Memphis, TN’s Blvck Hippie will release their new album Basketball Camp on June 14th via The Record Machine label. “I wanted to write a record that I needed to hear in high school.” shares the band’s Josh Shaw (they/them). With Basketball Camp, Blvck Hippie faces down overwhelming anxieties and insecurities through endearingly bleary eyed indie rock, dreamy off kilter pop, free jazz interludes, and cathartic freak outs. Today along with the album announcement, the band are excited to share the new single “Streetlights” which can be heard below.
“Streetlights is 2017 me, driving home from my local dive, P&H, after an open mic night. I’m spiraling in my own head, feeling crushingly alone and lost, and unsure of my future. I’m caught in everything I wish was different, about all the choices I’ve yet to make, and the fear of choosing wrong.” shares Shaw.
Blvck Hippie has described their own mission statement as being a band “tryna show Black kids they can be weird too.” And undoubtedly it’s an adage that the broader indie rock community could benefit from hearing more often and internalizing as well. Shaw’s own lived experience growing up as a “weird” black kid in a southern city has taught them why spreading such a message can be so positively impactful. They credit Kid Cudi as one of the individuals who helped them come to this realization for themselves. “Cudi was the first black person who I ever saw be open about their mental health. His album Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven inspired me to start making guitar music and recording my own music,” shares Shaw when talking about the desire to “pay it forward” with their own songs.
