by Meredith Schneider | Mar 4, 2020 | albums, review
Erik Harris leads electronic project Memory Cult into a stratosphere of sound like any other we’ve played around with for a while. Known for being wildly experimental, his latest release — a full-length titled In Conflict — is just as entrancing and out of left field as ever, and we’re certain today’s release is going to get your mind reeling.
Lead single “Pityful” is purely and electronic lover’s dream, and the perfect way to introduce the album as a whole. It doesn’t hurt that it was released as a single at the end of February, and has been dancing around in our heads for some time. But even the peculiar sounds of that track can’t adequately prepare you for what’s to come in this 9-track experimental stunner. Second track “The Center (Crawl Home)” reaches 50 seconds before soft, high pitched vocals are even introduced. By third track “Undecide”, the dance vibes are laid on so thick that we’ve already definitely decided we’re hanging on to see where this album takes us.
Whereas its predecessor is a bit muddled, fourth track “Estranged” is very obviously inspired by sounds of the 80s and 90s, a clear and gorgeous entanglement of R&B vocals and dissonance. We continue in the same version of ambience with “RE: Rejection”, and continue to climb into more trance-like, morbid sounds with “Apathy”, which is actually more of a rock ballad than anything else.
Once we reach the title track, there is a feeling of wonder and an almost otherworldly layer to the music that brings us into a different headspace. “Devotion” is haunting in its existence, not quite the reassuring jolt we were considering needing after this Matrix-adjacent masterpiece’s release. In fact, once you reach final track “Anorexia”, there is a mentality that you might be trapped in some pretty magnetic music, which has now captivated your senses. If you don’t think of the brainwashing scene in Zoolander during this song, then I wonder where your head started and how to pull yourself out. This song leaves you in a trance itself, however intensely inspired if you open yourself up to it.
And isn’t that what great music is all about?
Keep up with Memory Cult here.
by Madi Toman | Mar 4, 2020 | albums, review
Alt-rockers Juán Tigre have just released “THE DREAM CATCHER”, the title-track from their debut album. The group is led by guitarist, vocalist, and producer John Maestas and features Max Moran on bass, Alfred Jordan on drums, and Shea Pierre on keys. The group’s debut full-length THE DREAM CATCHER is set to release in April of this year on Maesta’s own label, Bubble Bath Records.
The track is short and sweet, clocking in at just over 2 minutes long, but the number manages to pack a lot into that time. The instrumentation is intense and fast-paced without being overpowering while Moran’s distorted vocals do their part to chill things out a bit. The bass line is particularly cool, and the drums and guitars fire off in quick but powerful hits while alien-like sound-effects and echoey backing vocals pull back the intensity and leave you feeling a little floaty. Think getting punched in the face with sound, but add trippy space vibes.
THE DREAM CATCHER is out via Bubble Bath Records April 17th, 2020.
by Kendal Chandler | Mar 2, 2020 | albums, review
Singer-songwriter Sophie Allison, better known as Soccer Mommy, releases sophomore album color theory, an album heavily looking at internal worries and concerns of any person in their 20’s. Just like with her debut record Clean, Gabe Wax was the producer. Wax is credited for working on projects for indie artists such as the War on Drugs and Deerhunter.
Unlike her first release, color theory is a darker look inward at the human response to transformative transitions. The sound feels dimmer and the emotional weight stronger. From the opening lyrics of the first track “bloodstream” listeners know this record is taking a different direction. Regardless of the change in mood from the urgency of youth, found on Clean, to the overarching concerns of what happens when the light of adolescence fades, the music style of color theory is still authentically Allison.
Keep up with Soccer Mommy here.
by Madi Toman | Mar 2, 2020 | albums, review
Psychedelic indie project The Undercover Dream Lovers just released its debut album, It’s All in Your Head. TUDL is the brainchild of LA based artist Matt Koenig, an all around DIY badass who’s stayed true to the OG meaning of indie, navigating the industry label free throughout his career. Koenig cites his influences as everything from The Beatles to Tame Impala to Led Zeppelin and views himself and his music as a bridge between eras, a statement that I can confidently say reigns true after listening to the record.
It’s All in Your Head was recorded in Koenig’s home studio in Los Angeles, where the multi-talented Koenig handled writing, production, and mixing himself. The record is largely influenced by Koenig’s desire to create a “bustling, vibrant, and groovy” live show, which is immediately clear even via digital consumption. He is known for his quickly recognizable disco-influenced bass lines, a staple that consistently appears on this project as well as his Koenig’s older work.
The album opener, “A Way Out”, was one of the first tracks that Koenig made for the record, and is meant to serve as an initial taste for listeners to get a feel for the direction that he takes the record production-wise, which delves into new territory for Koenig. The disco rhythms that would end up influencing the rest of the album are introduced here through infectious dance floor rhythms that are a constant presence throughout the record.
One of the standouts on the record, “Plane Ride”, was largely influenced by the fatal car accident that took the lives of rock duo Her’s while Koenig was on tour with them. He took a break after the tragic event, and “Plane Ride” was the first thing he worked on after returning. The verse was written before the accident and was about Koenig feeling caught in life’s distractions. The rest of the track comes from the traumatic experience, with the ‘ride’ being a metaphor for life and the plane crash talked about in the song representative of death. Koenig kept that verse even after the meaning of the song shifted for him, allowing it to represent the ‘before’ of the accident and letting the number be symbolic for how quickly what we view as important can shift when trauma comes into play.
“Soon Enough”, co-written with Dent May, is a hopeful track sprinkled with vibrant-driven guitar riffs and a light and airy chorus. “Chardonnay” drips with groove and (fun fact) was created in a room in LA by three people named Matt. Every track on the project boasts unique differences in production, vibe, and lyrical themes while keeping to a uniform overall feeling that makes the album itself feel like a collective work of art, a refreshing element frequently missing in modern music where albums seem to be carried on the backs of singles which often feel worlds apart from the rest of the record.
While much of the album seems to exist in an intergalactic air-space, album-closer “Everyone’s Confused” feels down to earth in comparison. The groovy guitars that stand out on many of the album’s best tracks blend seamlessly with rolling rock riffs that feel as though they could be pulled straight from the 70s. “Everything is fake, and well, everyone’s confused” Koenig sings in a moment of blunt honesty.
Keep up with TUDL here.
by Madi Toman | Feb 28, 2020 | albums, review
San Francisco Bay Area group The Seshen are releasing their third full-length LP, entitled CYAN on February 28th. Inspired by the group’s experience while touring the United States in support of their 2016 release, Flames and Figures, CYAN is fueled in part by the heaviness that the band inevitably felt as they witnessed political and social issues firsthand during the 2016 presidential election, which happened to be occurring while they were on the road. The group’s vocalist, Lalin St. Juste, also looks inward for the work, drawing on her personal battle fighting depression. Inspired by a color that the group considers to be “both soft and strong,” the band unravels their progressions both as individuals and as a band for the LP.
The album exists somewhere in the realm between the real world and a dream world, presenting itself as a drifting cloud of electronic sound with St. Juste’s grounding vocals being the exact right flavor of complimentary juxtaposition. The sound itself feels three-dimensional, slyly tricking listeners into believing that they could reach out and touch it if they only tried.
Standout track “Don’t Answer” showcases the soft side of the album. It rises and falls like a gentle slumber, somehow still feeling angelic as it brushes heavy subject matter. St. Juste is an ethereal force to be reckoned with, supported by heavenly strings and floating background vocals alongside her breathy vocals that make for an all-around dream of a track. Despite its soft nature, the track was inspired by St. Juste’s own struggles to get out of bed every day as she fought depression. “Depression can grab a hold of you and it tries to stop you from breathing… but each day comes and each day I choose this life, I choose my truth, I choose to push through” the vocalist says. The positive light that she chooses to view her battle with is in turn cast over the beautiful song, making us all feel like we can breathe again.
“Can’t Pretend” has a completely different feel, but the trend of ethereal vocals continues. St. Juste’s voice carries her listeners into the high heavens where this album seems to reside comfortably as she navigates her falsetto with grace and ease. The instrumentation feels cool and modern, with a mesh of sounds coming together to form the echoey space that the track manages to exist in.
“Dive” continues to delve deeper into electronics, with the trippy electro-feel of this track making you feel like you’re orbiting around the moon in a cyan-colored spaceship. The intergalactic-fueled synth beats and bright and shiny vocals will surely make you want to make a quick pit stop a few light years away on a distant planet for an alien disco party. Space suit up.
“Stones” is effortlessly cool. “Take It All Away” floats by on a static cloud of silky smooth vocalization and instrumentation. “Still Dreaming” wades into an ocean of sound, with bright and shiny digital sounds painting the rolling waves with vivid auditory colors.
St. Juste serves as a guide to her listeners through a vast sonic soundscape, the only force keeping them down to earth as the rest of her group attempts to defy gravity and carry them off into a different dimension. The Seshen is fresh, but in that cool, we-aren’t-really-trying-to-be way that makes them seem even cooler.
Keep up with The Seshen here.
by Meredith Schneider | Feb 28, 2020 | albums, review
As if we hadn’t been blessed enough this week, Munich-based pop rock quartet KYTES – expertly comprised of Michael Spieler, Kerim Öke, Timothy Lush, and Thomas Sedlacek – releases their new album Good Luck today. Eleven power-infused pop tracks, replete with punchy lyrics and accented vocals are about to put you in the best mood ever, despite some of the subject matters. Like first track “Runaway”, for example, during which we hear the protagonist either setting boundaries with a conflicted relationship, or acknowledging his runner mentality in life. Either way, we start on a highly relatable note, and that doesn’t fade as we melt into the 80s-inspired work.
“Go Out” keeps the energy going at the same pace, while the coming of “Emily” leads us into what we would prefer to identify as a quintessential ambient love song. A sense of nostalgia is established within the lyrics, leading perfectly into the highly danceable “Take Me Home”. “Want You Back” comes in with a slight disco feel, the guitar parts absolutely standout. While “Alright” doesn’t exactly convince us that he is quite alright, “Shot of Love” has a very Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” feel to it over spans of verses.
“Like a Dream” is as sticky sweet as the title would suggest, “Fast Life” is a bit quirkier in both composition and lyrical content, and will definitely get you on your feet, while “Wheel” is the defining ballad of the album. Bonus track “Livin’ in Havana” serves as our last sounds from this euphoric release, and it puts us in such vacation mode that we are almost looking forward to our next two days off… even if that means we are midwest-bound.
Keep up with KYTES here.
