Tag: Berlin Germany

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alice Phoebe Lou Shares Dreamy and Summery “Shelter”

Cape Town-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and JOVM mainstay  Alice Phoebe Lou grew up in an intensely creative home: her parents were documentary filmmakers, who took a young Lou to piano lessons. As a teenager, Lou taught herself guitar.

When she turned 16, the JOVM mainstay went on a life-altering trip to Paris to visit her aunt. Armed with an acoustic guitar, Lou wound up meeting some of the city’s buskers and street performers — and she was instantly hooked. She even learned poi dancing from some of them. Upon completing her studies, Cape Town-born, Berlin-based artist returned to Europe, where she quickly developed a reputation as a highly-regarded busker — and for a fiercely DIY approach to her career.

Lou self-released her debut EP, 2014’s Momentum. She followed that up with her full-length debut, Orbit, which was released to widespread critical applause, including a Best Female Artist nomination at that year’s German Critics’ Awards. The Cape Town-born, Berlin-based artist closed out a whirlwind year with three, sold-out multimedia shows at the Berlin Planetarium. Those Berlin Planetarium shows were so popular and in such high demand that additional shows had to be added to her tour schedule in 2017. 

In 2018, the live version of “She” amassed over four million streams on YouTube and was featured in Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story — before the studio version of the single had been recorded or released. Lou then spent the bulk of that year or so, writing and recording the material, which would comprise her sophomore album, 2019’s critically applauded, Noah Georgeson-produced Paper Castles. According to Lou, the album was “about nostalgia, about growing into a woman, about the pain and beauty of the past, about feeling small and insignificant but finding that to be powerful and beautiful, about acknowledging that childhood is over but bringing some of it with you.”

2021 saw Lou, much like countless others readapting her way of working. The result was her third album, 2021’s self-released David Parry-produced Glow, an album of visceral, glittering songs in which the JOVM mainstay articulated her deepest thoughts and emotions with her trademark unvarnished honesty. With touring at a standstill throughout the bulk of that year, Lou focused on writing and recording another album. The JOVM mainstay, along with her friends and collaborators Ziv and Daklis traveled to British Columbia to work with David Parry. Employing a simple and intuitive process, which allowed the songs to grow into themselves, the material they worked on was recored on 8-track tape machine, the end result was her fourth album and second of the that year, Child’s Play.

Lou’s latest single “Shelter” is the first single off her forthcoming fifth album, which from my understanding will be announced soon. But in the meantime, “Shelter” is a decidedly 70s album rock-inspired tune featuring glistening and arpeggiated keys, strummed guitar, a sinuous bass line and a propulsive backbeat paired with Lou’s achingly yearning vocal, bathed in a bit of distortion and reverb. While the song evokes warmly nostalgic thoughts about summer, the song’s narrator seemingly finds herself at an uncomfortable, uneasy balance: Although she points out that underneath her armor is a tender and vulnerable soul, she readily admits a need to put herself first.

Shot on 8mm film and edited by Andrea Ariel with additional footage from Jasha Hase and Alice Phoebe Lou, the accompanying video for “Shelter” features behind-the-scene footage of the acclaimed artist while on tour last year. Capturing Lou at her most playful and beguiling, the video is rooted in sweet, sun-kissed memories.

The acclaimed Cape Town-born, Berlin-based artist will be embarking on a lengthy international tour to build up buzz and support the new album. The tour will kick off with a May 9. 2023 stop at The Sultan Room. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

IRYS is an emerging, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer, who specializes in what she describes as dark electro pop with a note of retro and synth wave. She released her first single earlier this and currently has plans to release one single a month throughout the rest of the year. 

Earlier this year, the Berlin-based artist released “River,” a mid-tempo Version 2.0 Garbage-like track that featured her sultry vocal over a slick production featuring shimmering synths, skittering tweeter and woofer rocking beats and a propulsive bass line.

She followed that up with “Warriors,” one of the more dance floor friendly tracks of her growing catalog that manages to still be darkly seductive.

“Borderline,” IRYS’ latest single is brooding, trip hop-inspired bop centered around tweeter and woofer rattling beats, glistening synths, bursts of strummed guitar paired with the Berlin-based artist’s sultry and self-assured delivery and her knack for crafting infectious hooks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Carla dal Forno Shares Sultry “Side By Side”

Singer/songwriter, musician and Kallista Records label head Carla dal Forno has spent the better part of a decade or so moving, writing, recording and touring out our Berlin and London, before recently relocating to Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, where she wrote and recorded her third album Come Around. 

Slated for November 4, 2022 release through her own Kallista Records, Come Aroundreportedly sees dal Forno grappling with ideas of home, disorder and insomnia with self-assured, enlightened songwriting and pop hooks. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about album title track “Come Around,” a narcoleptic, meandering, dub-like take on indie pop centered around reverb and delay-drenched guitar and drums paired with dal Forno’s inviting, easy-going delivery and a well-placed, infectious hook. The end result is a song that feels like an open-ended invitation to stop by and stay awhile, to make yourself at home.

Come Around‘s latest single “Side By Side” is a dreamy and slow-burning, dub-inspired take on indie pop centered around a sinuous bass line, reverb and delay-drenched beats and bursts of twinkling, buzzing and atmospheric synths paired with dal Forno’s yearning, come hither delivery. It’s a slinky and sultry song, full of nocturnal desire.

“‘Side By Side’ is about the anticipation of hooking up with someone and the feelings of inevitability, transparency and impatience,” dal Forno explains. “It’s all in the lyric, ‘Make your move / I recognise the method you use.’ I’ve been sitting on this track for a few years. The production was really slow at first, leaning towards ‘ballad’ territory but it really seemed to find its groove when I increased the tempo and leaned into the bassline hook.”

Directed by Ludovic Sauvage, the haunting accompanying video complements the track’s nocturnal longing as it features a shadowy, blue-lit dal Forno superimposed over a shot of blooming, pink tulips in a stark, black backdrop.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay James Chatburn Shares a Woozy, Classic Soul-Inspired Jam

James Chatburn is a rising, Sydney-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer. Since relocating to the German capital back in 2015, Chatburn has carved out a reputation for being a highly in-demand singer/songwriter and producer, who has collaborated with acclaimed Aussie hip-hop outfit Hilltop Hoods‘ certified Gold single “Higher,”  rum.gold, Jordan Rakei, Noah Slee, Sedric Perry, and a growing list of others. As a solo artist, the Sydney-born, Berlin-based JOVM mainstay has developed and honed a sound that meshes elements of soul, blues, electro pop, neo-soul and psych pop with the release of his full-length debut, 2020’s David Tobias co-produced Faible. 

During the lead-up to Fabile‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s singles: 

  • “In My House,” a warm and vibey, two-step inducing bit of soul, centered around introspective, earnest songwriting, reverb-drenched guitars and thumping beats.
  • “Jewellery and Gold,” one of the album’s more tongue-in-cheek tracks, featuring a narrator looking forward to a future, where he’s flush with cash, and as a result, any of the major issues of his life being settled with that newfound cash — because dollar dollar bill y’all. 
  • “The Hurt,” a ballad that saw the Aussie-born, German-based JOVM mainstay express longing and heartache in a way that reminded me quite a bit of Nick Hakim.

Chatburn’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Late Night Howling officially dropped today. And if you’ve been following this site over the past month, you might recall that I wrote about “Do You Wanna Live Like That,” feat. Noah Slee, an expansive and mind-bending take on neo-soul and pop centered around a unique and woozily dynamic song structure that rapidly shifts in tone, time signature and instrumentation: The song’s introduction begins with twinkling pianos in a Latin jazz like tempo before quickly shifting to tweeter and woofer rattling trap beats and then shifting again to a vibey 70s neo-soul-inspired coda. 

Lyrically, the song is intimate and introspective, with its narrator vacillating between self-doubt, analysis, progression and gratefulness. “‘Do You Wanna Live Like That’ is a track I created which ended up kind of being a few different tracks in one, inspired by people like Tyler, The Creator with just these sudden drops and Sault with this vibe – simple not perfect, but just perfectly imperfect,” James Chatburn explains. “Noah Slee and I have been friends basically since we both moved to Berlin, it just took 7 years but we finally got around to releasing a track together.” 

Late Night Howling‘s latest single “Some Kind of Fool” sonically is indebted to Quiet Storm-meets-classic, late 60s-mid 70s psych soul as it’s centered around an arrangement of shimmering Rhodes, supple and sinuous bass lines, some metronomic time keeping, squiggling bursts of funk guitar and a soaring string arrangement serving as an ethereal and brooding bed for Chatburn, who fittingly adopts a yearning and heartbroken falsetto for most of the song. Although the song’s narrator is heartbroken and deceived, they have taken some degree of power back by clearly calling out someone, who has manipulated and exploited them.

“This song is about noticing being taken advantage of by other people and manipulated, but taking power over that situation by noticing it and calling out the behaviour,” Chatburn explains. “When producing and performing this song I wanted to land somewhere between Cleo Sol, Shuggie Otis, and Curtis Mayfield, I was like fuck it, I love it, I am going to make one of these songs.”

Directed by Dhanesh Jayaselan and featuring set design by Shari Annabel Marks, the accompanying video for “Some Kind of Fool” is an ethereal, fever dream that features an entirely black-clad Chatburn with his entirely white-clad backing band performing the song in a mistily lit, loft space. Local dancers — Nino Benito Marks, Kandi Alum and Lara Scheiber — perform some free, floating movements to the song’s slow-burning groove, and it gives the entire affair a woozy and floating feel.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Carla dal Forno Shares Hazy and Dreamy “Come Around”

Over the better part of the past decade or so of moving, writing, recording and touring out of Berlin and London, singer/songwriter, musician and Kallista Records label head Carla dal Forno relocated to Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, where she wrote and recorded her third album Come Around.

Slated for November 4, 2022 release through her own Kallista Records, Come Around reportedly sees dal Forno grappling with ideas of home, disorder and insomnia with self-assured, enlightened songwriting and pop hooks.

Come Around‘s first single, album title track “Come Around” is a narcoleptic, meandering, dub-like take on indie pop featuring reverb and delay-drenched guitar and drums paired with dal Forno’s inviting, easy-going delivery. Centered around a seemingly effortless melodic simplistic and an unerring knack for a well-placed, infectious hook, “Come Around” feels like an open-ended invitation to stop by and stay awhile, to make yourself at home . . .

“’Come Around’ was inspired by a guy I used to play in a band with,” dal Forno explains. “I really admired the way he played guitar. He had this laid back strum that was effortless and cool. I was mucking around at home one day trying to imitate the way he played and I wrote ‘Come Around.’” Further adding: ”I wrote the song during a carefree springtime and I loved working on it while recording this album. There’s a lightness and openness to it, which I feel quite liberated by. It reminds me of a life I once had with very few responsibilities.”

The accompanying video by Ludovic Sauvage is red-hued — and despite dal Forno’s clothing, evokes lazy, hazy summer afternoons of daydreaming and hanging out without a particular plan.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

MSJY is a highly sought-after, Berlin-based DJ and curator, who is affiliated with Dekmantel and has been a former resident at Amsterdam‘s De School, Groningen‘s OOST and Berlin’s Greissmuehle. Over the past eight years or so, MSJY has developed a reputation for thoughtful and playful sets that draw from trip-hop and IDM and feature big bass drops and breakbeats.

MSJY’s newest project Xades — pronounced shades — sees the highly sought-after DJ and curator boldly stepping out from behind the decks and into the limelight as singer/songwriter. With Xades, MSJY pushes her sound and approach with the project touching upon dub, downtempo electronica and contemporary R&B, while being informed by her international and multicultural roots: Her mother is Brazilian, her father is Argentinian and she has a Swiss passport.

Her latest Xades single, the playful and coquettish “Locked In” features warm and vibey, neo-soul-leaning instrumentation, including a supple bass line, fluttering flute, and Latin percussion paired with skittering beats, a garage-inspired groove and twinkling synths, an infectious hook and MSJY’s sultry delivery. While being a summery bop that’s simultaneously club and lounge friendly, the song captures and evokes the pent up energy of being locked up inside and isolated from others for months on end — and literally bouncing off your walls.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: James Chatburn and Noah Slee Team Up with Local Musicians in Intimate Visual for Woozy “Do You Wanna Live Like That”

James Chatburn is a rising, Sydney-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer. Since relocating to the German capital back in 2015, Chatburn has carved out a reputation for being a highly in-demand singer/songwriter and producer, who has collaborated with acclaimed Aussie hip-hop outfit Hilltop Hoods‘ certified Gold single “Higher,”  rum.gold, Jordan Rakei, Noah Slee, Sedric Perry, and a growing list of others. As a solo artist, the Sydney-born, Berlin-based JOVM mainstay has developed and honed a sound that meshes elements of soul, blues, electro pop, neo-soul and psych pop with the release of his full-length debut, 2020’s David Tobias co-produced Faible. 

During the lead-up to Fabile‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s singles: 

  • “In My House,” a warm and vibey, two-step inducing bit of soul, centered around introspective, earnest songwriting, reverb-drenched guitars and thumping beats.
  • “Jewellery and Gold,” one of the album’s more tongue-in-cheek tracks, featuring a narrator looking forward to a future, where he’s flush with cash, and as a result, any of the major issues of his life being settled with that newfound cash — because dollar dollar bill y’all. 
  • “The Hurt,” a ballad that saw the Aussie-born, German-based JOVM mainstay express longing and heartache in a way that reminded me quite a bit of Nick Hakim.

Chatburn’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Late Night Howling is forthcoming. The album’s latest single “Do You Wanna Live Like That,” feat. Noah Slee is an expansive and mind-bending take on neo-soul and pop centered around a unique and woozily dynamic song structure that rapidly shifts in tone, time signature and instrumentation: The song’s introduction begins with twinkling pianos in a Latin jazz like tempo before quickly shifting to tweeter and woofer rattling trap beats and then shifting again to a vibey 70s neo-soul-inspired coda. 

Lyrically, the song is intimate and introspective, with its narrator vacillating between self-doubt, analysis, progression and gratefulness. “‘Do You Wanna Live Like That’ is a track I created which ended up kind of being a few different tracks in one, inspired by people like Tyler, The Creator with just these sudden drops and Sault with this vibe – simple not perfect, but just perfectly imperfect,” James Chatburn explains. “Noah Slee and I have been friends basically since we both moved to Berlin, it just took 7 years but we finally got around to releasing a track together.” 

Directed by Dhanesh Jayaselan, the accompanying video is a live performance-styled video shot at Callie’s in Berlin and features Chatburn and Slee with a backing band featuring Berlin-based musicians Tim Granbacka (keys, vocals), Johnny Kulo (guitar, vocals), Adam Sait (bass) and Richard Young (drums). The live footage is intimate and stylish but ends with Chatburn walking over to contemplatively strum an acoustic guitar.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

James Chatburn is a rising, Sydney-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer. Since relocating to the German capital back in 2015, Chatburn has carved out a reputation for being a highly in-demand singer/songwriter and producer, who has collaborated with acclaimed Aussie hip-hop outfit Hilltop Hoods‘ certified Gold single “Higher,” rum.gold, Jordan Rakei, Noah Slee, Sedric Perry, and a growing list of others. As a solo artist, the Sydney-born, Berlin-based JOVM mainstay has developed and honed a sound that meshes elements of soul, blues, electro pop, neo-soul and psych pop with the release of his full-length debut, 2020’s David Tobias co-produced Faible.

During the lead-up to Fabile‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s singles:

  • “In My House,” a warm and vibey, two-step inducing bit of soul, centered around introspective, earnest songwriting, reverb-drenched guitars and thumping beats.
  • “Jewellery and Gold,” one of the album’s more tongue-in-cheek tracks, featuring a narrator looking forward to a future, where he’s flush with cash, and as a result, any of the major issues of his life being settled with that newfound cash — because dollar dollar bill y’all. 
  • “The Hurt,” a ballad that saw the Aussie-born, German-based JOVM mainstay express longing and heartache in a way that reminded me quite a bit of Nick Hakim.

Chatburn’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Late Night Howling is forthcoming. The album’s latest single “Do You Wanna Live Like That,” feat. Noah Slee is an expansive and mind-bending take on neo-soul and pop centered around a unique and woozily dynamic song structure that rapidly shifts in tone, time signature and instrumentation: The song’s introduction begins with twinkling pianos in a Latin jazz like tempo before quickly shifting to tweeter and woofer rattling trap beats and then shifting again to a vibey 70s neo-soul-inspired coda.

Lyrically, the song is intimate and introspective, with its narrator vacillating between self-doubt, analysis, progression and gratefulness. “‘Do You Wanna Live Like That’ is a track I created which ended up kind of being a few different tracks in one, inspired by people like Tyler, The Creator with just these sudden drops and Sault with this vibe – simple not perfect, but just perfectly imperfect,” James Chatburn explains. “Noah Slee and I have been friends basically since we both moved to Berlin, it just took 7 years but we finally got around to releasing a track together.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Florian Rodel is a Nuremberg, Germany-born, Indianapolis-based singer/songwriter, musician, who inspired by Nirvana, Guns ‘N’ Roses, CAN, Jeff Beck, Miles Davis, classical music and a lengthy list of others, started to write his own original music — based around a creative process that frequently sees him writing melodic, rhythmic and/or harmonic sketches throughout his daily routine. He’d then record this ideas on his pone and then flesh it out later.

Rodel is also the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie rock/indie pop recording project fluidarmes. Recently Rodel contacted me about “Pony Drive,” a hook-driven and melodic bit of indie rock featuring twangy, reverb-drenched guitar lines recorded by Stuttgart-based guitarist Micha Herm in his home; thumping and propulsive rhythmic drumming recorded by drummer Martin Krümmling recorded at Ghost City Recordings; propulsive and supple bass lines recorded by bassist Joe Joaquin in his Berlin-based studio; and Rodel’s plaintive vocals and atmospheric synths recorded in Indianapolis. While being deliberately crafted, “Pony Drive” is rooted in a heart-worn-on-sleeve earnestness.

Rodel explains that the song lyrically is about having the best relationship you can have with yourself and rolling with the punches, because people don’t have much control of anything beyond their limited control.


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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Quentin Salomon is a French saxophonist, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the emerging solo recording project Human Pattern. Solomon can trace the origins of Human Pattern back to 2016: While on a trip to Berlin, Salomon fell in love with German minimalist techno. He challenged himself to replicate the songs and textures of samplers and synthesizers solely with the saxophone.

While living in Annecy, France, he quickly earned the support of local concert hall and rehearsal studio Le Brise Glace and Feeling and Sound Production, and eventually was signed by indie label Alpine Records. He released his debut EP Rebirth to critical praise from Tsugi Magazine and the local press — and he supported the effort with opening slots for Black Strobe‘s Arnaud Rebotini, Acid Arab, and Cyril Atef.

In 2019, he moved to Villeurbanne, France to share his vision of electronic music with saxophone with the Lyon electronic music scene, to further Human Pattern — and to explore other musical horizons.

His latest single “Stress” off his recently released Animal Instinct EP is a club banger featuring skittering hi-hat and thumping beats, looped and chopped up saxophone bleats and squeaks for the song’s infectious hook paired with a modal saxophone melody. Mixing organic instrumentation and arrangements with electronic production isn’t exactly a new thing — but it adds a human element to the proceedings: It’s a reminder that a living, breathing, feeling human created the song.

Salomon explains that the EP is inspired by and informed by human evolution, and the fact that we have gradually lost connection with our animal instincts. He goes on to say that “Stress” is informed by the emotions and emotional responses we’ve inherited as part of our survival instinct.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Cloud Cukkoo is an emerging Dutch-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer. According to the Dutch-born, Berlin-based artist, she “writes, produces and performs songs for blue-tinted nights. Nights of rained upon ashtrays and repressed melancholia; nights that are blinding, deafening and paralyzing; nights that are as comforting as they are disconcerting. It’s the cutting winter cold that feels like an embrace after spending hours in an overloaded club. . .”

The emerging Dutch-born, Berlin-based artist’s latest single, the slow-burning and moody “The Game” pairs Cloud Cukkoo’s soulful vocals, oscillating and atmospheric synths, fluttering electronics, strummed guitar and twinkling keys. While revealing a songwriter who can evoke a brooding, late night melancholy, “The Game” is an earnest, pop confection rooted in what feels like lived-in personal experience: The song’s narrator struggles with being tempted by lust and loneliness, knowing that she will probably get burned — badly.



Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Nashville’s Pauline Andrés Shares Sultry New Bop, “Speed Racer”

Nashville-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and sound engineer Pauline Andrés is a true global citizen: Andrés was born in Eastern Europe, spent her childhood in France — and as an adult, she spent a stint living in Berlin.

Initially known as an Americana artist, Andrés recently decided to shift gears and focus on her other favorite genre of music — electro pop. “Speed Racer,” Andrés latest single continues a run of slickly produced, lush, retro-futuristic bops centered around glistening and oscillating synths, a sinuous bass line paired with the Nashville-based artist’s smoky crooning. Underneath the slick production though is a careful and deliberate attention to craft, revealed through razor sharp hooks and playfully coquettish lyrics.

“I let the intro roll a measure more than your usual EDM template. I put my bridge before the second chorus. I kept those lines that made everything work together. Because that’s what’s allowing the song to be its true self,” Andrés says about the production choices behind her latest single. “I wanted to give it space…I didn’t make this song for any algorithm or radio. I made it for grown ups driving at night and needing the perfect soundtrack for their ride. I think that turned out pretty good.”

The accompanying official, lyric video was shot exclusively at night in Nashville, follows Andrés driving around town in a convertible. Fitting for a late night, drive sort of anthem ain’t it?

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Parisian Electronic Act Voie81 Releases a Nostalgia-Inducing Visual for “1989”

Deriving their name from the French of word for “track” while simultaneously being a bit of a punny joke based on the French word or voice — voix — and for 1981, a paradigm shifting year that saw massive technological and societal changes, the Paris-based electro pop/New Wave outfit Voie 81 prominently features three female vocalists hailing from Paris, Madrid, and Berlin, who sing unifying and socially conscious lyrics in German, English, Spanish and French. 

Their full-length debut, Ralentir, which translates into “slow down” in French finds the act further establishing a sound that’s heavily indebted to and influenced by the analog synth sounds of the 80s while thematically focusing on humans’ resistance to an unfair and unjust world — and the hope fora much better, fairer world.

Last year, I wrote about album track “Nirvana,” a euphoric track with an arena friendly hook and sultrily delivered French vocals that — to my ears — that reminded me a bit of early-to-mid 80s New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and even contemporaries like DBFC.

“1989,” Ralentir‘s latest track is centered around a relentless motorik groove, glistening synth arpeggios, angular guitars, thumping beats and brief bursts of industrial clang and clatter. The end result is a song that seems to mesh John Carpenter‘s retro-futuristic soundtracks with New Order. As the band explains “1989 is more than the last year of the 80s! It symbolizes a pivotal stage, when everything has accelerated : technological, climate and enormous geopolitical changes.”

Directed by the members of Voie 81 and Oculusprime.tv, the recently released video, which was also edited by Oculusprime.tv features stock footage of some of the world-changing technology and events that happened in 1989 from new video games, the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as young people partying and just enjoying life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Neon Jesus’ Sultry and Bluesy Banger “Red Lips”

Rising Canadian-born and-based singer/songwriter Neon Jesus can trace the origins of his genre-defying sound — a sound that pairs blues-inspired guitar with pulsing electronic dance music — to when he lived in New York.

While in New York, the rising Canadian artist frequently caught live music, and he noticed a significant and very telling difference in terms of reaction: “I’d be out at a rock show and while people were attentive and taking everything in, the crowd’s reaction was rather lackluster, even amid great artists before them,” Neon Jesus recalls. ““But then I’d head to a rave in Brooklyn and it struck me that people there were uninhibited and just generally more invested in what they were listening to. That was when I started to wonder what would happen if someone were to bring the two genres together.”

Electronic music was uncharted territory for the rising Canadian artist. But rather than mindlessly following the short-lived trends of generic dance music, Neon Jesus invested time to understand the foundations of electronic music and began to create his own beats to accompany his own guitar playing. That approach to production caught the attention of New York-based dance music production Abe Duque, a pioneer of deep house.

Mentored by Duque, Neon Jesus was exposed to underground dance music. Together, they created a live sound featuring synths and drum machines while the Canadian artist played guitar that saw the pair playing off one-another in an improvised manner familiar to the blues and jazz. The pair took their live sound to Berlin, where Neon Jesus became the first artist to play electric guitar at the renowned Berlin-based techno club Berghain.

Interestingly, those performances laid the foundation for Neon Jesus’ forthcoming full-length debut Tabula Rosa. Tabula Rosa‘s first single, the slickly produced and sultry “Red Lips” is centered around a thumping kick drum, glistening and pulsating synths, the Canadian artist’s plaintive wailing and scorching guitar lines reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, Prince and the like. And while pairing bluesy, power chord-driven rock with pulsating electronic dance music, “Red Lips” sonically and thematically reminds me a bit of INXS‘ “Need You Tonight” as the song is about desperate, maddening, obsessive desire — but with a sinister and uneasy undertone. “When you look back at artists like Prince or Jimi Hendrix, the blues was at the heart of their sound,” he declares. For some, this may seem a bit odd. The blues label doesn’t easily stick to them. Rather than mimic what came before them, they took the soul of blues and roots music and grew their own branches from the same tree. That’s the impetus behind my exploration of mixing blues and rock guitar with electronic music. I’m growing my personal branch on that tree.”

The recently released video was shot on grainy Super 8 film and is split between footage of the Canadian artist rocking out in a dark club, a beautiful blonde in knee high boots strutting around NYC. “With the video, we were trying to capture the sensation where love slips into obsession followed by a sudden darkness, where only the Lord can save you from its clutches,” Neon Jesus says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: FUTURE KULT Delves Deep into our Near-Dystopian Future

FUTURE KULT is a emerging music project featuring Cardiff-based film composer Sion Trefor and Berlin-based musician and art producer Benjamin Zombori. The duo holed up in the remote Mexican region of Hildalgo to write and record their forthcoming self-titled, full-length debut, slated for a February 11, 2022 releaser through AWAL.

The duo’s work fed off what they’ve been seeing in the overall zeitgeist — an uneasy and mad world in conflict, with technology consuming the life and soul of the consumer. Thematically, the album sees the duo questioning what it even means to create art in this particular moment. Has the world accepted the all-consuming algorithm as ruler — or is it possible to make music and art that reflects and comments on our moment?

For the duo, to be human means to be engaged in a battle of retreat against overwhelming technological forces, with the soft-power of our machines hardening into a prison for our minds. They claim that it’s not long clear if humans shape their computers, phones, their avatars and the internet — or if these devices shape us, our desires, our thoughts and our expression.

FUTURE KULT’s first single “Hildago” is an expansive track that’s simultaneously cinematic and menacing, centered around a noisy and dense arrangement featuring buzzing bass synths, skittering boom bap, scorching guitar, brooding horn blasts, layers of glistening synth arpeggios, distorted vocal samples paired with breathy yet ironically detached vocals. This is the sound of our near dystopian present.

The accompanying video was shot by Zombori in the Mexican desert, just outside of its namesake town. The video shows fragments of a mysterious folk tale centered around a masked hero, who mysteriously arrives to protect the villagers from dark and unseen forces seemingly recorded on a battered VHS tape.