Returning to The A List this week are GIFT and Hinds as a whole slew of newcomers are welcomed. Check out our Q&A with Washington D.C. based band Bad Moves about their new track "Hallelujah" and more!
Make sure to stay up to date with the latest and greatest songs carefully curated by your fellow music aficionados and delivered to you directly by our very own music director, Nils Illokken. Join Nils every Friday from 3 - 7p EST to hear this list and so much more.
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10. "Common Loon" - Xiu Xiu
Starting off our A List this week at spot #10 is Xiu Xiu, a three piece rock band hailing from San Jose, California. Their song “Common Loon” was released as a single back on June 24, a small taste of their soon-to-be-released album 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips. Well, that’s a mouthful! The last remaining original member of the band Jamie Stewart described this track as “boogie embrace for queer perverts across the multiverse.”
The music video for “Common Loon” features Alicia Mcdaid – an artist who directed and edited the video herself – performing with wildness in her energy compared to the relatively calm sound of the song (a welcoming contrast). Many of the scenes in the video had to be censored for Youtube. Funny and creative, it leaves us wondering what else we are going to see and hear from Xiu Xiu come the album's release on September 27.
Check out Xiu Xiu’s Bandcamp page and Instagram to stay up to date, and catch them on tour at Ace of Cups in Columbus on October 20! Tickets are available for purchase tickets here.
9. "Hallelujah" - Bad Moves
Showing up at #9 is Bad Moves, hailing from Washington D.C. with their new track “Hallelujah” from their upcoming LP Wearing Out The Refrain. This week we got the opportunity to ask Bad Moves a few questions about their new song and LP.
Inhailer Radio: Your track “Hallelujah” sounds like a protest song – with music often being a voice for change, what was the driving force behind this song?
Bad Moves: I think it'd be fair to call it a protest song. It was written in response to the rise of legislation in the past few years aimed at dismantling protections for queer and trans people. While cloaked in the familiar jargon of moral panic, laws aimed at policing gender expression and silencing discourse on sexual identity seek to erase our identities, to dehumanize and push queer and trans people into the closet. They make the world a more dangerous place to live.
Inhailer: Can we ask about your new LP? Should we expect any new sounds or influences on this upcoming record?
BM: For sure! We spent a lot of time on the record and brought in some instrumental elements that are new for us - acoustic guitars, keyboards, even horns on one track. We referenced Elephant 6 bands as influences in the studio and pursued some blown out sounds in that ballpark.
Inhailer: The lyric video for Hallelujah is awesome. Did you give full creative rein to the producer or did you help to choose specific film excerpts and images for a reason?
BM: Thanks! The video producer Guillan Leonardo rocks and deserves all the credit. We gave some feedback, but the excerpts and images were all their choices.
We are loving this track, and we are so excited for Wearing Out The Refrain, set to be released on September 13. A big thank you to Bad Moves for taking the time to answer our questions – click to follow them on Facebook and Instagram!
8. "Worthy" - Mavis Staples
“Look at you smiling, shining /
Beaming like the sunshine /
Rising, climbing /
Grinding through the hard times (Hard times) /
Growing, showing up like you're a star /
'Cause no matter where you stand today /
I hope you know you are”
Legendary blues and gospel singer Mavis Staples blesses us with her new track “Worthy.” You may recognize her powerhouse vocals from her family’s band The Staple Singers. At 85 years old, Staples is remarkably still creating music — and if that wasn’t impressive enough, she is also currently touring across both the United States and Europe. Staples herself said of the electrifying new track “It’s a pick-me-up song – it’s a celebration, and you can’t help but move. Certain songs just cover you, and this song is just so sassy and fire.”
Her closest show is August 17 in Three Oaks, Michigan, and sadly it appears to have sold out already. You can watch for more tour dates here and support her music on her Bandcamp page.
7. "Boom Boom Back (Feat. Beck)" - Hinds
Back again from our June 14 A List, Spanish duo Hinds grab spot #7 this week with their track "Boom Boom Back," released on May 7 along with partnering track "Coffee." This infectiously catchy single is a look into what's to come on their new album VIVA HINDS, set to be released on September 6.
Featuring famed musician Beck, this summer anthem is equipped with a killer hook and sweet, sweet vocals. Hinds shared on their Instagram that the pair met Beck by chance at the afterparty of an “indie documentary premiere” – the collaboration was formed the very next day when they wrote “Boom Boom Back” and played it for him. Grian Chatten, lead singer of fellow A List featured group Fontaines D.C., is also slated to appear on the album.
Hinds (Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote) will make their way to the U.S. later this year, stopping in Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland Heights and more.
6. "Pull The Rope" - Ibibio Sound Machine
Ibibio Sound Machine came out with their new album Pull The Rope on May 3, marking the band’s sixth studio album since forming back in 2013. Featured on our A List this week is the funky, electro style title track.
Ibibio Sound Machine is self-described as “a clash of African and electronic elements inspired in equal measure by the golden era of West-African funk & disco and modern post-punk & electro.” The mix of differing influences makes for a unique, energizing sound that we cannot get enough of.
The band will visit the United States briefly for a string of six shows at the end of July in Colorado, Utah, and both Carolinas. They will return again in September, with the nearest show being in Chicago at Outset on September 26. If you’re curious to know more, head over to their Bandcamp page and Instagram!
5. "Phantom" - Tycho
Coming in at #5 is Tycho (Scott Hansen) with his new EDM single “Phantom,” the first track to be released from his highly anticipated album Infinite Health, which is expected to be published on August 30.
Tycho said of the track “I wanted ‘Phantom’ to feel like a blend of lights in a nightclub with some unknown entity; a moving and shifting intelligence that served as a conduit to a deeper understanding of what’s beneath the surface of existence. It’s also about coming to terms with mortality, with the phantom being the ever-present specter. I spent more hours on this song than any other on the record.”
The attention to detail and long hours of labor show, and we can’t wait to see what else he has crafted on this record. Tycho is unfortunately passing over Ohio on his upcoming tour, but there is still a long list of dates he will be playing across the country. Take a look at the musician’s "Tycho Friendship Server" on Discord for updates and to learn more about his community!
4. "SURRENDER" - Sego
Sego hits us with “SURRENDER,” a high energy song off of their vibrant new album TWO BOYS. Accompanied by a trippy music video that rolls you along with the ups and downs of the track, it was the second single to be released from the album after “TANDANG” in 2023.
The band is currently located in Los Angeles, but credits a lot of their style and sound to their Utah roots. Their most used tagline “#SEGOSUCKS” came from the negative attention that arose at around the same time they started getting popular in Utah as a way to let disparagers know that Sego really did not care what they thought.
There are currently no upcoming tour dates listed for the band. You can check out the rest of their catalog on Spotify or Apple Music.
3. "I Got Cracked" - Vundabar
Boston based band Vundabar snags spot #3 on this week’s A List with new punk single “I Got Cracked,” released on June 25.
This track is personal to frontman Brandon Hagen, with Hagen sharing that the lyrics stem from a particularly rough time in his life; “In a six week window that I could only describe as a careening crash landing, a long term relationship of mine imploded, my dad died, and I broke my arm in a hotel while on tour in Europe…I reeled at the connectedness of it all; so much of these intangible fractures now grounded in the very physical break within my body, this physical break then dictating the floatier bits as I made music determined by the limitations of that injury.”
See Vundabar on tour with Courting on November 11 at El Club in Detroit, and be sure to visit their official website for merch, tour news, and more.
2. "Later" - GIFT
Showcased at the #2 spot this week is “Later,” the third single to be released this year by GIFT, who was last seen on our 7/5 A List with “Wish Me Away.” Their album Illuminator will come out on August 23, and so far the tracks have sounded ethereal and psychedelic – similar to those of the Shoegaze genre in the 1980s but with a pop twist.
Vocalist TJ Freda explains that “Later” is actually meant to be more of a gloomy track, saying that “‘Later’ stands out as one of the darkest songs I’ve made. Making it was cathartic, diving into darker themes. The song explores surrendering to the overwhelming sensation of life slipping away before my eyes.”
Despite the darker nature of the song, it still retains glimpses of the band’s signature light and dreamy sound.
GIFT has quite a few upcoming shows in both the United States and Europe – check out the dates here.
1. "Itch" - Porches
Taking the top spot is New York solo project Porches (Aaron Maine) with his downbeat grunge-inspired track “Itch.” This is the third single off of his upcoming album Shirt, the sixth studio album released by Maine. There is plenty of anticipation surrounding the contents of this record, as it has been described as the “heaviest album to date.”
Maine has mentioned several times of his recording tendencies that he does it “alone typically, from 10am to 6 or 7pm…I’d run a song and essentially just make up lyrics on the spot and feel the words coming out of my mouth, then listen back to see if there was anything special where I really got hit with inspiration.” It is quite impressive for such full sounding music to have been put together by one person.
Porches will be touring with a live band across the United States this fall, and new album Shirt is due out on September 13. Pre-order it here!
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