JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 78th anniversary of the birth of Freddie Mercury.
Throwback: Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”/Happy First Day of School!
Today is the first day of school for New York City Public School students. I’ve already seen some photos of friends’ kids that have made me feel very old. In two instances, I remember when […]
Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, Kim Thayil!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil’s 64th birthday.
New Audio: Ezra Collective Shares Swaggering “Streets is Calling” feat. M.anifest and Moonchild Sanelly
Acclaimed London-based jazz/hip-hop outfit Ezra Collective — Femi Koleoso (drums), TJ Koleoso (bass), Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Ife Ogunjobi (trumpet) and James Mollison (tenor saxophone) — can trace their origins back to when they met at Gary Crosby’s Tomorrow’s Warriors, a jazz music education and artist development program committed to championing diversity, inclusion and equality across the arts through jazz with a special focus on Black musicians, female musicians and those whose financial or other circumstances might lock them out of opportunities to pursue a career in the music industry.
The band’s full-length debut, 2019’s You Can’t Stay My Joy, featured guest spots from Jorja Smith and Loyle Carner. Instrumental album track “Quest for Coin” was premiered as the “Hottest Record in The World” on BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac Show. 2022’s sophomore album Where I’m Meant To Be, which featured a mix of instrumental tracks and lyrical contributions was released to widespread critical applause across the UK.
Last year was a breakthrough year for the British jazz outfit. Their critically applauded sophomore album led to the band being named the first jazz act to ever win the Mercury Prize. The entire UK, European Union and US tour to support the album was sold-out, including 10,000 capacity Eventim Apollo and Royal Albert Hall headlining shows. They played Glastonbury Festival and Quincy Jones‘ star-studded birthday party and the final guests of the year on The Graham Norton Show and Top of The Pops Review of 2023. Adding to a busy year, they won Best Jazz Act at last year’s MOBO Awards and were named Time Out London‘s Londoners of 2023.
Continuing upon last year’s momentum, they were tapped by Daniel Lee to perform at this Burberry x Harrods takeover. They launched the British Library’s Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music exhibition. And they were profiled in ES Magazine, British Vogue, Music Week and Mixmag.
Ezra Collective’s highly-anticipated third album Dance, No One’s Watching is slated for a September 27, 2024 release through Partisan Records. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, where the band was surprised by group of close friends and family, the Dance, No One’s Watching sessions were turned into a live, communal celebration of love, music and dancing. Written throughout the course of last year as the band toured across the world, the album not only documents the dance floors they encountered in their travels. Musically and thematically, the album guides the listener through a night out in the city, from the endless possibilities as a night out is about to start, to when you’re getting back home, with the sun rising.
The album’s third and latest single “Street Is Calling” feat. M.anifest and Moonchild Sanelly is a swaggering and strutting tune that sees the acclaimed British act effortlessly bridging the African Diaspora with a synthesis of Highlife, Amapiano, Afrobeats and hip-hop that nods at Soul II Soul — but while being a high energy call out to get your ass up on that dance floor.
“‘Streets Is Calling’ is about the feeling when people call you up and message you and say, yo, there’s this party happening tonight and that’s all you need,” the band’s Femi Koleoso explains. “The Streets have called. We’re gonna go straight to this dance floor to make it our own.”
New Video: Aramis Teams Up with Jules Vert on Flirty “Baby”
Founded and led by Québec-based singer/songwriter, musician and producer Urhiel Madran-Cyr, the alt pop/electro pop project Aramis can trace its history back to when Cyr along with two classmates and friends in CEGEP, a Québécois […]
New Audio: The Irrepressibles Share Slinky “Destination”
Jamie Irrepressible is a North Yorkshire-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer. He’s also the creative mastermind behind The Irrepressibles. Throughout his career, the British singer/songwriter and producer has made sexuality — in particular, his sexuality — the centerpiece of his work.
2010’s full-length debut, Mirror Mirror featured “In This Shirt,” which was later included on the soundtrack for the short film., The Lady Is Dead. 2012’s “Two Men in Love” firmly cemented The Irrepressibles mastermind’s reputation for being fearlessly uncompromising in terms of song structure and thematic concern. In 2014, he sang the song at the first wedding between two men in the UK.
Over the course of the past decade, “In This Shirt,” “Two Men In Love,” as well as “The Most Beautiful Boy” were included on several films and TV shows internationally, including season two of Netflix’s Young Royals and Norwegian teen series SKAM.
Adding to a growing international profile, “In This Shirt” received remixes from Norwegian electronic outfit Röyksopp, Hercules & Love Affair and Zero 7. The British artist would subsequently contribute lead vocals to five tracks on Röyksopp’s 2014 album Inevitable End — “Something in My Heart,” “I Had This Thing,” “Here She Comes Again,” “Compulsion” and “You Know I Have To Go,” as well as backing vocals on “Monument,” feat. Robyn. He contributed vocals on two tracks of Dutch progressive dance duo’s 2022 album In Another Lifetime, “You Take My Hand” and “I Am Free.” He also contributed vocals on three tracks of Röyksopp’s Profound Mysteries trilogy.
As a solo artist, digital singles released between 2018-2020, “Submission,” “Dominance” and “Anxiety,” saw Irrepressible exploring a starker, darker and much more electronic direction, influenced by a relocation to Berlin, where he eventually wrote and recorded 2021’s Superheroes, “a concept album telling the story of a love affair that’s both set in Berlin and takes its musical cues from the city,” the British artist explains.
The British singer/songwriter and producer’s forthcoming The Irrepressible album, Yo Homo! is reportedly the most direct, most sexual album of his catalog to date — and a celebratory, uninhibited and steamy rush of lust, love, honesty and community. “I want to make a record specifically for the queer community, to create a safe space where people feel they are being expressed. To contribute something to that soundtrack of our lives, both in the music and the videos.”
Yo Homo! album single “Destination” is a slinky and sensual song anchored around a strutting guitar line, the London-based artist’s sultrily yearning cooing paired with a steady backbeat. The song ends with a Scott Walker-like orchestral coda, which adds a sexy and smart stylishness to the proceedings. Thematically, the song is about the longing for love in an era of hook-up culture and fast-paced intimacy. The song tells the story of a man living in isolation, going from one one-night stand to another, but desperately longing for deeper connection.
New Audio: Riga’s Bēdu Brāļi Shares Forceful and Uneasy “Pieskaries”
Riga, Latvia-based alt rock outfit Bēdu Brāļi — Oskars Tu (vocals, guitar), Jānis Liepiņš (bass) and Pēteris Ozols (drums) — spent the formative years among the vibrant mid 00’s hardcore punk and rock scene in their homeland. The scene’s fiercely independent ethos and the use of Latvian language lyrics rubbed off on them; but sonically, they’ve managed to stand apart from their peers.
Their full-length debut 2022’s Duende saw the Riga-based outfit crafting a sound that featured elements of shoegaze, psych rock, post-punk and more. The Latvian trio’s sophomore album Lauskas will be released through I Love You Records.
Deriving its title from the Latvian word for shards, the album reportedly sees the trio further cementing their boundary pushing sound. Earlier this year, I wrote about album single “Ikdienas-dzive,” a track anchored around glistening guitars, a chugging motorik groove and a woozy, shoegazer textured guitar solo paired with Tu’s punchily delivered vocal. While recalling Montréal‘s Atusko Chiba, “Ikdienas-dzive,” captures a nagging sense of vacillating self-doubt, bored and uneasy dread and frustration that should feel familiar to anyone who’s slaved away at a soul-sucking day job.
“The main lyric is that my everyday life – this routine – is turning me evil. It’s me going mad because every day is the same,” Bēdu Brāļi’s Oskars Tu explains. “I can’t forget the previous day and start afresh. I just have this bitterness as work-related stuff lingers. I remember all the bullshit happening a day ago, a week ago, a month ago. I think I’m not alone in that happening.”
Duende‘s latest single “Pieskaries,” is a brooding, decidedly post punk affair featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, rolling drum pattern and bursts of slashing guitars serving as an uneasy bed for Oskars Tu’s desperate wails. While continuing a run of material that reminds me a bit of Atsuko Chiba, “Pieskaries” captures a modern sense of isolation and unease while being with others.
“It’s about loneliness,” Tu explains. “It’s one thing to have people around you who are true to their words and actions and you in turn can become a better person. But it’s another to be with people who lie and you end up lying to yourself. This ultimately leads to this feeling of isolation, even though technically you’re around people.”
New Audio: STOLEN Shares Brooding “Drown With Me”
Formed back in 2010, STOLEN is a pioneering and award-winning, Chengdu, China-based electronica quintet that specializes in a high-energy, dance floor friendly sound that features elements of techno, darkwave and post-punk.
Since the release of their full-length debut, 2015’s Loop, the Chinese outfit has built an international profile: Through collaborations with renowned brands like Hermés, Burberry and BMW, they’ve managed to merge their unique sound with current fashion trends. And adding to a growing international profile, they opened for New Order during the British New Wave legends’ 2019 European Union tour.
The Chengdu-based outfit will be embarking on a UK tour in October. The tour will feature newly remastered old and new tracks with enhanced avant-garde VJ visual effects, which promise to be a jaw-dropping live performance.
Earlier this year, the Chinese outfit released the Remanufactured EP. The EP’s latest single, EP closing track “Drown With Me” is a slow-burning, brooding track featuring brief bursts of twinkling keys, atmospheric synths paired with yearning and eerily ethereal vocals. Sonically, recalling Trentemøller’s “A Different Light” and Goldfrapp’s Tales of Us, “Drown With Me” is a gorgeous yet uneasy dream.
New Audio: Jeremy Weizman and Kachel Team Up on Euphoric and Crowd Pleasing “Loud Enough”
Emerging, French electronic music producer and DJ Jeremy Weizman started his career as a rapper, known as Weizmann. The French producer and DJ’s transition into techno has been seamless. His sound features elements of minimalist., industrial and dub techno, as well as tech house.
He’s also an entrepreneur and the CEO of several music platforms that operate across the US and France — Studiomap.fr., a marketplace for recording studios and Sound-Academy.co, a leading training organization for sound engineers, DJs and beat markers, Vibes-Studio.fr., a franchise of self-service music studios and Studiomap Records.
Weizman’s latest single “Loud Enough” featuring Kachel is a fun, house anthem anchored around punchy thump, skittering beats, twinkling synth oscillation and a chopped up, soulful vocal sample. Sonically nodding at Larry Levan house and Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa, “Loud Enough” is a lush, crowd-pleasing banger that reveals a producer, who can craft a euphoric hook.
Throwback: R.I.P. Fatman Scoop
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms pays tribute to the life and music of Fatman Scoop.
Throwback: Happy 66th Birthday, Gloria Estefan!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Gloria Estefan’s 66th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Barry Gibb!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Barry Gibb’s 77th birthday.
News/Announcements: Shoutouts to Patreon Patrons, Creatives Rebuild New York and Asian Arts Initiative
I’m currently in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec for the 22nd annual FME Festival. Y’all should expect photos and other coverage over the course of the upcoming days and weeks, along with my regular coverage here. But in the meantime, the show must continue as much as possible. So let’s get to it, right?
Earlier this site, turned 14. 14 years of anything — especially a job — is an exceedingly long time. In the blogosphere, that’s roughly 22 lifetimes. Now, when I started JOVM, I was felt as though I had no real choice but to go out on my own. I didn’t feel — or believe — that I’d get a fair shot to do what this site has become with another outlet.
I’ve long felt a desire to create something similar to the wildly eclectic, dynamic, global sort of environment I grew up immersed in as a young, Black boy from Corona, Queens. And I didn’t regularly see the environment I grew up in represented in the music magazines and sites that I loved to read. To me, that’s a real weakness because — well, there’s amazing music out there that’s not getting the love that it should both nationally and internationally.
When I started JOVM, I couldn’t have imagined covering the things I’v covered, and the things I’ve experienced and seen to have ever happened.
- I’ve covered roughly 1,100-1,200 shows in NYC, with a handful of shows in Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia
- I’ve covered about a dozen or more festivals, including traveling to Montreal for M for Montreal twice — in 2019 and 2022
- I’ve been a panelist at Mondo.NYC Festival and at New Colossus Festival, speaking about PR, promotion and press for indie artists, giving my perspective as a indie blogger
- I made a cameo in a JOVM mainstay’s music video — and it’s a very noticeable spot towards the end of the video
- I’ve photographed George Clinton, Patti LaBelle, Buddy Guy, Snoop Dogg, Blondie, Nile Rodgers, Roky Erickson, Philip Bailey, Blind Boys of Alabama, and a growing list of legendary and beloved artists, as well as this site’s growing list of mainstays
- Back in July, I was invited to be a panelist at the inaugural Elsewhere Music Festival and Conference in Wichita, KS speaking about creating a career in music
- Also back in July I moderated a panel presented by The New Colossus Festival and Groover on How to Promote Your Show featuring a group of super knowledgeable friends and colleagues
- Covering FME in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec
With this site, I’ve managed to carve out a unique path for myself — and in the blogosphere. Because music media — and generally the media world — is an incredibly homogeneous space, the coverage that you see as a consumer and fan tends to come from a similar perspective. If you don’t believe me, look at the editorial staff at your favorite music magazine or website. It explains why certain artists, genres and styles are covered over others. But it also explains why you see the exact same coverage of the same artists, genres and styles, too.
I’m looking forward to what year 14 holds for JOVM. And hopefully with your support, I can keep this thing going. Now, as you know, I’ve said this many times: All work — including creative work — is impossible without money. After all, time is money. Effort is money. Then add all the expenses it takes to actually work.
Unsurprisingly, this site and the work that makes it possible is impossible without money. It’s a simple — and often frustrating — fact of life. So, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, there are a handful of folks I want to thank once again for their support:
Sash
Alice Northover
Bella Fox
Jenny MacRostie
Janene Otten
All of those folks have been generous Patreon patrons. Every and any amount really helps keeps this sort of journalism and criticism alive and ongoing. So if you’re able and willing, please feel free to check out the Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement.
Additionally, I have to thank the helpful, hardworking and dedicated folks at Creatives Rebuild New York. I’m proud, gratified and humbled to have been included in their 18-month Guaranteed Income for Artists program. Understandably, being included was also deeply vindicating. Someone out there thought my work — this very work! — was worth supporting financially. Obviously, the funds from it have managed to keep this labor of love going during one of the most uncertain periods in recent human history, while lessening some of the normal financial pressures of being an American artist, creator and journalist.
I also found out about Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Workshop through Creatives Rebuild New York. So, I just can’t thank those folks enough. And I’ll forever be in their debt.
I must thank the folks at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia for selecting me for the Sound Type Music Writer Workshop. I’ll be back in Philly in a few days and I’m looking forward to seeing the AAI team and the rest of the cohort again.
Of course, there are other ways you can support.
You can also support by checking the JOVM shop. I sell prints in various sizes. I also have bumper stickers. Check it out: https://www.joyofviolentmovement.com/shop
You can also support my following me on the following platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/william_ruben_helms
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/yankee32879 and https://www.twitter.com/joyofviolent
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement
And you can hire me for headshots, portraits and events. Seriously, I’m available for that, too. You can click here: https://www.photobooker.com/photographer/ny/new-york/william-h?duration=1?duration=1# or you can contact me directly.
Throwback: Happy 104th Birthday, Charlie Parker!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 104th anniversary of Charlie “Bird” Parker’s birth.