JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 65th anniversary of the birth of GURU.
Videos
New Audio: Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Sultry and Cinematic “Ocotillo”
JOVM mainstay outfit Ghost Funk Orchestra originally started as a one-man recording project, helmed by its creative mastermind, composer and multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum. Since then, the project has evolved into a full-fledged 10 member, powerhouse band that fleshes out Applebaum’s vision — a sonic kaleidoscope that defies genre specifications, but draws deeply from soul, psych rock, psych soul and more.
“Ocotillo” is Ghost Funk Orchestra’s first bit of new, original since the release of 2024’s A Trip to the Moon. Opening with shimmering and strutting Rhodes, “Ocotillo” continues an incredible run of mind-bending yet cinematic soul with the song evoking sultry and stifling heat, dusty blacktop in front of you and in the rearview, rest stops, highway signs, trees and small towns flash by in a blur of dizzying sameness before finally getting a reprieve — through rain or higher altitude or the like.
“The ocotillo is an imposing figure, tall and reminiscent of a torch. I dedicated this song to the desert dwelling plant after a particularly challenging tour that took our band through the southwest,” Ghost Funk Orchestra’s Seth Applebaum explains. “After days of unbearable heat and humidity, reaching New Mexico surprisingly gave us some reprieve. After landing at the venue in Silver City, I took a walk to clear my head and observe the scenery as the mountain climate provided a more manageable atmosphere to exist and reflect in.”
New Audio: Sweeping Promises Returns with Punchy and Defiant “Accent”
Lawrence, KS-based duo and JOVM mainstays Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production) — will be releasing their highly anticipated third album, You Say I Romanticize August 14, 2026 through Sub Pop.
Recorded over an 18-month period, You Say I Romanticize is a tribute to the chaos of creation and collaboration under shifting circumstances. Mondal and Schung found and tested themselves in their combination tour house and recording studio annually working on dozens of albums by other bands, hosting tour stops, planning shows and the like. After an immerseive process of traking adn whittling down YSIR demos and carving out an idiosyncratic chamber recording method for the album’s deliberate and international wall-of-sound appraoch, the duo brought in touring drummer Spenser Gralla to play the album’s matreial as the band would on stage.
The album’s frenzied and passionate sound shines most in Modal’s vocal perforamnce. Where you might have heard a growl here and there on certain previously released Sweeping Promises trcks, the band’s frontwoman shouts, roars, hits tricky notes all over the place and shreds her throat throughout the album’s run time.
YSIR takes the art-by-any-means-necessary ethos that Mondal and Schung have firmly established throughout their careers and turns the prompt upside down, landing on a personality epidemic that manifests across the album’s ten songs.
The JOVM mainstays’ third album will include the previously released “Cocoon,” and its third and latest single “Accent.” Built around an angular and propulsive bass line, rapid-fire four-on-the-floor and slashing guitar attack beneath Mondal’s croon expressing seething frustration, “Accent” is a punchy and defiant tune that to my ears channels a blend of Blondie’s “One Way or Another” and Joy Division while attacking a deeply familiar sentiment for anyone who’s been a dutiful worker bee.
The band describes “Accent” as a “cacophony of routine, the plight of a lowly drone who dreams of breaking out of an instinct-born & increasingly restrictive flight path. It’s got a flapping, insectoid rhythm, which is misery to play. We call it ‘cicadence.’ It’s a succession of bee-sting realizations from an individual dangerously at risk of becoming feral, independent, an outsider.”
New Video: Moon Darling Shares Shimmering and Propulsive “Coyote”
Originally formed in Seattle and currently based in Los Angeles, psych duo Moon Darling — Michal Julian (vocals, guitar) and Eliza Karpel (bass) — evoke the spirit of classic, 1970s psychedelia with a distinctly modern perspective. The duo have established a sound that blends simmering textures, hypnotic melodies with sharp pop craftsmanship in a way that’s been described as “saucy and stylish” and “bewitching,” showcasing a balance of mystique and accessibility.
Recorded in a rented cabin in Widgeon Hill, Centralia, WA and engineer by the band’s Michael Julian, the Los Angeles-based duo’s sophomore album Hearts To Blame features material yet deeply melodic, and sees the band weaving together kaleidoscopic psych pop arrangements and driving disco rhythms with immersive experimentation. Throughout the album’s runtime, the album will reportedly moving between dreamlike, hypnotic groove-driven tracks and cinematic psych pop, showcasing the band’s ability to readily embrace versatility without eschewing cohesion or emotional resonance. Hearts To Blame finds the Los Angeles-based duo expanding beyond traditional and long-held psych rock conventions while remaining undeniably accessible.
Ultimately, the album’s captures a band that’s unafraid to evolve, pairing vintage influences with modern production and an adventurous songwriting. “The title Hearts To Blame really is as literal as it sounds,” the band says. “It’s about making choice and guiding yourself through life by the feeling you have in your heart, whether those are good choices or bad.”
Each of the album’s songs were written in direct response to the emotions and circumstances the band was living through at the time of its creation, making it an album that functions as both a reflection and outlet. Arguably, the album may be the most honest of their growing catalog.
“Coyote,” Hearts To Blame‘s latest single is a hooky mix of metal, disco and New Wave featuring Julian’s metal-styled falsetto floating over a galloping arrangement of punchy disco rhythms with an even punchier bass line, Stevie Nicks “Stand Back”-era synth oscillations and shimmering and squiggling bursts of guitar,Inspired by the boundless sense of adventure that comes from being out on the open road, “Coyote” seemingly channels Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Iron Maiden, Dio and the like, but if they had a related a disco-metal album.
Filmed and edited by the duo, the accompanying music video features the duo within a feverish, psych pop dreamscape but seen through a running coyote’s mouth. It’s DIY, low-budget, delirious and downright fun.
New Video: Black Marble Returns with Propulsive “Anything”
Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and Black Marble creative mastermind Chris Stewart will be releasing his fifth Black Marble album, Life in Small Spaces through Sacred Bones Records on August 21, 2026. The album, which is Stewart’s first full-length album since 2021’s Fast Idol, is an album of clear-eyed commentary and analysis of the music industry as a whole, a discussion of authenticity and a heartfelt letter to all the independent creatives out in the world.
“I always knew a lot of people in music struggled to make ends meet, but it surprised me to learn that the people you thought would be doing well often weren’t. For me, seeing the business from the inside like that changed how I looked at things,” Stewart says. “When I looked up to see a new artist on a billboard, I started to wonder, ‘will I one day have to pretend to be something I’m not, in order to succeed?’ The life of an artist goes on after your moment ends, you know? So who do you want to be in the end and how do you want to be seen by the people that know you? I made Life In Small Spaces while thinking about that, and for me, it serves as my own ideal for living an artistic life. I’m doing it as a vocation, not some last-ditch effort to escape to some other world. I made this record not only as a way of saying that, but as a way of saying it’s ok to feel that way. It’s ok for people to sacrifice some degree of creature comfort in order to live a life you believe in. And it doesn’t have to be an endless search for something just out of reach, it can be a permanent way of being and something that sustains you.”
Drawing from early American left-of-the-dial “college radio” staccato guitar lines and live drum samples, the album’s material sees Stewart eschewing his usual wall of synths-driven sound for a more live sound.
The album will include the previously released “Jim Carol New Year,” a decidedly upbeat, 1980s New Wave-inspired track and its latest single, “Anything.” Anchored around an angular and propulsive rhythmic pulse and shimmering and squiggling bursts of guitar, “Anything” manages to channel early New Order and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! and Freedom of Choice-era DEVO but instead of frustrated carnal desires, the song has a decidedly domestic bent. It’s not exactly content, but it has a sense of humor about daily annoyances and irritations of friends and loved ones, the frustrations of constant stimulation and instant gratification when it seems you can’t find either. And at its core, the song points out it’s difficult to connect with people, when most folks are lookin to bail on people for the smallest possible thing.
“‘Anything’ is basically a bedroom pop version of ‘Satisfaction’ but it trades the carnal undertones for more of a domestic pastiche. With lyrics about leaving the bedroom window open, casual druggy friends popping by at all hours and other relationship annoyances, the center of the struggle is less about finding temporary satisfaction but that today’s glut of options and opportunities gives every relationship an expiration date, every encounter an easy off ramp and every minor annoyance a reason to move on,” Black Marble’s Chris Stewart says. “The sentiment is the same from those old days, lack of fulfillment, but it’s due to modern circumstances. It feels like we have every option at our fingertips but we’re somehow losing the ability to connect.”
Directed by Scott Kiernan, the accompanying video was shot at New York’s Various/Artists and captures the song’s themes of overstimulation by featuring a rapid-fire barrage of vibrant images with a meditative and occasionally bemused Stewart flickers throughout the visual noise and chaos.
Throwback: Happy 74th Birthday, Stewart Copeland!
JOVM William Ruben Helms celebrates The Police drummer Stewart Copeland’s 74th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 55th Birthday, Ed Kowalczyk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk’s 55th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Linda Ronstadt!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Linda Ronstadt’s 80th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, Ian Curtis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 70th anniversary of the birth of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.
Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Roky Erickson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 79th anniversary of the birth of psych rock pioneer Roky Erickson.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Trevor Horn!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Trevor Horn’s 77th birthday.
New Audio: Sam Palladio Shares Sexy and Hypnotic “Burberry Jacket”
Sam Palladio is a Pembury, Kent, UK-born singer/songwriter and actor, who’s best known for his breakout fan favorite role as Gunnar Scott on ABC’s Nashville during the show’s six-season run. Since then, Palladio has carved out a musical identity that has seen him blend indie pop, Americana and folk influences.
Palladio’s full-length debut, 2024’s The Perfect Summer’s Day, Before We Lost the Light was created alongside New Politics‘ Søren Hansen and multi-Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Sardy. He followed that up with a couple of acclaimed singles, including “Tennessee,” which featured Foo Fighters‘ Chris Shiftett. The British-born singer/songwriter and actor has balanced his music career with roles in Netflix’s The Princess Switch trilogy, AMC’s Humans, Showtime’s Episodes, ABC’s Rebel, the Bob Marley biopic One Love, and the thriller series The Couple Next Door.
Last month, Palladio released “Glitter” to praise from The Tennessean and BBC Radio London. Building upon a growing profile as a solo artist, the British-born singer/songwriter recently released Sam Palladio, Phil Barnes and Kendall Goodman co-written “Burberry Jacket.” “Burberry Jacket” is a hook-driven bit of New Wave-inspired pop that features Palladio’s croon beneath strutting and shimmering guitar paired with a pulsing bass line. Set against the backdrop of London‘s Fleet Street, “Burberry Jacket” makes subtle nods to Sweeney Todd while painting a portrait of mesmerizing and cinematic femme fatale-type, who’s impossible to escape.
“I wanted the song to feel as hypnotic as its main character, with the pulsing bass and rhythm of the drums providing the backbone to build this sonic world,” shares Palladio. “The Dire Straits-inspired riff in the bridge, played by the amazing Joey McClennan, pushes that feeling even further, and I love it.”
New Audio: Deep Sea Diver Tackles Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”
Seattle-based JOVM mainstays Deep Sea Diver fourth album, last year’s Billboard Heart, which featured “Shovel,” “Let Me Go” feat. Madison Cunningham and “What Do I Know” was released to critical applause internationally. The JOVM mainstays […]
New Audio: New Age Healers Share Atmospheric, Politically Charged “Moored”
Seattle-based psych rockers/shoegazers New Age Healers will be releasing their fifth album, Blowing Smoke Through the Choir is slated for an August 19, 2026 release. The album is a reportedly an expansive evolution of the shoegaze-psych hybrid they developed and sharpened on 2024’s The Spin Out that sees the band pushing their sound further sonically and structurally while brining new collaborators into their dense, dreamlike orbit, including Film School’s Greg Bertens and Karate Guns & Training‘s Valerie Green.
For the first time in their history, the new album sees frontman Owen Murphy sharing songwriting duties with guitarist Jeramy Koepping, whose ideas form the backbone of four tracks. The addition of vocalist Elisa Notthingham helps to deepen their already immersive sound while threading new textures through their signature swell of ethereal guitars, luminous synth work and muscular rhythm section. “It was amazing to have someone present ideas and get to sing over them,” Murphy says of co-writing with Koepping.
While the music opens up, the lyric remain characteristically oblique. “These are political songs hidden within love songs,” Murphy explains. “There’s no possible way someone like me can make a record right now and not, in some way, shape, or form have what’s happening in the world affect it thematically.”
The album also marks the band’s first collaboration with producer and mixer John Goodmason, “It was really interesting working with John, because besides being an outrageously great guy and extraordinarily talented, his resume blasts out of the pages,”says Murphy. “He’s the guy that mixed or recorded the likes of Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Blonde Redhead, and he’s worked with a local band here called Suzzallo that is incredible. So I was just so grateful that we got to work with him, hear his ideas, and have the opportunity to trust him to help us make something great.”
Thematically, Blowing Smoke Through the Choir is about emotional accumulation — how personal and collective anxieties bleeding into one another. Murphy credits his work producing KEXP’s The Morning Show with John Richards as a major influence on the album. “It’s a different kind of radio show in which John, through music, is communicating emotions of all types, and the audience responds to us, often calling to share birthdays or to tell us of loved one’s passing,” Murphy explains. “It’s incredibly powerful. We’ve been doing this five days a week amidst the last ten years of pure chaos, and all of that experience, probably more than anything, is infused into this record.”
Blowing Smoke Through the Choir‘s latest single “Moored” is a shimmering and slow-burning shoegaze track featuring Murphy’s urgent yet melodic croon beneath skittering drums, swirling and atmospheric guitars. shimmering synths and a supple bass line. Seemingly channeling a blend of Luminous-era The Horrors, A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve and others, “Moored” is ethereal yet grounded, suggesting that we remain tethered to something — whether it’s hope, faith or something less easily named and more difficult to describe.
Murphy explains that the central characters of the song are a bit of a reflection of the voting public, and how over the past decade or so, everyone just wants to throw Molotov cocktails into the system, not caring about the results and without any thought towards the future, ““Like the couple in the song, they’re just along for the ride. And so, the next part of the lyric says, “Leave them out in the sun like you want to burn them,” just let everything burn. And we’ll see what happens, for better or worse.”
New Audio: Julia Jacklin Teams Up with The Maes on Introspective “I Wish”
Acclaimed Melbourne-based singer/songwriter and musician Julia Jacklin will be releasing her highly-anticipated fourth album, the Robert Muiños and Jacklin co-produced, 10-song album The Gem through 4AD Records digitally and on CD, cassette and vinyl on September 25, 2026. Exclusive color vinyl editions with retailers will include turquoise, green opal, ruby and rose quartz. Pre-order information can be found here.
When Jacklin first moved to Melbourne from Sydney back in 2017, she discovered a little bar on a back street in Collingwood, a suburb just outside of downtown, where bands pushed dining tables to the side and set up in a corner on the floor. She didn’t know anyone in town, but knew she wanted to make the city home, so she started hanging out there, facing herself out of her comfort zone. That pub was named The Gem.
Eight years later, Jacklin had released three acclaimed albums, 2016’s Don’t Let The Kids Win, 2019’s Crushing and 2022’s PRE PLEASURE — and was looking to write and record her fourth. Her contract with her previous label had ended. She was searching for a manager. And with time on her hands, she decided that she would make her fourth album in Melbourne, something she’d never done before.
She called up an old drinking buddy Robert Muiños, owner of Rat Shack Studios, which is just above The Gem and brought in her friends Jacob Diamond (guitar), Mimi Gilbert (bass) and Jess Elwood (drums). Recording happened in close quarter, in converted hotel room accommodation upstairs at the pub. Because The Gem was in a residential neighborhood, they couldn’t record late into the night for fear of bothering neighbors and sound bleed was a glorious constant: foot traffic to the hairdressers and lotto parlor next door and loud music from the bands and the kitchen staff downstairs. But if anyone needed a break during the sessions, they would head downstairs and watch a local band play. Jacklin and her friends even played two unannounced shows there to try out the album’s material before recording them.
They originally thought they’d be able to finish the album in two weeks, like she’d always done previously, but this time that wasn’t the case. In fact, it took nearly a year of tinkering to arrive at something Jacklin could get behind, “The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging. I felt like I was doing it almost in the dark, just trusting I was going to find something,” Jacklin says. While conjuring images of excavation, of reinvention, of trusting your instincts and surrounding yourself with the people and things that make life worthwhile, the album documents the songwriter’s journey back to herself.
“I want to love and be loved, but I also want to be free. The tension between those two things has been the central question of my life,” says Jacklin. That theme underpins the album’s material.
The album will include the previously released “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You)” and the album’s latest single, the album closer “I Wish” feat, Aussie folk sibling duo The Maes. Channeling Crosby, Stills, and Nash, “I Wish” features Jacklin’s gorgeous and expressive vocal and the Elsie and Maggie Rigby’s impeccable harmonies beneath strummed acoustic guitar. The song is an introspective and a bit melancholy note from one’s older, wiser self to their younger self, essentially saying “girl, if you knew then what you know now . . . ” There’s quite a bit of awe, forgiveness and love for the narrator’s younger self, full of the recognition of the things she experienced and survived made her into who she is now.