Category: Video Review

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Nessi Gomes Shares Brooding and Cinematic “Moving Mirrors”

Guernsey-born and-based singer/songwriter Nessi Gomes is a Channel Island-Portuguese singer/songwriter, whose work draws from both sides of her ethnicity, the essence of the traditional, emotional Fado of Portugal with British modern, progressive pop.

Gomes’ full-length debut, 2016’s Diamonds & Demons received airplay and critical praise across the European Union and the UK, and was supported by touring across 30 countries that included stops across the major global festival circuit, as well as major stages.

Simultaneously, she created the growing Vocal Odyssey workshop and retreat series, which encourages participants to meet with the spirt of their voice. And since creating it, thousands of participants have experienced the process under her guidance.

Over the past seven-and-a-half years, Gomes and her work have amassed over 70 million streams across the major DSPs. However, her latest single “Morning Mirrors” marks a change in direction sonically and aesthetically. Featuring buzzing bass synths, strummed acoustic guitar, skittering beats and percussion, bursts of twinkling electronics, “Morning Mirrors” is a built around brooding Portishead-meets-Kid-A-era Radiohead-like production that serves as eerily lush and cinematic bed for Gomes’ soulful crooning.

Gomes explains that this own is a unique and experimental piece that fearlessly confronts toxic femininity while exploring themes of jealousy, comparison and the painful consequences they bring. “The song reflects my personal journey, reflecting light on the challenges faced when experiencing both sides of the coin,” Gomes says. “It uncovers the unconscious insecurities of some women who seek validation by tearing others down. ‘Morning Mirrors’ is a powerful call to challenge these destructive patterns and strive for a culture of support and empowerment among women. It advocates for empathy, understanding, and the need to foster a community where women uplift and empower one another.”

Directed by Yuval Nobelman and Alon Daniel, the accompanying video for “Moving Mirrors” was filmed in Guernsey on 16mm film, and features dancers and actors, who like Gomes are residents of the island battling each other in a WWE-styled battle royal.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Yeisy Rojas Shares Lush and Reverential “A Mis Ancestros”

I’m currently in Philadelphia for the fourth installment of Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Music Festival and Music Writers Workshop. Of course, the show must go on as much as humanly possible. JOVM is very much like the saying engraved on the James Farley Post Office, which now comprises Moynihan Train Hall, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

So let’s get to it.

Yeisy Rojas is a Cuban-born, Oslo-based, classically trained, jazz violinist, singer/songwriter and composer. Back in her native Cuba, Rojas received a classical education and performed as a violinist with the National Opera Orchestra in Havana. Her passion for jazz led her to relocate to Norway, where she pursued her Masters studies in jazz violin at Kristiansand‘s University of Agder‘s Conservatory.  The cross-cultural experience allowed Rojas to deepen her understanding of the African influences in Cuban music.

As a solo artist, Rojas’ work frequently sees her blending Cuban music, Latin jazz, funk and more with powerful social messages — in particular, she boldly speaks up against racism in her homeland and elsewhere. Her full-length debut, last year’s Gaston Joya-produced A Mis Ancestros featured the previously released “Mama Ines,” an adaptation of Nicolás Guillén’s 1930 poem “Ayer Me Dijeron Negro” (Yesterday They Called Me Black) that pairs the poet’s words with a breezy and soulful arrangement that meshes elements of Latin soul, funk and jazz in a way that reminds me very fondly of the sounds of parties in the South Bronx, Lower East Side, Corona, East Elmhurst and so on.

Rojas has picked up work as a freelance violinist to support her career, playing events across Norway, Sweden and Denmark while earning multiple invitations to perform on Norwegian national radio. Back in 2022, she opened the International Jazz Day Gala at Oslo’s Nasjonal Jazz Scene, playing in front of a full house. The success of that performance inspired the Cuban-born, Oslo-based artist to create her own international jazz celebration, A Vision for Unity which aims to bring together artists from diverse nationalities to promote unity and peace through music. “We all are a family, and no matter where we come from, the only thing we want to do is to live in peace,” the Cuban-born, Oslo-based artist says. “Not because someone came from a dictatorship means that person is the enemy.”

In just its second edition, Rojas’ Vision for Unity has become a highly-anticipated event on the music calendar for local audiences while garnering increased attention from artists’ organizations across the country.

Earlier this year, the Cuban-born, Norwegian artist was highlighted by Billboard as an emerging start and by Rolling Stone en Español as an artist you need to know. Building upon a growing profile within the international Latin music scene, Rojas shares A Mis Ancestros‘ latest single, album title track “A Mis Ancestros” is a gorgeous and soulful synthesis of bebop-era jazz, salsa, son cubano that not only showcases Rojas’ prodigious talent, but proudly and unabashedly displays a deep, reverential pride for her homeland and her ancestry. The song is a fairly autobiographical story that will be familiar for countless immigrants across the world. The nostalgia for the homeland — the language, the dear ones, the smells, the food — not only sparks memories and comparisons, it also sparks a much deeper appreciation for their culture.

Directed by Marcus Støren, the accompanying video for “A Mis Ancestros” follows a young woman, who has bravely made the journey from her homeland to Norway to make a new life for herself. While looking at an old photo of her mother, she manages to travel back in time to reunite with her mother, who reminds her that she’s beautiful and should be proud of herself; that her skin coloring and her curly hair come from the Motherland; that Black is always beautiful. Through his journey, she meets her ancestors, who welcome and guide her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Fort Myers, FL’s La Vibra Norteña Shares Aching “Adios Amor”

Fort Myers, FL-based Mexican music outfit La Vibra Norteña formed back in 2019. And since their formation, the band has specialized in norteño sax — or norteño with saxophone and accordion. Their debut single, last year’s “Mil Veces,” showcased their contagious energy while establishing a distinct take on norteño.

Building upon a growing profile within the regional Mexican music scene, the Fort Myers-based outfit released “Bachata Rosa” earlier this year. “Bachata Rosa” showcased their versatility and growth as musicians while showcasing material that paired emotional lyrics with captivating melodies.

La Vibra Norteña’s latest single “Adios Amor” is a gorgeous bit of norteño that pairs with traditional oompah oompah-like groove the genre is known for with a gorgeous melody and achingly earnest vocals in a heartfelt, bittersweet ballad. If you’re leaving your lover for a period of time — and maybe you’re a bit uncertain when you might reunite, this song will express the hurt and longing you may feel right now.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Super Plage Teams Up with Virginie B and Nectar Palace on a Disco-Tinged Cover of “Nos corps”

Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Super Plage. 

Earlier this year, he released “Ton chien,” the first bit of new material since the release of Henry’s fourth Super Plage album, last year’s Magie à minuit. “Ton chien” is a flirty bop anchored around a breezy and summery production featuring glistening synths and skittering beats as a lush bed for Henry and Parsian artist Sainte Nicole to trade ethereal and dreamily delivers verses. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for hanging out in the park — or the beach — with the pretty someone, who’s got your heart skipping beats.

Henry’s latest single, which sees him collaborating with longtime collaborator Virginie B and Nectar Palace on a cover and remaining of Jimmy Hunt‘s 2013 hit “Nos corps,” which amassed over three million streams — just on Spotify alone. While the original is disco-tinged yet atmospheric New Wave-like bop that reminds me a little bit of Blondie-meets-Soft to the Touch-era Jef Barbara, the Super Plage retains some of the original’s chill dance vibes but while pairing it with a propulsive Giorgio Moroder-meets-Robyn-like disco groove and some squiggling funk guitar.

Sonically seeming like a synthesis of Jef Barbara’s “Wild Boys,” 80s pop and disco, the Super Plage cover of “Nos corps” continues a run of summery, hook-driven feel good bops. Play this one in the club and dance your worries and cares away for a bit.

Directed by Virginie B, the accompanying video follows the collaborators on a road trip to the shore for frolicking and hanging out. Because what’s summer without a road trip, right?

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s The Fire Belows Share Bruising “Too Far To Reach”

London-based metal outfit The Fires Below — Smithy (vocals, guitar), Si (bass), Del (drums) and Sam (guitar) formed back in 2021. The band quickly established a sound that draws from punk rock, metal, stoner rock, desert rock and djent, a sub-genre of progressive metal named after the onomatopoeia of the guitar sound that characterizes it. 

The London-based quartet’s debut EP, last year’s Masquerade was released last year to critical acclaim and received quite a bit of radio airplay. Building upon a growing profile in the British metal scene and elsewhere, The Fires Below released their highly-anticipated sophomore EP Thorns last month. The five-song EP sees the British quartet firmly establishing a melodic and punishing sound rooted in their penchant for blending punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent. “With more experience, we’ve pushed ourselves creatively,” The Fire Below’s Smithy explains. “This EP really plays to our strengths that we discovered playing live. We mix elements of punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent for an intense yet melodic cocktail of riffs and emotion. Blast it as loud as you can until the neighbours complain!

The EP’s first single “Too Far To Reach” is a bruising and grimy ripper that sees the band seamlessly — and effortlessly — meshing elements of metal, stoner rock, desert rock and punk anchored around pummeling drumming, scorching riffage and howled vocals in a way that will bring Songs for the Deaf-era Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and others to mind.

Directed by David Smith, the accompanying video for “Too Far To Reach” is shot in black and white, and features the band performing the song in front of a projections of gorgeous natural phenomena, interspersed with the brutality of the human world. The video channels the fiery hellscape of our contemporary moment.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Only Twin Shares Cinematic and Swooning “Give You Up”

Initially known for his work with Forgive Durden and Cardiknox, Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Dutton is the create mastermind behind the rising, solo, synth pop project Only Twin.

Back in Seattle, every show Dutton went to gave him a sense of longing. It didn’t matter if they were playing to dozens or hundreds, the band was up on that stage tearing their hearts out in front of the world. Dutton knew he wanted to be up there on a stage, like the bands he was catching as a fan. As a teen, carpooling with his friends’ older siblings meant expose to bands and songs he had never heard before. Songs that weren’t played on the radio — and songs that opened his eyes and ears in transformative ways. “I’m always trying to capture that feeling I had when I was discovering music that changed my life,” Dutton says.

Inspired by the likes of The 1975 and Bon Iver, Only Twin emerged out of necessity. When Cardiknox split up, producing became Dutton’s full-time job, and he wanted to start a project that showed himself as a left-of-center, indie pop aesthete. But as Dutton used music to process both the dissolution of Cardiknox and a breakup, Only Twin took a life of its own. “It started as a way to carve out a little space for myself,” he says. “But as I started reclaiming tracks I’d written for other people, the project gave me closure on a huge chapter in my life.” 

Dutton’s sophomore Only Twin effort, the recently released it Feels Nice to Burn sees him bottling that sense of nostalgia. “I still feel like that wide-eyed 13-year-old at his first show in a lot of ways,” he says. Thematically, It Feels Nice to Burn continues the exploration of love, rebirth and new beginnings that he explored on his Only Twin debut, 2021’s Rare Works. Sonically, the new album sees Dutton finding the sweet spot between left-of-center indie pop and dreamy rock, while marking the next chapter of his life, one that sees him embracing the love of a lifetime and fatherhood. Unsurprisingly, the experience of falling in love, getting married and raising a child has given new meaning to his music and to himself.

When the Night-era St. Lucia-like album single “Give You Up” is slow-burning, seemingly 80s rom-com-inspired song featuring glistening synths, gated reverberated drums, bursts of twinkling keys, bursts of shimmering and squiggling guitars paired with Dutton’s plaintive delivery paired with the Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s unerring knack for crafting swooningly earnest tracks with big hooks and choruses.

“Give You Up” is rooted in lived-in personal experience with the song describing the moment Dutton and his wife “jumped into the deep end” of their burgeoning relationship.

Directed by The Director Brothers, the accompanying video for “Give You Up” stars Julianne Hough as a bored office drone, who has an odd yet adorable affair with an old office copier that plays on rom-com tropes.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Laura Carbone Shares Bittersweet “Silver Rain”

Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, photographer and JOVM mainstay Laura Carbone‘s third album The Cycle was released earlier this year. The album, which debuted on North American college radio at #19 on the NACC Top Adds Chart, is a concept […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DVTR Shares Breakneck and Punchy “Les Olympiques”

Deriving their name as an acronym for the French phrase “D’où vient ton riz?” (Where does your rice come from?), Montréal-based duo and JOVM mainstays DVTR is a collaborative project featuring two of the city’s most highly accomplished […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sunflower Bean Shares a Gritty, Grimy Ripper

Formed back in 2013, while they were still teenagers, New York-based trio Sunflower Bean — Julia Cumming (vocals, bass) Nick Kivlen (guitar, vocals) and Olive Faber (drums) — have become one of the area’s most acclaimed outfits. During that period, they’ve released three critically applauded full-length albums, 2016’s Human Ceremony, 2018’s Twentytwo in Blue and 2022’s Headful of Sugar, which have featured several chart topping releases. They’ve supported those albums with sold-out tour dates as headliners and as openers for the likes Beck, The Strokes, Cage the Elephant, Interpol, Courtney Barnett, The Pixies, The Kills, DIIV, Wolf Alice and more. They’ve also made their run across the international festival circuit, making stops at Glastonbury, Governor’s Ball, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival and others. And famously, they’ve opened for Bernie Sanders during this primary campaign rallies.

Adding to a growing profile, the band’s Julia Cumming had a guest spot on Yves Tumor‘s 2020 effort Heaven to a Tortured Mind. Kivlen and Faber collaborated with Frost Children on “SERPENT,” which appears on last year’s Speed Run.

The trio’s newest effort, Shake EP is slated for a September 27, 2024 release through Lucky Number. The self-produced and self-recorded effort will reportedly feature some of the band’s heaviest, most immediate and loudest material to date. Influenced by the doom-laden, riff-driven sound of Black Sabbath and others, the EP is an embrace of rock tropes and excess, while nodding to the band’s first two albums.

“SHAKE was inspired by our first years as a DIY band, the spirit that birthed us and gave us the chance to have this enduring journey together,” the band says of the EP. “We wrote, recorded, engineered, and produced these songs so nothing was filtered through anyone else’s idea of us. We always felt like rock and roll was a feeling, not a sound. But sometimes there is no subverting it or explaining it. We’re now offering it exactly as it occurred to us.” And as a result, the EP captures the band at its most raw, unfiltered and most natural state.

To further that theme, the band worked with rising Toronto-based director Isaac Roberts to create a 14-minute performance based video to showcase each track through an interpretation of the natural elements — earth, wind, water, fire and metal.

The EP’s lead single and title track, the grimy and gritty “Shake” is a scorching doom-laden, distorted pedaled power chord-driven ripper with thunderous drumming that captures the band at their loudest, hardest and meanest to date, and at their most inspired.

The accompanying video directed by Roberts performing the song in a torrential rain storm that created the sort of mud pit reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails‘ Woodstock 94 set. Fittingly, the video captures and emphasizes the grit and grime of its accompanying song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GIFT Shares Euphoric “Light Runner”

Earlier this year, Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays GIFT — TJ Freda (vocals, guitar), multi-instrumentalist Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell (bass), multi-instrumentalist Justin Hrabovsky and Gabe Camarano (drums) — signed to Captured Tracks, who will be releasing their highly-anticipated sophomore, 11-song album Illuminator on August 23, 2024.

Illuminator reportedly sees the JOVM mainstays firmly cementing their sound with a remarkably mature, self-assuredness for a relatively young band.
Professionally, the members of the rising Brooklyn-based outfit are firmly enmeshed in the local scene as talent buyers, photographers, DJs, audio engineers, art directors, and in the case of Campbell, the owner of Bushwick-based DIY venue Alphaville. The continued melting pot of their combined skills and experiences helps to make the album an even more cohesive listening experience while seeing increasing contributions from each of the band’s members: Gurewitz, a relative newcomer to making music, contributed a host of lyrics and vocal melodies. Hrabovsky, who previously engineered at Asheville, NC-based Drop of Sun Studios and Echo Mountain Recording shared production duties with Freda. And Camarano’s drumming provided the crucial rhythmic underpinning of the album’s material. 

“We had a lot more confidence going in,” Freda says. “The main goal was to take a big swing, embrace the pop sounds we love and clear the mist and clouds surrounding the last record to make it a lot punchier.”

Illuminator will feature the previously released:

“Wish Me Away,” a track anchored around a dreamy and hook-driven shoegazer soundscape of glistening, reverb-drenched guitars, woozy synths and a motorik groove paired with propulsive rhythms serving as a lush bed for Freda’s plaintive falsetto, “Wish Me Away” is continuation of the overall aesthetic they established on Momentary Presence and a decided sonic push forward, showcasing where the band is going next. The song also sees the band exploring and expressing a complex array of emotions with a lived-in specificity. 

“‘Wish Me Away’ is about giving into the feeling of everything slipping away,” GIFT’s TJ Freda explains. “Just take it all away, put me out of my misery, wish me away. While this all seems daunting and sad, there’s a feeling of optimism in this song, holding on for dear life and refusing to give up hope.”

After nearly losing a loved one, Freda found himself grappling with the fleeting nature of life, and understandably with the inevitability of mortality. “‘Wish Me Away,’ ruminates on the fear and freedom that can come knowing it can all slip away. The line ‘wish me away’ kept coming up, as in ‘take me, not them,’” Freda adds. 

“Going In Circles,” an Evil Heat-era Primal Scream take on shoegaze, built around a motorik groove, glistening and atmospheric synths, swirling reverb-soaked guitar textures and Freda’s dreamily plaintive delivery paired with the quintet’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks and chorus. But underneath the euphoria-inducing nature of the song is a bitter lament of a relationship gone a bit awry. 

“This was the first song I wrote for Illuminator that helped me realize the direction of the album,” GIFT’s TJ Freda says. “I wrote the chorus while passively playing guitar and rushed to record the idea. At that moment, something clicked and I realized where the album was going. At our shows from the Momentary Presence tour, people would stand in the crowd wide-eyed without moving. We wanted to get people moving with the new album, so we were really inspired by bands like Primal Scream, Oasis, and Massive Attack. It’s our psych-rock tribute to U.K. rave culture in the ‘90s.

“The song is about the endless cycle of a relationship,” Freda adds, “the back and forth in both euphoria and doubt. The chorus ‘I never told you why’ is about never being able to say how you really feel, not having closure and the cycle continuing.” 

The Jessica Gurewitz and TJ Freda co-written “Later,” which may arguably be one of the most brooding and uneasy song of the band’s growing catalog — while also being the most straightforward shoegazer track of the album. Anchored around a swaggering motorik groove, the track finds the band pairing glistening and reverb drenched guitars with Freda’s plaintive falsetto and the band’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.

“While writing Illuminator I found myself clinging to intense emotions, reluctant to release them. ‘Later’ stands out as one of the darkest songs I’ve made,” Freda explains. “Making it was cathartic, diving into darker themes. The song explores surrendering to the overwhelming sensation of life slipping away before my eyes.” 

“Light Runner,” Illuminator‘s fourth and latest single sounds — to my ears, at least — like a mind-bending and slickly produced synthesis of Madchester scene, breakbeats, Ray of Light-era Madonna and shoegaze anchored around enormous, buzzy and euphoria inducing hooks and choruses. “Light Runner” also sees the band crafting a hook-driven sound that’s simultaneously dance club and arena rock friendly while retaining the widescreen quality that has won them accolades.

The accompanying video for “Light Runner” was directed by the band’s TJ Freda. “The album and song ‘Ray of Light’ by Madonna was a massive inspiration while recording Illuminator – I wanted to pay homage to the brilliant music video directed by one of my favorite directors Jonas Åkerlund. ‘Light Runner’ celebrates the triumph of emerging from a dark time while acknowledging the transformative power of overcoming it. It’s a testament to the euphoria of personal achievement.In 2023, during our first European tour, we were enthralled by the origins of 90s UK bands like Primal Scream, Massive Attack, and Oasis. Following a show in Glasgow, the promoters treated us to an underground Jungle/DnB rave, blowing our minds wide open.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Geneva Jacuzzi Shares Lush and Satirical “Scene Ballerina”

Geneva Jacuzzi is a Los Angeles-based multimedia artist, whose immersive and unhinged performances are considered legendary: they often involve a psychotropic gallery of masks, costumes, confrontation and massive art installations. Her recorded music frequently features catchy hooks […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sister Gemini Shares Anthemic “120 Minutes” MTV-like “One Room Apartment”

Bay Area-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and musician Remy Jean is the creative mastermind behind the rising indie project Sister Gemini. Much like countless other musicians, she came into music as a byproduct of teenage discomfort: After being shunned by the cheerleaders at her high school, the Bay Area-born, Los Angeles-based artist found herself taking up guitar and hanging out with the outsiders and weirdos in the music room. “At first I was, like, ‘Oh my god, really? I’m going to hang out with these people?’ And then I was, like, ‘Wait, these people are me,'” Remy Jean fondly recalls.

Embracing some of her genuine interests for the first time in her life, the Bay Area native began gigging in a Misfits over band and dreamt of a move to Southern California. Upon graduation, Remy Jean relocated to Los Angeles, where she harnesses the energy and encouragement of a circle of talented peers — and where she started her solo recording project Sister Gemini.

She describes Sister Gemini’s sound as “Heavy music for people who like soft music and vice versa.” Thematically, her lyrics grapple with the concept of forgiving yourself — and of coming terms with the reality that although you may sometimes hurt others, it doesn’t necessarily make you a terrible person. Frequently, the material focus on making mistakes, and as a narrator, she isn’t afraid to paint herself as a malevolent character — whether wittingly or unwittingly. “You’re always the villain in someone’s narrative,” she says.

As a self-described open book, Remy Jean’s work is anchored in the sort of unvarnished honesty of an older sister or older friend, giving the listener advice based on the embarrassing yet survivable missteps they’ve managed to navigate.

The Bay Area-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s first single of year, and third Sister Gemini single ever “One Room Apartment” is a 120 Minutes era MTV alt rock-like anthem featuring fuzzy and crunchy distortion pedaled power chords, rousingly anthemic hooks and chorus paired with Remy Jean’s saccharine sweet melody within a classic grunge-inspired song structure. The result is a song that sounds as though it could hav been

Initially conceived as a whispery acoustic demo, the grunge pop anthem “is about attempting to rely on external comforts to pull you up when you’re in a funk,” Remy Jean explains. “I start by calling my friends but when they aren’t available, I turn to casual sex to try to numb the loneliness. I wrote this song during the pandemic, when the world really did feel as small as my apartment at times. It’s a pretty vulnerable song for how upbeat it sounds, I love that contrast.”

She adds, “It took me a while to find my groove, in terms of who I wanted to work with and who actually understood the sound that I was going for.” Ultimately, she wound up working with Sam Plecker, because he had an intrinsic understanding of Remy Jean’s vision for the project. Along with Plecker, who also contributed bass, as well as engineering duties, the Bay Area native recruited Babehoven‘s and Runnner’s Ellington Peet (percussion) and Yunus Iyriboz (guitar) to flesh out the original demo.

Directed by Director Mia Gualtieri, the accompanying video for “One Room Apartment” captures the boredom, desperation and unease of pandemic related lockdowns, in which some people slowly lost their shit.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Dutch-born, British-based Artist Dutch Mustard Shares Cathartic and Urgent “Loser”

Dutch-born, London-based artist Sarah-Jayne “SJ” Riedel is the creative mastermind behind the rising indie recording project Dutch Mustard. And with Dutch Mustard, Riedel blends ethereal dream pop, 90s alt-rock with shoegaze touches to create a soundscape that features painterly and swirling guitar textures while the Dutch-born artist’s vocals drift between a near whisper and yearning, heavenly arching shouts.

Riedel and Dutch Mustard exploded into the British scene with the release of 2022’s debut EP An Interpretation of Depersonalisation, an effort that was featured by the BBC while receiving airplay on BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders and a co-sign from the legendary Iggy Pop. Last year’s sophomore EP, Beauty received airplay from BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne and co-signs from Don Letts and Amy Lamé. Adding to a growing profile, The Independent, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Dork and Notion have all covered her — and The Grammy Awards selected her a one of 6 Female Fronted Acts Reviving Rock, along with Wet Leg.

SJ’s latest single, the Bill Ryder-Jones and Riedel co-written and co-produced “Loser,” is a catharsis-inducing, 120 Minutes MTV alt rock-era anthem built around swirling shoegazer guitar textures, rousingly anthemic, shout along worthy hooks and chorus serving as a lush and downright perfect vehicle for the rising Dutch-born, London-based artist’s vulnerable, yet equally enormous vocal.

Creatively, the song was fueled by a bold tale of chutzpah: SJ dropped her demos into the DMs of big-name producers she admired with the hopes that they would be willing to work with her. But at its core, the song as the rising Dutch-born artist explains is about resilience: “‘Loser’ is about making peace with heartbreak. We move on by accepting our feelings and understanding that not everyone speaks the truth. This doesn’t mean we stop being truthful, just more careful with who we trust.”

“I love working with SJ….she’s fucking hard to keep up with like. She has this knack of coming up with great ideas when I’m still admiring the last one,” Bill Ryder-Jones adds.

Directed by Josiah Newbolt, the accompanying video for “Loser” is shot in black and white, and follows the rising Dutch-born, British-based artist in a dizzying close up that evokes the swooning urgency of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Melbourne’s Ella Thompson Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Let There Be Nothing”

Ella Thompson is a rising Melbourne-based singer/songwriter. And with her backing band, which sometimes features members of Surprise Chef and some of her favorite local players, Thompson and her band pair cinematic textures and arrangements seemingly inspired by The Shangri-La‘s, Renee Geyer, Thee Sacred Souls, Baby Rose, Back to Black-era Amy Winehouse and others with her effortlessly soulful, clear as a bell-like delivery. Lyrically, Thompson’s songwriting draws from poetry, philosophy and personal experience.

Thompson’s latest single, the Thompson, Liam McGorry and Henry Jenkins co-produced “Let There Be Nothing” features a backing of some of Melbourne’s best players on a broodingly cinematic arrangement that sounds like a synthesis of film soundtrack and classic Daptone Records.

“Let There Be Nothing” is a song about leaving your lover, and an inspired reimagining of a scenario that came up in The Sopranos: Thompson wrote the song, inspired by seeing Carmela Soprano battle with the decision to leave Tony, and to start her life again. Choosing to leave her mob boss husband directly challenges the patriarchal establishment she has existed in and has known since birth. But it also requires a complete and thorough break and remake of her identity, which is deeply intertwined with the oppressive structures she has known her entire life. In the song, Thompson envisions Carmela leaving Tony and the morally ambiguous life he offers, and instead sees her finding resilience and freedom in the novel in the unfamiliar. As Thompson says the song is “about accepting something for what it is, without trying to change or fix it — and then making the choices you need to make. That moment is difficult, but on the other side is freedom.”

The Nick McKinley and Thompson co-directed video for “Let There Be Nothing” is a gorgeously shot and highly symbolic visual: The dominoes are meant to represent the interdependent structures of patriarchy, racism and capitalism. And as a result, the video asks the viewer to consider how these structures impact our choices and what we’re willing to sacrifice. But it also suggests that our world as we know it, needs an overhaul for everyone to truly be free.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers Share Anthemic and Mosh Pit Friendly “Disgust”

New York-based JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers — currently Oliver Ackermann (vocals, guitar), John Fedowitz (bass) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums) — will be releasing their seventh album Synthesizer on October 4, 2024 through Dedstrange records.

While Synthesizer is the album’s title, it’s also a physical entity, a synthesizer specifically made for the album — and a synthesizer that you too, can own (in part), if you buy the record on vinyl. The album’s cover art doubles as a circuit board and functional synth for curious and enterprising fans. “It’s pretty messed up, chaotic. But it feels really human,” the band’s Oliver Ackermann says.

In an era of making music where so little is DIY and so much is left up to AI, never setting foot in a practice room or a home studio, making something that feels deliberately chaotic, messy, and human, is entirely the point. The album celebrates sounds that are spontaneous and natural, the kind of music that can only come from collaboration and community.

The writing sessions for Synthesizer started in the band’s Queens studio, shortly after the release of 2022’s See Through You. The new lineup which featured Ackermann and his friends John and Sandra Fedowitz was especially inspiring for Ackermann. “It felt like a fresh new thing,” he says. “I wanted to write songs everyone was excited about playing.”

The album captures the band at a place of reinvention, where they take a carefully honed sound and approach and crack it wide open to gut its then reimagine it. And of course, to ever so slightly reinvent one’s sound, one must also built a new instrument — the synthesizer at the core of the album’s overall sound.

Reportedly, Synthesizer is arguably one of the band’s most live-sounding albums to date, accurately capturing the rawness and explosiveness of the band in a live setting, which is a fitting for a band that is best in a live setting, where the material takes on a new energy in the presence of a crowd. “We’re artists,” Ackermann says, “Going to shows and bringing that imperfect and beautiful DIY ethos is important.”

Synthesizer’s first single “Disgust” is a bit of classic APTBS, an eardrum shattering aural assault, anchored around explosively wailing feedback and distortion pedaled guitar lines, and a relentless motorik groove featuring an arpeggiating bass line weaving in and out of the driving bass — but with subtle refinements, including some of the most rousingly anthemic, mosh pit friendly choruses and hooks I’ve heard from the band in some time.

“‘Disgust’ is a song I wrote that was inspired by the way I used to perform ‘Got That Feeling,’ a song by my old band Skywave,” Ackermann explains. “There was a long riding open note on the bass that enabled me to play the whole part with my fist in the air.  I wrote this song just on open strings so it could be played with just one hand: dumb and fun.” 

Directed by BODEGA’S Ben Hozie and filmed by Joe Wakeman, the accompanying video for “Disgust” features frames within frames within frames, and frames the band next to and within distorted images on TVs to “achieve a certain style of cine-cubism where the band members can be seen from multiple angles at once in the same frame,” BODEGA’s Hozie says, He adds, “This sense of dissociative texture is exactly what A Place to Bury Strangers music feels like to me,” Hozie says, “I was trying to create a visual accompaniment to the disorienting buzzy speed of the band’s grooves and bliss of their distorted overtones.”