Futon Blonde

Janson Sommers: “Neon God”

Have you ever met an artist that has a bunch of wacky-sounding projects under their belt, only to discover that their eponymous material is the real off-the-wall stuff? Well that’s exactly what you get with Janson Sommers, who temporarily shelved his indie rock band Futon Blonde at the onset of COVID and released an electronic EP last summer under the moniker Dad Boy. But in the short time since then, Sommers has perfected his production techniques and re-surfaced once again as a sleek synth-savant.

So far, all three of Janson’s self-titled singles pack batshit beats and bass, not to mention an eloquent sense of melody and structure. The latest one finds Janson Sommers weaning off lyrics for a strictly instrumental venture, so if you’re in need of a new addition to your workout playlist or just want a two-minute respite from the real world, all you gotta do is approach the primordial altar and offer yourself to the “Neon God”.

Futon Blonde: “Sisyphus Strut”

With an initial frame assembled from the demos of Janson Sommer in 2014, Futon Blonde has since reclined and extended for maximum listener comfort. Since finalizing the lineup heard on the 2016 EP Solid State, this Austin quartet’s proven time and time again that blondes do indeed have more fun, thanks to eclectic grooves that stand out against the otherwise predictable realm of indie rock sonics. Futon Blonde’s trickled out a couple singles since their 2019 LP Uppercut, but they all pack a similar punch in their own right. Case in point: “Sisyphus Strut”, which taps into ’90s-era hip-hop production techniques to roll a boulder of indie-adjacent funk psychedelia, guaranteed to help you break out of any workplace monotony and push through to the weekend.