A rush of sound, gentle vocals, a building composition that both blends together seamlessly and allows you to feel the impact of each layer singularly. Missoula-based indie rock group Arrowleaf carries their particular brand of gorgeous sound with Sarah Marker at the helm as the lead singer and songwriter. Their new track “HDYK” is out today, and we’ve got your official premiere.
Here’s the deal. Take away all of the band details, technical terminology, and extra fluff. Look at the photo of this band. This music is clearly inspired by their ecosystem, and the incredible landscape that surrounds them. It’s like they have found a way to close your eyes and FEEL Montana. Honestly? That perfect balance of grace and lightness with the endearingly rough guitar, captivating audio pivots, crashing cymbals, and bravado of a rock band suits that location immensely, with the beauty of the greenery framed by the grandness of the rock formations.
This month threw so much talent in our face, and 2021 really feels like something special because of it. Check out some of the best music videos we have seen this month, and check back all year to re-visit 2021’s first releases! Including videos from Bailey Bryan, Evan Stanley, Planned Dilemma, ALPHA HOPPER, and more.
There is a unique cadence to Nainnoh’s vocals that immediately draws you into the psychedelic, genre-bending, soulful work she creates. Her Eastern European upbringing, of course, influences those vocals, and has played an essential role in the type of Georgian folk, indie psych touches we get from her music. With her new track “Vital Illusions,” there is a beautiful, meandering quality from the composition that allows you to sort of melt into the soundscape and absorb the song’s energy as it plays.
What a way to start off 2021 for the talented songstress.
Nainnoh’s self-titled debut is due out April 2021.
If it’s been a second since you let yourself get totally wrapped up in melancholy, Zoe Wees’ single “Girls Like Us” is the perfect opportunity to get all up in your feels. The woman’s insanely rich vocals glide across a dance beat, as her heartbreak is laid out for all to witness.
The accompanying music video? Even more intense and dramatic. Gorgeous jewel tones inform the visuals, as Wees can be seen singing, crying, having makeup removed, and singing her lungs out over a variety of striking backdrops.
It moved me to tears.
“It’s not always good to think about how you look to the rest of the world,” shares Weed. “It’s much more important to think about how you feel inside. It is not easy to call yourself beautiful but being confident helps you to accept and love yourself.”
We decided to start 2021 off strong with a lyric that holds true now, more than ever before. (Plus it’s a good ol’ reliable, Elton John song. And since we entered quarantine while he was making a second round on his farewell tour, we will play him on repeat until everything gets rescheduled.)
We also decided to start January off with connection, so you’re getting our favorite new tracks of the month a little late, but with extra intention. So dive in today, tomorrow, or any other day of any other month because our favorites from January 2021 will continue to live here. (Until we can’t afford to host the site anymore, ya dig?)
Captivating alt duo Phantom Wave released the new music video for their single “Billows” today, and we’ve got the exclusive premiere for your eyes only. Drenched in vivid colors and drastic, psychedelic movement, this visual is a trippy testament to the impact of the audible art that is flooding our consciousness. There is something magical about the way the lyrics dance along the gorgeous, building instrumental composition that – coupled with the abstract visuals – makes this experience feel very personal, and yet somehow universal.
Rare is it to find a musical duo that totally creates an ambiance all their own with the way their voices blend mellifluously into instrumentals. But let me tell you… duo Colin & Caroline can make a cover song all their own in a way I have never experienced. Luckily enough, these two have a history – they’ve known each other since high school and are now happily married – that informs their melodies, taking you on new, genre-bending adventures with each release.
Today, as part of the gradual release of a slew of incredible cover tracks over the winter months, we have the exclusive premiere of the duo’s new cover. Originally made famous by Jason Mraz, you’ll find yourself enveloped in clouds with this rendition. Try it on for size below!
On the hunt for a smooth track that will have you dancing around in your kitchen like you’re at a trance club at 2 am, surrounded by neon lights and glitter? (We truly don’t care who witnesses us doing this at this point. Nostalgia has us dancing everywhere these days.) Well, you’ve found it in La Poré’s latest track “All We Have Is Us.”
Synth-infused pop tracks glisten off the pages of La Poré’s resume, the solo project garnering quite a bit of commercial attention in the few years since its conception. But can you blame people for falling in love with such all-encompassing transient atmospheres created by sound?
Jewel tones, simple, gorgeous performance visuals that dance along the fine line between simplistic and artful masterpiece. This is how we would describe the new visual for Los Angeles-based alt-indie duo Dark Side of The Light’s (Nik Frost and Grant Conway) momentum-driving single “Moist”. Expands Frost:
First of all, everything for us emanates from beats and rhythm ideas for the most part. The groove is a really important part of what we do. We took two drummers, Grant and a friend and put them into a room together and had them jam to the sick base loop, recording it live with a stereo mic. What we got sounded almost like samba or something which opened up the song to a whole new world. The actual audio at the beginning of the track is us playing live in the rehearsal space. From there I took the drums and started programming them like they would’ve done back in the day when they were using Akai samplers to do this kind of thing.
I kind of chopped the audio up into different parts and as melodies came to me, I filled the lyrics in. It was one of those songs that while it sounds complex, it actually came pretty easily and I think we created one of the best tracks on the record.
The percussion in this particular track is its own brand of cool, incorporating a soulful and somehow almost hardcore feel to it while we melt into painstakingly well-crafted melodies and a trance-like state of free fall.
