JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Babyface’s 67th birthday.
Tag: singer/songwriter
New Video: Jon Spencer Shares Swaggering “Knock ‘Em Out”
For the better part of the past four decades, Jon Spencer has been both an innovative force and stalwart in the independent music scene. He has an amassed a dizzying and disruptive discography as the frontman of bands like Pussy Galore, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash and Jon Spencer & the HITmakers, as well as stints as a member of Boss Hog, The Honeymoon Killers, Gibson Bros. and Taxidermy Girls.
Spencer has also been a highly sought-after collaborator, who has worked with an eclectic array of artists including Steve Albini, Add N To X, Nicole Atkins, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bomb The Bass, R.L. Burnside, James Chance, Coldcut, Chuck D., Dan The Automator, Jim Dickinson, DJ Shadow, Einsturzende Neubauten, Guitar Wolf, GZA, David Holmes, Japanese Popstars, Dr. John, Calvin Johnson, Steve Jordan, Moby, Money Mark, The Muffs, North Mississippi Allstars, Princess Superstar, Puffy AmiYumi, The Sadies, Nancy Sinatra, Solex, Solomon Burke, Speedball Baby, Rufus Thomas, UNKLE, Unloved, Andre Williams and the late, great Bernie Worell among others.
As a producer, he has produced material by Cheater Slicks, Demolition Doll Rods, Experimental Tropic Blues Band, Perrosky, Mike Edison, Jesper Munk, Sunshine & The Rain, The Bobby Lees and the Grammy-nominated Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton album, Death Wish Blues.
Spencer’s newest album, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest is slated for a June 12, 2026 release — both physical and digital — through Shove Records here in the States. The album, which features Spencer (vocals, guitar, synth, organ and percussion) and a backing band of Kendall Wind (bass, vocals. guitar, piano and organ) and Macky “Spider” Bowman (drums, vocals and percussion), best known for being members of The Bobby Lees, and was produced by Spencer and was recorded by Chris Bittner at Woodstock, NY‘s Applehead Recording in a one-day session last July, with the exception of “Vermin Attack!” and “Mr. Lion” which were recorded by Felipe Ruz and Perrosky at Santiago, Chile‘s Estudio Algorecords last April.
Thematically, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest asks a simple question: Can rock ‘n’ roll save the world? Spencer would answer emphatically, “YES.”
“I’m in a time of spiritual reckoning,” Spencer says. “These past few years there has been a lot of emotional conflict and personal loss — the passing of time takes its toll. Losing friends, losing family, and all of this set against a world gone topsy turvy where it feels like we are losing basic freedoms… I’m trying to balance a lot of things, but the answer is always rock’n’roll.”
The 12-song album sees Spencer tearing his heart singing songs informed and inspired by the front page and beyond. The songs are futuristic power blues and garage punk explosions about the nausea, unease and paranoia delivered by a reality show president, and the power and resilience it takes to rebel. It may all be deeply personal — the fight to create and live, and push back against dark forces — but while never losing sight that we’re all in this together, for better or for worse.
“Rock’n’roll is America’s true gift to the world — the sound of revolution! It came out of the sky, a screaming, chrome-plated flying saucer, like an outer space monster, landed here on Earth so the freaks could have their say,” Spencer says. “It is the hip-shaking sound of rebellion. The blues is my bible, rock’n’roll is our battle cry!”
“Knock ‘Em Out,” is a swaggering and rousingly anthemic tune that’s one-part rollicking battle cry, one-part sweaty old-school blues-tinged pub rocker, anchored by tight, funky groove. Rock should always be loud and bombastic — but it can also be about something bigger and important, too. We only have us, y’all. So let’s get to work before it’s too late.
The accompanying video is by Andrew Hooper and features studio photos by Skyler Smith, live concert photos by Masashi Yukimoto and live footage of Spencer and company rocking out.
Throwback: Happy 111th Birthday, Billie Holiday!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 111th anniversary of the birth of Billie Holiday.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, John Oates!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates John Oates’ 77th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 89th Birthday, Merle Haggard!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 89th anniversary of the birth of Merle Haggard.
New Video: Cherry Bomb Shares Glistening and Anthemic “Digital Girl”
For over a decade, the Los Angeles-based artist Mandy Lee has led acclaimed alt pop outfit MisterWives with her distinctly compelling vocal and commanding stage presence through four studio albums, a live album and a deluxe album, several tours and a run of the global festival circuit.
Earlier this year, Lee debuted her solo recording project Cherry Bomb with the attention-grabbing, upbeat banger “Never Be Me (M★ther★cker),” which sees the MisterWives frontperson boldly shaping a sonic universe that’s completely her own — while blending party bops with profundity.
Lee’s latest Cherry Bomb single “Digital Girl” is a slickly produced, rousingly anthemic bop anchored around glistening synth arpeggios that seemingly channels early Lady Gaga and Madonna while confessing a deep-seated frustration and annoyance with the hyper-connected social media world.
Directed by frequent collaborator Matty Vogel, the accompanying video for “Digital Girl,” evokes the constant overstimulation of the modern world with harsh contrasts, flashing images and impossible shapes crammed together– in the same frame.
“Who doesn’t want to smash their phone in 2026 and be met with confetti to celebrate?” Lee asks. “In this hyper-digital day and age, it’s near impossible to not fall down the algorithmic rabbit hole of comparison spirals, curated perfection, and infinite doomscrolling. I wanted to visually represent the tension that exists between conforming to the pressure or rebelling against it and what it feels like when the two coincide.”
Through “Digital Girl,” Lee sees Cherry bomb as a symbol of fiery resistance to the pressures of modernity. “I hope she is a much needed reprieve from the Digital World that lives in the palm of our hand.” She adds, “‘Digital Girl’ is my love/hate confessional to my dreams and the systems they exist within. An unsettling reflection of modernity and how much we sacrifice who we really are in response to who we are told to be.” As her first song she wrote for her solo project, the new track “ignited the spark and unapologetic energy that I needed for this project — a total rejection of the impossible shapes we are constantly pressured to bend to.”
Throwback: Happy 53rd Birthday, Pharrell!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Pharrell Williams’ 53rd birthday.
New Audio: Plain Mister Smith Teams Up with Tyson Motsenbocker on Lush, Painterly “Lucian & Francis”
Vancouver-based Mark Jowett, the mastermind behind Plain Mister Smith is a Canadian indie scene veteran who has had stints in Moev and Cinderpop, as well as a stint playing cello with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra.
With Plain Mister Smith, the enigmatic Canadian artist draws influence from an eclectic range of artists including The Beatles, Bryce Dessner, Matt Maltese, Led Zeppelin, The Zombies and 20th-century classical composers like Prokofiev, who subtly influences his string-driven arrangements. The result is a sound that seamlessly blends elements of indie pop, baroque folk and psychedelia.
The Vancouver-based artist’s new album is slated for release this month and will feature the previously released Forever So-era Husky-like “Dream To Be Free” feat. Jordan Klassen and its latest single “Lucian & Francis.” Released late last month, “Lucian & Francis” feat. Tyson Motsenbocker continues a run of lush and dream-like indie folk.
Inspired by the works of painters Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, who frequently depicted raw, realistic portrayals of the human body, “Lucian and Francis” is fittingly, a rather painterly track with each sonic layer adding texture, shading and depth to the piece, much like how the painters, who inspired the song would do with color. Interestingly, the lush new single also manages to evoke the colors of early spring after the bleakness of a long winter.
Throwback: Happy 113th Birthday, Muddy Waters!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 113th anniversary of the birth of Muddy Waters.
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Jill Scott!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Jill Scott’s 54th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, Marvin Gaye!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of the birth of Marvin Gaye.
New Video: Weird Nightmare Returns with Rousingly Anthemic and Earnest “Where I Belong”
Almost every band that’s worth a damn has had a member, who at some point worked in a record store. With JOVM mainstay acts METZ and Weird Nightmare, it was frontman and creative mastermind Alex Edkins. Slinging indie rock and hardcore records at his hometown record store while attending university, Edkins became an ardent student of rock ‘n’ roll from the psychedelic 1960s to the DIY 1990s and beyond.
Hoopla, Edkins’ sophomore Weird Nightmare album, which is slated for a May 1, 2026 release through Sub Pop globally and Dine Alone Records in Canada, reportedly sees the JOVM mainstay mixing and matching these wide-ranging influences in fun, exhilarating combinations, showcasing his sophisticated musical mind, while continuing to showcase his unerring knack for ridiculously catchy and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.
Co-produced by Edkins and Spoon‘s Jim Eno at Providence‘s world famous Machines With Magnets, Hoopla also sees the acclaimed Canadian artist expanding upon Weird Nightmare’s musical palette with the addition of piano, bells and castanets, which give his long-held straightforward songwriting a shiny luster.
The album will feature the previously released “Forever Elsewhere,” the Cheap Trick-like “Might See You There,” the punchy punk rock-like “Pay No Mind,” and the album’s third single “Where I Belong.” “Where I Belong” continues to showcase Edkins’ long-held penchant for rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with some of the most introspective and deeply honest songwriting of the JOVM mainstay’s career. The song captures a narrator who’s recognizing that he’s getting older, that the road ain’t what it always is cracked up to be — especially since he has a family. The self-doubt and confusion at the core of the song are real and deeply lived in yet they feel universal and familiar to anyone, who’s inching into middle age.
Directed by boy wonder, the accompanying video for “Where I Belong” features Edkins in a thrift shop, playing his guitar and singing while trying on different outfits and personalties.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay Alewya Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Eshi”
JOVM mainstay Alewya is an acclaimed London-based singer/songwriter, producer and visual artist. Born in Saudi Arabia to an Egyptian-Sudanese father and an Ethiopian mother, the acclaimed London-based artist has spent her life surrounded by diaspora immigrant communities: She grew up in West London and after a several year stint in New York, she returned to London. Upon her return home, the Saudi-British artist developed and honed her ear for music through the sounds of the Ethiopian and Arabic music of her parents and the ambient and alternative rock albums of her brother.
She’s part of a generation of artists actively redefining global music, a generation that’s generally rooted in heritage, yet unbound by it. Describing herself as a painter, who makes music, Alewya approaches sound as texture and feeling, guided more by intuition than structure. Her sound and story help to widen the Black British frame, bringing the often under heard North and East African perspective into a much-needed focus.
Back in 2020, the JOVM mainstay burst into the scene with an attention grabbing feature on Little Simz‘s “where’s my lighter,” which caught the attention of Because Records, who signed the rising artist and released her critically applauded debut, 2021’s Panther In Mode EP.
Alewya’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, ZERO is slated for a June 26, 2026 release through Because London Records. The album reportedly embodies years of artistic growth into an effort that’s both deeply personal and sonically expansive. But the album also marks a significant milestone, as it sees her boldly stepping into a new creative era, defined by fearless experimentation and cultural fluidity.
ZERO will include the previously released “Night Drive,” feat. Dagmawit Ameha and “City of Symbols,” along with the album’s third and latest single “Eshi.” “Eshi” weaves broodingly atmospheric electronics, shimmering keys thumping beats and gnawa-like percussion with a looping figure played on an Eritrean and Ethiopian instrument, masenqo, a single-stringed bowed lute that features a diamond-shaped resonator. Alewya’s expressive delivery ethereally floats over the song’s widescreen production and instrumentation as it builds up and intensifies to a chant-driven crescendo. The result is a song that feels woozily anachronistic, in the sense that it draws from ancient traditions and pairs them with contemporary, Western/pop-influenced sounds and production techniques. “Eshi is rooted in tradition but unbound by it too, which is one of the pillars of ZERO,” Alewya explains.
The accompanying video was co-directed and co-produced by Yonas Tadesse, Frehiwot Berhane, Tedos Teffera and Alewya, and was shot in Lalibela, Ethiopia, during the celebration of Gena, Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. The gorgeous, cinematically shot video captures and reinforces a strong sense of community and culture, both of which are central and defining forces in the JOVM mainstay’s work.
Throwback: Happy 77th birthday, Gil Scott-Heron!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 77th anniversary of the birth of Gil Scott-Heron.
Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, Rudolph Isley!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 87th anniversary of the birth of The Isley Brothers co-founder Rudolph Isley.