Category: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dutch Producer Helsloot Tackles a Beloved house Music Classic

Originally released back in 2005, Booka Shade vs. M.A.N.D.Y.‘s critically applauded “Body Language” quickly became an instant classic and a defining track of mid-00s club culture. Built around a tactile bass line and an elegant sense of restraint, “Body Language” captured what Berlin-based label Get Physical Music had set out to represent: music that was both physically irresistible and and emotionally nuanced.

“Body Language” gave its name to Get Physical’s flagship compilation series, which has since become one of the label’s defining contributions to electronic music. Over more than two decades and 26 volumes, the series has been curated by Dixon, DJ Hell, WhoMadeWho, Monkey Safari, Francesco Tristano, Yulia Niko and founders Booka Shade, DJ T., and M.A.N.D.Y. Each edition of the compilation series has functioned as both documentation and argument, a reflection of underground currents and a projection of where club culture’s potential future.

Dutch producer Helsloot is known across the global electronic music scene for his melodic, vocal-led sound. His collaboration with Tinlicker “Because You Move Me” has amassed over 600 million streams. He has released material through a number of electronic labels including Anjunadeep, Domino, This Never Happened and Ritter Butzke. His full-length debut, last year’s Never Tried further cemented his reputation for a balancing emotional weight with dance floor precision.

Helsloot with be curating Get Physical’s Body Language, Vol. 27. Slated for release later this year, the 27th edition will see the rising Dutch producer bringing a contemporary perspective to the series. The compilation’s latest single sees the Dutch producer tackling the oft-remixed “Body Language.” Retaining subtle elements of the original’s taut groove, Helsloot turns that groove into a glistening and melodic synth-driven melody and pairs it with a hypnotic, motorik-like groove, which gives the Dutch producer’s take on the song a trance-inducing yet introspective feel that irresistibility beckons the listener to move.

“I know this track has been remixed a lot so I said to myself ‘challenge accepted’. My vision was to make a full chord melody out of the iconic bassline that slowly evolves into the original,” Helsloot says of his remix.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rising Welsh Artist CATTY Shares Pulsating and Swooning “Make You Love Me”

CATTY is a rising Caernarfon, Wales, UK-born, London-based artist, whose work is steeped in Welsh folklore, shaped by a lifetime of doomed crushes and anchored by a flair for the dramatic and a steadfast refusal to soften her edges.  “Being Welsh seeps through my veins – it feels like a punch in the gut when people don’t know I’m Welsh,” she says. “I’m just writing about my life and I happen to be a massive lesbian. If I didn’t say ‘she’ in my songs, I wouldn’t be writing honest music – and what’s the point in that?”

The Caernarfon-born, London-based artist’s debut EP, last year’s Healing Out of Spite received praise from NME, Popjustice, Dork Magazine, Clash Magazine, Official Charts, DIY Magazine and a lengthy list of others, while being championed by BBC Radio 1 personalities Jodie Bryant, Mollie King and Maia Beth. Adding to a breakthrough year, her debut headline show sold-out in 15 minutes. She also opened for Dylan McCarthy, Beth McCarthy — and she opened for the legendary Stevie Nicks at BST Hyde Park. The rising Welsh-born artist closed the year out with a sold-out show at London’s Lafayette.

This year CATTY has played sets at Birmingham Pride, London Pride, Latitude Festival, Reeperbahn Festival and the Women’s Rugby World Cup. And building upon a growing profile, her highly-anticipated, six-song, sophomore EP Bracing For Impact is slated for an October 24, 2025 release through AWAL. The EP will feature the previously released “4am (Back in His Bed),” “Joyride,” and “Prized Possession.”

Throughout the EP’s six-songs, the rising Welsh artist tells stories of queer love discovery, of desire, pain, resilience and ultimately hope. In many ways, the EP’s material is a total embodiment of queer life, capturing the euphoria, bruises and ache of her personal experience — but while pulling at something profoundly universal.

“I think I lived a year of my life trying to protect myself so much that I forgot to live. And this entire EP is basically me saying yeah, I’m shit scared of failing, I’m shit scared of getting hurt, I’m shit scared of no happy ending but I do owe myself a life,” CATTY says. “Bracing For Impact is basically me saying I’m here, I know who I am, I’ve been in this industry for ten years, put me on your stages! I’ll sing my little heart out on them and you will see it drip from my sleeve. It’s weird not to be writing break up songs right now, I really felt like that was my forte so if anyone wants me to slag off their boyfriend I am available to write for other people and I would enjoy that.”

Bracing For Impact’s final, pre-release single “Make You Love Me” opens with a swelling and dramatic string introduction before quickly morphing into a slickly produced, pulsating pop tune that channels Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks while showcasing the Welsh artist’s big, pop belter delivery and her penchant for big, euphoric hooks. “Make You Love Me” is rooted in a deeply lived in portrait of a narrator, desperately clinging to hope after a series of crushing disappointments, and steadfastly determined to rewrite the bitter endings of her previous love affairs, situationships and flings to the happily ever after that she deserves. It’s a swooning mix of desperation, desire and pride of the heartbroken and lovelorn romantic.

“‘Make You Love Me’ is me casting a little spell,” the rising Welsh-born, London-based artist says. “I love with every fibre of my being, and in the words of my lord and saviour Stevie Nicks: ‘you will never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you’ – and you won’t. I will write my little melodies and I will sing them for the rest of time. I’m such a hopeless romantic, a real f*cking idiot in love. I’ve descended from a long line of people who meet their match at a young age and hold their hands forever, which makes me see things as what I hope they are and not what they actually are sometimes – but I love being sensitive and soft and letting my heart lead me, even if it has famously taken me to the depths of hell, I will crawl back out again.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Shares Dreamy “No Right Or Wrong”

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK further cemented his reputation for being restlessly prolific with the recent release of the five-song Libra EP. 

Libra EP features opening and title track “Libra,” and the EP’s latest single “No Right Or Wrong,” sees the JOVM mainstay effortlessly balancing in-your-face swagger and skittering boom bap with dreamily ethereal yet soulful synths. And much like its predecessor, “No Right Or Wrong” manages to be simultaneously lounge and club friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Still Blank Shares Punchy and Anthemic “Same Sun”

Rising, transcontinental duo Still Blank — Kaua’i, HI-born, Los Angeles-based Jordy and Manchester, UK-based Ben — have quickly established a difficult to pigeonhole, often minimalist yet emotionally rich sound that draws from shoegaze, grunge and folk.

The duo’s unique sound comes from other unlikely roots: Jordy grew up immersed in the natural rhythms of island life in Hawaii, gigging at weddings and fundraisers by the time she was in her early teens. Her early musical efforts drew inspiration from Hawaiian traditions and Kaua’i’s solitude. Ben, who ,was raised steeped in Manchester’s rich and deep musical legacy, played some of his earliest gigs in pubs with his dad’s band. He developed a love of ambient textures, citing The Durutti Column and Vini Reilly as formative influences.

The duo’s unlikely meeting in the UK sparked a lightning-in-a-bottle creative partnership that started as casual jam sessions in a Liverpool basement and quickly evolved to sessions ranging from stripped-back recordings on a broken, classical guitar to long studio sessions fueled by long walks through rural Wales and a shared commitment to imperfect perfection. 

As a band, the transcontinental duo’s work seemingly echoes the mood and vibe of acts like Yo La Tengo, Big Thief and Cat Power paired with lyrics informed by people-watching, dreams, nature, introspection and existential observation.

The pair’s highly anticipated self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a November release through National Anthem/Capitol Records. “This was a transformational period of our lives, which is reflected throughout the entirety of the record,” Still Blank’s Jordy explains. “Some of the songs were written when we first met, some on other sides of the world while navigating separation, and others born into existence in less than a day, after we initially thought we’d finished the record. With a record written before we’d even conjured up a name, the whole creation of this album felt serendipitous – from a chance meeting between ourselves to magically finding likeminded collaborators who took a chance on 2 kids and allowed us to experiment without any pressure from outside sources.”

The self-titled debut will feature their debut single “What About Jane,” which received praise from the Under The Radar, Clash, Dork, DIY and more, the breakneck post-punk-like “Ain’t Quite Right,” and their latest single “Same Sun.” “Same Sun” is a punchy and propulsive tune that sees the transcontinental duo pairing rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with a gritty, 90s grunge-meets-post punk-like arrangement. And it may arguably be the pair’s most urgent, forceful song they’ve recorded to date.

Built around a hypnotic baritone guitar riff and recorded in a single take, the song as Jordy explain is “about how we can be so disconnected from the reality of other people’s lives around the world, but at the same time we’re all connected in a fundamental way, we’re all staring at the same sun.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Ethereal and Soulful “Libra”

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK further cemented his reputation for being restlessly prolific with the recent release of the five-song Libra EP.

“Libra,” the EP’s opening and title track is a deep house banger, anchored around a hypnotic and rave-friendly motorik groove, broodingly atmospheric synths, skittering boom bap., electronic glitch and robotic vocal samples. Channeling Larry Levan, Kraftwerk and Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa, “Libra” manages to be simultaneously ethereal, soulful and dance floor friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Niia Shares Mesmerizing, Genre-Defying “Pianos and Great Danes”

Born Niia Bertino, Niia is a Needham, MA-born, Los Angeles-based classically trained composer, pianist and vocalist. Deeply rooted in jazz, her work blends elegance, edge and a timeless voice with razor-sharp, seemingly lived-in songwriting. Bertino’s previously released work has received praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Interview Magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar.

The Los Angeles-based artist’s recently released, fifth album, the Spencer Zahn co-produced V is the culmination of years spent experimenting at the intersection of tradition and reinvention. Existing in the tension between control and collapse, V sees her seamlessly bending the electronic textures of contemporary, experimental pop with the interplay that live, jazz-rooted musicianship. The album’s arrangements stretch — sometimes restrained, sometimes theatrical– but always with intention. As a classically trained musician, who grew up watching Italian cinema, Bertino explains, “I pulled from the harmonic language of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and from the psychological atmosphere of film scores.”

Arguably, one of Bertino’s most personal albums to date, V thematically explores the full spectrum of the self — self-harm,. self-delusion, self-awareness and in rare moments, self-love. “Not in a moralizing way, but in a very human one,” she adds. “The good and bad live side by side, often in the same verse. One minute I’m performing heartbreak like it’s a role I’ve rehearsed, the next I’m quietly admitting I caused the whole thing. That contradiction is the truth.”

V‘s latest single “Pianos and Great Danes” is a mesmerizing and mind-bending mix of propulsive, rave-inspired drum ‘n’ bass grooves, piano-driven jazz, experimental pop and soul that captures its narrator’s desperately unhinged psychological state with an uncanny precision, while being remarkably cinematic. Thematically exploring sex as an escape, Bertino says the song is “closer to a film score than anything from the Great American Songbook,” Niia says.

“Written like a monologue with chord changes, it leans into space and narrative, letting the harmony suggest the emotional shifts,” she continues. “Embracing emotional residue, there’s a chaotic feeling where the only way out is to melt through the track.”  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: White Birches Share Brooding and Stormy “Breathing”

Formed back in 2013, the Swedish synth pop/darkwave duo White Birches — Jenny Gabrielsson Mare and Fredrik Jonasson — quickly received attention across Scandinavia with the release of 2014’s debut EP Stands of White Birches and 2015’s full-length debut, Dark Waters, which saw the pair establishing a eerily moody sound that some compared to the likes Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and The Sisters of Mercy. Adding to a growing profile across the region, the duo’s full-length debut received a Best Synth nomination at that year’s Swedish Indie Grammy Awards, Manifestgalan.

The duo signed with Progress Productions, who released their sophomore album, 2017’s When The Street Calls, which featured the 4AD Records heyday-like “Howl.”

The Swedish synth outfit’s highly-anticipated third full-length album, A New Reign will feature their latest single “Breathing,” which the pair says sets the tone for the entire album. Featuring thunderous, industrial-like thump, layers of eerily atmospheric synths and bursts of scorching feedback as a brooding and stormy bed for Gabrielsson Mare’s dreamily intense delivery.

“Breathing,” captures a narrator, desperately holding on to a thin thread of what might be left of their sanity, and under intense pressure, trying to take long, slow breaths to get themselves right; to get their mind and heart to stop racing . . . It shouldn’t be surprising that the song might evoke how unsettled, unstable and desperate you might feel right this moment. Keep breathing.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Atlanta’s Silk Daisys Shares Swooning, Halloween-Themed “Haunted House”

Atlanta-based dream pop/post-punk duo Silk Daisys — James Abercrombie and romantic partner Karla Jean Davis — have been making music together for some time, but their forthcoming Silk Daisys and Damon Moon co-produced debut will be their first, official release. Interestingly, the Silk Daisys name has been around even further, with Abercrombie using the name on Soundcloud for about a decade to upload random covers and the occasional original song.

“We recorded our album over two weeks with Damon Moon (Bathe Alone, Sleepers Club) at this studio Standard Electric Recorders in Atlanta. Damon was awesome to work with,” the duo says. “We spent a ton of time just talking about music the three of us love and sharing songs back and forth. We’d name some obscure part of a song as a reference and he’d get it immediately, and dial in the tones perfectly. Damon also played drums and percussion on the album. The three of us produced it together, and it was all really collaborative and fun.”`

But in the meantime, the Atlanta-based duo’s latest single, the Halloween-themed “Haunted House,” channels Pygmalion and Souvlaki-era Slowdive with the song featuring fuzzy and swirling guitar textures, glistening synth bursts, thunderous drumming, boy-girl harmonies and enormous hooks and choruses. And at its core, the song sees the duo pairing goth and Romantic themes, evoking the bitter longing for a loved one you can never get back.

“Haunted House” is what I’d consider our only true shoegaze song, though shoegaze elements find their way into our songs just because we’re such huge fans of the genre. When I wrote it, I was thinking about this great Lee Hazlewood song, ‘Won’t You Tell Your Dreams,'” says Silk Daisys’ James Abercrombie. “It’s about how he can’t stop dreaming of an old love. It has this really haunting vibe to it. We’re also really into haunted houses and carnival dark rides and anything in that realm… Karla listens to a lot of ghost story podcasts. Our daughter has ghost hunting equipment and takes it with her to old places. I tend to be a little on the skeptical side, but I am coming around. I really love ghost stories where spirits are doing something routine, like getting their morning coffee. There’s something really interesting to me about the memory of someone being so strong that it feels palpable, like it’s inhabiting your space and haunting you. Karla had the idea to make the vocals at the end sound super ghostly, which I think really adds to the spookiness of the track.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jenny James Shares Dreamy “Abandoning Alice”

Jenny James is an Oxnard, CA-based singer/songwriter, musician painter and college professor at Oxnard College. As a singer/songwriter, James has penned songs that have been recorded by Tanya Tucker, Carlene Carter, The Judds and KT […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: dune reaper Shares Bruising Ripper “forever asleep”

Burlington, ON-based duo dune reaper — Hunter Murray (drums, vocals) and Nathanael Smith (guitar) — can trace their origins to when its members first met while working at a construction site. The duo bonded over a shared passion for music and they spent countless hours crafting a sound that meshes elements of stoner rock, punk rock, alternative metal and alternative rock, rooted in their motto to “make music loud again.”

Released earlier this year, the duo’s debut single “forever asleep” is a bruising and forceful ripper, featuring Murray’s thunderous drumming and impassioned delivery and Smith’s muscular riffage paired with rousingly anthemic, mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically channeling 90s alt rock — think Nirvana‘s “Dive,” Melvins and the like — the Canadian duo’s debut single is informed and inspired by their own lives, in which they struggle with juggling physically demanding blue-collar jobs while chasing their musical dreams in their free time. And as a result, the song captures and expresses frustration, exhaustion, and the desperate desire to make it at all costs in a way that should feel familiar to anyone, who’s working for a living and hustling big dreams on the side.

“Balancing 60-hour workweeks in the construction industry while trying to bring this song to life was an intense challenge. Every verse, every line of the lyrics was forged in the pressure and exhaustion of that grind,” the Canadian duo explain. “That struggle is what shaped the song’s raw, aggressive energy — it’s the sound of frustration turned into fire. At its core, the track captures the voices of two kids who are tired of only being able to chase their passion in the slivers of time left over from their day jobs. It’s a rebellion against limitation, a release of pent-up creativity that had to wait until the weekend to breathe.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Cenzontles Shares Defiantly Hopeful “Somos Semillas”

Deriving their name from the Nahuatl word for mockingbird, the Richmond, CA-based Los Cenzontles (pronounced senn-SONT-less) — is an acclaimed touring and recording band and a nonprofit cultural arts academy for kids. Over their three-plus decade history, the recording and touring outfit has dug deep into cultural traditions, creating a vibrant, contemporary sound infused with the gutsy soul of Mexico’s rural roots, recording and releasing over 30 albums. 

The collective have supported those albums with tours across the US, Europe, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico. And they’ve collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed, internationally recognized artists including The Chieftains, Los Lobos, Los Tigres del Norte, Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo, Linda Ronstadt, Taj Mahal and a lengthy list of others. 

Their core members of the recording and touring band also serve as the programming staff and teachers of Los Cenzontles Academy, where they have been passing on musical traditions to new generations and inviting their students to perform with them on stage and participate in production projects since 1994. 

The acclaimed collective’s latest single “Somos Semillas,” is the first of five new singles that they’ll be sharing this month. Written in Spanish by longtime member of Los Cenzontles, Verenice Velázquez, the track is performed by a unique cross-generational ensemble of Los Cenzontles Academy’s students, teachers and alumni, including a spoken-word recitation by Raúl Rivera, a 15-year old student, accompanied by Verenice dancing zapateado; and a Hector Espinoza-written arrangement performed by 18-year old Camila Ortega on quijada, a percussion instrument made from the dried and hollowed-out jawbone of a donkey, horse, mule or a cow, in which the animal’s teeth act like a rattle; 19 year-old Daniel Ortega on tuba and saxophones; 19 year-old Cruz Torres on accordion; 16 year-old Natalie Caldera on bass; 16 year-old Joshua Cerecedo on tololoche, a Mexican version of a double bass that’s smaller than the European double bass that’s traditionally played with a percussive, slapping technique; 17 year-old Eric Garcia on 12-string guitar; Los Cenzontles alumni Fidel Lopez on trombone; and Los Cenzontles faculty members Silvestre Martinez on cajon, a box-shaped percussive instrument that the player sits on and plays by tapping and/or slapping the front and near-facing sides; and Eugene Rodríguez on guitar.

The arrangement fuses elements of son jarocho, corrido tumbado and banda to create a sound that lovingly and proudly bridges generations, heritage and traditions, while being remarkably contemporary. The song’s lyrics touch on themes of community, migration, resilience and hope in a way that’s desperately needed in such dark, uneasy times. It’s reminder that joy, hope and pride in your heritage can be defiant and revolutionary in the face of rampant racism and fascism.

“This song represents the heart of Los Cenzontles . . . young people rooted in deep tradition, expressing themselves in ways that feel current and alive,” Los Cenzontles founder and Eugune Rodríguez says. “’Somos Semillas’ reminds us that our culture continues to grow and thrive through each new generation.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Velatine Teams Up with Holly Purnell on Brooding “Oh See Me — The Siren”

Loki Lockwood is a Melbourne-based songwriter and producer and creative mastermind behind the darkwave/goth recording project Velatine, which for the bulk of is history saw him crating a unique and fresh take on a familiar and beloved sound through experimenting and working with different vocalists.

Earlier this year, the Aussie producer and musician collaborated with Nocturna on the slow-burning and broodingly cinematic “Till Death Do We Art.” But with Lockwood’s latest Velatine single, “Oh See Me — The Siren,” the Melbourne-based musician and producer collaborates with Holly Purnell, who was discovered through an Instagram ad seeking a vocalist and then recruited to be the project’s full-time vocalist.

On “Oh See Me — The Siren,” Purnell’s remarkably Siouxsie Sioux-like vocal is paired with a brooding and glitchy industrial-meets-post-punk production that continues to showcase Lockwood’s unerring knack for catchy hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: TRAITRS Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Burn In Heaven”

With the release of their first three albums, 2017’s Rites and Rituals, 2018’s Butcher’s Coin and 2021’s Horses in the Abattoir, Toronto-based coldwave duo TRAITRS blended horror-based imagery with anthemic choruses and cinematic, atmospheric soundscapes. And during that time, the duo evolved from bedroom artists selling cassette tapes to amassing millions of streams globally and playing hundreds of shows internationally.

The Canadian duo’s latest single, the Josh Korody-produced, Matt Colton-mastered “Burn In Heaven,” is their first single since the release of Horses in the Abattoir. Channeling The Cure, Bauhaus, Depeche Mode and Cocteau Twins, “Burn In Heaven” continues a run of broodingly cinematic material that showcases their unerring knack for crafting rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.

Lyrically, the song is inspired and informed by the harrowing real-life soy of 23-year-old Anneliese Michel, who underwent 67 exorcisms before dying of malnutrition — a tragedy that exposed the devastating consequences when blind faith eclipses medical science. Exploring themes of religious extremism, possession and the clash between faith and science, “Burn In Heaven,” is perfect for spooky season while being big club and arena friendly.

“The song deals with possession and the extremities of faith vs science,” the Toronto-based duo explains. “It examines the instilled religious beliefs where people think they’re going to get a pardon by god for horrifying acts when they get to heaven. It’s this idea that shaped the entirety of our new record.”

The band’s forthcoming album Possessor is slated for release next year.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Taleen Kali Shares Bruising “Crossed”

JOVM mainstay Taleen Kali (she/they) is a Los Angeles-born and-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, poet, essayist, visual artist, Dum Dum Records founder and head and Dum Dum Fest founder. As a singer/songwriter and musician, Kali has made a career out of crafting Romantic punk songs that are routinely dreamy and defiant while featuring elements of shoegaze, psych rock and grunge.

The Los Angeles-based artist also has been influenced by melodies and imagery from her Armenian heritage and her parents’ birthplaces of Lebanon and Ethiopia, fusing her cultural heritage and identity with the sounds of the modern countercultures that Kali grew up embracing and eventually exploring as musician.

Kali’s career started in earnest with a stint in Los Angeles-based outfit TÜLIPS. After TÜLIPS split up, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstay stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist, eventually touring across the US with Ex Hex, Alice Bag and Seth Bogart. 

The JOVM mainstay’s 2018  Kristin Kontrol-produced Soul Songs EP was recorded at Hollywood-based Sunset Sound Studios and found Kali’s long-held riot grrl ethos maturing into a polished, multifaceted punk-leaning sound with elements of noise pop and New Wave. The EP received praise from BUST Magazine and Stereogum, who likened her sound to a contemporary Blondie. Soul Songs was also included in Pitchfork‘s Guide to Summer Albums and LA Weekly‘s Best Indie Punk Albums. 

Their 2023 Jeff Schroeder and Josiah Mazzaschi-co-produced full-length debut Flower of Life saw the JOVM mainstay firmly cementing a fuzzy and noisy take on psych punk paired with vocals that ran the range of femme punk and shoegaze siren. The album’s first two singles “Flower of Life” and “Crusher” received airplay from KEXP and KCRW respectively. KCRW’s Henry Rollins — yes, that Henry Rollins — played the album on the station literally weekly after the album’s release. And the album’s material received heavy rotation over at KEXP.

Adding to a growing national profile, Kali was interviewed by Spin. Flowers of Life was named a Bandcamp Album of the Day. Kali also supported the album with two US tours that included sets at Freakout Fest, Psyched Fest, Treefort, SXSW and their own Dum Dum Fest.

Hot on the heels of their recent appearance at this year’s Purple City Fest in Edmonton, Kali and their backing band have just embarked on a North American tour. The tour includes an October 8, 2025 stop at Purgatory. And as always, the remaining tour dates are below.

But in the meantime, the JOVM mainstay shares their latest single “Crossed,” a bruising song anchored around thunderously propulsive drumming, swirling, shoegaze-meets-garage punk fuzz and enormous, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with Kali’s seductive, commanding delivery. The song may arguably be among the hardest and grittiest songs that the JOVM mainstay has released to date, showcasing a darker sonic direction drawing from the likes of The Horrors, Ringo Deathstarr, Sextile, L.A. Witch, Tamaryn, Curve, Chapterhouse and others.

“The opening lines of the song are ‘Rose is a rose’ which is from my favorite Gertrude Stein poem ‘Sacred Emily.’ It’s meant to convey ‘it is what it is,’ or ‘things are what they are.’ I wanted to write about how matter of fact things are in life when the only choice you have is to ride the waves of grief,” the JOVM mainstay explains. “I lost my grandmother in 2023, the year we released our debut album, and the song ‘Crossed’ is a personal exploration where I’m just trying to make sense of the loss. Missing my favorite person on earth and wishing I could find a way to commune with the dead. The artwork features an Ethiopian cross that my grandmother always used to wear from her hometown of Addis Ababa, which she passed onto me.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Analine Shares a Lounge and Club Friendly Bop

Analine is a French composer and producer, who describes their sound as a fusion between pop, rock, jazz and electronic music. Once a former academic, who specialized in medieval history, the French composer and producer […]