Nandi Rose and her Half Waif banner have unveiled a gorgeous new 7-inch that boasts the songs “Orange Blossoms” and “Party’s Over”. The part-time Pinegrove member has travelled a great distance from that sound. After striking out on her own with Lavender, she found a bigger, bolder tone on 2020’s The Caretaker. The new singles continue in the same expansive vein. “Orange Blossoms” opens with chilly pleas for somebody to help, as Rose sings, “I don’t want to be here.” The drama comes from the contrast of quiet and loud, with softer sections that swell into gusts of choral storms before giving way to eerie calm. The second song, “Party’s Over”, celebrates the bittersweet joys of being an outsider. “Don’t you know that the party is over,” she sings, “But you’re just getting started/ Just keep...
The last album Wolf Alice put out, Visions of a Life, earned them the coveted Mercury Prize in 2018. Now, it looks like they’re preparing to turn heads again with a brand new full-length called Blue Weekend. It’s due out June 11th via Dirty Hit/RCA, but you can stream the lead single “The Last Man on Earth” in advance below. This is the band’s third studio LP, following Visions of a Life and 2015’s My Love Is Cool. The British alt-rockers created Blue Weekend in hopes of emboldening their storytelling and refining their musical style. “The Last Man on Earth” makes good on that promise by pushing singer Ellie Rowsell‘s voice to the front over ballad-style piano, lush vocal harmonies, and empowering percussion. Come the end, the Wolf Alice track could be mistaken for a rousing...
J.I.D. in “Skegee” video J.I.D packs a history lesson into his searing new track about man’s inhumanity to man with his new track “Skegee”. “Skegee” takes its title from the infamous and horrifying Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male. The experiment launched in 1932 under the auspices of science, but at its core it was nothing but cruelty. Researchers promised about 400 Black men with syphilis free health care, but instead of offering treatment, they watched hundreds of men die. Proving that the experiment had nothing to do with research, the project continued for decades after penicillin was known to cure syphilis. As The Associated Press reported in a shocking exposé in 1972, “even after penicillin became common, and while its use probably c...
Teenage Chicago noisy rock trio Horsegirl have released a new single called “Ballroom Dance Scene”. Watch its corresponding music video down below. Band members Penelope Lowenstein, Nora Cheng, and Gigi Reece wrote the song, which details the lives of various fictional characters, during the fall 2019 Chicago teacher’s strike. They created the accompanying video during this past winter break, shooting it on their phones and an old digital Canon camera. Street footage was filmed in the band’s “aux-less 2004 Buick LeSabre,” while the indoor scenes were shot in the attic of Reece’s childhood home. The song itself features layered vocal melodies and builds from restrained opening acoustic strum, bringing in swirling electric guitars midway through. “Ballroom Dance Scene” serves as an ampl...
Neo-glam rocker Art d’Ecco is gearing up to drop his sophomore album, In Standard Definition, on April 23rd via Paper Bag. Today, he’s shared a new single called “Head Rush” and a glitzy music video to give fans a taste of what to expect, both of which can be streamed below. In a press release, Art d’Ecco said the song is about the collective head rush of our youth, a memory he hopes listeners will experience secondhand. “Nostalgia is a powerful drug; it distorts and reframes the past, often reconciling our memories into one place for easy access and to better suit our current disposition or state of mind,” he explained. “I wanted all the hallmarks of a classic rock song — the kind of music that used to blast from the kitchen radio at the summer jobs I’d worked at as a teen. Guitar solo? C...
Jamaican-British singer Mahalia has recruited Maryland rapper Rico Nasty for her new single, “Jealous”. Check out the music video below. In the clip, which is directed by Melody Maker and produced by Common People Films, Mahalia and Rico get revenge on an ex by hacking into his smart home. “I was really frustrated at the time with some friends. I was kind of going through this phase of not understanding why I was getting this bad energy from people around me,” Mahalia told BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders about the song. “I think the song, it was kind of me stepping away from that and saying, ‘I’m not going to let this get to me. I’m still going to be the biggest queen I can possibly be in the room.’ It was definitely an empowering song for me to write.” After dropping her pandemic EP, Iso...
Slash co-conspirator and Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy has announced his second solo album, The Ides of March, due out May 14th. In anticipation, Kennedy has shared the lead single, “In Stride”. The Ides of March follows Kennedy’s debut solo effort, 2018’s Year of the Tiger. The singer-guitarist first told Heavy Consequence about the new album in our interview last year, where he revealed “a lot of it is blues-based.” The single “In Stride” definitely has some bluesy elements, with a bit of a country-rock tinge. Throughout the song, Kennedy’s soulful voice is front and center. The single’s chorus of “take it all in stride” could be considered Kennedy’s advice for coping with the pandemic, as he wrote the lyrics during the panic of the first wave of lockdowns. “Chill out. That pretty mu...
McKinley Dixon will make his Spacebomb Records debut on May 7th with the new album For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her. The emerging MC is previewing the release with the lead single, “make a poet Black”. In 2018, with little industry support, Dixon put himself on the map with a pair of self-released LPs, The Importance of Self Belief and Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? That output attracted the attention of Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb label, which is better known for folk- and funk-inflected artists like Natalie Prass, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Fruit Bats. But setting genre aside, Spacebomb has become a home for incisive lyricism, and in that sense, Dixon fits right in. For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her is an album-length exploration of trauma and time. As Dixon m...
Punxsutawney Phil predicted another six more weeks of winter, but Kevin Gates couldn’t care less. The Louisiana rapper just surprise released a new single called “Plug Daughter 2” and an accompanying music video that sees him soaking up the sun in Puerto Rico. It’s a welcome dose of vitamin D, and you can stream it below. Lyrically, “Plug Daughter 2” sees Gates detailing a tumultuous love affair, but the music itself couldn’t sound happier. Over a breezy beat, Gates’ vocals echo atop a nimble keyboard melody and faded backing vocals that harmonize rather sweetly. It’s mellow but driven — the exact type of progression Gates has been capitalizing on as of late. In the music video, Gates wanders through gorgeous landscapes in Puerto Rico. Lucious trees and vibrant greens surround him while he...
Haviah MIghty is wary of dark energies on her new song “Obeah”. The 2019 Polaris Prize winner is one of the most exciting voices in hip-hop today, equally comfortable with windows-down bangers and mind-bending conscious raps. With “Obeah”, she’s found a new twist on an old standard, channeling her Jamaican heritage to find an original slant on the “Watch who you surround yourself with,” song. The concept of Obeah doesn’t translate easily to outsiders, but it’s generally understood to involve a kind of magic or supernatural energy. As Mighty explained in a statement, “I’ve navigated life off the strength of my parents’ teachings, and one of those notable teachings is to be mindful of the company you keep and of those you call your friends. Being of Caribbean descent, I’ve heard many stories...