Tag: Caveman Coco Beware

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Denmark’s ONBC Performs the Gorgeous and Ethereal “Copenhagen” at Tapetown Studios

ONBC is a Copenhagen, Denmark-based indie rock quartet, comprised of some of Denmark’s most acclaimed musicians — and the band can trace its origins to the formation and breakup of its earliest iteration Oliver North Boy Choir, an electro pop-leaning act, which featured founding members Camilla Florentz (vocals, bass) and Mikkel Max Jorn (guitar), who were both members of indie band epo-555. After releasing a number of EPs and singles, as well as covers of The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Boo Radleys, the Oliver North Boy Choir split up. In 2014 the members of Oliver North Boy Choir reunited but with the recruitment of Tanja Forsberg Simonsen (vocals, synths), who was a member of influential Danish indie pop act superheroes and Private; Ivan Petersen (drums), the frontman of The Boombox Hearts, and a radical change in sonic direction, the band was renamed ONBC.

In their native Denmark, the quartet has received attention for a cinematic sound and songwriting approach that some have compared to Low, Chris Issak and Julee Cruise — although as soon as I heard the gorgeous, shoegazer-like “Copenhagen,” I immediately thought of Malmo, Sweden’s Fredrik, Coco Beware and Caveman-era Caveman and Beach House as the harmonies of Forsberg Simonsen and Florentz ethereally float over a delicate and sparse arrangement of shimmering guitar chords and dramatic drumming.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 15-18 months or so, you’d recall that Aarhus, Denmark-based recording studio Tapetown Studios and Sound of Aarhus have been inviting national. regional and even internationally recognized touring bands to come into their studios for a live session, which they film and release through the interwebs. During the live session’s run, a number of bands have participated and been featured including British indie rockers Ulrika Spacek, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based trio Pale Honey, the Bay Area-based JOVM mainstay Tim Cohen and his primary project The Fresh & Onlys, the renowned British psych rockers The Telescopes, and a growing list of others.

ONBC’s Tapetown Studio session, much like Sista Bossen’s session is presented by their label, Crunchy Frog Records and was filmed during Aarhus’ popular Danish and Scandinavian indie music festival, Spot Festival — and it may arguably be one of the most stunningly beautiful ones they’ve shot to date.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Troels Abrahamsen (vocals, synth), David Krough Andersen (guitar), Mark Lee (guitar, synth), Jens Skov Thomsen (bass, backing vocals) and Mads Hasager (drums), the Danish indie rock quintet VETO formed back in 2004 — and with the release of their 2005 debut EP, I Will Not Listen and their 2006 full-length debut, There’s A Beat In All Machines, the quintet quickly developed a reputation as one of Denmark’s hottest, up-and-coming acts; in fact, the the band won Best New Act and Best Danish Music Video at the 2007 Danish Music Awards. Interestingly, album track “You Are A Knife” was briefly featured on an episode of NCIS.

Building upon a growing profile, 2008’s Crushing Digits featured album single “Built to Fail,” which received heavy radio airplay on Danish radio station DR P3, and as a result, the band won the Danish Band of the Year at the 2009 Danish Music Awards.  The band released two more full-length albums, 2011’s Everything is Amplified and 2013’s Point Break, both of which were recored and released during an intense touring schedule that according to the members of the band had them constantly on the road over the course of a 3 year period. In fact, the Danish indie quintet initially began recording their fifth, full-length effort 16 Colors back in 2014, after taking a year off from touring. “We had to retrieve our drive, and creativity demanded both time and space in order to flourish once more. This saw us parting ways with our record label and business partners, and granted us with a calmer, freer approach to the creative process. We worked alongside producer Mikel Bolding over a two-year period, influencing our sound by introducing us to the world of analogue recording. ”

“A Pit,” the first single off 16 Colors is a gorgeous and moody track that balances being both cinematic and intimate as it features Abrahmsen’s soaring and operatic falsetto paired with of jangling guitar, propulsive drumming and a lush string arrangement, and while reminding me a bit of Coco Beware-era Caveman, Flora-era Fredrik and Antony and the Johnsons, the song’s lyrics possess a novelist’s attention to detail. As the band explains “‘A Pit’ circles the psychological problem around one only having symbols available to understand – experiencing a sort of alienation against the world, as a result. There is a reality that we cannot reach which is outside of our language, our symbols. We can’t get a pure reprieve from the constant stream of news that floods us daily. Could it be that the stream alters to ‘fit’ us? Or do we involuntarily see all impressions through a prism that transforms to our symbols, languages and interpretations?”

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Swooning and Nostalgic Sounds and Visuals for Lake Jons’ “Call Me”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 5 or 6 months, you may recall that with the release of their first two EPs, Explore and Explode released in 2016, the up-and-coming Helsinki, Finland-based indie act Lake Jons quickly developed a reputation for  crating forward thinking material with a delicate and atmospheric sound, rooted around driving rhythms, delicate guitar progressions, lush vocals and incredibly hook driven songs that frequently found the act effortlessly blending elements of ambient electronica, lo-fi pop, psych pop, soul, and folk.

As the story goes, the Helsinki-based pop act retreated to a cabin deep in the Finnish forest to record their recently released self-titled debut album, and as a result the album’s material touches upon the introspection that comes about in severe isolation and a deep, quiet and almost mystical connection with the natural world, as well as existentialism and human relationships. Album singles such as  “Breathe Out The Fumes” reminded me of Caveman‘s Coco Beware, Fredrik‘s Flora with sleek, contemporary electro pop, while “Lake Family” was lush and percussive track that balanced a difficult tightrope of deliberate introspection and swooning euphoria, which gave the song a tense push and pull between nostalgia, regret, longing and devotion  — and those two singles further cemented their growing reputation for a sound that’s both warmly familiar and yet uniquely theirs.

“Call Me” manages to be even more euphoric as its immediate predecessor as it’s a swooning love song rooted around industrial clang and clatter, swirling electronics, jangling guitars, and a plaintive, aching melody — but as the recently released video, featuring old Super 8-styled film suggests, underneath the surface is bittersweet nostalgia over something that has long passed and the narrator can’t quite recapture in the same fashion.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their first two EPs, Explore and Explode released in 2016, the up-and-coming Helsinki, Finland-based indie act Lake Jons quickly developed a reputation for  crating forward thinking material with a delicate and atmospheric sound, rooted around driving rhythms, delicate guitar progressions and lush vocals and incredibly hook driven songs that frequently found the act effortlessly blending elements of ambient electronica, lo-fi pop, psych pop, soul, and folk.

As the story goes, the Helsinki-based pop act retreated to a cabin deep in the Finnish forest to record their soon-to-be released self-titled debut album, and as a result the album’s material touches upon the introspection that comes about in severe isolation, existentialism, human relationships and a quiet, deeply mystical connection with the natural world. Now, last November, I wrote about the moody and percussive album single “Breathe Out The Fumes,” a single that reminded me of Caveman‘s Coco Beware, Fredrik‘s Flora meshed with sleek, contemporary electro pop.

“Lake Family,” the up-and-coming Helsinki, Finland-based pop act’s latest single will further their growing reputation for crafting lush, forward-thinking and forward-looking pop that manages to be both familiar and downright alien and as a result, their sound and approach defies lazy categorization. The new single continues in a similar percussive vein as its immediate predecessor, thanks to handclap-led percussion and thumping beats, the song (to me, at least) balances the difficult tightrope of deliberate, introspection and swooning, euphoria — and as a result the song has a subtle yet noticeably tense, push and pull quality between nostalgia, regret, longing and devotion. After all, love ain’t easy; it’s confusing, ridiculous, fearful and nonsensical yet necessary, and it never makes sense.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The up-and-coming, Helsinki, Finland-based Lake Jons retreated to a cabin deep in the Finnish forest to record their full-length debut album, an album that finds the trio establishing a unique sound that effortlessly blends ambient, lo-fi pop, psych, soul and folk. And as you’ll hear on the percussive and moody album single “Breathe Out The Fumes,” the trio’s sound nods at the likes of Caveman‘s Coco Beware, Fredrik‘s Flora and sleek contemporary electro pop and electro soul.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Caveman Performs “Never Going Back” on CBS This Morning’s Saturday Sessions

With the release of their debut album Coco Beware and their sophomore self-titled album, New York-based quintet Caveman — comprised of Matthew Iwanusa (vocals, guitar), James Carbonetti (guitar), Jeff Berrall (bass), Sam Hopkins (keys) and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Prescott-Clark — have developed a profile locally and nationally for a moody and gorgeous guitar and synth-based sound that at times owed a sonic debt to Peter Gabriel, U2 and others. And as a result the quintet has toured with the world, playing shows with the likes of The War On Drugs, Weezer and Jeff Tweedy, and they’ve received praise not just from this site, where they’ve become mainstays but from a number of major media outlets.

The band’s highly-anticipated third full-length effort Otero War was released earlier this year, and the album’s first single “Never Going Back” is arguably the most upbeat and anthemic song the band has released to date, while sonically sounding as though it drew from Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” — but with Carbonetti’s gorgeous guitar work, Iwanusa’s plaintive vocals and soaring synths. And much like Springsteen’s work, “Never Going Back” deals with themes that Springsteen would still tackle today — maneuvering the complications of love, desperately seeking an escape of the humdrum and blandness of small town life, and the recognition that at a certain point, your decisions and their impact on your life loom larger any our life.

The members of the renowned New York-based act made their nationally televised debut on CBS This Morning’s Saturday Session where they performed “Never Going Back.” Check it out as I think it’ll give you a good sense of the band’s live sound.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their debut album Coco Beware and their sophomore self-titled album, New York-based quintet Caveman — comprised of Matthew Iwanusa (vocals, guitar), James Carbonetti (guitar), Jeff Berrall (bass), Sam Hopkins (keys) and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Prescott-Clark — have developed a profile locally and nationally for a moody and gorgeous guitar and synth-based sound that at times owed a sonic debt to Peter Gabriel, U2 and others. And as a result the quintet has toured with the world, playing shows with the likes of The War On Drugs, Weezer and Jeff Tweedy, and they’ve received praise not just from this site, where they’ve become mainstays but from a number of major media outlets.

Now, it’s been some time since we’ve heard from them but the band’s long-anticipated third full-length effort Otero War is slated for release this summer. And the album’s first single “Never Going Back” is arguably the most upbeat and anthemic song the band has released to date, while sonically sounding as though it drew from early 80s Bruce Springsteen (in particular, think of “Dancing In The Dark“) but with Carbonetti’s gorgeous guitar work paired with soaring synths and Iwanusa’s plaintive vocals, while dealing with themes that Springsteen would have easily written about back then — figuring out the complications of love, desperately wanting to escape a humdrum and bland life, of recognizing that at a certain point, your decisions loom larger and larger over your life and more. It’s powerfully universal and speaks to things we’ve all felt and known at some point in our own lives.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Stunningly Gorgeous Visuals of Other Lives’ Video for “Beat Primal”

Currently based in Portland, OR, the indie rock trio Other Lives have received national attention and praise for a lush, orchestrated sound that channels Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The National and Ocean Rain-era Echo and the Bunnymen but with the sort of […]