[SONG OF THE DAY] Jaded - "Young"

It’s been a little over a year since I casually slipped UK indie electro-pop trio Jaded in diSKOAver weekly with their breakout hit, “In The Morning”. Since then, I’ve followed along with these dope dudes on Instagram, who have been responsible for me laughing to myself like an idiot on the subway no less than twice. It’s only fitting that they would release a song like, “Young” last week, as it’s *almost* as playful as they are. Almost. This is hands down the care-free anthemic song you need in your life. It’s the perfect microdose of escapism that you need amidst the chaos of everyday life.

Fair warning though: if you’re walking around while rocking this jam you might find yourself pouting, shimmying, and mouthing the words in front of strangers at a crosswalk or something.

Not that I am speaking from experience. 😳

[WATCH] Moritz Simon Geist Makes Techno With Music Robots

Hey! Wanna see something that will break your fucking brain? 

I have had to sit on this video for an entire week and basically since I saw it I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. 

My two favorite things have collided courtesy of Moritz Simon Geist, an electrical engineer turned musician based in Germany. From his upcoming debut EP, The Material Turn (out on October 12), please feast your eyes and ears on his first offering, "Entropy", which I am having trouble not watching for the 30th time while writing about this. For this EP, Geist has built robots to act as his musical instruments to make techno music. As in, there are no synths or traditional instruments involved (unless you count the "drone guitar," which is essentially a motor attached to an electric guitar). 

Robots. Making. Techno.

CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!? BECAUSE I CANNOT!

I think the thing that I love the most about this is how he's managed to bring a deeply tangible aspect into electronic music through this project. As the music making process becomes increasingly simplified, the performance aspect, especially in electronic music, has a problem of essentially being a table, a laptop, and confetti cannons/LED screens/etc. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dance party, but I feel like a lot of times we take the craftsmanship that goes into these records for granted because the only way to make a live show interesting is to add pyrotechnics. I am now more upset than I was previously about not making it to Moogfest this past year because I would KILL to see this live. I know I'd be conflicted about dancing to this because I'd be taking my eyes off him tuning a robot who plays water glasses. Or would I be more entranced watching little styrofoam balls pulsating through a cylinder as a "pneumatic hi-hat" of sorts that I'd forget to dance? I DON'T KNOW BUT I WOULD LOVE TO FIND OUT! 

okay imma stop talking now WATCH THIS!!

Now that you're obsessed too, you can go pre-order this EP over on Bandcamp. There's also a full-length (!!!!) coming November 16th that's appropriately titled Robotic Electronic Music. Meanwhile, if you want to see how some of these dope robots are made, you can watch the below behind the scenes video. 

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! 

[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Monster (feat. Jamie Lidell)"

I. Am. So. Happy. These. Dudes. Collaborated. Again. 

Y'all remember the awesomeness that was "Clean" off of Big Data's 2.0, which featured vocal stylings of now Nashville-based powerhouse Jamie Lidell. Well the two have teamed up to REALLY own the Black Mirror pop genre that I playfully invented when "See Through" materialized a few months back. I happened to be starting in on the mini stack of books that Big Data mastermind Alan Wilkis has been casually recommending via his Instagram stories, starting with his #1 recommendation: Life 3.0 Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence  just as "Monster" dropped on Friday. 

Y'all.

The second I got to the chorus of "Monster" I couldn't grab that book fast enough. First of all, I was covered in goosebumps because this first person narrative as sung by Lidell is the kind of story that technologists everywhere : creating technology that we later deeply regret because it ends up being really harmful to mankind. We are definitely living in peak "just because we can make it, SHOULD we make it?" era right now. It's very obvious (and honestly really comforting) that Wilkis has spent a great deal of time pondering this about various technologies we're semi-normalizing in culture and giving us plenty to reconsider before blindly believing that every technological advance is inherently good for us. 

Suffice it to say, every second that I have downtime I am reading that book. Already two chapters in I'm already starting to gain a deeper understanding of the concerns Wilkis' has. It's made me hope that other Big Data fans get curious and equally concerned about our future. 

We're currently 3 songs deep into 3.0's album cycle with no concrete release date in sight, BUT our favorite data driven dude will be hitting the road as he headlines the Sirius XM Alt Nation tour starting in mid-October, so my Kibbe-sense says we'll probably have the whole shebang by then. 

Also in 310 pages I will be making our impending interview official, so know that's coming too. 

BIG DATA Tour Dates:

October 14th - Shelter - Detroit, MI

October 15th - HiFi - Indianapolis, IN

October 16th - Chop Suey - Chicago, IL

October 18th - Rumba - Columbus, OH

October 19th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Cleveland, OH

October 21st - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT

October 22nd - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA

October 23rd - Foundry - Philadelphia, PA

October 24th - Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY

October 25th - Songbyrd - Washington, DC

October 27th -  Underground - Charlotte, NC

October 28th - The Cowan - Nashville, TN

October 30th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Dallas, TX

October 31st - Bronze Peacock @ HOB - Houston, TX

November 1st - Antone’s - Austin, TX

November 2nd - Lowbrow Palace - El Paso, TX

November 4th - Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ

November 5th - Voodoo Room @ HOB - San Diego, CA

November 6th - Resident - Los Angeles, CA

November 7th - Chapel - San Francisco, CA

November 9th - Dante’s (Take Warning) - Portland, OR

November 10th - Chop Suey - Seattle, WA

[SONG OF THE DAY] Valley - "Closer To the Picture"

Toronto quartet Valley released the video for their catchy ass single, "Closer To The Picture" this week, so I am taking advantage of this loophole to write this up (I'm tryna make SOTD just be for things that are a week or so old tops). If you've been on a LANY or The 1975 kinda vibe lately, this will definitely be right up your alley. 

Formed by a serendipitous overbooking at the studio that the (initial) two pairs were going to work music on, this single follows up their debut EP, The Room Is White, which was released in 2016. Described as "an anthem for outcasts", you'll see that the video for "Closer To The Picture" leans very hard into this aesthetic. 

When (not if) you find yourself enamored by their infectious poptastic sensibilities, you can try to give the band a ring at 1 (888) 903-8765, which is their dedicated number for fans to call in to chat.  

Happy Saturday! 

[SONG OF THE DAY] Henry Nowhere - "Good Thing"

We return to our regularly scheduled programming with this Bay Area born (now LA based) bb.

Fam, please get to Henry Nowhere. He is about to be a very very good thing for your ears. His latest offering, "Good Thing", comes from his forthcoming EP titled Not Going Back, which will be out on September 14th. This lovely little lo-fi jam explores the space that being in a long-term relationship gives for love and vulnerability to grow. It's effortlessly catchy and makes you feel like you just woke up from a really sweet dream about your lover. 

If you want to be in a further happy haze, make sure to have a listen to his previously released tracks that are also on Not Going Back, "Not Going Back" and "Problems Of The Heart". 

I'm off to swoon over these a little more. Happy Friday! 

LIFE UPDATE: Things Are About To Get More Awesome Around Here

GUESS WHO MADE IT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DARK AND TWISTIES Y'ALL? 

OOF.

When you get so depressed that you can't even find joy doing your most favorite thing (sharing music with people) you KNOW you're in the thick of it. 

I won't lie, it's been a really rough 6 months. I had a bunch of crushing life changing experiences happen to me, BUT the good news is yer girl made it through! 

For awhile now I've been thinking about how much has changed since SKOA came in to existence and how much I've changed personally. At my core, music is still the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning. That said, the ways in which I choose to love music and the community around it have changed quite a bit. The longer I work in music the more I see how much work that needs to be done so that music is without a doubt the safest space for all of us. I have always valued the power that the music community wields when put to good use and I would like to do my part in focusing that incredible energy on creating lasting positive changes. 

I'm still working on my game plan for putting all of my ideas into action, but know that in addition to sharing songs that make my heart swell I will be making an effort to do what I can to make the music community a more inclusive and positive space. 

So yeah, lots of really awesome things coming. Oh also diSKOAver weekly and Song of the Day are officially coming back full time starting T O D A Y so GET HYPE! 

I look forward to starting this next chapter with you guys. 

<3 <3 <3 

kibbe!

[SONG OF THE DAY] The Wild Wild - "Stereo"

Bless The Algorithm™ and the wonderful ways it sends me songs. As much as I love to shower affection on Discover Weekly, have you ever just sit back after a song ends on Soundcloud and see what autoplay sends your way? 

Last week it sent me LA's The Wild Wild and subsequently one of my favorite all time lyrics from today's SOTD, "Stereo": 

"You can touch my body but you can't touch my stereo"

I feel like this corner of the internet lives and dies by this sentiment sometimes, no? lol 

Right back to more about The Wild Wild: Benjamin Dunn is the brainchild behind the project. Per the little amount of info available on his Soundcloud, apparently his latest album, Love Is God, was written and recorded in what's described as a recycled tiny wooden house studio in Highland Park in Los Angeles where he also lived. Kind of sounds like this dude made this all in a shed, which, once you feast your ears on this... is insanely impressive. Like seriously, fuck bedroom producers. Garden shed producers are what's up now! 

No but really, this is some perfectly polished power pop. Major labels spend a shitload of money to make records sound this tight and this dude was just chillin in his not-exactly-a-shed-but-mostly-a-shed and crushed it 

Love Is God is a followup to last year's release Into The Sea, into the Stars, which I cannot wait to get better acquainted with along with the rest of his various EPs and singles from the past couple of years. 

I wish I knew more about this dude but he left me on read on Instagram and there's no other way to get in touch with him to learn more sooooooo. 

[SONG OF THE DAY] Client Liaison - "Survival In The City"

No, I am not going to shut up about Client Liaison until every single last one of you is converted. It is one of my personal goals in 2018 to help this band take over America, like not even joking. I thank the Lorde every day that Slum Sociable brought this band into my life. Every time I see Monte Morgan and Harvey Miller's faces pop up in my feeds I am just overcome with joy. Everything about their aesthetic is so effortless and yet so clearly well thought out that it doesn't come off as just some overt gimmick they're using as a marketing ploy. They have essentially created a parallel universe that just so happens to nestle right on top of this one. Playing their music, watching their music videos, or wearing their high fashion merch are those magical moments where you become a part of said parallel universe where extravagance is status quo and having a good time is the #1 priority. "Survival In The City" is essentially the anthem for those of us called to be living our best night lives in our respective big cities. 

Last month during Australian Fashion Week the band put on a fashion show for their aforementioned high fashion merch line, Client Liaison Deluxe Line, which ended with a live performance. Yes, I was so excited to watch this in real-time on Facebook live that I SET AN ALARM TO WAKE ME UP AT 6AM FOR IT. I am committed. Since you likely missed it, please check out how incredibly badass it was:

Seriously, I can't wait for you to join me in the non-stop party that is Client Liaison. We are going to have the best time together.