Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone.

I love Haim. Why do I love them? They’re a quirky, rhythmic, poppy yet soulful rock band – that’s why. The Haim sisters are winning fans over left and right, so I naturally have to introduce you to them.

One of my best friends put me on to their music some summers ago and I never let up. I’ve gone years playing their first album, Days Are Gone just up until last week and that’s only because their new LP (Something to Tell You) was released. It’s fun, you have to check it out.

These girls are genuine and have a sweet natural chemistry. I guess they should since they’re sisters and all. Danielle, Este and Alana are your quintessential girls-next-door who are super goofy and cute in this perfect mix of anti-hipster meets rock goddess. The stories they tell are relatable and there’s something groovy about their music. Yes, groovy. I just feel like I want to dance when I listen to them and I seriously mean it. You can’t help it! I literally cook in the kitchen and dance to their albums with no tragic grease fires or missing limbs to report. You might not be so lucky but try a good Haim inspired kitchen jam session at least once.

Last thought, I appreciate how their interesting blend of influences organically resonate through their sound. They’re the perfect recipe of your favorite meal and worth at least one good listen. The jury is still out on my favorite song but just know, I’ll be keeping this little musical jewel on repeat. <3

-D. Wright

Music lovers, have I got something for you! A friend of mine introduced me to my new favorite thing, and it’s a music discovery app appropriately named Discovr.

There are so many music streaming and sharing services out there to a point where it can be a little overwhelming to try and find new artists to check out these days. My music go-to’s have always been blogs or friends with amazing taste in music…but what if you want something even simpler than that? Discovr might be the answer for you.

With the Discovr app, you can:

• Search thousands of artists
• Play newly discovered music from the app
• Open an artist’s music in Spotify or iTunes
• Share your new discovery with other music lovers

You start by downloading the free app on your iOS or Android device, search a familiar artist you like, the tap on their name and discover other similar artists through a dgized music tree. It’s pretty cool and really simple to follow.

Another great feature being able to pull up your  music in either Apple Music or Spotify! It’s extremely intuitive and easy to use and did I mention…free?! You can’t get any better than that.

I’ve been using it for a few days now and have found talents like Jessie Ware, DVSN, Parachute and a few others to dive into. If you’re adventurous or just searching for someone new to check out, Discovr offers you a sure fire way to learn about artists you might have never heard of from all over the world! Of course the music nerd in me is pretty stoked. Feel free to share your new discoveries with me — happy listening. <3

-D.Wright

Photo courtesy of Electric Guest’s iTunes.

We all have that one thing we’ve had a hard time letting go of and LA pop duo, Electric Guest, found a cool way to sing about it. Their rhythmic, yet troubled Summer banger “Oh Devil” draws you in and before you know it, you’re grooving like Kuzco. I enjoy it so much that I’ve officially made it my car jam until the Fall drops. I bump it with the windows down as if they’re talking about me being this irresistible vixen they couldn’t detox from. I don’t even want to be that person or know what they’re really talking about, but that’s how shexy (yes shexy) this track is. The crazy thing is this song is likely about any devil you might be dealing with. It’s deep, but sooooooo fun. It makes me want to bust out the red lipstick and fluff my hair for a night out on the town. I don’t care what devil it is, I just want to dance about it.

Photo courtesy of Billboard.

I mean when I first heard it, I was checking out the LA Pops playlist on Spotify (it’s amazing by the way, if you’re into discovering new talent). The song took me away and I immediately felt like I should be dancing somewhere with warm LED lights bouncing off my skin. Note to you: play this, if you want to get me going. It’s totally Ellen-worthy, she only dances to the best and I could see her busting moves on this one. And if you can get past the slightly creepy chant at the end, you’ll be fine. Just heed my warning, when you hear it, you’ll definitely want to get your groove on.

Photo courtesy of The Line of Best Fit.

Oh Devil naturally reminded of pop contemporaries from the 90’s/00’s era. It felt slick and familiar on the first listen. If you dig into the rest of the Plural album, it gets pretty interesting. This eccentric duo does not disappoint on bringing out colorful, warm sounds and moody mid-tempo tunes. They experiment with your vibe and tickle at your emotions. If you can’t sing, you will by the end of it.

And you might be wondering who these dudes actually are. Electric Guest is an indie-pop band from LA, comprised of two super eclectic guys (Asa Taccone and Michael Compton). They met by chance and immediately started collaborating on music. The duo released their first album “Mondo” in 2012, independently, and has steadily grown their base over the last five years. As for the obvious. I like them. There are a few songs on the album that might be a less relatable and oddly placed/selected but their music makes sense for me. Even if you check out their site, you’ll see that it all works in the favor of their interesting aesthetic.

If you’re someone who’s adventurous, I think you’ll like them. They are not too experimental where they fly over your head but too obvious to where you feel like you’ve lost brain cells because you enjoyed them. No guilty pleasure vibes here buddy, not at all. <3

-D.Wright

Photo courtesy of Gorilla vs. Bear.

Let’s start with, I always thought SZA was a model. I didn’t even realize she did R&B. All I knew was that she was a beautiful milk-chocolate girl with amazing hair and freckles.

All of a sudden everyone was talking about her and asking me if I had listened to any of her music. At the time, I was into a couple of other upcoming folks and didn’t dive into the work she was putting out. I can’t even tell you any of her solo material I’ve heard aside from the music she’s most recently released. What I can tell you is I listened to her on my girl Ratchet Rhi aka Rihanna’s “Anti” album on the 1st track, Consideration, and absolutely loved her. It was my gateway into the world of SZA.

Photo courtesy of Rap-Up.

A few weeks ago I heard “Love Galore” and immediately felt drawn into her rich, youthful alto. Then this “Ctrl” dropped and I totally understood why her label was NOT about the life of letting her go. I mean I did hear it was overblown at the time but if it were real, I probably wouldn’t have let her go either. She’s pretty awesome. I sat here on Friday and was just hypnotized. She literally says everything young women might want to express or chat about with their  girlfriends but with these raspy vocals over R&B tracks. How Sway? That’s legit not an easy feat, especially in R&B these days. Many new-age R&B crooners are not able to capture authentic, raw, and yet polished stories. I mean we fell in love with Usher and Alicia Keys at some point because they were able to skillfully take us on a journey while sticking to the R&B/pop formula. This new wave of R&B is less pop influenced though, and challenges young writers to connect with their audience in that Confession’s album sort of way but with the soul of a Songs in A Minor, all the while creating a new approach to R&B. She’s very much so a musical unicorn in the Frank Ocean sort of way where she’s able to tell really complex stories in a relatable way while, again, over R&B tracks. That’s pretty cool. The ethos of her work is storytelling. And the difference between her and a lot of other R&B artists out now, is she’s crafting the story herself. She’s vulnerable and real. She’s also not overproduced so you hear every word and syllable. You know exactly what she means and feels what she says.

Photo courtesy of Rap-Up.

SZA is a very moving artist and that’s so refreshing nowadays. You get the sense that she’s really bearing her soul in 14 tracks. Ctrl is extremely personal in a time when music seems so impersonal and contrived. For that reason alone, she has a new fan in me. I love it and I think as a woman, she plays up a lot on those feminine sensitivities without even trying. I’m glad to have an artist like her on the rise and I’m excited to see where she continues to journey with her artistry. <3

-D.Wright

So I’ll start with, I’m super grateful my little sister Deangela thought her big sis was cool enough to roll out with her to Houston’s very own summer par-tay, Free Press Summer Fest last weekend. It was set for June 3rd-4th from 11am until around midnight-ish each night at Eleanor Tinsley Park but as you might have read, while following my tweets, Mother Nature had other plans. It sucks because the line up was pretty cool too. It consisted of local acts like DJ Fredster and Khruangbin to nationally recognized artists like Solange Knowles, Charlie XCX and G-Eazy.

As soon as we stepped out of our Lyft, we felt rain. I immediately grabbed for my poncho, and yes… it was only sprinkling. I didn’t care. While walking up to the entrance, we annoyingly sang a couple rounds of  the most appropriate song for the weather… “Bad and Boujee”, affectionally known to me as “Rain drop, drop top.” And so it begun…

In predictable festival fashion, everyone had their own version of the uniform. There was body glitter, shirtless bros, tanks, net stockings, Jurassic Park hats, backpacks, several variations of Jaden Smith, Yonce’ body suits with an extra side of cellulite on the side, and all the jiggly bits from up-top to down-below ready to be tanned and admired by college kids aka toddlers (ok they were like 18 but whatever). Let’s just say it was interesting and I felt like a dinosaur. We opted for the “happy to be here folks, this is how we normally dress” option. It didn’t go viral or anything but hey, nothing fell out (if you get my drift).

So after actually entering the gates of the festival, we saw a Taco Bell truck and a village or Port-O-Potties we swore to never step foot in. As we walked, we eyed a variety of trendy food trucks and bars lined up to perfection. They definitely wanted to make sure you were full in more ways the one. I never got to actually hit the merch area but it was there, tucked away between the food. The park was beautiful and hot. It literally felt like being in a greenhouse with the sun set right over you in every direction you might try to escape. After baking for a few minutes, we walked underneath a canopy of trees and heard DJ Fredster who was definitely killing it. His energy and music was that of something you’d hear spin in Vegas. The crowd was a little bit more grown up and super chill so naturally I asked for wine… and I found it. They had $9 baby cups of Chardonnay ready, along with a few other well drinks and cocktails for their grown and sexy bunch. Walking back, a kid (literally like 15 or 16) asked me to buy him a beer. I looked at him, took my sips and we went off in search of my buddies Khruangbin who were about to start their set.

I was so proud to see Mark and DJ. Their performance was full of funk, soul, and experimental sound. It was inviting and felt familiar. The crowd ignored the broiling sun and danced all over the lawn of the Saturn stage. It was just downright fun and a solid impression for folks like my little sister who were experiencing them for the first time. I’d definitely recommend you taking a listen if you’re into old school vibey instrumentation.

It was after Khruangbin’s set when I saw a huge rush of people headed to the Neptune stage. I’m a bit of a wanderer so I yelled for my sister to follow the crowd. Best decision ever. We heard the drop for DJ Mr. Rogers of 93.7 The Beat and knew it was about to get crazy. The crowd jumped and dived all over each other. I eventually found a small field with flowers and trees (ok… yes shade, there was shade) and went for it. You would have to, it was hot!

They rapped every single lyric he played and then the main dude, Trill Sammy, came out with his entourage shooting huge water guns for the hyped and thirsting crowd. They. Went. Crazy. I mean like Kanye West just declared his run for presidency on MTV again, crazy. Mind you, we (my sister and I) don’t know this guy at all, but instinctively knew we were supposed to be partying like we were at a frat house before the cops came. Speaking of cops, they were there saving folks left and right. For future notice kids…don’t do drugs, drink, and jump around on each other in sweltering 90 degree weather. You will fall out and possibly get arrested for possession. That’s a thing.

Anywho… the afternoon went on and we were getting hungry so we stopped by the main stage to check out another act, Jon Bellion. He has quite a few radio hits under his belt and was definitely fun to watch. The set had good energy and a massive crowd so it was definitely cool. I will probably check out more of his music this week. He wasn’t too bad at all and had some really catchy tunes with nice tracks backing him. Towards the end of his performance, we went ahead and called a Lyft. Dee snapped this shot on our way out…

We had perfect timing because this is when the sky decided to unfold and shut down the festival for a few hours. But guess who was inside, eating nachos/tamales, and drinking margaritas in the nice air-conditioned restaurant? Deangela and me, that’s who! Clearly we’re the kind of girls to go glamping. Don’t ask  us to stay outside for extended periods of time. And my logic was, if we were going to suffer in Houston’s humidity, we might as well be happy about it. Back on track here, El Tiempo did not disappoint. We ate, talked and waited for them to open the fest back up to catch G-Eazy. It was night and crazy humid/muddy, so no pics of that. Sorry. But you can check out my delicious plate!

So fast forward to day 2. We were SO excited because this is when all of the more popular pop acts were going to perform. But guess what… some kind of monsoon happened in the late afternoon and shut down the remainder of the festival. There were barely any updates so we remained hopeful for a few hours until we got the notice that they would be “cancelling the rest of the performances due to the inclement weather.” Sigh… So this was our day two… Two sisters, pitifully siting at home, on the couch waiting to hear the news that the shows we dressed to attend weren’t happening.

Overall we had a good time and enjoyed each other’s company. We had fun at the performances we were able to catch and were happy we got to slow down and catch up on each other’s lives. So there it is… my first time at Free Press Summer Fest. <3

-D.Wright