Category: Video Review

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CHALK Shares Surreal Visual for Bruising “Afraid”

Rising Belfast-based electronic outfit Chalk — Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitar, sampler) and Luke Niblock (drums) — features three award-winning musicians and filmmakers, who can trace the origins of the band to their meeting while attending film school. The trio bonded over having the same musical vision and ambitions. 

Inspired by the ferocity of Dublin‘s guitar band scene’s live shows and the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast, the band has developed and crafted a sound that has been dubbed by some critics as techno-infused, gothic post-punk — and as the band has dubbed Berghain-rock blended with techno punk. 

2023 saw the Northern Ireland-based post punk/electronic trio release their debut EP Conditions. But the band quickly made a name for themselves as a live unit: They exploded out of the gates with opening slots for London-based outfit PVA for their first ever shows, before selling out shows across the UK. Quickly building upon a growing profile across the region and elsewhere, the band landed sets across the European major festival circuit, closing out 2023 with a set at Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP live session. 

Coming off the heels of their Northern Irish Music Prize 2023 Best Live Act win, the band has begun to make noise globally: Their Chris Ryan and Ross Cullen co-produced sophomore EP Conditions II was released last year. The EP featured singles

“The Gate” and “Claw,” which received praise from The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, Rolling Stone UK, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence and others while landing on a BBC 6 Music playlist with tracks from PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha, Yard Act and more. And if you were following this site last year, you might recall that I wrote about “Bliss,” a track that featured angular and reverb-drenched shoegazer-like guitar textures with relentless four-on-the-floor and bursts of glistening synth serving as a brooding yet cinematic bed for Ross Cullen’s punchy yet stoic shouts and Constance Keane, a.k.a. Fears‘ ethereal voice acting as a dreamy counterbalance. Nodding at Joy Division, New Order, Luminous and V-era The Horrors and others, the track thematically moves from longing to loss and regret.

Thematically, Conditions II continued upon the themes of its predecessor but while diving deeper into subconscious feelings and self-discovery. Sonically, the effort saw the band leaning into the industrial/techno rock sound that they established with Conditions. Aesthetically, the trio continued the monochromatic, goth-inspired goth visual landscape in an evocative and seamless manner. 

“We see Conditions II as a natural evolution from our debut EP, Conditions. These new tracks are a product of our first year as a touring band. They were tried and tested at most of our shows before being taken into the studio,” Chalk’s Ross Cullen says. “We wanted to expand upon existing themes and ideas we touched upon in our debut, but with this continuation, we could explore ourselves and the world we had created deeper, both lyrically and sonically. In this second installment, we wanted to dive further into the electronic element of our music, bringing the experience of our live shows to our recordings.”

The third and final part of the Northern Ireland-based trio’s trilogy Conditions III EP is slated for a February 21, 2025 release through Nice Swan Records. Recorded against the backdrop of bleak landscapes and Nordic vistas in remote northern Iceland, Conditions III reportedly sees the Belfast-based trio fusing elements of heavy guitar music, electronica and breakbeat into a euphoric and frightening finished project. The result tis an effort that showcases another evolution in the band’s already confrontational sound and approach. 

Late last year, I wrote about Conditions III single “Tell Me,” a goth-meets-industrial banger featuring thumping and skittering beats, oscillating synths and a relentless, motorik groove paired with Cullen’s reverb and distortion-drizzled, emotionally detached delivery. At its core, “Tell Me,” evokes unease, desperation and euphoria simultaneously. 

“‘Tell Me’ is the first release of our trilogy-ending third EP Conditions III. For this track, we conjured up a world in which the song’s protagonist is running away from a dark past into unknown territory, encountering an unsuspecting new acquaintance on their journey,” the band’s Ross Cullen says. It’s a song that dives head-first into themes of the unknown, breaking norms, and a feeling of running away and never wanting to return again. It explores the idea that life is moving rapidly around us and the lack of belonging, confusion, and disassociation one experiences on their journey, growing older in an increasingly discouraging and bleak urban landscape. These are themes of which we’ve scratched the surface with ‘Conditions’ and ‘Conditions II’; but we want to delve even deeper into their grittier sides as we continue to figure ourselves out along the way.”

“Within the ‘Tell Me’ video we wanted to focus on creating a pressure cooker of tension encapsulated in the confined space of a car and heightened by the physical presence of a guilty conscience,” the band’s Ben Goddard explains. “Visually, we were inspired by the dramatic lighting of 1970s Italian horror films, such as Suspiria. We wanted to add further intensity and stylisation to the video through the use of constant heavy rain and hand-built a rain machine to achieve this effect. We were able to realise this vision with our fantastic cast and crew, including Desmond Eastwood, Venetia Bowe and our director of photography, Alba Fernandez.”

Conditions III‘s latest single “Afraid” is a bruiser of a track that’s one-part Gang of Four-era post-punk and scorching industrial electronica that feels tense, uneasy yet euphoric.

“‘Afraid’ captures the raw fear and exhilaration of stepping into the unknown, a reminder that growth only happens when you leave your comfort zone. It’s a reflection on the strength it takes to move forward,” the band explains.

Co-directed by the band’s Benedict Goddard and Colin Peppard, the accompanying video stars Loughlin Gannon as prisoner presumably condemned to death; Peter Trant as the senior prison guard; Nicky J. Kearney as the junior guard; and Roy Gilmore as the priest. The prisoner is served a pimento stuffed olive as a meal. The olive causes the prisoner to choke, and as he’s gasping for breath, the junior guard and senior guard fight over what to do. This leads to a surreal and ironic array of events that are equally as frightening and unsettling.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Babe Rainbow Shares Laid Back and Slinky “Like cleopatra”

For the members of acclaimed Aussie psych outfit Babe Rainbow — Angus Dowling, Jack “Cool-Breeze” Crowther and Dr. Elliott “Love Wisdom” O’Reilly — their character of their home, Australia’s idyllic Gold Coast permeates the dreamlike, joyful, psychedelic music they create together.

The trio grew up in Rainbow Bay and relocated to Bryon Bay, a breathtakingly beautiful place, where the waves are always strong, the magic mushrooms grow freely and old, abandoned farm buildings are plentiful. It’s the perfect locale for young dudes to play music as loud as they want.

The Aussie psych outfit jammed tirelessly in abandoned shacks, and as their sound began to develop, they booked shoes in Brisbane where they crossed paths with JOVM mainstays King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, who began to book the the band as an opener at their shows. The connection turned out to be fortuitous for the members of Babe Rainbow, who then signed to the Gizz’s Flightless label for 2015’s self-titled EP. 2017’s self-titled full-length debut, was produced by the Gizz’s Stu Mackenzie. The album established a loyal following for the band, one which has grown since its release.

Babe Rainbow’s sixth album Slipper Imp and Shakerator is slated for an April 4, 2025 release through King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s P(DOOM) Records. The album was recorded on an old banana farm, where they worked alongside friend and producer Timon Martin and Miles Myjavec on percussion and flute. The roots of the album’s material frequently lay in riffs and figures dreamed up by the band’s Jack Crowther,. “‘Cool Breeze’ has always got something going on,” Babe Rainbow’s Angus Dowling says. “He’s always keen to jam, and Timon’s so good with helping to realise the potential of a song.”

The key this time was not to overwork these early ideas, to give them space “to flow, to grow,” he continues. “Keeping a loose feeling to the music is so important. An idea develops together outside but it doesn’t take its wings until you take it into the studio. We experiment with synths and drum machines and overdubs, and we love that, but we never wanna escape too far from the hippie power of the music. We’re made of rainbow.”

Dowling jokes that Silpper imp and shakerator is a celebration of all the colors of the Babe Rainbow — the milk. “I love the fact that, with all the touring and the changing tides, and hair, the creative relationship within the band still feels so strong. I feel so lucky to have this psychedelic family, which is really the essence of the band. We’re just a bunch of laid back surfers, cattlemen’s sons.”

Slipper imp and shakerator may arguably be the band’s most “homegrown” effort to date. Sonically, the album is a bunch of breezy, acid-tinged pop that sees the band following their own North Star, chasing subtle, slippery, subterranean grooves. The album’s second and latest single “Like cleopatra” is anchored around a slinky yet laid-back, 1980s-era Prince/The Gap Band/The Whispers-like groove, complete with Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar lines.

“When our neighbor Tam’s cows dried themselves up, and we had to wait for one of the cows named Mary to have her calf to have fresh milk, we were buying ‘Cleopatra’s Bath Milk.’ This might explain the theme of ‘Like cleopatra.’ Drink deep or taste not,” says the band. “The song reminds us of the natural spring outside Julian [Abbott]’s studio where we’d naturally congregate when the sun was at its zenith early into a day’s recording session. We’d stretch; take coffee and fruit. It’s a sweet spot to enjoy the Nature sprites and spirits. Why is everything so nice? We found our Cleopatra in Camille [Jansen] who kindly sang backing vocals on the album. She has a definite ancient Egyptian aristocratic air to her coolness. Cheers to the rhythm of life.” 

The video by Sam Kristofski is split between footage of the band frolicking and enjoying nature around their hometown of Bryon Bay, the band jamming out in the studio — but with a fittingly trippy nature.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Gloin Shares Tense Ripper “controlfreak69”

Toronto-based post-punk outfit Gloin — longtime friends John Watson (guitar, vocals), Vic Byers (bass, vocals), Simon Lou (drums, vocals) and Richard Garnheim (synths, guitar) — formed back in 2018 and at the onset was a means for the band’s members to convey their shared passion for engaging and visceral live performance. Since their formation, the Toronto-based quartet have gone on a handful of North American tours, making the rounds of the North American festival circuit with sets at SXSW, Freakout Fest, New Colossus, Sled Island, Treefort Music Fest, West Fest and FME while also sharing the stage with a number of renowned acts including Snapped Ankles, Osees, Amyl and The Sniffers, Brian Jonestown Massacre, A Place to Bury Strangers, Orville Peck, Moon Duo and Night Beats.

Throughout, the Canadian band has put precedence on delivering unforgettable live shows, driven by improvisation and experimentation, with the musicians trusting their instincts that louder is always better. And as a result, the band offers cathartic live sets.

Gloin’s self-released their debut EP, 2019’s Soft Monster. They signed with Mothland, who released their full-length debut, 2022’s Dylan Frankland produced We Found This, an effort, which was mixed by Graham Walsh. Inspired by Sonic Youth and Lightning Bolt, the album featured pop melodies and beautifully noisy arrangements, anchored by a distorted rhythm section that offers urgency but also soothing grooves.

Gloin’s highly-anticipated sophomore album All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry) is slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Mothland. Described by the band as “dancey, but scary,” the album’s material sees them revamping their noise rock-driven sound, adding further elements from darkwave, industrial, and post-punk.

The album sees the band tackling themes of bewilderment, dread and anger, while being anchored around bombastic rhythmic constructs, savvy arrangements and fervid melodies. All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)‘s material are solemn tracks about perseverance and self-determination that are cleverly subverted through sarcastic commentary.

“We wrote the whole album as a collective, influenced by shared experiences. Half was written electronically with usually one person bringing in ideas that we all elaborated on together,” the band says in press notes. “We jammed a lot, finding things we liked that we later pieced together, while also saving pieces that we might be able to plug into a future song. One method for a few of the song was for all of us to write a complete piece, and then switch up instruments.”

All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)‘s first single, the sarcastically-titled “controlfreak69” is a tense, uneasy and yet dance floor friendly track that sounds a bit like a synthesis of Gang of Four, Ministry and Evil Heat-era Primal Scream, anchored around a whirring motorik groove driven by a phased-out, down-tuned bass and relentless four-on-the-floor stomp paired with Watson’s punchy shouts and howls.

The band describe the song as “trying to stay on top and trying to keep up, all the while thinking that you have control, when you actually don’t.”

Directed by Toronto-based Ryan Faist, a.k.a. Boy Wonder, the accompanying video for “controlfreak69” follows two tough dudes driving around in a beaten-up Honda four-door with Ontario license plates that read “BUNGLE.”

“I was sitting and listening to music one day in April and this loud roar came by. It was a white hatchback Civic with the license plate ‘BUNGLE.’ I thought ‘holy shit, I have to chase him.’ I tried and couldn’t catch him on my bike,” Faist recalls. “I kept waiting in this same spot for months and could never catch him, so I did a license plate lookup through the Ministry and sent in $18, and three weeks later, they mailed me the owner’s name. I found him on Facebook and messaged him, but he apparently never checks his messages. One day in September, I saw him parked outside of the bank, so I approached him and asked if he’d want to make a video sometime when I had the right song. Then this Gloin song came around and we shot a different concept, but I completely fucked it up and it fell flat. I then realized that we needed the ‘BUNGLE’ mobile for ‘controlfreak69.'”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Heaven Shares Hook-Driven and Yearning “I Need You More Somehow”

New York-based shoegazers Heaven was founded in the wake of its founding members Matt Sumrow (vocals, guitar) and Mikey Jones (drums) touring and recording with Dean and Britta, Swervedriver, Ambulance LTD, Caveman, The Comas, The Lemonheads and a lengthy list of others. With the addition of their newest member, Sonia Manalili, the shoegazer trio are gearing up to release their first full-length album in over seven years, their third album, Dream Aloud.

Slated for an April 4, 2025 release through Little Cloud Records, Dream Aloud is reportedly the New York-based trio’s most somnambulistic album to date. The album, which was recorded here in New York with Jonathan Krienik, features a guest spot from Longwave’s and Wah Together‘s Steve Schlitz.

The album’s second and latest single “I Need You More Somehow” strikes me as sounding a bit like a hook-driven slick synthesis of Heroes-era Bowie, New Zealand jangle pop paired with bursts of feedback and Sumrow’s longing vocal.

“Both at home on the beach in California or a seedy underground nightclub in Glasgow or Berlin, the song layers two worlds,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow says. “The lyrics are purposefully ambiguous, needing more of someone and longing for more connection, but also sounding content and blissful with the present situation at the same time.”

Filmed at Mercury Lounge, the accompanying video for “I Need You More Somehow” was specifically shot and edited to resemble 80s and 80s video footage, CCTV or straight-to-home-video-like footage, being a loving homage to the era of their influences. And throughout the video, the band is seen performing while enveloped in a hazy blue and pink swirling lights.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Deep Sea Diver Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Shovel”

Led by Los Angeles-born, Seattle-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and frontperson Jessica Dobson, Seattle-based indie rock outfit Deep Sea Diver can trace its origins back to when Dobson was 19: Dobson, who has had stints  playing with a who’s who list of contemporary acts, including Beck, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Shins signed with Atlantic Records. While with Atlantic Records, Dobson wrote and recorded two albums that she wasn’t completely satisfied with. Atlantic shelved the material and ultimately dropped her.

After being dropped from Atlantic, Dobson wrote and recorded her solo debut EP New Caves as Deep Sea Diver. The project became a full-fledged band with the addition of members John Raines (bass) Dobson’s spouse Peter Mansen (drums), Garrett Gue (bass), and Elliot Jackson (guitar, synth), who helped to flesh out the project’s sound.

The Seattle-based band’s critically applauded third album, 2020’s Impossible Weight was released through High Beam Records/ATO Records and followed a busy year of touring with Wilco and Joseph to support their second album, 2016’s Secrets. “We went into the studio pretty quickly after the tour ended, and I sort of hit a wall where I was feeling very detached from making music, and unable to find joy in it,” Dobson recalls in press notes. “I realized I had to try to rediscover my voice as a songwriter, and figure out the vocabulary for what I needed to say on this album.”

Stepping back from music and the studio, Dobson focused on dealing with the depression she had been struggling with, and soon started volunteering at Aurora Commons, a drop-in center for unhoused people, most whom are drug-dependent and frequently engage in street-survival-based sex work. “I spent a lot of time with the women who frequent the Commons, and it taught me a new depth of empathy,” she says. “They’re people who don’t have the luxury of going back to a home at the end of the day and hiding behind those four walls, so they’re sort of forced to be vulnerable with what their needs are. Talking with them and listening to them really freed me up to start writing about things I’d never written about before in my songs.”

Co-produced by Dobson and Andy D. Park and recorded at Seattle’s Studio X and The Hall of Justice, Impossible Weight found Dobson and her bandmates digging far deeper emotionally than they had ever before — and pairing that emotionality with a bigger, more grandiose sound. While showcasing Dobson’s dexterous and forceful guitar work, the album’s overall lush textures and mercurial arrangements allow room for Dobson to fully demonstrate her vocal range in a way that she hadn’t before. “’I’d never produced a record before and I started out with low expectations for myself, but at some point I realized, ‘I can do this,’” Dobson recalls. “I decided to completely trust my voice and make really bold decisions in all my production calls—just push everything to the absolute outer edges.”

For Dobson redefining the limits of her artistry went hand-in-hand with deeper identity issues that came up while Dobson and her bandmates were working on the album. “I was adopted and just recently met my birth mother, and found out that I’m half-Mexican and half-Jewish,” Deep Sea Diver’s frontperson explained in press notes. “Discovering my heritage and learning things about myself that I never knew before really fed into that question of ‘Where do I belong?’” Simultaneously, Dobson rediscovered the sense of possibility, adventure and joy that she first felt when she started out as a 19 year-old.  “I think being signed at such a young age messed me up in terms of the expectations I put on myself,” she says. “Somewhere along the way I lost confidence in my own vision, but after making this record I feel a much larger freedom to go in whatever direction I want with my music.”

With Impossible Weight, Dobson hopes that others might reclaim a similar sense of freedom in their emotional lives. “Especially right now when the world is in disarray and there’s so much fear, I want this record to give people room to feel whatever they need to feel,” she says. “I hope it helps them recognize that it’s okay to fall apart, and that they’re meant to let others in instead of trying to work through everything on their own. Because the point is that the impossible weight isn’t yours to carry alone—that’s why it’s impossible.”

Signing to ATO was a significant step up for a band that had self-released its first two albums. The surge of resources resulted in a massive wave of exposure, including a spot on the Billboard charts.

The Seattle-based outfit’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated fourth album, the 11-song, Dobson and Andy Park co-produced Billboard Heart is slated for a February 28, 2025 release through Sub Pop. The album, which features the previously released album title track and “Let Me Go,” a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Madison Cunningham reportedly puts the band– currently, Dobson, Mansen and Jackson — in the company of acts like St. Vincent, TV on the Radio, Flock of Dimes and others, that have found ornate and magnetic ways to make indie rock by discarding notions of how it must sound or what it must say.

The album features additional production from Adam Schatz and additional contributions from The Shins‘ Yuuki Matthews, Caroline Rose and Greg Leisz. It was mixed by Park and mastered by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone.

Some background is needed here: Back in July 2023 while recording in a Los Angeles-based studio, Dobson played a guitar solo but somehow felt nothing. Just a few days earlier, her band played a series of semi-secret shows for fans at a hometown bar, de facto rehearsals for cutting a new record. The sets had gone well, but almost immediately, the sessions didn’t. The songs’ essence seemed muddled, Dobson’s conviction lost somewhere in the 1,000 miles or so between Southern California and the Seattle-based home studio she shares with her spouse and frequent cowriter Peter Mansen.

On that first night of recording sessions, Dobson broke down, wondering what she was doing there and what her band could do to fix it. For the first time in their history, the band retreated and headed home without a completed album. Did they need to scrap the entire thing and start again with new material?

As it turned out, no. Following a brief break, Dobson found a renewed sense of self, a trust in her vision for her band and songs and her ability to capture them. After the Los Angeles hiccup a few months before, longtime collaborator and producer Andy Park asked Dobson how the new material was going over at an early fall dinner. She admitted that she needed help. And in that humbling confession, she seen found ways of working that helped her reimagine and reinvigorate the band — and directly led to their fourth album.

For Dobson, the album is a triumph over self-doubt in which what initially felt like failure became an opportunity to find new freedom, belief, and even strength.

As it turned out, Impossible Weight‘s massive success caused Dobson to doubt her impulses, and to begin thinking about what an idea’s impact or reception might be as much the strength of the idea itself. During this period of second-guessing, she and Mansen sat near the wide windows of their Seattle living room, with her on piano as he hammered a guitar nearby. Album track “See in the Dark” — a song about coveting your notions, despite the occasional sense they’re slipping away — emerged in that setting.
 
That particular moment of domestic creation was essential for a number of reasons. Before Impossible Weight, Dobson and Mansen wrote many of Deep Sea Diver’s songs together; this was a return to that bond, which managed to carry over to more than half Billboard Heart‘s material. The pair began recording more at home, too. They borrowed microphones and a small batch of essential gear to record guitars and vocals in their basement.

When discussions later began in earnest with Park, following the Los Angeles incident, Dobson began revisiting those earlier recordings, realizing that she had captured much of that ineffable spark at home, where the atmosphere was of her own design. Mansen and Park helped convince her that these wasn’t just good enough to use, but riveting in their realness. These early versions became templates to build upon and a frame, and a way for Dobson to believe again in the material, and most importantly, herself.

The album’s latest single “Shovel” is a Kate Bush-meets-St. Vincent-like tune anchored around buzzing and angular power chords, glistening synth arpeggios, relentless four-on-the-floor serving as a lush yet punchy bed for Dobson’s big, earnest vocal. Much like Impossible Weight, the new single sees the band crafting hook-driven arena rock friendly anthems informed by lived-in, personal yet somehow deeply universal experience.

Directed by Tyler Kalberg, Jessica Dobson, Peter Mansen, the accompanying video for “Shovel” follows the members of Deep Sea Diver in a red pickup truck driving to the woods to ostensibly bury something — or someone — or to find something under the cover of night and in the halogen glow of headlights. As Dobson is shoveling, she expressively dances and bops around. It’s brooding, cinematic and yet it’s quite playful.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Prima Queen Shares Jangling and Anthemic “The Prize”

Rising transatlantic indie outfit Prima Queen’s highly-anticipated, Steph Marziano-produced debut album, The Prize is slated for an April 25, 2025 release through Submarine Cat Records. Recorded at London‘s Angelica Studios back in late 2023, the band — Louise Macphail (vocals, guitar) and Kristin McFadden (vocals, guitar) — approached the album’s recording sessions with the intention to paint all of their emotional revelations on a rich sonic canvas anchored around effusive melodies.

Drawing from the shimmering pop of Haim and Jenny Lewis paired with an open spirt, The Prize‘s 12 songs are partly inspired by the euphoria they experienced over while touring with Olivia Dean, Wet Leg, Whitney and others. Thematically, the album continues the pair’s reputation for crafting songs that regularly play like a love letter to radical power of friendship while showcasing the pair’s charismatic storytelling.

The album’s third and latest single, album title track “The Prize,” is a lush and hook-driven bit of jangle pop that brings a mix of JOVM mainstay Joseph and Stevie Nicks to mind while rooted in an enthusiastically much-needed message for the listener — to never let anyone dim your shine or make you feel small.

“Writing ‘The Prize’ felt kind of magical — we thought we had finished the album but this song suddenly came to us while we were writing in the stdio with our producer Steph (Marziano) and we knew it had other be album title-track,” the duo say in press notes. “It felt like it tied all the other songs together in a really special way. It’s a song to remind you that YOU’RE THE PRIZE, which is easy to forget sometimes!”

Directed by Mike Upton, the accompanying video for “The Prize” captures the close, almost Vulcan mind-meld of the core duo’s deep and abiding friendship in a way that’s just adorable.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Velveteers Share Defiant and Roaring “On And On”

Rising Colorado-based rock trio, The Velveteers — Demi Demitro (vocals, guitar), Baby Pottersmith (drums) and Jonny Fig (drums) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated sophomore album A Million Knives through Easy Eye Sound on February 14, 2025. Produced by acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning producer, musician and Easy Eye Sound founder Dan Auerbach, the 13-song A Million Knives reportedly spotlights the band’s “buzzing pile-driver” live sound, as Spin described it. A Million Knives is the follow-up to their full-length debut, 2021’s Nightmare Daydream, which they supported with opening slots with Smashing Pumpkins and Guns ‘N’ Roses — and their first headlining shows this past fall.

The forthcoming album, which features previously released singles “Go Fly Away” and “Suck The Cherry” was written after a particularly grueling stretch of the life on the road and explores the typically unspoken tolls of an industry that can be more often than not, a relentlessly cruel vipers pit of bullshit, thievery and power plays — especially a non-binary, queer and woman-fronted band.

A Million Knives‘ third and latest single “On and On” is one-part old-school garage rock ripper, one-part defiant roar, anchored around thunderous drumming, Demitro’s powerhouse vocal and scorching guitar work paired with a shout-along worthy choruses. But underneath the songcraft, is a song informed by the sort of embittering, humiliating experience that shouldn’t happen — and its narrator is fed up by.

“I always wonder if there will be a day when I won’t feel the need to write about this subject,” the band’s Demi Demitro says. “But unfortunately misogyny is far too rampant in the music industry and I refuse to put up with it.” 

Directed by Demi Demitro and Baby Pottersmith, the accompanying video features the band playing the song in a room full of knives, while the band’s drummers drum with knives. Throughout, these young badasses play with a world dominating swagger.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Homer Teams Up with girl named GOLDEN on Mischievous, Wes Anderson-Styled Visual for “Wishing Well”

Acclaimed New York-born and-based drummer, songwriter and producer Homer Steinweiss has a storied career that started in earnest when he was just a teenager. He has been instrumental in helping bring the raw-but-receptive soul sound back into the mainstream through his work with Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Steinwess has also been behind the kit for nearly every contemporary soul outfit that has mattered. 

The New York-born and-based musician is now one of the most in demand drummers in the world, playing with the likes of Clairo, Solange, Adele, Silk Sonic and Bruno Mars, among a lengthy list of others. And much like his longtime bandmate Dave Guy, Steinweiss is stepping into the spotlight as a both a musician and producer with Ensatina, his first solo album released under the moniker Homer. 

Released last month through Big Crown Records, Ensatina is reflection of who Steinweiss is now and a testament of how struggle often brings about much-needed changes. He was dealing with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a long-personal relationship fell apart, putting him in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was significant enough for him to seek professional help. “I was going through these super manic highs and then very depressive lows,” Steinweiss explains. “And being in all that, it’s just so tough to imagine that the other side is there, that it’ll be ok.” But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life.

For Steinweiss, creating the album was a refuge, and it put him back on track. Creatives across the world have an innate understanding of that. But the album is also a glimpse into the different energies that influences that make the man and the artist tick. And fittingly, the album is the beginning of a new, interesting chapter of Steinweiss’ life and career. 

In the lead up to the album’s release I wrote about three of it’s released singles:

  • “Deep Sea,” feat. Hether, a slow-burning and woozy love song set over a hypnotic back beat, a gorgeous, dreamy trumpet line and a strummed acoustic guitar line. The lush and meditative arrangement compliments Hether’s dreamily romantic delivery and lyrics, which includes a sweet nod to Steinwess now wife. The song seems to suggest that when we’re struggling in life’s deep sea, love — in all of its forms — can be the lifeline. 

  • “Rollin‘” a lush and swaggering Quiet Storm-like soundscape with skittering and plinking 808s, broodingly regal horns, bursts of strummed guitar and KIRBY’s ethereal delivery, which alternates between scatting and cooing lyrics over the lush production. 

  • “So Get Up!,” a strutting and swaggering bit of hook-driven genre-blurring funk anchored around dusty and skittering boom bap, twinkling synth oscillations and glistening and arpeggiated synth melodies serving as a lush and euphoric bed for MINOVA’s and Michael Rault‘s ethereal and expressive deliveries. Sonically resembling a slick synthesis of 80s synth funk, Rush Midnight and Tame Impala, “So Get Up!” reveals an artist with an adept production style. 

Ensatina‘s fourth and latest single “Wishing Well” featuring girl named GOLDEN is a brooding track anchored around a trippy yet soulful groove that’s influenced by late Miles Davis-like jazz, electronic music, soul and trip-hop paired with skittering and chugging drums and glistening synths serving as a woozily lush soundscape for girl named GOLDEN’s sultry cooing. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Wishing Well” reveals an artist with a unique, playfully genre agnostic sound.

Directed by Ben Steiger Levine and Jordan Fein, the accompanying video is a Wes Anderson-inspired romp shot in and around one of the most gorgeous buildings in NYC, the New York Public Library, that captures the pair’s mischievous misfit-like energy.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: STRAIGHT RAZOR Shares Brooding “The Curse”

While he may be best known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds, Omar Doom has committed most of his creative life to music. Doom’s latest musical project STRAIGHT RAZOR sees him crafting a blend of darkwave, techno and EBM anchored around menacing beats and hypnotic, clockwork melodies.

After a string of standalone singles and remixes, Doom released his STRAIGHT RAZOR debut, 2021’s Vol. 1 EP. He followed up with 2022’s Vol. 2 EP. Last year, he launched his label DOOM VISION with STRAIGHT RAZOR — REMIXED EP, an effort that featured remixes by Gost, Corvad, Moris Blak, Nightcrawler, Destryur and ESA. Destryur released their latest album Dimensions through Doom’s new label.

Doom’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Casualty was released earlier this month. Album single “The Curse” is a brooding, club friendly banger that’s a slick mix of 80s New Wave and goth featuring menacing, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with Doom’s plaintive delivery.

Directed by Joe Cardamone, the accompanying video for “The Curse” is shot in a gorgeous and cinematic black and white and captures the brooding nature of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: BEASTS Shares Roaring “The Shearing”

Antoine Romeo is an Italian-Belgian artist, who grew up in a large family of Italian immigrants in the post-industrial Belgian city of Charleroi. Initially making a name for himself as one-half of run SOFA, Romeo has stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo recording project BEASTS.

Romeo’s BEASTS project is guided by a manifesto, which is on the project’s website — and it is as follows:

BEASTS is non-profit. 
BEASTS wants no part in elitist culture.
BEASTS doesn’t believe in the hype.
BEASTS won’t be answering to any algorithms designed by/for multinational corporations.
BEASTS is a politicized outfit.
BEASTS decides what to do and when to quit.
BEASTS is a safe space to face your traumas.
BEASTS is anti-fascist.
BEASTS is respect for others and for yourself.
BEASTS is passion, integrity and courage.
BEASTS is about breaking generational curses.
BEASTS is freedom, acceptance and peace.

The Italian-Belgian artist’s latest BEASTS single “The Shearing” is an urgent and roaring punk rock-meets-hip-hop ripper featuring rumbling and down-tuned bass paired with enormous mosh pit friendly hooks, propulsive drumming and punchily delivered howls. It’s arguably one of the most primal and angriest songs I’ve heard this year, while capturing the desperation of our moment.

Shot in a cinematic black and white, the accompanying video for “The Shearing” captures men losing their minds to a sort of primal madness in which they wind up howling to an unceasing void.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Blue Foundation Shares Yearning “Close to the Knife”

Founded back in 2000 by Danish singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tobias Wilner, Blue Foundation was inspired by The Fall’s Mark E. Smith‘s method of forming bands — with Wilner recruiting a rotation lineup of musicians over the years to fuel creativity. But since 2010, the core lineup has been Wilner and Bon Rande, working between Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Copenhagen.

Throughout the transatlantic project’s two-plus decade history, they’ve been renowned for crafting immersive soundscapes with emotive vocals and intricate production that draws from dream pop and electronic music that evokes melancholy and reflection while touching upon introspective themes.

The band has cemented their distinct sound through a series of critically applauded albums including 2007’s Life of a Ghost, 2012’s In My Mind I Am Free and 2016’s Blood Moon, while collaborating with an eclectic range of artists and producers, including Mew‘s Jonas Bjerre, Au Revoir Simone‘s Erika Spring, Findlay Brown, DJ Krush, Sara Savery and Wang Wen among a growing list of others.

Adding to a growing international profile, the band’s work has been featured in Michael Mann’s 2006 Miami Vice and The Vampire Diaries. The band’s “Eyes on Fire,” was included in the Twilight soundtrack. Additionally, their work has been sampled on Lil Durk‘s “Fly High,” feat., French Montana and Young Thug‘s “She Notice.” They also cowrote Machine Gun Kelly‘s “Taurus.”

“Close to the Knife” is the first single from the transatlantic outfit’s forthcoming album. Written by Wilner and Rande and performed by Helena Gao and Wilner, “Close to the Knife” is one-part Scott Walker-era orchestral psych pop, one-part dream pop anchored around a lush yet atmospheric arrangement featuring mellotron flute, soaring strings, strummed guitar and gentle bursts of feedback pared with yearning and dueling girl-boy vocals, which gives the song a fittingly old-timey feel.

The song tells a familiar and bittersweet tale of love and longing for a connection that for can never fully materialize and will always be a bit unrequited. For both narrators, their lover disappears as quickly as they appear, adding a subtle sense of frustration and heartache to the song.

Directed by the band’s Wilner with cinematougrahy by Hannah Bertram and Erma Feng, the video showcases parallel stories of yearning: We see Tobias Wilner wandering the quiet and desolate late night streets of New York City while Helena Gao explores the vibrant yet isolating alleys of Shanghai. The video emphasizes the ache and longing at the core of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Bloke Shares Trippy and Incisive “Money Says”

With the self-release of their first three singles “Satellite” “Chewed Up,” and “Survivor,” the Berlin-based psych rock/krautrock outfit Bloke quickly amassed a profile across Europe for a unique fusion of krautrock rhythms and shoegazer guitar textures paired with garage punk energy that’s draws from frontman and founder Jakob Buraczewski’s five year stint in London, where the band was originally founded.

The Berlin-based outfit has shared stages with Helicon, Verstärker, Data Animal, Body Horror, The Shadracks have developed a reputation for a raw, intense and noisy live set.

Building upon growing buzz, Bloke’s highly-anticipated debut EP Living Without Expectations is slated for a February 14, 2025 release through Tonzonen Records. The band’s Jakob Buraczewski explains that the EP was “envisioned as the foundational collection of sounds, noise and concepts that would give life to the project Bloke in a musical scene. It was essential for me to ensure that each song resonates with the others, creating an interconnected and cohesive experience. The journey from capturing the essence of the songs in the intimate setting of a home studio to meticulously re-recording each instrument in the refined atmosphere of a professional studio can be quite an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a process filled with passion and dedication, where every note matters and every sound contributes to creating something truly special.”

The EP’s latest single “Money Says” sees the Berlin-based outfit pairing a forceful and thunderous motorik-groove, scuzzy, distortion-fueled power chords and swirling feedback with enormous hooks and choruses. While sonically recalling A Place to Bury Strangers, Hookworms, METZ and others, the song as the band explains is inspired by the childhood game Simon Says, “using it as a metaphor to explore capitalism’s impact on society and relationships. Just as in the game, where commands prefaced with ‘Simon says’ must be obeyed, we often silently comply with what ‘Money Says’ reflecting societal norms. This subtle agreement can feel like conditioning, offering a poignant commentary on our interactions. The melody features a persistent feedback tone and guitar strums that punctuate the social narrative.”

Fittingly, the trippy visual for “Money Says” features moments of commerce and business in super saturated colors.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Dreamily Introspective “Circles”

Prolific, JOVM mainstay MAGON closes out 2024 with his third album of the year and 10th album overall, the recently released World Peace. And in the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two, previously released singles:

  • The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses-era Madchester scene-like “Stoned Seclusion Blues” a track that saw the JOVM mainstay revealing another shift in sonic direction.

  • “Falling In Love,” a dreamy psych folk ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar, bursts of buzzing power chords and ethereal flutes paired with the JOVM’s mainstay’s introspective and thoughtful vocal turn.

The album’s latest single “Circles” is a dreamy, post punk-meets-Brothers In Arms-era Dire Straits like tune anchored around a gated-reverb beat, bluesy and shimmering arpeggios and a soulful horn solo. Thematically, the song sees the JOVM mainstay reflecting on the seemingly unending cycles and endless changes of life with a weary acceptance.

The accompanying video for “Circles” features animation sourced from John and Faith Hubley’s 1986 film The Cosmic Eye.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Yemen Blues Shares Swaggering, Genre-Defying “Miss Ballad”

Founded back in 2010, Yemen Blues are:

  • Yemeni-born founder and audio guru Ravid Kalahani (vocals, gimbri).

  • Israeli-Uruguayan Rony Irwyn (percussion), whose work is deeply inspired by salsa and his ability to find strength in fragility

  • New York-based Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass, oud), who’s a mainstay in the local avant-garde scene. He has worked on over 150 albums that routinely see him bringing the twin poles of extreme noise and simple melody together

  • Dan Mayo (drums), the last member to finalize the band’s lineup. He brings a hip-hop inspired thump and a metronomic sense of groove to the band’s work

With each of the members of Yemen Blues being spread across the world, the band specializes in a polyglot mélange of Bedouin folk, funk, blues, Arabian classical, psych rock, jazz, avant-garde rock and more.

The global outfit released their fifth album, Only Love Remains earlier this year. While we’re in the midst of dangerous political, religious and cultural polarization rooted in xenophobia and ignorance, the album sees the band attempting to create a color-blind, all-embracing celebration of gyrating togetherness anchored by love.

Only Love Remains‘ latest single “Miss Ballad” is a swaggering and expansive track that’s one-part desert blues, one-part slow-burning psych blues 

anchored around a scorching, slithering guitar line, industrial meets-gnawa-like percussion featuring Kalahani’s expressive vocal singing lyrics about self-love and self-acceptance — often in the face of cruelty and racism.

As the band’s Kalahani explains, the song was written about his daughter Eli, who lives in Finland with her artist mother. “In a world where others don’t always accept people who look different, Finland can be confusing for a mixed-race girl,” says Kahalani. “This song is to remind Eli that she is magic – her curls, her skin, her blend of cultures…everything about her. The title came from Shanir (Blumenkranz, Yemen Blues bassist/producer), who called me one morning and said he had a dream about a big awards event where we were receiving an award for a song called ‘Miss Ballad’. So I wrote this story about Eli around the title ‘Miss Ballad.’” 

The surreal, fever dream-like visual for “Miss Ballad” was directed by the band’s Blumenkranz and shot by the band with an iPhone in a German Airbnb between shows of a European tour. All costumes and objects in the video were bought in a local Japanese dollar store.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Inside The Trojan Horse Shares Bruising and Urgent “Stay Alive”

Inside The Trojan Horse — founding members NoOne and NoThing, along with NoBody — can trace their origins back to when its founding members were a member of Loser, an act that featured Motley Crüe‘s John 5. When Loser split up, NoOne and NoThing began honing their writing and recording with a series of projects and on their own.

While on tour with Gemini Syndrome, NoThing crossed paths with NoBody as he and NoOne had started to sow the early seeds of their latest project together, Inside The Trojan Horse. Eventually, the band’s founding duo reached out to NoBody to finalize the band’s lineup.

While drawing from Soundgarden, Audioslave, Tool, Deftones, Underoath, Periphery and Tesseract, the trio have developed a signature sound and aesthetic that sets them apart in a crowded hard rock/nu-metal field. Their fourth single “Stay Alive” is a bruising track anchored around thunderous drumming, rumbling down-tuned bass, howled vocals and some scorching guitar work. “Stay Alive” at its core, is a desperate and urgent desire and need to survive at all cost, while facing omnipresent threats; but it also evokes the zero-sum game of surviving at all costs.

The self-directed video for “Stay Alive” follows the mysterious band, clad in business suits and masks, as they rock out to the song in a nondescript van and mosh and kick around a presumably Californian suburb.