Tag: singles

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of American-born vocalist Rose Suau, best known for her work in synth pop act Shoestrings and Swedish-born multi-instrumentalist and producer  Johan Angergård, best known for his work with Club 8, synth pop side project Djustin can trace their origins to when the duo, who noticed an eerily parallelism in their lives — both are middle children, born in the same year and under the same astrological sign and have identical record collections — started with a mutual admiration of each other’s various musical projects, back in the late 90s. Suau and Angergård started writing each other lengthy letters about love, life, pop music and other subjects. Naturally, those letters turned to emails  –and although both Suau and Angergård went on to form several other musical projects including Pallers, Invisible Twin and The Legends, the duo continued a regular correspondence.

Now as the story goes, although Suau and Angergård had corresponded with each other for years and begun to really know each other, they had never met; however, last fall when Angergård was looking for a vocalist and lyricist for a new musical, side project the first person he thought of was Suau. As Angergård explains in press notes “I love the soulful sensualism in Rose’s voice and figured she’d be perfect for the project. I’m pretty used to writing everything myself and wanted to see what would happen if I did things in new ways. So, I took the chance and sent a couple of tracks over to Rose with me singing gibberish. A week later she dropped a recording of the finished vocals and it was…well, just lovely.”

Tryst, the duo’s soon-to-be released debut EP is slated for a May 13 release through Labrador Records, and the EP’s latest single “Concrete” pairs Angergård’s production consisting of cascading and undulating layers of synths and propulsive boom-bap beats and a razor sharp hook with Suau’s suggestive and sultry vocals in a swooning yet moody song that thematically focuses on lust, obsession and heartbreak. And while nodding at both house music and 80s synth pop, the single possesses a contemporary and radio friendly sheen.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the December 2015 release of their debut single “I Feel,” the Bath, UK-based indie pop quintet Bad Sounds quickly emerged into the British scene as the single received praise from the likes of The Line of Best Fit and Vice Noisey, and received airplay from BBC Radio personalities Zane Lowe, Phil Taggert, Annie Mac and Huw Stephens. “Avalanche,” Bad Sounds’ latests ingle was co-produced by Duncan Mills, and the single has the band pairing fuzzy guitar chords, angular bass chords, electronic bleeps and bloops, a motorik-like groove, and a rousingly infectious hook in a song that sounds as though it was indebted to Damon Albarn‘s work with Blur and Gorillaz, complete with a similar peculiarly British wry, self-effacing irony — but with a subtly contemporary take on a familiar and beloved sound.

Adding to a growing national profile, the Bath-based quintet will be touring the UK festival circuit with appearances at The Great Escape and Dot to Dot, among others. Check out the tour schedule below, if you’re in or around the UK.

Tour Dates:

20 May – The Great Escape, Brighton
28 May – Dot To Dot, Bristol
12 June – Field Day, London
2 September – Festival No. 6, Portmeirion

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring Australian-born, New York-based frontman and drummer Steven Fisher, The Wilful Boys specialize in a bristling and angry power chord-based rock that channels the sounds of New York’s hardcore scene as you’ll hear on “Rough As Guts,” the first single off the band’s long-awaited full-length debut album, slated for a July 1, 2016 release through Ever/Never Records, a label that has developed a reputation for its growing roster of Australian-born, New York-based hardcore bands.

“Rough As Guts” reminds me of the punk shows I caught at The Continental, Coney Island High, CBGB’s, The Acme Underground and others — but somehow, angrier and more anxious and unsettled as Fisher howls and yells aggressive and abrasive lyrics that describe a fully fleshed out deeply self-loathing, depraved, fucked up character that could have lived within the pages of Dostoevsky’s Notes From the Underground.

 

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Although they’ve been cloaked in a degree of mystery, Acid Arab is a Paris, France-based electronic music collective that has been receiving quite a bit of attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a sound that meshes Western electronic music, namely house and acid house, with Middle Eastern sounds and vocals; in fact, as a result of their crowd pleasing genre meshing sound, the collective has primarily made a name for themselves playing the European festival and club circuit over the past few years and for the release of several EPs through French label Versatile Records.

The collective’s much-anticipated full-length debut album is slated for an October release through Crammed Discs and the album’s first single “La Hafla” (which translates into English as “The Party”) features almost hip-hop-like vocals from Algerian vocalist Sofiane Saidi and pairs them with Middle Eastern instrumentation, wobbling and tumbling synths and enormous woofer rock beats that remind me quite a bit of the work of Omar Souleyman — but with a swaggering, club banging feel.

 

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

In 1967 While the States and the rest of the Western world was in the height of “Flower Power,” “The Age of Aquarius,” and people were out protesting against the Vietnam War and for civil rights for people of people of color, women and the LGBTQ community, Nigeria had descended into a brutal and bloody civil war. Interestingly, the rock scene that developed during three years of bloodshed and destruction helped heal and unite the country, propagate a brand new ideal of the “modern” Nigerian and eventually helped propel Fela Kuti to international stardom.

Earlier this year, Now-Again Records released volume one of a two volume compilation Wake Up You!: The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock. A companion book featured research from renowned musicologist Uchenna Ikonne and an incredible array of never-seen photos that will tell the stories of some of Nigeria’s long-forgotten but best rock bands — bands that specialized in a sound that meshed funk, psych rock and rock in a way that was unique and particularly Nigerian, while being remarkably familiar to Western ears. Volume 1’s first single Ify Jerry Krusade’s “Everybody Likes Something Good,” sounded deeply indebted to James Brown, Jefferson Airplane, Booker T and the MGs and others as heavily wah-wah pedaled guitar, soaring organ chords, sinuous and throbbing bass lines, layers of percussion were paired with call and response vocals in a way that seemed to nod towards Fela Kuti’s earliest releases. Volume 2’s first single Waves’ “Wake You Up” is a shaggy, garage rock and psych rock jam that sounds as though it drew from early Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals and others while managing sounding as though it were the forebear of Pazy and the Black Hippies psychedelic take on Afrobeat and funk.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Dana Hobson (vocals), Daniel Wolf (guitars, production) and Patrick Zenali (drums), Los Angeles-based electro pop trio The Danes specialize in what the band describes in an email to me as “dark electro pop in a similar style as BANKS, FKA Twigs and Lo-Fang” — although the trio’s latest single “Far From Love,” a slickly produced song about the dangers that came up with a long-term serious and committed couple experimented with an open relationship manages to be reminiscent of Los Angeles-based electro pop duo Pr0files as the trio pairs skittering drum programming, boom bap beats, wobbling synths, ambient electronics and an infectious hook with Hobson’s sultry, jazz-leaning vocals. What makes the song truly compelling and what also sets it apart from the tons of contemporary releases I come across is the fact that the song’s narrator expresses both an urgent sensuality, but just underneath the surface fear, confusion, regret and uncertainty are all evokes within the turn of a phrase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Daniel Knowler, Paul Middleton and Samuel Mclaughlin, London, UK-based trio The Infinite Three have developed a reputation for a sound and aesthetic that possess elements of post-punk, drone and porto-industrial rock, and channels Killing Joke, SWANS, Cop Shoot Cop and Nine Inch Nails — but with nods towards psychedelia and noise rock. Of course, on a certain level that shouldn’t be surprising as the members of the trio have an extensive history of genre defying work. Middleton has had a stint in industrial jazz act GOD and was a member of noise pioneers Cindytalk along with his fellow bandmate Knowler while McLaughlin has collaborated with poet and artist Gerry Mitchell. Knowleer has also worked on MFOTWU with performance artist Franko B. And in The Infinite Three, the members of the band have worked with renowned saxophonist Tom Jackson and London-based producer Den Liberator.

Recorded with engineer Jon Clayton, who has worked with Band of Holy Joy and The Monochrome Set, The Infinite Three’s third officially released full-length effort Lucky Beast will cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for a muscular, post-punk leaning take on prog rock and experimental rock. The album’s latest single “Hydrogen” has the band pairing angular power chords, swirling electronics, propulsive drumming and a punchy and aggressive hook to craft a song that sounds as though it were indebted to Wire, Mission of Burma and SWANS; in other words it the song possess a mosh pit worthy, sneering aggression while nodding at industrial metal.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Kristina Borg (vocalist), Niklas Angergård (guitar, vocals) of Acid House Kings, Mikael Matsson (guitar), of the Shermans and Carl–Johan Näsström (bass), Stockholm, Sweden-based indie pop quartet Red Sleeping Beauty originally formed in 1989 and with the release of two full-length albums Bedroom and Soundtrack, a number of EPs and singles, the Swedish pop quartet received both national and international attention before the quartet split up.

In 2014, the Stockholm-based quartet reunited to record a cover of Alpaca Sports song “Just For Fun” and “Merry Christmas, Marie,” a holiday-themed track, which caught the attention of fans and critics, who were desperate for new material from Red Sleeping Beauty. The quartet quickly followed that up with the release of the “Always” 7 inch, a set at Madrid Pop Fest and the release of “Mi Amor,” the first song the band recorded with a chorus completely sung in Spanish. Building upon the buzz created by the band’s reunion, this year may be one of the biggest years in the band’s history, as June 17 will mark the release of Kristina, Red Sleeping Beauty’s first album in 19 years.

“If You Want Affection” Kristina‘s first single has the members of Red Sleeping Beauty pairing a driving motorik groove with shimmering cascades of synths and an infectious hook with Angergård’s chilly yet plaintive vocals to craft a song that sounds as though it pulsates with an urgent need, while sonically the song sounds as though it channels 80s dance floor-friendly synth pop — in particular, I think of Depeche Mode‘s “People Are People”  and “Just Can’t Get Enough” among others –but with a slick, modern polish.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Peter White, Brayden Leske, Sam Baird, Tom Baird and Matt Crago, Adelaide, Australia-based indie rock quintet Lost Woods have quickly developed a growing national reputation for a 90s alt rock/indie rock inspired sound that has been compared to Jeff Buckley, Holy Holy and Soundgarden among others. The Australian quintet’s debut single “Overflow” reached the top ten of Triple J Unearthed charts and was on received airplay across several Australian radio stations including Radio Adelaide, Three D Radio, 4ZZZ and Syn FM. And as a result the band has opened for the likes of Harts, Holy Holy, Andy Bull, Jesse Davidson, SKIES, Bad Pony, Citizen Kay, Horror My Friend, The Vanns and others. With the release of their second single “Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant” Lost Woods went on Peter White told me  their first national tour last year, a tour that managed to be extremely successful as the band continued to see support from local radio stations across Australia, which has lead to growing buzz around the band.

As the band’s Peter White explained to me via email, Lost Woods’ latest single “Vodka Ocean” is inspired by a tragicomic personal experience that happened to him while he was attending Australia’s Splendour in the Grass festival. White was looking forward to catching Frank Ocean perform at the festival and when it was announced that Ocean had to cancel, White wound up drinking way too much vodka “in a fit of melancholic sadness.” Eventually White wound up at the medical tent. “My girlfriend dragged me back to our tent, where I proceeded to throw up all over her rucksack and clothes, leaving the rest of the tent unscathed. Naturally, a song was born.” Sonically speaking, the Australian quintet pairs propulsive drumming, jangling guitar chords, an anthemic hook and a throbbing bass line with White’s soaring falsetto to craft a song that sounds as though it drew from The Bends-era Radiohead and The Smiths; in fact, much like The Smiths, this particular single pairs upbeat music with bitterly ironic lyrics.

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

 

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’ve likely come across a post or two about JOVM mainstay act Monogem. Comprised of singer/songwriter Jen Hirsh and producer/songwriter Scott Smith, the indie electro pop act derives their name from a unique cosmic phenomenon — a Monogem Ring, the leftover glow of an supernova explosion.Interestingly enough, one of the largest monogem rings in the observable universe is located near the Gemini and Cancer constellations. And for Hirsh, whose birthday is on the cusp of the astrological signs Gemini and Cancer, the project’s name has a deeply personal and special meaning for the singer/songwriter.

Now, you may also know that in the same period of time Hirsh and Smith have received critical praise from the likes of Interview Magazine, Vice’s NOISEY, Elle Magazine, Indie Shuffle, Hillydilly, Earmilk and others, which has expanded their profile nationally — and that shouldn’t be terribly surprising as the duo has described their sound as “disco-tinged California pool party tunes” with elements of funk and soul. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from them but their latest single “Take It Slow” is arguably their most sensual, Quiet Storm-era R&B-tinged single released to date as Hirsh’s sultry and breathy vocals with glistening synths and propulsive, boom-bap like drum programming in a song that evokes a plaintive and urgent need, an aching vulnerability and a come-hither before it’s too late vibe that fits with the slinky production.