Category: singer/songwriters

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Many influential artists and characters once played at renowned and long-defunct clubs like CBGBs, Max’s Kansas City and others during the mid-to-late 1970s — including a now cult-favored local-born artist Annie Bandez, who known as Annie Anxiety (and later as Little Annie) was the frontperson of punk act Annie and the Asexuals. After several years of attempting a series of unsuccessful creative pursuits, Bandez relocated to the UK, where she would up joining the famed anarchist commune Dial House, led by activist Penny Rimbaud. And while a member of Dial House, Bandez quickly established herself as an artist with a singular voice with the release of her solo debut single “Barbed Wire Halo,” which was released through Crass Records.

Interestingly, when Bandez relocated to the UK, a number of punk rock artists including Bandez herself had begun shifting towards a much more diverse, multicultural approach, exploring dub, rocksteady, ska and other Caribbean genres. In the summer of 1983, Bandez along with legendary dub producer Adrian Sherwood and members of Crass, Family Fodder, African Head Charge, Flux of Pink Indians, London Underground and Art Interface went into the studio to record her stark, industrial dub-based solo debut Soul Possession, which would be released by Corpus Christi Records in 1984. And it resulted in a number of lengthy collaborations with Nurse With Wound, Coil, Current 93, Swans and Marc Almond.

33 years after its initial release, Dais Records will be re-issuing Soul Possession on January 6, 2017 and the re-issue’s first single “Burnt Offerings” is an ominously apocalyptic and minimalist bit of industrial dub featuring mechanical clang and clatter and twinkling keys paired with Bandez’s half-spoken vocals that manages to bring to mind Annika Henderson‘s solo work and her work with Exploded View — and in some way it wouldn’t be surprising if Bandez’s work influenced Henderson and producer/collaborator Geoff Barrow at some point.

Bandez will be on touring Europe throughout the Spring with Swans. Check out tour dates below:

Tour Dates, Spring 2017:
3/08  Rockefeller – Oslo, Norway
3/09  Kraken Sthlm – Stockholm, Sweden
3/11  Grey Hall – Copenhagen, Denmark
3/12  VoxHall – Aarhus, Denmark
3/14  Fleda Club – Brno, Czech Republic
3/15  Taba Ka Kulturfabrik – Kosice, Slovakia
3/17  Legendos Klubas – Vilnius, Lithuania
3/19  Sentrum – Kiev, Ukraine
3/22  FORM Space Club – Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3/23  Control Club – Bucharest, Romania
3/24  MKC – Skopje, Macedonia
3/25  Dom Omladine – Belgrade, Serbia
3/27  Pogon Kulture – Rijeka, Croatia
3/28  Rote Fabrik Ziegel oh Lac – Zürich, Switzerland
3/29  FZW – Dortmund, Germany
3/30  Kompass Klub – Ghent, Belgium
3/31  Paradiso Music Hall – Amsterdam, Netherland

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brooklyn based singer/songwriter BETS came to attention earlier this year with the release of her critically applauded debut effort Days Hours Night. Interestingly, building upon the buzz of her debut, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and her producer were set to write and record new material when the duo discovered that they shared a mutual love of Violent Femmes 1983 self-titled breakout debut effort. Reportedly, within a few minutes, BETS and her producer decided to put the sophomore effort of original material on hold to work on a Violent Femmes cover album in which she reimagines the familiar and beloved material.

In fact, as you’ll hear on BETS’ slow-burning, shoegazer rework of “Blister in the Sun” guitars are fed through layers of distortion, fuzz and feedback paired with gentle drumming and BETS’ dreamily distracted vocals, while pulling apart the song’s melody and chorus to the point of it being dimly recognizable and giving her version an ethereal moodiness.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Moody and Psychedelic-Leaning Visuals for Halycine’s “Elixir”

Arguably best known as a member of locally renowned indie rock act Blue and Gold, former co-frontperson Chloe Raynes started a her own band Halycine. which features her former bandmate GG Gonzalez (drums) and Derek Cabrera (bass) and released the project’s debut EP In The Salt earlier this year. The EP’s first single “Elixir” is shimmering and swooning 80s New Wave and post-punk-leaning guitar pop song set around an anthemic hook and Raynes’ superstar pop belter vocals earnest singing lyrics based on a devastating heartbreak. And like most breakup-related songs, “Elixir” focuses on the desperate longing for someone and something that can’t ever happen again; the gnawing sense that time is quickly passing and you’re getting older — and how everything seems increasingly messy and difficult; but there’s also a bittersweet recognition that as much as your heart may ache, life finds a way of pushing you forward, even when you don’t have a clue how.

Directed by the singer/songwriter herself, the recently released video features Raynes rocking out hard by herself in a rehearsal room or a studio with rapid fire cuts towards ocean waves hitting the beach, graffiti, a cloudy sky sequence, followed by rain hitting a puddle, footage of an elevated train or commuter line passing through a wooded area — and while mildly psychedelic, the video also possesses an intimacy which further cements the song’s earnestness.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Canadian Singer/Songwriter Terra Lightfoot’s Gorgeous Rendition of a Christmas Season Classic

Lightfoot’s sophomore effort Every Time My Mind Runs Wild was released earlier this year through Sonic Unyon Records and if you’ve been frequenting this site, you may recall that I had written about the Canadian singer/songwriter’s bluesy and heartfelt single “All Alone,” a single reminiscent of a more muscular version of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and “Walkin’ After Midnight,” complete with the same heartache at its core. Just in time for the holidays, Lightfoot released an understated solo rendition of the Christmas season classic “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” which she played for the first time at CBC’s Sound of the Season last year and she recently recorded live at McMaster University’s LIVELab. Interestingly, Lightfoot’s self-accompanied guitar arrangement draws from Chet Atkins’ instrumental rendition.

As Lightfoot explains in press notes about her rendition of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas: “I think I feel comfortable delivering a song like ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ because I can really live inside that gentle mood and melody. The heartfelt lyrics, that sense of fragile security. The melody and chords are stunning, but as a songwriter I also appreciate the uncertainty and underlying tension in the plot: you’re not sure if you’ll make it home, or maybe your home is long gone and you’re wishing you could go back. I don’t know if I would be able to deliver a song like ‘Joy to the World’ with quite as much conviction. ” Interestingly, in some way the tension within the song shouldn’t be surprising as the song was originally written from the perspective of troops separated from their families by war — and considering that families are being uprooted from their homelands and separated from each other by seemingly unending conflict or from politics, Lightfoot’s understated rendition gives the song a subtly modern context, while sounding as though it could have been released in 1957.

Personally, I think what makes Lightfoot’s rendition one of the more compelling renditions I’ve heard in some time is that the Canadian singer/songwriter’s voice conveys a painfully lonely ache and longing — the sort of longing that comes from lengthy periods apart from loved ones and from home.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Hurray for the Riff Raff Release Their Most Danceable, Most Politically Charged Album to Date

Featuring The Bronx, NY-born, New Orleans, LA-based founding member, creative mastermind and frontperson Alynda Segarra and her bandmates Yosi Perlstein, David Jamison, and Caitlin Gray, Hurray for the Riff Raff first came to prominence after they had been featured in an article in The Times based around the HBO TV series Treme with their single “Daniela” being listed in the paper’s playlist of essential songs by contemporary artists from New Orleans — and for a sound that drew from folk, country, bluegrass and Americana paired with lyrics that approached traditional Americana themes in an unconventional way. After releasing a series of EPs and two full-length albums — one was self released through the band’s label, the other released through a small, indie label, the band’s third full-length effort, Small Town Heroes was released through ATO Records, marking that album as their major label debut. And unsurprisingly, the band’s national and international profile grew exponentially.

The New Orleans-based band’s highly anticipated follow-up to Small Town Heroes, The Navigator was produced by Paul Butler, known for his work with Michael Kiwanuka, St. Paul and The Broken Bones and Devendra Banhart. Slated for a March 10, 2017 release through ATO Records, The Navigator is reportedly both a thematic and sonic departure for the band — thematically, the album tells a deeply interwoven, cinematic story about a wandering soul named Navita, who finds herself at the crossroads of personal identity and ancestral weight, traveling across a perpetually burning city in search of her true self, while addressing many of the urgent, sociopolitical issues of our increasingly uncertain and dangerous times. But perhaps more important, while all of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s material drew from Segarra’s experience, the new album holds a much deeper, personal weight drawing from the many uneasy questions, answers and compromises that come about as a minority in the world — with the most important being “what does it mean to be prideful of your heritage in a world and society that frequently asks you to not be too proud?”

Sonically, as you’ll hear from The Navigator’s percussive first single “Rican Beach,” the album finds the band delving deeper into Latin rhythms and styles — in particular salsa, boogaloo and bomba, giving the single one of the tightest and most dance floor-friendly grooves they’ve ever written. But at the core of the song are lyrics that capture a frightening sense of uncertainty, subtly asking “well, who will protect me or my neighbors, who will speak for us if the authorities begin to round us up?” while simultaneously being a call to resist, to “live your life as a form of protest,” as the great Saul Williams once said.

As Segarra explains of both the single and of the album’s material “This is dedicated to the water protectors of Standing Rock – thank you for your bravery and giving us hope. Also, to the people of Peñuelas, Puerto Rico, who are demanding an end to the AES dumping of coal ash which leads to water contamination – we are with you.

All over the world, the are heroes, who despite suffering generations of oppression, are protecting the land the future of our humanity. Rican Beach is a fictional place, but it was written with my ancestors in mind. It’s time to call on yours and to always remember: this land was made for you and me.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Soulful Radio Friendly Pop Sound of Gibbz

Mike Gibney is a New York-born and-based singer/songwriter and producer , who spent the earliest part of his musical career as a sound engineer and tour manager for a number of internationally touring acts before decided that he wanted to get out from behind the scenes and start a solo career under the moniker of Gibbz back in 2014. And with the release of his debut EP Chardonnay, Gibney quickly expanded his profile through extensive touring throughout the US and Europe with a number of acclaimed artists including Gramatik, Cherub, Exmag, Ghost Beach and The Floozies before releasing his full-length effort Above Water earlier this year.

Gibney closes out a big 2016 with the release of his Oh My God EP and the EP’s latest single EP title track “Oh My God” pairs Gibney’s effortlessly soulful crooning with a minimalist and equally soulful production featuring thumping, boom-bap drums, twinkling keys, warm blasts of horns and an infectious hook, in carefully crafted yet swaggering song that nods at 90s hip-hop soul and contemporary radio friendly pop — while being incredibly seductive.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Catch Charlotte Cardin Hang Out with Friends in Her Hometown in Her Latest Tell Off of a New Single

Big Boy’s latest single “Dirty Dirty” will further cement Cardin’s burgeoning reputation for pairing her old-school jazz and pop-like vocals with sparse, electro pop and hip-hop-leaning production. In this case, tweeter and woofer rantingly beats, shuffling drum programming and twinkling keys in a swaggering and sultry song that’s simultaneously a tell off and a come on to a lover, who has ignored and rejected the song’s narrator for another in which the song’s narrator tells her love object “she should be me but because you’re a fool, I’ll move on without you.” Ouch!

Directed by Sebastien Duguay, who also directed the video for Cardin’s “Faufile,” the recently released music video for “Dirty Dirty” was filmed in Montreal’s Mile-End section and reveals Cardin at her most unguarded, candid and real as we follow Cardin hanging out with a collection of dear friends and family, eating, goofing off and singing the song. Not only does it capture Cardin in her most nature environment; but it also suggests something that’s profoundly true — that having dear friends and family, who sustain you and lighten your heart and soul can be rare.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Atmospheric Sounds and Visuals of Dia’s “Gambling Girl”

Writing and recording under the moniker Dia, Birrittella has began to receive attention for “Gambling Girl,” the latest single off her debut EP Tiny Oceans and as you’ll hear from the new single, Birrittella’s specializes in a moody and lushly orchestral baroque pop-leaning sound in which Birrittella’s ethereal vocals are paired with a subtly droning melody consisting of electric guitar, ukulele, cello and swirling electronics. Thematically speaking the material is inspired by a 12th century Romantic poem written by Kafiristan, in which the poet confesses to his love “since you love me and I love you, the rest matters not.” According to Birrittella, the message of complete surrender and martyrdom for love was a powerful one and it gives “Gambling Girl” a swooning urgency just underneath the surface, while sounding as though it drew from Mazzy Star and Kate Bush.

Directed by Robert Condol, the video is shot in a sort of dreamy series of flashbacks of a desperately and passionately in love couple on a ranch in sunset, riding horses and being romantic in front of a cinematically shot desert vista.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Starting her career as a member of Laveer, an act that split up in 2013,  the Brighton, UK-based singer/songwriter and electro pop artist Aimee Herbert-Smith spent the past couple of years focusing on her personal life — getting married, having children and dealing with tragic loss. Naturally, those experiences inspired her to reconsider her entire creative process. “I felt the need to start writing and recording in a different way to how I had done before. Somehow, going solo at this point seemed fitting with the content of the songs – more vulnerable and anxiety driven,” Herbert-Smith explains in press notes about her new songwriting and creative approach.

Herbert-Smith’s debut single under the Mere Child moniker, “Not Good Enough” was released earlier this year and received praise from the likes of blogs such as Gigslutz, I Heart Moosiq and Bitter Sweet Symphonies and was included in Spotify Australia’s “This Week Sounds Like . . .” playlist, thanks in part to a sound that nods to Cocteau Twins, Mirage-era Fleetwood Mac, early 80s Stevie Nicks and others. Her second and latest single “Jot of Joy” will further cement her burgeoning reputation for writing anthemic pop that manages to possess a visceral earnestness with slick, radio and club-friendly, cinematic production — in this case, Herbert-Smith’s yearning vocals are paired with enormous, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, strummed guitar, layers of cascading synths and swirling electronics, and anthemic, larger-than-life hook — all while possessing a swooning Romanticism at its core.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Dali-esque, Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” Inspired Visuals for Jordan Burchel’s “Coffee Breath”

Vowel Sounds’ latest single “Coffee Breath” will further cement the Gainesville, FL-based multi-instrumentalist and producer’s burgeoning reputation for carefully crated rock with deeply introspective lyrics that sonically draws from psych rock and dream pop — although in this case, “Coffee Breath” much like the work of Drakkar Nowhere sounds as though it also draws from 70s AM rock as Burchel’s crooning is paired with shuffling drumming and subtly bluesy psych rock guitar chords. But just underneath the surface is a subtly mischievous sense of irony.

Animated by Tristan Whitehall at Squiggle Dot, the recently released video for “Coffee Breath” playfully nods at Dire Straits’ legendary and envelope pushing “Money for Nothing” but with an insouciance to the proceedings as the video follows an anthropomorphic coffee cup as it journeys through a Dali-esque desert to a surrealist living room and back to the desert — and during the journey, the coffee cup encounters a snake seductively wrapping itself around an anthropomorphic apple, an hourglass with a skull from it as the coffee cup holds another coffee cup and later drinks from it. It’s surreal but with a gloriously mischievous glee.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Understated Beautiful Visuals and Sounds of Bay Uno’s “Black Beauty”

It’s been over a year since I’ve last written about him and his work but he’s been playing a number of shows across town — including a December 7, 2016 set at The Slipper Room, which benefits Barc, a no-kill shelter. In any case, his latest single “Black Beauty” is a thoughtful and gorgeously hushed single featuring strummed guitar, twinkling percussion, bursts of accordion and a cinematic sweep paired with Bay Uno’s earnest and thoughtful crooning in a song that evokes the swooning sensation of being swept up in profound love and of finding oneself through a connection with nature. And much like his previously released singles there’s a sense of childlike awe and wonder that’s infectious — and should remind the listener of their own forgotten inner child.

The recently released video was shot on a grainy Instagram-like filter and shows the singer/songwriter riding a beautiful black horse, with whom he seems to have a profound connection, and of being in nature. And much like the song it possesses a simple and understated beauty.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Northampton, UK-born, London, UK-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Bruno Major who has received attention across the UK and elsewhere with the release of the first three singles off his current 12 month-long release project. And his fourth and latest single “Easily” will further cement the up-and-coming singer/songwriter’s burgeoning reputation for earnest and crafted pop that draws from the blues, jazz chord progression and contemporary songwriting techniques. Major pairs his soulful and confident vocals singing a defiant and sultry refrain “Just because it won’t come easily, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” with an atmospheric production featuring swirling, bluesy guitar chords, a sinuous bass line and hip-hop inspired drumming in a swaggering and sultry song that seems to channel Nick Hakim.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Sofi de la Torre Returns with Some Slow-Burning Synth Pop

de la Torre has been rather prolific releasing two EPs That Isn’t You and Mess, both of which critically applauded and received attention across the blogosphere; in fact, at one point Mess steadily climbed the the Hype Machine charts and was featured in Spotify’s Weekend Buzz playlist. Earlier this year, I wrote about “Sit Down” which may have arguably been the Spanish-born, Berlin-based pop artist’s boldest, feistiest song she had released to date while nodding at the work of M.I.A. Interestingly, de la Torre’s latest single “Flex Your Way Out” is a slow-burning and radio-friendly track in which de la Torre’s ethereal yet sultry vocals are paired with moody and sparse production comprised of swirling electronics, twinkling keys, and stuttering, tweeter and woofer rocking beats. Pop artist Blackbear contributes a verse to a song that focuses on a relationship between two difficult and damaged people, who can’t quite figure out how to make it work — or if they should make it work.

The recently released music video continues de la Torre’s reputation for pairing her slickly produced pop with slick music videos — and in this case, the visuals feature de la Torre driving around her gorgeous birthplace of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Port Townshend, WA’s Solvents Release a Politically Charged Anthem for the Holiday Season

During this shortened workweek at my day job, several coworkers had mentioned how they were feeling deeply unsettled and anxious about being around family members and associates who had voted for Donald Trump — and knowing that by their family’s support and votes, that their family actually seemed to hate them and everything they represented. Comprised of husband and wife duo Jarrod Paul Bramson and Emily Maddon, the Port Townsend, WA-based duo Solvents quickly wrote their latest single “Song For President Trump (I’m Gonna Fight)” as a way to inspire as many folks as possible to pick up an instrument, to write poetry, blog posts, take to the streets or open up a conversation, and that most important to put your feelings out there on how repugnant and frightening a Donald Trump administration is and will be for so many. If you have some asshole “family” to deal with this weekend, know that The Joy of Violent Movement is by your side and let this song be the theme song of your entire holiday season as you tell people to go fuck themselves.