Tag: Violens

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Featuring members of Swans, Dead Heavens, twelve am flowers and Valley Lodge, Twiggy Branches specializes in swaggering, sleazy and anthemic power chord-based glam rock that sounds indebted to T. Rex, Foo Fighters and others, as you’ll hear on the EPs first two tracks “Never Gonna Be Told” and “Miss Available” off their  latest EP Waste Not, Want More. As the band told me by email, the EP was tracked live in studio, recorded by Paul Kostabi, who has worked with White Zombie, mixed by Violens‘ and Ariel Pink‘s Jorge Elbrecht and mastered by Alan Douches — and as a result, both singles possess a forceful “you-were-there” sort of immediacy that’s rare for contemporary rock.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Dreamy Shoegaze-leaning Soundscape of Montreal’s No Joy

Since their formation in 2009, the Montreal-based shoegaze duo No Joy, comprised of Jasamine White-Gluz and Laura Lloyd have quietly developed a reputation both nationally and Stateside as being one of the more beguiling and captivating presences within the scene — in particular having a well-known reputation for producing an enormous sound while being rather shy. In fact, principle songwriter and vocalist White-Gluz was known to prefer staying hidden off to the corner of the stage than stand center stage, and for their recordings, White-Gluz’s vocals were never too high or loud within the mix and were frequently obscured by layers upon layers of guitars; however, the duo’s latest effort CREEP reportedly finds White-Gluz and Lloyd playing and singing with a swaggering confidence and cool self-assuredness with the material pushing the band’s sound in new directions as it draws from industrial electronica, ambient electronic, pop and other sources in a way that’s dimly reminiscent of Violens’ fantastic Amoral. Almost unsurprisingly, former Violens frontman and primary songwriter Jorge Elbrecht co-wrote and produced CREEP EP, assisting in creating a soundscape that sounds and feels familiar and boundary-pushing.

CREEP’s latest single “Hellhole” features White-Gluz’s ethereal crooning over a twisting and turning arrangement featuring blazing power chords, heavy metal-like downtuned bass, twinkling and shimmering synths, four-on-the floor drumming and an anthemic hook to create a song that juxtaposes light and dark, air and earth, masculine aggression and feminine wiles.

The recently released music video for “Hellhole” features grainy VHS home video footage of Jasamine White-Gluz as a teenage, making a lovingly clumsy attempt at a Sheryl Crow video — and while White-Gluz was a typical, goofy teen, you can see the sincerity and ambition that drives the woman in the girl and vice versa.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal 120 Minutes-Inspired Visuals for Dead Leaf Echo’s Anthemic “Strawberry.Skin”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout its almost seven years of existence, you’ve come across posts featuring the Brooklyn-based shoegazer rock and art collective Dead Leaf Echo. And over that same period of time, the members of the collective have seen a growing profile, as they’ve played at some of the country’s largest and best known festivals, have opened for a lengthy and impressive list of renowned, nationally touring bands including The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes and have made appearances on KEXP‘s John in the Morning and on Nic Harcourt’s KCSN show.

With the release of 2013’s 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut effort Thought and Language and 2014’s true.deep.sleeper EP, the band quickly established themselves as one of the preeminent, contemporary shoegazer rock acts while being quite busy — last year, they quietly released a split EP with die you die, as well as a limited cassette run of the “Lemonheart”/”sparks.fly.from.a.kiss” 7 inch, which interestingly retained the well-known and beloved wall of sound and swooning urgency along the lines of RIDE, Swervedriver, The Verve and Slowdive while nodding at Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others.

Interestingly, the band’s latest effort Strawberry Skin was released last week through PaperCup Music and the EP found the band working with frequent collaborator and producer Monte Vallier, who has also worked with Weekend and Wax Idols — and along with Vallier, the album features contributions from Jorge Elbreht, who was a founding member of Violens and is currently working with No Joy and Ariel Pink’s backing band and Guy Fixsen, who has worked with My Bloody Valentine and Wire, among a lengthy and impressive list of artists. The EP’s latest single, EP title track “Strawberry Skin” will further cement the band’s reputation for crating shimmering and anthemic shoegaze with a swooning urgency; however, the song possesses a abrasive and muscular quality just underneath the surface — and it reveals a band subtly experimenting with their sound.

Directed by Emmanuella Zachariou, the recently released music video possesses a dream-like logic reminiscent of 120 Minutes-era MTV, complete with action going forward and in slow-motion as though the viewer is in a fever dream. The band is playing two shows to support the EP, so check out live dates below — and be on the lookout for the band’s long-anticipated sophomore effort, slated for release later this year.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been following JOVM for a while now, you may remember that I’ve mentioned that I frequently multitask while listening to Soundcloud links – usually, I’m watching a ballgame and eating and I get so caught up that […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Like countless cities, San Francisco’s music scene is constantly evolving as the city has been the home of psych rock and jam rock in the 60s and 70s. Over the last decade or so, the […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Led by singer/songwriter Trevor Beld Jiminez, the Los Angeles,CA-based band Tall Tales and the Silver Lining, is heavily influenced by the sounds of 70s AM radio – i.e., Jackson Browne, Harvest-era Neil Young, The Byrds, Court […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Chicago,IL-based quartet of YAWN have won over the attention of the blogosphere for a sound that possesses elements of electronica and psych pop that has drawn comparisons to the likes of Animal Collective, Yeasayer […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

When I heard “Wasting, Waiting” the latest single off the Chicago, IL-based Yawn’s forthcoming Love Chills, I was immediately reminded of Violens’ fantastic Amoral. Both “Wasting, Waiting” and Amoral manage to possess an unconventional air as both manage to be […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Swedish trio of Jose Gonzalez (vocals), Elias Araya (drums), and Tobias Winterkorn (keyboards), a.k.a Junip will be releasing their sophomore, self-titled effort through Mute Records on April 23rd.  ”Line of Fire” is the first single from their self-titled […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Swedish trio of Jose Gonzalez (vocals), Elias Araya (drums), and Tobias Winterkorn (keyboards), a.k.a Junip will be releasing their sophomore, self-titled effort through Mute Records on April 23rd.  "Line of Fire" is the first […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Album Review: Each Other’s Heavily Spaced EP

Each Other Heavily Spaced EP Crikey!/Prison Art Records Release Date: October 25, 2012   Track Listing Ash Mound An Instant Bad Neighbours Good Neighbourhood A Strong Spinning Finally Collided   Personnel Brad Loughead – vocals, […]