Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mexico City’s Howless Shares a Trippy Visual for Anthemic “Unlucky”

Rising Mexico City, Mexico-based noise pop/shoegaze quartet Howless, led by co-lead vocalists Dominique Sanchez and Mauricio Tinejro, will be releasing their highly anticipated, full-length debut To Repel Ghosts on Friday through Static Blooms Records.

To Repel Ghosts will reportedly see the Mexican shoegazer outfit grappling with big themes, striking different levels of consciousness throughout the album’s eight crafted and dynamic songs while also hinting at nervous foreboding. The album’s eight songs were specifically written and recorded so that they seamlessly transition into the next one — and are performed with the sort of self-assuredness and effortless aplomb of grizzled, old pros.

In the lead up to the album’s release, I’ve written about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Levels,” which saw the Mexican shoegazers pairing old-fashioned pop craftsmanship and textured soundscapes with an uncanny knack for razor sharp hooks.
  • “Rain and Ice,” s a slick synthesis of Garlands era Cocteau Twins-like atmospherics and A Storm in Heaven-like textures that manages to be the one of the album’s heaviest and darkest songs — both sonically and thematically.

To Repel Ghosts‘ third and latest single “Unlucky,” is a punchy and rousingly anthemic song centered around relentless thump, driving bass lines, glistening keys, shimmering guitars and Sanchez’s plaintive and ethereal vocals paired with enormous, crowd-pleasing hooks. The song lyrically makes reference to self-sabotage and the manifestation of one own’s bad luck — primarily based on terrible decision making.

Directed and edited by Azael Arroyo, the recently released video for “Unlucky” follows three young Mexicans — a Blossom outfitted young woman, who we first see roller skating and hanging out at a skateboard park, a young man wearing almost all black and a third young woman with a camcorder and old iPhone. The action goes both forward and backwards as we see each of these young people going through their day. They wind up at the same skate park but never interact with each other — but they all seem plagued by the possibility of shitty luck if one thing or another goes wrong.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Reims, France’s Not A Number (N.A.N.) Shares Hopeful “Run Again”

Bernard Collot is a Reims, France-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the French post-punk recording project Not A Number (N.A.N.) Late last year, Collot signed with North Shadows Records, who released his Not A Number debut EP Wave earlier this month both digitally and as a limited run cassette.

Wave EP features the 4AD Records-like “Black Water,” which I wrote about some time ago on this site. The EP’s latest single “Run Away,” much like its immediate predecessor seems indebted to 4AD Records post-punk: shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, gated drums, angular bass lines and a soaring hook paired with Collot’s achingly plaintive vocals singing about a universal experience the lifting of deep grief and heartache and falling back in love again. And as a result, while being brooding, the song evokes a sense of hope.

The accompanying video for “Run Away” was shot on Malta and follows Collot wandering around the island nation’s shoreline and winding streets and alleyways by himself. With the video occasionally becoming glitchy, there’s a sense that we might all be watching in the matrix.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: NYC’s Anna Sun Holds On To Hope In “What A Shame”

Emerging New York-based indie rock outfit Anna Sun — Samantha Aneson (vocals, guitar), Nikola Balać (drums) and Andrew “Swhogs” Shewaga (bass) — can trace their origins to the breakup of their first band together Satin Nickel back in 2020. When Satin Nickel broke up, Aneson began incorporating her own original material into her repertoire and recruited her former bandmates to bring the material to life.

With the release of their debut EP Extended Play earlier this year, the band firmly established a songwriting approach centered around Aneson’s diary-like lyrics: Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes heartbreaking, the songs find Aneson digging deep into the tricky dynamics of relationships while finding an underlying sense of optimism.

Overall, the EP thematically captures the small victories and overwhelming anxieties of living in our very strange time. The EP’s latest single, “What A Shame” features Aneson’s Chrissie Hynde-like vocals paired with shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a propulsive rhythm section and a rousingly anthemic hook. And while being remarkably accessible, the song is influenced by heartbreaking — and very real — circumstances: The song as the band’s Aneson explains was written as much-needed catharsis, as she was forced to accept the bitter reality that she was losing her mother to dementia. In some way the song and its narrator seems to be desperately trying to hold on — despite everything going absolutely wrong. Sometimes all you’ve got to keep you from cracking up, is the hope that something better will come

“I’ve grown to love the dichotomy of pain and lightness in art. How one can make the other so much more pronounced,” Aneson says. “I was in a place (am forever in a place) of begrudgingly agreeing to this reality that’s been forced upon me. Having to move forward without railing against existence for doing something that once seemed so unimaginable. Having to find light in my nightmare.”

Directed by Kay Day and the band’s Aneson, the recently released video for “What A Shame” features a heartbroken Aneson painting her face like a clown. She winds up going through a hellish day: First she walks through what appears to be McCarren Park with an urn. When she gets to the river to dump ashes, the ashes get blown back into her face. She later gets mugged at knifepoint. She encounters a street musician and forgets that she was just mugged — and has no money. She later meets up with a boyfriend in the park, when all of the video’s villains see her — and then attack her. And then when she tries to escape, she gets hit by a car. Throughout, Aneson tries her very best to keep going, to keep feeling positive about something. If it feels familiar, it should. Life would be unbearable if we didn’t do so.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Ibeyi Share Gorgeous and Symbolic Visual for Mesmerizing “Sister 2 Sister”

Deriving their name from the Yoruba word for twins ibeji, the acclaimed French-Cuban, London-based twin sibling duo Ibeyi (pronounced ee-bey-ee) — Lisa-Kainde Diaz and Naomi Diaz — can trace the origins of their music career to growing up in a deeply musical home: their father, Anga Diaz, was best known for his work as a member of the intentionally acclaimed Buena Vista Social Club and for collaborating with Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez and Compay Segundo. Sadly, Anga died when the Diaz Sisters were 11.

Upon their father’s death, Lisa-Kainde and Naomi began studying Yoruba folk songs and the cajon, an Afro-Caribbean drum that their father played throughout most of his career. Interestingly enough, although Yoruba is primarily spoken throughout Nigeria and Benin, the African language has been spoken in some fashion in Cuba since the 1700s, when the slave trade brought Africans to the Caribbean. So when the twins started studying their late father’s music and cultural heritage, they had a deeper understanding of their father as a person, while getting in touch with their ancestral history.

The twins 2015 self-titled debut was critically applauded. Thematically, the album dealt with the past — their father’s life and death, their relationship with each other, their own origins and connecting with their roots. Sonically the album saw them quickly establishing a unique sound that features elements of electro pop, hip-hop, jazz, the blues and Yoruba folk music.

The JOVM mainstays’ sophomore album 2017’s Ash saw the sibling duo writing songs firmly rooted in Afro-Cuban culture and history — but while arguably being among the most visceral, politically charged material of their catalog to date, with the album’s material thematically touching upon race, gender and sexual identity.

Slated for a May 6, 2022 release through XL Recordings, Spell 31, Ibeyi’s third album derives its title from “Spell 31” in The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, which interestingly enough became the premise of the album’s first single “Made of Gold,” a lushly textured song featuring atmospheric synths, buzzing bass synths, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats, the twins’ gorgeous and dreamy harmonizing and a guest spot from Gambian-British emcee Pa Salieu.

When the twins returned to the studio to write and record new material, they had felt a sense of chaos, informed by the chaotic state of the world surrounding them. As they got to work, they set out to invoke the age-old teachings of their ancestors to remobilize the power of their birth-given destiny as Ibeyi.

The album reportedly sees the twins on a path to restoration in pursuit of true harmony, healing and magic — all of which, we desperately need right now. The JOVM mainstays commissioned activist and storyteller Janaya Future Khan to write an essay for them, after meeting the activist and storyteller. Khan explains “Ibeyi’s Spell 31 is their boldest offering yet, an antidote to apathy in a divided world.” They explain further, “Spell 31 casts with conviction, transmuting nihilism into sangoma, binaries into endless dualites, moral austerity into abundance. A subversive and halcyonic manifesto from queens of a sovereign land, Ibeyi occupies the liminal, the space between life and death, past and present, right and wrong, and calls for the interior revelations that create the systemic revolutions we long for.”

Continuing their successful collaboration with their long-time producer Richard Russell, Spell 31‘s 10 songs were written, produced and recorded by the duo and features appearances from Jorja Smith, BERYWN, the twins’ father and mother, and the aforementioned Pa Salieu. The album also features a reimagining of Black Flag‘s “Rise Above.”

Along with the album announcement, the JOVM mainstays released Spell 31‘s lead single “Sister 2 Sister.” Centered around a hyper modern production featuring wobbling bass synths, skittering beats, glistening synths and the twins’ gorgeous harmonies “Sister 2 Sister” is inspired and informed by their Afro-Latin roots and their sisterhood: They recall a fond memory singing along to Shakira in the mirror and they talk about how they know they can depend on and rely on each other — even when they’re occasionally when they’re at odds. The song also features a sample of “River” off their self-titled debut.

Directed by Colin Solar Cardo, the accompanying visual for “Sister 2 Sister” stars Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, along with a collection of beautiful dancers. While incredibly symbolic, the visual touches upon the themes of its accompanying song — with the sisters’ and dancers’, movements conveying the twins’ deep bond.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Angeles’ Faux Real Shares an Infectious, Over-The-Top Banger

Faux Real is an emerging, Los Angeles-based electro pop duo, who specialize in bringing a swaggering American edge to Europop aesthetics. Their latest single “The United Snakes of America,” Faux Real’s latest single is an infectious and raucous party banger centered around autotuned harmonies, shimmering synth arpeggios, slapping Bootsy Collins like bass lines and shout-along-with-your-pals choruses.

While seeming like a slick synthesis of LMFAO and La Femme — there’s a fucking banjo solo after all! — “The United Snakes of America” is a politically-charged celebration of the power of community that revels in its hilarious, ridiculously over-the-top nature.

The recently released video for “The United Snakes of America” fittingly features the duo vamping and bopping around various sights in Los Angeles in a souped up limo — and fittingly a shit ton of snakes, both real and fake. Because snakes and ‘Murica.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s Tess Roby Shares a Symbolic Visual for CInematic “Ideas of Space”

Montreal-based singer/songwriter and producer Tess Roby is a classically trained vocalist and self-taught synth player, who has developed and honed an exploratory sound and approach that blur the lines between pop, ambient electronica and alternative folk with an emphasis on voice as an instrument.

Roby’s sophomore album Ideas of Space is slated for an April 22, 2022 release through the Montreal-based artist’s own label SSURROUNDSS. The album reportedly sees Roby moving towards full artistic independence with the Montreal-based artist acting as songwriter, producer, musician, video director and art director.

Ideas of Space features guest spots from BRAIDS‘ Austin Tufts, Joseph Shabason and Ouri, who contribute drums, woodwinds and cello to add intricate textures to material centered around fuller-bodied production and expansive song structures. The album’s songs shift effortlessly from jubilant highs to contemplative lows, evoking the concepts of duality, which run throughout the album’s material.

The album’s first single, album title track, the mesmerizing “Ideas of Space” is centered around glistening and looping synth arpeggios, dramatic drumming paired with Roby’s achingly plaintive vocals. Sonically, “Ideas of Space” manages to recall to Kate Bush and Flourish//Perish era BRAIDS. “‘Ideas of Space’ signals the beginning of a new chapter. This song is hypnotic and sinuous, and sonically possesses a certain power and urgency,” Roby says in press notes. “When I listen to it I imagine vast landscapes, a climb, a journey. Two distinct voices speak to each other; one lost, questioning, and the other guiding the way. I wanted to visually represent those voices and the journey I was on while making this album; one of self-discovery, hardship, adventure and in the end, confidence and strength.” 

Directed by Roby, the fittingly cinematic visual that features Roby lost and wandering the forest near the Quebec coast in a white frock. Her journey is arduous and in the video’s narrative, seems to take days — with a night sleeping in the elements. Eventually she comes to a clearing. And in the clearing, she comes across a Stonehedge-like structure where she encounters herself — and is greeted with a warm and loving hug.

“The video was made with a small and incredible team composed of DOPs and editors Patrick Boivin and George Allister (VideoCompany), and producer Sarah Mackenzie,” says Tess Roby. “It was an ambitious undertaking and I’m very proud of what we have made together.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: New York’s Say She She Takes Viewers on a Trippy Nighttime Tour of NYC

Deriving their name as a silent nod to the legendary Nile Rodgers — “C’est chi-chi! It’s Chic!” — the emerging 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.

The emerging New York-based funk and disco outfit 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. And as result, their material is a journey through a post-modern woman’s life, full of tales of love, 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.

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.

“Forget Me Not” serves as the New York-based act’s debut single — and their self-titled 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. Written as an homage to New York’s Guerrilla Girls and to all the women’s rights and protest movements, who have paved the way for change, the song is a call to disrupt and dismantle male dominated spaces.

Directed by Alyssa Boni, the recently released video for “Forget Me Not” follows the trio looking like a cabal of hood-wearing, almost all black wearing crew as they go through Lower Manhattan town posting stickers everywhere they can place them. We also see them dancing in East River Park, wandering through Little Italy and Chinatown and going through a detailed dance routine in various locations.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ed Schrader’s Music Beat Shares an Eerie and Dream-like VIsual for “Echo Base”

2018’s Dan Deacon-produced album Riddles saw the Baltimore-based post-punk duo  Ed Schrader’s Music Beat — Devlin Rice and Ed Schrader — turning heads both nationally and elsewhere.

The duo’s fourth album Nightclub Daydreaming is slated for a March 25, 2022 release through Carpark Records. The album can be traced back to 2019 when Schrader and Rice began initially writing song with the idea of making a fun, danceable album. Along with touring drummer Kevin O’Meara, the members of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat road-tested the material while on tour with Dan Deacon in February 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a screeching halt. Sadly, that Dan Deacon tour was one of the last experiences that Schrader and Rice had with O’Meara, who died in October 2020. O’Meara’s death weighed heavily on their minds as they finished working on the album. Understandably, it was an unshakeable moodiness and heartache. As Schrader puts it, “The cave followed us into the discotheque.”

They then went to record and mix Nightclub Daydreaming over a breakneck two-week period with Craig Bowen at Baltimore’s Tempo House. The end result wasn’t the album of “sunny disco bangers” that Rice says the band originally set out for, but something that turned out far deeper and darker. Their long-held reputation for whiplash-inducing stylistic shifts between aggressive and noisy rock and operatic, gloom pop have given way to a single aesthetic that seamlessly fuses those different impulses within propulsive, stark arrangements.

“The fun thing about this record is that it’s all at once informed by our more recent lush productions with Dan Deacon, yet spartan and boiled-down, exuding a coldness wrapped in ecstasy, following our time honored trend of never giving people what they expect, but hopefully what they want,” says Schrader.

The Charm City-based duo started the year on an explosive note: Last month, they released two singles off the album and announced dates for an an extensive Spring 2022 tour that the duo optimistically put on the books. The tour includes an April 23, 2022 stop  Union Pool. (As always, those dates will appear below this review.)

As for the singles:

  • “This Thirst” is a sleek post-punk ripper centered around angular guitar attack, a forceful motorik groove, a rousingly anthemic synth-led chorus and Schrader’s cool yet urgent delivery. The song’s narrator finds his irresistible urges leading him through a surrealistic, chemical-fueled fever dream of desperate back-alley bartering and scheming, uncertainty and existential threats.
  • “Berliner,” is a dark and brooding bit of post-punk centered around rumbling and distorted bass, scorching angular attack and unrelenting four-on-the-floor paired with Schrader’s coolly delivered baritone. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Berliner” evokes flop sweat and bleary-eyed late nights fueled by booze and drugs, lingering ghosts, and fever dreams. 

“Echo Base,” Nightclub Daydreaming‘s third and latest single is propelled by breakneck drum fills, a relentless bass line and glistening guitar. Much like its immediate predecessor, the song is one part lingering ghosts, self-flagellation, bitter regret and simmering frustration centered around an icy facade.

“A few years ago, I saw Carrie Fisher speak, and she referenced a Paul Simon song from Graceland where he compares her eyes to cold coffee. Her voice cracked as she spoke, and the whole theater went silent,” Ed Schrader recalls. “This lyric from a decades-old song about a decades-old relationship still hurt her. This moment showed the brilliant, sharp-shooting woman of my childhood dreams as a real, vulnerable, wildly misunderstood and underappreciated human being. I wanted to make a song befitting a princess, our Carrie.”

Directed by Devon Voelkel, the new video for “Echo Base” is a haunting and uneasy fever dream that’s split between a robe wearing Rice microwaving cut up limes and dancing on his bed — until he gets sucked into a portal, where he unites with his bandmate in a cobweb covered, dank cavern, where they perform in front of no one in particular.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays No Swoon Share a Dream-like Visual for Uptempo “Besides”

Formed back in 2016, JOVM mainstays No Swoon — Tasha Abbott (vocals, guitar) and Zack Nestel-Patt (synths, baas) — have quickly established a blogosphere winning attention sound that meshes elements of dream pop, shoegaze, post-punk and ethereal wave with the release of 2018’s EP 1 and 2019’s ’s Jorge Elbrecht-produced, self-titled full-length debut.

Much like countless others across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic, the members of the JOVM mainstay act found their lives and plans thrown into disarray: their planned tour to support their full-length debut had to be scrapped. And after spending the past five years in Brooklyn, the duo relocated to Los Angeles. Understandably, spending over a year in quarantine-imposed isolation forced the pair to take a step back and think about their lives in new ways — and to examine the intricacies of going through life as we know it.

The band managed to release a couple of singles throughout the bulk of the pandemic, including “Again,” a single that marked massive, life-altering transitions for the duo: their aforementioned return back West. And along with their relocation, the band reworked their sound and approach. The Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins meets Slowdive like “Again” was deeply inspired by life during the pandemic. As the JOVM mainstays explained in press notes, “This song is about when days begin and end with no real definition. About being stuck in the loop of our life and we can’t get out. It may come to no surprise that this song was written early on in the Pandemic. Before everything shut down, I (Tasha) was constantly moving: work, music, sleep, etc., and being at stand-still all of a sudden was definitely strange (on top of the already terror and stress of the pandemic).”

Interestingly, “Again” will appear on the band’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Take Your Time. Slated for an April 8, 2022 release, the lion share of Take Your Time was recorded by the band in Western Massachusetts, amidst the isolation of pandemic related quarantine — with the band’s Nestel-Patt taking up engineering duties during the initial recording sessions. The album features guest spots from longtime collaborator Jon Smith (drums), along with Furrows‘ and Olden Yolk’s Peter Wagner (guitar). Jake Aaron contributed some additional production and Chris Coady mixed the album, pushing the material into something otherworldly.

Take Your Time‘s material was conceived and written during both personal and global transitions and turmoil — but while celebrating a joyful acceptance of the paths that have lead each of us to where we are right now. About the album’s themes, No Swoon’s Abbott contends, “We are so hard on ourselves for decisions we made years ago. I have plenty of regrets, but I also see it as a process, and it’s ok that I didn’t realize the hopes and dreams of 20-year old me. What did she know anyways?” 

The album’s first official single, the uptempo “Besides” is centered around Abbott’s plaintive and breathy falsetto, a propulsive rhythm section and intertwined buzzing power chords and twinkling, reverb-drenched synths. While sonically nodding at fellow JOVM mainstays Beach House, “Besides” as the band’s Abbott explains was inspired by a wild, enigmatic dream she once had in which, while exploring a mysterious cavern, she stumbled upon a secret, apparently blissful cult with ambiguous intentions.

“I have some really weird dreams,” Abbott says in press notes. “They are often these wide-ranging sci-fi stories. This song is part 2 of the same dream that inspired a song on our first record ‘Don’t wake up, wake up‘. That dream had ended with meandering into a cave that turned out to be the home to a cult where everyone looked the same and seemed very ‘happy.’ Though, obviously they were not very happy because it was a cult. I eventually got out.”

Shot and edited by the duo, the accompanying visual for “Beside” emphasizes the song’s dream-like air: The viewer is placed in a forest, where we see the duo walking towards us in a seemingly infinite loop.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brooklyn’s LAPÊCHE Shares a Stylish Visual for 120 Minutes MTV Alt Rock-like “Bottom Feeder –V1”

Brooklyn-based indie outfit LAPÊCHE — Krista Diem (vocals guitar), her husband David Diem (bass), Drew DeMaio (guitar) and Richard Salino (drums) — have developed a sound that meshes folk-inspired melodies, indie rock/alt rock soundscapes and a fiercely DIY ethos.

Since their formation, the Brooklyn-based indie rock quartet have shared stages with J. Robbins Band, Torche, JOVM mainstays Russian Baths, Do Make Say Think, The Cave Singers, Erica Frias, Lauren Denitizo, Deadaires and a lengthy list of others. Back in 2019, they opened for Jawbox during the Northeast leg of their tour, playing shows in Boston, Philadelphia, DC and of course, Brooklyn. They’ve also began to make appearances on the national festival circuit with stops at Sing out Loud Festival and The Fest.

Adding to a growing profile, the band’s sophomore album Blood in the Water received coverage from Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, New Noise, Talkhouse and others.

LAPÊCHE’s latest single “Bottom Feeder” is a decidedly 120 Minutes MTV era alt-rock like anthem centered around an alternating quiet verse, loud chorus song structure featuring fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and Krista Diem’s achingly plaintive vocals expressing despair and frustration. ”The single, ‘Bottom Feeder – V1,’ addresses resentment, addiction, and the figurative sleep of  a dysfunctional family,.” the members of LAPÊCHE explain in press notes. “It’s also about the result of not getting out of your own way and the self-destruction that can result from being unable to see outside of yourself.” 

Edited by Jacob Halpren, the recently released video for “Bottom Feeder” is an incredibly stylish, French New Wave-like visual featuring split screens, quick fades split between footage of the band’s members bowling, and Krista Diem brooding in front of what looks like a fancy bathroom wall.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Kendra Morris Shares a Symbolic and Feverish Visual for “Nine Lives”

Kendra Morris is a Florida-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and multi-disciplinary artist. As a singer/songwriter and musician, Morris can trace the origins of her music career to discovering the joys of multi-tracking and harmonizing with herself on a karaoke machine in the closet of her childhood home. She then went on to play in cover bands in her home state before relocating to New York with her band, which played her original material. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Around the same time, Morris was one of my bartenders at The Library Bar on Avenue A in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. For a long time, they had one of the best jukeboxes in the city. And one of the best bar mascots ever — Megasus. Megasus forever and ever in my heart. So, as you can imagine, it’s a bit of a trip to be writing about someone, who used to serve me copious amounts of Guinness every weekend for the better part of about 18 months or so.)

Morris’ first band split up and she dealt with the aftermath by writing material alone on an 8-track in her closet. Sometime after, she met longtime collaborator and producer Jeremy Page and signed to Wax Poetics, who released her full-length debut, 2012’s Banshee. 

Morris self-released 2016’s Babble. Then she went on to collaborate with the likes of DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, MF DOOM, Czarface, Ghostface Killah, Dennis Coffey and Dave Sitek among others. And while being a grizzled, New York scene vet, Morris’ work generally embodies a broader sense of American culture, drawing from a wide array of influences across music and film dating back to the mid 20th Century. 

The Florida-born, New York-based artist’s long-awaited sophomore album Nine Lives is slated for a February 18, 2022 release through Karma Chief Records. While being her first full-length album in a decade, the album represents a major turning point in her life both professional and personally: The album for her heralds the beginning of a new chapter; an evolution to the next level of adulthood; and the first on her new label. Interestingly, Nine Lives‘ material reportedly encapsulates moments from what could easily be nine lifetimes lived over a chronological time period — or nine lives lived simultaneously in parallel and convergent realities in the multiverse. 

Last month, I wrote about “Penny Pincher,” a slow-burning ballad about reaching the end of the road in a relationship, filled regret, heartache, acceptance and steely determination to boldly go forward with your life. Album title track “Nine Lives” is a strutting, hook-driven bit of soul pop jam centered around Morris’ sultry vocals, stuttering boom bap beats, squiggling guitar, and glistening Rhodes arpeggios that sounds as though it could have been released between 1992-1996 or so.

Directed by Sarai Mari, the recently released video is a colorful fever dream that follows several different colored versions of Morris going about her day getting killed throughout various parts of the city. “‘Nine Lives; the song envelopes the concept of the album itself in that i believe we live multiple lifetimes in one . . .,”Morris explains in press notes. “When thinking about a visual for the song, I kept seeing these lives and versions of ourselves as represented in colors . . . how we can peel off each one and try on another.. sometimes we have to die a little to find ourselves again.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Elephant Stone Go on a Trippy Journey Through Space in Visual for “M. Lonely”

Rishi Dhir is a Brossard, Quebec-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He’s a grizzled Montreal indie rock and psych rock scene vet with stints in bands like The Datsons and The High Dials. Dhir is also an in-demand sitar player and bassist, who has collaborated with the likes of Beck, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Dream Syndicate, psych rock supergroup MIEN and countless others.

The Brossard-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist founded the acclaimed JOVM mainstay psych rock act Elephant Stone back in 2009. Along with collaborators and bandmates Miles Duper (drums), Gab Lambert (guitar), Robbie MacArthur (guitar) and Jason Kent (keys, guitar), the Canadian psych rock outlive has released five albums centered around a sound that incorporates elements of traditional Indian classical music with Western psych rock, rooted in his own personal experiences.

Dhir’s own journey in music, frequently found him trying to find a place that fit him until he decided that what he made was worth sharing in the space that he had created for himself. “I only write about what I know and think I understand. As long as there’s Rishi, there’s going to be Elephant Stone,” Dhir says in press notes.

Slated for a February 18, 2022 release through Elephants on Parade, Elephant Stone’s soon-to-be released EP Le voyage de M. Lonely dans la lune reportedly picks up on the personal aspects of survival explored on their previous album Hollow and what that means on a dying planet with — or without people. “I built this storyline about a hermit who is very content in his solitary world, until a world event happens that causes everyone else to stay home as well…sound familiar?” Dhir explains. “He sees this as a mockery of him and his choices, deciding instead to build a rocket ship to the moon to be left alone.” 

Over the course of the EP’s four songs, the EP’s main character M. Lonely “ultimately realizes he was happier back on imperfect earth with all of its imperfect people,” Dhir says.

The EP’s latest single “M. Lonely” is centered around an expansive and mind-bending psych rock arrangement with rousingly anthemic hooks, some blazing solo work, a dreamy acoustic-driven bridge, and Dhir’s propulsive bass lines. While most of their output features lyrics written and sung in English, Le voyage de M. Lonely dans la lune is a departure for the band, as the material is written and sung exclusively in French. According to Dhir, the EP doubles as a love letter to Montreal and to all of their Francophone fans around the world.

“M. Lonely” actually sets the stage for the EP’s storyline: the EP’s titular character is upset about a worldwide epidemic that forces the rest of the planet’s population to stay home for their safety. M. Lonely decides that he needs to leave Earth for his own reclusive sanity.

“The riff from this song dates back to my time playing with The Black Angels in 2012,” Dhir explains. “Following our gig in Nashville, Christian Bland (The Black Angels’ guitarist) and I proceeded to get drunk backstage and started jamming. Coaxed by Alex Mass (The Black Angels’ vocalist), we came up with the idea of creating a new band called The Woodpeckers: playing primal 60’s garage while wearing Woody Woodpecker masks. We both came up with tunes on the spot and, 10 years later, mine ended up evolving into ‘M. Lonely.’ Anyhow, I’m still waiting for those Woody Woodpecker masks…” 

Directed by Daniel Ross and Vincent Gauthier, the recently released video or “M. Lonely” features the band in mod-style outfits playing in front of trippy animations and effects by Vivid_AV. The video hints at the EP’s larger story with Dhir dressed in an Elephant Stone spacesuit, and a spaceship traveling through the cosmos.

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Acharis Share a Trippy Video for Brooding “False Positive”

Oakland-based shoegazer outfit The Acharis — life partners Shaun Wagner and Mila Puccini — features Bay Area music scene vets, who have played in a number of different bands over the years. Back in 2015, Wagner and Puccini decided to create something together, that was entirely theirs.

2017’s full-length debut, Lost in the Vortex saw the pair sharing vocal and songwriting duties, as well as playing every instrument on the album. The duo’s John Fryer-produced sophomore album Blue Sky/Grey Heaven finds Wagner and Puccini collaborating with a newly recruited live band crafting a much darker sound with a studio polish that stylistically ranges from fragile noise pop to fuzzed out shoeaze. The album’s material also sees the band delivering a wider spectrum of moods.

“False Positive,” Blue Sky/Grey Heaven‘s first single is a brooding and decidedly 120 Minutes MTV era-like anthem centered around fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming, ethereal boy-girl harmonies and an alternating quiet verse, loud chorus song structure. Sonically, “False Positive” seems to recall My Bloody Valentine, early Smashing Pumpkins and In Utereo era Nirvana — with a nasty, pissed off vibe.

“I came up with this riff when I was a teenager and it’s been bouncing around in my head ever since. The inspiration came from the huge sounding guitars on the first 2 Smashing Pumpkins albums. The original title was ‘Elephant’ as a nod to the Pumpkins track ‘Rhinoceros,'” the band explains in press notes. “When It came time to write the lyrics, I was walking around just being fucking bummed and wondering what I could possibly have to say to the world that would matter. I feel like often there is pressure to reveal some great truth or intelligent insight in a 3 minute rock song, which is just kind of ridiculous. I remember Kurt Cobain talking about how ‘Pennyroyal Tea‘ was about just being hopelessly depressed. So I took inspiration from that and just wrote about how I was feeling at the time. It has that kind of slacker 90’s vibe like yeah, everything is fucked, so what? It all comes full circle in the unintelligible screaming at the end of the song “There’s an elephant in the room. A rhinoceros. A hippopotamus. It’s true” 

The accompanying video for “False Positive” sees the duo performing and wandering in a trippy Victorian house, where they encounter surreal and mind-bending decor and backdrops.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Circle Jerks Re-Issue Legendary “Wild in the Streets” to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of its Original Release

Wild in the Streets, the sophomore album by groundbreaking Southern California punk outfit Circle Jerks — currently vocalist Keith Morris, guitarist Greg Hetson (Bad Religion, Redd Kross), bassist Zander Schloss (The Weirdos, Joe Strummer) and drummer Joey Castillo (The Bronx, QOTSA, Danzig, BL’AST!, Wasted Youth) — was originally released 40 years ago this year. And to celebrate the occasion, Wild in the Streets will receive a re-mastered, augmented LP re-issue on February 18, 2022 by Trust Records.

Succeeding Trust’s 2020 re-issue of Circle Jerks’ 1980 full-length debut Group Sex, the 40th Anniversary re-issue of Wild in the Streets will feature re-mastered audio by Pete Lyman and rare April 1982 live performances of material off the band’s first two albums, recorded at San Francisco‘s Elite Club. The package will also include a 20-page, full-color, 12-by-12 inch booklet specifically created for the re-issue that will feature historic photographers, club flyers and an 8,200-word essay by Los Angeles-based journalist Chris Morris, including new interviews with founding members Keith Morris, Greg Heston and Lucky Lehrer.

The re-issue of Wild in the Streets coincides with the kickoff of the band’s 40th Anniversary Tour in February. The tour will feature support from Negative Approach, Adolescents and 7Seconds, who will be reuniting for the first time in over five years. The tour begins on February 18, 2022 and includes an April 14, 2022 stop at Irving Plaza. You can check out the rest of the tour dates below.

The band and Trust Records offered fans a preview of the remastered album with album title track “Wild in the Streets,” a mosh pit friendly ripper delivered with a raw, frenzied urgency. The single is accompanied by a new video directed by photographer and skateboarder Atiba Jefferson that’s split between live footage shot from a Circle Jerks show back in 1982 and home video camera footage of skaters Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Christian Hosoi, Eric Koston, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Steve Olson, Victoria Ruesga, Sal Barbier, Rowan Zorilla, Sean Malto, Anaiah Lei, Lizzie Armanto, Dashawn Jordan, Max Perlich and others.

“I grew up on ‘Wild In The Streets’, so to be asked to direct this video was a huge honor,” Jefferson explains. “I wanted to capture and preserve 40 years of history but also celebrate 40 years of punk rock and skateboarding history.”