Music Features

Premiere: No Vacation Blend Dream Pop with Romantic Compositions on New Single “Estrangers”

"Estrangers" is a groovy slice of dream-pop that unfurls in wonderfully unexpected ways.

Press Photo

Patience is a powerful tool wielded by Brooklyn dream-pop outfit No Vacation.

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MUSIC

Lola Marsh’s “Echoes” Is a Haunting, Twin Peaks-esque Dance Tune

The latest track from Lola Marsh is a noirish, ghostly tune that's guaranteed to have you tapping your feet.

Lola Marsh

The duo Lola Marsh just released their new single "Echoes."

It's an enchanting, textured track, set to an intoxicating beat and tied together by singer Yael Shoshana Cohen's silky vocals.

The band, consisting of Cohen and Gil Landau, formed in 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since then, they've been crafting noirish, danceable electro-folk, blending melancholia with electric energy to create music that pays tribute to many modern groups but also possesses a sound all its own.

lil marsh echoesLola Marsh

"Echoes" is a mysterious tune, one that lands somewhere between the moodiness of the Twin Peaks theme song, the expansive rhythms of Tame Impala, and the country-rock-psychedelia of early Muse. Its haunting lyrics could tell the story of someone scanning the crowd for a new lover, or wandering the streets alone, remembering a long-gone ghost of the past. Either way, the song feels drawn out of late night scenes, filled with images of neon signs and faint moonlight spiraling through fog.

Though it's about getting caught up in memories of the past, "Echoes" also feels free, like something has been released or exorcized by the end of the track. The band echoed this contrast in a press release, stating,"'Echoes' is about that feeling you sometimes have when you want to disappear, but at the same time, want to be found. That scary beautiful moment just before falling asleep, when you are the most lonesome version of yourself."

The video takes notes from '70s fashion and boasts a distinctly vintage feel. It finds the two musicians dancing as multiple versions of themselves, peering at each other from across an empty loft and slowly moving closer to each other. It's a fitting visual for a song that's disorienting and multifaceted, but also catchy and ultimately certain to get listeners tapping their feet. In some ways, because it's so gloomy and catchy at the same time that it feels designed for a haunted dance party, or maybe a rager at the decaying, vine-covered mansion down the road.

"We are so excited to have new music out there!" said the band. "After we wrote 'Echoes,' we immediately started to dance, and we knew that something very good just happened. Our director Indy Hait gave us the chance to finally show off our silly dance moves for the first time."

Watch the video for "Echoes" below.

Lola Marsh - Echoeswww.youtube.com

MUSIC

Plastic Picnic Embraces Change In Latest Single "After You"

The Indie pop rock band leans into the unknown and embraces change with the release of their new single.

Brooklyn-based indie foursome Plastic Picnic continue to share their deep reflections on the intricacies of life with their latest single "After You."

The single is the first off their sophomore EP, Vistalite, out July 19th. The song beautifully blends together celestial, retro-pop synth themes with introspective lyrical writing. Crafted with the help of Sub Pop staple and producer Trevor Spencer (Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes), "After You" sets the tone for what fans can expect from the band's upcoming project.

"After You" begins with an exhilarating and dreamy synth intro that immediately catapults listeners into a sonorous blanket of warm and inviting guitar riffs, steady bass lines, and tenacious percussion. Lead singer Emile Panerio's emotive voice leads listeners on a journey through complex feelings, allowing us to embrace the quartet's developed soundscapes.

Compared to songs found on their 2017 self-titled debut EP, there's an exponential leap not only in sonic direction, but also in lyrical exploration of more mature ideas. According to the band, "'After You' alternates between hope and crippling fear of change. It's a song about seeing the road you're on while also looking out at the paths or exits spread before you. It embraces the exhilaration of leaning into the unknown and asking yourself if you should take that leap."

The band shared that "After You" grew out of a series of demos that they recorded in their bedrooms: "We were inspired by a friend's home studio and wanted to try a similar method ourselves."

"Rather than composing live together in our practice space, we recorded at home as we wrote, adding one instrument at a time. This let everyone focus more on each other's parts and give each new piece space to breathe," said Panerio. "It also gave us time to test out multiple ideas and directions before recreating the song in a full-band setting...There were a lot of ideas that didn't make the final cut, but even if they didn't stick, the song is stronger for having tried them out."

Plastic Picnic will release Vistalite on July 19th. The EP vinyl is available for preorder now and includes the vinyl exclusive "Golden Days."

After You

MUSIC

6 New Songs You Should Hear This Week: The Times, They Are a-Changing

Featuring tracks from Suki Waterhouse, Jimi Somewhere, Shura, and more.

This week's new indie music selections oscillate between nostalgia and a resolute desire to embrace the present and future. While Jimi Somewhere, Suki Waterhouse and Rae Isla miss bygone times, Tierra Whack is done with bullshit and ready to power into her strength, and Holly Herndon is basically already living in the matrix.

Each of these songs grapples with the reality of change in a completely different way—but ultimately, each is guaranteed to remind you that you're not alone in feeling a lot of things about it.

1. Jimi Somewhere — "I Shot My Dog / 1st Place"

Jimi Somewhere's newest release is a harmony-laden, sun-drenched tune in the vein of Kevin Abstract and Roy Blair. It's an angsty and expansive track that seems meant for lying on the floor of your mom's basement, staring at the vomit stain from one of your high school parties, questioning everything and missing your childhood dog. But it also has enough energy to propel you off that floor, out onto the highway and into a dramatic running scene that ends with you kneeling down in a wheat field and suddenly deciding to change your life, dedicating yourself to love rather than self-pity. "I Shot My Dog" is a mixed bag of emotions, and it's a promising taste of the Norwegian up-and-comer's first EP.

2. Suki Waterhouse — Good Looking

Suki Waterhouse - Good Looking (Official Video)www.youtube.com

The English singer returns with an almost luxuriously vapid single that sounds like a ripoff of a Twin Peaks trance-ballad. But the fluorescent guitar and opulently dramatic ending give the song a trippy, relaxing warmth, making it feel kind of like a sonic hot spring. It's a saccharine, glistening tribute to superficiality, and it feels kind of like wandering through Sephora, fully aware that you're being sold exorbitantly expensive products that will benefit you in absolutely no way—but not letting that stop you from lingering over the latest colorstay vegan moisturizing face-rejuvenating turmeric-infused eyeshadow palate, $75. Fortunately, listening to "Good Looking" is free and will give you the same rush of bittersweet joy you would receive from any overpriced cosmetics.

3. Rae Isla — "American Paradise"

Rae Isla - American Paradise (Official Audio)www.youtube.com

As long as humans have existed, we've dreamed of paradises—a certain garden, nirvana, and heaven are only a few of the perfect worlds we've imagined and clung to in times of duress. In "American Paradise," Rae Isla pays her tribute to a haven of her own—our ever-idealized California dream. Vaguely reminiscent of old Irish folk songs, full of seasonal imagery and lit with a spacy kind of innocence, this nostalgic ballad is ultimately about fear of change. "Oh this country, so divided with its science and faith. Give me freedom in the valley / that is where I'll find my place," she sings. "California, do you love me?" It's unclear whether she's singing to California the state, a lover, some lost sense of happiness and peace, or a combination of all three, but regardless, "American Paradise" is about the all-too-human longing for escape.

4. Shura, "BKLYNLDN"

Shura - BKLYNLDNwww.youtube.com

Since the release of her debut album Nothing's Real in 2016, British songwriter and producer Shura has been quiet, but her new single "BKLYNLDN" breaks the silence with an intoxicating beat and expertly delicate orchestrations. Shura moved from London to Brooklyn to be with her girlfriend, and the song reflects the fear and excitement that defines major life changes. "We could take the subway to the beach where there's a breeze, cause we're in America," she sings, making it clear that she is, indeed, new to Brooklyn. Just wait, Shura, the bedbugs will find you. But for anyone who's ever made a long-term move or sacrifice in pursuit of love, this song will resonate—and plus the video is a sultry tribute to queer love, sure to engage the attention of everyone who's ever been attracted to a woman, or felt the sting of a difficult romance.

5. Holly Herndon, "Eternal"

Holly Herndon - Eternal (Official Video)www.youtube.com

This erratic work of electronica is a collaboration between Herndon and an A.I. she created called "Spawn." Herndon, a longtime computer musician, has thought long and hard about the implications of making music with an inhuman partner. "I don't want to live in a world in which humans are automated off stage," she said in a statement. "I want an A.I. to be raised to appreciate and interact with that beauty." While these are important discussions to be exploring, "Eternal" sounds a little bit too synthetic to feel like an actual expression of emotion or a cohesive composition. It's a little too caught up in its lofty ideals, a little too close to the uncanny valley—but maybe that's the point.

6. Tierra Whack — "Wasteland"

Tierra Whack – Wasteland (Audio)www.youtube.com

#WhackHistoryMonth just keeps getting better and better. On "Wasteland," the rising star laces aggressive lyrics over a mellow beat and churchy organ motif. She shows off her singing voice alongside effortless bars as the tune sways and swells at just the right times, echoing sentiments shared by any woman who has simply been Done with a man's shit. True to her innovative release style, Whack has been releasing one new song each week this month as a prelude to her upcoming 2019 LP.


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York City. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.


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CULTURE

Collective Unconscious or Conscious Appropriation: Did Mac DeMarco Steal Mitski's Cowboy Archetype?

Mitski's cowboy was a meaningful subversion of patriarchal norms. What is Mac's cowboy trying to say?

Mitski has repeatedly announced that she doesn't care that fellow indie rocker Mac DeMarco just released a single called "Nobody," off his forthcoming new album, Here Comes the Cowboy. Of course, this news is coming about a year after the release of Mitski's fifth album, Be the Cowboy—which also happened to feature a lead single called "Nobody."


MAC DEMARCO - NOBODYwww.youtube.com

On social media, Mitski has been persistently laughing the whole thing off, writing that "I'm 100% sure Mac and I just went fishing in the same part of the collective unconscious… Idk you Mac and you clearly didn't know me lol but thanks for the laugh."

Still, it's hard to understand why no one—no producer, songwriter, or marketing agent—mentioned the similarities. To compound the strangeness, Mitski and DeMarco also both have the same PR person, whom Mitski apparently talks to every day. "What's wild is we have the same PR, so I LOVE my personal conspiracy theory that she heard the album and track titles but kept quiet thinking maybe some Mac fans will mistakenly find me," Mitski added.

After all, both musicians occupy comparable levels of recognition in a similar sector of indie rock. Plus Mitski's Be the Cowboy was one of 2018's best reviewed and most highly ranked albums; Mac and his team would've had to ignore every end-of-year list to have never heard of her.

Their music's also relatively similar, in that they both favor ambient guitars, world-weary lyrics, and dreamy imagery (just listen to DeMarco's "Moonlight on the River" next to Mitski's "Pink in the Night" for comparably psychedelic, mournful, lonely-in-the-dark sentiments)—though their takes on "Nobody" couldn't be more different. Mitski's is a frenetic pop-disco scream that touches on global warming and loneliness, whereas Mac's is a typically low-key, abstract musing that may be about television's ruinous effects on humanity.

Pink in the Nightwww.youtube.com

Moonlight on the Riverwww.youtube.com

Although Mitski might be cool with the presence of more than one cowboy in this town, her fans have not been as accepting. Today, Mitski implored enraged fans not to leap to her defense, tweeting, "while the mob is still in there fighting on my behalf. You may turn against me for saying this, I accept that, I just have to admit it's terrifying to have a big group of strangers acting on my behalf in ways I'd never act myself, and I don't even seem to matter in the equation."

So, to borrow a phrase from a review she wrote about Harry Styles, if Mitski reads this, she'll probably hate it. In that review, Mitski discussed the way that One Direction functions as an idealized projection screen for fans in need of pretty-boy icons to worship. In a very similar way, although Mitski may not have wanted this to happen, her music has become a projection screen for fans treasuring the opportunity to see their identities and emotions represented in an articulate and nuanced way.

After all, Mitski's utilization of cowboy imagery was a purposefully subversive reclamation of an archetypically masculine, colonialist trope. The cowboy—like the kings and demigods that preceded him—is usually a man, violently in charge, and always getting what he wants. Mitski's cowboy turned that trope on its head.

In an interview with The Outline, Mitski explained her album's title, saying that it "kind of came from the fact that I would always kind of jokingly say to myself, "Be the cowboy you wish to see the world," whenever I was in a situation where maybe I was acting too much like my identity, which is wanting everyone to be happy, not thinking I'm worthy, being submissive, and not asking for more. Every time I would find myself doing exactly what the world expects of me as an Asian woman, I would turn around and tell myself 'Well, what would a cowboy do?'"

Mac DeMarco's explanation was a bit different. "Cowboy is a term of endearment to me, I use it often when referring to people in my life. Where I grew up, there are many people that sincerely wear cowboy hats and do cowboy activities. These aren't the people I'm referring to," he said.

Looking at these descriptions side by side, it's easy to see that while Mitski herself might not be angry, some of her fans—many of whom don't often get to see much powerful, successful representation of their identities, mostly due to oppressive hegemonies of white power—might be taking offense. Mitski has grappled before with the implications of her music being taken as something far more symbolic and political than she intended. In response to suggestions that her "Your Best American Girl" was a fuck-you to white male-led music culture, she stated that the song was only about how she personally felt while processing her identity as a Japanese American woman in a relationship with a white man.

But one of Mitski's greatest talents is her ability to make microscopic views of her experience feel universal, and many fans have leaned into this, understanding her music as a touchstone of power, a nuanced and subversive center of solidarity and truth in a white supremacist-run world.

Mitski - Your Best American Girl (Official Video)www.youtube.com

Maybe this all was nothing more than a coincidence. But if Mitski and Mac DeMarco were truly fishing in the "same part of the collective unconscious," what corner of the mind was this, exactly? Maybe the cowboy represents a universal desire for a real hero in an era that seems to desperately need one, or something similarly loaded. But in all likelihood, DeMarco was probably just incredibly stoned, heard Be the Cowboy, and later became wholly convinced he'd dreamt it up himself.

Regardless, Be the Cowboyis available for streaming everywhere, and Here Comes the Cowboy will be coming for us all on May 10th.


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York City. Follow her on Twitter at @edenarielmusic.


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With all the new music being constantly released, it can be hard to figure out what to listen to amidst the noise. So here's a curated selection of five of the best indie songs released in the past week.

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