[SONG OF THE DAY] Whethan - "Let Me Take You (feat. Jeremih)"

photo credit: Jimmy Fontaine

Bop making bb Whethan has returned with a brand new track, “Let Me Take You”, featuring Grammy nominated R&B superstar Jeremih. The song follows the release of his debut EP, Life of A Wallflower Vol.1 and is sure to be the floor filler of the summer. I for one would endure bros spilling their drinks on me to sweat it out to this one somewhere.

Speaking on the track, Whethan shared, “I've been really inspired by a lot of house music and wanted to find a way to bring that into my world. It was important to me that I made something that people could really dance to. This is probably my favorite track to date and I'm just excited to show my fans where the future of my music is headed."

If this is what Whethan’s future looks like I am going to invest in the proper footwear to keep up with all of the dancing.

In addition to the new track, the producer prodigy has also announced some upcoming dates including an appearance at Lollapalooza, a co-headlining show at Red Rocks, and more.

Whethan’s North American tour dates:

June 14-15: Quincy, WA @ Paradiso Festival

June 22nd: Herber City, UT @ Bonanza Campout

June 27-30: Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest

July 14th: Louisville, NY @ Forecastle Festival

August 1-4: Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza

September 19: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre (co-headline with Big Wild)

[SONG OF THE DAY] SG Lewis - "Flames (feat. Ruel)"

VIBE O CLOCK ON FRI-YAYYYYYYYYY

After premiering the track with a live debut at Coachella weekend two, British producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist SG Lewis has shared his latest track, “Flames”, which follows up “Throwaway”, another cut from the Dawn portion of his Dusk Dark Dawn EP series. The track features 16-year old Australian pop star RUEL (who I should add is pretty fuckin HUGE down under) on vocals this time around. Speaking on the collaboration, SG shared,“I was put onto RUEL’s music about 18 months ago, and watching his growth since then has been amazing. He’s got such soul to his voice for someone of his age, it’s crazy.”

I’ll admit, I’m sitting here a pretty jealous that people got a first taste of this in a festival setting, especially one as huge as Coachella. The song, much like the break of dawn, is energetic and expansive with a hint of airiness to it. The kind of song that sometimes when you’re bumping it feels like a miracle it can be contained.

I suppose a good compromise to this will be experiencing this at Brooklyn Steel in September, as SG has also revealed that he’s got some North American tour dates starting at the end of August at the North Coast Music Fest in Chicago and running till mid October where he’ll wrap up in Los Angeles at The Novo. Tickets are on sale now so grab those while you still can.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

08/31–North Coast Music Festival–Chicago, IL0

9/01–Made In America–Philadelphia, PA (DJ Set)

09/03–Mod Club–Toronto, ON

09/05–Brighton Music Hall–Boston, MA

09/06–Brooklyn Steel–Brooklyn, NY

09/07–U Street Music Hall–Washington, DC0

9/30–Neumos–Seattle, WA

10/01–Star Theater–Portland, OR

10/02–Fortune Sound Club–Vancouver, BC

10/04–Great American Music Hall–San Francisco, CA

10/05–Great American Music Hall–San Francisco, CA

10/07–Meow Wolf–Santa Fe, NM

10/08–Gothic Theatre–Englewood, CO

10/12–The Novo–Los Angeles, CA

[SONG OF THE DAY] Bene - "Evil Spider"

Kiwi alt-pop powerhouse Bene is about to lure her way into your heart with her catchy web full of silky vocals and chill throwback vibes in her latest track, “Evil Spider”. The track follows up the Auckland, New Zealand native’s earlier earworm, “Soaked” and is about longing for someone who’s already taken.

Speaking on the track, Bene explained, “When writing the song, I didn’t wanna make the lyrics too obviously evil, so I thought I’d turn myself into the spider, making it a lil lighter and making the song revolve around me weaving webs to lure the person, catch ‘em like a spider then reel them in. I remember humming ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ in the studio, which inspired the playful vibe of the song.”

In addition to the new track, Bene has also revealed that she’ll be dropping her debut EP on June 28th. Oh! And she’ll also be gracing us NYers with her presence on June 17th at Mercury Lounge. You can grab tickets now and join me for what will most likely be a bopfest.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Timi Temple x Doc Merlin - "No Where"

Sydney sweetie Timi Temple hasn’t slowed down since dropping his delightful gateway drug of an EP, Phuzz Boy, that I fell in love with late last year. Since then, he’s partnered up with his friend Doc Merlin, whom I’ve come to learn from prelim research is the moniker for his literal PhD wielding friend who is also a magician. Obviously I can’t get enough of that whole vibe because honestly it sounds like I invented his backstory. At any rate, the dynamic duo dropped a double single, “No Where” and “Get Away”.

Earlier in the week, the duo shared a super fun video for “No Where”, which will make retro video game enthusiasts get all up in their feels. I def am going to watch this a few more times to make sure I caught all the references in it.

[SONG OF THE DAY] The Kickdrums - "Bubblegum"

OG SKOA fam Alex Fitts known as The Kickdrums to the rest of the world has been so busy making other people sound good that it’s been close to 2 years since he’s released anything of his own. Fortunately for us, not only do we finally have something to follow up “Love Is Fine”, but Fitts has also announced that he’ll be dropping an EP, La Playa, later this spring. The new track, “Bubblegum”, fits well into the realm of The Kickdrums signature sound, but it’s a little bit more airy and easygoing than anything he’s released in recent memory. Something tells me that the location where the track was recorded has something to do with it given that it was made in a small beach town in southern Spain called Estepona.

Taking the time out from his Brooklyn home base has very clearly done him some good. “I was trying to explore new and different combinations of music for me as a producer/singer,” Fitts explained, “At times my music may sound like a band, but it's really just me with a drum machine and some instruments.”

Good to have to back, bb. Keep ‘em coming!

[SONG OF THE DAY] Mason - "Drowning In Your Love (feat. Jem Cooke)

Amsterdam producer Mason very casually launched a banger into the universe on Friday and I wish I had been more adequately prepared because “Drowning In Your Love” packs quite the glittery disco punch. The track features vocal stylings from London singer-songwriter Jem Cooke, who from the looks of her Spotify profile has been on her hustling A-game because she’s got hella features. Def going to be keeping tabs on her whereabouts ESPECIALLY when Mason has nothing but wonderful things to say about her on Facebook.

And with that, your Monday has briefly transformed into feeling like a Friday. You’re welcome.

Fri May 24 - Drop Hong Kong
Sat May 25 - Pepper Shenzhen China
Sun May 25 - Vinyl House Shenzhen China
Th May 30 - Octagon Tokyo Japan
Sat June 01 - Soap, Seoul S-Korea

[SONG OF THE DAY] Holy Ghost! - "Do This"

photo credit: Harry McNally

On Friday NYC duo Holy Ghost! dropped another taste from their forthcoming LP, Work, which is out June 21st via the legendary West End Records. Their new track, “Do This”, is as candid and incredibly thoughtful as it is the kind of glimmering low-key vibe that one would want to put on to savor the last few hours of the weekend.

In making this album NY natives Alex Frankel and Nick Millhiser decided that for this record in particular that they were going to focus their efforts on the same creative process that resulted in their 2011 debut self-titled album. An album free of any sort of expectations and really returning to crafting a vibe for the sake of vibing out vs. chasing trends that we see in dance music today, especially as it’s related to likes, stream counts, etc. “Do It” is their way of making their intentions for the album as blatantly obvious as possible.

How blatantly obvious? Here are the lyrics to the first verse:

You must think I’m stupid / For chasing a sound / For running it down / For holding my ground.

You must think I’m ruthless / Impeccably mean / But I know what i want / It means something to me.

And I don't usually do this / But that data has shown, I should probably go home

Yep. That. Obvious.

"There's a data epidemic in the music industry. Everyone is obsessed with likes, stream counts, ‘the algorithm’ etc...,” frontman Alex Frankel explained while speaking on the track, “For a band like us, who like to take our time in the studio  and perform with a live band and make actual records from scratch, it starts to really bum you out when people around you are more focused on Instagram stats and ‘reactions’ than the music.”

Def not wrong there, my dude. While we know how much I love #thedata and The Algorithm™, my ass knows better than to believe that’s the only thing that’s gonna fix the mountain of still unsolved problems the music industry had prior to the Napster era, MySpace music, etc.

Either way, I sort of always had this inkling that Holy Ghost! were ✨my people✨, but this jam absolutely confirmed that. Definitely intend to go on record to discuss this at greater length as we get closer to the album’s release.

Speaking of June 21st, ICYMI NY fam the album release show at Bowery Ballroom has sold out and the fellas have just added a second show on the following night, so now you have no excuse to not come out and dance your ass off with me.

Upcoming Holy Ghost! Live Shows:

05-09: Guadalajara, México - Corona Capital at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

06-21: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (Album Release Show / SOLD OUT)

06-22: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (Just Added!)

06-29: Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall

10-31: San Francisco, CA - The Independent

11-1: San Francisco, CA - The Independent

11-2: Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom

11-3: Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom

[SONG OF THE DAY] Tom Aspaul - "Back 2 Earth"

Photo by Alice Rainis

After collaborating with Twitter fam Pat Lok on one hell of a bop, the baddest witch in all of London has returned with a new track of his very own, “Back 2 Earth”. I am so grateful that the world has Tom Aspaul because he is single handedly advancing The Slay Agenda™ on the daily all the while being the authentically beautiful and tender soul I’ve come to know him to be. Earlier today he shared on Instagram that over the past few months that he’s been in a rut of sorts and wasn’t sure if he was going to go on as a musician but that the process of releasing “Back 2 Earth” managed to shake that very unbecoming vibe off of him. As he detailed to Insta fam, “It’s very poetic that a song about self-care and self-belief would be the one to lift me out of this rut innit?”

Can you imagine a world without Tom Aspaul actively singing in it? Personally, I would very much prefer not to. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.

I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I’ve decided that the reason why I love Tom’s voice so much is because something about the way he sings always makes me feel like I just got a really sweet text from someone or like the caffeine finally hit. You cannot feel bad listening to Tom Aspaul. It’s just not possible.

Also according to the same Instagram post, we’re “not gonna believe what comes next!”

dis me now: 👀👀👀