JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe’s 64th birthday.
Category: Alt-rock
Throwback: Happy 59th Birthday, Eddie Vedder!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder’s 59th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Mike Mills!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates R.E.M.’s Mike Mills’ 65th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Peter Buck!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Peter Buck’s 67th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Björk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Björk’s 58th birthday.
New Video: The Smile Shares Eerie and Haunting “Wall of Eyes”
The Smile is an acclaimed outfit that features some of the world’s most accomplished musicians — and a couple of household names: Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner.
Last year, the trio released their critically applauded Nigel Godrich-produced full-length debut A Light For Attracting Attention. The album saw the acclaimed outfit collaborating with London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary British jazz musicians that include Bryon Wallen, Theon Cross and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, and Jason Yarde.
The Smile’s sophomore album, the Sam Petts-Davies Wall of Eyes is slated for a January 26, 2024 through XL Recordings. The album, which was recorded in Oxford and legendary Abbey Road Studios features string arrangements from London Contemporary Orchestra.
Wall of Eye‘s first single, album title track “Wall of Eyes” continues a run of haunting and eerily meditative material with the song seeing the trio pair Yorke’s imitable and yearning delivery with a glitchy arrangement of strummed guitar melody, glistening strings and gently padded drums that evokes — at least to me — a slow burning sense of dread and unease.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the accompanying video for “Wall of Eyes” begins with the band’s Thom Yorke sitting in a front of a mirror in a meditative pose, and then follows him walking through a busy city and sitting in a crowded pub by himself. The world rushes by him with furious intensity before a surreal, Being John Malkovich-like ending.
Throwback: Happy Belated 61st Birthday, Anthony Kiedis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Anthony Kedis’ 61st birthday.
New Audio: Philly’s Mesa Jane Tackles Radiohead’s “All I Need”
Mesa Jane (short for Melissa Jane) is a Philadelphia area indie pop artist, who specializes in a sound that has been described as “alternative vibe pop.” Throughout her life and music career, she embraces bringing creative energy into physical form through a multitude of avenues including songwriting, production, composition, collaboration, music videos, album art, entrepreneurship and cooking.
Over the past decade, the Philadelphia-based artist has recorded two full-length albums, two EPs (one, which was self-produced and recorded during the pandemic) and a batch of singles, all of which she has supported with touring across the country, as well as sets at music festivals like SXSW and Toronto’s Indie Week among others. Mesa Jane has appeared on several compilations — and she has received nominations from the Independent Music Awards and the Hometown Heroes Awards. And adding to a growing profile, she recently had one of her songs placed on Hulu’s How I Caught My Killer.
The Philadelphia area-based artist is currently quite busy with several different projects: She’s working on several collaborations, co-writing for other projects and is also working on her third full-length album. And she’s doing this while being a mom of two boys. Talk about being a boss, right?
Mesa Jane’s latest single is a gorgeous and fairly straightforward cover of Radiohead‘s “All I Want,” which retains the original’s buzzing synths and pairs that with skittering beats and the Philadelphia area artist’s plaintive gently vocodered vocal. While a female vocalist does change some of the song’s context, it’s still rooted in a deep and uneasy yearning.
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, PJ Harvey!
JOVM’S William Ruben Helms celebrates PJ Harvey’s 54th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 55th Birthday, Thom Yorke!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Thom Yorke’s 55th birthday.
New Audio: Ryder Waite Shares Gorgeous, Atmospheric “Praying”
Ryder Waite is a female-fronted, genre-defying rock quintet born from the dust of the Mojave Desert. While little is currently known about them, the band describes their approach and sound as raw and unapologetic, and pairing naked lyricism with soul-moving solos.
Their latest single, the atmospheric “Praying” is built around a gorgeous and expressive vocal, paired with shimmering reverb-drenched guitars, dramatic drumming and an expressive guitar solo. Sonically speaking, “Praying” sees the mysterious quintet drawing from nu-metal, post rock, shoegaze and metal to create something familiar yet a little bit difficult to pigeonhole.
New Video: The Joy Formidable Share Expansive, Mind-Bending “Share My Heat”
Splitting their time between Northern Wales and Utah, the celebrated alt rock outfit The Joy Formidable — Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Daybed (bass, vocals) and Matt Thomas (drums) — have managed to remain close to their loyal fanbase: Back in 2019, they launched TJF Music Club with members able to request backstage access, watch online shows and get exclusive songs and merchandise. During the pandemic, with a lack of live shows and touring, the club grew and evolved.
Their last album was 2021’s critically applauded Into The Blue. Since then, the Welsh band have followed up with a recent a collection of singles that include “Cut Your Face,” “The Hat” and the third and final single of the series “Share My Heat,” which were released through Enci Records across North America, Full Time Hobby/Hassle in Europe and Soundly Distro across the rest of the world.
Clocking in at an epic 15:10, “Share My Heat” is an arena rock friendly, prog rock ripper featuring thunderous drumming, angular and propulsive bass lines, dexterous, scorching riffage and shimmering synth arpeggios within a mind-bending song structure that bends, twists and turns before closing out with a face-melting, headbang worthy coda.
throughout the song’s run-time. “‘Share My Heat’ is about true connection & love. Deep, selfless love between humans is a beautiful part of our existence, but I’m also singing about our inherent love for nature, the living world & our kinship to everything : plants, animals, mountains & lake,” The Joy Formidable’s Ritzy Bryan explains. “Can we repair our relationship & bring more reciprocity, compassion and companionship to a world that already gives us so much?”
The accompanying, animated video by Vids Invader touches upon the themes of the song while being a hallucinogenic journey through both love and our current dystopian hellscape.
The Joy Formidable are currently on tour in the UK tour with all remaining shows listed below. The band plans to return to North America in 2024.
Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Layne Staley!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 56th anniversary of former Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Bill Berry!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Bill Berry’s 65th birthday.