[SONG OF THE DAY] Celeste - "Father's Son"

Earlier this week, West-London soul singer Celeste shared the music video for her latest single, “Father’s Son” and I am all up in my feels over it in the best sort of way. The song is a reflection on the singer’s complicated relationship with her Jamaican father, who passed away when she was just 16. Speaking on the track, she explained, “My mother has covered so much in my life but there were points where I thought it would be cool to ask my dad this one question.”

The accompanying video, directed by Bob Harlow, the video beautifully showcases intimate moments between a variety of father-son relationships from birth through death.

“Father’s Son” follows the tracks, “Lately” and “Both Sides of the Moon”, which were released last year. More music is slated to drop as the year rolls on, so I guess investing in some waterproof mascara would be a smart idea moving forward.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Cherryade - "Shout Loud"

If there’s been a void in your soul from where the excitement around hearing New Young Pony Club, The TIng Tings, CSS, or M.I.A. in their early days, I have found a complimentary baby band for the year of our Lorde 2019 who is happy to grab the torch passed on to them and then use it to maybe burn a building down or something. 😂

Enter: London’s new alt-pop duo Cherryade. After meeting as childhood friends and bonding over a shared love of Lil’ Kim, M.I.A. and South Park, Ella and Alex began developing their sound as drunk teenagers making GarageBand demos. Fast forward to today when the pair have fleshed out their infectiously bratty alt-pop sound and have worked alongside the likes of Ant Whiting (M.I.A., John Newman), Xenomania (Little Mix, Pet Shop Boys), Lewis Gardiner (Ellie Goulding), and more.

Last week the band unveiled, “Shout Loud”, which is the lead single from their forthcoming EP, 4 Reasons Why. The song, which was co-written and produced by Ant Whiting, is all about the struggles facing modern day artists and the impact this can have on mental health, but is carefully disguised as this carefree, upbeat, fuzzy, and ultra catchy synth-pop tune

Speaking about the song, Ella said, “We wrote this song about feeling frustrated as both artists and people who work within the music and film industries, and how that plays a massive part in mental health.” Alex added: “There’s a massive pressure to succeed but at the same time you’re constantly being told what you should and shouldn’t do, and what rules to follow… it kills the creativity in what everyone is doing, and just isn’t healthy for anyone involved”.

[SONG OF THE DAY] [SKOA PREMIERE] EMM - "Adderall"

I’m excited to share the latest from Los Angeles pop songstress, EMM. Following her prior single, “11”, this new track, “Adderall”, tells the unfortunate story of a relationship that she was involved with earlier in her career with a person who was a drug addict. Speaking on the song, EMM explained, “This song is a reflection on some of my uneducated decisions early on in my career. I put a lot of faith in some people who valued their relationship with substances over my career, and I ultimately paid the price for it.”

Written alongside her favorite collaborators Zoe Fisher and Taylor Wilzbach, “Adderall” was EMM’s way of healing from the experience. The gritty pop number tackles the realities of the pharmaceutical world we live in and how damaging it can be – for both the users and the people who are affected by their choices. As she shared, “It was extremely hard for me because I cared deeply about the person and it’s really heartbreaking to see someone wrestle with addiction.”

[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.

[LISTEN] HEALTH - "Feel Nothing"

photo credit: Faith Crawford

While we anxiously wait a little less than 2 weeks away for HEALTH’s latest album, Vol. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR, to hit the internet in its entirety, the band has released another song off the album via the Adult Swim Singles series. “Feel Nothing” is a fun name for a HEALTH track basically because it is impossible to not feel anything while listening to these guys. When I try to describe their music to people I normally say something like, “Their music is like the perfect soundtrack to intergalactic war.”

The intensity to which they constantly deliver their robust electrifying sound is something I’ve yet to fully acclimate to and I’ve been an active fan since their 2015 album, Death Magic. In fact, just the other day I wasn’t prepared for their other single, “STRANGE DAYS (1999)” to casually roll up in my Release Radar and I may or may not have yelped a little when then song abruptly hit my eardrums.

My body is so ready for them to head out on tour to support this record and not just because they’ll be at Elsewhere during birthday month. There’s nothing quite like having the bass from their live show rattling through your chest. They def have the power to bring you back to life in that regard.

HEALTH TOUR DATES

04/09 - Oakland, CA - The New Parish

04/10 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent

04/12 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge

04/13 - Vancouver, BC - Venue Nightclub

04/14 - Seattle, WA - Neumos

04/16 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge

04/17 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater

04/19 - Saint Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Grill

04/20 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge

04/21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop

04/22 - Detroit, MI - El Club

04/23 - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground

04/25 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere The Hall

04/26 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair

04/27 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts

04/28 - Washington, DC - Rock N Roll Hotel

04/30 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade - Purgatory

05/01 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon

05/02 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall

05/03 - Austin, TX - Mohawk

05/04 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada

05/06 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf

05/07 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar

05/10 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom

[SONG OF THE DAY] Future Unlimited - "Falling"

photo courtesy of the bands Instagram

Of all the things I was excited to see in my Release Radar last Friday, I was totally unprepared for a new track from Nashville synth-pop rockers Future Unlimited. They basically had completely fallen off the radar after dropping their 2016 EP, Calm Down. Unbeknownst to me because I have too many band babies to keep track of, they very casually resurfaced briefly back in October, playing a show in Nashville that featured a new lineup and new songs.

Apparently their launch strategy for these aforementioned new songs is:

1. Get song to music distributors

2. Casually post on social media about the songs

3. Don’t respond to press when they reach out excitedly for more info

Cause I got NOTHING, fam. Like literally everything I just told you is all that anyone appears to know, which is terribly frustrating when you’re trying to be thorough in your info spreading and support.

I’m no monster though, even with barely anything to work with, “Falling” is so good that for now that’s really all you need in your life to start your Monday off right.

Believe me when I say I will not rest until I have more info for you about what is going on with these guys.

More soon!

[SONG OF THE DAY] Pavo Pavo - "Check The Weather"

 Photo credit: Emmanuel Olunkwa

On the heels of the release of their sophomore full-length album, Mystery Hour, Brooklyn’s Pavo Pavo shared a video on Friday for my personal favorite track on the album, “Check The Weather”. Directed by Charlotte/Charles Ercoli, the video is the age old tale of a man and dolphin-man falling in love.

……sounds completely normal right? lmao.

As the band explained how the video came about, “ [We] wanted something for this track that similarly treads that line of touching and bizarre. [Charlotte/Charles Ercoli] found this internet phenomenon of prosthetic dolphin masks, and had the idea to tell a classic plot-driven love story between two dolphins.” They went on to share, “Ideally we want it to look like some crap we found in a corner of the internet and sync’ed up with our song, but then when we make a cameo at the end it becomes clear that we made it - hoping the response is, ‘huh, that’s weird that they made this.’”

Personally this is the kind of weird we need more of in this life, which is why I am forever team Pavo Pavo.

If you haven’t grabbed a copy or streamed a ton of micropennies for Mystery Hour yet, please love yourself enough on this (hopefully) lazy Sunday and snuggle up to this album this afternoon.

UPCOMING LIVE DATES:

2/6 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere Zone One

[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Unglued"

Happy weekend cute people! Yep I’m committing to weekend updates moving forward so lucky you!

I couldn’t possibly go another second without making sure you checked out the latest from my favorite Black Mirror pop star, Big Data. This newest offering from his forthcoming album, 3.0, “Unglued”, is about losing your mind but not necessarily solely in the traditional sense. It’s also about uploading your brain/consciousness and it going completely wrong.

While the majority of his debut full-length 2.0, featured primarily guest vocals, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much project brainchild Alan Wilkis has been feeling himself more and offering up his vocals for 3.0. It’s like he’s pulling a reverse Calvin Harris and I’m HERE FOR IT. KEEP IT UP, DUDE!