Category: indie synth rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Deriving their name from the computing term “soft error” — or a fault occurrence in a digital memory system that changes an instruction in a program or a data value, Soft Error is an accomplished production and DJ duo of Tim and Rupert, who have been well-regarded in electronic music scenes and composition for film, theater and TV respectively. Their full-length debut Mechanism which is slated for a January 6, 2017 through Village Green Records was recorded at Valgeir Sigurðsson’s renowned Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik, Iceland and draws from 1907s Krautrock, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Cliff Martinez, John Carpenter and Jon Hopkins — while also dimly nodding at the likes of Kraftwerk  and contemporary acts like Collapse Under the Empire.

“You Caught Up,” the duo’s cinematic and retro-futuristic debut single and first single off their forthcoming full-length was written and recorded in Paris, arranged in London and mixed in Iceland, consists of layers of shimmering and cascading synths, a sinuous bass line and propulsive drumming and a gorgeous wind section arrangement. Interestingly, the composition reveals a painterly nature, as each note and each chord adds a bit of texture and color like a brushstroke upon a canvas — while sounding as though it should be part of a soundtrack to a futuristic thriller.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps more popularly known as a co-founder of renowned indie electro pop act M83, Nicholas Fromageau, who left the project after the release of the act’s seminal album Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, Fromageau (vocals, guitar) founded his own project, Team Ghost recruited fellow French musicians Christophe Guérin (vocals, guitar),  Benoit de Villeneuve (vocals, guitar, keys), Félix Delacroix (drums), and Pierre Blanc (bass) to flesh out the project’s overall sound. Following the release of several EPs, 2013’s full-length debut Rituals, tours with Crystal Castles and a set the inaugural Pitchfork Paris Festival, the members of the band found themselves in a bit of a creative rut before they ultimately found inspiration in an old analog synthesizer, along with the Blade Runner soundtrack and Kanye West‘s Yeezy among other things while blending it a bit with elements of feedback-filled guitar chords played through effects pedals, inspired by Sonic Youth and Slowdive. And the end result is the retro-futuristic and cinematic “The Riser,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming self-titled sophomore effort, slated for a December 2, 2016.

While possessing an icy and abrasive feel, and vocals fed through layers of vocoder, the song not not manages to be larger-than-life and anthemic, it simultaneously manages to nod at Chateau Marmont, Milemarker, Kraftwerk, and John Carpenter soundtracks while evoking an Orwellian, post-apocalyptic world of cyborgs, clones, nuclear waste, pollution, deprivation and unending strife. However, just underneath the icy and uneasy surface, there’s an aching and human yearning for much more — for another world in which the song’s narrator could truly be free.

 

 

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal Visuals for Teeth and Tongue’s “Turn Turn Turn”

Give Up On Your Health’s second and latest single “Turn Turn Turn” much like its predecessor is inspired by a painful breakup — and lyrically, the song is full of the bitter regret, uncertainty, self-deception and gradual acceptance that occurs in the aftermath of a breakup, while sonically speaking, the song draws from 80s New Wave, synth pop and the DFA Records roster. Or in other words, undulating and propulsive synths are paired with cowbell-led percussion, angular guitar chords in a sensual and slinky arrangement, along with an infectious, dance-floor friendly hook. And somehow, every time I’ve heard it I’m reminded of Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back” and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll.”

The recently released video for the song turns the simple act of eating into something surreal, disgusting and detached and mechanical — and perhaps in some way, the video’s actors are deluding themselves into this being normal.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Slick and Sensual Sounds and Visuals for The New Up’s “Black Swan”

The album’s latest single “Black Swan” is a slinky and slickly produced track in which shimmering and atmospheric electronics, slashing and angular guitar chords and a sinuous bass line are paired with ES Pitcher’s sensual vocals — singing lyrics that reveal the narrator’s urgent, carnal need, the need (and desire) to lose one’s self, if even for a little bit, her increasing frustration with people and human relationships and empty, soulless hookups. And at the core of the song is the growing loneliness that being in a large city can inspire in all of us.

Directed by Hassan Said, the recently released, sensual video for the song was shot in one continuous take and is inspired by a true (and very fucked up) story — and it features a couple of incredibly cinematic sequences including the video’s incredibly drunk protagonist stumbling around a bar and club while on the verge of vomiting and being followed by an (presumably) obsessed and deranged woman, who fakes being attacked to bring the object of her obsession closer to her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Renowned Director and Composer John Carpenter Returns with an Eerie and Cinematic New Single Paired with Equally Creepy Visuals

Lost Themes II’s latest single “Utopian Facade,” is a moodily atmospheric and cinematic composition consisting of throbbing and insistent bass, cascading layers of shimmering synths, and a staccato, string-based sample in what may arguably be Lost Themes II’s most haunting and eeriest single while nodding at Carpenter’s imitable and familiar sound.

Produced and directed by Gavin Hignight and Ben Verhulst, the recently released video for “Utopian Facade,” is the story of an android’s nightmare, hidden in dark, murky forests, set in an uneasy yet relatively near future that feels and looks dimly familiar. As Hignight explains in press notes “We were instantly haunted upon hearing ‘Utopian Façade’. It conjured images of jagged tree branches, dark woods and things that go bump in the night. Our goal was to explore these feelings combined with the visuals of the electronic synth driven world established in the ‘Night’ video from the prior album.” Unsurprisingly Hignight and Verhulst manage to further emphasize the slowly creeping dread and horror within the song, while hinting at the dystopian future that seems almost inevitable.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their 2011 self-titled EP and their full-length debut, Richmond, VA-based indie act White Laces developed a reputation for being a noisy, indie rock band that had been banned from a number of venues for being way too loud. However, over the last couple of years the band’s material has increasingly leaned more towards electronics and samples paired with some live instrumentation — and with the addition of newest member Tori Hovater, the band’s soon-to-be released album No Floor also includes ethereal three-part harmonies.

“Cheese,” the first single off No Floor pairs ethereal and atmospheric synths, stuttering drum programming and shimmering guitar chords and plaintive vocals in a song that’s moodily cinematic while possessing a wistful and aching nostalgia while sounding as though it nods at both 80s synth pop and the contemporary synth pop of St. Lucia, Haerts and others.

The band is embarking on a short tour during October and it includes an October 10, 2016 stop at Williamsburg’s Muchmore‘s. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour dates:
10.07 @ DC9 (Washington, DC)
10.08 @ Hardywood (Richmond, VA)
10.09 @ Golden Pony (Harrisonburg, VA)
10.10 @ Muchmores (NYC)
10.12 @ Auroura (Providence, RI)
10.13 @ The Thirteenth Floor (Easthampton, MA)
10.14 @ Trixie’s Palace (Allston, MA)
10.15 @ TBA (Philadelphia, PA)

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lower Dens’ Moody and Gorgeous Visuals and Sounds for “Real Thing”

The recently released video was produced by SSION and employs the use of hazy early 80s synth pop videos as the song has Hunter performing in an empty studio as the video cuts to hazier and hot florescent lit footage of couples and other folks dancing at a club, and of Hunter playing guitar and singing, sometimes in different colored suits. Interestingly, Hunter sings the song’s most devastating lines to herself in a mirror, which emphasizes the song’s loneliness while also emphasizing the fact that the song’s narrator is faced with a difficult decision.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently based in New Orleans, Kate Fagan is a ska, punk and new wave musician, who first emerged to local and regional attention as the founding member and frontwoman of Chicago-based ska act Heavy Manners, an act that once opened for the The Clash and The English Beat; but interestingly enough before that Fagan released a cult-favorited New Wave single “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool” through local imprint Disturbing Records that was immediately embraced by local club DJs, radio stations and taste-making record stores like Chicago’s Wax Trax, where it became the best-selling release by a local artist ever.  The B-side single “Waiting for the Crisis” also received attention for its politically charged, Reagan-era lyrics, which manage to still resonate today.

 

As the story goes, Fagan wrote the title track after moving from New York to Chicago in the late 70s. “I pretty much came to visit Chicago and fell in love with the scene and never left,” Fagan recalled in press notes. “At the time I’d been working at New York magazine and was getting dismayed watching the CBGB scene give way to the whole Studio 54/velvet rope thing. So I spontaneously moved to Chicago, which was much more inclusive and everyone wasn’t standing around peering at each other from behind their shades. But eventually I saw that same kind of divisive hipster culture start to creep in. ‘Too Cool’ was my reaction to that.” Along with “Too Cool,” Fagan wrote many of her earliest songs as a solo artist and with Heavy Manners in an intuitive fashion, recording them at Chicago’s Acme Studios, where she’d meet the fellow artists with whom she’d form Disturbing Records.

Although the “Too Cool” single was a cult favorite back in the early 80s, sadly it was thought to be long lost, as the second printing of the album was lost in a house fire that destroyed almost everything Fagan had owned at the time — that is until Manufactured Recordings stumbled upon the original single, along with two unreleased bonus tracks that Fagan recorded with members of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Scarlet Architect. Interestingly, when you listen to the four tracks off the re-issued 7 inch, the songs manage to sound both of its time and incredibly contemporary — in some way you can imagine acts like Colleen Green, Courtney Barnett, Karen O. and several others citing Fagan as an influence, as Fagan’s lyrics possess a wry irony at at their core, as you’ll hear on the aforementioned “Too Cool,” a song that’s reminiscent of both The B52s and Go-Gos. “Waiting for the Crisis” sounds as though it were influenced by Sandinista! and Combat Rock-era The Clash. However, “Master of Passion” and “Come Over” are the most dance floor-friendly, New Order-like songs of the re-issue, featuring shimmering undulating synths, propulsive drum programming paired with Fagan’s sultry and coquettish delivery.

Of course, each track reveals a songwriter, who had an uncanny knack at writing an infectiously catchy hook that you could imagine kids bouncing up and down to in a sweaty club — and does so with a cool, swaggering self-assuredness.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of primary members Guy Fenech, Oly Marlan and Nick Franklin Sydney, Australia-based indie electro pop/indie rock act Australia independently released their full-length debut Portraits of People, Places and Movies earlier this year to national attention for a sound that channels their homeland’s early 80s pub rock scene and 80s New Wave — in other words, as you’ll hear on Places and Movies‘ latest single “Breathe In,” anthemic hooks paired with propulsive four-on-the-floor-like drumming, angular guitar chords, a sinuous bass line, shimmering and undulating synths and Fenech’s baritone crooning to craft a sound that will remind listeners of INXS‘ “Listen Like Thieves” and In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy — but with a dance floor-friendly feel.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Milemarker’s New Video Captures Their Live Song and An Anthemic, Mosh Pit Worthy Song

Over the last few months I’ve written quite a bit about  Chapel Hill, NC-based experimental/post-hardcore punk/new wave-leaning trio Milemarker. Initially comprised of Al Burian, Dave Laney and Ben Davis, the members of Milemarker quickly developed a reputation in indie […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially spending her professional career as a Berlin and Bristol, UK-based political journalist, Anika Henderson, best known under the mononym that she writes, records and performs under, Anika can trace the origins of her musical career to when she was introduced to Portishead’s Geoff Barrow while she was in Bristol. And as the story goes, Borrow was looking for a vocalist, who would work with his band Beak> for what would be a side project — and when Barrow and Henderson met, they immediately bonded over a mutual love of punk, dub and 60s girl groups. Within a week, Barrow, Henderson and the members of Beak> went into the studio to record the material which would eventually comprise Henderson’s 2010 self-titled full-length debut with Henderson and the members of Beak> recording live in the same room without overdubs.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past three years or so in particular, you’d know that 2013 saw the release of Henderson’s self-titled EP, a collection of covers and remixes that included Henderson’s cover of Chromatics’ “In the City,” a cover, which paired Henderson’s icy deliver with a murky and tense, Portishead and The Velvet Underground and Nico-inspired production. A few years have passed since we have heard from her, but earlier this year, Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, released an icy, lo-tech, analog synth, electro pop and dub-leaning cover of Nena’s “99 Red Balloons” by the mysterious Invada All Stars featuring Anika on vocals as part of that weekend’s Stop Trident National anti-nukes demonstration in London, a demonstration protesting the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system.

Henderson’s latest musical project, Exploded View is something of a side project from her critically applauded solo work and in fact, the first single from the project’s soon-to-be released full-length debut, “No More Parties in the Attic,” revealed that the members of the project drew heavily from post-krautrock, krautrock, dub and industrial music as the band pairs electronic bloops and bleeps, industrial clang and clatter, buzzing and angular synth and guitar chords with Anika’s signature delivery to craft a sound that’s sleek and darkly seductive, while subtly evoking the sensation of desperately navigating a world that has gone madder than ever. The album’s latest single “Lost Illusions” has the band pairing jazz-like hi-hat-led syncopation with guitar and bass chords fed through layers upon layers of reverb with Henderson’s half reciting and half singing vocals with her icy delivery in a song that feels improvised, unguarded and vulnerable as it captures a narrator looking into void with an unsettling and unvarnished honesty.

If you reside in Europe or you happen to be lucky enough to be in Europe over the next couple of weeks, you might want to catch Exploded View live. Check out tour dates below.

Tour Dates

13th Aug – La Route Du Rock, Saint Malo, FR
18th Aug – Point FMR, Paris, FR
19th Aug – De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam, NL
20th Aug – Hope & Ruin, Brighton, UK
21st Aug – Green Man Festival, Wales, UK
21st Aug – The Exchange, Bristol, UK
23rd Aug – Shacklewell Arms, London, UK
24th Aug – Connges Annules Festival, Luxembourg, LU
25th Aug – Ex Haus Trier, DE
27th Aug – Het Bos, Antwerp, BE
28th Aug – Übel & Gefährich, Hamburg, DE
30th Aug – Skjul Fyra Sex, Gothenberg, SE
1st Sep – Loppen, Copenhagen, DK
2nd Sep – Pop Kultur Festival, Berlin, DE
3rd Sep – Big Next Festival, Gent, BE
4th Sep – Worm, Rotterdam, NL
6th Sep – Non Smoking, Strasbourg, CH
7th Sep – Le Bourg, Lausanne, CH
9th Sep – Conne Island, Leipzig, DE
10th Sep – ZISKOSTEL Prague, CZ
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I wrote about the Chapel Hill, NC-based experimental/post-hardcore punk/new wave-leaning trio Milemarker. Initially comprised of Al Burian, Dave Laney and Ben Davis, the members of Milemarker quickly developed a reputation in indie and underground music circles for explosive life shows and for material that possessed adventurous arrangements and instrumentation. And with their 1999-2007 touring lineup with featured bounding members Burian and Laney, along with Roby Newton (vocals, synths), the trio eventually played over 1,000 shows across North America, Europe and Japan supporting 2000’s Frigid Forms Sell and 2001’s Anaesthetic, opening for the likes of Wire, Mission of Burma, At The Drive-In, The Hives, Thursday, The Blood Brothers, International Noise Conspiracy, High On Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cave In, Les Savy Fav, Spoon and a lengthy list of others.

After the release of 2005’s Ominosity, which featured drummers Tony Lazzara and Noah Leger, as well as arrangements from siblings Beth and Tim Remis, the band went on an extensive US and European tour in 2008 with founding member Ben Davis, which included appearances at SXSW and Fusion festivals; however, by 2009 Laney had relocated to Hamburg, Germany and began to focus his energies on his post-Milemarker project Auxes while Burian had relocated to Berlin to pursue a literary career. Interestingly, in 2015 the founding duo of Laney and Burian had started playing a series of live shows featuring Lena Kilkka (keys, vocals) and Ezra Cale (drums). Just in time to celebrate their reunion, Lovitt Records will be releasing a re-issue of the band’s seminal 2000 release Frigid Forms Sell and the re-issue is not only the first time the album appears on vinyl in 16 years, it’ll include 7 previously unreleased tracks, including one which was  premiered on Brooklyn Vegan. And the digital version will include demo versions of several album tracks. But interestingly, this year will be an even bigger year for the band as Overseas, the band’s first album in some time is slated for an August 26. 2016 release — while embarking on their first US tour in over 8 years (and you can check out tour dates below).

Last month’s post featured “Carrboro” the first single off the band’s forthcoming, new album had the band pairing a throbbing and insistent bass line with a quickly morphing song structure that alternates and meshes between dreamy psychedelia, tense, angular post-punk, New Wave and prog rock — and in a expansive and mind-altering fashion. The album’s second single “Conditional Love” pairs buzzing and angular guitar chords, a driving motorik groove, layers of shouted vocals and vocals fed through vocoder, and an anthemic hook in a song that sounds equally inspired by Nine Inch Nails and as by Garbage; however, with a prog rock bent.

Tour Dates:
08/11 Charlotte NC @ Milestone
08/13 Atlanta GA @ The Wrecking Ball ATL
08/14 Nashville TN @ The End
08/15 St. Louis MO @ Off Broadway
08/16 Milwaukee WI @ The Cactus Club
08/17 Minneapolis MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
08/19 Chicago IL @ Empty Bottle
08/20 Lansing MI @ Mac’s Bar
08/21 Cleveland OH @ Now That’s Class Lounge
08/22 Philadelphia PA @ The Boot & Saddle
08/23 Allston MA @ Great Scott
08/24 Brooklyn NY @ Shea Stadium
08/25 Brooklyn NY @ Saint Vitus
08/26 Washington DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
08/27 Carrboro NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Paul Bancell (vocals, guitar), Ben Saginaw (bass) and Chris Samuels (synths, samples, drum machines), Detroit-based trio Ritual Howls have developed a reputation for a sound that possesses elements of industrial electronica, goth, rockabilly, and others — although when you hear “Scatter The Scars,” the latest single off the trio’s third full-length album Into the Water, the dark and foreboding single manages to sound as though it drew from Joy Division and Ministry as a throbbing bass line is paired with industrial clang and clatter, bursts of shimmering and twangy guitar chords, swirling and atmospheric synths and a  driving motorik groove with Bancell’s Ian Curtis-like vocals. The lyrically barbed song stings like a series of hurled rebukes, doubts and accusations from a lover– and  just underneath the surface the song evokes the sense of paranoia, self-doubt, uncertainty and fear that can naturally come about during those moments in which a relationship feels in doubt and there’s a part of you that can’t quit tell if it’s your perception of events based on past heartaches, if it’s reality or some completely fucked up combination of both. And interestingly enough, the trio manages to pair that tense and paranoid feeling to what may arguably be their most unintentionally club friendly song they’ve released to date.

The Detroit-based trio are currently embarking on a tour with POP1280 and YOU and it includes a couple of NYC area stops. Check out tour dates below.

 

Ritual Howls Live Dates:
06.24 Chicago, IL @ Burlington Bar *
06.25 Indianapolis, IN @ State Street Pub *
06.26 Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s *
06.27 Columbus. OH @ Summit *
06.28 Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville ^
08.02 Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
08.12 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
* w/ YOU.

^ w/ Pop. 1280, YOU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Kacee Hedit, Benny Tamblyn and Oli Kirk, Adelaide, Australia-based indie rock/indie electro pop trio Flamingo have developed a reputation both locally and nationally for a sleek, downtempo electronic sound with the release of their first two EPs, with their second EP Drip Drip being released to widespread critical praise. And as a result, the trio not only embarked on their first national tour with stops in their homeland’s largest cities — Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and their hometown — they’ve found their profile growing opening for Bonobo, Rüfüs, Giraffage and The Kite String Tangle, as well as appearances at Splendour on the Grass and Groovin’ the Moo.

Interestingly, the trio’s latest single is about a topic that has been in the international spotlight for some time — refugees, who arrive by boat to a new and perhaps unforgiving and unwelcoming land. And as the band’s vocalist Kacee Heidt explains “Leaving your home and everything you have ever known to travel to the other side of the world in search of a life free from tyranny and devastation with nothing but your family and the clothes on your back. This is one of the hardest things a person can possibly go through and something most Australians couldn’t possibly imagine.”  And as a result, the song portrays refugees with a profound sense of empathy — an empathy the the members of the band feel has long been missing from their national conversation on the issue. Sonically speaking, the trio pairs shimmering guitar chords, skittering beats, gently undulating synths and Heidt’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics that point at asylum seekers’ plight with a bitterly sarcastic irony at its core, opening suggesting that those who were desperate enough to risk everything for the chance at asylum need not just the most empathy but the most assistance.