Category: indie electronica

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’ve likely come across several posts on Blanck Mass, the solo side project of Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin John Power. 2015’s Dumb Flesh was written and recorded over the course of a year in several different locations  — Power’s Space Mountain Studios, a windowless attic space in Hatch End, North London and Power’s Edinburgh Scotland home. Reportedly, changing recording spaces influenced the album’s dark and sprawling compositions, which frequently meshed tense and abrasive industrial electronic music with sensual, hard hitting, deep house, along with punishing, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and shimmering synths bubbling from a hot, molten iron-like surface, and as a result it gives the material brief moments of stunning beauty bursting from a murky and uncertain mix. Thematically, the material focused on the inherent flaws and frailty of the human body — in some way, the album evoked the sensation that our flesh couldn’t protect us from what feels like certain catastrophe.

 

World Eater, Power’s third Blanck Mass album is slated for a March 3, 2017 release through renowned indie electronic label Sacred Bones Records and the material on the album was inspired by a year teeming with anger, violence, confusion, frustration and despair — and in some way, it evokes a wild, untamed beast chewing and gnawing at civilization, compassion, good, and progression. As Power explains in press notes, “The title is a reference to both the inner beast inside human beings that when grouped en-masse stops us from moving forward towards good.”

 

World Eater‘s latest single “Silent Treatment” builds on the idea of civilization being chewed apart and of impending doom as sonically the song consist of chopped up chorale and vocal samples, abrasive industrial clang and clatter, stuttering drum programming, twinkling arpeggio synths and enormous boom-bap beats — and although while managing to be a subtly more atmospheric, the song retains the tense and murky feel of Dumb Flesh; in fact, the song manages to emphasize the growing sense of impending doom, confusion, and destruction that many of us have felt over the past 10-15 days. Interestingly, as Power explains of the song “‘Silent Treatment’ is about the problems that arise when we don’t communicate. We often grow apart when we don’t understand each other. Being left int he dark can lead to fear.” May this song be a visceral warning — and may it remind us of all that we have at stake.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Gold Panda Performing “Your Good Times Are Just Beginning”

nterestingly, 2016 may be among the busiest years of the British electronic music artist and producer’s career as his critically applauded third full-length effort Good Luck and Do Your Best, which was inspired by an extended trip to Japan with photographer and collaborator Laura Lewis was released earlier this year. That was quickly followed by the publication of the collaborative photography book, which had initially inspired the Panda’s third full-length effort, and then a surprise EP, Junes Kingdom. Wrapping up the year, the British producer will be releasing his second EP of the year Your Good Times Are Just Beginning on Friday through City Slang Records — and along with an original single, EP title track “Your Good Times Are Just Beginning,” the EP features remixes from renowned electronic music artists and producers Fort Romeau, John Roberts, and Daisuke Tanabe.

Now, the aforementioned EP title track “You Good Times Are Just Beginning” features a dusty yet warm and soulful production comprised of twinkling synths and piano keys, skittering and stuttering drum programming, a looped, jazzy horn sample and swirling electronics in a moody track that sounds as though it draws equally from drum ‘n’ bass, contemporary electronic music and jazz — all while seeming organic and improvised.

The recently released live footage shot by Robbie Knox, is comprised of the renowned British producer and electronic music artist performing at the Norwich Arts Centre and was edited by and features imagery from Gold Panda’s touring visual artist Dan Tombs, who has also worked with East India Youth, Jon Hopkins and Blanck Mass, and has spent the past year touring with, developing and refining the visual components of Gold Panda’s live visuals.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Surreal Visuals and Club-Banging Sounds of Austin, TX’s Holiday Mountain

Holiday Mountain’s latest single “Coffee and Weed” is a trap house-leaning club banger consisting of sparse, twinkling synths, stuttering drum programming and pairs it with Patiño’s swaggering yet mischievous flow about being lazy and bullshitting with some coffee and weed after presumably partying your face off, along with a chopped and screwed vocal sample and wobbling low end to craft a song that’s both ridiculously and ironically post-modern while being a slow-burning club banger.

The recently released video manages to be simultaneously surreal and sensual as it features the duo hanging out in outdoor tubs — Kagle looks like a luchador while Patiño is in a neon green two piece bathing suit, strutting, vamping, twerking and swaggering through the video.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of “River of Nile” and “Low Pressure,” Wild and Free, the electronic music production and artist duo comprised of Drew Kramer and George Cochrane have received praised from a number of major media outlets including XLR8R, Spin Magazine and Indie Shuffle for a sound that pairs tribal-leaning percussion, shimmering synths and ethereal vocals — all while effortlessly meshing disco, house and electro pop as you’ll hear on their latest single “Life On Jupiter.” And although the single will further cement their reputation for their club-friendly and expansive sound, it also will further cement the duo’s reputation for a slick production technique that subtly channels the motorik groove of Kraftwerk and the propulsive grooves of Daft Punk and Giorgio Moroder but with a sweaty and mischievous air.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Tense and Frenetic Visuals for Crystal Castles’ Concrete

“Concrete,” the latest single off the forthcoming album manages to be tense and propulsive as Kath’s production, which consists of layers of undulating synth stabs, propulsive drum beats, malevolent atmospherics and industrial clang and clatter are paired with Frances’ heavily distorted vocals. And while bleak and murky, the song manages to be dance floor friendly — thanks to an anthemic hook.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rude Audio Returns with a Subtly Industrial House-Leaning New Dub Paired with Trippy Visuals

Last week I wrote about London-based production and DJ collective Rude Audio. Comprised of Mark Ratcliff (arrangement, production and keyboards), Amanda Greatorex (vocals and lyrics), Eucalypta LV (guest vocals), Lamis Harper (piano and keys), Tony Shea (guitar and ostrich guitar), and Owain Lloyd, the collective has developed […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: England’s Rude Audio Specializes in a Bold, Dub Meets Kraftwerk Electronica Sound, Paired with Trippy Visuals

Comprised of Mark Ratcliff (arrangement, production and keyboards), Amanda Greatorex (vocals and lyrics), Eucalypta LV (guest vocals), Lamis Harper (piano and keys), Tony Shea (guitar and ostrich guitar), and Owain Lloyd (mixing desk and lyrics) London-based production and DJ collective Rude Audio features members who range […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Psychedelic, 1980s Leaning Visuals for Promise Keeper’s “Porous Silk”

With the release of Side Decide” and other singles, London-based producer and electronic music artist Promise Keeper started to receive attention across the blogosphere for a sound that possesses elements of classic Chicago house, blue-eyed soul and 80s electro pop. And his latest single “Porous Silk” will further cement the British producer’s already burgeoning reputation for crafting slick, dance-floor friendly pop as androgynous yet sultry cooed vocals are paired with a production consisting of a sinuous bass line, Nile Rodgers-like guitar chords, propulsive and stuttering drum programming, twinkling keys and shimmering synths. Sonically, the new single evokes the sensation of silk running across naked skin, cool yet pliant –while being reminiscent of a slightly downtempo and house music-leaning version of Nu Shooz’s “I Can’t Wait.”

The recently released music video employs the use of a grainy, VHS-styled psychedelia as the video follows its brooding protagonist observing ancient Greek-inspired art, drinking wine. Visually, it looks as though it could have appeared on a version of Ralph McDaniel’s Video Music Box back in 1987 or so.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Although he’s performed in a number of renowned Japanese acts including Flipper’s Guitar, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist Keigo Oyamada is perhaps best known to international audiences with his solo recording project Cornelius, which was named as a homage to the character in Planet of the Apes; in fact, with the 1997 release of his full-length solo debut Fantasma, Oyamada received attention for a cut and paste sound that was compared to the likes of Beck and The Beastie Boys but paired with the sort of orchestral arrangements, samples  and production techniques that reminded some of Brian Wilson. And as a result of the interest around his work Oyamada quickly became a highly-sought after producer and remixer, who worked with the likes of Blur, Bloc Party, MGMT, James Brown and others. Adding to a growing internationally recognized profile, Oyomada has played in Yoko Ono’s re-formed Plastic Ono Band and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. And in his native country, Oyomada has co-produced and co-written for up-and-coming Japanese artist SalyuXSalyu. And interestingly enough, Oyomada has contributed music to Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Ghost in the Shell Arise. 

Fantasma had been long out of of print until Lefse Records recently released a re-mastered version of the album, complete with unreleased bonus tracks, including “Taylor,” a genre-meshing and genre-busting song that possesses elements of hip-hop breakbeats, funk, soul, glitchy electronica and random vocal samples. Sonically, the song manages to be challenging while being accessible enough to be played at a rave or an enormous summer festival.

Oyomada will be making his first Stateside performances in over 8 years over October and September, where he’ll be performing the material off Fantasma. Check out the tour dates below.


Tour dates:

8/4 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater

8/6 Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theater

8/8 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater

8/10 Denver, CO – Gothic Theater

8/12 Eau Claire, WI – Eaux Claires Festival

8/13 Chicago, IL – Park West

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year or so, you’d likely be familiar with electronic music artist and producer Tobacco, who is perhaps best known as the frontman of renowned indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow. As a solo artist, Tobacco has developed a reputation for crafting an abrasive yet anthemic sound — while seeming as though he wants to channel Daft Punk,  The Black Keys, Kraftwerk and Boys Noize — but from some dystopian future in which rusty, poorly maintained machinery and instruments whirr to grinding halt.

Sweatbox Dynasty, the long-awaited follow-up to Ultima II Massage is slated for release this summer, and earlier this year, I wrote about the album’s first single “Gods In Heat,” a single that I think will further cement his burgeoning reputation for crafting scuzzy, abrasive and anthemic electronic music as he pairs layers of abrasive industrial clang and clatter, skittering drum programming, surface-level analog tape hiss and sizzle, a chanted mantra and an infectious hook — but with a subtle dreamy element that nods towards psych rock. The album’s latest single “Human Om” pairs layers upon layers of buzzing and whirring industrial synths, mathematically precise handclap-led drum programming and chanted lyrics fed through vocoder with a dreamy psych rock-leaning melodicism that subtly lightens the murkiness.

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: El Dusty’s Anthemic and Club Banging, Cinco De Mayo-Inspired, New Single

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 […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of its frontmen Manchester, UK-born and Paris-based David Shaw and Paris-born and based Dombrance, along with Guilluame Rosel (percussion) and Victor Paillet (bass), the Paris-based electronic music collective DBFC emerged onto the French electronic music scene with the release of several singles through renowned indie label Her Majesty’s Ship Records last year. Building on the attention they’ve already received the collective’s latest single “Automatic,” which was recently released through Different Recordings will further cement the act’s reputation for crafting slickly produced electronic music that’s indebted to French electronic music and to Kraftwerk as the French collective’s latest single has the act pairing cascading layers of shimmering and undulating synths with a driving, motorik groove and ethereally cooed vocals bubbling up and then floating over the mix in a song that sounds indebted to Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express” and Primal Scream‘s “Autobahn 66” — but with a subtle cosmic glow around its edges.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Eerily Haunting Visuals and Sounds of Enemy Planes’ “We Want Blood”

Comprised of Casey Call (vocals, keys, synths, guitar), Joe Gamble (guitar), David LeDuc (bass), Kristine Stresman (keys, synths, vocals, percussion), Shön Troth (lap steel guitar), Joe Call (drums) and Jessica Anderson (drums), Enemy Planes is a […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Although they’ve been cloaked in a degree of mystery, Acid Arab is a Paris, France-based electronic music collective that has been receiving quite a bit of attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a sound that meshes Western electronic music, namely house and acid house, with Middle Eastern sounds and vocals; in fact, as a result of their crowd pleasing genre meshing sound, the collective has primarily made a name for themselves playing the European festival and club circuit over the past few years and for the release of several EPs through French label Versatile Records.

The collective’s much-anticipated full-length debut album is slated for an October release through Crammed Discs and the album’s first single “La Hafla” (which translates into English as “The Party”) features almost hip-hop-like vocals from Algerian vocalist Sofiane Saidi and pairs them with Middle Eastern instrumentation, wobbling and tumbling synths and enormous woofer rock beats that remind me quite a bit of the work of Omar Souleyman — but with a swaggering, club banging feel.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Retro-Futuristic Visuals and Sounds of Toronto’s Princess Century

Maya Postepski is a grizzled Toronto, ON music scene veteran, who is arguably best known as being a member of renowned electronic music act Austra, a prolific DJ and remixer, and for her work collaborating […]