William Ruben Helms
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williamrubenhelms.bsky.social
William Ruben Helms
@williamrubenhelms.bsky.social
New York-based music journalist, and photographer. Founder of Joy of Violent Movement (https://www.joyofviolentmovement.com).

Music, politics, Yankees, Rangers, and Nets.
New Video: Wings of Desire Share Propulsive "Nothing Left To Give" @wingsofdesir3 @supercatpr
New Video: Wings of Desire Share Propulsive “Nothing Left To Give”
Stroud, UK-based duo Wings of Desire -- Chloe Little and James Taylor -- released their full-length debut, 2023's Life Is Infinite to critical praise from The Independent, Dork, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, Stereogum, Paste, BrooklynVegan, Under The Radar and a lengthy list of others. The band has received airplay from BBC 6 Music's Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne, NME Radio and Radio X's John Kennedy. Building upon a growing profile in the UK and elsewhere, the duo toured with Editors, Nation of Language and Bleach Lab as an opener, as well as opening for The Cribs at London's The Roundhouse. 2024's Shut Up & Listen raised funds for Stroud-based community project The Long Table, a Pay-What-You-Can restaurant, which was at risk of eviction from its home. They followed up with 2025's standalone "a few more years." The duo's highly-anticipated sophomore album, Stand Still Like The Hummingbird is slated for a December 9, 2026 release. The album will feature their ongoing song cycle in which they release a new track and accompanying video on every new moon of this year's lunar cycle. Sonically, Stand Still Like The Hummingbird is a continuation of the sound they established on their debut, a mix of gritty dream pop and krautrock. Thematically, the album's material touches on the natural rituals of daily life and continually moving through creation and destruction. Throughout the album, there's references to life and birth, as well as folklore and wonder in the accompanying visuals. Their latest single "Nothing Left To Give" is built around an insistent motorik pulse, gently buzzing synths and guitars paired with the duo's lockstep harmonies. While showcasing the duo's willingness to build upon a well-established sound, the song thematically tackles burnout in the face of modern pressures. “Modernity has long demanded a channeling of human energies and emotions into patterns that are moulded by economic and disciplinary requirements," the British duo say. "Some days we feel like we have nothing left to give but somehow we keep on pushing.” Directed by Amber Little features the duo driving around the English countryside on a road trip. And its core, this trip is to meant to be an escape from modern life.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 17, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Throwback: Black History Month: Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Throwback: Black History Month: Sister Rosetta Tharpe
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and pays tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Taylor Hawkins! @foofighters @taylorhawkins
Throwback: Happy 54th Birthday, Taylor Hawkins!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates the 54th anniversary of Taylor Hawkins' birth.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM
#nowplaying miles davis "kind of blue."

happy black history month, y'all.
February 17, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 74th Birthday, James Ingram!
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 74th Birthday, James Ingram!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month -- and the 74th anniversary of the birth of James Ingram.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 17, 2026 at 2:30 AM
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 68th Birthday, Ice-T! @FINALLEVEL @BodyCountBand
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 68th Birthday, Ice-T!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Ice-T's 68th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Andy Taylor! @duranduran
Throwback: Happy 65th Birthday, Andy Taylor!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor's 65th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday, Brandon Boyd! @IncubusBand @mybrandonboyd
Throwback: Happy 50th Birthday, Brandon Boyd!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd's 50th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 85th Birthday, Brian Holland! @motown
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy 85th Birthday, Brian Holland!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month -- and the legendary Brian Holland's 85th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:00 PM
February 15, 2026 at 4:00 AM
February 15, 2026 at 1:30 AM
February 14, 2026 at 11:00 PM
you can't give up that third goal there. you just can't.
February 14, 2026 at 9:45 PM
an even weirder goal with a puck that trickles out from the goalie. you take them however they come.
February 14, 2026 at 9:38 PM
3-2 usa off another face-off win.
February 14, 2026 at 9:29 PM
tie game.
February 14, 2026 at 9:24 PM
end of the first period and i'm thoroughly unimpressed.
February 14, 2026 at 8:49 PM
i would have taken swayman out after that second goal. and whatever this first period is, this ain't it.
February 14, 2026 at 8:46 PM
February 14, 2026 at 8:30 PM
New Audio: Paris' OOMA Shares Mesmerizing and Meditative "A Timeless Echo" @heygroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron
New Audio: Paris’ OOMA Shares Mesmerizing and Meditative “A Timeless Echo”
Paris-based outfit OOMA -- Irish-born singer/songwriter Tansy Greenlee (vocals), Nicolas Bauer (bass), Hélios Mikhaïl (drums), and Florian Berret (piano, synths) -- have developed a sound that meshes elements of soul, jazz and trip-hop, featuring ethereal synth laters and intricate grooves paired with mesmerizing moments of improvisation. Each member of the band leaves their own imprint on the project's constantly evolving sound, while blurring the lines between structured composition and songwriting and open-ended exploration and improvisation. At the core of their creative process, is the Parisian quartet's fluid and ever-shifting chemistry, which helps their work be collaborative -- and seemingly in perpetual motion. Lyrically, the band's material is informed by Greenlee's existential crises with the music as a refuge, and as an intimate space where she could try to make sense of a world that's crumbling apart. And in that refuge, raw emotion outweighs certainty. OOMA's latest single "A Timeless Echo" is a gorgeous yet meditative track that features Greenlee's expressive, jazz-like vocal effortlessly dance over a mesmerizing arrangement that blends elements of jazz, trip-hop and pop. Inspired by a striking image of a bird's song echoed by others until it outlives the bird that originated it, "A Timeless Echo" thematically explores the passage of time, our own impermanence and mortality. The new single reflects Greenlee's deep-seated belief in music as a way to leave a trace of one's existence.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy Belated 60th Birthday, Freedom Williams!
Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy Belated 60th Birthday, Freedom Williams!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month -- and belatedly celebrates Freedom Williams' 60th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM
New Audio: TRAITRS Return with Lush and Urgent "Dream Drowning" @traitrs @mysticsons @planetarygroup
New Audio: TRAITRS Return with Lush and Urgent “Dream Drowning”
With the release of their first three albums, 2017’s Rites and Rituals, 2018’s Butcher’s Coin and 2021’s Horses in the Abattoir, Toronto-based coldwave duo TRAITRS — longtime friends Sean Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker — have firmly established a sound that blends horror-based imagery with anthemic choruses and cinematic, atmospheric soundscapes. During that same period, the duo evolved from bedroom pop artists selling cassette tapes to amassing millions of streets globally and playing hand hundreds of shows internationally. The Canadian duo’s highly anticipated Josh Korody-produced, Matt Colton-mastered fourth album Possessor is slated for a March 13, 2026 release. According to the band’s Shawn Tucker, Possessor is “the most personal record I have ever written.” The album was written during Toronto’s coldest winter months, informed by storm battered days and a heavy emotional landscape. The pair focused on capturing precise moods, with lyrics serving as the material’s driving force with the surrounding soundscapes grew to mirror the bleak beauty of the writing process.  Possessor will include the previously released “Burn In Heaven,” “i was ill, you were wrong,” and the album's latest single "Dream Drowning." Featuring eerily atmospheric and brooding synths, propulsive beats as a lush goth/horror-inspired bed for Shawn Tucker's yearning delivery. Continuing a run of chilly yet achingly heartfelt, intimate material, "Dream Drowning" thematically delves into the subconscious, with the duo aiming to analyze the emotion and meanings behind their dreams. But at its core, is a deeply uneasy sense of one's desires and motivations behind shrouded in mystery. \
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM

#nowplaying the isley brothers "go for your guns"
February 14, 2026 at 2:34 AM
Throwback: Happy Black History Month: Billy Ocean @MrWongo
Throwback: Happy Black History Month: Billy Ocean
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month and pays tribute to Billy Ocean.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Throwback: Happy 76th Birthday, Peter Gabriel! @itspetergabriel
Throwback: Happy 76th Birthday, Peter Gabriel!
JOVM's William Ruben Helms celebrates Peter Gabriel's 76th birthday.
joyofviolentmovement.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM