Listen to Target Demographic

Kentucky-based shredders Target Demographic are heavy, scuzzy, and everything you need right now. Their website describes them as “a band (with songs). Your age, location, purchases, and browsing history indicate that you may be interested in [product-id: ‘Target Demographic’]. Please comply.” Whether or not this is tongue-in-cheek irony or real life data fishing remains to be determined. But for now, who cares. Listen to their EP Target Demo, released in February of this year. Favorite track: “Mentat,” recommended by BOYTOY’s Glenn Van Dyke.

Watch Desure’s Video for “Stranded Son”

Josh Desure, songwriter and frontman behind Desure, has an incredible, impenetrable, staggering voice, so full of power and emotion that he’ll knock you right off your feet. Together with his band of misfits, music dissolves into tangible imagery and the classically structured composition of good old country music. Yes, country, the backbone of true songwriting. Embrace it. Watch Desure’s new video for “Stranded Son,” a beautifully shot glimpse of country living that fits perfectly with this stellar country track.

Listen to CHAI

Full disclosure: I’m totally late to this party. CHAI, capitalized because they fucking rule, are an all-female Japanese band of straight rockers who wear lipstick and pink clothes and will crush you with their annihilating wall of sound without blinking an eye. They ruled SXSW last week, where one of my dirtbag friends proclaimed them his favorite band of the entire festival. They’re backed by Burger Records, the kings of cool, and dropped their debut album Pink in February of this year on cassette and CD. The whole thing is streaming on Spotify, so get to listening. And let’s all figure out a way to go see them live in Japan.

Watch RVG’s Video for “IBM”

Australia’s RVG, fronted by transgender singer/songwriter Romy Vager, layer post-punk attitude writhing in intimacy and animosity with bristling psych chords that evoke such a sense of timelessness, you’ll think you were listening to a band from 1978. Watch the video for single “IBM,” off their debut album A Quality of Mercy, a collection of eight tracks “recorded by the band, live off the floor…hitting that sweet spot between light and dark.” Just the way we like it.

Watch Grandmilly & Shozae’s Video for “Graffiti”

Long Island-based rapper Grandmilly and producer Shozae have created pure gold with new track “Graffiti,” off forthcoming album Adventureland on Stones Throw Records. The track is laced up tight with the kind of fuck-you attitude we all desperately need in our lives. So listen up.