[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

[TODAY IN MUSIC] 5 Things You Should Know On Monday, September 17th, 2018

MRW I saw the news about Australia’s first female-focussed and LGBTIQ+ inclusive booking agency

Hi so I’m going to try a thing. I do my best to keep up with relevant things happening in and thought a recap of the things that stand out the most to me might be mutually beneficial. If you want to chat in the comments (or on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) about any of these I’m all ears! 😎

• TL;DR: Ad Rock and Mike D did NOT give Eminem permission for the Kamikaze artwork. In fact, a lot of us knew about the artwork before they did. [Exclaim!]

• Dua Lipa’s body guards from her Shanghai show were detained by police after reports of them dragging out fans waving rainbow fans and beating members of the audience. 🤬 [NME]

• If you have a never ending love/hate relationship with AutoTune, you might find this very thorough history of how it revolutionized popular music interesting. [Pitchfork]

• ICYMI: we’re still trying to get the very forward thinking legislation known as the Music Modernization Act passed in the US. Neil Diamond took to the LA Times to detail how our current outdated laws negatively effect legacy acts' ability to earn performance royalties on digital/satellite radio. [LATimes]

• AMAZING news from down under: Australian booking agent Kailei Ginman has launched Australia’s first female-focussed and LGBTIQ+ inclusive booking agency – an all-female roster, run by female agents, employing all-female freelancers and supporting community charities – aptly named Alpha. [The Music Network]

[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.  🍑

[SONG OF THE DAY] Tom Aspaul - "Going Down"

Photo by Alice Rainis

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It’s the best day of the weeeeeeek! I am happy to alert you to one of the best humans to ever grace the internet. Today London’s Tom Aspaul released his latest single, “Going Down”, a catchy little number surprisingly enough about dealing with grief and depression. He’s really crafted a perfectly pain-filled pop song, the kind of tune that makes you do a double take at what he’s actually saying because you get lost in the poptastic production. I’m one for dancing my problems away and this is going to be one I reach for from now on when I’m having one of those days.

If this is your first taste of Tom, please make sure you get well acquainted with the variety of music projects he’s been a part of.

Also, love yourself and follow him on Instagram. I live for his IG story bubble to come up and I know plenty of friends who stan equally as hard for them.

[SONG OF THE DAY] St. Lucia - "Bigger"

Even though I’m in bed battling what feels like it could be a cold my heart is so full today.

You guys, last night I finally got to see St. Lucia live! 😍🙏🏻💖✨

Unbeknownst to me, I am apparently amongst the top listeners of St. Lucia on Spotify. Jokes on them, because I’m just now looking at my #data on Last.fm and based on the time period that I listened to them most I probably listened to them the most on Rdio (RIP) than I have on Spotify. At any rate, I got invited to a #SpotifyFansFirst event last night where they played their upcoming album, Hyperion, in the background while we snacked and drank for a bit and then played a set full of old favorites and newer nuggets we will be obsessing over in the coming weeks.

Of all the new tracks they played, “Bigger” (which dropped last week) by far encompasses everything that I have grown to love about this band in the past 7 years. There’s something so undeniably heartwarming about Jean Grobler’s voice on it’s own, but the music itself is always ethereal and expansive, as if it were impossible to contain the notes because they just dissipate into the atmosphere. When you factor in the genuinely heartfelt lyrics on this song, well, “Bigger” is just one of those songs that when you hear it you’re briefly concerned that your heart might float out of your chest.

It was truly a magical night and playful streaming-related shade aside I’m very grateful that Spotify facilitated me being able to see one of my favorite bands.

Hyperion drops next Friday (September 21st) as does their extensive tour starting at the Pier 17 rooftop here in NYC. You can see the full routing for their tour over on their website.