Tag: New Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Combo Chimbita Shares Trippy and Meditative House-like “Dímelo”

Acclaimed New York-based Latinx group Combo Chimbita — Carolina Oliveros (vocals, guacharaca), Prince of Queens (synths, bass), Niño Lento (guitar) and Dilemastronauta (drums) — features members of New York-based Colombian folk collective Bulla en el Barrio, and in some way is a sort of related side project.

Combo Chimbita have publicly cited Sun Ra‘s Afro-futurism as a deep influence on their work and overall aesthetic — with the New York-based Latinx group crafting their own take, one, which they’ve dubbed Tropical Futurism. “The idea that the future doesn’t necessarily have to be this super white Western high-tech Star Wars stuff; that the indigenous ideas and culture of people of color, people of Latin America, can also represent a magical and substantial future,” Combo Chimbita explain. “It’s a vision that maybe a lot of people don’t necessarily think about often. The old and deep knowledge that indigenous people have of the land has been neglected for many years as part of capitalism and colonization.”

The band can trace the origins of their genre-defying global sound, which features elements of cumbia, electro pop and Afro-futurism to their late night, experimental jam-driven, year-long residency at renowned, Park Slope, Brooklyn-based world music club Barbés.  Those exploratory jam sessions eventually lead to their self-recorded full-length debut, 2016’s El Corridor del Jaguar. 

2016’s Lily Wen-produced sophomore album Abya Yala found the band further establishing their Afro-futurism-inspired take on cumbia and other traditional Colombian folk styles. Eventually, the acclaimed New York-based outfit caught the attention of ANTI- Records, who signed the band to the label and released their third album 2019’s Ahomale and their fourth album 2022’s IRE.

Recently Combo Chimbita signed to New York-based label Wonderwheel Recordings, who released their latest single “Dímelo,” their first release on the label, and the second in a series of recordings they did with renowned producer Victor Axelrod, a.k.a. Ticklah. “Dímelo” is a dreamy and mediative bit of Larry Levan era-like cumbia featuring a glistening cumbia-influenced rhythm guitar, jazz-influenced hi-hat driven drumming and a strutting bass line, shimmering synth arpeggio bursts and a remarkably catchy hook seemingly guided by Oliveros’ hypnotic wailing.

“Dímelo is an internal dialogue, a sonic representation of what it feels and sounds like to choose yourself. ‘Cuando por fin yo me elegí (I finally chose myself)’ is a phrase that repeats consistently throughout the track. “It’s an honest song,” says Carolina Oliveros, “that speaks on what it means to understand that for however much you may love someone, you can’t force them to love you the same way- that that is love you have to give yourself.”

For the band, in many ways, it’s the first trade in a return to the band’s roots and a hint of what’s to come from them sonically.  

The track will be available on 7″ alongside a remix by Busy Twist in March.

Directed by Andrea Buritica, the accompanying video for “Dímelo” features th members in front of the band in front of projections of VHS fuzz, New York, lighting storms, flowers and more. It emphasizes the trippy yet meditative nature of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: High. Returns with Swooning and Anthemic “Flowers”

Boonton, NJ-based shoegazers High. can trace their origins back to 2021 when Christian Castan (vocals, guitar) and Bridget Bakie (bass, vocals) met while playing across the Garden State’s DIY and college circuit. During that time, Bakie built and developed a reputation as “The Queen of The Quarter Note,” and Casten as an unforgettable guitarist. After the pair had a stint playing in another band together, they longed for a project that would be their sole creative focus and could tour as far as wide as possible.

A couple of weeks after adding Jack Miller (drums) and Danny Zavala (guitar), the newly-minted quartet made their live debut at Saint Vitus Bar. They followed up with shows across the Tristate DIY circuit.

The New Jersey-based quartet’s highly-anticipated Matthew Molnar-produced sophomore EP Come Back Down officially dropped today. The EP’s first sessions started in June 2023 when the band, along with Molnar went to Chairlift‘s Patrick Wimberly‘s Greenpoint studio to test new material with engineer Sam Darwish. They also brought tracks to Shane Furst and his Cloud Factory Recording to review their recent work and begin the next stages of completion. 

Come Back Down marks the beginning of the band’s partnership with Kanine Records — and a key period in the band’s development. With a greater expression of sonic range, the EP sees the band offering more noise, more hooks, more heaviness and much more emotion: The sad is much sadder and the love is more swooningly in love. There are more song about loss and being lost. For the band, it’s the culmination of their growth after the release of their well-received debut EP Bomber, which was released through Julia’s War and Suburban Creep.

Last fall, the band took a break from the sessions to do a week-long tour with Austin-based outfit STAB, as well as opening slots for DIIV, Glare, Lowertown, A Place To Bury Strangers, as well as a Midwest run with Chicago’s Smut. After touring across the nation, the band finished the EP with Jeff Ziegler at his Philadelphia-based Uniform Recording. Zeigler’s work on Nothing.’s Guilty of Everything has been a major inspiration for the New Jersey-based group. 

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

  • “In A Hole,” a decidedly 120 Minutes MTV-era take on shoegaze anchored around a towering wall of stormy guitars, thunderous drumming and ethereal boy-girl harmonies. The song’s brooding soundscape evokes the stormy emotions, trauma and unease that inspired it — but also the comfort of finding friendship and a community that truly understands where you’re coming from. “’In A Hole’ is inspired by meeting our group of friends,” High.’s Christian Castan explains. “It’s about being depressed and the people close to you dragging you out of it. It’s about the peace and belonging I used to dream about during childhood trauma and finally finding it. There’s a lyric – ‘These are the new stars, they burst alive.’  It’s about living life at its best and never wanting that feeling to end.”

  • “Catcher” which continued a run of 120 Minutes MTV-like shoegaze, much like its immediate predecessor while featuring remarkably blissed out choruses and hooks. Arguably one of the most swoon worthy songs of the New Jersey shoegazers growing catalog, “Catcher” is anchored around deeply introspective lyrics tackling grief with a wisdom that belies their relative youth. “I came to the band with the structure chords and bassline of this song, I am very attached to the music personally. Then, Christian wrote lyrics over it that have massive significance to him,” the band’s Bridget Bakie says. “’Catcher’ explores the depths of grief and the unwavering hope that binds us to those we’ve lost,” the band’s Castan adds.

To celebrate the release of their sophomore EP, the New Jersey-based shogazers shared videos for EP singles “Flowers” and “Dead,” directed by Luke Carr. Right now, I’m going to talk about “Flowers,” an urgent and swooning song featuring swirling, feedback-driven guitar textures, a propulsive rhythm section, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses serving as a lush yet subtly stormy bed for Casten’s yearning delivery.

The accompanying video follows the band, presumably on tour, heading down to Atlantic City to gamble and party with a collection of friends, followed by a contemplative late night hang on the beach until sunrise.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brighton’s Split Dogs Share Bruising “Lafayette”

Deriving their name from the classic zombie film Return of the Living Dead, Brighton, UK-based punks Split Dogs — founding members Harry Atkins (vocals) (they/them) and Mil Martinez (guitar) (he/him), along with Chris Hugall (drums) (he/him) and Suez Boyle (bass) (she/her) — can trace their origins back to around 2015 when its founding members had the idea to start a band and is fueled by its founders frustration over music seen as a soulless and commodified product made to sell more useless shit.

As a youngster in South London, Mil Martinez would hear Status Quo, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Dire Straits on the car radio while his father drove him to school. At home, he would invade his older brother’s record collection, which leaned towards punk and heavy metal. In the UK’s Black Country, Harry Atkins’ mother instilled a love of Northern Soul, Slade and rock ‘n roll, with stories of nights out at Club Lafayette and family singalongs at home. According to Martinez, “Our sound is a culmination of all those early influences and, to be honest, it really shows.”

Split Dogs officially appeared on the scene in 2022. Suez Boyle, a prominent figure in the queer punk scene, best known for her work with The Walking Abortions joined the band in 2023. Up until that point, Chris Hugall, an old friend of Martinez and a former member of ska punks Mouthwash, an act that was once signed on Rancid‘s Hellcat Records, helped design the band’s artwork. Hugall joined the band full-time last year, cementing the band’s current lineup.

The quartet quickly won over Bristol’s accepting and tolerant punk scene, a scene that has always welcomed LGBQT+ folks and marginalized people, with raucous live shows featuring infectious lyrics. As word spread, the gigs increased and in short order, the Brighton-based punk outfit was playing sold-out rooms across the European Union, which caught the attention of British label Venn Records.

Split Dogs’ highly-anticipated full-length debut, the Peter Miles-produced Here to Destroy is slated for a February 28, 2025 release through Venn Records. Recorded over a three-day burst at Middle Farm Studios, the album was laid straight to a 16-track reel-to-reel tape machine without autotune, effects pedals, and computers. Adding to the authenticity of the proceedings, the album’s material was recorded live with Atkins singing along in a vocal booth. So no cutting and pasting; but everyone had to nail their takes. “It was a blast!” Split Dogs’ Martinez says. “We fully immersed ourselves, sleeping in a small apartment below the studio, cooking meals and listening to Pete’s extensive record collection.”

While the album title makes clear that the Brighton-based punks are here to destroy, they firmly believe that they’re also here to rebuild and remind the listener of music’s vital essence. “We’re not beholden to the digital age, we don’t want to get famous on social media, we just want to show the world that rock’n’roll is alive and well,” the band says.

Here to Destroy‘s latest single “Lafayette” is a bruising, gritty and anthemic bit of pub rock that brings back memories of Highway to Hell-era AC/DC and JOVM mainstays Amyl and the Sniffers with the song being featuring enormous power chords, a thunderous backbeat paired with Atkins’ feral, booze and cigarette-soaked delivery.

The band’s Mil Martinez explains that the song is “a love letter to our families and the influence they’ve had on our love for music. At a glance it tells the story of (singer) Harry’s mother growing up in Wolverhampton during the height of the 1970s/80s northern soul scene and the characters she encountered. It also tips a hat to my older brother that passed away in 2023, he played a major role in my song writing growing up.”

Shot by the band’s Chris Hugall, the video follows Harry Atkins through Wolverhampton’s cobbled streets, pubs and clubs while lovingly introducing the viewer to the town’s characters, desperate for a night out after a long week slaving away for the man. Hugall admits that on the actual day of filming, they had no plan as all of their other ideas had fallen through, but they worked on the fly and the end result compliments the song perfectly.

“It takes you on a journey through the cobbled streets and back bars of the Black Country, Harry’s hometown Wolverhampton,” the band’s Martinez explains. “From Chewing gum-stained carpets and pints of mild to stone faced locals and tar-stained fingertips. If you fancy a dance? Come out to the club and feel alive!”
 

 

 

 
Heads down, see you at the end. 
 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brighton’s Slung Shares a Bruising Ripper

Brighton, UK-based outfit Slung may have initially been the brainchild of its founding member and Small Pond Records label head Vlad Mateikov (bass) but the band was actually some time in the making; Mateikov randomly met Ali Johnson (guitar) at an Australian campground back in 2009. He fell in love with Katie Oldham (vocals) during COVID-19 related lockdowns. He had been familiar with drummer Ravi Martin through his work with his previous band, which he heard demos through his role with Small Pond. But the actual genesis of Slung began when Mateikov’s previous band InTechnicolour broke up, and he began formulating new musical ideas without knowing where exactly they would lead him.

Mateikov started out working with a series of like-minded vocalists including Sugar Horse‘s Ash Tubb, El Moono‘s Zac Jackson, Projector‘s Lucy Sheehan, CTRL DRP‘s Annie Dorret and Sick Joy’s Michael Barton before Oldham joined. According to the band, bringing Oldham was its own journey. “First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” Katie Oldham says matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I *totally* bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter – I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.”

Last year, the Brighton-based outfit released their first two singles, which captures the attention of folks across the music industry and the internet. But before that, they earned fans the old fashioned way — hitting the road before they officially released a note of music. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding the band, the Brighton-based band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut In Ways is slated for a May 2, 2025 release through Fat Dracula Records.

Drawing from an eclectic array of influences including like Deftones, Baroness, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Queens of the Stone Age, Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac, the Brighton-based band’s debut album is a collaborative meshing of the band’s members’ experiences, circumstances and musical prowess.

The album’s material lyrically and thematically sees the band’s Oldham brining together personal, lived-in experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters. Thematically, Oldham’s inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with the profession; the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain and more.

The album also features contributions from the band’s former collaborators including Sick Joy’s Micheal Barton, Projector’s Lucy Sheehan and CTRL DRP’s Annie Dorret.

Additionally for the band’s Katie Oldham, one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force within the music industry, whether on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. “My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear,” Oldham says. “The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realise we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.” 

In Ways‘ latests ignore “Laughter” is swaggering and pummeling most pit friendly anthem that to my ears sounds like a synthesis of Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones and Paramore anchored around scorching power chords, thunderous drumming, heavy down-tuned bass and enormous arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Oldham’s impassioned, powerhouse vocal.

“This song is about a face-off that’s been a long time coming, and the difficult relationships we can have with members of our family, especially our parents,”Slung’s Katie Oldham says. ” When we’re children we’re so desperate for our parents’ attention and approval that their dismissal or rejection can feel agonising. With an emotionally absent parent, trying desperately to earn love or consideration from someone who isn’t capable of giving it can be so destructive. This hurt can often develop into resentment as we age and we may even later villainise this person, wanting to fight, confront, defeat them.”

Directed by Jordan Kai Wright, the accompanying video for “Laughter” features the members of Slung as a wedding-styled band, waiting for their frontperson Oldham to arrive while a chef is setting up a catered meal. While the band stomps and rocks out, we see the members of the band in an uproarious food fight.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: HotWax Shares Driving “One More Reason”

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 18-19 months or so, 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.” 

Late last year, I wrote about “Wanna Be a Doll,” a rousingly anthemic ripper that brings 90s grunge and riot grrl punk to mind, 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.”

Hot Shock’s latest single “One More Reason” is a desert rock-meets-festival rock track anchored around a relentless and hypnotic motorik bass line-driven groove, thunderous drumming, slashing guitars and an expressive guitar solo paired with punchily delivered vocals. Resembling JOVM mainstays Dream Wife and others, “One More Reason” was recorded with Mogzawa in Joshua Tree, CA and as the band’s Sim-Savage says “We wanted it to feel like the opening song at a festival set, we wanted it to be relentless and addictive. It’s about loving someone so much you kinda hate it, which is relentless and addictive.” 

Directed by longtime collaborator Josh Quinton, the accompanying video features a collaged punk catwalk starring underground legend Princess Julia and the members of the band in clothes designed and styled by Greta.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CHALK Shares Surreal Visual for Bruising “Afraid”

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. 

2023 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 their 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 last year. The EP featured 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. And if you were following this site last year, you might recall that I wrote about “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. Nodding 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. 

Late last year, I wrote about Conditions III single “Tell Me,” a goth-meets-industrial banger featuring thumping and skittering beats, oscillating synths and a relentless, motorik groove paired with Cullen’s reverb and distortion-drizzled, 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.”

Conditions III‘s latest single “Afraid” is a bruiser of a track that’s one-part Gang of Four-era post-punk and scorching industrial electronica that feels tense, uneasy yet euphoric.

“‘Afraid’ captures the raw fear and exhilaration of stepping into the unknown, a reminder that growth only happens when you leave your comfort zone. It’s a reflection on the strength it takes to move forward,” the band explains.

Co-directed by the band’s Benedict Goddard and Colin Peppard, the accompanying video stars Loughlin Gannon as prisoner presumably condemned to death; Peter Trant as the senior prison guard; Nicky J. Kearney as the junior guard; and Roy Gilmore as the priest. The prisoner is served a pimento stuffed olive as a meal. The olive causes the prisoner to choke, and as he’s gasping for breath, the junior guard and senior guard fight over what to do. This leads to a surreal and ironic array of events that are equally as frightening and unsettling.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Babe Rainbow Shares Laid Back and Slinky “Like cleopatra”

For the members of acclaimed Aussie psych outfit Babe Rainbow — Angus Dowling, Jack “Cool-Breeze” Crowther and Dr. Elliott “Love Wisdom” O’Reilly — their character of their home, Australia’s idyllic Gold Coast permeates the dreamlike, joyful, psychedelic music they create together.

The trio grew up in Rainbow Bay and relocated to Bryon Bay, a breathtakingly beautiful place, where the waves are always strong, the magic mushrooms grow freely and old, abandoned farm buildings are plentiful. It’s the perfect locale for young dudes to play music as loud as they want.

The Aussie psych outfit jammed tirelessly in abandoned shacks, and as their sound began to develop, they booked shoes in Brisbane where they crossed paths with JOVM mainstays King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, who began to book the the band as an opener at their shows. The connection turned out to be fortuitous for the members of Babe Rainbow, who then signed to the Gizz’s Flightless label for 2015’s self-titled EP. 2017’s self-titled full-length debut, was produced by the Gizz’s Stu Mackenzie. The album established a loyal following for the band, one which has grown since its release.

Babe Rainbow’s sixth album Slipper Imp and Shakerator is slated for an April 4, 2025 release through King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s P(DOOM) Records. The album was recorded on an old banana farm, where they worked alongside friend and producer Timon Martin and Miles Myjavec on percussion and flute. The roots of the album’s material frequently lay in riffs and figures dreamed up by the band’s Jack Crowther,. “‘Cool Breeze’ has always got something going on,” Babe Rainbow’s Angus Dowling says. “He’s always keen to jam, and Timon’s so good with helping to realise the potential of a song.”

The key this time was not to overwork these early ideas, to give them space “to flow, to grow,” he continues. “Keeping a loose feeling to the music is so important. An idea develops together outside but it doesn’t take its wings until you take it into the studio. We experiment with synths and drum machines and overdubs, and we love that, but we never wanna escape too far from the hippie power of the music. We’re made of rainbow.”

Dowling jokes that Silpper imp and shakerator is a celebration of all the colors of the Babe Rainbow — the milk. “I love the fact that, with all the touring and the changing tides, and hair, the creative relationship within the band still feels so strong. I feel so lucky to have this psychedelic family, which is really the essence of the band. We’re just a bunch of laid back surfers, cattlemen’s sons.”

Slipper imp and shakerator may arguably be the band’s most “homegrown” effort to date. Sonically, the album is a bunch of breezy, acid-tinged pop that sees the band following their own North Star, chasing subtle, slippery, subterranean grooves. The album’s second and latest single “Like cleopatra” is anchored around a slinky yet laid-back, 1980s-era Prince/The Gap Band/The Whispers-like groove, complete with Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar lines.

“When our neighbor Tam’s cows dried themselves up, and we had to wait for one of the cows named Mary to have her calf to have fresh milk, we were buying ‘Cleopatra’s Bath Milk.’ This might explain the theme of ‘Like cleopatra.’ Drink deep or taste not,” says the band. “The song reminds us of the natural spring outside Julian [Abbott]’s studio where we’d naturally congregate when the sun was at its zenith early into a day’s recording session. We’d stretch; take coffee and fruit. It’s a sweet spot to enjoy the Nature sprites and spirits. Why is everything so nice? We found our Cleopatra in Camille [Jansen] who kindly sang backing vocals on the album. She has a definite ancient Egyptian aristocratic air to her coolness. Cheers to the rhythm of life.” 

The video by Sam Kristofski is split between footage of the band frolicking and enjoying nature around their hometown of Bryon Bay, the band jamming out in the studio — but with a fittingly trippy nature.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Gloin Shares Tense Ripper “controlfreak69”

Toronto-based post-punk outfit Gloin — longtime friends John Watson (guitar, vocals), Vic Byers (bass, vocals), Simon Lou (drums, vocals) and Richard Garnheim (synths, guitar) — formed back in 2018 and at the onset was a means for the band’s members to convey their shared passion for engaging and visceral live performance. Since their formation, the Toronto-based quartet have gone on a handful of North American tours, making the rounds of the North American festival circuit with sets at SXSW, Freakout Fest, New Colossus, Sled Island, Treefort Music Fest, West Fest and FME while also sharing the stage with a number of renowned acts including Snapped Ankles, Osees, Amyl and The Sniffers, Brian Jonestown Massacre, A Place to Bury Strangers, Orville Peck, Moon Duo and Night Beats.

Throughout, the Canadian band has put precedence on delivering unforgettable live shows, driven by improvisation and experimentation, with the musicians trusting their instincts that louder is always better. And as a result, the band offers cathartic live sets.

Gloin’s self-released their debut EP, 2019’s Soft Monster. They signed with Mothland, who released their full-length debut, 2022’s Dylan Frankland produced We Found This, an effort, which was mixed by Graham Walsh. Inspired by Sonic Youth and Lightning Bolt, the album featured pop melodies and beautifully noisy arrangements, anchored by a distorted rhythm section that offers urgency but also soothing grooves.

Gloin’s highly-anticipated sophomore album All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry) is slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Mothland. Described by the band as “dancey, but scary,” the album’s material sees them revamping their noise rock-driven sound, adding further elements from darkwave, industrial, and post-punk.

The album sees the band tackling themes of bewilderment, dread and anger, while being anchored around bombastic rhythmic constructs, savvy arrangements and fervid melodies. All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)‘s material are solemn tracks about perseverance and self-determination that are cleverly subverted through sarcastic commentary.

“We wrote the whole album as a collective, influenced by shared experiences. Half was written electronically with usually one person bringing in ideas that we all elaborated on together,” the band says in press notes. “We jammed a lot, finding things we liked that we later pieced together, while also saving pieces that we might be able to plug into a future song. One method for a few of the song was for all of us to write a complete piece, and then switch up instruments.”

All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)‘s first single, the sarcastically-titled “controlfreak69” is a tense, uneasy and yet dance floor friendly track that sounds a bit like a synthesis of Gang of Four, Ministry and Evil Heat-era Primal Scream, anchored around a whirring motorik groove driven by a phased-out, down-tuned bass and relentless four-on-the-floor stomp paired with Watson’s punchy shouts and howls.

The band describe the song as “trying to stay on top and trying to keep up, all the while thinking that you have control, when you actually don’t.”

Directed by Toronto-based Ryan Faist, a.k.a. Boy Wonder, the accompanying video for “controlfreak69” follows two tough dudes driving around in a beaten-up Honda four-door with Ontario license plates that read “BUNGLE.”

“I was sitting and listening to music one day in April and this loud roar came by. It was a white hatchback Civic with the license plate ‘BUNGLE.’ I thought ‘holy shit, I have to chase him.’ I tried and couldn’t catch him on my bike,” Faist recalls. “I kept waiting in this same spot for months and could never catch him, so I did a license plate lookup through the Ministry and sent in $18, and three weeks later, they mailed me the owner’s name. I found him on Facebook and messaged him, but he apparently never checks his messages. One day in September, I saw him parked outside of the bank, so I approached him and asked if he’d want to make a video sometime when I had the right song. Then this Gloin song came around and we shot a different concept, but I completely fucked it up and it fell flat. I then realized that we needed the ‘BUNGLE’ mobile for ‘controlfreak69.'”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Heaven Shares Hook-Driven and Yearning “I Need You More Somehow”

New York-based shoegazers Heaven was founded in the wake of its founding members Matt Sumrow (vocals, guitar) and Mikey Jones (drums) touring and recording with Dean and Britta, Swervedriver, Ambulance LTD, Caveman, The Comas, The Lemonheads and a lengthy list of others. With the addition of their newest member, Sonia Manalili, the shoegazer trio are gearing up to release their first full-length album in over seven years, their third album, Dream Aloud.

Slated for an April 4, 2025 release through Little Cloud Records, Dream Aloud is reportedly the New York-based trio’s most somnambulistic album to date. The album, which was recorded here in New York with Jonathan Krienik, features a guest spot from Longwave’s and Wah Together‘s Steve Schlitz.

The album’s second and latest single “I Need You More Somehow” strikes me as sounding a bit like a hook-driven slick synthesis of Heroes-era Bowie, New Zealand jangle pop paired with bursts of feedback and Sumrow’s longing vocal.

“Both at home on the beach in California or a seedy underground nightclub in Glasgow or Berlin, the song layers two worlds,” Heaven’s Matt Sumrow says. “The lyrics are purposefully ambiguous, needing more of someone and longing for more connection, but also sounding content and blissful with the present situation at the same time.”

Filmed at Mercury Lounge, the accompanying video for “I Need You More Somehow” was specifically shot and edited to resemble 80s and 80s video footage, CCTV or straight-to-home-video-like footage, being a loving homage to the era of their influences. And throughout the video, the band is seen performing while enveloped in a hazy blue and pink swirling lights.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Deep Sea Diver Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Shovel”

Led by Los Angeles-born, Seattle-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and frontperson Jessica Dobson, Seattle-based indie rock outfit Deep Sea Diver can trace its origins back to when Dobson was 19: Dobson, who has had stints  playing with a who’s who list of contemporary acts, including Beck, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Shins signed with Atlantic Records. While with Atlantic Records, Dobson wrote and recorded two albums that she wasn’t completely satisfied with. Atlantic shelved the material and ultimately dropped her.

After being dropped from Atlantic, Dobson wrote and recorded her solo debut EP New Caves as Deep Sea Diver. The project became a full-fledged band with the addition of members John Raines (bass) Dobson’s spouse Peter Mansen (drums), Garrett Gue (bass), and Elliot Jackson (guitar, synth), who helped to flesh out the project’s sound.

The Seattle-based band’s critically applauded third album, 2020’s Impossible Weight was released through High Beam Records/ATO Records and followed a busy year of touring with Wilco and Joseph to support their second album, 2016’s Secrets. “We went into the studio pretty quickly after the tour ended, and I sort of hit a wall where I was feeling very detached from making music, and unable to find joy in it,” Dobson recalls in press notes. “I realized I had to try to rediscover my voice as a songwriter, and figure out the vocabulary for what I needed to say on this album.”

Stepping back from music and the studio, Dobson focused on dealing with the depression she had been struggling with, and soon started volunteering at Aurora Commons, a drop-in center for unhoused people, most whom are drug-dependent and frequently engage in street-survival-based sex work. “I spent a lot of time with the women who frequent the Commons, and it taught me a new depth of empathy,” she says. “They’re people who don’t have the luxury of going back to a home at the end of the day and hiding behind those four walls, so they’re sort of forced to be vulnerable with what their needs are. Talking with them and listening to them really freed me up to start writing about things I’d never written about before in my songs.”

Co-produced by Dobson and Andy D. Park and recorded at Seattle’s Studio X and The Hall of Justice, Impossible Weight found Dobson and her bandmates digging far deeper emotionally than they had ever before — and pairing that emotionality with a bigger, more grandiose sound. While showcasing Dobson’s dexterous and forceful guitar work, the album’s overall lush textures and mercurial arrangements allow room for Dobson to fully demonstrate her vocal range in a way that she hadn’t before. “’I’d never produced a record before and I started out with low expectations for myself, but at some point I realized, ‘I can do this,’” Dobson recalls. “I decided to completely trust my voice and make really bold decisions in all my production calls—just push everything to the absolute outer edges.”

For Dobson redefining the limits of her artistry went hand-in-hand with deeper identity issues that came up while Dobson and her bandmates were working on the album. “I was adopted and just recently met my birth mother, and found out that I’m half-Mexican and half-Jewish,” Deep Sea Diver’s frontperson explained in press notes. “Discovering my heritage and learning things about myself that I never knew before really fed into that question of ‘Where do I belong?’” Simultaneously, Dobson rediscovered the sense of possibility, adventure and joy that she first felt when she started out as a 19 year-old.  “I think being signed at such a young age messed me up in terms of the expectations I put on myself,” she says. “Somewhere along the way I lost confidence in my own vision, but after making this record I feel a much larger freedom to go in whatever direction I want with my music.”

With Impossible Weight, Dobson hopes that others might reclaim a similar sense of freedom in their emotional lives. “Especially right now when the world is in disarray and there’s so much fear, I want this record to give people room to feel whatever they need to feel,” she says. “I hope it helps them recognize that it’s okay to fall apart, and that they’re meant to let others in instead of trying to work through everything on their own. Because the point is that the impossible weight isn’t yours to carry alone—that’s why it’s impossible.”

Signing to ATO was a significant step up for a band that had self-released its first two albums. The surge of resources resulted in a massive wave of exposure, including a spot on the Billboard charts.

The Seattle-based outfit’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated fourth album, the 11-song, Dobson and Andy Park co-produced Billboard Heart is slated for a February 28, 2025 release through Sub Pop. The album, which features the previously released album title track and “Let Me Go,” a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Madison Cunningham reportedly puts the band– currently, Dobson, Mansen and Jackson — in the company of acts like St. Vincent, TV on the Radio, Flock of Dimes and others, that have found ornate and magnetic ways to make indie rock by discarding notions of how it must sound or what it must say.

The album features additional production from Adam Schatz and additional contributions from The Shins‘ Yuuki Matthews, Caroline Rose and Greg Leisz. It was mixed by Park and mastered by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone.

Some background is needed here: Back in July 2023 while recording in a Los Angeles-based studio, Dobson played a guitar solo but somehow felt nothing. Just a few days earlier, her band played a series of semi-secret shows for fans at a hometown bar, de facto rehearsals for cutting a new record. The sets had gone well, but almost immediately, the sessions didn’t. The songs’ essence seemed muddled, Dobson’s conviction lost somewhere in the 1,000 miles or so between Southern California and the Seattle-based home studio she shares with her spouse and frequent cowriter Peter Mansen.

On that first night of recording sessions, Dobson broke down, wondering what she was doing there and what her band could do to fix it. For the first time in their history, the band retreated and headed home without a completed album. Did they need to scrap the entire thing and start again with new material?

As it turned out, no. Following a brief break, Dobson found a renewed sense of self, a trust in her vision for her band and songs and her ability to capture them. After the Los Angeles hiccup a few months before, longtime collaborator and producer Andy Park asked Dobson how the new material was going over at an early fall dinner. She admitted that she needed help. And in that humbling confession, she seen found ways of working that helped her reimagine and reinvigorate the band — and directly led to their fourth album.

For Dobson, the album is a triumph over self-doubt in which what initially felt like failure became an opportunity to find new freedom, belief, and even strength.

As it turned out, Impossible Weight‘s massive success caused Dobson to doubt her impulses, and to begin thinking about what an idea’s impact or reception might be as much the strength of the idea itself. During this period of second-guessing, she and Mansen sat near the wide windows of their Seattle living room, with her on piano as he hammered a guitar nearby. Album track “See in the Dark” — a song about coveting your notions, despite the occasional sense they’re slipping away — emerged in that setting.
 
That particular moment of domestic creation was essential for a number of reasons. Before Impossible Weight, Dobson and Mansen wrote many of Deep Sea Diver’s songs together; this was a return to that bond, which managed to carry over to more than half Billboard Heart‘s material. The pair began recording more at home, too. They borrowed microphones and a small batch of essential gear to record guitars and vocals in their basement.

When discussions later began in earnest with Park, following the Los Angeles incident, Dobson began revisiting those earlier recordings, realizing that she had captured much of that ineffable spark at home, where the atmosphere was of her own design. Mansen and Park helped convince her that these wasn’t just good enough to use, but riveting in their realness. These early versions became templates to build upon and a frame, and a way for Dobson to believe again in the material, and most importantly, herself.

The album’s latest single “Shovel” is a Kate Bush-meets-St. Vincent-like tune anchored around buzzing and angular power chords, glistening synth arpeggios, relentless four-on-the-floor serving as a lush yet punchy bed for Dobson’s big, earnest vocal. Much like Impossible Weight, the new single sees the band crafting hook-driven arena rock friendly anthems informed by lived-in, personal yet somehow deeply universal experience.

Directed by Tyler Kalberg, Jessica Dobson, Peter Mansen, the accompanying video for “Shovel” follows the members of Deep Sea Diver in a red pickup truck driving to the woods to ostensibly bury something — or someone — or to find something under the cover of night and in the halogen glow of headlights. As Dobson is shoveling, she expressively dances and bops around. It’s brooding, cinematic and yet it’s quite playful.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Prima Queen Shares Jangling and Anthemic “The Prize”

Rising transatlantic indie outfit Prima Queen’s highly-anticipated, Steph Marziano-produced debut album, The Prize is slated for an April 25, 2025 release through Submarine Cat Records. Recorded at London‘s Angelica Studios back in late 2023, the band — Louise Macphail (vocals, guitar) and Kristin McFadden (vocals, guitar) — approached the album’s recording sessions with the intention to paint all of their emotional revelations on a rich sonic canvas anchored around effusive melodies.

Drawing from the shimmering pop of Haim and Jenny Lewis paired with an open spirt, The Prize‘s 12 songs are partly inspired by the euphoria they experienced over while touring with Olivia Dean, Wet Leg, Whitney and others. Thematically, the album continues the pair’s reputation for crafting songs that regularly play like a love letter to radical power of friendship while showcasing the pair’s charismatic storytelling.

The album’s third and latest single, album title track “The Prize,” is a lush and hook-driven bit of jangle pop that brings a mix of JOVM mainstay Joseph and Stevie Nicks to mind while rooted in an enthusiastically much-needed message for the listener — to never let anyone dim your shine or make you feel small.

“Writing ‘The Prize’ felt kind of magical — we thought we had finished the album but this song suddenly came to us while we were writing in the stdio with our producer Steph (Marziano) and we knew it had other be album title-track,” the duo say in press notes. “It felt like it tied all the other songs together in a really special way. It’s a song to remind you that YOU’RE THE PRIZE, which is easy to forget sometimes!”

Directed by Mike Upton, the accompanying video for “The Prize” captures the close, almost Vulcan mind-meld of the core duo’s deep and abiding friendship in a way that’s just adorable.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Velveteers Share Defiant and Roaring “On And On”

Rising Colorado-based rock trio, The Velveteers — Demi Demitro (vocals, guitar), Baby Pottersmith (drums) and Jonny Fig (drums) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated sophomore album A Million Knives through Easy Eye Sound on February 14, 2025. Produced by acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning producer, musician and Easy Eye Sound founder Dan Auerbach, the 13-song A Million Knives reportedly spotlights the band’s “buzzing pile-driver” live sound, as Spin described it. A Million Knives is the follow-up to their full-length debut, 2021’s Nightmare Daydream, which they supported with opening slots with Smashing Pumpkins and Guns ‘N’ Roses — and their first headlining shows this past fall.

The forthcoming album, which features previously released singles “Go Fly Away” and “Suck The Cherry” was written after a particularly grueling stretch of the life on the road and explores the typically unspoken tolls of an industry that can be more often than not, a relentlessly cruel vipers pit of bullshit, thievery and power plays — especially a non-binary, queer and woman-fronted band.

A Million Knives‘ third and latest single “On and On” is one-part old-school garage rock ripper, one-part defiant roar, anchored around thunderous drumming, Demitro’s powerhouse vocal and scorching guitar work paired with a shout-along worthy choruses. But underneath the songcraft, is a song informed by the sort of embittering, humiliating experience that shouldn’t happen — and its narrator is fed up by.

“I always wonder if there will be a day when I won’t feel the need to write about this subject,” the band’s Demi Demitro says. “But unfortunately misogyny is far too rampant in the music industry and I refuse to put up with it.” 

Directed by Demi Demitro and Baby Pottersmith, the accompanying video features the band playing the song in a room full of knives, while the band’s drummers drum with knives. Throughout, these young badasses play with a world dominating swagger.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: STRAIGHT RAZOR Shares Brooding “The Curse”

While he may be best known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds, Omar Doom has committed most of his creative life to music. Doom’s latest musical project STRAIGHT RAZOR sees him crafting a blend of darkwave, techno and EBM anchored around menacing beats and hypnotic, clockwork melodies.

After a string of standalone singles and remixes, Doom released his STRAIGHT RAZOR debut, 2021’s Vol. 1 EP. He followed up with 2022’s Vol. 2 EP. Last year, he launched his label DOOM VISION with STRAIGHT RAZOR — REMIXED EP, an effort that featured remixes by Gost, Corvad, Moris Blak, Nightcrawler, Destryur and ESA. Destryur released their latest album Dimensions through Doom’s new label.

Doom’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Casualty was released earlier this month. Album single “The Curse” is a brooding, club friendly banger that’s a slick mix of 80s New Wave and goth featuring menacing, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with Doom’s plaintive delivery.

Directed by Joe Cardamone, the accompanying video for “The Curse” is shot in a gorgeous and cinematic black and white and captures the brooding nature of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: BEASTS Shares Roaring “The Shearing”

Antoine Romeo is an Italian-Belgian artist, who grew up in a large family of Italian immigrants in the post-industrial Belgian city of Charleroi. Initially making a name for himself as one-half of run SOFA, Romeo has stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo recording project BEASTS.

Romeo’s BEASTS project is guided by a manifesto, which is on the project’s website — and it is as follows:

BEASTS is non-profit. 
BEASTS wants no part in elitist culture.
BEASTS doesn’t believe in the hype.
BEASTS won’t be answering to any algorithms designed by/for multinational corporations.
BEASTS is a politicized outfit.
BEASTS decides what to do and when to quit.
BEASTS is a safe space to face your traumas.
BEASTS is anti-fascist.
BEASTS is respect for others and for yourself.
BEASTS is passion, integrity and courage.
BEASTS is about breaking generational curses.
BEASTS is freedom, acceptance and peace.

The Italian-Belgian artist’s latest BEASTS single “The Shearing” is an urgent and roaring punk rock-meets-hip-hop ripper featuring rumbling and down-tuned bass paired with enormous mosh pit friendly hooks, propulsive drumming and punchily delivered howls. It’s arguably one of the most primal and angriest songs I’ve heard this year, while capturing the desperation of our moment.

Shot in a cinematic black and white, the accompanying video for “The Shearing” captures men losing their minds to a sort of primal madness in which they wind up howling to an unceasing void.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Blue Foundation Shares Yearning “Close to the Knife”

Founded back in 2000 by Danish singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tobias Wilner, Blue Foundation was inspired by The Fall’s Mark E. Smith‘s method of forming bands — with Wilner recruiting a rotation lineup of musicians over the years to fuel creativity. But since 2010, the core lineup has been Wilner and Bon Rande, working between Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Copenhagen.

Throughout the transatlantic project’s two-plus decade history, they’ve been renowned for crafting immersive soundscapes with emotive vocals and intricate production that draws from dream pop and electronic music that evokes melancholy and reflection while touching upon introspective themes.

The band has cemented their distinct sound through a series of critically applauded albums including 2007’s Life of a Ghost, 2012’s In My Mind I Am Free and 2016’s Blood Moon, while collaborating with an eclectic range of artists and producers, including Mew‘s Jonas Bjerre, Au Revoir Simone‘s Erika Spring, Findlay Brown, DJ Krush, Sara Savery and Wang Wen among a growing list of others.

Adding to a growing international profile, the band’s work has been featured in Michael Mann’s 2006 Miami Vice and The Vampire Diaries. The band’s “Eyes on Fire,” was included in the Twilight soundtrack. Additionally, their work has been sampled on Lil Durk‘s “Fly High,” feat., French Montana and Young Thug‘s “She Notice.” They also cowrote Machine Gun Kelly‘s “Taurus.”

“Close to the Knife” is the first single from the transatlantic outfit’s forthcoming album. Written by Wilner and Rande and performed by Helena Gao and Wilner, “Close to the Knife” is one-part Scott Walker-era orchestral psych pop, one-part dream pop anchored around a lush yet atmospheric arrangement featuring mellotron flute, soaring strings, strummed guitar and gentle bursts of feedback pared with yearning and dueling girl-boy vocals, which gives the song a fittingly old-timey feel.

The song tells a familiar and bittersweet tale of love and longing for a connection that for can never fully materialize and will always be a bit unrequited. For both narrators, their lover disappears as quickly as they appear, adding a subtle sense of frustration and heartache to the song.

Directed by the band’s Wilner with cinematougrahy by Hannah Bertram and Erma Feng, the video showcases parallel stories of yearning: We see Tobias Wilner wandering the quiet and desolate late night streets of New York City while Helena Gao explores the vibrant yet isolating alleys of Shanghai. The video emphasizes the ache and longing at the core of the song.