Category: singer/songwriters

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by its founding member and creative mastermind David Eugene Edwards, Wovenhand much like Edwards’ previous projects have a long-held reputation for intense and anthemic music that showcases Edwards’ Romantic and incredibly dramatic crooning — and for a relentless experimentation and reinvention. His previous project 16 Horsepower  was well-received for a sound based around antique Americana while Wovenhand’s earliest incarnations specialized in hushed ballads; however, with the newest and most current lineup, featuring Planes Mistaken For Stars‘ Chuck French (guitar) and Neil Keener (bass), Ordy Garrison (drums) and Crime and The City Solution‘s Matthew Smith (piano, synth) the band has written and recorded some of the heaviest and most forceful material to date on their latest effort Star Treatment slated for release on September 9, 2016 through Sargent House Records globally — with the exception of Europe.

As Edwards explains, the soon-to-be released album’s title isn’t a reference to our contemporary obsession with celebrity; rather it’s a reference to the concept of astrolatry — or humanity’s enduring interest in the stars of the night sky. “It’s ethereal in its concept,” Edwards says. “There are many layers, as always. I’ve been paying attention to the stars in the sky and in literature, and it’s a theme throughout the album.” He adds, “There’s more love song style on this in general, which is nice. The idea of what love is and how it’s expressed and all these different atmospheres.” Star Treatment‘s first single and opening track “Come Brave” finds the band pairing a propulsive, rumbling and rolling drum beat, enormous power chords, Edwards crooning vocals, a swooning and urgent Romanticism and rousing, arena rock friendly-like hooks with celestial hooks in a song that sounds as though it drew from Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen, complete with a dark and mysterious fury.

The band will be embarking on a world tour to support the album. Check out tour dates below.

Tour Dates:
08/26   LAS VEGAS, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Psycho Las Vegas 
09/12   COLOGNE, DE @ Gebäude 9 *
09/13   FRANKFURT, DE @ Zoom *
09/15   BERN, CH @ ISC *
09/16   ZURICH, CH @ Bogen F *
09/17   VIENNA, AT @ Flex *
09/18   BUDAPEST, HU @ A38 *
09/20   SALZBURG, AT @ Rockhouse *
09/21   MUNICH, DE @ Ampere *
09/22   LEIPZIG, DE @ UT Connewitz *
09/23   BERLIN, DE @ Heimathafen *
09/24   HAMBURG, DE – Reeperbahn Festival
09/26   ARHUS, DK @ Train *
09/27   OSLO, NO @ John Dee *
09/29   HELSINKI, FI @ Tavastia
09/30   STOCKHOLM, SE @ Nalen *
10/01    LUND, SE @ Mejeriet *
10/02    COPENHAGEN, DK @ Vega Jr. *
10/04    EINDHOVEN, NL @ Effenaar *
10/05    AMSTERDAM, NL @ Melkweg *
10/06    LEUVEN, BE @ Het Depot *
10/07    GENT, BE @ Handelsbeurs *
10/08    CHARLEROI, BE @ L’Eden *
10/10    LILLE, FR @ L’Aéronef *
10/11    PARIS, FR @ La Maroquinerie *
10/13    ORLEANS, FR @ L’Astrolabe *
10/14    GRENOBLE, FR @ La Belle Electrique *
10/15    FEYZIN, FR @ L’Epicerie Moderne *
10/16    TOULOUSE, FR @ La Rex *
10/18    LONDON, UK @ The Dome *
* w/ Emma Ruth Rundle
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

You might recall that earlier this month, I wrote about California-born, Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Elijah Ford. Ford has quite the musical pedigree as his father, Marc Ford is a former member of Black Crowes. Interestingly enough, the younger Ford toured with his father’s band Fuzz Machine when he was 17 and a few years later, Elijah’s own recording career started in earnest when he hooked up with Oscar and Grammy-winning artist Ryan Bingham, with whom Elijah Ford recorded and toured with for several years before going solo with the 2011 release of his full-length debut Upon Walking and its follow up, an EP Ashes in 2012.

As We Were, Ford’s forthcoming full-length effort is slated for a September 16, 2016 and as you might remember, the album’s first single “The Way We Were” liberally draws from bluesy and boozy old school work, while possessing a finely crafted feel, thanks in part to a soaring and anthemic hook and a shimmying and shuffling sound reminiscent of The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello and others. As We Were’s latest single “Black and Red” will further cement Ford’s burgeoning reputation for finely crafted and rousingly anthemic songs that draw from 70s and early 80s rock; however, in this particular instance, “Black and Red” is sonically reminiscent of Damn The Torpedoes-era Tom Petty and the aforementioned Elvis Costello but with a novelist’s attention to psychological detail and how it impacts one’s character and in turn their relationships with others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Growing up in Atlanta, Blake Fusilier didn’t quite fit in with his contemporaries — while many of his peers aspired to sign to LaFace Records and SoSoDef Records, as a teenager Fusilier picked up the violin, dreamt of being the black Itzhak Perlman and was obsessed with the work of Edgar Allen Poe. And much like odd teenagers — especially odd black teenagers —  a young Fusilier learned that sometimes when you’re extremely different, you can be hated and ridiculed, and around that time he began writing his own music. By the time, he relocated to Boston for college, Fusilier had learned to play the bass and was a member of moody rock band RIBS, which eventually rose to national prominence; in fact, they’ve opened for The Joy Formidable and Queens of the Stone Age, and have been written about across the blogosphere. 

As the story goes, as the band was achieving quite a bit of success, someone asked Fusilier about being black and gay, and the singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer began to realize that running away from those questions and the world’s perceptions of him was spiritually and emotionally exhausting. From that point forward, he wanted to make music that would not only drain those questions of their power but to make them permanently irrelevant. As Fusilier says in press notes, “I have this theory that if people knew who we really were in their minds, we probably would all have a lot more respect for one another. This applies to everyone: friends and acquaintances and bandmates. I think it’s our duty to ourselves to make sure that those around us have a chance to allow others to see our glorious, true selves. I finally feel like I’m beginning to live by those words. The songs I’m wrapping up have been floating around for years. I had been anticipating the moment when people could actually hear even 20 seconds of my potential.” 

So far the response from the blogosphere and music critics has been wildly positive with one critic in particular describing Fusilier’s sound as being a synthesis of James Brown and Nine Inch Nails — although as soon as I heard his latest single “Make You,” I immediately heard Prince, Jef Barbara, Boulevards, Gordon Voidwell and quite a bit of contemporary electro pop as the former RIBS bassist’s sultry and sensual cooing is paired with a slick, hyper modern production consisting of a sinuous bass line, propulsive drum programming led by finger snaps, layers of buzzing synths and electronics, and an incredibly infectious hook in a club banging song that possess an unresolved sexual tension and a sly and ironic commentary on racial and sexual identity. And it all should be a reminder that you can pair some deeply personal and political messages in dance music — and the most important that music can be one of the most powerful weapons imaginable.  

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last year, I wrote about Swedish-born and based, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sofia Härdig, who with the release of “Streets,” the first single off her two part EP The Street Light Leads to the Sea added herself to a growing list of Swedish artists that have seen international attention across Europe and North America. And as a result of a growing international profile, Härdig, who is considered Sweden’s “rocktronica queen of experimental music,” has collaborated with  Grammy Award-winning acts The Hellacopters and Bob Hund, Boredoms and Free Kitten‘s Yoshimi P-We and has opened for Lydia Lunch and Belle and Sebastian‘s Stevie Jackson.

Interestingly, The Street Light Leads to the Sea was recorded with handpicked musicians, who were known for their improvisational skills, and each musician was encouraged to improvise on the rough sketches that Härdig brought in whenever and however 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 . . . ” And as you’ll hear on the EP’s latest single “Sitting Still,” the material possesses a raw and gritty urgency as slashing and angular guitar chords, wild squalls of feedback and rapid fire drumming are paired with Härdig’s punchy delivered vocals in a tense and anxious song that captures a narrator, who’s at odds with herself and her conflicting emotions, thoughts and desires — and does so in a way that feels and sounds like the interior conversations we all have at some point or another. Sonically, the single much like its predecessor still manages to sound as though it were influenced PJ Harvey but equally influenced by Nine Inch Nails and Earthling-era David Bowie, complete with a swaggering, anthemic hook.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Charlie Greene Returns with an Aching, Country-Leaning Cover of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie

Several years have passed since we’ve heard from Charlie Greene but as Greene has told me via email, he’s been pretty busy of late as he’s putting the finishing touches on an album that is tentatively slated for release sometime over the winter, along with some tour dates; but in the meantime, the Atlanta-born and Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter has started a video series he’s titled “Dead Man’s Cattle Call,” in which he an this backing band pay tribute to a recently deceased musician of note with a one-take recording in a Topanga, CA-based grape arbor, then they release an accompanying video. And the latest installment is a slow-burning country music rendition of David Bowie’s “The Prettiest Star,” which pulls out the nostalgic wistfulness and ache at the core of the original.

The recently released music video was shot by the folks at Beard and Glasses VR and to get the full effect of the video, please check it out on Google Chrome or on your smartphone. It’s a trippy and immersive effect to be able to view everything the musicians did while performing the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Elijah Ford is a California-born, Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, and the son of former Black Crowes‘ guitarist Marc Ford, and in fact the younger Ford toured with his father’s band Fuzz Machine when he was 17, before hooking up with Oscar and Grammy-winning artist Ryan Bingham, with whom Elijah Ford recorded and toured with for several years before going solo with the 2011 release of his full-length debut Upon Walking and its follow up, an EP Ashes in 2012.

“The Way We Were” Ford’s latest single off his forthcoming full-length As We Were slated for release on September 16, 2016 borrows heavily from bluesy and boozy old school rock — while possessing a finely crafted feel, thanks in part to a soaring and anthemic hook and a shimmying and shuffling sound reminiscent of The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello and others.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by frontwoman and principle songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza, Portland, OR-based alt folk/folk rock/indie rock act Y La Bamba, the critically applauded act can trace its origins to  early 2008 when Mendoza wanted to perform under something else other than her name, and began writing and making home recordings of her songs on a one-by-one basis largely drawing from the traditional Mexican folk songs she heard as a child growing up in San Francisco and playing with her cousins in the San Joaquin Valley, the work of Loch Lomond and Devendra Banhardt and others. Around the time she had begun writing her own material, Mendoza had begun regularly hosting an open mic at a sake bar in Northeast Portland, where she met the members of the band’s original line up — Ben Meyercord, Mike Kitson (drums), Sean Flinn (guitar) and Eric Shrapel (accordion).

Over the course of the band’s three albums and several lineup changes of collaborators, friends and musicians, the band’s material has gone through a variety of changes — but it’s the the band’s forth full-length effort Ojos Del Sol that may be arguably be the most radical turn in sonic direction, while returning to familiar themes of searching and personal discovery — themes that have come up a number of times in Mendoza’s own life, whether as the daughter of Mexican immigrants connecting with her ancestry and searching for spiritual meaning that goes much further than organized religion. In fact, as Mendoza explains in press notes, the material on the album thematically is a “cerebration of family and community” — but a community of shared humanity.

Interestingly, the album’s first single “Libre” finds Mendoza and company at their most self-assured but in one of the breeziest and pop-leaning songs as they pair an infectious and anthemic hook with an arrangement that includes what sounds like xylophone, a mischievous and sinuous bass line, a steady backbeat, Mendoza’s gorgeous vocals along three part harmonies in English and Spanish, a rolling, African folk music-like guitar line in a song that evokes a sense of almost childlike wonder and joy, while making a connection both to Mendoza’s ancestral homeland and Africa in a way that subtly channels Paul Simon‘s Graceland.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms
With the release of their first singles “Lost” and “Dreamers,” which were featured in ad campaigns for Estee Lauder, Virgin Mobile and Hollister and made an appearance in the major motion picture Bad Moms, Los Angeles-based electro pop duo Scavenger Hunt, comprised of singer/songwriter Jill Lamoureux and producer, multi-instrumentalist Dan Mufson quickly rose to national attention for a sound that’s deeply influenced by Fleetwood Mac, 80s-era Stevie Nicks, Annie Lennox, Sade, Robyn, 80s and 90s pop and R&B — while to my ears sounding much like Yaz and New Order. And adding to a growing national profile, the duo have toured with the likes of Haerts, Dragonette, Shura and Capital Cities. (In fact, I caught them open for Haerts at Brooklyn Bowl several years ago.)
“River Runs Dry,” the first single off the duo’s forthcoming EP manages to mesh 80s pop sentiment with slick and contemporary production that features propulsive drum programming, subtle use of xylophone that pop out of the ether and undulating synths paired with Lamoureaux’s sultry, pop star/pop belter vocals and an infectious and anthemic hook to craft a breezy, radio-friendly, dance-floor track that packs in quite a bit of swooning, aching emotion.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Bittersweet Visuals for Fleurie’s Gorgeous, Swooning and Anthemic “Sparks”

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past 12-18 months or so, you’ve likely come across a handful of posts on Canton, MI-born, Nashville, TN-based classically trained pianist and singer/songwriter Lauren Straham, who writes, records and […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a member of New York-based indie rock act Blue and Gold, singer/songwriter and guitarist Chloe Raynes is set to embark on a solo career with her latest indie rock recording project, Halycine. And as Halycine, Raynes recorded her soon-to-be released debut EP In The Salt, which features GG Gonzalez (drums) and Derek Cabrera (bass) and was recorded at The End Studios in Brooklyn.

The EP’s latest single “Elixir” is a shimmering and swooning bit of 80s New Wave and post-punk-leaning guitar pop, complete with an anthemic hooks, a propulsive rhythm section and earnestly sung lyrics based around a devastating breakup, focusing on both the desperate longing for someone, the sense that time is quickly passing and that as you get older, it all gets more difficult and frustrating — and in a way the song possesses a bitter recognition of “well, what next” and “how do I move forward?” along with the idea that there’s always three sides to every side of a story: yours, mine and the truth.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you might recall coming across “Stronger,” the first single from  Los Angeles, CA-based guitarist and vocalist Cecilia Della Peruti’s solo project, Gothic Tropic. And although she’s perhaps best known as a touring and session guitarist for the likes of renowned pop acts such as Charli XCX and BØRNS, Peruti’s last project possesses a New Wave-leaning sound. While “Stronger” sounded as though it owed a debt to the Go-Gos The B52s and others, her latest single “How Life Goes” is an atmospheric, song in which lush and plaintive harmonies are paired with shimmering guitar chords played through reverb and delay pedal, a propulsive and driving rhythm section, gently buzzing synths and a bluesy guitar solo in a song that sounds and feels as though it simultaneously drew from Phil Spector’s famed “Wall of Sound,” 80s New Wave, shoegaze and power pop – thanks to an anthemic hook. Much like the sources which inspired it, the song focuses on heartbreak — in this particular instance, the song’s narrator is begging for forgiveness and understanding while simultaneously, telling her significant other that  she’s getting a bit of a bad rap in this relationship. And in many ways, it captures the ambivalence that romantic relationships can inspire, especially if they went bad quickly.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about young, up-and-coming,  Toronto, ON-based singer/songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson, who initially began her recording career as the frontwoman of locally renowned act, The Wayo. And with the release of “After All,” the Canadian singer/songwriter quickly emerged out of her hometown’s jazz, soul and R&B scenes, adding herself to a growing list of nationally and internationally known acts including friends and collaborators  BADBADNOTGOOD and River Tiber.

 

Wilson’s highly-anticipated debut effort CDW is slated for an August 26, 2016 release and the effort will include the critically applauded singles “After All” and “Work,” as well as the slow-burning, soul ballad “Find You,” which features the Canadian singer/songwriter’s effortlessly soulful vocals over a contemporary and minimalist production consisting of twinkling keys and synths, gently swirling and fluttering electronics, finger snap-led percussion and stuttering drum programming in a song that evokes a plaintive and urgent need. And as much as the song is celebration of finally feeling ready to love someone else and desiring love from someone, it’s equally a celebration of finding one’s true self and place within the world — both of which are incredibly difficult, no matter how strong and sure of yourself you may feel. Certainly, for a singer/songwriter as young as Wilson is, her vocal range and her lyrics betray a wisdom and experience far beyond her years.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Beginning his music career as a part-time musician in various underground bands in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, the insanely prolific multi-instrumentalist Ty Segall started his solo career back in 2008 with the release of the Horn The Unicorn through Wizard Mountain — and was later re-released by HBSP-2X on vinyl. After befriending Thee Oh Sees frontman and creative mastermind, and co-founder of Castle Face Records, John Dwyer, Segall signed to the renowned, garage rock label, which released his self-titled debut, also in 2008. Since then, Segall has released albums through Memphis, TN-based label Goner Records, frequent collaborations with renowned indie artist Mikal Cronin and for being a member of a number of bands including Fuzz, Broken Bat and GØGGS, and as a former member of The Traditional Fools, Epsilons, Party Fowl, Sic Alps, and The Perverts.

Now, as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as a native New Yorker, who has been covering music for over a decade, I’ve seen countless venues come and go — and soon as a well-regarded or beloved venue closes, another one pops up a few months later in another part of town; however, as both a passionate music fan and journalist, there are a handful of venues that hold a special part of your heart. And for me, Death By Audio held a very special place in my heart. Unlike most venues I’ve seen and covered shows in, there was always a  palpable sense of anything going and happening and in fact, I saw some of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen; shows that transformed how I saw and wore about live music. Much like Metz, Segall has a connection to Death by Audio as he got his NYC area start at the now defunct DIY venue.

And as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as the venue was closing up shop back in 2014, its owners and bookers curated what turned out to be an epic final month featuring a number of currently renowned acts, who had gotten their start or had some kind of connection to the South Williamsburg, Brooklyn venue including A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Lightning Bolt, Metz and many others. What people most likely didn’t know was that the venue recorded the last month of shows at the venue and the end result is the compilation Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, which features highlights of the past month in chronological order, slated for release next week through Famous Class Records — and the compilation is meant not as bittersweet nostalgia but as a forceful call to go out and do something fucking awesome, like start a show space and have your friends and others play there.

The second and latest single off the compilation features Ty Segall and his backing band playing a somewhat bittersweet yet forceful and sludgy live version of “Wave Goodbye,” a song that structurally and sonically sounds as though it owes a debt to 90s alt rock as it consists of alternating, rousing and thunderous, power chord-based hooks and a quiet second around the verse. And as soon as you hear it, it should make you want to raise your beers up high and shout along — or mosh the fuck out.