Last November, I wrote about indie rock project Ulrika Spacek. Comprised of long-time friends Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams, the duo conceptualized the project during a single night in Berlin based around their mutual influences —Television, Pavement, Sonic […]
Tag: Sonic Youth
Featuring former and current members of Grotto, The Hidden Chord, Rolling Blackouts (they have to win a best band name of the year award, right?), Bombay Sweets, Zoo Animal and Ghostmouth, punk quartet Ripper comprised of Jeff Brown (drums), Sean Chaucer Levine (guitar), Danny Holden (vocals, guitar) and Noah Paster (bass, vocals) joined forces to write and play 2-3 minute punk rock songs influenced by Dead Kennedys, The Germs, Sonic Youth and The Beach Boys with a furious, breakneck abandon.
The quartet’s second EP A.D. is slated for a December 4 release through Land Ski Records and Lawn Chair Records, and the EP’s latest single. which I have the pleasure of premiering, “Chain Fight” clocks in at a furious and breakneck 65 seconds of blistering guitar chords, layers upon layers of feedback, thundering drums and shouted lyrics. Listening to the track should make you want to jump into a mosh pit and stomp out.
Long-time friends Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams conceptualized their current band, Ulrika Spacek during a single night in Berlin, a project that would be influenced by Television, Pavement, Sonic Youth and krautrock. Upon their return to their house KEN, a former art gallery in Homerton, the duo of Edwards and Williams began working on the material, which would eventually comprise their forthcoming full-length debut, The Album Paranoia slated for a February 5, 2016 release through Lefse Records and Tough Love Records. Three expert musicians were recruited to flesh out the project’s live sound and to complete their live show, which combined art installations with music.
The Album Paranoia’s first single “She’s A Cult” consists of angular and chugging guitar chords played with a gentle amount of reverb, a tight rhythm section comprised of a propulsive drum beat and a throbbing bass line paired with soaring and anthemic hooks and ethereal vocals that float over an overall grungy mix. Although incredibly contemporary, the song sounds as though it could have been released during the 120 Minutes-era of MTV.
New Video: Check Out the Dark, Murky Sounds and Visuals of Stockholm’s Dolores Haze
Dolores Haze is a Stockholm, Sweden-based lo-fi, punk quartet that has received quite a bit of attention across their native Sweden and internationally for a sound that Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, Noisey and […]
If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years, you may be familiar with the Jersey City, NJ-based trio Overlake. Comprised of founding members Tom Barrett (vocals, guitar) and Lysa Opfer (vocals, bass) and Nick D’Amore (drums), the trio can trace their origins to when Overlake’s founding duo Barrett and Opfer were in a previous band, and the duo began bonding over a mutual love of shoegaze and 80s and 90s alt rock. As Opfer recalled in press notes, her and Barrett would often stay late after practices normally with Opfer on a Rhodes piano and Barrett on drums, jamming and creating songs that were largely influenced by My Bloody Valentine, Pavement and Sonic Youth. And about a year after those jam sessions, the band started working on the material that would become their debut full-length, Sighs which Killing Horse Records released last year.
Initially, the band started as a duo but they recently recruited local drummer, Nick D’Amore to help flesh out the band’s sound. Since the release of their debut effort Sighs, the newly constituted trio have worked on a 7 inch, “Travelogue”/”Winter Is Why,” which officially drops today.
The 7 inch’s A side single “Travelogue” is a breezy refinement of the sound that first captured my attention as its comprised of shimmering reverb-y guitar chords, propulsive drumming, ethereal boy-girl harmonies and an anthemic hook that makes the song sound as though it draws influence from the pioneers of shoegaze, RIDE. The trio will be embarking on a tour through November and more extensively through 2016, as they put the finishing touches for their much-anticipated sophomore effort slated for a release late in 2016. Check out tour dates below.
FALL TOUR DATES
11/1 – Brooklyn NY – The Grand Victory w/ Sink Tapes, Superpony
11/2 – Bethlehem PA – The Funhouse
11/3 – Raleigh NC – Slim’s w/ Make Light, Michael Venutolo-Mantovani
11/4 – Athens GA – Flicker Theatre & Bar w/ Sound of Ceres, Spaceflyte
11/5 – Nashville TN – Springwater Supper Club w/ Nightblonde
11/6 – Memphis TN – Murphy’s w/ Jack Alberson, Matthew Trisler
11/7 – Kansas City MO – Record Bar w/ Birth Defects, Wet Ones
11/8 – Lincoln NE – Duffy’s w/ Powers, Gordon
11/9 – Des Moines IA – Lefty’s w/ Men in Lead Masks & Special Guest
11/11 – Columbus OH – Broken Records & Beehives In-Store
11/11 – Columbus OH – King Avenue 5 w/ Tethers
11/12 – Philadelphia PA – The Fire w/ Teeel
11/13 – Asbury Park NJ – Asbury Park Yacht Club w/ Dead Stars, Seaside Caves
New Video: The Hallucinogenic, New Video for MAFF’s “Act 1”
Childhood friends and co-founders Richi Gómez (vocals, bass and guitar) and Nicolás “Nek” Colombres (drums) have played together in a number of Santiago, Chile-based punk bands when they formed MAFF back in 2012. Martín Colombres (guitar) and […]
Live Concert Photography: Ecstatic Vision and Creepoid at Mercury Lounge 6/23/14
Live Music Photography: Ecstatic Vision and Creepoid Mercury Lounge June 23, 2014 Since their formation early last year, the Philadelphia, PA-based trio Ecstatic Vision have quickly developed a reputation for a sound that draws from […]
Brooklyn-based trio Dead Stars have captured the blogosphere over the last couple of years with a sound that consists of fuzzy, power chords fed through layers of feedback and anthemic pop melodies and hooks; it’s […]
Live Concert Photography: Vivid Dreams at Rockwood Music Hall 5/17/15
Live Concert Photography: Vivid Dreams at Rockwood Music Hall May 17, 2015 As you can imagine, since starting JOVM five years ago, I receive an overwhelming number of invites to shows in the NYC area […]
Describing their sound as being “like the trashing and squawking of a buzzard with its leg in a mantrap,” the Bristol, UK-based band Falling Stacks have released three critically applauded EPs of music that’s boisterous, noisy, […]
Comprised of siblings (and twins) Kier (vocals, guitar) and Brittany Griffiths (bass, vocals), Evan Van Reekum (guitar) and Ryan Grieve (drums), the Alberta-based quartet of Fist City initially formed in 2009 and developed a reputation […]
WISH is the creative brain child and solo side project of the 23 year-old Kyle Connolly, who may be best known for his work in Toronto-based bands Milk Lines, Breeze and Beliefs. Connolly recruited several of his bandmates and local musicians […]
Heavily influenced by Sonic Youth, The Stooges and My Bloody Valentine, the London, UK and Aylesbury, UK-based garage rock band, Black JuJu will be releasing their debut album. Killed by Youth on September 25. However, the latest […]
Formed in Budapest, Hungry back in 2004 by then-teenagers Tonyo Szabo (vocals and keyboards), Gergo Dorozsmai (drums), followed by Csaba Szabo (bass) and Migel Gyorgy (guitar), the Moog have developed a reputation in their homeland […]
Based in Jersey City, the duo of Tom Barrett and Lysa Opfer formed Overlake after bonding over a shared love of 80s and 90s indie rock and alt rock while playing in another band. As Opfer recalls, […]