Welcome to another fun instalment of What’s Going On, Biff Bam Pop’s weekly new music roundup. Our shovels are out, ready to unearth the hottest new tracks to soundtrack your week. From established chart-topping rockers to a handful of sunny summer-ready tunes, we’ve got something here for everyone. As always, if you dig what you hear, be sure to stream and follow the artists.
Imagine Dragons – Everyone’s favourite band, Imagine Dragons, just dropped a fiery new remix to usher in their latest era. Out now via KIDinaKORNER/Interscope/Universal Music Canada, this new version of their recent single “Eyes Closed” now features Colombian singer J Balvin. The future-facing Imagine Dragons track has a swaggering take-no-prisoners attitude that only gets accentuated by the Prince of Reggaeton. Sticks and stones won’t break their bones, the only band in history to earn four RIAA Diamond singles continues to get bigger and bigger with no sign of stopping in sight.
Speaking on how “Eyes Closed” came to be, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds states: “After taking some time off the road and spending time catching up with family and loved ones, I finally have felt the desire to go back to the sonic places that originally brought me the most joy, but with a new outlook and mentality. The world looks much different after being a band for more than a decade. But some things will always remain the same. It’s finding that right balance of nostalgia and freshness that brings me the most joy in the studio. We had a lot of fun making this one and hope you enjoy it too.”
Photo Credit: Eric Ray Davidson
Listen to Imagine Dragons’ new remix of “Eyes Closed” featuring J Balvin below.
Ra Ra Riot – For the first time in five years, we’ve got new music from Ra Ra Riot. Their new single “The Wish” is sure to be already going down a treat with millennial indie kids. The track was produced by the renowned Rostam Batmanglij, mixed by Andrew Maury and mastered by Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Emily Lazar. “The Wish” sees Ra Ra Riot sounding very much like themselves, which makes sense as the lovely tune was worked on with longtime friend and collaborator Rostam. As if that weren’t exciting enough, Ra Ra Riot will be hitting the road with Vampire Weekend for a week of Midwest dates in July. You don’t want to miss that!
Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles on “The Wish”: “Rostam and I have been longtime collaborators and have gotten to work on all kinds of different projects together over the years. It’s always something fun and exciting and new. When we got into his studio recently, we found we’d both been getting into fingerpicking – some folk stuff, like Fairport Convention, Joni Mitchell, Anne Briggs, Judy Sill, that kind of stuff. And so we just went from there. It started with a riff I had, super rough, with a sort of nebulous story, and he helped simplify the fingerpicking pattern and start molding it into more of a specific story and vibe. Rostam added some organ – Hammond B3 – and some mandolin, and Joey, his assistant, who’s studied Latin percussion, really added a lot of movement to it. Over the course of two trips to LA, we wrote, re-wrote and recorded the song almost in real time, and I think it’s something really new for us. To me, the song’s about the power of imagining a different world – not necessarily in a fantastic or escapist way, but in an empowering way. About manifesting these deeply held wants and desires. Having these powerful dream visions and trying to capture that moment before you fall deeply into dreaming. Rostam and I love working on songs that can read as both happy and sad at the same time and using that tension to amplify and understand the depth of these feelings and visions.”
Listen to Ra Ra Riot’s new single “The Wish” below.
King Cruff – Canadian-Jamaican music sensation King Cruff has got a song of the Summer contender on his hands. King Cruff’s dropped the vibey “TORONTO CONDO GIRLS” featuring Solo YT, his latest release via Tuff Gong Collective/Universal Music Canada. The breezy track produced by Tessalated and Circa Eleven is a tongue-in-cheek ode to life in Toronto. “Solo YT and I wrote this song right after I signed with Universal and Tuff Gong,” shares King Cruff. “We had made a brief move into Toronto for a month, so we wanted to make a song that was kind of a sardonic ode to the vibe of the city. The lyrics talk about the chase of the high life by moving to a bigger city and the risks that comes with it.”
Listen to King Cruff’s new single “TORONTO CONDO GIRLS” featuring Solo YT below.
GHOSTxSHIP – Hardcore outfit GHOSTxSHIP are back with their first release of new music in a decade. The band from the mean streets of Syracuse, NY knew they had to make their return with something strong and that’s exactly what they did with the single “Ties That Bind.” Aggressive and hard-hitting, GHOSTxSHIP came out of the gate swinging on the new track. They manage to showcase the energy that fans have loved from them, while still highlighting their growth and evolution. “We meet a lot of people and make friends for many reasons in our lives. But certain things connect us at a much deeper level,” shares vocalist Keith Allen. “Hardcore and punk rock has created bonds of friendship and family that run deep. Even when we don’t see each other for years, those bonds are still there…It’s pretty fucking cool.”
Listen to GHOSTxSHIP’s new single “Ties That Bind” below.
Jamie Fine – Ottawa-born singer-songwriter Jamie Fine has got a new EP on the way. if this is it is due out June 21 via Republic Records/Universal Music Canada. The forthcoming project features Jamie’s new single, the sunny “you’re like.” Perhaps best known for her heart-wrenching tracks, Jamie gets to show off her versatility on “you’re like” that boasts an effusive pop-rock sound. On the process of writing “you’re like,” Jamie says: “’you’re like’ was the first song of a writing camp in LA – just me and my producer. It was our first day in California and…the cliché is true…it IS in fact sunny. We had been laughing about me entering my rock/pop punk phase as an artist and decided to give this type of song a try. What started out as a bit more of a joke turned into one of our favourite songs of the trip.”
Listen to Jamie Fine’s new single “you’re like” below.
