Tag: experimental pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the course of this site’s six year history, you’ve likely come across a number of posts on Brooklyn/Pittsburgh dance pop/experimental pop/funk act Superhuman Happiness. With the release of their long-awaited 2014 full-length debut Hands, the act led by co-founders Stuart Bogie (vocals, saxophones, synths) and Eric Biondo (vocals, trump, synths, percussion) emerged on the national scene for a sound that draws from Talking Heads, Antibalas (which, both founding members and several members of their rotating cast of collaborators have been members of), Fela Kuti, synth pop, dance music, New Wave, and others, and for an ebullient and mischievous live show that incorporates elements of jazz-like improvisation, surrealist comedy, performance art and infectious joy. Interestingly, since the release of Hands, the act has gone through a major lineup reshuffling that included the recruitment of Andrea Diaz (lead vocals, keyboards, percussion) along with the aforementioned rotating cast of collaborators featuring friends, former bandmates and other musicians from across the Northeast in completely reformatted project that has gone through a major (and decided) change in sonic direction as the material on Hands‘ follow up Escape Velocity incorporated an increasing use of synths and electronics while retaining many of the elements that first caught my attention, as well as that of the blogosphere — deep groove-filled material that’s whimsical, mischievous, joyous while continuing to thematically focus on profound topics. In the case of Escape Velocity, several songs focused on the fidelity and accuracy of one’s memories against nostalgia.

From what I understand, the members of Superhuman Happiness are currently working on yet another full-length effort but in the meantime, they’ve released their latest single “Powermasters,” which consists of boom-bap drum programming, fluttering and twinkling electronics, warm blasts of horn and a driving, dance floor-friendly hook – – and in some way, it sounds a bit like a subtle yet bumping modernization of their “GMYL”/”Hounds” 7 inch. Completing the single is a hauntingly gorgeous, atmospheric and mournful coda that begins with looping synths, subtly syncopated drumming and ends with a gorgeous string arrangement.

 

The band is in the middle of a tour with Arc Iris that includes an October 6, 2016 stop at Rough Trade. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Superhuman Happiness / Arc Iris — 2016 Tour Dates
October 6 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
October 12 – Portland, ME – Empire
October 13 – Cambridge MA – Lizard Lounge
October 14 – Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre
October 15 – Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by its Berlin, Germany-based founder and bassist Sash and featuring Boston, MA-based saxophonist Dana Colley, best known as a former member of Morphine and their newest member, the Belfast, Northern Ireland-based vocalist Vadim Zeberg, the members of indie act The Deltahorse have managed throughout their existence to create a sound that feels and sounds lived in and created live with all three members playing in a studio, despite the fact of the distance between each member, they can’t perform together, and reportedly have rarely seen each other face-to-face and as a result have never quite had the experience of picking up on physical and visual cues musicians pick up on that allow them to easily play off and riff off one another. And yet when the trio does write and record, the sessions are treated as though they were impromptu jam sessions with each member adding their individual musical talents and tendencies to create a swaggering and uniquely genre-defying sound.

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time, you’re most likely familiar with The Deltahorse in some fashion or another. The band’s long-anticipated full-length debut Transatlantic is slated for a September 30, 2016 and the album’s first single “Happy Heart (Can Go For Miles)” consists of Colley’s swaggering and sultry electric baritone saxophone passages, stuttering drumming and drum programming, Sash’s propulsive bass lines with Vadim’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics about how a happy heart can endure almost everything — with an underlying bitter irony. And while further cementing the act’s reputation for a highly sophisticated and almost literate sound, it also reflects a great deal of artistic growth, as the song may arguably possess the deepest groove they’ve yet to release, while being the most accessible.

 

 

New Single by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Phenomenal Handclap Band‘s Daniel Collas (keyboards, production) and Morgen Phalen (vocals guitar) and members of Stockholm, Sweden-based bands Dungen and The Amazing, indie psych pop act Drakkar Nowhere can trace their origins to when Collas and Phalen had been making music in the kitchen of a rented apartment in Stockholm. And in a relatively short period of time, Collas and Phalen’s kitchen-based music project caught the attention of the members of Dragen and The Amazing, who then joined the project to flesh out its sound, a sound that’s largely influenced by cosmic jazz, soul, jazz fusion, prog rock and psych pop among others — and by their direct surroundings, including the forests that surround the Bagarmossen and Midsommarkransen neighborhoods of Stockholm.

Now you may recall that I wrote about “How Could That Be Why,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut, and the shuffling and trippy single has the band pairing twisting and turning synths and keys, a sinuous bass line and an infectious sense of melody to craft a song that sounds as though it could have been released in 1973. The album’s second and latest single “The Line” continues on a similar vein although it has the band pairing slow burning psych pop and psych rock with 70s AM rock — and in a fashion that nods at America‘s “Horse With No Name” and Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here-era Pink Floyd but with a plaintive ache just under the song’s cosmic glow. Interestingly, the song may arguably the prettiest song the band has released to date.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Indie, Experimental Electro Pop Supergroup’s Latest Pairs a Tight Groove with Deeply Empathetic Lyrics and Visuals

Interestingly, the album’s latest single and album title track “Our Puram,” has a narrator, who describes the sense of ecstasy and belonging that members of the Rajneeshpuram community felt and the gaping sense of dejection and hopelessness when they were forced to return to what they felt were dreary, ordinary, meaningless lives. While sonically, the trio pair distorted four-on-the-floor-like breakbeats, layers of wobbling and distorted synths, twinkling keys, distorted and droning guitar chords and mournful horn notes held together with a motorik-like groove that builds up towards the song’s last half/last third or so. It’s arguably the trio’s most mournful song but paired with one of the deepest and trippiest grooves they’ve released to date, while retaining a cinematic quality.

The recently released video features found footage that provides an intimate peek into the daily lives and practices of the Rajneeshpuram community and it gives the song a deeper, empathetic feel as it reminds the viewer and the listener of the subject’s essential humanity.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Los Angeles, CA-based sibling duo Andrew Aged (lead vocals, guitar) and Daniel Aged (bass, production and vocals) write, record and perform as inc. no world — and with the critically applauded release of their 2013 debut effort, the duo quickly received a profile for an introspective songwriting approach, and for crafting songs that are not only thoughtful but draw from several different sources, including gospel, soul, experimental pop and others; but with a post-modern minimalism.

“Waters Of You,” the first single off the duo’s highly anticipated, forthcoming effort As Light As Light will likely further cement the Southern California-based duo’s burgeoning reputation for ethereal, soulful pop while subtly expanding upon it; in fact, in some way the song sounds as though it were inspired by Prince, Quiet Storm-era R&B and Oracular Spectacular-era MGMT as it manages to possess a sleek and sensual yet off-kilter funkiness and an aching tenderness as the song has the duo pairing gently strummed guitar  with shimmering synths, ethereal yet sensually cooed vocals and stuttering drum programming. In some way, the song evokes an urgent, carnal need and a vulnerability at its core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site for the past couple of months, you may recall coming across a post or two about Tucson, AZ-based multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and producer Dmitri Manos, whose solo recording project American Monoxide has quietly built a profile for specializing in analog electronic instrumentals that manage to be somewhat abrasive, trashy and funky as hell such as on “Hot Lava Express,” the first single off his sophomore full-length Web Content. Sonically speaking, Manos paired industrial clang and clatter, boom-bap beats, tumbling electronic bloops, beeps and bleeps, scorching synths and Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitar chords in an offbeat funky song that reminded me quite a bit of Tobacco.

Web Content‘s latest single “Get Into My Way” is a wobbling, shuffling and buzzing song with the sort of twangy alt-country, alt-folk, experimental pop sound reminiscent of Odelay-era Beck — but in this case, as though Beck had recorded the album on old, warped cassette tape, with a breezily narcoleptic feel and an incredibly catchy hook.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal, Dream-like Visuals for Polyenso’s “17 New Years”

“The chorus is about that moment in a relationship when you realize that the person you love is using you as a scapegoat for their past emotional injuries. And despite how much you care for an desire this person, you can’t let them bring you down.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Floating Points Performing on KEXP Radio

Interestingly, as Shepherd announced his tour and the forthcoming release of Kupier, Shepherd released live footage of him and his backing band performing “Silhouettes I, II and III,” “Argente” and “Kupier” in KEXP’s studios last month. Naturally, the live footage should give you a good sense of a live Floating Points set — including as the announced joked a visual display behind the band, which included floating points; but it also should cement Shepherd’s burgeoning reputation as an sonically challenging and inventive composer, whose material also manages to be trippy, expansive and mind-altering while being approachable.

The live session includes a rather revealing interview in which Shepherd discusses the origins of Floating Points, his influences, how he met the members of his backing band and his incredible 10,000 album record collection.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Mournful Sounds and Surreal Visuals for Stefan Weich’s Latest Single “Louie”

Stefan Weich’s second and latest single “Louie” continues on the same vein as “Holy Night” as swirling and ambient electronics are paired with soft padded drumming, bursts of bluesy guitar chords and Weich’s plaintive falsetto crooning lyrics about a relationship in which both people are slowly drifting apart. At the heart of the song is the unspoken and built up resentments that can cause people to slowly drift apart over time, and a lingering sense of regret of what happened — and how it happened.

The recently released music video for the song also fittingly featured some warped and kaleidoscopic, psychedelic imagery — in some way, it evokes what I would imagine tripping on hallucinogens would feel like as you were wandering around a lonely and surreal city landscape.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal Dali-esque Visuals for BRAIDS’ “Companion”

Over the course of three full-length albums and their latest EP Companion, Montreal-based electronic act BRAIDS have developed a reputation for restless experimentation, which has resulted in each of their recorded efforts sounding different from each […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jonas Ronnberg, the co-owner of Northern Electronics who’s known for recording caustic techno under the moniker of Varg, as well as his involvement in renowned experimental acts Ulwhednar and Dard A Ranj Fran Det Hebbersalska Samfudet; renowned Swedish composer Erik Enocksson, who has scored a number of independent productions including an orphaned soundtrack to Apan, which was re-mastered and re-issued by Posh Isolation Records last year; Frederikke Hoffmeir, the mastermind of highly-regarded industrial and experimental electronic act Puce Mary;Vit Fana’s Ossian Ohlsson, who has appeared on a number of Northern Electronics and Posh Isolation compilations; and Loke Rahbek, co-founder of Posh Isolation and member of Damien Dubrovnik, highly-regarded act Lust For Youth — and for recording with Croatian Armor, Body Sculptures is an All-Star side project of renowned Scandinavian experimental electronic and electro pop artists.

Last year marked the act’s live debut, a set at the Berlin Atonal Festival and the release of their debut effort together, The Base of All Beauty Is The Body. And June 3, 2016 will mark the release of the act’s highly-anticipated sophomore effort A Body Turns to Eden.The album’s first single — and album title track — “A Body Turns to Eden” will further cement the act’s reputation for crafting stark and uneasily tense music as background electronic buzzing is paired with slowly unfurling and churning synths, minimalist beats in a song that only partially unfolds and reveals itself to its listeners.
 

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The combinations of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, the soiled traces of genre, and the mixed modes of experimentation, are here pitched as an eternal requiem, letting the play between the project’s orthodox and unorthodox methods reflect a sharp fatalism. Each song presents familiarity and intimacy within an aura of claustrophobia. And as if out of a cruel awareness of this fact, unease blooms into a comforting form. A Body Turns To Eden is an essential piece for anyone with interest in Scandinavian electronic music today.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Kaleidoscopic and Nervous Sounds and Visuals for Roisin Murphy’s “Ten Miles High”

Roisin Murphy’s latest single “Ten Miles High” pairs cascading layers of undulating synths, dramatic drumming in a song with an unusual structure — not only does it focus on a propulsive motorik groove, the song is much more concerned with establishing the sensation of anxious, anticipation, vulnerability and ache.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as the frontman of renowned indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobaccco has developed a reputation as an electronic music artist and producer, who has an uncanny ability for crafting an abrasive yet anthemic sound — as a fellow critic at Stereogum  described Tobacco’s sound as wanting to “channel Daft Punk and The Black Keys at the same time.”

Sweatbox Dynasty, the long-awaited follow-up to Ultima II Massage is slated for release this summer, and the album’s first single “Gods In Heat” will further cement Tobacco’s reputation for crafting scuzzy and anthemic electronic music as his production pairs layers of buzzing and abrasive synths, industrial clang and clatter, skittering drum programming, surface-level analog tape hiss and sizzle, a chanted mantra and an infectious hook — but if you’re familiar with the Pennsylvania-based producer’s work, the new single possesses a subtle elements of psych rock that lighten the murkiness ever so slightly.