Category: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Seattle, WA-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and musician Joseph Sant whose work is reportedly inspired and informed by his youth in the Pacific Northwest and the urban hustle and bustle of New York — in other words lush yet angular, dreamy yet forceful. Sant’s debut effort, Sea White Salt features his friends and collaborators Stirling Krusing on lap steel, Tyler Graham on drums and Georgia Tan on bass with production from Sant’s friend and long-time collaborator Gabriel Galvin, proprietor of Four Foot Studios.

According to Sant, Sea White Salt is thematically informed by climate change — the sort of climate change that has most recently reshaped much of the New York area’s coastline and rampant greed and development while exploring the connections between forces of nature, seemingly impassible social barriers, and the power of all-consuming love and dreams. Ironically, rampant greed and development directly impacted the artists during the recording of the album — they reportedly spent a few overnights recording the album before Four Foot Studios was about to be evicted. Certainly, as a New Yorker, the forces of gentrification and development rapidly changing one’s neighborhood is something that’s all too common . . .

“Nor’easter,” the album’s brooding first song consists of propulsive drumming and layers of shimmering guitars paired with Sant’s plaintive and ethereal vocals floating over the song’s arrangement in a way that nods to shoegaze — while evoking a slowly brewing storm over the horizon. And as a result the song possesses a tense, anxious beauty — as though just under the surface, something dangerous is about to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Creepily Seductive New Video for Psychic Love’s “Nancy”

  Psychic Love is the (mostly) solo recording project of Los Angeles-based Laura Peters, who occasionally collaborates with Erick Jordan. Reportedly inspired by the true crime series that constantly air on Investigation Discovery and other […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Playful Yet Brooding Visuals for DOCKS’ “Where’s My Mind”

Comprised of Ranier (guitar and vocals), Joe (drums). Jamie (guitar) and Ryan (bass), the indie rock quartet DOCKS initially formed in San Jose, CA and relocated to Portland, OR. Over the past year, the quartet […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of Brigid Dawson (vocals and tambourine), Petey Damnit (a.k.a. Petey Damnit!) Mike Shoun (drums) and led by the band’s founder member and creative mastermind, John Dwyer (vocals and guitar),  San Francisco-based quarter Thee Oh Sees have developed a reputation both regionally and nationally for being incredibly prolific, as they’ve released over a dozen albums since their official formation back in 2004 — and for being relentlessly experimental, as each album they’ve released has been decidedly different, while remaining true to their garage rock/psych rock origins. And naturally, as result of their prolificacy, their reputation for sweaty, raucous, and punishing live set and their ability to craft mind-melting power chord-based rock, the Bay Area-based outfit has become a JOVM mainstay and blogosphere darlings.

 

2015 has been a big year for Dwyer and associates as they released the critically acclaimed Mutilator Defeated At Last, arguably one of the heaviest and hardest hitting efforts the band has released in recent memory. And they’ll close out the year playing a number of live shows — including a two night benefit concert for L.A. Kitchen, a Los Angeles-based charity, whose mission is to provide healthy meals to the area’s homeless and help unemployed and unskilled men and women for jobs and more. But they also will close out the year with the announcement of the release of the “Fortress”/”Man In A Suitcase” 7 inch, slated for a February 12 release through Dwyer’s renowned Castle Face Records.

The material for the new 7 inch is culled from the Mutilator Defeated sessions and acts as an addendum of sorts to the album, as well as a teaser for a full-length slated for release sometime in 2016. A Side single “Fortress” is probably the most prog rock-leaning song Dwyer and associates have released in some time, as the song consists of propulsive and forceful, motorik-like groove, a throbbing bass line, breakneck, mind-melting guitar chords and falsetto vocals — all of which give the song an anxious, buzzing and nightmarish feel that evokes the sensation of restless tossing and turning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Dates 

Wednesday 12/16 Los Angeles, CA (L.A. Kitchen benefit) – Buy Tickets
Thursday 12/17 Los Angeles, CA (L.A. Kitchen benefit) – Buy Tickets
Thursday 12/31 Palm Springs CA, The Commune at Ace Hotel
Friday 1/8 Brisbane, Crow Bar
Saturday 1/9 Gold Coast, Shark Bar
Sunday 1/10 Byron Bay, The Northern
Wednesday 1/13 Newcastle, The Small Ballroom
Friday 1/15 Sydney, Newtown Social Club
Saturday 1/16 Wollongong, Wollongong Uni Bar
Tuesday 1/19 Geelong, Barwon Club
Wednesday 1/20 Melbourne, Howler
Saturday 1/23 Fremantle, Mojo’s Bar
Friday 2/12 Solana Beach, Belly Up Tavern
Wednesday 3/23 – Sunday 3/27 – Boise ID, Treefort Music Festival

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Echo Courts is a Greensboro, NC-based quartet, who specialize in a jangling guitar-based psych pop that sonically seems as though it owed a great debt to the sounds of the 60s and 80s while subtly nodding at New Wave as you’ll hear on “Fairview Place,” the anthemic hook-laden new single off the band’s forthcoming No Damage EP, which is slated for a January 18 release through Already Dead Tapes and Records. It’s a warmly familiar sound that will likely remind many of 120 Minutes-era MTV.

You can catch the North Carolina-based quartet on tour throughout the Southeast to start 2016. Check out tour dates below.

Tour Dates

 

1/2/2016 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
1/3/2016 – Atlanta, GA – Mammal Gallery
1/4/2016 – Birmingham, AL – Trim Tab Brewery
1/5/2016 – Jackson, MS – Big Sleepy’s
1/62016 – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa
1/7/2016 – Tallahassee, FL – Midtown Speakeasy
1/8/2016 – Savannah, GA – The Sentient Bean
1/9/2016 – Charleston, SC – The Royal American

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Most Americans would be familiar with Stockholm, Sweden‘s capital and largest city; however, over the last decade or so, Umea, Sweden’s third (and most Northern) and Malmo, Sweden’s twelfth (and most Southern)  that have emerged with reputations for being some of Scandinavia’s most exciting creative hotbeds as an increasing number of artists and bands from Umea and Malmo have started to receive international recognition. Some of those acts have been profiled here — including the Malmo, Sweden-based lo-fi rock quintet YAST.

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might recall that I’ve written about the Southern Swedish quintet before. The band can trace its origins to when its founding members Carl Kolbaek-Jensen, Tobias Widman and Marcus Norberg met in the steel town Sandviken in 2007 and started writing and playing music  as a way to escape a dreary life in even drearier environs. By the following year, Jensen, Widman and Norberg relocated to Malmo which has developed a reputation for a growing dream pop and indie rock scene. Some time later, Markus Johansson and Niklas Wennerstrand, who were both members of Aerial were recruited to flesh out the band’s sound.

With the release of their self-titled debut released in 2013, the Swedish quintet started to receive attention both in their native Sweden and internationally, and as a result they’ve opened for renowned psych rock acts including TOY, The Drums, Tame Impala, DIIV,  and they’ve made appearances at several large festivals, along with a UK tour, which suggests that the band’s international profile is growing — and rapidly.

The band’s sophomore album, My Dreams Did Finally Come True was released earlier this year through Adrian Recordings to international attention with the release of the album’s first two singles — in particular, “Together Forever,” a shimmering guitar-based pop song that managed to channel  120 Minutes era alternative rock. Building on the buzz they’ve received from their first two singles, My Dreams Did Finally Come True‘s third single “I Don’t Think She Knows” and its B-side “My Dreams” will further cement the band’s reputation for shimmering and slow-burning shoegaze-leaning guitar pop with anthemic hooks and an earnest, aching heart at its core — all while being remarkably buoyant and ebullient.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their first two albums, the Seaside, CA-based quartet Burnt Palms, comprised of  Riley (guitar and vocals), Clara Nieto (drums and vocals), Brian Dela Cruz (bass) and Joshua Vasquez, have been compared favorably to the likes of Dum Dum Girls, All Girl Summer Fun Band and Heavenly as their sound paired garage rock guitar chords with Riley’s ethereal vocals. However, with the forthcoming release of the band’s third full-length effort, Back on My Way, the Seaside, CA-based quartet has gone through a decided change of sonic direction with the band pairing indie pop melodies with thrash punk-like rhythms as you’ll hear on “Fold,” the brash and and snotty new single off the band the album.

Listening to the song reminds me of catching punk bands at the old Acme Underground, the Continental, Coney Island High, Brownies and countless other small, dank rooms across the city — but interestingly enough, the song possesses a bittersweetness that gives the song a snarling bite.

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

 

The up-and-coming Winnipeg, MB-based quartet Living Hour can trace their origins to basement jam sessions, writing dreamy songs inspired by the cinematic sky of their hometown. And as a result their sound, which possesses elements of shimmering guitar pop, swirling synths and ethereal vocals draws equally from classic shoegaze, dream pop and chillwave is both stunningly gorgeous and dramatic, as you’ll hear on their  latest single “Seagull,” a single that sounds as though it could have been released during 120 Minutes-era MTV — in particular think of Mazzy Star‘s “Fade Into You” and you’ll see exactly what I’m getting at.  (In other words, it’s the sort of song that would have been the soundtrack of an intense and fervent make out session — or would have been the soundtrack of a teenaged breakup.)

It’s been a busy year or so for the Canadian quartet. They contributed two songs to Family Portrait II, a vinyl compilation released by the London/Bristol-based label Art is Hard Records back in April and released a limited run cassette tape of their self titled debut effort through Bloomington, IN-based Tree Machine Records. But 2016 looks to be a breakout year for the band as they signed with Lefse Records, and will be releasing their full-length debut on February 19, 2016, which will be followed by a tour to support the effort. Check out some of the early tour dates below.

 

TOUR DATES:


March 3    Winnipeg, MB    The Good Will Social Club
March 4    Fargo, ND    The Aquarium
March 6    Des Moines, IA    Des Moines Social Club
March 7    Rock Island, IL    Rozz Tox
March 9    St Louis, MO    Foam
March 11    Denver, CO    Lion’s Lair
March 13    Phoenix, AZ     Trunk Space
March 18    Santa Barbara    CA    FUNZONE
March 19    Fresno    CA    Peeves Pub
March 22    Santa Cruz    CA    Bocci’s Cellar
March 25    Davis    CA    Third Art Space Collective
March 29    Portland    OR    The Analog Cafe
March 31    Bellingham    WA    Loudhouse
April 2    Rossland    BC    The Flying Steamshovel
April 3    Kamloops    BC    Zacks Coffee
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Guaranteed that if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past month or so, that you would have come across a couple of posts on the Los Angeles-based duo Pom Poms. Comprised of singer/songwriter Marlene and Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Billy Mohler, who is probably best known for his work with Awolnation, Liz Phair, Kelly Clarkson, and Macy Gray, the duo have been thrust into the national spotlight for a sound that owes a debt from classic garage rock and pop such as Connie Francis, Pasty Cline, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, the girl groups of the early 60s and others —  but with a subtly modern (and anachronistic) twist that makes the sound seem as though it could have been part of a a Quentin Tarantino film.

The duo’s debut single “Betty” first gained the attention across the blogosphere for a subtly scuzzy, lo-fi-like garage-based guitar rock sound that would make you think of the aforementioned Roy Robison and Buddy Holly the song possesses a similar urgent and swooning Romanticism. The heartache expressed by Marlene’s aching vocals is a heartache that we all have known at some point — being desperately in love with a fickle and thoughtless lover, who you know will inevitably break your heart. Following up on the buzz from “Betty,” the duo released a hushed and spectral alternate version of Betty that featured Marlene’s vocals paired with a sparse arrangement that includes a subtly Bossa Nova guitar line. Sonically, the alternate version channels Patsy Cline — in par — in particular, “Crazy” and “Walkin After Midnight.” And as a result, the alternate version aches with a similar desperate loneliness and longing.

Pom Poms latest single “123,” is a swinging and swaggering 60s-inspired soul song in which the song’s narrator describes playing a cat-and-mouse game with a potential suitor, who the song’s narrator sets upon having as hers and hers only. And as a result, Marlene’s sultry and soulful vocals possesses a come hither and stop wasting my damn time quality. Sonically, the song pairs Marlene’s vocals with period specific staccato bursts of organ,  propulsive rhythms and some funky guitar chords; thematically (and to my ears), I’m reminded of several songs including Amy Winehouse‘s “Rehab,” and Nancy Sinatra‘s “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” as the song possesses a similar brassy confidence.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Typically, the majority of most Americans — hell,  most Westerners, really — are largely unfamiliar with music scenes and artists outside of the usual bastions of popular music — i.e., the US. the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Sweden, Iceland and maybe a few outside of that sphere, such as Nigeria, South Africa, Mali and a few others. Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years, there has been a increasing focus on presenting and covering artists from diverse backgrounds from all over the globe. And interestingly enough, one of those acts has been the Istanbul, Turkey-based indie rock/dream pop quartet The Away Days. Inspired by The Cure, Tame Impala and others, the quartet have developed a reputation in their homeland as being among the forefront of a Western-inspired indie rock scene. Their How Did It Start? EP was released to critical praise internationally from the likes of Seattle‘s renowned indie radio station KEXP, The Guardian, SPIN Magazine, Noisey, and the blogosphere. And with a growing international profile, the quartet went on a tour of the UK and made an appearance at SXSW.

It’s been close to 18 months since I’ve last written about them but in that time, they’ve been working on the material, which would eventually comprise their long-awaited and forthcoming full-length debut, slated for release sometime next year. The yet unnamed debut’s first single “Less Is More” is a lush and atmospheric song that features plaintive vocals paired with four-on-the-floor drumming, shimmering guitar chords, brief bursts of cascading synths, a sinuous bass line and soaring, anthemic hooks that sounds indebted to 80s New Wave and post-punk.

2016 looks to be a big year for the Turkish quartet as the band has been confirmed to make a return appearance at SXSW in March and will be announcing additional tour dates to support their debut. Hopefully, there will be a New York tour date or two!

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’re been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of months, you might recall that I’ve written about the  Victoria, BC-based quintet Astrocolor. Comprised of Andrew Poirier (guitar), Anand Greenwell (saxophone), Chris Mackenzie (drums), William Farrant (bass), and Piers Henwood (guitar), the Canadian quintet decided that they wanted to tackle traditional and familiar Christmas songs for their latest recoded effort, Lit Up: Music for Christmas.

Featuring guest vocals from Kandle, Rykka, Jets Overhead‘s Antonia Freybe-Smith, and Abi Rose and co-produced by the Canadian quintet and Colin Stewart, best known for his work with Black Mountain, Dan Mangan and AC Newman, the compositional and sonic approach was largely inspired by jazz great Stan Getz’s Getz Au Go-Go, as well as Massive Attack, Air and St. Germain. As the band explained in press notes, Stan Getz’s rendition of “Summertime,” “became a jumping off point for what we were trying to do, taking the classic ‘summertime and the livin’ is easy’  hook and reshaping it into an exploratory piece. We too wanted to create a sense of familiarity and exploration within the context of a Christmas album.”

The album’s first single “We Three Kings” was a noir-ish and moodily atmospheric song that managed to sound as though it owed a sonic debt to jazz, as much as it did to dubstep and trip-hop as Abi Rose’s seductive, jazz standard vocal stylings were paired with a mournful horn line, swirling electronics, angular, funk guitar and bass and plinking keys submerged in layers of reverb to craft a cinematic and sensual rendition of a familiar and beloved holiday song. The album’s latest single is a dubby and jazz-leaning rendition of “Sleigh Bells” that pairs Rose’s husky, jazz standard vocal stylings with angular bass lines, twisting and turning guitar chords played through gentle amounts of feedback and wah wah pedal, and warm blasts of expressive horns and subtly slows down the song’s familiar tempo and melody to create a trippy and breezy rendition of a beloved Christmas song we’ve all sung at some point — while sounding as though it drew influence from the Josh Roseman Unit‘s dub-leaning rendition of Burt Bacharach‘s “Long Day, Short Night.” And it does while reminding the listener of the song’s playful nature.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Metz’s Furious Video for “Spit You Out”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years, you may be familiar with Toronto-based trio Metz. With the release of their 2012 self-titled debut through Sub Pop Records, the trio received both national […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Psychedelic Video for Twin Limb’s “Don’t Even Think”

  Comprised of Lacey Guthrie (accordion, keys, vocals), Maryliz Bender (drums, guitar, vocals), the Louisville, KY-based trio Twin Limb first caught the attention of the blogosphere with the release of “Long Shadow,”a slow-burning, dreamy and atmospheric dirge with droning accordion, shimmering […]