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| Photo - Caro Etchart |
Kee Avil (Vicky Mettler) this week shares the next move in what has been a notable and highly praised musical journey in recent years. Rather than produce and drop a traditional album, Mettler is teaming up with NNA Tapes to experiment with a one-track-at-a-time-over-the-course-of-a-year project, Vapor. To be clear, this is not merely an album with a bunch of singles –– this is Mettler writing, recording, and releasing her album in real time, in chronological order.
It feels to me like a response to the public-diaristic modes that have emerged alongside the life of the Internet and digital social communications. Mettler says: "Creative inspiration is often like vapor, appearing and dissipating quickly. This album represents what inspires me in the moment."
"Vapor is a deconstructed album that I’ll be releasing song-by-song throughout 2026, a sort of sonic diary. Creative inspiration is often like vapor, appearing and dissipating quickly. This album represents what inspires me in the moment, it’s my attempt at capturing fleeting moments of creativity, and finishing them quickly while they’re still fresh and breathing. For me, it’s a way to let go and make music without thinking too far ahead. Once a song is finished, I move on. I don’t try to link the songs: each tells its own story. My hope is that at the end, a natural cohesion appears, a concept reflecting a frozen moment in time, a process from start to finish."
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| Photo - Tina Gross |
Seattle’s all-women garage-rock wrecking crew The Darts kick off their new album cycle with “Midnight Creep,” the first advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, out March 3 on Adrenalin Fix Music. The single dropped yesterday and finds the band slipping deeper into the spooky, swagger-heavy garage-trash universe they’ve been flirting with since day one. If you’ve ever wished the Back From the Grave comps came with a dance craze, you’re already in the right neighborhood. The Darts have spent the last decade carving their name into the global underground with Farfisa-first garage chaos, sold-out shows across Europe, the UK, and North America, and multiple sold-out vinyl runs.
They’re known for genuine, close-to-the-crowd performances and Nicole’s honest connection with the room, a band that brings people into the show and plays from real joy rather than polish. They’ve landed sought-after KEXP live sessions and hit major festivals like Punk Rock Bowling, Binic Folk and Blues, SJOCK Festival, and Bear Stone Festival, earning fans ranging from Dave Vanian to Stephen King to Jello Biafra. With Nicole Laurenne (vocals and keys), Rebecca Davidson (guitar), Lindsay Scarey (bass), and the returning Rikki Watson (drums), this lineup feels like the most dialed, dangerous, and joyfully unhinged version of the band yet.
“Midnight Creep” started as a surprise curveball when Lindsay brought Nicole a demo called “Phantom Creep.” Nicole was already quietly writing a Halloween-themed album and immediately heard a chance to chase something different: an honest-to-ghoul old-school monster dance, the kind that might’ve aired on a haunted Shindig episode taped in a basement full of fog machines and paper-mâché bats. She rebuilt the tune into a slinky, organ-driven earworm; Lindsay created a simple, go-go-friendly choreography; and suddenly The Darts had a Halloween banger that felt both brand-new and weirdly familiar.
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| Photo - Yagub Allahverdiyev |
Archive - City Walls.
The unique, enigmatic and acclaimed South London collective Archive share the latest single, "City Walls", from their forthcoming record Glass Minds (due out February 27 via Dangervisit).
Archive are a musical group based in London, England, whose music spans electronic, trip hop, avant-garde, post-rock and progressive rock. Over their 31-year history, the band has released twelve studio albums and enjoyed established success throughout Europe.
On 29 April 2022 Archive released their twelfth studio album Call To Arms & Angels recorded at RAK Studios and produced by Jérome Devoise. The album features 17 tracks and is accompanied by the documentary Super8: A Call To Arms & Angels. Archive released music videos for the tracks "Shouting Within", "Fear There & Everywhere", "We Are The Same", and "Frying Paint". The album introduced Lisa Mottram as the band's new vocalist.
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Adam Weil is a Midwest-based singer-songwriter whose music blends unguarded lyricism with a stripped-down Americana sound, favoring emotional honesty over embellishment. He released his debut album, Same As I Used to Be, in 2024, establishing a voice rooted in intimacy and reflection. Adam continues to refine and expand his artistry with his forthcoming release, A Little Broken, on Friday, March 27, 2026. His songs delve into themes of resilience, self-reflection, and quiet perseverance. Adam’s voice carries a subtle tension throughout the record, balancing vulnerability and resolve that feels quietly disarming. There’s a rawness to the music that suggests the songs were written to be felt first, not explained.
The CD was produced by Grammy-winning producer Sheldon Gomberg, who also produced Same As I Used to Be, engineered by Kevin Smith, and recorded at Carriage House Studio in Silver Lake, CA. The musicians playing on the CD are Adam (acoustic guitar, lead vocals), Jay Bellerose, Gary Novak (drums), Rob Humphreys (percussion), Joshua Gooch, Trevor Menear (guitars), Anna Butterss, Alan Hampton, Jorgen Carlsson, Jennifer Condos (bass), Carey Frank (organ), Chris Stills and Kipp Lennon (background vocals.)
Weil’s friendship with Sheldon is important. “Sheldon and I actually go way back. We used to play together, and years ago, I was the first full-length album he ever produced, which makes coming back together for these projects even more special. There’s a deep level of trust between us — he knows how to draw out performances that feel completely honest.” Adam released two college-era albums with his band, followed by two more in his early twenties under the name Rhythm Tree.
He then moved to Los Angeles, where producer Marvin Etzioni produced his album Proof. During those sessions, Adam met bassist Sheldon, and their creative partnership began. Adam later released Out of the Blue on an indie label, followed by Expectation Bridge, Sheldon’s first full-length production. Though unreleased, it was a key creative milestone. After stepping away from music for years, Adam reunited with Sheldon last year to release Same As I Used to Be and A Little Broken.
Honey Motel release the soulful final single ‘Mammoth Bones’ ahead of their anticipated new EP Motel FM (Due Feb 20th). Produced by Alec Brits (Clean Cut Kid, Michael Aldag, St Catherine’s Child), the EP bursts with character - from moments of heartfelt reflection to others of driving alternative rock intensity. ‘Mammoth Bones’ brings one of the most emotive moments on the EP, bringing a shimmering blend of neo-soul and drampop to the band's indie tendencies. From its bubbling downtempo mainstay, the track moves to a funk influence finally as a tasteful guitar solo tops the chopping rhythmic shift.
Talking about the EP, the band explain: “‘Mammoth Bones’ is about the beautiful absurdity of navigating life with someone who makes everything feel okay. It’s a reflection on how the chaos of the world seems to fade into the background when you’re side by side with the right person. The song explores that feeling of drifting through the universe with your person, so content and locked in that even if it all ended tomorrow, you wouldn’t mind. ‘Dying wouldn’t be so bad if it was with you.’ There’s a quiet, defiant peace in that idea. Love can make the noise fall away.
Musically, the song mirrors that journey. It begins steady and measured, then gradually opens up into something more expressive and free. It’s a love song at its core, just one that floats in space rather than walks the earth.” The upcoming 6 track EP ‘Motel FM’ showcases the Liverpool quartet’s radiant musicality and growth, blending elements of indie, alt-rock and alt-pop through a guitar led sound that is nuanced yet raw, capturing the essence of their live sound whilst delivering varied, at times intense and high octane, at others textural and emotive soundscapes.
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