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ICYMI vol. 8: Lala Lala, Pond, Mattiel

ICYMI is a series featuring new and notable releases you (and we) may have missed


“Siren 042” – Lala Lala, WHY?

“Siren 042” should play at the end of a film where the protagonist has realized their faults and failings, come to terms with the consequences of their actions and their newfound reality, and are driving contemplatively across a bridge into the sunset. The collaboration between the two Chicago artists (and friends) is sonically uplifting even while Lillie West is going over her supposed flaws and past mistakes. It’s all conclusion and resolution and rebirth — a new start and a strange, sad sort of hope.

“Daisy” – Pond

It’s not spring in New York, but it is for Pond. Their latest release intros all warm and heavenly — ascending into a hypnotic whirring before dropping down into a rock-synth groove. Obvious flower imagery could seem contrived if it wasn’t for the group flipping the stereotype on it’s head, bringing up dead bodies, blood, and broken hearts combined with having such an addictive hook.

Customer Copy – Mattiel

Customer Copy is in a similar vein as The White Stripes and The Nude Party, but veers on the edge of grit. Distinctly seventies inspired, moody, and bluesy, the EP brings together storytelling from corrupt city capitalists to dying inmates in the southwest. How new age “classic rock” should sound.

“Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy” – Xiu Xiu

This video is really fucking weird and dark and wonderful. Animalistic, ritualistic, and abstract, we’re taken to some sort of underground BDSM club where people might (?) be being held captive and force fed celery and garlic.

“What Shall You Say Tonight” – David Vassalotti

We all have a lot of feelings, but not everyone can distill their feelings in the same sort of beautiful package that David Vassolotti can. The single reminds me a little of The Smiths — simple, effective guitar melodies that feel spacious enough to let the vocals take primary focus even through the reverb, a little gloomy, sentimental, earnest, and a slow build that leads up to a climactic release. Had this been released 10 years prior — it would have fit seamlessly in the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack.



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