Come and Share This Jam with Me

One of my favorite groups entrenched in the dream pop genre, and steadily growing in quiet popularity (even with their year-long hiatus), No Vacation, has just released their latest five-song album, Intermission , on November 17th, 2017,   and is another impressive effort by the chill group. The second single from Intermission, " You're Not With Me," is a calmer No Vacation song with less influence of guitar riffs for what I believe is to emphasize the theme of loneliness and isolation, as the guitar has been softened and replaced by a wavering synthesizer. My first experience with No Vacation was with their single in 2015, " Draem Girl ," which had ultimately put them on the map as it has grossed to almost 1.5 million views on YouTube, through my most endeared channel, The Lazylazyme . "Draem Girl," is a guitar-driven track that takes the listener on a journey through romance and longing, with its genius transition from quick riffs to meticulous ...

"Television Romance" is a single from Pale Waves upcoming, and not often mentioned, debut album, who's title has yet to be disclosed. By merely looking at the band you may be inclined to assume that they must be a mess and completely unsynchronized: Heather Baron-Gracie (rhythm guitar, vocals) has a very goth-like look, Ciara Doran (drums) looks like she's in the transition to a post-hardcore stage, and Hugo Silvani (lead guitar) and Charlie Wood (bass) look like two impressionable, conventional British lads. I don't mean to comment on their look in a superficial or chastising manner, because music is not contingent on the appearance of the artists, but I want to emphasize the disparity in the each of the member's looks to reiterate the commonly used idiom, y ou can't judge a book by its cover.  Because these guys are prettaaay prettaaay pretty good .  So what does this apparent mixed bag sound like? Considering it was produced by frontman Matty H...

"I Love LA" is a single off Starcrawler's upcoming titular debut album, Starcrawler, and if "I Love LA" is any indication of how Starcrawler shapes up, then I'm going to be the first to download it when it drops on January 19th of next year. From an aesthetic and visual perspective, based on this music video, I can see that these guys are wild, in your face, ebullient and must be a fun-ass time to see live, so I will also be hoping to see them live. "I Love LA" is an ode-of some sort-to LA but not like Randy Newman's fantasy of Los Angeles in his, I Love L.A.  Starcrawler takes a more grounded and satirical approach to the city, as if to say 'this place is shitty, but I love that it's shitty,' sort of deal. Although the lyrics to this song aren't anywhere to be found, I can still make out the verses, and the obvious "I Love LA" reprise. "Talking to a friend/who never want to come back again," or ...

There must be some sort of 70's revival thing going on, because this is the fourth artist, apart from Angel Olsen , Jadu Heart , and Feng Suave , that I have discussed using a similar 70's motif. "Mary" would be defined as a Dream Pop song but it definitely shows the influence the Major Murphy has taken from cool 70's jams. To more easily describe what I mean, I would say that "Mary," sounds like a mix of an  Eagles  ( even though I fuckin' hate The Eagles! ) and a  Dinosaur Jr  track (even though they are a 90's deal). Not only in the way lead singer, Jacob Bullard serenades, but the smooth, high pitch plucks on the guitar that (Dinosaur Jr-like) and simple, head-nodding beat on the drums (The Eagles-like).  To me, "Mary" is a very diverse track, in it's thematic approach, but Major Murphy makes the narrative pretty consistent. The titular Mary is becoming a success, but unlike songs that see a character fall from grace (l...

November has come . "Garage Palace" is a track coming from Gorillaz's  Super Deluxe Vinyl Boxset of their most recent album, and one of my favorites of this year,  Humanz . Humanz, is another new approach that Damon Albarn and the rest of the Gorillaz have taken, this time, in the vein of R&B and Soul. It was an impressive feat with obvious enthusiasm and care in producing due to the album's 26 tracks and seven bangin' singles " Andromeda ," " The Apprentice ," " Ascension ," " Let Me Out ," " Saturn Barz ," " Strobelite ," and " We Got The Power ." Unfortunately, Humanz was  a little of a mess with so much content, and not enough consistency in theme with each track, which may be due to the volume of songs. It's not to say the songs aren't dope, because I think they're all pretty much stand-alone, but together I think a thematic or evocative approach becomes misconstrued. ...

Now this is some crazy nonsense, I think for the sake of crazy nonsense. "Bad" is a track off of The Bug's upcoming album Bad / Get Out The Way   to be released on November 17, 2017, and is a reggae-house endeavor that is just...well...it's strange. I came across "Bad" on bandcamp's  "new and notable" section, which was next to Angel Olsen 's Phases , a must-listen-to album, and I was just more or less intrigued with the cover art for Bad / Get Out The Way with no clue what the hell I was going to get into.  As I mentioned in my entry for Jawn Rice's " Messages of the Tribe ," I am not a huge fan of EDM or any house variation so I did not know who The Bug was prior to listening to this song, but I dig this. The song is literally called "Bad" and the track does a good job to communicate that theme, like "Messages of the Tribe," which is something that really is not too common in this genre. Usually ...

It's time to change it up, as the temperature starts to drop, so does the beat (I'm fucking good). I normally am not into edm/house music, I enjoy electronica-esque groups like Purity Ring , The Naked and Famous  and  CHVRCHES , but I never really went into strict electronic music, just variations. I admire and respect the efforts of the artists who can produce sick ass beats and awesome undertones but I just never got behind it, which is why "Messages from the Tribe" is so surprising to me. "Messages from the Tribe" is off Rice's debut LP Highlights, to be released on December 8th, 2017,    and is an effort that can be easily identified as an edm track, but there's something unique about it, which is probably why I am so drawn to it.  The drum machine is kicking that's for sure, and the synthesizers are firing away but there's something funky about this that feels almost jazzy. On the bandcamp page for Highlights   the description...

I am in a serious soulful kick, and "Believe" is probably the bluesiest and most passionate head nodding I've come across in a while. Off of Booker's recent release, Witness, " Believe" continues Booker's plight of social justice and adherence with the Black Lives Matter movement that is found on Witness, which is evident not only in the songs themselves but in the accompanying essay, " WITNESS ," that is a recollection of Booker's experiences with racism and injustices. The lyrics  convey the theme, the position and difficulties that oppressed and marginalized individuals have to attempt to overcome, and are forced to endure with their only fault being that they were born. "Born to nothing/all the people bring you down, boy" specifically adheres to this notion of the beaten-down, and emphasizes the idea that life is going to be an up-hill battle. Booker later sings, "I just want to believe in something...I cannot make...