Introducing: Crowd Shy

 

Crowd Shy is Salt Lake City’s Jordan Watko, and while he’s largely underplayed I think it’s time you guys started paying attention.  His debut record, Begin to Understand, is a perfectly symmetrical conjugation of many of my favorite genres.  From R&B to Dream Pop, Chillwave to 90s Garage Rock, it’s like Sky Ferreira’s indie little brother who inadvertently outshines his older sister.

Chillwave, by any other name

Brooklyn band Small Black are back with their sophomore LP, Limits of Desire (May 14th), and they’ve teased us with the first single, Free at Dawn.  I like the direction in which they’ve taken their chillwave vibe (although they wouldn’t categorize themselves as such).  This track establishes a delicious balance of aloofness and epicness,  just enough to make me want more.