We're all in the same spot: working all week, wondering if the weekend will ever present itself, and dreaming of the possibilities of a day or two without work. You spend all week making plans with friends and family, and now that Summer Fridays have begun...the world is your oyster.

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Dua Lipa performs during the LOVESTREAM Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Ceská editoriální fotografie/Profimedia/Shutterstock

It's been a couple of weeks since the Grammys, but we just can't get Dua Lipa's bedazzled pink ensembles out of our heads.

And believe it or not, we're quickly approaching a year of the British singer's sophomore album, Future Nostalgia — the record that's helped millions turn their living rooms into personal dance clubs during a very lonely period of history. I know I'm not alone when I say Lipa's blend of house, disco, and radio-ready pop has yet to grow stale.

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MUSIC

Molina Releases Dark New Single “Parásito”

The new release features a engrossing fusion of New Wave and indie synth-pop.

Alex Carlyle

Molina's new release "Parásito" is a haunting track, bringing '80s energy to a darkly modern synth-pop sound.

The single—the newest off her upcoming EPm Vanilla Shell, out in November—is familiar territory for the Danish-Chilean artist's small discography—Molina's singles to date make the most of this formula, the tightly-wound New Wave-ness wrapped around Molina's shadowy charisma. It's a compelling combination, as her lyrics about desire and heartbreak are enlivened with a lushly-constructed production. Especially here on "Parásito," Molina sounds a bit like Nico poured through the sieve of 2010s electropop: a dark and engrossing performance set comfortably in a synth soundscape.

But "Parásito" is Molina's first song sung in Spanish, a deliberate choice that changes the tone of the song: "The drama in the language makes it easier and more natural for me to be extrovert[ed] and emotional," Molina herself says. Compared to her other singles, which are a little more fragmented and abstract in their storytelling, the lyricism of "Parásito" is more straightforward, more present in its longing. The creepy bassline, the ambient clouds of sound, Molina's echoing voice: They all make Molina's want sound even more foreboding, as she turns her lover into the only thing that can sate her hunger. The song's still suffused with desire, but there's a sense of tragedy.

Molina's made herself a main character in this small drama, and her willingness to construct that drama for the listener spells an exciting future for the up-and-coming singer.

MUSIC

Escort Brings The House Down on "City Life"

The nu-disco band returns with a new lead singer and a powerful and loving sound that manages to be respectfully retro and alluringly modern.

Photo by Matteo Modica on Unsplash

City Life turns a night out into a sonic voyage.

Escort, the Brooklyn-based nu-disco outfit, has returned, and their newest offering—their first since 2015's Animal Nature and their third overall—paints the possibilities of New York after dark with a loving and vivacious hand. City Life combines Escort's curated, modern house-disco groove with an irrepressible thematic joy, a sound that celebrates itself with a vivid flourish.

New lead vocalist, Nicki B, gifts the album with the spirit and drama it deserves, her liquid voice flowing from hope to heartache and back with prodigious ease on tracks like the desperate "Outta My Head" and the imperious "Josephine." Eugene Cho and JKriv, Escort's resident producers, craft the bones of City Life with a reverent hand, maintaining a modern sensibility in their luxurious disco soundscape that lets the album sound timeless without veering into decadence. Fonda Rae blesses the title track with a bubbling hook, Lone Ranger infuses an infectious reggae heartbeat into "One Draw," and pianist-flutist Brian Jackson, frequent Gil-Scot Heron collaborator, brings an ethereal insistence to the cinematic "Ride." But this carousel of disciplines and sounds never comes close to overwhelming the album: thanks to Cho and JKriv's production and Nicki's sheer vocal presence, they're what makes the album so compelling.

It's important to note that Escort isn't interested, on this album or ever, in arguments about resurrecting anything, a New York that used to exist or a kind of disco that used to spin in dance clubs. In truth, City Life makes the argument that this world never went anywhere, rising out of their music like the sun rising at the end of a long night. "Got everything just right here where you are," Nicki B promises, and it's lovely how easy it is to believe her.

City Life



Matthew Apadula is a writer and music critic from New York. His work has previously appeared on GIGsoup Music and in Drunk in a Midnight Choir. Find him on Twitter @imdoingmybest.


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RELEASE RADAR | Premiere from Church Girls

PLUS | Features for ASHRR and Daniella Mason

Marissa Carroll

It is all about the stand alone tracks and videos this week.

RELEASE RADAR is here to give you the breakdown of your top singles, albums, and videos to check out as you head into your weekend. Get ready to jam out with some of our favorite up-and-coming artists, plus celebrate new stuff from those you already know and love.

SINGLES...

⭐️ PREMIERE ⭐️ | Church Girls | "Just Like You"

Courtesy of Clarion Call Media

An upcoming track from the band's soon-to-be-released EP is sweet and simple, the way summer should be for everyone. The band's founder Mariel Beaumont had the following to say about the single:

"Just Like You" is about falling for someone who over-indulges in all your bad habits -- you want to get swept away, but you know it could lead you down a dark path. I wrote it with my friend Molly Martin in Nashville - it was my first and only co-writing session and it was a blast. The rest of the band was psyched about the initial demo and helped turn it into a super fun song that we all love playing live.

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