Category: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ Paradise Jonze Shares Introspective and Soulful “OLDER”

Los Angeles-based hip-hop duo Paradise Jonze — JakeyO (vocals) and Alpharo (vocals, production) — released their six-track, self-titled debut EP last month. The EP sees the pair trading verses on growth and change over dusty, chopped-up soul instrumentals.

The EP’s latest single, opening track “OLDER” features the pair trading the sort of introspective and unabashedly honest verses that recall JOVM mainstays Atmosphere paired with a dusty, chopped up and soulful instrumental that’s one-part J. Dilla, one-part Stones Throw Records.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Major Lazer’s House Music Remix of Amadou & Mariam’s “Mogolu”

Over the course of their almost 50-year career, the iconic and beloved Malian duo Amadou & Mariam have an illustrious career that has been them take the Malian blues that made them a household name in Africa and opened it up to rock, hip-hop and EDM/dance influences, spreading their unique Afropop message and joie de vivre. “We’ve always dreamed of tearing down walls and opening people’s ears to new sounds so the whole world can discover and appreciate Malian music,” Amadou & Mariam says.

Released last month, the compilation album La Vie Est Belle highlights the pairs legacy as one of Africa’s most famous duos and the massive influence they’ve had paving the way for an exciting, new generation of African artists, who have begun to dominate the Western mainstream. The Malian duo have also been ambassadors of Afro-pop, who have collaborated with some of the most iconic and biggest stars of Western mainstream music, including U2, Coldplay, Stevie Wonder and David Gilmour — with their seven studio albums selling over one million records globally.

Amadou & Mariam have made the rounds of the global festival circuit with stops at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, as well as at The World Cup, NPR’s Tiny Desk and this year’s Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony, where they covered Serge Gainsbourg‘s “Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je Me’n Vais.” They’ve also made the run of the late-night TV circuits across both the US and U.K.

And adding to their global profile, the duo have collaborated with JOVM mainstays Sofi Tucker, BLOND:ISH, Santigold, Akon, TV on the Radio and Damon Albarn.

La Vie Est Belle features new and exclusive material, as well as essential songs recorded and released over the last 20 years, including material off Dimanche à Bamako, the album that propelled the duo into pop stardom, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Album single “Mogolu,” which derives its title from the Bambara word for “people” is a celebration of all things human — human encounters, travels, cultural exchange and diversity, echoing the acclaimed pair’s longstanding commitment to global peace. Featuring layers of skittering and propulsive African polyrhythm paired with the Malian duo’s gorgeous boy-girl melodies and harmonies and glistening guitarrs “Mogolu” is a sleek and incredibly catchy synthesis of the traditional and the modern that has managed to burn up dance floors while subtly recalling the likes of La Confusion‘s “Bofou Sakou.”

Mogolu Remixes EP features remixes of “Mogolu” by a series of acclaimed producers including PPJ, Busy Twist and Major Lazer, the powerhouse production outfit led by Diplo. The Major Lazer remix of “Mogolu” turns the song into a slickly produced, club banger with dense layers of oscillating synths, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump while retaining the gorgeous melodies and soulfulness of the original.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Warhaus Shares Sultry “No Surprise”

Maarten Devoldere is a Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is known for being co-lead vocalist and one-half of the core songwriting duo behind the critically applauded Belgian indie rock outfit Balthazar. Devoldere is also known for being the creative mastermind behind the equally applauded solo recording project Warhaus. 

The Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s third Warhaus album 2022’s Ha Ha Heartbreak was inspired by a recently broken heart, and was written during a three-week stay in Palermo. The sorrow he felt was too difficult to handle, so he went to Sicily to escape. But as it turns out, those who try to outrun life and heartache almost always discover that they can never run from themselves.

Ha Ha Heartbreak saw Devoldere attempting to wrap his sorrow into hooks, instantly singalong choruses and irresistible melodies. Sonically, the album’s material is light yet lush, featuring strings, sensual vocals, horns and bursts of playful piano. The result is an album that’s a deep and moving emotional exploration while being musically rich.

Devoldere’s fourth Warhaus album, the Jasper Maekelberg-produced Karaoke Moon is slated for a November 22, 2024 release through Play It Again Sam. Maekelberg and Devoldere spent nine months collaborating in a Bruges-based attic studio, combing through over 50 songs the acclaimed Belgian artist had written since Ha Ha Heartbreak‘s release.

The new album thematically toys with modern views on masculinity. With a quirky sense of humor and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Devoldere effortlessly bypasses an uncomfortable conversation, mocking himself and his kid with double-edged wit. Throughout the album, it frequently seems Devoldere is battling with his own mind, diving into the deep waters of his subconscious.

“No Surprise,” Karaoke Moon‘s second and latest single in its original demo version was a pumping disco-tinged track. But the final album version is a sultry and Sade-era Quiet Storm and Avalon-era Roxy Music-like late night shuffle of a track anchored by Devoldere’s expressive crooning, shimmering guitar and organ-driven choruses featuring Sylvie Kreusch. “No Surprise” will further cement the Belgian artist’s reputation for deliberately crafted material that’s sophisticated yet simultaneously earnest and very funny.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: BUÑUEL Shares a Primal and Incisive Ripper

BUÑUEL — OXBOW‘s Eugene S. Robinson, Afterhours and A Short Apnea‘s Xabier Iriondo (guitar), The Framers‘ Andrea Lombardini (bass) and Il Teatro Degli Orrori’s Franz Valente (drums) — is a transatlantic supergroup that specializes in heavy music that’s been described as beautiful, merciless and unforgiving.

Creatively, the band has always been led by instinct and the id-like impulse to expressed completely unfiltered and unvarnished emotion through song. And through their close musical alliance, they’ve displayed a seemingly innate ability to craft material that warps and buckles with complexity, freedom, tenderness and primeval energy — simultaneously.

“BUÑUEL is a name that embodies a certain cultural and literary reference, which evokes an entire world,” the band’s Franz Valente says. “Like his films, our Buñuel is surrealism. We take the listeners into a place that’s suspended between dream and reality.” Eugene S. Robinson adds “What we’re doing with BUÑUEL is to carve out a very specific glimpse… partly into hearts of darkness, but more specifically into the depth of our secrets. Secrets we keep from each other, ourselves and whatever futures we’ve imagined for ourselves. We are ultimately trying to communicate something direct and deadly about the human condition.”

Slated for an October 25, 2024 release through SKiN Graft Records and OVERDRIVE Records, the transatlantic supergroup’s latest album, the Timo Ellis-produced Mansuetude derives its title from an archaic word, which means “meekness’ or “gentleness.” Certainly, for a band known for being punishingly heavy, the title probably seems like an ironic juxtaposition. Firmly anchored in the band’s long-held penchant for surrealism, the album reportedly sees the band taking every opportunity they can to stretch their musical tendrils towards discomfort and the deconstruction of tradition, all while reaching absolute abandon. Sonically, the album’s material encompasses many moods — sometimes simultaneously — while blurring elements of post-hardcore, avant-noise, hard blues, post-industrial, symphonic thrash, metal and free-jazz, played at great cost. The record is, in Robinson’s words “extreme but articulate.”

The album also features guest spots from Converge‘s Jacob Bannon (vocals), The Jesus Lizard‘s Tomahawk‘s and The Denison Kimball Trio‘s Duane Denison (guitar), Andrea Beninati (cello) and David Binney (alto sax, vocals).

“Class” Mansuetude‘s latest single is an urgent, amygdala-driven teeth-bared, id-fueled ripper built around Robinson’s primal shouts and howls, thunderous drumming and scorching riffage. Seemingly featuring elements of heavy metal, No Wave, thrash punk and noise rock, “Class” sonically seems like a forceful synthesis of Boris, Bo Ningen, The Stooges and several others while being deliriously artful. But underpinning it all, the song is rooted in incisive socioeconomic criticism that’s furious yet very funny.

“America is schizophrenic about class and class attributes,” BUÑUEL’s Robinson explains. “On the one hand we claim it doesn’t exist here, on the other hand like Paul Fussell lays out in his book on class it works its way through every aspect of American life and living. The song itself eviscerates the notion by placing it where it most needs to be placed: in the iD fuelled [sic] underworld.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Real Mack The Knife Returns with Sensual “Paris Séduit”

The Real Mack The Knife is the creative project of a rather mysterious and prolific American-based electronic music producer. His latest single “Paris Séduit” is a lush and sensual dance pop tune featuring layers of arpeggiated synths, skittering beats and remarkably catchy hooks paired with a sultrily delivered vocals in French and English.

Resembling a sleek synthesis of Ibiza house and French touch, “Paris Séduit” was inspired by a trip to Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games and captures the seductive spirit of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Smile Shares Eerily Sparse “Bodies Laughing”

Last year, The Smile —  Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner — released their critically acclaimed Nigel Godrich-produced full-length debut A Light For Attracting Attention. The album saw the acclaimed outfit collaborating with London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary British jazz musicians that include Bryon Wallen, Theon Cross and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, and Jason Yarde. 

The acclaimed trio started this year with the release of their Sam Petts-Davies-produced sophomore album Wall of Eyes. The album, which featured “Friend of a Friend” and album title track “Wall of Eyes” was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios saw the trio continuing their ongoing collaboration with London Contemporary Orchestra. The album, which charted at #3 on the UK album charts has also received “Best Album of Year So Far” nods from Pitchfork, The Needle Drop, Consequence, BrooklynVegan, Treblezine and Spin. 

Their third album — and second of this year! — the 10-song Sam Petts-Davies-produced Cutouts was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios during the same period of Wall of Eyes. The new album is slated for an Friday release through XL Recordings. 

Adding to a busy and wildly creative year, Thom Yorke shared the original score for Daniele Luchetti’s film Confidenza and announced solo tour dates in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Japan. (Tour dates can be found here: https://www.wasteheadquarters.com/schedule/thom-yorke) Johnny Greenwood debuted a new work X Years of Reverb at Norwich, UK’s 268 year-old Octagon Chapel — and is writing the score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming film, The Battle of Baktan Cross. Tom Skinner released Voices of Bishara Live at “mu” and is touring the summer jazz festival circuit with his own solo material. 

Earlier this year, the trio shared two tracks from the soon-to-be released third album:

  • “Foreign Spies,” a slow-burning and minimalist track featuring woozy synth arpeggios and Yorke’s imitably yearning delivery. Sounding a bit like a mix of Kid A and Amnesiac-era Radiohead, Beach House and Kraftwerk‘s “Hall of Mirrors,” “Foreign Spies” captures a sense of awe, nostalgia and despair. 

  • “Zero Sum,” a funky bit of post punk and math rock featuring a looping and arpeggiated guitar line, relentless four-on-the-floor punctuated with off-kilter percussion, bursts of swaggering horn and Yorke’s punchy vocal turn. Sounding a bit like wild mix of Talking Heads“I Zimbra” and “15 Step,” “Zero Sum” may arguably be the most hook-driven song written and recorded by the acclaimed trio. 

Cutouts‘ latest single “Laughing Bodies” is a brooding and atmospheric track featuring strummed acoustic guitar, eerily atmospheric synths, skittering and propulsive drumming paired with Yorke’s imitably yearning vocal. Sonically, “Laughing Bodies” brings later Radiohead to mind — particularly In Rainbows and The King of Limbs but somehow eerier and more unsettling.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: clo Shares Vibey Neo-Soul Track “appetite”

clo is an emerging, 20-something, San Francisco-born, Brussels-raised, neo-soul/R&B and jazz singer/songwriter, who’s currently splitting her time between New York and Paris, where she’s simultaneously pursuing studies in Neuroscience while modeling, and starting a professional music career. 

The emerging Belgian-born artist can trace the origins of her music career to when she started receiving classical and jazz training in piano when she turned four. Since then, clo has spent much of her formative years creating her own original music, inspired by Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Snoh Aalegra, and CELESTE. 

The young emerging artist’s recently released debut EP Brut derives its name from the French word for “raw.” The EP sees the San Francisco-born artist balancing vulnerability with strength while showcasing her effortlessly soulful vocals.

Brut EP’s latest single “appetite” continues a run of vibey neo-soul tracks that reveals a young artist, who’s not only remarkably self-assured for her relative youth, but who possesses an effortlessly soulful, powerhouse vocal. But let’s not forget, that the new track also showcases an artist whose lyrics come from a real, lived-in place; so, the hurt and heartache at the core of the song was deeply experienced — and in turn, deeply felt.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: French Sibling Duo Legacy Share Anthemic “So Close To Me”

Legacy — Margaux and Alex — is a French sibling duo, who have developed a sound that they’ve dubbed “hyper rock,” which features elements of rock, metal, pop and electronic music, created through a mix of analog and electronic instrumentation. Thematically, the pairs work touches upon frustration and heartbreak.

The French sibling duo’s latest single, the breakneck-paced, anthemic “So Close To Me” is anchored around a propulsive backbeat, a strummed and looping guitar line and dueling boy-girl vocals paired with rousingly anthemic hooks. Sonically recalling Chicago‘s My Gold Mask and The Kills but with nods to post-punk and darkwave, “Close To Me” is a song that reveals a band with a bold and fresh take on a familiar sound.

Thematically, the new single, as the band explains is about the difficulty in finding your soulmate. “It’s a a subject we’ve been hearing a lot, and we felt it was important to talk about,” the French duo says in press notes. “In the end, what does it really matter if we don’t share our happiness? For the music, we took inspiration from Placebo for the guitar sound and tried to fuse alternative rock and EBM.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Divine Decadence Shares Angry and Anthemic “No Turning Back”

Led by Sabrina and Tatiana, Nice, France-based outfit Divine Decadence can trace their origins back to 2020: While confined to the home studio as a result of COVID-19 quarantines and restrictions, the band had the opportunity […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Lomotor Shares Hypnotic “Bee In A Bag”

Josh Rathburn is a Northern Massachusetts-based electronic music producer best known as Lomotor. Drawing comparisons to Boards of Canada and JOVM mainstay Rival Consoles, and inspired by hills and valleys of his rural surroundings, Rathburn’s work sees him blending modular and analog synthesizers with found sounds and early childhood cassette recordings to create songs that often feel like a scratched and faded memory of a melody heard long ago.

The Northern Massachusetts-based producer’s latest single “Bee In A Bag” is a hypnotic song featuring dense layers of oscillating synths, skittering beats, bursts of spacey feedback paired with a motorik-like groove. While seemingly recalling LCD Soundsystem‘s 45:33 and The Chemical Brothers‘ “Star Guitar” the new single manages to be trippy yet club friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: DC’s Sutras Shares Bruising “A Daily Reprieve”

Washington, DC-based post-hardcore outfit Sutras — Tristan Welch (vocals, guitar) and Frederick Ashworth (drums, bass) — are a self-described “Dharma punk collective,” with its members acknowledging the one thing they know well: suffering. Their work is influenced by some of the DC area’s legendary post hardcore bands, including Majority Rule and Pianos Become The Teeth, their love of the “neo-crust” movement popularized by the likes of Tragedy and From Ashes Rise and their slow of the slow, heavy and dreamy approach of bands like Hum and Jesu.

The DC-based duo’s latest single “A Daily Reprieve” is a slow-burning and bruising dirge featuring thunderous drum work, scorching guitars paired with Welch’s urgent howls. Despite the band’s cited influences, “A Daily Reprieve” brings Low Praise‘s Dressing to my mind — at least to my ears — but angrier, and more desperate, echoing the extreme weirdness and uneasiness of our current moment.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: S.C.A.B. Shares a Rousingly Anthemic Rocker

Led by Sean Carmago (vocals guitar), Queens-based indie outfit S.C.A.B. — currently Carmago, Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their first batch of new material in two years with the October 25, 2024 release of the five-song Rose Colored Glasses EP.

Carmago’s lyrics see him searching for distortions and distractions from the truth, and the interplay between truth and love. And over the pat give years, the band’s work has slowly developed to reflect a worldview created from an awareness of the interplay between truth, love and illusion — and the great comedy of it all. The new EP thematically focuses on love, the uneasy nature of reality, depression, songwriting and being severely, acutely alive.

Rose Colored Glasses EP‘s latest single “IDK New Reality” is a woozy, 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track track anchored around jangling and distorted guitars, a driving groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Carmago’s earnest croon.

Frontman Sean Camargo offers some points of reference for the track “Losing grip on reality. Clinging to identity. A large crucifix in Bolivia guarded by the police. Sexuality. Don’t forget about me. Dancing in the rain. Accepting the present moment as it is.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Shares a Thumping Banger

Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez. 

Last year, the Miami-based DJ stepped out into the spotlight as a producer and artist, who continues his long-held genre-blending approach to his own original music, with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta. 

His latest single, “WTF” is a swaggering and high-energy, club friendly banger featuring relentlessly driving four-on-the-floor that manages to bring Larry Levan-era house music to mind. If you’re not on the dance floor, moving your ass and breaking a sweat, there’s something deeply wrong with you.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: A.K.A. Returns with a Wide-Screen, Club Friendly Banger

Paris-based sibling production and DJ duo Audio Key Architects (A.K.A)  is driven by a deep and abiding passion for electronic music and techno. The siblings’ collaborative project is guided by a shared vision of sharing what they love to create and listen to with the rest of the world.

Clocking in at seven-and-half-minutes, the French sibling duo’s latest single, “Star Lord” manages to be simultaneously cinematic and club friendly, with the song being anchored around dense layers of glistening and arpeggiated synths, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and some mind-bending melodicism. Sonically bringing Magic Sword, Giorgio Moroder, The Chemical Brothers and a lengthy list of others to mind, “Star Lord” reveals a duo that’s boldly pushing their sound in dynamic, new directions.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Schande Shares Driving and Noisy “Gregor MacGregor”

California-born, London -based singer/songwriter and guitarist Jen Chochinov has been crafting catchy, propulsive rock in DIY circles since the 1990s as a solo artist and in a variety of bands. Solo and full adventures throughout her career have included […]