Tag: Radiohead

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Penelope Isles Releases a Lysergic and Technicolor Visual for “Round”

Throughout the course of this year, I’ve written a bit about the rising  Brighton, UK-based indie rock quartet Penelope Isles. Led by its Devon, UK-born, Isle of Man-raised sibling songwriting duo Jack Wolter and Lilly Wolter, the band also features Jack Sowton and Becky Redford. Unsurprisingly, the band is centered by the bond between the Wolters, a band that was ironically strengthened when Jack, who’s six years older, moved out of the family home at 19 to study art.  “By the time I moved home, Lil was not so much of an annoying younger sister anymore and had grown up and started playing in bands and writing songs. We soon become very close. I had written some songs, so we started a band called Your Gold Teeth. We toured a bit and then Lily left for Brighton to study songwriting.”

While Lily Wolter studied in Brighton, she met Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, with whom she formed a band. As the story goes, when Lily Wolter returned home for the holidays, the idea of a forming a new band rapidly developed. Though Jack and Lily have long written separately, they chucked their disparate songs into a shared song pot, their new band was fueled by a passion for DIY alt rock/indie rock — and are influenced by the likes of Deerhunter, Pixies, Tame Impala, Radiohead and The Thrills among others.

So far, this year has been a big year for the Brighton-based act. They signed a record deal with Bella Union Records, who released their full-length debut Until the Tide Creeps In earlier this year. Thematically, the album is informed by the Wolters’ shared experience — in particular, leaving home to start your life and the various transitions you’ll experience in your life as you begin to experience adulthood. “We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!”

“Chlorine,” Until the Tide Creeps In’s Sleepy Sun-like album opener was centered around an arrangement that subtly bridges shimmering dream pop, shoegaze and fuzz pop — and while buoyant and seemingly ethereal, the song possessed a bracing quality, much like stepping into a cold shower. Interestingly, the song has an underlying emotional push and pull; the sort of complexity brought about by obligation and duty and the need to go out on your own. The album’s latest single is the woozy “Round,” a track that sonically seems to mesh 70s AM rock with shoegaze as the track is centered by a looping and shimmering guitar line and a soaring hook. And much like its predecessor, the new single will further establish the band’s bracingly wistful take on a familiar and beloved sound — all while evoking the ebb and flow of complicated and ambivalent emotions.

The recently released released video for “Round” is a lysergic and technicolor fever dream that features a person walking  and dancing around a very British-looking town in an inflatable, round suit in bright colors with floating images of the band performing the song in the background. “‘Round’ was the first song I wrote when I moved to Brighton a few years ago. I wrote it on a dan electro 12 string, which I had to sell to pay the rent,” the band’s Jack Wolters says in press notes. “We played the song constantly when we first started gigging and ended up leaving it out of the set for a while. We revisited it, as it felt weird to not include it on this record. We made the video in Brighton on one of the hottest days of the year. It consists of footage of Lily, dressed in a large round blow-up suit that pulsates with bright psychedelic colors and floating images of the band. We had a laugh making this one!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Southern California’s Fellow Robot Releases a Disturbing Visual for New Single

Fellow Robot is a Southern California-based indie rock quintet, whose work is thematically centered around the dynamics between robots and humans. The band recently released their full-length debut, The Robot’s Guide to Music, Volume 1 and the album’s latest single is the anthemic “So What.” Built around an arrangement that features layers of guitar, propulsive drumming, a soaring, arena rock friendly hook and plaintive vocals, the song sonically speaking — to my ears at least — brings Pablo Honey and The Bends-era Radiohead to mind. 

Directed by Anjela Vega, the recently released video is one extremely long take of a dinner party that quickly becomes rather disturbing. And in our age of constant danger the video has a rather unsettling air. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I wrote about the up-and-coming Brooklyn-based indie pop act Roofers Union, and as you may recall, with the release of their critically applauded single “Karate,” the act began to receive attention across the blogosphere  for meshing shimmering disco-tinged pop with material that thematically focuses on millennial ennui.  Their last single “Tortugas” was a decidedly uptempo and breezy track that reminded  me of Kid A and Hail to the Thief-era Radiohead.

Interestingly, their latest single “Friends” is centered around shuffling drums, a sinuous groove, and quick chord and tempo changes that finds the band sonically drawing from the trippy neo-soul of Hiatus Kaiyote and JOVM mainstays Bells Atlas while evoking the complex push and pull dynamics of friendship. The song also finds vocalist T.C. Tyge delivering lyrics that are playful yet direct; but much like its immediate predecessor, the song seethes with the contradictory feelings of resentment and appreciation.

“‘Friends’ is about reconciling the practical advice of a loved one with the intangible tangle of depression,” Roofers Union’s T.C. Tyge explains in press notes. “Often we are told things we don’t like to hear, or that go against our intuition about how to deal with our own feelings, but nevertheless can flatten a cognitive tower of troubles onto a manageable 2D surface. We usually need an outside perspective to get down to the concrete brass tax [sic] of what can be done about a situation. Hence, ‘You gotta relax if you wanna hang.'”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Ghost Funk Orchestra Latest Single and Video Evokes the Awkwardness of Having a Crush

Founded and led by composer, arranger and producer Seth Applebaum, the New York-based psych rock act Ghost Funk Orchestra initially began as a lo-fi recording project in 2014. Since their formation, the project has grown into full-fledged, 11 member unit that has become an up-and-coming prescience in the city’s psych rock and soul scenes — and that shouldn’t be surprising, as their sound draws from an eclectic array of sources including salsa, surf rock, Afobeat, stoner rock and others. 

Slated for an August 23, 2019 release through Colemine Records, the up-and-coming soul acts forthcoming full-length debut, A Song For Paul was conceived as a tribute to Applebaum’s late grandfather Paul Anish, a figure, who played an immense role in the Ghost Funk Orchestra founder and bandleader’s life. While the songs reportedly don’t address Paul Anish directly, the creative process for the album and the decisions made during it were meant to convey what Anish’s presence felt like for Seth — a stern yet loving, native New Yorker. For Applebaum, accurately capturing his grandfather’s essence meant expanding the arrangements much further than what he has done in the past, including crafting more comprehensive horn arrangements, as well as working with a string section for the first time in his career. 

A Song For Paul’s latest single “Seven Eight” is an angular and awkwardly lurching song that’s centered around an unusual time signature (7/8 time), a looping Tropicalia-like guitar line, ethereal vocals, an explosive and expressive horn arrangement, which gives the song a quirky yet cinematic air. And while bearing an uncanny resemblance to Radiohead’s “15 Step” and to Gorillaz “5/4,” the song evokes the drunken swoon of having a crush. As the band’s Seth Applebaum explains “Seven Eight is a song about having a crush. When writing the song, we chose an awkward time signature because having a crush will make anyone feel a little awkward.” 

Starring Romi Hanoch, the recently released video for “Seven Eight” relies heavily on found footage from old medical films, liquid light projections from Drippy Eye Projections thrown into a visual that has a decidedly film noir-ish feel. “The music video relies heavily on found footage, specifically pulled from old medical films that depict the beauty and chaos of the human body and its internal functions,” Seth Applebaum explains. “In addition, we were fortunate enough to have our friends at Drippy Eye Projections provide us with some incredible liquid light visuals to further the narrative of chemistry.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Up-and-Coming British Indie Rock Act Penelope Isles Release a Sludgy and Slow-Burning New Single

Throughout the course of this year, I’ve written a bit about the Brighton, UK-based indie rock quartet Penelope Isles. And as you may recall, the act, which is comprised of Devon, UK-born, Brighton-based sibling songwriting duo Jack Wolter and Lily Wolter, along with Jack Sowton and Becky Redford is centered by the bond between the Wolters, a bond that ironically was strengthened when Jack, who’s six years older moved out of the family home to study art when he was 19. “By the time I moved home, Lil was not so much of an annoying younger sister anymore and had grown up and started playing in bands and writing songs. We soon become very close. I had written some songs, so we started a band called Your Gold Teeth. We toured a bit and then Lily left for Brighton to study songwriting.”

When Lily Wolter studied in Brighton, she met Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, with whom she formed a band. And as the story goes, when Lily Wolter returned home to the Isle of Man for the holidays, the idea of forming a new band rapidly developed. Although Jack and Lily have long written separately, they chucked their disparate songs into a shared song pot, their new band was fueled by a passion for DIY alt rock/indie rock — and are influenced by the likes of Deerhunter, Pixies, Tame Impala, Radioheadand The Thrills among others.

The up-and-coming Brighton-based indie rock act’s highly-anticipated full-length debut Until the Tide Creeps In will officially drop on Friday through renowned indie label Bella Union Records, and the album thematically is informed by the Wolters’ shared experience — in particular leaving home, moving away, dealing with the various transitions in life and growing up. “We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!”  The Wolters explain in press notes. 

“Chlorine,” Until the Tide Creeps In’s Sleepy Sun-like album opener was centered around an arrangement that subtly bridges shimmering dream pop, shoegaze and fuzz pop — and while buoyant and seemingly ethereal, the song possessed a bracing quality, much like stepping into a cold shower. Interestingly, the song has an underlying emotional push and pull; the sort of complexity brought about by obligation and duty and the need to go out on your own. “Round,” the album’s second single found the band meshing 70s AM rock with shoegaze while evoking the ebb and flow of the complicated and ambivalent emotions of adulthood.”

Centered around a quiet-loud-quiet song structure, complete with a slow-burning and sludgy groove, shuffling drumming and an anthemic hook, the album’s fourth and latest single “Cut Your Hair” manages to subtly recall 120 Minutes-era alt rock. “One of my favourite songs to play live. The slow sludgy groove always feels like a refreshing moment in the set. I wrote it in our old garage on the Isle of Man whilst in uncertainty of whether or not to move away to pursue a career in music or not,” the band’s Jack Wolters says of the album’s latest single. “I had a small studio set up and it started with the drum groove and the rest happened really quickly. I guess it’s a fixtinal tale and concept of what could have been me if I didn’t have a go at doing ‘the band thing’. A don’t give up on your dreams kinda thing.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming Brooklyn Act Roofers Union Release a 80s Inspired CGI Visual for “Tortugas”

With the release of the critically applauded single “Karate,” the up-and-coming Brooklyn-based indie pop act Roofers Union have begun to receive attention across the blogosphere for meshing shimmering disco-tinged pop with material that thematically focuses on millennial ennui.

The band’s latest single “Tortugas” is a decidedly uptempo and breezy track, centered around shimmering synths and rapid-fire drumming, frontman T.C. Tyre’s plaintive falsetto and cascading bass and guitar that bears an uncanny resemblance to Kid A and Hail to the Thief-era Radiohead. Bubbling under the breezy, radio friendly exterior is a darker, almost menacing edge. “Everybody has some problem, some terribly flavored pathology to their life that they’ve never quite been able to shake,” the band says about their latest single. “Whether it’s addiction, anxiety, heartbreak, chronic jealousy, loneliness. ‘Tortugas’ isn’t so much about what the issue is as much as how tenacious it can be. These troubles will always be watching from a distance, creeping slowly toward you.”

The recently released video by Patrick Sluiter employs the sort of CGI graphics reminiscent of Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing,” as we follow a computer generated turtle and computer generated man frantically bop to the song in a sparsely furnished room. But underneath the mischievous charm is an equally menacing vibe that suggests that the characters are doomed to repeat the same thing for eternity — without any escape. 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Summer Cannibals Release an Anthemic 120 Minutes-era Alt Rock-Like New Single

The Portland, OR-based indie rock act Summer Cannibals — Jessica Boudreaux (vocals, guitar), Cassi Blum (guitar), Ethan Butman (bassist) and Devon Shirley (drums) — formed in 2012 and since their formation they’ve released three critically applauded albums – 2013’s No Makeup, 2015’s Larry Crane-produced Show Us Your Mind and 2016’s Chris Woodhouse-engineered Full Of It. 

After escaping a manipulative personal and creative relationship, the band’s Jessica Boudreaux scrapped an entire album’s worth of material and started from scratch. The acclaimed Portland-based indie rock act’s highly-anticipated fourth album Can’t Tell Me No may arguably be the most defiant of their growing catalog as the album’s material is the result of taking back power. The album finds the band standing up — not to just a personal relationship or to the music industry but to the people and social constructs that have silenced women and held them down. Fueled by inspiration and adrenaline, the recording sessions for the new album found the band working together in a new, re-invigorated fashion with Boudreaux writing, recording and mixing much of the album with her bandmates during breakneck, 14-hour days. And while centered around an understandable anger, the album also offers listeners the hope that those who may feel powerless and voiceless can create change through strength, resolve and community. 

Interestingly, the album’s latest single “Behave,” is an anthemic, power chord-driven track that immediately recalls 120 Minutes-era alt rock — in particular, Pablo Honey-era Radiohead, Veruca Salt, The Breeders and the like; but the song is actually a deceptive mosh pit anthem, featuring bitterly incisive lyrics focusing on a dysfunctional and abusive relationship that the song’s narrator is about to escape from — with her soul and dignity more or less intact. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Up-and-Coming Danish Indie Act Aztek Releases a Trippy Visual for Anthemic “Darkest Hour”

Formed back in 2015, the Aalborg, Denmark-based prog rock act Aztek — Benjamin Vestergaard (vocals), Michael Buchardt (drums), Rasmus Lykke (bass), Minik Lundblad (guitar) and Jeppe Søndergaard (guitar) — can trace their origins to shared interest and love of experimental and prog rock. Since their formation, the Aalborg-based quintet have developed a reputation for an adventurous yet accessible sound, centered around traditional rock instrumentation paired with dreamy synths and Vestergaard’s plaintive vocals, which imbues the material with a distinct melancholy. 

Aztek’s full-length debut, 2016’s critically applauded Dream Dealer was a harmonically experimental and ambitious effort that led to the band playing some of the region’s biggest venues and festivals, including Way Up North, Nibe Festival and SPOT Festival. Building upon a growing national and regional profile, the up-and-coming Danish act released their sophomore album Perfect Imbalance last year. Aztek’s latest single, the expansive, Pablo Honey and The Bends-era Radiohead meets space rock-like “Darkest Hour” finds the act ambitiously expanding upon the sound that has won them attention across Denmark and Scandinavia — with fuzzy power chords and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with a heart-on-sleeve earnestness. However, despite its anthemic quality, the song is about observing a loved one’s during a life crisis and the complicated array  feelings that come along with it.

Interestingly, the song’s structure, alternating ethereal verses with heavy, power chord-driven hooks also manages to be influenced by the song’s message — that the darkest hour is typically just before dawn; and that most importantly, things do (and can) get better. Set in space, the recently released video by Anders Riber Nielsen features 80s influenced CGI: the viewer first moves among a large constellation of stars, before passing through a terrestrial-like planet with mountains. It’s trippy and expansive yet centered around scientific reality. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Manchester UK-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Till is the creative mastermind of the buzz worthy dark wave recording project Ghosts of Social Networks. Citing the likes of The Cure, Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Nick Cave, The National and Radiohead, the project according to Till upcycles old-school forms of songwriting while applying a fresh sonic veneer to them, reportedly pairing innovation with a timeless sense of melodicism.

Till’s Ghost of Social Networks debut single “Love Potion” began a string of acclaimed singles praised for their production and overall sound from the likes of BBC Introducing, several zines across the UK and the blogosphere — and he’s received airplay from Steve Lamacq‘s program and BBC 6 Music. All of this built up quite a bit of buzz before the release of his debut EP, My Lucifer.  Interestingly, Till’s latest Ghost of Social Networks single “Don’t Let Me Down” manages to effortlessly recall Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen, as its centered around a brooding and forceful rhythm section, angular guitar lines, an anthemic hook, the song captures a tempestuous and swooning love affair — the sort in which the song’s narrator may recognize will end in disaster.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Deriving their name from Wallace Stevens’ 1934 poem “The Idea of Order at Key West,” in which Stevens examines the creative powers of the human mind, and “to what extent artists are capable of creating, redefining or mastering the natural world around themselves,” the up-and-coming Brooklyn indie rock act Pale Ramon features two grizzled, New York scene vets — Emanuel and The Fear‘s Emanuel Ayvas (vocals, keys) and former Monuments and Oceanographer Kevin Plessner (guitar).

The duo’s self-titled debut is slated for release next Friday, and the album’s first single,  “Beat Punk” is a fiery call for young people, artists, academics, Progressives, Liberals and Lefties to get off their asses, stop tweeting and get to work towards fixing what’s wrong with the world before it’s too late — and as a result, the song is an ardent an urgent, politically charged rock anthem centered around a breakneck motorik groove, rousing hooks that sonically brings Radiohead and Who Are You-era The Who to mind.

The band’s Plessner wrote to PopMatters that the song is a “melt your face rock song,” adding that “it’s a response to everyone who says, ‘They’re just tweets, don’t take [Trump] literally’ and ‘That’s just how he talks.’ It is an expression of anger and fury at political distortion. It’s about demanding civility and truth.” Ayvas concurs, while also clarifying that he and Plessner are trying to be “objective” with their social commentary. “In this song, we’re more in the narrator’s seat, looking at things playing out and describing the two sides of big emotions going on in the country than preaching from a particular sideline,” he notes.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Penelope Isles Returns with a Woozy New Single

Earlier this week, I wrote about the up-and-coming Brighton, UK-based indie rock quartet Penelope Isles, and as you may recall, the act which is comprised of Devon, UK-born, Isle of Man-raised sibling songwriting duo Jack Wolter and Lily Wolter, along with Jack Sowton and Becky Redford is centered by the bond between Wolters, a bond that ironically was strengthened when Jack, who’s six years older moved out of the family home to study art when he was 19. “By the time I moved home, Lil was not so much of an annoying younger sister anymore and had grown up and started playing in bands and writing songs. We soon become very close. I had written some songs, so we started a band called Your Gold Teeth. We toured a bit and then Lily left for Brighton to study songwriting.”

While Lily Wolter studied in Brighton, she met Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, with whom she formed a band. As the story goes, when Lily Wolter returned home for the holidays, the idea of a forming a new band rapidly developed. Though Jack and Lily have long written separately, they chucked their disparate songs into a shared song pot, their new band was fueled by a passion for DIY alt rock/indie rock — and are influenced by the likes of Deerhunter, Pixies, Tame Impala, Radiohead and The Thrills among others.

The up-and-coming Brighton-based indie rock act recently signed to renowned indie label Bella Union Records, who will be releasing the British act’s full-length debut Until the Tide Creeps In. Slated for a July 12, 2019 release, Penelope Isles’ debut thematically is informed by the Wolters’ shared experience — in particular leaving home, moving away, dealing with the various transitions in life and growing up. “We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!”

“Chlorine,” Until the Tide Creeps In’s Sleepy Sun-like album opener was centered around an arrangement that subtly bridges shimmering dream pop, shoegaze and fuzz pop — and while buoyant and seemingly ethereal, the song possessed a bracing quality, much like stepping into a cold shower. Interestingly, the song has an underlying emotional push and pull; the sort of complexity brought about by obligation and duty and the need to go out on your own. The forthcoming album’s latest single is the woozy “Round,” a track that sonically seems to mesh 70s AM rock with shoegaze as the track is centered by a looping and shimmering guitar line and a soaring hook. And much like it’s predecessor, the new single will further establish the band’s bracingly wistful take on a familiar and beloved sound — all while evoking the ebb and flow of complicated and ambivalent emotions. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brighton’s Up-and-Coming Penelope Isles Release a Lysergic Visual for “Chlorine”

Comprised of Devon, UK-born, Isle of Man-raised sibling songwriting duo Jack Wolter and Lily Wolter, along with Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, the up-and-coming Brighton, UK-based indie rock at Penelope Isles is centered by the bond between the Wolters, a bond that ironically was strengthened when Jack, who’s six years older moved away to study art when he was 19. “By the time I moved home, Lil was not so much of an annoying younger sister anymore and had grown up and started playing in bands and writing songs. We soon become very close. I had written some songs, so we started a band called Your Gold Teeth. We toured a bit and then Lily left for Brighton to study songwriting.”

While Lily Wolter studied in Brighton, she met Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, with whom she formed a band. As the story goes, when Lily Wolter returned home for the holidays, the idea of a forming a new band rapidly developed. Though Jack and Lily have long written separately, they chucked their disparate songs into a shared song pot, their new band was fueled by a passion for DIY alt rock/indie rock — and are influenced by the likes of Deerhunter, Pixies, Tame Impala, Radiohead and The Thrills among others.

The up-and-coming Brighton-based indie rock act recently signed to renowned indie label Bella Union Records, who will be releasing the British act’s full-length debut Until the Tide Creeps In. Slated for a July 12, 2019 release, Penelope Isles’ debut thematically is informed by the Wolters’ shared experience — in particular leaving home, moving away, dealing with the various transitions in life and growing up. “We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!”

Until the Tide Creeps In’s latest single, the Sleepy Sun-like album opener is centered around an arrangement that bridges shimmering dream pop and shoegaze with fuzz pop, gorgeous harmonies and a soaring hook — and while buoyant and seemingly ethereal, the song possesses a bracing quality, like a cold shower. But underneath that is an emotional push and pull; the sort of complexity brought about by obligation and duty and the need to go out on your own. The recently released video employs the use of collages, found footage and superimposed footage of the band performing the song to create a visual that’s appropriate lysergic.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Alex Hastings and Bryan Gomez, the Los Angeles, CA-based duo Pioneer 11 derive their name from the famed space probe of the same name. And unsurprisingly, the duo specializes in space rock; however, their take is a hazy and hip-hop influenced one that has drawn comparisons to Dark Side of the Moon meets J.Dilla, Caribou meets Flying Lotus and Radiohead among others. Interestingly, “Squishy Sunbeam” off the duo’s forthcoming full-length debut Gravitorium is centered around ethereal vocals, twinkling keys, shimmering guitar lines, a motorik groove and thumping beats — and sonically, the song recalls the hazy sunniness of Cut Copy‘s In Ghost Colours but with a trippy cosmic glow.

 

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