Jerry's Pick: "Hideaway"

"Hideaway"-Geowulf

I intially discovered the breezy sounds of Geowulf after hearing a 30-second snippet of their 2016 track "Saltwater" behind a Corona Beer television ad. After adding the song to my iTunes playlist, my Google-led curiosity introduced me to the duo's latest single.

And perfect timing! Here it is, Memorial Day. The warm weather has arrived along with Geowulf's indie offering "Hideaway," their mind-altering escape that will transport your brain straight to the beach... for at least four-minutes a spin, that is.

Geowulf consists of Australian-natives and longtime friends Star Kendrick and Toma Banjanin who reconnected in England where they developed their sundrenched shoegaze set of alt-pop songs for their Great Big Blue album.

"We always knew we wanted to make guitar pop," Kendrick explains to The Line of Best Fit's Emma Finamore. "Really beautiful, lush sounding guitars. I think that's where the dream-pop sound comes from. It's not like we set out saying, 'Let's make it dreamy', we just ended up writing hazy melodies and using guitar."

What stood out for me was its dichotic disposition. Floatng lazily on top of those idyllic uptempo vibes are well-written lyrics with an infectious hook that tell the tale of heartbreak and unrequited love sung innocently and beautifully by Star.

"Shaking our foundation, gone the situation, starting to feel we're living a lie.
No idea what you're feeling, couldn't see anything changing, giving it all, I try, I try."

Says Kendrick, "The song is about feeling like you've been completely transparent with someone only to realize they haven't truly let you in." 

Aside from those jangly guitars, what I found most interesting about "Hideaway" was its ever-present marching drumroll-styled backbeat along with what sounds like someone playing with an audiowave by way of the variable knob on an oscilloscope. Sure, an unlikely set of ingredients in a love song, but it all came together to form a perfectly constructed, dream-inducing work of art.

"We take inspiration from lots of varying places," reveals Kendrick. "We both love Fleetwood Mac, Angel Olsen, Mazzy Star, ABBA, Jonathan Wilson, Beach House, The Beach Boys... the list continues."

It's time to take a break. Slide into your shades and sandals then grab a tall, cool one while you get that lazy-day, beach-vibe thing going-on in your personal "Hideaway."

Jerry's Pick: "Apocalypse"

"Apocalypse"-Cigarettes After Sex

If musicians were able to record their audio in black and white, I think it would sound something like this. Slow, smokey vocals lazily delivered over an echo-drenched background, an ethereal ambiance that we could dub "pop-noir."

I've been listening to this song for quite a while now and despite my occasional distance, it continued to haunt me -- calling me back -- until I decided to take action and firmly acknowledge its existance. So, here I am.

Although the Cigarettes After Sex track "Apocalypse" has been around for a few months, it was its recent addition to a handful of alternative rock station's playlists that brought this sensual, dark, brooding and very unique track to my attention.

"Apocalypse" is warm, delicate, hypnotic, sultry, meloncholic intoxication... part Mazzy Star, part Leonard Cohen.

It's a song that resonates in such a profound and poetic way about coming to terms with a past relationship. Although your heart is still broken, you've moved on, while also realizing you cannot totally let go. It evolks a good sadness that I can’t quite explain. I guess you could say there are still occasional tears, but they fall over a smile.

Songwriter Greg Gonzalez of Cigarettes After Sex explained to Christina Cacouris of Noisey his lyrics are personal. "I just dig in to whatever vivid memory I have and then extract a song from it." He went deeper; "It’s about your own feelings, just taking a good memory and crystalizing it, saying, ‘Things might have ended badly, but in this photograph, they were great'."

And then there are those five words...

"Your lips. My lips. Apocalypse."

I love the duality of that line. Is it a referrence to relationship heaven or hell? I guess it all depends on where your heart is at the moment you hear it.

Regardless, "Apocalypse" is a very powerful piece of mood-shaping music. Just remember to listen with the volume up high and the lights down low.

With apologies to Lori Lieberman, this is what I call a "Killing me softly with his song" song.

Jerry's Pick: "Make Me Feel"

"Make Me Feel"-Janelle Monáe

If you're one of the many who misses Prince's presence since his untimely death almost two-years ago, a hidden figure has come to your rescue.

I didn't realize it at the time but my ears were first exposed to the voice of Kansas City-born Janelle Monáe during the middle-eight of that 2011 fun. pop chart-topper "We Are Young." To be honest, I really didn't know much about this talented beauty until my eyes fell in love with her image on the big screen portraying NASA mathematician and engineer Mary Jackson in the 2017 Academy Awards "Best Picture" nominated film "Hidden Figures." (Bonus thrill: I discovered she was even more charmingly pulchritudinous when I had the thrill of meeting her at the Critics Choice Awards ceremony in LA last year! *sigh*)

Alongside her recent successes as an actress, Janelle had already proven herself as a model, singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. Not only has Monáe credited Prince as her musical muse, but the two were working together on her new (soon-to-be-released) collection of songs (Dirty Computer) when he passed away.

Janelle explained to Rebecca Bengal of the Guardian, "It's difficult for me to even speak about this because Prince was helping me with the album, before he passed on to another frequency," but noted, "his spirit will never leave me."

And -- after first listening to Monáe's recently released single "Make Me Feel" -- I'm positive His Royal Badness would deliriously approve.

You'll first notice its tongue-in-cheek start, and I mean that literally. "Make Me Feel" kicks-off with mouth-clicks followed by a simple synth groove that'll transport you back to the 80s. In fact, the song immediately reminded me of Prince's 1986 million-seller "Kiss" with its very similar crisp and funky staccato guitar and oral sound effects... but instead of the clicks you hear on Janelle's record, Prince sent kisses. Plus Monáe -- who has described herself as a sexually liberated woman -- provides plenty of sensual Kinsey Scale fluidity that would make Darling Nikki blush.

"It's a celebratory song," she says. "I hope that comes across -- that people feel more free, no matter where they are in their lives, that they feel celebrated. Because I'm about women's empowerment. I'm about agency. I'm about being in control of your narrative and your body." 

Now, for those who might have forgotten, this is what the color purple sounds like.