gome is a Hamburg-based DJ and producer duo that has developed a crowd-pleasing sound that blends 90s house with touches of funk, disco and soul. As live performers, they favor a strict hardware setup: The German pair are actual musicians, along with being producers — and they’re unafraid to incorporate live instruments like keyboards, guitars, bass or their own vocals during live performances at clubs.
They’re also the founders of newly-minted Hamburg-based label snackwax, a label that specializes in a delectable sounds and a flavorsome approach to house music. The label’s third release, the recently release Vital Organ EP is by emerging, New York-based electronic music artist and producer James Juke. The EP reveals a versatile and creative artist, who can craft club bangers with a remarkable self-assuredness and an unerring knack for catchy hooks.
The EP’s opening track, EP title track “Vital Organ” features a slick, 90s house-inspired production featuring thumping and skittering beats, a sinuous, dance floor friendly groove and glistening organ-like synth arpeggios paired with a soulful, Baptist preacher-like vocal sample and euphoria-inducing hooks. If this track doesn’t make you get up out of your seat and dance, then you’re probably either dead or soulless.
Félix Mongeon is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and creative mastermind behind Radiant Baby. Mongeon’s Radiant Baby debut EP It’s My Party caught the attention of Lisbon Lux, who signed him and then released the Montréaler’s 2019 full-length debut, Restless. Restless saw Mongeon creating a sound that meshes crisp electronic sounds with organic instrumentation to convey a more mature and dynamic aesthetic.
2021 saw the release of Mongeon’s sophomore Radiant Baby album, Pantomime, which was followed up with a deluxe edition of Pantomime (Deluxe) last year.
Earlier this month, Mongeon released his third Radiant Baby album Porcelaine through his longtime label home Lisbon Lux Records. The album features “Mort de Rire,” a slinky bit of synth-driven New Wave-like funk paired with the Montréal-based artist’s dreamy falsetto. “Mort de Rire,” sounds as though it could have been released sometime during the late 1970s and early 1980s. And as the rising Canadian artist explained, the song inspects the twists and turns of our darkest sides — without taking itself too seriously.
Porcelaine‘s latest single “Klondike” continues a remarkably run of slinky, synth-driven and downright dance floor friendly-like New Wave that seems to channel Jef Barbara‘s Soft To The Touch and Contamination, Talking Heads‘ Remain in Light and Le Couleur‘s Autobahn — all while reminding the listener of Mongeon’s unerring knack for crafting insanely catchy hooks.
Montréal-based psych pop outfit Wizaard — currently, Marie Hèléne Coutu and Jean-Nicholas Doss — are a mainstay of their city’s psychedelic, Anglophone and bilingual music scenes with the release of their first two albums, 2016’s Starfish Buffet and 2019’s Supernatural Mystics, while going through a series of lineup changes. The Montréal-based outfit supported both of those albums sharing stages with Choses Sauvages, Men I Trust, Le Couleur, JOVM mainstays Elephant Stone and American outfit Twin Peaks. Adding to a growing profile, the Montréal act’s remix of Spaceface‘s “Timeshare” has amassed over one-million Spotify streams.
The duo’s forthcoming third album will be released by Lisbon Lux Records, and the album will be the first album of material written and sung primarily in French. The album reportedly be “a delicious cocktail of madness, eclecticism and groove,” the band explains.
The forthcoming album’s latest single “DVD vidéo” is anchored around a languid yet lysergic groove that recalls Tame Impala, L’imperatrice and Pavo Pavo paired with dreamily coquettish vocals and boom bap-like beats. To me “DVD vidéo” evokes a remarkably pleasant psilocybin-induced trip.
The duo’s forthcoming third album will be released by Lisbon Lux Records, and the album will be the first album of material written and sung primarily in French. The album reportedly be “a delicious cocktail of madness, eclecticism and groove,” the band explains.
The forthcoming album’s latest single “DVD vidéo” is anchored around a languid yet lysergic groove that recalls Tame Impala, L’imperatrice and Pavo Pavo paired with dreamily coquettish vocals and boom bap-like beats. To me “DVD vidéo” evokes a remarkably pleasant psilocybin-induced trip.
Seattle, WA-based multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and producer Grant Eadie is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed JOVM mainstay outfit Manatee Commune. Over the the better part of the past handful of years, Eadie has specialized in a carefully molded sound that pairs natural overtones extracted from field recordings and other sources, live instrumentation and arrangements and slick yet nuanced production.
Eadie’s fourth Manatee Commune album Simultaneity is slated for a July 19, 2024 release Bastard Jazz. The album, which marks a return to his longtime label home, is anchored around the lush and vibrant production that’s his trademark while being a bold and mature step forward in his sound and songwriting approach. Eadie has stepped away from standard songwriting and lyrics altogether, with the album’s material leaning closer to ambient electronica while keeping one foot solid in the realm of house music.
Simultaneity‘s latest single “Faulted” is a lush and woozy track anchored around gentle layers of glistening and reverb-soaked synth arpeggios, skittering percussion and tweeter and woofer rattling thump that twist and turns into dreamily prismatic patterns. Sonically recalling Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves, “Faulted” is a track that’s meditative enough to be lounge friendly but with enough muscular oomph to be club friendly.
With the release of her debut EP, 2021’s six-song Yo Soy, emerging and rising Miami-based Puerto Rican singer/songwriter Yari M quickly established a sound that meshed Urban Latin R&B and pop rhythms. Yo Soy EP track “Freshy” garnered some traction with a remix that featured Randy and Brray, which amassed over 1 million YouTube and Spotify streams.
Building upon growing momentum, the emerging and rising Puerto Rican artist appeared on Randy’s 2021 album Romances de Una Nota, showcasing Yari M as the only female artist on the album, among a collection of notable Latin artists.
2023 saw the release of “Esta Lloviendo,” a bachata tune that debuted at #19 on Billboard‘s Tropical Airplay Chart, amassing over 500,000 streams. “Esta Lloviendo” was released through her label Black Diamond Music, where she’s the Vice President and the owner of the first Dolby Atmos studio in Miami. which allows her the creative space to create and bring her artistic vision to life.
Yari M’s career has been frequently marked by her commitment to growth and her desire to bring a fresh sound to her audience. She’s currently working on her first album while working with various Latin artists to expand both her repertoire and her sound.
Her latest single “La Noche” is a slickly produced bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering reggaeton-meet-trap like beats serving as a lush and woozy bed for Yari M’s coquettish and yearning delivery. The result is a summery track that’s lounge and club friendly.
With the release of their Adam Lasus-produced full-length debut, 2021’s Ruin Your Day, the Los Angeles-based rock outfit Swerve, led by Greg Mahdesian and Ryan Berti was released to critically acclaim and received consistent airplay nationally — perhaps a result of the album featuring ripping, catchy, dark and politically-minded love songs.
Locally, the album produced three #1 hits on KROQ‘s Locals Only Chart — “Escape,” album title track “Ruin Your Day,” and “Ebbs and Flows” — and the station listed the band as one of the top ten bands in Los Angeles. Adding to a growing profile, they became an official Vox Amplifier artist, and they were praised by Alice Cooper and Matt Pinfield, who also played them on their respective radio shows.
Although momentum was building, they paused so Mahdesian could focus on spending time with his newborn daughter. Despite his newfound commitments, the band fit in an orchestral, cinematic rendition of “Ebbs and Flows,” and they played a sold-out get-out-the-vote show in 2022. When the band reconvened, their sound evolved into something leaner and more focused sound, which led to their Adam Lasus and Jessica Rotter-produced The Darkroom EP.
Slated for a June 21, 2024 release, the EP thematically sees the band looking back on their wilder years, and delves into the darkness of failing relationships, endless nights and the need to be adored, which quite fittingly led to their cover of the classic Stone Roses tune “I Wanna Be Adored.”
While retaining the yearning nature of the song and the beloved melody, the Los Angeles-based rock outfit’s cover turns the song into a buzzing and slithering Queens of the Stone Age/Desert Sessions-like ripper.
“The Stone Roses made one of my favorite records (I’ve actually purposefully never listened to Second Coming) and ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ is their most iconic track,” Swerve’s Greg Mahdesian says. “It’s also a genuinely weird song that has minimalist lyrics and psychedelic/rave/rock production, and I’ve never heard a cover of it before. We’ve done plenty of covers live, from the Replacements to Black Sabbath, but really wanted to record one and take it in a new direction. When you’re writing your own song you can get locked into a style or idea of what your music sounds like. When the song is already written for you, all the creative energy can be put into the arrangement, and we went left-field with this one. Ryan used a baritone guitar, we got inspired by Desert Sessions and Queens of the Stone Age, and I sang the vocals in the dark—why not, ya know? Brandon Duncan, who plays bass and mixes our records, was given free rein and turned in a really creative mix. This is already opening up our sound and approach for the next batch of songs we’re working on.”
Back in 2014, the Andover-based musician and composer released The Green Flash, a four song EP of original compositions of Brazilian jazz. All four songs received nominations for the 2015 American Songwriting Awards with “SambaDan” winning for Best Instrumental. Finbury followed The Green Flash EP with 2015’s 11-song Brazilian jazz effort Imaginário featuring vocalist Marcella Camargo and some of Boston’s best players, including Fernando Huergo, Mark Walker, Tim Ray, Claudio Ragazzi, Roberto Cassan and Ricardo Monzon. Finbury surprised the Latin music world when Imaginário track “A Chama Verde” received a Latin Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.
2017’s Pitanga was released to critical acclaim. Adding to a rapidly growing profile in the Latin music scene, Finbury’s third album, the Emilio D. Miler-produced Sorte!, which saw him collaborating with vocalist Thalma de Freitas and an All-Star band featuring Vitor Gonçalves, Chico Pinheiro, Duduka de Fonseca, John Patitucci, Rogerio Boccato and Airto Moreira received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz album.
2020 saw the release of two albums of originals: American Nocturnes: Final Days of July, an album of intimate chamber jazz compositions featuring arrangements for piano, cello, guitar, accordion and harmonica — and Quatro, a Latin jazz album featuring Lagos Herrera, Chano Domínguez, John Pattiucci and Antonio Sánchez.
During the pandemic, the Andover-based musician and composer collaborated with French jazz vocalist Camille Bertault. They recorded and released “Look at What a Mess You Made of Me,” which featured Christian McBride (bass) and “Boulevard,” which featured Larry Gouldings (organ) and Billy Martin (drums).
In 2021, following the death of the legendary Chick Correa, Finbury and de Freitas wrote and recorded “Ring The Bells” as a tribute to the man and his influential work.
In 2022 Finbury wrote and released three original Brazilian jazz compositions recorded in São Paulo by Mestrinho (accordion), Michael Pipoquinho (bass), Cainã Cavalcante (guitar), Celso de Almeida (drums) and Leo Rodrigues (percussion).
Last year was a very busy year for Finbury: He continued an ongoing collaboration with Magos Herrera and recorded and released three original compositions of Chamber Jazz. The Andover-based musician and composer also continued his successful collaboration with Miler, who introduced him to rising São Paulo-based singer/songwriter Bruna Black.
Black wound up contributing vocals to Finbury’s latest album Vã Revelação, which was released earlier this year. In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two previously released singles:
“Chão De Nuvem,” a soulful year breezy tune featuring an arrangement of fluttering accordion, a supple bass line, shuffling percussion. The song gorgeously — and effortlessly — meshes elements of samba, jazz fusion and pop while being a perfect vehicle for Bruna Black’s languorous yet soulful delivery.
“Será,” a song built around a gorgeous arrangement of shimmering acoustic guitar by Chico Pinheiro, a supple and sinuous bass line from John Pattiucci that’s roomy enough for Black’s expressive vocal. Fittingly released at the end of last year, the song is a meditation on the passing of time, the choices and plans we make that work out and the ones that fail — with the understanding that all of it influences who we are, and who we will become.
Album title track “Vã Revelação,” is a breathtakingly gorgeous yet bittersweet tune, anchored around the classic shuffle and sway of bossa nova featuring shimmering, strummed guitar, a supple bass line, twinkling and expressive bursts of piano serving as a lush bed for Black’s stunning vocal turn. Much like its predecessors, “Vã Revelação” is meditative yet breezy, a blast of summer — but full of the recognition of the passing of time, and of regrets, hopes dashed and hopes to be had again.
Perry is also the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie, solo recording project Aquafox. Perry’s Aquafox debut single “Party Girl,” was written during a hospital stay and delves into her tumultuous years of drug and alcohol abuse with an unvarnished, raw honesty and captivating harmonies while offering a glimpse into her journey of self-discovery, sobriety and healing.
Earlier this month, I wrote about the Jon O’Brien and Perry co-produced, 90s Riot Grrrl-like “Hurt You,” a lush yet cathartic and relatable revenge anthem about the desire for revenge after a bitter betrayal or a bitter breakup — or both. If you’ve been scorned, fucked over or done wrong by someone you’ve cared about — or loved — the sentiment at the song’s core, is both lived-in and deeply familiar.
Her latest Aquafox single, the Jon O’Brien and Perry co-produced “Triggers” is a mid-tempo and carefully crafted bit of pop with an arrangement that seemingly nods at Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back,” and St. Lucia that’s chill but hook-driven enough to be danceable. And much like its predecessors, “Triggers” is rooted in personal and deeply lived-in experience — with the song being about Perry’s struggles with alcohol, depression and feeling hopeless while trying to get better and healthier.
Guinean-born, Belgian-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist N’Faly Kouyaté has had a long-held interest in bridging the distinct worlds he inhabited most of his life: the ancient and the modern, his native Africa and the West. Growing up, Kouyaté received a rigorous and traditional Guinean musical education. When he later relocated to Belgium, he received traditional Western conservatory training.
Throughout his lengthy career, Kouyaté has collaborated with an eclectic and diverse array of internationally acclaimed artists across a wide range of styles and genres, including Peter Gabriel, William Kentridge, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, Ray Phiri and others. But by far, the Guinean-born, Belgian-based artist may be best known for his work with the Grammy Award-nominated, groundbreaking, genre-defying outfit Afro Celt Sound System.
Kouyaté’s solo debut Re: Génération Part 1 EP sees the acclaimed Guinean-born, Belgian-based artist creating and developing a new genre which he dubbed Afrotonix, which seems him pairing polyphony, electronic production and traditional African instruments like the kora, the balafon and regional percussion instruments.
Earlier this year, I wrote EP single “Premiers Pas,” a slickly produced, breezy and hook driven bit of pop featuring atmospheric synths, twinkling kora, a supple yet propulsive bass line and skittering tweets and woofer rattling beats serving as a lush bed for Kouyaté’s plaintive delivery singing lyrics in Malinké and French. While being club and lounge friendly, the song is rooted in several powerful and urgent messages with the song being a cry for African autonomy without colonial influence, but the song also seeks and demands a more equitable world for all, as Kouyaté also calls out abuse in both the workplace and domestic spheres.
Kouyaté’s latest single “Kolabana” is the latest off his recently released EP. “Kolabana” continues a remarkable run of material that sees the Guinean-born, Belgian artist crafting a breezy and seamless synthesis of the contemporary and the ancient: The track features twinkling and arpeggiated kora, glistening synths and skittering beats serving as a lush bed for Kouyate’s plaintive delivery and an emcee, who contributes a swaggering eight bars or so, making the song both club and lounge friendly.
Rising Marseille-based electro pop trio Social Dance — Faustine, Thomas and Ange — are best friends and former roommates, who started the project back in 2020. The trio craft uninhibited and absurd pop inspired by their common experiences and complementary music tastes.
“Parler” off the trio’s debut EP 2022’s Rumeurs was featured in the Netflix series Emily In Paris. And as a result of Emily in Paris‘ popularity, the trio wound up supporting the EP with touring across Europe and Canada last year, playing over 70 shows, including sets at Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges and Rock en Seine.
Building upon a growing profile across the Francophone world, the Marseille-based trio’s full-length debut Volte-Face. The album further establishes their take on infectious, feel good pop but while pairing funky grooves with French touch and others.
Volte-Face will feature “Sometimes,” a feel good slice of dance punk anchored in a euphoria-inducing, dance floor friendly groove paired with squiggling bursts of Nile Rodgers-like guitar, punchy, mathematically precise drum machine, glistening synths and dueling bilingual boy-girl vocals. The result is a song that seemingly channels LCD Soundsystem, JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine and others — while being remarkably mischievous.
Anchored around angular and squiggling bursts of guitar, skittering beats punchily delivered vocals and incredibly catchy, razor sharp hooks, “Meilleur” the album’s second and latest single sounds as though it were subtly nodding to Freedom of Choice-era DEVO, Psymon Spine and Talking Heads while continuing a remarkable run of infectious, euphoria-inducing, high-energy bops.
The members of Geelong, Australia-based outfit ORB — Zak Olsen (vocals, guitar, bass), David Gravolin (guitar, bass) and Jamie Harner (drums) — have had a lengthy career, starting in earnest with a lengthy stint in their first band as teenagers, The Frowning Clouds. Since starting ORB, the Aussie trio have released two albums, 2017’s Neutrality and 2018’s The Space Between, which they supposed with a European and North American tour opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard back in 2019.
The band’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated album, the Tim Dunn-produced Tailem Bend is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Fuzz Club globally and through Flightless Records in Australia. The band didn’t intend for six years to pass without an album, but there’s little in life that happens as expected — or as desired. Much like all of us, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans. And then add side pursuits and the other vagaries of daily life that we all know too well.
Tailem Bend derives its name from a quiet South Australian town, whose name caught the band’s collective eye while on tour. For the band, the name conjured images of some long lost prog rock act; however, the town’s name reportedly is derived from the Ngarrindjeri word “thelim,” referring to a sharp bend in the nearby Murray River. Written over the course of 2021 and 2022 and finished in the studio early last year, Tailem Bend‘s material is saturated in vintage warmth and depth while showcasing a bold leap forward in their sound and approach that’s not a complete departure: Continuing to be anchored around their unerring knack for being tunefully hypnotic, the album’s material sees the trio infusing heavy doom-leaning jams with a lighter psych pop sensibility and funky rhythmic grooves. There still fuzzy power chord-driven riffs, but the material also features some mellower passages and a renewed focus on rhythm and space.
A deep sense of shared history also informs the album’s material. The Aussie trio reunite with Tim Dunn, who produced several Frowning Cloud albums. The album also features guest spots from former Frowning Cloud bandmate and current frontman of Banana Gun, Nick van Bankel (conga); The Murlocs‘ Callum Shortal, who often plays live shows with ORB (guitar); Leah Senior’s Girlatones‘ and Baby Blue’s Jesse Williams (piano) and Emma Bailey (backing vocals) and Ashely Goodall (backing vocals).
To celebrate the album’s announcement and build some buzz on the album, the members of ORB recently shared “Can’t Do That”/”Morph.” The A-side “Can’t Do That” is an expansive jam anchored around fuzzy blues-tinged power chords, a funky and mind-bending, motorik-like groove paired punchy hook that channels a synthesis of Thin Lizzy, Ram Jam‘s “Black Betty,” Black Sabbath and jazz fusion. “‘Can’t Do That’ started out from a demo of mine,” the band’s David Gravolin says. “Tried to sound like W.I.T.C.H., ended up sounding like Thin Lizzy.” The band’s Zak Olsen adds that “Lyrically it’s about having self-respect in low times.”
The B-side “Morph” features some heavy yet melodic, Black Sabbath-like riffage paired with Olsen’s reverb-soaked Ozzy Osbourne-inspired delivery singing some trippy lyrics. Play loud, smoke some ganja and then vibe out!
Acclaimed British post-punk outfit THE THE was founded by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Johnson back in 1979 and through various iterations and configurations, Johnson and his collaborators have developed a sound and approach that seems to inhabit its own difficult to define genre: music of long shadows, high hopes, channeled anger, feverish passions and sweetly disturbing poignancy that meshes elements of pop, rock, blues, folk and soul among others while spanning alienated electronics to twisted cinematic soundtracks, guitar tumbling swing to crimson ballads, rants and prayers to diaries and hymns.
Over the course of their 45 year history, Johnson and company have released only five full-length albums of original material, 1983’s Soul Mining, 1986’s Infected, 1989’s Mind Bomb, 1993’s Dusk and 2000’s NakedSelf. Having a long-held reputation for being unpredictable, the band has also tackled covers, such as 1995’s Hanky Panky; film soundtracks, including 2009’s Tony, 2010’s Moonbug, 2014’s Hyena and 2019’s Muscle; art installations, a the Radio Cinéola podcast series; 2017’s moving, 84 minute documentary/multimedia project The Inertia Variations and various book publications including 2018’s Matt Johnson biography Long Shadows, High Hopes: The Life and Times of Matt Johnson & THE THE.
2017’s The Inertia Variations took inspiration from British poet John Tottenham’s 2005 book of the same name — particularly the idea of “brooding, abstraction and evasion” getting in the way of the creative process. The Inertia Variations eventually resulted in not just the documentary, but also the Radio Cinéola Trilogy triple album box set.
At the end of The Inertia Variations documentary, Johnson was filmed performing a new song live in his studio, “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” an energy to his older brother Andrew Johnson, an artist professionally known as Andy Dog, who died in 2016. “It was not an easy song to write,” he says. “That was the first time I’d sung in many years. I enjoyed it but found it very emotional.”
The experience prompted Johnson to revive THE THE as a live band — and it lead to the sold-out 2018 The Comeback Special world tour. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of the accompanying live film and album until 2021. And of course, the pandemic also delayed the intended start on the writing and recording of first THE THE album in almost 25 years, Ensoulment. Instead, Johnson and company released a series of 7 inch singles that started with 2017’s “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” 2020’s “I WANT 2 B U,” and last year’s “$1 ONE VOTE!”
The 12-song Ensoulment is slated for a September 6, 2024 release through Cinéola/earMUSIC. The album reportedly contains echoes of the acclaimed British outfit’s multifaceted and lengthy musical past, however, it’s richly representative of the mercurial band’s here and now. The album continues Johnson’s long-held reputation for being unafraid to tackle the inherent emotional complexity of the human condition — in particular, intimacy in an age of alienation; democracy in a post-truth age; empire and vassalage; the seemingly inexorable rise of AI and more. And yet, the album is rooted in hope. “It’s vital to be hopeful,” Johnson states. “And I hope people get out of the album what we put into it. It was created under very happy circumstances, with a great vibe amongst the band and all the people that worked on it. There was a lot of thought, a lot of work, a lot of love, a lot of laughter!”
The album’s material were further refined in rehearsals, just before a six-day recording sessions at Bath, UK-based Real World Studios, where Johnson was joined by long-standing band members James Ellen (bass), DC Collard (keys), Earl Harvin (drums) and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar). The album also marks the return of co-producer and engineer Warne Livesey, who worked with the band on Infected and Mind Bomb. The album also features contributions from Gillian Glover (backing vocals), Terry Edwards (horns), Sonya Cullingford (fiddle) and Danny Cummings (percussion).
Ensoulment’s first single, the Matt Johnson and Barrie Cadogan co-written “Cognitive Dissident,” a brooding and slinky number, anchored around a strutting bass line, bursts of squiggling, reverb-soaked guitar, Johnson’s breathy speak-singing delivery, sultry cooing from Gillian Glover, atmospheric electronics, skittering percussion paired with an equally slinky and remarkably catchy hook. Thematically, the song captures the madly topsy-turvy Orwellian nature of modern life with an uncanny and unsettling attention to detail.
THE THE tour dates
8/21 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge, England SOLD OUT
8/22 – The Waterfront Norwich – Norwich, England SOLD OUT
8/23 – Picturedrome – Holmfirth, England SOLD OUT
8/25 – National Museum Of Ireland – Dublin, Ireland
9/10 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, Norway
9/11 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, Norway SOLD OUT
9/13 – Filadelfia – Stockholm, Sweden
9/14 – Store Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark SOLD OUT
9/15 – Store Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark SOLD OUT
9/17 – Huxleys – Berlin, Germany
9/18 – Carlswerk Victoria – Köln, Germany
9/19 – Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, Belgium SOLD OUT
9/21 – De Roma – Antwerp, Belgium SOLD OUT
9/22 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands SOLD OUT
9/23 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands SOLD OUT
9/25 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, Scotland SOLD OUT
9/27 – The Civic At The Halls – Wolverhampton, England
9/28 – Alexandra Palace – London, England SOLD OUT
9/30 – O2 Apollo – Manchester, England SOLD OUT
10/1 – O2 Academy Brixton – London, England
10/11 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
10/12 – Durham Performing Arts – Durham, NC
10/14 – The Anthem – Washington, DC
10/15 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
10/17 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY
10/19 – Orpheum Theatre – Boston, MA
10/20 – MTELUS – Montreal, QC
10/22 – Massey Hall – Toronto, ON
10/23 – Masonic Cathedral Theatre – Detroit, MI
10/25 – The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
10/26 – Palace Theatre – St. Paul, MN
10/29 – Mission Ballroom – Denver, CO
10/30 – Eccles Theater – Salt Lake City, UT
11/2 – Paramount Theatre – Seattle, WA
11/3 – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
11/4 – Orpheum – Vancouver, BC
11/7 – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
11/8 – Shrine Auditorium – Los Angeles, CA
11/14 – Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre – Auckland, New Zealand SOLD OUT
11/16 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia SOLD OUT
11/17 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
11/18 – Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide, Australia
11/21 – Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
11/22 – Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
11/23 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia SOLD OUT
Currently split between Berlin and Orlando, the JOVM mainstays The Lovelines — the sibling duo of Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and prodution) — have released material from their forthcoming full-length debut single-by-single.
Over the past handful of months, I’ve written about five of the album’s singles:
“May Be Love,” a slow-burning torch song-like take on trip hop and neo-soul built around shimmering pedal steel and congo-led percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful vocal expressing an aching longing for love — and to be loved.
“What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love?” a breezy pop song built around a looped, shimmering, finger plucked acoustic guitar melody and percussive percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. On one level, the song views love with a healthy cynicism — but as the band’s Todd Goings explains, “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love is a portrait of the fool in love. Do only fools fall in love or does love make us fools?“
“Low Fidelity” is a decidedly jazz pop/pop jazz take on their firmly established trip hop-inspired sound that’s rooted in their penchant for incredibly catchy hooks, dusty, old-school inspired production paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning.
“Darlin’,” a slow-burning torch song that’s one-part neo-soul, one-part old school pop-meets trip hop anchored around a dusty, lo-fi production featuring twinkling Rhodes, boom-bap like drumming and a supple bass line serving as a lush bed for Tessa D’s soulful and yearning crooning.
“Killing Floor,” a vibey bit of psych-tinged neo-soul, anchored around a glistening vaguely Eastern-like guitar line, congo-driven percussion samples of casino games blaring and bleeping. The song’s arrangement and production serves as a lush yet strangely atmospheric bed for Tessa D’s soulful croon.
The duo’s latest single “Make Believe (Life Is Such A Dream)” is a woozy trip-hop-like take on indie pop anchored around twinkling and arpeggiated keys, reverb-soaked pedal steel and skittering beats paired with the duo’s unerring knack for crafting catchy hooks. The song’s arrangement and production serves as a dusty bed for Tessa D’s heartbroken delivery.
“It is a song about lying to oneself,” the duo explain. “The inspiration for the song was ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,’ in that the sound of the song and the lyrics of the song are tonal opposites. It sounds light, but when you read the lyrics it’s dark. So, is it a light song, or is it a dark song? It’s both, and is dependant on the listener’s perception of it. In Make Believe, the protagonist is in a loveless relationship, and rather than accepting this truth, chooses to lie to themselves. The sound of the song is the lie, and the lyrics are the truth.”
I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar through this site’s 14 year history. During that period, the New York-based JOVM mainstay has built a national and international profile for crafting slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes.
2024 has been a rather busy year for Rhythm Scholar. If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you’d know that I wrote about his woozy remix of one of my favorite Tears for Fears tunes “Change,” and his sleek, club friendly remix of Duran Duran‘s 1984 track “Wild Boys” a that featured chopped up vocals for the hook, several Duran Duran samples and a blazing Andy Sexton guitar solo while retaining Simon Le Bon‘s vocal, the memorable hook and the synth melody.
The JOVM mainstay returns with a remix of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” that retains Curt Smith‘s imitable vocal and pairs with a subtly modernized remix with bursts of strummed acoustic guitar, thumping beats, swirling atmospheric synths, twinkling keys and soulful horn solo. With this remix, Rhythm Scholar manages to place a classic and beloved song within a contemporary context while managing to retain the original’s brooding and uneasy air.
Copenhagen-based experimental noise/post-punk outfit Taxidermy — Osvald Reinhold (vocals, guitar), Toke Brejning Frederiksen (guitar), Joachim Lorch-Schierning (bass) and Johan Knutz Haavik (drums) — have quickly established a sound that draws from math rock, No Wave, post-hardcore and emo among a list of others.
Thematically, the Danish quartet’s work sees them exploring the unease and disquiet of contemporary existence through delving into the cryptic and disorientating, the claustrophobic and the surreal. Crafting material anchored around unpredictable arrangements, raw and visceral textures, broad dynamic range and intense emotional delivery, the members of the Copenhagen-based outfit actively challenges the listener to confront the discomfort of the unknown.
The Copenhagen-based quartet’s forthcoming EP Coin will feature the previously released “Rot,” a slow-burning bit of noisy post-punk that evokes the narrator’s sanity fraying at its edges with the song being built around an arrangement of intricate layers of dissonant guitars, swirling feedback and a propulsive rhythm section serving as an uneasy and stormy bed for Reinhold’s desperate wailing. Sonically, seeming to channel Disappears/FACS, as well as Radiohead and The Smile, “Rot” not only captures a narrator who’s drowning in their own vacillating and self-flagellating doubt and hatred, but one who does so in a world that’s mad and cruel to him, as he is to himself.
Coin EP’s second and latest single “Today” features an uneasy and intense slab of post punk-meets noise rock that seemingly pairs angular and fragmented Entertainment-era Gang of Four-like groove with the sort of feedback-driven skronk and squeal reminiscent of Nirvana and Sonic Youth with frenetic and propulsive drumming. Reinhold’s desperately wailing vocal floats uneasy over the hypnotic, machine-like arrangement, seeming to rage against a brutal and unceasingly mad world.
