[SONG OF THE DAY] Hellogoodbye - "I'll Keep On Following You"

Since early August, Hellogoodbye has been quietly campaigning along for his upcoming 4th LP, S’Only Natural, which drops on October 5th. I say quietly campaigning because for how fun all of the visuals are for this album cycle, I’m genuinely surprised they’re not in my face everywhere I go.

At any rate, this week’s release, “I’ll Keep On Following You” is a super sweet slow jam about being in love with his wife. Actually according to an interview he did with LA Weekly a few days ago, basically all of his songs now are about how much he loves his wife. That’s so fuckin’ sweet I almost have diabetes just thinking about it.

If you’re hoping to catch this new material live, you’re in luck as the band will be hitting the road in the US starting on October 16th for select dates. In frontman Forrest Kline’s own words, “let us explain in person why love is always better than hate, not to fear what’s here, and that life is beautiful but also a fucking weird party that just so happens to be going off rn!”

Yep. Into that. Need that.

HELLOGOODBYE ON TOUR

Oct 16 - Boston, MA @ Sonia
Oct 17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Oct 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
Oct 21 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean 
Oct 23 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
Oct 25 - San Fransisco, CA @ Slims 
Oct 27 - Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey 
Oct 28 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
Oct 30 - Tustin, CA @ Marty's 
Oct 31 - San Diego, CA @ HOB Voodoo Lounge

[SONG OF THE DAY] Chris Ayer - "Stranger"

F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!

Fam, it’s time you got well acquainted with Los Angeles artist Chris Ayer. After dropping tracks like “Stay Another Night” and “Heavy” in 2017, I have been eagerly waiting to hear what 2018 would have in store for him. According to my sources (ie: from Ayer’s mouth on stage at Rockwood Music Hall stage 2 last week), “Stranger” is the first of many singles to come this fall and well through next year. While “Stay Another Night” and “Heavy” indicate that he’s ready to be more than *just* a singer-songwriter, from a lyrical standpoint you can tell from “Stranger” that Ayer is ready to deeply examine his personal experiences and be a lot more vulnerable than he’s been in the past.

As he told Atwood Magazine on Tuesday when they premiered the song, “I always try to find an honest way of telling a story, but for me this song ended up striking a nerve in a really specific way. It can be a strange time to try to make real new connections in the world, so I just wanted to reflect that, and just how weird it can be to be a person sometimes. “

how weird it can be to be a person sometimes. Yeah, this dude is clearly my people. haha.

There are so many different things you can take away from “Stranger”. With every listen it stirs up different micro frustrations about how difficult it feels to deeply connect with people now. It’s one of those songs where you learn a lot about yourself that you probably otherwise wouldn’t have without this additional point of view.

After jaunting across the pond for a few dates in the UK and The Netherlands, Ayer will be hitting the road in the US with Matt Simmons in November. You can grab tickets and more info over on his website.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Wake The Wild - "Second Nature"

Last week LA trio Wake The Wild released their latest single, “Second Nature”. Last January I was fortunate that The Algorithm™ blessed me with one of their 2016 singles, “Pulse” and I’ve been keeping a careful eye on them ever since. As their track record precedes them with “Body Language” and “Numb”, it’s no surprise to me that pumping out another smashing synth-pop hit would be….second nature for them. These guys should be your go-to if you’re in search of songs to include on mixes for both lovers or hookups alike.

Looking forward to see what else these guys have up their sleeves. Hopefully we’ll have a few more jams before the year closes out. Perhaps it’s time I take a slide into their DMs and see what they’re all about?

[SONG OF THE DAY] Roosevelt - "Shadows"

Earlier today Cologne based synth-pop artist Roosevelt unveiled the video for his latest single, “Shadows”, a song about past love. “A long-lost companion; someone that you were close to in the past, someone that still haunts you, that you can't get out of your head,” says Marius Lauber of the song’s inspiration. The song comes from his forthcoming sophomore album, Young Romance, which is out on September 28th courtesy of City Slang / Greco-Roman.

I’m not normally into music videos very much, but it’s been a long time since I watched one and thought, “oh no it me”. Basically the premise of the video is a woman is at a pool party and the entire time she’s distracted from her date because she’s staring down Marius Lauber behind a Wurlizter the entire time. While I’m not exclusively into crushing on musicians, being really creative just makes crushes cuter for some reason, right? Back me up here!

Anyway, as can be expected given how fuckin smooove Roosevelt jams are, he’s added a 2nd show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 3rd by popular demand. Best know I’ll be there but I don’t like dancing by myself so you better come out! If you’re not in NYC, his headlining tour kicks off on October 21st in Copenhagen before making his way to North America in December.

Roosevelt 2018 Tour Dates:

10/21 - Copenhagen, DE @ Pumpehuset

10/22 - Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich

10/23 - Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall

10/24 - Berlin, DE @ Astra

10/25 - Munich, DE @ Muffathalle

10/27 - Vienna, AU @ Flex

10/28 - Zurich, SWI @ Mascotte

10/30 - Milan, IT @ Ohibo

11/02 - Aimens, FR @ La Lune Des Pirates

11/03 - Bordeaux, FR @ Iboat

11/04 - Brussels, BE @ AB Club

11/06 - Paris, FR @ Gaîté Lyrique

11/08 - London, UK @ Oval Space

11/09 - Manchester, UK @ YES

11/16 - Madrid, ES @ Sala Gotham

11/17 - Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 2

11/21 - Nijmengen, NL @ Doornroosje

11/22 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg

12/03 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

12/04 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

12/05 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry

12/06 - Washington, DC @ U Hall

12/07 - Boston, MA @ Middle East

12/09 - Montreal, QC @ Belmont

12/10 - Toronto, ON @ Mod Club

12/12 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge

12/14 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teregram Ballroom

12/15 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room

12/16 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar

12/18 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall

12/20 - Portland, OR @ Holocene

12/21 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos

[SONG OF THE DAY] Thomas Azier - "Hymn (feat. Schérazade)"

Ugh you guys life is so hard when you’re just one human and you love literally hundreds(maybe thousands?) of bands. It’s a daunting task to keep tabs on everyone and I’m embarrassed that I haven’t been a solid stan for musical nomad Thomas Azier as I should be.

Upon The Algorithm™ delivering “Hymn” in my Release Radar I quickly rushed to see if there was anything else I was missing out on and apparently I had missed out on a whole EP in July! 😩😩😩

Okay so let me make sure we’re all caught up here starting from the latest and going backwards, okay?

On Friday Azier dropped a 2-track single called Hymn, featuring today’s song of the day and a gorgeous slow jam called “Smoke”. “Hymn” is a straightforward punchy little synth pop number featuring some vocal stylings from the fabulous frenchie Schérazade.

So this is the part I’m trying to make sure I’ve nailed down correctly about this July release, S t r a y. At first glance it appeared to just be an EP, but upon Azier making note that the songs from Hymn would be added to S t r a y, so he might be turning this EP into a full length? There’s a post offering a very limited run of 250 vinyl pieces back when the EP dropped, so it’s a little confusing and for whatever reason no one else seems to be really celebrating these new songs. That all said, Line Of The Best Fit’s interview tells us that the songs from S t r a y were written while he was living in various European cities and found that embracing working and traveling simultaneously had a huge impact on his songwriting, he even noted, “By being on the move constantly I was able to invite the music to my head naturally and fluently.” It’s a great interview and worth reading in full for sure.

At any rate, while I get better acquainted with S t r a y, I guess the only other thing to pass along is that he’s got some exclusive Dutch shows coming up in November and tickets are on sale this Friday (21st) at 10am local time.

And with that I think we’re all caught up!

Thomas Azier On Tour

28/11 Leeuwarden: https://bit.ly/2xoxL4H
29/11 Amsterdam: https://bit.ly/2QBL0b9
30/11 Nijmegen: https://bit.ly/2NPdnnx
02/12 Groningen: https://bit.ly/2OpY2a1

[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.  🍑