Tag: Differ-Ant Records

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: MAGON Performs “Shackles of the Wretched” at Basement

With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter and guitarist  MAGON established a sound that he described as “urban rock on psychedelics,” which to my ears seemed indebted to David Bowie and T. Rex. 

The Israeli-born, Paris-based JOVM mainstay released his critically applauded sophomore album Hour After Hour through December Square/Differ-Ant Records late last year. Featuring tracks like  Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time, “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock and the No Wave meets post-punk like album title track “Hour After Hour,” MAGON’s sophomore album is a decided change in sonic direction: sonically, the album as the rising singer/songwriter and guitarist says is “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground.”

Earlier this year, the rising JOVM mainstay played a live set for Groover Obsessions‘ Les Capsules sessions at La Marbrerie. Building upon the attention that live session received, MAGON filmed another live session at The Basement, featuring material from Hour After Hour. The first video sees the Israeli-born, Paris-based JOVM mainstay and his backing band playing the Jim Carroll Band-like “Shackles of the Wretched” with an insouciant and swaggering co

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: JOVM Mainstay MAGON on Groover Obsessions’ Les Capsules

With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter and guitarist MAGON established a sound that he described as “urban rock on psychedelics,” which to my ears seemed indebted to David Bowie and T. Rex.

The Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter and guitarist released his critically applauded sophomore album, Hour After Hour through December Square/Differ-Ant Records last December. The album, which features Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time, “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock and the No Wave meets post-punk like album title track “Hour After Hour,” is a decided change in approach and sonic direction for the Paris-based JOVM mainstay: sonically, the album as MAGON says is “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground.”

MAGON with his live band recently played a live set for Groover Obsessions’ Les Capsules sessions at La Marbrerie that featured a jammy and trippy version of the aforementioned “Hour After Hour,” one of my favorite songs off his sophomore album and the slow-burning burning and brooding psych rocker “Coucou My Friend.” Both songs in the live session are delivered with an insouciant yet swaggering cool.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Israeli-French JOVM Mainstay MAGON Releases a Trippy Animated Visual for No Wave-like “Hour After Hour”

With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter MAGON established a sound that seemed indebted to David Bowie and T. Rex, which he once described as “urban rock on psychedelics.” Quickly after Out in the Dark, MAGON released a couple of singles including “Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time and “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock.

While becoming a JOVM mainstay artist, the Israeli-French artist has developed a reputation for being rather prolific. His sophomore album Hour After Hour was released through December Square/Differ-Ant Records. Hour After Hour is a decided change in sonic direction and approach for the Israeli-French singer/songwriter: the album ia mix of psychedelic ballads and garage rock bangers that MAGON describes as being “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground” that finds the JOVM mainstay writing the most introspective and personal lyrics of his growing catalog.

Interestingly enough, the album’s latest single, album title track “Hour After Hour” is a No Wave/post-punk like song, featuring quiggling guitar lines, a sinuous and propulsive bass line and the Israeli-French singer/songwriter’s sing-songy/Lou Reed-inspired delivery. But interestingly, the song is centered by neurotic self-deprecation, novelistic details and observations as the song’s narrator describes a meet cute turn hookup gone horribly wrong.

Directed and animated by Mihaela Mîndru, the recently released video for “Hour After Hour” features trippy line animation that follows the events and situations described in the song with a dreamy and surreal quality.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hifiklub Teams Up with Roddy Bottum on a Hypnotic and propulsive take on an 80s Smash Hit

Since their formation back in 2006, the Toulon, France-based experimental trio Hifiklub have developed and honed a creative approach centered around collaboration with a diverse and eclectic array of artists including Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, The Legendary Tigerman, Half-Japanese’s Jad Fair. Jean-Marc Montera, R. Stevie Moore, André Jaume, Mike Watt, Fatso Jetson, Jérôme Casalonga, Lula Pena, Scanner, Jean-Michel Bossini, Mike Cooper, Duke Garwood, Alain Johannes and FaIth No More’s and Imperial Teen’s Roddy Bottum and a growing list of others. And through these collaborations, the French act have explores the possibilities and boundaries of expressions, frequently combining sound, image and text in new ways.

The members of Hifiklub and Roddy Bottum have collaborated together on a new album Things That We Lost in the Fire. Slated for an October 16, 2020 release on cassette and CD in the United States on Dreamy Life Records and on vinyl and CD through the rest of the world through Toolong Records/Differ-Ant, Things That We Lost in the Fire is reportedly a trance-like, spoken word-driven album. Interestingly, the album’s latest single is a cover of Survivor’s smash-hit “Eye of the Tiger.” Centered around a sinuous and propulsive groove, glistening keys and blasts of reverb-drenched guitar and spoken word delivered lyrics, the Hifiklub and Roddy Bottom rendition turn the classic anthem into an atmospheric and brooding, disco-tinged art rock jam, reminiscent of Black Strobe’s “Boogie in Zero Gravity.”

Directed by Léna Durr., the recently released video for the Hifiklub and Roddy Bottum cover follows bodybuilder Benjamin Rostaert as he lifts weights and prepares himself for a major bodybuilding competition. Fittingly, much like Rocky III, we see the dedication and lonely routines and preparation lead to Rostaert’s success.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Motorik Groove Driven Psych Rock of Paris’ MAGON

MAGON is an Israeli-born, Paris-based psych rock singer/songwriter and producer. His latest album Out in the Dark was released last October through December Square/Differ-Ant Records. And with the release of the album’s first single “The Streets,” the Israeli-born, Paris-based artist quickly established a unique sound, which he has described as urban rock on psychedelics. 

Out in the Dark’s latest single is the decidedly cocaine fueled, glam rock-like “My Reflection.” Centered around a chugging motorik groove, angular and slashing guitars and MAGON’s ironically detached vocals, “My Reflection” may remind some listeners of The Strokes — but with an unvarnished sense post-modern self-awareness. “‘My Reflection’ is one of the most introspective songs on the album,” MAGON wrote to me in an email. “It resumes my life up and evokes my life philosophy. it’s also one o the rare songs for which I wrote the lyrics fully before composing it.” 

Shot on a grainy VHS-like film, the video which is set in a rainy European town, follows a beautiful woman as she vamps, runs, smokes and generally pisses away her time. It’s purposefully DIY — but while possessing a mischievous sense of humor: it evokes what bored, self-aware and yet cool young people do all over the world. “I shot the video one day in December in Bucharest with my girlfriend Alexa and her sister Yvonne, who are natives of the city,” MAGON explains in an email. “We used an old DV camera that my bassist Gauthier gave me, which has a great vintage look, and in post production, we really had fun grading (mainly to b&w) editing and superimposing the footage. Yvonne, who is 17 was really happy with the final result, although she was quite worried it would turn out to be shit. I would like to keep on making videos with Alexa because she’s super talented and intuitive with visual arts.”