“Dim the Lights” (single)

Although it seems summer is ready to start its slow fade into fall, there’s still a little left for some sun-soaked songs to close out the season. Enter “Dim the Lights” from indie-pop darlings Wild Ones. “Dim the Lights” is a windows-down, synth-laced explosion of melody driven by the crystal clear vocals of frontwoman Danielle Sullivan. Used as the lead single from their sophomore EP Heatwave, the synth-pop singalong is a creative continuation of the sound they crafted on their debut album Keep it Safe (currently available on our site as well). Heatwave is available in its entirety from the never-miss geniuses at Topshelf Records

Isn’t it always nice to find a genuine mutual admiration society between two bands? Members of husband-and-wife punk duo The Dollyrots and pop punk foursome Bowling for Soup have been friends, tour mates, and co-recording buds for quite a few years now. As they are about to head out on a joint tour of the US and the UK starting in September, both bands have decided to release “a stoked-for-tour sampler” featuring each band covering three songs from the other’s repertoire. After 2011’s The Dollyrots vs. Bowling for Soup and 2012’s One Big Happy, this marks the third split EP the bands have co-released together.

When a band describes their album in terms of Amish quiltmakers leaving intentional mistakes in each piece to remind them of their own humble humanity, there’s a good chance the listener is in for an authentically unique experience. Saint Cecilia and the Melody Makers is rag-tag collection of friends who gathered together and played through a collection of hymns on “guitars, shakers, bells, harmonicas, drums, kazoos, our voices, and other toys.” If you’re looking for a little whimsy in your acoustic hymn work (much like The Welcome Wagon), then this album’s for you.

Branding is for Cows.
Belonging is for People. (eBook)

If you’re like me, “branding” is one of those corporatized buzzwords that carries a bit of negative connotation and gets lumped in with other inauthentic offenders like “networking,” “remarketing,” and the like. However, there is some validity behind the reasons and purposes of a branding… uh, strategy (ugh). Author CJ Casciotta helps navigate these tricky waters, by delineating between branding (“imprinting your ideas onto others”) and belonging (“tapping into the identity that already exists in people”) in a most helpful, educational, and refreshingly meaningful way.