Search Results for: boris

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Since their formation back in 2013, the Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia-based post-punk trio PLOHO have firmly established themselves at the forefront of a contemporary, new wave of Russian music. Inspired by Joy Division and late Soviet-era acts like Kino, the Siberian act’s cold and bleak sound evokes both the bitter cold of their homeland and that uncertain and uneasy period of the Soviet Union just before its inevitable collapse.

Back in 2020. Artoffact Records released the Siberian trio’s fifth album, the critically applauded, Фантомные Чувства (Phantom Feelings), which featured: 

  • “Танцы в темноте (“Dancing in the Dark”), a nostalgia-inducing, dance floor friendly bop featuring reverb-drenched guitars, shimmering synth arpeggios, a motorik groove and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with lyrics delivered in a seemingly ironically detached Russian. 
  • “Нулевые” (in Cyrillic) or “Nulevyye” (in Latin),” a bracingly chilly bit of 4AD Records-like post punk centered around frontman Victor Ujakov’s sonorous baritone, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, skittering four-on-the-floor, a relentless motoik groove and an enormous hook. And much like its predecessor, is a dance floor friendly bop. 

The Russian post-punk outfit began the year with “Plattenbauten,” their first ever German-language song. “Plattenbauten,” is a translation of the band’s 2015 debut single “Новостройки (New Buildings)” featuring lyrics translated by German poet Boris Shneider and re-recorded as a standalone single. Centered around a relentless motorik groove, forceful four-on-the-floor, Uzhakov’s deadpan delivery and shimmering guitar attack, “Plattenbauten” is a decidedly new take that evokes an oppressive, seemingly infinite grey; an overwhelmingly oppressive sameness, crushing poverty and bitter frustration over lack of options and opportunities. 

Ploho’s sixth album,  Когда душа спит (When The Soul Sleeps) is slated for a November 4, 2022 release through Artoffact Records. Centered around somber yet beautiful lead guitar, Uzhavok’s lush baritone, gorgeous melodies and emotionally devastating synth and drum work, the new album will reportedly be among the most engaging of their growing catalog. 

Earlier this month I wrote about “Магнитофон,” a bracingly cold bit of post-punk centered around glistening synth arpeggios, reverb-drenched bursts of guitar, paired with a motorik groove and Uzhakov’s lush and expressive baritone. And while sonically bringing The Cure, Cocteau Twins and 4AD Records to mind, the song evokes something much darker and foreboding — an impending sense of doom.

“Никогда не говори никогда (Never Say Never),” Когда душа спит (When The Soul Sleeps)‘s latest single is a seemingly upbeat and swooning bop centered around an angular and propulsive bass line, relentless four-on-the-floor and glistening synths arpeggios paired with Uzhakov’s lush baritone, a fluttering synth solo, a sizzling guitar solo and the trio’s unerring knack for big hooks and enormous chorus. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Магнитофон” will continue to bring 4AD Records and 80s post-punk to mind but with a slick, modern production.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: PLOHO Shares a Brooding Post Punk Ode To The World’s Housing Projects

Since their formation back in 2013, the Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia-based post-punk trio PLOHO have firmly established themselves as one of most prominent purveyors of a contemporary, new wave of Russian music. Inspired by late Soviet era acts like Kino and Joy Division, the Siberian act’s sound and approach evokes the bitter cold of their homeland. 

Last year, Artoffact Records released the Siberian trio’s fifth album, Фантомные Чувства (Phantom Feelings). I managed to write about two of the album’s singles:

  • “Танцы в темноте (“Dancing in the Dark”), a nostalgia-inducing, dance floor friendly bop featuring reverb-drenched guitars, shimmering synth arpeggios, a motorik groove and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with lyrics delivered in a seemingly ironically detached Russian. 
  • “Нулевые” (in Cyrillic) or “Nulevyye” (in Latin),” a bracingly chilly bit of 4AD Records-like post punk centered around frontman Victor Ujakov’s sonorous baritone, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, skittering four-on-the-floor, a relentless motoik groove and an enormous hook. And much like its predecessor, is a dance floor friendly bop.

The Russian post punk outfit starts off the year with “Plattenbauten,” their first ever German-language song. “Plattenbauten,” is a translation of the band’s 2015 debut single “Новостройки (New Buildings)” featuring lyrics translated by German poet Boris Shneider and re-recorded as a standalone single.

Centered around a relentless motorik groove punctuated by forceful four-on-the-floor, Ujakov’s deadpan delivery and shimmering angular guitar attack, “Plattenbauten” is a decidedly new take on the original’s vibe, that evokes an oppressive, seemingly infinite grey, an oppressive sameness, an overwhelming poverty and frustration. As Jim Kelly’s character says in Enter the Dragon “Ghettos are the same all over the world.” It seems that he wasn’t wrong.

The song’s title refers to a new style of communist-era high-rise apartment blocks, which were at one point highly popular throughout a great deal of Europe — and for the Russian post-punk outfit, recalls the Soviet era aesthetic. “This song was playing in German in my head when I found myself in eastern Berlin,” the band’s Victor Ujakov says in press notes. “I lived in exactly the same area thousands of kilometres away in Novosibirsk (West Siberia). The atmosphere was amazing.”

Directed, edited and shot by Igor Tsvetkov, the accompanying video for “Plattenbauen” follows Ujakov on a late night walk through the back alleys of a Plattenbauen while singing the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

humptydumptyrecords · River Into Lake – Grande Prairie

Boris Gronemberger is Brussels-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer, who managed to be rather busy throughout the bulk of his career: he was the founder and frontman of acclaimed Belgian indie act V.O. through their 15 years together — and he has a long-held reputation as a go-to collaborator, working with Girls in Hawaii, Castus, Blondie Brownie and a growing list of others.

Gronemberger’s latest musical project, River into Lake can trace its origins back to 2017 when the Belgian singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and arranger began writing the material, which would eventually comprise River Into Lake’s full-length debut Let The Beast Out sometimes alone, sometimes in collaborative groups, granting himself the complete freedom to reinvent himself and his work. Sonically, Let The Beast Out was bubbling orchestral pop with sharp melodies, complex harmonies featuring  arrangements that meshed synthesizers and organic instrumentation — and it shouldn’t be surprising that the material was indeed to prog rock. Thematically, the material was centered around the difficulty of wanting to continue to believe in the beauty of human nature while generally being an ode to love, life and the complexities of the universe.

Initially written and conceived as a bonus track for Let The Beast Out crowdfunders, the Belgian act’s latest single “Grande Prairie” continues a run of ambitious and expansive material. Centered around shimmering and arpeggiated synths, drum machines, a propulsive bass line, angular bursts of guitar, explosive live drumming and enormous hooks, the song sonically recalls Sugar Army and others — but with a cinematic sweep. “La Grande Prairie is a place where we were going to celebrate the end of the exams with friends,” Gronemberger explains. “Some of them have meanwhile passed away. It’s a song that talks about carelessness, the strength of youth heckled by the movements of society that seems to crash straight into the wall.” Gronemberger adds “It seemed appropriate to me to release it now in this particular context, which in na certain way, reminds us that it is time to spread out on better bases.”

Coincidentally, the track is the first single off an EP, which is slated for release late this year.

 

 

 

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Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: LEVITATION Sessions: Mint Field Performs “Contingencia” at Centro Cultural Otomí

Initially founded in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, by founding members Estrella del Sol Sanchez and Amor Amezcua, the Mexican shoegazer outfit  Mint Field exploded into the international shoegaze and psych rock scenes with their debut EP Primeras Salidas.

The Mexican shoegazers supported Primeras Salidas with stops at Coachella and SXSW and others across the North American festival circuit, as well as venues across their native Mexico and the states. Building upon a rapidly growing international profile, their full-length debut, 2018’s Pasar De Las Luces found the then-duo imbuing material drawing from dream pop, krautrock, stoner rock and shoegaze with sorrow and nostalgia.

The two year period after Pasar de Las Luces were extremely eventful: Mint Field toured extensively across North America, Mexico and the European Union, playing over 100 shows to support their debut. 2019 saw the release of the Mientras Esperas EP, which they supported with further touring across the States, Canada and Mexico — with two sold-out shows in Mexico City .

During that period, the band relocated to Mexico City. And upon relocating to the Mexican capital, the band went through a massive lineup change: Amor Amezcua left the band. But the band then expanded into a trio with the addition of Sebastian Neyra and Ulrika Spacek’s Callum Brown. They then signed to  Los Angeles-based post punk label Felte Records, who released their last full-length effort, 2020’s Syd Kemp-produced Sentimiento Mundial.

Recorded at  London-based Wilton Way Studio, the band’s third album saw the band’s sound shifting towards decidedly minimal, rhythmically focused approach. “Contingencia,” the album’s second single features a a propulsive and relentless motorik groove, shimmering guitars and del Sol Sanchez’s ethereal cooing to create a trance-inducing song that gently rises upward with an achingly plaintive yearning.

The trio filmed a LEVITATION Sessions at Centro Cultural Otomí, a monumental cultural complex in Temoaya, Mexico. It’s a gorgeous and fitting location for their sprawling, cosmic take on shoegaze and dream pop. And it may arguably be the most beautiful setting for a LEVITATION Session to date.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: New York’s Sub Lights Share Breezy “Hell’s Kitchen SInk”

Stephen Duncan is a Dallas/Fort Worth-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and musician. The region informed much of his musical sensibilities at a very early age: Duncan was exposed to an eclectic mix of music genres and styles from rock and indie rock played on the radio, live music at underground music clubs, classical music lessons — and the country music that was always surrounding him. Stephen Duncan explains that although his work never sounds like it but the thing it’s finished, a number of his songs started out as country songs. “I like that it’s a kind of hidden undercurrent; maybe it helps give the songs a bit of soul, despite the electronic production,” Stephen Duncan says.

Meredith Duncan is a New Jersey-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and musician. Duncan grew up in a strict Roman Catholic home, where she was sheltered from the “evils” of pop culture and most of the things her peers were interested in. She was a trained as a classical pianist and has a deep knowledge of musical theory. When she was young, her older brother introduced to underground rock. alternative and indie rock, industrial music, New Wave and psychedelic music. “Anything sad, dark, depressing, or rebellious felt like home to me,” Meredith Duncan explains. “That had a big influence on my songwriting and musical style. Having lived in Texas, I’m sure some country rubbed off on me too.”

After meeting at a party, Meredith and Stephen started their first band The Chemistry Set. The band which included members of The Polyphonic Spree and Calhoun saw some commercial success when “Into the Light” was featured on One Tree Hill. They also made national tours with Yo La Tengo, The M’s and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Their latest project Sub Lights is a new start for Meredith and Stephen Duncan. The challenge of creating music as a duo inspired them to put together a small studio in their new home here in NYC. That effort went into overdrive during 2020’s COVID-19 lockdowns. In October 2020, the duo challenged themselves to write at least one song a week for a year. Last year, they released their Sub Lights debut, Medicine EP — and they played their first Sub Lights shows in Manhattan.

Their recently released sophomore EP Half-Life features songs from that writing experiment and will reportedly be the first of a three-part recording project from the 50+ songs they wrote during pandemic lockdowns. “The idea was to transform traditionally-written songs mostly played on piano or acoustic guitar into our indie electronic style,” Stephen Duncan explains. “Lyrically, we wanted to try to capture the kind of social melancholy coming out of the pandemic and the Trump years, but then express that in a hopeful way. Like, life is tough and can be really sad, but even then people are amazing and able to find joy by connecting with each other. We also wanted to take our music seriously without taking ourselves too seriously—it’s a fine line, but I admire artists who can pull that off. But also I’m a college history professor and fairly politically active, so there’s always an element of the big picture mixed in there too, grand themes of what it means to be human and all that.” 

“Music should be fun, it’s entertainment after all,” Sub Lights’ Stephen Duncan adds. “But it’s also art and part of the purpose of art is to allow listeners to explore different ways of being. That’s our goal: to offer the chance to explore a bit of social consciousness along with the fun.”

“I think some of our songs conceptually resemble protest music,” Meredith Duncan adds. “Common themes are anti-religion, anti-patriarchy, anti-unfettered capitalism, anti-fascism. Think for yourself, question things, wake up, and be kind.”

“’Half-Life’ has multiple meanings as it relates to the album,”Sub Lights’ Meredith Duncan says. “It is one of the key lines in ‘Strange New Breed,’ and it is a way to describe how if you only live in the past or for the future, you miss the present, so essentially it feels like you are only experiencing half of your life at any given moment… It’s also my word for what deep depression feels like. All these missed opportunities, just watching life go by from your bed.

Half-Life EP‘s latest single “Hell’s Kitchen Sink” is a crafted yet breezy bit of pop centered around fluttering synths, skittering beats, a motorik groove, boy-girl harmonies and the duo’s remarkable knack for catchy hooks. While the song sonically seems to draw from Phil Spector-era pop, Death Cab for Cutie and shoegaze, “Hell’s Kitchen Sink” is rooted in a much-needed message to the listener.

“Hell’s Kitchen Sink,” Meredith Duncan explains is about living in the moment and being fully present, which “is the only time we can experience the full interconnectedness of life, that we are all the same,” she says. “Like Meredith said, [‘Hell’s Kitchen Sink’] is about living in the present, about valuing the only life we’ve got–and the people we share it with–instead of dreaming about some imagined future afterlife,” Stephen Duncan continues. “That has serious social implications, that we have a responsibility to make the world as good as we can both for ourselves and for other people. But we also wanted to say that this includes having fun, enjoying yourself while you can. So the video was our DIY version of that, just us playing, and playing around, shooting it with the help of a couple of our creative friends and having a good time with it.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Soaring and Earnest Synth Pop of Norway’s Chain Wallet

With the release of their self-titled debut, the Bergen, Norway-based dream pop act Chain Wallet, featuring core members Stian Iversen, Christian Line and Frode Boris, quickly received attention both nationally elsewhere for material that was infectious yet hazy and melancholic synth-based pop. Written in and by inspired by the trio’s hometown, their full-length debut is centered around a narrative structure in which a deeply conflicted protagonist is followed throughout — while thematically, the album focused on unresolved ambition and the desperate attempt to let go of the past. 

The trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore album No Ritual which is slated for a February 15, 2019 release through Jansen Records found the members of the up-and-coming Norwegian dream pop act retreating to a small cabin on a remote beach in southwestern Norway. And while walking the beaches and hanging out among surfers, the members of the band were inspired by the surroundings — and interestingly enough, the album continues to follow the protagonist of their self-titled debut but thematically speaking, the album finds him in a state of spiritual limbo, desperately reaching out and trying to establish new symbolic meanings.  Interestingly, the album’s first single “Ride” is a gorgeous and cinematic bit of synth pop featuring an arrangement of shimmering synths, equally shimmering guitar lines, a motorik groove and a soaring hook that to my ears reminds me a little bit of John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” and contemporaries like Moaning and others; but with an earnest yet effortless slickness. As the members of the band explains in press notes, “Ride” was the first song they wrote for their sophomore album, and “thematically, the song evokes elements of ‘the drifter on a cook bike’ trope. It’s about riding away from something, not realizing that you can’t outride your own demons.” 
Directed by the members of the band, the recently released video finds the members of the band literally riding different modes of transportation but juxtaposed with shots in static environments. The video is decidedly DIY in nature, but as the members of the band explain, “To be honest, the idea for this video would be too complex to capture with the technology we had at hand (a VHS camera and iMovie),” the band continues. “We adjusted the artistic vision, and went for a literal interpretation of the title. This is why the video ended up being a neat collection of shots of the band riding different means of transportation, juxtaposed with shots in static environments.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: MF Doom and Czarface Release a Wildly Experimental Yet Accessible Single Paired with Cartoon Animated Visuals

Daniel Dumile is a British-born, Long Island, NY-based emcee and producer, who has  gone through a number of stage names and personas throughout his lengthy and wildly influential recording career, which began back in 1988 when as Zev Love X, he founded KMD with his younger brother DJ Subroc and Rodan, who was later replaced by Onyx the Birthstone Kid. A&R rep Dante Ross learned of KMD through the members of 3rd Bass and signed the group to Elektra Records. Now, if you were a child of the 80s and a voracious music listener as I was (and still am), you’d remember that KMD’s debut was with a guest spot on 3rd Bass’ “The Gas Face.” Their 1991 full-length Mr. Hood was a minor hit as a result of the success of “Peachfuzz” and “Who Me,” which received regular rotation on Yo! MTV Raps and BET’s Rap City. 

Slated for a 1993 release, KMD’s sophomore album Black Bastards was reportedly shelved because of its controversial cover art, which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or Sambo character being hanged from the gallows and because of its lyrical content and themes. Tragically, before the album was completed, Dumile’s brother DJ Subroc was struck and killed while attempting to cross the Nassau Expressway, and within that same week, KMD was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records. Reeling from grief and bitterness, Dumile became a recluse, retreating from music and performing between 1994 and 1997 before emerging as MF Doom, a masked character he created and patterned after the Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, as a way to seek revenge “against the industry that so badly deformed him,” he has famously claimed.

Around the same time, Black Bastards had become bootlegged, building a sense of intrigue and buzz around Dumile in underground hip hop circles. Since then, he has developed a reputation for an imitable flow, full of surrealistic abstractions, centered around comic book violence, an obsession with all things pop culture and wry observations, as well as a highly sought after collaborator and producer, who has worked with Madlib in Madvillain, Danger Mouse in Danger Doom, Ghostface Killah in Doomstarks, Jneiro Jarel in JJ Doom and Bishop Nehru in NehruvianDoom among others.

Speaking of collaborative  projects renowned underground hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck are the members of hip-hop supergroup Czarface, a character the trio created that’s also patterned after comic book villains that represented aspects of each individual members. Interestingly, the act can trace its origins to when the trio toured together, which lead to “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album, 1212, and a number of other singles. And since the group’s formation back in 2013, they’ve released three critically applauded albums — their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain and 2016’s A Fistful of Peril.

You’re probably thinking — well, that’s nice and all, but why are you getting into all of this? Simple: MF Doom and Czarface have teamed up on what I think may arguably be one of hip-hop’s most highly-desired collaborative effort Czarface Meets Metal Face. Now, as you may recall, I wrote about the album’s second single “Bomb Thrown,” a perfect example of what to expect from the album: the members of Czarface spitting much more straightforward and explosive gangster shit verses — and they alternate with of the genre’s most admired wordsmiths and technicians, as he fires off surrealistic abstractions and non-sequiturs, pop cultural references, insane punch lines and wildly complicated inner and outer rhyme schemes over a soulful production featuring a chopped up chorus, twinkling keys, looped Spaghetti Western-like guitars  and tweeter and woofer rocking boom bap beats. And what makes the collaboration work, is that it’s an effortless meeting of the minds, in which each one challenges and pushes the other in a track full of witty, pop culture references, ridiculous, cartoonish violence, insane word play and rhyme schemes with each artist throwing haymakers at their competition.  Unsurprisingly, Czarface Meets Metal Face’s latest single “Meddle with Metal” continues in a similar vein with the super team rhyming over a menacing production centered around a looped sample consisting of buzzing arena-like power chords and arpeggiated organ reminiscent of Jay Z sampling The Doors “Five to One” with thumping beats — but adding a weird sense of whimsy is ethereally twinkling synths in a track that manages to be completely out of left field in its mind-bending experimentalism with a radio friendly accessibility. 

Directed by James Reitano for TFU Studios and animated by Boris Zhitomirsky, Brett Johnson and Kyle Greener, the recently released visuals for “Meddle with Metal” continues with the cartoon and comic book obsessed vibe and tone of its predecessor as it has Czarface flying in to save his captured partner DOOM, and once united they battle some baddies near old ruins. As a child of the 80s, the video reminds me of countless afternoons and evenings watching GI Joe and The A-Team.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Club-Banging Sound and Trippy Visuals of Sydney’s The Goods

I’ve been in Washington D.C. for the past day and a half on a business trip related to my day job as an acquisitions editor at a SoHo, Manhattan-based publisher, and as a result I haven’t been able to post as frequently as I’d prefer; but at the same time I’ve been with two colleagues, who I met while in the Netherlands, who I’ve quickly become fond of and some extremely lovely folks in sales and marketing, some of who are based here in the States and a couple, who are based in the UK. But if you know me well enough, you know that I typically survive on 4-5 hours of sleep during the workweek and as it is I’m fitting in a post or two while my colleagues are asleep. So let’s get to the business at hand . . .

With the 2016 release of their self-titled double EP, the Sydney, Australia-based electro soul act The Goods, currently comprised of founding members, multi-instrumentalists and production duo Boris Bangaltar and Rosario D’Awesome, both of whom have toured and recorded with nationally known acts such as Touch Sensitive, Daniel Merriweather, Dereb The Ambassador and George Maple, and newest member Black Tree, who has a stint as a touring backing vocalist for Sydney-based soul singer/songwriter Ngaiire — and who started collaborating with the band on “Ninja Trolls,” the trio quickly developed a reputation for a sound that reportedly blurred the lines between disco, funk and classic house while nodding at Gorillaz and Outkast. And as a result, the then-duo received radio airplay across community radio and on Triple J. Adding to a growing profile, the act opened for Onra, Oddisee and Winston Surfsshirt.

“Make Your Move,” the first single from the newly constituted trio will further their growing reputation for a slickly produced track that sounds as though it nods to several disparate sources including DFA Records, classic house, 80s electro soul and contemporary electro soul acts inspired by the 80s, including Dam-Funk and others; in fact the track features Black Tree’s soulful and sultry vocals paired with a slick, thumping, club-banging production featuring arpeggio keys, wobbling synths, tons of cowbell, finger snap-led percussion, razor sharp yet infectious hooks and a feel, good, cosmic glow in what may arguably be one of the most dance floor friendly songs I’ve come across this year.

The recently released music video follows the trio as they wander around, and goof off around a rainy Sydney — but if you pay close attention, the trio slowly turn aspects of their world into bold, brilliant colors.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their critically acclaimed, tenth full-length album Pink a decade ago, Japanese metal trio Boris achieved international attention, outside the tight-kint underground metal community; in fact, the album landed on a number of Best of Lists from underground metal sites, mainstream rock magazines and Pitchfork‘s Best Albums of 2006 list. And adding to the growing attention they received that year, album title track “Farewell” was featured in Jim Jarmusch‘s cult classic film The Limits of Control. 

In order to commemorate the 10th anniversary of its initial release, the band comprised of Atsuo (drums, vocals), Wata (guitar, vocals) and Takeshi (bass, guitar and vocals) along with renowned indie label Sergeant House will be re-issue a deluxe edition of the album as a 3LP and 2CD box set everywhere except Japan on July 8, 2016, featuring several perviously unreleased tracks recorded during the 2004-2005 Pink sessions, three longer edits of truncated album tracks off the original CD release “Farewell,” “Pseudo-Bread,” and “My Machine,” and the original artwork from the Japanese version, created by the band members themselves. Additionally, the box set will include a collection of album tracks that the band re-mixed, re-mastered, re-edited or re-arranged over the course of the past year that the band has viewed as a special director’s cut of their beloved album — and in some way, it may be seen as capturing their original artistic intentions.

 

The deluxe edition’s latest single “SOFUN” finds the band pairing blistering, guitar pyrotechnics, thundering and propulsive drumming reminiscent of metal and grunge but with an ironic, punk rock sneer and howled vocals — and sonically, the song sounds as though it draws equal influence from Motorhead, early Metallica, Bad Religion, and My Vitriol while being mosh pit worthy.

The members of Boris will be embarking on a lengthy North American tour in which they will perform Pink in its entirety. Joining them for all but two Canadian dates will be new labelmates Earth and it’ll include a New York area date at Warsaw. Check out tour dates below.

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BORIS / EARTH / SHITSTORM TOUR 2016:
07/22 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
07/23 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
07/25 Dallas, TX @ Trees
07/26 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
07/28 Ybor City, FL @ The Orpheum
07/29 Orlando, FL @ The Social
07/30 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
07/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
08/01 Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records
08/03 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
08/04 Washington, DC @ 930 Club
08/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
08/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
08/07 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
08/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
08/10 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. (no Earth)
08/11 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace (no Earth)
08/12 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
08/13 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
08/14 Chicago, IL @ Metro
08/16 Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
08/17 Minneapolis, MN @ Fineline Music Cafe
08/18 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
08/19 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
08/20 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
08/22 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
08/23 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
08/25 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
08/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
08/27 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel – Psycho Las Vegas (Boris only)
Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Bittersweet and Contemplative Sounds of Norwegian, Synth Pop Trio Chain Wallet

Comprised of Stian Iversen, Christian Line and Frode Boris, the Bergen, Norway-based electro pop trio Chain Wallet specialize in a shimmering, reverb-heavy and deeply 80s inspired synth pop tinged with bittersweet nostalgia, and the trio’s full-length, self-titled effort, which was released by renowned Oslo, Norway-based label Jansen Platerproduksjon thematically explores themes of betrayal, idleness and crushed dreams against the backdrop of an existential breakdown. And while loosely portraying different aspects of the quarter-life crisis, the album reportedly manages to capture the almost universal feeling of creeping unease and uncertainty of our time, as you’ll hear on the hauntingly moody and shimmering single “Faded Fight.”

The recently released video for the song captures a group of 20 somethings goofing off in bars an house parties with a youthful, exuberant urgency — but underneath that exuberance are a bunch of awkward, uncertain and dysfunctional adults, who have to recognize that no one ever really has it together; that people generally pretend to have their shit together until life inevitably breaks their hearts.