JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd anniversary of the birth of George Harrison.
Tag: psych rock
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Dreamily Meditative “All My Days Are Hanging”
Wildly prolific, Israeli-born, Costa Rican-based singer/songwriter, musician and JOVM mainstay MAGON recently released his third album of this year and 13th — yes, y’all, 13th! — album overall Zoe Rainbow Days.
Zoe Rainbow Days’ latest single “All My Days Are Hanging” continues a run or mediative and introspective material that seemingly draws from psych folk, Sea Change-era Beck and others. And at its core, is a dreamy and lovingly detailed depiction of domesticity that feels nostalgic yet somehow punctuated with a realization of how fleeting everything is.
The accompanying video features footage from Len Lye‘s 1936 short film, The Birth of the Robot. The footage is restored and re-imaged as a visual companion to the song.