photo credit: jade sadler

Claire Chicha is an L.A.-based, French-Korean artist who goes by the name spill tab, and she’s released her latest single, the effortlessly fast-paced track “Indecisive” (ft. Tommy Genesis), along with an accompanying lyric video that matches the track’s frenetic pace.

With spill tab’s high school friend, Marinelli, on production duties, the track incorporates a classic jungle-style breakbeat that perfectly accentuates both spill tab’s smoky but nimbly melodic vocals, and featured performer Tommy Genesis’ rapped contributions. True to the title, the lyrics describes the singer’s contentious relationship with someone who manages to draw out the conflicting thoughts she carries inside, as well as balancing the gradually ballooning amount of details she has to keep track of thanks to a burgeoning career. It’s a rarity: a streetwise yet emotionally realistic track that doesn’t compromise on the technical virtuosity of the music, or the sincerity of the mental health struggles of a young artist on the move.

This October sees spill tab headlining venerable local venueThe Echo before going out on tour with Gus Dapperton. Gabe Hernandez

Photo Credit - Ann Li

Thrill You Kill You (TYKY) is the project of DJ/producer/songwriter Fei-Fei, and today she has released her latest single, the energetic “Hotline,” on streamers worldwide.

The track begins with a classic hard rock-style drum intro, before being joined by TYKY’s feminine but assertive lead vocal, which evokes those of similar artists like Grimes. The track itself is tastefully drenched in delay and reverb, giving the mix an atmospheric quality while also managing to keep the higher-energy elements of the arrangement from washing out. The effect is of a track that simultaneously hits you in the face and seems to arrive from another galaxy.

According to the artist, the edgy yet melodic, synthpop and grunge-influenced track “…captures that feeling right before you give control, that anxious feeling of sexy dread…The excruciating cusp of fear and desire, power and submission. When you know something’s bad for you, but you just can’t resist. I’m fascinated with the exploration of our darkest desires because discovering who you are is messy…and beautiful.” Gabe Hernandez

photo courtesy of artist

L.A. by way of Florida drummer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Bloodcat (aka Jessica Vacha), has seen her fair share of the local scene as a session drummer, lending her percussive talents to several up-and-coming acts, all while steadily working on her own original music. Her latest single, appropriately entitled Summer Single and available now on Spotify and most other major streaming outlets, is a sign of steady growth for the singer-songwriter that foreshadows greater things yet to come from this talent.

A-side “Generic Script” is a propulsive, muscular, but also charmingly vulnerable guitar and drum-forward indie-pop track that displays Vacha’s talent for merging catchy melody with effortless indie cool, especially in the interplay between instruments. Taking a minimalistic approach, the bare-bones arrangement evokes 90s-era indie-pop while also dispalying a distinctly 2020s touch for the modern.

B-side “Enough,” by contrast, evokes Mazzy Star in its slower-tempo, more contemplative tone. It begins with abstract electric guitar strums that deliver a distinct feeling of floating, unmoored to any key, until Vacha and the rest of the band enter as one. Vacha’s sedate, elegant vocal radiates weariness and sadness, complementing the spare, wide-open arrangement. it’s an audio equivalent of a Mark Rothko painting: fields of muted colors hovering close enough to each other that they can’t help but be taken as one, but never truly touching, forever together but forever apart.Gabe Hernandez