JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates U2 co-founder and frontman Bono’s 66th birthday.
Tag: electro rock
New Video: Sugar World Shares Buzzy “Terra Incognita”
Los Angeles-based duo Sugar World — Ryan and Katryn Stanley — can trace its origins back to 2013: The duo started their careers in earnest a member of the Tallahassee-based bedroom pop outfit Naps. After Naps split up in 2016, Ryan and Katryn Stanley started releasing a series of singles and EP as Sugar World, which saw the pair crafting a sound that’s an idiosyncratic mix of lo-fi, twee pop and fuzzy electronica.
The duo released their Sugar World full-length debut, Lost & Found back in 2022. But since 2024, the Los Angeles-based duo have been increasingly exploring a more digital sound that draws from noise pop, hyper pop and underground internet hip-hop that features fuzzy, distorted guitar noise and blown out autotuned vocals.
Their sophomore album supercassettevision is slated for release later this year. The album, which will include the previously released “In Magazines,” will see the band further cement what they’ve dubbed a “new version of classic twee pop for the 2020s” that combines catchy melodies with harsher noisy elements.
supercassettevision’s second and latest single “Terra Incognita” derives its title from the Latin phrase “unknown land,” and sonically seems to channel a woozily lysergic synthesis of Mogwai and Evil Heat-era Primal Scream. The band explains that the song “was an experiment to see if we could bring our indie rock and jangle pop songwriting into a sonic environment inspired by electronic music and digicore. It’s fundamentally about making a bunch of money and then putting that money into car, and then driving the car off a cliff.”
Fittingly, the accompanying visual is comprised of fuzzy, VHS-style shot footage, treated in harsh color negatives. The result is a video that videos the lysergic buzz of the song.
New Audio: Chenzo V Returns with Anthemic “Mechanical Boy”
Chenzo V is an emerging New York-based creative director, producer and artist, whose music sees him drawing from and blending elements of alternative rock, post-punk, New Wave, synth pop and industrial electronica.
Deeply rooted in classical performance and visual art, the emerging New York-based producer and artist writes, produces and directs every release himself, building immersive multimedia worlds. Thematically, his work touches upon identity, illusion and transformation.
Late last year, he released “Midnight,” an arena friendly ripper that showcases his ability to pair rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with broodingly cinematic soundscapes and lived-in lyrics.
His latest single “Mechanical Boy” is a woozy blend of industrial electronica, electronic rock, alt rock and synth pop that further cements his growing reputation for crafting remarkably catchy hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses while seemingly drawing from Muse and Radiohead.
New Audio: Minneapolis’ Solid Gold Shares Shimmering, Politically Charged “Government Grade”
Minneapolis-based electro rock trio Solid Gold — Zachary Coulter, Adam Hurlbut and Matthew Locher — have released two critically applauded albums to date, 2008’s Ryan Olcott-produced Bodies of Water and 2012’s BJ Burton-produced Eat Your Young, as well as a handful of singles. The trio have supported all of their recorded output with a busy international touring schedule.
The trio are currently working on their long-awaited third album. Recorded at Cannon Falls, MN-based Pachyderm Studios, their new album reportedly showcases a dramatic shift in sound and approach: According to the band, the new songs are “maximalist psychedelic dreamscapes filled with shimmering synthesizers and pop vocal hooks.” They add that the album’s “sound is a reflection of the modern world, beautiful, but with an underlying essence of tragedy.”
Solid Gold’s latest single “Government Grade” is a a remarkably crafted and meditative song anchored around a shimmering psych pop arrangement, some incredibly catchy, well-placed hooks and a gorgeous melody. The song as the band explains is a direct response to the ongoing, violent occupation of Minnesota by ICE. And as a result, the song is a forcefully urgent documentation of our moment — one of many, of course — that also feels timeless and absolutely fucking necessary.
The band will be donating all proceeds from the sale of the song on Bandcamp to Minnesota Mutual Aid groups to support the good, resilient. diverse and deeply proud folks of the Twin Cities.
The Bandcamp link to purchase is here: https://solidgold.bandcamp.com/track/government-grade
Throwback: Happy Belated 68th Birthday, Gary Numan!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Gary Numan’s 68th birthday.
New Video: Allegories Share Dreamy and Uneasy “Mid Century Nothing”
Since the release of 2022’s Endless, the Canadian experimental pop duo and JOVM mainstays Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — have released a growing collection of standalone singles.
Earlier this year, the duo shared “DREAMCRUSHER” “Stay Out Of The Basement,” and “Baker’s Lung,” the first three of a series of singles that originally started out a bare-bonded ukulele sketches, which gradually transformed into idiosyncratic electronic sound sculptures.
The Canadian duo’s latest single “Mid Century Nothing” is a spacey and subtly uneasy fusion of shoegaze, electronic rock and electro pop that’s arguably the most band-orientated release from the duo in some time, while also capturing the tension between introspection and assertion. And as a result, the song possesses a quiet, unguarded defiance.
“It came from our ukulele songs and slowly turned into one of our weirdo electronic tracks,” the duo shares. “We were about 85 percent of the way through arranging it when we decided to perform it at a winter festival. We don’t play live very often – we’ve only done it twice in the last 10 years. Something about rehearsing and being on stage changes the way we approach the music. This song became more defiant, touched on what’s happening in the world, and ended up way more assertive and confrontational than anything we made in the studio.”
“It reminded us that we actually come from jamming things out in a rehearsal space,” they add. “Maybe we should spend more time in that mode. Either way, we could probably play live more than twice a decade.”
Death Drive Teams Up with Dogs on Shady Lane’s Tori Hall on Dreamy “Let The Wound Heal”
Brooklyn-based electro shoegaze outfit Death Drive‘s latest single, the recently released “Let the Wound Heal,” features Dogs on Shady Lane‘s Tori Hall. Coming on the heels of last September’s split EP with Yuurusu, A Bit Closer to Heaven, “Let the Wound Heal” pairs Hall’s ethereal and plaintive delivery with a lush retro-futuristic leaning production featuring twinkling synths, swirling guitar textures, live drumming and a supple bass line.
While influenced by a wide range of influences including The Postal Service and Radiohead, the song sonically reminds me a bit of BLACKSTONE RNGRS, No Swoon, The Orielles‘ recent output and Death By Piano. The song’s lyrics, which were written by Hall, were inspired by the monologue delivered by Rutger Hauer’s character Roy Batty in the climax of the 1982 film Blade Runner.
“The demo was named ‘harrisonfordbladerunner,'” Death Drive bandleader and sampler Raj explains. ” That’s where the idea took off for Tori with the lyrics, and I named it that because that was the poster in front of me in the room where we finished the demo.”
Death Drive will celebrate the release of their new single at The Woodshop in Brooklyn on April 4th, alongside Holiem, Blood Estate, and MKUltra.
New Audio: Droid Metal Share sultry Debut “Pleather”
Giuliano Pizzulo is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and musician, whose career started in earnest with a stint in the acclaimed indie rock outfit Incan Abraham, an act that received praise from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR and Spin. Since then Pizzulo has spent the past decade as a touring musician for Lorde, Childish Gambino and Passion Pit.
Pizzulo’s solo recording project, Droid Metal sees the acclaimed Los Angeles-based musician crafting a sound that meshes elements of 90s rave music, industrial electronica and pop. His Droid Metal debut “Pleather” is a synthesis of Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method and JOVM mainstay Blak Emoji featuring dense layers of woozy synths and skittering breakbeats paired with Pizzulo’s sultry falsetto.
The acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist explains that the song came out of a dance with a dangerous muse that took him to some new, illicit places both literally and metaphorically.
New Video: Belfast’s Chalk Shares Tense Yet Euphoric “Tell Me”
Rising Belfast-based electronic outfit Chalk — Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitar, sampler) and Luke Niblock (drums) — features three award-winning musicians and filmmakers, who can trace the origins of the band to their meeting while attending film school. The trio bonded over having the same musical vision and ambitions.
Inspired by the ferocity of Dublin‘s guitar band scene’s live shows and the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast, the band has developed and crafted a sound that has been dubbed by some critics as techno-infused, gothic post-punk — and as the band has dubbed Berghain-rock blended with techno punk.
Last year saw the Northern Ireland-based post punk/electronic trio release their debut EP Conditions. But the band quickly made a name for themselves as a live unit: They exploded out of the gates with opening slots for London-based outfit PVA for their first ever shows, before selling out shows across the UK. Quickly building upon a growing profile across the region and elsewhere, the band landed sets across the European major festival circuit, closing out 2023 with a set at Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP live session.
Coming off the heels of a Northern Irish Music Prize 2023 Best Live Act win, the band has begun to make noise globally: Their Chris Ryan and Ross Cullen co-produced sophomore EP Conditions II was released earlier this year. The EP featured previously reread singles “The Gate” and “Claw,” which received praise from The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, Rolling Stone UK, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence and others while landing on a BBC 6 Music playlist with tracks from PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha, Yard Act and more. The EP also featured “Bliss,” a track that featured angular and reverb-drenched shoegazer-like guitar textures with relentless four-on-the-floor and bursts of glistening synth serving as a brooding yet cinematic bed for Ross Cullen’s punchy yet stoic shouts and Constance Keane, a.k.a. Fears‘ ethereal voice acting as a dreamy counterbalance. Sonically nodding a bit at Joy Division, New Order, Luminous and V-era The Horrors and others, the track thematically moves from longing to loss and regret.
Thematically, Conditions II continued upon the themes of its predecessor but while diving deeper into subconscious feelings and self-discovery. Sonically, the effort saw the band leaning into the industrial/techno rock sound that they established with Conditions. Aesthetically, the trio continued the monochromatic, goth-inspired goth visual landscape in an evocative and seamless manner.
“We see Conditions II as a natural evolution from our debut EP, Conditions. These new tracks are a product of our first year as a touring band. They were tried and tested at most of our shows before being taken into the studio,” Chalk’s Ross Cullen says. “We wanted to expand upon existing themes and ideas we touched upon in our debut, but with this continuation, we could explore ourselves and the world we had created deeper, both lyrically and sonically. In this second installment, we wanted to dive further into the electronic element of our music, bringing the experience of our live shows to our recordings.”
The third and final part of the Northern Ireland-based trio’s trilogy Conditions III EP is slated for a February 21, 2025 release through Nice Swan Records. Recorded against the backdrop of bleak landscapes and Nordic vistas in remote northern Iceland, Conditions III reportedly sees the Belfast-based trio fusing elements of heavy guitar music, electronica and breakbeat into a euphoric and frightening finished project. The result tis an effort that showcases another evolution in the band’s already confrontational sound and approach.
The forthcoming EP’s first single “Tell Me” is a goth and industrial-like club banger featuring thumping and skittering beats, oscillating synths and a relentless, motorik groove paired with Cullen’s reverb and distortion-drizzled and emotionally detached delivery. At its core, “Tell Me,” evokes unease, desperation and euphoria simultaneously.
“‘Tell Me’ is the first release of our trilogy-ending third EP Conditions III. For this track, we conjured up a world in which the song’s protagonist is running away from a dark past into unknown territory, encountering an unsuspecting new acquaintance on their journey,” the band’s Ross Cullen says. It’s a song that dives head-first into themes of the unknown, breaking norms, and a feeling of running away and never wanting to return again. It explores the idea that life is moving rapidly around us and the lack of belonging, confusion, and disassociation one experiences on their journey, growing older in an increasingly discouraging and bleak urban landscape. These are themes of which we’ve scratched the surface with ‘Conditions’ and ‘Conditions II’; but we want to delve even deeper into their grittier sides as we continue to figure ourselves out along the way.”
“Within the ‘Tell Me’ video we wanted to focus on creating a pressure cooker of tension encapsulated in the confined space of a car and heightened by the physical presence of a guilty conscience,” the band’s Ben Goddard explains. “Visually, we were inspired by the dramatic lighting of 1970s Italian horror films, such as Suspiria. We wanted to add further intensity and stylisation to the video through the use of constant heavy rain and hand-built a rain machine to achieve this effect. We were able to realise this vision with our fantastic cast and crew, including Desmond Eastwood, Venetia Bowe and our director of photography, Alba Fernandez.”
New Video: Denmark’s Animaux Animé Shares Club and Arena Friendly “The Master”
With the release of a handful of singles and 2019’s self-titled debut EP, which have received praise from Bands of Tomorrow, Passive/Aggressive, HQ Music and airplay from Danish national radio station P6 Beat, emerging Danish outfit Animaux Animé have quickly established a sound that sees them mesh elements of synth pop, industrial rock and theatrical performance art into a sound and aesthetic that’s distinctly unique.
The band has played across the Danish festival circuit, including playing sets at SPOT Festival and BlueBridge Festival. And building upon a growing profile nationally, the band is gearing up to release their full-length debut, Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I).
Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I)‘s latest single “The Master” is a mesh of industrial rock and synth pop anchored around tweeter and roofer rattling industrial thump, bursts of twinkling synths, angular and reverb-soaked guitars serving as a brooding bed for a big baritone vocal expressing yearning and longing. While sonically channeling Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and others, “The Master” is a club friendly, arena rock banger that reveals a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy hooks with slick production.
The accompanying video is a creepily surreal romp through madness, obsession and implied torture that wouldn’t be out of place in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe films.
The band is currently working on the follow-up to their full-length debut, Sensational Creation — Act II and are collaborating with Kolding Egnsteater on a play that’s slated to run next year.
New Audio: Monotronic Shares a Bombastic, Mind-Bending Ripper
Monotronic is a New York-based indie electronic band that effortlessly blends a variety of styles and genres to create a truly unique, genre-defying sound.
The New York-based outfit has developed a reputation for a live show that’s a psychedelic experience in which each instrument is heard as a continuation of the other, and the music seems to emanate for a single source. Adding to a growing profile, “Kids of Summer” and “Buy Yourself a Dream” both premiered at #1 on VEVO’s Incoming Indie playlist.
Their latest single, the bombastic “Kettle Song” is built around a mind-bending and odd arrangement of percussive orchestra drumming, blazing psychedelic Spaghetti Western guitar, arena rock-like hooks paired with a vaguely Eastern-styled vocal. “Kettle Song” sees the New York-based outfit channeling The Bright Light Social Hour, but with a mischievous, towering swagger.
New Video: Belfast’s Chalk Teams Up with Fears on Brooding “Bliss”
Rising Belfast-based outfit Chalk — Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitar, sampler) and Luke Niblock (drums) — features three award-winning musicians and filmmakers, who can trace the origins of the band to when they met while attending film school and bonded over having the same musical vision and ambitions. Inspired by the ferocity and live shows of Dublin‘s guitar band scene and the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast, the band have crafted a sound that has been dubbed by some critics as techno-infused, gothic post-punk — and as the band has dubbed Berghain-rock blended with techno punk.
Last year saw the Northern Irish-based post-punk trio release their debut EP Conditions. As a live unit, the band quickly exploded out of the gates with opening slots for London-based outfit PVA for their first ever shows, before selling out shows across the UK. Quickly building upon a growing profile across the region and elsewhere, the band landed sets across the European major festival circuit, closing out 2023 with a set at Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP live session, which will be released on March 8, 2024.
Coming off the heels of a Northern Irish Music Prize 2023 Best Live Act win, the band has begun to make noise globally: Their sophomore EP, the Chris Ryan and Ross Cullen co-produced Conditions II is slated for a Friday release through Nice Swan Records, and the EP will feature previously released singles “The Gate” and “Claw,” which received praise from The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, Rolling Stone UK, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence and others while landing on a BBC 6 Music playlist with tracks from PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha, Yard Act and more. Thematically, the album continues upon the themes of its immediate predecessor but sees the band diving deeper into subconscious feelings and self-discovery while leaning into the industrial/techno rock sound that they established with their debut EP. Aesthetically, the trio also continue the monochromatic, goth-inspired goth visual landscape in an evocative and seamless manner.
“We see Conditions II as a natural evolution from our debut EP, Conditions. These new tracks are a product of our first year as a touring band. They were tried and tested at most of our shows before being taken into the studio,” Chalk’s Ross Cullen says. “We wanted to expand upon existing themes and ideas we touched upon in our debut, but with this continuation, we could explore ourselves and the world we had created deeper, both lyrically and sonically. In this second installment, we wanted to dive further into the electronic element of our music, bringing the experience of our live shows to our recordings.”
“Bliss” Conditions II‘s hazy third and latest single features angular and reverb-drenched shoegazer-like guitar textures with relentless four-on-the-floor and bursts of glistening synth serving as a brooding yet cinematic bed for Ross Cullen’s punchy yet stoic shouts and Constance Keane, a.k.a. Fears‘ ethereal voice acting as a dreamy counterbalance. Sonically nodding a bit at Joy Division, New Order, Luminous and V-era The Horrors and others, the track thematically moves from longing to loss and regret.
Directed by the band’s Benedict Goddard, the video features two solitary dancers — a man and a woman — dancing ecstatically to the song, cut with intimate shots of each band member performing the song in a cinematic black and white. Visually, the song channels and mirrors the emotional movement of the song.
Throwback: Happy 68th Birthday, Bernard Sumner!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joy Division’s and New Order’s Bernard Sumner’s 68th birthday.
New Video: Copenhagen’s Chopper Returns with Dance Floor Banger “Touch”
Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might recall that Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his side recording project Chopper. And with Chopper, the Danish artist specializes in what he has dubbed “shock pop,” a crowd-pleasing sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies.
Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort, the mini-album Shock Pop Vol. 1 is slated for a June 16, 2023 release through Pink Cotton Candy Records. The mini-album reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but placed in a modern context.
In the lead up to Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s release, I’ve written about two of the mini-album’s previously released singles:
- “Springtime,” a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone.
- “Sugar and Spice” which begins with a brooding horn line, twinkling synths and percussion, a sinuous bass line and tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Magnussen’s and Glitchi‘s sultry deliveries and enormous Larry Levan-era house-like hooks. The end result is a sweaty and hedonistic banger that to my ears sounds like a slick synthesis of Ministry, The Sisters of Mercy and Electronic.
Shock Pop Vol. 1′s third and latest single “Touch,” which features vocalist Ama May continues a remarkable run of sleazy, dance floor friendly bangers. But unlike its immediate predecessors, “Touch” is a sleek, slickly produced synthesis of the Madchester sound, eurodance, Larry Levan-era house and French touch built around the Danish artist’s penchant for infectious groove and enormous hooks.
The accompanying video continues along in the sleazy, DIY-meets-public access TV aesthetic of its predecessors and includes the collaborators in a strobe and laser lit club, mutants and more.