Category: neo-disco

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Say She She Shares a Slow-Burning and Sultry New Single

Deriving their name as a silent nod to the legendary Nile Rodgers — “C’est chi-chi! It’s Chic!” — the emerging NYC-based funk and disco act Say She She features three accomplished, strong female lead vocalists: founding members Piya Malik, who has spent time in El Michels Affair, 79.5 and Chicano Batman; and Sabrina Cunningham; along with Nya Gazelle Brown, a former member of 79.5. 

Say She She can trace their origins to when Malik and Cunningham found themselves living in the studio apartments directly above and below each other. The pair would hear each other singing through the floorboards and quickly became friends. “I knew the girl below me had the most beautiful voice as I would hear her early in the morning and she would hear me late at night. Between the two of us I don’t think we got a wink of sleep. Then again I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say they moved to New York City to sleep,” Malik says in press notes. 

After spending years singing in other people’s bands, Malik and Cunningham felt they were finally ready to step out into the spotlight with their own project, at first writing tongue-in-cheek songs about bad boyfriends, band breakups and bad politics.  Shortly after, they started writing much more serious and vulnerable tunes, like much-needed therapy sessions. detailing a post-modern woman’s life. And a a result, the material is full of tales of love, lust, sex, heartbreak, betrayal and hope.

A few years after starting the project, the duo recruited their close friend and Malik’s former 79.5 bandmate Nya Gazelle Brown to join them. At that point, the act’s core lineup was settled.

Sonically, Say She She’s sound nods at 70s girl groups — three strong female vocals paired with funky, disco-inspired arrangements played by a backing band featuring some of New York’s most talented and accomplished players, featuring former members of Antibalas, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaries, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, The Shacks, Twin Shadow and others. Locally, they’ve developed a reputation as a must-see live act, playing sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom, Nublu 151, Brooklyn Bazaar, C’Mon Everybody and Baby’s All Right among others. 

Slated for release this fall through Karma Chief Records, an imprint of Colemine Records, Say She She’s self-titled, full-length debut was recorded on old tape machines in the basement studios of friends. The album features guest spots from The Dap Kings‘ Joey Crispiano and Victor Axelrod, The Shacks’ Max Shrager, Chicano Batman’s Bardo Martinez, Antibalas‘ and Superhuman Happiness‘ and Low Mentality’s Nikhil Yerawadekar, Twin Shadow’s Andy Bauer and NYMPH‘s Matty McDermot. 

Last month, I wrote about “Forget Me Not,” the New York-based act’s debut single and their forthcoming debut album’s first single. Featuring a strutting bass line, glistening wah wah pedaled funk guitar, fluttering flute and dreamy three part harmonies “Forget Me Not” is one part Patrice Rushen, one part Tom Tom Club’s “Gangster of Love,” one part ESG, one part Mary Jane Girls, centered around righteous feminist lyrics.

Building upon a growing profile, the disco and funk outfit’s latest single, the slow-burning, dreamy and sultry “Blow My Mind.” Centered around the trio’s yearning and impassioned cries, shimmering Bollywood-inspired riffage and a strutting bass line, “Blow My Mind” is a song about returning to a former flame, with who you’ve managed to carry the north for — after a period of some years. even.

“‘Blow My Mind’ is about a love that you can’t seem to get rid of and you can’t quite get enough of,” explains Say She She member Nya Gazelle Brown.

As I mentioned, the band’s full-length is forthcoming but in the meantime, they’ll be releasing their debut 45rpm “Forget Me Not”/”Blow My Mind” through Colemine/Karma Chief on May 20, 2022.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their critically applauded debut single “Blue & The Green” back in 2016, the Brighton UK-based collective LOYAL, comprised of James Day, Laurence Allen and Alex Cowen, quickly emerged into the national scene, receiving regular rotation on BBC Radio 1. The act’s lineup began to expand with the release of “House For You,” which found the then-trio collaborating with fellow Brighton-based artist Beth Molly Moore — and as result of that successful collaboration, the act eventually expanded to a septet.

Interestingly, over the course of an expanding catalog, the band has increasingly moved from standard house music songwriting approaches and digital production towards a disco-influenced sound, focusing on groove and analog production and instrumentation, at points drawing influence from R&B, indie rock pop and funk. Now, as you may recall, I wrote about the Nile Rodgers and Chic and Daft Punk-like  “Everything (She)” off the collective’s forthcoming Patterns That Fall EP, a track that featured a wobbling synths, a soaring hook, a funky bass line and guitar line, making it a winning combination of anachronistic vibes, old-timey production and sound and club-banging grooves.

Centered by twinkling keys, a sinuous bass line, soaring strings, a choral-like vocal delivery by the act’s lead and backing vocalist and an infectious, dance floor-friendly hook, the EP’s latest single “Crave It Still” manages to bring Nile Rodgers and Chic, Escort and Studio 54 to mind, but with subtle electronic flourishes that include arpeggiated blasts of synth and a thumping, muscular kick. Much like its preceding singles, the track is a slickly produced, anachronistic synthesis of 70s disco and funk, electro pop and contemporary neo-disco. “Lyrically, ‘Crave It Still’ started as a poem, a stream of consciousness about craving nothing in particular; maybe a lost love, a drug, a partner you shouldn’t be with but can’t help going back to. We held the poem in our back-pocket for a while, then eventually fashioned the New York disco sound while we were on our first-ever writing trip to the city itself. We recorded in a beautiful studio tucked away in an industrial park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, alongside some fantastic local writers and musicians. They laid out a killer foundation, all New York, and we built from there.”

Look for LOYAL’s Pattern That Fall on April 26, 2019.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Largely centered around the production and multi-instrumentalist duo of Josh “J” Lloyd-Watson and Tom “T” McFarland, the London-based neo-disco/funk/dance music collective Jungle released their breakthrough, self-titled, full-length debut to critical and commercial success back in 2014, thanks in part to album singles “Platoon,” “Busy Earnin‘” “Time,” “The Heat,” and “Julia” — and it all happened much to the surprise of the collective’s founding members.

After a lengthy two plus year period touring to support their debut, the collective’s much-anticipated sophomore album For Ever is slated for a September 14, 2018 release through XL Recordings, and as Watson and McFarland note, while their full-length debut was conceived as a sort of imaginary soundtrack to the places they had never been, For Ever is reportedly inspired by the real life experiences of seeing and being in the places they had dreamt of for most of their lives. As the story goes, Watson and McFarland set up camp in Los Angeles to write and record the material that would eventually comprise their sophomore album, and over time their long-held romanticism of California and the Californian Dream clashed with the reality of actually living there, feeling adrift and alone — and the sensation was compounded by the the breakups of long-term relationships. Returning to London, they teamed up with well-regarded, up-and-coming producer Inflo, who helped them create an album devised as a “post-apocalyptic radio station playing break up songs.”

For Ever‘s first single is the glittering and stomping “Heavy California,” which features a club rocking production consisting of a sinuous bass line, a boozy and expressive guitar line, soaring falsetto vocals, shimmering synths and an infectious hook  but underneath the breezy, strobe light and dance floor friendly vibes, there’s a mix of heartache and defiance — the sort that comes up after a breakup, where you may say to yourself “well, fuck them, I don’t need them!”

With the release of the album’s first two singles, the act announced a lengthy world tour throughout the Fall and Winter. Unfortunately, at the moment they don’t have any New York area dates but check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates
Sep 19Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, Germany
Sep 23Life Is Beautiful, Las Vegas NV, USA
Sep 25The Majestic, Ventura CA, USA
Sep 26The Glasshouse, Pomona CA, USA
Sep 28The Black Sheep, Colorado Springs, USA
Sep 29Aggie Theatre, Fort Collins CO, USA
Sep 30 Boulder Theatre, Boulder CO, USA
Oct 03Auditorio Blackberry, Mexico City, Mexico
Oct 05Austin City Limits, Austin TX, USA
Oct 07Republic, New Orleans LA, USA
Oct 08House Of Blues, Dallas TX, USA
Oct 09House Of Blues, Houston TX, USA
Oct 12Austin City Limits, Austin TX, USA
Oct 14Treasure Island, Oakland CA, USA
Oct 31Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
Nov 02Noisey Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nov 03Vasateatern, Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 05Tavastia Club, Helsinki, Finland
Nov 06Rock Cafe, Tallinn, Estonia
Nov 08Palladium, Riga, Latvia
Nov 09Compensa Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania
Nov 10Progresja, Warsaw, Poland
Nov 12Roxy, Prague, Czech Republic
Nov 13Majestic Music Club, Bratislava, Slovakia
Nov 15Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
Nov 16Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland
Nov 17Kantine, Köln, Germany
Nov 19Gibson, Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 20Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Nov 21Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
Nov 22Trix Hall, Antwerp, Belgium
Feb 13UEA, Norwich, UK
Feb 15Academy 1, Manchester, UK
Feb 16O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
Feb 18Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Feb 21Alexandra Palace, London, UK
Feb 23Aeronef Club, Lille, France
Feb 24Olympia, Paris, France
Feb 26Stereolux, Nantes, France
Mar 01Palladium Los Angeles CA, USA
Mar 07Roseland, Portland OR, USA
Mar 08Showbox, Seattle WA, USA
Mar 09The Vogue, Vancouver BC, Canada
Mar 12First Avenue, Minneapolis MN, USA
Mar 16Danforth, Toronto ON, Canada
Mar 20Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, USA
Mar 21930 Club, Washington DC, USA
Mar 22Orange Peel, Asheville NC, USA
Mar 23 Marathon Music Works, Nashville TN, USA
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Centered on its founding and primary songwriting duo Tim Abbey and Rebeca Macros-Roca, the London, UK-based post-electronic dance act Park Hotel have developed a reputation for a sound that meshes neo-disco and dance punk with off-kilter, downtown art scene-based songwriting — and unsurprisingly, the duo’s sound has been favorably described as a joyfully communal face-off between LCD Soundsystem, Earth, Wind and Wire with flashes of Talking Heads and a sprinkle of Steely Dan. Along with that, they’ve developed a reputation for a live show in which the project expands to a sextet featuring three-way vocal harmonies, rhythm and lead guitar, drums and lots of cowbell.

Produced by Eliot James, mixed by Nathan Boddy and mastered at New York’s Sterling Sound, the act’s debut single “Gone as a Friend” was recorded last year and after playing a number of critically applauded, buzz-worthy shows across London before officially releasing their debut single earlier this year. Building upon their growing profile, the act’s latest single “Going West,” is an off-kilter, dance floor-friendly track that sounds inspired by Tom Tom Club‘s “Genius of Love,” Talking Heads’ “Making Flippy Floppy,” Miami Horror‘s “Leila” and The Rapture‘s “House of Jealous Lovers” as the song possesses an infectious, ear-worm worthy, hook paired with boy-girl harmonizing, shimmering synths, a Nile Rodgers-like guitar line and an even funkier bass line, but they manage to do so in a fashion that feels like a fresh and mischievous take on a familiar, crowd pleasing fashion.

 

 

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Infectious, Girl Power Video for Escort’s “My Life”

New York-based neo-disco/electronic dance music/funk collective Escort have been mainstays on this site, since its inception 5 years ago. And over the course of that period, the collective founded by producers Eugene Cho and Dan Balls featuring frontwoman […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Escort’s Latest Single Channels Some Beloved Party Anthems

I’ve probably written about the New York-based neo-disco/electronic dance music/funk collective Escort, so much here on JOVM, that you probably feel as though you’ve known them — and have seen their career grow. The collective founded by […]