Tag: music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past 15 years, singer/songwriter and musician Jordan Geiger has developed a reputation for being incredibly prolific — he’s been a member of several renowned indie rock acts including Shearwater, The Appleseed Cast, Des Ark and Minus Story, and he’s released three albums with his solo recording project Hospital Ships. Geiger’s fourth full-length Hospital Ships effort, The Past is Not a Flood is slated for a March 11, 2016 release through Graveface Records, and the album features a myriad number of Austin, TX-based collaborators including longtime friend, Swans‘ Thor Harris — and is Geiger’s sixth album with renowned producer John Congleton, best known for his work with St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Modest Mouse and others.

Thematically speaking, The Past is Not a Flood reportedly draws from Geiger’s own battles with mental illness, anxiety and depression, which will arguably make his fourth full-length album his most personal one to date. The album’s first single “You and I” possesses a gorgeous painterly quality as layers of twisting and turning piano chords undulating and chiming percussion and ominously ambient electronics are slowly added like brushstrokes upon a canvas — and then they’re paired with Geiger’s achingly tender vocals expressing vulnerability, shame, regret and confusion over a dysfunctional and fucked up relationship that’s at an impasse. While sonically bearing a resemblance to Amnesiac-era Radiohead, Remember Remember and Mogwai‘s most recent ambient experiments “You and I” manages to feel like a lingering and anxious fever dream.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Initially formed as a trio featuring Slug, Spawn D and Ant under the name of Urban Atmosphere, almost 20 years ago, the Minneapolis, MN-based hip-hop act Atmosphere have a long-held reputation for having an indefatigable commitment to relentless touring and for 8 critically and commercially successful albums that have pushed the boundaries of what indie hip-hop should sound like, released through renowned indie hip-hop label, Rhymesayers Records. Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM for a while, you might recall that I’ve written about Atmosphere a couple of times in the past — in particular about the release of the “Ear Blaster” video off their long lost Headshots crew compilation and the Pete Rock and CL Smooth “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” channeling single “My Best Half,” written and dedicated to Slug’s wife and to hip-hop in general.

Atmosphere’s latest single “Salma Hayek” channels swaggering boom bap and G funk era hip-hop as tweeter and woofer rattling beats and low end are paired with twisting and turning synths and a dope emcee full of braggadocio spitting dope rhymes with tons of pop culture references and incredibly adept inner and out rhyme schemes — including a reference to Herbie Hancock‘s “Rockit” among others. But more important, it should serve as a powerful reminder that real hip hop — real emcees spitting fire over dope beats is still important and still can be found if you make a true effort to find it.

 

 

 

 

Tour Dates

2.29 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – Tickets
3.01 – Lubbock, TX @ Wild West – Tickets
3.02 – El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls – Tickets
3.03 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s – Tickets

Atmosphere is also playing the following upcoming festivals and headlining show:

3.17 – Chandler, AZ @ Pot of Gold Festival – Tickets
5.27 – Monterey, CA @ Cali Roots Festival – Tickets
6.04 – San Bernardino, CA @ Blaze N Glory Festival – Tickets
9.02 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks (Headlining) – Tickets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially comprised of Preston Maddox (bass, vocals, keyboards, samples and programming) Jake McCown (drums, noise, programming) — with recent recruits Jack O’Hara Harris (guitar), Richard Napierkowski (synth) and Martin McCreadie (synth) to flesh out the band’s live set, Austin, TX-based shoegaze act Bloody Knives have developed a reputation locally and regionally for a sound that meshes elements of punk, industrial electronica and ambient electronica with 8 bit glitches, bloops and bleeps; sonically speaking their sound is reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others as their sound manages moments of punishing noisy bleakness with moments of sublime and dreamy beauty.

The Austin shoegazer band’s forthcoming, new album I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This is slated for an April 15, 2016 release through Saint Marie Records and the album is reportedly inspired by the “forgotten places, the dark corners of empty cities, decaying buildings filled with vacant people” — the world of the lost and broken.” The album’s first single “Poison Halo” will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting a gritty, punishing and yet dreamy sound as shimmering synths and guitar chords are paired with towering layers of feedback, a propulsive motorik-like groove and Maddox’s ethereal and plaintive vocals floating over an ominous and punishing wall of sound that gently yet insistently pushes the boundaries of what shoegaze should sound like.

 

The band will be embarking on the road throughout April. Check out tour dates below.

 

TOUR DATES
Fri April 1st-El Paso @ Boomtown
Sat April 2nd-Flagstaff AZ @ Mias Lounge
Monday April 4th-LA @ Viper Room w/Luna 13
Thur April 7th- Fresno @ TBA w/Sleepover Disaster
Fri April 8th-Portland @ High Water Mark w/Peridot, Airplane
Saturday April 9th Seattle @Highline w/Vibragun
Sunday April 10th Olympia WA @ Westside Lanes
Tue April 12th-Minneapolis @Hexagon  with TRITA
Wed April 13th-Chicago @ Empty Bottle w New Canyons
Thur April 14th-Milwaukee @ Quarters
Friday April 15th Champaign IL @ Mike and Molly’s w/TBA
Sat April 16th St. Louis TBA
Friday April 22nd @Norman Music Fest w/Power Trip

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The Internet can be a wonderful and thrilling place as it can inspire the sort of serendipitous discovery that’s necessary if you’re an audiophile or a music blogger; however, the Internet can also be a powerful reminder of the relentless passing of time — and that no matter what, you’re not getting any younger.  Now, as a child of the 80s, Nena‘s “99 Red Balloons” or if you preferred the original German version, “99 Luftballoons” was a mega-hit back in 1984 as it captured and evoked everyone’s fear of nuclear annihilation.

Back in 2013, I wrote quite a bit about Anika Henderson, best known under the mononym that she writes, records and performs under, Anika . Initially, Henderson spent her professional career as a political journalist, who split time between Berlin and Bristol, UK when she was introduced to Geoff Barrow, who’s best known for his work with Portishead. At the time Barrow was looking for a vocalist, who would work with his band Beak> for what would be a side project. And as the story goes, Henderson and Barrow bonded over a mutual love of punk, dub and 60s girl groups. About a week later, Barrow, Henderson and the members of Beak> went into the studio to record what would eventually turn out to be Henderson’s 2010 self-titled full-length debut, completely live with Henderson and the band in the same room without overdubs — and in 12 days.

2013 saw the release of Henderson’s self-titled EP, a collection of covers and remixes that included Henderson’s murky, Portishead and The Velvet Underground and Nico-inspired cover of Chromatics’ “In the City.” And what the self-titled EP revealed is that Henderson, Barrow and company have a way of covering a song with a unique take that makes a song their own — and in the case of Chromatics’ “In The City,” their cover feels as though it was always their song. That’s a rare thing, indeed.

Recently Invada Records, run by Barrow released an icy, lo-tech analog synth electro pop and dub-leaning cover of Nena’s “99 Red Balloons” by the mysterious Invada All Stars featuring Anika on vocals as part of this weekend’s Stop Trident National anti-nukes demonstration in London, a demonstration protesting the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system. Proceeds from the digital single will go to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Additionally Henderson is part of a new project Exploded View which will release their debut single in March and play SXSW. The project’s debut effort is slated for release later this year through Sacred Bones Records.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Earlier this month, I wrote about the long-lost collaboration between godheadSilo‘s Mike Kunka and The Melvins — the creatively titled outfit, Mike and The Melvins. As the story goes, when godheadSilo went on what eventually turned out to be a permanent hiatus in 1998, Kunka busied himself by tagging along on a tour with The Melvins. And at some point the members of The Melvins — King Buzzo (guitar, bass, vocals), Dale Crover (drums, vocals) and Kevin Rutmanis (bass, vocals)– along with Kunka decided to record an album together. The thrilled folks at  Sub Pop Records agreed to fund and release the indie All-Star act’s effort, and the newly minted quartet went into the studio in 1999 with the album slated for release back in 2000. Unfortunately, after some self-described “junior-high level bullshit,” some record label disputes, an illness or two, surgeries and stolen gear, and fortunately some children, the then-unfinished album would up languishing and collecting dust on someone’s shelf — that is until last year, Kunka, King Buzzo, Crover and Rutmanis surprisingly reconvened, finished the album now titled Three Men and a Baby and sent it to Sub Pop Records, who then promptly scheduled its release for April 1, 2016.

Now you might recall that “Chicken n Dump,” the first single off Three Men and a Baby was a punishingly loud, mosh-pit worthy song consisting of layers of sludgy power chords, crunchy bass, thundering drumming, howled vocals and shout along-worthy hooks. And what made it particularly interesting to me was the fact that it managed to sound as though it were released 20 years ago while being remarkably contemporary as the song sonically speaking compares favorably to the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden — and even METZ. Three Men and a Baby‘s second and latest single “Limited Teeth” has the quartet pairing layers of sludgy power chords, insistent and forceful drumming, a sneering yet anthemic hook and howled vocals to create a song that sounds as though it draws from Reign in Blood-era Slayer and death metal, as the song is abrasive and punishingly loud; in fact, it may be even more punishing than the album’s first single — while being equally mosh pit worthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Shabaam Sahdeeq Teams Up With DJ Ready Cee and Spit Gemz On His Most Politically Charged Collaboration to Date

If you’ve been frequenting this site over its almost 6 year history, you’ve likely come across a post or two about Brooklyn-based emcee Shabaam Sahdeeq. Sahdeeq recently celebrated his 20th year in hip-hop — and considering […]