JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Yeah Yean Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner’s 51st birthday.
Category: Video
Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Nikki Sixx!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Nikki Sixx’s 67th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, McCoy Tyner!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of the birth of McCoy Tyner.
Throwback: Happy 99th Birthday, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 99th anniversary of the birth of Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton.
New Video: La Femme Co-Founder, Marlon Magnée Shares Breakneck and Punchy “Plus Fort Que Toi”
Marlon Magnée, the co-founder of the acclaimed, French psych outfit and JOVM mainstay act La Femme is stepping out in the spotlight as a solo artist with his debut solo album, the Renaud Letang co-produced Dark Star, which is slated for a March 6, 2026 release through Disque Pointu.
As a member of La Femme, Magnée has earned numerous accolades including Album Révélation of the Year at the Victories de la Musique Awards and multiple RIAA Certified Gold records. He has played sets on some of the world’s biggest and most important stages, including Accor Hotel Arena, Zénith, Glastonbury, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Osheaga.
After 15 years recording, releasing music and touring the world as a member of La Femme, Magnée’s solo debut reportedly sees the La Femme co-founder reconnecting to his earliest passions. The album reflects his long-held taste for unusual blends and singular styles — with lyrics sung in both French and English.
The result is a breakneck, restless, sometimes radical music, conceived “for those with blood in their hearts and the urge to fight back.”
Recorded at Paris‘ legendary Ferber Studios, Dark Star is an oddball, frenzied collision of shadow and light with songs that wrestle with one’s darkest impulses, bad mushroom trips, ayahuasca-fueled revelations, limerence, overwhelming romantic love, family love and self-sabotage. Sonically, the album draws from 60s guitars, an “orgy of synths” from the 80s, pounding drum machines, analog delays and a deliberately raw energy, that sees the La Femme co-founder blending punk rockabilly, punk and coldwave.
Dark Matter‘s latest single “Plus Fort Que Toi” is a perfect example of what to expect from the new album: It’s a seamless and breakneck blend of rockabilly, krautrock and coldwave pulse and punchy punk rock choruses with lyrics delivered in French. Channeling his mind-bending, genre blurring work with La Femme, “Plus Fort Que Toi,” as the La Femme co-founder explains is “about familial love, affirming that when you love, you protect.”
Directed by J.F. Julian, the accompanying video for “Plus Fort Que Toi,” playfully draws from 50s rockabilly and rock tropes, and fittingly is shot in sunny California — while also proudly featuring synths.
Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, J. Mascis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates J. Mascis’ 60th birthday.
New Video: JOVM Mainstays Draag Shares Genre-Bending “Miracle Drug”
With the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Dark Fire Heresy and last year’s Actually, the quiet is nice EP, Los Angeles-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Draag — Adrian Acosta (vocals, guitar), Jessica Huang (vocals, synths), Ray Montes (guitar), Nick Kelley (bass) and Nathan Najera (drums) — received nationally and elsewhere for boldly pushing the boundaries of shoegaze into new, wild directions. And adding to a growing profile, the JOVM mainstay outfit have toured with Wednesday, MSPAINT, Glitterer and are about to wrap up a run of dates with They Are Gutting A Body Of Water.
Building upon growing momentum, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays will start the new year with the Miracle Drug EP, which is slated for a January 23, 2026 through Oakland-based tastemaker label, Smoking Room.
The EP’s first single, EP title track “Miracle Drug” is a mind-bending blend of shoegaze, post-punk and nu-metal that evokes the inner turmoil of someone, who’s suffering from something that they know others can’t see — or even really understand. But in the song’s dreamier moments, there’s a sense of awe and appreciation over the small things.
“Living with an autoimmune condition is an invisible daily fight. Some days you want a miracle drug to escape what feels like a prison in your body,” Draag’s Adrian Acosta says about the new single. “But you don’t take your health for granted. And you learn how to appreciate life and super simple moments deeply. I feel like it’s given me a sharp vision of what really matters.”
The accompanying video is heavily inspired by the aesthetic and feel 80s and 90s Public Access TV including footage of local performers in a shitty studio, the band performing the song in a studio, home footage of young kids in their first band, as well as a lengthy call-in segment with calls from deranged viewers.
Throwback: Happy 59th Birthday, Sinead O’Connor!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 59th anniversary of the birth of Sinead O’Connor.
Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Jim Morrison!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd anniversary of the birth of The Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
New Video: Saint Avangeline’s Lovingly Cinematic and Ethereal Cover of Madonna’s “Frozen”
Saint Avangeline is a rising Atlanta-based artist, who over the course of two albums and a collection of singles has crafted a body of work that’s deeply rooted in her personal journey with mental health struggles, domestic and growing up queer in the South, while offering an unabashedly honest exploration of inner turmoil, rage, hope and resilience. “Most songs are like a diary for me,” the Atlanta-based artist explains. “Exploring my mental health struggles. Trauma, intense feelings. Like sucking the poison out.”
Over the course of the past few years, she has amassed a rabid fan base, while amassing almost 80 million streams on Spotify, 2.3 million monthly Spotify listeners and almost 5.5 billion streams on TikTok.
Earlier this year, the rising Atlanta-based artist shared “Limerence,” a slow-burning track that seemingly nodded at a cinematic, fever-dream-like take on Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush.
Saint Avangeline closes out 2025 with a meditative, ethereal and lovingly faithful take on Madonna‘s 1998’s hit “Frozen,” which also serves a reminder of how spellbinding and remarkably cinematic the original song is. The Saint Avangeline “Frozen” cover is accompanied by a cinematic visual, shot in the Mojave Desert, much like the original, that lovingly draws from and nods at the original.
“A classic from a legend! I think this is one of Madonna’s most gorgeous pieces, and I wanted to pay tribute to her and her monumental impact on the music industry,” Saint Avangeline says. “She has influenced so many artists of this generation, including myself. I had no idea that she would revisit this album only a few weeks after I recorded this! We shot the video in May 2025 in the Mojave Desert in the same location Madonna shot her original music video back in 1998!”
New Video: Howling Bells Shares 120 Minutes MTV-like “Chimera”
Since their beginnings, London-based, Aussie trio Howling Bells — siblings Juanita Stein (vocals, guitar) and Joel Stein (guitar) and Glenn Moule (drums) — have been a bit of anomaly: They relocated to the UK to pursue their dreams of making it. And then, they broke through a British indie scene of three and four dudes wearing skinny jeans wearing bands with their acclaimed, self-titled 2006 full-length debut.
Those dreams of making it big became real: They played an NME Tour and then in stadiums opening for a Coldplay, while winning acclaim from the UK music press.
Throughout their nearly two decade history, the band has gone through a series of lineup changes but some things have remained the same: the core trio’s deep, unbreakable bond and their hypnotic sound, influenced by Tom Waits, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac and Björk.
Howling Bells’ fifth album, Strange Life is slated for a February 13, 2026 release through Nude Records. The long-awaited album is the band’s first album of new material in over 12 years and was recorded with their longtime friend and collaborator Ben Hillier at Agricultural Audio Studios. The new album is reportedly both a vibrant document of and an exploratory testament to the alchemical magic between its core members.
Strange Life‘s latest single, “Chimera” showcases Juanita Stein’s gorgeous and expressive vocal and the band’s knack for big, hooks and choruses paired with an arrangement anchored round chiming guitars, a supple bass line and hi-hat driven drum patterns. If you’re of the 120 Minutes-era MTV age, as I am, “Chimera” will remind you quite a bit of The Sundays and Heaven or Las Vegas-era Cocteau Twins.
“Chimera is a strange word. It means a few different and curious things; in this context, however, I’m using it to mean something of an absurd nature, unattainable, a fantasy,” Howling Bells’ Juanita Stein explains. “Such is the relationship we have with music at times. This song speaks to my experience as a musician, surviving the perpetual ups and downs of the game. But if you’re lucky enough, you have someone who can cut through the noise and help you realise that the fantasy is half the joy. That the longing is part of the journey and that our achievements along the way are deeply meaningful. At its core, ‘Chimera’ is a song about hope and relinquishing control.”
Fittingly, the accompanying video for “Chimera” also further emphasizes the 120 Minutes MTV vibe by featuring trippy, superimposed imagery of the band performing on top of a sunset, flowers and the sea, flowers and rain splattered windows and the like.
Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Frankie Beverly!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 79th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Frankie Beverly.
Throwback: Happy 69th Birthday, Peter Buck!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates R.E.M. co-founder and lead guitarist Peter Buck’s 69th birthday.
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.
Throwback: Happy 93rd Birthday, Little Richard!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 93rd anniversary of the birth of Little Richard.