JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Madonna’s 68th birthday.
Category: music video
Throwback: Happy 69th Birthday, Tim Farriss!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates INXS co-founder and guitarist Tim Farriss’ 69th birthday.
New Video: Jet Black Berries Share Swaggering, Glam Rock-Inspired “RocketFire Sex66”
Back in the late 1970s, Rochester, NY — yes, Rochester — was the unlikely home to a busy and fiercely creative, underground punk and New Wave scene. Among the most vitals to emerge from the Rochester scene was New Math, a band that gradually evolved from wiry, high-energy power pop to darker cinematic post-punk that saw them stand apart from their peers.
Formed in 1976, New Math’s core lineup featured Kevin Patrick (vocals), Gary Trainer (bass), Chris Yokel (guitar), Roy Stein (drums) and Mark Schwartz (keys). “Kevin (Patrick) was trading records from London,” Gary Trainer recalls. ““Stuff like Sex Pistols and Eddie and the Hot Rods. Kevin was friends with Joey Ramone and Monty, who is their road manager. When Dee Dee left, they were trying out bass players. So I flew to New York, and I tried out. I did a whole set with Joey, but I didn’t get the gig. When Kevin and I put this band together, we wanted to be in the middle of this new wave of music that was happening.”
The original lineup officially only released one song “Die Trying.”
Although local clubs, like The Penny Arcade didn’t want wild punk bands as much as Foreigner over bands, the band played some memorable shows in the area, including a 1979 show opening for John Cale and The Now. After playing a show at The Penny Arcade in which the band’s Kevin Patrick got hit in the face with a raw egg, New Math never played the room again. However, they quickly found themselves opening for Ramones, The Damned, Human Switchboard and The Cramps at some of the city’s most renowned clubs at the time — The Triangle Theatre, The Orange Monkey, and Scourgie’s, Rochester’s version of Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s. By the tail end of the 1970s. New Math lit a spark in a local scene that featured The Chesterfield Kings, Personal Effects and The Cliches.
At the start of the 1980s Patrick had become fascinated by The Cramps and The Psychedelic Furs. The band’s debut EP, 1981’s They Walk Among You saw the band’s sound shifting from power pop to primal, focused post-punk, and was part of a growing horror punk movement that included The Cramps, 45 Grave and Misfits, who would release their studio albums debut, Walk Among Us the following year. They Walk Among You EP was influenced by Invasion of the Body Snatchers, William S. Burroughs’ Nova Express. EP track “Garden of Delight” features lyrics that the band would take their new name from, Jet Black Berries. More on the band’s name change a bit later, because I don’t want to jump ahead too far, and there’s a story here. Let’s get back to it, right?
“Roky Erickson was writing all these songs about old horror movies,” says Trainer, “and I started thinking about songwriting in this different way. His album Evil One (1980) and songs like ‘I Think of Demons’ reminded me of subversive things like [Kenneth Anger’s short film] Invocation of My Demon Brother, which all felt dangerous. They Walk Among You is symbolic of being in a fascist place where your neighbors are turning on you.”
By 1984, New Math had honed a moodier style informed by American gothic imagery surrealism and haunted psychedelia. The band’s self-produced, eight-song full-length debut, Gardens was released through Brain Eater Records, and came off the heels of a tour opening for The Psychedelic Furs. The Aleister Crowley-inspired “Love Under Will” caught enough attention to be included on The Return of the Living Dead soundtrack — under the band’s new name, Jet Black Berries. Tragically, the album never got a chance: Just as the album was about to ship, the label folded. “Steve Pross was the president of Brain Eater Records,” Trainer recalls, “but he moved to California and started working for Enigma. He was in charge of putting out the Return to the Living Dead soundtrack, and he wanted us on it. So he took ‘Love Under Will’ and stuck it on the soundtrack. He loved us, and took us with him. We were on some Enigma compilations that were pretty popular as well.”
The band rebranded as Jet Black Berries, closing the door on the New Math era, informed by their moving beyond the limits of punk rock and New Wave. They developed a darker, stranger and more ambitious sound and approach drawing from country rock, rockabilly, Western balladry, psych punk and beat-inspired storytelling. And it also helped that as Trainer jokes, “We always hated the name [New Math].” He adds, “We’d gone down to New York to record some songs, trying to get a deal with Columbia. That didn’t happen. So we came back home kinda depressed, wanting to change direction. I had the idea for Sundown on Venus by this time. We just decided to come up with another name and record Sundown, and go in a different direction.”
Recorded during a breakneck two day session in August 1984, Sundown on Venus was released by Enigma/Pink Dust. The album and the band were often categorized in cowpunk movement and was also loosely associated with the 80s Paisley Underground psych scene, but the band constantly defied easy categorization. They were much darker, heavier and more raw than many of their roots rock peers. The album creates a desert noir world of dead planets, outlaw romance and post-punk pulse. “When we recorded Sundown with money from Enigma, we weren’t in control,” says Trainer. “It was a double-record release with lots of covers.”
Their sophomore album, 1986’s Desperate Fires saw the band continuing their unique blend of cowpunk, psychobilly and Paisley Underground, eventually earning a Best Album nomination at that year’s New York Music Awards.
1988’s Animal Necessity was arguably their most polished effort, and it turned out to be the last album of the band’s initial run together. Patrick was living in New York. The band continued to live and write in Rochester, with Trainer moving to guitar and vocal duties. They recruited their friend Wayne Naylor to take up bass duties. By this time, Patrick would contribute remotely while managing all of the band’s business dealings — eventually going on to a storied career in the music industry in A&R, radio promotion and artist management. The band split up and went off in their own directions.
“The breakup wasn’t acrimonious,” Roy Stein says. ““We all stayed in touch, and we’d do reunion shows here and there. We had a New Math reunion in 2009 where Johnny Cummings fronted the band. We had so much fun, I said to Johnny, ‘Why don’t we just go into the studio and cut some New Math songs?’ Gary and I wrote a couple new songs and made this studio album,”Postmodern Ghosts.”
2010’s Postmodern Ghosts saw the band revisiting their career. The Postmodern Ghosts rendition of “Love Under Will” is their most streamed song. “It was just a quick knock off, but I loved the sound of it,” says Stein. “The whole band was just cooking on the floor of the studio on that one.”
In 2022, the band began playing reunion shows in and around Rochester with their new frontman JDS’, The Shine and The Grievants‘ Derek Sapienza. “I played through the 2000s,” Sapienza says, “,“touring a lot, playing basements, art spaces and punk houses. The pop punk and hardcore scene didn’t appeal as much to me as the early punk days. That music was more foundational for me. I first heard New Math when I was 18. Our rock station WCMF put out this homegrown compilation with ‘Hot Sounds’ on it, and it was the best song on that record. I thought Rochester had this really big punk scene back then. When mybuddy Joe Masaro told me New Math was getting back together. I had him introduce me. I tried out, and ten days later I was in. I’ve been playing with them ever since.”
2023 saw Propeller Sound Recordings re-issuing New Math material, beginning with the 11-song Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds (1979-1983), a compilation of the band’s early singles and previously unreleased material. Feeling rejuvenated, the band went into the studio in early 2024 to record new material with their new frontman that included “I Can Tell” and “When I Was Young.”
Propeller Sound Recordings will be re-issuing the band’s 1985 effort Sundown On Venus [Definitive Edition]. The original album was released with complications: Enigma Records wanted additional material included with the album. The album was packaged with a 12-inch featuring extra tracks, including songs written for The Return of the Living Dead, some ill-selected cover songs and re-recordings of early New Math material. Many of those bonus tracks were put directly into the album song sequence, moving some of the songs intended for the original album song sequence to the bonus disc.
The inclusion of the non-album material blurred and obfuscated the band’s original vision of the album with the label opting for a sales-driven gimmick, when the band was actively trying to move beyond its original reception. “When Sundown On Venus originally came out,” says Stein,“I was stunned. It wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t expect it to be a double album with all these covers. This entire record was done in a day and a half, recorded and mixed. I didn’t think that a lot of the material we recorded in one or two takes was going to be included. . . “So when Jay [Coyle of Propeller Sound Recordings] talked about re-releasing the record, Gary and I were like, let’s release the record that we had thought about back in ‘85.”
The re-issued album’s material is now in the exact order the band originally intended Primarily written by the band’s Trainer, the non-linear story features outlaws, Venusian hideouts and mind-controlling monsters, heavily influenced by William S. Burrough’s The Red Night Trilogy and the work of Aleister Crowley. Each of the album’s songs was written a bit like a movie vignette that sees its characters, the gunslinger Bill Kelly, the “Masked Astronaut,” Jim Dawson, The Mindless Gang, Captain Mission and his crew of space pirates, a bitter priest and a banker who loves the sound of gunfire interacting with each other. What once slipped through the cracks of underground rock history now stands as a missing link between cowpunk, psych revival, rockabilly, punk-rooted Americana, and cinematic sci-fi storytelling.
To celebrate the reissues, the band shares a new single “Rocketfire Sex66,” as a companion piece to Sundown On Venus [Definite Edition]. “Rocketfire Sex66” is a swaggering glam punk tune that seemingly draws from and blends elements of Marc Bolan, Primal Scream, Social Distortion and The Rolling Stones — but while rooted in the sci-fi gunslinger in outer space vibe of Sundown on Venus. The result is something that’s gritty yet cinematic, new yet sounds as though it could have been a cut track from the album’s recording sessions.
“‘I’ve loved Mark Bolan since his earliest records,” says Stein.”I wanted to do something that was a bit of an homage to him, while still doing something lyrically that was Jet Black Berries. This sci-fi gunslinger and rockets thing. I wanted it to be sexual too, but tongue-in-cheek and fun.”
The accompanying video for “Roketfire Sex66” was made by Stein’s partner Sarah Davidson. The video features studio footage of the band recording the song cut with handmade, pounded metal cutouts of animated rockets, ray guns, stars and our sci-fi gunslinger protagonist meeting his sensual match after crash landing on a new planet.
New Video: Sweeping Promises Returns with Roaring “Rapture, Or . . . “
Lawrence, KS-based duo and JOVM mainstays Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production) — just released their thorn album You Say I Romanticize through Sub Pop.
Recorded over an 18-month period, You Say I Romanticize is a tribute to the chaos of creation and collaboration under shifting circumstances. Mondal and Schung found and tested themselves in their combination tour house and recording studio annually working on dozens of albums by other bands, hosting tour stops, planning shows and the like. After an immersive process of tracking and whittling down YSIR demos and carving out an idiosyncratic chamber recording method for the album’s deliberate and international wall-of-sound approach, the duo brought in touring drummer Spenser Gralla to play the album’s material as the band would on stage.
The album’s frenzied and passionate sound shines most in Modal’s vocal perforamnce. Where you might have heard a growl here and there on certain previously released Sweeping Promises trcks, the band’s frontwoman shouts, roars, hits tricky notes all over the place and shreds her throat throughout the album’s runtime.
YSIR takes the art-by-any-means-necessary ethos that Mondal and Schung have firmly established throughout their careers and turns the prompt upside down, landing on a personality epidemic that manifests across the album’s ten songs.
The JOVM mainstays’ third album includes the previously released “Cocoon,“Accent,” and it’s latest single “Rapture, Or . . .” “Rapture, Or. . . .” is a roaring and punchy apocalypse fantasy written with a defiant, plucky resolve that’s strangely sort of upbeat. It’s a song that’s perfectly suited for our contemporary hellscape fueled by greed, hatred and blood.
The duo explain, “‘Rapture, Or…’ we originally envisioned a sort of fallen monastic, mockingly devout, longing for a near-term judgment day (catch phrase: ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow’). The actual lyrics are scenario-adaptable, though, as apocalypse fantasies seemingly guide culture now, so you can’t blame us for finding a desire lane amid the ruins. It’s one of our poppier songs ever. We double-tracked Lira’s loud vocals in our tiled bathroom – our ‘cathedral’. A malfunctioning arp played the ascendant synth arpeggios, and the guitar on this one was improvised.”
Directed by Shawn Brackbill, the accompanying DIY-styled video is split between features the duo performing the song in a small studio wth a brewing end-of-times-like phenomenon — one that seems like part-storm, part-eclipse, part-nuclear explosion.
New Video: Marigny Shares Brooding and Murky Visual for Bruising “The Still”
Brooklyn-based post punk/heavy goth rock outfit Marigny blends coldwave textures, heavy analog distortion and dark atmospheres to craft material that’s simultaneously intimate and volatile. Their sound is intentionally analog and physical — loud, low end, corroded textures, cassette tape-like saturation and tension that feels more like a live room recording than a clean, polished digital mix. Thematically, the band’s work explores grief, obsession, addiction, masculinity and spiritual decay through a modern Afro-gothic lens.
The Brooklyn-based outfit’s debut single “The Still” is a bruising and gritty blend of post-punk, industrial, drakwave, New Wave and goth that showcases their ability to craft a punchy, hook-driven and rousingly anthemic song that’s rooted in raw, soulful emotion.
“My whole life has been defined by the feeling that I’m missing something,” says Marigny. “For nearly a decade, this prevented me from making music that I believed in. But I’ve finally found the language I’ve needed to put that pain into art. ‘The Still’ was the first step, and I’m very excited for the future of this project.”
Directed by Kate Hautakoski, the recently released accompanying video for “The Still” features the mysterious Brooklyn-based artist performing the song in candlelight, further emphasizing the brooding and murky vibes of the single.
New Video: Berlin’s Lemongrab Shares Strutting and Insouciant “Yoko”
Originally founded in Montréal, Lemomgrab — currently founding duo Gaëlle Cordeau (vocals) and Léonie Dishaw (guitar, vocals), along with Fritz Ali Hansen (bass) and Joris Bo Monty (drums) –quickly established their unique brand of punk-tinged garage rock with 2016’s self-released The Ones with the Brooms EP, 2019’s self-released, full-length debut It Doesn’t Sound Good But It Feels Awesome. In their early days, they played house shows, now-defunct DIY spaces, deep dives across Canada and later touring the US with Broncho back in 2019. The duo relocated to Berlin in 2020.
Following their move to Germany, the duo self-released 2021’s six-song, The Wet Album, which saw them further embracing a punk ethos. Their sophomore full-length 2024’s I Spy with My Little Eye was released through German label U-Bac Records and received praise from Vancouver’s Range Magazine and others. Since relocating to Berlin, they do have sharpened their sound amidst the European underground circuit, making a quick yet lasting impression in the international punk scene. Adding to a growing international profile, the band has made a run of the international festival circuit, paying sets at Berlin’s Synästhesie Fest; Paris’ Supersonic Block Party; Friedland, Germany’s Jenseits von Millionen; Calgary’s Sled Island; and Pop Montréal. They’ve also shared stages with L.A. Witch, BODEGA, Meatbodies, Das Beat, Cumgirl8 and Shame. And while in Berlin, the band expanded from a duo to a quartet with the addition of Fritz Ali Hansen (bass) and Joris Bo Monty (drums).
The Berlin-based outfit’s new 7-inch, Another Kind of Freedom is slated for a September 11, 22026 release through Mothalnd and Chrüsimüsi Records. The new effort reportedly sees the German-based quartet further cementing a sound that draws from an eclectic array of influences including The Stooges, The Clean, Pylon and Bikini Kill while being a cranky yet uplifting patchwork of songs. While each song is stylistically diverse, the material questions belief systems rooted in existential angst and witty social commentary informed by our dystopian hellscape.
Another Kind of Freedom‘s latest single “Yoko” is built around a insouciant and downright nonchalant, strutting groove and squiggling burts of guitar. Sonically seeming to channel Talking Heads: 77 and More Songs About Building and Food-era Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground and The Jim Carroll Band‘s Catholic Boy, “Yoko” is one-part school punk, one-part mutant disco that pays homage to Yoko Ono while calling out misogyny and criticizing the superficiality of the male gaze. The song points out that Yoko Ono was not just misunderstood as an artist and person, but that she was has long been incorrectly blamed for The Beatles breakup.
“‘Yoko’ came from a discussion about how we repeatedly had this annoying conversation with men who hate Yoko Ono and say she’s just ruining everything, laughing about her ‘screaming’ over Chuck Berry, Lemongrab’s Cordeau and Dishaw explain. “‘Yoko’ is a song that decenters the male ego as the measure of experience and plays with the notion of who holds the narrative. It’s not anymore about if someone is Paul or John, but Yoko or John, putting them both on equal terms. Inspiration came from late 70s post-punk music like Delta 5 and Au Pairs and we riffed on this idea which all came together when Fritz found the perfect bass groove.”
Filmed by Gaëlle Cordeau and Léonie Dishaw, the accompanying video for “Yoko” follows the pair as they set out on an adventure to visit the grave of German singer/songwriter, actor and model Christa Päffgen, a.k.a. Nico.
The German-based outfit will be embarking on a European Union tour to close out 2026. Check out the tour dates below.
New Video: Yasiin Bey Shares a Cognito-Filmed, Directed and Edited Visual for “Priority”
Originally released on Downtown Records back in 2009, a decade after his celebrated and beloved solo debut, Black on Both Sides, Yasiin Bey‘s sophomore album The Ecstatic was widely regarded as his strongest work in years. The album earned near-universal praise for its lyrical breath and eclectic production and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album, anchored around a globe-spanning sound shaped by a collection of visionary producers including Madlib, J. Dilla, Oh No, Preservation, Mr. Flash, The Neptunes‘ Chad Hugo and Georgia Anne Muldrow. The album also featured guest spots from Slick Rick and Talib Kweli.
The acclaimed and beloved emcee recently teamed up with Rhymesayers Entertainment, who will release a re-issue of The Ecstatic on all physical formats on tomorrow, August 14, 2026. This reissue marks the first time Yasiin Bey’s landmark sophomore album has been made available for worldwide distribution in over 15 years. The reissue brings the album’s jazz, soul and Middle Eastern-inspired sound back to the analog format, allowing listeners to experience tracks like “Supermagic,” and the Grammy Award-nominated “Casa Bey” with the warmth and depth the production deserves.
Among the physical format variants of The Ecstatic is a deluxe package pressed on double LP 180-gram black vinyl, and a translucent red 7″ vinyl single featuring the previously unreleased bonus tracks “The Size” and “The Tournament.” The reissue package will also include a 120-page hardcover book, designed and laid out by Frolab featuring photos from legendary filmmaker and photographer Cognito, who documented a two-year span of Yasiin Bey creating and promoting the original 2009 release, along with lyric quotes and some of his handwritten notes from the era. And of course, all vinyl orders will receive instant digital downloads of the full album. Fans are also encouraged to visit CasaBey.com for news and special announcements from Yasiin Bey, as well as The Ecstatic apparel.
The album will also be available through exclusive streaming partner Quboz.
To celebrate the release of the reissue, the acclaimed and beloved emcee shared a new, Cognito-directed video for album track “Priority” featuring never before seen footage of Yasiin behind the scenes in the studio, on the road and more. I turned 30 that year, so looking at this footage of a young Yasiin Bey is very much like looking back into my entire 30s. “After culling images that would eventually make it into the deluxe edition photobook + vinyl, I created a music video for ‘Priority’ too,” Cognito says. ” I used clips pulled from over 70 hours of mini DV footage I captured during those years – from the first studio visit in LA when yasiin was recording the album, to press appearances for the initial release, to out on the road for The Ecstatic Tour across the US and all the way to South Africa.”
New Video: Dummy Shares Hypnotic and Mind-Bending “Full Spectrum Dominance”
Los Angeles-based outfit Dummy — Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, Joe Trainor and Lance Umble — will be releasing their fourth studio album, do you love the color of the sky on October 16, […]
New Video: Two Lush and Soulful Tunes from Zurich’s Okvsho
Zurich-based sibling duo Okvsho — Georg and Christoph Kiss — will be releasing their fourth album Frozen Flashes on September 18, 2026 through Current Moves. Recorded between Zurich and London, Frozen Flashes reportedly find the […]
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Mark Knopfler!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Mark Knopfler’s 77th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Del The Funky Homosapien!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Del The Funky Homosapien’s 54th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 63rd Birthday, Sir Mix A Lot!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Sir Mix A Lot’s 63rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy 53rd Birthday, Hip Hop!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates hip-hop’s 53rd birthday.
New Video: London’s Black Doldrums Shares Broodingly Atmospheric “Repetition”
London-based post punk trio Black Doldrums founding duo Sophie Landers (vocals, drums) and Kevin Gibbard (vocals, guitar) with newest member Matt Holt (bass) — will be releasing their third studio album Repetition Compulsion on November 13, 2026 through Fuzz Club. Deriving its title from a psychological concept first explored and named by Freud, the recently announced album is the final part of the London-based band’s State of Mind Trilogy, a three-album exploration of the psychological forces that shape identity, memory and human connection which began with their debut, 2022’s Dead Awake and 2024’s In Limerence. At the heart of all of their work is the creative and personal relationship between the band’s founding duo of Gibbard and Landers, whose relationship forms the emotional foundation for the forthcoming album — and the lens through which its themes are explored. As Gibbard explains, “These songs are either about Sophie, for Sophie, or inspired by her.”
Thematically, the 11-song album reportedly sees the London-based trio exploring how repetitive patterns and behaviors shape intimate relationships, collective memory, politics and wellbeing in a way that’s both deeply personal and quietly universal. Through evocative songwriting and cinematic production, Gibbard says “the album invites listeners to confront the echoes of the past while questioning whether those patterns can ever truly be broken.”
Inspired by 80s gothic post punk, synth pop, darkwave and the film scores of John Carpenter and Vangelis, Black Doldrums build on the emotional and sonic foundations of these influences to create something cinematic, modern and completely their own. Each of Repetition Compulsion‘s 11-songs has been crafted with intention, with the band balancing darkness with beauty to create a sod that’s melodic, broodingly atmospheric and with emotional depth. Listeners should expect to hear layers of analog synths, chorus pedal-soaked guitar and driving rhythms paired with an expansive production that gives each arrangement a sense of massive, cinematic scale. Rather than relying on nostalgia, the album presents post-punk as a living, ever-evolving form, with the band embracing atmosphere without sacrificing melody, introspection without loss of momentum and darkness without abandoning hope.
Repetition Compulsion‘s first single “Repetition” is a brooding dirge-like tune built around swirling, atmospheric synths, a slashing riff and a relentless motorik pulse beneath Gabbard’s icy baritone and Landers’ yearning backing vocal. While sonically nodding at Joy Division, Molchat Doma and PLOHO, the song as Gibbard explains that the song “. . . came from an idea to challenge ourselves to write something around one riff and something dirge-like. It also fit the theme of the album and the topic of repetition by literally experimenting with repetition in the musical sense. The opening line – ‘is your mind split in two‘ – is something taken from our conversations on our many long walks around London where Sophie was talking about the psychological term splitting. It seemed to fit the feel of the song and theme of the album so much so it now opens up both the album and our live shows. I consider it very much Sophie’s song because she was the source of inspiration and that’s why we have her backing vocals fairly prominent to create a dual vocal effect. I also had the after-thought to have Sophie mime the first line in the video which is actually her line anyway.”
Directed by the band’s founding duo, the accompanying video for “Repetition” is a sleek, cinematic and brooding visual that touches upon the song’s themes of psychological — and at points, physical — splitting.
Throwback: Happy Belated 58th Birthday, Sam Fogarino!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino’s 58th birthday.