Tag: singles

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Party Starting Anthem off Their Forthcoming “Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip” Compilation

Throughout the course of this site’s 11-plus year history,  Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records‘ ongoing collaborative proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilation series from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid have been regularly featured. Now, as you may recall, each individual edition of the ongoing series is centered around RidingEasy Records founder Daniel Hal’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time attempting to track down the artists behind these great yet sadly under-appreciated tunes. 

Frequently those bands haven’t written, played or recorded together in 30 or 40 years — but Barresi and Hall encourage the bands to take part in the compilation process. “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten,” Lance Barresi explains in press notes. “However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Having the original artists participate as much as humanly possible in the compilation process can give the artists and their songs a real second chance at the attention they had the misfortune of missing all of those years ago. And of course, for critics, audiophiles and fans alike, the material on the Brown Acid series will do three very important things: 

  • introduce listeners to some great, sadly under-appreciated tunes that fucking rip or will melt your face right off 
  • fill in the gaps of what was going on in and around regional, national and even international underground scenes during the 60s and 70s
  • push the boundaries of proto-metal, proto-stoner rock, metal and stoner rock in new directions. 

The 13th edition of the Brown Acid series, Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip is fittingly slated for an October 31, 2021 release. Continuing in the path of its 12 predecessors, The Thirteenth Trip sees Barresi and Hall somehow digging even deeper into a very deep well of material recorded throughout the 60s and 70s — and discovering tunes still rip and rip hard.

Last month, I wrote about The Thirteenth Trip‘s first single, the hard charging and groovy, arena rock friendly ripper “Run Run” by  Montreal-based outfit Max. Technically credited as Gary Del Vecchio with Max — not the band from Montreal — the compilation’s second single “Buzzin” begins with what sounds like an in-studio party full of guffaws, yelps and chatter and is centered around a Led Zeppelin “Heartbreaker“-like funky blues riff, rollicking rhythmic changes and a chugging bass line. Simply put “Buzzin'” is a party-starting anthem.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Rising Jakarta, Indonesia-born and-based singer/songwriter and pop artist Afgan was raised listening to Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight — and as a very shy boy, he found solace in music, slowly gaining confidence in quiet karaoke rooms. Interestingly, for the Jakarta-born and-based artist, music has always been an equal synergy of far-flung global inspirations paired with a devotion to proudly showcasing his heritage through nods to Indonesian pop.

Since the 2008 release of his full-length debut Confession No. 1, the rising Indonesian pop artist has released five solo albums, countless number one hits and has amassed over 44 million Spotify streams with over 1 million listeners across 79 countries — just in 2019. In the past three years, Afgan has played sold-out shows across Southeastern Asia including a set at Korea’s Yuseong Hot Springs Festival in front of 30,000 and an appearance at Singapore‘s Hyperplay Festival alongside Nick Jonas. The rising Jakarta-born and-based artist has managed to score a bevy of industry awards — and building upon a growing profile, he made his Stateside debut at a Sofar Sounds show in San Francisco.

Released earlier this year, Afgan’s sixth album Wallflower sees the Indonesian pop artist making a foray into the global scene. The album derives its title from his favorite movie, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and his deep connection to the film’s soft-spoken protagonist Charlie, played by Loghan Lerman. Afgan told NME, “I just relate so much with the main character and felt like my personality had a similar quality with him.” He continues “I looked up the meaning behind the word [wallflower] and felt like okay, that’s actually a good description of me and I want to own that part of myself.”

Thematically, the album, is influenced and informed by the rising Indonesian pop artist’s own tumultuous relationship and battles with his mental health. Much of the album lyrically is inspired by some of the self-help books that have helped him in drier times. “I‘ve been battling anxiety and panic attacks for years, so I wrote “Hurt Me Like You” about it,” Afgan explains. “Nobody can hurt me more than my own self. I really want to change the stigma around mental health, and in Indonesia, it’s still considered a taboo to talk about it. If we became more happy and at peace with ourselves, I think everything would be better.”

Adding to a growing global profile, the album features “M.I.A.,” a collaboration with Hong Kong-based multi-hyphenate Jackson Wong. The collaboration can trace its origins to a chance meeting between the two artists after Afgan played at 2019’s V Live Awards in Seoul. But in the meantime, the rising Jakarta-born and-based artist has released a remix of the sultry Quiet Storm-inspired, Troy Taylor-produced “Touch Me” that features a guest spot from Robin Thicke while retaining the swooning yearning at the core of the song.

`”‘Touch Me’ is a song with a dark and sexy beat that tells the story of one’s physical attraction at first glance, and how that touch may trigger a series of feelings,” Afgan explains. “Usually, these kind of messages are hard to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia, so this is my first time translating these feelings into a song as I’m now singing in English. This was a challenge for me but I am relieved and happy with the result.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Coastal Elite is a Sydney-based recording and live music collective featuring contributions from assorted members of the Personal Best Records family, including Carl Fox, Australian Athlete, Physique, Swoop‘s Josh Beagley, Uncle Jed‘s Laura Stitt, Touch Sensitive‘s Michael Di Francesco, The Goods‘ Rosario Ferraro, Andrew Bruce, Vincent Sebastian, Rich Sanford, Terepai Richmond, Moody Beach, Holiday Sidewinder, Wa Wa Nee‘s Paul Gray, Kat Karrtell, Pretty Mess, Professor Groove and a growing list of others. The collective have received attention across their native Australia for crafting breezily escapist material that explores seasick funk, maritime disco, aqua boogie and yacht rock.


The Aussie collective’s latest single “I Can See The Water” is a bit of breezy, 80s synth funk featuring glistening synths, a strutting bass line from Touch Sensitive’s Michael di Francesco, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, an enormous hook, alternating boy-girl vocals from Carl Fox and Moody Beach. And while sonically bringing Shalamar, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Patrice Rushen, Cherelle and others to mind, “I Can See The Water” is a dance floor friendly bop that reveals bittersweet and melancholy vibes just under its surface: The song’s protagonists wistfully reminiscence on a lost love between the two and update each other from separate viewpoints in asynchronous song talk.

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Toronto’s Absolutely Free Releases a Sprawling, Politically Charged Single

Acclaimed Toronto-based psych pop act Absolutely Free — multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Matt King, Michael Claxton (bass, synths) and Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg (drums, synths) — is an offshoot of experimental rock outfit DD/MM/YYYY, an act whose multi-rhythmic, boundary pushing raison d’être provided a springboard for Absolutely Free’s sound and approach. The Canadian psych trio’s full-length debut, 2014’s Absolutely Free. received a Polaris Prize nomination and received widespread critical applause from the likes of Pitchfork, The FADER, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan,Exclaim!, Under the Radar, PopMatters, AllMusic and countless others. 

During the past decade, the members of the Absolutely Free have cultivated and developed a long-held reputation for an unorthodox approach to both conceiving and performing music: Since the release of Absolutely Free., the Toronto-based psych pop act have released an array of multimedia projects and releases including 2019’s Geneva Freeport EP, which features U.S. Girls‘ Meg Remy. And adding to a growing profile the’ve toured alongside the likes of Alvvays, Youth Lagoon and JOVM mainstays Preoccupations and shared bills with Beak>, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, U.S. Girls and Fucked Up. 

Absolutely Free’s highly-anticipated Jorge Elbrecht-produced sophomore album Aftertouch is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through Boiled Records. Deriving its name from a the name of a synthesizer function, the album is fueled by the trio’s desire to “. . . to create an album that wasn’t bound by a physical ability to perform it live, to not only expand our palette, but also to consider the live performance as something completely separate.” Culling from myriad of influences including krautrock, New Wave, early electronic dance music, and an array of international psych and funk complications, the album sonically and aesthetically finds the trio shifting in, around and between analog and digital sounds, and real and fabricated images while simultaneously reveling in and refuting the loss of tactility. Thematically, the album explores narratives of hegemony, grief and exploitation in the present while sustaining curiosity for the unknown post-everything future. 

Last month, I wrote about Aftertouch album single “Interface,” a dreamily maximalist song featuring glistening synth arpeggios, percussive and angular guitar blasts, a chugging bass line and an insistent rhythm paired with plaintive vocals that reminded me of Amoral-era Violens — in particular, “Trance Like Turn.” The album’s latest single “Remaining Light” is a sprawling track with two distinct parts — a cinematic and atmospheric instrumental introduction featuring twinkling keys, glistening synths and clinking marimba. At around the 2:20 mark, the song slowly morphs into a slow-burning and brooding bit of pop featuring King’s plaintive, reverb drenched vocals ethereally floating over the mix.

Continuing a run of expansive and mind-bending material, “Remaining Light” was originally written in 2016 and was informed by the disturbing trend of rising gun violence against marginalized populations at the time of its creation. The song thematically tackles the weighty issues of structural racism, poverty and injustice that are embedded into society’s often corrupt and exploitive systems — all while sounding like a slick synthesis of The Fixx’s “Sign of Fire” and Amoral-era Violens.

“‘Remaining Light’ expresses the frustration felt towards invincible and corrupt institutions that uphold structural inequities, including police brutality and manufactured poverty experienced primarily by racialized communities,” the members of Absolutely Free explain. “Written during a heat wave in the summer of 2016, the song dishearteningly remains as relevant as ever today.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Stockholm-based psych pop/dream pop duo Astral Brain — Einar Ekström (production, composition) an Siri af Buren (vocals, lyrics) — can trace their origins back to the breakup of Ekström’s previous band Le Futur Pompiste. Although the band split up, Ekström continued writing new music with the hopes of eventually teaming up with a new vocalist.

Back in 2015, Ekström was introduced to af Buren, who is also a member of Malmö-based act Testblid!, an act that Ekstrom was a fan of for years. The pair bonded over mutual influences, and they decided to work together: af Buran began writing lyrics and melodies for the arrangements that Ekström had written years before.

Over the past two years, Astral Brain released a couple of singles while working on their forthcoming full-length debut album, The Bewildered Mind, which is slated for an October 15, 2021 release through Shelflife Records. Sonically, the album reportedly find the pair drawing from and blending elements of cinematic soundscapes, jazzy library music, early electronic music, 60s psychedelia and other genres into their own sound.

The album’s first single “Five Thousand Miles” features af Buren’s jazzy delivery ethereally floating over a gorgeous arrangement centered around twinkling keys, a hypnotic motorik groove and a soaring hook. Sonically, “Five Thousand Miles” brings Young Narrator in the Breakers era Pavo Pavo to mind, as it possesses a similar nostalgia-inducing, retro-futuristic sound paired with a careful attention to craft.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Favours — Jacq Andrade and Alex Zen — are an emerging Toronto-based pop duo. Their forthcoming EP Left Behind slated for release later this year, and the EP’s material reportedly sees the Canadian pop duo establishing a dream pop sound that also draws equally from their shared love of 80s New Wave and DIY post-punk. The EP also features Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning on bass.

Over the past few months, the members of the Toronto-based duo have been building up buzz for their EP. Last month, I wrote about “Right Back,” a breezy single that to my ears recalled 80s Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, while being about “a love or friendship that never ends. No matter the distance, every time you meet, you’re right back where you left off,” as the duo explained.

“Call Me,” Left Behind‘s latest single is a slow-burning pop ballad centered around strummed acoustic guitar, glistening synths, boy-girl harmonizing and an enormous hook. If you’re a child of the 80s as I am., “Call Me” sonically brings a couple of beloved and incredibly well written pop songs to mind — John Waite‘s “Missing You” and Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry” but with a modern sensibility. Thematically,. the song tackles a familiar topic to all of us: the cycles of life and relationships and the bright new possibilities that come from a fresh start. And as a result, the song is imbued with a bittersweet hopefulness. “Every new beginning/Comes from some other beginning’s end,” as a song once said.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their debut EP I Used to Love You, Now I Don’t, the rising Brighton-based dream pop act and JOVM mainstays Hanya — currently Heather Sheret (vocal, guitar), Benjamin Varnes (guitar), Jorge Bela (bass) and Jack Watkins (drums) — garnered attention nationally and across the blogosphere for crafting a sound that featured elements of dream pop and shoegaze.

Last year, much like countless acts across the globe, the members of Hanya had plans to build upon a rapidly growing national and international profile: they released their acclaimed sophomore EP Sea Shoes, which they supported with touring across the UK and their Stateside debut at that year’s New Colossus Festival. Since their The Bowery Electric set last March, the band has been busy writing new material, which has included singles like:

  • “Texas,” a shimmering bit of dream pop that nods at 70s AM rock, and focuses on the longing and excitement of a new crush/new love/new situationship
  • “Monochrome,”a hazy and slow-burning ballad that celebrates the pleasures of life’s small things
  • “Lydia,” a slow-burning and gorgeous track that continues upon their winning mix of 70s AM rock and Beach House-like dream pop.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the Brighton-based dream pop outfit will be releasing their highly-anticipated third EP later this fall. Featuring delicately guitars, a sinuous bass line. and a wah wah pedaled guitar solo, “Fortunes” the forthcoming EP’s lead single is a slow-burning track centered around A Storm In Heaven like painterly textures, ethereal harmonies and deeply personal, lived-in lyricism.

“‘Fortunes’ started almost as a joke as we teased the idea of writing a laid-back Y2K banger,” Hanya’s Heather Sheret explains in press notes. “Naturally, the more we wrote, the more we loved it. We followed our musical nose until we felt we had tapped into something special. Light, yet heavy, and catchy as hell the track details how getting outside of your comfort zone can often lead to finding the best version of yourself.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Toronto-based punk rock duo Vangelism features two members, who have been rather nomadic throughout their music careers with stops in Montreal, Nashville, Brooklyn, Toronto and Japan in a number projects — some really good, some really bad but all totally worth it. And through these various projects, the members of Vangelism have opened for a diverse and eclectic array of artists across three continents including The Stranglers, Death From Above 1979, Nashville Pussy, Electric Six and even Bon Jovi.

The duo released their full-length debut last fall to some fanfare: DSP’s like Spotify and Amazon featured the album and its material on a number of official editorial playlists. The album also received praise from the likes of Digital Tour Bus and Mystic Sons.

Building upon a growing profile., the duo have plans to release two consecutive EPs but before those EPs, two stand alone singles — the first sees the Canadian tackling Elastica’s 1995 smash hit “Connection.” While being a fairly straightforward and loving cover that retains the song’s melody and buzzing power chords — but delivered with a punk rock sneer.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Italian Percussionist Gabriele Poso Releases a French West Indies Inspired Banger

Gabriele Poso is an acclaimed Italian multi-instrumentalist, master percussionist, Worldwide FM presenter and director of the Yoruba Soul Orchestra. Poso’s musical passion has taken him around the world, Initially to Rome, then to Puerto Rico, Cuba and most recently, Berlin. Between 1998 and 2001. Poso delved deeply into the study of Afro-Cuban percussion — first at Rome’s Timba School of Music, under the guidance of Roberto “Mamey” Evangelista, one of the country’s most important representatives of Afro-Cuban culture and music. In late 2001, Poso relocated to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he attended the Universidad Interamerica de Puerto Rico and continued his studies, which culminated with a masterclass at Havana’s Escuela Nacional de Arte.

Poso’s solo debut 2008’s From The Genuine World was released through Osunlade’s Yoruba Records, which de supported with tours across Europe and elsewhere. His sophomore effort, 2012’s Roots of Soul was released through German label INFRACom! Poso’s third album, 2014’s Invocation was released through German label Agogo Records. 2018’s Awakening was released through British label Barely Breaking Even. 2019’s Batik was released through British label Soundway Records. Interestingly, each album found the Italian percussion looking east, across the Atlantic for inspiration and rhythms.

n October 1, 2021 release through Wonderwheel Recordings. Recorded in Leece, Italy, almost entirely by the Italian master percussionist, the stars of the show are drum and percussion. And much like its predecessors, the album’s material finds Poso continuing to look across the Atlantic for inspiration and rhythms — this time the French West Indies, in particular Guadeloupe and Martinique. “I’m in love with everything about the sound of their drums, it’s very unique warm and deep sound,” Poso explains.

“I put a lot of attention to the sound on this record, exploring new ways for me to record, through analog tape and different analog tools, such as analog delay,” Poso says of the forthcoming 10-song album. “That’s very much present in the whole album and gives a new direction to my sound with a psychedelic touch and a dancefloor attitude that is stronger than the previous album.”

“La Bola,” Tamburo Infinito’s second and latest single features a dancehall and soca friendly bass line, the sort of spaced-out reverb that the late, great Lee “Scratch” Perry would love, exultant horns drenched in reverb, and seemingly infinite layers of Afro Caribbean percussion. The end result is a euphoric, club banger that’s soulful and lovingly crafted.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Groovy Ripper off the Forthcoming “Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip” Compilation

Throughout the course of this site’s 11-plus year history,  Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records‘ ongoing collaborative proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilation series from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid have been regularly featured. Now, as you may recall, each individual edition of the ongoing series is centered around RidingEasy Records founder Daniel Hal’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time attempting to track down the artists behind these great yet sadly under-appreciated tunes.

ears — but Barresi and Hall encourage the bands to take part in the compilation process. “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten,” Lance Barresi explains in press notes. “However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Having the original artists participate as much as humanly possible in the compilation process can give the artists and their songs a real second chance at the attention they had the misfortune of missing all of those years ago. And of course, for critics, audiophiles and fans alike, the material on the Brown Acid series will do three very important things:

introduce listeners to some great, sadly under-appreciated tunes that fucking rip or will melt your face right off
fill in the gaps of what was going on in and around regional, national and even international underground scenes during the 60s and 70s
push the boundaries of proto-metal, proto-stoner rock, metal and stoner rock in new directions.

slated for an October 31, 2021 release. Continuing in the path of its 12 predecessors, The Thirteenth Trip sees Barresi and Hall somehow digging even deeper into a very deep well of material recorded throughout the 60s and 70s — and discovering tunes still rip and rip hard.

Initially starting out as Dawn, before Tony Orlando and Dawn forced a name change, the Montreal-based outfit Max kicks off the lead-up to the album’s release with “Run Run,” off their lone 1970 single. “Run Run” is a hard charging and groovy ripper featuring Bonham-like drumming, crunchy power chords and some soulful wailing splashed with a little bit of reverb and some enormous, arena rock friendly hooks. The end result — to my ears, at least — is a song that will bring Are You Experienced? era Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin 1 and early Black Sabbath to mind.

Sadly, the band didn’t last long: The band suffered through poor management and various other factors, so according to guitarist Gerry Markman, the single is the only surviving document of the band and their existence. But even so, this one rips and roars with intent and purpose.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Emerging London-based electronic rock/electronic music duo prïnceps (pronounced prins-eps) have developed a sound that some have described as a fusion of The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Bring Me The Horizon, and The Used among others. While crafting positive dance floor friendly music, they pair their material with dark, nihilistic lyrics.

The duo’s latest single “Saints” is a dance floor friendly banger, centered around a slick production featuring tweeter and woofer rocking beats, glistening synth arpeggios, enormous, crowd-pleasing hooks and plaintive vocals. Sonically, the track — to my ears, at least — brings Disclosure, The Prodigy and mid 80s New Order to mind.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seattle’s Fotoform Returns with a Defiant New Single

Deriving their name from a mid-century avant-garde photography movement, Seattle-based post punk outfit Fotoform — longtime collaborators and married couple Kim House (bass, vocals, synths) and Geoffrey Cox (guitar), along with newest member, former Death Cab for Cutie’s and The Long Winters’ Michael Schorr (drums) — can trace their origins back to the formation of a previous project, the dark, goth-adjacent dream pop act C’est la Mort, which formed shortly after House and Cox married.

Specializing in what they dubbed “pointy-shoegaze,” C’est la Mort released their full-length debut through their own Dismal Nitch label, as well as various compilation tracks, including a limited split 7 inch with Stars for American Laundromat‘s The Smiths‘ tribute Please Please Please. After a series of lineup changes, House and Cox re-emerged as Fotoform in late 2016.  

House and Cox released their Fotoform self-titled debut in 2017. Supported with tours of the West Coast and Europe, the album received airplay and praise both locally and nationally: Album single “I Know You’re Charming” was featured as a KEXP Song of The Day. The self-titled album was voted as one of KEXP Listeners’ Top 90.3 Albums of 2017 and it landed on several year-end lists, including The Big Takeover and Part-Time Punks. Building upon a growing profile, the band followed up with 2018’s Part-Time Punks EP, which was selected as one of The Big Takeover’s EPs of 2018.

Schorr joined the band in 2019 and they started last year with two benefit singles “Yves Klein Blue,” which was recored for voter outreach and the Christmas-themed “They Say It’s Always Lonely” to benefit local food banks. Both singles found the trio expanding upon their sound with the addition of synths. The trio then went into the studio with Evan Foster to record the material for their forthcoming sophomore album Horizons in early 2020. But as a result of pandemic-related quarantines and restrictions, the Horizons sessions resumed a year later with Foster — and with Matt Bayles recording drum parts.

Horizons, which is slated for an October 15, 2021 release reportedly finds the band pivoting even further from the towering wall of guitars-based sound of their previously released work and towards a much more nuanced sound drawing equally from shoegaze, dream pop and post-punk. Continuing to pair synths with layers of guitars and driving bass, the album’s sound may bring the likes of The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Chameleons, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and others to mind.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the painterly Garlands era Cocteau Twins meets Souvlaki era Slowdive-like “Running,” a track centered around atmospheric synths, swirling guitars, soaring hooks and a forceful motorik pulse paired with House’s ethereal vocals. Horizons’ latest single “Too Late” may arguably be the most dynamic single off the album to date: Featuring the band’s Kim House on guitar for the first time in their history, the single further establishing their painterly and textured approach but while featuring a fed up narrator, who’s fed up and telling off someone who has wronged her.

We’ve all experienced moments when boundaries have been crossed, whether by ourselves or someone else, and there’s no going back,” Fotoform’s Kim House explains. “‘Too Late’ is about that moment of alienation- the point of no return. It’s almost a two-sided monologue, it’s a warning/reminder but also a kind of satisfying break-up song about being strong enough to cut someone off who has wronged you emotionally, romantically, or even professionally: That’s it, ‘you’re cut off.’ But: ‘you did it to yourself.’” 

Besides the new album, the trio — much like the rest of us — is looking forward to getting back to live shows and touring. They’ve also been writing and working on new material, including a split 7 inch with Savage Republic. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Swiss Indie Act Metrophobia Releases a “120 Minutes” Alt Rock Inspired Single

Swiss indie duo Metrophobia — Swiss-born and-based Marks Gmür (vocals,. acoustic guitar) and Spanish-born, Swiss based José Garrido (guitar, bass, drums, programming) –can trace their origins back several years ago: Gmür and Garrido met and eventually went on to play in a couple of projects.

The pair reunited earlier this year and they spent their time working hard to write and record their full-length debut Silent Treatment, which features material influenced by 90s alt rock like Pixies, Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr., The Catherine Wheel, Bivoauc, RIDE, Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Pavement, and Granddaddy — but with a modern touch.

Silent Treatment’s latest single “How Long” is centered around fuzzy and distorted power chords, thunderous drumming, enormous, mosh pit friendly hooks and plaintive vocals. And while clearly being indebted to 120 Minutes-era alt rock, with this particular song reminding me quite a bit of RIDE and The Catherine Wheel, the song pairs slick, modern production with classic, grunge/alt rock songwriting techniques.

“‘How Long’ could have been a pop song (was originally). but we decided to add rich and powerful drums, and noisy guitars, to create a contrast with the voices,” the members of Metrophobia explain.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The New Mastersounds — currently, Eddie Roberts (guitar, production), Simon Allen (drums), Pete Stand (bass) and Joe Tatton (keys) — can trace their origins back to the late 1990s: Roberts was promoting a club night in his native Leeds called The Cooker. When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was both the space and opportunity to put a live band together to compliment the night’s DJ sets. 

Coincidentally, Roberts and Allen had previously played together in the similarly named The Mastersounds, an act with a completely different bassist and without a keyboardist. Because of the intimate nature of the Leeds scene, Roberts and Allen met and recruited Pete Hand and Bob Birch (Hammond) to join what would become The New Mastersounds. Since the release of two limited edition boogaloo leaning 7 inch singles back in 2000, the Leeds-based outfit has released 24 more 7 inch singles, 13 studio albums, three live albums, a remix album — and three compilations released in the UK, Japan and The States. And the band has done that while going through a major lineup change with grizzled Leeds scene veteran Joe Tatton replacing Bob Birch on keys and organ.

The band and its individual members have collaborated with an eclectic and diverse array of musicians, DJs and producers throughout their history, including Lou Donaldson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Quantic, Carleen Anderson, Keb Darge, Kenny Dope, Mr. Scruff, LSK, Lack of Afro, Page McConnell, Grace Potter,Karl Denson, Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Fred Wesley, Pee-Wee Ellis, Maceo Parker, Bernard Purdie, George Porter, Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, Art Neville and Ernest Ranglin. 

“A Brighter Day,” can trace its origins back to just after the 2020: Roberts had written a buoyant and uplifting composition that sonically nods to civli rights era Curtis Mayfield and classic Motown soul. Roberts then invited some of Color Red Music‘s top vocalists to contribute lyrics to the song. Earlier this year, I wrote about the first version of the song, which featured Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal‘s Josh Hoyer. Hoyer had penned some uplifting lyrics and put them in the can for whenever the right opportunity would call for them. For Hoyer, that opportunity came when Roberts called the Omaha-based artist and invited him to contribute lyrics. Hoyer’s version thematically is centered around the hope fo a fairer, more just and inclusive world for all, after a brutally difficult and uneasy few years.

The newest version of “Brighter Day” features Ojai-born, Long Beach-based vocalist Adryon de León. de Leon has managed to have a vast and varied career. She’s been a backing vocalist for the likes of Lady Gaga, George Clinton, Macy Gray and others. de León also has a seven year stint as the frontwoman of Orgōne. Currently, she’s one of the vocalists in the soul collective Matador! Soul Sounds alongside Eddie Roberts, Alan Evans, Kim Dawson and Nate Edgar. Additionally, de León contrrbitued vocals to a track on Trent Reznor‘s score for the Netflix biopic Mank. 

de Leòn’s version of “Brighter Day” has a completely different tone and feel while retaining the uplifting composition of its predecessor. While Hoyer’s version focused on the larger outside world, de León’s version, which features lyrics written during pandemic related lockdowns and restrictions of last year, focuses on the personal — a glorious reunion with friends and loved ones. Interestingly, the song is underpinned with a simple yet profound call to check in on your loved ones, including the strongest ones because shit was mad real out there. But no matter what, both versions of the song are fueled by an optimism that brighter days will come, even if we don’t know when exactly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath whose musical career has managed to go through about four different paths before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS. After spending 9 years studying jazz at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France, Alias relocated to Quebec in 2014. Landing at job at XS Music, Alias worked with Jean-Phi Gonclaves on composing music for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, ICI Télé’s Une autre histoire, Hubert et Fanny and Cerebrum et Mon fils, Mariloup Wolfe’s feature film Jouliks and for a number of Cirque du Soleil productions.

Since 2017, Alias hs also worked for Musique Nomade, where he produced multidisciplinary Oji-Crie’ and Mi’gmaq artist Anachnid‘s DREAMWEAVER, which was nominated for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Award and long-listed for the Polaris Prize. The French-born, Montreal-based artist also produced singles by Q-052, Annie Sama, Chances, iskwē and Beyries‘ “Out of Touch,” off her recent album Encounter. Additionally, he’s the musical and stage director of Anachnid concerts — and he’s accompanied Beyries on stage a few times.

Simultaneously, the French-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter, composer and producer has a had host of different projects to accommodate his need and desire to explore different genres releasing punk, hip-hop and ambient material under different monikers — until settling on his latest, eponymous project Alias, a psych rock inspired project that finds him crafting songs centered around wild, hallucinogenic stories that include the personification of dogs, dementia, the Wild West, killers, loneliness, space exploration. The whole affair sounds as though it could have been released decades ago — and as though it were released yesterday.

Alias’ debut EP It’s Not Funny So Stop Smilin’ was released last week through Simone Records. The EP’s latest single “Why Don’t You Wanna Dance” is a trippy and modern take on classic psych rock and glam rock featuring fuzzy power chords, soaring organ, twinkling synth arpeggios and a chugging, motorik groove paired with an age old tale of rejection, humiliation and paranoia that should feel familiar to the outcasts and weirdos amongst us.