Category: indie psych rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Tame Impala Performs “Love/Paranoia” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”

Initially developed as the solo recording project of its  Melbourne, Australia-based creative mastering, the multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer/songwriter Kevin Parker, Tame Impala quickly received national and international attention with the release of Innerspeaker and Lonerism. Parker’s third and most current full-length effort, Currents was released to critical praise two years ago, and from album singles “Cause I’m a Man” and “Let It Happen” reflected a decided change in Parker’s songwriting approach with the result being some of the most emotionally direct material he’s written to date. Along with that, sonically Parker expands upon the sound that has won him both national and international attention, with album material drawing from synth pop, prog rock and R&B, creating not only a modern take on psych pop, but also a much more nuanced, textured sound. 

After playing a critically applauded Panorama Festival set at the end of July, Parker and his touring band made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they performed the slow-burning and ethereal “Love/Paranoia,” a track that draws equally from synth pop, R&B and psych pop simultaneously; but underneath the shimmering and glistening surface is a plaintive plea from a severely screwed up man that has let his insecurities and petty jealousies (among other things) interfere in a meaningful relationship, and naturally, the song is an earnest plea for forgiveness; but unlike countless other songs based around a similar experience and emotion, there’s a sense that the song’s narrator recognizes that he has potentially fucked things up for good — and a result, the pleading possesses a sincere urgency. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 60s Psych Rock and Horror Movie-Inspired Sounds and Visuals of Tele Novella’s Latest Video

“Even Steven” is the latest single off the band’s recently released House of Souls and the single sounds as though it were inspired by 60s psych pop and Roger Corman horror movies — in particular, his loopy Fall of the House of Usher, as the band pairs shimmering guitar chords played through reverb, soaring organ chords, an anthemic and infectious hook, and sultry and subtly menacing vocals in a song about a evil character, named Even Steven who does everything within his power to get even with those who he feels wronged him.

The recently released music video employs the use of Claymation, construction paper animation and collages to create a hilarious DIY video full of cartoonish gore and violence — all of which are fitting for the Halloween season.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Corey Cunningham (guitar vocals), Phil Benson (bass, vocals) and Nathan Sweatt (drums), punk rock trio Terry Malts have developed a reputation for doing things in prototypical DIY fashion; in fact, the trio self-produced and self-recorded their first two albums in their rehearsal space. Since the release of their critically applauded Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere in 2013, the members of the trio have been pretty busy — after a busy live show schedule that included both local shows and touring, Cunningham and Benson had spent the better part of the following year writing, re-writing and revising the material that would eventually comprise their long-awaited third full-length effort, Lost At The Party in Los Angeles, where Cunningham had since relocated.

During the writing sessions for Party, Cunningham and Benson had decided that for their third album, that they wanted to broaden the band’s sound by creating a kaleidoscopic pop album that had a mixture of moods, with each song turning  to a different sound inspired by the albums that influenced and inspired the band over the years. And as a result, the album’s material manages to retain the something of the gritty and grimy punk rock that first caught the attention of the blogosphere, while equally drawing from jangling and shimmering indie pop and power pop.  Once they were finished writing and felt they were ready to record, the members of the band then enlisted Monte Vallier, best known for his work with Soft Moon and Weekend Swell to co-produce the band’s first album actually recorded in a professional studio.

 

Unsurprisingly, Lost At The Party’s first single possesses an obvious professional recording studio sheen without scrubbing the band’s penchant for crafting catchy hooks, layers of buzzing and angular guitar chords and harmonized vocals; in fact, in some way the song sounds as though it drew from The Clash‘s “Spanish Bombs” and “Lost In The Supermarket.”  And interestingly enough, the sonic refinement reveals that the band can write an infectious yet carefully crafted jangling pop song that sounds as though it came out in 1983.

The band is currently touring to support the new effort, check out the tour dates below. And it includes an October 24 stop at Shea Stadium.

Tour Dates:

Sept 2 – Santa Cruz, CA – Crepe Place
Oct 8 – Carmel, CA The Rumpus
Oct 9 – Los Angeles, CA –  The Hi Hat,(Release show w/ Devon Williams & Susan)
Oct 10 – San Francisco, CA – Hemlock (Release show w/ Chook Race & Lovebirds)
Oct 22 – Baltimore, MD – U+N Fest
Oct 23 –  Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
Oct 24 – Brooklyn, NY – Shea Stadium
Oct 25 – Allston, MA – O’Brien’s Pub
Oct 27 – Detroit, MI – UFO Factory
Oct 28 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean
Oct 29  – St Louis, MO – San Loo
Nov 18 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project
Nov 19 – Portland, OR – Bunk Bar

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of two critically applauded EPs, We Are Sound and Everything You Imagine Is Real, the New York-based electro pop duo Corbu received praise from the likes of NYLON, Stereogum, The Guardian, NME and others for a sound that’s heavily influenced by the Warp Records roster, sci-fi imagery,  psychedelia and their own dreams. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of weeks you may recall that I wrote about the cinematic “Battles,” one of the first singles off the duo’s highly-anticipated, soon-to-be released, full-length debut effort Crayon Soul; a track that has the band pairing a soaring and anthemic hook with a shimmering and breezy melody and plaintive vocals in a way that’s reminiscent to Moonbabies and M83.

Crayon Soul‘s latest single “Better Better Off” is a lush and shimmering psych pop, psych rock track that has the duo pairing angular guitar chords fed through gentle reverb and delay pedals, layers upon layers of gorgeous harmonies, shimmering synth cascades,  a soaring and anthemic hook, and a propulsive rhythm section in a song that sounds indebted to trippy 60s psych rock as much as it does to the likes of In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy and the dream pop of the aforementioned Moonbabies, Summer Heart – but with a palpable bittersweet wistfulness under the song’s breezy surface.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Boogarins Returns with Yet Another Breezy and Contemplative Song, and Gorgeous Visuals

Boogarins latest single “Tempo” is an contemplative song with an expansive song structure consisting of alternating dreamy and moody section with a loud, anthemic section featuring buzzing guitar chords and feedback — and much like the album’s previously released singles the latest single sounds as thought it draws from Pink Floyd, 60s garage psych, Tropicalia and jazz, which gives the song a breeziness that belies its thoughtful and psychedelic nature. According to press notes, the song’s lyrics speak about stopping time and freeing yourself from the everyday grind of work, school and obligations and escaping from the pressures of daily life.

Interestingly, the members of the band reached out to their fans on social media and asked them to shoot footage of two different moods: the first being “man’s world,” a world full of soul-crushing and demeaning imagery of urban life — commuting and rushing about, working, studying and starting at computer screens; and the second being images of sanctuary and safe places — friends, being out in nature, music, art and anything that would make you feel open, free and whole. As a result of their open call, the band received hundreds of submissions, which were then edited and crafted into a gorgeous, surreal and coherent whole by Cobrandit Films’ Owen Mack.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so,  Grand Rapids, MI-based psych rock trio HEATERS, comprised of Andrew Tamlyn, Nolan Krebs and Joshua Korf have become a JOVM mainstay act. And with the release of  the “Mean Green”/”Levitate Thigh” 7 inch, their full-length debut Holy Water Pool last year, along with a series of singles, the Grand Rapids-based trio also received a growing national profile for a 60s inspired psych rock sound.

Earlier this month I wrote about “Centennial,” the first single from the Grand Rapids, MI-based trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore effort, Baptistina. Interestingly, “Centennial” continues in a similar vein as the material on Holy Water Pool as the band paired dense layers of shimmering guitar chords played through tons of reverb and effects pedal, ethereal vocals, propulsive drumming and a throbbing bass line in a towering and anthemic psych rock song that feels as though it may descend into cacophonous chaos — but with a towering swagger that gives the song an effortless, larger-than-life feel. The album’s second and latest single “Garden Eater” is an epic and sprawling song that has a lengthy introductory section featuring dense layers of shimmering guitar chords and propulsive drumming that slowly fades into a dreamy and contemplative fade out, which allows for the slow build up of  an atmospheric section consisting of subtly droning guitar chords and vocals — an interestingly enough this section sounds as though it were indebted to Directions to See a Ghost-era The Black Angels before fading out with tons of reverb. Structurally the song may arguably be the most expansive song the trio have committed to wax

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring primary and founding members Courtney Ewan (singer/songwriter) and frequent collaborator Andy Bishop,  Twin River wrote the material of their soon-to-be released sophomore effort Passing Shade, an effort whose name draws from a lengthy dream sequence in Patti Smith‘s memoir M Train while they were over 3,00 miles apart — Ewan had relocated to Montreal while Bishop remained in his hometown of Vancouver. Initially, the material took the form of stripped-down, heartbroken ballads about lost love and as Ewan explains in press notes “I always write on an acoustic guitar, which I think is the vestigial influence of being 15 and playing acoustic guitar in the basement because my mom wouldn’t let me have an amp. Nine times out of ten, when we get the band together, we end up increasing the tempo.” In fact, when Ewan and Bishop got together to flesh out the original demos, the material turned into a barn-burning rock numbers with infectious pop hooks with a subtle hint of atmospherics — and done in way that manages to channel both 60s psych pop and garage rock and the contemporary fascination with that sound.

“Knife,” Passing Shade‘s latest single is a jangling and muscular garage rock song featuring gorgeous shimmering guitar chords and a classic psych rock guitar solo and a propulsive rhythm section paired with Ewan’s vocals which evoke vulnerability and heartbreak simultaneously. From this single, I think the act will throw themselves into a growing list of contemporary garage rock and psych rock acts including High Waisted, Raccoon Fighter, The Coathangers and several others — and the band does so with a cool, swaggering self-assuredness that belies the heartache, yearning and badassery at the core of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding member Will Halsey (vocals, guitar), Ash Reiter (vocals, guitar), The Beehavers‘ Bryant Dennison (guitar) and The Electric Magpie‘s Peter Maffei (bass), Joshua Tree, CA-based psych rock quartet Sugar Candy Mountain can trace its origins to when Halsey, who has had stints as a drummer in renowned Bay Area-based bands like The Blank Tapes, fpodbpod and Ash Reiter, began the project as a bedroom recording project in which Halsey initially wrong songs in the vein of of Montreal and The Beach Boys. Shortly after Halsey had started Sugar Candy Mountain, Reiter had joined him and the duo began co-writing songs. Interestingly, there was a brief period in which they wrote electro pop songs — before they had gone on a decidedly psychedelic direction when Reiter had started obsessively collecting effects pedals. Denison, who also was a bassist and former bandmate in Ash Reiter with Reiter and Halsey, joined on as a guitarist (which was interestingly enough, his first instrument).

With the band’s forthcoming album 666, the Joshua Tree, CA-based quartet will further cement their burgeoning reputation for a sound that has been described as being indebted to Jacco Gardner, Tame Impala and the classic psych rock sounds of 60s Laurel Canyon — as you’ll hear on album title track “666,” a single that also possesses an uncanny attention to dreamy melody as the band pairs Reiter’s gorgeous and chilly crooning with gently fuzzy guitar chords, soaring and ethereal organ chords with gentle almost minimalist drumming. Yes, it sounds as though it could have been written and recorded in 1966 and was recently discovered in a used record store — perhaps one like Last Vestige in Albany — but with a subtly modern production sheen.

 

 

indie rock by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jake Smallwood (vocals), Jacob Newman (guitar/backing vocals), Tristan Sava (guitar/organ), Henry Sava (drums) and James Bryman (bass/backing vocals), Brighton, UK-based psych rock quintet White Room have developed a reputation across the UK for a sound that’s been described as “a serrated blend of sky-gaze psychedelia and raucous distortion” as you’ll hear on “Think Too Much,” a swaggering and anthemic  A Northern Soul-era The Verve and Sleepy Sun channeling new single. Sonically, the band pairs fuzzy and bluesy guitar chords played through gentle amounts of reverb and delay pedal, an enormous, psychedelic-tinged hook with a driving groove.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

With the 2012 release of the “Ribbons” 7 inch and the 2013 critically applauded release of their full-length debut, A Constant Sea, Brooklyn-based indie rock/psych rock act Heliotropes — comprised of frontwoman, founding member and primary songwriter Jessica Numsuwankijkul along with a rotating cast of collaborators that include Gregg Giuffre (drums), Richard Thomas (bass) and Ricci Swift (guitar)  — have quickly exploded on to the national scene; in fact, A Constant Sea landed on the top ten of Mother Jones’ Best of 2013 list, and as a result, the band has opened for (and toured with)a  diverse array of artists including Esben and The Witch, Thurston Moore, The Geto Boys, Matt and Kim, Kurt Vile, Parquet Courts, The Black Angels and The Raveonettes —  and they’ve played sets at SXSW, Firefly and Culture Collide.

Building upon that buzz, the Brooklyn-based indie rock band will be releasing their highly-anticipated sophomore effort Over There That Way on July 15, 2016 through The End Records. And the album’s latest single “Normandy” is sweetly, old-fashioned garage rock that pairs shimmering and jangling guitar chords, and a propulsive rhythm section with Numsuwankijkul’s plaintive and ethereal vocals. And as soon as you hear the song it shouldn’t be surprising that the band’s sound has been described as Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval doing jangling psych rock.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Darkly Psychedelic Imagery of GOAT’s “I Sing In Silence”

According to an old Swedish legend, a traveling witch doctor and her disciples were led to Korpilombolo, a tiny and extremely remote Northern Swedish village by a Sami traveller. The reasons why that Sami traveller may […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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, Brooklyn-based shoegaze duo The Blessed Isles specialize in a sound that is heavily indebted to 80s Brit Pop, New Wave and of course, shoegaze; in fact, as you’ll hear on “Caroline,” the first single off the duo’s long-awaited full-length effort Straining Hard Against the Strength of Night, the band’s sound seems to draw from 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.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Initially comprised of cousins Jamie Turner (vocals, bass) and Matt Williams (guitar), along with Mike Mutt (organ) and Adrian Macmillan (drums), Perth, Australia-based psych rock quartet The High Learys can trace their origins to when Turner and Williams met Mutt in high school, with the band recruiting Macmillan to finalize the band’s original lineup back in 2011. With the release of a full-length album and a number of singles the Australian psych rock quartet have received praise both across their native Australia and internationally for a sound that had been described as a contemporary take on 60s psych rock, bubblegum pop and large rock that seemed to draw influence from the likes of  The Doors, The Who Sings My Generation-era The Who, The Animals, The Turtles, The Beatles and contemporary acts such as Oasis, The Black Angels, Elephant Stone, Sleepy Sun and others.

In fact, the band quickly became a JOVM mainstay as I wrote about a handful of singles on this site — including “Letters to Alice,” a song comprised of intertwined, twisting and turning guitar and organ chords paired with a propulsive rhythm section and Turner’s  Liam Gallagher-like vocals; “I’m A Fool For You” was their most bubblegum pop-leaning single, which possessed an infectious and sweet melody paired with even sweeter lyrics; and “Clear My Mind,” a single that sounded as though it could have been written, recorded and released sometime during the Summer of Love. Now, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve written about them and in that time the band’s lineup has been shuffled — Macmillan has been replaced by Mitchell J. Benson on drums. And interestingly enough, the band’s latest single “Cabinet” not only marks a change in sonic direction for the band that pushes their 60s-leaning psych rock sound closer to the 21st century and is the first time that the band produced themselves in the studio. Sonically “Cabinet” sounds as though it draws from My Gold Mask and Elephant Stone’s most recent releases, as the band pairs guitars and organ played through distortion and effects pedals, thundering drumming and an anthemic hook. In some way, the song sounds as though it were recorded in an enormous empty room with the instrumentation reverberating off the walls and back down to the musicians and listener.

As the band notes in press notes “‘Cabinet’ explores the insecurities of a young mind. Someone who feels lost in their ways, but at the same time shares the burdens of adolescents with their other half.”  And although the song possesses a trippy feel, at its core is a plaintive heartache that should feel familiar — it should remind the listener of the fact that love is almost always awkward but perhaps even more so when you’re trying to figure yourself out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays La Femme Return with Psychedelic, Egypt-Inspired Visuals for “Sphynx”

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 […]