ON REPEAT: Alice Longyu Gao, Cel Ray, Vitesse X, A Tribe Called Quest, Amaarae, cumgirl8
Let me save the little man from inside the boat
It’s fucking hot out here and I finally hung out at a pool and got sunburnt so my skin is also hot. My cat wakes me up at 8am regardless of how much sleep I get. So I’m hot and cranky and maybe you can tell in the writing.
Follow all of my ON REPEAT songs on this Spotify playlist.
Vitesse X “Us Ephemeral”
Jordan Stern used to play in a bunch of shoegaze bands in New York City but now makes techno under the name Vitesse X, which I think might be a double entendre I’m too dense to get. This is a good song to play in the morning when you’re trying to muster up the energy to get out of bed.
Cel Ray “Clock Me Out”
Supposedly this band is from Chicago, and not from Australia. I refuse to believe this fully. I feel like someone in the band is from Melbourne or something. Nobody in the band is named Daz or Lachlan or Amyl or anything either. It’s just a little too egg punk for me to be convinced, but they haven’t added synths yet so I could be wrong.
cumgirl8 “gothgirl1”
I previously detailed my introduction to this band via a mom’s e-mail, and I was excited to see them live! I got tickets to a show they were doing at an undisclosed location. Turned out that location was at a dead end, down a hill in what was once a parking lot near the river behind an abandoned factory. A makeshift stage was made with Christmas lights taped to a rock. After an hour and a half of waiting the show finally started and after one song from the opening band, the 🚔 came and the show was broken up. I went home only to learn it was un-canceled and happened somewhere else and I missed it. I still haven’t seen cumgirl8 and I’m bummed about it!
It was very different than my NJ/NYC DIY show experiences—less of those were in vacant lots in open fields because the city doesn’t have those (except maybe east of Ridgewood). But just as many ended up with the cops coming and everyone tries to figure out the next move on the way out which was a warm, familiar feeling.
Alice Longyu Gao “Come To Brazil”
My intro to Alice’s music was the song Monk, a punk song with this screamed all over it:
Ahhh ahhh climate change ahhhh
Ahhh ahhh world war 3 ahhhh
Ahh Ahh I don't have health insurance
The rest of the music Alice puts out is a little more like this song off the new EP (perfectly titled Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn And Retire), and is a baller banger earworm. Alice rightfully claims, “You’re listening to the future of music.”
Amaarae “Counterfeit”
This song also sounds like it’s from the future, but also sounds like it was a Top 40 hit in 2003. The beat is lifted from the Neptunes-produced Clipse hit, “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” but takes a hard left turn from there.
Amaarae claims Accra, Atlanta and The Bronx home, and this sure sounds like a blend of different influences. Apparently, one of Amaarae’s biggest influences Kelis, which I get even though her name is almost Amerie.
THE GOLD STANDARD
A Tribe Called Quest “Electric Relaxation”
A perfect song. A perfect video. Also, ATCQ has the best double entendres in music, and I’m not too dense to get these:
If my mom don't approve, then I'll just elope
Let me save the little man from inside the boat
Let me hit it from the back, girl I won't catch a hernia
Bust off on your couch, now you got Seaman's Furniture
A little context for people that didn’t grow up in the 90’s in the greater NYC area: