Everyone enjoy the holiday? Here's the new Weekly Roundup, which includes a few more things I missed while traveling.
This past week, the newest Brooklyn Headsets interview came out. It was with Los Encantados. Be sure to check out their awesome performances. The shows I went to see were Chase King at Glasslands and We Are the Wilderness at Cameo Gallery. Both were good. My preview is still worth checking out for the newest tune by Grand Resort. I wrote a new music video throwback on TLC's "No Scrubs" inspired by a pretty amazing moment and I also was really digging the new track "Bored on a Lam" by Pressed And.
The latest from the cool local label Monkfish Records is another quality work, New Haircut by Will Schwartz. Will is a talented singer-songwriter and his music is primarily acoustic with some touches of Americana/country. I am diggin' it.
Last year Sarth put out a multimedia project that mixed a graphic novel, an app, and music. His latest is a brief EP called Transmissions from the Book of Sarth. I like the song "Table (If I Can)" quite a bit. It's an experimental track of minimal yet hypnotic electronic parts that nonetheless has an alluring melody.
I love music videos, and this latest release from Shake the Baron for "Ghost Hits," might be one of the best of the year. It's beautifully shot, features some serious stunt work and make up, and is a very clever, emotional story. A couple's fight gets mirrored as a full on boxing match. I had no idea what would happen as it progressed, it completely had me hooked.
It's been awhile since we last heard from Ugly, Ugly Words, but they are back with a pretty amazing new track "4 Colored Girls" from the recently released Queers EP. The vocal performance is raucous, filled with good lines, and fits over the sweet funky, bluesy groove of the music really well.
It's also been awhile since I shared the song "Schemers" by SKATERS. They remind me of what I liked about a band such as the Libertines, namely a punk influence mixed with an ability to write classically great songs. They played a session with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1. Check out "I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)," below. (watch "Schemers" here and another song "Nice Hat" here).
Kendra Morris is releasing an album of covers called Mockingbird at the end of the month. We dug her cover of "Karma Police," and now she's unveiled her sultry, soulful rendition of the Rolling Stones disco-inflected classic, "Miss You." It honors the original, but puts a distinct Kendra stamp on, too.
I am also really into this new video for "Swimming in '99" by Golden Suits, the catchy second single from the forthcoming self-titled album due 8/30. I love how the clip utilizes a wide variety of locations around NYC and how the watches change times at each place. Another really cool thing is this Google Map of all the locations.
Jumping back to the short film approach for music videos, we have this neat vignette made by Aritzia Magazine for "All The Days" by Haerts. It takes place at a salsa club, a visual motif that accentuates the song's rhythm, sexiness, and grace.
I am really excited there is new music from Phil Cook, a super talented musician from Durham, North Carolina. His album This Side Up comes out 8/13. Lead single "The Jensens" is full of expressive, textured guitar playing that beautifully creates worlds in the mind and conveys high levels of emotion. Can't wait to hear more.
I'm going to do a Trekky Records double shot. Besides the new Phil Cook, a 12" from duo Sylvan Esso is coming out next Tuesday. On "Hey Mami," Amelia Meath's voice is magnetic. She flutters all over the interesting track made by Nick Sanborn, at first just a simple beat, but later it blossoms with detail and energy.
Another weekly roundup, another new video from e-dubble. I couldn't resist sharing this clip for "Green Lights" because it's one of my favorite tracks from his Freestyle Friday series. The video shows him in his element rapping in the studio, as well as a lot of cool scenes around Baltimore.