Tag: Berlin Germany

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: deathybypeanuts Teams Up with J.A.D.E on a Sultry Ode to Black Hair

deathbypeanuts is a mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer, multi-instrumentalist and artist. As a classically trained pianist, the mysterious and rising German-based artist switched to contemporary jazz piano and bass guitar as a teen, before starting his music career at 17 as a touring musician.

During the pandemic, the rising German-based artist took his first steps as a producer and songwriter. And since then, he has collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed and rising artists including Kelvyn Colt, Chris James, Noah Slee, Beau Diako, JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrom, Sipprell, J. Lamotta, and a lengthy list of others while showcasing an ever-evolving sound and approach.

deathbypeanuts’ highly-anticipated debut EP is slated for a November release through Lekker Collective. The EP’s latest single “4 My 4Cs” features vocals from Amsterdam-based neo-soul/R&B artist J.A.D.E. The Dutch-based artist’s work delves deeply into her open-minded exploration of love experiences, featuring her captivating and soulful melodies. Anchored around a lush, Quiet Storm-like production with glistening synths, a strutting bass line, “4 My 4Cs” sees the Amsterdam-based artist singing about self-love — namely loving your coily, kinky Black hair — with a sultry vocal turn.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Irrepressibles Share Joyous Visual for Slinky “Destination”

Jamie Irrepressible is a North Yorkshire-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer. He’s also the creative mastermind behind The Irrepressibles. Throughout his career, the British singer/songwriter and producer has made sexuality — in particular, his sexuality — the centerpiece of his work.

2010’s full-length debut, Mirror Mirror featured “In This Shirt,” which was later included on the soundtrack for the short film., The Lady Is Dead. 2012’s “Two Men in Love” firmly cemented The Irrepressibles mastermind’s reputation for being fearlessly uncompromising in terms of song structure and thematic concern. In 2014, he sang the song at the first wedding between two men in the UK.

Adding to a growing international profile, “In This Shirt” received remixes from Norwegian electronic outfit Röyksopp, Hercules & Love Affairand Zero 7. The British artist would subsequently contribute lead vocals to five tracks on Röyksopp’s 2014 album Inevitable End — “Something in My Heart,” “I Had This Thing,” “Here She Comes Again,” “Compulsion” and “You Know I Have To Go,” as well as backing vocals on “Monument,” feat. Robyn. He contributed vocals on two tracks of Dutch progressive dance duo’s 2022 album In Another Lifetime, “You Take My Hand” and “I Am Free.” He also contributed vocals on three tracks of Röyksopp’s Profound Mysteries trilogy. 

As a solo artist, digital singles released between 2018-2020, “Submission,” “Dominance” and “Anxiety,” saw Irrepressible exploring a starker, darker and much more electronic direction, influenced by a relocation to Berlin, where he eventually wrote and recorded 2021’s Superheroes, “a concept album telling the story of a love affair that’s both set in Berlin and takes its musical cues from the city,” the British artist explains. 

The British singer/songwriter and producer’s forthcoming The Irrepressible album, Yo Homo! is reportedly the most direct, most sexual album of his catalog to date — and a celebratory, uninhibited and steamy rush of lust, love, honesty and community. “I want to make a record specifically for the queer community, to create a safe space where people feel they are being expressed. To contribute something to that soundtrack of our lives, both in the music and the videos.” 

Yo Homo! album single “Destination” is a slinky and sensual song anchored around a strutting guitar line, the London-based artist’s sultrily yearning cooing paired with a steady backbeat. The song ends with a Scott Walker-like orchestral coda, which adds a sexy and smart stylishness to the proceedings. Thematically, the song is about the longing for love in an era of hook-up culture and fast-paced intimacy. The song tells the story of a man living in isolation, going from one one-night stand to another, but desperately longing for deeper connection.

Directed by Jack Willoughby, the accompanying video follows a lonely and melancholic, latex muscle man. “Romance seems to happen in the most unlikely of places,” Willoughby explains. “So when a melancholic muscle man heads to a tropical aquarium to find his precious pet fish, he ends up impressing his own crush with an optimistic mating dance.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Irrepressibles Share Slinky “Destination”

Jamie Irrepressible is a North Yorkshire-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer. He’s also the creative mastermind behind The Irrepressibles. Throughout his career, the British singer/songwriter and producer has made sexuality — in particular, his sexuality — the centerpiece of his work.

2010’s full-length debut, Mirror Mirror featured “In This Shirt,” which was later included on the soundtrack for the short film., The Lady Is Dead. 2012’s “Two Men in Love” firmly cemented The Irrepressibles mastermind’s reputation for being fearlessly uncompromising in terms of song structure and thematic concern. In 2014, he sang the song at the first wedding between two men in the UK.

Over the course of the past decade, “In This Shirt,” “Two Men In Love,” as well as “The Most Beautiful Boy” were included on several films and TV shows internationally, including season two of Netflix’s Young Royals and Norwegian teen series SKAM.

Adding to a growing international profile, “In This Shirt” received remixes from Norwegian electronic outfit Röyksopp, Hercules & Love Affair and Zero 7. The British artist would subsequently contribute lead vocals to five tracks on Röyksopp’s 2014 album Inevitable End — “Something in My Heart,” “I Had This Thing,” “Here She Comes Again,” “Compulsion” and “You Know I Have To Go,” as well as backing vocals on “Monument,” feat. Robyn. He contributed vocals on two tracks of Dutch progressive dance duo’s 2022 album In Another Lifetime, “You Take My Hand” and “I Am Free.” He also contributed vocals on three tracks of Röyksopp’s Profound Mysteries trilogy.

As a solo artist, digital singles released between 2018-2020, “Submission,” “Dominance” and “Anxiety,” saw Irrepressible exploring a starker, darker and much more electronic direction, influenced by a relocation to Berlin, where he eventually wrote and recorded 2021’s Superheroes, “a concept album telling the story of a love affair that’s both set in Berlin and takes its musical cues from the city,” the British artist explains.

The British singer/songwriter and producer’s forthcoming The Irrepressible album, Yo Homo! is reportedly the most direct, most sexual album of his catalog to date — and a celebratory, uninhibited and steamy rush of lust, love, honesty and community. “I want to make a record specifically for the queer community, to create a safe space where people feel they are being expressed. To contribute something to that soundtrack of our lives, both in the music and the videos.”

Yo Homo! album single “Destination” is a slinky and sensual song anchored around a strutting guitar line, the London-based artist’s sultrily yearning cooing paired with a steady backbeat. The song ends with a Scott Walker-like orchestral coda, which adds a sexy and smart stylishness to the proceedings. Thematically, the song is about the longing for love in an era of hook-up culture and fast-paced intimacy. The song tells the story of a man living in isolation, going from one one-night stand to another, but desperately longing for deeper connection.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Laura Carbone Shares Bittersweet “Silver Rain”

Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, photographer and JOVM mainstay Laura Carbone‘s third album The Cycle was released earlier this year. The album, which debuted on North American college radio at #19 on the NACC Top Adds Chart, is a concept […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Rafa Mura, initially relocated to Berlin when he was 18 years-old to study Computer Science. And while in school, he built a home studio in his dorm room. After dropping out of college to pursue a music degree, Mura started his own recording project Shimizu, which sees him blending both analog and electronic music, playing most of the instrumentation and then often resampling the material to craft a sound that has been described as a warm hug and as he puts it, “sad songs to dance to,” while being heavily influenced by Brazilian music.

With Shimizu, Mura has collaborated with different artists from across the Berlin scene, including A.K.A. Kelzz, Rosa Landers, Ish and more.

“MinuteSpent” sees the rising Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and producer continuing to collaborate with an eclectic collection of artists in the local scene. In this case:

  • Luminiah, a Santa Fe, NM-born, Berlin-based musician and singer/songwriter. A third generation musician and singer/songwriter, the Santa Fe-born, Berlin-based artist grew up singing folk sand the blues with both her father and grandfather. As a solo artist, Luminiah’s work is inspired by the likes of Erykah Badu and Cleo Sol and sees her blending elements of neo-soul, R&B and folk.
  • Charlotte Colace, a Berlin-based Cuban-French neo-soul singer/songwriter, whose work possesses a distinctive rock ‘n’ roll edge. Colace is currently a backing vocalist and percussionist for local act Stella & The Longos and a member of the acclaimed singer/songwriter choir A Song For You. And as a solo artist, her brutally honest and emotionally charged lyrics provide a raw, sensitive and thoughtful perspective on the world.

Sonically “MinuteSpent” is a woozy blend of baile funk and footwork featuring glitchy and jazzy breakbeats paired with glistening Larry Levan-like arpeggiated synths serving as a lush and soulful bed for Luminiah’s and Colace’s yearning and soulful vocals and harmonies. The song manages to capture the blissful yet obsessive emotions of a budding romance, where the time you’ve spent with that special somehow never quite feels sufficient — and you long for them constantly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mister Lady Shares a Mesmerizing and Swaggering Banger

Jacqueline King is a Chicago-born, Berlin-educated, London-trained, Los Angeles-based electronic music producer and DJ, best known in electronic music circles as Mister Lady. With Mister Lady, King draws from a huge catalog of musical influences, […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays The Lovelines Share Woozy “Make Believe (Life Is Such A Dream)”

Currently split between Berlin and  Orlando, the JOVM mainstays The Lovelines — the sibling duo of Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and prodution) — have released material from their forthcoming full-length debut single-by-single. 

Over the past handful of months, I’ve written about five of the album’s singles:

  • “May Be Love,” a slow-burning torch song-like take on trip hop and neo-soul built around shimmering pedal steel and congo-led percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful vocal expressing an aching longing for love — and to be loved. 

  • “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love?” a breezy pop song built around a looped, shimmering, finger plucked acoustic guitar melody and percussive percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. On one level, the song views love with a healthy cynicism — but as the band’s Todd Goings explains, “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love is a portrait of the fool in love. Do only fools fall in love or does love make us fools?“

  • “Low Fidelity” is a decidedly jazz pop/pop jazz take on their firmly established trip hop-inspired sound that’s rooted in their penchant for incredibly catchy hooks, dusty, old-school inspired production paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. 

  • “Darlin’,” a slow-burning torch song that’s one-part neo-soul, one-part old school pop-meets trip hop anchored around a dusty, lo-fi production featuring twinkling Rhodes, boom-bap like drumming and a supple bass line serving as a lush bed for Tessa D’s soulful and yearning crooning. 

  • “Killing Floor,” a vibey bit of psych-tinged neo-soul, anchored around a glistening vaguely Eastern-like guitar line, congo-driven percussion samples of casino games blaring and bleeping. The song’s arrangement and production serves as a lush yet strangely atmospheric bed for Tessa D’s soulful croon.

The duo’s latest single “Make Believe (Life Is Such A Dream)” is a woozy trip-hop-like take on indie pop anchored around twinkling and arpeggiated keys, reverb-soaked pedal steel and skittering beats paired with the duo’s unerring knack for crafting catchy hooks. The song’s arrangement and production serves as a dusty bed for Tessa D’s heartbroken delivery.

“It is a song about lying to oneself,” the duo explain. “The inspiration for the song was ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,’ in that the sound of the song and the lyrics of the song are tonal opposites. It sounds light, but when you read the lyrics it’s dark. So, is it a light song, or is it a dark song? It’s both, and is dependant on the listener’s perception of it. In Make Believe, the protagonist is in a loveless relationship, and rather than accepting this truth, chooses to lie to themselves. The sound of the song is the lie, and the lyrics are the truth.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: AKA Kellz Teams Up with Ria Boss on a Celebration of Black Liberation, Beauty and Self-Acceptance

AKA Kelzz is a Berlin-based, queer, non-binary Black artist, who’s committed to intersectionality and uplifting BIPOC communities. The Berlin-based artist’s career and musical journey has been a testament to perseverance. Overcoming various setbacks and limited representation, AKA Kelzz found much-needed solace in Berlin while reigniting their passion for music.

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for the Berlin-based artist to develop their songwriting and to hone their production skills. Collaborating with producer Rafa Mura helped to launch their career, and since then they’ve become a rising figure in Berlin’s soul music scene.

Over the past year, the Berlin-based artist has played opening slots for Pip Millet and Madison McFerrin. They’ve also played sets at Melt Festival and X-Jazz Berlin Festival. And along with that, they’ve collaborated with JOVM mainstays Nick Hakim and Annahstasia as part of Noah Slee’s vocal ensemble A Song For You. Building upon a growing profile, AKA Kelzz’s recent releases “Free Falling,” “Hidden” and TikTok viral hit “Fly,” are part of the creation of a platform that specifically uplifts the voices of dark-skinned and/or queer black folks, who are often overlooked. (Fuck yes to all of that.)

Ria Boss is an acclaimed Ghanian musician, songwriter and performer with an incredible voice. Affectionately nicknamed “Cat Mama,” Boss has created Cat Mama World, where her multiple artist personalities and endeavors come to life.

Her latest album, 2022’s Remember was ranked the #1 R&B album of that year by Native Magazine. And Boss’ live show Cat Mama World as gained popularity for its showcase of her theatrical ability and storytelling.

AKA Kelzz’s latest single “Mango” sees the Berlin-based artist collaborating with the acclaimed Ghanian artist. Anchored around a sleek Afrobeats-meets-contemporary R&B-like production featuring bursts of strummed acoustic guitar, swirling and painterly layers of glistening synths paired with skittering beats, the song’s production serves as a dreamily lush bed for AKA Kelzz’s and Boss’ to trade soulful vocals — and for their ethereal harmonies. The song captures the profound joy of finding understanding and acceptance in a world that can be all too cruel to anyone not white, cis het or heteronormative.

And while sonically reminding me of THEESatisifaction, “Mango,” as the two collaborators explain is “a celebration of liberation, beauty and self-acceptance” that was inspired by the rising Berlin-based artist’s experience visiting Ghana last summer.

During that trip, AKA Kelzz experienced a profound sense of liberation. “I saw my reflection daily,” the Berlin-based artist says. “This unlocked a new level of Black liberation for me, and I want to bring this sunshine and liberation back to folks all over the world.” 

“This song is about embracing our own beauty and power. It’s about not being afraid to be who we are and to shine our light,” Ria Boss adds. “It feels like the softness of the sun on my skin and reminds me of how sweet life can be when we accept ourselves.”

Directed by Yalla She Said, the accompanying video for “Mango” features a collection of beautiful and incredibly stylish Black folk at a picnic in a verdant park. There’s different expressions of gender and of Black people — but they’re experiencing a collective joy while championing and holding each other up.

“The ‘Mango’ music video serves as a call to liberation, crafted to ignite inspiration and empowerment among BIPOC wom*n, urging them to champion each other on a profound life journey: to lead and shape a fresh reality where all feel truly seen and heard. Equal and embraced, amidst our myriad differences,” Yalla She Said explains.

“‘Mango’ becomes a vibrant celebration of colors and diversity, embracing the tender link between goddesses and the essence of nature, rooted in Mother Earth’s embrace. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstay Laura Carbone Shares Bittersweet “Silver Rain”

Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, photographer and JOVM mainstay Laura Carbone‘s third album The Cycle was released earlier this year. The album, which debuted on North American college radio at #19 on the NACC Top Adds Chart, is a concept album that explores the emotional turmoil, triumphs and transformative experiences that the album’s protagonist experiences through the course of the passing seasons of a year.

Each song of the represents an experience or inspiration associated with that particular season and the story of the album’s protagonist.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two previously released singles:

  • “Horses,” a slow-burning song built around lush and shimmering acoustic guitar, Carbone’s expressive and yearning delivery, paired with a supple bass line and dramatic drumming. Sonically bringing PJ Harvey’s “You Said Something” to mind, the song is set in the fullness of summer. The song’s protagonist is experiencing the heat, humidity and passion of the season — when fields become gold and heatwaves and wildfires turn them into ash. But there’s a reminder that Mother Earth will restore and reclaim burnt ground in time. 

  • “The Good,” a breathtakingly gorgeous song featuring shimmering and reverb soaked guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line, gently padded drumming and bursts of soaring organ serving as a lush bed for Carbone’s expressive vocal. At its core, the song is rooted in the lived-in personal experience and hard-fought, harder-won wisdom of someone who has lived a full, messy and complicated life. And a result the song is profoundly empathetic and understanding examination of human behavior that seems to say “I’ve been there, too.” Carbone explains that the track looks at our puzzling capacity for denial — not just of the truth, but of the embrace and love we owe ourselves. 

Building upon The Cycle‘s chart-burning momentum, the German JOVM mainstay shared an additional single from the album, “Silver Rain,” a bittersweet ballad anchored around a propulsive rhythm section, shimmering reverb-soaked guitars, a cathartic hook serving as a lush bed for Carbone’s expressive, soulful vocal.

While seemingly channelling Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea-era PJ Harvey, “Silver Rain,” as Carbone explains explores the relief a break-up can bring and the room in our hearts that such a bittersweet letting go creates.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Nando the Native Shares a Tale of Heartbreak and Betrayal

Nando the Native is an emerging Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based R&B/indie pop artist, whose career started in earnest as a member of acclaimed, award-winning R&B outfit A Song For You, led by Noah Slee. And as member of A Song For You, the Nicaraguan-born artist has shared stages with the likes of JOVM mainstay Nick Hakim, Kelvyn Colt and Annahstasia while collaborating with Carhatt, Dr. Martens, and Levi’s.

The Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based artist stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist. His music as a solo artist serves as a genuine reflection of his innermost thoughts and emotions, inviting listeners into his world with raw honesty and vulnerability. Although he cites Frank Ocean, Miguel and a list of other artists as influences on his overall sound and approach, having grown up straddling two contrasting cultures have informed his vocal and musical versatility while being a testament to wholly embracing one’s own identity.

Rejecting the confines of traditional labels and genre boundaries, the Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based artist has forged his own path, creating music that draws from his heritage and the cosmopolitan energy of Berlin’s rich creative scene.

In a relatively short period of time, Nando the Native has made a name for himself in the Berlin R&B scene through collaborations with a collection of local and international artists and producers including Jonny Wood and Axel Benamar.

Released last month, his six-song solo debut EP Nothing But A Lesson thematically touches upon the complexities of heartache, toxic relationship, love, fetishization and more. The effort sees Nando the Native pairing poignant, lived-in lyricism with velvety-smooth production while showcasing an old-school inspired vocal prowess and attention to craft. “Nothing But A Lesson is a collection of songs I wrote during a time I was still learning how to set boundaries in relationships,” the Berlin-based artist explains. “This EP is a little reminder for me not to fall into something toxic again.”

Nothing But A Lesson‘s latest single “Honest” is a vibey bit of R&B anchored around a production featuring skittering beats and a looping arpeggiated acoustic gutter sample serving as a lush, satiny bed for the Berlin-based artist’s soulful, heartbroken croon. Written from the lived-in perspective of someone who has been fetishized for being of color, the song addresses the fetishization of BIPOC folks from whites and others, who fixate on the seeming exoticness of someone’s ethnicity or skin color — and not on who they actually are as a person. And throughout the song’s narrator expresses a sense of betrayal, hurt and confusion, as well as the sense of foolishly taking part in their own fetishization.

The accompanying video as Nando the Native explains portrays the situations described in the song: The love interest in the video seems to get off on having Nando speak Spanish all the time, but for the rising artist, there’s a sense that he feels a bit like an accessory. Later, we see the same girl at a party full of BIPOC folks, flirting with another guy. Towards the ends of the night, she’s calling Nando but little does she know he knows she’s up to no good.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays The Lovelines Take a Gamble on Love

Currently split between Berlin and  Orlando, the JOVM mainstays The Lovelines — the sibling duo of Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and prodution) — have released material from their forthcoming full-length debut single-by-single.

So far, I’ve managed to write about four of the album’s singles:

  • “May Be Love,” a slow-burning torch song-like take on trip hop and neo-soul built around shimmering pedal steel and congo-led percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful vocal expressing an aching longing for love — and to be loved. 

  • “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love?” a breezy pop song built around a looped, shimmering, finger plucked acoustic guitar melody and percussive percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. On one level, the song views love with a healthy cynicism — but as the band’s Todd Goings explains, “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love is a portrait of the fool in love. Do only fools fall in love or does love make us fools?“

  • “Low Fidelity” is a decidedly jazz pop/pop jazz take on their firmly established trip hop-inspired sound that’s rooted in their penchant for incredibly catchy hooks, dusty, old-school inspired production paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. 

  • “Darlin’,” a slow-burning torch song that’s one-part neo-soul, one-part old school pop-meets trip hop anchored around a dusty, lo-fi production featuring twinkling Rhodes, boom-bap like drumming and a supple bass line serving as a lush bed for Tessa D’s soulful and yearning crooning.

The album’s latest single “Killing Floor” is a vibey bit of psych-tinged neo soul, rooted in glistening vaguely Eastern sounding guitar, congo-driven percussion, samples of casino games blaring and bleeping serving as a lush yet strangely atmospheric bed for Tessa D’s soulful croon.

“‘Killing Floor’ is about the abstract connection between three subjects: a casino, a slaughterhouse, and life itself,” the band’s Todd Goings explains. “Every one of these places/things is a killing floor in its own sense. The idea is a ‘if the game is rigged and you’re bound to lose, you might as well gamble’ thing… gamble on love, gamble on pursuing a dream, etc.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: MERON, deathbypeanuts and an All-Star Band Team Up on Sultry “Cold As Usual”

deathbypeanuts is a mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer, who has collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed and rising artists including Kelvyn Colt, Chris James, Noah Slee, Beau Diako, JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrom, Sipprell, J. Lamotta, and a lengthy list of others. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Superspeed,” a slickly produced track featuring a simple yet eerie piano melody, trap beats and wobbling, tweeter and woofer railing low end paired with MERON‘s delivery which alternates between hip-hop swagger and aching yearning for the song’s verses. Much like Majid Jordan‘s work, deathbypeanuts’ latest single manages to mesh the sultriness of contemporary R&B with trap swagger and catchy, pop hooks.

Recently, the rising Berlin-based producer released a live version of his debut single “Cold As Usual,” his first collaboration with MERON. The live rendition features MERON backed by a talented crew of players that includes Krept Konan’s, Lady Leshurr’s and Lion Babe‘s Jay Cobain (drums); Moses Yofee Trio‘s and Peter Fox‘s Roman Klobe-Barangǎ (guitar); A Song For You’s Alyssa Grace (keys); and deathbypeanuts (bass). The live rendition is a sultry and slow-burning, neo-soul-like take built around an easygoing and understated arrangement of fluttering keys, a supple bass line, bursts of squiggly guitar and a skittering yet propulsive backbeat serving as lush bed for MERON’s silky and yearning delivery expressing confusion, longing and frustration.

“’Cold As Usual’ captures the honesty of a situation, rather than dressing it up with unnecessary sentiment or cliches,” MERON explains. “It’s about those moments when relationships get frosty, and I wanted it to resonate with anyone who’s ever felt that same emotional distance.”

Conceived by Cycles Studio, the live video features MERON and the incredibly talented live band in a minimalist back set, shot with spotlighting and silhouettes to create a dramatic, cinematic quality.

“The vision was to translate the smooth and effortless sound of deathbypeanuts into a visual world,” Cycles Studio explains. “A minimal set, creative lighting, and a gliding camera were the tools we used to bring the song and the image together into an artistic union.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, photographer and JOVM mainstay Laura Carbone‘s first two albums 2016’s Sirens and 2018’s Empty Sea were released to rapturous critical praise, with both albums drawing comparisons to PJ Harvey, Shana Falana, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and others. 

Carbone’s highly anticipated third album, The Cycle is slated for an April release. The Cycle is a concept album that explores the emotional turmoil, triumphs and transformative experiences that the album’s protagonist experiences through the course of the passing seasons of a year. Throughout the course of a calendar year, up until the album’s release, Carbone released a new single every season. Each single represents an experience or inspiration associated with that particular season and the story of the album’s protagonist. 

Last year I wrote about album single “Horses,” a slow-burning song built around lush and shimmering acoustic guitar, Carbone’s expressive and yearning delivery, paired with a supple bass line and dramatic drumming. Sonically bringing PJ Harvey’s “You Said Something” to mind, the song is set in the fullness of summer. The song’s protagonist is experiencing the heat, humidity and passion of the season — when fields become gold and heatwaves and wildfires turn them into ash. But there’s a reminder that Mother Earth will restore and reclaim burnt ground in time. 

The Cycle‘s final single “The Good” is slow-burning and breathtakingly gorgeous song featuring shimmering and reverb soaked guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line, gently padded drumming and bursts of soaring organ serving as a lush bed for Carbone’s expressive vocal. At its core, the song is rooted in the lived-in personal experience and hard-fought, harder-won wisdom of someone who has lived a full, messy and complicated life. And a result the song is profoundly empathetic and understanding examination of human behavior that seems to say “I’ve been there, too.”

Carbone explains that the track looks at our puzzling capacity for denial — not just of the truth, but of the embrace and love we owe ourselves.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: D1V4 Shares Minimalist “WINTERSPORT”

Featuring members split between Berlin and Yberg, D1V4 is a German New Wave duo — Luis (vocals) and Cosy Mo (production) — that officially formed not too long ago, and can trace its origins back to when the duo met while collaborating in film: Luis worked as a filmmaker and director and Cosy Mo as a sound designer. In an attempt to enhance their work, the duo experimented with their own beats, gradually developing a common musical language – which resulted in their debut single “WINTERSPORT.”

“WINTERSPORT” is a minimalist bit of synth pop built around skittering beats and twinkling synth arpeggios and chanted mantra-like vocals that sounds a bit like Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks with a mischievously anachronistic quality.

The accompanying video features slickly edited footage of what appears to be Olympic Ski Ballet shot during the 1984 Winter Olympics. Each of the competitors manages to move almost in time to the accompanying song’s beats.