Category: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed by Moon Magnet Studios founder and ringleader Reed Fuchs back in 2009, Denver, CO-based collective deCollage features members of several locally and regionally known bands including Rose Quartz, Sound of Ceres, Candy Claws, Rubedo and others. Since their formation, the collective has developed a reputation for an immersive and interactive live show – and for material that sonically employs the use of synths, accordion, glockenspiel, found sounds such as typewriters, trains, crunched leaves, zippers, cirtcut bending among others and for material that lyrically focuses on metaphysics, surrealism, abstraction, wonder and navigating the fragmented post-modern world we live in.Unsurprisingly, as a result of their growing reputation in psych music circles, the members of the collective have opened for the likes of Animal Collective, of Montreal, Zammuto, Fever The Ghost and Linear Downfall among others.

“Crystal Choir,” the latest single off the collective’s soon-to-be released, new effort Magnetize is a hazy and swaggering bit of psych pop that possesses elements of contemporary electro pop and R&B as enormous boom-bap drums are paired with layers of shimmering synths, and layers of harmonized vocals in song that reminds me of In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy — but with a mischievous and playful sense of hope.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as the frontman of renowned indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobaccco has developed a reputation as an electronic music artist and producer, who has an uncanny ability for crafting an abrasive yet anthemic sound — as a fellow critic at Stereogum  described Tobacco’s sound as wanting to “channel Daft Punk and The Black Keys at the same time.”

Sweatbox Dynasty, the long-awaited follow-up to Ultima II Massage is slated for release this summer, and the album’s first single “Gods In Heat” will further cement Tobacco’s reputation for crafting scuzzy and anthemic electronic music as his production pairs layers of buzzing and abrasive synths, industrial clang and clatter, skittering drum programming, surface-level analog tape hiss and sizzle, a chanted mantra and an infectious hook — but if you’re familiar with the Pennsylvania-based producer’s work, the new single possesses a subtle elements of psych rock that lighten the murkiness ever so slightly.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of founding members Dean Povinsky (lead vocals, guitar) and Dwayne Christie (drums), along with newer members Derek Bosonworth (bass) and Nick Greaves (guitar), Chris Dawe (keys),  the Toronto, ON-based indie rock quintet Wildlife can trace their origins to when Povinsky along with guitarist Darryl Smith relocated to Glasgow, Scotland to form a band. Along with Scottish drummer Peter Kelly and fellow Canadian Billy Homes, the band spent time traveling, writing and recording songs and playing small venues around Glasgow; however that project split up with the Canadian members left Glasgow to return to Canada. Povinksy moved to Toronto with the intention of continuing Wildlife with childhood friend Plant, Christie and Julia Mensink (synths), along with Bosonworth to flesh out the band’s initial lineup.

Their full-length debut, Strike Hard, Young Diamond was released to critical praise from the likes of Exclaim!. Chart and others. After a series of lengthy tours across North America, which led to their first Top 10 hit single, the members of the band were also working on their first full-length album since 2013. “Dead Century” is the first single off that album, slated for release at the end of the year, and as the band explained to me in an email the song is about “moving forward through lost time; what it feels like to have one foot in an age that no longer exists, and coming to terms with having the other in a world you may never understand.” And as a result, the shimmering, moody and anthemic single produced by Tawgs Salter possesses a bittersweet sense of loss and confusion over what to do next, but underneath all of that a sense of time rushing past. Sonically, the song is incredibly contemporary and radio friendly indie rock as shimmering guitar chords, soaring synth chords, an anthemic hook you can hear kids shouting along and dramatic, propulsive drumming paired with plaintive and yearning vocals — and although aching, the song manages to have a sense of hope at its core.

 

 
  •  

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of a couple of EPs and a reputation for a being one of the best up-and-coming live sets in the UK scene, Bristol, UK-based post-punk band The Jacques have built up quite a buzz around themselves; in fact, this summer, the band will be touring the European Union and UK major festival circuit with opening sets for Noel Gallagher, Rudimental and The Charlatans at Kendal Calling’s main stage and for Primal Scream at Down To The Woods.

“Eleanor Ring Me,” the band’s latest single sounds as though it draws influence from 90s alt rock and grunge rock as the band pairs sludgy power chords,  distorted vocals, snarling vocals and an anthemic hook in a song that the band says is “a kick at the people and things that we are distancing ourselves from now. “ And as a result, the song possesses a “Fuck off — or we’ll kick the shit out of you” air.

Check out the band’s EU and UK tour dates below.

Tour Dates

Fri 13th May – l’Alimentation Generale, Paris France

Sat 14th May – Les Nuit Botanique, Brussels Belgium

Fri 27th May – Dot to Dot Festival, Manchester UK

Sat 28th May – Dot to Dot Festival, Bristol UK

Sun 29th May – Dot to Dot Festival, Nottingham UK

Fri 29th July – Kendal Calling Festival, UK

Sun 31st July- Damaris Festival, Amsterdam Holland

Sat 13th Aug – Down to The Woods Festival, Durham UK

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Danielle Souza (vocals) and Kyle Foster (guitar), Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock duo Dead Posey can trace their origins to when the duo met at an album release party at Serenity West Recording in Hollywood back in 2013. Foster caught Souza’s eye when he was lighting a candle inside a little glass cottage and it led to the duo striking up a joking conversation about setting Tinkerbell’s house on fire. After discovering that they had mutual musical influences, the duo started a band together, which eventually lead to their current project Dead Posey.

Their debut single as Dead Posey “Holy Grail” is a stomping and swaggering bit of anthemic, power chord-based rock that sonically owes a debt to The Black Keys, Dirty Ghosts and the glam rock sounds of T. Rex and others as the song finds the duo pairing Souza’s soulful and gritty vocals with stomping and propulsive drumming and scuzzy yet towering power chords. And although it is a rather familiar yet winning formula, the duo manage to do so with a cool self-assuredness and a sultry sensuality.

 

.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Nate J. (vocals, bass), Ali Abbas (guitar) and Kirk Power (drums), Calgary, AB-based post-punk/darkwave/chillwave trio Ultrviolence have quickly developed a reputation for a moody, post-punk sound that’s indebted to Joy Division, New Order, Interpol, Viet Cong and others and for adhering to the sort of DIY principles that led them to ignore the clichés and dictates of the major recording industry machine. Now over the past couple of months the Canadian post-punk trio have become one of my new favorites as I’ve written about “Better Learn How to Swim,” and “Radiation,”  the first two singles off the Canadian  trio’s soon-to-be released EP Black Sea; in fact, both singles manage to remind me quite a bit of Turn On The Bright Lights-era Interpol — in particular, I think of “Untitled,” “NYC” and “Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down.”

Much like “Radiation,” “Untitled,” will further cement the trio’s reputation for moody and angular post-punk with anthemic hooks — but while arguably being the most propulsive and forceful songs they’ve released to date.

 

 

 

 

Earlier this month, I wrote about Calgary, AB-based indie rock/darkwave/New Wave/post-punk trio Ultrviolence. Comprised of Nate J. (vocals, bass), Ali Abbas (guitar) and Kirk Power (drums), the Canadian trio have quickly developed a reputation for a moody post-punk sound that’s reminiscent of contemporary acts like Interpol, Viet Cong and others, and for adhering to DIY principles as they’ve played in countless basements and tiny clubs across the continent, using battered instruments and battered instruments and ignoring the cliches and dictates of the recording industry machine. Now you might recall that i wrote about “Better Learn How to Swim,” a moody yet swooningly Romantic song off their forthcoming Black Sea EP that manages to be reminiscent of Turn On The Bright Lights-era Interpol — in particular, I think of “Untitled,” “NYC” and “Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down” — as the band pairs a sinuous bass line, angular and shimmering guitar chords and an dramatic, anthemic hook with Nate J’s aching baritone.

Black Sea‘s latest and single ” Radiation” will further cement the Canadian trio’s burgeoning reputation for crating dark and moody post-punk/New Wave/darkwave-leaning rock while gently expanding upon the sound that initially captured my attention — the band pairs Nate J’s expressive and yearning baritone with ethereal synths, shimmering guitar chords played through copious reverb, and a driving rhythm consisting of four-on-the-floor drumming and propulsive bass chords. Sonically, the new single manages to clearly draw influence from the likes of the aforementioned Turn On The Bright Lights-era Interpol, Joy Division and New Order — but with as subtle twist on a familiar sound.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Kristin Henry (vocals) and Brad Boettger (production), Seattle, WA-based  duo NAVVI have developed a reputation for crafting brooding and propulsive electro pop; in fact, the duo have had their work appear on a compilation curated by renowned French electronic label Kitsune, and they’ve received press from a variety of media outlets including NME, Brooklyn Vegan, Impose, The Line of Best Fit and Jay Z’s Life+Times, among others. Building on the early buzz they’ve received, the Seattle-based duo will be releasing their long-awaited full-length debut Omni on May 27 through Hush Hush Records.

“Close,” Omni‘s first single is a gorgeously minimalist bit of electro pop that has the duo pariing Henry’s sultry and intimately breathy coos bubbling over a sleek and hyper-modern production consisting of crisp, yet stuttering drum programming, ambient, swirling electronics, bleeps, bloops and boops, layers of shimmering and buzzing synths. and a propulsive groove. Sonically and thematically “Close” reminds me quite a bit of BRAIDS’ impressive Flourish//Perish and Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves as the single possesses a bracing chill that belies an urgent, swooning and yearning Romanticism at its core.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Keko (vocals), Oscar Poncell (vocals, tiple), Robert Douglas Sola (bass), Lazaro Ernesto Pompa (bass), Lachlan McLean (sax), Jethro Negron (drums), Nick Ryan Glennie (trumpet), and Marcelo La Greca (guiro and vocals), Melbourne, Australia-based Latin music nonet San Lazaro features bandmembers, who claim heritage from all over the Spanish speaking world — including Chile, Cuba, Catalonia and elsewhere. And as a result, the Australian act have developed a reputation for a sound that draws from reggaeton, salsa, Cuban son, 70s New York salsa, 60s Peruvian cumbia and seamlessly meshes them in a way that feels and sounds both familiar and alien. In fact, the act have developed a reputation for being one of Melbourne’s preeminent Latin music acts, as the band’s 2012 release Clave contra Clave helped the band win Best Australian Latin Band, and their single “Muchacho Tranquilo” was included on the 2014 Rough Guide to Psychedelic Salsa compilation.

The band’s latest effort La Despedida (translated from Spanish to English as “The Farewell”) thematically focuses on breakups, loss, insomnia, protests and more,  and interestingly enough, the band has broken up and reconvened several times, which gives the material a deeper, more personal weight.  La Despedida’s latest single “Amor De Despedida” is a propulsive song that swoons with heartache while being a bit of a kiss of towards a partner, who the narrator is glad to see leave. But most important, the band plays with a cool, self-assuredness through a song that structurally goes through a trippy tempo change at its bridge before returning to its dance floor-ready sound.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brian Eno’s Gorgeously Ambient Cover of The Velvet Underground

Wap More than enough ink has been spilled throughout Brian Eno’s nearly 50 year musical career, so delving deeply through his backstory will largely be unnecessary and beyond the scope of this particular post. But […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Dmitri Manos is a Tucson, AZ-based multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and producer, whose solo recording project American Monoxide has quietly built a profile for specializing in analog electronic instrumentals that manage to be somewhat abrasive, trashy and funky as you’ll hear on “Hot Lava Express,” the first single off his forthcoming sophomore full-length effort Web Content, a single that has the producer and multi-instrumentalist pairing industrial boom-bap beats, tumbling electronic bloops, beeps and bleeps, scorching synths, Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar chords to craft a song that’s simultaneously offbeat yet funky as hell.

Multiple labels are involved in the June 10, 2016 release — and it’s arguably the most complex release I’ve come across in the almost six year history of this site: the vinyl version of the album will be released through People In A Position To Know Recordings (PIAPTK), Solid Gold Records, Almost Halloween Time Records, Wooden Tooth Records, Shot By A Fan Records, Hocus Bogus Records, Lazy Boy Recording Company and Baby Gas Mask Records. All the labels pitched in on the cost of manufacturing with each label creating different packaging for their particular release — some labels plan on doing variations of the album cover art, while others are including bonus material such as special release cassettes, lathe cut albums, zines and posters, etc. The cassette will be released through PIAPTK and Wooden Tooth Records while the electronic version will be self-released.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Promise Keeper is a London-based producer and electronic music artist, who has started to receive attention across the blogosphere for a sound that draws from classic Chicago house, blue-eyed soul and electro pop as you’ll hear on his sleek, dance floor ready, second single  “Side Decide,” which pairs breathily cooed vocals with a production consisting of twinkling and shimmering synths, staccato drum programming and swirling and ambient electronics.

 

.
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

VOKES is the solo recording project of Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and producer Mike Harris. And according to Harris, his latest single “Slow Down” draws from two different experiences. “For me, ‘Slow Down’ represents two stories,” Harris explains in press notes. “The first story I originally wrote was about being naïve in a relationship, splitting up for the wrong reasons and realizing what a terrible mistake was made. The second story that eventually became the focus of the song is about two strangers, who quickly fall for each other, while one person feels hesitant to move forward because of being on the receiving end of the first story.”  Sonically Harris evokes confusion through lush and shimmering synths and a sinuous bass line for the verses, which gives the song an ethereal buoyancy reminiscent of Rush Midnight while the chord changes around the song’s chorus and bridge convey the awkward and understandable tension at the core of the song’s narrative. Adding to the complex and confusing array of emtions expressed within the song, there’s a hopeful sense among the song’s characters that with a bit more maturity and experience under their belts, that this time may be different.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a member of Karen, The Late Late Show with James Corden house band fronted by Reggie Watts and a weekly residency with Watts at El Cid, drummer and vocalist Guillermo E. Brown’s solo musical project Pegasus Warning has received musical industry nods through collaborations with an impressive list of artists including Twin Shadow, Das Racist, Gordon Voidwell, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Saul Williams, Mocky, Spoek Mathambo and others.

“Come Close” Brown’s latest single is about longing, “that oh-so-human feeling of missing someone to the brink of collapse like singing in the rain in the desert,” as Brown explains in press notes, and as a result his vocals possesses an urgent and plaintive need and an aching vulnerability. Paired with cascades of shimmering synths and a sinuous bass line, the single is both ethereal and undeniably sensual — and in fact, manages to channel Quiet Storm-era R&B. Or simply put, you should play this the next time you plan to have a romantic evening of naughty fun with that someone special.

 

 

 

 

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.