Over the last few months I’ve written quite a bit about Chapel Hill, NC-based experimental/post-hardcore punk/new wave-leaning trio Milemarker. Initially comprised of Al Burian, Dave Laney and Ben Davis, the members of Milemarker quickly developed a reputation in indie […]
Initially spending her professional career as a Berlin and Bristol, UK-based political journalist, Anika Henderson, best known under the mononym that she writes, records and performs under, Anika can trace the origins of her musical career to when she was introduced to Portishead’s Geoff Barrow while she was in Bristol. And as the story goes, Borrow was looking for a vocalist, who would work with his band Beak> for what would be a side project — and when Barrow and Henderson met, they immediately bonded over a mutual love of punk, dub and 60s girl groups. Within a week, Barrow, Henderson and the members of Beak> went into the studio to record the material which would eventually comprise Henderson’s 2010 self-titled full-length debut with Henderson and the members of Beak> recording live in the same room without overdubs.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past three years or so in particular, you’d know that 2013 saw the release of Henderson’s self-titled EP, a collection of covers and remixes that included Henderson’s cover of Chromatics’ “In the City,” a cover, which paired Henderson’s icy deliver with a murky and tense, Portishead and The Velvet Underground and Nico-inspired production. A few years have passed since we have heard from her, but earlier this year, Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, released an icy, lo-tech, analog synth, electro pop and dub-leaning cover of Nena’s “99 Red Balloons” by the mysterious Invada All Stars featuring Anika on vocals as part of that weekend’s Stop Trident National anti-nukes demonstration in London, a demonstration protesting the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system.
Henderson’s latest musical project, Exploded View is something of a side project from her critically applauded solo work and in fact, the first single from the project’s soon-to-be released full-length debut, “No More Parties in the Attic,” revealed that the members of the project drew heavily from post-krautrock, krautrock, dub and industrial music as the band pairs electronic bloops and bleeps, industrial clang and clatter, buzzing and angular synth and guitar chords with Anika’s signature delivery to craft a sound that’s sleek and darkly seductive, while subtly evoking the sensation of desperately navigating a world that has gone madder than ever. The album’s latest single “Lost Illusions” has the band pairing jazz-like hi-hat-led syncopation with guitar and bass chords fed through layers upon layers of reverb with Henderson’s half reciting and half singing vocals with her icy delivery in a song that feels improvised, unguarded and vulnerable as it captures a narrator looking into void with an unsettling and unvarnished honesty.
If you reside in Europe or you happen to be lucky enough to be in Europe over the next couple of weeks, you might want to catch Exploded View live. Check out tour dates below.
Tour Dates
Comprised of Paul Bancell (vocals, guitar), Ben Saginaw (bass) and Chris Samuels (synths, samples, drum machines), Detroit-based trio Ritual Howls have developed a reputation for a sound that possesses elements of industrial electronica, goth, rockabilly, and others — although when you hear “Scatter The Scars,” the latest single off the trio’s third full-length album Into the Water, the dark and foreboding single manages to sound as though it drew from Joy Division and Ministry as a throbbing bass line is paired with industrial clang and clatter, bursts of shimmering and twangy guitar chords, swirling and atmospheric synths and a driving motorik groove with Bancell’s Ian Curtis-like vocals. The lyrically barbed song stings like a series of hurled rebukes, doubts and accusations from a lover– and just underneath the surface the song evokes the sense of paranoia, self-doubt, uncertainty and fear that can naturally come about during those moments in which a relationship feels in doubt and there’s a part of you that can’t quit tell if it’s your perception of events based on past heartaches, if it’s reality or some completely fucked up combination of both. And interestingly enough, the trio manages to pair that tense and paranoid feeling to what may arguably be their most unintentionally club friendly song they’ve released to date.
The Detroit-based trio are currently embarking on a tour with POP1280 and YOU and it includes a couple of NYC area stops. Check out tour dates below.
^ w/ Pop. 1280, YOU.
Comprised of Kacee Hedit, Benny Tamblyn and Oli Kirk, Adelaide, Australia-based indie rock/indie electro pop trio Flamingo have developed a reputation both locally and nationally for a sleek, downtempo electronic sound with the release of their first two EPs, with their second EP Drip Drip being released to widespread critical praise. And as a result, the trio not only embarked on their first national tour with stops in their homeland’s largest cities — Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and their hometown — they’ve found their profile growing opening for Bonobo, Rüfüs, Giraffage and The Kite String Tangle, as well as appearances at Splendour on the Grass and Groovin’ the Moo.
Interestingly, the trio’s latest single is about a topic that has been in the international spotlight for some time — refugees, who arrive by boat to a new and perhaps unforgiving and unwelcoming land. And as the band’s vocalist Kacee Heidt explains “Leaving your home and everything you have ever known to travel to the other side of the world in search of a life free from tyranny and devastation with nothing but your family and the clothes on your back. This is one of the hardest things a person can possibly go through and something most Australians couldn’t possibly imagine.” And as a result, the song portrays refugees with a profound sense of empathy — an empathy the the members of the band feel has long been missing from their national conversation on the issue. Sonically speaking, the trio pairs shimmering guitar chords, skittering beats, gently undulating synths and Heidt’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics that point at asylum seekers’ plight with a bitterly sarcastic irony at its core, opening suggesting that those who were desperate enough to risk everything for the chance at asylum need not just the most empathy but the most assistance.
Directed by Caleb Gutierrez, the recently released video for American Monoxide’s “Hot Lava Express” features a dream-like sequence that seems influenced by the visuals in Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” “Big Time” and “Digging in the Dirt” videos as the sequence employs the use of stop-action animation until the video’s protagonist wakes up and sees his friends hanging out at a barbecue in his backyard. It’s a whimsical and playful video that belies the song’s abrasive nature.
Queue, an indie rock quintet with members split between Philadelphia and Washington, DC is comprised of five college friends — Olivia Price, Tyler Ringland, Aida Mekonnen, Dan Snelling and Steve Vannelli — who were all originally in other bands, and decided that they needed to write music together. Interestingly, the decision to work together coincided with graduation and adult responsibilities, which eventually forced the members of the band to write and collaborate via the Internet. After about a year writing and recording demos, the members of the Philadelphia and Washington, DC-based quintet convinced at Degraw Sound Studios in Brooklyn to record the material that would comprise the band’s forthcoming self-titled EP, slated for a late June release.
With the release of “Falling Into Skies,” the first single off their self-titled EP, the indie rock quintet quickly received praise across the blogosphere, and as soon as you hear “More,” the second and latest single off the forthcoming EP, you’ll see why: the quintet pairs a gorgeous and melancholy melody with folky, strummed guitar chords, shimmering synths, propulsive drum programming and percussion and swirling electronics in a n ethereal yet buoyant song that effortlessly meshes electro pop with singer/songwriter folk; in fact, as the band’s Olivia Price noted to the folks at Consequence of Sound, lyrically the song captures the inner monologue of a narrator, who is in the middle of a crippling identity crisis as they desire something much better and not only has the narrator need to accept that actually getting that something better can actually require a ton of effort, they also have to accept that sometimes all of that effort can be for naught. And as a result, the song conveys a bitter and uneasy jumble of emotions.
Over the course of the past 18 months or so, Detroit, MI-based duo Gosh Pith have become JOVM mainstays while gaining a rapidly growing national profile for a sound that possesses elements of hip-hop, electro pop, stoner rock, indie rock, […]
If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the better part of the past year, the renowned director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composter John Carpenter has quickly become a mainstay artist after last year’s critically and commercially successful album […]
Last month, I wrote about Brooklyn-based shoegaze duo The Blessed Isles. Comprised of Aaron Closson (guitar and vocals), best known as a member of The Hourly Radio and multi-instrumentalist Nolan Thies, best known as a member of N?TIONS, the duo of Closson and Thies specialize in a sound that is heavily indebted to New Wave, synth pop and shoegaze — and as you would have heard on “Caroline,” the first single off their long-awaited full-length effort Straining Hard Against the Strength of Night, and on the album’s second and latest single “Confession” their sound in particular seems to be influenced by New Order, Slowdive and Cocteau Twins as the duo pairs Closson’s plaintive vocals with shimmering delay pedal fed guitar chords, propulsive boom-bap 808s, and ambient-like synths to craft a swooning and introspective song with an urgently anthemic pulse. However, interestingly enough “Confession” strikes me as being the most New Order-influenced song down to the guitar solo the song’s swooning urgency.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over its six year history, you’d know that I’m a proudly unabashed New Order fan. Music Complete, which was released last year marked two milestones for the band— as it was […]
Comprised of founding members Marlon Magnée (keyboards), Sacha Got (guitar), Sam Lefevre (bass), Noé Delmas (drums) and Lucas Nunez, along with a rotating cast of vocalists including current lead vocalist Clémence Quélennec, lara Luciani, Jane Peynot and Marilou […]
