New York-born and based emcee Homeboy Sandman is arguably one of hip-hop’s most prolific, inventive and uncompromisingly challenging artists, and unsurprisingly over the course of this site’s history, the New York-based emcee has been a JOVM mainstay. Now, since […]
Tag: The Joy of Violent Movement
With the release of ” Big Girls,” “Appetite,” “Creme De La Creme,”the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Sophie Stern and her (mostly) solo recording project Sophie and the Bom Boms has quickly become one of my favorite new artists and a JOVM mainstay artist for infectiously catchy hook-laden pop that sounds indebted to the likes of Gwen Stefani, TLC, Phia and others as Stern’s first two singles of late 2015 and early 2016 possess a similar “you can do it girl/girl, that zero and get you a hero/girl, this is a fuckboy free zone/girl, drop that deadbeat friend — or lover” tone and air, paired with incredibly slick and contemporary production techniques.
“Where Do We Go,” Stern’s latest single is a bit of an aesthetic and structural departure from the first two singles that caught the attention of not this site but several across the blogosphere. Whereas the aforementioned “Big Girls” “Appetite” and “Creme De La Creme” were based on infectious and catchy pop hooks, “Where Do We Go” eschews familiar pop songwriting structures. Although there’s a recognizable hook the song focus on establishing a particular mood and tone while also being arguably one of the more introspective songs Stern has released to date; in fact, the song focuses on a relationship that’s a bit conflicting. While being fairly fulfilling, the song’s narrator recognizes that there has been a transition within the relationship that has created some uncertainty within the relationship that has her wondering what will happen to her relationship — and in turn, the rest of her life. As a result, the song and Stern’s vocals convey an equally complex and conflicting array of emotions — namely excitement, worry, confusion, fear and anxiousness — all within a turn of a phrase.
New Video: The Hauntingly Introspective Video for Fernando’s “Save Me”
Born in Argentina, Fernando Viciconte, who now performs under the mononym Fernando, first made a name for himself with a stint as the frontman of the Los Angeles-based hard rock band Monkey Paw. Vicicconte relocated to Portland, to focus […]
Earlier in the year, I wrote about Ursa Major, an up-and-coming 19 year-old Toronto, ON-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who describes his work and sound as Psychedelic R&B and claims that his work manages to fit comfortably between classic/old-school R&B and contemporary electronic production — although the Canadian producer’s debut single “Dusk” bore an uncanny resemblance to JOVM mainstay act, Gosh Pith as rumbling and wobbling low end, skittering drum programming are paired soulful vocals in a song that focuses on lust, loneliness and desperate longing. Interestingly, in press notes, the Canadian producer has noted that his earliest work focuses on his personal experiences including his past loves, a fear and inability to move forward and the complicated, heartbreaking and yet strangely reaffirming processes of falling in and out of love repeatedly.
The young Canadian producer, multi-intrusmentalist and singer/songwriter’s latest single “5am/Intro” will further cement Ursa Major’s reputation for slick and swaggering contemporary production consisting — in this case consisting of shimmering synths, glitchy drum programming and boom bap beats in a song that’s about that shuffling fucked up drunk and high return from the club or the bar, and giving zero fucks about it.
New Video: Check Out This Live Studio Footage of John Carpenter Performing “Distant Dream”
If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the better part of the past year, the renowned director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composter John Carpenter has quickly become a mainstay artist after last year’s critically and commercially successful album […]
If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past three or four years, you’d probably be familiar with JOVM mainstay act Bambara. Comprised of twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh and their childhood friend, William Brookshire, the band formed back in 2008 when all three members were living in Athens, GA. After relocating to Brooklyn and recording their debut effort DREAMVIOLENCE, the trio exploded into the national scene for a punishing sound that compared favorably to the likes of A Place to Bury Strangers, Weekend, and others. Since the release of DREAMVIOLENCE the Brooklyn-based trio’s sound has increasingly incorporated elements of punk rock and thrash punk — and as a result, their sound has generally become much more abrasive and forceful as you’d hear on “All The Ugly Things,” the first single off the band’s long-awaited and recently released sophomore effort Swarm.
According to the band, the material’s — and in turn, the album’s first single — abrasive quality was largely inspired by the trio’s immediate surroundings; in fact, Reid Bateh’s lyrics describe a New York that’s stark, grimy, mercilessly bleak and full of unhinged, unstable characters desperately trying to survive with whatever dignity, decency and shred of sanity they have remaining. Interestingly though, the album’s latest single “An Ill Son” manages to possess the same bleak sound of the album’s previous single; however, the band sound as though they were drawing equally from thrash punk, surfer rock, garage rock and post-punk as angular, slashing guitar chords are played through gentle amounts of reverb and are paired with propulsive drumming and Reid Bateh’s unhinged crooning. Sonically, the song reminds me quite a bit of The Amazing Snakeheads‘ incredible Amphetamine Ballads, as “An Ill Son” focuses on the grim and seedy underworld that most people are largely ignorant about — and with a tense, bristling anxiousness.
In the decade since their formation, Atlanta, GA-based trio and JOVM mainstay The Coathangers have released four full-length albums and have gone on a number of North American and European tours, all of which have cemented their reputation for writing incredibly catchy songs — and for unruly live shows. During the recording sessions for Suck My Shirt, the band went through a lineup change as Candice Jones left the band, making the band a trio comprised of Julia Kugel (vocals and guitar), Meredith Franco (bass), and Stephanie Luke (drums). Naturally, as a result of the lineup change, the newly-constituted trio’s fourth full-length effort, Suck My Shirt revealed a refined songwriting approach in which the album’s material still retained the raw, seemingly spontaneously simplicity and fury that has won them national and international attention — but with streamlined, more direct arrangements that made the material feel more urgent.
“Make It Right,” the first single off the band’s soon-to-be released fifth full-length album Nosebleed Weekend continued in the same lines of their previous effort as it possessed a similar primal simplicity — in other words although it nodded at garage rock and surfer rock, there was an underlying sneering, “we don’t give a fuck” attitude. The following single, album title track “Nosebleed Weekend” paired their signature sneering “zero fucks given” attitude with an anthemic hook that you can imagine a room full of sweaty concertgoers lustily yelling along with upraised fist and in a way that’s reminiscent of 90s alt rock.
Released just before their sold-out show at Baby’s All Right tonight, the band’s latest single “Squeeki Tiki” pairs punchy and bratty vocals and a catchy hook, a throbbing bass line, propulsive four-on-the-floor-like drumming and industrial-like squeaking and squawking in a sneering “in your face” “zero fucks given” song that draws from garage punk and surfer rock — as though the song drew from The Ramones, The Beach Boys and Nirvana.
New Audio: Arbor Labor Union’s Moody and Metaphysical-Leaning, New Single
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, if you had been frequenting JOVM over the course of last year, you may have come across a couple of posts on Athens, GA-based quartet Pinecones. And […]