NYC Scene Report – Late Again, Charlotte Greve, & ALANI

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Late Again discovering everyone is “Crazy or Stupid,” Charlotte Greve readying a radically unique project, and ALANI advising us to go “Dancing Through the Madness.”

* You’ll have to pardon Late Again, he’s feeling like everyone is “Crazy or Stupid.”

The latest single from the Brooklyn-based indie pop artist, “Crazy or Stupid,” which has a nice laid back musical vibe, is off Late Again’s upcoming EP, I Dreamt I Was Awake, which is due out on September 4th. The song has references to everything from clones, to AI, to deportation, but my personal favorite line is “The mass was always a mess.” So true, Late Again, so true.

While describing “Crazy or Stupid” in a statement, Late Again said, “It’s ultimately a funny ballad that doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

Give it a play, you’d be “Crazy or Stupid” not to!

* After nine projects under various aliases, German-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and singer Charlotte Greve is readying her first album under her own name, and it’s going to sound unlike anything she’s done before.

Titled WATERBODIES, and due out October 2nd, Greve described the album in a statement, saying, “I wanted it to feel like a playground – the opposite of an easy-to-sell, career-minded, one-kind-of-thing record. In some ways, it made no sense – I was pregnant, and pouring my money into something that was clearly not commercial – but this was a personal wish, something I felt I had to do.”

The lead single, “Membranes,” has a litany of influences, and its jazz meets pop sound has the feel of a uniquely cool lounge that may only exist in our imaginations.

You have to click play after that description, right?

* Before you listen to the latest single from indie pop singer-songwriter ALANI, it’s highly advisable to put on some comfortable shoes, because she wants us all “Dancing Through the Madness.”

Off her upcoming debut EP, Somewhere Between Saying It, which is due out August 14th, ALANI discussed the inspiration for “Dancing Through the Madness” in a statement, saying, “The song is about empowerment. It’s about believing in yourself even when the environment around you challenges who you are. ‘Dancing Through The Madness’ turns negative energy into something freeing, an ethos I see as a personal recipe for liberation.”

The song has all that, and two sax solos reminiscent of ‘80s pop classics.

What are you waiting for? Click play, and get to “Dancing Through the Madness” with ALANI.

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