July. It’s the middle of summer. Things have been terribly hot. (Thanks, global warming!) You need a music video or two (or way more) to cool down with. While we can’t promise that every video will keep you calm, cool, and collected, we can promise that they will keep you entertained and help you take your mind off the weird. Here are our favorite new releases of July 2021.
For years now, we have been bringing you the best and most invigorating new music each month in a playlist of sorts. Our soundtrack features are perfect to pull from when your friends ask you for new music suggestions, or when you want to surprise and delight guests at functions you may be hosting or planning. Though the pandemic put a lot of gathering on pause – and continues to, as new shutdowns are announced with a round of variants – we found such strength in submissions this month. These songs are perfect to make you feel more connected to the world, no matter the circumstance.
We’ve got a range of tracks this month from artists like Charlie Parr, Young Mister, Zero Trust, Santana, CHVRCHES, and more. So dive in – like you’re cannonballing with wreckless abandon into warm waters. We’ve got you.
2021 has proved to be a productive year so far for Flight Club. Following the March release of their single “Come Back”, they are ready to launch their debut album Until the Sun Drowns on July 30th, from Open Your Ears Records. The perfect introduction to this album is the single “I’ve Been Kicked Out of Better Homes Than This”.
The quartet from Richmond, VA has created a song that is tailor-made for summer – pure rock and roll energy from beginning to end. “I’ve Been Kicked Out of Better Homes Than This” gives a slight nod to the spirit of bands from 1999, like Lit and Blink-182. Intensely played instruments and forceful vocals combine to make a tune that will definitely find a place on your summer playlist. The accompanying video for “I’ve Been Kicked Out of Better Home Than This” has the same sense of humor. It happens to be built around ice cream as well, so anything that stars ice cream is practically perfect.
If you would like to catch Flight Club live, they are scheduled to play the Blue Ridge Rockfest, September 9th – 12th in Danville, VA.
Punk rock outfit Yours Truly comes at us with the energy and attitude our summer was missing with their latest track “Walk Over My Grave.” The video for the track is just as chaotic and beautiful as the song, a live performance of sorts. While the band plays, bright colors overlay and frantic frames interweave. Shots of individual band members, with art placed sporadically set the tone for a track that wreaks of heartbreak and loss.
With an edge.
“The Crazing of Polymers” is the newest single from twin sisters Claire and Sarah Bowman. The two recently reunited after quarantining in two different countries for the past year. The Bowmans continued to write and record from their respective homes, building an album that is due to come out this fall. In the meantime, we are fortunate to get “The Crazing of Polymers”.
The lyrics in “The Crazing of Polymers” seem to suggest the existence of an ordinary life in which we can all relate, a life that ebbs and flows through the good and bad. The two choruses, while sounding alike, follow a timeline of a life spent together:
Chorus 1:
I don’t know if it matters, how we got here anyway,
I don’t think it makes a difference, if the kids played well today.Chorus 2:
I don’t know if it matters, how we fought again today
I don’t think it makes a difference, how many cracks are patched up through our little earthquakes.
Claire Bowman opened up about the song title:
Crazing is a process where you take something porous and delicate and make it strong and solid (and attractive), like the way we harden from the layers of pain life dishes out daily. One of my favorite lyrics is, “there’s only so many little breaks a heart can take.” This would seem to imply that these fissures would lead to heartbreak, but instead, her response to them is to accept these as part of life, staying rooted in the good that comes along with the difficult.
The Bowman’s vocals, however, are what really tell the story. Their voices harmonize, seemingly effortlessly, and run the gamut from simple to soaring in phrasing. “The Crazing of Polymers” defies genre – The Bowman’s have created a song that is both lively in its’ tempo and aching in some of the vocals.
The sisters had toured extensively throughout the United States and internationally from 2005 – 2011. By 2013, they had released four full-length albums.
“The Crazing of Polymers” is out July 9th.
Oughts influenced pop-punk outfit Young Culture has certainly stayed busy during the pandemic. Made up of childhood friends Alex Magnan (vocals), Gabe Pietrafesa (guitar), and Troy Burchett (guitar), the group spent one day a week during the lockdown portion of the pandemic writing and creating together. Their collective efforts will be shown off with the release of their record Godspeed later this month. But today, we have a taste of it with the title track.
A glittering summertime track, we will be playing this track at all of our backyard shindigs for the rest of the season.
Godspeed is out July 30th.
Looking for a song that will kick you in the balls? (Think Fefe Dobson teaming up with Machine Gun Kelly.) “Bad Day” by Charlotte Sands is equal parts electro-pop and nightclub, entirely danceable and entirely too fun not to be into. A little bite, a bass drop, and an upbeat, anthemic feel help to pack a punch with some slightly depressing lyrics. But, I mean, who hasn’t had a bad day lately? What’s more? The chorus itself feels like it comes directly out of the darker, adult version of Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
I had a no good, really bad, messed up day
And I’m stressed out, super sad, not okay
I’m never getting better, no, it’s not a phase
And I like it that way (Like it that way)
Admits the artist of the track:
So often in life, we’re told to be positive and get over things quickly, but I’ve always felt that we need to fully feel every emotion in order to move on. ‘Bad Day’ is about recognizing your lows so that you’re able to grow. When everything feels like it’s going wrong and the world is falling down around you, leaning into that feeling of being at rock bottom is sometimes the only thing that can make you better.
I mean, who isn’t into that?
Isaac and Thorald Koren – or The Brothers Koren – recently released their debut collection of tracks, an exquisite full-length titled I Went To The Sea To Be Free. Dedicated to the memory of their grandmother – who flew her plane over the Southern Ocean on Mother’s Day of 1974 and was never seen again – the album itself is laced with a sense of longing in the emotional lyrics. It’s hard to believe that the brothers approached music separate from each other, and later discovered their co-creating abilities. Their harmonizing abilities are almost haunting in a way, as displayed in tracks like “Say Everything”, “Gold”, and “Like Water”. (And virtually every other gorgeous track in this collection.)
Beginning at a leisurely clip with “Easy,” the album is introduced to us in a lighthearted, open-minded way. The song itself encourages its listener to take things as they come, while the brothers sing of how easy life can be with the right person. They transition with ease into the remaining thirteen tracks, presenting a true storytelling ambiance to the piece. Their cover of Prince’s 1984 hit “I Would Die 4 U” would otherwise fall short however the single has been stripped down into a different realm than its existing danceable pop energy, highlighting the love letter nature of it all. Crowd favorites include “Like Water”, “Beyond the Wild”, and “More Than You Know”.
Keep up with The Brothers Koren here.
As we celebrate PRIDE throughout June, we revel in the vulnerability that sparks new relationships, new collaborations, and new art. With light-as-a-feather vocals, artist and mental health advocate X. Ari details the experience of discovering her sexuality in her new track “Stranger to Saviour.” Explains the artist of the single:
‘Stranger to Saviour’ is about how I fell in love with a woman after a lifetime of dating men. The lyrics tell a playful, exploratory, honest, and emotional story about my experience with this big life change and how my new romance, with my first ever girlfriend, Anja, has changed me forever. Love is a powerful healer. I am so grateful for my awakening and for my willingness to be fluid so I was able to attract true love. It’s dedicated to Anja whom I love & adore – we ‘started as strangers, now you’re my saviour.’
In true anthem fashion, the instrumentals explode into a gorgeous cacophony of bass-heavy sound multiple times during the introspective song. Equal parts hopeless romantic and openly self-aware, “Stranger to Saviour” will no doubt become an anthem for many. So listen now, open your heart, and feel into your own story by checking out the track below!
Keep up with X. Ari here.