JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 57th anniversary of the birth of Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
New Audio: Glixen Shares Stormy and Urgent “Medicine Bow”
Phoenix-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Glixen — founder Aislinn Ritchie (vocals), along with Esteban Santana (guitar), Keire Johnson (drums) and Sonia Garcia (bass) — was founded back in 2020 by the band’s Aislinn Ritchie, who then enlisted Santana, Johnson, and Garcia to complete the band’s lineup. Emerging from a scene of local DIY artists, the quartet’s unique sound and look set them apart from their counterparts and led to tours across the US with bands like Narrow Head, Cowgirl Clue, MSPaint, Hotline TNT, and They’re Gutting A Body of Water.
Glixen’s debut EP 2023’s She Only Said saw the band adding themselves to a list of contemporary shoegaze outfits actively pushing the genre in a new direction — through a approach that incorporates ethereal pop vocals and shimmering guitars that are meant to guide you toward the feeling of true self-expression.
The Phoenix-based quartet released their highly-anticiapted Sonny DiPerri-produced sophomore EP quiet pleasures earlier this year digitally through AWAL and on vinyl through Wichita Recordings. The EP featured the previously released single “sick silent” and four singles I wrote about on this site:
- “foreversoon,” a track that saw the Phoenix-based outfit taking up a much heavier sound that seemingly channels Souvlaki-era Slowdive, Nowhere-era RIDE, and contemporaries like JOVM mainstays Blushing
- “lust” is a woozy track that saw the band continuing to explore a heavier sound — but while channeling 90s grunge and nu-metal with fuzz and distorted pedaled power chords, down-tuned bass and blissed out rhythms
- “lick the star,” which began with an eerily atmospheric sound bath-inspired introduction that sounds a bit like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive, before quickly turning into a wall of sound of fuzzy and swirling guitar textures
- “all tied up,” which showcased the shoegazer outfit’s uncanny knack for crafting deeply earnest material with rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses that manage to sound inspired by classic shoegaze but with a modern sensibility
The JOVM mainstays supported their sophomore EP with stops across the global festival circuit, playing sets at Coachella, Reading and Leeds. They played a headlining Stateside tour with several sold-out shows. They hit the road with Turnover, Panchiko and Scowl — including their first UK and EU tour, supporting Turnover. And they’ll close out the year with a co-headlining tour with Glare across the Southwest and West Coast.
2026 will see the band returning to the global festival circuit with sets at Boston’s Something in The Way and Manchester, UK’s Outbreak. But in the meantime, their latest single, the standalone “Medicine Bow,” sees the band diving further into the harder hitting sound they developed on their sophomore EP: Vulnerably sung, introspective lyrics attempt to swim to the surface of a towering wall of distortion and fuzz-pedaled guitars and thunderous drumming within a classic, grunge-inspired song structure. The result may arguably be the JOVM mainstays must raw, yearning and immediate song to date.
“It’s a sense of urgency bound to the quiet yearning for self-comfort,” Glixen explains. “The song drifts between lucidity and a fever dream, where soft vulnerability meets slow-burning decay. The lead and rhythm guitars melt and unmeld in a hypnotic blur, mirroring the emotional push and pull at the heart of the track. With each refrain, “Medicine Bow” becomes a reflection of that internal ache to hold on while letting go — a sonic unraveling that feels intimate and disoriented.”
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.
New Audio: Vancouver’s RX1F Shares Yearning “Afterimages”
RX1F is a Vancouver-based electronic music producer and artist, who has a reputation for openly challenging music norms while staying with an immediate, infectious and accessible pop territory. HIs work is rooted in an approach that frequently balances experimentation and playfulness.
Driven by a desire to push the boundaries of pop music, the Vancouver-based artist frequently tackles unconventional subjects. “I try to find subjects that aren’t normally covered in pop songs and try to make them into pop songs. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes… less well,” the Canadian artist says. “I’m fascinated by old-school pop songwriting and the puzzle of making melodies and chords that play nicely together. It’s a game with only one rule: make it sound good.
“I want to make music that is balanced: there’s darkness, there’s light, there’s energy, there’s emptiness,” he continues. “I get bored very quickly if I sit in the same place and eat the same flavor after a while.”
The Canadian artist’s latest single, the TR/ST-like “Afterimages,” features a dance floor friendly production featuring layers of pulsing synths, propulsive kick drum serving as a woozy yet lush bed for RX1F’s plaintive vocal telling a story of losing someone dear, being forced to accept its inevitability — and then recognizing that ghosts linger.
“This is probably as close as I’ll ever get to writing a love song,” the Vancouver-based artist explains. “It was written many years ago at a point where I could see a relationship was not going to make it, but it didn’t really crystallize until a close friend passed away last year – it’s kind of loss that you can never recover from. You’re always looking backwards.”
Throwback: Happy 61st Birthday, Rev. Run!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Rev Run’s 61st birthday.
Lyric Video: SOMBRA Shares Club and Arena Friendly “NINGEN”
SOMBRA is Canadian-born, Tokyo-based producer and songwriter, who blends elements of 90s alt rock, industrial, house, techno and trip hop to create a body of work that effortlessly moves between heavy and atmospheric. Frequently described as “music to turn the lights off to,” the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s live band sets pair his sound with immersive visuals and projection — and feature collaborations with Japanese artists across multiple genres.
His latest single “NINGEN” showcases the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s expansive, forward-thinking and dynamic sound. Sonically bringing Atusko Chiba, Odonis Odonis, and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method to mind, “NINGEN” is both club and arena friendly while featuring some immensely catchy hooks.
New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Thaïs Shares Bold, Uptempo Rework of “MTL-Paris”
Rising Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and JOVM mainstay Thaïs has received attention across the Francophone music world and elsewhere for an atmospheric and delicate pop sound, which perfectly compliments her ethereal delivery.
2022 was a breakthrough year for the JOVM mainstay: She signed with Bravo Musique, who released her highly anticipated full-length debut, Tout est parfait. The following years have been busy for the rising French Canadian artist: She has opened for KYO, M, Arianne Moffatt, Dumas and Suzane while working on her Blaise Borboën and Thaïs co-produced sophomore album Personne, which was released earlier this year.
Described by the JOVM mainstay as “extroverted music for introverts,” Personne‘s material are energetic tracks that are meant to lead towards self-affirmation while allowing listeners to delve deeper into her universe. The album features “Taxi,” a slickly produced, dance floor friendly bop that to my years, sounds as though it were inspired by the likes of Robyn.
The Paris-born, Montréal-based JOVM mainstay recently reworked album single “MTL-Paris.” The album version is simultaneously atmospheric and introspective before slowly morphing into much more dance floor territory, seemingly reflecting a narrator, who’s growing in self-assuredness and confidence. “MTL-Paris V2” is a much more upbeat, dance floor friendly bop from the jump, turning the song from a tale of growing confidence, to one of boldly liberating oneself — with the realization that you’ve only got one life to live.
For the JOVM mainstay, reworking her own work is a creative exercise that allows her to reveal other possible, sometimes even latent facets to her material — all while retaining the “extroverted music for introverts” concept of the album.
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.
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.”
New Video: S.C.A.B. Shares Yearning and Nostalgic “LOVE”
Ridgewood, Queens-based indie band and JOVM mainstays S.C.A.B — currently Sean Carmago (vocals, guitar), Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their third album, Somebody In New York Loves You! through Grind Select on November 21, 2025.
The soon-to-be released third album reportedly sees the Ridgewood-based band simultaneously turning inward and stretching wide with the album’s material leaning into vulnerability without retreating into abstraction, drawing from Carmago’s psychedelic-fueled realizations, intimate journal entries and moments of raw emotional rupture.
Much of the album’s material was written in a creative sure following a psychic reading that left Carmago feeling oddly affirmed and fantastical. And as a result, a sense of magical realism and sepia-tinged nostalgia is at the core of the album. At times, the band sounds like huge, like an arena rock band and others, eerily close, like a voice memo you weren’t meant to hear.
With Somebody In New York Loves You!, the Ridgewood-based outfit makes space for contradictions: songs that are personal but big, naive but knowing, imaginative but grounded. After a stretch of false starts, rain-soaked gigs and artistic doubt, the band emerges sounding both clear-headed and ready — while reminding the listener that yes, somebody here in this town does love you.
“LOVE,” Somebody In New York Loves You!‘s third and latest single is a mid-tempo 120 Minutes-era MTV-like sigh of gratitude anchored around shimmering guitars, Carmago’s expressive delivery and the band’s unerring knack for big, shout along worthy hooks and choruses. It’s arguably one of the more direct songs of the soon-to-be released album and of the band’s growing catalog, expressing gratitude for the complicated and odd place New York is, to family — whether biological or chosen, to being unafraid of finding a way to pick yourself up and start over.
“This song is a reminder to myself to get clearer on what I would like to see,” S.C.A.B.’s Sean Carmago says. “The roles we play. The illusion of truth. I had a tiny blue bird when I was young. You had a love, it hurt, now it’s done. Blood is your teacher now. Let go of duality.”
Directed by Sampson Dahl, the accompanying video was shot in his laundromat space on beta film and evokes a warm, nostalgia for Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Gumby with the video being fantastical yet grounded in mundanity and handmade in a way in which you can see the stitching, seams and glue, but done so with a playful, knowing charm.
The Ridgewood-based band will be playing a record release show at 94 Bogart next week.
New Video: Endearments Share Yearning and Cinematic “Cannon”
Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and bassist Kevin Marksson has made a career out of wearing his heart on his sleeve, pouring years of diary entries into the music and lyrics of Endearments. On the project’s most recent EP, 2023’s self-released, Abe Seiferth-produced, It Can Be Like This, Marksson and his bandmates — Anjali Nair (guitar) and Will Haywood Smith (drums) — channel their frontman’s introspections into lush, reverb-soaked pop that evoke 4AD Records‘ heyday and Roxy Music.
The trio recently signed to Trash Casual, who released their latest single “Cannon.” Continuing an ongoing collaboration with Abe Seiferh, “Cannon” showcases a cinematic sound that features glistening synth oscillations, propulsive drumming and bursts of angular guitar paired with a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus serving as a lush, brooding bed for Marksson’s achingly yearning, melancholic delivery. The result is a song that simultaneously seems to nod at Simple Minds and Tears for Fears, as well as contemporaries like Nation of Language and others while anchored around deeply introspective, lived-in lyricism.
Directed by Gabriel Stanley, the accompanying video for “Cannon” employs a simple, bare-boned concept: Marksson singing and dancing to the song in a spotlight filled studio and gradually soaked by rain.
“‘Cannon’ is a song about apathy and addiction. It’s about living in a world where we see atrocities unfolding before our eyes, yet choose to willfully ignore or self-medicate because the pain we are witnessing is so overwhelming,” Endearments’ Kevin Marksson explains. “I knew we needed to keep the music video simple and focused on lyrics and movement. Even though I’m not a trained dancer, we worked with an amazing choreographer, Camilia Araque, who really helped me step out of my comfort zone and throw myself into the experience and emotion of the song.”
The Brooklyn-based trio is currently working on their Abe Seiferth-produced full-length debut, slated for an early 2026 release.
Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday, Booker T!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Booker T’s 81st birthday.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Neil Young!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Neil Young’s 80th birthday.