Tag: singer/songwriter \

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: MAGON Shares Lush and Introspective “Onie Was A Kid”

Over the past handful of years, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the wildly prolific Israeli-born. Costa Rica-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay MAGON. 

Last year, the JOVM mainstay released his fourth album, A Night in Bethlehem, which featured three singles I wound up writing about:

  • “Halley’s Comet,” a dreamy bit of glam-like psych pop featuring glistening and reverb-drenched, post punk-inspired guitars, a simple back beat and fluttering and spacey feedback. Thematically, the song touched upon the immensity of historical and cosmic time: the narrator wonders how life and humanity will be the next time Halley’s Comet passes by our section of the cosmic neighborhood in 2061. 

  • “A Night in Bethlehem,” the album’s title track and second single, which featured a chugging, motorik groove paired with angular bursts of guitar, a razor sharp hook, intergalactic feedback and Magon’s ironically detached vocals. Thematically, the song explored the surrealist fringes of mysticism. 

  • “This Man,” another bit of glam-inspired psych featuring Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie groove paired with a steady yet propulsive backbeat, some lysergic guitar solos, a supple bass line and Magon’s imitable, ironically detached deadpan. But at its core is a narrator, who yearns for something deeper, more profound and more true in a mad, mad, mad world. 

Immediately after the release show for A Night in Bethlehem, MAGON, along with his girlfriend and daughter relocated to Costa Rica. He closed the year with “Simple Mind,” a song that saw the JOVM mainstay gently refining his sound yet again with hints of surf rock and jangle pop while retaining the hook-driven nature of his previously released material. Written during a major life transition, ‘Simple Mind” features a narrator, who’s closing a major chapter of his life — and perhaps career, as well — and is moving on to a new start, new possibilities, and new horizons.

Continuing his reputation for being wildly and restlessly prolific, MAGON’s fifth album Did You Hear The Kids? reportedly features a broader and more expansive sonic palette than ever before. The forthcoming album’s first single, the lush and laid-back “Onie Was A Kid” sounds as though it meshes elements of 60s psych rock, lo-fi singer/songwriter pop and contemporary indie rock paired with lyrics that are simultaneously auto-biographical and introspective. The song also features a guest spot from Paris-based indie duo SOS Citizen, who contribute shimmering guitar work and soaring backing vocals.

The accompanying video for “Onie Was A Kid” features some trippy animation by Hugo Tran and title cards by Titouan Pouliquen that are heavily influenced by the song’s lyrics.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Marvin Gaye!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 84th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s birth.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Chicago-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Elijah Montez is the frontman and creative mastermind behind the rising psych pop project Daydream Review. After relocating from Austin to Chicago, Montez and Daydream Review began catching the attention of Chicago’s leading tastemakers and beyond with the release of 2020’s “Blossom” and 2021’s retro-tinged, self-titled debut EP.

Last summer, the Chicago-based artist released two tracks, an A-side “Sensory Deprivation” and a B-side “Dream Sequence #29,” as a palette cleanser to his Daydream Review self-titled debut EP — and a teaser of new material. That material quickly established Montez as one of Chicago’s most buzz-worthy new artists. Adding to a growing profile, he supported that material with a lot of time touring with a backing band featuring Kaitlyn Murphy (backing vocals and auxiliary percussion) and a rotating group of friends. 

Slated for an April 7, 2023 release through Side Hustle Records, Daydream Review’s 13-song full-length debut Leisure reportedly sees Montez aiming to expand upon the layered sonic world he has created — and continuing to push the boundaries of modern psych pop with dynamic production and reflective, existential lyricism. “Leisure is about the ever-present tension between the desire for free time, for personal enjoyment and leisure, and the demands that capitalistic society places on those desires, and how it restricts the ability to enjoy that free time,” Montez explains. ” Your job and work, to me, seem to be consistent specters that haunt your ability to enjoy your free time, knowing that those demands are always awaiting you when your free time comes to an end.”

That uneasy balancing act between work and free time informed much of the album’s creation and its themes. “Leisure,” Montez adds “as a concept, became something almost otherworldly and that much more desirable, something you dream about when you have so much time funneled into work, and the repetitive act of balancing those two ends up being something almost hypnotic, and I tried to channel all of that into the sonic qualities of the album.”

So far I’ve written about two singles:

  • “Have You Found What You’re Looking For,” a mellow slow-burn centered around painterly, shogeazer-inspired textures created by glistening, delay and reverb pedaled guitars, fluttering synth arpeggios and paired with a trippy groove and Montez’s ethereal delivery. The song sees its narrator asking himself — and in turn, his listener — if they’ve actually found what they’ve been looking for, with the tacit understanding that they may never actually find it anyway. 
  • “No Eternity,” another slow-burn centered around lush, glistening and wobbling synth arpeggios, a mix of blown-out beats and live drumming paired with Montez’s plaintive cooing and his penchant for well-placed, razor-sharp hooks. While sonically, “No Eternity” brings Currents-era Tame Impala to mind, Montez explains that lyrically, the song is inspired and informed by current events:  “Lyrically, it may be the closest to a song specifically about COVID–not the pandemic itself, but between the BLM protests in Summer 2020 and this change a lot of people have had to the nature of work, I had a hard time thinking of how things would look on the other side of it, and trying to make sense of the future when the only context you have is the past,” Montez says.

Leisure‘s third and latest single, album title track “Leisure” continues a remarkable run of slow-burning material but this time, rooted in a Quiet Storm-meets-Tame Impala-like groove paired with twinkling keys and Montez’s breathy falsetto cooing. But despite the late night-like groove, the song evokes — and expresses — a world-weary exhaustion and frustration that feels all too familiar.

“This song is about the absolute compression of your soul and destruction of your time that work culture and capitalism has made commonplace. There’s an uncertainty that it creates in terms of how you view your life, and how you’ll look back on it, how you can take care of yourself and your loved ones.” “Sonically,” he continues, “it has elements of psychedelic soul, so there’s a groove in it, but I think the arrangement communicates the exhaustion that’s baked into the lyrics.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: FRIDAY Shares Grunge Pop Anthem “Dear God”

Nicole Daddona is a multidisciplinary creative powerhouse:

Music has been a lifelong passion for the multidisciplinary artist. Dadonna began writing music at a very young age, and during the pandemic began remotely writing and producing original music in her bedroom with her music project FRIDAY. After relocating from Los Angeles to rural Upstate New York, she began to further hone her music skills.

Inspired by Marc Bolan, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and others, Daddonna specializes in hook-driven tracks with playful melodies that bring a sense of nostalgic fun to the material, while capturing different aspects of the human experience. With FRIDAY, Daddona’s music ranges from empowering dance music to emotive ballads.

Her latest single “Dear God” is a grunge pop song built around an alternating quiet-loud-quiet song structure, fuzzy power chords that starts out as a syrupy and narcotic ballad that builds up into a 120 Minutes-era MTV mosh pit friendly anthem. “‘Dear God’ is a grunge-pop song with deep emotions that delves into the themes of self-sabotage and sacrifice,” Daddona says. “It explores the concept of willingly setting oneself up for disaster, even if it causes pain, in order to protect yourself or someone else. The song acknowledges the difficulty of doing the right thing, which often requires walking away from someone or something you love and trusting the unknown. Sometimes, making a mess and looking like a fool is necessary to move forward. The lyrics read like a personal diary entry, expressing the sadness and emotional aftermath of a tough decision. My hope is that the song provides a cathartic outlet for those moments when you need to release some pent-up anger or sadness – ideally over In-N-Out Burger.”

The accompanying video by Daddona’s production company Magic Society Pictures features Daddona dressed up a a messy, tear-stained, cigarette-smoking clown that takes over an empty indoor children’s entertainment facility, playing by herself.
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Mariah Carey!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Mariah Carey’s 54th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jindoss Shares Sultry “Je T’Imagine”

Founded by Saint Brieuc, France-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Manuela Simone, Jindoss is an electro pop/electro rock project that was born out of a period of loneliness, when she decided to get some ideas out of her head and write and producer her now material.

Back in 2021 Simone released her Jindoss debut EP, Rendez-vous, which featured the brooding “Saturday Night,” a synthesis of PJ Harvey-like atmospherics and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve-like textures.

She quickly followed up with “Dancing,” a song that continued the brooding atmospherics but saw the project’s sound moving more in the direction of Massive Attack and Portishead — with the track slowly building up in intensity and crests until its slow-burning and eerie fade out.

Simone’s sophomore Jindoss EP La cité des anges was released earlier this year. The EP sees the French multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and producer changing sonic directions yet again — but this time moving towards a sort of acidic electro rock. Interestingly, unlike her previously released work, the French artist’s latest effort also sees her calling upon a collection of outside collaborators to write lyrics and record vocals.

The EP’s second and latest single “Je T’Imagine” is a slickly produced banger built around glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless motorik groove paired with sultrily delivered vocals and a languorous and lysergic guitar solo. The result is a song that sonically manages to seamlessly mesh elements of classic French touch, deep house, vaporware and electro pop with a trippy air.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Steven Tyler!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Steven Tyler’s 75th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 55th Birthday, Damon Albarn!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Damon Albarn’s 55th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 87th Birthday, Lee “Scratch” Perry

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Lee “Scratch” Perry’s 87th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen’s Chopper Shares Dance floor Friendly Banger “Springtime”

Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo project Chopper. Chopper specializes in what Magnussen has dubbed “shock pop,” a sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies.

Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort Shock Pop Vol. 1 reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but re-contextualized in a modern context.

Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s latest single. “Springtime” is a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone.

Shot with VHS tape fuzz and hiss, the accompanying video is a trippy and noir-ish journey through the late night underworld and the cosmos that pulsates in time to the song.