Category: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Cool and Funky “Blockhead”

Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, Ghost Funk Orchestra’s recently released third album  A New Kind of Love feels and sounds like the soundtrack from an imaginary movie — with the album’s songs easily being part of the score of a romantic drama, an action thriller or a modern twist on film noir: Spare, cascading vocals accentuate the lush instrumental arrangements composed, arranged, performed and produced by the band’s creative mastermind Seth Applebaum and a talented cast of collaborators and players that include Billy Aukstik (trumpet), Stephen Chen (baritone sax), Lo Gwynn (vocals), Romi Hanoch (vocals), James kelly (trombone), Megan Mancini (vocals), Michael Sarason (flute) and a list of others.

Sonically, the album’s material draws from mid-20th Century exotica, 60s and 70s orchestral pop, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Antibalas among others, as well as Applebaum’s experiences as a young filmmaker. Sonically speaking, the end result is an album that encompasses a loving reverence for the past without attempting to soullessly recreate it. 

Thematically, the 12-song album sees Applebaum exploring the complicated, confusing and conflicting realm of love, with the album’s songs capturing the emotional notes of love going well and love gone sour, as though manifesting love songs based in ghostly affairs. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two A New Kind of Love‘s singles:

  • “Scatter,” a cinematic affair that pairs Romi Hanoch’s sultry and ethereal delivery with an expansive, lush and downright trippy arrangement that’s one-part film-noir-like spy movie, one-part classic rom-com, one-part Blaxploitation — with a wild late-period John Coltrane-like saxophone freakout of a solo. But if you pay close attention, the song captures a narrator reeling from a love gone disastrously wrong but with the knowing self-assuredness and confidence that she deserves — and will get much better soon enough. 

  • “Why” a spectral and slow-burning bit of psych soul with Latin-influenced percussion paired with powerhouse vocals. The song manages to capture curiosity, obsession and desire with an uncanny psychological realism. 

“Blockhead,” A New Kind of Love‘s third and latest single is narratively structured around a phone call between the song’s narrator — voiced by Megan Mancini — and an unheard listener, in which the narrator reminds their caller that their lover is absent, a virtual non-presence, who’s blowing it. And throughout, you can feel the narrator’s frustration with the other side of the phone call — with the narrator literally saying at one point, “what are you doing here?” Guaranteed, for most of us, this conversation should feel so familiar, that it scans simultaneously as advice and accusation. The song is built around a coolly funky and cinematic psych soul arrangement that’s roomy enough for some inspired and fiery soloing.

Directed by Ghost Funk Orchestra’s Seth Applebaum, and shot on glorious Kodak film, the accompanying video stars Megan Mancini as herself, on an old-fashioned landline and a lawn chair that she takes everywhere with her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JAMBINAI Teams Up with K Pop Legend swja on a Brooding and Forceful Ripper

South Korean outfit JAMBINAI — currently founding (and core) trio Bongi Kim (haegum — a Korean fiddle-like instrument), Ilwoo Lee (guitar and piri — a Korean flute, made of bamboo) and Eun Young Sim (geomungo, a Korean zither). Jaehyuk Choi (drums) and B.K. Yu (bass) — can trace its origins tow hen its founding trio met while studying traditional music at Korea National University of Arts. Kim, Lee and Sim bounded over a mutual desire to present traditional music in a new way, “to communicate with the ordinary person, who doesn’t listen to traditional Korean music,” Ilwoo Lee, JAMBINAI’s principal composer and songwriter explained in press notes.

JAMBINAI’s approach manages to eschew several generations of Korean modernists and post-modernists and leans much closer to Western styles with Korean instrumentation — with their sound drawing from Western classical music, jazz, jazz fusion, post rock, prog rock and experimental rock. The then-trio further established their unique headbanging take on traditional Korean music with 2010’s self-tiled debut EP and 2012’s full-length debut, Differance.

While their sound and approach does manage to shock Korean audiences, the band has seen critical and commercial success: Differance was nominated for Best Crossover Album and Best Jazz and Crossover Performance at the 2013 South Korean Music Awards, and won Best Crossover Album. The band used the album’s success as a springboard for several critically applauded, international tours as a quintet.

2016’s Hermitage was released through Bella Union Records, The album featured “They Keep Silence,” a song that sonically brought  Tool and Ministry to mind while tapping into a seemingly universal feeling of anger and isolation — especially those, who are growing both impatient and suspicious of the forces that are influencing and controlling their daily lives.

For the South Korean post rock outfit, the past couple of years have been the best of times and the worst of times: The outfit released their third album ONDA back in 2019. Just a few months later, in February 2020, the quintet won Best Rock Album and Best Rock song for album track “ONDA” at that year’s South Korean Music Awards. Of course, the pandemic struck in March 2020, throwing a monkey wrench into both people’s lives and their plans.

The band’s latest EP Apparition is slated for a Friday release through Bella Union. The EP reportedly captures the depth and range of emotions that the band has felt and experienced over the past couple of years, from anxious lockdowns and the disappointment of thwarted plans, to the thrill of renewed creativity, hunger and hope. “After ONDA we saw 2020 as a new opportunity to work on a bigger stage,” JAMBINAI’s Ilwoo Lee recalls. “I personally wanted to release a new album and tour to exhaust the energy of ONDA and find new inspiration, but it didn’t work out that way. We didn’t find enough energy to make a full album yet, so for now we are releasing four songs.”

The EP’s title is derived from Lee’s perception of the band,. “JAMBINAI have been making intense music for an intense group of devotees in invisible places,” he says. “Overall, I have tried to express a message of comfort to everyone living in a difficult time due to the pandemic and what’s going on in the world.” 

The EP reveals a band that’s more energized than ever, making up for lost time and momentum: Their appearance at the Seoul 2018 Winter Olympic Games Closing Ceremony set up the forward momentum that produced ONDA. Their South Korean Music Awards wins upped the ante for a prospective follow-up. Even after winning the Asia category at the 2020 Songlines Awards, they felt that the thrill and force of new music and performance would be the only thing to really count. By the end of 2021, they had started to record the material that would become Apparition — but they managed to be be busy: They released four acoustic performances. They collaborated with Soojung Baek’s boutique Craft Codes to combine two of her seats “that seemed to match our music the best,” Lee says.

The urge to create has pushed the band’s core trio creative energies into new territories: In September, JAMBINAI’s Lee worked as a metro of the traditional Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra for performances in Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Just last month, he collaborated with PAKK at London’s K-Music Festival. And he wrote the music for the first season of the BBC’S Korean-set crime podcast, The Lazarus Heist. The band’s Kim and Sim co-wrote the music for a modern art piece in South Korea’s National Museum of Contemporary and Modern Arts. Sim also released a solo album back in 2019 — and wrote and performed the music for a piece by choreographer Jinyeob Cha earlier this year, Kim also currently DJs for a Korean traditional music broadcast.

The band’s core trio, along with Choi and Yu will embark on a tour in may 2023, “and when there’s an empty space, I want to make a new album,” Lee adds.

Apparition‘s latest single “from the place been erased,” features guest vocals from K Pop legend swja (also known as sunwoojunga), who has worked with 2NE1, Blackpink and a little known outfit by the name of something like BTS. swja’s ethereal and achingly delicate delivery i paired with a brooding and expansive arrangement that alternates between dreamy and atmospheric passages and stormy power chord-driven sections that rip hard. Sonically, the song is a seamless synthesis of trip-hop, shoegaze, doom metal and post rock — with Western and Korean instrumentation that captures intense emotion: unease, frustration, anger and hope within a turn of a phrase.

“I thought swja’s voice would go well with our music,” says Lee, “so I asked her for help. I am honoured that she willingly participated. Despite our heavy and strong sound, she understood its inner emotions.”

Directed by Jinho Park, the accompanying video features swja and the members of JAMBINAI performing the song together in intimately shot footage paired with some gorgeous and trippy lighting.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Welsh Artist Bethan Lloyd Shares Trance-Inducing “Cutting Circuits”

Bethan Lloyd is a Welsh singer/songwriter, composer, television present, performance artist and vocal teacher at some of the best Earth-based practice schools. Lloyd also performs with experimental vocal project SoundingBody and ritualistic beats duo Jet Pack Dog. But as a solo artist, the Welsh artist pairs trance-inducing vocals with harmonic layering and rave-inspired production to craft material infused with an otherworldly ecstasy.

Thematically, Lloyd’s work sees her engaged deeply in the art of relinquishing control and exploring the spiritual and emotional realms — and meshing them into something playful yet danceable. Her latest single, the woozy “Cutting Circles” see Lloyd pairing her plaintive, pop belter-like delivery with a lush and hypnotic production featuring skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, buzzing synths and enormous hooks. Sonically, the song is a slick and futuristic synthesis of Kate Bush, Princess Century and Bjork — but in the 23rd Century.

The accompanying video features Lloyd dancing and singing along to the song with a spectral aura surrounding her. It’s as trippy and trance-inducing as the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs Share Dance Floor Friendly and Feral “Wolf”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Karen O. (vocals), Nick Zinner (keys, guitar, drum machine, bass) and Brian Chase (drums) — released their long-awaited and highly-anticipated fifth album Cool It Down earlier this year through Secretly Canadian. The eight-song album is an expert distillation of the band’s gifts that will impel the listener to move, cry, and listen closely.  

“To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,” Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O wrote in a statement to the band’s fans. “Don’t have to tell you how much we’ve been going through in the last nine years since our last record, because you’ve been going through it too, and we love you and we see you, and we hope you feel the feels from the music we’ve made. No shying away from the feels, or backing down from what’s been gripping all of us these days. So yes we’ve taken our time, happy to report when it’s ready it really does just flow out.”

“The record is called Cool It Down which is snagged from a lesser known Velvet Underground song. I told Alex Prager whose photo graces our record cover that her image speaks to sweeping themes in the music and sums up how I, Karen, feel existentially in these times! But there’s always more to the story. . . “

Cool It Down‘s first single, the Dave Sitek-produced “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” featuring Perfume Genius is a slow-burning and cathartic power ballad centered around glistening and droning synths, Chase’s thunderous drumming, a distortion-driven guitar solo by Zinner, arena rock friendly hooks paired with the lush interplay between Karen O’s and Perfume Genius imitable vocals. Sonically “Spiting Off The Edge of the World” to my ears sounds like a slick yet subtle synthesis of Show Your Bones and It’s Blitz! — and as a result, the song is simultaneously urgent yet an exercise in restraint. 

Lyrically, the song reflects on the current state of the environment, and the need for honesty about the damage we’re inflicting on the Earth. “I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they’re standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what’s coming with anger and defiant,” Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O explains. “It’s galvanizing and there’s hope there.” 

The album’s second single., the Andrew Wyatt-produced “Burning” is a dance floor anthem built over a twinkling piano loop inspired by The Four Seasons’ “Beggin’” and features Zinner’s fiery guitar sprawl, thumping beats, Chase’s funky drum patterns pared with Karen O’s imitable croons and shouts. The song captures the Karen O being engulfed in the tumult and unrest of Los Angeles in 2020 — with fire and smoke bearing down on the city and everything its in path. Sonically, the song sounds like a subtle refinement of It’s Blitz!-era YYYs that nods at Fever to Tell.

“Back when I was 19 living in the East Village, one night a roommate dragged me out of the apartment for an impromptu drink across the street,” Karen O writes. “I left a votive candle burning on a plastic yaffa block which, in my absence set flame to my room. Within an hour and-a half of having one drink down the block, firefighters had come and gone extinguishing the fire. I came home to find that a natural disaster had occurred (to my room) and most of my stuff, lost in the flames. All electronic goods were melted and demolished like my laptop, cameras etc. but oddly enough the items that held the most sentimental value remained intact like sketchbooks, a favorite sweater with hearts across the chest, and photographs. I had photos of my parents in their youth where the fire burnt around the two of them as if there was some intangible force field protecting them, many photos like that, mysteriously leaving the beloved subjects untouched.”

If the world is on fire I hope the most beloved stay protected and that we do all we can to protect what we cherish most in this life. ‘Burning’ is a song about that feeling, smoke signals for the soul. Begging to cool it down, just doing it the best we know how. Nick and I nodded to Frankie Valli’s ‘Begging’, with the line ‘oooh lay your red hand on me baby.’ We’ve cut a rug to many a soulful sixties bangers in our day, it was in our DNA by the time we wrote ‘Burning’.”

Cool It Down‘s third and latest single “Wolf” is a pulsating, It’s Blitz!-meets-Giorgio Moroder-like club banger centered around glistening synth arpeggios, thumping four-on-the-floor paired with Karen O’s imitable delivery expressing yearning vulnerability, longing, and feral lust within the turn of a phrase.

Directed by Allie Avital, the accompanying video stars Severance‘s Britt Lower as a bored and frustrated wife, who rediscovers the wild within — and without. Lower’s performance in which we see her quickly move from bored, frustrated and hemmed in to completely wild — and with teeth bared sees her carrying the emotional weight of the video.

“It was our great fortune to collaborate with the powerhouses Allie and Brit on this video for ‘Wolf.’ Allie casts a spell with the gorgeous world she weaves — always with teeth that bite, and Brit embodies all the contradictions in the themes of ‘Wolf,’ so enamored with her performance that’s got as much heaven as it does hell,” Karen O. says of the accompanying video. “We were beside ourselves with excitement when Allie cast Brit as the lead in the video, YYYs are serious nerds for Severance, what luck when the stars align.”

“’Wolf’ has so much narrative built into the lyrics, and it was such a dream to delve into these themes of hunger, connection, and wildness,” Allie Avital says. “Britt Lower and I used a movement-based technique to play with the nuances of this character as she seeks various forms of connection and moves from feeling trapped to wild to rediscovering a new form of intimacy with her husband. As a director, it’s rare to find such open minded artists like Karen, Nick, and Brian and I’m so grateful they put so much trust in our creative process.”

“When I heard the title of the song and description of the role were both ‘WOLF’ it was a full body ‘yes.’ To get to work on a story about a woman discovering the wild within and without was a dream. And to do so alongside legend Karen O….I mean, I’m speechless,” Britt Lower says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Just Mustard Shares Dream-like Meditation on Grief

Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland-based indie outfit Just Mustard — Katie Ball (vocals), David Noonan (guitar, vocals), Mete Kalyon (guitar), Rob Clarke (bass) and Shane Maguire (drums) — formed back in 2016. Their self-produced and self-recorded full-length debut, 2018’s Wednesday was released to critical acclaim: The album was nominated for that year’s Choice Music Prize.

The Irish quintet signed to Partisan Records, who released their sophomore album, Heart Under earlier this year. Heart Under may arguably be one of the most acclaimed and commercially successful albums of the year so far: The album landed at #1 on the Independent Album Chart in their native Ireland — and currently at #7 on the Meteoritic Best Albums of 2022 Chart with an overall score of 89.

Heart Under is an album that challenges the listener, and asks them to forget what they know at every turn — with the the Irish outfit reconfiguring and stretching the ideas and ambitions of a rock band, while turning a year of lockdown and personal struggles into a breathtaking, personal artistic statement.

The band caps off a momentous year with the release of a special deluxe edition of Heart Under that will consist of of a double LP in a gatefold jacket and obi strip, a booklet with exclusive in-studio photos, handwritten lyrics from the band’s Katie Bell and a print of English artist Graham Dean’s In The Water Waiting, the painting that comprises the album’s cover art. The deluxe edition of Heart Under is slated for a Friday release through Partisan Records. Along with that, the acclaimed Irish outfit will be embarking on their first North American headlining tour. The tour includes a November 5, 2022 stop at Baby’s All Right. Tour dates as always are below.

“Blue Chalk,” Heart Under‘s latest single is a brooding and atmospheric song centered around swirling and textured, A Storm in Heaven-like synth oscillations, thumping and propulsive heartbeat-like beats paired with Katie Ball’s ethereal and soaring vocal. The song evokes the oppressively heavy weight of grief.

Directed by the band’s Katie Ball and the help of the band’s friend Seán McMahon, the accompanying under water — and with colored flashing lights. “The song ‘Blue Chalk’ defines the heaviness that the whole of Heart Under exists beneath. The kind that comes with grief and you feel like you are trying to navigate life with the weight of the sea on your chest keeping you down. I wanted to make this video since we started writing ‘Heart Under’ and to me, it visually represents a lot of the emotion in the album. It was filmed in 4hrs in freezing cold water with the help of our friend Seán McMahon.” Just Mustard’s Katie Ball explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: Hello Mary Shares Trippy and Uneasy “Spiral”

Brooklyn-based indie rock trio Hello Mary — Helena Straight (guitar, vocals), Mikaela Oppenheimer (bass), and Stella Wave (drums, vocalsmutl) — can trace their origins back to high school: Oppenheimer and Straight started th band when they were high school freshmen. When they met Wave through happenstance, the trio became an inseparable unit with the band consisting of good friends, who are also bandmates.

With the release of a handful of singles and their debut EP, 2020’s Ginger, the Brooklyn-based trio have quickly established and cemented a sound that meshes elements of shoegaze, indie rock and grunge paired with the band’s multipart harmonies. Their Bryce Goggin-produced, self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a March 3, 2023 release through Frenchkiss Records. The album reportedly sees the band referencing 90s alt rock, Elliot Smith and Jeff Buckley — while nodding at contemporaries like Palberta, Spirit of the Beehive and Palehound, acts that don’t shy away from unusual time signatures, careening feedback and unconventional harmonies.

The album will feature several previously released singles including “Rabbit,” “Sink In,” “Stinge,” and “Looking Right Into the Sun,” all of which were recorded in a proper studio and won attention outside of the Brooklyn music scene. Hello Mary’s Stella Wave describes those singles as the first proper introduction to the band.

The album’s material — both lyrics and music — were written in tandem, with the trio knotting their perspectives into a singular consciousness. “We collaborate on everything,” Oppenheimer says, “from our lyrics to guitar parts and even bass and drums sometimes.” Unsurprisingly, the album was written during our current period of immense uncertainty and unease.  “We were battling things personally, the world was battling COVID,” Wave says. “This might sound vague,” Wave adds “but to me, this album is about accepting the state of things as they are at a given moment, whether it’s your relationship to another person or the world around you.” 

The self-titled album’s latest single “Spiral” is a decidedly 120 Minutes-era MTV-like anthem centered around swirling guitar textures, Oppenheimer’s and Straight’s gorgeous and ethereal harmonies paired with Oppenheimer’s driving baseline and a steady backbeat. The song’s narrator directs their angst and unease to an unknown other, who may have wronged them — or fucked them over.

“‘Spiral’ is about the feelings of paranoia and jealousy that can come with relationships, and how these feelings can become so strong that they turn into delusions,” the band explains.

Directed and edited by Isaac Roberts, the accompanying video for “Spiral” was shot on what appears to be grainy Super 8 at The Slipper Room and Tompkins Square Park, and captures the spiraling jealous and paranoia of someone in an unsteady relationship.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Femme Shares Breezy “No Pasa Nada”

Paris-based JOVM mainstays La Femme have spent quite a bit time touring across Latin American and Spain. Those experienced helped inspired the band’s first song entirely in Spanish, “Le Jardin,” which appeared on their third album, last year’s Paradigmes.

“Le Jardin” led the band down the path to write Teatro Lucido. Deriving its name from a mythic theater, where the band has played many times while touring in Mexico, the album, which is slated for a Friday release will be their first album with lyrics written and sung entirely in Spanish. Teatro Lucido will also be the first of a planned thematic series of albums that the band has dubbed Collection Odyssèe.

Teatro Lucido is informed by their adventures in Seville, Granada, Madrid, Mexico City, Cuautepec, Padul — all of which hold important places in their hearts, because they had a ton of laughs, joys, tears and disappointments in each. The album also reportedly draws from a number of different inspirations including Spain’s Semana Santa — or holy week; pasodoble, reggaeton, Brazilian and Andalusian rhythms, classical guitars and 80s Movida among others. Much like their previous releases, the members of French JOVM mainstays wrote, composed and produced the album entirely by themselves, while inviting numerous female vocalists to participate in the process. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release on Friday, I’ve managed to write about two of the album’s singles:

“Sacatela,” a breezy, Tropicalia-like take on psych pop centered around an infectious, call-and-response vocal-led hook paired shuffling Latin rhythms and lyrics sung entirely in Spanish. 

“Y Tu Te Vas,” a track centered around cinematic, flamenco-inspired guitars and a tweeter and woofer rocking reggaeton beat that might bring Rosalía, Bad Bunny, and others to mind. The song features a sultry, Shakira-like turn from Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Tatiana Hazel. “Tatiana is an artist living in Los Angeles where I recorded the track in 2019,” La Femme’s Marlon Magnée says of their collaboration. ‘Y Tu Te Vas’ is one of the more powerful tracks voice-wise on the album. Tatiana brings the track to another dimension, she really is one of the new artists to follow on the American scene.”

Written when La Femme’s Sacha Got was living at Adios Amores’ Iman Amar’s place in Grenada Spain, Teatro Lucida’s third and latest single “No Pasa Nada” centered around ’60s and ’70s Brazilian rhythms, strummed guitar, woozy synths and ethereal vocals from Amar. But the song’s seemingly breezy and easygoing nature is superficial; the song’s lyrics focus something far more menacing and fucked up — a night out in a foreign country gone horribly wrong.

Directed by the band, the accompanying video for “No Pasa Nada” was shot in the streets of Grenada, Spain — and features the band partying and having a wild night on the town that includes the familiar drunken, late night, zombie lurch thought town and the collapse into a queasy heap of limbs. The video was innspired by a night on the town the band had back in 2018, which ended with the members of the band blacking out. It was the kind of night that ends in the morning at 8AM when kids are going to school,” La Femme’s Sacha Got says.That kind of night where you drink to forget, and you end up forgetting what you drank… or you just don’t want to remember. And when you wake you’re like ‘No problem, nothing happened!’”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Pop Artist Ayoni Shares Anthemic “Vision”

Ayoni is a rising Barbados-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, pop artist and producer,. who spent her formative years bouncing around Singapore, Indonesia and the States. Naturally, she frequently draws on those experiences to guide her musical and professional journey as a young, Black woman — and as an immigrant. Her work is deeply inspired by Whitney Houston, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Lorde, and Adele among others.

The rising pop artist’s acclaimed debut EP 2019’s Iridescent saw her exploring the ups and downs of blossoming into her full-self. She followed that up with 2020’s “Unmoved (A Black Woman Truth),” which was inspired and informed by the Black Lives Matter movement. The single also saw Ayoni cementing a reputation as an artist, who is unafraid to confront raw truths in her work.

So far, the Barbadian-born artist has amassed millions of streams while being featured in V Magazine, Clash Magazine, Essence, Paper, Popsugar, Glide Magazine, NPR, Ones to Watch and Euphoria Zine. She also co-produced and appeared on Ricky Reed‘s “No Stone” with Dirty Projectors.

Her sophomore EP The Vision was released last month. While displaying deeply intentional production and songwriting, the EP’s material thematically is a testament to manifestation, prosperity and the cultivation of the self. Lyrically, the material sees Ayoni weaving her life’s story with authentic anecdotes. which grounds the material in gritty, every day realism.

The EP’s third and latest single “Vision” is a slickly produced bop centered around soaring and rousingly anthemic choruses, bursts of rock guitar, a sinuous bass line, twinkling and atmospheric synths and a cathartic, sing-a-long worthy chorus paired with the rising pop artist’s powerhouse vocals. The anthemic song details the persistence, hard work, and drive required to live out your dreams — while acknowledging the fact that the road ahead will frequently be rocky and uncertain. And yet it’ll be worth it.

Co-directed by Francisco Covarrubias and Ayoni, the accompanying video is split between footage shot in and around Los Angeles and in studios. “Making this music video was a really fulfilling experience,” Ayoni says, “It was filmed after the release of the EP and translating the sonic ambition of the EP into a visual manifestation was a very healing way to close out this chapter. We shot around downtown Los Angeles and in studio, with director Francisco Cavarrubias at the helm. I wanted to represent the journey to living your dreams. Using fashion, glam, and setting to highlight the beauty of the journey, I hope the video presents the song in new light.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Desure Shares Slow-Burning And Atmospheric “Draw From Memory”

Josh Desure is a rising singer/songwriter and musician, best known as Desure. His forthcoming EP Still Blue reportedly sees Desure further cementing a growing reputation for preferring the spaces between genres with the EP featuring genre-bending material that makes room for 808 drum machines, vintage synths, organic instruments and the sharply-written hooks that have long-anchored his work.

Playing an important role in Still Blue EP‘s overall sound and aesthetic is an eclectic cast of collaborators including Jonathan Tyler, Midland‘s Cameron Duddy, Nikki Lane and producer/chart-topping songwriter Joe Janiak. Desure and his collaborators spent days at studio with the goal of pairing Desure’s organic songwriting with something truly unexpected. The end result is an EP that’s autobiographical but also pairs old-school nostalgia with an emphasis on modern and adventurous arrangements.

Interestingly despite his sonic and stylistic distance from Country music, Desure’s songwriting and live performances have caught the attention of the likes of Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Midland, and Jamestown Revival, playing opening slots for each of those artists on their respective US tours. The rising singer/songwriter and musician has made the rounds of the Stateside festival circuit with stops at Ohana, Bumbershoot, Pilgrimage, and Wonderfront. And building upon a growing profile, the rising artist’s Still Blue EP is slated for a February 17, 2023 release through Range Music/Virgin Label Services.

The EP’s latest single “Draw From Memory” is a slow-burning ballad that pairs a bit of old-school country twang and atmospheric synth pop with Desure’s knack for well-placed, razor-sharp hooks. But the song is rooted in earnest lyrics inspired by lived-in experience: The song’s narrator talks of the difficulties of having a life that has him on the road, of missing his love desperately while being on the road — and of his hope that their love will endure.

“I wrote this song on tour in the U.K. in my green room before soundcheck. I remember playing it at soundcheck and my friend Mark being moved by it. He asked what song that was and I let him know I just got done writing it for my wife while I was missing her during tour,” Desure explains. “My favorite songs come to me like that. When I sit down and play a few chords and it all flows together. I also love it because it’s another song I wrote for my wife to remind us that we can endure anything together.”

Directed by Desure, the accompanying video features the rising artist, singing and dancing by himself in front of VHS fuzz and psychedelic backgrounds.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: New York’s Sub Lights Share Breezy “Hell’s Kitchen SInk”

Stephen Duncan is a Dallas/Fort Worth-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and musician. The region informed much of his musical sensibilities at a very early age: Duncan was exposed to an eclectic mix of music genres and styles from rock and indie rock played on the radio, live music at underground music clubs, classical music lessons — and the country music that was always surrounding him. Stephen Duncan explains that although his work never sounds like it but the thing it’s finished, a number of his songs started out as country songs. “I like that it’s a kind of hidden undercurrent; maybe it helps give the songs a bit of soul, despite the electronic production,” Stephen Duncan says.

Meredith Duncan is a New Jersey-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and musician. Duncan grew up in a strict Roman Catholic home, where she was sheltered from the “evils” of pop culture and most of the things her peers were interested in. She was a trained as a classical pianist and has a deep knowledge of musical theory. When she was young, her older brother introduced to underground rock. alternative and indie rock, industrial music, New Wave and psychedelic music. “Anything sad, dark, depressing, or rebellious felt like home to me,” Meredith Duncan explains. “That had a big influence on my songwriting and musical style. Having lived in Texas, I’m sure some country rubbed off on me too.”

After meeting at a party, Meredith and Stephen started their first band The Chemistry Set. The band which included members of The Polyphonic Spree and Calhoun saw some commercial success when “Into the Light” was featured on One Tree Hill. They also made national tours with Yo La Tengo, The M’s and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Their latest project Sub Lights is a new start for Meredith and Stephen Duncan. The challenge of creating music as a duo inspired them to put together a small studio in their new home here in NYC. That effort went into overdrive during 2020’s COVID-19 lockdowns. In October 2020, the duo challenged themselves to write at least one song a week for a year. Last year, they released their Sub Lights debut, Medicine EP — and they played their first Sub Lights shows in Manhattan.

Their recently released sophomore EP Half-Life features songs from that writing experiment and will reportedly be the first of a three-part recording project from the 50+ songs they wrote during pandemic lockdowns. “The idea was to transform traditionally-written songs mostly played on piano or acoustic guitar into our indie electronic style,” Stephen Duncan explains. “Lyrically, we wanted to try to capture the kind of social melancholy coming out of the pandemic and the Trump years, but then express that in a hopeful way. Like, life is tough and can be really sad, but even then people are amazing and able to find joy by connecting with each other. We also wanted to take our music seriously without taking ourselves too seriously—it’s a fine line, but I admire artists who can pull that off. But also I’m a college history professor and fairly politically active, so there’s always an element of the big picture mixed in there too, grand themes of what it means to be human and all that.” 

“Music should be fun, it’s entertainment after all,” Sub Lights’ Stephen Duncan adds. “But it’s also art and part of the purpose of art is to allow listeners to explore different ways of being. That’s our goal: to offer the chance to explore a bit of social consciousness along with the fun.”

“I think some of our songs conceptually resemble protest music,” Meredith Duncan adds. “Common themes are anti-religion, anti-patriarchy, anti-unfettered capitalism, anti-fascism. Think for yourself, question things, wake up, and be kind.”

“’Half-Life’ has multiple meanings as it relates to the album,”Sub Lights’ Meredith Duncan says. “It is one of the key lines in ‘Strange New Breed,’ and it is a way to describe how if you only live in the past or for the future, you miss the present, so essentially it feels like you are only experiencing half of your life at any given moment… It’s also my word for what deep depression feels like. All these missed opportunities, just watching life go by from your bed.

Half-Life EP‘s latest single “Hell’s Kitchen Sink” is a crafted yet breezy bit of pop centered around fluttering synths, skittering beats, a motorik groove, boy-girl harmonies and the duo’s remarkable knack for catchy hooks. While the song sonically seems to draw from Phil Spector-era pop, Death Cab for Cutie and shoegaze, “Hell’s Kitchen Sink” is rooted in a much-needed message to the listener.

“Hell’s Kitchen Sink,” Meredith Duncan explains is about living in the moment and being fully present, which “is the only time we can experience the full interconnectedness of life, that we are all the same,” she says. “Like Meredith said, [‘Hell’s Kitchen Sink’] is about living in the present, about valuing the only life we’ve got–and the people we share it with–instead of dreaming about some imagined future afterlife,” Stephen Duncan continues. “That has serious social implications, that we have a responsibility to make the world as good as we can both for ourselves and for other people. But we also wanted to say that this includes having fun, enjoying yourself while you can. So the video was our DIY version of that, just us playing, and playing around, shooting it with the help of a couple of our creative friends and having a good time with it.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy (Belated) 64th Birthday, Simon Le Bon!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Simon Le Bon’s 64th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Share a Skittering Banger

Ghent, Belgium-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by  BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s official full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer was released earlier this year through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: The duo’s perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul proudly claiming Chinese ancestry — and the wide-ranging conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism, and more.

While being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach: They manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard but are centered around their idiosyncratic, off-kilter take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

Topical Dancer’s 13 songs are fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent. For the Belgian duo, it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

In the lead up to the album’s release, I wrote about four of Topical Dancer‘s singles: 

  • “Thank You,” a sardonic, club banger featuring skittering beats, buzzing synth arpeggios and Adigéry’s deadpan delivery destroying mansplainers and unwanted, unsolicited and straight up dumb opinions and advice from outsiders. 

  • “Blenda,” a club banger, centered around African-inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats and Adigéry’s deadpan. Informed by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, “Blenda” focuses on colonialism and post colonialism through Adigéry’s experience as Black immigrant in an extremely white place. 

  • “HAHA,” a track built around a chopped up sample of Adigéry making herself laughed paired with twinkling synths, skittering beats and a relentless motorik groove that feels improvised and unfinished yet somehow simultaneously polished. 

  • “Ceci n’est pas un cliché,” a slick dancer floor friendly bop centered around a strutting bass line, finger snaps, skittering beats and glistening synth arpeggios paired with Adigéry cool delivery of clichéd pop lyrics in a series of non-sequiturs that’s surreal yet displays a weird sense of logic.

“Mantra,” Topical Dancer‘s latest single is an off-kilter, dance floor friendly banger centered around skittering clang and clatter, glistening synth oscillations, tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Adigery’s sultry and insouciant delivery singing surrealistic, stream of consciousness non-sequiturs as a series of mantras.

“‘Mantra’ is a reworked version of our Yin Yang Self-Meditation, the audiovisual meditation tape which we released back in 2019,” the duo explain. “We used elements from this original recording in ‘Mantra’ such as the stream of consciousness and the heartbeat which we sped up to use as one of the bass drums in ‘Mantra.’ Whereas ‘Yin Yang Self-Meditation’ invites you to look inward, we invite you to express yourselves with ‘Mantra’.”

The accompanying video features re-edited footage shot from the Yin Yang Self-Meditation audiovisual mediation tape.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Say She She Shares Slinky Ballad “Fortune Teller”

Deriving their name as a sort of tongue-in-cheek nod to the legendary Nile Rodgers — “C’est chi-chi! It’s Chic!” — NYC-based funk and disco act Say She She features three accomplished, strong female lead vocalists: founding members Piya Malik, who has spent time in El Michels Affair, 79.5 and Chicano Batman; and Sabrina Cunningham; along with Nya Gazelle Brown, a former member of 79.5. 

The rising New York-based outfit can trace their origins back to when Malik and Cunningham found themselves living in the studio apartments directly above and below each other. The pair would hear each other singing through the floorboards and quickly became friends. “I knew the girl below me had the most beautiful voice as I would hear her early in the morning and she would hear me late at night. Between the two of us I don’t think we got a wink of sleep. Then again I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say they moved to New York City to sleep,” Malik says in press notes. 

After spending years singing in other people’s bands, Malik and Cunningham felt they were finally ready to step out into the spotlight with their own project. At first, they wrote tongue-in-cheek songs about bad boyfriends, band breakups and bad politics. But shortly after, they started writing much more serious and vulnerable tunes, like much-needed therapy sessions, detailing the lives of post-modern women. Since then, their material frequently touches upon love, lust, sex, heartbreak, betrayal and hope. 

A few years after they started the project, the duo recruited their close friend and Malik’s former 79.5 bandmate Nya Gazelle Brown to join them. At that point, the act’s core lineup was settled. 

Sonically, Say She She’s sound nods at 70s girl groups — multi-part female harmonies paired paired with funky, disco-inspired arrangements played by a backing band featuring some of New York’s most talented and accomplished players, featuring former members of  Antibalas, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaries, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, The Shacks, Twin Shadow and others. Locally, they’ve developed a reputation as a must-see live act, playing sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom, Nublu 151, Brooklyn Bazaar, C’Mon Everybody and Baby’s All Right among others. 

Released earlier this month through Karma Chief Records, an imprint of Colemine Records, Say She She’s eight-song, Sergio Rios-produced, full-length debut Prism was recorded on old tape machines 
in the basement studios of friends. The album features guest spots from The Dap Kings‘ Joey Crispiano and Victor Axelrod, The Shacks’ Max Shrager, Chicano Batman’s Bardo Martinez, Antibalas‘  Superhuman Happiness‘ and Low Mentality’s Nikhil Yerawadekar, Twin Shadow’s Andy Bauer and NYMPH‘s Matty McDermot. 

Over the course of the year, Say She She have released a handful of attention-grabbing singles that include:

  • “Forget Me Not,” the New York-based act’s debut single and their debut album’s first single. Featuring a strutting bass line, glistening wah wah pedaled funk guitar, fluttering flute and dreamy three part harmonies “Forget Me Not” is one part Patrice Rushen, one part Tom Tom Club’s “Gangster of Love,” one part ESG, one part Mary Jane Girls, centered around righteous feminist lyrics. “Forget Me Not” premiered on KCRW‘s Morning Becomes Eclectic and was played in heavy rotation, with a KCRW DJ describing the song as “The funkiest shit I’ve heard in a while!” They performed the song for a Paste Magazine session. The song has started to receive airplay on BBC6.

  • “Blow My Mind,” a slow-burning, sultry bop centered around the trio’s yearning and impassioned cries, shimmering Bollywood-inspired riffage and a strutting bass line that’s about returning to a former flame, who you’ve managed to hold feelings for — even after some period of years.

  • “Trouble,” which landed at #7 on  KCRW’s Top 30, with the station saying “”New York’s Say She She are always on the assignment of making it as funky as possible, and with their new single they’ve cranked up the lovers rock lever.”

  • “NORMA,” a defiant, politically-charged, glittery dance floor anthem — and urgent call for action, for all of us. Written in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the song is a powerful reminder that the fight to have this country live up to its ideals ain’t over — and that women’s rights and their right to choose what’s best for them need to be protected. 

  • “Prism,” a glittery and silky ballad centered around glistening keys, a supple bass line and metronomic-like drumming paired with the trio’s lush harmonies. The end result is a hook-driven song that sonically nods at The Supremes, psych pop and psych soul, and sounds as though it could have been released in 1968, 1978, 2008 or — well, today. 

Prism’s latest single “Fortune Teller” is glittering and slinky disco ballad built around fluttering vintage synth-driven arpeggios, twinkling keys, a tight, strutting groove paired with the trio’s gorgeous three-part harmonies. The song’s narrator is making an urgent plea of devotion to a lover: that although they can’t possibly be a fortune teller or a mind-reader, they will do what they can to protect them.

The accompanying, gorgeous video for “Fortune Teller” continues a run slick and hypnotic of visuals inspired by Bollywood: We see footage of edited stock footage of Bollywood dancers, home footage of the women dancing and performing as little girls, and the trio in pastel hues and flowing taffeta doing a Bollywood inspired dance.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Automatic Share Urgent and Angular “Teen Beat”

Los Angeles-based post punk outfit Automatic — Izzy Glaudini (synths, vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals) — met while immersed in their hometown’s DIY scene. They started jamming together back in 2017.

Since then, the trio quickly became a local club circuit mainstay. Their full-length debut, 2019’s Signals saw the trio quickly establishing their sound, which paired motorik grooves with icy atmospheres. 

 Stones Throw Records released the Los Angeles-based trios sophomore album, Excess earlier this year. Sonically Excess reportedly rides the imaginary edge where the ’70s underground met ’80s corporate culture — or as the band says “That fleeting moment when what was once cool quickly turned and became mainstream all for the sake of consumerism.” Using that particular point in time as a lens through which to view our uncertain and seemingly apocalyptic present, the album’s material sees the trio taking aim at corporate culture and extravagance through deadpan critiques and razor sharp hooks. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about album single “Skyscraper,” a dance floor friendly bop built around glistening synth arpeggios, relentless four-on-the-floor and disco-influenced bass lines paired with an icy, insouciant delivery and razor sharp, well-placed hooks. And while sonically seeming like a slick and effortless synthesis of Blondie, Devo and Talking Heads, the song is rooted in incisive and politically charged commentary. The band’s Halle Saxon explains that “Skyscraper” is ” . . .about spending your life making money and then spending it to fill the void created by said job.” Lola Dompé adds, “Kind of like going to LA to live your dreams.”

“Teen Beat,” Excess‘ latest single is a centered around multi-part harmonized chanted vocals, bubbling and arpeggiated synths and a relentless motorik groove. Sonically being a bit of a mesh of Gang of Four and Nots, the song continues a run of material rooted in incisive and urgent political commentary.

“The title was taken from a preset on a dinky drum machine, and the song is about the chaos of climate change descending upon Gen Z,” the band explain.

Directed by Kevin Clark, the accompanying video for “Teen Beat” is a surreal and apocalyptic fever dream that features the trio seemingly preparing for the end of the world in the California desert.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays TEKE: TEKE Return with Cinematic and Mischievous “Dobugawa”

Initially started as a loving homage and tribute band to legendary Japanese guitarist Takeshi “Terry” Terauchi, the Montreal-based collective TEKE: TEKE – Yuki Isami (flute, shinobue and keys), Hidetaka Yoneyama (guitar), Sergio Nakauchi Pelletier (guitar), Mishka Stein (bass), Etienne Lebel (trombone), Ian Lettree (drums, percussion) and Maya Kuroki (vocals, keys and percussion) —  features a collection of accomplished Montreal-based musicians, who have played with the likes of Pawa Up First, Patrick Wilson, Boogat, Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra and others.

With the release of their debut EP 2018’s Jikaku, the members of the Montreal-based septet came into their own highly unique and difficult to pigeonhole sound that features elements of Japanese Eleki surf rock, shoegaze, post-punk, psych rock, ska, Latin music and Balkan music.

Kill Rock Stars Records, released the Canadian collective’s full-length debut Shirushi last year, and in the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about five of its singles:  

  • “Kala Kala:” Deriving its title from a phrase that roughly translates to English as clattering, “Kala Kala” is centered around a mind-melting arrangement and song structure, Kuroki’s howling and crooning. And to my ears, the track accurately captures the band’s frenetic live energy. 

  • “Chidori,” a cinematic yet mosh pit friendly freak out that’s one part psych rock, one part Dick Dale-like surf rock, one part Ennio Morricone soundtrack delivered with a frenetic aplomb. 

  • “Meikyu:” Deriving its title from the Japanese word for labyrinth, the track is a no bullshit, no filler all killer ripper with menacing guitar work, dramatic bursts of trombone, fluttering flute, thumping tribal drumming and some wild soloing within an expansive, mind-melting song structure.  

  • Yoru Ni,” a fever dream featuring dreamy blasts of flute and trombone, menacing and slashing guitars and intricate Japanese shamisen. Deriving its name from the Japanese phrase for “at night,” the song despite it’s mischievous tone, is a somewhat romantic and spiritual tale about its central character letting go of a long-held delusional quest. 

  • “Barbara,” a mischievous and cinematic track with a stomping, punk rock energy that sounds like the perfect soundtrack for a misfit circus — or the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, as each instrumental part seemingly introducing a new and strange character. Much like the previously released singles, “Barbara” captures the frenetic energy of their live sets. The lyrics as the band explained are a twisted take on zashiki-warashi, spirit beings, who like to perform pranks and bring good fortune to those who see them. 

The Montreal-based JOVM mainstays announced a short run of tour dates that includes their first ever New York stop, November 11, 2022 at Public Records. As always, you can check out the rest of the tour dates below. And along with the tour announcement, the band shared a new single from the album, “Dobugawa,” a cinematic song that feels and sounds like a seamless Twin Peaks-era David Lynch and French chanson, with a subtle bit of mischievous fantasy.

The songs title translates into English as “dirty river,” and it sets the scene for an off-kilter, romantic tale about the ambiguity of identity. “Set in a poor industrialized town in 1930’s Showa-era Japan, an ambiguous couple take a stroll along a dirty river (Dobugawa) said to be filled with all the city’s hidden words,” TEKE: TEKE’s Maya Kuroki says.

Animated by the band’s Maya Kuroki and edited by the band’s Serge Pelletier, employs the use traditional animation and collage, which emphasizes the fantastic and surreal elements of the song — while being subtly menacing. “This is a very cinematic song, with elements of fantasy and surrealism. I wanted to keep the animation simple so as to give off a dark, sparse feeling of what lies beneath in contrast to what otherwise seems like a peaceful, spring afternoon, Kuroki explains.

The video also features English-translated subtitles, allowing the viewer to further engage with the song’s lyric and meaning.