Tag: Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Travel the World with Up-and-Coming Ukrainian Indie Rock Act and New JOVM Mainstays Indytronics

Over the past couple of months, I’ve written a bit about the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post punk band Indytronics. And as you may recall, the band, which is comprised of founding members Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals) and Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass) with Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals) can trace their origins to when its founding members were traveling across Europe, and while in Stockholm, Sweden, the duo came across a number of street musicians, who were playing music with an interesting and very melodic indie the rock. According to the members of the band, its founding duo were so impressed by Stockholm’s street musicians that decided that they needed to start their own band when they returned home. 

Since the band’s formation in 2012, the band has released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and and as a result, they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally as they’ve made a number of live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular radio rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France. 

While “Savannah Only Temple” was slickly produced indie rock that may remind listeners of  Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, thanks in part to a rousingly arena friendly hook, its follow-up “Shark” found the band pushing their sound more towards electronic rock but with some of their most ambitious songwriting they’ve released to date. Their latest single “Alien Sun” finds the band at their most atmospheric while retaining their arena friendly hooks — and although the song will further cement their growing reputation for crafting crowd pleasing Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service/Snow Patrol-like indie rock, bolstered by an uncanny self-assuredness and earnestness of purpose. 

As the band wrote to me, they have a dream of playing concerts across

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a founding member, vocalist, pianist and primary songwriter of Los Angeles, CA-based indie quintet Local Natives, an act that’s received attention nationally for a sound that has been compared favorably to the likes Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend and Grizzly Bear, Kelcey Ayer steps out from behind the auspices of a band for his solo side project, Jaws of Love. Unsurprisingly, Ayer’s new project reportedly sees Ayer honing in on what he’s best known for — sparse yet emotive piano ballads, as highlighted on his primary gig’s critically applauded sophomore effort Hummingbird.

 

Tasha Sits Close to the Piano, Ayer’s Jews of Love. debut takes was named by Ayer’s wife, who named the album after the their dog, Tasha — and the album is slated for a September 22, 2017 release through House Arrest Records, and Ayer’s Jaws of Love. debut single, the eponymous “Jaws of Love,” begins with a spectral arrangement in which he accompanies his plaintive and aching vocals with a gorgeous and mournful pianos before turing into a moody, and ambient synth pop track seemingly inspired by Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service and Brian Eno; but at its core is a sweetly swooning love song that reveals a visceral vulnerability as the song, much like the rest of the album’s material, focuses on love’s trials and tribulations, with the recognition that love may arguably be one of the more difficult, insane and absolutely necessary things in our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kiev Ukraine’s Indytronics Returns with a Rousingly Anthemic New Single

Last week, I wrote about the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post punk band Indytronics. Comprised of Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals), Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass), Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals), the Ukrainian quartet can trace their origins to when Bogadenko and Rybchenko were touring across Europe, and while in  Stockholm, Sweden the duo came across street musicians, who were playing an interesting melodic indie rock-leaning vibe. And as the story goes, the duo were so impressed by this particular group of street musicians that they decided that they needed to start their own band when they returned home to Kiev. 
Since the band’s formation in 2012, the band has released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and and as a result, they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally. They’ve made live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular radio rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France.

Now, as you may recall “Savannah Only Temple” was a slickly produced indie rock and post-punk track that to my ears reminded me quite a bit of Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, complete with a rousing arena rock-friendly hook. And while clearly nodding at 00s indie rock and post punk, as well as retaining the arena friendly sound of their preceding single, the track finds the band expanding upon the sound that first won them attention on this site and elsewhere, as the song finds the band nodding at electronic rock; but perhaps most important, is that the new single reveals some ambitious songwriting as they pair anthemic hooks around a twisting and turning song structure. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Indytronics’ “Savannah Only Temple” Video Captures the Lives of Kiev’s Kids

Comprised of Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals), Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass), Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals), the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post band Indytronics can trace their origins to when Bogandenko and Rybchenko were touring across Europe, and while in Stockholm, Sweden the duo came across street musicians, who were playing an interesting melodic indie rock-leaning vibe. And as the story goes, Bogandenko and Rybchenko were so impressed by this particular band and by several other bands that they decided to start their own band when they returned to Kiev. 

Since their formation in 2012, the members of Indytronics have released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally; in fact, they’ve made live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France. 

Now, as you can imagine I receive quite a bit of emails from a publicists, publicity firms, band managers, record labels, bands and artists from increasingly far-flung places these days, and as the band explained in their email to me, their latest single and video “Savannah Only Temple,” everyone has their own temple, and it can anything.  And while clearly drawing from indie rock and post-punk the band’s sound is an incredibly slick and contemporary take that to my ears reminds me a bit of Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, complete with a rousingly anthemic arena rock-friendly hook and a subtly wistful vibe. 

The recently released video for the song features the Ukrainian quartet performing the song in an empty pool that local kids have repurposed for their skateboarding, and the band broodingly walking around a school’s athletic field. And while being a glimpse of Kiev’s kids, it suggests something far larger — cultural differences withstanding, kids everywhere are almost exactly alike. By watching these kids, you should see yourself at their age, goofing off and planning adventures with friends, having enormous dreams of making someone of yourself, of having crushes on the kid next door or the kid in your Chemistry class. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about the South Devon, UK-based shoegaze/dream pop/indie rock duo Matthew and Me. And with the previous release of singles such as “Patterns” and “Kitsune,” the duo received a reputation across their native UK for a sound that seemed to draw from the likes of Sigur Ros and Mogwai, and as a result, the duo received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, XFM, and they’ve made appearances at some of Britain’s largest festivals including  including Field Day, Somersault, Port Eliot, and Glastonbury. Now “Joy,” the single I wrote about at the time, was a slow-burning and expansive song that began with a lengthy, delicate and hazy introduction in which Board’s aching falsetto was paired with shimmering and swirling guitar chords and gently padded drumming — with each individual chord feeling as though it were painter’s brushstroke adding color and texture in a fashion that was reminiscent of both the aforementioned Sigur Ros and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve.

“Silver,” the is the duo’s latest single and the first single off their forthcoming EP Startpoint, which is slated for a November 18, 2016 release through Beatnik Creative Records. Recorded between their home studio, Deep Litter Studios and Startpoint Studios, and was produced by Chris Bond, who has worked with Ben Howard and Eliza Shaddad. Interestingly, the single  is an sparse and atmospheric song in which shimmering guitar chords, swirling and soaring electronics, and a steady backbeat are paired with Board’s plaintive and aching falsetto to craft a song that sounds reminiscent of Death Cab for Cutie‘s Narrow Stairs — but with an anthemic hook.