Welcome to week #23 of the Steel Orca Songs of the Week.

Face of Brahma, Bayon Temple, Cambodia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

Well, Canada has been getting battered with snow this past week. Honestly, everyone can blame me because I prayed for this last Saturday.

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I was on a walk with my youngest daughter down to the local waterfall (yes, we are lucky enough to have a local waterfall in our neighbourhood), and it might as well have been a day in early June for how warm it was. Almost no snow was on the ground, and it was probably 7 degrees Celsius (~45 degrees Fahrenheit). It was a gorgeous day, but I find a day like that depressing in mid-January in my western Canadian province. It’s supposed to be cold and snowy. That’s why I live here.

Anyway, I said a little prayer that we would get winter back, and my prayer was answered in a big way. We got winter back. It snowed for about two straight days when all was said and done, and we got about 40 cm (~15 inches). My wife hates it, but it makes me happy.

Do you know what the worst part is, though? Watching everyone snowboard all the powder on the internet while I’m stuck at work. The FOMO is real.

The orca’s natural habitat. Kimberley, BC. 📸:PowderDayLife

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Playlist Breakdown

Here are the songs for the week of February 24, 2023 🌨️.

▶️ Youtube Music: Songs of the Week #23

I am not always proud of these playlists to the same degree each week I put them together. Some weeks, depending on what’s going on or how I’m feeling, they feel a little slapped together or rushed.

This week doesn’t feel like that - I had time on Monday to listen to these in-depth and organized them in order of preference - this is a great playlist.

I am particularly obsessed with the Song of the Week this week - I have been listening to that song repeatedly for the last three days or so non-stop. One of my better finds.

Enjoy! And if you’re battling the cold and snow today, stay warm!

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Hot Sugar - Champagne tastes different after the Gulag

Release Date: February 25, 2022
Spotify Plays: 118,829
Plays Per Day: 329
Label: Noise Collector Records
Genre: Downtempo bass
Origin: New York 🇺🇸
Instagram: @midimurder
Twitter: @HotSugar

Hot Sugar (née Nick Koenig) is a DJ and musician based in New York known for his unconventional approach to music-making. Rather than relying solely on traditional instruments or software, he incorporates many sonic elements, including field recordings, everyday objects, and other "discovered" sounds. This unique approach has earned him a reputation as a master of experimental soundscapes and a pioneer of alternative music production techniques, leaving him with a distinctive sound that defies traditional genre classifications.

In addition to his music, Hot Sugar has directed and produced several critically acclaimed documentaries, including The Melody of Dust and Hot Sugar’s Cold World. His work has been praised for its creativity, originality, and boundary-pushing experimentation.

In terms of this song in particular, I have no idea why, but the music it reminded me of (or triggered a memory of, anyways) is Glasgow Mega-Snake by Mogwai, from their album Mr. Beast (which is excellent, by the way). I just turned it back on because I’m making this comparison right now, and man, that song slays. Mogwai is the best. I saw them live at Sled Island in 2008. I’m old.

Unfortunately, at this time, no live dates are listed for Hot Sugar. So instead, go catch up on Mogwai.

gjør - conversations

Release Date: August 27, 2021
Spotify Plays: 131,622
Plays Per Day: 242
Label: 1376034 Records DK
Genre: Glitchcore
Origin: Houston, TX 🇺🇸
Instagram: ?
Twitter: ?

This song is excellent, but I can imagine how it would likely be too much for people, especially the chorus. The bit I like the best is probably what will turn some people off. C’est la vie.

So everyone at the Steel Orca looked quite intensely, and I couldn’t find any record of gjør anywhere on Twitter or Instagram, and beyond this Spotify profile, I can’t find any website. The weird thing is that they have a decent number of singles (including recent ones from 2022) and over 17,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, so they have an audience, just no profile beyond “beauty through distortion” on their Spotify About page.

Anyway, barring all that, I asked ChatGPT what gjør means:

"Gjør" is a word in the Norwegian language, which means "do" in English. It is the present tense form of the verb "gjøre," which is used to describe an action or an activity being performed in the present moment. For example, "Jeg gjør lekser nå" means "I am doing homework now" in English.

So it means “do.” Very vague. What a mystery.

For obvious reasons, I didn’t find any live dates for gjør. If anyone knows more about them, leave a comment below.

* Late breaking news: Clara Beth found gjør’s Tiktok.

ROSSY - HEAVENS DOOR (featuring Pauline Herr)

Release Date: February 17, 2023
Spotify Plays: 11,521
Plays Per Day: 2,880
Label: HARD Recs
Genre: Trap/Wave
Origin: Liberal, KS 🇺🇸 / Los Angeles, CA 🇺🇸
Instagram: @rossykate / @paulineherr
Twitter: @rossykate / @paulineherr

This song was close to being the Song of the Week (each of the top three songs was), but I struggled with it, and here we are. By no means does the number three spot reflect poorly on ROSSY and Pauline Herr, especially given the prestige of making it on this list. But I digress.

ROSSY (née Rossy Etbauer) had the misfortune of releasing her new 6-song EP of the same name on the same day that some DJ named Skrillex decided to put out his first new record in ten years. Then he dropped another album the next night in the middle of his 5-hour B2B rave with Fred again.. and Four Tet. It wasn’t easy to get media coverage of any new music last weekend unless your name started with ‘Sonny.’

That’s a shame because this EP is great, and this song typifies the overall record. But, despite the timing issue, I think she will get her credit as this album is too good to deny.

From Relentless Beats:

Born in Kansas, and now based in Los Angeles, Rossy’s interest in music began at a young age when she often accompanied her mom to see live music. She started learning to play guitar in the sixth grade, drawing inspiration from grunge-era artists, like Kurt Cobain.
Rossy was exposed to EDM in college, which prompted her to learn the workings of a DJ controller. As her skills as a DJ grew, she also started producing on Ableton and it wasn’t long before she started booking local gigs opening for artists like Krewella, Audien, and Gareth Emery.

Pauline Herr is the vocalist on this and is a singer, songwriter, and producer based in Los Angeles, California. She is known for her ethereal, electro-pop sound. Before this, she collaborated with well-known producers and artists in the electronic music scene, including RAC, Jai Wolf, and Kasbo.

ROSSY and Pauline Herr are both currently on tour - you can find ROSSY’s dates here and Pauline’s dates here.

Daktyl - Veins Detached (featuring Roméo Testa)

Release Date: February 28, 2020
Spotify Plays: 959,937
Plays Per Day: 881
Label: Daktyl Music under exclusive license to Independent
Genre: Electronica
Origin: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 / Los Angeles, CA 🇺🇸
Instagram: @daktyl
Twitter: @daktyluk

Daktyl is a British electronic music producer and DJ known for his unique sound combining trap, future bass, and indie electronic music elements. He is one of my favourite artists and was solidly on top of my Spotify Wrapped last year, taking 2 of the top 5 spots. I love him.

I would also highlight that this marks the second time that Daktyl has made it on the Steel Orca Songs of the Week, the first one from way back on Songs of the Week #3, where we featured his remix of Metaphysical by autograf featuring Janelle Kroll. So he is entering some truly rarified air now.

Daktyl started making music at a young age and began playing guitar and producing electronic music in college. He gained popularity through his remixes of songs by artists such as Lana Del Rey, Halsey, and Major Lazer and eventually signed with the record label Mad Decent.

In addition to his music career, Daktyl has worked on sound design and composition for video games and films. He has contributed to the soundtracks of popular video games such as League of Legends and Gears of War and the movie Fifty Shades Freed.

The timing of this post could not be better, as Daktyl just released his official live performance video Pinnacle, which is just over 8 minutes long and, in my opinion, truly highlights his genius. So stop what you’re doing right now and watch that video.

Roméo Testa, who now goes by Roméo, does the vocals here and is an American singer-songwriter and musician known for his unique blend of genres, including pop, soul, and R&B. He kills it on this song. Though the lyrics are simple, this wouldn’t be anything close to what it is without him.

Testa began playing music at a young age, learning to play the guitar and piano as a child. He gained popularity after his performance on the reality television show "America's Got Talent" in 2014, where he impressed the judges and audience with his original song Pity.

Daktyl has no live dates listed, but you can catch Roméo tomorrow (February 25) at Teatro Spazio Fabbrica in Lugnano, Italy - tickets and other live dates are on his website.

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Song of the Week 🙌

Jackal - I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful (featuring Roniit)

Release Date: July 15, 2022
Spotify Plays: 143,797
Plays Per Day: 650
Label: Jackal
Genre: Glitchcore
Origin: Los Angeles, CA 🇺🇸 / Colorado 🇺🇸
Instagram: @jackalproducer / @RoniitMusic
Twitter: @jackalproducer / @roniitmusic

As I said above, I am obsessed with this song right now. It has everything I like in a song: haunting female vocals, glitchy electronic sounds, incredible melody, great bass, and intricate breakdowns - this is one of my favourite new songs, for sure.

Jackal is a music producer from England based in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his unique blend of trap, bass music, and hip-hop and has released music on labels such as Mad Decent and OWSLA, though this song was released independently. In addition to his music career, Jackal is also a visual artist and often incorporates his artwork into his album covers and merchandise designs.

Roniit is the vocalist on this song and a musician and producer from Colorado, though currently based in Los Angeles. She is known for her haunting vocals and atmospheric soundscapes, which blend electronic and alternative pop music. My colleague Clara Beth described her Instagram as “spicy.”

Roniit began her music career as a pianist and classical singer before moving to Los Angeles to pursue music production. She started releasing her music in 2012 and has collaborated with artists such as Varien, Blackmill, and Crywolf.

Unfortunately, neither Jackal nor Roniit has any tour dates listed.

Ta Prohm Temple, Cambodia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

That’s it for this week from all of us here at the Steel Orca.✔️👋

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Bayon Temple, Cambodia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

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🎧 Songs of the Week #23: Stop my throat from…