JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates PJ Harvey’s 53rd birthday.
Category: Alt-rock
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Thom Yorke!
JOVM celebrates Thom Yorke’s 54th birthday.
New Video: The Afghan Whigs Share a Glittery Visual for “A Line of Shots”
Since their formation in Cincinnati back in 1986, The Afghan Whigs — currently Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar), John Curley (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson and the band’s newest member, Blind Melon’s Christopher Thorn (guitar) — have a long-held reputation for refusing to play by convention: During the flannel and plaid of the early 90s grunge era, the members of The Afghan Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries for wearing suits and for being far more likely to slide into a soulful groove than a power chord-driven riff.
Reuniting after an 11 year hiatus in 2012, the JOVM mainstays released two critically applauded albums, 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades, that found the band writing and recording music that furthered their story together, while pushing their sound in new directions.
The JOVM mainstays ninth album together — and first in five years — the Christopher Thorn co-produced How Do You Burn? is slated for a Friday release through Royal Cream/BMG. The album reportedly picks up on the sound and approach on the Whigs’ last two albums and sees them pushing it either further.
With the pandemic forcing Greg Dulli to abandon plans to support his critically applauded solo album Random Desire, the band began working on How Do You Burn? in September 2020 and continued over the next 14 months in remote recording sessions: Dulli, Thorn and Keeler in California; Curley, Jon Skibic (guitar) and Nelson laying down and engineering their own parts in Cincinnati, New Jersey and New Orleans respectively. “Once we got the system down, we started flying,” Greg Dulli says.
The album features guest spots from a collection of frequent and longtime collaborators including — the late Mark Lanegan, a collaborator of Dulli’s in The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, as well as a close friend. Lanengan sung backup vocals on two album tracks. “It was Mark who named the album,” Dulli says in press notes. Susan Marshall, who contributed to 1998’s 1965 contributes vocals on album track “Catch A Colt.” Van Hunt,who toured with the band in 2012 and contributed to 2014’s Do to the Beast, contributes vocals on “Jyla” and “Take Me There.” And last but definitely not least, Marcy Mays, lead vocalist on Gentlemen‘s “My Curse” contributes vocals to “Domino and Jimmy,” a song that Dulli had specifically written with Mays in mind.
So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:
- “I’ll Make You See God,” which is arguably one of the hardest and aggressive songs they’ve written and recorded in close to 30 years.
- “The Getaway,” a widescreen ballad that pairs Dulli’s whiskey and cigarette-like croon with a gorgeous string arrangement, twinkling keys and Dulli’s unerring knack for crafting earnest, lived-in material with enormous, arena rock friendly hooks.
How Do You Burn?’s third and latest single “A Line of Shots,” is a woozy yet anthemic ballad featuring heavily distorted and delay pedaled guitars, Greg Dulli’s imitable croon paired with a slow-burning groove and the band’s unerring knack for rousing, fist-up-in-the-air choruses. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “A Line of Shots” was so much of a crowd favorite during the JOVM mainstays’ May 2022 US tour that the band decided that the song needed its own moment in the sun.
Directed by Patrick Pierson, the accompanying video for “A Line of Shots” continues on some of the space-related imagery of “The Getaway” including the spacesuits and lights that are shot to look like stars and planets — but while set at a roller skating rink, punningly called The Cheap Skate. Fittingly, we also get some gorgeous young skate dancers of color doing their thing; but at its core is a nostalgic and swooning fever dream of youth and young love.
Throwback: Happy (Belated) 56th Birthday, Shirley Manson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Shirley Manson’s 56th birthday.
Throwback: Happy (Belated) 55th Birthday, Layne Staley!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 55th anniversary of Layne Staley’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 63rd Birthday, Pat Smear!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Pat Smear’s 63rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy (Belated) 64th Birthday, Bill Berry!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belated celebrates Bill Berry’s 64th birthday.
Since their formation in Cincinnati back in 1986, The Afghan Whigs — currently Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar), John Curley (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson and the band’s newest member, Blind Melon’s Christopher Thorn (guitar) — have a long-held reputation for refusing to play by convention: During the flannel and plaid of the early 90s grunge era, the members of The Afghan Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries for wearing suits and for being more likely to slide into a soulful groove than a power chord-driven riff.
Reuniting after an 11 year hiatus in 2012, the JOVM mainstays released two critically applauded albums, 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades, that found the band writing and recording music that furthered their story together, while pushing their sound in new directions.
Slated for a September 9, 2022 release through Royal Cream/BMG, the JOVM mainstays’ ninth album — and first in five years — the Christopher Thorn co-produced How Do You Burn? reportedly picks up on the sound and appraoch of 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades and pushes it even further. With the pandemic forcing Greg Dulli to abandon plans to support his critically applauded solo album Random Desire, the band began working on How Do You Burn? in September 2020 and continued over the next 14 months in remote recording sessions: Dulli, Thorn and Keeler in California; Curley, Jon Skibic (guitar) and Nelson laying down and engineering their own parts in Cincinnati, New Jersey and New Orleans respectively. “Once we got the system down, we started flying,” Greg Dulli says.
The album features guest spots from a collection of frequent and longtime collaborators including — the late Mark Lanegan, a collaborator of Dulli’s in The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, as well as a close friend. Lanengan sung backup vocals on two album tracks. “It was Mark who named the album,” Dulli says in press notes. Susan Marshall, who contributed to 1998’s 1965 contributes vocals on album track “Catch A Colt.” Van Hunt,who toured with the band in 2012 and contributed to 2014’s Do to the Beast, contributes vocals on “Jyla” and “Take Me There.” And last but definitely not least, Marcy Mays, lead vocalist on Gentlemen‘s “My Curse” contributes vocals to “Domino and Jimmy,” a song that Dulli had specifically written with Mays in mind.
So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:
- “I’ll Make You See God,” which is arguably one of the hardest and aggressive songs they’ve written and recorded in close to 30 years.
- “The Getaway,” a widescreen ballad that pairs Dulli’s whiskey and cigarette-like croon with a gorgeous string arrangement, twinkling keys and Dulli’s unerring knack for crafting earnest, lived-in material with enormous, arena rock friendly hooks.
How Do You Burn?’s third and latest single “A Line of Shots,” a woozy yet anthemic ballad featuring heavily distorted and delay pedaled guitars, Greg Dulli’s imitable croon paired with a slow-burning groove and the band’s unerring knack for rousing, fist-up-in-the-air choruses. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “A Line of Shots” was so much of a crowd favorite during the JOVM mainstays’ May 2022 US tour that the band decided that the song needed its own moment in the sun.
The JOVM mainstays are about to embark on a UK and European Union tour that starts on July 23, 2022 and ends on August 10, 2022. The band will take a few weeks off and then go on a month-long US tour that includes a September 15, 2022 stop at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll cap a big year with a return to European Union and UK. Tour dates are below.
EUROPEAN SUMMER TOUR DATES
07/23 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
07/24 Suffolk, UK Latitude Festival
07/26 Frankfurt, Germany Batschkapp
07/28 Vienna, Austria Flex
07/29 Prague, Czech Republic Lucerna Music Bar
07/30 Berlin, Germany Metropol
08/01 Oslo, Norway Parkteatret Scene
08/02 Stockholm, Sweden Debaser
08/03 Copenhagen, Denmark Amager Bio
08/05 Hamburg, Germany Uebel & Gefährlich (Half House)
08/06 Nijmegen, Netherlands Roosje Live In Park @ Openluchttheater Goffert
08/08 Stuttgart, Germany Im Wizemann
08/09 Cologne, Germany Luxor
08/10 Lokeren, Belgium Lokersee Feesten
U.S. FALL HEADLINE TOUR DATES
09/09 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
09/10 Chicago, IL Metro
09/11 Cincinnati, OH Bogarts
09/12 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
09/14 Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club
09/15 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
09/16 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
09/17 Boston, MA Paradise
09/20 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre
09/21 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle
09/22 Birmingham, AL Saturn
09/24 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
09/28 Austin, TX Mohawk
09/29 Dallas, TX The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
10/01 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre
10/02 Salt Lake City, UT The Commonwealth Room
10/05 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
10/06 Seattle, WA The Showbox
10/08 San Francisco, CA The Regency Ballroom
10/09 Dana Point, CA Ohana Encore
10/11 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole
10/12 Los Angeles, CA Belasco Theatre
EUROPEAN FALL HEADLINE TOUR DATES
10/22 Madrid, Spain Teatro Barceló
10/23 Barcelona, Spain Apolo 2
10/25 Milan, Italy Santeria
10/26 Rome, Italy Largo
10/28 Munich, Germany Freiheitshalle
10/29 Zurich, Switzerland Bogen F
10/30 Luxembourg Den Atelier
11/01 Amsterdam, Netherlands Paradiso
11/02 Antwerp, Belgium De Roma
11/04 Manchester, UK Cathedral
11/05 Glasgow, UK St. Lukes
11/06 London, UK KOKO
New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Nation of Language Covers The Replacements
Rising Brooklyn-based synth pop trio and JOVM mainstays Nation of Language — Ian Richard Devaney (vocals, guitars, percussion), Aidan Noell (synth, vocals) and Michael Sue-Poi (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2016: Devaney and Sue-Poi were members of The Static Joys, a band that became largely inactive after the release of their sophomore album. As the story goes, Devaney was inspired to start a new project after hearing hearing OMD‘s “Electricity,” a song he had listened to quite a bit as a child in his father’s car.
What initially started out as Devaney fooling around on a keyboard eventually evolved to Nation of Language with the addition of Noell and Sue-Poi. Between 2016-2019, the Brooklyn-based synth pop trio released a handful of singles that helped to build up a fanbase locally and the elsewhere.
The JOVM mainstay’s full-length debut, 2020’s Introduction, Presence was released to critical praise, landing on the Best Albums lists that year for Rough Trade, KEXP, Paste, Stereogum, Under The Radar and PopMatters. The Brooklyn-based pop trio capped off the year with the “A Different Kind of Light”/”Deliver Me From Wondering Why” 7 inch, which featured the A Flock of Seagulls meets Simple Minds-like “Deliver Me From Wondering Why.”
Late last year, the Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays released their critically applauded sophomore album A Way Forward, which featured lead album single “Across That Fine Line,” which contained a run of decidedly 80s synth pop-inspired material. As a child of the 80s, “Across That Fine Line” brings back memories of listening to A Flock of Seagulls, Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones and a lengthy list of others. And much like the sources that seemingly inspired it, the song is rooted in earnest, lived-in songwriting.
“‘Across That Fine Line’ is a reflection on that moment when a non-romantic relationship flips into something different,” Nation of Language’s Devaney explains in press notes. “When the air in the room suddenly feels like it changes in an undefinable way. It’s a kind of celebration of that certain joyous panic, and the uncertainty that surfaces right after it.
“Sonically, it’s meant to feel like running down a hill, just out of control. I had been listening to a lot of Thee Oh Sees at the time of writing it and admiring the way they supercharge krautrock rhythms and imbue them with a kind of mania, which felt like an appropriate vibe to work with and make our own.”
Earlier this year, the rising Brooklyn-based synth pop outfit made their late night, national TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where they performed “Across That Fine Line” is a segment filmed at Baby’s All Right. Adding to a rapidly growing profile, the Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays completed a lengthy, headlining, international tour that included a March 2, 2022 stop at Webster Hall with Dark Tea.
Fittingly released for Pride Month, Nation of Language covered The Replacements‘ 1984 classic “Androgynous.” Written by Paul Westerberg as a twinkling piano-driven ballad celebrating gender non-conformity and gender non-conformity based relationships centered around Westerberg’s emotional delivery, Nation of Language’s take is contemplative yet playful while featuring atmospheric synths, skittering beats and Devaney’s plaintive vocals.
“One of the things that made covering ‘Androgynous’ so exciting is that, for me, so much of the original song is carried by Paul Westerberg’s incredible melodies and emotional delivery, and that really leaves a lot of opportunity to imagine new instrumentation,” Nation of Language’s Ian Devaney says in press notes. “I felt like as long as I was able to channel enough of that emotional power but bring the vocals into my own space, it would be a challenging and worthwhile endeavor.”
The “Androgynous” cover will appear on a limited edition 7″ vinyl that will also feature a surprise single on the B-side. The 7″ will be released in August through the band’s direct-to-customer store and will be available for pre-order upon its digital release.
New Video: The Smile Shares Menacing and Uneasy “Thin Thing”
The Smile features a collection of England’s most accomplished musicians — and some extremely familiar names: Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner.
So far, the trio have released five critically applauded singles throughout the course of this year, including three which I’ve written about.
- “The Smoke“
- “You Will Never Work in Television Again“
- “Skirting On The Surface,” a meditative slow-burn centered around Greenwood’s looping and shimmering guitar, stuttering jazz syncopation, a supple yet propulsive bass line, mournful saxophone and Yorke’s weary falsetto singing lyrics contemplating impermanence and mortality.
- “Pana-vision” a cinematic, Amnesiac era Radiohead-like song centered around a mesmerizing piano line, jazz syncopated drumming, a supple bass line and Yorke’s imitable falsetto.
- “Free in the Knowledge,” a sparse and brooding song that seems to capture the desperation, uncertainty and madness of our uniquely troubling moment.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you might recall that all five of those tracks will appear on the acclaimed trio’s highly-anticipated Nigel Godrich-produced full-length debut A Light For Attracting Attention. Slated for a May 13, 2022 digital release and June 17, 2022 physical release through XL Recordings, the album features strings by the 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.
A Light For Attracting Attention‘s sixth and latest single, the frenetic and uneasy “Thin Thing” is centered around wiry guitar riffs, off-kilter percussion, and angular bass lines and fluttering synths paired with Thom Yorke’s imitable falsetto doused in a bit of reverb and delay. “Thin Thing” may arguably be the most menacing song on the album, evoking a creeping and unsettling existential dread.
Directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, ten accompanying stop-motion animated video for “Thin Thing” follows a frenetic fluid that swallows up everything within its path — machinery, human body parts, plants, etc. “Hearing the song for the first time, we imagined a frenetic fluid that carries machines, pieces of human bodies and carnivorous plants,” León and Cociña explain. When presenting the idea to the band, Thom told us about a dream that made him write the song. We believe the video is the conjunction of these two things.”
New Video: The Afghan Whigs Share Cinematic “The Getaway”
Since their formation in Cincinnati back in 1986, The Afghan Whigs — currently Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar), John Curley (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson and newest member, Blind Melon’s Christopher Thorn (guitar) — have a long-held reputation for refusing to play by convention: During the flannel and plaid of the early 90s grunge era, the members of The Afghan Whigs stood apart from their contemporaries for wearing suits and for being more likely to slide into a soulful groove than a power chord-driven riff.
Reuniting after an 11 year hiatus in 2012, the JOVM mainstays released two critically applauded albums, 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades, that found the band writing and recording music that furthered their story together, while pushing their sound in new directions.
Slated for a September 9, 2022 release through Royal Cream/BMG, the JOVM mainstays’ ninth album — and first in five years — the Christopher Thorn co-produced How Do You Burn? reportedly picks up on the sound and appraoch of 2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades and pushes it even further. With the pandemic forcing Greg Dulli to abandon plans to support his critically applauded solo album Random Desire, the band began working on How Do You Burn? in September 2020 and continued over the next 14 months in remote recording sessions: Dulli, Thorn and Keeler in California; Curley, Jon Skibic (guitar) and Nelson laying down and engineering their own parts in Cincinnati, New Jersey and New Orleans respectively. “Once we got the system down, we started flying,” Greg Dulli says.
The album features guest spots from a collection of frequent collaborators including: The late Mark Lanegan, a collaborator of Dulli’s in The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, as well as a close friend. Lanengan sung backup vocals on two album tracks. “It was Mark who named the album,” Dulli says in press notes. Susan Marshall, who contributed to 1998’s 1965 contributes vocals on album track “Catch A Colt.” Van Hunt, who toured with the band in 2012 and contributed to 2014’s Do to the Beast, contributes vocals on “Jyla” and “Take Me There.” And last but definitely not least, Marcy Mays, lead vocalist on Gentlemen‘s “My Curse” contributes vocals to “Domino and Jimmy,” a song that Dulli had specifically written with Mays in mind.
Earlier this year I wrote about “I’ll Make You See God,” which will appear on the new album — and arguably one of the hardest and aggressive songs they’ve written and recorded in close to 30 years. How Do You Burn‘s second single “The Getaway” is an widescreen ballad that pairs Dulli’s whiskey and cigarette-like croon with a gorgeous string arrangement, twinkling keys and Dulli’s unerring knack for crafting earnest, lived-in material with enormous, arena rock friendly hooks.
Directed by Philip Harder and Patrick Pierson, the accompanying video for
“The Getaway” follows a lone astronaut, wandering through brush and desert before encountering an abandoned American rocket launch site. As that happens, we see members of the JOVM mainstays, also in spacesuits walking to a piano and drum set to play together — first while wearing black suits and space helmets and then later without. Of course, considering the state of things, we can’t blame our lone astronaut for wanting to leave the planet.
New Video: The Smile Shares a Gorgeous and Unsettling Visual for “Free In The Knowledge”
The Smile features a collection of England’s most accomplished musicians — and some extremely familiar names: Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner.
So far, the trio have released four critically applauded singles, including two which I’ve written about.
- “The Smoke“
- “You Will Never Work in Television Again“
- “Skirting On The Surface,” a meditative slow-burn centered around Greenwood’s looping and shimmering guitar, stuttering jazz syncopation, a supple yet propulsive bass line, mournful saxophone and Yorke’s weary falsetto singing lyrics contemplating impermanence and mortality.
- “Pana-vision” a cinematic, Amnesiac era Radiohead-like song centered around a mesmerizing piano line, jazz syncopated drumming, a supple bass line and Yorke’s imitable falsetto.
All four of those tracks will appear on the trio’s highly anticipated debut Nigel Godrich-produced full-length debut A Light For Attracting Attention. Slated for a May 13, 2022 release through XL Recordings, the album features strings by the 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.
A Light for Attracting Attention‘s fifth and latest single “Free In The Knowledge” is a sparse and brooding song centered around atmospheric synths, strummed acoustic guitar, a cinematic string arrangement and Yorke’s imitable falsetto singing lyrics that captures the desperation, uncertainty and madness of our unique and troubling moment.
Directed by Leo Leigh, the accompanying, cinematically shot visual that captures a collection of characters in the throes of an inexplicable and desperate mania in the English woods. The end result is a video that’s unsettling, haunting and full of existential dread.
Throwback: Happy 55th Birthday, Liz Phair!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Liz Phair’s 55th birthday.
New Video: The Smile Returns with Cinematic “Pana-Vision”
The Smile features a highly accomplished collection of familiar names and faces — Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (maybe you might have heard of them?), and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner. The Radiohead and Sons of Kemet side project has released three critically applauded singles this year “The Smoke,” “You Will Never Work in Television Again,” and “Skirting On The Surface,” a gorgeous, meditative slow-burn centered around Greenwood’s looping and shimmering guitar, stuttering jazz syncopation, a supple yet propulsive bass line, mournful saxophone and Yorke’s weary falsetto singing lyrics contemplating impermanence and mortality.
The Smile’s fourth single, “Pana-vision” is centered around a mesmerizing piano line, jazz syncopated drumming, a supple bass line and a gorgeous string arrangement paired with Yorke’s imitable falsetto singing the refrain “like a newborn child” throughout the song. While sonically bearing a bit of a resemblance to Amnesiac era Radiohead, “Pana-vision” possesses a remarkably sublime, cinematic quality.
The accompanying visual features Stanley Donwood‘s haunting artwork coming to life through Sabrina Nichols‘ gorgeous animation.