JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and honors Whitney Houston.
Throwback: R.I.P. Willie Colón
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of Willie Colón.
New Audio: Pom Femme Shares Breezy and Effortlessly Cool “Sunny SIde Up”
Swedish duo Pom Femme is a collaborative project featuring two highly accomplished musicians and producers:
- As a producer, Michelle Amkoff has worked with a lengthy list of Swedish artists. She also spent several years as a studio engineer for producer Patrik Berger.
- Phillipa Magnusson is a singer/songwriter and creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Bluephox.
The origins of the duo’s newest project can be traced to their meeting through Magnusson’s work with Bluephox. This quickly developed into Pom Femme, which is rooted in their commonly shared musical influences and interests.
According to the duo, as being a bit of “vintage pop with a French touch.” They add, “It was as if together, we wanted to make music Levi’s 501s — the core that has held genres together for decades and can be styled with everything.”
The Swedish duo released their debut EP Telenovela last year. Building upon growing momentum surrounding the pair, the follow up to their debut EP “Sunny Side Up” is a self assured and breezy tune that seemingly draws from yé-yé, 60s British Invasion rock and late 1960s psychedelia while showcasing some remarkably effortless and catchy hooks. The result is a song that’s insouciantly decadent and timelessly cool.
The duo explain that the song is about choosing simplicity over complication, something they can believe can be extremely difficult in the never-ending stream of choices we’re presented with every day. “Would you like milk, A2 milk, hemp milk or half-and-half in your coffee,” the duo say. “A short-haired economist or a long-haired culture worker in the dating app? ‘Sunny Side Up’ is a tribute to the opposite: can’t we just have a bit of fun without unnecessary hassle and live life in its simplest, most banal form?”
The duo’s full-length debut is slated for a September 2026 release.
New Audio: Tiwayo Shares a Soulful and Contented Sigh of Appreciation
Tiwayo is a Paris-born singer/songwriter, who released two critically applauded albums, 2019’s The Gypsy Soul of Tiwayo and 2023’s Desert Dream, which he supported with opening slots for Curtis Harding, Cody ChesnuTT and Marcus Miller among others. Adding to a growing international profile, the Parisian-born artist was celebrated by the likes of Norah Jones, Tony Visconti and Don Was.
As the story goes, Tiwayo, who has been nicknamed “The Young Old” for his timeless vocal, had nearly vanished before the scene when he crossed paths with Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter and Black Pumas founder Adrian Quesada at Les Eurorockéennes Festival. Quesada heard Tiwayo’s demos and knew he must work with the acclaimed French artist.
Tiwayo’s third album, the Adrian Quesada-produced Outsider, which is slated for an April 10, 2026 release through Record Kicks Records was recorded at Quesada’s Austin-based Electric Deluxe Recorders.
Throughout his career, Tiwayo has refused to play by the genre’s rules. In fact, he stands uniquely apart as a Frenchman in Texas, as a soul singer with a bluesman heart, and a traveler, who is constantly an outsider. And while embracing being an outsider, he eschews the polish and shine of the contemporary soul revival scene for a raw, unvarnished take on the sound that to hm carries the deepest power.
Sonically, Outsider is a genre-bending take on soul that features contributions from Quesada’s Black Pumas bandmates, as well as guest spots from Eric Clapton‘s Doyle Bramhall II and JOVM mainstay Kendra Morris.
Outsider will include the previously released “I’ve Got To Travel Alone,” and “Up For Soul,” which received airplay from KCRW, KEXP, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6, Jazz FM, Radio Eins, Jazz Radio, RAI Radio 1 and others, as well as its third and latest single, “Sunshine Lady.”
Arguably one of the brighter, more buoyant tracks of the album to date, “Sunshine Lady” is a crafted bit of Memphis and Muscle Shoals-inspired soul featuring Jay Mumford (drums) and Terin Moswen Ector (bass) that showcases the French artist’s catchy hooks, a soulful groove and Quesada’s unerring knack for gritty and timeless sounding production with earnest, lived-in lyrics and an effortlessly soulful delivery. At its core “Sunshine Lady” is a contented sigh and an expression of gratefulness for having a romantic partner, who completely and patiently understands you and what makes you tick. This is anchored by the understanding that finding that sort of partner can seem both extraordinarily lucky and rare, which fittingly adds to overall sense of thankfulness within the song.
“Sunshine Lady” was sparked by a comment from a close friendly, who told the French-born artist, “You always write sad songs, why don’t you write something happy to change a little?” Taking that suggestion to heart, Tiwayo wrote the song as a tribute to his partner, a constant source of patience and comfort during intense periods of home studio work.
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 93rd Birthday, Nina Simone!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 93rd anniversary of the birth of Nina Simone — and Black History Month.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Jerry Harrison!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrants Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison’s 77th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 66th Birthday, Steve Wynn!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Steve Wynn’s 66th birthday.
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy Belated 83rd Birthday, Maceo Parker!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and belatedly, Maceo Parker’s 83rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy 59th Birthday, Kurt Cobain!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 59th anniversary of the birth of Kurt Cobain.
Throwback: Happy 76th Birthday, Walter Becker!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 76th anniversary of the birth of Steely Dan’s Walter Becker.
New Video: Lucid Express Shares Dreamy and Yearning “Promise Me”
Hong Kong-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Lucid Express just released their long-awaited and highly anticipated sophomore album Instant Comfort today 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 JOVM mainstays 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.
The album includes the previously released “Something Blue,” and “Faux Sweetness,“as well as the album’s latest single “Promise Me.” Featuring towering layers of shimmering and churning guitars, thundering hi-hat driven drumming serving as a lush and eerily uneasy bed for Kim Ho’s ethereal and yearning vocal.
Directed and filmed by fellow Hong Kong native Neo Yeung, the accompanying video is a mix of live performance-styled footage and candid footage shot over the course of a day-long shoot.
New Video: Chicago’s Snowcuffs Shares Hazy and Anthemic “Burst”
Formed back in 2022, Chicago-based dream pop outfit Snowcuffs features members of Lightfoils and Astrobrite, Their debut EP, last year’s Sink Down saw the band quickly establishing a sound that balanced shimmering textures and memorable hooks. Inspired by Alvvays, Beach House and Mazzy Star, their work frequently drifts between nostalgic haze and fuzz-driven intensity while thematically touching upon longing, reflection and fleeting beauty.
The band has shared stages with Cold Gawd, Seashine and Cigarettes for Breakfast, and played a standout set at Kalamashoegazer, the country’s longest-running shoegaze festival.
Building upon a growing profile in the national shoegaze and dream pop scenes, the Chicago-based outfit’s sophomore EP Sweet Gravity is slated for a March 5, 2026 release. Engineered by Sanford Parker at Hypercube Studios, mixed by Robert Cheek and mastered by Baseline Audio Labs’ Chris Goosman, Sweet Gravity EP reportedly sees the band showcasing refined songwriting and a much more expansive sound that pushes the boundaries of dream pop without losing its heart and soul.
Sweet Gravity EP‘s latest single “Burst” sees the band pairing shimmering and swirling guitar textures, a forcefully driving rhythm section and remarkably catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks with ethereal vocals. Sonically, “Burst” seemingly nods at 120 Minutes-era MTV shoegaze and alternative rock — but with a decidedly modern sensibility. And at its core is a song and a narrator struggling with crippling ambivalence and self-doubt.
The band explains that “‘Burst’ is about the struggle of trying to be everything at once, and what happens when inaction, ambivalence, and self-doubt slowly erode your options in life.
I wait and see
Stare at the tree
Will it die of thirst
And fall down on me?
Ambivalence isn’t neutral, it’s destructive.”
Directed by Dave Rentaukas, the accompanying video for “Burst” is split between footage of the band’s lead singer in a Chicago area park as the sun begins to set and the rest of the band performing in a studio in front brooding yet trippy projections.
New Audio: MADISON music Shares Euphoric and Summery “Feel It In My Soul”
MADISON music is an American DJ and producer, who creates high-energy electronic music from the heart and for the soup through blending peak-time club and festival bangers with melodic, emotional elements and uplifting hooks.
Each of his releases are designed to move bodies, elevate mind and connect people on the dance floor. His latest single “Feel It In My Soul” is a euphoric and summery bit of melodic house that sounds like it could rock festival stages and clubs in Miami, New York and Ibiza.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay Genesis Owusu Shares Breakneck “STAMPEDE”
Last year, the acclaimed multi-ARIA Award-winning Ghanian-born Canberra-based JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu released two singles “PIRATE RADIO,” and “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE,” the first bit of new material since the release of 2023’s acclaimed STRUGGLER.
The JOVM mainstay’s first single of 2026, “STAMPEDE” is anchored around the acclaimed Ghanian-Australian artist’s punchy punk rock-meets-hip-hop delivery and a breakneck production featuring menacing, reverb-drenched synth subs, skittering and relentless military-like motorik pulse. The song conveys the desperate urgency of our moment while being a rallying cry to prioritize community and unity as a way out of our techno-feudalist/Christo-fascist hellscape.
“Left side to the right side, front side to the back,” he says in his latest offering, “we’re all in this together. And there’s a real problem. There are people who have expansive amounts of money, who are intentionally acting to separate us so they can keep getting richer at the expense of general human wellbeing. We’re all under that same thumb and we need to realise that.”
Continuing an ongoing collaboration with Isaac Brown, the accompanying video for “STAMPEDE” was filmed in the streets and surroundings of Accra and turns Owusu’s worlds to life: an army of rebels mobilize on motorcycles and horseback around him.
“This whole project is about humanity and community, not just in Australia where I live, but globally. It felt nourishing to go back to my home country (Ghana) for the first time in 11 years and showcase a bit of the culture there; the youth and the deep subcultures, far beyond the perceptions a lot of people may have of Africa,” says Owusu.