Emcees Charlee Bankston and Deni come harder and hotter than a patch of city concrete sittin’ out in the Texas late-summer sun (we don’t have fall here, but y’all know that) on new minimalist track "Koolin." This beat is built on just about nothin’ else except a repeated oldschool rock ‘n roll sample counting "One, two, three, four," a few snares, claps and bass beats and the full-court press vocals of Bankston and Deni, who take turns spittin’ on the punchy beat. The rap here is allowed to be massively present due to the minimal beat, and it is some good damn rhymin’ with an earworm hook, and it’s hard to say whether the flow is the star for being so prominent and good, or if the boombastic beat is what makes it for providing so nice a frame for the emcees to do their thing over. Either way you wanna look at it, this hip-hop from Bankston and Deni is solid and catchy as fuck- the perfect thing to finish off the summer with a no-fucks-given bang. Get listenin’.

Stiletto Feels is a project that we’ve actually posted on before, back when it seemed to be known online as The Big Fist, but when we dropped a piece on a track back at that point, we got us a confused but polite message from bandleader Geoff Earle wondering how we’d found what was then an unshared SoundCloud account meant to show off what he was working on to his close friends.

That track was taken down, and we’ve sat put on Earle (known for his work with Fresh Millions) ever since, until now. Just a few weeks ago, one of Earle’s other new tracks “Steal Your Guitar” was released at an Empire Control room show with a pretty fucking wildly good lineup (BLXPLTN, Shmu, Black Books, Corduroi, Chipper Jones and Dana Falconberry were just part of the list of groups playing), and now we can finally post on this killer-ass new music coming from one of Austin’s most uniquely musical minds.

We’re into being able to finally talk about the layered and indie electrofunky project that Stiletto Feels is, especially because “Steal Your Guitar” was so good back when we heard it a few months ago, we almost posted it as our single of the day instead of the track we went with. In fact, we like it so much, we’ve nominated Stiletto Feels for Artist of the Month on the strength of this track, as well on what we know is to come from these guys in the near future.

Backboned by a supersynthy, glimmering night of a melody that sounds a bit classic Vitalic or Kavinksy and then slammin’ into somethin’ funkier for the chorus, “Steal Your Guitar’s” main strength outside of its smooth synthetic grooves is its strange lyrics and subject and their equally weird delivery. Sung in a nicely and appropriately subdued but pretty manner that balances well with the heavy funk of the bass and the prettiness of the rest of the track, the lyrics of “Steal Your Guitar” are delivered from the perspective of a supposed friend of an unnamed musician’s friend who is outright telling the unlucky artist that they are about to have their guitar stolen, by said friend and for drugs.

The song is pretty bitchin’ in the way it creates this believable and poignant narrative of a situation that feels totally real (and, as I and many others who have owned guitars can tell you, this is definitely something that happens) and is pretty hardcore to listen to explained so directly. Paired with the fun and groovy instrumentals, it’s exactly the kind of pop song that we’ve been craving- something that pushes the edges of pop music out further while still being undeniably part of the pop canon.

Listen to this first track from Stiletto Feels here, and keep posted for more info on the rest of the tracks the project is said to be releasing soon. We hear it’s more of what we had found on that original SoundCloud page, all of which was perfectly killer, and that the recording process was quite unique indeed and involved folks from acts like Shmu and The Sword. We’ll have more on that as it releases, for now let Stiletto Feels tell you exactly how it goes down when a good buddy tells you to your face how they’re about to fuck you over.