Tag: signles

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Sofi Tukker — Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern — is an acclaimed, Grammy Award-nominated, electro pop duo with a long-held reputation for crafting an inclusive and global take on electro pop/dance pop centered around self-empowerment, unity and liberation.

Despite the fact that they were unable to tour as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions, the JOVM mainstays have had a very busy and productive year last year: they’ve hosted one 300 live-streamed DJ sets since the beginning of the pandemic. They’ve also released a prolific stream of remixes and new material, including their Christmas-themed collaboration with HOLZBLÄSER “Carol Von Holz” and the playful yet thumping, house music meets “Vogue“-like collaboration with Icona Pop, “Spa.”

The long-time JOVM mainstays start off the new with the release of James Hype‘s remix of “Spa.” While retaining the mischievous and anthemic feel and “Vogue”-like vocal delivery, the British DJ’s take pushes the sound into deep house territory with the addition of a persistent and remarkably sultry groove. And as a result the mischievous anthem to self-love and self-care feels gloriously indulgent and sensual.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jeff Crosby is a critically acclaimed Northern Idaho-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter, whose work generally bounces around the boundaries of folk, rock and Americana. Dropping out of school when he was 17 to purse a music career with a touring West Coast-based band, Crosby has spent a significant period of his life on the road — playing night after night, show after show, from load-in until the last drink is poured and the house lights are turned on.

Crosby’s material draws from the rare beauty found in his travels and the unconventional stories of the people and places he has encountered along the way, giving his work the feel of being like a page ripped out of an intimately personal diary of someone who has loved, lost and has relentlessly kept on the move. While his work has been compared by some to the work of legendary and beloved singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle — and as a result, the Northern Idaho-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter has shared stages with a diverse array of artists including Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Charley Crockett, Widespread Panic, American Aquarium, Niki Lane and a list of others.

For a five year period, Crosby resided in a small apartment off Los Angeles‘ Sunset Boulevard. Giving up coffee so that he could pay rent, Crosby played with The Homeless and the Dreamers — and while struggling get to get by, he found a way to thrive and make poignant music. Through a chance encounter, he met and befriended a music editor for the critically applauded TV series Sons of Anarchy and wound up with two of his songs being featured the show. During that same period, Crosby split his time touring with his band and later with Widespread Panic’s Jerry Joseph, which found Crosby traveling abroad to tour the UK, Iceland, Mexico, Colombia and Nicaragua. His experiences in each of those countries helped influence the material off his Gregg Williams and Geoff Piller co-produced album Postcards from Magdalena, an effort that received praise internationally

Crosby’s latest single , the Geoff Piller-produced”Laramie” is a carefully and deliberately crafted tune that sounds as though it draws from 70s AM rock, 80s Tom Petty and Americana as it’s centered around an arrangement of shimmering acoustic and electric guitars, a soaring hook and incredibly thoughtful, earnest songwriting that seemingly comes from lived-in personal experience. In the case of “Laramie,” the song’s narrator reminisces about an old and very fond memory of a relationship that quickly went wrong. Haunted by the ghosts of that relationship, the song finds its narrator questioning his role in what went wrong  — and wondering if there was anything he could have done to prevent it. Certainly, if you’ve had a particularly bitter and heart-wrenching breakup at some point in your life, the song captures something both personal and universal.

Crosby is currently working on a full-length, which is slated for release in 2020. Be on the lookout for more.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their critically acclaimed, tenth full-length album Pink a decade ago, Japanese metal trio Boris achieved international attention, outside the tight-kint underground metal community; in fact, the album landed on a number of Best of Lists from underground metal sites, mainstream rock magazines and Pitchfork‘s Best Albums of 2006 list. And adding to the growing attention they received that year, album title track “Farewell” was featured in Jim Jarmusch‘s cult classic film The Limits of Control. 

In order to commemorate the 10th anniversary of its initial release, the band comprised of Atsuo (drums, vocals), Wata (guitar, vocals) and Takeshi (bass, guitar and vocals) along with renowned indie label Sergeant House will be re-issue a deluxe edition of the album as a 3LP and 2CD box set everywhere except Japan on July 8, 2016, featuring several perviously unreleased tracks recorded during the 2004-2005 Pink sessions, three longer edits of truncated album tracks off the original CD release “Farewell,” “Pseudo-Bread,” and “My Machine,” and the original artwork from the Japanese version, created by the band members themselves. Additionally, the box set will include a collection of album tracks that the band re-mixed, re-mastered, re-edited or re-arranged over the course of the past year that the band has viewed as a special director’s cut of their beloved album — and in some way, it may be seen as capturing their original artistic intentions.

 

The deluxe edition’s latest single “SOFUN” finds the band pairing blistering, guitar pyrotechnics, thundering and propulsive drumming reminiscent of metal and grunge but with an ironic, punk rock sneer and howled vocals — and sonically, the song sounds as though it draws equal influence from Motorhead, early Metallica, Bad Religion, and My Vitriol while being mosh pit worthy.

The members of Boris will be embarking on a lengthy North American tour in which they will perform Pink in its entirety. Joining them for all but two Canadian dates will be new labelmates Earth and it’ll include a New York area date at Warsaw. Check out tour dates below.

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BORIS / EARTH / SHITSTORM TOUR 2016:
07/22 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
07/23 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
07/25 Dallas, TX @ Trees
07/26 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
07/28 Ybor City, FL @ The Orpheum
07/29 Orlando, FL @ The Social
07/30 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
07/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
08/01 Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records
08/03 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
08/04 Washington, DC @ 930 Club
08/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
08/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
08/07 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
08/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
08/10 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. (no Earth)
08/11 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace (no Earth)
08/12 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
08/13 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
08/14 Chicago, IL @ Metro
08/16 Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
08/17 Minneapolis, MN @ Fineline Music Cafe
08/18 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
08/19 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
08/20 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
08/22 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
08/23 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
08/25 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
08/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
08/27 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel – Psycho Las Vegas (Boris only)