Gerard Marcus
REIGHNBEAU is a New Mexico based musical project headed by artist Bryce Hample. His latest EP ‘Slight’ shifts and morphs like sand in a desert, flowing through dream pop, folk, glitch, and synth soundscapes. Colleen Johnson, Madeline Johnston, and Bryce Hample’s vocals fill six surreal tracks that explore love, loss, and the hypnotic nature of rhythm.
By Jordan Feinstein
David Vassalotti’s “The Light” is a song about the very specific moment when someone has messed up and is terrified that it will end their relationship. But instead of anger at his partner, David experiences relief that everything is out in the open now, and he can now exist with and see them honestly.
“The Light” is filled with beautiful lyrics and sounds, both taking a quasi-psychedelic approach to its themes. “There’s no beast left to fear behind the door… it’s good to see you here // it’s good to be with you here // why did it take so long to turn a light on?” Describing this unknown as a feared beast behind a door is a beautiful and fantastical metaphor. They entered the room, turned the light on, and instead of a monster, they’ve only found themselves together in a new, well-lit room. This warmth and comfort is paralleled in the aural landscape of the song: a warm bath of guitar, drums, and gentle singing. A repeated “boom” sounds throughout the track, perhaps meant to be the revelation in the relationship. But it’s non-threatening, mixed softly under the calming guitars and drums–an explosion that wasn’t. The song ends with a psychedelic journey of sounds as they “go out the back door,” awash with potential and optimism for what comes next
“The Light” is a beautiful take on a moment that could have been terrifying, but instead turned mesmerizing and exciting. It’s a complex and mature conclusion from a songwriter comfortable exploring themselves honestly, and more than capable of translating it into a gorgeous song. It’s no easy feat, and makes me nothing but excited to hear what David Vassalotti does next.
“The Light” is from David Vassalotti’s new album Guitar Dream out on 1/25/19 and up for pre-order here.
By Jordan Feinstein
There’s something about classic rock that’s like a megaphone to my body telling it “sway and bob your head now, it’s not really up to you, away you go.” I’ve always attributed it to the catchy hooks, bombastic guitar, driving drums–all the elements that define rock and roll. “Lightning,” the new single by Brooklyn punk-rockers The Yeahtones, has all of these boxes checked. It’s a fun, loud rock song about a girl making frontman Jake Pinto feel like he’s been struck by lightning. But it got me thinking about what it is in good rock and roll that can make your body not care that you’ve heard all of these elements a million times. What makes it not just a bunch of checked boxes in a list of standard elements of a rock song?
The answer is certainly confidence. The confidence to go “here’s our loud rock song about a girl. It’s got drums, bass, guitar, and a catchy hook” and make it something that doesn’t feel new, but kicks enough ass that it doesn’t really matter. The Brooklyn music scene right now is awash with artists diving deeper and deeper into music as therapy, songwriting as a method of introspection. It’s important to be able to find an artist who writes something that makes you feel less alone, which is at the core of our generation’s attachment to music that we know our parents would find almost nauseating in its depths of self-examination. It’s fun to hear a song not concerned with that, a song that makes you feel only that you’re in dark room with loud music and sticky floors, and a beautiful girl just looked at you for the first time.
Check out “Lightning” on Spotify and Apple Music
Gerard Marcus
Passion is a strange emotion-it hits fast and can disappear even faster. Yes, there can be transient waves of lust to buoy that initial spark, but what do you do when it disappears and you want more? How do you resurrect the look they gave you the first time you met? Can you recreate that initial lust, or are you doomed to hook up in its shadow. Dripping with 60’s yé-yé nostalgia, Donna Blue’s new single ‘1 2 3’ is a saucy examination from someone wanting more.
Gerard Marcus
You meet someone and immediately hit it off. It quickly becomes almost shocking to think of a time before or after them. You start spending more and more time together, growing more and more connected, bringing an ease to life you’ve been looking for for a while. The only problem is that they now have to go. Far away. It’s a weird feeling, wanting to be near someone when you can’t. That rawness of a recent lover lost to distance is the central theme of Dances new single, “Never Sexier Than When I’m Alone.”
The video, directed by Alec MacDonald, is an intimate portrait of longing. Dances' lead singer and songwriter Trevor Vaz sits alone in local Bushwick dance spot Mood Ring contemplating moments that he wishes to share with a distant lover. As the night progresses and the alcohol flows, he finds himself wandering towards the back room alone, thrashing around while draped in silver and gold ribbons. Production choices like having Vaz function as his own bartender, or the subtle realty vs. fantasy element of watching himself on security footage, drive home the track's deep longing. The video beautifully portrays the solitude of yearning to be somewhere else, anywhere else, with the person you love.
Venus Figurine comes out 10/12 via the new label Jubilee Gang with a release show on 10/13 at Trans-Pecos with Zenizen and Realworld
