Tag: synth pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Penelopes Return with an 80s New Wave and Synth Pop Inspired New Single

Comprised of Paris-born, London-based duo Axel Basquiat (composer, vocals, bass) and Vincent T. (production, sound engineering and keys), The Penelopes are an indie electro pop act, production and DJ duo who have developed a reputation for propulsive, Giorgio Moroder-like remixes of Lana Del Ray, Pet Shop Boys, We Have Band, Night Drive, The Ting Tings, Alt J and others, and for their own original material, which critics have compared favorably to the likes of Daft Punk, M83 and Air. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 3 years or so, you may have come across posts on their remixes of The Ting Tings “Do It Again,” Alt J’s “Hunger of the Pine” and an anthemic, club-banging cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again” that managed to retain the song’s sense of longing.

The duo released a new single package featuring their cover of Bowie’s “This Is Not America,” which received airplay on KCRW, along with several remixes, including Miguel Campbell’s remix, which received airplay on Nemone’s BBC 6 show, and a new, original song “Tina.” The duo’s latest single “Tina” manages to be a decided refinement of the sound that captured both the site’s attention and the rest of the blogosphere; in fact, while retaining a dance floor friendly feel, the song manages to decidedly leans in the direction of 80s New Wave and synth pop — in particular, I’m reminded a bit of Simple Mind’s “Don’t You Forget About Me,” as “Tina” possesses an rousingly anthemic nature that belies a swooning Romantic nature.

The recently released video cuts between footage from Asia Argento’s directorial feature film Misunderstood, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and footage of the band performing the song in a studio, shot in a striking, film noir-like black and white.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Best known as a member of renowned Swedish, electro pop acts Djustin, Club 8 and Acid House Kings and as the head of Stockholm, Sweden-based electro pop label Labrador Records, Johan Angergård has released two full-length solo albums under the moniker The Legends — 2009’s noise pop-leaning self-titled debut and 2015’s It’s Love, which featured lead single “Keep Him.” Interestingly, last year was a prolific and very busy year for Angergård as Djustin and Club 8 released albums — and he released two singles, “Cocaine” feat. Maria Usbeck, “Summer In The City (Living Is For Somebody Else)” and a cover of The Chainsmokers smash-hit “Roses” feat. Rozes which not only reflect a decided change in sonic direction for the Stockholm-based label head, producer and electronic music artist but are also marked the first three singles off his sixth, full-length effort as The Legends, Nightshift,  and with those early singles, Angergård  has developed a decidedly swaggering, neon colored, retro-futuristic sound and aesthetic that channels early 80s Giorgio Moroder, The Man Machine and Computerworld-era Kraftwerk, classic house and Holy Ghost!’s Crime Cutz as heavily vocoder-processed vocals are paired with tweeter and woofer rocking 808s, processed cowbell and layers of arpeggio synths.

Unsurprisingly, Nightshift‘s fourth and latest single “Cash” continues on a similar vein, complete with a cocksure, infectious hook straight out of 1983 and a boom box meets dance floor friendly sound.  And in some way, the song should serve as a reminder that even in our incredibly difficult sociopolitical times, that sometimes you need to have some mindless fun on the dance floor — and that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring Superhuman Happiness‘ founding members Stuart Bogie, Eric Biondo, along with Andrea Diaz (a.k.a. Dia Luna); producer and multi-instrumentalist Ian Hersey, a former member of Rubblebucket; and Brain Bisordi (percussion), the Brooklyn-based experimental pop act TOUCH/FEEL can trace its origins to when Superhuman Happiness’ primary trio, had convened to write material for what they thought would be the band’s third full-length effort. And as the trio explains in press notes, while they had already begun to be known for crafting a sound based around bright and mischievous harmonies and driving, funky polyrhythms, the newer material turned out to be the complete inverse, as the material took on much darker melodies and harmonies with slower, heavier rhythms. The lyrics they began writing with that new sound focused on death, destruction and transformation as being a necessary part of the cycle of existence, drawing some thematic influence from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Tarot, re-runs of Unsolved Mysteries and the renewed sense of urgency that countless folks across the country felt after this past Presidential election. The project’s founding trio of Bogie, Biondo and Diaz then enlisted Ian Hersey and Byran Bisordi to join their new project, as the founding trio felt that both Hersey and Bisordi helped bring a rough edge to the proceedings that makes the music feel raw and alive, “and more like chamber music in the sense that we are playing to each other, and striving to engage each other like a string quartet would — without backing tracks or whatever to regulate the music to a clock.”

The project draws from a wild variety of influences including early Peter Gabriel, Sade, the Kronos Quartet, Fela Kuti and Kraftwerk, sonically as you’ll hear on the project’s debut single “ASHES/GOLD,” Diaz’s husky crooning ethereally floats over a slick production featuring processed drums, analog synths, filtered bass guitar, saxophone, flute and trumpet — and while still bearing a resemblance to the sound that won them attention with Superhuman Happiness, the track is a mid tempo track, full of  plaintive, unresolved longing and ambiguous and murky emotions.

From what I understand live, the material is meant to take the audience through 9 specific movements, much like a chamber music group balancing composition and improvisation and incorporating dancers and a degree of performance art. TOUCH/FEEL’s first live set is on March 4, 2017 at National Sawdust — and based on what the band describes, it sound be a spectacle.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past couple of years, the New York-based, Grammy-nomiated electro pop duo Sofi Tukker have become JOVM mainstay artists while simultaneously seeing both critical and astronomical, commercial success with the release of the duo’s debut EP, Soft Animals. After a quick break, to make what the duo hopes will be the first of many Grammy appearances, the duo is currently on the road and with two Australian shows under their belts, the duo of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern; but they managed to find a bit of time to write and record what may be their most politically charged song to take — an incendiary take down of Donald Trump and his cohorts on  “Greed,” a furious stomp that suggests a punk rock sensibility meshed with club-banging house music. 

Starting next month, the duo will be embarking on a lengthy North American tour, which will include two NYC area dates — a sold out, April 1, 2017 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and a June, 29, 2017 set at this year’s Panorama Festival. Check out tour dates below.

 

Tour Dates*:
*More dates TBA
Mar 10 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel Underground (SOLD OUT)
Mar 11 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel Underground (SOLD OUT)
Mar 12 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas (TICKETS)
 March 14 – 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Mar 18 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) (TICKETS)
Mar 19 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa (TICKETS)
Mar 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 (TICKETS)
Mar 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings (TICKETS)
Mar 24 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall (TICKETS)
Mar 25 – Rockland, ME @ The Farnsworth Museum (TICKETS)
Mar 29 – Boston, MA @ Middle East (Upstairs) (SOLD OUT)
Mar 30 – Hamden, CT @ The Ballroom (TICKETS)
Mar 31 – Providence, RI @ Aurora (TICKETS)
Apr 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT)
Apr 13 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s w/ Little Dragon (TICKETS)
Apr 16 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
Apr 23 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
Jun 15 – Dover, DE @ Firefly Festival
Jun 16 – Dufur, OR @ What The Festival
Jul 29 – New York, NY @ Panorama Festival
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Rick Hornby and Jen Devereaux, the Manchester, UK-born, London, UK-based electro pop duo TenFiveSixty have received attention across the blogosphere for a melancholy and urgent sound that to my ears reminds me a bit of New Order, Cocteau Twins and others, as you’ll hear on the duo’s latest single “You Say” — but with subtly bluesy and shimmering guitar lines and a sultry hook that evokes an urgent, plaintive need and vulnerability while being remarkably dance floor friendly.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of David Fairweather and Daniella Kleovoulou, the London, UK-based electro pop duo The Glass Children have developed a reputation for crafting moody yet upbeat, 80s synth pop-inspired electro pop featuring lush production and etheral production as you would have heard on  the uptempo single “Undone,” which was remixed by JOVM mainstays Moonbabies. Now it’s been some time since I’ve written about the London-based electro pop duo but their latest single “Anything Else” will further cement their reptuation as the single consiss of a sparse, miminalist production featuring stuttering drum programming, ambient and shimmering synths paired with Kleovoulou’s etheral vocals floating over a Portishead/Goldfrapp-inspired mix.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding members Mario Giancarlo Garibaldi (vocals) and Jorge Velásquez (guitar) and later joined by Alex De Renzis (drums), the Peruvian-born, Miami, FL-based members of Hunters of the Alps derive their name from a reference to the citizens in the Alps region, who were actively working and fighting for a united Italy in the 1800s — and as the story goes, the trio can trace its origins back a bit as Velásquez had played in several wave-making Latin Alternative rock bands while Garibaldi had fronted the indie rock band Modernage. Feeling an increasing desire to break away from his then-primary project and have more creative freedom, Garibaldi eventually branched out into Hunters of the Alps.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the Miami-based trio have opened for several renowned acts including Twin Shadow, Tanlines and Unknown Mortal Orchestra and have played sets at Ill Points, Transatlantic Festival and House of Creatives — all before the recent release of their debut Time (How To Love) EP, which features EP title track “Time (How to Love),” a track that caught the attention of All Things Go and Atwood Magazine. The EP’s latest single “It’s You” will further cement the trio’s burgeoning reputation for a New Wave and 80s synth pop sound reminiscent of New Order and Depeche Mode as the trio pairs angular guitar chords with propulsive drumming, a sinuous bass line, shimmering and fluttering arpeggio synths, and Garibaldi’s slightly detached crooning with an anthemic hook in a dance floor friendly song.
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Phantom is a Helsinki, Finland-based, newlywed, electro pop duo of jazz-trained vocalist and poet Hanna Toivonen and tech-futurist and producer Tommi Koskinen and since their formation in 2012, the duo have received praise both nationally and internationally for a sound that has drawn comparisons to Bjork, Morcheeba, The Knife. Along with that, the duo have also developed a reputation for using evolving technologies to further their sonic experimentation; in fact, Koskinen has built a multidimensional technology dubbed The UFO (Ultrasonic Frequency Oscillator in their studio, and as it’s described, the user plays the device by flailing their hands above a flying saucer-looking MIDI controller. He also developed the real-time visual projection software called Z Vector, which uses Kinect cameras and audio data for live performances to create an immersive live set.

Derived from the year the duo first start, MMXII, the duo’s highly-anticipated full-length debut is slated for a February 24, 2017 release through Vlid Music and from the album’s first two singles “Dance,” a moody bit of synth pop  consisting of an atmospheric production featuring oscillating synths, twinkling keys, wobbling, tweeter and woofer rocking low end, futuristic, electronic bleeps and bloops and shuffling drum programming paired with Toivonen’s effortlessly soulful vocals.  Sonically speaking, the song sounds as though it draws from several different sources — the aforementioned Morecheeba in particular, but also from Portishead. “Lost,” MMXII‘s latest single lyrically is informed by parts of two poems she had written “Enemies” and “Old Man” written during a trip to the 2013 Venice Art Biennale, where Toivonen met a billionaire art collector, who had lived a fascinating life, a pirate  and in which Koskinen lost his luggage; but made the beat.The song features a production in which enormous 808-like beats are paired with swirling electronics and distorted synths and wobbling low end reminiscent of The Fragile-era Nine Inch Nails. And just like its preceding single, there’s room for Toivonen’s sultry and soulful vocals to float over the moody mix.

What makes both songs interesting to me is the fact that they balance a hauntingly cinematic quality with an emotional intimacy in which Toivonen seems to be confessing her innermost secrets and desires directly to the listener.

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Karolina Rose is an up-and-coming Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, who I caught over the summer playing an acoustic, solo set at Kelsey Warren’s wildly eclectic Festival 8 last summer; however, her Andros Rodriguez produced debut single “Move With Me” is an anthemic 80s synth pop and New Wave-leaning single in which the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter’s achingly vulnerable yet sultry and assertive, pop star belter vocals are paired with shimmering arpeggio synths and four-on-the-floor led drum programming. Sonically, the song nods at A Flock of Seagulls and Florence and the Machine, thanks to a dance floor friendliness but more important, the song possesses an urgent intensity; in fact, as the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter explains in press notes, the song is “about that struck-by-lightning feeling you get when love first hits you. It’s a paralyzing intensity in a good way that makes you want to snap out of it, race forward and indulge in it evermore.” But even with that passionate excitement, there’s also an uncertainty of what will happen with any new romantic connection and while acknowledging that she could get hurt, the song’s narrator soothes herself by reminding herself that “what will be, will be.” And while some will think it’s fatalistic, the song is also a reminder that love, like anything else in life is a blind, leap of faith.