Tag: industrial electronica

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jean Deaux is a Chicago, IL-based electronic music artist, whose sound draws from house, R&B and hip-hop. Her latest single “Father Time” is the first single released off Downtown Records‘ newest imprint Downtown Singles Club, a carefully curated selection of singles that are sent directly to subscribers via email, and the single pairs skittering drum programming, gently undulating synths, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and industrial clang and clatter  with Deaux’s sultry vocals and swaggering rhyming before ending with some soulful yet shimmering synths. The song and its production defy easy categorization — it clearly possesses elements of R&B, house, hip-hop, neo-soul, industrial house and industrial techno but it’s a slickly produced, trippy and sonically experimental work that manages to be approachable and dance-floor ready. And it does so while possesses a deeply existential bent, with its narrator exploring her complex and ambivalent relationship with time.

You can catch the up-and-coming electro pop artist when Deaux and friends play Elvis’ Guesthouse on March 26.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Originally known as a member of Baltimore, MD-based act Lake Trout, Andy Shankman is a grizzled music industry vet, whose solo recording project Jumpcuts began after an intense flurry of songwriting that had Shankman along with co-arranger Gideon Briedegam initially composing material on guitar and then slowly transposed to synthesizer — and then recorded and produced by Rob Girardi, best known for his work with Beach House and Celebration’s David Bergander at Lord Baltimore Studios. And the result was Shankman’s debut effort, Electrickery, an effort that was praised for its meshing electronic production with live instrumentation including guitars, synths and classically trained-based string arrangements, which generally pushes his material towards synth rock with a pop-leaning sensibility.

“Electric Shadows” is the latest single off Shankman’s forthcoming sophomore effort Fiber Optic Bondage, slated for a March 25, 2016 release and the single has Shankman pairing propulsive tribal-like drumming with layers of churning synths, abrasive, industrial clang and clatter and Shankman’s plaintive crooning to craft a dark and uneasy song that sounds indebted to Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Blanck Mass an others — complete with a claustrophobic sense of introspection that feels as though the listeners were diving into the deeply fractured psyche of the song’s narrator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Dark, Fight Club-Inspired Video for Boys Noize’s “Overthrow”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you’d be familiar with JOVM mainstay, the Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist, DJ and Boys Noize Records label head Alex Ridha, best known in […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Polish-born electro pop artist Patti Yang splits her time between London and California and with the release of “Invisible Tears,” the first single off her forthcoming debut album, Yang and her backing band quickly received attention for a sound that draws from industrial electronica, electronic music and punk rock. The album’s latest single “Black Box” draws from the same influences, Yang and her backing band pair tense, undulating synth stabs with propulsive, industrial clang and clatter with Yang’s sultry and seductive cooing seemingly writhing through and the mix.

While the song may be remarkably contemporary but it also manages to sound as though it could have easily been released in 1983; in fact, the song reminds me a little bit of Banarama‘s “Cruel Summer” — but a little chillier. Thematically and lyrically the song focus on a narrator, who’s constantly seeking and striving for the peak moment in every single aspect of her life. And although the song reportedly adapts the idea of traveling through a black hole as a metaphor, it also uses “black box turning to gold” as a naughty double entendre for sensual pleasure, which may make this particular single the sexiest, most dance floor ready single the act has released to date.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 14 months or so, you may have come across a post or two on Luis Vasquez’s solo electronic music recording project, The Soft Moon. After the release of Zeroes, Vasquez’s sophomore Soft Moon album, Vasquez announced that it would be the last solo Soft Moon album. However, after relocating to Venice, Vasquez changed his mind. Living in almost complete solitude, as a strange in a foreign land, Vasquez retreated into his thoughts and his work. And the result was what was arguably the most visceral and emotional material Vasquez has ever written, his third full-length album, Deeper. 

Album single “Feel” consists of layers of staccato synths, wobbling low end, ominously swirling electronics, followed by buzzing synths and subtly industrial clang and clatter  paired with Vasquez’s aching vocals. Although the song possesses the sort of sound that could rock a huge club, it’s intimate as it delves into the psyche of a self-eviserating  narrator, who describes how empty, meaningless and superficial they feel. Recently a number of electronic artists have remixed Vasquez’s Deeper; in fact, Captured Tracks released Deeper Remixed Vol. 1 last year, and February will mark the release of Deeper Remixed Vol. 2. Ninos du Brasil remixed “Feel” and while their remix retains the some of the original percussion and synths as well as Vasquez’s vocals, their remix is a little bit warmer as squiggly guitars, and more propulsive percussion is added; in some way, it pushes the song gently towards the direction of scuzzy, industrial house.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murky and Shadowy Sounds and Visuals for Essie pas’ “Le port du masque est de rigueur”

Essaie pas is a Montreal-based electronic duo comprised of Marie Davidson, best known as a solo artist, who has released two highly acclaimed solo albums, and Pierre Guerineau, best known for his production work on […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeous and Haunting Visuals for We Are Temporary’s “You Can Now Let Go”

Mark Roberts, the creative mastermind behind the critically acclaimed, Brooklyn-based indie electro pop project, We Are Temporary has developed a reputation for crafting music that draws from a wide range of influences within contemporary electronic […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Imre Kiss is a Slovakian-born, Hungarian-based producer, electronic music artist and designer, who first emerged onto the European electronic music scene with the release of his acclaimed Raw Energy, which was released by London-based label Lobster Theremin Records. (I have to admit that’s a pretty catchy name for a label.)

As the story goes, Kiss’ full-length debut, Midnight Wave, which was released just the other day is essentially a reissue, as the album was initially released as a limited edition cassette tape through Hungarian label Farbwechsel. The cassette was essentially a commercial failure as it was quietly released to little fanfare, but interestingly enough, Lobster Theremin’s label head Jimmy Asquith has a developed a reputation for discovering and signing obscure artists from Bandcamp tapes. Asquith had discovered Imre Kiss’ Midnight Wave sometime after the artist had returned to his hometown just outside of Bratislava, and was impressed by the ambient and atmospheric material, which was heavily influenced by British industrial electronica, Kraftwerk and Chris Carter’s The Spaces Between; in fact, Asquith had made it a personal mission to release the works of an unknown artist, who he felt deserved further attention.

“Gray’s Legend,” the first single off Midnight Wave consists of layers of undulating and cascading synths, skittering percussion, swirling and ambient electronics floating off into the ether, subtle industrial clang and clatter in the distance to create a sound that manages to simultaneously cinematic and intimate while evoking a sense of desperate isolation and loneliness.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Science and the Beat’s Seductive “Mean Streak”

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past month or so, you might remember hearing about Science and the Beat, the goth music duo, comprised of multi-instrumentalists Tasha Katrine and Rob Zilla. Katrine and Zilla have had […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Red Traces’ Retro Futuristic, New Single “Adcom”

Much like VIRGO, Red Traces the solo recording project of Miami, FL-based musician, producer and electronic music artist Albert Ovadia has been written about a number of times on JOVM over the past year or so. With […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Live Concert Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Northside Festival 2015: North Brooklyn’s SXSW Offers Thrills and Chills and What The Hell Was Thats

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Northside Festival 2015: North Brooklyn’s SXSW Offers Thrills and Chills and What The Hell Was Thats Founded by sibling duo Scott and Denny Stedman, the Northside Festival started […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

SURVIVE is a rather mysterious electronic act, whose work manages to possesses an extremely cinematic quality; in fact, their latest single “Hourglass” appeared in Adam Winguard’s The Guest –  and as a result, Group Film One […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Blanck Mass is the solo side project of Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin John Power, and his latest album Dumb Flesh was  written, produced and recorded over the course of a year in a several different locations […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of TaSziin Muerte (electro drums and vocals), Javelin Hortsmann (bass, synths and vocals) and Lil K Big Q (guitar and vocals), the Austin, TX-based trio of BLXPLTN (pronounced Blaxploitation) have quickly won attention across the […]