[SONG OF THE DAY] Monarchy - "Back To The Start"

We’re just a few days out from the third studio album from my beloved Monarchy. After gifting us, “Deep Cut”, just before Christmas, the dapper dancetastic duo are back with a new track (and if we’re being honest possibly my personal anthem of 2019), “Back To The Start” and accompanying video, which you can find below. The video features an “alien” who descends in the duo’s lush world and proceeds to learn and adapt to the ways of Earth.

A lot has happened to the duo since releasing their 2015 studio album, Abnocto, namely there was a brief period where the band nearly called it quits a mere months after the album’s release. I may be reading in between the lines here a bit, but considering this batch of material for Mid:Night follows that ordeal with a fair amount of time in between, “Back To The Start” feels like it speaks to some of that experience.

Now that I’m caught up on emails and settled from the holidays I guess it would be a good time to hit these fellas up and get them on record about my hunches, huh?

(ps Friday hurrrrrrrrryyyyyy plz!)

[SONG OF THE DAY] Curtis Lowe - "Automatic"

Photo Credit: Catie Laffoon / Artwork: Leif Podhasky

It’s VIBE O’CLOCK ON FRIDAY, do you know where your next favorite bop is?

Don’t worry, I gotchu fam.

NY fam knows the wonders that is electro-rock outfit locals VHS Collection, but you may have missed that guitarist Connor Cook has started an electronic side project, which he operates under the name Curtis Lowe. Late November of last year he rolled out his debut single, “Breaking Me”, an elegant house track featuring vocals from Naomi Wild. This new track, “Automatic” is a hypnotic floor filler with 90s era-esque house vibes and features vocals from Ben Duffy of the band longtime loved by SKOA, Fenech-Soler.

Both tracks come from the somewhat-aptly titled, Sad Bangers Vol. 1, which out on January 25th. The EP was produced entirely by Cook and (no shocker here) played all the guitar featured on it as well. Speaking on the EP, Cook says, “ I drew a lot of the inspiration for the sonics of the project from 90’s/Chicago house music, married with modern production elements, and darker songwriting themes. Organic instrumental performances are an important part of these songs as well. “ He went on to add, “The EP features tons of guitar, sax, and analog synths (Juno 106, SH101, Prophet, and Moog Sub 37 etc), alongside plenty of 909 samples. I’m really excited about the collaborations on this EP and look forward to releasing a lot more music in the coming months.”

[SONG OF THE DAY] Ariana and the Rose - "Night Owl"

Still from “Night Owl” music video.

Ooo I love a loophole for my self-imposed restrictions for songs I didn’t find the second they dropped. Yesterday, Brooklyn-based boss bitch Ariana and the Rose unveiled the music video to accompany her latest single, “Night Owl”, which dropped unbeknownst to me right under my nose back in November of last year. We know how much I love some good ol’ fashioned glittery synthpop and my girl Ariana definitely is that vibe all the way down to the aesthetic of the music video. Basically if you told me that she lives in House of Yes I wouldn’t be surprised and I mean that in the most sincere way possible. Oooh if she really does maybe we could be roommates?

I’ve played this song enough times now that I feel like I don’t have enough glitter on today. Ugh. ✨

[SONG OF THE DAY] Dan D'Lion - "~treading water~"

Alt-pop sensation in the making Dan D’Lion has resurfaced after dropping his debut single, “Give What You Take” back in November. If “Give What You Take” was Dan putting his best foot forward, this new tune, “~treading water~”, is him firmly putting both feet on the ground to let us know he’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Y’all, I’m so here for this in the biggest fucking way.

As much as it’s really easy to be taken with his voice, Dan is one hell of a producer. The way that he manages to carefully layer together these ear-perking textures before we even get to the vocals and vulnerable lyrics is just such a delight for your eardrums. Definitely treat yourself to this song with the best pair of headphones that you’ve got. I love how specific he was placing certain sounds. It really helps to maintain your well-deserved undivided attention.

Very much looking forward to hearing what else he’s got in his arsenal. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Monarchy - "Deep Cut"

Photo courtesy of Monarchy’s Instagram

CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY FAM!

Here I oh so innocently thought that longtime SKOA fam Monarchy were gonna do their usual ultra secretive thing and not release another single until the top of the new year, but my most favorite fellows decided to spread a little holiday magic in the form of their new single, “Deep Cut”. In addition to the single we also have an official release date for their third studio album, Mid:Night. 2019 will not be wasting time being the best fucking year in a long time as Mid:Night will be dropping on January 18th. Following up title track, “MidNight” which was released way way back in March, “Deep Cut” further leans into the ultra-seductive aesthetic update that these new tracks are exuding. Not to mention the newly unveiled tracklist alludes to a more mature set of material.

For those of you across the pond, you’ll have whole days to learn all of Mid: Night before they kick off their 6-day UK tour (see below). The rest of us will have to wait and see just how many extra blessings both 2019 and Monarchy will bring to us.

Tracklist of Mid: Night :

1.Back to the Start 
2. Deep Cut 
3. Get Into the Night 
4. Deadset Lust 
5. MidNight 
6. Hula Hoop 8000 
7. Racie's Cousin 
8. Cumming Eat

[SONG OF THE DAY] Summer Heart - "Touch"

I’ve been overdue to check in on Swedish sweetie Summer Heart. I’ve caught a few of his #12songsofsummer project he’s been rolling out over the course of the year and his latest single, “Touch” is quite delightful. I’ve always been a sucker for his soothing swoon-inducing vocals but this particular jam has a wonky little playful wobble on the bass that takes the melody to an ultra-vibey level.

As 2019 continues to shape up as the best year ever I have more things to look forward to for you. Earlier in the week Summer Heart unveiled that he’ll be hitting the road with Brothertiger starting in late February for an 18 date tour on the best (see also: east) coast. Best believe you’ll see me in a pretty haze at Knitting Factory (see what I did there?).

L I V E  (US Dates)
With Brothertiger 

Feb 21 Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory
Feb 22 Washington DC - Songbyrd Vinyl Lounge
Feb 23 Norfolk, VA - TBA Productions
Feb 24 Greenville, SC - Radio Room
Feb 26 Atlanta, GA - 529 bar
Feb 27 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
Feb 28 Houston, TX - Continental Club
March 1 Austin, TX - Barracuda
March 2 Dallas, TX - RBC
March 3 Tulsa, OK - Chimera Lounge
March 5 Kansas City, MO - Riot Room
March 6, Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
March 7 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
March 8 Columbus, OH - Spacebar
March 9 Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo
March 10 Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA

[SONG OF THE DAY] Touch Sensitive - "G.A.L. (feat. Daniel Wilson)"

This week on Fuck My Actual Life Stop Tryna Get Me To Move To Australia: one of my favorite finds of the year so far, Sydney’s own Touch Sensitive has unveiled a new single to follow up his 2017 debut full-length, Visions. Just as I have come to know and adore from Visions, this new single, “G.A.L.”, featuring Ypsilanti, MI vocalist Daniel Wilson, is a straight up glittery funk-house force to be reckoned with.

While there’s no indication of album #2 or any sort of tour other than some dates at the Falls Music and Arts Festival in Australia, I’m really hoping this means 2019 will continue its trend of just being filthy with bomb ass records. Let us pray 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻.

[SONG OF THE DAY] SAKIMA - "Virtus Domum"

As things have been winding down and I’ve taken time to reflect on the year in music we’ve had, I can honestly say that without a doubt SAKIMA is the most important thing that happened to music this year. With every single he’s released he continues to share carefully crafted narratives that are universally relatable but are still deeply rooted in his perspective as a gay musician.

In his latest, “Virtus Domum”, he addresses personal experience of being taken advantage of and being the subject of unwanted advances. Throughout the song you hear him working through the experience, complete with brief victim blaming and what I assume are things he wishes he’d said during the specific encounter he’s speaking to.

With every song he’s released in the past year I can’t help but think about the New York Times interview with Jay-Z where he says something that I’m sure he’s repeating from a therapy session: “What you reveal, you heal.” In every day life it can be incredibly difficult to expose our emotional wounds and begin the healing process. The fact that SAKIMA is very directly slaying his demons so openly will undoubtedly help a lot of people with theirs and even possibly prevent some trauma from happening altogether.

As he told Paper in an interview about the track, “I really hope that for anyone who relates to the track, that it gives them a sense of control over their own experiences, and reminds them that they are in charge of what happens to them. Even when something happens to you outside of your physical control, you still own your story and what becomes of it.”