Tag: rough trade

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of David Bazan, best known for his work in Pedro the Lion; Trey Many, a member of Velour 100 and Starfinder 59; TW Walsh, a bandmate of Bazan’s in Pedro the Lion, a member of The Soft Drugs and a well-regarded solo artist; and Jason Martin, a bandmate of Trey Many in Starfinder 59, the members of indie rock All-Star act Lo Tom   features some incredibly accomplished members, with more than 125 combined years of playing, writing, recording and touring as professional musicians. And interestingly enough, the project can trace its origins to its members being long-time friends, who used to mess around and jam together, missed playing together, and decided to spend some time writing and recording together.

In fact, the quartet’s self-titled debut, which is slated for a July 14, 2017 release through Barsuk Records was written and recorded during the rare free time each of its members could spare and consisted of the four friends convening with some loose riffs and beats and seeing where things would go while lyrically speaking Bazan, who wrote most of the album’s lyrics, would make up something quickly and on the spot before eventually refining them. And as you’ll hear on “Overboard,” Lo Tom’s first single of their self-titled debut, the song possesses the looseness of four, old pros and friends jamming together and knowing where each one is going while seamlessly meshing elements of the sounds and aesthetics that have made each of them success within their own projects, complete with the soaring hooks and huge power chords of the alt rock and power pop that have clearly influenced it; but perhaps more important the song has a swooning and urgent earnestness that belies the bandmembers’ casual and off-hand manner in describing how things came together.

With the release of the new single, the band announced their first live dates together, and it includes an August 12, 2017 stop at Rough Trade. Check out the tour dates below.

TOUR DATES:

08/11 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (tickets / info)
08/12 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade (tickets / info)
08/17 Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room (tickets / info)
08/18 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater (tickets / info)
08/19 Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern (tickets / info)

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeous and Moody Visuals and Sounds of Flowers’ “Intrusive Thoughts”

Since their formation back in 2012, London, UK-based noise pop trio Flowers received national and international attention with the release of their debut effort. Everybody’s Dying to Meet You, the trio’s latest album was released through […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Over the course of 2015, Detroit, MI-based duo Gosh Pith have become JOVM mainstays while gaining a rapidly growing national profile for a sound and songwriting approach that generally focused on capturing a specific feeling or sensation, rather than capturing a concrete narrative. Interestingly over that same period, the duo has been experimenting with their sound and songwriting approach with their sound gradually becoming warmer and R&B-leaning with guitar becoming much more prominent on later releases.

Now you may recall that the duo closed out what turned out to be a huge 2015 with the release of “Gold Chain,” the first single and title track off the duo’s forthcoming EP, Gold Chain, which is slated for a February 25 release through B3SCI Records and with a set opening up for Girlyboi at Rough Trade. The EP’s second and latest single “K9” continues where the first single left off as skittering drum programming, wobbling bass, guitar chords fed through reverb and delay pedals and sultry hip-hop and R&B inspired vocals in a way that subtly hints at Timbaland — but much more atmospheric. And much like the preceding single, the song is a a “ratchet” love song, in which the narrator and the object of his affections being in love and doing sleazy things together because they enjoy them.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the better part of the past year,  Detroit, MI-based duo Gosh Pith have become JOVM mainstays while winning the attention of the blogosphere for a sound and songwriting approach that focusses on capturing a specific feeling or sensation, rather than capturing a concrete narrative. considering that the duo, comprised of Josh Smith (vocals, guitar and production) and Josh Freed (samples, synths and production) reportedly started the project after a drunken and psychedelics fueled late night walk through the streets of Paris in which they found themselves moved and marveled by the sounds of their voices echoing of narrow streets, the focus on capturing mood before anything else shouldn’t be surprising. However, interestingly enough, over the past year the duo have been experimenting with their sound and songwriting approach over that same period of time — with their sound gradually becoming warmer and guitar becoming much more prominent and obvious throughout.

The Detroit-based indie electro pop duo close out a big 2015 with a set at Rough Trade on December 17 and with the release of their latest single “Gold Chain,” which the duo have described as “. . . a ratchet love song about the constant conflict between the meaningful and the meaningless.” Sonically the song pairs swirling electronics, bleeps and bloops, boom bap beats, skittering drum programming, strummed bluesy guitar chords with Freed’s earnest falsetto signing lyrics about longing for a particular lover, comparing them to a gold chain, which clearly has a financial value but doesn’t necessarily have a deep emotional meaning; in some way it’s a bizarre pick up line that’s both ridiculous and kind of endearing. Interestingly, the song may be the most R&B-leaning song the duo have released to date.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Trippy, Technicolor Video for All Them Witches’ “Dirt Preachers”

  With the release of their 2012 debut effort, Our Mother Electricity and 2014’s sophomore effort Lightning At The Door, the Nashville, TN-based quartet All Them Witches, comprised of Charles Michael Parks, Jr. (vocals, bass), Ben […]

hip-hop by William Ruben Helms

Live Concert Photography: Mad Satta with Quincy Vidal and All Natural at DROM 7/2/15

Live Concert Photography: Mad Satta with All Natural DROM July 2, 2015 This summer has been an extremely busy one in the world of JOVM — and as you can imagine, I’m still busily attempting […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their self-titled debut last year, the Brooklyn-based trio Lazyeyes, comprised of members of several locally-based indie bands features Jason Abrishami of The Twees (vocals, guitar), Paul Volpe of Triple Cobra (bass) […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Young, up-and-coming, pop artist Tove Stryke landed a record deal with Sony Sweden in her late teens and it resulted in the 2010 release of her self-titled debut effort, which was a commercial success in […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

https://scache.vevo.com/m/html/embed.html?video=GBE651446208&playerType=embedded If you’ve been following JOVM for the past few months, you may have come across a couple of posts on the Irish-born and London-based sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow, who perform as the electro pop […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Juniore is a French electro pop band fronted by vocalist Anna Jean, and their first single “Dans Le Noir” was a seductive, smoky song that immediately evoke the mod 60s – and quite possibly, a […]