Category: electronic music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Avalanches Team Up with Karen O on Dreamy and Forlorn “Blue Shadows”

The Avalanches — Robbie Chater, Tony Di Blasio and Andy Szekeres — are arguably one of the most influential and original acts in the contemporary scene: Their debut album, 2000’s acclaimed Since I Left You laid the groundwork for collaborative sampology in this century.

Since then, the trio have released two more acclaimed albums, 2016’s Wildflowers and 2020’s We Will Always Love You. With over 1 million albums sold and 700 million streams across DSPs, a series of coveted collectibles and legions of fans across the globe, the acclaimed act has firmly cemented their place in popular culture.

Back in 2024, The Avalanches collaborated with Jamie xx on “All You Children,” which appeared on his 2024 effort, In Waves.

The trio recently performed at this year’s Primavera Sound Barcelona and announced a run of London headlining shows as part of Pitchfork Music Fest in November. They’ll be making a run of the international festival circuit with DJ sets at Ireland’s All Together Now, France’s Freakquenices (alongside The Dare), Italy’s Poplar and C2C and Belgium’s Les Nuits Weekender — with more dates to be announced soon. Click here for tickets and more information.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Karen O is a Seoul-born, New Jersey-raised singer/songwriter and iconic front woman of the eight-time Grammy Award-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a focus on film, she has been instrumental in redefining the possibility of rock performance over the past two decades, influencing a new generation of female artists, including Olivia Rodrigo, Japanese Breakfast, The Linda Lindas and a growing list of others.

With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Seoul-born, Los Angeles-based artist has released five acclaimed albums, including 2022’s Grammy Award-nominated Cool It Down, the band’s first album after a nine-year recording hiatus.

Outside of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O has built an adventurous multidisciplinary career spanning music, film, visual art and performance: Her solo debut, 2014’s Crush Songs was released to critical acclaim. She wrote and performed music for Spike Jonze’s 2009 film, Where the Wild Things Are and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original song for “The Moon Song” from Jonze’s 2013 film Her. Her experimental rock opera Stop the Virgens premiered at St. Ann’s Warehouse before touring internationally.

As a solo artist, Karen O has collaborated with an eclectic array of equally acclaimed artists including David Lynch, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and fashion house KENZO. 2019’s collaborative album with Danger Mouse, Lux Prima was released to widespread critical acclaim with album single “Woman” earning a Grammy Award nomination. The album also inspired the immersive multimedia installation An Encounter with Lux Prima, which premiered at Los Angeles’ Marciano Art Foundation.

Karen O and The Avalanches recently teamed up for “Blue Shadows,” the second collaboration between the two artists since “Dial D for Devotion,” which appeared on 2020’s We Will Always Love You. “Blue Shadows” is also the third single of the year from the trio, following “Every Single Weekend” feat. Jamie xx and “Together” feat. Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza and Prentiss. With “Blue Shadows” Karen O’s achingly forlorn vocal languidly drifts atop twinkling synths, a chugging bass line, shuffling hi-hats and a dreamy vocal sample. The result is a bittersweet, fever dream of heartache, mistakes, lost chances and what-could-have-beens from the perspective of someone who has lived a messy, complicated

“’Blue Shadows’ was an idea of Andy’s that was almost lost to time until Tony stumbled across it in an old folder and began championing it as a potential album song,” says the trio’s Robbie Chater. “It’s since become one of my favourite Avalanches tunes. Many moons later and thanks to the kindness of Claudio Casalini and the estate of Celso Valli, it looked like Tony’s dream for ‘Blue Shadows’ might come true. 

“I included it in a selection of song ideas for Karen, we wanted her to hear it although I never imagined a vocal would be possible; the demo had such a peculiar, singular mood. What she recorded still amazes me after months of listening, it’s so achingly forlorn and somehow sounds as if it always existed as a song. I don’t know how that is possible, or what she was channelling, some people just have access to a higher plane I suppose!”

Karen O adds, “When Robbie sent me ‘Blue Shadows,’ I jumped at the chance to collaborate. The Avalanches last record We Will Always Love You was a gift to humanity in 2020 and I’ll count it as one of my Top 10 forever. The Avalanches frequency is high, I’m so happy to be asked to slide into it.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s IFULKI Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Something Greater”

London-based trio IFULKI features musicians shaped by a culture of improvisation, openness and collaboration:

  • Queen Kaltoun, a Moroccan-Italian vocalist, who relocated to London when she was 189 to pursue a career in music

  • Charlie, an English-born bassist and synth player with Irish and Ghanian roots

  • Ayman, a Sudanese drummer and percussionist

Each member of the trio have spent years performing across London’s live music circuit, playing sets at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Cafe and Village Underground and a long list of others, while collaboration with a collection of boundary-pushing artists including David Mrakpor, Rebekah Reid, Mei Kirby, Ayo Salawu, Arowah, Tay Grace, and NK-OK.

The London-based trio have quickly established a unique blend of Gnawa inferences, electronic textures and live instrumentation helps to create a sound that’s deeply rooted in ancient traditions while being remarkably modern. Rather than remaining within the boundaries of jazz, the project for the trio became the meeting point of everything the inspired them — the freedom of improvisation, the emotional depth of electronic music, trip-hop and soul, and the philosophy of Queen Kaltoum’s Amazigh heritage.

“Ifulki means ‘beautiful” in the Amazigh language,” Queen Kaltoum explains. “It’s a celebration of the beautiful people and beautiful connections we encounter in this life.” For Queen Kaltoum beauty isn’t something superficial. Beauty exists in kindness, generosity, solidarity and the relationships we build and maintain with each other. Those values, which are deeply embedded within Amazigh culture, quietly shape every aspect of the emerging London-based trio’s creative vision — one, ultimately born, as Queen Kaltoum says, “from a need to bring people together.”

IFULKI’s debut single “Something Greater,” which was released through [PIAS]’s new important SOURCE serves as the trio’s bold introduction to the outsider world. Featuring a broodingly atmospheric production with brassy castanet-driven gnawa percussion, tweeter and woofer rattling tump, twinkling jazz-inspired keys and a gently buzzing bass synths beneath Queen Kaltoum’s bright and effortlessly soulful vocal, “Something Greater” is a lush and cinematic blend of Bristol-era trip hop, jazz and soul that’s simultaneously headphone and club friendly.

The song is about surrendering to the unknown and trusting that thing will ultimately fall into place, and having the faith that whatever the outcome, that’s what is meant to happen. Queen Kaltoum adds, “An unsettling and mysterious atmosphere is present in the music, and thematically matched by the lyrics. This energy never leaves, but combines with tones of positivity and hopefulness brought in by dancey rhythms, with the piano ending the song with a bittersweet melody, contrasting the dark and brooding intensity found in the bass and drums.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: belac Shares a Sultry, Club Friendly Banger

belac is a rising, Perth-born and-based producer, who is a product of the Internet Generation: After discovering a Martin Garrix breakdown of his hit song “Animals” when the Aussie producer was 11, he has spent the past decade consuming — and sometimes forming — internet tends and turning them into club bangers. Before music, he was one of the best beach sprinters in Western Australia and a qualified physicist. But as he explains, he went all-in on music, when he heard his own music being blasted by the electronic music club while walking around his university’s open day.

Since then, he has signed with [PIAS] Électronique, who has released recent singles “need it, breathe it” and “be with me 2009,” which manage to be simultaneously nostalgia-inducing and fresh, while giving younger fans a cache to experience an era of EDM that they might not have originally been around for. And interestingly, gamers have claimed that his work is the perfect soundtrack for massive gaming sessions.

Now while there’s a cheekiness to his music and his online presence, the Perth-born and-based producer has an unerring knack for understanding what delights dance music fans and brings them to the dance floor. And as a result, he’s become one of Australia’s most recognized, rising electronic producers, specializing in club friendly bangers with elements of 2010s EDM, Memphis trap, jazz and more.

The Aussie producer’s latest single “late night visions” is a subtly brooding and atmospheric take on tech house with a sultry vocal sample that reminds me of French JOVM mainstay LutchamaK and a lengthy list of others, while showcasing a producer who can craft a euphoric, remarkably catchy hook.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: TOMORA Shares Expansive, Live Version of “IN A MINUTE”

TOMORA is a collaborative project featuring:

  • The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.

  • Norwegian artist AURORA: AURORA has released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.

TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.

Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Then, last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from Spin, BrooklynVegan, Stereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.

The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcases a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.

Released earlier this year through Capitol Records, COME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. The album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s. 

The album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together. 

“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

The album also includes singles “COME CLOSER” “SOMEWHERE ELSE” and “I DRINK THE LIGHT.” After a successful Spring tour to support their debut effort together, the pair went to Rowland’s Sussex, UK-based Rowlands Audio Research Studio to record a live version of album closing track “IN A MINUTE” that’s inspired by their ever-increasing extended performances of the song as part of the encourage of their first-ever live shows together, including two rapturously received sets at this past year’s Coachella.

Whereas, the album version of “IN A MINUTE” distills the duo’s quickly established euphoric push-pull chemistry into a tight, breakneck structure, the Live in the Studio version of the song, clocks in at 10 minutes gives the duo the ability to stretch out and to roam a bit musically, building from the song’s central refrain into an extended dreamy sequence of densely layered shifts, shifting rhythms beneath otherworldly harmonies, before returning to the song’s hook, giving the song even more of a mind-bending, lysergic quality.

Directed by Adam Smith the gorgeously shot accompanying video for “IN A MINUTE (LIVE FROM THE STUDIO VERSION)” captures the feverish euphoria of a life TOMORA set.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 61st Birthday, Trent Reznor!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor’s 61st birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: BRIXTONE Shares Glitchy and Slinky “Enter The Night”

BRIXTONE is an experimental music duo — half-brothers Paul and Pete Brixtone — that features members, who were raised in opposite musical worlds and yet drawn to the same aesthetic: One member works by instinct, noted in abrasiveness, aggression and noise. The other words with structure, discipline and an architectural melodic sensibility.

The duo’s debut Never Play To The Gallery was released earlier this year to positive reviews across music media with the album being describes as an “electro rock-post punk-jazz entity,” and a “restless, shape-shifting mass of sound pulled tight between decay and precision.”

Never Play To The Gallery includes “The Mirror Stars,” which I wrote about earlier this month and “Enter The Night.””Enter The Night” is a slinky bit of noise and glitch that sounds like a David Bowie-meets-goth-inspired transmission beamed in from Jupiter on an AM transistor radio while being a siren’s call into the void.

The accompanying video features a neon-masked woman dancing on old cathode ray tube televisions with VHS style glitch and noise that reveals the duo glaring to the viewer. Fittingly, it’s as creepy as the song it accompanies,

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Chris Frantz!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Talking Heads’ and Tom Tom Club’s Chris Frantz’s 75th

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: BRIXTONE Shares Glitchy and Brooding “The Mirror Stars”

BRIXTONE is an experimental music duo — half-brothers Paul and Pete Brixtone — that features members, who were raised in opposite musical worlds and yet drawn to the same aesthetic: One member works by instinct, noted in abrasiveness, aggression and noise. The other words with structure, discipline and an architectural melodic sensibility.

The duo’s debut Never Play To The Gallery was released earlier this year to positive reviews across music media with the album being describes as an “electro rock-post punk-jazz entity,” and a restless, shape-shifting mass of sound pulled tight between decay and precision.

Never Play To The Gallery‘s latest single “The Mirror Stars” is anchored around an industrial electronica pulse and skittering beats, bursts of scorching guitar, distorted vocal samples, eerie electronic textures, and a brooding lead vocal. Seemingly channeling early Nine Inch Nails and Earthling-era David Bowie, “The Mirror Stars,” possesses a creeping sense of dread that feels uneasy, familiar and of our deeply fucked up moment.

Throwback by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 86th Birthday, Giorgio Moroder!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Giorgio Moroder’s 86th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: TOMORA Returns with Luminous and Euphoric “I DRINK THE LIGHT”

TOMORA is a collaborative project featuring:

  • The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.

  • Norwegian artist AURORA: AURORA has released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.

TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.

Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from Spin, BrooklynVegan, Stereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.

The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcases a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.

Officially released today through Capitol Records, COME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. The album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s. 

The album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together. 

“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

The album also features the previously released “COME CLOSER” “SOMEWHERE ELSE” and its latest single “I DRINK THE LIGHT.” “I DRINK THE LIGHT” is a euphoric and luminous song featuring glistening synth arpeggios and skittering boom bap as a lush yet woozy bed for AURORA’s remarkably Björk-like delivery. Sonically nodding at a slick synthesis of Madonna‘s “Ray of Light,” Come with Us-era Chemical Brothers, “I DRINK THE LIGHT” evokes the otherworldly and almost childlike sense of awe and delight of seeing a natural wonder for the first time.

“We wrote ‘I DRINK THE LIGHT’ whilst watching the light glitter and dance off the shimmering fjord in Norway. We wanted to write a song that felt like witnessing the wonders of Earth for the very first time,” TOMORA explains. “The song is an exploration of light sensations and fluid dynamics. We taste the earth, we swallow the sun, we are one with the fabric of life, and most importantly of all, we drink the light.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Florian Schneider!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 79th anniversary of Florian Schneider’s birth.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Public Circuit Shares Muscular Remix of “Damager”

Rising New York-based electro punks Public Circuit — Ethan Beaumont (vocals), Sean Holloway (drums) and Nelson Fisher (electronics) — exploded into the scene with 2024’s full-length debut Lamb, which they supported with sold-out shows across 30 states, including a run across the domestic festival circuit with sets at New Colossus Festival, Hopscotch and MACROCK.

The trio’s sophomore album Modern Church was released last September through Á La Carte Records. The album saw the band swapping the pretense of retro-revivalism for something much sharper, darker — and entirely their own. Sonically rooted in the trio’s newfound sense of collaboration between each other, the album’s material features angular electronic instrumentation and raw percussive rhythms bathed with the high gloss ache of sophsitipop. 

Thematically, the material is overtly religious. But it’s used as an analogical tool to explore sexual identity, the fleeting faith of society and the illicit repercussions of unresolved trauma. And much like its immediate predecessor, the new album continues a run of material deeply influenced by New York’s constant feed of noise and relentless energy. 

Today, the New York-based trio announced the April 28, 2026 release of Modern Church R//MIX//S. The trio recruited Brooklyn music scene friends Lip Critic, shower curtain, Grumpy, The Wants, smush, ideasforconversations and Crate to rework Modern Church album tracks. “We wanted to put out the remixes to not only highlight all our amazing friends who make amazing music, but also to revive these songs into all the different worlds we believe they belong to exist in,” the band explains.

Modern Church R//MIX//S‘ first single sees Public Circuit remixing their favorite song off Modern Church, “Damager.” Clocking in at 94 seconds, the original version is a punchy, club friendly bit of industrial synth pop. Their remix gives the song a muscular and swaggering thump that’s one-part old school hip hop-driven 808 and one-part 80s industrial club music.