Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Nine Inch Noize at Coachella

Founded in 1988, Nine Inch Nails — currently founder Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who became a full-time member in 2016 — is widely considered one of the most important, innovative and influential acts in modern music. Known for their unique blend of industrial, electronic, rock and ambient elements into emotionally raw and sonically aggressive work, the Grammy Award-winning, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductees have actively redefined what mainstream music could be, selling over 20 million records globally, including 11 million albums in the United States alone.

Adding to their impressive accolades, Renzor and Ross have composed 20 film scores, winning two Oscars, three Golden Globes, two Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award.

Alex Ridha is Iraqi-German DJ and producer, best known as Boys Noize. The prolific German producer has developed a reputation as a singular figure in 21st century electronic music culture: a cross-genre-bridge-builder, who effortlessly bounces between techno, pop, industrial music and hip-hop while remaining a favorite of techno purists and a global headliner, who has never turned his back on the underground scene that he came up in.

Ridha has collaborated with a veritable who’s who of contemporary music, pop culture and fashion including Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, A$AP Rocky, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, Arca, Virgil Abloh, Chilly Gonzales, Lady Gaga and a growing list of others, who have enlisted him to bring his underground edge and distinctive sound and production to their work.

While prolifically releasing his own original productions, Boys Noize has also remixed material by Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, A.G. Cook and Solomun. He earned a Grammy Award-nomination with long-time collaborator Skrillex, and he has been featured on tracks alongside Keinemusik, Shygirl, Kelsey Lu, Rico Nasty and VTSS.

Ridha is also the founder and head of Boysnoize Records and the newly launched ONES AND ZEROES, which specifically focuses on rising global talent.

Ridha worked with Reznor and Ross on the Challengers and TRON: Ares film scores and the Grammy Award-winning song “As Alive As You Need Me To Be.”

“The creative fulfillment of working on the Challengers and TRON scores with Boys Noize led me to think that including him in the Peel It Back tour could be an interesting way to express NIN in more purely electronic terms live – a concept I’ve wanted to explore for some time,” Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor says. “The result was so much fun for us we felt it was worth expanding and formalizing in some way.”

On a whim I mentioned it would be cool to play a whole set as Nine Inch Noize in the Sahara tent at Coachella,” Reznor adds. “Careful what you wish for…the next thing I knew we were designing a whole new show to present in the way it deserved.”

Nine Inch Noize, builds on the past few years of collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize. Before, their live debut as Nine Inch Noize, the two acts recorded Nine Inch Noize, which they released after their live debut at Coachella’s first weekend and before their second set at the festival’s second weekend.

Nine Inch Noize and Coachella shared some amazing live footage of their Coachella set last weekend. From the live footage, their set was a not-to-be-missed festival moment. But in a larger context, it’s a desperately needed collaboration that results in something that’s both completely new and genre-defying yet rooted in the familiar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Robert Smith!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates The Cure frontman Robert Smith’s 67th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Frais Dispo at Chez Guy

Montréal-based indie rock outfit Frais Dispo — Élie Raymond (guitar, vocals), Antoine Lévesque-Roy (bass), Thomas Bruneau Faubert (trombone, synths), Charles Primeau (guitar) and Antoine Gallois (drums) — is simultaneously a rebrand and a markedly radical direction for its members, who first gained attention across both Quebec and Canada as Foreign Diplomats: As Frais Dispo, the Montréal-based band have adopted a much more collaborative songwriting approach paired with lyrics written and sung completely in Québécois French.

2023’s Teinte, the newly rebranded band’s full-length debut and 2024’s Les teints du ciel n’ont aucun sens saw the quintet firmly establishing a markedly sonic left turn, drawing more from alt-country, folk and indie rock than their previously released material as Foreign Diplomats.

Building upon the attention that Teinte and Les tients du ciel n’int aucun sens received in the Francophone world, Frais Dispo released their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Il est tard et j’ai mal partout last month through Audiogram. The album finds the band adopting a more laid-back, spontaneous songwriting approach: The album’s tracks were recorded live and on the floor, as a way to allow the songs to breathe — and to ensure a more organic sound.

As album track “Dire je t’aime au téléphone,” ends, you hear a bit of murmured voices, laughter, and a brief sigh and a phone ringing, which gives the listener a sense of being in the studio with the band — and a real warm, imperfect, human element.

Much of the album’s material came from lengthy jams and jam sessions, which the band shortened or refined when they felt necessary. “We started playing, and when I felt we had something interesting, I started recording. I played the drums one-handed to start recording on my iPhone, sometimes 10 minutes after I started jamming!” The band’s Antoine Gallois, who also served as the album’s sound engineer explains.

By working this way, the band wanted to focus more on the emotions at the core of the material rather than the technique, all while capturing the buzzy euphoria of the first studio recordings. 

The JOVM mainstays will be playing a sold-out show at Place des Arts’ Salle Claude Léveillée on Thursday, April 23, 2026, as part of SACEF’s Série Découverte. And to celebrate the occasion, the band released a live session recorded at Chez Guy that featured gorgeous, psych country-meets-Laurel Canyon-like “Dire je t’aime au téléphone,” and “Habitat,” arguably the most groove-driven, jam-like song on the album.

Simply put, it’s gorgeous songs played in gorgeous settings.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 103rd Birthday, Tito Puente!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Tito Puente.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 118th Birthday, Lionel Hampton!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 118th anniversary of the birth of Lionel Hampton.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Luther Vandross!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 75th anniversary of the birth of Luther Vandross.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bummer Camp Shares “120 Minutes” MTV-Like “One Bullet”

Originally formed as a solo loop-based recording project by its founder and frontman, Teenage Halloween‘s Eli Frank, Queens-based grungegaze outfit Bummer Camp evolved into a full fledged band after the project’s earliest releases, 2017’s Winnebago Vacation EP, 2019’s Camp Somewhere, 2023’s Big Deal EP and last year’s full-length debut, Stuck In A Dream.

The band’s sophomore album, Fake My Death is slated for a May 8, 2026 release through Trash Casual. Recorded at a New Jersey-based The Animal, Farm, the album features Brett Bivona (lead guitar) and Jon “Steel Wolf” Markson playing bass, recording, production and mixing. Compared to the previously released home-recorded work, the Fake My Death sessions brought about a much tighter timeline and a more intentional approach, while still leaving room for extra texture and character.

“When I record at home I can take as long as I want goofing around and playing with different instruments,” Bummer Camp’s frontman Eli Frank explains. ““In the studio, time is literally money… a lot of money. So you gotta be focused and use your time wisely. We did end up getting the main bits done early so we could play around with percussion and other random stuff, I think it’s important to leave time for things like that because A) it’s fun and B) it adds character to the album.”

With Fake My Death, the Queens-based grungegaze outfit aims for a much, bigger, more focused album that thematically tackles anxieties that surface and fade, and the push and pull of wanting to disappear and wanting to continue onward. Rather than featuring songwriting at a distance, the album’s material frames those thoughts and feelings plainly and turns them into direct, melodic songs specifically meant to be lived with.

“‘Wanna fake my death cause I can’t stomach anything’ is a line from the song ‘Perfect Storm,'” Eli Frank says, talking about the inspiration behind the album and its title. “The desire to tune everything out to such a point that you just want to actually disappear forever is not going to help anything, especially yourself. You gotta take the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, and roll with it. In my opinion, whether you’re being punched or hugged, feeling something is better than not feeling anything at all.”

Fake My Death‘s first single, “One Bullet” is a melodic and hook-driven anthem that channels 120 Minutes-era MTV-era grunge featuring bruising, crunchy power chord-driven riffs while describing acute anxiety, depression and dissociation with an almost lived-in precision.

The single is accompanied by an trippy and mind-bending music video directed by longtime collaborator and multimedia artist Preston Spurlock.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: rhythmspitter Shares Vibey “Candle Magic”

San Francisco-based musician, composer, producer Michael Mosley is best known for playing bass in Red Thread Theory and for being the creative mastermind behind the JOVM mainstay act rhythmspitter. With rhythmspitter, Mosley explores instrumental indie rock and lo-fi beat-driven material that draws from an eclectic array of sources, including Bill Laswell’s Material and Jah Wobble‘s Invaders of the Heart. 

Mosley weaves together a rich tapestry of instruments and rhythms from across the world into a meticulously crafted composition that provides a chill and captivating vibe that’s entrancing. His work seeks to break down barriers and introduce audiences to a world of sonic exploration that they may not have encountered before, while opening minds to the beauty of different styles, instruments and sounds.

Earlier this month, the JOVM mainstay released his full-length debut, Cosmological Exigency and the Astrological Paradigm. The album’s latest single “Candle Magic” is a vibey, meditative track featuring hypnotic, Middle Eastern-inspired percussion and shimmering reverb-soaked guitar that seemingly channels experimental jazz and New Age while being lounge friendly and remarkably accessible.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Crá CroÍ Returns with Brooding “Flesh Machines”

Deriving their name from the Gaelic phrase for “heartache,” or “vexation of spirit,” County Cork-based duo Crá Croí — RG (songwriting, production, mixing and mastering) and CD (vocals and visuals) — have employed a fiercely DIY ethos while establishing a sound that meshes elements of 1980s New Wave, post-punk and goth, featuring melancholic synths, dark melodies, angular guitars and sharp, hook-driven vocals. 

The Irish duo’s work explores themes of nihilism, love and destruction, dystopian collapsed and nuclear annihilation, often wrapped in irony and paired with post-apocalyptic metaphors. 

The Cork-based duo’s self-produced, 12-song, full-length debut, Tá brón orm is slated for an October 30, 2026. The album’s title derives its title from the Irish phrase for “sadness” or “sorrow is on me.” The album will feature 12 completely new tracks, but to build up buzz for the band and the forthcoming album, the Irish JOVM mainstays have released a handful of standalone singles including “Radiation Romance,” “Fires At Dawn,” “Feeding The Fear,” and “Lost In The Electric Blood.” 

The duo’s latest single “Flesh Machines” continues a remarkable run of material that meshes elements of goth with Joy Division and Interpol-like post punk that showcases their ability to pair socially conscious lyrics with their unerring knack for razor sharp hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses. Thematically, the new single as the band explains, paints a picture of modern existence that invites the listener to reflect on their own relationship with the digital world.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Velatine Shares Forceful “Whisper Park”

Melbourne-based songwriter and producer Loki Lockwood is the creative mastermind behind the darkwave/goth recording project Velatine. For the bulk of Velatine’s history, Lockwood collaborated with different vocalists while crafting a unique and fresh take on the familiar and beloved darkwave/goth sound.

If you were frequenting this site over the course of last year, the Aussie producer and musician collaborated with Nocturna on “Till Death Do We Art” and Holly Purnell, who was discovered through an Instagram ad for “Oh See Me — The Siren.” While working on “Oh See Me — The Siren” Purnell joined Velatine as the project’s full-time vocalist.

Velatine’s latest single “Whisper Park” is a subtle change in sonic direction, seeing the band leaning more towards a forceful, goth and doom-like direction than their previously released material. Anchored around slashing, angular guitar attack and dramatic drumming, the cinematic “Whisper Park” channels contemporary fare like Bonnie Trash and others, while showcasing Purnell’s remarkable vocal.