Tag: Single Of The Week

Single of the Week: “It Gets Dark” by Sigrid

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!

 

Single Of The Week: “Traps” by Bloc Party

Bloc Party’s debut EP can out in 2014. I still remember very vividly the first time I heard it… I was working at a Wherehouse Music location in the Tenderloin. A box of indie label promos showed up, and I opened the box to see what there was. One of my colleagues said, “Bloc Party? I heard they were good. Let’s put that on!” I threw it on and was instantly blown away. They’ve made a few excellent records since then, but nothing quite on that level since then. That is, until “Traps,” their first single in six years. This song is HEAVY. It might be the heaviest, hardest thing they’ve done, well, ever. The drums are ferocious yet nimble, proving to the world that Louise Bartle can, indeed, fill the shoes that Matt Tong left behind so many years ago. 

“Traps” can be found in all the usual places. It’s the first single off Alpha Games, which is due in stores, both physical and virtual, on April 29th. Preorders and presaves can be done here! 

Single Of The Week: “Somewhere They Cant Find Us” by Habibi

The literally ONLY good this to happen this decade so far is that New York’s Habibi has become one of the most prolific bands in rock.  Just last week they gifted us with a covers EP, and this week they dropped a brand new original song, “Somewhere They Cant Find Us.” This one is a full-on booty shaker with some of the best skittering drums I’ve heard in a long time. This one is perfect for house parties, or when you need something to perk you up to get things done. It’s another piece of solid joy from one of the best-kept secrets in rock. 

“Somewhere They Cant Find Us” is available now in all the usual spots. A physical 7″ is coming your way on October 29th, and you can preorder from Kill Rock Stars your choice of a pink (limited to 91 copies) or gold (limited to 500 copies) 7″ record! 

 

Single Of The Week: tonight by Alaina Castillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki2QhRMlNAc&feature=youtu.be

Do you remember a time when you would actually cancel on plans to go out because you wanted to stay home, alone? It’s hard to think about that, but there definitely was a time this was true. I’m sure when this is all over, and we get back out into the world, within about six months many of us will be back there. The joy of Alaina Castillo’s latest single, “tonight,” is it helps take you back to, um February, when we weren’t trapped in doors, and were able to do things like hug and share a straw and whatnot. The accompanying video is great, too! It’s clearly shot with socially distancing measures taken, without feeling like it was shot like that. 

You can purchase / stream “tonight” in all the usual places. One of the options is Tik Tok, so you can really make the president angry by listening on his least favorite platform! 

Single Of The Week: At It Again by Slow Pulp

Admittedly, when I saw this press release come to my inbox, I got my hopes up, thinking we had a new Pulp single. I looked at it again, and realized the name of the band is “Slow Pulp.” I was mad and refused to listen to it. Then, when trying to decide on my single of the week, I gave it a whirl. And, much to my delight, this balance of fuzzy and dreamy is right out of early 90’s / 4AD Records heaven! Coming in somewhere between Belly and Curve, “At It Again” is a fantastic song that deserves repeated plays, and will force you to forgive them for the name. 

Their debut album, Moveys, is coming out October 9th, and can be preordered / presaved from a a slew of places that you can find here!

Single Of The Week: SULA (Paperback) by Jamila Woods

In 2019, Jamila Woods gave us LEGACY! LEGACY!, a profound piece of work about reflecting on how your heroes connect to your own life. At least, that’s what I got out of it. As we know, art is subjective and you get out of it what makes sense to you. Woods could have continued spent 2020 completely quiet, but that doesn’t seem to be her way. Instead, she dropped this beauty of a ballad, “SULA (Paperback),” a reflection on the Toni Morrison novel, Sula. The song is pure Woods, drawing on elements of the piece of literature that inspired her, and making it something deeply personal. The arrangement is refreshing and tender, combining jazz ballad guitar with pedal steal and layered harmonies that just hit that part of your gut that makes you feel all warm and alive inside. 

“SULA (Paperback)” can be streamed in all the usual places, or you can purchase it off Bandcamp. While you are there, if you don’t already own LEGACY! LEGACY!, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It may never leave your turntable. 

Single Of The Week: Club Zero by The Go-Go’s

Not a lot of good is happening in 2020. And, most specifically, not a lot of musicians can say that 2020 has been one of the biggest, most productive years in decades. Yet, somehow, LA punk groundbreakers, 42 years into their career, have been firing on all cylinders this year. Not only did bassist Kathy Valentine release a magnificent book chronicling her career, we also finally have a comprehension documentary from the band, detailing the long, sordid history of the band. Then, out of nowhere, we got their first new music in since 2001’s criminally underrated God Bless The Go-Go’s. The song, “Club Zero,” is the spiritual sequel to their 1997 hit “The Whole World Lost It’s Head.” Where TWWLIH was a jittery, anxious number about seemingly the entire world falling to pieces, “Club Zero” is a bold, confident injection of assurance. It’s the song we need right now- not another somber number about the fall of civilization, but a song to fire us up! A song that, in not so many words, reminds us that nobody else is going to take down fascism. Nobody else is going to stop police brutality. Nobody else is going to save our music venues. I’ve been feeling pretty dark lately, thinking that we aren’t going to survive this. We aren’t going to recover. That the combination of Trump and COVID-19 means the end of humanity. “Club Zero” tells you that’s only true if you let it be true. 

“Club Zero” can be found in all the usual places. The Go-Go’s premiers on Showtime tonight at 9/8c. The Go-Go’s, sadly, had to move their first full tour with the classic line-up since 2011 to 2021, and those tour dates are slowly trickling in and can be found here!

Single Of The Week: TFW by Divide & Dissolve

So, each Single of the Week during the pandemic seems to be tapping into a very specific place of my own emotional well being during this whole nonsense. This week’s comes from probably the heaviest band to ever sign to Saddle Creek, Divide & Dissolve. The song “TFW” is a slow, heavy dirge that keeps building and building until the weight of it feels like it’s crushing your bones. There is never relief. Just stacks and stacks of thick, heavy guitars and heavy, pounding drums. You know, just like COVID. It’s all pain and pressure, and there is no relief in sight, and no way out to feel human, and everything you can think of doing will almost definitely cause you or a loved one to get horrifically ill and either die or have to live with painful disabilities for the rest of their lives. It’s a fucker. 

“TFW” is streaming on all the usual places now. A physical 7″, with the b-side “8VA” drops August 7th. You can preorder that here!

Single Of The Week: Tuesday Night by Fast Times

This week’s Single Of The Week, “Tuesday Night,” comes from Fast Times, a Bay Area rock supergroup comprised of leader Andrew St James, Duncan Nielsen of Doncat and Cody Rhodes of Geographer. It’s a fun, lofi number with a swing that’s reminiscent of The Strokes at their best, and is another Summer number perfect for helping keep the serotonin pumping while we remain stuck, not getting to see each other or commune together at a rock show. (Which I miss so much, I don’t care if the first version of the vaccine causes me to grow a third arm, I’m in as long as my attendance at a show doesn’t threaten anyone’s life) 

Speaking of needing to get to a show, Fast Times were going to do a single release party at Rickshaw Stop, but instead will be doing a livestream benefitting both Rickshaw Stop and it’s employees displaced by COVID-19, but also local charity Hip Hop For Change. The livestream will be Wednesday, July 15th, and can be viewed on both Rickshaw Stop‘s and Fast Times‘ Instagram pages.

Single of the Week: Someone’s Lost Their Goddamn Wallet by MAITA

MAITA is a band from Portland, Oregon that’s fronted by singer/songwriter Maria Maita-Keppeler. “Someone’s Lost Their Goddam Wallet” is the second single to drop off their debut record, Best Wishes. It’s a fun little number that’s great for dancing around to, but also reminds you that parties and such might not be as fun as you recall. Especially when throwing a party is suddenly the deadliest thing on Earth, next to going to work in an office or choir practice at church. It’s exactly what I needed to help deal with the norms of now. 

Best Wishes is out NOW on Kill Rock Stars, and it’s FANTASTIC. You should buy it TODAY on Bandcamp, because not only is Bandcamp not taking a commission on sales today, but Kill Rock Stars is donating 20% of all sales to community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organizations through ActBlue. So buy a few records today, actually. Pick up the Elliot Smith, Marnie Stern, Deerhoof, and many other great Kill Rock Stars releases that you should already own but don’t. 

Oh, and if you either forget to buy stuff today, or you want to split your purchases, on Juneteenth (June 19th), Bandcamp is donating their proceeds to NAACP Action Fund.