JOVM celebrates Richard Ashcroft’s 50th birthday.
Tag: The Verve
Live Footage: Frank Rabeyrolles and Friends Perform “Winter One”
Frank Rabeyrolles is a French singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has released material under a variety of different names and outfits — but throughout his career, the French artist has developed a reputation as an obsessive and frenzied craftsman, whose work has often been described as otherworldly: centered round reverb-drenched guitars, Rabeyrolles’ work thematically touches upon distant reminiscences, unfinished business, frustration and more.
Back in 2019, Rabeyrolles released one EP each season of that calendar year. The end result was four EPS of atmospheric pop and lo-fi written and recorded solo and/or with Sarah Lucide in a Bedroom Pop fashion. That March, the French singer/songwriter and guitarist came up with the idea of recording a song with a group of friends at La Paloma Studio in Nîmes, France, giving the song a different life. Rabeyrolles recruited a backing band of friends that included Drive Blind’s and My Tigerside’s Rémi Saboul, Marvin’s Gregoire Bredel, Carole Fauré, My Favorite Horses’ Jean Alvarez and Le Super Homard’s Laurent Elfassy. The end result is the live version of “Winter One,” a brooding and slow-burning bit of dream pop and shoegaze centered around shimmering guitars, Rabeyrolles’ plaintive vocals and an enormous hook. Sonically, the track — to my ears, at least — is a seamless synthesis of R.E.M. and The Verve.
The live footage was filmed by Naomi Heinrich and Damien Oliveres and catches Rabeyrolles and his collaborators in an intimate, blue-lit setting.
New Audio: The Glow Releases an Expansive and Trippy Single
Best known for being a member of Purchase, NY-based lo-fi act LVL UP, Mike Caridi stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist with his solo recording project The Glow Caridi released his The Glow debut 2019’s Am I and in the subsequent years since that album’s release, the project expanded into a full-fledged band with the addition of LVL UP bandmate Greg Rutkin, Hellrazor’s and Potty Mouth’s Kate Meizer and Doe’s Nicola Leel.
The addition of the project’s new members necessitated change in musical and thematic direction — and the band offered a glimpse of that new direction with the recent release of the “Love Only”/”Heavy Glow” double single. “‘Love Only’ and ‘Heavy Glow’ are the first two songs written by The Glow, sorta,” Caridi says in press notes. “I’ve been releasing music under The Glow moniker since 2016 or so, but until now I’d considered it a solo outlet. The Glow live band came together around the 2019 record Am I, and somehow I got lucky enough to play with a bunch of musicians who I’ve known and admired for years; Greg Rutkin, Kate Meizner, Nicola Leel, and Madeline Babuka Black. To be surrounded by so much talent and not be open to collaboration would have been a major misstep on my part. There’s so much joy in collaboration that I missed a lot while trying to do things on my own. ‘Love Only’ is about reflection and growth; I feel extremely lucky to be playing music with my friends, and with these two songs The Glow feels like it’s just beginning to bloom.”
Interestingly, this sense of openness may arguably be most apparent on “Heavy Glow,” the newly minted quartet’s first entirely collaborative song: The track sees Kate Meizner taking on vocal duties on in expansive track centered around dizzying tremolo and fuzzy power chords, Rutkin’s metronomic-like drumming and Leel’s driving baselines. The seven minute-plus track finds Caridi and collaborators at their most dynamic and layered with the track subtly nodding at the textured soundscapes of shoegaze — think of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and The Verve — but with a power pop penchant for infectious hooks.
New Video: Detroit’s VAZUM Releases a Horror Movie-Inspired Visual for “Haunted House”
Detroit scene vet Zach Pliska, has played drums in a number of local bands, which has given him valuable experience writing, recording and touring. Pliska founded his latest project VAZUM back in 2017, and over the course of six self-released albums that have found the band’s sound bouncing around and spanning across several different genres including post-punk and doom.
During most of the band’s history, the band has gone through a series of lineup changes but Pliska found a deep connection with Emily Sturm (vocals, bass), who joined the band in 2019. With a background in the visual arts, Sturm has helped give the band a new, uncompromising aesthetic edge, which has resulted in what Pliska and Strum have described as deathgaze, which combines the raw energy of deathrock with the sonic depth of shoegaze.
The duo’s seventh album V+ is slated for release this summer. The album’s latest single “Haunted House” is centered around cavernous drumming, wailing guitars played through reverb, delay and effect pedals, Sturm’s plaintive vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook; the end result is a song that — to my ears — sounds like a synthesis of Sioxuise and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy and The Verve. Interestingly, the song is based on a real, life-changing experience that the band’s Emily Sturm had one winter night: She was awakened by a shrill, inhuman sound emanating from the distance. Startled, she went outside to investigate the sound, but it was silent. The following afternoon, Sturm’s neighbor’s porch was taped off as a crime scene: the woman and infant, who had lived next door were brutally murdered. Understandably, Sturm has been haunted by the event ever since, wondering if she could have done something to prevent the murderers. As the band notes, in Irish folklore, a banshee warns of dangers by wailing or shrieking. So naturally, Strum has wondered if those sounds were that of a banshee. But overall, the song is about domestic violence and the awful aftermath left in the wake.
The recently released video for “Haunted House” employs Edgar Allan Poe horror tropes: the beautiful yet very dead bride, who dances seductively and haunts an old-fashioned candlelit mansion.
New Video: Blackout Transmission Releases a Trippy Video for Road Trip Friendly “Since She Guided You Away”
Singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer Christopher Goett may be best known for his work in Washington, D.C.-based act Silo Halo. After a decade in the District, Goett returned to Los Angeles and quickly amassed a growing collection of songs that were different than his work in Silo Halo. Goett credits his longtime friend, Sleepmask’s and Dreamland’s Adam D’Zurilla with encouraging him to further explore and expand upon those early song ideas. And interestingly enough, the end result turned out to be Goett’s latest project, the post punk/shoegaze act Blackout Transmission.
The project’s sound and arrangements were fleshed out with the addition of Kevin Cluppert (bass) and Teenage’s Wrist’s Anthony Salazar (drums). Late 2019 saw the band playing their first shows together, which helped to develop and harness their chemistry, as well as cement the song’s arrangements. They then went to Long Beach-based Dream Machine Studio to record most of their Scott Holmes co-produced, eight song, full-length debut, Sparse Illumination. “Scott pushed me in the best way to reimagine elements of my approach” says Goett, “as such we captured the vibe and feel that I was seeking with these songs.”
As a result of pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, Goett was forced to finalize his overdubs at his home studio, Twin Dragon West, where he wound up writing and recording two of the album’s eight songs. Despite where the material was written and recorded, the end result is an album that finds the band crafting material that’s a seamless lysergic journey that sonically seems influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen, The Verve, The Church and others.
So far, I’ve managed to write about two of Sparse Illumination‘s released singles:
Sparse Illumination’s third and latest single “Since She Guided You Away” brings obvious comparisons to Echo and the Bunnymen to mind — but much like “Heavy Circles,” I hear quite a bit of Starfish-era The Church: the track is centered around Goett’s expressive crooning, shimmering, reverb drenched guitars, thunderous drumming, dusty and brooding atmospherics and aching regret.
Edited by Super Cut Cut, the recently released video for “Since She Guided You Away” is a carefully edited and trippy collage of cult classic movie scenes that feels incredibly meta.
New Video: Toronto’s Jiants Release an Anthemic Brit Pop-like Single
With the release of their critically applauded self-titled debut, 2016’s self-titled debut, Toronto-based Jiants — former professional skateboarder Jesse Landen (vocals, guitar), Adam Kesek (bass), John Sirdevan (drums) and the band’s newest member Joe Delfin (lead guitar) quickly established a sound that meshes 90s alt rock with sensibilities. 2018’s Taylor Knox co-produced follow-up Odd Trouble found the band meshing infectious rifts, melodic keyboard lines and Landen’s vocals to create a sound that managed to be nostalgia-inducing yet wholly theirs.
Earlier this year, the Toronto-based indie act released their latest EP, Wait Here and the EP’s latest single “Some Kind of Loser” is a decidedly Brit Pop-inspired anthem, featuring a gorgeous and cinematic string arrangement by Drew Jurecka, layers of shimmering guitars and rousingly anthemic and dryly ironic chorus paired with Landen’s plaintive and sun-cracked vocals. Sonically, the track — to my ears, least — reminds me quite a bit of Urban Hymns-era The Verve, Love Is Here-era Starsailor and Oasis. But as the Landen and company admit in press notes. “Some Kind of Loser” “is about charting your own path. These lyrics reflect on how it would ultimately be beneficial learning to work together and respect each other’s paths.”
The song was “born out of a rough day in the studio that was followed by some upcoming shows falling apart in advance,” Jiants’ Jesse Landen continues. “I was half-hoking around thinking about much time and energy I was spending obsessing over music stuff and feeling like a bit of a dork. I think everyone can relate to that in some way. But that’s when it dawned one me that sometimes you might have to just learn to enjoy the rollercoaster because I know that I was going to continue making and sharing music, regardless of the results.”
Directed by Hart Dylan Webster, the recently released visual for “Some Kind of Loser” is a cinematic ode to 120 Minutes-era MTV.
Jindoss is a mysterious, Saint Malo, France singer/songwriter, who released their debut EP Rendez-vous late last week. The EP’s latest single “Saturday Night” quickly (and boldly) establishes the French artist’s sound: swirling and brooding shoegaze centered around shimmering, reverb-drenched guitars, plaintive wailing and boom bap-like drumming. Sonically, “Saturday Night” strikes me as a seamless synthesis of PJ Harvey-like atmospherics and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve-like textures.
Singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer Christopher Goett may be best known for his work in Washington, D.C.-based act Silo Halo. After a decade in the District, Goett returned to Los Angeles and quickly amassed a growing collection of songs that were different than his work in Silo Halo. Goett credits his longtime friend, Sleepmask’s and Dreamland’s Adam D’Zurilla with encouraging him to further explore and expand upon those early song ideas. And interestingly enough, the end result turned out to be Goett’s latest project, the post punk/shoegaze act Blackout Transmission.
The project’s sound and arrangements were fleshed out with the addition of Kevin Cluppert (bass) and Teenage’s Wrist’s Anthony Salazar (drums). Late 2019 saw the band playing their first shows together, which helped to develop and harness their chemistry, as well as cement the song’s arrangements. They then went to Long Beach-based Dream Machine Studio to record most of their Scott Holmes co-produced, eight song, full-length debut, Sparse Illumination. “Scott pushed me in the best way to reimagine elements of my approach” says Goett, “as such we captured the vibe and feel that I was seeking with these songs.”
As a result of pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, Goett was forced to finalize his overdubs at his home studio, Twin Dragon West, where he wound up writing and recording two of the album’s eight songs. Despite where the material was written and recorded, the end result is an album that finds the band crafting material that’s a seamless lysergic journey that sonically seems influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen, The Verve, The Church and others.
So far, I’ve managed to write about two of Sparse Illumination‘s released singles:
- “Portals,” a track that possessed the painterly and lysergic sonic textures of The Verve’s A Storm in Heaven.
- “Heavy Circles,” a track, which featured brooding and shimmering atmospherics paired with a dusty, desert road quality that brought Starfish and Gold Afternoon Fix-era The Church to mind.
Sparse Illumination’s third and latest single “Since She Guided You Away” has brought comparisons to the aforementioned Echo and the Bunnymen — but much like “Heavy Circles,” I hear quite a bit of The Church’s Starfish in the mix with the track is centered around Goett’s expressive crooning, shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, thunderous drumming and brooding atmospherics. All three tracks so far, make me think that this record would be perfect for lengthy road trips — but the sort full of lonely contemplation of who you are, what you’ve done and what you hope to be once you get to your destination.
Sparse Illumination is slated for a February 19, 2021 through Etxe Records.
Singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer Christopher Goett may be best known for his work in Silo Halo. And after a decade stint in Washington, D.C., Goett returned to Los Angeles — and he quickly amassed a growing collection of songs. Interestingly, Goett credits his longtime friend, Sleepmask’s and Dreamland’s Adam D’Zurilla with encouraging him to further explore and expand upon those early song ideas. The end result is Goett’s latest project, the post punk/shoegaze act Blackout Transmission.
With the addition of Kevin Cluppert (bass) and Teenage’s Wrist’s Anthony Salazar (drums), the band’s lineup was solidified, and their sound and arrangements were fleshed out. Late last year, the members of Blackout Transmission started playing shows, developing and harnessing their live chemistry before they went to Long Beach-based Dream Machine Studio to record most of their Scott Holmes co-produced, eight song, full-length debut, Sparse Illumination. “Scott pushed me in the best way to reimagine elements of my approach” says Goett, “as such we captured the vibe and feel that I was seeking with these songs.”
As a result of pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, Goett was forced to finalize his overdubs at his home studio, Twin Dragon West, where he wound up writing and recording two of the album’s eight songs. Despite where the material was written and recorded, the end result is an album that finds the band crafting material that’s a seamless lysergic journey seemingly influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen, The Verve, and others.
Late last year, I wrote about Sparse Illumination‘s first single, the brooding and expansive “Portals,” a track centered round a sinuous bass line, thunderous drumming, swirling reverb and delay pedaled guitar that possessed the painterly and lysergic textures of The Verve’s A Storm in Heaven. The album’s second single “Heavy Circles,” continues a bit in the vein of its immediate predecessor — brooding and shimmering atmospherics paired with dramatic and forceful drumming; but while having the sort of dusty, desert road quality that reminds me of Starfish and Gold Afternoon Fix-era The Church.
Sparse Illumination is slated for a February 19, 2021 through Etxe Records.
