Top Pops! Toro Y Moi, Shy Girls, Bryan Ellis MP3 Streams

“Pop music shouldn’t always get a bad rap,” says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Getting soulful today with a new Toro Y Moi video, and additional tracks from Portland’s Shy Girls and Bryan Ellis.

Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi recently premiered “Rose Quartz” as a single, by way of live videos from Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Not much to say here as this is definitely not breaking any new ground or blowing any minds. It’s just solid, soulfully mellowed out funky house — kind of the lowest common denominator for introducing such sounds into the indie mainstream.

TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES
* = w/ The Choir Quit, Can’t Kids
8/26 – Brooklyn, NY – Afropunk Festival
9/26 – Durham, NC – Motorco Music Hall
9/27 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel *
9/28 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm *
9/29 – Fairburn, GA – Counterpoint Music Festival
10/13 – San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island Music Festival

 

Shy Girls

Portland’s Shy Girls recently played PDXPOPNOW! and has the town abuzz for their live shows, which are apparently less like a solo bedroom pop and indie R&B act (which is what the recordings infer) and more like a tribute to ’60s and ’70s soul, complete with full band and back-up singers. A four-track EP for Sex In The City is available free for download HERE, but the opening track, “Gonna Get My Name Back”, is by far the best.

 

Bryan Ellis

Bryan Ellis’ “SHE” has an incredibly obnoxious music video, but its early ’90s trip-hop throwback beats mixed with falsetto vocals make it well-suited for twirling beneath a beautiful haze. His EP, Cloud Of Unknowing, can be heard in its entirety via Pigeons & Planes, HERE.

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Written by
Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.

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