Live concert photography of The New Colossus Festival, Super Bock and 18th Ward Brewing Presents Summer Saturdays at 18th Ward Brewing 7/27/24.
Category: Indie Electro Pop
New Video: Nessi Gomes Shares Brooding and Cinematic “Moving Mirrors”
Guernsey-born and-based singer/songwriter Nessi Gomes is a Channel Island-Portuguese singer/songwriter, whose work draws from both sides of her ethnicity, the essence of the traditional, emotional Fado of Portugal with British modern, progressive pop.
Gomes’ full-length debut, 2016’s Diamonds & Demons received airplay and critical praise across the European Union and the UK, and was supported by touring across 30 countries that included stops across the major global festival circuit, as well as major stages.
Simultaneously, she created the growing Vocal Odyssey workshop and retreat series, which encourages participants to meet with the spirt of their voice. And since creating it, thousands of participants have experienced the process under her guidance.
Over the past seven-and-a-half years, Gomes and her work have amassed over 70 million streams across the major DSPs. However, her latest single “Morning Mirrors” marks a change in direction sonically and aesthetically. Featuring buzzing bass synths, strummed acoustic guitar, skittering beats and percussion, bursts of twinkling electronics, “Morning Mirrors” is a built around brooding Portishead-meets-Kid-A-era Radiohead-like production that serves as eerily lush and cinematic bed for Gomes’ soulful crooning.
Gomes explains that this own is a unique and experimental piece that fearlessly confronts toxic femininity while exploring themes of jealousy, comparison and the painful consequences they bring. “The song reflects my personal journey, reflecting light on the challenges faced when experiencing both sides of the coin,” Gomes says. “It uncovers the unconscious insecurities of some women who seek validation by tearing others down. ‘Morning Mirrors’ is a powerful call to challenge these destructive patterns and strive for a culture of support and empowerment among women. It advocates for empathy, understanding, and the need to foster a community where women uplift and empower one another.”
Directed by Yuval Nobelman and Alon Daniel, the accompanying video for “Moving Mirrors” was filmed in Guernsey on 16mm film, and features dancers and actors, who like Gomes are residents of the island battling each other in a WWE-styled battle royal.
New Audio: JOVM Mainstay TR/ST Shares Brooding and Foggy “Dark Day”
Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and producer Robert Alfons is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed JOVM mainstay project TR/ST. For well over a decade, Alfons has captivated audiences with a unique blend of dynamic vocals, emotive lyrics and late night sensuality.
Alfons’ fifth TR/ST album, the TR/ST and Nightfeelings co-produced Performance is slated for a September 13, 2024 release through Dais Records. The album’s title alludes to a friend’s offhand remark about the Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s intrinsically performative nature. Recorded in Los Angeles, the album’s material reportedly seethes with dread, lust, reckoning and abandon. Sonically, the production pair achieved a thick, smoky balance of eerie synths and fog machine low end paired with bruised, crooning vocals. The result is an album of material that moves between beauty and bitterness, rousing anthems and crushing anguish rooted by emotional turmoil, the lingering ghosts of guilt and the memories of those wronged and those still unforgiven.
Alfons’ voice is the anchor in the storm, singing a collage of impressions and confessions with a smeared, stream of consciousness logic. He’s both observer and instigator, performer and playwright, liberated by the stage and the night.
Performance‘s latest single, the Cecile Believe and Nightfeelings co-produced “Dark Day” is an ethereal and uneasy track featuring eerily atmospheric and glistening synth arpeggios, skittering industrial cling and clatter serving as a foggy and unsettlingly brooding bed for Alfons’ achingly bruised delivery.
“I think there’s something in the song about the flashes that come to you when you try to fall asleep, flashes that show you where you have unfinished business,” Alfons says of the song. “It was such a pleasure working with Cecile Believe and Nightfeelings on production for this track.”
New Audio: Malcolm Lally Shares Heartfelt and Anthemic “Graves”
Malcolm Lally is an emerging Galway-based singer/songwriter and producer, who specializes in a sound that blends the nostalgia-inducing elements of indie pop, R&B, synth pop, electro pop and EDM with contemporary production.
Lally’s highly-anticipated EP UV will feature lead single “Graves,” a slickly produced pop anthem featuring acoustic and electric guitar, glistening synths, incredibly catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses serving as lush bed for Lally’s yearning delivery and heart-proudly-worn-on-sleeve earnest lyricism. Sonically, “Graves” seems like a seamless and hook-driven synthesis of The Weeknd and Tears for Fears.
Thematically, “Graves” explores universal themes of longing and loss that touch all of us, as we navigate the various comings and goings of those were old dear, with the song being a reminder of the enduring impact our dear ones have on our lives — even after they’ve departed. The song is also an important reminder to cherish the memories of everyone who has touched your life, regardless of the circumstances that may have had you separated from them.
In “Graves,” Lally explores the universal themes of longing and loss that touch us all as we navigate the comings and goings of those we hold dear. The song serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring impact that individuals have on our lives, even after they have departed. It encourages listeners to cherish the memories of those who have touched their lives, regardless of the circumstances that may have separated them.
“This song is a reflection of the deep connections we form with others, and the impact they have on us long after they are gone,” Lally explains. “It’s about honoring the memories we carry with us and recognizing the profound influence of those who have shaped our journeys.”
New Audio: Santa Monica’s Yasmin Sydney Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Mercy”
Yasmin Sydney is an emerging Santa Monica, CA-based artist, who cites the likes of Nothing But Thieves, OneRepublic, Ariana Grande, Charlie Puth, Rosenfeld, The Weeknd and The Neighbourhood as influences on her work.
Sydney’s latest single the Adrian Lopez-produced, Gerina Di Marco co-written “Mercy” is a slickly produced pop track featuring a glistening and arpeggiated guitar, atmospheric synths, skittering beats paired with big hooks and choruses. Seemingly meshing elements of R&B and electro pop in a way that nods at JOVM mainstays Beacon, the radio friendly production serves as lush and brooding bed for the Santa Monica-based artist’s pop starlet expressive delivery.
“Mercy,” as Sydney explains is a song that “explores the confusion of uncertain love.” And throughout the song’s narrator seems desperate to get some kind of clarity and resolution to her situation.
New Video: Super Plage Teams Up with Virginie B and Nectar Palace on a Disco-Tinged Cover of “Nos corps”
Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Super Plage.
Earlier this year, he released “Ton chien,” the first bit of new material since the release of Henry’s fourth Super Plage album, last year’s Magie à minuit. “Ton chien” is a flirty bop anchored around a breezy and summery production featuring glistening synths and skittering beats as a lush bed for Henry and Parsian artist Sainte Nicole to trade ethereal and dreamily delivers verses. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for hanging out in the park — or the beach — with the pretty someone, who’s got your heart skipping beats.
Henry’s latest single, which sees him collaborating with longtime collaborator Virginie B and Nectar Palace on a cover and remaining of Jimmy Hunt‘s 2013 hit “Nos corps,” which amassed over three million streams — just on Spotify alone. While the original is disco-tinged yet atmospheric New Wave-like bop that reminds me a little bit of Blondie-meets-Soft to the Touch-era Jef Barbara, the Super Plage retains some of the original’s chill dance vibes but while pairing it with a propulsive Giorgio Moroder-meets-Robyn-like disco groove and some squiggling funk guitar.
Sonically seeming like a synthesis of Jef Barbara’s “Wild Boys,” 80s pop and disco, the Super Plage cover of “Nos corps” continues a run of summery, hook-driven feel good bops. Play this one in the club and dance your worries and cares away for a bit.
Directed by Virginie B, the accompanying video follows the collaborators on a road trip to the shore for frolicking and hanging out. Because what’s summer without a road trip, right?
New Video: Only Twin Shares Cinematic and Swooning “Give You Up”
Initially known for his work with Forgive Durden and Cardiknox, Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Dutton is the create mastermind behind the rising, solo, synth pop project Only Twin.
Back in Seattle, every show Dutton went to gave him a sense of longing. It didn’t matter if they were playing to dozens or hundreds, the band was up on that stage tearing their hearts out in front of the world. Dutton knew he wanted to be up there on a stage, like the bands he was catching as a fan. As a teen, carpooling with his friends’ older siblings meant expose to bands and songs he had never heard before. Songs that weren’t played on the radio — and songs that opened his eyes and ears in transformative ways. “I’m always trying to capture that feeling I had when I was discovering music that changed my life,” Dutton says.
Inspired by the likes of The 1975 and Bon Iver, Only Twin emerged out of necessity. When Cardiknox split up, producing became Dutton’s full-time job, and he wanted to start a project that showed himself as a left-of-center, indie pop aesthete. But as Dutton used music to process both the dissolution of Cardiknox and a breakup, Only Twin took a life of its own. “It started as a way to carve out a little space for myself,” he says. “But as I started reclaiming tracks I’d written for other people, the project gave me closure on a huge chapter in my life.”
Dutton’s sophomore Only Twin effort, the recently released it Feels Nice to Burn sees him bottling that sense of nostalgia. “I still feel like that wide-eyed 13-year-old at his first show in a lot of ways,” he says. Thematically, It Feels Nice to Burn continues the exploration of love, rebirth and new beginnings that he explored on his Only Twin debut, 2021’s Rare Works. Sonically, the new album sees Dutton finding the sweet spot between left-of-center indie pop and dreamy rock, while marking the next chapter of his life, one that sees him embracing the love of a lifetime and fatherhood. Unsurprisingly, the experience of falling in love, getting married and raising a child has given new meaning to his music and to himself.
When the Night-era St. Lucia-like album single “Give You Up” is slow-burning, seemingly 80s rom-com-inspired song featuring glistening synths, gated reverberated drums, bursts of twinkling keys, bursts of shimmering and squiggling guitars paired with Dutton’s plaintive delivery paired with the Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s unerring knack for crafting swooningly earnest tracks with big hooks and choruses.
“Give You Up” is rooted in lived-in personal experience with the song describing the moment Dutton and his wife “jumped into the deep end” of their burgeoning relationship.
Directed by The Director Brothers, the accompanying video for “Give You Up” stars Julianne Hough as a bored office drone, who has an odd yet adorable affair with an old office copier that plays on rom-com tropes.
Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Rafa Mura, initially relocated to Berlin when he was 18 years-old to study Computer Science. And while in school, he built a home studio in his dorm room. After dropping out of college to pursue a music degree, Mura started his own recording project Shimizu, which sees him blending both analog and electronic music, playing most of the instrumentation and then often resampling the material to craft a sound that has been described as a warm hug and as he puts it, “sad songs to dance to,” while being heavily influenced by Brazilian music.
With Shimizu, Mura has collaborated with different artists from across the Berlin scene, including A.K.A. Kelzz, Rosa Landers, Ish and more.
“MinuteSpent” sees the rising Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and producer continuing to collaborate with an eclectic collection of artists in the local scene. In this case:
- Luminiah, a Santa Fe, NM-born, Berlin-based musician and singer/songwriter. A third generation musician and singer/songwriter, the Santa Fe-born, Berlin-based artist grew up singing folk sand the blues with both her father and grandfather. As a solo artist, Luminiah’s work is inspired by the likes of Erykah Badu and Cleo Sol and sees her blending elements of neo-soul, R&B and folk.
- Charlotte Colace, a Berlin-based Cuban-French neo-soul singer/songwriter, whose work possesses a distinctive rock ‘n’ roll edge. Colace is currently a backing vocalist and percussionist for local act Stella & The Longos and a member of the acclaimed singer/songwriter choir A Song For You. And as a solo artist, her brutally honest and emotionally charged lyrics provide a raw, sensitive and thoughtful perspective on the world.
Sonically “MinuteSpent” is a woozy blend of baile funk and footwork featuring glitchy and jazzy breakbeats paired with glistening Larry Levan-like arpeggiated synths serving as a lush and soulful bed for Luminiah’s and Colace’s yearning and soulful vocals and harmonies. The song manages to capture the blissful yet obsessive emotions of a budding romance, where the time you’ve spent with that special somehow never quite feels sufficient — and you long for them constantly.
New Video: Geneva Jacuzzi Shares Lush and Satirical “Scene Ballerina”
Geneva Jacuzzi is a Los Angeles-based multimedia artist, whose immersive and unhinged performances are considered legendary: they often involve a psychotropic gallery of masks, costumes, confrontation and massive art installations. Her recorded music frequently features catchy hooks […]
Live Concert Photography: Elsewhere Festival: Day 2: 6/22/24 Feat. Vince Staples, BADBADNOTGOOD and Sudan Archives
Live concert photography of Elsewhere Festival’s second day feat. Vince Staples, BADBADNOTGOOD and Sudan Archives.
New Audio: HiFi Sean and David McAlmont Team Up on Breezily Expansive, Hook-Driven “Sun Come Up”
British duo HiFi Sean and David McAlmont features two of the UK’s most accomplished songwriters, artists and producers:
Back in the 90s, singer/songwriter, musician and producer HiFi Sean had a stint with Scottish alt-rock outfit The Soup Dragons. In the States they were best known for “Divine Thing,” a song that peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Modern Rock chart. Famously, the video “Divine Thing” was filmed over the course of two days here in New York, and was later nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for best video; but it lost out to Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Since his stint with The Soup Dragons, HiFi Sean has collaborated with the likes of Yoko Ono, Crystal Waters, Bootsy Collins and a list of others.
David McAlmont is a singer/songwriter, musician and producer, who’s best known as a frequent collaborator with Bernard Butler.
As HiFi Sean and David Mcalmont, the accomplished Brits have teamed up to to create a unique take on alternative pop through the release of a handful of singles and their full-length debut, last year’s Happy Ending.
Building upon a growing profile, the duo’s sophomore album Daylight is slated for an August 16, 2024 release. For the duo, the 12-song album represents a significant moment in their partnership: The album was produced in a remarkable burst of collaborative energy with both artists channeling and sharing the momentum throughout. Thematically, the album’s material celebrates, expresses and explores the bright and vivid colors of summer.
Daylight‘s latest single “Sun Come Up” is a breezily euphoric yet wistfully nostalgic bit of synth pop that seeming channels a synthesis of Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, Tears for Tears and A Flock of Seagulls‘ “I Ran (So Far Away)” but while anchored in an expansive song structure, a relentless motorik groove and the pair’s uncanny knack for a razor sharp, remarkably catchy hooks.
New Video: Brock Geiger Shares Lush and Glitchy “Steps Taken”
Brock Geiger is a Canadian singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalists and producer, who over the last decade has established himself as a mainstay on the Canadian scene and beyond and as a key collaborator on over 30 records. And as a result, Geiger has toured the globe with a multitude of projects.
The Canadian artist’s newest batch of music is anchored around a penchant for refined song-craft and ambitious production while showcasing a singular creative vision. His latest single, the Geiger and Will Maclellan co-produced, Tame Impala-like “Steps Taken,” is anchored around overdrive-fueled guitar, twinkling synth stabs, skittering, glitchy beats and big, incredibly catchy hooks serving as a lush yet rocky bed for Geiger’s achingly plaintive delivery. “Steps Taken” evokes the woozy unease and the fear of losing something of yourself in any relationship — especially a romantic one.
“‘Steps Taken’ was written as a reflection on the intricacies and fragility of relationships, ecosystems built on trust, losing oneself to someone or something, and finding regeneration and a way forward by looking inwards.” Geiger explains. ” I’m a big fan of juxtaposition and extremes in art and ‘Steps Taken’ achieves this with its energetic-spazzy, K-Pop inspired track as a foundation for heavier lyrical themes.”
