Tag: Atlanta GA

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Hazily Nostalgic Sounds and Visuals of Los Angeles’ The Marias

Comprised of founding duo and romantic couple, Puerto Rican-born, Los Angeles, CA-based (by way of Atlanta, GA) Maria Zardoya (vocals, guitar) and Los Angeles, CA native Josh Conway (production, drums, vocals), along with fellow Los Angeles, CA native Jesse Perlman (lead guitar, vocals), Canadian-born, Berklee College of Music-trained and Los Angeles, CA-based Carter Lee (bass, vocals) and Edward James (keys), The Marias formed in late 2016. And while the band draws inspiration from their vastly diverse backgrounds and the intimacy of their Hollywood Hills commune, their sound meshes jazz, psych pop, funk, lounge pop and 70s AM rock with subtly modern production. 

With an early SoundCloud demo being spun by Chris Douridas on KCRW’s Eclectic 24 and then the Anne Litt Show, the members of the Los Angeles-based quintet saw a growing local and regional profile that resulted in an appearance on KRCW’s concert series School Night. Building upon a growing profile, the band released their debut EP Superclean, Vol. 1 during the fall of 2017. The band’s forthcoming Superclean, Vol. 2 is slated for release early this year and along with that, The Marias will be playing at Coachella this year, which should result in much more attention on the band. But in the meantime, “Dejate Llevar,” off the band’s Superclean, Vol. 1 is a breezy, pop confection that will further cement their growing reputation for a sound that draws from 80s synth pop, dream pop and 70s AM rock, complete with sultry hooks, underpinned with a hazy, halcyon days-like nostalgia. 
Directed by Mimi Raver, the visuals for “Dejate Llevar” further emphasizes the hazy, halcyon days-like nostalgia, as the cinematically yet Instagram filter-like footage focuses on the band hanging out on a glorious, Southern California, summer day. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Uni Rocks Out Until the Bomb Drops in Visuals for “Mushroom Cloud”

Founded by the Atlanta, GA-born, New York-based model, singer/songwriter and musician Kemp Muhl, who’s best known as one-half of The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, with Sean Lennon and featuring David Strange (guitar) and Nico Fuzz (vocals, guitar), the New York-based trio Uni specializes in an slick, anthemic, power chord-based rock that’s indebted to 70s glam rock and power pop as you’ll hear on the act’s latest single “Mushroom Crowd,” which will be part of their forthcoming 7 inch, slated for a March 23, 2018 release through Chimera Music. And the single manages to slyly evoke the current sociopolitical climate, in which we’re all afraid of what seems to be an impending nuclear holocaust by asking the listener “what you do if you get the news that the nuclear missiles are coming and you have maybe 3 minutes left?”

Directed and animated by Rich Ragsdale, the recently released video features the high-heeled and bell-bottomed members of Uni playing an ass-kicking concert at the end of life as we know it — but at its core, the video suggests that the threat of nuclear annihilation is essentially a bunch of dick waving that could kill us all. And of course, the band plays until their faces melt off. Whoa. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jordan Wilson and Benjmain Riley, the acclaimed, Sydney, Australia-based duo Georgia Fair can trace their origins to when the duo met in high school. They began playing and writing music together and would continue to do so in a number of bands until settling on their current project together Georgia Fair, which reportedly derives its name from a venue mistakenly billing the duo then known as Jordan and Ben as Georgia Fair due to a bad phone connection.

Their 2011 debut effort All Through Winter was recorded with Band of Horses‘ Bill Reynolds in studios in Asheville, NC; Austin, TX; and Atlanta, GA, and the album peaked in the Top 100 of the ARIA Albums Chart and reached #1 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums Chart. The duo’s 2013 sophomore effort, Trapped Flame was recorded in Los Angeles with Ted Hutt and featured musicians, who were part of the backing bands of Ryan Adams and PJ Harvey — and much like its predecessor, it was a commercial success as it reached the ARIA Top 100 Chart.

After the release of their sophomore effort, the duo relocated to London where they spent time exploring their roots while trying to incorporate new sounds. As Georgia Fair’s Jordan Wilson explains in press notes, “That trip and the intensity of living in London helped us get out of our own way.” And the result is the duo’s third full-length effort The World’s Awake, which reportedly finds the duo capturing their live essence and sound.  In fact, the album’s first single “Slave to Nothing” finds the duo at what may arguably be their most sparse and restrained while nodding at an arena rock blues sound reminiscent of The Black Keys and others; however, at its core is a slow-burning heartache rooted in betrayal, confusion and lingering regret.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Wistful and Summery Visuals for The Coathangers’ “Perfume”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you’ve been made familiar with the Atlanta, GA-based punk trio and JOVM mainstay act The Coathangers. Currently comprised  Julia Kugel (vocals and guitar), Meredith Franco (bass), and Stephanie Luke (drums), the members of the JOVM mainstays have released five full-length albums in their decade and change time together, with each album finding the band refining their sound and songwriting approach while balancing and retaining a brash, raw, seemingly spontaneous simplicity with a feral urgency and biting irony.  With their last two full-length albums — 2014’s Suck My Shirt and last year’s Nosebleed Weekend, the trio wrote what may arguably be the most direct and forceful material of their growing catalog; but they’ve managed to pair that feral energy with rousingly anthemic hooks and a radio-friendly sensibility. 

Earlier this year, the band released the Parasite EP and the material on the EP finds the Atlanta-based JOVM mainstays balancing the unbridled, raw duty of their debut and the increasingly nuanced radio-friendly sensibility of their last two albums as you would hear on the EP’s first single “Captain’s Dead;” however, this particular post focuses on “Perfume,” off last year’s Nosebleed Weekend is some more jangling, sneering and hook-laden punk — but with a underlying bitter wistfulness that should feel familiar with the impending end of summer. 

Directed by J Trav, the recently released video for “Perfume” begins with the members of The Coathangers driving in an old 70s car to the beach, where they hang out with an adorable dog and then cruise around on a boat in a gorgeous and stylistic video; after all, who doesn’t want to spend time hanging out with cool women who kick ass? 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeous and Highly Symbolic Visuals for Rogue and Jaye’s “Golden Lady”

Comprised of the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Courtney Jaye, who has spent stints in Nashville, Atlanta, Austin and elsewhere; and Bay Area-based singer/songwriter Zach Rogue, the frontman of indie rock act Rogue Wave, the country music duo of Rogue and Jaye can trace their origins back to a December 2013 songwriting session, in which the duo quickly recognized they had an instant and easy-going simpatico — perhaps based in their backgrounds as songwriters influenced by country, whose material frequently possessed a wistful, late night, drinking in the honky tonk vibe and the results the critically applauded debut single together “Til It Fades.” As Zach Rogue explains in press notes “We have this thing, and I don’t really know know why, it’s just a comfort level. We have this easy spirit with each other, where I like hearing here sing and I feel very comfortable proposing ideas.”

The duo’s debut effort together, Pent Up features a backing band consisting of Bands of Horses’Bill Reynolds (bass), Floating Action’s Seth Kauffman (guitar) and Grace Potter and The Nocturnals’ and Natalie Prass’ Michael Libramento (drums) and was recorded and engineered by Logan Matheny at Bill Reynolds’ Nashville-based Fleetwood Shack Studio and mixed and mastered by Mikael “Count” Eldridge in San Francisco. Officially released earlier this month, the album has been released to critically praise from a number of major media outlets including The Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, American Songwriter and others, with Rolling Stone Country recently naming the duo one of their “10 New Artists You Need to Know,” and when you hear the album’s latest single “Golden Lady,” you’ll see why as the duo pair an easy-going, 70s AM rock and late night honky tonk twang with Jaye’s gorgeous yet wistful vocals. And while clearly drawing at Americana, 70s Renegade Country, indie rock and pop without being too tethered to them, the song also finds the duo subtly nodding at psychedelia with some pedal effected guitar.

In fact, much like the sources the duo draw from sonically and thematically, “Golden Lady” reveals the duo’s cool self-assuredness as the single is a recording featuring a bunch of old pros, who’ve made it seem way too easy — but at the same time, there’s an understated emotional honesty; the sort that comes from living a full and messy life of mistakes, foibles, joy, heartache, loneliness, being lost and found and lost again, and profoundly life altering experiences and experiencing them as completely and fully as possible — and with an effortless gracefulness.

As the duo’s Courtney Jaye explains, their latest single details an all-too common frustration with the universe and one’s seeming inability to cope with a personally damaging situation and learning how to be patient, how to be alone and how to love yourself before loving another and learning how to trust yourself and letting things go at the time and pace they’re supposed to. And in fact, the recently released video  Ben Bennett and shot and edited by Stefan Colson is shot in hazy, golden light and throughout Jaye is shot hemmed in and trapped in a person-sized tube and cocooned in fabric. And while Jaye is struggling to break free, there’s a sense that some of this is self-inflicted. In fact, as Jaye explains in press notes, “this video symbolizes being trapped by your own fear, self-doubt and lack of trust in universal timing. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you have most likely come across a handful of posts on Simon Green, a Brighton, UK-born, Los Angeles, CA-based DJ, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and electronic music artist, who has written, recorded and performed under the moniker of Bonobo. Interestingly, Green had long been considered part of a movement of producers, multi-instrumentalists and electronic music artists, who specialized in a sleek, hyper-modern and downtempo-leaning electronic music that included  Four Tet, Jon Hopkins, Caribou and others; however, with the release of his critically applauded 2013 release The North Borders Green revealed a decided change in his compositional approach in which he frequently paired electronic production with lush and stunning arrangements featuring organic instrumentation — wth the end result being a sound that possessed a cinematic quality.

The North Borders was also part of a larger, growing trend among many electronic music artists and producers to not only create a much more evocative and nuanced sound but an attempt to remind listeners, fans and critics that there was actual musicality within their productions besides a person haphazardly tapping away at a laptop or turning buttons and dials on a sampler or a processor.

Since the release of The North Borders, Green has been both extremely busy and rather prolific — he released the Flashlight EP at the end of 2014 while during what would turn out to be a two year period of intense touring across the globe. Green somehow managed to find the time to write and recored the material off his sixth full-length album Migration, which was released earlier this year. Naturally, with an album titled Migration, the material thematically focused on migration. As Green remarked in press notes “It’’s interesting how one person will take an influence from one part of the world and move with that influence and effect another part of the world. Over time, the identities of places evolve.” And as a result, the material seemed to possesses a transitory nature — some of the material, including album single “Kerala,” was initially composed while on the road and then was road-tested and revised during Stateside DJ sets. Adding to the album’s transitory nature, it featured guest spots from a number of artists, who have emigrated at some point themselves, including Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based vocalist Michael Milosh of Los Angeles-based indie pop act Rhye, who recorded his vocal tracks while in Berlin, Germany; Australian-born, Brooklyn-based global, indie pop sensation Nick Murphy, formerly known as Chet Faker, who bonded with the British producer over a shared love of disco; Florida-born, Los Angeles-based Nicole Miglis of Los Angeles-based act Hundred Waters; and the New York-based Moroccan collective Innov Gnawa among others. Adding to the album’s transitory nature, Green also employs the use of found sounds that include a Hong Kong elevator, rainfall in Seattle, an Atlanta-based tumble dryer and a New Orleans fan boat engine.

After completing successful tours across both the European Union and North America to support Migration, Green announced the release of a 3 song EP/single package that features album single “Bambro Koyo Ganda,” an analog version of “Bambro Koyo Ganda” that finds Green stripping the song’s production and sound to the bone — retaining a propulsive, undulating pulse and Moroccan-born, New York-based band Innov Gnawa’s vocals and handclap-led percussion, highlighting the hypnotic groove and vocals. EP closing track “Samurai” was written and recorded during the Migration sessions, and consists of a stuttering vocal sample floating over a sinuous production featuring shuffling drum programming and shimmering, subtly arpeggio synth and wobbling low end. And much like the material from the recording sessions it came from, the song should remind listeners of how much Green’s work draws from classic house and soul, while being paradoxically sensual, intimate and yet cinematic.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Courtney Jaye, who has spent stints in Nashville, Atlanta, Austin and elsewhere; and Bay Area-based singer/songwriter Zach Rogue, the frontman of indie rock act Rogue Wave, the country music duo of Rogue and Jaye can trace their origins back to a December 2013 songwriting session, in which the duo quickly recognized they had an instant and easy-going simpatico — perhaps based in their backgrounds as songwriters influenced by country, whose material frequently possessed a wistful, late night, drinking in the honky tonk vibe and the results the critically applauded debut single together “Til It Fades.” As Zach Rogue explains in press notes “We have this thing, and I don’t really know know why, it’s just a comfort level. We have this easy spirit with each other, where I like hearing here sing and I feel very comfortable proposing ideas.”

The duo’s debut effort together, Pent Up features a backing band of Bands of Horses‘ Bill Reynolds (bass), Floating Action‘s Seth Kauffman (guitar) and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals’ and Natalie Prass‘ Michael Libramento (drums) and was recorded and engineered by Logan Matheny at Bill Reynolds’ Nashville-based Fleetwood Shack Studio and mixed and mastered by Mikael “Count” Eldridge in San Francisco. Officially released earlier this month, the album has been released to critically praise from a number of major media outlets including The Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, American Songwriter and others, with Rolling Stone Country recently naming the duo one of their “10 New Artists You Need to Know,” and when you hear the album’s latest single “Golden Lady,” you’ll see why as the duo pair an easy-going, 70s AM rock and late night honky tonk twang with Jaye’s gorgeous yet wistful vocals. And while clearly drawing at Americana, 70s Renegade Country, indie rock and pop without being too tethered to them, the song also finds the duo subtly nodding at psychedelia with some pedal effected guitar.

In fact, much like the sources the duo draw from sonically and thematically, “Golden Lady” reveals the duo’s cool self-assuredness as the single is a recording featuring a bunch of old pros, who’ve made it seem way too easy — but at the same time, there’s an understated emotional honesty; the sort that comes from living a full and messy life of mistakes, foibles, joy, heartache, loneliness, being lost and found and lost again, and profoundly life altering experiences and experiencing them as completely and fully as possible — and with an effortless gracefulness.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Party with the Undead in the New Video for The Coathangers “Captain’s Dead”

Currently comprised of Julia Kugel (vocals and guitar), Meredith Franco (bass), and Stephanie Luke (drums), the Atlanta, GA-based trio and JOVM mainstay The Coathangers have released five full-length albums in their decade plus time together, with each album finding the band refining their sound and songwriting approach, frequently balancing a brash, raw and seemingly spontaneous simplicity and urgency with razor sharp wit and biting irony. Interestingly, with the band’s last two full-length efforts 2014’s Suck My Shirt and last year’s Nosebleed Weekend, the trio’s material was arguably at its most direct and forceful of their entire catalog, which helped to retain the feral and rowdy urgency that they’ve become so known for; but they managed to pair that energy with rousingly anthemic hooks and a pop-leaning sensibility — or in other words, the material may have been some of the more radio friendly songs they’ve released to date.

Parasite, the band’s latest EP is slated for a June 30, 2017 release through Suicide Squeeze Records and the album’s material has the Atlanta-based trio balancing the unbridled and furious expressionism of their debut and the increasingly nuanced, pop-leaning sensibility of their last two albums. As the band’s Julia Kugel explains in press notes “During the making of our last album, I didn’t want to scream anymore, I just wanted to sing and focus on melody. When we came to this recording, I just wanted to scream and curse.” And in some way, it shouldn’t be surprising that the EP’s material is partially inspired by events within the bandmembers’ personal lives, the current political climate, rife with kleptocracy, hypocrisy, blatant sexism, racism and gratuitous cruelty and the band’s own existence and development as artists and songwriters.

“Captain’s Dead,” the first single off the EP manages to sound as though it could have been a B-side to the singles off Nosebleed Weekend while drawing from 90s grunge rock as the song structurally consists of alternating quiet and loud, anthemic hooks, and a surfer rock-inspired bridge, a propulsive rhythm section and a sneering punk rock air. And much like the band’s previously released material, the new single possesses an underlying mischievous feel underneath the scuzzy, give no fucks swagger.

Directed by Matt Odorn, the recently released video for “Captain’s Dead” features zombies, pirates, a merman, cheerleaders, a shit-ton of beer guzzling, some raucous performing within a milieu that’s mischievous, murderous and campy as hell.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Classic Jazz and Pop Sounds of Up-and-Coming Atlanta-based Artist Betti

Betti is a mysterious, up-and-coming, Atlanta, GA-born and-based jazz/pop vocalist, who has started receiving attention for a sound and aesthetic that nods heavily at Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, Ella Fitzgerald, and burlesque; or in other words, for paring equal amounts of grit and grime with an old school elegance as you’ll hear on her debut single “Ordinary,” a single inspired by her own experience, with honest, messy and confusing, real-life love between equally messy, confusing real people. As the Atlanta-based artist explains in press notes “I think it’s important for people to know that the Hollywood impression of intimacy isn’t reality for every day life, especially when it comes to relationships. Every couple goes through ups and downs, and in that rollercoaster, we’re all the same, we’re ordinary.” And while clearly saying that within every relationship we bring our own dysfunctions, messy pasts, doubts, fears, heartaches and egos, and as a result, relationships can be simultaneously confusing, infuriating, joyous and hilarious, it also subtly suggests that in our relationships, we frequently find ourselves drawn to people and situations that we can’t explain.

The recently released music video is a slickly produced and edited –and dare I say, fitting? — take on burlesque and glamorous 40s Hollywood; but while emphasizing the dysfunction at the core of the song’s central relationship.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Trippy and Hypnotic Sounds and Visuals of Bonobo’s “Kerala”

January 13, 2017 will mark the release of Green’s sixth Bonobo effort Migration, and his first full-length release in four years. Fittingly as Green mentions in press notes, the material thematically speaking focuses on migration. “It’’s interesting how one person will take an influence from one part of the world and move with that influence and effect another part of the world. Over time, the identities of places evolve,” the renowned British producer and electronic music artist remarks in press notes. With that in mind, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that the material possesses a transitory nature — some of the material, including the album’s first single “Kerala” was initially composed while on the road and then was road-tested and revised during Stateside DJ sets. And the album’s guest spots feature a number of artists, who have emigrated themselves, including Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based vocalist Michael Milosh of Los Angeles-based indie pop act Rhye, who recorded his vocal tracks while in Berlin, Germany; Australian-born, Brooklyn-based global, indie pop sensation Nick Murphy, formerly known as Chet Faker, who bonded with the British producer over a shared love of disco; Florida-born, Los Angeles-based Nicole Miglis of Los Angeles-based act Hundred Waters; and the New York-based Moroccan collective Innov Gnawa among others. Adding to the album’s transitory nature, Green also employs the use of found sounds that include a Hong Kong elevator, rainfall in Seattle, an Atlanta-based tumble dryer and a New Orleans fan boat engine.

As for “Kerala,” the single manages to further cement elements of Green’s signature sound while expanding upon it as shuffling and skittering 808s are paired with gorgeous yet arpeggiated and knotted strings. And the song builds up until Green drops a cut and layered vocal sample from Brandy that gives the composition a bit of soulfulness and swooning euphoria while possessing a shimmering and cinematic quality.

Directed by video collective Bison, who has produced videos for Jon Hopkins, London Grammar and Rosie Lowe and starring Gemma Arterton, the video compliments the shuffling and trippy nature of the song by creating slowly staggered looped effects in which Arterton is haunted by both terrors unseen by everyone else around her — until the camera pulls out to see an unidentified flying object hovering at the horizon.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Growing up in Atlanta, Blake Fusilier didn’t quite fit in with his contemporaries — while many of his peers aspired to sign to LaFace Records and SoSoDef Records, as a teenager Fusilier picked up the violin, dreamt of being the black Itzhak Perlman and was obsessed with the work of Edgar Allen Poe. And much like odd teenagers — especially odd black teenagers —  a young Fusilier learned that sometimes when you’re extremely different, you can be hated and ridiculed, and around that time he began writing his own music. By the time, he relocated to Boston for college, Fusilier had learned to play the bass and was a member of moody rock band RIBS, which eventually rose to national prominence; in fact, they’ve opened for The Joy Formidable and Queens of the Stone Age, and have been written about across the blogosphere. 

As the story goes, as the band was achieving quite a bit of success, someone asked Fusilier about being black and gay, and the singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer began to realize that running away from those questions and the world’s perceptions of him was spiritually and emotionally exhausting. From that point forward, he wanted to make music that would not only drain those questions of their power but to make them permanently irrelevant. As Fusilier says in press notes, “I have this theory that if people knew who we really were in their minds, we probably would all have a lot more respect for one another. This applies to everyone: friends and acquaintances and bandmates. I think it’s our duty to ourselves to make sure that those around us have a chance to allow others to see our glorious, true selves. I finally feel like I’m beginning to live by those words. The songs I’m wrapping up have been floating around for years. I had been anticipating the moment when people could actually hear even 20 seconds of my potential.” 

So far the response from the blogosphere and music critics has been wildly positive with one critic in particular describing Fusilier’s sound as being a synthesis of James Brown and Nine Inch Nails — although as soon as I heard his latest single “Make You,” I immediately heard Prince, Jef Barbara, Boulevards, Gordon Voidwell and quite a bit of contemporary electro pop as the former RIBS bassist’s sultry and sensual cooing is paired with a slick, hyper modern production consisting of a sinuous bass line, propulsive drum programming led by finger snaps, layers of buzzing synths and electronics, and an incredibly infectious hook in a club banging song that possess an unresolved sexual tension and a sly and ironic commentary on racial and sexual identity. And it all should be a reminder that you can pair some deeply personal and political messages in dance music — and the most important that music can be one of the most powerful weapons imaginable.  

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Charlie Greene Returns with an Aching, Country-Leaning Cover of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie

Several years have passed since we’ve heard from Charlie Greene but as Greene has told me via email, he’s been pretty busy of late as he’s putting the finishing touches on an album that is tentatively slated for release sometime over the winter, along with some tour dates; but in the meantime, the Atlanta-born and Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter has started a video series he’s titled “Dead Man’s Cattle Call,” in which he an this backing band pay tribute to a recently deceased musician of note with a one-take recording in a Topanga, CA-based grape arbor, then they release an accompanying video. And the latest installment is a slow-burning country music rendition of David Bowie’s “The Prettiest Star,” which pulls out the nostalgic wistfulness and ache at the core of the original.

The recently released music video was shot by the folks at Beard and Glasses VR and to get the full effect of the video, please check it out on Google Chrome or on your smartphone. It’s a trippy and immersive effect to be able to view everything the musicians did while performing the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays, The Coathangers Return with 60s Girl Group Inspired Visuals and Sounds for New Single “Down Down”

“Down Down” Nosebleed Weekend’s latest single will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting incredibly catchy hook in a song that possesses an obvious studio sheen — but without removing the scuzzy and primal feel of the album’s previously released material; in fact, “Down Down” possesses a mosh pit-ready feel while pairing it with a 60s girl group-leaning harmonies and layers of distorted and towering guitar chords.

Directed by Matt Odom, the recently released music video for “Down Down” interestingly enough draws from old footage and videos of 60s girls groups playing on American Bandstand, The Ed Sullivan Show and others complete with the members of the band singing and playing in front of psychedelic and art school projects — but with a clean, hyper-modern feel.