On Every Time I Think About You, the Cactus Blossoms elevate harmony duo singing to an art form, weaving rich, nostalgic melodies and poignant themes of movement and transformation into an emotionally resonant tapestry.
Aug 31, 2024
Aug 30, 2024
PETE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT • SEA OF EYES • 2024
Revolving around PETER G. HOLMSTROM of THE DANDY WARHOLS and SUN ATOMS, Portland-based PETE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT presents 'Sea of Eyes' featuring vocalist ALEXANDER HACKETT of Montreal dream-gaze outfit PANG ATTACK with an intriguing shadow-dance video
Aug 29, 2024
IDAHO • Live at Bottom Of The Hill (San Francisco CA) • 2024
Full set. IDAHO played Bottom Of The Hill many times in the 90's and early 00's which made it a fitting venue for our first show in many a year.
Opeongo • Ceiling Rats • 2024
Opeongo is the moniker of Keegan Trumpour and an ever-rotating cast of musicians. Keegan is from Midland, Ontario
My only rule for this song, and this album as a whole, was no drums – I made this decision as Liam Steffler, who these songs are written for, was my longtime drummer as well as being my closest friend. He plays on a few songs on the first album. I wanted folks to feel his absence. – Opeongo
Aug 28, 2024
Amy Rigby • Dylan in Dubuque • 2024
Like some people turn to the moon and stars for inspiration, Amy Rigby looks to creative heroes like Bob Dylan and Mike Leigh. She finds poetry in haircuts, live chat boxes; bartending and bookselling. Her music is the sound of everyday people getting by, just like the country artists she loved and learned to write songs from.
Soap&Skin • Mystery Of Love • 2024
“I hear a song,” adds Anja, “and feel there's something else I'd like to add. Then I don't listen to the original. Sometimes not for years. I record the songs from memory.” So she hasn't heard The Doors' "The End" for over seven years now. An old favorite song, a little time capsule. Similar to Shirley Bassey's "Born To Lose".
Other new interpretations are Cat Power's "Maybe Not", David Bowie's "Girl Loves Me", Tom Waits' "Johnsburg, Illinois", Janis Ian's "Stars" and "Pale Blue Eyes" by The Velvet Underground among others. The strongest transformation, however, was certainly the digital bonus track, Plaschg's version of Lana Del Rey's "Gods & Monsters". If Lana Del Rey still wants “fame” and “liquor” and that “slowly” in 2012, Soap&Skin sings: “fame and liquor?”, “that is nothing holy.” And sunny lethargy turns into an experimental and mysterious electro soundscape.
Camera Obscura • Liberty Print (Live on KEXP) • 2024
CAMERA OBSCURA’s 2024 tour continues this week in the UK (with European dates coming in September and October). If you missed them earlier this year, our friends at KEXP have you covered! Check out “Liberty Print” below, then revisit their stunning return album Look to the East, Look to the West which is perfect for a late summer day!
Aug 27, 2024
Trust Fund • Has It Been A While? • 2024
Fans of seventies singer-songwriters, and in particular Nick Drake’s first two Joe Boyd-produced albums, will find much to recommend here, while Belle and Sebastian’s early folk-inflected material is another obvious touchstone. Elsewhere on the record, the title track itself evokes both the spirit and simplicity of Chet Baker’s “I Get Along Without You Very Well”.
Aug 26, 2024
The Secret Beach • Hat's Way of Walking • 2024
The Secret Beach is an ever-shifting group of musicians and co-conspirators orbiting around the songs and voice of esteemed songwriter Micah Erenberg. The Secret Beach is the collaborative musical project fronted by songwriter/producer Micah Erenberg. Micah has written, produced and engineered for artists such as Kacy & Clayton, Lee Ranaldo & Zoon, Boy Golden, The Waverley Pickers, Fontine and Marlon Williams. He has worked with producer/engineers such as Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Dr. Dog), Rob Fraboni (Bob Dylan, The Band, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys) and Sam Plecker (Father John Misty, Local Natives).
"His plainly stated lyrics are refreshing, and though the wide-ranging genre touchpoints are evident the production never threatens to distract from the songs, only ever tastefully adding to the story."
- The Manitoban
"There's an alluring frailty - enhanced by his earnest and greatly melodic voice - in how Micah portrays how he thought life should be when compared to how he sees it currently... There may not be a better songwriter in Manitoba. Matlock's Lou Reed and Neil Young and Daniel Johnston all rolled into one."
- Bad Gardening Advice
- The Manitoban
"There's an alluring frailty - enhanced by his earnest and greatly melodic voice - in how Micah portrays how he thought life should be when compared to how he sees it currently... There may not be a better songwriter in Manitoba. Matlock's Lou Reed and Neil Young and Daniel Johnston all rolled into one."
- Bad Gardening Advice
New Starts • A Little Stone • 2024
New Starts are Darren Hayman (of Darren Hayman, Hefner), Joely Smith (of adults, Fresh), and Will Connor and Giles Barrett (both of Tigercats).
“The songs are vintage Hayman at first glance. And right from the start of ‘A Little Stone’, the Hefner crew will be delighted. But there’s an edge here that comes with the band arrangements. Dissonance, driven bass, and thudding toms. There’s an energy here that feels like a band in the right gear. There are lovely slow moments, too. The ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ of the album, ‘Don’t Need Persuading’, is up there with Hayman’s best songs. It’s a great new project from one of our best songwriters. Spend some time in a sad, but upbeat world.” The Quietus
Aug 23, 2024
English Teacher • The Best Tears of Your Life • 2024
“One of the great debut albums of the 21st century” The Sunday Times ★★★★★
“The fantastic and the everyday collide on this landmark debut – an adventure in sound and words" NME ★★★★★
“One of the most confident and charismatic debuts in years” Record Collector ★★★★★
“A group really only just getting started” DIY ★★★★★
“An absolute masterpiece” Dork ★★★★★
“The fantastic and the everyday collide on this landmark debut – an adventure in sound and words" NME ★★★★★
“One of the most confident and charismatic debuts in years” Record Collector ★★★★★
“A group really only just getting started” DIY ★★★★★
“An absolute masterpiece” Dork ★★★★★
Aug 21, 2024
Tindersticks • Always a Stranger • 2024
“Oh life, breathe through me, As this light falls, My love is in flames and I’m always a stranger.”
“Stuart Staples’ crew at their best: tentative hip-shakers and (dark night of the) soul serenades, heavily freighted with exquisite sadness.” – Uncut
“Striking and soulful... Each song a precisely measured dose of beauty and unease... From Terry Edwards’ dysregulated trumpet on ‘Always a Stranger’ to the wheezy strings of ‘The Secret of Breathing,’ Soft Tissue is a magnificent reminder that few people know better how to arrange life’s broken pieces, how to orchestrate the chaos.” –- MOJO (4 stars)
Michigander • Giving Up • 2024
“I was so excited after I wrote this song,” says Jason Singer. “It’s an anthem for the people pleasers who are always trying to make other folks happy. They go to great lengths to make things work out in situations where it’s really not worth their time or good for their mental health. It’s a special song for me, because it’s self-referential.”
Aug 20, 2024
Andie Loren • Hearts Grow Wide • 2024
The song came to me while talking with friends about the world of dating and hookups. I started to think about how people meet these days. I thought about how our eyes can say so much from across the room. The simplicity of instant attraction and the longing we feel to connect with someone romantically. – Andie Loren
Andie Loren is a Toronto based singer/songwriter. Her music is a mix of dream pop and rock. Her lyrics focus on love, loss and the rollercoaster of emotions and questions we have in relationships. Songs are characterized by her desire to understand human nature, and how love can consume us in positive and negative ways. Her rich, warm vocals are heartfelt and her approach to writing is honest, straightforward and open. Her latest EP “Some Special Light” is a concept album. It looks into our desperate need to matter to someone, and the highs and lows that come along with it.
Aug 18, 2024
Alice Merton • don't leave me alone with my thoughts (treehouse Version) • 2024
Slow and steady
There's been a lot goin' on, a lot goin' on
I love this place we're in, I love this song
My nights tend to wander
The streets of Avonmore
My nights tend to get lost
Between the broken corridors
Don't leave me alone with my thoughts, with my thoughts
It's been a long, long day
Don't leave me alone with my head, with my head
Oh, I want you to stay
I need the silence, your silence
To keep it all the way
So don't leave me alone with my head, with my head
Oh, I want you to stay
Girl Gordon • "Corruptor” EP • 2024
The EP’s influences span foundational bands such as Sleater-Kinney, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Placebo, and Nirvana, while also drawing upon heavyweights from the past ten years like Mannequin Pussy, Wednesday, and Drug Church. Recorded, mixed, and engineered in the Girl Gordon basement by Cory Linman, Corruptor’s DIY ethos allowed for an exploratory creative approach unfettered by limited studio time. New riffs emerged months in, vocal harmonies developed through live performance, and large cuts of improvised noise were recorded to be mined and arranged later.
CRYBABY CLAIRE • BABY YOU CAN HOLD ME • 2024
Drawing inspiration from the intriguing tradition of professional mourners, Oslo-based CRYBABY CLAIRE merges gloominess with danceable beats. "I wanted to create music one would sob to, but the songs naturally evolved into something more uplifting," she reflects. "It mirrors my own way of coping with sadness—I often find solace in dance, even though allowing myself to shed a tear would bring more balance."
Aug 16, 2024
MAYA DELILAH • Look At The State Of Me Now • 2024
“‘Look At The State Of Me Now’ is about looking at yourself at the breaking point in a relationship,” says Maya. “There’s a big part of you that wants to stay but you also know you’d be crazy if you did. It’s about feeling conflicted as the other side of you wants to make it work. I’m sure so many people have felt this way just like myself. I always love writing in the time signature 6/8 as it feels so much more emotive to me, and as this song is about heartbreak it felt fitting.”
Tony Jay • Knife Is But A Dream • 2024
The songs, themselves, retain a skeletal elegance, a stark contrast to the swirling chaos that surrounds them. The final product evokes the image of a charcoal sketch, rendered with swift strokes and unwavering confidence, a fleeting moment of beauty captured for all time.
Knife Is But A Dream is a beautiful album of sonic escapades and lo-fi balladry, a mixture of ambient instrumentals and the JAMC with a hangover feeling of the sentimental and melancholy, and expressing their feelings into a lo-fi recording device. Another example how beautiful and rewarding for the heart and soul it can be to make and listen to music recorded in a home setting. An album to close one eyes to and drift off to a more relaxing and safe heavenly moment. - Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea (Monolith Cocktail)
Along with Flowertown, Cindy, and April Magazine, Tony Jay closes the circle of Bay Area bands that wander through the fogged end of the indie pop scene… [“The Darkest Corner”] is aloft on a bed of synth and hiss, giving proper ambience to Michael Ramos’s strums and soft delivery. A home-recorded gem that’s built to bridge the bad times, the new record. - Andy French (Raven Sings The Blues)
Jazmin Bean • Addict • 2024
“One of the most exciting names in alternative music.” - DIY Magazine
“Fast becoming one of alt. music’s breakout stars.” - Kerrang!
“Well versed in the art of ‘very dramatic and cinematic energy.’” - PAPER Magazine
“Offers a glimpse of non-binary style through an individual lens." - Vogue
“Has captivated fans with their intricate makeup looks, eye-catching fashion
and grungy alt-pop songs.” - People
“Although I was struck by the visual of Jazmin Bean, it was their sound that had me absolutely captivated.” - Girl at the Rock Shows
Aug 15, 2024
Lea Thomas • We Must Be In Love • 2024
"We Must Be In Love" is a love song. It could be a love song for anyone or anything but for me, it has become a love note to the cosmos, to this earth, to the places that shaped my life, and especially for the island of Maui in Hawai’i, where I grew up. I like to think that true love has a way of slowing down time so you can "let yourself be happy.”
Onsloow • Full Speed Anywhere Else • 2024
“Taxi” begins with the intriguing opening line: “Get into my car,” taking the listener on a catchy, energetic trip. You think the bridge is good? Just wait for the key change. “Taxi” has the infectiousness of Slow Pulp with the tumultuous edge of Tigers Jaw; it’s Momma’s “Speeding 72” if it was emo instead of grunge. - Stereogum
Bursting with character, bright hooks, and some devilish insidious cuts - Upset Magazine
Trondheim, Norway’s Onsloow is a fresh, well-crafted indie-rock band that creates rousing and dreamy power-pop sounds with nuances and nods to pop punk. Onsloow’s new, self-titled release finds the band in league with contemporaries like the Beths, Tigers Jaw, Girl in Red and Paramore; and even more veteran bands like Superchunk, Weezer and the Get Up Kids. - The Big Takeover
MOODY JOODY • VELVET CONNECTION • 2024
Moody Joody is a trio made up of Kayla Hall (vocals), Kaitie Forbes (vocals), Andrew Pacheco (producer). In 2020, the band shared their debut single "The Heat" and has steadily released a string of tracks since. As they continue to build their own sonic universe, the group embraces duality, unafraid to meet their emotions head-on and dissect the varied layers of the human experience using dynamic, dreamy production, sparkling instrumentation, soaring vocals and honest lyricism.
Aug 14, 2024
Hippo Campus • Forget It • 2024
“Cathartic” Pitchfork
“Blissful indie rock” Rolling Stone
"Forward-thinking" NPR
"Band’s expertise in toeing the line between full-on alt-pop banger and plaintive ballad" Billboard
“Bouncy indie melodies and gigantic pop hooks” DIY
“Hippo Campus embrace sonic chaos” Dork
"Dancing shoes are a must at their live shows" NYLON
"One of the best bands in the United States" BBC Radio 1
Odetta Hartman • Good Socks • 2024
“The video for “Good Socks” was inspired by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and serves as an authentic window into a very familiar day of my life. By fate stranger than fiction, I am raising my baby on the same cubic block that I grew up on, nestled in NYC's Lower East Side amongst an iconic cast of characters. We spend our days walking - searching for sprinklers, praying for naps and stumbling into synchronicity on every corner. Accompanied by director Rachel Brown, we strolled through historic landmarks of the East Village and my childhood, popping into postcards of a downtown life and collecting friendly smiles along the way.”
Aug 12, 2024
Flower Face • Maniac • 2024
"Maniac" is very tongue-in-cheek. I wrote it as this upbeat little indie pop song that contrasts the uncomfortable honesty of the lyrics. Like how sometimes you have to laugh so you don’t scream and cry. It’s me admitting a lot of unpleasant truths about myself, laying it all out on the table and saying yeah, I suck in a lot of ways, but I can acknowledge and accept that, which is not the case for a lot of people.
april june • baby’s out of luck again • 2024
For april june, a singer, songwriter, and producer who typically releases one song at a time, unveiling the "baby’s out of luck again" EP marks a significant achievement. "The last time I recorded something this long was 10 years ago," she reflects. "It's much easier, psychologically, to let go of a song that you've written, as opposed to an EP… This EP is very special to me. It just has more weight to it."
Aug 11, 2024
little bit • talk a blue streak • 2024
Los Angeles-based little bit, the project of Boston-raised Hannah Liuzzo (formerly of Lilith) will release their debut EP, talk a blue streak via Hit the North Records on September 20. Following tips at FLOOD Magazine and Post-Trash for the debut single, "lying to you", the talk a blue streak EP comes produced by Bradford Krieger who previously worked with Joyer on their acclaimed 2024 record, Night Songs, as well as Squirrel Flower, Horse Jumper of Love and Model/Acrtriz.
"informed by both the cheeky pop of artists like Charli XCX, Avril Lavigne, and Michelle Branch, as well as indie luminaries like Elliott Smith and Sufjan Stevens."
– Stereogum
"The track feels like yet another postcard from the Pacific at sundown, with twanging guitar and barely discernible barroom piano complementing Liuzzo’s near-whispered vocals."
– FLOOD
"Bopping with pop charm and a soft melodic focus"
– Post-Trash
– Stereogum
"The track feels like yet another postcard from the Pacific at sundown, with twanging guitar and barely discernible barroom piano complementing Liuzzo’s near-whispered vocals."
– FLOOD
"Bopping with pop charm and a soft melodic focus"
– Post-Trash
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