Nicole Kiki Jaffe was one of the celebrated artists who donned our “stage” during the Cancelled Plans Music Fest on April 17th, 2020. Celebrate her set below, and feel free to donate to her virtual tip jar if you love what you see and hear as much as we did!
(Yes, we did screen cap the main photo. This one – though blurry – is so delightful, we couldn’t resist!)
The first track from Fried Monk‘s upcoming Hurry Up and Wait release, “Welcome”, has a trippy music video to accompany the cacophony of syllables . Shot through the streets of Philadelphia in cold weather, the video brings attention to a few key points that we might not otherwise be focusing on right now.
Having been in self-induced quarantine for weeks at this point, this video really makes me feel a little strange from the get-go. It’s simply the artist walking the streets of a well-known American city. It shouldn’t bring more than a passing thought to my mind in its simplest form. However, I feel nostalgic, yet scared of the idea of being outside where people could be. Conflicting thoughts, however an exploration of a world outside of yourself. And that’s important right now. Add in some layering effects, and you’ve got a video we can all ponder on.
Listeners were first introduced to pop artist Katrina Cain on NBC’s The Voice, now she is dropping another single, “How Did We Get Here?”, inspiring others to stay true to themselves.
“How Did We Get Here?” narrates the authentic journey of Cain as an artist and a person, showing the complexity of what it means to be in women in music.
Cain combines her raw folk-like voice with dreamy sounds creating what she describes as “melancholy-pop”. Her music style tends to fall and swing between landscapes of soul breaking ballads and pop anthems. “How Did We Get Here” is a power pop anthem that encourages and promotes the idea of staying authentic to yourself despite the pressures of the outside world.
Cain’s storytelling through music is raw, honest, and empowering, encompassing the human experience in both a heartbreaking and true sense.
Swedish musician Carissa Shockley has recently released her newest single, “Drink to Forget”. The track features her brother Meyta as well as rapper Brenden.
Shockley’s haunting voice gracefully guides listeners through a tranquil soundscape packed with compelling melody lines and soulful harmonies. Of the new song, she says “‘Drink to Forget’ was my way of coping with the mistakes I made or when I faced disappointment in the years leading up to finding my life’s purpose with restored mental and physical health. My hope is to connect with others that relate to the authenticity in this song”. A well-placed acoustic guitar under Shockley in a calm moment following the rap verse leads listeners into the final section of the song, which features a swirling sound design navigated by the talented singer.
“Drink to Forget” is now available everywhere for your streaming enjoyment.
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.
As things get weird outside, we like to create our ambiance every day. Most of that involves music videos, and we get to see our fair share. So, per usual, we have sifted through all the new stuff and given you a (random) soundtrack of all the best ones! So get lost for a while… seriously. These videos will inspire.
Keep coming back all month long for new additions to the soundtrack. Because, really, what else are you doing?
With the release of their second full-length Cry All The Time, Impulsive Hearts delve into darker themes of love and loss, while keeping true to their bright and fierce style of songwriting.
The album opens with “MELODY” is a look at a relationship that fell apart where one knew it was coming and the other didn’t. This uses the idea of creating a melody of music to capture one’s love for the other, “I could build a melody, it’s in a song u would write it down all summer long, oh I would build the world you love, who you waiting on?” and the realization that person wants out of the relationship with: “you took it back what you said / … / you said forget the rest, the rest of what we said.”
The album ends with the track “some heartbreakers” a slower and slightly upbeat tempo track that encompasses the theme of Cry All The Time, love, heartbreak, and loss.
Impulsive Hearts creates music that has a touch of sadness to the world of neo-girl garage rock bands. With Danielle Sines providing captivating vocals and fuzzy guitar, Doug Hoyer (bass) and Dan Julian (drums) hold down the rhythm section bringing each track to its peak moment, and Fallon McDermott (saxophone) and Jess LeMaster (violinist) add a depth to these tracks. All parts come together to create the larger than life sound of Impulsive Hearts.
Cry All The Time comes full circle from its start to finish, with “MELODY” presenting an example of heartbreak and loss while “some heartbreakers” shows that we all have stories of heartbreak, each song on this record is a story of heartbreak.
Non-binary Texas-bred rapper Ben McGibboney (who operates under the moniker of Love-Sadkid) has just released their first full-length project, entitled Growth. The young rapper just turned 18 but has already committed to pursuing their music dreams full time. A former star running back, McGibboney had garnered interest from top schools in the SEC before discovering their love for rap. At that point they made the decision to quit football to commit to chasing their new dream.
Love-Sadkid has been steadily releasing new music and EPs, building a strong online fanbase and racking up over half a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Despite their young age, Love-Sadkid has quite a bit under their belt already; they’ve released two EP collabs with Dahm and have a tour as an opener for Hobo Johnson under their belt. Growth displays the young artist’s knack for combining old school rap aesthetics with the modern problems and world outlook of a reluctant member of Gen Z.
Album opener Ta/Pe kicks things off and sees Love-Sadkid rapping with an admirable level of sincerity over a soft piano track before moving into the lo-fi like production style that the young artist seems to have an ear for.
Habits leans and rocks into R&B territory with a vibey hook, complete with a thickly-textured chorus of voices. Love-Sadkid’s knack for production continues to shine through, a myriad of colorful sounds adorning this (and every other) track.
The title track picks up the pace alongside cool toned beats and tinny effects. Sadkid raises intensity here, letting his speed and lyricism show through. Here they prove their versatility through their clear ability to make more traditional rap along their (very well done) vibey and sunshiny tracks.
The young rapper shows off a lot of range and colors on his first full-length which will surely continue to expand. Full of potential and talent, Love-Sadkid seems to have a bright future ahead of him.
Growth is now available everywhere for your streaming enjoyment.
Trivial Shields is the moniker of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Christian Carpenter for sonic exploration. Now, he drops a collaborative EP titled Levity, featuring vocalists from Bells Atlas, Body Language, and Lip Talk. Levity follows the release of Carpenter’s debut EP Peripheral (2018) and precedes the release of his debut album due out this fall.
Levity centers around the clarity that can be found in the midst of a bad breakup, and does so in three different vignettes. “For the Best”, which features Angelica Bass of Body Language, is a joyful break-up song that recognizes and celebrates the end of a relationship. “Rejection Therapy”, which features Sandu Ndu (vocals) and Geneva Harrison (percussion) of Bells Atlas, is a track that looks at the process of getting over a relationship and working through what it means to let someone go.
The EP features 3 tracks both with features from stellar musicians along with the instrumental versions of the same tracks. This choice allows listeners to hear Carpenter’s words and his instrumental together and separate. The words paint the picture but the instrumentation garners the feeling.