Tag: Amazing Radio

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s deep tan Shares a “Blair Witch Project”-Meets-“Island of Dr. Moreau”-like Visual For “rudy ya ya ya”

Through the release of a handful of singles and last year’s critically applauded creeping speedwells EP, London-based post punk trio deep tan — Wafah (vocals), Celeste (bass) and Lucy (drums) — quickly exploded into the national and international post punk scenes: The band was featured in outlets like NME, DIY, Clash, Loud and Quiet, The Quietus, So Young, Notion, Dork, BrooklynVegan, and countless others. 

Their music has been playlisted on BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio while receiving airplay on Apple Music Beats 1, Radio X, SiriusXM, KEXP, BBC Wales and Amazing Radio USA. And along with that, Steve Lamacq named the band his BBC 6 Music Spotlight Artist last May. Adding to a momentous year, last year the rapidly rising post-punk trio supported their debut EP with extensive touring that included an opening slot for critically applauded post- punk outfit Yard Act and the British festival circuit with stops at Dot to Dot, Live at Leads, Wide Eyed Festival, and Manchester Psych Fest. They closed out the year with the Dan Carey-produced “tamu’s riffing refuge,” which was released through Speedy Wunderground. 

Their sophomore EP diamond horsetail was released earlier this year — with a digital release preceding the physical release. They also released an extremely limited “Dinked Edition,” which featured diamond horsetail and creeping speedwells pressed together on “piss kink yellow” vinyl. (And by extremely limited, I mean it was 400 — yep, 400! — copies.)

deep tan’s sophomore EP saw the members of the British post-punk outfit further establishing their unique take on post punk in which their stripped-back, minimalist approach serves as a vehicle for songs that focus on contemporary thematic concerns, including deepfake revenge porn, surreal meme pages, furry hedonism and others.

EP single “rudy ya ya ya” is a taut, sparse and uneasy song centered around a propulsive and angular bass line and wiry guitar blasts paired with Wafah’s sultry yet ironically detached vocals. At its core, is a vicious, occasionally veiled, occasionally obvious, satirical takedown of the entirely deserving Rudy Giulliani — and old, power hungry bastards like him. The song is also a reminder of how far — and how quickly — Giulliani has fallen, becoming one of the world’s most hated, most despicable people.

Directed by Stringer, the accompanying video for “rudy ya ya ya” is a glitchy, Blair Witch Project-like visual that follows the band on a journey to a nightmarish Island of Doctor Moreau with hideous and menacing monsters in business suits.

“’rudy ya ya’ allowed me to fully realize my Island of Dr.Mareau [sic] by way of the Blair Witch fantasy and was a perfect opportunity to flex my Digital Bolex’s muscles with manic handheld movements and gritty psychedelic textures,” Stringer explains. “The end product is a haunted fever dream of a video and It’s the most fun I’ve had in the middle of nowhere at night in a long time.”

“For our rudy video we enlisted the help of stringer to direct, who caught our eye online with their excellent creeped-out gorefest references, which led to a very entertaining 12hrs in Epping Forest,” the band adds.

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

Lyric Video: Introducing the Slickly Produced and Swaggering Pop of French Artist Sôra

Deriving her stage name from an acronym for Singing Bird Soars, Julia Mora-Mir, the rapidly rising French singer/songwriter, producer and pop artist, best known as Sôra, is the daughter of a British mother and French father. Claiming that she inherits some of own musical ability from her Pakistani-born grandfather, who’s an acclaimed musician, Mora Mir has performed in some fashion or another since she was a child — playing piano, singing and dancing. 

Sonically, the French singer/songwriter, producer and pop artist’s sound meshes elements of electro pop, electro soul R&B and hip-hop — paired with a vocal that’s been described as soulful and velvety.  Mora-Mir first emerged into the French pop scene working with a number of musicians and producers, including an attention grabbing collaboration with JOVM mainstay Uppermost, “Step By Step,” which amassed over one million streams. The French singer/songwriter and pop artist released her debut EP, last year’s Number One, an effort that amassed over one million streams. 

Building upon a growing profile, Sôra has shared stages with Rudimental, Deluxe, Adam Naas and Kimberose while receiving support from PAPER Magazine, ELLE, Magnetic Magazine, Clique TV, General Pop and the La Belle Musique,Tasty, and Chill Masters YouTube Channels. Additionally, she had had her material placed on a number of tastemaking playlists including Spotify Fresh Finds and New Music Friday, Deezer’s Fresh R&B, New R&B Vibe and Chill Vibes. And she has received airplay on Amazing Radio, Reprezent Radio, Fubar Radio, Mouv’ Radio, and France24. 

“Unchained,” Mora-Mir’s latest single is a self-assured and slickly produced pop confection centered around a sleek production featuring stuttering beats, shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking low end and Mora-Mir’s vocal delivery, which alternates between swaggering rhyming, sultry and soulful contemporary pop.  And while the song manages to be remarkably contemporary, the French singer/songwriter, producer and pop artist reveals herself to be a refreshingly unique talent in an age of cookie cutter sameness.  

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hull’s bdrmm Releases a Trippy Visual for Arena Rock-Friendly Single “Shame”

Last year, I wrote about the up-and-coming Hull, UK-based indie rock act bdrmm. And as you may recall, the act which initially started as the bedroom recording project of singer/songwriter and guitarist Ryan Smith during the end of 2016 quickly became a full-fledged band when Smith recruited his brother Jordan (bass), Joe Vickers (guitar), Daniel Hull (synth, backing vocals) and Luke Irvin (drums) to complete the band’s lineup. 

The band went on to cut their teeth playing shows across Northern England before releasing their first two singles “kare” and “the way i want,” which quickly caught the attention of MTV, Clash Magazine and DORK, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1 and Amazing Radio. The Hull-based quintet has opened for Trudy & The Romance, Her’s, FEHM and Horsey — and as a result, they caught the attention of London-based indie label Permanent Creeps, who released the 4AD Records-like “C.U.” Since then, they’ve opened for JOVM mainstays pizzagirl and Amber Arcades, as well Gengahr. Additionally, they’ve played sets at a number of British festivals including Gold Sounds, Humber Street Sesh, and Live at Leeds, which have added to a rapidly growing national profile. 

Their highly-anticipated Alex Greaves-produced debut EP If Not When? is slated for an October 11, 2019 release through Sonic Cathedral Records — and the EP, which has seen physical pre-orders quickly sell out is largely influenced by the likes of DIIV, Slowdive and Beach House, as well as an up-and-coming crop of British post-punk acts including Squid, YOWL, Black Country and New Road. Interestingly, the EP’s first single “Shame” find the band retaining the shimmering post-punk tinged shoegazer sound of their previous releases — but with a forceful and propulsive groove and an ambitious arena rock-like feel, reminiscent of The Cure and others. 

“‘Shame’ is about the heartache of having to tell someone you can about the most that being together can’t work for whatever reason — having to be the person, who takes it upon themselves to do the right thing, even though it feels so wrong,” the band’s Ryan Smith explains in press notes. 

The recently released video by Jordan Smith is a dizzying visual that’s one part lyric video with some psychedelic imagery. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming British Act Second Hand Poet Releases an Intimate and Playful Visual for “Honeycomb”

Jamie Tipson is a Surrey, UK-born singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of Pretty Thing Records, a label and promotions company, specifically created to help other like-minded artists — and he’s also the creative mastermind behind the up-and-coming British indie rock project Second Hand Poet.

Last year, Tipson released his Second Hand Poet debut Songs for the Pyre, and he quickly followed that up with the January release of “I’ll Be Yours,” a track that received airplay from BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and BBC 6, and was featured in the Unsigned Guides Spotlight and Richer Sounds Artist of the Month.  Building upon a growing national profile in his native UK, Tipson’s latests ingle “Honeycomb” is a hook-driven and  anthemic track that recalls 120 Minutes-era alt rock, The Silversun Pickups and others, as its centered around jangling power chords, a propulsive rhythm section and Tipson’s plaintive vocals. 

Interestingly, Tipson’s new Second Hand Poet is a decidedly upbeat track that finds him straying a bit from his self-described band of gloom folk. In fact, the track finds Tipson employing the use of a full band — and it required a much more collaborative creative process than much of his previously released work. “‘Honeycomb’ is a weird one,” Tipson explains in press notes. “It’s completely the opposite sound and style to my usual work but I just had to get it out in this way. I still play it acoustic when live but the intention was to almost sound as if I was singing over a Smashing Pumpkins’ track on the recorded version.” “The song itself is about people, about connecting material things with feelings or certain memories in time, soundtracking moments,” Tipson says of his latest single. “After all, that’s what music is isn’t it?” 

Edited by Alex Thomas, the recently released video for “Honeycomb” stars Tipson, his backing musicians for the song’s creation and a series of friends, loved ones and supporters from around the world. “I just wanted to create something a bit immersive, music is relatable regardless of taste and opinion and the idea of bringing people I care about in all senses of the word felt really special to me,” Tipson says of the video. “I’ve never met some of the people in the video, and some of them that are featured even helped fuel the need for me to create in the first place. ”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past few years I’ve written a bit about acclaimed Stockholm, Sweden-based indie rock act  Honeymilk, and as you may recall the act which was formed as a quartet featuring founding members Marcus Admund (vocals) and Albin Wesley (bass), along with Nikki Nyberg (guitar) and Erik Fritz (drums), could trace their origins to the formation and breakup of an earlier band Urmas Planet, which also featured several members of the band’s initial lineup.

With the release of the Linus Larsson-produced single  “It Might Be,” the band quickly received both praise across the blogosphere and radio airplay on several radio stations including Amazing Radio and Oxford College Radio. However, after “It Might Be,” the members of Honeymilk decided to go the DIY route, recording their critically applauded full-length debut effort Lean on the Sun. After the release of their Brit Pop meets classic psych rock-like “A Scene in Between,” and subsequent releases, the band went through a massive lineup change that resulted in the band becoming a duo featuring co-founder Admund and Nyberg. As a result of the lineup change, the band experienced a radical and perhaps necessary change in sonic direction, as you’d hear on the breezy,  Vampire Weekend-like synth-based single “Time Will Kill You,” which received attention across the blogosphere and amassed over 140,000 streams on Spotify.

Admund and Nyberg released I Want You To Be Very Happy, the highly-anticipated follow up to Lean on the Sun. The album which featured album singles “The Nothing New,” “Time Will Kill You,” and “Trip” managed to receive praise from a number of major media outlets including Clash Magazine, BBC Fresh On The Net and Jajaja Music as well as airplay on Sweden’s P3, Amazing Radio, Germany’s Flux FM, Norway’s NRK P13 and Finland’s YLE Soumi.

Interestingly, the band’s latest single “It’s All In My Hands” was written and recorded during the I Want You To Be Very Happy sessions but wasn’t finished and was subsequently cut from the album. Sonically speaking, the song will further cement the Swedish act’s reputation for crafting material that effortlessly meshes psych rock and Brit pop with rousingly anthemic hooks; but with subtle elements of 70s disco. As the band mentions in press notes, the song is actually one of their first politically charged songs. “We wanted to take ourselves seriously and write about the tiresome right-wing, life-coach cliché that everything is possible just as long as you give everything,” the  members of Honeymilk say in press notes. “Basically leaving them with no other responsibility for people’s lives except cashing their cheques. To take down the cynism a bit we added some disco-feel to it. It’s recorded a couple of years ago in our former studio at Odenplan,  Stockholm, from which we got kicked out threatened to be sued for 100 000 kronor. We never got to release ‘It’s All In My Hands.’ We forgot about [it]. And now – we happened to fall in love with it again.”

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed initially as a solo, bedroom recording project of Hull, UK-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Ryan Smith during the end of 2016, the up-and-coming Hull-based indie rock quintet bdrmm became a full fledged band when Smith recruited his brother Jordan (bass), Joe Vickers (guitar), Daniel Hull (synth, backing vocals) and Luke Irvin (drums). The British quintet cut their teeth playing across Northern England before releasing their first two singles “kare” and “the way i want,” which quickly caught the attention of MTV, Clash Magazine and DORK, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1 and Amazing Radio. Adding to a growing profile, the up-and-coming band has opened for Trudy & The Romance, Her’s, FEHM and Horsey — and as a result, they caught the attention of London-based indie label Permanent Creeps, who recently released the band’s latest single “C.U.”

Interestingly, the sprawling new single briefly nods at classic 4AD Records post-punk,  shoegaze and slacker rock as the song is centered around a morphing and shifting song structure which features an arrangement of shimmering, pedal effected guitars, thundering drumming, a propulsive bass line and soaring hook — and that’s paired with a swooning and emotionally urgent song rooted in deeply personal, lived-in experience. As the band’s Ryan Smith explains in press notes “I wrote ‘C.U.’ during a pretty ‘eventful’ time in my life — a lot of feelings hurt, vivid anxiety and thing lost, this track has been a long time coming . This is an ode to 2017.”

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming Melbourne-based Punk Rockers Bakers Eddy Release Mischievous and Colorful Visuals for “Good Decisions”

Comprised of CJ Babbington (guitar, vocals), Ian Spagnolo (bass, vocals), Jamie Gordon (drums, vocals), and Alex Spagnolo (guitar, vocals), the up-and-coming Melbourne, Australia-based indie rock act Bakers Eddy initially formed in Wellington, New Zealand. And since their formation back in 2009, the band has made quite a name from themselves across both New Zealand’s and Australia’s punk rock scenes; not only have they opened for Gang of Youths, The Rubens and the Grammy-nominated act Highly Suspect, they’ve received airplay from Amazing Radio, praise from Pilerats and Tone Deaf. And adding to a growing profile, the band has played their homeland’s festival circuit with sets at Homegrown, Rock the Park and Going Global Music Summit — and earlier this year they made their live debut on British shores with a set at The Great Escape Festival (which they followed with some stops in Germany). 

The New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based band’s Tom Larkin-produced EP I’m Not Making Good Decisions was released earlier this year and the  EP’s latest single is 90s grunge rock, power chord bruiser “Good Decisions,” a track that the band describes as ac coming of age tale about “spending all your money on partying so you can’t pay the bills. Making silly decisions!” Unsurprisingly, the song is deeply inspired by the experience of the band’s members relocating from their native New Zealand to Melbourne where they “were all living together for the first time in a new country and probably having too much fun.”  

Directed by Fagan Wilcox, the recently released video follows a day in the life of the band, who quickly suspect that the house they live in was once a swingers pad. “There is a fully working spa bath in the middle of our hallway, you can see Jamie sleeping in it in the video.” the band says.  Throughout, there’s the sense that the band parties hard — harder than most, but the footage is grainy and damaged. And as Wilcox says “the execution was always going to have the footage destroyed. The idea was to make it raw and low budget using effects, but rather than just pop a filter on it with a VHS effect, we used pixel bending and channel blending to add an intensity to the final edit.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM for a while, you may remember that I’ve written about Norwegian electro pop duo, BLØSH. With the release of their breezy and infectious debut single “Can’t Afford to Lose You,” the duo comprised of of Madrid-born, Oslo, Norway-based cellist and vocalist Teresa Bernabé and guitarist Jørgen Berg Svela, an Oslo native, quickly found themselves with an expanding international profile as the duo saw praise and attention from JaJaJa Music, Indie Shuffle and airplay on Amazing Radio.

“Give It Away,” which I wrote about last November further cemented the duo’s burgeoning reputation for crafting infectious pop as the song paired an upbeat melody, punchy bass lines, a looping guitar line and a soaring, anthemic hook with with Bernabé’s breezy vocals  while sonically drawing from African music and African-inspired pop  — in particular Paul Simon‘s Graceland, the legendary Ali Farka Touré and Afrobeat. Now the Oslo, Norway-based duo is continuing to build on the buzz of “Can’t Afford to Lose You,” and “Give It Away” with the release of their latest single “When Love Is Alive.” Beginning with a steady bass line, the song pairs reverb-y guitars, propulsive drumming and Bernabé’s ethereal vocals in a slow-burning song that expresses an aching longing and yearning for giving and receiving the love that the narrator desperately wants and deserves — but with the sad realization that love is often short-lived. And as a result, the song possesses the same breeziness as their previous singles but with a subtle sense of mourning.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lights That Change’s Spectral, Synth-based Cover of Tim Buckley’s “Songs To The Siren”

Although he never found commercial success within his tragically short life, singer/songwriter Tim Buckley has managed to become admired and deeply influential in the 40 years since his death for his innovative sound which possessed […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their debut single “Can’t Afford to Lose You,” the Norwegian electro pop duo BLØSH, comprised of Madrid-born, Oslo, Norway-based cellist and vocalist Teresa Bernabé and guitarist Jørgen Berg Svela, an Oslo native, the duo quickly found themselves with an expanding international profile, thanks in part to a breezy and infectious pop-leaning sound. Already, the duo have seen praise and attention from JaJaJa Music, Indie Shuffle and airplay on Amazing Radio.

Building on the buzz that they’ve already received, the duo’s newest single “Give It Away” is “about not taking life — or the situations that life puts you in — too seriously,” as the duo explained in press notes. The song will likely cement the duo’s burgeoning reputation for crafting infectious pop as the song pairs an upbeat melody, punchy bass lines and a looping guitar line with Bernabé’s breezy vocals and soaringly anthemic hooks.  Sonically speaking, the song draws from African music and African music-inspired pop — in particular Paul Simon‘s Graceland, the legendary Ali Farka Touré, and to my ears Afrobeat as the song and its funky and playful melody is built around the looping and angular guitar line. Simply put, the song is crafted and pure pop confection.

 

 

 

 

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Initially known as a producer, who has worked with countless artists, the Welsh guitarist Marc Joy began to turn his attention towards his own creative endeavors and started his own musical project, a dream pop/shoegaze […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

With the release of Contra, Swedish singer/songwriter and cellist Cajsa Siik received received both national and international attention for the likes of Sweden’s P3, Britain’s Amazing Radio, Insomnia Radio, Noisey, NME, BBC Radio 6 and […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Patawawa is a Matlock, Derbyshire, UK-based nu-disco trio who have developed a reputation across the UK for a sound that has been compared to the likes of French Kiwi Juice, Zimmer, Daft Punk and Alphabeat […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Manchester, UK-based quartet of GIRL FRIEND has seen quite a bit of attention as they’ve received praise form The Guardian, The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Clash and others, received airplay from XFM […]