Cory Graves
New Music From NEONNOAH, Leon Bridges, FXXXXY, Ishi and More.
Welcome to Songs of the Week, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By putting them all together here in one place, our hope is that you can spend less time searching for relevant new releases and more time giving each one of these jams the proper shine they so deserve. OK? OK.
Leon Bridges — “Ball of Confusion.”
RIYL: The eight-track era.
What else you should know: Though Stranger Things title fonts and theme songs are all the rage these days, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein aren’t the only Dallasites making music for retro-themed Netflix original series these days. Your boy Leon Bridges teamed up with two-time Grammy winner Terrace Martin to cover The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion” for similarly binge-worthy, ’70s-themed Netflix series The Get Down about the birth of hip-hop. LOL, remember that time NPR tried to essentially make the case that Leon wasn’t “black enough?” SMDH.
Rat Rios — “Twin Peaks Theme.”
RIYL: The VHS era.
What else you should know: Speaking of Stranger Things, Volume 2 of that series’ soundtrack came out today. Volumes 1 and 2, we hear, will also be made available on vinyl soon. But back to the task at hand: Yet another soundtrack was tackled by lo-fi Dallas pop artist Rat Rios, who treats her layered vocals like synths on this comp pf Twin Peaks-theme joints for the ’90s-themed online zine Retro Promenade. She also provides vocals for Diamond Field’s “Nightingale” cover on this same comp.
NEONNOAH — “Dreaming With the Lights On.”
RIYL: Whoa rock.
What else you should know: From NEONNOAH’s forthcoming sophomore EP comes this big, anthemic indie rock number that we bet Microsoft is already creaming itself over to rip off for wistful Bing promo down the line. In the more immediate future, we can all but guarantee this one is going into heavy rotation on KXT, like, tomorrow. Get your first listen exclusively above, then get the live take at the band’s album release show at The Prophet Bar on September 23.
Bree & the Fellas — “Girl on the Moon.”.
RIYL: Rising above.
What else you should know: Freeman regular Breanna Parker and the rest of her backing boys have finished up their first debut EP, anchored by this jazzy little R&B flavored title track. It’s a strong first taste, to be sure, and one they’ll be celebrating at Poor David’s Pub on August 24 at the EP release show.
FXXXXY — “20 Taliband.”
RIYL: Faking it.
What else you should know: After releasing six EPs last year, the somewhat mysterious 20-year-old Dallas entity that calls himself FXXXXY is putting out his Cartel Shawty record later this month. We featured its first single a while back, and now Pigeons and Planes has another. As FXXXXY told those guys: “Taliband is my click’s slang for counterfeit money and the 20 in the name represents the Harriet Tubman bill that will come out soon. ’20 Taliband’ is a world that takes place in a strip club that shows the youth in my city who feel they rather beef with the Dallas police than anybody else, while possessing counterfeit money. It’s really subliminal and has a lot of layers but you can piece it all together.”
Ellen Once Again — Love Myself.
RIYL: Gazing into a mirror while reassuring yourself that you’re good enough, you’re smart enough and, doggone it, people like you.
What else you should know: Down on yourself or not, Ellen Hinton’s latest EP offers up as many self-esteem boosting moments as it does instantly relatable hooks. It’d be super-uplifting even it wasn’t such a great pop record.
Ishi — “Bring the Thunder.”.
Rikki Blu — “Glory.”
She Banshee.
The Outfit, TX — Green Light: Everythang Goin’.
RIYL: Making it rain.
What else you should know: Sometimes the name just says it all. I can admit I haven’t always been the biggest Ishi fan, but I’ll be the first to say they really bring the thunder here. For my money, this is the best song the Dallas electronic favorites have ever released. Head here to stream it in full. Also noteworthy? When the outfit plays its EP release party at Trees on September 17, one of its opening acts will be Dørian, the solo project of Ishi producer Brad Dale.
RIYL: Giving thanks.
What else you should know: Even after moving to Los Angeles, this Dallas native hasn’t stopped repping the Triple D. For instance, his last record was named Pleasant Grove. Less than a year later, he’s back with this soulful Rakim Sirrah-produced jam. Another strong track from this man.
RIYL: Werewolf bar mitzvahs.
What else you should know: These fun Denton rock ‘n’ rollers make hand-in-fist power pop with a self-aware spooky twist. Like I said, it’s fun. Think of it like a haunted house, where you pay your hard-earned green dollars to go in and get the pants scared off of you, all the while knowing that none of chainsaws have actual chains on them. No matter, they still make scary noises!
RIYL: The green light from the building, that lets you know you’re home.
What else you should know: Every time we turn around, it seems The Outfit has another new project out. Each one of these seemingly gets its own feature in Noisey, too. Welp, we turned around again and the dropped a tape named after the Bank of America Building. You can read all about it in Noisey.