Tag: post punk

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: West Wickhams Share Brooding and Shimmering “The Conformist”

Originally formed in Tresco, the second biggest island of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, UK, an island famously known as “The Island of Lost Souls,” and now currently based in Richmond, UK, the self-described psychedelic, garage noir duo West Wickhams — Jon Othello and Elle Flores — named their project after an imagined rival gang to British punk style icons The Bromley Contingent, a group who followed Sex Pistols and whose style was largely influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music. 

Their overall aesthetic is influenced by a wide range of goth and horror sources including the work of Mary Shelley, Whitby Abbey, Edgar Allan Poe, Andy Warhol, abstract painting, film noir and more. 

Back in 2022, the duo released two EPs, their debut EP Consider Her Way, which featured the brooding, The Cure-meets-Cocteau Twins-like “Consider Her Way.” They quickly followed up with their sophomore EP Magenta, which featured the slick The Cure-meets-New Order-like “This Is a Hang Up,” one of the more dance-floor friendly tracks of their growing catalog.

The British outfit start 2024 with the recently released effort, Vivre Sa Vie. The album’s latest single “The Conformist” continues a run of material clearly indebted to 80s goth and post-punk — but with chiming percussion, which adds a subtle bit of bright beauty to the generally dark, brooding air.

“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity,” the duo say of their latest single.

The accompanying video is based among edited stock footage of two dangers — rendered in stark and trippy negative, as though they’re dancing amongst the cosmos.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seattle’s Weep Wave Shares Anthemic Meditation on Self-Evolution

Seattle-based post-punk outfit Weep Wave released their full-length debut, 2019’s S.A.D. to critical praise from KEXP, Seattle Music Insider, Raised by Cassettes and Dan’s Tunes among others.

In the five years since S.A.D.’s release, the band has been rather busy: They’ve gone through a lineup change, which has resulted in their current lineup: Dylan Fuentes (vocals, guitar), Mike Hubbard (drums, synth) and Mitch Midkiff (bass). They’ve released an EP and a handful of singles, one which was featured as KEXP’s Song of the Day that have gradually revealed an evolving and decided change in sonic direction. The band has shared stages with a handful of acclaimed and renowned acts including JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos, Blackwater Holylight, Gustaf, The Bobby Lees, Godcaster, Habibi, Reignwolf and Spirit Mother among others. They’ve made the rounds of the local and regional festival circuit, playing sets at Treefort Music Festival, Capitol Hill Block Party, South Sound Block Party and Off Beat Music Fest. And they’ve done multiple tours up and down the West Coast — and have played a few times here in NYC.

Slated for an April 5, 2024 release through Corporat Records, the 11-song Dylan Wall-produced sophomore album Speck was recorded at Seattle’s 7 Hills Studios and reportedly sees the trio embarking on a kaleidoscopic sonic odyssey through the diverse array of genres they proudly call home. Thematically Fuentes’ lyrics oscillate between two contrasting realms: outward to explore the effects of the perils of capitalism and climate change — and inward, to scrutinize the self, in particular dissecting the ego and self-identity.

Speck‘s first single is the Low Praise-meets-grunge-like “Rebirth Mantra.” Built around a pummeling mosh pit friendly riff, thunderous drumming and a supple yet propulsive bass line within a classic, alternating loud-quiet-loud song structure, “Rebirth Mantra,” captures Fuentes at his most introspective and neurotic, with the song’s narrator expressing his fears of falling into the same unhelpful — and perhaps even destructive — patterns that led to repeated failure and frustration. The song’s narrator envisions a transformed, evolved version of himself, a much more caring, courageous and empathetic self. Of course, are we able and willing to change and evolve? Or are we too stubborn, too blind to do what’s necessary to better ourselves?

 “‘Rebirth Mantra’ is a song about what kind of person you want to be if you had a chance to start things over again. A big theme in the album is that everything repeats and tries to manifest the version of life that you want to actually want to live within these cycles. Going into the studio, we didn’t expect this song to turn out to be one of the strongest songs on the album.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Don’t Get Lemon Shares Ironic “Say Something New For Once”

Currently split between Austin and Houston, Don’t Get Lemon — Austin Curtis (vocals), Bryan Walters (bass, percussion) and Nick Ross (synth, guitar, drum programming) — is a dance pop outfit with a glam-leaning, synth-driven sound that draws from 70s Berlin and 80s Manchester.

Don’t Get Lemon’s forthcoming sophomore album Have Some Shame is slated for an April 23, 2024 release through á La Carte Records. The nine-song album, which clocks in at 37 minutes reportedly sees the trio flittering between synth pop and stomping glam rock and crafting a sound that the band dubs heatwave. Have Some Shame‘s latest single “Say Something New For Once” is a hook-driven, decidedly 80s inspired bop built around glistening synths, angular guitars, skittering four-on-the-flour and icily delivered vocals and a New Order-like guitar solo. While being an anaemic bop, the trio explains that the song is an ironic commentary on the process of songwriting. “Most bands have the opportunity to say something unique about their lives but instead get lost in trivial cliché. Does this song say anything new to you? Is it supposed to?”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Whispering Sons Share Anthemic and Hook Driven “Walking, Flying”

Slated for a February 23, 2024 release through their longtime label home [PIAS] Recordings, the acclaimed Belgian post-punk outfit Whispering Sons‘ third album, The Great Calm reportedly represents both a reimagining and a rethinking that has produced a collection of songs that remain defiantly and uniquely true to the band.

First, the band went through a lineup reshuffle: The band’s original drummer Sanders Pelsmaekers had to drop out of playing music after suffering nerve danger. He took on the role of the band’s tour manager in the interim — but he has returned, taking up synth. Bassist Tuur Vandeborne has moved over to drums, and the band’s long-term engineer, and an experienced producer in his own right, Bert Vliegen has joined on bass. And while guitarist and songwriter Kobe Lijnen and frontperson and lyricist Fenne Kuppens have retained their roles, they have adapted and evolved for the album’s creative and recording processes.

From the perspective of an outsider, it may seem that the Belgian post-punk outfit was in upheaval but for the band, they believe that these changing currents have led them to an artistic place that feels comfortably their own. “I think the most important thing about us is that we met as a group of friends and started the band,” Whispering Sons’ Kuppens says. “This is something that came out of a love for music and an eagerness to play together. And now we’re 10 years further. Not that much has really changed. The dynamics are always the same. We’re very close to each other, we’re very good friends, so to switch things around was easy.” 

The album’s creation felt different in a way that has pleased and inspired its creators. With Vliegen’s production credentials and experience to call on, the band’s Lijnen was able to provide more fully formed pictures of potential new songs, rather than musical sketches that would be gradually fleshed out. “Before, the songs were finished in my head, but not in a way the group could grasp the full meaning of the idea,” the band’s Lijnen explains. “This time Bert and I worked on demos for a couple of months before we sent them to the rest of the band. Then Fenne could start writing lyrics.

A native Flemish and Dutch speaker (“although speaking isn’t my forte,” she suggests bashfully),” a study of literature at universally led Kuppens to adopt English as her songwriting tongue. “I’m not really a writer, per se, I find the idea of getting your thoughts onto paper really hard,” she confesses. “It can be a big struggle for me, but I start writing when I’ve got a deadline or something I have to do like a song, so I only write for the band really.” 

However, for Kuppens, the lyric writing process for The Great Calm proved to be not quite the expected struggle. With Lijnen’s fleshed out demos offering a strong and clear vision for the album’s overall sound, with a focus on of energetic guitars, Kuppens found herself immediately connected to the music. “It was really good to have these demos in a more mature form because it created an atmospheric whole, so it was easier for me to write lyrics,” Kuppens reveals. “I knew what Kobe’s songs were about straightaway, so the themes of my lyrics really clicked into the vibe of the music. The first song I wrote words for was ‘Cold City,’ and it was very clear from the start that it takes place in winter, immediately it had that sort of atmosphere around it. The album really started from there.” 

Encouragement came from the work of American poet Louise Glück. “The funny thing was that when I finished that first song, I took up a book of poetry by Louise Glück and there were exactly the same themes and images in those poems,” recalls Kuppens. “I was like, ‘this can’t be a coincidence’ so I started exploring that and I created a framework, a story for the whole record. Once I had a story figured out, I let go of it because I felt it also limited the writing, you don’t want to get stuck within a framework. But once I got through that process the ideas for each song just became very clear.” 

Recorded in four weeks — two at Eindhoven, The Netherlands-based Audioworkx before being finished at the start of last year, using a homemade set-up on Vlieland, a small Dutch island, just off the North Sea Coast, the power, beauty and energy of the surroundings is etched through the heart of the album’s material.

Recorded in four weeks – two in the Audioworkx studio near Eindhoven, Holland, before being finished at the start of 2023 using a homemade set-up on Vlieland, a small Dutch island just off the North Sea coast – the power, energy and beauty behind The Great Calm’s making is etched through the heart of each of its 12 songs. 

The creative connection to Glück went deeper, with the poet’s work inadvertently helping to name the album. “There was just one verse where she wrote about the great calm and I was like, ‘wow!’ It felt very cinematic,” Kuppens adds. “I like the sense of grandeur in a phrase like ‘The Great Calm.’ It just really describes what the characters in the songs are striving for, this sense of peace and calmness, but it’s also something that’s probably non-existent too because it sounds too much like a dream. It’s just too big a concept and I find that scale funny but in a serious way. So it fits the album because everything is about moving forward. The record is more hopeful, there’s more beauty in it. Our last album was very dark and always very destructive. I guess this one is still a bit destructive, but there’s hope in that destruction.” 

The Great Calm‘s last pre-release single “Walking, Flying,” may arguably be among the most optimistic, hopeful track of their growing catalog. Built around a forceful motorik groove, “Walking, Flying” features glistening bursts of synths, slashing guitars that carry the song’s verses until a rousingly anthemic chorus, perhaps one of the most anthemic choruses the band has ever recorded. The track sees the band lingering on a repetitive series of musical and lyrical ideas. Lyrically, the song’s narrator focuses on observing a slow-burning sense of contentedness — and the realization that there is beauty to be seen and experienced amidst the shit and muck.

“‘Walking, Flying’ was the first song we tried out live while still in the process of writing the album”, Kuppens explains, “as a result, it not only became a band’s favorite to perform, but also served as a reference point for the rest of the record.” 

Directed by Heleen Declercq, the incredibly cinematic visual for “Walking, Flying” follows the band’s Kuppens driving behind a collection of folks carrying pipes and piping towards a construction site of some sort, where it’ll be used to be build scaffolding. We see people pulling and handing over piping to someone else while they expressively dance and gesture before leaning against the structure they’ve built.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brindisi, Italy-based post punk quartet Moonoises formed back in 2019. And since their formation, they’ve developed a sound that draws from death rock, post punk, classic doom metal and contemporary psychedelia to create something that they believe defies easy categorization.

Building upon the success of their critically applauded debut EP, Chasm, the Italian post-punk outfit’s full-length debut SHE– THE VOID will be released through dark music label These Hands Melt.

SHE — THE VOID ‘s latest single “Black Beyond” is a brooding and angular bit of post-punk that recalls Turn On The Bright Lights-era Interpol but much more goth and harder.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 62nd Birthday, Robin Guthrie!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie’s 62nd birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: OWLS Shares Abrasive and Uneasy “Bury Me”

OWLS is a rising Longford, Ireland-based producer, who crafts dark and brooding songs paring driving rhythms and grooves, dynamic vocals and abrasive textures. Sonically, his material draws largely from post-punk, techno and synth pop — or as he describes them “songs for the night, for the moon and its shadows” and “dark tunes you can dance to.” Thematically, his work focuses on the uneasy balance between love and brutality.

2023 has been a busy year for the Irish producer: He has made the rounds of the national, summer festival circuit. He has played headlining shows in Dublin — and he has performed at a slew of underground events throughout the country. He closes out the year with “Bury Me” a broody and uneasy mix of industrial and post punk built around relentless, twitter and woofer rattling, skittering beats and whirring and wobbling synths and bursts of angular guitar paired with the Irish producer’s furious howls.

Lyrically and thematically, the song sees its narrator on a tumultuous dance between life and death, hope and despair with an uneasy, unvarnished honesty.

Directed and shot by Nathan Sheridan in Longford, Ireland, the video features the Irish producer in a dilapidated and abandoned school building, a brown Ford Cortina, a woman clad in leather burying an eggplant in the woods and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 49th Birthday, Nick Zinner!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner’s 49th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: House of Light Share Anthemic “NYC”

Since the release of their full-length debut, 2017’s Nervous System, rising post punk outfit House of Light have been busy: They’ve toured across three continents, opening for the likes of Pete Doherty, Lydia Lunch, The Drones and others. And in an interview by The Smiths‘ Andy Rourke, the band was described as “evoking the romanticism of the 80s & darker turn of the 90s.”

Building upon a growing profile within the global post punk scene, the Aussie band’s sophomore album 21st Century Prayer was released earlier this year. Sonically, the album is a sleek, dark and hypnotic blend of shoegaze and post punk while further cementing their reputation for blending elements of the 80s, 90s and today. “This album is a reflection of our journey – it’s a nod to the past, a recognition of the present, and a step into the future,” the Aussie outfit explains. “We’re thrilled to share this with the world.”

21st Century Prayer‘s latest single “NYC” is a breakneck, post punk anthem built around an alternating quiet-loud-quiet song structure featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, plaintive vocals, swirling shoegazer-like guitar textures paired with rousing, shout-along worthy hooks and choruses. Sonically, “NYC” brings back found members of the 00s NYC scene — in particular, Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics-era Interpol, The Black Magic Show-era Elefant but with a sleek, contemporary sheen.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: New Jersey’s Stare Away Shares 80s Inspired “My Cathedral”

Stare Away is a brand new post-punk-inspired outfit that can trace its origins to the amicable breakup of Night Gallery earlier this year: During Night Gallery’s three year run, the band released a handful of singles that gained some attention in the post-punk scene. That led to shows with fellow New Jersey-based bands The Happy Fits, Phoneboy, and The Spins, which they followed up with their full-length debut, last year’s Caught Hiding.

The New Jersey-based newcomers specialize in a sound that attempts to revenge the ties between late 70s post-punk and 80s New Wave. Their latest single “My Cathedral” begins with wailing organ intro before quickly morphing into a Joy Division-inspired bop built around a propulsive bass line, explosive drum crashes, glistening synths, a seemingly disaffected baritone paired with a remarkably catchy hook. While “My Cathedral” wouldn’t sound out of place on the Stranger Things soundtrack, it does possess a subtle modern production sheen that pushes the beloved sound into contemporary territory.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 62nd Birthday, Larry Mullen, Jr.!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr.’s 62nd birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Eleanor Kelly Shares Sleek and Anthemic “Sentiments”

Eleanor Kelly is a New York-based singer/songwriter and musician, who has spent stints in Belgium and Israel. “Fueled by coffee, cat cuddles, 80s synth and metal,” Kelly has been writing and performing songs from a young age. Those songs have frequently featured lyrics inspired and informed by her personal life and her immediate environment — especially in a politically-charged environment like Israel.

When Kelly turned 13, she submitted a song to Eurovision Song Content. That song received positive feedback but was eventually declined because it was deemed “too political.”

After playing a variety of roles in a number of different music projects throughout her life, Kelly stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with the release of her debut single “Daisy Chain” earlier this year, which showcased an artist influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Garbage, Deftones with subtle nods to European and Middle Eastern music.

Kelly is currently working on her debut EP, which is slated for release next year. She’s also preparing for a series of live shows around the New York Metropolitan area. But in the meantime, her latest single “Sentiments” is a sleek and slinky number built around a sinuous bass line, swirling shoegazer-like guitar tones and glistening synth oscillations paired with Kelly’s sultry delivery and an enormous, remarkably catchy hook. Sonically, “Sentiments” channels a synthesis of It’s Blitz-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Garbage and Dum Dum Girls among others, while displaying a seemingly effortless craftsmanship.

Created using AI, the accompanying video uses 90s Anime and follows a female protagonist desperately trying to survive through a series of evil and bad scenarios and cartoon baddies.

“‘Sentiments’ was written as a song of empowerment. I originally wrote these lyrics as an outlet for my frustration with the current state of the world, which also has a major impact on my personal life as a young woman on this planet (as well as that of many others),” Eleanor Kelly explains. “The lyrics deal with a faltering reality, where it seems hard to find the positive things to hold on to, and to find the ability to make a change. When it came to the instrumentation, the writing started out with a funky bassline and was built from there. I wanted the listener to feel more energized and empowered as the song went on. To do so I chose to use various synths, fuzzy guitars, a deep bass, and loud drums, building up to the last chorus, which is layered to produce the most energizing moment in the composition. While all my previous songs have been produced solely by me, I worked with co-producer, Harper James, on the final stages of this song. Harper also mixed and mastered the track.

“When thinking about the music video, I wanted to emphasize the message that ‘Sentiments’ presents,” Kelly adds. “Using AI, which is currently a controversial topic in most creative fields, I decided to present the lyrics in the form of a 90’s vintage Anime – an ode to my childhood, which felt like a simpler and more innocent time. The story follows a lead female character, haunted by various bad scenarios in her existence on Earth, which are represented by the shifting characters that chase her through space and time. Fed up with this reality, she decides to fight back, eventually destroying the bad with her own inner power. The ability to do so through animation, which unfortunately, I do not have the power to do in real life, complemented the empowering aspect of the song.”