Tag: Philadelphia PA

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jaco Jaco Shares Meditative Yet Soulful “Woman”

Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Jacob Theriot’s career began in earnest when he began writing and recording music in grade school with his brother and childhood friend. Those early efforts led to the acclaimed indie outfit Sports.

After three albums and several international tours, Theriot decided to step out into the spotlight as as solo artist, relocating to Philadelphia, where he began to explore and meld a variety of different genres and visual mediums with his current creative project Jaco Jaco.

Theriot’s Jaco Jaco debut, Splat was released early last year. His Jaco Jaco sophomore album Gremlin is slated for a March 21, 2025 release. Gremlin is a reportedly playful album that isn’t directly inspired by Gremlins but manages to honor the movie’s use of kitsch and camp to explore a prevailing mood of irreverence and introspection. “This record came from a somewhat confused and lonely state of mind,” Theriot explains. “It’s a journey through reflection and longing for something real—an inner dialogue giving me advice on navigating life when it feels like it’s working against you.”

Now, if you were frequenting this site late last year, you might recall that Theriot closed out the year with “Favorite Kind of People,” a seamless synthesis of Thundercat and 70s jazz fusion/jazz funk with the breeziness of Bossa Nova that’s anchored around a strutting bass line, rapid-fire four-on-the-floor, twinkling bursts of Rhodes and shimmering guitar.

“‘Favorite Kind of People’ came out of a phase where I was into some classic Brazilian jazz-funk,” Theriot explained. “I can’t remember which song it was exactly, but I translated the lyrics and loved how simple and earnest they felt. The translation was probably off, but it inspired me to write something direct and real—about just being present with people and not overthinking everything.” 

Slated for a March 21, Gremlin is a reportedly playful album that isn’t directly inspired by Gremlins but manages to honor the movie’s use of kitsch and camp to explore a prevailing mood of irreverence and introspection. “This record came from a somewhat confused and lonely state of mind,” Theriot explains. “It’s a journey through reflection and longing for something real—an inner dialogue giving me advice on navigating life when it feels like it’s working against you.”

Gremlin‘s second and latest single “Woman” is a slow-burning and meditative synthesis of Quiet Storm-like R&B/funk and Steely Dan-like AM rock anchored around a slippery, a slick bass line, bursts of glistening synths paired with Theriot’s plaintive delivery.

The song’s lyrics are abstract, but behind that abstraction, Theriot tackles something deeper: The song explores the complexities and nuances of human relationship. According to the Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based artist, it’s a meditation on honesty and acceptance, being real with yourself, and being real with your partner.

“‘Woman’ was one of those rare, serendipitous type songs that just kinda happened,” Theriot says. “Everything fell into place pretty quick, lyrics and all. I played guitar along to some random breakbeat and out came the guitar riff(s). I was big into Black Messiah (D’Angelo) at the time, so that influence may have seeped in a bit, maybe? No comparison though, of course. I just wanna be like Pino Palladino when I grow up.”

Photography by William Ruben Helms
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Photography: Ice Skating Rink, Dilworth Park, Center City, Philadelphia 11/16/24

Ice skating rink, Dilworth Park, Center City, Philadelphia, PA.

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

News/Announcements: Shoutouts to Patreon Patrons, Creatives Rebuild New York and Asian Arts Initiative

This site turned 14 earlier this year. 14 years of anything — especially a job — is a very long time. In the blogosphere, that’s roughly 22 lifetimes. Now, when I started JOVM, I was felt as though I had no real choice but to go out on my own. I didn’t feel — or believe — that I’d get a fair shot to do what this site has become with another outlet. 

I’ve long felt a desire to create something similar to the wildly eclectic, dynamic, global sort of environment I grew up immersed in as a young, Black boy from Corona, Queens. And I didn’t regularly see the environment I grew up in represented in the music magazines and sites that I loved to read. To me, that’s a real weakness because — well, there’s amazing music out there that’s not getting the love that it should both nationally and internationally. 

When I started JOVM, I couldn’t have imagined covering the things I’v covered, and the things I’ve experienced and seen to have ever happened. 

With this site, I’ve managed to carve out a unique path for myself — and in the blogosphere. Because music media — and generally the media world — is an incredibly homogeneous space, the coverage that you see as a consumer and fan tends to come from a similar perspective. If you don’t believe me, look at the editorial staff at your favorite music magazine or website. It explains why certain artists, genres and styles are covered over others. But it also explains why you see the exact same coverage of the same artists, genres and styles, too. 

I’m looking forward to what year 14 holds for JOVM. And hopefully with your support, I can keep this thing going. Now, as you know, I’ve said this many times: All work — including creative work — is impossible without money. After all, time is money. Effort is money. Then add all the expenses it takes to actually work. 

Unsurprisingly, this site and the work that makes it possible is impossible without money. It’s a simple — and often frustrating — fact of life. So, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, there are a handful of folks I want to thank once again for their support:  

Sash

Alice Northover

Bella Fox

Jenny MacRostie

Janene Otten 

All of those folks have been generous Patreon patrons. Every and any amount really helps keeps this sort of journalism and criticism alive and ongoing. So if you’re able and willing, please feel free to check out the Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement. 

Additionally, I have to thank the helpful, hardworking and dedicated folks at Creatives Rebuild New York. I’m proud, gratified and humbled to have been included in their 18-month Guaranteed Income for Artists program. Understandably, being included was also deeply vindicating. Someone out there thought my work — this very work! — was worth supporting financially. Obviously, the funds from it have managed to keep this labor of love going during one of the most uncertain periods in recent human history, while lessening some of the normal financial pressures of being an American artist, creator and journalist. 

I also found out about Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Workshop through Creatives Rebuild New York. So, I just can’t thank those folks enough. And I’ll forever be in their debt. 

I must thank the folks at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia for selecting me for the Sound Type Music Writer Workshop. I’m planning on being back in Philly in a few weeks and I’m looking forward to seeing the AAI team and the rest of the cohort again — although sadly, it’ll be the last time this year.

Of course, there are other ways you can support. 

You can also support by checking the JOVM shop. I sell prints in various sizes. I also have bumper stickers. Check it out: https://www.joyofviolentmovement.com/shop 

You can also support my following me on the following platforms:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/william_ruben_helms 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/yankee32879 and https://www.twitter.com/joyofviolent 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement

And you can hire me for headshots, portraits and events. Seriously, I’m available for that, too. You can click here: https://www.photobooker.com/photographer/ny/new-york/william-h?duration=1?duration=1# or you can contact me directly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jaco Jaco Shares Breezy and Funky “Favorite Kind of People”

Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Jacob Theriot’s career began in earnest when he began writing and recording music in grade school with his brother and childhood friend. Those early efforts led to the acclaimed […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: High. Shares Swooning and Rousingly Anthemic “Catcher”

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, building Bakie’s reputation as “The Queen of The Quarter Note” and Castan’s profile as an unforgettable guitarist. After the pair played in a band together, they longed fora project that would be their sole creative focus and could tour as far and wide as possible. A few weeks and two weeks after their proper formation with the addition of Jack Miller (drums) and Danny Zavala (guitar), the quartet made their live debut at Saint Vitus. They followed that up with shows across the Tristate DIY circuit. 

The New Jersey-based quartet’s highly-anticipated Matthew Molnar-produced sophomore EP Come Back Down is slated for a January 24, 2025 release digitally and on vinyl through Kanine Records. The EP’s first sessions started last June 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. 

Last month, I wrote about album single “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.”

Come Back Down‘s latest single “Catcher” continues 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.

Directed by the band’s Bridget Bakie and filmed by Bakie and her brother Max, and edited by Shower Curtain‘s Victoria Winter, the accompanying video for “Catcher” was filmed in New Jersey and stars the band’s Jack Miller. The grainy VHS-styled video is rooted in a bittersweet nostalgia that becomes a larger and larger part of adulthood.

On directing the video, Bakie says, “I felt I should make the music video because I know the source of the lyrics so closely, but they still aren’t my own. I used the boat as a metaphor for staying afloat through grief, while still moving and trying to find peace. The vast lake and the change of seasons are also a part of that. I tried to show the combination of pain and peace that this song holds.”