[SONG OF THE DAY] Jaded - "Young"

It’s been a little over a year since I casually slipped UK indie electro-pop trio Jaded in diSKOAver weekly with their breakout hit, “In The Morning”. Since then, I’ve followed along with these dope dudes on Instagram, who have been responsible for me laughing to myself like an idiot on the subway no less than twice. It’s only fitting that they would release a song like, “Young” last week, as it’s *almost* as playful as they are. Almost. This is hands down the care-free anthemic song you need in your life. It’s the perfect microdose of escapism that you need amidst the chaos of everyday life.

Fair warning though: if you’re walking around while rocking this jam you might find yourself pouting, shimmying, and mouthing the words in front of strangers at a crosswalk or something.

Not that I am speaking from experience. 😳

[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Monster (feat. Jamie Lidell)"

I. Am. So. Happy. These. Dudes. Collaborated. Again. 

Y'all remember the awesomeness that was "Clean" off of Big Data's 2.0, which featured vocal stylings of now Nashville-based powerhouse Jamie Lidell. Well the two have teamed up to REALLY own the Black Mirror pop genre that I playfully invented when "See Through" materialized a few months back. I happened to be starting in on the mini stack of books that Big Data mastermind Alan Wilkis has been casually recommending via his Instagram stories, starting with his #1 recommendation: Life 3.0 Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence  just as "Monster" dropped on Friday. 

Y'all.

The second I got to the chorus of "Monster" I couldn't grab that book fast enough. First of all, I was covered in goosebumps because this first person narrative as sung by Lidell is the kind of story that technologists everywhere : creating technology that we later deeply regret because it ends up being really harmful to mankind. We are definitely living in peak "just because we can make it, SHOULD we make it?" era right now. It's very obvious (and honestly really comforting) that Wilkis has spent a great deal of time pondering this about various technologies we're semi-normalizing in culture and giving us plenty to reconsider before blindly believing that every technological advance is inherently good for us. 

Suffice it to say, every second that I have downtime I am reading that book. Already two chapters in I'm already starting to gain a deeper understanding of the concerns Wilkis' has. It's made me hope that other Big Data fans get curious and equally concerned about our future. 

We're currently 3 songs deep into 3.0's album cycle with no concrete release date in sight, BUT our favorite data driven dude will be hitting the road as he headlines the Sirius XM Alt Nation tour starting in mid-October, so my Kibbe-sense says we'll probably have the whole shebang by then. 

Also in 310 pages I will be making our impending interview official, so know that's coming too. 

BIG DATA Tour Dates:

October 14th - Shelter - Detroit, MI

October 15th - HiFi - Indianapolis, IN

October 16th - Chop Suey - Chicago, IL

October 18th - Rumba - Columbus, OH

October 19th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Cleveland, OH

October 21st - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT

October 22nd - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA

October 23rd - Foundry - Philadelphia, PA

October 24th - Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY

October 25th - Songbyrd - Washington, DC

October 27th -  Underground - Charlotte, NC

October 28th - The Cowan - Nashville, TN

October 30th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Dallas, TX

October 31st - Bronze Peacock @ HOB - Houston, TX

November 1st - Antone’s - Austin, TX

November 2nd - Lowbrow Palace - El Paso, TX

November 4th - Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ

November 5th - Voodoo Room @ HOB - San Diego, CA

November 6th - Resident - Los Angeles, CA

November 7th - Chapel - San Francisco, CA

November 9th - Dante’s (Take Warning) - Portland, OR

November 10th - Chop Suey - Seattle, WA

[SONG OF THE DAY] SAKIMA - "Show Me"

HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE!!!!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🌈👨‍❤️‍👨👩‍❤️‍👩

Yesterday, Billboard premiered London crooner SAKIMA's  latest soft and ultra sensual single, "Show Me", which is all about communicating sexually with your body. 

Upon playing this track a good, oh I dunno, 20 times this morning, I had this nice moment of reflection of how beautiful it is that as more voices are being lifted up in music that we are getting so many different new ways to hear about expressing love, passion, lust, romance, etc. With his last few releases, SAKIMA has been boldly tackling the queer romance and queer sex from his perspective, all the while, as he told Billboard continually battling with feeling fully sexually liberated in the process. The thing that will always keep me coming back to SAKIMA is his hypnotically soothing voice, which sometimes puts you in a sexy stupor and in other moments (such as "Show Me") there's such a tenderness to his delivery that it evokes memories of being young, wanting to fall in love, make love, etc. 

The lovely London lad is currently working on a new project, which he's still determining the full scope of but is calling "Project Peach" and "it's going to be a complete celebration of queer art, queer iconography, queer stories, all of it." Obviously if there's no full scope of the project yet there's no release date to relay, but more updates on that as it reveals itself. 

[Video] Fischerspooner - "Have Fun Tonight" (Official Video)

Photo by Asger Carlsen

I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WAS COMING SUPER SOON. 

I THOUGHT I WAS READY FOR THIS DAY TO COME. 

But honestly I wasn't ready for how hard the first *official* single from Fischerspooner would hit me.

I am truly blown away by "Have Fun Tonight". There's seriously so much going on here that with every spin I find Casey Spooner doing a number on my #feels as he delivers each lyrical blow. The song is described as, "a queer dance ballad about polyamory (...or polyagony) encouraging your lover to go out and have fun without you". It was co-written by a Michael Stipe and BOOTS and comes from their forthcoming album, Sir, which will be out on September 22nd courtesy of Ultra. That's right, fam. We FINALLY have a release date. Let the countdown begin!

What's interesting about the performance that Spooner gives on "Have Fun Tonight" is that it can lead you into interpreting the song a slightly different way each time you listen to it. By the end of my first listen I was convinced that this was the perspective of someone feeling trapped in a poly relationship that they didn't really want to be in. Another time I thought this could be taken as a brief moment of insecurity as all long term relationships have. Then in a different instance I considered the lyric, "I can't imagine anyone can love you like I can" to be the hint that the perspective is actually a lot more confident than previously though.  The words are all chosen so carefully that in spite of it being written with a polyamorous relationship in mind that it can speak to people in all walks of life because every intimate relationship has a certain level of complexity to it as this particular one has. 

Another thing I am loving about "Have Fun Tonight" is the context that it has provided to the first Sir-related song that was quietly half-released last year, "Everything Is Just Alright". As previously reported by yours truly, Spooner has said that this record was going to be "unabashedly homosexual". At the time with just "Everything Is Just Alright" as a reference point I wasn't sure where Fischerspooner was planning to take us, but with side by side listens of both EIJA and HFT it sounds like it could be anywhere - from the booze soaked dance floor of a gay bar to bedroom of longtime lovers and everywhere in between. 

In addition to the news about Sir, Fischerspooner have revealed that there will also be a museum show called SIR at MUMOK in Vienna, which will run June 29 to October 29, and that an art book will be released along with the exhibit.

[Video] Gold Class - "Twist In The Dark" (Official Video)

photo credit: Jules Christie

Aussie rockers Gold Class have delivered a one-two punch today. In addition to unveiling the video for their latest single, "Twist In The Dark", the band also announced their sophomore album, Drum, which drops on August 18th via felte. "Twist In The Dark" follows up the song that initially sold me on them, "Kids On Fire", and packs one hell of a wallop to your eardrums. 

I knew from the second The Algorithm™ delivered them to me that Gold Class had the potential to be fast-tracked into being SKOA Fam. After reading the statement from singer and lyricist Adam Curley about his motivation behind the album, well, you read this excerpt and tell me this isn't the kind of band you want to go all in behind: 

"I knew what the purpose of the album would be when I wrote the repeated line in 'Get Yours': 'There’s none left here and all I need.' I wanted it to be a record of defiance, a resistance to the idea of scrambling for a place at a table that wasn’t set for you. A sort of a love letter to anyone who not only can’t meet the standard but doesn’t want to. I wanted it to be a record of rage and ecstasy and endless nights and sex and dumb fun and ventures in solidarity. Not just an album of urgency and longing, but one of abandon and a reclaiming of a self beyond boundaries."

No word yet if the band from down under will be reenacting the below performance based music video on US soil AKA touring any time soon, but you kids in Europe will be able to catch them in September at their handful of tour dates. 

GOLD CLASS TOUR DATES

09.20-23 Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival

09.23 Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord

09.26 London, UK @ Moth Club

[Watch] Prism Tats - "The Liar" (Official Video)

Yoooo how in the world did I miss there was new Prism Tats songs on the world wide web?! I mean I know I am only a whopping 6 days off but I don't think y'all understand how much I enjoyed his self-titled debut album. It was by and large one of my favorite records of 2016. If you have not heard that shit you need to get on that! 

ANYWAY 

Almost exactly one week ago today Prism Tats dropped a double single, which also came with a music video for the A-side, "The Liar". I am a person who typically gets very distracted while trying to watch music videos but this for the first time in awhile this actually held my attention. 

This video will probably make you wince a bit watching the rubber bands go across his eyes and stuff, but at the same time it's hard to take your eyes off of. I think this is the first time I've ever seen someone rubber band their face so I think part of what intrigued me was what on earth would compel someone to volunteer to do this. haha 

I don't know much else around this release other than that he's got some shows in California coming up in August with Pickwick. I'd like to think this means he has plans to feed us music constantly, but that's just me being selfish.

For now, enjoy "The Liar" and "Apples":

Hello, World!

side note: ugh ugh life has been so busy that I have a lot to catch up on which I promise I will do this week but I was so excited to stumble across this that it couldn't wait. 

[Listen] Mason - "Toucan"

I mean just from this press photo we can already tell that Mason is future #SKOAfam amirite?

yoooooo the sun is shining in NYC and I just found my new favorite track to strut my stuff to! 

Enter: producer/DJ/label owner Mason hailing from Amsterdam! In a completely serendipitous moment I happened to catch BBC R1 Dance's tweet about another song of his, "Rhino" (which I cannot find a full version of on BBC but there is this clip). Being the curious person I am when the BBC claims something is the "Hottest Record In The World " I decided to look into this gentleman myself and WOW WOW WOW WOW there is so much goodness going on that I can't wait to spend some quality time this evening going through all of it. 

In addition to what has me dancing in my chair to presently, "Toucan", Mason also has a label called Animal Language, which appears will be chocked full of artists I will soon be gushing about based on the few clips I checked out on Soundcloud. 

I will report back with more findings once I dig into this but MY EARS ARE JUST SO HAPPY I HAD TO SHARE AS SOON AS I COULD! 

Listen to "Toucan" below! 

SO!? Do we love or do we L 😍 V E!?!?!?! 

[Recap] Um, A Lot Of Music Just Dropped Out Nowhere Today

me trying to keep up with how many songs just keep falling out of the sky today 

lol remember when the RIAA was so proud of themselves 2 years ago because we all agreed on a global release day and we went from #NewMusicTuesday to #NewMusicFriday worldwide? 

lol lol lol #tbt to that cute idea according to Foster The People, Phoenix, HAIM, and Fall Out Boy. 

In an attempt to make your life easier so you don't feel as frantic as I do right now, here is a recap of what just the fuck dropped: 

Foster The People - III

Well this was a nice surprise! Earlier today Foster the People released 3 new tracks globally before bundling them as a cutie lil EP called III. Apparently these are off an upcoming 3rd album that's going to be dropped this summer. No other info there, but they did unveil some tour dates which you can check over on their website because I'm tryna make this update quick and dirty and don't feel like copying and pasting. 

Phoenix - "J-Boy" 

Another album announcement! Another solid jam! Phoenix just unveiled their lead single, "J-Boy" off their forthcoming album, Ti Amo, which will drop on June 9th. This is glittery and summery af, but not quite punchy enough for the coveted title of Song Of The Summer. I will still be drinking in the sunshine to this regardless. 

HAIM - "Right Now" 

If you have been waiting 4 long years for new HAIM music then you best stop everything and peep this video RIGHT NOW. This comes from their just announce upcoming album, Something To Tell You, which drops on July 7th. 

Fall Out Boy - "Young And Menace"

So here is a Fall Out Boy song that I believe would be better suited as a Patrick Stump song than a Fall Out Boy song but it is still pretty dang good. The track follows yet ANOTHER album announcement. You ready for this name, y'all??

It's called

M A  N   I    A

Yes, spaces and all. I don't know either. Bless these dudes. But yeah the record drops on September 15th, so we have plenty of time to get this fucking spelling right. That all said, props to the guys for the video, which features a glimpse into a fictionalized characters somewhat-hard-to-watch home life that tries to escape a home riddled with domestic violence. 

SZA - "Love Galore (feat. Travis Scott)"

LAST ONE (I think?)! SZA also after keeping her fans anxiously waiting for music from her upcoming album CTRL has finally dropped another morsel today for everyone to savor, "Love Galore" featuring Travis Scott. It's been said that CTRL will be the next project released on TDE but other than that there's  not much else we know. 

AM I MISSING ANYTHING ELSE FROM TODAY? Jfc.