Tag: instrumentals

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Karriem Riggins is a Detroit, MI-born, Los Angeles, CA-based hip-hop producer and jazz drummer, who received national attention with the 2012 release of his solo debut effort Alone Together, which was released through renowned hip-hop tastemaker label Stones Through Records. Now, it’s been a little while since we’ve heard from him as a solo artist; however, Riggins has been pretty busy. Earlier this year, Riggins and J. Rocc collaborated on a Stones Throw Records’ Dungeon Session tribute to beloved producer — and fellow Detroiter J. Dilla. Along with that Riggins produced Common’s 11th full-length effort Black America Again.

Reportedly Riggins is working on a new and long-awaited full-length effort, slated for release sometime next year. In the meantime, Riggins released a new single “Bahia Dreaming,” which may presumably offer a taste of the new effort’s sound may be. Clocking in at a little over 2 minutes, “Bahia Dreaming” manages to be slickly produced synthesis of influences as the 3/4s of the song owes a sonic debt to J. Dilla with the song featuring twinkling and cascading synths and keys, skittering drum programming, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, and a chopped up, soulful vocal sample — that is until the last 40 seconds or so when the song suddenly turns into a bop era jazz composition bolstered and held together by tweeter and woofer rocking beats. Interestingly, the single reveals that Riggins has refined his sound — and in a way that possess an easy-going, cool as hell, strutting swagger paired with a dreamily thoughtful feel.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past 18-24 months or so,  Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ Lennart Richter, a prolific artist and producer, who has released a series of singles through a number of renowned electronic music labels including Sleazy G, East Project, G-Mafia Records, GUN PWDR, Ensis Records, Blue Dye, Mondal Recordings and others has become one of a long list of this site’s growing mainstay artists — all while further cementing his reputation across Europe and elsewhere for composing, writing and releasing singles that explored the gamut of electronic music subgenres such as deep house, nu-disco and others with a slick, crowd-pleasing, club-rocking production. And unsurprising, Richter had several Beatport Top 25 releases under his belt, including his Berlin Brawling EP landing at  #10 on the Beatport Indie Dance/Nu Disco Charts.

Earlier this year, the Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ released an incredibly slick remix of Yes‘ “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” which retained the original vocal track but paired with a densely layered production that featured handclap-led percussion, slowly cascading synths — and while retaining something of the song’s original feel and spirit, turning the song into a mid-tempo club banger. Richter’s latest single “Still Hawt” is a retro-futuristic, 80s-inspired synth rock instrumental track that has the German producer and electronic music artist employing the use of shimmering layers of cascading analog synths paired with some blistering guitar work by Slync. Sounding as though it could have been part of a John Carpenter movie soundtrack, the duo manage to pay homage to a familiar sound while possessing a subtle yet contemporary slickness.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Introducing the Arena Rock-Friendly Prog Rock of California’s Strawberry Girls

With the release of their 2015 release American Graffiti, the California-based instrumental trio received a growing national profile as the effort landed at #22 on Billboard’s New Artist charts, and they followed that with a busy live show schedule that included touring with Dance Gavin Dance and CHON. Adding to a busy schedule, the members of the band managed to begin work on their forthcoming effort Italian Ghosts, which is slated for a February 17, 2017 release. And as the band’s Ben Rossett says in press notes “Italian Ghosts is a testament to how much we’ve grown as a band, and what we believe is our best sounding experience as of yet.” The album’s first single “Vanilla Rainforest,” as the band’s Zac Garren explains “pulls from lots of different influences, like dub reggae, hip hop, electronic and progressive rock;” and while being an arena rock friendly, headbanger, the song also possesses a jazz fusion-like sense of improvisation, as the song feels as though it captures three musicians in complete simpatico jamming as hard as possible.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by its founding member Toby Pazner, a member of Lee Fields and The Expressions and El Michels Affair; and featuring Dave Guy, a member of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Band and The Dap-Kings; Leon Michels, a member of The Arcs, Lee Fields and The Expressions and El Michels Affair; Nicholas Movshon, a member of The Arcs, Lee Fields and The Expressions and El Michels Affair; Homer Steinweiss, a member of The Dap-Kings and The Arcs; Michael Leonheart, Steely Dan‘s musical director and a member of David Byrne‘s backing band; Neal Sugarman, a member of The Dap-Kings and The Sugarman 3; Aaron Johnson, a member of Antibalas and El Michels Affair; Evan Pazner, a member of Lee Fields and The Expressions, The Olympians are a Daptone Records All-Star band who can trace their origins to when founding member Toby Pazner recruited a bunch of New York’s finest soul musicians during the 2008 Summer Olympics to record material that would comprise the collective’s first 45, which was released through Truth and Soul Records.

However, as the story goes, it wasn’t until a few years later, when Pazner was touring Greece and the Greek Islands when his true vision for the project materialized. After playing the Acropolis and swimming in the Aegean Sea, Pazner had a series of recurring dreams in which he was visited by an ancient, toga-clad, curly-haired Greek man, who told him to return home and build a “Temple of Sound.” And in that temple, Pazner was to retell the tales of Ancient Greece through music. Of course, considering the strangeness of those dreams, Pazner initially ignored them but since they were recurring and so vividly forceful, Pazner began to feel a decided urgency. When Pazner finished the tour, he returned to New York with a singular focus on completing The Olympians’ full-length debut and he immediately went to work acquiring the best studio equipment he could get his hands on. He then promptly followed that up by recruiting his Daptone Records friends  to help him flesh out the material that would comprise the collective’s self-titled album, slated for an October 28, 2016 release.

The self-titled album’s latest single “Apollo’s Mood” is a smooth, old-school soul inspired composition featuring the Daptone horn players, some of the best, contemporary horn players in the entire world paired with a twinkling, twisting and turning organ chords, a slow-burning and sinuous bass line, and a steady back beat. And although contemporary — in the sense that the musicians who composed and recorded the song are contemporary — the song sounds and feels as though it could have been recorded in 1963.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Renowned Director and Composer John Carpenter Returns with an Eerie and Cinematic New Single Paired with Equally Creepy Visuals

Lost Themes II’s latest single “Utopian Facade,” is a moodily atmospheric and cinematic composition consisting of throbbing and insistent bass, cascading layers of shimmering synths, and a staccato, string-based sample in what may arguably be Lost Themes II’s most haunting and eeriest single while nodding at Carpenter’s imitable and familiar sound.

Produced and directed by Gavin Hignight and Ben Verhulst, the recently released video for “Utopian Facade,” is the story of an android’s nightmare, hidden in dark, murky forests, set in an uneasy yet relatively near future that feels and looks dimly familiar. As Hignight explains in press notes “We were instantly haunted upon hearing ‘Utopian Façade’. It conjured images of jagged tree branches, dark woods and things that go bump in the night. Our goal was to explore these feelings combined with the visuals of the electronic synth driven world established in the ‘Night’ video from the prior album.” Unsurprisingly Hignight and Verhulst manage to further emphasize the slowly creeping dread and horror within the song, while hinting at the dystopian future that seems almost inevitable.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Zubin Hensler (trumpet), Andy Clausen (trombone) and Willem de Koch (trombone), New York-based instrumental act The Westerlies have developed a reputation for crafting compositions that possess elements of jazz, classical and chamber music, done with a self-assured swagger and a mischievous wit. Interestingly, the quartet can  actually trace their origins to their birthplace of Seattle, WA where the members of the band were both childhood friends and occasional musical rivals, competing against each other in local and regional competitions — but despite the fact that they all grew up in the same city,  each performer/composer has a unique and diverse musical background that winds up influencing their songwriting approach. In fact, observers and fans of the act have noted that in each individual composition, you can hear that song’s composer gently pulling the entire band towards his own tastes, with the band following along.

Adding to the uniqueness of the project, each member independently moved to New York, which led to the old friends and rivals reconnecting and performing together while they studied at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music.

Produced by Grammy-winning producer Jesse Lewis, best known for his work with Roomful of Teeth, Brooklyn Rider, Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma and the L.A. Philharmonic, the quartet’s self-titled sophomore effort is comprised of material composed by each member and although the members of the band had known of Lewis through his work, as it turns out Lewis went to the same Seattle high school that three members of The Westerlies went to. And as a result, the connection that the five collaborators had was deep and it allowed the members of the band to further push their compositional talents and the sonic limits of brass instrumentation.

Composed by Andy Clausen, the forthcoming sophomore effort’s first single “New Berlin, New York” is a bold layered composition that manages to possess a mischievous wit and charm and a larger than life swagger, and while being layered, the composition is spacious enough to allow each instrument and each musician to strut and stunt throughout the composition. But just underneath the bold, swaggering surface is an aching vulnerability.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Rwandan-born, Brussels, Belgium-based producer Wantumeni is a self-taught producer and artist, who has started to receive attention in Brussels for production techniques and a sound that’s reminiscent of The Beatnuts, Madlib, J.Dilla and others. His full-length debut, Prima Nocta is slated for release later this year through N.M.L.O.P. Records; and to build up buzz for himself and for the full-length effort, the Rwandan-born, Brussels-based producer and artist will be releasing a beat every Sunday in a series he’s dubbed Meni Given Sundays.  

The fifth installment of the series “Baby Blue Panties” has the producer pairing skittering and industrial-sounding drum programming with a chopped up, warm and subtly soulful sample that features guitar, synths and drums in an instrumental track that to my ears reminds me quite a bit of singles I’ve heard off Oddisee’s latest album, as well as Madlib and J. Dilla. Of course, this track will clearly remind listeners not just of J. Dilla’s massive influence over hip-hop but that hip-hop is truly the lingua franca of the modern world.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Josef Kašpar and Joe Craven, Body Clocks are an up-and-coming Bristol-UK-based duo, who specialize in a electro pop sound reminiscent of Bonobo and others — and as you’ll hear on their new single “Still Life,” the duo pairs a lush yet ambient production of shimmering and undulating synths, a brief string arrangement, swirling electronics, a sinuous bass line,  brief bursts of angular guitar chords and live percussion to create a trippy and expansively cinematic composition.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Check Out This Live Studio Footage of John Carpenter Performing “Distant Dream”

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the better part of the past year, the renowned director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composter John Carpenter has quickly become a mainstay artist after last year’s critically and commercially successful album […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Washington, DC-born and Brooklyn-based emcee and producer Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, best known to hip-hop heads as Oddisee has developed a reputation for being extremely prolific as a solo artist, as a former member of The Low Budget Crew and as a member of Diamond District, for bouncing back and forth between full-length hip-hop albums and instrumental efforts and for being uncompromisingly difficult to pigeonhole as his sound effortlessly meshes jazz, soul and hip-hop.

The Brooklyn-based producer and emcee’s forthcoming instrumental album, The Odd Tape is slated for a May 13 release through Mello Music Group, and the album’s first single “No Sugar No Cream” much like the rest of the album is informed and influenced by the rhythms and patterns of every day life — in particular, the artist’s own life while subtly drawing from Roy Ayers, Bob James, Shuggie Otis, Fela and others. Sonically, Oddisee pairs squiggling and soulful keyboard chords, boom bap beats, tons of hi-hat, staccato chopped up beats with brief bursts of congo before morphing into a jazz-lenaing coda comprised of gorgeously intricate piano chords and shimmering organ chords paired with boom bap beats to craft a song that sounds equally indebted to J. Dilla, bop-era jazz and old school soul in a way that feels warmly familiar while revealing a unique artistic vision. Personally, listening to the track evoked eating breakfast, drinking loads of coffee and bullshitting with friends while trying to preparing to tackle the day’s plans.

2016 looks to be a rather busy year for the Washington, DC-born and Brooklyn-based producer and emcee as he’ll be embarking on a lengthy summer tour of the US and UK backed by Good Company — and he’ll be releasing a new solo effort slated for release in the fall. As for the tour, it includes an NYC area date at Northside Festival in June. Check out tour dates below.

Oddisee & Good Company (Full Band) Live Tour Dates
5/3/2016  Middle East Downstairs – Boston, MA
5/6/16 Mainstage – Morgantown, WV
5/7/16 Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
5/8/16 Kings Barcade – Raleigh, NC
5/11/16 Jack Rabbits – Jacksonville, FL
5/13/16 Orpheum – Tampa, FL
5/14/16  Backbooth – Orlando, FL
5/15/16 Side Bar – Tallahassee, FL
5/16/16 Parish @ HOB – New Orleans, LA
5/20/16  Foundry at SLS – Las Vegas, NV
5/21/16 El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
5/22/16 Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA
5/24/16 Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
5/26/16 The Independent – San Francisco, CA
5/30/16 Sasquatch Festival – Seattle, WA
6/4/16  Bunbury Festival – Cincinnatti, OH
6/12/16 Northside Festival – Brooklyn, NY
6/25/16 Glastonbury Festival – Pilton, UK
6/27/16 O2 Academy – Oxford, UK
7/7/16 Les Ardentes Festival – Leige, Belgium
7/8/16 North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands
7/9/16 Open Source Festival – Dusseldorf, Germany
7/10/16 Cactus Festival – Bruges, Belgium
7/16/16 Melt! Festival – Gräfenhainichen, Germany
7/19/16 Valkhof Festival – Nijmegen, Netherlands
7/23/16 Hip Hop Open Festival – Vienna, Austria
7/27/16 Blue Balls Festival – Lucerne, Switzerland
7/29/16 Appletree Gardens Festival – Diepholz, DE
7/30/16 Stuttgart Festival – Stuttgart, DE

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their 2010 self-titled EP and their 2012 full-length debut Differance, South Korean trio Jambinai, comprised of   Bongi Kim (haegum — a Korean fiddle-like instrument), Ilwoo Lee (guitar and piri — a Korean flute, made of bamboo) and Eun Young Sim (geomungo, a Korean zither), the trio have developed a rapidly growing national and international reputation for an intense, adventurous, headbanging worthy take on traditional Korean instrumental music. As the story goes, the trio met while studying traditional music at Korea National University of Arts, and they quickly bonded over a desire to present traditional music in a new way, “to communicate with the ordinary person, who doesn’t listen to Korean traditional music,” as the band’s principle composer and writer Ilwoo explains in press notes. Interestingly, Jambinai’s approach eschews several generations of Korean modernists and post-modernists, who Lee notes have based their sound and approach around Western classical music, jazz, jazz fusion to create a prog rock/experimental rock sound.

And while shocking Korean audiences, the trio have also been critically and commercially successful as their full-length Differance was nominated for Best Crossover Album and Best Jazz and Crossover Performance at the 2013 Korean Music Awards, and won Best Crossover Album — and as a result, the band used the album’s success as a springboard for several international tours as a quintet featuring  Jihoon Ok (bass) and Jae Hyuk Choi (drums) that have seen praise from a number of major Western outlets including The Guardian and others.

A Hermitage, the trio’s forthcoming sophomore effort and Bella Union Records debut is slated for a June 17 release, and the album’s latest single “They Keep Silence” is a tense, throbbing and furious song full of angular and stabbing chords paired layers upon layers of feedback and distortion in a composition that consists of downtuned and punishing power chord-heavy sections and brief and quite sections of respite and introspection. Sonically, the song sounds as though it draws from Tool and Ministry  — or simply put it kicks ass, takes names and kicks more ass just to ensure that you got the point. In fact, the song seems to tape into a universal feeling of anger and isolation of people, who are growing both impatient and suspicious of the forces that are controlling and influencing their daily lives.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ixra Divide Returns with a Madlib and J. Dilla-Inspired Instrumental Beat Track and Surreal Visuals

Towards the end of last year, I wrote about Virginia-based producer and emcee Ixra Divide, who has collaborated with JOVM mainstay artist, Toronto, ON-born, Brooklyn-based Joanie Wolkoff, who has recorded with Her Habits, Gemology and as […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Along with the beloved J. Dilla, Madlib may arguably be one of hip-hop’s most inventive and prolific producers and artists. Along with his production work, Madlib released a series of instrumental beat records under the […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

As the co-founder of Monotonix, guitarist and composer Yonatan Gat was part of a band that was once hailed as being one of most intense rock bands in the world. But after five years of […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Even after running JOVM for the past four years, i’m still amazed and flattered when I receive fan mail, especially from folks located in rather far-flung locales across our tiny blue ball. Not too long […]