JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Steve Miller Band frontman Steve Miller’s 81st birthday.
Tag: singer/songwriters
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Barry Gibb!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Barry Gibb’s 77th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 57th Birthday, Layne Staley!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 57th anniversary of Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley’s birth.
New Audio: Jontavious Willis Shares Groovy “Keep Your Worries on The Dance Floor”
Born and raised in rural Georgia, Jontavious Willis first achieved widespread acclaim as a teenage phenom, when he accompanied the Blues legend Taj Mahal — who would go on to dub him his “Wonderboy” — onstage back in 2015.
His full-length debut, 2016’s Blue Metamorphosis won the Blues Foundation‘s International Blues Challenge Award for Best Self-Produced Album. His first opportunity to tour nationally soon followed; he opened for Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ during their joint tour back in 2017. Building upon a rapidly growing profile within the blues scene, his sophomore album 2019’s Grammy-nominated Spectacular Class saw Willis survey an array of Blues styles with dynamic ensemble performances.
Throughout his career, Willis has been on a mission to reinvigorate today’s blues with the spirit of the past. Drawn to a time when the Blues was plentiful and rhythm was king, Willis leverages his unique sound — a synthesis of his Georgia heritage and the Blues’ rich history — to get the world dancing again. With a bawdy, playful sense of humor, Willis channels the “rent parties” and “juke joints” of yesterday, imparting the vitality of the Blues across contemporary communities.
His forthcoming self-produced, third album, the 15-song West Georgia Blues is reportedly an invitation to everyone — whether Blues fans or someone just passing through the genre — to connect with the universal emotions captured through the Blues. Thematically, the album tackles timeless themes of heartbreak, hardship and resilience while reminding the listener that the Blues are meant to bring us together in times of celebration and commiseration. Something that’s much-needed in our desperate time.
West Georgia Blues‘ latest single “Keep Your Worries On The Dance Floor” is an old school synthesis of R&B, DC go-go and blues, built around a groove so funky that it would make the most downtrodden, heartbroken and beaten down of us get on that dance floor, paired with Willis’ easy-going yet soulfully empathetic delivery. But at its core, the song is a gentle reminder that while life can be so very hard, that for a few minutes, you can blissfully forget on that dance floor with folks, who may be suffering just like you, right now.
West Georgia Blues is slated for an August 16, 2024 release through Strolling Bones Records.
New Audio: TEKE::TEKE and Mirah Tackle The Clash For The Clash Tribute Album “Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats”
As of last September, more than 114 million people globally have been forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict persecution and human rights violations. By the end of this year, that number is expected to reach 130 million people across the globe. Benefiting the International Rescue Committee (https://www.rescue.org) and their work with refugees, The Clash compilation tribute album Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats invites artists, bands and visual artists to create work inspired by the legendary punk band The Clash — and to celebrate their music and human rights messages.
Slated for digital and vinyl release on International Clash Day, February 7, 2024, Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats was mastered by Ted Jensen, known for his work with The Rolling Stones, Green Day, Norah Jones, Madonna, Alice In Chains and a lengthy list of others, the album will feature contributions from The Dandy Warhols, Smokey Brights, Seán Barna, Warren Dunes‘ Julia Massey, The Gotobeds, Big League, Labasheeda, The Rust & The Fury, acclaimed Montréal-based JOVM mainstays TEKE :: TEKE and Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Mirah. (Track listing is available below.)
Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats Tracklist
1. The Dandy Warhols – Straight To Hell
2. TEKE::TEKE – Bankrobber
3. Mirah – I’m Not Down
4. The Rust and The Fury – Guns of Brixton
5. Labasheeda – Deny
6. Smokey Brights – Train In Vain (Stand By Me
7. Seán Barna – Hitsville U.K.
8. The Gotobeds – I’m So Bored with the USA
9. Julia Massey (Warren Dunes) – Rock The Casbah
10. Big League – Lost In The Supermarket
International Clash Day was established back in 2013 by KEXP DJ John Richards. The holiday marks a global, annual celebration of The Clash’s influential and important message and legacy. To celebrate the 11th International Clash Day, KEXP DJs Kevin Cole and Kid Hops will transition the station’s all-day International Clash Day programming on-air to the Gathering Space for International Clash Day Live, where Smokey Brights will play a live set of Clash covers and originals. Tickets and more information are available here.
Mirah, Seán Barna and TEKE: TEKE will play a special album release show on February 2, 2024 at Brooklyn Made. Tickets and more information are available here.
Proceeds from album sales will go to the International Rescue Committee’s global fund, supporting their vital work in responding to humanitarian crises and helping impacted individuals rebuild their lives.
Today Mirah and TEKE:: TEKE shared their contributions to Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats.
TEKE:: TEKE’s “Bankrobber” is a restrained mind-bending interpretation that’s part Spaghetti Western and partially inspired by a sound and approach that was developing in Japan during the 70s, n parallel to the UK’s punk scene with avant-garde outfits like Tokyo Kid Brothers and JA Seazer, which inspired them to sing the bulk of the song’s lyrics in Japanese. The result is something that’s familiar but somewhat alien, yet still deeply human and universal.
TEKE :: TEKE’s Maya Kuroki felt an immediate connection to “Bankrobber,” upon hearing the same words that her late father used to jokingly say “someday I’ll become a bank robber.” She wanted to represent the meaning of the lyrics as the voice of the “community” striving to counter the increasingly widening wealth gap. I envision a modern day Robin Hood, stealing from rich, greedy capitalists and giving their ill-gotten gains to the poor and needy.
The band’s Sei Nakauchi Pelletier adds, “‘Bankrobber’ was the first ever song I heard from The Clash, it was on a compilation tape a dear friend of mine had made for me in my early 20’s. The Clash went on to become one of my favorite and most-inspiring rock bands of all-time, way beyond their musical genius but also for their political stances and DIY approach.” Pelletier’s dear friend, Malcolm Baud, was enlisted to take part on the TEKE:: TEKE cover singing verses in English — a profound collaboration and full circle moment.
Brooklyn-based artist’s Mirah recruited Erica Freas and Karl Blau for a slow-burning, sultry yet deeply sweet take on “I’m Not Down” that maintains the original’s guitar-driven heart and kookiness while seemingly drawing from The Shangri-Las. “One of the best things about being asked to work on a project like this is the opportunity it gave me to play a bunch of Clash albums all at once and to pay close attention as I was listening,” the Brooklyn-based artist explains. “I wanted to pick one that felt right for my voice, with words which reflected something about me and my own experiences. Like a lot of people, I began having some run-ins with anxiety and depression during the pandemic. I wasn’t playing shows or making much music and I was spending nearly every waking hour with a tiny person who I’d given birth to 15 months before the pandemic started. ‘I’m Not Down’ was written as a sort of F you to hard times and depression, and that felt, and feels, pretty relevant.”
Throwback: Happy Belated 90th Birthday, Little Richard!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 90th anniversary of Little Richard’s birth.
New Audio: OMEARA Shares Sleek and Anthemic “Take It Back”
Montréal-born, German-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jasmin O’Meara can trace the origins of her music career to when she was a teenager: A 14-year old O’Meara removed a guitar off of her uncle’s wall and declared it her own.
The Canadian-born, German-based artist is an autodidact, who went on to join Montréal’s indie scene and collaborated with several different bands and experimenting with a multitude of genres. Taking a break from music to study design, a chance encounter in London led O’Meara back to music — and to playing bass in English bands Temposhark and Kill Electric.
Between 2008-2014, O’Meara played bass in synth pop outfit Zoot Woman. Writing and performing and under the moniker OMEARA, the Canadian-born, German-based artist stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with the release of her debut EP Desert Heart, which was released earlier this year. The EP sees O’Meara singing and performing all the vocal parts and almost all of the material’s instrumentation with the exception of harmonica on one song.
Thematically, Desert Heart examines the uneasy and harrowing quest of navigating love in the 21st Century, set to a richly layered and modern take on the music, which shaped her life — and is informed by her own professional experience in post punk, synth pop and indie rock bands.
Desert Heart‘s first single “Take It Back” is sleek post punk-inspired song featuring a relentless motorik-like groove, a supple bass line, gauzy guitar textures paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses, a dance floor friendly bridge, and the Canadian-born, German-based artist’s punchy delivery. While sonically, “Take It Back” reminds me a bit of The Stills, The Killers and others, the song is rooted in deeply personal, lived-in experience — one that should feel familiar to anyone, who’s attempted to maneuver the awkwardness of human relationships.
“The song is about telling your lover that you never really loved them, that you felt pressured into saying ‘I love you’ back, and yet feeling no remorse about revealing this information,” O’Meara explains. But at its core, the song reveals a remarkably self-assured artist, with a penchant for crafting incredibly catchy, anthemic hooks.
New Video: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Breezy “Havana Bay”
Over the past handful of years, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the wildly prolific Israeli-born. Costa Rica-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay MAGON.
Immediately after the release show for his fifth album, A Night in Bethlehem, MAGON, along with his girlfriend and daughter relocated to Costa Rica. He closed that year with “Simple Mind,” a song that saw the JOVM mainstay gently refining his sound yet again with hints of surf rock and jangle pop while retaining the hook-driven nature of his previously released material. Written during a major life transition, ‘Simple Mind” features a narrator, who’s closing a major chapter of his life — and perhaps career, as well — and is moving on to a new start, new possibilities, and new horizons.
Continuing his reputation for being wildly and restlessly prolific, MAGON’s sixth album Did You Hear The Kids? reportedly features a broader and more expansive sonic palette than ever before. The album’s first single, the lush and laid-back “Onie Was A Kid” meshes elements of 60s psych rock, lo-fi singer/songwriter pop and contemporary indie rock paired with lyrics that are simultaneously autobiographical and deeply introspective. The song also features a guest spot from Paris-based indie duo SOS Citizen, who contribute shimmering guitar work and soaring backing vocals.
“Havana Bay,” the forthcoming sixth album’s second and latest single is an upbeat and summery tune built around jangling guitars, a shuffling and propulsive rhythm paired with the JOVM mainstay’s laid back delivery and his unerring knack for catchy hooks. While sonically reminding me of Psychic Ills‘ Inner Journey Out and Rolling Stones‘ Exile on Main Street, the song sees MAGON telling a story that shifts between two characters – a stoned jokester and a sincere balladeer — and describes a desire to escape ugliness and writer’s block.
Directed by Alexa Rotarescu and Magon, the accompanying video follows the JOVM mainstay as he cleans up a horse stall and grooms a couple of them before going on a lengthy ride on one of the horses. At one point, we see the JOVM mainstay and his daughter riding the same horse — with his daughter being thrilled beyond measure.
Audio Interview: MANE
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms chats with rising Adelaide-based artist MANE at last week’s The New Colossus Festival.