Live concert photography of Lion Babe performing at Baby’s All Right during Winter Jazzfest.
Tag: electro pop
New Audio: Super Plage Shares Breezy, Dance Floor Friendly Bop
Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Super Plage. And if you’ve been following this site over the past couple of years, you’d recall that I’ve written about the acclaimed Montréal-based artist a bit over the past couple of years.
Last year, he released two singles:
- “Ton chien,” a flirty bop anchored around a breezy and summery production featuring glistening synths and skittering beats as a lush bed for Henry and Parsian artist Sainte Nicole to trade ethereal and dreamily delivers verses. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for hanging out in the park — or the beach — with the pretty someone, who’s got your heart skipping beats.
- A cover of Jimmy Hunt‘s 2013 hit “Nos corps,” with longtime collaborator Virginie B and Nectar Palace that turns the disco-tinged yet atmospheric original into a New Wave-like tune that reminded me a bit of Blondie-meets-Soft to the Touch-era Jef Barbara with a Robyn-like disco groove, some squiggling funk guitar.
Henry’s fourth Super Plage album, GROSSE MAISON is slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Montréal-based label Lisbon Lux. The album’s second and latest single “Tip Top” continues a run of breezy, 80s-inspired dance floor friendly bops anchored around squiggling funk, glistening synths and a relentlessly infectious groove serving as a lush and woozy bed for Henry’s dreamy falsetto. “Tip Top” is a track that invites you to get up on that dance floor and shake your ass — while dreaming of the summer.
Throwback: Happy 46th Birthday, Aaliyah!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 46th anniversary of Aaliyah’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Lisa Lisa!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Lisa Lisa’s 58th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 69th Birthday, Bernard Sumner!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joy Division and New Order co-founder Bernard Sumner’s 68th birthday.
New Audio: Jody Vukas Teams Up With Ariana Celaenio on Lush and Plaintive “Fade”
Since the late 90s, electronic music label head and artist Jody Vukas has been a mainstay in the American electronic music scene for a sound that features elements of tribal house, progressive house, tech house and techno.
Vukas’ begins 2025 with “Fade,” a lush, pop-leaning club and lounge friendly collaboration with Ariana Celaenio that pairs her plaintive and ethereal delivery with glistening synths, a driving groove and skittering beats.
As Vukas explains, the song tells a young woman’s story of the fallout from a ad relationship — and it’s done with a verisimilitude that feels as though it comes from lived-in experience.
Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday, Thomas Bangalter!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates French touch pioneer Thomas Bangalter’s 50th birthday.
New Audio: Daniel Higley Shares Tense and Uneasy “Ultimatum”
Daniel Higley is an emerging, American-born, German-based artist. His latest single, the Brook Fraser-produced “UItimatum” Portishead-like track featuring a supple and propulsive bass line, eerie atmospheric synths that serves as a broodingly uneasy bed for British vocalist Gen’s Beth Gibbons-like delivery. The song manages to capture our exceedingly urgent and anxious zeitgeist with an uncannily lived-in precision.
Higley explains that “‘Ultimatum,’ was created with the sense of anxiety that all my friends have been going through. It seemed to be a common theme going around my circle. This moment in time seems very important, and pivotal. This is a call to action for those feelings of anxiety, and worry. This is life giving you an ultimatum. It’s saying you need to be focused, and not too extreme to get through it.
“The line ‘not too far left, not too far right’ is from the feelings after the US election, and the state of politics in the USA, and the world. Being on a side doesn’t allow one to see clearly. We’ve never seen so much tension, war, and mistrust in our lifetimes. So basically, the theme is this is something you can’t avoid, and you can either let it sweep you away, or you can use all theknowledge and training you’ve had to this point to get through. Be centered. Stay in the light and be present.”
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Annie Lennox!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Annie Lennox’s 70th birthday.
New Audio: Davidé Shares Brooding and Cinematic “Nevrotik”
Davide Orsi is an Italian-born, French-based musician and producer, whose career started in earnest with a stint in Italian psych rock outfit Rubber Eggs. Orsi relocated to Grenoble, France, where he continued his musical career, eventually joining Bleu Tonnerre in 2019. And while with Bleu Tonnerre, he played alongside a collection of French artists including Izia and AARON.
Orsi also started his solo recording project Davidé in 2019. The project, which is inspired by Thom Yorke, Tears for Fears and others sees him blending futuristic and dreamy accents while exploring science fiction themes like dystopian worlds and altered realities.
Orsi’s sophomore Davidé EP, Plasticity, Pt. 2 was released a few months ago. The EP’s latest single “Nevrotik,” is a brooding and cinematic composition featuring glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless motorik groove that sounds as though it were inspired by John Carpenter soundtracks, Magic Sword, Umberto and others.
New Audio: Miami’s Sara Diana Shares Brooding and Sultry “all up in my head”
Emerging 18 year-old, Miami-based singer/songwriter Sara Diana has quickly developed a reputation for introspective and poetic storytelling lyrics and soulful vocals paired with lush, atmospheric production.
Her debut EP, the Tracksion and Camilo Velandia-co-produced Can’t Be Fazed sees the emerging Miami-based artist blending heartfelt lyrics with mesmerizing melodies while exploring themes of love, growth, survival, invincibility and self-discovery. “The whole concept of not being ‘fazed’ is feeling as though nothing can hurt you anymore,” Sara Diana explains. “I’m sure many people have experienced a time in their lives where they feel they are dealing with so much that they can’t be fazed anymore. So this project is simply that. It’s about survival.”
Can’t Be Fazed‘s latest single “all up in my head” pairs a brooding, trip-hop meets alt-pop production with the young Miami-based artist’s yearning and soulful delivery describing the wooziness of love-crazed obsession that will probably result in the narrator’s own madness.
“all up in my head” reveals a remarkably self-assured artist, beyond her relative youth, and with an uncannily innate understanding of human nature and psychology.