Power may be a hologram, but this song is fer realz…
Late last week I heard a song on the radio as I was driving home from the train station and I thought to myself, “Damn, this is frikkin’ catchy!” I asked Google (hands-free, of course) to identify the song, and it said it was “Hologram” by Seattle natives Tacocat.
I looked the song up on the YouTubes and listened to it a few times, and it grew on me more and more with each listen. This is one of the most perfectly-crafted new power-pop songs I’ve heard in years. Take a listen:
Man, this song hits all of my buttons. I love the subtle harmonies that come in during the chorus & bridge. It doesn’t hurt that this is an exemplary entry into my one of my all-time favorite musical genres. I would love to be able to hear this live.
Speaking of which…
Tacocat’s new album, This Mess is a Place (from which “Hologram” comes) was just released, and they’re having an album-release party this Saturday, June 8th, at the Showbox in Seattle!
Details:
Tacocat Record Release Show (Faced Book Event)
With Nightrain and Beverly Crusher
Saturday, June 8th 9:00 PM
@ The Showbox
1426 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101 (map)
$17, 21+ (tickets)
Tacos or Cats? You decide!
I would love to go to this show but I’m old, tired, and can’t quite justify the time and expense. Therefore you should go in my place!
Holy crap, gang, I thought it was a big deal when Mike did a song with MF Doom, now here he’s dropped a track collaborating with none other than Method Man. That’s nutz (yes, with a “z”), man!
The video for “Eat Your Feelings” takes the idea of “conspicuous consumption” to another whole level as Mike and Method Man literally consume their valuables. It’s very funny:
I must say I am loving this series of collabs from The New Negroes. I especially appreciate how they’re all around that two-to-three-minute sweet spot; that’s my favorite song length.
Yes, another WLS featuring Open Mike Eagle. You know what, friends? If you have a TV show and release a new music video every week, there’s a good chance I’ll feature you as well. Here Mike verbally spars with Phonte about whom is the more “woke” of the two:
I particularly love the “Wokken Fighters” video game that’s featured throughout the video:
Wokken Fighters: Fight!
OME & Phonte get in on the game…
And especially how at the end of the video the video game characters get in on the real-world action and start beating Mike up (though they do seem to be aiming directly for his crotch, which is a bit disturbing).
Phoebe Masteller-Defiance, who also makes music as I Kill Cameron and is a part of Dandelion Massacre (and I’m pretty sure a couple of other punky bands as well), has released her first video of 2019! It’s a delightful ukulele cover of the very punk “Holiday Inn” by Dollar Signs. Listen and be pleased:
For one, Phoebe is a WAAAAAAY better singer than Dollar Signs (you can listen to the original song here). For two, the song translates over perfectly into the more laid-back ukulele vibe without having to change the chord progression at all. Noice!
Is Oh-Em-Eee Em-Eff-Doomed by the Tiny Cop in his head…?
Back again with yet another new song and amazing video from his Comedy Central show The New Negroes is your friend and mine, Open Mike Eagle. “Police Myself” is a rather biting song about the necessity of self-censorship in the face of racial bias with a denouement that made me say, “Ouch” aloud. It also has some hilarious visuals with Mike as a tiny cop speeding around town in a tiny cop car with an enormous (to him) blunt.
It’s interesting how this song fits thematically with the previous New Negroes music video release, “Unfiltered” (that I featured a couple of weeks ago, so go listen to that as well if you haven’t). It’s also great seeing Mike swinging for the fences with some of the biggest and best names in hip-hop! Em-effing MF Doom!
Nothing quite like using Google search’s autocomplete to write song lyrics with Prom Queen (AKA Celene “Leeni” Ramadan) and her signature breathy vocals.
Hey, howcome Mike Eagle is the Wednesday Listening Pleasure two weeks in a row? Well, son, it’s because he just keeps on a-puttin’ out musics!
This time it’s the debut clip from his upcoming (premieres this Friday, April 19th!) Comedy Central series, The New Negroes, in which the expressive Danny Brown lives inside of the repressed Mike Eagle and spouts the things Mike only wishes he could say. It’s very funny. You can take a look/listen here!
Short and hilarious. Good work, fellas!
Be sure to watch The New Negroes when it premieres on Comedy Central this Friday!
