shut the fuck up and dance. Do not try to shift your focus otherwise you might get swept away on the dance floor.

5. Alfie Templeman - “Wait, I Lied”

   If these are the kinds of songs that Alfie Templeman is writing at 18, mannnn I’m like dying to know how his sound is gonna evolve in the next, like, 5 years. The progression from Don’t Go Wasting Time to Forever Isn’t Long Enough is somewhat subtle but you can tell that he’s feeling a lot more confident in his sound. Here’s hoping he continues on this trajectory he’s clearly on at the moment.

6. Jaded - “Welcome To The People”

   Lovely London lads Jaded have also been doing their part holding it down in 2021. I think “Welcome To The People” is a nice change of pace for the trio. The beat is super addictive. It keeps you stimulated as if you’re slightly over caffeinated and leaves you wanting like a 10 minute edit of this or some other absurd length.

7. Darius - “Feels Right (feat. Duñe)”

   Let the record reflect that the only show I went to in all of 2021 was to see Darius and Étienne de Crécy while I was in Paris for part of August and most of September. I just can’t bring myself to do shows in the US yet. I got hella trust issues with this country related to this pandem. Meanwhile, France’s vaccination efforts coupled with the countrywide implementation of the Pass Sanitaire put my mind at ease to dance the night away. And you better believe I barely moved the next day I went so hard at that show. While every track on Darius’ new EP, OASIS (Prelude), has its each little flavor to savor, “Feels Right” is my favorite mood enhancer of his and I had to make sure this one got to y’all. 🥰

8. Louis La Roche - “One Big Gay Disco”

   I very much like Louis La Roche’s new album, We’re Not That Different. There are so many good details about this record that make me keep coming back to it. My first taste of the record was, “One Big Gay Disco”, which is how I would succinctly describe what I hope heaven is like if it exists. I did ⚡️The Kibbe Thing⚡️ and hunted down the origin of this sample. I’m not going to publicize the hateful homophobic person’s name who said some horrible shit in an interview that Louis chose to transform into something positive and fuckin fabulous. I’m not mad it wasn’t easy to find the clip. Maybe just take my word for it that it’s awful and as someone who has people who lost people in the Pulse shooting that this song advances the slay agenda and is defiantly gay as hell.

9. KUNZITE - “SUPREME BEAM”

   I’m such a doofus. I went way too long not putting it together that KUNZITE was Ratatat adjacent. Never not embarrassing when something that later seems painfully obvious just flies over my head. I mean how long have I been at this shit, 12 years now? Anyway for the record KUNZITE is comprised of RATATAT's Mike Stroud and Agustin White from White Flight which is why it’s vibey af. I really love their latest album, VISUALS and I cannot recommend it enough.

10. Willow Kayne - “Opinion”

    When last we met this little sweetie was just stepping out with her debut single, “Two Seater”. Since then she’s released tracks “I Don’t Wanna Know” and more recently, “Opinion”. Have a peep at the brand spankin’ new music video for IDWK which Willow shot during her recent stay in Los Angeles. If you need any concrete evidence that the 90s are absolutely back in style, just sit back and let Willow’s ‘fits wash over you in all of their Delias-era glory. For some reason I really want Willow and BENEE to be besties. I feel like they would get into the best kind of trouble together, you know?

11. Noah Davis- “How Much Cash”

    I haven’t watched American Idol since season one so I hadn’t made the connection that Noah Davis has already had a little heat going for awhile. To me he was just some unassuming sweet thing that landed on my FYP and left me fucking SHOOK when “How Much Cash” hit my earholes. It not only makes me want to go to a gay bar full of hot lil go-go boys, but given that I’m in a space to call in the blessings I’ve been blocking, I always feel richer and mad sexy after playing this.

12. Magdalena Bay- “Secrets (Your Fire)”

    Only been trying to make this band happen since *checks notes AKA the DW archive* 2019. Glad everyone has joined the party! Like sincerely. I really am. Gotta say tho, they really fucking nailed it with this record. Mercurial World is just… *chef’s kiss*. Also this 90s nostalgia aesthetic just makes me feel like I’m on Geocities talking about this. If you don’t know what Geocities is please don’t tell me and just Google it. I can already feel the “kids these days don’t know how good they have it for making websites” spiel and I’m not in the mood to embarrass myself. Just let me casually obsess over their music video for this song and their website in peace.

13. Griff - “One Night”

    Fun true story: while working from my Airbnb in Paris I would leave MTV France on because I figured of all the TV shows that would teach me useful French vocabulary that Catfish would be perfect for someone as Very Online as yours truly. In France they were going HARD with plugging this song in the commercial breaks. Admittedly I haven’t given Griff a lot of attention in the past, but the clip from, “One Night” left me curious about the story behind the song. Apparently it’s about, “feeling like you’re always carrying this darkness or burden.” As Griff told NME, “I think in the daytime we can feel distracted because we’re around people and we’re busy, but that moment between going to bed and falling asleep, there’s just enough silence for those burdens to get louder. Essentially this song is trying to understand why I can’t shake it, and the chorus comes to this breaking point of desperately wanting at least ‘One Night’ alone.” Yeah girl, feel that. 😔

14. Carter Vail - “Trash Friends”

    Carter Vail makes it very easy to love him, which is why I’m not surprised at his ever growing following on TikTok. He’s a solid songwriter, has a great sense of humor (see also: “Trash Friends”), and also happens to have a face that you don’t mind looking at for long periods of time. It did not surprise me one bit to learn that he’s based in Nashville now and played at Rockwood Music Hall at the end of November. Hell I might DM his ass and ask him if he’s going to Belmont, because that’s the vibe he’s throwing. He’s throwing “homey I could’ve gone to college with who’s having a fun time getting better at writing songs”. That said, it seems his sound has already evolved quite a bit since he started releasing tracks in 2018 and I definitely like the direction he’s chosen for his 2021 cuts.

15. Nasty Party- “People On The Street”

    Are you ready to hit BINGO on your SKOA Bingo cards? This one is courtesy of the TikTok algorithm AND is an Australian baby band, bitches. LMAO. These guys have managed to capture the essence of 1980’s punk but made just enough tweaks to the sound that it could contend with today’s standards. In my ✨Kibbe Flies Aussie Bands To America And Makes Them All Famous Fantasy✨, these guys would be on a bill with Johnny Hunter and These New South Whales.

16. Jakuzi - “Açık Bir Yara”

    My little Turkish darklings Jakuzi have reappeared to seduce us with a quickie two-song EP for 2021, of which the title track,“Açık Bir Yara” is my favorite. Singer Kutay Soyocak has also started dabbling in a new black metal project called Vox In Rama which is a genre I’m not often in the mood for but is very cool to see this side of Kutay’s vocal abilities.

[PLAY THE PLAYLIST] BEST FUCKING MORNING ☕️

Recently I’ve trying to be more thoughtful with how I start my day. With all of this time in quarantine I’ve taken the opportunity to observe how impactful tiny thoughtful adaptations can be. Not just on a daily basis either, as I’ve found that sometimes the change can be so swift it’s often within an hour or even a matter of minutes, depending on the situation.

We all know music is a major mood shifter. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like because we’ve gotten so accustomed to the habit of recklessly consuming things to make us feel better that we do this with music a lot more than any of us would like to admit. I know I’ve certainly been guilty of that myself. Additionally, when you’re already not giving too much thought of what you’re consuming, it’s hard for me to believe that it means that all that unused thoughtful energy is shifting to what you’re putting out into the world and any subsequent side effects, either positive or negative.

I intend to take more ownership of how this space factors into this consumption habit equation for everyone, so of course I felt the need to make a fucking playlist about it. 🤪

I took some time thinking about not just what makes me feel good, but exactly what makes me feel my ⚡️fucking best⚡️. IMO, there’s truly nothing better in this life than the opportunity to identify how your talents/strengths can help people, throwing all of your energy into that thing, and then witnessing the magic that comes from those efforts. To be clear, I’m not just talking about ways that earn you money from doing this either. It can also be little things like knowing you’re a good personal cheerleader and being able to notice when someone could need some pom-poms waved in their direction and seeing their reaction. It’s ✨ literally the fucking best✨ ESPECIALLY when all parties involved decide that shit is going both wayyysss.

Community.

Connection.

Intention.

These are the things that BEST FUCKING MORNING☕️ is made of to the best of my ability. Sometimes you’ll get ✨a feeling✨ from the music, but as often as I could, I wanted the words ringing through your ears to make you feel fucking great, too. Additionally, I wholeheartedly believe that it’s equally important that the people making the good vibes you ingest should absolutely coming from good fucking people and I can say with a great level of confidence that these are all really good fucking people. I took a lot of care to make sure that even if one were to treat this playlist like a LoFi Chill Beats To Study To kinda deal where it’s mostly going to be background noise, that the few times that your brain decides to focus in on what’s actually happening that hopefully in that moment you feel empowered to remember that you always have the opportunity to choose happiness in spite of whatever bullshit gets thrown at you.

Let me be very clear that this is not me tryna shove some toxic positivity on your ass. That shit is annoying as fuck and not welcomed in this house. You always are entitled to however you feel, absolutely.

BUT

When you wake up feeling meh and decide you deserve to feel at minimum a little bit better.

Or you wake up feeling fucking great and want to hold onto that feeling as much as you can, possibly even going next level with that shit.

I promise you this shit will take you there, wherever that may be.

Although this collection of vibes was arranged in a way to be uplifting incrementally, feel free to let The Algorithm™ move you and shuffle this shit if you are so inclined. That said, I def invite you to see if you can notice a different if you listen both ways. Additionally, I intend to honor the inspiration behind this playlist and occasionally implement tweaks every now and then, hopefully to further enhance this vibe. Mostly likely additions only, no removals or substitutions.

As long as this playlist is in your life may you never forget that you deserve the fucking best. 💖

diSKOAverweekly: Week of July 15, 2020

Tell you what, that week of media deprivation I did 2 weeks ago has resulted in a crazy amount of music going through my ears ever since. I feel like I’ve reverted to MySpace era-me where I just floated around the internet looking for cool songs to snack on. The only difference between now and then is you don’t have to torrent to take a chance on someone you’re just remotely curious in. If anything, it just helps you float down the rabbit hole all the more. I hope y’all are taking advantage of all this downtime in quarantine to find new folks to get invested in. It’s hard to know which baby bands will be able to stick it out until it’s safe to go to shows again, so now more than ever, we need to be taking chances and throwing our $upport accordingly, you feel me?

Okay! Okay! Okay! Yes yes I know!

Less Talk. More Rock.

Here are the 16 ways I love you most this week:

1. Mayer Hawthorne - ”Rare Changes”

   Last week Mayer Hawthorne dropped this smooth little vibe that he co-wrote with SebastiAn long before the pandemic began. As he shared on Twitter: “I can’t believe how inadvertently poignant it is. We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m deeply inspired by all of the positive changes happening out there.”

2. Elle Músa - “Mango Pops”

   Elle is adored by Geowulf which is how I came to know her and this lovely little summertime tune. It sounds just as refreshing as your first bite into a popsicle on a really hot day.

3. Tohu Bohu - “IT.”

   Tohu Bohu keeps making these slick ass indie pop songs so I’m going to keep making sure you hear them. That’s just how this works.

4. Stray Fossa - “For What Was”

   I’ve been meaning to share these guys for awhile. This feels like the right time because with every new track they release they further shape their sound. It’s obvious from the last few tracks they’ve dropped that they’ve really hit their stride.

5. The Nicholas - “Rockshow (feat. Odessa)”

   The Nicholas did some work on the most recent Golden Vessel single and also has just dropped a song with Akurei. Do not let all the Aussie angels confuse you though. He’s currently based in LA, which how I assume he came to collaborate with Odessa on this track. At this rate I’m just torturing myself with songs about shows because I can’t go.

6. NIMMO - “Dancing Makes Us Brave”

   Got better acquainted with NIMMO this week. I’m now well read up on their exit from their deal with Sony and all the work that went into their debut LP, The Power, that came out last year. I keep coming back to “Dancing Makes Us Brave”. Every time it comes on it has my full an undivided attention.

7. Birdee - “Rumors (feat. Andre Espeut)”

   Decided to catch up on what Birdee has been up to since he’ll be dropping a remix for Pink Flamingo Rhythm Revue's latest track this week. I found last year’s LP Then Came the Sun to be quite nice. This track was my favorite.

8. Phony Ppl - “Why iii Love The Moon”

   I finally held still long enough to listen to more than just like 2 Phony Ppl songs. It’s cool watching "Fkn Around” take off right now. It feels like everyone is talking about that song. I hope folks are taking the time to dig around in their catalog and really get invested.

9. Ruel - “Painkiller”

   I’m genuinely confused how someone like Ruel can be huge seemingly everywhere else but the US. This man would easily dominate the radio over here. Instead, I had to find him while checking out who Taka Perry remixed and get knocked on my ass at the original (in addition to the other songs of his I checked out). Also - this is why I get so weird about hearing remixes before the original. You might not connect to the rework as much as the original. Do the extra legwork and peep both. It’s even more fun when you love both.

10. CUT_- “Cry”

    I have been following along with CUT_ since I came to love “Undertown” back in 2017 (as seen in the DW archive). After releasing last year’s A Small Group of Individuals, the duo has returned with this new number. Fun fact: their artwork for this single comes from one of my favorite artists on Instagram: Slime Sunday. As someone who has had some really fun times grabbing random albums because its artwork looks cool, nice to feel a little validated that cool shit really does attract each other.

11. Oklou - “SGSY”

    Came to know Oklou courtesy of the Flavien Berger track she contributed vocals for at the beginning of the year and decided to see what her solo releases were like. Her production chops are just as gorgeous as her voice is.

12. Dombrance - “Poutou”

    It’s so wild tumbling into someone like Dombrance, who just seems to be low-key hiding in plain sight. I’m still working to fill in the gaps of his whereabouts in his release timeline, but regardless there’s a massive spike in activity from Parisian producer and I am paying the fuck attention to his every move.

13. Lxury - “Guess”

    Lxury’s No Real Rush EP dropped back in May on Fools Gold. It was one of those things I tumbled into hopping around on Instagram. Pretty sure A-Trak was singing their praises. ANYWAY. The EP is very good, but “Guess” is the kind of song that’s so enchanting in its own dancetastic way that while I’m getting lost in the moment it feels like it ends way too quickly, which is impressive given that it’s almost 6 minutes long.

14. REBEL YELL x R-T-FAX - “Anti Club Music”

    Boyboy was plugged the feature his friend Marcus Whale did on a track with REBEL YELL’s latest album, Fall From Grace and lemme tell y’all….she makes me nervous like in the best possible way. She makes that bomb ass dark techno, you know?

15. DDm - “Pull Up”

    My beloved Miss Eaves was singing DDm’s praises on Instagram in an attempt to get him to 10k followers over there and I took to him very quickly. His lyrics are witty AF, so it should be no surprise to you that he used to be a battle rapper. Also his beats are fuckin siiiiiick. I’m genuinely surprised that I haven’t seen his name in passing before now.

16. J GRGRY - “Don’t Ever Give Up”

    I’ve been meaning to call out this track for awhile. The Seattle singer has a new single coming out next month so you have plenty of time to get yourself acquainted in time for “China Creek”, which is coming out on August 14th.