Yeah Yeah Yeahs are officially back. After announcing some shows and signing to Secretly Canadian, the trio has announced a brand-new album, Cool It Down, which will be out in September. It’s their first album since 2013’s Mosquito. Now, they’re sharing its lead single, ‘Spitting Off The Edge Of The World’. The track features Perfume Genius and was produced by Dave Sitek. “I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they’re standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what’s coming with anger and defiance,” Karen O said of the track. “It’s galvanizing, and there’s hope there.” Perfume Genius is also in the song’s music video, which was directed by Cody Critcheloe, aka Ssion, who goes way back with the YYYs — he designed the album artwork for their 2001 debut Fever To Tell. Karen O had this to say on the song and video: “This is how our new story begins, we present to you with heads bowed and fists in the air ‘Spitting Off the Edge of the World’ featuring Perfume Genius. A note on this video, it’s a dream collaboration with one of our favorite artists of the 21st century Cody Critcheloe who did the artwork for our first record back in 2003 and has been making visionary music videos for the last decade. The time to collaborate again came with ‘Spitting,’ the shoot in Kansas City was dream-like, the dreams you have after eating something really greasy right before bed; bizarre, poetic, and intense. Perfume Genius was incredibly gracious to roll in the very cold mud as my co pilot and steal scene after scene with his surreal charm. We trusted Cody implicitly, he surpassed expectations and gave us our November Rain. YYY’s spirit is alive and well through the eyes of Cody Critcheloe. Custom Yeahs limo was largely his handiwork, fueled on love.” [via Stereogum]
At the beginning of April, Florist announced their new self-titled album — their first as a full band since 2017. So far we’ve heard two singles, ‘Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning)’ and ‘Spring In Hours.’ Now, the band is back with another one. Florist’s latest is called ‘Sci-Fi Silence.’ “‘Sci-fi Silence’ is a love song about the mystical forces that attract us to one another and the spaces in-between words that can hold profound communications,” Emily Sprague said in a statement. “It is also a reflection on our impermanence and the acceptance that it is worth it to invite love and connection into our lives even for just a moment.” [via Stereogum]
Amelia Moore released her debut EP, teaching a robot to love (Capitol Records), and shared the official video for the track ‘i feel everything.’ Directed by Sam Cannon, the phantasmagorical clip brings to life the EP’s striking cover imagery, with Moore addressing the robotic object of her affection in song.
Caylie Runciman aka Boyhood shares her literally perfect new single ‘Stroke It’, taken from the gorgeous, just announced new Boyhood album My Dread, coming this fall. Listen above via the stunning video by director Monika Kraska. [via Gorilla vs Bear]
Continuing to refuse to be pigeonholed and stick to one genre are Perth / Boorloo’s Mal De Mer, who now give us the fantastic song and video combo that is ‘Mirage’, the last taste of their forthcoming Sanguine EP, due out July 8. Sure to cause instant head nods, Mirage packs bright, shimmering guitar lines, deep horns and twinkling synths, with vocalist Saskia Fleming’s engaging vocals bringing it all together. On the creation of ‘Mirage’, drummer James Marelich explains, “It’s always a great feeling finishing music and finally releasing it, but this one feels especially surreal as we only wrote it a couple of months ago! Watching it transform from an idea into a full-fledged piece of music so quickly has been awesome”. Featuring a super fun and tongue-in-cheek video directed by long-time collaborator Sarah Gelmi, the video hilariously details an exaggerated break up, with vocalist Saskia elaborating “The video is a satirical send up of leaving a crappy relationship – it taps into the joy of moving on and looking back with relief.” [via Pilerats]
Lous and the Yakuza has released a new track ‘Monsters’ on Columbia Records. In ‘Monsters’, Lous and the Yakuza comes to peace with her past while exploring the thoughts and emotions that linger within us. Examining the wounds that forged her, she opens up to the little monsters living in her head and under her bed, which continue to follow her and with whom she now coexists in peace. “My monsters do not scare me, they are part of me” she explains. “Not all monsters are bad.” Produced by El Guincho and Mems, ‘Monsters’ is a soaring mid-tempo song with a catchy, dreamy melody. The track is enhanced with a one-shot music video which recalls the universe of Anime Master Hayao Miyazaki, known for his unique way of transforming the atrocious into wonder. [via Radio Facts]
Arriving just a few short weeks after Maggie Lindemann’s recent single ‘how could you do this to me’ (feat. Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn), the alt/rock songstress has released her latest collaborative video/track ‘break me!’ featuring siiickbrain. ‘break me!’ is from Maggie’s forthcoming debut album SUCKERPUNCH, which is expected to drop later this year. Directed by siiickbrain, ‘break me!’ is a chaotic, industrial-tinged video that explores the feelings of “fear and adrenaline” vs. “the calmness and peace” that come with being in an altered state be it from drugs, alcohol or love, according to Maggie. “‘break me!’ featuring siiickbrain is about being intoxicated,” Maggie shares. “It’s all the feelings it gives you, that rush of fear and adrenaline, but also the calmness and peace. The video is meant to convey the juxtaposition of the two – one moment you’re euphoric and the next you feel like you’re broken, suffocating and your heart is decaying.” [via Broadway World]
Jaguar Jonze has shared a music video for ‘Swallow’ off her new album Bunny Mode, to mark the record’s arrival. The ‘Swallow’ clip is another enticing visual from Jonze, who directs most of her video content herself. The eerie affair features large, shibari (Japanese rope bondage) spiderwebs, jarring, horror movie-esque choreography, and finishes with Jonze doing the once viral ‘chubby bunny’ challenge, where participants stuff their mouths with marshmallows. [via NME]
Leah Kate is putting both middle fingers up to her ex-boyfriend in her new ’10 Things I Hate About You’ music video, which follows the TikTok pop-punk darling giving a press conference revealing all the things she despises of her former love. “Revenge isn’t always best served cold. I wanted the video to be a little more immediate, a little like a slasher movie. Or the threat of one,” Kate tells Rolling Stone. “I loved having all the other angry girls behind me like a Greek Chorus, just to show that guys who are serial heartbreakers shouldn’t think that they can get away clean.” The video laces clips of Kate singing into the camera as she’s surrounded by a gang of girls who seem ready to throw hands as she counts down all the reasons why she’s done with her former man. [via Rolling Stone]
The Sex Lives of College Girls and Broadway star Reneé Rapp is making her solo music debut with ‘Tattoos,’ a vulnerable tale about the fear that comes with growing up and falling out of love.“Fifteen and 16 I had to be strong/ 22 I’m still scared of it all,” Rapp belts in the song’s chorus over moody piano chords. “Cuz I know one day I could wake up and you’ll be gone/ And I’ll just be lonely/ Missing holding your hand when we’re half asleep.”Rapp has been teasing the single on TikTok for months now, finally revealing its release date last week. In an Instagram post on Wednesday, the 22-year-old opened up about what the song means to her in the context of her career thus far. “I was literally a baby forcing my family to record my ‘concerts.’ Always knew this is what I wanted to do,” Rapp wrote. “I knew it was what I loved more than anything. I’ve dreamt of my first song coming out since I [was] little. I’ve been telling y’all I’m going to release music for six years. I’ve been hustling at this shit for five years. I’ve been embarrassed turned down by labels for four years. At one point I was even in a girl group lmfao and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. I’d get turned down and messed up all over again to be here. Y’all have stuck with me through all of that and more not even knowing it. Making music is the only time I’m smiling like hell and nothing else means a fucking thing. Thank you for sticking w me. I love you like crazy.” [via Variety]
