Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sunglaciers Shares Meditative “Ballad for Eddy”

With the release of 2019’s Foreign Bodies, 2022’s Subterranea and 2024’s Regular Nature, Calgary-based JOVM mainstays Sunglaciers — founding duo Evan Resnik (vocals, guitar, synths, piano, sampling) and Mathieu Blanchard (drums, percussion, production) along with Nyssa Brown (vocals, guitar) and Kyle Crough (bass) — have firmly cemented a sound that blurs the boundaries between polished melodicism and opaque experimentation, auspicious romanticism and unbridled descent. Though anchored in the strange realties of our time, their songs are laced with a certain optimism through well-placed and well-calculated psych elements and vibrant rhythms. 

The Calgary-based outfit’s highly-anticipated fourth album, Spiritual Content just dropped today through Mothland. The album sees the band further exploring the chiaroscuro depths of post-punk while simultaneously setting out to redefine their sound. Thematically, the album explores modern day life through allegorical songwriting, elevated by genuinely catchy melodies, resolute arrangements and stylish production.

Over the course of its breakneck 35-minute run, the album’s indie rock-meets-post-punk-tinged, nine songs capture fleeting yet endearing moments in time, their narrative bent, twisted and distorted into expansive and highly evocative soundscapes. The album is meant to layout like a psychedelic sequence where grooves dance and wiggle in and out, awaking feelings of wonder and awe, while also trigging emotions like bewilderment, fear and alienation. 

The album sees Resnik and Blanchard turning to their bandmates Brown and Brougham along with acclaimed producer and multi-instrumentalist Chad VanGaalen (synths, vibraphone, electric piano and additional production) to flesh out the album’s material. The band also continued their collaborations with mixing/mastering engineer Mark Lawson and former Besnard Lakes‘ Richard White, who took on vinyl mastering duties. 

Spiritual Content includes the Freedom of Choice-era Devo-inspired “Eye to Eye” the  Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen, early The Cure and Gang of Four-like “Only Love” and the album’s latest single “Ballad for Eddy.”

“Ballad for Eddy” is a meditative sway of a tune, featuring brooding, undulating drum and percussion, gently buzzing synth bass and bursts of twinkling keys serving as a lush bed for Resnik’s dreamy and ethereal melody. Written to pay tribute to the legendary Eddy Grant, “Ballad for Eddy” lyrically touch upon youthful idealism, the search for connection and meaning amidst difficulty and strife. The result leaves the listener to wonder what role — if any — music can play in overcoming adversity.

Featuring footage shot and edited by the band’s Evan Resnik, the accompanying video captures life in the studio and on the road as a DIY band. And at the core of the video is a sweet nostalgia over going on a series of adventures that you and your friends/bandmates can only really understand. It’s a unique, difficult to explain relationship that becomes one of the most important of your life.

“I was struggling to come up with a concept for the video for ‘Ballad for Eddy’ and I came across these old tour clips,” the bands Evan Resnik explains. “We’ve been doing bigger cross-country trips around the US and UK in the last few years so there was a lot of footage. Most of it I forgot I had! It got me a little sentimental, reliving all these great experiences and moments that we’ve shared as a band. It reminded me that all the hard work is worth it for the friendship and camaraderie. 

‘The song is inspired by Eddy Grant—who wrote ‘Electric Avenue’—and how tireless and dedicated to music he was. Sure, being in a band booking DIY tours, recording albums, and sleeping on couches and floors is hard. But we’re also really lucky for the opportunity, and the memories that come out the other side are priceless. I’m even more inspired by Eddy Grant when I think about how much harder it all was for him as a young person of colour in a foreign land. His life story is really interesting, you should check it out!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Twilight Sad Returns with Bittersweet Yet Anthemic “Chest Wound to the Chest”

Scottish post punk outfit The Twilight Sad — currently, vocalist James Graham and multi-instrumentalist Andy MacFarlane — just released their long-awaited sixth album an first in seven years, It’s The Long Goodbye today through through Rock Action Records. 

The origins of the album’s material can be traced back to 2016: Graham and McFarlane returned from the giddy “pinch yourself” high of a tour with The Cure to learn that Graham’s mother had been diagnosed with early onset frontotemporal dementia.

Roughly 80% of the album was written while Graham wrestled with the contrasts between the pure joys of his life — marriage, parenthood, a successful career — and the bitter cruelty of his mother’s decline, followed by her death. 

Over the course of the next seven years, the album’s material was further developed with the London-based MacFarlane stockpiling musical ideas during COVID-19 lockdown, while exchanging words and sounds with Graham. The Cure’s Robert Smith, now a longtime close friend of the duo, provided invaluable input on the album’s demos and contributed guitar on “Waiting For The Phone Call,” mellotron on “Dead Flowers,” and six-string bass on “Back To Fourteen.” 

“Then we had to piece together a band,” Graham says, now that the band is primarily centered on him and MacFarlane. Sometimes Arab Strap members David Jeans and Mogwai touring member Alex Mackay were recruited to play drums and bass respectively, with the album produced and recorded by the band’s MacFalane and addition production from Andy Savours at Willesden, UK-based Battery Studios, a location rich in The Cure history. 

The end result may arguably be the most personal yet relatable album to date from a band whose portraits of bruised and battered humanity have helped to forge close ties with their audience. “In the past, I’ve used a lot of metaphors within my lyrics,” Graham says, “With this, there’s not as much. The record is heavily influenced by my mental health, grief and loss, and the need to be strong in positions where you’re not feeling it. It’s a very human story, I think – this is just my version of it. I feel that everybody goes through something like this. Everybody loses somebody. Everybody questions life.”

Graham adds, “To know that I’m saying things that connect with other people, that’s such a powerful thing. I want to be a relatable person that talks about things that can happen and give an opportunity for people to go, well you’re not alone. I want people to be able to listen to this record and hear that it comes from a place of raw emotion. The album is an opportunity to share my experience and move forward with my life.”

The album includes “Waiting For The Phone Call” featuring The Cure‘s Robert Smith, “Destined To Lose,” “Attempt A Crash Landing — Theme,” and the album’s fourth and latest single “Chest Wound to the Chest.”

“Chest Wound to the Chest” may arguably be the most Brit Pop-like song on the entire album. Sonically bringing Starsailor and Travis to mind (for me, least), the new single is anchored around the bittersweet longing for a dear one, who is no longer around.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Boston’s Jonah Hiro Shares Dreamy, Lo-Fi “i gaze at mars”

Jonah Hiro is a Boston-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who specializes in a brand of bedroom psych pop informed by his obsession with blown out sounds, trippy and hypnotic soundscapes, paired with dreamy vocals.

Hiro released his debut EP, lost at sea earlier this year. The EP’s opening track “i gaze at mars” is a mind-bending and mesmerizing tune, featuring buzzing bass synths, blown out, skittering beats, twinkling keys as a lush, chilled-out bed for the Boston-based artist’s dreamy delivery. The result is a song that kind of reminds me of a lo-fi take on JOVM mainstays Tame Impala, GUM and POND while showcasing Hiro’s ability to craft a remarkably catchy hook.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 57th Birthday, Mariah Carey!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Mariah Carey’s 57th birthday.

women who kick ass by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Diana Ross!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Diana Ross’ 82nd birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 78th Birthday, Steven Tyler!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler’s 78th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Miki Berenyi Trio Shares Breezy “Island of One”

Miki Berenyi Trio features an acclaimed and accomplished group of British artists:

  • Miki Berenyi (vocals/ guitar), a founding member, frontperson and rhythm guitarist of acclaimed and iconic shoegazer outfit Lush — and the founder and frontperson of acclaimed outfit Piroshka

  • Kevin “Moose” McKillop (guitar), a founding member of acclaimed shoegazers Moose, Berenyi’s spouse and Piroshka bandmate 

  • Oliver Cherer (bass)

The band is named after its lead singer — a direct way to convey the presence of former Lush frontperson Miki Berenyi, one of the most beloved figures and recognizable faces of 1990s alternative rock and shoeegaze.

The trio’s full-length debut, last year’s Tripla derives its name from the Hungarian word for “triple,” acknowledging the band’s songwriting is entirely a three-way collaboration. The album sonically was a rich, lushly layered, imaginative and uniquely slanted take on dream pop that features at points euphoric and other points melancholy guitars and electronics paired with Berenyi’s imitative vocal. The album’s material is anchored around a worldview that vacillates between profound, yearning and abrasive — seemingly informed by their lived-in experiences and hard-won wisdom,

Although the album’s material features a sophisticated sound, Berenyi, McKillop and Cherer have done so with a focus on the basics, not only recording at home, but driving around in a car packed with their gear, loading in and out of venues themselves, much like they did when they first started out. “There is something very ‘grass roots’ about what we’re doing,” Miki Berenyi Trio’s Miki Berenyi says.  “There’s no point following the ‘announce the album, then tour, then record the next album’ route – we just want to wring as much enjoyment out of this as we can, and hope that it resonates somewhere!”

Since the release of Tripla, the trio have released a limited edition 7 inch single of “Doldrum Days“/”Touché,” which sold out during their October 2025 Stateside tour. Yesterday, the band shared the standalone single “Island of One.” Released through Bella Union, “Island of One” is anchored around a flamenco-meets yé-yé-inspired rhythm and a remarkably catchy hook, making it arguably one of the breeziest songs of their lengthy individual catalogs — and of their growing, collective catalog.

“’Island of One’ took shape because I became quite obsessed with the track ‘Just A Western’ by Nilüfer Yanya last year, and the Latin-y beat got me inspired”, Miki Berenyi says. “But I wanted a lively, catchy song to add to our live set, so it ended up less laidback and more 60s-breezy with some driving, scratchy guitars – once all three MB3 members pile in on the embellishments, a song ends up a fair distance from where it started! As ever, recording and production took place in our various home-studio set-ups, and the song was mixed by our brilliant Bella Union labelmate, Paul Gregory.” 

Berenyi adds, “Lyrically, I’m at the age where a lot of my friends have elderly parents who are increasingly reliant on their help. It’s a new phase in a life relationship and can throw up a lot of emotions. But the words apply as much to all manner of family break-ups and the fraying of long-standing friendships. When you’re young, it’s much easier to justify walking away, but I’m acutely aware, as I get older, of how important even a thread of connection with people who have shared our lives can be, however difficult those relationships can be to maintain!”

The accompanying live performance-based video for “Island of One” was shot in Northwest London by longtime visual collaborator Sébastian Faits-Divers.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Naná Rizinni Teams Up with Mark Cake on Quirky and Off-Kilter “Fifth Life”

Naná Rizinni is a São Paulo-born, London-based drummer, composer and producer, whose musical journey began in the mid-2000s, studying with acclaimed Brazilian drummers Lilian Carmona, Vera Figueiredo, and Duda Neves. Rizinni has been a highly sough-after drummer and producer in her native Brazil ever since, touring and recording with acclaimed Brazilian artists like Tiê, Johnny Hooker, Ana Cañas, Bárbara Eugênia, and Thiago Pethit, while recording and releasing four solo albums.

In her native Brazil, Rizinni was known for her fluid, experimental approach to genre with her work evolving from the post rock and garage rock textures of her earliest work into a hybrid, jazz-forward language rooted in rhythm, texture and improvisation.

Adding to a growing profile in her native Brazil, Rizinni has recorded music for television, film and ad campaigns while also making a run of the international festival circuit with sets at Lollapalooza, Rock in Rio, SXSW and Primavera Sound among others.

In 2020, the São Paulo-born artist relocated to London, where she wrote and recorded her highly-anticipated album, Epiblast. Slated for an April 24, 2026 release through Bridge The Gap, Epiblast was written and co-produced by Rizinni and saxophonist and producer Mark Cake over the course of the Brazilian artist’s last two years in London.

Epiblast reportedly sees Rizinni diving deeper into experimental territory with the album sonically sitting somewhere between the synth-heavy sounds of The Comet Is Coming and the future jazz of corto.alto while also nodding at the progressive fusion of jazz and electronics pioneered by fellow drummer/producers Mark Guilianna and Richard Spaven.

Thematically the album chronicles a full cycle of life in all of its intensity, beginning with the excitement and joy of new parenthood, along with adjusting to the pace of life and the creation of relationships in her new home. But along with that the album was in many ways a companion for Rizinni’s grieving process after the tragic loss of her brother. “The title Epiblast comes from an early embryonic layer from which the entire organism develops,” Rizinni explains. “For me, it represents multiple births and rebirths — new roles, identities, and directions — capturing both fragility and infinite potential.”

The forthcoming album will include the previously released “Familiar Stranger” and “The Right Side of the Escalator,” which have received airplay internationally from BBC Radio 3, Rinse FM, KEXP, PBS-FM, as well as its third and last pre-release single “Fifth Life.” Seemingly drawing from early Hiatus Kaiyote, and Mildlife‘s “How Long Does It Take,” “Fifth Life” is a quirky and playful composition anchored around an off-kilter rhythmic-driven groove that’s one part Afrobeat-inspired, one-part Brazilian music-inspired paired with a soulful saxophone and flute solo.

“’Fifth Life’ is probably my favourite track on the album,” Rizinni explains. “It has a quirky, playful vibe that I really relate to. I wrote it on top of a beat I had been developing, and when I brought it to Mark, the guitars he came up with reminded me of a band I loved in the early 2000s called Screaming Headless Torsos, and guitarist David Fiuczynski in particular — a connection that added an extra spark to the track.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Aretha Franklin!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 84th anniversary of the birth of Aretha Franklin.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jerk Shares Meditative “wait”

Prolific Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Joni Kinney is the creative mastermind behind, the rising recording project Jerk. And with Jerk, Kinney has released five albums and several EPs that feature a sound that draws from J. Dilla, Madlib, Patrice Rushen, Earth, Wind & Fire, Louis Cole, Knower, and Roller Trio. Never content with just music as a creative output, Kinney is also an avid writer and video essayist. 

Late last year, the Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist released the first part of a two EP narrative cycle, as night falls. The two EP cycle sees Kinney using the project’s sound into new territories, taking listeners on a journey through a fusion of electronic influences, midnight funk and forward-thinking jazz.

as day breaks, the second EP of the narrative cycle is slated for a May 15, 2026 release through DeepMatter Records. as day breaks EP will see a limited vinyl release, alongside last year’s as night falls.

While the first EP of the cycle explored the darker side of human nature through a blend of midnight funk and electronic-tinged jazz, as day breaks, which was created with long-time friend and collaborator Martine Wade, is a journey through daylight anchored around uplifting, soulful, instrumentals paired with house grooves, breakbeats, bird song and the sounds of NYC. “This joint album project is the essence of Jerk — neither day nor night, but something more ethereal,” Kinney explains.

as day breaks EP will include the swaggering, funky “steppin’ out” and the EP’s latest single, “wait.” “wait” is a slow-burning, meditative tune featuring a twinkling Rhodes-driven melody, a supple bass line and a hazy, lo-fit beat paired with a NYC traffic light sample. The composition is a reminder to listeners to stop, slow down and be present,

Composed in a style that Kinney has coined “son-tra,” they share: “Meaning ‘sonic mantra’, ‘son-tra’ is a composition style centered around melody and permutation, and a composition technique I’ve used on tracks like ‘Voices in my Head,’ ‘Father Sky’, ‘Still Searching,’ and ‘First Cup.’ The prevailing feeling of this style feels like a spiral to me, something that somehow stays faithful to a core motif while also continuously evolving as it progresses.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Public Circuit Shares Muscular Remix of “Damager”

Rising New York-based electro punks Public Circuit — Ethan Beaumont (vocals), Sean Holloway (drums) and Nelson Fisher (electronics) — exploded into the scene with 2024’s full-length debut Lamb, which they supported with sold-out shows across 30 states, including a run across the domestic festival circuit with sets at New Colossus Festival, Hopscotch and MACROCK.

The trio’s sophomore album Modern Church was released last September through Á La Carte Records. The album saw the band swapping the pretense of retro-revivalism for something much sharper, darker — and entirely their own. Sonically rooted in the trio’s newfound sense of collaboration between each other, the album’s material features angular electronic instrumentation and raw percussive rhythms bathed with the high gloss ache of sophsitipop. 

Thematically, the material is overtly religious. But it’s used as an analogical tool to explore sexual identity, the fleeting faith of society and the illicit repercussions of unresolved trauma. And much like its immediate predecessor, the new album continues a run of material deeply influenced by New York’s constant feed of noise and relentless energy. 

Today, the New York-based trio announced the April 28, 2026 release of Modern Church R//MIX//S. The trio recruited Brooklyn music scene friends Lip Critic, shower curtain, Grumpy, The Wants, smush, ideasforconversations and Crate to rework Modern Church album tracks. “We wanted to put out the remixes to not only highlight all our amazing friends who make amazing music, but also to revive these songs into all the different worlds we believe they belong to exist in,” the band explains.

Modern Church R//MIX//S‘ first single sees Public Circuit remixing their favorite song off Modern Church, “Damager.” Clocking in at 94 seconds, the original version is a punchy, club friendly bit of industrial synth pop. Their remix gives the song a muscular and swaggering thump that’s one-part old school hip hop-driven 808 and one-part 80s industrial club music.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Denver’s Dead Pioneers Share Furious Ripper “No Kings”

Denver-based punk outfit Dead Pioneers — Josh Rivera (guitar), Abe Brennan (guitar), Shane Zweygardt (drums), Algiers’ Lee Tesche (bass) and acclaimed indigenous visual and performance artist and activist Gregg Deal (vocals) — can trace their origins back to when Deal and his family relocated to Colorado after a 17 year period in the Washington, DC area.

Deal, who is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, is a visual and performance artist and activist, whose work frequently includes exhaustive and detailed critiques of American colonialism, society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals and performance art, Deal critically examines issues within Indian Country such as decolonization, stereotypes and appropriation among others. His work has been exhibited at cultural centers nationally and internationally including at the Smithsonian Institution and the Venice Biennale. 

During his time as Native Arts Artist-in-Residence at the Denver Art Museum, Deal created the 2020 performance piece, The Punk Pan-Indian Romantic Comedy, a deeply personal one-man show that explored themes of music, personal experiences and meaningful connections. A grant allowed Deal to expand upon the project, incorporating original music written specifically for the performance. That performance piece led to the creation of Dead Pioneers.

The Denver-based punk outfit have long paired a proud DIY ethos with a mission to champion the rights of marginalized communities, including Black, Brown, Asian, LGBQT+ folks and workers. Their work frequently sees them boldly and unapologetically confronting the social, political and cultural issues that are central to modern life in the United States — a focus that’s central to their identity.

The band self-released their 2024 self-titled, full-length debut. Clocking in at 22 minutes, with only one of the album’s 12 songs exceeding three minutes, the album’s material is a breakneck and furious roar that manages to cover a huge amount of ground. The album caught the attention of Hassle Records, who signed the Denver-based punks and then re-released the album.

Their sophomore album, last year’s PO$T AMERICAN was written in February 2024 and recorded that year. The album forecasted the turmoil of the last Presidential election and reflects on the fears, unease and disillusionments of modern life. “The title PO$T AMERICAN reflects a collective disillusionment with the so-called American Dream,” Dead Pioneers’ Gregg Deal explains. “It critiques capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy while imagining a path toward unity beyond those oppressive systems.” 

The album’s material saw the band balancing minute-long punk rock rippers, impassioned explorations of modern-day America and spoken word interludes. The shifts in form and tone don’t distract from the material’s central themes while sonically, the album draws from the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Johnny Cash, IDLES, Black Flag, Rollins Band, Dead Kennedys and others.

Although written and recorded before the results of the 2024 Presidential election, the album’s material eerily presaged the mood and state of life in the United States in the early months of 2025, evoking the fear, uncertainty, the bitter divisiveness, the racist scapegoating, the gaslighting, the gross incompetence, the greed, the oppression, the bullshit and buffoonery we’ve had to face on a daily basis for 15 months now.

Following their first, sold-out European Union and UK headlined tour earlier this month, Dead Pioneers will be releasing their third album Wagon Burner. Slated for a June 26, 2026 release through Hassle Records, the album as the band’s Gregg Deal says is “more collaborative,” while being heavier, harder and much more accessible with a focus on mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. The album features guest spots from Cheap Perfume on “Nazi Teeth,” The Interrupters on “Never Alone” and Sleaford Mods on “The Worst Among Us.”

The album’s material acknowledges that things are bleak but the band rises up to our miserable occasion, casting an empowering light deep into the gloom.

Wagon Burner‘s second and latest single “No Kings” is a furious, galloping ripper that sees the band delivering a series of much-needed haymakers against America’s techno-fascists, Christo-fascists, White Supremacists, genocide apologists, bootlickers, racists and the Trump-Epstein class, as well as similar movements across the world.

“Last summer there were protests all over the United States called ‘No Kings’, in opposition of the current administration, the policies they’ve been implementing, and the rights they’ve been taking away from citizens,” the band’s Gregg Deal explains. “While the issues are obvious, it’s important that we all say it out loud. It’s important that we show up and make our opinions known, that we won’t allow our inherent rights to be trampled upon for the benefit of the Epstein Class.

“Not unlike ‘Nazi Teeth’, ‘No Kings’ is meant to bring the points home,” he continues. “ICE, rights being taken away, mass shootings, greed over life, demonizing immigrants, black, brown and queer people, widened economic gaps by the Epstein class, and the sincere frustration Americans feel over this. While this is happening, we realize that the right-wing politics coming out of the United States is emboldening conservative right-wing politics all over the world. We are against dictators, authoritarian regimes, Nazis, fascism or any other power structure, political, social or otherwise that seek to take away the rights, freedoms or lives of human beings trying to live their life. To that, we keep it simple: NO KINGS.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 56th Birthday, Pasemaster Mase!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates De La Soul’s Pasemaster Mase’s 56th birthday.