JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Patti LaBelle 81st birthday.
Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Bob Dylan!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Bob Dylan’s 84th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Heavy D!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 58th anniversary of the birth of Heavy D.
New Audio: Poppastep Shares Ebullient “Jumping For Joy”
Born Herman Hines, DJ Hines, a.k.a. Poppastep can trace the origins of his lengthy career to his childhood: Hines grew up in an intensely musical family. His mother was a soloist and his godfather was a pianist and organist at Staten Island’s St. Phillips Baptist Church. Several other family members played the latest soul music of the Civil Rights era, which led to a young Hines getting into disco, dance music, salsoul, the Philadelphia sound and more.
Hines started off as a drummer, playing in church, alongside his mother and godmother. His first official gig was at the Capital Lounge with his mother’s best friend, Harlem-based jazz legend Irene Reid, when he was just 12. That same year, he started spending summers in Wyandanch, NY, where he hung out with DJ Pleasure, who taught him how to mix on the beat.
Those summers in Wyandanch and his eclectic music taste allowed him to stand out in a crowded field. He was the first DJ to program hip-hop on a college station, Seton Hall‘s WSOU, where he was an instrumental in introducing hip-hop to New Jersey audiences. While at WSOU, he helped break Force MDs — yes, Force MDs. If you’re an old head, you know.
As a DJ, Hines is considered a legend in Staten Island: He made a name for himself as the only local DJ to perform with Grandmaster Flash and the Funky Four Plus One at the Ritz Roller Rink. He also played with The Cold Crush Brothers at St. George Theater — and was the first Staten Island-based DJ to play Harlem World alongside DJ AJ and Jeckle and Hyde.
As the New Jersey house scene began to get attention globally, he added house music to his sets. Around this time, he began transitioning to production under the moniker Poppastep.
As Poppastep, Hines has made a name for himself in the underground for a sound that meshes elements of funk, soul and hip-hop that he has dubbed “Shaolin Hip-Hop Funk.” His Poppastep debut single “In This Together,” led to being named Artist of the Week in Belgium.
His latest single “Jumping For Joy” is a much-needed bit of ebullient, two-step-inducing, infectious joy that sees the Staten Islander crafting a slick, hook-driven production that meshes elements of classic, Larry Levan house with Soul II Soul-meets-Sounds of Blackness-like gospel. Listening to the track brought back memories of WBLS’s live broadcasts from The Shadow and other clubs across town.
New Audio: DJ Piscine Shares Summery “Born Again”
Maximillian De Vos, is a Brussels-based producer and DJ, best known as DJ Piscine. He’s a founding member of the Belgian DJ collective echte ra — and is also one half of The Haze.
De Vos’ latest DJ Piscine EP, Pray, Pt. 1 is slated for a June 27, 2025 release through SWIM Records. The EP reportedly sees the Belgian producer crafting a radiant fusion of club energy and emotional depth. The EP’s first single “Born Again” is a swaggering and slickly produced banger, featuring a big, coquettish pop starlet vocal paired with glistening Euro-house synths and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.
Although it’s a chilly Memorial Day Weekend here in New York, “Born Again” is a summery, Ibizia-styled banger with a playfully mischievous bit of 00s nostalgia.
New Audio: Karo V Shares Lush and Hypnotic “Jack That Body”
Karo V is a Belgian electronic music producer and DJ, who specializes in a club-ready and emotionally resonant sound, anchored by lush soundscapes, intricate melodies and driving rhythms. Her tracks have been released through a number of Belgian and international labels, which have helped lead to a growing profile in the global electronic music scene.
As a DJ, her sets see her seamlessly blending several genres and sub-genres, of electronic music into a cohesive, emotional charged and dance floor filling experience.
The Belgian producer and DJ’s latest single “Jack That Body” is a lush and hypnotic track featuring a glistening synth arpeggio-driven melody, explosive finger snaps and skittering trap-like beats. Sonically recalling Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK, “Jack That Body” showcases a producer that effortlessly pairs lush and soulful production with remarkably catchy hooks.
New Video: Moscow’s The Diasonics Shares Mind-Bending “Oriole”
Formed back in 2019, Moscow-based instrumental soul quintet The Diasonics — Daniel Lutsenko (guitar), Kamil Gazizov (keys), Maksim Brusov (bass), Anton Moskvin (drums) and newest member Alexander Shingaling (percussion) — quickly gained cult status through […]
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Philip Selway!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Philip Selway’s 58th birthday.
Live Footage: Gabriel da Rosa Performs “Seu João”
Gabriel da Rosa is a rising Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and guitarist. Growing up in rural, southern Brazil, da Rosa’s radio DJ father exposed him to a wide variety of music from the homeland. But it wasn’t until he relocated to Los Angeles that he began curating Brazilian records and DJ’ing himself.
da Rosa wound up bonnding with Stones Throw Records‘ label head, founder, artist and DJ Peanut Butter Wolf over their shared love of Brazilian music. Later, he began writing own original Bossa nova, inspired by traditional Bossa nova, but with a contemporary edge while collaborating with Pedro Dom, a highly sought-after musician, who has worked with some of Brazil’s beloved and internationally known artists like Seu Jorge, Rodrigo Amarante, and Latin Grammy Award-winner Ian Ramil.
The Brazilian-born artist’s full-length debut, 2023’s É o que a casa oferece was anchored around traditional Bossa nova and samba-inspired sounds with subtle elements of jazz.
Slated for a June 6, 2025 release through Stone’s Throw Records, da Rosa’s highly-anticipated sophomore album, Cacofonia, derives its title from the Brazilian Portuguese word for “cacophony,” while referencing the album’s overall clash of “notes, tensions, surprises and moods.”
Thematically, Cacofonia is an ode to his homeland — including his family, its environment and the country’s indigenous and working-class people. The album is inspired by — and is the result of da Rosa’s emotional return home after eight years away. His family and travels led him back to his hometown of Cruz Alta. Though he’d often felt like an outsider growing up, seeing Brazil with fresh eyes mae him feel more connected to his country and his people than ever before. And when he returned to Los Angeles to work on the album, he kept those memories close.
Cacofonia reportedly sees da Rosa eschewing much of the more traditional Bossa nova and samba-inspired elements of his sound. And while Bossa nova is still a part of the album’s overall sound and aesthetic, da Rosa wanted to pair and experiemnt with new influences, including Brazilian artists working in other genres and styles like Rodrigo Amarante and O Terno, as well as American artists like David Byrne (!) and Sam Evian.
da Rosa’s lyrics sung mostly in Brazilian Portuguese have a trace of saudade — the longing for something or someone that you can’t get back or no longer exists. The album also features the Brazilian-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s parents and siblings discussing their heritage on voice notes, which sets the album’s overall scene with tropical birds in the background.
Cacofonia also comments on our discordant and polarizing world: da Rosa’s mother performs a poem about the devastating war in Gaza on “Sabor Humanidade,” and other songs speak to class inequality in Brazil and the impact of Bolsonaro’s mining policies on the Amazon and its people. Several album songs see da Rosa bearing witness to the lives of Brazil’s working class — a songwriting style influenced by years of listening to narrative-based songs and his grandmother’s life stories.
After eight years away from family, da Rosa pledges to “never disconnect from my people and roots for this long again.” Cacofonia reportedly sees the Brazilian-born artist making good on that promise. It’s “me, in this moment of my life.” Gabriel saw “how proud I was of my culture. I used to be lost, scared, and trying so hard to please others.” And although he has settled in Los Angeles, where he makes music among the city’s growing scene of of Brazilian musicians, regular DJs with his collection of rare Brazilian records, cooks churrasco and lets his “inner child play freely” through painting, Cruz Alta will always be home. But he says that home is also whenever there are “friends, some sort of security, safety, and community.”
Last month, I wrote about “Pê Patu Pá.” Opening with a repeating tropical songbird pattern and glistening Rhodes, the song unfurls into a gently swaying, Bosas nova groove with a buzzing psych rock-like guitar solo serving as a lush and dreamy bed for da Rosa’s dreamy coo-like crooning. The song talks about the preservation of the sabía, the songbird of São Paulo State since 1966 — and the national songbird since 2002. The character “Vira-Mundo” represents the fight to preserve the bird, which may be seen as representative of Brazil as soccer and Bossa nova.
Cacofonia‘s third and latest single “Seu João” is continues a run of breezy yet deliberately crafted material that channels samba and bossa nova-driven jazz’s golden age — but with a mischievous modern sensibility. Lyrically, the song is a portrayal of market workers da Rosa observed outside of his family home in São Paulo — and he does so with a deep-seated empathy and pride.
The live footage was shot on the costal hills of Los Angeles from an undisclosed location that da Rosa and his collaborators lovingly call Petrichor.
New Audio: Natty Reeves Shares Dreamily introspective “Roll In, Roll Out”
Last year was a very busy year for the wildly prolific and acclaimed Brighton-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Natty Reeves: With his instrumental hip-hop project Astairé, Reeves released the Greener Days EP, a tastefully seamless blend of hip-hop sensibilities with Bossa nova tinged passages that was anchored around dexterous improvisation. Reeves is also a highly sought-after collaborator in his own right, and he has collaborated with the likes of Matt Wilde, Simon Jefferis and Ahbi The Nomad along with a growing a list of others.
2024 also saw the release of his acclaimed Mist Over Water EP. The EP is a marked sonic shift from Reeves’ beatmaking and production roots. Informed by the songwriting of Ben Watt and James Taylor, as well as the rhythmic language of Brazilian jazz pioneers João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá, the EP featured a stripped back raw sound with Spanish-style guitar and Reeves’ dreamy vocal at the center.
Thematically, the material saw the British artist reflecting on the fleeting nature of life, and the importance of looking inward to grow — without putting too much pressure on each moment. “I wanted to make a project that felt honest to who I am, something that represented my thoughts at this stage of my life,” Reeves explained. “Recently I’ve been thinking about second chances, new growth and how fleeting life is – coming back to the sounds and rhythms I love, not trying too hard to make something that people would find impressive, this is a bit more introspective and forgiving of myself. I just hope that listeners enjoy the sounds and find some peace of their own in these songs!”
Reeves’ first single of this year, “Roll In, Roll Out” is a breezy yet soulful tune, featuring delicately strummed acoustic guitar and gently shuffling percussion that serves as a dreamy, Bossa nova-tinged bed for the Brighton-based artist’s introspective, lived-in lyrics and dreamy delivery. While further establishing his critically applauded, acoustic-driven singer/songwriter sound, “Roll In, Roll Out,” is a reminder — both to the listener and the artist — that life shouldn’t always be taken so seriously.
“Life’s changing a lot for me lately, big changes on the way! So, I wanted to write a reminder to myself to not take life too seriously – good and bad days will come and go but everything will be alright in the end,” Reeves explains. “Musically, I’ve enjoyed really pushing into this sound, not sure what to call this style yet, but it feels like I’m going in the right direction. As always though, I hope people can enjoy the music for what it is!”
New Video: SWOLL Shares a Swaggering Homage to DC’s Puff Pieces
Led by Baltimore-based singer/songwriter and musician Matt Dowling, who is best known for his work playing bass in The Effects, Deleted Scenes, and Paperhaus, SWOLL originally formed as a studio collaboration with BLIGHT. Records founder and producer Ben Schurr.
The project’s 2018 self-titled, full-length debut was released to critical praise while establishing a sound anchored around brooding bass lines, minimalist textures and Dowling’s falsetto. Since then SWOLL has evolved into a full-fledged live band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Erik Sleight (drums) and lighting design by Zak Forrest.
Live , the band creates an immersive live performance that combines atmospheric visuals with a thunderous, genre-defying, synth-driven soundscape while exploring vulnerability and the human condition. Adding to a growing profile, the band has shared stages with Gang of Four, Moderat and JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers.
SWOLL’s third album AVOID ATTACH is slated for a September 26, 2025 release. The album was tacked by Dan Angel and Ben Schurr in Philadelphia, mixed by Alex Tebeleff in Los Angeles and mastered by Sarah Register in Brooklyn. Sonically, AVOID ATTACH reportedly sees the band further cementing a sound that meshes elements of live rock with electronic music and trap beats.
“I wanted to turn the psychological condition of avoidant attachment style into a verb that feels relevant right now,” SWOLL’s Matt Dowling says of AVOID ATTACH‘s thematic concerns. “Avoidant attachment style is perhaps best described by Kevin Barnes’ Of Montreal lyric ‘I need you here, and not here too.’ It’s a particularly modern condition that’s simultaneously psychological and physical. It sort of sounds bad and unhealthy (it is on the clinical edge of a disorder), but things like social media and AI, which are simply wildly popular modern tools, are particularly good places to ‘avoid attach.’ I also think things sort of feel overall bad and unhealthy in the world right now, but that could just be a coincidence, or my own projection.”
AVOID ATTACH‘s lead single “SCAR” features glitchy electronic pulse, skittering boom bap and an angular Gang of Four-like bass line as a dreamy and uneasy bed for Dowling’s punchily urgent delivery. The song manages to be brooding and yet dance floor friendly while anchored around lyrics that offer incisive social critique that eerily captures our weird, deadly, fucked up moment. The song also is a loving homage to the now-defunct Washington, DC-based band Puff Pieces, a descendant project of Antelope, and the social commentary of their 2016 effort, Bland in D.C.
“I directly take lyrics from Puff Pieces in this song,” Dowling says. “The two lyrics, which are also their song titles, are ‘Pointless People’ and ‘Women and Men with Guns.’ I think I went there simply because I felt like I was really echoing Puff Pieces sonically while writing the song. So I figured ‘why not take it all the way and use some Puff Pieces lyrics, provided I can get prior approval?’ (which I did, don’t worry!). I wrote the song probably two years ago, and now that it’s coming out, I’m like ‘whoa, this is timely.’ Puff Pieces were astoundingly accurate at predicting the future while writing songs from 2013-2016. The current time is simply a labored continuation of what they were concerned about while creating those songs. So ‘Scar’ is basically an homage to Puff Pieces’ astute ability to cut right to the center of it all with simple, dancey punk rock music.”
The accompanying video for “Scar” follows the band’s Dowling on a glitchy and fuzzy, analog, security footage-styled late night walk and studio footage — with a world-beating swagger.
Throwback: Happy 111th Birthday, Sun Ra!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 111th anniversary of the arrival of Sun Ra.
New Audio: Stockholm’s Yesterday’s Princess Shares Soulful and Swaggering “Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow)”
Stockholm-based instrumental soul duo Yesterday’s Princess — Fredrick Bergsten and Marcus Larsson — can trace their origins back to 2010: Bergsten and Larsson met and struck up a friendship on making music and crate digging for records to sample for hip-hop beats. Idolizing Pete Rock, J Dilla, Madlib and Da Beatminerz the pair invested in the gear their heroes used with SP1200’s and MPC’s becoming a foundation of their early creative endeavors.
As their tastes grew, the limits of sample-based music became increasingly evident, so they began incorporating organic instrumentation into their work. But they eventually ditched sampling altogether.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair decided to officially collaborate together as a project, rather than just making music side-by-side, which led to the formation of Yesterday’s Princess. For the Swedish-based duo, Yesterday’s Princess is a vehicle for them to explore their desire to create an all-encompassing atmosphere, led by tone, production and well-trained ears for the perfect loop.
“Growing up as hip-hop producers and both being schooled audio engineers, we value sound almost as greatly as the music itself,” the duo explain. “Tone is very important yet often forgotten – music is what you hear and tone is a huge part of that. Chops have no value if it touches no-one, and what touches you might be the tone of the instrument, rather than the note it played.”
Although most contemporary groups in instrumental soul tend to adopt a throwback approach to the production and mixing process, Bergsten and Larsson have deliberately eschewed it; instead, they opted for a cleaner sound that takes adventure of digital production techniques. “We wanted to make the mix big and full with a modern soundscape,” the duo says.
The project’s original demos were created around drum sample packs from A.J. Hall, which were also sampled by The Alchemist, Nas and Ari Lennox. Hall was then brought in to rework the breaks into full parts. “After that we re-recorded all instruments to fit the swing of the new drums and hired a bassist to replay some of our basslines [sic],” the Stockholm-based describes their creative process.
Slated for a July 25, 2025 release through Root Records, the Swedish duo’s forthcoming, four-track, debut EP, Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow) reportedly sees the pair drawing from the groundbreaking library music style pioneered by the KPM and Music de Wolfe music libraries, as well as psychedelia, modal jazz, and Swedish folk and prog music. And because of their foundations in hip-hop, the material sees the duo crafting hooky melodies and riffs to anchor the overall spaciness of their arrangements.
The EP’s second and latest single, EP title track “Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow)” is a hooky bit of modal-tinged, neo-soul jazz, featuring twinkling Rhodes, a supple and strutting bass line and jazzy boom bap drumming. The track recalls the likes of Surprise Chef, Weather Channel-styled jazz, but with a cool, sophisticated swagger.
New Audio: Frankie and the Witch Fingers Return with a Grimy, Blistering Ripper
Slated for a June 6, 2025 release through Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, Frankie and the Witch Fingers‘ eighth album, the Maryam Qudus-produced Trash Classic reportedly sees the JOVM mainstay happily plunging into a sewer-slick fusion of proto punk venom, fractured New Wave and industrial grime. Sonically brimming with wiry synths, angular melodies and squirming and biting grooves, the material is delivered with a sly, playful balance between smirk and sneer. The band layers playful unease while exploring themes of escapism, decay and overindulgence.
The songs were born in the grime of Vernon, Los Angeles — a wasteland littered with gutted RVs and rusting machinery, where the air tastes like asphalt and dog food. But the alchemy happed during recording sessions at Oakland‘s Tiny Telephone Studio, where producer Maryam Qudus helped transmute the tracks into the final forms with unhinged tones, unconventional recording experiments and wild sonic detours.
Each day of the recording sessions began with cartoons blaring at full volume — a Looney Tunes ritual that turned the madness of the recording process into something childlike. Late night, sugar-fueled candy binges kept the energy spiking, pushing the sessions into a fever dream of jittery, spastic playfulness. The end result is a raw, twisted monument to rot and excess — and to toxic glamour and nihilistic salvation.
So far I’ve written about three of the album’s previously released singles:
- “Economy,” which offered a glimpse of what to expect from the album: grimy synth pulse right at the front, alongside angular guitar fuzz and muscular yet mathematically precise drumming paired with punchily delivered vocals and mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically, the result is a scuzzier and grimier take on Freedom of Choice-era DEVO — with a similar, tongue-in-cheek sensibility.
- “Total Reset,” a sweaty ripper that sees the band pairing angular guitar fuzz with squiggling synth pulse, mathematically precise drumming and Sizemore’s punchy delivery with the band’s penchant for mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically, “Total Reset” strikes me as a being a synthesis of King Gizzard and Devo — but with a mischievous sense of menace and unease.
- “Dead Silence,” a track continues a run of grimy and mischievous DEVO-meets-garage rock rippers, anchored around the band’s unerring knack for rousing, mosh pit friendly hooks paired with Sizemore’s punchy delivery singing lyrics about existential dread and death. Oh, how fitting for our fucked up, dire time!
“Gutter Priestess,” Trash Classic‘s fourth and latest single sees the band continuing with the addition of a DEVO-like sheen to the punchy, garage punk aesthetic that has won them acclaim globally. And while arguably being the grimiest, nastiest song on the album to date, “Gutter Priestess” may also be the most danceable.
“‘Gutter Priestess’ felt filthy from the get,” the band’s Dylan Sizemore says. “I was hooked up to Burroughs and his junk-sick energy, romanticizing my own bad decisions and dark thoughts, cutting up lyrics, letting meaning rearrange itself. The whole thing turned into a brown, sharded nightmare but with a seductive dancey pulse.
When we went to record it, everyone leaned into the crust. The parts feel barbed and sharp – like they crawled out of a drainpipe with glass in their gums. Hopefully the lighter synth lines in the chorus add a sugary sweetness to all the rot and decay.”
Instead of a music video, the JOVM mainstays partnered with FolksPatMedia to release a fully-playable “Gutter Priestess” video. The creators of the free-to-play browser game have contributed to beloved games like Alien: Rogue Incursion, Creed: Rise to Glory VR, Dead by Daylight, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and more. You can check it out here.