Tag: singer/songwriter

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Sultry Visuals and Sound of Eliza and Her Latest Single “Wide-Eyed Fool”

With the release of her eponymous debut, the London-born and-based pop artist Eliza Doolittle quickly rose to national attention, as the album went platinum, thanks to the success of  album singles “Skinny Genes” and “Pack Up,”  both of which landed on the UK Top 40 charts. Along with that, her collaboration with internationally renowned electro pop act Disclosure, “You & Me” was one of the duo’s best-selling singles. However, after such tremendous early success spent the past four years attempting to get back to her base and really discover what it was she wanted and needed as a person and as a artist. “When you’re young, you do what you should do, rather than what you really feel. I was always battling between that pull of my gut, and people talking in my ear,” Dolittle explains. 

Now, at the point of her life and career, Doolittle who now writes, records and performs under the mononym Eliza, the London-based pop artist is actively following her own creative instincts; in fact, she recently released the Get In My Head series, which consists of four mixtapes featuring snippets of new music as a way for her fans to get a taste of her change in sonic and creative direction; in fact, her first official single of 2017 “Wide Eyed Fool” is a sultry bit of singer/songwriter pop in which Doolittle reveals the full ranger of her voice, singing deeply personal lyrics paired over piano, soaring strings and swaggering hip-hop-lied beats. While clearly drawing from 90s neo soul, pop and hip-hop soul — What’s the 411?-era Mary J. Blige, in particular — complete with slick, modern production. But at the core of the song is some ambitious songwriting from a woman, who wants to take over the pop world. 

Directed by Charlie Robins, the recently released visuals for Wide Eyed Fool are equally sultry and brooding, while clearly nodding at the vulnerability, pride and strength within the song. 
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Adam Lytle is a rural Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumenlaist, and the mastermind behind the psych folk/psych rock recording project Quicksilver Daydream. And as Lytle explains the dramatic clash of locations helped contribute to the album and his identity as a musician. “From the onset, I was forced to embrace the lack of isolation in the recordings,” Lytle says in press notes. “From bands playing next door while we recorded drums, to the renovations in the apartment next to mine, there always seemed to be somebody making noise at inopportune times. I had no choice but to proceed, placing mics in ways to minimize the excess noise. I kept reminding myself of Jeff Tweedy who said there’s a drill press on all of his records made at the Wilco Loft, because there is a working machine shop one floor above. In the end, it gives life to the recording. It lets you know they weren’t made in a void.”

The album’s latest single, album title track “Echoing Halls” was reportedly inspired by a personal and eye-opening experience Lytle had while spending a night in a New York City jail — and the song manages to describe the experience in harrowing terms; in fact, you can feel the desperation of the song’s narrator, who quickly recognizes that his own stupidity got him into a mess, he can’t get out of. Instead, he’s left with his own thoughts, the sounds of the corrections officers footfalls echoing throughout the halls while sonically the song pairs heavily reverb-fed guitar chords with fluttering 60s psych rock/bubblegum pop melodies.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of her first two critically applauded and commercially successful albums I Predict A Graceful Expulsion! and Neuroplasticiy, the Canadian-Somali, Toronto, ON-based singer/songwriter Ladan Hussein and her solo recording project Cold Specks received national and international attention and as a result, Hussein’s first two albums received nominations for the Polaris Music Prize and she also received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, with the release of Graceful Expulsion! And in between writing, recording and touring, Hussein had been busy as a hotly-desired collaborator, working with Moby, Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock, Swans and others.

Now, it’s been about two years since I’ve last written about Hussein but the renowned singer/songwriter had been very busy. After spending a portion of 2015 and 2016 touring to support Neuroplasticity, Hussein returned back to Toronto, where she began work on her forthcoming third full-length album. “Wild Card,” the still officially unnamed album’s first single is largely inspired by the refugee experience.  “There was a man in my family’s store, a new refugee, who had travelled from Somalia to Canada. By water and by foot he had travelled half way around the world to establish a better life for himself and his family who were still at home,” Hussein explains. “My mother had never met him before. He was a complete stranger from a familiar place. She took him to a local restaurant, fed him and found him somewhere to stay. I was astonished by her selflessness and kept humming ‘I’ll be there for you. Don’t know why’.”

Produced by Jim Anderson at Toronto’s Easy Life Studio, the single features Arcade Fire‘s Tim Kingsbury playing bass on a hauntingly sparse arrangement and melody. Certainly, the latest track will further cement Hussein’s reputation for being an fearlessly uncompromising and emotionally direct; in this case, the single possesses a subtle but palpably weary ache underlined with simple yet profound joys — the profound joy of being treated kindly when you are “a traveler, a man from far away,” as Paul Salopek once wrote.

 

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chelsea Wolfe Returns with Her Most Punishing and Feral Song To Date

Chelsea Wolfe is a California-born and-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who with the release of 2010’s The Grime and the Glow, 2011’s Apokalypsis, 2013’s Pain Is Beauty and 2015’s Abyss Wolfe received attention both across the blogosphere and nationally for a sound that meshes elements of gothic rock, folk, neofolk, electronica and metal while thematically digging beneath the ugliness, messiness and pain of the world to get to the beauty underneath; in fact as a result, her music has been featured in the promotional material for several TV series, including Game of Thrones, Fear the Walking Dead and How to Get Away with Murder. 

Reportedly inspired by a Henry Miller quote “What I want is to open up. I want to know what’s inside me. I want everybody to open up. I’m like an imbecile with a can opener in his hand, wondering where to begin — to open up the earth. I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I’m sure of it,” Wolfe’s forthcoming sixth full length album, Hiss Spun the California-born and based singer/songwriter and guitarist adopts Miller’s quest to become empowered by embracing the mess of the self, to control the tumult of the soul in hopes of reigning in the chaos of the world around oneself. Interestingly enough as Wolfe explains in press notes, she had wanted to write some sort of escapist music; songs that were just about being in your body and getting free; however, “you’re just bombarded with constant bad news, people getting fucked over and kill for shitty reasons or no reason at all, and it seems like the world has been in tears for months, and then you remember it’s been fucked for a long time, it’s been fucked since the beginning. It’s overwhelming and I have to write about it.” 

Recorded by Kurt Ballou in Salem, MA during the beginning of this year, Hiss Spun was reportedly inspired by a brutally cold New England winter, major upheavals in Wolfe’s personal life, Wolfe coming to terms with years of vulnerability, anger, self-destruction and a dark family history and its weight upon her and her life and as a result, the material may arguably be the heaviest, darkest and most feral Wolfe has ever written. Additionally, long-time collaborator Ben Chisholm contributes swaths of sound collages recorded while the artist and her backing and were on tour — the rumble of street construction while they were on tour in Prague; the howl of a coyote outside Wolfe’s home; the scrape of machinery on a floor of a warehouse at a down-and-out friend’s workplace, as well as samples from the bomb blasts of the Enola Gay, the shrieks and mating calls of primates, the fluttering pages of a book of Walt Whitman’s poetry are all manipulated and seamlessly placed within the music. The overall effect was to be a cathartic emotional purge and as you’ll hear on “16 Psyche,” the latest single off Hiss Spun, the song manages to sound as though it draws from the work of Tool and A Perfect Circle with an oceanic quality — but underneath the pummeling drumming and roaring distortion-heavy guitars and anthemic hooks, is an earnest, palpable ache and yearning. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Earnest and Old-Timey Sounds of Up-and-Coming Country Artist Ruby Force Paired with Flirtatious Visuals

Erin McLaughlin is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, whose solo recording project Ruby Force reportedly captures her personal journey of self-discovery through hard-fought and honest storytelling-based songwriting focusing on tales of love gained and lost and her own life. And with her soon-to-be released debut album Evolutionary War, which features a rather accomplished backing band that includes Elijah Thomson, who has played with Everest, Delta Spirit and Father John Misty; Richard Swift, who has played with The Black Keys, The Shins, The Arcs and Foxygen; Frank Lenz, who has played with Pedro The Lion; and Sean Watkins, who has played with Nickel Creek, the album as McLaughlin explained to Rolling Stone “Evolutionary War is sort of a collection, like a box of photos you find from a certain period of life. It strings together like a narrative essentially, about how I love. If these songs can find their way into people’s hearts, not to mention playlists, I would feel like I’ve accomplished something of eternal value. It would also be wicked sweet if this record could bring something tangible back home: an audience, some discourse, that daily bread. Then I’d just do it again and again.” 

The album’s latest single “Cowboy,” is a sweet, old-timey/honky-tonk-inspired country song in which its narrator describes a passionate yet dysfunctional, romantic relationship with a cowboy, who persistently breaks her heart but who she defiantly and proudly loves; after all they’ve been through everything and anything together — and although you’ve likely heard such a theme in countless country songs, McLaughlin delivers her lyrics with a beguiling mix of easygoing, self-assuredness, earnestness, flirtatiousness and self-effacing irony that should make her one of contemporary country’s next big things. 

The recently released video follows McLaughlin and some girlfriends on the road and stopping by some little honky tonk, where they play pool and try to get the attention of some shy cowboys before turning into a late night outdoor party, creating a fittingly playful and flirtatious accompanying visual. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Fronted and founded by its Chicago, IL-born, Austin, TX-based primary songwriter Nathan Dixey, and currently featuring members of RF Shannon‘s backing band, The Dan Ryan’s sophomore album Guidance finds Dixey refining and softening the sound that the project developed on its debut album, reportedly leaning much more towards a trippy and hypnotic psychedelia as you’ll hear on the album’s latest single, album title track “Guidance,” as shimmering guitar chords, a persistent, heartbeat-like drum patter and in the background tribal-like harmonized chants which makes the song nod at both The Grateful Dead, a major influence on Dixey and company and Graceland-era Paul Simon; but with a slow-burning, easygoing, yet expansive feel that belies a careful and deliberation attention to craft.

As Dixey explains in press notes, “Unlike the first LP, I wanted to focus on writing more complete songs instead of grooves. Some of the grooves are still present, but having more of a narrative within the structure was important for me. Like the first record, accepting change is at the core of Guidance, whether that change be within society, oneself, or witnessing a transformation in a loved one or a relationship. I was listening to a lot of Damien Jurado/Richard Swift records while writing and recording this one, so it was especially wonderful to have Swift, a master of sonic texture (and song-craft in general), to add his touch on the songs.”

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you may have come across a couple of posts featuring the Dublin, Ireland-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and electro pop artist Sorcha Richardson. Initially relocating to the States to study, Richardson quickly developed a number of close relationships within Brooklyn’s underground electro pop/electronic music scene that wound up influencing the sonic direction of the material she had started to write and record; in fact, the Dublin-born, Brooklyn-based pop artist first caught the attention of the blogosphere with CON VOS, a musical project that received praise from Nylon, Pigeons & Planes, and Indie Shuffle.

Richardson quickly followed that up with her bedroom recorded debut EP Sleep Will Set Me Free EP, which received 200,000 Soundcloud streams and caught the attention of Crosswalk Records/Delicieuse Musique, who released the Last Train EP. Adding to a rapidly growing profile, Richardson has played sets at Northside Festival and CMJ, and several other festivals, as well as a number of headlining shows. Now, it’s been some time since I’ve personally written about the Dublin-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, but she’s been rather busy writing and recording a number of singles that have further cemented her reputation for crafting deeply introspective pop, including her latest single, “4AM,” single in which the song’s narrator muses about her current love prospects — with recognition of two things: that if things go wrong in a prospective relationship, it’s not always your fault — and the narrator proudly recognizes that being alone is perfectly fine to want to be alone and unbothered by someone else’s baggage and bullshit. Reportedly, the song, which is by far the most brooding in Richardson’s growing catalog, finds her pairing a sparse, Dido-like arrangement of dramatic piano chords with a soaring, radio-friendly hook with a club-leaning production featuring enormous tweeter and woofer rocking beats, swooning synths and Richardson’s ethereal yet achingly earnest croon. The song manages to walk a careful tightrope between late night, lonely regret over a relationship that has gone wrong and the pride of moving forward as quickly as possible from a flaming disaster — and it’s done with an honesty that comes from personal experience.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Belgian Art Pop/Art Rock Act Warhaus Return with a Moody Rumination on Love

Best known as the frontman and primary songwriter of Belgian rock band Balthazar, Maarten Devoldere has received attention both nationally and internationally for his solo side project, Warhaus which further cements his growing reputation for deftly crafting urbane an hyper-literate material with an accessible, pop-leaning sensibility; in fact, his latest effort We Fucked a Flame Into Being derived its name from a line in DH Lawrence’s classic, erotic novel Lady Chatterly’s Lover — and unsurprisingly, the material on the album thematically focused on lust, desire, love and the profound inscrutability of random encounters, while being intense, decadent, sophisticated. And if you had been following this site earlier this year, you may recall that I wrote about album single “Machinery,” a moody, slow-burning and sensual song that evoked smoke-filled, late night cafes and intimate jazz clubs just off the beaten path, of nights that take a decadent, debaucherous turn and not being completely in control; but with an underlying yearning and aching loneliness, as the song’s narrator desperately wants more than what he has but can’t put it to words.

“Love’s A Stranger” Devoldere’s latest single continues on a similar vein as “Machinery” as it’s a brooding, slow-burning yet wistful rumination on love’s fleeting and impermanent nature, with the perspective of someone who’s loved and lost, loved and fucked up and has recognized more times than what he’d like to admit that love simply doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Love is indeed a stranger, that comes and goes as it pleases — and you may not know when it’ll return, but it returns as it always does. Sonically, Devoldere’s smoky baritone is paired with a jazz pop sort of arrangement that reminds me a bit of Sting’s The Dream of the Blue Turtles and Nothing Like the Sun as twinkling keys, strummed guitar, gently padded drums and a supple bass line are paired with Devoldere’s husky and expressive baritone.

Directed by filmmaker and screenwriter Wouter Bouvijn, the recently released video for “Love’s A Stranger” is comprised of footage Bouvijn shot while accompanying the band on a week-long tour of France. Initially meant to be B-roll and for background, the Devoldere and his backing band were surprised that Bouvijn’s treatment was cut from intimate on the road, backstage and live footage, but as the Belgian filmmaker explained to Devoldere, “Did you expect me to put you guys with unplugged guitars on a desert hill?” Ultimately, the result is capturing a band at its most unguarded, rarely seen moments and while revealing the personalities, passions and friendships of its members, it also points at the strange, debaucherous loneliness of the artist’s life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Darkly Comic and Horror-Inspired Visuals for Mary Epworth’s “Me Swimming”

With the 2012 release of her full-length debut, Dream Life, the British singer/songwriter, composer and pop artist Mary Epworth quickly received a growing national profile as the album was released to glowing and breathless praise from Q Magazine, who called the album was “psych pop splendour . . . Experimentalism, melody and narrative co-existing in an appealing balance,” and Record Collector giving the album five stars and hailing the album as “a work of bracing originality . . . Immaculately sung and graced throughout with intelligent, song-serving arrangements and inspired production touches.” Adding to her growing profile, album singles “Black Doe” and “Long Gone” were playlisted on BBB Radio 6 — and “Black Doe,” was picked as Zane Lowe’s “Hottest Record in The World.” And as a result, Epworth and her backing band spent a lengthy period of time touring and playing the festival circuit.

Over the past few years, Epworth has been busy with other creative pursuits — she composed the theme for the hit Stateside-based podcast Within the Wires, a spinoff to Welcome to Night Vale, and as a result, Epworth joined the Night Vale team on their successful, sold-out tours across both the US and European Union. However, her forthcoming Thom Monahan-produced sophomore effort Elytral derives its name from the description of the smooth armor beetles wear that gives them an external steeliness that belies the filminess below — and while the album will further Epworth’s growing reputation for experimental pop soundscapes, with elements of prog rock, psychedelia and even free jazz, the album reportedly finds Epworth letting loose of her darker songwriting instincts. But it’s also a continuation of some of the themes of its predecessor — nature and the vastness of the world; in fact, as Epworth explains in press notes, the world elytral is “the central metaphor of this album. It’s about resilience and stamina, but also having this light and colour unfolding from inside.”

“Me Swimming” Elytral’s first single features an atmospheric production consisting of a propulsive bass line, shimmering and gently undulating synths, With the 2012 release of her full-length debut, Dream Life, the British singer/songwriter, composer and pop artist Mary Epworth quickly received a growing national profile as the album was released to glowing and breathless praise from Q Magazine, who called the album was “psych pop splendour . . . Experimentalism, melody and narrative co-existing in an appealing balance,” and Record Collector giving the album five stars and hailing the album as “a work of bracing originality . . . Immaculately sung and graced throughout with intelligent, song-serving arrangements and inspired production touches.” Adding to her growing profile, album singles “Black Doe” and “Long Gone” were playlisted on BBB Radio 6 — and “Black Doe,” was picked as Zane Lowe’s “Hottest Record in The World.” And as a result, Epworth and her backing band spent a lengthy period of time touring and playing the festival circuit.

Over the past few years, Epworth has been busy with other creative pursuits — she composed the theme for the hit Stateside-based podcast Within the Wires, a spinoff to Welcome to Night Vale, and as a result, Epworth joined the Night Vale team on their successful, sold-out tours across both the US and European Union. However, her forthcoming Thom Monahan-produced sophomore effort Elytral derives its name from the description of the smooth armor beetles wear that gives them an external steeliness that belies the filminess below — and while the album will further Epworth’s growing reputation for experimental pop soundscapes, with elements of prog rock, psychedelia and even free jazz, the album reportedly finds Epworth letting loose of her darker songwriting instincts. But it’s also a continuation of some of the themes of its predecessor — nature and the vastness of the world; in fact, as Epworth explains in press notes, the world elytral is “the central metaphor of this album. It’s about resilience and stamina, but also having this light and colour unfolding from inside.”

“Me Swimming” Elytral’s first single features an atmospheric production consisting of a propulsive bass line, shimmering and gently undulating synths, metronomic-like drum programming fed through reverb, some subtle industrial-like clang and clatter and a soaring hook. And much like Roisin Murphy’s incredibly weird and experimental work, Epworth’s latest single manages to possess a radio-friendly accessibility.

Directed by Ben Sommers and starring renowned British character actor Robert Lloyd Parry, best known for performing one-man stagings of short stories by British horror writer M.R. James, the video for “Me Swimming” follows a man, who has a strange and overwhelming obsession — and interestingly enough is based on Epworth’s own concept. As Epworth explains “This video features so many of my favourite things — beasts, landscape, Robert Lloyd Parry’s impeccable acting and blackly comic pastoral horror.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Emmit Fenn is Berkeley, CA-based indie electro pop artist, who describes his sound and aesthetic as being at the intersection of Flume and James Blake — and as you’ll hear on his latest single “Woman,” Fenn pairs his tender and aching crooned volcano with a minimalist production consisting of propulsive, boom-bap like drumming and gently swirling electronics and shimmering synths to create a sound that reminds me quite a bit of The Ways We Separate-era Beacon but with a plaintive sensuality at its core.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Veggie Filled Visuals for Annabel Allum’s Anthemic, Scuzzy, and Sarcastic “Eat Greens”

Annabel Allum is a Guildford, UK-based singer/songwriter, who after several years of playing live in her hometown and elsewhere across the UK released her 2015 debut EP Absent to critical applause from the likes of The Line of Best Fit and Gold Flake Paint, as well as airplay from John Kennedy’s Radio X program. She’s also opened for Big Deal and Blaenavon and has played at The Great Escape Festival and SXSW. Adding to a growing profile, Allum will not only have acoustic demos of some of her songs included in the forthcoming feature film Spaceship, the up-and-coming Guildford-based singer/songwriter also acts in the movie, revealing that she’s one of her homeland’s super talents.

Building upon a growing national profile, Allum continued 2015’s success with an equally big 2016 — her single “Tricks” received regular rotation on Tom Robinson and Melita Dennett’s BBC Radio 6 programs and on Radio X, praise from Clash Magazine, The 405, The Line of Best Fit and Gold Flake Paint, as well as her first London headlining show at 229. Interestingly enough, Allum has spent the past year reinventing herself and her sound, quickly developing a reputation for being one of the most snarling and sarcastic new voices; in fact, “Eat Greens,” the latest single off her forthcoming All That For What EP is about the relentless pressure there is to do the right thing, to behave in a certain way, to be a certain way because everything else is wrong. Drink in moderation. Don’t smoke, ever. Get 8-10 hours of sleep. Eat a healthy diet. And yet, somehow that seems — way too safe, way too boring. Sonically, Allum pairs her sneering and sarcastically delivered vocals with ‘an arrangement that’s indebted to Brit Pop as it features power chords, an anthemic, shout worthy yet ironic hook, a propulsive rhythm section and a subtle use of electronics during the song’s bridge.

The recently released video was based on a concept that Allum came up with her. As the up-and-coming British singer/songwriter explains “I came up with the vid concept pretty early on. It’s a metaphor for doing what you feel is right and the conflict of doing what you’re told is wrong. The one frame shot is representative of the consistency of an opposing lifestyle, and a hypocritical one. Also… any excuse to eat my greens!” The growing pile of greens and healthy juices seems both punishing and insurmountable.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Depending on what you’d count and how you’d count, Amy Oelsner, best known as Amy O has contributed to and recorded somewhere between two and nine albums, which would paradoxically make her an old pro and a relatively new artist. But let’s begin with some background: Growing up in Fayetteville, AR Oelsner taught herself guitar and began writing songs, eventually recording a series of lo-fi albums while moving around the country for school and for work. Each album, whether solo or with a band was released independently and with little regard for sales, promotion or radio airplay, and according to the Bloomington, IN-based singer/songwriter, at the time, the endeavor was more about the entire experience, including learning the thrill and discipline involved in creating. “Songwriting,” as Oelsner explains “became a way for me to process things and make sense of my life. I got hooked on it emotionally.”

After stints residing in Ohio, Massachusetts and Brooklyn, Oelsner relocated to Bloomington to work at Rhino’s Youth Center, which offers creative-leaning after-school programs to teenagers — and in many ways it’s a school, art gallery, music venue, a community theater, a community center and a whole host of other things. Oelsner took a job leading the Zine Writing Program, a program which encourages local teens to share their stories, to engage with the public in creative ways, to define and address the issues that affect their lives on a very granular level. Interestingly, the Bloomington, IN-based singer/songwriter’s professional life influences her creative life, as the deluxe edition of her forthcoming album Elastic will be released by her own zine Yoko, Oh Yes, which will feature interviews from a number of women musicians and artists — including The Roches’ Terre Roche, Frankie Cosmos’ Greta Kline, Free Cake for Every Creature’s Katie Bennett and others discussing songwriting and technique, early experiences, gear, the recording business, money, inspiration and advice. Certainly for any aspiring female artist, hearing from those who have been where you have been, have made mistakes and learned from them and have achieved success and renown will be a transformative and inspiring experience.

As far as the actual album, which is slated for an August 4, 2017 release, Oelsner performs with a backing band of friends and collaborators including Madeline Robinson (bass, vocals), Justin Vollmar (drums), Damion Schiralli (guitar) and Aaron Denton (keys, vocals) and from the album’s first single “Lavender Night,” possesses an infectious exuberance, the easygoing self-assuredness and craft of old pros and razor sharp hook — a hook that’s paired with zigzagging guitar work and a propulsive, chugging rhythm section. While sonically drawing from Sleater-Kinney, The Roches and others, the track as she explains “came to me quickly and without fuss. I wrote it after a little scare I had at the doctor with a mysterious lump. It’s about the constant (and often invisible) line of fragility that we walk upon in life, leaning how to follow trails of light throughout difficult circumstances, and resisting the black hole-like vacuum of negative thought patterns.” And as a result, the song has the urgency of one who has recognizes that they’ve dodged a bullet — and that good turn of luck could quickly end.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of his critically praised 2002 debut, The Headphone Masterpiece, singer/songwriter and guitarist Cody ChesnuTT was universally hailed as a modern-day soul troubadour with many critics comparing his work to the likes of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, largely because of his frank and socially conscious songwriting focusing on modern Black life. Interestingly, The Headphone Masterpiece was released at the height of the neo-soul movement, which included Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, The Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def,  and a lengthy list of others — all of whom proved that artists could still release deeply personal, thoughtful, socially conscious work that was fairly successful both critically and commercial successful.  In the case of ChesnuTT, his closest brush with mainstream success was a collaborative remake of “The Seed,” “The Seed 2.0,” which appeared on The Roots’ Phrenology released at the end of 2002.

After the commercial and critically success of “The Seed,” ChesnuTT abruptly disappeared from public view for the better part of a decade, a period in which the singer/songwriter and guitarist spent time raising children and in writerly fashion, reflecting, observing, loving and living. Naturally, those experiences informed and influenced 2012’s Landing on a Hundred, an effort that linked contemporary Black soul and pop with the classic work of  Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, as Hundred thematically focused on a man’s road to redemption after years of womanizing, drugging and scheming, of the power of a love that eclipses superficial and material expressions of love and devotion and of the power of being truthful to one’s self.

 

 

Since the release of Landing on a Hundred, ChesnuTT has been rather productive as he’s contributed to the soundtracks of  the Oscar Award-winning major motion pictures 12 Years A Slave and Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela, and writing the material that would comprise his third, full-length effort, My Love Divine Degree slated for a June 2, 2017 release. Now, if you had been frequenting this site over the past year, you may recall that I wrote about My Love Divine Degree‘s second single “I Stay Ready” an uplifting call to positivity in the face of tremendous adversity — and while further cementing his reputation for crafting frank, earnest songs, the production work of  Anthony “Twilite Tone” Khan, a BMI Award, Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and DJ, who has worked with Kanye West, Common, John Legend and Pusha T pushes sonic boundaries as it meshes beat-based hip-hop and soul.

The album’s latest single “Image of Love” continues in a similar vein as ChesnuTT’s soulful crooning is paired with a genre blurring production that features wobbling synths, big tweeter and woofer rattling beats and a slick hook in what may arguably be one of the funkiest and most hip-hop leaning songs ChesnuTT has released in several years. Interestingly, the single  much like the material on the album is “inspired by a story of a Man and Woman that exercised their ability to rise about their arresting selfishness — to attain a higher level of communication — that they might willing share in the love of eternal life . . . all to simply win the hearts of men, woman and children to better things,” as ChesnuTT explains in press notes. And much like it’s preceding single, it’s a desperately needed bit of uplift in dark, fucked up times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of her mixtape Eleven Roses and her breakout 2012 full-length debut Til the Casket Drops, which featured collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and Freddie Gibbs, singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist ZZ Ward quickly received praise from major media outlets like Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Elle and Interview Magazine for pop anthems that meshed the blues and hip hop. Adding to a growing profile, Ward made national television appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Conan, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The View and others. Along with that, she’s toured with Eric Clapton, Gary Clark, Jr., and Fitz and The Tantrums, as well as played sets at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Made in America and others. I also should add that “Put The Gun Down,” which has received more than 7.4 million streams was featured in the major motion picture We’re The Millers.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve written about Ward, but as it turns out, along with a busy touring schedule, the renowned multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter had been busy writing the material that would eventually comprise her forthcoming (and long-awaited) sophomore effort The Storm, which is slated for a June 30, 2017 release. The album’s latest single “Help Me Mama” is a strutting and swaggering track that pairs Ward’s powerhouse and soulful vocals with stomping and bluesy production consisting of strummed acoustic guitar, tweeter and woofer rocking low end, twinkling piano, whirring synths and electronics, and an rousingly anthemic hook in a song that’s rooted around viscerally candid personal revelations. Naturally, the single will further cement Ward’s reputation for crafting deeply personal, sultry and anthemic pop with a blues meets hip-hop swagger in a way that nods at Amy Winehouse, Hannah Williams and others — and perhaps more important for that impressive voice. Simply put, girl can sang.

Ward will be on tour throughout June and it includes a June 14, 2017 stop at Le Poisson Rouge. And then during the fall, Ward will join Icelandic rock at Kaleo for a series of Stateside dates. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates
May 31, 2017 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
June 2, 2017 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe
June 3, 2017 Denver, CO Bluebird
June 8, 2017 San Francisco, CA The Independent
June 9, 2017 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy
June 11, 2017 San Diego, CA Belly Up
June 14, 2017 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
June 20, 2017 Austin, TX The Parish
June 21, 2017 Dallas, TX The Kessler
June 22, 2017 Nashville, TN 3rd and Lindsley
October 2, 2017 Houston, TX Revention Music Center **
October 4, 2017 Kansas City, MO The Mid **
October 7, 2017 Madison, WI Orpheum Theatre **
October 16, 2017 Boston, MA House of Blues **
October 20, 2017 Wallingford, CT The Dome at Oakdale Theatre **
**Dates supporting Kaleo
Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Childlike and Psychedelic Visuals for Nick Hakim’s “Roller Skates”

Earlier this year, the Washington, DC-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Nick Hakim quietly re-emerged with the first batch of new material in some time, “Bet She Looks Like You,” and “Green Twins,” the first two singles off his much-anticipated and long-awaited full-length debut album Green Twins, which is slated for release in a few weeks through ATO Records. Interestingly, Hakim can trace the origins of Green Twins to when armed with the masters for his first two EPs Where Will We Go Part 1 and Where Will We Go Part 2, the DC-born singer/songwriter and guitarist relocated from Boston, where he was based at the time to Brooklyn. And as soon as he got himself settled, Hakim spent his spare time fleshing out incomplete songs and writing and recording sketches using his phone’s voice memo app and a four-track cassette recorder. He then took his new demo’d material to various studios in NYC, Philadelphia and London, where he built up the material with a number of engineers, including frequent collaborator Andrew Sarlo (bass, engineering and production), who were tasked with keeping the original spirit and essence of the material intact as much as humanly possible.

As Andrew Sarlo explained in press notes about the writing and recording process for Green Twins, for many artists, a demo typically serves an extremely rough sketch of what the song could eventually become and sound; however, with Hakim, things are done very differently; in fact, the demos are seen as more akin to building a comfortable, holy temple — and as a result, as a producer and engineer, Sarlo was tasked to clean, furnish where necessary and prepare those who entered for a profound, religious experience. However, thematically speaking, Green Twins’ material reportedly focuses on unique and particular aspects and events of his life with the bulk of the songs being based on specific experiences, feelings, and thoughts had at the time he was writing and composing. As a result, the album consists of a series of different self-portraits — and in a similar fashion to Vincent Van Gogh’s famed self-portraits, the album’s song captures the artist sometimes in broad strokes but frequently in subtle gradations of mood, tone and feeling.

Hakim adds, “I also felt the need to push my creativity in a different way than I had on the EPs,” The record draws from influences spanning Robert Wyatt, Marvin Gaye and Shuggie Otis to My Bloody Valentine. We wanted to imagine what it would have sounded like if RZA had produced a Portishead album. We experimented with engineering techniques from Phil Spector and Al Green’s Back Up Train, drum programming from RZA and Outkast, and we were listening to a lot of The Impressions, John Lennon, Wu-Tang, Madlib and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.”

Now, as I wrote about “Bet She Looks lIke You,” the song further cemented Hakim’s growing profile and reputation for writing intimately confessional songwriting with a heartbreakingly visceral feel — all while being a subtle refinement and expansion of the sound that first won the attention of the blogosphere; in fact, the material retains a spectral quality, thanks to sparse arrangements that allow room for Hakim’s achingly tender falsetto but interestingly enough, the song manages to nod at Roy Orbison. Green Twins’ third and latest single “Roller Skates” continues in a similar spectral and soulful vein; however, there’s a subtle hallucinogenic-fueled psychedelia. Adding to the personal feel of the album’s material, “Roller Skates” is partially inspired by actual real life experience. “The song’s first verse is about a night when I got really stoned at my friend’s house and forgot to meet up wth my partner,” Hakim says in press notes. “It was pouring rain outside and when I realized I was late, I biked through Bed Stuy as fast as I could through the rain to find her but she was gone . . . The second verse is about patching it up, and not leaving her house for a couple of days. It’s a love song.”

Featuring childlike and psychedelic animation by Micah Buzan, the video employs an accessible and deeply empathetic concept. “I wanted to tell a simple story about lonely characters, who desire something that they can’t seem to get — be it love, a stuffed animal, or the ability to skate well,” Buzan says. “I also tried to make it kind of funny how their expectations don’t live up to reality. In the end, rollerskating unites all the characters as they join together in the roller rink. We might feel alone but we’re in this life experiment together.” Much like he visuals for “Bet She Looks Like You,” the visuals for the latest single continue a trend of Hakim pairing his material with bold, playful yet artfully done imagery,