Category: indie rock

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release “Help Yourself” and several other singles, Western Wales-born, London-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Sarah Howells’ solo recording project Bryde has received praise from Nylon, The Line of Best Fit and Earmilk and airplay from BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio Wales, Radio X and Huw Stephens’ BBC Radio 1 show for a sound that’s been compared to the likes of Jeff Buckley, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Howard and London Grammar, as her early work so far has thematically focused on complex and ambivalent relationships that can simultaneously entangle. Her latest single “Wouldn’t That Make You Feel Good” is a boozy and woozy dirge in which Howells’ aching vocals are paired with bluesy yet shoegazer rock-like guitar chords in a song that builds up to a cathartic and explosive bridge before gently fading out. Interestingly, Howells’ latest single sounds to me as though it could be indebted to the likes of PJ Harvey as it possesses a similar earnest yet stormy and dramatic quality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by frontwoman and primary songwriter Sarah Lane, along with Blake Hickey, Josh Tart, Nic Moen and Tim Karplus, the Portland, OR-based indie pop/indie rock quintet The Late Great‘s debut effort Easy was produced by John Morgan Askew, who has worked with Laura Gibson and Richmond Fontaine, and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single, album title track “Easy,” the band pairs Lane’s deeply ironic and emotionally ambivalent lyrics with a stomping and anthemic hook. Sonically speaking, the song manages to sound as though it were indebted to 90s alt rock.

indie rock by kelliezhao

Live Concert Photography: SALES at Villain 10/12/16

Live Concert Photography: SALES at Villain 10/12/16, by Kellie Zhao The Florida-based band SALES, consisting of Jordan Shih (guitar) and Lauren Morgan (vocals, guitar), writes pop music with a very distinctive melodic line. The instrumentation […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of her debut effort under the moniker of Amber Arcades, Dutch musician and singer/songwriter Annelotte de Graaf quickly rose to international attention as the blogosphere and several media outlets praised de Graaf for material that thematically focused on a number of things — including both time and the relativistic experience of it, continuity, magic, jet lag and how being led by her own dreams has inspired the Dutch singer/songwriter’s personal, professional and creative lives. In fact, as the story goes, de Graaf has worked as a legal aide on UN war crime tribunals and while currently working human rights law, assisting Syrian refuges, she spent her savings on a flight to NYC, specifically to record her debut effort with Ben Greenberg, who has worked with The Men, Beach Fossils and Destruction Unit, and a studio backing band that includes Quilt‘s Shane Butler (guitar) and Keven Lareau (bass) and Real Esate’s Jackson Pollis.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Turning Light,” a single that thematically explores being the protagonist in your own life story while you’re simultaneously a supporting player in the lives of everyone around you — and how those very different roles and various lives intertwine in ways that can be confusing.  While sonically speaking,  de Graaf and her backing band paired rapid fire, four-on-the-floor drumming, swirling and shimmering strings, twinkling electronics, a driving bass line and de Graaf’s ethereal vocals singing lyrics that reflect the relativistic nature of time to craft a woozy single that draws equally from shoegaze and Brit pop.

Building upon the buzz of her debut album and her Fall Stateside tour with Nada Surf, de Graff and her backing band went into the studio during a brief break on tour to record her latest single, a shimmering dream pop/bubblegum pop version of Nick Drake’s “Which Will” that manages to add a rather ironic take to the song while retaining the song’s earnest yearning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Mind-Bending, Psychedelic Visuals and Sounds of Twin Limb’s “The Weather”

“The Weather” is the latest single off the Louisville, KY’s soon-to-be-released effort Haplo and much like the other material I’ve written about over the years, it possess a gauzy, dreamy quality — as though the song’s narrator has just been awakened from a pleasant reverie; however, where the previous singles were towering, “The Weather” is much more understated as undulating and droning keys are paired with shimmering guitar chords played through gentle amounts and reverb and sultry pop belter-like vocals in a song that focuses on a growing sense of anticipation and aching longing.

The recently released music video employs the use of kaleidoscopic filters and effects to create a trippy and mind-bending psychedelia that further evokes the song’s gauzy feel.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Post Rock/Post Punk Sounds of San Francisco’s The Soonest

Led by San Francisco, CA-based singer/songwriter Young Lee and featuring a rotating cast of collaborators including members of indie rock bands such as WATERS, Hazel English’s backing band, Doe Eye, There’s Talk, and Elsa y Elmar, The Soonest have released a handful of EPs at traditional recording studios that have won attention both locally and regionally for a layered and moody, 80s post-punk/post-rock leaning sound; in fact, Lee was asked to write the score to the documentary Weaving Shibusa.

Mixed by Greg Francis and mastered by TW Walsh, the project’s recently released full-length debut effort, Doors to the City was recorded in an empty Bay Area church, and the high wooden ceilings helped create the enormous, wall of sound like sound that you’ll hear on Doors to the City’s first single “Start a War,” a single that pairs Lee’s lilting and dramatic vocals with layers upon layers of angular guitar chords, a forceful, motorik-like groove consisting of a sinuous bass line and propulsive drumming, and an anthemic hook. Sonically, the song manages to channel Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen — including deeply urgent and visual lyrics that describe an uneasy and fraught relationship.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dinowalrus Returns to Pair Trippy, Psychedelic Visuals with Their Manchester-Channeling Sound

You may have become familiar with Brooklyn-based psych rock act Dinowalrus, an act that I’ve written a bit about quite a bit over the past few months. Currently comprised of frontman and guitarist Pete Feigenbaum, who has spent some time as a touring guitarist in Titus Andronicus; Max Tucker; Meaghan Omega; Dan Peskin; and John Atkinson, who joins the band as a touring member, the members of the Brooklyn-based band have developed a growing national and international profile for a sound and aesthetic that draws from post-punk, krautrock, shoegaze, synth pop and psych rock as you’ll hear off “Tides,” the first single off the band’s recently released full-length effort FAIRWEATHER. Sonically speaking, the song sounds as though the band had been listening to Join The Dots-era Toy, Primal Scream and the Manchester sound as the band pairs shimmering and undulating synths with a driving, motorik-like groove, guitar chords played through delay and other effect pedal and Feigenbaum’s plaintively cooed vocals.

The recently released video for the song is appropriately psychedelic and begins with Feigenbaum tripping on hallucinogens in a forest, when he stumbles upon four strangers, his bandmates in a variety of situations, and they unite on a singular purpose based on the fact that each of the members of this crew have a portion of a larger piece of art scrawled on their arms. And while in a cemetery, they encounter a guitar pick, which may have mystical powers. Trippy, indeed.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding members Erin Jenkins and Mathieu Blanchard and recent recruits Chris Dadge (bass), who has had stints in Lab Coast, Alvvays and Chad VanGaalen‘s backing band; and renowned singer/songwriter and guitarist Samantha Savage Smith joining a guitarist, Canadian band Crystal Eyes can trace their origins to the melancholic dream pop the duo wrote while nomadically bouncing back and forth between Tofino, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia — dream pop that the band’s founding duo has claimed has drawn from Francoise Hardy, Guided by Voices.  As a relatively constituted quartet, the band has continued to tour across their native Canada, including consecutive appearances at Pop Montreal.

The band’s latest effort The Female Imagination was written while the band spent time on a lake island in rural Ontario and was recorded on a Tascam 388. And according to the band, the album thematically focuses on and explores the other side of ourselves that we can never quite seem tor reach. The album’s latest single “Already Gone” consists dreamy and ethereal harmonies with layers of shimmering guitars played through copious amounts of reverb and delay pedal and a persistent, driving rhythm and in some way, the song sounds as though it were equally influenced by 60s garage psych — i.e., much like contemporary acts like Raccoon Fighter, The Black Angels, early Dum Dum Girls, Death Valley Girls and countless others but with a moody and sensual feel.

 

 

 

indie rock by kelliezhao

Live Concert Photography: Wild Child at Villain 9/23/16

Live concert photography of Wild Cihld’s set at Villain last month, by Kellie Zhao.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 120 Minutes-Channeling Sounds and Visuals of Minihorse

Comprised of Ben Collins (vocals, guitar), Christian Anderson (bass, vocals) and John Fossum (drums, vocals), the Ypsilanti, MI-based indie rock trio Minihorse specialize in a power pop sound that seems to draw from the work Bob Pollard, Bob Mould and others — but paired with a half-despairing, half-shrugging ironic lyrics as you’ll hear on the 80s and 90s alt rock channeling new single off their forthcoming Big Lack EP, “Drink You Dry,” a single with a narrator who openly pokes fun at there even being a purpose at anything and the notion of belonging, as Collins’ ethereal coos are paired with scuzzy power chords, and propulsive drumming.

The recently released music video for “Drink You Dry” reminds me quite a bit of the videos I used to catch while watching 120 Minutes as it cuts between footage of the band brooding before projection of themselves and playing the actual song, and awkward party featuring the video’s female lead. Initially, she spends time hooking up with a fellow partygoer before she goes about lifting people’s cell phones.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of his debut single “Care Less, Love Less,” Hartlepool, UK-based singer/songwriter James Leonard Hewitson received attention in his native England for a sound that draws from Parquet Courts, The Walkmen and others paired with snarling and ironic lyrics and his latest single “The Screen” will further his reputation for his noisy, frenetic and anxious take on slacker pop — while making a pointed comment on the use of social media and how it impacts our lives. As Hewitson explained to Dork Mag “’The Screen’ is a song about the overuse of social media in our functioning daily lives, and the social illusions it creates as a result i.e. affirmation in picture likes, sociopolitical ideas derived from meme logic, or going for a meal with someone yet constantly checking your phone.”

Throughout the song, Hewitson describes the constant need to reaffirm oneself through social media as a disease that actually isolates you from people and from actually doing anything about changing the world, besides confirming their own biases and political opinions.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Currently comprised of founding member Brazilian-born and now Los Angeles, CA-based Samira Winter (vocals), Matt Hogan (guitar), Justine Brown (bass), and Garren Orr (drums), indie dream pop/shoegaze act Winter can trace their origins to when Winter along with the band’s co-founder Nolan Ely started the band in Boston. After the release of their 2012 debut effort Daydreaming EP, Winter relocated to Los Angeles where she recruited the band’s current lineup to flesh out the project’s sound.

As a newly formed  quartet, the members of the band went into the studio to write and record their full-length debut Supreme Blue Dream, which Lolipop Records released last year. With material written and sung in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, the album thematically was designed to connect the listener to their inner child while writing shimmering and ethereal pop that interestingly enough sounds as though it could have been released by 4AD Records.

The band is working on their forthcoming sophomore effort Ethereality while making a number of tour dates, which you can check out below. But interestingly enough, the Los Angeles dream pop act’s latest single “Dreaming” was originally written in 2013 and was presumed lost when the band’s laptop was stolen on tour. However, the members of the band recovered a version of a song found on a backup hard drive — and the single will further cement the band’s growing reputation for crafting shimmering and ethereal pop in which Winter’s ethereal melodies are paired with shimmering guitar chords played through reverb pedal, a sinuous bass line and propulsive drumming. Sonically, the song evokes being woken from a pleasant and revelatory reverie.

Check out the aforementioned tour dates below.

Tour Dates:

October 18 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater *
October 21 San Francisco, CA – Slims #
November 5 San Diego, CA – Blonde Bar ~
November 6 Fullerton, CA – Continental Room ~

* = w/ Ducktails, Ablebody (Record Release), Wyatt Blair
# = w/ Picture Atlantic
~ = w/ So Many Wizards

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, as I’ve mentioned last month, if you’ve been frequenting this site at any point throughout its six year history, you’ve likely come across a handful of posts about Brooklyn-based music and art collective Dead Leaf Echo. And over that period of time, the members of the collective have seen a growing national and international profile as they’ve played some of the country’s largest festivals, have opened for the likes of  The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes, as well as made appears on KEXP‘s John in the Morning and on Nic Harcourt’s KCSN show.

Since the 2013 release of the band’s 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut effort Thought and Language and its follow up true.deep.sleeper EP, the members of the band have been working on their much-anticipated sophomore, full-length effort but in the meantime, they’re releasing a cassette tape edition of the “Lemonheart” 7 inch through Wiener Records on November 4, 2016, as the two original vinyl pressings are completely sold out. And as I mentioned about that single, it will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting lush, shimmering shoegaze/dream pop in the vein of RIDE, Swervedriver and Slowdive.

“I Will Do (anything)” the band’s latest single consists of ethereal boy and girl harmonizing, their trademark lush and gorgeously shimmering guitar work, propulsive four-on-the-floor-based drumming, a sinuous bass line and a rousing hook to craft a song that’s a swooning declaration of devotion that sounds as though it could have been released during 4AD Records heyday as much as it could easily be released today.

Dead Leaf Echo have embarked on a Fall/Winter tour to support the release of the “Lemonhead” 7 inch cassette tape edition and it includes a two Brooklyn dates. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates 

10.15 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s (Luscious Heaven: A Night of Shoegaze and Dream Pop)
10.29 – Brooklyn, NY @ ARKHAM: Brooklyn Gothic Party
11.06 – New York, NY @ Berlin (Release Party w/ Midnight Hollow, Big Band)
11.09 – Ft Wayne, IN @ The Brass Rail (w/ March On, Comrade)
11.10 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle (w/ Lightfoils, Ganser)
11.11 – Detroit, MI @ Echo Fest
11.12 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Louis Trophy Room (Kalamashoegazer Festival)
11.19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store (w/ Solilians, Landing)
11.25 – Nashville. TN @ TBD
12.03 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ortleib’s

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Michael Ellis, Ryan Ellis, Lewis McGuinness, Lloyd Shearer, and Benjamin Robinson, the members of Liverpool-based shoegaze quintet The Vryll Society have quickly become JOVM favorites over the better part of the past year for crafting material that initially had been largely inspired by Funkadelic, Aphrodite’s Child, krautrock and classic shoegaze.

While “Coshh,” the second single off the band’s debut EP Pangea consisted of a tight, motorik-like groove, propulsive, four-on-the-floor drumming, shimmering guitar chords played through layers of reverb and other effects pedals, atmospheric electronics that helped evoke a cosmic sheen and an anthemic hook, Self-Realization,” Pangea‘s third  nodded at  The Verve, as the song structurally twisted, turned and bent at weird and unpredictable angles — with guitar work that also subtly nodded at Nick McCabe’s expansive and expressive sound. The Liverpool-based shoegazers followed those singles with “La Jette,” an ethereal and dreamy single that nodded at contemporary, 6os inspired shoegazers such as  Elephant Stone, Sleepy Sun, Cool Ghouls and others.

 

The band’s latest single “A Perfect Rhythm” manages to simultaneously be a refinement of their sound and a return to form (of sorts) as the band retains the shimmering guitar chords played through a bit of reverb and effects pedals, a tight, motorik-like groove, a rousingly anthemic hook with a complex, rolling drum pattern, plaintive, falsetto vocals and an expansive song structure fittingly held together by the rhythm section. Interestingly enough while the song reminds me quite a bit of A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, the song also reminds me of A Perfect Circle as it it possesses a broodingly Romantic undercurrent.