Tag: electronic dance music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pythies Tackle a 2000s Banger

Paris-based punks Pythies — founding member Lise L. (vocals) with Thérèse La Garce (guitar) and Anna B. Void (drums) — was formed by Lise L. in late 2022 with the intent of starting an all-woman band. In early 2023, Lise L. met Thérèse La Garce and Anna B. Void through social media. The trio felt a very strong simpatico, rooted in the meshing of three distinct and strong personalities, and from that point on, the band’s lineup was cemented.

The French trio released their debut EP Disillusion last year. The EP featured two singles that I wrote about on this site:

  • “Toy,” a track that seemed indebted to riot grrl-era punk and grunge, featuring fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and enormous hooks and choruses placed within the classic grunge song structure. 

  • “I Pythie You” is a grunge and riot grrl-inspired ripper that reminds me a bit of early PJ Harvey, The Breeders and Hole anchored around Lise L.’s feral delivery.

The French JOVM mainstays recently tackled Peaches‘ signature single, 2000’s “Fuck The Pain Away,” turning the dance floor banger into a grungy, 90s era riot grrl ripper while retaining the feral sexuality of the original. In some way, their take possesses a sense of danger that’s both unhinged and thrilling.  

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 51st Birthday, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates French touch pioneer Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s 51st birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday, Thomas Bangalter!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates French touch pioneer Thomas Bangalter’s 50th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Solid Spark Shares Summery “Higher”

Solid Spark is a rising electronic music producer and DJ, who has caught the attention of the global electronic scene with a sound that seamlessly blends contemporary pop sound with golden age EDM nostalgia. For the rising electronic music producer and DJ, the result is material that’s dance floor friendly but packs a deep emotional and energetic resonance. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Dream,” a slick, club friendly banger featuring glistening synths, a sultry and yearning vocal sample, skittering beats and euphoria-inducing hook and drops. The production revealed a producer with an uncannily sophisticated sense of soulful craftsmanship.

Building upon a growing profile, the rising producer’s latest single “Higher” is a club friendly bop featuring glistening synths, a chopped and screwed vocal sample-driven, incredibly catchy hook, a yearning female vocal sample for the verses, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump. While continuing to cement his reputation for crafted and soulful electronic music, “Higher” may arguably be the most summery and catchiest song of the producer’s growing catalog to date.

Throwback by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Giorgio Moroder!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Giorgio Moroder’s 84th birthday.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Omar Souleyman Shares a Club Banging Ode to Erbil, Iraq

Acclaimed JOVM mainstay Omar Souleyman is a Tell Tamer, Syria-born, Erbil, Iraq-based Sunni Arab vocalist, who can trace the origins of his professional career back to 1994, when he began as a part-time wedding singer.

His overall sound has largely been influenced and informed by the incredibly diverse milieu of Northeastern Syria. Souleyman and a rotating cast of musicians and producers he has worked with his early days have found ways to draw from and mesh the sounds and themes of several different ethnic groups that inhabit the region, including Kurdish, Ashuris, Turks, Iraqis and the larger Arabic world in a way that’s both familiar and novel. And as a result, Souleyman has become a regional and global pioneer of club rocking electronic music that’s also wedding hall friendly.

Since starting his career 30 years ago, Souleyman has been astonishingly prolific, releasing well over 500 studio and live albums — with about 80% of those releases specifically made at weddings. Most of those recordings were first presented to the newlywed couple and then later copied and sold at local kiosks. The acclaimed JOVM mainstay has released four compilations and four albums through Western record labels — 2013’s Wenu Wenu, 2015’s Bahdeni Nami, 2017’s To Syria with Love and 2020’s Shlon. Each of those albums have not only brought some of the Middle East’s deepest grooves and trippiest sounds to the West, Souleyman’s recorded output has helped to expand his profile to the larger world.

Adding to a rising international profile, Souleyman has played sets across the global festival circuit, including Paredes de Coura, a Caribou co-curated ATP Festival, ATP Nightmare Before Christmas, Bonnaroo, Roskilde Festival, Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul Festival, Pukkelpop Festival, Electric Picnic, Treefort Music Festival — and oddly enough, one of the strangest House of Vans bills I’ve ever seen, in which he opened for Future Islands. Souleyman has also collaborated with the likes of Bjork and Four Tet.

The acclaimed Syrian-born, Iraqi-based dabke singer’s fifth full-length album Erbil is slated for a March 29, 2024 release through Mad Decent. The eight-song album, which sees Syrian-born singer collaborating with his longtime keyboardist Hasan Jami Alo, pays homage to Erbil, the Iraqi city that has offered him solace and embraced him during recent uneasy and difficult times. His relocation to Erbil came with rich, new experiences and friendships that are best celebrated in joyous songs specifically dedicated to a new chapter in life. Sonically, Erbil‘s material reportedly sees Souleyman and Alo crafting a forward-thinking dabke-meets-techno sound.

Erbil‘s first single “Rahat Al Chant Ymme” may arguably be the most club friendly track that Souleyman has released in some time with the production featuring dense layers glistening and arpeggiated synths, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, skittering beats, hand claps and enormous bass drops serving as a lush and sultry bed for Souleyman’s imitably cooler-than-cool yet yearning delivery.

Presumably shot in Erbil, Iraq, the accompanying video for “Rahat Al Chant Ymme” follows the global dabke sensation through a warm, mind-bending and humanistic tour through the Iraqi city that also manages to nod at hip-hop videos.

Souleyman will be supporting the new album with an extensive tour that will include live shows in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the wider Middle East and Europe, as well as his first Stateside shows in over 6 years — with shows in Los Angeles and NYC. More on that to come.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday Guy de Homem-Christo!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Daft Punk’s Guy de Homem-Christo’s 50th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 49th Birthday, Thomas Bangalter!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Stardust’s and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter’s 49th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda’s “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi

Cyril Thévenard is a Dijon, France-born, classically trained flute player, and highly regarded electronic music producer and artist. Initially influenced by French touch, Thévenard becomes a DJ and plays at raves under the moniker Hermetic Unity.

Thévenard started releasing material as John Lord Fonda in 1997 with the release of that year’s Vulcan through Choice Records. After gaining experience on the turntables, the Dijon-born electronic music producer and artist, signed with Citizen Records, who released 2004’s VoltAge. 2005 saw the release of Erase My Anger EP, followed by Debaser, which featured a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”

2009’s Composite compilation, included some live versions of tracks. 2011 was a busy year: He started the year with the Bang The Fire! EP and closed out the year with Supersonique. Thévenard then disappeared from the scene for the next decade, reappearing with the release of 2021’s Walk Again, which featured “Together Again,” a club banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and euphoria-inducing hooks.

Recently Grenoble, France-born and based electronic music producer and artist Endrik Schroeder remixed “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi turning it into an Italo Disco banger, along the lines of From Here to Eternity-era Giorgio Moroder with a contemporary EDM sheen — but while retaining the song’s original, mysterious air.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mindarts Shares an Expansive Club Banger

Mindarts is a mysterious electronic music artist and producer, and the first signee to the fittingly named, new Dutch electronic music label, Dutch Dance Records. The label’s debut single — and Mindarts’ latest release, “Lumination” is a dense, yet expansive banger that sonically seems like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, industrial house and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Australia’s Mildlife Releases a Shimmering Club Friendly Jam

With the release of 2017’s full-length debut Phase, the Aussie quartet Midlife — multi-instrumentalists Jim Rindfleish, Adam Halliwell, Kevin McDowell and Tom Shanahan — exploded into the national and international scene. Phase was released to critical acclaim from Resident AdvisorResident Advisor, Uncut, The Guardian and airplay from BBC Radio 6 — and the album helped the band garner several award nominations including Best Album at the 2018 Worldwide FM Awards,  Best Independent Jazz Album at the 2018 AIR Awards and Best Electronic Award nomination and win at the The Age Music Victoria Awards. 

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the members of the Midlife have opened for the likes of Stereolab, JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Harvey Sutherland. Their first national headlining tour was sold out, and the immediately followed up with a ten-date UK and European tour, which was culminated with a homecoming set at Meredith Music Festival. 

The rising Aussie act’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Automatic is slated for a September 18, 2020 release through Heavenly Recordings and the album reportedly is step-change from their debut with the material being much more disciplined, directional and more danceable but while continuing their unerring knack to let a track luxuriate and stretch out without ever being self-indulgent. “The recorded songs kind of become the new reference point for playing the songs live,” Midlife’s Kevin McDowell says. ““They both have different outcomes and we make our decisions for each based on that, but they’re symbiotic and they both influence each other. It’s usually a fairly natural flow from live to recorded back to live.”

“Vapour,” Automatic’s second and latest single is centered around a shimmering, cosmic groove featuring glistening synth arpeggios, a sinuous bass line, a fluttering and expressive flute solo, shuffling four-on-the-floor, a euphoria-inducing hook and McDowell’s plaintive falsetto.  While sonically the song brings Fear of Music and Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and DBFC to mind, it conjures memories of carefree dance floors of pre-COVID quarantines, lockdowns and isolation. “Vapour is a dance mantra with enough weight to blow the cobwebs off your tired mind and snap you out of your endless feed scrolling rituals,” the members of Midlife say of the song.