Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Yoo Doo Right Shares Expansive “FULL HEALTH (BBB)”

Deriving their name from one of Can‘s best known — and perhaps most covered — songs, Montréal-based outfit Yoo Doo Right — Justin Cober (guitar, synths, vocals), Charles Masson (bass) and John Talbot (drums, percussion) — have firmly developed an improvisational-based approach that sees them blending elements of krautrock, shoegaze, post-rock and psych rock that the band has described as “a car crash in slow motion.” 

Since their formation, the Montréal-based trio have become a highly in-demand live act that has toured across North America, including a run of the festival circuit that has included stops at

Since their formation, You Doo Right have become a highly in-demand live act that has toured across North America, including making a run of the festival circuit with stops at Levitation, M for Montréal, Sled Island, Pop Montreal and New Colossus Festival. Adding to a growing profile, back in 2018, the Canadian experimentalists were the support for Acid Mothers Temple‘s North American tour — and as a result, they’ve shared stages with the likes of DIIV, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wooden Shjips, Kikagkiu Moyo, FACS, Frigs, and Jessica Moss and several others. 

The Canadian outfit’s latest effort, The Sacred Fuck EP sees them straying away from their reputation for being high-decibel, ear drum shattering juggernauts and crafting spacious essays in sound design that meanders along found sound, field recordings and sonic collage. The trio add an old portable cassette tape recorder, other various tape machines, as well as a shortwave radio to their sonic palette, while taking listeners on a journey that sees the trio attending a protest, capturing sublime artistic spontaneity, visiting a remote cabin in the woods before landing at Studio Mixart, where they hammered out the EP’s closing track and latest single “FULL HEALTH (BBB).” Clocking in at a little over eight minutes, the expansive “FULL HEALTH (BBB)” features a melodic arpeggiated guitar figure and a relentless motorik groove paired with thunderous and shuffling drum patterns that ebb and flow between alternating, brooding and stormy atmospheric passages punctuated with twangy Western-like guitar — before closing out with an explosive coda. Throughout the song vacillates and blurs the lines of angst and hope.

Continuing their ongoing collaboration with Jared Karnas the accompanying video follows a cyclist riding head first into the world — with disregard for their own safety. “This video is basically two simple loops playing over and over (and over) along this epic journey of a song that Yoo Doo Right crafted,” Karnas explains. “It follows a cyclist riding head first into the eye of a storm (or into the chaos of life) with total disregard of their own safety.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Still Corners Share a Colorful and Summery Visual for “Crystal Blue”

JOVM mainstays Still Corners — vocalist and keyboardist Tessa Murray and multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Greg Hughes — will be releasing their long-awaited sixth album, Dream Talk on April 5, 2024 through the band’s own label Wrecking Light Records. 

The album’s material was written in Southern France, East Sussex, UK and Woodstock. “The songs came together quickly and being able to write from anywhere kept up our momentum,” Still Corners’ Tessa Murray says. Produced by the band’s Greg Hughes at their Woodstock-based studio, Hughes says, “We tried various things like different mics, amps and effects before committing to anything. Everything was mixed analog through our new SSL console, there’s a gleam to the sound.”

The album features ten carefully-crafted songs that sees the acclaimed duo further mastering a sound and overall body of work that is focused, stylish and incredibly seductive. “The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember,” Still Corners’ Murray says. “While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on. The repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery.”

So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles: 

  • “Secret World,” which saw the acclaimed JOVM mainstays pairing Murray’s imitable smoky croon with a shimmering and looping Western-tinged guitar line, twinkling and atmospheric synths and a gently driving rhythm. “Secret World,” continues a remarkable run of dreamy yet alluring material with a hint of danger — like the mythical sirens on the rocky shore seducing sailors to their eventual watery doom. Thematically, the song ruminates upon the perils of obsession. “Sometimes the thought of someone, wanting to know them, get into their world is dangerous,” Tessa Murray explains. “The real person doesn’t matter anymore, just the fantasy of them, which is totally wrong but feels right.”

  • Built around a shimmering and reverb-drenched guitar line that would make Johnny Marr proud paired, Dream Talk‘s second and latest single “The Dream” features a quick-paced rhythm, train-like rhythm, atmospheric synths and shakers serving as a lush bed for Murray’s smoky croon describing riding on a speeding train at night and a classically epic tale of being within “a dream within a dream,” before ending with a breathtaking guitar solo. “The Dream” is classic Still Corners — shimmering yet broodingly noir-ish, and always cinematic. Thematically, the new single is inspired by and indebted to a quote from Shakespeare: “Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream.” 

Dream Talk‘s third and latest single “Crystal Blue” is a slow-burning and atmospheric torch song featuring twinkling percussion, softly padded drums and a bit of marimba, Murray’s smoky and yearning croon, a shimmering and an expressive Greg Hughes guitar solo. Seemingly channeling a handful of great 1980s ballads, “Crystal Blue” is about two lovers, separated by the sea, dreaming of their eventual reunion. Hours, days, nights and weeks go by with the waves and the moonlight being the only companions to their longing and heartache. 

The new accompanying video, directed by Lucy Dyson is a gorgeous, noveau vague-like visual that combines Super 8 footage of the band in the sun-drenched Mediterranean and beach-inspired illustrations and visual effects that firmly give the video a fittingly summery specificity.

l”‘Crystal Blue’ is my fourth music video for Still Corners,” Lucy Dyson says, “and as always, it’s so lovely to get to develop a visual concept for their music, and this song has so many gorgeous elements; it sounds like the sea and a summer breeze, and the peacefulness I feel when snorkeling (is there a more peaceful creature than the seahorse?). So, working with the beautiful 8mm footage they provided me with, and Tessa’s lovely silk shirt as the perfect color pallet, I created a multifaceted video piece bringing together the elements that the music evokes for me; the gentle sway of a coral reef, mottled Neptune hues, and the mesmerizing motions of seagulls hovering to the music carried by the wind.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DVTR Shares a Breakneck Spanish Language Version of “Rhum CokeMD”

Deriving their name as an acronym for the French phrase “D’où vient ton riz?” (Where does your rice come from?), Montréal-based duo DVTR is a new collaborative project featuring two of the city’s most highly acclaimed artists:

  • Laurence G-Do, the frontpweaon of JOVM mainstays  Le Couleur, an act that has toured internationally several times, and has opened for Giorgio Moroder, Polo & Pan and others, while amassing over 18 million streams across digital streaming platforms. 

  • JC Tellier, who has played with Gazoline, an act that has received multiple ADISQ and GAMIQ award nominations. Tellier has also played with Kandle, Xavier Caféine, Gab Bouchard and a lengthy list of other well-regarded artists in Québec. 

With the release of their debut EP BONJOUR, the French Canadian duo have been burning up the Canadian indie scene: The EP amassed a plethora of rapturous reviews, landed on a number of Best of 2023 Lists and earned the duo a handful of awards in Québec.

If you frequented this site over the course of last year, you might recall that I wrote about three of BONJOUR EP‘s singles:

  • “DVTR,” a breakneck, blistering and incisive ripper built around scorching riffage, a relentless motorik-like groove, a shouted mantra-like chorus and mosh pit friendly hooks paired with G-Do’s feral shouts. The result is a song that kind of sounds like a wild yet seamless synthesis of Wild Planet-era The B-52s and La Femme’s “Foutre le bordel.“

  • “Vasectomia” another breakneck ripper built around scorching guitar riffage, G-Do’s shouted vocals and a relentless groove paired with the duo’s penchant for wildly catchy hooks and anthemic choruses. But underneath the attention to slick craftsmanship, is furious and incisive criticism of the modern condition, delivered with zero fucks given. With the song, it feels as though G-Do would shout “fuck you!” to every man she passes by while suggesting that if men don’t want unwanted pregnancies or are truly concerned about overpopulation that maybe they should get a vasectomy. 

  • “Rhum CokeMD,” a gritty mosh pit friendly, breakneck ripper featuring scorching guitar riffs, shout along worthy choruses and hooks paired with a balls-to-the-wall, zero fucks given immediacy.

The duo also supported the EP with stops across the global festival circuit.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the duo recorded a Spanish language version of “Rhum CokeMD” “Ron Coca MD” after a recent sold-out appearance at Mexico City‘s Hipnosis Festival — and it was their first show in Mexico, to boot. The Spanish version of the song sonically is a breakneck and furious mix of The B52s-like New Wave, psych punk and bedroom punk — while retaining the same breathless urgency.

The accompanying visual features footage of the band shot during their Mexico City tour stop.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Boise’s Street Fever Shares Brooding and Sultry “Fate”

Street Fever is a mysterious and enigmatic, Boise-based multimedia and mixed media artist who crafts gritty soundscapes that incorporate elements of hardcore, hip-hop, industrial techno, EBM, noise, electronica, pop and classical music. The mysterious Boise-based artist cites Three 6 Mafia, and the DIY hardcore scene as major influences on his sound.

For the mysterious Idahoan, his work is anchored in an ongoing and continuous spiritual awakening informed by a desire to better understand themselves as an artist, spiritual speaker and human — and by the profound experiences and circumstances of his life: After losing all their professions, being institutionalized several times and nearly losing their life in a Southeast Asian prison, the mysterious Boise-based artist has used the project as a platform to speak on their own addiction and recovery with the hopes that they will connect with others who are seeking personal and spiritual growth. Aesthetically and thematically, the Idahoan’s work is a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment through thought-provoking creations while seeing them deftly balancing between destructive possession and holy reclamation.

The Boise-based artist’s latest single “Fate” is a sleek and slickly produced, club friendly bit of industrial electronica that seemingly channels Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails, A Place to Bury Strangers and Out of the Black-era Boys Noize featuring aggressive, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, wobbling synths, buzzing guitars and a yearning vocal that pieces through the haze. “Fate,” as the artist explains is a reflection of self-love and desire, and a deep look into one’s shadow to embrace who out is that we want to be. It’s also a call for the listener to dive deeper into th love we want to give ourselves and the feeling of an indescribable love from a power beyond ourselves. And as a result, the song evokes the tug of war between desire and presence.

Directed by Street Fever, the accompanying video is shot in a cinematic black and white, and seems to channel the video for Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.“

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Italian Punks The Gluts Share Explosive and Breakneck “Cade Giù”

Milan-based punk rock outfit The Gluts — Claudia Cesana (bass/vocals), Bruno Bassi (drums) and Nicolò Campana (vocals, synths) and Marco Campana (guitar) — derive their name from an age-old term often used to denote unsold, surplus goods. For the Milanese outfit, they’ve taken the term to symbolically express a surplus of energy, much like the energy that has long driven their work.

Since their formation, they’ve released three 2014’s Warsaw, 2017’s Estasi and 2019’s Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip which have seen the band establish and hone an explosive, psychedelic-tinged take on noise punk and thrash punk. 2021’s Bob de Wit-produced Ungrateful Heart saw the band making a decided sonic departure from their previously released work: The album’s material was deeply inspired by and indebted to 70s punk, 80s hardcore and post punk — in particular, Fugazi, Gang of Four, Sex Pistols, Public Image, Ltd. and the Campana brothers’ obsession with Italian and American

Recorded over a tireless week in which the band and their producer essentially lived and worked side-by-side in the studio around the clock, the Ungrateful Heart sessions were fueled by a forceful intensity and uncompromising fierceness. “Bob’s contribution to this album was essential. He pushed us beyond our limits. It was difficult, we can’t hide it, but it really was worth it,” the members of The Gluts said in press notes. 

The band’s highly-anticipated fifth album Bang! is slated for a May 31, 2024 release through Fuzz Club. The album’s material sees the band balancing between punchy, breakneck punk and noisy experimentalism, while accurately capturing a distilled sense of the fierce energy and power of their notoriously wild, noisy live shows, which they’ve taken internationally across the international festival circuit with stops at New Colossus Festival, The Great Escape, Eurosonic and others, as well as shows across Europe, South Africa and the States.

Clocking in at a little over two minutes, Bang!‘s first single “Cade Giù”is a searing and punchy blast of psych punk power chord-fueled feedback, thunderous drumming and howled vocals — in Italian. While sonically channeling JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers, as well as Dion Lunadon, My Bloody Valentine and others, “Cade Giù” is the first song that the band has ever written, sung and recorded in their native Italian. The song, as the band explains speaks about the blurry reminiscences of a typical after-show party while on tour, and focuses on a particularly wild night with their friend and booking agent. You can picture the friends heading from bar to bar to bar, the copious beers, shots, gin and tonics, acting like drunken louts through town — and the vertigo-like disorientation of being fucked up out of your mind. But goddamn it, you’re having the time of your life!

Edited by Dario Bassi Bruno the video features footage from several different copyright-free, B movies including Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead’s 1951 film Trance and Dance, Jean Rollin’s 1979 film Fascination, Jack Arnold’s 1954 film The Creature from the Black Lagoon, George Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, Abel Ferrera’s 1979 film The Driller Killer and Pavel Klushantsev’s and Peter Bogdanovic’s 1968 film Voyage to the Planet of Prehistory Women.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Beharie Shares Quirky Video for Buoyant and Catchy “Desire”

Acclaimed and rising Norwegian singer/songwriter and pop artist Beharie released his highly-anticipated, 12-song full-length debut, Are You There Boy? last year. The album met the artist where he was at that particular moment and invited listeners into a carefully curated sonic world that featured vibrant melodies and delicate, smooth.

Thematically, the album touched upon love. self-doubt, desire, longing and pain with his heart unironically and proudly worn on his sleeve — and with a remarkable sense of nuance. Throughout, the album follows a multifaceted, fully-fleshed out character, who seeks meaningful connections, follows his curiosity wherever it takes him and ultimately discovers himself. And as result, the album sees its main narrator — and in turn, its creator — exploring the ever-changing, versatile aspects of their own humanity and identity while showcasing his insecurities, complexities, passions and growth in a very real fashion.

“This album has given me the opportunity to delve into various aspects of my own identity, and in the process, I have explored the complexity inherent in my personality and expression,” Beharie explains. “We have nurtured different characters and played with their distinct expressions. These characters have been assigned unique names: Washed-out jeans boy, float in space boy, constant fear boy, make believe boy, and lost in thought boy.” Each of those characters represents fragments of Beharie’s soul, personality and essence — all in search of a sense of belonging.

The album also features collaborations with two rising singer/songwriters — Dublin‘s Uly and The Netherlands’ Judy Blank. 

Album single “Desire,” is built around a buoyant melodic groove, skittering boom bap serving as an ethereal and silky bed for Beharie’s tender and yearning delivery. The song’s narrator sweetly wants to prove to a prospective love interest, that he’s the right one for them — and for the rest of their lives. Beharie explains that “Desire” is a confident love song about “insisting on being the right one for someone you like and telling them without any doubt, and being willing to do anything to make it happen.” 

“Desire” reveals a songwriter, who seems to effortlessly craft a catchy, buoyant songs rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism that playfully eschews cliches and formulas.

Directed by Martin Kopperud, the accompanying video features the acclaimed and rising Norwegian artist as part of a weird, sociological and psychological experiment in which he discovers — much to his own frustration — that he can’t fit a square peg into a round hole. At some point, Beharie gets up and escapes into the streets. The video offers two important lessons: learning self-acceptance and standing firm in being yourself and in your beliefs, even in the face of a world that often enforces conformity and the path of least resistance.

“We explore the idea of self desire, to do and be yourself, and how we often meet forces that don’t necessarily agree or comply with what you believe in, that’ll rather tell you how something works,” the video’s director Martin Kopperud says on the video. “We hope this can be a reminder to always stay true to yourself and to stand for your beliefs.” 

“It has been a really fun and interesting experience working with Martin Kopperud,” Beharie explains. “The track is a quite playful and energetic tune, but put together with this visual universe it becomes a bit more mysterious and quirky.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Naomi Shares Club Friendly “Phénoméne”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering rising Montréal-based multi-disciplinary artist, singer/songwriter and pop artist Naomi. After studying theater, the Canadian artist first made a name for herself acting in roles on both the small and big screen by the time she turned 14.

Naomi went on to study dance École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. As a dancer, she has appeared in and/or choreographed music videos for the likes of Rihanna, Marie-Mai, Cœur de Pirate and others, as well as for local dance performances.

While she was establishing herself as an actor and dancer, the Montréal-based artist quietly developed a passion for singing — without giving herself permission to explore it fully. However, Cœur de Pirate, a.k.a. Beátrice Martin saw potential and took Naomi under her wing. Encouraged by Martin’s mentorship, the rising Canadian artist began to realize that she was never far off from making her own music. All she needed was a bit of a push. 

Naomi signed with Martin’s Bravo Musique, the label home of JOVM mainstay Thaïs, Cœur de Pirate, Chocolat and lengthy list of acclaimed local Francophone acts, and began writing her own original material. Since then, the rising Montréal-based artist has taken a bold leap into a career as a singer/songwriter and pop artist. Her first two singles “Tout à nous” and “Zéro stress” received airplay on WKND, Rouge FM, Arsenal, POP, CVKM and several other regional radio stations across Quebec.

She went on to release a batch of sleek, slickly produced singles that I’ve written about on this site, including last year’s “Hot Ex,” a song that paired the JOVM mainstays’ sultry delivery with a soulful, Larry Levan-like house music-inspired production featuring twinkling keys, bursts of sexy Quiet Storm-like horn, skittering beats and a remarkably catchy hooks. Despite the sultry exterior, “Hot Ex” was part break-up song, part tell-off, part revenge fantasy, full of the bitterness disappointment over a relationship ending, tiger heartbreak over what could have been, the crazed desire for revenge, and the stupidly desperate and dim hope for reconciliation that can only come from randomly running into an ex-lover on the street — or at a party.

The French Canadian JOVM mainstay’s latest single “Phénomène” is a slickly produced bit of dance floor friendly bop built around a hook-driven house music-meets- Rihanna-like production featuring glistening synth arpeggios, a propulsive and infectious groove serving as a lush, silky bed for Naomi’s sultry delivery singing lyrics in both French and English.

Thematically, the song has a powerfully feminist message — that it’s time to take responsibility for your life and your life’s path, to be proud of yourself and accomplishments and perhaps more important, to just be your damn self.

Directed by Ariana Tara, the video is set at a nightclub and captures the ebullience and joy of the nightclub — everywhere.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Paris’ PYTHIES Share a Slick, Self-Assured Ripper

Emerging Paris-based punk outfit Pythies — founding member Lise L. (vocals) with Thérèse La Garce (guitar) and Anna B. Void (drums) — was created by Lise L. in late 2022 with the intent of starting an all-woman band, inspired and informed by riot grrl and grunge bands like L7, 7 Year Bitch, Babes in Toyland, Hole and her interest in witchcraft. In early 2023, Lise L. met Thérèse La Garce and Anna B. Void through social media. The trio felt a very strong simpatico, rooted in the meshing of three distinct and strong personalities, and from that point on, the band’s lineup was solidified.

Their work frequently references Delphi oracles and resistance against the patriarchy while sonically being indebted to riot grrl grunge and punk. So, fitting this sound is mosh pit inducing.

“Eclipse,” the French punks third-ever single is a swaggering, remarkably self-assured and polished ripper with rousingly anthemic choruses and hooks that sonically feels like a slick, modern take on a familiar and beloved sound. Written around the lunar eclipse last October, “Eclipse” reveals a band that has an uncanny knack for a catchy hook.

Directed by Ben Berzerker, the accompanying video is inspired by the early 2000s indie sleaze period — but rooted in the band’s desire to give women a new power.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ALIAS Teams Up with Virginie B and Meggie Lennon on Woozy “TRUTH OR TRUST”

Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath who had had a varied career in music before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS. After spending nine years studying jazz […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging Nigerian Artist Rukmani Shares a Swaggering and Much-Needed Call to Unplug

Rukmani is an emerging Port Harcourt, Nigeria-born and-based R&B artist, who prides herself in sharing her unvarnished life stories, feelings and thoughts through her music.

Released a few weeks ago, the Nigerian artist’s latest single “No Social Media” is a slickly produced, hook-driven bop featuring soaring and cinematic bursts of strings, skittering boom bap, squiggling funk guitar, a supple bass line and a supple bass line serving as a lush bed for the emerging Nigerian artist’s swaggering and self-assured delivery, which sees her alternating between spitting bars and soulful crooning. “No Social Media” is rooted in a bold, much-needed message for all of us: stop doomscrolling, unplug from the apps, embrace your true self and reject the pressures to be airbrushed perfect.

More than that just ditching the apps, “No Social Media” is also a call to snatch back your time, your energy and your voice — and to create a space for genuine connection and for chasing dreams that really move you, not just amassing likes. “This isn’t just a song; it’s a movement,” says Rukmani. “I want this to inspire people to break free from the shackles of online validation and embrace their true selves, flaws and all. You are enough, just as you are.”

Directed by Planetsbb, the accompanying video follows the emerging Nigerian artist through an eerily empty amusement park.