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| Photo - Shannon Marks |
Bodies in Motion (due August 21) is the second full-length album from Chicago post-punk trio Plum. To make it, the band set out to unlearn themselves, dismantling the usual writing process instead of returning to the methods that shaped their 2024 debut Can't Hold On To It (praised by Audio Fuzz as "a vibrant mix of sounds, blending New Wave, No Wave, Krautrock, and Indie Sleaze”).
Writing began with a retreat to a cabin in Wisconsin, where they spent days on intuitive and constraint-based approaches: songs emerged from Tarot card pulls, graphic scores, free vocal improvisations in the woods, and challenges thrown at one another, like writing a section with asymmetric phrasing or moving toward the ideas they'd normally avoid.
Where Can't Hold On To It centered on groove and propulsion, Bodies in Motion expands the band's vocabulary through layered counterpoint, interlocking rhythms, and parts that answer and circle one another. New drummer Eric Ridder (Em Spel, Vaya) is central to that shift, reinforcing the band's motorik pulse while opening space for more intricate interactions between vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. Primary songwriters Jeff Kelley (guitar, lead vocals) and Heather Perry (bass, vocals) write into that space, keeping every part in conversation and always moving.
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Hector Gannet have shared a new single “The Mother Tongue” via Guga Records, ahead of their third album ‘The Great Shakedown’ arriving this October. Hector Gannet’s powerful North Eastern folk-rock-soul sound returns with new single “The Mother Tongue”. The music is driven on by surging brass parts, while the words look at mortality and the idea that whereof we cannot speak we must sing. The single reprises the unabashed emotive potency that has seen this North Shields group praised by people as diverse as Chris Packham and Sam Fender and acclaimed as “North Shields’ answer to Crazy Horse” by Uncut magazine. The new single is taken from what will be the band’s third album (‘The Great Shakedown’) to be released in October.
“This song was written when dealing with loss and grief,” says Hector Gannet singer/guitarist Aaron Duff, referring to the passing of a family member. “I just felt completely unequipped to deal with the abrupt finality of it all. If that person was stood in front of me now and I tried to express those emotions, I’m sure we’d both laugh and joke about it just to get through things. It’s hard to say goodbye in a situation like that and I had to put it into a song to be able to do it."
Centred on uplifting brass parts and a momentum that borders on the euphoric, “The Mother Tongue” connects with the band’s Tyneside origins in typical style. Hector Gannet are named after a fishing vessel of the same name, a boat which Aaron’s late paternal grandfather served on and which suffered fatal misadventure in 1968. The riverside, streets and team colours are there in the new single’s lyrics, while the track carries its emotional weight in the way communities often do – not through confession, but through action; by showing rather than saying. Beneath the propulsive brass lies something more subtle – an examination of stoicism as both armour and wound. The words muse on the peculiarities of a shared language, one that can be used to avoid saying the very things that needs to be said.
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| Photo - Oliver Roberts |
Wigan/Manchester indie quartet Montello return with the infectious new single, 'The Universe Replied…' a track that captures the band's knack for melancholy that dances rather than mopes. Drawing inspiration from the timeless songwriting of The Smiths and the atmospheric depth of The Cure, while channeling the infectious energy of early-2000s indie, 'The Universe Replied…' strikes a balance between nostalgia and modern indie ambition. It's a song that finds beauty in reflection without ever standing still, inviting listeners to move as much as they feel.
Working with producer Luke Owens (of fast-rising Manchester band Bank Holiday), the single pairs jangling guitar lines, driving rhythms and atmospheric synth textures with heartfelt vocals that give the song genuine emotional weight. Bittersweet lyricism and irresistible momentum come together to create a track that delivers indie immediacy, while retaining the swagger of The Stone Roses, a quality that has become synonymous with the band's captivating live performances.
'The Universe Replied…' marks another confident step forward for the band, showcasing a sound that feels both familiar and refreshingly forward-looking. With hooky melodies, emotional sincerity and a cinematic quality, the single reinforces their reputation as one of Manchester’s most exciting new indie acts, proving they can honour their influences while carving out a distinct identity of their own.
Speaking about the track, the band explain: "The Universe Replied… is a song that asks more questions than it gives answers - it's very difficult as a young adult to feel like you have a clear cut career and a laid out life ahead of you, so it's talking about my way of throwing caution to the wind and not knowing what the universe has planned for you, me or anyone."
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A Place To Bury Strangers release new single and video "Losing Time" off of their new rarities album "Rare and Deadly" "Losing Time" tackles the uneasy truth that life keeps moving whether we're ready for it or not. Set against our signature storm of noise and tension, it's a song about change, mortality, and surrendering to the inevitable.
Rare and Deadly cracks open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos from A Place To Bury Strangers. Spanning 2015–2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments, and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered—caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes. Pulled from Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes, and half-finished sessions, here the interference is closer, the electricity more dangerous, the edges left jagged on purpose.
What makes Rare and Deadly truly unprecedented is that every format tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl, and digital editions each feature their own unique tracklisting, a fractured release strategy that is almost unheard of. No single version contains the “complete” album. Instead, each format becomes its own window into the archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links, and parallel versions of the band’s inner life. It’s a deliberately unstable document: the album shifts depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.
Across these recordings, you can hear the evolution of Ackermann’s restless mind. Some pieces feel like prototypes for future chaos, seeds that later bloomed on studio albums. Others are dead ends—ideas too volatile, too strange, or too personal to ever fit the frame of a proper release. But together they form a secret history of the band, a parallel world of possibilities that existed just outside the spotlight. The tracks contain riffs mutated by malfunctioning pedals, songs born from gear pushed past its limits, or delicate melodies overwhelmed by walls of feedback until only their ghosts remain.
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| Photo - Daniel Reichert |
KiKi Holli + The Remedy - Something About You (EP).
Something About You is five tracks of with atmospheric production, sweeping melodies, and performances that are as fearless as they are nuanced. At the heart of the project is Holli's creative partnership with two-time Grammy-nominated producer Ethan Allen (Ben Harper, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tricky), who produced, mixed, and co-wrote the EP. Their collaboration shapes the intimacy, expansiveness, and cinematic atmosphere that define KiKi Holli + The Remedy. The EP was mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Dave Collins (Madonna, Alice Cooper, Soundgarden).
Rooted in the cinematic tradition of Stevie Nicks, Bowie, Prince, and The Cure, KiKi Holli + The Remedy has built a sound that lives at the intersection of dream pop atmosphere and dark wave intensity.
The five tracks unfold as follows: Something About You: The title track opens the EP with a meditation on connection and desire, drawing listeners into a world of recognition and longing. - The Garden: A lush summer escape filled with warmth, beauty, and possibility. - Don't Change: KiKi Holli + The Remedy's interpretation of the INXS classic transforms the anthem into something more intimate, uncovering new shades of tenderness and longing. - So Far Away: Sits in the ache of distance, the kind that lives in the body long after someone is gone. - Brand New Day: Closes the EP with hopeful optimism, the first real breath of something new.
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I Believe', never originally intended for public release, offers the first glimpse into the world of Cambria Nocturna. The track marks a departure from the electronic work Gruff and I previously created as Carcharorion, moving toward a more songwriting-driven and lyrically expressive approach. While evolving creatively, the project continues to explore our shared love of cinematic electronic sound through experimental tape loops, field recordings, analogue instrumentation, and richly textured production.
Originally conceived as a post-punk composition before transforming into a driving techno piece, 'I Believe' evolved over many months into its final form — a confessional and emotionally charged work. Recorded by Gruff and myself, and mixed by Alexander Green at The Zoo, the track became the first true catalyst and creative foundation for what would eventually become Cambria Nocturna.
Cambria Nocturna itself emerged from a period of profound personal trauma. During this time, I reconnected with Gruff after more than a decade apart, and together we began experimenting once again. What started as artistic collaboration quickly became something deeper: a source of healing, catharsis, and genuine therapy.
Through channeling these emotions creatively, Cambria Nocturna was born — a sonic tapestry of deeply atmospheric electronic music shaped by raw emotion, human connection, and resilience. By merging analogue electronics with acoustic instrumentation, we drew from a broad spectrum of influences, spanning 90s trip-hop, techno, electro, 80s Italo, and alternative electronica, alongside the work of artists such as John Cale and Nick Cave. 'I Believe' marks the beginning of a new chapter: emotionally resonant electronic music rooted in vulnerability, transformation and defiant survival— with further releases set to follow.
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