LIGHTNING ROUND (Singles on Friday) – March 6, 2020

Welcome to Lightning Round! It’s a curated selection of anywhere between 5-20 singles that comes out every other Friday. No genre boundaries, no rules! It’s 2020 people, everything’s fair game.

Let’s get started:

1. Racoma – “The Kicker”

Kicking things off is a sweet-laced indie track from rising Seattle favorites that takes up prime Real Estate, if you get my drift. Dewy production and lyrics rife with internal conflict make up the substance, with the main attraction being the winding lead guitar line prominent in so much jangly music over the last few years. In anticipation of spring weather everywhere, give yourself over to the warmth radiating off of this song.

2. Flugel – “Hello Fellow”

Chicago upstarts Flugel have a debut EP out, and there are plenty of cool moments situated within its seven-song run, but the arguable standout moment is its third track, which bounds along like a lost WHAM! outtake. It helps that Tommy Moore’s voice recalls a chiller, deeper George Michael, but the real pop comes from its swaggering melody, an unconventional repeating chord progression that matches Moore’s laments of sticking to the same low-paying job for too long.

3. Car Seat Headrest – “Can’t Cool Me Down”

Regardless of how you feel about the band, Car Seat Headrest have maintained a high base level of excitement about their releases, and the first single from their upcoming album is far enough outside of their comfort zone to warrant that excitement. The dominance of synths surprisingly doesn’t make as much of a mark as Will Toledo’s voice, still as emotive and dynamic an instrument as ever, and even though the track is altogether much lighter fare than what you might expect from the band, it’s still a breezy romp that’s actually refreshing for that very reason.

4. Hendrix Harris – “Aftermath”

Cranking things up a notch, here’s fresh Parisian rapper Hendrix Harris bursting out of the gate, with an accompanying video that plays on a classic Jekyll/Hyde concept. Harris may be borrowing just a little too hard from the Eminem School of Making Impressions, but there’s no question the guy’s got talent: he rips through triplets and swings between speak-sing. Keep your eye on this one.

5. NITE FIELDS – “Not Your Time”

There’s seemingly infinite classifications of post-punk, and this track by NITE FIELDS embodies perhaps the most literal definition of the genre: a chugging metallic beat reminiscent of Public Image Ltd. that draws you in from the get-go. It’s a song of simple well-worn parts that’s nonetheless deceptively engrossing, and that’s a difficult trick to pull off. 

6. The Love Coffin – “Mortalized”

I completely missed the goth era of music, which is why I find myself consistently drawn to the aesthetic. This new single from Copenhagen rock band The Love Coffin, which comes across exceedingly gothy, hits in a way that feels weirdly nourishing: it’s Alice Cooper meets Guero with a riff ripped from Red House Painters’ “Japanese to English”, and pieced together it’s a success.

7. Charlie Wilde – “Disquietude”

People always advise against promoting singles with long build-ups, and for good reason. Sometimes it pays off, like in Charlie Wilde’s “Disquietude,” a raw-nerve folk number that indeed takes a while to adjust to but eventually blooms splendidly. The orchestration is grandiose but ultimately breathtaking, and while initially Wilde’s voice might feel a little too intense for comfort, it’s a unique wonder to see them lean so heavily into emotion, so much so that it transcends cheesiness. Melodramatic? Absolutely, but when it’s executed this well it’s very hard to complain.

8. Kikagaku Moyo – “Mushi No Uta”

And finally some gentle acoustic guitar to land us safely. Internationally-known Japanese psych rock band Kikagaku Moyo have an A-side/B-side out under Sub Pop, and of the two, the original track is the highlight here. In true neo-psych fashion, a sunlit melody descends into a prismatic portal before leaving mostly unscathed, with soft vocals and a childlike solo rounding out the trip. The band’s take on psychedelia is as consistently refreshing as ever.

That’s it for the Lightning Round this week! Make sure to check back in a couple weeks for the next one! If you’ve got singles to share and want to see if you make the next Round, give us a holler on our Contact Page.