Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Low Releases a Deeply Metaphorical Visual for Abrasive Yet Gorgeous “More”

Founded back in 1993, the acclaimed Duluth-based indie act  Low — currently founding members and married couple Alan Sparhawk (guitar, vocals) and Mimi Parker (drums) — are considered pioneers of slowcore, an indie rock sub-genre featuring slowed down tempos and minimalist-leaning arrangements. While going through a series of lineup changes throughout their history, the band has consistently disapproved of slowcore term. And over time, they’ve managed to shrug off its stricture altogether.

2015’s B.J. Burton-produced Ones and Sixes began an ongoing series of uncompromising and challenging material. With the critical success of Ones and Sixes, the members of Low wanted to go further with Burton and his aesthetic, to see what someone, who as Sparhawk has described as a “hip-hop guy” could do to put their music in radically new directions. Instead of obsessively writing, revising and rehearsing in Duluth, before heading to the studio, the band went to  Eau Claire, WI with rough ideas and sketches for one of the most collaborative writing sessions they’ve ever had with a producer.

During the Double Negative sessions, they’d build pieces up, break them down and build them up again until each individual song found its purpose and force. Over the two year writing and recording sessions, the outside world slid deeper into madness and instability — and in some fashion Double Negative may be seen as a document of our peculiar moment: the material is at times loud, contentious, chaotic and jarring. Sparhawk’s and Parker’s gorgeous harmonies sometimes seem to be desperately fighting against the noise and chaos, other times hidden with it. 

HEY WHAT, the acclaimed Duluth-based act’s 13th album is slated for a September 10, 2021 release through their longtime label home Sub Pop Records. Continuing their ongoing collaboration with producer BJ Burton,  HEY WHAT reportedly finds Sparhawk and Parker focusing on their craft, staying out of the fray and holding fast to their faith to find new ways to express the discord and delight of being a living human being, to turn the duality of our existence into hymns we can share. The album’s ten songs are individually built by their own undeniable hooks — and are turbocharged by the vivid textures surrounding them.

In the lead-up the album’s release next month, I’ve written about two of the album’s released singles:

“Days Like These,” a disorientating track featuring hushed passages with strummed guitar fighting for space between dense layers of noise and distortion that accrete and then fall apart. The entire affair is held together by Sparkhawk and Parker’s gorgeous and slightly Autotuned harmonies, serving as a lifeline from the shore, thrown out to the poor soul just about to drown in the breakers. At its core, “Days Like These” is a yearning plea for meaning and peace in a world that’s completely mad and doesn’t make much sense. 
“Disappearing,” a meditative slow-burn centered around ebbing and waning feedback and distortion. Sparhawk’s and Parker’s yearning harmonies ride the uneasy crests and valleys of the song’s oceanic-like production. The song is an an aching meditation of loneliness, isolation and the unknown beyond all of this. 

“More,” HEY WHAT’s disorientating third and latest single is centered around scorching and heavily distorted power chords and Parker’s gorgeous lead vocal turn, singing lyrics expressing frustration while yearning and demanding for more in a world that’s grossly unfair and inequitable.

Directed by Julie Casper Roth, the recently released video for “More” metaphorically explores the Sisypeahn task of dismantling structural oppression though gender biases: Throughout the video, we see a pair of gloved hands attempting to take part and smash various parts and structures, only to discover that some things are very difficult to take apart.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brazil’s Please Use Right Excuses Releases a 120 Minutes Inspired Mosh Pit Ripper

Over the course of three EPs, 2017’s P.U.R.E., 2019’s Tax and the recently released Pure-quarantine, the Brazilian indie rock/alt rock trio Please Use Right Excuses (a.k.a. P.U.R.E.) — Bruno (vocals, guitar), Aracelli (vocals, bass) and Junior (drums) — have quickly established a sound that’s heavily indebted to 90s grunge rock.

“Anxious,” Pure-quarantine EP’s latest single is a mosh pit friendly ripper centered around distortion and fuzz pedaled power chords, thunderous drumming, rumbling down-tuned bass, howled vocals and a rousingly anthemic chorus. Sonically, the track brings back fond memories of 120 Minutes era MTV — in particular, In Utereo era Nirvana, Dinosaur, Jr., Melvins and others come to mind.

The recently released video by Ian Carlo Blau and Pro Fernandes is also heavily indebted to classic MTV: the video features the members of the band behaving decadently: drinking wine, eating popcorn in a sparsely decorated room and playing the song in front of red light. The visual is stylish, uneasy and brooding.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Money War Releases a Brooding Visual for Yearning “Miles Away”

Perth-based dream pop duo The Money War — married duo Carmen and Dylan Ollivierre — can trace their origins to a road trip that the pair took across the States back in 2015. Inspired by the trip, the duo wrote and record ton of iPhone demos. After a chance meeting with producers Thom Monahan and Arne Frager in a San Francisco dive bar, the duo were convinced of the value of their demos together, and began to further flesh out their material, eventually leading to their full-length debut, 2019’s Home.

Since forming in 2016, the Perth-based duo have attained a national and international profile: They’ve toured with Meg Mac, Dope Lemon, Holy Holy, and Neil Finn across Australia and they’ve received an Australian Music Prize nomination for their full-length debut. They’ve made the rounds of the global festival circuit with stops at SXSW and BIGSOUND among others. The duo has received radio airplay nationally and globally with Double J, Triple J, BBC 6, KCRW, NPR — and they’ve cracked Stateside college radio charts. And in their native Australia they’ve been covered by Rolling Stone Australia, Tone Deaf, Pile Rats, and theMusic.

Last year was a busy year for the acclaimed Aussie duo. They released their sophomore album Morning People. They signed a global publishing deal with Mirror Music/BMG — and they had a baby. Continuing upon that momentum, the duo released their latest single, the slow-burning and brooding “Miles Away.” Centered around a gorgeous yet sparse arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, gently padded drumming, and a mournful sax solo paired with Carmen Ollivierre’s plaintive vocals, “Miles Away” is fueled by longing for someone, who you can’t be with — because of distance and/or timing. Sonically “Miles Away” is a slick and soulful mesh of Still Corners and 80s Bruce Springsteen.

Money War’s Carmen Ollivierre driving down a country road, as though driving to the shore to think and reflect. We also see Dylan Ollivierre getting dressed in a jacket and tie, before heading to the beach for a stroll — and perhaps to hopefully meet his beloved.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jenny Stevens and The Empty Mirrors Release a HauntIng New Single and Visual

Jenny Stevens, a.k.a. The Ukelele Girl is a Welsh-born, Finnish-based singer/songwriter and musician, and the creative mastermind behind Jenny Stevens and The Empty Mirrors, a songwriting project that finds the Welsh-born, Finnish-based artist dark alt-pop paired with quirky visuals.

Stevens released her latest Jenny Stevens and The Empty Mirrors EP, The Distance Between Us last week. Interestingly, the EP’s latest single “The River Rolls On” is a slow-burning and atmospheric song centered around atmospheric synths, twinkling keys and e-bow’ed guitar paired with Stevens’ gorgeous and yearning vocals. Seemingly indebted to Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Cocteau Twins and the like, the song as Stevens explains is a “dark and slow reflection on death and the persistence of memory.”

The recently release video is fittingly haunting, fueled by nostalgia, longing and desire.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Immersion Team Up with Laetitia Sadier on an Atmospheric Yet Uplifting New Single

Malka Spiegel and Colin Newman are a husband and wife team and the creative masterminds behind Immersion. Although they’re individually known for their acclaimed and influential work with Minimal Compact and Wire respectively, their work in Immersion provides an outlet for their ongoing fascination for crafting enthralling, unique musical soundscapes through five albums and three EPs released between 1995 and 2018.

er, run by Speigel and Newman, alongside writer, broadcaster and DJ Graham Duff and promoter Andy Rossiter. The night features a range of influential and cutting edge acts but the unique aspect of it all is that each show ends with a one-off collaboration between Immersion and that night’s headliner: with one notable exception, the songs have been written and recorded in the studio a few days before the show.

we had these recordings” Malika Spigel adds. The recordings have been since further developed with Speigel and Newman heading up production duties. The end result may arguably be the duo’s most unique yet beautiful albm to date. “I think the really interesting thing is how different everybody is,” says Spigel. “Both as people and creatively.”

Nanocluster Vol. 1 sees Immersion collaborating with some of the most acclaimed left field artists of our day — Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner. The album’s latest single “Riding the Wave” sees Spigel and Newman collaborating with Laetitia Sadier. Initially making a name for herself as a member of Stereolab, Sadier has since become an acclaimed solo artist, who has created a number of applauded solo works. Centered around atmospheric synths, a sinuous bass line and shimmering and spidery guitar lines, “Riding the Wave,” features a plaintive lead vocal from Newman on the song’s verses and a sunny vocal delivery from Spiegal and Sadier on the song’s uplifting chorus, which finds them singing “Things have a way of working out.” Considering how uneasy everything in the world is at this moment, the slow-burning and atmospheric song may unexpectedly be the anthem — and mantra — we need right now.

The accompanying video for “Riding the Wave” features some gorgeously shot footage shot in what appears to be the English seaside and countryside — and while beautiful, the visual is imbued with the bittersweet reality that all things pass.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mindy Releases an Immersive Visual for Dance Floor Friendly “Poolside”

Mindy Song is a Southern California-born, Korean-American., classically trained multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who first emerged into the national scene as a co-founder of Night Dreamer with Smashing Pumpkins’ Jeff Schroder. Song emerged as a solo artist earlier this year, after working with an eclectic and acclaimed collection of producers including Ryan Kim and Aris Maggiani, who have worked with BTS, Exo, and HyunA; Lior Goldenberg, who has worked with Alanis Morissette, Macy Gray and Allen Stone; Josiah Maccaschi, who has worked with Soko, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Warpaint’s Jenny Lee; and Tristan Calder, who has worked with Kill The Computer.

Performing under the mononym Mindy, Song’s solo work challenges the conservative ideology of her upbringing while displaying transcendence from loneliness and confusion. Song recently released her debut EP Version 1.27, which features “Am I Alive” and the EP’s latest single “Poolside,” a slickly produced number centered around glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats and Song’s sultry delivery. And while being a dance floor friendly bop, the song thematically is about finding comfort within the smallest aspects of life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Chennai’s The F16s Release a surreal and Dream-like Visual for Shimmering “I’m On Holiday”

The rising Chennai, India-based indie rock act The F16s — currently Abhinav Krishnaswamy (guitar), Harshan Radhakrishnan (keys), Joshua Fernandez (vocals, guitar) and Sashank Manohar (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2002 when its founding trio met while attending college. Over the better part of the past decade, the Chennai-based quartet have been busy: their debut EP Kaleidoscope caught the attention of Rolling Stone India, who listed them in their Artists to Watch For feature. 2016’s full-length debut Triggerpunkte was supported with touring across the Indian festival circuit, as well as a six city tour across Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Eventually, The F16s caught the attention of Oxford, MS-based indie label House Arrest, who signed the band and released 2019’s WKND FRNDS EP, an effort that won furhter attention internationally, as well as on this site.

Building upon a growing international profile, the band’s highly-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s WKND FRNDS, Is It Time To Eat The Rich Yet EP is slated for an October 22, 2021 release through House Arrest. Naturally, because of the myriad challenges of the pandemic’s impact in their homeland, their forthcoming EP was completed in a more DIY fashion than their previous released. Much like neighbors, friends, loved ones and countrymen, they experienced and survived some very dark days, but during the EP’s creative process, they oped to write music that was uplifting as a direct reaction to experiencing how a global pandemic needlessly compromised and devastated not only the lives of millions across India, but more personally their own. Through extended periods of economic uncertainty and a corresponding focus to develop and further hone their craft, the EP’s material explores alienation with lyrical wit in fact — “dancing to our doom,” as one band member frames it through pairing bright and sunny sonics with dark and uneasy lyrics. As the band sees it, the EP is essentially a joyful celebration of the human condition — under duress and desperation. And in desperate times, desperate people often find creative ways to make things work as best as they can.

Sonically and aesthetically, the EP reportedly sees the band pushing their sound to the furthest reaches of their influences. During lockdown, the members of The F16s moved in together to hole up and write and record the EP, bringing Harshan Radhakrishnan’s studio with them. They started each day of the EP’s production listening to Frank Sinatra and classic jazz tracks and throughout the day, they would listen to a varied mix of genres from psych rock to post-punk to trap with artists like Vince Staples and The Strokes on repeat. The eclectic listening habits wound up influencing the EP’s eclectic sound and aesthetic.

pop leaning indie rock, it also reflects the fact that we can no long remain oblivious to the social, environmental, economic, and political injustice that plague our world. It shouldn’t be surprising that the members of The F16s saw last year as a year for the “awakening of the oppressed,” especially in their native India, where the pandemic managed to further magnify the stark inequalities between the oppressed poor and working classes and the greed, negligence, incompetence of those in power. And as a result, the dreams of a “swimming pool and a yacht” on WKND FRNDS is completely shattered — and revealed to be vapid and silly.

Is It Time To Eat The Rich’s latest single is the is the swooning “I’m On Holiday.” Centered around twinkling synth arpeggios, shimmering guitars, a steady backbeat, layered multi-part harmonies , “I’m On Holiday” features elements of classic doo-wop, The Beach Boys, 80s synth pop and New Wave and 60s psych pop meshed together in a kaleidoscopic yet accessible fashion — while reminding listeners of their unerring knack for crafting an infectious, razor sharp hooks.

“‘I’m On Holiday’ can be construed as a classic case of denial and delusion behind familiar themes of love and tenderness,” the members of The F16s explain. “The track, like the rest of the EP was perfected during the first wave of the pandemic. In previous releases, WKND FRNDS and Triggerpunkte, the band enlisted outside help for mixing and post-production. The new single and EP had us shifting operations to Josh and Sashank’s place — we set up a makeshift studio to finish it, chopping and changing segments to our hearts content, while Harshan undertook the arduous task of mix engineer. The pandemic, in a way, forced us to work within our means and keep things in-house. It also permeated into our writing, as days passed with the four of us on our phones in different stages of doomscrolling, wondering when the light of respite would show up and bring us back to normalcy.”

Directed by The F16’s Sashank Manohar, the recently released surreal and dream-like lyric video for “I’m On Holiday” features The F16s and Mitra Vivesh. In the background, the band is on a picnic that goes horribly yet comically awry while the stunningly gorgeous Vivesh peacefully sits in the pool of water in the forefront. She’s completely unconcerned with whatever is going on in the background — until one of the band members walks up and grabs her hand.

“Circumstances persuaded us to look within once again while making the video. It began as a minimalist idea that gathered steam within minutes, snowballing into something executable overnight,” the Chennai-based quartet explains in press notes. “Sashank sat in the director’s chair as we sourced our own props and items of importance, while our friend Shantanu Krishnan took the plunge with us as cinematographer. Mitra, the star of the video joined us with zero hesitation, providing the audience with the much needed distraction from our unsightly mugs. The band made up the background, convening for a picnic that goes comically awry, an accurate yet exaggerated reflection of their dynamic. As one (Harshan) proceeds to make mincemeat out of another (Abhinav), a third (Sashank) breaks away from this cycle of antagonism, joining Mitra in the waters to sit serenely, unbothered by the melee.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Aussie-born, British-based Artist Jess Chalker Releases a Shimmering, 80s Pop-Inspired Single

Jess Chalker is a Sydney-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer, who started her career as the frontwoman of Aussie New Wave duo We Are The Brave. Since We Are The Brave’s breakup, Chalker has developed a reputation as a highly sought-after collaborator, who has worked with Sam Fischer, Vintage Culture, Isamachine, Gold Kimono, and Passenger. Chalker was part of the the Grammy Award-winning songwriting and production team that cowrote Lisa Loeb’s lead single on the acclaimed artist’s kids record Feel What U Feel. And recently, the Aussie-born, British-based singer/songwriter and producer composed “Darkest Hour” for the Amazon Original series Panic, performed by Tate McRae.

Chalker steps out into the limelight as a solo artist with her full-length debut, Hemispheres. The album received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and is slated for a November 5, 2021 release through her own imprint 528 Records. The album was completed under the weight of the pandemic, and as Chalker grappled with the loss of her day job and heartbreaking health issues simultaneously. Much like countless others across the globe, she found herself spiraling and she turned to music for the creative outlet she needed. Collaborating with friends across Sydney, Los Angeles and London, including Dan Long, Josh Humphreys and Chalker’s former We Are The Brave bandmate Ox Why, Chalker wound up finishing what would turn out to be a deeply emotional album. And interestingly enough, she managed to find much longed-for freedom in the process: “Releasing this album is terrifying and thrilling to me,” the Aussie-born, British-based artist says in press notes. “I grew up in a religion that discouraged us from pursuing career success, where women weren’t allowed on stage to address an audience directly. I think it’s why I’ve always tried to avoid the spotlight but, after the year we’ve all had, my perspective on things has changed quite a lot. I’m not wasting any more time doubting myself.”

Sonically, the album reportedly finds Chalker and her collaborators crafting material featuring guitar-driven hooks and retro synths paired with the Aussie-born, British-based artist’s expressive vocals. Thematically, the album deals with themes that explore the dichotomy between depression and hopefulness, self-doubt and self-love and more. Hemispheres’ third and latest single “Don’t Fight It” was cowritten by Chalker. Grammy Award-winning collaborator Rich Jacques and Martjin Tinus Konijnenburg and was co-produced across Los Angeles and London by Chalker and Jacques. “Don’t Fight It” is centered around glistening synth arpeggios, propulsive, reverb-drenched drums, Chalker’s expressive vocals and her unerring knack of crafting a razor sharp and accessible hook. And while sonically being deeply indebted to 80s synth pop with hints of Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Prince, the song is full of bittersweet longing and uncertainty while featuring a narrator who’s physically and emotionally lost and confused.

“There’s a bittersweetness to ‘Don’t Fight It’ that I love… It feels both joyful and sad to me,” Chalker explains in press notes. ““It was written at a time when I was going through some personal stuff, trying really hard to please everyone, not really knowing where I fit and becoming someone I wasn’t. In the end I really surrendered to that feeling of being lost, because acknowledging that made me realize I needed to change where I was going.”

The recently released animated lyric video for “Don’t Fight It” was directed by Thomas Calder and fittingly the visual is centered around 80s video game graphics paired with a noir-ish color palette and sensibility.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds Release a Rocking and Loving Tribute to L.A.’s Sean DeLear

Brian Tristan is a La Puente, CA-born, Tucson-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known by his stage known Kid Congo Powers. The 62 year-old La Puente-born, Tucson-based singer/songwriter and musician has a lengthy career as a sideman and as a solo artist with stints in The Gun Club, The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Divine Horsemen, Angels of Light, Die Haut, Knoxville Girls and Kid Congo & The Flying Monkey Birds, with whom he has released four albums — 2009’s Dracula Boots, 2011’s Gorilla Rose, 2013’s Haunted Head and 2016’s La Araña Es La Vida.

Tristan’s latest Kid Congo & The Flying Monkey Birds effort is the recently released Swing from the Sean DeLear EP. Thematically, the EP celebrates a dreamlike bridge between life and memory — with two of the EP’s four songs dedicated to dear friends and bandmates, who have since passed: Tristan’s Gun Club bandmate Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who died in 1996 and Sean DeLear, a beloved, underground Los Angeles non-binary punk rock singer/songwriter, artist, fashion maven and scenester, who died in 2017. Interestingly, the EP’s second and latest single “Sean DeLear” is a gritty garage rock ripper centered around a slashing guitars, a steady backbeat, a propulsive bass line, a shout along worthy hook and Tristan’s boozy Fred Schneider-like shouts and feral howling. Lyrically, the song plays a bit on DeLear’s name while featuring a playful metaphor of our dead loved ones swinging from a chandelier at a wild, never ending rager.

Directed and edited by DC-based filmmakers and musician Jonathan Howard with visual development by Jordan Albro, the recently released video for “Sean DeLear” features The Pink Monkey Birds playing in a bric-a-brac stuffed house that Wes Anderson would love, moving to room to room while Kid Congo is on the rooftop serenading a dear friend on a starry night — with the idea that the music will have DeLear rocking wherever his spectral journey takes him in the cosmos.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Acclaimed Toronto-based Psych Act Absolutely Free Releases a Trippy and Hallucinogenic Visual for “Interface”

Acclaimed Toronto-based psych pop act Absolutely Free — multi-instrumentalist and vocalists Matt King, Michael Claxton (bass, synths) and Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg (drums, synths) — is an offshoot of now-defunct experimental rock outfit DD/MM/YYYY, an act whose multi-rhythmic, boundary pushing raison d’être helps provide a springboard for Absolutely Free’s sound. The trio’s 2014 full-lengths debut, Absolutely Free. received a Polaris Prize nomination and received widespread critical applause from the likes of Pitchfork, The FADER, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Exclaim!, Under the Radar, PopMatters, AllMusic and countless others.

In their decade or so run together, the members of the Absolutely Free have cultivated and developed a long-held reputation for an unorthodox approach to both conceiving and performing music: Since the release of Absolutely Free., the Toronto-based psych pop act have released an array of multimedia projects and releases including 2019’s Geneva Freeport EP, which features U.S. Girls’ Meg Remy. And adding to a growing profile the’ve toured alongside the likes of Alvvays, Youth Lagoon and JOVM mainstays Preoccupations and shared bills with Beak>, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, U.S. Girls and Fucked Up.

Absolutely Free’s highly-anticipated Jorge Elbrecht-produced sophomore album Aftertouch is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through Boiled Records. Deriving its name from a the name of a synthesizer function, the album finds the members of the band “wanted to create an album that wasn’t bound by a physical ability to perform it live, to not only expand our palette, but also to consider the live performance as something completely separate.” Culling from myriad of influences including krautrock, New Wave, early electronic dance music, and an array of international psych and funk complications, the album sonically and aesthetically finds the trio shifting in, around and between analog and digital sounds, real and fabricated images while simultaneously reveling in and refuting the loss of tactility. Thematically, the album explores narratives of hegemony, grief and exploitation in the present while sustaining curiosity for the unknown post-everything future.

Aftertouch’s second and latest single, “Interface” is a cosmic and dreamily maximalist song. Featuring expansive song structure with glistening synth arpeggios, percussive and angular guitar blasts, a chugging bass line and an insistent rhythm paired and plaintive vocals, the song is centered around a dexterous bit of craft, as it features an accessible, pop friendly melody and an enormous hook. Sonically, speaking the track reminds me quite a bit of Amoral-era Violens — in particular, I think of “Trance Like Turn.”

Absolutely Free’s Matt King explains: “Written as a pseudo-love song that interludes between two versions of self, Interface recalls an adolescent summer where I spent every waking hour on early web-based chat programs, instead of going outside. Typical coming-of-age feelings of loss and confusion were further conflated by prioritizing an emerging potential of a new virtual identity more ‘real’ than a physical self.”

The recently visual for “Interface” by Aussie artist Benjamin Portas features a surreally vibrant neon color palette and features two young people connecting through internet chats in a dystopian world much like our own.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Philly’s Great Time Releases a Slickly Produced Banger

With the release of their self-produced, full-length debut, 2018’s Great Album, Philadelphia-based indie trio Great Time — vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jill Ryan, Zack Hartmann (bass, synths) and Donnie Spackman (drums, synths) exploded into the local and national scenes: The album caught the attention of WXPN’s Bruce Warren with several album tracks receiving regular rotation. The album also received attention from NPR, Earmilk and Paste Magazine.

The band also quickly developed a reputation as a must-see live act, playing prominent local venues like World Cafe Live, TLA and Underground Arts before being asked to join nationally touring act Caroline Rose on her East Coast and Midwest tour dates. The Philadelphia-based trio began last year by being the house band for Winnfred Coombe’s The Violet Hour, which featured Saturday Night Live cast members Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor and guests Kristin Chenoweth and Gina Gershon. And just before the pandemic, the members of Great Time were set to open for Lawrence.

Much like countless bands and artists across the globe, the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their touring plans; however, the Philadelphia trio have managed to remain busy writing, recording and self-producing new material, including the Sounds Like ________EP series. “The idea behind this Sounds Like series of EPs is simple: We want to make what we want to make. We’re inspired by tons of different styles and sounds, and we feel most genuine when we’re creating music without any limitations or boundaries,” Great Time’s Jill Ryan explains in press notes. “The title is a response to the critiques we received on our first album.  Critics have suggested that we should pick a lane or a genre, and Sounds Like is our way of defying that while staying true to ourselves.”

Released yesterday, the second EP of the series, Sounds Like ______ [Vol. 2] further establishes Great Time’s genre-defying sound and approach with the EP’s material sonically focusing on the electro pop element of their overall sound. Thematically, the EP touches upon the frustrations of being a musician/artist, self-doubt, anxiety, obsessive thoughts — and the urge to keep creating despite all of that.

Sounds Like ______ [Vol. 2]’s latest single, “80z Slo Jam” is a sleek and slickly produced song centered around jagged synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, chiming keys and Ryan’s sultry delivery paired with an infectious, club friendly hook. The song’s title strikes me as being rather ironic: First it ain’t exactly a slow jam. And secondly, the track sonically — to my ears, at least — is a mix of Nu Shooz-era synth pop and Lenses-era Soft Metals. Regardless of all of that, the track a finely crafted banger that captures day job frustration and ennui, longing and desire for more than working for the weekend.

The recently released video is a slick fever dream that follows the members of Great Time as bored and dissatisfied office drones with big dreams of escaping the rat race and making it.

With shows and tours actually being things again, the band will kick off at regional fall tour on September 18 with a set at WXPN’s Xponential Fest before a run of shows in their hometown, NYC, Boston and Vermont. More on that to come, I hope! Additionally, Great Time’s Jill Ryan will sit in on saxophone for Japanese Breakfast’s sold out, five night run at Union Transfer, which started yesterday and ends on August 11. She’ll also join Cassandra Jenkins and St. Vincent for several October dates including Pitchfork Festival and St. Vincent’s highly-anticipated October 12 stop at Radio City Music Hall.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Follow Rising Aussie Act Solo Career at a Trippy Costume Party

Annabel Blackman is Sydney-based architect, artist, singer/songwriter and guitarist best known for her work in acclaimed indie rock act Body Type, an act that has released two critically applauded EPs supported with tours across Australia, the States and the UK with the likes of Fontaines D.C., POND, Alex Cameron, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and stops at SXSW, The Great Escape, Hit The North, and Live at Leeds. Simultaneously, Blackman has written, recorded, produced and mixed material with her bedroom pop, solo recording project Solo Career, which has begun to receive attention locally and nationally while opening for the likes of Goon Sax, Good Morning, RVG and Sasami. Live, Blackman is joined by Body Type’s Cecil Coleman (flute), a development that occurred after living together and recording a flute part late one night.

Blackman’s Solo Career debut, The Sentimentalist EP is slated for a September 17, 2021 release through Dinosaur City Records. The Sentimentalist’s first single “Movie” is a hazy and slinky track centered around buzzing guitars, a lurching and propulsive groove and Blackman’s sultry vocals. Released last month, the Dirty Ghosts-like “Movie” has received praise by Paper Magazine while landing on Spotify playlists like New Music Friday, Indie Arrivals, The Local List, Fuzzy and Fresh Finds and has been added to the airplay rotation on Perth’s RTRFM, Melbourne’s SYN Radio, Sydney’s FBi Radio and 2SER.

Written, shot and directed by Madeleine Purdy, the recently released video for “Movie” was shot on Super 8 and follows Blackman dressed in a star costume and a cast of friends in eclectic costumes at a surreal costume party set in Blackman’s hometown.

I haven’t gone to a costume party in over a year, or many parties generally, or gigs because of COVID,” Madeleine Purdy explains in press notes. “Those things are a half forgotten dream almost. The vision for the music video was almost an intentional misremembering of the simple pleasure of hijacking a car to get to a concert, enjoying it, and later fantasising that it was ME on stage. Sometimes I have an espresso then a valium and have a hideous little nap filled with what I call ‘goblin dreams’.”

Blackman adds “We visited a few local [Port Kembla] landmarks once the sun had set, such as the steelworks, the Breakwater Battery Museum (where the white pyramid tank traps are), Port Kembla beach, a patch of shrubs, and of course, my backyard with the lovely tree stumps,” Blackman adds. “My housemates and I have questioned the real estate’s decision to destroy all the trees in the yard, but I’m happy the stumps made the cut. I secured a small crew of friends to star in the video by giving them very little information about what we were doing, where and how long, and pulled together all the costumes with Purdy about half an hour before we started filming. I made the star prop a few days before we shot using cardboard, expanding foam and spray paint, and then had to go on an emergency extra trip to Bunnings after I glued my hand together with the construction foam. Anyway I eventually sanded my hand back to normality and it all worked out with the video. The end.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Belgian Shoegazers Slow Crush Release a Brooding and Gorgeous Visual for Stormy Yet Dreamy “Hush”

With the release of 2018’s full-length debut Aurora, Belgian shoegazers Slow Crush — currently Isa Holliday (vocals, bass), Jelle Harde Ronsmans (guitar), Jeroen Jullet (guitar) and Frederik Meeuwis (drums) — exploded into the international shoegaze scene: Between 2018 and early 2020, the Belgian shoegazer outfit supported Aurora with relentless and almost nonstop touring across the world with acts like Pelican, Torche, Soft Kill, Gouge Away — and with festival stops at Roadburn, ArcTanGent, 2000Trees and Groezrock.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Slow Crush had to cancel two European tours and a Stateside tour at the last minute. Much like countless other artists around the world, the pandemic for the band was both a blessing and a curse. The time off from touring allowed the band centered around Holliday and Ronsmans to recoup and rethink. Aurora’s unexpected success and heavy touring had taken a toll on everyone’s private lives — and it was intensified with a massive lineup change that resulted in two members leaving. Holliday and Ronsmans eventually recruited the band’s newest members Jullet and Meeuwis to complete the band’s newest lineup. Shortly, after the band settled on a new lineup, their label Holy Roar Records collapsed, leaving the band without a label home.

The Belgian shoegazers’ highly anticipated sophomore album Hush is slated for an October 22, 2021 release through Quiet Panic. Written in between tours and the unexpected downtime during a pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, the album’s material is heavily influenced by turbulent times — both personal and global. While further cementing their sound, featuring abrasive and whirling layers of guitars, thunderous drumming paired with Holliday’s ethereal vocals, Hush reportedly finds the band growing as musicians and songwriters. And although the album may arguably be the darkest and heaviest of their growing catalog to date, it’s filled with hope for a bright, new day.

Hush’s latest single, album title track “Hush” is a brooding track featuring towering layers of feedback and fuzz-pedaled guitars, thunderous drumming paired with Holiday’s sensual yet ethereal cooing within an expansive song structure centered around alternating stormy and forceful sequences and shimmering, slow-burning and dreamy sequences. Interestingly, at its core “Hush” is filled with an aching — and perhaps somewhat unreciprocated — longing.

Directed by Bobby Took at Sumo Crucial and featuring live band footage by Vincent Van Hoorick, the recently released video for “Hush” is a gorgeously shot, brooding and moon-lit like shot visual with witches, eerie woods and hallucinogenic sequences.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s LiYON Releases a Feverish Visual for Swooning “Starstruck”

LiYON is a Montreal-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer, who started his career in 2010 behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, writing and producing material for other artists, and making music for films and ads. After stints in Toronto and Los Angeles working behind the scenes and winning a Gemini Award along the way, LiYON returned Montreal, where he had begun to write his own original music, as a way to release what had been building up in his heart and soul.

Fueled by a goal to “bring good vibes to the world, and connect with other humans in a genuine way,” LiYON pairs an ambitious sound with earnest, meaningful and thoughtful songwriting — in both English and French. Interestingly, the Montreal-baed artist plans to release two new singles in English and French and an EP.

The Montreal-based artist’s latest single “Starstruck” is a slickly produced, swooning pop banger centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, skittering and thumping beats paired with LiYON’s plaintive vocals and an infectious hook. Sonically, “Starstruck” manages to be a radio friendly, club banger — and in a way that reminds me quite a bit of JOVM mainstay Washed Out. “Starstruck’ is about an overwhelming feeling of lust and love,” LiYON explains in press notes. “It captures the feeling of being trapped within someone’s grasp – almost hypnotized by an attraction so perfect at that exact moment in time.”

The recently released video for “Starstruck” is a stylish fever dream full of decadence, guns, drugs and violence, while following a protagonist, who seems willing to do anything to keep that love in is life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Punk Act Kills Birds Releases an Uneasy and Furious Ripper

Rapidly rising Los Angeles-based punk act Kills Birds — currently founding members Nina Ljeti (vocals) and Jacob Loeb (guitar) with Fielder Thomas (bass) — was founded back in 2017 as a sort of secret musical side project for the band’s Ljeti and Loeb. The project evolved into a full-fledged band with the addition of Thomas. And since then, the members of Kills Birds have received attention locally and elsewhere for crafting material centered around jagged, post punk-like guitar driven melodies, slow-buying dynamics, and Ljeti’s urgent lyrics and delivery.

Kills Birds’ 2019 self-tiled full-debut, which featured the feral and uneasy “Volcano” was released to praise from the likes of NPR, Nylon, The Fader, The New York Times, Paste Magazine, Chicago Tribune. And they’ve been championed by the likes of Kim Gordon, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, who invited the band to record their forthcoming sophomore album at this Studio 606 — and to join Foo Fighters for their November 10 Mexico City show. (I’m jumping ahead here but the tour also includes a December 14, 2021 stop at Elsewhere’s Zone One. You can check out the rest of those tour dates further below. They’ll also open for Sleigh Bells during their October national tour.)

Since I mentioned it earlier, Kills Birds’ sophomore album Married is slated for a November 12, 2021 release through Royal Mountain Records/KRO Records. Recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, the album is a brutal, intense and deeply personal account of an abusive romantic relationship fueled by struggles with power dynamics. While being deeply personal and cathartic, the album sonically oscillates between quiet and loud dynamics in a way that’s beautiful, aggressive and devastating.

“Rabbit,” Married’s first single is centered around alternating explosively loud sections featuring chugging power chords and thunderous drumming, Ljeti’s howled vocals and quieter sections centered around Ljeti’s hushed whispers. Sonically and thematically, the song evokes the shock, awe, revulsion and shame of a narrator in the middle of a dysfunctional and abusive relationship that has her questioning herself and self-worth. Plus, the recognition that this particular relationship is a defining moment of her life — one of which, every relationship of her life will compare in some way or another. The entire affair is devastating honest and unsettling.

“Lyrically, ‘Rabbit’ is about the experience of being in an abusive relationship with a powerful person,” Kills Birds’ Nina Ljeti explains. “To be with someone who was praised by the public, but hurt you (and others) in private really eviscerates your self-worth. There’s nowhere to turn for help. Like many people who share this experience, this particular relationship defined the majority of my young adulthood, and I’m still dealing with the emotional consequences of it.”

The band’s Jacob Loeb continues, “‘Rabbit” was the first song written for the new album. Despite being one of the harder-hitting songs on the record, it was originally written on an acoustic guitar at Nina’s house. The goal was for the chorus to have an almost disorienting quiet/loud dynamic which really came to life when we plugged in and all practiced it for the first time. We tried to make the chorus start so quietly that the listener feels like something went wrong with their speaker and has to kind of lean in to hear Nina singing before the repetition of “how could I?” abruptly and violently re-enters, startling them and making the emotion visceral.”

een film crew filming the band during a rehearsal take, which also includes someone oqccaiosnally pulling out a light meter. Intimately shot, the visual captures the band’s feral live energy — with Ljeti being an explosive and furious presence. Lteji, who’s an award-winning filmmaker herself says “It’s interesting to be on the other side of the camera for “Rabbit”, especially since the concept of the video involves an unseen crew doing a rehearsal take of our performance. though i had no problem relinquishing control as a performer for Susie (the director) it’s not something i’m really used to anymore. so it’s an exciting challenge.” The entire band adds “For ‘Rabbit’ we wanted to depart from the lo-fi aesthetic of our first record and come back with something that was super vivid, bold and direct. The idea was to capture the raw energy of our live performance, particularly from Nina, in the sterile and stilted setting of a film set, with the camera itself becoming this kind of ominous force that manipulates and distorts what it captures.”