Cumbie is preparing to release their self-titled debut EP tomorrow, May 7th. Last month they dropped the EP’s lead single, "Pretty", with it’s cryptic but ultimately uplifting chorus, "If I wanted to/ I could be pretty". The EP features additional vocals from Margaret McCarthy of The Deals and Moontype and was recorded by the talented Seth Engel of Pallet Sound Studio.
NYC
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Phantom Handshakes: Shoegaze on Broadway
ALT TITLE: "Dream-pop Girls"
Way back in 2020, the Phantom Handshakes put out a song called “Aisha (Vs the Dirty Tongues)” which just from the title alone sounds like it should be a rock opera. And it’s not just the title because the song’s dramatic, moody music is likewise suited to the stage and would likely appeal to the youth of today since they don’t yet have a rock opera to call their own. Anyway I’d say the time has finally come for a shoegaze/dream pop takeover of Broadway and the West End.
The newest release by the Phantom Handshakes entitled No More Summer Songs could be the album to break the impasse and tap the potential for a dream pop rock opera if somebody could just find the next Mr. Lin-Manuel Miranda and get him or her to write a staged adaptation. I mean just listen to “Cricket Songs” and it’s inner monologue describing the protagonist’s heightened sense of perception in the midst of a summer heatwave complete with bedroom dancing and sweaty sheets and overemotive mothers and drifting off to the sound of chirping crickets. It’s pretty evocative stuff and so is the video above.
The album’s opening track “I Worried” would make a perfect overture with its ghostly echoes looking back at past misspent summers (that’s my take on it anyway) which would serve as a perfect framing device for the musical, and then the next song “No Better Plan” would be the crossover crowd-pleaser with its wordless catchy yet slightly taunting “Nya Na Na” refrain which should translate well to foreign markets.
The song captures a doomed-yet-determined forlornness but with a sunny/boppy melody and beat (sidenote: the aforementioned hit song from Hamilton also has a “Na Na Na” refrain) with lyrics about “building sandcastles despite the wind” which is essentially what King George does in Hamilton.
P.S. I’ll gratefully accept a producer co-credit and a modest percentage of the gross box office if this idea comes to fruition. But if it turns out to be the next Moose Murders just remember you didn’t hear any of this from me.
L.A.
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Lionel Boy Oozes Laid-Back Melancholy On New Single “Mango Michelada”
Photo Credit: Basil Vargas
Lionel Deguzman, the singer/songwriter mastermind behind Lionel Boy, hails from Hawaii, one of the chillest places on Earth. Clearly the laid-back island vibe stuck with him, even after his move to his current home base of Long Beach several years back, as the first single from his self-titled debut album (Out May 14th on Innovative Leisure) demonstrates.
“Mango Michelada” delivers a satisfyingly chilled-out, mildly psychedelic downtempo groove, with a minimal but assured beat draped by gauzy synth pads, while the breezy male/female “call and response” vocals amp up the sense of absolute cool. Overall, the impression is of a track that falls somewhere with within rap, RnB, ambient and psychedelic music all at once.
Lyrically, the track is a softly stream-of-consciousness recollection of a past love that ended in betrayal. “All my life I’m fuckin’ with savages/looking for love in the wrong places,” sings the female vocalist, at first by herself with only the synths framing her. When Lionel Boy joins in to double her, just as the full arrangement returns, it’s a genuinely relatable moment of emotion that make us eager to hear what Lionel Boy has in store for us with his coming debut. Gabe Hernandez
Chicago
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Fever Queen “Taste of What It Is”
Fever Queen has released a new single called "Taste of What It Is". This is the first new music from Eleanor Rose Lee since the release of her debut album, The World of Fever Queen, album last year.
Rose had this say about the new track; “I wanted to capture the feeling of sharing a deep secret with someone—and how scary it can be to share your innermost feelings out loud for the first time. In a world where people are impressed by all the wrong things, it’s important to seek out those who go deep.”
Chicago
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Blame My Youth “Go To Sleep”
Blame My Youth has released his third single, "Go To Sleep", and first of 2021. This is the project of Sean Van Vleet and the new track, which was inspired by an old folktale "Didn’t Nobody Leave But the Baby", was produced by Joey Moi.
Van Vleet had this to say about the inspiration for the song; "Like most Blame My Youth songs, ‘Go To Sleep’ tries to find a bit of hope in a shitty situation. It’s a love letter sent home to someone who probably deserves better.”
L.A.
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Fresh Cuts: “Barbara Ann” From Rosie Tucker’s New Album “Sucker Supreme.”
More signs the light is at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic comes in the form of “Barbara Ann,” the sprightly, confident, but also wistful lead-off track from LA indie rock artist Rosie Tucker.
Beginning tentatively with crystalline guitar arpeggios over a bed of soft static and guitar line noise, the track quickly blooms into a melodic brew of pleasingly crunchy rhythm guitars, sweetly endearing alto lead vocals, and breezy but half-jaded “oohs” and “ahhs,” joined later by a subtly humming, retro monosynth line.
It’s a proper “75 and sunny” highway driving track, but its energetic sound puts a polished sheen to an simultaneously earnest and jaded lyric, with the narrator addressing the titular Barbara Ann with lines like “the life you chose that sent you reeling/How did it go? How was it,” while also reassuring Barbara by mentioning that “with a Louisville Slugger/Under your side of the bed/No one’s gonna hurt you now.” It’s a delicate balancing act, mixing hurt with hope, but Rosie Tucker pulls it off nimbly. Gabe Hernandez
RIYL: Soccer Mommy, Phoebe Bridgers, Alvvays
BONUS: Check out the lyric video for “Barbara Ann” on YouTube below (courtesy Rosie Tucker)
Chicago
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Jackie Hayes “dead end”
Jackie Hayes has released a new, Billy Lemos produced, single called "dead end". This is the second single of 2021 from Hayes and second since the release of her 2020 debut EP, "Take It, Take It".
Chicago
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Split Single “(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love”
Split Single has released the lead single, "(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love", from the forthcoming album Amplificado which is due out on June 25th via Inside Outside Records.
This is the first new music from Split Single since 2016’s Metal Frame and for this project lead singer and guitarist Jason Narducy is joined by Jon Wurster, Mike Mills, Dan Leu, Mike Jorgensen, and Alison Chesley.
NYC
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DELI TV: “Decoder Ring” by The Planes
The Planes are a power-indie-pop power trio who’ve mastered their own distinctive brand of pop-rock-craft as illustrated by their new album-teasing single called “Decoder Ring.” Check out the exclusive Deli-made video for the single below because you gotta pass the time somehow until Eternity on its Edge comes out on June 11.
If you’ve ever seen the holiday perennial A Christmas Story (directed by the same guy who directed the seminal slasher movie Black Christmas) then you’ve heard of secret decoder rings. Made famous in the 1940s and ‘50s by Ovaltine as prizes given away in packages of the sweetened and vitamin-enriched milk powder product, decoder rings could be used to unscramble coded messages broadcast on the Ovaltine-sponsored Captain Midnight program in which the show’s titular aviator war hero battled villains like ruthless criminal mastermind Ivan Shark, his sadistic partner-in-crime and daughter Fury Shark, and the Nazi ne’er-do-well Baron von Karp.
But I digress. "Decoder Ring" is a fitting title for a Planes song given how good the band are at writing and arranging sugary pop hooks but enriched with indie rock nutrients like guitar jangle, grungy distortion, and psychedelic flange–all joined to a narrative about being “down in the dungeon and out in the sea” (just like Captain Midnight!) with an appeal to “look at me / I can’t be seen / without a decoder ring” (just like the show’s Ovaltine-hawking host!) which is enough to make you wonder if "The Planes" is really just a cover story for this trio of fighter-pilot Nazi-hunting super spies. Or maybe not. Maybe instead they’re taken inspiration from Keith Moon and the Who in hawking sugary milk-based treats to kids.
Tune in next week to learn the thrilling answers to these and other questions! (Jason Lee)
Chicago
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Emily Jane Powers “Blue Black Grey White”
Emily Jane Powers is back with a new single called "Blue Black Grey White". This is the lead single from the forthcoming album, Isometry, which is due out on June 18th, and all proceeds from the sale of the single will be donated to NAMI Chicago. This release is completed by a fantastic remix from Music Therapy’s own Jessica Risker.
On this single Powers is joined by Alec Harryhausen (bass, synthesizer), Christopher Smith (drums), and Ryan Hurnevich (guitar).
Chicago
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Sleepwalk “Underneath The Shade”
Sleepwalk have released a new album called Underneath The Shade via Bummer Recordings. This is the first new music from the quartet of Ryan Davis (Guitar//Vocals), Mike Kennedy (Guitar), Dave Jedlecki (Bass), and Steve Burton (Drums) since 2018’s Splatter.
This is an addictive blend of grunge and shoegaze one of the strongest albums of the year thus far.
Austin
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Black Pistol Fire Drop Video For “Look Alive”
Kevin McKeown and Eric Owen may have grown up in North Toronto, but the work they’ve done as duo Black Pistol Fire does honor to their adopted home. Their latest video, “Look Alive,” is pure Austin — a little bit hick, a little bit hipster, plenty of punk. Their signature straight-ahead rhythm and fat, fuzzed-out guitar sound are still on display, but “Look Alive” shows a few flourishes to stand out from the pack of Jack White acolytes.
“Look Alive” is strongest when it starts, benefiting from a welcome dose of psychedelia courtesy of delayed guitar and some suitably opaque spoken word, but then things chug into straightforward rock that’s a shade predictable after the fun intro. Still, “Look Alive” sticks close to an appealing 70s-freakout sound without ever being too Tangerine Dream to move bodies or too Winters Brothers to blow minds. Black Pistol Fire know their influences and show them due reverence while adding a stylish spin of their own.
The video for “Look Alive” is as dead-on as its soundtrack, mixing a grizzled actor, some garish green screen and the de rigeur muscle car to great effect, even if it might look a tiny bit like the boat scene from “Willy Wonka” from time to time.
But seriously, folks. Black Pistol Fire is a must for anyone into rock purism with a thick, distorted edge. White Stripes and Black Keys fans should check this out yesterday. If “Look Alive” is any indication, they’re sweetening their professionalism with a welcome dose of weird. And if that keeps up, Black Pistol Fire could rank with the best pure rock bands in town.
– Matt Salter