Category: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Originating as the solo recording project of David Miller, the Chicago, IL-based lo-fi/punk/psych rock quartet Strange Faces expanded to a quartet when Miller recruited Taylor Walters (guitar), Philip Valdez (bass) and Ben Leach (drums) to flesh out and complete the project’s sound. “Brand New Way,” off the quartet’s soon-to-be released debut effort Stonerism is a swaggering, scuzzy bit of psychedelic  lo-fi reminiscent of Crocodiles and Raccoon Fighter as the album’s first single pairs buzzing guitar chords, a tight and propulsive rhythm section, big hooks and vocals fed through layers of distortion. And despite it’s swaggering nature, at its core is a bruised and aching heart as the song’s narrator talks about moving on from crushing loneliness while capturing the youthful restlessness and rebellion that’s always been the rock ‘n’ roll spirit.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Kyle Miller (vocals and lead guitar), Jake Supple (vocals, bass and drums), and Ty Baron (guitar and keys) Denver, CODenver, CO-based psych rock trio Plum have specialized in the beloved psych rock sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s –in other words power chord heavy songs with blistering, mind-melting solos, thundering drumming and soulful vocals and harmonies. But interestingly enough, it’s a sound that also nods towards the grunge rock sounds of Pearl Jam (think of “Evenflow“), Soundgarden and others without being being carbon copy mimicry; in fact, the members of Plum push a familiar sound to a subtly modern context without scrubbing away what listeners love about the sound — power chords and anthemic hooks as you’ll hear on their latest single “Light Years, Dark Years.”

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Frequently compared to RIDE, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur, Jr. and Deerhunter, the critically praised Chicago, IL-based quartet Pink Frost originally formed under the name Apteka — and as Apteka, the quartet recorded their debut effort Gargoyle Days on analog tape before releasing the album back in 2011 to critical praise; the album landed on Time Out Chicago‘s Best of 2011 List, as well as several others. After changing their name to Pink Frost, the quartet’s 2014 sophomore effort, Sundowning was released to critical praise from nationally renowned media outlets including Pitchfork, SPIN Magazine, Noisey, Magnet Magazine, and Chicago Reader. And adding to a growing national profile, material from Sundowning appeared in The Lookalike and TV series such as The Vampire Diaries and CSI: Miami, among others.

The Chicago-based quartet will be releasing a painstakingly remixed and remastered update of the original analog masters, which reportedly will not only pack much more punch, but will also be representative of the band’s live sound. Of course, with new artwork reflecting the band’s change of name, the band intends for the re-release of their debut to be a metaphorical and literal rebirth. (Interestingly, the members of Pink Frost have been incredibly busy of late as they’ve also been busily recording the follow-up to Sundowning and Traitors EP with Gregoire Yeche at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios.)

The re-released album’s second and latest single “Where Days Go” is an power-chord based song with enormous, anthemic hooks that sounds as though it were inspired by 90s alt rock and shoegaze. I’m reminded quite a bit of The Posies‘ “Ontario,” Foo Fighters “This Is A Call” and The Black Angels‘ “Telephone” as “Where Days Go” possesses a similar forcefulness and mosh-pit ready feel while being incredibly radio friendly.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Hauntingly Gorgeous and Nostalgic Video for Line and Circle’s “Like A Statue”

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past three or four months you may recall that I’ve written about the Los Angeles-based quintet Line and Circle. Comprised of Brian J. Cohen (vocals, rhythm guitar), Eric Neujahr (guitar), Jon Engelhard (bass […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

British indie rock sensation Escapists can trace their origins to when Simon Glancy (vocals) relocated to London to concentrate on his songwriting, and as soon as he moved he asked the only musician friend he knew to help him record his musical ideas, Oil Court (guitar). Court then quickly recruited his friend, composer Max Perryment to play bass. And as the story goes, the trio spent a week of intensive songwriting sessions before deciding that they had enough musical and creative simpatico to continue collaborating together. Court’s former schoolmate Any Walsh (drums) was recruited to finalize the band’s lineup, and the newly formed quartet began writing and recording material inspired by Arcade Fire, The National and Broken Social Scene.

The quartet’s debut single received airplay from XFM‘s John Kennedy and within that year, they were touring with Imagine Dragons and played sets at Reading and Leeds Festivals. Continuing to build upon the buzz they received nationally, the quartet spent 2013 writing and recording the material that would comprise their 2014 debut, Only Bodies, which was released to critical praise from the blogosphere.

Over the past year or so, the band has reportedly gone through a change in sonic direction with their sound inching towards dance-floor-leaning post-punk. “Pyramid Scheme,” the first single off the band’s Eat You Alive possesses enormous, anthemic hooks, shimmering and angular guitar chords, thundering drumming, sinuous bass lines, and swooningly plaintive vocals. Structurally speaking there are some playful changes in tempo in a song that sounds as though its indebted to the likes of U2, Editors, The Killers, New Order and others.

Certainly, with such an enormous hooks and a dance-friendly sound, I think we’ll be hearing quite a bit from them over the next few months.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Auras’ Brit Pop Channelling, New Single

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past month, you may recall that I’ve written about the Toronto,ON-based psych rock sextet The Auras.  Comprised of long-time friends longtime friends, Aaron McCoy (drums), Hank Van Harten (bass, […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dorothy’s Ass-Kicking, Thanksgiving-Themed, New Video

Over the past 18 months or so, the Los Angeles-based quartet of Dorothy, named after their founding member and vocalist have become JOVM mainstays and have won national attention for a sound that possesses elements of riff-heavy […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeous and Sort of Animated Video for Adam Busch’s “Tiger”

About two weeks ago, I wrote about singer/songwriter Adam Busch and “Tiger” the latest single from his recently released and long-awaited full-length debut, River of Bricks. Busch is probably best known for stints as the frontman and primary […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Coke Weed’s Early 1980s-Influenced Video for “I Could Be So Real”

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past month-month-and-a-half or so, you may come across a couple of posts written about the Bar Harbor, ME-based psych rock quintet Coke Weed. Comprised of founding members Milan McAlevey (songwriting, guitar) […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Pom Poms’ Super 8 Film Channeling Video for “Betty (Alternate Version)”

  If you’ve been following JOVM over the past two weeks or so, you may recall that I’ve written about Los Angeles-based duo Pom Poms. Comprised of singer/songwriter Marlene and Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Billy Mohler, who is probably […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of a group of high school classmates and friends, the Hershey, PA-based quartet The Ocean Blue quickly rose to national prominence with the critically applauded release of their debut effort through Sire Records back in 1989 — and of course, that also meant major radio and MTV airplay. The quartet went on to release two more well-received records through Sire, Cerulean and Beneath the Rhythm and Sound and a fourth album See the Ocean Blue through Mercury/PolyGram before leaving the major label game in the late 90s, which arguably made them one of the earliest and better known acts to do so.

In the 2000s (and that phrase just looks and sounds utterly doesn’t strange doesn’t it?), the band released several independent releases including Davy Jones Locker and Waterworks before going on a lengthy hiatus, which ended with the 2013 release of Ultramarine through Korda Records, a Minneapolis-based (where the band  cooperative label that the band helped launch.

Recently, the band re-issued their first three Sire Records releases on vinyl — for the first time in over 20 years — and to celebrate the occasion the band played a small handful of special shows playing material from those albums live, to celebrate the occasion.  And from what I hear, the band is working on a full-length of new material, slated for release sometime next year.

But in the meantime, the band shared a lost and previously unreleased single from the Sire Records days, “City Traffic” which consists of shimmering guitar chords played through gentle layers of reverb, soaring organ chords, propulsive drumming and plaintive vocals in a song that sounds as though it possesses elements of The Smiths and 120 Minutes-era alternative rock thanks to its anthemic hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so, Memphis, TN-based  quartet Nots and their Stateside label home Goner Records have become JOVM mainstays as I’ve written quite a bit about both the band and their label; in fact, Goner Records have quickly established themselves as the label home to some of the country’s best hardcore punk and hard rock bands, as they have been the label home to the likes of Ex Cult, whose Midnight Passenger and Cigarette Machine EP have been two of the best (and angriest) punk albums I’ve heard in about 5 years, OBN IIIs who have released several albums of swaggering power chord party rock in the vein of early AC/DC, the late Jay Reatard and several others. And with the release of their debut effort, We Are Nots, the Memphis-based quartet comprised of Natalie Hoffman (guitar) and Charlotte Watson (drums), Madison Farmer (bass) and Alexandra Eastburn (synths) started to receive national attention for material that sounds as though it owes a debt to the 60s era garage rock, punk and new wave – but with a frenetic, unhinged and very visceral feel.  Personally, I think the Memphis-based quartet’s debut effort should have received much more attention as their sound and aesthetic can be compared favorably to The Fall, Bikini Kill, Protomartyr, The B52s and others.

Renowned British indie label Heavenly Records licensed Nots’ We Are Nots and are releasing the effort across the UK on the 20th. The quartet will touring across the UK and the Ehe European Union to support the British/EU release of their debut effort — and to further celebrate the British/EU release of We Are Nots, the band in concert with Heavenly Records released a 7 inch of non-album material featuring “Shelf Life” as a B side to their latest single “Virgin Mary.”

“Shelf Life” is a messy, murky, lo-fi garage psych rock song comprised of relentless, chugging guitar chords, propulsive drumming, layers of distortion and feedback and shouted vocals that rushes in and out in a breakneck 1:43. And although the song kick ass, it manages to reveal a band that’s subtly and playfully expanding their sound while remaining familiar.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Long-time friends Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams conceptualized their current band, Ulrika Spacek during a single night in Berlin, a project that would be influenced by Television, Pavement, Sonic Youth and krautrock. Upon their return to their house KEN, a former art gallery in Homerton, the duo of Edwards and Williams began working on the material, which would eventually comprise their forthcoming full-length debut, The Album Paranoia slated for a February 5, 2016 release through Lefse Records and Tough Love Records. Three expert musicians were recruited to flesh out the project’s live sound and to complete their live show, which combined art installations with music.

The Album Paranoia’s first single “She’s A Cult” consists of angular and chugging guitar chords played with a gentle amount of reverb,  a tight rhythm section comprised of a propulsive drum beat and a throbbing bass line paired with soaring and anthemic hooks and ethereal vocals that float over an overall grungy mix. Although incredibly contemporary, the song sounds as though it could have been released during the 120 Minutes-era of MTV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Video Review: The Surreal Video for Space’s “Strange World”

Currently comprised of  founding members Tommy Scott (vocals, guitar), Franny Griffiths (keys), along with Phil Hartley (double bass, bass) and Allan Jones (drums), the Liverpool-based quartet Space can trace their origins back to 1993 when […]