[SONG OF THE DAY] Bronze Whale - "Slowing Down"

Austin duo Bronze Whale have returned after dropping their debut LP, The Shape Of Things with a brand new track, “Slowing Down”. The duo teamed up with Joe Pincus, known to the rest of the world as Aire Atlantica during a writing trip to Los Angeles. In true Bronze Whale fashion where they just keep churning out feel good vibes, the band are prepping to release a remix EP in July. Speaking of remixes, their sneak peeks from that EP might have passed you by, but as per usual I gotchu fam. Def wanna give these a whirl. Charlie Crown’s rework of “Cruising” has this fun new energy that builds quite nicely and Cloudchord’s edit of “Gold Grain” takes the song to a more downtempo/relaxed vibe.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Blood Cultures - "Best For You"

New Jersey’s four-piece anon-act Blood Cultures have returned with their second single from their forthcoming sophomore album Oh Uncertainty! A Universe Despairs, which is slated for a September release. “Best For You” is a hazy hypnotic little number full of glitchy vocal slices sampled throughout. This one’s a definite earworm that has the ability to keep you awake with it ringing through your head even though you only played in a couple of times, and of course I mean that in the best possible way.

The band has very strong convictions about remaining anonymous, which they have detailed in a recent manifesto that they’ve shared (and I’ve included below as well). On the one hand, I totally get their intentions here, but as much as it’s nice to just get really invested in a piece of art, there is a communal aspect of it too when it comes to connecting to the artists who made the thing you like.

Perhaps this is something I should hop on the phone and discuss with them soon. 🤔

THE BLOOD CULTURES MANIFESTO
Our hope is to create genuine, emotive art for individuals to connect with in a unique way. We choose to not publicly reveal any information about the project and ourselves in order to effectively carry out this mission: We believe that disclosing our personalities, politics, alignments, intentions, orientations, etc could detach the listener further from the personal connection that they have made with the music.

We must support and respect the unique truths and individual meanings that the listeners generate themselves from the tracks and the visuals. Art is not what the artist intends it to be, but rather what you make of it. If we are simply the vessels, who are we to take meaning away from something by imposing our own views, biasis, intentions, etc?

We choose to be the blank canvas. We want our listeners to find their own significance in the pieces by looking inwardly and seeking the answers within themselves rather than from us: disclosing the context of the work could shatter the individual’s distinct value of the piece that they have created for themselves. There is only one true meaning, and it is that which the listener has concluded is their truth.

Despite not sharing ourselves in the traditional and physical sense, we instead exclusively share our raw emotional selves by exposing our most personal thoughts, moments, and feelings in the music. Anonymity allows us the freedom to be candid and void of restraint, repercussions and fear. This music is the most personal thing I have ever done, so the relationship we have with our listeners through this channel is an extremely intimate one.

If you feel the music, you understand it, you understand us, and just like that, we are connected. Regardless of our potential differences, we are there together, in the same emotional landscape, through this music. And that is worth preserving.

Though we're seen, we will never be seen: just like you

Though we’re heard, we will never be heard: just like you

Though we're known, we will never be known: just like you

Love,

Blood Cultures

[WATCH] Holy Ghost! - "Do This (Official Video)"

photo credit: Harry McNally

In just a few short days the rest of you will be able to hear the dazzling dance delights that is Work from legendary NYC duo Holy Ghost!. As a celebration of the art of making music as memorable as this forthcoming album, the guys have shared the music video for their single, “Do This”, which features clips from the entire creation of the album, from recording in the studio, to pressing the actual vinyl, before finally making it to a record store.

Gonna be honest, I could watch people press vinyl all damn day. Seeing how much care goes into making a record from start to finish is just such a beautiful thing to be able to witness all the way down to the sweet ladies putting the LPs in their jackets. I always wonder if they ever listen to the records that they’re stuffing, don’t you?

As nice as it’s been to obsess over a Soundcloud link for this record in the past month-ish, I honestly can’t wait to drop the needle on this record with my Beyerdynamics. There’s a lot of heart to this record and I’m really anxious to find more reasons to love this record moreso than I already do.

Another cool reason to love this record that hadn’t really sunk in with me until today: the guys are basically trying to singlehandedly resurrect the NYC’s original dance label, West End Records. This is the first LP to come out on the record in more than THREE DECADES y’all. While he was still alive, West End Records founder Mel Cheren was essentially responsible for laying the foundations of what would define early disco, which would then be really influential on pop, hip-hop, house, and techno. Cheren also was responsible for helping to set up NYC's Gay Mens Health Crisis letting GMHC operate rent-free in his Chelsea building, at the dawn of the AIDS crisis as well as establishing charities like 24 Hours for Life and LIFEbeat.

I think it’s so cool that the guys are like painfully aware of the irony in two white heterosexual dance-obsessed guys reviving the label but are still so passionate about using their platform with this album to elevate both the history of the genre and start a dialogue around dance music culture. The origins of dance music weren’t even close to being as white as they are today. It’s important that people pay respect to the genre they love by honoring its origins.

CAN FRIDAY GET HERE ALREADY I WANNA GUSH WITH EVERYONE ABOUT HOW GOOD THIS RECORD IS ALREADY 😩😩😩😩😩

[SONG OF THE DAY] Tycho - "Japan"

photo credit: Scott Hansen

San Francisco soundscape crafters Tycho have returned with a new track, “Japan”, from their forthcoming album WEATHER, out on July 12th. "I had just returned from spending some time in Hakone, Japan with my wife's Japanese relatives," shares project brainchild Scott Hansen. "I was thinking a lot about the kinds of electronic music instruments I had been using when I first started making music in the late '90s. With 'Japan,' I was trying to recapture a part of that sound and combine it with the imagery and experiences from my trip to Hakone. I sent the song to Hannah with nothing more than the title of 'Japan' and she wrote all of the lyrics." As with the recent string of singles they’ve released from this album cycle, the band has offered a 2-pack, which includes the album version and an accompanying instrumental.

Speaking of said instrumental, I wanna talk about how frustrating it was to watch a large portion of the Tycho fandom essentially have a total fucking meltdown about the addition of angelic vocalist Saint Sinner to the mix. As previously mentioned, Hansen has shared how he’s really excited about incorporating the most “organic instrument” on the planet into the Tycho soundscape. I even admitted it was gonna take me a second to get used to the idea. That all said, as someone who lives to watch bands evolve and challenge themselves to push beyond any self or fan-made boundaries, to say I’m disappointed that some folks can’t see the opportunity the band is giving us to reflect on how truly powerful either type of performance is would be an understatement. Hansen is quick to detail the amount of thought that goes into each version, "I wanted to explore the idea of approaching songs from two entirely different perspectives,” he explains, “Similar to 'Pink & Blue,' the instrumental versions are not just the songs with vocals muted, they are different arrangements with different instrumentation and melodies in place of the vocals."

Even before skimming the press release to do this post, just this morning (almost a full month since the “Pink & Blue” writeup mind you) I found myself lost in thought while listening to both versions of “Japan”. I couldn’t help but reflect on how fascinating it is to watch this band begin to be able to articulate into words certain things that maybe their music hadn’t been able to previously. Maybe prior to now Tycho music was akin to those in religious settings who speak in tongues, not sure the exact or best way to fully express themselves, but deep down the sound does enough to speak for itself.

It’s certainly a concept that is worth taking some time to sit with, if only to deepen your appreciation for the band. I hope that those who were upset come around. Personally it just makes me love this band all the more knowing that they’re the ultra meticulous musicians I’ve grown to appreciate them to be busily fretting over every painstaking detail every step of the way with this release.

PS - have you pre-ordered Weather yet? Do you have your tickets for their extensive af world tour coming up? If not, get on that shit, fam!

TYCHO

"WEATHER WORLD TOUR"

2019

JULY

21 - Byron Bay, Australia - Splendour In The Grass *

23 - Melbourne, Australia - Forum Melbourne

24 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Opera House

26 - Niigata Prefecture, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival '19 *

SEPTEMBER

5 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre **

6 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre #

7 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall #

8 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre #

11 - Denver, CO - The Mission Ballroom #

13 - Minneapolis, MN - Palace Theatre #

15 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom #

16 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts #

18 - Boston, MA - Wang Theatre - Boch Center #

19 - New York, NY - Summerstage #

20 - Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall #

21 - Slippery Rock, PA - Resonance Music & Arts Festival *

23 - Detroit, MI - The Masonic #

24 - Columbus, OH - Express Live #

26 - St Louis, MO - The Pageant #

27 - Kansas City, MO - CrossroadsKC #

2020

FEBRUARY

9 - Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller #

10 - Stockholm, Sweden - Vasteatern #

11 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega Main Hall #

13 - Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefahrlich #

14 - Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall #

15 - Paris, France - Elyse Montmartre #

17 - Brussels, Belgium - AB Ballroom @ Ancienne Belgique #

18 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso #

19 - Berlin, Germany - Huxley's #

21 - Warsaw, Poland - Praga Centrum #

23 - Prague, Czech Republic - Roxy #

24 - Budapest, Hungary - Akvarium #

25 - Vienna, Austria - WUK #

27 - Milan, Italy - Fabrique #

28 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon #

MARCH

1 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Apolo #

5 - London, UK - Printworks #

* Festival Performance

** Chrome Sparks

# Poolside

[SONG OF THE DAY] Slum Sociable - "Life Is Free"

Yesterday the beloved Slum fam have graced us with their presence for the first time this year with a new song, “Life Is Free” and the oh so delightful news that they’ll be releasing an EP titled L.I.F. on August 2nd. Speaking on the track, the band shares, "'Life Is Free' was called that because, it isn't. The second line of the song points that out; "how can I say that knowingly". It’s about noticing how valuable a resource like time is, how you use it with the people in your life, how other people who might not have it as good as you use it, and ultimately trying to use it for good."

Tell you what man, so glad these guys took as much time as they needed into investing into themselves and their mental health because they have so many wonderful things on their heart to share with the world.

PS - ICYMI recently the guys stopped by triple j for a Like A Version session where they covered Mark Ronson and The Business International’s popular track “Somebody To Love Me”. Singer Miller Upchurch really owned the shit out the song, I found his performance of an already emotional song to be very moving. Dare I say Boy George and Andrew Wyatt (who originally sang on the track) would be thoroughly impressed and even a little intimidated by it, that’s how much I enjoyed it. So yeah, def go have a look and listen at that.

YAYYYY the boys are back in town! The. Boys. Are. Back. In. Town!!!!!

[SONG OF THE DAY] Yung Bae - "Must Be Love"

VIBE

OCLOCK

FRIDAYYYYY

HERE WE GO HERE WE GO HERE WE GOOOO✨⚡️🙌🏻💖🙏🏻🥰

For a few years now the bottle of neon and sunshine that is Yung Bae has been gallivanting across the internet tossing all the glittering futurefunk disco vibes with every breath he takes. Today the Portland-based producer has announced a brand new album, Bae 5, which is slated for release on June 28th, and shared the lead single, “Must Be Love”, our first taste of what’s to come. In true fashion for Yung Bae, it’s all meticulously crafted high energy futurefunk that will def make you break a sweat grooving out to on the dance floor. Bae 5 is a followup to his 2017 album, B4E that if you have not blessed your earholes with please add that to your queue after you fall for this new track.

In addition to the big news, the smol yungest bae has also shared that he’s going on tour!!!!!! That’s right! 21 dates across North America this fall in addition to some festival appearances, baby! Tickets are on sale now! Get the fuck hype!

October 17th!

Brooklyn Bowl!

Imma be wearing so much body glitter lmao

It gonna be 🔥✨⚡️

YUNG BAE TOUR DATES

Fri Oct 11 - Austin, TX @ Parish

Sat Oct 12 - Dallas, TX @ Trees

Sun Oct 13 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall

Tue Oct 15 - Atlanta, GA @Aisle 5

Thu Oct 17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl

Fri Oct 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry

Sat Oct 19 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall

Sun Oct 20 - Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs

Tue Oct 22 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

Wed Oct 23 - Columbus, OH @ Basement

Thu Oct 24 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop

Fri Oct 25 - Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground

Sat Oct 26 - Detroit, MI @El Club

Tue Oct 29 - Kansas City, MO @ RecordBar

Fri Nov 01 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre

Sat Nov 02 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf

Mon Nov 04 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court

Thu Nov 07 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile

Fri Nov 08 - Vancouver, BC @ Celebrities Underground

Sat Nov 09 - Portland, OR (Night 1) @ Holocene

Sun Nov 10 - Portland, OR (Night 2) @ Holocene

YUNG BAE FESTIVAL APPEARANCES

6/21 @ Firefly

6/28 @ Electric Forest

7/14 @ High Seas West

7/20 @ Camp Bisco

8/2 @ Summer Meltdown

8/30 @ North Coast

9/21 @ Life Is Beautiful

9/29 @ CRSSD

11/17 @ Corona Capital

[SONG OF THE DAY] Electric Youth - "The Life"

photo credit: SECRETSECRET

Toronto synthpop duo Electric Youth have returned with a dazzling new single, “The Life”, which comes from their forthcoming sophomore album Memory Emotion, which is out on August 9th courtesy of Watts Arcade Inc./Last Gang Records. Speaking on the track, multi-instrumentalist Austin Garrick shares, “‘The Life’ encapsulates the spectrum of that experience, from the dark to the light, the birth and rebirth, the destruction, degeneration and regeneration of living things on our planet, the home to all greedy megalomaniacs and generous martyrs alike.”

The announcement for Memory Emotion comes a whopping four years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut, Innerworld and is meant to offer an alternative perspective to the themes explored throughout their debut “Innerworld was finding that sense of self, developing and establishing a viewpoint, and Memory Emotion is us taking that viewpoint with us out into the world,” Garrick explains, "Memory Emotion is much more outer-world, an album focused on the external world we live in and the way in which we interact with the world as a result of the emotions attached to our memories.”

In addition to the album announcement the band also unveiled a gorgeous music video for “The Life” along with the news of an album release show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on August 17th. If you remember way back when, yer girl was at their first show at MHoW so bet your buns imma be back there for round two snapping photos and sighing dreamily.

Lotta people coming back to the party this week it seems. Here. For. It.

Memory Emotion Tracklist:

1. The Life

2. ARAWA

3. Breathless

4. Real Ones

5. On My Own

6. Higher

7. thirteen

8. Evergreen 143

9. Now Now

10. Through the same eyes

11. Memory Emotion (Outro)

[SONG OF THE DAY] Madeon - "All My Friends"

photo credit: Jack McKain

Madeon has returned from his 4 year hiatus (well 3 if you count his collab single “Shelter” with Porter Robinson) with a brand new track, “All My Friends”, signaling the beginnings of Good Faith, a new era for the LA based producer. The song is a funk laden glimmering electro-pop bop that won’t fuckin’ stop. This is one of those songs where you feel so good listening to it that if you realized you had accidentally left it on repeat for like an hour you wouldn’t be mad about it you’d just be like “oh hm now that I’ve taken this off repeat I guess I should play it one more time JUST TO BE SAFE”.

Speaking on the track, Madeon (born Hugo Leclercq), shared, “’All My Friends’ is a song I sang, wrote and produced. I wanted to make the kind of ambitious pop music I’ve always hoped I could make someday.”

Dude better quit playing! His someday is happening right this moment!!

Damn this shit is so good.

Also has it really been 4 years since Adventure dropped? No wonder my whole body sprung up so fast I thought I was gonna smash through the ceiling when I realized what my ears were taking in. It’s been TOO DAMN LONG.

UGH I’M SO HAPPY MADEON IS BACK!

also lmao at dude on Twitter being like “I should share music more often”:

hey it’s really weird and wonderful having a song go from being an idea, to a file on my computer, to something that’s been listened to a million times.

I’m really really grateful for this thank you !

I should share music more often - pic.twitter.com/WnnRdbqlbq

— Madeon (@madeon) June 3, 2019

Is he for real? YES DUDE. PLEASE STAY AT THE PARTY WITH US!

PS If you’re in Cali you can catch him do a DJ set this month at the Second Sky Festival before debuting an all new live show at Lollapalooza.

MADEON – 2019 TOUR DATES:
June 15                       Oakland, CA               Second Sky Festival (DJ Set)
June 16                       Oakland, CA               Second Sky Festival (DJ Set)
August 3                      Chicago, IL                  Lollapalooza (Live Show)