Vera Ellen - Jesse Roper - The Dollyrots - North Riding - Sofia Memphis - The Dibs

Vera Ellen - When It's Over (ft. Hemi Hemingway).

The second single from Vera Ellen's upcoming album Heaven Knows What Time is out! When It's Over features a brooding vocal performance from fellow Wellington musician Hemi Hemingway. The two had previously torn through a karaoke classic by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, and the chemistry was undeniable. 

Mixed and produced by Vera's long-time collaborator Ben Lemi, Heaven Knows What Time is both a question and an answer — an expression of frustration and a surrender to what was never within her control. The new music video was directed by Daniel Fletcher, shot by Nick White, and made with the support of NZ on Air Music.

Named ‘Best Alternative Artist’ at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards, Wellington-based Vera Ellen is a rising star in Aotearoa's indie-rockscape. Vera is an expert when it comes to concise songwriting; every note and beat is exactly the required dose. Her albums are full of hooked-to-the-brim melodies, and guided by Vera’s clear, confident, and relaxed vocal presence.

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Artwork - Andrew McGranahan

Jesse Roper - Sweet Little Caroline.

Victoria, BC-based artist Jesse Roper returns with “Sweet Little Caroline,” an upbeat, infectious new single that blends blues swagger with a head-bobbing groove. Driven by feel-good energy and Roper’s signature guitar flair, the track transforms youthful memories and teenage romance into a catchy, knee-bouncing Americana anthem.

“I heard ‘Sweet Little Caroline’ as a stomp-clap blues boogie,” Roper explains. “While my producer Gus (van Go) heard it as a Beastie Boys inspired head-bob slowed down for the jeep people. We went all the way in that direction and I’m glad we did. Instead of just dancing to it with my arms, it gets to my knees and hips too.”

The story behind the song reaches back to Roper’s adolescence. Inspired by a relationship from that time, “Sweet little Caroline” captures the thrill of young love mixed with the awkward tension of parental disapproval. “I used to date this girl way back when I was a teenager,” he recalls. “Her dad thought I was no good whatsoever and he really went lengths to let me know. I’d get all excited to go pick her up for a night out and he’d put a damper on the excitement.”

While the relationship didn’t last, the memory stuck around long enough to spark the playful spirit of “Sweet Little Caroline.” The result is a song that pairs Roper’s blues-inflected Americana sound with a groove designed to get listeners moving. With its catchy rhythm, upbeat mood, and undeniable charm, the track captures the kind of feel-good momentum that defines Roper’s approach to songwriting.

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The Dollyrots - Attention Span.

Helmed by bassist/lead vocalist Kelly Ogden, guitarist/vocalist Luis  Cabezas, and touring drummer Simon Hancock, The Dollyrots are charging into spring with the release of their new single, “Attention Span,” via Wicked Cool Records. The track lands alongside the band’s Spring Break From Reality Tour, which launched March 12 in Minneapolis with Keep Flying supporting.

“Attention Span” continues The Dollyrots’ legacy of punchy, hook-driven pop-punk, pairing razor-sharp riffs with Ogden’s magnetic vocal delivery. The track balances grit and gloss with distorted guitars fueling the engine while melodies hit with sugar-rush velocity. 

"It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the intensity and rate of information thrown our way every day in this modern life. Important connections with each other and the earth seem to get lost in the shuffle. ‘Attention Span’ is a happy-sounding song about the confusion we feel right now," shares Ogden.

Over the years, The Dollyrots have carved out a distinctive space in modern pop-punk with irresistible hooks, high-octane live shows, and a fiercely independent ethos. Their sound fuses classic punk attitude with choruses engineered for maximum crowd participation. 

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North Riding - Mustang.

North Riding's new single “Mustang” has just been released (13th March on Kycker). International award winning singer-songwriter Hayley Mckay and multi  instrumentalist/producer and singer songwriter David Neil Crabtree combine as ‘North Riding'. 

Following on from their 3 month USA tour - North Riding have played some of the biggest festivals in the North East of England, including main stage appearances at Hardwick Festival alongside the Pet Shop Boys and Olly Murs & Mouth of The Tyne Festival. They also performed two headline shows at Durham Fringe Festival and are performing at Lindisfarne festival this summer along with a UK tour later on in the year.

Legendary BBC presenter Bob Harris made North Riding his ‘New Horizon’ country artist of the week in October & played Frio River on BBC radio 2. A week earlier he had seen the band perform live at Rock N Raise in Newcastle alongside Kezia Gill & The Often Herd. 

North Riding’s debut single taken from their recent EP was inspired by the Frio River in Texas! So much so that they actually wrote the song in the Frio river itself. They found time for this between shows at Poodies Roadhouse (Owned by Willie Nelson’s manager) & a huge total eclipse party near Luckenbach Texas, held on a 3000 acre ranch which North Riding called home for several weeks. 

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Sofia Memphis - Goddess.

Sofia Memphis are a rhythm-driven rock band from Helsinki, Finland, built on tight interplay, the warmth of soul, and a strong sense of movement. Their songs carry the grit of garage rock and the touch of roots music. The heart is always in rhythm. Sofia Memphis draw influences freely from all directions and make them their own.

The debut single Goddess introduces the core of Sofia Memphis right away. It doesn’t stay in the background, it gets under your skin. There’s a kind of intensity and motion in the track that can raise goosebumps and pull you in before you even have time to think. The lyrics play with car imagery, while at the centre is a woman, a magnetic figure and a kind of motion that turns heads.

“Goddess is that day when you wake up feeling so incredible that buildings catch fire and people just collapse in front of you as you walk by. It’s a power song for those days when everything is right from the morning onwards, when the goddess is free, wild, irresistible and unbeatable,” says vocalist Foxy Trickster.

Behind the members’ stage names are familiar figures from Finland’s underground rock scene, the same people who have moved through clubs, bands and projects for well over twenty years, now finally in the same lane.

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The Dibs - Just for You (Album).

The five members of The Dibs have climbed many musical mountains and swam through numerous melodic waters, but they are young at heart. Although the band has been around since 2019, the current lineup is undoubtedly the definitive one, ready for musical happiness, success, fame, and a luxurious retirement! 

With their years of expertise and knowledge, they are the much-needed lifeblood and the heartwarming and hopeful seniors of the rhythm & blues, soul, and roots scene. With a drummer who has only just turned thirty, they can pack a punch like young lions!
 
No musical related style is foreign to them. Blues, soul, funky or jazzy grooves, gospel, a touch of country and a hint of blues rock. The album "Just For You" is full of it. Fifty minutes of pure organic music, made without electronics or artificial intelligence. Rhythm and Blues drenched in a hot soul sauce!

The Dibs · Just For You

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The Pursuit Of Pleasure - The Spongetones - Wynona Bleach - EYRE LLEW - The Jaws of Brooklyn - Maria Taylor feat. Conor Oberst

The Pursuit Of Pleasure - Smash My Heart to Ash.

The Pursuit Of Pleasure have now finished recording their second album and are gearing up to release & tour in the first half of 2026. The new album adds grungier guitars and a 90's indie-influenced sound to the alt-folk, country-tinged Americana of their debut.

The Pursuit Of Pleasure released their debut album "Songs Mostly in Waltz Time" via Chufty Badge Records back in April 2025. The band also performed at several major festivals in 2025 as well as releasing a standalone single "Lava on Snow" in December.

Today the first single "Smash My Heart to Ash" from the forthcoming album has been released. 'Smash My Heart to Ash' is veering a little towards indie rock, with a hint of alt folk and some beautifully powerful dual vocals, collectively it really works and is a fabulous taster for the eagerly awaited second album.  

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The Spongetones - So Long.

Power Pop Hall Of Fame inductees The Spongetones, fresh off the success of their acclaimed live album The 40th Anniversary Concert... And Beyond, return to make good on the promise of that album's trio of new studio bonus tracks by kicking off an on going series of standalone singles with “So Long,” an all-new track featuring all three founding members and showcasing the songcraft and pitch-perfect retro stylings that have made them mainstays on the indie pop and power pop scene for decades. The single is out today March 13.

The Spongetones are singer-songwriters Jamie Hoover (guitar), Steve Stoeckel (bass) and Pat Walters (guitar), joined in recent years by full-time drummer/vocalist Eric Willhelm have been crafting, recording and performing neo-classics in the British Invasion mold together since well before their iconic 1982 debut album Beat Music. 

They've maintained that legacy across the decades on a series of well-received studio albums (nearly ten, depending on how you count them, the most recent being 2009's Scrambled Eggs) and built a catalog of new pop rock classics brilliantly captured with all the band's esteemed onstage prowess and energy on the live album released last year. The real treasure for longtime fans was the inclusion of three brand new studio tracks, also released as singles: “Lulu's In Love,” “Help Me Janie” and “Honest Work,” all hits on global indie radio and tantalizing signs that the album was not just a career summary but a step forward for The Spongetones as well.

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Photo - Anna Burnett

Wynona Bleach - Religion.

Belfast quartet Wynona Bleach share ‘Religion’ taken from the anticipated upcoming sophomore album Animal Style - May 29th via Fierce Panda Records (UK - Coldplay, Placebo, Ash) and Propeller Sound Recordings (US, & UK Retail stores).

Capturing the band’s raw intensity and distinctive alt-rock style, the single delivers relentless energy through punchy drums, fuzz-drenched guitars, and biting lead vocals. Merging grungy guitar riffs with pop-rock melodies and a visceral grit that adds a punk edge, ‘Religion’ showcases the band’s ability to channel the raw power of their live performances while maintaining radio-ready musicality.

Speaking about the single, the band explain: “It’s less a love song, and more a “lust” song. It's about when you meet someone that makes you feel like you’d do anything, even if it was to lie to your true self. It also calls out fake people, fake society, organised religion and how everything made out to be “cool” is usually just a con.”

Produced by Wynona Bleach’s own Jonny Woods alongside Andy Bradfield (Bjork, Rufus Wainwright, The XX, Manic St Preachers, Spice Girls), and Avril Mackintosh (Bryan Adams, Marillion), the upcoming album showcases some of the band's most complete and incisive work to date.

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EYRE LLEW - Miningsby.

EYRE LLEW, the Nottingham-based alternative-rock trio hailed by BBC Radio 6 Music's Chris Hawkins as "Britain's answer to Sigur Rós," released their new single "Miningsby," two days ago on March 11th.

Born from frost-lit January mornings and the quiet weight of bearing witness to a loved one's struggle, the track marks a profoundly intimate moment in the band's evolution. "Miningsby" is not a song about fixing or saving—it's about staying. Written as vocalist Sam Heaton watched a loved one navigate a period of anxiety, the track forgoes grand gestures in favour of something far more difficult: the simple act of being present when someone feels cold inside.

"Rather than trying to dramatise that experience, 'Miningsby' is about something quieter and harder: staying, listening, and offering warmth," the band explains. "It's a love letter to emotional endurance, grounded in small moments and the hope of better days ahead."

The title itself emerged from beautiful happenstance. When the original demo files were saved in an old rural Lincolnshire studio, they were geolocated to Miningsby, a tiny nearby village. The name became an unintended marker for a place and time that no longer exists but continues to resonate through the music—much like the fleeting moments the song memorializes.

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Photo - Jason Griego

The Jaws of Brooklyn - Lie To Me.

The Jaws of Brooklyn have shared their new single “Lie To Me,” the next offering from their upcoming EP Unstoppable, out May 15. Effortlessly channeling ‘60s girl-group glitter and garage grit, the cheerful tongue-in-cheek song grapples with a relationship that’s falling apart while clinging to the comfort of denial.

Guitarist Bryan Cohen on the new single: “‘Lie To Me’ is about a long distance relationship that is not working – at all. It's the otherworldly feeling of knowing that you and your person aren’t connecting anymore and are stuck miles apart. The protagonist knows they are not getting what they need but it's too painful to confront or end it. Instead, they keep kicking the can down the road and continuing the illusion that the relationship will work out. Who hasn’t been there? The music is inspired by Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).’ The idea was always to have lots of vocals and keep the music sparse but groovy and danceable.”

“Lie To Me” follows the shimmering call-to-the-dancefloor “Where Are You?”, which also appears on the upcoming EP. Co-produced with Grammy-winner and Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner, Unstoppable finds the Seattle five-piece blending Motown melody, Muscle Shoals soul and West Coast rock & roll for their signature melting pot sound, which has earned praise from American Songwriter and Billboard over the years. These songs delve headfirst into the human experience, vulnerably writing about love triangles, relationships and ride-or-die friendships, all anchored by frontwoman Gretchen Lemon’s powerhouse presence.


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Photo courtesy of  Maria Taylor

Maria Taylor - Sorry I Was Yours” (feat. Conor Oberst).

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Maria Taylor just released “Sorry I Was Yours” featuring Conor Oberst, the final pre-release single from her first album in more than 7 years, Story’s End, that will be released on April 3 via Oberst’s Million Stars Records. She will celebrate the album with release shows on April 10 at Sid The Cat Auditorium in Pasadena, CA and on April 15 at Night Club 101 in New York City. 

About the new single, Taylor reflects: “I met Conor close to 30 years ago. Music has always been such a strong part of our connection. As soon as we met, I started periodically touring with Bright Eyes as either the keyboard player or the drummer. Our friendship turned into a romantic love that lasted 7 years which eventually morphed into the love we have now, which feels like family.

A couple of years ago we decided we wanted to write a song together, so I went over to his house with my guitar and computer. I was playing him songs that I was working on and when he heard this one, he perked up and ran inside to grab his pen and notebook. Hours later we finished the song and even made a demo. So many beautiful contributions from these friends that made the song better than I could have imagined: Brad Armstrong, Mike Mogis, Macey Taylor, Ben Brodin, Nate Walcott, Tiffany Osborn, Hannah Murray, and Paul Cartwright.” Conor Oberst added, “Writing this song was a full circle moment. We’ve made so much music together over the years, it was just like going home.” 

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The Orielles - Emily Nenni - Birds Flying Backwards - Hunter Morris / Mountain of Youth

The Orielles - Only You Left (Album).

The Orielles new album Only You Left is officially released today March 11 via Heavenly Recordings. “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums,” begins Henry Wade, guitarist for The Orielles, describing the foundations of the band’s fourth studio album, Only You Left. “It comes naturally,” adds singer and bassist Esmé Hand-Halford, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Through this process of creative renewal, the Manchester-based trio – completed by drummer Sidonie Hand-Halford – have managed to weather a pandemic, defy the fickleness of a trend-led music industry, and emerge, phoenix-like, with something familiarly Orielles, yet altogether different.

Recorded in two locations – Hydra and Hamburg – over the summer of 2024, the 11 tracks of Only You Left sees the band consolidate the bold experimentation of their previous LP, Tableau (2022), with a return to the more stripped-back, song-led approach of their early origins. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio. Originally from Halifax, the Orielles first came to recognition in 2018 with their debut album, the indie-rock Silver Dollar Moment, which is approaching its eighth birthday in February 2026. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we've come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people.”

According to Henry, the first ideas for Only You Left came in May 2023. Esmé had bought a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar – these heavy drones would later form the basis for the tracks ‘Wasp’ and ‘Three Halves’. In the lulls between touring, the band began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analysing the voice notes to the finest detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry. What each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

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Photograph by Emilia Paré

Emily Nenni - Not a Winner.

Emily Nenni will release Movin’ Shoes on May 1, 2025, via New West Records. The 13-song set was produced by John James Tourville (of the Deslondes) and recorded and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell) at Southern Grooves in Memphis. Movin’ Shoes is Nenni’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2024 album Drive & Cry. Rolling Stone named it one of “The Best Country Albums of 2024” and called it "the most exciting hard-nosed honky-tonk record of the year,” while Bandcamp said, “In a genre overstuffed with craggy male singing voices, Emily Nenni is a breath of fresh air.” Saving Country Music said, “Emily Nenni has released a fun, infectious, twangy, diverse, and career-defining album that will renew your spirits in the state of country music.”  
 
Movin’ Shoes eloquently and wryly blends southern soul from Memphis and Muscle Shoals with southern rock from Macon and outlaw country from Austin. In addition to some of her most incisive lyrics, the album features some of her most powerful vocal performances. These songs percolate with new sounds, like the Rhodes organ that kicks off the supremely funky title track and the Lone Star harmonica that weaves throughout her bluesy cover of Paul Simon’s “Tenderness.” Nenni cites Sly Stone and Linda Ronstadt’s Motown covers as specific influences, but the old styles sound fresh and current because her personality and charisma come through in every note. “This isn’t strictly honkytonk like my former records, even though it’s still all the same influences,” Nenni explains. “I’m just drawing from more artists and genres than I have in the past.” 
 
Yesterday, the album standout “Not a Winner” was shared with Nenni saying, “There’s a song on an early Diana Ross solo record, Surrender, called ‘I’m a Winner.’ It got me thinking how I’d technically never ‘won’ anything in my life, except a dragon-shaped bong in a raffle at a show about ten years ago. Winning looks different to everyone. For some, it’s the accolades. For others, it’s getting to do what you love. It can also just be making it through another day. I’m genuinely grateful for this life, it isn’t easy, and we all work so hard to stay afloat it seems. I just want the chance to try, that’s all I ever wanted. It’s even better when you’re alongside your friends, watching them get after it, too. That’s a win.” 

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Photo - Dessy Baeva

Birds Flying Backwards - Lovebirds (Album).

London-based six-piece Birds Flying Backwards today release their anticipated debut album Lovebirds (March 11th via Real Love Recording Co.). Building a reputation for their blend of alt-country, indie-folk, psychedelic rock and timeless 70s aesthetic, Birds Flying Backwards have quickly established themselves as one to watch. Lovebirds captures the band’s warm, organic sound through rich acoustic instrumentation, worn-in textures. Moving fluidly between folk, Americana and psychedelia while maintaining their stylistic, tightly locked dual vocal harmonies, and reflective yet uplifting tone throughout.

Mixed by Joe Wyatt at Abbey Road Studios (The Smile, The Beatles Anthologies) and mastered by Timothy Stollenwork (Kevin Morby, Drugdealer, Arthur Russell), further enhancing its earthy, timeless feel, the album was recorded entirely live over four days in early 2025. The 10-track album foregrounds intimacy and immediacy, allowing the band’s chemistry and emotional clarity to shine. From the melancholic whimsy of ‘One Heartbreak To Another’ and ‘All I Need’, to the emotive sweller, ‘Moving On’, to the driving Fleetwood Mac-esque approach of ‘If There’s Any Justice’ the album showcases the band’s Diversity and feel for beautifully arranged, melodic songcraft. 

Speaking about the album, “Lovebirds is an ode to love in all its forms — romantic love, love for friends, familial love, heartbreak, and the process of learning to love yourself. Love feels more important than ever to us. Love, compassion and solidarity are powerful tools with which to oppose oppression, dehumanisation and a political elite intent on dividing us. Recorded entirely live over four days in early 2025, Lovebirds stands as a testament to the unifying power, enduring beauty and the profound but life-affirming sadness that love, in all its forms, inevitably brings.”

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Photo - Sam Johnson

Hunter Morris / Mountain of Youth - Automatic Days.

Hunter Morris / Mountain of Youth will release the debut album, Nowhere, NW, on May 15, 2026 via Strolling Bones Records. The 10-track set was produced by the multi-instrumentalist Ben Hackett (Patterson Hood, Craig Finn) and recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA. The remarkable debut emerges as a sort of equilibrium state, balancing Morris’s breezy heartland and lo-fi garage influences with his ‘70s singer/songwriter and ‘90s grunge sensibilities. 

The songs are mature and reflective, reckoning with loneliness, regret, and mortality, and the performances are raw and vulnerable to match, with lean, muscular arrangements. It’s an honest, empathetic meditation on purpose and impermanence delivered by a keen observer of the human condition, one who’s only just begun to truly understand himself. “When I started writing these songs as Mountain of Youth, it felt like I’d finally found my voice,” Morris reflects. “For the first time, I felt comfortable saying what I needed to say.” 
 
Born and raised in Georgia, Morris didn’t begin taking music seriously until college. After a brief stint in Wyoming, he returned east to settle down in Athens, where he found work as a fly-fishing guide and launched various rock bands. After a few years, he was then ready to strip things back to their barest, most essential elements. The material he began penning was deeply autobiographical, but often filtered through the perspectives of characters at various crossroads in their lives. “All the characters on this record are choosing their path up the slope or looking back on the route they took and wondering what life would be like if they’d done things differently.” 

The characters are also contemplating the passage of time and the loss of innocence, which he suspects is deeply intertwined with his work as a fly-fishing guide and conservationist helping protect and restore the streams and forests of North Georgia. “There’s a youthfulness and a joy and a curiosity that comes with being out in nature,” he explains, “and I always find myself trying to go places that have been left undisturbed by man. There’s a purity and a beauty in those ecosystems that I think we’re all searching for in ourselves.”

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Cello - Jessie Altman - Deer Tick

Cello - Vitamins.

A post-punk mantra wrapped in biting wit and restless energy, “Vitamins” introduces Cello as a singular new voice: confrontational, playful, and uncomfortably honest. Built on hypnotic repetition and deadpan delivery, the track skewers modern expectations of femininity, wellness culture, productivity, and obedience — turning self-care into something transactional, absurd, and quietly furious.

The lyrics move like a checklist from hell: “I’ll do my homework… I’ll be a good girl… I’ll do the housework… I’ll do your therapy… I’ll do my workout…” Each line lands with increasing tension, exposing the invisible labour demanded of women — emotional, domestic, physical, and aesthetic. When Cello asks, “Why don’t you give them to me?” it becomes less about supplements and more about validation, agency, and control.

There’s humour here, but it’s sharp-edged. “Vitamins” dances between satire and sincerity, capturing the exhaustion of trying to be everything at once: healthy, productive, sexy, compliant, resilient. Its chant-like chorus — “Vitamins, vitamins, yeah yeah” — feels both euphoric and hollow, mirroring the endless cycle of self-improvement sold back to us.

Cello’s background gives her sound an unexpected depth. Nicknamed for her classical roots, she trained as a cellist at the Junior Royal College of Music in London before tearing up the rulebook and moving toward post-punk minimalism. That classical discipline still pulses beneath her work — not in ornamentation, but in control, tension, and dramatic pacing. Every repetition is intentional. Every silence is loaded.

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Jessie Altman - Sleepwalking (EP).

In Jessie's own words: “Sleepwalking” is about moving through life on autopilot - staying in the haze because it feels easier than waking up. It captures that period when you’re going through the motions of your life without being present, and the moment you start to wonder how long you can keep drifting.

Voxwave's Helena Lynch had this to say in summarizing the release  "After her debut album “Aftermath,” which received recognition, the new EP “Sleepwalking” by Jessie Altman demonstrates growing artistic depth and emotional nuances. 

The four tracks of the EP are united by the mood of soft morning light. The singer does not moralize, does not call for “awakening” in the name of something great; she has caught the moment between illusion and consciousness and has managed to distinguish feigned clarity and sincere bewilderment. The EP is for those who are finally ready to open their eyes and see reality in all its complex beauty."

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Photo - Richard McCaffrey

Deer Tick - Mary Singletary.

Providence’s Deer Tick have announced the 5th June release of their ninth studio album,  'Coin-O-Matic', via ATO. The LP casts a bright light on a little-known facet of the American mythos: the hidden histories of the band’s home state of Rhode Island, where the everyday dramas of working-class families long collided with the menace of the mafia underworld. 

As they tapped into their infinite fascination with that strange duality, singer/guitarist John McCauley, guitarist/singer Ian O’Neil, drummer/singer Dennis Ryan, and bassist Christopher Ryan assembled a batch of songs exploring desperation, grief, redemption, and resilience with both cinematic detail and lived-in emotionality. A sharp new turn from one of indie-rock’s most enduringly vital forces, Coin-O-Matic arrives as a complicated love letter to a way of life slowly slipping from the collective memory.   
 
'Coin-O-Mati'c is deeply informed by the singular experience of growing up Irish-Catholic. That is exemplified by the album’s lead single, the ramshackle jangle-pop “Mary Singletary”, which Deer Tick share today. It tells a tender yet irreverent tale of interfaith teenage lust. “Most of the stories on the album are from my parents’ generation and the generation before that, when the idea of a Catholic and a Protestant getting together was very scandalous,” says McCauley. “With that song in particular, I liked the idea of writing about Catholic guilt and pre-marital sex and adding in a little bit of Looney Tunes-style violence—sometimes as a young Catholic boy, I did imagine a vengeful God cutting me down in a cartoonish kind of way.”

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Hook - Black Hats - SONS

Hook - Blackline / I'm Your Man.

Based in Dublin, Ireland Hook are described as new wave indie rock which may seem a bit of a conundrum until you hear them, then each aspect falls into place.

Hook comprise of Eoin O’Donnell - vocals, guitars. Niamh Carmody - vocals, bass. Morgan O’Brien - drums, and like many other three piece bands pack a punch when needed, however with this comes some well crafted songwriting, and the ability to blend together contrasting and effective styles.

The band tell us that they have attracted comparisons with Pixies, The Smiths, Big Thief and the Velvet Underground, which until you actually listen to them is a pretty encouraging description for starters. In their words "They play direct, honest music about the small moments, the brutality of love and finding the beautiful in the simple".

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Black Hats - Witness To Everything.

Black Hats are an indie/new wave band from Oxford, UK.  Constructed around solid grooves, that are built on deft, reggae-infused bass lines and skittering drum beats. These grooves are then welded to razor wire guitars with an anxious energy and melodies with the same sharp and melodic punk edge that also served the likes of The Jam so well. Finish it all off with witty and catchy lyrics and you have all the ingredients for a great band.

Part of a four track single release for 2026, “Witness To Everything” is a tack sharp song, with an energy built on hope and then despair and a need for change in a world gone mad. 

Black Hats are Mark, Budd & Nick and have worked with Grammy Nominated producer Sam Williams (Supergrass and Plan B) on their first single, “Kick In The Doors”.  They’ve supported named acts including; Reef, Dodgy & Stornaway and have played top UK Festivals and venues, including;  Wychwood Festival, Truck Festival & the 02 Academy Oxford. Their second single,  'No More Smoke’ featured in both Shameless and The Magicians on US TV.

Black Hats · Witness To Everything

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SONS - Surfin'.

Following the success of 3rd album Hallo, Belgian 4-piece SONS deliver an electrifying ode to the dizzying high of new love. That moment when everything feels brighter and you’re simply riding the wave. "Surfin’" kicks off with a sharp surf guitar riff before locking into a tight groove. 

The chorus captures the breathless euphoria of falling hard and fast. It’s lean, punchy and undeniably danceable and produced again by Dave McCracken (Depeche Mode, dEUS, A$AP Rocky). The video was written and Directed by Romy Water, Jules van Eijs with cinematography and DOP again by Romy Water.

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