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.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Julie Kathryn is a New York-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, sound designer, producer and creative mastermind behind I AM SNOW ANGEL, a critically applauded solo recording project that has received critical praise from the likes of Huffington Post, Indie Shuffle, Magnetic Magazine, Creem Magazine, Refinery 29, All Things Go and a lengthy list of others.

The New York-based producer and artist has also simultaneously developed a reputation as a highly sought after sound designer and producer working with Ableton and Splice.com – and she’s the co-founder of Female Frequency, a musical collective dedicated to empowering women and girls in the music industry.

Back in 2019, Julie Kathryn released her I AM SNOW ANGEL sophomore effort MOTHERSHIP. Recorded in a cabin in the wintry Adirondack woods, MOTHERSHIP touched upon themes of isolation, longing, love, paranoia and the paranormal. Since her debut’s release, she has been extremely busy: she gave birth to her first child, collaborated on Sophie Colette’s attention-grabbing “In Love a Little,” released a gorgeous and spectral cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song.”

The New York-based producer and artist recently announced that she will be releasing her third album Lost World later this year. Along with that announcement, Julie Kathryn shared Lost World‘s first single “Twisted Romance.” Co-written with Charles Newman and J.J. Appleton, “Twisted Romance” is a decidedly anachronistic, retro-futuristic bop centered around a motorik groove, glistening synth arpeggios paired with the New York-based producer and artist’s plaintive and ethereal cooing. While possessing an aching nostalgia and longing, the song manages to sonically nod at Kraftwerk and early 80s New Wave.

“‘Twisted Romance’ is a synthpop love story set in a dystopian matrix where people’s memories can be erased — or generated, or recovered — within our vast grid of digitized consciousness,” Julie Kathryn explains in press notes. “Reality and technology are interfused. I’m singing to someone who has either lost memories in the grid (like through a glitch, or even an intentional deletion) or maybe never actually had them (fabricated), and I am desperate to help this person recover the memories of how much we loved each other.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Central Massachusetts-based emo outfit peregrine can trace their origins to the breakup of several local bands back in 2015. The band (and sort of collective of local musicians) quickly released their debut EP before settling down to write and record their full-length debut, 2019’s as one would exist within the crescendo, an effort that saw the band pushing their sound in different directions.

as one would exist within the crescendo received some attention in local and regional circles. Encouraged by the response, the Massachusetts-based act began writing material for the album’s follow-up. Much like everyone else across the globe, the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into the band’s plans.

The stress of the moment caused the band to split off into different factions: The remaining members Nate (vocals), Tom (guitar, bass, synth) and Bryan (drums) began digging into the material that Nate and Tom had been sharing between each other during pandemic-mandated quarantines. Interestingly, the remote writing sessions found the members of peregrine exploring new sonic textures that were darker, denser and much more ambitious.

When the band finished writing the album’s material, they went to Pawtucket‘s Machines with Magnets and several other smaller studios across New England for the recording sessions for their forthcoming sophomore album the awful things we’ve done. Recorded over a four month session, the album thematically is both a reflection of the current state of humanity — and a warning for where we may end up. The album’s material explores the efforts to maintain interpersonal relationships with others during a near apocalyptic sociopolitical state, fueled by uncertainty, unrest and despair.

the awful things we’ve done‘s around and latest single “a polite merlot” is an explosive ripper centered around an expansive song structure featuring dense layers of chugging power chords, scorching solos, thunderous drumming, a propulsive bass line and mosh pit friendly hooks paired with Nate’s plaintive yelping. While sonically recalling Thursday‘s “Understanding In A Car Crash,” the song as the band explains is a reflection of the conflict between what is really important to some versus others within a traditional American lifestyle.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Vancouver’s Bratboy Shares Stylish Video for Anthemic New Ripper “Dream Rope”

Founded back in 2017 as BB by founding duo Bella Bebe (lead vocals, guitar) and Megan Magdalena (bass, vocals), the Vancouver-based punk outfit Bratboy have been busy: they’ve cut their teeth touring across North America, making strong connections up and down the West Coast, while opening for Amyl and The Sniffers, Sheer Mag, La Luz, Meatbodies, Blackwater Holylight, The Shivas, Dead Soft, Woolworm and Dumb.

Bebe’s and Magdalena’s good friend Tony Dallas (drums) joined the band — and the newly constituted trio went to Noise Floor Recording Studio to record their Jordan Koop-produced full-length debut, which is slated for release early this year.

The still unnamed album’s latest single “Dream Rope” is a beguiling and seamless synthesis of 60s girl pop, Ramones, The Go-Gos and 90s Riot Grrrl punk centered around crunchy power chords, down-tuned bass, forceful drumming, coquettish vocals and harmonies within a classic grunge song structure — alternating quiet verses, explosive choruses, a dreamy bridge and a scorching guitar solo. And the trio do so with a winning and mischievous mix of playfulness and earnestness.

Directed by Zachary Vague, the recently released video for “Dream Rope” is a stylish, French New Wave-inspired visual featuring a bright fairly monochromic color scheme featuring white, red, blue, orange that captures the band’s energy and style.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Deserta Shares Slow-Burning and Woozy “Where Did You Go?”

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Doty has had a lengthy 20+ year career as a musician: He co-founded Philadelphia-based post-rock outfit Saxon Shore with Father John Misty’s Josh Tillman, and the act went out to release four full-length albums — 2002’s Be a Bright Blue, 2003’s Four Months of Darkness, 2005’s The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore and 2009’s It Doesn’t Matter — before splitting up.

Doty went on to form the Los Angeles-based (via Grand Rapids, MI) synth-pop outfit Midnight Faces with Philip Stancil. During their run, Midnight Faces released three albums –2013’s Fornication, 2014’s The Fire Is Gone and 2016’s Heavenly Bodies — to critical acclaim from the likes of Spin Magazine, The AV Club, Consequence, Vice and a lengthy list of others.

Doty stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist with his solo recording project Deserta back in 2020. Doty’s sophomore Deserta album, Every Moment, Everything You Need is slated for a February 25, 2022 digital and CD release and a June 10, 2022 vinyl release through Felte Records. Mixed by David Fridmann and engineered by Chris Coady, Every Moment, Everything You Need features guest spots by James McAliser, who has worked with Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, The National, Big Red Machine and a list of others and vocals from Mice Parade‘s Caroline Lufkin on a track.

Every Moment, Everything You Need‘s latest single “Where Did You Go” is slow-burning and woozy bit of shoegaze with A Storm in Heaven-like textures: swirling reverb and feedback-drenched layers of guitar, glistening synths, forceful boom bap with ethereally cooed vocals buried deep into the mix, but aching to burst free from their confinement. And at its core, the song seems to evoke a yearning for someone and a moment that just can’t possibly happen again.

“‘Where Did You Go’ marks the third time Caroline [Lufkin] and I have worked together,” Deserta’s Matthew Doty says in press notes. ‘Going back to 2008, Oliver Chapoy (who, also appears on the new Deserta album) and I contributed a remix for her album, Murmurs. The following year, Caroline sang on Saxon Shore’s “This Place” (also produced/mixed by Dave Fridmann). We kept in touch over the years, always trying to connect on something new, but life happens and timing is often hard to get right. With the unpredictability of the last year, I think it was comforting to finally reconnect with some of my favorite collaborators, even from a distance.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Turn Pop Clichés on Their Head in “Ceci n’est pas un cliché”

Ghent, Belgium-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s official full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer is slated for a March 4, 2022 release through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: their perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul being of Chinese descent, and the conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism. Their wildly unpredictable and subversive take on pop and electro pop sees the Belgian duo poking and prodding at the pop zeitgeist.

While being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach; they manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard but are centered around their idiosyncratic and off-kilter take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

And as result, Topical Dancer’s 13 songs are fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent; for the duo it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

So far, I’ve written about three of Topical Dancer‘s singles:

  • “Thank You,” a sardonic, club banger featuring skittering beats, buzzing synth arpeggios and Adigéry’s deadpan delivery destroying mansplainers and unwanted, unsolicited and straight up dumb opinions and advice from outsiders. 
  • “Blenda,” a club banger, centered around African-inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats and Adigéry’s deadpan. Informed by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, “Blenda” focuses on colonialism and post colonialism through Adigéry’s experience as Black immigrant in an extremely white place. 
  • “HAHA,” a track built around a chopped up sample of Adigéry making herself laughed paired with twinkling synths, skittering beats and a relentless motorik groove that feels improvised and unfinished yet somehow simultaneously polished.

“Ceci n’est pas un cliché,” Topical Dancer‘s fourth and latest single is centered around a slick, dance floor friendly production featuring a strutting bass line, finger snaps, skittering beats and glistening synth arpeggios paired with Adigéry’s coolly delivering a collection of clichéd pop lyrics in a series of non-sequiturs that’s surrealistic yet displays its own weird logic that sort of makes sense.

Directed by Bob Jeusette, the recently released video is also series of music video cliches, pulled out of context and made utterly ridiculous.

The song’s title is a winking nods to one of the most copied sentence sin art history, originally by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. “This song is an accumulation of all the cliché lyrics so often used in pop music. It came about when we were touring and heard a song on the radio opening with ‘I was walking down the street’ which made us strongly cringe,” the duo’s Charlotte Adigéry says. “But the thing is, cringing is a shared passion of Bolis and I. So we passionately made a song out of it called ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliché’. Even more passionately we performed ourselves into a video about all the clichés we see in the magic world of musical genres. The musician in all its glory, capturing momentum and delivering a top notch performance, gazing into the light that’s called inspiration. And so for once and for all, please leave Magritte alone…!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Kinlaw Shares Mind-bending Visual for “The Mechanic”

New York-based composer, choreographer, multi-disciplinary artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Sarah Kinlaw may be best known for their multimedia-based productions and collaborations with the likes of Devonte Hynes (a.k.a Blood Orange), Caroline Polacheck, SOPHIE, Dan Deacon and others that feature as many as 200 performers. She was aslo the co-founder of acclaimed JOVM mainstay act Softspot. 

Kinlaw stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist with her solo recording project Kinlaw. Last year, saw the release of the New York-based artist’s full-length debut, The Tipping Scale, which found Kinlaw showcasing their work in a new light.

Initially writing material with a goal of finding entry points that felt honest and authentic to their work, Kinlaw frequently saw their music directly relating to motion: “I would start with a gesture and let it build into something until a memory attached itself to it,” the New York-based artist explained in press notes. “The memory would become a story and the story would reveal itself as something important that needed to be expressed in this album.” 

Lyrically, the album’s material bridges the universal with the deeply personal as Kinlaw explores loss, empathy, regret, confusion, strength, identity, hope, power, and change among other things. Sonically, the album’s songs are centered around slick electronic production and a refined compositional sensibility with ornate flourishes paired with the New York based artist’s expressive and gorgeous vocals.

In the lead-up to The Tipping Point‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s singles:

  • “Blindspot,” a slow-burning and dramatic track featuring Kinalw’s yearning and ethereal crooning paired with shimmering synth arpeggios and stuttering beats.
  • “Permissions” a track inspired by physical movement that evokes a rapidly vacillating array of emotional states including confusion, heartache, self-flagellation and despair as its narrator seemingly is in the middle of a difficult conversation with themselves. 
  • “Haircut,” a deeply intimate monologue of a song that reveals its narrator’s inner world with an uncomfortable and unvarnished honesty that was centered around reverb-drenched, ethereal production featuring glistening synth apreggios and bells.

Kinlaw begins 2022 with the release of a remix EP titled TTS Extended — and The Tipping Point‘s fourth single, album opening track, the Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel-like “The Mechanic,” a single, which features an expansive, cinematic production and arrangement of glistening and twinkling synth arpeggios, skittering castanet-like percussion, angular guitar and bass paired with a soaring hook and Kinlaw’s achingly expressive vocals. The song’s narrator discusses their feelings about a relationship that’s rooted in a weird and uneven power dynamic; but the song also touches upon regret, self-doubt and confusion simultaneously.

Created by with New York-based artist and creator Dance Lawyer over the course of several months, the recently released video for “The Mechanic” sees Kinlaw attempting to bridge the gap between video recording and live performance, while pushing the idea of movement being deeply musical — and sound is an intricate dance.

Kinlaw’s interest in psychoacoustics and cinematic sound design led her to recruit sound designer Colin Alexander, who weaves in sound effects with Kinlaw’s choreography, giving the video’s dance sequence and added musical quality.

“The remixes are playful. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but is still exploratory,” Kinlaw says. “Video brought new life into these recordings initially, so I worked with Colin Alexander to weave SFX with the choreography, turning the dance into this added musical element within the track.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tempers Shares Brooding and Icy “Nightwalking”

New York-based synth duo Tempers — Jasmine Golestaneh (vocals) and Eddie Cooper (production) — have diligently carved out their own niche within dark indie, electronica and synth pop circles since their formation. After a series of digital singles released back in 2013, the New York duo began to solidify their sound and approach, a sleek. brooding, nocturnal take on synth pop. 

The duo’s forthcoming, self-produced album New Meaning is slated for an April 1, 2022 release through Dais Records. As the duo explain, the album is about navigating the unknown, coping mechanisms and exploring the nature of choice. The album’s ten songs reflect on the creation go meaning as a way to access liberation in times of transition and loss while speculating on the transformative potential that exists alongside the grief of living in a world that is an ongoing state of crisis. Much like their previously released material, New Meaning continues a run of nocturnal music, that’s introspective yet quietly intense. 

Late last year, I wrote about “Unfamiliar,” a song that sounded indebted to 80s New Wave while evoking our current moment — living in a world that’s gone even madder and more uncertain than ever before. New Meaning‘s second and latest single “Nightwalking” continues a remarkable run of brooding, hook-driven material, with the song centered around icy synth arpeggios, thumping beats, a relentless motorik groove and Golestaneh’s achingly plaintive vocals floating off into the ether. The song manages to evoke late nights wandering around with your thoughts as your only company.

“I took a lot of long walks at a time when people had abruptly vacated NYC, and left the remnants of their homes on the sidewalks,” Tempers’ Golestaneh explains. “The city’s landscape became very surreal – a ghost town turned inside out. I was thinking about how to stay open, and embrace life derailed. The sky over the city was a real source of mystery, in it’s own world of pink sunsets, and sparkling nights. The contrast of that oblivious beauty amidst the pandemic chaos felt very special, and inspired the song.”

The New York-based duo will be embarking on lengthy national tour that includes a March 31, 2022 stop at Elsewhere’s Zone 1. In May, the duo will be in Europe for a handful of dates. But the word on the street is that Tempers will be announcing some more tour dates in the near future. Until then, tour dates, as always, are below.