Category: World Music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Super Plage Shares Breezy, Dance Floor Friendly Bop

Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Super Plage.  And if you’ve been following this site over the past couple of years, you’d recall that I’ve written about the acclaimed Montréal-based artist a bit over the past couple of years.

Last year, he released two singles:

  • “Ton chien,” 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. 

  • A cover of  Jimmy Hunt‘s 2013 hit “Nos corps,” with longtime collaborator Virginie B and Nectar Palace that turns the disco-tinged yet atmospheric original into a New Wave-like tune that reminded me a bit of Blondie-meets-Soft to the Touch-era Jef Barbara with a Robyn-like disco groove, some squiggling funk guitar.

Henry’s fourth Super Plage album, GROSSE MAISON is slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Montréal-based label Lisbon Lux. The album’s second and latest single “Tip Top” continues a run of breezy, 80s-inspired dance floor friendly bops anchored around squiggling funk, glistening synths and a relentlessly infectious groove serving as a lush and woozy bed for Henry’s dreamy falsetto. “Tip Top” is a track that invites you to get up on that dance floor and shake your ass — while dreaming of the summer.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jupiter & Okwess Shares Defiantly Upbeat Banger

Jean-Pierre “Jupiter” Bokondji is a Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo-born and-based bandleader, songwriter and percussionist, who can trace the origins of his music career to his childhood: Bokondji’s grandmother was a traditional healer, who got introduced him to music by having him attend religious ceremonies and funerals, which he later would play percussion. 

His father was a Congolese diplomat, who received a post at the Congolese embassy in East Berlin — and as a result, the family relocated to Germany. While in Germany Bokondji started his first band Der Neger, an act that meshed the Mongo music of his native Congo with the European rock of his German-born bandmates. 

When his father’s post ended, the family returned to Kinshasa in the 1980s. Upon his family’s return, Bokondji traveled around the country listening to the music of the country’s different tribes, eventually developing and honing his own style and sound. In 1984, he formed a band called Bongofolk — and in 1990, he formed his best known and longest running band Okwess International, which currently features Staff Benda Bilili’s Montana (drums), Yendé (bass), Eric (guitar), Richard (guitar) and Blaise (vocals). 

When Jupiter was young, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a diplomat. But, as he says, “Destiny is complicated. Life changed, and my life was making music on the streets in Kinshasa. But now we are performing all over the world, doing interviews, telling the world about the Congolese people – well, now I have the chance to be a diplomat. I did it differently.” 

In the years immediately after their formation, the members of Jupiter & Okwess toured across Africa, playing a crowd-pleasing mix of Afropop, traditional Congolese rhythms, funk and rock paired with strong sociopolitical messages that Bokondji has dubbed “bofenia rock.” But unfortunately, as they saw increased popularity, a bloody civil war broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of the band’s members fled to Europe as a result of the war; however, Bokondji remained in Kinshasa. And as the war died down, the Congolese songwriter, bandleader and percussionist saw a resurgence of his popularity. 

Bokondji was featured in the 2006 documentary film Jupiter’s Dance. The film brought him to the attention of British producers and musicians: The following year Blur‘s and Gorillaz‘s Damon Albarn and Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja first visited Kinshasa. That first trip spurred various collaborations with Jupiter & Okwess opening for Blur and guesting on Albarn’s 2012 album Kinshasa One Two. Bokondji and his bandmates also joined the Africa Express tour and made the rounds of the global festival circuit, including sets at  Glastonbury Festival and Way Out West. Adding to a rapidly growing international profile, the act released their then-long-awaited full-length debut, 2013’s Hotel Univers.

In 2013, Massive Attack remixed “Jupiter (Battle Box).” As a result of this breakout success, the band toured across the UK, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand and France. 

The Kinshasa-based act’s sophomore effort, 2018’s Kin Sonic saw the band drawing from sounds outside of their homeland, incorporating elements of modern, contemporary music to the mix. The Afropop outfit supported the album with 180 dates across the globe, including performing in the Paris production of Abderrahmane Sissako and Damon Albarn’s opera Le Vol du Boli.

Their third album, 2021’s Na Kazonga saw the Congolese outfit meshing an array of sounds from across the African Diaspora including traditional African music, disco, jazz, New Orleans brass, samba and soul while still remaining committed to conscious, sociopolitical lyrics and a strong sense of purpose. 

The acclaimed Congolese outfit’s fourth album, Ekoya is slated for a February 7, 2025 release through Airfono. The album represents a new chapter for the band, as the material sees the band blending their signature mix of soulful Congolese funk, rock and soukous with influences from Mexico and across Latin America, informed by cross-cultural encounters and drawing from the shared history of African people in two continents. 

Ekoya was conceived in 2020 when the Congolese band were touring across South America, a tour shaped by the specter of lockdowns and interruptions. Once the tour was finished, the band was forced to pause in Mexico for a period of time, before returning home. For the band, it was a transformative experience, as they found themselves immersed in Latin American culture. “Latin America has influenced us a lot… but our music hasn’t changed, it has just been given a new dimension,” Bokondji says. “When we were there, we discovered things that pushed us to think differently. Because it’s like a continuation of Africa. There are people there who have African roots, Congolese roots – they are part of the story of Africa. They are part of us, and they are a part of our music.” 

Recorded in Mexico rather than the band’s hometown, the album explores themes of change and resilience, of Indigenous peoples’ issues and the joys and struggles of everyday life. The 12-song album features guest spots from Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho, Mexican Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia and Congolese singer Soyi Nsele — and lyrics in eight different languages. The album sees the band as both proudly Congolese and profoundly global. 

The band explains that when it came time to record the album, Mexico was a natural destination with the band recording material in studios in Guadalajara and Mexico City, while working with a series of producers including Mexican Institute of Sound’s Camilo Lara. 

Late last year, I wrote about album single “Les Bons Comptes,” a collaboration with Brazilian vocalist Flavia Coelho that’s anchored around a driving soukous-meets Kinshasa funk rock groove, punchily delivered shouted call-and-response vocals and a soulful contribution from Coelho. While being a soulful and effortless mix of Africa and South America, the song is rooted in the conscious, sociopolitical charged lyrics and warm welcoming spirit the Congolese outfit is known for. But the song is also underpinned by a desire to be the connective tissue and soul of the global African Diaspora.

Ekoya‘s second and latest single “Congo Blinders” is a joyous track anchored around collaboration with Brazilian vocalist Flavia Coelho that’s anchored around a driving soukous-meets Kinshasa funk rock groove, punchily delivered shouted call-and-response vocals, a relentless four-on-the-four drum pattern and a fiery guitar solo. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Congo Blinders” further cements the Congolese outfit’s uncanny knack for pairing catchy hooks, hypnotic grooves with defiantly upbeat, politically charged messages.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Yul Shares Subtle Yet Brooding Remix of Sylvain Hellio’s “Nous étions heureux”

Sylvan Hellio is a Rennes, France-based artist, who released his debut EP, L’homme du bois through Résiste Records back in 2023. The EP featured “Nous étion heuruex,” a broodingly atmospheric trip hop-like lullaby anchored around twinkling guitar and skittering beats and Hellio’s dreamy delivery.

Yul recently remixed “Nous étions heureux,” but his remix manages to be subtle: Yul retains Hellio’s dreamy delivery and much of the original production but the brooding air is emphasized through the addition of a supple bass line, and bit of 808 kick. The result is a remix that feels a bit murkier and eerier.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dabinski Shares Summery “Umama”

Sacha Dabinski is a Paris-based DJ and producer, best known as Dabinski. Inspired by Armand Van Helden, Roger Sanchez, Pablo Fierro, Sparrow & Barbossa and more, the Parisian DJ and producer’s work transports listeners to sun-drenched locales that feature bright, soulful vocals, rhythmic percussion and a blend of organic and electronic instruments to create a rich, immersive experience. His work is meant to evoke the sensation of being on a vacation, of experiencing a delightful respite from the mundanity of the everyday, filled with sunshine and joy. 

The Parisian DJ and producer closes out 2024 with “Umama,” a collaboration with Nadrums and Neyl continues a run of ebullient and summery, Afrobeats-inspired house music featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering Caribbean-like drumming, a bluesy guitar solo, and a soulful vocal paired with wildly catchy hooks. It’s a fun, summery tune that’s simultaneously club and lounge friendly.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 109th Birthday, Edith Piaf!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 109th anniversary of Édith Piaf’s birth.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Cape Town-Born, London-Based Sibling Duo Roi Turbo Share Two Funky Bops

Benjamin McCarthy and Conor McCarthy are Cape Town-born, London-based musicians, who have different musical backgrounds:

  • Benjamin McCarthy had more of background in electronic music

  • Connor McCarthy was in several alt-rock and alt-pop projects

Since the siblings were in high school, they wanted to collaborate on a musical project that was just the two of them. Their project together Roi Turbo sees the Cape Town-born, London-based musicians blending a mix of African and Western influences from the 70s, 80s an 90s, including Larry Levan, William Onyeabor, Air and Pino D’Angiò.

“We were listening to ‘70s and ‘80s African disco and funk records at the time, and the contrast between the synths and raw live elements of these records really inspired us,” the members of Roi Turbo explain. Over the years we bought as many synths, drums, guitars and microphones as we could get our hands on and would experiment for weeks on end until we got the sound we were going for. We wanted to create a project that encompassed all our niche tastes in music, fashion, automobiles and design, free of any pretentiousness, just quality music that gets you moving!”

Over the past month, the pair have released two singles:

  • “Dystopia,” features squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, glistening and fluttering synth arpeggio and a strutting bass line paired with a motorik-like groove.

  • “Bazooka” is anchored around some phaser-drenched synths and squiggling keytar and a sinuous 80s-styled, two-step inducing groove.

The two singes bring to mind a slick synthesis of Zazou Bikaye‘s Mr. Manager and Synthesize the Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica from Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988, 80s synth funk while revealing a duo with an uncanny knack for funky grooves and remarkably catchy hooks.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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

Founded back in 2010, Yemen Blues are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Uppsala’s Big Fish Shares Brutal and Forceful “Snö”

Back in 1988, four Uppsala, Sweden-based teens decided to start a band after returning from a trip to West Berlin. Heavily inspired by the avant garde scene there, Big Fish‘s original lineup featured vocals, upright bass, samplers and scrap metal percussion. With the addition of a guitarist in 1990, the newly-minted quintet became part of an emerging local scene that would subsequently birth acts like Watain, Misery Loves Co., Lost Souls, Malaise and Defleshed.

Throughout the better part of the 1990s, the Swedish outfit recorded three studio albums, including 1996’s Micheal Blair-produced Andar i Halsen, which they supported with frequently touring across Scandinavia, playing over 500 shows.

The band broke up in 1997 after its members left Uppsala for work and studies. But their fanbase’s clamoring demand for hearing their material live resulted in the Swedish band playing a handful of reunion shows in 2016.

2022’s surprise fourth album, Kalla döda drömmar was released to critical praise and was supported by extensive touring across their native Sweden. The band spent the next year writing and recording material, including a six planned singles which will appear on the band’s forthcoming fifth album, Frya liter stoft (Four liters of dust) slated for release next year.

Frya liter stoft‘s third and latest single “SNÖ” (Snow) is a brutally forceful and thrashing ripper, anchored around down-tuned and rumbling bass, fuzzy power chords and thunderous syncopated drumming, rousingly anthemic and enormous hook and chorus paired with urgent and punchily delivered vocals singing lyrics in Swedish describing a return from a bleak metaphorical winter of isolation — or perhaps intoxication — and discovering that nothing is left.

“SNÖ” manages to capture the uneasy brutal nature of our bleak, mad, mad existence. All is very dire now, y’all.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Josbel Figurita Shares Soulful “Qué Difícil”

Josbel Figurita is a Cuban-born, European-based singer/songwriter, composer and performer, who has amassed a highly accomplished career: His full-length debut, En Cuerpo Y Alma, an effort dedicated to French artist Grégory Lemarchal received over 100,000 streams. Adding to a growing profile, Figurita has collaborated with Tito Nieves, Jerry Rivera, Tony Succar, Charlie Aponte, José Alberto El Canario, Willy Garcia, Lalo Rodriguez, Ray Sepulveda, Ismael Miranda and a growing number of beloved Latin music artists.

Figurita’s latest single “Qué Difícil,” is a soulful tune that reminds me of warm, summer afternoons in Corona, East Elmhurst, Bushwick, Spanish Harlem hearing familiar — and beloved — salsa rhythms and big horn lines from car stereos, barbecues and house parties, anchored by a star vocal turn from the rising Cuban vocalist.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jupiter & Okwess Teams Up with Flavia Coehlo on a Globalist Banger

Jean-Pierre “Jupiter” Bokondji is a Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo-born and-based bandleader, songwriter and percussionist, who can trace the origins of his music career to his childhood: Bokondji’s grandmother was a traditional healer, who got introduced him to music by having him attend religious ceremonies and funerals, which he later would play percussion.

His father was a Congolese diplomat, who received a post at the Congolese embassy in East Berlin — and as a result, the family relocated to Germany. While in Germany Bokondji started his first band Der Neger, an act that meshed the Mongo music of his native Congo with the European rock of his German-born bandmates.

When his father’s post ended, the family returned to Kinshasa in the 1980s. Upon his family’s return, Bokondji traveled around the country listening to the music of the country’s different tribes, eventually developing and honing his own style and sound. In 1984, he formed a band called Bongofolk — and in 1990, he formed his best known and longest running band Okwess International, which currently features Staff Benda Bilili’s Montana (drums), Yendé (bass), Eric (guitar), Richard (guitar) and Blaise (vocals). 

In the years immediately after their formation, the members of Jupiter & Okwess toured across Africa, playing a crowd-pleasing mix of Afropop, traditional Congolese rhythms, funk and rock paired with strong sociopolitical messages that Bokondji has dubbed “bofenia rock.” But unfortunately, as they saw increased popularity, a bloody civil war broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of the band’s members fled to Europe as a result of the war; however, Bokondji remained in Kinshasa. And as the war died down, the Congolese songwriter, bandleader and percussionist saw a resurgence of his popularity. 

Bokondji was featured in the 2006 documentary film Jupiter’s Dance. The film brought him to the attention of British producers and musicians: The following year Blur‘s and Gorillaz‘s Damon Albarn and Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja first visited Kinshasa. That first trip spurred various collaborations with Jupiter & Okwess opening for Blur and guesting on Albarn’s 2012 album Kinshasa One Two. Bokondji and his bandmates also joined the Africa Express tour and made the rounds of the global festival circuit, including sets at Glastonbury Festival and Way Out West. Adding to a rapidly growing international profile, the act released their then-long-awaited full-length debut, 2013’s Hotel Univers.

In 2013, Massive Attack remixed “Jupiter (Battle Box).” As a result of this breakout success, the band toured across the UK, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand and France.

The Kinshasa-based act’s sophomore effort, 2018’s Kin Sonic saw the band drawing from sounds outside of their homeland, incorporating elements of modern, contemporary music to the mix. The Afropop outfit supported the album with 180 dates across the globe, including performing in the Paris production of Abderrahmane Sissako and Damon Albarn’s opera Le Vol du Boli.

Their third album, 2021’s Na Kazonga saw the Congolese outfit meshing an array of sounds from across the African Diaspora including traditional African music, disco, jazz, New Orleans brass, samba and soul while still remaining committed to conscious, sociopolitical lyrics and a strong sense of purpose.

The acclaimed Congolese outfit’s fourth album, Ekoya is slated for a February 7, 2025 release through Airfono. The album represents a new chapter for the band, as the material sees the band blending their signature mix of soulful Congolese funk, rock and soukous with influences from Mexico and across Latin America, informed by cross-cultural encounters and drawing from the shared history of African people in two continents.

Ekoya was conceived in 2020 when the Congolese band were touring across South America, a tour shaped by the specter of lockdowns and interruptions. Once the tour was finished, the band was forced to pause in Mexico for a period of time, before returning home. For the band, it was a transformative experience, as they found themselves immersed in Latin American culture. “Latin America has influenced us a lot… but our music hasn’t changed, it has just been given a new dimension,” Bokondji says. “When we were there, we discovered things that pushed us to think differently. Because it’s like a continuation of Africa. There are people there who have African roots, Congolese roots – they are part of the story of Africa. They are part of us, and they are a part of our music.” 

Recorded in Mexico rather than the band’s hometown, the album explores themes of change and resilience, of Indigenous peoples’ issues and the joys and struggles of everyday life. The 12-song album features guest spots from Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho, Mexican Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia and Congolese singer Soyi Nsele — and lyrics in eight different languages. The album sees the band as both proudly Congolese and profoundly global.

The band explains that when it came time to record the album, Mexico was a natural destination with the band recording material in studios in Guadalajara and Mexico City, while working with a series of producers including Mexican Institute of Sound’s Camilo Lara.

Ekoya’s latest single “Les Bons Comptes” is a collaboration with Brazilian vocalist Flavia Coelho that’s anchored around a driving soukous-meets Kinshasa funk rock groove, punchily delivered shouted call-and-response vocals and a soulful contribution from Coelho. While being a soulful and effortless mix of Africa and South America, the song is rooted in the conscious, sociopolitical charged lyrics and warm welcoming spirit the Congolese outfit is known for. But the song is also underpinned by a desire to be the connective tissue and soul of the global African Diaspora.