Category: singer/songwriters

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsJul 8, 202617:30

New Audio: Late Again Shares Breezy and Ironic “Crazy and Stupid”

São Paulo-born, Brooklyn-based artist Rafael Melo has had a multi-hyphenate career spanning award-winning films, bestselling indie video games and his solo recording project Late Again. And with Late Again, Melo expands the boundaries of his music beyond sound, in an effort to tell his stories in whatever medium it requires.

Sonically, Late Again sits at the intersection of North American indie pop, Bossa nova references, a hint of dreamlike film soundscapes and 80s Japanese grooves. Since starting the project in 2024, Melo has received coverage from Billboard, JazzTimes, Galore, Grimy Goods, TrebleZine and a long list of others. He also collaborated with Brazilian jazz maestro Arthur Verocai and experimental visual artist Gabriel Rollim, a.k.a Rollinos.

Building upon a growing profile, the São Paulo-born, Brooklyn-based artist’s third EP, I Dreamt I Was Awake is slated for a September 4, 2026 release. The new EP reportedly showcases a newfound confidence as he double downs on his astutely observational writing style. Over the course of six, intricately structured tracks, the EP’s material thematically explores the gap between the life you imagine, the one you’re actually living, and the strange ways people learn to make peace with that distance. Self-aware, sometimes humorous and always subtly critical, the EP’s songs fluctuate between tenderness and irony, minimalism and chaos, and the hyper-personal and universal.

The EP was recorded at Brooklyn’s Studio G and São Paulo’s Evil Twin Studio and features contributions from Kimbra‘s and Duda Beat’s Thiago Dom (drums), Twin Brother’s and John Roseboro’s John Lisi (bass) and was engineered by Nelson Espinal and mixed by Melo’s long-time Brazilian collaborator Heal Mura.

I Dreamt I Was Awake’s first single “Crazy or Stupid” is a languid, summer daydream of a tune, anchored around the sort of breezy yet hook-driven, dream pop textures that channels JOVM mainstays MUNYA, Kainalu and Tame Impala. But juxtaposed against the dreamy feel good vibes of the song are lyrics that casually reference the anxieties and horrors of our contemporary hellscape — potential deportation by ICE/CBP, AI takeovers and the like — while posting out that it feels like everyone has lot their mind. The result is a song that’s unsettling yet disarmingly catchy, and a clear-eyed, ironic look at our absurd, brutal world.

“It’s ultimately a funny ballad that doesn’t take itself too seriously” shares Late Again.

The song is accompanied by a mind-bending. highly computerized visualizer by Gabriel Rollim, a.k.a Rollinos.

Video by William Ruben HelmsJul 8, 202613:00

Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Beck!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Beck’s 56th birthday.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben HelmsJul 8, 202612:00

News: FME Announces Complete 2026 Lineup

singer/songwriters by William Ruben HelmsJul 7, 202619:30

News: M for Montréal Announces 2026 Official Selection Lineup

Video by William Ruben HelmsJul 5, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 76th Birthday, Huey Lewis!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Huey Lewis and The News frontman Huey Lewis’ 76th birthday.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben HelmsJul 4, 202610:00

Throwback: Happy 88th Birthday, Bill Withers!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 88th anniversary of the birth of Bill Withers.

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsJul 3, 202619:00

New Audio: Liam Kix Shares Swaggering, Trip Hop-Influenced “Slowmo”

Liam Kix is a mysterious and emerging Israeli musician and artist, who over the course of his career has played in a number of different bands and projects. Kix stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his full-length debut, 2024’s Heartology.

Over the past year, the Israeli artist has released a handful of singles, including his recent single, the swaggering “Slowmo” manages to channel Bristol trip hop — think Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, et. all — built with dusty boom-bap beats and scorching guitar paired with Kix’s breathy, yearning delivery.

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsJul 2, 202620:00

New Audio: James Tonic Returns with Atmospheric and Yearning “Who’s Going Down”

James Tonic is a Montréal-born, New York-based dream pop artist, who over the course of seven albums firmly established a sound built on analog synths, live drums and unflinching lyrics. 2024’s Stuck in LA, an album inspired by the West Coast wound up being a breakthrough album for the Canadian-born artist: the album helped hi establish a fanbase, the old-fashioned way while selling out during the tour.

Last year’s Safety, the first part of a planned dream pop trilogy was a nine-song effort that thematically touched on emotional survival. The second part of the trilogy, Safety II was released earlier this year, and featured a darker, more cinematic take on dream pop paired with sharper, edgier lyricism. Thematically, Safety II covers being wide open, fighting back quietly and spotting clear bits when everything seems hopelessly jumbled.

Safety II includes “At The Time In New York,” and its latest single “Who’s Going Down.” “Who’s Going Down” is meditative, bit of dream pop that features Tonic’s yearning, achingly tender delivery against an atmospheric and shimmering soundscape that channels Cigarettes After Sex and Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry-era Beach House. To me, the song evokes the last hour of party that you don’t want to have end or the waning hours of an amazing trip, full of the bittersweet recognition that you’ll have to return to normal life.

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsJul 2, 202616:00

New Audio: George Aletras Returns with Yearning and Melancholy “Όπως Παλιά” (“Like the Old Times”)

George Aletras is a Greek singer/songwriter and musician, whose work sees him moving between indie rock, post rock and cinematic soundscapes, frequently blurring the boundaries between them. At times, his work leans into experimental territories, not as a statement of style, but a a natural consequence of exploration, where form isn’t followed but discovered,

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Τώρα,” a tune that seemingly channeled Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen and contemporaries like PLOHO. The Greek artist’s latest single “Όπως Παλιά” (“Like the Old Times”) continues a remarkable run of hook-driven and nostalgia-inducing post punk built around a melodic bass line, atmospheric synths, shimmering and angular guitars, relentless four-on-the-floor paired with yearning, melancholy vocals. Fittingly, for a song that sounds as though it could have been released in 1983, the song as Aletras explains is about nostalgia, lost innocence and the desire to see the world once again through the eyes of love.

Sometimes, in a brutal, mad world dreaming of the old times seems — well, necessary doesn’t it?

Video by William Ruben HelmsJul 2, 202609:00

New Video: Tricky Teams Up With Mitch Sanders On Brooding and Uneasy “I’m Yours”

Trip hop pioneer Tricky will be releasing his 15th studio album, Different When It’s Silent on July 17, 2026 through his own label, False Idols. The new album is the first full-length effort from the legendary and influential artist […]