Tag: Radiohead Amnesiac

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of “Brontos” and “Snowboy,” the Gothenburg, Sweden-based electronic trio Emmecosta received attention across the European Union and elsewhere for an electro pop sound that aesthetically drew from jazz, trip-hop, hip-hop and the like, with the intention of evoking the sensation of stumbling home fucked up and possibly half-awake from the club as the sun is slowly rising.

Now, if you had been frequenting this site three years ago, you may recall that I wrote about “Thousands of Me,” a moody track consisting of a slick production the nodded at Portishead, Amnesiac-era Radiohead and Chet Faker as it featured stuttering drum programming, sparse piano chords and a mournful horn line with a confessional and deeply personal vibe.

The trio’s latest EP Velour was released Friday through Swedish boutique label Icons Creating Evil Art and the EP’s first two singles “His Power of Youth” and “Miguel” revealed that the trio had been experimenting and expanding upon their sound with those two singles reportedly nodding at the likes of early 2000s-era Phoenix and Washed Out — and while those comparisons may be fair to some degree, as you’ll hear on the trio’s latest single “A Mountain From Us” the Swedish trio’s sound also nods at fellow Swedes Moonbabies and Summer Heart as they pair layers of choppy and shimmering arpeggio synths, swirling electronics, ethereal vocals but underneath the dreamy yet murky vibe is a aching sense  of longing and desire for something that you know deep inside is practically impossible to have; in fact, as the members of the band explain, the EP thematically focuses on “the feeling of unshakable longing we’ve never been. This is a specific form of wanderlust — a craving for a distant land or deep feeling of ‘homesickness’ for a place we have never seen. We imagine distant places through small fragments: everyday life seen elsewhere. We are going through a strange sensation of disorientation, something magical seen from far away. We fall in love with this fragment. It holds the promise for more . . . ”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Vienna, Austria’s Hearts Hearts Return with a Brooding and Artistic Meditation on Identity, Self-Invention and Perspective

“AAA” is the Austrian quintet’s latest single off Young and sonically it’s a song that nods at Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief-era Radiohead as shimmering guitar chords, stuttering drum programming, swirling electronics, twinkling keys and a lush string arrangement with Österle’s tender and aching falsetto expressing a deep yearning for more while possessing an underlying uncertainty at its core. Interestingly enough as the band’s frontman David Österle explained about both the song and its video treatment: “I think that the world is a place, where we can dare to pretend. ‘AAA’ deals with that basic feature of the human condition. We fake it till we make it, and thereby go (at least sometimes) astray in the plethora of metamorphoses in that societal masquerade. I think that by assuming different roles we ourselves are fulfilling the requirements of the economy, demanding excessive flexibility and changeability. As a result we all feel like faceless puppets sometimes.

“We wanted to make a video that visually underscores this figuration of identity as a permanent process of self-inventions. The video is much about showing people in different perspectives. The images are blurry, sometimes they are overlapping and merging together seamlessly. What the lens captures, is actually the performance of a performance, the play in a play.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Harsh and Haunting Sounds and Visuals for Boogarins “Cuerdo”

Much like the album’s previously release single “Tempo,” the album’s latest single “Cuerdo” is a deeply contemplative song; however, the dreamy new single sounds as though it draws from Kid A and Amnesiac-era Radiohead and Dark Side of the Moon-era Pink Floyd as reverb-heavy guitar chords, a subtle yet gorgeous horn arrangement with the vocals at times feeling peacefully submerged, almost entombed within the dreamy and slow-burning mix. Interestingly, as the band’s guitarist Benke Ferraz notes, the song focuses on the feeling of not belonging and being in a situation in which you can’t express yourself — perhaps out of danger if you’re part of a minority group.

Directed by Ricardo Spencer, the recently released video for “Cuerdo” reveals the haunting and harsh beauty of nature as it depicts a group of buzzards descending upon a dead cow at various angles — a cinematic wide screen which has every figure involved look like microscopic dots before quickly panning in to see the vultures eating the dead cow in super slow motion. As the band’s Ferraz expressed in press notes, the vultures seemed to represent quite a bit for anyone who feels for minorities of any stripe and how our especially conservative — and seemingly sadistic — societies and media outlets deal with them.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Trewin Howard (vocals, synths, production), along with Howard’s two childhood friends Jeb Hardwick (guitar) and Ed Sanderson (piano/synths), the Brighton, UK-based founding trio behind Phoria recruited Tim Douglas (bass, synth) and Seryn Burden (drums) to flesh out the band’s sound. And over the past couple of years, the Brighton, UK-based quintet have developed a growing national and international profile for crafting spectral and evocative soundscapes; in fact, 2014’s Display EP landed at #5 on Hype Machine’s charts, received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 and received several million Spotify streams. They also have a burgeoning reputation for their live set which pairs Hardwick’s visual installations and projections with their live sound. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months you may have come across a post or two on the British quartet.

As the band’s primary songwriter Howard has publicly explained that he never really wanted to be a storyteller, and that he ascribes to the concept of saying very little to say a lot. And as as a result, the quintet’s material generally focuses on setting up a particular mood — while simultaneously focusing on a number of different themes. In press notes, Howard has mentioned that the material on Volition thematically touches upon love, sex, mortality, pain, joy, the way people interact, change and move each other and several other things. Earlier this year, I wrote about “Everything Beta,” the first single off the band’s recently released full-length debut Volition, a single that sounds indebted to  Amnesiac and King of Limbs-era Radiohead, as Howard’s ethereal and plaintive vocals are paired with clicking and clacking percussion, twinkling piano chords, buzzing synths and a subtly anthemic hook in a song that slowly builds up an unresolved tension before quickly fading out. And while ethereal, the song manages to evoke a desperately aching yearning at its core.

The album’s second and latest single “Loss” continues on a similar vein as “Everything Beta” as Howard’s delicate and yearning falsetto is paired with a sparse and ambient arrangement of twinkling keys, minimalist beats, shimmering synths and a hauntingly beautiful string arrangement to evoke a sense of profound, inconsolable loss in what may arguably be the most gorgeous song the Brighton-based band has released to date.

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

 

Just in time to close out the year, the members of Radiohead announced that last year, they were approached to write a theme song for the latest James Bond film, Spectre. Knowing that the studio and the film’s director went with Sam Smith‘s “Writing On The Wall,” it’s pretty obvious that someone decided that Radiohead’s “Spectre” just wasn’t going to work out — although to be honest, “Spectre” is a gorgeous,moody and dramatic jazz-inspired composition that sounds as though it could have been on Amnesiac or King of Limbs. To my ears, what makes the song so strange is that Radiohead’s theme song as though it could have been part of an art-house film about consumerism, greed, alienation and regret, while capturing the tone and feel of a Bond film.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: David Bowie’s Creepy, New Video for “Blackstar”

More than enough ink has been spilled on David Bowie‘s lengthy career as a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, actor and painter, so delving into any significant backstory will be largely unnecessary for the scope of […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their first two singles “Brontos” and “Snowboy,” Emmecosta, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based electronic trio have quickly received attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a dreamy, jazz-based electro pop sound that evokes the sensation of being half-awake and walking home from the club as the sun is rising. And over the past few months, the Swedish electronic trio’s profile has been on the rise as they’ve received praise from several internationally recognized websites and publications including Clash Magazine, Vice’s Noisey and Complex — and they’ve seen increasing radio play from Scandinavian radio stations P3, P4 and YleX, as well as several others across the globe.

“Thousands of Me,” the third and latest single from the Gothenburg-based trio is a moody track consisting of handclaps, stuttering and skittering drum programming, sparse piano chords and a mournful horn line. Sonically speaking the song seems to draw influence from Portishead, Amnesiac-era Radiohead and Chet Faker — and much like the work of those acts, “Thousands of Me” has confessional and deeply personal feel, while delving deeply into the psyche of its narrator.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The UK-based duo of Luca Santucci and Ben Fitzgerald, a.k.a. Stubborn Heart, from London and Oxford respectively, have developed a reputation for a soulful and yet atmospheric electronica which has been influenced by the likes […]