FIVE FAVOURITES: Delhia de France

Crafting a solo career between Berlin and L.A over the past two years, Producer and songwriter Delhia de France has been busy re-working a track from German producer Robot Koch’s latest album, The Next Billion Years. She takes Koch’s concept of sound-tracking the far distant future of earth on ‘All Forms Are Unstable’ and gives it an alt-pop twist, breathing new life in to the instrumental piece with her soft vocals and shimmering electronics.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Delhia to ask about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that inspired her song-writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to her cover of ‘All Forms Are Unstable’ at the end of this post.

1. Massive Attack – ‘Paradise Circus’
‘Paradise Circus’ has a certain melancholic lightness to it that I really like. Massive Attack have been consistently bending genres and been a huge influence of mine since forever. Their latest project Eutopia with Young Fathers is as brilliant as it is important. The tracks are layered over with speeches and lectures by prominent educational figures demanding justice, equality, sustainability. Goosebumps education.

2. Fever Ray – ‘I’m Not Done’
This whole album is one of my all time fives. I will never get tired diving into these eerie synth baths that have a very artificial sound yet and incredibly warm vibe. It really is an album of light and dark and to create opposites so each side can shine is something that I picked up from Karin Dreijer’s productions.

3. Rosalia – ‘A Palé’
I love how the track begins with this soothing melody and then takes a totally different turn. It’s incredible how she fuses traditional flamenco with modern sounds. I love all the space in between and her voice effortlessly pouring over it like a waterfall.

4. Thom Yorke – ‘Skip Divided’
Radiohead had always been a massive influence to me and Thom Yorke with his extraordinary fragile voice throwing words at you like daggers. He has a special way of writing melodies that uniquely beautiful. How he marries the piano with these textured organic sounds has been, I’ve always been fascinated.

5. The Knife – ‘Silent Shout’
Again Karin Dreijer, this time with her brother Olof. The whole Silent Shout album has been an eye-opener to me, these simple melodies and her bone-shaking voice combined with glowing and sawing synths are so far opposite of my usual sound yet so captivating and just plain beautiful in this genius simplicity.

Thanks to Delhia de France for sharing her favourites with us.
Listen to her cover of ‘All Forms Are Unstable’ below.

Photo Credit: Alix Spence

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Five Favourites: DEHD

Set to release their new album later this week, Chicago’s DEHD have been impressing us this year with a series of gritty singles. With a raw edge, brooding basslines and sultry vocals, they create instantly infectious indie-pop, and we can’t wait to hear the album in its entirety.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them or influences their writing. So, we caught up with vocalist Emily Kempf to find out her “Five Favourites” – five albums that she loves more than most. Check out her choices below, and keep your ears out for DEHD’s new release on Friday.

Broncho – Double Vanity /  Bad Behavior
I’m obsessed with Broncho, I think they are a perfect band. I can put them on in any place with any group of people and they just fit in. They are the band everyone wants to know – like a secret you find pride in knowing about first and can’t wait to tell your bestie. If I could marry music I would marry Broncho.

Emily Sprague – Water Memory
I’ve listened to Emily’s ambient masterpiece Water Memory more times than maybe any other record. The amount of times I’ve tucked away in the corner of the tour car with Water Memory in my headphones is countless. It’s my go-to to feel calm, to feel safe, to fall asleep or to mediate with. It’s a beautiful peaceful sweeping record that brings you somewhere far far away and then all the way back home again. It just washes you right out.

Jah Wobble & The Chinese Dub Orchestra
A special choice, several years ago this was a record I originally picked for its cover at random in a record shop in Seattle. It’s best listened to while laying on the floor alone or with a pile or friends. Make sure to have either a ceiling fan or the windows open wide to invite a light breeze. This record is to be listened to with intention – and buckle in, it will soothe and surprise you.

Sibylle Baier – Colour Green
This is a record to cry to, a classic cry album for sure. Her melodies and lyrics and lilting breathless voice make you feel like you’re all grown up and alone in a cottage someplace cold and quiet, with snow on the ground. She’s a secret tear on the pillow late at night when no one’s paying attention. Beautiful and heartbreaking and worth every second.

Sunglow – Hog Heaven
Daniel is a mastermind producer of playful, inspiring soundscapes that energize and incite. I have been a fan for a while and also could put on any of his records to shift a mood in the room instantaneously. It’s fun, fresh and pure freak mode. Don’t shuffle! Play in suggested record order, the songs are all “holding hands”.

Huge thanks to DEHD for sharing their Five Favourites with us! 

Flower Of Devotion, the new album from DEHD, is out this Friday 16th July via Fire Talk. Watch their latest video for ‘Month’ here:

Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Francis Of Delirium

Formed of 18 year old songwriter Jana Bahrich and collaborator Chris Hewett, Francis of Delirium create swirling guitar tunes that centre around Bahrich’s personal experiences. The Canadian-American duo recently released their new EP, All Change, via Dalliance Recordings and it’s full of fuzzed up, cathartic guitar sounds.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Jana to ask about her “Five Favourites” – five albums that inspired her song-writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to Francis Of Delirium’s new EP at the end of this post.

 

1. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
I can pinpoint the exact moment I heard ‘River Man’ for the first time. That song is so special, everything about Nick Drake is really special. It legitimately made me feel like my soul was lifting out of my body. His voice, the chord progressions, the string arrangements, everything adds so much. It might’ve affected me so much because it’s this singer-songwriter but it feels presented in a way that is completely new and so grounded in the earth. Both Chris and I have a special love for Nick Drake. We played this kind of brutal show and then came into the studio the next day and watched a Nick Drake documentary so there’s something comforting about him and his music, in particular this whole album.

2. Caroline Polachek – Pang
I think this is just an excellent pop record. The vocal melodies she’s choosing are so angular and unexpected but accompanied with really emotional and lush production. She has such control of her voice. There’s a KEXP session she did that was just her and a piano and I had to keep pausing the video every few seconds because I was so overwhelmed by how insane her voice is. It sounds out of this world.

3. Solange – When I Get Home
As a listener it feels like there’s so much intent with everything Solange does, maybe I’m cheating because there is literally an interlude on the album that says “do nothing without intention”. Both visually and in an auditory sense. She did a performance that was a medley of songs from When I Get Home on Jimmy Fallon and that was really important to me. I love choreography and shows that are big and planned but have a way of maintaining intimacy. I think that’s really hard to pull off. It’s something I think about a lot for our live shows. Obviously venues we play are pretty small, so it feels important to keep a closeness between the performer and the audience but I would like to incorporate something theatrical without alienating the audience so it doesn’t feel like I’m not there with them anymore. To me, Solange achieved that with her performance on Jimmy Fallon and the album is great.

4. The Microphones – The Glow pt.2
Phil Elverum’s music always centres me. It reminds me why I like Chris and I figuring out how to record music on our own and how getting it wrong but it still feeling right and ultimately that being what matters the most is really important. Phil always creates such a wonderful sense of space which makes me feel like I belong in the album he’s making, in particular this one, there’s this sense of home. Whenever I listen to him I want to go and try new recording techniques and try new things, listening to his music is like instant inspiration for me.

5. James Taylor – Greatest Hits
We grew up with a lot of “best of” albums around the house, which I never really realized until a bit recently. We had the R.E.M CD with the hand on it, the Nirvana black album, the wings best of, The Beatles one album so I really grew up on bangers only. Sometimes I want to do these huge ambitious orchestral albums and I still want to make a musical but James Taylor always reminds me, if you have something simple and pure and honest it can be just as arresting as anything else. He makes it seem a lot easier than it is and always reminds me to really check and double check if what I’m adding is serving the song.

Thanks to Jana for sharing her favourites with us! Listen to Francis Of Delirium’s EP below.

Photo Credit: Patricia Marets

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Five Favourites: Bugeye

Having just released their explosive debut album, Ready Steady Bang, GIHE faves Bugeye have fast been building a reputation for their wonderfully unique colourful pizazz, with recent acclaim from the likes of John Kennedy, Amazing Radio and God Is In The TV Zine. And rightly so, the album is like nothing you’ve heard before; a vibrant fusion of disco, punk and everything in-between, all fused together with magnificent energy into a relentlessly riotous and utterly uplifting collection.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them or influences their writing. So, we caught up with Angela from Bugeye to find out her “Five Favourites” – five albums that have influenced her writing and Bugeye’s current sound. Check out her choices below, and make sure you listen to the new album asap!

Altered Images – Happy Birthday
I can’t quite remember when I discovered the Scottish band Altered Images. It may have been on one of those punk comp albums, but it was a band that would be one of my main influences for Bugeye’s music. I love the way they blend new wave punk tones with disco, cover dark themes but with upbeat musical accompaniments. It’s certainly what we try to do with Bugeye and although we don’t sound like Altered Images, their album Happy Birthday has been a big influence on my writing style.

Blondie – Parallel Lines
Another incredible band that merges disco and new wave punk in such a
seamless way. I have always been a huge Blondie fan from an early age, and this was one of my dads’ favourite albums. It’s spiky pop in its finest moments and is one of those albums that made me want to pick up a guitar and play. Whenever I need inspiration to write, I listen to Blondie.

Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish
Probably an unexpected choice but I was rediscovering the beginnings of Brit-Pop before it all went south and this was an album I played a lot. It’s lyrically witty, wise, catchy, dark, light and everything in between. The music is simplistic but smart, and I think it was a great album that perfectly captured a mood, social change and the political climate. We wanted to write something that looked at the world today so surrounding ourselves with important records to inspire us to take a long hard look at the world was key. This was one of those albums.

Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
Exciting synths and exploring the impact of technology upon humanity,
this album was the perfect atmospheric inspiration for our own writing on this subject. Synths have become such an important part of Bugeye’s sound and what better place to explore possibilities than with the work of Kraftwerk?!

Donna Summer – Best Of
Queen of the dance floor and a big influencer on dance music, Donna Summers’ music is pop, disco, soul and funk. It has a brutal futurism to it with icy electronics pulsing in a dark but fun way. We loved the way she mixed styles and sounds and we wanted to capture some of this with our album. You’ll hear arpeggiators and big disco sounds across our album as a salute to Donna Summer.

Massive thanks to Angela for sharing her Five Favourites!

Ready, Steady, Bang, the new album from Bugeye, is out now via Reckless Yes. Download or buy the CD on Bandcamp, or find one of the few remaining vinyl copies at selected independent record shops.

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