Visuals for music sometimes establish their own ephemeral connection, working as a different form of communication between artists and aficionados. With new releases coming by the second, we’ve decided to run a column every now and again to keep tabs on the music video landscape. Some of the clips we highlight will be older, but that’s OK—everyone’s been doing a little reflecting these days. It’s the quality that we’re concerned with. Enjoy!
Kalbells—led by Kalmia Traver of Rubblebucket with her bandmates Angelica Bess (Body Language), Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy & Sad13), and Sarah Pedinotti (Okkervil River & LipTalk)—have a certain hazy funk I just can’t shake… Their upcoming album Max Heart explores what happens when we let go of what doesn’t serve us in order to leave space for the blessings that do. Co-engineered with Luke Temple, it’s mesmerizing psychedelic synth-pop executed by badass women harnessing their improvisational magic.
The video for “PurplePink,” conceptualized and directed by Lisa Schatz, features 3D animated rocket ships, faceless furry creatures, a 30-foot glittery hologram of Maddie Rice (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, Saturday Night Live Band) shredding on guitar, and Kalbells as warrior space queens.
Full mood.
This past May, Daedelus launched their 23rd full-length album, What Wands Won’t Break. Initially released with Dome of Doom digitally and as a limited edition cassette run of 200 copies (sold out), What Wands Won’t Break has been pressed as a special 180-gram edition in full colored jacket sleeves. Check out the trippy new video.
Here’s what we said about it last spring: The album is unhinged and hectic one moment, enduringly raw and sweet like cookie dough in others. Grab your vinyl here.
This visual for Rochelle Jordan’s “Got Em” is no moving picture, which is the point. Just a static shot of a weathered 12-inch single, crinkled with an outline of the vinyl pushing through the cover. “Got Em” is built for that garage meets UK Funky slant of dance music that is bass-heavy, sweaty, and treacherous on the trainers. Born in London to British-Jamaican parents, Jordan relocated with her family to the east side of Toronto in the early ‘90s. Her father, a drummer, encouraged her love of art and instilled an appreciation for Northern soul, Jamaican reggae, and dancehall, while the adolescent Jordan soaked in the record collection of her older brother: funky UK house, nocturnal drum and bass, garage, and all the gospel samples contained therein.
Produced by KLSH with additional production by Machinedrum, “Got Em” is versatile enough for underground raves or witching hour headphone reveries, invoking the sounds of Crystal Waters and Aaliyah. She is a new signee to TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art Records. Enjoy this proper slab of British humidity.
I can turn a blind eye to suspect lyrical content in favor of spot-on genre time travel. Pearl Charles does exactly that trick on her sophomore record Magic Mirror. Navigating from disco indulger to metaphysical queen, then veering into that country folkie terrain. While it’s not my go-to genre of choice, it’s a nice mix up of sorts. She commits to all the parts she plays. Enjoy the ABBA-doing-too-much beauty of “Only For Tonight”:
