[SONG OF THE DAY] Grand Pax - "Bunk"

photo credit: Netti Hurley

Yesterday London synthwave artist Grand Pax unveiled her latest single, “Bunk”, a dark pulsating introspective track with little bits of fuzz and warped pitches in all the right places. The blend of ambient, trip-hop, and synth-pop vibes throughout the song showcase the energy of a range of emotions that one experiences while having a moment of self-reflection. Speaking on the track, she explains, “‘Bunk’ for me depicts the struggle with the darker aspects of myself. I find I’m typically at either side of the extremes; destructive, or hopeful. The process of landing at either end can be hectic.” She added, “[It] for me was something of a milestone to write. It’s my own personal anthem.”

Folks on the other side of the pond can catch on tour over the next month or at The Great Escape festival in Brighton.

GRAND PAX 2019 TOUR DATES:

Feb 23 | AMATA Building, Falmouth^ 

Feb 25 | Green Door Store, Brighton^

Feb 26 | Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham^

Feb 27| Headrow House, Leeds^ 

Mar 1 | YES! (Basement), Manchester ^ 

Mar 2 | Crofters Rights, Bristol^

May 9-12 | The Great Escape, Brighton

^with IDER

[SONG OF THE DAY] Sego - "Shame"

You guys Sego is releasing another album and it’s during birthday month and I’m trying my best to maintain some level of chill but let’s be real that’s not fucking happening. lolololol

After stringing us along for a little over a year with tracks like, “Whatever Forever”, “Sucker/Saint”, “Cigarette Kids”, and “Be Alone”, the band has released the lead single, “Shame” from their forthcoming album, Sego Sucks, which drops on April 5th.

Sego Sucks?

Apparently the name comes from a hashtag that someone started not too long after the band was formed. lmao. One listen of “Shame” and you’ll get how omg totes hilar the thought of anyone ever saying that this band sucks.

Alongside the album announcement and single release the band also released a video for the song where you’ll notice that in their downtime that they’ve also upgraded to a four-piece, adding bassist Alyssa Davey and guitarist/keyboardist Brandon McBride.

Also #realtalk: get you a man who looks at you the way drummer Thomas Carroll looks at singer Spencer Peterson. Like please look at the thumbnail on this video! My heart is so full.

Happy Saturday 💖

Tour Dates:

2/8: Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (Love You Down w. Warpaint)

3/13-3/16: Austin, TX @ SXSW

4/5: Provo, UT @ Velour (release show)

[WATCH] Jerry Williams - "David At The Bar (Official Video)"

still taken from the “David At The Bar” music video

A couple of weeks back I shared the latest from indie-pop artist Jerry Williams, “David At The Bar”, which recounts Williams’ interaction with a guy named David that she met at a bar who agreed to get sober if she wrote a song about him. Today sees the release of the accompanying video, which is shot in the very bar in the Marimon, the very bar in Portsmouth, UK where she met the now infamous main character in the song.

I’ll be honest, basically since the second I heard the song and learned the full story, I have thought about David and briefly rooted for his recovery. Only time will tell if the two one-time bar buddies will ever be reunited and David will have good news for her, but we can certainly hope.

[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] Example - "All Night"

Longtime SKOA favorite Example has been cranking out some top tunes over the past year on his newly fashioned imprint, Staneric Recordings. I’m especially loving his latest, “All Night”, which in addition to painting a picture of how I envision going out in London must be like, is living proof that the man his living his best life. In addition to the new single, Elliot and his totally adorable wife, model Erin McNaught made a DIY music video after putting their kids to bed in what appears to be their living room. There’s no well thought out choreography or anything over the top about it. While other people are enjoying the video for, um, reasons, I just love the idea of these two drunk trying to quietly do somewhere around 12 takes to make this video hoping to god that their kids didn’t wake up. I wouldn’t be surprised if the song took off because people decided to recreate the video because of its simplicity and playfulness. Considering he did everything on his own for this single, I hope this becomes the norm for him. The multitasking looks really good on him.

[SKOA PREMIERE] Alae - "Home" (Official Music Video)

Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Fridayyyyyyyy!!!

Fam I am happy to premiere the latest video from Auckland four-piece Alae. On its own, their latest single from their debut full-length, Henry St, “Home”, is a delicate track that speaks to loss and belonging. Today, as you’ll soon see for yourself, the newly unveiled accompanying video will challenge you to reflect on how you present yourself to the world versus who you know yourself to truly be.

There are many takeaways from the video for “Home”, but according to singer Alex Farrell-Davey, it aims to create discussions around what it is to have a life outside of your sexuality. “In my mind the idea of breaking out of jail hand cuffed to your cell mate represents leaving work,” he explained, “chained to the version of yourself that you are when you're there. To then come home and to dedicate your night to trying to break free of how uncomfortable it makes you (in an environment that's loving and comfortable).” He adds, “To ultimately be arrested by the red and blue police sirens that represent waking up to an ominous alarm, knowing you have to do it all over again.”

As you’ll see as the video progresses that the prisoner who is taken along the heartwarming reunion (played by Farrell-Davey) that there’s this slow build of loneliness and isolation that’s portrayed being unable to escape how beautiful and heartwarming the love that exists between the fellow convict, partner, and baby is. The pain in his face as he looks away, unable to embrace this other part of him as one in the same. The underlying powerful message in “Home” is that of self-acceptance and if anything, having this reminder gifted to us from a marginalized voice makes it all the more deeply meaningful.

[SONG OF THE DAY] SATICA - "Agave Nights"

Long Beach based songstress SATICA unveiled her latest single, “Agave Nights” along with her first ever music video. I stumbled into SATICA when she teamed up with SKOA favorite SAKIMA for their song, “Dysfunctional”. Since then the siren has been stringing us along with more bops like “Drippin’”, “Inner Child”, and my personal drug of choice (pun intended) “miss yr high”. According to SATICA, “Agave Nights” is, “probably the most honest/emotionally driven things I’ve written.”

LA fam can catch her on December 8th at The Roxy with Shawn Wasabi. Tickets available here.

[WATCH] The Chemical Brothers - "Free Yourself" (Official Video)

Still taken from “Free Yourself” video.

UM

THIS VIDEO IS MY EVERYTHING.

WOW.

If you haven’t watched the new video for The Chemical Brothers’ latest single, “Free Yourself”, please drop everything that you’re doing and do not navigate to any of your other tabs once you press play because there is a LOT going on here.

Directed by Dom&Nic, the creative duo who have worked with The Chemical Brothers over a period of twenty-two years on videos like “Hey Boy Hey Girl,” “Block Rockin’ Beats,” “Setting Sun” and the award-winning video “Wide Open”, this video is either going to be an absolute delight or your worst nightmare, depending on your stance on robots.

Speaking on the music video, the duo explained, “We imagined a near future where robots had become a sentient underclass and we felt sorry for them and wanted to imagine them finding a way to free themselves, have fun and dance.”

I will admit, as someone who would consider themselves the brand of nerd who feels like they align with the beneficial AI movement I was starting to get a little jumpy near the end, but that’s why YOU GOTTA WATCH IT TO THE VERY VERY END. Watch it like it’s a Marvel movie, you feel me?