Debuting from Nashville, WILSN’s music video for “If You Wanna Love Me” sets the stage for her upcoming album release. In the song, she stakes claim not only on her heart but on her place in the music scene. While a potential love interest may need to learn how to love her before gaining access to her, we get the privilege of loving her song and its steady and empowering message upon first spin. The fast clip and lyrics connect listeners to WILSN before song’s end.
WILSN’s new song “If You Wanna Love Me” has a fast, steady beat, empowering vocals, and echoes of classic female-led bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kicking off with a bassline that sets a strong tone for someone standing their ground, “If You Wanna Love Me” builds both lyrics and volume. The drum beats suit a fast-running clip, the snares matching footfalls on pavement, keeping audiences moving forward with WILSN’s attitude for direction.
This anthem lays out the ground rules for love, letting both singer and potential partner know the starting line. WILSN reminds me of my worth as I venture forth on my own search for my own romantic interest, that steady snare hits nailing home the point at a staccato clip. With no distortion, these lyrics come across loud and clear. They also offer solidary, inviting anyone to sing along.
WILSN’s clear message lights up the video in its simplicity. Depicting only the band performing, it keeps the song its focal point. WILSN’s dark hair matches her simple sleeveless black dress and killer knee-high black boots as she moves through the room, exploring sound, demands, and potential connection. Though no one outside the band appears in the room, perhaps echoing no one else having learned how to love WILSN yet, it gives fans plenty of space to join the music. It doesn’t take long to learn the words, let alone love the song, so we only can hope someone learns how to love her.
Canadian psych outfit Mother Sun is back to entertain, with their layered, intricate compositions and upbeat soundscapes. In the lead-up to their third riveting full-length release, today marks the release of their new track “Tangerine Beach” and its entertaining accompanying music video. We’ve got your exclusive first listen — and look!
The enticingly bright video – shot, produced, and edited by Josef Perzon – evokes feelings of giddiness and joy from the start. After all, who isn’t going to immediately be in a good mood after sitting in the sun, brilliant turquoise waters behind them?
‘Tangerine Beach’ and its video tell the story of a optimistic vacationer, played by Nathan, whose trip is thwarted by expectations of paradise. Arriving at at the beach, many margaritas in hand, Nathan loses a lens to the sunglasses shading him from the reality of his surroundings.
As heartbreaking as the dissolution of an artistic endeavor is, Turkuaz couldn’t have done it more gracefully and completely than they did. Today, they released two albums – a total of 26 songs – within two overarching genres, conveying two concepts that fall hand-in-hand. Paradiso and Apollyon.
“The very big picture concept is that Heaven and Hell are two human constructs. The only place that they really exist is right here on earth, and which one you inhabit depends largely on how you conduct yourself and what you choose to believe,” explains Brandwein. “Life isn’t as simple as black or white, this or that. It’s not binary. We’re all a little bit of both… Beautiful and tragic chaos.”
Paradiso opens with a very alien appeal. Not only is the song titled “Strange People (Strange Times)”, but the vocals layered in with the synth action and sound effects make it feel especially otherworldly. A literal manifestation of the words in the track, it is a powerful opener to one of the two releases.
Turkuaz continues with this disposition – an effortless blend of upbeat synth-driven pop and standout vocals – throughout, guiding the audience through an oft-autotuned adventure of sorts. Favorites from this release include “Shakin’ in My Sheets”, steadily-paced “Rewind”, and literal disco dream “Disconnect in the Discotéque“.
Apollyon follows suit in its substance, however, its sound exists in a completely different realm. Funk-inspired and flavorfully layered, they approached this release as a full band in a room together. You can feel the party atmosphere palpably in the twelve-track album’s span. Favorites include “The Ever Watchful Eye” and leisurely “Pleasure and the Pain.”
Turkuaz’s Dave Brandwein is now focusing on work with New Originals and solo music under the moniker Band For Sale. Taylor Shell is now a member of Ghost Light, and the two plan to collaborate more in the future.
Here’s a selection of tunes from our favorite artists that all pertain to a nature/plant/flower theme. Come chill with us in the garden!
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If you’re lucky enough to live or vacation in the Los Angeles area, you can check the band out live at the Lodge Room on September 2nd. Keep up with Goon here.
When you hear me say I’m about to talk about the television show “Maggie,” there is a chance some of you might have flashbacks to reruns of the 1998 single-season series starring Ann Cusack, John Getz, and John Slattery. In that, a middle-aged Maggie returns to veterinarian school and approaches life from a different perspective.
But HULU just released the first season of “MAGGIE” — a sitcom about a young woman with psychic abilities (Rebecca Rittenhouse) and the obstacles that crop up after she thinks she has seen a vision into her own future. She grapples with her idea of what ethics a psychic needs to live by and how she thinks society views psychics. She also wonders what leverage she has over the ability to adjust her visions, and struggles with curiosity over that impact.
Everything is all the more complicated as a one-time hookup – and a man from that vision – moves into the lower level of a property her parents own with his long-term girlfriend while she occupies the upstairs apartment.
Sound silly and weird? Surprisingly, it has more depth to it than you might think. Here are four things we can all learn from watching a show like MAGGIE, below.
*SMALL SPOILER ALERT*
What Watching Maggie Can Teach Us
1. To Recognize and Appreciate All Of Yourself
The first half of the season focuses on how Maggie sees the world as a psychic and intuitive. It throws acute observance onto the fact that she is hesitant to fully embrace who she is. The second half of the season sees Maggie unable to cope when her intuition falters and she is no longer able to see visions. Her sense of self was more wrapped in her abilities, than in herself.
Just like Maggie, we all need to see that just because other people may not see all of our unique, wonderful sides doesn’t mean they are not valuable. We need to put time and attention into all of the things that we love, all of the people we adore and all of the hobbies we have. This will allow you to have other interests and fallbacks if something doesn’t work out, or if one interest burn outs.
2. To Be Honest When Establishing Relationships
The entire first season, Maggie is grappling with the guilt of sleeping with a man who is now her neighbor. For reasons we won’t spoil, Maggie finds herself feeling bad, as an empath often can. And that feeling discourages her from being open with her new friend Jessie about her dating history.
One big thought I had while watching this entire season was that Maggie could have avoided a lot of her strife with an open and honest conversation. If anyone wants to establish a lasting relationship, it should start with an open and honest dialogue that sets you up right.
3. To Know That You Create Your Own Destiny
After Maggie sees herself in someone else’s future, she begins to heavily rely on her psychic abilities to inform her decision-making.
When Maggie’s powers to see into the future abandon her mid-season, she is thrown into an identity crisis, though. First of all, who is she without this insane and unique ability to tap into the future? Does she have other talents and hobbies that can lead her into another career or pastime? The second part of her crisis is that she feels like she has no control over how she maneuvers her new relationship.
Like Maggie, we can all benefit from learning that we do have the power to create our own destinies, even if it’s not how we imagined it to unfold. And that’s okay.
4. To Stop Stressing About The Future
All of this brings me to my last point. As a habitual worry-wort, I have never had the luxury of a stress-free life. But, examining everything from the perspective of having the ability to see into the future seems heavy and stressful as well.
Worrying about how you are influencing an outcome or your own future is a fair thought to have, but focusing on it can be so detrimental. Not only does it take you out of the here and now, but it blocks you from appreciating what you do have at this moment. It distracts you from enjoying your surroundings, accomplishments, and community.
We can all truly benefit from stopping how much we put our energy into stressing about the future.
Our favorite alternative project Goon – expertly commanded by Kenny Becker – is revving up to release their latest full-length, an enjoyable listen titled Hour Of Green Evening. The second single off of this album is titled “Ochre,” and is an absolutely magical track. From the light-as-a-feather vocals to the gorgeous piano arrangement, the song makes you feel like you’re falling backward into a cloud. While it generates ideas of kaleidoscope wonder – as though you are in an Alice in Wonderland fever dream – the song itself was inspired by Becker’s favorite color to paint with, yellow ochre.
Let inspiration consume you while you enjoy this beautiful new track.
