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Yoke Lore - Safe and Sound
Yoke Lore - Safe and Sound

Yoke Lore - Safe and Sound


Yoke Lore’s newest single “Safe and Sound” is a meditation on the changing functionality of relationships over time. It is gentle and comforting as Adrian Galvin sings of this love being a sanctuary, “All the days of the danger, believer / You’re my safe and sound.” In a world where everything seems to be changing, shifting, or just plain falling apart, the people we hold closest to us become our sanctuary. The New York indie pop act drives this point home not just in the lyrics but in the comforting swell of Galvin’s voice and the peaceful piano melody. It is a sweetly melancholic take on a love song. The harmonies add a sense of community within the track as it builds to the second half. It never reaches too large of a peak, stopping right before it becomes anthemic. It quiets back down for the second verse before the track fills out again with synthesizers and layered vocals, but it never feels forced. It is a natural progression of strength. “Safe and Sound” is the second single from Yoke Lore’s upcoming EP Meditations due out on June 14th.

Corey Bates on May 23, 2019
Crumb - Ghostride

Crumb - Ghostride


"Ghostride" is the 2nd single from Crumb's anticipated debut album, Jinx, which will be self-released by the band on June 14th. This latest song features a mesmerizing combination of apathy and heartbreak, encapsulating the band’s singular blend of psych-rock and jazz. Listeners are quickly lulled into a daze by a dreamy guitar loop, followed by a repetitive and hypnotic drumbeat. This sensation is immediately validated by Lila Ramani’s voice droning, “the slow beats rock me back to sleep, keep me on automatic.” Ramani’s vocals hover over the top of a swirling mix of keys, bass, synth, and drums that faithfully echo her shifting mood. The lyrics and the melody mimic each other throughout the song; Ramani’s voice remains bored and impassive as the song takes on the guise of a soothing lullaby. It then quickly slides into a straining and eager tone, as the music swells to reflect the anxiety of watching a love slip between your fingers and being unable to stop it. The true heartbreak of the song comes in the final lyric of the chorus, when Ramani laments, “People come and people go but I stay.” When the chorus comes around for the first time, Ramani is unable to fully deliver the line—making it all the more tragic when she finally gets the words out and leaves them to hang as the song slips away as hazily as it began.

Brigid Moser on May 14, 2019
Black Belt Eagle Scout - Loss & Relax

Black Belt Eagle Scout - Loss & Relax


A door opens to a new future after the loss of something once beloved on "Loss & Relax," one of two recently released tracks from Portland songwriter Katherine Paul of Black Belt Eagle Scout. A compelling account of the strength of community and the resilience of the human soul, "Loss & Relax" finds Paul seeking comfort in memories of moving water and the cyclical nature of life—"oh, the loss of you / brings me to / a place that I call home." Beginning with a buzzing melodic guitar riff and airy vocals, the song moves through its varying cadence with confidence. Eventually ruminating in the intensity of memory and nostalgia, "Loss & Relax" builds to a conclusion that is both rock & roll and reverie.

Emma Bowers on May 14, 2019
Black Match - Nowhere

Black Match - Nowhere


California based indie-folk duo Black Match’s newest track, “Nowhere,” is like the eye of a brilliantly violent storm, placid, smooth yet vulnerable . The core of the song sits in the small, calm diameter of an otherwise chaotic, enraged spiral. Black Match, which consists of childhood friends and musical partners, Hannah and Ian, possesses an intense musical strength that extends beyond their masterfully penned lyrics, folk-blues inspired guitar, and otherworldly harmonies. The duo taps into the essence of what makes music so undeniably human. With lyrics like “Are we all just in the inbetween / longing to be heard and to be seen” and “All I see is you painted next to me but you’re nowhere,” they are unafraid to fully expose their true identities and experiences. Black Match is deeply in touch with themselves and the vulnerability of their music. “Nowhere” is compellingly honest despite its simple instrumentation and stripped-down production style. It’s the kind of track that truly encapsulates the universal power of music—to make each and everyone one of us feel a little less alone in this world. We are very excited to premiere “Nowhere,” the title track off of Black Matchs forthcoming EP, and we hope this song speaks to you the way it does to us.

Andrea de Varona on May 13, 2019
Photo Ops - Palm Trees

Photo Ops - Palm Trees


“Palm Trees,” the newest single from indie-folk rocker Photo Ops, is the musical equivalent of a road trip down the Southern California coast. It’s a fitting sound for Terry Price, the singer and multi-instrumentalist behind Photo Ops; “Palm Trees” was written after he and his wife moved from Nashville to Los Angeles. A sun-soaked rumination on wealth and loneliness, it’s the second single from Photo Ops since the release of his 2016 LP, Vacation, and it’s undeniably his most feel-good track. There’s an infectious sense of optimism at the core of the arrangement—the upbeat percussion, shimmery guitar, and reverberating piano compliment the smooth, light vocal, making it impossible not to at least sway along to the beat. The lyrics are just as bright: “Palm trees taste the sunlight down the street / Sailboats on the horizon, they don’t mean a thing.” Photo Ops sings about witnessing the unnecessary excesses of materialism while thinking about what really matters in life: the people in your life. “Palm Trees” is a catchy, atmospheric single filled with beautiful melodies, and it’s here just in time for summer.

Britnee Meiser on May 13, 2019
Zsela - Noise

Zsela - Noise


“Noise” is the first single from Brooklyn-based Zsela’s as-of-yet unnamed debut EP, making the attention she has received from outlets like The New York Times and Vogue all the more impressive. Somewhere between Florence Welch, Moses Sumney and Kate Tempest, but still floating on a plane of her own, Zsela’s opening statement is a promising debut from a singular talent. Her captivating delivery keeps ears glued to her devastating lyrics, like passersby slowing down by a roadside accident, singing, “They’re packing up the pieces / Of a broken love affair / And making it look easy.” Producer Daniel Aged, whose live performance and session recording credits include John Legend, Beck and Blood Orange, is a master of subtlety, leaving Zsela room to explore the track’s space vocally. “Noise” opens with an arrangement of soulful piano chords more akin to the ambience of a poetry reading, emphasizing Zsela’s rhythmic delivery, before showing off a full orchestration of flourishing instrumentation as the song reaches its crescendo.

Daniel Shanker on May 13, 2019
Potatohead People - Iced Tea

Potatohead People - Iced Tea


Vancouver based production duo Potatohead People continue to combine cosmic themes with spacey synth pads over a thumping, dance-inducing beat in their latest single “Iced Tea.” The duo teamed up with fellow Vancouver artists Radina Vee and giorgi to create a refreshing song that touches on heartbreak, past relationships, and the things that remind us of old flames. The track is full of funky and winding bass lines that brilliantly stand out against its persistent percussion and catchy vocal lines. Radina Vee and giorgi's smooth and sensual vocals entrance listeners as they describe being reminded of a past relationship and how they “can’t even drink iced tea” without thinking of their old love.

Alessandra Rincon on May 13, 2019
Mal Blum - I Don’t Want To

Mal Blum - I Don’t Want To


Mal Blum uses punk tropes like distorted power chords and driving drum beats not to express anger, but as “the next chapter of my therapy session,” they said in a press release for the album Pity Boy, due out July 12. “I Don’t Want To," the second single from the album, is a joyful, energetic song about feelings typically at direct odds with joy and energy, as Blum sings, “When I go out / When I come home I only feel relief.” Blum takes the trepidation expressed in the lyrics and cleverly plants those ideas in the music itself, too. They rush to get words out, finagling them into the correct number of beats, never quite finishing a complete thought. “Some people have / Commitment issues / Heard through the grapevine / That you moved into / A whole new life,” they sing, and even the verse’s guitars, played by Blum and Audrey Zee Whitesides of Speedy Ortiz, feel jumpy and excited. There’s an undeniable joy in “I Don’t Want To,” the sigh of relief of a weight finally being lifted off one’s chest. This sigh battles with the song’s themes until the explosion of the chorus, a triumphantly confident sing-along ultimatum — “I don’t want to / I don’t want to / I don’t want to / So I won’t.”

Daniel Shanker on May 10, 2019
Lucy Dacus - My Mother and I

Lucy Dacus - My Mother and I


With the lilt of a cosmic lullaby, Lucy Dacus pieces through the nuance of mother-daughter relationships on her springtime release "My Mother and I." Over a hypnotizing acoustic guitar riff with just the right amount of twang and waves of atmospheric sparkling, Dacus’ lyricism is a tender survey of the parts of mother that she sees in herself, and what it means to raise a daughter in a society that is highly critical of women’s bodies. As always, Dacus sings with compelling warmth and a keen sense of honesty. The minimalist instrumentation serves to further highlight her intimate lyricism. The tune takes a timely Taurean turn in the chorus as Dacus sings of the astrological sign that she shares with her mother—"the stars have a lot to say / about babies born in the month of May / we are down to Earth / we see eye to eye / we dig our feet in / my mother and I."

Emma Bowers on May 10, 2019
Duncan Fellows - Deathwish Fish

Duncan Fellows - Deathwish Fish


Duncan Fellows are at their best when they wander through unexpected territory—structurally with unexpected twists and turns through different movements, musically with surprising chord changes, and lyrically, in “Deathwish Fish,” with the simply unknowable. The song, the opening track from the band’s upcoming Eyelids Shut EP, follows the narrator at the side of a close friend succumbing to a terminal illness, but much like The Antlers concept album Hospice, it is not a melancholic song. The psychedelic influences, interleaving guitar parts and quiet-loud-quiet-louder dynamics are reminiscent of the softer side of Cage the Elephant—by no means soft, but with a tenderness peeking through the distortion. In the sterile dungeon that is the fluorescent-lit hospital room, they “put on a Beatles tune and let the music fill the room,” and the song itself plays the same role, a comforting distraction in the face of worst-comes-to-worst. “Fishes keep swimming,” they sing in harmony—despite the seemingly insurmountable grief and the utter uncertainty of what lies ahead, like fish swimming ceaselessly lest they turn belly up, they have to keep moving forward.

Daniel Shanker on May 10, 2019
Meernaa - Better Part

Meernaa - Better Part


The word “adore” is one of the English language’s most affectionate and intense verbs to describe the giving of true, unconditional love to someone else. Quite literally, adoration is the deification of another human. In “Better Part,” Meernaa’s frontwoman Carly Bond sings over and over again “the way I adore you / the way I adore you” about her bandmate and new hubby Rob Shelton. Like all great love songs, her deeply intimate sentimentality extends to you, the listener, warming you from inside out. A sparse, Pet Shop Boys-esque minute long intro gives way to Bonds soluble vocals and the lithe track snakes along from there, whispering for snugs and love absent of doubt from her better half. The synth and drum production is deft and quietly confident, the songwriting is lovely and heart-baring. Released last month, “Better Part” is accompanied by a kaleidoscopic animated visual and will appear on the band’s debut LP, Heart Hunger, out 6/14 on Native Cat Recordings.

Devon Sheridan on May 9, 2019

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