JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates French touch pioneer Thomas Bangalter’s 50th birthday.
Category: electronic dance music
New Audio: Solid Spark Shares Summery “Higher”
Solid Spark is a rising electronic music producer and DJ, who has caught the attention of the global electronic scene with a sound that seamlessly blends contemporary pop sound with golden age EDM nostalgia. For the rising electronic music producer and DJ, the result is material that’s dance floor friendly but packs a deep emotional and energetic resonance.
Earlier this year, I wrote about “Dream,” a slick, club friendly banger featuring glistening synths, a sultry and yearning vocal sample, skittering beats and euphoria-inducing hook and drops. The production revealed a producer with an uncannily sophisticated sense of soulful craftsmanship.
Building upon a growing profile, the rising producer’s latest single “Higher” is a club friendly bop featuring glistening synths, a chopped and screwed vocal sample-driven, incredibly catchy hook, a yearning female vocal sample for the verses, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump. While continuing to cement his reputation for crafted and soulful electronic music, “Higher” may arguably be the most summery and catchiest song of the producer’s growing catalog to date.
Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Giorgio Moroder!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Giorgio Moroder’s 84th birthday.
New Video: Omar Souleyman Shares a Club Banging Ode to Erbil, Iraq
Acclaimed JOVM mainstay Omar Souleyman is a Tell Tamer, Syria-born, Erbil, Iraq-based Sunni Arab vocalist, who can trace the origins of his professional career back to 1994, when he began as a part-time wedding singer.
His overall sound has largely been influenced and informed by the incredibly diverse milieu of Northeastern Syria. Souleyman and a rotating cast of musicians and producers he has worked with his early days have found ways to draw from and mesh the sounds and themes of several different ethnic groups that inhabit the region, including Kurdish, Ashuris, Turks, Iraqis and the larger Arabic world in a way that’s both familiar and novel. And as a result, Souleyman has become a regional and global pioneer of club rocking electronic music that’s also wedding hall friendly.
Since starting his career 30 years ago, Souleyman has been astonishingly prolific, releasing well over 500 studio and live albums — with about 80% of those releases specifically made at weddings. Most of those recordings were first presented to the newlywed couple and then later copied and sold at local kiosks. The acclaimed JOVM mainstay has released four compilations and four albums through Western record labels — 2013’s Wenu Wenu, 2015’s Bahdeni Nami, 2017’s To Syria with Love and 2020’s Shlon. Each of those albums have not only brought some of the Middle East’s deepest grooves and trippiest sounds to the West, Souleyman’s recorded output has helped to expand his profile to the larger world.
Adding to a rising international profile, Souleyman has played sets across the global festival circuit, including Paredes de Coura, a Caribou co-curated ATP Festival, ATP Nightmare Before Christmas, Bonnaroo, Roskilde Festival, Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul Festival, Pukkelpop Festival, Electric Picnic, Treefort Music Festival — and oddly enough, one of the strangest House of Vans bills I’ve ever seen, in which he opened for Future Islands. Souleyman has also collaborated with the likes of Bjork and Four Tet.
The acclaimed Syrian-born, Iraqi-based dabke singer’s fifth full-length album Erbil is slated for a March 29, 2024 release through Mad Decent. The eight-song album, which sees Syrian-born singer collaborating with his longtime keyboardist Hasan Jami Alo, pays homage to Erbil, the Iraqi city that has offered him solace and embraced him during recent uneasy and difficult times. His relocation to Erbil came with rich, new experiences and friendships that are best celebrated in joyous songs specifically dedicated to a new chapter in life. Sonically, Erbil‘s material reportedly sees Souleyman and Alo crafting a forward-thinking dabke-meets-techno sound.
Erbil‘s first single “Rahat Al Chant Ymme” may arguably be the most club friendly track that Souleyman has released in some time with the production featuring dense layers glistening and arpeggiated synths, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, skittering beats, hand claps and enormous bass drops serving as a lush and sultry bed for Souleyman’s imitably cooler-than-cool yet yearning delivery.
Presumably shot in Erbil, Iraq, the accompanying video for “Rahat Al Chant Ymme” follows the global dabke sensation through a warm, mind-bending and humanistic tour through the Iraqi city that also manages to nod at hip-hop videos.
Souleyman will be supporting the new album with an extensive tour that will include live shows in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the wider Middle East and Europe, as well as his first Stateside shows in over 6 years — with shows in Los Angeles and NYC. More on that to come.
Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday Guy de Homem-Christo!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Daft Punk’s Guy de Homem-Christo’s 50th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 49th Birthday, Thomas Bangalter!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Stardust’s and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter’s 49th birthday.
New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda’s “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi
Cyril Thévenard is a Dijon, France-born, classically trained flute player, and highly regarded electronic music producer and artist. Initially influenced by French touch, Thévenard becomes a DJ and plays at raves under the moniker Hermetic Unity.
Thévenard started releasing material as John Lord Fonda in 1997 with the release of that year’s Vulcan through Choice Records. After gaining experience on the turntables, the Dijon-born electronic music producer and artist, signed with Citizen Records, who released 2004’s VoltAge. 2005 saw the release of Erase My Anger EP, followed by Debaser, which featured a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”
2009’s Composite compilation, included some live versions of tracks. 2011 was a busy year: He started the year with the Bang The Fire! EP and closed out the year with Supersonique. Thévenard then disappeared from the scene for the next decade, reappearing with the release of 2021’s Walk Again, which featured “Together Again,” a club banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and euphoria-inducing hooks.
Recently Grenoble, France-born and based electronic music producer and artist Endrik Schroeder remixed “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi turning it into an Italo Disco banger, along the lines of From Here to Eternity-era Giorgio Moroder with a contemporary EDM sheen — but while retaining the song’s original, mysterious air.
New Audio: Mindarts Shares an Expansive Club Banger
Mindarts is a mysterious electronic music artist and producer, and the first signee to the fittingly named, new Dutch electronic music label, Dutch Dance Records. The label’s debut single — and Mindarts’ latest release, “Lumination” is a dense, yet expansive banger that sonically seems like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, industrial house and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk.
New Audio: Australia’s Mildlife Releases a Shimmering Club Friendly Jam
With the release of 2017’s full-length debut Phase, the Aussie quartet Midlife — multi-instrumentalists Jim Rindfleish, Adam Halliwell, Kevin McDowell and Tom Shanahan — exploded into the national and international scene. Phase was released to critical acclaim from Resident AdvisorResident Advisor, Uncut, The Guardian and airplay from BBC Radio 6 — and the album helped the band garner several award nominations including Best Album at the 2018 Worldwide FM Awards, Best Independent Jazz Album at the 2018 AIR Awards and Best Electronic Award nomination and win at the The Age Music Victoria Awards.
Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the members of the Midlife have opened for the likes of Stereolab, JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Harvey Sutherland. Their first national headlining tour was sold out, and the immediately followed up with a ten-date UK and European tour, which was culminated with a homecoming set at Meredith Music Festival.
The rising Aussie act’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Automatic is slated for a September 18, 2020 release through Heavenly Recordings and the album reportedly is step-change from their debut with the material being much more disciplined, directional and more danceable but while continuing their unerring knack to let a track luxuriate and stretch out without ever being self-indulgent. “The recorded songs kind of become the new reference point for playing the songs live,” Midlife’s Kevin McDowell says. ““They both have different outcomes and we make our decisions for each based on that, but they’re symbiotic and they both influence each other. It’s usually a fairly natural flow from live to recorded back to live.”
“Vapour,” Automatic’s second and latest single is centered around a shimmering, cosmic groove featuring glistening synth arpeggios, a sinuous bass line, a fluttering and expressive flute solo, shuffling four-on-the-floor, a euphoria-inducing hook and McDowell’s plaintive falsetto. While sonically the song brings Fear of Music and Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and DBFC to mind, it conjures memories of carefree dance floors of pre-COVID quarantines, lockdowns and isolation. “Vapour is a dance mantra with enough weight to blow the cobwebs off your tired mind and snap you out of your endless feed scrolling rituals,” the members of Midlife say of the song.
Fonkyson is a rising Montreal-based future house and electro funk DJ and producer, who has released a full-length album — 2016’s #followme— and a handful of singles through Lisbon Lux Records. Earlier this year, the Montreal-based DJ and producer released his latest album Falling, which featured “You Got It.” Centered around Vanes’ sultry, come hither vocals, a sinuous bass line, handclaps and finger snaps, shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking 808s and an infectious hook, “You Got It” was a summery, club banger that seamlessly meshed ’80s synth funk and ’90s house.
“Giving U Up,” Falling‘s latest single is a a straightforward ’90s inspired house music collaboration featuring Desiire and Kôsa. Centered around shimmering and arpeggiated synths, tweeter and woofer rocking low-end, stuttering beats, soulful vocal turns from Desiire and Kôsa and an an enormous hook, “Giving U Up” is an earnest and swooning declaration of devotion that simultaneously further establishes Fonkyson’s unerring knack for crafting infectious and summery club bangers.
New Video: Watch Detroit’s ADULT. Smash a Room in Frustration in New Visual for Tense and Claustrophobic “Total Total Damage”
Detroit-based multimedia and electronic music production and artist duo ADULT. — the husband and wife team of Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus — have developed a sprawling catalog of material that obscures and blurs defined genres and styles, while drawing from industrial electronic, house music, punk rock and visual art with releases through Mute Records, Ghostly International, Thrill Jockey, Third Man Records and a list of other labels throughout their two plus decades together.
Slated for an April 10, 2020 release through Dais Records, the acclaimed Detroit-based electronic duo’s forthcoming album Perception is/as/of Deception was conceived, written and recorded in a temporary black hole they created: the duo painted their windowless basement entirely black, with the sole intention of sensory deprivation so that they could question their perceptions and witness the resulting ramifications. And as result, the album’s material may be the most introspective and punk-leaning they’ve written to date: the frustration and apprehension that has long been at the center of their work are heightened — but interestingly enough, the material was written with a much more head-on approach, making it forceful and strident.
Last month, I wrote about Perception is/as/of Deception‘s second single, the club banging “Have I Stated at the End.” Centered around a classic electronic body music production featuring industrial clang and clatter, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, shimmering synth arpeggios, an enormous hook and a repetitive mantra that questions the fragility and temporality of life “Total Total Damage,” the album’s third and latest single is a tense and claustrophobia-inducing track centered around industrial clang and clatter, layers of synth arpeggios and Kuperus’ howled vocals. Thematically, the song is a dystopian anthem that focuses on the slow and painful collapse of our society and systems and the growing uncertainty and uneasiness we all feel but while expressing the desperate cabin fever.
While in social isolation, the members of ADULT. decided to build a room-like set indie their house for the Miller and Kuperus-filmed and edited visual for “Total Total Damage,” which features the duo losing their minds and destroying their room with a sledgehammer. “We’re hoping that the video speaks to a lot of people, because everyone’s feeling cabin fever and wanting to get out, get back to ‘normal’ life,” the Detroit-based duo say in press notes.
New Audio: Acclaimed Detroit Duo Adult. Releases an Anxious and Uneasy Club Banger
Over the course of their 23 year history together, Detroit-based multimedia and electronic music production and artist duo ADULT. — the husband and wife team of Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus — have developed a sprawling catalog of material that obscures and blurs defined genres and styles, while drawing from industrial electronic, house music, punk rock and visual art with releases through Mute Records, Ghostly International, Thrill Jockey, Third Man Records and a list of other labels.
Slated for an April 10, 2020 release through Dais Records, the acclaimed Detroit-based electronic duo’s forthcoming album Perception is/as/of Deception was conceived, written and recorded in a temporary black hole they created: the duo painted their windowless basement entirely black, with the sole intention of sensory deprivation so that they could question their perceptions and witness the resulting ramifications. And as result, the album’s material may be the most introspective and punk-leaning they’ve written to date: the frustration and apprehension that has long been at the center of their work are heightened — but interestingly enough, the material was written with a much more head-on approach, making it forceful and strident.
“Have I Started at the End,” Perception is/as/of Deception’s second and latest single is a club banger, centered around a classic electronic body music production featuring industrial clang and clatter, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, layers of shimmering synth arpeggios, an enormous hook and a repetitive mantra that questions the fragility and temporality of life while expressing frustration and unease. Unsurprisingly, the song evokes the unease and uncertainty of our time.
New Video: James Rubiolo Teams up with Rosie Timmon on an Euphoric Club Banger
James Rubiolo is an emerging Sydney, Australia-born and-based producer, who has been honing and perfecting his sound over the past couple of years. His second studio single “How You Make Me Love” is a slickly produced, euphoric house track centered around twinkling and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and an anthemic and sultry hook wrapped around sultry vocals sung by Irish-born, New York-based Rosie Timmon. The song evokes the swooning euphoria of falling madly in love — but with the subtle undertones of uncertainty and anxiousness over what it’ll mean for you if it works — or worse yet, if it fails.
Interestingly, the track can trace its origins to when the emerging Sydney-born and-based producer, met the Irish-born, New York-based producer on a night out in Bali. After meeting, they duo shortly made the single over a series of Instagram voice messages. “I made the riff while sitting back in a bed in a gross motel room in Bali and worked on a vocal with Timmon the next day over voice messages.” Rubiolo goes on to explain that the track which draws from the likes of MK and Sigala, is an attempt to recall sultry summers at Ibiza-based clubs like Ushuaia and Cafe Mambo.
The recently released video follows Aussie dance and vibe creatorTommy Franklin, in cut off shorts, brightly colored Hawaiian shirt and chucks dancing and rocking out to the song around Sydney’s world-famous Bondi Beach. And from the video, Franklin’s life is full of explosive, life affirming joy.