JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Carlos Santana’s 79th birthday.
Category: Video
Throwback: Happy 62nd Birthday, Chris Cornell!
JOVM’s WIlliam Ruben Helms celebrates the 62nd anniversary of Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Kool G. Rap!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Kool G. Rap’s 58th birthday.
Throwback: R.I.P. Jennifer Finch
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of L7’s Jennifer Finch.
Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Brian May!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Queen guitarist Dr. Brian May’s 78th birthday.
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.”
Throwback: Happy 85th Birthday, Martha Reeves!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Martha Reeves’ 85th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 97th Birthday, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 97th anniversary of the birth of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
New Video: TOMORA Shares Expansive, Live Version of “IN A MINUTE”
TOMORA is a collaborative project featuring:
- The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.
- Norwegian artist AURORA: AURORA has released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.
TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.
Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Then, last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from Spin, BrooklynVegan, Stereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.
The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcases a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.
Released earlier this year through Capitol Records, COME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. The album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s.
The album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together.
“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”
The album also includes singles “COME CLOSER” “SOMEWHERE ELSE” and “I DRINK THE LIGHT.” After a successful Spring tour to support their debut effort together, the pair went to Rowland’s Sussex, UK-based Rowlands Audio Research Studio to record a live version of album closing track “IN A MINUTE” that’s inspired by their ever-increasing extended performances of the song as part of the encourage of their first-ever live shows together, including two rapturously received sets at this past year’s Coachella.
Whereas, the album version of “IN A MINUTE” distills the duo’s quickly established euphoric push-pull chemistry into a tight, breakneck structure, the Live in the Studio version of the song, clocks in at 10 minutes gives the duo the ability to stretch out and to roam a bit musically, building from the song’s central refrain into an extended dreamy sequence of densely layered shifts, shifting rhythms beneath otherworldly harmonies, before returning to the song’s hook, giving the song even more of a mind-bending, lysergic quality.
Directed by Adam Smith the gorgeously shot accompanying video for “IN A MINUTE (LIVE FROM THE STUDIO VERSION)” captures the feverish euphoria of a life TOMORA set.
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, GURU!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 65th anniversary of the birth of GURU.
New Video: Moon Darling Shares Shimmering and Propulsive “Coyote”
Originally formed in Seattle and currently based in Los Angeles, psych duo Moon Darling — Michal Julian (vocals, guitar) and Eliza Karpel (bass) — evoke the spirit of classic, 1970s psychedelia with a distinctly modern perspective. The duo have established a sound that blends simmering textures, hypnotic melodies with sharp pop craftsmanship in a way that’s been described as “saucy and stylish” and “bewitching,” showcasing a balance of mystique and accessibility.
Recorded in a rented cabin in Widgeon Hill, Centralia, WA and engineer by the band’s Michael Julian, the Los Angeles-based duo’s sophomore album Hearts To Blame features material yet deeply melodic, and sees the band weaving together kaleidoscopic psych pop arrangements and driving disco rhythms with immersive experimentation. Throughout the album’s runtime, the album will reportedly moving between dreamlike, hypnotic groove-driven tracks and cinematic psych pop, showcasing the band’s ability to readily embrace versatility without eschewing cohesion or emotional resonance. Hearts To Blame finds the Los Angeles-based duo expanding beyond traditional and long-held psych rock conventions while remaining undeniably accessible.
Ultimately, the album’s captures a band that’s unafraid to evolve, pairing vintage influences with modern production and an adventurous songwriting. “The title Hearts To Blame really is as literal as it sounds,” the band says. “It’s about making choice and guiding yourself through life by the feeling you have in your heart, whether those are good choices or bad.”
Each of the album’s songs were written in direct response to the emotions and circumstances the band was living through at the time of its creation, making it an album that functions as both a reflection and outlet. Arguably, the album may be the most honest of their growing catalog.
“Coyote,” Hearts To Blame‘s latest single is a hooky mix of metal, disco and New Wave featuring Julian’s metal-styled falsetto floating over a galloping arrangement of punchy disco rhythms with an even punchier bass line, Stevie Nicks “Stand Back”-era synth oscillations and shimmering and squiggling bursts of guitar,Inspired by the boundless sense of adventure that comes from being out on the open road, “Coyote” seemingly channels Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Iron Maiden, Dio and the like, but if they had a related a disco-metal album.
Filmed and edited by the duo, the accompanying music video features the duo within a feverish, psych pop dreamscape but seen through a running coyote’s mouth. It’s DIY, low-budget, delirious and downright fun.
Throwback: Happy 74th Birthday, Stewart Copeland!
JOVM William Ruben Helms celebrates The Police drummer Stewart Copeland’s 74th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 55th Birthday, Ed Kowalczyk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk’s 55th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Linda Ronstadt!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Linda Ronstadt’s 80th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Ian Curtis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 70th anniversary of the birth of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.