#che michaels

[lthsflorals]

✍🏼| Flowers and notes that Harry left Colin Jost and Michael Che at Saturday Night Live!!!

“Colin, thanks for all the help this week, you’re the best, have a good show”

“Che, thanks for having me”

cc: chethinks

[thedangersound]

M83′s female vocal powerhouse Morgan Kibby will release In Cold Blood as White Sea, her new solo project, on Tuesday, May 20th. Her track “Future Husbands Past Lives” got me very excited to hear the rest of the effort. It was a grand departure from her work with M83, and its vibrant dance quality was a unique touch.

The album’s opening track “They Don’t Know” will feel somewhat familiar to those who have heard Kibby’s work on M83′s last two albums. It’s a heavy hitting, triumphant sounding track packed with everything from rattling synthesizers to bells that sound like they’re definitely being smashed by a huge hammer being wielded by a shiny muscular man named Bjorn in the Scandinavian hillside. This is that classic action sports YouTube video stuff we’re used to from Kibby.

I really enjoy the intensity and fervor that Kibby brings to us with In Cold Blood. When an artist is unafraid to show that they’ve got something to say, and they’ve got the musical prowess to bring it straight into us without cutting it with tonic first, you get the kind of unapologetic approach to music that I admire. That said, there were a few lyrical moments in the album that made me grind my teeth. After a few listens, I’ve realized that I will find myself permanently irked by these moments, and for the overall effort of this album, that’s a real shame. Allow myself to explain… myself.

On “For My Love,” an emotional number about that classic “who wants what and why” struggle in a romantic–in this case selfishly sexual–relationship, Kibby says “… but you just want that pussy. You know that you can’t (or can) have me.” I thought I might have misheard her, but then she clears that notion up by belting this lyric many more times.

It made me immediately think about a poetry class I took as a sophomore in college… to expand my horizons. The professor had to constantly remind students to be careful when using certain words in their writing. It was drilled into our heads that the wrong use of such words just made it look like you were trying to force impact instead of creating it eloquently. If you were going to use four letter words in your writing, they should cut like a sharpened blade–not like a dull knife, annoying the skin more than damaging it. Well, on another track that is clearly about her prowess and amount of fucks that Kibby gives (hint: It’s less than one), she lets us know that she’ll “fuck you blind and make a run for it.” I don’t even know what that means!

I could mention a few more, but that would be ruining the fun. I hate to make it sound like I’m ruining the fun that is this album. But these contagious moments do take some of the tracks that have Maya Angelou potential and turn them into open mic poetry slam performances where the passion just seems forced.

In Cold Blood has many beautiful moments–some hit hard, and others are more gentle. Some get you dancing a bit in your seat; some seem designed for quiet reflection about the heavier times in life. Some of them are really complete and solid; some of them are ultimately shattered by lyrics that sound like a young, aspiring poet trying to put her foot down and her fist up. She’s trying to let the world know she’s here, and that she doesn’t care how many suburban moms are offended by her use of the words “fuck” and “pussy.”

The post White Sea “In Cold Blood” appeared first on Danger!Sound.

[thedangersound]

So I’m listening to this new jam from White Sea, and I’m completely unfamiliar with the artist’s story or any of the details that made the magic happen. Now I’m on the third go around enjoying the strength of the song, finding myself reminded of the unique force of M83. In a conversation with Hugh a few minutes later I realized why.

I was unaware that White Sea is Morgan Kibby, a.k.a the powerful female vocal half of M83 in recent years. She’s the cowriter of some of the most epic songs on this side of The Wall Pink Floyd built. Some songs that leave me wondering how in the hell all of that sound fit into an audio recording. You know when you see nature that knocks the wind out of you, then you pull your phone out of your pocket to take a picture only to realize you just fucking ruined it? Well, Kibby knows how to make music that feels like that nature, and she’s taken that ability with her for her new work as White Sea.

“Future Husbands Past Lives” is a noticeably more dance inducing affair. An eruptive build, followed by some vintage dance synths then… ah… there it is. Layers of those massive, chilling vocals we’re familiar with. Kibby’s vocals find a way of overpowering some intense, symphonic efforts in the track, which doesn’t feel too surprising now that I know who we’re dealing with here. If you’ve heard this woman belt vocals on a track before, I don’t think I need to really talk about the details anymore because you know the drill intimately. And I always leave feeling like that was her intention.

Her work with M83 is cut for standing on the top of Half Dome and staring at the Yosemite Valley contemplating the possibility of multidimensional, spiritual ascension, “Future Husbands Past Lives” feels more like the opening scene for a rad Saturday night where every member of your crew is in top gear and the world is rolling out the red carpet for you. You may not be listening to it then, especially if you have friends who get overwhelmed by intense showings of “musicianship,” but if that Saturday night were a movie, this would fit.

I’m looking forward to seeing what White Sea’s release In Cold Blood has in store because I love me some epic music, and right now, I’d say Kibby’s unchallenged for the queen’s crown. Until a few hours ago, I had no idea she was releasing an album. Somebody drop me off at the top of Mount Everest, and film me in 1080p, 1,052fps slow motion. Let’s go big!

[White Sea is hitting the road with The Naked & Famous at the end of May. There aren't any dates in Chicago (yet!), but check out the rest of the dates here.]

The post White Sea “Future Husbands Past Lives” appeared first on Danger!Sound.

[thedangersound]

Well, the longest and most brutal winter most Midwestern middle age adults have ever experienced is finally over. It’s spring time. I don’t know about you, but what sounds good to me are a couple of those seasonal jams that help you welcome the weather.

Kudos to Craft Spells for creating the perfect spring time atmosphere in their new single “Komorebi.” I’m not sure what komorebi means, and I’m not gonna Google it. I’m gonna shoot from the hip and say that it’s a flower with deeply saturated blue petals that grows in the grass on the sun facing side of a fertile mountain. I’m picturing a couple resting in a field of komorebis without a care in the world. I envy them so, for I am here listening to the same song inside on this beautiful day.

The flute and piano combo is a very nice foundation for this track, and Justin Vallesteros’ lyrics really make for a beautiful space for your mind to explore. Grab your phone and your headphones and head outside somewhere with grass, trees and maybe some water. Take a walk with this song in your ears and absorb the fact that it’s a beautiful day out there.

[Craft Spells is taking the show on the road in June. Check the dates below.]

6/13 – Brooklyn, NY – Captured Tracks Northside Showcase – Warsaw (w/ Beach Fossils, Juan Wauters, Axxa/Abraxas) 6/14 – Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel (w/ Crystal Stilts, Juan Wauters) 6/15 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar (w/ Crystal Stilts, Juan Wauters) 6/17 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Cafe 6/18 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop 6/19 – Chicago, IL – Township 6/20 – Ferndale, MI – The Loving Touch (w/ Young Magic) 6/21 – Toronto, ON – NXNE 6/21 – Montreal, QC – Il Motore 6/23 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall

The post Craft Spells “Komorebi” appeared first on Danger!Sound.

[thedangersound]

I am not a God-fearing man, but I’ve heard many say they’ve met God. Some claim they met him while sitting in the back row of the sterile, industrial, stadium church they attend on Sundays in between soccer practice and a trip to Target. Others while screaming for the ceiling amongst 20 people from their neighborhood in a small, humid, humble wooden church nestled comfortably into the hill side. The pastor of this church doesn’t need the dog and pony show of two projector screens and a $20,000 sound system. His lungs and the passion that runs his blood warm are enough to call the holy spirit into attendance. And to the people in the front row who occasionally get splashed with the sweat from the sermon, things feel all the more real. And ask the lady who’s been playing the organ in the corner for the last 30 years if she needs an overpriced sound system to get her job done.

The Swedish trio (they have an extra body for touring) I Break Horses turned The Empty Bottle into one of those small churches Friday. The sermon was lead by vocalist Maria Lindén with the support of pounding, hypnotic rhythms and layers of trance inducing, shoe gaze inspired vintage synthesizer melodies. The white sheet that was hanging from the ceiling on the back of the stage even resembled the sun washed, hand welded stained glass window if you let yourself be lost in the performance.

I had been waiting to see I Break Horses since I missed their opening performance with M83 in Chicago a few years back. Their songs “Load Your Eyes,” and “Hearts” have been in pretty heavy rotation over the last few years, and recently a few songs from their new release Chiaroscuro have joined the fray. Most notably the pulsing dance gospel “Faith,” which had the people in my near vicinity in the front row pushing their hands in the air and tossing their heads around with careless fervor. Were they being introduced to a higher power? You could’ve fooled me.

I’ve attended concerts at the rate that a righteous holy man attends church, and it’s the rare performance that blurs the line for me. I’ve seen enough shows of that caliber to maybe be running out of fingers on my hands to count them by. The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl in 2010 was, to me, what a Catholic would experience seeing the pope conduct a service at St. Peter’s Basilica to a standing room only crowd. Friday’s I Break Horses show was an intimate, personal, experience akin to what your grandmother experienced in her church in rural America when she was your age. The small church that no one knows about; no one talks about. The church that, when the sermon is over and the doors let the people back out into the world, every single one of them knows that they just experienced something that no one else would be able to understand.

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