This week marks one month until Carly Rae Jepsen releases her new album, Dedication. (I still maintain that E•MO•TION was un-follow-up-able!) I’ve been thinking on and off about what I hope she does to take a step forward with this one, and I feel like there’s gotta be at least one or two wild collaborations. I’m thinking SOPHIE, or Hanif Abdurraqib, or Tierra Whack, or The Body. Or how about one of the artists behind this week’s Pop Gazing picks?
Omni: “I Don’t Dance”
Atlanta’s Omni has been one of my favorite rock bands of the past few years. They’ve released two direct, provoking guitar-driven albums (Deluxe and Multi-task) on the Chicago label Trouble in Mind. And at this point in the band’s career, it’s almost possible to write about them without mentioning guitarist/drummer Frankie Boyles’ previous gig was playing guitar with Deerhunter during the Monomania era. “I Don’t Dance” is one side of a 7-inch Omni just released on their new label, Sub Pop. Like their best previous stuff, it plays like an interlocking collection of neat, sharp hooks. Even the cutting words of the opening line seem to work only in their exact configuration: “I don’t dance, but I like to watch her dance / She displays just how boring is your stance.”
Pixx: “Bitch”
Hannah “Pixx” Rodgers is 23, lives in South London, and is releasing her second album, Small Mercies, on 4AD this summer. “Bitch” shows a noisier side of Pixx following her debut’s synthy moods and the forthcoming record’s more psychedelic first single (“Disgrace”). She addresses internal and external negativity in heavily swaying 6/8 time. Rodgers may not be the first to acknowledge and celebrate the epithet amidst a swirl of ’90s guitars, but she does so expertly, complete with a breakdown that’s equal parts Chan Marshall and Courtney Barnett.
Beck: “Saw Lightning”
I clicked ‘play’ on “Saw Lightning” and thought it was an ad until it segued into the first verse. Is Beck messing with us? This future Apple commercial soundtrack was co-written and co-produced with Pharrell Williams, which is exactly zero percent surprising after having listened to the first 30 seconds. So, why is this song worth making effort to listen to, considering we’ll be bombarded by it in one or several high-profile ad campaigns in the next year? Well, for one, it’s Beck and Pharrell. Their careers have lasted decades (centuries for Pharrell) for a reason: They know how to make a catchy song! There’s a little bit of everything you might expect from the duo, including chipper guitars, harmonica, grooving live drums and nonsense syllables. “Saw Lightning” is the first single off of Beck’s 14th studio album, Hyperspace, out July 12.
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