7/15/25 ADDS
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SHAKI TAVI
Minor Slip
(Felte)Add date: 8.19.2025
Release date: 8.15.2025
Links:
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Bluesky
Instagram
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube
Minor Slip is the Felte debut from Shaki Tavi, the main project of Oklahoma-born, LA-based DIY lifer Leon Manson and a cadre of friends and commiserators. Through layered squalls of fuzzed-out guitars and overdriven drums, deceptively beautiful pop hooks emerge, illuminated by Manson’s weathered, harmonized baritone and knack for inventive structures. Tracing the record’s origins to a phase of burnout and disillusionment, he recalls, “I started just sitting down with some minimal effects and gear, playing riffs, and asking myself, ‘What if it could be fun? What if it could be for me?’” The result is powerful, vulnerable, catchy, and uncommonly genuine, an eruption of creative force from the child of rock musicians, whose passion and drive emerged as a small town outsider, and strengthened amid the artifice and fend-for-yourself reality of LA.
Comparing the genesis of these eight songs to surfing, Manson remarks, “There's this dichotomy of trying to be in sync while battling with nature, and I either fall into acceptance or totally lose my mind.” Fittingly, “Lip” opens with crashing waves of rich texture and distortion, pairing an understated growl with silken tenor harmonies, effortlessly blending indelible pop songwriting with the shriek and shatter of post-grunge. The taut drums and driving pace of “Sunscreen” frame a backdrop of spaced out ambience and long-tail strums, leading into the jet-engine rush and vaporous, multi-tracked vocals of its chorus, making for one of Minor Slip’s most authentically dazzling moments.
Lead single, “Breaker”, combines a mid tempo breakbeat with prismatic guitars and laid back vocals, in a cross-pollination of genres that distills Manson’s years in different bands and scenes into something sincere, uncompromising, and all his own. About the song, he notes, “It was the first product of reapproaching music with no thought of what it could bring me besides joy; after finishing it, the flow of ideas was nonstop.” This inflection point plays out in its lyrics, as he sings, “Break out of my skin / Wanna be let in / Don't know where I've been / Maybe this time.”
On “Foam”, skull-rattling riffs and a howling guitar hook soar over Big Beat drums, equally evoking arena-sized grandeur and jangly sway. Featuring one of the album’s stickiest vocal melodies, it’s a pure shot of heavy pop with a smirk and a sneer, belying the anguish in its lyrics: “I gave up all I owned / Now I've got nothing / I threw up all my foam / And tasted nothing.” The extended, drifting intro of “Infinity Trim” blossoms into a head-nodding verse, where shimmering guitars and a languid, ascending bass line interweave seamlessly, creating yet another standout passage.
The ambitious fullness of Manson’s arrangements developed over the course of a few years of writing and revising, as he gathered his creative will and the project came into focus. He recalls, “After some surprising feedback to a couple of bedroom demos, I got my bandmates into the studio to make more polished versions; this second phase involved a familiar kind of existential doubt, but the solution was the same as always: keep it simple, make stuff I like, and go from there.” Despite his singular vision, Manson’s dedication to community runs deep; he has worked at LA’s creative non-profit Non Plus Ultra for years, and while acknowledging the massive scale of the West Coast arts scene, he notes, “The upside of this city is that the creative energy is off the charts if you are able to open your sails and harness it.”
“Tilted” closes the album with a vaguely surf-rock twang and leisurely bass line, nodding to Manson’s fascination with oceanic grace and gravitas. Unfolding at a steady simmer, it exhibits ineffable confidence, and exemplifies the impressive dynamic range he achieves while remaining totally cohesive. During the extended instrumental finale, we get the sense of finally catching a perfect barrel wave that returns us to a shore dotted with oases and mirages. Manson summarizes the emotional investment in his work, noting, “This record sometimes felt like a burden, other times like a life raft; it was a process of welcoming whatever is happening, even when there are minor slips.”
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Bluesky
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube
Minor Slip is the Felte debut from Shaki Tavi, the main project of Oklahoma-born, LA-based DIY lifer Leon Manson and a cadre of friends and commiserators. Through layered squalls of fuzzed-out guitars and overdriven drums, deceptively beautiful pop hooks emerge, illuminated by Manson’s weathered, harmonized baritone and knack for inventive structures. Tracing the record’s origins to a phase of burnout and disillusionment, he recalls, “I started just sitting down with some minimal effects and gear, playing riffs, and asking myself, ‘What if it could be fun? What if it could be for me?’” The result is powerful, vulnerable, catchy, and uncommonly genuine, an eruption of creative force from the child of rock musicians, whose passion and drive emerged as a small town outsider, and strengthened amid the artifice and fend-for-yourself reality of LA.
Comparing the genesis of these eight songs to surfing, Manson remarks, “There's this dichotomy of trying to be in sync while battling with nature, and I either fall into acceptance or totally lose my mind.” Fittingly, “Lip” opens with crashing waves of rich texture and distortion, pairing an understated growl with silken tenor harmonies, effortlessly blending indelible pop songwriting with the shriek and shatter of post-grunge. The taut drums and driving pace of “Sunscreen” frame a backdrop of spaced out ambience and long-tail strums, leading into the jet-engine rush and vaporous, multi-tracked vocals of its chorus, making for one of Minor Slip’s most authentically dazzling moments.
Lead single, “Breaker”, combines a mid tempo breakbeat with prismatic guitars and laid back vocals, in a cross-pollination of genres that distills Manson’s years in different bands and scenes into something sincere, uncompromising, and all his own. About the song, he notes, “It was the first product of reapproaching music with no thought of what it could bring me besides joy; after finishing it, the flow of ideas was nonstop.” This inflection point plays out in its lyrics, as he sings, “Break out of my skin / Wanna be let in / Don't know where I've been / Maybe this time.”
On “Foam”, skull-rattling riffs and a howling guitar hook soar over Big Beat drums, equally evoking arena-sized grandeur and jangly sway. Featuring one of the album’s stickiest vocal melodies, it’s a pure shot of heavy pop with a smirk and a sneer, belying the anguish in its lyrics: “I gave up all I owned / Now I've got nothing / I threw up all my foam / And tasted nothing.” The extended, drifting intro of “Infinity Trim” blossoms into a head-nodding verse, where shimmering guitars and a languid, ascending bass line interweave seamlessly, creating yet another standout passage.
The ambitious fullness of Manson’s arrangements developed over the course of a few years of writing and revising, as he gathered his creative will and the project came into focus. He recalls, “After some surprising feedback to a couple of bedroom demos, I got my bandmates into the studio to make more polished versions; this second phase involved a familiar kind of existential doubt, but the solution was the same as always: keep it simple, make stuff I like, and go from there.” Despite his singular vision, Manson’s dedication to community runs deep; he has worked at LA’s creative non-profit Non Plus Ultra for years, and while acknowledging the massive scale of the West Coast arts scene, he notes, “The upside of this city is that the creative energy is off the charts if you are able to open your sails and harness it.”
“Tilted” closes the album with a vaguely surf-rock twang and leisurely bass line, nodding to Manson’s fascination with oceanic grace and gravitas. Unfolding at a steady simmer, it exhibits ineffable confidence, and exemplifies the impressive dynamic range he achieves while remaining totally cohesive. During the extended instrumental finale, we get the sense of finally catching a perfect barrel wave that returns us to a shore dotted with oases and mirages. Manson summarizes the emotional investment in his work, noting, “This record sometimes felt like a burden, other times like a life raft; it was a process of welcoming whatever is happening, even when there are minor slips.”