Japanese rock band CHAI have shared a video for their new single, “Maybe Chocolate Chips,” which features Chicago rapper Ric Wilson. The song will be featured on their upcoming album, WINK, set to drop on May 21 via Sub Pop. Check out the video, animated and directed by Callum Scott-Dyson, below.
Bassist/lyricist Yuuki explains the song in a press release: “Things that we want to hold on to, things that we wished went away. A lot of things happen as we age and with that for me, is new moles! But I love them! My moles are like the chocolate chips on a cookie, the more you have, the happier you become! and before you know it, you’re an original.
In the years since the rise of their 2009-born, disco-gem-uncovering Feel My Bicep blog and 2012’s pumping breakthrough EP ‘Vision Of Love’, Bicep have transformed from underground house-head favourites to festival-headlining daytime-radio-infiltrating sculptors of emotive electronic anthems. Really, though, it’s what Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar had always been building towards.
The London-based Belfast duo’s melodious 2015 single ‘Just’ teased at a more expansive style. But it was their multi-textured debut album – released two years later via Ninja Tune and an unexpected top-20 chart hit – that certified these deep-digging studio heads’ growing reputation as architects of introspective yet kaleidoscopic anthems.
Fast forward to 2021 and, with clubs still shut for obvious reasons, they’ve retooled their second album to suit lockdown listening at home ahead of, they’ve said, a “much harder” live version. What’s new this time around, though, is that the boys worked with other live singers and instrumentalists, adding another layer to their tried-and-tested formula.
Icy-toned labelmate Clara La San appears twice: the London-based R&B star lends her voice to the movingly nostalgic trip of ‘Saku’ and the heavy and futuristic ‘X’. Created in their keyboard and drum-filled London studio, ‘Isles’ finds the DJs and producers again fusing atmosphere-building bleeps (the melancholic ‘Cazenove’) with infectious synth lines – ‘Fir’ elicits the eyes-glued rush of watching an edge-of-your-seat epic and feels as though it could explode at any moment. – Read More via NME HERE
“‘Two’ is about trying to find a kind of balance between independence and interdependence, and the multitudes within ourselves,” Wasner said in a statement. “It’s about trying to reconcile the desire to maintain a sense of personal autonomy and freedom with the need to connect deeply with others. And it’s about struggling to feel at home in a body, and learning how to accept that the projection of self that you show to others will always be incomplete.”
Jenn Wasner co-produced Head of Roses with Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Contributors to the record include Meg Duffy, Matt McCaughan of Bon Iver, Adam Schatz of Landlady, and Wasner’s Wye Oak bandmate Andy Stack. Watch the video below + read more via Pitchfork.
Sean Tillman, who you may know as his nom de alter ego, Har Mar Superstar, was in the middle of touring with Heart Bones (his project with Sweet Spirit/A Giant Dog singer Sabrina Ellis) when the pandemic forced the cessation of their outing. Stuck at home in Minneapolis, he found himself doing what he could to help those suffering financially, and even picking up a regular gig as a mail carrier to fill the days. But all the while, he was busy writing new music—music that spoke to his experience being back home for an extended period after so many years on the road. Roseville, the resulting album, continues in the tradition of the artist’s retro-soul/pop/kitchen sink approach to songwriting, while still doing something brand new.
That newness comes from his digging back into the music that influenced him throughout his life: The infectious ’70s soft pop and brass-assisted jams of artists like Elton John, Carole King, Todd Rundgren, and more. Recorded with each musician from his band performing remotely in their home studios (not to mention a bevy of guest artists), it nonetheless sounds as full-bodied and expansive as anything Har Mar Superstar has ever done—a true reflection of where he’s at, both musically and geographically. But perhaps he can tell you better himself: The musician recorded a short welcome for all of you curious to hear the new tunes (and wondering how you can go about ordering some of that delicious limited-edition vinyl he’ll be releasing for the true heads).
Roseville, Har Mar Superstar’s seventh studio album, will be available digitally everywhere on March 5. Enjoy an exclusive listen of its debut single, “Where We Began,” below.
Valerie June has announced her first new album in four years The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers, out March 12th, 2021 via Fantasy Records. Produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, John Legend) and Valerie June, the new album is sweeping and ambitious with earthy R&B production and a touch of psychedelia amidst its astral folk-pop orchestration, the pair arrived at a sound that is elegant and endlessly surprising. At the center is June’s spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder that finds the Brooklyn-via-Memphis artist narrating the often-precarious journey to joyful possibility.
The album’s first official single “Call Me A Fool” is a marvelous preview of her upcoming LP, a delicious slice of Memphis soul that features Stax legend Carla Thomas on background vocals.
Post-punk has become the go-to buzzword for music that bridges the once-large gap between the angsty punk world and increasingly, well, everything else. It encompasses the art-funk tendencies of early-adopters Talking Heads to more recently, IDLES’ sharp-tongued, aggy-rock. It could be easy to eye-roll at yet another post-punk band making a statement on the world around them, but with newcomers TV Priest, at least, the satirical quips are more inspired than most. And, it doesn’t take long for them to kick in.
From the first overdriven strum of bolshy opener ‘The Big Curve’ to the erratic ending plucks of ‘Saintless’, the main cohesion is the observational commentary running through each track like red tape. Some remarks are as clear as day: the chastising ‘Press Gang’, overt in its anti-Murdoch stance, sees frontman Charlie Drinkwater exasperate that “you’re better off ill-informed”, and post-Brexit nightmare, ‘This Island’, toys with the confusion. This comes with a healthy dollop of sarcasm. From harping back to the good ol’ days of Joy Division with their hypnotic frenzies despite getting riled at nostalgia, to finding “joy, peace and understanding” in the Daily Mail comments section. The targets may be obvious, but the blows still connect. – Read more via NME
ALSO…watch the band’s Live At Home Session with Indie 102.3 BELOW!
Sycco enjoyed a banner year in 2020, and she’s keeping the momentum going with the release of new single, ‘Germs’. The track is is a more ethereal output than what Sycco – real name Sash McLeod – has delivered in the past with beaming synths and a strutting bassline. Now, the song has gotten a brand new makeover – check out the treatment Billy Lemos gave the track below.
If you’re looking to dig deeper, she shared singles “Dribble” and “Peacemaker” to an immediately positive response from fans, media and DSPs alike. Sycco also appeared on the cover of Spotify’s New Music Friday and Front Left playlists, and was made Apple’s Artist of The Week, while receiving adds at triple j and alt radio in her native country.
