Indie pop
Beach Bunny Share the Origins of New Version of “Cloud 9” Featuring Tegan and Sara: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-16T12:20:47+00:00“>April 16, 2021 | 8:20am ET In our new music feature Origins, artists give us a peek behind the curtains, providing insights into the inspirations behind their latest single. Today, Beach Bunny talk about updating the pronouns in “Cloud 9” and working with Tegan and Sara. Some seventeen years separate Beach Bunny from Tegan and Sara, but hearing them on the same track allows the listener to feel the unbroken chain that connects generation to generation, inspiration to inspiration. On one end, our former Artist of the Month Beach Bunny are perfectly of-the-moment, and their effortless melodies made them among the first sensations of the young platform ...
Twin Shadow Drops New Song “Alemania”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-16T12:40:11+00:00“>April 16, 2021 | 8:40am ET After a quiet 2020, Twin Shadow returned last month with the tropical new song “Johnny & Jonnie”. Now, the artist born George Lewis Jr. has sojourned to Germany with second single “Alemania”. This latest preview of his as-yet unnamed album is set, as he sings, “Near the Elbe/ In the harbor,” in Hamburg, Germany. Alemania is the Spanish word for Germany, and here Twin Shadow infuses a bit of Dominican flair into staid old Europe. Over minor-key guitars, he spins a tale of a chance meeting that occurred because of a set of lost keys. The song comes with a soaring chorus and a guitar solo that would make Santana proud. Check out the ...
Tirzah Returns with New Single “Send Me”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-14T16:43:48+00:00“>April 14, 2021 | 12:43pm ET UK songwriter Tirzah has returned with her first new single in three years, “Send Me”. After dropping the I’m Not Dancing and No Romance EPs in 2013 and 2014, respectively, Tirzah unveiled her lauded debut album Devotion in 2018. “Send Me” is a meditation on the period that followed. According to a press statement, the new track is “a subconscious snapshot from across a year when Tirzah was playing live regularly for the first time.” “Send Me” was written and recorded in collaboration with Mica Levi and Coby Sey. It’s built around a simple guitar riff and drums, and this pattern is only varied with an oc...
IDER Announce New Album shame, Share “Cross Yourself”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-13T17:15:10+00:00“>April 13, 2021 | 1:15pm ET British synth pop duo IDER have announced the new album shame and shared the lead single “Cross Yourself”. The follow-up to 2019’s Emotional Education, shame finds best friends Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville freed from the constraints of their old label Glassnote. The pair originally planned to write the album in Berlin, and it might have worked if not for the coronavirus pandemic. “We got there, and we got COVID four weeks later,” they said in a statement. “We had three weeks of heaven where we wrote so much new music and it was everything we dreamed of, living that chaotic, no-routine lifestyle. We Thelm...
Japanese Breakfast Announces US Tour, Shares New Song “Posing In Bondage”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-08T15:10:56+00:00“>April 8, 2021 | 11:10am ET It’s a good day to be a Japanese Breakfast fan. The indie-pop artist has announced a US tour for this coming fall, and she’s shared a new song called “Posing In Bondage” from her upcoming album Jubilee. Following the record’s debut single “Be Sweet” , a funky new-wave pop song, “Posing In Bondage” resides on the darker end of the Japanese Breakfast spectrum. A rougher, shorter version of the song originally appeared on the band’s contribution to 2017’s Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series, Vol. 3, but Michelle Zauner has completely revamped it for the album with pulsating bass, spacey vocal textures, and absolutely gorgeous synth sw...
Jackie Venson Teams Up with The Vapor Caves on New Song “Dreams”: Stream
Ever since Jackie Venson caught our attention with a mesmerizing performance at Austin City Limits a few years ago, we’ve been keeping our eyes on the Texas-based guitar virtuoso. Today, she’s back lending her skills to “Dreams”, a new funk-pop song by The Vapor Caves that exemplifies her singular talent well. Stream it below. “Working with Jackie Venson on ‘Dreams’ was such a cool experience,” the band wrote on Instagram earlier today. “We knew she would add something special, but the session flowed so naturally and led to the magic that this tune is today. Jackie drops the hammer with an epic solo that only she could play.” “Dreams” is a vibrant burst of retro funk-pop and melodramatic R&B. That seems to be the speciality of The Vapor Caves, but the fellow Texas-based duo wisely...
Alice Phoebe Lou Releases New Album Glow: Stream
Alice Phoebe Lou is back with her new album, Glow. Stream it via Apple Music and Spotify below. Glow is Lou’s third studio album and follows 2019’s Paper Castles. The 12-track effort includes the previously released singles, “Dusk” and “Dirty Mouth”. It finds the Berlin-based singer-songwriter embracing newfound vulnerability through her lyrics. In a statement, our former Artist of the Month detailed how falling in love and then having her heart broken during 2020 inspired the record, writing, “I used to feel quite self-conscious about writing love songs, but now I like the idea that your music can be a friend to someone, and make them feel as though they’re being related to. This album simply poured out of my heart and my subconscious, and there was no stopping the lovestruck nature ...
Japanese Breakfast Performs “Be Sweet” on Fallon: Watch
Michelle Zauner, aka Japanese Breakfast, served as the musical guest on Monday night’s episode of Jimmy Fallon, where she performed her latest single, “Be Sweet”. Additionally, in a nod to her debut appearance on The Tonight Show, Zauner dusted off “Jimmy Fallon Big!”, from 2017’s Soft Sounds from Another Planet, as a web exclusive. Zauner and her band filmed their mini-set at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust. With the exception of a female patron at the bar and an extraterrestrial bartender, the venue was completely empty. As such, the only way to view both performances is by clicking the play button on the videos embedded below. “Be Sweet” is the lead single from Zauner’s upcoming album, Jubilee, out June 4th via Dead Oceans. The record follows 2016’s Psychopomp and 2017’s...
Teenage Fanclub Share New Single “The Sun Won’t Shine on Me”: Stream
Teenage Fanclub have released a new song from Endless Arcade ahead of the album’s April 30th release. It’s called “The Sun Won’t Shine on Me” and it’s an absolutely gorgeous number to brighten an otherwise dreary Monday. Stream it below. This is the fourth song Teenage Fanclub have shared from their upcoming studio full-length, following the lead single “Home”, the downtrodden track “Everything Is Falling Apart”, and the jittery festival-primed song “I’m More Inclined”. Combined, it colors in Endless Arcade as an album that’s equally full of despair, positivity, and a laid-back approach to life. “The Sun Won’t Shine on Me” is a gorgeous, gentle song penned by Norman Blake. Over the course of the track’s three-minute-long runtime, Teenage Fanclub build from shimmering guitar riffs...
Matt and Kim Cover Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me”: Stream
There’s perhaps no more classic anthem for International Women’s Day than the late Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me”. So to celebrate today’s festivities, Matt and Kim have flipped their name to Kim and Matt for a cover of the 1963 hit. Out via FADER, the duo’s cover of “You Don’t Own Me” sees drummer Kim Schifino providing lead vocals (natch). The home recording updates the song’s instantly recognizable R&B balladry with electronic drums and fuzzy synths. It captures all the norm-defying independence of the original for a modern audience that feels like it’s finally beginning to change those norms. “This song has always resonated with me lyrically, ever since I was a kid,” Kim said in a statement. “My dad raised me to not take shit from anyone and live the life I want to live. It break...
Lake Street Dive on the Challenge of Writing Songs With Important Messages
Kyle Meredith With… Lake Street Dive Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Lake Street Dive frontwoman Rachael Price talks with Kyle Meredith about the band’s new album, Obviously. Price discusses working with producer Mike Elizando due to his work with huge hip-hop artists, writing in pairs for the first time, and digging into her teenage diaries for inspiration. The soul-pop vocalist also takes us through the heavier topics on the album, how the songs change depending on what’s happening in the world, and the challenge of putting an important message in a song. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Mo...
Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett Reunite for First Performance in Six Years: Watch
We’ve officially lived a full decade without the existence of Rilo Kiley. Since the band split, singer Jenny Lewis and lead guitarist Blake Sennett have only reunited once, when the latter joined the former on stage at Coachella in 2015 for “Portions for Foxes”. Nearly six years later, it’s finally happened again, as the pair reunited over the weekend to take part in Linda Perry’s Rock-N-Relief livestream event. Lewis and Sennett delivered what could be their first-ever performance of “Let Me Back In”, a single from the 2013 compilation LP RKives. With a masked Sennett playing his acoustic guitar behind her, and a sweet little floof of a puppy on her lap, Lewis sang to camera, checking an off-camera lyrics sheet every so often. Memorized or not, it was a darling pre-recorded rendition, and...
