Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
Fresh To Death is a series where I write about some of my favourite new music!
Featuring Vitesse X, Denyah, Gollylagging, Joan As Police Woman, Baby Jane, Jim E. Brown, Seko, Lorg & Blums.
This edition features a bewitching, ethereal cover of ‘Filter’s ‘Take A Picture’; a song whose opening shimmers like a burst of glittering eyeshadow from a shell-shaped compact; a song that is rife with pure self-loathing and uncontained negativity; a plush 90s indie song that has a music video reminiscent of early 00s MTV Cribs; an indie song about a friendship ending; a song that is peak Seattle grunge with a music video that feels like a fever dream; a bewitching song that has the texture of velvet; a song with angelic vocals that shimmer over glittering techno synths; a song that opens with a plume of shoegazey, cloud-like textures and more!
Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
If you have an upcoming release, email me at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com.
Vitesse X - Take A Picture
This is a cover of the 1999 song ‘Take A Picture’ by American band Filter. When I listened to the original, I felt a rush of everything I loved about the 1990s (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show I didn’t see until I was an adult, Charmed, the colorful fashion, MTV, and so on). The music video has the aquatic/slightly witchy vibe signature to a lot of 1990s music videos - I was elated after listening to the original.
Vitesse X takes this and adds her signature ethereal vibe to it, maintaining the beauty of the original, whilst adding a heavenly dimension to it. The vocals fully sound like they are from the 1990s; the music video being set against an endless blue sky (another hallmark of music videos from that era) - there is nothing Vitesse X can’t do. Enchanting.
Connect with Vitesse X
Instagram | Facebook | X
MAKEUP - Denyah
The opening of this shimmers like a burst of glittering eyeshadow from a shell-shaped compact. This will make you want to dress in your most chic French- girl polka dot outfit and go have an absolute blast with your friends all summer long.
The beat has a bit of a bedroom pop drum machine quality that I thoroughly enjoy - the vocals floating easy breezy over it, with some plush harmonies. The music video has the film saturated hue of something from another time, almost like it was plucked directly from a memory. I think what makes this so charming is that the vocals are delivered almost as if the artist is whispering them into a pink microphone on the floor of her bedroom, looking out at the summer skies - something that makes the artistry of the song feel truly alive.
Connect with Denyah
Instagram
Jim E. Brown - I Am the Fattest Person in the World
This is taken from Jim’s new album ‘Dirt’, which seems to be killing poor Jim. There is something about the kind of self-loathing and uncontained negativity in this music video that reminds me of the 2003 TV show ‘Peep Show’ (most specifically Mark Corrigan).
Jim E. Brown gets this specific type of misery down to perfection - the music video featuring the 19-year-old sitting in a field next to a gigantic mirror eating crisps and drinking a can of Guinness, while lamenting “People tell me others are fatter/but their opinions/do not matter” and “I am the fattest person in the world/ I'm the fatter than all the other boys and girls/I feel that there is no one else who is as fat as myself.”
Connect with Jim E. Brown
Website | Instagram | Facebook
lucky break - Pictures Of Herself
This is taken from the artist's debut album ‘made it!’ out now via Fire Records. The music video is reminiscent of early 00s MTV Cribs, with the pink glittering room, statement bed strewn with clothes - the fabulous, sleazy glamor of it all. The sound is more indie 1990s - with a huge earworm chorus. Blast this as you drive your pink convertible through Los Angeles in 2001.
On the music video, the artist shares, “Originally, I had an idea where all of the music videos, when played in order, told some kind of story. In my mind, this pink room is where lucky break wakes up after she crawls through the tunnel in 'Crush.'”
On the album ‘made it!’ the artist shares; “'made it!' captures my life from 19 to 23 as I was going through major transitions, finding my inner compass and figuring out how to live in alignment with my values." and “I solidified the sound of the record by blending everything I grew up listening to–from pop music and country music–and inspiration from 90s alternative indie like Pavement and Fiona Apple to Lucinda Williams, John Prine and Joni Mitchell found their way into the album as well."
Connect with lucky break
Instagram
Gollylagging - Jackknife
There is no shortage of songs about heartbreak and relationships ending, but not so many about the end of friendships. As this theme is not explored to the same degree in pop culture and music, when a friendship does end, you can end up with the uneasy feeling that you are the only person in the world that this has happened to.
Fear no more as Gollylagging are here to make you feel less alone, as their new song ‘Jackknife’ deals with a friendship ending. Opening with the vicious lyrics “I was just swinging my knife/And you got in the way” and the more gentle, and reflective “We both cried all the way home/Told everyone we know/We both cried all the way home.”
This has a faraway, plush indie sound to it that I love; on the song, vocalist and guitarist Jake Regulbuto says, "'Jackknife' is about the aftermath of friendship fallouts. You can want the best for people but know your relationship to them can’t be the same as it used to be."
Connect with Gollylagging
Instagram | X
Joan As Police Woman - I Defy (Real Life Anniversary Session)
This has the texture of deluxe velvet, with vocals that flow like silk. This is a live studio version of the song; the drums (by Jeremy Gustin) and guitar (by Will Graefe) build tension effortlessly, reeling you in. The piano and vocals enter to give the song a bewitching, slightly eerie, and unknowable quality, before turning soulful in the pre-chorus; everything Joan As Police Woman does is entrancing, in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. The album version features Krystle Warren, which is also fantastic; which you can listen to here.
Joan shares, "This song is dear to my heart. Anohni and I wrote it mid-conversation in her tiny apt on 15th St. "I defy, I love your way". It's a declaration, an insistent act of love. Finding the right voice for Anohni's part in 'I Defy' required someone truly special. I've long considered Krystle Warren one of the finest singers alive, and when I reached out to her, she sent her vocals back within a day. When I heard them, I nearly fell over."
Connect with Joan As Police Woman
Instagram | Facebook | X
Baby Jane - Midnight Highway
Photo Credit: David Nikolic
Angelic vocals shimmer over glittering techno synths - entrancing you into its nighttime world. This reminds me of a lot of the European electronic music I listened to as a teen in the mid 2010s (one of the people that came to mind initially was Inna). This is one to listen to during the witching hour.
On the song, the artist says, "I wrote it about one romantic night with someone you can't forget. The beat makes me feel like I'm seeing diamonds shimmering in the dark."
Connect with Baby Jane
Instagram | Facebook | X
Seko - Auto Saucer
The first thing I thought of when I saw the thumbnail for this on YouTube was of the 1998 movie ‘Pleasantville.’
The sound is peak Nirvana Seattle grunge, the vocals buried underneath - I like how the production and mixing style is reminiscent of the dirty, beating heart of the original. The music video feels kind of like a fever dream; the guitars are absolutely colossal.
Connect with Seko
Instagram
Lorg - Marathonia
Press photo by Dallas Houston
A plume of shoegazey, cloud-like textures float to your ears like the breeze on a warm, summer evening spent alone. The vocals are kind of hyperpop adjacent, flowing over an instrumental that has an intimate, bedroom recording feel to it. This is so dreamy, with a mournful quality humming throughout.
On the song, the artist says, “My closest friend was moving away to NYC around the time my relationship was feeling out of reach/doomed. I felt like the two people I really wanted around were not there anymore. Brings a little tear to my eye even now. I wrote this song for Daniel — athletic, self-assured, a beam of light. For the lyrics, I imagined going on a run with him. I’ve never been a great runner and I hope when I die whoever is on the other side gives me a good reason for that. Ever since we met, Daniel and I were fast friends, and this song came out of me 100 percent complete. Songs like these give me energy for 10 more.”
On the recording process, Lorg says, “I enjoy using the Ableton drum kits and this song features a silly sound– “Beatbox Quashes” on the Subtle Electronics Kit. Sometimes you think you’d never use a sound ever and other times you think, ‘hey, i’ll build an entire song around this.’ The jangly sustained intro chords kind of made me feel like Big Star for a moment. In the studio, this song got some proper embellishments. But I always like to keep the feeling of the recording from my home studio. Three cheers for the stark beauty of a guitar plugged straight into your computer.”
Connect with Lorg
Instagram | Χ
Blums - Cashout
Photo Credit: Eleanor Petry
This sounds like a previously unheard-of bootleg track from the late 1990s - a time when electronic music was getting real strange and wonderful.
There is a feeling of contempt and indifference running throughout this; visualized in the music video with the artist casually playing with a knife with a bored look in her eyes, kind of like a villain in a movie who does terrifying things while indifferent/smiling. The whole thing is mesmerizing.
“Initially, I wrote this all on guitar and a GarageBand drum beat in 2022 or 2023, none of which made it into the final version. I came home from a night with a guy during which I had a pretty unpleasant memory pop up and wig me out during what was supposed to be a fun time. It unlocked a lot of unpleasant memories/anger during what was supposed to be a sexy, fun time, and I wanted to turn it into a celebration of catharsis. This song also points a lot to repeated patterns and how we find ourselves back inside of what we’re trying to get away from. I walked manically around Maria Hernandez Park for a couple of hours when we were close to being done, and wrote layers of vocal parts that all go over each other at the end of the song. I had the video idea for ‘Cashout’ over 2 years before I was finally able to make it. I knew that I wanted some fever dream Coyote Ugly bar dance sequence interspersed with knife flipping on the side of the road where I grew up in South Jersey. The song deals with uncomfortable memories and feeling stuck/frozen, so I wanted to turn the video into a fantasy/celebration of the anger to express what couldn’t be in a previously frozen state.”
Connect with Blums
Instagram
Connect with Take Care Records
Instagram
Spotify Playlist
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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