Tag: Philadelphia PA

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

If you were frequenting this site over the course of the past few months, you might recall that last month I announced that I was selected as an inaugural member of the Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Music Writers Workshop in Philadelphia. 

Sound Type is Asian Arts Initiative’s Music Festival and Writers Residency designed to support and uplift new, experimental and courageous music from the Asian Diaspora and beyond. The Asian Art Initiative will also provide a series of workshops, gatherings and mentorships to primarily BIPOC musicians, journalists and critics to help build a sustainable ecosystem for them. 

As a member of the workshop. I’ll be attending and writing about the showcases of the Sound Type Musical Festival, as well as other music-related programs at the festival. The commentary, articles, interviews and reviews will be published after the 2024 season. 

The first show of the series will feature Victoria Shen with Qiujiang Levi Lu on March 23, 2024. Shen’s work eschews conventions in harmony and rhythm in favor of extreme and abrasive textures and gestural tones built around analog modular synthesizers, vinyl/resin record and self-built electronics. My understanding is that tickets are still available for the show. So, Philadelphia friends, come on through to check out a night of boundary-pushing music — and hang out with your boy. Maybe we can stop at Bar or Tattooed Mom after.

https://asianartsinitiative.org/programs/victoria-shen-live-in-concert

Before the show, AAI will be hosting two events:

Friday, March 22, 2024: A Conversation with Victoria Shen. Moderated by Joyce Chung, Curator at Asian Arts Initiative, the pair will delve into the creative practice behind Shen’s current exhibition at AAI and how Shen experiments with making instruments and spatial relationship of sound. This event is free but you need to sign up for tickets. Information can be found here: https://asianartsinitiative.org/programs/victoria-shen-artist-talk

Saturday, March 23, 2024: Sound Type Seminar with Victoria Shen and writer and designer Mindy Seu, moderated by AAI’s Anne Ishii. The pair will discuss their boundary-pushing work and its relation to Sound Type’s mission: uplifting new, experimental, courageous music from the Asian diaspora and beyond!

https://asianartsinitiative.org/programs/sound-type-seminar-victoria-shen-and-mindy-seu

Check out the bios and information on me and the rest of the fascinating and extremely talented members of the Music Writers cohort, check out the following link: 

https://asianartsinitiative.org/news/meet-our-writers-2024-sound-type-music-writers-workshop

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

Photo Credit: Catherine Horath

I’m excited and thrilled to announce that I was selected as a member of Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Music Writers Workshop in Philadelphia.

Sound Type is Asian Arts Initiative’s Music Festival and Writers Residency designed to support and uplift new, experimental and courageous music from the Asian Diaspora and beyond. The Asian Art Initiative will also provide a series of workshops, gatherings and mentorships to primarily BIPOC musicians, journalists and critics to help build a sustainable ecosystem for them.

As a member of the workshop. I’ll be attending and writing about the showcases of the Sound Type Musical Festival, as well as other music-related programs at the festival. The commentary, articles, interviews and reviews will be published after the 2024 season.

Check out the bios and information on me and the rest of the fascinating and extremely talented members of the Music Writers cohort, check out the following link:

https://asianartsinitiative.org/news/meet-our-writers-2024-sound-type-music-writers-workshop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Philly’s Rob Rapp Shares “120 Minutes”-era MTV-like “Dysfunctional Machine”

Philadelphia-based DIY artist Rob Rapp specializes in lo-fi pop that’s steeped in the tradition of 90s indie rock. Influenced by the likes of Guided by Voices and Stephen Malkmus, Rapp looks to carry that tradition well into the modern area.

2023 has been a busy year for the Philadelphia-based lo-fi pop artist. He has released two albums this year: Wires, Liars and Cryers, which was released earlier this year, and the recently released Meanwhile in Collegeville.

Built around fuzzy power chords, big shout-along worthy hooks and choruses paired with Rapp’s ironically detached delivery, Meanwhile in Collegeville‘s latest single “Dysfunctional Machine” wouldn’t be out of place during an episode of 120 Minutes back in the day. Lyrically and thematically, “Dysfunctional Machines” captures the bitterness, malaise, unease and frustrations of modern day life, delving into the mindset and feelings of hardworking Joes and Janes busting their asses thanklessly through the bullshit and lies of everyday life — with as much of their dignity and sanity intact as possible.

The accompanying video features drone-based footage of an abandoned factory site, followed by stock footage of workers making a variety of things in the factory.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Philly’s Mesa Jane Tackles Radiohead’s “All I Need”

Mesa Jane (short for Melissa Jane) is a Philadelphia area indie pop artist, who specializes in a sound that has been described as “alternative vibe pop.” Throughout her life and music career, she embraces bringing creative energy into physical form through a multitude of avenues including songwriting, production, composition, collaboration, music videos, album art, entrepreneurship and cooking.

Over the past decade, the Philadelphia-based artist has recorded two full-length albums, two EPs (one, which was self-produced and recorded during the pandemic) and a batch of singles, all of which she has supported with touring across the country, as well as sets at music festivals like SXSW and Toronto’s Indie Week among others. Mesa Jane has appeared on several compilations — and she has received nominations from the Independent Music Awards and the Hometown Heroes Awards. And adding to a growing profile, she recently had one of her songs placed on Hulu’s How I Caught My Killer.

The Philadelphia area-based artist is currently quite busy with several different projects: She’s working on several collaborations, co-writing for other projects and is also working on her third full-length album. And she’s doing this while being a mom of two boys. Talk about being a boss, right?

Mesa Jane’s latest single is a gorgeous and fairly straightforward cover of Radiohead‘s “All I Want,” which retains the original’s buzzing synths and pairs that with skittering beats and the Philadelphia area artist’s plaintive gently vocodered vocal. While a female vocalist does change some of the song’s context, it’s still rooted in a deep and uneasy yearning.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Restlessly prolific Norwegian instrumental tropical funk/pop outfit and JOVM mainstays Orions Belte —Øyind Blomstrøm (guitar), Chris Holm (bass) and Kim Åge Furuhaug (drums) — will be releasing their third full-length album Women on October 6, 2023 through their longtime label home Jansen Records.

Much like their previously released work, all the songwriting and production is done by the band members themselves, but with Women they’ve consciously put a lot of effort into making everything bigger and more powerful than before. String arrangements flow easily throughout the album’s material and is meant to describe a sensation that they describe as feeling “like releasing a million balloons at once while lying looking at the night sky, and dreaming of road trips on bumpy country roads through the Amazon in Brazil.” 

Women will feature:

  • “Silhouettes,” a track rooted in the trio’s penchant for trippy and irresistibly funky grooves, but while also arguably being the darkest song of their growing catalog. The song bounces back and forth between ethereal verses and crunchy, earthy guitar riffage paired with soaring hooks, a supple bass line and a cacophonous string arrangement by Norwegian violinist and composer Ola Kvernberg. “Silhouettes” reveals a mischievous and adventurous group of musicians boldly pushing their sound and approach in new directions while still being rooted in their penchant for trippy grooves.
  • “Jai Alai,” a track built around a percussive and driving drum pattern, glistening and twinkling 80s-like synths, a Steely Dan-like guitar solo paired with a dreamy Tropicalia-like coda with acoustic guitar sand shimmering mandolin paired with a bemusedly delivered lyric, “Jai Alai” is mischievously anachronistic song that sounds as though it could have been released in 1974 or maybe 1984 but while dripping in self-deprecating irony. “‘Spent some time alone with you, a friend of mine told me to’ – everybody has gotten bad advice like this at some point,” the members of the Norwegian JOVM mainstay outfit say of the new single. “And sometimes things can go a lot faster than you thought, like Jai Alai – the world’s fastest sport. This track has a summery feel to it, percussive patterns, an in-your-face guitar solo and a dreamy ending with acoustic guitars and mandolins.”

Women‘s latest single “When You’re Gone, I’ll Be Gone” is a slow-burning, Quiet Storm-like jam built around a two step-inducing groove and shimmering guitar serving as a silky bed for Live Miranda Solberg, a.k.a. Louien’s delicate delivery. The song is a bittersweet, nostalgia-inducing song that’s part lament over the breakup of a relationship and part begrudging acceptance.

Solberg is a rising star in the Norwegian indie/folk scene, who received Norwegian Grammy nod last year, and is a current member of Silver Lining.

The band will be embarking on another Stateside tour this fall that includes an October 16, 2023 stop at Baltimore’s Metro Gallery and an October 17, 2023 stop at Johnny Brenda‘s in Philly. Sadly, there isn’t a NYC date, but Johnny Brenda’s is one of my favorite venues in Philly. And you can load up on cheesesteaks while you’re there! Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Orions Belte Tour Dates:
10/4 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst*
10/5 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theatre*
10/6 – Ventura, CA @ Ventura Music Hall*
10/7 – Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse*
10/8 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom*
10/11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Vencie West
10/12 – Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone
10/13 – Portland, OR @ Jack London Revue
10/14 – Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown (Bellingham Exit)
10/15 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
10/16 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
10/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Jonny Brenda’s
10/18 – Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts
* w/ Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sweeping Promises Shares Horror-Themed Visual for Brooding and Uneasy “Good Living Is Coming for You”

Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production — can trace their origins to a chance meeting in Arkansas, which led to a decade of playing together in an eclectic assortment of projects. Their relentless practice has made perfect: Meticulously controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, through production and engineering, using space as a key element of their sound, to the final mastering process, each song is an unspoiled fingerprint unique to their long-held dynamic chemistry. 

The duo’s full-length debut, 2020’s Hunger for a Way Out was released through Feel It Records. Written before the pandemic, the album’s material managed to pair the anxious urgency of a commanding live performance with a gauzy production, creating a distorted sense of time. That resonated with tons of folks during quarantine, who turned the album into a life-saving flotation device — and fittingly the album received rapturous praise from Stereogum, Pitchfork, and NPR. Around then, Feel It Records and Sub Pop agreed to join forces to distribute the duo’s work across North America and globally, starting with 2021’s “Pain Without a Touch.”

Slated for a Friday release through Feel It Records across North America and Sub Pop globally, the duo’s highly-anticipated sophomore album, Good Living Is Coming For You was recorded and produced by Mondal and Schung in their Lawrence, KS-based home studio. In some way, the album’s title and its material is informed by more than a half-century of underground music revolutionaries, who have taken whacks at the mundane mainstream. English punks spat “NO FUTURE” at germ-free adolescents. Ohio New Wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard carrying riot grrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. The duo read pandemic minds with 2020’s Hunger for a Way Out. With their forthcoming sophomore album, the return with a new message that initially offers hope wrapped around relief. But maybe it’s warning. Or darker still, a threat. 

While the duo have amassed acclaim for unfussy, monolithic anthems, Good Living Is Coming For You is a decided change in sonic direction and approach: They’ve eschewed the brutalist ambience of their Boston subterranean, concrete laboratory and the single mic recording technique of its immediate predecessor. Recorded in a nude painting studio bathed in light with high-ceilings, their Lawrence-based studio is a reverb-rich space, that helps influence the album’s overall sound. Thematically, the album’s material touches upon power struggles, accepting aging, breaking restraints and more, delivered with a fervent urgency. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release I’ve managed to write about two of its singles:

  • Album opener “Eraser,” a gritty and furious ripper built around enormous shout-along worthy hooks and choruses, thunderous drumming, angular and propulsive bass lines, and distortion pedaled guitars paired with Mondal’s powerhouse delivery and copious amounts of reverb. While sonically recalling riot grrrl punk, complete with righteous and urgent fury, “Eraser,” as the duo explain is “a malevolent creep – an overly ambitious, shadowy force who bears an uncanny resemblance to you. She watches your every move, mirrors your motions, and ultimately uses your voice against you without you ever noticing what she’s done. She’s unchecked ambition, a paranoid girl Friday, an overriding impulse to reflect rather than project. She must be stopped at all costs.”

  • “You Shatter,” a synth punk ripper that sounds like a synthesis of Freedom of Choice-era DEVO, Memphis synth punks Nots and the Go-Go’s. “‘You Shatter’ is our ode to being a hammer,” the duo say of the song. 

The soon-to-be released album’s third and latest single, album title track “Good Living Is Coming for You” is a brooding and uneasy track built around a metronomic-like groove, wiry guitar blasts paired with Mondal’s forceful croon. The result is a song that manages to sound a bit like Wire — but while evoking an encroaching sense of doom. The end is very much nigh, folks.

Directed by experimental filmmaker Jessica Bardsley, the accompanying video for “Good Living Is Coming for You” draws from 70s and 80s horror films. “For this video, we collaborated with one of our closest friends, experimental filmmaker Jessica Bardsley (Life Without Dreams, Goodbye Thelma),” the members of Sweeping Promises explain in press notes. Drawing from the glamorous and bloodthirsty aesthetic of ‘70s and ‘80s horror films (Daughters of Darkness, The Hunger, The Lair of the White Worm, Dream Demon), the visual companion to ‘Good Living Is Coming for You’ channels the song’s unshakable feeling of discontent and encroaching domestic doom through the confines of a DIY horror flick as seen by some nameless sleepless soul on late-night cable, the line between movie and infomercial blurred to infernal effect.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sweeping Promises Shares an Urgent Ripper

Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production — can trace their origins to a chance meeting in Arkansas, which led to a decade of playing together in an eclectic assortment of projects. Their relentless practice has made perfect: Meticulously controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, through production and engineering, using space as a key element of their sound, to the final mastering process, each song is an unspoiled fingerprint unique to their long-held dynamic chemistry.

The duo’s full-length debut, 2020’s Hunger for a Way Out was released through Feel It Records. Written before the pandemic, the album’s material managed to pair the anxious urgency of a commanding live performance with a gauzy production, creating a distorted sense of time. That resonated with tons of folks during quarantine, who turned the album into a life-saving flotation device — and fittingly the album received rapturous praise from Stereogum, Pitchfork, and NPR. Around then, Feel It Records and Sub Pop agreed to join forces to distribute the duo’s work across North America and globally, starting with 2021’s “Pain Without a Touch” and their highly-anticipated sophomore album Good Living Is Coming For You.

Slated for a June 30, 2023 release through Feel It Records across North America and Sub Pop globally, Good Living Is Coming For You was recorded and produced by Mondal and Schung in their Lawrence, KS-based home studio. In some way, the album’s title and its material is informed by more than a half-century of underground music revolutionaries, who have taken whacks at the mundane mainstream. English punks spat “NO FUTURE” at germ-free adolescents. Ohio New Wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard carrying riot grrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. The duo read pandemic minds with 2020’s Hunger for a Way Out. With their forthcoming sophomore album, the return with a new message that initially offers hope wrapped around relief. But maybe it’s warning. Or darker still, a threat.

While the duo have amassed acclaim for unfussy, monolithic anthems, Good Living Is Coming For You is a decided change in sonic direction and approach: They’ve eschewed the brutalist ambience of their Boston subterranean, concrete laboratory and the single mic recording technique of its immediate predecessor. Recorded in a nude painting studio bathed in light with high-ceilings, their Lawrence-based studio is a reverb-rich space, that helps influence the album’s overall sound. Thematically, the album’s material touches upon power struggles, accepting aging, breaking restraints and more, delivered with a fervent urgency.

“Eraser,” the forthcoming album’s opening track and first single, is a gritty and furious ripper built around enormous, shout-along worthy hooks and choruses, thunderous drumming, angular and propulsive bass lines, distortion pedaled guitars paired with Mondal’s powerhouse delivery and copious amounts of reverb. While sonically recalling riot grrrl punk, complete with righteous and urgent fury, “Eraser,” as the duo explain is “a malevolent creep – an overly ambitious, shadowy force who bears an uncanny resemblance to you. She watches your every move, mirrors your motions, and ultimately uses your voice against you without you ever noticing what she’s done. She’s unchecked ambition, a paranoid girl Friday, an overriding impulse to reflect rather than project. She must be stopped at all costs.”

Along with the release of Good Living Is Coming For You‘s first single, the duo announced an extensive list of tour dates to support the album. The tour includes an August 8, 2023 stop at Johnny Brenda‘s, one of my favorite rooms in Philly, and an August 10, 2023 stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out the tour dates below.

 
Good Living Is Coming For You is available now to preorder from Feel It Records & Sub Pop. LP pre-orders from Feel It Records will be on white/black marbled vinyl, and those from megamart.subpop.com will receive copies on red vinyl (while supplies last).

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Beth Arnold Gilbert Shares a Grunge-Inspired Anthem

Beth Arnold Gilbert is a Philadelphia-born and-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who specializes in material that features a 90s alt-rock vibe with a pop sensibility paired with Gilbert’s expressive vocals.

“I Was Not Airtight,” Gilbert’s latest single is the follow up to her debut EP, 2021’s Gimme Back My Castle. Centered around layers of distorted and reverb-drenched guitar, enormous mosh pit friendly hooks paired with the Philadelphia-born artist’s raspy delivery, “I Was Not Airtight,” much like today’s previous post recalls 120 Minutes-era MTV alt-rock — in particular PJ Harvey, Veruca Salt, Hole, and Catherine Wheel among others.

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

Just about 13 years ago, I started what has been for me, my life’s work — this site. And honestly, when I started this site, I couldn’t have imagined three-quarters of the things I’ve done and experienced over JOVM’s history to ever happen. 

  • I’ve covered roughly 1,100-1,200 shows in NYC, with a handful of shows in Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia. 
  • I’ve covered about a dozen or more festivals, including traveling to Montreal for M for Montreal in 2019 and again earlier this month.
  • I’ve been a panelist at Mondo.NYC Festival and at New Colossus Festival, speaking about PR, promotion and press for indie artists, giving my perspective as a indie blogger. 
  • A few years ago, I made a cameo in a JOVM mainstay’s music video. It’s a very noticeable spot towards the end of the video. It was a fun experience, but so far no one has called me about acting or dancing gigs. Maybe I need to stick to the writing and photography? 
  • I couldn’t have imagined photographing George Clinton, Patti LaBelle, Snoop Dogg, Blondie, Nile Rodgers, Roky Erickson, Philip Bailey, Blind Boys of Alabama and so many others, as well as this site’s countless mainstays.
  • I wouldn’t have met the countless colleagues and musicians, who have become supporters and friends.  

Now you’ll remember that during the very worst of the pandemic, things seemed — understandably — bleak. And although we’ve slowly managed to claw our way back to even greater degree of normalcy, being a working and touring musician has remained extremely bleak. Financially touring has always been a financial risk but rising inflation and COVID-19 has made touring much more daunting and complicated. 

We’re all trying to figure out how to maneuver in a new, confusing and uncertain landscape that may well be with us for an indefinite period of time. But with these past 12+ years under my belt, I have no intentions of going anywhere. 

I strongly believe that I’ve managed to carve out a unique spot in the blogosphere, a place that I feel is desperately necessary because both the music and media worlds are often so incredibly homogenous. Someone out there has to do something different. And representation in every aspect matters. So JOVM and my work with it has to continue. 

As I do every month, I want to thank the following folks and organizations. Without them this past few years — and especially this year — wouldn’t have been remotely possible: 

Sash

Alice Northover

Bella Fox

Jenny MacRostie

Janene Otten 

All of those folks have been generous Patreon patrons. Of course, feel free to check out the Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/TheJoyofViolentMovement. And if you’re able to support, your support will be greatly appreciated and continuously shouted out. Any amount really helps. 

I have to thank the folks at Creatives Rebuild New York. I’m relieved, proud and humbled to be included in their Guaranteed Income for Artists program. The money I’ll receive over the next 13 months or so will be put to good use — keeping this little dream of mine going. I don’t think there’s enough words to thank them — or to show how grateful I am. (I’ll keep trying, of course!) 

There are other ways you can support. 

You can also support by checking the JOVM shop: 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: ZADAR Teams up with Isa Niels on Shimmering and Brooding “Halos On The Moon”

Antonio G is a Philadelphia-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the goth/darkwave outfit ZADAR. He’s currently working on the project’s first album — and is searching for like-minded musicians to join him in playing the material live.

ZADAR’s latest single “Halos On The Moon” sees the Philadelphia-based Antonio G collaborating with Isa Nielsen, a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has opened for Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello and John 5, who has played with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie — and is the newest member of Mötley Crùe. Nielsen has also played on MTV Specials, MTV’s VMB Awards. Built around shimmering guitars, a relentless motorik-like groove, Neilsen’s plaintive vocals and enormous hooks, “Halos On The Moon” may recall The Sisters of Mercy and Cocteau Twins, while being rooted in swooning Romanticism.

“‘Halos’ is a song about regret and loss. It’s a song about somehow coming to terms with your failure and past mistakes and still moving on with your life,” Antonio G explains.