Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Earth Tongue Shares Blistering Ripper “Grave Pressure”

Currently-based in Berlin, the Kiwi-based psych duo Earth Tongue — Gussie Larkin (vocals, guitar) and Ezra Simons (drums, vocals) — released their third album Dungeon Vision through In The Red Records earlier this year. Dungeon Vision was written after a busy and extensive bit of touring across both Europe and the UK, and was recorded in Los Angeles with Ty Segall, a collaboration that be traced back to when the duo opened for him during his New Zealand and European tours. Dungeon Vision has already received critical acclaim and has lead to some non-stop international touring to support.

The rising psych duo will be supporting their latest album with a Stateside tour throughout August and September that includes sets at King Gizz’s Field of Vision Festival and Levitation, as well as a headlining and opening dates. The tour includes a September 3, 2026 stop at Elsewhere. You can check out the rest of the tour dates below.

In the meantime, Dungeon Vision single “Grave Pressure” is a blistering, mosh pit friendly ripper that channels Black Sabbath OSees, King Gizz and a lengthy list of others with the song anchored around fuzzy distorted pedaled power chords, thunderous drumming and punchy harmonized lyrics about death and the grave. Goths, metal heads and psych rockers unite!

Directed and produced by Caity Moloney and Tom Mannion, the video plays on 1990s alt rock motifs and features the Kiwi duo being prepared for their own funeral, performing in the funeral best and bursting from their own graves in a kitschy fashion reminiscent of Roger Corman‘s extensive collaboration with Vincent Price.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Smirk Shares Bruising, Rousingly Anthemic “Going Off To Die”

Growing up in Portland, OR in the early 2000s Smirk creative mastermind Nick Vicario was engrained in the scene that birthed acts like Poison Idea and Wipers. He started playing in bands at an early age and hob-knobbed with members of Tragedy and Criminal Damage in cover bands and even on the gridiron. When Vicario turned 12, his first band The Diskords were championed by Maximum Rocknroll, which lead to several releases and The Exploding Hearts taking them under their wing.

Playing in hardcore acts like Cower, eventually led him to indie pop act Wild Ones which released two albums over an eight year period, the latter which was released by Topshelf Records. After stints with Public Eye, Cemento, Crisis Man and a handful of others, as well as touring with Surfer Blood and Dreamdecacy, Vicario decided to focus on his solo project Smirk, releasing two albums, 2021’s S/T effort and 2022’s Material.

Vicario’s third Smirk album Speculative Fiction is slated for a July 3, 2026 release through Smoking Room. The album sees the Smirk mastermind restarting personally and musically. The album’s material sees Vicario eschewing the speed and thrash punk of his previously released work and taking a more measured, power pop approach. The result is decidedly more mid-tempo, channeling the likes of Big Star, The Paul Collins Beat, and Stiff’s earliest releases but filtered through the DIY spirit of Guided by Voices.

Thematically, the album sees life imitating art: Vicario slows thin down, retools and gets meticulous, making deliberate decisions with songwriting, creative and sonic approach and collaboration to execute a brand new vision. And fittingly, the album’s material may arguably be the most refined, focused approach to punk — with a pop sensibility. This newfound take on his sound and approach mirrors his lifestyle outside of the fast line and behind a white picket fence.

Written and entirely by Vicario, Speculative Fiction sees him calling upon some old friends to help flesh out the material’s overall sound for the recording sessions — Ceremony‘s Ross Farrarr, RIXE’s Max Smadja and Advertisement‘s Ryan Mangione-Smith. The album was primarily recorded in his home studio, although the Smirk creative mastermind recruited Ian Rose to record a few album tracks at Brooklyn’s The Daisy Chain Studios. Andy Oswald handled mixing for the bulk of the album. Live, Vicario is backed by members of Hotline TNT, Poison Ruin and Pardoner.

Speculative Fiction‘s latest single, “Going Off To Die” is a bruising, nihilistic sigh of defeat and surrender, that seemingly channels Social Distortion while showcasing Vicario’s knack for catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses. Thematically touching upon an age-old theme for punk rock — unrest in the suburbs but with a twist, “Going Off To Die” features a narrator looking back on past indiscretions and their repercussions — but with an exhausted sigh that says “I give up. I might be cooked — for now.” And in that embittering acceptance, there’s a sense of freedom — and a newfound way of moving forward.

“‘Going Off to Die’ is about leaving Los Angeles in a sort of quiet defeat,” says Vicario. “It comes from a place of shame and deals with reckoning with who I was and accepting that leaving was the only way forward.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: M. Woodroe Shares Tense, Bruising “Sweetness, Sweetness”

Brighton-based outfit M. Woodroe — Marcie Garwell (vocals, guitar), Ben Elwin (guitar), Jeorgie Pinder-Whiley (bass), Sam Sezarin (drums) — exploded out of their local DIY scene, quickly establishing themselves as one of the city’s most exciting, emerging acts. Their work pairs intricate, provocative and politically-charged lyrics that touch upon boundary-pushing explorations gender, sexuality and desire with angular, fuzzy and noisy post punk-inspired guitar work.

The emerging and rising Brighton-based have played shows alongside Mcluksy, Prostitute, and others, developing a reputation for an intense live show, while receiving airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing. And building upon a growing profile, the post-punk quartet recently signed to Venn Records, who will be releasing their highly-anticipated debut EP, The Treatment of Fractures on September 18, 2026.

The EP’s first single “Sweetness, Sweetness” is a bruising tune that captures an indecisive, neurotic narrator, who’s on the verge of exploding in a seething fury in every direction, fueled by self-flagellation and confusion. While sonically channeling the likes of JOVM mainstays Whispering Sons, the song as the band’s Marcie Garwell explains is “about many things — weakness, identity, acquiescence, confusion . . . the position you drink not to make a fuss. It’s a pipe bomb sent to order, hate mail addressed to compromise, yet it’s indecisive in all its threats and feelings – never sure of where it lies.

Directed by J. Taylor-Jones, the accompanying video for “Sweetness, Sweetness” is a feverish portrayal of discomfit, self-flagellation, dread and despair that feels particularly modern.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Indy Fontaine Returns with Flirty “Como Pa’ Mi”

Indy Fontaine is a Cuban-born, Miami-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who can trace the origins of her career to her early childhood: Singing alongside her uncle and his old guitar, she fell in love with music when she was three. By the time she turned six, she was enrolled full-time at a music school in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, where she trained to be professional vocalist and musician. 

Fontaine went on to graduate at the top of her class from Havana‘s prestigious National School of Art. When she graduated, she already had over a decade of experience playing gigs all across her native Cuba, including music festivals, live radio and TV sessions, and more. 

Fontaine then joined Sol y Sun, an act that has made runs of the international festival circuit between the States and Cuba, as well as some of the most popular venues in Havana. The band also frequently performed on national TV and radio shows.

She then relocated to Miami, where she stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist, Her solo debut, 2024’s Moments of My Life ranged across a number of genres and styles, including Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening, Soft Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock and R&B — with songs written and sung in both English and Spanish. 

The album featured “El Amor No Alcanza,” Fontaine’s subtly modern take on bolero, a Cuban genre that frequently focuses on affairs of the heart. Since then, Fontaine spent the past year releasing a collection of successful singles, “Esta Navidad,” “Vacaciones,” “Mariposas En La Lluvia,” “Mejor Sin Ti,” “Que Te Vaya Bien,” “Después De La Caída”  and the Andrés Castro and Guianko Gómez co-written and co-produced “Tú Tienes Algo,” feat. Charlie Cruz.

Fontaine’s latest single, the Fontaine and Guianko Gómez cowritten and Gómez-produced “Como Pa’ Mi” is a thumping, club friendly and flirty bachata tune that captures the feverish desperation of obsessive infatuation, when that person takes absolute hold of every thought and feeling. The song radiates joy –the sort of joy and hope from newfound love. And that joy was the feeling that Fontaine brought into the studio. “I walked into the studio with a happy vibe, a special feeling, and I wanted to share that with everyone — that beautiful emotion that comes up when two people genuinely connect,” Fontaine says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Uh Huh Her Shares Sultry “Shook”

Acclaimed and influential duo Uh Huh Her — Camilla Grey and Leisha Hailey — were once brought together by a sense of divine providence. Now, more than two decades later, the duo that would help define the indie sleaze era and inspire the likes of Metric, Dum Dum Girls and Magic Wands have returned to beckon a brand new generation of folks to the dance floor with the re-release of their beloved 2011 effort, Nocturnes.

The reissue, Nocturnes:Redux is slated for an August 7, 2026 release through Kill Rock Stars across DSPs and as a limited edition goth confetti vinyl. The reissue features never-before-heard original mixes by acclaimed super producer Tchad Blake, along with two previously unreleased songs — a cover of Sonic Youth‘s classic song “Kool Thing” and a new track “Shook.”

Just like how they came together back in the summer of 2006 through common friends and interests, the duo’s reconnection blossomed serendipitously and quickly. “It feels like it did when we first got together,” says Uh Huh Her’s Leisha Haliey, a songwriter, actor and author, who may now be best known for her starting role on Showtime’s The L Word and its follow-up Generation Q and her 2025 New York Times bestselling memoir, So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family and the Show That Started It All. “We’re just creative again together, and it’s an interesting place to come back to. And it’s almost like no time has passed, and all of the pressure’s off.”

The original release of Nocturnes was the band’s first independent release. “It meant the world that our fans directly supported the mixing of the album through online eBay auctions of memorabilia, vinyl, art, and even a couple private dinners, because that enabled us to enlist the powers of the incredible Tchad Blake,” Uh Huh Her’s Camilla Grey says. As they contemplated rereleasing Nocturnes with Kill Rock Stars, Grey started digging around to find the album’s original mixes. “I chose Tchad’s first and second mix attempts because I wanted to preserve his first instincts before we gave him a million notes,” she says. This is truly how he heard it on one or two tries. The songs are longer, they’re more rocked out, they’re a little more raucous.” The entirety of those original mixes have never seen the light of day until now.

“Shook,” Nocturnes: Redux‘s first single, and the re-issues only new, original single is a sultry tune that feels and sounds effortlessly crafted yet earnest, deeply universal yet intimate and personal with the song subtly capturing the slow-burn dread and unease of our weird moment. Camila Grey explains that the song is “particularly relevant in a time where everything and everyone feels so unstable. We are living through a profound assault on our central nervous systems by the barrage of media we ingest on a daily basis. While ‘Shook’ is more about a personal situation, the title speaks volumes about what we feel as humans on a daily basis.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms on the last day of school for NYC public school kids — and summer.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Abbie Ozard Shares Soaring and Cathartic “Baby I’m Your Star”

Released to critical applause from the likes of The Times, The Independent, Dork, The Line of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, The Fader, Notion, Hunger and more, 2024’s full-length debut, everything still worries me saw British artist Abbie Ozard explode into the national scene.

Ozard built upon a growing profile with a number of headlining UK shows, a European Union tour opening slot for Briston Maroey and a run of the regional festival circuit that included her debut at Glastonbury.

everything still worries me‘s highly-anticipated follow-up, Baby I’m Your Star EP is slated for an August 21. 2026 release. The EP will include the perviously released “Backbone,” which continues a run of material that has received airplay on Jack Saunders‘ and Huw Stephens’ BBC 1 Radio shows, as well as BBC Introducing Track of the Week, and Abbie McCarthy‘s and Chris Hawkins’ BBC Radio 6 shows.

“Baby I’m Your Star,” the EP’s title track and latest single is a rousingly anthemic tune that sees Ozard pairing open-armed, earnest lyricism and her soaring vocal with swirling and chiming guitar textures and her unerring knack for bombastic, festival friendly hooks and choruses. But underneath the rousingly bombastic catharsis is song that touches upon the sensation of faking-it-’til-you-make-it and wanting to be heard and understood. I guarantee most of us have been there at some point or another — including right now.

“‘Baby I’m Your Star’ is about trying to convince yourself you’re as confident as you want everyone else to think you are,” Ozard explains. “On the surface it’s cocky and playful, but underneath it comes from wanting to be heard and believed in. The song plays with the tension between ego and self-doubt, and the idea that sometimes confidence is something you have to perform before you fully believe it. It feels like a defiant moment for me, but there’s still plenty of vulnerability hiding underneath.”

Directed by Jack Hartley, the accompanying, mischievous video for “Baby I’m Your Star” features an aging guy out in the countryside, trying to stargaze — during the day, eventually coming upon Ozard, strolling through the countryside.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jaco Jaco Shares Meditative “Over When It’s Over”

Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Jacob Theriot is a lifelong singer/songwriter and musician, who first picked up bass when he was 12. His musical career began in earnest when he began writing and recording music in grade school with his brother and childhood friend. Those early efforts led to the acclaimed indie project Sports. 

After three albums and several international tours with Sports, Theirot relocated to Philadelphia, where began to explore and refine a sound that blends elements of funk, psych pop and 70s AM rock over a period of a handful of years. Those explorations led to Theirot’s solo recording project Jaco Jaco.

The Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based artist has released two Jaco Jaco albums, 2024’s debut Splat and last year’s Gremlin, which included three singles I wrote about, the Thundercat and 70s jazz fusion/jazz funk-like “Favorite Kind of People,” the Quiet Storm R&B-meets-Steely Dan-like “Woman” and the Tame Impala meets Bobby Oroza-like “I Won’t Bother.”

Building upon a growing profile, the Philadelphia-based JOVM mainstay’s highly anticipated third album, On the Levee is slated for a July 10, 2026 release. The album will include the previously released “Wager,” and its final single, “Over When It’s Over,” “Over Is When It’s Over” is a melancholy, slow-burning tune that — to my ears, at least — sounds like a blend of Tame Impala, 70s AM rock. But at its core, the song is meditation on accepting constant change, with a bit of a sigh.

“The song is about watching the world fly on by, but finding yourself strangely at peace with it,” Theriot says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Monde Ray Shares Glistening and Yearning “What If”

Manon Guiol is the French-born and-based creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Monde Ray. Guiol can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: she began with classical piano and basic music theory before gradually moving toward electronic composition and production. Largely self-taught, the French artist developed an initiative and personal approach to music earl on, shaped outside of any academic framework.

Guiol’s first recording project Manone saw her exploring darker electronic territory. She then joined dream pop./synth pop Tender Tones as a songwriter, keyboardist and vocalist. And as a member of Tender Tones, she played in several Parisian venues including Batofar, L’International, La Pointe Lafayette and Olympic Café.

In 2023, after spending several years in Paris, Guiol relocated south, driven by a desire for light space and renewal. This major life chance led to Monde Ray, a more intimate, introspective and cinematic project that sees Guiol blending elements of synth pop, dark wave, EBM, Brazilian music, exotica, 1970s Italian film scores and post punk, and shaped by 80s inspired textures, dreamlike atmospheres paired with her ethereal vocal. But above all, she is driven by a fascination with contrast and dissonance — with what unsettles, surprises and with what feels instantly and radically self evident.

Seemingly suspended in the murkiness between day and night, Monde Ray sees Guiol exploring the tension between softness and darkness, clarity and reverie with lyrics written and sung in French and EnglishThe overall result is material that feels hypnotic yet fragile.

The French artist’s recently released Monde Ray debut Attraction sees Guiol firmly establishing her unique sound and approach while drawing from Essaie Pas, Boy Harsher, Scratch Massive, Marie Davidson and Chromatics, while embracing a cinematic quality informed by the work of David Lynch and others. Anchored around glistening and shimmering Giorgio Moroder-like arpeggiated synths and a relentless motorik groove, Attraction‘s first single is a dance floor friendly bit of Italo disco that seemingly channels Lenses-era Soft Metals.

The French artist explains that “What If” captures the suspended moment of a decisive encounter — that vertiginous sense of “what if?/why not” before a leap of faith into the unknown. She goes on to say that the song specifically speaks to the vulnerability, unease and hope of new love.

Directed by Luís Brito, the accompanying video for “What If” features a woman in a burgundy suit expressively dancing in an empty Parisian bar, before she strips down to her underwear continues to dance and then leaves the bar — with backpack in tow.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Forest Shares Anthemic “Anchor”

Rising Los Angeles-based artist Forest will be releasing her highly-anticipated full-length debut, Swan Dive through AWAL on September 25, 2026. Swan Dive is reportedly the Los Angeles-based artist’s most fully realized work to date, expanding upon the alt-rock foundation of her earliest releases into something much larger sonically and more fluid. The ten-song album features walls of distorted guitars paired with electronic textures, industrial undercurrents and moments of startling pop clarity. The result is an effort that’s intimate yet overwhelming and sees the rising artist showcasing her capability to shift from whispered confession to emotional free-fall — within the turn of a phrase.

The rising artist’s full-length debut will include the previously released “Prosthetic Stars,” “Whore and Savior,” “Lay With Me” and the album’s latest single, “Anchor.” Featuring fuzzy and chugging power chords paired with thunderous drumming and Forest’s emo and pop-influenced vocal within a classic grunge structure, “Anchor” showcases an artist who can pair earnest, lived-in lyricism with rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with a seemingly effortless bombast.

“‘Anchor’ delves into the idea of becoming wrapped up in something you can’t get out of,” Forest explains. “It was written in my childhood bedroom on a trip to Chicago, at a time when I had felt the past wrap its arms around me. The thought of being stuck and tied to the past was the driving thought throughout this track.”

Forest has developed a reputation for unforgettable performances, sharing stages with Starcrawler, Chokecherry, Empty Shell Casing and a long list of others. She kicked off the year, playing the sold-out emo revival festival Burndown in Santa Ana, CA. During the spring, she went on an extensive North American tour with Clarion. The rising artist will be embarking on a West Coast tour opening for ivri. Check out the tour dates below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Colin Greenwood!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood’s 56th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Love Spells Shares Atmospheric and Yearning “Maybe I Still Love You”

Sir Teagan Harris is the Houston-born creative mastermind behind the rising, solo recording project Love Spells. At 18, Harris poured his passion for love into music, manifesting a career out of ambition and drive, while battling homelessness for years. Eventually, he wound up in California, where h lived with a friend he met online, traveling to different music studios everyday to perfect his sound. After six months, he returned to Houston and received a call from Kevin Abstract, who invited I’m to work on his most recent album, last year’s Bluish.

Working on Kevin Abstract’s Blush connected Harris to his now frequent collaborator Dominic Fike and Deb Never. That life changing experience pushed Harris to return to Los Angeles and work on his highly-anticipated Love Spells debut, LOVE IS THE LAW. Slated for a July 24, 2026 release through RCA Records, LOVE IS THE LAW found the Houston-born artist working with Danny Parra, Boy Deco, Brad Hale, Rodaidh McDonald, Alex Craig, and Rick Nowels to create material that recalled his nights at Numbers, a beloved Houston-based dance club and safe heaven for alternative communities. While at Numbers, Harris danced to 70s, 80s and New Wave, and he specifically wanted to inject that feeling into his work, seeking out similar spaces in Los Angeles and leaning on those eras in the studio. Movies like Dirty Dancing and Footlose were also sources of inspiration, helping the Houston-based artist and his collaborators craft a “theatrical yet authentic” feeling.

LOVE IS THE LAW will include the previously released “Crutch,” “Keep It To Yourself” and the album’s latest single “Maybe I Still Love You.” “Maybe I Still Love You” is a slow-burning and atmospheric bit of Quiet Storm-meets-Bill Withers-inspired R&B that features Harris’ achingly tender and yearning falsetto dancing alongside a sparse arrangement of twinkling piano, bursts of shimmering and soulful guitar, a simple backbeat, a supple bass line. The song’s narrator finds closure and freedom in recognizing the true depths of his emotions.

“‘Maybe I Still Love You’ is for anyone still fighting with feelings they can’t ignore, that moment of coming to terms with the fact that you still care and want to keep caring,” Harris explains. “Because above all, you have to believe in love for love to be seen.”

Directed by Colt Grice, the accompanying video for “Maybe I Still Love You” features a couple doing a simple two-step slow dance together while embracing. The couple’s story is up to interpretation but there’s palpable sense of love, the sort of love that at times is demanding and difficult yet worth fighting for.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Halfway Up a Jagged Hill Shares Bruising “Obscure Sorrows”

Brooklyn-based indie duo Halfway Up a Jagged Hill (HUAJH) — longtime friends Devin Gilbert and Jeb Holstein — were walking in the woods one January night, looking for owls, when they can came across what could only have been described as a witch hut. Stacked between bare trees, the pile of sticks framed a void that swallowed any moonlight bouncing off the frozen ground, What mysterious crouched instead? The two friends found no owls that night. But as Halfway Up a Jagged Hill, Gilbert and Holstein continue to look.

Gilbert and Polstein have been writing and performing together for most of their lives, forging a deep and uncanny musical bond that stretches back to middle school jazz band. Since then, the pair have been involved in a number of different projects both together and separately including the post-hardcore band Primate House, the shoegaze-tinged Chris Sunshine, as well as Polstein’s Seattle-based free jazz/math duo Macaw and Gilbert’s experimental pop solo project Kid Dusty. But HUAJH can trace its origins back to 2024 when the two longtime friends found themselves both living gin New York for the first time in years, and hungry to explore the heavier side of their musical backgrounds.

After roughly a year of practicing and writing, the duo approached Vinegar Hill Sound‘s Reed Black to record an album. The longtime friends were very familiar with Black and his work: They worked with Black, recording a song on Fish Hunt’s 2024 effort Self-Taught, and the experience led them to believe that Black would the right person to bring their vision to life. But they didn’t know that halfway through the album’s mixing process that Black would sign them to Vinegar Hill Sound Records, who will be releasing the duo’s full-length debut, HUAJH on September 10, 2026.

HUAJH features a maximalist sound from a minimalist set up: Gilbert’s downtuned guitar carries weight, with distorted chugging leavened by ringing harmonies and melodic lines as Polstein’s drums simultaneously shoulder the guitar lines and dance around them. Gilbert’s vocal alternates between sining and screaming lyrics that take listeners on a journey from hopelessness to regeneration while drawing on natural imagery, daily observations and fantastical themes. The result is an album that bludgeons but also consoles while bringing Pile, Liturgy, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Hella and Debussy to mind, while weaving them into something distinct.

Gilbert works as a mental health clinician during the day. And naturally themes of pain and recovery punctuate the album’s material. Polstein, on the other hand, is a landscape architect. While being immersed in nature and natural imagery, he thinks of music spatially — and for him, the drums are a way to create landscapes to move through musically.

HUAJH‘s first single “Obscure Sorrows” is a bruising 90s alt rock-inspired tune that brings back nostalgic memories of Dinosaur Jr. and In Utereo-era Nirvana while anchored in a heart-wrenching despair and anguish that feels — well, completely of our time and yet somehow deeply timeless.

“Obscure Sorrows’ is inspired by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, which is a book of made-up words to describe human feelings and experiences that there are no real words for in the English language,” the duo explain. “In the screamed section, the lyrics reference the Nine of Swords, the tarot card that represents fear, pain, and sadness. The song is ultimately about releasing your despair and not being held captive by it. This was the first song we wrote and our first journey into blast beats.”