With her boundless voice and blistering lyricism, Samia has a special knack for revealing big situations through intimate details. Whether discussing her hamster’s name in ’21,’ or getting a rock star to listen to her music on ‘The Night Josh Tillman Listened To My Song,’ Samia finds lyrical perch by baring her soul through an itinerary of the everyday.

I thought of this while watching the video for her latest single, ‘Milk.’ Despite Samia’s repeated assurances throughout, I get the impression that the mess she is referring to here is more than ‘just spilled milk.’ No matter how often she tells you not to worry, or how many interesting details she confesses throughout (bathing in the grease on the McDonald’s floor, jumping off the pier at the seaport) you know there’s also something left unsaid, lingering like a suggestive gloss under the track’s shadowy contours and pulsating tension. It also marks an exciting turn from her previous work. Samia’s voice was never a stranger to the anxieties of growing up in a world that tends to shame the thoughts, voices, and bodies of outspoken feminists. But on ‘Milk,’ the emotional dial is turned up even louder, revealing what in other singers would be vulnerabilities. For Samia, these serve as forceful reminders of just how potent an artist she is becoming. Watch the video below, and see Samia perform at Rough Trade on Thursday, September 27th. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

Queer pop artist Arthur Moon possesses a rare ability to take contrasting voices and pull them forcibly into close conversation. Her last single ‘Wait a Minute‘ exposed hidden relationships found in otherwise opposed historical events. The video juxtaposed footage from old Dyke and Pride Marches with mid-century advertising tropes, producing a jolting experience where the viewer is left wondering what, if anything, do these two dominant cultural forces have in common. In less capable hands, this level of ambition might come up short on results, but Moon works as an alchemist with her sources.

In her latest single ‘Standing Wave,’ she continues this sorcery with even more directness. The track is supported by an off kilter groove undergirding a strong and alternately soothing melodic contour, working as a defibrillator that delivers sudden jolts to keep your heart beating in rhythm. Listen to both singles below. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

Adeline Hotel’s new single ‘Habits’ feat. Cassandra Jenkins, continues the country-tinged direction set out on the band’s last album ‘It’s Alright, Just the Same’ from 2016. The song’s unhurried folk sensibility gently floats on a breeze, but packs in a lyrical heft you might not expect to come by in a sweetly strummed folk tune. But singer/songwriter Daniel Knishkowy excels at drawing weighty contrasts between lightheartedness and poignancy. In ‘Habits,’ his easy-going vocals provide a tender exterior over a frank discussion of timely existential needs: a wistful rumination on what’s really needed to reach happiness, and why it can be so hard to come by. Cassandra Jenkins, who released a notable debut album of her own last year, provides backing vocals.

Check out the just-released single below, and see Adeline Hotel open for The Essex Green at Knitting Factory Brooklyn next Saturday, August 4th. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

The four members of of Fuckery have been writing music in various incarnations since their halcyon, teenage youth, but only recently decided to make noise with all their instruments together in the same room. The result: Fuckery is a band (and a name) so ridiculous, listeners will either reject the group as too absurd to take seriously, or love them for the same reason.

Lead singer Adriana DeMeo pairs lyrics of nostalgia and questionable decisions made while bored, against deep pocketed grooves, and jerky, razorblade guitars. Join the band as they debut a few new songs, and insist you participate in the fuckery yourself.

A CENTVRY gig guarantees anything from psychedelic freakouts, to monotone Lou Reed pathos, to arena rock anthems. It all depends on the night, and the audience attending. Their show is entirely improvised, which means that your presence will undoubtedly guarantee something exciting is going to happen.

Opening the bill is Double Mint Dragon (pictured), one of singer/guitarist Alex Woods’ many, many projects. The band’s set will have you unsure of where things are headed, but loving the convulsive, tug-of-war fought between dueling drums and Alex’s stompbox army of noisy fireworks exploding along the way.

Join the merriment when all bands play together at Tender Trap (66 Greenpoint Ave, BK) on Saturday, August 4th. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

Touring can be a disorienting experience. Shuttling from one place to the next, day after day, can make musicians feel like perpetual guests in whatever town they’re visiting. But it rewards hearty travelers able to find beauty in constant change. Singer/songwriter Jason Bemis‘ new single "How Fast Can You Pack?" embraces this peripatetic lifestyle, finding solace in a hard-won understanding that life’s journeys can be both exhausting and illuminating at once. 

In the song, Bemis walks the length of Las Vegas’ glittering downtown strip, an endless series of hotel hallways, and wanders around other architectural mysteries inside a breezy, acoustic folk tapestry. There’s a sense of fatigue here, but also of mystery of what might be found hiding around the next bend. The song gains a sharp charge from guest vocalist Heather Woods Broderick (of Efterklang, Sharon van Etten), who raises the tension just enough to leave listeners comforted, while wanting more. 

The song is a preview from Bemis’ upcoming debut album Another Hotel Hallway. Stream the single below, and see him at Rockwood Music Hall, stage 3 with opener Lauren Balthrop for his album release party on September 7. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)