Category: NEW MUSIC

   “Sunshine” by Vivant, feat. Kid Sora & Nova Garden is just that: sunshine. It’s bright and lively. The melody is fun and catchy, and its lyrics have a meaningful and uplifting message. “I may be under the weather, but I know that things get better”, sings Nova Garden on the track’s chorus. Maybe it’s just my SAD, but I feel that this song made me legitimately miss the days before the sun started to set at four o’clock. On the flipside, it also reminded me that daylight savings time will start one day and we’ll get to enjoy the sun in the hours where we’re not at school or at work. 

     The song begins with a wavy reverb chord, and ends in a similar way, giving the song a very solid and cohesive feel while keeping it airy at the same time. The song has a hyperpop energy, exemplified through its 100 gecs-like vocals and vibrant melody. The first lyrics on the song after its intro are a candid expression of feelings that all too many of us have felt during the pandemic: “Honestly I’ve been feeling really fucking down, all my melodies are fixated on sounding like a frown”. The song makes sure in the next line (and effortlessly so) to tell the listener that even if they’re feeling this way, things get better, “it’s 2 P.M. the sun is out and I can feel its warmth, even if I’d rather close the curtains and ignore it”. 

     Kid Sora comes in after the first chorus, smoothly adding his contribution to this delightfully collaborative song. The three artists work very well with each other, each of them adding their own unique touches to the song, creating a bright and hopeful track through their cohesion. This is a good song to listen to when you need a sunshine mood boost in your day — this world is way too crazy and the sun sets waaay too early.

Yeah, you’re gonna want to play this song a few times.

https://soundcloud.com/lovevivant/sunshine-w-kid-sora-nova-garden

Written by Lola Works

This song leaves a definite impact on your soul at first listen. It’s the color of a hazy golden halo. Ivy Sole’s lyrics are revelatory, purging, desiring, and dreaming. “I wanna shake beneath the covers, shape-shift into a bevy of light, I wanna sink into a heavy delight.” The music is simple, featuring whistles and soft piano keys – moving like ocean waves beneath the storytelling of the artist. It is one of those songs you find few times in a lifetime. Iojii’s feature exemplifies the religious undertones of the song, they highlight the feeling of chasing infinity, through the hardship “What’s concrete to a rose? Still on my feet I rose.” The meaning of “kismet” is fate, and the song is a hopeful ode to honoring your destiny by recognizing it. The final line burns into the head of the listener as it flows through the ears into the veins “you can call it the same difference, but au contraire we don’t travel the same distance, follow the same stars, or swallow the same tempest.”

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“Soft Spot” by Claud is a track perfect for a 2000s coming of age film. Between the detailed storytelling and strumming guitar, it’s the quintessential indie pop song. “You made it clear that it’s over now, but you’re all that I think about, so now I don’t know what the hell to do…” Hopefully this year we get a different year, with summers close to friends and strangers. So we can play this song while we lay in the bed of a truck driving to nowhere. The chorus is catchy and heartfelt. The track a warm fuzzy feeling of having someone you can’t stop thinking about. “I wished I left all my things at your place so I could come get them. We do things we might regret and say that we could make exceptions..”. A meeting of the lovesick, yearning, and playful mind.

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Lava La Rue and Deb Never’s single “Angel” instantly transports one back in time and to the future with its modern-80’s mixture. Its intensely irresistible chord progressions, dreamy guitar intro, and blend of punchy rap & smooth vocals take the listener on an auditory adventure into the mind of the lyricist. When the beat drops, one can feel themselves stepping into a musical experience full of nostalgia, as La Rue longs for the “angel” that she’s been missing, the nostalgia amplified by lines like “Angel, I’ll come back, don’t you wait too long”. The prevailing theme of longing for a love that once was, transmitted by the disco-esque bassline and addictive synthesizer add to the song’s profound and indescribable effect. This song sparkles with its vivid imagery, vibey synth, and 80s glamour. A great listen with great lyrics.

Written by Lola Works

Minty fresh and seabreeze clean. This song is like popping bubblegum, swiping your hair behind your ear and lying in the grass in a park – watching the clouds do circles and the sun adventure across the horizon. Carrie’s project BADEXPRESSION is astounding, the song “mint” is my favorite off the release. It is sweet and new. The lyrics hide sad sentiments behind words of “I can’t do this anymore”. The beat transforms the track from a mellow sound into a pop-edm realm. “Mint” is a precious jewel awaiting discovery in the depths of the music world.

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With a mellow guitar and drowned out 808s, Samuel Ivy descends into pop euphoria with new track “Me & You”. The song is themed around a love for somebody that you want to grow with, somebody that you admire “goddamn you’re so worth it, bring me back to Earth, yeah.” The chorus is easily the song’s greatest highlight, making the song play in your head long after – a pop hit is incomplete without it. “Baby if you go down, Imma bring you up, watch you buy your own house, I know you are a boss”. Catchy, love-songs are rare this year, as most artists have polarized themselves in new genre-bending, lyric-twisting spaces. We have been consuming music most reflective of the year 2020, music describing the dark uncertainty most have felt in this time. Ivy reflects on this in his song saying “2020, the whole world is acting fucked up, but you know how to ease my mind”. Produced, engineered, and written by Samuel Ivy, the song reinforces Ivy as an emerging force in the underground scene, not only producing for artists like Katana – but creating individual projects that highlight his own talents. This new track is a clear step by Ivy towards this new era of personal growth. “Me & You” draws us back to the pop music that marked legacy in the 2010’s – reminding us that not all is lost in changing times and that not all is lost in love.

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I describe “tour” by cyberspace as a gritty, upbeat track that feels like the gravel on Sunset boulevard. With a sound similar to what Blackbear delivered on Deadroses in 2015, cyberspace emerges into the underground soundcloud scene with a hint of familiar pop but an undeniable newness. “Will you miss me when I’m gone on tour?” is the song’s main premise, the shiny new elements of a popstar lifestyle and the subtle dangers in it all. Produced by shoelace, the beat features surf-rock elements with crystal clear drums that keep the vibe of the song upbeat. This song is best served under a setting sun on the beach of California. It’s one of those songs you just can’t stop listening to. 

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There is something about Katana’s music that always strikes a nerve. She is fearless, powerful – using her voice to transport lyrics into music that resonates. Produced by Samuel Ivy, “Bad Timing” is a song about being in a relationship with someone who isn’t ready to be in one – as the artist describes in the Soundcloud description of the song.

The song begins with harmonizing vocals, bleeding into the lyrics “I hate this, so distant, because we both don’t feel the same, you said things and I meant it, guess that’s what I always stayed. But if you knew this was temporary, why couldn’t you say that.” It would take the whole written piece to write the lyrics in which Katana shows skill and soul, because every single line is delivered with sincerity. 

“You got some shit you need to heal from, and I got a past to forget”. This relationship is not ready to happen, even if the people are ready for each other. Because a relationship makes you lose some of yourself and brings to the forefront the problems you have not dealt with alone. Katana wishes the relationship’s flaws are due to the wrong timing, and hopes that as time goes on, the relationship will change with it – in hopes of a “someday”. The chorus sings, “I can’t help but wonder, what it could have been…”

Katana is on her way to a level of stardom few know. Her style is unique and she is confident in herself, true to the music she makes all the way to her bones. “Bad Timing” is the beginning of all that is to come. Keep Katana on your radar.

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In less than two minutes, Fats’e & 93FEETOFSMOKE deliver a haunting track that is felt sharp in the brain of the listener like a razor. In the middle of the song, the instrumental switches from being a smooth, piano piece to featuring glitch-pop elements. The song draws back to the original, confessional tone. “I need a doormat, I need a chaser, I need like 4 more. I picked up the pacers cuz I need a taser I need a backpack dripped out in flowers I need my life back.” The lyrics are stirring and detailed: “hundred moon rounds. and the shoes so sticky, no sleep cuz the sheets so itchy, full blood moon when the teeth get pointy, I can see it in your eyes when I let u down”. “Fullbloodmoon/taser” is a track that leads you back to your emo middle school days of blood vampiric fantasy – adding the modern twist of growing up and seeing through the deceit of every love story you were told.

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This song begins by bringing you to your feet with its disco beat. You imagine your hair swinging side to side, and your hands up under color lights – but slowly, a narrative unfolds and “str8, white TRASH” earns its place as an emerging LGBTQ+ anthem. “Str8, white TRASH” is an ode to the 70’s with a clear modern distinction. “Hang up the phone, and then you’re all alone, but you still show up to get your pay check.” The powerful song has a certain sadness beautifully mosaicing with the music. The lyrics tell a story about a straight white man with a wife, who is secretly gay. The man causes problems with the song’s protagonist and his friends, due to their sexuality. This causes the singer, Joby Bond to respond, “we’re stronger than you think we are. We don’t stand for any straight white trash. If you were not so damning on us, it would be slightly more okay.” The song ends with a dancing electric guitar riff that continues to accentuate the song’s beautiful instrumental while letting the story really sink in. Joby Bond narrates a powerful story in “str8, white trash” in a sonic landscape of nostalgia. “We don’t even need to hear it, we don’t even need to see it, we don’t even need to feel it…”, the track is about confronting what hurts you and laughing in its face: the ultimate “I don’t care anymore”. 

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