JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Whitney Houston.
Category: R&B
Throwback: Black History Month: James Brown
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary James Brown.
Throwback: Black History Month: The Isley Brothers
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Isley Brothers.
Throwback: Black History Month: Prince
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Prince.
Throwback: Black History Month: Janet Jackson
JOVM’s WIlliam Ruben Helms celebrates Black History — and pays tribute to Janet Jackson.
Throwback: Black History Month: The Whispers
JOVM’s WIlliam Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to The Whispers.
Throwback: Black History Month: Chaka Khan
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Chaka Khan.
New Video: Staten Island’s Elaine Kristal Teams up with Produkt and Herve Alexandre on an Earnest and Soulful New Bop
Elaine Kristal is an emerging Staten Island-born and-based singer/songwriter, who can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: a young music-loving Elaine Kristal took part in school plays at her elementary school — and she sung in the hallways of her school, wearing a bandana and hoop earrings, inspired by Alicia Keys.
She started performing her own music with one of her best friends, Mikey Fuego at a local open mic. The young, Staten Island-born and-based singer/songwriter quickly began to realize that people were coming to see her perform — and were learning the lyrics to her songs. When the entire place started singing along, Kristal realized she needed to seriously pursue music. “It’s a high I will never forget, and one I want to have for the rest of my life,” she says.
Last year, R&B singer Tank launched the “Can We Talk Challenge” on Tik Tok. The challenge required participants to sing the hook to Tevin Campbell‘s 1993 hit single. Kristal, refused to sit on the sidelines, knowing she could contribute to the challenge while making one of her favorite vocalists proud. Her contribution quickly amassed over 40,000 views with the video being favorited over 400 times.
Naturally, the Staten Island-born and-based vocalist was ecstatic by the positive response she received. Then a Tik Tok user questioned the young, emerging artist’s talent and ability in the comments. She responded swiftly, singing the hook to “Can We Talk” a cappella while pounding her fist on a stage platform. “When I saw the comment my first reaction was “Oh word”, he really went there?” explained Elaine. “I take this VERY serious and my pride couldn’t let it go so I just walked over to this stage located in the studio complex I record in and just started pounding my fist while I sang a cappella.” Kristal continues, “Here I am with limited hours in a day trying to divide my time between recording new music, promoting recently released tracks, and preparing for the release of my new new single ‘Nasty In The Morning’ and now I’m replying to thousands of comments on my page.”
In the past year, the #CanWeTalkChallenge has become a viral sensation with thousands of entries across the world and over 20 million views of the hashtag. The Staten Island-based artist has 250,000 of those views, with over 3,000 comments, 48,000 likes — and has seen a 500% growth in followers on the platform. In fact, she’s in the Top 10 of the challenge, alongside X Factor USA season one winner Melanie Amaro and rapper Joyner Lucas while surpassing established artists like Lil Mama, Anthony Hamilton, 112‘s Q and Bobby Valentino. “2021 was hard for so many people including myself, but there were also many developments that made it tough to see last year end” Kristal says.
Elaine Kristal hopes to build upon the momentum of the #CanWeTalkChallenge. Her latest single “Love Over Living” is a slickly produced, radio and club friendly bop that features a soulful saxophone by Herve Alexandre, looping acoustic guitar and skittering, tweeter and woofer rocking trap beats. The Staten Island-based artist’s easy-going vocals effortlessly glide over a production that nods at Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys-like hip-hop soul, contemporary pop and trap. Interestingly, underneath the contemporary production is a sweet, old-school love song in which the narrator expresses the age old “us against the world, baby” sentiment. Local emcee and labelmate Produkt contributes a couple of lovestruck verses describes how he feels about his “round-the-way girl,” who keeps it real — and is ride or die. It’s honestly, the sort of earnest love song that you don’t hear that you don’t hear too often these days.
As the emerging artist explains the song offers a simple yet profound message of how the power of love can get us through the darkest moments of our lives.
The recently released video for “Love Over Living” portrays the young Staten Island artist as a down-to-earth, round the way girl. We follow the two artists as they drive around town in a gorgeous, turquoise speedster — notably on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the FDR Drive and the West Side Highway. We also see them stop by a neighborhood bodega.
New Video: King Garbage Shares Soulful and Yearning “Busy On A Saturday Night”
Asheville, NC-based, Grammy Award-nominated production, songwriting and artist duo King Garbage — longtime friends Zach Cooper and Vic Dimotsis — have quiet put their imprint on pop, R&B and hip-hop through their work with The Weeknd, SZA, Ellie Goulding, Gallant, and even Billy Porter.
Cooper and Dimotsis made their debut as King Garbage with 2017’s Make It Sweat, an album that amassed millions of streams while receiving praise from Wonderland Magazine and Paste Magazine, who hailed the effort as a “grin-inducing collection of modern R&B and funk.”
The Asheville-based duo were extremely busy last year: They co-wrote “Sing,” which appeared on Jon Batiste‘s We Are and received eight Grammy Award nods, including Album of the Year. They also co-wrote “Sweeter,” feat. Terrace Martin, which appeared on Leon Bridges‘ Gold-Diggers Sound and received a Grammy nod for Best R&B Album.
In the middle of a prolific and wildly creative whirlwind, the duo turned to King Garbage, finding the perfect time to return. “It’s the right time, because it’s been about five years since the last album,” King Garbage’s Vic Dimotsis says. “We were lucky enough to have successes with Leon and Jon. In entertainment, it doesn’t hurt to have stuff to brag about during press releases,” he laughs. “We were also insanely lucky to have met Mr. Mike Patton and be given a chance to work with Ipecac. We had been drawn to Ipecac since we were young, so it seemed natural to respect the very source that had inspired us in the first place.”
The duo’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Heavy Metal Greasy Love is slated for an April 1, 2022 release through Ipecac Recordings. The album reportedly sees the duo breaking from the “rough and ruddy” vibe of their critically applauded debut and incorporating a rock ‘n’ roll spirit within the soul sphere they’re best known for.
“It’s a taste of retro without being a reproduction,” the duo’s Vic Dimotsis explains in press notes. “Love and life are very sweet, bitter, and heavy. You’re going to need big tires and a dense frame to cross the desert life can give you. The name felt right. The music is crispy, searing, spacious, sandy, and welded with perfect dimes at the seams. If you read anything about history, you can fall in love with its brutality. Nature is the most metal, always at war with itself and never asking ‘Why?’ when change comes. I believe if you live long enough, the crushing weight and terrible beauty begin to hold hands, and an appreciation is reached, or at least an understanding. This was the best way to describe the album as well as what we see in the world. Love, nature, past, present, and future.”
“If just one person would listen and come away with less fear, less rigidity, more human spirit, and a respect for the unknown, it’s worth it,” Dimotsis adds. “Maybe you think, ‘Well, if these bozos are taking chances and making what they want under the name King Garbage, what could I do with my idea or dreams?’”
Heavy Metal Greasy Love‘s third and latest single “Busy On A Saturday Night” is a slow-burning and atmospheric, Quiet Storm inspired soul ballad centered around shimmering, flamenco-like plucked guitar, strutting horns, jazz-like drumming skittering beats and a soulful and breathy falsetto vocal. But the acclaimed duo’s take on soul is a woozy and left field take that features elements of old-school rock, 60s and 70s soul and trap in a production that helps emphasize the narrator’s unfulfilled, aching yearning.
Interestingly, the song is inspired by a magnet that was on Vic’s Dimotsis’ great grandmother’s refrigerator. “It had a sweaty male stripper pictured on it and said, ‘Everything I want is either taken, or busy on a Saturday night,'” Dimotsis laughs. “Blurry as a memory on a slinky night out. A Tom Waits inspired roadster awaits high high heels on a sure fire adventure. Losing articles of clothing to the magnet of the pavement, the band plays on through a duct from another world, and our eyes blur from both lust and disgust. Such motion seems still, as the accelerator and brakes lose meaning. A quiet lonely brunch awakens us from a distant stare.”
The recently released video for “Busy On A Saturday Night” begins with something we’re all too familiar with — a Zoom conference, where its viewers are introduced to a choreographed dance routine, called “The Scorpion Dance” featuring four extremely similar women, who perform in different rooms with different lights. Clearly influenced by our weird and uncertain moment, the video evokes the deep longing for people — and the gatherings with people we couldn’t have during the bulk of the pandemic.
Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday, David Ruffin!
JOVM celebrates the 81st anniversary of David Ruffin’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 43rd Birthday, Aaliyah!
JOVM celebrates what would have been Aaliyah’s 43rd birthday.
Throwback: R.I.P. Ronnie Spector
JOVM celebrates the music of Ronnie Spector.
New Audio: Montreal’s Fredy V. & The Foundation Release an Uplifting and Anthemic Ode to Self-Determination
Montreal-based collective The Foundation features some of the city’s best musicians, who also play in the Canadian city’s top R&B, hip-hop, funk, gospel, soul and jazz acts. The members of The Foundation gained collective experience from production and performing on a weekly, nationally aired TV show — and they used their momentum of their show to write and record their critically applauded debut EP One Step.
The Foundation also collaborates with some of the French Canadian city’s top and upcoming R&B, hip-hop, soul and funk acts, including Mel Pacifico and Fredy V — both, who are full-time members of the collective. The collective’s latest single “On The Rise,” marks the one-year anniversary of the release of their debut EP. But song is also a bold mission statement of stops, description the group’s current direction and mindset.
Featuring glistening synths, twinkling keys, thumping beats, hand-claps, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, wobbling bass synth, “On The Rise” is centered around a warm and roomy, New Jack Swing meets neo-soul with a hint of classic Chic-like production. Fredy V. contributes self-assured and thoughtful verses describing the sacrifices he had to take to get to where he is right now, including distancing from the people and habits that didn’t align with his goals. Pacifico contributes her soulful vocals to the song’s uplifting and infectious hook.Unsurprisingly, the new single is informed by and inspired by the collective’s experiences during the pandemic: Both individually and as a collective, The Foundation was forced to reflect on the direction of their careers in music — and their lives.
Thematically, the song touches upon self-empowerment, maturation, self-determination and accountability — that come about as someone matures and is actively attempting to make serious moves for themselves. The song — and the band — seem to say to the listener, “well, if you wanna fulfill your dreams, stop the bullshit and get to work. It ain’t easy but once you get there, it’ll be worth it.”
Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Tina Turner!
JOVM celebrates Tina Turner’s 82nd birthday.
Marie Dahlstrom is an acclaimed Rosklide-born, London-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and JOVM mainstay whose work has been largely influenced by the R&B and soul she heard in her home as a child — in particular Edwyn Collins, Womack & Womack and Gloria Gaynor and the like were on regular rotation. As a teenager, Dahlstrom discovered Dwele, Dire Straits, Erykah Badu, Kirk Franklin and Fleetwood Mac.
The Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay first gained attention as a solo artist in her native Denmark, quickly becoming a three-time Scandinavian Soul Award winner. Since relocating to London, the Danish-born JOVM mainstay has become an international sensation, crafting a warm and ethereal sound with elements of jazz, classic soul and contemporary R&B.
While the COVID-19 pandemic had put an indefinite pause on live shows and touring until relatively recently across much of the world, Dahlstrom managed to be one of the busiest and hardest working contemporary artists out thee: After successful collaborations with Tom Misch and Alfa Mist, the Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay released her highly-anticipated, critically applauded full-length debut Like Sand last year. Recorded in Los Angeles, Copenhagen, and London, the album features collaborations with James Vickery, Jeremy Passion, Elijah Fox, Beau Diako and a list of others. Dahlstrom also continued her ongoing work with the multi-national, all-female artist collective Her Songs — with the act releasing the Toronto Vol. 1 EP.
She also teamed up with London-based producer Dan Diggas and Canadian emcee Aligo on a collaborative EP together 4inaRow. The EP’ was conceived around a central idea — of the trio writing and recording a four-track EP in just four nights with the material being an experimental writing, recording and producing purely on impulse and instinct. Each of the EP’s four songs was recorded between 8:00pm and midnight during four nights — and each individual song has its own story to tell. Generally speaking the process was centered around Diggas providing beats and production while the Dahlstrom and Algo shared vocal duties. “Marie and I lived in the JFH flat for a little over a year and after a few months we figured out a way for us to really tap in and make music together.” Aligo says about the creative process behind the EP. “We told ourselves every night for 4 straight days we are going to tackle a pack of beats that Dan made while he was on tour with Mahalia. Theme-wise there wasn’t a plan at first but we knew we wanted to explore different emotions and feelings with each night that passed. By the end we noticed the songs came together in a cohesive way that demonstrated a four stage cycle of love/relationships.”
The Danish-born, British-based singer/songwriter and producer continues a remarkably prolific period with the Friday release of her latest EP Safe Place through JFH Records. “I wrote this EP during lock down. This was a special time in my life, where everything shifted in a way” Dahlstrom says of the soon-to-be released EP. “I was moving out of my apartment in London, the only place I’d ever lived since I moved. There were no gigs or concerts, society was (and still is) in a strange place, and then there was coronavirus and my pregnancy. It gave me a lot of time to reflect about what really matters and just how lucky we are to be living and experiencing this life.”
The EP’s latest single, EP title track “Safe Place” manages to continue a run of sweet and intimate material, informed by and influenced by personal experience. Featuring a What’s the 411? era Mary J. Blige-inspired production featuring delicately twinkling keys, boom bap beats and atmospheric electronics serving as a silky bed for Dahlstorm’s soulful and earnest delivery, the song reminds listeners to appreciate the people they love the most; that those you love are the ones who are your safe place when the everything else is mad.