The Weekend Fuzz: Neck deep
Good weekend to you my friends, and welcome to the Fuzz! I’ve returned after a hiatus of a few weeks to bring you some absolutely stellar tunes that have been on rotation this past month. “Hiatus?” you contest, “.. but dear Fresno, you are simply a figment of the internet and you are not an actual being! How can you be on hiatus?” Well, my good sir or sirette, I assure you that I am in fact a real human individual with operational organs and thoughts. Although I may appear to be a collection of characters on a blog you read once in a while, in the real world (or IRL as you might prefer) I’ve been neck deep in school and volunteer work. Not to mention neck deep in snow. Currently, i’m putting together a six-page content analysis regarding references to drugs and alcohol in Top 40 music, as well as spending my spare hours volunteering at the local college radio station CJSW. So my dear friend or friendette, lets curtail the personal deets and settle into the swath of soothing serenades i’ve selected specifically for this snowy Saturday.
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Japanese-Wallpaper-Breathe-In-feat.-Wafia.mp3|titles=Japanese Wallpaper – Breathe In (feat. Wafia)]
Japanese Wallpaper – Breathe In (ft. Wafia)
Japanese Wallpaper is 16 year-old Gab Strum from down under. Australia is no stranger to young talented artists, and the radiowaves have been snatching these kids straight out of the kangaroo pouch. When I first heard “Breathe In” about a month ago I was immediately struck with Gab’s modest brilliance. I fired him an email and asked if he heard the new Oliver Tank song, and coincidentally he was on his way to see Active Child and the aforementioned Tank that very same evening. I was awash with jealously, but that’s one of the perks of being in an epicenter of new music. You can currently catch him on instagram uploading incredible photos mid-Eurotrip, and I imagine he’ll be making a bigger splash on the music scene in the years to come.
Consider this: he was born in 1997. Now don’t you feel old?
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Junip-Walking-Lightly.mp3|titles=Junip – Walking Lightly]
Junip – Walking Lightly
I first blogged about Junip sometime back in February around the release of their single “Line of Fire”. To be completely frank, they faded off my radar until a few days ago when I heard the song ‘Walking Lightly’. I was completely obsessed. I spent the next 24 hours repeating the chorus under my breath, and there’s something absolutely bacterial infectious about the track. They’ve been tinkering with music for fifteen years, and just released their self-titled back in April. It’s absolute indie-psychedelia bliss.
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Kevin-Morby-Slow-Train-Featuring-Cate-Le-Bon.mp3|titles=Kevin Morby – Slow Train (Featuring Cate Le Bon)]
Kevin Morby – Slow Train (Featuring Cate Le Bon)
Ah, Slow train. A truly ‘Cass McCombs-ian’ effort from this newcomer. Morby is a member of The Babies as well as Woods, two bands I admittedly have never heard of, but Morby sheds his compatriots for his first solo album ‘Harlem River’. Everything about this jam is heaven, from the sleepy guitar strumming to Cate Le Bon’s late accented vocals. Not only is it similar to Cass McCombs in sound and style, the dude even sorta looks like a young Cass (oh god sorry Cass I love you)
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-Landing-Anxieties.mp3|titles=The Landing – Anxieties]
The Landing – Anxieties
‘Anxieties’ is a star-spangled jammer from an artist crafting spacey pop tracks out of his apartment in Brooklyn, NY. It’s pretty easy to get lost in this beat, the keys just send you soaring. The choir vocals only add to the enchantment, and the result is absolute magic.
The Landing’s songwriting blends an elegant falsetto with a sense of wonder and a talent for orchestration. Overtop an artful mix of electronic and acoustic ear candy features softly sung themes of ambition, discovery and the human condition. A student of astronomy with a taste for the theatrical, The Landing seeks to turn a personal struggle of finding ones place in the Universe into an anthem for the optimistic.
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Message-to-Bears-Moonlight.mp3|titles=Message to Bears- Moonlight]
Message To Bears – Moonlight
Jerome Alexander’s single ‘Moonlight’ is beautiful meritage of acoustic and synth, a layered dream, and the second track on his new album ‘Maps’, on sale for a bargain at bandcamp. It’s lonely music, appealing to the introspective intellectual, but there’s a certain optimism in Jerome’s words ‘We’ll be there some day‘. Throw this Englishman some coin for his sublime work.
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Garden-City-Movement-Move-On.mp3|titles=Garden City Movement – Move On]
Move On – Garden City Movement
Speaking of dreams, the Isreali three-piece Garden City Movement has the early favorite for my song of the year. The breakdown before the chorus leaves me with goosebumps, and the song absolute drips with moisture. It’s a rain-trodden waking dream, a torrential wave of sensuality and beauty. ‘Move On’ could very easily be a song by Parisian Dream Koala, however the ocean-deep vocals set Garden City Movement apart. Put this one on repeat
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Panama-Destroyer.mp3|titles=Panama – Destroyer]
Panama – Destroyer
I could make a very lofty mixtape of synth-heavy 80’s-inspired music, and Panama’s ‘Destroyer’ would be the first track on the list. I was born right in ’89, right on the fringe of the next decade, yet in those short sixteen days I caught a fever. And the only prescription has been more synth. There’s something inexplicably John Hughes about ‘Destroyer’, if he ever managed to make a flick with Molly Ringwald in outer space, I imagine she’d dance to this song. Images of neo-futuristic Japan are also conjured, and i’m not entirely sure why. It’s a perplexing song for me mentally, however I can be certain i’ll be sharing ‘Destroyer’ with everyone I can. Grab the ‘Always’ EP over at bandcamp
[audio:https://thenewlofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/OnlyReal-Get-it-On.mp3|titles=OnlyReal – Get it On]
Only Real – Get It On
‘Backseat Kissers’ has been a perennial favorite of mine for exactly one year; back in 2012 I heard Only Real’s unique bratty-brit-hop for the first time and I was hooked. The sound was completely unique, and expect to hear a lot more in the near future since he just signed a major record deal with Virgin yesterday. ‘Get it On’ is a slap-happy romp, a true song for the weekend, and the point at which we’ll end the Fuzz.
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Thanks for tuning in once again! Look forward to more frequent updates as the Fuzz invades your weekday with “Fuzzworthy”, coming soon!
