Category: singer/songwriters

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.”

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Brooding Visuals and Sounds of Eliza Shaddad’s “Wars”

Quickly rising to international prominence with her Run EP already seeing praise from major media outlets including FADER, Nylon, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, The Independent, Clash, The 405, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio X, […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as the frontwoman in Bay Area-based band King Woman, Kristina Esfandiari‘s solo side project Miserable over the course of two EPs Halloween Dream and Dog Days has developed a reputation for a evocative and wistful brand of moody shoegaze reminiscent of PJ Harvey and others. Her long-awaited full-length debut as Miserable, Uncontrollable was written over the course of a year and is reportedly one of the most emotional and saddest works she’s released to date as the material focuses on a narrator wrestling with her own insecurities, grief and a lingering feel of being controlled by forces and influences larger and more powerful than her. And as a result, the album’s latest single “Violet” is a slow-burning and broodingly atmospheric song that pairs towering and droning power chords and slow, thundering drumming with Esfandiari’s hauntingly siren-like vocals in a song that slowly builds up tension with seemingly no real form of release. But underneath it all is an unresolved and urgent ache.

As Esfandiari explained to the folks at The Fader “I ‘Violet’ with my close friend Evan James (Far Away Places, Grey Zine). ‘Violet’ is about being in the same friend group as someone you’ve had an intense falling out with and how shitty it feels when your friends constantly bring them up. It’s about reminiscing on how beautiful things were and how they’ve faded from your life. How vindictive people can be once you bruise their ego or hurt their heart. How quickly people turn on each other. Beneath all of the pain is longing for a mended friendship.” At some point, many of us have been there and have felt a similar overwhelming heartache and frustration and the song evokes that with an uncanny accuracy.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the six year history of this site, I’ve written quite a bit about New York-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rene Lopez, who is not only among a group of artists I first wrote about when I started things here, he is also one of JOVM‘s earliest mainstay artists. And throughout the past six years, Lopez has uncompromisingly refused to be pigeonholed into one particular genre — Lopez has managed to mesh salsa, boogaloo, old-school hip-hop, meringue and electronica into one cohesive whole on E.L.S. (short for Electric Latin Soul); salsa and 7os Brazilian music on his most deeply personal effort Paint the Moon Gold; and slinkily seductive synth-based R&B and funk, inspired by Prince, The Gap Band, Rick James, Chic and others on Love Has No Mercy and its subsequent releases. This shouldn’t be surprising as Lopez has told me in an interview, he grew up in a household where salsa, merengue and disco were frequently played — and his first band The Authority was deeply influenced by his love of Prince and funk. So in some way, Lopez has come back full circle.

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past few months you’ve come across posts on Lopez’s “Heavy, Baby Heavy,” “Trouble Lovin’ Lady,” and “Watch Me Turn It Up,” the first, third and sixth singles of his continuing Jam of the Month Series. The seventh and latest single in the series is the slow-burning Quiet Storm-like synth-based ballad that pairs Lopez’s sultry crooning with contemporary electronic production consisting of shimmering synths and persistent keyboards, ambient and swirling electronics, skittering drum programming, a gorgeous violin arrangement and anthemic hook. Sonically, the song sounds as though it draws influence from Prince, Blood Orange and Tuxedo and while being danceable and sensual, there’s an earnest sentiment at its core — a mix of desire, uncertainty, doubt and vulnerability that comes about from sincerely putting your heart and soul out on the line with the hope that it’d be reciprocated, and that it’d be a real and meaningful love.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Back in January, I wrote a post on Reno, NV-born and Nashville, TN-based alt rock/blues/rock artist  Jack Berry. Berry can trace the origins of his recording career to when he wrote and recorded his first album while studying in  Los Angeles. Berry then worked and performed along the West Coast as one half a of a duo before before he decided that it was time to go solo. Relocating to Nashville, Berry spent several months couch-surfing and writing and recording material with the hopes that he could catch the attention of that city’s local press. Eventually, Berry began receiving praise from outlets such as Nashville Scene, The Deli Magazine, Blues Rock Review and others, which resulted in slots at Toronto‘s North by Northeast (NXNE), CMJ and SXSW‘s Red Gorilla Festival. Since then, Berry has played a number of venues between his hometown and NYC; however, 2016 may be his breakthrough year with the Spring 2016 release of his latest album, Mean Machine. 

Now, as I mentioned a little earlier, back in January I wrote about Mean Machine‘s first single “The Bull,” a sultry and bluesy single that paired arena rock-friendly power chords, propulsive and carefully syncopated drumming, an anthemic hook and Berry’s seductive crooning and howling that sonically seems to draw from Soundgarden (think of “Mailman” “Spoonman,”and “Fell on Black Days” off Superunknown) as it does from old-school blues and contemporary rock. Mean Machine‘s latest single “Bad Dog” continues where “The Bull” left off: arena-friendly power chords, propulsive drumming paired with  Berry’s sultry crooning; however, the song possesses a cocksure swagger and menace that pushes the song towards the old school blues territory — in particular think of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeous and Meditative Visuals for José González’s “With the Ink of a Ghost”

José González is a Gothenburg, Sweden-based indie folk singer/songwriter and guitarist, who quickly rose to international prominence as both a solo artist and as a member of the indie electro folk act Junip, as well […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past year, you may remember coming across a couple of posts on Australian electro pop singer/songwriter Sophie Lowe. Initially establishing herself as an actress, who has appeared in films such as Beautiful Kate, After the Dark, Adore and Road Kill, as well as TV series such as The Slap, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland and the US TV series, The Returned, Lowe also received national attention across her native Australia (and internationally) when she released some of her earliest work under the moniker  S.O.L.O.

As the story goes, Lowe recorded under the S.O.L.O. moniker to differentiate her music career from her acting career — but recently, Lowe decided that she should record and perform under her name, essentially tying her music and acting careers together. Now as I mentioned earlier, you might remember coming across “Understand,” a somewhat minimalist song comprised of stuttering drum programming, ominously swirling electronics and undulating synth chords paired with Lowe’s ethereal yet sultry cooing. And although remarkably contemporary, the song also manages to sound as though it drew from analog synth New Wave. “Pink Flowers” paired Lowe’s vocals with a tense and minimalist production of swirling electronics, explosive flashes of cymbal and shimmering cascades of synths to craft a song that pulsates with need and vulnerability.

Lowe’s latest single “Breathe” is the first single off the Australian singer/songwriter’s latest effort EP 2 and the single which pairs Lowe’s vocals with a shuffling and stuttering production consisting of layers of twinkling and shimmering synths, skittering beats, ambient electronics to evoke a tense, anxiousness. As Lowe explains in press notes “I wrote ‘Breathe’ at a time in my life when I [was] struggling to feel comfortable within myself and surroundings. I wanted to talk abotu anxiety with this song because I feel its not talked about enough.” As a result, the song’s narrator humanizes what it feels to be suffering through anxiety, capturing the narrator’s innermost thoughts when she’s at her most terrified and uncertain despite what anyone else says. It also suggests something that we all know is true — some things in life, say getting it together, is easier said than done.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Hilarious Visuals for Sophie and the Bom Bom’s “Appetite”

As you might remember, last December I wrote about Sophie Stern, the Los Angeles-based creative mastermind behind the (mostly) solo recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms. Initially, Stern’s career began behind the scenes as a songwriter, who was […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist David Alexander and his solo dream pop/electro-pop Summer Heart has received international attention for a wistfully nostalgic, 60s psych pop-leaning, lo-fi sound that compares favorably to Caribou‘s earliest material, Washed Out, In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy, Painted Palms and others; in fact, his 2011 Please Stay EP received praise from The Guardian and The Star topped Hype Machine‘s charts. In his native Sweden, Alexander has a reputation for being a pioneer of Sweden’s burgeoning dream pop movement, a movement that includes Moonbabies, The Land Below, Hey Elbow, Blind Lake and Emerald Park.

Interestingly, Alexander’s international profile has grown as several of his songs have appeared in TV series — including the NBC series, Whitney, which brought him the attention of millions of American TV viewers. Now, if you were frequenting this site last year, you might recall that I wrote about “Nothing Can Stop Us Now,” a song that consisted of jangling guitars, washboard-led percussion, layers of ethereal vocals and cascading synths with a warm buzzing summer afternoon warmth. His latest single “The Forbidden” off his forthcoming EP also named The Forbidden is a slow-burning and shoegaze-leaning single that pairs Alexander’s ethereal cooing with shimmering guitars and synths played through gentle amounts of reverb  and jazz-like drumming. And although the song evokes the sensation of waking up from a pleasant dream, just underneath its placid surface is a wistful melancholy that will remind the listener that all things will eventually dissipate.

Alexander along with a backing band featuring some of his dearest friends will be making Stateside appearances at SXSW and Williamsburg Brooklyn’s The Knitting Factory later this month. Check out tour dates below.

 

SXSW:

Wednesday 16th March

The Townsend – 1:05am

 

Saturday 19th March

Icenhauer’s – 1am

 

NYC:

Wednesday 23rd March

Live In Brooklyn – The Knitting Factory –

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=6437785

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

Originally known for her work in electro pop projects Her Habits, Gemology and others, Toronto-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and electro pop artist Joanie Wolkoff has been a JOVM mainstay artist before striking out on her own last year with her solo recording project Wolkoff. In fact, last year was a very big year for the Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based artist — she collaborated with renowned electronic act The Hood Internet on “Going Back,” a single released to massive praise across the blogosphere, including several major media outlets, including Vice Noisey and Billboard — and as you can imagine resulted in a growing national profile for Wolkoff.

Interestingly, Wolkoff’s previously released work channeled the contemporary electro pop sound of acts like Beacon, Seoul (both of whom are also JOVM mainstays) and others — in other words eerily minimalist productions consisting of icy synth stabs and woofer and tweeter rattling bass paired with plaintive vocals. However, her ongoing collaboration with young, up-and-coming producer Icarus Moth, which started with the release of the Talismans EP has set the duo apart from the pack as Icarus Moth’s production reveals a deliberate and painterly approach. While drawing from contemporary electro pop and world dance music, the young producer has developed a reputation for pairing big beats, swirling electronics and lush layers of synths with medieval-sounding instrumentation in a way that evokes brushstrokes across a canvas — as you’ll hear on EP single “Curve Appeal,” and others.

Building upon the buzz the duo received last year, Wolkoff and Icarus Moth are set to release Wolkoff’s full-length debut Without Shame on April 15. Lyrically and thematically, the material on the album explores the role shame has in our lives and perhaps more importantly the possibility of sidestepping its grip on us through breaking rank and venturing into the unknown. And as a result, the material on the album may be among the most deeply personal — and yet profoundly universal — material she’s released to date. Without Shame‘s first single “The Homecoming” pairs big tweeter and woofer rattling bass with skittering drum programming, swirling and ambient electronics, Eastern-tinged instrumentation and Wolkoff’s coquettish cooing, and in some way the song possesses the dreamy and ethereal feel of Swedish dream pop — think of Moonbabies‘ excellent Wizards on the Beach and The Knife but subtly filtered through chip tune and old school house music.

Without Shame‘s second and latest single “Kings Highway” pairs Icarus Moth’s painterly production style consisting of swirling electronics, layers of cascading synths, chiming synths, boom-bap beats and ambient electronics with Wolkoff’s husky and coquettish vocals singing lyrics that are both surreal and Romantic in a song that’s sensual and seductive  — while sounding as though inspired it were by electro pop, R&B and house music. And although radio friendly and accessible, it’s challenging and  possesses an art school sheen. Certainly, from the first two singles Icarus Moth should be an in-demand producer as he has a unique sound — and it suggests that Wolkoff and Icarus Moth’s collaboration may be one of the most exciting and unique collaborations in contemporary pop.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Created by Portland, OR-based Southerly and Sndtrkr frontman and SELF Group founder Krist Krueger as a shoegaze/experimental rock side project, Yardsss has received critical applause with the release of Fama, the first part of a Kurt Vonnegut-inspired trilogy that also featured a companion short film of the same name. Granfalloons is the second part of that trilogy and it features Krueger collaborating with Southerly bandmate Eli Savage and Gardening, Not Architecture‘s Sarah Saturday.

The album’s first single “Granfalloons II” is a slow-burning, introspective and shoegazey track consisting of dirge-inspired power chords, soaring backing vocals, swirling electronic and feedback and anthemic hooks paired with Krueger’s earnest and yearning baritone underneath the arena-filling bombast, the song sounds as though it could be a moody, shoegazer-inspired version of Live‘s “I AloneI Alone” — but with an art school sheen.