Live concert photography of SIlversun Pickups and Hello Mary at Brooklyn Steel last month.
Category: punk rock
New Video: Paris’ Pythies Return with Furious “Toy”
Emerging Paris-based punk outfit Pythies — founding member Lise L. (vocals) with Thérèse La Garce (guitar) and Anna B. Void (drums) — was formed 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.
Now if you were frequenting this site earlier this year, you might remember that I wrote about the French punks third single “Eclipse,” a swaggering, remarkably self-assured and polished ripper with rousingly anthemic choruses and hooks. The result sonically feels like a slick and very modern take on a familiar and beloved sound. Written around the lunar eclipse last October, “Eclipse” reveals a young band that already possesses an uncanny knack for catchy hooks.
The French trio’s fourth single “Toy” is also the first single off their forthcoming EP Disillusion, which is slated for a September release. “Toy” sees the band further cementing a sound and approach inspired and indebted to riot grrl punk and grunge, anchored around fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming, enormous hooks and choruses placed in the classic, alternating quiet, loud, quiet grunge song structure.
Written by the band’s Lise L, “Toy” ix about a friendship that has been ruined by constant objectification and sexualization — typically by a male friend. And fittingly, the song is written from the perspective of frustration, disgust and confusion.
Written, directed and edited by Éric Parois, the accompanying video for “Toy” is a Reservoir Dogs-era Tarantino-inspired visual that sees the trio, drugging and kidnapping a man they met at a pool.
Throwback: Happy Belated 79th Birthday, Debbie Harry!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Debbie Harry’s 79th birthday.
Throwback: Happy Belated 69th Birthday, Mick Jones!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates The Clash’s and Big Audio Dynamite’s Mick Jones’ 69th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 73rd Birthday, Joey Ramone!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 73rd anniversary of Joey Ramone’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 72nd Birthday, David Byrne!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates David Byrne’s 72nd birthday.
New Video: Montréal’s DVTR Shares Anthemic Ripper “Les flics (sont des sacs à merde)”
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 frontperson 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.
The acclaimed and rising French Canadian duo celebrate their first full year of the project with their latest single “Les flics (sont des sacs à merde),” which translates into English as “The cops (are shitbags)” has quickly become a staple of their live set. Anchored around a supple and propulsive bass line, G-Do’s punchy delivery, buzzing power chords, and a steady four-on-the-floor, “Les flics” brings Ting Tings’ “That’s Not My Name” to mind — but while rooted in an unequivocal message that protestors and countless others rally behind: ACAB! Throughout the song, the duo excoriate and ridicule cops, referring them as a violent, brainless bullies and a shit ton more.
The computer animated video by Romy Côté further emphasizes its accompanying song’s themes: The video begins with an out-of-shape cop driving in a police car. Fittingly, the cop looks like a clown. As he drives around town, he comes across two people vandalizing some property. After a chase, the two young vandals overtake the cop and replace his shit for brains for an actual brain.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Iggy Pop!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Iggy Pop’s 77th birthday,
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Peter Garrett!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett’s 71st birthday.
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.”
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.
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.