Tag: electro pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Georgia Reed Shares Slow-Burning and Atmospheric “Back In Time”

Georgia Reed is an Aussie-born, London-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, who relocated to the UK back in 2019. After relocating to the UK, Reed spent the next fiver years, making a home for herself and carving a niche as a songwriter with a penchant for dark, moody material paired with cryptic storytelling. Speaking on her decision to relocate, Reed says “’I’d always been influenced by UK bands and artists. It played a really big part for me.”

Late lsat year, Reed shared “Haunted,” her first bit of new material since she relocated to the UK, and the first of four singles slated for release over the next few months to build up buzz for her long-awaited debut EP scheduled for a March release. “Haunted” paired a relentlessly driving rhythm section punctuated with dramatic drumming, phased-out synths paired with Reed’s smoky and expressive vocal. To me, the song was a hook-driven anthem that sounded as though it could have been inspired by Stevie Nicks‘ early 80s output with nods to much more contemporary fare, like Lana Del Rey and others while being rooted in lived-in, deeply personal experience: in this song’s case, that feeling of suddenly having the rug pulled out from under you. 

“I wrote ‘Haunted’ many years ago, at a time when my whole life had changed suddenly,” Reed says. “I would play it acoustically at shows, but It wasn’t until we started recording it that I realised it was probably my favourite song I’ve ever written.” 

Reed begins 2024 with “Back in Time,” a slow-burning and melancholy pop ballad featuring reverb-drenched beats, glistening and atmospheric synths, fluttering bass synths, boom bap-like drumming serving as a lush bed for Reed’s smoky and expressive croon detailing the achingly Romantic longing for a long lost love and a past that you can’t ever get back. While sonically recalling Kate Bush and JOVM mainstays ACES, the song as Reed explains is “for everyone who has ever thought of what would have or could have been, even if they really were just rose-coloured glasses.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Paris’ Loman Shares Brooding and Mysterious “Start Again”

Romain Yamauchi is a Paris-based Japanese-French singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind behind the emerging electronic music project Loman. With Loman, Yamauchi, who crafts enigmatic and cinematic pop inspired by Apparat, Jon Hopkins, the poetry of Ryuichi Sakamoto and the photography of David Lynch skillfully blends melancholy pads and syncopated beats with crystalline and bewitching vocals, revealing a penchant for delicate, ethereal aesthetics.

Yamuchi’s latest Loman single, the Vhinz-produced “Start Again” pairs skittering and glitchy ,off-kilter beats with lush and gentle layers of glistening synths and brief bursts of guitar with the Paris-based artist’s plaintive, almost coo-like whisper. While sonically, reminding me a bit of Radiohead and Aurus’ impressive Chimera, “Start Again” possesses a mysterious and cinematic yet dance floor friendly air.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Psymon Spine Share Punchy “Wizard Acid”

Over the past handful of years, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering acclaimed Brooklyn-based psych pop/dance pop outfit and JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine. The band — currently founding duo Noah Prebish and Peter Spears, along with Brother Michael Rudinski — can trace its origins back to when its founding duo met while attending college.

Bonding over mutual influences and common artistic aims, Prebish and Spears toured across the European Union as members of Karate. While in Paris, Spears and Prebish wrote their first song together. By the time, they arrived in London, they were offered a record deal. 

When Prebish and Spears returned to the States, the pair recruited Micheal “Brother Micheal” Rudinski and their Karate bandmates Devon Kilbern, Nathaniel Coffey to join their new project. And with that lineup, they fleshed out a series of demos, whcih would eventually become their full-length debut, 2017’s You Are Coming to My Birthday. The band then supported the effort with immersive art and dance parties, like their Secret Friend party series across Brooklyn and alter through relentless touring. 

At this time, Prebish was also splitting his time with rising Brooklyn-based dream pop act Barrie. Barrie started to receive attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere as a result of a handful of buzz-worthy singles and 2019’s full-length Happy to Be Here. And while with Barrie, Prebish met his then-future bandmate, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sabine Holler. 

The JOVM mainstay’s sophomore album, Charismatic Megafauna, which thematically explored the complicated and confusing feelings and the oft-resulting catharsis involved in the dissolution of human relationships through hooky synthesis of synth pop, electronic dance music and psych pop was released to critical praise from

Paste Magazine, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar and NME. The album and several singles were added to a number of playlists including NPR Music, Spotify‘s New Music Friday, All New Indie, Undercurrents and Fresh Finds, Apple Music‘s Midnight City and Today’s Indie Rock and TIDAL‘s Rising. And the album received airplay internationally from BBC, KEXP and KCRW among others. 

2022 saw the release of Charismatic Mutations, an album of of Charismatic Megafauna material. The members of the band grew up with a deep appreciation and love for the unique art of the remix. And as the story goes, the band found themselves craving longer, even more dance-floor friendly versions of album songs. So, the band recruited a handful of producers and electronic music acts. including including Hot Chip‘s Joe Goddard, Love Injection, Dar Disku, Each Other, Safer, Bucky Boudreau and Psymon Spine’s Brother Michael to remix material from the album. 

The Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays third album Head Body Connector is slated for a February 23, 2024 release through Northern Spy Records. The album is reportedly a gritty, punch, guitar-forward studio album from a band that’s long been obsessed with production. And perhaps more than their previous releases, Head Body Connector is explicitly informed and inspired by the band’s cathartic live show. “It’s more unhinged than anything we’ve made before,” Psymon Spine’s Noah Prebish says. “Throughout the writing process, we were always asking ourselves how we could make it really fun to play live.”  

Ironically, the album, though ready-made to be performed, was mostly written in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The band split their time between various home studios and friends’ back porches in Montauk, The Catskills, Boston and Brooklyn. It was fall and the crisp autumn air, and the political uncertainty and disquietude looming in the background lended itself to an undeniable longing for companionship. “It felt like we had collectively jumped from one timeline to another, more bizarre one,” Prebish says.

The central theme of time being fractured, chopped and screwed is integral to the album’s material and its album art, which was designed by New York-based artist Bucky Boudreau and appears in the form of alternative measurements of passing seconds, minutes, days, lifetimes, tally marks on a chalkboard and infinity signs made of camp bracelets on a cracked egg.“Head Body Connector is our response to a world even more chaotic than usual,” says Peter Spears, “and an exploration of the little joys, anxieties, and absurdities that world has to offer.” While being an ode to the dissonance of temporality in our current moment, it’s also an elastic tribute to friendship and harmony in the face of that dissonance.

Last October, I wrote about “Boys,” a track that begins with a glistening New Wave-meets-post punk introduction before quickly morphing into a funky, synth-driven both with slashing guitars. The two seemingly disparate sections are held together with Sabine Holler’s dreamy delivery. But just under the infectious, danceable surface, is an introspective song that reveals a subtle sense of unease.

The track was written after the band’s Sabine Holler relocated to Berlin, but she still lends her voice to the song. “By nature every Psymon Spine song must be a little cheeky to bypass our own self-criticism, but in reality ‘Boys’ is just a very earnest song about friendship,” the band notes. “Early on in the pandemic Sabine moved back to Germany and we weren’t sure what was going to happen, either to us as a unit or to the entire world. We went to Peter’s childhood home in Boston for a few days and fleshed out a demo that Michael had started a couple weeks earlier. We sent it to Sabine who almost immediately replied with the same vocal take you hear on the song today.” 

Head Body Connector‘s second and latest single “Wizard Acid” is a woozy bit of disco funk built around a punchy bass line, glistening synth arpeggios and thumping beats paired with lyrics about coming apart at the seams — both literally and metaphorically. Consumed with cabin fever, the song’s narrator is slowly losing their mind.

The band told the folks at Flood Magazine that the song is “part allegory, part nonsense, encapsulating elements of cabin fever, dread and humor.

We melded one of Michael’s early demos with one of Peter’s, creating one unholy coupling which eventually took the form of a shapeshifting disco jam. It sat instrumental for a couple months until Peter sent over some lyrics detailing a narrator slowly consumed by their sentient house, or perhaps losing their mind (maybe both?).” 

Directed by Dana Roth, the accompanying animated video feature bright abstract images of the band’s members, home furnishings, a guy sitting on his couch, people dancing and pulsating lines.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Les Amazones d’Afrique Share Bold and Swaggering “Flaws”

Founded in Bamako back in 2014 by three renowned and acclaimed Malian artists and social change activists Mamani Keïta, Oumou Sangaré and Amadou & Mariam‘s Mariam Doumbia, Les Amazones d’Afrique is a All-Star collective of female, West African artists that embraces international voices through a meshing of heritage and new generation talent while advocating for the rights of women and girls across the continent and elsewhere.

Since their formation a decade ago, the collective has expanded to involve female artists from across Africa and the African Diaspora, including Angélique Kidjo, Nneka, and rising Malian artist Rokia Koné.

With their first two critically applauded,. Doctor L-produced albums, 2017’s République Amazone, which landed on The Guardian‘s Top 50 of 2017 and 2020’s Amazones Power, which was featured on President Barack Obama’s Spotify playlist, the collective firmly cemented a sound that blends a number of African styles and richly melodic, collaborative harmonies with gritty, contemporary pop. Adding to a growing profile internationally, the members of the pan-African collective have played Glastonbury Festival‘s Pyramid Stage and BBC’s Later . . . with Jools Holland.

Les Amazones d’Afrique’s third album, the forthcoming Jacknife Lee-produced Musow Danse is slated for a February 16, 2024 release through Real World Records. The album reportedly sees the collective embracing a contemporary pop sound that draws from contemporary hip-hop and trap and is driven by 808s and glitchy synths while still vociferously campaigning for gender equality and the eradication of ancestral violence. 

Last year, the Pan-African All-Star collective shared the sleek and hyper modern “Kuma Fo (What They Say).” The track features five members of the collective — longtime members Mamani Keïta, Fafa Ruffino and Kandy Guira and new members Alvie Bitemo, an activist and actress from Congo-Brazzaville and renowned Ivorian artist Dobet Gnahoré — singing in the native languages of Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, C’ôte d’Ivoire, and Congo-Brazzaville. Built around stuttering 808s, glitchy synths and the collective’s gorgeous powerhouse vocals, “Kuma Fo (What They Say)” is an effortlessly seamless synthesis of the ancient and contemporary that manages to be roomy enough for each artist to showcase their unique vocal stylings while being rooted in a powerfully relevant social message — with the collective boldly advocating for women to step out and seize their place at the table.

“‘Kuma Fo’ is about women’s freedom of expression.” Alvie Bitemo says. “It’s about speaking up — not asking, not waiting for us to be given the floor. We need to seize it.”

When you look at the Amazons of Dahomey, it was female warriors who made the decisions and took power. It feels like since colonization, certain countries in Africa have moved further away from women’s rights. And in this song, we say that if you bring life into the world, you educate, you organize the family, then you should reclaim your power: your female power.”

The acclaimed, Pan-African collective begins 2024 with the boldly in-your-face and slickly produced “Flaws.” Built around tweeter and woofer rattling 808s, skittering trap beats and dense layers of wobbling and oscillating synths, “Flaws” features Mamani Keïta and Fafa Ruffino trading verses with a hip-hop meets punk rock-like swagger and an impeccable sense of harmony and melody for the song’s incredibly catchy hooks. While continuing a remarkable run of material that effortlessly blends the ancient and the modern, the song is rooted in a bold and much-needed message for women — and well, for everyone, really — in the Photoshopped Instagram model/influencer age.

“The song has a simple message,” Malian-born Mamani Keïta explains. “The perfect person does not exist. We all have our flaws and imperfections, which we carry with us through life, but there is beauty in imperfection, and that’s what we want people to realise.”

“Jacknife Lee took time to listen to each of our voices,” Benin-born Fafa Ruffino says. “He doesn’t understand the language, but you can tell that he feels the emotion, understands that our souls are deeply invested in our words. I feel like he entered our minds. What he did is more than musical. It is spiritual.”

Directed by Zambian-born contemporary dance artist and choreographer Kennedy Junior Mutanga, the accompanying video showcases a group of brash and charming teenaged dancers of color from Birmingham UK‘s ACE Dance and Music School, who dance around Les Amazones d’Afrique’s Keïta in the school’s rehearsal studio. The young women in the video seem to take the song’s message of self-acceptance and self-love to heart, and it’s powerful to see.

ACE Dance and Music School’s mission is to promote dance through cultural exchange. The school has worked for over 20 years as a leader in the field of contemporary African and Caribbean dance, nurturing young talent from diverse backgrounds.

It was an amazing experience for our young dancers to work with such thoughtful and inspirational artists from across Africa,” Gail Parmel MBE, ACE Dance and Music’s artistic director says. “It’s exactly the kind of opportunity that we love to be able to offer them, and we’re so proud of what they’ve been able to offer in return.”
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

deathbypeanuts is a mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer, who has collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed and rising artists including Kelvyn Colt, Chris James, Noah Slee, Beau Diako, JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrom, Sipprell, J. Lamotta, and a lengthy list of others.

The mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer’s latest single “Superspeed” is a slickly produced track featuring a simple yet eerie piano melody and trap beats and wobbling, tweeter and woofer rattling low end paired with MERON‘s delivery which alternates between hip-hop swagger and aching yearning for the song’s verses. Much like Majid Jordan‘s work, deathbypeanuts’ latest single manages to mesh the sultriness of contemporary R&B with trap swagger and catchy, pop hooks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: London’s Rapidly Rising Fat Dog Shares Anthemic Club Banger “All The Same”

Last year, rapidly rising, London-based outfit Fat Dog exploded into the British scene with the band being named “2023’s wildest live band,” by NME for a live show described as “manically riotous and joyous” by BBC 6 Music, which included opening sets for Viagra Boys, Shame, and Yard Act, as well as their own headlining sets.

Their debut single “King of the Slugs” was released by Domino Records to critical praise from the likes of Clash Magazine and countless others. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the British quintet announced their debut US tour, which will see them play sets at SXSW, Trans-Pecos, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as an April headlining set at the 1500-capacity Electric Brixton. Along with that they’re sharing the Joe Love and James Ford co-produced “All The Same,” a propulsive, club rocking, industrial-inspired banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, and orchestral sample-driven hit, industrial clang and clatter paired with skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap, enormous shout along worthy hooks and a plaintive vocal delivery.

The members of the rising British outfit says about the song “What if you could turn the clock back and make a change? Just a single, well-placed kick, that perhaps could change the whole course of your life. Perhaps the party never has to stop?”

Directed by Dylan Coates and staring Neil Bell, the accompanying visual for “All The Same” is a twisted and absurdist tale of regret, revenge, time travel and fatherhood that sees its protagonist traveling back to 1989.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: D1V4 Shares Minimalist “WINTERSPORT”

Featuring members split between Berlin and Yberg, D1V4 is a German New Wave duo — Luis (vocals) and Cosy Mo (production) — that officially formed not too long ago, and can trace its origins back to when the duo met while collaborating in film: Luis worked as a filmmaker and director and Cosy Mo as a sound designer. In an attempt to enhance their work, the duo experimented with their own beats, gradually developing a common musical language – which resulted in their debut single “WINTERSPORT.”

“WINTERSPORT” is a minimalist bit of synth pop built around skittering beats and twinkling synth arpeggios and chanted mantra-like vocals that sounds a bit like Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks with a mischievously anachronistic quality.

The accompanying video features slickly edited footage of what appears to be Olympic Ski Ballet shot during the 1984 Winter Olympics. Each of the competitors manages to move almost in time to the accompanying song’s beats.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Saucissound Shares Breezy “Lait D’amande”

Saucissound is an emerging and mysterious French producer. His latest single “Lait D’amande” is a breezy and vibey synthesis of looping Latin-meets-Tropicalia-like guitar, skittering Middle Eastern-like rhythms. The result is a hazy and nostalgia-inducing memory of warm, easy-going summer days.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Angela Colombino is an Sassari, Italy-born pop artist and performer, who eventually decided to write and producer her own material, starting in 2018 with the release of the critically acclaimed five-song ep Io rimango a letto . . .

Adding to a growing profile in her native Italy, Colombino has also collaborated with Shelf, Herbert Stencil, Enola Bit and others.

Earlier this year, the Sassari-born artist released “E’ Festa,” a slickly produced synthesis of Larry Levan-like house, and Giorgio Moroder-influenced Italodisco, and Version 2.0-era Garbage industrial electro pop built around tweeter and woofer rattling thump, glistening synth oscillations, and a relentless motorik groove paired with Colombino’s sultry delivery. While being accessible and club friendly, “E’ Fiesta” possesses a noticeable cinematic quality.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Terciopelo Shares Brooding and Slickly Produced “Your Love . . . “

Terciopelo is the solo recording project of a mysterious and emerging Costa Rican-born and-based electronic music producer and artist, who blends diverse instrumental elements, trap beats, jazz and soulful melodies into a unique and moody sound that has been described as thought provoking.

The mysterious Costa Rican-born and-based electronic music producer and artist’s forthcoming full-length debut, The Breakaways reportedly sees him collaborating with a talented and diverse group of female vocalists. Thematically, the album focuses on women and their journeys through life — with each vocalist singing lyrics that detail the trials, tribulations and joys of their life through their perspective. The album’s material delves into the depths of passion, love and all of the various aspects of human life.

“This album represents a significant chapter in my musical journey,” the mysterious producer and artist says. The Breakaways is not just a music album, it’s a celebration of life, love and the magnetic power of music. We poured our hearts into every note, and we hope it resonates with our audience on a profound level.”

“Your Love . . .,” The Breakaways‘ latest single is a brooding and slickly produced synthesis of Portishead-like trip hop, trap beats and contemporary electro pop paired with yearning vocals and evocative lyrics. The song thematically is a deep dive into the lives of women trapped in abusive romantic relationships. The song’s narrator paints a poignant and haunting picture of the internal and external struggles that domestic abuse victims face with a seemingly lived-in specificity.

The accompanying video captures a series of women, who are at their breaking point emotionally, physically and mentally with an unsettling and uneasy realism.

We can all take a stand against domestic violence and create a safer world for everyone. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence and need help, please go to: nomoredirectory.org.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Single Review: not hermes Shares Dancey “note”

not hermes is a mysterious and emerging Lower East Side-based artist. And over the past month or so, he has shared a couple of singles off his forthcoming EP:

  • “machines,” a swaggering bit of electro pop/electro rock built around buzzing bass synths and twinkling keys paired with enormous, arena rock-like hooks. 

  • “another,” a decidedly pop-leaning song featuring skittering boom bap beats, glistening, reverb-drenched guitars, shimmering synths paired with not hermes’ plaintive delivery and a big, catchy hook.

The EP’s third and latest single “note” is a remarkably 80s New Order-like bop built around glistening, reverb-drenched guitars, skittering boom bap, shimmering and arpeggiated synths paired with an infectious, two-step inducing hooks and the emerging New York-based artist’s yearning delivery.

“. . . it’s more on the indie pop/dance end of the spectrum than my prior two songs, but is still synth heavy (as always),” not hermes explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Ghostcake Shares Fuzzy “Get It Right”

Ghostcake is a mysterious and emerging singer/songwriter, producer and self-described “party ghost, “whose work draws influences from video games and nostalgic soundscapes to create a colorful and imaginative blend of electronica, lo-fi and experimental synth pop.

The mysterious singer/songwriter and producer’s latest single “Get It Right” is a woozy mix of lo-fi beats and synth pop built around a sinuous bass line, twinkling keys, blown-out beats, atmospheric synths, bursts of fuzzy guitar paired with a sultry and yearning vocal sample that occasionally bursts into the fuzzy, hook-driven haze. The result is a song that feels like a pleasant psilocybin trip on a summer afternoon.