Watch: Taco Truck (Oh, wtf?) — Munnycat

Channeling the kind of eclectic vibrancy popularised by the likes of Kero Kero Bonito and the pop creativity of Charli XCX, Munnycat perform the kind of pop music that hits you like a truck. Probably one full of tacos. Catchy melodies sway against a percussion track that kicks hard, whilst blissful vocal harmonies give the song a candy-like feel.

Based in LA, Munnycat are duo K808 and Khaledzou, and they have been releasing a regular drip feed of singles over recent months. Taco Truck (Oh, wtf?) is the latest of those releases and, discussing the song, the band members provide two different insights into the creative process:

K808:

“It’s a song about the excitement and joy of falling in love with someone in a very unusual place. There’s like two different voices in the song representing the different parts of your mind when you first meet someone and reeeeeaaally like them. One part is trying to play it cool like ‘okay, he’s cute and stuff’ and the other is like ‘holy shit - this is love! Let’s get married and have tons of babies!’ It’s a delicate balance trying to maintain chill when you’ve met someone who instantly blows you way.”

Khaledzou:

“We wrote the song when we were recording in Portland. We were fascinated by the incredible food-truck culture there. We would wander around in the rain writing and coming up with new song ideas trying food from different trucks everyday. It was kind of magical. All of the songs we did there have unique sounds from the crazy amount of analog keyboards, samplers and stuff we had at our fingertips.”

I love how energised Taco Truck feels, perfectly capturing both the eclectic aesthetic of the food truck scene, and that chaotic energy that comes with falling for someone new.

Check out Taco Truck (Oh, wtf?) below:

Watch: 140 — Divorce Court

Opening with celestial piano chords and a weightless vocal, 140 initially occupies a dream-like space, free from the bounds of earth’s gravitational field. A low slung analogue synth styled bass line comes in during the second minute, and the contrast introduced by the song’s percussion and bass gives Divorce Court’s new single an even more orbital feeling.

The use of synths and reverb here reminds me of the work of Com Truise. Rather than embracing the straight lines of electronics, however, here the sound is blended with the kind of dream pop vibes more commonly found in the work of Washed Out, Toro y Moi and Tame Impala.

Divorce Court is the artistic vision of musician Lynden Williams, and 140 is the first single to be lifted from his forthcoming record Two Hours. According to Williams, the album “is about beginning to heal my inner child through my journey with psychedelics and therapy, without directly saying those things.”

The inner child feels like a theme reflected in 140’s music video too, which depicts Williams surrounded by children, who ultimate cover him in face paint as he belts out the song’s closing climatic chorus. It is a visual that reflects the emotional experience of being separate and isolated from the world around you — absorbed in your internal thoughts and feelings.

All in all, 140 has a healing beauty to it. Check out the video below, and look out for Two Hours, set for release on 8 July 2023.

Listen: Tangleweed — Helveeta

Known by her musical pseudonym, Helveeta, Emmy Marks is a 22-year-old vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. Having written her first song at the age of just four, Marks began music lessons at six, and started performing live at eight. Since then, she has grown her skills, expanding into production in her teens, before studying at the Berklee College of Music.

Having moved to Long Island in 2021, Marks initially struggled to find a path into the music industry, before subsequently founding the networking and promotional group Mali.Rest.ING with visual artist, dummer, and her romantic partner, Louis Navas. Whilst building up a roster that includes over 70 artists, Marks has been working on her own music, with Tangleweed her first release as Helveeta.

Tangleweed shines as a result of Helveeta’s deft production techniques — restrained synths, tight drums and atmospheric, overdubbed vocals create a distinctive sound that wraps around the listener like a warm quilt.

Inspired by Marks’ real-life relationship, Tangleweed depicts the personal and internal experience of falling in love. It happens, in isolation from the comparatively grounded and rational world those around you exist within, whilst you gently lose your head and heart.

Check out Tangleweed below, and look for the forthcoming video, due in the coming days.

Listen: New Moon (Riptide) — Aaron Title

Hailing from DC, Aaron Title is a singer, songwriter, and producer focused on combining lo-fi indie pop, R&B, and electronic into immersive soundscapes.

New Moon (Riptide) opens with lightly filtered vocals, atmospheric synth notes and crisp drums, but the song is quickly propelled forwards by chunky, bubbling low-end bass. The result is an introspective, optimistic sound that takes cues from progressive house and electro, with lyrics that depict the experience of picking yourself up amidst turbulent time.

I found the energy and mood of Title’s song addictive, and the song has the kind of production that demands to be heard on the best sound system you have. Check it out below:

Watch: Troy Creeps — Laveda

Drenched in atmosphere, Laveda’s Troy Creeps seeps into your ears with glittering acoustics married to bruised and cracked vocals.

You can hear Laveda’s influences, which include the Sundays, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, in the slow beauty that gradually unfurls here. Layered guitars and pounding drums build to the song’s wall-of-noise shoegaze dream-pop climax.

Founded by duo Ali Genevich (vocals/guitar) and Jake Brooks (vocals/guitar/synths), Laveda released their debut album, What Happens After, in 2020. Through the summer and autumn of 2021, Genevich and Brooks spent most of their time in Los Angeles, working with producer Dylan Herman on Laveda’s second album. The pair have looked to leverage a level of lyrical vulnerability that will be familiar to fans of artists like Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy. Together with their full live band, appearing on this album for the first time, Laveda combine their lyrics with the expansive soundscapes on display here, on Troy Creeps.

Troy Creeps is the perfect vehicle to show off Ali Genevich’s vocal abilities, and she describes the song as embodying “a long night spent alone with your thoughts”. On the song’s unusual title (which I struggle to not read as “Tory creeps”), Brooks says:

“When I made this demo I had just moved to a small apartment in Troy, NY. You could always hear everyone’s conversations if they were outside on that street. People were screaming at each other about something while I was recording, so the name stuck.”

Check out Troy Creeps below, and look out for Laveda’s forthcoming sophomore album, A Place You Grew Up in, due 14 April on PaperCup Music.