Category: women who kick ass

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Yeisy Rojas Returns with Hopeful “¿Dónde está el amor?”

JOVM mainstay Yeisy Rojas is a Grammy Award-nominated and Latin Grammy Award-nominated Cuban-born, Oslo-based, classically trained, jazz violinist, singer/songwriter and composer.

Her recently released album Inmigrante features the previously released “LATINO” and the album’s latest single “¿Dónde está el amor?” “¿Dónde está el amor?” begins with a cinematic jazz pop introduction in which the JOVM mainstay’s excessive vocal is accompanied with piano and subtly Latin percussion before morphing to a decidedly upbeat soul and gospel-influenced — with the song moving from heartbreak to joy and hope.

“The song grew out of a question that kept coming back to me as I looked at the world around us: Why do we treat each other this way? Where is the love?” The Oslo-based artist says. ” I wrote it sitting at the piano, moved by the sadness and helplessness I felt watching a world becoming increasingly divided—shaped by conflict, persecution, raids, hatred, and a growing lack of empathy. But I didn’t want to write a song rooted in hopelessness. I wanted to turn those feelings into something that could remind us of what still connects us. Musically, “¿Dónde está el amor?” begins as an intimate, vulnerable ballad, gradually weaving in Afro-Cuban rhythms through the tumbadoras. It continues to build until it opens into a powerful gospel choir, where gospel and Afro-Cuban rhythms come together in a call for unity, hope, and love. What begins as a deeply personal question ultimately becomes a collective voice—an invitation to rediscover our empathy and remember the humanity we share, especially in times of profound division. Rather than trying to provide an answer, I hope the song leaves one question lingering long after the music ends: amid everything that separates us today, where is the love?”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Shirley Manson!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Garbage frontperson Shirley Manson’s 60th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Valerie Simpson!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Valerie Simpson’s 80th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: R.I.P. Dolly Parton!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of the iconic Dolly Parton.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Julia Jacklin Returns with Anthemic “The Hardest Thing”

Acclaimed Melbourne-based singer/songwriter and musician Julia Jacklin will be releasing her highly-anticipated fourth album, the Robert Muiños and Jacklin co-produced, 10-song album  The Gem through 4AD Records digitally and on CD, cassette and vinyl on September 25, 2026. Exclusive color vinyl editions with retailers will include turquoise, green opal, ruby and rose quartz. Pre-order information can be found here.

The album will include the previously released “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You),” the album’s closing track ” “I Wish” feat, Aussie folk sibling duo The Maes, and the album’s third single, “The Hardest Thing.” is a proudly heart-worn-on-sleeve anthemic ballad featuring a narrator, whose relationship on the brink, detailing a relationship at a crossroads — or about to peter out to an inevitable conclusion. Lyrically, the song is rooted in small, lived-in details that give the song a personal yet deeply universal touch.

Directed by Danny Cohen, the accompanying video was shot in one lengthy take and filmed from a helicopter winding through Melbourne’s skyline, gradually showcasing the acclaimed artist performing the song on top of skyscraper.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: E. Lundquist Teams Up with JOVM Mainstay Kendra Morris on Upbeat “Wishing”

Los Angeles-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Eric Borders is the creative mastermind behind E. Lundquist, a project that derives its name from a loving nod to his family lineage, bringing the focus back to his own story. With E. Lundquist, Borders specializes in a warmly cinematic sound rooted in Rhodes-driven soul jazz, funk, R&B, library records and live band groove and analog synth textures, reflecting a shift to an intimate, reflective and composer-led approach.

Borders’ forthcoming album Chasing My Reflections will touch upon themes of identity, resilience and self-reflection while featuring collaborations with Michael Damani, India Blue, Michael Edwards and JOVM mainstay Kendra Morris.

Chasing My Reflections‘ latest single “Wishing” features the Florida-born, New York-based JOVM mainstay’s effortlessly soulful croon over the sort of warm, buoyant, two-step-inducing neo-soul-like arrangement that would make the Soulquarians proud while being being a defiantly optimistic tune focused on the need to get back on your feet and get on with it, no matter how shitty everything seems.

“This song’s music had an overall upbeat, warm feel to it, so in writing it, I felt hopeful. . . .,” Kendra Morris says. “I’ve written plenty of sad songs, and it’s nice to just flip that sometimes. When Eric mentioned his inspiration behind the album and his working title at the time, ‘Reflections’, that got me thinking about my own perspective on life and struggling and how it’s great pushing forward and looking up rather than wallowing behind.”

Filmed and edited by Tony Delerme, the accompanying video for “Wishing” follows the JOVM mainstay walking down a brownstone-lined block rocking out to music on headphones, stopping to people watch before stopping at local bodega for snacks and hitting the subway. The video captures summertime in New York in a way that will bring a smile to New Yorkers faces.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Belinda Carlisle!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Belinda Carlisle’s 67th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sweeping Promises Returns with Roaring “Rapture, Or . . . “

Lawrence, KS-based duo and JOVM mainstays Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production) — just released their thorn album You Say I Romanticize through Sub Pop.

Recorded over an 18-month period, You Say I Romanticize is a tribute to the chaos of creation and collaboration under shifting circumstances. Mondal and Schung found and tested themselves in their combination tour house and recording studio annually working on dozens of albums by other bands, hosting tour stops, planning shows and the like. After an immersive process of tracking and whittling down YSIR demos and carving out an idiosyncratic chamber recording method for the album’s deliberate and international wall-of-sound approach, the duo brought in touring drummer Spenser Gralla to play the album’s material as the band would on stage. 

The album’s frenzied and passionate sound shines most in Modal’s vocal perforamnce. Where you might have heard a growl here and there on certain previously released Sweeping Promises trcks, the band’s frontwoman shouts, roars, hits tricky notes all over the place and shreds her throat throughout the album’s runtime. 

YSIR takes the art-by-any-means-necessary ethos that Mondal and Schung have firmly established throughout their careers and turns the prompt upside down, landing on a personality epidemic that manifests across the album’s ten songs. 

The JOVM mainstays’ third album includes the previously released “Cocoon,“Accent,” and it’s latest single “Rapture, Or . . .” “Rapture, Or. . . .” is a roaring and punchy apocalypse fantasy written with a defiant, plucky resolve that’s strangely sort of upbeat. It’s a song that’s perfectly suited for our contemporary hellscape fueled by greed, hatred and blood.

The duo explain, “‘Rapture, Or…’ we originally envisioned a sort of fallen monastic, mockingly devout, longing for a near-term judgment day (catch phrase: ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow’). The actual lyrics are scenario-adaptable, though, as apocalypse fantasies seemingly guide culture now, so you can’t blame us for finding a desire lane amid the ruins. It’s one of our poppier songs ever. We double-tracked Lira’s loud vocals in our tiled bathroom – our ‘cathedral’. A malfunctioning arp played the ascendant synth arpeggios, and the guitar on this one was improvised.” 

Directed by Shawn Brackbill, the accompanying DIY-styled video is split between features the duo performing the song in a small studio wth a brewing end-of-times-like phenomenon — one that seems like part-storm, part-eclipse, part-nuclear explosion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Lemongrab Shares Strutting and Insouciant “Yoko”

Originally founded in Montréal, Lemomgrab — currently founding duo Gaëlle Cordeau (vocals) and Léonie Dishaw (guitar, vocals), along with Fritz Ali Hansen (bass) and Joris Bo Monty (drums) –quickly established their unique brand of punk-tinged garage rock with 2016’s self-released The Ones with the Brooms EP, 2019’s self-released, full-length debut It Doesn’t Sound Good But It Feels Awesome. In their early days, they played house shows, now-defunct DIY spaces, deep dives across Canada and later touring the US with Broncho back in 2019. The duo relocated to Berlin in 2020.

Following their move to Germany, the duo self-released 2021’s six-song, The Wet Album, which saw them further embracing a punk ethos. Their sophomore full-length 2024’s I Spy with My Little Eye was released through German label U-Bac Records and received praise from Vancouver’s Range Magazine and others. Since relocating to Berlin, they do have sharpened their sound amidst the European underground circuit, making a quick yet lasting impression in the international punk scene. Adding to a growing international profile, the band has made a run of the international festival circuit, paying sets at Berlin’s Synästhesie Fest; Paris’ Supersonic Block Party; Friedland, Germany’s Jenseits von Millionen; Calgary’s Sled Island; and Pop Montréal. They’ve also shared stages with L.A. Witch, BODEGA, Meatbodies, Das Beat, Cumgirl8 and Shame. And while in Berlin, the band expanded from a duo to a quartet with the addition of Fritz Ali Hansen (bass) and Joris Bo Monty (drums).

The Berlin-based outfit’s new 7-inch, Another Kind of Freedom is slated for a September 11, 22026 release through Mothalnd and Chrüsimüsi Records. The new effort reportedly sees the German-based quartet further cementing a sound that draws from an eclectic array of influences including The Stooges, The Clean, Pylon and Bikini Kill while being a cranky yet uplifting patchwork of songs. While each song is stylistically diverse, the material questions belief systems rooted in existential angst and witty social commentary informed by our dystopian hellscape.

Another Kind of Freedom‘s latest single “Yoko” is built around a insouciant and downright nonchalant, strutting groove and squiggling burts of guitar. Sonically seeming to channel Talking Heads: 77 and More Songs About Building and Food-era Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground and The Jim Carroll Band‘s Catholic Boy, “Yoko” is one-part school punk, one-part mutant disco that pays homage to Yoko Ono while calling out misogyny and criticizing the superficiality of the male gaze. The song points out that Yoko Ono was not just misunderstood as an artist and person, but that she was has long been incorrectly blamed for The Beatles breakup.

“‘Yoko’ came from a discussion about how we repeatedly had this annoying conversation with men who hate Yoko Ono and say she’s just ruining everything, laughing about her ‘screaming’ over Chuck Berry, Lemongrab’s Cordeau and Dishaw explain. “‘Yoko’ is a song that decenters the male ego as the measure of experience and plays with the notion of who holds the narrative. It’s not anymore about if someone is Paul or John, but Yoko or John, putting them both on equal terms. Inspiration came from late 70s post-punk music like Delta 5 and Au Pairs and we riffed on this idea which all came together when Fritz found the perfect bass groove.”

Filmed by Gaëlle Cordeau and Léonie Dishaw, the accompanying video for “Yoko” follows the pair as they set out on an adventure to visit the grave of German singer/songwriter, actor and model Christa Päffgen, a.k.a. Nico.

The German-based outfit will be embarking on a European Union tour to close out 2026. Check out the tour dates below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dummy Shares Hypnotic and Mind-Bending “Full Spectrum Dominance”

Los Angeles-based outfit Dummy — Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, Joe Trainor and Lance Umble — will be releasing their fourth studio album, do you love the color of the sky on October 16, […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Womack Sisters Share Soulful and Heartbroken “Monster”

Rising Los Angeles-based sibling soul trio The Womack Sisters — Kucha, Zeimani and BG — can trace the origins of their careers to their childhood: The trio were singing before they could even walk. They grew up on stages and in studios across the globe, singing behind their parents, as well as their legendary uncle, Bobby Womack. And adding to The Womack Sisters’ remarkable pedigree, their grandfather was the iconic Sam Cooke. 

No matter where they called home at the time — London, Thailand, Amsterdam, Kenya, West Virginia, The Bahamas — music and family were always a constant at the center of their lives. Of course, as the sisters grew up, each with their own respective journeys, experiences and heartaches, they managed to find their own voices and their own path.

Each member of the trio has their own individual vocal styling and timbre, but they playfully trade leads and effortlessly blend their harmonies perfectly in a way that only siblings can do.

Back in 2016, a mutual friend introduced The Womack Sisters to Daptone Records co-owner and producer Gabriel Roth, a.k.a. Bosco Mann, who heard them sing and fell quickly and deeply in love with their voices. Shortly after, they met, they went to Daptone’s Riverside, CA-based Penrose Studios to record their label debut, “If You Want Me“/”I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye).”

The rising Los Angeles trio’s long-awaited self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a Friday, August 14, 2026 through Daptone Records. The album will feature the previously released “Chauffeur” and the album’s latest single “Monster.” “Monster” is a slow-burning and heart-wrenching ballad rooted in a cinematic and old school-inspired arrangement and production. The song is about coming to terms with the devastating, emotional void left by unrequited love that features the siblings’ vocals expressing heartache, confusion, yearning and stubborn, determined pride within a turn of a phrase.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie Nocturne Shares Broodingly Cinematic and Club Friendly “Vault of the Damned”

Edinburgh-based electronic music producer, DJ and self-proclaimed intergalactic vampire Natasha Kitty Katt, who channels her lifelong love of sci-fi, horror and electronic music into a bold, unmissable creative identity. Her work, which has seen her play at clubs like Hi Ibiza, Printworks London, Ministry of Sound, House of Yes, Gabriela NYC and others across the world, blends Italo, synth-driven music and cosmic disco with a cinematic flair. She also holds residencies at Glitterbox, Suncebeat, Soul Heaven and Southport Weekender.

Adding to a growing profile, her work has been released on a growing number of powerhouse electronic music labels including Nervous Records, Glitterbox, Paper Recordings, Whiskey Disco, F*CLR and her own Ghetto Disco Records and Shadowrunner Recordings. And the iconic Louie Vega has remixed two of her tracks.

Last year’s Synaptic Juice is a concept album that was a genre-bending experience that blurred the lines between soundtrack, storytelling and hedonistic, dance floor escapism that also showcased her ability to transform her passions for horror, fantasy and futuristic sounds into a fully realized sonic universe.

The Edinburgh-based producer and DJ is also the creative mastermind behind the darkwave recording project Auld Reekie Nocturne. Auld Reekie Nocturne is a Natasha Kitty Kat’s dark electronic project inspired by her lifelong fascination with Edinburgh’s dark, shadowy past. Rooted in a love of horror, gothic storytelling and the macabre, the project brings some of the city’s most haunting and disturbing real stories to life through music, immersive storytelling and visuals. Every release is shaped by extensive historical research, with a strong focus on authenticity and respect for the real stories behind the music.

Natasha Kitty Kat’s latest Auld Reekie Nocturne single “Vault of the Damned” sonically is one part John Carpenter soundtrack, one-part LutchamaK-like deep house banger with a relentless motorik groove that showcases the Scottish producer’s unerring knack for broodingly cinematic yet club friendly tunes.