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New Sounds: Cody & Danz go for broke on party-primed EP ‘Only The Hits’

The days of gloating over jewels, drugs, and riches are over — if you want to resonate with millennials, you need to get on their monetary level. Which, of course, is broke.

Based on the name of their tune “If I Only Had $ome Money,” new duo on the block Cody & Danz get it.

“Just do your taxes/So they don’t get you/If I only had some money,” Danielle “Danz” Johnson (of Computer Magic) professes in an appropriately monotone voice, perhaps making it the first song in history that specifically begrudges tax season.

The pair’s debut EP Only the Hits, which drops today (July 14) via Channel 9 Records, only gets fuzzier and headier from there.

Despite living on opposite side of the country, the unlikely musical pairing linked up after working on music for commercials when Danz was flown out to Los Angeles for writing sessions. Because both Cody and Danz maintain their own solo projects — Cody Crump and Computer Magic, respectively — they clicked musically, quickly understanding and respecting each other’s headstrong tendencies.


“Since we both generally work by ourselves, it was liberating to find someone else to work with that understands working solo,” Danz writes. “We’re both pretty stubborn/control freaks but understand why — we’re used to working alone.”

A mutual infatuation for Billy Joel didn’t hurt their companionship, either (“He was, and always will be at the center of everything we do, forever and ever,” Cody says).
 Their love of Americana funnels into their new video for “Make It in America,” which carries a distinctly DIY vibe. The admirable home-video aesthetic boiled down to struggle of making a video on the cheap and sewing together clips of both members from either side of the country.

“Since we both live in different places, we wanted to make something that brought us together while showcasing where we’re both based out of — like when Cody goes to a Dodgers game and I go to a Yankees game,” Danz explains. “We wanted to make something fun with a summer vibe — hot dogs, baseball games, pools, basketball, etc.”


Adds Cody: “We just had fun with it, since we were across the country — we had to come up with an idea that could kinda connect us and be done for pretty much no money. So we shot it all on our iPhones and Danz edited it.”

Thus, on the EP’s last track the “little/no money” theme artfully comes full circle.

Save up your pennies and space out to all five tracks of their debut EP below.

Featured Cody & Danz photo via the duo’s Facebook.