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| Photo - Will Cook |
New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based indie-pop chanteuse Lisa Crawley has an empowering indie/pop single, “What You Can Do,” released today March 14, 2025. It is the first single from her forthcoming EP New Girl Syndrome available in April 2025.
For the single, Lisa worked with John Spiker to merge the retro and modern adding layers to the piano focused track. The song is about the constant questioning of identity outside of your career. As a musician, it can be a struggle to say ‘no’ to work or people that don’t serve you: “You can only do so much baby / You’ve got your work cut out for you / Take a breath, in fact go and take two / You are more than what you can do”
“I’ve been labeled a ‘workaholic,’ but saying no can be scary,” explains Lisa. “Creating space to explore other parts of myself is confronting but important.”
A New Zealand-native, Lisa Crawley has live/performed in her home country (lead of ‘Girl’ in the Tony Award Winning musical “Once” in Auckland), Melbourne (receiving acclaim for the EP Up In The Air) as well as London, Canada (Banff Centre songwriter residency) and landed in the U.S. in 2020 just in time for quarantine! Through numerous albums, EPs and singles, her refreshingly honest onstage presence and emotionally authentic pop songs enchant the hearts and minds of an ever-growing global audience.
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Andrea de Varona (she/her) and Josh Ford (he/him) aka Fake Dad are a Los Angeles based, NYC bred indie rock meets dream pop duo. Formed in 2020, the two met at a college party in the East Village and have been inseparable ever since. Melting their own unique artistic visions to build a shared sonic shorthand, Fake Dad create an intoxicating and colorful musical fusion complete with catchy pop-laden hooks, crunchy, 90s inspired guitars, grooving bass lines, and buoyant synths. With a distinctive production sound and a signature vocal delivery, the two write and record expansive musical moments from their apartment. Although Andrea and Josh come from different musical backgrounds, they share a common goal: to create music that understands you.
In the past year, Fake Dad have been fixated on posers. Specifically, rock music posers—there’s just something fascinating about music made by an artist who’s pretending to be someone they’re not. In the different subgenres of rock especially, “fake” can be a dirty word. But as Andrea and Josh dug into some of their favorite artists from before their time, it became clear that playing a character is pretty deeply entwined with the legacy of rock music.
In their superb new EP released today, Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, Fake Dad have created characters that live in their made up world of angry, burger-flipping clowns, star-crossed knights, and masked sleep paralysis demons. Throughout the process, Andrea and Josh realized that they were using the fiction to unpack very real aspects of their lived experiences—including their identities and sexualities as romantic partners in a straight-passing relationship.
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American indie pop songstress April March, who earned fame with her take on French pop, drops a new surf rock single from her forthcoming full length, ‘Villerville’, produced by Norman Langolff and due this summer. As a student, April March first attended Parsons School of Design and then California Institute of the Arts. It was at CalArts where she met director and musician Steve Hanft. Hanft, known for having directed the original Bong Load video for Beck's multi-platinum hit “Loser”, is currently directing new Bong Load videos for March.
As an animator, March began her career as a Disney trained animator first hired by Paul Reubens for Pee-wee’s Playhouse. She then went on to animate everything from Ren & Stimpy, to Bugs Bunny, not to mention Frank Zappa and Madonna. As an illustrator March collaborated with Jack White for “We’re Going to be Friends”, his children’s book based on one of The White Stripes most enduring and loved songs.
As a musician, March has collaborated with artists including Brian Wilson, Yo La Tengo, Jack White, LL Cool J, Ronnie Spector, Jonathan Richman, Andy Paley, Tony Allen, Plastilina Mosh, Steve Hanft, Bertrand Burgalat, French duo Staplin, Aquaserge, and more.
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Fresh from the success of her debut EP Sociable Pariah, London's dark rock poet Domi Hawken returns with a haunting exploration of obsession in 'The Moment I Need You Most' the first insight into her sophomore EP Water and The Wine.
Unravelling like a psychological thriller, the track weaves between moments of desperate longing and frenzied obsession, all while showcasing her signature blend of punk swagger and folk storytelling. Drawing from a rich tapestry of influences ranging from from Leonard Cohen's poetic introspection to Led Zeppelin's raw energy, her latest offering showcases her ability to craft narratives that transcend simple heartbreak, instead exploring the darker corners of human psychology. "To me, the song is unhinged," Hawken reveals with characteristic frankness. "It isn't about pining over someone you're in a relationship with - the protagonist is desperate, maybe the person she's singing about barely knows her, their relationship being completely overblown in her mind."
The production mirrors this descent into fixation, building from deceptively calm verses to frantic crescendos, punctuated by moments of stark silence that feel like gasps for air. Accompanied by a self-directed music video shot on VHS, Hawken creates a deliberately jarring visual experience that amplifies the track's unsettling narrative. "I wanted the music and the video to reflect this: the idea of being unstable, dramatic, almost going crazy with this scenario she's created purely in her imagination," she explains.
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