Tag: mp3s

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Newcastle’s Acclaimed Lanterns on the Lake Release an Urgent Call to Resist Hate

Lanterns on the Lake are a critically applauded Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based indie rock quintet, currently comprised of founding trio Hazel Wilde (vocals, guitar, piano), Paul Gregory (guitar, production) and Oliver Ketteringham (drums, piano) with Bob Allen (bass) and Angela Chan (violin, cello, viola).  Founded back in 2007, the band self-released two EPs and a single, which caught the attention of Bella Union Records, who signed the band in late 2010. 

Shortly after signing to their label home, the band contributed a track to Bella Union’s Christmas 10″ EP compilation, which featured tracks from Peter Broderick and Radiohead’s Phillip Selway. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding, the band’s self-produced and self-recorded full-length debut effort, Gracious Tide, Take Me Home was released to critically applause in 2011.  During that period, the band opened for Explosions in the Sky, Low, and Yann Tiersen. 

The band’s sophomore album 2013’s Until the Colours Run was released to critical praise, with most reviewers noting the material’s sociopolitical thematic concerns and undertones. The members of Lanterns on the Lake supported their sophomore effort through the following year with extensive touring across the European Union and their first Stateside tour. 

Lantern on the Lake’s third album 2015’s Beings continued a run of critically applauded albums with Drowned in Sound calling the band “one of Britain’s most crucial bands of the present moment” and DIY Magazine describing them as “virtually without equal.” The Newcastle-based act supported the album with extensive tours across the European Union and the UK, playing their largest hometown show to date, at Sage Gateshead, where they were accompanied by Royal Northern Sinfonia, performing orchestral arrangements by Fiona Brice.  The show was recorded and released as a 2017 live album, Live with Royal Northern Sinfonia. 

Adding to a growing profile nationally and internationally the band has played sets across the international festival circuit, including End of the Road Festival, Glastonbury Festival, SXSW and Bestival. 

The band’s highly-anticipated fourth album, Spook the Herd is slated for a February 21, 2020 release through Bella Union. Deriving its title from a pointed comment at the manipulative tactics of ideologies, the album thematically is inspired by and draws from our turbulent and uncertain times in which we’re on the brink of our own annihilation — with the album’s nine songs touching upon our time’s hopelessly polarized politics, social media, addiction, grief, the climate crisis and more. 

Interestingly, Spook the Herd marks the first time that the band left their native Newcastle to record in a studio — Yorkshire’s Distant City Studios, where the album was engineered by Joss Worthington. Naturally, this shook up comfortable mindsets they’ve developed during their relatively young careers. “We are a pretty insular band in how we work, and trusting other people enough to allow them to get  involved is not always easy for us,” the band’s Hazel Wilde admits in press notes. 

Recorded live as much as possible, the band’s sound still draws from dream pop and post rock — but with a stripped down approach, which gives the material a stark urgency and immediacy. And it reportedly may be the most intimate feeling album of their growing catalog with the material feeling as though you were in the room with the band. The album’s latest single “Baddies” finds the acclaimed British act balancing a widescreen and bombastic cinematic air with a balladeer’s intimacy, centered around soaring strings, dramatic and forceful drumming, shimmering guitar lines and Wilde’s gorgeous and expressive vocals. And while being breathtakingly beautiful, the song which seems to recall Portishead-like trip hop, Beach House-like dream pop and post rock is its narrator’s desperate, last stand against hatred and polarization; one that has its narrator actively seeking the universal to bring the little people of the world together. 

“Baddies is a song about the rising tide of anger and hate in the world that seems to have been unleashed over the last few years, with those in positions of power and influence actively encouraging it for their own ends, and the polarization of society as a result,” Hazel Wilde explains in press notes. “It is about the need for the individual, the underdog, to stand up to it, but the fact in doing so we become part of it. We become someone else’s baddie.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Casey Meehan is a Chicago area mainstay best known for his work with Chicago Mixtape, a weekly curated playlist of the best music shows happening in and around the Chicagoland area. Late last year, I wrote about Meehan’s latest music project Sy Somebody, and as you may recall the project can trace its origins to a a conversation he had with Father John Misty‘s David Vandervelde. Vandervelde introduced Meehan to his bandmate Eli Thompson and the trio began discussing the possibility of making a record together.

Eventually Meehan began sending demos to Vandervelde. Those demos thematically contemplated the mysteries and complexes of the human condition within the larger cosmos — but written as though an omnipotent, unseen person was in control. Interestingly enough, doing so inspired Meehan to name the project Sy Somebody.

Meehan, Vandervelde and Thompson then recruited an All-Star cast of collaborators including Jeremy Enigk‘s and The Intelligence‘s Kaanan Tupper, Richard Swift’s The Weepies’, Everest’s and Pedro The Lion’s Frank Lenz, Bobby Bare Jr.’s Mr. Jimmy, The O’My’s, and Chance the Rapper‘s Maceo Haymes and Chance’s Social Experiment’s and Santah‘s Vivian McConnel to flesh out the material that eventually coalesced into the project’s full-length debut Life is Cruel, Let’s Be Friends, which is slated for a January 31, 2019 release.

“Zookeeper,” Life is Cruel, Let’s Be Friends‘ previous single was a seemingly grunge-inspired track, centered around fuzzy power chords, a steady and propulsive rhythm and Meehan’s world weary delivery, rooted in the frustrations and pressures of adult life. “Idle Minds,” the album’s third and latest single, which features a guest spot from The O’My’s Maceo Vidal-Haymes is a decidedly disco inspired, indie rock affair, centered around four-on-the-floor drumming, synth arpeggios, a sinuous bass line, Meehan’s world weary delivery and warm blasts of horn.  And while seemingly recalling The Rolling Stones‘ “Emotional Rescue,” the deceptively upbeat song captures the neurotic obsessions of a lonely and anxious man, who replays his mistakes repeatedly; but at the core of the song, is the fact that the song’s narrator realizes that he’s at fault — and he can’t live with it. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2007, the electro pop act Mint Julep is comprised of multi-instrumentalist and composer Keith Kenniff, who has composed material for film and has written and recorded as Helios and Goldmund, and his singer-songwriter and ambient electronic music artist wife Hollie Kenniff.  The synth pop act can trace its origins as both a decided departure from Kenniff’s more ambient leaning work and as a trial run of their home studio. And with the release of their earliest material — 2008’s limited run Songs About Snow, 2010’s Adorn EP, 2011’s Save Your Season and 2014’s Broken Devotion EP — the duo firmly established their sound, a sound centered by Hollie Kenniff’s seductive vocals, soaring choruses, Keith Kenniff’s shimmering synth work, towering guitars and slick hooks.  “When Hollie and I set out to do something, I wanted to find some way to incorporate her vocals into a slightly different style, rather than just write similar material to my solo work and lay her vocals over top,” the duo’s Keith Kenniff says on the duo’s Facebook page. “I had the need to write something that had some distorted guitars, loud drums and was a little bolder than what I had previously done. We messed around with a track one night (which became ‘Stay’) and it was a fun process, so we just kept writing more songs so we could do a project together.”

“Hollie grew up listening to a lot of industrial music and we both listened to a lot of punk but also growing up a lot in the late ’70s and ‘80s we both have a lot of pop music from the time in our blood,” Keith Kenniff explains in press notes. “We both listen to a lot of IDM and electronic music as well so I feel like our music is a marriage of those different things, song elements from pop influences mixed with production from the more instrumental and experimental side of things.” 

Slated for a January 31, 2020 release through Western Vinyl, Mint Julep’s forthcoming album Stray Fantasies will further cement the Boston-based husband-and-wife synth pop duo’s long-held reputation for crafting shimmering, hook-driven pop confections seemingly indebted to 80s synth pop that thematically focusing on vulnerability, insecurity and other related issues to affairs of the heart.  Interestingly, album title track and latest single “Stray Fantasies” is a swooning and shimmering, club friendly bop centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats, Hollie Kenniff’s ethereal vocals and a soaring hook. And while sounding as though it could be part of the Stranger Things soundtrack, the song evokes the lingering wooziness of a new love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Austin-based shoegaze/dream pop act ThunderStars, comprised of longtime Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos multi-instrumentalist Erik Klang (vocals, guitar), Sven Bjorkman (drums) and Omar Richardson (bass) can trace their origins back to when Bjorkman posted a random thought about a creating a band named ThunderStars, a term coined by his toddler daughter, during a stress-fueled trip to the hospital. And while marking Klang’s return to music, the band has had a art-out-of-chaos theme hanging over them since their inception back in 2018.

After their second-ever live show, Omar Richardson was assault by a vagrant outside of the venue, which resulted in a severe concussion and a subsequent trip to the ER. The incident was covered extensively by Austin-bass news outlets — and as a result the band’s profile rose unexpectedly. Additionally, their early demos were well received publicly with the band receiving radio and podcast airplay, as well as show bookings with a number of national touring acts.

Building upon a growing profile, the Austin-based shoegazers’ latest effort Number Stations is slated for a Friday release through Mariel Recording Company. Interestingly, the album’s latest single is the slow-burning and shimmering “Not That Far.” Centered around Klang’s plaintive vocals, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, the track manages to recall 4AD-era shoegaze, as it possesses an ethereal and feverish quality.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays The Orielles Release a Trippy and Shimmering, Dance Floor Friendly Single

I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the rapidly rising Halifax, UK-based act The Orielles over the past couple of years. Founded by siblings Sidonie B. Hand-Halford (drums), Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (vocals, bass) and their best friend Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals), the JOVM mainstays built up a great deal of buzz, when Heavenly Recordings‘ head Jeff Barrett signed the band after catching them open for labelmates The Parrots in late 2016.

2017’s critically applauded, full-length debut Silver Dollar Moment found the band establishing a genre-defying sound that meshed elements of psych rock, pop and disco centered around  surrealistic observations of every day life. Interestingly, after Silver Dollar Moment, the band’s founding trio recruited Alex Stephens (keys) as a full-time member of the band, expanding the band into a quartet. And with their newest member, they went into the studio to record material that included “Bobbi’s Second World” and a cover/rework of Peggy Gou’s “It Makes You Forget (itgehane).” Those two singles saw the band’s sound increasingly (and playfully) leaning towards Speaking in Tongues-era Talking Heads, ESG and the like, while featuring rock-based instrumentation. 

Last year, the JOVM mainstays were busy working on their highly-anticipated sophomore album Disco Volador. “Its literal interpretation from Spanish means flying disc but everyone experiences things differently. Disco Volador could be a frisbee, a UFO, an alien nightclub or how you feel when you fly; what happens to your body physically or that euphoric buzz from a great party,” the band’s Esme Dee Halford suggests in press notes. “But it is an album of escape; if I went to space, I might not come back.”

Slated for a February 28, 2020 release, Disco Volador continues the band’s ongoing collaboration with producer Marta Salogni while reportedly finding the newly constituted quartet pushing their sound towards its outer limits with the band being astral travelers, creating progressive and trippy material that draws from samba, 70s disco, boogie funk, dance floor grooves and 90s acid house. And they do so while expanding their influences further to include the work of Italian film score composers Sandro Brugnolini and Piero Umiliami, as well as contemporary acts like Khruangbin and Altin Gun. “All the influences we had when writing this record were present when we recorded it, so we completely understood what we wanted this album to feel like and could bring that to fruition,” the band’s Sidonie B. Hand-Halford says in press notes.

Disco Volador also manages to capture the rapidly rising British indie act riding high off the success of their debut, which included a lengthy and successful summer tour with festival stops Green Man and bluedot. Late last year, I wrote about “Come Down On Jupiter,” Disco Volador’s first single further cemented the band’s genre-defying sound, as it was centered around an expansive song structure: starting with a slow-burning and brooding into, the song quickly morphed into a breakneck guitar pop with a psychedelic-tinged freak out. While retaining the razor sharp, infectious hooks that helped the British indie act win attention nationally and internationally, “Come Down On Jupiter” also managed to be an example of how versatile the British JOVM mainstays can be. “Space Samba (Disco Volador Theme),” the album’s latest single is a shimmering disco-tinged track, featuring propulsive polyrhythm led by four-on-the-floor drumming, layers of reverb-drenched, shimmering guitar, a sinuous bass line, Esmé Dee Hand-Halford’s ethereal vocals, arguably making it one of the most dance floor friendly and trippier songs they’ve released to date. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: British Indie Act Beat Hotel Releases a Shimmering 80s New Wave-Inspired Single

Split between Brighton, UK and Plymouth, UK, the rising British indie rock act Beat Hotel, which features current and former members of The June Brides, The Loft, The Weather Prophets, Distractions, Mudlow, Mojo Fins and Lolita Storm can trace its origins to when its founding members — The June Brides’, The Distractions’ and The Granite Shore’s Arash Torabi and Paul Pascoe met after a 1988 The Jasmine Minks show.  (Interestingly, many years later, the first Beat Hotel single featured a guest vocal spot from The Jasmine Minks’ frontman Jim Shepherd.) 

Developing a strong live presence in their local scene, the act managed to record a number of demos,  but they didn’t officially release anything until 2013 — the “Best of Our Years”/”The Fire,” double A-side 7 inch, which featured The Loft’s and The Weather Prophets’ Dave Morgan (drums), who then became a permanent member of the band. 

Slated for a January 31, 2020 release through Occultation Records, the band’s long-awaited self-titled EP was recorded at Hove, UK’s Church Road Studios by the band’s Paul Pascoe and features five originals written by Pascoe and a cover of The Wishing Stones’ “Beat Girl.” The EP features guest spots from The June Brides’ Frank Sweeney, who contributes strings and piano and former Mojo Fins member Stephen Brett (guitar), who releases material as a solo artist under the moniker SJ Brett. “Every now and again, we produce something that’s very special to us. These forays into the physical world are usually inspired by a collaboration,” Beat Hotel’s Paul Pascoe says in press notes about the band’s self-titled EP. “This time it was driven by an unexpected creative surge due to the sudden and shocking end of a relationship. I felt like I had to relearn everything about how to be in the world and look seriously at who I actually am. I found comfort in the music that had given me a sense of belonging the first time around. The Jesus & Mary Chain, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Weather Prophets…these songs and songwriters, so familiar to my psyche, were there again to drag me to safety.”

“This collection of songs is about love and near-death and confronting the very worst aspects of ourselves, facing down those inner demons, the fears that haunt us and our deepest, darkest secrets,” Pascoe says of the EP’s material. “And… with one of the tracks beginning its recording journey in 1997 and getting its final guitar overdub and mix in 2019 (in all its 3 minutes 14 seconds of rock’n’roll glory), this record is also a tribute to the awesome power of getting shit done.”

The EP’s latest single “Bury It Deep” is a propulsive and upbeat, hook-driven song centered around layers of shimmering guitars that immediately brings Starfish-era The Church, early-to-mid 80s Echo and the Bunnymen (i.e., Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here and Ocean Rain), The Dream Syndicate and others, as it hints at radio psych rock, New Wave and post-punk in an uncanny period specific fashion. But the song isn’t just another  soulless homage to a classic and beloved sound we’ve grown up with; at its core, the song finds it narrator trying to maneuver a confusing and uncertain world while facing their own demons.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Born Matthew Haymes, Mighty Mouse is a rapidly rising electronic music producer, electronic music artist and DJ, who has built and developed a reputation for an innovative take on electronic music — and for energetic, eclectic DJ sets. Last year saw Haymes release a series of remixes and edits: interestingly, one of his biggest edits of the past year, found the rising electronic music producer, artist and DJ taking on ABBA‘s disco-era classic “Lay All Your Love On Me,” which retains the song’s memorable vocal and infectious hook while placing it within a propulsive and contemporary production, featuring tweeter and woofer rocking beats and trippy drops and electronic effects.

Mighty Mouse will be embarking on a short North American tour that includes a NYC area stop at Public Arts on January 9, 2020. Check out the tour dates and ticket links below.

Tour Dates
9th January 2020 – Public Arts, New York (US) – TICKETS
 
10th January 2020 – BackBar, Washington DC (US) – TICKETS
 
12th January 2020 – Gitano, Tulum (Mexico) – TICKETS
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded back in 2016, the up-and-coming Brooklyn-based metal act Fliege began as an inside joke shared between its founding duo of Coleman Bentley and Peter Rittweger: a metal band based solo upon David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of The Fly. Although they initially wrote and recorded their self-titled debut demo for a laugh, the effort received praise from Decibel, who called the six song set infectious,  and went on to say “Every once in a while, a band comes along, transgresses all genre boundaries and cuts a demo that stands as a genuine demonstration of a singular sound.”

Building upon a growing profile, the band, which recently expanded to a trio with the addition of Chris Palermo (synths) will be releasing their highly-anticipated full-length debut The Invisible Seam on January 31, 2020. Interestingly, the newly constituted trio’s full-length debut finds the band moving on to more serious cinema as an influence: Ingmar Bergman’s existential masterpiece, The Seventh Seal. “Our demo tackled The Fly, but we soon realized we had to expand from that universe in order to have anything new to say,” the band’s Coleman Bentley explains in press notes. “So for this one, we chose Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, the story of a Swedish knight returning home from the Crusades to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. He challenges Death to a game of chess, staving off his advances long enough to make it home one last time — questioning mortality, the meaning of life, and the existence of God, while trekking across a dying countryside.  Within the framework of that film, we tackle the nihilism of modern life and the paradox of depression – not wanting to live but not actively wanting to die.”

Musically, the material on The Invisible Seam reportedly features a much more refined sound than its immediate predecessor: the addition of Chris Palermo finds the band adding synths to their sonic palette; but along with that, the album features Bentley’s vocals taking up a more central role while ensuring that it’s also heavier, more heartfelt and more grander, in order to fit the epic concept behind it. Along with this decided refinement of their sound, the newly constituted trio’s full-length effort finds them drawing influences from the likes of Immortal, Nine Inch Nails, Judas Priest, Cloud Rat, John Carpenter and a lengthy list of others.

Now, as you may recall, last month I wrote about album title track “The Invisible Seam.” Centered around towering 80s metal riffage, thunderous, industrial metal-like drumming, Bentley’s howled vocals and a shimmering and brooding bridge, the song was a certifiable Headbanger’s Ball-inspired headbanger that found the trio further cementing their reputation for intelligently pushing the boundaries of thrash metal both sonically and thematically.  The album’s second and latest single “Four Suns” continues in a similar vein as its immediate predecessor: a Headbanger’s Ball-era ripper, with fiery and towering riffage, thunderous drumming, Bentley’s howled vocals and atmospheric synths. But unlike its predecessor,”Four Suns”  is a pummeling and forceful bit of unease that in light of the most recent developments in Australia, Iran and elsewhere should hit close to home.

“‘Four Suns,’ as they say in Hollywood, is our threshold to adventure—a fitting intro to both Fliege and the world of ‘The Seventh Seal,’ marked for death by forces beyond understanding,” the band’s Coleman Bentley told MetalSucks. “Following Antonious Block, medieval knight, and his squire as they embark on a journey home from the crusades, it’s an OSDM-tinged banger that paints a picture of world a in rot. Graves overfed. Doors painted red. Eyeless corpses gazing up at a quartet of flaming stars that will soon burn them alive. Sound familiar? It should.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

JackLNDN is a rapidly rising London-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, electronic music artist and electronic music producer. who can trace the origins of his music career to when he was a boy: he grew up in a hone in which his family almost exclusively to jazz, funk and classical music in equal measure. When he was 7, he sang in professional choirs — and by the time, he was 10, he had met Queen Elizabeth and recorded material at Abbey Road Studios.

With the release of attention grabbing tracks like “The Feels,” “Never Get Enough,” “Start Over Again” and “All I See,” the British electronic music artist and producer firmly established a unique sound and approach in electronic music/deep house: he frequently pairs his own vocals with productions that are simultaneously indebted to jazz and house music. Along with a series of successful remixes, JackLNDN’s work has amassed millions of streams. Adding to a growing profile, the rising British artist and producer released his self-released full-length debut Thoughts last year.

Since the release of his full-length debut, JackLNDN has followed up by enlisting two of his favorite electronic music artists, electronic music producers and fellow Brits — Fluida and Frameworks — to remix two of Thoughts songs. Album single “With You” is a sultry and summery track centered around shimmering and arpeggiated synths, thumping beats, the British producer’s plaintive and ethereal vocals and a sinuous yet crowd pleasing hook. Sonically, the song — to my ears, at least — brings Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves and Giorgio Moroder to mind.

Clocking in at a little over seven minutes, Fluida’s remix is centered around propulsive tribal beats while retaining the shimmering synth arpeggios, the gorgeous melody and sinuous hooks of the original; however, the remix turns the song into a euphoria-inducing drum ‘n’ bass meets tribal house instrumental.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Loudmammoth is a Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based shoegaze act — currently comprised of Sophie, Will, Liam and Declan — that can trace its origins back to August 2018, when its founding members bonded over a mutual appreciation of shoegaze, DIY recording and Ian Curtis. With the release of their self-produced debut single “Enough,” the Northeastern English band caught the attention of Scottish indie label Last Night From Glasgow, who signed the act seven weeks later.

Building upon a growing profile, the members of Loudmammoth released their second single “Let Go” last summer, which they followed up with a sold out hometown show at Newcastle’s The Cumberland Arms with labelmates L-Space and Stephen Solo. The single helped the band land praise from The Crack Magazine, who described the band as “purveyors of the very finest jangle,” while receiving airplay on BBC 6 Music‘s The Tom Robinson Show and a feature on the BBC Introducing Mixtape.

Since the release of “Let Go,” the band has been rather busy:  they’ve spent the past few months in intensive writing sessions  — and in that same period of time, they’ve gone through a slight lineup change. Interestingly enough, those past few months of intense writing have helped to produce the rising British act’s latest single, the shimmering one part jangle pop, one part shoegaze, one part dream pop number “In Blue.” Centered around shimmering and jangling guitars, Sophie’s ethereal vocals and a soaring hook, the track — to my ears, at least — brings The Sundays and Slowdive to mind, complete with an unfussy yet clean production and a yearning ache at its core.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Harris Breyfogle is an up-and coming singer/songwriter, guitarist and Berklee College of  Music graduate. His forthcoming full-length Complexus, which is slated for a Spring 2020 release and the album covers the emotional timeline of the Berklee Music School grad’s relationship with an ex girlfriend with the material thematically exploring the journey to find closure and peace in the aftermath of a messy and bitter breakup.

Some of the album’s material has received attention from Hype Machine, Imperfect Fifth and a number of other blogs. Building upon a growing profile, Breyfogle’s latest single “Angela” is breezy, two step-inducing pop confection centered around Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, a sinuous bass line and an infectious, radio  hook. And while the song may stylistically draw inspiration from Daft Punk‘s smash-hit “Get Lucky,” the song also nods at George Michael‘s “Careless Whisper” and 80s yacht rock. Interestingly, the song takes it title from the woman,  who ultimately inspired Complexus‘ material — and as a result, the song is imbued with a mix of ache, longing  and nostalgia.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The Brilliance is an orchestral pop duo comprised of lifelong friends, Marshfield, WI-born, New York-based David Gugnor (vocals, guitar) and Marshfield, WI-born, Chicago-based John Arndt (keys, vocals). While centered around the duo’s friendship, the act can trace its origins to when the then-Tulsa, OK-based Gungor and then-Austin-based Arndt started the band back in 2010. Since their formation, the duo’s music has evolved: they  stared with more liturgical art and moved to peacemaking protest music; but over the past handful of years have focused on music that inspires the listener toward empathy and kindness. (We need much more of that in our morally bankrupt world.)

The act’s more recent release The Dreamer Suite, a collection of songs in a series of “suites” — songs and pieces united by a central theme — found the duo teaming up with World Relief for the organization’s initiative to raise awareness of the plight of DACA dreamers has amassed millions of streams on Spotify and Apple Music — as an independent release.  Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the members of The Brilliance will be releasing The Dreamer Suite‘s highly anticipated follow-up, Suite No. 2 World Keeps Spinning: An Antidote to Modern Anxiety on January 10, 2020.

“How Do We Know,” the duo’s latest single off their soon-to-be released album is a sleek and slickly produced track featuring a song structure that alternates between shimmering and lilting verses and arena rock friendly choruses. And while bearing a bit of a resemblance to Death Cab for Cutie and U2, the song is emotionally centered around life’s biggest question — “why the fuck are we even here and what’s the point of all of this?”

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their debut single “The Chase,” which was featured on Comedy Central‘s hit TV show Broad City and its follow-up “Hurry Up & Wait,” which landed on a Spotify‘s Ready for the Day playlist, the rapidly rising Austin, TX-based synth funk act The Vapor Caves — vocalist Yadira Brown and producer BoomBaptist — quickly emerged into the national scene. Deriving their name from a rare, naturally-found phenomenon: an underground cave that billows mineral-rich steam known for its healing properties, the duo pay homage to the phenomenon, by creating sonic medicine for those who enter.

Building upon a growing profile, the duo’s full-length debut, Feel Yourself, saw a limited vinyl-only release earlier this year that quickly sold out. Interestingly, the album features material that’s simultaneously dance floor friendly and introspective. And as a result of their rapid rise to national acclaim, the act has opened for Dam Funk.

Interestingly, the album’s latest single is the slinky, “Bitch To The Boys.” Centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, Brown’s sultry and self-assured vocals, a sinuous dance floor friendly groove and an infectious hook, the track sonically reminds me of classic, 80s synth funk like Cherelle, I Feel For You-era Chaka Khan, Prince, etc., and of contemporary purveyors of the dance floor friendly sound like Dam Funk, Boulevards, Bruno Mars and the like. But at its core, the song is a sashaying and strutting tell off to wack ass fuckboys.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded back in 2016, the up-and-coming Brooklyn-based metal act Fliege bean as an inside joke between its founding duo — Coleman Bentley and Peter Rittweger: a metal band based solo upon David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of The Fly. Although they initially wrote and recorded their self-titled debut demo for a laugh, it received praise from Decibel, who called the six song set infectious,  and went on to say “Every once in a while, a band comes along, transgresses all genre boundaries and cuts a demo that stands as a genuine demonstration of a singular sound.”

Building upon a growing profile, the band, which recently expanded to a trio with the addition of Chris Palermo (synths) will be releasing their highly-anticipated full-length debut The Invisible Seam on January 31, 2020. Interestingly, the newly constituted trio’s full-length debut finds the band moving on to more serious cinema as an influence: Ingmar Bergman’s existential masterpiece, The Seventh Seal. “Our demo tackled The Fly, but we soon realized we had to expand from that universe in order to have anything new to say,” the band’s Coleman Bentley explains in press notes. “So for this one, we chose Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, the story of a Swedish knight returning home from the Crusades to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. He challenges Death to a game of chess, staving off his advances long enough to make it home one last time — questioning mortality, the meaning of life, and the existence of God, while trekking across a dying countryside.  Within the framework of that film, we tackle the nihilism of modern life and the paradox of depression – not wanting to live but not actively wanting to die.”

Musically, the material on The Invisible Seam reportedly features a much more refined sound than its immediate predecessor: the addition of Chris Palermo finds the band adding synths to their sonic palette; but along with that, the album features Bentley’s vocals taking up a more central role while ensuring that it’s also heavier, more heartfelt and more grander, in order to fit the epic concept behind it. And they do so while drawing from the likes of Immortal, Nine Inch Nails, Judas Priest, Cloud Rat, John Carpenter and a lengthy list of others.

Album title track and first single “The Invisible Seam” features towering 80s metal riffage, thunderous, industrial metal-like drumming, Bentley’s howled vocals and a shimmering and brooding bridge. It’s a certifiable Headbanger’s Ball-inspired headbanger with a slick production and subtly expansive and trippy song structure. But interestingly enough, the song finds the band further cementing their reputation for intelligently pushing the boundaries of thrash metal both sonically and thematically.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Urban Village is a rapidly rising Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa-based quartet of young self-taught experimental musicians. With the release of their debut EP Bantu Art, the South African quartet developed a reputation for a sound that blends folk, funk, reggae, South African funk and regional traditional influences — while thematically, their material focuses on the day-to-day experiences of black folk in South Africa.

The members of Urban Village recently signed to acclaimed Parisian world music label Nø Førmat, who will release their highly-anticipated full-length debut next year. In the meantime, the band’s latest single “Sakhisizwe,” which translates into “To Build a Nation” in English, is the first official single off their full-length debut is a centered around a sinuous and propulsive bass line, looping Zulu guitar riffs, call and response vocals singing lyrics in English and Zulu, bursts of melodious flute within an unabashedly joyous song — with a hopeful and much-needed message of unity in our fractious and troubled times.