Tag: Victoria BC

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kirsten Ludwig Shares Glistening “Less”

Initially staring her career in Calgary and currently based in Toronto, acclaimed Canadian singer/songwriter, musician and producer Kirsten Ludwig has spent the past decade writing, developing and recording a sound that transcends city boundaries and exists in perpetual transition while supporting her work touring.

Ludwig’s full-length debut, 2018’s We Get It Now, created with Colin Stewart is a haunt-folk album that touched upon ethos of loss, grief, anger and fleeting optimism received critical praise and reached #19 on national college charts. The album’s critical and commercial success led to a headlining European tour.

Ludwig’s sophomore album Sunbeam is slated for a November 10, 2023 release through Oscar St. Records, the Victoria, BC-based artist-run indie label founded by The New Pornographers‘ and Frontperson‘s Kathryn Calder. Created with Layten Kramer and Colin Stewart, the nine-song album is a decided change of sonic and aesthetic direction with the Canadian artist embracing an 80s-inspired synth rock/synth pop sound.

As the material from Sunbeam began to materialize in mid-2020, Ludwig relocated cross-country. Wrestling with incessant chronic pain and homesickness, the album and its creative process came to a grinding halt. At the time, it was unknown if she would ever return to it. But moments before defeat, Ludwig summoned the determination to revive and finish the album.

For the Canadian artist, Sunbeam is aptly named — fully formed and a return to self. Thematically, the album touch upon themes of solitude, self-discovery, and the search for connection in a seemingly disconnected world. While sonically, the album sees Ludwig shapeshifting genres including indie rock, psych pop and synth pop throughout, the album is rooted in the same vulnerability and inner workings that she has always drawn from.

Built around shimmering synths, a motorik groove punctuated with relentless, driving drums, Ludwig’s ethereal delivery and chanted vocal-driven hook and chorus, “Less,” is an anthemic and decidedly Kate Bush-like track that seemingly evokes ice slowly cracking.

“It’s an exploration of rewriting patterns, changing directions, and choosing softness,” Ludwig says. ” As cheesy as it sounds, ‘Less’ is my way of acknowledging that it’s possible to let the goodness of others melt away your ice-queen tendencies,” she continues. “I spent over half of my twenties feeling numb to the world and, one day, a warm wave of tenderness engulfed me. It’s a head-nod to those who keep showing up for me. ‘Less’ started out as a quaint indie song with just me and my guitar. Layten Kramer (co-producer) and I knew we wanted something different from the song and we both decided to just have fun with it. My last record was this heavy, cathartic release I had been carrying around for years, so allowing myself to be playful was a new experience.”

The visualizer features gorgeous, dreamlike watercolored animation by Amélie Haeck.  

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: FRANKIIE Performs “Cruel”

Vancouver-based dream pop/psych pop outfit FRANKIIE — founding members Francesca Carbonneau (vocals, guitar) and Nashlyn Lloyd (vocals, synth, guitar), along with Trevor Stöddärt (drums) and Jody Glenham (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2013: The band’s first lineup, which featured Carbonneau and Lloyd with Samantha Lancaster and Zoe Fuhr, met and rehearsed for what was initially meant to be a one-off gig that December. But at tehe time, each of the band’s members felt such an instant and undeniable creative chemistry that they decided they needed to go at it full-time. Within a relatively short period of time, they wound up touring across much of North America, including opening for The Charlatans on the East Coast. 

The Canadian band’s Jason Corbett-produced full-length debut, 2019’s Forget Your Head featured “Compare,” a lush and shimmering track with the sort of anthemic hooks that reminded me of 80s New Wave and JOVM mainstays Wax Idols. 

Slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Paper Bag Records, the Vancouver-based outfit’s long awaited sophomore album, the Jason Corbett-produced Between Dreams reportedly weaves elements of reverb-soaked dream pop, vintage classic rock, bedroom psych and beachy shoegaze into a seamless soundscape meant to evoke a world in which dreams and reality are part of one continuum, where there are no borders, and magic abounds — seemingly everywhere. 

Between Dreams explores our lived experiences in a world constantly shifting and twisting abruptly around us. “What is the dream and what’s reality? What’s normal anymore and does it really matter because you’re just experiencing it all anyways,” the band’s Nashlyn Lloyd says in press notes. “I think that’s all we’re trying to do: just be in this experience and embrace it fully.”

Francesca Carbonneau explains that the boundary-free feeling emerged when the band started writing the album’s material during pandemic enforced lockdown and thereafter. “It was this weird ‘between dreams’ state because nothing was normal, or at least not how it was and we just had to carry on like everyone else,” Carbonneau says. Naturally, that influenced an overall attitude in which control and power were relinquished to some degree; whatever happened creatively would be explored. “These songs were following a sense of intuition, and not really trying to have them be anything but what instinctively came out. There was no attempt to stick to a certain genre, or take ourselves too seriously.”

Most of Between Dreams‘ material was written at the band’s dark, moldy jam space in East Vancouver, with extra pieces written at home or on writing retreats to rural British Columbia. Some of the album’s songs were written with a rotating cast of collaborators, including previous bassist Vickie Sieczka, new bassist Jody Glenham and drummer Trevor Stöddärt, while others were written with the help of a drum machine they nicknamed “Chad.” (“Chad’s so great, he always shows up on time,” Lloyd quips.) 

Eight of the album’s tracks were recorded with producer Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound and two with Connor Head at Victoria, BC-based Catalogue Studio. As the band explains, the recording sessions were full of fresh energy and vision: Glenham and Stöddärt lent new angles to the album’s material, while the world’s standstill allowed the band the time to build out the album’s sonic world. (During part of the recording sessions, the band’s Lloyd had to figure out how to sing while nine months pregnant.)

Jeremy Wallace Maclean, best known for his experience composing for film and TV, mixed the album, giving the material a broad, cinematic scope. For Lloyd and Carbonneau, the record marks an attainment of a sound they’ve been chasing for years. Carbonneau quotes Miles Davis: “Man, sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself…and this is the closest we’ve gotten so far,” she adds with a laugh.

Earlier this year, I wrote about album opening track “Visions.” Rooted in old-school attention to craft, “Visions” sees the Vancouver-based outfit pairing a laid-back Laurel Canyon/Fleetwood Mac-like groove with a shimmering melody and Carbonneau and Lloyd’s soaring harmonies. The song — to me, at least — evokes a half-remembered, waking dream; the sort in which you have a lingering and unshakable sense of déja vu that you can’t put your finger on. 

“‘When dreams and memories entangle with our present moment, we can begin to question our entire reality. ‘Visions’ is about that feeling, about sensing something beyond what’s happening right in front of you…as if right below the surface, anything you’ve ever lost is there; waiting for you to reach out your hand and grab it back,” FRANKIIE’s Carbonneau explains. “Like déja vu, which is something I experience frequently, a single moment can feel surreal, strange and yet strikingly familiar all at once.“

“Cruel,” Between Dreams‘ third and latest single is a jangling and reverb-soaked, 70s AM rock-inspired anthem that sonically meshes Fleetwood Mac with elements of dream pop and jangle pop — and thematically nods at Carly Simon‘s “You’re So Vain.” Out of the album’s previously released singles “Cruel” features one of the most rousingly anthemic choruses the band has written to date. “In an age of celebrated self-absorption, we were inspired to write this song about a fictitious character that we sing back and forth with. It is essentially an amalgamation of all the narcissists we’ve ever met and in turn we want nothing to do with,” the band says.

The accompanying live footage, captures the band playing the song with a joyful abandon.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Vancouver’s FRANKIIE Shares Gorgeous “Visions”

Vancouver-based dream pop/psych pop outfit FRANKIIE — founding members Francesca Carbonneau (vocals, guitar) and Nashlyn Lloyd (vocals, synth, guitar), along with Trevor Stöddärt (drums) and Jody Glenham (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2013: The band’s first lineup, which featured Carbonneau and Lloyd with Samantha Lancaster and Zoe Fuhr, met and rehearsed for what was initially meant to be a one-off gig that December. But each of the band’s members at the time felt such an instant and undeniable creative chemistry that they decided they needed to go at it full-time. Within a relatively short period of time, they wound up touring across much of North America, including opening for The Charlatans on the East Coast.

The band’s Jason Corbett full-length debut, 2019’s Forget Your Head featured “Compare,” a lush and shimmering track with the sort of anthemic hooks that reminded me of 80s New Wave and JOVM mainstays Wax Idols.

Slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Paper Bag Records, the Vancouver-based outfit’s long awaited sophomore album, the Jason Corbett-produced Between Dreams reportedly weaves elements of reverb-soaked dream pop, vintage classic rock, bedroom psych and beachy shoegaze into a seamless soundscape meant to evoke a world in which dreams and reality are part of one continuum, where there are no borders, and magic abounds — seemingly everywhere.

Between Dreams explores our lived experiences in a world constantly shifting and twisting abruptly around us. “What is the dream and what’s reality? What’s normal anymore and does it really matter because you’re just experiencing it all anyways,” the band’s Nashlyn Lloyd says in press notes. “I think that’s all we’re trying to do: just be in this experience and embrace it fully.”

Francesca Carbonneau explains that the boundary-free feeling emerged when the band started writing thea album’s material during pandemic enforced lockdown and thereafter. “It was this weird ‘between dreams’ state because nothing was normal, or at least not how it was and we just had to carry on like everyone else,” Carbonneau says. Naturally, that influenced an overall attitude in which control and power were relinquished to some degree; whatever happened creatively would be explored. “These songs were following a sense of intuition, and not really trying to have them be anything but what instinctively came out. There was no attempt to stick to a certain genre, or take ourselves too seriously.”

Most of Between Dreams‘ material was written at the band’s dark, moldy jam space in East Vancouver, with extra pieces written at home or on writing retreats to the British Columbia’s rural areas. Some of the album’s songs were written with a rotation cast of collaborators, including previous bassist Vickie Sieczka, new bassist Jody Glenham and drummer Trevor Stöddärt, while others were written with the help of a drum machine they nicknamed “Chad.” (“Chad’s so great, he always shows up on time,” Lloyd quips.)

Eight of the album’s tracks were recorded with producer Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound and two with Connor Head at Victoria, BC-based Catalogue Studio. As the band explains, the recording sessions were full of fresh energy and vision: Glenham and Stöddärt lent new angles to the album’s material, while the world’s standstill allowed the band the time to build out the album’s sonic world. (Lloyd had to figure out how sing while nine months pregnant.)

Jeremy Wallace Maclean, best known for his experience composing for film and TV, mixed the album, giving the material a broad, cinematic scope. For Lloyd and Carbonneau, the record marks an attainment of a sound they’ve been chasing for years. Carbonneau quotes Miles Davis: “Man, sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself…and this is the closest we’ve gotten so far,” she adds with a laugh.

Between Dreams‘ latest single, album opening track “Visions” is rooted in an old-school attention to craft: a laid-back Laurel Canyon/Fleetwood Mac-like groove is paired with a shimmering and breathtakingly gorgeous melody and Carbonneau and Lloyd’s soaring harmonies. The song — to me, at least — evokes a half-remembered, waking dream; the sort in which you have a lingering and unshakable sense of déja vu that you can’t put your finger on.

“‘When dreams and memories entangle with our present moment, we can begin to question our entire reality. ‘Visions’ is about that feeling, about sensing something beyond what’s happening right in front of you…as if right below the surface, anything you’ve ever lost is there; waiting for you to reach out your hand and grab it back,” FRANKIIE’s Carbonneau explains. “Like déja vu, which is something I experience frequently, a single moment can feel surreal, strange and yet strikingly familiar all at once.“

Directed by Brandon Fletcher, the accompanying video for “Visions” is fittingly a hazy and gorgeously shot, romantic dream: We see the band brooding and vamping in a suburban house at golden hour, lush superimpositions and more. The video manages to further emphasize the video’s dreamy air.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mike Edel Releases a Hook-Driven and Joyous Single

Mike Edel is a Linden, Alberta, Canada-born singer/songwriter and guitarist, who currently splits his time between Seattle, WA and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Since  2008, Edel has released two EP’s 2008’s , 2008’s Hide from the Seasons and 2012’s The Country Where I Came From and three full-length albums 2011’s The Last of Our Mountains, 2015’s India, Seattle and last year’s Chris Walla-produced THRESHOLDS.

Now, as you may recall, THRESHOLDS was a decided change in sonic direction for the Canadian-born signer songwriter and guitarist.  Shortly before he went went into the studio, he adopted a “consistency-is-boring” mantra, which helped him transform his sound and songwriting approach towards hook driven rock anthems centered around earnest songwriting. 

Co-written by Edel and Parker Bossley, Edel’s latest single  “Hello Universe” is a decidedly upbeat and optimistic anthem centered around boom bap beats, atmospheric synths, shimmering guitar, Edel’s plaintive vocals and a rousing, arena rock friendly hook. While continuing a run of hook-driven rock paired with earnest songwriting, “Hello Universe” focuses on finding life’s joys. 

The recently released video for “Hello Universe” was shot in Morocco and follows Edel, accompanied with an old school boom box, as he traveled through the North African country. And while giving the viewer a small glimpse into Moroccan life, the video reminds us all that although we all may have different cultures, languages and even different religions, we can all bond over simple yet profound things —  a smile from a kind face when you’re a stranger in a foreign land, a favorite song blasted on a boom box and so on.

“Somehow, Jordan Clarke and I ended up shooting the best music video we’ve ever made in Morocco – a single day before all the borders shut down due to the pandemic,” Edel says in press notes. “We were chased by a snake charmer for filming, but the people we met during the shoot loved the boombox. We almost didn’t make it home!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ft. Langley-Directed Visual for Shimmering “Lately in Another Time” Follows an Astronaut in Training

Tracing their origins back to when its members — David Parry and Lucas and Jesse Henderson — spent shared summers planting trees in Western Canada’s forest, the rapidly rising Victoria, British Columbia-based, lo-fi psych folk act Loving with their self-released debut effort, quickly established a signature sound – a warm and dreamy sonic soundscape paired with existentially-leaning lyrics and an unspecified, all-encompassing sense of nostalgia. 

In a relatively short period do time, the trio found success online and as a result, they also managed to quickly amass a devoted fanbase. After only selectively touring to support a handful of prominent and acclaimed artists including the likes of Crumb, Alice Phoebe Lou, Still Woozy, and others, the band embarked on their first proper North American tour to build up buzz for their full-length debut, If I Am Only  My Thoughts slated for a January 31, 2020 release through Last Gang Records.

Recored to tape, and then mixed and mastered by the band’s David Parry in his self-described “cold, dismal” basement studio in Victoria, British Columbia, the album’s lush and homespun material, reportedly are balmy and inviting and comprised of a series of open-ended questions, centered around existential themes. “There isn’t a single narrative driving this album, but we do linger on some basic human problems: confusion in the face of a desire for self-knowledge and belonging, a struggle for meaning that is circular and sometimes seemingly endless,” the band’s Jesse Henderson says in press notes. While those looming questions go largely unanswered, they are fodder for further competition, delivered with a peaceful and effortless naturalism. 

If I Am Only My Thoughts’ latest single is the shimmering and achingly nostalgic “Lately In Another Time.” And while possessing the intimacy and contemplative nature of a bedroom recording, the song is deceptively cinematic, as it’s centered around a sparse arrangement of twinkling keys, shimmering guitars, gently padded drumming, a soaring hook and plaintive vocals singing lyrics about the utter strangeness of life itself. Much like its predecessor “Only She Knows,” the track features an anachronistic sound and production that recalls Nick Drake, Junip and others. 

Directed by Ft. Langley, the recently released video continues the old-timey vibes, as it follows an astronaut and NASA staff and crew prepare for a mission into space. There’s constant monitoring, tracking and testing and our dutiful and brave astronaut recognizes the seriousness of the entire ordeal — after all, if something goes wrong during the tests or in space, he could die. Interestingly, the gorgeous and contemplative music gives the mundanity of it all, a surreal air. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Black Mountain Takes on 8-Bit Video Games in New Visuals for “Licensed to Drive”

Stephen McBean is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he became involved in the Victoria, British Columbia music scene, forming his first band Jerk Ward in 1981. In 1984, the band recorded a demo that was re-released in 2009 as Too Young to Thrash. Jerk Ward evolved into Mission of Christ (MOC), who recorded a split 7 inch in 1987 — but two years later, the band broke up and McBean relocated to Vancouver, where he started Gus, a band that released two singles, a split EP and a full-length album, 1995’s The Progressive Science Of Breeding Idiots For A Dumber Society, which lead to McBean’s first experience with extensive touring.

In 1996 McBean asked Radio Berlin’s Joshua Wells to join his new band Ex Dead Teenager. Much like his first band Jerk Ward, Ex Dead Teenager eventually morphed into Jerk With a Bomb. Signing with Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar Records. the band released three albums — 1999’s Death To False Metal, 2001’s The Old Noise and 2003’s Pyrokinesis, which featured Dream on Dreary’s Amber Webber contributing vocals.

While McBean and Wells were still writing, recording and performing as Jerk With a Bomb in 2003, McBean started to demo material that included “Black Mountain” and by the following year, the duo began working on demos under the name Black Mountain with contributions from Webber, Matt Camirand (bass) and Jeremy Schmidt (keys). Those early demos eventually led to their self-titled debut album and a split 7 inch with Destroyer that featured “Bicycle Man,” and was released by Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar Records.

Building upon a growing profile, Black Mountain toured across North America and Europe and by the following June, the band released the 12″ single “Druganuat”/”Buffalo Swan” in the US. In August 2005, the band opened for Coldplay during their Twisted Logic Tour.

2008 was a huge year for the band, their sophomore album In The Future was a finalist for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, and the album received a Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. Additionally, “Stay Free” was featured on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack.

By 2010, McBean relocated to Los Angeles, where they wrote and recorded their Randall Dunn and Dave Sardy-co-produced third album, 2011’s Wilderness Heart, an album that was long listed for that year’s Polaris Music Prize and appeared on !earshot’s Top 50 chart.

2016 saw the release of their fourth album, the aptly titled IV. Since then the band has gone through a series of lineup changes and now features McBean along with Arjan Miranda, Rachel Fannan, Adam Bulgasem and Jermey Schmidt. Interestingly, during that same period McBean got his first proper driver’s license — and for him, it was as though he essentially became a teenager again, discovering a new sense of personal independence and freedom.

Now, as you may recall, the band’s newest album Destroyer derives its name from the discontinued, single-run 1985 Dodge Destroyer muscle car, and reportedly the album is imbued with the wild freedom and newfound agency, anxiety and fear that comes from one’s first time behind the wheel. The serpentine, slow-burning, whiskey fueled, boogie strut “Boogie Lover” was meant to evoke cruising down the Sunset Strip late at night while drawing from space rock, doom metal and stoner rock simultaneously. Interestingly, the album’s latest single “Licensed to Drive” evokes a sense of wild freedom  — of speeding down the highway with the music blaring at eardrum shattering levels while sonically drawing from krautrock, space rock, Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent, as the track is centered around a motorik pulse, shimmering synths, buzzing power chords and a razor sharp hook. Get in your car, play this one loud, man.

Directed by Zev Deans, the recently released video for “Licensed to Drive” is an extended riff on classic 8-bit video games and Mad Max, complete with leather and ax-wielding barbarians, a tricked out 1976 GMC Spirit, a guy playing trash can drums, and an enormous, mutant bat. And of course, while McBean and his buddy are playing the “Licensed to Drive” game, a cord is yanked out or something and they wind up having to watch a hilarious take on the classic Maxell Cassette tape commercial. For those of you who came of age in the 80s or grew up in the 80s, this video will bring back a lot of memories. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Black Mountain Releases a Motorik-Styled Ripper

Stephen McBean is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he became involved in the Victoria, British Columbia music scene, forming his first band Jerk Ward in 1981. In 1984, the band recorded a demo that was re-released in 2009 as Too Young to Thrash. Jerk Ward evolved into Mission of Christ (MOC), who recorded a split 7 inch in 1987 — but two years later, the band broke up and McBean relocated to Vancouver, where he started Gus, a band that released two singles, a split EP and a full-length album, 1995’s The Progressive Science Of Breeding Idiots For A Dumber Society, which lead to McBean’s first experience with extensive touring.

In 1996 McBean asked Radio Berlin’s Joshua Wells to join his new band Ex Dead Teenager. Much like his first band Jerk Ward, Ex Dead Teenager eventually morphed into Jerk With a Bomb. Signing with Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar, the band released three albums — 1999’s Death To False Metal, 2001’s The Old Noise and 2003’s Pyrokinesis, which featured Dream on Dreary’s Amber Webber contributing vocals.

While McBean and Wells were still writing, recording and performing as Jerk With a Bomb in 2003, McBean started to demo material that included “Black Mountain” and by the following year, the duo began working on demos under the name Black Mountain with contributions from Webber, Matt Camirand (bass) and Jeremy Schmidt (keys). Those early demos eventually led to their self-titled debut album and a split 7 inch with Destroyer that featured “Bicycle Man,” and was released by Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar Records.

Building upon a growing profile, Black Mountain toured across North America and Europe and by the following June, the band released the 12″ single “Druganuat”/”Buffalo Swan” in the US. In August 2005, the band opened for Coldplay during their Twisted Logic Tour.

2008 was a huge year for the band, their sophomore album In The Future was a finalist for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, and the album received a Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. Additionally, “Stay Free” was featured on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack.

By 2010, McBean relocated to Los Angeles, where they wrote and recorded their Randall Dunn and Dave Sardy-co-produced third album, 2011’s Wilderness Heart, anJ album that was long listed for that year’s Polaris Music Prize and appeared on !earshot’s Top 50 chart.

2016 saw the release of their fourth album, the aptly titled IV. Since then the band has gone through a series of lineup changes and now features McBean along with Arjan Miranda, Rachel Fannan, Adam Bulgasem and Jermey Schmidt. Interestingly, during that same period McBean got his first proper driver’s license — and for him, it was as though he essentially became a teenager again, discovering a new sense of personal independence and freedom.

Now, as you may recall, the band’s forthcoming album Destroyer derives its name from the discontinued, single-run 1985 Dodge Destroyer muscle car, and reportedly the album is imbued with the wild freedom and newfound agency, anxiety and fear that comes from one’s first time behind the wheel. The serpentine, slow-burning, whiskey fueled, boogie strut “Boogie Lover” was meant to evoke cruising down the Sunset Strip late at night while drawing from space rock, doom metal and stoner rock simultaneously. Interestingly, the album’s latest single “Licensed to Drive” evokes a sense of wild freedom  — of speeding down the highway with the music blaring at eardrum shattering levels while sonically drawing from krautrock, space rock, Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent, as the track is centered around a motorik pulse, shimmering synths, buzzing power chords and a razor sharp hook. Get in your car, play this one loud, man. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Black Mountain’s Trippy Lo-Fi Visuals for Sultry “Boogie Lover”

Stephen McBean is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he became involved in the Victoria, British Columbia music scene, forming his first band Jerk Ward in 1981. In 1984, the band recorded a demo that was re-released in 2009 as Too Young to Thrash. Jerk Ward evolved into Mission of Christ (MOC), who recorded a split 7 inch in 1987 — but two years later, the band broke up and McBean relocated to Vancouver, where he started Gus, a band that released two singles, a split EP and a full-length album, 1995’s The Progressive Science Of Breeding Idiots For A Dumber Society, which lead to McBean’s first experience with extensive touring.

In 1996 McBean asked Radio Berlin’s Joshua Wells to join his new band Ex Dead Teenager. Much like his first band Jerk Ward, Ex Dead Teenager eventually morphed into Jerk With a Bomb. Signing with Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar, the band released three albums — 1999’s Death To False Metal, 2001’s The Old Noise and 2003’s Pyrokinesis, which featured Dream on Dreary’s Amber Webber contributing vocals.

While McBean and Wells were still writing, recording and performing as Jerk With a Bomb in 2003, McBean started to demo material that included “Black Mountain” and by the following year, the duo began working on demos under the name Black Mountain with contributions from Webber, Matt Camirand (bass) and Jeremy Schmidt (keys). Those early demos eventually led to their self-titled debut album and a split 7 inch with Destroyer that featured “Bicycle Man,” and was released by Scratch Records and Jagjaguwar Records.

Building upon a growing profile, Black Mountain toured across North America and Europe and by the following June, the band released the 12″ single “Druganuat”/”Buffalo Swan” in the US. In August 2005, the band opened for Coldplay during their Twisted Logic Tour.

2008 was a huge year for the band, their sophomore album In The Future was a finalist for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, and the album received a Juno Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. Additionally, “Stay Free” was featured on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack.

By 2010, McBean relocated to Los Angeles, where they wrote and recorded their Randall Dunn and Dave Sardy-co-produced third album, 2011’s Wilderness Heart, an album that was long listed for that year’s Polaris Music Prize and appeared on !earshot’s Top 50 chart.

2016 saw the release of their fourth album, the aptly titled IV. Since then the band has gone through a series of lineup changes and now features McBean along with Arjan Miranda, Rachel Fannan, Adam Bulgasem and Jermey Schmidt. Interestingly, during that same period McBean got his first proper driver’s license — and for him, it was as though he essentially became a teenager again, discovering a new sense of personal independence and freedom.

In fact, the band’s forthcoming album, Destroyer, which derives its name from the discontinued single-run 1985 Dodge Destroyer muscle car, reportedly is imbued with the wild freedom and newfound agency, anxiety and fear that comes from one’s first time behind the wheel. Interestingly, the album’s latest single is the serpentine, slow-burning, whiskey fueled- boogie strut “Boogie Lover,” a track meant to evoke cruising down the Sunset Strip. Clocking in at a little over 6 minutes and centered by wah wah pedaled guitar, thumping drumming, sizzling synths, the track manages to draw from space rock, doom metal and stoner rock simultaneously — all while being incredibly sultry and apocalyptic.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hush Pup Returns with Ethereal Visuals for Shimmering EP Single “Oasis”

Earlier this year, I wrote about Hush Pup, an experimental pop/synth pop act, which splits their time between Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Featuring core duo Ida Maidstone (vocals, Yamaha synths, Casio synths, Beat Finder) and Fizzy (bass, EFX, Beat Finder II) with contributions from Torrie Seager (guitar), the Canadian act describes their music as sounding “a lot like driving at night through the board game Candyland — soft cotton candy trees brush up against windows of your glass car, as you ride towards a friend’s cabin nearby the molasses swamp.”

The band’s latest efforts the Flower Power EP and Panacea, a romantic film-inspired album will be released next week through Lone Hand Records, and as you may recall the Beach House, Anemone and 4AD Records-like “The Hours” was centered around a shimmering and looping guitar line, propulsive beats, Maidstone’s ethereal vocals, a soaring hook and equally ethereal synths. Continuing in a similar, ethereal vein, the act’s latest single “Oasis” is centered around shimmering and undulating synths, propulsive beats, a looping and shimmering guitar line paired with Maidstone’s vocals ethereally floating over a fever dream-like soundscape. 

Filmed, edited, and conceptualized by Mike Perreira, the recently released video for “Oasis” features some experimental footage of water and other particles overlaid with old footage of the band from a music video that never came to fruition. The editing was kept fairly loose in order to let the natural light and movement come together organically, so that the video resembled a dream, further emphasizing the ethereal nature of the song. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring core duo Ida Maidstone (vocals, Yamaha synths, Casio synths, Beat Finder) and Fizzy (bass, EFX, Beat Finder II) with contributions from Torrie Seager (guitar), the Canadian act Hush Pup, which splits their time between Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is an experimental pop act that describes their music as sounding “a lot like driving at night through the board game Candyland — soft cotton candy trees brush up against the windows of your glass car as you ride towards a friend’s cabin nearby the molasses swamp.”

The band will be releasing the Flower Power EP and Panacea, a romantic film-inspired album on a double cassette through Lone Hand Records in March — and the band’s latest single from that effort is the shimmering and atmospheric “The Hours.” Centered around a shimmering and looping guitar line, propulsive beats, Maidstone’s ethereal vocals, a soaring hook and equally ethereal synths, the track to my ears reminds me quite a bit of JOVM mainstays Beach House and Anemone, as well as the sound of much of the roster of 4AD Records heyday. But as the band explained to me in email “‘The Hours’ is a song about kindness. It’s about being sweet and slow as a practice. It’s inspired by a scene from an Allen Ginsberg documentary, where he conducts a workshop that integrates spirituality into artistic practice.

“Watching this, I felt as if he had created a kindness crew. ‘The Hours’ is written from the perspective of this crew. They’re taking time to gentle and they’re high on that concept.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mike Edel Releases an Anthemic Radio Friendly Rocker

Mike Edel is a Linden, Alberta, Canada-born folk singer/songwriter and guitarist, who splits time between Seattle, WA and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Edel can trace the origins of his musical career back to about 2008 and since then he’s released two EPs 2008’s Hide from the Seasons and 2012’s The Country Where I Came From and two full-length albums 2011’s The Last of Our Mountains and 2015’s India, Seattle.

Edel’s forthcoming Chris Walla-produced album THRESHOLDS is reportedly a major sonic departure for the Canadian born singer/songwriter as he adopted a consistency-is-boring mantra before spending a year in the studio working on new material and evolving his sound. Interestingly, the album’s latest single “Houdini” is a radio friendly rocker with anthemic hooks and while bearing a subtle resemblance to David Bowie’s “Heroes,” the song focuses on love being confusing and contradictory: as much as any one of us claims to want it, we can be afraid of being vulnerable, of getting hurt, of losing ourselves and our freedom — and yet when we’re at our most desperate, it could be the most sustaining and necessary thing ever.  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’re been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of months, you might recall that I’ve written about the  Victoria, BC-based quintet Astrocolor. Comprised of Andrew Poirier (guitar), Anand Greenwell (saxophone), Chris Mackenzie (drums), William Farrant (bass), and Piers Henwood (guitar), the Canadian quintet decided that they wanted to tackle traditional and familiar Christmas songs for their latest recoded effort, Lit Up: Music for Christmas.

Featuring guest vocals from Kandle, Rykka, Jets Overhead‘s Antonia Freybe-Smith, and Abi Rose and co-produced by the Canadian quintet and Colin Stewart, best known for his work with Black Mountain, Dan Mangan and AC Newman, the compositional and sonic approach was largely inspired by jazz great Stan Getz’s Getz Au Go-Go, as well as Massive Attack, Air and St. Germain. As the band explained in press notes, Stan Getz’s rendition of “Summertime,” “became a jumping off point for what we were trying to do, taking the classic ‘summertime and the livin’ is easy’  hook and reshaping it into an exploratory piece. We too wanted to create a sense of familiarity and exploration within the context of a Christmas album.”

The album’s first single “We Three Kings” was a noir-ish and moodily atmospheric song that managed to sound as though it owed a sonic debt to jazz, as much as it did to dubstep and trip-hop as Abi Rose’s seductive, jazz standard vocal stylings were paired with a mournful horn line, swirling electronics, angular, funk guitar and bass and plinking keys submerged in layers of reverb to craft a cinematic and sensual rendition of a familiar and beloved holiday song. The album’s latest single is a dubby and jazz-leaning rendition of “Sleigh Bells” that pairs Rose’s husky, jazz standard vocal stylings with angular bass lines, twisting and turning guitar chords played through gentle amounts of feedback and wah wah pedal, and warm blasts of expressive horns and subtly slows down the song’s familiar tempo and melody to create a trippy and breezy rendition of a beloved Christmas song we’ve all sung at some point — while sounding as though it drew influence from the Josh Roseman Unit‘s dub-leaning rendition of Burt Bacharach‘s “Long Day, Short Night.” And it does while reminding the listener of the song’s playful nature.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of siblings (and twins) Kier (vocals, guitar) and Brittany Griffiths (bass, vocals), Evan Van Reekum (guitar) and Ryan Grieve (drums), the Alberta-based quartet of Fist City initially formed in 2009 and developed a reputation […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The (currently) New York-based band Haerts consists of members who have originally hailed from Germany, the UK and the States. And with the release of two early singles – “Wings” and “All the Days” – […]