Tag: women who kick ass

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: TEKE :: TEKE Shares Punchy and Expansive “Shura”

With the release of their 2021’s debut Shrirushi and 2023’s Hagata, Montréal-based Japanese psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays TEKE :: TEKE quickly cemented an explosive, genre-defying blend of psych rock, surf rock, experimental music and traditional Japanese instrumentation paired with the distinct vocals and visual artist of frontperson Maya Kuroki. The Canadian outfit’s adventurous compositions and electrify live performances have held to widespread international praise, including from The New Yorker, The Times and Billboard Canada.

Last year, TEKE :: TEKE expanded upon their international profile by contribution original compositions to Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.

Recently, the Montréal-based band have teased studio sessions for their highly-anticipated third album while going through recent a lineup change: The band has gone from a septet to a sextet while featuring a new rhythm section of Camilly (bass) and Oli Bernachez (percussion). Their newest single “Shura,” which was part of those teased studio sessions was released today through Kill Rock Stars.

The endlessly shifting “Shura” continues their remarkable run of playfully adventurous and cinematic material, blending psych rock, film scores, post-punk and traditional Japanese folk instrumentation rooted in their distinct spirited and punchy moxie before closing out with a cacophonous crescendo.

Deriving its title from an abbreviated form of Ashura (or Asura), a divine figure, whose name appears across many cultures. Often associated with a relentless, almost reckless fighting nature, the figure also represents intense struggle and conflict, while continually transforming through those experiences.

Drawing from ancient mythology and Buddhist philosophy, “Shura” explores the beauty of struggle, transformation and perseverance with a deeply human reflection on the realities of fighting through life’s seemingly endless challenges — with your dignity most intact. The song opens with the band’s Maya Kuroki singing “Shogyo Mujo,” a Buddhist expression that translates into English as “the impermanence of all things,” and is famously echoed in the opening lines of the Japanese epic, The Tale of the Heike. But rather than just simply embracing the philosophical conceit that everything is temporary, “Shura” actively questions who gets the privilege of contemplating such ideas from a place of comfort and protection, while others are in the muck and grime of every day life, desperately fighting to stay afloat. And yet, there’s something beautiful, deeply human and extraordinary when one blooms with all of their strength.

“‘Shura’ was the first song idea we explored for new music,” the band’s Sei Nakauchi Pelletier explains. “The various musical elements that make up the song emerged over a fairly long period of time in the dead of winter and the song went through several versions before settling on this one. Unconsciously, as if to honor the song’s lyrics about changes and impermanence, the music, while raw and heavy like the figure that is ‘Ashura’, also took on a somewhat unpredictable form, with a sudden change of pace for the song’s instrumental build-up finale.”

Directed by the band’s Maya Kuroki, the accompanying video for “Shura” is a mind-bending journey through the beautiful and odd muck, slime and mess of human life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Amsterdam’s Baby Berserk Shares Trippy “French Manicure”

Born at the intersection of punk, fashion and club culture, Amsterdam-based trio Baby Berserk — Lieselot Elzinga, Eva Wijnbergen and Mano Hollestelle — have spent the past years building a world entirely of their own in which raw guitars collide with drum machines, glamour meets chaos and the boundaries between the dance floor, the stage and runway are continuously blurred.

The Dutch trio’s third album, Psycho Dance Sleaze is slated for a March 19, 2027 release through Les Disques Bongo Joe and Mothland. Drawing on their shared roots in Amsterdam’s punk and garage scenes, the trio reconnects with their visceral energy of live instrumentation while pushing deeper into the electronic territory that has defined their sound. Sonically, the material moves freely between garage rock, post-punk, indie dance and rave culture as a way of simultaneously embracing both the physical intensity of rock ‘n’ roll and the irresistible grooves of dance music.

The result is an effort that showcases the Dutch trio’s approach — instinctive, irreverent, unpredictable and driven by a deep-seated belief that exciting things happen when different worlds collide.

Psycho Dance Sleaze’s latest single “French Manicure” is a trippy blend of slashing, post punk-styled guitar attack, machine gun-like staccato beats, glistening synths and woozily buzzing bass synths paired with lyrics delivered in a punchy yet sultry mix of French and English non-sequiturs, and a remarkably catchy hook. The result is a song that sounds as though it could have been released during the height of the indie sleaze era — but with a distinctly European flair and sophistication.

Filmed and edited by Sara Elzinga, the accompanying video for “French Manicure” follows the trio driving around Amsterdam in a convertible pink Cadillac looking stylish, vamping and overall being cooler than you’ll ever be.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Bonnie Rait!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Bonnie Raitt’s 77th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 83rd Birthday, Joni Mitchell!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joni Mitchell’s 83rd birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: IFULKI Shares Uplifting and Empowering “Moment”

London-based trio IFULKI features musicians shaped by a culture of improvisation, openness and collaboration:

  • Queen Kaltoun, a Moroccan-Italian vocalist, who relocated to London when she was 189 to pursue a career in music

  • Charlie, an English-born bassist and synth player with Irish and Ghanian roots

  • Ayman, a Sudanese drummer and percussionist

Each member of the trio have spent years performing across London’s live music circuit, playing sets at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Cafe and Village Underground and a long list of others, while collaboration with a collection of boundary-pushing artists including David Mrakpor, Rebekah Reid, Mei Kirby, Ayo Salawu, Arowah, Tay Grace, and NK-OK.

The London-based trio have quickly established a unique blend of Gnawa inferences, electronic textures and live instrumentation helps to create a sound that’s deeply rooted in ancient traditions while being remarkably modern. Rather than remaining within the boundaries of jazz, the project for the trio became the meeting point of everything the inspired them — the freedom of improvisation, the emotional depth of electronic music, trip-hop and soul, and the philosophy of Queen Kaltoum’s Amazigh heritage.

Driven by spacious electronics, hypnotic rhythms and deeply instinctive interplay between the trio, the band’s music consistently prioritizes deep feeling over sterling perfection. That philosophy stems directly from their name: “‘Ifulki’ means ‘beautiful’ in the Amazigh language,” Queen Kaltoum shares. “It’s a celebration of the beautiful people and beautiful connections we encounter in this life. I’m Moroccan, and I come from the Amazigh people, an Indigenous people from North Africa. I want to pay homage to my ancestors. They’ve carried such a strong sense of community through generations, and that’s something I want to celebrate.”

For Queen Kaltoum beauty isn’t something superficial. Beauty exists in kindness, generosity, solidarity and the relationships we build and maintain with each other. Those values, which are deeply embedded within Amazigh culture, quietly shape every aspect of the emerging London-based trio’s creative vision — one, ultimately born, as Queen Kaltoum says, “from a need to bring people together.”

The rising London-based trio’s debut EP Something Greater is slated for a December 4, 2026 through [PIAS]’s new imprint SOURCE. The EP will feature the previously released EP title track “Something Greater,” and the EP’s latest single “Moment.” Built around a strutting and irresistible bass line, skittering hi-hats and atmospheric synths, “Moment” is a seamless blend of soul, trip hop and dance music rooted in a urgent, empowering message about calming one’s space and embracing the present with an unapologetic confidence delivered by an equally powerful vocal. In tone and message, the new single nods a bit of Aretha Franklin’s 1994 cover of C+C Music Factory’s “Pride (A Deeper Love).” But at its core, the result is a much-needed blast of affirmation and uplift — and a reminder that you can’t let anyone dim your shine, ever.

 The track is a call to recognise your moment when it arrives and refuse to let it pass you by,'” IFULKI’s Queen Kaltoum explains. “It’s about claiming your space, pushing through resistance and refusing to let anyone diminish what you’re building. At its heart, though, ‘Moment’ is also a reminder that strength doesn’t have to be solitary: sometimes, the right people beside you make all the difference.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Meditative and Introspective “A Hell Below”

Led by composer, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind Seth Applebaum, the New York-based psych soul outfit and JOVM mainstay act Ghost Funk Orchestra will be releasing their fifth album, Yours in The Ranks of Death through Karma Chief Records on December 4, 2026.

Reflective and ethereal, the JOVM mainstays’ fifth album reportedly finds Applebuam pairing down the sounds and conceptual underpinnings, providing his signature trippy grooves and cinematic arrangements a much cleaner pocket.

Yours is The Ranks of Death will include “Ocotillo,” which features Julia Zivic on lead vocals; “Yours” and “Leave Me Alone,” which feature Camellia Hartman on lead vocals; and the album’s latest single “A Hell Below,” which features longtime collaborator, Megan Mancini on lead vocals. Arguably one of the more introspective songs in the JOVM mainstays’ growing catalog, “A Hell Below” features a sparse arrangement of atmospheric and twinkling keys and strutting funk guitar. The production puts the jazzy drum pattern and Mancini’s vocal, singing with — and about — yearning for a past that seemed far simpler.

The song is rooted in the bittersweet, rose-colored nostalgia informed by getting older, of having more complicated responsibilities and obligations, of “growing up” in a world on fire, of the realization that you’ve also fucked things up royally and still have shit to learn.

As the band explains “A Hell Below” is a song about uncertainty; an ode to daydreaming about what might be missing in your life.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Share a Funky, Club Friendly Critique of Wellness Culture

Acclaimed Belgian duo Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul‘s sophomore album, the Stephen and David Dawæle co-produced Mainland Madinina is slated for a February 5, 2027 release through DEEWEE/Because Music. The highly-anticipated follow-up to their globally praised 2022 debut, Topical Dancer marks the duo’s first collaborative album in almost five years. More personal in its focus but no less ambition, the duo’s forthcoming sophomore album explores grief, parenthood, lineage and colonial history through their distinct blend of electro pop and dance punk, delivered with their signature sharp, irreverent humor.

The album reflects on family, belonging and the histories we carry, and is named for their respective places of origins — for Pupul, mainland China where his grandparents are from and Hong Kong where his mother is from; and Madinina, the Indigenous name for the Caribbean island of Martinique, where Adigéry’s mother is from. The album’s tile imagines a meeting point between two seemingly distant places, questioning the boundaries between mainland and island, while creating a shared space in which their stories can sit alongside one another.

Much like its predecessor, Mainland Madinina‘s material grew out of conversations between the two friends and collaborators as their lives changed. In the years since Topical Dancer was recorded, both have become parents, while Adigéry has also experienced the loss of her father to Alzheimer’ disease. Pupul’s solo album, 2024’s Letter to Yu, which was inspired by his journeys to his late mother’s homeland of Hong Kong, brought his own family history into focus. Together, these experiences led the duo to explore the parallels between their backgrounds coming together in Belgium — from Pupul’s grandparents’ Chinese restaurant in Aalst to Adigéry’s mother’s cocktail bar, Madinina, in Ghent.

Written in Ghent and Martinique, Mainland Madinina moves between deeply intimate songwriting and the duo’s long-held and familiar electronic intensity. The pair returned to songwriting fundamentals, working with little more than a guitar to creat songs that couldn’t hide between sleek production. The result is an album that makes space for vulnerability, while retaining the energy, wit and unpredictability that has defined their collaboration.

At its core, the acclaimed duo’s sophomore album is about what we inherit, what we choose to carry and how we find a sense of belonging. While Topical Dancer confronted the absurdities of contemporary life through privation and humor, the sophomore album turns inward, towards the duo’s own histories, finding connections between personal experience and wide questions of identity, memory and community. Yes, it’s an album shaped by life’s changes and by loss, but also the sustaining power of a deep and abiding friendship, and the possibility of making something new from the past.

Soulwax once again assisted as mentors/co-producers on the album, with Adigéry describing the duo’s contribution to Mainland Madinina as invaluable. “They’re people who can really inspire us when we get stuck – they invite us to go deeper, to really grasp the intention behind the song,” she says. Pupul adds, “They’re still the musical chiropractors – they really know where to push when stuck.” 

Mainland Madinina will feature the previously released “GOOGOO GAGA” and the album’s latest single “From Healer to Dealer.” Built around a strutting bass line, skittering, tweeter and woofer thumping beats and shimmering synths, “From Healer to Dealer” is a hilarious and incisive critique of spiritual materialism and heath culture that features a ridiculous phone conversation between “Grace” and “Ruben,” two wellness-obsessed manics that Adigéry and Puul use to explore the complex, often confused vernacular of health culture — while also pointing out its vapidity and self-absorption.

Directed by Lennert Madou, the accompanying video feature the duo doing a mix of pilates and yoga and in front of a wind machine — while seemingly reaching a higher plane of consciousness. But they look ridiculous while doing so.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sara Diana Shares Dance Floor Friendly “Phantom”

Sara Diana is a 20-year old, Miami-based singer/songwriter whose work sees her pair poetic storytelling, raw emotion and powerhouse vocals with lush, atmospheric pop productions. Her debut EP, 2024’s Tracksion and Camilo Velandia-co-produced Can’t Be Fazed explored themes of love, growth, survival, invincibility and self-discovery.

Fittingly released on Halloween, her latest single “Phantom” is a sleek and slickly produced bit of pop featuring glistening, horror-like arpeggiated synths and twitter and woofer rattling beats beneath Sara Diana’s powerhouse delivery. Arguably one of the most dance floor friendly songs of the young artist’s growing catalog, “Phantom” is a blend of Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” and 90s EDM and dance pop that sounds remarkably modern.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Darkwater and Stars Share Expansive and Deeply Personal “Only Human”

Florida-based alternative rock act Darkwater and Stars can trace its origins to when frontperson and multi-instrumentalist Melissa Griffin started the project as a solo recording project that showcased genre-bending exploration of darkwave, post-punk, blues, shoegaze […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Yulia Niko Shares Thumping and Euphoric “Running”

Yulia Niko is a Berlin-based DJ, producer, radio host, Beatport creator and the founder of AXEPT Music Over the course of the past two decades, Niko has been connecting dance floors through forward-thinking electronic music released through Crosstown Rebels, Armada Music, Siamese Records, Nervous Records, Get Physical Music, Sweat It Out, 8Bit, Watergate Records and more.

As a tastemaker and curator, Niko champions new artists and new sounds while building meaningful connections through music and AEXPT.

The German-based DJ and producer’s latest single “Running” is a euphoric, incredibly accessible club banger that sounds like it would rock clubs in Ibiza, Berlin or here in NYC between 1:00am-3:00am.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Naomi Shares Euphoric “Tranquille”

2026 has been a busy year for Montréal-based JOVM mainstay Naomi: She has continued to be wildly prolific while entering a bold new era working with French producer Elior Chaudagne, who produced “Univers,” and “Hershey Kiss” feat. Anglophone Montréal-based emcee SLM (pronounced “SLIM”)

The French-Canadian artist’s latest single, the Naomi, Elior Chaudagne and John Adam co-written “Tranquille” is a breezy, remarkably catchy bit of pop anchored around a strutting, dance floor friendly bass line, glistening synths and Naomi’s sultry and soulful R&B-tinged pop star delivery. “Tranquille” is a euphoric, escapist fantasy, specifically meant for you to dance your frustrations and worries away.

Fittingly, the song is rooted in a familiar story for all of us: When a friend goes through a breakup, Naomi steps in to console her. And she comes up with a simple plan — get dressed up and head to the club to dance the night away and get her friend’s mind off things.

The Naomi and Wym Holmes co-directed video for “Tranquille” features dancers Miambi Kassé and Zanna Allepot performing choreography that Naomi developed in collaboration with Guillaume Michaud. The video follows the trio as they get ready for their night out. Gabriel Poirier handled the cinematography and editing for the clip.

Additionally, Naomi was recently named an ambassador for Maybelline Canada, further adding to her reputation as a fashion enthusiast.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sandhouse Shares Atmospheric “Into Nothing”

Rising London-based indie duo Sandhouse — Anna Sutherland and Casper Holloway — have developed a musical language that comes from a wide-ranging exchange: The duo first bonded over dance music, soul and Arthur Russell, and still spend much of their studio time playing music together. Their ambition is to make guitar music that carries the feelings they find in hyperpop, rap, soul, dance music and film soundtracks. “A lot of our process is creating a powerful sound and then trying to figure out how to make it human, or find the complexity within it,” they explain. “Or creating something very vulnerable and then adding the power to it.” 

Sandhouse’s debut EP, last year’s Circus has amassed over 5 million streams on Spotify while subsequent singles have received press from The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Rolling Stone UK, Dork Magazine, Under The Radar, The New Cue and others, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing, where they had a single named “Track of the Week,” Adding to a growing profile across the region, the band has built a reputation as a must-see live act, playing sold-out headlining shows at London’s Corsica Studios, The Lexington and Peckham Audio, along with opening slots and tours with Dove Ellis, PORIJ, she’s green, MOULD, swim school, Bleach Lab, and Panic Shack.

The rising London duo’s sophomore. Casper Holloway-produced EP Pollyanna was released today through Broke Records. The EP’s title is derived from Eleanor H. Porter’s optimistic heroine, while exploring the impulse to keep believing in someone despite mounting reasons not to. For the duo’s Anna Sutherland, writing became a way to take back control of experiences that had left her feeling powerless, shaping the material’s lyrics and her vocal performances. “Writing this music was part of a healing process and a way to untangle all the complicated feelings that arise from escaping from a terrible situation,” the duo’s Anna Sutherland explains.

She adds, “We often talk about the songs being spells or me having magical powers. For the vocal recording for parts of the EP, I imagined I was a giant monster that was part woman part crow when I stepped up to the microphone.” Reading Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” and accounts of succubi and sirens, alongside conversations about Fullmetal Alchemist fed into that imagination. Across Pollyanna, the desire to disappear into romance sits alongside the urge to become something powerful enough to escape it.

Much of the EP was written and recorded across the last half of 2024 and early this year. EP title track “Pollyanna” and “Into Nothing” emerged during a writing retreat on an estuary in Suffolk, UK with Jay Flew with further sessions taking place at Sandhouse’s studios and alongside Ben Hillier in Lewes, UK. The EP features Joel Kovoor (drums) and Anthony Boatright (bass) on EP tracks “Snapdragon” and “Gasoline” while Ben Beed appears on “Pollyanna” and “Into Nothing.” Jake Burgess (lead guitar, tape machine and contact-mic experimentation) contributes to “Into Nothing.”

Sonically, the EP sees the band pairing warped indie rock with surreal, visceral imagery, grunge-inspired guitars, bleary trip-hop production, warped psychedelia and nocturnal alt-pop and Sutherland’s seductive yet darkly playful lyrics.

Pollyanna EP‘s latest single “Into Nothing” is a slow-burning tune that’s a woozy blend of trip hop, shoegazer textures and alt pop paired with Sutherland’s yearning delivery. Thematically, the song explores what can be lot in the pursuit of an idealized version of yourself. The duo’s Sutherland says, “‘Into Nothing’ is about the performance of modern beauty, and the self-reduction that occurs in order to conform.”

The duo has a handful of live dates, including an appearance at this year’s London Calling. Check out tour dates below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Carolina Oliveros Shares Defiant “YA ROMPIMOS EL SILENCIO”

Colombian-born, New York-based singer/songwriter Carolina Oliveros is best known for being the frontperson of acclaimed act Combo Chimbita. Oliveros will be stepping out into the spotlight with her solo debut Ya Rompimos el Silencio, which is slated for a November 6, 2026 release through Chulo Records.

Inspired by her journey of healing from childhood trauma, Ya Rompimos el Silencio is an act of reclaiming voice, body and memory. The album’s material follows the path forward towards truth, resilience, queer love, collective healing and liberation. Each song is both a personal testimony and an invitation for others to break their own silences.

Sonically, the album reflects Oliveros lifelong dialogue between worlds. Anchored in the Afro-Indigenous musical traditions of Colombia and the Caribbean, vocal harmonies serve as connective tissue marrying bullerengue, cumbia, tambora, rumba, bolero, dembo, salve and other ancestral rhythms with adventurous contemporary production. The result if a sound that’s simultaneously intimate and expansive, ritualistic and contemporary — and honors tradition while boldly pushing it forward. Throughout the album’s runtime, its songs move effortlessly between ceremony and celebration, contemplation and the dance floor, revealing that healing can be a defiant, joyful act.

While showcasing another dimension of Oliveros’ artistry, Ya Rompimos el Silencio is rooted in the belief that music carries memory across generations, that telling the truth can be liberating and transformative, and breaking silence is not an ending, it’s a decision to choose a freer way of living.

The album will include the previously released “Oye Camina,” “RAYO” feat. Orquesta Akokán, and the album’s latest asingle, album closing track and title track “YA ROMPIMOS EL SILENCIO.” “YA ROMPIMOS EL SILENCIO,” which translates into English as “WE’VE BROKEN THE SILENCE”is a furious, defiant and fiercely politically charged song that directly confronts gender-based violence, abuse and the systems of ear, shame and impunity that allow them to persist. The track sees Oliveros alternating between spitting haymaker-like bars and crooning over a woozy production featuring Afro Latino percussion, bubbling synths and samples of a chorus of equally defiant women demanding to be heard.

Written in solidarity with women, girls, nonbinary, trans folks and families, whose stories have become intertwined with her own, “YA ROMPIMOS EL SILENCIO” is an uncompromising, unafraid declaration of resistance, solidarity and compassion for all victims and a demand to be heard. “I wrote it with all the women, girls, and families in mind whose stories have become intertwined with my own—people who have been silenced by fear, shame, power, and impunity,” says Oliveros. “It is a song born from outrage, but also from the conviction that breaking the silence is the first act of justice.”

Directed by Oliveros and Bodgehost, the accompanying video features the Colombian-born artist with a collection of Latin women and non-binary folks in all the shades in solidarity while also proudly taking up space and refusing to be shamed or silenced. Anchored around a simple concept, the video is as powerful as the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Trinket Shares Woozy, Hook-Driven “If Not Soon Then Now”

Formed back in 2023. Brooklyn-based indie duo Trinket — Lightheaded‘s and Betty Brite‘s Madison Kate Profitt and S.C.A.B.’s Sean Carmargo — have quickly carved out their own corner of the local indie scene with their […]