Tag: Brit pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Charlatans Return with an Anthemic Yet Bittersweet New Single

Although they’ve gone through a series of lineup changes since their formation back in 1989, The Charlatans (sometimes known Stateside as The Charlatans UK) have managed to be one of the UK’s most commercially and successful acts ever as they’ve had 12 albums land within the Top 40 of the UK Charts, including 17 Top 30 singles and four Top 10 singles. Ironically, the band has achieved such success while being extraordinarily unlucky: Rob Collins, the band’s original keyboardist died in a car accident during the recording sessions of the band’s fifth album; Jon Brookes, the band’s original drummer died after being diagnosed with a brain tumor; Tim Burgess, the band’s frontman, founding member and primary songwriting has suffered and battled through drug and alcohol addiction throughout the band’s history; and at the band’s biggest commercial success, the members of the band discovered that their accountant hadn’t ensured that their taxes were paid, and worse yet, had been embezzling money from the band for years — and as a result, the money they earned from playing the UK’s largest festivals had to be forfeited to pay their tax debts. Certainly, while any one of those events could have curtailed many bands, the members of The Charlatans have stubbornly continued onward.

The band’s forthcoming, thirteen album Different Days is slated for a May 26, 2017 release through BMG and the album, which was co-produced by Jim Spencer, was recorded at the band’s studio in Cheshire, and features guest spots from a variety of friends and collaborators including Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, crime writer Ian Rankin and writer/actress Sharon Horgan among others. Different Days’ latest, mid- tempo single “Plastic Machinery,” will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting enormous and rousing hooks within a song that possesses a bittersweet feel that clearly draws from equally bittersweet, hard-fought experience.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Christie Simpson, Sam Perry, Charlie Ryder, Josh Burgess, Yumi Zouma have developed an international profile for crafting breezy and infectious, 80s-inspired synth pop. Recently, the folks at Turntable Kitchen invited the band to take part of their monthly vinyl subscription series Sounds Delicious, in which bands cover any full-length album they love, and reimagine it from front to back. Interestingly, the quartet decided on Oasis‘ 1995 full-length effort, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

As the band’s Charlie Ryder told Gorilla Vs. Bear in an interview “Even when we realized that an Oasis album could potentially be an option in terms of something we could actually do in a Yumi Zouma way, we weren’t 100% sure where it would just sound totally ridiculous or not. It wasn’t until we tried the first song we had an initial idea for — ‘Champagne Supernova’ — that we knew we had finally settled on something rad.  Yumi Zouma’s cover turns the anthemic, Brit Pop classic into a mid-tempo, buoyant and ethereal synth pop track with a subtle Tropicalia vibe that retains the original’s anthemic hook and trippy vibe.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Joy Room is a London, UK-based indie rock quartet, who all went to school together and bonded over their mutual love of Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Last Waltz. Their swaggering, debut single “Late at Night” manages to nod at the 90s Brit Pop/alt rock of Blur and others, as layers of power chords, thundering drumming paired with lyrics that describe the loneliness, bitterness and feelings of loss , self-flagellation and denial that come as the result of a bitter breakup.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 80s Public TV-Inspired Visuals for Bad Sounds’ “Avalanche”

“Avalanche,” Bad Sound’s latest single was co-produced by Duncan Mills, and on the single the band pairs fuzzy guitar chords, angular bass chords, electronic bleeps and bloops, a motorik-like groove, and a rousingly infectious hook in a song that sounds as though it was indebted to Damon Albarn’s work with Blur and Gorillaz, complete with a particularly British sense of humor — wryly ironic and self-effacing; but while possessing a subtly contemporary take on a very familiar and beloved sound.

The recently released video is a glorious and ridiculous take on 80s educational TV — think of the counting and reading segments on Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1- Contact and Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” complete with psychedelic interludes and cheesy 80s graphics.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the December 2015 release of their debut single “I Feel,” the Bath, UK-based indie pop quintet Bad Sounds quickly emerged into the British scene as the single received praise from the likes of The Line of Best Fit and Vice Noisey, and received airplay from BBC Radio personalities Zane Lowe, Phil Taggert, Annie Mac and Huw Stephens. “Avalanche,” Bad Sounds’ latests ingle was co-produced by Duncan Mills, and the single has the band pairing fuzzy guitar chords, angular bass chords, electronic bleeps and bloops, a motorik-like groove, and a rousingly infectious hook in a song that sounds as though it was indebted to Damon Albarn‘s work with Blur and Gorillaz, complete with a similar peculiarly British wry, self-effacing irony — but with a subtly contemporary take on a familiar and beloved sound.

Adding to a growing national profile, the Bath-based quintet will be touring the UK festival circuit with appearances at The Great Escape and Dot to Dot, among others. Check out the tour schedule below, if you’re in or around the UK.

Tour Dates:

20 May – The Great Escape, Brighton
28 May – Dot To Dot, Bristol
12 June – Field Day, London
2 September – Festival No. 6, Portmeirion

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding member Hugh Matthews (guitar and vocals), Drew Schapper (drums and Johnny Moretti (guitar) Melbourne, Australia-based shoegaze trio Pretty City can trace their origins to when Matthew sent demos to Schapper and Moretti, who all knew each other from Melbourne’s music scene. And as the story goes, after two rehearsals the newly formed trio began playing shows around Australia and receiving attention for a sound that’s indebted to The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and The Smashing Pumpkins; in fact, their Heights EP was released in 2013 to critical praise from several national outlets including The Music.

Building upon the success of Heights, the band recently finished a tour of Australia’s East Coast to support the release of their critically applauded single “Mary Go Round” and to build buzz for the forthcoming release of their full-length debut effort, Colorize. The album’s latest single “Running Around” is an enormous, arena-friendly song with equally enormous and anthemic hooks paired with dense, fuzzy, feedback slathered power chords, thundering drumming and earnestly sung vocals in a song that channels classic Brit Pop and shoegaze — but with a modern sheen and earnestness that ensures that their sound and aesthetic isn’t derivative.

The Australian trio plans to make their Stateside debut during next month’s SXSW in Austin, and I suspect that we’ll be hearing quite a bit more about them over the next few months.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Video Review: The Surreal Video for Space’s “Strange World”

Currently comprised of  founding members Tommy Scott (vocals, guitar), Franny Griffiths (keys), along with Phil Hartley (double bass, bass) and Allan Jones (drums), the Liverpool-based quartet Space can trace their origins back to 1993 when […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The 60s Inspired Psychedelia of Perth, Australia’s The High Learys

If you’ve been following JOVM over the better part of the past year or so, you may be familiar with the Perth, Australia-based band, The High Learys.  The quartet formed in 2011 when cousins Jamie Turner (vocals, bass) and Matt […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: RIDE on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Electric

Comprised of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence “Loz” Colbert and Steve Queralt, the Oxford, UK-based quartet RIDE are considered by critics and fans to be among the originators of the shoegaze sound – despite the fact […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their debut single “Droplet,” last year, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK-based trio Tessera Skies were breathlessly praised by the likes of Q Magazine and The Guardian as one of Northeast England’s bands to look out […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

If you read this blog regularly, you know that over the past 18 months or so i’ve been receiving an increasing number of emails from PR firms, labels, artists and band management from all over […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Based out of North Yorkshire Moors, UK, the quartet of the Van Doos which consist of  Simon Hutchinson (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Bamber (vocals, guitar), Fred Baty (bass), and Dom Antony (drums). have been praised NME, Radar and other publications […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

We Have Sound, Tom Vek’s well-received debut album was released just as the internet and social media was beginning to become increasingly pervasive, back in 2005. And after a guest appearance on Fox’s The O.C., Vek suddenly seemed […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

I’ve mentioned this several times over but if you’ve frequently read this blog, you’d know that over the past year or so, I’ve been receiving an increasing number of emails from bands and labels from […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

As a blogger, I receive an absurd amount of emails from artists, PR firms, labels, band managers and other industry folks. Increasingly i’m receiving emails from folks across the world and I have to admit, […]