Liam Brown, an up-and-coming, Liverpool, UK-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and electro pop artist, best known as pizzagirl has become one of this site’s latest mainstays over the couple of months. Now, as you may recall, with the release of the An Extended Play EP earlier this year, Brown was quickly championed by Huw Stephens, Annie Mac and Lauren Laverne, and received praise from DIY, Highsnobiety, Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit and others for an 80s synth pop inspired sound. And adding to a growing profile, Brown opened for acclaimed British act Her’s during their most recent UK tour.
With the release of singles like “highschool,” “gymnasium,” “body part,” off Brown’s soon-to-be released sophomore pizzagirl EP season 2, the Liverpool-based artist further cements a growing national and international reputation for crafting swooningly heartfelt, shimmering synth pop that draws from several decades simultaneously, giving it a decidedly anachronistic sound and feel. “blossom at my feet, flower,” season 2‘s latest single is a classic 80s-inspired power ballad, centered around thumping beats, shimmering synths, chiming guitars, and an anthemic hook. Unsurprisingly, Brown’s latest continues a run of cinematic singles — but unlike its predecessors, it’s the most prom-like, evoking teenaged hopes, desires and dreams with a novelistic detail to psychology and the psychological state of his narrators.
Deriving their name from the Icelandic explorer, believed to be the first Westerner to reach the shores of the Americas, the London-based indie rock quintet Leif Erikson, comprised of Sam Johnston, Oliver Wright, Tom Leader, Greg Austin and Giles Robinson, can trace their origins to the breakup and reunion (of sorts) of the band’s previous iteration, Flashguns. The band’s self-titled debut effort was released last year to critical praise from the likes of Stereogum, Clash Magazineand The Line of Best Fit.
The British quintet’s latest single, the shimmering and atmospheric “Matter” is the first bit of new material since their self-titled effort, and is a bit of a taste of what to expect from a forthcoming EP slated for release early next year. Interestingly, the track is a bold step forward for the band as it finds them gently pushing their sound in a new direction, with the song nodding towards 70s AM radio rock while retaining a cinematic quality; thanks in part to an arrangement featuring dramatic piano arrangement, shimmering guitar lines, shuffling drumming and Johnston’s soulful crooning. But underneath the easy-going self-assuredness of the song, Johnston’s narrator find himself asking much larger questions about life and time, which he recognizes he won’t have easy answers for.
As the band’s Sam Johnston explains in press notes, the song was the band’s attempt “to capture something esoteric about life’s purpose, about making the right choices and following the path that is right for you. What it is to be human and be given this existence that is such a bizarre miracle, but can also be full of pain and struggles. Are there any clues within the infinite universe, a tiny blip of which we occupy or is everything simply the product of chaos? We were very inspired by Curtis Mayfield‘s album ‘Roots’ when thinking about ‘Matter’. He so effortlessly makes these incredible statements about life and society over these stunning, super funky musical arrangements.”
Now, over the past handful of years of this site’s eight-plus year history, I’ve written quite a bit about the Canadian post-punk act and JOVM mainstays Preoccupations. And as you may recall, the band which is comprised of Matt Flegel (bass, vocals), Mike Wallace (drums), Scott Munro (guitar) and Daniel Christiansen (guitar) initially formed under the name Viet Cong — and by the time their 2014 self-titled full-length debut was released, the members of the band found themselves in the middle of a firestorm centered around cultural appropriation and the usage of terms, names and symbols associated with historical groups and actions that evoke the horrors of war, despotism, authoritarianism, fascism, genocide and the like. Ultimately, the band decided to change their name before the release of their sophomore album — and to re-issue their self titled debut with another name.
Released earlier this year through Jagjaguwar Records, Preoccpuations’ third album New Material further cements the bands growing reputation for crafting dark and moody post-punk that touches upon themes of anxiety, uncertainty, creation, destruction and futility while being “an ode to depression. To depression and self-sabotage, and looking inward at yourself with extreme hatred,” the band’s Matt Flegel said in press notes. Much like their sophomore album, the band met without having much written or demoed beforehand — and according to the members of the band, it was arguably one of the most collaborative writing sessions they ever had as a band, with the sessions being extremely architectural in nature, with some ideas (proverbially speaking) being built up while others were torn down to the support beams.
Initially they didn’t know what the songs were about or where they were going with them, they had resolved to let the material show and not explicitly not tell; however, the writing and recording sessions reportedly led to a reckoning for the band’s Flegel. “Finishing ‘Espionage’ was when I realized. I looked at the rest of the lyrics and realized the magnitude of what was wrong,” says Flegel. In fact, the murky and angular Manchester/Joy Division-like first single “Espionage,” while being among the most danceable songs they’ve written and released, focuses on a narrator, who has finally become aware of a disturbing penchant for self-sabotage in every aspect of his life. “Antidote,” New Material‘s second single was centered around propulsive, industrial clang and clatter meant to convey a sweaty anxiety; however, the song is actually about how humans forget that they’re walking, talking, shitting animals — animals that have an infinite amount of knowledge within their fingertips but still manage to repeatedly make the worst possibly choices. “Disarray,” the album’s third single was meditative and slow-burning single featuring shimmering guitar chords, an angular and propulsive bass line, organic drumming and boom bap-like drum machine work during the song’s bridge. And while superficially nodding at Turn On the Bright Lights-era Interpol, the song captures something much darker and uncertain — as it was centered around someone, who from their perspective, views everything they’ve ever known to be a lie. The album’s fourth single “Decompose” was an angular and propulsive track that featured twinkling synths, buzzing power chords and an eerie sense of melodicism that underlies the song’s danceable vibe.
The JOVM mainstays will close out a busy 2018 with a co-headlining tour with long-time friends Protomartyr that will include a November 28, 2018 stop at Warsaw — and you can check out the rest of the tour dates below. And to celebrate the announcement of the tour, the bands have released a split 7 inch in which each band covers the other. The split 7 inch’s latest track is Preoccupations subtle reworking of Protomartyr‘s “Pontiac 87,” that features a slightly sped up tempo and a lush, studio sheen.
Tour Dates:
Fri. Nov. 23 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace *
Sat. Nov. 24 – Ottawa, ON @ 27 Club *
Mon. Nov. 26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
Wed. Nov. 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw *
Thu. Nov. 29 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
Fri. Nov. 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry *
Sat. Dec. 01 – Columbus, OH @ The Basement *
Mon. Dec. 03 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place *
Tue. Dec. 04 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig *
Thu. Dec. 06 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Fri. Dec. 07 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room *
Sat. Dec. 08 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar *
Mon. Dec. 10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
Wed. Dec. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Thu. Dec. 13 – Boise, ID @ Olympic *
Fri. Dec. 14 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
GENTS is a Copenhagen, Denmark-based duo featuring Theis Vesterløkke and Niels Fejrskov Juhl, two longtime friends. And since their 2015 debut ep Embrace the Future, the duo have won a fanbase across their native Denmark and elsewhere of crafting hook-driven and hopeful music. Building upon a growing profile, the last year’s full-length debut About Time found the Danish duo redefining and expanding upon the sound that first caught them attention.
Over the course of the past year, the duo have toured across Europe and Russia, have written, recorded and released a double single and releasing new material that will further cement their growing reputation for crafting sentimental yet deeply optimistic music, rooted by a belief that music is most often a direct mode of expression of an open heart. Interestingly, the duo’s latest single “Emotional Facelift” is a plastic-coated track centered around plinking keys, atmospheric synths and vocals fed through autotune. Although being a bit prepackaged, the song thematically touches upon indecision, self-help, insincerity and apathy, ironically the song has a sincere and bittersweet quality,
“’Emotional Facelift’ deals with apathy and the shocking stress this can cause when you realize that you are completely emotionally callous.Everyone gets this feeling every now and then, and what you so desperately need in that situation is obviously an emotional facelift,” the Danish synth pop duo explained in press notes. “We wanted the track to sound as two-dimensional, simple and synthetic as possible, so any flaws and tiny imperfections were smoothened out. To us this creates this weirdly plastic-yet-humane and cute-yet-paranoid pop song – we absolutely love it, and we hope you will too.”
Back in October 2016, Mason reached out to Daptone Records house band member, longtime friend and Dala Records founder Billy Aukstik to set up at a casual recording session. At the time, Aukstik was recording out of an old East Village brownstone basement, equipped with only a Tascam 388 8-track tape recorder and a few old ribbon microphones. Aukstik and Mason assembled an all-star squad of local soul musicians, including Alex Chakour, who has played with Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones; Freddy DeBoe, who has played with Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones; Joe Harrison, who has played with Nick Hakim and Charles Bradley; and Morgan Price, who has played with Antibalas to record a couple of Mason’s compositions — two of which wound up becoming the A and B sides of Mason’s solo debut, “Back When”/”No Clue.”
A side single “Back When” is a strutting and swaggering bit of a soul pop centered around an arrangement of Arp Omni bass synth, fuzzy guitar lines and a steady backbeat — and while thematically the song is a universal tale of lost opportunity and what could have beens, it’s a decidedly contemporary take on the Dala Records sound, as it nods at contemporary soul, hip-hop and psych pop in a way that brings Tame Impala, Nick Hakim and others to mind. “No Clue,” the B side single is centered around fuzzy power chords and a garage rock vibe, while thematically the song focuses on a dysfunctional and confusing relationship. Both singles reveal an an up-and-coming artist, who’s actively and earnestly pushing the sonic boundaries of soul.
Centered around the collaboration between singer/songwriter Gina Leonard and producer and guitarist Tom Freyer, the acclaimed Bristol, UK-based electro pop/trip hop act The Desert can trace their origins to when Freyer had produced some of Leonard’s solo work. And as the story goes, the duo quickly hit upon a formula of Freyer taking the songs that Leonard had initially written with an acoustic guitar and adding layers of electronics and lush, detailed production.
With the release of “Just Get High,” the first single off last year’s debut EP Playing Dead, the act received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 and Radio X. And with the release of further tracks off the EP, the British electro pop/trip hop, the act received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere for a sound that some have described as being a mix between Little Dragon and Portishead. Building upon a growing profile, the act’s sophomore EP was released last week, and from the EP’s first single “Gone,” the act has revealed a decided evolution of their sound and approach while retaining the cinematic quality that first won them attention; however, the song possessed a desperate, urgent air with a hint of uneasy hope. The EP’s latest single “Distract Me” is a much more intimate, sensual track centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement of strummed guitar, plinking, jazz-like piano, Leonard’s achingly plaintive vocals — with synths and electronics added towards the last third. In some way, the EP’s latest track manages to remind me of the film noir-ish tone of Goldfrapp’s Tales of Us.
Lately, the act has been busy working on new material and playing their first batch of live shows across the UK — and for their live shows, Leonard and Freyer have recruited Ryan Rogers (bass) and Jonny Parry (drums, electronics).
Comprised of founding duo Maja (guitar, vocals) and Andreas (guitar, vocals) along with Samuel (drums), the Stockholm, Sweden-based shoegazers Star Horse can trace their origins back to 2011 when the band’s founding duo met while in Toyko. And as the story goes, Maja and Andreas bonded over a mutual desire to create a sound based around their love of 90s shoegaze. When they returned to Stockolm, they recruited Andreas and Samuel — and while each member individually has dissimilar tastes and preferences, they used the Twin Peaks soundtrack as a common musical thread to create their sound and aesthetic.
Interestingly, since their formation, the Stockholm-based quartet has been considered at the forefront of their homeland’s shoegaze/dream pop scene, developing a developing a devoted international fanbase — and for most of their history, they’ve done it all in a completely DIY fashion, releasing three EPs and a handful of singles through their own label Haxrummet Records. Additionally, along with Follow the Sea, they created the local DIY noise rock/shoegazer festival Fuzztival.
Since, the release of the highly praised single “Slower Now,” the band has been holed up in the studio, finishing up their highly-anticipated full-length debut You Said Forever, which is slated for a February 15, 2019 release through Startracks Records. The album’s latest single is the slow-burning epic track “Albatross” which clocks in at a little under 9 minutes and is centered around shimmering guitar chords and ethereal vocals. And while recalling A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, the track manages to be melancholic but yearning.
Now, over the course of this site’s eight-plus year history, I’ve written quite a bit about the New York-based dance music collective ESCORT. And as you may recall, the act which features founding duo and production team Eugene Cho and Dan Balls and Adeline Michele as members of a core group of anywhere from five to 17 has received attention for a sound that’s indebted to disco, house music and soul — and for a live show that has made them a must-see act; in fact, the members of ESCORT have played some of North America’s biggest festivals, including Sasquatch Festival, Okeechobee FestivalMontreal Jazz Festival, Full Moon Festival and others — and have shared stages with The Internet, Charles Bradley, Digable Planets, De La Soul and Cody ChesnuTT.
Now, as you may recall, things have been busy in the ESCORT universe: Adeline recently released her self-titled, full-length debut while her primary gig has released singles — and their last single “Slide,” which was co-written by denitia and sene‘s Denitia was centered around a buoyant bass line, shimmering synths, some Nile Rodgers-like guitar and Adeline Michele’s sultry vocals manages to recall Chaka Khan and Rufus‘ “Ain’t Nobody,” making it a sort of 80s synth funk-inspired skating rink banger. The acclaimed act’s latest single “Josephine” finds them returning to their roots — a subtly modern take on classic 70s disco centered around an incredible vocalist; but in this case, the song is an anthemic, club-banging biography of the legendary Josephine Baker that manages to recalls Giorgio Moroder‘s legendary work with Donna Summer.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout the course of this year, you’d probably recall that earlier this year, I caught the Montreal-indie pop/dream pop act Anemoneopen for the acclaimed indie pop act HAERTS at Baby’s All Right. Led by Chloe Soldevila (keys, vocals) and featuring Miles Dupire-Gagnon (drums), Gabriel Lambert (guitar), Samuel Gemme (bass) and Zachary Irving (guitar), the Canadian quartet specializes in a breezy take on dream pop that hints at both psych pop and to In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy and Painted Palms.
The Canadian act released their attention-grabbing debut EP earlier this year, which they’ve supported with a series of critically applauded SXSW shows, and some relentless touring across North America. And although they’ve been rather busy, over the past couple of months, they also announced that their highly-anticipated full-length debut Beat My Distance will be released early next year through Luminelle Records. Album single “Sunshine (Back To The Start)” is a breezy and sunny track built around jangling and chiming guitar lines, a propulsive, disco-influenced bass line, a steady backbeat and Soldevilla’s plaintive, ethereal vocals — and while sunny, the song is centered on the hope of a brighter day after experiencing something shitty and painful. “She’s The One” continues in a similar vein as the track is a shimmering and ethereal track centered around Sodevilla’s ethereal crooning and an upbeat, almost Afro pop-like sense of percussion — and much like its predecessor, it possesses a subtly bittersweet undertone. As Soldevilla explains in press notes, “‘She’s The One’ is about two paradoxical tendencies/patterns in relationships and how they work against each other. The first one is where you become infatuated and idealize someone, thinking they are ”the one” until you really get to know them; the other tendency is to protect yourself and stay independent. Closing yourself off from getting to know someone and potentially missing out on a great connection. ‘She’s The One’ is the prequel to ‘Bout de toi’ although it’s being released after. The mood of it, the percussions; ‘She’s The One’ came together very quickly in the studio, as we had a strong desire for an upbeat, dancy [sic] song. It brought a new energy to our set which has really shaped our live show.”
Initially formed as a duo featuring founding members, longtime partners an co-frontpeople Andy Simmons and Holly MacGibbon, the Brooklyn-based dark pop/post-punk act Weeknight received attention with the release of 2014’s full-length debut Post Everything. And as the story goes, after playing hundreds of shows to support Post Everything including touring with Phantogram, Bear in Heaven, Frankie Rose, Moonface, School of Seven Bells, and Crystal Stilts, the duo returned home and began to write the material that wound up eventually comprising their forthcoming sophomore album Dead Beat Creep, which is slated for a February 1, 2019 release through Dead Stare Records.
Written at the duo’s Bushwick home studio and recorded during the bleak winter of 2017 at House Under Magic Studios with co-producer and engineer Danny Taylor, the recording sessions for the album found the band expanding into a quartet with the addition of Russell Hymowitz (bass) and Jasper Berg (drums). And while inspired by the disillusionment of the 2016 election and profound loss and grief, the album’s material finds the band imposing limitations as they were writing and recording, as the band’s Andy Simmons explains in press notes: “We would only use analog gear and we would only write parts that we would be able to play live.”
Interestingly, the album’s latest single “Holes In My Head” manages to bring classic 4AD post-punk to mind as the track is centered around a moody arrangement featuring shimmering and arpeggiated synths, an angular and propulsive bass line, delay pedal effected guitars, dramatic drumming and a rousingly anthemic hook –with a clean, studio polish. However, the song was written for Holly MacGibbons’ father, who died last year after a decade struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. It was written from his perspective, and says what I imagined he would have wanted to say to me if he was able to,” the band’s Holly MacGibbons explains in press notes.
