NYC Scene Report – Taraka, Miles Francis, & LVCHLD

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Taraka inhabiting a “Pyschocastle,” Miles Francis debating what it means to be “Popular,” and LVCHLD asking “Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?”

* As one half of the Brooklyn-based band Prince Rama, Taraka (pronounced like “maraca") made a name for herself in NYC’s indie music scene. On October 8th she’ll be releasing her first solo album, Welcome to Paradise Lost, the lead single off of which sees her inhabiting a “Psychocastle.”

The video for “Psychocastle” was filmed inside an abandoned mental institution in upstate New York, while the album was conceived while Taraka was living in a hot Texas gallery with a live serpent in an attempt to return to a pre-internet Eden.

If you’re anything like me, everything you just read made you think – this sounds freakin’ awesome! Click play, and enter Taraka’s indie rock “Psychocastle.”

* Lots of people want to be popular, but have they really thought about what drives that desire?

NYC-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Miles Francis ponders this question on a new single titled “Popular,” which features Lizzie Loveless, and Lou Tides (aka Lizzie, and Teeny Lieberson, formerly of TEEN) on background vocals.

Discussing the song in a statement, Francis said, “Everyone indulges in having an ego, and wanting to be recognized, but men seem particularly bent on the power element – whether it’s taking up space in a room, or leading a country.”

To celebrate the release of “Popular,” Francis took to the streets of NYC, giving live performances on the back of a pickup truck. If you missed the drive-by concert, there’s also a fantastic video for the indie pop-rock song which you can check out right here.

* On their latest single, Brooklyn-based band LVCHLD has a simple question with a deep backstory, as they ask, “Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?”

LVCHLD is led by singer, songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Leo Becker Liebeskind, who discussed the song in a statement, saying, “I wrote ‘Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?’ on the 2 train, walking through the 14th street station, and then the F train — crazy story, I know. I was terribly infatuated with someone who I could tell it was never gonna work out with, but we got high together, a lot, and so it felt like I had to write a song about coming to terms with just asking her to pass me a lighter, if nothing else – taking people and relationships as they are, something like that.”

He says the song “took about 5 minutes to write, and about 5 years to record,” adding, “I’m proud of the track that it’s finally become, and I’m excited to see it enter the world.”

While Leo’s love might have been unrequited, your love of “Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?” will most definitely be appreciated.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.