1. Manic the 17th ft. Osyrus Bolly – “Rest Assured”
I’m late to this, but Osyrus Bolly and producer Manic the 17th teamed up on this track from Manic’s compilation “T.I.M.E.” “My words are like nature sounds,” Bolly says, intriguingly, also calling himself the “young Malcolm X” and taking shots at Tyler Perry.
2. Country Florist – “Silence Machine”
Andrew Morgan‘s last tape as Country Florist, “CF-1,” made our top 10 Little Rock albums of the year list in 2014, and he’s back this month with “CF-2.” Shades of K Records and ’80s Kiwi Rock and something else — a pop sense that’s skewed and muffled and strange — that is uniquely his own. Also, if you ignore every other Little Rock-related release of the summer, you should at the very least check out Drawing Room Records’ essential new double LP reissue of Morgan’s old band Chinese Girls, which is out now and is virtually a public service to the state of Arkansas (more on this in coming weeks).
3. The Uh Huhs – “Long Distance”
Something new and good and surprisingly kind of wistful from Little Rock garage rock band The Uh Huhs.
4. The Wandering Lake – “I Hope I Meet All of You Again”
Be aware: The new full-length from Fayetteville’s The Wandering Lake, “Wend To Why” (featuring Little Rock’s Jack Lloyd and John Willis), is out now. This is good and even important news. Go ahead and listen to it, it’s gorgeous. Or you can even pay a paltry $8 and get an original zine — described by front man Brian Kupillas as “a 20 page art book with collaborative collage done by my brother Joe Kupillas and Paul Sanders.”
5. Yung Kiri & Jonas – “Natural”
Yung Kiri and Jonas are the types of guys who think deeply about weed and percocet and comic books, which is always a promising combination.
6. Kidd B & Wayne D ft. GMST Plexx – “Millions”
A new video from New Orleans transplant Kidd B and his regular co-conspirator Wayne D, directed by Fresco Grey no less.