Listen: Tired Of Being Tough by JJ & The Mood

Having recently featured on an Apple iPhone ad, duo JJ & The Mood are back with their latest single, Tired Of Being Tough.

Made up of LA-based cartoonist Jack Sjogren and Cincinnati-based songwriter and producer Joey Joseph, JJ & The Mood create disco-pop whilst drawing on the punk-funk influences of Talking Heads, ESG, and Liquid Liquid. The result has the taut thrill of LCD Soundsystem, with the populism of MGMT and Jungle. The pair bring this to bear with a knowing demeanour, adding a slight wink to the delivery without tipping into full-on pastiche, in a way that I find reminiscent of Hot Chip.

Tired Of Being Tough is a relatively rare commentary on the impact of societal expectations of masculinity. On it, the band reject emotional distance and James Dean whilst embracing cosmetics and dancing. From a musical perspective, layered vocals, tight funk-influenced bass and melodic synths combine with clipped drums. The whole song has a functional and focused rhythm section, creating space and contrast for the vocals and synths to embrace the very fun the song is inspiring men to have.

Check out Tired Of Being Tough below:

Watch: The Thanks by Roman Around

The Thanks is the latest single from Roman Around, the musical vehicle for Roman Rivera, and it swims in loose guitars, slow and off kilter bass and a spectral vocal that gives the song a distinctive, sun dazed aesthetic. It follows on from the hazy track DNT, as featured on BlackPlastic.co.uk back in 2022.

There are traces of Animal Collective, Phoenix, and Kindness on display on The Thanks, all wound up in a tight little art-pop package. The song conveys a growing desperation in Roman’s heavy vocal performance, a sense of lethargy coming through as the performance depicts the complexities that exist within unconditional love.

In addition to the song’s general aesthetic, which shimmers with a distinctive sense of emotive style, the song playfully experiments with rhythm, with distinctive stops, starts, and fills. The result is surprising, particularly given the song’s short run-time, yet it never risks derailing the overall performance. The result is playful, yet emotive.

Growing up as a multi-racial artist in Fresno, California, where they currently serve as a music educator, Roman Rivera has looked to create a safe space for themselves, and others, in the LGBTQ+ and POC music, and general, communities. Bringing together complex rhythms and hazy textures, Rivera takes inspiration from shoegaze, drone, and chillwave outfits like the Cocteau Twins, DIIV, and Toro Y Moi.

Check the video for The Thanks below:

Listen: Lemme Tell You by Jake Back

American producer Jake Back has been in my inbox a couple of times this month, with deep electronic music that ploughs into progressive territory. Lemme Tell You stood out based on the combination of driving electronics combined with joyous samples.

Splitting his time between Los Angeles and New York City, Jake Back began creating music from a young age. Beginning to develop his musical understanding through a combination of DJing and piano playing, Back went on to start crafting his own compositions whilst studying Physics at the University of Rochester.

Starting with a thundering bass line and clanking percussion, Lemme Tell You jumps in at the deep end, a dark cacophony that surrounds you. The song gradually builds towards a sample drop, and as a disco-soul vocal arrives it strips away the percussion, creating space for a new scattershot drum pattern. When Lemme Tell You’s bass returns, it is with a newfound warmth. The combination creates a sense of humanity, contrasting to the dark psychedelic aesthetic established in the song’s introduction… The result is less disco, than the idea of disco, utterly consumed by and lost within tech house.

The interplay established between electronics and the sample on Lemme Tell You has a brightness to it, intellectual and yet vibrant and soulful. It reminds me of the Jamie xx’s ability to find something transcendental in a similar interplay on his post-pandemic anthem, Let’s Do It Again, and similarly Fred again.. on Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing). In the darkness, these songs all point to the value of human connection, and the reason we find ourselves in these dark rooms together in the first place. Every so often we have to lose ourselves in the sound in order to find each other.

Listen: Dream Girl by Kacey Fifield

Following on from her single Left Behind, featured on BlackPlastic back in March, and EP Nostalgia Haunts Me, NY-based musician Kacey Fifield is back with her latest single, Dream Girl.

Retaining a similar affection for cinematic teen drama as Left Behind, Dream Girl is a depiction of internal yearning and insecurity. Regardless of age, we can all occasionally feel alienated as we try to slot ourselves into a particular mold, fitting a definition of what is deemed desirable and aspirational.

Fifield sings of her own mental anguish as she desperately chases outside validation, wanting the affirmation of being someone’s “dream girl”. Slick electronic melodies and fuzzy guitars paint a picture of the tension at play in Fifield’s own mind, partly sanitised and plastic, yet also bristling and messy and human.

Capping the song off is a vocal sample, which sounds like Kacey talking on the phone to a friend, presumably regaling them with her romantic escapades. As Dream Girl ends, the music drops away to briefly leave the words of the phone call exposed. In those final moments, Fifield says, “We actually broke up, so…”, and in doing so, perfectly reveals the futility of trying to make yourself different just to please someone else.

Listen: Ecstasy (If You Want It) by Late Guest At The Party

Following on from two previous releases featured on BlackPlastic, December’s Ramblin’, and January’s In Defense Of Time, European-American electro-dance outfit Late Guest At The Party are back with a hot new single for summer.

In contrast to both Ramblin’’s taut, dubby, shuffling house, and In Defense Of Time’s slower, sun-cracked and electronic balladry, Ecstasy (If You Want It) pursues a more hedonistic sound.

Whilst Ecstasy retains the tight, square bass tones of Ramblin’, it combines them with the kind of looped piano riff that sits somewhere between classic Chicago house and UK rave culture. Punchy drums and emotive, earnest vocals give the overall song a polished sound, whilst knowingly demonstrating music geek chops — Late Guest At The Party know their musical references, and they enjoy showing them off. Once again, they are assisted by Joe Lambert, who has worked with DFA and Animal Collective, and many others.

My favourite moment in Ecstasy is the song’s bridge, which sees a clipped brass sound woven into the song’s mix, as a filter gradually obscures the song’s vocal. Once the drop kicks in, the song briefly basks in its own crisp simplicity for its closing moments. Sunny melodies and heartfelt vibes abound.