TOP POPS! Tei Shi, Shy Girls, SXSW

Top Pops! is a a recurring selection of indie pop highlights across a selection of styles, to keep you on your dancing, shaking toes. +++ ALL TOP POPS! COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

Force Publique – “Hopeless”
Track Premiere

The premiere single from Force Publique’s 6-song cassette, Bloom, “Hopeless” has one foot in atmospheric ’90s trip-hop and one in the modern synth world. It’s immediately apparent that Force Publique know what it is to be dramatic in their delivery, but their dynamism only really becomes apparent after the memorable swirling synth line takes over and as the noisy, distorted ambiance is allowed space to bubble through.

Catch the Portland-via-Denver male-female duo of James Wayne and Cassie Graves at The Boreal in Eugene on March 27th, with Pastel Ghost from Oakland and Nightspace from Seattle. A west coast tour is forthcoming later this year, and damn, that’s a sexy album cover.

Tei Shi – Verde EP

Um, not to brag, but — Tei Shi is one of those artists we’ve had our eyes on since she first hit the scene with her self-titled 2013 EP, Saudade. My, has she matured since then. With every new single, she asserts more and more her role as a dominant one-woman powerhouse, causing eyes both male and female to flutter towards her with adoration. “Bassically” comes from her April 14th release of her Verde EP, out on Mom + Pop and Arts & Crafts.

Catch her at upcoming SXSW shows as well as upcoming high-five-exchanging tour dates with our other favorites, Shy Girls. All of these things will be celebrated below in this post, where you can also catch Val’s guest-spot on a recent Shy Girls track, and a performance of Beyonce’s “No Angel” from our SXSW party last year. Don’t miss her — and get your ass out to our 2015 SXSW party, DREAMFORCE.

Photography by Eric White

Tei Shi – “Bassically” (Body Language Remix)

Tei shi – “Basically”

Tei Shi – “No Angel” (Beyonce Cover)

TEI SHI SXSW TOUR DATES
3/16 (6:40PM) – Tumblr @ Mohawk
3/18 (2:30PM) – Secret Sounds @ Holy Mountain
3/18 (9:00PM) – BMI @ Bar 96
3/19 (1:45PM) – New Shapes @ Red Eyed Fly
3/19 (8:00PM) – Stubb’s
3/20 (7:00PM) – NYLON x The dFm Present Terrace @ The W Hotel
3/21 (10:00PM) – Pigeons & Planes @ Hype Hotel

TEI SHI WORLD TOUR DATES
4/29/15 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY ^
5/8/15 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA %
5/14/15 – Komedia (The Great Escape) – Brighton, UK
5/15/15 – Beursschouwburg – Brussels, BE
517/15 – Paradiso Nord (London Calling) – Amsterdam, NL
5/19/15 – Pop Up du Label – Paris, FR
5/22/15 – Dot to Dot Festival – Manchester, UK
5/23/15 – Dot to Dot Festival – Bristol, UK
5/24/15 – Dot to Dot Festival – Nottingham, UK
6/2/15 – o2 Academy – Bournemouth, UK *
6/3/15 – o2 Brixton Academy – London, UK *
6/5/15 – Shacklewell Arms – London, UK
6/6/15 – Field Day Festival – London, UK
6/7/15 – Parklife Festival – Manchester, UK
6/12/15 – Bestival Toronto Island – Toronto, ON
8/7/15 – Squamish Valley Music Festival – Squamish, BC

^ w/ Shy Girls
% Popscene w/ Lapsley
* w/ Jungle

Shy Girls – 4WZ Mixtape

Shy Girls – “Arrest Me” (Ft. Tei Shi)
Shy Girls’ Dan Vidmar and Tei Shi’s Valerie Teicher get naughty and talk bedroom secrets on the visually-evocative “Arrest Me”, where the two embrace their complementary vocals like whoa. This comes from Shy Girls’ self-dropped mixtape, 4WZ, which features many an incredible guest spot, from other predictable / non-predictable folks like Junglepussy, Antwon, and Rome Fortune.

You can stream in its entirety on Soundcloud or download from their website. Full upcoming tour dates below, along with two other extraordinary tracks from the mixtape.

Shy Girls – “Renegade”

Shy Girls – “Always The Same” (Ft. Junglepussy)

SHY GIRLS TOUR DATES
4/21/15 – Salt Lake City, UT – Bar Deluxe*
4/22/15 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge*
4/24/15 – Springfield, MO – The Outland
4/25/15 – Chicago, IL – Schubas*
4/26/15 – Toronto, ON – The Garrison*
4/27/15 – Allston, MA – Great Scott*
4/29/15 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom^*
4/30/15 – Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall*
5/01/15 – Atlanta, GA – Vinyl*
5/07/15 – Orlando, FL – The Social*
5/08/15 – Miami, FL – Bardot Miami*
5/10/15 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar*
5/13/15 – New Orleans, LA – Hi Ho Lounge#
5/14/15 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s#
5/15/15 – Austin, TX – Holy Mountain#
5/16/15 – Dallas, TX – Three Links#
5/1715 – Albuquerque, NM – Stereo Bar at El Rey#
5/20/15 – Los Angeles, CA – Echo#
5/22/15 – San Francisco, CA – Popscene at Rickshaw Shop#
5/27/15 – Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl#
5/28/15 – Seattle, WA – Barboza#
5/29/15 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom#

* w/ Young Ejecta
^ w/ Tei Shi
# w/ P. Morris

Oko Tygra – Glass Jaw / Plasticine 7″

Featured here are the two tracks from the Denver four-piece Oko Tygra’s latest 7″. As it creeps up like a slow burn, “Glass Jaw” is a prime example of the band’s blissful use of restraint, and “Plasticine” gets better and better with every listen. As with most dream pop, the idea is not necessarily to blow minds here — and the band readily references Slow Dive and Cocteau Twins as influences — but just like those artists, it is a feel, a mood immemorial, which one sometimes just can’t help but turn to for mellowed out satisfaction.

Oko Tygra – “Glass Jaw”