INTERVIEW: Groove Armada

Written for Gigwise: http://www.gigwise.com/features/106270/groove-armada-interview-2016-on-ibiza-house-music-new-album

GROOVE ARMADA ON IBIZA, HOUSE MUSIC AND THEIR NEXT ALBUM

We caught up with the duo ahead of their appearance at The Masked Ball

Gigwise recently caught up with Tom Findlay, one-half of London house duo Groove Armada, (makers of classic dance tunes 'I See You Baby' and 'Superstylin') to discuss their recent Little Black Books compilation, the unique hedonistic charm of Ibiza and their take on current dance music.

What music are you guys listening to at the moment, new or old? Who are you excited about?

The usual labels continue to release amazing music: Hypercolour, Hot Creations, Pets Recordings really killing it too right now. In terms of artists, Eats Everything is having a real moment AGAIN, Emanuel Satie just keeps releasing amazing house music, and Solardo are nailing it too.

As seasoned dance music veterans, what are your thoughts on the current electronic scene?

I’ve never heard us described as that, but I like it. I think the scene is brilliant right now. So much great music, so much diversity, if you bring confidence to the stage there’s a sense that almost anything goes. Techno is clearly right up there, but house is still going strong, I feel spoilt by what we get sent every week.

Whilst working on your recent Little Black Books compilation, what were you looking to incorporate? Did you try and focus on a particular strain of electronic music?

We wanted to reflect our love of house really, simple as that. We started out thinking we were doing a compilation and pretty much ended up writing a new album of club tunes. So fair to say that wasn’t really part of the plan, but we enjoyed it.

Are you heading to Ibiza this summer? If so, what do you think makes Ibiza so unbeatable in terms of its vibe?

I guess we will. It’s got a magic hasn't it, a sense that you can pretty much do what you like, and when you like - it’s a place fundamentally dedicated to having a good time. It’s grown up and developed over the 20 years we’ve been going there, but the energy is somehow still very magical.

What's next for Groove Armada? Are you currently recording?

We’re working on an album for the fabric mix series, and writing EPs. we’re always recording, but no plans to make an album at this stage.

LIVE REVIEW: Sunflower Bean @ The Dome, Tufnell Park 18/02/16

Written for Gigwise: 

New York trio Sunflower Bean admit that tonight’s date at The Dome, Tufnell Park is their biggest UK audience so far, touring with their debut album Human Ceremony, which borrows the same producer as early Tame Impala, Diiv and Sky Ferreira.

The band, who is front duo Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen with Jacob Faber on drums, has caused a considerable stir with “industry types” and appreciative nods from labels since their appearance at last year’s SXSW, being compared to Blondie, and the glory days of the 80’s UK indie scene.   

“You guys good?”, asks Cumming, self consciously on entering the stage. Opening with ‘Human Ceremony’, it is apparent that Sunflower Bean are onto something, what they lack in confidence they automatically make up for in technical skill right from the offset.

‘Easier Said’, one of their softer tracks felt anthemic, and ‘Tame Impala’, the gloriously dizzy ‘Wall Watcher’ and ‘Space Exploration Disaster’ were flawless, gritsy indie rock in its purest form.   

“You still doing good?” they ask, as if to somehow gauge how they’re being received. It is clear to see that Cumming and Kivlen are absolutely besotted with their guitars, treating the receptive crowd to a number of strung out, at times psychedelic PInk Floydian jams.

Their heady sort of hard guitars and sweet, sugary vocals is special, and Sunflower Bean filled me with optimism - indie music that is finally interesting again. Timely without being trite. Talented without being arrogant. Inspired without imitation. Their ability to emulate the past greats whilst imprinting their own brand of awesome is rather spectacular, and amazing for such new and emerging talent.

LIVE REVIEW: Dua LIpa @ Oslo, Hackney, 02/02/2016

Written for GIgwise: http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/105312/dua-lipa-live-gig-tour-review-london-oslo-setlist-tickets

Dua Lipa is a half-English, half-Serbian musician who's currently based in London. She’s essentially a walking Pop Star Starter Pack; stunningly beautiful? Check. Achingly cool? Check. And with possibly the most envious footing any new female artist could wish for. She’s looked after by Lana Del Rey’s management, and very much fits the same profile - an alt femme fatale, self describing her sound as "dark pop."

Finishing her five-date UK tour at the Oslo in Hackney was apt and sensible for an artist of Dua’s new-talent stature, where a modest yet enlivened headcount filled the upstairs room. Opening the set with ‘Bad Together’, a track taken from her upcoming debut, Dua is instant gratification - african-style pounding drums and soaring, honeyed vocals complimented her exotic, intense presence, her name in sharp neon lights behind.

‘Be The One’ was a sugary stellar pop high, written by Lucy ‘Pawws’ Taylor, and is the only track from the album not written by Dua. ‘New Love’, another absolute blinding pop song, was equally illustrious and shed light on a recurring theme - damaged yet artistic melancholic rebellion, much like Amy Winehouse or Lana, and a welcomed relief to all of the over styled, plastic tackiness of mainstream pop.

Dua has done some interestingly varied covers, and her rendition of Jamie xx’s ‘Good Times’ was pretty special along with a cover of The Weekend’s ‘The Hills’ which showed an even grittier side.

We all have our guilty pop pleasures, but Dua Lipa is nothing to be ashamed of - pop music done right, and one to keep a very close eye on.

LIVE REVIEW: Micachu & The Shapes @ Oval Space, Hackney 5/11/2015

Written for Gigwise: http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/103673/micachu-&-the-shapes-live-gig-review-oval-space-london

Micachu & The Shapes formed part of this year’s Illuminations Festival, a series of uniquely curated music and arts events held in various London locations. Tonight's show was at Oval Space, a futuristic, muddled collection of annex’s overlooking the built-up East London area of Hackney - disorientating in nature, an applicable setting for tonight’s act.

Mica Levi, a classically trained London-based musician, studied at the renowned Guildford School of Music, and has previously worked with a mixed bag of collaborators including Toddla T, Jack Peñate, Ghost Poet and Speech Debelle. She also wrote the film score to lasts years’ sci-fi, horror art film Under The Skin, directed by Jonathan Glazer, for which she won Best Film Composer at The European Film Awards.

She isn’t archetypal in any way - androgynous in appearance and sound, she completely defies conformity, insisting her music is 'pop', yet jolting and bending its structure and characteristics at every turn - from her abstract use of time-breaks to her drawling, monstrous vocals which often twitch abruptly to childlike lucidity.

With the recent release of the band’s third LP, Good Sad Happy Bad, we hear more of a grungy, electronic hue, adding much heavier elements to the bands original aura in comparison to the days of ‘Lips’ and ‘Golden Phone’, which were much more playful and jovial. Live, tracks ‘Oh Baby’ and ‘Sad’ were amped up considerably, and were performed with a great deal more instrumental and vocal power than on record.

Micachu and her Shapes are disorientating and disjointed, jittery and at times teetering on the edge of nonsensical, and it is in this almost alienating twilight zone that we find their brave, enigmatic brilliance.

ALBUM REVIEW: Widow Speak - 'All Yours'

Written for Middle Boop Mag: http://middleboopmag.com/music/music-news/widowspeak-%E2%80%93-all-yours-captured-tracks

Brooklyn label Captured Tracks duo Widowspeak, comprised of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl, are set to release their third album ‘All Yours’ this September. It’s been over two years since their country-tinged EP ‘The Swamps’, which was a deliberate, “bridge toward a new sound”. 

Previous album ‘Almanac’ was recorded in an old barn in New York’s Hudson River Valley, and felt very much Mazzy Star meets Fleetwood Mac, with the natural world acting as its inspiration. Kevin McMahon of Lucky Pierre also leant his expertise on production, which compounded and complimented everything they were trying to achieve after losing a member of the band.

Title track ‘All Yours’ has the intrinsically delicate gossamer vocals from Hamilton,, the gentle twanging chords and lovesick lyrics are a nod to their country roots of Tacoma,  Washington, and are indicative of their slight veer in direction.  ‘Narrows’ is marginally melancholic, but on the whole the album seems to have twitched to a much lighter temperament, as though the fog has lifted.

‘Stoned’ has that Best Coast adolescent feel, a throwback, perhaps to their debut-country-psych roots.  ‘Girls’ is ridiculously countrified, with a harmonica loop and blues guitar background. Simplistic and beautiful lyrics with its coming of age overtones make this track easily one of the best on the album. ‘Borrowed World’ is a flourish of magic - an instant pleaser. Lead single ‘Dead Love (So Still)’ starts out in a quintessential Widowspeak-fashion, and then spirals into a psychedelic riff.

Widowspeak have gathered a tangible richness and depth to their sound as they have evolved, expertly harnessing and executing spine-tingling moments at every turn. ‘All Yours’ is consistently fresh, sharp and interesting. It's easily their best records and one of the most stunning albums you will hear this year. 

LIVE: Swim Deep @ The Roundhouse, Camden 22/10/15

Written for Gigwise: http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/103437/swim-deep-live-at-the-roundhouse-review

Brummy five-piece Swim Deep were born out of the B-Town wave that emerged in 2012, but were always slightly in the shadows of their contemporaries Peace. That being said, Swim Deep did form part of a bigger picture that, at that time, was hazy dream-pop at its best.

Two years on, Swim Deep are back, touring with new album Mothers, (an ode to, you didn't guess it, “the mother of the universe”). It's a startlingly different offering - less drizzly Brit-pop, more, in their words,”psychedelic sex music”.

Austin Williams and co emerged onstage to the Jurassic Park theme; a momentous entrance that reeked of confidence, albeit a necessity if they were to pull off this huge swerve in sound. The need to double-take was in order, it was Swim Deep... on acid, as it were, no more knock kneed indie sensibility, more space ships and holograms – an unbelievable transformation.

From the Human League frenzy of ‘Grand Affection’ to the sassy saxophone accompaniment on ‘One Great Song and I Could Change The World’, it was a bonanza, with a pirouetting dancer, no less, amid the stage for their epic new psychedelic trip of a song ‘Fueiho Boogie’, an eight minute long banger that has to be heard to be believed.

Swim Deep’s show was an absolute mashup of genres, managing to be ravey and retro all at once. With a few years on the scene and, (we could be forgiven for thinking) their fair share of opiates, it seems that Swim Deep have made a point of actively casting off the shackles of their B-Town routes, and in turn are shining in a way that we could never have anticipated.

INTERVIEW: Naytronix

Written for Middle Boop Mag: http://www.middleboopmag.com/music/interviews/interview-naytronix-tune-yards

Middle Boop Mag recently had the opportunity to pick the brain of the innovative beat-smith Naytronix,  (also known as Nate Brenner, bassist oftUnE-yArDs) prior to the release of his upcoming second solo album - the cheekily titled Mister Divine.

Middle Boop Mag: It’s been three years since your debut solo project Dirty Glow, which was loosely based around a vision of post-apocalyptic robots. Is there a clear concept to Mister Divine?
Naytronix: Its more of a loose vision than a concept, Mister Divine definitely isn’t a “concept album”,  but I did decide to use a similar theme throughout. A recurring subject is dealing with and thinking about the past, present, and future, while ultimately trying to make sense out of life.  

MBM: Initially a sonic scrapbook of sounds to be used in DJ sets, what led you to release this material as your second record?

N:  I decided to book some days with a mixing engineer at New, Improved Recordings, a studio in Oakland, as a way for me to set a personal deadline in which to wrap up the stuff I’ve been working on over the last two years, and to finalize it all.  While we were working on the mixes I started getting some interest in playing live - something that - at that stage I wasn’t sure I was going to do. I decided to just go with it and said yes, and since then I've been experimenting with a whole range of ideas for the creative process of playing live.  

MBM: In the time between your debut and Mister Divine, tUnE-yArDsreleased another record, how do you separate both projects in your mind? Are you ever tempted to bottle up your best ideas for your solo project?

N: It’s really easy to separate the two projects because tUnE-yArDs is predominantly the vision of Merrill Garbus.  I help her to write the songs and offer advice, but she’s the main producer and leader of the group. We've had the opportunity to work with some amazing recording engineers and producers like Eli Crews, Olivia Oyama, Malay and John Hill so I’ve had the chance to learn a lot about sound, recording techniques, and  haverecieved creative ideas from all of them. We also studied Haitian drumming with Daniel Brevin while we were making ‘Nikki Nack’ so I was able to  bring some of those poly-rhythms into Mister Divine.   

When we were working on ‘Nikki Nack’ I was constantly getting ideas forNaytronix songs.  We were both just living and breathing music, learning so much from the people we were working with and pushing each other to make crazy music.  The challenge for me was turning those ideas into real songs and finding my own voice. 

It took a while and I was feeling that my vocals were really holding back the music so I decided to take voice lessons and took a break from recording until I felt like I could record a vocal take without being completely embarrassed.  In the past I would have hid behind a vocoder or some other vocal effect but I just wanted to be able to sing without a crutch, and recordings never lie!

MBM: What do you feel are the main differences, the purposeful differences between the band’s material and Naytronix? Was there an initial inspiration for going solo?

N: There are a lot of similar sounds between the two projects because we use pretty much the same gear when we record.  But the biggest difference is that the sound of tUnE-yArDs is dominated by Merrill’s voice and lyrics, whereas Naytronix is all about the groove and bass-line.Going solo was a way to challenge myself to become a better musician, songwriter, producer, and singer.  I was having a lot of musical ideas and just wanted to have fun and get some good jams out into the world.     

Mister Divine is available to pre-order now from iTunes, and on CD/vinyl. 

Listen to new track 'Back in Time' on the Naytronix Soundcloud page.  

Naytronix with be playing two UK shows next month: 

25th November, @ The Rainbow - Birmingham

28th November, @ Shacklewell Arms - London 

ALBUM REVIEW: Jib Kidder - Teaspoon to the Ocean (Domino)

Written for Middle Boop Mag: http://www.middleboopmag.com/music/music-news/jib-kidder-teaspoon-ocean

Sean Schuster-Craig, currently going under the alias of Jib Kidder, is a loosely New York-based artist who uses a rather avant-garde cut and paste approach, sonically trying to execute the overwhelming burr and beep nature of the internet age in all of its discombobulating glory. 

Kidder initially built up a name for himself on the American underground through an amazing set of Bandcamp Releases and a minor DIY hit, 2012’s ‘My Baby’. Teaspoon to the Ocean is his first release on quietly prestigious UK underground label Domino.  

His vocals consistently reel off like a text processor and his sparse soundsscapes are a collage of his juxtaposing influences including Animal Collective, Atlanta Rap and AM radio. Kidder is geographically hard to place, his Bandcamp bio reads, “No genre, no hometown, hard 2 pin down since Y2K.” In line with this vision, his music is the same, hard to trace, hard to pin down.

Kidder’s sharp wit and sonically “pretty” style is bemusing and appealing throughout TTTO yet his vision, his backstory, and in many ways his forward thinking philosophy are not executed in the hard-hitting way that they should have been. The final product comes across rather absentmindedly, sounding accidental and misunderstood.

Yet, the scene has been set, the foundations have been laid for something more developed and acute to follow. Perhaps the very nature of his idea, his approach, is what we are hearing, much like a teaspoon to the ocean, an overwhelmed, poetically unfathomable result ensues. 

LIVE REVIEW: Dry The River @ The Marble Factory, Bristol 26/02/15

Written for Middle Boop Mag: http://www.middleboopmag.com/music/live/dry-river-marble-factory-bristol-26022015

Dry The River, now on their second album 'Alarms in the Heart', are often described as a ‘hard folk’ outfit, which does like a weird amalgamation, but is actually pretty spot on. Their take on folk is fresh, deep and consistently earnest and often surreptitiously pained. 

The band studied in Bristol, and cited that this stop at The Marble Factory was an important, nostalgic date. Lead vocalist  Peter Liddle was barefoot throughout the performance, and their long, Anglo-Saxon tresses and shaggy beards added to their earthy, almost verging on pagan style that their poeticism and folk-roots covey. 

Their voices were in perfect harmony, all equally strong vocalists with different but complimentary ranges. Liddle’s voice is so profoundly beautiful, but live was he was completely disarming as a performer. ‘Bible Belt’, from their debut Shallow Bed, was a poignant moment, and is a song about Liddle’s alcoholic parents, as his voice pirouetted around the room, the crowd stood in respectful silence at his deep creation.

Title track ‘Alarms in the Heart’ was delivered with precision and passion, ‘Gethsemane’ named after a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, was beautiful, and laden with powerful religious imagery, a recurring theme across both albums.  

Their debut Shallow Bed was released in 2012, and their latest album has been met with much the same amount of critical adoration, some even citing it a progressive improvement. With one man down, their violinist, the Stratford-group certainly hasn’t suffered at the hands of his departure. Dry the River appeared stronger than ever - refined, triumphant and confident of their beautiful new offering.  Finishing with ‘No Rest’, they performed a special rendition, which started with acoustics and switched over to electric.  It was a perfect set, vocally, instrumentally and altogether completely enriching to behold.

ALBUM REVIEW: Beach Beach - The Sea (La Castanya)

Written for Middle Boop Mag: http://www.middleboopmag.com/music/beach-beach/beach-beach-sea-la-castanya

The garage and punk scene in Spain is notably strong and has churned out some really interesting stuff over the past few years. However, with the annual Primavera festival, (now in its fourteenth extremely successful year) now is a great time to be a Spanish indie band. The festival focuses predominantly on independent home-grown bands, providing a vehicle for emerging talent.

Crystal Fighters, (also hailing from Spain) encapsulate an overwhelming joyous sensation into their music that is instantly palpable, Beach Beach have gone in with similar elation on first album The Sea. Take their double-worded name as a reiteration of just how sunny and carefree these guys sound, something that has sadly lacked in British indie music for quite some time now.

Opener ‘Friendly’ is a one minute blast of sunshine (and does sound ever so slightly like the Friends theme tune, only slightly though), setting the tone for the rest of the 12-track album. ‘Just Like Before’ is playful, light-hearted stoner beach pop. It’s charming and childlike, and is everything that our once joyous British indie scene used to be, before things got stale and cynical. ‘Glaring Sweat’ is a bouncy, surfer rock anthem, kind of like Tame Impala, but instead of LSD acting as their main stimulant, a hazy, marijuana enhanced sleepiness can be heard.

The Sea is pretty much the same formula repeated on every track, without a smidgen of a change in sentiment. It’s easy listening from beginning to end, but not in the disparaging sense of the phrase, it just really is very pleasant to listen to, and would sound amazing under the spring sunshine at this year’s Primavera.