#diSKOAverweekly: week of February 26, 2020

Here is your Wednesday update on a Friday. My bad. But I love you, so. There’s that.

1. Bamily - “Katata”

   This song feels like bottled sunshine. You’re welcome.

2. The Undercover Dream Lovers - “Chardonnay”

   This whole album is so chill. Oh yeah, that came out today. Go listen to It’s All In Your Head.

3. Disq - “Daily Routine”

   Looking forward to their debut album Collector, which drops….next week(!!!)

4. Little Hurt - “It’s Okay Not To Be Okay”

   Just in case you need the reminder. 💖

5. Example - “Back On The Wreck”

   Not for nothing dude is crushing it on the self-releasing game. Also like that the pop sheen has kinda worn off and he’s back to making cooler jams like this.

6. Firstworld - “Groove Is In The Heart (feat. Delia Dane)”

   This is one of the best covers I’ve heard in a long time. I was really skeptical with this at first but they really nailed it.

7. Spencer Ludwig - “Just Wanna Dance”

   Just making sure you listen to Spencer while I wrap up this interview so you can love him like I love him.

8. Niki Black - “The Other Man”

   Very happy to see Niki is back with more music. She dropped a really cool video for this too that you should check out.

9. Madame Gandhi - “Bad Habits”

   Had this song on a lot lately to remind myself to be better so passing this along to y’all in case you missed it. Gonna see this bad bitch on March 10th at Elsewhere. Think we’re doing an interview, too!

10. Joe Publik - “Military Minded (feat. Scorzayzee)”

    Missed that his new record Stubborn Vectis dropped last week. Dropped this in as a mental note to check it out.

11. RJD2 - “Pull Up On Love (feat. STS, Khari Mateen)”

    First single from RJD2’s upcoming album The Fun Ones out on April 17th! I’m so happy he’s back I’m not sure if my feet are touching the ground when I walk around listening to this.

12. Juice - “DiCaprio (Love Me All The Time)”

    Juice just shared the music video for this track and announced a headlining tour! Also the clip at the end lololol

13. LOVER - “Waiting Up (feat. Cult Shøtta")”

    Still loving on LOVER. Liked the video a lot for this too.

14. Ry X - “Oceans (feat. ólafur Arnalds)”

    I don’t know how else to explain it but this song feels like you’re coming up for air.

15. Black Books - “In The In”

    Oh shit their EP Cheer Up dropped today! It’s great. Definitely worth a spin.

16. Grivo - “H.D.C.”

    Sad to have missed these guys open for Slow Crush at Saint Vitus earlier in the month. They remind me a lot of old school Starflyer 59, which is why my obsession is slowly intensifying.

[SKOA PREMIERE] + [SONG OF THE DAY] Niki Black - "Not Coming Up"

IT’S FRIDAY, WITCHES!

Just in time for a weekend that will be undoubtedly be full of Halloween parties I have a song from LA siren Niki Black that is nothing short of supernatural. “Not Coming Up”, the debut single from her forthcoming EP, wastes no time in allowing you to get to know Black, who studied feminist theology in college, as she cries out, “don’t forgive me father”, which I assume is derivative from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Whereas Christ was crying out for God to forgive those crucifying him for sinning against God, Black does not wish to seek for forgiveness, as the song is ultimately an arresting ode to her first queer relationship, which as we know, one does not need to seek any forgiveness for. “I felt the church to be central to the song’s idea of being denied entrance to heaven because of your sexuality,” explains Niki. Spoiler alert / non shocker here: Black is also tremendously involved in women’s rights and LGBT initiatives.

Her forthcoming EP, which is slated for an early 2019 release, offers up Black’s perspective on femme sexuality through her feminist theological lens. “I was enchanted by old Judaism, namely the mythology of the female demon Lilith, and how she mirrors Eve,” shares Niki. “The thousands of years of interpretations of the myths of the religious texts are goldmines in the way that they illuminate my creativity and thoughts, and also how they inform so many of our modern generation's conscience, especially when it comes to sexual politics.”

To a certain extent, the EP is like Dante's Divine Comedy, describing the journey from heaven to oblivion, or hell. “I wanted to retell that descent from a modern feminine perspective, one of the damned, which some of us may feel like sometimes, or all the time....whether it's from religion directly, from a relationship, or from yourself,” shares Niki.

Before today I didn’t have a playlist called “Songs To Sin To”, but here we are…

Have a safe weekend, fam! Happy sinning ;)