Over the course of three full-length albums and their latest EP Companion, Montreal-based electronic act BRAIDS have developed a reputation for restless experimentation, which has resulted in each of their recorded efforts sounding different from each […]
Category: electronic music
New Video: The Gorgeous, Surreal and Ancient Mythology-based Visuals for Dengue Dengue Dengue’s “Guarida”
With the release of their critically acclaimed full-length debut La Allianza Profana and its follow-up, Serpiente Dorada through Enchufada Records, Peruvian electronic duo Dengue Dengue Dengue quickly received international attention for a sound that possessed elements of traditional […]
Comprised of Jonas Ronnberg, the co-owner of Northern Electronics who’s known for recording caustic techno under the moniker of Varg, as well as his involvement in renowned experimental acts Ulwhednar and Dard A Ranj Fran Det Hebbersalska Samfudet; renowned Swedish composer Erik Enocksson, who has scored a number of independent productions including an orphaned soundtrack to Apan, which was re-mastered and re-issued by Posh Isolation Records last year; Frederikke Hoffmeir, the mastermind of highly-regarded industrial and experimental electronic act Puce Mary;Vit Fana’s Ossian Ohlsson, who has appeared on a number of Northern Electronics and Posh Isolation compilations; and Loke Rahbek, co-founder of Posh Isolation and member of Damien Dubrovnik, highly-regarded act Lust For Youth — and for recording with Croatian Armor, Body Sculptures is an All-Star side project of renowned Scandinavian experimental electronic and electro pop artists.
Last year marked the act’s live debut, a set at the Berlin Atonal Festival and the release of their debut effort together, The Base of All Beauty Is The Body. And June 3, 2016 will mark the release of the act’s highly-anticipated sophomore effort A Body Turns to Eden.The album’s first single — and album title track — “A Body Turns to Eden” will further cement the act’s reputation for crafting stark and uneasily tense music as background electronic buzzing is paired with slowly unfurling and churning synths, minimalist beats in a song that only partially unfolds and reveals itself to its listeners.
,
.
The combinations of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, the soiled traces of genre, and the mixed modes of experimentation, are here pitched as an eternal requiem, letting the play between the project’s orthodox and unorthodox methods reflect a sharp fatalism. Each song presents familiarity and intimacy within an aura of claustrophobia. And as if out of a cruel awareness of this fact, unease blooms into a comforting form. A Body Turns To Eden is an essential piece for anyone with interest in Scandinavian electronic music today.
Formed by Moon Magnet Studios founder and ringleader Reed Fuchs back in 2009, Denver, CO-based collective deCollage features members of several locally and regionally known bands including Rose Quartz, Sound of Ceres, Candy Claws, Rubedo and others. Since their formation, the collective has developed a reputation for an immersive and interactive live show – and for material that sonically employs the use of synths, accordion, glockenspiel, found sounds such as typewriters, trains, crunched leaves, zippers, cirtcut bending among others and for material that lyrically focuses on metaphysics, surrealism, abstraction, wonder and navigating the fragmented post-modern world we live in.Unsurprisingly, as a result of their growing reputation in psych music circles, the members of the collective have opened for the likes of Animal Collective, of Montreal, Zammuto, Fever The Ghost and Linear Downfall among others.
“Crystal Choir,” the latest single off the collective’s soon-to-be released, new effort Magnetize is a hazy and swaggering bit of psych pop that possesses elements of contemporary electro pop and R&B as enormous boom-bap drums are paired with layers of shimmering synths, and layers of harmonized vocals in song that reminds me of In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy — but with a mischievous and playful sense of hope.
New Video: The Psychedelic Imagery and Brian Eno Channeling Sound of Los Angeles’ Stefan Weich
Los Angeles, CA-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stefan Weich specializes in a dreamy exploration of traditional music structures, alternate guitar tunings and analog synthesizers under a number of monikers, including Das Bowls, Chicle, Couch Baby and others; […]
New Audio: Brian Eno’s Gorgeously Ambient Cover of The Velvet Underground
Wap More than enough ink has been spilled throughout Brian Eno’s nearly 50 year musical career, so delving deeply through his backstory will largely be unnecessary and beyond the scope of this particular post. But […]
New Video: Hanging Out on the Streets with El Dusty, MLKMN and Happy Colors in the VHS-Styled Visuals for “We Out Chea!”
Corpus Christi, TX-based producer, DJ and electronic music artist, Horacio Olivera, best known as El Dusty has a long-held reputation as the pioneer of a revolutionary, new subgenre that he’s dubbed “nu-cumbia” as it possesses elements of […]
Kine Sandbæk Jensen is a producer, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist, who has spent time in a number of musical project; however her latest solo recording project Pieces of Juno has Jensen exploring new musical territory. Her latest single “Valentine,” which she dedicates to “all the people who there who chose to be alone” and are “spending this day doing their own thing” pairs a gorgeous and cinematic melody created by chiming and shimmering synths with swirling electronics and tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap drum programming in a subtly Eastern-tinged production reminiscent of Icarus Moth‘s work with JOVM mainstay Wolkoff but with a house music sheen.
Electronic music artist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Grant Eadie and his solo recording project Manatee Commune has received regional attention across the Pacific Northwest and a growing national profile for a carefully and organically molded electronic sound that pairs natural overtones extracted from field recordings with slick and nuanced electronic production.
Eadie’s soon-to-be released EP, Thistle, slated for a February 26 release marks two new developments in the young producer, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist’s career — it’s his first release through renowned Brooklyn-based label Bastard Jazz Recordings, the label home of Illa J, Lord Echo and several others; and the effort is the result of Eadie radically changing his songwriting, production and recording process as he opened his studio and gear to friends, collaborators and loved ones, gaining inspiration from the energy of each of those interactions. As Eadie explains in press notes “Learning how to share my creative process with my friends completely revolutionized the last of year of music for me. Inviting those I trusted and loved into my studio to spend even just an hour talking or jamming opened fountains of inventive energy for me, especially from the ones who lacked any musical knowledge. I soon found myself incredibly inspired by the originality of even the smallest interactions with people, and so I pointed my field mic at anyone who had a story, a melody, or a stumbling beat they had been absentmindedly drumming, all in the hopes of capturing their individuality and framing it with my ever expanding insight into audio production.”
Thistle’s first single “Clay” pairs a stuttering yet breezy and coquettish production consisting of twinkling and chiming percussion, a looped flute sample, layers of shimmering synths and swirling electronics with Marina Price’s flirtatious and sultry vocals to craft a song that reminds me quite a bit of Sylvan Esso — but bouncier and slightly more dance floor friendly. Considering the Arctic weather we’re soon to have in New York, “Clay” is a brief yet lush and necessary blast of summer.
Catch Eadie live throughout March and April as he tours the Pacific Northwest with Blackbird Blackbird and Chad Valley. Check out tour dates below.
Tour Dates
3.3 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo (EP Release Party)
3.10 Portland OR, Mississippi Studios ^
3.11 Seattle WA, Nectar Lounge ^
4.19 Tucson, AZ Club Congress *
4.20 San Diego, CA The Hideout *
4.21 Los Angeles, CA The Echoplex *
4.22 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst *
4.23 San Francisco, CA Social Hall *
4.30 Vancouver, BC Alexander *
^ with YPPAH
* with Blackbird Blackbird & Chad Valley
New Video: Check Out the Retro-Futurist Visuals and Sounds of Holy Ghost!’s “Crime Cutz”
With the release of their 2011 self-titled debut, 2013’s Dynamics through renowned indie dance label DFA Records and their 2015 self-released remix album, Work For Hire, the NYC-based electro funk/neo-disco production and artist duo Holy Ghost!, comprised of […]
If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’d be familiar with Mark Roberts, the creative mastermind behind the critically acclaimed, Brooklyn-based indie electro pop project, We Are Temporary. Roberts and his recording project have developed a reputation for crafting music that draws from a wide range of influences within contemporary electronic music from future beats, dream pop, witch house, post-rock industrial techno as well as classical music. And he pairs that sound with confessional lyrics based on his own personal experience and personal philosophy; in fact, some of his earliest solo work has focused on suffering through debilitating anxiety attacks, the near breakup and reconciliation of his marriage, his privileged but tumultuous childhood as the son of a renowned American opera singer, living abroad in Europe, as well as his humanistic atheism versus his wife’s devout Mormonism.
After the 2013 release of the Afterthoughts EP, Roberts released a deeply moving protest song inspired and informed by Eric Garner’s death and the grand jury decision that resulted in the acquittal of several police officers for Garner’s death. Simultaneously, Roberts had been spending time writing the material that would wind up releasing his soon-to-released and long-awaited full-length debut, Crossing Over. Interestingly, the album — especially its first single “You Can Now Let Go” was partially inspired by a conversation that Roberts had with his own mother about death. During this conversation Roberts’ mother announced “I’d like to be wide awake when it happens. Dying seems like such an important event in life; I’d hate to miss it.” According to Roberts, this conversation had helped change his mind about death — instead of something to avoid or delay, but something that can be complex, meaningful, beautiful and profound. After all, we and everyone we’ve ever loved and cared about will die; and without death our lives would lack meaning. Additionally, Crossing Over and “You Can Now Let Go” were inspired by Roberts’ own near-death experience: a drug-fueled anxiety attack, which landed him in the ER. Shock and confusion eventually turned into peace and acceptance — and as a result, it inspired a song that depicts a nonviolent death as a quietly beautiful fade to black. Sonically, the dark, unsettling yet hauntingly beautiful song is comprised of huge, tweeter and woofer boom-bap inspired beats, skittering drum programming, ominously swirling electronics and industrial clang and clatter, layers of undulating synths, soaring melodies that subtly arch heavenward are paired with Roberts’ plaintive, deeply emotive vocals.
The album’s second and latest single “Who’s Going To Love You Now” is a brooding and slow-burning ballad consisting of shimmering and chiming synths, swirling electronics and propulsive drum programming paired with Roberts plaintive and achingly desperate vocals. The song was written while Roberts was separated from his wife, and as a result the song thematically speaking focuses on real feels that many us have felt as a relationship was seemingly falling apart — i.e., the fear of not knowing how to love or not knowing how to love enough; the fear of being so fucked up and so damaged that you’ll end up alone. But it also explores the fact that all relationships, especially romantic ones are rooted in the uncertainty of compromise — sometimes compromise that you might be uncertain of actually wanting. In other worse, it points out that human relationships mirror the neuroses and doubts of the people within them, and it does so with a great deal of empathy, while not offering much of a solution one way or the other.
Currently comprised of Jon Davison (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass), Geoff Downes (keys) and Alan White (drums), the London, UK-based prog rock quintet Yes can trace their origins to when founding members Chris Squire (bass) and Jon Anderson (vocals) formed the band back in 1968. Much ink has been spilled throughout the band’s nearly 50 year run but what I will say that the legendary act has not only been pioneers of prog rock but they’ve also managed to be remarkably successful — 9 of the band’s 22 full-length albums have reached the top 10 in either the UK or US with two reaching number 1 in the UK. And the band has sold 13.5 million albums in the US alone. In the early 80s, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” was a mega-hit song — and a song that I remember quite fondly as a child.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 13 months or so, you may recall that I’ve written about Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ Lennart Richter. Prolifically releasing a series of singles through renowned electronic music labels Sleazy G, East Project, G-Mafia Records, GUN PWDR, Ensis Records, Blue Dye, Mondal Recordings and others, Richter quickly developed a reputation across his native Germany and internationally for exploring the gamut of electronic music subgenres including deep house, G house, nu-disco and several others with a slick, crowd-pleasing, club-rocking production. And as a result, Richter can claim several Beatport Top 25 releases under his belt, and his last EP, Berlin Brawling landed at #10 on the Beatport Indie Dance/Nu Disco Charts.
The Berlin-based electronic music artist, producer and DJ closed out 2015 with the release of “Hold Up,” a nu-disco and house track comprised of layers of shimmering and cascading synths, propulsive drum programming led by explosive cymbal shots and a looped vocal sample that comes in and out of the haze. Sonically, the song reminded me quite a bit of Octo Octa’s “His Kiss” an “Please Don’t Leave” off his fantastic Between Two Selves — or in other words, it manages to possess both a bracing iciness and a thoughtful soulfulness. Richter builds on the success of the past year with the release of a remix of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” that retains the vocal sample but pairs it with what sounds like ukulele, handclap-led percussion, swirling electronics and slowly cascading synths, which essentially turns the electro rock song into a slickly produced, densely layered, mid-tempo club banger — while retaining something of the song’s original feel and spirit.
Up-and-coming Australian producer and electronic music artist Arona Mane has developed a reputation across their homeland for a sound that is heavily indebted to 80s synth pop, funk and sultry, classic house music in a production consisting of finger-snap led percussion, undulating synths, warm blasts of horns, propulsive drumming, sinuous bass and guitar lines paired with distorted yet soulful vocal samples as you’ll hear on “Things You Do,” a single that got recently got its first airplay on Australia’s biggest radio station, Triple J.
And although the single reportedly draws from French house and early German electronic music, sonically the song reminds me quite a bit of Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves, as Arona Mane specializes in a similar, soulful electronic music.
If you’ve been frequenting this site over its nearly six year history, you’d likely know that I often go through a number of potential singles while multitasking. Usually, I’ll be listening to things while watching sports or some true crime story on Investigation Discovery (I’ve lately been obsessed with Homicide Hunter, Lt. Joe Kenda and Killer Instinct with Chris Hansen) and I get so caught up in everything that I’m doing that I’ll wind up listening to an entire Soundcloud related artist playlist. As a music blogger, it’s a pretty good way of discovering new artists out of my normal means of PR firm, label, band manager or artist finding me and contacting me; in fact, that’s exactly how I stumbled on to the Los Angeles, CA-based electro pop duo Sego. Comprised of the Mapleton, UT-born Spencer P. and Thomas C., the members of Sego relocated to L.A. to seriously pursue careers in music. And since relocating to the West Coast, Sego has quickly developed a reputation for a sound that employs modern and contemporary production techniques while maintaining an eccentric and human touch.
Now you may recall that I wrote about “Townland,” a Talking Heads and Superhuman Happiness channelling single that paired breathy vocals with angular guitar chords, a sinuous bass line, swirling ambient electronics and four-on-the-floor-like drumming with an infectious earnestness and honesty that belied the song’s ironic neuroticism. “Obscene Dream,” the percussive and angular first single off the duo’s hotly-anticipated full-length debut, Once Was Lost Now Just Hanging Out is reminiscent of Sound of Silver-era LCD Soundystem, as it’s a danceable track consisting of angular guitar chords, shimmering and cascading synth chords, tons of cowbell and other percussion, a shouted vocals on an anthemic hook and lyrics that often sound like ironic non-sequiturs and observations. And much like Sound of Silver, the song manages to accurately captures the feelings, hopes and thoughts of constantly connected young people.
New Video: The Brooding Sounds and Visuals of Vienna’s Hearts Hearts
Comprised of David Österle, Daniel Hämmerle, Johannes Mandorfer and Peter Paul Aufreiter, the Vienna, Austria-based quartet Hearts Hearts specialize in a brooding slow-burning, elegiac sound that meshes elements of classical music and contemporary electro pop in a way that […]