Tag: Tame Impala

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tame Impala’s Jay Watson Releases Trippy Synth-based Psych Pop Paired with 80s-Inspired Visuals

Best known as a touring member of renowned indie psych pop act Tame Impala, Jay Watson has received attention with his solo recording project GUM, a psych pop project which bears some sonic resemblance to his primary gig, as well as Painted Palms and others. Watson’s latest effort as GUM Flash In The Pan was released earlier this year, and as you’ll hear from the album’s latest single “Gemini,” Watson pairs a slick and trippy production consisting of swirling electronics, stuttering drum programming, shimmering synths, wobbling low end with Watson’s ethereal vocals and an infectious dance floor-friendly hook — and the single will continue to cement Watson’s reputation for crafting slick and trippy synth-based psych pop.

Directed by Sam Kristofski, the recently released music video for “Gemini” is as Krisofski explains in press notes “roughly styled around old children’s fantasy shows, like The Neverending Story. I love the idea of people blaming their behavior on their star sign too, so I think that was the whole section around someone crying, and in deep thought then cutting to the symbol. Also Jay fighting his star sign was based around that whole Gemini double personality thing, in combat with your other half, I just did the 80’s Karate Kid thing as it mixed in with the theme and tone of the clip.

We shot the whole thing in LA on left over 35mm and 16mm film stock from CSI Las Vegas, which was a risk as the film was so old.” And as a result, the video manages to look as though it were shot in the 1980s, complete with some occult-like imagery.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Turkish JOVM Mainstays The Away Days Return With Their Most Politically Charged Single to Date

Now, over the past couple of years, the Turkish indie rock quartet have released a series of singles that have that have seen international attention across the blogosphere, including this site where the band has added their name to a growing list of mainstay artists. Up until recently, it had been about a year since we had last heard from the renowned Istanbul-based quartet; but as it turns out, the band had been busy working on the material, which will comprise their highly-anticipated full-length debut effort. The album’s first two singles “Less Is More” and “World Horizon” were atmospheric yet lush tracks in which plaintive vocals were paired with ethereal and shimmering synths — while drawing from the band members’ lives as musicians in a society in which their efforts are viewed suspicious and seditious.

“Places to Go,” the third and latest single off the band’s forthcoming full-length debut is a lush and plaintive song featuring layers of shimmering guitar, a tight motorik-like groove and a soaring, anthemic hook — and in some way it makes the song sound as though it were inspired by classic shoegaze and contemporary pop and indie rock; however, the song manages to possess a deeply held tension as lyrically, the band draws from their lives and the lives of Turkish young people as the song touches upon the sense of frustration, boredom, oppression and conformity, lack of opportunity and their overall restlessness.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Psychedelic Visuals for The Moonlandingz’ Manchester-Inspired Single “Black Hanz”

Featuring The Eccentronic Research Council‘s Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer and Fat White Family‘s Lias Saoudi and Saul Adamczweski, The Moonlandingz are both a side project and a semi-fictional guitar pop act, whose latest single “Black Hanz,” is as the band refers to in press notes “a song for our times, born out of abuse; abuse in the workplace, abuse in the street, abuse by the sniveling toe rags we call a government, abuse for daring to dream and to be different,” and “a celebration of the Outsider, the socially inept . . ” Sonically speaking their sound manages to mesh a facsimile of the Manchester sound — twinkling synths, guitars fed through delay and effects pedals and a driving motorik groove — paired with a sneering and ironic punk sentiment, and a mischievous and menacing spoken word section towards the song’s bridge.

The recently released video features a Ziggy Startdust-era David Bowie rocker who gets picked on, ridiculed and threatened everywhere he goes for both his ridiculous, alien-like appearance and for having the bravery to not fit in. The video goes into much stranger territory when the rocker’s Fairy Godmother swoops down to save him from a bunch of thugs — and then promptly places him where he belongs, fronting a rock band. Simply put it’s fittingly and goofily low-budget while emphasizing the song’s central theme of celebrating those who are proudly different and are proverbial square pegs – but with a subtly 60s psychedelia.

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Featuring The Eccentronic Research Council‘s Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer and Fat White Family‘s Lias Saoudi and Saul Adamczweski, The Moonlandingz are both a side project and a semi-fictional guitar pop act, whose latest single “Black Hanz,” is as the band refers to in press notes “a song for our times, born out of abuse; abuse in the workplace, abuse in the street, abuse by the sniveling toe rags we call a government, abuse for daring to dream and to be different,” and “a celebration of the Outsider, the socially inept . . ” Sonically speaking their sound manages to mesh a facsimile of the Manchester sound — twinkling synths, guitars fed through delay and effects pedals and a driving motorik groove — paired with a sneering and ironic punk sentiment, and a mischievous and menacing spoken word section towards the song’s bridge.

The project’s full-length debut effort was co-produced by Sean Lennon and the band and was mixed by Dave Fridmann, best known for his work producing Flaming Lips and Tame Impala, and is slated for a 2017 release through Chimera Music across North America and Transgressive Records in the UK and elsewhere.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Griffith Synder (vocals), Charles Kern (guitar, programming) and multi-instrumentalist Julia Mendiolea, the Denver, CO-bassed indie electro pop/dream pop trio Inner Oceans formed back in 2013 over a mutual desire by each of the band’s three members to create music that’s personal while embodying a spiritual mystery and elegance that’s just out of touch. And with the release of their early singles “8 Cousins” and “Everything’s Alright,” the Denver-based trio received both national and international attention as both singles landed on several high-profile Spotify playlists, and have opened for the likes Tennis, Wild Nothing, Hundred Waters, Big Data, Moses Sumney, On an On, Holy Fuck and Shigeto among others. And of course, since the release of those singles, the trio have received quite a bit of attention from major media outlets and the blogosphere alike including Westword, who named the trio 2014’s “Best New Band,” Idolator and No Fear Of Pop and others.

Earlier this summer, the duo released two singles “Wild” and “Apparition,” which revealed that the trio has increasingly moved towards an aesthetic that’s difficult to pigeonhole or tie down. Interestingly, the trio’s latest single “Call Through The Wire” is a slow-burning bit of synth pop in which Snyder’s plaintive and tender falsetto floats over atmospheric and shimmering synths and a simple yet propulsive rhythm — and in some way, the song nods at Quiet Storm-era R&B and Tame Impala‘s psych-leaning pop.

The recently released music video employs a fairly simple concept –the trio’s frontman Synder singing the song in front of a psychedelic background and in some way, it nods at Michael Jackson‘s “Rock With You.”

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Australian Psych Pop Act Pond’s Tame Impala-Channeling, New Single

“Sweep Me Off My Feet,” is the first bit of new material from the band since last year’s Man, It Feels Like Space Again and interestingly enough the single sounds as though it could have been a Tame Impala B side — and that’s not a terrible thing, really. Sonically speaking, the band pairs boom-bap like drums, layers of buzzing synths, chiming percussion, plaintive falsetto vocals, buzzing yet bluesy guitar solo and an anthemic hook in a slow-burning and trippy bit of psych pop that possesses an urgent, carnal need and vulnerability underneath it’s arena rock swagger. Unsurprisingly, “Sweep Me Off My Feet” is also the first single from the band’s forthcoming, Kevin Parker produced, untitled full-length album slated for release in early 2017.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Inspired by The Cure, Tame Impala and others, Istanbul, Turkey-based quartet The Away Days have developed a reputation in their homeland for being at the forefront of a contemporary and extremely Western-inspired indie music scene — and interestingly enough, the How Did It Start? EP, the Turkish indie rock band was released to critical praise from internationally recognized media outlets including The Guardian, SPIN Magazine,Noisey and received airplay from renowned indie station KEXP. Adding to a growing international profile, the band has toured the UK, made appearances at two consecutive SXSW And with a growing international profile, the quartet went on a tour of the UK and made appearance at two consecutive SXSW Festivals and have opened for the likes of Portishead, Massive Attack, Belle and Sebastian and others.

 

Over the past couple of years, the Istanbul, Turkey-based quartet have released a batch of singles that have received attention across the blogosphere, including this site; however, the band has been working on the material which, will comprise their highly-anticipated full-length debut effort. Much like the album’s lush and atmospheric first single “Less Is More,” the album’s latest single “World Horizon” is a slow burning, moody and atmospheric ballad consisting of plaintive vocals paired with ethereal and shimmering synths, stuttering, four-on-the-floor drumming and equally shimmering guitars that’s largely inspired by the band members’ own lives in Istanbul,  living in “never ending lies . . .” And as a result, the song possesses a mournful air, as the song’s recognizes a loss of innocence and belief in innocence and goodness.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: J. Hanna’s Slick Club-Friendly Remix of RICCA VITA’s “Abba Dabba” And It’s Neon Paint Filled Visuals

The original single is a lush, dreamy and ethereal bit of synth pop in which shimmering synths, gently swirling electronics are paired with plaintive vocals in a song that sounds as though it drew from Tame Impala, Vinyl Williams and others. However, the J. Hanna remix turns the psychedelic-leaning song into a slick, futuristic R&B-leaning synth pop in which the original’s plaintive vocals are paired with propulsive drum programming and boom bap-like beats, cascading layers of shimmering synths and razor sharp, contemporary pop-leaning hooks, essentially turning the song into a radio-friendly, club-banging track.

Interestingly, the video was shot not for the original song but for the remix. Shot in just four-and-a-half hours with most of it shot at Ryssemus’ home and segments shot at a few abandoned factories in downtown Nashville. As Ryssemus explains in press notes, “The remix was being released in a few days, and I was spastically [sic] struck with an idea to make and release the music video in the next three days. So I started frantically calling people and trying to make arrangements and the more people that got involved the more it took shape.” “All the neon scenes came first,” Ryssemus explains. “A friend of mine had an idea for doing a photoshoot with neon paint, which as I thought about the concept it spiraled into a place and time- a people. An almost tribal somewhat hedonistic, neon people. With this video, as oppose to the first two, I wanted to make something that felt visually exactly how the music felt. As oppose to taking someone on a journey in a linear logical storyline and I wanted to take someone on more of an emotional journey.” Visually, the video reminds me quite a bit of several videos shot in the 90s.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year you may recall that I wrote about Joshua Tree, CA-based psych rock quartet Sugar Candy Mountain. Comprised of founding member Will Halsey (vocals, guitar), Ash Reiter (vocals, guitar), The Beehavers‘ Bryant Dennison (guitar) and The Electric Magpie‘s Peter Maffei (bass), the psych rock quartet can trace their origins to when Halsey, who has had stints as a drummer in renowned Bay Area-based bands like The Blank Tapes, fpodbpod and Ash Reiter‘s backing band, began the project as a bedroom recording project in which Halsey initially wrong songs in the vein of of Montreal and The Beach Boys. Shortly after Halsey began the project, Reiter joined him and the duo began writing songs together. And interestingly enough, there was a brief period in which they experimented with electro pop songs before they had gone on a decidedly psychedelic direction after Reiter had started obsessively collecting effects pedals. Denison, who also was a bassist and former bandmate in Ash Reiter’s backing band with Reiter and Halsey, joined on as a guitarist (which was interestingly enough, his first instrument).

The band’s recently released album 666, the Joshua Tree, CA-based quartet will further cement their burgeoning reputation for a sound that has been described as being indebted to Jacco Gardner, Tame Impala and the classic psych rock sounds of 60s Laurel Canyon. The album’s first single, album title track “666” possessed an uncanny attention o dreamy melody with the band pairing Reiter’s gorgeous and chilly crooning with gently fuzzy guitar chords, soaring and ethereal organ chords with gentle almost minimalist drumming. Yes, it sounds as though it could have been  was recently discovered in a used record store — perhaps one like Last Vestige in Albany — but with a subtly modern production sheen. 666‘s latest single “Windows” is a slow-burning and contemplative track that features some gorgeously shimmering guitar work, gently padded drumming and jazz-like xylophone with Reiter’s ethereal vocals floating through a mix that will further cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for a classic psych sound straight out of 1966.