Faye Webster is only 23 years old, yet has unleashed her magnum opus upon us with the haunting “Suite: Jonny.” This is an extended journey of story through song that belongs alongside Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” or The Velvet Undergrounds’ “Sister Ray.” If you thought last year’s I Know I’m Funny, haha was a work of genius (and it is), it definitely didn’t prepare me at all for this stunner of a track.
“Suite: Jonny” is the lead track off Car Therapy Sessions, an ep of mostly previously released tracks re-recorded and arranged for full orchestra. The record is out TODAY and you can grab it in either the physical or virtual world here. And don’t forget to catch Webster at Outside Lands 2022 on August 5th-7th! Tickets and details available here!
I kinda love a good, solid, melodramatic torch song. “Goodnight Moon” by Los Angeles’ Gabriella Marinaro may not be a torch song by strict definition, but in a concise 1:57 takes you on the same kind of emotional journey that the greats like Julie London or Amy Winehouse would take you through.
“Goodnight Moon” is the first single off Marinaro’s EP, Inner Space, due out May 6th. Keep an eye out on her official page and her Bandcamp for more details on this release!
I’ve DEFINITELY been sleeping on Nilüfer Yanya. “the dealer” is actually the 4th single off her second album, PAINLESS. It’s a frantic number that is so jittery it could be uncomfortable if the hook wasn’t so great. It’s a song that never “breathes,” the beat never drops, it just builds and then STOPS. It’s an emotional journey that she forces you on, whether you like it or not. And I like it.
I’ve often said that the most rebellious music is disco. Being able to dance in the face of darkness is a far bolder move than anything presenting anger and violence. “sad disco” is one of the most vivid presentations of that feeling that I’ve ever heard. Oakland’s mxmtoon is clearly ready for the next level in her career, and this song is going to be the anthem for what may be the most confusing and weird Summer of our lives.
HOLY SHIT! I said that out loud when I hit the 2nd minute of this song. It’s not so much a song as it’s a sonic journey that takes you through nearly a dozen emotions and genres in a tight 3 1/2 minutes. This song is potent and powerful. It’s “experimental” but doesn’t sacrifice emotion for being clever. Our single of the week is an adventure for the ears and the heart and even on the 100th relisten, you’ll still find something new that you missed.
“IF THERE’S NO SEAT IN THE SKY (WILL YOU FORGIVE ME???)” the first single off Saya Gray’s debut record 19 Masters, is available in all the usual places on June 2nd.
I was in a music discussion channel on a Slack I frequent and I mentioned how I had bought a ticket to see my favorite obscure Norwegian popstar in Los Angeles. To this, my Norwegian friend told me that Sigrid was anything but obscure. Yes, having discovered her while living in Europe, I’m wholly aware she’s playing arenas across the ocean, has won a Brit Award, and that this same song I’m about to talk about was just BBC Radio 1’s “Hottest Record in the World.” She remains obscure to most pop music fans in America. This is a travesty! To see what I mean, watch this filmed set of performances as it’s a total joy from start to finish.
Sigrid’s new song, which she’s been teasing for months on her social media outlets as her favorite song that she’s written, is “It Gets Dark.” It re-teams her with Emily Warren, co-writer of “Mirror” and “Sucker Punch” (as well as Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now”) and this is some alchemical magic the two of them have.
This song is cinema. It starts with a synthesizer orchestra leading into aa slow first verse which channels Sigrid’s hero, Adele, as she tells us she wants to leave the world behind to travel into space, and by the time the beat drops and the pounding, stuttering bassline kicks in, she’s there and telling us what she’s learned. By the end, as she continually repeats her discovery, “it gets dark so I can see the stars,” cosmic voices join her as she floats away into space on a bed of electric guitar. It’s a beautiful ending that I found gleefully surprising the first time I heard it.
This is the kind of music you might fly down to Los Angeles the day of the show and then fly back the next morning in time to get to work the next day, not that I know anything about that!
I accept artist submissions for Single Of The Week. All you need to do is email me at promo@spinningplatters.com. But I get literally a hundred songs sent to me a day. I can’t listen to all of them. But I listen to the ones that I can, and hopefully, I can find a story to tell with the song, so you have some reason to listen. That being said, I found “Past Lives” by kohanna during a week of listening to a LOT of new songs, and this one’s hook just stuck with me. The opening notes- what I think is an African thumb piano- kept bringing me back. This gem of an electro-folk single reminds me of the debuts from Lorde and Sylvan Esso, putting her in great company.
You can learn more about kohanna here. She has a pretty extensive YouTube archive, and you can also find “Past Lives” on all the DSPs.
As with every other music blog on the planet, the editor in chief is allowed to play favorites and over-blog about their favorites. And, right now, Wet Leg is my favorite. And they finally have a fifth song out in the world! “Angelica” has a nice, clean, jittery riff that’s a little bit 60’s psych, a little bit Elastica, and definitely designed for getting “just drunk enough” at an indie dance club. Also, I definitely miss indie dance clubs.
Anyways, this song rips just like the other songs. They are playing the US this spring, but every show is sold out, just like God intended. (Try heading to SXSW or This Ain’t No Picnic in LA or Thing near Seattle.) You can also preorder their debut record, out April 8th, in a myriad of lovely ways. They even FINALLY have a t-shirt, just like Rhian prophesized in our interview last year.
This spoken word track from Tianna Esperanza, granddaughter of Paloma McLardy of both The Slits and The Raincoats, two of the most pivotal acts of the UK punk world. “Lewis” is an homage to Lewis H. Michaux, the owner of Harlem’s historic African National Memorial Bookstore. It’s a thoughtful song about connecting the words of a legend and connecting them to your life and the struggles of the day. It’s a stunning, emotionally direct piece of work that forces you to listen and sit with it for a bit.
“Lewis” is available at all of the DSPs for you to enjoy at your leisure. Keep an eye out here for more news about Tianna Esperanza!
The Loyal Seas’ debut record, Strange Mornings In The Garden, was one of our most anticipated releases of 2022 LONG before a single note of this project was released. For those who missed our interview with them last year, this is rock n roll legend Tanya Donelly (Belly, Throwing Muses, The Breeders) and underground hero Brian Sullivan (Dylan In The Movies), who happened to be best friends. This song is a warm hug of a ditty about, well, that very same friendship and what it means when you live on opposite ends of the country.(At least, that’s my interpretation as the listener) It’s insanely relatable since we are in year 23 of this pandemic and I haven’t seen friends that live across town since March 2020. In short, I don’t know if you needed to hear this song today, but I REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR THIS SONG TODAY. So, thank you Tanya & Brian.
You can track down this track today at your favorite DSP. And if you enjoy the thrill of getting a package in the mail, then unwrapping it and throwing it on your turntable/cassette deck/CD Player (do people still have CD players?), you can preorder the full album here, and it will be in your hands around May 20th!
