Stream Chvrches new Recover EP

Chvrches are a group of young producer/songwriters from Glasgow. Their profile has risen recently and now their debut EP “Recover” is available to stream through Pitchfork’s Advance series.

The group consists of vocalists Lauren Mayberry and Iain Cook, along with synth slinger Martin Doherty. They craft a familiar style of shimmering electro-pop, but what sets them apart is their conviction and a heart-on-the-sleeve seriousness. These songs are sung with conviction and there’s no posturing in sight. And, to further editorialize, when Lauren Mayberry’s brogue comes through ever-so-subtly from time to time I can feel my celtic heart melting.

Stream “Recover” below.

I Wonder if Snoop Lion is a Nice Person…

I’m walking out the Maine State Pier on a sunny Sunday in March. The pier is empty except for a group of people standing at the very end near the water. As I get a little closer it becomes clear the group is passing around at least one blunt. I’m not particularly intimidated; marijuana is not a smell that strikes fear. But as I approach I realize, much to my surprised elation, that the tallest member of the cypher is none other than the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg himself, Snoop Lion.

For anyone unaware: sometime last year the former Mr. Dogg decided to undergo a reinvention of sorts. He moved to Jamaica for a time and was rechristened “Snoop Lion” by a Rastifari leader. Since the breaking of that news, not a lot has been heard from him, presumably since he’s been smoking lots and lots of weed. I’m a bit tentative, but c’mon, this is Snoop we’re talking about, Snoop-a-loop…

The crew notices me approaching but doesn’t seem bothered. “Snoop?” I say optimistically.

“Man, who’s that sayin’ my name, what up? Whatchu doin’ out here?” I have no idea whether he’s upset.

“I’m Kevin,” I say, a little more nervous now, “I’m really sorry to bug you guys, just a big fan of your music and I felt like I had to say ‘what up’ at least.”

At this Snoop is handed the blunt (one of two in the rotation, I have now discovered) and takes the longest hit I have ever seen anyone take off of any smoking apparatus. Then he clutches the stogie-sized L between his ring finger and pinky as he thoughtfully strokes his chin beard and looks at me dubiously. Then he exhales slowly, for what feels like about 15 seconds smoke pours from his lungs. No one else is speaking.

“Maaaaan, I’m fuckin’ witchu! What up Kevin? Hit this, G…” He hands me the blunt.

“You don’t think this is gonna make me immediately jump into the Ocean?”

He starts laughing, at which his crew also starts to laugh, at which I start laughing. Then I take a hit. As soon as I’ve filled my lungs with the citrusy, heavy smoke I feel a latch give way, and to my profound embarrassment I start hacking like a rookie. He and his crew, still giggling from my previous comment, hoot with renewed hilarity.

“I…” I manage, “that’s… holy shit….”

“Yeeeeeeeah man, we stay smokin’ nuttin’ but the stickiest.”

I pass the blunt to one of his cohorts. “So what the hell you doing in Maine man? Got a show somewhere tonight or something?”

“Nah, we just stopped up here for a minute. Love Portland, good food, fine-ass hunnys,” he takes a puff off of the second blunt, which I now fear is coming my way.

“Nice! I grew up here and I love this spot, I walk down here all the time.”

Smoke billows from his mouth as he responds, “Yeah son, I just love this fuckin’ whale wall, feel me?”

“I remember when they put this thing in! It’s faded a lot… So you were down in Jamaica recently huh? Should I call you Snoop Dogg or Snoop Lion?” I take a hit off the second blunt, I navigate this one a bit more successfully, pulling with a more restrained aplomb.

“You can call me whatever you want. I got christened up by a muthafuckin’ Rasta priest and shit, and now I believe that Jah’s lifting me up,” he bows his head reverently, “Jah be lifting me up out of Babylon ana’ set me on a road to Zion, feel me?”

“I feel you man, I feel you. Feeling this tree too, shit. You guys don’t fuck around.” His crew, which has been utterly silent this entire time, chooses to respond to that with some muffled “yuuuups and ummmmhmmmms”.

“Yo Kev,” Snoop says after a moment, “whatchu doin for dinner man.”

“No plans, was just gonna head home in a few.”

He responds quickly, “Son, we getting oyyyyysters and you gonna come with us.”

“Fuck yeah, I am.” He flicks the roach into the Ocean and and we all start walking back down the pier.

I just met Snoop Lion, and now me and the crew are getting some oysters…

Hear Two Alarmingly Awesome New Vampire Weekend Songs

Vampire Weekend are kind of divisive. On the one hand they’re very popular and have one of the largest followings of any modern indie rock outfit. On the other hand, that’s a lot of qualifiers. There are plenty of people around the world who’ve never heard of them. There’s also a vociferous group that sees their music as trifling at best and offensive at worst.

Now they’re set to return with their third LP Modern Vampires of the City on May 7th. We’ve heard the live cut “Unbelievers”, but now we’ve got the first two studio tracks to be released. These guys have certainly not lost a step and we may be in for their best record yet. Check out the outstanding “Diane Young” and “Step” below. hMsM will get a stream of this album up as soon as one become available. Enjoy!

Now they’re set to return with their third LP, Modern Vampires of the City, on May

Stream Phosphorescent's New Album Muchacho

That wasn’t an imploring in broken Spanglish, the new album from Phosphorescent is called Muchacho. Phosphorescent is the solo project of Matthew Houck. The songs on Muchacho are pining and wounded, the soundtrack of one too many late-mornings waking up in desert motels and reaching across a stranger’s body for a cigarette. Check out a stream below, the album is out 3/18 on Dead Oceans.

Catchy, Good or Both? One Direction – "Kiss You"

England, 2003 A.D.

From forth the decaying arrow-riddled corpses of Nick Lachey and Joey Fatone, there issues a melodious fungus. Like a cordycepic effusion of something we didn’t know we needed, the second coming of the boy bands is now, in 2013, fully upon us.

Leading the charge is English-Irish group One Direction, who first rose to prominence after an appearance on the British version of the X Factor. Thus far they’ve swooned/infuriated us with the smash hits “That’s What Makes You Beautiful” (okay), “Live While We’re Young” (not very good), and “Little Things” (where did I leave my suicide kit?).

But now they’ve released a new song that appears destined to become their biggest hit yet. It’s called “Kiss You” and it’s an imploring of a young woman to stop worrying about the potential emotional and venereal repercussions of a one night stand.

First let’s look at the things about this song that are catchy:

-Wait, did I just hear an organ line at the beginning of a contemporary pop song? Well aaaalright! The inclusion of the organ is (tragically) anachronistic and startling and immediately piques the listener’s attention.

-The tempo is such that the song can be “rocked along to” at two different speeds, and indeed the songs splits in to half time for the chorus. This keeps the chorus and verses clearly delineated.

-The prechorus of “and if yoooooou, you want me tooooooo” is just classic “oh you don’t wanna sing along? that’s fine, you suuuuure though?” stuff.

-That chorus, with its “tou-ou-ouch… ru-uh-ush”, is infectious as all hell. Also, as with certain other songs we’ve discussed in this column, there’s the suggestion that a large group of voices is singing in unison during the chorus, inviting the listener to sing along.

Now let’s look at the things about this song that are decidedly not good:

-The lyrics. Why, oh why, can’t pop music have non-terrible lyrics (“if you don’t wanna take it slow, and you just wanna take me home, lemme hear ya say yeah-ayi-yeah-ayi-yeah-uh”). These guys make Train sound like poet-laureate material…

-The inability to differentiate between the voices of various group members. Back in MY day our boy bands had a dangerous one, a cute and innocent one, one that couldn’t sing but was ridiculously handsome, and the gay one. In this case you’ve got the Irish one, and the four English ones who sounds just like the Irish one.

-The song is called “Kiss You”. Why didn’t you just name it “Love You” or “Kissing” or “You Kiss My Face, Girl”, or something not dumb and banal.

I’m having a really hard time trying to figure out how I feel about this song. I’m pretty sure it’s awful, but it just won’t allow my dismissal that easily. Final results pending butttt…..

One Direction – “Kiss You”

Verdict: Quite Catchy, Maybe kind of a little bit awesome….

New Music from Baths, "Miasma Sky"

It’s been a long three years since Cerulean Will Wiesenfeld’s outstanding debut as Baths. In that time electronic music has morphed and evolved, but Wiesenfeld’s particular blend of bleep-bloop production and sampling has, unlike many of his contemporaries, not come to sound instantly dated. What we have here is “Miasma Sky” the first track released from Baths’ upcoming sophomore LP Obsidian. It’s got a bit more of a straightforward pop sound than we’re used to hearing from Wiesenfeld, but that’s OK, it’s an excellent pop song. Check out “Miasma Sky” below. Obsidian is out May 28th on Anticon.

New Music from Baths, "Miasma Sky"

It’s been a long three years since Cerulean Will Wiesenfeld’s outstanding debut as Baths. In that time electronic music has morphed and evolved, but Wiesenfeld’s particular blend of bleep-bloop production and sampling has, unlike many of his contemporaries, not come to sound instantly dated. What we have here is “Miasma Sky” the first track released from Baths’ upcoming sophomore LP Obsidian. It’s got a bit more of a straightforward pop sound than we’re used to hearing from Wiesenfeld, but that’s OK, it’s an excellent pop song. Check out “Miasma Sky” below. Obsidian is out May 28th on Anticon.

Stream Youth Lagoon's Sophomore LP Wondrous Bughouse

Youth Lagoon is Trevor Powers, who released his outstanding bedroom dreampop debut The Year of Hibernation while studying at Boise State. Youth Lagoon’s music, on the surface, borrows elements from MGMT-esque  freakout electro pop, but his particular brand of squiggly bombast cuts deeper and is more disorienting. Powers has said publicly that he deals with anxiety and depression and there’s a creeping unease permeating Wondrous Bughouse, like at any moment a breeze could come along and scatter these ideas to the wind.