new track – Page 2

PLAYING DETROIT: Frontier Ruckus “27 Dollars”

A summer fantasy written in the thick of a Michigan winter, Detroit’s favorite folky foursome Frontier Ruckus delivers a new track “27 Dollars” from their forthcoming LP, just in time to instill premature longing for a summer that still has a few hours on the clock.

Singer-songwriter Matthew Millia is no stranger to volunteering his vulnerabilities by means of his pleasantly troubled troubadour dance with intimacy to the rich, extensive Americana fabric of the Frontier Ruckus catalogue. Joined by David Jones, Zachary Nichols and Anna Burch, Milia and company have tapped into a beloved era of mid-2000’s indie with a modern emotional intelligence that is fit for timelessness. A little Belle & Sebastian, a tad Okkervil River with a dash of seasonal repression and hopeful ennui, “27 Dollars” is an upbeat anthem for restless hearts and empty pockets; a true midwestern cocktail. The track bounces with banjo twang and swaying synths, eliciting a backseat tour through pot hole, pock marked streets with a cracked phone screen that you check incessantly despite finger tip splinters.

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PLAYING DETROIT: Dear Tracks: “Aligning with the Sun”

Grand Rapids-based dream pop duo, Dear Tracks, excites with their politely warped and shimmery new track “Aligning with the Sun” which debuted earlier this week. Matt Messore and Victoria Ovenden found a way to give a soundtrack to dust particles colliding within a shaft of mid-afternoon light.

The arrangement, which is synth heavy, glitters without much deviation or elevation and manages to avoid sounding monotonous. A refreshingly melodic warble, “Aligning with the Sun” could easily be inspired by the tilt-a-whirl motion of a cassette tape being tangled within the cassette player, dancing with distortion.

The firecracker percussions and the twinkling, distant guitar paired with Ovenden’s misty vocals keeps Dear Tracks in good musical company, such as Real Estate and My Bloody Valentine. The opposite of anxious, the duo’s first track off of their anticipated debut LP (due out on The Native Sound records) is a bitter sweet (though, mostly sweet) end-of-summer breeze.

Daydream with Dear Tracks latest below:

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TRACK REVIEW: All Boy/All Girl “Pastels”

With a seven-piece band, sometimes a voice or instrument can get lost in the mix. But with All Boy/All Girl, that’s absolutely not the case. Particularly with their latest single “Pastels.”

The track features shimmery vocals from Danielle Lovier over a backdrop of various acoustic instruments (cello, bass, viola, and ukulele). Each shines through in a unique way, creating a dreamy melody that’ll make you want to close your eyes and sway. “Pastels” has an ethereal spirit, from the layered vocals to the wispy notes that seamlessly flow through your ears; it’s the sort of track that makes you want and need to see what a live performance entails. It’s the first single released from their upcoming full-length Slagroom, and it’s got us excited for more.

TRACK OF THE WEEK: Cool Company “Slice of Paradise”

Cool Company is bringing us a bit of smooth jazzy hip-hop in their new single “Slice of Paradise.”

This Bushwick-based duo is full of genre-mashing hits that make you want to move around a dance floor. Their new track holds elements of sexy, passion-packed soul music with raw hip-hop breakdowns, a juxtaposition that’s both unique and completely entrancing. If you’re looking for a song to chill out to after a long week, this should be your go-to—it’ll get you humming and relaxed in no time. They’re planning to release a full-length in September, so keep a tab on these cool fellas.

TRACK REVIEW: Zula “Basketball”

Feel like taking a musical voyage? Zula has got you covered with their psych pop jam “Basketball.”

While figuring out exactly what their genre is (experimental? psych pop? synthpop?) might not be entirely possible, it’s fun to get lost in their sound. It’s the sort of music that swirls around in your headspace, leaving you temporarily lost in the music—it’s the perfect place to forget about your daily worries and just relax. Their rhythms are intricate, their synths are plentiful, and their vocals are entrancing. This Brooklyn group is one you want to get familiar with, especially before the release of their full-length Grasshopper on August 26.

TRACK REVIEW: Sleigh Bells “Hyper Dark”

The second the spiraling music of Sleigh Bells starts and the distant “Uh-oh’s” sound, it’s apparent that “Hyper Dark” is a more than appropriate name for this new release. It’s a whole new sound from their past work, which is more upbeat and in-your-face, but it’s definitely a side of Sleigh Bells that we’ve been craving without even realizing it.

“Hyper Dark” is a slower piece that feels like it’s working toward something huge from the get-go. It gets in your head and builds you up until you’re sitting up straighter in your chair, waiting on the edge of your seat for the action. And when it doesn’t quite come, you realize that was never the point of the track anyway. Then you listen to it again, because you can’t and don’t want to shake a quality track.

Get caught up in Sleigh Bells’ new whirlwind of a song “Hyper Dark” as you patiently await the release of their upcoming fourth album.

TRACK REVIEW: Chasing Lovely “Always and Never Enough”

Chasing Lovely have released a live version of their track “Always and Never Enough,” and it’s definitely enough to pull on your heartstrings and make you feel some pretty serious emotions.

Hailing from Nashville, sister duo Chloe and Taylor are able to weave a vivid tale with their voices and light acoustic guitar that’ll give you goosebumps. This folky pair advocate working toward positive change, and their music is a fantastic reflection of that. “Always and Never Enough” is an introspective peak into how they process the positive yet tragic elements of the human element and everyday existence.

Sit back in a comfortable chair, turn on “Always and Never Enough,” and listen to Chasing Lovely as they offer you a new perspective (which seems particularly necessary as of late).

PLAYING DETROIT: Mic Write “blak/joi”

Emcee, poet, educator, and Detroit visionary, Chace “Mic Write” Morris is unstoppable. Mic Write’s reputation as a renaissance man pales in comparison to the weight of his message and unconstrained fervor. As a slam poetry champion, Kresge literary arts recipient and a main player in the progressive hip-hop collaboration Cold Man Young, Write has tapped into the collective social conscious, delivering striking commentary on race, community, and injustice with an impervious directness by means of jaw-dropping scholarly rhyme schemes paired with beats suitable for both grinding or marching, respectively.

Even when shining a light on systematic oppression and gentrification, Write never waivers in making it a point to remind of us of joy, hope, and gratitude. “It’s been a hell of a year/but if you hear this then you still hear us,” Write proclaims in his latest track, “blak/joi,” a song balanced with care, but not with caution. “Blak/joi” is as much of a story as it is a rap and just as much of a call to arms as it is a love-lorn sonnet to the past and future. One of the most impactful aspects of Write’s performance is that it doesn’t feel like a performance. It isn’t a callused memorization of lyrics or idle notations on cadence or emphasis, rather an in-the-moment, impassioned retelling of a dream/nightmare turned reality where words are both spilling and fighting their way through clenched teeth.

“Oh can you feel it?/ocean couldn’t drown it/chains couldn’t slave it/bullets couldn’t kill it/cops couldn’t beat it/death couldn’t tame it/government couldn’t steal it,” Write professes in what is one of the most hard hitting rhymes on the track, again, dancing the line between hope lost and hope found. The most unassumingly heartbreaking line, though, is the disjointed chorus. The song trails off to Write admitting “Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be/sometimes I trip on how happy we could be” as if he reached for the clouds knowing he would only bring down dust.

Feel the power with Mic Write’s latest, “blak/joi” below:

PLAYING DETROIT: Ohtis “Runnin'”

The return of Adam Pressley (Prussia, Jamaican Queens) and Sam Swinson’s beloved project, Ohtis, is really good news. Formed and broken-up in Illinois while currently reunited and divided between LA and Detroit, Ohtis premiered the first track “Runnin'” off of their forthcoming album Bobo, Dad, and Holy Ghost.

“Runnin'” feels like something out of 2008. A story-driven, soft spoken Fleet Foxes-esque tale or a sad desert realization with dampened slide guitar wading in and out circa Wilco’s self-titled record. Ohtis brings us a track that feels like a hand floating out of the window of a silent car ride, the wind pushing back against a palm telling it what direction to go, the only conversation being the sound of air escaping between parted fingers.

The track opens with: “The expression you were wearing of emotional pain / Like anybody struggling to keep themselves sane,” that set the tone of Ohtis’ painterly Americana breed of misery. It’s a song about surrender, drunk driving through the plains and crossed fingers for a lovers return. The chorus drifts away from uncertainty and sways towards an invitation into a new past with the line: “We together will be better than me.”

With “Runnin’,” Ohtis has delivered an atypical strain of heartbreak that hones in on what’s to be gained, not what has been lost. The experience feels as it was seen through two sets of eyes, although only one voice remembers everything the eyes had seen. It isn’t until a female voice sneaks into the final reprise of the chorus that you feel that resolve is near and the next adventure even closer.

Ohtis plays a set in Ferndale this Saturday, July 16 at 6:30 p.m. as part of Pig & Whiskey Festival.

TRACK REVIEW: Lié “Failed Visions”

The world isn’t feeling too positive lately, so a grungy garage rock song feels like just the thing we need to get these emotions out. It’s the sort of track where you can choose to head bang and shout your heart out, or just sit and soak in it, letting it fill you up and expand inside. We have just the right song for these types of moods and circumstances: Lié’s “Failed Visions.”

This trio of Vancouver badasses are cooking up some deliciously grungy post-punk music. Their debut album, Consent, provided social commentary about rape culture as told from the perspective of these three rockin’ ladies. It’s pretty damn relevant to some recent events, and great to hear the voices of strong women speaking their truth and not backing down from some of the more infuriating parts of our system.

“Failed Visions” is a single from their upcoming sophomore album Truth or Consequences, out August 12. Check out their single and let these tunes fill you up rather than rage, disappointment, and the slew of other negative feelings many of us are holding onto lately.

PLAYING DETROIT: Valley Hush “Iced Cream”

Leave it to my favorite electro-pop duo to release a dance track contemplating the turmoil of running the rat race that challenges the suffocation of creative freedom by means of societal survival. Valley Hush debuted “Iced Cream” earlier this week, a mesmeric track that encapsulates Alex Kaye and Lianna Vanicelli’s fluid aesthetic of dancing the line between struggle and release with an undeniable melancholic pop magnetism. Although there is no mention of the beloved confectionery treat, the songs message is the equivalent to the sticky sweetness of a melted cone between your fingers; a life that is satisfying but not without the perpetual stickiness to make you wish you had a napkin, or rather, make you wish you didn’t care about the mess. Following the same sensational trajectory of their last single “Iris”, “Iced Cream” picks up with the similar jutting, well-traveled mash-up of worldly tones and beats but this time delves deeper into self-induced sadness.

The most marveling element of “Iced Cream” is the marriage between lyrics and Vanicelli’s vocals. Opening with the line “I’m a human being/not a machine/I will eventually tire/of this silly maze” we are lead through a poetic display of personal disappointments and misappropriated life goals: how it feels vs. how it should feel. Vanicelli insinuates traditional accomplishments (“a college degree/a job with a salary”) act as life altering barriers between exploring the truer parts of self and feeling successful; an internal melting and re-freezing, only to melt again. These vulnerable truths through airy and choppy vocals feel like a privately shared secret discovery, though not confessional or dangerous. Valley Hush invites us to share a spoon and indulge in their existential crisis sundae that wakes our inner demons with a sensual tenderness that is usually reserved for licking our fingers clean, as not to leave a trail of sweet cream behind.

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TRACK REVIEW: Slow Club “Ancient Rolling Sea”

English duo Slow Club are back with a new folksy single, and it’s exactly the sort of song you needed to improve your week.

Slow Club are experts at creating music that helps you slow down and get a little introspective, offering the pause that we tend to be oh-so hesitant to take. And “Ancient Rolling Sea” is no different in that sense. It starts off with a rustic, twangy feel and advances into a classic chilled out Slow Club tune. It primarily sees entrancing vocals from frontman Charles Watson alongside a heavy bassline that’ll reverberate within your core.

They’re currently touring through the UK, and we’re hopeful for an upcoming U.S. tour. For now, get your sway on to “Ancient Rolling Sea” below.

TRACK OF THE WEEK: Savoir Adore “Giants”

You know what the world has been seriously lacking? New music from Savoir Adore. Well luckily, the dry spell seems to be broken with the latest release of their new single, “Giants.”

In the time since we last saw a lot of activity from the group, there have been some changes, which includes the departure of cofounder Deidre Muro. Fortunately, their music is as electrifying as ever, and you’ll be instantly hooked on this new version of Savoir Adore.

Unsurprisingly, “Giants” lives up to its name and makes a huge impression. The track is full of colossal drums and perky vocals from frontman Paul Hammer. It’s an anthemic jam that’ll have you amped up from start to finish, without any wavering in between. The overall feeling of the song encompasses optimism and embodies an eagerness for the future—or maybe that’s just how we feel waiting for more teasers from their upcoming full-length, The Love That Remains.

Currently the group is planning a brief tour for August with hopefully more dates to be announced. The album drops on August 12, so try to contain your patience for just a few more months!

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PLAYING DETROIT: FAWNN “Galaxies”

Dreamy Detroit indie rock foursome FAWNN premiered their first single off of their anticipated forthcoming sophomore album Ultimate Oceans on Stereogum last week. An iridescent pop track reminiscent of Washed Out meets a sedated The New Pornographers,”Galaxies” is familiar and satisfying yet feels defeated. “Galaxies” is prom night for mid to late twenty-somethings who sway in misguided unison to the shared disenchantment of young love turned static: the death of the honeymoon phase. Listless imagery painting spacial comparisons between intimacy and celestial phenomena is nothing new, and FAWNN struggles to breathe sincerity into this very evocation. What “Galaxies” DOES provide, however, is the aural equivalent to the ambivalence of drinking overly spiked punch, texting your ex a sad version of “hey” and half-heartedly hoping you don’t end up going home alone. The bass line is lulling and instinctual and when paired with the droll delicacies of the vocal harmonies, “Galaxies” creates more distance than it fills. This is likely an intentional sensation as the stand out lyric “Now that we’re allowed to touch/it’s over/Galaxies inside” encapsulates simply the boredom and painful loss of fascination when a love/like has run its respective course. Maybe that’s what makes “Galaxies” a frustrating listen. Maybe it yanks on that dark inner mess that we have been meaning to clean up but just haven’t made time for. It’s a song about passionate indifference and although successful in its glittery tones and thoughtful production, it is almost too literal in its heartbroken lethargy to feel anything more than “meh.”

Space out with the first taste from FAWNN’s latest “Galaxies” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Moonwalks “Steam Train”

No, you’re not crazy. It was just a few short months ago that I was praising Lunar Phases, the debut LP from the space-psych rock four piece Moonwalks. Where Lunar Phases left off, their latest track “Steam Train” picks up with a feverish sense of self, pushing further into cosmic cohesion that feels both seasoned and sensational. After headlining the Hamtramck Music Festival this past weekend (hailed Detroit’s best music mashup year after year) and an upcoming gig this month supporting Diane Coffee (members of Foxygen) the band celebrates their two year “band-iversary” by announcing yet another LP on the way, In Light (The Scales In The Frame).

“Steam Train” taps into the very things I love about Moonwalk’s reinterpretation of 60’s sedated rock, entangled with early Black Rebel Motorcycle club meets a zombie-fied The Dream Syndicate vibes. Even in its untamed composition, the lyrics compliment and combat with aching purification. The track opens with a slow build to the lyrics: “Mind is a window/mind is a window/mind is a window/every night” as the symbol crashing, bass pulse breaks through that very window. Although lyrically minimal and sonically repetitive, Moonwalks finds a sweet spot in the arrangement that is dark, subversive, and feels like fun you shouldn’t be having. It isn’t that “Steam Train” responds with a maturity that Lunar Phases lacked, rather that they root deeper into their next generation.

Catch Moonwalks playing w/Diane Coffee March 26th at Marble Bar in Detroit.

Check out “Steam Train” below:

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PLAYING DETROIT: Stef Chura “Slow Motion”

a4060787023_10 — *video still for “Slow Motion” filmed by Molly Soda*

There’s something unidentifiably exciting about Stef Chura. It would be an easy out to say her warbled, playful vocal contortions are the key to her aforementioned excitability, which are undoubtedly fearless and perfectly flawed. Last month, I referred to her vocal playground as one crafted by Karen O meets Johnathon Richman, but with the recent release of “Slow Motion” off of her up and coming album Messes, I can see how I quickly generalized her aesthetic. Chura creates space and fills it with confessionary uncertainty. What Chura is doing is entirely all her own.

“Slow Motion” encapsulates personal frustration and manages to make a lo-fi cry for clarity anthemic for anyone who has ever wanted to control the speed of their own reality. The lyrics “you bottle/me in your pocket and explode/give me something/and I don’t know what it’s for/and right when it starts/ to feel like home/it’s time to go” paints an universal exploration of impermanence in feeling comfortable with ourselves as individuals, as well as our comfortability as a piece of our respective social quilt. With Ryan Clancy on drums and producer Fred Thomas on bass, Chura’s vocals are practically framed by the jumpy, hazy rhythms allowing her to use her beautifully tortured voice to maim and repair parts of the song at her leisure.

The video, which is a desaturated Microsoft Paint snack party in Detroit’s UFO Factory bathroom (inarguably the most popular bar bathroom for selfies) poses Chura as an unenthused guest of honor surrounded by balloons, toilet snacks, and a listless oversized stuffed bear. Shot by internationally acclaimed digital artist and Detroit implant Molly Soda, “Slow Motion” is a vivid collaboration between wanting to feel part of a whole and wanting to fall apart, whisked together with whimsy and an old screensaver from the 90’s. The party gets tripped out and psychedelically rambunctious as the guests go crazy with silly string and happy face balloons that seem melancholic in context. The video is a play on party culture and for Detroiters, gives a voice to an iconic space while touching base with those deep-rooted sad girl vibes, that need someone like Chura to portray with sincerity and unapologetic malaise.

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