Staff Pixx 2/20
Looking for new tunes? The Music Staff submits their favorite songs of each week for the Staff Pixx radio show. If you can’t tune in Thursdays at 9 am, find WECB on Spotify for a full playlist, and read below for notes from each of our writers!
Lily Hartenstein
Haunted Candlewax by The Crudes
Independent Los Angeles band the Crudes switches their sound every so often, as the group of young punks tries to find an auditory identity. Their latest double-single release exemplifies this, with a grungey rock ballad that transitions abruptly into a west-coast style rap song. Frankly, rap might not be their calling, but the first track “Haunted Candlewax” is an eerie, alluring tune which showcases the group’s specialty- 70’s-inspired, organ-heavy, slow and angry rock-n-roll. Their frontman’s gravelly, emotional voice is unlike any other, and can be summed up with the title of their recent release: haunting.
Kyle Bray
After Hours by The Weeknd
After the adrenaline rush of his last single “Blinding Lights”, The Weeknd has come down from his high on his latest single “After Hours”. Where as “Blinding Lights” sees The Weeknd on a fast paced lust filled bender chasing after a woman he loves, on this latest single, he’s stuck in his feelings. All throughout “After Hours”, The Weeknd begs his lover to not leave him, stressing that he needs her to live. The pivotal moment of the track comes in the balladesque bridge where he admits his faults in the relationship and tells his lover that “this house is not a home without my baby”. “After Hours” is the third single for his recently announced album of the same name and if the singles are any indicator, The Weeknd is ready to burst back onto the scene.
Mateo Rispoli
Gospel for a New Century by Yves Tumor
Yves Tumor thrives on ambiguity. 2018’s mercurial and genre-less Safe in the Hands of Love cemented him as one of the top innovative voices in experimental music. Yves applied the percussive barrages and atmosphere building field recordings and electronic noise that comprise 2016’s Serpent Music in a more traditionally pop and R&B setting, and he takes a step closer on “Gospel for a New Century.” The first single and album opener for his new record Heaven to a Tortured Mind, the sharply sampled horns parallel “Faith in Nothing Except Salvation,” the royal announcement of an opener from Safe. While that track sounded like the onset of some inescapable downward spiral, this one sounds like an ascension. Underscored by a 4/4 drum beat and a wave of guitars, Yves writhes on the floor, throws a tantrum, and announces his welcome return and continual resistance to most any classification.
Maximo Aguilar Lawlor
I’m Enough by Early Eyes
Early Eyes released their new single “I’m Enough” in order to address the anxiety, stress, and melancholy that goes into just getting yourself to go outside and have fun. With similar sounds to COIN, Early Eyes’ music can make you stand up and dance around; “I’m Enough” is no exception. For anyone who needs some self-love and reassurance that you’re can and should have fun, this song is for you. According to an interview with Substream Magazine, Jake Berglove, the Early Eyes vocalist said, “As somebody who struggles with body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria, preparing for a night out can be comparable to watching a season’s worth of Grey’s Anatomy in terms of the emotional undertaking.”
J. Faith Malicdem
Eagletown by Orange Guava Passion
Disco, funk, and Latin jazz multi-instrumentalist Tom Misch has joined forces with Yussef Dayes, an up-and-coming drummer to release “What Kinda Music.” Dayes’s unmatched shuffle-syncopated drumming carries “What Kinda Music,” while Misch’s signature incorporation of strings hovers its rhythmic synth basslines. The song melds each contributor’s style, as Misch gravitates toward making upbeat and lyrical-focused music, while Dayes tends to lean on the experimental side of smooth jazz. “What Kinda Music” preludes the duo’s upcoming joint album, set to come out in spring 2020.
Erin Christie
White Rooms and People by Working Men’s Club
Reminiscent of predecessors Wire, Suicide, and Soft Cell, West Yorkshire-based Working Men’s Club exists in a world all its own. Through twisting heavenly guitars and adding mesmerizing synth, their latest single, “White Rooms and People,” is an immediate toe-tapper. In finding a way to mesh new wave instrumentation with post-punk bass lines in a 21st-century context, the band has managed to hone in on a musical sweet spot; a mid-point between dance and darkness. About their intentions as a band (in an interview with The Guardian), frontman Sydney Minsky-Sargeant says “we just want to confuse the fuck out of people, in a good way.” For their ability to pump out ear worm after ear worm, they’re definitely a band you’ll want to pay attention to.
Kate Mettetal
The Process by Chastity Belt
Seattle-based rock troupe, Chastity Belt, matures from their alternative girl pop sound of their previous albums in their most recent release “The Process”. Their self-titled album released in September foreshadowed a paradigm shift in both the band’s lyricism and sound that comes full-circle in the new single. While still maintaining the post-Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine charm that shot Chastity Belt to fame in 2012, lead guitarist and songwriter Lydia Lund curates an electric atmosphere with her gleaming reverb-laden riffs that seem to perfectly suit Julia Shapiro’s melancholic vocals. A manifesto about the compounding detriments of self-criticism that every artist faces at one point or another, “The Process” is not only ideal for dancing in the pit with your friends but also reassurance that young creatives need today.
Caleb Peck
Blood Rainbow by Built to Spill
After backing band on his final tour, you’d be hard-pressed to find another band more qualified to release a Daniel Johnston tribute album than Built to Spill. On Bloody Rainbow, the 90’s alt-rock group adopts Johnston’s pacing but rejects his low fi sound, creating an uncharacteristically smooth and quiet track. The band softly sings over an easy, jangling guitar riff, creating an arguably more accessible track than the original. This is the lead single off of the tribute album, set to feature plenty of lesser-known songs, pay respects to one of the greatest outsider artists ever.
Isaiah Anthony
PEOPLE (ft. FIDLAR) by SWMRS
On their first track since a car accident prematurely ended their 2019 tour, Oakland punk rock band SWMRS are back and haven’t missed a step with their new single, PEOPLE, a cover of British rockers The 1975’s ‘People’ from last year. Cole Beckers’ hectic, manic vocals, paired with a laid back, bemoaned refrain, emulate the spirit of the original while spicing in original and new energy on the track. The track is a positive sign for what’s to come from the young band who are quickly establishing an exciting and unique sound.