Warmer weather and longer days have brought out the addictive grooves and carefree fun in the best of today’s music scene from smart stand-alone tracks (Beck, Early Ghost, Cherry Glazerr) and excellent singles from upcoming releases (Thundercat, No Win, Slime, De Lux).
Check them all out below.
“Dreams,” the first single from Beck‘s as-yet-unnamed followup to Morning Phase, is now available for streaming. The song bears little resemblance to Morning Phase‘s mellow twilight folk, instead flexing the big-time pop muscle that co-writer Andrew Wyatt brought to Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” to reinforce the garage-dance Beck perfected circa “E-Pro.”
Cherry Glazerr, “Sip ‘O Poison”
For their contribution to Adult Swim’s 2015 Singles Series, LA’s lo-fi garage-rock trio Cherry Glazerr turned up the distortion and volume to eleven. The result is “Sip ‘O Poison”—one-and-a-half-minutes of riot grrrl-inspired rock with frontwoman Clementine Creevy’s powerful shouts living above sharp, shredded guitar licks and a hypnotic bass line. It’s fast, fun, and direct.
https://soundcloud.com/nowinla/after-your-legs/s-yzNS8
No Win, “After Your Legs”
After drumming with FIDLAR and playing with Tiny Lungs and Brown and Blue, Danny Nogueiras strikes out on his own with NO WIN. Lead single “After Your Legs” eschews FIDLAR’s rowdiness entirely in favor of clean, straightforward power-pop. A perfect Friday afternoon treat.
Thundercat, “Them Changes”
It’s been a pretty great few months to be a West Coast jazzbo. First Flying Lotus drops You’re Dead!, then Kamasi Washington releases what may as well be the Infinite Jest of new-age afro-futurism. Now it’s Thundercat’s turn. “Them Changes” finds the bassist—who played on both You’re Dead! and The Epic, as well as Kendrick Lamar’s new record—stepping back into the spotlight for the first time since 2013’s Apocalypse. “Them Changes” is a high-stepping funk groover, equal parts early “Tell Me Something Good,” early Prince, and Aja-era Steely Dan.
De Lux “When Your Life Feels Like a Loss”
Yesterday, LA synth-pop duo De Lux dropped “When Your Life Feels Like a Loss,” the lead single to their upcoming sophomore full-length Generation. The track, which one could only truly describe as funky, leans heavily on the band’s sonic resemblance to Talking Heads (what with the David Byrne-esque vocals and bouncy bass line), but, hey, no one said that was a bad thing.
Early Ghost, “Now I Always Wonder If I Like It Here”
Surf guitars and echoey vocals define Early Ghost‘s brand-new stand-alone single “Now I Always Wonder If I Like It Here.” The five-minute psych jam from the Brighton, England, quintet is poised to act as the laid-back song of the summer for the seaside town and beyond.
Slime, “Hotdog”
You know, a lot of very talented people aren’t great at naming their creations. Christopher Owens named his new album after his own Twitter handle. Kanye named his firstborn after a cardinal direction. And here we have Slime, the deceptively slick Paris-based producer, and the latest single from his forthcoming (and decently monikered) LP Company. It’s a smooth, easy track of woozy comedown vocals, gentle backbeat, and hazy aura. Sounds delicious.
