While we gear up for this weekend’s Grammys at Flavorwire HQ, here are a few songs we have on repeat that have nothing to do with those awards.
Modest Mouse — “The Best Room”
Modest Mouse fans have been begging for some rawness since the dreaminess of 2000’s The Moon and Antarctica. While “The Best Room” won’t give them that — or much of anything they may have loved about pre-“Float On” Modest Mouse — this track will give them some trademark sardonic Isaac Brock, who sings of the “novelist to my right/ Who is convinced that every woman’s a whore/ But he bothers me time again/ To set him up with my best friends/ And I say/ What?” This is the third single off of the band’s upcoming album, Strangers to Ourselves, which is the first album since 2007. It will be released March 17. — Shane Barnes
—
https://soundcloud.com/angxlhxze/candlxs-prod-troy-noka
Angel Haze — “Candlxs”
I could stand to see a whole lot more hip-hop prominently featuring psychedelic pan-flute, about loving lesbian relationships. But Angel Haze’s latest, about her girlfriend Ireland Baldwin, is a start. Haze’s vocals remind me a little of Rihanna here, in a great way. — Jillian Mapes
—
Unknown Mortal Orchestra — “Multi-Love”
For the past five years, Ruban Nielson has made two groove-heavy albums under the moniker Unknown Mortal Orchestra. While those albums were good for a stoned afternoon here and there, they lacked any kind of real hook. Whether the upcoming album, Multi-Love, will break that streak, is yet to be seen. Regardless, the title track, with its made-from-scratch (literally!) synths and Nielson’s typically alien vocals set on an undeniably funky low end, has us expecting great, groovy things. Multi-Love is out May 26 via Jagjagwuar. — SB
—
Houndstooth — “No News From Home”
Houndstooth is a band from Portland, and they sound like a band from Portland. At least it’s working class Portland, with Katie Bernstein singing of willing displacement and an unrequited communication in a straining voice that sounds like the gasps between a smokers’ cough. The whole thing passes by easily and effectively, like the trees you hopelessly count through the windows on a never-ending road trip. — SB
—
Garden City Movement — “My Only Love”
Electronic Israeli trio Garden City Movement pull off pillowy harmonies quite well, but perhaps more interestingly, they juxtapose them with frantic ticking beats. Their latest, which premiered earlier this week via FACT, offers up a euphoric groove that’s perfect for a bedroom dance party. — JM
—
Bonus: Lennon & Maisy, the Stella sisters who play Maddie and Daphne on Nashville, released a cover of Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap” that transforms the punchy pop anthem into a folkie dream. — JM