Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 1995, Stockholm-based duo Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — initially began as a recording project, before expanding into a full-fledged touring band.

Throughout their nearly three decade history, the Swedish pop outfit has a long-held reputation for being sonically restless and notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. Their full-length debut, 1995’s Nouvelle saw the duo tackling Bossa nova. 1998’s The Friend I Once Had saw the duo exploring electronic pop and electronic dance music. The Swedish outfit’s next three albums — 2001’s self-titled, 2002’s Spring Came, Rain Fell and 2003’s Strangely Beautiful — saw the duo dabbling with old-school-inspired soul.

2017-2018 may have arguably been one of the more prolific and busiest periods of Angergård’s lengthy career: With his solo recording project The Legends, he released Nightshift. Djustin, the Labrador Records founder and label boss’ collaboration with Rose Suau released their full-length debut, Voyagers. He closed that period out with Club 8’s 10th album, 2018’s Golden Island, which featured “The Hospital,” one of the most industrial/goth-leaning tracks the pair have ever released.

Over the past year, the Swedish duo have released a batch of singles, including their latest, the recently released “Sucker.” Anchored around incredibly catchy hooks, shimmering, reverb-soaked guitars and a relentless motorik groove serving as a lush bed for Komstedt’s ethereal croon, “Sucker” sees the Stockholm-based outfit dabbling in dance floor friendly, hook-driven 80s New Wave nostalgia.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: AC Grüns Shares Woozy and Hypnotic “Cosmic WiFi (Radio Free Babble On Mix)”

AC Grüns is a Pacific Northwest-based electronic music artist and producer, who has quickly established a unique sound that’s simultaneously ethereal and immersive and sees him blending house, techno and downtempo paired with crisp beats and deep bass.

His latest single, the sparse and minimalist “Cosmic WiFi (Radio Free Babble On Mix)” is a woozy and hypnotic track anchored around looping and arpeggiated bursts of analog synths and twinkling keys paired with skittering beats. Sonically seeming to channel The Chemical Brothers‘ “Star Guitar” and Kraftwerk, is a mind-bending yet accessible bit of playful experimentation with a cosmic sheen.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Permanent Moves Teams Up with Jessie Shelton on Gorgeous “Don’t Forget Us”

Formed back in 2016, Brooklyn-based indie electro folk/rock outfit Permanent Moves features two highly acclaimed artists:

Julia Sirna-Frest: Fest is a Brooklyn-based musician, performer and director, who has a number of credits to her name, including [Porto] (WP Theater, The Bushwick Starr); Lunch Bunch (PlayCo, Clubbed Thumb); Seder (Hartford Stage); A Tunnel Year (The Chocolate Factory); The Offending Gesture (Mac Wellman); Comfort Dogs: Live from the Pink House (JACK). She’s a founding member of the Obie Award-winning Half Straddle Company, which has produced a handful of plays including Ghost Rings (TBA/PICA); Ancient Lives (The Kitchen); Seagull (Thinking of you) (The New Ohio, International Tour); In the Pony Palace/Football (The Bushwick Starr, International Tour); Nurses in New England (The Ohio); The Knockout Blow (The Ontological).

Frest is also a founding member and co-frontperson of Doll Parts, Brooklyn’s premiere Dolly Parton cover band and a founding member, songwriter and frontperson of Permanent Moves.

Shane Chapman: Chapman is a Brooklyn-based composer and musician. As a computer, he has written scores for film, theater and podcasts, Silent Forests, Emily Black is a Total Gift (Daaimah Mubashir, Fisher Center), Comfort Dogs (William Burke, JACK) and Cleopatra Boy (A Host of People, National Tours).

As a musician, he has performed and recorded with The Peter Ulrich Collaboration and is the music director of Doll Parts. Chapman is a member of the local rock band Anacortes, with whom he has released two albums. And he’s a co-founder and songwriter with Permanent Moves.

Frest and Chapman’s work together in Permanent Moves has seen them create a unique blend of eclectic arrangements and soaring harmonies inspired by the likes of Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens and Elbow that has seen them perform in a variety of configurations — from a 15 member band down to a duo. Lyrically, their material is often based on found texts.

The pair’s full-length debut, Don’t Forget Us: A Chekhovian Song Cycle was released last week, draws from the work of famed Russian playwright Anton Chekhov features guest spots from Hadestown‘s and 36 Question‘s Jessie Shelton, Karl Blau, Starr Busby and a list of others.

“For the past 7 years we have been working on and performing these songs in a myriad of ways from a 16 person band at Ars Nova to a duo set in a living room in Vancouver, Canada. We have both been drawn to Chekhov’s work because it speaks to the questions we often sit around talking about,” Frest and Chapman explain. “What are the lives not lived? How does one survive the monotony of everyday life? Failure, living up to one’s potential, longing for a bigger life. You know, the hits of the human condition.

“This album feels very ripe for this moment because the past few years has led many people to reassess their lives, to question whether they’ve made the right choices,” the Brooklyn based duo continue. “For us in the performing arts, the entire industry was yanked away and it feels like a chance to ponder our existence, a very Chekhovian thing to do. His work reminds us that life is lived in the in-between moments. Huge things happen in a Chekhov play, people die, love is lost, a gun might go off but the focus is watching the characters muck through it as we all must do. We’re hoping to give people a good soundtrack for their personal mucking. We can all be uplifted by a good horn section, right? As Charles McNulty put it so elegantly: ‘Chekhov’s art doesn’t seek to correct but merely to point out that as we’re dreaming of better days our real lives are quietly unfolding.'”

Don’t Forget Us: A Chekhovian Song Cycle‘s latest single, album title track “Don’t Forget Us” is a gorgeous and anthemic ballad featuring Jessie Shelton’s powerhouse delivery full of longing and ache, and anchored around a lush, folk-meets-country/country-meets-folk arrangement. The duo explain that the song is “emblematic of both the mood and lyrical themes of the album. The song is for anyone who’s ever feared that someday would arrive too soon only to find that you are the same person you’ve always been.”

Shot at Mark Fox‘s studio, the accompanying video features the duo and Shelton performing the song in the artist’s paint and picture-strewn studio.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ WYO Shares Swaggering and Slinky “Rectified”

Los Angeles-based outfit WYO has quickly established a cinematic sound inspired and informed by the breathtaking beauty of frontman Andy Sorge’s home state of Wyoming and guitarist’s Scott McKay Gibson’s favorite refuge. According to the band, “within the melodies and lyrics are reminders of the beauty and magic all around us, and nature’s unwavering ability to bring us back to ourselves.”

Thematically, the Los Angeles-based outfit’s work takes an honest look at love and loss, and the soul-searching and clarity that frequently emerges in the spaces between.

The band has received praise from the likes of Music Connection, Performer Magazine, Buzzbands.la, Ear to the Ground, Huffington Post, Earmilk, Pop Dust and a host of others. Building upon a growing profile, the band has made the rounds of the festival circuit playing sets at SXSW, Eat See Hear Festival, Kaaboo Festival, and have played School Night LA and Jam in the Van.

WYO’s latest single “Rectified” is a swaggering hook-driven tune anchored around a slinky, R&B-inspired arrangement featuring reverb-soaked boom bap-like drumming, a strutting bass line, bursts of twinkling keys and atmospheric electronics that’s roomy enough for a jazz-meets-house music piano solo and a buzzing post punk-like guitar solo. The song’s genre and style-defying arrangement serves as a lush and satiny bed for Sorge’s plaintive delivery.

“‘Rectified’ is a bold anthem of resolve that embraces the only solution when things aren’t going right — to course correct and rectify,” the band explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Taxidermy Shares Unsettling and Uneasy “Rot”

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-hard and emo.

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.

“Rot,” the first single from Taxidermy’s forthcoming EP is a slow-burning bit of noisy post-punk that evokes the narrator’s sanity fraying at its edges as its built around an arrangement of intricate layers of dissonant guitars, swirling feedback paired with 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.

Directed by Lasse Vivid, the accompanying video for “Rot” is split between shots of the gorgeous Danish countryside, surreal imagery including some gorgeous bound books and footage of a man who seems to be slowing losing his sanity. Much like the song, it’s eerie and unsettling.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Atlanta’s Burger Daddy Shares Vibey and Brooding “basketball”

Burger Daddy is the recording project of a mysterious and emerging Atlanta-based musician, who says that he “loves to write from the heart.” Instead of going for a particular sound, the Atlanta-based artist just sees whatever comes out whenever he sits down to write.

His debut single “basketball” is a brooding bit of post punk-inspired pop anchored around glistening synths, skittering and off-kilter percussion serving as an uneasy yet lush bed for the Atlanta-based artist’s expressive and yearning delivery. While sonically channeling the likes of Billy Idol and Daughn Gibson, “basketball” reveals a songwriter, who can craft a vibey and sultry song with some remarkably catchy hooks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Denmark’s Animaux Animé Shares Club and Arena Friendly “The Master”

With the release of a handful of singles and 2019’s self-titled debut EP, which have received praise from Bands of Tomorrow, Passive/Aggressive, HQ Music and airplay from Danish national radio station P6 Beat, emerging Danish outfit Animaux Animé have quickly established a sound that sees them mesh elements of synth pop, industrial rock and theatrical performance art into a sound and aesthetic that’s distinctly unique.

The band has played across the Danish festival circuit, including playing sets at SPOT Festival and BlueBridge Festival. And building upon a growing profile nationally, the band is gearing up to release their full-length debut, Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I).

Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I)‘s latest single “The Master” is a mesh of industrial rock and synth pop anchored around tweeter and roofer rattling industrial thump, bursts of twinkling synths, angular and reverb-soaked guitars serving as a brooding bed for a big baritone vocal expressing yearning and longing. While sonically channeling Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and others, “The Master” is a club friendly, arena rock banger that reveals a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy hooks with slick production.

The accompanying video is a creepily surreal romp through madness, obsession and implied torture that wouldn’t be out of place in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe films.

The band is currently working on the follow-up to their full-length debut, Sensational Creation — Act II and are collaborating with Kolding Egnsteater on a play that’s slated to run next year.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chicago’s Clubdrugs Share a Dance Floor Anthem for the Heartbroken

Chicago-based, self-described goth pop duo Clubdrugs have developed a reputation both locally and regionally for a genre-defying sound and for captivating live performances. The duo’s latest single, the recently released “Waiting” is a sleek and slickly produced, hook-driven and club friendly bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and a sinuous and propulsive bass line that serve as a lush bed for Maria’s yearning vocal to ethereally float over. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for the lovelorn and heartbroken to dance while crying their hearts out on the dance floor.

While being a dance floor anthem, the song as the duo explain is a love song — but at its core, a sad one. “‘Waiting’ tells the story of that excruciating, kick in the chest love can be sometimes be — where the heartbreak takes over all of your senses, all your thoughts, every moment of the day.” Clubdrugs’ Maria adds “You lay in bed at night, begging for sleep to come, but the pain and regret just reverberates inside your head — pleading desperately for relief.”

The accompanying self-directed video for “Waiting” encapsulates the set up of a live Clubdrugs set — the duo performing in front of fuzzy yet slickly edited stock footage from old movies, advertisements, art and of the band themselves.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 66th Birthday, Will Sergeant!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Echo & The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant’s 66th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Herbie Hancock!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Herbie Hancock’s 84th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Tokyosongbird Shares Broodingly Cinematic “On Falling”

Back in the day, Tokoyosongbird creative mastermind Justin Lewis was signed to the Beastie Boys‘ label Grand Royal Records, released records globally and toured the global festival circuit with his nine member backing orchestra. Grand Royal Records eventually closed up shop, and Lewis withdrew into the studio.

Last year, Lewis had an epiphanous realization that he was neurodiverse. “It was kinda crazy as I’d been searching for years and just never finishing anything – I thought it was my artistic temperament – and then you learn there’s this thing that means your brain works differently – well shiiit,” Lewis says.

“As I got my head around this I wrote this song ‘Let Your Songbird Sing’ (the project’s next single) that was about being completely yourself, and like nothing I’ve ever written before, and a new project was born,” Lewis continues. “I needed a producer to give the sound a scale and an edge, and to properly kick my butt if I became in danger of shelving another album I almost made. Dave Sanderson was the perfect fit.

“I put my first single ‘After the Storm’ out last year on the spur of the moment, it was finished, I got a bit giddy and in about three hours I’d made a video and launched it. I remember getting several messages going ‘What are you doing? This wasn’t the plan — haha, it felt great though! – Tokyosongbird was born and a decade of paralysis at an end”.

Lewis’ latest Tokyosongbird single “On Falling” is a breathtakingly gorgeous yet eerie and brooding bit of Portishead and Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp-like trip hop that seamlessly blends acoustic and electronic sounds: Lewis’ achingly plaintive falsetto ethereally floats over an uneasy seeming arrangement of twinkling, arpeggiated keys, supple bass lines and atmospheric synths.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Boston’s Arrows of Athena Share Anthemic “Reckless Heart”

Boston-based indie duo Arrows of Athena — Jac-Lyn Gibbons (vocals) and Scott Lerner (guitar, bass, synths and drum programming) — can trace their origins back to their childhood: They started the project, when the pair of friends decided to make music after being apart for 15 years.

Gibbons and Lerner’s rekindled chemistry was instant, and the first batch of songs the pair recorded just after the pandemic would eventually shape their full-length debut, The Ghost Archives, which is slated for an April 26, 2024 release through Belhaven Records.

The Ghost Archives‘ first single “Reckless Heart” is a remarkably radio and arena rock friendly anthem built around classic grunge song structures — quieter verse, loud hook, loud chorus, quieter verse, repeat — that quickly establishes the Boston outfit’s sound, a slick and sleek synthesis of Sisters of Mercy-like post-punk, 80s arena metal and synth pop serving as a lush and dynamic bed for Gibson’s effortlessly soulful, self-assured delivery.