Category: New Single

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Natalie Closner and her two younger twin sisters Meegan and Allison, Portland, OR-based pop trio Joseph derive their name from their grandfather Jo and the tiny Oregon town in which he lived, Joseph, OR. And although the Closners grew up in a musical household, the sibling trio hadn’t sung together until a few years ago when Natalie Closner, seeking a creative jolt asked her twin sisters if they’d like to form a band together — and they quickly discovered that they had an immediate simpatico and began writing songs together, based around a use of three part harmony.

“White Flag,” the first single off the trio’s forthcoming full-length debut I’m Alone, No You’re Not employs the use of the Closner’s gorgeous harmonies, swirling and ambient electronics and handclap-led percussion in a song that quickly builds up to an anthemic and cathartic hook while pairing them with a powerful message — that one should never give up to attain what they desire. Sonically, the Portland-based sibling trio’s sound reminds me quite a bit of Pearl and the Beard and Lucius as the Closners’ latest single possesses a swooning and forceful urgency.

The Closner sisters will be embarking on a lengthy tour that includes a September stop at Radio City Music Hall. Check out tour dates below.

TOUR DATES:

6.9 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo

6.22 – Bristol, UK – Summer Series – Harbourside *

6.24 – Somerset, UK – Glastonbury Festival

6.27 – Luxembourg, LUX – Rackhal *

6.29 – Munich, GE – Toll wood Festival *

7.1 – Nr. Brandon, Suffolk, UK – Thetford Forest (Forest Live) *

7.6 – Manchester, UK – Castle Field Bowl *

7.8 – Cannock, UK – Cannock Chase Forest *

7.12 – Scarborough, UK – Scarborough Open Air Theater *

7.14-17 – Beccles, UK – Latitude Festival

7.17 – Dublin, IE – Longtitude Festival

7.18 – London, UK – St. Pancras Old Church

7.20 – Hamburg, GE – Knust Acoustic Session

7.22 – Berlin, GE – Berghain Kantine

7.23 – Haldern, GE – Haldern Pop Bar

7.24 – Nurnberg, GE – Fold Im Park

7.29 – Los Angeles, CA – FIG at 7th // Arts Brookfield Series

8.5-7 – Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon

8.10 – Boulder, CO – The Fox – Triple A Summit

9.19 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live *

9.21 – Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore Miami at Gleason Theater *

9.23-24 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium *

9.25 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte *

9.27 – Richmond, VA – The National *

9.28 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE *

9.30 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall *

10.1 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion *

10.3 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater *

10.4 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit *

10.6 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave / Eagles Ballroom *

10.7 – Saint Louis, MO – The Pageant *

10.8 – Kansas City, MO – Arrest Bank Theatre at The Midland *

11.3 – Antwerp, BE – Trix Hall #

11.5 – Copenhagen, DK – DR Koncerthuset #

11.6 – Oslo, NO – Folketeateret #

11.9 – Berlin, DE – Postbahnhof #

11.10 – Munich, DE – Technikum #

11.11 – Zurich, CH – Kaufleuten #

11.13 – Milan, IT – Fabrique Milano #

11.14 – Montpellier, FR – Le Rockstore #

11.16 – Barcelona, ES – Bikini Barcelona #

11.18 – Bardeaux, FR – Rock School Barbey #

11.20 – Lyon, FR – Epicerie Moderne #

11.21 – Stasbourg, FR – La Laiterie #

11.22 – Cologne, DE – Kantine #

* Supporting James Bay

# Supporting Michael Kiwanuka

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Primarily comprised of its creative masterminds and founding members Daniel and Jenna Watters, Austin, TX-based indie soul act The Watters can trace their origins to when the band’s founding members met as children. As the story goes, they first met while playing on the same pee wee football team in Sedona, AZ that Jenna’s father coached — although they did attend rival grade schools. The duo eventually went to high school together and at that point, began a collaboration that can trace its origins to when the duo performed together at their high school graduation and then fell in love; in fact, they’ve performed together for over 12 years, written together for over 8 and have recorded 6 albums together while in the Denver, CO then Nashville, TN-based nationally touring act The Oak Creek Band.

Now writing and performing together as The Watters, the duo’s forthcoming debut effort Great Unknown was influenced by Daniel and Jenna’s own personal experience. As Daniel Watters explains in press notes: “The concept of the Great Unknown came to us while we were in transition between Nashville and Austin. We were living in Sedona, AZ with my folks for three months having left Nashville and had no idea where we were moving to. Our bassist was going to move to California and so were we, but we happened to stop in Austin on our way back and fell in love. We were so torn on what to do, but we trusted our instincts and made the hard decision to leave our musical brother and start a new life in Austin. The Great Unknown is [about] the power of intuition and the beauty in uncertainty. Instead of finding fear in the unknown, I find it easier to see the beauty and opportunity in the unknown. Our move to Austin was a complete leap of faith, but a year later we are very happy here and feel an overwhelming support system here.”

Recorded at Cacophony Recorders, Great Unknown features some of the Austin, TX area’s best and most renowned musicians including Band of Heathens‘ Trevor Nealon, Golden Dawn Arkestra‘s Joe Woullard and Zumbi Richards and Erik Hokkanan and was recorded live to tape to best capture the band’s live sound.  Album title track and first single “Great Unknown” has the band pairing Muscle Shoals soul with 70s AM rock — a soulful horn arrangement and Jenna Watters’ effortlessly soulful vocals are paired with jangling guitars and gently propulsive drumming, along with a careful and deliberate attention to craft. Lyrically, the song focuses on two very different things -taking a big chance on your dreams with the hope that things will come out in your favor but also on something that people often forget, sometimes you can’t fight the tide; things will sort themselves out in their own time and in their own way even your own dreams.

 

.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of Josh Hageman (vocals, guitar), Morgan Travis (guitar), Chris Costalupes (bass) and Gavin Tiemayer (drums), Seattle, WA-based (by way of Reno, NV) band Violent Human System or VHS have developed a reputation for a grainy, abrasive 80s leaning punk  rock sound that’s been compared to the likes of early Killing Joke, Big Black, Christian Death and others — and for eschewing proper studio recordings for home-recorded cassette tapes.

Gift of Life, VHS’ long-awaited, full-length debut slated for a June 17 release  derives its name from Hageman’s personal experience working on the periphery of the medical field. As Hageman explains in press notes the album title “came from some generic blood donation poster I saw in one of the hospitals. It said ‘give the gift of life’ with a photo of a happy family at a park on a sunny day with some pamphlets under it. It was a visual image that stood in stark contrast to the somber surrounding environment. Other songs on the album focus on addiction, the misery and tragedy within the sanitized walls of a modern Western hospital and more — or in other words, the material pulls back the curtain to reveal the rot and grime underneath everything.  The album’s latest single “Public Act” is a tense and abrasive punk/post-punk song that conveys a creeping and uneasy paranoia thanks in part to slashing, angular guitar chords played through reverb and effects pedals, shouted lyrics, anthemic hooks and propulsive drumming.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding member Will Halsey (vocals, guitar), Ash Reiter (vocals, guitar), The Beehavers‘ Bryant Dennison (guitar) and The Electric Magpie‘s Peter Maffei (bass), Joshua Tree, CA-based psych rock quartet Sugar Candy Mountain can trace its origins to when Halsey, who has had stints as a drummer in renowned Bay Area-based bands like The Blank Tapes, fpodbpod and Ash Reiter, began the project as a bedroom recording project in which Halsey initially wrong songs in the vein of of Montreal and The Beach Boys. Shortly after Halsey had started Sugar Candy Mountain, Reiter had joined him and the duo began co-writing songs. Interestingly, there was a brief period in which they wrote electro pop songs — before they had gone on a decidedly psychedelic direction when Reiter had started obsessively collecting effects pedals. Denison, who also was a bassist and former bandmate in Ash Reiter with Reiter and Halsey, joined on as a guitarist (which was interestingly enough, his first instrument).

With the band’s forthcoming album 666, the Joshua Tree, CA-based quartet will further cement their burgeoning reputation for a sound that has been described as being indebted to Jacco Gardner, Tame Impala and the classic psych rock sounds of 60s Laurel Canyon — as you’ll hear on album title track “666,” a single that also possesses an uncanny attention to dreamy melody as the band pairs Reiter’s gorgeous and chilly crooning with gently fuzzy guitar chords, soaring and ethereal organ chords with gentle almost minimalist drumming. Yes, it sounds as though it could have been written and recorded in 1966 and was recently discovered in a used record store — perhaps one like Last Vestige in Albany — but with a subtly modern production sheen.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of his critically applauded full-length debut, Brooklyn-based electronic music producer, DJ and artist Krycek saw a growing national profile; in fact, Buzzfeed, Fresh Beats 365 and others compared the Brooklyn-based artist’s sound to Nine Inch Nails and CHVRCHES. And although to some extent those comparisons are fair, as you’ll hear on his latest single “My Limit,” Krycek’s sound possess a swaggering sensuality that owes a debt to hip-hop and trip hop as the song nods at Sneaker Pimps, Portishead and Tobacco while sonically,  the Brooklyn-based DJ, producer and electronic music artist pairs woofer and tweeter rocking, boom-bap beats, funky and angular burst of guitar, murkily atmospheric synths and wobbling low end with his sultry and breathy vocals.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a touring and session guitarist for Charli XCX and BØRNS, Los Angeles, CA-based guitarist and vocalist Cecilia Della Peruti is also the creative mastermind behind up-and-coming act Gothic Tropic, a band whose New Wave-leaning sound is indebted to the likes of the Go-Gos The B52s and others as angular and punchy guitar chords are paired with a propulsive rhythm section, Peruti’s sultry vocals and an infectious hook as you’ll hear on their latest single “Stronger.”

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Although they derive their name from a mischievous pun based off Stephen King‘s stark, vampire novel Salem’s Lot, little is known about the mysterious Swedish psych rock act Salem’s Pot — except for the fact that their sound and aesthetic seems to draw from old horror movies like The Last House on the Left, El Topo and Blood Feast, as well as The Cramps, Pentagram, Roky Erickson, The Stooges, Deep Purple and others; in other words, murky psych rock with an unsettling sense of menace just underneath the surface. Interestingly what is known is this:  between the release of 2014’s Lurar ut dig pa prarien and the forthcoming album Pronounce This! the band has gone through a lineup shuffle in which their previous drummer took up guitar, allowing the band to recruit a new drummer — and with the release of album opener and latest single “Tranny Takes A Trip,” the lineup shuffling has allowed the band to expand upon their sound as layers of scorching and acidic guitar chords played through copious amounts of wah wah pedal and other effects are paired with soaring organ chords, arena rock-friendly hooks and ironically snarled vocals. Sonically and structurally the song seems to equally draw from Black Sabbath and much more contemporary fare including Ecstatic Vision, Slow Season and others; in other words, much like those bands the mysterious Swedish act specialize in mind-altering songs consisting of several different sections held together by a propulsive rhythm section.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Daniel Rice (vocals, guitar), David Kent (guitar), Hayden Doyel (bass), and Cody Tarbell (drums) the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season have developed a reputation for a power chord-based hard rock sound that is indebted to the classic rock sound of the 60s and 70s as you’ll hear off “Y’Wanna,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming full-length effort, Westing slated for a July 8, 2016 through RidingEasy Records.

Written during an intensely busy touring schedule with labelmates Electric Citizen and Mondo Drag and recorded in DIY-like fashion, much like their previous efforts — in other words on reel-to-reel tape at Cody Tarbell’s home studio, located in the middle of a cornfield. And although their recording process hasn’t changed much, as Cody Tarbell explains in press notes the new album is “a different album. But we never wanted to find a particular sound or any one thing and be attached to it permanently. A big part of our records is experimenting.” While cementing the band’s reputation for being sonically ambitious, Westing‘s material is thematically ambitious as well, with the album lyrically following “a loose narrative about our nation’s loss of innocence as it explores its frontiers re-contextualized in a story about an unnamed protagonist faced with choosing between different ideological allegiances and his own social identity,” as the band’s frontman Daniel Rice explained in press notes — with each song following “the unholy trinity of greed + power + violence, the injustice wrought from this, persisting in willful ignorance and reaping what is sown.” In some way, the album’s thematic arc seems to capture the general tone and feel of contemporary conversations about institutionalized racism, institutionalized gender inequality, inequality in general and social justice.

Westing‘s swaggering, second single  “Damascus” will further cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for crafting a sound that’s deeply indebted to 60s and 70s rock — in this particular case Black Sabbath, 38 Special, Led Zeppelin, and others as the band pairs bluesy power chords, some incredible guitar pyrotechnics, a propulsive rhythm section consisting of four-on-the-four drumming and a sinuous bass line with Rice’s crooned vocals. In other words, it’s old-time  rock out with your cock out, arena-friendly rock that sounds familiar — but with a subtle contemporary sheen.
You can catch the band live throughout a rather extensive tour schedule during May and June. Check out tour dates below.
TOUR DATES:
05/27 Boise, ID @ The Shredder
05/28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/29 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
05/30 Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge
05/31 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
06/01 Indianapolis, IN @ Bent Rail Brewing
06/02 Kent, OH @ Stone Tavern
06/03 Pittsburgh, PA @ Gooski’s
06/04 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
06/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
06/07 Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
06/08 Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Yacht Club
06/09 Nashville, TN @ FooBAR
06/10 Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone *
06/11 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia *
06/12 Hattiesburg, MS @ The Tavern *
06/13 Shreveport, LA @ Bears *
06/14 Texarkana, TX @ Arrow Bar *
06/16 Oklahoma City, OK @ Blue Note *
06/17 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
06/18 Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
06/19 San Antonio, TX @ The Mix
06/22 Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Taproom
06/23 San Diego, CA @ The Merrow
*w/ Dirty Streets
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Kristin Henry (vocals) and Brad Boettger (production), Seattle, WA-based  duo NAVVI have developed a reputation for crafting brooding and propulsive electro pop; in fact, the duo have had their work appear on a compilation curated by renowned French electronic label Kitsune, and they’ve received press from a variety of media outlets including NME, Brooklyn Vegan, Impose, The Line of Best Fit and Jay Z’s Life+Times, among others. Building on the early buzz they’ve received, the Seattle-based duo will be releasing their long-awaited full-length debut Omni later this week through Hush Hush Records.

Now earlier this month, I wrote about “Close,” Omni‘s gorgeously minimalist electro pop first single thad the duo pairing Henry’s sultry and intimately with a sleek and hyper-modern production consisting of crisp, yet stuttering drum programming, ambient, swirling electronics, bleeps, bloops and boops, layers of shimmering and buzzing synths. and a propulsive groove while reminding me quite a bit of BRAIDS’ Flourish//Perish and Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves; in other words, the single possess a bracing and icy chill that belies an urgent and swooning Romanticism. Omni‘s second and latest single “What Reason Do We Need?” will further cement the Seattle-based duo’s reputation for crafting chilly and atmospheric electro pop as you’ll hear stuttering and skittering drum programming, swirling electronics, trembling bleeps and bloops and beeps and tweeter and woofer rocking beats paired with Henry’s sultry yet ethereal vocals. Sonically, the song reminds me a bit of Bear in Heaven‘s I Love You It’s Cool but with a plaintive Quiet Storm-like sensuality at its core.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Perhaps best known for stints drumming in several band including Shilpa Ray’s backing band, Robert Preston relocated to Los Angeles for a change of scenery and began his solo recording project Pink Mexico. And while in L.A., Preston wrote, recorded and self-released his solo debut pnik mexico in June 2013. Interestingly, pnik mexico caught the attention of Austin, TX-based indie label Fleeting Youth Records who re-released Preston’s debut effort the following December.

Preston then relocated back to Brooklyn to began writing and recording his sophomore effort while having quite a few things released last year including a split 7 inch with Los Angeles-based band SunLikeDrugs and a 12 inch vinyl pressing of pnik mexico by the Bordeaux, France-based label Big Tomato Records. And with a growing national and international profile, Preston caught the attention of renowned indie label Burger Records, who later signed him. Interestingly, his forthcoming, sophomore effort fool was written in windowless 10×10 rooms between Los Angeles and Brooklyn, reportedly fueled by nasty hangovers, cheap coffee and cigarettes. “Buzz Kill,” fool‘s first single has Preston and company pairing layers of buzzing guitar chords, propulsive drumming, throbbing bass chords and Preston’s ethereal vocals floating through a sludgy mix in a song that compares favorably to contemporary garage rock/fuzz rock/garage fuzz bands like Fuzz, Wavves, Thee Oh Sees and others — but with an underlying and infectious breeziness to the sludge and scum.

fool is slated for a June 24 through Burger Records here in the States and Big Tomato Records in Europe. Along with that Preston and company will be playing a number of local shows, including a big record release show on June 25. Check out the dates below and be on the lookout for a full tour using the fall.
Live Dates:
June 1 – Goldsounds
June 8 – Sunnyvale (Northside Festival)
June 25 – Shea Stadium (Release Show)

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Afrobeat godfather and pioneer Fela Kuti‘s tragic and untimely death from AIDS, and in that time Kuti’s influence has managed to loom rather largely over contemporary music from Africa and elsewhere as countless bands have expanded upon the sound and aesthetic that the influential and controversial Nigerian created. And I suspect that if Kuti were alive today, the 78 year old would likely be amazed at the diverse nationalities and ethnicities, who have adopted his sound, aesthetic and message to their own particular situations, while picking up on the larger, global context that Kuti always managed to write about. But if there’s one thing I’m certain that Fela would never have imagined actually existing it would be this — Swedish Afrobeat.

Comprised of Frida Eleonore Winlöf (trumpet),  Christopher Ali Thorén (tenor sax), Jonas ‘Finland’ Rönnqvist (alto sax), Fredrik Brändström (keys), Jesper Lundquist (guitar), Tobias Alpadie (guitar), Vilhelm Bromander (bass), Wille Alin (drums), Celso Paco (congas and vocals), Jon Olofsson (percussion), and Mattias Hidemo (claves, fiddle), the twelve-member Stockholm, Sweden-based collective Music is the Weapon may arguably be Sweden’s best (and seemingly only) Afrobeat outfit. Although Sweden isn’t particularly known for a funk scene, as the band’s co-founder Christopher Ali Thorén explains in press notes “We’re not fighting the same fight in Sweden as Fela did in Nigeria, of course, but I feel that in some way it’s political to play this kind of music in clubs here. We give people the experience of big live band playing raw funk. For me it’s an act of resistance all its own.” Of course, as Thorén and   the rest of the band have also discovered, their fellow countrymen are starving for Kuti’s particular brand of funk.

The Stockholm-based collective’s latest full-length effort Sweet Choral Motion was released through Fashionpolice Records and from the album’s opening track “Black Hole,” the Swedish collective reveals an inventive take on Fela’s signature sound as the composition employs the use of complex polyrhythm that sounds as though it owes a debt to the Caribbean, enormous horns and an equally complex song structure that would make the legendary Nigerian godfather of the genre proud while gently expanding what contemporary Afrobeat can sound like, as the Swedish act’s sound also seems to employ elements of hip-hop and cosmic funk to the mix.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Queue, an indie rock quintet with members split between Philadelphia and Washington, DC is comprised of five college friends — Olivia Price, Tyler Ringland, Aida Mekonnen, Dan Snelling and Steve Vannelli — who were all originally in other bands, and decided that they needed to write music together. Interestingly, the decision to work together coincided with graduation and adult responsibilities, which eventually forced the members of the band to write and collaborate via the Internet. After about a year writing and recording demos, the members of the Philadelphia and Washington, DC-based quintet  convinced at Degraw Sound Studios in Brooklyn to record the material that would comprise the band’s forthcoming self-titled EP, slated for a late June release.

With the release of “Falling Into Skies,” the first single off their self-titled EP, the indie rock quintet quickly received praise across the blogosphere, and as soon as you hear “More,” the second and latest single off the forthcoming EP, you’ll see why: the quintet pairs a gorgeous and melancholy melody with folky, strummed guitar chords, shimmering synths, propulsive drum programming and percussion and swirling electronics in a n ethereal yet buoyant song that effortlessly meshes electro pop with singer/songwriter folk; in fact, as the band’s Olivia Price noted to the folks at Consequence of Sound, lyrically the song captures the inner monologue of a narrator, who is in the middle of a crippling identity crisis as they desire something much better and not only has the narrator need to accept that actually getting that something better can actually require a ton of effort, they also have to accept that sometimes all of that effort can be for naught.  And as a result, the song conveys a bitter and uneasy jumble of emotions.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Fronted by its creative mastermind Seth Sutton, San Francisco-based (by way of Memphis, TN) punk act Useless Eaters forthcoming effort Relaxing Death is slated for a June 3, 2016 release through John Dwyer and Matt Jones’ renowned indie label Castle Face Records, and from the album’s latest single “Electrical Outlet,” the Bay Area-based punk act will further cement their reputation for crafting tense tightly wound, anxious, hallucinatory synth punk — in this case layers of buzzing and angular synth chords and razor sharp drum machine loops are paired with shouted vocals in a bilious and frenetic song that evokes the inner workings the mind of a paranoid insomniac.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Jacqueline Caruso (keys and vocals) and Augustus Green (bass, synth, production/beats and sound design), Washington, DC-based psych pop duo The Galaxy Electric specialize in a sound and aesthetic that mixes Brazilian bossa nova and Tropicalia, 60s psychedelia and early synthesizer experimentation; in fact, adding to that aesthetic, the duo utilizes old-fashioned, lo-fi recording techniques, as well as the use of sound design-inspired arrangements and old-timey reverb and echo devices to craft a trippy and immersive sound that seemingly comes out of 1967.

“Temporal,” the latest single off the duo’s forthcoming Everything Is Light and Sound consists of Caruso’s gorgeous vocals paired with twisting and turning synth chords, bop-era jazz syncopated drumming and a sinuous bass line filtered through gentle layers of reverb and echo, and the result is an ethereal and trippy song  that focuses on the both the nature of time and our experience of it; all while evoking a similar vision of the future presented by the 1964 World’s Fair — a hopeful world that has used science and technology to solve humanity’s greatest problems in an efficient and timely fashion.