Gold Connections • Fool’s Gold • 2024

The result is a record that sounds like “a conversation between old Virginia and the buzzy psychedelic world of post-COVID New Orleans”, according to Marsh. The previously recorded five tracks blossomed into eleven, fully fleshed out by a new band that included the rhythm section from fellow New Orleans band Motel Radio (Eric Lloyd and Andrew Pancamo), and notably, Marsh’s younger cousin, guitarist Fraser Wright– himself based in New Orleans and wielding a degree in music industry at Loyola University.

Marsh remembers meeting up with Wright for some Thai food: “You play guitar, right?” Marsh said. Wright nodded over his curry. “Are you any good?” Marsh asked. “Yeah,” Wright replied, with such subtle conviction that Marsh suspected he might be right.

“Turns out, he’s fucking great,” Marsh says plainly.

deary • Selene • 2024

The second new track from London-based dreampop duo deary since last year’s acclaimed debut EP is the stunning slow-build of ‘Selene’, which was produced by the band with Iggy B (Spiritualized) and features Simon Scott of Slowdive on drums.

The follow-up to last month’s breakbeat driven ‘The Moth’ slows things down but dials up the atmosphere, combining great walls of guitars with sequencers and Greek mythology.

Mol Sullivan • Cautiously • 2024

www.molsullivan.com

"Cautiously" is off Goose, self-released earlier this year. The song explores the subdued melancholy of a relationship’s anti-climactic finale, and the trepidation of having found new love.

“Count your blessins

you found me winnin’

Winter kept my hollow form

Cautiously, we explore the reaches

While we keep our cover from the storm”

Nap Eyes • Passageway • 2024

“Masters of subtlety.” – NPR

“Snapshot of a Beginner feels as much a modest masterpiece as [The Go-Betweens’] Spring Hill Fair or [Belle and Sebastian’s] Tigermilk. What sets them apart is the fear and trembling.” – Uncut

“One of the most fascinating songwriters we have today.” – Newsweek

The Neon Gate is due October 18 through Paper Bag Records / Paradise of Bachelors, marking the band's first release for the former. It was recorded between Montreal and Windsor, NS, with mixing by René Wilson and Brad Loughead, and includes recent singles "Demons," "Ice Grass Underpass" and "Feline Wave Race" — featured in Exclaim!'s Staff Picks.

On the parade ground across the great divide

I saw 1000 candles flickering

And through a peasant’s eyes I saw a green-clad man

Ringing blue bells of offering

Beside him, astride, in neon fuchsia robes

And more beautiful than anything

A woman the sight of whom changed his mind

In a permanent way

Well, as for me, I rode the three miles north

Back to old York town

And lodged my horse in a stable there

Before walking to the castle grounds

Strange to make a parade so far away

Where there were so few others around

But I let the thought drop from my head

And that night my sleep was sound

When I awoke, I knew not the hour

But it seemed all the people had fled

I returned to my room and where the mirror had been

I found a blue doorway instead

Bracing myself against a bone-chilling wind

I wrapped my scarf around my head

And entered down a rainbow crystal pathway

Strangely compelled to follow where it led

Well, ever since then I’ve been in this gem-sea land

Where the night is as warm as the day

People talk on phones and they drive down roads

To places many miles away

As for me, I remain by my edge-of-town home

Watching the ocean’s peaceful sway

I’ve been drifting in and out of a mysterious dream

Of that old-time passageway

Is this what I get for listening to “Iris”

At nine o’clock on a Monday morning

In the shadow of the foreboding sculpture

In the diamond circular saw ring?

Far away, the dawn-bright dew

On some blue fields sparkling

In the deep mind, in the well,

In the heart of things

Pang Attack • "Can't Make The Fates Like You” • 2024

http://www.pangattack.com/

Pang Attack is a Montreal-based trio with Alex Hackett (guitar, voice), Yann Geoffroy (drums), and Dave Clark (keys, bass). They concoct a super dreamy sonic recipe that's equal parts shoegaze, ambient-drone, and psych-pop. Fuzzy northern soundscapes for introverted souls.

https://pangattack.bandcamp.com

Julia-Sophie • ‘forgive too slow’ • 2024

“After years of playing in a rock band and, more recently, dream pop collective Candy Says, supporting the likes of Blondie and IDLES, the Oxford-based musician is carving out a path of her own.” – DMY

Linktree

“My journey with music has been weird and long. I think people assumed that the music I made was exactly what I intended to make, when it’s always just been me trying to figure it out. Being a solo artist has allowed me to really find myself and show who I am in all my messy states.” – Julia-Sophie

MAITA • Waking up at Night • 2024

linktr.ee/maitamusic

Portland indie rock artist MAITA has released a devastating new album called want via Fluff & Gravy Records. Led by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Maria Maita-Keppeler, the band’s third full-length release is their most crystallized work thus far. With the album’s release, the band also shares the official music video for “waking up at night,” a tender anti-lullaby about depression and self-improvement. As Maita-Keppeler says, “Sometimes all you can do is research every vitamin, tackle every deficiency, gain control of some aspect of your life that perhaps might be improved upon.”

 

The band has also announced a fall/winter tour in the Pacific Northwest, with stops in Portland, Seattle, Boise, Spokane and more. See a full list of dates below, and find more information HERE.

Lea Thomas • The Gift • 2024

Lea Thomas’ album “Cosmos Forever” unfurls in a moment of exquisitely gentle suggestion: “Let’s go for a walk/Don’t talk.” Hers is a voice that is at peace with itself, that is trusting of its own ability to convey the truths of her experience and her personal philosophy, and to express her enduring love for the natural world. These truths, inspired by growing up on Maui, are embroidered with elegantly simple imagery. Fragments and fine details of a myriad different landscapes–a spray of leaves, a winding river, a bracing trade wind–seem to weave themselves together into a blanket of sound that is warm and wholly enveloping.

linktr.ee/lealeathomas

Starflyer 59 • 909 • 2024

https://velvetbluemusic.com/?product=starflyer-59-lust-for-gold

In the early ’90s, as his solo debut was gestating, Jason Martin lived at home with his parents in the suburban sprawl of Riverside, Calif. Refered to as the 909, by its area code.

Martin would frequent his local record stores, patiently waiting for the latest batch of import singles, EPs, and LPs from his favorite UK bands: Ride, Slowdive, the Stone Roses, Pale Saints, MBV, Catherine Wheel — devouring obscure B-sides and deep album cuts alongside the “hits.” 

Over this period, Martin was also penning the songs that would become the first Starflyer 59 record. While the album is officially untitled, fans affectionately refer to it as “Silver,” due to its monochromatic metallic cover, while its follow-up, a second untitled album, is referred to as “Gold,” for similar reasons.

These first two efforts firmly cemented the band in the history of the genre of noise pop or shoegaze. The pair are often mentioned in lists of the greatest shoegaze albums of all time — for reference, see Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Revolver, which found room for “Silver,” in its top-11 list.

Snowy Band • Age Difference • 2024

Age Difference is the third album by Snowy Band, but the trillionth album by Liam Snowy Halliwell. This one is a collection of songs that - as the title may suggest - explore concepts and constructions of time, memory, experience, reflection, and just existing in the shadows and light of it all - Blossom Rot Records

numb talking • walk with u • 2024

the credits roll at a midnight screening. an early 2000’s horror movie.

you didn’t ask for this. you pray you can say good night to an answering machine. in secular worship. trying to raise the dead.

released July 24, 2024

linktr.ee

numb talking is the solo project of sufian m, a musical space exploring the duality of extremity and its absence, distance and closeness, acknowledgement and disavowal, pain and its mending, home and its cross-border search.

at the core of numb talking are the wishmaking and healing capacities of songs as hummed prayers, admissions, cautions, reminders and celebrations. the voice whispers and projects in a mix of shoegaze and nu-metal tendencies that invite, warn and laugh with the listener.

the music explores the electric guitar’s timbres and potential to vocally express without word, setting tension/connection between the spoken and unspoken. from overwhelmingly distorted arrangements to dreamier reprieves, the instruments play with energy and fatigue among layers of synthesis, distortion, and expression of the voice and its disfigurement.

The Clearwater Swimmers • Heaven's A Bar • 2024

Linktree

The Clearwater Swimmers self-titled debut is, at its core, a collection of field notes exploring gratitude, and how to shape it into a salve, armor, and engine. With songwriting often invoking themes of the natural world, community, and the spaces between, this album deals in the components a person is made up of: millions of small, fleeting moments, experiences, people, feelings - some painful, and some soothing. As much as the lyrics are autobiographical, they are just as much a letter to the threads that comprise the group, what ties them together, and what extends beyond.

Laughing • Don't Care • 2024

https://www.instagram.com/laughingonline/

What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? Laughing are Montreal-based rock n' rollers who take cues from some of the greatest pop songwriters of the past five decades. Four unique voices from across the Canadian expanse. Cross-stitched material and temporary ego sublimation serve them well in their pursuit of the holy grail: a perfect song. Their debut album Because It's True is an honest attempt at inviting you in on the cosmic joke. Heap your praise, adulation, scoff, or scorn upon them; they'll still be Laughing.

ifitbeyourwill Podcast • 2500 Downloads

https://ifitbeyourwill.buzzsprout.com

Devarrow • A Long & Distant Wave • 2024

devarrow.com

"A Long & Distant Wave" is a captivating exploration of memory and time, and marks the beginning of a string of upcoming releases. The new album marks a departure from Devarrow’s signature four-on-the-floor folk-pop aesthetic, embracing experimentation with the lo-fi, tape hiss, home studio spirit. Despite the DIY approach, the album maintains a pop sensibility with catchy hooks and strong melodies that linger in the mind long after listening. 

Big Warm Bed • Can't Quit • 2024

https://linktr.ee/bigwarmbed

Crafting laid-back yet wistful musings under the alias Big Warm Bed, Yorkshire-based songsmith Jacob Andrews has partnered with revered indie label Dance To The Radio for the release of his upcoming EP, with debut single ‘Should’ve Seen it Coming’ arriving earlier this summer and receiving backing across BBC 6 Music (Emily Pilbeam) and the tastemaker community (So Young Magazine).

Katie Malco • Fatal Attraction feat. Laura Stevenson • 2024

IG

Deeply impressive - a work of real tenderness and stark honesty that finds Katie Malco in full command of her artistry."

CLASH

"A soaring string of marvellous, ever-grander choruses."

NPR

“Katie Malco captures the zeitgeist of a generation lost” 4*

DIY

"Phoebe Bridgers if she was from Peckham… [Katie can] capture fleeting beauty and resilient war with brilliant flair"​

Dork

"Trembling and raw"

Stereogum Armed with only an old telecaster (played upside down) and her storied lyrics, Katie has toured with Julien Baker, Jenny Lewis, Fenne Lily, Alvvays, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü), Dawes, This is the Kit, SOAK, BC Camplight, Laura Stevenson, The Joy Formidable, Peter Buck (REM) and more. She also opened for The Lumineers at their sold-out Crystal Palace Park show in summer 2023 and was invited by Julien Baker to open her extensive nationwide US tour in 2021.

Ducks Ltd. • "When You're Outside” • 2024

https://www.ducksltd.co/

Ducks Ltd.’s soaring new single “When You’re Outside,” is three minutes of jangle-pop bliss that deals with conflicting feelings of trying to love someone who is making it difficult to do so. Recorded early in the Harm’s Way sessions – at a time when country music was heavily influencing their arrangements – their lofty goals for the harmonies were realized by members of Ratboys and Moontype. Despite exclusion from the album, it seems apt for a track of this caliber to see its own release. Carpark

Chitinous Mandible • Calm Summer Night • 2024

Instagram

Until mid-September I'm going to be putting out a song once a week and I just wanted to pass that along in case you're interested in listening in on what I'll be releasing.

Redshift Headlights • If You Are Around Still • 2024

Wisconsin indie-rockers Redshift Headlights completed tracking their fourth studio album with legendary recording engineer Steve Albini in March of 2024. Albini passed away two months later. The self-released album, entitled If You Are Around Still, comes out Friday, July 12th, 2024 on their redshiftheadlights.bandcamp.com page and via all streaming and online platforms. The 9-song album blends influences from rock, country, progressive rock genres and explores life, love, loss, and nostalgia. The album marks a shift toward rock and away from the more layered and orchestral pop arrangements from their previous three records.

All songs on the album were written collaboratively by the four core longtime members of the band, Stephen McCabe (vocals/guitar), Dean Hoffman (vocals/bass), Jay Spanbauer (guitar), and Justin Mitchell (keyboards). Chris Sasman joined the band in summer of 2023 after most of the songs had already been written but he breathed new life into each.

The album's first single "If You Are Around Still" will be accompanied by a music video recorded at Electrical Audio and featuring the band and all engineers, including Steve Albini. Glide Magazine will be premiering the video in the U.S. Friday, June 12th and Spill Magazine will run the Canadian premiere on Monday, June 15th.

Recorded by Steve Albini and Lauren "Mac" McDonald at Electrical Audio in Chicago on March 8th and 9th, 2024

ifitbeyourwill Podcast • Season 3

https://ifitbeyourwill.buzzsprout.com/

We’ll be back in September… Till then season 3 was amazing, great chats with spectacular indie artists await your listening pleasure.

Happy Summer 🌞 

Jessica Pratt • Life Is (LIVE on The Late Show) • 2024

bio.to/JessicaPratt

Tony Jay • The Darkest Corner • 2024

This collection delves deeper into the realms of ambient noise and collage, territories previously hinted at in his earlier works. 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.

Hunters of the Alps • DRY RUN • 2024

IG

Spanning psychedelic soundscape, pulsating 80’s electronic elements, and Scott Walker and 80s Julio Iglesias-inspired journeys, “Dry Run” showcases the duality of Hunters’ nostalgic internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings and the insecurity of perceived missed opportunities.

JOSEPH SHIPP • Dig Deep • 2024

Joseph Shipp is a multifaceted artist who weaves threads of music, design, and

photography into a rich, colorful career that defies conventional boundaries. Born between the

storied musical cities of Nashville and Memphis, Shipp’s creative journey is one of constant

evolution, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a deep reverence for the power of art.

https://www.josephshipp.band/

The son of a second-generational photographer, Shipp’s musical influences were shaped early on by the eclectic tastes of his dad. Neil Young, Leo Kottke, traditional Irish folk, and Classical were common sounds around the photo studio or car. Like many young kids of his generation inspired by Kurt Cobain, he started learning guitar at age 12. And at 18, he began writing songs. While living in San Francisco, he and his wife, also a musician and designer, became immersed in Old Time and Bluegrass music endemic to where he grew up. Shipp picked up the fiddle and his wife the banjo and, for a few years, performed traditional folk music as the duo The Family Shipp.

Ben Seretan • Allora • 2024

Tiny Engines welcomed Ben Seretan to the TE family last year with the promise of a new album in 2024. That new album is called Allora and is out July 26th. The album is the long-awaited "rock" follow-up to Seretan's critically-acclaimed 2020 album, Youth Pastoral. "New Air" was the explosive first single released in April and covered in the NY Times. "Bend" was the second single released in May. The third single "Climb The Ladder" is out now alongside an interview with Stereogum.    It’s a record of many wonders spanning a vast stretch of personal and sonic upheaval...The wild and wooly guitar jams of “New Air” and “Free” take nearly half of Allora’s run time, balanced out shorter, impressionistic musings on impermanence and death. Somewhere in between is third single “Climb The Ladder”... - Stereogum benseretan