JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes’ 62nd birthday.
Tag: post punk
New Video: THE THE Shares Trippy Visual for Slinky and Brooding “Cognitive Dissident”
Acclaimed British post-punk outfit THE THE was founded by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Johnson back in 1979 and through various iterations and configurations, Johnson and his collaborators have developed a sound and approach that seems to inhabit its own difficult to define genre: music of long shadows, high hopes, channeled anger, feverish passions and sweetly disturbing poignancy that meshes elements of pop, rock, blues, folk and soul among others while spanning alienated electronics to twisted cinematic soundtracks, guitar tumbling swing to crimson ballads, rants and prayers to diaries and hymns.
Over the course of their 45 year history, Johnson and company have released only five full-length albums of original material, 1983’s Soul Mining, 1986’s Infected, 1989’s Mind Bomb, 1993’s Dusk and 2000’s NakedSelf. Having a long-held reputation for being unpredictable, the band has also tackled covers, such as 1995’s Hanky Panky; film soundtracks, including 2009’s Tony, 2010’s Moonbug, 2014’s Hyena and 2019’s Muscle; art installations, a the Radio Cinéola podcast series; 2017’s moving, 84 minute documentary/multimedia project The Inertia Variations and various book publications including 2018’s Matt Johnson biography Long Shadows, High Hopes: The Life and Times of Matt Johnson & THE THE.
2017’s The Inertia Variations took inspiration from British poet John Tottenham’s 2005 book of the same name — particularly the idea of “brooding, abstraction and evasion” getting in the way of the creative process. The Inertia Variations eventually resulted in not just the documentary, but also the Radio Cinéola Trilogy triple album box set.
At the end of The Inertia Variations documentary, Johnson was filmed performing a new song live in his studio, “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” an energy to his older brother Andrew Johnson, an artist professionally known as Andy Dog, who died in 2016. “It was not an easy song to write,” he says. “That was the first time I’d sung in many years. I enjoyed it but found it very emotional.”
The experience prompted Johnson to revive THE THE as a live band — and it lead to the sold-out 2018 The Comeback Special world tour. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of the accompanying live film and album until 2021. And of course, the pandemic also delayed the intended start on the writing and recording of first THE THE album in almost 25 years, Ensoulment. Instead, Johnson and company released a series of 7 inch singles that started with 2017’s “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” 2020’s “I WANT 2 B U,” and last year’s “$1 ONE VOTE!”
The 12-song Ensoulment is slated for a September 6, 2024 release through Cinéola/earMUSIC. The album reportedly contains echoes of the acclaimed British outfit’s multifaceted and lengthy musical past, however, it’s richly representative of the mercurial band’s here and now. The album continues Johnson’s long-held reputation for being unafraid to tackle the inherent emotional complexity of the human condition — in particular, intimacy in an age of alienation; democracy in a post-truth age; empire and vassalage; the seemingly inexorable rise of AI and more. And yet, the album is rooted in hope. “It’s vital to be hopeful,” Johnson states. “And I hope people get out of the album what we put into it. It was created under very happy circumstances, with a great vibe amongst the band and all the people that worked on it. There was a lot of thought, a lot of work, a lot of love, a lot of laughter!”
The album’s material were further refined in rehearsals, just before a six-day recording sessions at Bath, UK-based Real World Studios, where Johnson was joined by long-standing band members James Ellen (bass), DC Collard (keys), Earl Harvin (drums) and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar). The album also marks the return of co-producer and engineer Warne Livesey, who worked with the band on Infected and Mind Bomb. The album also features contributions from Gillian Glover (backing vocals), Terry Edwards (horns), Sonya Cullingford (fiddle) and Danny Cummings (percussion).
Ensoulment’s first single, the Matt Johnson and Barrie Cadogan co-written “Cognitive Dissident,” is a brooding and slinky number, anchored around a strutting bass line, bursts of squiggling, reverb-soaked guitar, Johnson’s breathy speak-singing delivery, sultry cooing from Gillian Glover, atmospheric electronics, skittering percussion paired with an equally slinky and remarkably catchy hook. Thematically, the song captures the madly topsy-turvy Orwellian nature of modern life with an uncanny and unsettling attention to detail.
The recently released accompanying video for “Cognitive Dissident” was directed by Tim Pope with editing, VFX and projections People Like Us/Vicki Bennett and Peter Knight — all of whom are longtime collaborators with Johnson and THE THE. The video employs a relatively simple yet trippy premise: Johnson having projections of digital and analog noise, the song’s lyrics and some slick editing.
New Video: JOVM Mainstays PLOHO Share Politically Charged “Гештальт (Gestalt)”
Since their formation back in 2013, the Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia-based post-punk trio and JOVM mainstays PLOHO — Victor Uzhakov (vocals, guitar), Andrei Smorgonsky (bass) and Igor Starshinov (synths) — have firmly established themselves as being at the forefront of a contemporary, new wave of Russian music. Inspired by Joy Division and late Soviet-era acts like Kino, the Siberian act’s cold and bleak sound evokes both the bitter cold of their homeland and that uncertain and uneasy period of the Soviet Union just before its inevitable collapse.
The Russian post punk trio have released nine albums, several EPs and more than 10 standalone singles, which the band has supported with tour stops at over 40 European cities. They’ve also made stops across the major international festival circuit with stops at Боль in Russia, Kalabalik in Sweden, and Plartforma in Lithuania. And adding to a growing profile globally, the band’s music has been added to over 16,000 listener-made Spotify playlists, as well as seeing various adds on Apple Music to playlists like Inspired By and New Russian Alternative.
Ploho’s 10th album Почва is slated for an August 30, 2024 release through Artoffact Records. Почва will feature the previously released “Я буду жить для тебя,” and the album’s latest single “Гештальт.” “Гештальт,” is a brooding bit of post-punk anchored around eerily atmospheric synths, shimmering and reverb-soaked guitar, angular bass lines and industrial clatter serving as an icy bed for Uzakhov’s sonorous and dramatic baritone. While seemingly channeling 4AD Records heyday and Japanese Whispers-era The Cure, the new single continues a run of sociopolitically incisive material that comments on contemporary issues and concerns.
“‘Гештальт (Gestalt)’ is a song about the inevitable consequences of karma and the universe’s reaction to humanity’s actions,” the band explains. “We aimed to convey the simplicity of this phenomenon, illustrating how effortlessly things can disappear if the elements desire it. This is why the video was filmed in an anti-capitalist style, symbolizing the collapse of capitalism, the foundation of modern human society.”
Throwback: Happy 68th Birthday, Richard Butler!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates The Psychedelic Furs’ and Love Spit Love’s Richard Butler’s 68th birthday.
New Video: French Post-Punk Outfit Isolation Shares Brooding and Uneasy “Sanism”
With their Eliott Selwood-produced debut EP Creature Lies, the Rouen/Paris-based indie outfit Isolation — We Hate You Please Die‘s former frontman Raphaël Balzary, Julien, Lounès and Cheap Teen‘s Cyprien — have crafted material that draws from punk, pop, garage rock and post-punk. Thematically, the EP’s material takes a look at society’s perception of mental illness and the loneliness, ostracizing that can often result from suffering from mental illness.
Creature Lies EP‘s latest single “Sanism” is a sleek and brooding synthesis of post-punk, New Wave, goth and shoegaze anchored around angular guitar stabs, swirling synth textures paired with Balzary’s desperate howls. The song captures a narrator desperately trying to keep it together in a mad, mad, mad world — out of fear of reprisal, retribution and recrimination.
The accompanying video features still photos of the band, of someone on a medicine routine while on our stitched together to create a glitchy and unsettling bit of animation.
Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Siouxsie Sioux!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Sixousie Sioux’s 67th birthday.
Acclaimed British post-punk outfit THE THE was founded by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Johnson back in 1979 and through various iterations and configurations, Johnson and his collaborators have developed a sound and approach that seems to inhabit its own difficult to define genre: music of long shadows, high hopes, channeled anger, feverish passions and sweetly disturbing poignancy that meshes elements of pop, rock, blues, folk and soul among others while spanning alienated electronics to twisted cinematic soundtracks, guitar tumbling swing to crimson ballads, rants and prayers to diaries and hymns.
Over the course of their 45 year history, Johnson and company have released only five full-length albums of original material, 1983’s Soul Mining, 1986’s Infected, 1989’s Mind Bomb, 1993’s Dusk and 2000’s NakedSelf. Having a long-held reputation for being unpredictable, the band has also tackled covers, such as 1995’s Hanky Panky; film soundtracks, including 2009’s Tony, 2010’s Moonbug, 2014’s Hyena and 2019’s Muscle; art installations, a the Radio Cinéola podcast series; 2017’s moving, 84 minute documentary/multimedia project The Inertia Variations and various book publications including 2018’s Matt Johnson biography Long Shadows, High Hopes: The Life and Times of Matt Johnson & THE THE.
2017’s The Inertia Variations took inspiration from British poet John Tottenham’s 2005 book of the same name — particularly the idea of “brooding, abstraction and evasion” getting in the way of the creative process. The Inertia Variations eventually resulted in not just the documentary, but also the Radio Cinéola Trilogy triple album box set.
At the end of The Inertia Variations documentary, Johnson was filmed performing a new song live in his studio, “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” an energy to his older brother Andrew Johnson, an artist professionally known as Andy Dog, who died in 2016. “It was not an easy song to write,” he says. “That was the first time I’d sung in many years. I enjoyed it but found it very emotional.”
The experience prompted Johnson to revive THE THE as a live band — and it lead to the sold-out 2018 The Comeback Special world tour. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of the accompanying live film and album until 2021. And of course, the pandemic also delayed the intended start on the writing and recording of first THE THE album in almost 25 years, Ensoulment. Instead, Johnson and company released a series of 7 inch singles that started with 2017’s “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” 2020’s “I WANT 2 B U,” and last year’s “$1 ONE VOTE!”
The 12-song Ensoulment is slated for a September 6, 2024 release through Cinéola/earMUSIC. The album reportedly contains echoes of the acclaimed British outfit’s multifaceted and lengthy musical past, however, it’s richly representative of the mercurial band’s here and now. The album continues Johnson’s long-held reputation for being unafraid to tackle the inherent emotional complexity of the human condition — in particular, intimacy in an age of alienation; democracy in a post-truth age; empire and vassalage; the seemingly inexorable rise of AI and more. And yet, the album is rooted in hope. “It’s vital to be hopeful,” Johnson states. “And I hope people get out of the album what we put into it. It was created under very happy circumstances, with a great vibe amongst the band and all the people that worked on it. There was a lot of thought, a lot of work, a lot of love, a lot of laughter!”
The album’s material were further refined in rehearsals, just before a six-day recording sessions at Bath, UK-based Real World Studios, where Johnson was joined by long-standing band members James Ellen (bass), DC Collard (keys), Earl Harvin (drums) and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar). The album also marks the return of co-producer and engineer Warne Livesey, who worked with the band on Infected and Mind Bomb. The album also features contributions from Gillian Glover (backing vocals), Terry Edwards (horns), Sonya Cullingford (fiddle) and Danny Cummings (percussion).
Ensoulment’s first single, the Matt Johnson and Barrie Cadogan co-written “Cognitive Dissident,” a brooding and slinky number, anchored around a strutting bass line, bursts of squiggling, reverb-soaked guitar, Johnson’s breathy speak-singing delivery, sultry cooing from Gillian Glover, atmospheric electronics, skittering percussion paired with an equally slinky and remarkably catchy hook. Thematically, the song captures the madly topsy-turvy Orwellian nature of modern life with an uncanny and unsettling attention to detail.
THE THE tour dates
8/21 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge, England SOLD OUT
8/22 – The Waterfront Norwich – Norwich, England SOLD OUT
8/23 – Picturedrome – Holmfirth, England SOLD OUT
8/25 – National Museum Of Ireland – Dublin, Ireland
9/10 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, Norway
9/11 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, Norway SOLD OUT
9/13 – Filadelfia – Stockholm, Sweden
9/14 – Store Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark SOLD OUT
9/15 – Store Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark SOLD OUT
9/17 – Huxleys – Berlin, Germany
9/18 – Carlswerk Victoria – Köln, Germany
9/19 – Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, Belgium SOLD OUT
9/21 – De Roma – Antwerp, Belgium SOLD OUT
9/22 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands SOLD OUT
9/23 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands SOLD OUT
9/25 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, Scotland SOLD OUT
9/27 – The Civic At The Halls – Wolverhampton, England
9/28 – Alexandra Palace – London, England SOLD OUT
9/30 – O2 Apollo – Manchester, England SOLD OUT
10/1 – O2 Academy Brixton – London, England
10/11 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
10/12 – Durham Performing Arts – Durham, NC
10/14 – The Anthem – Washington, DC
10/15 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
10/17 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY
10/19 – Orpheum Theatre – Boston, MA
10/20 – MTELUS – Montreal, QC
10/22 – Massey Hall – Toronto, ON
10/23 – Masonic Cathedral Theatre – Detroit, MI
10/25 – The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
10/26 – Palace Theatre – St. Paul, MN
10/29 – Mission Ballroom – Denver, CO
10/30 – Eccles Theater – Salt Lake City, UT
11/2 – Paramount Theatre – Seattle, WA
11/3 – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
11/4 – Orpheum – Vancouver, BC
11/7 – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
11/8 – Shrine Auditorium – Los Angeles, CA
11/14 – Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre – Auckland, New Zealand SOLD OUT
11/16 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia SOLD OUT
11/17 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
11/18 – Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide, Australia
11/21 – Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
11/22 – Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
11/23 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia SOLD OUT
11/24 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia
11/27 – Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Australia
New Video: Liz Lamere Says Punchy and Defiant “Vibration”
Liz Lamere is a New York-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, who has had a lengthy career playing drums in several local punk bands — and famously for collaborating with her late partner, the legendary Alan Vega on his solo work for the better part of three decades.
Back in 2022, Lamere finally stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her full-length debut, Keep It Alive. Written and performed entirely by Lamere, Keep It Alive was recorded in the Lower Manhattan apartment she shared with Vega during COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns — and in the same space where the Suicide frontman constructed his light sculptures. Keeping it a family affair, the album was engineered by Vega and Lamere’s son, Dante Vega Lamere. Keep It Alive was co-produced by Lamere and The Vacant Lots‘ Jared Artaud.
“There’s something very magical about creating music in the same environment where Alan created his visual art,” Liz Lamere says in press notes. “His energy is pervasive and is inevitably infused in the recordings.” She continues “ We were living through unprecedented times and Keep It Alive took adversity and uncertainty and turned it into a message of resilience and empowerment.”
The album’s material coursed with the bold and defiant energy that motivated a young Lamere through her early double life as a Wall Street lawyer by day and a downtown New York musician, before she met and fell in love with Vega. Her relationship with Vega led to her becoming his manager, creative foil and keyboardist on his solo work including albums like Deuce Avenue, Power On To Zero Hour, New Raceion, Dugong Prang, 2007, Station and IT, as well as the posthumously released, lost album Mutator, which led to the Vega Vault, which she curates with Jared Artaud.
After Vega’s death in July 2016, Lamere found it cathartic to write down thoughts and observations in notebooks. Simultaneously, she and Artaud had started working together on overseeing the mastering of IT and the production and mixing of Mutator. During this very busy period, the pair discussed working together on her own solo material.
Keep It Alive is a homage to a song on her late husband’s New Raceion that has a deep and significant meaning for her. It was one of the key lines she would chant on stage, becoming a staple of their live performances together. The main theme and vision of the album is preserving your own inner fire. “Alan always encouraged me to make my own music, and I’ve waited until the time was right as I’ve been dedicated to preserving Alan’s vision and building his legacy,” Lamere says.
Lamere’s sophomore effort, One Never Knows is slated for a June 14, 2024 release through In The Red Records. Much like its immediate predecessor, the album’s material is dedicated to her late partner Alan Vega and sees her continuing a minimalist approach to music that would be clearly in line with the aesthetic that she hoped Vega develop and refine since the late 1980s.
The Jared Artaud co-produced One Never Knows sees Lamere teaming up yet again with her and Vega’s son Dante Vega Lamere and was recorded in their Dujang Prang NYC home studio surrounded by Vega’s spectacular light sculptures. The album’s material was mixed and mastered by Ted Young and Josh Bonati.
The album continues a run of material charged with Lamere’s genre-defying and boundless sonic energy and poetically driven lyrics. Each song balanced the defiant lust for life that motivated the New York-based artist’s early double life as a high-end Wall Street lawyer and Downtown New York punk scene drummer,.who then met Vega and performed, wrote and toured internationally with the post-punk legend from 1985 until his death in 2016. Since Vega’s death, Lamere and Artaud have co-produced two Vega posthumously released Vega album from the vast Vega Vault archives, 2021’s Mutator and the soon-to-be released Insurrection, which will also be released through In The Red Records.
Throughout Vega’s life, the Suicide frontman encouraged Lamere to create her own music. After his death, she began writing as a form of catharsis, which became the inspirational bedrock behind her solo work. “At the end of Alan’s life, he was using the expression ‘one never knows’ to underscore that we don’t know how much time we have in this realm or where this journey will lead us,” Lamere says. “It was a phrase that had resonated so much for me. Alan taught me to go bravely into the unknown; to be fully present in the moment and deeply explore what is already here.”
Thematically, the album as Lamere says . . . “touches on universal themes and variations on those ideas that are very personal to me. I hope it will also resonate with listeners. Knowing we never fully know, accepting the certainty of uncertainty and striving to keep learning and growing is incredibly freeing.”
One Never Know‘s first single “Vibration” is anchored around a motorik-like pulse paired with glistening synth arpeggios, remarkably catchy hooks and Lamere’s punchily upbeat and defiant delivery. “Vibration is about personal empowerment,” Lamere explains. “The pulse represents our life force and the power that comes from within. It’s about commanding that force and manifesting what we want to see in the mirror’s reflection. It’s about believing until the impossible becomes the probable.”
Directed by filmmaker and photographer Jasmine Hirst, the accompanying video captures Lamere dancing to the song with movements that are both calm and violent and harsh, calling back to her longtime love of boxing. “The video intentionally captures the expressions of one’s personal movements within the song,” Lamere says. “Movements that are both poetically calm and violently harsh are juxtaposed to transform into various stages of oneself and the subliminal influences that are contained within the song. The video was shot by Jasmine Hirst in one day in New York City.”
New Audio: Copenhagen’s Taxidermy Shares Urgent and Uneasy “Today”
Copenhagen-based experimental noise/post-punk outfit Taxidermy — Osvald Reinhold (vocals, guitar), Toke Brejning Frederiksen (guitar), Joachim Lorch-Schierning (bass) and Johan Knutz Haavik (drums) — have quickly established a sound that draws from math rock, No Wave, post-hardcore and emo among a list of others.
Thematically, the Danish quartet’s work sees them exploring the unease and disquiet of contemporary existence through delving into the cryptic and disorientating, the claustrophobic and the surreal. Crafting material anchored around unpredictable arrangements, raw and visceral textures, broad dynamic range and intense emotional delivery, the members of the Copenhagen-based outfit actively challenges the listener to confront the discomfort of the unknown.
The Copenhagen-based quartet’s forthcoming EP Coin will feature the previously released “Rot,” a slow-burning bit of noisy post-punk that evokes the narrator’s sanity fraying at its edges with the song being built around an arrangement of intricate layers of dissonant guitars, swirling feedback and a propulsive rhythm section serving as an uneasy and stormy bed for Reinhold’s desperate wailing. Sonically, seeming to channel Disappears/FACS, as well as Radiohead and The Smile, “Rot” not only captures a narrator who’s drowning in their own vacillating and self-flagellating doubt and hatred, but one who does so in a world that’s mad and cruel to him, as he is to himself.
Coin EP’s second and latest single “Today” features an uneasy and intense slab of post punk-meets noise rock that seemingly pairs angular and fragmented Entertainment-era Gang of Four-like groove with the sort of feedback-driven skronk and squeal reminiscent of Nirvana and Sonic Youth with frenetic and propulsive drumming. Reinhold’s desperately wailing vocal floats uneasy over the hypnotic, machine-like arrangement, seeming to rage against a brutal and unceasingly mad world.
New Video: Nashville’s Chapel of Roses Shares Slinky “Cast Out to Sea”
Nashville-based post punk outfit Chapel of Roses — Chris E. Kelley (vocal, guitar), Jim T. Graham (pedal steel), Preach Rutherford (bass), Colin Baker (drums) — can trace their origins back to the mid 1980s.
Their single “Chapel of Roses” received regular airplay on the local college radio station WRVU. And while the band’s members were just in high school, they toured for a bit including opening for Gene Loves Jezebel before breaking up. However, the members of the Nashville-based quartet continued to write and record music in a number of different projects throughout the years.
The band’s Chris Kelley spent the better part of the past two decades living overseas. But right before the pandemic, he returned to Nashville, and the the members of quartet started making music again.
The Nashville-based outfit’s latest single, “Cast Out to Sea” features backing vocals from Brittany Hadley. Anchored around a sinuous and slinky bass line, angular guitar stabs, driving four-on-the-floor and swirling reverb-soaked pedal steel serving as a brooding and sultry bed for Kelley’s yearning delivery and remarkably soulful catchy hooks with backing vocalist Brittany Hadley. And while the band cites Velvet Underground, Big Star, Ride, Joy Division, New Order as influences on their sound, “Cast Out to Sea” seems to channel Primal Scream and Britpop.
The accompanying, slickly edited video features the band performing the song in front of roving spotlight.
New Video: Shonali Shares Mischievous, Dance Floor Friendly Bop “Up All Night”
Shonali Bhowmik is a Nashville-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, actor, comedian, filmmaker, lawyer and writer, whose musical roots developed in Nashville, where she began making music on an 8-track recorder with her childhood best friend Michelle Dubois in Ultrababyfat, an act that opened for the likes of Pavement and PJ Harvey while she was in law school.
She was pulled into the NYC comedy scene by her close friend David Cross after touring with him during his Let America Laugh tour. Since then, she started the groundbreaking and influential comedy collective Variety Shac alongside Chelsea Peretti, Heather Lawless and Andrea Rosen, and she was the host of The Shac’s popular Upright Citizen’s Brigade live show. Bhowmik has also worked with renowned comedians like Fred Armisen, John Early, John Roberts, Nimesh Patel, Dave Hill, Wyatt Cenac, and Amy Poehler. She currently released comedy albums by rising comedians on her own label Little Lamb Recordings. And lastly, she co-shots her own live variety show podcast series We Don’t Know, which showcases comedians, artists and musicians.
Throughout her lengthy music career, Bhowmik has released nine albums with Ultrababyfat, including three with her current band Tigers and Monkeys and her 2011 solo debut, 100 Oaks Revival. The Nashville-born, New York-based artist steps back out into the spotlight again as a solo artist with her long-awaited sophomore album One Machine At A Time.
Slated for a July 26, 2024 release through Little Lamb Recordings, One Machine At A Time reportedly sees Bhowmik touting her clever songcraft and evocative lyrics while culminating in genre-bending material that feels ubiquitous yet unique to her own experience as an Indian-American woman from Nashville. The album’s songs playfully explore and mesh different genres and eras but within a cohesive, carefully curated musical universe — and overall, a well-rounded album.
The strength and bravery of Bhowmik’s artist drive is rooted in the steadfast support of her mother and father, professors who immigrated to the States and constantly encouraged her musical and creative efforts. For her, that support is a significant influence on why her music is so unabashedly emotional and fearless.
The forthcoming album sees Bhowmik honoring her father Dr, Dilip Kumar Bhowmik, who recently passed away after a full life of kindness, humor and academic achievement. The album’s cover art, a photo of a young Shonali, taken by her father demonstrates their love and lasting connection. That love and spark of her father’s life continues to fuel her artistic life. Now, she’s able to say “Farewell, sweet one,” while showing how, in the face of loss, how her delicate spark shines on.
For the album, the Nashville-born, New York-based artist wrote a personal statement on the album, which I’m including below:
“A year to-the-date, after losing my father in 2022, I came to the realization I had to share my music with the world again. My dad always encouraged me to take risks, to be true to myself and to ‘go for it.’ In an effort to embrace his wisdom, there was little thinking to be done; I went for it. Once I made the decision to record a new full-length release everything came together quickly. I had a stockpile of demos recorded on my GarageBand which I suddenly realized were worth sharing with the world. I left New York City to go record in Atlanta, Georgia with my OG musical family, friends with whom I formally started my musical career. In July 2023 in Peoplestown, Georgia, I sat with my insanely talented producer friend Dan Dixon, drummer Darren Dodd (along with other talented friends K. Michelle DuBois, Shannon Wright, and Jeff Holt) and recorded my album.
The result of our therapeutic time together is One Machine At A Time, out July 26, an album which combines aspects of all the music I am inspired by – indie rock, soul, psychedelic and retro sounds of the 70s, 80s, and 90s along with the folk singer-songwriter and country influences of my time growing up in Nashville, Tennessee. It takes you on a journey through many genres.
“One of my BFF’s asked his 24-year-old nephew to listen… to which he said “this is really fucking good. It’s like a different genre every song.” Another one of my favorite quotes comes from a friend who said “there’s something retro feeling about these songs that tug on my heart strings in the best way…without feeling retro or dated, if that makes any sense.
As the daughter of Indian professors who immigrated to the United States during the Civil Rights Movement and a woman who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, I have always been drawn to stories that amplify voices minimized by mainstream media outlets – so here I am pushing myself to be louder and prouder. I considered sharing my music under a pseudonym, but realized that this album reflects my personal journey – pondering the meaning of our lives (including past loves), the state of our world, where love of machines has taken over love for each other, and the celebration and difficulty of life.
My name is Shonali (pronounced Show-nalley.) I am a southern girl with Indian parents, who has been recording my songs on a tape recorder since childhood. My first doll was named Johnny Cash. My goal is connection – our goal should be connection – and I continue to be unable to resist the need to share my voice. It’s my hope that this album fills in the gaps musically, sonically and emotionally for those who feel like they are watching life from the outside in.”
One Machine At A Time‘s latest single “Up All Night” is a disco pop-tinged bit of post punk anchored around squiggling guitar stabs, oscillating synths, propulsive polyrhythm and a sinuous bass line. The new single sonically channels a slick synthesis of Talking Heads “Stay Up Late,” Entertainment-era Gang of Four and Stevie Nicks‘ “Stand Back” but while evoking a mischievous coquettishness and achingly earnest yearning. The song also showcases Bhowmik’s uncanny knack for crafting ridiculously catchy hooks and larger-than-life, Karen O-like delivery.
Directed by Eleanore Pienta, the accompanying video is a much-needed joy bomb that follows Bhowmik letting loose and getting down while wearing a sparkly top, blue pants and neon green shoes and singing to the song. The video captures an unabashedly goofy and fun-loving spirit — while pointing out something we all do in our own homes, even if it’s singing wildly off-key.
Bhowmik writes on the video:
“At this point, I’m on a mission to continue to make every aspect of sharing this album a celebratory occasion. So asking Eleanore Pienta who directed the video for ‘Up All Night’ was a no brainer. She is the definition of celebration! She’s an actor, director, comedian, dancer, performance artist – yeah – we are all multi-hyphenates. She and I are long time friends who initially met through the comedy world. She’s a member of the incredible dance group Cocoon Central Dance Team (along with Sunita Mani and Tallie Medel.) I was especially blown away by watching one of her one-woman shows at Under St. Marks years ago – in which she’d shared some of her brilliantly kooky films. Our heads came together simultaneously regarding me just letting GOOOOO for this video! We are soul sisters when it comes to silly dancing. So we spent an afternoon at Wyckoff Windows Studios in Brooklyn with the goal of having a blast and our mission was accomplished. You can’t help but feel the joy of Shonali and Eleanore in this new video. Honestly, if you don’t – what’s going on with you? Ha!”
New Video: Mayflower Madame Shares Brooding and Anthemic “A Foretold Ecstasy”
Rising Oslo-based post-punk outfit Mayflower Madame — Trond Fagernes (vocals, guitar, bass) and Ola J. Kyrkjeeide (drums) along with Kenneth Eknes (synths), who joins the band in the studio — can trace their origins back to 2011. Their hazy and smoky sound was conceived and inspired by the band’s gritty surroundings: Their first rehearsal space was a desolate, industrial building, which they shared with a local carwash company. After their formation, they quickly recorded a four-track demo, which led to the band being named “Unsigned Band of the Week” on one of Norway’s biggest radio stations.
Shortly after their four-track demo, the band then spent the next few years touring and playing shows across Scandinavia, carefully honing their sound along the way. The band’s full-length debut, 2016’s eight track Observed in a Dream was brooding and icy psych rock rooted in dark romanticism. Based on the success of their full-length debut, the Oslo-based outfit toured across North America and Europe to support the album.
Building upon a growing profile nationally and internationally, the Norwegian band released, the four-song Premonition EP, which they supposed with more touring, including stops across the European festival circuit. Because of the band’s relentless touring they’ve shared stages with an impressive and growing array of artists including Killing Joke, Moon Duo, Night Beats, Psychic Ills, Froth, The Underground Youth, Crocodiles, Cosmonauts and La Femme.
The Norwegian JOVM mainstays’ sophomore album, 2020’s Prepared for a Nightmare saw the band further developing a blend of psych-noir and post with elements of shoegaze and noise rock — and featured “Vultures” “Swallow” and “Sacred Core,” tracks that to my ears, channeled The Black Angels and Chain of Flowers.
Since the release of Prepared for a Nightmare, the Oslo-based JOVM mainstays have been busy: They spent 2022 touring across the UK and Europe. And last year, they released Prepared for a Nightmare Deluxe, which featured five previously unreleased tracks from the album’s recording sessions while working on new material.
Mayflower Madame’s highly-anticipated third album is slated for release later this year digitally through Norwegian label Night Cult Records, on CD through French label Icy Cold Records and on vinyl through French label Only Lovers Records and British label Up In Her Room. The album was mixed by renowned Italian engineer Maurizio Baggio, who has worked with the likes of The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher and JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots.
The forthcoming album’s first single “A Foretold Ecstasy” sees the band refining their sound: The song is built around a forceful, motorik-like pulse, atmospheric synths, reverb-drenched shimmering guitar stabs and anthemic hooks and choruses serving as post-punk-inspired soundscape for Trond Fagernes’ yearning and uneasy delivery. The result is a song that simultaneously feels dark, brooding and somehow euphoric.
The band’s Fagernes explains that the song is about “constantly chasing ome elation or intoxicating sensation to relieve one’s inner turmoil, while still being aware that it’s just a passing state followed by an inevitable downfall.”
The accompanying video features a trippy array of images that pulse and undulate with the song’s relentless motorik-like groove.
Throwback: Happy Belated 65th Birthday, Ian McCullouch!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Echo and The Bunnymen’s Ian McCullouch’s 65th birthday.
