Tag: psych rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Lukka Shares Dreamy and Meditative “Fabric of the Cosmos”

New York-based indie trio Lukka — Berlin-born, New York-based creative mastermind Franzi Syzmkowiak (guitar, vocals), Ashley Gonzalez (bass) and Simon “SiFi” Fishburn (drums) — have long operated at the crossroads of space rock, neo-psychedelia and synth-driven indie pop. The band’s sound is anchored around hypnotic grooves, immersive textures and melody-driven songwriting, frequently blending repetition with expansive, atmospheric arrangements featuring driving bass lines, propulsive rhythms, delay pedaled guitars and layered analogy synths, and equally atmospheric production.

Syzmkowiak has travelled across the globe, seeking a musical home that felt right. She had stints in Australia, New Zealand and Argentina before settling in New York. “New York City felt like the right place to meet like-minded people,” she says. “The reason I make music is that it serves as an escape from everyday reality and the problems of daily life. Songwriting helps me process what is happening around me. Music, and especially synthesizer sounds, takes me to another realm where I can feel at peace and experience emotions I have not felt elsewhere. Creating music almost feels like a religious act. Having a band and being an artist in this city has allowed me to meet so many other interesting people. Through these relationships, I feel that I am part of a larger creative community, which creates a strong and meaningful sense of connectedness.”

The trio’s third album, the Abe Seiferth-produced Wendekind is slated for a June 5, 2026 release. The band’s Syzmkowiak was born around the fall of the Berlin Wall. She explains that children, who were born in East Germany at that time were called wendekinder, a generation born into a new, free world. Her mom would always call her a wendekind. “It felt like the perfect title for the album,” she says.

Recorded at Brooklyn-based Transmitter Park Studios, Wendekind reportedly sees the band expanding upon the sound of 2022’s Something Human while pushing further into much more immersive, synth-driven territory.

Thematically, Wendekind sees the New York diving deeper into the metaphysical, tracing loss and memory, while questioning one’s place in an infinite and seemingly indifferent universe. For Syzmkowiak, the album is a deeply personal and reflective effort, moving between memories of the past, and hopes for the future while touring on space, time, chance and self-discovery.

“Over the past three years, a series of events pushed me to look inward and question what had been driving my choices and behavior,” Syzmkowiak says. “The album became a deeply personal and spiritual journey, leading me back to my roots and to memories of where I came from.”

Wendekind’s first single, “Fabric of the Cosmos” is a meditative slow-burn that features Syzmkowiak’s dreamily yearning delivery ethereally floating over glistening synths, boom bap-like drumming and phased out guitar. Seemingly channeling Pavo Pavo, the cinematic new single, as Syzmkowiak explains is “about trying to see beyond the three-dimensional world and being only able to-do that through e-motion (electric motion/vibrations), dreams or day visions. The song slips into the metaphysical world.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GUM Returns with Meditative “In Life”

Over the course of his career, JOVM mainstay and acclaimed Aussie singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jay Watson has developed a reputation as one of his homeland’s most prolific and exploratory artists, and as arguably one of the country’s busiest musicians: He currently splits his time between JOVM mainstay acts, Tame Impala, POND and his own project GUM. 

Watson recently signed to King Gizz‘s p(doom) records, who will be releasing his self-produced seventh album Blue Gum Way. The album’s title reference Australia’s blue gum eucalyptus trees, while subtly nodding to melancholy, place and atmosphere. 

The album, which dropped today follows his 2023 GUM effort Saturnia and his 2024 collaboration with King Gizz’s and The Murlocs‘ Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Ill Times. 

The JOVM mainstay’s seventh album marks a deliberate shift in approach. While his previous releases embraced restless experimentation and stylistic left turns, Blue Gum Way finds Watson focusing on a singular mood and sonic identity, allowing atmosphere, emotion and restraint to take center stage. 

The nine-song album inhabits a widescreen, jazz-influenced psychedelic soundscape, drawing from Talk Talk, John Martyn and Radiohead. Elegant, patient and quietly melancholy, the album showcases an artist comfortable with vulnerability and clarity of expression, unburdened by the desire to prove anything. Interestingly, the album emerged in complete contrast to his concurrent work with POND and his collaboration with Kenny-Smith, and sees him favoring harmonic density and unhurried ambience over immediacy or roots-driven simplicity. 

Written largely in insolation, the album allowed Watson to lean into deeply personal thoughts and emotions. Lyrics, which were one secondary in his creative process, now play a much more central role, exploring anxiety, adaptation and life’s pivotal moments with an impressionistic touch. 

Blue Gum Way includes the previously released “Expanding Blue” “Celluloid” and the album’s latest single “In Life.” “In Life” is a meditative tune featuring atmospheric synths, a supple bass line and arguably some of the most gorgeous and expressive guitar work Watson has recorded to date. And while mediative, it’s not sad. But it does carry a wizened sense of “well, what if x instead of y. Where would I be? Who would I be?”

“This song is about a fork in the road, a sliding doors moment where your life could have been completely different based on one decision,” Watson says.

Directed by Sam Eastcott, the accompanying idle for “In Life” features Watson as a stranded man, akin to Castaway in the brush. Desperately trying to survive and to keep himself entertained, he sets up a place to play music. Because I mean, of course.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, David Gilmour!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates David Gilmour’s 80th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 83rd Birthday, George Harrison!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd anniversary of the birth of George Harrison.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Population II Shares Brooding “Magouilleux”

Last year’s 14-song Dominic Vanchesteing-produced Maintenant Jamais saw the acclaimed Montréal-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — saw the trio dating from their formative influences with a deep sense of sophistication.

The trio’s third album included “Le thé set prêt,” and “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” a krautrock/prog rock-like take on psych rock and the brooding organ and synth-driven “La Trippance.”

And just before they were about to head to Austin to play last year’s SXSW, the trio shared the Dominic Vanchesteing-directed live short film, Carillon — Population II in concert. Shot among the massive, brutalist-inspired concrete monoliths of the Monument québécois à la mémoire des héros du Long-Sault, the footage seemingly channels Pink Floyd‘s Live at Pompeii — but shot with a camera eye that languorously floats and circles around both the band and the enormous monoliths around then.

The JOVM mainstays supported the album with extensive touring across Europe, the US, Mexico and their native Canada.

Continuing upon that momentum, the Montréal-based trio will be releasing Maintenant Jamais‘ follow-up, Gimmicks EP through Bonsound on April 3, 2026. The vinyl edition will see an April 24, 2026 release and will include Serpent Échelle EP, which was previously only available digitally and on cassette on the B-side.

Featuring a blend of vocal and instrumental tracks, Gimmicks serves as a companion to Maintenant Jamais. “It’s an extension of the electronic sounds we explored on Maintenant Jamais, with tracks like “13 1 3 1” and “Poudreuse Blues”, the band’s Pierre-Luc Gratton explains. “Even though we added upright piano and fuzz bass to some of the songs, our number one rule for this project was: keyboards and synthesizers, first and foremost!” With the new material seeing the trio completely eschewing guitar, they continue to showcase their remarkable versatility.

The use of drum machine allowed the musicians to push their own boundaries while further exploring a synth-driven sound. “It made us rethink our rhythmic habits and add bursts of intensity by experimenting with timbres and sound dynamics,” the band says. The result is an EP of material that’s at times unsettling and other times dreamy but perfectly calibrated to the point where constraint gives way to ingenuity, freedom and friendship.

Gimmicks EP’s first single “Magouilleux” quickly unfolds with dreamy synth arpeggios and droning keys paired with buzzing synths and propulsive drumming. Gratton’s husky delivery effortlessly blends with the song’s brooding arrangement, which subtly conveys a sense of menace and unease. And as a result, the song showcases the band’s ability to be intense and forceful — but with a deliberate restraint.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 66th Birthday, Steve Wynn!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Steve Wynn’s 66th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, Ray Manzarek!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of te birth of The Doors’ Ray Manzarek.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GUM Shares Cinematic “Celluloid”

Over the course of his career, JOVM mainstay and acclaimed Aussie singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jay Watson has developed a reputation as one of his homeland’s most prolific and exploratory artists, and as arguably one of the country’s busiest musicians: He currently splits his time between JOVM mainstay acts, Tame Impala, POND and his own project GUM.

Watson recently signed to King Gizz‘s p(doom) records, who will be releasing his self-produced seventh album Blue Gum Way. The album’s title reference Australia’s blue gum eucalyptus trees, while subtly nodding to melancholy, place and atmosphere.

Slated for a March 6, 2022 release, Blue Gum Way follows 2023’s GUM effort Saturnia and his 2024 collaboration with King Gizz’s and The Murlocs‘ Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Ill Times.

The JOVM mainstay’s seventh album reportedly marks a deliberate shift in approach. While his previous releases embraced restless experimentation and stylistic left turns, Blue Gum Way finds Watson focusing on a singular mood and sonic identity, allowing atmosphere, emotion and restraint to take center stage.

The nine-song album inhabits a widescreen, jazz-influenced psychedelic soundscape, drawing from Talk Talk, John Martyn and Radiohead. Elegant, patient and quietly melancholy, the album showcases an artist comfortable with vulnerability and clarity of expression, unburdened by the desire to prove anything. Interestingly, the album emerged in complete contrast to his concurrent work with POND and his collaboration with Kenny-Smith, and sees him favoring harmonic density and unhurried ambience over immediacy or roots-driven simplicity.

Written largely in insolation, the album allowed Watson to lean into deeply personal thoughts and emotions. Lyrics, which were one secondary in his creative process, now play a much more central role, exploring anxiety, adaptation and life’s pivotal moments with an impressionistic touch.

Blue Gum Way will feature the previously released “Expanding Blue” and the album’s second and latest single “Celluloid.” Beginning with a lush and dreamy string arrangement and quivering feedback, “Celluloid” quickly turns into a broodingly cinematic tune that captures the creeping unease and dread of our seemingly unending techno-fascist hellscape, fueled by doom scrolling and rage-bait.

“Everything feels worse in the middle of the night, it’s where peak worry and catastrophizing happens,” Watson says. “Exacerbated by a slow death from blue screen light and brain rot. 

Directed by Kristofski, the accompanying cinematically shot video for “Celluloid,” was filmed in a lush park just outside what appears to be Melbourne. The camera slowly zooms in on a figure on a hill in the horizon playing guitar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 40th Birthday, Kevin Parker!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker’s 40th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hot Garbage Shares Bruising and Uneasy “Wewu”

Back in 2020, the members of Toronto-based psych outfit Hot Garbage — Alex Carlevaris (lead vocals, guitar), Juliana Carlevaris (bass, vocals), Dylan Gamble (keys, synths) and Mark Henin (drums) — went into the studio with Juno-nominated producer and Holy Fuck‘s Graham Walsh to cut a selection of tracks live and off-the-floor. The result was the blazing standalone single “Easy Believer,” and their full-length debut, 2021’s RIDE.

RIDE received regular rotation on SiriusXM, CBC Radio 3 and The Verge while climbing to #3 on the Earshot Top 50 and #82 on the NACC Top 200. The album also received praise internationally from outlets like Aquarium Drunkard and Louder Than War. 

The Toronto-based outfit has made their run of the international festival circuit, playing sets at LEVITATION, SXSW, Treefort Music Fest, Freakout Fest, Sled Island, Sappyfest, FME, M for Montréal, Pop Montréal. And building upon a growing international profile, they’ve opened of the likes of L.A. Witch and Frankie and The Witch Fingers, and they’ve shared stages with Osees, Ty Segall,  JJUUJJUU, Mdou Moctar, Wand, Kikagaku Moyo and Dead Meadow.

2024’s sophomore album Precious Dream saw the band continuing ongoing collaboration with Graham Walsh. Written during pandemic-era isolation, the album was recorded in late 2023, their sophomore album’s sprawling material saw them retaining their signature tinge of moody psychedelia while careening into darker, searing, post-punk-inspired riffage. Thematically, the album grappled with and touched upon dread, loss, the resilience of the human spirit and the highs and lows of solitude. The result was an album that was equally introspective, cathartic and bruising.

The Toronto-based quartet begin 2026 with “Wewu,” their first bit of new material since 2024’s Precious Dream. The single, which sees them continuing their ongoing collaboration with Graham Walsh is a dissonant, uneasy scorcher featuring overdriven guitar, woozy synths are paired with a frenetic and off-kilter rhythm section. Sonically, the song kind of evokes the claustrophobia of entrapment, and the desperate urgent need to escape. And fittingly, the song’s cryptic lyrics hint at an escape plan.

The accompanying video by the band’s Alex Carlevaris is a mind-bending and uneasy visual that feels and looks like a psilocybin trip gone horrendously wrong.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: 5th PROJEKT Shares Brooding and Atmospheric “Oblivion”

With the release of 2022’s The Labyrinth EP and 2023’s The Wolf EP, Toronto-based psych rock/art rock outfit 5th PROJEKT — Tara Rice (vocals, guitar), Peter Broadley (bass), Sködt McNalty (guitar) and David Pake (drums) — made a name for themselves in the national scene: The Wolf EP debuted on the !earshot National Top 50, before climbing into the Top 25. The Wolf EP was also featured in Obscure Sound, Spill Magazine, V13, Canadian Beats, From the Strait and a collection of local and international publications.

Adding to a growing local and national profile, the band has received awards series of award nominations including The Ontario Independent Music Awards (IMAs), The Toronto Independent Music Awards (IMAs) and The Orange County Music Awards. They’ve also made a run of international festival circuit with sets at NXNE, Departure (f.k.a. Canadian Music Week), Indie Week, Kaleidoscope and Spirits of the Earth. And they’ve gone on two tours of Eastern Canada.

The Canadian quartet’s first live-off-the-floor EP Live in London is slated for a May 13, 2026 through the band’s own Organik Rekords. Recorded at London, ON-based The Sugar Shack, Live in London is part of the Incorrect Thoughts Live series.

The EP’s first single is a live rendition and reworking of “Oblivion,” a song that appeared on their debut effort, 2006’s Circadian. Live in London EP‘s take on “Oblivion” features a reimagined, slow-burning introduction, specifically meant to deepen the original’s hauntingly hypnotic pull while retaining the elements of the original that their fans loved: Rice’s ethereal and yearning delivery over a brooding slow-burning groove and shimmering and expressive, shoegazer-like guitar textures. And while reminding me a bit of Phantoms‘ 2013 effort The Fire Tapes, “Oblivion” showcases a band that specializes in cinematic atmospherics and enormous hooks and choruses.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: R.I.P. Bob Weir

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of the legendary Bob Weir.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Jimmy Page!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd birthday of the legendary Jimmy Page.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Robby Krieger!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger’s 80th birthday.