Tag: The Big Pink

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mount Kimble’s Playful Visuals and New Single Pushes Their Attention-Grabbing Sound in Trippy New Directions

Comprised of Kai Campos and Dominic Maker, the London and Los Angeles-based production and electronic music artist duo Mount Kimbie can trace their origins to when the. St. Austell, Cornwall-born Campos and the Brighton-born Maker met while studying at London Southbank University, where Campos was having another go at school and Maker was studying film.  And with 2009’s Maybes EP and Sketch on Glass EP, and their  2010’s full-length debut Crooks & Lovers, the duo quickly rose to national attention for pushing dubstep into new, exciting directions, including using field recordings to form major elements of their material paired with glitchy synths and electronics, as well as elements of post-punk and other genres — with some critics hailing them as the pioneers of post-dubstep. Unsurprisingly, Crooks & Lovers appeared on over 30 different “Best of 2010” lists, including NME, Mixmag, Resident Advisor, Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound — and along with that NME listed them at number 22 of their 30 Artists for 2011. Adding to a growing profile, the duo have frequently collaborated with James Blake, King Krule and Micachu and have remixed the The Big Pink, Foals, The xx and Andreya Triana among others.
 
By 2012, the band signed with renowned electronic label, Warp Records, who released their critically applauded breakthrough album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth the following year and their third album Love What Survives, which was released earlier this year. Interestingly, their latest album marks two different and important milestones for the duo — their first studio album in four years and the first album with the duo as a Transatlantic duo with one member in London, the other in Los Angeles. The album’s latest single “You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure),” feat. Andrea Balency finds the duo pushing their sound in completely new directions — in this case, nodding at breezy surf pop, psych pop and industrial electronica while retaining the glitchy synths and boom bap beats that first caught the attention of the blogosphere while pairing that with Balency’s coquettish and ethereal vocals. And while seemingly self-assured, the song bristles with the narrator’s awareness of their insecurities and faults. 

Directed by Rosie Marks and Frank Lebon, the recently released video is set in Miami and focuses on (and even emphasizes) the insecurities one has while in a new place — especially when you’re someone from far away, trying to figure out what the hell is going on and how you fit in. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially comprised of founding members Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft, along with Baria Qureshi and Jamie Smith, who joined a bit later, the renowned indie trio The xx can trace their origins to when its founding members met while studying at Elliott School, a school in which Pierce Bronson, the members of Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet attended — although the members of the band have publicly downplayed the school’s influence on their career. And with the release of their 2009 self-titled debut, the then-quartet quickly received critical praise across both major media outlets and the blogosphere as the album landed at number 9 on Rolling Stone‘s Best of 2009 List, number 2 on NME‘s Best of 2009 list, and along with that the band itself landed at number 6 on NME The Future 50 List and was named one of MTV Iggy‘s “Top 10 Bands with Buzz” at that year’s CMJ Festival. Additionally, album single “Crystalised” was featured as an iTunes UK single of the week that August. And adding to a quickly burgeoning international profile, the band toured with of Friendly Fires, The Big Pink, and Micachu, played an All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival curated by Matt Groening in Minehead, UK and played at some of the biggest Stateside music festivals — Coachella, Sasquatch!, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

The band’s 2012 sophomore effort Coexist revealed a subtle change in sonic direction as it was largely inspired by club music and their own experiences of returning from extensive touring to party with each other and with friends. And much like its predecessor, the album was written and recorded in relative isolation.

Over the past couple of years, the trio of  Sim, Croft, and Smith have pursued their own creative pursuits — most notably Smith released a solo effort or two; but they also managed over the course of the past two years to write and record their long-awaited third full-length effort I See You, which Young Turks Records will be releasing on January 13.  Recorded between March 2014 and August 2016 in New York, NY; Marfa, TX; Reykjavik, Iceland; Los Angeles, CA; and London UK, I See You reportedly has the band writing and recording their most outlook-looking, open and expansive work to date. Interestingly, the album’s third and latest single “Say Something Loving
is a slow-burning and atmospheric pop song that possesses a Quiet Storm R&B/soul-like intensity paired with an urgently plaintive vulnerability and need; but along with that the song reveals that love is frequently a difficult balance between our past baggage, our crippling self doubts and the recognition that as much as we cherish love, that love rarely makes sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I had written about Los Angeles, CA-born and based producer and multi-instrumentalist Ronald Kaufman, who began his solo, electronic music recording project Kauf after several experimental rock bands split up — and an eventual return back to his hometown. Kaufman received international attention for the release of his critically applauded As Much Again through Cut Copy‘s Dan Whitford’s highly-regarded indie dance/indie electro pop label Cutters Records. And adding to a growing internationally recognized profile, Kaufman toured with Cut Copy,   Maribou State and others, as well released remixes of the work of Poliça, The Big Pink and Public Service Broadcasting and others.

Regrowth, Kaufman’s forthcoming full-length debut is slated for a 2017 release and thematically the album’s material reportedly will focus on exploring the small fractures that come about within one’s closest relationships — the ones that have long been there; but have been willfully or ignored or conveniently missed until a situation in which you’re forced to try to repair the relationship before it shatters. And unsurprisingly, as a result the material also focuses on the denial and doubt that can blind and distract you from relationships issues. The album’s first single “Through the Yard” bore a resemblance to Zonoscope-era Cut Copy as the song possessed an ethereal tropicalia — shimmering synths are paired with sweaty, tropical beats and Kaufman’s plaintive and yearning vocals in a song that evokes a sweaty and lingering fever dream full of regret and doubt.

 

 

The album’s latest single “Pacify” is a lush and slickly produced single consisting of shimmering and twinkling synths, swirling and undulating electronics, a sinuous guitar and bass lines paired with Kaufman’s plaintive vocals in a song that describes a relationship, in which every bitter sentiment and feeling has been revealed in a nasty fight  — and it does so with an accuracy in a mid tempo song that sounds as though it could have been released in 1984 while drawing from I Love You It’s Cool-era Bear in Heaven and others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Ronald Kaufman is a Los Angeles, CA-born and based producer and multi-instrumentalist, who began his solo electronic music recording project Kauf after his early experimental rock bands split up and a return back to his hometown. When Cut Copy‘s Dan Whitford released Kaufman’s critically applauded As Much Again through Whitford’s highly-regarded indie dance/indie electronica label Cutters Records, Kaufman quickly received international attention; in fact, Kaufman has toured with the likes of Cut Copy, Maribou State and others — and he’s remixed the work of Poliça, The Big Pink and Public Service Broadcasting and others.

His forthcoming full-length debut Regrowth reportedly will explore the small fractures that come about within one’s closest relationships — the ones that have long been there but have either been willfully ignored or conveniently missed until you recognize that you should try to repair it before it shatters to pieces before your eyes. And as a result much of the material also explores the related themes of denial and doubt but with a sense of hope — that you can actually get things right if you’re truly honest with yourself and about your motivations. The album’s first single “Through the Yard” sonically bears a resemblance to Zonoscope-era Cut Copy as the song possesses an ethereal tropicalia — shimmering synths are paired with sweaty, tropical beats and Kaufman’s plaintive and yearning vocals. In some way the song feels like a sweaty and lingering fever dream; the sort of fever dream that at its core possesses a palpable sense of regret and doubt.