Tag: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brooklyn’s Van Chamberlain Shares a Lush and Dreamy Single

Brooklyn-based, indie rock duo Van Chamberlin — siblings Van and Jacob — features two grizzled pros: Individually, the members of Van Chamberlain have toured across the world in a number of bands, including Phantom Buffalo and Eternal Drag. Back in 2019, the duo reunited in Brooklyn, where they started Van Chamberlin, a project, which in many ways can trace its origins to the siblings growing up and making music together on a shared wavelength.

With the release of 2020’s studio demo LY, the Brooklyn-based duo quickly established a sound and approach that meshes elements of dream pop and jangle pop — with a subtle 90s alt rock influence.

Understandably, the pandemic forced the duo to postpone playing material live, so the duo spent their time in the studio, working on their full-length debut In The Sun, which is slated for an April 8, 2022 release through Very Jazzed.

Sonically and thematically, In The Sun reportedly is about layers — both sonically and philosophically. The album’s material is centered round lush and reverb-drenched guitar textures paired with infectious percussion. And although Van’s laid-back vocal evokes lazy sunny days, lyrically the album’s material draws from personal experience of loss and growth. The album’s sonic approach helps to affirm the duo’s philosophical message: what’s past is prologue, and the future holds promise, but neither will count unless you make peace with the present.

In The Sun‘s latest single “Heavy Cloud” is centered around lush layers of gently twangy, reverb-drenched guitars, propulsive drumming, soaring hooks and Van’s achingly plaintive vocals within an expansive and roomy song structure. The end result is a song that subtly nods at painterly, A Storm in Heaven-like textures and 90s, 120 Minutes era MTV alt rock with a deliberation attention to craft.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: SheLoom Shares an Arena Rock Friendly Anthem

Today was the fifth and final day of this year’s New Colossus Festival. I’m exhausted and everything hurts but I had a great time — and you’ll be seeing my photos and thoughts in the future. (I have way too many photos to edit and post. That’s a good problem to have, right?)

But in the meantime, let’s get to the business at hand, shall we?

Transatlantic indie duo SheLoom — Blinker the Star‘s Jordon Zadorozny and producer/songwriter Filippo Gaetani — formed back in 2008. And although they’ve primarily worked together remotely throughout their history with the occasional in-person writing and recording session, the members of SheLoom have released two albums of orchestrated pop.

Currently, the duo is working on their third SheLoom album, which is slated for release later this year. Bu tin the meantime, the forthcoming album’s first single “It Scares Me” is a big genre and style mashing rocker, that to my ears nods at Peter Gabriel era Genesis, Moving Pictures era Rush, and glittery glam rock centered around arena rock bombast, enormous hooks, equally enormous power chords, thunderous drumming and some fluttering synths. And all of this is paired with an expansive song structure that’s roomy enough for some bluesy yet atmospheric solos and earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism.

The song explain in press notes that “It Scares Me” is “a song about the psychological struggles of human relationships” that . . . “blends indie rock guitar riffs with progressive rock style grandeur, tipping their hats to late 70’s The Police, Arcarde Fire, Rush and Genesis along the way.”

The accompanying visual for “It Scares Me” employs a trippy array of effects including superimpositions, double and triple exposures, found footage, space imagery and footage of the duo performing the song in a studio.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

This week is an extraordinarily busy week as I’ve been covering this year’s New Colossus Festival. So I haven’t been posting with the same regularity as I’d normally would. But I’m seeing live music and doing that valuable in-person networking one has to do to get by. And I’m having a ton of fun doing so. But as always, let’s get to the business at hand . . .

common goldfish is the solo recording project of a somewhat mysterious London-born, Tottenham-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, who as a musician has made a name for himself busking along the canals of Hackney Wick and playing the London gig circuit. And as a producer and songwriter, under the moniker of J Love, been credited on songs that have have received critical acclaim from media outlets like Mixtape Madness, New Wave Magazine, and GRM Daily.

The mysterious Tottenham-based artist’s debut as common goldfish “Feel The Fuzz” is an upbeat, optimistic and decidedly late 80s-early 90s Manchester-inspired bop centered around fuzzy guitar lines, blown out breakbeats, a funky and propulsive bass line and common goldfish’s easygoing delivery paired with a euphoric boy-girl led hook and subtly modern production sheen. If you’re a child of the 80s and 90s as I am, “Feel The Fuzz” will bring back nostalgic memories of The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Stereo MCs and the like, complete with an uplifting much-needed message to the listener.

“The track embodies the sense of dreamer’s optimism (‘the fuzz’) and the feeling that led me to change career paths and pursue my passion in music,” the creative mastermind behind common goldfish explains in press notes. “We only lead one life, ‘Feel the Fuzz’ is about helping people see that they should value their experiences over materials and not always seek the easy options in life.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Hamilton’s Ellevator Share Swooning and Anthemic “Sacred Heart”

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada-based indie rock outfit Ellevator — currently Nabi Sue Bersche (vocals), Tyler Bersche (guitar) and Elliott Gwynne (bass, synths) — have received attention in their native Canada and elsewhere for a developing and honing a sound and approach that draws from late-aughts guitar music, post-rock, U2, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Feist, Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie paired with lean, razor sharp hooks, sweeping crescendos and Bersche’s sultry, pop star vocals singing increasingly earnest lyrics, which thematically touch upon power, love and loss from deeply lived-in, personal reflections and experiences.

Ellevator’s 2018 self-titled EP amassed over a million streams across the digital streaming platforms. Adding to a growing profile. the band toured across North America with the likes of Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good, BANNERS, Cold War Kids, JOVM mainstay Rich Aucoin, Dear Rouge, Bishop Briggs, Arkells and Amber Run. 

The Hamilton-based outfit’s long-awaited, full-length debut, the Chris Walla-produced The Words You Spoke Still Move Me is slated for a May 6, 2022 release through  Arts & Crafts. The 12-song album reportedly see the band documenting universal experiences like existential longing, romantic power struggles, the never-ending work of true self-discovery and the personal and highly specific – in particular, Nabi Sub Bersche’s experiences entering into and escaping a religious cult.

Late last year, I wrote about The Words You Spoke Still Move Me‘s first single, “Easy,” a song that revealed a band that not only making a bold decided step forward in their sound and approach, but a band embracing that they’re a rock band with the band balancing deliberate craftsmanship, earnest and lived-in lyrics, enormous hooks and raw and passionate performances with a slick studio polish in a way that reminded me of 80s pop and Deep Sea Diver‘s impressive Impossible Weight. 

“Easy” draws directly from Nabi Sue Bershe’s life: For a period of her life, the Ellevator frontwoman was a member of a religious cult, and the song is a rumination on the good and evil things we are raised to believe without question. “I was raised in the world of charismatic Christianity – an offshoot of Pentecostalism,” Ellevator’s Nabi Sue Bersche explained. “God was magic and prophetic ecstasies happened every Sunday. As a child, I spoke in tongues and prayed until my body swayed with a gentle force like wind knocking me backward. A deep and abiding love of the natural world took hold of me. I witnessed firsthand the wild power of music – how it could uplift, ensnare, console, inspire.

“When I was 17 I moved to the other side of the world and joined what would most accurately be described as a cult. I prayed for strangers I met in parking lots. I shut my eyes and read the dappled light between my lashes like tea leaves that could divine the future. Vulnerability was a badge in that community so I learned to overshare. Teachings were given in the language of freedom while the stiff hand of purity reduced my body to a shameful temptation. Growing up like that gave me a love of music, a nose for bullshit, and a lot to unravel. This song is about the good and evil things we are raised to believe. I was held captive by an ideology that severely limited my life and my perspective of the world around me. It’s a process I’m still in the middle of, this work of extraction.”

The album’s second and latest single “Sacred Heart” continues a run of slickly produced yet dramatic, radio rock with enormous, arena rock-like hooks, earnest and lived-in lyrics that to my ears brings John Mellencamp, Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks” and Stevie Nicks to mind, thanks in part to an expansive arrangement featuring slashing power chords, twinkling keys, and Nabi Sue Bersche’s yearning and plaintive vocals. At its core, the song details a swooning, young love in its guilelessness, passion, fearlessness and uncertainty. (From experience love — particularly young love — is all of that and then some.)

“This one’s a love song about how intimacy and deep knowing can make it feel like there’s nothing left to discover, and choosing to push on anyway in search of new depths, “Ellevator’s Nabi Sue Bersche explains. “Ty [Tyler Bersche] (guitar) and I got married on a cold spring morning when I was 22 and he was 19. There wasn’t much chance to sell each other on our own myths, to be the mysterious stranger from outta town: we wrote our origin story together. Learning to love each other better has been a strange journey and the great gift of my life.”

Directed and shot by Cam Veitch, the accompanying lyric video for “Sacred Heart” features intimately shot footage of the band playing the song live. “We shot, edited, and delivered the whole thing in less than 24 hrs,” Nabi Sue Bersche adds. “We’ve made a bunch of videos that I’m proud of but this one touches something special: we wanted to show what it feels like to play live as Ellevator, in all its sublime chaos, and I think we captured the lightning.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Pastel Coast Share a Playful Visual for Breezy “Helios”

Pastel Coast, led by  Boulogne-sur-Mer, France-based creative mastermind Quentin Isidore (vocals, guitar) and featuring Benjamin Fiorini (drums), Ingrid Letourneau (keys), Marion Plouviez (guitar, vocals) and Renaud Retaux (bass) have received attention both nationally and internationally for breezy yet melancholic sound that’s indebted to the early 90s Manchester scene and to acclaimed French indie act Phoenix. 

2019 was a break through year for the rising French act: their full-length debut Hovercraft landed on Dream Pop Magazine‘s Top 100. Continuing upon that momentum, Pastel Coast released their sophomore album, last year’s Sun, which featured five critically applauded singles:

  • The attention grabbing “Rendezvous”
  • “Dial” a breezy synthesis of New Order and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix-era Phoenix that evoked the swooning euphoria of new love. 
  • “Sunset,” a glistening and breezy number that’s saw the band meshing New Zealand jangle pop and French pop focused on lovelorn folks racing against time to try to find love before sunset. 
  • “Distance,” a synth-driven numbers featuring angular guitar bursts and a euphoria-inducing hook
  • “Funeral,” an achingly nostalgic song that wistfully yearned for simpler times and the “one that got away.”

“Helios,” is the first bit of new material from the French JOVM mainstays since the release of Sun. Centered around glistening synth arpeggios, Isidore’s plaintive vocals, a four-on-the-floor-led motorik groove, angular guitar bursts, “Helios” sonically — to my ears, at least — recalls fellow JOVM mainstays Yumi Zouma: a winning breezy melancholy that longs for bright sunny, Spring and Summer days, Spring and Summer crushes and flings and the like.

Directed by Robin Larroque and Quentin Sarda, the accompanying visual is a slick and stylish visual that features the members of the JOVM mainstay act performing the song in a studio in front of white walls. Each member of the band has a distinct shade of blue on, which explodes in front of the white background. The band also does some record cover art posing,. And at one point we see plastic balls dumped on top of individual band members. It’s a surreal and playful fever dream that eventually pulls out to see a behind-the-scenes view of the video.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Blake Morgan’s Cinematic Love Letter to New York

Blake Morgan is a New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and the founder and President of ECR Music Group. In his role as President of ECR Music Group, Morgan’s ideas, opinions and editorials on music and the music business have been regularly published by a number of major media outlets including The New York Times, Billboard Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, Variety, The Hill, NME, The Huffington Post, and The Guardian. He also lectures frequently at The Georgetown University Law Center, California State University, Syracuse University,NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, American University and his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. His music advocacy has taken him to Capitol Hill numerous times where, as the founder of the #IRespectMusic movement, he continues to fight for musicians rights in the digital age. As a producer, Morgan has collaborated with a who’s who of contemporary music from Lenny Kravitz to Lesley Gore. 

Since the release of 2013’s Diamonds in the Dark, Morgan has been extremely busy: he has a remarkably six-year run of sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall that often feature guest spots from a number of Grammy and Tony Award-winning artists, who join him for unique, on-stage collaborations; 150,000 miles of touring and sold-out shows on both sides of the Atlantic; and production work on over 20 albums by some serious A-list artists. 

Late last year, the New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and music biz exec released “Down Below Or Up Above” to praise from the likes of The Aquarian, Post-Punk.com, Culture Catch and my dear friends at Glamglare. “Down Below Or Up Above” will appear on Morgan’s long-awaited fifth album Violent Delights, which is slated for a May 20, 2022 release through ECR Music Group.

“My Love Is Waiting” is the rousingly anthemic, second single off Morgan’s forthcoming album. Centered around twinkling keys, atmospheric synths, an enormous arena rock friendly hook and Morgan’s plaintive vocals, “My Love Is Waiting” is a defiant and brazenly hopeful love song that’s specifically meant to get people up from their seats to dance and shout along with it. But it’s also the sort of upbeat love song, which views love as the most important force of our lives and that is very rare. Sonically, the song nods at The Police‘s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” as well as Joe Jackson and JOVM mainstays Palace Winter. And that’s a result of old-fashioned craftsmanship paired with an uncanny knack for a well-placed razor sharp hook. 

“If I had only three minutes to play anyone anything from this new record, I’d pick these three minutes,” Morgan says in press notes. “It’s a brazen love song that dares you not to get out of your chair.” He goes on to add that the song was inspired by more than just the power pop and post-punk influences that he’s best known for. “This track has specific Easter-eggs in it connected to The Police’s ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,’ a track I’ve been mesmerized by since I was a kid. I hadn’t intended an indirect homage when we recorded it, but there’s some juicy stuff in there if you hunt for it.”

Directed by genre-defying filmmaker Alice Teeple, the accompanying video for “My Love Is Waiting” is shot in a gorgeous, cinematic black and white, and follows a dapper, black suit clad Morgan in a swooning love letter to New York that begins in Coney Island and through the subway system. Inspired by William Friedkin’s classic The French Connection and Jules Dassin’s The Naked City, the video is “classic, old-school New York cinema mixed with rock and roll,” the New York-born and-based Morgan says in press notes. “There are only two characters in it– me, and New York.”

Directly contrasting the dark, 1940s noir aura of “Down Below or Up Above,” “My Love Is Waiting” was shot in daylight, as a way to reflect the hopefulness of the accompanying song. “We wanted motion, propulsion––just like the song itself has. A modern-day music video crossed with Walter Hill’s The Warriors, full of energy, and full of hope,” Morgan continues. “We also wanted to keep to the aesthetic of the whole record, as we did with the first video: one of classic cinema, where you’re not quite sure what decade this video was shot in. Alice and I both live and breathe that stuff. It’s why we have such a short-hand vocabulary when working together.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: METZ’s Alex Edkins’ New Project Weird Nightmare Shares Surreal Animated Visual for Debut Single

Alex Edkins has developed an honed a reputation for being a master craftsman of sweaty, mosh pit friendly rippers as the frontman of Toronto-based JOVM mainstays METZ.

Edkins’ new side project Weird Nightmare sees the METZ frontman showcasing a new side of his long-established songwriting featuring enormous power chords and mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses he’s best known for — but with a sugary, distorted power pop touch.

Weird Nightmare’s debut single “Searching For You” is a fun, straightforward power pop banger featuring shout-along-with-upraised-beer-in-the-mosh-pit choruses, swooningly earnest lyricism, the enormous power chords Edkins is best known for but with an accessible, old-timey inspired craftsmanship that makes the song incredibly radio friendly — as though it Edkins and his METZ bandmates were covering Cheap Trick or Big Star.

“It’s a fun, no nonsense rock ‘n’ roll song,” Edkins explains. “It’s about searching for meaning and inspiration all around us. In my mind, the ‘you’ in the chorus refers to something bigger than companionship or love, it’s that intangible thing we all look for but never find.”  

Directed by Ryan Thompson and animated by Jordan “Dr. Cool” Minkoff, the accompanying visual for “Searching For You” is fittingly a trip into a weird nightmare that follows a pizza delivery person racing against the clock to deliver a pizza before it becomes free.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Since their formation in Cincinnati back in 1986, The Afghan Whigs — currently Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar), John Curley (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson and newest member, Blind Melon’s Christopher Thorn (guitar) — have a long-held reputation for never playing by convention: During the plaid and grunge era of the early 90s, the members of The Afghan Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries by wearing suits and for being more likely to slide into a soulful groove than a power chord driven riff.

Reuniting after an 11 year hiatus in 2012, the JOVM mainstays released two critically applauded albums, 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades, that found the band writing and recording music that furthered their story together, while pushing their sound in new directions.

“I’ll Make You See God,” is the first bit of new material from the JOVM mainstays since 2017’s In Spades, and the single is a roaring headbanger centered around fiery power chord driven riffage, thunderous drumming Greg Dulli’s imitable crooning and an arena rock friendly hook. It’s arguably one of the hardest and aggressive songs they’ve written and recorded in close to 30 years.

“That’s one of the hardest rock songs we’ve ever done,” the band’s Greg Dulli says in press notes.  “It was written and performed on sheer adrenalin.”

Along with the new single, the JOVM mainstays announced a short run of US tour dates. which will see them playing small venues across the East Coast, Midwest and Southeast. The tour closes out with a May 25, 2022 stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg. As always, tour dates are below.

2022 TOUR DATES 

05/11                     Fort Lauderdale, FL        Culture Room

05/12                Tampa, FL                                The Orpheum

05/13                Orlando, FL                               The Social

05/14                Atlanta, GA                               Terminal West

05/15                Carrboro, NC                             Cat’s Cradle

05/17                Nashville, TN                             The Basement East

05/18                Louisville, KY                             Headliners Music Hall

05/20                St. Louis, MO                              Delmar Hall

05/21                Milwaukee, WI                            Turner Hall Ballroom

05/22                Indianapolis, IN                           The Vogue

05/24                Pittsburgh, PA                              Mr Smalls Theatre

05/25                Brooklyn, NY                               Music Hall of Williamsburg

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstays White Lies Return with Anthemic “Blue Drift”

Acclaimed London-based post-punk act and JOVM mainstays White Lies — Harry McVeigh (vocals. guitar), Charles Cave (bass, vocals) and Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums) — released their fifth album, the aptly titled FIVE back in 2019. FIVE continued a remarkable run of commercially and critically applauded material that often found the band balancing arena rock bombast with intimate and confessional, singer/songwriter pop lyrics.

The London-based JOVM mainstays’ sixth album, the Ed Bueller and Claudius Mittendorfer co-produced As I Try Not To Fall Apart saw its official release through [PIAS] today. Recorded over two breakneck studio sessions, As I Try Not To Fall Apart features what may arguably be White Lies’ most expansive material to date with the songs possessing elements of arena rock, electro pop, prog rock and funky grooves paired with their penchant for enormous, rousingly anthemic hooks.

In the lead up to As I Try Not To Fall Apart‘s release, I’ve written about three of the album’s singles:

  •  “As I Try Not To Fall Apart,” a rousingly anthemic yet psychologically precise character study of a desperate man, who feels hopelessly stuck in a socially prescribed “appropriate” gender role, while also trying to express his own vulnerability and weakness. 
  • “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars,” one of the most mosh pit friendly, guitar-driven rippers the band has released in some time that tells a story of its main character being sent off to a new colonized Mars to live out a sterile and mundane existence. The band goes on to say: “Fundamentally the song questions the speed at which we are developing the world(s) we inhabit, and what cost it takes on our wellbeing.” 
  • “Am I Really Going To Die,” a glittery, glam rocker centered that seemed inspired by Roxy Music and Duran Duran, but thematically touches upon mortality and the uneasy acceptance of the inevitable

As I Try Not To Fall Apart‘s latest single, “Blue Drift” is an expansive, prog rock-like song centered around the rousingly anthemic hooks that White Lies has long been known for, a relentless motorik groove, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, thunderous drumming and glistening synths paired with Harry McVeigh’s yearning delivery. The song seems to captures a narrator on the verge of a breakdown, a broken, gaping wound and uncertain of their footing.

“Dare I say it this is another tip-toe into a more progressive-rock realm,” White Lies’ Charles Cave says in press notes. “The song feels very much a nighttime drive to me, winding empty roads, foreign air creeping in through the window. It’s a song about being humbled by the mind’s ability to lift us up and bring us down. It’s grand, full of longing and bombast, but there is an uneasiness to it too. It never quite resolves. This is going to be HUGE when we play it live!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Blake Morgan Shares Earnest and Anthemic “My Love Is Waiting”

Blake Morgan is a New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and the founder and President of ECR Music Group. In his role as President of ECR Music Group, Morgan’s ideas, opinions and editorials on music and the music business have been regularly published by a number of major media outlets including The New York Times, Billboard Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, Variety, The Hill, NME, The Huffington Post, and The Guardian. He also lectures frequently at The Georgetown University Law Center, California State University, Syracuse University, NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, American University and his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. His music advocacy has taken him to Capitol Hill numerous times where, as the founder of the #IRespectMusic movement, he continues to fight for musicians rights in the digital age. As a producer, Morgan has collaborated with a who’s who of contemporary music from Lenny Kravitz to Lesley Gore.

Since the release of 2013’s Diamonds in the Dark, Morgan has been extremely busy: he has a remarkably six-year run of sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall that often feature guest spots from a number of Grammy and Tony Award-winning artists, who join him for unique, on-stage collaborations; 150,000 miles of touring and sold-out shows on both sides of the Atlantic; and production work on over 20 albums by some serious A-list artists.

Late last year, the New York-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and music biz exec released “Down Below Or Up Above” to praise from the likes of The Aquarian, Post-Punk.com, Culture Catch and my dear friends at Glamglare. “Down Below Or Up Above” will appear on Morgan’s long-awaited fifth album Violent Delights, which is slated for a May 20, 2022 release through ECR Music Group.

“My Love Is Waiting” is the rousingly anthemic, second single off Morgan’s forthcoming album. Centered around twinkling keys, atmospheric synths, an enormous arena rock friendly hook and Morgan’s plaintive vocals, “My Love Is Waiting” is a defiant and brazenly hopeful love song that’s specifically meant to get people up from their seats to dance and shout along with it. But it’s also the sort of upbeat love song, which views love as the most important force of our lives and that is very rare. Sonically, the song nods at The Police‘s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” as well as Joe Jackson and JOVM mainstays Palace Winter. And that’s a result of old-fashioned craftsmanship paired with an uncanny knack for a well-placed razor sharp hook.

“If I had only three minutes to play anyone anything from this new record, I’d pick these three minutes,” Morgan says in press notes. “It’s a brazen love song that dares you not to get out of your chair.” He goes on to add that the song was inspired by more than just the power pop and post-punk influences that he’s best known for. “This track has specific Easter-eggs in it connected to The Police’s ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,’ a track I’ve been mesmerized by since I was a kid. I hadn’t intended an indirect homage when we recorded it, but there’s some juicy stuff in there if you hunt for it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: France’s Silk Skin Lovers Share a Smiths-like Bop

French indie rock outfit Silk Skin Lovers — Félix Foucambert (vocals, guitar), Jean-Baptiste Halin (bass, bass synths), Lucas Lerbret (guitar, backing vocals) and London-born Callum Taylor (keys, backing vocals) — emerged into the French music scene with a handful of singles inspired and informed by nightlife revelry.

Their debut EP Bloom expands upon that world with material that bounces between playful delight, to late-night melancholy; the blurring of memories to the brink of sobering up as you head home — or when you arrive home, whichever comes first. While primarily based in magical surrealism, the material does reveal a band that’s also concerned about many of the real issues of our day, including racism and police brutality.

“The first seeds of Bloom were planted in the summer of 2020,” the members of Silk Skin Lovers explain. “As a young and developing band, we found ourselves growing in a context that was harsh and complicated, as opportunities for artists were scarce to non-existent for a period. The EP was a natural response to not only the artistic restraints we were faced with, but the frustration of being away from what we love to do, and further from our aspirations as musicians.”

Bloom‘s latest single, the remarkably Smiths-like “Moon 1AM” is an uptempo bop centered around shimmering guitars, a rapid fire rhythm paired with ethereal harmonies, glistening synth arpeggios, an angular and propulsive bass line and a rousingly anthemic hook. Interestingly, the song is emotionally ambivalent: despite its upbeat and uptempo nature, the song is bittersweet and dreamy rumination that’ll make you dance away your sorrows for a bit.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: NYC’s Anna Sun Holds On To Hope In “What A Shame”

Emerging New York-based indie rock outfit Anna Sun — Samantha Aneson (vocals, guitar), Nikola Balać (drums) and Andrew “Swhogs” Shewaga (bass) — can trace their origins to the breakup of their first band together Satin Nickel back in 2020. When Satin Nickel broke up, Aneson began incorporating her own original material into her repertoire and recruited her former bandmates to bring the material to life.

With the release of their debut EP Extended Play earlier this year, the band firmly established a songwriting approach centered around Aneson’s diary-like lyrics: Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes heartbreaking, the songs find Aneson digging deep into the tricky dynamics of relationships while finding an underlying sense of optimism.

Overall, the EP thematically captures the small victories and overwhelming anxieties of living in our very strange time. The EP’s latest single, “What A Shame” features Aneson’s Chrissie Hynde-like vocals paired with shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a propulsive rhythm section and a rousingly anthemic hook. And while being remarkably accessible, the song is influenced by heartbreaking — and very real — circumstances: The song as the band’s Aneson explains was written as much-needed catharsis, as she was forced to accept the bitter reality that she was losing her mother to dementia. In some way the song and its narrator seems to be desperately trying to hold on — despite everything going absolutely wrong. Sometimes all you’ve got to keep you from cracking up, is the hope that something better will come

“I’ve grown to love the dichotomy of pain and lightness in art. How one can make the other so much more pronounced,” Aneson says. “I was in a place (am forever in a place) of begrudgingly agreeing to this reality that’s been forced upon me. Having to move forward without railing against existence for doing something that once seemed so unimaginable. Having to find light in my nightmare.”

Directed by Kay Day and the band’s Aneson, the recently released video for “What A Shame” features a heartbroken Aneson painting her face like a clown. She winds up going through a hellish day: First she walks through what appears to be McCarren Park with an urn. When she gets to the river to dump ashes, the ashes get blown back into her face. She later gets mugged at knifepoint. She encounters a street musician and forgets that she was just mugged — and has no money. She later meets up with a boyfriend in the park, when all of the video’s villains see her — and then attack her. And then when she tries to escape, she gets hit by a car. Throughout, Aneson tries her very best to keep going, to keep feeling positive about something. If it feels familiar, it should. Life would be unbearable if we didn’t do so.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brooklyn’s LAPÊCHE Shares a Stylish Visual for 120 Minutes MTV Alt Rock-like “Bottom Feeder –V1”

Brooklyn-based indie outfit LAPÊCHE — Krista Diem (vocals guitar), her husband David Diem (bass), Drew DeMaio (guitar) and Richard Salino (drums) — have developed a sound that meshes folk-inspired melodies, indie rock/alt rock soundscapes and a fiercely DIY ethos.

Since their formation, the Brooklyn-based indie rock quartet have shared stages with J. Robbins Band, Torche, JOVM mainstays Russian Baths, Do Make Say Think, The Cave Singers, Erica Frias, Lauren Denitizo, Deadaires and a lengthy list of others. Back in 2019, they opened for Jawbox during the Northeast leg of their tour, playing shows in Boston, Philadelphia, DC and of course, Brooklyn. They’ve also began to make appearances on the national festival circuit with stops at Sing out Loud Festival and The Fest.

Adding to a growing profile, the band’s sophomore album Blood in the Water received coverage from Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, New Noise, Talkhouse and others.

LAPÊCHE’s latest single “Bottom Feeder” is a decidedly 120 Minutes MTV era alt-rock like anthem centered around an alternating quiet verse, loud chorus song structure featuring fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and Krista Diem’s achingly plaintive vocals expressing despair and frustration. ”The single, ‘Bottom Feeder – V1,’ addresses resentment, addiction, and the figurative sleep of  a dysfunctional family,.” the members of LAPÊCHE explain in press notes. “It’s also about the result of not getting out of your own way and the self-destruction that can result from being unable to see outside of yourself.” 

Edited by Jacob Halpren, the recently released video for “Bottom Feeder” is an incredibly stylish, French New Wave-like visual featuring split screens, quick fades split between footage of the band’s members bowling, and Krista Diem brooding in front of what looks like a fancy bathroom wall.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tidal Wave is an emerging Toronto-based indie rock/art rock septet. Citing a diverse array of influences including M83, Depeche Mode and Arcade Fire, the emerging Canadian outfit released their self-titled debut EP last year.

After the release of their debut EP, the members of Tidal Wave wanted to create a bold song with lots of layers to open their show up and create more intensity. The band wound up with their first single of the year, the anthemic Silversun Pickups-like “This Cost of Life.” Centered around an alternating quiet verses, explosively loud chorus song structure, featuring thunderous drumming, soaring strings, big power chords and plaintive vocals, “This Cost of Life” captures the swooning melancholy and regret that happens as the result of a painful breakup. But it isn’t hopeless or despairing.

The song seems to suggest that although the end of a relationship can be devastating, heartbreaking and life altering, it’s part of the cost of living. You may be heartbroken but that relationship gave you something wonderful — a better understanding of yourself and what you want and need, the highs of love and connection and so on. Also while you think you may be the only one suffering; you’re not. Everyone has been there before. It sucks but it isn’t the end of the world either.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hannah Stone Shares Dreamy “It’s Raining”

Hannah Stone is a Cape May, NJ-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, who has written and recorded under a number of pseudonyms and with a number of different projects, included Painted Pale. Stone’s voice has appeared in countless TV and Netflix series that you love — or are currently watching, like Search Party, Never Have I Ever, Vanderpump Rules and Emily in Paris among a lengthy list of shows.

In May 2020, Stone stepped out from the pseudonyms and various projects and released material under her own name — her first two singles, “It’s Raining” and “Sleep Through The Summer.” The Cape May-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter then followed up with her debut EP God’s Against This.

Thematically, the material on God’s Against This touches upon love, loss and the thrill of being alive and living in the present. The EP was recently re-released and will serve as Stone’s re-introduction as a solo artist, ahead of the forthcoming EP, which is currently in the works. In the meantime, God’s Against This single “It’s Raining” is a slow-burning, David Lynchian-like single centered around shimmering and reverb-drenched guitar twang, gently padded drumming, twinkling bursts of keys paired with Stone’s sultry cooing. The end result is a song that brings Mazzy Star and Amsterdam‘s Donna Blue to mind — a mist covered, lingering, half-remembered dream of a lazy, rainy day with nothing in particular to do but daydream and think.

Shot and edited by Jayden Becker with visual effects by Becker, the recently released video for “It’s Raining” fittingly employs a hazy, dream-like logic: We see a flannel wearing Stone walking near a pool, before jumping in, a brewing pot of tea, Stone eating fruit and squeezing it in between her hands and psychedelic visual effects.