Up-and-coming rap artist Lexa Gates just released an incredible new single “I Just Can’t Be Alone.” The song, produced by Billy Lemos, is a beautiful blend of self-awareness, embarrassing frustration, and somber acceptance common in unhealthy relationships. Gates, the Queens NYC native, has a long and rich history with music; her mother taught her music theory and composition as a child and eventually used music to get her through tough times as a young adult.
The harmony of this song is what makes it special. Gates’ voice is as deep as Amy Winehouse and blends beautifully over the rhythm and blues melody. The background vocals add tremendously to the jazzy, old-fashioned feel of the song.“I Just Can’t Be Alone” is very relaxing to listen to, especially on a slow morning or romantic evening alone. For lack of a better term, it is finger-snapping good!
The meaning of the song is exactly as the title insinuates– Gates cannot be left alone. She relies on a lover but hates the emotional turmoil of being in a relationship. She can’t make up her mind…does she want him (or her) in her life? But can she even live without him? From the verse:
“I’m so sick of sleeping in, putting you above everything. Let myself down everyday, I just can’t stay away…”
You can clearly tell she feels suffocated by him and is tired of always putting him first. Later in the song she compares her relationship with him to that of a chess game: she will always lose to him and willingly too because of the unspoken power he has over her thoughts and emotions.
The accompanying music video is downright charming. Gates is seen swaying to the music, wind blowing through her hair, and glancing at the camera every so often. Her background visuals and rose-tinted filter reinforce the vintage feel of the song, as Gates is seen sitting on a queen-sized motel bed, laying on a cream-colored sectional couch, and crouching down in a large soaking tub throughout the video. One impressive fact is that this music video is Gates’ single-handed masterpiece: it was directed, produced, edited, and styled all by herself.
It’s been a known stereotype that artists will use their work to process and channel their own emotions. This could be their heartbreak into paintings, their loneliness into a story, or–with the newest single by singer-songwriter Becca Stevens–the loss of their loved ones into a song. Stevens, a 2x Grammy-nominee, has been quite busy recently with both a role in the cast of the Sufjan Stevens-inspired musical “Illinoise” for the rest of the summer but also with her newest album, the entirely acoustic Maple to Paper, which releases August 30th.
Stevens has described the new album as very personal, and the lead single “Now Feels Bigger than the Past” shows her at her most vulnerable. This is largely due to three major events that shaped the tone of the album: the death of her mother, the birth of her first daughter, and the death of mentor and frequent collaborator David Crosby. The song is immediately upfront about these events; opening with a verse seemingly about artists not being appreciated and loved until they’re gone. It’s a bitter and almost angry way to open the song, but it’s clear that it’s out of Stevens’ love and respect for Crosby. She had played on his last four albums, and her vocals and sound are a dead ringer for other 70s folk singers like Joni Mitchell or Vashti Bunyan.
Stevens recorded all of Maple to Paper live without overdubs, and this single alone adds to the honesty and personal sentiments of her lyrics and vocals. It’s cliched to describe folk music as “authentic” or “intimate” but Stevens’ soft, wistful voice and the intentionally sparse production successfully capture those feelings, and it complements the song’s mournful tone perfectly.
Stevens continues to sing about loss, examining how it’s easier to appreciate someone’s flaws after they’re gone. “Imperfection is beautiful in retrospect… And great big flaws are charming when there’s no one there to correct.” This leads into the final verses where she sings of the grief brought about by her mother’s passing and the sudden disillusionment of now having to provide the same role with her own child.
It’s a heartbreaking song, yet also a masterful and poetic work by a great artist. The music video, directed by Jep Jorba, uses trick photography to show a modern-day Stevens and an older Stevens (achieved through makeup and hair curlers) singing verses to each other as though it were a dining room conversation. It visualizes the themes of Stevens contemplating her own mortality as she grows into the role her mother had, but now only has herself to talk to. “Now Feels Bigger than the Past” is an entirely haunting yet emotionally gripping lead single into Becca Stevens’ upcoming Maple to Paper.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think Gen Z needs to be more aware of the countless R&B and funk superstars from the 70s and 80s. A lot of these artists just seem to be overshadowed by larger artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, or Stevie Wonder. I love the music of those three too, but there’s so much great music that needs to be rediscovered and praised as classics. One of these artists is Chaka Khan, known as the “Queen of Funk” and has multiple hits with both her band Rufus and her solo career. She still has a large following, but only a handful of her biggest hits have reached younger audiences. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, I can’t recommend her Tiny Desk Concert performed last week at NPR enough as a starting point.
For those that don’t know, Tiny Desk Concerts are performances held in NPR’s headquarters in DC. What separates them from just a normal concert is that all the musicians and equipment must be able to fit behind the desk where NPR’s weekly podcast “All Songs Considered” gets recorded. That means all the musicians get squeezed just inches apart from each other in an office space. If it sounds awkward, that’s the fun of it! With the audience only a small group of NPR employees right next to the space, it makes the concerts more intimate, up-close, and personal. The limited room makes the music fully center stage instead of surrounding it with other stage effects and unnecessary parts of a more corporate concert performance. Really, just think of Tiny Desk Concerts as a late millennial/Gen Z version of MTV Unplugged except less pretentious and not entirely acoustic.
Despite the tight space that Chaka Khan and her band have, what’s even tighter are the nonstop grooves and funk rhythms they play for their 30-minute show. (Was that clever writing? I thought it was.) The entire time I was listening to it, I couldn’t stop dancing, swaying, and moving to the music. Chaka’s backing band that accompanies her is absolutely on fire, with the funk starting immediately and never letting up. My favorites were the percussion, shakers, and sparkly chimes, as well as the bass playing. If I had one tiny criticism, it would be that a synthesizer is used to replicate horns and orchestrations, even if a lot of classic synth-funk did that as well. However, it still sounds serviceable (even great during the closing songs), and I doubt they could fit anyone else with the limited space they had.
The concert set list is a collection of seven singles from both her solo career and time with Rufus, spanning from 1974 to 1985, with the most famous singles being at the very end. Okay, let’s talk about Chaka Khan herself during this show. You would never believe that she’s 71 years old because she looks and sounds fantastic. Her energy is loose and fun, her singing hits the high notes with ease, and she sounds almost identical to the original studio recordings. Just as good as her are her backing vocalists, who get moments of their own to shine (see Tiffany Smith getting a solo to show off her pipes on “Sweet Thing”). The onstage chemistry between Chaka, the backing vocalists, and the band is always apparent during the show.
Like many Tiny Desk Concerts, part of the fun is also the interactions between the band and the crowd. A show highlight was Chaka letting the NPR audience sing several verses on their own during “Sweet Thing”, and it’s adorable hearing the enthusiasm and love for the music from the crowd. By the time the show closes with “I’m Every Woman”, it’s impossible for anyone on stage (or yourself, for that matter) to keep a smile off their face. Chaka Khan’s Tiny Desk Concert is nothing but delightful, and a victory lap for a monumental artist.
Considering the band members that comprise psych-tinged alt-rock quartet Liily – Dylan Nash (Frontman), Sam De La Torre (Guitarist), Charlie Anastasis (Bassist), and Maxx Morando (Drummer) – are all artistic in a variety of ways, it comes as no surprise that the video for single “Swallow” off their fresh drop Liily was so fully ideated and realized by the band, who directed it. The song – which is very specifically about their disdain for trauma porn – is, according to the band, “a pretty simple rock tune, we wanted to keep it straight forward along with the rest of the EP, no bells and whistles! We saw it as our chance to be musical vs over-intellectualizing something that is meat and potatoes.”
About the composition, they are correct. A little bit of a dirty edge to it, with a steady rhythm most can get into, the song is more catchy than one would assume when they think of the subject matter. With both vocals and a video that are sprinkled with the stereotypical bored demeanor of a true rock outfit, the build of energy in the song is almost unexpected, but equally welcoming.
“Swallow” was shot by members of Liily in 2022 with a little help from Keegan James Hurley, Justin Billings, and Andie Jane. Guitarist Sam De La Torre edited it, giving it an admittedly engaging finish.
The new single by Swedish indie rock band Girl Scout, “I Just Needed You To Know”, shows the range of the band in terms of their musicianship. It’s entirely in the realms of punk music, with driving drums and bass, distorted guitars, and an intentionally raw and unpolished production. The song never lets up for its entire duration, especially as it approaches noise rock-levels of volume at its climax. The song can appear loose and sloppy, yet it’s still obviously controlled and well thought out as more than just a fun studio jam session.
From what it seems, Girl Scout is still finding a distinct identity based on their previous singles more in line with contemporary bedroom indie pop. However, garage-inspired songs like this and “Do You Remember Sally Moore?” show they refuse to be pigeonholed. They’re successful in part because of the talents of members Per Lindberg, Viktor Spasov, and Evelina Arvidsson Eklind; but also because of the vocal range that front-woman Emma Jansson provides. Throughout many of Girl Scout’s songs, her voice can change from soft and vulnerable, angsty and grungy, or powerful and belting out. The latter is seen especially in “I Just Needed You To Know” as her voice almost becomes a powerful instrument in itself, soaring upwards and refusing to be buried under sludgy guitars.
The song is an easy recommendation for indie rock fans or anyone who’s a fan of fast-paced 90’s alternative rock. Despite only gaining attention last year through the release of two EPs (Real Life Human Garbage and Granny Music, respectively), the band’s popularity is rapidly growing as they embark on a summer tour opening for Alvvays. Considering the mountains of energy contained in the track, I’m sure it’ll become a Girl Scout live favorite for years to come.
French Cassettes, an indie band based in San Francisco, has released their new single “When You Know, You Know” and it’s every bit as dreamy as a song can get! The song is featured on their new album, Benzene, set to come out on June 7th.
When asked about how the song came about, songwriter Lorenzo Scott Huerta muses, “I was listening to a lot of Bread and Barry White at the time, and this one just came out of that very quickly. I’d never paid more attention to what kind of pick I was using on my guitar; I just wanted it to have that feathery strum sound.”
The band consists of Huerta, guitarist Mackenzie Bunch and drummer Rob Mills, with the song itself mixed by Nick Krill. A fun fact is that “When You Know, You Know” was created at Bunch’s record studio in Oakland, CA.
The music is similar to that of a lullaby, with a slow melody and clear guitar acoustics strumming the song forward. The lyrics are like a diary-entry, describing a dream one had the night before. In the chorus:
Baby don’t wake me every time, no You don’t have to wake me every time, no Maybe I seem lucid in your eyes I don’t wanna see that go
It’s apparent that they are reminiscing about a time with a loved one; they see it as a dream-like experience and express how they don’t want to wake up from it.
The song is accompanied with an official music video; the visuals add to the haziness of the song, and makes one lose themselves in a nostalgic memory.
French Cassettes are currently touring around the US, with the exception of Vancouver in late July of this year. In addition to YouTube, you can also stream “If You Know, You Know” on all streaming platforms.
