The Matinee ’22 v. 113 is all the entertainment you’ll need on this Friday, August 26th, as the nine songs are like short films. They humorously address our fallacies, reveal our deepest secrets and emotions, and shock and awe.
For more entertaining delights, spin the Songs of August 2022 playlist on Spotify and SoundCloud.
Dumb – “Pull Me Up” (Vancouver, Canada)
RIYL: Parquet Courts; Ought; Black Country, New Road
Why We’re Digging It: When Dumb shared a double single last month with “Dropout” and “Sleep Like a Baby”, we mentioned that “we might have found our new favorite band.” We now have to amend this statement, removing the word “might” thanks to “Pull Me Up”.
The Vancouver group’s newest single is a microcosm of their music – witty, amusing, observant, and insightful. The song bounces along like an oblivious person skipping through the park. Front-man Franco Rossino, however, is anything but oblivious to his situation. As the jangly guitar skips across the tapping percussion while a second guitar growls in the background, Rossino reveals how the spiraling world affects his thoughts, dreams, and actions.
“I’ve been having nightmares where the feds are at my door
You’re inciting insurrection like we’ve never seen before
Yeah I’ve gone through proper process, civil discourse isn’t helping
And if I’m being honest, yeah I think it’s disrespecting”
Album Information: Dumb’s new album, Pray 4 Tomorrow, emerges November 11th on Mint Records. Pre-order it on Bandcamp. The band includes Franco Rossino (guitar, vocals), Shelby Vredik (bass), Nick Short (guitar), and Pipé Morelli (drums).
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The Paranoyds – “BWP” (Los Angeles, USA)
RIYL: Sonic Youth + Geese + U.S. Girls
Why We’re Digging It: While we never got the chance to see Sonic Youth during their height in the ’80s and early ’90s, we can imagine what the underground sessions could have been like thanks to bands such s The Paranoyds. With their latest single, Staz Lindes, Lexi Funston, Laila Hashemi, and David Ruiz send us into the bowels of New York City, unveiling a wave of distorted guitars that would make Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon look on with great admiration. Lindes’ voice, too, is drenched in reverb, sharing witty observations about how every bit of minutiae is overanalysed and yet can affect our state of mind.
“Stuck-in-place-face, they call it acting
Ends with a nod, a wink eyes meet
Under the table things, you wanna come clean?
If you confess I’ll look into the rest, audit a congress diplomatic nonsense
Hang a jury like I’m hanging laundry
Tickles your throat, I’m onto something”
Album Information: Talk Talk Talk will be released September 9th via Third Man Records. Pre-order it on Bandcamp.
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Elijah Wolf – “Holding This In” (Brooklyn, USA)
RIYL: The Dig, The Zolas, Sea Wolf
Why We’re Digging It: While the world is engulfed in conflict, Elijah Wolf reminds us that the human race is still a caring and kind species – or at least we can be. On his newest single, “Holding This In”, which was produced by Sam Cohen, Wolf delivers a masterclass in East Coast indie rock. It commences with a diligent approach, as a lightly reverb-drenched guitar hums behind a tapping drum line and synth blips. Wolf’s falsetto, meanwhile, is engaging and intimate, as if he’s next to us. He tells us that “It’s all right” to feel the way we do, although his words may also be directed to himself. “And it’s real and I’m still holding this in / This kindness you’re offering / It’s real but I’m holding this in”, he goes on to say as the guitar growls more loudly before reaching an epic climax.
“Holding This In” is a timely number as summer comes to an end and we go our separate ways. As we do, continue to look after one another.
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Coco – “Rough Water” (New York City, USA)
RIYL: Dirty Projectors, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire
Why We’re Digging It: As admirers of Coco‘s members’ other projects – the band includes Maia Friedman of Dirty Projectors and Uni Ika Ai, Dan Molad who performs with Lucius and Chimney, and Oliver Hill from Pavo Pavo and Dustrider – we had to share the trio’s newest single, “Rough Water”. Well, we didn’t have to. However, when a song resembles what The New Pornographers could have been like circa 1979, we were left with very little choice.
Blustery, buoyant, and bombastic, “Rough Water” is the ear-worm to help us get through the final day of the work week. An outstanding, chugging bass line leads the way, acting as the song’s heartbeat. The trio’s voices, meanwhile, swirl alongside the psychedelic keys and synths, and their lyrics are trippier than the arrangement. They have literally taken us down the rabbit hole, delivering words that could have been written by Hunter S. Thompson if he had penned Alice in Wonderland.
“Look, it’s a desert hare in passage
It shook and it’s limping to the master
Be a mirror!
Take the reflection as a buffer
Just wait and the arrows that you suffer
Don’t matter”
Wild and whimsical, just like how Friday songs should be.
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BLYN – “YNML” (Seattle, USA)
RIYL: Son Lux, Pedestrian, Radiohead
Why We’re Digging It: Most know we are massive Radiohead fans, and we tend to avoid songs that try to replicate the legendary English band’s music because there can only be one Radiohead. Now if a band draws inspiration from the Oxford-formed group and adds their own dynamic, then our interests are piqued. We’re not talking about Muse-like music, but rather entries that take us further into the darkness while still being cinematic in scope. This is what Seattle quartet BLYN have created with “YNML”.
The song features a strong Radiohead influence, particularly in the Jonny Greenwood-esque lingering guitar that opens the track and gradually intensifies. BLYN, however, go in a different direction, entering the darkwave wonderland that bands like Son Lux, Pedestrian, and Polića have mastered. This culminates in a brilliant, widescreen finale, where we are left with the impression that it is possible for a band to create something that expands upon the brilliance of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Philip Selway.
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Lucid Express – “Lime” (Elliott Frazier remix) (Hong Kong)
RIYL: Ringo Deathstarr, Pinkshinyultrablast, Lush
Why We’re Digging It: While Hong Kong may not be an indie hotbed in comparison to London, Brooklyn, or Austin, Lucid Express emerged from the city where East meets West. The quintet were born in the early 2010s, and they gradually became a cult favorite whose fans include members of some of the best shoegaze and dreamgaze bands on the planet. Elliott Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr is one of them, and he along with several others are helping to get the word out about Lucid Express by remixing songs from the five-piece’s 2015 debut EP, Floret. The first track is “Lime”, which is what great shoegaze should be.
And that is an interstellar dream. Both versions of the song are included. The original cut is rawer in its form, yet it still possesses the lush, cosmic driftlessness often associated with the music of the aforementioned Ringo Deathstarr and Pinkshinyultrablast. It’s 210 seconds of pure escapism. The remastered, remixed version from Frazier, meanwhile, is crisper and sharper with front-woman Kim’s lush voice front and center and sounding like it is coming from somewhere deep in the black stillness of space. It is the beacon we follow, entering a place where we are revived. Where we feel alive once again.
Album Information: The remastered Floret releases October 21st with pre-orders available on Bandcamp. The EP is being released on vinyl for the first time, and it will include remixes from Elliott Frazier, Orchin, For Tracy Hyde, The B.V.’s, and Max Bloom of Yuck.
camp blu. – “Madame Murder” (Miami, USA)
RIYL: Cold Cave + DIIV + Preoccupations
Why We’re Digging It: While many genres have been resurrected as artists and bands look to the past for inspiration (plus there’s the Stranger Things effect), coldwave has not received as much attention. So when receiving “Madame Murder” from camp blu., the project of Angelo Ruiz, we were excited. The track is gloomy and dark yet at the same time glistens with the gauzy guitar line that pops throughout the track. The guttural bass and tingling percussion, however, are what drive the track, creating the mystery and suspense to Ruiz’s terrific songwriting.
Inspired by the film, The Power Of The Dog, the Miami-based artist describes the protagonist’s fall from grace. He is like Patrick Bateman, living another life where he acts up upon his “sinful” temptations. His victims, though, include his wife, who is left picking up the pieces of a life destroyed. Of a marriage that comes to an unexpected ending. This tune is simply awesome.
Scout Gillett – “slow dancin’” (Brooklyn via Kansas City, USA)
RIYL: Wy, Angel Olsen, Future Islands
Why We’re Digging It: From the second we heard Scout Gillett’s one to ten, we were hooked. Gillett’s sound blends so many of the qualities that define some of the best songwriters out there today. That’s made even more obvious with “slow dancin'”. Despite what its name may suggest, the song’s rumbling bass line will have you up and moving way more than any slow tune. Gillet’s voice goes from a mere mumble to huge soaring moments as the song goes on. Add in the crunchy guitar chords and pulsing drumbeat, the track is a force of nature, depicting Gillett’s examination of her frustration with love. As she shares, “People too often play games. My take is: let’s just cut to the chase.”
Album Information: Gillett’s new album, no roof no floor, releases October 28th on Captured Tracks. Click this link or go directly to Bandcamp to pre-order it.
Atta Boy– “Spring Seventeen” (Los Angeles, USA)
RIYL: Why Bonnie, Maple Glider, Tomberlin
Why We’re Digging It: Laid-back folk vibes ease the listener into “Spring Seventeen”, the latest single from Atta Boy. The song transitions from a fantastic indie-folk track into something much more thanks to its small guitar inflections that recall late The Beatles tracks. Singer Eden Brolin’s voice is a perfect companion to the music. Whether it’s alone or drenched in harmonies, there’s a power behind each word she delivers. Lyrically, it’s wonderfully crafted, from its immersive word choice to the story it tells. The story of a bad memory resurfacing and reframing it through context of the time passed.
“Caught in a brief memory
Like a song you get used to
Loosen the grip of reverie
From distractions I’ve been to
I don’t know you like I used to
Already forgetting you”
You can stream the single here. No upcoming record has been announced, but Atta Boy also shared another single, “Boys”, recently.
The band includes: Eden Brolin (vocals), Dashel Thompson (piano), Freddy Reish (guitar), and Lewis Pullman (drums)
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