The recently released visuals for Yeasayer’s “Silly Me” employs the use of classic-leaning stop-motion Claymation that focuses on a duo on an alien and unfamiliar world, dancing anthropormophic animals and weird rock-like creatures, who stalk and dance over the horizon. Strangely enough, the video also subtly nods at Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” “Big Time” and “Digging In The Dirt.”
Category: Indie Electro Pop
New Video: The Kaleidoscopic and Nervous Sounds and Visuals for Roisin Murphy’s “Ten Miles High”
Roisin Murphy’s latest single “Ten Miles High” pairs cascading layers of undulating synths, dramatic drumming in a song with an unusual structure — not only does it focus on a propulsive motorik groove, the song is much more concerned with establishing the sensation of anxious, anticipation, vulnerability and ache.
New Video: The Hallucinatory Sounds and Visuals of Ink Jet’s “Buttermilk”
Up-and-coming, Brooklyn-based electronic music producer and artist Ink Jet has developed a reputation for a sound that has been compared favorably to the likes of The Field, The Avalanches and Basement Jaxx among others. Cold Shoulder, […]
With the release of her debut single “Wait,” the classically trained Seattle, WA-born, Los Angeles, CA-based indie electro pop artist Luem quickly received attention across the blogosphere as her sound that pairs a minimalist production consisting of ambient and swirling electronics with Leum’s lush and hauntingly plaintive vocals. The Seattle-based electro pop artist’s second and latest single continues her growing reputation as an up-and-coming pop artist, adding herself to a lengthening list of contemporary female pop artists including Phoebe Ryan, Chelsea Lankes, CAPPA and others.
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.
Perhaps best known as the frontman of renowned indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobaccco has developed a reputation as an electronic music artist and producer, who has an uncanny ability for crafting an abrasive yet anthemic sound — as a fellow critic at Stereogum described Tobacco’s sound as wanting to “channel Daft Punk and The Black Keys at the same time.”
Sweatbox Dynasty, the long-awaited follow-up to Ultima II Massage is slated for release this summer, and the album’s first single “Gods In Heat” will further cement Tobacco’s reputation for crafting scuzzy and anthemic electronic music as his production pairs layers of buzzing and abrasive synths, industrial clang and clatter, skittering drum programming, surface-level analog tape hiss and sizzle, a chanted mantra and an infectious hook — but if you’re familiar with the Pennsylvania-based producer’s work, the new single possesses a subtle elements of psych rock that lighten the murkiness ever so slightly.
Comprised of Kristin Henry (vocals) and Brad Boettger (production), Seattle, WA-based duo NAVVI have developed a reputation for crafting brooding and propulsive electro pop; in fact, the duo have had their work appear on a compilation curated by renowned French electronic label Kitsune, and they’ve received press from a variety of media outlets including NME, Brooklyn Vegan, Impose, The Line of Best Fit and Jay Z’s Life+Times, among others. Building on the early buzz they’ve received, the Seattle-based duo will be releasing their long-awaited full-length debut Omni on May 27 through Hush Hush Records.
“Close,” Omni‘s first single is a gorgeously minimalist bit of electro pop that has the duo pariing Henry’s sultry and intimately breathy coos bubbling over a sleek and hyper-modern production consisting of crisp, yet stuttering drum programming, ambient, swirling electronics, bleeps, bloops and boops, layers of shimmering and buzzing synths. and a propulsive groove. Sonically and thematically “Close” reminds me quite a bit of BRAIDS’ impressive Flourish//Perish and Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves as the single possesses a bracing chill that belies an urgent, swooning and yearning Romanticism at its core.
New Video: The Stunning and Surreal Visuals for Kristoffer and the Harbour Heads’ “When You Say Stay”
Gothenburg, Sweden-based electro-pop trio Kristoffer and the Harbour Heads have developed a profile across Scandinavia and elsewhere for crafting expansive, experimental electro pop that’s been compared favorably to the likes of Menomena. Woods and […]
Dmitri Manos is a Tucson, AZ-based multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and producer, whose solo recording project American Monoxide has quietly built a profile for specializing in analog electronic instrumentals that manage to be somewhat abrasive, trashy and funky as you’ll hear on “Hot Lava Express,” the first single off his forthcoming sophomore full-length effort Web Content, a single that has the producer and multi-instrumentalist pairing industrial boom-bap beats, tumbling electronic bloops, beeps and bleeps, scorching synths, Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar chords to craft a song that’s simultaneously offbeat yet funky as hell.
Multiple labels are involved in the June 10, 2016 release — and it’s arguably the most complex release I’ve come across in the almost six year history of this site: the vinyl version of the album will be released through People In A Position To Know Recordings (PIAPTK), Solid Gold Records, Almost Halloween Time Records, Wooden Tooth Records, Shot By A Fan Records, Hocus Bogus Records, Lazy Boy Recording Company and Baby Gas Mask Records. All the labels pitched in on the cost of manufacturing with each label creating different packaging for their particular release — some labels plan on doing variations of the album cover art, while others are including bonus material such as special release cassettes, lathe cut albums, zines and posters, etc. The cassette will be released through PIAPTK and Wooden Tooth Records while the electronic version will be self-released.
Promise Keeper is a London-based producer and electronic music artist, who has started to receive attention across the blogosphere for a sound that draws from classic Chicago house, blue-eyed soul and electro pop as you’ll hear on his sleek, dance floor ready, second single “Side Decide,” which pairs breathily cooed vocals with a production consisting of twinkling and shimmering synths, staccato drum programming and swirling and ambient electronics.
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VOKES is the solo recording project of Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and producer Mike Harris. And according to Harris, his latest single “Slow Down” draws from two different experiences. “For me, ‘Slow Down’ represents two stories,” Harris explains in press notes. “The first story I originally wrote was about being naïve in a relationship, splitting up for the wrong reasons and realizing what a terrible mistake was made. The second story that eventually became the focus of the song is about two strangers, who quickly fall for each other, while one person feels hesitant to move forward because of being on the receiving end of the first story.” Sonically Harris evokes confusion through lush and shimmering synths and a sinuous bass line for the verses, which gives the song an ethereal buoyancy reminiscent of Rush Midnight while the chord changes around the song’s chorus and bridge convey the awkward and understandable tension at the core of the song’s narrative. Adding to the complex and confusing array of emtions expressed within the song, there’s a hopeful sense among the song’s characters that with a bit more maturity and experience under their belts, that this time may be different.
Perhaps best known as a member of Karen, The Late Late Show with James Corden house band fronted by Reggie Watts and a weekly residency with Watts at El Cid, drummer and vocalist Guillermo E. Brown’s solo musical project Pegasus Warning has received musical industry nods through collaborations with an impressive list of artists including Twin Shadow, Das Racist, Gordon Voidwell, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Saul Williams, Mocky, Spoek Mathambo and others.
“Come Close” Brown’s latest single is about longing, “that oh-so-human feeling of missing someone to the brink of collapse like singing in the rain in the desert,” as Brown explains in press notes, and as a result his vocals possesses an urgent and plaintive need and an aching vulnerability. Paired with cascades of shimmering synths and a sinuous bass line, the single is both ethereal and undeniably sensual — and in fact, manages to channel Quiet Storm-era R&B. Or simply put, you should play this the next time you plan to have a romantic evening of naughty fun with that someone special.
New Video: The Ambient, Atmospheric Electro Pop Sounds and Visuals of Karachi Files
Last May, Andi and Hannes Teichmann, the heads of Noland Records, along with Haamid Rahim and Bilal Nasir Khan brought together 12 electronic musicians hailing from Pakistan, The Maldives and Germany in a house in Karachi, Pakistan […]
Comprised of American-born vocalist Rose Suau, best known for her work in synth pop act Shoestrings and Swedish-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Johan Angergård, best known for his work with Club 8, synth pop side project Djustin can trace their origins to when the duo, who noticed an eerily parallelism in their lives — both are middle children, born in the same year and under the same astrological sign and have identical record collections — started with a mutual admiration of each other’s various musical projects, back in the late 90s. Suau and Angergård started writing each other lengthy letters about love, life, pop music and other subjects. Naturally, those letters turned to emails –and although both Suau and Angergård went on to form several other musical projects including Pallers, Invisible Twin and The Legends, the duo continued a regular correspondence.
Now as the story goes, although Suau and Angergård had corresponded with each other for years and begun to really know each other, they had never met; however, last fall when Angergård was looking for a vocalist and lyricist for a new musical, side project the first person he thought of was Suau. As Angergård explains in press notes “I love the soulful sensualism in Rose’s voice and figured she’d be perfect for the project. I’m pretty used to writing everything myself and wanted to see what would happen if I did things in new ways. So, I took the chance and sent a couple of tracks over to Rose with me singing gibberish. A week later she dropped a recording of the finished vocals and it was…well, just lovely.”
Tryst, the duo’s soon-to-be released debut EP is slated for a May 13 release through Labrador Records, and the EP’s latest single “Concrete” pairs Angergård’s production consisting of cascading and undulating layers of synths and propulsive boom-bap beats and a razor sharp hook with Suau’s suggestive and sultry vocals in a swooning yet moody song that thematically focuses on lust, obsession and heartbreak. And while nodding at both house music and 80s synth pop, the single possesses a contemporary and radio friendly sheen.