Category: instrumental

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: TI BAN GI Shares Cinematic and Retro-Futuristic “Back to the Stars”

TI BAN GI is an electro pop project created by a mysterious Paris-based producer last year. The mysterious French producer uses a musical palette that takes him back to his adolescence: his work is deeply influenced by the soundtracks of sci fi films like Blade Runner and others.

“Back to the Stars” TI BAN GI’s latest single is a retro-futuristic and cinematic track centered around layers of glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats intergalactic gurgling and a relentless motorik groove within an expansive song structure. Sonically, “Back to the Stars” will bring John Carpenter, the aforementioned Blade Runner, TRON, and Stranger Things to mind.

The accompanying video is like the trailer for a dystopian sci-fi film describing a world with a future very much like our present.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Drummer Tim Carman is best known for his work with acclaimed Boston-based blues act GA-20, an act which also features Pat Faherty (vocals, guitar) and Matt Stubbs (guitar).

Carman’s latest side project, Tim Carman Trio, which features Carman along with Steve Fell (guitar) and Ken Clark (electric organ) can trace its origins back to 2020: While quarantining in a New Hampshire cabin, Carman spent his time revisiting records records that his first drum teach and member Bob Gullotti introduced him to during Carman’s formative years as an aspiring jazz drummer.

Inspired by 60s soul jazz artists like Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff and others, The Tim Carman Trio is a no-fills, B3 organ, soul jazz outfit. The trio’s Carman and Dave Brophy co-produced full-length debut, Key Lime is slated for release this year through Color Red Music.  

Late last year, I wrote about album single and original composition “Blues for Bob.” Written as a tribute to Gulloti, the composition is a cool and funky strut centered around Carman’s steady and efficient time-keeping and some self-assured and fiery soloing from Fell and Clark.

Key Lime‘s second and latest single see the Tim Carman trio putting a shuffling Art Blakey-like Latin groove on their take on the Bud Powell tune “Buster Rides Again” that features Clark’s muscular organ playing, Fell’s bluesy guitar lines, Carman’s hi-hat driven drumming and some additional percussion accents from Dave Brophy.

“‘Buster Rides Again'” was one of the first tunes I learned when I started studying jazz in high school. After the death of my first drum teacher Bob Gullotti, I spent a lot of time reminiscing about my early years studying music,” Carman recalls. “This recording really stuck with me. I combined this tune with a latin groove inspired by Art Blakey, who I’ve spent a lot of time listening to during quarantine. I didn’t know if the combination of the tune and feel would work until we tried it in the studio. We did one take and that ended being the take we used for the album.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: WORLD GOVERNMENT Shares Contemplative “Rain, Drops”

WORLD GOVERNMENT is a mysterious post rock outfit that formed back in 2007. After several releases and numerous live shows, the members of WORLD GOVERNMENT focused on a writing and recording a full-length album.

While working on their full-length debut, they fell into the trap of perfectionism and the band wound up secluding themselves for a period of several years. However, that period did result in new material — including the slow-burning and meditative composition “Rain, drops.” Centered around glistening guitars and a sinuous bass line, brief bursts of clink and clatter and wobbling electronics “Rain, drops” manages to evoke rainy Spring afternoons — to the point that you can almost hear the drops hitting hitting the windows or your windshield . . .

The accompanying video wasn’t planned — but it manages to evoke the meditative mood of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: BADBADNOTGOOD Shares Cinematic and Trippy Visual for Meditative “Open Channels”

Acclaimed Toronto-based jazz outfit BADBADNOTGOOD — currently founding members Chester Hansen (bass), and Alexander Sowinski (drums) with Leland Whitty (sax) — have received attention internationally for jazz-based interpretations of hip-hop tracks, which have allowed them to collaborate with  Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Denzel Curry, Danny Brown, Mick Jenkins, Ghostface Killah and others — and for a sound and compositional approach that draws from hip-hop, electronica, jazz, acid jazz and prog rock.

Founded by Hansen, Sowinski and Matt Taveres, BADBADNOTGOOD can trace some of its origins to its founders’ mutual love of MF Doom and Odd Future: The band wrote and played a composition based on Odd Future’s music for a panel of their jazz performance instructions, who unsurprisingly didn’t believe the composition had much musical value. Instead of listening to their instructions, the Canadian outfit released the composition as “The Odd Future Sessions, Part 1.”

“The Odd Future Sessions, Part 1” eventually caught the attention of Tyler the Creator, who helped the video go viral. Building upon rapidly growing buzz, the members of BADBADNOTGOOD followed up with their full-length debut, 2011’s BBNG, which featured interpretations of A Tribe Called Quest, Waka Flocka Flame and of course, Odd Future. The band also recorded a live jam session with Tyler The Creator in Sowinski’s basement, with videos from the sessions amassing more than a million views each.

Their sophomore album, 2012’s BBNG2 was recorded over a course of a ten-hour studio session. Featuring guest spots from Leland Witty (saxophone) and Luan Phung (electric guitar), the album was a mix of their own original material, as well as renditions of songs by Kanye West, My Bloody Valentine, James Blake, Earl Sweatshirt and Feist. That year, the band was the official Coachella Festival house band, backing Frank Ocean and Odd Future over the course of its two weekends.

Their third album, 2013’s III featured “Hedron,” which was featured on the compilation Late Night Tales: Bonobo. That year, they also assisted with the composition and production of The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack. 

The Canadian outfit’s fourth album, 2015’s Sour Soul saw them collaborate on Ghostface Killah on an effort that has been described as a hip-hop album that nodded heavily at jazz. They ended the year with covers of a handful of holiday standards, including “Christmas Time Is Here” with Choir! Choir! Choir!

Leland Whitty joined the band as a full-time member in early 2016, and the band quickly went to work producing “Hoarse” off Earl Sweatshirt’s full-length debut Doris and “GUV’NOR,” a remix, which appeared on JJ DOOM’s Keys to the Kuffs (Butter Edition). Capping off a busy year, they released their fifth album, the somewhat ironically titled IV, which featured Future Islands’ Sam Herring, Colin Stetson, Kaytranada, Mick Jenkins and JOVM mainstay Charlotte Day Wilson. The album was released to critical acclaim and was named BBC Radio 6’s #1 album of the year.

BADBADNOTGOOD’s Talk Memory was released late last year through XL Recordings. Composed in conjunction with legendary Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai, the album features guest spots from Karriem Riggins, Laraaji, Terrace Martin, and a list of others. More so than on their previously released material, Talk Memory sees the acclaim act capturing the focus, energy and improvisation at the heart of their live show on wax.

For the acclaimed Canadian band, a song is a living, breathing entity that naturally changes and evolves as it’s played in different settings. The album’s material plays with that thinking. After years of relentless touring, the band took a pause and looked back at their collective history and experiences before they started out on Talk Memory‘s creative process. At the heart of their new creative approach is a sense of reflection and renewed communication. That, interestingly enough, led to the album’s title.

While much of their earliest released material often took place quickly, the members of BADBADNOTGOOD took on a more deliberate, intentional approach: The album was written over a two year period, with the Toronto-based act expanding upon the album’s material in the studio, rather than on the road.

Last year, I wrote about album single “Beside April,” an expansive and breathtakingly gorgeous composition with a mind-bending and expressive guitar solo in a song that’s one-part jazz fusion, one part Boogarins-like psych rock with a widescreen, cinematic film score. Previously, only available on physical copies of Talk Memory, album single “Open Channels” was recently made available on streaming services with an accompanying visual directed by Sylvain Chaussée.

“Open Channels” is a meditative and expansive, Giant Steps meets Live at the Village Vanguard era Coltrane composition centered around twinkling Rhodes, Whitty’s expressive and mournful sax lines, Sowinski’s delicate drumming. Play this one, close your eyes and reflect on beauty in an ugly and mad world.

As for the video, the mostly black and white visual that begins with the band carrying their instruments through a snow-covered forest before switching to the band performing the song in a bare studio and some trippy footage of the individual members standing in front of psychedelic projections.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lyon’s Ashinoa Shares Tribal and Hallucinogenic “Koalibi”

Lyon, France-based experimental synth act Ashinoa quickly exploded into the national and international scene with the release of their full-length debut, 2019’s Sinie Sinie, an effort that saw the French synth outfit establishing a minimalist krautrock sound and approach.

The Lyon-based synth act supported their full-length debut with tours across their native France opening for JOVM mainstays METZ and Flamingods, Warrmduscher, Bo Ningen, Kikagaku Moyo and others.

Ashinoa’s sophomore album L’Orée is slated for a March 25, 2022 release through Fuzz Club. The album reportedly sees the building upon the minimalist krautorck of their debut while taking the listener on a psychedelic journey through the wilderness through shape-shifting electronics.

Primarily centered around a largely synthesizer-driven soundscape, L’Orée‘s material sees the members of Ashinoa exploring a much more natural, organic sound than their previously released work, a sound that at times is percussive and dance floor friendly and other times hypnotic and expansive — and largely inspired by the environment it was written and recorded in. Recorded in a house, tucked away in the French countryside, which bordered on a surrounding forest, the band recalls that the album sessions were spent soaking up their immediate surroundings with a number of collaborators coming in and out to play on the record: 

“The house we recorded the album in was kind of in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Douglas Pine trees. From this proximity to the forest, we wanted to take our soundscapes to a place we’ve never been before,” the members of the French-based experimental act explain. “Before we were surrounded by concrete, and then far from it. We were looking for a new listening place, to discover new intriguing sounds. We had laid down the basis of the album and then musician friends that would visit us at the time were invited to participate in the making of the album, each one of them bringing a touch of their own.”

So far i’ve written about two previously released singles:

  • Disguised by Orbit,” a L’eclair and Mildlife-like bop centered around cosmic grooves, old school boom bap and Brit Pop swagger
  • “Feu De Joie,” which features some scorching psych rock riffage, twinkling synths and an oscillating beat in a jazz fusion meets psych rock-like jam

L’Orée‘s third and latest single “Koalibi” is a percussive track centered around syncopated polyrhythm, oscillating electronics, a trippy motorik groove and jungle noises — specifically birds and animals calling to each other. Koalibi” is one-part tribal house, one-part acid house one-part psych pop — and entirely danceable.

“’Koalibi’ sounds like the jungle, with animals screaming and birds flying up in all directions. It’s a ritual movement. It’s dancing,” the band says of L’Orée‘s third single.

Animated by Morgane Botella, the accompanying visual for “Koalibi” fittingly features jungle-like imagery with various wild creatures flying, crawling, swimming and climbing through the jungle, as humanoid figures float by on boats. The humanoid figures travel to a mystical spot, where they trip out and dance throughout the night in their boats — as the wind blows through the reeds and grasses.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Thelonious Monk

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Thelonious Monk.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Herbie Hancock

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Herbie Hancock.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: John Coltrane

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to John Coltrane.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Miles Davis

JOVM’s Wiliam Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Miles Davis.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Bitchos Share a Delightfully Bizarre Video Game Inspired Visual for “The Link Is About To Die”

Rising London-based instrumental outfit Los Bitchos — Australian-born, London-based Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguayan-born, London-based Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Swedish-born, London-based Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born and-based Nic Crawshaw (drums) — can trace their origins to meeting at various late-night parties and through mutual friends. The rising British-based band also features individual members with different upbringings, who have developed a unique, retro-futuristic sound that blends elements of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych and surf rock, as well the music each individual member grew up with:

  • The Uruguayan-born Ruiz had a Latin-American music collection that the members of the band fell in love with.
  • The Swedish-born Jonsson “brings a touch of out of control pop,” her bandmates often joke.
  • Aussie-born Serra Petale is deeply inspired by her mother’s 70s Anatolian rock records.
  • And the London-born Crawshaw played in a number of local punk bands before joining Los Bitchos.

“Coming from all these different places,” Los Bitchos’ Serra Petale says, “it means we’re not stuck in one genre and we can rip up the rulebook a bit when it comes to our influences.”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of months, you might recall that Los Bitchos’ highly anticipated Alex Kapranos-produced full-length debut,  Let The Festivities Begin! officially dropped today. Recorded at Gallery Studios, Let The Festivities Begin! sees the London-based instrumental outfit further establishing their reputation for crafting maximalist and trippy, Technicolor, instrumental party starting jams — with a cinematic quality. 

The album’s celebratory title is something you might say while toasting dear friends, families and even strangers at a gathering — and hopefully at the of this horrible period of despair and uncertainty, as a way to usher in a period of carefree debauchery. “It’s about being together and having a really good time,” Los Bitchos say in press notes.

In the lead-up to Let The Festivities Begin!‘s I’ve managed to write about three of the album’s singles:

  • “Las Panteras” a funky, mind-bending jam featuring shimmering synths bongos, cowbell, cabasa and wiry post punk meets Nile Rodgers and surf rock-like guitars and a sinuous bass line. 
  • “Good to Go,” another mind-bending, genre-blurring composition that begins with a decidedly Western intro with shimmering and reverb-drenched guitar twang before quickly morphing into a a trippy yet chilled out Latin funk meets Turkish psych affair with glistening synths, handclaps and a blazing guitar solo. 
  • “Pista (Fresh Start),” a slick and trippy synthesis of chicha, cumbia and psych rock featuring looping guitars and dance floor friendly Latin rhythms.

To celebrate the release of their debut album, the rising British quartet shared Let The Festivities Begin!‘s fourth and latest single, “The Link Is About to Die,” which continues a run of trippy, party friendly grooves centered around glistening and looping guitar lines, twinkling synths and shuffling polyrhythm.

The recently released digitally animated, video game-inspired visual for “The Link Is About to Die” was completed over the course of a “4-day visual/video jam” between creators Adam Abdelkader Lenox, Julie Amouzegar Kim, Alexander Turovsky, Jan Rosenbauer, Pamier Hilal and Severin Most. The video features Animal Crossing-like video game avatars of the band getting sucked into a dark universe, where they have to battle a “sexy fish” creature. They celebrate their victory over the sexy fish, by drinking some mind-bending tequila and playing their instruments on the back of an enormous bird. The video is a hilariously bizarre and playful romp through space, time — and video game baddies.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Lyon, France’s Ashinoa Shares Slow-Burning and Trippy “Feu De Joie”

 Lyon, France-based experimental synth act Ashinoa quickly exploded into the national and international scene with the release of their full-length debut, 2019’s Sinie Sinie, an effort that saw the Lyon-based act establishing a minimalist krautrock approach.

Ashinoa supported Sinie Sinie with tours across France opening for JOVM mainstays METZ and Flamingods,Warrmduscher, Bo Ningen, Kikagaku Moyo and others. The rising French act’s sophomore album L’Orée is slated for a March 25, 2022 release through Fuzz Club, and the album reportedly sees the band building upon the minimalist karutrock of their debut while taking the listener on a journey through the wilderness through shape-shifting, psychedelic electronics. 

While primarily centered around a largely synthesizer-driven soundscape, L’Orée‘s material sees the members of Ashinoa exploring a much more natural, organic sound than their previously released work, a sound that at times is percussive and dance floor friendly and other times hypnotic and expansive — and largely inspired by the environment it was written and recorded in. Recorded in a house, tucked away in the French countryside, which bordered on a surrounding forest, the band recalls that the album sessions were spent soaking up their immediate surroundings with a number of collaborators coming in and out to play on the record: 

“The house we recorded the album in was kind of in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Douglas Pine trees. From this proximity to the forest, we wanted to take our soundscapes to a place we’ve never been before,” the members of the French-based experimental act explain. “Before we were surrounded by concrete, and then far from it. We were looking for a new listening place, to discover new intriguing sounds. We had laid down the basis of the album and then musician friends that would visit us at the time were invited to participate in the making of the album, each one of them bringing a touch of their own.”

Late month, I wrote about “Disguised by Orbit,” a L’eclair and Mildlife-like bop centered around cosmic grooves, old school boom bap and Brit Pop swagger. “Feu De Joie,” L’Orée‘s second and latest single, derives its name for the French term for bonfire. Interestingly, “Feu De Joie” is centered around some scorching psych rock riffage, twinkling synths paired with an oscillating beat — and may arguably be the most jazz fusion meets psych rock leaning track on the album.

“The main theme was inspired by the Hispanic composer Manuel de Falla and his ‘El amor Brujo’ work. This track condenses the idea that we had for the album. It signals a change between universes.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2019, the Moscow-based instrumental funk outfit The Diasonics — Anton Moskvin (drums), Maxim Brusov (bass guitar), Anton Katyrin (percussions), Daniil Lutsenko (guitar) and Kamil Gzizov (keys) — quickly amassed a cult following, while honing a sound that they’ve dubbed “hussar funk,” a blend of hip-hop rhythms, 60s and 70s psychedelia and Eastern European flavor within cinematic arrangements.

Also in that relatively short period of time, the members of The Diasonics have released ten highly-celebrated singles and various in-demand, 45RPM vinyl records through indie funk labels like Funk Night Records and Mocambo Records. The Russian funk outfit’s full-length debut Origins of Forms is slated for a January 28, 2022 release through Italian funk and soul purveyors Record Kicks. 

Recorded on an Otari MX-5050 MK III at Moscow’s Magnetone Studio and mixed by The Cactus Channel‘s and Karate Boogaloo‘s Henry Jenkins in Melbourne, the album’s overall aesthetic is firmly rooted in the early 60s and 70s. 

In the lead up to its release later this week. I’ve managed to write about two of the album’s previous singles:

  • “Gurami,” a slow-burning, soulful strut, centered around shimmering, wah wah pedaled guitar that’s a mash up of Turkish psych, boom bap breakbeats, organ jazz and trippy grooves that sounds as though it was part of a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western or an instrumental soul obscurity found and sampled by the RZA.
  • “Andromeda,” a trippy and expansive composition that sees the band meshing elements of prog rock, jazz fusion, Turkish psych and komishce musik in a way that reminded me quite a bit of Mildlife and L’Eclair — with a subtle Western tinge.

“Deviants,” Origins of Forms‘ third and latest single will further cement the act’s penchant for crafting hypnotic grooves — with the new single being centered around hip-hop inspired breakbeats, glistening retro-futuristic sounding Rhodes, strutting bass lines, shuffling wah wah pedaled guitar. The arrangement manages to be roomy enough for some inspired and scorching soling and some reverb drenched “ooh-ahhs.” Much like the aforementioned Mildlife and L’Eclair, “Deviants” is the sort of song perfect for poppin’ and lockin’ — or just chilling out on a Sunday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Bitchos Releases a Horror Film Inspired Visual for Trippy and Groovy “Pista (Fresh Start)”

London-based instrumental outfit Los Bichos — Australia-born, London-based Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguay-born, London-based Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Sweden-born, London-based Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born and-based Nic Crawshaw (drums) — features individual members with different upbringings, who have developed a unique, retro-futuristic sound that blends elements of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych and surf rock, as well the music each individual member grew up with: The Uruguayan-born Ruiz had a Latin-American music collection that the members of the band fell in love with. The Swedish-born Jonsson “brings a touch of out of control pop,” her bandmates often joke. Aussie-born Serra Petale is deeply inspired by her mother’s 70s Anatolian rock records. And the London-born Crawshaw played in a number of local punk bands before joining Los Bitchos. “Coming from all these different places,” Serra Petale says, “it means we’re not stuck in one genre and we can rip up the rulebook a bit when it comes to our influences.”

The band can trace its own origins through its members meeting at all-night house parties or through various friends. Los Bitchos’ highly anticipated Alex Kapranos-produced full-length debut,  Let The Festivities Begin! is slated for a February 4, 2022 release through City Slang Records. 

Recorded at Gallery Studios, Let The Festivities Begin! sees the London-based instrumental outfit further establishes their reputation for crafting maximalist and trippy, Technicolor, instrumental party starting jams — with a cinematic quality.

The album’s celebratory title is something you might say while toasting dear friends, families and even strangers at a gathering — and hopefully at the of this horrible period of despair and uncertainty, as a way to usher in a period of carefree debauchery. “It’s about being together and having a really good time,” Los Bitchos say in press notes.

In the lead-up to Let The Festivities Begin!‘s release next month, I’ve managed to write about two of the album’s singles:

  • “Las Panteras” a funky, mind-bending jam featuring shimmering synths bongos, cowbell, cabasa and wiry post punk meets Nile Rodgers and surf rock-like guitars and a sinuous bass line.
  • “Good to Go,” another mind-bending, genre-blurring composition that begins with a decidedly Western intro with shimmering and reverb-drenched guitar twang before quickly morphing into a a trippy yet chilled out Latin funk meets Turkish psych affair with glistening synths, handclaps and a blazing guitar solo. 

Let The Festivities Begin!‘s third and latest single “Pista (Fresh Start)” is a slick yet trippy synthesis of chicha, cumbia and psych rock centered around looping and glistening guitars, shuffling Latin rhythms meant to get even the party’s wallflowers moving and grooving. We are so excited to put out this track. Some people may recognise it and we hope you enjoy the sassy makeover we gave it for the album,” the members of Los Bitchos say in press notes.

Directed by frequent collaborator Tom Mitchell, the recently released video is the final installment of the story told in the videos for “Las Panteras” and “Good to Go.” The video begins with the ladies of Los Bitchos living in hiding in a witness protection program after being acquitted in the game show meets courtroom show from hell. The band seems to enjoy a quiet life in the country full of domestic errands, goofing off and jamming at a campfire. But it isn’t what may seem. Things are lurking in the shadows.

“The video transports you to our life in witness protection following our game show/courtroom victory – the good life and new beginnings. Things aren’t quite what they seem though… We had so much fun shooting this video and didn’t want to leave our cosy, wholesome nest! Thank you to Dario Argento and Are You Afraid of the Dark? for inspiring the final installment of this trilogy.”