Natalie Holmes - Kramon feat. Meredith Adelaide - Kerala Dust - Rachael Sage and The Sequins

Natalie Holmes - Bird Song.

Alt-pop artist Natalie Holmes is set to release her highly anticipated second album, Opposite Day, on 17/10/25. Following the success of her debut self-produced album, Vitamin Be (2022), Natalie’s new project takes listeners on a kaleidoscopic journey through the paradoxes of human existence. Like Alice down the rabbit hole, we tumble together through accidental worlds of style and sound that mirror the disorienting beauty of being alive today.

Reaching her arms wide, ’Opposite Day’ involves a team of outrageously talented musicians - Boci, violin; Rob Pemberton, drums & mix, Alex Heane, bass & William J Stokes, co-production - Holmes proudly prepares to release this collection of genre- blurring alt-pop that ping-pongs between introspective ballads and upbeat anthems. With influences ranging from Caroline Polachek & Aurora to The Japanese House & Bon Iver, Opposite Day continues to showcase Natalie’s signature blend of ethereal vocals and thought-provoking lyrics.

Prepare to be taken through a sea of strange yet magical imagery with ‘Bird Song’, as Natalie hits on the strange concept that whenever we are feeling low, someone else is feeling high. Perhaps there’s a give and take to it, and we are constantly passing around the baton of joy. Quirky vocal samples and weaving classical guitars lure you into this clockwork fantasy of snow rooms and birds nests, moving through worlds of vocoder, lush drums and ethereal pads.

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Kramon - Morning Vapors feat. Meredith Adelaide.

This weekend singer-songwriter, renowned tv and film composer, and multi-instrumentalist Kramon returns with dreamy new single, “Morning Vapors”. Available on most streaming platforms, the track is a luscious groove paying homage to the healing powers of Mary Jane.

What began as a hazy stoner’s anthem, “Morning Vapors” quickly turned into a re-evaluation of life conceptions and what it means to connect to a higher power. Invoking feelings of escapism and tranquility throughout its sonic haven, the new track is a mesmerizing offering filled with abstract lyrical quips and psychedelic 70s guitar rock sounds. Together, the blistering drum patterns of David Goodstein merge fruitfully with Meredith Adelaide’s smooth vocals, creating a captivating listen for all. With production styles casting a backdrop filled with indie pop surrealism, the vocals of Hunter Hawkins and Meredith Adelaide can be compared to those of Mazzy Star or Beach House.

What makes the upcoming album Evolutions unique is that it is entirely a collaborative effort between various musicians from different generations. Its main contributors are Hunter Hawkins and Meredith Adelaide, whose vocals and lyrical excellence spruce up each track, creating a refreshing vibe throughout. At the helm of the project is the incredibly talented Josh Kramon– who’s primarily known for composing the soundtracks behind some of television's most notable screenwriting (Veronica Mars, High Potential, iZombie, Lethal Weapon). Just recently on May 14th, Josh proudly accepted his second BMI Award for Film and Television, due to his aforementioned contributions.

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Photo - Andrin Fretz 

Kerala Dust - The Orb, TX.

Kerala Dust have just shared a new track, "The Orb, TX", the latest to be taken from their forthcoming third album, An Echo Of Love, released via Play It Again Sam on August 22. Alongside the new single, the band has announced details of a huge North American tour. Having previously released album tracks "Bell" and "I Remember You A Dancer", "The Orb TX" is a gritty blend of electronica, blues, and psychedelia. 

Fresh off a headline tour across Europe and standout sets at Printworks London and DGTL Amsterdam, the trio continue to captivate with their signature live energy. Previous support from BBC Radio 6 Music, Clash, and KCRW has cemented them as genre-blurring innovators. This track deepens the groove, inviting listeners into a cinematic desert rave.

Talking about the track, Kerala Dust said: "The Orb, TX is about shedding the past, loss, and seeking love over and over again."

Kerala Dust’s new album, An Echo of Love, is a dynamic blend of art rock, electronica, and Americana, reflecting constant change and musical experimentation. The album’s fluidity is mirrored in both its shifting lineup—adding keyboardist Tim Gardner and drummer Pascal Karier—and its diverse recording locations, including Tuscany, Austin, Berlin, Zurich, and Rome. Lead member Edmund Kenny describes the album as capturing a state of mind, shaped by his personal experiences, especially after a tumultuous period following the band’s 2023 tour.

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Photo - Anna Azarov

Rachael Sage and The Sequins - Just Enough.

Alt-folk-pop singer-songwriter Rachael Sage and her longtime band The Sequins have released their upbeat new single “Just Enough” from their upcoming full-length album Canopy – out later this year via MPress Records. “Just Enough,” a self-produced, starry-eyed love song that peddles positive vibes with a neo-folk flair replete with wah guitar and ‘60s-style backing vocals and handclaps.

“‘Just Enough,’ at first listen, seems like a romantic love song and, to some degree, it started out that way when I was first writing it,” shares Sage. “But the longer I’ve played it live out on tour, the more now it feels like it’s equally a mantra to oneself about being enough as you are: lovable enough, accomplished enough, attractive enough, smart enough… all the things that a best friend or any loved-one might acknowledge in you are truly, unconditionally and authentically enough. The song has also just got a fun, groovy, and lighthearted feel to it musically and my hope is it gets everyone up off the couch, dancing and feeling as free as possible. I think we all need that right about now!”

Sage’s upcoming album Canopy is equal parts emotional exhale and invitation to a more compassionate future, as well as a masterclass in radical inclusivity and self-acceptance. Featuring recently released title track “Canopy,” which imagines a world where shelter is a given for everyone rather than a luxury for some, the collection offers a much-needed musical reprieve from our current cultural upheaval. “Creating safety and inclusivity in times of divisiveness can be a radical and powerful act; it takes courage to stand up for justice and for our fellow human beings,” Sage adds. “Acceptance, inclusivity and safety are big themes on my forthcoming album Canopy.”

RachaelSage · Just Enough (Single Version) [feat. The Sequins]

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Greta Gaines - Pharmacists - Nelson Bragg

Photo - Stacie Huckeba

Greta Gaines - Coming to Fruition.

Greta Gaines is excited to announce the August 29th release of her new album. Bird Before Light. To get the party started, she has released the first single, “Coming to Fruition.” About the track Greta stated, "I wrote this song in direct emotional response to my older son leaving for college. It's a bittersweet song about the joys of having all of your hardwork in child raising come to fruition mixed with the grief that comes with letting go. "I'll miss your sunshine, but you can't stay all mine"  is a line of resignation in the song timged with pride and hope. I know that it's time for my children to fly from the nest, I just want them to feel how much they are loved here at home before they do."

Gaines has never been content to pursue any single or solitary endeavor. An acclaimed singer, songwriter, activist, extreme sports competitor, mother, and mentor, she has always been driven by determination, craft, and creativity. With eight critically acclaimed albums to her credit, she’s taken on the role of a trailblazer courtesy of her various and varied activities and initiatives. In doing so, she has consistently challenged herself, drawing inspiration from her own emotions and personal perspective while also allowing her fans and followers to reflect on their ideas, instincts, and imagination. 
 
The new album, Bird Before Light, is no exception. “It’s about getting out of my comfort zone as a songwriter, one who typically writes alone and in solitude,” she explains. “It explores certain themes that I find myself wrestling with in midlife — empty nesting, newfound anxiety, resistance to change, grief, and betrayal — while also pursuing faith, finding the simple joy that comes with sharing time with old friends, and immersing myself in the beauty of nature and the natural world.”  

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Pharmacists – In the Middle.

Pharmacists return with their fourth single, In the Middle - a poignant, introspective track that gently explores themes of trauma and hope. 

Songwriter Will Porteous penned the piece following the loss of his father, Mark, who passed away after a six-week battle with meningitis when Will was just 22. Before that, Will endured the emotional toll of boarding school, an experience that left lasting scars. The opening lines of the song confront this pain head-on.

At its heart, In the Middle is about holding on to whatever joy and hope remain, and finding a space both literal and emotional - for refuge and reflection.

Pharmacists have forged a powerful combination with a blend of soaring choruses and emotionally raw lyrics that resonate with the real-life journeys so many face. This is indie rock at its most honest and moving.

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Nelson Bragg - Mélodie de Nelson: A Pop Anthology.

Big Stir Records proudly joins forces with Nelson Bragg to bring you the definitive career summary of the acclaimed LA singer-songwriter's catalog. The new album  Mélodie de Nelson: A Pop Anthology will be out June 20 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming worldwide. The record is far more than a “Best Of” collection: featuring the all-new indie hit single “We're Gonna Laugh About It” along with rarities and freshly remixed tracks, it's Nelson's handpicked assortment of the best power pop tunes from his solo catalog, each one a radio-ready stunner.

Nelson Bragg is a beloved fixture of the LA pop scene, known to international audiences (and Beach Boys fans) for his years as part of the Brian Wilson Band during the late-career renaissance that yielded the definitive edition of the legendary SMiLE album. He's also served as an essential collaborator on drums, percussion and vocals for an array of local and global pop luminaries like Stew & TNP, Anny Celsi, Chris Stamey, The Mockers, and legendary Wrecking Crew members Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Jerry Cole. Along the way, he's created and released a trilogy of acclaimed solo albums: Day Into Night (2006), We Get What We Want (2012), and Gratitude Blues (2021).

Those albums serve as the starting point for the new collection, but there's much more to it than a simple roundup of popular favorites. The title Mélodie de Nelson may be a cheeky nod to Serge Gainsbourg, but the music it contains evokes the best offerings of Bragg's personal pop pantheon: The Beach Boys and The Byrds, of course, but also college rock titans like The dB's, R.E.M. and Bob Mould. “Melody” is certainly the operative word, and the songwriting on display makes a strong argument that Bragg is now, and has long been, one of its most gifted practitioners.

“For this collection, I wanted to focus on pop songs,” says Nelson. “I felt that I could release the best power pop album ever if I focused on that genre only out of my catalog. So while this is technically a 'Best of Nelson' or a 'Greatest Hits' or whatever silly title one could use, what it really is, is the best of my pop and folk rock. I think that makes for a better album and listening experience. These songs hang together pretty well, and proud I am of them!”

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Dance Lessons - Worn Through - MK Naomi

Dance Lessons - Hurricane.

London’s jazz-pop futurists Dance Lessons have announced the release of their hotly anticipated debut album Beginners, a lush, emotionally-charged collection written across 2024 and 2025. With their signature blend of jazz, alternative-pop and electronic grooves, Beginners, out July 25th, is a bold statement from a band that’s only just beginning. 

This week they have shared their new single, the beautifully expansive ‘Hurricane’. The track was written “following a friend’s messy, often beautiful, but turbulent relationship. It’s about people who don’t always get it right, perhaps what they’ve got is even a bit toxic, and yet somewhere in there, we keep going. And maybe if we only can survive each other, we become something else entirely in the process."

Dance Lessons - made up of Anne (vocals, songwriting, keys, production), Nat (guitars) and Tom (bass, backing vocals) - formed in 2020. Their debut singles dropped mid-pandemic to critical acclaim, and they’ve been carving their own lane ever since. The mission: blur the lines between jazz and pop while making bold, emotionally rich music with high-gloss production – thanks to Anne, the creative force behind the desk in a world where just 3% of charting producers are women.

Across its 10 tracks, Beginners explores “our constantly evolving relationships to each other.” The record’s sound is as expansive as its influences - from Kate Bush and Bowie to Solange and Róisín Murphy - and aims to “trick people who say they don’t like jazz into really digging it.”

Dance Lessons · Hurricane

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Photo - Ilenia Triplett

Worn Through - Barely Real (Album).

Baltimore's Worn Through have released their debut LP, Barely Real, today June 20. Worn Through is a band that feels like a late-night conversation with an old friend, someone you know who has been through the fire and has come out the other side wiser, somehow kinder. Raw and honest, they let you behind the curtain to hear what they’ve kept guarded for so long, revealing the sting of lost loves, regrets of tender recklessness and those small, fleeting moments that carry the weight of the world.
 
Each song sung like unmailed postcards scattered on a living room floor, telling stories with beautifully entangled melodies and hopeful, yet melancholy guitars; picked like a petal with sophisticated twang. Driven between dash-lines by a reliable rhythm section that flows down the dark interstate of infinite time. Each player protecting the delicate flame that may have once burned them, but now invites them to find and keep peace.
 
Comprised of former members of Tin Armor, Angel Du$t, Wild Honey and Saintseneca, these kindred spirits have lived a life of rock n’ roll, only to realize that the road is “a goddamn impossible way of life,” echoing the parting sentiment of the original Band. At some point without noticing, their impulsive, roaming days had reached the end of the line, allowing them now to handle with care the opportunity to begin again, together in Baltimore, Maryland.

Knowing that nothing lasts forever only frees the music in the moment that it’s played, creating an authentic indie, country rock sound that’s been inspired by many of those who have traveled before them. Worn Through has no choice but to embrace the uncertain magic of rock n’ roll, because it’s the only road they’ve ever known.


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Photo - Alex Ilyadis

MK Naomi - Dream Hiss (EP).

MK Naomi is a Boston-based emo pop hallucination. Named for the covert CIA bioweapons program that ran from the 1950s-'70s, the quartet's effervescent riffs and '90s-washed hooks glow in the dark. Simply, the band says they're FFO the Ten Things I Hate About You soundtrack.
 
MK Naomi’s spirited debut EP, Dream Hiss, pierces through the haze of grief like a sharp knife through fog. Written in the wake of a multi-year stretch marked by loss, unrest, and heartbreak, the quartet of songs linger in the liminal space between collapse and regeneration, where healing isn’t linear and clarity comes in flickers. Dream Hiss releases digitally and to tape today June 20 via Sweet Cheetah Records. “Dream Hiss is a collection of songs centered around a theme of vulnerability,” says Andrea Neuenfeldt. “Some of them were written during a raw, isolated time during the height of Covid.

“Prior to that, I had a few years of my life that nearly did me in. I was underemployed and struggling to survive on my own in my early 20s, supporting someone I loved who became sick. I had a nervous breakdown and spent a year living with my friend’s parents in the suburbs, trying to make sense of my life.

“By the time the pandemic came fully into view, I thought I had found some clarity. But it turns out, I still had a lot to process. These songs came from that in-between space—the aftershock, the quiet reckoning, the feeling of trying to move forward while still haunted by what came before. “The EP title came to our drummer Ally Bull when she was watching one of her cats having a vivid encounter in her sleep, but for me, the title reflects the heavy experiences that seem ‘done’ but linger beyond our conscious reach.”

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Dark and Twisties - McCabe - Ant Thomaz

Dark and Twisties - Grace and Dignity.

Swansea Alt-Folk Band Dark And Twisties released a brand new single 'Grace And Dignity' just a few days back and this is a gorgeous song that just has to be shared. It's a gentle flowing piece with exquisite vocals and harmonies along with a beautiful musical arrangement, it's also one that will sit for sometime on any discerning Alt-Folk fans playlist.     

Prepare to be swept into a world of beauty and shadow with Dark & Twisties, the alt-folk band that’s making waves with their evocative harmonies and story telling. Drawing inspiration from both nature’s power and the depths of the human experience, the group brings a unique sound that intertwines the dark beauty of traditional folk with modern, ethereal sensibilities. Dark and Twisties are; Sarah Birch, Kate Ronconi, Sarah Passmore, Danny Kilbride and Huw Rees. 
 
They have received a rapturous reception since bursting into the scene just months ago, weaving stories old and new into strange and beautiful songs with glorious harmonies and skilful musicianship. This song provides a landscape  that explores the complexities of being. a woman on her own of a certain age. The joy of solo endeavours vs loneliness. masking and unmasking. the pursuit of  a quiet life vs the fear of missing out and the perpetual navigation of  friendship and loss. With an uplifting sadness the Dark and Twisties produce harmonies, counter melodies and  a beautiful arrangement to tell this modern folk tale for all of us : perfectly flawed and flawlessly perfect.

Dark And Twisties continue to build a loyal following across the alt-folk scene with intimate live performances and harmonies that transport listeners into a different realm. Their music is a perfect fit for those who love the eerie, the beautiful, and the transcendent.

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Photo - Sam Perry

McCabe - Sunset Boulevard.

Ahead of the release of his debut album Sunset Boulevard on July 11th, South London’s soul maverick McCabe teases fans with the album’s title track this week. Following the success of 'Vicious' and 'Days Of Heaven,' this sun-kissed opener serves as both artistic manifesto and cinematic gateway into McCabe's genre-defying world. Named after Billy Wilder's iconic film, the track establishes the movie-influenced foundation that runs throughout his highly anticipated ten-track  album.

"Sunset Boulevard is about making it in Hollywood – an enchanting, dream-like world where not everything is as it seems," McCabe explains. "This is the first of many references to cinema through the album. Hollywood becomes the symbol for making it to the top, but there's always that sense of deception and forgery lurking beneath the surface."

Drenched in Hollywood mystique, the track captures both the intoxicating allure and dark underbelly of the entertainment industry's dream factory. Working alongside producer Patrick James Fitzroy (Sorry, Katy J Pearson, PVA), McCabe weaves west coast hip-hop synth lines with arrangements reminiscent of Stereolab's Dots And Loops, creating a sonic landscape that feels simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic. Dub bass lines anchor the piece while horns punctuate its dreamy narrative, drawing inspiration from the surreal atmospheres of David Lynch and the golden age cinema that Wilder helped define.

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Photo - Brian Sweeney

Ant Thomaz - Believe.

Ant Thomaz is a Glasgow-based singer-songwriter and musician from southern Louisiana's Bayou region, recognized for his eclectic musical style that blends folk, soul, pop, zydeco, and rock influences. As a self-taught artist, he began composing songs at the age of twelve, cultivating a distinctive sound characterized by rich storytelling and cultural depth. His music showcases a unique fusion of influences derived from his Scottish, Irish, and Coushatta Indian heritage, with lyrics in Scottish Gaelic, Cajun French, and English.

Rooted in personal experience and inspired by his daughter Gaia, his latest single “Believe” is a song for anyone who’s been underestimated. It’s about rising above doubt, holding onto hope, and knowing that you’re just as capable as anyone else. Gaia has continually defied expectations, by embracing positivity, self-belief, and the power of persistence. Her strength and outlook became the emotional foundation of “Believe” and serve as an uplifting reminder that limitations placed on us by others don’t define who we are.

Originally written as shared meditations and short stories between father and daughter, Thomaz explains, “I witnessed her developing trust in her own resilience.” He continues, “There was no plan to make it a song as such, but then, discussing recording music at the studio with my friend Chris, I shared the words and emotions and it evolved into ‘Believe.’”

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