PREMIERE: Novelty Daughter - Day of Inner Fervor (Kuh Lida Remix)

Kelly Kirwan

Ah, remixes—the grownup game of telephone played between musicians. What begins as a single earworm splinters off into various re-imagined versions, and gradually the original artist gets new clout with a new audience. For instance, Novelty Daughter, whose hypnotic, vaguely disco-themed track "Day of Inner Fervor" (released last year) was given a darker twist by electronic artist Kuh Lida (aka Myles Emmons). The original version was a quirky blend of high, lilting vocals, syncopated rhythms, and the occasional dash of salsa and jazz. It was textured and slightly trippy—a track wedged somewhere between modern day indie pop and Studio 54. 

Kuh Lida's remix, on the other hand, takes us on a slight detour into experimental ambiance. He's drawn to distortion, warping Faith Harding’s vocals (if only for a moment), and pressing the boundaries of beats and percussion. Essentially, Kuh Lida took Novelty Daughter's brainchild, turned the amp all the way up, and added an abrasive touch. Switch out Studio 54 for an industrial warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago (Kuh Lida's current home city), and you've found this single's new home.

"Day of Inner Fervor" has always had a strange allure, a quality exacerbated by Kuh Lida's unexpected layering. Faith Harding's voice is soft and unique, as if it were tinged with an accent that piques your interest without being easily placed. Pair that with Kuh Lida's five-track mind, and you have beats that skitter dangerously close to a crash, before leveling back into a steady groove. It’s magnetic, and a testament to how a song can shift shapes if it’s got a good base and a keen ear to work with.

PREMIERE: Human People - In My Speakers

Laura Kerry

I have a confession with which you will strongly agree or disagree, according to the polarizing nature of the topic discussed: I do not like pop punk. I recognize that it’s a generalization about a genre I haven't given a fair shot, but here it goes anyway. Aesthetically, I’m not a big fan of that stereotypical “emo voice,” and in principal, I think that the whole "putting girls on a pedestal as objects of faraway adoration or bitterness" isn't the best.

I am, however, very on board with Human People, a band that call themselves “sloppy pop punk that’s NOT pop punk grrr.” An all-female quartet from New York, their latest song, “In My Speakers,” proves it a worthy genre classification. It fits into the pop punk arena in the sense that it's angsty (post-) punk infused with upbeat, guitar-driven pop rock, but it is NOT pop punk in many other ways.

As Human People say, they're sloppy, and that’s one of the charms of the song—the way the fuzzy guitar sometimes outpaces the drums, building up the noise and creating a sense of urgency. Lead singer Hayley carries the song in an androgynous voice that is both casual and earnest, slurring words either in a show of focused intensity or its opposite. “In My Speakers” showcases a band out to have some nonchalant fun that wouldn’t mind tearing some shit up in the process. 

Beyond that, there’s not much information about Human People on the Internet and even less of their music; their Bandcamp page has just two other songs. The good news is that they seem to play a lot of high-energy shows around the city, and it appears that an EP is in the works. That should be more than enough to open the minds of us haters to the pop punk genre (or NOT). 

PREMIERE: Monograms - Something

Sometimes, all you need is some good, driving garage rock to clear your head. Brooklyn locals Monograms have delivered exactly that with "Something," the second single off their upcoming Downer EP, set to be released on February 18. It's an emphatically guitar-forward track, replete with vocals that sound straight out of a late-'90s grunge group—it'd be easy to sit back and let the nostalgic angst wash over you if you weren't so busy jumping around and headbanging. After their excellent debut EP Fader, we can't wait to see what this new record will hold.

PREMIERE: Jon Varley - Suspended Girl (ii)

Somewhere around the intersection of classic pop and surf rock sits Victoria, British Columbia's Jon Varley, whose upcoming solo album The Missing Kink promises to be a fantastically nostalgic trip. This latest single, "Suspended Girl (ii)," is an endearing blend of beachy guitars and matter-of-fact, almost lackadaisical vocals that are just a hair shy of sounding like Morrissey. The Missing Kink is out December 12 on Citrus City Records and Don't Fall Collective.

PREMIERE: Michael Matchen - Nudes

Self-described NYC composer, producer, and button pusher Michael Matchen is here to take you on a journey with the expansive electronic beats of his latest single, "Nudes." The most recent release from his upcoming LP Savages, it's a track that's as unpredictable as it is beautifully symmetrical.

Matchen has made a habit (at least with his last two releases) of creating walls of sound that, while certainly powerful, are still rich and melodic enough to warrant some seriously active listening. "Nudes" opens with a series of isolated, disjointed synth hits that gradually resolve themselves, bit by bit, into just such an imposing climax, replete with a brilliant mashup of saxophone and breakbeats. If the rest of Savages is this inventive, it promises to be a hell of a trip.