Category: Video Review

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mute Swan Teams Up with Citrus Clouds on Cocteau Twins-like “Cocteau Swan”

With the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Ultraviolet and their full-length debut, 2021’s Only Ever, Tucson-based shoegaze/dream pop outfit Mute Swan — currently, Mike Barnett (guitar/vocals), Prabjit Virdee (bass, vocals), and Gilbert Flores (drums) — quickly established a swirling, densely layered take on psych rock that some critics and others have compared to Of Montreal and Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips. 

2021’s Only Ever was released to praise from The FADER, Merry-Go-Round Magazine and several others, as well as airplay on KEXP.

Earlier this year, the band signed to Hit The North Records/Wooden Tooth Records, who released “Hypnosis Tapes,” the first bit of new material from the band since their debut — and part of a batch of material that will be posthumously released after the tragic death of founding member Thomas Sloane. 

“Hypnosis Tapes” came on the heels of the Tucson-based outfit playing opening slots for Horse Jumper of Love, Wednesday, Tanukichanand Peel Dream Magazine, as well as a set at this year’s Levitation Festival.

Mute Swan closes out 2025 with “Cocteau Swan,” which features Citrus Clouds‘ Stacie Huttleson. Anchored around fluttering synths and swirling, reverb-soaked guitar textures paired with boom bap-inspired drum patterns, “Cocteau Swan” features Mute Swan’s Mike Barnett and Huttleson’s uncanny harmonies ethereally floating over the Cocteau Twins-inspired soundscape.
 
“This song is an homage to one of our favorite bands, Cocteau Twins,” Mute Swan’s Mike Barnett explains. “We were very lucky to have our friend Stacie Huttleston from Citrus Clouds sing the backing vocal part, which we recorded at their practice space in Phoenix.”

Directed by Mike Barnett, the accompanying video for “Cocteau Swan” sees the surviving band members paying a loving tribute to their dearly departed friend — by sharing pictures of their friend and the band while on tour, in the fullness and vitality of life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Puma Blue Shares Surrealistic, Dream-like Visual for “Croak Dream”

London-based producer, singer/songwriter and Puma Blue creative mastermind Jacob Allen will be releasing his sixth studio album, Croak Dreams through Play It Again Sam on February 6, 2026.

Recorded straight to tape at Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios, Croak Dream reportedly sees Allen and co-producer and mixer Sam Petts-Davies expanding the project’s sonic world, channeling the project’s sultry, emotional and conceptual complexity with an instinct-led take on experimenting with Allen’s art to find its most evocative form.

Additionally, longtime collaborator Harvey Grant contributed to the textual quality and identity of the album. “Later at Real World Studios, the band and I recorded tape loops over a small fragment of the demo, none of them heard the finished song, and when Sam and I came back to London we cut those improvisations into this Frankenstein’s monster type collage,” Allen says. “We were really leaning into a mutual love for CAN, Aphex Twin and Queens of the Stone Age.”

Croak Dream‘s latest single, album title track “Croak Dream” is a broodingly cinematic and uneasy track that features Allen’s remarkably Thom Yorke-like falsetto croon singing over a hypnotic arrangement of angular, whirring instrumentation paired with industrial-meets-dub-like beats. Seemingly drawing from Bristol-era trip hop — i.e., Portishead, Massive Attack, etc. — and dub with an alt-pop sensibility, “Croak Dream” thematically focuses on an age-old philosophical question: “If you knew how and when you were going to die, how would it change how you decided to live?”

“A Croak Dream is a prophetic dream where you see a vision of how you die. Half the songs on this record allude to how you might decide to live, act, if you somehow knew your awaiting fate. Being daring, romantic… saying what you really mean.” Allen explains. 

“‘Croak Dream’ is about someone I have dreamt of for years. Nightmares really, I just have not been able to shake them yet,” he continues. “I thought maybe what I needed was a sort of exorcism, so I wrote this song unpacking this strange bond that has haunted me, and then put it to bed, or death, at the end. It is a laying of a ghost to rest, I hope.” 

Directed and edited by Allen and featuring animation by Quill, the accompanying video for “Croak Dream” further emphasizes the song’s surrealistic, dream-like logic, featuring Allen and his live bandmates in a PlayStation-inspired video game universe, traversing their individual subconscious in eerie, dream-meets-video game-like adventures.

“I wanted the video to evoke boyhood and be in conversation with the lyrics. The basic idea was to create a PlayStation style game paying homage to RHCP’s ‘Californication’ video, but in a way that carried deep meaning for the band,” Allen says of the video. “I searched high and low for the right person who could capture the nostalgia of games like Silent Hill, Tomb Raider and Pro Skater until I found Quill (@grabmypepsi). I wrote him a script, and he animated it all from scratch. Then it got run through VHS right at the end so that it felt truly like it would if you were playing it in the late 90’s. It felt like a way to honor these friends and, in a strange way, the children we were back then.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Marie Céleste Shares Surreal and Dream-like Visual for Ethereal and Yearning “2 goélands”

Rising Montréal-based quintet Marie Céleste — Simon Duchesne (vocals, guitar), Philippe Plourde (keys), Olivier Tremblay (bass, vocals), Zachary Tremblay (guitar) and Guillaume Sliger (drums) — can trace their origins back to when the band’s members where high schoolers in Alma, QC during the 2010s. The French Canadian quintet’s sound draws from the diverse influences of its members blending elements of folk, indie pop, art rock, electronic music and world music.

For years, the quintet was content with playing just one show a year. Their songs — shaped by progressive rock roots — often stretched to ten minutes or more. But when they relocated to Montréal back in 2023, the band decided it was time to level up. Initially, the goal was simple: earn enough to cover their rehearsal space. Montréal proved to be much more than a backdrop — it became a catalyst for the quintet.

Canada’s second largest city has one of world’s more eclectic and vibrant music scenes. Immersed in their adopted hometown’s scene, they met a collection of musicians and set their sights on playing Les Francouvertes, a pivotal showcase festival that would end up changing everything for the band: Local tastemaker label Bravo Musique discovered their radiant, joy-tinged tape on prog pop, which at this point was much more refined and focused.

Last year was a breakthrough year for the French Canadian quintet: Bravo Musique released their debut, Feux de joie, which amassed over 800,000 Spotify streams, was supposed with a EP release show at La Sala Rossa and a few months later, a sold-out show at Fairmount Theatre.

Feux de joie‘s highly-anticipated follow up, the Amaury Pluvinage-produced Tout ce qui brille is slated for a March 13, 2026 release through Bravo Musique. The French Canadian quintet’s forthcoming sophomore effort will reportedly feature material that sees the band pushing their sound in new directions while anchored around a seamless fusion of acoustic and electronic textures. Thematically, Tout ce qui brille will celebrate human connection, the relationships that shape and sustain us, and the joy and vulnerability that come from being seen and held by others. The result is an album that radiates with warmth, friendship, community — and much more importantly, healing.

Tout ce qui brille‘s second and latest single, “2 goélands” is a broodingly meditative track featuring gentle layers of twinkling keys and atmospheric synths, stuttering drum patterns serving as a lush and dreamy bed for Simon Duchesne’s yearning delivery. Evoking the sight of soaring seagulls by the shore, “2 goélands” seemingly channels Cloud Castle Lake‘s gorgeous and cinematic 2018 effort Malingerer and Amnesiac-era Radiohead.

Lyrically, the song explores a relationship that has been damaged somehow but not irrevocably so; it’s a relationship that can be repaired, if both sides truly want that relationship to work and can see past their disagreement — or their current impasse.

Directed by Félix Simard-Tanguay, and set in suburban Quebec, the accompanying video for “2 goélands” features the members of Marie Céleste in surreal, dream-like scenarios that evoke and emphasize the song’s thematic concern of relationships on the brink — but eventually the disputes are settled with a handshake.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Ulrika Spacek Returns with Labyrinthine and Ethereal “Square Root of None”

Formed back in 2014, London-based art rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Ulrika Spacek — founding members Rhys Edwards (vocals, guitar) and Rhys Williams (guitar) , alongside Joseph Stone (guitar, keys), Callum Brown (drums), Syd Kemp (bass) — can trace their origins back to a night the band’s founding duo spent in Berlin, where the pair conceptualized the project around their mutually held passions and influences — in particular, Television, Pavement, Sonic Youth and krautrock. 

Upon the duo’s return to the UK, they began working on the material that would eventually comprise their full-length debut, 2016’s The Album Paranoia, which featured album tracks “She’s A Cult,” and “Strawberry Glue.”

Since then, the project which started out as a duo, expanded to quintet with the addition of Stone, Callum, Brown and Kemp – and then released 2017’s critically applauded sophomore album, Modern English Decoration, an album that saw the band pushing their sound into a more textured territory. Their third and latest album, last year’s Compact Trauma channeled the anxiety and dislocation of the modernize age through a prismatic haze of guitars, loops and elliptical lyrics. 

The British art rock outfit’s highly-anticipated fourth album EXPO is slated for a February 6, 2026 release through Full Time Hobby. Unlike its predecessors, which looked within, EXPO reportedly holds a mirror up to the world and captures a warped reflection. The material was deeply informed by the band’s most recent American tour and was written while the band’s Rhys Edwards was awaiting the birth of his daughter, and started to wonder what kind of future world she’d inherit. 

Although their foundations have long been in art rock, they’ve been increasingly drawing from electronic elements. But as a band, they’re interested in the glitchy space that exists between the two. And as a result, their most recent work reckons with human warmth and digital isolation, while being welcoming and alienating, exploring the uneasy tension of modern life as we know it. “Our music has always been a collage – a bit patchwork, sonically – but what makes this album a landmark for us is that we went one step further and made our own sound bank and essentially sampled ourselves,” the band says. 

The band creates their own doppelgängers in a world of almost-real, where the band appears as if they’re in a funhouse hall of mirrors. Digital drums are sampled and layered over real drums and the like, creating an eerie, spectral vibe. Sonically, album’s material grapples with the organic and the digital while dancing across musical languages. 

The album will feature the previously released, “Build a Box, Then Break It,” a track that serves as a de-facto album mission statement that sees the JOVM mainstays actively pushing their sound into a new liminal space, while seemingly channeling Geoff Barrow‘s work with Portishead and Beak>, Radiohead‘s Amnesiac and The Orielles‘ The Goyt Method EP.

EXPO’s second and latest single “Square Root of None,” is an expansive, labyrinthine track that twists, turns and morphs in weird, prismatic directions seemingly at will. Featuring a looping and shimming guitar figure, bursts squealing feedback and a krautrock-like rhythm section, anchored around angular percussive attack, “Square Root of None” further establishes the album’s overall aesthetic while lyrically drawing from the language of math and coding, giving the entire affair a chilly, clinical vibe. The track, as the band says is about “throwing ideas at a wall” during a particularly cold Stockholm winter; one of the rare opportunities that the members of the band were in the same room together.

Directed by Katya Ganfeld, the accompanying video for “Square Root of None,” features the band performing in a studio with computer code, mathematical equations and computer screens superimposed on and around them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mariachi El Bronx Shares Stylish Visual for Swooning “Forgive or Forget”

Started back in 2008 as both a side project and creative experiment for the members of Los Angeles-based punk rock The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx — Matt Caughthran (vocals), Joby J. Ford (guitar, vihuela, accordion), Jared Shavelson (drums), Keith Douglas (trumpet), Ray Suen (violin), Brad Magers (trumpet), Ken Horne (jarana), and Vincent Hidalgo (guitarrón)– has long been deeply rooted in their deep connection to the Hispanic music and culture of their hometown. Although seemingly different, the and doesn’t see punk and mariachi as mutually exclusive. Instead, they view both genres as spiritually entwined forces anchored in resilient storytelling. “Punk rock and mariachi music are very similar in soul,” The Bronx’s and Mariachi El Bronx’s Matt Caughthran says. “It’s working class music. It’s real music.” 

Despite almost two decades of success, that has included sharing stages with Foo Fighters and The Killers; sets across the global festival circuit, including Coachella and Glastonbury; performances on Late Show with David Letterman to NPR’s Tiny Desk; and theme songs for shows like Weeds and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the members of Mariachi El Bronx still consider themselves lifelong students of the art form. That reverence carries over to their charro suits, which often attract as much attention as the music itself. The band has long turned to Boyle Heights-based Casa del Mariachi, a historic Los Angeles area landmark, where Jorge “Mr. George” Tello has been handcrafting the traditional suits for over 50 years. “This band has always been about learning and exchanging culture through music and art,” says Caughthran. “That’s what it’s all about! Everything we do comes from the heart and soul.”

Mariachi El Bronx’s long-awaited fourth album, the John Avila-produced Mariachi El Bronx IV is slated for a February 13, 2026 release through ATO Records. The album, which is the first album from the project in a decade, sees the trailblazing alter-egos of The Bronx continuing to embody the same ethos that sparked their creation — honoring the rich Hispanic music and culture that has always surrounded them in their hometown, while pushing creative boundaries. 

Clashing emotions of profound loss and overwhelming love shaped the album’s themes. The songwriting “started as a battle between love and death but became a way to process all the chaos of the world,” Caughthtran explains. Throughout the run of the album’s 12-tracks, the band documents the stories of gamblers, former playboys, warriors and lovers — characters that became vessels for the specific pressures of modern life. 

Returning after a decade away felt “joyous and familiar from the jump,” the band’s Joby J. Ford says. But the album’s recording process proved to be much more complex than expected. Within the year that he began writing the album’s lyrics, Caughthran contended with the deaths of several loved ones. And as they tracked the album’s material at producer John Avila’s San Gabriel Valley studio, the Eaton Canyon wildfires blazed across East L.A. “We came out of the studio one night, the entire side of the hill was just on fire,” Ford recalls. 

While dealing with grief in his personal life and within Los Angeles, Caughthran also got married in the same year. All of these very profoundly human experiences and feelings have informed what may arguably be Mariachi El Bronx’s most emotionally resonate work to date. 

Mariachi El Bronx IV’s first single, album opener “Forgive or Forget” features violinist Ray Suen on a swooning and galloping track that captures the nostalgia, bitter heartache, the longing to forget that heartache, and the desire to move forward with a seemingly booze-tinged haze. Fittingly, the song is rooted in a complicated and uneasy mix of despair and hope that feels lived-in and familiar. 

The accompanying video for “Forgive or Forget” features the members of Mariachi El Bronx in the traditional mariachi charro suits performing the song in silhouette in front of colorful backgrounds. It reminds me quite a bit of the ad campaigns for Apple iPods back in the day.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Allegories Share Dreamy and Uneasy “Mid Century Nothing”

Since the release of 2022’s Endless, the Canadian experimental pop duo and JOVM mainstays  Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — have released a growing collection of standalone singles. 

Earlier this year, the duo shared “DREAMCRUSHER” “Stay Out Of The Basement,” and “Baker’s Lung,” the first three of a series of singles that originally started out a bare-bonded ukulele sketches, which gradually transformed into idiosyncratic electronic sound sculptures.

The Canadian duo’s latest single “Mid Century Nothing” is a spacey and subtly uneasy fusion of shoegaze, electronic rock and electro pop that’s arguably the most band-orientated release from the duo in some time, while also capturing the tension between introspection and assertion. And as a result, the song possesses a quiet, unguarded defiance.

“It came from our ukulele songs and slowly turned into one of our weirdo electronic tracks,” the duo shares. “We were about 85 percent of the way through arranging it when we decided to perform it at a winter festival. We don’t play live very often – we’ve only done it twice in the last 10 years. Something about rehearsing and being on stage changes the way we approach the music. This song became more defiant, touched on what’s happening in the world, and ended up way more assertive and confrontational than anything we made in the studio.”

“It reminded us that we actually come from jamming things out in a rehearsal space,” they add. “Maybe we should spend more time in that mode. Either way, we could probably play live more than twice a decade.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lucid Express Shares Woozy “Something Blue”

Hong Kong-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Lucid Express will be releasing their long-awaited and highly-anticipated sophomore album Instant Comfort on February 20, 2026 through Kanine Records.

Mixed by Kurt Feldman during marathon overnight, transpacific sessions on Discord, Instant Comfort reportedly captures the unsettling stillness of the nighttime hours. The album’s material sonically sees the Hong Kong-based outfit pairing ethereal melodies with towering walls of jangling guitars and hazy, swirling feedback while being more clear-eyed, complex and layered than anything they’ve released to date.

Instant Comfort‘s first single “Something Blue” is anchored around a classic grunge and shoegaze song structure — shimmering and dreamily meditative soundscape-driven verses and stormy walls of churning and fuzzy power chords for the song’s enormous hooks and choruses. The song’s woozy and uneasy nature, helps to further emphasize the band’s Kim Ho’s ethereal delivery exploring the sense of creeping dead and melancholy that comes from uncertain relationships/situationships.

The accompanying video for “Something Blue” features the band in front of projections of footage submitted by fans and friends from across the globe.

Now, as you may know, since the release of 2021’s self-titled full-length debut, the band has amassed praise from fans and critics across the globe, toured internationally and made a run of the international festival circuit with stops at Slide Away and LEVITATION. They will return to North America next year for a sting of Stateside dates, including a return to play New Colossus Festival in March. More details on that to come.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Magic Fig Shares Ethereal Fever Dream “Goblin”

San Francisco psych pop supergroup Magic Fig — Inna Showalter (vocals, mellotron), Jon Chaney (keys), Muzzy Moskowtiz (guitar), Matthew Ferrara (bass) and Taylor Giffin (drums) — features members of The Umbrellas, Healing Potpourri, Almond Joy, Whitney’s Playland and Blades of Joy.

The quintet’s full-length debut, Valerian Tea is slated for a Friday release through Exploding In Sound Records. The album reportedly feels like a deep-dive down the rabbit hole into a bold, new world that feels much more vivid and flamboyant. Valerian Tea‘s material touches upon themes of memory, myth and melancholy while seeing the quintet quickly establishing a swirling mass of exploratory songwriting built around arrangements featuring piano, synths, glockenspiel, organ, 12-string acoustic and electric guitar.

Already the album has earned praise from NPR’s Into Music, Tour Stories with Joe Plummer Podcast, AudioFuzz, Post-Trash, Punknews.org, New Commute and others.

Valerian Tea‘s final pre-release single “Goblin” is anchored around a gorgeous and ethereal, krautrock-meets-prog rock fever dream of an arrangement of twinkling piano and shimmering guitars that morphs into psilocybin-fueled Dark Side of the Moon-like psych rock territory for the song’s second half or so.

Magic Fig’s Inna Showalter describes the new single as being “about the fickleness of inspiration.” She continues, “It’s also a song about wearing disguises and not being authentic, which causes harm in the long run. The desire to be accepted and ‘good’ cannot always coexist with following your heart.”

The accompanying video by Playland Studio‘s Elyse Shrock encapsulates the song’s themes but with Monty Python and Yellow Submarine-styled animated visuals.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Night Teacher Shares Lived-In “Past Life”

Singer/songwriter and musician Lilly Bechtel is the creative mastermind behind the indie project Night Teacher, a project that derives its name from Bechtel’s day job — she has worked asa trauma-informed yoga instructor for the past 15 years — and perhaps more poignantly, to the nature of the lesson. As Bechtel says, “Pain can be a teacher. It can have some really important things to tell you — if you’re willing to listen.”

Along with producer and collaborator Matt Wyatt, Bechtel’s Night Teacher work feel like notes slipped under the door or knowing winks across a table, little hints and nods of solitary that acknowledge struggle without demanding explanation or solution. “Healing doesn’t have to be linear,” says Bechtel. “It’s usually not.” Sonically, Bechtel and Wyatt craft a gritty, propulsive and often off-kilter sonic world that has drawn comparisons to Margaret Glaspy, Thom Yorke and Cate Le Bon among others, which can be heart on Bechtel’s 2020 Night Teacher self-titled debut.

Bechtel’s sophomore Night Teacher, the recently released Year of the Snake refers to the Chinese Zodiac and to this year, which according to the Chinese Zodiac is The Year of the Snake — a time for transformation. The album’s material was written during a period of profound personal hardship, including family challenges, a bitter breakup, and a relapse after 12 years of sobriety, all intensified by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I kept asking myself, ‘Can I survive this?’” Bechtel says.

Year of the Snake‘s second and latest single “Past Life” is a gritty and lived-in fever dream of lingering heartache, regret, failure and old ghosts haunting its narrator — and in turn, listener — in the present. And if you have lived a full and messy life, as I have, the song should feel familiar, expressing thoughts, feelings and observations that you’ve felt and seen, but haven’t been able to put in words. At its core, is a deeply humanistic tale of stubborn survival, hope, and of the recognition that recovery and healing are often a slow, uneasy, painful and necessary process.

Directed by Cat Rider, Zap McConnell and Lilly Bechtel, the accompanying video for “Past Life” is a surreal fever dream of doppelgängers, being watched and watching, of past, present and future constantly and uncomfortably colliding.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Alewya Teams Up with Dagmawit Ameha on Sultry and Propulsive “Night Drive”

JOVM mainstay Alewya is an acclaimed London-based singer/songwriter, producer and visual artist. Born in Saudi Arabia to an Egyptian-Sudanese father and an Ethiopian mother, the acclaimed London-based artist has spent her life surrounded by diaspora immigrant communities: She grew up in West London and after a several year stint in New York, she returned to London. Upon her return home, the Saudi-British artist developed and honed her ear for music through the sounds of the Ethiopian and Arabic music of her parents and the ambient alternative rock album of her brother.

The Saudi-born, British artist is part of a generation of artists actively redefining global music: They’re generally rooted in heritage yet unbound by it. Describing herself as a partner, who makes music, Aleway approaches sound as texture and feeling, guided more by intuition than structure. Her sound and story widen the Black-British frame, bringing the oft-under-heard North/East African perspective into a much-needed focus.

Back in 2020, the JOVM mainstay burst into the scene with an attention grabbing feature on Little Simz‘s “where’s my lighter,” which caught the attention of Because Records, who signed the rising artist and released her critically applauded debut, 2021’s Panther In Mode EP, which featured:

  •  The Busy Twist-produced debut single “Sweating,” a forward-thinking Timbaland-like mesh of trap, reggae and electro pop. 

  • “Spirit_X,” which paired elements of Timbaland, trap and drum ‘n’ bass paired with the rising British artist alternating between spitting fiery bars and sultry crooning

  • The sultry and defiantly feminist anthem “Play” 

  • “Channel High” a slick synthesis of grime, contemporary R&B, dancehall, electro pop and Afrobeats

The acclaimed JOVM mainstay’s latest single “Night Drive,” feat. Dagmawit Ameha is the first bit of new material in over three years. The new single sees the acclaimed Saudi-British artist boldly stepping forward into a new creative era and way of life.

“Night Drive,” is a lush, slickly produced, futuristic-leaning blend of 80s and 90s Detroit and Chicago house, minimalist beats, alt R&B, Ethiopian music, Afrobeats and komische musik with a playful and naughty nod to Grace Jones’ “Pull Up To The Bumper.”

Written and demoed by Alesha before being fleshed out and brought to live with long-time collaborators Craigie Dodds and Dean Barratt, “Night Drive” began as a minimal and intuitive feeling that evolved into an ode to Detroit house and the roots of Black electronic music.

Directed by Taichi Kimura, the accompanying video for “Night Drive” was shot during a recent, deeply influential trip to Japan, the video is a fever dream that follows the acclaimed JOVM mainstay through the heady, late night buzz of a neon-lit city, the backseat of a speeding cab and the sweaty pulse of a packed dance floor.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GENA Shares Breezy and Sultry “CIRCLESZ”

Deriving its name from an acronym “God Energy, Naturally Amazing,” and loosely inspired by the Gina from Martin, GENA is a new collaborative project featuring arguably two acclaimed and talented artists:

  • Liv.e: In a short period of time, Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Liv.e has quickly established a reputation for restless experimentation with the release of her full-length debut, 2023’s Girl in The Half Pearl, an effort that received praise from Billboard, Rolling Stone, Vulture and more, and last year’s synthwave-driven PAST FUTURE.e. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based made surprise appearances at last year’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, joining Earl Sweatshirt and Andre 3000 during their respective sets. She’s currently on Earl Sweatshirt’s Live. Laugh. Love. world tour, with Zeelooperz and Cletus Strap.

  • Karriem Riggins: Over the course of his 35-year career in music, Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based Karriem Riggins has firmly cemented a reputation as one of the most respected drummers and beatmakers out there. He has played with and produced for an eclectic array of acclaimed and legendary artists including Common, Erykah Badu, KAYTRANADA, Steve Lacy, The Roots, Madlib, Paul McCartney and Norah Jones. Notably, he formed a close kinship with the beloved, fellow Detroiter J. Dilla. In 2017, Riggins won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and lyrics for his work with Common and Robert Glasper on “Letter to the Free,” which appeared on Ava Duvernay’s 13th. Recently, Riggins reunited with Common and collaborated with James Poyser to write and record “Victory,” the theme music for NBA on Prime for the 2025-2026 season and beyond.

The pair can trace the origins of the project to when they met through a mutual musical acquaintance and quickly recognized each other as kindred musical and creative spirits, who started playing shows as GENA earlier this year. GENA sees the Los Angeles-based duo channeling the instinctive musical prowess of both artists while seamlessly meshing their imitable style. The result is a playful and soul-driven improvisational work that captures Liv.e’s vision of reconstructing R&B her way paired with Riggins masterful percussion which spans improvisation and beatmaking alchemy.

GENA’s debut single “CIRCLESZ” is a remarkably breezy, jazz-tinged bit of neo-soul featuring an arrangement of precise, boom bap meets-bop jazz-like four-on-the-floor and glistening and arpeggiated Rhodes serving as a hook-driven, lush, dusty sample-like bed for Liv.e’s sultry delivery. While sonically nodding at Yasiin Bey‘s “Umi Says,” “CIRCLESZ” evokes the woozily intoxicating connection you can build with another person and the small moments that can color that romantic bond.

Shot with a grainy, analog quality, the accompanying video features the pair performing on a The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson-styled show and set, including an interview with the host.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Sylvia Black Shares Brooding and Sultry “Talking in Tongues”

Los Angeles-based multifaceted producer, singer/songwriter, bassist, performer, restless performer and JOVM mainstay Sylvia Black has had a long-held reputation for being difficult to pin down. And since her first job singing and entertaining at a resort hotel in Northern Japan as a teen, music has been the JOVM mainstays lifeline.

Throughout her career, Black has steadily gained momentum as a writer and producer, consistently creating music on her own times, while simultaneously cementing her place in the post-punk and goth-romantic renaissance and been restlessly creative. Her lengthy credits reflect her eclectic tastes and wide-ranging abilities. She was the frontperson of the New York-based trio KUDU with Deantoni Parks (drums, production) and Nicci Kasper (keys, production) in the early 00s. Black also has writing and recording credits with Grammy Award-winning pop act Black Eyed Peas, Daphne Guinness and more. Her lengthy resume includes collaborations with legends like Tony Visconti, Lydia Lunch and Moby, as well as The Knocks, Armand Van Helden and French electro pop duo Telepopmusik. And last, but definitely not lease, her sultry rendition of ‘I Put A Spell On You” appeared on the hit Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

As a bassist, Black has played with The Brand New Heavies‘ N’Dea Davenport, Living Colour‘s Muzz Skillings and with Maya Rudolph’s Prince cover band Princess.

The JOVM mainstay’s newest album, the 11-song Shadowtime is slated for a January 16, 2026 release. The album sees Black continuing her long-held approach of songwriting from the bottom up. “I find a beat that I’m in love with and go forward,” Black says. “The bass provides the floor, but as a singer, I’m also coming in with the roof. If you can write a beautiful song with just those two elements, bass notes and the voice, that’s a job well done.”

Written, produced and performed primarily by the JOVM mainstay the album was crafted with support from longtime mix engineer and creative foil Ruddy Lee Cullers. The album’s material will reportedly be a haunting exploration of nostalgia and futurism, that sees Black pushing her sound in new directions by weaving hypnotic rhythms, cinematic layers and raw, visceral emotion, while moving effortlessly from dance floor anthems to atmospheric meditations on love, loss and transcendence. “This album is about finding beauty in ruins,” Black says. “About letting the shadows speak through me. Returning to California brought out the memory and soul of my goth days gone by.” 

Shadowtime‘s first single “Talking in Tongues” is a brooding blend of goth, New Wave and shoegaze that seemingly nods at Suicide, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and others, featuring a relentless motorik groove and industrial-like thump serving as an atmospheric bed for Black’s sultry delivery.

Black says, “It’s about one who has lost their agency by letting outward elements control them and deceive them. Or, a drunk bitch.”