Tag: dance punk

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brijean Shares Lush and Cinematic Lullaby “Euphoric Avenue”

Brijean is an acclaimed indie pop project that features: 

  • Brijean Murphy, a Los Angeles-born percussionist, who can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: Murphy’s father Patrick is a percussionist and engineer, who taught a young Brijean her first patterns on a pair of congas that she inherited from the late Trinidadian steel pan drum legend Vince Charles. As a percussionist, the younger Murphy initially made a name for herself as a highly-sought after touring musician with stints in the touring bands of Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls Poolside, and several others.  

  • Doug Stuart, a jazz and pop session multi-instrumentalist and producer, who has worked with JOVM mainstays Bells Atlas, Meerna, Luke Temple, Jay Stone and others. 

2019’s debut EP WALKIE TALKIE was written and recorded in marathon sessions at their intimate home studio, during breaks in Murphy’s then-very busy touring schedule. The EP found the duo quickly establishing a unique sound that meshed Murphy’s Latin jazz and soul upbringing with Murphy’s 70s disco and 90s house-inspired production, along with psych pop. 

2021’s full-length debut, Feelings celebrated self-reflection while making sense of the worlds around and within through rhythm and lyricism. However, the months surrounding the album’s release rang extremely bittersweet with the sudden death of Murphy’s father and both of Stuart’s parents. In a haze of heartache and loss, the duo left the Bay Area to be near family, resettling in four cities in under two years. 

Their to-go rig became their traveling studio and the tracks they had started writing, along with Angelo, Murphy’s 1981 Toyota Celica became their few constants. 2022’s Angelo EP, which derived its title from Murphy’s beloved car, processed loss, informed by the duo’s own losses and the desire to move and start over. 

The acclaimed and accomplished duo’s highly anticipated sophomore full-length album Macro is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Ghostly International. Reportedly seeing the duo at their most playful, the album’s material features the duo engaging different sides of themselves, confronting the gloriously weird paradox of being alive. They’ve leveled up to meet the complexities and harmonies of the human experience with what may arguably be their most dynamic songwriting to date. Colorful, collaborative, sophisticated and yet deeply fun, the album creates a world of macrocosm with characters moods and points of view rooted in the notion that no feeling is final — and the only way out is through.

The album’s song sequencing elicits an exploratory vibe with high-tempo peaks and breezy valleys in the psyche. The duo sees the record’s vast sonic spectrum in contrast to the expectations for their output — “we’re supposed to know the box that our art fits, in and then fully commit to it existing within that box,” Brijean’s Stuart says. Overall, the album is deeply anchored in the intention to just not just move through the ups and downs life presents you but to feel it all, and to know it intimately. 

Released earlier this year, the album’s first single “Working On It” is a funky and breezy bit of Larry Levan house-like bop anchored around a layered and strutting baseline and a loop of different percussion paired with twinkling keys serving as a lush and ebullient bed for Murphy’s mischievous crooning. The result is a song that finds the duo at arguably their most playfully light, with the song seeing Murphy riffing on self-improvement, the insomniac’s desire to finally get some sleep and life in the seeming end times in a way that’s halfway serious. 

The song started as al living room jam then as Murphy explains, “Doug played the two-layered basslines over a loop of bongos, congas an a dream machine and the rest felt like it happened in a dream.” Later Murphy asked fans to send voice memos in exchange for art, and some of those got peppered into the sound-bed. “That was a treat… Just getting to go through and hear all of these voices from around the world, an intimate and charming experience.” 

“Euphoric Avenue,” Macro‘s second and latest single is a Bossa nova and soul jazz-tinged lullaby featuring soaring and cinematic strings by Stephanie Yu, shuffling drumming by Kosta Galanopoulos, atmospheric keys, propulsive drum machine and some soulfully fluttering flute by Logan Hone serving as a lush and velvety bed for Murphy’s meditative vocal. While sonically seeming to nod at Heatwave’s “Always and Forever,” and the intro to “Boogie Nights,” “Euphoric Avenue” is a sort of psilocybin-fueled, somnambulant wander through a moonlit park, and observing everything with a sense of hyper-attentive awe.

“Being in this beautiful part of town nestled up against the Angeles National Forest played a big role in how comfortable we felt stretching out and trying to push our musical boundaries,” says Murphy. “Anytime we brought someone into the world to add their musical touch, it felt like a highlight.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bear Hands Shares Eurodance-like “Intrusive Thoughts”

Brooklyn-based dance punks Bear Hands — Dylan Tau (vocals, guitar), Val Loper (bass) and TJ Orscher (drums) — formed back in 2006. They gained early attention with 2010’s “What a Drag,” which led to the trio signing with Cantora Records, who released their full-length debut, that year’s Burning Bush Supper Club. 2014’s sophomore effort Distraction was a critical and commercial success with the album reaching #23 on Billboard‘s Heatseekers chart. The trio followed up with 2016’s You’ll Pay For This and 2019’s Fake Tunes.

The trio is making a highly anticipated return with the first bit of new music in over five years with their newest single “Intrusive Thoughts.” The track was recorded at a small Cherry Hill, NJ-based home studio and was co-produced by Elliott Kozel, Alex M and the band. Anchored around glistening synth stabs, a sinuous bass line and percussive and skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics, which accurately capture the irritation, confusion, self-doubt, self-flagellation and denial that intrusive thoughts so frequently create.

“’Intrusive Thoughts’ is the song that’s playing in my head all day and I can’t get it out,” Bear Hands’ Dylan Rau explains. “Not that I really want to. Well sometimes I do when I’m trying to do basic math or pick a restaurant to eat at with my girlfriend. I think I wrote it about being bored of everything and feeling dissatisfied with everyone and everything around me. Not that I’m super misanthropic in general but this song might make you that way if you get it stuck in your head so watch out.” 

Directed by Orson Oblowtiz and edited by Alex Russek, the accompanying video for “Intrusive Thoughts” follows a megalomanic motivational speaker/drummer, who does a chintzy anti-drug stage show that also includes McGruff the Crime Dog. It’s the sort of show and message that its intended audience would probably derisively roll their eyes at while watching.

“The video was deeply influenced by a motivational speaker/drummer who toured all the elementary schools in my home state with a massive 30+ piece drum kit and chintzy light show,” Rau explains. “He loved drums, hated drugs, and was easily identified as a crazed megalomaniac by at least one naive fifth grader (me). I think I remember him saying he could be touring with Bowie if he wanted but that it was more important to educate the youth. Ha!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Marseille’s Social Dance Shares Upbeat and Funky “Sometimes”

Formed back in 2020, Marseille, France-based electro pop trio Social Dance — Faustine, Thomas and Ange — are best friends and former roommates, who craft uninhibited and absurd pop inspired by their common experiences and complementary music tastes.

Their debut EP 2022’s Rumeurs featured material that was featured in the Netflix series Emily In Paris. As result of their music appearing in the hit Netflix series, the Marseille-based trio toured across Europe and Canada last year, playing over 70 shows.

The trio’s latest single “Sometimes” is their first single of 2024 — and the first bit of new material since their debut EP. “Sometimes” is a feel good slice of dance punk rooted in a euphoric, dance floor friendly groove featuring squiggling bursts of Nile Rodgers-like guitar, punchy, mathematically precise drum machine, angular bass lines paired with glistening synths serving as a sleek and supple bed for dueling bilingual boy and girl vocals that seems to channel LCD Soundsystem, JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine and others — while being remarkably mischievous.

The Wes Anderson-like accompanying video for “Sometimes” is a behind-the-scene look at the filming of the video for “Sometimes,” that begins with the production company ironing and preparing outfits for the trio, styling hair and makeup before they hit the set. During the shooting, we follow the boldly colored outfit trio rocking out and goofing along to the song. The video manages to capture the mischievous air of the trio and of the song — and in a way that’s adorable.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Light Beams Share Tense Yet Funky “Friendly”

Washington, D.C.-based post punk/dance punk outfit Light Beams — Justin Wm. Moyer (vocals), Sam Levine (drums), Arthur Noll (bass), along with newest members Leah Gage (vocals, percussion, samples) and Erin McCarley (vocals, percussion, samples) — will be releasing their third album Wild Life on Friday through legendary indie label Dischord Records in partnership with the band’s own imprint Mud Memory.

Wild Life is the first recorded output featuring the band as a quintet — with Gage and McCarley recruited to augment Lavine’s explosive drumming and Noll’s bass. Thematically, the album finds Moyer attempting to process his experience the protest, demonstrations and ultimately, the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol as a journalist on a Pulitzer Prize-winning team documenting the violent, chaotic and horrific experiences of that day. While being a collection of vignettes of post-Trump life, the album’s material also serves as a grand exploration of our current world at large.

The compulsion to tease meaning out of the everyday has long been the cornerstone of Light Beams’ overall aesthetic. But they also attempt to seek a future for punk in a new, increasingly dystopian century. As Light Beams’ Moyer says: “I can’t just do another guitar band after the genius of Beyoncé and Rihanna.”

The members of Light Beams have crafted a sound that they’ve dubbed “block rock” — their term for the sample-based approach they’ve developed and honed. The DC-based outfit have carved their own path, juxtaposing dark, lyrical themes against upbeat, polyrhythmic, danceable music. Their soon-to-be released album is a dauntless exploration of contemporary American life and reportedly, the most ambitious, fully-realized effort of their catalog to date.

Wild Life‘s latest single “Friendly” is a percussive and funky, ESG-meets-DFA Records-like track paired with shouted, call-and-response vocals. “Friendly” sees the DC-based outfit deftly unease and fear with dance floor friendly, hook-driven funk. The song is inspired by an encounter with a demonstrator, who confronted Moyer, while he was covering a demonstration outside the Supreme Court. The altercation quickly became threatening and physical. However, Moyer was able to defuse rather escalate the situation — hence, the title “Friendly.”

“I was covering a protest at the Supreme Court, interviewing a demonstrator who was very critical of the media. I had taken some photos of the scene and the protester started challenging me – physically challenging me – about my photos,” Moyer explains. “This person was getting very angry, and I was getting very angry. But I realized that the situation could be defused easily by, well, keeping things friendly. So I gave this person my phone and let him delete all the photos he objected to (which weren’t going to be published anyway). I thought this was a good outcome. I’m not always good at dealing with anger and, in a different part of my life, the argument might have ended a different way. This song is about that – and any situation where emotions threaten to get too big for the people experiencing them.”

Directed by Jonathan Howard, the accompanying video for “Friendly” features intimately shot footage of the band performing the song while on tour and in studio, and captures the band behind the scenes with long pans outward.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Choses Sauvages Share Icy and Uneasy “Pression”

With the release of their Emmanuel Ethier-produced 2018 self-titled, full-length debut, Montréal-based dance punks Choses Sauvages — Totalement Sublime‘s Marc-Antoine Barbier (guitar), Theirry Malépart (keys), Tony Bélisle (keys), Philippe Gauthier-Boudreau (drums) and La Sécurité‘s Félix Bélisle (vocals) with Foreign Diplomats‘ and Frais Dispo‘s Charles Primeau (bass) as a touring member — exploded into the local and provincial scenes. The album was a critical and commercial success with the album topping Independent Radio Charts across Québec while receiving widespread critical applause. In 2019, the Montréal-based outfit landed Association Québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Félix Award nominations for Alternative Album of the Year and Indie Rock Album of the year, with a Félix Award win for Indie Rock Album of the Year.

Over the course of 2019, the quintet along with touring bassist Charles Primeau supported their full-length debut with a relentless touring schedule across the province. And through this tour, the band quickly developed a reputation for a must-see live show that they’ve since brought across the global festival circuit, including stops at Reeperbahn, MaMA, FIMPRO, SXSW, Le Printemps de Bourges and Wide Days.

2021’s Choses Sauvages II saw the French Canadian outfit boldly pushing their sound more towards electronic dance music and nu-disco influences like L’Imperatice and Lindstrøm while still drawing from their love of funk, Bowie and Bee Gees while balancing a rigorous and meticulous songwriting approach with a rebellious spirit.

The acclaimed Montréal-based outfit’s latest single “Pression” (“pressure” in French) sees them continuing a new trend of pushing their sound into new directions. Sonically, “Pression” features a unique blend of their long-held disco punk sound with glistening and icy techno-like synth oscillations and subtle LCD Soundsystem/New York 00s indie dance punk scene nods. While being rooted in a dance floor friendly groove, the song possesses an underlying tense, unease air that should feel familiar to those prone to overthinking and self-doubt.

“At its core, ‘Pression’ is all about the anxiety and the sense of paranoia that accompanies it whenever you’re looking to prove yourself,” the band explains. “It’s that sense of feeling like you try and try but never quite succeed to hit that nail on the head. Even with how amazing this year has been, from making quite a bit of buzz at SXSW 2023 to embarking on our first-ever large-scale tour in the United States, that anxiety-induced ‘pressure’ still lingers.”

Directed by Philippe Beausejour, the accompanying video for “Pression” employs a distinct style through the application of several different animation techniques — i.e. paper cutouts, computer graphics, hand drawings and rotoscoping — and then processing the final video onto VHS, which creates a dated feel while translating the song’s anxious air into visual unsteadiness.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so, emerging London-dance punk/post-punk duo Shelf Lives — Sabrina Di Guilio and Jonny Hillyard — have released a handful of singles that have seen them quickly earn comparisons to Le Tigre, CSS, Sleigh Bells and others.

The British duo’s latest single “Off The Rails” is a dance punk/post punk ripper built around a frantic and propulsive beat, squiggly synths, scorching, angular guitar attack paired with Di Guilio’s sultry cooing and feral shouts. It’s a winning and irresistible mix of sultry and sleazy reminiscent of Is Is EP-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Ting Tings but rooted in incisive, satirical social commentary.

“In our current era, we stand fully aware that consumerism fails to fullfil our genuine needs,” the members of Shelf Lives explain. “Despite this knowledge, we remain fiercely hooked, unable to let go. The notion that was intended to make us feel exceptional actually leaves us feeling ordinary and in this perpetual cycle of wanting more. The track is that moment of realisation that we can’t ‘fall off the rails’ because despite all of the ‘stuff’ we buy into we’re still ‘none in a million’ The problem is we hesitate to be the first to abandon the obsession in fear that we’ll be the only one and end up feeling isolated anyway.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Sécurité Shares Defiant Feminist Anthem “Hot Topic”

Montréal-based art punk quintet La Sécurité features a collection of acclaimed local players, with the band featuring current and past members of Choses Sauvages, Laurence-Anne, Silver Dapple, DATES, Pressure Pin, and others. Since their formation last year, the Canadian quintet have quickly developed and cemented their sound and approach: Meandering around the fringes of punk, New Wave and krautrock, the quintet’s take on art punk pairs jumpy beats, off-kilter arrangements and minimalistic yet melodic hooks, run through an insomniac filter. And while their music is razor sharp and danceable, their lyrical content is rooted in the feminist community-centric ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement. “It’s not just fun and games… it also bites. It’s catchy earworms delivered with a punk attitude,” guitarist Melissa Di Menna says. 

In a relatively short period of time, La Securité has quickly made a name for themselves in both the national and international scene: They’ve been invited to play at SXSW, FME, Phoque Off, Taverne Tour and DISTORSION Psych Fest, and they’ve shared stages with Automatic, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, TVOD, Margaritas Podridas, CIVIC, and Duchess Says. Building upon a growing profile, the French Canadian quintet’s highly-anticipated Samuel Gemme-produced full-length debut, Stay Safe! is slated for a Friday release through Mothland. 

Recorded at Gamma Recording Studio, Stay Safe! reportedly features songs that are manic yet surprisingly laid-back, empowering and urgent, reflective yet melancholy — all while mischievously flouting stylistic form every chance they can get. 

In the lead-up to the rising Canadian outfit’s highly-anticipated fully-length debut, I’ve managed to write about two singles:

  • “Anyway,” a scorcher built around buzzing and slashing power chords, a chugging motorik groove, bombastic hooks and choruses paired with a cooler-than-you swagger. But underneath the frenetic energy is a song informed by a deeply personal yet universal and super heavy subject: “This song was written in the early stages of dealing with grief related to miscarriage and pleads a sort of surrender to the strain it can put on a couple processing it,” La Securité’s vocalist Éliane Viens-Synnott explains in press notes. 

  • “Serpent,” a track that sees the Montréal-based post punk outfit quickly locking into the sort of dance punk groove that brings Echoes-era The Rapture and early LCD Soundsystem to mind paired with insistent shaker-driven percussion, twinkling keys, the collective’s unerring knack for dance floor friendly hooks and choruses and lyrics — in French — describing friend group drama. The song is a cheeky and sarcastic ode to complicated friendships that despite the language is very familiar. As the band puts it, “The person it is directed towards loves dancing. It’s a pretty dancy song. We hope they dance to it.” 

Stay Safe‘s third and latest single “Hot Topic” is built around a lurching yet dance floor friendly, DEVO-like grove paired with slashing bursts of guitar, twinkling bursts of keys and off-kilter percussion paired with Viens-Synnott’s defiant yet wry, shouted vocals — presumably at a clueless cis-het dude, who can’t quite get the hint.

The song’s arrangement was initially written to score an extended avant-garde dance piece also titled “Hot Topic,” choreographed by the band’s Viens-Synnott and shot in a single, continuous take. “The concept was to choreograph a dance piece to be shot as a sequence to capture the ephemeral elements present in performing arts,” Viens-Synnott explains in press notes. “Drawing influences from the Riot Grrrl movement, I created a dance piece where five women take up all the space on a dancefloor, unapologetically. We can dress how we want, enjoy our night out however that looks for us and we don’t care what you think.”

After completing the piece, the band edited down the song into the version that ultimately appears on their soon-to-be released debut. And the accompanying video is also, an abridged version of the original dance piece. (For this post, the music video is above the main text of this post, the short film is below the main text. Both are a trippy experience.) The song, the short film and the video are a testament to the Montréal-based band’s unique nature as a collaborative, artistically open group with varied and differing creative ambitions and entanglements — and in a fashion seemingly similar to that of JOVM mainstays La Femme.