Nora Stanley - Josaleigh Pollett - RADEMAN - MF Tomlinson - Lauren Minear

Photo - Rachel Andes

Nora Stanley - Red.

Taken from her solo debut album due out on July 31, we have a quote from Nora regarding the latest single. “Red” is the psychic centerpiece of the album, a circular and hypnotic track that begins with the immediate intimacy of voice and guitar alone, patiently adding layers of synths, electric guitars, and flutes as it builds. “Red” is about the comfort Nora finds in the generous nonlinearity of Anne Carson’s work as we hear exactly the ways Nora sees love as an echo of literature’s curious detachment from/demarcation of time, seeking refuge and comfort in Carson’s poetry in the face of romantic loss and healing.

From her work with indie songwriters like Cassandra Jenkins to avant-garde icons such as Fred Frith, Stanley has built a reputation as a versatile and expressive multi-instrumentalist—moving fluidly between woodwinds, synthesizer, voice, and guitar. Drawing inspiration from Anne Carson's writing, the songs on the new album 'Glass' explore reflection and separation—how we see ourselves refracted, held at a distance from the outside world.

Glass is one of those small big words poets most prize. Reflective and transparent, hard and fragile, natural and supernatural, Glass is polymorphic. As a saxophonist, flute player, clarinetist, and synth player, Nora Stanley has accompanied many of our most cherished living songwriters, including Cassandra Jenkins, Beth Orton, and The New Pornographers. She has performed improvised creative music with Benny Bock, Fred Frith, Kenny Wollesen, and Peter Apfelbaum, too. Luckily for us, Glass is not a simple summation of these not-so-disparate paths. The complexity of that giant noun characterizes Nora’s approach to this record’s production as much as it does the variegated career that led to its existence. Glass is a record of subtly devastating songs by a cool headed observer; a mirror and a window.

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Josaleigh Pollett - Bed of Quiet.

"Bed of Quiet is an over-thinker's anthem. A song for the sleepless, and the hours spent playing and replaying scenarios on a loop in your brain where there is no right decision, digging for a yes or a no in a mountain of perhaps. We wanted the production to feel like it belonged in the middle of the night, when you're not quite yet dreaming, but suspended above your body like a projected film of the last few week's events you can't stop watching, playing too loud for sleeping." 

"When Chris Walla sent us some instrumental recordings from the early 2010's he'd yet to use, they fit perfectly into the fitful, crumpled sheets of the bed we were making. The post-chorus vocal "a little doubt-" is also the only time Jordan sings on the record, pitch-shifted all to heaven, of course." – Josaleigh Pollett.

Salt Lake City-based singer-songwriter Josaleigh Pollett issues "Bed of Quiet," which features a guest contribution from Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), and is the final single from their fourth full-length album, ‘If I Let It Quiet. The new record will be released July 24th via Audio Antihero (Frog / Tiberius / Avery Friedman / CIAO MALZ) and Lavender Vinyl on digital and vinyl.

Although the continuation of Pollett and Watko's collaboration was never in question, the new album's creation faced new challenges due to Watko's relocation to Japan. Despite this separation, the pair opted to make their first cross-continent collaboration more ambitious and exploratory than what had come before.

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RADEMAN - Get Back Up.

All we are going to say on Beehive Candy is this.. "This is one unique and incredible baritone voice, with a song that let's it shine above so many others - fabulous." RADEMAN is a South African-born, Sydney-based country-rock artist. His music combines direct storytelling, a mature dark baritone and guitar-driven production built around resilience, consequence and the battles people carry privately.

RADEMAN creates country-rock, outlaw country and southern rock shaped by direct storytelling and emotional weight. Born in South Africa and based in Sydney, RADEMAN writes about resilience, internal conflict, accountability and the decision to stand up again when life has taken something from you.

The music moves between restrained, vulnerable verses and full-band choruses. Guitars, low-end weight and a mature dark baritone carry the songs without losing the human detail inside them. Get Back Up is RADEMAN’s debut single and the opening chapter of The War Inside, a wider body of work about the battles people rarely speak about.

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - Heaven Is Other People.

Australian, London-based MF Tomlinson today announces new EP 'Heaven Is Other People' and shares its life-affirming, piano-led title track, marking his first new music since the release of his critically acclaimed third album Die To Wake Up From A Dream (2025). Entering a new creative chapter, Tomlinson describes Heaven Is Other People as "a collection of lo-fi gestural pieces on human connection", written following the birth of his first child and recorded during impromptu sessions at his studio in Poplar, London.

Across its five tracks, Tomlinson embraces a looser, more instinctive approach, balancing patient, spacious songwriting with richly layered instrumentation alongside his regular collaborators (the "MFs"): Ed Grimshaw (drums), Ben Manning (bass), Gail Tasker (flute) and Kayvon Nabijou (keys and saxophone).

Carried by buoyant piano, circling woodwinds and radiant orchestral swells, lead single and title track 'Heaven Is Other People' moves Tomlinson's singular songwriting into unexpectedly joyful territory. Growing from intimate reflection into an expansive hymn to human connection, 'Heaven Is Other People' finds transcendence in the ordinary, celebrating the people who shape our lives.

On the new song, Tomlinson said: "Ten months ago I became a father - not long after, fragments of lyrics and chords assembled themselves into this song. This song is a crystallisation of the sun in the morning, three in the bed, three hours sleep-happiness that’s here now. It’s the sound of a little smile, a release after a long time of quietly hoping, a trajectory that brought on a whole new body of work. We recorded this in our studio, inspired by artists like Tom Waits, Mitski & Ron Sexsmith. Hope you dig!"

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Lauren Minear - Ellie.

New York–based alternative singer-songwriter Lauren Minear returns with “Ellie,” a warm, uplifting, and emotionally resonant new single that explores the complexities of neurodivergence, identity, and self-understanding. Balancing deeply personal subject matter with buoyant, liberating production, the track transforms a moment of recognition into an anthem of compassion for both ourselves and the parts of us we may have spent years trying to understand.

The song was sparked by an unexpected emotional reaction. After listening to a podcast exploring eight different presentations of ADHD in girls, Lauren found herself profoundly affected by one particular profile. Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, she immediately recognized something familiar in the story.

“I had a very strong emotional reaction to one of the profiles,” she explains. “So I wrote her a song.” Though rooted in a specific experience, “Ellie” ultimately speaks to something much broader: the feeling of growing up without the language to explain who you are. 

Rather than leaning into melancholy, Lauren intentionally chose a more uplifting sonic direction. “For some reason, I always heard ‘Ellie’ as a dance track,” she shares. “The first time I listened to it, I was literally dancing in my closet.” Inspired in part by watching artist sombr build his breakout track “back to friends,” Lauren wanted the production to counterbalance the darkness of the song’s themes with a sense of movement and release.

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Heather Anne Lomax - Houndmouth - Rogan Mei - Doghouse Rose - sundayclub - Stephen Kohler

Photo - Jeff Sebens

Heather Anne Lomax - Step Aside.

Heather Anne Lomax kicks off a bold new chapter with the release of “Step Aside,” the new single from her forthcoming album Who Do You Think You Are, due August 28th via The Blackbird Record Label. Driven by big guitars, powerful vocals, and the raw energy of classic Rock & Roll, the track sets the tone for an album built on instinct, reinvention, and following your own path.

“I wanted to write a bombastic barn burner,” says Lomax. “It’s actually based on my move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas — ‘I’m jumpin’ off a cliff now…won’t someone catch me, I’m taking a dive, can’t keep on living like I’m half alive.’”

Driven by big guitars, powerful vocals, and the energy of classic 1970s Rock & Roll records, “Step Aside” introduces an album that blends Blues, Rock, and Soul with the honest storytelling that has always been at the heart of Lomax’s music.

The inspiration for the new album started during a special night onstage at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. After releasing her previous record, Lomax added a couple of songs by the L.A. rock band Broken Homes into her live set, and something clicked. It felt like everything lined up at exactly the right moment. That spark became the beginning of a deeply collaborative album built around instinct, friendship, and musicians creating together.

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Houndmouth - Lordy (Album).

Houndmouth releases their first album in five years, the Brad Cook-produced Lordy, via Dualtone Records. With its naked honesty, Lordy takes a stripped-back approach to Houndmouth's ever-evolving sound. It's an album about surviving, rebuilding, accepting, and thriving once more. Myers wrote most of the record's songs at home, strumming his Martin guitar while sunshine streamed through the kitchen windows. Years ago, he might've composed the record at night, tossing back a few drinks for encouragement. This was different. Clear-headed and wide awake, Myers reclaimed his muse during the daytime hours, starting with songs like "Tiger Blood" — a ragged folk-rocker that builds its way toward a screaming finish — and the album's gorgeously intimate title track. 

For two years, Myers struggled to finish new songs. The end of one relationship. The beginning of another. The all-consuming feeling of new love. Myers' life had been eventful, both onstage and off, and all that living didn't leave him much time to create. Things changed when he paid a visit to Cook, the Grammy-winning producer who'd overseen Houndmouth's fourth record, Good For You. What began as a reunion of two friends soon gave way to something bigger: the restart of Myers' songwriting engines and, in its wake, the creation of Lordy. 

Cook played an integral role in Lordy's creation — not just as a producer, but as a close friend and confidante, too. "When I visited him in North Carolina for the first time, he walked out of his garage and gave me a big bear hug," Myers says. "He told me he was happy for me, and he gave me a lot of confidence with my new songs." 

Cook also reached out to others, surrounding Myers with a small circle of musicians who, like him, blurred the lines between modern-day indie music and the old-school roots of Americana. Iron & Wine's Sam Beam stopped by the studio during the creation of the album's final track, "Holy Moses," to offer advice and encouragement. Lenderman paid a visit, too, adding his trademark guitar licks — loose, lo-fi, and full of life — to multiple tracks. Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger) played on several songs, as did Houndmouth's keyboardist, Caleb Hickman. For Myers, the musical input was uplifting. "I've spent years working with peers and contemporaries," he says, "but this felt different. I was surrounded by people who were literally trying to pick me up and help me out. They pushed me to do the work."

Houndmouth · Lordy

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Rogan Mei - Dickies Green Plaid Jacket (EP).

Barrie, ON-based indie folk artist Rogan Mei shares Dickies Green Plaid Jacket, a nostalgic collection of songs that wrestles with the people, places, memories, and former versions of ourselves we struggle to leave behind. Blending indie folk, Americana, rock, and alternative influences, the EP captures a period of searching for meaning, identity, connection, and a sense of home while embracing the uncertainty that comes with growth.

The project takes its name from a real jacket Rogan discovered after moving back home following a difficult forest firefighting season out west. Worn, ill-fitting, and long past its prime, the jacket gradually became a symbol for something much larger.

“It doesn’t fit me. It doesn’t suit me. It doesn’t even do its job particularly well,” Rogan explains. “I realized the jacket had become a symbol for a lot of things in my life. People, memories, dreams, and versions of myself that no longer fit, but that I couldn’t seem to part with.”

Dickies Green Plaid Jacket explores heartbreak, friendship, nostalgia, identity, and the tension between holding on and moving forward. Though each song approaches those themes from a different angle, a common thread runs throughout the project. “I think the main theme is searching,” Rogan says. “The characters in these songs are searching for meaning, searching for love, searching for home, or searching for who they’re supposed to be.”

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Doghouse Rose - It Gets Worse.

Toronto's Doghouse Rose just returned with "It Gets Worse," the second advance single from their upcoming album Born To Break Even, due July 31 on Stomp Records. Where the album's title track leaned into the band's skate-punk roots, "It Gets Worse" turns the spotlight toward one of Doghouse Rose's greatest strengths: songwriting. Packed with towering harmonies, razor-sharp hooks, and enough power-pop charm to make Tsar, The Muffs, and No Doubt proud, the track proves that the band's biggest asset has never been speed. It's their ability to write choruses that stick around long after the last guitar chord fades.

Founded by best friends Sarah Beth and Jefferson Sheppard and rounded out by Gregory Laraigne and cousins Jordan and Garrick Zagerman, Doghouse Rose have spent more than a decade building their reputation one show at a time. From festival stages and packed clubs to community halls, dive bars, and even prisons, the Toronto five-piece has toured relentlessly across North America and Europe while sharing stages with Lagwagon, Teenage Bottlerocket, Strung Out, Belvedere, The Planet Smashers, The Creepshow, and countless others. Through it all, they've remained fiercely committed to the DIY ethos, chosen-family spirit, and sense of community that have defined the band from day one.

"It Gets Worse" arrives as the latest glimpse into Born To Break Even, Doghouse Rose's third full-length album for Stomp Records and their most vulnerable release to date. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Scott Komer (Boys Night Out, Silverstein), who also helmed the band's previous album Unlearn, the record finds Doghouse Rose pushing beyond the boundaries of their signature sound while holding tight to everything that made fans fall in love with them in the first place. Touching on themes of grief, frustration, depression, resilience, and personal growth, Born To Break Even explores heavier emotional territory without sacrificing the joy, humour, and positivity that have always been at the band's core. It's a record that acknowledges life's hard truths while refusing to let them have the final word. Older, wiser, and more self-aware than ever, Doghouse Rose continue to find ways to turn uncertainty into connection and hardship into celebration.

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sundayclub - SUNDAYCLUB Album).

sundayclub released their self titled debut album via Paper Bag Records a couple of days ago, alongside  focus track 'Corydon Ave (To Meet You)'. The album captures the first chapter of their life as a band — formed in the stillness of rural Manitoba and rooted in Winnipeg, romanticised and re-examined, its hard edges softened the way memory softens things, the way analogue photography blurs what digital sharpens. Across nine tracks, Courtney Carmichael and Nikki St. Pierre move through themes of identity, desire, self-image and belonging, all threaded together by the particular disorientation of early adulthood — the feeling of being caught between who you were and who you're becoming. Growing up, growing apart, growing into your skin.

That world has already been introduced through a run of early singles. 'Camera Shy', the band's own "quintessential sundayclub song", is feel-good and dreamy, a mission statement. 'Blue Wave' leans into "pre-nostalgia": the strange ache of missing a moment before it's even passed. 'Sad Summer' finds them at their most direct and emotionally exposed, capturing the paralysis of wanting to retreat from the world while feeling increasingly pressured to keep pace with it.

Yet it's 'Corydon Ave (To Meet You)' that emerges as the album's defining moment. The song began in the neighbourhood where Nikki grew up — Winnipeg's Corydon, a culturally rich pocket of the city that Courtney came to know through him. Spending time there, she found herself unexpectedly and intensely struck by a new acquaintance who happened to be from the same streets.

"Along with being struck with the beauty of it, I became impossibly and unexpectedly struck by a new acquaintance who also happened to be from the area. Realizing the intense feelings and infatuation that quickly developed, the song took a deeply personal turn. It became an opportunity to create this world in which the two of us could be together, despite it being so fragile in reality."


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Stephen Kohler - Paintbrush.

For Chicago-based singer-songwriter Stephen Kohler, music represents a universal language that allows all of us to connect and express. Raised in a musical family, Kohler started on the trumpet at the age of 12 and later discovered his love for the guitar, piano, and singing which he incorporated into a lifelong passion for composing, performing and producing. 

Inspired by everything from the Beatles to Black Sabbath, Stephen loves to incorporate hook-laden melodies along with rhythmic punch. Having performed throughout Chicago for over 30 years in numerous original pop, rock and alternative bands, including Delusions of Grandeur, Braintree and Bed, he has played venues ranging from Metro, Double Door, and Lounge Ax to Evanston Space, Uncommon Ground, and Beat Kitchen. 
 
In June of 2022, Kohler released the solo album Daydream, produced by Grammy-nominated musician Liam Davis (of the Power Pop band Frisbie), and followed up with the 2025 album Anthem, which was also produced by Davis and features his Frisbie band mate Gerald Dowd on drums and percussion. Fast forward to July 2026 and Kohler has re-teamed with Davis and Dowd for a brand new single "Paintbrush." The song was inspired by Kohler's late brother (who provided the original artwork for the single) and is a reminder to listeners that we all have an inner creator and can paint the universe with our own paintbrush.

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Pam Ross - Brigadoon - Railcard - Maddie Lenhart - Mr. Novembre - Pain Gain

Pam Ross - Who’s Gonna Save You?

Pam Ross just released her brand-new single, “Who’s Gonna Save You?” delivering one of her most powerful and thought-provoking songs to date. Built around a driving roots-rock foundation and an unforgettable chorus, “Who’s Gonna Save You?” explores the difficult reality of self-destruction, personal accountability, and the moments when we are forced to confront our own choices. The song’s striking refrain asks a question many people spend a lifetime avoiding: “God might save you from someone else, but who’s gonna save you from yourself?”

The recording features, Pam Ross – Acoustic rhythm guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, and organ - Yvan Petit – Lead guitar and electric rhythm guitar - FJ Ventre – Bass - George Hindenach – Drums and percussion. The track was produced by Pam Ross and FJ Ventre, with mixing and mastering by Marc Frigo in Nashville, Tennessee.

Over the past several years, Pam has built a reputation as one of independent music’s most consistent and authentic voices, earning recognition for her heartfelt songwriting, compelling performances, and growing success on radio and streaming platforms. “Who’s Gonna Save You?” continues that tradition while showcasing a more introspective and emotionally charged side of her artistry.

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Brigadoon - Everyone & No One.

The new album Everyone & No One released this weekend, comes six years on from Brigadoon’s widely acclaimed debut LP, Itch Factor. The new album is more of the same, but different. Itch Factor’s intimate, late-night, melancholy feel is retained, as is the love of melody, harmony and layered vocals and guitar to create a spectral sonic mood.

But Everyone & No One is a decisive evolution: accents from keyboards and electric guitar play a greater role, for example. This is also an exercise in precision and brevity compared to the 15-track Itch Factor. For Everyone & No One, Smith gave himself a rule: if a song goes longer than three minutes it’s outstayed its welcome. That was hard to stick to, and several tracks go beyond that (particularly the experimental drone-opus, “Under the Clock Dirge”), but these songs strive for economy and elegance, as seen in leading tracks “Maya Sleeps & Dreams”, “Extra Moons” and “Master of Cobwebs”.

As with Itch Factor, the album embraces the DIY folk spirit, retaining a slightly scruffy aesthetic in keeping with its recording environment. Replacing a shack in the hills behind Byron Bay, where Itch Factor was recorded, is a freezing garage in the Blue Mountains (the scurryings of the resident possum being audible on some songs).

With Everyone & No One, Smith sticks close to his key influences – 1960s and ’70s psych-folk ranging from the Incredible String Band to David Crosby to Gary Higgins to Tim Buckley to Mark Fry. Additional inspiration for the album came from the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, Bobb Trimble, Beck, The Chills, John Grant and Richard Dawson.

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Railcard - Two Steps At A Time.

Skep Wax (who have introduced us to some fabulous artists) have just released the first single "Two Steps At A Time" by indie pop supergroup Railcard, from their debut album of the same name, featuring ex-members of Dolly Mixture and Death In Vegas and current members of Heavenly. As a taster for the album the single is gorgeous, quirky and oh so catchy, seriously this is a massive tease for the album, about which we have the following thoughts from Skep Wax.

"You have to wonder why Railcard took so long to be born: their debut album feels like it should have been in your collection for years. But it wasn’t until 2025 that Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture), Ian Button and Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly) met at a gig, realised that they were exactly the same age, and decided that this was an excellent reason to form a new band."  

"The shared history, the same pop references, the parallel lives… Railcard had to happen, and there was no time to lose. Two Steps At A Time - the album title and theme song - express exactly how quickly Railcard have worked since then - jumping over pavement cracks and whistling past graveyards to get these songs written, recorded and released while they are still sweet and fresh."

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Maddie Lenhart - Empty Room.
 
Nashville country artist Maddie Lenhart has released her second single "Empty Room" from her upcoming EP releasing October 2, 2026. As the second release from her upcoming debut EP, “Empty Room” finds Maddie Lenhart leaning further into the classic country influences that have long shaped her artistry. Produced by Brad Hill (Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne) and written by Lenhart and Justin Cross, the song pairs warm dobro, fiddle, organ, and layered harmonies with a heartbreaking story of loving someone whose absence is felt even when they’re standing right in front of you.

Lenhart immediately transports listeners into the song’s world, opening with, “Lights come up glittering red and gold / I feel the kick of the drum echo off the back wall / Through the flickering and the smoke / I can make out just enough / To know that I’m alone.” The scene is vivid and cinematic, but it’s the following realization that gives it its emotional weight: “It’s something that I should be used to now / But hell, it still keeps burning me out.” In just a few lines, Lenhart reveals this isn’t a fleeting moment of loneliness – it’s the familiar ache of continually showing up for someone who no longer meets her halfway.

That emotional foundation makes the chorus all the more powerful: “Loving you’s like playing to an empty room / I keep pourin’ out my heart, but what good does it do? / I could walk off this stage, nobody’s listening / I could leave you, you wouldn’t ask me to stay / You don’t give a damn, and I shouldn’t like I do / ’Cause loving you, loving you, loving you / Is like playing to an empty room.”

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Mr. Novembre - Mountains, Hope.

Mr. Novembre new single “Mountains, Hope.”, is an expansive alt-folk meditation on grief, surrender, and finding peace on the other side of emotional exhaustion. Built around delicate fingerpicked guitar, sweeping strings, and a slow-burning sense of release, the song invites you to sit with life's heaviest moments rather than rush past them. It feels like the quiet after the storm. Like setting down a burden you've carried for too long. Like discovering that hope doesn't always arrive through holding on, it can begin by letting go.

At its heart, “Mountains, Hope.” offers a reminder many of us need to hear: “Love was all I had to give - But my tank is empty - There's nothing left in me”

With each verse, the song moves gently from depletion toward acceptance. What begins as a confession slowly transforms into an embrace of stillness, where healing comes not from reaching the summit, but from finding peace with where you stand. This isn't a song about giving up. It's about recognising that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stop fighting what cannot be changed.  This is a taste of the album 'Petrichor'  due August 14 2026.

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Photo - James J. Robinson

Pain Gain - Pain Gain (Album).

Pain Gain, the collaborative project of Chloe Kaul (Kllo), Hamish Lefevre (SWIM), and Samuel Cooke (CRUSH3d), have released their self-titled debut album Pain Gain (via Play It Again Sam/PIAS). Formed in 2023, Pain Gain began as a deliberate left turn. Shedding their established electronic identities, Kaul, Lefevre and Cooke retreated to the beachside forests of southern Australia, armed with guitars, modular synths and a tape recorder. What began as a temporary escape soon evolved into something far more profound: a complete recalibration of sound, process and purpose. The result is Pain Gain, a debut album that trades velocity for gravity, moving fluidly between indie rock melodrama and expansive pop balladry while rejecting genre as a fixed idea.

That philosophy, that pain can be instructive and even transformative, runs throughout Pain Gain’s work. Embracing a tactile, imperfect process, the band favored single takes, analogue experimentation, and the accidental beauty of mistakes. Songs emerged organically: melodies drifting through kitchen conversations, lyrics shaped by late-night reflections, and ideas bleeding across rooms in a house that became a living, breathing studio.

Across the project, vocalist Chloe Kaul delivers lyrics that cut deep, exploring personal upheaval with unflinching honesty, while the band’s collaborative dynamic ensures no single voice dominates and each member shapes the music with equal weight and intent. It’s three distinct voices finding unity in vulnerability and shared experience as they explain: "We went away together with only the intention of starting something new, we never expected that we would end up not only with an album, but one that feels as cohesive and collectively personal as this. It's a record that looks for beauty in friction, and finding a new start in the wreckage of something past"

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Plum - Hector Gannet - Montello - A Place To Bury Strangers - KiKi Holli + The Remedy - Huw Cadwaladr

Photo - Shannon Marks

Plum - Asymmetric.

Bodies in Motion (due August 21) is the second full-length album from Chicago post-punk trio Plum. To make it, the band set out to unlearn themselves, dismantling the usual writing process instead of returning to the methods that shaped their 2024 debut Can't Hold On To It (praised by Audio Fuzz as "a vibrant mix of sounds, blending New Wave, No Wave, Krautrock, and Indie Sleaze”).

Writing began with a retreat to a cabin in Wisconsin, where they spent days on intuitive and constraint-based approaches: songs emerged from Tarot card pulls, graphic scores, free vocal improvisations in the woods, and challenges thrown at one another, like writing a section with asymmetric phrasing or moving toward the ideas they'd normally avoid.

Where Can't Hold On To It centered on groove and propulsion, Bodies in Motion expands the band's vocabulary through layered counterpoint, interlocking rhythms, and parts that answer and circle one another. New drummer Eric Ridder (Em Spel, Vaya) is central to that shift, reinforcing the band's motorik pulse while opening space for more intricate interactions between vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. Primary songwriters Jeff Kelley (guitar, lead vocals) and Heather Perry (bass, vocals) write into that space, keeping every part in conversation and always moving.

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Hector Gannet - The Mother Tongue.

Hector Gannet have shared a new single “The Mother Tongue” via Guga Records, ahead of their third album ‘The Great Shakedown’ arriving this October. Hector Gannet’s powerful North Eastern folk-rock-soul sound returns with new single “The Mother Tongue”. The music is driven on by surging brass parts, while the words look at mortality and the idea that whereof we cannot speak we must sing. The single reprises the unabashed emotive potency that has seen this North Shields group praised by people as diverse as Chris Packham and Sam Fender and acclaimed as “North Shields’ answer to Crazy Horse” by Uncut magazine. The new single is taken from what will be the band’s third album (‘The Great Shakedown’) to be released in October.

“This song was written when dealing with loss and grief,” says Hector Gannet singer/guitarist Aaron Duff, referring to the passing of a family member. “I just felt completely unequipped to deal with the abrupt finality of it all. If that person was stood in front of me now and I tried to express those emotions, I’m sure we’d both laugh and joke about it just to get through things. It’s hard to say goodbye in a situation like that and I had to put it into a song to be able to do it."

Centred on uplifting brass parts and a momentum that borders on the euphoric, “The Mother Tongue” connects with the band’s Tyneside origins in typical style. Hector Gannet are named after a fishing vessel of the same name, a boat which Aaron’s late paternal grandfather served on and which suffered fatal misadventure in 1968. The riverside, streets and team colours are there in the new single’s lyrics, while the track carries its emotional weight in the way communities often do – not through confession, but through action; by showing rather than saying. Beneath the propulsive brass lies something more subtle – an examination of stoicism as both armour and wound. The words muse on the peculiarities of a shared language, one that can be used to avoid saying the very things that needs to be said.

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Photo - Oliver Roberts

Montello - The Universe Replied…

Wigan/Manchester indie quartet Montello return with the infectious new single, 'The Universe Replied…' a track that captures the band's knack for melancholy that dances rather than mopes. Drawing inspiration from the timeless songwriting of The Smiths and the atmospheric depth of The Cure, while channeling the infectious energy of early-2000s indie, 'The Universe Replied…' strikes a balance between nostalgia and modern indie ambition. It's a song that finds beauty in reflection without ever standing still, inviting listeners to move as much as they feel.

Working with producer Luke Owens (of fast-rising Manchester band Bank Holiday), the single pairs jangling guitar lines, driving rhythms and atmospheric synth textures with heartfelt vocals that give the song genuine emotional weight. Bittersweet lyricism and irresistible momentum come together to create a track that delivers indie immediacy, while retaining the swagger of The Stone Roses, a quality that has become synonymous with the band's captivating live performances.

'The Universe Replied…' marks another confident step forward for the band, showcasing a sound that feels both familiar and refreshingly forward-looking. With hooky melodies, emotional sincerity and a cinematic quality, the single reinforces their reputation as one of Manchester’s most exciting new indie acts, proving they can honour their influences while carving out a distinct identity of their own.

Speaking about the track, the band explain: "The Universe Replied… is a song that asks more questions than it gives answers - it's very difficult as a young adult to feel like you have a clear cut career and a laid out life ahead of you, so it's talking about my way of throwing caution to the wind and not knowing what the universe has planned for you, me or anyone."

Montello · The Universe Replied...

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A Place To Bury Strangers - Losing Time.

A Place To Bury Strangers release new single and video "Losing Time" off of their new rarities album "Rare and Deadly" "Losing Time" tackles the uneasy truth that life keeps moving whether we're ready for it or not. Set against our signature storm of noise and tension, it's a song about change, mortality, and surrendering to the inevitable.⁠

Rare and Deadly cracks open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos from A Place To Bury Strangers. Spanning 2015–2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments, and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered—caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes. Pulled from Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes, and half-finished sessions, here the interference is closer, the electricity more dangerous, the edges left jagged on purpose.
 
What makes Rare and Deadly truly unprecedented is that every format tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl, and digital editions each feature their own unique tracklisting, a fractured release strategy that is almost unheard of. No single version contains the “complete” album. Instead, each format becomes its own window into the archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links, and parallel versions of the band’s inner life. It’s a deliberately unstable document: the album shifts depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.
 
Across these recordings, you can hear the evolution of Ackermann’s restless mind. Some pieces feel like prototypes for future chaos, seeds that later bloomed on studio albums. Others are dead ends—ideas too volatile, too strange, or too personal to ever fit the frame of a proper release. But together they form a secret history of the band, a parallel world of possibilities that existed just outside the spotlight. The tracks contain riffs mutated by malfunctioning pedals, songs born from gear pushed past its limits, or delicate melodies overwhelmed by walls of feedback until only their ghosts remain.

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Photo - Daniel Reichert

KiKi Holli + The Remedy - Something About You (EP).

Something About You is five tracks of with atmospheric production, sweeping melodies, and performances that are as fearless as they are nuanced. At the heart of the project is Holli's creative partnership with two-time Grammy-nominated producer Ethan Allen (Ben Harper, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tricky), who produced, mixed, and co-wrote the EP. Their collaboration shapes the intimacy, expansiveness, and cinematic atmosphere that define KiKi Holli + The Remedy. The EP was mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Dave Collins (Madonna, Alice Cooper, Soundgarden).

Rooted in the cinematic tradition of Stevie Nicks, Bowie, Prince, and The Cure, KiKi Holli + The Remedy has built a sound that lives at the intersection of dream pop atmosphere and dark wave intensity. 

The five tracks unfold as follows: Something About You: The title track opens the EP with a meditation on connection and desire, drawing listeners into a world of recognition and longing. - The Garden: A lush summer escape filled with warmth, beauty, and possibility. - Don't Change: KiKi Holli + The Remedy's interpretation of the INXS classic transforms the anthem into something more intimate, uncovering new shades of tenderness and longing. - So Far Away: Sits in the ache of distance, the kind that lives in the body long after someone is gone. - Brand New Day: Closes the EP with hopeful optimism, the first real breath of something new.

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Huw Cadwaladr - I Believe.

I Believe', never originally intended for public release, offers the first glimpse into the world of Cambria Nocturna. The track marks a departure from the electronic work Gruff and I previously created as Carcharorion, moving toward a more songwriting-driven and lyrically expressive approach. While evolving creatively, the project continues to explore our shared love of cinematic electronic sound through experimental tape loops, field recordings, analogue instrumentation, and richly textured production. 

Originally conceived as a post-punk composition before transforming into a driving techno piece, 'I Believe' evolved over many months into its final form — a confessional and emotionally charged work. Recorded by Gruff and myself, and mixed by Alexander Green at The Zoo, the track became the first true catalyst and creative foundation for what would eventually become Cambria Nocturna.

Cambria Nocturna itself emerged from a period of profound personal trauma. During this time, I reconnected with Gruff after more than a decade apart, and together we began experimenting once again. What started as artistic collaboration quickly became something deeper: a source of healing, catharsis, and genuine therapy.

Through channeling these emotions creatively, Cambria Nocturna was born — a sonic tapestry of deeply atmospheric electronic music shaped by raw emotion, human connection, and resilience. By merging analogue electronics with acoustic instrumentation, we drew from a broad spectrum of influences, spanning 90s trip-hop, techno, electro, 80s Italo, and alternative electronica, alongside the work of artists such as John Cale and Nick Cave. 'I Believe' marks the beginning of a new chapter: emotionally resonant electronic music rooted in vulnerability, transformation and defiant survival— with further releases set to follow.

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Sin Cos Tan - Drug Store Raid - Alice Geary - The Womack Sisters - Twin Bloom - Tipps And Obermiller - Disgusting Sisters

Sin Cos Tan - Icarian.

Sin Cos Tan release their new single Icarian today July 10. The track is the seventh taste of the duo’s forthcoming album Greed, which will be released on October 9 via All That Plazz.

Icarian takes the listener into the calmer, more wistful side of the album. Where the earlier singles carried more tension and sharper edges, the focus here is on melody, atmosphere and late-night shades. The result is a beautiful, melancholic synth-pop song whose strength is built with restraint.

Formed by producer-DJ Jori Hulkkonen and singer-songwriter Juho Paalosmaa, Sin Cos Tan are known for the way they bring together Nordic melancholy, classic pop melody and carefully crafted electronic production. In their music, nostalgia and futurism sit side by side, and their songs work equally well in headphones, in after-dark city settings and on the edge of the dancefloor. Icarian fits naturally into that continuum.

What matters in Sin Cos Tan’s music is precision without coldness. In Hulkkonen’s production, every sound is carefully considered, yet the whole thing still breathes. In Paalosmaa’s voice, there is warmth, distance and melancholy, all of which are central to the duo’s distinctive sound. 

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Drug Store Raid - Batz N' Bratz.

Helsinki band Drug Store Raid release Batz N’ Bratz, the third single from their forthcoming second album, Pop Songs For People Who Might Get Killed. The band have quickly become one of the more interesting new names in Finland’s alternative guitar scene, pulling together indie rock, post-punk, art rock and no wave with a sound that feels restless but controlled.

Batz N’ Bratz leans into a darker, more late-night mood. The track threads goth-surf-punk through flashes of jazz and metal, keeping the band’s angular edge while opening up something more melodic and faintly wistful underneath.

“There’s something restless and comforting about the song at the same time. It never quite settles into place, and that’s exactly where a lot of its beauty lies for us,” the band say.

The lyrics move through familiar Drug Store Raid territory: isolation, fear, fun and managed chaos. In the attic, bats and Bratz dolls are making out, though love is not really the point.

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Photo - Kez Pearl

Alice Geary - Singing About My Problems.

London Alternative-Pop-Indie solo artist Alice Geary returns with the vibrant, confessional new single ‘Singing About My Problems’ (July 9th) - a love letter to people with big feelings, who live inside their head. Touring as the bass player for rising shoegaze band deary, Geary has already cut her teeth opening for Slowdive and touring renowned venues across the UK. 

The new single ‘Singing About My Problems’ captures the honest, intimate songwriting that defines Alice Geary's artistry, finding beauty within the everyday highs and lows of life. Produced by Crysometimes frontwoman Megan Bush, the track highlights Geary's ability to combine emotional vulnerability with infectious, uplifting pop sensibilities.

Fusing raw, anthemic pop energy with a warm, guitar-led backdrop, atmospheric synth textures and spacious reverbs, the track showcases the blend of musical worlds that shape Geary's distinctive sound. Led by Geary’s angelic, yearning vocal melodies, the track balances an alternative edge with commercially minded, radio-ready hooks, while its introspective lyricism draws listeners into a deeply personal narrative. As comparable to Maggie Rogers and Phoebe Bridgers as it is to contemporary indie-pop and acoustic folk, ‘Singing About My Problems’ delivers gritty riffs, soaring vocals and heartfelt, story-driven songwriting at its very best. 

Talking about the single, Alice explains: “This single is a love letter to the people with big feelings, who live inside their head and anyone who needs a good old scream. This track is a reflection of the feeling of someone in their early 20s figuring out what they want to do with their lives, I didnʼt overthink it. Itʼs all about capturing that chaotic energy in your 20s. Started on my acoustic at home and sent to my producer Megan and they made it into the song it is today. Saw my vision! Recorded from home. And tracked the drums at 17B in Brighton. The vocals were done in my bedroom, with a blanket pinned to the walls to dampen the sound - very independent artist style.”

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The Womack Sisters - If I Let You.

The Womack Sisters just released their new single, "If I Let You," from their upcoming self-titled album, out August 14th. The Womack Sisters – Kucha, Zeimani, and BG Womack – were singing before they could walk. 

The Sisters grew up on the road. Their schools were stages and studios all over the world, where they sang behind their parents, Zekkariyas & Zeriiya (fka Womack & Womack), alongside their four siblings. Nowhere was home for long. No matter where they lived they were always surrounded by music and family.

Their 2026 self-titled debut album,The Womack Sisters, is the musical culmination of the Sisters’ long and winding journey to find themselves. Over an intensely soulful collection of tunes that harkens back to when pop music had substance, vibe and purpose, each of their distinct voices have their moments in the spotlight.

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Twin Bloom - Twin Bloom (EP).

Twin Bloom makes indie rock that balances momentum with atmosphere, drifting between the glow of 80s new wave, the haze of shoegaze and the melodic pull of classic guitar pop. Based in Oakland, the band leans into warmth over sharp edges. Guitars shimmer and blur, melodies stick quickly, and close vocal harmonies give the songs a familiar, lived-in feel.

Influences like Teenage Fanclub, Alvvays, The Cure and The Strokes are present, but never foregrounded, filtered instead through a sensibility shaped by years of playing rooms, basements and clubs.

There’s patience in the band’s writing, but also a steady sense of drive. Songs unfold gradually, carried by chiming guitars and propulsive rhythms that keep things moving even as textures bloom and recede. The arrangements stay lean and focused, favoring clarity over excess and letting repetition, tone and melody do the work. The music feels emotionally grounded and immediate, well suited for hazy summer drives and warm, nostalgic nights that stretch on longer than expected.

Twin Bloom’s self-titled debut EP, (released today July 10), captures a moment of transition, caught between looking back and pushing forward. Lead single “Summer’s Gone” distills the band’s approach most clearly, pairing an easy, driving rhythm with a bittersweet sense of seasonal shift. Twin Bloom isn’t chasing trends or big statements. The band is focused on writing songs that stick, sound good turned up in the car and feel just as natural on the tenth listen as the first.

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Tipps And Obermiller - Little-Kid Heart (Album).

“Little-Kid Heart” is a record about what we all carry—old wounds, quiet hopes, and the parts of ourselves that never quite grow up, no matter how much life asks us to. Across ten songs, Tipps and Obermiller explore the tension between who we were, who we thought we’d be, and who we’re still becoming. The writing is intimate and specific, but the emotional landscape is unmistakably shared.

The album moves fluidly between humor and heartbreak. “Shopping Wrong” delivers its wisdom with a wry smile, while “Fresh Hell” captures the disorienting aftermath of a broken relationship that reopens something older and harder to name. Elsewhere, songs like “The Garden” widen the lens, holding beauty and fracture side by side, asking listeners to wrestle with both without turning away. There are no easy answers here—only honest ones.

At its core, “Little-Kid Heart” is about resilience—not the loud, triumphant kind, but the quieter version that shows up day after day. “Dance When You’re Broken” and “So Far From Alone” offer companionship in the darkest places, while “Not Enough” sits bravely in grief without trying to resolve it. Even in its heaviest moments, the record resists despair, choosing instead to stay present, to keep reaching. 

What ties it all together is a deep belief that we’re not alone in any of it. Whether through the gravitational pull of connection, the unexpected turn toward love, or the fragile hope at the center of “Love Letter,” the album keeps returning to the same idea: we’re all walking each other home. And if there’s hope here, it’s not that everything turns out the way we planned—but that, somehow, we learn to be okay anyway.

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Photo - Pierpaolo Saccomandi

Disgusting Sisters - Sorry Mister.

Disgusting Sisters announce their debut album Skin & Blisters, which will be released October 30 on Source Records. The duo (and real life sisters) also share new single "Sorry Mister".

A lot of songwriters might use their craft as a means to process life, but not many end up with a wild end result like Disgusting Sisters. A winning mix of horror, humor, musical influences that span from electro to emo and a wealth of joint experience, it speaks to a childhood of pet rats and pranks; world-building and wicked games. The duo have already received press support from the likes of The Guardian, DIY and Clash as well plays at BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music. The album will arrive on Source Records, the iconic Anglo-French label historically home to artists including Air, Phoenix and Kings of Convenience.

"Sorry Mister" is an infectious, wryly unapologetic indie-pop anthem imagining a chaotic night out filled with questionable men and one clear conclusion: “I don’t want to offend you, but I prefer my sister.” Raw, witty and crowd-tested, the track captures the duo’s electrifying live energy (following a run of standout UK shows.)

On the new single, Disgusting Sisters say - "Sorry Mister is inspired by those nights out where you constantly find yourself trying to reject unwanted attention. As a woman you’re often taught to smile, apologize, and avoid offending anyone even when you’re uncomfortable. We love the irony of "Sorry, Mister" because it plays on that contrast between politeness and the raw truth, celebrating female solidarity and the freedom to stop apologising for saying no"

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