HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA
In descending order: Laura Les, Noname, Skate & Dante, Mikhail Shraga of Soft Ghost, Lila Ramani of Crumb, Blood Honey, Marlena Mack of Soft Ghost
You know the feeling. You’re browsing the family computer late at night. Everyone else is asleep. You’re on streaming platforms you know your mom wouldn’t be proud of. An ad pops up advertising “HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA”. You know it’s an ad so it has a high chance of going nowhere but there’s something about it that sticks you. It wouldn’t hurt to look right? Indie songs? Well you gotta support independent artists. “SEXXXY”? Yeah that’s you. Maybe with less x’s though. You're sick of the music you got. You think, “why not?”. Double check you're in incognito mode. You look over your shoulder before you click the ad. You feel the rush set in.
(Disclaimer: I do not know all of these artists personally, but those I do I will disclose the connection. To make it easier I will go from the artists I know from most to least.)
“Paradise” - Soft Ghost
I went to college with lead singer Marlena Mack and have always thought she was extremely talented!
The industrial beginning gives you the sense you’ve dropped into a dystopian future, but not one that is overly pessimistic like Bladerunner. It’s bright, it’s vibrant and it moves fast. Mack’s phrases in the verses layer on top of themselves, and you feel yourself leaning in to listen to catch advice as you acclimate to this new world. When I asked Marlena what the song meant to her she said, “This song is about the paradise we make for ourselves in this fucked up world, in order to stay alive. It’s about the sexy multitudes we all contain, and how the ability to escape into moments of pleasure is what makes everything else worthwhile.”
With instrumentals reminiscent of St. Vincent’s 2017 Masseduction, producer Mikhail Shraga relishes the pocket universe he has created as he takes his time to stack and dress the bridge with Mack’s “oohs” and electronic tinkering. Once the final chorus hits, the phrase “paradise is different here” becomes less of a mantra and more of a realization; you can embrace your sexy multitudes or let the world consume you. Soft Ghost is going to do the former and they suggest you do the same.
“Sunset Groove” - Skate feat. Dante
Dante is an old neighbor of mine but damn I was not aware he had THAT voice!
What struck me about Sunset Groove is how smooth it is. The title sets the scene, while the woozy synths draw you in. In his first official single Skate glides over the beat; his voice feels comfortable in his cadence. And in almost complete contrast to Skate’s rush through his verses Dante takes his time in cherishing his chorus. When I reached out to the pair they told me, “Sunset Groove is an uplifting project we wrote to show the embodiment of joy, and to encapsulate the hypnotic idea of finding new love”.
That energy is definitely there. The pair has strong instincts and as the track relays, they’re just getting started. I’m excited to see what’s next for them.
“Game Baby” - Blood Honey
Do not know them personally but a couple close friends are friends with the lead singer Jackie and that’s cool.
I’m a sucker for sad, repetitive art and this song fits right in. The first single from LA duo Blood Honey tells a classic story, “someone is at the end of their rope and needs to get out of this terrible relationship.” But how it’s told is, dare I say, romantic? Both the vocals and the instrumentation are given the perfect amount of time to breathe on the track. Apart from the strong main synths that start the song off, there are other, even brighter synths accenting the track, like they were extracted from a N64. Instrumentalist Kevin shines on his guitar led bridge by making each chord change like a groovy set of punctuations, and vocalist Jackie nails the end of the chorus with her run on plea: “leave you lonely / babe I’m only here for you”.
“Rainforest” - Noname
I do not know Noname personally but I did talk to her and buy her a whiskey sour at a Zack Fox show. She had a sip and then let it sit there the rest of the night. I was awestruck.
Noname does not have all the answers. And as someone who has even less answers it’s compelling to read her tweets and watch her engage with people. It’s also my constant reminder to read more communist theory. My favorite thing about her latest single “Rainforest” is that it’s not a preachy song. Yes there are plenty of facts (“dyin' on stolen land for a dollar like that ain't fucked up”) but at the end of the day she makes a global issue have personal stakes. It’s rage packaged in melancholy. The best part is when “fuck a billionaire” at the end of her second verse runs into her chorus. It’s like a frustrated laugh, like “What are you not understanding? Fuck billionaires!”.
“Trophy” - Crumb
Unfortunately I do not know Crumb personally but I have plenty of friends who do hard drugs.
Name a more iconic duo than lead singer Lila Ramani’s vocals and Jesse Brotter’s bass. Following their trippy, well rounded debut album Jinx in 2019, Crumb is back with a new single and video for their new track “Trophy”. This track starts off like it was plucked out of air... until the beat switches halfway and you’re reminded you’re listening to a Crumb song. Ramani introduces the glitches and heavy distortion with a sequence of notes that sounds like a “when the edible hits” joke (the video mimics the same effect with a high speed race). The lyrics never really deviate from the original verse and chorus, but they are reminiscent of Purity Ring or old Circa Survive where they’re almost specifically nonspecific. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 caught some flack recently for saying, “I feel like there aren't any bands anymore, you know?”. And as dumb as that comment sounds at face value, I think he’s right. Pop bands are a thing of the past (this includes Maroon 5) as rap has taken over the music industry in a huge way. But it leaves room for indie bands like Crumb to create their own niche, their own music videos and have you itching for more
“Haunted” - Laura Les
I do not know Laura Les personally but I used to use the “xD” emoticon A LOT.
The moment I heard this chorus I felt like I was witnessing the beautiful brain child of Grimes and early I Set My Friends On Fire. It’s entirely chaotic and perfect. It makes Les’s signature pitched up vocal effect feel like a strange, familiar source of comfort once the verse begins. The lyrics feel like they’re coming from someone who is extremely sleep deprived and needs constant validation at the same time. Relatable. Love that Laura Les, and 100 gecs for that matter, never really make their songs longer than 2 minutes. When I see that white bar appear across a tik tok indicating a video is 60 seconds long my brain’s immediate instinct is to get tired and regret watching, whether it’s good or bad. Last year 100 gecs dropped a remix album for their debut 1000 gecs album, so with any luck we’ll get more of Laura Les’s solo material just in time for concert season (maybe) later this year.
And to make life marginally easier here are all the songs in a single playlist, ya perverts.
[Sanchez is a producer, actor, and wannabe dj. He thanks you for checking out this site. No, really thank you. You can find more of him on Twitter and Instagram.]