Welcome to RXCOMMENDS, where our team of music curators pick the best tracks released this week. What new music has been occupying our office playlist and what fresh picks are we programming for our clients? Find out below!
“Rose Pink Cadillac” – DOPE LEMON
By: Michael Primiani
This glamorous new retro inspired single from Australia’s Dope Lemon makes us want to dance but more so – makes us want to strut. It’s a perfect summer hit to feel the sun on your face to. Or the heat on your hands from leaning on a car still toasty from a hot day at night. Maybe you’re hearing it streaming out from that smash burger spot with the milkshakes made with homemade ice cream. Or the taco place sounding as fresh as the pico de gallo topped on your barbacoa beef. Soak it all in, whether your car is a Rose Pink Cadillac or a Rusted Red Honda Civic.
“Rumours & Doubts” – Flara K
By: Michael Primiani
This wavy new single from Montreal duo Flara K is an ode to neon nightlife. Dissonant minor chords mixed with clapped percussion is perfect for grooving until the witching hour. Thematically, this track is a testament to paranoia and second guessing your place in life by always looking externally for answers. Doubts and rumors not whispered, but wondered. Flara K struggled with this until seeing their way through to a solution. According to half of the duo – Collin Steinz – “we made a conscious decision to look inward for validation moving forward, and ended up writing “Rumours & Doubts” soon after”. Crank this one up, find your inner confidence and dance away those rumours and doubts.
“Blessed” – Linda Diaz
By: Lindsay Bell
Linda Diaz is smooth like silk with complex production blending downtempo beats with multi-instrumental flair.
“Blessed” is another “stick your head out the window” track from the Brooklyn based former NPR Tiny Desk contest (2020) winner that serves nicely as a reminder that singer-songwriters are not limited to acoustic guitars and multiple references to whiskey. If there is such a thing as a “chill-banger”, this is it, grooving equally in a coffeehouse, or intimate dancefloor.
“West End Girls (New Lockdown Version)” – Pet Shop Boys
By: Michael Primiani
Along with Poolside taking on Billy Idol and Nicolaas remixing Hall & Oates, this is another 80s remix to come out this year that combines a timeless tune with a whole new electro aesthetic. This one comes from the band themselves. Pet Shop Boys took some time during lockdown to re-record their classic 1984 hit “West End Girls” as a moody downtempo house track. Our team and our clients alike are super into these songs and would like for them to keep on coming! Perfect for getting a conversation started when the drinks arrive or as you slow sip them through the ice cubes – with the music sounding anything but watered down.
“You Can Call Me” – TEXAS
By: Ben Birchard
I’ve really been leaning into where country and soul meet these past few years. Lots of Dan Auerbach and Dave Cobb produced albums have caught my ear. Bit of a non-sequitur because this track ain’t exactly that, but it’s not not that. TEXAS have over the years been hard to pin down into a specific genre, yet they’ve always sounded distinctly TEXAS, which is a pretty cool trick.
Their most recent album, Hi, opens with a track that could easily be an ABBA hit, and follows it up with a track featuring the Wu-Tang Clan, which is enough to get me to listen to the whole album, but it’s “You Can Call Me” that I keep returning to. The opening chords on the rhodes, accented by the Stax-like horns are eventually underscored with some strings, and some (almost) country licks on the guitar.
It’s a simple song with a simple message “Call me if you want, if you really wanna” which made me reflect on how intimate and rare an actual call has become.
I can easily hear this one spinning in the background while ordering Sunday brunch, sliding in seamlessly next to some Lucinda Williams or Otis Redding.
“4th Day: Day And Night” – Yoonmi Choi
By: Tia Andriani
Yoonmi Choi is a total virtuoso who bridges jazz with classical. This latest album 7 Days has a distinctly American feel in the arrangements and edgy drums that were missing in her previous, European-flavoured records. An intriguing addition to any refined Jazz playlist, “4th Day: Day and Night”, channels both Bach and Brubeck, and may induce involuntary waltzing.
You can listen to the tracks we mentioned along with other songs our team has been enjoying this week in the Spotify playlist below:
Flara K single artwork courtesy of Beth Cavanagh
