Tag: Erykah Badu

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Sensual Visuals and Sounds of The Seshen’s “Distant Heart”

The band’s highly-anticipated sophomore, full-length sophomore effort is slated for an October 14, 2016 release through Tru Thoughts Records and the album’s material reportedly reflects a band expanding upon their sound and lyrical content; St. Juste sings lyrics in a stream of consciousness fashion and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single “Distant Heart,” as the group pairs cascading layers of ambient, squiggling and shimmering synths with stuttering and off-kilter percussion with St. Juste’s plaintive and ethereal vocals to craft a sultry, sensual song that possesses an underlying heartache at it’s core. And in some way the song manages to gently nod at 70s and 80s synth funk and R&B.

The recently released music video for the song is full of slick, sensual imagery including people moving and grooving at a small, 1920s themed club while the members of The Seshen perform the song; the act’s lead singer, strutting past a car accident to chat with a woman wearing a wedding dress, complete with the wedding veil, who later gets her veil sensually removed by two other woman and so on. Interestingly, the video possesses a disorientating, fever dream-like logic in which events occur in a seemingly disconnected fashion.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Lalin St. Juste (vocals), Akiyoshi Ehara (bass, production), Kasha Rockland (vocals), Mirza Kopelman (percussion), Chris Thalmann (drums), Mahesh Rao (keys, synths), Mirza Kopelman (percussion) and Kumar Butler (sampler),  the San Francisco Bay Area electro pop/R&B act The Seshen can trace their origins to when its founding duo St. Juste and Ehara met in Ghana during a study abroad program and instantly bonded over their shared love of music. After returning home and completing college, the duo lived in Los Angeles before relocating to Ehara’s hometown of Richmond CA, where they started to collaborate together on music and gradually built the band through jam sessions with their closest friends.

The San Francisco Bay Area-based act have received attention across the Bay Area and elsewhere for an aestehtic that draws from a diverse array of influences including Erykah Badu, Jai Paul, James Blake, Radiohead, Broadcast, hip-hop, indie rock, electronica and 70s dub to craft a sound that uncompromisingly defies easy categorization  while carefully and gently walking the tightrope between sounding remarkably contemporary and retro-futuristic; in fact, to my ears, their sound sometimes sounds as though it were influenced by slick and sleek 80s synth-baesd R&B and pop.  And that sound is paired with St. Juste’s soul-baring lyrics drawing from both her own personal experiences and her imagination as the material typically explores femininity, power, illusion and loss. With the release of their 2012 self-titled debut, which was released through Bandcamp, the Bay Area-based octet quickly built a devoted local fanbase. And by 2014, they signed to renowned indie label Tru Thoughts Records, who releaed their critically applauded 2014 EP Unravel, an effort that quickly became a favorite of well-known and highly-regarded DJs and tastemaker media outlets and personalities including  BBC Radio 6‘s Tom Ravenscroft, OkayPlayer, Earmilk and The Line of Best Fit. Building on the growing internationally received buzz, the Bay Area based act released the Unravel Remixes EP, which featured remixes from AK/DK, Astronauts, etc., Uhuru Peak, Tru Thoughts Records’ Jonny Faith and Lost Midas; in fact, the Unravel Remixes EP received airplay from BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne, Nemone, Steve Lacmaq and several others.

The band’s highly-anticipated sophomore, full-length sophomore effort is slated for an October 14, 2016 release through Tru Thoughts Records and the album’s material reportedly reflects a band expanding upon their sound and lyrical content; St. Juste sings lyrics in a stream of consciousness fashion and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single “Distant Heart,” the group pair cascading layers of ambient, squiggling and shimmering synths with stuttering and off-kilter percussion with St. Juste’s plaintive and ethereal vocals to craft a sultry, sensual song that possesses an underlying heartache at it’s core – and in some way the song manages to gently nod at 70s and 80s synth funk and R&B.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born in Elst, a small village in the Utretcht Province of The Netherlands, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marjan Alise Theodora van Viegan, best known as iET (pronounced as “eet”) discovered at an early age that music could be used as a way to transport herself to a different reality outside of her small village life — and as a result, van Viegan gradually wanted to connect with the world outside of her small village. Certainly, even as Americans there’s something about van Viegan’s story that feels — well, deeply universal. After all, how many of us have desperately yearned for something more in our personal and professional lives?

With the release of her debut EP The Kitchen Recording Series 1, which was literally recorded in her own kitchen, van Viegan caught the attention of several artists including Bonobo’s Szjerdene and Pink Oculus, with whom she collaborated on The Kitchen Recording Series 2. The Kitchen Recording Series 2 eventually caught the attention of Grammy Award winning producer and engineer Russell Elevado, best known for his work with D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, who offered to work with van Viegan debut effort, So Unreal, an effort that received international praise for it’s meshing of a variety of sounds and styles including electro pop, soul, singer/songwriter confessionals and more.

Friday will mark the release of So Unreal‘s follow up, the Inhale EP and the effort is reportedly a change in sonic direction and aesthetic for the Dutch singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist as van Viegan wanted to go for a much more intimate and direct sound. Co-produced by van Viegan and her friend and frequent collaborated Budy Mokognita, the album features van Viegan writing and recording most of the EP’s material herself with her collection of vintage instruments and gear, including her guitar, trumpet and double bass, which she inherited from her uncle and a recently acquired 1930s Schimmel upright piano.

Much like Inhale‘s first single “Inhale Your Love,” the EP’s latest single “As She Moved” focuses on an atmospheric and straightforward songwriting and sonic approach as van Viegan’s ethereal and sultry coos with a propulsive drum programming, cascading and swirling keyboard chords, handclap-led percussion, gently undulating bass and strummed guitar in a carefully crafted, swaggering song that owes a debt to experimental pop, neo-soul and rock simultaneously while revealing a songwriter who has an innate ability to write a subtle yet infectious hook.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Hilarious Visuals for Sophie and the Bom Bom’s “Appetite”

As you might remember, last December I wrote about Sophie Stern, the Los Angeles-based creative mastermind behind the (mostly) solo recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms. Initially, Stern’s career began behind the scenes as a songwriter, who was […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last December, I wrote about Sophie Stern, the Los Angeles-based creative mastermind behind the (mostly) solo recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms. Initially, Stern’s career began behind the scenes as a songwriter, who was signed to mega-hit producer and songwriter Dr. Luke’s camp. After spending couple of years as a go-to songwriter, Stern decided that it was time for her to go out on her own as a solo artist.

 

Inspired by a diverse array of artists including diverse array of artists including Erykah Badu, Tom Tom Club and a lengthy list of others, Stern began collaborating with two rather renowned producers, David Elevator, who won 3 Grammys for his work on Beck‘s Morning Phase and Dan Dare, who’s best known his work with Marina and the Diamonds, Charli XCX and M.I.A. for her debut EP. The EP’s first single “Big Girls” was a breezy and infectious pop confection that paired big boom-bap beats, cascading synths, anthemic hooks and Stern’s effortlessly soulful vocals in a way that was reminiscent of Nu Shooz‘s “I Can’t Wait” while sounding remarkably contemporary.

The EP’s second and latests single “Appetite” will further cement Stern’s reputation for crafting incredibly infectious, breezy and anthemic pop as you’ll hear boom bap beats, handclaps, twinkling synths and an anthemic, hashtag worthy hook paired with Stern’s ballsy and bratty vocals in a song that’s a tell off to fuckboys, deadbeats, drama kings and queens and parasites everywhere — with the sort of sense of humor that would likely remind you of things you may have heard or said back in the schoolyard.

Sonically and thematically speaking the song manages to nod at Australian-born, Berlin-based indie pop artist Phia, Gwen Stefani‘s “Ain’t No Holla Back Girl,” and TLC‘s “No Scrubs” as it possesses the same “girl power/girl, drop that loser/girl, drop that deadbeat friend” air but backed by slick, modern production techniques.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Sophie Stern, the Los Angeles-based creative mastermind behind the (mostly) solo recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms originally started her career as a pop songwriter, who was signed to mega-hit producer and songwriter Dr. Luke’s camp. After spending a couple of years writing songs for several major stars, Stern, who was inspired by a diverse array of artists including Erykah Badu, Tom Tom Club and others, decided that she should go out on her own as a solo artist.

Stern collaborated with two renowned producers, David Elevator, who won 3 Grammys for his songwriting/production work on Beck‘s Morning Phase and Dan Dare, who’s best known his work with Marina and the Diamonds, Charlie XCX and M.I.A. for her forthcoming debut EP. The EP’s first single “Big Girls” is breezy and infectious pop confection that pairs big, boom-bap beats, cascading synths, anthemic hooks and Stern’s effortlessly soulful vocals. Sonically, the song draws from 80s synth pop and R&B (for example think of Nu Shooz‘s “I Can’t Wait“) while sounding remarkably contemporary — the production behind the song is incredibly slick without removing the song’s sense of fun or Stern’s larger-than-life confidence.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Old School Sound Sound of San Diego’s Rebecca Jade

Two time San Diego Music Award-winning soul/pop/R&B artist Rebecca Jade can trace the origins of her music career to growing up in an extremely musical home — her mother, was a professional jazz singer in Puerto […]

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Old-School Soul-Inspired Sound of McClain Sullivan’s “Happy Anniversary”

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past month or so you might remember that I’ve written about the Seattle, WA-born and  Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter McClain Sullivan. Sullivan grew up with an  unwavering passion for making music; in fact, the […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: James Chatburn’s Sleek and Seductive, New Single “The Creator”

Australian-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer James Chatburn has developed a reputation for production work that seamlessly  meshes soul, blues, and indie electronica and paired with his warm, effortlessly soulful vocals. And if you’ve been following JOVM […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Old School Soul-Inspired Sound of McClain Sullivan’s “Happy Anniversary”

Born in Seattle, WA and currently based in Brooklyn, McClain Sullivan grew up with an unwavering passion for making music; in fact, Sullivan says in press notes, that “I could sing before I talk” and […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Introducing Up-and-Coming Sydney-based Singer/Songwriter Wallace’s Charming and Effortlessly Soul on New Single “Beauty” feat. Sampa The Great

Wallace Gollan, who performs under the mononym Wallace, is a Sydney, Australia-based singer/songwriter, whose expressive and soulful vocals are paired with a sound that draws heavily from blues, soul, jazz and pop, and as a result […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Over the last couple of years the annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, PA has grown from being a local and regional event to become something of a key rival to Rock The Bells and Hot […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Over the past 10-15 years, soul music has seen a remarkable resurgence with a number of contemporary acts across the States and the world have adopted the sound – but instead of pure revivalism, have […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

https://scache.vevo.com/m/html/embed.html?video=US8JA1508006&playerType=embedded Led by bassist, composer and producer Michael League, the prolific instrumental collective Snarky Puppy formed in Denton, TX over a decade ago. And over the years the collective whose members shuttle back and forth […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Chicago-based. singer-songwriter The ELLE can trace the origins of her music career to when she started using various forms of writing as an emotional and creative outlet when she was 8; however, despite the fact […]