Wednesday, March 28, 2018
TOKiMONSTA was one of the first artists that got me into the more delicate, nuanced side of electronic music as her record Midnight Menu soundtracked a lot of late nights during my early high school days alongside classics like DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing….. Thus, it’s been a pleasure to see her receive widespread acclaim on Lune Rouge, an album that’s almost certainly her crowning achievement to date, over the past year.
I’m equally excited about the fact that TOKiMONSTA tapped Sofi Tukker for an “I Wish I Could” remix – it’s a serious collision of worlds as one of my favorite new acts takes on an artist paramount to my music taste’s development. The music lives up to the hype and then some as Sofi Tukker flips the track into an absolute banger of a house outing with a deep groove perfect for Selah Sue’s soulful vocal performance. It makes me wonder what would come from an outright collaboration between the critical darling and sync sensations – hopefully the universe wills that into action.
As long as there’s sunny weather and packed out music festivals, summery house tracks will always have a place to shine. Madison Mars keeps that uplifting trend in motion on “All They Wanna Be”, a shimmering cut that feels like a breath of fresh tropical air on the California coast. The airy production comes alongside fittingly anthemic vocals from Caslin as she adds another layer of sweet carefree vibes. It’s a formula for success that’ll almost certainly pay off in the coming months as the temperature rises.
It’s insane that spring starts tomorrow – it feels like winter just started (maybe because it was only cold for a cumulative two weeks in Los Angeles). It always seems like my inspirations start to flourish around this time of the year and I’m hoping that it’s no different in 2018. The warmth of the sun, the flowers blooming, it’s all a perfect blend of sources to tap for assistance in furthering my goals.
The art direction for William Darc’s “My Drug” is absolutely insane. The callback to horror tropes like the bat, the ominous red-soaked skull, the death metal font – it all wraps into an expertly curated aesthetic that oozes a grim ethos. Speaking of grim, this track was produced by one of my favorite Toronto duos, Rainer + Grimm. These dudes credits between their r&b inflected work for others and their own organic electronic sounds are top notch, so I always have lofty expectations for them.
Darc uses their killer behind-the-boards work to lay out a hazy, decadent take on “My Love” that easily surpasses its source. His voice glides atop the moody production with a nonchalant sense of utter coolness that makes you want to take a dive into the edgy world he’s building, not just through sound, but also vivid lyrics that paint a fittingly red-soaked picture of drugs and lust. He’s flipping the Toronto sound on its head with a daring approach that makes me way too excited to hear what he delivers next.
“Put in the work, sometimes it hurts, can’t give enough, give me tough love.” Molly Moore is laying down straight wisdom on her brand new single. One of the most important conversations of my life came after a major misstep at work as my boss gave me a wakeup call that made me realize my habit of receding and being uncommunicative when things got rough wouldn’t fly in the professional world. It was an uncomfortable moment that situated the greater good above my own perceived needs – in other words, a worldview I hadn’t encountered throughout a previously egocentric lifestyle.
Since then, I’ve become an infinitely better worker and friend who’s insanely committed to those around me. Simply put, tough love strengthened bonds in all aspects of my life. Molly Moore’s single is a perfect complement to that as its methodical and nuanced atmosphere along with her driven vocals echo the necessary process from pain to gain. It’s such a killer track and I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with next.
This track speaks specifically to a situation that we are facing today here and now. This track is a true story that speaks on sexual assault, about the artist who trusted someone who stole her trust. This is such a touchy subject, but one that many of us are finally speaking out about, I know I am. I am also a victim of sexual assault, it is a subject for so many years that I was afraid to face, afraid that someone might call me a liar, or maybe I was just being over dramatic. That’s how many of us were made to feel right? #metoo, it’s something everyone should be taking very seriously. I want my tiny little daughter to grow up in a world where she won’t have to worry about anyone taking advantage of her beauty inside and out. Hopefully we can all make this world a safer, in the work place and outside of it as well. I know that I am trying to get my message out there. I recently finished a book about being a single parent and some of the tough shit I had to go through in my life that has allowed me to be a strong Women able to bring up a daughter on my own. Until the release of the book I hope you will follow my blog correlating to the book along with the social media to get you hyped for the release! www.singleafworld.com
I hope more artists such as LEVV make music with messages such as this because people really resonate with music and lyrics in a beautifully emotional way. Please take a listen to this, listen to the message and whoever you are, Women or Man, be respectful, enjoy life and remember that we are all trying to make our planet a wonderful place for the budding generation of little humans!
Released at a fitting time as any, this new joint from ARONA MANE and P.T. is a jam that lives up to its gold-plated source material. It’s sleek and smooth, like riding through Beverly Hills with the top down and soaking up the entire moment. The retro-future tag is also super fitting as the track flips a soulful sound at its core into a worldly r&b outing whose hook is utterly infectious. Seriously, good luck getting this one out of your head once you’ve spun it once.
Speaking of the Oscars and Los Angeles, I just started at a brand new office on Hollywood Boulevard today. It’s a coming-of-age moment for my career that finds all the work I’ve been putting in since I was 14 paying off in a new and exciting way. I’ve come from writing music reviews on Tumblr from my couch in Georgia to working in a space with a 360 degree view of all of Los Angeles – the Hollywood hills in one direction, Beverly Hills in another, and downtown off in the distance. I think I’ll consider this my own personal Oscar.
StéLouse is a name that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time in the electronic scene. He’s a super versatile producer that always releases material that hits me on a level beyond surface level enjoyment. His new remix of Yahtzel’s “Someone Else” is no different. Savoi’s gorgeous vocals still remain but he accelerates the track into exciting new territory that’s a visceral thrill. The build-up is intense and ends with an amazing pay-off as waves of synths wash over the production, not to mention a phenomenal second drop that dives into gloriously glitchy chiptune territory.
I’d absolutely love to hear this remix bumping through a serious speaker system. It’d be one of those larger-than-life moments that makes you reflect on your life and all the positive trappings that come with it. That makes me think back to a moment in Times Square – it was the dead of night in the middle of a blizzard and I stared up into the entrancing electronic billboards and my perspective on life changed. I never had felt as part of something so immense up until then and I’ll never forget that feeling – it’s a sensation I’ve chased since then. I’d love to visit New York again and revisit that experience soon.
PLVTINUM’s new single is a visceral, r&b flavored take on late-night hookups that provides enough mental imagery for a short film. The opening line, “Cracks in your phone screen, touch yourself while you text me,” gives the song an unmistakable sense of place within the 21st century – this isn’t just a general hookup, it’s happening now. PLVTINUM’s cadence brings a pure, unadulterated swagger to the storytelling as he hits all the right pockets of the production with ease. He sounds so effortlessly cool that it makes you want to live out a similar story, even when he hits the natural conclusion of many hook-ups: “you’re catching feelings so I’m hanging up on you.”
Can we also talk about the single artwork for “hung up on u”? It’s gloriously seedy imagery that looks like it was ripped out the back of a local alternative mag in the ’90s. It also reminds me of the neon-lit strip club signs that overwhelm the senses while driving down Sunset – the flashing lights are impossible to look away from as they run through a cycle that’s likely been on a loop for decades. Strip clubs, late-night hookups, they’re all timeless institutions that have weathered the storms of change. “hung up on u” might be a product of the 21st century, but it has roots that could establish it as timeless too.
I’ve been following Restless Modern’s releases closely over the past few months, so it’s exciting to see his work culminate in the release of a debut EP. Led by two singles that existed on polar ends of the indie-electro spectrum in “Chasing” and “Haunted”, he fleshes out that diversity in sounds even further. There’s gorgeous, introspective meditations (“Underwater” and “She Needed Love”), anthemic cuts buzzing with energy (“Just Breathe” and “I’m Okay”), and tracks that sit somewhere in between. My personal favorite out of the bunch is “I’m Okay”, a selection that extends Restless Modern’s indie-electro groundwork into pure electronic bliss, but there’s a genuine argument for each song’s leader-of-the-pack status. He genuinely proves himself to be a jack of all trades across the record’s seven songs.
Thinking about the EP’s title, what does it mean to come undone? It used to mean falling apart at the seams and seeping into a pit of despair for weeks and months at a time; once the depression kicked in, there was no stopping its ever-expanding toll. These days, coming undone is a bit different – it occurs for hours or a couple days at most, but I’m now able to contend with it head on. I allow myself to feel the emotions as long as I need to, evaluate the root cause of the issue, and use my resources (whether it’s a mantra, meditation, or reaching out to a friend) to treat the source. I’m not even close to perfecting this system yet, but the improvements are there and for that I’m grateful.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
It’s absolutely fucking ballsy to remix legends like The Prodigy, but Vicetone have conjured up an “Omen” reinterpretation that does well to justify ifs creation. Grounded in the upbeat ethos of the original track, it uses the original’s war-cry of a synth to build maximum tension before allowing the sweet release of a drop primed and ready for festival action. It’s an infectious, anthemic peak that emanates images of a sea of fans waving their totem poles and nation’s flags in unison.
Vicetone’s remix strikes a nostalgic chord for me in multiple ways. I used to bump “Omen” at some point in my teenage years, but I can’t figure out when or where exactly – either way it makes me feel connected to my past which is always a plus. That being said, I do know that its drop reminds me of when I’d watch Ultra Miami livestreams from my couch in Georgia and long for the day I could be there. Those were simpler times when I didn’t realize I’d one day be right in the middle of the industry I idolized.
