Category: music video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Acclaimed Indie Artist Soccer Mommy Goes on a Virtual 8-Bit Tour

Sophie Allison is a Swiss-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the creative mastermind behind the critically applauded indie rock project Soccer Mommy.  Allison first picked up guitar when she was six — and as a teenager, she attended Nashville School of the Arts, where she studied guitar and played in the school’s swing band. By 2015, the Swiss-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and guitarist began posting home-recorded songs as Soccer Mommy to Bandcamp during the summer of 2015, just as she was about head off to New York University, where she studied music business at the University’sSteinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. 

While she was in college, Allison played her first Soccer Mommy show at Bushwick, Brooklyn’s Silent Barn. She caught the attention of Fat Possum Records, who signed her to a record deal — and after spending two years at NYU, she returned to Nashville to pursue a full-time career in music. Upon her return to Nashville, the acclaimed Swiss-born artist wrote and released two Soccer Mommy albums — 2016’s For Young Hearts through Orchid Tapes and 2017’s Collection through Fat Possum Records. Her proper, full-length debut, 2018’s Clean was released to widespread critical acclaim, and as a result of a rapidly growing profile, Alison has wound up touring with Stephen Malkmus, Mitski, Kacey Musgraves, Jay Som, Slowdive, Frankie Cosmos, Liz Phair, Phoebe Bridgers, Paramore, Foster the People, Vampire Weekend, and Wilco.  

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was gearing up to be a massive year for the young and rising singer/songwriter and guitarist: she began the year by playing at one of Bernie Sanders’ presidential rallies and had joined a list of contemporary artists, who endorsed his presidential campaign. Allison’s highly-anticipated sophomore album color theory was released to critical applause — and building upon a rapidly growing profile, the Nashville-based artist had been gearing up for a massive year: she was about to embark one a headlining tour with a number of dates sold-out months in advance, along with that, she had lined up appearances across the global festival circuit that included a stop at Glastonbury. Additionally, she was supposed to make her late-night, nationally televised debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

With touring being on an indefinite half for the music industry, the Swiss-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and guitarist recognized that this was a unique opportunity to get creative and experiment with new ideas. Combining her love of video games and performing, Allison held a digital concert on the online gaming platform Club Penguin Rewritten with over 10,000 attendees, who all had to make their own penguin avatars to attend it. The concert was so popular, that her fans crashed the platform’s servers, forcing a rescheduling of the event. Allison has also performed a number of live streams events, including  NPR’s Tiny Desk At Home (which she kicked off) and Pitchfork’s IG Live Series. And she also recently released her own Zoom background images. 

Recently, Allison and company embarked on a an Bella Clark-directed 8-bit virtual, music video tour in which the band plays some of the cities she was meant to be passing through — Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, and Austin. Instead of virtually playing at the more common tourist locations or a traditional music venue, the members of the band are mischievously placed in unusual locations: an abandoned Toronto area subway station, a haunted Chicago hotel, a bat-filled Austin bridge and more. Interestingly, the video four features the virtual band playing the album’s latest single “crawling in my skin.” Centered around looping and shimmering guitars, a sinuous bass line, shuffling drumming and subtly shifting tempos, the track reveals a remarkably self-assured young songwriter, who has an unerring knack for pairing earnest songwriting with an infectious hook. (Oh, and you’ll see the band adhering to social distancing rules while virtually performing!)  

“It’s really hard having our tour be postponed because I was really excited to play all of the songs on color theory for everyone, ‘crawling in my skin’ in particular,” Allison says. “I hope this little 8-bit performance can hold everyone over until the tour can happen.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s The Brooks Perform Their Funky New Party Anthem “Turn Up the Sound”

Montreal-based soul act The Brooks formed over eight years ago — and the act can claim a lineup featuring some of the French Canadian city’s most accomplished local soul musicians: Florida-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and frontman Alan Prater has toured with Michael Jackson and the band itself can trace its origins to behind the walls of the Motown Museum: Alexandre Lapointe (bass) has worked alongside Joel Campbell, the musical director for Tina Turner and Janet Jackson. Prater and Lapointe are joined by Maxime Bellavance (drums), Phillips Look (guitar, vocals), Daniel Thouin (keys), Sébastien Grenier (sax), Hichem Khalifa (French horn), and Phillipe Beaudin (percussion). 

Developing a sound that draws from James Brown, D’Angelo, Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock and J. Dilla, the members of The Brooks have developed a reputation for a songwriting approach that eschews rules and trends while spreading joy and funk — and for an energetic live show. And as a result, the band has built up a profile both across the province and nationally over the course of two critically applauded albums and an EP: Named the “best kept secret of Canadian funk” by La Presse, the band has received a number of nominations and awards at GAMIQ, Independent Music Awards, ADISQ, and others. 

The French Canadian soul outfit’s third full-length album Anyway Now is slated for a release this full through Duprince Records across North and South America and Underdog Records through Europe and Japan — and the album’s first single is the stomping, strutting and funky party anthem “Turn Up the Sound.” Centered around an arrangement that nods at The Payback-era James Brown, Dance to the Music and Stand!-era Sly and the Family Stone, the upbeat song was written to be played loud and to get you to get up out of your seat, escape your daily concerns for a few minutes and dance. Everything may seem canceled or postponed but music is still there to bring you joy — and to remind you that brighter days will come in time. “I just wanted to write a fun song to get you to escape from whatever you’re doing,” the band’s Alan Prater explains in press notes. 

The single is accompanied by a live footage of the band performing the song in the studio, and it manages to reveal the band’s creative chemistry while being an introduction to the band to new listeners. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays High Waisted Return with a Mischievous and Brightly Colored Visual for Achingly Vulnerable “Modern Love”

Founded back in 2014 by co-founder  Jessica Louise Dye (vocals, guitar) and Jono Bernstein (drums),  New York-based JOVM mainstays High Waisted have received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere for a sound that draws from surf rock, garage rock, dream pop, Riot Grrl punk and punk rock, for a high-energy live show and their popular DIY concert showcase/booze cruise High Waisted at Sea.

The band’s Bryan Pugh-produced full-length debut On Ludlow further cemented their reputation for scuzzy, party ’til you drop rock — but just under the surface, the material revealed vulnerability and ache.  The JOVM mainstays spent most of 2016 and 2017 on a relentless tour schedule across the country opening for the likes of Brazilian Girls, Shannon and the Clams, Titus Andronicus, The Donkeys, Har Mar Superstar, JOVM mainstays The Coathangers, Jessica Hernandez, La Sera, Diarrhea Planet and La Luz, as well Riot Fest in both Chicago and Denver.

The JOVM mainstays have received praise from the likes of Consequence of Sound, Noisey, Paste, NME, who named them a “Buzz Band to Watch”  GQ, who declared them “The Ultimate Party Band” and they were named one of the buzziest bands of SXSW in 2018 and 2019 — all of which have helped to firmly cement their long-held reputation for being a non-stop party machine, while going through a series of lineup changes.

Since the release of On Ludlow, the the band contributed “Firebomb,” a scuzzy, ass-kicking, power chord-driven Lita Ford and Motley Crüe-like single to a split single with The Coax, which they supported with further relentless touring with Hundred Hounds, Beechwood and others.

Despite being badly injured in a car accident while biking in NYC last summer, Dye, Bernstein and company have remaining rather busy: they appeared in a NYLON feature, contributed to a Record Store Day release compilation with Bikini Kill, Lenny Kaye, and Atmosphere, wrote a song for NPR’s More Perfect and were featured on their podcast, played a headline show at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel and wrapped up their successful  High Waisted at Sea booze cruise and showcase, released four music videos on Left Bank Magazine  — and completed work on their highly anticipated sophomore album Sick of Being Sorry.

Slated for a May 22, 2020 release, the JOVM mainstay’s sophomore album continues their ongoing collaboration with Tad Kubler — and thematically, the album focuses on finding hope in hopeless situations and having the strength to get up after being knocked down and having the world scream at you to stay down. Now, as you may recall, earlier this month, I wrote about album opener “Boys Can’t Dance,” a rousing, party anthem centered around a plucky, heart-on-your-sleeve earnestness while further establishing the sound that has won them attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere: a seamless hook-driven mix of surf rock, Riot Grrl punk, dream pop, garage rock and 60s pop. 

“Modern Love” Sick of Being Sorry’s latest single features a surf pop-like arrangement of shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a strutting bass line and propulsive drumming   — and while continuing in a similar sonic vein as its immediate predecessor, the song may arguably be one of the most achingly vulnerable and tender songs in their growing catalog. Much like all love songs, “Modern Love” is centered around longing that familiar desperate longing for that object of affection but with the recognition that love in any and all forms is a sort of surrender to something other than yourself. But there’s an underlying irony to the song: love ain’t easy, because it’s full of contradictions and often makes very little sense. And as a result, you have to figure out a way to be protect yourself while figuring out how to remaining vulnerable and true to yourself. 

Directed by Jenni Lang and Logan Seaman, the recently released video for “Modern Love” is a mischievous mix of live action and brightly colored and lysergic animation and imagery as we follow the band’s Jessica Louise Dye through a fantastic adventure. “Jenni found a quote that says ‘to love is to destroy and to be loved is to be destroyed.’ That really inspired us to write a story about love and power. Jess would be the heroine in the story, not only because she looks badass on the stage, but because she represents many modern women. As her character lives a happy and love-filled life, she encounters situations where she needs to step out of her comfort zone in order to protect her love. It’s a metaphor for modern love. You can’t just live happily ever after like in the movies. There are moments in which we struggle. It’s a journey of learning to be yourself, and most importantly to be brave.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Atmosphere Returns with a Symbolic and Timely Visual for “Whenever”

Throughout the course of this site’s 10 year history, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering the Minneapolis, MN-based hip-hop act and JOVM mainstays Atmosphere. Now, as you may recall, the duo closed out last year with the surprise release of their seventh and latest album Whenever. 

Thematically, Whenever’s material finds the duo continuing to struggle with their frailties and with mortality, while attempting to figure out what it means to grow up and grow older gracefully — both in life and within hip-hop. But along with that, the album’s material touches upon the need to balance protecting your energy, soul and heart without falling into glowering and bitter cynicism. 

Whenever’s latest single, album title track “Whenever” find the JOVM mainstays collaborating with an All-Star cast of talent including veteran, Los Angeles-based emcee Murs, Sacramento-based emcee Gifted Gab and Minneapolis-based newcomer Haphduzn. Centered around an eerily atmospheric production featuring shimmering synths, reverb-drenched guitar and tweeter and woofer rocking beats, the track features the collaborators matching wildly different  and self-assured styles and flows to an overall “blessed to be alive and see another day” tone of Slug’s opening verse. Considering the uncertainty of our existence — financially and physically — all we have to hold our hats to is the fact that we’re alive and healthy for yet another day. Nothing else is certain; nothing else is guaranteed. 

Directed by frequently visual collaborator Tomas Aksamit, the recently released video for “Whenever” continues a run of cinematically shot and highly symbolic visuals:. Opening with Atmosphere’s Ant entering an empty movie theater, the song’s emcees become the cast in an apocalyptic movie: We see Slug in an all-too-timely hazmat suit with respirator in an abandoned Midwestern industrial area/farm, planting some seeds — perhaps in some poisoned soil; we see Gifted Gab emerge from a painting and escapes into the fields; Murs, rides around in a convertible Cadillac, re-living and re-writing parts of history, while a homeless Haphduzn warms himself on the flames of world burning around him. The video is unsettling because it accurately captures what feels like the end of everything as we know it.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Marseille France’s KVARK Releases a Muscular and Cinematic New Single

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Tracing their origins through the formation and split up of several different bands throughout the Marseille region of France, including Sarcopt, Malthiüs, Catacomb, Ibogaïne, La Brokante, From blond, Not a Br(a)in, Arthosis and others, the Marseille-based metal act KVARK is an ongoing collaboration  between two old friends that officially started back in 2017. Since their formation, the French duo have been working on their most recently released five song EP — and with that EP’s latest single “Here Comes Trouble,” The French duo specialize in a muscular yet cinematic take on instrumental metal, reminiscent of Irata and Ministry, but with an expansive prog rock tendencies.  

Employing the use of CGI graphics, the recently released video is a mind-bending and appropriately lysergic visual that would likely inspire you to want to take hallucinogens and vibe out. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mumbling Thom Releases Lysergic Visuals for Hypnotic and Yearning New Single

Thomas Anacker is an Italian-French and Swiss singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, videographer and creative mastermind behind rapidly rising solo recording project Mumbling Thom. Influenced by postwar writers like John Fante and Charles Bukowski, Anacker has developed a reputation for crafting hypnotic material that’s dreamlike while focusing on societal issues. 

Anacker’s latest single “The O Mind” continues the Italian-French and Swiss singer/songwriter and videographer’s growing reputation for hypnotic material centered around layers of shimmering guitars, subtle bits of Rhodes and keys, samples of Lakota shamans chanting, propulsive Eastern and African inspired polyrhythm and an enormous hook, the song evokes the sensation of being in a the fuzzy daze of a waking dream — while radiating a yearning for a deep inner peace. Much like The Beatles’ late 60s psychedelic work, the song is a seamless mesh of the Eastern and Western. “‘The O Mind’ is a song about being an open mind in an extra narcissistic world,” Anacker explained to me in an email. 

Of course, the hypnotic song is accompanied by an equally trippy visual that evokes a Zen-level of peace. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rapidly Rising Act Carré Releases a Lysergic Visual for Club Banging “Urgency”

Carré is a rapidly rising Los Angeles-based indie electro rock act featuring:

Julien Boyé (drums, percussion, vocals): Boyé has had stints as a touring member of Nouvelle Vague and James Supercave. Additionally, he has a solo recording act Acoustic Resistance, in which he employs rare instruments, which he has collected from all over the world.
Jules de Gasperis (drums, vocals, synths, production and mixing): de Gasperis is a Paris-born, Los Angeles-based studio owner. Growing up in Paris, he sharpened his knowledge of synthesizers, looping machines and other electronics around the same time that Justice, Soulwax and Ed Banger Records exploded into the mainstream.
Kevin Baudouin (guitar, vocals, synth, production): Baudouin has lived in Los Angeles the longest of the trio — 10 years — and he has played with a number of psych rock acts, developing a uniquely edgy approach to guitar, influenced by Nels Cline, Jonny Greenwood and Marc Ribot.
Deriving their name for the French word for “playing tight” and “on point,” the Los Angeles-based trio formed last year — and as the band’s Jules de Gasperis explains in press notes, “The making of our band started with this whole idea of having two drummers perform together. It felt like a statement. We always wanted to keep people moving and tend to focus on the beats first when we write.”

The act specializes in a French electronica-inspired sound that blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops while thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality centered around geometric shapes and patterns, and a surrealistic outlook on our world.

Released earlier this year, the Los Angeles-based trio’s debut single “This is not a band” was a propulsive, club banger that sonically brought Factory Floor, The Rapture, Primal Scream, Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method to mind— but with a primal and furious intensity. Building upon the momentum of their debut single, the rising trio’s second and latest single is the dark and seductive, “Urgency.” Centered around a bed of  tweeter and woofer rocking beats, layers of shimmering synth arpeggios, bursts of slashing guitars and gauzy electronic textures — while words from Terence McKenna hover ethereally. Continuing an ongoing run of hypnotic, thumping, club rocking material, the new single possess a menacing air that brings Ministry and early Nine Inch Nails to mind. 

Directed by Patrick Fogarty, the recently released video for “Urgency” manages to continue the trio’s ongoing collaboration with the directer is a slick synthesis of live action footage and CGI-based graphics that evoke a lysergic journey through the subconscious. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jupe Jupe Releases a Stylish Visual for New Order-Inspired “Leave You Lonely”

Seattle-based indie electro pop act Jupe Jupe — My Young (vocals, synths), Bryan Manzo (guitar, bass, sax), Patrick Partington (guitar), and Jarrod Arbini (drums, percussion) — have released four albums since their formation in 2010 — Invaders, Reduction in Drag, Crooked Kisses, and Lonely Creatures — that have firmly established their sound: an infectious, dance floor friendly sound influenced by post-punk, synth pop and Americana. Adding to a growing profile, the act has collaborated with the likes of The Afghan Whigs‘ Rick G. Nelson, Lusine, Mike Simonetti, Erik Blood and a number of others on their remix album Cut Up Kisses. 

Released earlier this year, the Seattle-based quartet’s Matt Bayles-produced Nightfall EP was recorded at Seattle-based Studio Litho and continues their ongoing collaboration with Bayles, who produced and engineered their last album.  Meticulously written over the course of a year, the five song EP features five hook-driven upbeat yet simultaneously melancholy songs that thematically focuses on yearning and desire — with the addition of a saxophone to their sound.

EP single “Leave You Lonely”is a shimmering and decidedly New Order-like track centred around shimmering synth arpeggios, angular guitar blasts, a propulsive bass line, four-on-the-floor drumming, My Young’s plaintive vocals and an infectious hook. And while being a pop-inspired confection with ambitious songwriting, the song evokes a swooning and earnest yearning. 

The recently released video features a meshing of three distinct visual styles — line animation, live footage shot in a high contrast negative and a lyric video — while being decently 80s influenced — and in a way that brings A-Ha’s “Take On Me” to mind. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Bobby Lees Return with a DIY Visual for an Explosive New Single

Over the past roughly two years, the rapidly rising Woodstock, NY-based garage punk act The Bobby Lees — Sam Quartin (vocals, guitar), Kendall Wind (bass), Nick Casa (lead guitar), and Macky Bowman (drums)  — have begun to receive attention for a feral and frenzied take on garage punk and an unpredictable live show. And as a result, the rising punk rock act has opened for the likes of The Black Lips, Murphy’s Law, Boss Hog, Future Islands, Daddy Long Legs, The Chats, and Shannon & The Clams. 

Originally slated for a May 8, 2020 release through Alive Naturalsounds Records, The Bobby Lees’ Jon Spencer-produced full-length album Skin Suit has been pushed back to July 17, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — but what still remains is that the album finds the band crafting forceful and self-assured material centered around some of the most blistering and dexterous guitar work I’ve heard this year. So far, I’ve written about three of the album’s singles, the breakneck and explosive “GutterMilk,” a feral and unhinged cover of f Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man,”‘ that nods a bit at George Thorogood‘s famous cover but with a defiant, gender-bending boldness and the sweaty, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-like “Move.” 

“Drive,” Skin Suit’s fourth and latest single continues a run of grungy and gritty garage punk centered around enormous power chords, mosh pit friendly hooks and a remarkably self-assured delivery. For such a young band, they seem poised to take over the world — with a youthful brashness and zero fucks given air. 

The recently released video for “Drive” features the band performing the song in front of a divey tattoo parlor, and it should give the viewer a great sense of the band’s frenetic and unpredictable live energy. 

“A couple of months ago we were heading down to Austin, TX for SXSW and playing shows along the way,” the members of The Bobby Lees explain in press notes. “By the time we got to Tulsa, Oklahoma our 9 SXSW shows had been cancelled because of the virus. So we made the best of our time in Tulsa and shot a video with our friends, while keeping a safe distance.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Los Angeles Psych Rockers Gateway Drugs Release an Intimate Visual for Brooding “Slumber”

Formed in 2010, the rising Los Angeles-based act Gateway Drugs — siblings Gabe, Noa and Liv Niles, who all share vocal and instrumental duties, and their longtime friend James Sanderson (bass) — emerged into the psych rock scene with the 2015 release of their full-length debut, Magick Spells, an album that helped to establish noisey and melodic take on shoegaze that Hellbound has likened to “The Stooges meets My Bloody Valentine and The Brian Jonestown Massacre — a little dark, a little eerie and a little grainy and all intoxicating.”

Slated for a May 8, 2020 release through Future Shock Records, the Los Angeles-based psych rock quartet’s, ten song, Sune Rose Wagner-produced sophomore effort PSA was recorded during a 12 day recording session at Josh Homme’s Pink Duck Studio. Centered around what the band says was some of the quickest and most direct songwriting process of their young careers, the album as the band told Foxes Mag “. . . is much more intimate and raw than our first album. All of the songs were recorded live for the most part.” 

While further establishing their noisy and melodic take on psych rock, the material reportedly finds the band writing more introspective material, drawing from a wild and chaotic few years for the band — and for the world at large. According to the members of Gateway Drugs, the album reflects “everything that is wrong in the here and now: the weakness of the world laid bare, and the almost total state of apathy we all find ourselves in due to feeling powerless to effect any change with respect to all of this. PSA is an attempt to connect with others, who feel the same way and regain a sense of our ability to change things for the better.” 

“Slumber,” PSA’s second single is brooding yet shimmering and hook driven track that features the band’s Gabe Niles taking up vocal duties. And while sonically bearing a resemblance to the aforementioned Brian Jonestown Massacre, Riot City Blues-era Primal Scream, the song is an achingly earnest reflection on unrequited love, focusing on  rejection and heartbreak. 

Shot, edited and directed by the members of the band, the recently released video for “Slumber” is an intimate view into the band’s daily lives inn a way that personally reminds me of 120 Minutes-era MTV. “Videos nowadays tend to be overly cinematic or pretentious. The songs get lost and leaves little room for the listeners imagination,” the band says of the video. “We wanted to keep it simple, sincere, and true to form, so we shot and edited the video ourselves.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging French Act Adrienne Releases a Brooding and Cinematic Visual for “Sentinelle”

Founded by producer Franck Lobielti, Adrienne is an emerging French collective that boldly eschews genre conventions, crafting a sound that meshes elements of chanson, psych pop and psych rock, sixties pop and hip-hop. Shortly after their formation, the collective went to Coxinhell Recording Studio in Southern France to write and record their debut EP,  Killer De Routine which was released last fall.

The EP’s latest single, the sultry and brooding “Sentinelle” is centered around twinkling keys, a sinuous bass line and dramatic drumming, atmospheric synths, an infectious and melodic hook, and a psych rock-like bridge. And while subtly recalling JOVM mainstays Warhaus and Balthazar to mind, the song evokes a sense of overwhelming regret and heartache. 

Directed by Quentin Perrault, the recently released video for “Sentinelle” the video follows a middle-aged couple at a crossroads throughout the run of the visual: we see the couple’s relationship through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards in which we see the couple in better days and at their worst. It’s an eerie look through a couple’s history and the lingering ghosts that often result. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Amyl and The Sniffers Perform “Gacked on Anger” at The Croxton

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Melbourne, Australia-based punk act Amyl and The Sniffers — Amy Taylor (vocals), Gus Romer (bass), Bryce Wilson (drums) and Declan Martens (guitar) — wrote and self-recored their debut EP Giddy Up. The following year, they released the Big Attractions EP, which was packaged as a double 12 inch EP with  Giddy Up through Homeless Records in Australia and Damaged Goods in the UK.

The band made their international touring debut with an appearance at The Great Escape Festival, a series of sold out London area shows and a Stateside tour opening for JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They ended a busy year with triumphant return tours to the UK and the US before signing to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Flightless Records for distribution across Australia and New Zealand and Rough Trade for the rest of the world. They ended that massive year with a Q Awards nomination for Best New Act and won the $30,000 Levis Prize.

Building upon a growing international profile, the Aussie punk rock outfit took SXSW by storm — and they promptly followed that up with their self-titled, full-length debut, which was released to critical applause globally for their feral take on ’77 era punk rock. Adding to a breakthrough year, the band won an ARIA Award for Best Rock Album. 

The acclaimed Melbourne-based punk act released the follow-up to their critically applauded debut with a live 7 inch vinyl, Live At The Croxton, which features dynamic live version of three of their most crowd-pleasing tracks — “Control,” “Gacked On Anger” and “Shake Ya” recorded at the band’s favorite club, The Croxton. Now, as you may recall, earlier this year, I wrote about Live at the Croxton’s first single, the Highway to Hell-era AC/DC meets Headbanger’s Ball-like “Control.” The EP’s latest single is the explosive and gritty mosh pit anthem “Gacked on Anger,”  tells an all-too familiar tale of a Working Jane, who is working her ass off on minimum wage, and  recognizes that everything in the world is s a fucking scam. It’s fittingly captures the frustration and unease of working people everywhere, who realize that they can’t make ends meet because of some greedy fat cat. 

The video is comprised of live footage of the Melbourne-based punk rock act performing the song live at the Croxton — and while the band plays with a muscular insistence, watch for Taylor’s anarchic and feral energy on stage. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DG Solaris’ Much-Needed Blast of Playful Optimism

Danny Green is a London-based singer/songwriter, best known for his time fronting British folk pop act Laish. With Laish, Green released four critically applauded albums through French indie label Tailres, which he and his bandmates supported with extensive touring across the UK, the European Union and the States. 

Last March Green’s life changed — he met his soon-to-be wife Leanna “LG” Green. And by December, the pair married. For their honeymoon, the Greens decided to spend six months traveling across South America with a simple recording set up that they carried with them in a backpack. And that’s how their newest project together DG Solaris began.  “In between swimming with sea-lions, exploring sacred plant medicines and climbing mountains, we had been searching for beautiful spaces to set up our backpack studio,” DG Solaris’ core duo explain in press notes. “All of our recordings feature the sounds of birds, cicadas and crickets.”

Returning to London after their honeymoon, the duo recruited Tom Chadd, Matt Canty and Matt Hardy to help flesh out the material they wrote and demoed during their trip across South America. And the end result is the act’s forthcoming full-length debut, Spirit Glow which is slated for a June 19, 2020. Reportedly, the album is a focused development to Green’s songwriting with the material drawing from and meshing elements of 70s psych pop, synth pop, krautrock and prog in a unique fashion. Ultimately, the album’s material was written as a textural journey through different emotional realms. “We wanted to explore the idea of two voices, two spirits, two creative minds and see where this dynamic could take us,” DG Solaris’ Leana Green says in press notes. Danny Green adds, “It has been an incredibly inspiring trip. We came back with over forty songs and it has been a challenge to chose our favourites for this first album.”

Back in March, I wrote about the woozy album single “Brother, I’ll Ask Her.” Centered enormous and an expansive song structure  featuring a pastoral and slow-burning introduction, a lurching Fleetwood Mac and Nick Drake-like middle section and a krautrock-like coda with fluttering flute and synth arpeggios,  the track is a hallucinogenic fever dream that’s inspired by deeply personal experience: a painful shamanic experience they had in the Peruvian jungle. Interestingly, “Don’t Need to Tell You” is a decidedly upbeat song centered around a lushly textured arrangement of LG’s gorgeous and expressive vocals, shimmering acoustic guitar, atmospheric synths and flute, an infectious hook led by boy-girl harmonies, a supple bass line and propulsive drumming. And while clearly indebted to 70s psych folk and 60s bubble gum pop, the breezy pop confection accurately captures and evokes the giddy joy of new love. “We wanted to release something unflinchingly positive and happy during this difficult time. The song is an expression of unquestioning love for someone,” the Greens say. 

The recently released video for “Don’t Need to Tell You” is split between live footage of the band performing in little clubs, and footage of the adorably in love couple in South London’s Ruskin Park on a glorious day goofing off and enjoying each other. While playful, the video should be a reminder that when things are at their most difficult and their most bleak that we should lean on those we love. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Swiss Instrumental Act L’Eclair Release a Hallucinogenic Visual for Shimmering and Funky New Single “Carousel”

Through the course of their first three albums, 2017’s Cruise Control, 2018’s Polymood and last year’s Sauropoda, the Geneva, Switzerland-based instrumental act L’Eclair have perfected and established a difficult to pigeonhole sound, centered around their unique groove-driven vision of instrumental music, which fearlessly blends genres and styles. It shouldn’t be surprising that at one point, the Swiss instrumental act managed to describe their sound in a number of different ways on their Facebook page, including referring to their sound as being “as if Booker T and the MGs came from Eastern Europe,” an obscure 70s movie soundtrack and as “kraut-exo-soul, brutal funk and Turkish groove.” Interestingly, the act closed out last year with a collaborative 7 inch with The Mauskovic Dance Band.

Building upon a growing profile, the Swiss sextet has toured to support those albums across Europe, bringing the funky grooves to audiences in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Luxembourg and the UK, including thee European Festival circuit, playing sets at Montreux Jazz Festival, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Les Transmusicales, Eurosonic Nooderslag, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and others. 

Continuing the momentum of the past couple of years, the Swiss sextet’s latest effort, Noshtta EP is slated for a May 22, 2020 leas through Bongo Joe Records, and the EP reportedly continues a run of material that’s specifically crafted to make you dance and cry at the same time. “Carousel,” Noshtta EP’s latest single is centered around an expansive and free- flowing arrangement of shifting tempos, shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, propulsive four-on-the floor, twinkling keys and a sinuous and funky bass lines. The track finds the act seamlessly meshing funk, jazz fusion, disco and kraurtock with a mischievously anachronistic retro-futurism — and it may arguably be the most dance floor friendly track they’ve released to date. The recently released video is a trippy mix of old-school CGI graphics, videotape hiss, and geometric shapes undulating in syncopation to the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Vigo, Spain’s Linda Guilala Releases a “120 Minutes” MTV-like Visual for “Accidente”

Linda Guilala is a  Vigo, Spain-based shoegazer trio — currently founding members Ivan (drums) and Eva (keys, vocals) and newest member Mari (bass) — that can trace its origins back to 2005 when its founding members’ previous band Juniper Moon broke up. And although, Eva had only been with the band for only a handful of live shows, Eva and Ivan decided to continue onward.

(In 2006, the duo along with Daylight’s and Matilda’s Ignacio Espumado (bass) recorded their self-produced debut demo. Some of the band’s first singles received airplay on Juan de Pablos’ influential RN3 Radio 3 show Flor de Pasion. Perhaps as a result of airplay on Jaun de Pablos’ show, they started to receive airplay on a number of Spanish indie music radio programs including RN3 Radio 3’s Disco Grande, UPV-Scanner FM’s Toxicosmos, Onda Madrid’s Plastico Elastico and ContemPOPranea Fesitval’s Augstin Fuentes’ Canal Extremadura Radio show La Merienda, which featured the band as a band of the week.

The band has received airplay on radio stations in Mexico, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the UK and others — with the band being named an artist of the week on British radio station Radio Nowhere and their material landing on the label’s Best of 2006 polls. And adding to a growing profile, the band has been featured on a number of label’s international shoegazer compilations including Mexican label Molécula Records’ Granada, Vol. 2, American label Valiant Death Records’ YAY 4 Cuteness, Singapore label Fruit Records’ Twee like me!, a CD compilation for the comic book Kid Houdini, as well as compilations on Italian label My Honey Records, Argentinian label Superclima Records and Peruvian label Ya estas ya Records’ Christina Rosenvinge’s tribute. 

2007 saw the release of the act’s sophomore demo, which received attention from a number of blogs and e-zines  — and they made their live debut at that year’s Elefant Records party at Galileo Galilei with labelmates CORAZÓN and DJ Polar. Shortly, after that show, their debut demo was named the second best demo of the previous year on Julio Ruiz’s RN3 Radio 3 show Disco Grande. They also played the Flor de Pasion party at Madrid’s Siroco, the Plastidepop Festival in Zaragoza and at Rome’s Circolo degli Artisti. Adding to a big 2007, the band contributed to Jabalina Records fifth edition of the Teoría y práctica melódica compilation, dedicated to the Olympic games featuring Pumuky, La estrella de David, Souvenir, Polar, Flow, Travolta and Apenino.  

2009 saw the release of the Spanish act’s self-recorded full-length debut Bucles infinitos through Elefant Records, an effort that’s influenced by My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Wedding Present and Pale Saints among others. MySpace chose the album as their album of the month — and Radio Nowhere named them as an artist of the week for the week of November 23rd. The band supported the album with a Spanish tour and appearances at Indietracks Festival and a MySpace party at Primavera Sound Festival. 

2011’s Paranormal EP was self-recorded and mixed at the band’s Kaiju Studios in their hometown in Vigo. The four song EP thematically touched upon fantasy, harry and the paranormal while remaining true to the band’s punk, noise and shoegazer spirit. Alba played bass and guitar for a few songs on the EP and for live shows. 

2012 saw the band contributing the unedited song “Morir ahogada” to the Wiaiwya Records compilation It’s the taking part that counts dedicated to that year’s London Olympic Games. For a period of time, the members of Linda Guilala produced material for acts like Axolotes Mexicanos, When Nalda Became Punk, Los Bonsais and others at their studio in Vigo — and they’ve played as the live band for Marco Meril’s Apenino. 2014 saw the release of the six song Xeristar EP, an effort that featured The Blows’ and The Cobras’ Bruno Mosquera (guitar) and continued a run of material influenced by Ride and My Bloody Valentine — but also drawing from Los Planetas, Spiritualized, The Charlottes, Lush and Beach House. 

The members of Linda Guilala contributed a cover of “Carlos Baila” for Elefant Records’ 2014 compilation Homenaje a Family (Un Soplo en el Corazón de Elephant). The band also played at Los Conciertos de Radio 3 for Spanish TV network TVE2. The band also embarked some extensive touring across Spain with The Primitives that also included festival stops in Berlin and Cologne. The band also wrote a new theme song for Disco Grande, Girando Otra Vez (Disco Grande), hypnotic bit of spacey psychedelia featuring the band relating the mane of the radio show, which has been on the air over 35 years. 

2016’s sophomore album Psiconautica was recorded and mixed at the band’s Kaiju Studios and the 20 song album is a concept album that thematically focuses on the mind expanding experience of hallucinogenic drugs and of the chemicals that regulate our experiences. Sonically, the album draws from Spiritualized’s Medication, Spacemen 3’s Walkin’ With Jesus and Los Planetas’ Neuevas Sensaciones — and it features a guest spot from Apenino’s Marco Meril. The album received praise from Italy’s Waves For Masses, Brazil’s The Blog That Celebrates Itself, France’s Indie Rock Blog, Germany’s Platten Vor Gericht, America’s Sounds Better With Reverb, DKFM and Allmusic, the UK’s Louder Than War and Shoegazer Live 9, as well as Spanish media outlets like Disco Grandem El Caleidoscopio Musical, Ultrasónica, Fantastic Plastic Mag, Mondo Sonoro Galicia and La Merienda  with a number of them naming the album as one of the best albums of that year. Songs off the album also received airplay on a number of national and international radio shows, including BBC Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe. 

Despite having a breakthrough year, the band wen through a major lineup change: Bruno left the band and was played by Visceral Eyes’ Mari, who played guitar for live shows. But since then, the band has been busy releasing new material, contributing to a number of compilations and playing sets across the international festival circuit. 

Recently the Spanish shoegazers contributed to Emotional Response Records’ Typical Girls vinyl compilation series, a compilation that focuses on the best of a contemporary crop of all-female and female-led bands in the underground, post-punk, punk, hardcore, garage, dream pop and shoegaze scenes. Volume five of the series features tracks from 16 bands across the globe including Australia’s Empat Lima, the US’ Color TV, Table Sugar Whip, Mr. Wrong, Patsy Rats, Kamala and the Karnivores, Latitude, and Drama, Germany’s The Inserts, Scotland’s Vital Idles, England’s SNOB and Child’s Pose, as well as the aforementioned Linda Guilala. 

“Accidente” the Spanish shoegazers contribution to the compilation is the first official recorded output with Mari playing guitar — but interestingly enough, it continues a run hazy and noisy shoegaze centered around heavily distorted power chords, propulsive drumming, droning synths, Eva’s ethereal vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook. Sonically, the track manages to recall My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others. And as a result it brings back memories of 120 Minutes-era MTV. Fittingly, the recently released video was filmed in different industrial locations in Vigo including a car scrapyard, a shipyard and in Coto Wagner, a huge abandoned platform over the sea that was once used to ship iron to the Nazis and to the UK — and at points using kaleidoscopic and trippy filters. As the band notes, they love the beauty inside those sort of creepy and decrepit places.