As an unabashed New Order fan being able to write about them is not only a great personal and professional thrill, it constantly reminds me that first and foremost I’m an obsessive fan — and it’s my […]
Tag: electro rock
New Video: The Fittingly 80s Inspired Visuals for Photoreal’s “That Life”
Comprised of songwriters, multi-instrumentalists and producers Dan Halperin and Diwas Gurung, the Brooklyn-based electro pop duo Photoreal have developed a reputation for a sound that draws from 80s synth pop and 80s synth rock among […]
Comprised of Rishi Dihr (lead vocals, sitar, bass), Jean-Gabriel Lambert (drums, backing vocals), and Miles Dupire (drums, backing vocals), Montreal, QC-based psych rock trio Elephant Stone have developed a national profile across their native Canada, as well as a profile Stateside for a vintage psych rock sound reminiscent of The Beatles, The Kinks and others, as it the Canadian trio’s material employed elements of traditional Eastern instrumentation — i.e., the sitar — with Western songwriting. And as a result, over the past few years, Elephant Stone has become a JOVM mainstay artist.
The 2014 release of the Canadian trio’s third full-length effort, The Three Poisons, revealed a band that was in the process of a major change in sonic direction. Unlike the band’s first two albums, the material on Three Poisons pushed sitar to the background — and when it was employed, it was mainly to add texture and color. Now, if you were frequenting this site towards the end of last year, you may recall that I wrote about “The Devil’s Shelter,” a song that featured a guest spot from The Black Angels‘ Alex Maas. The members of Elephant Stone pair tense, undulating synths, shimmering sitar and guitar chords, and propulsive rhythm with Dihr’s vocals for the song’s verses and Maas’ vocals to craft a song that feels (and sounds) ominous and murky, while channelling The Black Angels “Don’t Play With Guns.”
The Montreal-based trio’s latest single “Where I’m Going” continues where the trio’s experimentation left off — while suggesting that the band’s newest sonic direction has been inspired by the likes of Primal Scream (in particular, I think of “Autobahn 66” and
“Detroit” as Dihr’s ethereal cooing with shimmering guitar chords, a tight and propulsive, motorik groove, four-on-the-floor drumming and layers of shimmering and undulating synths in what may arguably be the most dance-floor ready songs that they’ve released to date — all while remaining as psychedelic as ever. Interestingly, the band have been working on their fourth full-length effort, and if the last two singles they’ve released are indicative of its sound, the members of Elephant Stone are set to push their sound — and in turn, psych rock — in new directions.
The band will be on tour throughout March, and it includes an NYC date. Check out the tour dates below.
ELEPHANT STONE TOUR DATES
03/10 Toronto ON – Sneaky Dee’s (Tickets)
03/11 Indianapolis IN – Joyful Noise (Tickets)
03/12 Little Rock AR – Vino’s (Tickets)
03/14 Austin TX – SXSW
03/18 Memphis TN – Hi-Tone (Tickets)
03/19 Cincinnati OH – MOTR (Info)
03/20 Brooklyn NY – Baby’s All Right (Tickets)
04/14 Montreal QC – La Sala Rossa (Tickets)
Currently comprised of Jon Davison (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass), Geoff Downes (keys) and Alan White (drums), the London, UK-based prog rock quintet Yes can trace their origins to when founding members Chris Squire (bass) and Jon Anderson (vocals) formed the band back in 1968. Much ink has been spilled throughout the band’s nearly 50 year run but what I will say that the legendary act has not only been pioneers of prog rock but they’ve also managed to be remarkably successful — 9 of the band’s 22 full-length albums have reached the top 10 in either the UK or US with two reaching number 1 in the UK. And the band has sold 13.5 million albums in the US alone. In the early 80s, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” was a mega-hit song — and a song that I remember quite fondly as a child.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 13 months or so, you may recall that I’ve written about Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ Lennart Richter. Prolifically releasing a series of singles through renowned electronic music labels Sleazy G, East Project, G-Mafia Records, GUN PWDR, Ensis Records, Blue Dye, Mondal Recordings and others, Richter quickly developed a reputation across his native Germany and internationally for exploring the gamut of electronic music subgenres including deep house, G house, nu-disco and several others with a slick, crowd-pleasing, club-rocking production. And as a result, Richter can claim several Beatport Top 25 releases under his belt, and his last EP, Berlin Brawling landed at #10 on the Beatport Indie Dance/Nu Disco Charts.
The Berlin-based electronic music artist, producer and DJ closed out 2015 with the release of “Hold Up,” a nu-disco and house track comprised of layers of shimmering and cascading synths, propulsive drum programming led by explosive cymbal shots and a looped vocal sample that comes in and out of the haze. Sonically, the song reminded me quite a bit of Octo Octa’s “His Kiss” an “Please Don’t Leave” off his fantastic Between Two Selves — or in other words, it manages to possess both a bracing iciness and a thoughtful soulfulness. Richter builds on the success of the past year with the release of a remix of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” that retains the vocal sample but pairs it with what sounds like ukulele, handclap-led percussion, swirling electronics and slowly cascading synths, which essentially turns the electro rock song into a slickly produced, densely layered, mid-tempo club banger — while retaining something of the song’s original feel and spirit.
Al Tompkins, the creative mastermind behind goth/industrial act Dark Matter Noise (DMN) is a grizzled, Seattle music scene veteran and quietly kept mainstay. As the story goes, Tompkins went to high school with Chris Cornell and college with Matt Cameron — before Cornell and Cameron met and formed Soundgarden. Tompkins’ first band Ebb and Flow received a great deal of airplay for a goth soundtrack tune that the renowned producer and audio engineer Jack Endino recorded as part of a test to get a job at Reciprocal Recording, where Nirvana eventually recorded Bleach. Tompkins next band, Strange Bulge recorded an album which had guest appearances by Ten Minute Warning and Mother Love Bone‘s Greg Gilmore and the aforementioned Jack Endino and Matt Cameron. Tompkins fourth band Yeast recorded split singles with Nirvana, Helios Creed and Coffin Break among others and opened for the likes of Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and The Fluid. Tompkins then pursued an interest in metal with a stint with Resonator, who opened for the likes of The Gits, Napalm Death, The Pleasure Elite and others.
Tompkins latest project Dark Matter Noise (DMN) was created out of his desire to fully experiment with an electronic sound — and to change up his songwriting approach, after spending years within the indie rock scene. The project’s second and forthcoming album Blackwing is slated for a March 18 release, and the the album has Tompkins producing the album, as well as performing most of the instrumentation on the effort, except for contributions from Electric Hellfire Club‘s Eric Peterson, Vladimir Potrosky contributed songwriting on “End of Line,” and Charlie Drown contributed vocals on “Open Wide” and “Hell’s Frozen.” Sonically speaking, the album’s first single and title track “Darkwing” sounds as though it draws from Ministry, Depeche Mode and early Nine Inch Nails as layers of buzzing guitars, industrial clang and clatter, propulsive and forceful drum programming and drumming and swirling electronics are paired with guttural yet crooned vocals. And although the song and the material on the album is reportedly inspired by a number of very dark things –the dissolution of a marriage, the lost of years of recordings and demos and so on — there’s a sense of resilience just underneath the murky surface.
Over the course of 2015, Detroit, MI-based duo Gosh Pith have become JOVM mainstays while gaining a rapidly growing national profile for a sound and songwriting approach that generally focused on capturing a specific feeling or sensation, rather than capturing a concrete narrative. Interestingly over that same period, the duo has been experimenting with their sound and songwriting approach with their sound gradually becoming warmer and R&B-leaning with guitar becoming much more prominent on later releases.
Now you may recall that the duo closed out what turned out to be a huge 2015 with the release of “Gold Chain,” the first single and title track off the duo’s forthcoming EP, Gold Chain, which is slated for a February 25 release through B3SCI Records and with a set opening up for Girlyboi at Rough Trade. The EP’s second and latest single “K9” continues where the first single left off as skittering drum programming, wobbling bass, guitar chords fed through reverb and delay pedals and sultry hip-hop and R&B inspired vocals in a way that subtly hints at Timbaland — but much more atmospheric. And much like the preceding single, the song is a a “ratchet” love song, in which the narrator and the object of his affections being in love and doing sleazy things together because they enjoy them.
Comprised of Broken Social Scene‘s Lisa Lobsinger, The Beauties‘ Paul Pfisterer and Transistor Sound and Lighting Co.’s Martin Davis Kinack, the Toronto, ON-based self-described galactic dream pop trio Laser quickly won the attention of major media outlets such as Nylon, Spin and BUST Magazine with the release of “Leaving It Too Late” and “Do We All Feel It” the first two singles off the trio’s soon-to-be released debut full-length album Night Driver. Reportedly, the band’s sound — and in turn, the sound of their debut effort — takes cues from electronic and atmospheric albums and late night, country drives from Lobsinger and Pfisterer’s Toronto home to Kinack’s remote “studio in the forest.” And as a result the material on the album meshes electronic and analog elements and was written as though it were particularly designed to be the soundtrack for a introspective and meditative drive into the country.
Night Driver‘s third and latest single “Disconnect” pairs Lobsinger’s sultry yet ethereal vocals with twinkling synths, boom-bap drum programming, angular guitar played through gentle reverb, equally angular bass and a steady, motorik groove in a song that possesses brooding atmospherics while radiating both an effortless cool and a comforting warmth; after all, the song is about the disconnect (and resulting confusion) within an intimate relationship and puts in terms in a way that says “we’ve all been there at some point — and holy shit does it ever suck the life out of a relationship that may have been going well up to that point.”
New Audio: Belgian Producer Henri PFR’s House Music Remix of Editors’ “Ocean of Night”
Currently comprised of Tom Smith (vocals, guitar and piano), Russell Leech (bass, synths and backing vocals), Ed Lay (drums, percussion and backing vocals). Justin Lockey (lead guitar) and Elliott Williams (keys, synths, guitars and backing […]
New Audio: LCD Soundsystem Reunites for a Christmas Original
Since their breakup following a massive series of farewell shows at Terminal 5 and Madison Square Garden in 2011, the members of New York-based dance punk act LCD Soundsystem have spent the past few years […]
New Video: Introducing the Buoyant and Anthemic Sound of London’s Ten Fe
With the release of their critically praised single “Make Me Better,” the London-based duo Ten Fe, comprised of Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan took the blogosphere by storm for a sound that critics internationally have […]
Since the release of their fantastic, full-length sophomore effort, Leave Me Midnight a couple of years ago, the Chicago-based duo My Gold Mask have become JOVM mainstays as I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink about the duo and their work. Of course, in case you are new to the site — or just need your memory refreshed, some backstory is necessary: Comprised of Jack Armondo (guitar, vocals) and Gretta Rochelle (vocals, percussion), the duo spent time in Brooklyn and Baton Rouge, LA respectively, before relocating to Albuquerque, NM. Strangely enough, despite running in the same social circles, it wasn’t until Armondo and Rochelle finally relocated to Chicago, where they had a chance encounter at a rooftop party.
And as the story goes, the duo’s conversation quickly turned to music and their mutual love of Italian giallo films. In 2009, after completing a couple of short-lived rock projects involving other local musicians, Armando and Rochelle retreated and spent time experimenting with new sounds and broadening their artistic voices and the end result was their now-critically acclaimed duo My Gold Mask. Writing and recording their material in Chicago’s dimly-lit warehouse district has in some way influenced their overall sound and aesthetic. Assisted by long-time producer and collaborator Balthazar del Ley, their sound seemed to subtly nod towards Phil Spector’s famed “Wall Of Sound” production style of the 60s — that is layers of instrumentation with cascading and swirling reverb.
Since the release of Leave Me Midnight, My Gold Mask have released a series of singles that have revealed a band expanding upon and refining the sound that won the duo national attention, and in a similar fashion to Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz! — in particular, “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll.” “Battles,” the first single off the duo’s paired undulating synths, industrial clang and clatter, brief but explosive blasts of guitar, four-on-the-floor drumming and anthemic hooks with Rochelle’s plaintive and ethereal vocals. And as you can imagine, the addition of electronics gave their soaring sound a futuristic and club-friendly sheen (which interestingly enough adds a some light to their dark and brooding material).
The album’s latest single “Connect” continues the album’s overarching change in sonic approach as synths and electronics play a big role; however, with “Connect” the approach is more of a gentle and subtle refinement. The soaring and anthemic hooks the duo are known for are still there but in this case, they’re paired with angular and buzzing power chords, electronic bleeps and bloops, swirling atmospheric synths and live drumming paired with electronic drums. Much like the album’s previous single, the song’s narrator bares their anxieties, obsessions and fears with an unadorned frankness to anthemic, shimmering dance rock.
New Video: The Creepy Horror Film-like Video for The Harrow’s “Love Like Shadows”
Deriving their name from the name of a device used to torture and punish prisoners in Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony,” Brooklyn-based band The Harrow can trace their origins back to 2008 when founding member […]
Comprised of Josh Smith (vocals, guitar and production) and Josh Freed (samples, synths and production), the Detroit, MI-based duo of Gosh Pith have quickly won the attention of the blogosphere for an aesthetic that focuses […]
Formed back in 2012 and comprised of Gabbi Coenen (vocals), Darren Denman (keys/piano), Zack Hartmann (bass), Oscar Rodriguez (guitar) and Jay Rudolph (drums), the Brooklyn-based quintet of Ruby My Dear (presumably named after the Thelonious Monk composition) […]
Based in Hamilton, Ontario and Leeds, United Kingdom, the quintet of New Hands is heavily inspired by 80s New Wave and contemporary electronic dance music, and their first single “Strange Attractor” manages to bear a […]