Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tidal Wave is an emerging Toronto-based indie rock/art rock septet. Citing a diverse array of influences including M83, Depeche Mode and Arcade Fire, the emerging Canadian outfit released their self-titled debut EP last year.

After the release of their debut EP, the members of Tidal Wave wanted to create a bold song with lots of layers to open their show up and create more intensity. The band wound up with their first single of the year, the anthemic Silversun Pickups-like “This Cost of Life.” Centered around an alternating quiet verses, explosively loud chorus song structure, featuring thunderous drumming, soaring strings, big power chords and plaintive vocals, “This Cost of Life” captures the swooning melancholy and regret that happens as the result of a painful breakup. But it isn’t hopeless or despairing.

The song seems to suggest that although the end of a relationship can be devastating, heartbreaking and life altering, it’s part of the cost of living. You may be heartbroken but that relationship gave you something wonderful — a better understanding of yourself and what you want and need, the highs of love and connection and so on. Also while you think you may be the only one suffering; you’re not. Everyone has been there before. It sucks but it isn’t the end of the world either.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Circle Jerks Re-Issue Legendary “Wild in the Streets” to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of its Original Release

Wild in the Streets, the sophomore album by groundbreaking Southern California punk outfit Circle Jerks — currently vocalist Keith Morris, guitarist Greg Hetson (Bad Religion, Redd Kross), bassist Zander Schloss (The Weirdos, Joe Strummer) and drummer Joey Castillo (The Bronx, QOTSA, Danzig, BL’AST!, Wasted Youth) — was originally released 40 years ago this year. And to celebrate the occasion, Wild in the Streets will receive a re-mastered, augmented LP re-issue on February 18, 2022 by Trust Records.

Succeeding Trust’s 2020 re-issue of Circle Jerks’ 1980 full-length debut Group Sex, the 40th Anniversary re-issue of Wild in the Streets will feature re-mastered audio by Pete Lyman and rare April 1982 live performances of material off the band’s first two albums, recorded at San Francisco‘s Elite Club. The package will also include a 20-page, full-color, 12-by-12 inch booklet specifically created for the re-issue that will feature historic photographers, club flyers and an 8,200-word essay by Los Angeles-based journalist Chris Morris, including new interviews with founding members Keith Morris, Greg Heston and Lucky Lehrer.

The re-issue of Wild in the Streets coincides with the kickoff of the band’s 40th Anniversary Tour in February. The tour will feature support from Negative Approach, Adolescents and 7Seconds, who will be reuniting for the first time in over five years. The tour begins on February 18, 2022 and includes an April 14, 2022 stop at Irving Plaza. You can check out the rest of the tour dates below.

The band and Trust Records offered fans a preview of the remastered album with album title track “Wild in the Streets,” a mosh pit friendly ripper delivered with a raw, frenzied urgency. The single is accompanied by a new video directed by photographer and skateboarder Atiba Jefferson that’s split between live footage shot from a Circle Jerks show back in 1982 and home video camera footage of skaters Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Christian Hosoi, Eric Koston, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Steve Olson, Victoria Ruesga, Sal Barbier, Rowan Zorilla, Sean Malto, Anaiah Lei, Lizzie Armanto, Dashawn Jordan, Max Perlich and others.

“I grew up on ‘Wild In The Streets’, so to be asked to direct this video was a huge honor,” Jefferson explains. “I wanted to capture and preserve 40 years of history but also celebrate 40 years of punk rock and skateboarding history.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brooklyn-based psych pop/dance pop act and JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine — Noah Prebish, Sabine Holler, Brother Michael Rudinski, and Peter Spears — can trace its origins back to when its founding duo of Noah Prebish and Peter Spears met while attending college. Bonding over mutual influences and common artistic aims, Psymon Spine’s founding duo toured the European Union with Prebish’s previous electronic project Karate. While in Paris, Spears and Prebish wrote their first song together. By the time, they arrived in London, they were offered a record deal. 

When Prebish and Spears returned to the States, the pair recruited Micheal “Brother Micheal” Rudinski and their Karate bandmates Devon Kilbern, Nathaniel Coffey to join their new project. And with that lineup, they fleshed out out their demos, which wold eventually comprise their full-length debut, 2017’s You Are Coming to My Birthday. The band went out to support the effort with immersive art and dance parties like their Secret Friend party series across Brooklyn and through relentless touring. 

Prebish was also splitting his time with rising Brooklyn-based dream pop act Barrie and around the same time, Barrie began to receive attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere as a result of a handful of buzz-worthy singles, and 2019’s full-length debut, Happy to Be Here. Interestingly, during his time with Barrie, Prebish met his future Psymon Spine bandmate, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sabine Holler. 

Last year, the rising Brooklyn-based psych pop/dance pop outfit released their sophomore album Charismatic Megafauna. Thematically, the album explored the complicated feelings and catharsis involved in the dissolution of human relationships — through hook-driven, left-of-center electronic dance music meets psych pop. The album received critical praise from  the likes of Paste Magazine, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar and NME. The album and its material was added to number of playlists including NPR Music, Spotify‘s New Music Friday, All New Indie, Undercurrents and Fresh Finds, Apple Music‘s Midnight City and Today’s Indie Rock and TIDAL‘s Rising. And the album received airplay internationally from BBC, KEXP and KCRW among others.

In the lead up to Charismatic Megafauna‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s released singles:

  • “Milk,” a coquettish, club friendly banger with Barrie that brings to mind In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy and Soft Metals‘ Lenses. The single received attention internationally — with the single receiving praise from   Vanyaland, High Clouds, Echowave Magazine, The Revue, Hype Machine and a list of others.The track also landed on  Spotify playlists like Undercurrents, All New Indie and Fresh Finds, as well as the YouTube channels of  David Dean Burkhart, Nice Guys‘ and Birp.fm. And lastly, the track received airplay on BBC Radio 6. 
  • “Modmed,” an  Andrew VanWyngarden-produced and cowritten, strutting disco-tinged track that’s captures the ambivalent and confusing mixture of frustration, doubt and relief of a relationship that had long petered out and finally wound down to its inevitable conclusion. Interestingly, the song is inspired and informed by personal experience: Prebish and Holler’s difficult decision to leave Barrie to focus on Pysmon Spine full-time. 
  • “Confusion,” a hazy and lysergic banger centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, a wobbling bass line and looping guitar solo paired with Prebish’s plaintive vocals and a trippy, spoken word-delivered break that sonically reminded me of Tame Impala‘s Currents.

The Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays capped off a big 2021 with the the digital 7 inch release “Mr. Metronome”/”Drums Valentino.”

  • “Mr. Metronome” may arguably be the most straightforward, club friendly track of the band’s growing catalog. Featuring a German vocal hook sung by Sabine Holler, which translates to “I saw your message, I have to go work,” followed by a repeated refrain of “my schedule, my schedule,” “Mr. Metronome” is centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats, glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless, motorik groove. Inspired by Kraftwerk, Soulwax and others, the song’s lyrics features musings on dating and social dynamics while reflecting the band’s restlessness and desire to quit all unfulfilling obligations to focus on what really matters to them — music. 
  • “Drums Valentino” is a New Wave-like single featuring industrial clang and clatter, shimmering guitars, glistening synths and an off-kilter yet dance floor-friendly groove. Sonically, the song helps to emphasize the song’s lyrics, which talk about feeling uneasy and uncertain with a psychological precision.

The members of Psymon Spine grew up in the ’00s and ’10s with a deep appreciation and love for the art of the remix. And after the release of their sophomore album, the band found themselves craving longer, even more dance-floor friendly versions of the album’s material. The band recruited a handful of producers and electronic music acts including Love Injection, Dar Disku, Each Other, Safer, Bucky Boudreau and Psymon Spine’s Brother Michael to remix material from the album.

Charismatic Mutations, the remix album of last year’s Charismatic Megafauna, is slated for an April 1, 2022 release through the band’s label home Northern Spy Records.

The album’s first single is Hot Chip‘s Joe Goddard tackling “Milk” feat. Barrie. Goddard’s remix retains Barrie’s coquettish and ethereally cooed vocals but places them within a euphoric Balearic house-like production centered around skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios and cosmic space effects. And while still being a dance-floor bop, Goddard’s remix adds a trippy, cosmic air to the proceedings.

“This remix was very natural and very joyful for me,” Goddard explains. ”  I did it in lockdown so I felt a sense of freedom and playfulness that was really nice and actually, in retrospect, very unique.  I love the vocals on this song, so I placed them at the forefront, and I tried to sonically make the mix one that was balearic and satisfying.  Macrodosing.”



l. 

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Al Green

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Al Green.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Chaka Khan

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Chaka Khan.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Collapsing Scenery Shares Woozy and Uneasy “You Already Know”

Collapsing Scenery — long-time friends, New York-based artist and musician Don De Vore (Ink & Dagger, Sick Feeling, Lilys, The Icarus Line and Amazing Baby) and Los Angeles-based artist and musician Reggie Debris — can trace their origins back several years back: De Vore and Debris initially began collaborating in programming events with the Lower East Side-base D’agostino and Fiore Gallery.

Their first collaboration was a video installation, which led to a month of music and visual programming called “Rebuild Babylon.” That turned into a traveling residency series, which led to the duo’s musical project Collapsing Scenery.

Through their multimedia-based work, De Vore and Debris have been passionate about challenging and subverting perceptions in both the worlds of outsider art and political protest — and embracing the joyous, carnivalesque aspects of both. A 2016 artistic residency in New York saw Collapsing Scenery create a psychedelic immersive art installation that incorporated projections, layers of colorful plexi-glass, a reading from Genesis P-Orridge and performances from De Vore and Debris. Meanwhile in a clash of the old and the new, the gallery upstairs hosted a Picasso exhibition.

As a musical outfit, the duo started back in 2013 “in a pall of paranoia and disgust.” De Vore and Debris put their guitars away and began acquiring and assembling as much analog electronic equipment as possible, including samplers, step sequencers, synths and drums machines, and plugged them into a variety of effects pedals.

Their initial writing and recording sessions were largely improvised and were accompanied by Ryan Raspys (drums). The material they wrote managed to express their rage and frustration at the stage of the world, while drawing from punk rock, industrial electronica and techno, hip-hop, free jazz, disco, folk and more. Since they started the music project, De Vore and Debris have been restlessly prolific while also collaborating with Ninjaman, Money Mark, and James Chance among others.

The duo’s recently released Acid Casual EP is the first batch of material released from many hours of recordings they made during the pandemic. And with Acid Casual, the members of Collapsing Scenery sees the pair pushing deeper into sonic and genre experiments while finding beauty — and even joy — hiding within the cracks of the existential dread we’ve all felt in the past couple of years.

“You Already Know,” Acid Casual‘s latest single is a woozy and uneasy song centered around glistening and blown out electronic percussion, a mournful horn sample, live drumming wobbling synth arpeggios, Debris’ dreamily plaintive vocals, a chanted hook and bursts of scorching guitar before gently fading out. Sonically, “You Already Know” seems to nod at Tour de France era Kraftwerk, psych pop, trip hop and psych rock in a seamless and mind-bending fashion.

Directed, shot and edited by Kansas Bowling, the video stars Floyd Cashio, Park Love Bowling, Lo Espinosa and Kathy Corpus in a surreal fever dream fueled by obsession, slow-burning dread, violence. The video features a cameo from the members of Collapsing Scenery as inept and goofy hotel bellboys.

Best Of by William Ruben Helms

Best of 2021

The first month of 2022 is just about over, and I realized that I needed to do something that I haven’t done in a while, a Best of List for the preceding year. I would have done it earlier, but I fell into a deep funk right before we rang in the New Year. And then I had a major computer fail – the screen on my four-year-old MacBook Pro died. (It was probably the stupidest thing that ever happened, too. So, better late than never, right? 

  1. Absolutely Free – Aftertouch
  2. The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
  3. Low – HEY WHAT
  4. Altin Gün – Yol
  5. Genesis Owusu –Smiling With No Teeth/Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth
  6. MUNYA – Voyage to Mars
  7. L’Imperatice – Tako Tsubo
  8. L’éclair – Confusions
  9. Yola – Stand For Myself
  10. Lucid Express – S/T 
  11. Lost Horizons – In Quiet Moments
  12. Rowjay –Carnaval de Finesse 2: Les Chronicles d’un Jeune Entrepreneur
  13. The Murlocs – Bittersweet Demons
  14. Orions Belte – Villa Amorini
  15. Balthazar — Sand
  16. Aurus — Chimera
  17. La Femme – Paradigmes
  18. Teke: Teke – Shirushi 
  19. People Museum – I Can Only See The Night 
  20. Spelljammer – Abyssal Trips
  21. Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort to Me
  22. METZ – Live at the Opera House
  23. Laure Briard – En Voo
  24. New Bleach – Impressions EP
  25. Whispering Sons – Several Others
  26. Sungaze – This Dream
  27. Inov Gnawa — Lila
  28. Psymon Spine – Charismatic Megafauna
  29. Lore City – Participation Mystique
  30. Piroshka – Love Drips & Gathers
  31. Suntiger – Beyond the Frame
  32. Pond — 9

Honorable Mentions

  1. New Candys – Vyvyd
  2. Robert Finley – Sharecropper’s Son
  3. Boogarins – Manchacha Vol. 2 (A Compilation of Boogarins Memories, Dreams, Demos and Outtakes)
  4. Ganser – Just Look At That Sky Remixes
  5. Blessed – iii (Remixes)
News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

With the Omicron COVID-19 variant hitting the States and spreading wildly among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated during the end of last year, things took a very stark and depressingly uncertain air. And as a result much of my live concert footage has been on hiatus for a little bit. But hopefully, I can hop back in within the next few weeks: the fact that the infection numbers have dropped off significantly — and that there’s a retroviral drug for COVID makes the possibility of having some sort of normalcy seem real. Besides, I miss shows. And I hate the fact that the things I love are such a risk to my dearest loved ones.

But in the meantime, I’m still writing about new releases from all over the world, because I firmly believe that there’s a much-needed place for it. Of course, I’ve always been aware of the fact that there are innumerable options competing for your time, money and love. There are only 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week and 720 hours in a 30 day month after all.

Because this site has long been a DIY labor of love, I’ve often felt that I’ve had an intimate and personal understanding of the emotional and financial plight of many of the artists I’ve covered throughout this site’s almost 12 year history. 12 years at anything is a long fucking time — especially in the blogosphere.

With such highly unusual circumstances, countless people — artists included — have been forced into deep reflection. In my line of work, I’ve had countless on-the-record and off-the-record conversations about being an artist and trying to make a living off your art. All of those conversations constantly remind of some very necessary facts:

  • Art costs money to produce — and without money, it can’t exist because it can’t be produced. 
  • Artists are small businesses. So supporting an artist is supporting a small business. 
  • A small bit of support can go a long way. A $20, $30, $40, $50 or $60 purchase of someone’s work can often mean the purchase of groceries, paying their bills or even the confidence that they can continue with their art.
  • Your individual $20, $50 or $60 purchase doesn’t really mean shit to Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Walmart or any of the other major conglomerates.
  • Supporting a local artist/small business can keep money within your community. Caring about your community and ensuring that your hardworking neighbors can make and spend money within your neighborhood makes your neighborhood vital. 
  • Amazon and the other mega-conglomerates don’t give a fuck about your community or your neighbors. 
  • Lastly, you won’t be giving your money to companies that actively fuck over their neighbors, the environment or their employees. And that alone should make you feel better about the decision. 

Of course, I hope that JOVM — and my work with JOVM — has led you to artists and bands whose work as become a part of your lives, as they have become a part of mine. And i also hope that my photography has managed to add some beauty to your day; inspired you to see the world in a new light; or make you go out to see some of these artists live. 

In these difficult times, I’m asking you, dear readers and friends for your support. And there’s a number of ways that you can support JOVM:  

  • You can buy prints — from my live concert photography to street photography and even some outdoor/nature photos. I also still have a shit ton of JOVM bumper stickers. All of this stuff is beautiful and could use a loving forever home. You can check out the store here: https://thejoyofviolentmovement.wpcomstaging.com/shop/
  • You can support by becoming one of my Patreon patrons. Every dollar means something. Seriously, it does. There are different patronage levels and different rewards for your support. For more information, you can check out the Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement

Of course, while I’m on the subject: I want to send shout outs to those folks, who have supported me and my work throughout the past year with their patronage on Patreon.

Sash

Alice Northover

Bella Fox

Jenny MacRostie

Janene Otten 

Thank you, y’all. Your support means so very much. 

If you’re in the NYC area, you can hire me for photography work. Seriously. I do headshots, portraits and event photography. You can hire me through Photobooker. My listing is here: https://www.photobooker.com/photographer/8582abd8-f01e-43eb-b2be-0ed57157687e?duration=1?duration=1 (If you’re outside the NYC area and you’d still want to hire me, we can talk.) 

If you’re not already a fan of this site on Facebook, please feel free to become a fan here: https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement

Right now, ,any people out there are struggling to survive. Believe me, I get it and I’m empathetic to that. The past 18 months have been the most difficult and desperate for a lot of us. To that end, here are some other ways you can support JOVM:

  • If you dig what I do: Keep reading! Please, keep reading!
  • Pass the word on to friends, family members, associates and anyone else, who will support independent journalism, music and criticism. 
  • Retweets, Facebook shares and reblog things you might dig. Sites need active eyeballs and clicks to survive. Every pair of eyeballs reading and clicking on JOVM means some ad revenue in the coffers. And those hardworking artists I cover will also be grateful for your love and support, too. 
  • Towards the bottom third of every post, there’s a related post section. If you dug the post you’re looking at it, feel free to check out the related posts. You might find something else you could love. 

I’m hoping that 2022 will be an even better year for all of us — and that y’all will continue to stick with JOVM and me in the 12th year and beyond.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hannah Stone Shares Dreamy “It’s Raining”

Hannah Stone is a Cape May, NJ-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, who has written and recorded under a number of pseudonyms and with a number of different projects, included Painted Pale. Stone’s voice has appeared in countless TV and Netflix series that you love — or are currently watching, like Search Party, Never Have I Ever, Vanderpump Rules and Emily in Paris among a lengthy list of shows.

In May 2020, Stone stepped out from the pseudonyms and various projects and released material under her own name — her first two singles, “It’s Raining” and “Sleep Through The Summer.” The Cape May-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter then followed up with her debut EP God’s Against This.

Thematically, the material on God’s Against This touches upon love, loss and the thrill of being alive and living in the present. The EP was recently re-released and will serve as Stone’s re-introduction as a solo artist, ahead of the forthcoming EP, which is currently in the works. In the meantime, God’s Against This single “It’s Raining” is a slow-burning, David Lynchian-like single centered around shimmering and reverb-drenched guitar twang, gently padded drumming, twinkling bursts of keys paired with Stone’s sultry cooing. The end result is a song that brings Mazzy Star and Amsterdam‘s Donna Blue to mind — a mist covered, lingering, half-remembered dream of a lazy, rainy day with nothing in particular to do but daydream and think.

Shot and edited by Jayden Becker with visual effects by Becker, the recently released video for “It’s Raining” fittingly employs a hazy, dream-like logic: We see a flannel wearing Stone walking near a pool, before jumping in, a brewing pot of tea, Stone eating fruit and squeezing it in between her hands and psychedelic visual effects.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Esteban Van Der Guy is a mysterious Paris-based multi-media project specializing in combining music, visual art (drawing) and video. The project released its debut EP Aus Berlin, an electronica-based effort written and recorded in Berlin back in 2018. The Parisian multi-media project followed up the EP with a handful of singles that were heard on FIP, France Inter and French campus radio.

Esteban Van Der Guy’s mysterious creative mastermind met Parisian singer/songwriter Matthieu Saïkaly, who as you may recall won the French music competition show Nouveau Star back in 2014. The pair collaborated on a couple of songs, which will appear on Van Der Guy’s forthcoming EP slated for a February 25, 2022.

“Ordinary Fight,” the EP’s expansive, first single is centered Matthieu Saïkaly’s plaintive vocals, glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, a relentless motorik groove, a looping guitar line and an enormous hook. The end result is a slick synthesis of Kid A era Radiohead, Brit pop and electro pop that feels like a flop sweat-induced fever dream.

As the artists explain, the song’s narrator is in the middle of an internal battle between shyness, anger and jealousy seemingly inspired by self-doubt and romantic desire.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Athenian Artist Theodore Shares Expansive, Shoegazer-like “Frame of Reference”

Initially schooled in piano and traditional Greek folk music, before heading to London to study Music Composition, the critically applauded Athens, Greece-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Theodore frequently meshes classically inspired compositions, electronic production and rock arrangements to create a cinematic sound and approach that nods at psych rock, prog rock and experimental rock. And in some way, it shouldn’t be surprising that the critically applauded Athenian artist has publicly cited Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Manos Hadjidakis, Vangelis Papathanasiou, Nils Frahm, The National, Olafur Arnalds and Max Richter as being major influences on his work and sound. 

The Athens-based artist performed his sophomore album It Is But It’s Not at London’s Abbey Road Studio 2 and the live footage of that session amassed over two million YouTube views. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, Theodore and his backing band played sets across the global festival circuit, including Reeperhbahn Festival, Eurosonic Nooderslag, Release Festival, New Colossus and  SXSW.

Adding to a growing profile, he also opened for Sigur Ros and DIIV, and has received praise from a number of major outlets including Clash Magazine, Music Week, Tsugi, FGUK, Gaffa and Szene, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne.

As a composer, Theodore has written the scores for Matina Megla’s Windo and Vladan Nikolic’s Bourek. He was also commissioned to write a new, live score for Buster Keaton’s classic silent comedy The Cameraman, which was performed by the acclaimed Greek artist and his band during a screening at the Temple of Zeus. (Seriously, how cool is that?)

Theodore’s third album, 2018’s Inner Dynamics thematically found the Greek artist looking inward to examine the dichotomies — and dualities — of his identity to seek new, creative potential. “On It Is But It’s Not, I tried to explore how the opposite elements in the universe interact, how they fight and how without the one you can’t have the other.” Theodore says, adding, “For Inner Dynamics, I was trying to express my urge to connect the conscious and subconscious part of myself so I can be creative. It’s an understanding that humans are not just one thing, and they shouldn’t try to hide certain elements of their personality because society likes to put labels of who we are. It’s the different sides of my self that makes who I am.” 

The Athens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer’s fourth album, The Voyage is slated for a March 13, 2022 release through United We Fly. The Voyage is a concept album that takes the listener on a journey through space while examining and reflection on human evolution.

The album’s latest single “Frame of Reference” is a slow-burning and expansive song that begins with a lengthy introduction featuring atmospheric synths and slowly builds up into a massive, orchestral swelling with swirling, shoegazer-like guitars and increasingly forceful drumming. The two distinct sections are held together by Theodore’s yearning vocals.

“Frame of Reference” is inspired by a dream Theodore had in which he was looking back on how charmingly blue Earth was, as he was floating away in outer space. The song as he explains is about how the things we don’t really appreciate in our daily lives can often appear beautiful from a distant point of view.

Fittingly, “Frame Of Reference” is accompanied by a space imagery themed, official lyric video, which helps set the overall mood for the Athenian artist’s forthcoming album.

“This lyric video is a space journey. From Earth to the planets of our solar system, to distant galaxies and interstellar transitions,” Danai Nielsen, the video’s director explains in press notes. “It follows the emotion and intensity of the song, trying to communicate and engage the emotion that Theodore conveys musically into moving images. It has a strong element of nostalgia and exploration. We are moving away from the Earth, our safe base and home, without a clear destination. We are just floating in this infinitely beautiful space.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2020, Rotterdam-based indie rock outfit Elephant spent the better part of that year throwing themselves fully into songwriting, spending much of their free time at their greenhouse studio, just outside of town.

Early last year, the Rotterdam-based outfit released their debut EP. The material, which was centered around beautiful melodies, subtle grooves and sobering lyrics caught the attention of journalists nationally including pop journalist Leo Blokhuis. Several EP songs were playlisted on Amazing Radio with “Midnight in Manhattan” landing at #12 on the Verrukkelijke 15 Dutch National Radio Chart. They capped off a big 2021 by signing to Dutch label Excelsior Recordings, who will release their Pablo van de Poel-produced full-length debut Big Thing later this year.

The rising Dutch band started off 2022 with the release of the critically applauded single “Calling” and an an attention grabbing appearance at Eurosonic Nooderslag. Continuing upon that momentum, the members of Elephant recently released Big Thing‘s second and latest single, the slow-burning, “Medicine.” Centered around a trippy, 70s rock meets jam band like groove, glistening and twangy guitars, and easy-going vocals, “Medicine” manages to be simultaneously sunny and melancholy, evoking clouds passing in front of the sun.

“‘Medicine’ is about finding a remedy for negativity and cynicism, whether it is through love, music, or of course another shot of the vaccine,” the band explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: French-born, Danish-based Andrew Celestine Shares Brooding “Shattered”

Andrew Celestine is an emerging Rennes, France-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter and musician. The Rennes-born Celestine relocated to Copenhagen back in 2015, where he began to pursue music full-time.

Celestine’s debut EP Shattered is the result of a two year journey for the self-taught French-born, Danish-based artist, with the EP’s five songs thematically being an open-hearted invitation into the melancholic, harrowing and at times universe of its creator. Sonically, the material is influenced by Depeche Mode, Moderat, French touch and Scandipop among others.

EP title track “Shattered” is a slickly produced, brooding, Depeche Mode-like track centered around glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats and Celestine’s sonorous yet vulnerable baritone within an expansive yet dance floor friendly song structure. The song explores heartbreak and its devastation in a way that’s intimate, unvarnished and deeply familiar.

Filmed by Rine Rodin and edited by Celestine and Rodin, the video for “Shattered” follows a young woman — My Marie Nilsson — sneaking out of the spare bedroom and apartment of a lover, through the gray streets of an extremely Northern European industrial area, and into a creepy forest as the sun goes down.