The London-based, internationally assembled instrumental four-piece, Los Bitchos, share a brand new single and video, ‘La Bomba’. The first new material since their acclaimed 2022 debut, Let The Festivities Begin!, and last year’s follow-up EP, PAH!, ‘La Bomba’ is an 80’s Turkish psych-infused bop and comes accompanied by a video directed by long term artistic collaborator, Tom Mitchell. The band said the following about the track, which was produced by Oli Barton Wood: ““La Bomba” is a burst of energy and power! It’s just such a fun song – we started playing it at festivals last summer and the energy felt so good! The beginning stabs are what came to me (Serra) first as I was cooking in my kitchen. There’s something quite heroic and powerful about the opening guitar tone and the stabs underneath them. The twangy guitar tone cuts through the chaotic landscape of claps, pumping disco bassline and dreamy swirling synth sounds. The disco era influence is quite evident in this song, and I think the bassline sets the tone perfectly for this. Structurally the song delivers straight into a chorus (as Nile Rogers said, why wait). We wanted to keep this as close to a classic pop structure as possible, everything straight to the point. The cherries on top are the little ping pong drum sounds (think Ring My Bell, Anita Ward) – they just make the track go off and totally emulate the feelings of euphoria and pure energy running through it.” About the video they continued: “As it’s a high energy, pumping song, we needed to have really dynamic visuals to go with that and bring the song to life. The video has lots of shiny, glitterball moments and moves between performance and surreal segments. We had so much fun with make-up and styling for this video. Josefine saw this thing on tik tok where you film in a way which gives the illusion you’re riding a horse, so obviously we had a go and put that in the video last minute on set.”
Leicester-born, London-based Shivani Day releases her debut single, ‘Rhetoric’ via FAMM. Laying fresh roots into untouched soil, ‘Rhetoric’ was co-produced by Shivani and close collaborator Minas who weave traditional South Asian musical forms into textured elements of Electronica and R&B. Having discovered her moral compass at an early age, the creative process encouraged Shivani to re-visit early memories to inspire themes of identity, equality and integrity. The Erea Ferreiro(Ojerime, Odeal) directed video resembles ‘Rhetoric’ according to Shivani’s vision – and her initial mood board – with subtle nods to her heritage, from styling details to a mesmerising snake which is an integral symbol in Indian mythology. Dedicated to conquering her self-inflicted limitations, Shivani intends to let her carefully curated soundscape speak for her inner thoughts.
Directed by Maegan Houang, Mitski‘s ‘Star’ video feels timeless, and like a modern film by famed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi boiled down to its most abstract elements. “Unlike the more narrative/concept driven videos Mitski and I have done together in the past, I wanted this video to encapsulate the impressionistic circularity we all experience. Our lives oscillate between light and dark repeating itself in an endless cycle where nothing is permanent. The best moments are fleeting, but so are the bad,” states Houang. The ‘Star’ video was filmed on a small pond overnight in summer 2023 and presents Mitski performing on a boat in real water amongst painted pieces of wood, creating the illusion of mountains in the background and eliciting what Houang describes as “an otherworldly, atmospheric feeling” to perfectly match the song. Mitski and Houang have a history of collaborating.
Glaswegian alternative indie-pop artist Zoe Graham shares new single ‘Evilin’ – a brass-backed journey of confusion created by a person who’s no good for you. Guitars curdle with plush synths and tautly machined drums, as Zoe draws influence from Kate Bush (she shares a knack for catch-you-off-guard choruses with the ‘80s icon), St Vincent (Daddy’s Home was a regular backing sound during writing sessions), and Beck (“he’s very free as a songwriter; everything’s thought through, but it’s not painstaking”). She leans on David Bowie’s advice not to stay grounded in your deep pool of ideas, but rather to push up and off, and let your toes just brush the floor from time to time. “’Evilin’ is a battle cry” says Zoe. “It reads like a reenactment of how it feels to be purposely confused. Evilin is a channeller of emotional exhaustion. Someone you feel like you depend on and feel scared of all at once. Someone you will put before yourself, and not in a fun way. She isn’t good for you, but there’s something about her you wish you could be more of yourself, a determined independence, relentlessness but a lack of empathy.” The track is accompanied by a video starring Evilin (played by Zoe’s mum, Annette Staines), a cook and 70s star who becomes trapped in her own television show. “Imagine if Fanny Cradock and Killing Eve’s Villanelle were forced into a room together to make a prim and proper cooking show. What would that look like? How would the chaos ensue? How would these two ferocious women work with each other? Well, I knew I was going to be involved, but the only way I was really ever going to create such drama, such stylish feist, was to call my mother and ask her to star in my music video.” said Zoe. “Watching your own mother smash up cakes and jelly soundtracked to my new single, using rolling pins and spatulas as props was utterly wild. It may have been the strangest day of 2024 so far.”
The Brooklyn-born, LA-based singer Zsela has spent the early years of this decade popping up all over the cooler corners of the music industry. Her debut album Big For You, coming this June via Mexican Summer, includes contributions from Marc Ribot, Nick Hakim, Casey MQ, and Jasper Marsalis (Slauson Malone 1), and Zsela’s co-produced it with Daniel Aged and Gabe Wax, who’ve worked with names like Frank Ocean and Soccer Mommy. Zsela teased the album last month with the release of the fizzy, funky, sophisticated synth track ‘Fire Excape.’ Now, along with the proper announcement, comes opening track ‘Lily Of The Nile.’ It’s a slow-burn art-pop song that makes abundant use of Zsela’s low bellow, and it arrives with a video directed by Chester Raj Anand. A statement from Zsela: “It was important for me to stay open in this process, finding the truth of what the songs want to be. That meant breaking them down and building them back up again and again, not being precious and trying to listen… At the heart, it touches on the causal versus intentional dance we play between being “full of you” and “full for you” — the complexity and magnitude of the space we take and fill up for love.” [via Stereogum]
Hayley Mary has returned with a new single and a music video ‘One Last Drag’, which is a pop song about glorifying self-awareness. The song is co-written and co-produced by Hayley’s husband who also happens to be the DMA’s guitarist, Johnny Took. They happened to write the song in a hotel room! The song is also co-produced by the producer of The Jezabels’, Lachlan Mitchell. “I was sitting on the balcony with a wine, borderline chain-smoking, knowing that I would be regretting the cigarettes in the morning but unable to stop. He started looping a guitar intro that he was working on for Gwen Stefani and I just started writing a poem to it in my head. I asked him if I could record it so I wouldn’t forget it, and those draft vocals ended up being the final vocals you hear in the verses.” explains Hayley Mary. The song is a dark post-punk banger that talks about cigarettes and addiction. The cigarette in the song portrays anything that looks or feels good at the moment, but eventually ruins one’s life. It talks about how addiction is harmful to everyone. “I fell for the excitement, the promise of relief, of sexy malaise when real life was too high definition. In recent years, however, I’ve become aware of the potential emptiness of that promise as well,” says Hayley. [via Music Feeds]
Grab your roller skates, baby, Bonnie McKee has news. She’s ramping up to release a new album and trying to steal your man (but only musically and jokingly). In her latest single, ‘Jenny’s Got a Boyfriend,’ she gets campy, sassy and dancey as she falls for your boyfriend in a gender-swapped take on the ’80s hit ‘Jessie’s Girl.’ “I’ve always wanted to write a song that had someone’s name in it like ‘Jessie’s Girl’ or ‘Hey Mickey’ or ‘Billie Jean,’ McKee tells PAPER. “I had this experience because I had a friend who had a boyfriend who was just such a flirt. He was incredibly hot and he knew it. He was always giving me the wrong idea. Not just me, me and all of the girlfriends in the group. We were all convinced that he had a secret crush on all of us. Nothing ever happened. He was such a rake, I guess is what they call him, and I wrote a song about it. Then me and my girlfriends would bop around in the car to it.” The visuals for ‘Jenny’s Got a Boyfriend,’ are a neon, retro, skating-rink fantasy. “I’ve always wanted to do a skating music video, I can skate but I’m not like amazing,” she says. “I’ve always been obsessed with Boogie Nights and Xanadu. I love the ’70s and ’80s roller skating style — the whole aesthetic of that. The song feels like a roller Boogie moment.” In the video, McKee’s part of a “love triangle between Jenny and Jenny’s boyfriend” as they all work together at the rink. “I needed to have some story I could tell that made sense,” she says. “So it seemed like a workplace romance made the most sense. I just put us in little uniforms, and we were in the roller rink after hours. And things get spicy. I love that.” [via PAPER]
Bristol-based artist Emily Perry – AKA Pem has announced her forthcoming EP, cloud work, alongside the new single, ‘grips’. On the new single, Pem says: “A song about wanting to hold on tightly to other people to escape and “forget” everything else for a while. It is inspired by my favourite song ‘Forget About’ by Sybille Baier.” cloud work is a collection of five songs that Pem wrote during an intensely challenging chapter in her life. Full of references to water, sky, flight, memory, and birds, these are the metaphors and symbols that helped her work through the grief of losing her father last year. She says, “the process of creating cloud work enabled me to find beauty, meaning and comfort in a very difficult time.” [via Line Of Best Fit]
Softcult share a final preview of their blissful EP with ‘One Of The Pack,’ a fuzzy inclusionary anthem that depicts their idea of Heaven as one that champions ALL women. Mercedes and Phoenix explain: “When we wrote this song, we wanted to celebrate women supporting women, and of course that includes POC and transgender women. It’s sad that that’s something that I feel I need to specify and include in a statement like this, but the truth is there are some TERFs out there trying to exclude certain communities from feminism and even the term ‘woman.’ We pride ourselves on being intersectional feminists, even introducing riot grrrl feminism and activism to the shoegaze community in our own way, and we want anyone listening to our music to know that POC, trans women, and non-binary people will always be a welcome and crucial part of our grrrl gang. This song is hopefully one you can sing to your best friend to let them know; ‘I know you have to deal with a lot of bullshit from other people, but I will always be here for you. I see you, I’ll support you, and I love you.’”
This is already an iconic Eurovision collaboration: Aiko (Czechia 2024) and TEYA (Austria 2023, as part of Teya and Salena) have released a song together. In the song ‘Hunger’, Aiko and TEYA sing about the experience of feeling like you need to have a certain body to fit in with societal standards. For women in particular, they address the pressure to appeal to the male gaze. With this powerful message, they show that women are taught from an early age to eat less so they can fit in, seeing their bodies as the enemy, hence the title ‘Hunger’. In the video, you can see them walk on treadmills, emphasising this point as well. It is a great song with an important message, and yet it is catchy at the same time! Aiko and TEYA did a great job by combining their songwriting skills. [via ESCXTRA]
In November 2022, Christine And The Queens released Redcar les adorables étoiles, which was followed by PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE in June 2023. Now, the French musician is back with a new song called ‘rentrez chez moi.’ ‘rentrez chez moi’ was written, composed, and produced by Chris. The music video was directed by Sasha Mongin, produced by Premier Cri, and shot in Paris and Hanches. [via Stereogum]
