Category: singer/songwriters

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born in Elst, a small village in the Utretcht Province of The Netherlands, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marjan Alise Theodora van Viegan, best known as iET (pronounced as “eet”) discovered at an early age that music could be used as a way to transport herself to a different reality outside of her small village life — and as a result, van Viegan gradually wanted to connect with the world outside of her small village. Certainly, even as Americans there’s something about van Viegan’s story that feels — well, deeply universal. After all, how many of us have desperately yearned for something more in our personal and professional lives?

With the release of her debut EP The Kitchen Recording Series 1, which was literally recorded in her own kitchen, van Viegan caught the attention of several artists including Bonobo’s Szjerdene and Pink Oculus, with whom she collaborated on The Kitchen Recording Series 2. The Kitchen Recording Series 2 eventually caught the attention of Grammy Award winning producer and engineer Russell Elevado, best known for his work with D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, who offered to work with van Viegan debut effort, So Unreal, an effort that received international praise for it’s meshing of a variety of sounds and styles including electro pop, soul, singer/songwriter confessionals and more.

Friday will mark the release of So Unreal‘s follow up, the Inhale EP and the effort is reportedly a change in sonic direction and aesthetic for the Dutch singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist as van Viegan wanted to go for a much more intimate and direct sound. Co-produced by van Viegan and her friend and frequent collaborated Budy Mokognita, the album features van Viegan writing and recording most of the EP’s material herself with her collection of vintage instruments and gear, including her guitar, trumpet and double bass, which she inherited from her uncle and a recently acquired 1930s Schimmel upright piano.

Much like Inhale‘s first single “Inhale Your Love,” the EP’s latest single “As She Moved” focuses on an atmospheric and straightforward songwriting and sonic approach as van Viegan’s ethereal and sultry coos with a propulsive drum programming, cascading and swirling keyboard chords, handclap-led percussion, gently undulating bass and strummed guitar in a carefully crafted, swaggering song that owes a debt to experimental pop, neo-soul and rock simultaneously while revealing a songwriter who has an innate ability to write a subtle yet infectious hook.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of his debut single “Color Decay,” Westman Islands, Iceland-based singer/songwriter Júniús Meyvant quickly received attention across Iceland, Scandinavia and elsewhere for an old-school soul, funk, pop-inspired sound. “Color Decay” hit number 1 on the Icelandic charts and as a result of the single’s success, Meyvant dominated that year’s Icelandic Music Awards as he was nominated for Best Newcomer, Best Song and Best Male Singer — and he wound up winning the Best Newcomer and Best Song awards. Building on that buzz he was receiving across Scandinavia, Meyvant had a relentless touring schedule playing a number of sold out shows across the European Union. And naturally, the attention lead to airplay on Radio X, BBC Radio London, Amazing Radio — and the song being chosen by KEXP’s Program Director Kevin Cole as his Song of The Year.

“Neon Experience” Meyvant’s latest single will further cement the Icelandic singer/songwriter’s growing reputation for a sound that possesses elements of old-school soul, pop and funk as Meyvant’s silky falsetto is paired with a mid-tempo arrangement of warm blasts of horn, a gorgeous and dramatic string arrangement, twinkling keys, soul guitar and bass chords, infectiously anthemic hooks and a slow-burning and sultry bridge. Then add an uplifting and resilient message that will likely push you through the doldrums and the song sounds as though it’s indebted to the work of the Daptone Records roster — while subtly nodding at the work of Simply Red and Chet Faker as Meyvant and company pair a tight and funky groove with carefully crafted, introspective and thoughtful lyrics.

Meyvant’s highly-anticipated full-length debut Floating Harmonies is slated for a July 8, 2016 release through Record Records, and the Icelandic singer/songwriter will be supporting the album with a live at London’s Bushstock Festival on June 18 and a tour across the European Union during the fall.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the 2015 release of Hairless Toys, Irish electro pop singer/songwriter and producer Roisin Murphy quickly became a JOVM mainstay artist — and that shouldn’t be surprising as Murphy has a long-held reputation for being an inventive and genre defying artist, whose sound and aesthetic incorporates elements of jazz, pop, electronic dance music and found field recordings and samples. And although her 2005 full-length solo debut Ruby Blue was a critically applauded departure from her early work in pop act Moloko, the effort was a commercial failure; however, her 2007 release Overpowered was a critical and commercial success as the album was considered for nomination for that year’s MTV Europe Music Award for Best International Act.

Over the next few years, Murphy hadn’t released any album-length material but she did collaborate with an impressive array of internationally acclaimed artists including the likes of Fatboy Slim, David Byrne, Crookers and others. 2014 marked the release of the Mi Senti EP, a collaboration with her frequent collaborator Eddie Stevens and her partner Sebastiano Propezi, which featured the Irish singer/songwriter singing covers in Italian. And according to Murphy, the album’s material was written to intentionally channel Edith Piaf and Studio 54 in a style that Murphy coined “very adult-orientated disco.”

The aforementioned Hairless Toys was Murphy’s first full-length release in over eight years and the material off the album reportedly drew from very similar influences to the Mi Senti EP — in this particular case, European house music, Casablanca Records, and the legendary Grace Jones. Simply put, the material is effortlessly elegant and shimmering electro pop that slowly reveals that its narrator is on the verge of mental breakdown — you can practically feel their psyche crumbling from the weight of her own failures and anxieties. And as a result, it gives the material an aching, desperate urgency. Interestingly,  the forthcoming Take Her Up To Monto an album that takes its name from an Irish folk song popularized by The Dubliners, is comprised of material that was written and recorded during the intense writing and recording sessions that wound up resulting in Hairless Toys.  And although drawing from disco, cabaret, pop torch songs some of the material was radically reimagined and reworked once the Take Her Up To Monto‘s tone and character revealed itself.

Monto’s latest single “Mastermind” is a slinky and tense song that sonically seems to draw from classic house music, freestyle and confessional singer/songwriter pop as Murphy and her frequent collaborator Eddie Stevens pair layers of shimmering synths, propulsive beats and swirling electronics with Murphy’s plaintive and aching alto in an song with an expansive song structure that eschews easily discernible hooks and choruses for a driving motorik groove reminiscent of Kraftwerk as the song comes and goes about in strange and unfamiliar angles revealing an artist, who relentlessly pushes her sound and aesthetic forward and into new territories.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Eric Krasno is a Grammy-winning guitarist, songwriter and producer, who’s written for and produced an impressive array of artists including Norah Jones, Tedeschi Trucks Band, 50 Cent, Talib Kweli, Aaron Neville, The London Souls, and Allen Stone but he’s probably best known as a co-founder of cult-favored, genre-mashing/genre-defying acts Soulive and Lettuce.  Over the last couple of years, Krasno has developed a reputation as a highly-regarded solo artist — and his solo debut effort was released to critical applause.

Krasno’s forthcoming sophomore effort Blood From A Stone was co-written with Rustic Overtones’ Dave Gutter and features guest spots from Derek Trucks and members of Soulive, Lettuce and The London Souls — but what makes the effort truly interesting is the fact that it marks the first time Krasno takes up vocal duties. Figuratively and literally, Krasno finds his voice on the album and as he explains in press notes “”I’ve been writing songs with vocals for other people for a while. With these songs, we initially wrote them thinking others would sing them, so when I was in the studio with different artists, sometimes I’d introduce one of the tracks and they’d record it, but it wouldn’t necessarily work out. Eventually, I realized it was because I’d written these songs for myself.”

Blood From A Stone‘s swaggering first single “Waiting On Your Love” is a decided departure from the jazz fusion, funk and jam band sound and aesthetic that has caught the attention of jam band, funk and jazz fusion fans for years as the material is reportedly draws from Bobby “Blue” Bland’s Dreamer and Muddy Waters’ Electric Mud as the songs are much more tightly structured. Interestingly, “Waiting On Your Love” is based on an old school 12 bars blues that pairs Krasno’s coolly soulful vocals with enormous power chords, tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap beats, a shuffling and bluesy guitar solo and an anthemic hook in a song that not only possesses an urgent, plaintive need but also manages to sound as though it drew from Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz and Steve Miller — but with a slick, modern touch.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Slick Electro Pop Sounds of Belgium’s Selah Sue

With the release of her acclaimed, multi-platinium debut effort, five years ago, Belgian singer/songwriter  Selah Sue quickly became a household name across the European Union. The Belgian singer/songwriter’s forthcoming, long-awaited sophomore effort Reason is slated for […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Hauntingly Introspective Video for Fernando’s “Save Me”

Born in Argentina, Fernando Viciconte, who now performs under the mononym Fernando, first made a name for himself with a stint as the frontman of the Los Angeles-based hard rock band Monkey Paw. Vicicconte relocated to Portland, to focus […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier in the year, I wrote about Ursa Major, an up-and-coming 19 year-old Toronto, ON-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who describes his work and sound as Psychedelic R&B and claims that his work manages to fit comfortably between classic/old-school R&B and contemporary electronic production — although the Canadian producer’s debut single “Dusk” bore an uncanny resemblance to JOVM mainstay act, Gosh Pith as rumbling and wobbling low end, skittering drum programming are paired soulful vocals in a song that focuses on lust, loneliness and desperate longing. Interestingly, in press notes, the Canadian producer has noted that his earliest work focuses on his personal experiences including his past loves, a fear and inability to move forward and the complicated, heartbreaking and yet strangely reaffirming processes of falling in and out of love repeatedly.

The young Canadian producer, multi-intrusmentalist and singer/songwriter’s latest single “5am/Intro” will further cement Ursa Major’s reputation for slick and swaggering contemporary production consisting  — in this case consisting of shimmering synths, glitchy drum programming and boom bap beats in a song that’s about that shuffling fucked up drunk and high return from the club or the bar, and giving zero fucks about it.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Over the past few months, Jack Berry, a Reno, NV-born and Nashville, TN-based singer/songwriter and rock/blues artist has quickly become one of my favorite artists of 2016 as I’ve previously written about two singles off Berry’s forthcoming full-length Mean Machine  The Bull,” a sultry and bluesy single with an anthemic hook that sounded as though it were Superunknown-era Soundgarden — in particular “Mailman” “Spoonman,”and “Fell on Black Days,” as well as “Bad Dog,” a swaggering, cocksure song that continued in the arena rock-friendly vein of “The Bull” but bluesier, as though Berr were attempting to channel Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
Mean Machine’s latest single “Coal” will further cement Berry’s growing reputation for bluesy and anthemic power chord-based rock that manages to possess a moody, sensual and contemporary take on hard rock and the blues,  complete with his signature cocksure swagger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of her previous single “Ghost,” up-and-coming Gothenburg, Sweden-based singer/songwriter, indie electro pop artist and producer Mira Aasma has quickly received national attention in her native Sweden, as well as attention across the UK for a sound that’s been compared favorably to the likes of Florence and the Machine as Aasma’s earliest releases possess a maturity and self-assuredness that belies her relatively young age of 19. Aasma’s latest single “Whale Song” off her self-produced, forthcoming EP Stereoscope pairs the Swedish pop artist and producer’s coolly self-assured vocals with dramatic, thumping industrial beats, swirling electronics, shimmering cascades of synths in a sweeping and cinematic pop song that sounds indebted to early Depeche Mode — in particular think “People Are People” — but with a sense of introspection and perspective that can only come from profound and hard-fought experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, Melbourne, Australia-based electro folk duo Oh, Pep! can trace their origins to when the act formed while Hally and Emmerichs were students at a music secondary school. And since 2012, the duo have quickly amassed a tremendous amount of commercial and critical success at a relatively young age — the duo have released three EPs that have received both national and international attention, including a huge CMJ last year in which KCRW, NPR‘s Bob Boilen breathlessly praised them, a NPR Tiny Desk Concert appearance and a Nashville’s AMA’s Pop Matters appearance, as well as appearances at  The Woodford Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Folk Alliance International, Kansas City. Adding to the duo’s growing national and international profile, they’ve won the Young Folk Performer of the Year and were nominated in the Best Folk Roots Category at 2014’s  The Age Music Victoria Awards.

2016 may be the biggest year for the duo of Hally and Emmerichs will be releasing their much-anticipated full-length debut Stadium Cake on June 24, 2016 through Dualtone Records and the album which was recorded in Echo Lake, Nova Scotia last August with Canadian producer Daniel Ledwell has the duo expanding upon the songwriting approach and sound that first won them national and international attention — namely the duo’s ability to subtly mesh lightness and darkness within their material. The album’s first single “Doctor Doctor” has the band pairing stuttering cascades of synths, propulsive boom bap drums with Hally and Emmerich’s ethereal and sultry vocals singing lyrics focusing on a narrator that is suffering through self-doubt and indecision while life is rushing past them and a dysfunctional relationship that they can’t seem to get out of. Throughout the song there’s a palpable tension — the sort of tension that’s unusual for such buoyant and playful pop.

Haley and Emmerichs will be embarking on a lengthy tour throughout the Spring and Summer that’ll start off in their native Australia, a lengthy tour across the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, France and Spain and a North American tour that includes a June 29, 2016 at Mercury Lounge. Check out tour dates below.

TOUR DATES
* w/ Lake Street Dive
# w/ Basia Balut
+ w/ Lord Huron and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Apr 6 The Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Apr 8  Northcote social club, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Apr 10 The Polish Club, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Apr 13 Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, NSW
Apr 14 No. 5 Church St, Bellingen, NSW, Australia
Apr 15 Oxford arts centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Apr 23 CAFE DE LA DANSE, Paris, France*
Apr 25 Komedia, Telscombe Cliffs, United Kingdom*
Apr 26 Scala, London, United Kingdom*
Apr 28 Whelans, Dublin, Ireland*
Apr 29 Landmark, Bergen, Norway#
Apr 30 Kägelbanan, Stockholm, Sweden#
May 1  Smedjan, Tollered, Sweden#
May 2  Revolver, Oslo, Norway#
May 3  Mejeriet, Lund, Sweden#
May 4  De Barras, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland
May 5  Levis, Ballydehob, Co. Cork Ireland
May 6  Ambigious Fiddle Presents: leap, Co.Cork, Ireland
May 7  Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
May 8  Mullarkeys, Clifden, Co.Galway, Ireland
May 12 After Dark, Dartington Hall, Tontes, Devon, UK
May 13 Ruby lounge, Manchester, UK
May 14 The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, Scotland
May 18 The Greennote, London, UK
May 19-22 The Great Escape, Brighton, UK
May 28 Liverpool Sounds City, Liverpool, UK
Jun  2-5 Primavara, Barcelona, Spain
Jun 6 Fillmore Theatre, Philadelphia, PA+
Jun 7 Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA+
Jun 8 Red Hat Amphitheatre, Raliegh, NC+
Jun 24 The Drake, Toronto, ON, Canada
Jun 29 Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Jul 7 Jammin Java, Vienna, VA
Jul 8 World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA
Jul 9 Green River Festival, Northampton, MA
Jul 11 Schubas, Chicago, IL
Jul 12 Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
Jul 25 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
Jul 27 Ricksaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
Jul 28 Bootleg Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 30 Casbah, San Diego, CA
Aug 1 Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
Aug 3 The Demo, St. Louis, MO
Aug 4 High Watt, Nashville, TN
Aug 5 Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC
Aug 6 Cats Cradle, Carrboro, NC

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sofia Härdig is part of a growing list of Swedish artists, who have received both regional and international attention; in fact, in her native Sweden, Härdig is considered “the rocktronica queen of experimental music.” And as a result, Härdig has collaborated with the likes of Grammy Award-winning acts The Hellacopters and Bob Hund, Boredoms and Free Kitten‘s Yoshimi P-We — and she has shared stages with Lydia Lunch and Belle and Sebastian‘s Stevie Jackson.

Härdig’s forthcoming two-part EP The Street Light Leads to the Sea was recorded in three days with handpicked musicians, specifically known for their improvisational skills and although the musicians had a rough sketch of songs, each musician was encouraged to improvise as they felt fit. As the Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist explains in press notes “I find beauty in flaws and that which is not perfect is what excites me, I love the unusual, the unexpected, untrained and unplanned . . . ” Interestingly, the EP’s first single “Streets” possesses an urgent and raw grittiness as slashing guitar chords, squalls of feedback, a throbbing bass line and propulsive drumming are paired with anthemic hooks and Härdig’s sultry vocals to craft a song that sounds as thought it draws from Sonic Youth and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea-era PJ Harvey — in particular, the song reminds me of a grittier, swaggering version of “Good Fortune.”