930club

[930club]

Farewell, Tumblr Friends

Well, friends... over a decade and more than 5,000 posts later, the time has come to retire our Tumblr. Instead of deactivating entirely, we’re going to leave the blog up so that you can peruse the many artist interviews, album reviews, columns, and more that our staff and interns worked hard on over the years. Since this page will be dormant, though, be sure to sign up for our mailing list as well as follow our venue pages elsewhere (links below) for up-to-date info.

9:30 Club: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook The Anthem: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Merriweather Post Pavilion: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook The Lincoln Theatre: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

[930club]

MUSIC MONDAY PLAYLIST: Pour Girls Picks 3

-Dey Stegall 

#Music Monday #Playlist #Spotify #Dey Stegall

[930club]

MUSIC MONDAY PLAYLIST: Pour Girls Picks 2

-Dey Stegall

#Music Monday #Playlist #Spotify #Dey Stegall #Pour Girls Picks

[930club]

MUSIC MONDAY PLAYLIST: Pour Girls Picks

-Dey Stegall

#Music Monday Playlist #Spotify #Dey Stegall #Pour Girls Picks

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: How I’m Feeling Now - Charli XCX

Charli XCX has taken the COVID-19 global circumstances and made it her mission for the first six weeks to be creative. How I’m Feeling Now is an at home DIY style album, Charli using only things that she had with her at home. With the album due in six weeks Charli looked to her fans for inspiration, allowing them opportunities to collaborate with her in the albums process. The fans were encouraged to send beats, artwork, lyrics, anything that they might be willing to part with to be included on the album. Charli used some of these items as inspiration and of course some of the submissions made the final album cut. The album captures Charli’s mood and feelings throughout her time of recording and it is an excellent collection of work. 

Starting with some of the stand out tracks, the third single from the album “I Finally Understand” gets at the core of the album. It starts with XCX’s classic digital pop sound, with a catchy hook that could be played in almost any scenario. Within the lyrics of the song, Charli talks about how she thinks her love might lead to her ultimate undoing. It captures the feeling of the current time, of feeling stuck in one place, whether that place is stuck in love or stuck inside. 

The track “c2.0” Charli does something really interesting, she “remixes” or rerecords her song “Click”. Originally released in September of 2019 “Click” in its original version featured Kim Petras and Tommy Cash as one of the standout tracks on her album Charli, released in 2019 as well. She takes part of the chorus and effortlessly creates a new hook and adds in additional verses. This pulls back the curtain a bit on the artists process, showcasing that at least for Charli the song process is never finished and she has had different ideas about how to present the final work. I highly encourage listeners to check out both tracks in order to hear how Charli played with her composition. 

The album's penultimate track takes the cake for capturing the current sentiment of the world. “Anthems” is not just the name of the song but also something Charli is very familiar with creating. Whether its “Boys” a popular anthem in the gay community or “1999” a call back anthem for all millennials, Charli is a pro. “Anthems” covers boredom at home, highlighting online shopping, netflix, and uncertainty around the situation. The chorus screams the world's collective sentiment: 

“I want anthems // Late nights, my friends, New York”

Also leaving us with a little bit of hope and positive sentiment about how we might all make it out of this current situation: 

“Finally, when it's over // We might be, even closer”

Charli did it again and created the quarantine anthem, catch me jumping up and down on my bed, rocking out to this one. 

#charlixcx #how im feeling now #albumreview #ianlutz

[930club]

We recently chatted with Jamie Stillman, owner and mastermind of Akron, Ohio’s Earthquaker Devices, one of the leading innovators in guitar pedals/effects. We touch on everything from general guitar nerdery to how the pandemic is affecting the day-to-day operations of EQD. You can delve more into everything Earthquaker Devices related here.

Dave Kezer [9:30 Club]: There’s a joke that anyone who starts to listen to rap immediately wants to try to rap. It seems like anyone who starts to build guitar pedals immediately thinks they can start a pedal company. What do you think it takes to actually get a company off the ground in a sustainable way?

LOL! I used to make a similar joke that every guitar player with a soldering iron is a pedal company. It used to feel that way, but I think the craze has died down. It takes a lot of patience, hard work, and (possibly most importantly) good ideas to build a stable effect pedal company. They almost always start out as a hobby and it’s good to realize when it has moved beyond that point. In my case, it was very important to realize when I was in over my head and when to bring on people who have real knowledge in handling the business on a day-to-day level and have the ability to look at the bigger picture. I have punk rock business skills which worked up to a point, but I’m better suited to the creative role.

In your EQDQ&A Ep. 1, you joked about how long it took you to truly start understanding the differences/complexities of gear. I nerd out on gear so much that sometimes I lose focus on just enjoying playing instruments for the sake of it. How far is too far when it comes to putting every facet of gear under the microscope?

I think the threshold is different for everyone. There are people who won’t settle down until every piece of gear they own is top of the line and Reddit approved and there are people who don’t give a shit if their cable crackles if it moves a certain way. I put myself in the middle. I don’t really care about the proven quality or name brand of whatever I’m using, and I just make sure it works 100% of the time whenever possible. I make an exception on pickups, cables and power supplies because I think those are the most important part of the equation for me personally. I’ll always use the best I can find, and I decide what is best by putting it to use and seeing how it performs.

Your feature on the Rainbow Machine focuses on the usability of weird pedals. Have you designed something so weird that it is truly unusable?

Personally, I don’t find the Rainbow Machine to be so weird, but a lot of other people do, so we ran with that. I know the “pixie trails” function of the Magic switch is obnoxious, but I think it’s cool. There are way weirder pedals out there, lol. I’ve definitely designed things that I thought were cool but not exactly functional in every setting, but I usually work to make them more multi-dimensional. There’s only one that I’ve been working on for a really long time that has a million controls with minimal functionality. I’m not sure I’ll ever finish it but it’s (kind of) fun to keep trying once or twice a year when the mood strikes.

Are there any guitars that you’re completely satisfied with and won’t continue to modify? It seems like for gear people (myself included), a piece of gear will operate at 99% of its maximum potential, but the search for that 1% will make your brain itch forever and lead to continued modification.

No, I constantly modify all of my guitars lol. I change pickups a lot, more than anyone should. The closest I think I’ve gotten to “perfection” would be my stock Nash Telecaster and a heavily modded Fender Jazzmaster. The Jazzmaster is a 60th anniversary that I gutted and replaced almost everything except the neck and body. It has Seymour Duncan custom shop ’59 humbuckers for Jazzmaster with 500K push/pull pots for coil tapping and the rhythm circuit is removed. It also has locking tuners, a Mastery vibrato, bridge, and string tree. It still feels too new, but it sounds perfect.

Your Reverb “Does This Work?” interview focuses on old effects and their tendency to break down over time. What are the typical things that cause old circuits to stop working?

In my experience it has been dust, humidity, and neglect resulting in bad switches, corroded solder joints, cracked wires and dried caps. I never get around to fixing my old gear though. I’ll get in there if I really want to use something, but I’ll usually turn it over to Joe Golden, our in-house repair wizard. Most of the broken gear in the Reverb video is still broken…

Two of my favorite EQD pedals are the Tentacle and the Acapulco Gold, if not simply because there are one/no options to choose from when getting sounds. I tend to get freaked out when I see a pedal that has 4+ knobs, which is something I’m working on, haha. Where do you draw the line when it comes to simplicity vs. versatility when designing pedals?

I used to have a “whatever it takes” approach to design as long as it wasn’t confusing for the general user, but I’ve been moving towards a “less is more” approach. I don’t think pedals should require hours of reading manuals and menu diving to use. The faster you can get to making actual music the better. That’s not to say I don’t have some elaborate, sometimes confusing, products in the pipeline but I’m generally leaning towards simple design.

Don’t mean to be a bummer, but I have to ask — how has the pandemic affected EQD’s business operations? If I understand correctly — it seems like your builders are assembling pedals at home?

We have taken the pandemic very seriously. We knew the shutdown was coming and some of our employees had already been working to get things in place to make the transition to home building as easy as we could. We had almost 50 employees working from home for almost three months and the production capacity was greatly reduced. We didn’t ship any product for about two months. We kept all the employees on the payroll and had regular Zoom meetings to keep everyone up to date on what we were doing. Now, as of June 16, 2020, we are still mostly working from home but we have a skeleton crew in the shop so we can populate PCB’s more efficiently and start shipping product. We completely rearranged the shop to spread people out and invested a lot of time and money into making it a safe and sanitary workspace. We have gone above and beyond all the recommended protocols — too many precautions to list. It would be very hard to catch any illness inside EQD now.

Do you have a favorite “Let’s Go!” guitar riff? For example, whenever I’m driving and “Unchained” comes on the radio, I dime the volume and start driving like a complete lunatic.

I’m pretty reserved but, oddly enough, “Unchained” is also one of my favorite riffs ever! I think I play it at least once every time I pick up a guitar. Also a big fan of “Siberian Khatru” by Yes once it kicks in. Same with “In the Light” and “Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin and anything on Sonic Youth’s Sister. I guess these are more riffs that I wish I wrote than riffs that make me lose my shit. I guess most of them also make me sound like a real dad rocker too.

Is there a piece of gear you’ve spent a completely stupid amount of money on simply because you had to have it?

Yes, a Sunn Model T and it was worth every penny! It’s the most perfect amp I’ve ever owned.  

Not asking you to talk smack, but do you have a “Dumbest Pedal Ever Designed” award in your head?

I’ll keep my mouth shut on this one.

Finally, have you been through D.C. while touring or seeing shows? Anything about D.C. venues or the music scene in general you’d like to share?

I’ve been through D.C. about six or seven times, maybe more. I’ve always held D.C. in high regard because of Dischord records and bands like Ignition, Bad Brains, Jawbox, Fugazi, etc. 9:30 Club is actually one my favorite venues ever. I’ve been through twice when I was tour managing and the staff was super friendly and accommodating, which is unfortunately rare in the touring world. It also has the best green room of any venue I ever worked in; the bunks are a nice touch!

— Dave Kezer

#9:30 interview #930 interview #earthquakerdevices #jamie stillman

[930club]

VOTD: The Regrettes — “What Am I Gonna Do Today?”

What am I gonna do today? It’s a question many people are probably asking themselves as stay-at-home orders lengthen and certain states slowly start to open back up. It is also the question punk rock band The Regrettes aim to answer in the video for their latest single, one that has already been deemed a quarantine anthem.

The song “What Am I Gonna Do Today?” was recorded remotely and mixed and mastered by Danny Nogueiras. The video was filmed in quarantine with band members Lydia Night, Genessa Gariano, Brooke Dickson, and Drew Thomsen each showing a day in their lives at home. Dreamy vocals wash over commonplace scenes of someone working out, walking their dog, gardening, juggling, or making matcha. It almost feels like being on FaceTime with a friend as they go about their daily routine. The video is intimate yet familiar, similar to the song lyrics. “Both of us are always waiting / For a time with nothing in our way / Both of us anticipating / For a day that can turn into tomorrow.”

Every moment in the video brings a sense of calm as you watch each band member do things that make them happy. Whether that’s playing the guitar or picking up a snail, there’s something comforting in watching those small joys. As the days in quarantine blend into a haze, allow Night’s voice to lull you into a quarantine day dream. “What am I gonna do today? / Is it gonna slip away? / I don't want it to / Whatever we do / As long as it's with you / As long as it's with you / What am I gonna do?”

— Carol Wright

#video of the day #votd #new music #new single #the regrettes #what am i gonna do today? #carol wright

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: It Was Good Until it Wasn’t - Kehlani

It Was Good Until It Wasn’t debuted as #2 on the Billboard 200, making it Kehlani’s biggest debut to date. The Grammy award-winning, Oakland, CA native Kehlani, released her second full-length studio album on May 8th and continues to explore her feelings about good and bad relationships with past partners. 

Kehlani makes music to help you cry about or get over your ex. It Was Good Until It Wasn’t has cosigns from R&B superstars like Jhené Aiko, Masego, Ty Dolla $ign, and Tory Lanez. Her sophomore album feels like a diary of regrettable situations, miscommunications, and recalling formative moments of love. Right before releasing the album, Kehlani and her ex, YG, released “Konclusions” on Valentine’s day, which comments on their media-dominated relationship. Kehlani sings “When I say I love you (Love you) / That means I love you / No matter what conclusion we come to / I’m the one you run to / And I always come through / Nothing I won't do.” It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is filled with similar anecdotes of love, but always with a twist. 

The album opens with “Toxic,” a tribute to confusing love for lust. Ty Dolla $ign assists with the pre-chorus and plays into being a destructive ex as Kehlani belts “Don Julio made me a fool for you.” This song sets the mood for the album, backed by a slowed-down sensual beat and expressing her need for physical connection but recognizing harmful tendencies with that partner. On “Can I,” she pleads with a lover to see them and Tory Lanez responds “Shawty, you know you can always stop by / You top five and no, you're not five / And not four, three, or two, but one, girl.” On the other hand, “Bad News” touches on Kehlani’s deep connection for a partner through reminding them “Don't wanna get no call with no bad news / I know all the stories from your tattoos / And all I want you to know / Is I'm here, if no one else, I'm here.” 

My favorite track off It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is “Hate The Club,” an anthem for folks going out in hopes of seeing an ex. Kehlani belts “But I came 'cause I knew you'd show up / Maybe if I drank enough / I'll make my way over to ya.” The song is full of raw emotion, hope, and smooth saxophone solos. Kehlani creates strong imagery of a packed club, drinking, while her eyes only wander to one person. 

Kehlani has two “skits” that function as interludes, one featuring Megan Thee Stallion and the other featuring her best friends from the San Francisco Bay Area. “Real Hot Girl Skit” is 16 seconds and Thee Stallion brags about how she’s got men tied around her finger and exudes sex-positivity. While on the other hand, “Belong To The Streets Skit” is a complaint about how a girl is constantly jumping around from partner to partner and posting on social media about it. Both of the interludes add to Kehlani’s mixed emotions about self-confidence and sacrifices. 

It’s important to note how Kehlani touches on her bisexuality throughout the album. Like on “Serial Lover,” she questions her ability to commit, but always trying to come from a place of love as she sings “I got girls I wanna give my last name,” and on “Water,” she discusses her connection to astrology and another lover by stating “He said, "I wanna undress you, I wanna impress you, but I ain’t gon’ press you.” Kehlani’s always transparent about her sexuality and makes it a point to sing about every aspect of it. She recalls her connections constantly, reflecting on the positive and the negative moments.

Kehlani isn’t afraid to talk about her pain on an intimate level, opening up in the booth about her questionable behaviors in relationships. The last track on It Was Good Until It Wasn’t features Kehlani’s extremely close friend, Lexii Alijai, who passed away days before the album was released. This song touches on self-love and growth and Alijai raps “If you want something, you gotta go after it / And that's gon' make you the baddest bitch 'cause ain't nobody hand you shit / Can't nobody hold me back no more, huh.” This track helped end the album on a positive note, reminding us that loving for others starts with yourself. Kehlani’s albums grow with her as if the listener is being taken on a rollercoaster of her personal experiences in love and loss. Kehlani has been dominating the charts for a long time through creating relatable and honest R&B and fans cling to her down-to-earth social media presence. 

- Elly Murray Mendelson

#kehlani #it was good until it wasn't #album review #elly murray mendelson

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: Hayley Williams — Petals For Armor

“I came close to stifling my creative process because I didn’t want to live up to those expectations of what it looks like when a female leaves a band and makes a project on her own,” Hayley Williams of Paramore shared with the New York Times. With production insight and moral guidance from fellow bandmate Taylor York, Williams shared a story only she can tell: Petals For Armor. This album, which is her first solo release outside of Paramore, radiates a unique cycle of loss and love and acoustic noise, first simmering with rage and fear and then gracefully freeing itself from the past.

In the opening track “Simmer,” she runs away hastily, as her own fears chase her through Tennessean woods. The bassline presses forward and she expresses how rage manifests itself, with slow-burning verses: “Rage is a quiet thing / Ooh, you think you’ve tamed it / But it’s just lying in wait / Rage, is it in our veins? / Feel it in my face when / When I least expect it.” “Simmer” compounds the singer’s perennial thoughts and vexations “born out of a generational trauma,” compiling them into a pulsating memory that quietly collects all the pieces.

The anger in “Simmer” partly derives from her feeling belittled by the 2000s emo scene and experiencing misogyny firsthand. But with time and grace, she ultimately sings “wrap yourself in petals for armor,” a mantra that controls her grudges and finds comfort within femininity. “Being a woman in the music industry is not often a conversation I love to have. It’s just my existence.”

Likewise, she enlists Mike Weiss from the post-hardcore band mewithoutYou on the fourth track “Creepin’.” The song interprets part of reality as vampiric — the kind that sucks out all the energy and joy that’s been built up.

But by using writing as her therapy, she’s able to cast her worries away and sing about “Cinnamon,” an “ode to my home,” a literal safehouse that percussively sways as it continues to evolve: “I’m not lonely, baby, I am free / Mmm, finally.”

Unlike “Cinnamon,” and the homebody approach to healing, “Leave It Alone” and “Dead Horse” harbor distinct moods and approach divorce in two separate ways. The second tracklisting “Leave It Alone” spatially slows, unrushing drums and vocals to only spiral into itself and cocoon, struggling to branch outside all of the grief: “It tastes so bitter on my tongue / The truth’s a killer / But I can’t leave it alone.” In contrast, the intro in the catchy groove “Dead Horse” tries to “rid myself of the shame,” by revealing her deep guilt for being “the other woman”: “Alright, it took me three days to send you this, but / Uh, sorry, I was in a depression / But I’m trying to come out of it now.”

Part of growing from trauma is also having subtle jolts of desire — those fixations on immediate wants. At first, Williams felt “comfortable with the idea of being single, but when I was waking up to new desires and feeling like, ‘Oh s--t, I may be jumping back in…’ it excited me. And it scared me, too.” “Sudden Desire” ranges in softness and loudness, exploring the singer’s initial feelings and wants in the wake of her own evolution.

A lot of her power, too, comes from seeking outside support. “My Friend” attributes her close friend Brian O’Connor, where she shares the value of having someone on your side, all through life’s ups and downs. In the chorus, she sings, “My friend, when the blood has dried / My friend, instant alibi / You’ve seen my from every side / Still down for the ride / Ooh, my friend, you know why.”

Williams knows that she’s not alone in all of this, and that idea also transcends in “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” an immersive ballad that highlights harmonies from boygenius, using a garden to feel empowered when diving deep into her feminine roots. Similarly, “Over Yet” continues to process everything and seek closure, proactively believing that there’s another side to “resistance.”

“Why We Ever” is the record’s rite of passage. Reverb guitar reaches an all-time calm, disconnecting her from the past with its intimate instrumentals and wise words: “And now I / Can’t seem to remember why / We ever / Felt we had to say goodbye.”

“Pure Love,” “Taken,” and “Sugar on the Rim” follow, each song upbeat and untangled from worries. “Pure Love” unfolds a jazz sequence, embracing the strange tango between love and togetherness: “I give a little, you give a little / We get a little sentimental.” Likewise, Williams assures that she’s “Taken,” a playful epilogue to her romantic tale. “Sugar on the Rim,” the most deviant track from the collection, experiments with love as aromatic, a bittersweet thing, just like Crusta cocktails: “Do you taste old shame when you lick my wounds? / ‘Cause I feel redeemed in spite of you.”

The outros, “Watch Me While I Bloom” and “Crystal Clear,” spark rejuvenation. Using her same floral motif, the cheerful dance “Watch Me While I Bloom” translates to “feeling biologically connected to myself again…” The slow, ethereal “Crystal Clear” intertwines boxy reverb with delicate harmonies, as Williams moves forward, unscathed: “Crystal clear / I won’t give in to the fear.”

Hayley Williams’ journey through grief and loss and then love is a powerful listening experience, especially when heard in her own words and narratives. That’s why there’s great depth to this record. Petals For Armor is her own intimate collection of meditative ballads, introspective diction, and reinvented sounds that mirror her life’s journey. It took years of struggle to let this all unfold. The outcome? Profound.

— Jackie Reed

#album review #new music #new album #hayley williams #petals for armor #jackie reed

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: Asher Roth — Flowers On The Weekend

Asher Roth is not defined by “I Love College,” the song that pushed him into stardom as a “frat rapper” and has over 76 million streams on Spotify (taking the crown as the most played song). Asher Roth is not defined by RetroHash, Roth’s second album, which was recorded in Los Angeles and holds a strong emphasis on the idea of freedom, taking listeners on more of a bohemian journey. Asher Roth is not defined by Pabst & Jazz, his album that made a hard left turn by bringing in a totally new sound to his traditional hip-hop albums. Asher Roth is, however, defined by his most centered, true self in his latest release Flowers On The Weekend.

As a guest on the podcast A Waste of Time with Itsthereal, Roth spoke about where he considers home: Philadelphia. Location had previously guided his process and sound while making music, and the comfort felt in his hometown is clear on this album. Roth is in his element the entire album and draws from different parts of his life to create a body of work that feels complete. Whether it's a feature from longtime friend Lil Yachty, whom he met in Atlanta, to hometown friend Rob Devious, who produced the album, we have come full circle in the best way possible.

Roth delivers raw lyrics, has funky instrumentals, and created an album that you’d want to throw on to feel good. On tracks like “Things Change” and “Still Got Some,” Roth displays his lyricism, showing the listener that his unique rhyme scheme and syntax are still sharp. On other tracks like “Way More Fun” and “Mommydog,” Roth plays around with subject matter and gets a little more personable. This is an album that will please hip-hop heads as well as the casual listener. And while this album seems like a perfect bow on the career of Asher Roth, I think he still has a lot more to give us musically.

— Ian Lutz

#album review #new music #new album #asher roth #flowers on the weekend #ian lutz

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: dvsn — A Muse In Her Feelings

The Canadian R&B duo dvsn released their third album, A Muse In Her Feelings, last month. This project signals huge growth from the group, bringing their best sound, features, and lyrics to the table. The album perfectly captures the common phrase “It’s a vibe,” making listeners want to listen to the whole project front to back as it tells its story.

The group consists of Daniel Daley (vocals) and Nineteen85 (production) and are signed to Drake’s OVO Sound (October's Very Own) record label. Their home city of Toronto is represented not only in lyricism but with the features on the album. dvsn brought label mate PARTYNEXTDOOR, fellow Toronto native Jessie Reyez, and frequent Drake collaborator Future onto the album as features. With their previous two projects, the group featured no other artists. Where some artists might stumble over picking features or simply having too many on the album, dvsn executed perfectly.

A Muse In Her Feelings is the best representation of what modern R&B can and should be. The group tackles an array of emotions on this album. They set the stage with songs about commitment issues, lack of trust, and reasons for love being lost. On the opening track “No Good,” Daniel sings, “And yeah, I know I'm basically the reason / We can't make this work.”

As the listener moves through the album, the emotion outpouring continues, but moves towards a possible new relationship where the protagonist will change for the better. On “Between Us” featuring Snoh Aalegra, Daniel sings, “Let me start by sayin' sorry / Some days I take your time for granted / You could be the star in my universe / If I just took time to plan it.”

The album is a complete work, with each piece building on each other and adding to the story. dvsn delivered what should be considered a classic R&B album for years to come. Grab your vice and a good set of speakers and listen to this one loud.

— Ian Lutz

#album review #new album #new music #dvsn #a muse in her feelings #ian lutz

[930club]

If there’s one thing that’s become crystal clear during quarantine it’s that people are clamoring for live music. The days of screaming out lyrics in a large crowd and being convinced your favorite artist made eye contact with you seem long behind us. Luckily platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook exist so we can get a taste of some of our favorite artists performing live. Recently, Banks has taken to YouTube to post stripped-down versions of her songs “Drowning”, “Contaminated”, “Stroke”, and “If We Were Made of Water” to accompany the release of her EP Live And Stripped.

When Banks released “Drowning” in 2014 it became a heartbreak anthem for Alternative R&B lovers. Although she wrote the song about her best friend who was having a hard time with someone, banks still managed for her voice to hold the weight and sadness of the situation. This is most notable when she sang the lines “From the girl who made you soup / And tied your shoes when you were hurting / You are not deserving, you are not deserving.” 

The video for “Drowning” in 1 mic 1 take, breathes new life into the song. Similar to the EP title, the studio Banks is singing in is stripped back and nearly empty save for a few band members. As the video begins and Banks starts to bob back and forth you can’t help but nod along but once you hear the lyrics “Take it from the girl you claim to love / You’re gonna get some bad karma,” you remember that this is a Banks song and somehow she is getting you to dance while simultaneously breaking your heart. Not only is Banks reinventing her music, but she has also managed to release the perfect quarantine ballad. 

-- Carol Wright 

#votd #video of the day #Carol Wright #Banks #Drowning #1 Mic 1 Take

[930club]

VOTD: “Summertime” - Orville Peck

With the outbreak of the coronavirus across the world, Orville Peck has had to cancel/postpone the dates of his spring tour. Despite being bound to isolation, Peck has been live-streaming concerts from his living room. He just released a new song “Summertime” with an accompanying music video that strikes the feeling of isolation and frustration that is being heavily felt around the world right now.

“Summertime” is Peck’s first single with Columbia Records and the music video was directed by Drew Kirsch. Kirsch has been making a name for himself especially since directing Taylor Swift’s “You Need To Calm Down” music video that won the VMA for Video of the Year. The video for “Summertime” gives off serious May Queen vibes from Midsommer, but does a great job making the song very personable to anyone listening to it. If you have never seen Midsommer, the best way to describe it is a cult movie with an eerie vibe of summertime happiness. 

In a time of such frustration and fear of the unknown, the release of this song brings an air of hope to the hearts of his fans. In an interview with Variety Peck says, “The song is very much about missing somebody, even though they might be right there next to you, or missing somewhere that may be just out of arm’s reach.” This speaks to the emotions of a lot of people right now. One of the lines of the song that stands out is “Asking where the time’s gone, dreaming with the lights on / Trying to keep your eyes on something along the rise”. He makes it really easy to relate this song to whatever it is you’re missing, no matter how far or close it is, whether it’s a person, an object, or even a feeling.

On a lighter note, Peck is widely known for his fringed mask that does not show his face. The use of face masks have been a large topic of discussion during the Coronavirus outbreak. During the interview with Variety when asked to give advice on how people can make their mask fashionable he said, “Express yourself with it, you know? I think we could get some good rhinestone ones. It would look great with, like, some Porter Wagoner-type…”

- Karlee Pigg

#orville peck #summertime #votd #video of the day #Karlee Pigg

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: Rina Sawayama — SAWAYAMA

Over the years, we’ve gotten to know about Rina Sawayama — the creative songbird who was born in Japan and raised in London, a being completely unchained by pop conventions. She has stretched genres and spoken truths about her ongoing search for authenticity within her own character, in each single meticulously written, from the earliest cuts to her 2017 electro-pop EP RINA to now. Her latest studio album SAWAYAMA achieves two things: it liberates and it revolutionizes.

Like RINA, her record SAWAYAMA intertwines the singer’s continuous visions about the world with an amalgamation of every music genre imaginable. An electric-punk jam like “Afterlife,” a glittery anthem like “Cyber Stockholm Syndrome,” and other RINA tracks gauge an autobiographical sense of nostalgia and reflection amid its bubbly, futuristic structure. That same vibe transcends in SAWAYAMA, where genre-fluid songs like “Dynasty” and “Akasaka Sad” reconnect her back to her family heritage, evolving identity, and inner roots.

Particularly, the opener “Dynasty” is an invitation to look into her world; she fuses traditional harmonies with electric guitar, sharing ad libs about ancestral pains and family struggles: “I’m a dynasty / The pain in my vein is hereditary / Dynasty / Running in my bloodstream, bloodstream / Dynasty / And if that’s all that I’m gonna be / Won’t you break the chain with me?”

On “XS,” the next song, Sawayama satirically describes capitalistic chaos within rising guitar and a “2000s R&B beat that reminds you of a time when everything was alright.” In the second pre-chorus, she sings “Make me less so I want more (More) / Bought a zip code at the mall / Call me crazy, call me selfish / Say I’m neither, would you believe her?” The “XS” music video parallels the same message, and in the video she mocks shopping networks by robotically upselling a stock of glistening orange juice bottles — completely overlooking how it’s affecting those outsourcing its raw materials. Through songs like “XS,” we quickly learn that the world isn’t so pleasant afterall; not everything is as smiley as daytime television.

Another part of her critique derives from minority oppression. In “Comme Des Garçons,” Sawayama dances in a disco, upbeatily confronting toxic masculinity, whereas her hardcore beat “STFU” responds to Japanese fetishization with complete rage. Likewise, the immersive beat “Tokyo Love Hotel” recalls how tourists indulge in love hotels, often overlooking Japan’s context and history. On the album’s Apple Music editor notes, she explains, “Japanese people are so polite and respectful, and I feel that culture in me. There are places in Japan called love hotels, where people just go to have sex. You can book the room to simply have sex. I felt like these tourists were treating Japan as a country or Tokyo as a city in that way.”

At her most vulnerable, Sawayama rises in strength, connecting with those who might just feel the same way. “Love Me 4 Me” is an open love letter to herself, addressing “If you can’t love yourself / How can you love someone else?” in the intro. Her karaoke pick, “Bad Friend,” reflects a young friendship left behind by pulsing romance. And in post-punk fashion, the free-wheeling ballad “Paradisin’” attributes “my wild teenage years, the time of my life that I had the most fun and also found my love of music as a form of escape.”

It’s as if there’s always a search for an escape, a deviance from reality. But as much as she wants to say “F--k This World,” best represented in the album's ninth tracklisting, it’s like the artist cannot fully just drop her things and go. Following the delicate interlude, audience cheers descend and “Who’s Gonna Save U Now?” plays, transitioning to reimagined metal rock. For Sawayama, the noise never stops.

“Chosen Family,” the next track, extends love to her LGBTQ peers, “...just appreciating the journeys they’ve been on.” As an openly pansexual artist, her security comes from her queer community, especially in times of grief, and this song is a reminder of that: “We don’t need to be related to relate / We don’t need to share genes or a surname / You are, you are / My chosen, chosen family.”

On the last song “Snakeskin,” she samples a classical Beethoven tune, “Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique,’” a piano piece she heard her mother play growing up. “It’s the only song I remember her playing, and it only made sense to end with that. I wanted it to end with her voice, and that’s her voice, that little more crackle of the end.” In the outro, Sawayama channels her mother’s soft, witty character: “I’ve realized that now I want to see who I want to see, do what I want to do, be who I want to be.”

Most of the record’s nonconformist, nu-metal sound is executively produced by Clarence Clarity, where he, Sawayama, and other producers took two years to juxtapose its metallic noise with lyrical narratives. What’s fascinating about her debut is the vast amount of ideas layered into each chord. There are continual motifs of feeling connected and then disconnected from her family, from herself, and from the world, all exercised with different tones and wavelengths. As glamorous and divine each track is to listen to, she enlightens us with existential questions on the environment, institutionalized critiques, and cultural dilemmas.

SAWAYAMA is a highly textured, integral balance of grit and grace. It’s an album that’s blended in the singer’s past and present, her evolutionary tale, only to be met with forward-thinking confidence and dignity on the other side.

— Jackie Reed

#album review #new music #new album #rina sawayama #sawayama #jackie reed

[930club]

MUSIC MONDAY: Carol’s Picks

I imagine the songs on this playlist being used for different scenes in a movie, as the main character navigates the highs and lows life is throwing their way. Since we’ve been in quarantine it does feel nice to day dream the day away and what better day dream is there than that of the lead in a coming-of-age movie. 

— Carol Wright

#Music Monday Playlist #Music Monday #playlist #spotify #mxmtoon #lennon stella #verite #alfie templeman #the 1975 #cadderwall #the marias #conan gray #muna #the beatles #carol wright

[930club]

ALBUM REVIEW: The Strokes — The New Abnormal

What feels like an endless season of uncertainty is one we’ve gone through before, with The Strokes having defined indie rock with ever-present existentialism since 2001. The difference now is that we’re all in it because of the same circumstance, and some of us are experiencing, for the first time or in new ways, the thin veil of society that covers life’s volatility. The Strokes’ latest album will remind you that there was never any guarantee anyway. 

The Strokes’ sixth studio album, and their first full length release in seven years, released on April 10. The album name itself is a headline for history during this pandemic, a coincidence considering writing sessions for the album began as early as 2016 and the band announced the name in February of this year. But for The Strokes, The New Abnormal continues their acceptance, almost giving up on the world after years of fighting and being tired of it. The New Abnormal echoes the band’s debut album, Is This It, resigning to life with a question as a statement. Where The Strokes rebutted and scorned life in their music early in their career (“Take It Or Leave It” on Is This It and “Juicebox” on First Impressions Of Earth), The Strokes accept life in The New Abnormal with jaded, laissez-faire surrender. 

Musically, The Strokes rely on an equation that has strayed or developed very little over the last 20 years — arpeggiating bass and guitar lines complimenting each other underneath Julian Casablancas’ narrative falsettos and wailing-like lyric qualities. Lyric subject matter keeps Casablancas’ point of view center with others adding to grief or trouble (“You, you didn't listen to me / But I, I didn't listen to you” from “Bad Decisions” and “I want new friends / But they don’t want me” from “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus”). “Ode To The Mets” offers a dissonant opening phrase between synth and guitar that actually illustrates anxious unease, but again, resignation reigns with one line fading away. 

The sound of The New Abnormal is the opposite of those words. It is neither progressively new or abnormal from the previous lineup of The Strokes’ discography. The album will either fuel fan 2010s nostalgia or hiatus hype disappointment, but at the very least it can provide a fitting soundtrack of self-isolation realities that force us to face ourselves, as in the lyrics of “At The Door”: “I can't escape it / Never gonna make it / Out of this in time / I guess that's just fine / I’m not there quite yet / My thoughts, such a mess.” 

— Francesca Jimenez

#album review #new album #new music #The Strokes #the new abnormal #francesca jimenez

[930club]

MUSIC MONDAY: Francesca’s Picks

New music releases and almost every artist you follow doing a live stream have been pockets of joy throughout self-isolation. This Monday's playlist features some April releases from Jamie xx, Fiona Apple, the Strokes, and Joji, as well as some house remixes and throw back jazz tracks to feel the feels of sitting alone with your thoughts all hours of the day. Stay strong and healthy, y'all!

— Francesca Jimenez

#Music Monday Playlist #Music Monday #playlist #spotify #jamie xx #fiona apple #The Strokes #joji #justin jay #louis the child #kyle watson #al green #miles davis #francesca jimenez