Weekly Digest

Here’s a collection of my favorite releases of the week.  With a couple well known names starting the playlist out strong, it also features some accidental stumble upons- soundcloud stumble upons.  Enjoy.

XOXO

Haerts – Call My Name

Haerts has taken a slight left in their musical stylings with their new track Call My Name.    Their EP Hemiplegia was everyone’s favorite emotional outpour of 2013, and contained some of the strongest hooks in recent pop releases, but it’s surprising and encouraging to see this new track as an omen of their ability to evolve and yet maintain a signature style.  Melding their emotive pop songwriting with dreamier production, the Brooklyn based quartet embarks on 2014 determined to win your ears over again.  Nini Fabi’s vocals strike a chord within a pop lover’s id, harpooning our instinctual responses into a condensed and immersive wash of romance.  As she gently and patiently sings “When the past is gone and the future untold, knowing all love dies and wondering so”, she captures a delicate and grey feeling- the ebb and flow of being close to, and yet so distant from, another person.  Call My Name is feeling intimacy and space simultaneously.  It’s wanting freedom and yet wanting to hear our name called by our lover.  It’s knowing that we may sometimes need to step away from the connections that once flourished. It’s a stunningly delivered and fatally emotional reality that Nini relates to her audience, and a promise of more beautiful pop music to come, the kind that could (and should) reach the ears, and hearts, of a much larger audience.

 

The 25 Best Tracks of 2013

It’s been an amazing year in music, and while so far I snubbed more popularly rotated albums for The 10 Best Underplayed Albums of 2013, here you’ll see an all inclusive list.  From Lady Gaga to Chvrches to James Black and Rhye- consider this a year in review, or maybe just a collection of songs you need to hear if you haven’t.  So based on a combination of personal opinion (like including a track off Ra Ra Riot’s latest album which was severely critiqued), popularity, and merit, here are the 25 best tracks of 2013.  Subscribe to the Spotify Playlist at the bottom of this post!

Weekly Digest

This week’s playlist is seething with Dream Pop, remixes of some of the hottest artists in the blogosophere, another cover from Icona Pop (like, more original content please ladies), and a probe into a darker electronic mood.  Enjoy.

Weekly Digest

This selection of internet finds for the week is insanely diverse.  A chart-topping Belgian, a few emerging female pop stars, new tracks from Disclosure and TV girl, and some good ‘ole summer dance jams make up the playlist. Check it,

xoxo

Stealing my Haert

Haerts, a Brooklyn based soul/indie/pop band, will capture and crush your soul.  Wings was released about 7 months ago, and now they have a follow-up single, All The Days.  Both tracks are hook heavy, emotionally dense and yet euphoric.