Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries at 2 p.m. every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
UK-based funk-rocker Declan McKenna recently visited Madison on tour and just ahead of his show popped a couple bubbly fresh singles, one of them being the sparkly “Champagne.” It’s got lots of ’70s-meets-early-aughts vibes. You like Elton John and Queen? Check. You like Of Montreal and Gorillaz? Check!
McKenna played drums on the song and shared that it took him into a phase of growth “to grander and more expanded ideas, more rooted in theatrics and performance. … The lyrics are related to grandeur and what really happens next when someone reaches a benchmark of success.”
Recently abandoning a major label deal to partially self-fund his own independent label called Miniature Ponies, McKenna clearly has plans. We’ll have to bide our time to see where he goes next.
You can find “Champagne” everywhere right now, including as part of the 88Nine playlist. It also gets a special feature on this episode of What’s All This, which is available for your listening enjoyment via the player at the top of the page. Then be sure to check out a fresh batch of tunes on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music at 2 p.m. Sundays on 88Nine.
This week’s best new music
- Mamalarky, “Nothing Lasts Forever”
- Fievel Is Glauque, “Haut Contre Bas”
- Jack J, “Falling Down a Well”
- Black Moth Super Rainbow, “Demon's Glue”
- Great Grandpa, “Doom”
- THUS LOVE, “On The Floor”
- Friko, “If I Am”
- Declan McKenna, “Champagne”
- Winona Forever, “Dream Harder”
- Peter McPoland, “A Place Like This”
- Anna B Savage, “Agnes (ft. Anna Mieke)”
- Medium Build, “Yoke (ft. Julien Baker)”
