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[PLAY THE PLAYLIST] Nothin But Fuckin Love Songs Vol. 2
People get so fuckin weird about Valentineβs Day.
It is such a wild thing to observe.
Personallyβ¦.I love Valentineβs Day. Iβve always liked that thereβs a day where we go out of our way to share our love with each other and allegedly itβs not weird to be as extra as you wanna be.
I say allegedly because likeβ¦ well what the fuck is this Galentines/Palentines day bullshit? Are we serious? Youβre really that worried someone is gonna misinterpret your intentions? Or is this a solidarity thing for people who arenβt yet legally bound to someone? What is that?
Either way, youβre fuckin with the vibe when you throw around this unnecessary bullshit. Grow the fuck up. Itβs Valentineβs Day and there is more than enough love to go around today, okay?
Also, Iβve been partner-less for most of them, too, so donβt start coming at me with some bullshit like, βWell over here itβs been Singleβs Awareness Day basically forever, Kibbeβ.
And trust me fam, I get it. Itβs so easy to forget that we were taught out of loving each other freely and fearlessly. Remember when your age was still in single digits? That night before your school observed Valentines Day you got that box of corny ass mass produced β¨meaningful messagesβ¨ and you went one by one through all of them assigning little love notes to everyone in class. Friends got the fun ones, crushes got the ones that seemed a bit more direct, and anyone else got whatever was left. Next day in class everyone distributed their Valentines and there would be this fun chatter about the messages or which cartoon franchise you went with for your Valentines. We never thought fuckin twice about giving everyone a Valentine back then. At least thatβs how I remember that shit, along with handing out Care Bear ones at some point.
ANYWAY
We know Iβm a song hoarder and that I like being able to identify a song for every occasion if possible, especially because a lot of times songs articulate a feeling or thought Iβve been sitting with better than I had been able to land on. With love songs though, itβs so interesting. Like I said, not a ton of relationships over my way, yet when prompted I can always send at least 20 in your direction at all times. I wouldnβt necessarily say love songs feel as carelessly mass produced as my Care Bear Valentines from 1st grade, but there are definitely more love songs than there are people at this point.
Either way I can tell that Iβve grown a lot as person since the last time that I compiled love songs for Valentineβs Day because as I was putting together this round of songs that I thought about how silly it is that I am able do this so easily. I started asking myself questions like: Am I really just cataloging vibes so I can provide more thoughtful recommendations than The Algorithmβ’ ever could? Am I trying to study love so I β¨do it rightβ¨ if it ever shows up? Even scarier, am I studying these to see if Iβve been doing something wrong? Do I want someone to send these songs to me? Do I think all of these songs encompass just one person?
I think that last question is really fascinating given how weird people are about Valentineβs Day. We often think that one single person is going to arrive in our lives and that will mean that everything is better or easier because we have found someone we enjoy being with so much that weβd draw up some paperwork so we can collectively own assets or make important medical decisions for each other. But in the real world thatβs not how it works. Most people donβt get married and evaporate from their former lives, never speaking to their friends or family ever again. If anything the result is two communities, not just two people, become one. And when shit hits the fan, I mean yeah you have someone RIGHT THERE at your side immediately to look out for you, but the way that person shows up for you is the result of the way their community shaped them, for better or for worse (see what I did there?).
To be clear, finding β¨your personβ¨ is WONDERFUL. Iβm not tryna discount that at all. But itβs not some cure all that a lot of people seem to think it is. I donβt think youβre βfixedβ or something because you find your person, mostly because I donβt think anyone is βbrokenβ to begin with. If anything this person is just someone you agree to get really fucking vulnerable with, which ideally youβre already practicing varying levels of vulnerability with select members of your community prior to identifying this person. A person who is so special that you throw a very fancy party to celebrate. Even that, weddings would be fuckin trash without your friends and family there, so why do we choose to spend this particular day treating love like itβs something incredibly exclusive? I will spare you a wall of text about the capitalism bit here and just say ITβS SO LAME THAT THIS EXISTS AND I HATE IT VERY MUCH.
This all to sayβ¦. Happy Valentineβs Day.
Not Singleβs Awareness Day. Not Palentineβs Day. Not Galentineβs Day.
Fuckin Valentineβs Day.
I love you. π
#diSKOAverweekly: Week of September 25, 2019
Beck - βE-Pro (CapeLion V2 Remix)
Iβm not sure why this remix was being hoarded for so long only to be leveraged in this Destiny 2 trailer, but goddamn if this isnβt the 2 minute burst of energy I needed in my LIFE!!! Also, checked out some of Cape Lionβs stuff. SUPER DOPE.
Ssion - βHeaven Is My Thing Againβ
Ugh itβs so hard to keep tabs on all of the NY bbs but imma try harder to make sure that
O Mer - βRepack The Junkβ
Brooklyn (by way of Tel Aviv) bb is getting ready to drop an EP titled the same as this track. Should be dropping fairly soon, given Iβm just catching up on the handful of tracks heβs dropped this year.
Wrabel - βmagicβ
My beloved lil bae-bel dropped an EP one of those happy people and I canβt get over how wild of a ride itβs been with this sweetheart since his Sideways days.
All Tvvins - βDivineβ
Fresh off tour these dudes hit the studio and started crankin out some hits and this is the first of many to come (per the band)
Wet - βOld Bone (Jim-E Stack Remix)β
Okay so like this is one of those instances where I am just like really taken by how transformative this remix is. Jim-E Stack brought a completely different energy with his take on Wetβs latest single, βOld Boneβ. You ABSOLUTELY MUST LISTEN TO BOTH. IβM NOT FUCKING AROUND HERE ABOUT THIS.
Jamo - βConnection (feat. YOUNGSOUL)β
I know you are surprised that I stumbled into a new Australian artist that I am relatively smitten by. Itβs cool, youβll get used to it eventually. Actually I suppose this oneβs a 2 for 1 special because although Jamo lures you in with the vibe, singer YOUNGSOUL gets all up in your ear and coats your eardrums with his silky smooth voice and THATβS WHEN THE REAL SWOONING STARTS.
Dansu - βState of Mindβ
I keep waiting for Dansu to take off big time. Theyβre so fucking perfectly electro-poptastic.
Squid - βThe Cleanerβ
Feeling v hashtag blessed to have finally checked out Squid this week. Their new EP Town Centre is quite delightful, but βThe Cleanerβ is by far my fave. Itβs super fun, dare I say sassy post-punk. Will probably be grabbing this on vinyl when itβs available on November 15th.
PLANET - βNever Newβ
Sydney four-piece PLANET make shimmery indie-pop and I would very much like to get on a plane to Australia and just swoon and twirl at all of their showsβ¦maybe forever?
Georgia - βNever Let You Goβ
London electro-pop powerhouse Georgia shared the first taste of her forthcoming album Seeking Thrills, which is slated to drop in January 2020. I hope I donβt have to wait that long to hear more of this because this is β¨very much my shitβ¨.
Keelan Mak - βSleep Talkerβ
I think Brisbaneβs self proclaimed β22 year old bedroom producer dudeβ Keelan Mak is tryna seduce us into said bedroom with his latest single. Itβ¦.might be working. His voice is very swoon-worthy.
Justin Jay - βi know ur out thereβ
LA house hunny Justin Jay dropped his latest record everything will come together, pt. 1 a few months back. This is the opening track of what ended up being quite a fun run for my earholes, so def donβt sleep on checking out the rest of the record when you find yourself loving this!
Sofi Tukker - βSwing (Crush Club Remix)β
So v v v v v v v v proud to be the president of the Crush Club πβ‘οΈCrush Club. This remix is π₯π₯π₯π₯.
Man Without Country - βForever Endeavourβ
The homey recently launched a Patreon and this was the first single since that all started up. Lucky fans got to hear it before it hit DSPs elsewhere. Very happy heβs sticking it out. I luhhh him.
b.i.g.s.h.r.i.m.p. - βWyoming (feat. Bunny)β
Another tasty treat from Post Animal guitarist Jake Hirshlandβs side project. I wonder how many of these heβs sitting on? I should probs DM him.
Okay fine Iβll post the embed for the archive here too so itβs all in once nice and neat place for you in case you missed last weekβs tracks.
[SONG OF THE DAY] Wrabel - "love to love u"
photo credit: Yazz Alali
Holy wow wow wow wow wow yβall bae-bel made a BOP!
The evolution of Wrabel since stumbling into his Sideways EP in 2014 has been one of my absolute favorite things to witness to date. These days though it feels like the more heβs taken ownership of who he is as both a human person and an artist that heβs able to fully realize and harness his musical superpowers. As he told the folks at Idolator in a recent interview, βIβm just taking really deep breaths, and doing whatever I want.β As it turns out, since last we checked in on the lil cutie crooner he parted ways with Epic, started his own label, Big Gay Records (!!! yes bb!! π), and just released his first track on his own, a bop that absolutely wonβt stop, βlove to love uβ.
Favorite quote from the interview where he talks about the song:
β[β¦]I think I started opening my mind to the thought that, βOk, maybe you donβt have to sit at the piano and write a sad song.ββ
Bruh πππ
Growth looks so good on my dude. Iβm so happy heβs happy.
[SONG OF THE DAY] Wrabel - "First Winter"
photo courtesy of Yazz Alali via Billboard
Oh my beloved bae-bel it is so good to see you finally releasing some of your own material this year. Thatβs not to say the beloved Wrabel hasnβt been cranking out any hits, Kesha stans know that the homey co-wrote her inspirational anthem for equality, βHere Comes The Changeβ. In addition to co-writes, the sweetest soul in the music industry also launched a collection of sketches for purchase through UK collective Landmark Street Art (spoiler alert: I want all of them).
At any rate, his new song, βFirst Winterβ is a subtle but super sweet winter-themed love song that dropped last week. Yesterday, Billboard unveiled the accompanying video featuring a winter holiday-themed scavenger hunt so his partner can find him. Apparently this song is very personal for Wrabel because it will be the first time 11 years of living in LA that heβs going to spend the holidays with someone that heβs in love with and now my heart is so very very very full. ππ
[Watch] Wrabel - "11 Blocks" (Lyric Video)
stolen from Wrabel's Instagram, taken by the also incredibly talented Mr. Hudson
I was honestly getting worried for a moment there that we'd never hear from Wrabel again after his debut EP. Turns out fam just needed a moment to find himself.
As you recall from my live encounter with him almost 2 years ago, the kid's pipes and overall presence stuck with me more so than the EP I stumbled across on Rdio (RIP) on a random New Music Tuesday. That said, it's important to remember that just because you have excellent songwriting skills and a powerful voice doesn't mean you're a qualified producer, arranger, etc. Kid had to find the sound that was the most himself.
"I Want You" clearly taught him that he doesn't want his fans to sit still, but our friend with his small tuff of curly goldie locks knew that it wasn't *just right* yet.
Enter: "11 Blocks", which just dropped today. Not an EDM anthem, but not solely a piano pounder either. It's just right because it's finally him, all the way down to the hand written lyric video complete with his signature doodles one could find on his Instagram (or his body for that matter) at any given moment.
No more auto tune or chest rattling bass, just an authentic representation of his talents carefully crafted together with the help of some people who took the time to invest in his talents the way that we should be doing with every single artist we choose to get behind.
Every artist should be able to say, "it's me. it feels like me." with every single thing they put out. I'm very excited that you all are able to finally see what I was able to see for myself on September 10th, 2014 at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2.
πYAY WRABEL!π
Now that you've fallen in love DON'T FORGET TO, YOU KNOW...
GO BUY IT.
(Also, you should follow him on Snapchat because his #content is π₯π₯π₯π₯ I am just saying.)
#skoaradio 10/24/2015 liner notes
artist rendition of my convo with Alex from Kingswood after I shut the mic off post-interview.lol
Hey fam!
Things refuse to slow down in SKOA HQ, but I'm not complaining! I wrapped up CMJ with a day in Aussie Heaven where we interviewed KINGSWOOD prior to watching them totally kill it. I can't believe how much fun I had. Kinda wish it had never ended tbh. Oh well. Time to prep for Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, which is coming up super fast. I've got a couple of new tracks on this week's show. As always would love to hear your thoughts so @ me bb if you liked what you heard!
See you next week!
<3
- Battle Tapes - "Valkyrie"
- Debut album Polygon drops on November 20th!
- BOOTS - "Bombs Away"
- New track "C.U.R.E." out now
- Debut full length Aquaria drops November 23th!
- BOOTS is playing Rough Trade for his release show! You've officially missed your chance to get tix :(
- Good Morning - "You"
- Official writeup of my interview with them from last week's CMJ show coming soon!
- Car Seat Headrest - "Times To Die"
- New album Teens of Style drops October 30th!
- Shows coming up in the UK & US.
- Weaves - "Motorcycle"
- Did you know that THE NEW YORK TIMES reviewed one of their CMJ shows!?! AMAZING!!
- Monarchy - "Black Widow"
- Sam Sparro - "Hands Up"
- Sam's new EP Quantum Physical Vol 2 is out now! GO GET IT!
- Kenna - "Sleep When We Die"
- Dude just finished up 35 days of traveling to shoot his "Sleep When We Die" video. The NYC Core got some hugs with him while he was here.
- Go help fund Songs For Flight!
- JR JR - "Gone"
- JR JR available now.
- Slum Sociable - "All Night"
- Go grab TQ now
- You can also see pitchas of these guys from my CMJ coverage. I may or may not have seen them three times :)
- Little May - "Boardwalks"
- Caught these little darlings this week at Mercury Lounge. Show review coming soon!
- Go grab their album For The Company asap okay
- Don Diablo & Matt Nash - "Starlight (Could You Be Mine)"
- Don Diablo moved up like a gazillion slots to NUMBER 30 IN DJ MAG'S TOP 100 DJS LIST OMG YAYYYY!!
- Interpol - "All Fired Up"
- If you don't have their latest record, El Pintor well then shame on you (this track is from Our Love To Admire tho)
- The Dead Weather - "I Feel Love(Every Million Miles)"
- Dodge and Burn is good fam, you needs it.
- KINGSWOOD Interview!
- KINGSWOOD - "Ohio"
- Hope you enjoyed this interview. Don't worry, imma pull out the good bits to write up all official :)
- Mr. Hudson - "Dancing Thru It"
- I'M. SO. HAPPY. HE'S. BACK!!!!!!!!!
- Can't be too mad considering he was off working on the new Duran Duran album, which is great tbh.
- Also the Souncloud page for this says MORE MUSIC COMING. YES YES YES YES YES.
- Magic Sword - "Battlefield"
- Have you read the comic for this btw? Pretty cool stuff.
- Official write up for this interview is coming soon too. :)
- Sami Switch - "Self Destruct"
- This guy's story is so cool. You have to watch this mini docu about his trajectory in the past few years. He's gone from homeless to selling out shows in London. Good for him.
- Wrabel - "I Want You"
- Still tryna figure out why "bae-bel" still hasn't upped this to iTunes/Spotify/Whatever yet. It's on YouTube and Soundcloud at least? And you can haz for $FREE.99
- Anyway you can grab his first EP Sideways to show love. I think that's fair right?
THINGS I TALKED ABOUT ON THE SHOW THIS WEEK INCLUDE:
[Night Out] Wrabel @ Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2) 9/10/2014
Personal update: I'm trying to get back into the groove of going to at least two shows a week. I'm also I really exhausted from all the emails we get about bands I've never heard of and will most likely will never hear of because they're just "okay". To combat this, I've mostly been ignoring the majority of the emails that I get and just digging around the internet to find things on my own. Back in the day, I used to wander around record stores looking at album artwork and taking chances on art that I felt the most connected to and either give them a listen if they were at the listening bar or just straight up buy the album and take a chance. I found a lot of great music this way (VHS or Beta, Josh Rouse, Junior Jack, etc.).
I started doing this again fairly recently on Rdio and Spotify for every New Music Tuesday. I just scroll around and look for things that are interesting and give them a try. It's less sexy than the thrill of buying an album and being like, "God I hope this is good," but whatever. This is how I stumbled across Wrabel (pronounnced RAY-bell, at first I thought it was rabble, lol) about a month ago. Purely judging a book by its cover, his EP, Sideways, felt familiar. I think it's because he looks like an American version of Mr. Hudson to me. Familiarity has continued to be an ongoing theme for me with Wrabel. His voice, subject matter, etc. all sounds and feels very familiar. Kind of like I've always known him. Obviously since you are reading this post he clearly was able to tick all the boxes I require to decide to keep tabs on him.
After adding him to my extensive Twitter list to keep an eye on him, I noticed he was playing a show at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2. We should get one thing clear: I love Bowery Ballroom more than anything in this world, but there's something about Rockwood Music Hall (both original and stage 2) that holds a special place in my heart. A chance to experience any artist at Rockwood is a thing you should always do, so I decided to venture solo to see how an intimate performance from this newcomer would pan out.
Personal update: I'm trying to get back into the groove of going to at least two shows a week. I'm also I really exhausted from all the emails we get about bands I've never heard of and will most likely will never hear of because they're just "okay". To combat this, I've mostly been ignoring the majority of the emails that I get and just digging around the internet to find things on my own. Back in the day, I used to wander around record stores looking at album artwork and taking chances on art that I felt the most connected to and either give them a listen if they were at the listening bar or just straight up buy the album and take a chance. I found a lot of great music this way (VHS or Beta, Josh Rouse, Junior Jack, etc.).
I started doing this again fairly recently on Rdio and Spotify for every New Music Tuesday. I just scroll around and look for things that are interesting and give them a try. It's less sexy than the thrill of buying an album and being like, "God I hope this is good," but whatever. This is how I stumbled across Wrabel (pronounnced RAY-bell, at first I thought it was rabble, lol) about a month ago. Purely judging a book by its cover, his EP, Sideways, felt familiar. I think it's because he looks like an American version of Mr. Hudson to me. Familiarity has continued to be an ongoing theme for me with Wrabel. His voice, subject matter, etc. all sounds and feels very familiar. Kind of like I've always known him. Obviously since you are reading this post he clearly was able to tick all the boxes I require to decide to keep tabs on him.
After adding him to my extensive Twitter list to keep an eye on him, I noticed he was playing a show at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2. We should get one thing clear: I love Bowery Ballroom more than anything in this world, but there's something about Rockwood Music Hall (both original and stage 2) that holds a special place in my heart. A chance to experience any artist at Rockwood is a thing you should always do, so I decided to venture solo to see how an intimate performance from this newcomer would pan out.
First things first, this guy's voice is nothing short of solid. Dude has a very strong set of pipes that probably need little to no pitch correction in the studio or anything like that, so much respect in that sense. I soaked in every last second of him pounding away on the piano and serenading a disappointly semi-empty room sipping some white wine, a true "This Is Why I Love Rockwood" kind of moment. It must have been a weird juxtaposition for him though considering he casually mentioned at one point between songs that the night prior he performed "10 Feet Tall" alongside Afrojack at Fashion Rocks over at the Barclays Center, but he never made it feel that way in terms of his performance. Between songs he was very friendly and laid back. At one point he even joked, "My mom keeps telling me to write happy songs and I was like, 'I wrote one!'" It's refreshing for me to know that although he was fairly recently signed to Island that it hasn't gone to his head. It's a shame that that's an exception and not the standard.
Wrabel performing at Fashion Rocks at Barclays Center, September 8, 2014. Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America
As I headed home last night, I put on Sideways to refresh myself on the recorded version of what I had just heard. I started feeling the parallel with him and Mr. Hudson again like the day that I first stumbled across him. Remember before his Kayne moment with Straight No Chaser when he was Mr. Hudson and The Library and had a sound of his own that he could really dig into (a la A Tale Of Two Cities)? I worry that the direction in terms of sound that they're nudging him into is going to get him lost into the Flavor of the Week pile. It's both a blessing and a curse that his voice has moments of Chris Martin, Sam Smith, and Landon Pigg, with hints of Mat Kearney peppered throughout. It's my hope for him that Island didn't just go, "Oh crap, we need a Sam Smith! Ooo! This guy seems nice. *SIGNS*" I don't mind the synthy bits in "Sideways". I get that bassy EDM + pretty vocals on top = Ca$h Money Hoe$ right now. I guess my hope is that as he assumingly starts working on his debut full length that he doesn't allow himself to get overwhelmed by people trying to tell him to be trendy for the sake of moving units this moment. Or that if he does that he knows exactly what he's doing and plans to be in the spotlight for 4 seconds and then when he has a pile of money he just runs off and does whatever the heck he wants.
Fact of the matter is, Wrabel is a voice your ears need to hear and I think if he plays his cards right that he will be staying around with us for awhile.
Wrabel is on the internet in various places like Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud. Follow/like/add as you will. His debut EPSideways is available for purchase on iTunes if you're into that as well.