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Everything is worse in the gray light of winter: your job sucks harder, your relationship jumps into the toilet, and to top it off, your chapped face is scaring small children. It’s called the sads, and you’ve got them. Fear not: a healthy dose of our Seasonal Affective Dance (S.A.D.) playlist and the world will be right again! Let your manically-excited friends Rusko, Unicorn Kid, Fool’s Gold, Eli Escobar, Canblaster and a masked Azealia Banks bring the bright with energetic, squiggly and smiley dance jams tailored-made to turn that frown upside down. Consider this list your well-deserved sonic light box. All you have to do is go turn up the hi-fi and let it shine.
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This life, the one that Donnis and Juicy J depict on this new track "Bout That Life," is pretty misogynist, drug-addled and obsessed with being a pimp in the traditional sense. Maybe not the best strategy for a healthy American society, but, man, it's a lot of fun. The beat rumbles like a bomb got dropped down the street and both rappers praise "chicks on poles," "blowing green" and "sippin' lean." Uh, yup.
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(Photo: D.L. Anderson)
Bowerbirds: Is there nothing that their sweet, earthy folk-pop can’t remedy? Case in point, second single “In The Yard” feels like being enveloped in Grandma’s quilt. There’s something so familial and comforting in this pretty campfire duet; the soft plonking of keys, low-country strum and chorus of gentle “ohs” are woven into a patchwork of pure, woodsy warmth. This and more lovely stuff resides on The Clearing, out through Dead Oceans come March.
U.K. rockers Little Barrie released their first two albums in 2005 and 2007, but had largely fallen out of the spotlight until recently, when the band emerged with a new third album King Of The Waves. Produced by the band and Edwyn Collins, the songs retain Little Barrie’s signature post-punk stomp, showcasing raucous, funk-tinged tracks that just feel very British (in a good way). “Twisted Little Blades” is one of these tracks – a jumping, catchy number that gives a sense of the band’s rowdy live shows.
(Photo: Vanessa Heins)
On "Walk With Me," Memoryhouse sound like they built a studio in the prettiest cloud they could find. Airy, plodding, tastefully orchestrated and with just enough anthemic indie elements to soundtrack college evenings, the track serves as an intriguing sample for the group's full-length Sub Pop debut The Slideshow Effect. Look for more February 28.
Guitar dreamer Dustin Wong just wants to psych and bliss you out. Will you let him? On one hand, "Pink Diamond" is a delay pedal clinic with notes overlapping, flickering and bending into a mess of minimalist composition. On the other, this is pure interplanetary music. If your head felt like this all the time… well, that would be good. Hear more on Dreams Say, View, Create Shadow Leads – a new full-length which drops February 21 on Thrill Jockey.
Michael Francis is gearing up to release his debut album the Cold Heart Chronicles LP, and now the New Jersey native gives fans an official introduction to the project with “Her Song.” Produced by Back The Beast and originally recorded in 2009, the serene, swooning, sentimental track marks the beginning of a love story that Francis weaves intricately throughout the album.
Get acquainted with Example – the British rapper and singer who’s been steadily racking up hits on the UK Album Charts and is now building a following Stateside. His third album Playing In The Shadows debuted in September (at #1 on the UK charts) led by the hit single “Changed The Way You Kiss Me.” Over the bass and synth-heavy beat, the 29-year-old weaves a familiar tale of love and troubles with the opposite sex.
