Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: st. art Shares Shimmering “Lonely People (Special Edition)”

st. art is a Los Angeles-based collective of self-described “quantum artists.” In a a lengthy statement, the collection writes: “We do not create — we tune the field.

We are synthesizers of probabilities.

Our canvas is the energy field.

We are the Quantum Synthesizer. We assemble reality from probabilities, synthesize worlds from sensations, and create music from fields and meaning. We do not simply play notes — we give birth to new layers of being, shifting the “quantum” states of perception. For us, silence and light are equal oscillators. We are the voice of the Universe, passing through the soul. . . .”

The Los Angeles-based collective’s latest single “Lonely People (Special Edition)” is a sleek, futuristic banger featuring layers of glistening and twinkling synths and a supple and soulful bass line paired with thumping beats and a chopped up sample from The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby.” The result is a song that places a beloved and familiar song within a bold, completely novel and modern context while being accessible.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Calle Mambo and Kumbia Boruka Team Up on Dance Floor Friendly “Acordéon Rebelde”

Formed back in 2013, Valparaiso, Chile-based dectet Calle Mambo blend the richness and diversity of Latin American folkloric music — quena, quenacho, cuatro, charango, tiple, timbal, zampoña, ronroco and more — with urban music and electronic production to create something unique and personal.

Lyon-based octet Kumbia Boruka features musicians from Mexico, Chile, Argentina and France but the band’s roots lie in Monterrey, Mexico, where cumbia is the sound of the streets — and where Mexican cumbia legend Celso Piña was born. Kumbia Boruka bandleader Hernán Cortés learned accordion from the legend and accompanied him on international tours. Fittingly, Kumbia Boruka’s sound is inspired by and reflects the sound of Monterrey and Mexico but they blend the classic cumbia sound with reggae, dub, tropical and psychedelia. The band’s arrangements feature an extensive rhythm section including guacharaca and congas, a brass section, and of course, the accordion.

The result is a bold, new take on cumbia that pairs power, tropical sounds with a fierce energy that embraces Latin American rhythms.

The Chilean dectet and the French octet teamed up for “Acordéon rebelde.” Released last month, the collaboration is a Vulcan mind-meld between the two acts that boldly pushes the boundaries of cumbia with subtle nods to surf rock and tropicalia while showcasing both acts knack for crafting catchy hooks.

“Acordéon rebelde” was written as a tribute to the legendary Celso Piña. Both bands feature members, who have played with him during his “Cumbia Around the World” tour, which gives the song a deeply human connection to its subject while being indebted to him.

Calle Mambo will be embarking on a lengthy European Union tour. Tour dates, as always, will be below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Cherry Bomb Shares Glistening and Anthemic “Digital Girl”

For over a decade, the Los Angeles-based artist Mandy Lee has led acclaimed alt pop outfit MisterWives with her distinctly compelling vocal and commanding stage presence through four studio albums, a live album and a deluxe album, several tours and a run of the global festival circuit.

Earlier this year, Lee debuted her solo recording project Cherry Bomb with the attention-grabbing, upbeat banger “Never Be Me (M★ther★cker),” which sees the MisterWives frontperson boldly shaping a sonic universe that’s completely her own — while blending party bops with profundity.

Lee’s latest Cherry Bomb single “Digital Girl” is a slickly produced, rousingly anthemic bop anchored around glistening synth arpeggios that seemingly channels early Lady Gaga and Madonna while confessing a deep-seated frustration and annoyance with the hyper-connected social media world.

Directed by frequent collaborator Matty Vogel, the accompanying video for “Digital Girl,” evokes the constant overstimulation of the modern world with harsh contrasts, flashing images and impossible shapes crammed together– in the same frame.

“Who doesn’t want to smash their phone in 2026 and be met with confetti to celebrate?” Lee asks. “In this hyper-digital day and age, it’s near impossible to not fall down the algorithmic rabbit hole of comparison spirals, curated perfection, and infinite doomscrolling. I wanted to visually represent the tension that exists between conforming to the pressure or rebelling against it and what it feels like when the two coincide.”

Through “Digital Girl,” Lee sees Cherry bomb as a symbol of fiery resistance to the pressures of modernity. “I hope she is a much needed reprieve from the Digital World that lives in the palm of our hand.” She adds, “‘Digital Girl’ is my love/hate confessional to my dreams and the systems they exist within. An unsettling reflection of modernity and how much we sacrifice who we really are in response to who we are told to be.” As her first song she wrote for her solo project, the new track “ignited the spark and unapologetic energy that I needed for this project — a total rejection of the impossible shapes we are constantly pressured to bend to.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 53rd Birthday, Pharrell!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Pharrell Williams’ 53rd birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Plain Mister Smith Teams Up with Tyson Motsenbocker on Lush, Painterly “Lucian & Francis”

Vancouver-based Mark Jowett, the mastermind behind Plain Mister Smith is a Canadian indie scene veteran who has had stints in Moev and Cinderpop, as well as a stint playing cello with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra. 

With Plain Mister Smith, the enigmatic Canadian artist draws influence from an eclectic range of artists including The Beatles, Bryce Dessner, Matt Maltese, Led Zeppelin, The Zombies and 20th-century classical composers like Prokofiev, who subtly influences his string-driven arrangements. The result is a sound that seamlessly blends elements of indie pop, baroque folk and psychedelia. 

The Vancouver-based artist’s new album is slated for release this month and will feature the previously released Forever So-era Husky-like “Dream To Be Free” feat. Jordan Klassen and its latest single “Lucian & Francis.” Released late last month, “Lucian & Francis” feat. Tyson Motsenbocker continues a run of lush and dream-like indie folk.

Inspired by the works of painters Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, who frequently depicted raw, realistic portrayals of the human body, “Lucian and Francis” is fittingly, a rather painterly track with each sonic layer adding texture, shading and depth to the piece, much like how the painters, who inspired the song would do with color. Interestingly, the lush new single also manages to evoke the colors of early spring after the bleakness of a long winter.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 113th Birthday, Muddy Waters!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 113th anniversary of the birth of Muddy Waters.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 68th Birthday, David Roback!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 68th anniversary of the birth of Mazzy Star’s David Roback.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, Simon Raymonde!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Simon Raymonde’s 64th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: deary Shares Shimmering and Urgent “Smile”

Lyric Video: deary Shares Shimmering and Urgent “Smile”
@bellaunion @charmschoolm

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: she’s green Returns with Slow-Burning and Delicate “paper thin”

Minneapolis-based outfit she’s green — Zofia Smith (vocals), Liam Armstrong (guitar), Raimes Lucas (guitar), Teddy Nordvold (guitar) and Kevin Seeback (drums) — specialize in crafting dreamy soundscapes that transport the listener to scenes of soft summer rain and fields of swaying wheat, infused with raw emotional intensity. 

With their earliest singles “river” and “smile again,” the Minneapolis-based quintet quickly became a staple within the Midwestern alternative scene, while earning praise from Complex, Star Tribune and The Current. Their debut EP, 2023’s Wisteria saw the band establishing an honest and exploratory songwriting process, as well as reputation for being a force in the world of sonic surrealism. They supported their material with tours across the Midwest and East Coast with Hotline TNT, Friko, JOVM mainstays Glixen and a list of others. 

Last year, the Minneapolis-based quartet signed to New York-based Photo Finish Records, who released their Henry Stoehr-produced sophomore EP Chrysalis. The EP included  the Souvlaki-era Slowdive-like “Graze,” and the Sundays-meets-A Storm In Heaven-like “Willow.” 

Building upon a growing national profile, the Minneapolis-based outfit will be releasing their newest effort, swallowtail EP on July 10, 2026 through Photo Finish Records. The EP will feature the previously released “mettle,” a decidedly  120 Minutes-era MTV-like bit of shoegaze and dream pop and the EP’s latest single “paper thin.”

the slow-burning “paper thin” features swirling, gauzy shoegazer guitar textures that seem to be so fragile that they’re breaking apart as soon as they’re played, paired with Smith’s achingly melancholy vocal. The song captures the feeling of love slipping away right before your eyes — and the realization that there’s nothing you can do to stop it. At the core of the song is a bitter heartache, rooted in the familiar “what if’s” and “what would have beens” of every relationship.

The painterly shot, subtly surrealist video for “paper thin” that follows a night out that spirals out of control with a couple on the verge of a breakup, emphasizes the heartache at the core of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Club 8 Returns With Slow-Burning “There Is A Light That Seems To Go Out”

Since the release of 2024’s A Year With Club 8, Stockholm-based JOVM mainstays Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — the duo spent last year releasing a single a month over the course of last year, including tunes like “ooo,” “None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead,” “Staying Alive,” “Born The Wrong Time,” “Sneaky Feelings” and “Daydreams.” 

Earlier this year, the duo released “Echoes Of Our Time,” a nostalgia-inducing bop that channeled classic New Order and 80s pop. And late last month, the duo released their latest single “There Is A Light That Seems To Go Out,” a slow-burning and shimmering ballad that nods a bit at The Smiths, anchored around a familiar heartache over broken promises and things left unfulfilled and unresolved.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, Marvin Gaye!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of the birth of Marvin Gaye.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Weird Nightmare Returns with Rousingly Anthemic and Earnest “Where I Belong”

Almost every band that’s worth a damn has had a member, who at some point worked in a record store. With JOVM mainstay acts METZ and Weird Nightmare, it was frontman and creative mastermind Alex Edkins. Slinging indie rock and hardcore records at his hometown record store while attending university, Edkins became an ardent student of rock ‘n’ roll from the psychedelic 1960s to the DIY 1990s and beyond. 

Hoopla, Edkins’ sophomore Weird Nightmare album, which is slated for a May 1, 2026 release through Sub Pop globally and Dine Alone Records in Canada, reportedly sees the JOVM mainstay mixing and matching these wide-ranging influences in fun, exhilarating combinations, showcasing his sophisticated musical mind, while continuing to showcase his unerring knack for ridiculously catchy and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.

Co-produced by Edkins and Spoon‘s Jim Eno at Providence‘s world famous Machines With Magnets, Hoopla also sees the acclaimed Canadian artist expanding upon Weird Nightmare’s musical palette with the addition of piano, bells and castanets, which give his long-held straightforward songwriting a shiny luster. 

The album will feature the previously released “Forever Elsewhere,” the Cheap Trick-like “Might See You There,” the punchy punk rock-like “Pay No Mind,” and the album’s third single “Where I Belong.” “Where I Belong” continues to showcase Edkins’ long-held penchant for rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with some of the most introspective and deeply honest songwriting of the JOVM mainstay’s career. The song captures a narrator who’s recognizing that he’s getting older, that the road ain’t what it always is cracked up to be — especially since he has a family. The self-doubt and confusion at the core of the song are real and deeply lived in yet they feel universal and familiar to anyone, who’s inching into middle age.

Directed by boy wonder, the accompanying video for “Where I Belong” features Edkins in a thrift shop, playing his guitar and singing while trying on different outfits and personalties.