Buckle up your rocket ship seat belts for this one. Eclectic visionaries Moviestar have released their new interstellar single “Waste of Space.” Band members Infinity Vik, The Octopus Goddess and Anaconda first revealed their eccentricity back in 2018 with their critically acclaimed debut album Stupid People / Happy Days. Now they are here to astral-project far into the future and eradicate boundaries. They are described as “intergalactic archeologists” who formed in the future to produce avant-garde music that dabbles in the genres of art-pop, indie, and sci-fi punk… to name a few.
“Waste of Space” is loud, harsh, and full of energy. The initial obstinate beat and the gritty guitar immediately grabs a hold of you and pulls you along. Each verse is static, the unrelenting pattern of drums, guitar and bass grounds you, but the energy builds like a static charge. When it reaches its peak, all this energy diffuses into a dynamic chorus that coasts through its duration. The second time around, a surprisingly dulcet melody meets you after the chorus, allowing you to fully transcend into space.
This single is only one piece of the puzzle, however. Moviestar’s new album The Curse and the Currency of the Twenty-First Century is a concept album about the state of the world in 2020, but from the perspective of the future. It confronts various issues surrounding social media, technology, the environment, and the human condition. Just like the wonder of space, Moviestar’s music is limitless. They are a ghostly presence from the future that has come to show us the extent of what’s possible. If you’re looking for something idiosyncratic, or are a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, David Bowie, The Kills, or Blood Red Shoes, this band is absolutely for you.
Be sure to check out the video for “Waste of Space” here, and listen to the rest of their earth-shattering album on Spotify and Apple Music.
Canadian singer, rapper, producer, and songwriter Keffa released his new EP Victimless Crimes on June 1st. Produced by the Multi-Platinum and GRAMMY award winners Ken Lewis and Brent Kolatalo, the EP delves into the melancholia that results from failed relationships, but in a light-hearted way. While the music is classic R&B in many ways, it also includes elements from many other genres such as indie and experimental. Keffa compares it to the controversial 1994 film Bitter Moon which featured similar themes of relationships and heartbreak in different ways.
Each track gives us a glimpse into the types of complicated, failed relationships that one can have.
“Bethlehem” stirs up emotions you may not even know you have deep down inside you. It begins atmospheric, and includes hopeful messages like “It’ll be alright, I’ll be by your side.” But halfway through the clouds clear, the line “pick up a loaded gun” cuts through, and things become more painful. “Bethlehem” exposes the listener to this pain, setting the stage for the rest of the EP.
“Rock You” tackles loneliness, the idea of being with someone only for companionship and not for true love. As Keffa says “There’s no point in loving me, ‘cause I have no empathy,” the hard-hitting bass notes and upward synth gestures in the music sound like slow, steady breaths. It’s as though the music is breathing through the pain, through the loneliness. Immediately after, we get “Twenty Four Days” in which Keffa switches gears and starts talking about how he’s in it for the long run with this girl he loves, although there seems to be a lack of trust in the relationship.
“Disconnect” is a standout track. It deviates from the other tracks as it prominently features dreamy, broken guitar chords and surprising turns of harmony. It deals with space, “disconnecting” from a stifling relationship. “Victimless Crimes” is the most unsettling song on the EP. In essence, it’s about how things that were once uncomplicated can become twisted.
Keffa ends the EP on a cheerful note, musically speaking. “Try Harder” is fun to listen to, with a catchy chorus amidst smoothly rapped verses that just glide on top of the jazzy background music. The lyrics still continue the theme, however, highlighting a one-sided relationship where one person isn’t making as much of an effort as they could.
Listening to Victimless Crimes, it’s easy to see why The Source Magazine hailed Keffa as a “Canadian mastermind” after his second EP release, and why he was featured in Respect Magazine as “Toronto’s Emerging Creative Enigma.” Keffa not only shows how it’s possible to innovate R&B music, but also shows the world what Canada has to offer in the hip-hop genre.
Sci-Fi influenced and experimental indie-rock, are just two ways to describe the music project Baron Minker, the alias for songwriter Dane Erik Frost.
Frost released a video for his most recent single “Anthem of the Rich and the Bored”, which is the only politically charged and influenced track on his upcoming album. “Anthem of the Rich and the Bored” calls out those that abuse their power, mainly those of a social elite status that look down on other classes of people.
The video is colorfully trippy, perfectly complimenting the sounds of the track. With the use of a skull that moves in time to the track, and looks as if the skull itself is the one singing these words, the video visually feels hypnotizing.
Baron Minker is a music project that carves out a balance between worlds that are savage and serene. By combining indie sheen with electric absurdity, Minker has a sound that calls back to 1970s psychedelic culture.
Los Angeles-based indie band Sincere Gifts have just released their new single, “Ghost of America”. The upbeat alt-rockers couple bright sounds and light-hearted production against dark lyricism for a fun listen that gets their serious (and important) message across.
Two lost musicians, Benben and Nick, found each other in the midst of America’s collapse. They emerged from the darkness as Sincere Gifts, conjuring love and earnest companionship. Because what is more needed in the era of rapacious capitalist greed than a sincere gift?
“Ghost of America” puts a strong focus on the current landscape in the United States in 2020. “The US is super fucked,” says vocalist Nick Byron Campbell.” In ‘Ghost of America’ the listener is taken on a short musical tour through the decline.”
At first listen, the track appears to be all sunshine and rainbows on the surface, but take a closer look (or more appropriately, listen) and hear the very real issues that the band is tackling. Sincere Gifts tackles everything from zombies to guns to riots before stripping back and ending the song with a stripped back and mesmerizing take on a section of the National Anthem. The band impressively tackles mountainous issues while making their important message fun and easy to take heed of. Keep doing what you’re doing, boys, America needs you.
John Ross of Wild Pink is releasing his second album of instrumentals under the moniker Eerie Gaits. Holopaw, much like the area it was named after, is united to a traditional label. These nine instrumental tracks live somewhere genre-less, free of rules that tie them down.
The compositions can float and transition between upbeat guitar strums, bristly fingerpicking, and pensive sections of dense misty synths.
Each track on the record holds a complexity all of its own, setting it apart from each other making it seem that they themselves are untied from the album itself. “The Rainbow Trout and The Wicker Creel” is a somewhat placid indie-rock piece featuring a bobbing baseline, reverb-laden guitar leads, and pockets of synths that accompany the other instruments like beams of sunlight creeping through a window.
Ross attempts to create a place of country peace in Holopaw but will sometimes shift dramatically into foreboding gloominess. Not just in the tracks but in the flow of the album itself. Holopaw starts with “What’s Eating You”, a more upbeat indie-rock sounding track, but as your travel deeper into the record this upbeat vibe slowly starts to fade and appears in little glimmers.
Chicago singer-songwriter Anna Holmquist formed Ester back in 2017 with the help of friends and collaborators, and now they’re about to release their first full-band LP, Turn Around. The record is a meditation both on major life changes and looking back at the past to help you understand your own growth, and Holmquist, possessing a rare vein of talent in both songwriting and singing, expertly guides their band through this task.
Most of the songs were written within the 6 month window around the beginning of Holmquist’s Saturn Return, which is psychologically viewed as the time that one reaches full adulthood and is faced (often for the first time) with adult challenges and responsibilities. The album’s exploration of adulthood is vulnerable and introspective, presenting a lot of moments for personal reflection.
Turn Around pieces together folk and rock elements around the centerpiece of the album: Holmquist’s honest and confessional lyricism and sensitive and emotional vocals. The songs are well-crafted, with the words written just as artful and important as the music.
“Little Shadow” is draped in haunting strings and gently plucked guitar. The ominous track builds to great heights with Holmquist’s quivering voice pulling mysterious melodies across the night sky.
“Holy Daze” feels like a float down a lazy river, with warm, slow bass coating the track in thick golden honey. Holmquist shows off her control and flexibility, easily flipping into their head voice before landing skillfully back with both feet on the ground. They sprinkle themself over the calm and breezy instrumentation like a colorful candy coating before tapping into their stock of emotionally-charged vocals, the intensity of their feeling evident to even the most casual listener.
“John’s Car” starts off sounding like a simple yet ominous indie-pop track, but Holmquist stuns, expertly building the song’s intensity with precise and attentive skill before it naturally peaks in a cathartic explosion of emotion. Holmquist is not only a powerhouse, but one who is smart enough to form important moments by holding back just the right amount before laying all of her cards on the table and damn, it’s a good hand.
“Thirsty” is reminiscent of a modern Fleetwood Mac while tracks like “When You Wake” channel the power and authority of Florence Welch. “Wildflower” is a breath of fresh air, providing even the most stressed out soul with a breath of fresh country air.
Husband and wife duo The Grahams delve into new territory for their third album, Kids Like Us, trading traditional Americana for neon-colored indie-rock experimentation.
“Fuck the genre labels people want to put on us. We never felt they fit us anyway.” These are the bold words of Alyssa Graham, who makes up ½ of the duo, the other half completed by her long-time romantic, life, and musical partner Doug Graham. Every release the two have had began with an adventure that expanded their musical horizons, and their third effort is no exception. “Perhaps we started writing this album with a sense of escapism,” says Alyssa. And that escapism is palpable within the record, with the two managing to actually capture that taste and inject it into their music.
Running the rivers of balmy and graceful dream pop, 50’s mod influenced garage-rock energy, 60’s and 70’s style groovy guitars, and an explosive Morricone-esque cinematic intrigue, the couple bravely explores new sounds, proving their versatility and personal creative freedom runs deep. “We wanted to just let go and explore, and it made all the difference,” says Doug Graham. “For the first time, there was no self-doubt, no self-loathing – just gratitude, bliss, and a complete sense of satisfaction in the process and the results.”
The Grahams took off on a motorcycle journey along Route 66 to garner inspiration, witnessing life frozen in time along the historic highway. The music that resulted contained moments of fantasy, horror, and even the supernatural, beguiling their experience into the album.
Kids Like Us was the final project of Richard Swift, producer and former member of The Shins before his death in 2018 and was then taken over by co-producer Dan Molad. Their influence helped to enable The Grahams to channel all of their chaotic stimulus into something big, lush, ambitious, and profoundly satisfying.
The album’s 11 tracks were born from motel-room whispers and roadside musings as well as studio experimentation. “We started in Chicago with the blues and Motown,” Doug says of their journey, “and we ended in L.A. listening to the Beach Boys. And all of it found its way into the record.”
“Don’t Give Your Heart Away” perfectly captures the feeling of cross-country cruising along a desolate highway. A twangy and peaceful pop number that both soothes and quietly thunders, it fills in a broad soundscape of wide open spaces with its chilling echoes. Alyssa glides over the dreamy notes in a quiet storm of hypnosis while the instrumentation behind her pulls listeners in with a siren call of the desert.
“Kids Like Us” is more concentrated. The number is painted with darker colors, echoing across a nighttime scene with brassy sounds and a heightened intensity brought to the table. There is urgency within the Grahams as they take a modernized Antonioni feel in new directions for this one.
“Searching The Milky Way” draws heavy influence from the 50s, with shiny keys and sickly sweet “shalalas” moon-lighting the way through the track, which drips starlight that tastes of a million years ago. It feels both cool-toned and warm and fuzzy, and is sure to transport listeners to another place in time.
The record was also influenced inevitably by the surreal 2016 election, with Kids Like Us evokes the modern American condition in remarkably empathetic ways. “We’ve definitely written a very political record,” Doug says. “These aren’t protest songs, but some of them are certainly a reaction to the big pile of shit America has stepped in, and our personal fear for the future”.
This melting pot of influences manages to blend together to make a deliciously flexible and versatile album. It never feels stagnant or stuck in one place, and pulls a lot of unexpectedly beautiful feelings from places both light and dark to create a shimmering piece of work. Freedom bleeds onto every track and colors each one in a different light within the same shadows, leaving behind a record that manages to be both eclectic and cohesive.
Kids Like Us is available everywhere on March 27th. Keep up with The Grahams here.
Psychedelic indie project The Undercover Dream Lovers just released its debut album, It’s All in Your Head. TUDL is the brainchild of LA based artist Matt Koenig, an all around DIY badass who’s stayed true to the OG meaning of indie, navigating the industry label free throughout his career. Koenig cites his influences as everything from The Beatles to Tame Impala to Led Zeppelin and views himself and his music as a bridge between eras, a statement that I can confidently say reigns true after listening to the record.
It’s All in Your Head was recorded in Koenig’s home studio in Los Angeles, where the multi-talented Koenig handled writing, production, and mixing himself. The record is largely influenced by Koenig’s desire to create a “bustling, vibrant, and groovy” live show, which is immediately clear even via digital consumption. He is known for his quickly recognizable disco-influenced bass lines, a staple that consistently appears on this project as well as his Koenig’s older work.
The album opener, “A Way Out”, was one of the first tracks that Koenig made for the record, and is meant to serve as an initial taste for listeners to get a feel for the direction that he takes the record production-wise, which delves into new territory for Koenig. The disco rhythms that would end up influencing the rest of the album are introduced here through infectious dance floor rhythms that are a constant presence throughout the record.
One of the standouts on the record, “Plane Ride”, was largely influenced by the fatal car accident that took the lives of rock duo Her’s while Koenig was on tour with them. He took a break after the tragic event, and “Plane Ride” was the first thing he worked on after returning. The verse was written before the accident and was about Koenig feeling caught in life’s distractions. The rest of the track comes from the traumatic experience, with the ‘ride’ being a metaphor for life and the plane crash talked about in the song representative of death. Koenig kept that verse even after the meaning of the song shifted for him, allowing it to represent the ‘before’ of the accident and letting the number be symbolic for how quickly what we view as important can shift when trauma comes into play.
“Soon Enough”, co-written with Dent May, is a hopeful track sprinkled with vibrant-driven guitar riffs and a light and airy chorus. “Chardonnay” drips with groove and (fun fact) was created in a room in LA by three people named Matt. Every track on the project boasts unique differences in production, vibe, and lyrical themes while keeping to a uniform overall feeling that makes the album itself feel like a collective work of art, a refreshing element frequently missing in modern music where albums seem to be carried on the backs of singles which often feel worlds apart from the rest of the record.
While much of the album seems to exist in an intergalactic air-space, album-closer “Everyone’s Confused” feels down to earth in comparison. The groovy guitars that stand out on many of the album’s best tracks blend seamlessly with rolling rock riffs that feel as though they could be pulled straight from the 70s. “Everything is fake, and well, everyone’s confused” Koenig sings in a moment of blunt honesty.
Amid plans for Liverpool based artist Pizzagirl to make his first visit to the states, he has broken his (incredibly brief) 3 month silence to grace our ears with new music straight outta the oven. While this may seem like no time at all for your everyday artists, in Pizzagirl years (which are clearly relative) it’s long enough to require a statement being issued about it. On his silence, he says:
“sorry for not replying to ur last message just been having my beauty sleep for a coupla months 🙂 I know it’s been a while but there’s a lil party in cape canaveral I heard about! I’d love to see you there if you’re still interested? speak soon xx”. While we can’t speak for everyone, we forgive you for your abandonment and we’re DEFINITELY interested, Pizzagirl.
Pizzagirl is bringing us his first release since his debut album, first timer, which drew influence from various musical and pop-culture references that he spent his formative artistic years absorbing. His debut successfully melded his nostalgia-inducing 80s-synth vibes with those of your modern indie artists. While it’s still early in his hopeful career, things are looking good for Pizzagirl, who is back to focusing on writing songs with his trusty guitar, Denise, and will now be joined onstage by a live band.
This newest track is a taught art-rock jam that builds into the soundtrack for an offbeat party scene. No doubt cooked up in his bedroom-pop lair, which he’s oh-so-cleverly dubbed the Beatzzeria, the new track channels David Byrne in its depiction of the subject matter, an underground fugitive character just trying to go to a party on The Space Coast (all the other indie-pop kids are going Mom!). Pizzagirl brings a variety of instrumentation to his elusive party (never before have I been so satisfied by the musical pairing of synth and cowbell) that, combined with the thickly textured chorus of shouting voices featured on the last chorus, will undoubtedly make you too want to jump around at an indie-disco.
“cape canaveral ” premieres February 19th ahead of Pizzagirl’s first stateside performance at Austin’s SXSW festival. Keep up with Pizzagirl here.
