Author: William Ruben Helms

William Ruben Helms is a Corona, Queens, NYC-born and-based African American music journalist, freelance writer, editor, photographer and founder of the DIY, independent music and photography site, The Joy of Violent Movement. Over the course of the past two decades, Helms’ writing and photography has been published in Downbeat, Premier Guitar Magazine (photography), Consequence, The Inventory, Glide Magazine.com (words and photography), Publisher’s Weekly, Sheckys.com, Shecky’s Bar and Nightlife Guide 2004, New York Press, Ins&Outs Magazine, Dish Du Jour Magazine, Aussie music publication Musicology.xyz (photography) and countless others, including his own site. With The Joy of Violent Movement, Helms specializes in covering music with an eclectic, globe-trotting, and genre-defying perspective that’s deeply inspired by and informed by his birthplace and home, arguably one of the most diverse places in the world. Since its founding back in 2010, The Joy of Violent Movement can proudly claim readers across the US, Canada, the UK, The Netherlands, France, Australia, and several others throughout its history. https://www.joyofviolentmovement.com https://www.joyofviolentmovement.com/shop https://www.instagram.com/william_ruben_helms Twitter: @yankee32879 @joyofviolent become a fan of the joy of violent movement: https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement support the joy of violent movement on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement hire me for headshots, portraits and event photography: https://www.photobooker.com/photographer/ny/new-york/william-h?duration=1?duration=1#
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed in 2014, Island Apollo is a Southern California-based quintet  that has quickly emerged as one of the region’s up-and-coming bands for a breezy and anthemic sound that meshes indie rock and synth pop — and as you’ll hear on their rousingly anthemic Eric Lilavois-proudced new single “Feeling You,” the up and coming Southern Californian band’s sound reminds me quite a bit of Wang Chung‘s “Everybody Have Fun,” Cut Copy, Miami Horror and St. Lucia, as the band pairs a dance floor friendly, 80s synth pop inspired groove, complete with warm blasts of horns with swooning and urgently earnest sentiment and rousing, arena rock ready hooks. Interestingly enough, as the band explains in press notes, their latest single is an anthem of true loyalty and devotion, “a song about standing by someone even when they’re at their most lowest point: because that’s really when they need you the most.”

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Thom Moore (vocals, guitar), Adam Della-Grota (guitar), Sam Barron (bass, keys), Jackson Love (keys, vocals) and Thomas Eagleton (drums, vocals), the Sydney, Australia-based indie rock quintet Wild Honey quickly emerged with their self-titled debut EP, an effort that was written and recorded by Moore almost entirely in his bedroom and featured lead single “Eye To Eye.” “Eye To Eye” wound up becoming one of the most played songs by an Australian artist on Triple J during the summer of 2015-2016 — and as a result, the band found themselves opening for the likes of several national and internationally recognized bands including The Delta Riggs, The Belligerents, Hinds and Twin Peaks.

Building upon a rapidly growing national profile, the Sydney-based indie rock quintet went into the studio to record their forthcoming, Jack Mofitt-produced, full-length debut album, and the album’s first single “Break Away,” serves as an anthemic call to arms for anyone, who feels like they’re going through the motions. Interestingly, the song finds the band effortlessly meshing classic alt rock, Brit Pop and contemporary indie rock as the song features jangling guitars, an anthemic hook consisting of enormous, arena rock friendly power chords and an earnest call to go out and work your ass off to make your dreams happen — and that there’s more to life than struggling to cover the rent and your bills while working a shitty 9 to 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kiev Ukraine’s Indytronics Returns with a Rousingly Anthemic New Single

Last week, I wrote about the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post punk band Indytronics. Comprised of Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals), Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass), Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals), the Ukrainian quartet can trace their origins to when Bogadenko and Rybchenko were touring across Europe, and while in  Stockholm, Sweden the duo came across street musicians, who were playing an interesting melodic indie rock-leaning vibe. And as the story goes, the duo were so impressed by this particular group of street musicians that they decided that they needed to start their own band when they returned home to Kiev. 
Since the band’s formation in 2012, the band has released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and and as a result, they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally. They’ve made live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular radio rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France.

Now, as you may recall “Savannah Only Temple” was a slickly produced indie rock and post-punk track that to my ears reminded me quite a bit of Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, complete with a rousing arena rock-friendly hook. And while clearly nodding at 00s indie rock and post punk, as well as retaining the arena friendly sound of their preceding single, the track finds the band expanding upon the sound that first won them attention on this site and elsewhere, as the song finds the band nodding at electronic rock; but perhaps most important, is that the new single reveals some ambitious songwriting as they pair anthemic hooks around a twisting and turning song structure. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Producer for The Strokes and Regina Spektor Releases Mischievous and Psychedelic Visuals for “View From Blue”

Gordon Raphael is a Seattle, WA-born, Berlin, Germany-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, and producer, who has worked with an impressive array of contemporary artists including The Strokes, Regina Spektor, Damon Albarn, Ian Brown, The Cult‘s Ian Astbury, Hinds and others; however, Raphael primarily sees himself as a singer/songwriter and guitarist. “I love producing, but playing guitar and writing songs is what I’ve always done,” Raphael says in press notes. “I wanted to show what I can do on the other side of the desk all the time, but producing kept getting in the way.”  Interestingly, Raphael’s long-awaited full-length debut Sleep on the Radio draws from Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Kimono My House-era Sparks, Frank Zappa and prog rock among others, as you’ll hear on the album’s latest single “View From Blue.”

Reportedly “View From Blue” came to the renowned producer, singer/songwriter and guitarist in a dream and was part of over 1,000 songs he wrote over a period of time — and a section of 12 that were carefully honed and perfected to the point that they were living, breathing songs that needed to be heard, now.  And as a result, the anthemic hook-laden song possesses a forceful urgency underneath its boozy, free-flowing psychedelia.

The recently released visuals for the single features Raphael performing the song in the studio in front of psychedelic projections and playing with balloons but at one point Raphael is inexplicably in a purple wig — because why the hell not?  

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Spectral Sounds and Intimate Visuals for Lola Kirke’s “Not Used”

Lola Kirke is a British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, musician and actress, best know for starring roles in Mistress America and Mozart in the Jungle, as well as a supporting role in David Fincher’s Gone Girl; but along with that, she’s also the daughter of drummer Simon Kirke, best known for stints in Bad Company and Free and Lorraine Kirke, the owner of Geminola, a vintage boutique known for supplying outfits for Sex and the City. As a singer/songwriter, her self-titled debut EP features four, plaintive songs that Kirke has personally dubbed Cosmic American. 

The self-titled EP’s latest single “Not Used” is about learning to live with a lover’s absence and as a result, the single possesses a visceral longing and ache paired with a spectral yet old-timey, honky tonk-like arrangement . But at its core, is the acceptance of the lingering ghosts of one’s past and the awkward attempt to move forward with one’s life to the best of their abilities.  And interestingly enough, the recently released music video was directed by and stars Lola Kirke’s sister, who spends the entire length of the song vigorously exercising in her small apartment — and as Jemina Kirke explains about the video treatment “Those transitional, soul-level-change moments we experience are never dramatic. Epiphanies don’t really happen. They’re a myth. Real transformation is boring and uncomfortable, like working out on your birthday when you have no plans. Change slips in unnoticed while you’re busy trudging through something pretty unremarkable.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=210272287/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1819739007/transparent=true/

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past three or four years of its seven year history, you would have come across a handful of posts on  the Chicago, IL-based psych rock band Secret Colours. Interestingly, the band recorded and released their self-titled debut and their sophomore effort, Peach, the band’s initial lineup featured six members; however, by the time they went into the studio to record Positive Distractions 1 and Positive Distractions 2, the band went through a massive lineup change that left Tommy Evans (vocals, guitar) and Justin Frederick (drums) as the only members remaining from the original sextet. And with the recruitment of long-time Chicago music scene friends Eric Hehr and Mike Novak, the band went through a decided change in sonic direction — partially influenced by necessity and as a result of being artists, who recognize that life pushes them forward and towards new influences and techniques.

Up until recently, some time had passed since I had last written about them and in that period of the past few years, the band went through yet another lineup change in which its founding member Tommy Evans, along with Mike Novak remain; but with its newest lineup featuring Max Brink (bass) and Matt Yeates (drums), the band find themselves pushing their sound in completely new and different directions on their latest full-length effort Dream Dream; in fact, the album’s material finds the band drawing more from guitar pop and garage rock, while retaining elements of the 60s psych rock sound that first captured the attention of the blogosphere. And as you may recall, album single “Changes in Nature” was a swooning and sweetly urgent love song reminiscent of XTC’s “Mayor of Simpleton” but with a subtly lysergic vibe. Interestingly enough, “Save Me,” Dream Dream‘s latest single manages to mesh contemporary jangling guitar pop with psych rock in a way that feels anachronistic — could the song have been released during the 60s? Or AM rock’s heyday? Or in 2017? If it weren’t for the slick production, you wouldn’t be able to tell; but perhaps more important, the single reminds listeners that the band can craft incredibly infectious, hook-driven rock with dexterous guitar work.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I wrote about  Denton, TX-based psych rock/prog rock quartet Pearl Earl, an act that can trace its origins to 2014, when its founding members Ariel Hartley, Bailey K. Chapman and Stefanie Lazcano started the band as a way to jam, party and fuck around — that is until, the the band became a serious project; and in fact, by the following year, the Denton-based band began touring regionally and nationally to support their debut EP Karaoke Superstar, a wild, kaleidoscopic meshing of psych rock, glam rock, prog rock, punk rock and synth pop.

Building upon their rapidly growing profile, the band’s founding trio spent last year writing and then recording their self-titled debut effort at Dallas’ Elmwood Recording — with the band recruiting Chelsey Danielle, after the album’s completion. And although Hartley may be the band’s principle songwriting, reportedly each song is its own living, breathing animal. Album single “Star in the Sky” featured tribal-inspired percussion, shimmering and futuristic synths and bombastic power chords in a mind-bending and ambitious song structure that bears an uncanny resemblance to 2112-era Rush, thanks to a retro-futuristic vibe. The album’s latest single “Captain Howdy” continues the lysergic vibe, as it features shimmering, arpeggio synths, a propulsive rhythm section and heavily pedal effected guitars in an prog rock-leaning song structure that quickly switches from trippy synths to a lengthy, power chord guitar driven coda — and the amazing thing about the song is that they manage to do that within a 3 minute and change runtime.

The band is currently in the middle of an extensive Midwest and Southwest tour. Check out the remaining tour dates below.

 

Summer Tour Dates
07.04•High Dive (Milwaukee, WI)
07.08•Trees w/ Spoonfed Tribe (Dallas, TX)
07.15•Dan’s Silverleaf w/ Mother Tongues (Denton, TX —- Album Release)
07.18•Club Dada w/ Post Animal (Dallas, TX)
07.22•Mass (Ft. Worth, TX —- Album Release)
07.29•Taps N Caps w/ MyDolls (Denton, TX)
08.07•Andy’s Bar w/ Sailor Poon, Sunbuzzed, Thin Skin, Flesh Narc (Denton, TX)

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Catch a Glimpse of The Day-to-Day Life of Colombians in the Visuals for Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s “Bombo Fabrika”

Over the past couple of years of this site’s seven year history, I’ve written quite a bit about Gabriel Garzón-Montano, a critically applauded Brooklyn-born and-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has seen a rapidly growing national and international profile for a genre-defying take on contemporary soul and pop, with his work drawing from Bach, cumbia, 70s funk and soul, hip-hop and the wildly adventurous multiculturalism most familiar to native New Yorkers and New Yorkers. Along with that, Garzón-Montano has publicly mentioned that his mother, who was a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble in the 1990s may arguably be one of the biggest influences on his work and his creative process as her rigorous, classical instruction and her painstaking attention to detail. 

Now, as you may recall, Garzón-Montano’s long-awaited full-length effort Jardín was released earlier this year and it comes on the heels of a three year period of rather intense touring, writing, revising and recording that began with his 2014 debut EP Bishouné: Alma del Hula, which caught the attention of Lenny Kravitz, who then invited the Brooklyn-born-and-based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter to open for him during his European tour that year. Adding to the growing attention around him, Garzón-Montano’s “6 8” was sampled on Drake‘s If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late, which led to tours with Glass Animals and with his renowned Stones Throw Records labelmate, JOVM mainstay and personal favorite, Mayer Hawthorne.

Jardín was recorded withGarzón-Montano’s mentor, analog recording guru Henry Hirsch at Waterfront Studios in Hudson, NY last year and during the recording sessions Garzón-Montano tracked drums, bass, guitar, piano and synths directly to 2-inch tape, and then added percussion, digital programming and several layers of his own vocals to create the album’s overall lush sound — a sound that reportedly nods at Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. “I wanted to make music that would remind people how beautiful life is – how delicate their hearts are. A garden is full of life, and growth, and beauty. I named the album Jardín hoping for it to create a space for healing when people put it on. I’ve always wanted to make music that is healing, comforting, and funky,” Garzón-Montano explained in press notes. Naturally,  our current sociopolitical climate has influenced a great deal of the material on the album, as thematically it focuses on the struggles and uncertainties of living in America but it’s balanced our by its equal focus on the complications and joys of love.

Of course, unsurprisingly, I’ve written about several singles off the album, including “Crawl,” a single which effortlessly meshed hip-hop, 90s neo-soul and contemporary pop with a slick production featuring ambient synths, twinkling keys, a wobbling bass line, tweeter and woofer rattling beats and a sharp, swaggering hook; “My Balloon,” a single that continued on a similar vein while tinged with the aching regret of a confusing and uncertain relationship with someone who isn’t quite on the same emotional or mental space as you are; and “Sour Mango,” a slow-burning and soulful track, which features Garzón-Montano’s sultry vocals over a jagged production featuring shuffling beats, twinkling keys, wobbling synths, but underneath the surface, there’s an visceral ache over a love that seems completely unlikely. 

The album’s latest single “Bombo Fabrinka” features a lush and soulful production consisting of shuffling boom-bap-like beats, twinkling keys, and layers of Garzón-Montano’s sultry vocals — and while building upon the overall sound of the album, the song reveals an up-and-coming singer/songwriter, who has an uncanny talent for writing a sharp, infectious hook paired with introspective lyrics, based on deeply personal and revealing experiences with love and loss; but interestingly enough as Garzón-Montano explains “‘Bombo Fabrika’ is about the place I go to when I write music. The music is not mine, it flows through me from a source much older and wiser than my body.”

Directed and filmed by Santiago Carrasquilla in San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, the recently released music video for “Bombo Fabrinka” is a revealing and cinematically shot glimpse into the day-to-day life of San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia. And although, the people of the village may be poor, they express a pure joie de vivre that’s absolutely infectious. Garzón-Montano says of the video “Palenque is a magical place — people blasting music and playing drums and singing everywhere — expressing more joy than I’ve seen or felt in my whole life. . . Palenque is famous for originating some styles of Cumbia music. Filming this video in such an energetically potent musical birthplace was an incredible and humbling experience.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Gordon Raphael is a Seattle, WA-born, Berlin, Germany-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, and producer, who has worked with an impressive array of contemporary artists including The Strokes, Regina Spektor, Damon Albarn, Ian Brown, The Cult‘s Ian Astbury, Hinds and others; however, Raphael primarily sees himself as a singer/songwriter and guitarist. “I love producing, but playing guitar and writing songs is what I’ve always done,” Raphael says in press notes. “I wanted to show what I can do on the other side of the desk all the time, but producing kept getting in the way.”  Interestingly, Raphael’s long-awaited full-length debut Sleep on the Radio draws from Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Kimono My House-era Sparks, Frank Zappa and prog rock among others, as you’ll hear on the album’s latest single “View From Blue.”

Reportedly “View From Blue” came to the renowned producer, singer/songwriter and guitarist in a dream and was part of over 1,000 songs he wrote over a period of time — and a section of 12 that were carefully honed and perfected to the point that they were living, breathing songs that needed to be heard, now.  And as a result, the anthemic hook-laden song possesses a forceful urgency underneath its boozy, free-flowing psychedelia.