Category: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially forming under the name Apteka, the Chicago, IL-based psych rock quartet Pink Frost, currently comprised of founding members Adam Lukas (vocals, guitar) and Paige Sandilin (guitar) and newest members Alex Shumard (bass) and Jesse Hozeny (drums), have released 2011’s debut Gargoyle Days (under the name Apteka) and 2014’s Sundowning to critical praise both locally and nationally from  Pitchfork, SPIN Magazine, Noisey, Magnet Magazine, and Chicago Reader for a sound that had been compared favorably to RIDE, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur, Jr. and Deerhunter. And adding to a growing national profile, the band had material from Sundowning placed in the major motion picture, The Lookalike and TV series such as The Vampire Diaries and CSI: Miami.

Now, if you had been frequenting this site over the past 2 years or so, you may recall that the Chicago-based band released a painstakingly remixed and re-mastered edition of their debut effort, from the original analog masters to better reflect their live sound at the time — and with artwork reflecting the band’s name change, as a both a metaphorical and literal rebirth. And at the time, I wrote about Gargoyle Days‘s second single, the seemingly  The Posies’ “Ontario,” Foo Fighters‘ “This Is A Call” and The Black Angels’ “Telephone“-inspired “Where Days Go.” However, four years have passed since a full-length album of original material from the critically applauded, Chicago-based psych rockers and in that time, they’ve gone through a series of changes that have influenced the band’s songwriting approach, their overall sound and the material’s thematic concerns. As I mentioned earlier, the band went through a massive lineup change in which the band’s newest members Shumard and Hozeny take prominent roles — and as the band’s Adam Lukas explains in press notes, the album overall addresses a collective sense of abrupt changes. “There is a sentimentality or a sense of loss that permeates most of the songs,” Lukas says. “Whether it’s the loss of truth, the ones you love, your place in the universe, or general sense of meaning in changing landscapes.”

New Minds, the band’s latest album is slated for a June 16, 2017 release and the album reportedly finds the band’s material at points becoming much more introspective — and while the more straight ahead rock-leaning material manages to be heavier and darker, their more spacey, shoegazer-like material manages to be much more introspective and with more delicate melodies. “Bare Roots,” New Minds‘ first single is a power chord-based barn-burner that sounds as though it draws from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, complete with an anthemic hook. And interestingly enough, the song may be the most urgent and forceful song they’ve released to date, echoing our most urgent and forceful time.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sweet Spirit’s Aggressively Freaky Visuals for “The Power”

Austin, TX-based, self-described “freak parade” octet Sweet Spirit initially began as a solo project of its founding member and frontperson Sabrina Ellis. And when she started the project, Ellis’ personal and creative lives were falling apart in front of her — Bobby Jealousy, the band she fronted and co-founded with her then-husband had been disintegrating along with her romantic relationship. Ideally, Ellis conceived Sweet Spirit as a way to hone her writing and offer her an ability to perform solo. “It was supposed to be focused on me writing solo, and performing with the guitar,” Ellis said in press notes. But interestingly enough, when the Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter and guitarist began her latest project, she was simultaneously writing and performing as a member of a local garage punk band A Giant Dog — and her A Giant Dog co-founder Andrew Cashen was intrigued by Ellis’ newer material, which drew from soul, country and pop music. Cashen quickly joined as a way to challenge himself creatively and as a musician. “I’m very comfortable doing loud and fast,” Cashen explained in press notes, “so this is uncharted territory for me.”

Ellis and Cashen began writing material at a breakneck pace and then recruited a core backing band of four more members, with whom they rehearsed religiously before playing a series of attention grabbing gigs around town. Within their first six months as a live, performing band they caught the attention of Spoon’s Britt Daniel, who then asked the band to play at Spoon’s “secret” kick off show for the tour to support They Want My Soul, which resulted in both greater local and national attention, including playing 2015’s SXSW — without having an actual album under their belts or applying. Adding to growing attention, the members of Sweet Spirit opened for Spoon for a 12 of Spoon’s Midwest and West Coast dates.

Building on the buzz they were receiving, the band released their full-length debut Cokomo and a two song collaborative effort with Britt Daniel to critical praise from the likes of Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Spin and other media outlets, which lead to two national tours. In between playing shows, the band squeezed in studio time with producer Steve Berlin, best known for his work Los Lobos and Deer Tick to record their forthcoming sophomore full-length effort, St. Mojo, which is slated for an April 7, 2017 release through Nine Mile Records. Interestingly, the album’s first single “The Power” is a relatively recent staple of their live sets and a fan favorite, while revealing a change of songwriting approach and sound — towards the anthemic hooks, power chords and thundering drumming of glam rock; in fact, “The Power” sounds as though it draws from T. Rex‘s “Bang A Gong” but being both a battle cry for the outcasts, rebels and misfits to stand up and be proud of what they are, and feminist anthem that says “defy shitty stereotypes and be the you, you’re always meant to be — no matter what.” Considering our world and sociopolitical climate in which conformity is constantly demanded of you and in which in some cases being yourself can threaten the perceived social mores and sensibilities of judgmental, hypocritical prudes, rebelling and being your truest and only self may be the biggest, most revolutionary act of your life.

Directed by Ed Dougherty, the recently released video for “The Power” takes the band’s self-professed freak show vibe and turns it up to about 22, as it features the band in a variety of costumes performing in front of what could be a cult of conformists — and it seems the audience is both awestruck and horrified by what they see, and perhaps even inspired to do something incredibly freakish and strange.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Arthur Onion, Fredrik Differ, Oliver Boson, and Alex Ceci, the up-and-coming, Stockholm, Sweden-based indie rock quartet Mankind have developed a local and national profile for crafting anthemic and bluesy, garage rock reminiscent of The Black Keys, Winstons, and others; however, they set themselves apart from their cohorts with material that not only thematically focuses on heavy and dark subjects — namely nihilism, mourning the lost of loved ones, the contemplation of the passing of time and getting older, love, death and extinction while making references to the work of What Whitman, French graphic novels, Tin Pan Alley classics, the Biblical story of Lazarus, and several different religious scriptures on death without being pretentious or purposely difficult; in fact, “Ghost” off the Swedish indie rock quartet’s recently released Death EP focuses on something that will feel and sound familiar — the lingering ghosts of a relationship that have haunted and taunted the song’s narrator, and it evokes someone who has been torturing himself with the “what if’s” and the “if i had known then what i know nows” and so on while desperately trying to accept the fact that it’s over and it’s a part of his past. And in some way, the song’s narrator has to accept the death of a relationship as an actual death.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Brooklyn-based indie rock act LCD Soundsystem was founded by frontman, multi-instrumentalist, producer, DJ and DFA Records co-founder James Murphy in 2002, and along with acts like The Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Radio 4, Liars, and lengthy list of others are considered pioneers of a dance punk act renaissance that saw its height at the early part of this century. Interestingly enough, LCD Soundsystem may arguably be one of most critically and commercially successful acts of their era — 2005’s eponymous full-length debut, which featured their most successful single “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” was nominated by a Grammy for Best Dance Recording with the album also being nominated for Best Electronic/Best Dance Album.  With a growing national and international profile, Nike commissioned the band to write and record a workout-inspired album — 45:33 — as part of Nike+ Original Run series and they followed that up with their 2007 critically acclaimed sophomore album Sound of Silver, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album. 2010’s This Is Happening was the band’s most commercially successful, as it was also their first Top 10 album in the States; however, by the next year, the band announced that it would be breaking up and celebrating with a series of farewell shows at Madison Square Garden and Terminal 5 — with the events of the final show chronicled in the documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits and was released as a live album, 2014’s The Long Goodbye.

After LCD Soundsystem broke up, Murphy and the members of the band went on to pursue a number of creative and business pursuits — with Murphy being the among the busiest in the band. Over the years Murphy has continued his production and sound engineering work, working with Arcade Fire during the Reflektor sessions, created a special set of remixes from the 2014 US Open, based on the actual sounds and events of matches and remixed David Bowie‘s “Love Is Lost,” for an expanded edition of the legendary artist’s The Next Day. He also occasionally DJ’d, including an incredible set to close out DFA Records’ 12th Anniversary Party at Grand Prospect Hall.  As far as other pursuits, Murphy participated in Canon’s Project Imaginat10n, which invited 5 different celebrities and personalities to direct short films based on pictures uploaded by photographers and other creatives around the world to their website — and the result was his first directorial effort, “Little Duck,” set in Japan. And interestingly enough, with the assistance of Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman, Murphy released his own blend of espresso and a few years later, Murphy opened a critically applauded restaurant in Williamsburg. Though Murphy publicly stated that LCD Soundsystem’s breakup allowed him the time and ability to pursue a wild array of projects in a way he had never before, he also missed being in a band. Interestingly, towards the end of 2015 there were rumblings that the members of LCD Soundsystem were considering a series of reunion shows for the major festival circuit — and those rumors went wild when the members of the band released “Christmas Will Break Your Heart” ironically enough on Christmas, the first single they released in over 5 years.

After the release of “Christmas Will Break Your Heart,” Murphy and his bandmates confirmed a reunion tour, with appearances at several major music festivals, and a new album, which is slated for release sometime this year. Now, if you’ve been following the blogosphere, you know that Murphy and company had a series of hometown shows to open The Bowery Presents‘ newest venue, Brooklyn Steel and those live shows included two new singles, which will make appearances on the band’s new album — the atmospheric, Berlin Trilogy-era Bowie meets Roxy Music “Call The Police,” which features Murphy’s archly ironic and cynical lyrics and nods a bit at This Is Happening and their incredible cover of Harry Nilsson‘s “Jump Into The Fire” and “American Dream,” a slow-burning track featuring shimmering synths but subtly nods at “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down,” thanks in part to Murphy’s dramatic crooning, Certainly for fans, who have been waiting for new material for the past 18 months, it’ll give them a good hint of what they might expect from the new album, while also suggesting that the band has continued forward as though they never broke up.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Since their formation in early 2014, the Leeds, UK-based indie rock/psych rock trio The Boxing, comprised of Harrison Warke (vocals, guitar), Henry Chatham (bass) and Charlie Webb (drums), have quickly asserted themselves as part of their hometown’s burgeoning, contemporary indie rock and psych rock scenes, and they’ve already drawn some comparisons to the likes of W.H. Lung, Eagulls and JOVM mainstays The Vryll Society.

The Leeds-based psych rock trio’s latest single “One by One” is a brooding track featuring swirling and shimmering guitar chords, a propulsive motorik groove, led by a sinuous bass line and steady drumming paired with a soaring hook and a whispered croon reminiscent of The Horrors‘ Faris Badwan — and while possessing a modern production sheen, the song as the band’s Harrison Warke explains is an elaboration of their first couple of singles, as it’s the first single that they’ve recorded in a proper studio. Naturally, the studio recording process  gave the members of the band the freedom and ability to experiment and flesh out the overall arrangement in a way that they were unable to do before. And interestingly enough, while the song possesses a contemporary studio sheen, it manages to also nod at the sound of classic shoegaze and 4AD Records‘ early days — while thematically speaking, focusing on “depression and the culture of silence around it,” as Warke explained in press notes; in fact, the song manages to accurately capture the song’s narrator’s free-fall into a deeply overwhelming and crippling depression.

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Art Feynman is a Californian-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and from “Feeling Good About Feeling Good,” the first single off his full-length debut, Blast Off Through the Wicker, the Californian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist specializes in a genre-defying sound that possesses elements of krautrock, Nigerian Highlife, Afrobeat, trippy psych rock fuzz and Graceland-era Paul Simon pop. And while recorded on four-track tape, Feynman maintained the track’s easy-going, motorik meets Afrobeat groove without he use of loops or drum machines, which points both to dexterous musicianship and careful attention to craft. But perhaps more important, this track may arguably be the funkiest and most unique songs I’ve come across this year.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Over the course of their decade together, the Bay Area-based psych rock band Sleepy Sun — comprised of Bret Constantino (vocals), Evan Reiss (guitar), Matt Holliman (guitar) and Brian Tice (drums) — have released five full-length albums that have established the band’s reputation for crafting material that sounds as though it owes an equal debt to 60s psych rock, classic rock, shoegaze and dream pop, and while at times being warmly familiar, they’ve managed to be put a unique spin upon it. Interestingly enough, with Private Tales, Sleepy Sun’s forthcoming album, the members of the band find themselves taking a much different approach than with their previously recorded albums, and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single “Seaquest,” the members of the Bay Area-based band have gone for a lush, more spacious — hell, much more patient approach with the song revealing nuanced layers and emotions upon repeated listens, while retaining the gorgeous guitar work and soaring hooks that have won them attention. However, whereas the band managed to sound cosmic, the new single evokes placidly (and somewhat aimlessly) sailing off into a gorgeous sunset, and the sensation of just quietly digging your surroundings and your place in the world. And in light of a world and sociopolitical climate that has gone absolutely mad, sometimes you need to take a moment to just exist.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Best known as members of A.R.E. Weapons, Matt McCauley and Brian Peck started their latest recording project TV Baby last year in a makeshift hideaway deep within a remote section of industrial NYC. The duo found the  isolation and decay of their surroundings as helping the overall exploratory vibe of their early writing and recording sessions, which also included the duo shifting their roles within the band — and interestingly all of that wound up influencing the duo’s full-length debut, Dignity Don’t Dance produced by The Rapture‘s Gabriel Andruzzi and mixed by Ewan Pearson.

Dignity Don’t Dance‘s latest single “Swamp Beat” manages to nod at NYC’s dance rock/dance punk scene of the early 00s as the duo pairs squealing and scorching guitars with stuttering and propulsive drum programming, a motorik-like groove, and a rousingly anthemic hook with howled, mantra-like vocals. And in some way the song manages to nod at Echoes-era The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem but with a gritty, scuzzy, industrial feel reminiscent of early Ministry — and as a result, the song manages to be a swaggering, club banger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Party with the Undead in the New Video for The Coathangers “Captain’s Dead”

Currently comprised of Julia Kugel (vocals and guitar), Meredith Franco (bass), and Stephanie Luke (drums), the Atlanta, GA-based trio and JOVM mainstay The Coathangers have released five full-length albums in their decade plus time together, with each album finding the band refining their sound and songwriting approach, frequently balancing a brash, raw and seemingly spontaneous simplicity and urgency with razor sharp wit and biting irony. Interestingly, with the band’s last two full-length efforts 2014’s Suck My Shirt and last year’s Nosebleed Weekend, the trio’s material was arguably at its most direct and forceful of their entire catalog, which helped to retain the feral and rowdy urgency that they’ve become so known for; but they managed to pair that energy with rousingly anthemic hooks and a pop-leaning sensibility — or in other words, the material may have been some of the more radio friendly songs they’ve released to date.

Parasite, the band’s latest EP is slated for a June 30, 2017 release through Suicide Squeeze Records and the album’s material has the Atlanta-based trio balancing the unbridled and furious expressionism of their debut and the increasingly nuanced, pop-leaning sensibility of their last two albums. As the band’s Julia Kugel explains in press notes “During the making of our last album, I didn’t want to scream anymore, I just wanted to sing and focus on melody. When we came to this recording, I just wanted to scream and curse.” And in some way, it shouldn’t be surprising that the EP’s material is partially inspired by events within the bandmembers’ personal lives, the current political climate, rife with kleptocracy, hypocrisy, blatant sexism, racism and gratuitous cruelty and the band’s own existence and development as artists and songwriters.

“Captain’s Dead,” the first single off the EP manages to sound as though it could have been a B-side to the singles off Nosebleed Weekend while drawing from 90s grunge rock as the song structurally consists of alternating quiet and loud, anthemic hooks, and a surfer rock-inspired bridge, a propulsive rhythm section and a sneering punk rock air. And much like the band’s previously released material, the new single possesses an underlying mischievous feel underneath the scuzzy, give no fucks swagger.

Directed by Matt Odorn, the recently released video for “Captain’s Dead” features zombies, pirates, a merman, cheerleaders, a shit-ton of beer guzzling, some raucous performing within a milieu that’s mischievous, murderous and campy as hell.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Millie Duthie (vocals, guitar), Mitch Duce (guitar), Dan Hole (bass, vocals) and Danny Southwell, the Brighton, UK-based indie rock quartet Thyla had a big year last year, as they received quite a bit of praise from British tastemakers and opened for the Dream Wife and Luxury Death before spending the last few months of the year revising their sound and songwriting approach before writing new material, which included their first single of this year, “Ferris Wheel.” While thematically focusing on the fear of not being good enough in the eyes of those most important and those close to you, the band’s sound manages to nod at 80s post-punk acts like The Smiths and Sioxsie and the Banshees, thanks to shimmering guitar chords paired through distortion and reverb pedals, a driving rhythm, a rousingly anthemic hook, the song possesses the earnestness of (presumably) being inspired by a personal experience that’s fairly universal.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Optimistically Sunlit and Tropical Visuals for The Charlatans’ “Plastic Machinery”

Although they’ve gone through a series of lineup changes since their formation back in 1989, The Charlatans (sometimes known Stateside as The Charlatans UK) have managed to be one of the UK’s most commercially and successful acts ever as they’ve had 12 albums land within the Top 40 of the UK Charts, including 17 Top 30 singles and four Top 10 singles. Ironically enough, the band has achieved such tremendous sBMuccess while being extraordinarily unlucky: Rob Collins, the band’s original keyboardist died in a car accident during the recording sessions of the band’s fifth album; Jon Brookes, the band’s original drummer died after being diagnosed with a brain tumor; Tim Burgess, the band’s frontman, founding member and primary songwriter has battled through drug and alcohol addiction throughout the band’s history; and at the band’s biggest commercial success, the members of the band discovered that their accountant hadn’t ensured that their taxes were paid, and worse yet, had been embezzling money from the band for years — and as a result, the money they earned from playing the UK’s largest festivals over a period of years, had to be forfeited to pay their tax debts. Certainly, while any one of those events could have curtailed many bands, the members of The Charlatans have stubbornly continued onward.

The band’s forthcoming, thirteenth full-length album Different Days is slated for a May 26, 2017 release through BMG and the album, which was co-produced by Jim Spencer, was recorded at the band’s studio in Cheshire, and features guest spots from a variety of friends and collaborators including Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, The Verve’s Pete Salisbury, The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, crime writer Ian Rankin and writer/actress Sharon Horgan among others. Different Days‘ latest, mid- tempo single “Plastic Machinery,” will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting enormous and rousing hooks within a song that possesses a bittersweet feel that clearly draws from equally hard-fought and heartbreaking experience; but just underneath the surface is the hopeful and somewhat optimistic vibe of someone who’s managed to survive in the face of incredible odds.

The recently released music video features Tim Burgess and the band alternately brooding and hanging out while presumably on tour — and the video alternates between footage shot with a Super 8 and a digital recorder while capturing the band in a gorgeous, sun-lit environs.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as members of renowned Sacramento, CA-based experimental hip-hop act Death Grips, Zach Hill and Andy Morin formed their experimental rock/noise rock/punk rock side project The I.L.Y’s in 2015 and they’ve quietly released two full-length albums, their 2015 debut I’ve Always Been Good at True Love and their 2016 sophomore effort Scum With Boundaries. The duo’s third full-length album is slated for a May 16, 2017 digital release, followed by a vinyl and CD release through Castle Face Records on June 16, 2017 — and while the new album has the band collaborating with guitarist Tristan Tozer, who’s best known for his work with Yah Mos and Drug Apts, the album’s first single “I Love You, Man,” will further cement the duo’s reputation for crafting noisy and swaggering, industrial-leaning rock that sounds indebted to hip-hop, punk rock and 80s post punk.