Category: NEW MUSIC

“Indirecta” is a song from Latin R&B singer riela’s new EP, llorar y perrear. If you don’t know what “llorar y perrear” means, just turn on this trap-driven song and you will. Do you ever hear the beat of a certain song and your body starts moving? That’s what might happen when you turn on “Indirecta.” The vibras are immaculate in this EP that shows off riela’s signature smooth r&b vocals and her velvety rap style that frequently accents her more upbeat songs. “Indirecta” showcases more of riela’s rap side, and she raps and sings both in Spanish and English. The song starts with its main hook, “Pa’ qué me tiras indirectas?” (“Why are you giving me hints?”) that line sets the theme of the song and begs the question. It continues with “No me enseñaron a leerlo/ Ven, y dímelo á la cara” (They didn’t teach me how to read these, come and tell it to my face)—this song is about not taking hints as an answer. It’s sexy, commanding, and confident. It’s about powerful femininity. Now I’m going to stop giving you indirectas about this song, and tell you to go listen to it instead.

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Written by Lola Works

“IF I FALL” is one of killfiji’s latest songs. Produced by Bez Dna, the track is a fast-moving, hallucinogenic moment in time. “Oh if I fall, you won’t call but I don’t need you to.” The beat transitions between melodic vocals into enticing drum breakdowns that you can imagine yourself dancing to in a club, the words “if you can pick up the pace” pushing you through sweaty bodies. 

The song falls between hyperpop and classic techno styles, made whole by killfiji’s unique musical energy. The song drifts to an end with siren-like “oohs” as the drums continue at their pulsing rhythm finally crashing into a synth that brings you to the end of the song but right to the start of your new obsession with killfiji.

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Do you need an angry summer anthem? Do you need a moment of reflection? In typical pop-rock fashion, you can bring these feelings together and dance along to “StuckintheMiddle”, MONOWHALES’ latest song. The words “don’t look back” echo in the background in the chorus while the singer belts “I’m stuck in the middle, I’m chained like an animal”. The chorus is high energy and vibrant, perfect for those late-night summer drives on the highway. The song is reminiscent of classic Paramore songs with an Against the Current kick and if you’re into those kinds of bands, this is bound to be a new favorite.

The upbeat and powerful song has a meaningful story that makes you relisten to the song multiple times, using it both to jam out to and as an escape. The singer of the band, Sally Shaar, shares that the song was written during a personally dark time saying that the song is a culmination of their experience with “intergenerational trauma, self-doubt, and a constant struggle against a male dominated world”. Sally shares this story and makes clear the importance of music for us all, whether artist, fan, or casual listener. MONOWHALES hopes this song will help to set you free.

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“She Said” by Starcrawler is mad. “She said she didn’t wanna play, I didn’t want it any other way.” The singer lures you into the song and keeps you there, beckoning “please, please come back to me” with an energetic and rebellious guitar. In one moment the singer sings “All I wanna be is anybody else” and in the next “Don’t wanna be alone and don’t want nobody else”, creating a special lyrical tension in this catchy pop-rock tune.

The song ends in a crashing and spinning manner “red lipstick is always gonna leave a stain”. Starcrawler has a unique superpower of enticement. All of their songs are catchy. “She Said” is continued proof of that packaged in a glitter-wrapped gift that explodes in a final melodic guitar solo, drifting into quiet.

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Blackpolish’s new song “Tears Are Falling” is a throwback to 90s grunge rock with a modern pop feel. Their dreamy voice sings “scary creatures in my brain, twisting features in my face, broken mirrors they create” to a drowsy repition of “in my head”.

Blackpolish sings “I’m falling, tears are falling”. Before descending into a mellow-emotional instrumental breakdown for the last time “I’m falling, tears are falling, and I’m so scared that I could die.”

Released in April, “Tears Are Falling” makes clear the growth that 17 year old Blackpolish has made as an artist since they began making music years ago, and makes us excited for what they’re getting ready to show the world.

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“Pillowcase” is the last song on Diva Bleach’s latest EP, No Fun. At first listen, “Pillowcase” by Diva Bleach might seem like a breakup song— the narrator clutching the pillow on which their love used to sleep—and this may be so. However, when you look closer at the lyrics of this “sparkly pop rock” ballad, it seems like the song might actually be dedicated to a dead pet. “Your water bowl stays empty on the kitchen tile” is the line in this song that initially suggested this to me. If this isn’t in fact a song about a dearly departed dog or a fondly remembered feline, though, it certainly poses a metaphor about the kind of emptiness that resounds in one’s life when they lose their love; it might feel a lot like the loss of an integral member of one’s family— a pet. The echoing “it feels so wrong to be fine” feels a lot like the initial shock that comes with loss, but even though the meaning of the song is very sad, its sound is that of an absolute banger.

If you like Avril Lavigne, Paramore, and 2000’s pop rock, this is the song for you, with a driving beat, sparky electric guitar, and lively-yet-emo vocals that scream early 2000’s pop-rock girl band. The lead singer Sydney belts, “Now this house that we grew up in, it feels vacant/Every time that I walk through the door, I still look to the couch where you waited” elicits the image of a long-standing presence, now gone forever. In these lines, I can imagine the narrator of the song growing up with the pup or kitten that she had since she was a child, and of course, outliving this friend. Relationships are a lot like pets— we love them, they get old, and then they die.

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Written by Lola Works

Suckerpunk is back with their new song “winter”. Despite the name sake, the song is a perfect welcome into summer with its soundscape of pop electronic bliss. Produced by glasear, sloppy, and foxy, the track exhibits Suckerpunk’s continual growth as an artist, able to make songs that sound nothing like you’ve ever heard before. The kind of songs you send to everybody saying “you have to check this out”.

“Winter” has a catchy hook buried between synth keys, “you know it’s cold in the winter at night, you know I’ve made some mistakes but I’m still everything he isn’t”.

At the end of “winter”, Suckerpunk belts “everything I went through with just to hold you, just to hold you” before the track changes pace into an upbeat pop rave song that builds into the chorus you won’t be able to erase from your head after the first listen. The song ends with Suckerpunk’s singing “gotta tell myself to breathe when I’m alone with you”. And a distorted voice carries out the song saying “you know it’s cold in the winter”.

We’ve missed you Suckerpunk.

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“Psychic Youth” begins with a mellow bass that quickens as it is carried into a distorted guitar and leveled to the beat of banging drums that speeds as the song progresses. Fusion Babies’ latest EP Conception is full of head-thrashers finished out by standout track “Psychic Youth”. The middle of “Psychic Youth” features a guitar solo that leans more psychedelic than Fusion Babies usual pure punk madness. It is embraced by the singer who yells over the solo and turns it back into a punk anthem, reclaiming the world as theirs once again.

Fusion Babies, originally from Long Beach, California have been bringing that femme punk fusion to life at shows in Southern California. The shows are red, purple, and black featuring moshing fans who relish in the atmosphere of punk freedom and bliss. You can catch Fusion Babies at the Redwood Bar, Thursday April 28th and get to experience their energy live. 

But for now, listen below

Kohinoorgasm’s latest single “Closer” joins her body of experimental lo-fi pop music. The track repeats the phrase “Everytime I get closer, you hold me too tight.” In the face of such a scarcity of words, she diversifies her execution of every vowel and consonant. Angelically elongating her vowels, she puts the listener into a trance. The song compresses a singular feeling: an amalgamation of yearning, relinquishment, femininity and exhausted beauty. This is an atmosphere which imbues their discography. 

Kohinoorgasm produces all of her own music. In “Closer” she hypnotizes us using lo-fi waves of synth as a pocket watch, with our ears in place of our eyes. Her pendulum of voice and sound swings us back and forth, left to right, round and round. It feels as if you are repeatedly getting closer and further – extending the lyric to the melody, and the melody to personal sentiment. What sentiments this may relate to in Kohinoorgasm’s world is, and most likely will remain a mystery to us. Nevertheless, the beauty of their work is in the accessibility of the theme. It demonstrates a universal relatability, offering a chance to plunge deep into one’s own individual experience. 

Towards the end of the single, she repeats the words “closer” and “every time,” emulating the repeating rhythm of drawing near and retreating far. This cyclical experience feels beautiful and meaningful. Is this why we surrender to the gyre’s whirl? To feel significant? Ultimately, it is an inescapable cycle of the same affair. She leaves the listener with the light ticking of the hi-hat. As the music lightly taps away you may contemplate, where do I keep getting closer? What holds me too tight?

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Written by Pardis Eslamieh (@pigeonally)

“Insanity, maybe she saved me” is not a song but an experience. ARIESFALLENANGEL opens up new divine realms in every single one of their mixes, taking sound as we know it — as ordinarily as we know it, and giving it new breath. 

This track makes you feel like you’re swimming in galaxies, dancing in slow swirling clouds of stars. Ariesfallenangel is based in Berlin and for those who can’t see their sets in person, their Soundcloud hosts many of their longer-length tracks. Through mixes like “the light within shines even in your darkest moment (s)” and “grieving on the dancefloor, my holy ground…” you can experience their world through the speakers.

Listen to “Insanity, maybe she saved me” here: