Deadshirt

Deadshirt Is Listening… Bringing you a rundown of our staff and guest contributors’ favorite new tracks released in the past week after they’ve had the weekend to blast them in their cars, in a club, alone in their rooms, etc.

Julian Ames is having fever dreams to…

“Woman’s Work”
U.S. Girls
Half Free
Indie Pop

U.S. Girls is the experimental pop project of Meghan Remy; started in Philadelphia in 2007, she has released five albums on labels like Siltbreeze and Fat Cat, and now she finds herself primed to release Half Free on indie music giant 4AD. Like a lot of DIY projects, the music started out raw and abrasive only to get more and more refined as time went on. The cuts from the upcoming album that have been released, “Damn That Valley” and “Woman’s Work,” still have quite an edge to them, but are more suitable for widespread consumption than something like this from U.S. Girls’ first album.

When it kicks off, “Woman’s Work” almost feels like a Giorgio Moroder Eighties disco production—moving synths over a disco beat with the haunting melodic refrain of “the woman’s work is never done” makes for a very catchy groove. Remy’s voice, especially in the verse, remains shrill and shrouded in effects, giving the whole song a dream-like, or rather nightmare-like, quality (an aesthetic reinforced by the video). Much like waking up from a nightmare, “Woman’s Work” ends abruptly, denying the gratification of one more chorus to vibe along to. Half Free will be out September 25th and should be very interesting, especially for people who enjoy challenging, left-of-center pop music.

Joe Stando is blasting off into space with…

“Planetary Energy”
Sweet Valley feat. GZA
Cons Vol 3
Hip-Hop/Electronic

I hadn’t been familiar with Sweet Valley, Nathan Williams of Wavves’ electronic side project, prior to this week, but man, if GZA is rapping on a track, you can bet I’ll give it a shot. “Planetary Energy” has the sort of DIY feel I love about MF DOOM’s early collaborations or Flying Lotus’ Captain Murphy side project. It’s trippy and light without feeling cutesy or forced. GZA is part of a nine-way tie for my favorite Wu-Tang member, so I had no doubts about his verses on here, either. All in all, a really solid track, and probably the kind of enjoyable, quick electronic stuff I should check out more of.

Steph Salo is planning a cool girl pool party to…

“Seventeen”
Sjowgren
Pop

Hey, everyone that’s ever thought they might want to put together a lookbook for their YouTube channel: I found the soundtrack to your crop top collection.

Sjowgren is a mix of several “cool girl” vibes with a touch of Tegan and Sara, a dash of Camera Obscura, and a pinch of Lykki Li—this is pretty much a Millennial woman’s dream. At least, it’s mine. It appears Sjowgren is still developing their social media presence, as there’s not much describing their deal online. They wrote an introduction on Medium a few months back stating that they are “friends from high school” split between Nashville and L.A. and they’ve been posting their recordings on Soundcloud because “people like them.” Okay, I’m down.

With it’s “ooohs,” catchy hook, and retro drum machine in the background, “Seventeen” ticks all of the boxes for a summer anthem. It starts off with some piano chords, then the bass kicks in along with some very Tegan and Sara-like vocals. It honestly sounds like something that could have come off of their 2013 pop album Heartthrob. It’s on the more ambient side of pop, which to me makes it a little more interesting than just throwing all of the crowd-pleasing pop ingredients into one song and calling it a day. Put this song on when you want to trick everyone into thinking you’re from Los Angeles and wear really big sun hats without feeling slightly self conscious. Gentlemen, if you’re not exactly interested in pretending you are sitting poolside with someone famous on the internet or vlogging in their Silver Lake loft, you can think of this as a solid beach day song. It’s bright, breezy, fun, and my pick for summer jam 2k15. Sjowgren, please keep this up. It’s really good.

That’s what we’ve been listening to this week – what’s got your ear this week? Tweet your recommendations @DeadshirtDotNet or drop us a line on our Facebook page.