Tag: women who kick ass

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: debdepan Shares Playful Visual for Cathartic “Ghost”

Margate, UK-based duo debdepan — Chelsea and Grace — officially formed back in 2022, but can trace their origins back to writing sessions during pandemic lockdowns. The duo quickly made a name for themselves through Pie Factory Music’s Emerging Artists Program, which lead to their breakthrough single “Darkest Hour.” “Darkest Hour” gained radio play across the US and Europe, landing on the Deutsche Alternative Charts — and earning the duo a publishing deal with Archangelo Music.

The pair’s debut EP, 2023’s OMEN saw the band firmly establishing dark pop bonafides. The EP’s material received airplay from BBC Introducing, BBC London and BBC 6 Music. Adding to a growing profile across both the UK and European Union, the Margate-based duo has started to make a run of the European festival circuit with standout sets at Portugal’s Westway Lab, Spain’s Pro Weekend and Focus Wales, as well as opening slots for cumgirl8, Miki Berenyi and Pete Doherty. Earlier this year, they opened for The Wants during the New York-based trio’s UK tour. And this month they will be opening for TRAITRS.

The duo’s highly-anticipated sophomore EP Lovers & Others is slated for a November 28, 2025 release through Silent Kid Records. The EP reportedly sees the duo leaner more into dance music-leaning arrangements while still retaining the harder, grunge-inspired roar and bite that have helped them win attention across Europe and elsewhere. And as a result, the rising British duo showcase a refined, genre-blurring sound that’s still emotionally charged — but is also physically irresistible.

Written in the year since the duo relocated to Margate, the EP reportedly sees them balancing introspective vulnerability with a”pretty sad girl but also kind of party” bit of duality — a reflection of the late-night emotional shifts in their town’s nightlife scene paired with long, contemplative costal walks.

Lovers & Others EP will feature the previously released “Habit,” and “The Girl,” and the EP’s final, pre-release single “Ghost.” “Ghost” begins with a mid-tempo bit of melodic pop-inspired post punk and goth that seems to channel Florence and the Machine, before making a rapid left turn to a throbbing bit of Echoes-era The Rapture-like dance punk banger. But at its core, is the hopefulness of a new potential love, followed by the bitter ache of having that hope dashed when they inexplicably ghost. And then, there’s the release of bilious anger of discovering that person is a coward, who couldn’t — or wouldn’t — tell you the truth. “This song had to feel like a journey,” the band explains. “It needed a big fat pop chorus to juxtapose the dark and miserable verses.”

Recorded in Ramsgate, UK with engineer Mike Collins, “Ghost,” is informed by his inspired production choices. “Mike had a wicked idea to layer a bunch of guitars in the middle 8 to really build some tension,” the duo says. The end result is a song that showcases the band’s ability to balance aching vulnerability with explosive catharsis.

The playful, Halloween-inspired video for “Ghost.” was shot by the band across various Margate-based locations and features them dressed as DIY-styled ghosts, complete with goofy errors, including a visible drone controller peeking out beneath one of the duo’s costume.

“I borrowed my dad’s drone to film it, and if you look closely you can spot the controller under the ghost sheet!” they explain. “We wanted something playful with the ghost theme that we could shoot ourselves. Filming around Margate was pretty embarrassing, but at least the costumes meant we couldn’t see most people laughing at us.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: cruush Shares “120 Minutes”-Era MTV-like “Rupert Giles”

Manchester-based indie outfit cruush — Amber Warren (vocals, guitar), Arthur Boyd (guitar), Fotis Kalantzis (drums) and Bruno Evans (bass) — quickly emerged into the national and international scenes with their first three EPs, 2023’s Wishful Thinker and last year’s Ladybird Song and Nice Things Now, All The Time, which saw them quickly establishing a sound that was both forceful and tender, and sincere to the point of snot-crying with layers of indie rock fuzz. Their music has been forged in the drudgery of soul-sucking service jobs, rainy Manchester days and nights.

So far, the British quartet have received coverage from The Independent, NYLON, NME, BrooklynVegan, Dork, DIY Magazine, So Young, The Line of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, Rough Trade and Consequence, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1′s Jack Saunders, BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq and Emily Pilbeam, and Radio X’s John Kennedy. And adding to a growing profile nationally, the quartet has shared stages with BDRMM, Pale Blue Eyes, NewDad, GIFT, BASHT and Girl Scout.

In a short period of time, the band’s sound has gone through a shift that has ushered a new era of tightly wound grunge pop rippers. And to further flesh out their evolving sound and approach, they enlisted Norfolk, UK-based Sickroom Studios producer Owen Turner.

Their latest single “Rupert Giles” may arguably be the most 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like song of their growing catalog, as well as one of the more purposely direct. Featuring a classic grunge song structure — alternating quieter verses and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with layers of guitar fuzz and thunderous drumming, the song’s arrangement serves as lush and dreamy bed for Warren’s plaintive and gorgeous vocal. Yes, for those of you, who are like me, inching towards old, the song will bring about memories of some of the stuff you were listening to back in 1994 — but while being remarkably modern.

“On a writing retreat to Wales we took a sunrise hike up Penygader. We listened to nothing but Neil Young, Brownhorse, and the Van Halen song ‘Panama,’” the band recalls. “We were sitting by this lake at 6am, with the sun rising, listening to it and all felt well. We knew we had a great song written, we were all sleep deprived and sweaty, the stars were aligning.”

Directed by Zack Arlo, the moody and impressionistic visual for “Rupert Giles” manages to further emphasize the 90s MTV-era vibe of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Queens’ THROES NYC Shares Brooding and Sultry “Bridge”

Queens-based duo THROES NYC — cousins Courtney Leo (vocals) and multi-instrumentalist and producer Michael Bozzo — have been making music together since they were children. As teens, their regular haunts were CGBG’s, Roseland and Irving Plaza, where they soaked up the energy and spirit of the ’90s and early ’00s NYC scene.

With THROES NYC, Leo and Bozo blend elements of Indie Rock, New Wave, Pop and Trip-Hop with the energy and spirit of the ’90s and early ’00s NYC scene that they grew up with.

Released earlier this month, the duo’s latest EP HOWL features their latest single “Bridge.” “Bridge” sees the Queens-based duo blending elements of contemporary alt pop, Bristol trip hop to create a broodingly eerie and atmospheric bed for Leo’s sultry delivery.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pacifica Shares Club Banging “Indie Boyz”

With the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Freak Scene and last year’s acoustic Freak Scene: NAK Sessions, Buenos Aires-based duo Pacifica — Inés Adam and Martina Nintzel — quickly became a global sensation, for their unique blend of early 2000s garage rock, post-punk and 90s alt rock, and for their reputation for blistering live shows that channel friendship, chaos and catharsis in equal measure.

The Argentine duo have played sold-out shows across North America, Europe and South America, sharing stages with internationally renowned acts like Franz Ferdinand, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Måneskin while amassing over 880,000 followers across social media platforms, and over 25 million streams, plus millions of viral moments on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Pacifica’s recently released sophomore album, In Your Face marks a bold new era for the Buenos Aires-based duo, an era that captures their trademark mix of vulnerability and rebellion with more bite, confidence and self-awareness than ever before, while anchored in lived-in, deeply personal experience.

“In Your Face is an introspective journey that brushes through themes of heartbreak, betrayal, lust, spite, immaturity, and regret — all with a pinch of humor and light-heartedness,” the band explains. “It’s about cause and consequence. Accepting fate and flaws, realizing some things really are the other person’s fault, falling in love and wanting to jump off a building for someone, learning to be patient, and just living through it — Tokyo streets, Maseratis, vibes.”

Album single “Indie Boyz” is thumping, tongue-in-cheek, DFA Records-era dance punk/indie sleaze-inspired banger, anchored around a scuzzy power chords and a Gang of Four-like bass line that sees the duo mocking the shit out of the sort of indie scene fuckbois that they would come across at the club.

The band notes that it’s “not to be taken too seriously — just a description of a week of going out almost every night. No poetry, just vibes.,” They also note that the song is also a nod to a trendy LA club, Tenants of the Trees.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Hush Shares Lush and Prismatic “The Mirrors Were Right”

Montréal-based trio Hush — Paige Barlow (vocals) and multi-instrumentalists Miles Dupire-Gagnon and Gabriel Lambert — are part of a new wave of Montréal-based acts actively reshaping psych pop.

Citing an eclectic array of influences that includes Broadcast, The Velvet Underground, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Steve Lacy, Cocteau Twins and Ariel Pink, the Montréal-based psych pop trio create a sound that’s simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking. Their music lives in the blurred light of perception — half memory, half hallucination — and is an invitation to lose yourself inside of their hall of mirrors-like dream world.

The trio’s debut single “The Mirrors Were Right” also serves as the first single from their full-length debut, slated for a 2026 release through Simone Records. Sonically, “The Mirrors Were Right” is a prismatic tune featuring shimmering guitars, dusty and warped analog drum patterns and bursts glistening, kosmiche music-like synths as a lush and dreamy bed for Barlow’s ethereal vocal. The song is one-part half-remembered fever dream and one-part existential reflection while seeming to subtly channel Bibi Club and others.

The song’s lyrics came to Barlow as she reflected on long past, but long-lasting periods of dissociation and on flashes of clarity that cut through them now. “The mirrors are right” when reflections feel distorted; “luckily alive” with head above water, somewhere between the surface and the clouds.

“For the clip, we wanted to portray a fractured sense of self. The distorted inner witness. Evolving identities over time. Imagined through a cubist and surrealist lens: worlds sensed, not witnessed,” the band says of the accompanying video. “Images drift and reform, mirroring the song’s unfolding. A meditation on multiplicity. The self made plural.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hop! Hop! Diablo Funk Share Joyous and Funky “Bailas como un diablo”

Since forming back in 2014, Mexican outfit Hop! Hop! Diablo Funk — Jud (vocal) MC Rita (guitar), Coros Perico (guitar), Coros Damien (drums), Jona (trumpet), Bajo Hector (trumpet), Eli (sax), Dyanata (trombone) — have stood out for crafting a sound that draws from rock, funk and several other genres paired with lyrics that address every day life situations, social issues and more.

While making their rounds of their national festival circuit with sets at La Fiesta de la Música, Rock x la Vida, Vibra Chapultepec, Zocalo, Hop! Hop! Diablo Funk, the band has also established a reputation for a dynamic and fun live set.

Hop! Hop! Diablo Funk’s latest single “Bailas como un diablo” is an ecstatic, nostalgia-including song that channels a seamless synthesis of 80s Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine and 70s disco while showcasing a band that can craft a dance floor friendly groove and a remarkably catchy hook.

Look, shit is bleak right now. And it’s going to get dire — soon. This song is a much-needed joy bomb, a reminder that everyone has to grab hold of a bit of fun whenever and however they could. It’s the only way that you’ll be able to survive.

FYI: For those who are sensitive to strobe light, the accompanying video features flashing lights. Besides that the video features the band — fittingly — playing on a flashing Saturday Night Fever-inspired stage with a disco ball just above them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 86th Birthday, Grace Slick!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship frontperson Grace Slick’s 86th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Orielles Share Expansive “Three Halves”

Acclaimed, Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The Orielles — Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (bass, vocals), Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford (drums, vocals) and Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) — will be releasing their fourth album, the Joel Anthony Patchett-produced Only You Left through Heavenly Recordings on March 13, 2026.

Recorded last summer in two locations — the Greek Island of Hydra and Hamburg — the forthcoming, 11-song Only You Left reportedly sees the band consolidating the bold experimentation of 2022’s Tableau with the more stripped-back, song-driven approach of their earlier releases, channeling a return to the familiar. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio.

Now, as you may remember, the JOVM mainstays, which originally started out in Halifax gained attention both nationally and internationally with the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Silver Dollar Moment, which will celebrate its eighth birthday this upcoming February. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we’ve come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people,” the band says.

As for the foundations of the forthcoming album, the band’s Henry Carlyle Wade says “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums.” “It comes naturally, the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford adds, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Interestingly through this process of creative renewal, the JOVM mainstays have managed to weather a pandemic, the fickleness of a trend-driven music industry and somehow emerge with something that’s familiar yet completely different.

According to Wade, the first ideas for the new album can be traced back to May 2023: Esmé Hand-Halford had purchased a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar. These heavy drones would later form the background of album tracks “Wasp” and “Three Halves.” 

In breaks between tours, the bands began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analyzing the voice notes with a granular attention to detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry. “We went so deep into what each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

While the Tableau sessions were semi-improvisational and partially written in the recording studio, Only You Left was fleshed out through a series of intense writing sessions between May 2023 and last summer. Each of the album’s 11 songs were meticulously refined and became its own distinctive work. “It almost felt really novel for us to be writing as a three-piece and really, really crafting these songs,” the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford recalls. “But Tableau gave us that confidence to know we could go into a studio and pull things together in that setting under the time pressure.”

Producer and engineer Joel Anthony Patchett, whom Esmé Hand-Halford dubs the honorary fourth member of the band, has had a massive influence on the album’s sound and approach. “Joel brings an extra level of interpretation and deep listening,” Henry Carlyle Wade says, “and it’s always exciting to explore that.” Sidonie Hand-Halford adds, “He’s constantly talking us through every step of what he’s doing and getting really, really involved with that process as well. And we’re just kind of learning together and making these mistakes and discovering things together.”

Only You Left‘s first single “Three Halves” derives its title when Wade stitched together three recordings on Ableton and needed a working title. What began as a temporary placeholder soon became a theme for Esmé Hand-Halford to riff on, a metaphor for the trio and their deeply shared connection.

At points noisy and driving and dreamlike and mediative in others, “Three Halves” is an expansive study in contrasts that’s experimental yet accessible while anchored by the razor sharp hooks that the Manchester-based outfit had been known for.

“Citing ideas that we took interest in during the early stages of writing the new record, ‘Three Halves’ flips between its absurd contrasts as the name suggests,” the band says. “Built upon a soundscape of droning organs, guitar, and cello it floats between noise and emptiness, precision, and catharsis, welcoming each half leads into the next.”

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Vendredi Sur Mer Shares Atmospheric, Hook-Driven “Si t’étais là”

With the release of her first two albums, 2019’s Premiers émois and 2022’s Metámorphose, rising Swiss singer/songwriter and photographer and Vendredi Sur Mer creative mastermind Charline Mignot quickly established a cinematic sound that features elements of synth pop, French chanson and 80s pop with retro-styled beats paired with her ethereal yet sultry delivery. Thematically her work frequently touches upon romance, sensuality and introspection.

Balancing nostalgia with a modern sensibility, the Swiss artist has won over fans globally through the release of songs like “Écoute Chérie,” “La femme à peau bleue” and “Les filles désirs.” Adding to a rapidly growing profile, she often accompanies her music with mesmerizing visuals.

Mignot’s third Vendredi Sur Mer album, Malabar Princess was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. The album, which features “Arrêter le temps,” feat. Sofiane Pamart; album title track “Malabar Princess;” “Hard,” feat. Hanni El Khatib and “Tout rèsonne” can trace its origins to a writing residency in Montréal and marks a return to the softness and nostalgia of her earlier work. Thematically, the album is nostalgic return to the mountain landscapes of her youth — and a deeper search for self.

Sam Tiba and new collaborators Adrien Gallo and Owlle helped to guide and inform the material’s more organic, intimate sound. The end result is an achingly sincere effort that sees the rising Swiss artist revealing herself fully to the world.

Mignot will be embarking on an 11-date North American tour this upcoming March. The tour includes a March 6, 2026 stop at Elsewhere. You can check out all of her tour dates for the rest of the 2025 and early 2026 below.

But in the meantime, y’all, the rising Swiss artist shares her latest single, the standalone track “Si t’étais là.” Anchored around shimmering, atmospheric synths, propulsive four-on-the-floor, a supple bass line and subtle bursts of twangy guitar, the cinematic and hook-driven production is simultaneously nostalgic yet contemporary, while being a dreamy bed for Mignot’s breathy, mesmerizing cooing.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 88th Birthday, Yvonne Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 88th anniversary of the birth of Yvonne Staples.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 101st Birthday, Celia Cruz!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 101st anniversary of the birth of the legendary Celia Cruz.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Talking Violet Shares Cathartic “Destroy”

https://youtu.be/5Jt6dWTGDno?si=ktqvo-4Q0wYmC4Ll

Windsor, ON-based quartet Talking Violet — Jillian Goyeau (vocals, guitar), Jayden Turnbull (guitar, vocals), Jeremie Brosseau (drums) and Dylan Iannicello (bass) — have quickly developed and established a sound that sees the Canadian outfit seamlessly blending elements of shoegaze, grunge and dream pop into what they’ve dubbed “dreamo.” Thematically, their work touches upon how we wrestle with the grief of personal change — especially in personal experiences. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about their Justin Meli-produced, Will Yip-mastered “In Your Mind,” a track that seemed to channel The Sundays and Tallies while capturing a very specific sense of loving someone through pain and uncertainty and not quite knowing what to do – or if there was anything you could do.

Their latest sgbnle “Destroy” continues a run of material that channels 120 Minutes-era MTV alt-rock while being anchored in earnestness and deeply lived in personal experience. Unlike its immediate predecessor, “Destroy” thematically and lyrically turns inward, offering a subtly uneasy sense of closure and acceptance. Although that relationship or chapter in your life has ended, their ghost lingers in your life — some longer than others.

“Destroy is about closing a chapter in my life where I experienced a lot of change which I talked a lot about throughout our Everything At Once record,” the band’s Jillian Goyeau says. “Before moving on I kinda needed to say goodbye, so that’s what Destroy does. It’s me finally accepting that people can both love you and hurt you at the same time and vice versa. You can love someone even when they aren’t meant to be in your life anymore.”

The Canadian band’s latest single continues the emotional thread of their latest album Everything At Once, drawing from the grief and heartache of interpersonal change. ” “These tracks draw on a lot of grief of change, most specifically, the grief of relationship changes in our lives,” Goyeau explains. “I was going through changes that I now see as necessary but were incredibly painful at the time. It made me realize how much I had depended on my relationships with others for my identity. I had to slowly relearn who I was—and spent the next few years healing my people-pleasing baseline. It’s still something I work on every day.”

Directed by Gavin Michael Booth the gorgeously shot video for “Destroy” features the members of the band smashing things to pieces — in a way that’s rousingly cathartic.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Single: Carmel Shares Gorgeous Ballad “Mariposa Al Fuego”

Spanish-based singer/songwriter Carmel proudly boasts having mixed Moroccan, Argentine and Middle Eastern heritage. And her music reflects that heritage, as she blends flamenco, soul and other global sounds with lyrics written and sung in Spanish, English and Hebrew.

Her debut EP, Contraste will see her continuing her genre-blending sound and approach through collaborations with musicians and producers from diverse backgrounds, including Spanish flamenco guitarist José De Maria, as well as Latin and global producers.

The Spanish-based singer/songwriter’s latest single “Mariposa Al Fuego” is a flamenco-tinged pop ballad that according to Carmel is inspired by the image of a butterfly being irresistibly drawn to a flame with the song diving into the pull of destructive relationships and the struggle to break free from dysfunctional patterns. The song’s cinematic arrangement serves as a lush bed for the Spanish-based artist’s pop ballad belter-like voice. At its core is a message of self-awareness, self-love, resilience and resolve, seemingly rooted in lived-in experience.

“We’ve all been that butterfly at some point—drawn to what we know will hurt us .This song is that mirror, but also an invitation to choose ourselves,” Carmel says.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Folk Bitch Trio Performs “Foreign Bird” at Vevo Studios

Rising Melbourne/Naarm-based trio Folk Bitch Trio — Gracie Sinclair (she/her), Jeanie Pilkington (she/her) and Heide Peverelle (they/them) — released their critically applauded full-length debut, Now Would Be A Good Time earlier this year through Jagjaguwar.

Now Would Be A Good Time’s material sounds warmly familiar, as its built upon the foundation of music the trio have loved throughout their lives — gnarled Americana, classic rock and piquant and clear-eyed balladry. And yet, the songs are simultaneously modern and youthful with the album’s song thematically touching on dissociative daydreams, galling breakups, sexual fantastics, media overload and the petty resentments and humiliations of being in your early 20s in the 2020s.

The Aussie trio supported the album with two sold-out London shows and a run of the international festival circuit, with sets at Green Man and All Points East. The album landed at #32 on the UK Official Record Store charts, Top 3 on the Aussie charts and earned 4 ARIA nominations. Building upon a growing profile, the trio’s cover of Kings of Leon‘s “Sex on Fire” on Triple J has amassed over 100,000 views. And the trio will be closing out the year with a lengthy international tour, which just started earlier this week. The tour features a November run of North America dates that includes a November 11, 2025 stop at Baby’s All Right. (As always, the remaining tour dates are below.)

But in the meantime, the acclaimed Aussie trio shared the VEVO live session of Now Would Be A Good Time album track “Foreign Bird.” It’s a gorgeous song that’s earnest and lived-in — and the trio’s harmonies had me stop dead in my tracks.