Friday Features: Funky summer bops dominate the week while Vaya Futuro makes an important statement on pain
From disco funk and summer fun to a gut-wrenching take on pain and suffering, here's what this week in music sounded like.
Sports - 'Tell You Something'
Split between Los Angeles and Norman, Oklahoma, Sports, comprised of Cale Chronister and Christian Theriot, have been refining their infectious, funk-laden electro-pop sound that they first began to craft together in grade school.
The band's 2015 debut LP 'Naked All The Time' and its 2016 follow-up 'People Can’t Stop Chillin' delivered a slew of critically-acclaimed singles including 'You Are the Right One', 'Panama', 'Whatever You Want', and 'Someone You’d Rather Be Dating'. The band returned in 2018 with their first full-length album, 'Everyone’s Invited', a vibrant twelve-track offering that received acclaim from Pitchfork, Pigeons and Planes and Ones To Watch, in addition to earning plays on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and Spotify’s New Indie Mix playlist.
Their latest track 'Tell You Something' marks their first new single since 2018. The duo spent over a year writing and recording the song and out of their effort comes this experimental and innovative track that effortlessly blurs the lines between synth-pop, indie-funk, and psychedelic rock, making it something that is both nostalgic and contemporary at the same time.
Stream 'Tell You Something' HERE.
Blimes and Gab - 'Shellys (It's Chill)'
Acclaimed rap duo Blimes and Gab return with their latest single 'Shellys (It's Chill)' off their debut LP 'Talk About It', which releases on June 26.
The genre-blending act made themselves known with their breakout debut single 'Come Correct' in 2018. Over the past year, they have more than doubled their combined discography, each releasing a solo album and their latest collaborative efforts, 'Un Deux Trois', 'Magic' featuring Iamsu! and 'Feelin It', which was most recently featured on the latest season of Issa Rae's massive hit HBO show 'Insecure'.
On their new single, Blimes and Gab share, "It's the secret ingredient in the Blimes and Gab sauce. You're gonna want it on everything." To put it quite simply, they're your cool aunties who slipped you beers when you were 16 or took you to get your first tattoo. They want you to have fun, and they want to be there for it. For every boss woman in your life who never apologizes for the reverb of her footsteps; for every powerful female who dares to change the game; this is Blimes and Gab.
Stream 'Shellys (It's Chill)' HERE. Preorder 'Talk About It' HERE.
Roman Rouge - 'The Other Me'
Alt R&B pop singer/songwriter Roman Rouge returns with a vibrant electronic track filled with soulful warm vocals and driving basslines. The song is an anthem of empowerment, states Rouge, who adds, "'The Other Me' talks about the importance of being honest and true to yourself and confronting it no matter how uncomfortable or awkward the situation may be."
Hailing from El Paso, Texas, Rouge was exposed to the music industry from a young age and counts the likes of Majid Jordan and The Weeknd as his influences. Despite various struggles he faced throughout his childhood, including his single mother trying to make ends meet, Roman took every obstacle in his stride. Believing that failure and struggle developed character, he found the strength to build up to who he is today - someone who isn't afraid to make bold choices and draw on his experiences to tell poignant stories through his music.
The singer confides, "The message in my music overall is always relatable, something you’ve been through can and always affect the decisions you make in the future. My songs are linked to each other, I like to convey a story and be as honest and forthcoming as I can." He adds, "The main theme of my music is to be aware of why you are who you are, and how you can let your past experiences define you, learn from your mistakes, move on and be better."
Stream 'The Other Me' HERE.
Sea Girls - 'Do You Really Wanna Know?'
Following the announcement of their anticipated debut album 'Open Up Your Head', which drops on August 14, UK's hottest new band Sea Girls have revealed the trippy new animated video for 'Do You Really Wanna Know?'.
The colorful and surreal video, directed by world-class animator Francesca de Bassa, takes the band’s own self-isolated photography and brings them to life as kaleidoscopic, animated collages. What starts as an empty canvas soon turns into an absurd world swarming with anthropomorphic characters - a colorful and playful live concert of moving images where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. Francesca recently created a captivating film on mental health awareness, which, in line with the personal lyrical themes of the song and topics that the band has discussed openly, made her the perfect fit to bring the subject matter to life.
Pre-order 'Open Up Your Head' HERE.
Jesse Gold - 'L'
Toronto-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Jesse Gold returns this week with the perfect summer bop, 'L'. Produced by Gold himself alongside his best friend, Jack Emblem, 'L' is a carefree, fun track that juxtaposes melancholic self-reflection with the feel of a smooth R&B summer track.
Having studied at Berklee College of Music and with many high profile collaborations, including ones with Craig David and Babyface, already under his belt, Gold's musical ability and lyrical prowess have already been recognized by the industry. After years of preparation, Gold has refined his sound into a blend of fresh pop and modern R&B. His first single, 'No Good', was released to critical success and has already amassed over 600,000 streams. He seamlessly integrates his advanced musicality with a modern R&B sound in his music, and his skills shine through beautifully on 'L'.
Gold's debut EP, 'We’ll Be Fine', is out now and available on all streaming platforms. Stream 'L' via SoundCloud or Spotify.
Vaya Futuro - '((O))'
Vaya Futuro is set to release their fourth full-length album, 'El Peso Del Mundo', on August 14. The album title translated in English means 'The Weight of the World', encompassing the album's themes of isolation and trauma. 'El Peso Del Mundo' is essentially a diary of what happens when a person becomes shaped by hate while reaching into the darkest recesses of humanity.
'((O))' is described as 'a symbolic representation of pain'. The somber song encompasses the central conflict of the album, not defined by a word, but a mere symbol — a graphic representation of pain. It was recorded in one take of piano and vocals with string arrangements added later.
"I received a message from a friend in the middle of the night with very tragic news," says vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter, Luis Aguilar. "The feeling that stayed with me after for days is what inspired me to write the song, total misanthropy, and despair. The title is this symbol that has two meanings; it’s a sun, mentioned in the lyrics, and a void, which is a graphic representation of the pain I felt from years of stress ulcers."
Vaya Futuro, comprised of Aguilar, drummer Miguel Ahuage and bassist/engineer LE Ros, have spent the last decade meandering through sonic explorations, a journey that culminates on 'El Peso Del Mundo' which blends flamenco, jazz, ambient, orchestral arrangements and electronic experimentation seamlessly.
Aguilar says, "With this album, we finally found our path to the type of band we want to be. We have this band, this family and that’s the best way I could ask for to sublimate these emotions. All of the negative feelings I may have had are engraved in here, in this new material. Now those bad feelings are no longer within me."
Ahuage concludes, "We are proud of everything we have achieved, but we have never been as proud as we are of this new album. I really think that we got ourselves in trouble because the next album has to be at least as good as this one."
Friday Features is a column that brings you the week's latest releases that you may or may not have heard yet.