Staff Pixx 12/10
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 Mondays at 5pm, check in to the Music Blog for a full playlist, along with notes from each of our writers!
Noah Adaikkalam
Worry by HeyDeon
This is a great alt jewel from the underground. The vocals, both HeyDeon's R&B singing, and the featured How Dreadful's voices come together really well. They're able to sing together in a way that few artists are. The addition of an upbeat jazzy guitar riff, a trademark of Deon, makes this song a good winter day classic.
Erin Christie
Sorry by Starstruck
In a spotlight written for Noisey, Daisy Jones says “Bin Every Other Band, Sorry Are Bringing Romance Back to Music,” and her point isn’t far from off. Having been the most popular band on their underground circuit, Sorry soon came to my attention after they signed to Domino and toured with some of my favorite bands, Shame and Sunflower Bean. The North London punk duo find their most popular track in their single, “Starstruck” (and deservedly so). Amidst wiry riffs and alluring vocals (via lead singer Asha Lorenz), this track is drenching in an alluring, flirtatious mystery, immediately prompting the tapping of toes and rolling of shoulders.
Mica Kendall
Suddenly by Kevin Krauter
This is the perfect song to de stress from your worries and to fill your ears with ease, Kevin’s track “Suddenly” off his latest album “Toss Up” follows a steady guitar riff, accompanied by a keyboard ballad that meshes together with Krauter’s feathery vocals. “Suddenly” serves as a nostalgic love song that evokes a sense of relaxation while one listens to it. If you’re looking for a indie, synth player, romantic, songwriter version of Ed Sheeran then Kevin Krauter is the man for you.
Lis Steinberg
Workin’ Out by JID
JID drops his sophomore album DiCaprio 2 on December 7th, featuring the catchy track “Workin’ Out,” which originally debuted on a Color’s episode. Lyrically, JID keeps it tight: a cinematic exploration of struggling to work out the kinks in his life. Sometimes compared to Kendrick, he paves his own way as he sings and raps his way through Workin’ Out.
Karigan Wright
She Gave Me The Keys by The Dip
This track is a perfect example of modern music going retro. With the full band backing the vocals, the swing tempo, and the crooning vocals, this song will make you feel like you’re dancing to your record player in the 1950s.
Nada Alturki
San Marcos by BROCKHAMPTON
This song is off the self-declared boyband‘s fourth studio album Iridescence, released this past September. This was such a blessed find. The track demonstrates the versatility of the artists, sounding almost like a hip hop take on folk-pop. It puts into words all the struggles and emotions that come with being a youth in this day and age: feelings of loneliness, depression, and discontent. The song beautifully culminates and ends with a choir singing in unison: “I want more out of life than this, I want more”; it voices so many different people as one, showing that we are all one in these struggles. A perfect song to reflect on life as the year 2018 comes to an end.
James Ammirato
Less Sex by Daughters
This track is off Daughters’ latest full length LP, You Won’t Get What You Want. The most relaxed on the album, the minimalist track consists primarily of a driving beat and a faint guitar riff, while the mix is dominated by Alexis Marshall’s baritone voice. Around the middle of the song we get a piercingly noisy guitar section that completely takes over the song and takes it to its climax. The song displays that the band can make dynamic songs as well as those that can utterly terrify you.
Emily Bunn
Fulton Street I by La Dispute
La Dispute is back with a new, aggressively melancholic track. The lyricism written into this track is beautifully tragic, and sounds similar to La Dispute's "Somewhere at the Bottom of the River between Vega and Altair". The spoken word in this track is poignant and heart wrenching as it describes a harrowing scene, and then delves into yelling as the vocalist reflects on themes of indecision and mental turmoil.
That’s it for this week! Be sure to listen to the Staff Pixx playlist at the top of the Music Blog for more!