Soundcheck
Snail Mail Makes Mortality Sound… Fun?
If you need me I’ll be at the big airport bar in the sky.
Every week, we bring you SOUNDCHECK — your destination for the best new music that just hit the web. Because you should always be prepared when someone passes you that AUX cord. This week's roundup features nine of our favorite emerging and established artists.
“My Maker” by Snail Mail
You’d think a song with a lyrical fixation on dying would be anxiety-inducing, but it’s actually strangely reassuring. It’s not bleak or fatalistic; it’s a fervent reminder to live life as if death is not an option. If nothing matters, why not say “f*ck it,” and film a music video on a hot air balloon in one take?
“White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter” by Lana Del Rey
Eerie, mythical, and spellbinding, Lana Del Rey adapts the macabre, gothic sound of her husband’s home of Louisiana so well that if you told me this track was recorded on the edge of a haunted bayou, I’d believe it.
“Ear To The Cocoon” by Willow
We need a word to describe Willow’s music specifically. Compared to her, everyone else is just making empty rhythms and melodies. What she does in the studio is genuinely otherworldly; press play on this track and you’ll be taken on a sonic journey that begins with a jazz history lesson and ends on a planet that only Willow is capable of inhabiting.
“Ride” by Jessie Ware
Ride all the time. Disco, occasionally.
“Paracosm” by Absolutely
If I wrote a song as expansive, ambitious, and curious as this, I would name my album after it, too. If you’re not on the Absolutely train by now, you’re gonna get left behind.
“Only The Best” by HorsegiirL
You don’t need to hear this song at a meditative rave at a wellness spa in Williamsburg to appreciate the pulsating electro-beat and whisper-soft vocals, but if you ever get the opportunity to do so, take it. Trust me.
“Roamer” by Spill Tab
“Would you wait a life to see what happens?” Jeez, @ me next time, Spill Tab. In all seriousness this song is great, even if it does hurt my feelings.
“My Life” by Julia Cumming
If you only know her from her work in Sunflower Bean, you wouldn’t know Julia Cumming has this theatrical, singer-songwriter side to her. Here, she presents a version of herself she’s never shared before, and the end result is somewhere on the spectrum of Carole King, Carly Simon, and Brian Wilson. It’s quite the introduction for the singer’s debut single, one that completely shatters your preconceived notions of her.
“Broken Record” by Alemeda
A rock song with a tempo change midway through? We are so back. It’s time to start paying attention to Alemeda — you’ve been warned.
