So much has happened since I last fired off a non-SXSW update. (Hey, I can’t spend every minute of the day breathlessly engaging in the Black Midi discourse!)
A few highlights: I’ve been blowing off my book club’s current pick to finally read They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, which you already know is amazing (or should). I’ve got Fussy Precision, the latest GRIND album, on constant rotation. I saw Gaspar Noe’s exhilarating, excruciating dance horror Climax a few weeks back and haven’t been able to stop talking about it.
And yes, in an effort to acknowledge life beyond this March, I’ve got some things to say about my three favorite new songs from this week.
Weyes Blood: “Movies”
I’ve already written about Weyes Blood here a number of times, so I’ll keep it brief. This bewitching and all-caps GLORIOUS song is the third terrific single released in advance of Titanic Rising, out April 5 on Sub Pop. At this point, it’s basically a lock for my top 10 albums of the year.
Cate Le Bon: “Daylight Matters”
I first knew her as a songwriter, but Cate Le Bon also produces (she did the latest Deerhunter record). This first single from her upcoming fifth album, Reward, showcases both of these skills. Each component is precise: the bassline pop, the upbeat piano chords, the guitar sweeps under her chorus of “I love you, but you’re not here.” I’m obsessed with the new Weyes Blood singles to the extent that I’d bring them up in a pitch for another person’s music, but… These two artists seem like complements in a way that could justifiably warrant the base work for a “sound of indie songwriting in 2019.” Reward is out May 24 on Mexican Summer.
Peggy Gou: “Starry Night”
The planetary rotation away from yesteryear’s EDM and toward new revivals of prior decades’ dance music trends — particularly house and trance — will never stop. Not until we go retrieve our dusty Deadmau5 masks from the storage unit in 2032. That said, most of the more true-to-form revivalists have been still kind of relegated to genre-specific outlets like Resident Advisor. But I could definitely see tracks like “Starry Night” (and Peggy Gou’s 2018 release Once) contribute to bringing house music back into more of a central consciousness. Korean Berliner Peggy Gou will be a fun name to watch this year as she hopefully continues to release hi-hat and keys-heavy club-ready smokers.
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