JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of the birth of The Isley Brothers co-founder Rudolph Isley.
New Video: A Place to Bury Strangers Share Mournful “Song for Girl from Macedonia”
New York-based JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers — currently Oliver Ackermann (vocals, guitar), John Fedowitz (bass) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums) — will be releasing a rarities album, Rare and Deadly through Dedstrange on April 3, 2026.
Following 2024’s Synthesizer, Rare and Deadly sees the band cracking open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos. Spanning 2015-2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered, frequently caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes.
Pulled from Oliver Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes and half-finished sessions, the collection’s tracks pulse with the unruly energy that ATPBS has long been known for, but more dangerous with more jagged edges — on purpose.
Countless bands have opened up their vaults to fans and others, but Rare and Deadly is truly unprecedented: Every format is different — and as a result, tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl and digital editions each feature their own unique track listing. No single version features the “complete” album. Instead, each format is its own window into Ackermann’s archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links and parallel “what if” versions of the band’s inner life. It’s deliberately unstable with the album shifting depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.
Across the collection’s tracks, you can hear the evolution of Ackermann’s restlessly creative mind. Some pieces feel like prototypes for future chaos, seeds that later bloomed on studio albums. Others are dead ends — ideas too volatile, too strange or too personal to ever fit the frame of a proper release. The tracks feature riffs mutated by malfunctioning pedals, songs born from gear pushed past its limits, or delicate melodies overwhelmed by towering walls of feedback.
Rare and Deadly will include the previously released, “Everyone’s The Same,” “Acid Rain” “Where Are We Now” and the album’s fourth and latest single “Song for Girl From Macedonia.” A brooding motorik pulse and swirling and atmospheric feedback serve as a lush yet mournful bed for Ackermann’s equally mournful delivery expressing a bitter sense of “what if.”
“We played a show in Macedonia anded this girl, who deeply connected with the music. Her brother helped us load gear, pure kindness, no ego. She was killed by a drunk diver, crossing the road,” Ackermann explains. “This song is for her. A small attempt at honoring someone, who deserved more time.”
The accompanying video features some mind-bending animation created by the band’s original projectionist Spencer Bewley.
New Audio: La Sécurité Returns with a Breakneck Ode to Food
Acclaimed Montréal-based JOVM mainstay collective La Sécurité — Éliane Viens (vocals, synths, percussion and drums), Félix Bélisle (bass, synths, percussion, piano and production), Kenny Smith (drum, guitar), Laurence Anne Charest-Gagné (guitar, percussion, vocals) and Melissa Di Menna (guitar, synths, vocals, percussion and artwork) — specialize in a brand of art punk that’s equal parts jumpy beats, off-kilter arrangements and minimalistic melodic hooks run through an insomniac filter that’s the result of excessive exposure to the city’s neon-lit late night scene.
The Canadian art punk collective’s music is about living dangerously and is prefect for being blasted at deafening levels on dance floors. But lyrically, the material is deeply inspired by and shares the ethos of the Riot Grrl movement, celebrating and defiantly advocating for the autonomization of women, friendship and benevolence.
Since the release of 2023’s full-length debut, Stay Safe!, which landed on the Polaris Music Prize long-list, the Montréal-based art punks have released 2024’s Stay Safe! REMIXED and last year’s “Detour” and “Ketchup.” Along with receiving critical praise both nationally and internationally, the outfit has made the run of the intentional festival circuit, playing sets at M for Montréal, New Colossus Festival, SXSW, End of the Road, The Great Escape, Reeperbahn and Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. They’ve toured as an opener for The Go! Team and The Rapture. And they’ve shared stages with Mauskovic Dance Band and JOVM mainstays Automatic and Death Valley Girls. During that whirlwind period, they also signed with Simon Raymonde‘s label Bella Union.
The JOVM mainstay act’s highly-anticipated, Emmanuel Éthier and Félix Bélisle co-produced sophomore album Bingo! is slated for a June 12, 2026 release through Mothland in Canada and the States, and Bella Union for the rest of the world. The new album reportedly sees the band continuing to meander in and around the fringes of punk, new wave krautrock and dance punk, while mischievously flouting stylistic form every change they get. While continuing to implement polyrhythm, counterintuitive chord changes and subtle melodic and harmonic dissonance, the album reportedly sees them introducing more New Wave, no wave, noise rock and shoegaze elements to the sound that has won them intentional acclaim.
The album’s material features songs that tackles knotty themes like mental health, the autonomization of women, dysfunctional relationships with their custom moxie. Other songs playfully muse about food or address everyday mundanity with sarcasm and irony. There’s a song that celebrates unsung heroes, like the elderly. Much like its predecessor, many of the album’s tracks saw the group improvising lyrics in the studio, effectively catching lightning in a bottle.
The album was recorded with the band playing life off-the-floor, using rare ribbon microphones and vintage compressors. Adding to the overall free-flowing feel and vibe to the album’s material, many of the song’s hooks were improvised through jazz-tinged musical flights during recording sessions. The album was mixed by Bélisle and Étheir before being mastered by Robin Schmidt.
The result is an album that harnesses the Montréal-based art punks’ natural sound, a sound that fuses calculated musical chaos and musicality with high decibels.
Bingo! will feature the previously released “Detour” “Ketchup,” and the title track “Bingo,” which was released earlier this year, as well as the album’s latest single “Snack City.” “Snack City” is a breakneck mix of punk rock and post punk with overt nods to Freedom of Choice-era Devo. The result is a mischievously absurdist and fidgety tune about primal, downright glutinous needs and desires.
“We wrote the song when we were hungry,” the band explains. “The segment ‘J’ai faim, j’ai faim, […],’ which translates to: ‘I’m hungry, I’m hungry, […]’ was the basis of the scat singing that remained. We had fun with food anecdotes, food-related puns, etcetera.”
Continuing their ongoing collaboration with director Phillipe Beauséjour, the accompanying video for “Snack City” is inspired by snacking and past era cookbooks and features collage animation spliced with imagery and footage of the band on tour — sometimes eating or snacking. “The band wanted a music video with images taken from their cellphones, including photos and videos from their tours. I found the challenge very fun, considering that the most interesting content was already done,” Beauséjour explains. “So, I created a universe inspired by scrapbooking, using what I could find in my multiple 60s and 90s cookbooks. I still wanted to bring a touch of animation, by constructing Éliane’s face several times with food. A little inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s ‘Summer.’”
New Audio: Choses Sauvages Shares Shimmering “Seul”
Last year, rising Montréal-based outfit Choses Sauvages — La Sécurité‘s Félix Bélisle (vocals, synths), Totalement Sublime‘s Marc-Antoine Barbier (guitar), Theirry Malépart (keys), Tony Bélisle (keys), Philippe Gauthier-Boudreau (drums) and Frais Dispo‘s Charles Primeau (bass) — released their third album, Choses Sauvages III through Audiogram.
The album, which featured album singles “Incendie au paradis,”En joue,” and “Cours toujours” showcased a decidedly post-punk sound that featured elements of post-punk, New Wave and krautrock. Released to praise from critics across Quebec and Europe, Choses Sauavages III landed on the 2025 Polaris Music Prize Long List and received an ADISQ nomination for Album of the Year — Alternative.
The Montréal-based outfit has played in France, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Germany and Mexico. Back in 2023, they toured as the opener for The Bright Light Social Hour‘s 30 date tour, which saw the JOVM mainstays playing across the US and Anglophone Canada that included a stop at Mercury Lounge. And adding to a growing national and international profile, the band has made the run of the international festival circuit with sets at Pitchfork Music Festival Paris, Printemps de Bourges, MaMA, Pete The Monkey, Mad Cool — and earlier this year, The New Colossus Festival.
“Seul,” their first bit of new material since last year’s Choses Sauvages III, continues a run of hook-driven, shimmering post punk — but while showcasing subtle No Wave elements with bursts of funky horns.
“’Seul’ deals with limerence and the romanticization of toxic relationships. This song is a question directed both outward and inward—a moment when the obsession with finding answers to matters of the heart embraces the vulnerability of a lost child in a shopping mall,” Choses Sauvages’ Félix Bélisle explains. “These emotional states unfold against a sonic backdrop that is at once danceable and abrasive, drawing inspiration from the New York No Wave movement.”
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Angus Young!
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Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Celine Dion!
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Throwback: Happy 62nd Birthday, Tracy Chapman!
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Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, MC Hammer!
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New Audio: Rising Aussie Artist Tullara Shares a Lush, Feminist Anthem
Tullara is a Ramornie, Australia-born, Grafton, Australia-based indie pop and folk/roots rocker, whose 2017 debut EP, Better Hold On went on to win a Best EP Award at the 2017 Australian Roots Music Awards. Since then, the rising Aussie artist, who proudly adheres to a DIY ethos, which includes being self-managed, has amassed over 1,700,000 streams on Spotify.
She has opened for acclaimed and beloved Aussie acts like Xavier Rudd, The Waifs, Ocean Alley, Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey, Cold Chisel‘s Ian Moss, INXS‘ Andrew Farriss, The Dreggs, Jeff Lang, Troy Cassar-Daley and a lengthy list of others. She has also opened for international acts like Donavon Frankenreiter, Wallis Bird, The East Pointers and a list of others during their respective Australian tours. And adding to a growing profile, the rising Aussie artist has made a run of the global festival circuit, playing sets at Woodford Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Goolaholla Festival, Artswell Festival, Robson Valley Music Festival, Cur LeCheile Festival, Umefolk, Floating Castle Festival and a growing list of others.
Building upon a growing national and international profile, Tullara will be releasing her highly anticipated full-length debut, Rebound this year. Recorded and produced in Vancouver, Rebound reportedly showcases a bold, genre-defying evolution of her sound that embraces modern pop and rock, while blending her introspective lyricism with catchy melodies and cutting, world-class, modern production.
Released earlier this year, the forthcoming album’s first single “I Don’t Believe in Giving Up” features looping, reverb-soaked electric banjo paired with lush electronics serving as a supple bed for the Aussie artist’s expressive delivery singing lyrics about self-value and self-determination. Drawing from Celtic folk and contemporary pop, the new single sonically brings rootsier Dido to mind while being a feminist anthem.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Michael Brecker!
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Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Perry Farrell!
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Throwback: Happy Birthday — To Me!
Some song and brief thoughts on my 47th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Reba McEntire!
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Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Salt!
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