Category: indie electro rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Droid Metal Share sultry Debut “Pleather”

Giuliano Pizzulo is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and musician, whose career started in earnest with a stint in the acclaimed indie rock outfit Incan Abraham, an act that received praise from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR and Spin. Since then Pizzulo has spent the past decade as a touring musician for Lorde, Childish Gambino and Passion Pit.

Pizzulo’s solo recording project, Droid Metal sees the acclaimed Los Angeles-based musician crafting a sound that meshes elements of 90s rave music, industrial electronica and pop. His Droid Metal debut “Pleather” is a synthesis of Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method and JOVM mainstay Blak Emoji featuring dense layers of woozy synths and skittering breakbeats paired with Pizzulo’s sultry falsetto.

The acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist explains that the song came out of a dance with a dangerous muse that took him to some new, illicit places both literally and metaphorically.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: STOLEN Shares Dystopian Anthem “I-Generated”

Formed back in 2010, STOLEN is a pioneering and award-winning, Chengdu, China-based electronica quintet that specializes in a high-energy, dance floor friendly sound that features elements of techno, darkwave and post-punk. 

Since the release of their full-length debut, 2015’s Loop, the Chinese outfit has built an international profile: Through collaborations with renowned brands like Hermés, Burberry and BMW, they’ve managed to merge their unique sound with current fashion trends. And adding to a growing international profile, they opened for New Order during the British New Wave legends’ 2019 European Union tour. 

2024 has been a busy year for the Chinese outfit: Earlier this year, they released the Remanufactured EP, which featured the slow-burning and brooding “Drown With Me,” a song that reminded me ab it of Trentemøller’s “A Different Light” and Goldfrapp’s Tales of Us.

Their second EP of the year, the recently released, three-song effort, I-Generated is a journey into the world of AI. Each track is a separate chapter in the story, with each song focusing on three different moments in AI’s history. Sonically, the EP features a much more electronic sound, driven by catchy keyboard melodies and subtle guitar work.

The EP’s first single, EP opening track “I-Generated” is a Nine Inch Nail-meets-Tool-meets-Rush-like ripper featuring driving rhythms, glitchy bursts of electronics, oscillating synths, rousingly anthemic, shout along worthy hooks, arena rock friendly power chords. It’s the sort of song that sounds as though it would fit perfectly within the universe of The Matrix or some near-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller that closely misers or our seemingly dystopian world.

The song’s lyrically talks about present-day humanity in seeming free-fall, about to put its fate in the hands of AI as a desperate, last resort. Both lyrically and musically, the song evokes the hope and unease that we all feel at this particular moment.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Denmark’s Animaux Animé Shares Club and Arena Friendly “The Master”

With the release of a handful of singles and 2019’s self-titled debut EP, which have received praise from Bands of Tomorrow, Passive/Aggressive, HQ Music and airplay from Danish national radio station P6 Beat, emerging Danish outfit Animaux Animé have quickly established a sound that sees them mesh elements of synth pop, industrial rock and theatrical performance art into a sound and aesthetic that’s distinctly unique.

The band has played across the Danish festival circuit, including playing sets at SPOT Festival and BlueBridge Festival. And building upon a growing profile nationally, the band is gearing up to release their full-length debut, Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I).

Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I)‘s latest single “The Master” is a mesh of industrial rock and synth pop anchored around tweeter and roofer rattling industrial thump, bursts of twinkling synths, angular and reverb-soaked guitars serving as a brooding bed for a big baritone vocal expressing yearning and longing. While sonically channeling Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and others, “The Master” is a club friendly, arena rock banger that reveals a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy hooks with slick production.

The accompanying video is a creepily surreal romp through madness, obsession and implied torture that wouldn’t be out of place in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe films.

The band is currently working on the follow-up to their full-length debut, Sensational Creation — Act II and are collaborating with Kolding Egnsteater on a play that’s slated to run next year.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Monotronic Shares a Bombastic, Mind-Bending Ripper

Monotronic is a New York-based indie electronic band that effortlessly blends a variety of styles and genres to create a truly unique, genre-defying sound.

The New York-based outfit has developed a reputation for a live show that’s a psychedelic experience in which each instrument is heard as a continuation of the other, and the music seems to emanate for a single source. Adding to a growing profile, “Kids of Summer” and “Buy Yourself a Dream” both premiered at #1 on VEVO’s Incoming Indie playlist.

Their latest single, the bombastic “Kettle Song” is built around a mind-bending and odd arrangement of percussive orchestra drumming, blazing psychedelic Spaghetti Western guitar, arena rock-like hooks paired with a vaguely Eastern-styled vocal. “Kettle Song” sees the New York-based outfit channeling The Bright Light Social Hour, but with a mischievous, towering swagger.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Belfast’s Chalk Teams Up with Fears on Brooding “Bliss”

Rising Belfast-based outfit Chalk — Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitar, sampler) and Luke Niblock (drums) — features three award-winning musicians and filmmakers, who can trace the origins of the band to when they met while attending film school and bonded over having the same musical vision and ambitions. Inspired by the ferocity and live shows of Dublin‘s guitar band scene and the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast, the band have crafted a sound that has been dubbed by some critics as techno-infused, gothic post-punk — and as the band has dubbed Berghain-rock blended with techno punk.

Last year saw the Northern Irish-based post-punk trio release their debut EP Conditions. As a live unit, the band quickly exploded out of the gates with opening slots for London-based outfit PVA for their first ever shows, before selling out shows across the UK. Quickly building upon a growing profile across the region and elsewhere, the band landed sets across the European major festival circuit, closing out 2023 with a set at Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP live session, which will be released on March 8, 2024.

Coming off the heels of a Northern Irish Music Prize 2023 Best Live Act win, the band has begun to make noise globally: Their sophomore EP, the Chris Ryan and Ross Cullen co-produced Conditions II is slated for a Friday release through Nice Swan Records, and the EP will feature previously released singles “The Gate” and “Claw,” which received praise from The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, Rolling Stone UK, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence and others while landing on a BBC 6 Music playlist with tracks from PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha, Yard Act and more. Thematically, the album continues upon the themes of its immediate predecessor but sees the band diving deeper into subconscious feelings and self-discovery while leaning into the industrial/techno rock sound that they established with their debut EP. Aesthetically, the trio also continue the monochromatic, goth-inspired goth visual landscape in an evocative and seamless manner.

“We see Conditions II as a natural evolution from our debut EP, Conditions. These new tracks are a product of our first year as a touring band. They were tried and tested at most of our shows before being taken into the studio,” Chalk’s Ross Cullen says. “We wanted to expand upon existing themes and ideas we touched upon in our debut, but with this continuation, we could explore ourselves and the world we had created deeper, both lyrically and sonically. In this second installment, we wanted to dive further into the electronic element of our music, bringing the experience of our live shows to our recordings.”

“Bliss” Conditions II‘s hazy third and latest single features angular and reverb-drenched shoegazer-like guitar textures with relentless four-on-the-floor and bursts of glistening synth serving as a brooding yet cinematic bed for Ross Cullen’s punchy yet stoic shouts and Constance Keane, a.k.a. Fears‘ ethereal voice acting as a dreamy counterbalance. Sonically nodding a bit at Joy Division, New Order, Luminous and V-era The Horrors and others, the track thematically moves from longing to loss and regret.

Directed by the band’s Benedict Goddard, the video features two solitary dancers — a man and a woman — dancing ecstatically to the song, cut with intimate shots of each band member performing the song in a cinematic black and white. Visually, the song channels and mirrors the emotional movement of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The KVB Share Brooding Yet Club Friendly “Labyrinths”

Formed back in 2010, the acclaimed Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The KVB initially started as the solo recording project of its founder, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Wood. And as a solo project, Wood released a series of limited cassette and vinyl releases. But my 2011, vocalist, keyboardist and visual artist Kat Day joined on, finalizing the project’s lineup.

Since Day joined on, the JOVM mainstays have released several critically applauded albums and EPs through a series of different labels that saw them crafting a sound simultaneously inspired by The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cabaret Voltaire that became increasingly streamlined. The duo signed to Geoff Barrow‘s Invada Records, who have released 2018’s Only Now Forever, 2019’s Submersion EP and 2021’s Unity.

The duo’s seventh album, the James Trevascus-produced Tremors is slated for an April 5, 2024 release through Invada Records. Tremors sees the band returning to the darker, coldwave sound of their earliest releases and some of their early influences, while retaining the infectious hook driven pop of 2021’s critically applauded Unity. The band have dubbed the new album’s material “dystopian pop” and specifically wrote it with the live show in mind — energetic and full of hooks and dynamic moments.

Thematically, the album’s material, as the band explains expands “on previous album themes of dystopia, apocalypse and the human condition, but with a more pessimistic outlook and deeper distrust than before. It also touches on themes of loss, and the resistance, lament and acceptance of inevitable change.”

Tremors latest single, “Labyrinths” is a shadowy and brooding yet club friendly bit of coldwave/New Wave built around skittering, tweeter and roofer rattling beats, glistening synths, scorching guitars and a motorik groove paired with Wood’s seemingly detached delivery. “Labyrinths” sonically nods at Suicide, New Order, JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots, A Place To Bury Strangers and others — but a bit sleeker, which gives the song’s underlying menace and unease a cinematic quality.

With “Labyrinths,” the band explains that “it’s the most aggressive track on the album and a nod to some of our early releases. Lyrically, it was inspired by the collection of short stories of Jorge Luis Borges and its references to historical subjectivity, the flexibility of truth and construction of narratives.”

The accompanying video is a highly digitalized realm of screens within screens with computerized effects in the background, with the duo signing and playing the song with layers of analog glitch. The duo describe the video as “a visceral assault of digitalised nature, CRT screens and analogue glitch textures. We wanted the first video single to reflect the album artwork and the energy of the edit to mirror the aggression of the song.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: New York’s Rebel Kicks Share Anthemic “Electrophoria”

New York-based indie electro pop outfit Rebel Kicks — sibling duo Anthony and Steven Babino — grew up in a musical home: their father was a professional jazz musician, and the siblings, who were also lifelong musicians, had played and sang with their father. It took the Babino Brothers some time to find their own music and voice: For a while Anthony had a weekly residency performing mostly covers while Steven hadn’t even figured out which instrument best suited him. But they often played weddings, corporate and private events, Eventually, the Babino Brothers began performing and recording together as sidemen, working on original music together. While working as hired guns in St. Petersburg, FL, the duo had an epiphany about the sort of music they wanted to make, and it opened to the door to Rebel Kicks.

Rebel Kicks formed in 2018 and can trace their origins to when Anthony Babino walked into his younger brother’s room and said “Here is a bass and here is a setlist. We have a gig Friday.” Since then, the duo have released their full-length debut, 2020’s A Portrait of a Man, Part 1, a handful of EPs, including Whiskey and Sinatra, a live EP and a string of singles, which have been featured on shows aired on MTV and Showtime.

“We grew up listening to so many genres—jazz, classic rock, Motown, R&B—and with Rebel Kicks we have finally found a project where we can explore our full range,” Rebel Kicks’ Anthony Babino says. “It may sound cliché to say this, but life is a journey, and we finally hit upon a sound that reflects our journey,” the band’s Steven Babino adds. Sonically, the duo specialize in anthemic alt pop/indie electro rock built around bold electronic soundscapes, melodic bass lines, arena rock friendly riffs, big hooks, the siblings uncanny harmonies and emotive lead vocals singing lyrics that are full of social commentary and introspective, deeply personal revelation.

With both Anthony and Steven Babino being multi-instrumentalists, the pair employ a DIY ethos to their work — with the duo writing, recording, producing and playing each instrumental part of their material. But they do welcome collaboration and have worked with a number of producers and songwriters including Abe Dertner, Jeff Blue, Jason Pennock, Russ DeSalvo, Jimmy Greco, Jackson Hoffman and Ryder Stuart among others. For the New York-based sibling duo, Rebel Kicks represents an opportunity for them to do what they love together. “We are a very close family, and it’s been amazing for us to share in making the music that has always lived in us,” Anthony Babino says. Steven Babino adds: “We are best friends, and it’s not lost on me how lucky we are to make a living writing and performing together.”

Live the band expands into a quartet with longtime touring bandmates Daniel Bradley (drums) and Dorian Lake (keys, vocals). And building upon a rapidly growing national profile, the New York-based outfit has shared bills with acts like Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Mac Miller, Iggy Azalea, Incubus and a lengthy list of others.

This year will see the duo releasing a batch of singles, including their latest single “Electrophoria.” Built around glistening synths, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a relentless motorik-like groove, slashing power chord-driven riffs paired with their penchant for enormous hooks and arena rock bombast, “Electrophoria” manages to sound as though it were a slick and darkly seductive synthesis of Muse and Echoes-era The Rapture.

“Electrophoria,” was originally commissioned for an independent film that never came to fruition. But as the duo explain the song is an examination of the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence. “It’s a song about the decision to accept or deny the inevitable, feeling like you’re trapped in a situation that you can’t get out of, while slowing realizing that you may never want to actually leave,” the duo explain.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen’s Chopper Returns with Dance Floor Banger “Touch”

Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might recall that Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his side recording project Chopper. And with Chopper, the Danish artist specializes in what he has dubbed “shock pop,” a crowd-pleasing sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies. 

Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort, the mini-album Shock Pop Vol. 1 is slated for a June 16, 2023 release through Pink Cotton Candy Records. The mini-album reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but placed in a modern context. 

In the lead up to Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s release, I’ve written about two of the mini-album’s previously released singles:

  • “Springtime,” a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone. 

  • “Sugar and Spice” which begins with a brooding horn line, twinkling synths and percussion, a sinuous bass line and tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Magnussen’s and Glitchi‘s sultry deliveries and enormous Larry Levan-era house-like hooks. The end result is a sweaty and hedonistic banger that to my ears sounds like a slick synthesis of Ministry, The Sisters of Mercy and Electronic. 

Shock Pop Vol. 1′s third and latest single “Touch,” which features vocalist Ama May continues a remarkable run of sleazy, dance floor friendly bangers. But unlike its immediate predecessors, “Touch” is a sleek, slickly produced synthesis of the Madchester sound, eurodance, Larry Levan-era house and French touch built around the Danish artist’s penchant for infectious groove and enormous hooks.

The accompanying video continues along in the sleazy, DIY-meets-public access TV aesthetic of its predecessors and includes the collaborators in a strobe and laser lit club, mutants and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chopper Teams Up with Glitchi on Hedonistic and Bombastic “Sugar and Spice”

Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo project Chopper, which specializes in what the Danish artist has dubbed “shock pop,” a sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies. 

Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort Shock Pop Vol. 1 reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but placed in a modern context. 

Last month, I wrote about Shock Pop Vol. 1 single “Springtime,” a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone. 

Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s second and latest single “Sugar and Spice” begins with a brooding horn line, twinkling synths and percussion, a sinuous bass line and tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Magnussen’s and Glitchi‘s sultry deliveries and enormous Larry Levan-era house-like hooks. The end result is a sweaty and hedonistic banger that to my ears sounds like a slick synthesis of Ministry, The Sisters of Mercy and Electronic.

Fittingly, the accompanying video for “Sugar and Spice” is as maximalist and bombastic as its single while drawing from 80s visual cliches.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded in 2021, the Berlin-based indie electronica duo Bromsen — Richard and Carlo Bromine — have developed and honed a sound that is built around their love of catchy melodies and elements of synthwave and guitar rock. The German duo’s first two singles “Merryman” and “The Photograph” were released to critical praise from the indie press. They also received airplay from indie radio stations in North America, the UK, France, Brazil and elsewhere.

The duo’s third and latest single “We” is an upbeat anthem. Built around glistening synth arpeggios, scorching guitar riffs, tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with swaggering, arena rock bombast, enormous hooks and earnest, lived-in lyrics and vocals, “We” is the sort of song that deserves the raise your beer in the air, while hugging your best friend and shouting along lustily to the song’s chorus treatment.

The German duo explain that the song celebrates the unshakeable power of friendship. Richard and Karlo have been friends for 20 years, and they are convinced that their deep bond has helped carry them through both high and low points in their lives. “Such a deep and long-standing friendship can carry you through a period of weakness and often you emerge even stronger afterwards feeling free like a bird again who wants to fly higher and higher as described in the song…,” Karlo Bromsen explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Don’t Get Lemon Shares Groovy, 80s-Inspired “Blow-up”

Currently split between Austin and Houston, Don’t Get Lemon — Austin Curtis (vocals), Bryan Walters (bass, percussion) and Nick Ross (synth, guitar, drum programming) — is a dance pop outfit with a glam-leaning, synth-driven sound that draws from 70s Berlin and 80s Manchester.

Deriving its title from Michelangelo Antonioni’s swinging 1966 motion picture Blow-Up, the Texan trio’s latest single “Blow-Up” is a decidedly 80s Madchester/Manchester-inspired bop built around glistening synths arpeggios, Curtis’ ironically detached delivery, a motorik-like groove, angular guitar attack, and bursts of polyrhythm featuring bongo and electronic drums paired with bombastic hooks. The trio explain that the song, which features lyrics pierced together, borrowing from William S. Burroughs’ famed cut-up poetry technique and imagery inspired by David Lynch’s Blue Velvet is a “glimpse into the unseen dark.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Neon Jesus’ Sultry and Bluesy Banger “Red Lips”

Rising Canadian-born and-based singer/songwriter Neon Jesus can trace the origins of his genre-defying sound — a sound that pairs blues-inspired guitar with pulsing electronic dance music — to when he lived in New York.

While in New York, the rising Canadian artist frequently caught live music, and he noticed a significant and very telling difference in terms of reaction: “I’d be out at a rock show and while people were attentive and taking everything in, the crowd’s reaction was rather lackluster, even amid great artists before them,” Neon Jesus recalls. ““But then I’d head to a rave in Brooklyn and it struck me that people there were uninhibited and just generally more invested in what they were listening to. That was when I started to wonder what would happen if someone were to bring the two genres together.”

Electronic music was uncharted territory for the rising Canadian artist. But rather than mindlessly following the short-lived trends of generic dance music, Neon Jesus invested time to understand the foundations of electronic music and began to create his own beats to accompany his own guitar playing. That approach to production caught the attention of New York-based dance music production Abe Duque, a pioneer of deep house.

Mentored by Duque, Neon Jesus was exposed to underground dance music. Together, they created a live sound featuring synths and drum machines while the Canadian artist played guitar that saw the pair playing off one-another in an improvised manner familiar to the blues and jazz. The pair took their live sound to Berlin, where Neon Jesus became the first artist to play electric guitar at the renowned Berlin-based techno club Berghain.

Interestingly, those performances laid the foundation for Neon Jesus’ forthcoming full-length debut Tabula Rosa. Tabula Rosa‘s first single, the slickly produced and sultry “Red Lips” is centered around a thumping kick drum, glistening and pulsating synths, the Canadian artist’s plaintive wailing and scorching guitar lines reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, Prince and the like. And while pairing bluesy, power chord-driven rock with pulsating electronic dance music, “Red Lips” sonically and thematically reminds me a bit of INXS‘ “Need You Tonight” as the song is about desperate, maddening, obsessive desire — but with a sinister and uneasy undertone. “When you look back at artists like Prince or Jimi Hendrix, the blues was at the heart of their sound,” he declares. For some, this may seem a bit odd. The blues label doesn’t easily stick to them. Rather than mimic what came before them, they took the soul of blues and roots music and grew their own branches from the same tree. That’s the impetus behind my exploration of mixing blues and rock guitar with electronic music. I’m growing my personal branch on that tree.”

The recently released video was shot on grainy Super 8 film and is split between footage of the Canadian artist rocking out in a dark club, a beautiful blonde in knee high boots strutting around NYC. “With the video, we were trying to capture the sensation where love slips into obsession followed by a sudden darkness, where only the Lord can save you from its clutches,” Neon Jesus says.