Henry Aberson is a Tulsa-based composer, producer and drummer, who has developed a reputationfor bringing in top-tier talent for seamless collaborations and for lush, live instrumentation.
The Tulsa-based composer, producer and drummer’s latest single “Lay It On Me” is a sultry, Quiet Storm-meets-neo-soul-inspired tune that seemingly channels Erykah Badu, Maxwell, D’Angelo and others, while thematically reflecting on vulnerability, desire, longing and emotional connection.
Live footage of acclaimed JOVM mainstay Tame Impala performing a Sound Check session at Cherry Lane Theatre.
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 101st anniversary of the birth of the legendary Celia Cruz.
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 107th anniversary of the birth of Dizzy Gillespie.
New York-based, Korean-American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Margaret Sohn (they/she) is the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Miss Grit. And with Miss Grit, Sohn has developed reputation for being a bold experimentalist and architect of sculptural texture. Defly moving between analog and digital instrumentation, the New York-based artist creates an immersive comms of sound with futuristic frameworks for their deeply probing and introspective lyricism and sound.
Sohn’s full-length debut, 2023’s Follow The Cyborg saw the New York-based artist building a fluid future beyond gender and genre binaries, where a non-human machine goes in pursuit of liberation. The album received praise from i-D Magazine and saw the Miss Grit creative mastermind profiled by Rolling Stone as an “Artist You Need To Know,” featured in DJ Magazine‘s “Get To Know” named as an “Artist to Watch” by BrooklynVegan, and named “Breaking” artist by FLOOD Magazine. And adding to a rapidly growing profile, they performed for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘s “#LateShowMeMusic” series.
“Tourist Mind” is the first bit of original material from Sohn’s Miss Grit project since the release of their critically applauded debut. Sonically, “Tourist Mind” sonically channels the likes of Goldfrapp and Portishead as a dreamily cinematic string arrangement is paired with oscillating synth bleeps, stomping and propulsive industrial techno-like beats. The production serves as a lush, dream pop-meets-trip hop-meets-techno bed for Sohn’s defiant delivery.
Throughout their career, Sohn often themself intrigued by other people’s inner worlds. Thematically, “Tourist Mind” sees Sohn meditating on the idea of self-erasure while embracing the power and intimacy of self-reliance and solitude. “It’s about how curiosity for other people’s thoughts can slowly disorient you and make it harder to return to yourself,” the Miss Grit mastermind says.
Windsor, ON-based quartet Talking Violet — Jillian Goyeau (vocals, guitar), Jayden Turnbull (guitar, vocals), Jeremie Brosseau (drums) and Dylan Iannicello (bass) — have quickly developed and established a sound that sees the Canadian outfit seamlessly blending elements of shoegaze, grunge and dream pop into what they’ve dubbed “dreamo.” Thematically, their work touches upon how we wrestle with the grief of personal change — especially in personal experiences.
Earlier this year, I wrote about their Justin Meli-produced, Will Yip-mastered “In Your Mind,” a track that seemed to channel The Sundays and Tallies while capturing a very specific sense of loving someone through pain and uncertainty and not quite knowing what to do – or if there was anything you could do.
Their latest sgbnle “Destroy” continues a run of material that channels 120 Minutes-era MTV alt-rock while being anchored in earnestness and deeply lived in personal experience. Unlike its immediate predecessor, “Destroy” thematically and lyrically turns inward, offering a subtly uneasy sense of closure and acceptance. Although that relationship or chapter in your life has ended, their ghost lingers in your life — some longer than others.
“Destroy is about closing a chapter in my life where I experienced a lot of change which I talked a lot about throughout our Everything At Once record,” the band’s Jillian Goyeau says. “Before moving on I kinda needed to say goodbye, so that’s what Destroy does. It’s me finally accepting that people can both love you and hurt you at the same time and vice versa. You can love someone even when they aren’t meant to be in your life anymore.”
The Canadian band’s latest single continues the emotional thread of their latest album Everything At Once, drawing from the grief and heartache of interpersonal change. ” “These tracks draw on a lot of grief of change, most specifically, the grief of relationship changes in our lives,” Goyeau explains. “I was going through changes that I now see as necessary but were incredibly painful at the time. It made me realize how much I had depended on my relationships with others for my identity. I had to slowly relearn who I was—and spent the next few years healing my people-pleasing baseline. It’s still something I work on every day.”
Directed by Gavin Michael Booth the gorgeously shot video for “Destroy” features the members of the band smashing things to pieces — in a way that’s rousingly cathartic.
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 75th anniversary of the birth of Tom Petty.
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Snoop Dogg’s 54th birthday.
Spanish-based singer/songwriter Carmel proudly boasts having mixed Moroccan, Argentine and Middle Eastern heritage. And her music reflects that heritage, as she blends flamenco, soul and other global sounds with lyrics written and sung in Spanish, English and Hebrew.
Her debut EP, Contraste will see her continuing her genre-blending sound and approach through collaborations with musicians and producers from diverse backgrounds, including Spanish flamenco guitarist José De Maria, as well as Latin and global producers.
The Spanish-based singer/songwriter’s latest single “Mariposa Al Fuego” is a flamenco-tinged pop ballad that according to Carmel is inspired by the image of a butterfly being irresistibly drawn to a flame with the song diving into the pull of destructive relationships and the struggle to break free from dysfunctional patterns. The song’s cinematic arrangement serves as a lush bed for the Spanish-based artist’s pop ballad belter-like voice. At its core is a message of self-awareness, self-love, resilience and resolve, seemingly rooted in lived-in experience.
“We’ve all been that butterfly at some point—drawn to what we know will hurt us .This song is that mirror, but also an invitation to choose ourselves,” Carmel says.
Rising Melbourne/Naarm-based trio Folk Bitch Trio — Gracie Sinclair (she/her), Jeanie Pilkington (she/her) and Heide Peverelle (they/them) — released their critically applauded full-length debut, Now Would Be A Good Time earlier this year through Jagjaguwar.
Now Would Be A Good Time’s material sounds warmly familiar, as its built upon the foundation of music the trio have loved throughout their lives — gnarled Americana, classic rock and piquant and clear-eyed balladry. And yet, the songs are simultaneously modern and youthful with the album’s song thematically touching on dissociative daydreams, galling breakups, sexual fantastics, media overload and the petty resentments and humiliations of being in your early 20s in the 2020s.
The Aussie trio supported the album with two sold-out London shows and a run of the international festival circuit, with sets at Green Man and All Points East. The album landed at #32 on the UK Official Record Store charts, Top 3 on the Aussie charts and earned 4 ARIA nominations. Building upon a growing profile, the trio’s cover of Kings of Leon‘s “Sex on Fire” on Triple J has amassed over 100,000 views. And the trio will be closing out the year with a lengthy international tour, which just started earlier this week. The tour features a November run of North America dates that includes a November 11, 2025 stop at Baby’s All Right. (As always, the remaining tour dates are below.)
But in the meantime, the acclaimed Aussie trio shared the VEVO live session of Now Would Be A Good Time album track “Foreign Bird.” It’s a gorgeous song that’s earnest and lived-in — and the trio’s harmonies had me stop dead in my tracks.
Rachel Leblanc is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter and creative mastermind behind the critically applauded recording project Vanille, which has seen the French-Canadian artist craft a sound that meshes elements of 60s folk and chanson in a way that brings the listener into a dreamlike world of dense, verdant forests and swooning heartbreak.
Her recently released, Christophe Charest-Latif-produced third album Un chant d’amour sees the acclaimed French-Canadian artist marking the beginning of new creative chapter, that sees Leblanc’s and a talented cast of musicians, including Jules Encore and Corail‘s Julien Comptour; Velours Velours‘ and Corail’s Philippe Noël; Carla Chanelle‘s and Roselle’s Christophe Rosset-Balcer; Allô Fantôme‘s Samuel Gendron; Arielle Soucy; and Velours Velours’ Raphaël Pépin-Tanguay crafting a sound that draws from retro soul and the mid 1960s-early 1970s sunshine pop movement. Leblanc’s melodies and lyrics are rooted in sentimental overtones. And as a result, the album’s material is meant to unfold like a scented letter received from a mysterious valentine.
Un chant d’amour‘s latest single, album title track “Un chant d’amour” is a slow-burning ballad anchored around Leblanc’s achingly melancholy delivery, atmospheric Rhodes and a syrupy slow-dance inspired backbeat. And while seemingly channelling 70s AM radio rock, “Un chant d’amour” is the sort of song you’d play when you want to slow-dance at the midnight ball with your long-held crush or your loved one.
Directed by Irina Tempea and Elizabeth Landry the accompanying video for “Un chant d’amour” is an swooningly sentimental visual featuring a mixture of dusty found footage and the rising French-Canadian artist in a wedding gown to create a wedding that never really took place.
XO BLAKELY is an American electronic music producer, who specializes in bilingual pop that sees her blending Latin rhythms, upbeat beats and her unique and bold sense of flair. The result is music that channels the euphoria and freedom of the dance floor — glitter, strobe lights, thumping beats and late-night emotion.
Her latest single “Normalmente” is a slickly produced, Spanish language club banger that’s one-part Miami club, one-part Ibiza, anchored around hypnotic and propulsive beats, glistening synths and sultry vocals. At its core, “Normalmente” celebrates letting go and giving into the night; of getting on to that dance floor and dancing your troubles and concerns away.
Devantier Rain is rising, Berlin-based Cameroonian-German singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose work sees him blurring the lines between R&B, hip-hop and Afrobeat paired with soulful melodies, intricate, jazz-like drums and a cutting-edge production approach. He has quickly become a standout in Berlin’s vibrant scene, playing at events like Poetry Meets alongside Tan Brown, bat zoo, Monica Mussungo and Dini Rompos.
Beyond music, Devantier Rain is a fashion world staple — as a model and stylist. Formerly signed to VIVAMODELS, he has collaborated with ADIDAS, Puma and BMW and walked for Kitschy Couture and Afrobodega at Berlin Fashion Week 2024, where he serves as in-house model.
Adding to a busy year, last year also saw the release of three striking singles, each brimming with his signature flair, which teased the forthcoming release of his highly-anticipated full-length debut.
Last year, the rising Cameroonian-German artist released three striking singles which teased the arrival of his highly-anticipated full-length debut, MELATONIN. MELATONIN‘S latest single “CONSERVATIVE INC,” a collaboration with kiana is a vibey, swaggering and hooky mix of hip-hop, neo-soul and R&B.
Throughout the track Devantier Rain and klana trade confident yet vulnerable, heartfelt verses that dive deep into themes of self-worth, betrayal, heartache and resilience with grizzled, hard-fought experience: Devantier Rain’s verses focus on strength forged through being underestimated. klana’s verses focus on standing firm without remorse after being wrong. Throughout the song, the pair offer the sort of much-needed lessons the old heads would try to give the young bloods at a gathering — or the sort of intimate “real life” conversation you’d have with a dear one, late at night as the party winds down.
