Tag: lyric video

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Bee Blackwell Shares Earnest, “120 Minutes”-Era MTV-Like “LALALA”

Bee Blackwell is a rising Austin-based singer/songwriter and musician, who back in 2023 began posting covers of her favorite emo and grunge song online, which helped to create a fanbase that revels in her brand of heartfelt and cathartic music. What began as covers, quickly accumulated into her debut EP, that year’s Calico, an effort that featured fan favorite “Blue.”

The past year or so have been very busy for Blackwell, she released three singles “Dumb,” “The Same” and “Signs.” She made her SXSW debut this past March, along with a handful of energetic live shows around Texas. And with a few months of free time, the rising Texan-based artist wrote and her recorded her highly-anticipated sophomore EP, Nine Lives.

Slated for a June 30, 2025 release, Nine Lives EP reportedly serves as a sort of personal diary entry, exposing her struggles, emotional hardships and life goals. While seeing Blackwell at her most introspective and daring, taking creative risks while maintaining the vulnerability and honesty that has won her fans. Sonically, the EP’s material showcases her knack for clear and atmospheric guitar hooks, smooth calming grooves paired with her love of 90s grunge and 2000s emo.

Self-produced and recorded at Sonic Ranch Studio over a three-day, breakneck stint, the Austin-based artist’s latest single “LALALA” is a decidedly upbeat 120 Minutes-era MTV-like tune, anchored around fuzzy, distorted yet dreamy guitars, swelling synths, Blackwell’s ethereal delivery that builds up to perfectly 90s grunge inspired bridge. And at its core, the song showcases a songwriter, who seems to effortlessly pair catchy hooks with earnest, lived-in lyricism.

“‘LALALA’ is a conversation between two people who haven’t spoken to each other in probably years, with all the weird boundaries and walls that have built up over the time lost,”  Blackwell says. “There’s a sense of familiarity, but you still don’t know if you can fully trust them, so you just make things up to fill silence or to seem interesting.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Jahnah Camille Shares Rousingly Anthemic and Cathartic “sit with you (pain)”

Rising, 20 year-old, Birmingham, AL-born and-based singer/songwriter and musician Jahnah Camille (pronounced as “Hannah”) can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: Overhearing her father’s guitar lessons, she first picked up a guitar when she was four, and by the time she turned 10, she was writing her own songs. 

Throughout her life, supportive coincidences have pushed Camille’s creative tenacity. Her mother encouraged an elementary school-aged Jahnah to perform for their apartment’s maintenance man, who then gifted her a red Gibson SG and an amplifier. At a hippie kids camp, she met a mentor, who helped to champion her early crowdfunded recordings. 

“My mom was always having me sing and play guitar for people,” says Jahnah. “I’ve always had people who believed in me, and I feel like I’ve internalized that. That’s been really beautiful.”

Later opportunities to open for acclaimed artists like Clairo and Soccer Mommy led to her burgeoning status as a keenly self-examining indie rock singer/songwriter in a Birmingham scene saturated with punk and hardcore bands — many of which she played with in her earliest DIY shows. 

“The first year after I graduated high school was kind of horrifying,” says Jahnah. “I had just basically broken up with most of my band. I wasn’t going to college. I was seeing how everyone else that I had known growing up, their lives were changing. I knew that whatever happened in my life, it wasn’t going to be that, and there wasn’t really any proof that things were going in a positive direction.”

The rising Birmingham-based artist’s sophomore EP, the Alex Farrar-produced My sunny oath! is slated for a June 13, 2025 release through Winspear. The EP comes on the heels of a run of tour dates with Blondshell and previous shows opening for TOPS,Soccer Mommy and Clairo — and after the success of her debut EP, last year’s i tried to freeze light, but only remember a girl. 

My sunny oath! is set in the pressure cooker of new adulthood and is reportedly features a defiant collection of alt-rock, lo-fi grit and sardonic grunge that channels Jahnah Camille’s influences, including The Sundays, Liz Phair, Minnie Ripperton and Japanese Breakfast among others. 

Last month, I wrote about EP single “what do you do,” a 90/120 Minutes MTV-era indie rock inspired anthem, anchored around a classic grunge rock structure paired with the young artist’s remarkably self-assured vocal turn and uncanny knack for an enormous, well-placed hook. “I wrote this while trying to understand the feeling of losing control,” the rising Birmingham-based artist says, “I was paralyzed by a need to control how other people saw me and needed to write about it.” 

My sunny oath!‘s latest single “sit with you (pain)” begins with a lush and dreamy, singer/songwriter, acoustic guitar section with gently rumbling feedback that slowly builds up into a full-throated, bombastic, feedback and grungy power chord-driven anthem. While continuing to showcase a young songwriter, who can craft a big, rousingly anthemic hook and chorus, the song is anchored in deeply lived-in and earnest hurt.

The song “is about cutting someone out of your life who you still care for deeply,” she explains. “All of your critiques and drawbacks are still secondary for the love that you have. I wanted to make a habit of doing things that were good for me even if they hurt.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: MIIEN Shares Dreamy AND Meditative “Mirror”

MIEN is a psych rock super group that features some of the genre’s biggest and most accomplished artists:

Since the project’s inception, MIEN has been a confluence of diverse musical influences and shared histories: The band’s origins can be traced back to 2004 when Dihr crossed paths with Maas during a serendipitous encounter at SXSW. That meeting sparked a deep friendship and a series of critically applauded collaborations, including famously, The Black Angels’ 2008 effort, Directions to See a Ghost. Around the same time, Dihr met Lapham, whose electronic and production expertise would later become a cornerstone of MIEN’s sound. These connections led to MIEN, a band that sees its members seamlessly blending their varied musical backgrounds into a unique sound. The band’s newest member Kidd joined on in 2018. 

The psych supergroup’s long-awaited sophomore album MIIEN was released earlier this month through Fuzz Club. The sophomore album marks a bold new chapter for a band known for an alchemical approach to their work. Building upon the foundations of their critically applauded self-titled debut, MIIEN finds the band and its members pushing their collaborative and explorative ethos into uncharted territories. 

Recorded in studios between Montréal, Abilene and Austin, the psych supergroup’s sophomore album captures a unique creative process: Most songs began as a simple idea — a loop, a vocal phrase or a groove — passed between members and meticulously layered.

The band’s collaborative workflow saw each individual sketch evolving as each member contributed their distinct sonic palette. “It’s an organic process,” Rishi Dihr says. “A simple idea can become something monumental when we each put our stamp on it.” 

The album’s creative journey was heightened during key in-person sessions, including an intensive recording period in Austin during SXSW. The rare opportunities for the band to work together in the same space added a dynamic immediacy to several album tracks. 

Overall MIIEN represents the strength of the band’s collective vision. Each member brings their unique perspective to the table, creating music that is simultaneously personal and universally resonant. Anchored around richly textured soundscapes and fearless experimentation, the album, purportedly sees the band crafting material that actively bridges the golden age of 60s psychedelia with the cutting edge of modern music. Lapham reflects, “Working with these guys has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my music career. Our synergy is seamless, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us.”

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Evil People,” a propulsive bit of synth-driven psych rock featuring a relentless motorik-like groove paired with Maas imitable delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus with expressive bursts of reverb-drenched guitar. “‘Evil People’ has its roots in a 2015 collaboration between Alex and awesome Danish musician Trentemøller,” the band explains. “Fast forward to March 2022, when MIEN reunited in Austin for three intense days of recording during SXSW. Given how rare it is for all of us to be in the same room at the same time, the creative energy was electric—music and ideas flowed effortlessly, and ‘Evil People’ was born.”

  • “Empty Sun” which features Alex Maas’ imitable vocal floating over a menacing and uneasy motorik pulse with bursts of woozy strings and complex rhythmic patterns, including a breakbeat section that The Crystal Method and The Chemical Brothers would swoon over. It’s arguably the trippiest groove the band has written to date. “Like many of our songs, ‘Empty Sun’ began as a series of loops paired with a lyric-less vocal demo from Alex” the band explains. “From there, Alex and Robb laid down the initial ideas before passing it along to the rest of us. The track sat untouched for a while until John Mark revisited it, shaping it into something new with distinct sections, samples, and layers of Solina string machine. To lock in the groove, Robb returned to the studio, recording what felt like countless drum takes to perfect the complex patterns and make them as “mean” (MIEN) as possible. As the track evolved, Rishi teamed up with Elephant Stone guitarist Robbie to layer in massive, warped guitar textures that brought ‘Empty Sun’ roaring to life.”

MIIEN‘s latest single “Mirror” is a dreamy, lullaby-like song centered around a strummed melodic figure, a shuffling rhythmic pattern, quivering synths serving as a lush, meditative bed for an dreamy and plaintive vocal turn from Alex Maas.

“‘Mirror’ is one of only a small handful of songs that started life when we were all together, which always immediately makes a song feel special to us,” the psych rock supergroup explains. “We generally record in our own separate spaces and swap files, but this one came to life while we were rehearsing for our first tour back in 2018. ‘Mirror’ is the sound of a band coming together and working intuitively rather than logically, and for that it stands out as one of our strongest achievements.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Venice’s New Candys Shares Brooding and Forceful “Night Surfer”

Venice-based psych outfit New Candys — core members Fernando Nuti (vocals, guitar, synth and programming) and Dario Lucchesi (bass, synth, programming), alongside newest members Emanuele Zanardo (guitar, backing vocals) and Francesco Giacomin (drums, percussion, sampler) — will be releasing their highly-anticiapted fifth album, the Maurizio Baggio-produced The Uncanny Extravaganza through Fuzz Club on May 30, 2025.

While showcasing the Italian outfit’s newest lineup, the album sees the band marking a bold evolution in their sound, with the material seeing the quartet blending their signature rock roots with electronic influences and cutting-edge production to create a genre-defying experience.

The album can trace its origins back to late 2022 when the band started working on new material. The band’s primary songwriter, Fernando Nuti, recalls, “It was an intense and exciting time. I had many songs and ideas that I wanted to try out with the band, and we ended up debuting ‘Crime Wave’ live. We don’t live close to each other and can’t rehearse very often, so using our home studios became the solution. This new process gave us the opportunity to experiment further, and it allowed me to quickly explore different arrangements to find the best one for each song.”

Dario Lucchesi’s growing interest in electronic music also played a pivotal role in shaping the album’s direction making the transition from drums to bass a natural evolution. “The lineup change and shift to bass created a situation, where I could bring new ideas to the band,” Lucchesi says. “Working alone, with my own pace and methods, allowed me to explore and express myself more effectively. I found it refreshing to play remotely, exchanging projects and seeing the progress of the songs that both Fernando and I could work on, handling all the instruments and breaking away from the roles established on stage and on previous albums.” Their collaboration resulted in album tracks like “Regicide” and “Night Surfer,” with contributions from Zanardo and Giacomin further enriching the band’s evolving sound.

Production duties were handled by Maurizio Baggio, who worked with the band closely throughout last year, spreading the recording sessions across the course of the year to focus on individual track in detail. “After self-producing all our records, except for the first, we wanted to collaborate closely with Maurizio on this one”, New Candys’ frontman explains. “We’re thrilled with the final result. With Vyvyd, we just scratched the surface of electronic elements, this time we wanted to fully embrace them and find a new balance. I couldn’t imagine us finishing a song using only the instruments we normally play live, it wouldn’t have been interesting, contemporary, or new enough. Also, I couldn’t have cared less about making a stylistically and genre-cohesive album. In fact, the less categorizable and the more bizarre it was, the happier we were. I wanted each track to feel unexpected, a constant surprise. Just when you think you’ve figured out what kind of record it is, the next song makes you realize you’re wrong.”

Sonic variety has long been a hallmark of the Venetian outfit’s work — but with The Uncanny Extravaganza, it’s more pronounced than ever with the album’s songs spanning an wider arrange of styles and references. You’ll hear minimal and melancholic tones, Western and surf-influenced riffs, psychedelic codas paired with slick electronic production and more.

Lyrically, the album delves into surrealistic and sometimes cryptic themes with a recurring motif related to water, inspired by the band’s proximity to Venice, the city floating on water. Nuti reflects on how everything underwater transforms and appears dreamlike, distorted, inaccessible and often lifeless. And this imagery is used metaphorically, relating to reality.

The album’s material also conveys a sense of restlessness and rebellion, informed by the COVID-19 pandemic providing the bulk of the world’s population an opportunity to rethink priorities, which most politicians across the world have seemingly missed.

The Uncanny Extravaganza‘s latest single “Night Surfer” is a danceable and hooky bit of garage rock anchored around buzzing power chord-driven choruses and a motorik groove featuring bursts of electronic pulse in the song’s verses, before ending with an explosive coda. While recalling a mix of The Raveonettes and The Stills among a handful of others, the song’s titular night surfer symbolizes the thrill and danger of nightlife in the big city.

“The night surfer is someone who moves through the night, surrounded by its shadows and artificial lights,” Nuti explains. “But when morning comes and the natural sun rises, sometimes it’s better to forget what happened just hours before.”

Nuti adds, “’Night Surfer came together in a unique way, showcasing a tight collaboration between all four members. I had the first verse parts ready as early as 2018, while Dario created the instrumental for the choruses last year, which instantly inspired me to come up with a fresh vocal melody. Merging the two parts ultimately completed the track. Francesco added the mid-song break and gave the drums an energetic, borderline feel. The guitars were recorded by myself, Dario, and Emanuele, who also contributed vocals, creating a dialogue within the song.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstays Frankie and the Witch Fingers Share a Grimy Ripper

Acclaimed Los Angeles-based psych punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Frankie and the Witch Fingers — currently founding duo Dylan Sizemore (vocals, guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, synth), along with Death Valley Girls‘ Nikki “Pickle” Smith (bass) and Mike Watt’s Nick Aguilar (drums) — have spent the past decade restlessly mutating their sound into bold, electrifying new forms with every new release. 

Slated for a June 6, 2025 release through Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstay’s eighth album, the Maryam Qudus-produced Trash Classic reportedly sees the band 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.

Last month, I wrote about the album’s first single “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. 

Trash Classic’s second and latest single “Total Reset” is 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.

“’Total Reset’ is a spasmodic blast of punk and synth freakery, a tech product launch for the post-human era,” the band says. “Writing and recording a song can be such a hassle, so we let AI handle it this time (faster, cheaper, zero complaints). It spat out a nice little doomsday ditty: humanity is toast, a lucky few will be spared to reboot civilization. Weirdly enough, the song kind of rips, so maybe we don’t need humans to make things after all.” 

The accompanying lyric video by Nespy 5Euro is a grimy, low-budget mix of crude, hand-drawn animation, graffiti. edited video and more that pulses with the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Me & Melancholy Shares Yearning Yet Dance Floor Friendly “Naive”

‘Peter Ehrling is a Stockholm-based electronic music producer, musician and creative mastermind behind the solo electro pop recording project Me & Melancholy. Inspired by Depeche Mode, New Order, Camouflage, and Swedish synth acts like The Mobile Homes and Elegant Machinery, Me & Melancholy sees the Stockholm-based artist and producer specializing in melancholy synth pop that blends both retro and contemporary sounds to create a nostalgic, upbeat yet introspective vibe.

Ehrling’s latest single “Naive,” is the fifth single from his forthcoming third Me & Melancholy album. Featuring glistening synth arpeggios and skittering, twitter and woofer thump paired with the Stockholm-based artist’s yearning delivery, “Naive” continues a run of material deeply indebted to New Order and Pet Shop Boys that manages to be simultaneously dance floor friendly and longing.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DG Solaris Shares Warm and Heartfelt “I Believe in You”

London-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Danny Green’s career started in earnest as the frontman of acclaimed British folk pop act Laish. During his time with Laish, Green wrote and recorded four critically applauded albums, which were supported by extensive touring across the UK, the European Union and the States.

In 2019, Green went through a series of major life changes: That March, he met Leanna Green — and by the end of the year, they got married. For their honeymoon, the Greens decided to spend six months traveling across South America with a simple recording setup that they carried with them in a backpack. During that trip, the couple won dup and recording a series of demos that would eventually become the earliest DG Solaris songs. “In between swimming with sea-lions, exploring sacred plant medicines and climbing mountains, we had been searching for beautiful spaces to set up our backpack studio,” the Greens explained in press notes. “All of our recordings feature the sounds of birds, cicadas and crickets.”

Returning home to London after their honeymoon, Danny and Leanna recruited Tom Chadd, Matt Canty and Matt Hardy to help flesh out the material they demoed during their honeymoon. The end result was 2020’s full-length debut Spirit Glow, which drew from and meshed elements of 70s psych pop, synth pop, krautrock and prog rock in a unique and playful fashion — with the album’s material written as a textural journey through emotional realms. “We wanted to explore the idea of two voices, two spirits, two creative minds and see where this dynamic could take us,” DG Solaris’ Leanna Green says in press notes. Danny Green adds, “It has been an incredibly inspiring trip. We came back with over forty songs and it has been a challenge to chose our favourites for this first album.”

Green spent between 2021-2022 or so, collaborating with Somerset, UK-born, London-based singer/songwriter  Jeremy Tuplin. The pair’s collaboration can trace their origins through some unusual circumstances: Although Green and Tuplin have been writing and recording albums over the course of the past decade, they’ve only been vaguely aware of each other’s existence. One night in Peru, following an intense shamanic ceremony, Green had a vivid dream that he and Tuplin were floating high above the ocean. The next morning, Green contacted Tuplin to share his strange, astral encounter. The pair began a correspondence, which lead to their first EP together, Crashing In The Waves. 

Released earlier this year, “I Believe in You” sees Green’s warm, sonorous delivery with a lush, unhurried arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, a regal horn solo and boy-girl harmonies for the song’s hook and chorus. But at its core, “I Believe in You,” is both a sweet, old-timey declaration of enduring love and devotion and a gentle, heartwarming recognition of self-acceptance of your foibles and of those whom you love, all while offering support when you might need it the most. And it’s done in a way that will remind some of The Beatles “When I’m 64,” with the same playfully bittersweet acknowledgement of aging.

The accompanying video features home footage of Danny Green, Leanna Green and their adorable family in their daily life both at home, going on hikes and what not, the inevitable leak at home, the family cat, Green performing live and recording sessions with fellow folkies Beth Rowley, Rachael Dadd and The Gentle Good.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Bambara Shares Atmospheric and Brooding “Face of Love”

JOVM mainstays Bambara — twin brothers Reid Bateh (lead vocals, guitar) and Blaze Bateh (drums), and William Brookshire (bass) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated Graham Sutton-produced fourth album, Birthmarks through Wharf Cat Records on March 14, 2025. 

Birthmarks is reportedly a wild, musically adventurous collection of songs that follows a host of lost characters caught in a cycle of love, violence and rebirth. The result is material that may arguably be their most apocalyptic and poignant. 

Earlier this month, I wrote about “Letters from Sing Sing,” a story and forceful rager, anchored around swirling shoegazer-like textures, Blaze Bateh’s thunderous, mathematically precise rhythmic patterns, Brookshire’s angular post-punk bass grooves serving as a lush yet tense and uneasy bed for Reid Bateh’s sonorous baritone. 

The album’s final pre-release single “Face of Love” is a decided change in sonic direction for the trio: The brooding and atmospheric twilight-like track seems inspired by Cocteau Twins , Massive Attack, Portishead and the like featuring boom-bap beats, twinkly harp from LEYA’s Marilu Donovan, guest vocals from Madeline Johnston (Midwife) paired with Reid Bateh’s sing-speaking delivery detailing a story about a man at a diner, who encounters a server that reminds him of someone from his past.

“The story begins when a server at a diner reminds a man of a woman from his past,” Bambara’s Reid Bateh says. “Inspiration for the music came from listening to Cocteau Twins songs reversed and slowed down. It features guest lead vocals from Madeline Johnston (Midwife), backing vocals by Jen Monroe and harp played by Marilu Donovan (LEYA).”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: HotWax Shares Anthemic Ripper “Wanna Be A Doll”

With the release of their first two critically applauded EPs, last year’s A Thousand Times and Invite me, kindly, the Hastings, UK-based indie rock trio HotWax — Tallulah Sim-Savage, Lola Sam, and Alfie Sayers — exploded into the national and international scenes. The trio played over 150 shows over the the past 18 months, including packed headlining shows in New York and Los Angeles, a North American tour with Royal Blood and showcases at last year’s SXSW. Building upon a growing profile. the trio have made the rounds of the European festival circuit, playing sets at Reading and Leeds Festivals and Mad Cool.

The rising British trio’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Hot Shock is slated for a March 7, 2025 release through Marathon Artists. Co-produced by Catherine Marks, Steph Marziano and Warpaint‘s Stella Mozgawa, the 10-song album features blistering, adrenaline-jolted anthems that were meant to be played live to a crowd, loudly and with abandon. Described by the band’s Lola Sim as “an explosion of color,” the album’s material is visceral and immediately gets under the skin.

Lyrically, the material draws from Fontaines D.C., Autolux and Sonic Youth while reportedly anchored around a bold, groove-based sound with rich arrangements. In a “complete experiment,” as the band’s Alfie Sayers says, “the band recorded songs live in front of a crowd at London‘s RAK Studios, capturing the energy of a HotWax set.

Thematically, Hot Shock sees the band tackling a broad range of challenging topics — selfhood, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and more — while allowing for reach band member’s personality to shine. While the album’s material may traverse the unsettling terrain of entering adulthood, the album’s material has an underlying playfulness rooted in the band’s desire to nurture and sustain their personal and creative partnerships: The band’s Sim-Savage and Sam are childhood friends, who have been writing songs together since they were 12. Sim-Savage later met Sayers at music college five years later. Sim-Savage says. “We know how each other’s brains work so well. We couldn’t do any of this without each other.”

“Wanna Be a Doll,” Hot Shock‘s latest single is a rousingly anthemic ripper that immediately recalls 90s grunge and riot grrl punk but underpinned with a raw urgency and vulnerable pulse. “This is the first song we wrote for the album and we re-wrote it in so many different ways,” HotWax’s Sim-Savage says. “And it ended up pretty similar to the first version, which seems to be how it goes. It’s a song where I am writing about myself from someone else’s point of view, being self aware of my bad, sometimes destructive, traits.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: WILDES and St. Francis Hotel Team Up on Broodingly Atmospheric and Yearning “Are You Gonna Speak?”

Ella Walker is an Irish-British, London-based singer/songwriter and the creative mastermind behind the rising pop project WILDES. Walker’s critically applauded full-length debut, last year’s St. Francis Hotel-produced Other Words Fail Me featured “True Love,” a collaboration with The Flaming Lips. Building upon a growing profile, Walker released her self-produced EP Subsidence earlier this year.

Declan Gaffney is an acclaimed Irish producer, best known as St. Francis Hotel. Gaffney has worked with the likes of Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Wasia Project, Lip Filler and a growing list of others.

WILDES and St. Francis Hotel recently announced the forthcoming collaborative EP, Kopfkino. Slated for a February 19, 2025 release, the EP continuing their wildly successful collaboration together while drawing from 80s synth pop acts like Erasure, The Human League and Depeche Mode, and trip-hop acts like Massive Attack and Portishead. “Though regularly collaborating for various projects, we chose to come together for this EP because of our shared experience and grounding in the emotive meaning behind the songs,” Walker says of the forthcoming collaborative EP. “Exploring and getting lost in our own minds, being shut out of the minds of others, and trying to navigate the world at the behest of our subconscious.”

Kopfkino‘s second and latest single “Are You Gonna Speak?” features bursts of reverb-drenched, strummed guitar, throbbing and oscillating synths, skittering industrial clink and clatter, which help to create a broodingly atmospheric bed for Walker’s yearning delivery.

“Drawing from the silence and suffocation that can surface towards the end of a relationship, ‘Are You Gonna Speak?’ is a plea for connection,” Walker explains. “Exposing difficult conversations but trying to inspire hope, it’s a final cry for help before the moment ends for good.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: JOVM Mainstays Friendship Commanders Share Urgent, Steve Albini Mix of “Outlive You”

Nashville-based duo and JOVM mainstays Friendship Commanders — Buick Audra (vocals, guitar) and Jerry Roe (drums, bass) — released their Kurt Ballou and Friendship Commanders co-produced third album MASS last year. MASS is a concept album […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Shonali Shares Brooding and Vibey “Driving Nowhere”

Shonali Bhowmik is a Nashville-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, actor, comedian, filmmaker, lawyer and writer, whose musical roots developed in Nashville, where she began making music on an 8-track recorder with her childhood best friend Michelle Dubois in Ultrababyfat, an act that opened for the likes of Pavement and PJ Harvey while she was in law school. 

She was pulled into the NYC comedy scene by her close friend David Cross after touring with him during his Let America Laugh tour. Since then, she started the groundbreaking and influential comedy collective Variety Shac alongside Chelsea Peretti, Heather Lawless and Andrea Rosen, and she was the host of The Shac’s popular Upright Citizen’s Brigade live show. Bhowmik has also worked with renowned comedians like Fred Armisen, John Early, John Roberts, Nimesh Patel, Dave Hill, Wyatt Cenac, and Amy Poehler. She currently released comedy albums by rising comedians on her own label Little Lamb Recordings. And lastly, she co-shots her own live variety show podcast series We Don’t Know, which showcases comedians, artists and musicians. 

Throughout her lengthy music career, Bhowmik has released nine albums with Ultrababyfat, including three with her current band Tigers and Monkeys and her 2011 solo debut, 100 Oaks Revival. The Nashville-born, New York-based artist steps back out into the spotlight again as a solo artist with her long-awaited sophomore album One Machine At A Time. 

Slated for a July 26, 2024 release through Little Lamb Recordings, One Machine At A Time reportedly sees Bhowmik touting her clever songcraft and evocative lyrics while culminating in genre-bending material that feels ubiquitous yet unique to her own experience as an Indian-American woman from Nashville. The album’s songs playfully explore and mesh different genres and eras but within a cohesive, carefully curated musical universe — and overall, a well-rounded album. 

The strength and bravery of Bhowmik’s artistic drive is rooted in the steadfast support of her mother and father, professors who immigrated to the States and constantly encouraged her musical and creative efforts. For her, that support is a significant influence on why her music is so unabashedly emotional and fearless. 

The forthcoming album sees Bhowmik honoring her father Dr, Dilip Kumar Bhowmik, who recently passed away after a full life of kindness, humor and academic achievement. The album’s cover art, a photo of a young Shonali, taken by her father demonstrates their love and lasting connection. That love and spark of her father’s life continues to fuel her artistic life. Now, she’s able to say “Farewell, sweet one,” while showing how, in the face of loss, how her delicate spark shines on. 

For the album, the Nashville-born, New York-based artist wrote a personal statement on the album, which I’m including below:

“A year to-the-date, after losing my father in 2022, I came to the realization I had to share my music with the world again. My dad always encouraged me to take risks, to be true to myself and to ‘go for it.’ In an effort to embrace his wisdom, there was little thinking to be done; I went for it. Once I made the decision to record a new full-length release everything came together quickly. I had a stockpile of demos recorded on my GarageBand which I suddenly realized were worth sharing with the world. I left New York City to go record in Atlanta, Georgia with my OG musical family, friends with whom I formally started my musical career. In July 2023 in Peoplestown, Georgia, I sat with my insanely talented producer friend Dan Dixon, drummer Darren Dodd (along with other talented friends K. Michelle DuBois, Shannon Wright, and Jeff Holt) and recorded my album.

The result of our therapeutic time together is One Machine At A Time, out July 26, an album which combines aspects of all the music I am inspired by – indie rock, soul, psychedelic and retro sounds of the 70s, 80s, and 90s along with the folk singer-songwriter and country influences of my time growing up in Nashville, Tennessee. It takes you on a journey through many genres. 

“One of my BFF’s asked his 24-year-old nephew to listen… to which he said “this is really fucking good. It’s like a different genre every song.” Another one of my favorite quotes comes from a friend who said “there’s something retro feeling about these songs that tug on my heart strings in the best way…without feeling retro or dated, if that makes any sense.

As the daughter of Indian professors who immigrated to the United States during the Civil Rights Movement and a woman who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, I have always been drawn to stories that amplify voices minimized by mainstream media outlets – so here I am pushing myself to be louder and prouder. I considered sharing my music under a pseudonym, but realized that this album reflects my personal journey – pondering the meaning of our lives (including past loves), the state of our world, where love of machines has taken over love for each other, and the celebration and difficulty of life. 

My name is Shonali (pronounced Show-nalley.) I am a southern girl with Indian parents, who has been recording my songs on a tape recorder since childhood. My first doll was named Johnny Cash. My goal is connection – our goal should be connection – and I continue to be unable to resist the need to share my voice.   It’s my hope that this album fills in the gaps musically, sonically and emotionally for those who feel like they are watching life from the outside in.”

Last month, I wrote about “Up All Night,” a disco pop-tinged bit of post punk anchored around squiggling guitar stabs, oscillating synths, propulsive polyrhythm and a sinuous bass line. The new single sonically channels a slick synthesis of Talking Heads“Stay Up Late,” Entertainment-era Gang of Four and Stevie Nicks‘ “Stand Back” but while evoking a mischievous coquettishness and achingly earnest yearning. The song also showcases Bhowmik’s uncanny knack for crafting ridiculously catchy hooks and larger-than-life, Karen O-like delivery. 

One Machine At A Time’s latest single “Driving Nowhere” is a brooding and vibey bit of 80s post punk and pop that seems to stylistically and thematically nod at Billy Idol‘s “Eyes Without a Face,” The Cars “Drive,” David Lynch soundtracks and JOVM mainstays Still Corners while anchored around strummed rhythm guitar, reverb-soaked twang and Bhowmik’s penchant for pairing earnest lyricism with big, catchy hooks. But at its core, the song captures a narrator hitting the road with the endless blacktop ahead of them, and their past looming just behind.

“I was fortunate to hook up with director Andrew Hooper (Jon Spencer, Marcellus Hall, The Dollyrots) who is prolific when it comes to coming up with video ideas and also has a great enthusiasm for music and understanding an artist’s vision,” Bhowmik explains. “He instantaneously understood the Lost Highway vibes of this song. Andrew was based in Thailand at the time we shot the video.  He sent me a minutely detailed treatment and our Director of Photography Justin Joseph Hall translated that outline,  I think perfectly.  And of course Dave Hill, nailed the comedic beats of our community theater production.

“We made an English lyric video along with Spanish and Hindi lyric translation videos with the hopes of including listeners across the world on this universal journey.  The song captures how our past is always with us.  Our minds wander down the directionless road of our past relationships fully aware that there is no true final destination.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Miami’s Yari M Releases a Shimmering Bop

With the release of her debut EP, 2021’s six-song Yo Soy, emerging and rising Miami-based Puerto Rican singer/songwriter Yari M quickly established a sound that meshed Urban Latin R&B and pop rhythms. Yo Soy EP track “Freshy” garnered some traction with a remix that featured Randy and Brray, which amassed over 1 million YouTube and Spotify streams.

Building upon growing momentum, the emerging and rising Puerto Rican artist appeared on Randy’s 2021 album Romances de Una Nota, showcasing Yari M as the only female artist on the album, among a collection of notable Latin artists.

2023 saw the release of “Esta Lloviendo,” a bachata tune that debuted at #19 on Billboard‘s Tropical Airplay Chart, amassing over 500,000 streams. “Esta Lloviendo” was released through her label Black Diamond Music, where she’s the Vice President and the owner of the first Dolby Atmos studio in Miami. which allows her the creative space to create and bring her artistic vision to life.

Yari M’s career has been frequently marked by her commitment to growth and her desire to bring a fresh sound to her audience. She’s currently working on her first album while working with various Latin artists to expand both her repertoire and her sound.

Her latest single “La Noche” is a slickly produced bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering reggaeton-meet-trap like beats serving as a lush and woozy bed for Yari M’s coquettish and yearning delivery. The result is a summery track that’s lounge and club friendly.