Tourist caught me by surprise by dropping this beautifully subtle video for Apollo. Going completely the other direction, Charli XCX enlisted Troye Sivan to go back to 1999 in their throwback video laden with references from the era. Toro Y Moi announced his new album coming out 1/18, alongside this video for Freelance.
Bonus: Jamila Woods put out an epic video for Giovanni
I was surprised the morning of this sold out show that I would be going! I first caught Twenty One Pilots back in July of 2014 at the inaugural Alternative Press Music Awards, before I even knew anything about this band. Their performance caught my eye, enough so that I caught them later that year at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. Their blend of rock, rap, and pop was intriguing, and their stage performance was electric. I’m not a fan of large venue shows, so I hadn’t planned on this show at Quicken Loans, but I’m so glad it worked out. What amazes me about this band is how, without traditional main-stream exposure, this band from Columbus, OH is able to garner such a rabid fanbase, fully donned in costume. They put on an electric performance, filling the space properly. Check out some photos and a video below, with covers by the Beatles and Goo Goo Dolls at the end! More expansive reviews are below.
"They started last night’s two-hour concert in front of a capacity crowd at the Q in dramatic fashion as singer-multi-instrumentalist Tyler Joseph arrived carrying a torch. Decked out in fatigue pants and a bandana, he looked like he could’ve been a fashion conscious terrorist/mugger as he climbed atop the shell of car that rose from underneath the stage and began singing the jittery opening number, ‘Jumpsuit,’ a single from the band's new album, Trench."
(Via Twenty One Pilots Put on a Spectacle of a Show at the Q | Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog.)
"Ah, flair. And now we get to the real appeal of Twenty One Pilots: There are bands who write good songs. There are bands with good singers. There are bands who fire off exciting pyrotechnics. There are bands with Trans-Siberian Orchestra-worthy light shows. There are bands with lead singers who broadcast charisma like the aura of a sun.
Ain't too many bands, though, that have all that, and Twenty One Pilots is all that . . . and a lot more. Including flair."
I’ve been a big fan of Nomi Ruiz since her early Jessica 6 album, even seeing her open for Holy Ghost! at the Grog Shop back in 2011! Well, Jessica 6 has a new album out today, The Eliot Sessions, which I’m really looking forward to checking out. In addition to her music, I also appreciate her speaking out on behalf of the appropriation of queer artists. Check it (and her) out.
"Mainstream artists profiting off culling inspiration from the underground is 'a tale as old as time,' Nomi Ruiz says. But that doesn't make it acceptable, and when the artists being squeezed like creative sponges — often without their consent — are of marginalized communities, those mainstream artists are complicit or even contributing to that systemic oppression. Today, the New York songwriter calls out one of the most famous of these perpetrators — Madonna — with the premiere of her new single, 'Ridiculous.'
The track is part of a forthcoming EP, The ELIOT Sessions, where she expands on the electronic dance-pop of her last two Jessica 6 full-lengths by circling back to her roots in R&B, hip-hop, and soul. That's where she'd started — solo, back in 2005 — before appearing on multiple tracks on Hercules and Love Affair's first album, before Jessica 6."
(Via Nomi Ruiz Calls Out Queer Appropriation on New Single.)
"Listen to the V Magazine & Gitano NYC present Nomi Ruiz/Jessica 6's Playlist below:"
(Via Jessica 6 is Here to Make You Fucking Groove | V Magazine.)
One week after being at Mahall’s for the Sainseneca show, I was back to see Tall Heights there - for the 2nd time! This time they had a full bill of great artists, each one the would have been worth seeing separately! It started with Frances Cone from Brooklyn New York, which Noisey accurately described as “"Think Fleetwood Mac meets Dirty Projectors..."
Next up, the wildly attractive Old Sea Brigade (as confirmed by the entire band of Frances Cone), who’s been described as “gorgeous, meditative songwriting" with a "sense of Southern gothic.”.
Finally, Tall Heights was on stage, and the room was filled mostly with young women. These guys have obviously started to take off, as mentioning during the show, how their last album has just seemed to have been discovered just as they’re releasing a new one. They stuck to their guns and played a lot of songs off their new album - which I’m really enjoying! You should check it and them out.
As always, I’m charmed by Amy Ray - this time by her new song and video for Tonight I’m Paying the Rent. Calvin Love won me over back in 2015 and I haven’t heard much from him since, until I discovered the video for the single Wildflower (new album out 10/26). It was a pleasant surprise to run across this video for Domestication from Laura Gibson, as it signals a new album coming Goners coming out on 10/26.
Blood Orange is in full video release mode, and here is the newest for Chewing Gum feat. A$SAP Rocky & Project Pat.
I was only able to catch the last two acts this year, but so glad I made it. Despite being in a tent outside MOCA, it was still rather frigid! Both bands bundled up and really warmed up the crowd. I wasn’t entirely familiar with either Land of Talk or Lucy Dacus, but I’m always down for a female-focused indie rock band! Both were superb.
I was able to catch Saintseneca at last year’s NEOCycle Music Festival, and have loved all of their work since. They have this indie rock sound that is all their own, with a quirkiness that I love. Such a great band, and love that they’re Ohioans!
Opening was Trace Mountains from New York.
This has been my approach with this blog, a human-centered recommendation platform. I’m probably somebody you know, who is recommending music and giving my own personal take on it. If you read further in the (quite short) article, it goes into how Spotify is trying to overturn the label model. I think there’s definitely room for improvement in the label model, but at the same time I don’t want to turn it over to algorithms - especially with their being created by privileged, mostly white, mostly male Silicon Valley armies.
"Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed some thinly-veiled concern regarding his competitors. In a new interview with Fast Company, Cook highlighted the importance of human-curated music services. Though he didn’t call out Spotify by name, Cook did directly highlight the difference between Apple’s human-driven and Spotify’s algorithm-driven curation approaches, even going so far as to say ’We [at Apple] worry about the humanity being drained out of music, about it becoming a bits-and-bytes kind of world instead of the art and craft.’"
HUMANS are coming back with another album and if this video for Breakfast with Liz is any indicator, it should be great! Seeing the new Rayland Baxter video for Casanova just makes me regret not staying for his show at the Beachland Tavern, which I’m sure would have been as fun. Alessia Cara is as charming as ever in her new video for Trust My Lonely.
Bonus: LCD Soundsystem just put out an epic video (Sissy Spacek!) for oh baby. Totally worth the watch.
