Category: punk rock

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gluts Return with Bruising “Fight”

Milan-based punks The Gluts will be releasing their highly-anticipated fifth album Bang! through Fuzz Club on May 31, 2024. The album reportedly 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 live shows, which they’ve taken internationally across the global festival circuit through stops at The New Colossus Festival, The Great Escape, Eurosonic and others, and through shows across the European Union, South Africa and the States.

Last month, I wrote about Bang!‘s first single “Cade Giù.” Clocking in at a little over two minutes, “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!

Bang!‘s second and latest single “Fight” is a bruising ripper with elements of psych rock, stoner rock, punk and post-punk anchored around fuzzy and distorted power chords, wailing feedback, a propulsive rhythm section and howled vocals. While continuing the overall aesthetic pulse of its immediate predecessor, “Fight” is arguably among their most sociopolitically charged tracks of their growing catalog.

The accompanying video borrows liberally from late 80s and 90s fighting video games, including Mortal Kombat and others, interspersed with fuzzy psychedelic colored negatives of the band playing a rousing live set.

“’Fight’ is the second single from our new album Bang! and blends the main genres that we take inspiration from, spanning from post-punk and noise to neo-psych and stoner. The song tries to convey all those feelings of daily life struggle. Sometimes we wish it was all like a videogame – especially the 80s and 90s ones that are used in the video – but it is the harsh truth.”

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: 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.

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

Throwback: Black History Month: Death

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and pays tribute to Death.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Pissed Jeans Share a Bruising and Ripping Meditation on Harsh Truths

Allentown-based punks Pissed Jeans’ highly-anticipated sixth album Half Divorced further cements their longtime reputation for crating feral punk with their acerbic sense of humor. Thematically, the material mercilessly skewers the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood but while still managing to be — perhaps inadvertently — fun. “Half Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere,” the band’s Matt Korvette says.

Slated for a March 1, 2024 release through Sub Pop Records, the band’s members — Matt Korvette (vocals), Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums) — weren’t in a rush to finish the album, which was recorded and co-produced by Don Godwin at Takoma Park, MD-based Tonal Park. “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years,” Korvette says. “Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.” The material’s distilled energy makes the album sound menacing and dangerous — with the songs unexpectedly veering into classic hardcore punk territory. Korvette says, “We realized we’d never really fucked with pop punk, and we thought, this is something that isn’t going to be immediately recognizable as cool. So let’s challenge ourselves to make it feel cool to us.”

The word divorce in the album’s title falls in line with the moments of humiliation, shame and defeat that are held up for all to see on the album. “If you say something enough or if you just allow it to exist publicly, then it loses its evil monster-in-the-closet thing,” Korvette says. 

In the lead up to the album’s release later this week, I’ve managed to write about two album singles:

  • “Moving On,” a hard-charing, balls-to-the-wall, mosh pit friendly ripper with some of the most shout along friendly anthemic hooks and choruses the band has ever written, buzzsaw-like power chords and propulsive, thunderous drumming paired with Korvette’s classic punk rock snarl. But at its core “Moving On” is as much about trying to put your best foot forward, as it is about throwing your hands up and accepting defeat. 
     

  • “Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt,” a bruising, mosh pit friendly, hardcore punk-inspired ripper that recalls classic Bad Religion, NOFX, Murphy’s Law and the like, complete with a scorching guitar solo. The song is about the heady — and all too adult — excitement of shrinking debt-to-credit ratios, which in this day and age, is a depressingly Sisyphean task. 

Clocking in at 90 seconds, Half Divorced‘s third and latest single “Cling to a Poisoned Dream” is a bruising ripper that, much like its immediate predecessor, recalls classic, mosh pit friendly hardcore punk: three scorching power chords, thunderous drumming and snarled vocals. The song thematically is an uneasy mediation of harsh, very adult truths: We’re desperately trying to survive with our sanity and dignity intact, in a world that’s rotten and may well be irreparably fucked. And in turn, that would mean the unsettling realization that we’re also completely fucked. Time is flying by. Anything we’re clinging to might be stupid and pointless, too. Fun times around here ain’t it? The only thing left is to roar into the void.

Directed by Joe Stakun, the accompanying video for “Cling to a Poisoned Dream” is shot with a fish-eye lens in a dark, strobe-lit warehouse, and features the band ripping while wearing work jumpsuits.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Jerry Harrison!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms cerebrates Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison’s 75th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video/New Audio: JOVM Mainstays METZ Share Two from Highly-Anticipated New Album

Toronto-based JOVM mainstays METZ‘s fifth studio album Up on Gravity Hill is slated for an April 12, 2024 release on Dine Alone Records in Canada and on Sub Pop for the rest of the world. The album, which is the JOVM mainstays’ first album in four years was engineered by Seth Manchester and features guest appearances from Black Mountain‘s Amber Webber and string arrangements by composer Owen Pallett.

Long known for blowing out eardrums with explosively loud songs of joyous rage, the Canadian JOVM mainstays — Alex Edkins (vocals, guitar), Chris Slorach (bass) and Hayden Menzies (drums) — have, over the course of their past couple of albums have begun exploring ways of turning abrasiveness into atmospherics. The evolution of their sound is not only a reflection of the band’s maturity as humans and as musicians, but also a changed world that demands much more nuance and compassion to comprehend and survive. Up On Gravity Hill reportedly finds the band continuing to bend the raw power of rock music to its most delicate, intricate ends. The album’s material may arguably be their deepest, detailed and unyieldingly personal batch of songs — and their most beautiful to date.

To spotlight this evolution in their sound and approach, the Toronto-based outfit has shared two contrasting singles:

“99,” a stomping and noisy motorik chug of a song built around their long-held penchant for shout along worthy, mosh pit friendly hooks choruses that sounds subtly informed by Edkins’ work with Noble Rot. Directed by John Smith, the accompanying video features the members of the trio performing the song in hazy and scorching VHS fuzz and computer generated 3D renderings. The single and its accompanying video are incisive commentary and criticism on our consumerist hellscape.

“Entwined (Street Light Buzz)” is a woozy and swooning song that sees the trio retaining their penchant for power chord-driven, enormous, shout along friendly hooks and choruses with a gorgeous and meditative shoegazer-like bridge.

“These two songs couldn’t be more stylistically and thematically dissimilar,” METZ’s Alex Edkins says. “‘Entwined (Street Light Buzz)’ is a song about the deep connection humans can foster with one another and how we carry people with us forever, even after death. ‘99’ is about the scourge of corporate greed and bottom-line thinking that runs rampant in modern society. Anything for a buck is the message being sent to younger generations.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Fishbone

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and pays homage to Fishbone.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Bad Brains/Happy 68th Birthday, H.R.!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and celebrates Bad Brains’ H.R.’s 68th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Throughout the course of their 20-year history together, Allentown, PA-based punks Pissed Jeans — Matt Korvette (vocals), Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums) — have never been known to go halfway: They’ve long been known for material that pairs feral vocals and acerbic, biting lyrics with buzzsaw guitars — and for their unhinged live show. 

The Allentown-based punks’ highly-anticipated sixth album Half Divorced further cements their longtime reputation for crating feral punk with their acerbic sense of humor. Thematically, the material mercilessly skewers the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood but while still managing to be — perhaps inadvertently — fun. “Half Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere,” Korvette says. 

Slated for a March 1, 2024 release through Sub Pop Records, the band’s members weren’t in a rush to finish the album, which was recorded and co-produced by Don Godwin at Takoma Park, MD-based Tonal Park. “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years,” Pissed Jeans’ Matt Korvette says. “Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.” The material’s distilled energy makes the album sound menacing and dangerous — with the song’s unexpectedly veering into classic hardcore punk territory. Korvette says, “We realized we’d never really fucked with pop punk, and we thought, this is something that isn’t going to be immediately recognizable as cool. So let’s challenge ourselves to make it feel cool to us.”

The word divorce in the album’s title falls in line with the moments of humiliation, shame and defeat that are held up for all to see on the album. “If you say something enough or if you just allow it to exist publicly, then it loses its evil monster-in-the-closet thing,” Korvette says. 

Last month, I wrote about “Moving On,” a hard-charing, balls-to-the-wall, mosh pit friendly ripper with some of the most shout along friendly anthemic hooks and choruses the band has ever written, buzzsaw-like power chords and propulsive, thunderous drumming paired with Korvette’s classic punk rock snarl. But at its core “Moving On” is as much about trying to put your best foot forward, as it is about throwing your hands up and accepting defeat.
 

“Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt,” Half Divorced‘s latest single is a bruising, mosh pit friendly, hardcore punk-inspired ripper that recalls classic Bad Religion, NOFX, Murphy’s Law and the like, complete with a scorching guitar solo. The song is about the heady — and all too adult — excitement of shrinking debt-to-credit ratios, which in this day and age, is a depressingly Sisyphean task.


The band’s previously announced international tour dates to support Half Divorced, including a March 16, 2024 stop at St. Vitus. Check out the tour dates below. More dates to come soon. 
 

Tour Dates

Thu. Feb. 29 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Fri. Mar. 01 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
Sat. Mar. 02 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
Fri. Mar. 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Sat. Mar. 16 – Brooklyn, NY – St. Vitus
Fri. Mar. 29 – Schijndel, NL – Paaspop Festival
Sat. Mar. 30 – London, UK – EartH (aka Hackney Arts Centre)
Sun. Mar. 31 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Punk Fest
Tue. Apr. 02 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
Wed. Apr. 03 – Dublin, IE – Whelan’s
Thu. Apr. 04 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: R.I.P. Wayne Kramer!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of the MC5’s Wayne Kramer.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: TEKE::TEKE and Mirah Tackle The Clash For The Clash Tribute Album “Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats”

As of last September, more than 114 million people globally have been forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict persecution and human rights violations. By the end of this year, that number is expected to reach 130 million people across the globe. Benefiting the International Rescue Committee (https://www.rescue.org) and their work with refugees, The Clash compilation tribute album Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats invites artists, bands and visual artists to create work inspired by the legendary punk band The Clash — and to celebrate their music and human rights messages.

Slated for digital and vinyl release on International Clash Day, February 7, 2024, Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats was mastered by Ted Jensen, known for his work with The Rolling Stones, Green Day, Norah Jones, Madonna, Alice In Chains and a lengthy list of others, the album will feature contributions from The Dandy Warhols, Smokey Brights, Seán Barna, Warren Dunes‘ Julia Massey, The Gotobeds, Big League, Labasheeda, The Rust & The Fury, acclaimed Montréal-based JOVM mainstays TEKE :: TEKE and Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Mirah. (Track listing is available below.)

Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats Tracklist
1. The Dandy Warhols – Straight To Hell 
2. TEKE::TEKE – Bankrobber
3. Mirah – I’m Not Down
4. The Rust and The Fury – Guns of Brixton
5. Labasheeda – Deny 
6. Smokey Brights – Train In Vain (Stand By Me
7. Seán Barna – Hitsville U.K.
8. The Gotobeds – I’m So Bored with the USA
9. Julia Massey (Warren Dunes) – Rock The Casbah
10. Big League – Lost In The Supermarket
 

International Clash Day was established back in 2013 by KEXP DJ John Richards. The holiday marks a global, annual celebration of The Clash’s influential and important message and legacy. To celebrate the 11th International Clash Day, KEXP DJs Kevin Cole and Kid Hops will transition the station’s all-day International Clash Day programming on-air to the Gathering Space for International Clash Day Live, where Smokey Brights will play a live set of Clash covers and originals. Tickets and more information are available here. 

Mirah, Seán Barna and TEKE: TEKE will play a special album release show on February 2, 2024 at Brooklyn Made. Tickets and more information are available here.

Proceeds from album sales will go to the International Rescue Committee’s global fund, supporting their vital work in responding to humanitarian crises and helping impacted individuals rebuild their lives.

Today Mirah and TEKE:: TEKE shared their contributions to Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats.

TEKE:: TEKE’s “Bankrobber” is a restrained mind-bending interpretation that’s part Spaghetti Western and partially inspired by a sound and approach that was developing in Japan during the 70s, n parallel to the UK’s punk scene with avant-garde outfits like Tokyo Kid Brothers and JA Seazer, which inspired them to sing the bulk of the song’s lyrics in Japanese. The result is something that’s familiar but somewhat alien, yet still deeply human and universal.

TEKE :: TEKE’s Maya Kuroki felt an immediate connection to “Bankrobber,” upon hearing the same words that her late father used to jokingly say “someday I’ll become a bank robber.” She wanted to represent the meaning of the lyrics as the voice of the “community” striving to counter the increasingly widening wealth gap. I envision a modern day Robin Hood, stealing from rich, greedy capitalists and giving their ill-gotten gains to the poor and needy.

The band’s Sei Nakauchi Pelletier adds, “‘Bankrobber’ was the first ever song I heard from The Clash, it was on a compilation tape a dear friend of mine had made for me in my early 20’s. The Clash went on to become one of my favorite and most-inspiring rock bands of all-time, way beyond their musical genius but also for their political stances and DIY approach.” Pelletier’s dear friend, Malcolm Baud, was enlisted to take part on the TEKE:: TEKE cover singing verses in English — a profound collaboration and full circle moment.

Brooklyn-based artist’s Mirah recruited Erica Freas and Karl Blau for a slow-burning, sultry yet deeply sweet take on “I’m Not Down” that maintains the original’s guitar-driven heart and kookiness while seemingly drawing from The Shangri-Las. “One of the best things about being asked to work on a project like this is the opportunity it gave me to play a bunch of Clash albums all at once and to pay close attention as I was listening,” the Brooklyn-based artist explains. “I wanted to pick one that felt right for my voice, with words which reflected something about me and my own experiences. Like a lot of people, I began having some run-ins with anxiety and depression during the pandemic. I wasn’t playing shows or making much music and I was spending nearly every waking hour with a tiny person who I’d given birth to 15 months before the pandemic started. ‘I’m Not Down’ was written as a sort of F you to hard times and depression, and that felt, and feels, pretty relevant.”