Tag: mixtape review

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Xyhon’s Club Rocking Performance Techno Mix

Starting his career as one of the first DJ YouTubers in his native France, Xyhon is a rising French influencer, DJ and producer. His first YouTube videos focused on his two passions — music and history: His most successful videos discussed the development of acid house in England during the 1990s, house music in Chicago during the 80s and Berlin techno during the 90s.

Although he has been DJ’ing since he was 17, he started producing when he was 21. releasing his debut EP, 2020’s Deep Trouse, a mix of deep house, house, tech house, tech and psych trance sounds. Since then he has been busy releasing five EPs, a full-length album.

But since 2013, the French producer has released a one-hour mix every month — mostly of deep house and techno tracks. All of his work is inspired by traveling — especially to Nepal, Scotland and Morocco, which often results in new musical and auditory ideas.

His latest mixtape “Performance Techno Mix” is an hour-long mix of 103 hard hitting, club thumping techno tracks meshed with vocal samples from 90s smash hits and techno classics from the 90s. Dance the night away — and your troubles, too.

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

JOVM has been a (mostly) one-man operation that I’ve run out of my Corona, Queens, NYC apartment and out of various Starbucks in and around Queens for its nine-plus year history. Unsurprisingly, I’m usually multi-tasking while going through countless emails featuring tracks, mixtapes, videos —  and as a result I wind up stumbling upon a wild variety of interesting things. In this case, I stumbled upon the “48 hr Pu$$yMIX 1.0” mixtape by the mysterious emcee, Memphis-based Elle. (I’m presuming she’s based in Memphis because of all the love shown to the city. But who knows? I can’t find a thing about her.)

Although it was released earlier this year, the mixtapes features some of the most self-assured, swaggering bars and wildly inventive rhyming I’ve heard in some time over tweeter and woofer rocking, feverish productions. Simply put — this this is fire.

 

 

 

indie rock by William Ruben Helms

Founded back in 2014 by Jessica Louise Dye (vocals, guitar) and Jono Bernstein (drums), the New York-based JOVM mainstays High Waisted have received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere for a sound that draws from surf rock, garage rock, dream pop, Riot Grrl punk and punk rock among others and for their long-running and very popular DIY concert showcase/booze cruise High Waisted at Sea.

The band’s Bryan Pugh-produced full-length debut On Ludlow further cemented their reputation for scuzzy, party ’til you drop rock — but just under the surface, the material revealed vulnerability and ache.  Since the release of On Ludlow, the the band contributed “Firebomb,” a scuzzy, ass-kicking, power chord-driven Lita Ford and Motley Crue-like single to a split single with The Coax, toured with the likes of Hundred Hounds, Beechwood, played a handful of live shows across town and been periodically working on a bunch of new material. And they’ve done all of that while going through a series of lineup changes but one thing has remained: they’re a non-stop party machine.

Throughout their history, the JOVM mainstays have released an ongoing, psychedelic mixtape series, Acid Tapes and like the preceding three other editions, the fourth edition, which will drop on Friday finds the New York-based act covering an eclectic variety of beloved songs. Naturally, the covers reveal the band’s impressive and wide ranging tastes   with the fourth edition featuring the band’s unique take on songs by the likes of The Zombies, 10cc, Kacey Musgraves, The Troggs and others. As the band explains in press notes, the covers allow them to  “dissect songs we love, throw everything we know about them away and rebuild something entirely new.” The band’s frontwoman Jessica Louise Dye adds “It changes the gravitational pull in my creative mind, often spawning a big writing period of new High Waisted material as well.” Along with covers, there are a handful of rare, previously unreleased originals.

The fourth installment of Acid Tapes may arguably find the JOVM mainstays at their best sounding. The guitars shimmer and glisten while the band’s Jessica Louise Dye sounds at her very best, beginning with a gorgeous and Patsy Cline-like take of The Zombies,” “The Way I Feel Inside,” a Pretenders-like original, “Modern Love,” a stunningly accurate 60s and dexterous take on The Lively Ones  instrumental composition “Surf Rock,” a dream pop-like take of Kacey Musgraves’ “High Horse” that nods at Still Corners‘ gorgeous Slow Air, the slow-burning, Quiet Storm-like original “Dream Sea,” and a slow-burning, straightforward take on 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love” closes out the tape’s A Side. The tape’s B side features the anthemic and alt rock meets alt country ballad “Eyes Crying,” which manages to recall Pearl Jam‘s “Dissident” to my ears, a Cars meets Phil Spector Wall of Sound-like take on Wreckless Eric‘s “Whole Wide World” before ending with a heartbreakingly gorgeous cover of Julie London‘s “Cry Me a River.” It’s a wildly eclectic grouping of songs but the mixtape reveals the JOVM mainstays’ ridiculous versatility paired with a deep emotional connection to the material.

“Our recording process has come a long way from the first cassette. Acid Tape, Vol. 1 was recorded while were on acid, all in one go, in a haunted house in Nashville. A buddy of ours threw a room mic over the chandelier and ran it through the tape deck and away we went.  Now the recording process is more deliberate, articulated and better executed.” the band explains in press notes. Vol 4 was recorded entirely in our new studio which Jono Bernstien and Stephen Nielsen built in Bed Stuy. We’re mixing digital and analog gear with vintage instruments and a little magic.”

The band is celebrating the release of  Acid Tape, Vol. 4 with a release show at Mercury Lounge with Yella Belly and Songs for Sabotage. You can check out ticket info and purchase here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/high-waisted-acid-tapes-vol-4-release-party-tickets-69052520949?aff=efbeventtix&fbclid=IwAR1c18aYR2lwka706043Xe4Wu5DGHXUerQf3xwlTVR9BVzl4Asu6z36VUC0

You can purchase the pre-release of the limited edition mixtape here: https://www.highwaisted.party/merch/acid-tape-vol-4