top of page
Search

Week25 |Tobi’s New Music Monster Picks

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Dec 9, 2018
5 min read

A totally random, whatever came to mind first, selection of the latest additions to ourNew Music Monster

Music Reviews written by Tobi Davis

Tobi's new music monster

Artist:

Kelsy Karter Track:“Catch Me If You Can” Unofficial Angelina Jolie/Mick Jagger one night stand, bastard lovechild and rock n roll animal, Kelsy Karter delivers a lean, mean, overdriven jump up n down and scream machine, new single, “Catch Me If You Can”. The New Zealand born Artist, first gained traction, with a feature vocal on Israeli psytrance electronica duo, Infected Mushroom release, ‘That is Gold’; part of their 2013 release, ‘Friends on Mushrooms Vol.2’. A highly creative partnership with composer/producer Stephen Barton (‘i, Robot’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘Alien: Covenant’) followed, with Kelsy’s soulful, raspy vocals featured on a string of showstopping cover songs, across the four seasons of hit Sci Fi show, ’12 Monkeys’; including a staggering. stripped down rendition of Simple Minds’ iconic 1985 hit “Don’t You Forget about Me”. Latest release, “Catch Me If You Can” marks the Independent Artist’s firth single of the year; and whereas most Artists, are releasing Christmas cosy ballads and Autumnal introspection on the low down and/or lofi, self described, ‘switchblade carrying, blue eyed rock & roll lady rebel’ Kelsy Karter, has instead stamped on the loud pedal and aimed it straight at the vanishing point. The three minute eight second track arrives a gut rush of kick/snare kick/snare and ripped up bassline on the mustang drag; Kelsy working the vocals percussive, through the verses; nailing the lyrics to the beat. Tight stops punctuate the track, adding funk and swagger. The chorus opens and lifts up with layers of fuzzed guitar, panned hard left/hard right. Kelsy switches up, rising on the melody; hitting the beats on the sly. The talented vocalists demonstrates further variation in the middle eight (if indeed, middle eights even exist), by pulling over to the side of the road, taking a break from the burn and breaking out the melody in glorious swells and surges. “Catch Me If You Can” is a perfectly formed pop rock gem; one of those rare tracks, that makes good on all it promises. Sharp production, further enhanced by creative use of sound design, successfully frames and elevates the smartly written song ; with well crafted and engaging lyrics, coupled with Kelsy Karter’s barnstorming vocal performance, combining to push the track over the top. An out and out playlist slayer, “Catch Me If You Can” could and should be tearing up the Christmas Party mixtapes.

Artist:

Brigitte Track:“Le Chat” French duo Brigitte drop a 3 minute 27 second slice of strings on the slide and bit beats on the dry with “Le Chat”, taken from their 19 track release, ‘Nues (Deluxe)’. Although originally released in 2017, Aurélie Maggiori and Sylvie Hoarau aka Brigitte delivered a ‘deluxe’, double album edition of ‘Nues’ November 30th; with eight additional tracks, including “Le Chat”. Steeped in the vibrant and vital, Art and Culture of 60s France; and named after three female icons of the era, Bardot, Fontaine and Lahaie, Brigitte fittingly began their music journey with the bluesy, hazy, folk ballad, ‘Les Vacances au Bord de la Mer’, for the 2010 film ‘Thelma, Louise & Chantal’. A debut EP, ‘Battez-Vous’ followed and included two of what are still currently, Brigitte’s most popular tracks on Spotify, title track, ‘Battez-Vous’ and their singular take on Suprême NTM’s 90s Hip Hop anthem, ‘Le Benz’. “Le Chat” marks the stark musical distance traveled, from the dreamy, sweet nostalgia and wistfulness of their soundtrack debut, to the tight, pop produced, sonic knife edge of “Le Chat”; structured/constructed very much like the sample/loop productions of Hip Hop, with lofi beat and pulsating bass; strings swinging percussive, in stutters, glitches, swoops and slurs; kick landing dusty and snare, snapping and biting; touches of piano key set light and almost decorative. The talented pair of vocalists, treading the beats with great flare; breathing and slinging the lyrics in short rhythmic salvos, doubling, underlining and reinforcing each other. The chorus open up in bittersweet vocal melodies, teasing and terse in tone; supercool nursery rhyme for the bohemian streets and borderline extro/introverts. Recorded at Henson Studios (Los Angeles) with Aurélie living in the hills above LA and Sylvie in Paris, the characteristically high standard of production synonymous with the City of Angels, creating an engaging and intriguing contrast, with the inspired oddity of Brigitte’s lyrical/vocal stylings. A stand out track, both original and contemporary. Brigitte are a class pop act. And very worthy of your attentions.

Artist:

Tobisonics Track:“Noirstar (Dark City Edition)” Las Vegas based duo and professional genre-blending noisemakers Fans of Jimmy Century 2018 release “Noirstar (Memories of his City)” gets the Tobisonics cinematic synth-scape re-imagination treatment, with his debut drop “Noirstar (Dark City Edition)”. Tired of streaming media platforms forever creating new ‘Tobi’ profiles with every remix, thus making it impossible to build momentum and/or fan base between releases, the Luxembourg based Producer/Remixer reluctantly came to the conclusion that he needed to invent and control his own brand. Every bit a ‘behind the scenes man’, the reclusive Tobi living a life of solitude, with his beloved beagle Enzo, in the Luxembourg countryside, he preferred to work in quiet service to the creative vision bands/artists; the majority of his time spent mixing and/or mastering for others; however in the social media / brand dominated Independent Music scene, Tobi needed to make a bit of noise. Tobi had also thought of his collaborations as ‘alternate versions’, rather than ‘remixes’; that the term ‘remix’ did not serve his work well; moreover he felt uncomfortable placing himself alongside talented EDM producer/remixers, who had skills he simply didn’t understand, let alone be able to duplicate. The ‘Tobisonics’ brand represented an opportunity to ‘reframe’ his alternate versions, reflecting the way in which he approached and felt about them. The singular, theatrical, operatic musical world of Fans of Jimmy Century offered the perfect starting point ; their lesser know release “Noirstar (Memories of his City)”, inspiring an odd, cinematic landscape of isolated counterpoints, stripped down bassline drives and vast, expansive synth stanzas; the 3 minute 11 second track build around the cryptic, neo-noir myth conjured by Alicia Perrone’s lyrics; drawing heavily on Victor James’ pulsating, bass line and recasting it a modulated/phased sequencer bass. True to his inability to stick to the straight forward or obvious, Tobi breaks the track at 2 minutes with tribal chants and scattered, stutter beats and pitch drops. Far from the maddening crowd of formulaic dance-pop, lumped together by ambitious, chart hungry producers (with little love apparent, for the genre in which they work), “Noirstar (Dark City Edition)” is a sonic oddity and difficult to pair with obvious playlist and, therefore, walk the well trodden path, of so many electronic productions (both good, bad and indifferent) ; thus making the possibility of success, regrettably uncertain. But success or no, given his pathological inability to even recognise the box, let alone think inside of it, we can sure that whatever Tobisonics dreams up next, it will be interesting. Stay tuned.

About Tobi Davis (BRASH! Magazine/Blog Writer) ​Good producing is like good plumbing. If you do your job right, no one notices. Mix, Remix + Master. Run @monsterthread w/ Singer Songwriter Jon Magnusson. Host Thursday’s @musichouruk. Music Reviews for BRASH! Magazine. Promote. Occasional Lyricist. Love my beagle Enzo + fav bands Little Empire and Moxi. Check out Tobi Sonics – Mixes + Remixes!

About The Monster Thread The #MonsterThread is a community of Independent Musicians, Bands and Artists supporting each other in making and sharing Indie Music.

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page