Tag: Rush Midnight

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Habitat Canada and Druzy Team Up on a 80s Funk-Inspired Bop

Habitat Canada is a rising yet mysterious Montréal-based solo electronic music project that’s inspired visually by 70s and 80s noir, the sounds created by the beloved Prophet Synthesizer, and electronic music artists and composers like Vangelis, Kavinsky, and HERO. Since emerging into the scene back in 2021, the Canadian artist has released a growing collection of work that’s been well received by music cognoscenti, landing on a broad range of playlists and blogs. Building upon a rapidly growing profile internationally, Habitat Canada has had his work featured in a New York Post news docuseries, a Ford Motors commercial, and other film projects.

Over the past couple of years, the rising Canadian artist’s work has increasingly paid homage to 70s and 80s horror and sci-fi movie soundtracks, complete with the familiar — and perhaps prerequisite — grit and palpable tension. Slated for a June 2023 release through DRRT Records, his forthcoming EP, Lunar Spectrum is reportedly informed by “Scarecrow,” his collaboration with Rush Midnight that saw him delving deeper into retro-futuristic sounds, while also showcasing the rising producer and artist’s skills.

“Fascination,” Lunar Spectrum EP‘s latest single features a sultry and yearning and sultry pop starlet turn from Los Angeles-based funk duo Druzy, and fittingly is a breezy and funky bit of 80s nostalgia that immediately brings Prince, Control and Rhythm Nation-era Janet Jackson, Let’s Dance-era David Bowie, Nile Rodgers, Rio-era Duran Duran and others to mind — but with a clean, hyper modern sheen. It’s a fun, party-starting bop meant to get asses out of seats and moving.

“I started working on the track not long after meeting with Druzy for the 1st time (our first collab was entirely virtual due to the pandemic and being based on opposite sides of the country). We kicked it off on a rooftop in Downtown LA and I had a sound and image in mind,” Habitat Canada explains. “The song structure came pretty fast, the heavy drum and bass groove added with some industrial effects gave us a nice jolt of brightness to the darker sound palette on the EP. The team at DRRT sent it quickly to Druzy in hopes of doing a second collaboration together. We were all super excited about the result and couldn’t have asked for a better fit.”

“We love Habitat Canada‘s music and our previous collaboration, ‘Speed of Light’, was a pleasure to work on so it was an immediate yes to doing another collab with Nico,” Druzy explains. “Especially when we got sent a track this good to write on!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tanners Releases a Disco-Inspired Visual for Glittering “Night Move”

Tanners is a somewhat mysterious and rising Brooklyn-based pop singer/songwriter and producer, who throughout her relatively young professional career has been driven by the urgent need to stand out from a crowded field of pop artists and really connect with listeners, by writing about mental health and other topics with a heartfelt earnestness. 

In the past year, the rising Brooklyn-based artist has played at Rough Trade and at The Playstation Theater for the annual TEDxTeen event — and she her music has been featured in a number of major media outlets. including NYLON, Earmilk, Stereogum, Rolling Stone France and a list of others. Building upon a growing profile, Tanners’ latest single, the dance floor friendly “Night Moves” is centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, a sinuous bass line, Nile Rodgers-like guitar, and a two-step including groove. And while seemingly indebted to 80s synth funk like Cherelle, Daft Punk and contemporaries like Rush Midnight, the track manages to have a dark underbelly: thematically, the song focuses on the feelings of regret and self-loathing that many people have had over the few months of quarantine for not being as productive as they should be. 

Employing a necessary DIY ethos as a result of of COVID, the recently released video stars Tanners as a character named Mother Disco, who performs the song inside a glittering disco ball, but adding to the 70s vibe are the some trippy kaleidoscopic effects in which we see three Tanners at a time.  “We threw ourselves into this music video with no prep, barely any gear, no storyboard or concept but we embraced the limitations and leaned into this kitschy, low-budget vibe,” said Tanners of the video inspired by The Cher Show. She continues, “For me, there’s nothing better than creating something that’s colorful and aesthetically pleasing and also makes you laugh at the same time.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Up-and-coming Toronto-based indie electro pop sibling duo SWANES — Michael and Stefan Bildy — have released a handful of tracks through French indie electro pop tastemaker label Kitsune Records that have caught thee attention of Warp Records and Future Classic, as well as a key nod from CBC’s Radio 1 Toronto. Adding to a growing profile, the sibling duo have been featured on Bandcamp Daily and COLORS, and they’ve landed tracks on several extremely popular Spotify playlists — in particular, the Indie All Stars and Fresh Finds among others.

The duo will be playing dates with Los Angeles-based artist Harriet Brown — but before that they released a new single, the silky smooth “The Hard Way.” Centered around shimming guitar, stuttering beats and a sultry vocal delivery, the slickly produced track nods at Quiet Storm R&B, Hall and Oates-era blue-eyed soul and breezy pop — and sonically, the track reminds me a bit Rush Midnight and others. Interestingly, the track was inspired by a trip the Bildy Brothers took to their great uncle Bruce Beach’s bomb shelter, The Ark Two — the largest nuclear fallout shelter in their native Canada. And as a result, the track possesses a subtle yet palpable apocalyptic air.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Finnish Pop Trio Beverly Girl Returns with a Sleek and Sultry Cover of 80s Hit

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of the past year or so, you may recall that with the release of “Contagious” the Helsinki, Finland-based trio  Beverly Girl received national and international attention for a 80s-inspired synth funk/electro pop/electro pop/R&B sound reminiscent of I Feel For You-era Chaka Khan, Cherrelle, The Gap Band, Cameo, Atlantic Starr and a lengthy list of others, but with a highly contemporary take that brings the likes of  Rush Midnight, St. Lucia, Dam-Funk and others to mind.

Interestingly, the Finnish trio’s latest single is a cover of Millie Scott’s “Automatic,”  and while their version is fairly straightforward, retaining the original’s swooning sultriness, it possesses a heftier bass line and sharper, arpeggiated synths, all of which will further the act’s growing reputation for crafting sleek, dance floor friendly tunes. 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Portland, OR-based producer, electronic music artist and multi-instrumentalist Ben Braun can trace some of the origins of his own musical career to growing up in a musical home, as his own father played drums in Hall and Oates‘ backing band. Interestingly enough, the youngest Braun is best known as one-half of synth pop act Mackintosh Braun, an act that received attention for an 80s synth pop and New Wave-inspired sound. And while Braun’s solo recording project B•R•A•U•N will further cement his reputation for crafting 80s inspired synth pop, the project and its forthcoming full-length debut Silent Science began from Braun’s awareness of the personal freedoms that he felt he had sacrificed to live in he comforts of new technology, and as a result, the material possesses a longing for a much simpler life — but while paradoxically revealing his unique production style featuring lush and propulsive synths and chopped up vocal samples.

Silent Science’s second and latest single “Prague” while nodding at Tears for Fears‘ “Head Over Heels” and much more contemporary fare like Rush Midnight and others, features Braun’s production style of layers of propulsive and shimmering synths, boom bap beats,  rousing hooks, and an angular bass line paired with Braun’s breathy vocals but underneath the slickly produced and lush surface is a deeply reflective yearning that gives the material a subtly cinematic vibe.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Neon Indian’s Soul Train-Inspired Performance Video for “The Glitzy Hive”

Over the five year history of this site,  Denton, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist Alan Palomo and his solo recording project Neon Indian has become a JOVM mainstay — especially in the lead-up to the release […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Noir-ish and Surreal Video for Neon Indian’s “Slumlord Rising”

Alan Palomo is Mexican-born, Denton, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist best known for his recording project, Neon Indian. Palomo’s 2009 debut effort, Psychic Chasms was released to critical praise across the blogosphere, as Pitchfork named it one of its best […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Neon Indian’s Club-Banging, New Single “Slumlord”

Neon Indian is the solo recording project of the Mexican-born, Denton, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist Alan Palomo. With the release of his first two albums, 2009’s Psychic Chasms and 2013’s Era Extraña, Palomo found his profile expanding […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Sleek, 80s-Sounding Synth-Based Funk of Neon Indian’s New Single “Annie”

Neon Indian is the solo recording project of the Mexican-born, Denton, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist Alan Palomo. With the 2009 release of Neon Indian’s debut album, Psychic Chasms, Palomo came to national […]