When you listen to Los Angeles-based duo The Palms, you can’t help but find yourself in a very specific mood. Their music is easygoing and cool, very backyard party with a bunch of beers and smokes, with a lot of flirting going on. It’s considered hip-pop–a hybrid genre that strays from Ben Rothbard and Johnny Zambetti’s previous band called Terraplane Sun, and ventures into new territory that at times splashes in a bit of indie and reggae, too. Their vibe is fresh and relevant, honest and sexy, and so are their lyrics, which you can hear in the song “Future Love (We All Make Mistakes)” as they sing “Well ask me if I smoked it, yea I smoked it all. Well ask me if I drank it, yea I drank it all for me. Ain’t afraid to own it. We all make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. See, that’s why you’re worth it.”
The Palms emerged with their hit single “Push Off” in 2015–a song that was a prime intro to the band’s flavor, especially with Rothbard’s gritty, off-kilter vocals (think Pete Quirk of The Cave Singers). They topped the UK charts and went to #1 on Hype Machine’s Most Popular Tracks List. And in 2016 they released a six song EP called Sway.
As long as The Palms duo keeps doing what they’re doing–mixing up sounds and creating something entirely new and unique that’s pretty much incomparable to anyone else out there, then they’ll be pretty well off. Their new single “Don’t Waste My Time” was just released this year.
Mercury Lounge
May 8
9:30 p.m.
$10
Leave a Comment