JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Butch Vig’s 69th birthday.
Tag: alt-rock
Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday, Alanis Morissette!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Alanis Morissette’s 50th birthday.
New Audio: Norway’s Helsinki Horizon Shares Anthemic “Tie Them To The Mast”
Norwegian outfit Helsinki Horizon — founding member Snorre, (guitar, bass, keys) along with Öllegård (vocals), viNd (guitar) and Geir (drums) — can trace their origins back to 2008 as a solo recording effect with Snorre began writing music and recording demos. By 2012, viNd and Geir joined the project, and the band, then a trio began playing live shows.
Citing the likes of Radiohead, Mogwai, M83 and Max Richter as influences., the band also incorporates Tesla coil emulated Cello distortion and 8-bit crushed bass harmonica in a genre-defying sound and approach. Their debut EP, 2021’s Signal Flares drew from the band’s experiences in the underground metal scene, and received critical praise and attention across the post rock scene.
Released earlier this year, the Norwegian band’s full-length debut Sirens sees them collaboration with Stockholm-based avant-garde pop artist Öllegård contributing vocals while drawing from Homer’s Odyssey. Thematically, the album’s material touches upon existentialism, human facade, contemporary global politics, climate and environmental destruction and the consequences of all of these on us as a whole.
Sirens‘ first single “Tie Them To The Mast” is a seamless and slick synthesis of shoegaze, post rock, rock and electro pop anchored around a propulsive and swaggering rhythm section, atmospheric synth oscillations, and bursts of expressive guitar. The song’s arrangement serves as a dramatic bed for Öllegård’s earnest delivery — while revealing a band with an uncanny knack for a catchy hook and a big, sing-along worthy chorus.
Throwback: Happy 57th Birthday, Liz Phair!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Liz Phair’s 57th birthday.
New York-based indie outfit Glimmer — Jeff Moore (vocals, guitar) Jaye Moore (drums) Johnny Nicholls (guitar) and Kevin Dobbins (bass) — have quickly established a sound that incorporates elements of grunge, shoegaze and hook-driven alternative rock, influenced by Nothing, Narrow Head, Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine and more.
The band’s two latest singles “Buried” and its B-side “Daydream” were recorded in Brooklyn with Jeff Berner and mastered by Will Yip. “Buried” is a 120 Minutes MTV-era like anthem, built around layers of fuzzy power chord-driven guitars, a propulsive backbeat, Jeff Moore’s fittingly dreamy vocals paired with enormous and explosive choruses. “Buried” is the sort of timeless song, that you’d see kids bopping to at a sweaty, dingy club or house party at any point in the past 30 years or so.
“Daydream” is a classic alt-rock-like ballad featuring reverb-soaked guitars, gently padded drums that slowly builds up to an explosive, shout-along and raise your beer in the air worthy hook and chorus.
The member of Glimmer will be embarking on a busy month of live dates that includes several NYC area shows including February 24, 2024 at EWEL; March 9, 2024 at TBD as a result of Saint Vitus Bar‘s recent shutdown; and March 21, 2024 at The Broadway. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Upcoming shows:
2/22: Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s (w/ Cigarettes for Breakfast, Husbands)
2/23: Boston, MA @ Cantab Underground (w/ Cigarettes for Breakfast, Husbands, The Dreamtoday)
2/24: Brooklyn, NY @ EWEL (w/ Glitterspitter, Balloon Snake)
3/9: Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus (w/ Dosser, Wax Girl)
3/21: Brooklyn, NY @ The Broadway (w/ Gluehead, Cigarettes for Breakfast, Semaphore)
3/22: Lancaster, PA @ The Upside (w/ Joyful Forfeit, Cigarettes for Breakfast, Blind Hope)
3/23: Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club (w/ Cigarettes for Breakfast, Spirit Weak, The Warhawks)
Throwback: Happy Belated 61st Birthday, Anthony Kiedis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Anthony Kedis’ 61st birthday.
New Audio: Philly’s Mesa Jane Tackles Radiohead’s “All I Need”
Mesa Jane (short for Melissa Jane) is a Philadelphia area indie pop artist, who specializes in a sound that has been described as “alternative vibe pop.” Throughout her life and music career, she embraces bringing creative energy into physical form through a multitude of avenues including songwriting, production, composition, collaboration, music videos, album art, entrepreneurship and cooking.
Over the past decade, the Philadelphia-based artist has recorded two full-length albums, two EPs (one, which was self-produced and recorded during the pandemic) and a batch of singles, all of which she has supported with touring across the country, as well as sets at music festivals like SXSW and Toronto’s Indie Week among others. Mesa Jane has appeared on several compilations — and she has received nominations from the Independent Music Awards and the Hometown Heroes Awards. And adding to a growing profile, she recently had one of her songs placed on Hulu’s How I Caught My Killer.
The Philadelphia area-based artist is currently quite busy with several different projects: She’s working on several collaborations, co-writing for other projects and is also working on her third full-length album. And she’s doing this while being a mom of two boys. Talk about being a boss, right?
Mesa Jane’s latest single is a gorgeous and fairly straightforward cover of Radiohead‘s “All I Want,” which retains the original’s buzzing synths and pairs that with skittering beats and the Philadelphia area artist’s plaintive gently vocodered vocal. While a female vocalist does change some of the song’s context, it’s still rooted in a deep and uneasy yearning.
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, PJ Harvey!
JOVM’S William Ruben Helms celebrates PJ Harvey’s 54th birthday.
New Audio: Ryder Waite Shares Gorgeous, Atmospheric “Praying”
Ryder Waite is a female-fronted, genre-defying rock quintet born from the dust of the Mojave Desert. While little is currently known about them, the band describes their approach and sound as raw and unapologetic, and pairing naked lyricism with soul-moving solos.
Their latest single, the atmospheric “Praying” is built around a gorgeous and expressive vocal, paired with shimmering reverb-drenched guitars, dramatic drumming and an expressive guitar solo. Sonically speaking, “Praying” sees the mysterious quintet drawing from nu-metal, post rock, shoegaze and metal to create something familiar yet a little bit difficult to pigeonhole.
New Video: The Joy Formidable Share Expansive, Mind-Bending “Share My Heat”
Splitting their time between Northern Wales and Utah, the celebrated alt rock outfit The Joy Formidable — Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Daybed (bass, vocals) and Matt Thomas (drums) — have managed to remain close to their loyal fanbase: Back in 2019, they launched TJF Music Club with members able to request backstage access, watch online shows and get exclusive songs and merchandise. During the pandemic, with a lack of live shows and touring, the club grew and evolved.
Their last album was 2021’s critically applauded Into The Blue. Since then, the Welsh band have followed up with a recent a collection of singles that include “Cut Your Face,” “The Hat” and the third and final single of the series “Share My Heat,” which were released through Enci Records across North America, Full Time Hobby/Hassle in Europe and Soundly Distro across the rest of the world.
Clocking in at an epic 15:10, “Share My Heat” is an arena rock friendly, prog rock ripper featuring thunderous drumming, angular and propulsive bass lines, dexterous, scorching riffage and shimmering synth arpeggios within a mind-bending song structure that bends, twists and turns before closing out with a face-melting, headbang worthy coda.
throughout the song’s run-time. “‘Share My Heat’ is about true connection & love. Deep, selfless love between humans is a beautiful part of our existence, but I’m also singing about our inherent love for nature, the living world & our kinship to everything : plants, animals, mountains & lake,” The Joy Formidable’s Ritzy Bryan explains. “Can we repair our relationship & bring more reciprocity, compassion and companionship to a world that already gives us so much?”
The accompanying, animated video by Vids Invader touches upon the themes of the song while being a hallucinogenic journey through both love and our current dystopian hellscape.
The Joy Formidable are currently on tour in the UK tour with all remaining shows listed below. The band plans to return to North America in 2024.
Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Layne Staley!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 56th anniversary of former Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Bill Berry!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Bill Berry’s 65th birthday.
Vienna-based sibling electro pop duo FANTAST — Mario and Daniel Gschwendtner — specialize in a sound influenced by hip-hop, Fever Ray, Sleaford Mods and others. They’re currently working on an EP that’s slated for release later this year, but in the meantime, the Austrian electro pop duo share their latest single “CUTW,” a cover of Radiohead‘s “Climbing Up The Walls,” one of my favorite tracks off OK Computer.
“CUTW” sees the members of FANTAST replacing the guitar-driven melody of the original with glistening synth arpeggios and tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with a trip hop-like delivery. FANTAST’s cover sees the Viennese sibling duo transforming the song into a brooding trip-hop banger that subtly changes the overall mood — but while retaining the sense of creeping unease.
Throwback: Happy 64th Birthday, Mike Mills!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Mike Mills’ 64th birthday.
Throwback: Happy Belated 53rd Birthday, PJ Harvey!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates PJ Harvey’s 53rd birthday.