Feb 16, 2025

Arenas • All the Best Ones • 2025




Indie rock band Arenas announces the release of their highly anticipated debut album, Truth Come Alive on March 5th, 2025. The Toronto-based group, known for their fusion of emotive lyricism and dynamic rhythms, continue to push boundaries with a fresh take on indie and alternative rock, blending heartfelt storytelling with bold, energetic soundscapes.

Produced by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck, July Talk, and Sam Roberts Band) and mastered by Justin Perkins (The Replacements, The Gaslight Anthem, Screeching Weasel) the LP emphasises the band’s growing maturity and confidence. Lead vocalist and drummer Michael Scott elaborates on the inspiration behind the focus track:

"The album and focus track both grew out of a really patient process- they both started to become about the writing process itself, and how tricky details can be when you get stuck in the mire of decision making.”

Ben Kweller • Dollar Store (feat. Waxahatchee) • 2025



Ben Kweller has shared a video for the second song from his soon-to-be-released album Cover The Mirrors, his first new music since the sudden passing of his 16-year-old son Dorian Zev in 2023. “Dollar Store (Feat. Waxahatchee)” was written with Modern Love Child and features vocals by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield. The song is a ‘90s nostalgia gut punch that feels like something you heard on the late-night radio as a teen alone in your bedroom.

Califone • The Villager's Companion • 2025



Like a passenger riding shotgun on a road trip, The Villagers Companion offers its own unique perspective and story to tell. Featuring tracks recorded alongside last year’s acclaimed villagers, TVC captures the miles between the start and destination—the faded gas station pit stops, the plastic saint statue stuck to the dashboard for safe travels or luck. It embodies the essence of the journey without the burden of driving—the experience of the ride itself.

Perfume Genius • It's a Mirror • 2025



Feb 14, 2025

Dutch Mustard • Thank You (Live for Propeller Sessions) • 2025


Netherlands-born, London-based Dutch Mustard marries a blend of ethereal dream-pop and 90s alt-rock with timeless shoegaze touches. The overall soundscape layers abstract drones and washes with bouncing psych-infused guitar lines, whilst SJ’s vocals drift between a borderline whisper and heaven-directed lung-bursts.



“A rousing, triumphant ode to individuality and empowerment” NOTION

“Dutch Mustard make listeners feel hope for the future of rock” The Grammys 

"Accomplished" – Iggy Pop - BBC 6 Music

 “totally infectious" Jack Saunders - BBC Radio 1 

“ethereal thumper” DORK 

 “Dreamy alt-rock” The Line of Best Fit  “lush and beautiful” CLASH

Animal Scream • Slow Down • 2025


Animal Scream are Pittsburgh Doom Pop artists founded by Chad Monticue & Josh Sickels, joined by multi-instrumentalist Caleb Pogyor. The band combines sound design with a psych-pop psychedelia that’s dark and cinematic, a noir-tinted sound in thrall to the eternal groove. Influences vary from David Lynch, MF DOOM, Radiohead, Beach House and ’60s reggae to woozy film scores carving out nocturnal soundscapes for the alienated and brokenhearted. Currently, Animal Scream is gearing up to release singles from their EP Otherworldy Pictures (Out February 14).




Real Sickies • Tirage • 2025

Edmonton’s pop-punk powerhouse Real Sickies are set to release their fifth full-length album, Under a Plastic Bag, on March 14, 2025, via Stomp Records. The album’s first advance single, “Triage,” is out now, offering an electrifying glimpse into the band’s knack for blending raw punk energy with sharp, melodic hooks. Known for their relentless touring and infectious anthems, Real Sickies have cemented their status as a standout act in the global punk scene, with even Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day calling them his favorite Canadian punk band.

Feb 13, 2025

Tindersticks • Soft Tissue • 2025




“From ‘70s soul to glowing strings, the cult outfit continue to illuminate the fringes of pop music,
celebrating the beauty in small things”  – The Guardian ★★★★ “Album Of The Week” 

"Beautifully arranged and bursting with drama and emotion… They are a band with a catalog worth getting lost in and Soft Tissue stands as one of their finest moments." – AllMusic ★★★★

"One of their best… It works so well that it’s hard to believe it took Tindersticks 30 years to make a record like this."
– BrooklynVegan, Indie Basement #1 Album of the Week

“Tindersticks singer/songwriter Stuart A. Staples is the consummate baroque pop singer.” 
– Vogue

Steel Wool • Fading • 2025




"Instead of burying anxieties behind the haze, Steel Wool sit theirs right over its surface." rcmndedlisten

"...the Los Angeles-based outfit’s debut single sees them subtly pushing the boundaries of shoegaze…" - Joy of Violent Movement


"...reverberates with slow, plodding, buzzy stadium guitars and huge, brooding crooner vocals." Merry-Go-Round Magazine

Ducks Ltd. • Full Performance (Live on KEXP) • 2024


http://KEXP.ORG presents Ducks Ltd. performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded July 18, 2024.

Feb 6, 2025

Dean Wareham • "That's the Price of Loving Me” • 2025




Feb 5, 2025

New Order • Lonesome Tonight Live at The Hacienda • 1983





I walk along the street
I look into your eyes
I'm pleasant when we meet
I'm there when you go home
How many times before
Could you tell I didn't care?
When you turned your back on me
I knew we'd get nowhere
Do you believe in youth
The history of all truth
A heart that's left at home
Becomes a heart of stone

Feb 3, 2025

Avery Friedman • ‘New Thing’ • 2025

 

Friedman had always felt that songwriting was just something that other people did until she was pushed by a transcendent live music experience and a traumatic mugging to seek catharsis through music. Playing her first show in July 2024, she soon shared stages with h. pruz, Dead Gowns, and Sister., and she impressed the latter’s James Chrisman enough that he offered to record her debut album. The result was ‘New Thing,’ a sonically deep and layered debut that sees Friedman explore her trauma and queerness with a raw open-heartedness inspired by artists like Adrianne Lenker, Squirrel Flower, and Babehoven. 

The lead single, “Flowers Fell,” is an ode to transitional stages that uses the changing seasons to demonstrate the growth Friedman has experienced by finally immersing herself in her art. The song’s tense guitar bursts offer an illustration of resistance before a starry-eyed chorus blooms, and Friedman sings, “The flowers fell off when I was asleep / But that’s okay, ‘cause now it’s all green,” as she finds acceptance and resilience in the face of change.

The opening melody for “Flowers Fell” came to me on a headphone-less walk home one night down Greene Avenue in Brooklyn. I had noticed that the flowers that once lined the branches had been replaced by leaves -- seemingly in the blink of an eye. I was briefly disappointed until I considered that the petals had made way for something more sustainable – and equally full of life.  The song became a meditation on the concept of place – how things of our surroundings like ‘sidewalks,’ and ‘balconies’ and ‘trees,’ can act as fixed backdrops upon which we measure our personal evolutions (and the evolutions of our relationships) across the span of many seasons.” – Avery Friedman 

Magana • ‘Bad News’ • 2025

 

“The sound of late-night emotional fragility writ large…Recalling Torres and Sharon Van Etten at their most intimate moments…Magana’s parched vocal is a complete heartbreaker.”THE LINE OF BEST FIT


“Magana wades through earth and space on Teeth.”POST-TRASH

“Teeth is a testimony to one’s bravery in facing what they have always feared, and trying to find a way to escape from one’s own isolation.”KRUI



Linktree



"This EP is the last of what I think of as an interconnected trio of releases. Teeth was made for spring, a period of growth. It was expansive and exploring. Dreams was made for fall. It was about dusk, the dawning of the restful months. Bad News is made for that period of time between the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Stillness before movement. Each song is about the period of time right before a transition: the realization that change is coming or that it needs to come. As the most lyrically driven of the releases, it is mostly about storytelling. I think of each track as a vignette of a moment in time for four different stories." – Jeni Magaña

frog • 1000 Variations on the Same Song • 2025

“If the rest of the album sounds like this single, then I’m in. “MIXTAPE LINER NOTES
VAR. VII” is lo-fi greatness, the first verse name-dropping both My Chemical Romance and Big Star (taste). In the chorus, Daniel Bateman sings poignantly, “I can’t justify it, it isn’t rational/ I get high and cry it over broken Casios.” Amazing stuff!” – STEREOGUM

"Daniel’s humdrum American portraiture and embodiment of passionate persistence have defined Frog’s sound for nearly a decade, and on Grog, a brotherly bond encourages those songwriting traits to get louder, bolder, and weirder without sacrificing any of the heart." – PITCHFORK

"...a distinct, off-kilter personality that’s just slightly off in the best way possible. The end results are riveting—or should I say ribbeting?" – BANDCAMP DAILY

Linktree

Jan 31, 2025

Rubblebucket • Anyone Else But You [Live @ SiriusXM] • 2025




We have always loved the Moldy Peaches song "Anyone Else But You." The lyrics are so poetic and the song is so simple. Despite being so soft the performance has a punk ethos in its level of carefreeness. The vibe really captures our spirit and the lyrics deeply speak to our story of being friends, then romantic and then just friends again. In that way it also brings out the spirit/story of our most recent album Year of the Banana which is about enduring friendship in its various poetic snapshots of our cosmic collision. It was a little challenging to figure out how we could bring something fresh to something so perfect without ruining it but we're happy with our added syncopations, percussion, trumpet and synthesizer. We also made sure to run it by our friend Adam Green who is one half of Moldy Peaches who said in response: "This is great!! Love the trumpet and the ethereal pads in the second half - you guys do it perfectly - I wouldn’t overthink it - the nature of the song is casual like this so it really works... You guys sound superb singing it." Thanks Adam!

Jan 26, 2025

The Golden Dregs • Godspeed • 2025

“We’ve been dying to meet you,” Ben Woods sings on “Linoleum”, the second single from Godspeed, album number four for The Golden Dregs. This rousing greeting doubles as a mission statement for the project. What began as a solo endeavour by the then Cornwall-based multi-instrumentalist and producer has grown into a six-member ensemble, each artist deeply rooted in London’s grassroots music scene. On Godspeed, for the first time, each band member contributes individually, but Woods’ songwriting and resonant baritone remain at the core — an anchor welcoming listeners into the fold.

Barely Tall • Oh • 2024

Jan 25, 2025

Zoya Zafar • Tunnel Vision • 2025

 

Not the same as the album version! This is how I first wrote it and how I play it live. In October 2023, I was in NYC, and Gordon Raphael squeezed me into his schedule to record this at Mercy Sound Studios in East Village.

Y is Nature • The Fool • 2025



Through soaring melodies, pulsing rhythms, and a raw emotional core, The Fool builds on the tense and elegant aesthetic that defines the upcoming album Evasion, out in March. The album and single will be available on all major streaming platforms.

Inspired by the cinematic "spy thriller" genre and today's geopolitical hybrid warfare, Y is Nature explores themes of evasion, secrecy, and suspicion in a world of ambiguous soundscapes. The soft vocals, floating synth chords, and prominent rhythmic foundations open the door to a dystopian sonic universe, marked by a sensitive playfulness that reflects both anxiety and courage.

Y is Nature is an indie and neo-psychedelia-inspired music project initiated by Hjalmar Littauer, who serves as both producer and songwriter. Contributing to the single "The Fool" are agents Tuva Svendsen Hesmyr (vocals), Simon Littauer (co-producer) & Martin Solli (co-producer).

Hjalmar Littauer, based in his own studio on Christian Kroghs gate in Oslo, has previously released music with the Danish DIY project "ISRA," and the 2018 EP “Sun Solace” marked his first major release. Now, he takes on a new mission with Y is Nature!