Oceanator's "Heartbeat" Premieres at Post Trash!

Post-Trash says:

About two weeks ago Oceanator shared “Heartbeat,” the third and final single from their upcoming full length debut, Things I Never Said and now it has a video. The highly anticipated album, out this Friday, August 28th via Plastic Miracles captures Elise Okusami’s songwriting at it’s best, a strong effort that sits between pop, rock, fuzzy punk, and alternative radio gold. We featured “Heartbeat” on a recent Fuzzy Meadows, claiming “the immediately upbeat song opens with a frantic power-pop riff (the kind that could be skate punk if played dirtier) but Okusami remains cool and rooted in control. There’s a sense of 90’s pop punk that blends with something a bit more retro, but it’s the little nuances to the song, the quick but effective harmonies, the modulated bridge, and the tempo shifts where Oceanator always glows.”

The video, directed by David Combs and Ben Epstein, is every bit as delightful as the song itself, opening with the same magnetic energy as we find Okusami seemingly lost and looking for companionship. She finds it eventually in the form of herself, quite literally, as she joins herself at a bus stop, and then again in a field, with ten of more copies, al rocking out, all enjoying each other’s company. There’s a brilliant barbershop quartet moment, cool animation, and enough smiles to keep you going throughout your day.

Speaking about the song, Okusami shared:

“This song is loosely about having a crush, and both the grounding feeling and the anxiety that feeling brings. We recorded it all together like a live performance, and then I went back and added the lead guitars and the vocals. Guitar and vocals by me, bass Eva Lawitts (they), drums Aaron Silberstein (he)."

Bad Moves' "Party With The Kids Who Wanna Party With You" Premieres at Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone says:

Bad Moves will be releasing Untenable, their second full-length album, later this spring. The D.C. power-pop-punk quartet’s new record comes two years after their critically acclaimed debut Tell No One, which earned the band opening slots for everyone from the Hold Steady to the Beths, as well as a slot on Rob Sheffield’s 25 Best Songs of 2018.

Bad Moves — comprising Emma Cleveland, David Combs, Katie Park and Daoud Tyler-Ameen —recorded their second record at Philadelphia’s Headroom studios with Hop Along’s Joe Reinhart.

The band has shared its lead single, “Party With the Kids Who Wanna Party With You,” a meditation on communion in the face of crisis disguised as a fast-paced celebratory rocker.

“At the song’s center is the question of how to live viably as an artist while knowing that working people will inevitably continue to be ground down,” the band said in a statement. “Against that dreary backdrop, the phrase ‘party with the kids who wanna party with you’ becomes a kind of mantra for clinging to the moments of human connection that still exist — whether that’s at a real live rock show or on a Google Hangouts call with friends during a global pandemic.”

Untenable will be released on May 29th on Don Giovanni.

Stereogum says:

Two years ago, the Washington, DC band Bad Moves released their very fun debut album, Tell No One, and next month they’re coming back with another. They recorded their sophomore album, Untenable, with Philadelphia rock king Joe Reinhart at his Headroom Studios. Today, they’re sharing its lead single, “Party With The Kids Who Want To Party With You,” some very good advice that takes the form of an urgent hook on their new song.

It’s wall-to-wall words amid visions of the apocalypse as the band urge you to cut out the fat in your life and embrace the people that make you happy. “You’re already in deep, you wanna watch for the cue/ Consent isn’t complex, just no one taught it to you,” they sing. “Keep that in mind every day, everything that you do/ ‘Cause someone might be listening to you/ When you’re coming up with something to say/ To keep your mind quiet, scream out.”

The Safes' "It's True" Premieres on the 405!

Our music video for The Safes’ “It’s True” premiered on the 405:

The Chicago-based band The Safes, composed of the four O'Malley brothers, are well known for their snappy brand of pop, one that evokes a wealth of other genres and eras. The same can be said for the band's new single 'It's True,' a teaser for their upcoming LP Winning Combination.

The brisk track uses a fun, slightly off-kilter array of instruments as well as some speedy wordplay to capture its own bizarre little world. Twinkling pianos, strings, accordions and straightforward guitars all come together under one roof here, resulting in one of the more eclectic singles of the year.

The video for 'It's True,' directed by Baby Pony Food, draws together disparate influences -- comic books, Franz Kafka, etc. -- to capture a sense of otherworldlyness. And it doesn't get much more otherworldly than signing your soul over to a giant moth.

You can watch the video for 'It's True' up above to see what exactly that means, and you can pre-order The Safes' new LP, Winning Combination, through Bickerton Records or Action Weekend.

Martha's "Love Keeps Kicking" Premieres

Our video for Martha's "Love Keeps Kicking" premieres today!! If you like old sci-fi alien invasion flicks or getting your ass kicked figuratively and literally by the giant extraterrestrial foot of love, then you're REALLY gonna like this.

Stereogum says:

"The rousing Durham punks Martha released a new track for the holidays last month, “Heart Is Healing,” and today they’re back to announce a new album, Love Keeps Kicking, which that song is on, and to share its title track and a new music video. The album is the follow-up to 2016’s Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart.

“Love Keeps Kicking” is itchy and restless, with a chorus of voices resounding that love does indeed keep kicking, even if it’s sometimes in the form of “love keeps kicking the shit out of me” and less in the way of a genuine human connection. The video is an elaborate take on an alien invasion, with the alien being a giant foot."

DIY Mag says: 

"Martha have announced details of brand new album ‘Love Keeps Kicking’.

The album will be due out 5th April via Big Scary Monsters. They’ve also released the title-track and its accompanying video, which you can watch below.

Of the video, directors Ben Epstein and David Combs said: 'We wanted to do an old sci-fi alien invasion pastiche and create a threat that no one can outrun, because as the song implies, at some point or another, we all feel the harsh sting of heartbreak. And what better metaphor is there for the inevitability of a broken heart than the swift kick of a giant disembodied foot? It basically wrote itself.'"

Bad Moves's "Spirit FM" Premieres on Stereogum!

Stereogum says:

"The Washington, DC-based power-pop band Bad Moves were recently immortalized in animated form on the Cartoon Network show Craig Of The Creek, which is scored by Jeff Rosenstock, and now they’re announcing their debut album, Tell No One, which comes on the heels of their 2016 EP and a pair of tracks, “One Thing” and “Cool Generator,” that they’ve shared over the last few months. 

Tell No One comes out in September, and today they’re releasing the massively catchy “Spirit FM,” a song about fighting against ingrained behaviors and beliefs. “Oh, oh, tuning out the radio/ Oh, oh, we’re losing faith again/ Oh, oh, learning from each other how to/ Drown out the Spirit FM,” goes the chorus, a resounding and nervy twitch that the band members shout together in ecstatic union.

The song comes attached to a music video — directed by David Combs, Katie Park, and Ben Epstein for Baby Pony Food Productions — that’s set in a world where wearing white is encouraged through intense social pressure. Our in-road to this world is one person who hasn’t gotten the memo and is still wearing all blue. They’re proselytized to, handed a pamphlet called “The Virtues Of Wearing White.” It soon becomes apparent that color is hiding underneath the surface of this all-white world — an orange watch band peeking out of a sleeve, a t-shirt underneath a button-down — and the disconnect leads to a breakdown."