Category: electronic rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chenzo V Returns with Anthemic “Mechanical Boy”

Chenzo V is an emerging New York-based creative director, producer and artist, whose music sees him drawing from and blending elements of alternative rock, post-punk, New Wave, synth pop and industrial electronica. 

Deeply rooted in classical performance and visual art, the emerging New York-based producer and artist writes, produces and directs every release himself, building immersive multimedia worlds. Thematically, his work touches upon identity, illusion and transformation.

Late last year, he released “Midnight,” an arena friendly ripper that showcases his ability to pair rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with broodingly cinematic soundscapes and lived-in lyrics.

His latest single “Mechanical Boy” is a woozy blend of industrial electronica, electronic rock, alt rock and synth pop that further cements his growing reputation for crafting remarkably catchy hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses while seemingly drawing from Muse and Radiohead.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Love Ghost Shares Bruising and Anthemic “Revolution Evolution”

Tim Skold is a singer/songwriter, musician and producer, best known for his work producing and playing with Marilyn Manson. Skold is also the creative mastermind behind the industrial/electro rock recording project Love Ghost.

Skold has one proper Love Ghost studio album under his belt, last year’s Gas Mask Wedding. And adding to a busy year, he collaborated with The Skinner Brothers on last year’s Soul Boy V. His sophomore album, Anarchy and Ashes is slated for a March 27, 2026 release and will include the previously released “Rock Me Amadeus,” an industrial cover of Falco‘s 1985 smash hit, “Vengeance,” and the album’s third and latest single “Revolution Evolution.”

“Revolution Evolution” is an urgent, industrial rock ripper that showcases Skold’s ability to pair arena rock bombastic riffs and thunderous beats with rousingly anthemic and enormous hooks and choruses. But under the arena rock bombast is a rebellious spirit that channels rage and frustration into a much needed roar with a community of like-minded folks. It may seem overwhelming to the individual but man, together, we can start to bring about a brand new world.

The accompanying video by King Zabb sees Skold in military fatigues creating violent war-like cartoons. But eventually, the cartoons realize, who their real enemy is.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Minneapolis’ Solid Gold Shares Shimmering, Politically Charged “Government Grade”

Minneapolis-based electro rock trio Solid Gold — Zachary Coulter, Adam Hurlbut and Matthew Locher — have released two critically applauded albums to date, 2008’s Ryan Olcott-produced Bodies of Water and 2012’s BJ Burton-produced Eat Your Young, as well as a handful of singles. The trio have supported all of their recorded output with a busy international touring schedule.

The trio are currently working on their long-awaited third album. Recorded at Cannon Falls, MN-based Pachyderm Studios, their new album reportedly showcases a dramatic shift in sound and approach: According to the band, the new songs are “maximalist psychedelic dreamscapes filled with shimmering synthesizers and pop vocal hooks.” They add that the album’s “sound is a reflection of the modern world, beautiful, but with an underlying essence of tragedy.”

Solid Gold’s latest single “Government Grade” is a a remarkably crafted and meditative song anchored around a shimmering psych pop arrangement, some incredibly catchy, well-placed hooks and a gorgeous melody. The song as the band explains is a direct response to the ongoing, violent occupation of Minnesota by ICE. And as a result, the song is a forcefully urgent documentation of our moment — one of many, of course — that also feels timeless and absolutely fucking necessary.

The band will be donating all proceeds from the sale of the song on Bandcamp to Minnesota Mutual Aid groups to support the good, resilient. diverse and deeply proud folks of the Twin Cities.

The Bandcamp link to purchase is here: https://solidgold.bandcamp.com/track/government-grade

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 68th Birthday, Gary Numan!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Gary Numan’s 68th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Allegories Shares Bleak and Yearning “The Next Life”

Since the release of 2022’s Endless, the Canadian experimental pop duo and JOVM mainstays  Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — have released a growing collection of standalone singles. 

Over the course of last year, the duo shared DREAMCRUSHER” “Stay Out Of The Basement,” “Baker’s Lung,” and “Mid Century Nothing,” the first four of a series of singles that originally started out as bare-bones ukulele sketches, which gradually transformed into idiosyncratic electronic music sound sculptures.

The Canadian JOVM mainstays begin 2026 with “The Next Life,” a shoegazer textured tune that may arguably be the most unflinchingly bleak, song that the duo have ever written or recorded. Inching towards being an anthem but stubbornly refusing cathartic release, the song sees the duo staring into existential despair, exploring nihilism and deferred hope, while asking “What if there’s nothing besides this? What then?”

“There’s no way around it,” Allegories’ Adam Bentley explains. “This is the most pessimistic reflection on life and existence I’ve ever put forward.”

Like its four immediate predecessors, “The Next Life” was originally written on ukulele and underwent multiple transformations before the final version. Beginning as a skeletal folk sketch was first recontextualized through electronic instrumentation, then reshaped again using the organic, analog tools and instruments typically associated with a rock band. “Just as it feels ready to lift its skinny fists to the heavens and brush against hope, I instead dig deeper into a nihilistic, defeated worldview,” Bentley says. In the next life, we’re told, our prayers will be answered. Our dreams are achieved. The world is at last in harmony.”

The accompanying video features the duo performing the song in the studio, filmed on warped, fucked up VHS tape. For those of you who remember, y’all know.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, David Bowie!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 79th anniversary of the birth of David Bowie.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Bernard Sumner!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joy Division and New Order founder Bernard Sumner’s 70th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chenzo V Shares Anthemic “Midnight”

Chenzo V is an emerging New York-based creative director, producer and artist, whose music sees him drawing from and blending elements of alternative rock, post-punk, New Wave, synth pop and industrial electronica.

Deeply rooted in classical performance and visual art, the emerging New York-based producer and artist writes, produces and directs every release himself, building immersive multimedia worlds. His work thematically touches upon identity, illusion and transformation.

His latest single “Midnight” is an arena friendly ripper that sounds like a synthesis of contemporary alt pop, nu metal and industrial electronica that showcases an artist with an uncanny ability to pair rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with broodingly cinematic soundscapes and lived-in lyrics.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Allegories Share Dreamy and Uneasy “Mid Century Nothing”

Since the release of 2022’s Endless, the Canadian experimental pop duo and JOVM mainstays  Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — have released a growing collection of standalone singles. 

Earlier this year, the duo shared “DREAMCRUSHER” “Stay Out Of The Basement,” and “Baker’s Lung,” the first three of a series of singles that originally started out a bare-bonded ukulele sketches, which gradually transformed into idiosyncratic electronic sound sculptures.

The Canadian duo’s latest single “Mid Century Nothing” is a spacey and subtly uneasy fusion of shoegaze, electronic rock and electro pop that’s arguably the most band-orientated release from the duo in some time, while also capturing the tension between introspection and assertion. And as a result, the song possesses a quiet, unguarded defiance.

“It came from our ukulele songs and slowly turned into one of our weirdo electronic tracks,” the duo shares. “We were about 85 percent of the way through arranging it when we decided to perform it at a winter festival. We don’t play live very often – we’ve only done it twice in the last 10 years. Something about rehearsing and being on stage changes the way we approach the music. This song became more defiant, touched on what’s happening in the world, and ended up way more assertive and confrontational than anything we made in the studio.”

“It reminded us that we actually come from jamming things out in a rehearsal space,” they add. “Maybe we should spend more time in that mode. Either way, we could probably play live more than twice a decade.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Trent Reznor!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Trent Reznor’s 60th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Orphan Prodigy Shares Madchester-Inspired Anthem “Get Away”

Ian Keller, is Queens-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind behind the emerging solo recording project Orphan Prodigy. After spending nearly two decades as the frontman of an alternative rock band, Keller decided to branch off and start studying music production and engineering.

As it turns out, it wasn’t very long after he was introduced to digital workstations that the Queens-based artist found his way back to writing songs — and subsequently began working on material that would eventually become his Orphan Prodigy debut album.

With roots in early 90s and 2000s alternative rock and metal, Keller’s Orphan Prodigy sees him writing music digitally and alone, which has allowed him to explore musical horizons organically and outside the confines of a conventional band. Orphan Prodigy sees Keller dabbling with influences in electronic dance music, house and trance.

Keller’s recently Orphan Prodigy debut, Medication For A Modern World sees the Queens-based artist pushing the boundaries of contemporary rock and filling every sonic space possible. Thematically, the album’s material harnesses the anxiety and concerns of our moment — and turns them into a soundtrack for the contemporary era. The album encourages listeners to tackle their mental health head-on, urging listeners to confront their struggles, rather than numb them as modern, late-stage capitalism would want you to do.

Medication For A Modern World‘s lead single “Get Away” manages to recall Electronic and the Madchester sound with the song featuring glistening and arpeggiated bursts of Larry Levan-like keys, skittering, club rocking boom-bap, a supple bass line paired with Keller’s emphatic delivery. “Get Away” showcases an artist who can craft a slickly produced, rousingly anthemic song with some remarkably catchy hooks.

At its core, the song expresses a familiar desire to escape a crazy, overstimulated world, one that’s sliding into fascism in a feverish pace. If you’re not at that point yet, then you’re ignoring reality.

The accompanying video features Keller playing all the song’s instruments in a clean, white studio. And fittingly, it reminds me of several videos from the 80s.