L.A.

VIDEO: In “Fool,” Jonny Kosmo Makes A Surreal New Friend

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Photo: Joseph McMurray

LA artist Jonny Kosmo has built a dedicated following fusing immaculately-produced 70’s-vintage funk/soul tunes with an at-times truly surreal visual sense that evokes contemporaries Unknown Mortal Orchestra, albeit with a seemingly more playful and innocent heart. But with his latest video, “Fool,” which also serves as a preview for his upcoming album, “Pastry” (out June 4th on Feeding Tube Records in the States), he’s upped his game on both fronts. 

The track itself is a warm, pleasantly viscous slab of gently psychedelic slow-funk steeped in 70s Stevie Wonder-era synths, shimmering tremoloed guitars with occasional wah-wah lead flourishes, a bass line as thick as hash oil, and soulfully gauzy close-mic’d vocals.  

The accompanying video, however, left us questioning our sanity in the best way. Set in a hilly beige meadow that could’ve served as a Windows ’95 desktop background, Kosmo sings the title track while intently at work with a metal detector. He ends up crossing paths with an unusual new friend, and the dance party ensues. It’s simultaneously hilarious and unsettling, another example of the David Lynch-lite vibe that is quickly becoming a Jonny Kosmo signature. Gabe Hernandez

Chicago

Bryan Away “The Lake”

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Bryan Away has released the first single, "The Lake", from his forthcoming album, Canyons to Sawdust, which is due out of July 9th. The single is accompanied by a beautifully animated video from Qianwen Yu.

This is the project of Elliot Korte, and he had this to say about the new single; "The Lake" began in an email poem with the subject "Hello new email freestyle" to my then girlfriend who I was in a long distance relationship with. It was when I first registered the bryanaway.com domain, and I wanted to show off my new email. Somehow in about 30 minutes I ended up writing most of the lyrics for what would eventually become The Lake. I was open with her about feeling like I was not experiencing the full breadth of human emotion, something I’ve yearned for and which forms the theme of the song. Repeatedly I echo this desire/longing and use nature imagery and the water cycle to describe its scale and my thirst. I ended my poem to her "it will be love, and you will be the lake", imagining all other emotions will be born out of love, and that she will be this infinite reservoir flooding my world".

Chicago

Olivia Royal “PSYCHE”

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R&B artist Olivia Royal has released her debut mixtape called "Psyche". The mixtape shows the three sides of Royal with Isabela being the heart, Cassie being the brain, and Yummy representing the gut. Not only does she embody these aspects of her personality, but she also takes on the singing, songwriting, and production for the entire project demonstrating that Royal is truly a triple threat.

Chicago

HIDE “Nightmare”

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HIDE has released a second single, "Nightmare", from their forthcoming third album, Interior terror, which is due out on May 28th via Dais Records.

This is the electronic duo of Heather Gabel and Seth Sher, and this new single is 54 seconds of aggression. The single is accompanied by a fitting freak out of a video. Gabel had this to say about the track; "I didn’t write these lyrics, they came from my Mother’s mouth. She called and said, ‘Last night I had a vision of you, I’m scared, the pain is never-ending.’ This track is as much about generational trauma as it is about healing, and is dedicated to my كسبنة جده, who is always with me."

The duo released the album’s lead single, "Do Not Bow Down", back in March along with another visually intense video that can also be viewed below.

Chicago

Cumbie “Pretty”

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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

Phantom Handshakes: Shoegaze on Broadway

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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.

Lionel Boy Oozes Laid-Back Melancholy On New Single “Mango Michelada”

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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

Fever Queen “Taste of What It Is”

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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

Blame My Youth “Go To Sleep”

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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.

Fresh Cuts: “Barbara Ann” From Rosie Tucker’s New Album “Sucker Supreme.”

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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

Split Single “(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love”

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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.