JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 88th anniversary of the birth of Waylon Jennings.
Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Ice Cube!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Ice Cube’s 56th birthday.
New Audio: Boris Métreaux Shares Lush “Nena”
Boris Métraux is a Swiss-born, Playa Venao, Panama-based electronic music producer, whose sound and approach sees him drawing from and blending ambient music, tribal house, jazz, electronica and house music.
Back in 2023, Métraux delved into the study of plant frequency waves. These explorations led him to incorporate the cosmic and mind-bending sounds of plants in his music, adding an ethereal dimension to his work.
Métreaux’s latest single “Nena” is a slick blend of Afro house rhythms, twinkling keys and skittering beats serving as a lush bed for soulful vocals. The result is a song that showcases the Swiss-born, Panamanian-based artist’s ability to craft summery, club and lounge friendly material and a remarkably catchy hook.
“The inspiration came from a healing moment — the track tells a story of resilience and inner strength, echoing through tribal percussion and atmospheric synths,” Métreaux explains.
Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, Boy George!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Boy George’s 64th birthday.
New Video: LohArano Shares Forceful and Abrasive “Mpaka Taova (Organ Dealers)”
Over the past couple of years of this site’s 15 year history, I’ve managed to spill copious amounts of virtual ink covering Antananarivo, Madagascar-based JOVM mainstays LohArano. Since their formation, the Malagasy metal outfit — Mahalia Ravoajanahary (vocals, guitar), Michael Raveloson (bass, vocals) and Natiana Randrianasoloson (drums, vocals) — have received attention both nationally and internationally for a unique, boundary pushing sound that features elements of popular and beloved Malagasy musical styles like Tsapiky and Salegy with heavy metal.
The Madagascar-based outfit’s sound and approach represents a bold generation of Malagasy youth that still honors, reveres and respects the traditions and practices of their culture and elders, while also being deeply inspired by contemporary, Western genres and styles.
The JOVM mainstays newest EP YMAIMA is slated for a June 20, 2025 release. And as the band explains, the EP’s material is “a mirror. It’s a finger pointed at a truth we’d rather keep quiet. The EP takes an unvarnished and unflinchingly honest look at the brutal reality of their home land, “which bleeds between muffled cries and complicit silence,” they say.
YMAIMA‘s latest single “Mpaka Taova (Organ Dealers)” may arguably be the most abrasive, Suicidal Tendencies-meets-Body Count-like tracks that the JOVM mainstays have released to date while retaining the accessible, mosh pit friendliness that they’ve long been known for. The song as the band explains talks about organ dealers who kidnap children. Frequently, these child victims are later found mutated — or never found at all. The song serves as a forceful refusal to forget these victims and cries out for justice for them.
Fittingly, the accompanying video directed by Tsiory Andrianamanana is one of the bloodiest, goriest videos they’ve released to date, further evoking the sense of horror at the core of the song.
New Video: Kim Gordon Shares “BYE BYE 25” with Proceeds Going to NOISE FOR NOW
Last year, the legendary Kim Gordon released her critically applauded, Grammy-nominated, sophomore solo album The Collective, which featured “BYE BYE.” As a form of righteous protest agains the hateful, authoritarian Trump Administration, Gordon and her collaborator and producer Justin Raisen got back together to re-do the song.
“(Producer and collaborator) Justin Raisen had this idea to redo ‘Bye Bye’ starting at the end of the song. When I was thinking of lyric ideas, it occurred to me to use words taken from a site that had all the words that Trump has essentially banned, meaning any grant or piece of a project or proposal for research that includes any of those words would be immediately disregarded or ;cancelled.’ I guess Trump does believe in cancel culture, because he is literally trying to cancel culture.
Gordon continues, “Trump has used the term “cancel culture” not only as a political talking point but also as a dog whistle while weaponizing the term to signal support for white grievance politics, traditional gender roles, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and hostility toward racial justice movements – without always saying those things outright.”
Here is a short list of some of the words Gordon mentions in “BYE BYE 25” that have already begun to disappear under the Trump Administration agenda:
ADVOCATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
FEMALE
HISPANIC
IMMIGRANTS
INTERSEX
MALE-DOMINATED
MENTAL HEALTH
NON-CONFORMING
TRAUMA
UTERUS
VICTIM
WOMEN
Among the organizations that have been targeted by the Administration’s policies include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), Small Business Administration, National Cryptologic Museum and NASA.
Proceeds from “BYE BYE 25!” — both song and t-shirt will be donated to the reproductive rights nonprofit NOISE FOR NOW. If you have a few bucks, please buy the song and/or a t-shirt; it’ll go to a worthy, much-needed cause. If you’re unable to protest because of health concerns or some other very valid reason, donating to worthy causes if and when you’re able to, is a form of protest, y’all. In the event that donating is a hardship for you, don’t worry. Pass the word along to those who could. Links are here: https://kimgordon.lnk.to/byebye25
Of course if you’re curious: NOISE FOR NOW enables artists and entertainers to connect with and financially support organization that work in the field of Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. They’re needed now, more than ever with reproductive health care services, including access to legal abortion being under attack. Learn more at https://www.noisefornow.org
The song is accompanied by a video directed by Vice Cooler and Kim Gordon.
Lyric Video: Velatine Teams Up with Nocturna on Brooding and Cinematic “Till Death We Do Art”
Melbourne-based songwriter and producer Loki Lockwood is the creative mastermind behind the darkwave/goth recording project Velatine, which sees him crafting a unique and fresh take on a familiar and beloved sound. In fact, with Velatine, Lockwood is unafraid to experiment and works with different vocalists while weaving aspects from goth, Darkwave, post-punk and industrial music.
His latest single “Till Death We Do Art” feat. Nocturna is a slow-burning, and brooding bit of goth-tinged post punk which features Nocturna’s Anika-meet-Nico-like delivery paired with layers of eerie synths, bursts of strummed guitar and cinematic strings. “Till Death Do We Art” may arguably be the most cinematic-leaning post punk song I’ve heard in sometime, while showcasing Lockwood’s penchant for catchy and anthemic hooks.
Lockwood explains that “Till Death We Do Art” is for the creatives of the world, focusing on the highs and lows creative endure while following their muses. He adds that the song is dedicated to a Ukrainian painter named Ksenia, who regularly shared Velatine’s music with posts featuring her art on Instagram before the project was on the platform. He got to know her a little through the site, but because he’s an Australian, who is often far from any sort of violent conflict, it was the first time he knew someone living in the middle of war.
“Having that ever present threat as part of your life, disruption to normality, what we take for granted here and the devastation of losing her lover I found her often in my thoughts. If I didn’t see her post, I’d check to see if she was alive.” He adds that song was largely written before all of this but the chorus wasn’t there. One time, he checked in on Ksenia on Instagram and her instagram tag “Till Death We Do Art” jumped out of him. He was convinced that was the missing piece that summed up the emotion of the song. ” I’d read these words before on her page but this time I saw them in a new light, I knew immediately where they also belonged. Everything fell into place and the last lines, “we’re upset by war, and worry for them all” are for her,” he explains.
Lyric Video: Tomás Jensen and Bïa Team up on Flirty and Breezy “Boum Boum Boum”
Tomás Jensen is a true global citizen: The Argentine-born artist has lived in Brazil and France, before settling permanently in Québec. Over the course of a 25-year career, Jensen has released 12 albums either in a band or as solo artist, which have seen him explore his eclectic influences.
Back in the early 2000s, Jensen first became known for being the frontman of Les Faux-Monnayeurs, releasing four albums that he and his band supported with touring extensively across Canada and the European Union. He solo debut, Quelqu’un d’autre won the Songwriter of the Year Award at the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Jensen went on to collaborate in a number of projects including the band Hombre, which received nominations for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ) Award and won a Gala Alternatif da la Musique Indépendante du Quèbec (GAMIQ) Best World Music Award album.
In 2015, Jensen returned home to Argentina for the first time in over 20 years and recorded his 2016 effort Retour, which received an ADISQ Award nomination. Documentary filmmaker Martin Bourgault accompanied Jensen on that trip and made a film that was screened at FIFA and other documentary festivals around the globe.
2020’s Les rêves sont faits was the first album in which he was the sole arranger and producer, received a GAMIQ Folk Album of the Year Award, while reflecting both his cultural diversity and artistic freedom.
Since then, he founded Studio La Maison Ronde, where he records, mixes and produces work for several artists. Late last year, he reunited with Les Faux-Monnayeurs on a reunion tour and live album to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Tomás Jensen & Les Faux-Monnayeurs.
Slated for a fall 2025 release, Jensen’s 13th album À l’humain! À la vertu! (To humanity! To virtue!) is an album of original material that sees the Argentine-born, Canadian-based artist collaborating with a collection of supremely talented collaborators on what will be the first album he’ll be releasing on his own label. Jensen explains that the album’s title is derived from the lyrics of the album’s second single “Big Bro,” ” . . .which carries some optimism with it . . . something we all need right now!”
À l’humain! À la vertu!‘s first single “Boum Boum Boum” is a breezy and flirty Bossa nova duet that features Brazilian Canadian artist Bïa. Anchored around Bossa nova’s famous, gently swaying rhythms and a gorgeous, jazzy arrangement featuring strummed acoustic guitar and twinkling piano, “Boum Boum Boum” imagines a scenario in which for the song’s romantic couple, samba is more important than anything else. Certainly in parts of South America, that’s a fact.
New Video: HighSchool Shares Breakneck and Hook-Driven “149”
Rising London-based post-punk outfit HighSchool — Melbourne-born, London-based duo Rory Trobbiani and Luke Scott, along with live backing members Lilli Trobbiani and Lucy Lamb — exploded into the scene with their debut, six-song EP, 2021’s Forever at Last, an effort that saw the band distilling circa-’86 indie lo-fi, New Wave, goth and post-punk through a new, very modern lens.
With self-directed, deeply arresting videos for each of the EP’s six tracks and multiple vinyl runs selling out, the band began to receive attention globally. Beginning with a stint residing London, the duo and their live band played shows across the UK, European Union, North America, Japan and back in Australia, making a run of the international festival circuit, while sharing stages with CHVRCHES, Sam Fender, NewDad and Wet Leg among others.
The rising post punk outfit followed up with 2022’s Only a Dream, which was recorded with Dan Carey and released through his Speedy Wunderground and 2023’s “Colt.” The duo signed to [PIAS], who released their sophomore EP, last year’s Accelerator. Accelerator saw the duo taking their sound to a much darker, reflective place while being an effort that revealed new layers and added depth with each listen. The band went on to support the EP with a successful UK tour with Wunderhouse.
Building upon a growing profile, the band has received praise from NME, The Fader, Clash, DIY, Dork Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Paper Magazine, Rolling Stone ANZ, So Young and airplay from triple j, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, KEXP and several others across the globe.
The band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut is forthcoming, and the album’s first single, the Ben Hillier and Finn Billingham-produced “149” is a breakneck, mind-melting mix of shoeagze, New Wave and jangle pop and Brit pop that reveals a band with an unerring knack for catchy hooks. And at its core, the song captures languorous, boring and seemingly carefree summers in your teens and early 20s.
“‘149’ is about slow, teenage suburban summers – long, dry days, sprinklers on cracked lawns, the smell of cut grass and cheap beer, halogen-lit tennis courts and supermarket car parks. Nothing to do but kick rocks, ride your bike, hang at the skatepark or by the pool.
You end up at a shit house party you weren’t invited to, with the girl you’ve had a crush on all year – the one you thought never noticed you. Someone’s playing Benny Benassi on a light-up Bluetooth speaker. People spill onto the porch, your breath tastes like warm wine from a sack. Maybe you hold hands or she kisses you. ‘149’ is a brief moment in the noise, knowing it won’t last. And that’s the point”.
The accompanying, self-directed video finds the band and friends commandeering a London double-decker bus and driving around London. The band plays an impromptu set onboard. But the video has some impromptu origins: The band borrowed the bus from Nev, who lives next door to the band’s studio. Nev runs a dub radio broadcast out of his kitchen; but he happened to own a party bus. It’s the sort of surreal set up that can only occur late at a night in a big city, with indelible characters.
“The video captures the feeling we wanted for ‘149’ — the dizzying elation of a rambunctious night out, full of promise and unpredictability. It’s about the seemingly endless possibilities a party can bring, and that fleeting feeling of being pulled out of your head and into the present, knowing it can only last until the night ends.”
New Video: JayWood Shares Swaggering, Genre-Defying “ASSUMPTIONS”
Jeremy Haywood-Smith is a Winnipeg-born, Montréal-based, singer/songwriter, musician and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed, boundary pushing project JayWood. Though he was nominated for a Polaris Music Prize, the Canadian artist currently has a day job as a postal worker, which is arguably the least interesting thing about him.
Haywood-Smith’s third JayWood album Leo Negro is slated for a September 5, 2025 release through Captured Tracks. Much like previously released tracks “UNTITLED (Swirl)” and his collaboration with Tune-Yards, “BIG TINGS,” Leo Negro will further cement his reputation for refusing to be easily pigeonholed.
The Canadian artist explains that the album’s title ” . . .came from the main concept of the album which is identity. I asked myself the question of ‘What are some things that make me who I am, no matter what changes occur in life?’ and funnily enough, I was getting really into astrology at the time due to fact that 70% of my friends are queer femmes. I was trying to understand what it means to be a Leo. On the other hand, I’m moving through life as a black man in spaces that don’t always understand me or will try to categorize me.”
He adds, “I know the main identifier for Leos is that they’re super confident and massive social magnets and leaders, but in recent years, I’ve had a harder time leaning into that specific energy, so I started to just dismantle the idea of confidence and leadership by doing somewhat of the opposite. I started to get more vulnerable and share more things about myself: insecurities, fears, anxieties, my scarier truths and my experiences as a black person. Through that, I weirdly started to feel a little more confident. Which brings me to my last point about the title. I now live in Montreal and one thing I realized while trying to learn the language is that the descriptions of things are at the end. For example ‘black cat’ would be ‘chat noir,’ and if I look at my album title, it kinda translates to ‘black confidence’ in my mind.”
Leo Negro‘s latest single “ASSUMPTIONS” is a mind-melting, defiantly genre-agnostic track that sees the Montréal-based artist meshing a swaggering and braggadocio-fueled hip-hop production and neo-soul while subtly hinting at Pharrell‘s “Happy.” While seemingly recalling Tyler, the Creator, Stereolab and Men I Trust among others, “ASSUMPTIONS” showcases a mischievously forward-thinking producer and songwriter, who can pair social commentary and deep introspection within a catchy, deceptively fun bop.
“‘ASSUMPTIONS’ feels like it’s giving myself permission to step into some new sonic territory,” Haywood-Smith explains. “It’s fun and playful while still being pretty focused and lyrically consistent, which is new for me. It’s also one of the funniest songs I’ve ever written. It’s literally about my crippling imposter syndrome but at the same time, I’m staking my claim as a solid artist and a producer.”
Directed by Trent Wayne, the accompanying video is a playful, unpredictable mix of cartoons and live action footage at an equally cartoon colored party, in which he plays his new song. Much like the accompanying song, the video touches on feelings of imposter syndrome, feeling under appreciated yet knowing deep down that you’re fucking dope.
The video’s director, Trent Wayne, while speaking on the production said “JayWood set the tone for us—playful, unpredictable, and musically rich— making a great foundation for the video. Inspired by the song’s genre-blending, we built a narrative to match: starting in a comically chaotic party scene, drifting into a Yo Gabba Gabba!-inspired graveyard, and featuring a cartoon version of Jay performing created by Pete Though, which was sent through a VCR for added analog grit. Our production designer, Sophia Kotowski, built a functional CD-player gravestone that became a psychedelic centerpiece. Collaborating with Captured Tracks to spotlight innovative artists like JayWood is a real privilege for our team.”
New Audio: Beth Gladden Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Subdued Madness”
Beth Gladen is a Cleveland-born, Miami-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and audio engineer, who works and records out of her Miami-based studio, Sweet Spot Recording.
Following on the heels of “Re-birth,” Gladen’s latest single “Subdued Madness” is a decided change in sonic direction. “Subdued Madness” is a hard-charging and anthemic, 1990s grunge/120 Minutes MTV-era rocker, featuring fuzzy power chords, woozy and eerie bursts of keys thunderous drumming, a supple bass line and some enormous, arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Gladen’s impassioned shouts and crooning. Play loud, reminisce about the 90s if you were around then and rock out.
Throwback: R.I.P. Brian Wilson
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of the legendary Brian Wilson.
Throwback: Happy 76th Birthday, Frank Beard!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard’s 76th birthday.