Summer is here! And we’re doing something exciting.
For the next 3 months the Indie Pong bloggers are going to be highlighting the songs of the summer on our summer playlist:
And then at the end of the summer we’re going to vote on what truly was the song of the summer. This is something we’re doing every summer, so blast that follow button to keep track.
There have been some bangers so far this summer on the playlist (we’ve been doing this for a month, I was supposed to have wrote this blog already oops), but I’m definitely winning so far. These are the piping hot absolute heaters I’ve chosen so far for song of the summer:
Here’s how I think the competition is going so far of the Indie Pong bloggers who have submitted entries:
Me (by a mile)
Cassie
Luis
Daw
Brandon
Amber
Definitely winning. Don’t forget to blast that follow button to follow along all summer:
Here’s a super casual dive into some 2021 releases that have been on repeat so far this year:
‘Head Cheerleader’ – Pom Pom Squad
We love Pom Pom Squad. So this absolute banger of a new single is much welcomed:
‘Found My Friends’ – Hayley Kiyoko
I absolutely love Hayley Kiyoko and it’s not just because she’s a fellow J-person, it’s because of one of the unequivocal best songs of 2018 that she made with Kehlani called “What I Need”. Banger.
‘But She Loves You’ – Merk
I’m straight up obsessed with this song. To me this is firsthand evidence that you can make songs that can compete with the likes of LCD Soundsystem and The Weeknd with one hundredth of the production budget, as long as you have the vision and passion. Love this track.
And love Petey too, saw him at echo park a few months ago and went over and introduced myself like a psychopath. This song is amazing, exactly what I’d hope for from these two masters of melody.
Anyways I wish I could cover them all but I cant (I guess I could technically) but if you want to hear the rest blast that follow button on the Indie Pong Spotify playlist for periodic updates:
OMGGGGGGGGGoodness this album is awesome. LoneMoon does it again with another absolute banger of an album in the follow up to Indie Pong-acclaimed album “kit@Nai”, which I was fortunate enough to interview LoneMoon AKA Luna about last year in one of my favorite interviews to date.
This is one of those albums where every single song is good but here are my favorites:
“lonerRᐸ/3”:
Sucker for the SLOW SONGS!
“receip7s”:
Since we’re grooving can we hit some Naw Naw real quick?
“ang3L oF dE@th” – this song…:
Anyways, here’s the full album on Spotify and if you want to contribute, consider buying the album on Bandcamp or donating to the fund to support Luna’s transition:
We were fortunate to have an in-depth interview with LoneMoon about her just-released AOTY contender kit@Nai (pronounced kitanai like dirty in Japanese). Here’s what’s up.
This album came largely in part from a bad year for LoneMoon, a year full of people bringing her down, some deceptively shallow relationships, and to paraphrase in my own words… haters in general. From the ashes of getting burnt left and right this year, LoneMoon was able to capture her most emotionally sincere and triumphant sound yet on her stunner of an album. This brings us to the provocative cover of the album, which shows Luna (LoneMoon) herself riding on the bodybags of the haters. You can really hear that emotion on Luna’s self-proclaimed favorite on the album, brainleZz2:
We go into more detail here, and also discuss the importance of artists being able to separate their self-worth from their body of work:
Luna is based in Oklahoma where she was born, but lived and grew up in Japan for ten years, which significantly influences her work. A conversation about Luna’s other influences led us to her future aspiration of opening up even more than she has on this soul-bearing album, to let her deepest and most painful emotions show in her art, even if the process might be a lonely one.
Here’s me being exposed for not knowing anything about sailor moon, plus the introduction to our other two interview participants:
On top of discussing two of my favorite tracks on the album, 1_n1Te and iLy, which we covered a few days ago, Luna was also kind enough to impart some of her wisdom onto us in terms of up and coming acts to watch out for:
High Zoey
S Reidy
Backxwash
^and this track features Black Dresses, no less!
Hear about LoneMoon’s favorite artist of all time, which non-music artist she would most like to collaborate with, and which artist she would listen to if she were stranded on a desert island for 24 hours straight (which I responded to with an emphatic “no way”) here:
Every week (ish) I update the Indie Pong playlist with the best tracks in the WORLD. I used to break it down every week but have been a bit lazy, and the requests and cyberbullying are getting to be too much for me, so here is your breakdown. You can follow along and get new updates every week (ish) by following our playlist on Spotify:
‘Everything Will Be Alright’ – Joseph E-Shine, Pontea, Mark Franco
Found this one from our good friend and blooger JPGChief on his Fresh Singles playlist which I highly recommend if you’re looking for piping hot tracks literally every day. JPG sort of puts me to shame with how consistently he updates his playlists, kind of makes me look like an asshole.
Joseph is an Israeli artist and this track is dope. It reminds me of strutting around in middle school in the early 2000’s with my oversized backpack and thermally insulated lunchbox thinking about my crush and how many home runs I was going to hit once I reached puberty. Great track.
‘Fefestyle’ – Ifeanyi Elswith
Ifeanyi is a Chicago native (hey-yo!) and is smooth af on this this track, she’s got talent through the roof. I didn’t know what Fefestyle was but now I feel like I do and I can’t wait to integrate it into my daily operations.
‘BRB’ – Mahalia (feat. Pink Sweat$)
UK’s Mahalia truly needs no introduction as she’s pretty much all I talk about. Her album Love and Compromise was pretty much my favorite album of last year and she just seems to be growing. So this song has been released in a few iterations and usually I am all about the original, but in this case I think the Pink Sweat$ addition is very welcome and gives it an extra layer of excellence. Mahalia, if you’re reading this, you’re the best don’t ever change ok thanks bye.
‘In My Mind’ – Alice Ivy, Ecca Vandal
We’ve been tracking Australia’s Alice Ivy since the inception of Indie Pong, and you should have listened to us then and been ahead of the curve, because she just released the AOTY. It’s not too late for you though, Alice just signed a deal with Concord, so she’s about to get HUGE. Big ups to Alice and all of the artists on this album, it’s truly spectacular.
‘Note To Self’ – Jim E-Stack, Empress Of
This song has half a million listens, and it honestly surprises me that it doesn’t have more. This to me feels like what SHOULD be popular and all over the radio but hey what do I know right, that’ why I run an indie music blog where I can write about whatever I want. This production is gorgeous and I love it.
‘sp@CeGirl * (人気がある)’ – LoneMoon
I am OBSESSED with this album from LoneMoon. To me this is what it looks like to challenge the parameters of existing music and genre and push the medium forward as an art form. Now the reason for the alert is that we have been ever so blessed with the opportunity to speak with LoneMoon on Wednesday (8/5) on our Instagram Live. I cannot wait to meet her and ask her all kinds of questions about how she made this fantastic album that I’ve been bumping all week, as well as getting to the root of what is going on on that album cover. Join us for the interview!
‘Now U Wit Em’ – Fritz Carlton, Ghostea
Fritz Carlton is one of the most exciting names coming out of the LA electronic music scene right now, and if I’m not mistaken has just signed a deal to make his first full length record. He’s long been a staple of the LA warehouse scene and his tracks just seem to be getting better and better. I have been fortunate enough to see this transformation firsthand, since Fritz is actually a friend of mine. Don’t tell our college but I used to let Fritz copy my Japanese homework before class since I speak Japanese and just took 101 for an easy credit. Fritz rode that freshman year Japanese 101 credit to a successful career as a DJ and electronic music producer, and it’s all thanks to me. You’re welcome, Fritz.
‘I Feel Like I Am Changin” – Cub Sport
Oh me oh my, the cadence of these opening lyrics.
“I used to hate these mismatched houses now they make me smile” – me screaming at the top of my lungs while my roommate is trying to sleep. A gorgeous song on a gorgeous album that deserves every accolade it will inevitably receive.
‘Never Die’ – Soft Set
This is another JPG special, the hardest working man on Spotify. Love this track, really speaks for itself, 90s style dreamy shoegaze song you can’t help but relax to. Soft Set is a Canadian band whose favorite band is Ride, which makes sense. I basically paraphrased this whole thing from their Spotify page but the song speaks for itself give it a listen.
‘reasons 2 live’ – illuminati hotties
LA based illuminati hotties just released a stunner of an album of which, in very typical fashion for me, this is the closing track that ties the whole thing together. I seem to do that a lot, fall in love with the palette cleanser track at the end of an album and it becomes my favorite song from that band. I originally heard of illuminati hotties from a soon-to-be blogger Rashad but you don’t know who he is yet so I’ll save that for another day.
‘Saint’ – Cub Sport
This is my favorite song off of the new Cub Sport album. I know I already said this but THE CADENCE… unbelievable. Australia’s Cub Sport has a way of absolutely owning the rhythm almost as if he is rapping, but in an original and unique way that I’ve never heard before. I LOVE it.
‘Dizzy’ – Phil Higgins
South African singer-songwriter Phil Higgins has outdone herself here with this jam. This is the kind of song you just want to hear over and over again and let its infectious melody permeate your life.
‘Money’ – Alice Ivy, DijahSB
We’re not done talking about how great Alice Ivy is yet. How dope is this track, so cool. This album is off the charts great. I’d say this has been the best year for pop music of the DECADE so far… jk but seriously it’s been an unbelievable year for pop music, with Alice coming through an already stacked year of pop releases with very probably the best one yet.
‘Marigold’ – Blondfire
Blondfire just does it for me. My favorite thing about these new Blondfire releases is they pick up exactly where they left off after their last release in 2014, the perfect blend of soothing vocals and brash pop rock sound. Love me some Blondfire.
‘Bummer Days’ – Liza Anne
More like SUMMER DAYS… because this song sounds so summery… amiright? Love this track and this sound in general.
‘Heartbeat’ – B & the Hive
This cathartic indie pop groove is exactly what I needed. Feels like the kind of song that you could party hard to or cry your eyes out to, I did the latter. But that’s also because there’s no parties going on right now. Can’t wait to see the trajectory of B & the Hive, the sky is the limit.
‘All Grown Up’ – Out Of Love
“Woke me up better than a cup of coffee” – Classsy Casssie when I sent this to her. Or something like that, my phone is dead. This has those punk vibes that have me bouncing off the walls of my place while my roommate is trying to sleep because he has “work” in the morning.
‘Corn Syrup’ – John War
San Diego’s John War’s favorite artists are Arca, Jai Paul and Deftones which he told me in our extensive interview (not really it was actually a three message Twitter exchange). Love this track, that first drop comes in so hard.
‘iLy’ – LoneMoon, Ivy Hollivana
A gorgeous track from LoneMoon that is almost a direct opposite of the track from the same album featured above. You know an artist is good when they have two tracks on the same album that sound completely different but are both great, mumbled my roommate as he paced around the house unable to fall back asleep.
‘Stranger’ – Gaidaa, Saba, Jarreau Vandal
Super smooth track here from the Sudanese Dutch singer from the Netherlands Gaidaa.
‘Learn To Fly’ – Surfaces, Elton John
Surfaces has been blowing up but who’s the feature? NeVeR hEaRd Of HiM… hahahahahahaha JUST KIDDING. This song is wonderful, the airy vibes we needed to bring some levity to a not so airy summer.
And thus concludes our recap of the week (ish). Don’t forget to follow us on social and to support indie artists by buying their music on Bandcamp!
