Tag: Felte Records

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Acclaimed Chicago-based post-punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Ganser — founding members Nadia Garofalo (vocals, keys) and Alicia Gaines (vocals, bass) along with Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) — can trace their origins back to when its founding members met while attending art school. Bonding over a mutual love of The Residents, outsider communities and the work of John Waters, the duo developed a hands-on DIY craftsmanship that eventually carried into their band: Each member of the post punk outfit shares writing duties and they collaborate on every aspect of their creative work, including videos, album art, merch and the visuals which often accompany their live shows. 

Ganser’s 2018 full-length debut Odd Talk received widespread praise nationally and across the blogosphere with some critics comparing their sound and approach to Sonic Youth and Magazine. Thematically, the album focused on communication breakdowns — namely, the difficulties of being understood, avoidance, intimacy and avoidance. 

2020’s sophomore album, the critically applauded Just Look at That Sky found the members of Ganser thematically probing the futility of striving for self-growth during chorus — all while evoking an all to familiar manic worry and generalized sense of existential dread and doom. It’s an album that seems to accurately captures our slow-burning, omnipresent hellscape. 

Besides last year’s Look at That Sky Remixes EP, the Chicago-based JOVM have been busy working on new material — including their Angus Andrew co-produced, three-song Nothing You Do Matters EP.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “People Watching,” a woozy and expansive ripper that begins with a slow-burning and atmospheric, bass-driven intro before quickly morphing into a feverish thrash featuring slashing guitar attack, relentless four-on-the-four and squiggling bursts of electronics paired with Garofalo’s seething, irony-drenched delivery. 

Arguably the most tense and uneasy song of their growing catalog, “People Watching” captures the mad and desperate senselessness —of well, just about everything right now. 

LIARS’ creative mastermind Angus Andrew recently gave “People Watching,” the remix treatment — and the LIARS remix is bold and mind-bending rework that retains the propulsive energy, rhythm and acerbic vocal delivery of the original but transform the song into a kaleidoscopic, funhouse from hell-like club banger that sounds much like a garbled transmission beamed down from a UFO 20,000 light years away.

“We had worked on the original recording of ‘People Watching’ together at Key Club in Benton Harbor, MI so I was already super entwined with the song,” Andrew explains. “That familiarity gave me a lot of freedom with the remix. My goal was to maintain the great momentum and vocal delivery of the initial recording, but just give it all a big kick in the butt with synths.”

Nothing You Do Matters EP is slated for an October 5, 2022 digital release and a December 2, 2022 vinyl release through Felte Records.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: LEVITATION Sessions: Mint Field Performs “Contingencia” at Centro Cultural Otomí

Initially founded in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, by founding members Estrella del Sol Sanchez and Amor Amezcua, the Mexican shoegazer outfit  Mint Field exploded into the international shoegaze and psych rock scenes with their debut EP Primeras Salidas.

The Mexican shoegazers supported Primeras Salidas with stops at Coachella and SXSW and others across the North American festival circuit, as well as venues across their native Mexico and the states. Building upon a rapidly growing international profile, their full-length debut, 2018’s Pasar De Las Luces found the then-duo imbuing material drawing from dream pop, krautrock, stoner rock and shoegaze with sorrow and nostalgia.

The two year period after Pasar de Las Luces were extremely eventful: Mint Field toured extensively across North America, Mexico and the European Union, playing over 100 shows to support their debut. 2019 saw the release of the Mientras Esperas EP, which they supported with further touring across the States, Canada and Mexico — with two sold-out shows in Mexico City .

During that period, the band relocated to Mexico City. And upon relocating to the Mexican capital, the band went through a massive lineup change: Amor Amezcua left the band. But the band then expanded into a trio with the addition of Sebastian Neyra and Ulrika Spacek’s Callum Brown. They then signed to  Los Angeles-based post punk label Felte Records, who released their last full-length effort, 2020’s Syd Kemp-produced Sentimiento Mundial.

Recorded at  London-based Wilton Way Studio, the band’s third album saw the band’s sound shifting towards decidedly minimal, rhythmically focused approach. “Contingencia,” the album’s second single features a a propulsive and relentless motorik groove, shimmering guitars and del Sol Sanchez’s ethereal cooing to create a trance-inducing song that gently rises upward with an achingly plaintive yearning.

The trio filmed a LEVITATION Sessions at Centro Cultural Otomí, a monumental cultural complex in Temoaya, Mexico. It’s a gorgeous and fitting location for their sprawling, cosmic take on shoegaze and dream pop. And it may arguably be the most beautiful setting for a LEVITATION Session to date.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Deserta Shares Slow-Burning and Woozy “Where Did You Go?”

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Doty has had a lengthy 20+ year career as a musician: He co-founded Philadelphia-based post-rock outfit Saxon Shore with Father John Misty’s Josh Tillman, and the act went out to release four full-length albums — 2002’s Be a Bright Blue, 2003’s Four Months of Darkness, 2005’s The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore and 2009’s It Doesn’t Matter — before splitting up.

Doty went on to form the Los Angeles-based (via Grand Rapids, MI) synth-pop outfit Midnight Faces with Philip Stancil. During their run, Midnight Faces released three albums –2013’s Fornication, 2014’s The Fire Is Gone and 2016’s Heavenly Bodies — to critical acclaim from the likes of Spin Magazine, The AV Club, Consequence, Vice and a lengthy list of others.

Doty stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist with his solo recording project Deserta back in 2020. Doty’s sophomore Deserta album, Every Moment, Everything You Need is slated for a February 25, 2022 digital and CD release and a June 10, 2022 vinyl release through Felte Records. Mixed by David Fridmann and engineered by Chris Coady, Every Moment, Everything You Need features guest spots by James McAliser, who has worked with Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, The National, Big Red Machine and a list of others and vocals from Mice Parade‘s Caroline Lufkin on a track.

Every Moment, Everything You Need‘s latest single “Where Did You Go” is slow-burning and woozy bit of shoegaze with A Storm in Heaven-like textures: swirling reverb and feedback-drenched layers of guitar, glistening synths, forceful boom bap with ethereally cooed vocals buried deep into the mix, but aching to burst free from their confinement. And at its core, the song seems to evoke a yearning for someone and a moment that just can’t possibly happen again.

“‘Where Did You Go’ marks the third time Caroline [Lufkin] and I have worked together,” Deserta’s Matthew Doty says in press notes. ‘Going back to 2008, Oliver Chapoy (who, also appears on the new Deserta album) and I contributed a remix for her album, Murmurs. The following year, Caroline sang on Saxon Shore’s “This Place” (also produced/mixed by Dave Fridmann). We kept in touch over the years, always trying to connect on something new, but life happens and timing is often hard to get right. With the unpredictability of the last year, I think it was comforting to finally reconnect with some of my favorite collaborators, even from a distance.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially founded in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico by Estrella del Sol Sanchez and Amor Amezcua, the Mexican shoegazer act Mint Field quickly received international attention with the release of their debut EP Primeras Salidas, eventually playing sets across the North American festival circuit, including Coachella and SXSW, as well as venues across both the States and their native Mexico. Building upon a growing profile, Mint Field’s full-length debut, 2018’s Pasar De Las Luces found the act establishing a clearer sense of what they wanted to do sonically — primarily, as a result of finally having access to the tools to do so. The end result was an album’s worth of material that drew from dream pop, krautrock, stoner rock and shoegaze, imbued with sorrow and nostalgia.

The past couple of years since the release of Pasar De Las Luces has been rather eventful for the Mexican shoegazer act: they’ve toured extensively across the North America and the European Union, playing over 100 shows. Continuing that momentum, the band recorded Pasar De Las Luces’ follow-up, last year’s  Mientras Esperas EP, which they supported with further touring across the States, Canada and Mexico — with two sold out shows in Mexico City.

During that same period, the band relocated to Mexico City and upon relocating to the Mexican capital, the band went through a massive lineup change: Amor Amezcua left the band, and the band then expanded into a trio with the addition of Sebastian Neyra and the band’s newest member, Ulrika Spacek’s Callum Brown. Capping off a series of monumental changes for the acclaimed Mexican act, they signed to Los Angeles-based post punk label Felte Records.

Slated for a September 25, 2020 release, the band’s Syd Kemp-produced sophomore album Sentimiento Mundial was recorded at London‘s Wilton Way Studio, and the album reportedly sees the band’s sound shifting towards a decidedly minimal, rhythmically focused approach. The album will feature the meditative “Natural,” and the motorik groove-driven “Contingencia,” and the lushly textured  Pink Floyd-like “Delicadeza.”

“Aterrizar,” Sentimiento Mundial‘s fourth and latest continues a run of slow-burning, painterly material, centered around shimmering yet angular guitars, propulsive drumming, del Sol Sanchez’s plaintive and ethereal vocals and a soaring hook. Interestingly, the track manages to recall Slowdive and The Verve-like shoegaze — but imbued with an aching nostalgia for a seemingly innocent past that we can’t get back.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Mint Field Release a Cinematic and Mediative Visual for Lush and Slow-Burning Single “Delicadeza”

Initially founded in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico by Estrella del Sol Sanchez and Amor Amezcua, the Mexican shoegazer act quickly received international attention with the release of their debut EP Primeras Salidas, eventually playing sets across the North American festival circuit, including Coachella and SXSW, as well as venues across both the States and their native Mexico. Building upon a growing profile, Mint Field’s full-length debut, 2018’s Pasar De Las Luces found the act establishing a clearer sense of what they wanted to do sonically — primarily, as a result of finally having access to the tools to do so. The end result was an album’s worth of material that drew from dream pop, krautrock, stoner rock and shoegaze, imbued with sorrow and nostalgia. 

The past couple of years since the release of Pasar De Las Luces has been rather eventful for the Mexican shoegazer act: they’ve toured extensively across the North America and the European Union, playing over 100 shows. Continuing that momentum, the band recorded Pasar De Las Luces’ follow-up, last year’s  Mientras Esperas EP, which they supported with further touring across the States, Canada and Mexico — with two sold out shows in Mexico City .

During that same period, the band relocated to Mexico City and upon relocating to the Mexican capital, the band went through a massive lineup change: Amor Amezcua left the band, and the band then expanded into a trio with the addition of Sebastian Neyra and the band’s newest member, Ulrika Spacek’s Callum Brown. Capping off a series of monumental changes for the acclaimed Mexican act, they signed to Los Angeles-based post punk label Felte Records,

Slated for a September 25, 2020 release, the band’s Syd Kemp-produced sophomore album Sentimiento Mundial was recorded at London’s Wilton Way Studio, and the album reportedly sees the band’s sound shifting towards a decidedly minimal, rhythmically focused approach. The album will feature the meditative “Natural,” and the motorik groove-driven “Contingencia,” which were both released earlier this year. Sentimiento Mundal’s third and latest single “Delicadeza” is a lushly textured song centered around del Sol Sanchez’s ethereal vocals, swirling and shimmering, pedal effected guitars and propulsive drumming that manages to recall the lengthy introductory sections to Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)” and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve– but while being fittingly delicate. 

Directed and shot by 26 year-old Mexico City-based filmmaker Santiago Padilla Arouesty, the recently released video is a cinematic and meditative portrait of our zeitgeist — one in which our sanity, well-being and humanity are held together by an extremely delicate thread. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Ganser Take Us on a TED Talk from Hell in New Visual for “Projector”

Chicago-based post-punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Ganser can trace its origins back to when its founding members Nadia Garofalo (keys, vocals) and Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) met while attending art school. Bonding over a mutual love of The Residents, outsider communities and the work of John Waters and David Lynch, the duo developed a hands-on DIY craftsmanship that eventually carried over into the band. Each of the band’s members — Garofalo, Gaines, Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) — sharing writing duties and collaborating on every aspect of their creative work, including music videos, album art and the visuals, which often accompany their live shows. 

2018’s full-length debut Odd Talk received widespread praise nationally and across the blogosphere with some critics comparing their sound and approach to Sonic Youth and Magazine. Thematically, the album focused on communication breakdowns — namely, the difficulties of being understood, avoidance and intimacy

With the release of 2018’s full-length debut, Odd Talk, the Chicago-based post-punk outfit developed a national profile with the album receiving widespread praise for sound that some critics have compared favorable to Sonic Youth and Magazine paired with incisive lyrics critiquing larger social issues. Odd Talk thematically focused on communication breakdowns, the difficult of being understood, intimacy and avoidance. 

Now, as you may recall the Chicago-based JOVM mainstays’ highly-anticipated sophomore album Just Look at That Sky is slated for a Friday release through Felte Records. Thematically, their sophomore album finds the quartet probing the futility of striving for self-growth during chaos — while evoking an all too familiar manic worry and generalized sense of dread and doom. The album acknowledges that we’re online all the time and inundated with too much information about other people and situations. We’re all a tweet, a status update, an Instagram post or a text exchange away from truly knowing what our followers, friends and loved ones really think about us. And in a larger sense, the world as we know it is dying before our eyes. We can watch the replays every night at 8, 10, 11 — in slow motion. 

So far, I’ve written about two of Just Look at That Sky’s released singles — the tense and explosive album opener “Lucky.” and the atmospheric and brooding “Emergency Equipment and Exits.” The album’s latest single “Projector” is an uneasy song centered around propulsive drumming, angular blasts of guitar and bass paired with Garofalo delivering a psychological study of people desperately trying to hold on to anything when everything is so absolutely insane. 

“It’s what happens when someone becomes so far removed from general society that their thoughts become a Dunning-Kruger Effect echo chamber of pseudo-wisdom and self-affirmations. Connection and perspective gets lost, but that echo becomes louder and often public,” Ganser’s Garofalo says of the song, 

Directed by the members of the band, the recently released video for “Projector” stars the band’s Nadia Garofalo as a painfully awkward and intensely self-aware TED Talk-like speaker, giving a talk on “Pseudo Philosophies for Living in the Current Climate,” and the talk includes the prerequisite PowerPoint slides and video clips. But as the video pulls out at the end, we see that Garofalo’s TED talk speaker has been speaking in front of an empty room — the entire time. 

“We shot this the day after SXSW was cancelled,” the members of Ganser recall in press notes. “We didn’t know what was coming, but we knew it wasn’t going to be good.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mexico City’s Mint Field Releases a Minimalist and Trance-Inducing New Single

With the release of their debut EP Primeras Salidas, acclaimed shoegazer act Mint Field — initially founded in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico by Estrella del Sol Sanchez and Amor Amezcua — quickly received international attention that landed them sets across the North American festival circuit, including Coachella and SXSW, as well as venues across both the States and their native Mexico. Building upon a growing profile, Mint Field’s full-length debut, 2018’s Pasar De Las Luces found the then-duo establishing a clearer sense of what they wanted to do sonically,  as a result of having access to the tools to do so. Interestingly, their debut drew from dream pop, krautrock, stoner rock and shoegaze while imbued with sorrow and nostalgia.

Since the release of their full-length debut, Mint Field has had an eventful two years. The Mexican shoegazer act toured extensively across North America, Mexico and the European Union, playing over 100 shows to support their full-length debut. Continuing upon that momentum, the band recorded Pasar De Las Luces’ follow-up, last year’s  Mientras Esperas EP, which they supported with further touring across the States, Canada and Mexico — with two sold out shows in Mexico City . During that same period, the band relocated to Mexico City and upon relocating to the Mexican capital, the band went through a massive lineup change: Amor Amezcua left the band, and the band then expanded into a trio with the addition of Sebastian Neyra and the band’s newest member, Ulrika Spacek’s Callum Brown. Capping off a series of monumental changes for the acclaimed Mexican act, they signed to Los Angeles-based post punk label Felte Records, who released “Natural,” the first bit of material of 2020. 

Interestingly, while at London-based Wilton Way Studio, the members of Mint Field recorded their Syd Kemp-produced sophomore album Sentimiento Mundial. Slated for a September 25, 2020 release, Sentimiento Mundial reportedly sees the band’s sound shifting towards a decidedly minimal, rhythmically focused approach. “Contingencia,” Sentimiento Mundial’s second and latest single is centered around a propulsive and relentless motorik groove, layers of a shimmering and jangling guitars and del Sol Sanchez’s ethereal vocals — and the end result is song that a trance-inducing song that gently rises upward with an aching yearning. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Ganser Returns with a Contemplative Visual for Brooding Single “Emergency Equipment and Exits”

I’ve managed to write quite a bit about the Chicago-based post-punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Ganser over the past couple of years — and as you may recall, the act can trace its origins back to when its founding members Nadia Garofalo (keys, vocals) and Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) met while attending art school. Bonding over a mutual love of The Residents, outsider communities and the work of John Waters and and David Lynch, t he duo developed a hands-on DIY craftsmanship that eventually carried over into their band — with the band’s members, which also features Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) sharing writing duties and closely collaborating one all of their music videos and album art, as well as crafting visuals to accompany their live show. 

With the release of 2018’s full-length debut, Odd Talk, the Chicago-based post-punk outfit developed a national profile with the album receiving widespread praise for sound that some critics have compared favorable to Sonic Youth and Magazine paired with incisive lyrics critiquing larger social issues. Odd Talk thematically focused on communication breakdowns, the difficult of being understood, intimacy and avoidance. 

Building upon a growing profile, Ganser’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Just Look at That Sky is slated for a July 31, 2020 release through Felte Records. Thematically, the album finds the band probing the futility of striving for self-growth during chaos. The  songs evoke an all too familiar maniac worry  and dread and a generalized and overwhelming sense of doom with a sardonic specificity. The world as we know it is breathing  its last gasps and we haven’t a clue as to what will be beyond this.  The songs also acknowledge that we’re online all the time and that any given moment we’re inundated with too much  information about other people and other situations. We’re all generally a tweet, a status update or an Instagram post away from truly knowing what our followers and others really think about us. Shrug and laugh — even if it’s completely mirthless. And then admit that you’re emotionally and mentally drained. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about Just Look at That Sky’s first single, the tense and explosive album opening track “Lucky.” One part, Midwest noise-rock, one part post punk and one part art rock centered around rumbling low end, discordant blasts of angular guitar, thunderous drumming and Garofalo’s desperate howling, “Lucky” may arguably be the most urgent and uneasy songs they’ve released to date.  Interestingly, “Emergency Equipment and Exits” may arguably be the most atmospheric and brooding song they’ve released, as its centered around incessant and breakneck, four-on-the-floor, atmospheric synths, explosive blasts of angular and distorted guitars, a gorgeously plaintive melody and an enormous hook. 

Directed by the band’s Alicia Gaines, the recently released video follows Gaines as she just gives up and walks as far away she could from it all. We see Gaines as she walks out of Chicago and to the country — with her thoughts as company.While the video explores the possibility of finding greater clarity beyond our immediate reality — it also asks the viewer: What if you gave into that urge to walk away? What would happen?  “Sometimes everything gets too close, even when things are good, and you get this screaming desire to run away,” the band’s Alicia Gaines. “The song and video are both about feeling estranged from reality and choosing nothing over too much– the floor drops out, and you only have yourself to deal with.”

“It was very strange to be focused on not only the video direction, but also safety precautions during this time.”  

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Oakland’s Houses of Heaven Releases a Shadowy and Symbolic Visual for “Dissolve The Floor”

With the release of their debut EP Remnant, the Oakland-based electronic act, Houses of Heaven — Kevin Tecon, Adam Beck and Nick Ott — quickly established their sound, a sound centered around layers of synths, guitar, electronic percussion and drums, the act meshes early industrial and techno rhythms with shoegaze melodicism and dub-influenced effects.

The Bay Area-based trio’s highly-anticiated Matia Simovich-produced, full-debut Silence Places was released digitally earlier this month through Felte Records and will see a vinyl release on Friday.  The album’s material was written against a harsh contemporary backdrop: Northern California’s wildfires, expanding tent cities through Los Angeles, rampant greed and gentrification in San Francisco, rapidly changing the city’s character and soul with empty, luxury high-rises. Thematically, the album touches upon and explores the intimate experiences that transpire within the chaotic and uncertain confines of everyday, modern life. 

“Dissolve The Floor,” Silent Places first single may arguably be the album’s most dance floor friendly song. Centered around a pulsing synth arpeggios, industrial clang and clatter, muscular techno beats, woozy tape delay, an enormous hook and  emotionally detached vocals, “Dissolve The Floor” recalls early Depeche Mode, Factory Floor and others — but with a shadowy sense of menace and unease.

Directed by Cloaking, the recently released video is an appropriate shadowy visual that features the members of the band playing in front of projected geometric shapes and strobe light to create an eerie and surreal effect of the band being separated and pieced back together again. “The visible economic and social disparities in San Francisco create the illusion of parallel worlds, which gives living in the city a painfully surreal quality,” the band’s Kevin Tecon says in press notes. “‘Dissolve the Floor’ depicts a moment in two people’s lives when the false veil of separation is lifted and their worlds suddenly become one. By combining projected and three-dimensional images, the video takes the idea of parallel existence into abstract territory inspired by classic sci-fi and horror films.”