JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Jimmy Page’s 81st birthday.
Tag: psych rock
Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Robby Krieger!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the legendary Robby Krieger’s 79th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Stephen Stills!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Stephen Stills’ 80th birthday.
New Video: Blue Foundation Shares Yearning “Close to the Knife”
Founded back in 2000 by Danish singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tobias Wilner, Blue Foundation was inspired by The Fall’s Mark E. Smith‘s method of forming bands — with Wilner recruiting a rotation lineup of musicians over the years to fuel creativity. But since 2010, the core lineup has been Wilner and Bon Rande, working between Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Copenhagen.
Throughout the transatlantic project’s two-plus decade history, they’ve been renowned for crafting immersive soundscapes with emotive vocals and intricate production that draws from dream pop and electronic music that evokes melancholy and reflection while touching upon introspective themes.
The band has cemented their distinct sound through a series of critically applauded albums including 2007’s Life of a Ghost, 2012’s In My Mind I Am Free and 2016’s Blood Moon, while collaborating with an eclectic range of artists and producers, including Mew‘s Jonas Bjerre, Au Revoir Simone‘s Erika Spring, Findlay Brown, DJ Krush, Sara Savery and Wang Wen among a growing list of others.
Adding to a growing international profile, the band’s work has been featured in Michael Mann’s 2006 Miami Vice and The Vampire Diaries. The band’s “Eyes on Fire,” was included in the Twilight soundtrack. Additionally, their work has been sampled on Lil Durk‘s “Fly High,” feat., French Montana and Young Thug‘s “She Notice.” They also cowrote Machine Gun Kelly‘s “Taurus.”
“Close to the Knife” is the first single from the transatlantic outfit’s forthcoming album. Written by Wilner and Rande and performed by Helena Gao and Wilner, “Close to the Knife” is one-part Scott Walker-era orchestral psych pop, one-part dream pop anchored around a lush yet atmospheric arrangement featuring mellotron flute, soaring strings, strummed guitar and gentle bursts of feedback pared with yearning and dueling girl-boy vocals, which gives the song a fittingly old-timey feel.
The song tells a familiar and bittersweet tale of love and longing for a connection that for can never fully materialize and will always be a bit unrequited. For both narrators, their lover disappears as quickly as they appear, adding a subtle sense of frustration and heartache to the song.
Directed by the band’s Wilner with cinematougrahy by Hannah Bertram and Erma Feng, the video showcases parallel stories of yearning: We see Tobias Wilner wandering the quiet and desolate late night streets of New York City while Helena Gao explores the vibrant yet isolating alleys of Shanghai. The video emphasizes the ache and longing at the core of the song.
New Video: Berlin’s Bloke Shares Trippy and Incisive “Money Says”
With the self-release of their first three singles “Satellite” “Chewed Up,” and “Survivor,” the Berlin-based psych rock/krautrock outfit Bloke quickly amassed a profile across Europe for a unique fusion of krautrock rhythms and shoegazer guitar textures paired with garage punk energy that’s draws from frontman and founder Jakob Buraczewski’s five year stint in London, where the band was originally founded.
The Berlin-based outfit has shared stages with Helicon, Verstärker, Data Animal, Body Horror, The Shadracks have developed a reputation for a raw, intense and noisy live set.
Building upon growing buzz, Bloke’s highly-anticipated debut EP Living Without Expectations is slated for a February 14, 2025 release through Tonzonen Records. The band’s Jakob Buraczewski explains that the EP was “envisioned as the foundational collection of sounds, noise and concepts that would give life to the project Bloke in a musical scene. It was essential for me to ensure that each song resonates with the others, creating an interconnected and cohesive experience. The journey from capturing the essence of the songs in the intimate setting of a home studio to meticulously re-recording each instrument in the refined atmosphere of a professional studio can be quite an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a process filled with passion and dedication, where every note matters and every sound contributes to creating something truly special.”
The EP’s latest single “Money Says” sees the Berlin-based outfit pairing a forceful and thunderous motorik-groove, scuzzy, distortion-fueled power chords and swirling feedback with enormous hooks and choruses. While sonically recalling A Place to Bury Strangers, Hookworms, METZ and others, the song as the band explains is inspired by the childhood game Simon Says, “using it as a metaphor to explore capitalism’s impact on society and relationships. Just as in the game, where commands prefaced with ‘Simon says’ must be obeyed, we often silently comply with what ‘Money Says’ reflecting societal norms. This subtle agreement can feel like conditioning, offering a poignant commentary on our interactions. The melody features a persistent feedback tone and guitar strums that punctuate the social narrative.”
Fittingly, the trippy visual for “Money Says” features moments of commerce and business in super saturated colors.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Dreamily Introspective “Circles”
Prolific, JOVM mainstay MAGON closes out 2024 with his third album of the year and 10th album overall, the recently released World Peace. And in the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two, previously released singles:
- The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses-era Madchester scene-like “Stoned Seclusion Blues” a track that saw the JOVM mainstay revealing another shift in sonic direction.
- “Falling In Love,” a dreamy psych folk ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar, bursts of buzzing power chords and ethereal flutes paired with the JOVM’s mainstay’s introspective and thoughtful vocal turn.
The album’s latest single “Circles” is a dreamy, post punk-meets-Brothers In Arms-era Dire Straits like tune anchored around a gated-reverb beat, bluesy and shimmering arpeggios and a soulful horn solo. Thematically, the song sees the JOVM mainstay reflecting on the seemingly unending cycles and endless changes of life with a weary acceptance.
The accompanying video for “Circles” features animation sourced from John and Faith Hubley’s 1986 film The Cosmic Eye.
New Audio: Pittsburgh’s Sunny Daze and the Weathermen Share Blistering Ripper “Wax Lips”
Pittsburgh-based outfit Sunny Daze & the Weathermen formed back in the summer of 2022. And since then, the band has been hard at work sculpting what they’ve dubbed “flower punk,” which combines elements of garage rock, psych rock and post-punk.
The Pittsburgh-based outfit released their full-length debut, Sunny Daze for President earlier this year. They close out the year with “Wax Lips,” a blistering, mosh pit friendly ripper with a wild organ solo, fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and shouted vocals that sounds like a synthesis of Question Mark and the Mysterians, The Mummies and Miranda and the Beat with Thee Oh Sees.
The band explains that the track is about their personal experiences of the simplicity of youth — and that it’s the first of a batch of singles to build up buzz for their sophomore album, which is slated for release late next year.
Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Jimi Hendrix!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 82nd anniversary of the birth of Jimi Hendrix.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Dreamily Introspective “Falling In Love”
Earlier this year, the prolific JOVM mainstay MAGON released his ninth album, Wedding Song, which featured two tracks I managed to write about here:
Album track “The Wedding Song,” a 70s Laurel Canyon/AM rock-like number featuring shimmering guitars, a shuffling yet propulsive rhythm and a glistening and soulful guitar solo paired with MAGON’s unerring knack for crafting catchy hooks. But under the slick and seemingly effortless craftsmanship is a song that feels much like the contented sigh of someone who after much effort and struggle, has found the true, long-lasting love they’ve long hoped for. The song marks the one-year anniversary of MAGON’s wedding to his now-wife Alexa, and is dedicated to their love.
“Portobello’s On The Run,” a mediative and folksy bit of Nick Drake-like psych folk anchored around an ethereal and old-timey mellotron flute lines, strummed acoustic guitar and tight-drum pattern paired with the Israeli-born, Costa Rican-based artist’s plaintively singing whimsical yet introspective lyrics.
Closing out 2024, the JOVM mainstay will be releasing his 10th — yeah, 10th overall and third this year y’all — album, World Peace. World Peace will feature the previously released “Stoned Seclusion Blues” reveals yet another shift in sound direction with the track seemingly drawing from the Madchester sound of The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses.
World Peace’s second and latest single “Falling In Love” is a dreamy psych folk ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar, bursts of buzzing power chords and ethereal flutes paired with the JOVM’s mainstay giving an introspective and thoughtful vocal turn.
Thematically, the song is a journey of love and self-discovery, honed by hard-earned wisdom, experience and understanding of how difficult and maddening love can be — especially in a desperate, stark world.
The accompanying video follows a young woman wandering through the damp Costa Rican countryside and is shot with a loving, dreamy quality.
New Video: San Francisco’s The Spyrals Share Forceful and Anthemic “Dream Believin'”
I’m in Philadelphia for the final edition of Asian Arts Initiative’s Sound Type Music Festival and Music Writers Workshop. It’s been an odd and very short trip. And it’s probably the last bit of traveling I’ll do this year. I wanted to travel more this year, and I definitely got that.
I head back home in a few hours but in the meantime, there’s still work to do. So let’s get to it, right?
Founded by Jeff Lewis back in 2009, the San Francisco-based garage psych rock outfit The Spyrals — currently, Lewis (vocals, guitar), Georgia Feroce (keys) and Dash Borinstein (drums) — quickly received attention for crating unapologetic garage rock and a loud, live show rooted in the band’s forceful stage presence.
The San Francisco-based outfit’s recently released fifth album Retrograde see the band paying homage to their earliest work while boldly stepping into the future. Retrograde‘s eight songs touch upon themes of isolation, heartache and self-assurance among others. The album’s material comes from several months of jamming and sees the band digging deep into their psych rock roots while continuing to serve up raw, gritty rock ‘n’ roll that gets straight to the point. After self-recording much of their earliest material in practice studios and garages, the band recorded the album earlier this year at Los Angeles-based Station House Studios with Mark Rains.
Retrograde‘s latest single “Dream Believin'” is an anthemic and loud bit of psych rock that brings Phosphene Dream-era The Black Angels to mind. And much like the acclaimed Austin-based JOVM mainstays work, “Dream Believin'” thematically focuses on the remarkably contemporary — capturing the unease and desperate desire to escape of our current moment.
The accompanying video for “Dream Believin'” features a mysterious black-clad figure wandering the beach. At one point we see the black-clad figure peering into a mysterious tablet.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Madchester-like “Stoned Seclusion Blues”
Over the course of the past couple of years of this site’s nearly 15 year history, I’ve managed to spill copious amounts of virtual ink covering the remarkably prolific, Israeli-born, Costa Rican-based singer/songwriter, musician and JOVM mainstay MAGON.
Earlier this year, the prolific JOVM mainstay released his ninth album, Wedding Song, which featured two tracks I managed to write about here:
- Album track “The Wedding Song,” a 70s Laurel Canyon/AM rock-like number featuring shimmering guitars, a shuffling yet propulsive rhythm and a glistening and soulful guitar solo paired with MAGON’s unerring knack for crafting catchy hooks. But under the slick and seemingly effortless craftsmanship is a song that feels much like the contented sigh of someone who after much effort and struggle, has found the true, long-lasting love they’ve long hoped for. The song marks the one-year anniversary of MAGON’s wedding to his now-wife Alexa, and is dedicated to their love.
- “Portobello’s On The Run,” a mediative and folksy bit of Nick Drake-like psych folk anchored around an ethereal and old-timey mellotron flute lines, strummed acoustic guitar and tight-drum pattern paired with the Israeli-born, Costa Rican-based artist’s plaintively singing whimsical yet introspective lyrics.
Closing out 20240, the JOVM mainstay will be releasing his 10th — yeah, 10th overall and third this year y’all — album, World Peace. The forthcoming album’s first single “Stoned Seclusion Blues” reveals yet another shift in sound direction, with the track seemingly drawing from the Madchester sound of The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses and others with the track anchored around a languid and and fuzzy guitar line, tambourine-driven percussion and swaggering boom bap-like drums, soaring and swelling strings paired with the JOVM’s easy-going and laconic delivery and catchy hooks.
The accompanying video by Alexa & Magon, stars presumably their children and their dog, who happily chases after the family vehicle, and footage of the kids bopping around to the song with psychedelic imagery in the background.
New Audio: GITKIN Shares Trance-Inducing “The One”
Brian J. Gitkin is a New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated producer, best known for his work as the bandleader and frontman of the road warrior, party rock outfit Pimps of Joytime. He also collaborated with Cedric Burnside on a Grammy-nominated country blues effort.
Gitkin’s solo recording project, the aptly named GITKIN was initially conceived as a way for the Pimps of Joytime frontman and producer to “explore tonalities I’d never mess with,” as he puts it. Gradually, the instrumental project became a release from “having to write lyrics or involve my voice,” Gitkin explains.
With the release of 2018’s debut album, 5 Star Motel, the New Orleans-based Pimps of Joytime frontman, multi-instrumentalist and producer quickly established a sound that he dubbed “Outernational Psychedelic Twang,” which drew from a wide range of sounds and styles, including Peruvian Chicha, 60s Pakistani surf rock while featuring a back band with an impressive collection of players.
His sophomore GITKIN album, 2020’s Safe Passage saw the New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist and producer expanding upon an already rich and eclectic sonic palette with melodies informed by Greek and Middle Eastern modalities, Saharan Tuareg guitar, creating a sound that was a mix of stomping blues and gritty funk.
Gitkin’s latest album, the recently released, 10-song Golden Age showcases yet another evolution of the New Orleans’ based artist’s lyrical guitar-driven sound. Exploring the endless expanses of cumbia, North African and Middle Eastern music, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and producer has increasingly brought his own personality to those traditions, while creating a lively interplay between distant modes and rhythms and his own New Orleans-steeped sound.
The album’s latest single “The One” seems to be a mesh of Tuareg Desert Blues, Black Sabbath-era metal and krautrock that to my ears reminds me of Here Lies Man — but with deep, lysergic-fueled grooves. Gitkin describes teh song as “Sudanese synth-trance mixed with Tuareg, Black Sabbath, and 2000s-era hipster disco.”
“My goal when creating is to think as little as possible and do what feels good,” the New Orleans-based artist and producer says. “I don’t overthink creating. If I wake up with a groove in my head or melody idea I just go into my studio and record it.”
New Audio: Babe Rainbow Shares Breezy and Deceptively Upbeat “Long Live The Wilderness”
Acclaimed Aussie psych outfit Babe Rainbow — Angus Dowling, Jack “Cool Breeze Crowther, Elliot “Dr. Love Wisdom” O’Reilly and Miles Myjavec — recently signed to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s newly minted p(doom) records imprint. And to celebrate the occasion, the Aussie quartet shared their latest single, the Timon Martin-produced, Stu Mackenzie-mixed, sun-soaked and breezy bop “Long Live The Wilderness.”
But underneath the twinkling, reverb-drenched keys, the 70s AM rock-inspired guitar work, dusty beats and the incredibly catchy, danceable hooks, “Long Live The Wilderness” contemplates the changing of the seasons, the time rushing by, and in turn, the transient nature of everything we know and experience. All things pass, y’all. Seasons change, and we come and go like the tides.
“Hey mama, space brother, sleeptravellor [sic], dream walker. We’re keeping it indie and joining p(doom). Recorded a special session in Mullum Creek with my bruddhas, my fav record we’ve done so far,” Babe Rainbow’s frontman Angus Dowling says. “The song is a celebration of the sheer beauty of the lush Hinterland landscape, in Autumn time in particular. A stream (burn) racing down the hillside, going over a waterfall, and then passing across a dark pool, shaded by the great high hills (fells) that surround it,” Dowling continues. “The major theme of the song is the loss of innocence, which is reflected through Babe Rainbow’s reaction to the changing seasons and realization of the transient nature of life. The constellation symbolizes the carefree perspective of childhood as nature transitions from the vibrancy of life in summer . It asks a good question. What is your view of it?: ‘What would the world be like if there were only towns? If there was no wilderness left to us?’”