Tag: Spin Magazine

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tape Waves Release an Intimate and Playful Visual for “Invisible Lines”

Charleston, SC-based dream pop duo Tape Waves — Kim and Jarod Weldin — have released three albums through San Diego-based label Bleeding Gold Records, which have garnered comparisons to the likes of Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins and Best Coast while receiving glowing praise from the likes of SPIN Magazine, who once described the duo’s sound as “wistful, lens-blurred dream pop to soundtrack nostalgia daydreams and sleepy weekend afternoons.” 

The duo’s two most recent albums were also released through 2670 Records in Japan, where they toured to support 2018’s Distant Light.

The South Carolina-based act’s fourth album Bright is slated for a June 4, 2021 release through Emotional Response Records — and the album reportedly finds the duo combining their long-established sun-drenched pop with the influences of My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Teenage Fanclub.

Earlier this week, the Chucktown-based duo released “Tired,” a lush and sunny track equally indebted to dream pop and shoegaze that reminded me quite a bit of Slowdive’s gorgeous 2017 self-titled album. Bright’s latest single “Invisible Lines.” centered around shimming acoustic guitar, gently oscillating feedback, padded drumming and Kim Weldin’s plaintive and ethereal vocals, “Invisible Lines” — and as a result, the track is arguably one of the album’s more contemplative yet dreamy tracks, evoking the sensation of daydreaming on a gorgeous late Spring or early Summer afternoon. (Much like today — May 13 — in New York.)

The recently released DIY video for “Invisible Lines” is an intimate yet playful look into the Weldin’s world: we follow the duo as they ride bicycles down the street, head to a local ice cream shop, play with their cat, pull out the album’s that they love and have insisted them, and of course, play the song in their home.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Charleston, SC-based dream pop duo Tape Waves — Kim and Jarod Weldin — have released three albums through San Diego-based label Bleeding Gold Records, which have garnered comparisons to the likes of Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins and Best Coast while receiving glowing praise from the likes of SPIN Magazine, who once described the duo’s sound as “wistful, lens-blurred dream pop to soundtrack nostalgia daydreams and sleepy weekend afternoons.”

The duo’s two most recent albums were also released through 2670 Records in Japan, where they toured to support 2018’s Distant Light.

The South Carolina-based act’s fourth album Bright is slated for a June 4, 2021 release through Emotional Response Records — and the album reportedly finds the duo combining their long-established sun-drenched pop with the influences of My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Teenage Fanclub.

“Tired,” Bright‘s latest single is a lush and sunny track, equally indebted to dream pop and shoegaze, centered around shimmering guitars, cavernous drumming, Kim Weldin’s ethereal vocals and rousingly anthemic hooks. Interestingly, “Tired” reminds me of Slowdive’s gorgeous 2017 self-titled album, complete with a similar sonic depth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: tiger lily and Fluencie Team Up on a Slickly produced, Top 40-like Pop Confection

Rising Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and pop artist tiger lily met collaborator and electronic music artist and producer Fluencie when they were both high schoolers: The pair met in the hallways of Seattle’s Ingraham High School. At the time, tiger lily was fronting a grunge band while Fluencie was busking with his keyboard after school for tips.

Fast forward a few years, and the pair have managed to make major moves in their careers: Fluence has been hailed by Dance Music Northwest as “Seattle’s Next Big Thing,” while playing some of the region’s largest festivals, including Capitol Hill Block Party. Adding to a growing profile, the Seattle-based electronic music artist and producer has opened for the likes of Blackbear, Said the Sky, and Joey Bada$$. Simultaneously, tiger lily has won the attention of media outlets like Spin Magazine, IGGY Magazine, DJ Magazine and Earmilk, who described her sound as pop that
“radiates heat . . . the grainy film of memories so sweet and persistent.”

The duo’s first official collaboration together “juneau, alaska” is a slickly produced, radio friendly, Top 40-inspired confection. Starting with an acoustic pop intro featuring tiger lily’s ethereal yet sultry cooing and acoustic guitar, the song morphs into a Taylor Swift/Phoebe Ryan-like banger centered around shimmering and wobbling synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and an enormous hook. But underneath the song’s crowd pleasing surface, the song is rooted in an aching nostalgia for a period of time that seemed simpler and can’t be had again. In the case of “juneau, alaska,” the song describes a longing for the narrator’s high school days — in particular, the memories of an almost beau/situationship, the records they used to love and play all the time and other small but significant moments.

The recently released video features the rising pop star in a director’s chair, being fierce while strobe lights flash and projections of Alaskan scenery show up behind her. At other points Fluence is with the rising pop star, rocking out while Pro Tricking Athlete World Champion Bailey Payne back flips and somersaults around the room.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Close Talker’s Cinematic and Eerily Visuals for “Half Past Nine”

Initially forming back in 2012, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada-based indie trio Close Talker, comprised of childhood friends Will Quiring, Matthew Kopperud and Christopher Morien have made some big career strides in a relatively short period of time — two critically applauded albums that have received attention from a number of well-regarded, internationally known blogs and publications, including NPR, Billboard, Clash, Spin, Q Magazine, and Consequence of Sound and a number of tours across North America, the European Union and the UK. After becoming a trio in 2015, the band has spent time honing their craft and sound, eventually developing a self-assured, atmospheric sound. 

Having recently won Alternative Artist of the Year at the Saskatchewan Music Awards, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based trio hope that 2019 will be a breakthrough year for them. Building upon a growing profile, the trio’s latest single, the self-assured and atmospheric “Half Past Nine” is the first batch of new material from the band this year. Centered by shimmering guitars, propulsive beats, ethereal vocals and a soaring hook, the band’s latest single is a quietly ambitious and achingly wistful track that the band explains via email is “about a concert the three of us attended at our favourite summer festival. It’s about looking around at friends, at strangers, and seeing each person sing along to words that mean so much to them – words that have carried them through times only they know about. It’s about holding on to the moments that you never want to end, and then desperately trying to remember them after they are gone. It takes hindsight to recognize when something profound has happened, but every now and then, you’re able to sense it right in the moment.” The song as the band continues “is about those moments and attempting to cling to them.”  

“Wish we could say this was the first time we nearly got hyperthermia for a Close Talker video, but that would be a lie,” the members of the band say of the video treatment for “Half Past Nine.” “We shot the video on the beautiful coastline of Vancouver Island where we had been surfing the day before. The beach was vacant because it was too cold for the locals, so we thought we’d seize the moment and film a video that is cyclical in nature, beginning and ending in the freezing cold ocean. The video includes themes of chasing moments or feelings from the past, only to recognize that you’ll always be chasing if you don’t stop and enjoy the simple and often overlooked beauty around you. Filmed by the talented Ben Giesbrecht.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays WINDHAND Release a Roger Corman-Influenced Video for Pummeling Dirge “Red Cloud”

Throughout the past few years of the site’s eight-plus year history, I’ve written quite a bit about the  Richmond, Virginia-based doom metal band WINDHAND, and as you may recall, the band which is currently comprised of Dorthia Cottrell (vocals), Garrett Morris (guitar), Parker Chandler (bass) and Ryan Wolfe (drums) can trace their origins back to 2009. Within a year of their formation, they released a two-track self-recorded CD that quickly garnered comparisons to Electric Wizard, The Devil’s Blood and Black Sabbath. Building upon a growing profile, their 2012 self-titled debut became an underground hit and sold out multiple vinyl pressings within a few months. 

Released in 2013 through Relapse Records, the Northern Virginia-based band’s critically applauded sophomore album Soma received praise from Stereogum, Spin, LA Weekly, Revolver, Invisible Oranges, MetalSucks, Metal Injection, Rolling Stone and NPR — with Pitchfork naming the album as one of the third best metal releases of the year. Adding to a breakthrough year, the band spend the bulk of 2013 and 2014 touring North American, the European Union and Australia supporting Soma with Sleep, High on Fire, Dead Meadow and Kvelertak — and they made stops on the international festival circuit with sets at Roadburn, SXSW, Scion Rock Fest, Day of the Shred and Maryland Deathfest. 
2015’s Jack Endino-produced, third full-length album, Grief’s Infernal Flower managed to further cement their reputation for crafting sludgy, murky, punishing power chord-based dirges. Released earlier this month, WINDHAND’s fourth, full-length album Eternal Return finds the band continuing their collaboration with renowned producer Jack Endino — and the album thematically is centered around observations and reflections on life’s ups and downs, joys and sorrows, beginnings and ends. Between Grief’s Infernal Flower and their recently released album, the members of the band welcomed the births of children, experienced a number of lineup changes and mourned an unexpected and tragic death. And unsurprisingly, as a result, the album’s material and the sequential order of its song are the direct result of those experiences — while sonically, the band crafts material that balances heavy and brooding dirges with psychedelic and meditative passages.  Album single “Grey Gardens” was part of an early batch of album singles that were among the heaviest batches of material they recorded — and while being a thunderous and slow-burning dirge, the single finds the band’s sound and approach subtly moving towards Screaming Life/Foppand Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden, complete with a lysergic bridge. “Red Cloud,” Eternal Return’s latest single continues in a similar vein as its predecessor as it’s a heavy and psychedelic dirge, centered by some explosive guitar work, rumbling low end, thundering drumming, Dorthia Cottrell’s smoky vocals and an anthemic hook; but unlike it’s predecessor there’s a sense of foreboding doom at its core. 

Directed and animated by Zev Deans, the recently released video  features a seamless blend of live-action and animated scenery, as it follows a washed-up and hopelessly incompetent warlock and imbecilic and hunch-backed henchman as they try to kidnap The Scarlet Woman. Visually, the video is reportedly a homage to the horror films of the early 1960s, specifically Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe series — and naturally, it’s perfect for the Halloween season.