JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates U2 co-founder and frontman Bono’s 66th birthday.
Category: electronic rock
New Video: Sugar World Shares Buzzy “Terra Incognita”
Los Angeles-based duo Sugar World — Ryan and Katryn Stanley — can trace its origins back to 2013: The duo started their careers in earnest a member of the Tallahassee-based bedroom pop outfit Naps. After Naps split up in 2016, Ryan and Katryn Stanley started releasing a series of singles and EP as Sugar World, which saw the pair crafting a sound that’s an idiosyncratic mix of lo-fi, twee pop and fuzzy electronica.
The duo released their Sugar World full-length debut, Lost & Found back in 2022. But since 2024, the Los Angeles-based duo have been increasingly exploring a more digital sound that draws from noise pop, hyper pop and underground internet hip-hop that features fuzzy, distorted guitar noise and blown out autotuned vocals.
Their sophomore album supercassettevision is slated for release later this year. The album, which will include the previously released “In Magazines,” will see the band further cement what they’ve dubbed a “new version of classic twee pop for the 2020s” that combines catchy melodies with harsher noisy elements.
supercassettevision’s second and latest single “Terra Incognita” derives its title from the Latin phrase “unknown land,” and sonically seems to channel a woozily lysergic synthesis of Mogwai and Evil Heat-era Primal Scream. The band explains that the song “was an experiment to see if we could bring our indie rock and jangle pop songwriting into a sonic environment inspired by electronic music and digicore. It’s fundamentally about making a bunch of money and then putting that money into car, and then driving the car off a cliff.”
Fittingly, the accompanying visual is comprised of fuzzy, VHS-style shot footage, treated in harsh color negatives. The result is a video that videos the lysergic buzz of the song.
Live Footage: Nine Inch Noize at Coachella
Founded in 1988, Nine Inch Nails — currently founder Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who became a full-time member in 2016 — is widely considered one of the most important, innovative and influential acts in modern music. Known for their unique blend of industrial, electronic, rock and ambient elements into emotionally raw and sonically aggressive work, the Grammy Award-winning, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductees have actively redefined what mainstream music could be, selling over 20 million records globally, including 11 million albums in the United States alone.
Adding to their impressive accolades, Renzor and Ross have composed 20 film scores, winning two Oscars, three Golden Globes, two Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award.
Alex Ridha is Iraqi-German DJ and producer, best known as Boys Noize. The prolific German producer has developed a reputation as a singular figure in 21st century electronic music culture: a cross-genre-bridge-builder, who effortlessly bounces between techno, pop, industrial music and hip-hop while remaining a favorite of techno purists and a global headliner, who has never turned his back on the underground scene that he came up in.
Ridha has collaborated with a veritable who’s who of contemporary music, pop culture and fashion including Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, A$AP Rocky, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, Arca, Virgil Abloh, Chilly Gonzales, Lady Gaga and a growing list of others, who have enlisted him to bring his underground edge and distinctive sound and production to their work.
While prolifically releasing his own original productions, Boys Noize has also remixed material by Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, A.G. Cook and Solomun. He earned a Grammy Award-nomination with long-time collaborator Skrillex, and he has been featured on tracks alongside Keinemusik, Shygirl, Kelsey Lu, Rico Nasty and VTSS.
Ridha is also the founder and head of Boysnoize Records and the newly launched ONES AND ZEROES, which specifically focuses on rising global talent.
Ridha worked with Reznor and Ross on the Challengers and TRON: Ares film scores and the Grammy Award-winning song “As Alive As You Need Me To Be.”
“The creative fulfillment of working on the Challengers and TRON scores with Boys Noize led me to think that including him in the Peel It Back tour could be an interesting way to express NIN in more purely electronic terms live – a concept I’ve wanted to explore for some time,” Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor says. “The result was so much fun for us we felt it was worth expanding and formalizing in some way.”
On a whim I mentioned it would be cool to play a whole set as Nine Inch Noize in the Sahara tent at Coachella,” Reznor adds. “Careful what you wish for…the next thing I knew we were designing a whole new show to present in the way it deserved.”
Nine Inch Noize, builds on the past few years of collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize. Before, their live debut as Nine Inch Noize, the two acts recorded Nine Inch Noize, which they released after their live debut at Coachella’s first weekend and before their second set at the festival’s second weekend.
Nine Inch Noize and Coachella shared some amazing live footage of their Coachella set last weekend. From the live footage, their set was a not-to-be-missed festival moment. But in a larger context, it’s a desperately needed collaboration that results in something that’s both completely new and genre-defying yet rooted in the familiar.
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.
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.
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
Throwback: Happy Belated 68th Birthday, Gary Numan!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Gary Numan’s 68th birthday.
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.
Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, David Bowie!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 79th anniversary of the birth of David Bowie.
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Bernard Sumner!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joy Division and New Order founder Bernard Sumner’s 70th birthday.
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.
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.”
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Butch Vig!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Butch Vig’s 79th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Trent Reznor!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Trent Reznor’s 60th birthday.