Tag: Soundcloud

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sugar Pit Shares Freak Folk Anthem “Why I Come Back Home”

Kian Stevens-Winston is an Illinois born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind behind the emerging indie rock recording recording project Sugar Pit. Stevens-Winston started the project in earnest in his Illinois bedroom back in 2015 with a slurry of singles.

While gaining momentum on Soundcloud, Stevens-Winston moved to Philadelphia, to study sound engineering at Drexel. He found a welcome home in the city’s college house show circuit, and then released his debut EP, 2020’s Defense Mechanism, which saw him quickly establishing his signature freak pop sound that draws from post-punk and garage rock paired with a raw yet eccentric vocal performance.

In 2021, Stevens-Winston relocated to San Francisco, where he began writing and recording his full-length debut while developing his live show. Last year, he relocated again to Los Angeles. And in L.A., he has hit the ground running: After assembling a revamped live quartet, the band played a handful of sold-out shows last November. Earlier this year, the Illinois-born, Los Angeles-based artist shared “Why I Come Back Home.”

Built around twangy and folksy acoustic guitar, fuzzy electric guitar-driven power chords, propulsive drumming and enormous power pop-like hooks and choruses paired with Stevens-Winston’s raw, yearning delivery. The song thematically touches upon a series of familiar struggles — life’s endless transitions, newfound independence and the longing for something constant and familiar in a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

Stevens-Winston explains that the song was written in between two major, life-altering events: a breakup and a solo move across the country. The result is a song swerves between heartbreak, despair and pride within the turn of a phrase — and in a fashion that feels familiar.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Harrison Teams Up with Nanna B. on Soulful and Ethereal “Blue Sky”

Harrison Robinson, best known as the mononymic Harrison is a 27-year-old, acclaimed Toronto-based jazz and R&B composer, musician and producer got his start making beats and uploading sample-heavy songs on SoundCloud, where he found a following and global community of like-minded producers and collaborators including Ryan Hemsworth, Star Slinger, and a list of others. 

His first two critically applauded albums, 2016’s Juno Award-nominated Checkpoint Titanium and 2018’s Juno Award-nominated Apricity, which revealed his versatility as a musician and producer, led to him producing some of Canada’s most forward-thinking, boundary-pushing artists including al l i e, Daniela Andrade, DijahSB, Sean Leon and Juno Award-winning artist TOBi, and others.

Over the past couple of years, the Toronto-based musician, composer and producer has been busy: He has released a string of standout songs, including last year’s “Outta This World” with TOBi. He also released a couple of instrumental singles, “Around You’ and “Like When We Were Kids,” which amassed over 3 million combined streams globally. The acclaimed Torontonian has also been busy with compositional work with Nintendo Switch’s LOUD and commercials for NERF and Play-Doh.

The Canadian producer, composer and musician’s highly-anticipated, self-produced, third album Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees, which is slated for an April 28, 2023 release through Last Gang Records, will reportedly continuing to demonstrate the evolution of his sound and approach over the past couple of years. Drawing from his artistic roots, love of old cartoon and musical influences ranging from instrumental hip-hop beat tapes to American jazz piano, like Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown scores, the album is reportedly a nostalgic ode to the music that Harrison dreamed about making as a kid. But much like his previously released work, the forthcoming album sees a collection of guests seamlessly stepping into the acclaimed Canadian producer”s technicolored world. 

I’ve managed to write about four singles off the album:

  • “Float,” feat. Kahdja Bonet, a slow-burning, Quiet Storm-meets-throbbing funk number built around tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap-like beats, a sinuous bass line, glistening synths paired with Bonet’s ethereal and sultry cooing. Fittingly, “Float” is a seemingly effortless love song that captures the dizzy swooning of new love but while subtly acknowledging the inherent uncertainty and fear we all feel. 

  • “A View From The Sky,” a  J. Dilla beat-tape-meets-bop jazz instrumental rooted in a swinging arrangement of twinkling keys, stuttering yet propulsive drumming, fluttering synths that’s simultaneously meditative and head banging. 

  • “Bump,” a funky pimp strut built around twinkling Rhodes, a soulful and strutting bass line and stuttering boom bap that’s roomy enough for MED and one of my favorite emcees Guilty Simpson to trade coolly swaggering bars focusing on the endless hustle, keeping hackstabberrs and deceitful people out of your life, and so on. 

  • “Inthecoupe” is strutting and funky bop with a playful air. Rooted in layers of fluttering and brassy synth arpeggios and twinkling keys, “Inthecoupe” recalls Dam-Funk and Cy Gorman‘s Carmen.”

“Blue Sky,” featuring Nanna B. is the fifth and latest single off Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees is an ethereal and slow-burning neo-soul bop built around lush, twinkling Rhodes, strutting seemingly reggae-influenced rhythms paired with Nanna B.’s soulful, jazz-tinged delivery. Informed by the weirdness and uncertainty of the past couple of years, “Blue Sky” manages to evoke a complex array of emotions — isolation, longing, despair, unease and hope with a lived-in specificity.

“Nanna captured the vibe of the instrumental for this one,” Harrison says of the collaboration with an artist known for her work with Raphael Saaddiq, Hodgy Beats, and Mndsgn. “Nanna and I chatted earlier last year over Zoom about the effects on the pandemic and how we got through it. I think she captures the solitude of the situation while also floating across the beat.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Two More from Acclaimed Canadian Producer Harrison

This past weekend, I was busy covering the fourth edition of The New Colossus Festival. I managed to cover roughly 32.5 — 32.5! — sets of music in some way or another and interview two up-and-coming artists. And for my efforts, I managed to catch a terrible cold that has knocked me on my ass for the past couple of days. I’ve had odd bursts of energy here and there, and when I’ve had one, I’ve tried my best to get some work done. The show must go on, right?

So let’s get to the business at hand.

Harrison Robinson, best known as the mononymic Harrison is a 27-year-old, acclaimed Toronto-based jazz and R&B composer, musician and producer got his start making beats and uploading sample-heavy songs on SoundCloud, where he found a following and global community of like-minded producers and collaborators including Ryan Hemsworth, Star Slinger, and a list of others. 

His first two critically applauded albums, 2016’s Juno Award-nominated Checkpoint Titanium and 2018’s Juno Award-nominated Apricity, which revealed his versatility as a musician and producer, lead to him producing for some of Canada’s most forward-thinking, boundary-pushing artists including al l i e, Daniela Andrade, DijahSB, Sean Leon and Juno Award-winning artist TOBi, among a list of others. 

Over the past couple of years, the Toronto-based musician, composer and producer has been busy: He has released a string of standout songs, including last year’s “Outta This World” with TOBi. He also released a couple of instrumental singles, “Around You’ and “Like When We Were Kids,” which amassed over 3 million combined streams globally. The acclaimed Torontonian has also been busy with compositional work with Nintendo Switch’s LOUD and commercials for NERF and Play-Doh.

Harrison started off 2023 with two singles:

  • “Float,” feat. Kahdja Bonet, a slow-burning, Quiet Storm-meets-throbbing funk number built around tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap-like beats, a sinuous bass line, glistening synths paired with Bonet’s ethereal and sultry cooing. Fittingly, “Float” is a seemingly effortless love song that captures the dizzy swooning of new love but while subtly acknowledging the inherent uncertainty and fear we all feel. 

  • “A View From The Sky,” a  J. Dilla beat-tape-meets-bop jazz instrumental rooted in a swinging arrangement of twinkling keys, stuttering yet propulsive drumming, fluttering synths that’s simultaneously meditative and head banging. 

Both tracks see the acclaimed Canadian musician, composer and producer boldly pushing his sound into new directions while retaining the elements that have won him acclaim. Fittingly, the Canadian producer, composer and musician’s highly-anticipated, self-produced, third album Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees, which is slated for an April 28, 2023 release through Last Gang Records, will reportedly continuing to demonstrate the evolution of his sound and approach over the past couple of years. .

Drawing from his artistic roots, love of old cartoon and musical influences ranging from instrumental hip-hop beat tapes to American jazz piano, like Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown scores, the album is reportedly a nostalgic ode to the music that Harrison dreamed about making as a kid. But much like his previously released work, the forthcoming album sees a collection of guests seamlessly stepping into the acclaimed Canadian producer”s technicolored world.

Yesterday, Harrison shared two more tracks off the album:

“Bump,” a funky pimp strut built around twinkling Rhodes, a soulful and strutting bass line and stuttering boom bap that’s roomy enough for MED and one of my favorite emcees Guilty Simpson to trade coolly swaggering bars focusing on the endless hustle, keeping hackstabberrs and deceitful people out of your life, and so on.

“‘Bump’ Is a love letter to some of my favorite rappers growing up,” Harrison explains in press notes. “MED and Guilty have been huge influences on me since I was 16. Understanding their beat choices on producers they worked with was a really helpful growing tool. The instrumental for ‘BUMP’ was actually originally different. They found the pocket I was looking for on this new joint. I’m floored that they were kind enough to join me on this album.

“Inthecoupe” is strutting and funky bop with a playful air. Rooted in layers of fluttering and brassy synth arpeggios and twinkling keys, “Inthecoupe” recalls Dam-Funk and Cy Gorman‘s Carmen, “‘Inthecoupe’ is a reminder to myself to not be so serious all the time. My love for jazz is very deep but I still love making fun dance music. A playful song revolving around a brass synth and a bounce.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Chiara Foschiani is a Paris-born-and-based singer/songwriter and pianist. Although she’s just 17, the Paris-born artist can trace the origins of her music career to learning the piano when she turned eight. Foschiani started signing when she was 13, joining local bands and performing on small stages and local music festivals before she started writing her own original material. 

Her first two singles “Queen of Disaster” and the cinematic, Dummy-era Portishead-like “My Glass of Wine” amassed 45,000 and 61,000 YouTube views in a week — and building upon a growing profile, Foschiani released her debut EP Trouble Maker earlier this month. “I wanted this first EP as a journey into the twists and turns of the subconscious,” the rising Paris-based singer/songwriter explains in press notes. “A sometimes painful journey that reminds us that all encounters are not always simple or healthy, but that there is always hope and that all experiences build us and strengthen us.”ght

The EP’s third and latest single “God Damn” is a slickly produced track centered around skittering boom bap beats, twinkling and reverb-drenched synths, Foschiani’s clear and soulful vocals and a shout-along-worthy hook. Interestingly, unlike its two immediate predecessors, “God Damn” may be the most straight forward, summery pop confections she has written to date. But at it’s core, the song is fueled by earnest songwriting seemingly born from lived-in experience.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Chiara Foschiani is a Paris-born-and-based singer/songwriter and pianist. Although she’s just 17, the Paris-born artist can trace the origins of her music career to learning the piano when she turned eight. Foschiani started signing when she was 13, joining local bands and performing on small stages and local music festivals before she started writing her own original material.

Since 2018, the emerging French singer/songwriter has been posting demos and covers on Soundcloud — with her material amassing over 49,000 streams. When Foschiani turned 16, she left school to fully dedicate herself to music, spending her time with literature, film, concerts, festivals and listening to new music and meeting artists. But generally speaking, she cites Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lana del Rey and others as influences on her work.

Foschiani’s second and latest single is the slow-burning ballad “My Glass of Wine.” Centered around thumping beats, shimmering and atmospheric synths and the French singer/songwriter’s self-assured and soulful vocals, “My Glass of Wine” manages to bring Dummy-era Portishead to mind, complete with a brooding, cinematic quality.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Aussie Act Telescreen Releases a Bold and Striking Visual for Anthemic “Moving On”

Last year was a breakthrough year for the rising, Melbourne, Australia-based indie rock act Telescreen — Nic Schwarz, Dan Carolan, Ali Ward, Matt Martin and Ollie McIntyre — with EP title track “Growing Pains” getting regular rotation on Triple J Unearthed and community radio across the country. “Growing Pains” was featured on British blog Scientists of Sound before landing at #1 on the global Hype Machine charts. And as a result, the track garnered 15,000 SoundCloud streams within a few days. The rising Aussie act also released their first music video for EP track “In Mind,” which received airplay on rage, a national music video show — and was featured on popular music site ClippedTV.

Adding to a growing profile, the band opened for for the likes of Mosquito Coast, STUMPS, DIET., Francesca Gonzales, Creature Fear and The Attics, before eventually selling out their biggest headlining shows. And they played some of their first festival sets in the history. Interestingly, with the band’s rapidly growing profile, the band’s frontman Nic Schwarz left his full-time job to pursue music full-time. Schwarz has spent most of this past year cowriting with producers and artists across Australia through video conferencing during pandemic-related shutdowns and in-person when he could.

Of course, much like countless other bands across the globe, the members of Telescreen had hopes of making big moves this year, but they all managed to buckle down to write new material, including their latest single “Moving On.” Officially, serving as the follow-up to their attention grabbing debut EP, “Moving On” is centered around a rousingly anthemic, shout-along worthy hook, angular guitar blasts, staccato hi-hat and a slick, radio friendly production. However, under the studio polish, the song expresses the anger, frustration, shock and dismay over a disconnected and failing social order — but through the prism of a romantic relationship gone wrong.

“We, as a group, felt as though there was this real disconnect between the actions of Australia’s leaders and the true needs of those affected by the fires,” the band’s frontman Nic Schwarz says in press notes. “‘Moving On’ addresses our politicians’ disregard for public opinion, along with their seemingly growing inaction and detachment from issues in order to protect their self-interests.”

Earlier this year, the members of Telescreen put together a benefit show with fellow rising Melbourne acts Feelds and El Tee to raise much-needed funds for bushfire relief. And although, the year has been a loss, they did receive some incredibly good news: they won this year’s Triple J Unearthed NIDA Competition, in which the winner would be provided an opportunity to work with a team of students from the National Institute of Dramatic Art to create a music video. (Full credits are below, if you’re curious. Plus, we should try to always shout out talented young people, right?)

Shot with pandemic-related restrictions and limitations, the entire creative team came up with a bold and striking visual featuring a diverse cast of models/actors at a photoshoot. Initially forced to conform through wearing all black outfits. But as the video progresses, the actors strike back out of frustration and annoyance, eventually letting their freak flags — and their true selves proudly fly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

Denny Soloist is a rising, Maryland-born singer/songwriter and photographer — and within a week of posting “Not Built For War” on SoundCloud back in 2015, the Maryland native quickly amassed over 10,000 streams. Building upon that momentum, Soloist released his debut mixtape 2016’s Truth or Dare, which featured “Not Built For War” and his official debut single “The Funeral.”

The following year, Denny Soloist released covers of James Arthur‘s “Say You Won’t Let Go” and JoJo‘s remix of Drake‘s “Marvins Room,” which both wound up landing one Apple Music Connect’s Top 200. 2017 also saw the release of his second official single “Out The Window,” a collaboration with rapper Pro-Lific.

The Maryland native then took most of 2018 away from the music industry to focus on his other passion — photography. During that same year, which featured a period of deep, personal reflection, Soloist came to terms with his sexuality, releasing some of his most honest material to date, including last year’s BOYS mixtape.

Soloist begins 2020 with the sultry, trap-influenced banger “Selfish.” Featuring shimmering synths, rapid-fire stuttering beats, wobbling low end and Soloist’s achingly plaintive falsetto, the track details how the song’s narrator ruined a romantic relationship through his own selfishness — cheating on his lover left and right. But the song is centered by a hilarious yet realistic irony: although the song’s narrator admittedly feels badly about his own deceitfulness, he isn’t naive; he’s aware that his lover was doing the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Fonkyson is a rising Montreal-based future house and electro funk DJ and producer, who has released a full-length album — 2016’s #followme — and a handful of singles through Lisbon Lux Records. The Montreal-based DJ and producer’s latest single “You Got It” is centered around Vaness’ sultry and soulful, come hither vocals, a sinuous bass line, handclaps and finger snaps, shimmering synth arpeggios and tweeter and woofer rocking 808s and an infectious hook  with the end result being a summery, club friendly  anthem that seamlessly meshes 80s synth funk and 90s house.  

“During the creation process of the album, I had this beat I composed, kind of sunny chill 808 bass-driven track with a relaxed west coast vibe,” the rising Canadian producer and DJ says of the song’s creative process. “I firstly aimed for an instrumental but tried some acapellas quickly on the track to have a hint of where it could go, a pretty nice producer trick I often do. Then I fell in love with that R&B vibe a female voice could bring to it. I began to search for an artist to ask for a feat, and saw Vaness’s profile on Soundcloud. I loved her vibe, her range, the vocal fioritures that reminded me of 90s R&B divas. She loved the instrumental and said yes. She took quite some time to record a demo, but I remember when I finally got it, I opened the file and it was exactly what I hoped for and way beyond. It wasn’t a demo, it was the final song. Touchdown.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Mighty Oaks Release a Hazy and Nostalgic-Tinged Visual for Contemplative “Lost Again”

Mighty Oaks is a Berlin-based indie folk/folk rock act comprised of American-born Ian Hooper (vocals, acoustic/electric guitar, mandolin and ukulele), Italian-born Claudio Donzelli (vocals, acoustic/electric guitar), piano, mandolin, banjo) and British-born Craig Saunders (vocals, bass, mandolin).  The act can trace its origins back to early 2010.  As the story goes, after completing college, Ian Hooper relocated to Hamburg,  where he had begun working on material as a solo artist. While in Hamburg, Hooper met and befriended Craig Saunders, who was also working on material as a solo artist. Several months later, Hooper and Saunders met Claudio Donzelli at a small, acoustic music festival and the trio managed to keep in touch, bonding over a mutual interest in indie rock and folk rock. 

The members of Mighty Oaks wrote, recorded, produced and self-released their 2011 self-titled, debut EP. Recorded in Donzelli’s apartment, the EP eventually amassed several hundred thousand hits on SoundCloud.  Building upon a growing profile, the trio self-released their first studio recorded EP, 2012’s Just One Day, which was distributed by Rough Trade Records. The band supported the EP with a busy touring schedule that included — a European tour, opening for Shout Out Louds; opening for Kings of Leon at the Waldbuhne in Berlin; and joining acts like CHVRCHES on Intro Magazine’s “Introducing!” tour of Germany. By the all of 2013, Mighty Oaks played a sold-out, headlining tour of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. 

Early 2014 saw the release of their full-length debut Howl through Universal Records in Europe. The album was a critical and commercial success with the album peaking at #10 on the German and Swiss charts. The album also landed on the charts of several other countries. Additionally, several singles off the album charted. The band also made the rounds across the international festival circuit, playing sets at Melt! Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Latitude Festival, Way Out West Festival, Exit Festival and Valkhof Festival. 

The band closed out 2014 with  the release of the Brother EP in the States, as well as a headlining European tour. And by the beginning of 2015, Howl was released in the States. The members of Mighty Oaks went on to play SXSW — and then followed that up with a Stateside tour with Milky Chance. 

After spending almost two years of uninterrupted touring, the members of the band took the bulk of 2016 off, with each individual member temporarily returning to their home countries. They eventually reconvened at Ryan Hadlock’s Washington State-based studio to write and record their sophomore album, 2017’s Dreamers. The band supported Dreamers with a sold-out European tour during that spring, a fall North American tour and a follow-up, sold-out winter European tour. Interestingly, just before their winter European tour, the band self-released the four song Storm EP. 

2018 was rather busy for the band: that summer, they played a number of major European festivals including Hurricane Festival, Southside Festival, Traumzeit Festival, Zermatt Unplugged and Milky Chance and Friends Open Air. They closed out the year by returning to the studio to write and record their third full-length album, All Things Go, which is slated for a February 2, 2020 release through BMG. 

Last year saw the release of two album singles — album title track “All Things Go” and “Forget Tomorrow,” and building up buzz for the album, the band’s third and latest single is the contemplative  “Lost Again.” Centered around gently strummed acoustic guitar, swirling and atmospheric electronics, Hooper’s plaintive vocal delivery and a gorgeous bit of harmonizing that recalls Crosby Stills and Nash, the song focuses on a narrator, desperate to turn back back the clock a bit and iron out the wrinkles, mistakes and bad decisions he made when he was younger. “If I had known then, what I know now,” the song’s narrator seems to say in a moment of reflection. At the same time, the song and its narrator seem to acknowledge that he wouldn’t be the person he is right now, if it wasn’t for those mistakes and missteps. Things happen for a reason. And hopefully you learn from it and move forward with some wisdom. 

The recently released video by Andrew Saunderson and no.odds features the members of Mighty Oaks performing the song, but superimposed over them are images of their past — mainly places they’ve seen and been, along with some beautiful shots of nature, which help create a sense of time flashing by. It’s as contemplative as the song while adding a hazy sense of nostalgia to the proceedings.