ON REPEAT: Brorlab, Saya Grey, Callahan & Witscher, Jon Benjamin, zzzhara, Dizzy Fae, Magdalena Bay, SEES00000, Asa-Chang & Junray, Sound of Smooth

chow down, lick me up and down

Hello, another brief reminder you can catch me, Bridey Eliott and “our players” Rob Michael Hugel & Kelly Hudson bring back Discover for another show at Lyric Hyperion in LA on 11/10 with guests Colin Burgess, Haley Stiel & Johnny Pemberton! Get your tickets here!

Now, the neat songs I’m listening to. Here’s the playlist:

SEES00000 “RAL2222”

With a name like that, I only see(so) great things. Would have booked on The Special just for the Steve Whalen jokes about the name. Speaking of names like that…

Saya Grey “.. YOU, A FOOL”

A lot going on in this one beginning with punctuation in the title. I think future generations will look back at song titles that are full of extra characters and unnecessary capitalization choices the way the 2000’s hand band names like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and !!! and song titles like “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin)” (i.e., simultaneously charming and annoying).

Saya Grey is a Japanese-Canadian artist who put out a genre-mushin’ series of two albums, Qwerty I & II. Qwerty, the most easy title to type, makes up for the above nonsense and reminds me of my high school typing teacher who sounded like an SNL character from Joisey and would announce hand and wrist exercises like a P.E. instructor (alright, TIGAH CLAWERS!).

This song is very different than the previous one I talked about here and has a bit in common with…

Callahan & Witscher “Who Knows Where The Time Goes”

This Sugar Ray-influenced track from Callahan & Witscher (who I talked about last week) has autotuned vocals, Cake-like spoken words and an America Online sound effect.

The video also takes place at Union Pool in Williamsburg, which I had a complicated relationship with. Rang two(!) new years there somehow in 2009/2010? It’s a great place when it’s not busy or they have a matinee show! Then it was like weird eurotrash fuckfest magnet or something. Maybe it’s different, I’ve been in LA for 4 years which is two decades in NYC nightlife time. Please let me know what Union Pool is like now in the comments.

Asa-Chang & Junray “Hana”

Both chill and stressful, this song is my latest go-to song for when I first wake up lately to get the brain aflutter.

Jon Benjamin “I Shoplift Even Though I’m Rich”

Presented without comment

Brorlab “Plutoplanetary Skies”

Been looking for a punk band to knock me off my feet and this one’s the ticket. Their Bandcamp calls it “dadaist electronic punk” and, sure!

Need the full performance for the full effect!

zzzhara “They Don’t Know”

For a second I thought the band was a duo and then was thinking how weird it would be to see a two-piece band kiss each other all the time (except t.A.T.u. obviously). But this is actually one person, so it’s ok. I was ready to forgive them for kissing each other in the music video but it’s actually just like a Chris Isaak thing (in a good way, not the bad way). It’s love!

zzzhara is one half of The Simps with Eyedress, and came up in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood and that’s a whole circle of people I haven’t talked up much here but like what they do.

Magdalena Bay “Cry For Me”

“They’re so hot right now in certain circles I guess, but this song is really nice” could literally be what I say about any song on here but it is what I typed and backspacing is for cowards. It sounds like ABBA in the least-grating way. Probably not the first you’ve heard of them, definitely not the last.

Dizzy Fae “Body Move”

Catchy song from a few years ago I’ve had on repeat for months now—I love the Ying Yang Twins “whisper” breakdown. What’s new to me is the REMIX with the guys themselves on it:

I prefer the original because I never really liked the Ying Yang Twins, I was more of a Sound of Smooth guy:

Side of Smooth “Chow Down”

THE GOLD STANDARD

chow down

lick me up and down