Artist of the Month Vol #2 – June 2021

For Tracy Hyde, a shoegaze quintet formed in 2012, has built up a reputation for their dream-like soundscapes and venturesome spirit. Consisting of Eureka, the band’s lead vocalist and band members Natsubot, U-1, Mav, and Soukou, the band has released 4 albums that have showcased their creativity and adaptability to change musical direction within each album cycle. Dabbling in indie pop, j-pop, dream pop or even to some extent, electronic synth-pop, the band reminisces the music of the 90s and have since found their sound in dream pop.



For Tracy Hyde – Film Bleu

Initially starting off with synth-accented indie-pop sounds in songs like “Favourite Blue” or “After” from their debut Film Bleu, the band merges j-pop with indie rock and strokes of electronica. In an interview by From The Intercom, For Tracy Hyde’s guitarist and backing vocalist, Natsubot describes Film Bleu as a product of the Shibuya-kei music he was listening to during his college and graduate school days. 



For Tracy Hyde – He(R)Art

Following the release of Film Bleu, For Tracy Hyde’s second album, he(r)art, reflects a more americanized sound as it recalls the likes of The 1975 with their use of catchy up beat guitars and pop-ish vocals. While “Theme for “he(r)art”” explores cinematic synthpop, showcasing their talent for writing thematic soundscapes, the band’s influence from The 1975 is clearly articulated in songs like “Floor”, a personal favourite of mine.



For Tracy Hyde – New Young City

With much focus and dedication, the band continued to release their third album, New Young City, in 2019. In this release, the band’s focus returned towards dream pop and shoegaze though a hint of j-pop can be heard in Eureka’s melodious vocal melodies of the album’s songs. The title New Young City was taken from a song of the same name by the Japanese band Supercar, one of Natsubot’s biggest influences with the intention of bringing attention to both the bright side and dark side of city life. With the line-up changing to three guitarists, the band focused less on the use of synthesizers to create their soundscapes and instead dialed back into the good old formula of guitar music; using riffs, melodies, and lyrics to create memorable songs.



For Tracy Hyde – Ethernity

For Tracy Hyde’s latest album, Ethernity, truly embodies the words “ethereal” and “eternity” as their dream pop and shoegaze sound as a band is most apparent here. “Just Like Fireflies” is my personal favourite from the album as the band’s unique melodic and lyrical writing style that can be heard across all 4 albums is emphasized in this song despite its musical arrangement changing to stay true to the genre of dream pop.

Listen to For Tracy Hyde here:

Sources:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/01/22/music/tracy-hyde-polishes-indie-aesthetics-film-bleu/
https://fromtheintercom.com/interview-for-tracy-hyde/

Artist of the Month Vol #1 – March 2020

Khruangbin

Khruangbin (/ˈkrʌŋbɪn/ KRUNG-bin) is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas, with Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Ray “DJ” Johnson Jr. on drums. The band is known for blending global music influences, such as classic soul, dub and psychedelia.

Their debut studio album, The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), draws from the history of Thai music in the 1960s, while their second album, Con Todo El Mundo (2018), has influences from Spain and the Middle East.

Khruangbin – The Universe Smiles Upon You
Debut Album – The Universe Smiles Upon You

Taking influence from 1960’s Thai funk – their name literally translates to “Engine Fly” in Thai – Khruangbin’s debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration

The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was recorded at their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside where their first rehearsals took place. The band listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to the country but their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound.

Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo

Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo

Whereas their 2015 debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was influenced by 60s and 70s Thai cassettes and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk, ‘Con Todo El Mundo’ hops east over India to take inspiration in similarly under discovered funk and soul sounds of the Middle-East, particularly from Iran. Laura Lee explains the album’s title: “My grandpa would always ask me ‘Como me quieres?’ (‘how much do you love me’?), and he’d only ever accept one response. ‘Con todo el mundo’ (With all the world).”

 

Hasta El Cielo

Hasta El Cielo

‘Hasta El Cielo’ is the band’s glorious dub version of their second album ‘Con Todo El Mundo’. The full album has been processed anew along with two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist.

The band’s exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well.

Khruangbin & Leon Bridge – Texas Sun

Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Sun EP

Sometimes the most unlikely partnerships create the best results. That’s certainly the case with Thai (influenced) funk trio Khruangbin and soul singer Leon Bridges, two Texas-based acts who joined forces for the excellent Texas Sun EP. The title track opens with haunting backroads chords before segueing into a globally-influenced melody that plays host to Bridges’ wistful, love-drunk lyrics. The vibe stays steady throughout the course of this short-but-sweet EP. It’s all sunshine and open roads, the freedom of nowhere to go and someone lovely to navigate the route by your side.

 

Khruangbin – Mordechai

Mordechai is a story of finding yourself in unexpected places. Travel weary and without a home after 24 itinerant months of travel and touring, Laura Lee went on a hike with a family of strangers, led by a father named Mordechai. Here, on this least expected journey after so many others, she found spiritual awakening and rebirth.

My Favourite Indie Folk Albums