Yesterday, Brooklyn Vegan premiered “Some Boy You Don’t Need,” a spare stunner by Loamlands, the band led by Pinhook owner Kym Register. It’s “a song for the closest of friends that will go to any extreme to save each other from settling,” says the press release. This ferocious intimacy is borne out in a crisped, growling electric-folk guitar, a shimmer of what sounds like processed pedal steel, and Register’s arresting voice, all coiled together in the center of a vast space, like one fearless light in the darkness. The song is indicative of the stripped-down intensity awaiting on Lez Dance, Loamlands’ second record, due out June 7 from independent queer label Cruisin Records. The band just left on a tour that will bring them home for dates at NorthStar Church of the Arts on June 8 (the record release show) and in the Saturdays in Saxapahaw summer concert series in July.

After premiering “K.M.O” in the INDY’s Triangle First feature in March, Raleigh funk lord Jamil Rashad, aka Boulevards, just dropped another song from new album YADIG!, forthcoming in June. “Take It to the Top” hits a juicy spot between the silky cinematics of Italo disco and hard-charging funk-rock, like Rick James vibing on Cerrone. Check out the song below, and hear the record first at Boulevards’ pre-release listening party from six to nine in on the evening of June 7, part of the INDY’s monthly First Friday offerings at our Raleigh office (230 South Wilmington Street, Ste. 105). The event also features fashion from Becauseus, DJ Jeremy Blair, and a live recording of our podcast.   

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