Category: trip hop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s IFULKI Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Something Greater”

London-based trio IFULKI features musicians shaped by a culture of improvisation, openness and collaboration:

  • Queen Kaltoun, a Moroccan-Italian vocalist, who relocated to London when she was 189 to pursue a career in music

  • Charlie, an English-born bassist and synth player with Irish and Ghanian roots

  • Ayman, a Sudanese drummer and percussionist

Each member of the trio have spent years performing across London’s live music circuit, playing sets at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Cafe and Village Underground and a long list of others, while collaboration with a collection of boundary-pushing artists including David Mrakpor, Rebekah Reid, Mei Kirby, Ayo Salawu, Arowah, Tay Grace, and NK-OK.

The London-based trio have quickly established a unique blend of Gnawa inferences, electronic textures and live instrumentation helps to create a sound that’s deeply rooted in ancient traditions while being remarkably modern. Rather than remaining within the boundaries of jazz, the project for the trio became the meeting point of everything the inspired them — the freedom of improvisation, the emotional depth of electronic music, trip-hop and soul, and the philosophy of Queen Kaltoum’s Amazigh heritage.

“Ifulki means ‘beautiful” in the Amazigh language,” Queen Kaltoum explains. “It’s a celebration of the beautiful people and beautiful connections we encounter in this life.” For Queen Kaltoum beauty isn’t something superficial. Beauty exists in kindness, generosity, solidarity and the relationships we build and maintain with each other. Those values, which are deeply embedded within Amazigh culture, quietly shape every aspect of the emerging London-based trio’s creative vision — one, ultimately born, as Queen Kaltoum says, “from a need to bring people together.”

IFULKI’s debut single “Something Greater,” which was released through [PIAS]’s new important SOURCE serves as the trio’s bold introduction to the outsider world. Featuring a broodingly atmospheric production with brassy castanet-driven gnawa percussion, tweeter and woofer rattling tump, twinkling jazz-inspired keys and a gently buzzing bass synths beneath Queen Kaltoum’s bright and effortlessly soulful vocal, “Something Greater” is a lush and cinematic blend of Bristol-era trip hop, jazz and soul that’s simultaneously headphone and club friendly.

The song is about surrendering to the unknown and trusting that thing will ultimately fall into place, and having the faith that whatever the outcome, that’s what is meant to happen. Queen Kaltoum adds, “An unsettling and mysterious atmosphere is present in the music, and thematically matched by the lyrics. This energy never leaves, but combines with tones of positivity and hopefulness brought in by dancey rhythms, with the piano ending the song with a bittersweet melody, contrasting the dark and brooding intensity found in the bass and drums.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Deep Sea Diver Tackles Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”

Seattle-based JOVM mainstays Deep Sea Diver fourth album, last year’s Billboard Heart, which featured “Shovel,” “Let Me Go” feat. Madison Cunningham and “What Do I Know” was released to critical applause internationally. The JOVM mainstays […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

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 […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tricky Returns with Brooding and Atmospheric “Because I Don’t Know”

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

Different When It’s Silent came about during a rather prolific period of activity. Since 2020’s Fall to Pieces, Tricky has released material under several different guises including, Lonely Guest‘s 2021 self-titled effort, a collaboration with Mike Theis, called Theis Thaws, which released 2024’s Fifteen Days and last year’s collaborative album with Marta Złakowska, Out The Way. 

Returning to releasing an album under his own name took on a different shape. Recored between Tricky’s home in France and sessions in Bristol, the album is reportedly a direct, focused batch of material that reconnects with the distinct sonic language that has defined the legendary artist and producer’s work since 1995’s iconic Maxinquaye. And he does by drawing deeply on the musical community that has shaped him and his work. Central to the album’s sound is Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders, whose soulful falsetto is featured through such of the album’s songs. Their deep connection reflects a shared musical background and an instinctive chemistry between the pair. 

“In my mind it was another side project” Tricky explains. But after hearing the material, his manager Alan McGee felt the songs clearly belonged to a Tricky record.

The 14-song Different When It’s Silent sonically sees Tricky blending skeletal blues, brooding electronics, distorted guitars and stark hip-hop rhythms into a sound that’s simultaneously stripped-back and expansive. The album moves fluidly across different styles while rooted in the restless experimentation that has long defined Tricky’s work over the past three-plus decades. 

“I just love making music” Tricky says. “I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to live this life and keep creating.”

The album will include the previously released “Out of Place,” feat. Marta Złakowska and the album’s second and latest single, “Because I Don’t Know.” Featuring Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders’ yearning falsetto delivering the haunting refrain “Can you feel my pain? Do you feel the same? Just let me know” over a pulsing and shadowy synth figure and blasts of scorching guitars. Tricky’s murmured vocal lurk in the background. The song is a tense, uneasy and probing examination of vulnerability, heartache and menace.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lunar Twin Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Disappear into the Earth”

Lunar Twin — Bryce Boudreau and Chris Murphy — is a critically acclaimed duo and a JOVM mainstay act, who have established a sound that fuses dream pop and darkwave with atmospheric rock, electronic textures […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Healing Power of Horses Share Slinky “i wait, i sink”

The Healing Power of Horses is a mysterious and emerging East Anglia, UK-based duo, who defy easy categorization, as they prefer. They’ve spent too much time in the attic making music and not enough time outside, and as a result, they’re pallid, bug-eyed, knock-kneed and on and on.

The duo caught the attention of Los Angeles-based section1, who signed the UK-based duo and released their debut single, “i wait, i sink.” “i wait, i sink” is a slinky and sultry bit of Garbage-like trip hop that rattles, shakes and stomps about the room before fading out into the ether. Their debut single showcases a remarkably self-assured outfit that can craft a brooding yet sexy tune with incredibly catchy hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: SHOLTO Teams Up with Phoebe Coco on Brooding and Atmospheric “Everything is Stolen Anyway”

Initially known as being one-half of indie outfit Sunglasses for Jaws, the rising London-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Oscar “Sholto” Robertson grew up with with a deep and abiding love of jazz, soul, krautrock and soundtracks from the 60s and 70s. As a producer, Robertson honed his production skills under the guidance and tutelage of Allah-Las‘ Nick Waterhouse and Inflo.

A handful of years ago, Roberston stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his recording project, SHOLTO. And with SHOLTO, the rising London-based multi-instrumentalist has firmly cemented a cinematic take on instrumental, psychedelic soul. 

Now, as you may recall Roberton’s sophomore SHOLTO album, last year’s 12-song The Sirens was recorded at the JOVM mainstay’s Hackney-based SJF Studio, and the album saw him continuing an ongoing collaboration with a familiar cast of musicians, including Syd Kemp (bass), Clementine Brown (strings) and Rachel Horton Kitchlew (harp) to craft an album that’s emotionally unflinching and explores themes of duality temptation and emotional dissociation, “blurring grief with groove, seduction and surrender,” as Robertson says.

Sonically, The Sirens saw Robertson building upon the groove-driven, string-soaked soundscapes and ethereal textures that have won him attention in the UK and beyond but while evoking a haunting, uneasy fever dream.

Robertson’s latest single, “Everything is Stolen Anyway” sees the JOVM mainstay diving deeper into his long-held trip-hop influences with a brooding, jazz groove-driven arrangement that seemingly channels Portishead, Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp and No Angel-era Dido among others.. The song also features frequent collaborator Phoebe Coco‘s mesmerizing, whiskey and longing soaked vocal.

“Everything Is Stolen Anyway” is rooted in two central concepts: the comfort in repetition and that nothing we feel or think is entirely new. “Moments of love, loss, wonder and the quiet awe of the sea’s tide arrive to us as if they’re ours alone, yet they’ve all been lived before. Borrowed feelings, borrowed time,” the two collaborators say.

“’Everything is Stolen Anyway’ leans into the thought that art works the same way; every melody, every painting, every idea carries echoes of something earlier,” Robertson and Coco continue. “Songs are fragments passed forward, reshaped, reframed, and retold through new hands and new voices. In that sense, nothing is truly original. But the first time you hear or feel something, it becomes new again.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tricky Teams Up with Marta Złakowska on Breakneck “Out of Place”

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

Different When It’s Silent came about during a rather prolific period of activity. Since 2020’s Fall to Pieces, Tricky has released material under several different guises including, Lonely Guest‘s 2021 self-titled effort, a collaboration with Mike Theis, called Theis Thaws, which released 2024’s Fifteen Days and last year’s collaborative album with Marta Złakowska, Out The Way.

Returning to releasing an album under his own name took on a different shape. Recored between Tricky’s home in France and sessions in Bristol, the album is reportedly a direct, focused batch of material that reconnects with the distinct sonic language that has defined the legendary artist and producer’s work since 1995’s iconic Maxinquaye. And he does by drawing deeply on the musical community that has shaped him and his work. Central to the album’s sound is Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders, whose soulful falsetto is featured through such of the album’s songs. Their deep connection reflects a shared musical background and an instinctive chemistry between the pair.

“In my mind it was another side project” Tricky explains. But after hearing the material, his manager Alan McGee felt the songs clearly belonged to a Tricky record.

The 14-song Different When It’s Silent sonically sees Tricky blending skeletal blues, brooding electronics, distorted guitars and stark hip-hop rhythms into a sound that’s simultaneously stripped-back and expansive. The album moves fluidly across different styles while rooted in the restless experimentation that has long defined Tricky’s work over the past three-plus decades.

“I just love making music” Tricky says. “I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to live this life and keep creating.”

Different When It’s Silent‘s first single “Out of Place” feat. Marta Złakowska features a brooding and cinematic string sample introduction before morphing to a breakneck middle section which features Tricky’s imitable gravelly vocal with a punchy, almost punk-like deliver and Złakowska’s sultry yet restrained crooning. The song closes with a boarding and cinematic string sample. The result is as song that’s simultaneously forceful, uneasy and gorgeous while evoking the sweaty, self-aware sensation of somehow being out of place in your environment through a shifting series of contrasts.

Originally written for Złakowska’s own album, Tricky ultimately reclaimed the song for the forthcoming album.

Directed and edited by Steve Gullick, the accompanying video for “Out of Place” features the collaborators shot in blurred and constant motion in the foreground. In the background we see stylishly shot footage of each artist singing their respective part — or just being in a brooding photo shoot. It further emphasizes the feeling of being out of place.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Massive Attack Teams Up with Tom Waits on Hauntingly Eerie “Boots on the Ground”

Acclaimed Bristol-based trip hop pioneers Massive Attack — currently, Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall — signed to Play It Again Sam, and they celebrated the occasion in grand style: sharing a collaboration with the legendary Tom Waits, “Boots on the Ground”/”The Fly.”

“Boots on the Ground” is a hauntingly eerie track featuring sparse, twinkling piano, off-kilter and skittering percussion paired with the legendary Tom Waits’ distinctive gravelly vocal and some additional vocals from Waits’ son Casey. The song is the first bit of new material from Waits since 2011’s Bad As Me.

Sonically nodding at Johnny Cash‘s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” “Boots on the Ground” evokes a similar sense of Biblical apocalypse — but somehow much more venal, bloodthirsty, stupid and fucked up. It’s a song that lingers, reminding you of the horror-fueled hellscape we’re in.

“It’s a career honour to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos,” Massive Attack says. “Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarisation of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse & abandoned mind.”

“One day many years ago I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate,” Waits explains. “Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots on the Ground’. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style. Man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.

The new song is accompanied by a short film created by the trip hop pioneers, who collaborated with enigmatic photographer and visual artist thefinaleye. The evocative, high-intensity photo montage portrays the momentous and troubling American epoch that we currently inhabit and is yet to be named. And it comes in the aftermath of the largest public protests in American history focused on opposition to ICE/CBP raids, the militarization of domestic forces and state authoritarianism.

The short film quotes statistics and research by the following sources: American Immigration Council, American Civil Liberties Union, Inside Higher Ed, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, US National Library of Medicine, US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Privacy International and FactCheck.org. Viewers seeking further information or wishing to take action are encouraged to visit aclu.org, veterans-aid.net,immigrantdefenseproject.org, and freedomforimmigrants.org.

Along with the single and video, Massive Attack have published an exclusive spoken word reflection on the themes of the work of novelist Omar El Akkad, who wrote American War, What Strange Paradise and One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.

“Boots on the Ground”/”The Fly” is the first bit of Massive Attack material distributed under a Spotify exemption policy. More material is scheduled to be released prior and subsequent to their run of live performances, including their forthcoming European tour and summer festival headlining dates.

In keeping with their ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions across both the live activity and recorded output, Massive Attack have partnered with Good Neighbor to produce an ‘EcoSonic’ pressing of the single. Manufactured using 100% recycled PET (rPET) rather than traditional PVC, the record is fully recyclable and produced via an energy-efficient injection moulding process – a significant shift in record manufacturing. Packaging follows the same approach, with sleeves made from 100% recycled, FSC®-certified paper stock and outer slipcases produced from recycled polyethylene.

If you want to pre-order the vinyl, you can visit the Official Massive Attack Store or go your local indie record store for the limited edition 180g ‘EcoSonic’ record, mixed at random in red, white and blue, in a full color sleeve with additional screen printing. The band will be donating all profits of the sale of the vinyl edition to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the US Immigrant Defense Project. Both are very worthy causes, so if you have a few bucks, buy some vinyl and by supporting these musicians, you’re making sure these organizations can continue to fight the good, necessary fight.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Paris’ OOMA Shares Mesmerizing and Meditative “A Timeless Echo”

Paris-based outfit OOMA — Irish-born singer/songwriter Tansy Greenlee (vocals), Nicolas Bauer (bass), Hélios Mikhaïl (drums), and Florian Berret (piano, synths) — have developed a sound that meshes elements of soul, jazz and trip-hop, featuring ethereal synth laters and intricate grooves paired with mesmerizing moments of improvisation.

Each member of the band leaves their own imprint on the project’s constantly evolving sound, while blurring the lines between structured composition and songwriting and open-ended exploration and improvisation. At the core of their creative process, is the Parisian quartet’s fluid and ever-shifting chemistry, which helps their work be collaborative — and seemingly in perpetual motion.

Lyrically, the band’s material is informed by Greenlee’s existential crises with the music as a refuge, and as an intimate space where she could try to make sense of a world that’s crumbling apart. And in that refuge, raw emotion outweighs certainty.

OOMA’s latest single “A Timeless Echo” is a gorgeous yet meditative track that features Greenlee’s expressive, jazz-like vocal effortlessly dance over a mesmerizing arrangement that blends elements of jazz, trip-hop and pop.

Inspired by a striking image of a bird’s song echoed by others until it outlives the bird that originated it, “A Timeless Echo” thematically explores the passage of time, our own impermanence and mortality. The new single reflects Greenlee’s deep-seated belief in music as a way to leave a trace of one’s existence.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Beth Gibbons!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Portishead frontperson Beth Gibbons’ 60th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Berlin’s Atomic Fruit Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Medicine”

Earlier this year, Berlin-based post-punk/trip hop duo Atomic Fruit — Martin Lundfall (vocals, synths, guitar), Raphaël Giraldi (bass) and Federico Lenzi (drums) — released “Hit The Ground,” which premiered on The Spill Magazine with an evocative music video.

“Medicine,” the third single from the trio’s forthcoming third album is an atmospheric and brooding bit of Bristol-inspired trip hop anchored around shimmering and squiggling, reverb-drenched guitars and a relentless rhythmic pulse paired with Lundfall’s yearning croon, which evoke a tense and feverish mix of desperate, irresistible craving, confusion, bitter regret and self-flagellation.

The new single dives into themes of need and addition, and that invisible tension between what we desire and can’t let go of. The band explains that “Medicine” started out as a song about writer’s block but gradually turned into a song about the awareness of how difficult it is to feel that first spark again.

Along with the new single, the trio will close out 2025 with three Italian dates and a live session in collaboration with video platform Plate:X featuring unreleased tracks from the new album.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: clubdrugs Tackles Portishead’s “Sour Times”

Chicago-based, self-described goth pop duo clubdrugs have developed a reputation both locally and regionally for a genre-defying sound and for captivating live performances.

Last year, I wrote about “Waiting,” a slickly produced, hook-driven, club friendly bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and a sinuous and propulsive bass line that serves as a lush bed for Maria’s yearning vocal to ethereally float over. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for the lovelorn and heartbroken to dance while crying their hearts out on the dance floor.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the season of love, the Chicago-based outfit shared a cover of Portishead‘s “Sour Times” that turns the slow-burning, brooding torch ballad into a tense, club friendly industrial banger.

“As kids, we passed out Valentine’s to our friends to show we care. We miss that,” Maria shares. “This year, our Valentine is this sexy melancholic love song. We hope it resonates with everyone, no matter how they’re feeling this Valentine’s Day.”