Gitika Partington - Susto Stringband - Derby Hill

Gitika Partington - Call Your Name.

Gitika Partington just dropped a new lyric video for ‘Call Your Name’ from her record breaking ‘Twelvefold’ project. As a reminder: Songwriter and choral director/arranger Gitika Partington has released thirteen albums simultaneously, and without originally setting out to, she has broken the current world record for the most albums released in one day, which as of 2025 stood at twelve.

Comprising 130 original songs written and recorded over a five-year period, the project began with the idea of nine albums. Then ten. Twelve became the structure. Thirteen turned up anyway.

Thirteen albums, crafted over five years and released simultaneously, represent more than just a prolific outpouring of music. This act is not intended as a grand statement or a play for acclaim, but rather as an invite, open permission for everyone to embrace their creativity without having a critic in the room or in their head. It also feels like a proper ‘release’ akin to setting a huge flock of birds free all in one go in one sky, rather than drip feeding the algorithms. The simultaneous release encourages us all to let go of the need for approval or traditional measures of success, reminding us that art can exist purely for its own sake in whatever form we like. And that it is bloody good fun. One little piece of fun can turn into a volume of work if you just keep doing it regularly and steadily.

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Photo - Mia Al-Taher

Susto Stringband - Hard Drugs Ft. Morgan Wade.

Susto Stringband, the alt-country group led by frontman Justin Osborne, announces the release of Susto Stringband (Volume 2) on May 29 via Missing Piece Records. This LP follows last year’s Susto Stringband (Volume 1), which featured bluegrass and old-time reworkings of seven SUSTO favorites alongside two new compositions in collaboration with Asheville’s Holler Choir. The upcoming album continues this collaboration, with a solidified line up of Clint Roberts, Jackson Grimm, Nat Copeland, Helena Rose and Joey Brown plus with the added help of friends Morgan Wade, Joshua Hedley and Madeline Dieruaf.

To preview the project, the group has shared first single “Hard Drugs (featuring Morgan Wade)”, a heart wrenching reimagining of the classic Susto track.On the upcoming LP, Osborne reflects: “This album was so much fun to make over the last year. The band really came together on the road after the release of Volume 1, and this new record naturally came together too, along the way. Between shows we were writing songs in the van, and squeezing in studio time whenever we could. It was a really fun and natural process, and I’m really proud of the finished product.” 

About “Hard Drugs (featuring Morgan Wade),” he shares: “Having Morgan join us for ‘Hard Drugs’ was a dream come true. I’ve been a fan of her music and who she is as a person, for a long time, and I was so glad she was interested in collaborating for this project. She picked ‘Hard Drugs’ as the song to feature on, and I’m so glad she did, because her vocals brought that song to life for me in a whole new way, and I’m excited to finally be sharing this version with the world!”

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Derby Hill - Restless and Forgiven.

Derby Hill is a Detroit-born, Chicago-based singer-songwriter recognized for his "Neo Sincerity" approach to Americana and folk music. His work is deeply rooted in the imagery of blue-collar neighborhoods and the "grit and glitter" of everyday life. Hill’s music blends elements of folk, country, roots, and rock. 

Drawing inspiration from legendary storytellers like Steve Earle, Leonard Cohen, and John Prine, he focuses on narrative songwriting that explores themes of family, love, struggle, loss, quiet hope and redemption. Hill describes his artistic mission as documenting "ordinary lives with uncommon" observation, seeking to provide a sense of connection through unvarnished, truthful storytelling. 

Indie Dock Music Blog noted that his music "wears its working-class credentials not as affectation but as essential DNA," adding that he "understands that the most profound truths often emerge from the least adorned spaces". Illustrate Magazine wrote that "Derby Hill leans in close, as it reminds you that resilience often leaves you feeling, somehow, a little less alone".

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Mel Denisse - Gitika Partington - Keeley feat. Miki Berenyi - Maria Taylor

Mel Denisse - aiming alone.

Nashville-based artist and producer Mel Denisse has always leaned into duality. Whether she’s blending left-field pop with jagged alt-rock or threading delicate vocals through dissonant, distorted production, Denisse is drawn to the clash with her newest genre-defiant single, "aiming alone". 

She shares, "'aiming alone’ details wanting to be understood with urgency, while still feeling sealed off behind glass. On the other side, the world watches and speculates, close enough to see you, never close enough to meet you. That distance becomes the point: the two realities can’t be reconciled. The outro carries that into finality, an acceptance of the lone road, and the resolve of aiming alone." 

"aiming alone" is a melancholy and haunting alt rock meets shoegaze track that is built around the narrative of feeling like there's a glass wall between you and everybody else and although they can see you, no one seems to truly feel or understand you.

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Gitika Partington - Going Round In Circles.

Gitika Partington has just dropped a new lyric video for ‘Going Round In Circles’ from her record breaking ‘Twelvefold’ project. Gitika has released thirteen albums simultaneously, and without originally setting out to, she has broken the current world record for the most albums released in one day, which as of 2025 stood at twelve.

Gitika created the thirteen albums as part of a sustained songwriting practice rather than a commercial release cycle. Composed incrementally over the course of five years, including periods marked by significant challenges. Moments of unbelievable light were interspersed, and the weekly songwriting which felt like an anchor. The first twelve albums form a chronological musical record of time passing with a thirteenth album of songs that nearly got away- a body of work intended for wandering, reflection, and long-form listening rather than singles, algorithms, or drip-fed promotion. Lots of the songs are messages to Gitika from Gitika - stories and comments on the day she wrote them. Lots are about returning home, uncomfortable moments, little blasts of therapy, quirky moments. Pleasing no-one but herself.

This release is an artistic gesture as much as a musical one. This project emphasizes that creativity doesn't require permission or external validation. It encourages anyone making stuff to ignore self-doubt and focus on just making art for its own sake, valuing the creative process over the result.

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Keeley feat. Miki Berenyi - Big Brown Eyes.

Dream rock trio Keeley have released a new video “Big Brown Eyes” featuring guest vocals by Miki Berenyi (Lush, Piroshka, Miki Berenyi Trio). 

Recently released to widespread acclaim, Keeley’s third album ‘Girl On The Edge Of The World’ (Definitive Gaze) has been lauded for the diversity of moods and textures within its twelve songs, highlighting what Dublin-born singer and guitarist Keeley Moss calls “the sonic swirl". 

The album’s emotional centrepiece is undoubtedly “Big Brown Eyes” with its dark pulsing beat, its lament to the impending murder of young teenage German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser, and a beautiful cascading vocal contribution from former Lush singer Miki Berenyi. Miki recently joined the band onstage to perform the song at their London show at LVLS in Hackney Wick. 

The accompanying video aims to imagine the sensations and impressions that Inga might have experienced as she journeyed through Great Britain in the Spring of 1988. Filmed and directed by Glasgow-based filmmaker Laura Meek using vintage VHS techniques, the clip’s soft tones and impressionistic flow capture the hopes and dreams of youthful adventure. 

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Maria Taylor - Never Thought I’d Feel New.

Today, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Maria Taylor released “Never Thought I’d Feel New,” the second song to be pulled from her first new album in more than 7 years, Story’s End, that will be released on April 3 via Conor Oberst’s Million Stars Records. She also has announced album 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 explains: “This song says exactly what it means – melodically, musically, and lyrically. It’s about how rare and fortunate it is to feel new again. It’s about breaking out of the confines of our own thoughts. of other people’s thoughts. It’s about letting go, gaining clarity, and feeling alive. 

I started writing this song 6 years ago. I would send tracks to my friend, Brad Armstrong, who would add a bunch of cool shit and send it back. This went on for years, as I kept changing the chords, the melodies, and the words. I would get frustrated and shelve it for months at a time. 

We got my brother, Macey Taylor, to play bass and Louis Schefano to play drums. Finally, in a last attempt to finish it, I asked my friend, Nik Freitas, to take a stab at writing a melody for the chorus. That was the missing link!! It was done :) The track was produced by Brad Armstrong, mixed by Ben Brodin and mastered by Doug VanSloun.”

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Gitika Partington - Hiding Places - SAMAJAMA - Staci Gruber

Gitika Partington - Home / Love's a Refrain / Rocket Man.

Songwriter and choral director/arranger Gitika Partington has released thirteen albums simultaneously, and without originally setting out to, she has broken the current world record for the most albums released in one day, which as of 2025 stood at twelve. Comprising 130 original songs written and recorded over a five-year period, the project began with the idea of nine albums. Then ten. Twelve became the structure. Thirteen turned up anyway.

During the pandemic part of the process, Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson band and BBC Radio 6 and Amazing Radio DJ described Gitika as ‘a force of nature’ for producing nine virtual choir videos with help from community filmmaker and choir member Bob Karper. Check out “video killed the radio star”! 

Gitika created the thirteen albums as part of a sustained songwriting practice rather than a commercial release cycle. Composed incrementally over the course of five years, including periods marked by significant challenges. Moments of unbelievable light were interspersed, and the weekly songwriting which felt like an anchor. The first twelve albums form a chronological musical record of time passing with a thirteenth album of songs that nearly got away- a body of work intended for wandering, reflection, and long-form listening rather than singles, algorithms, or drip-fed promotion. Lots of the songs are messages to Gitika from Gitika - stories and comments on the day she wrote them. Lots are about returning home, uncomfortable moments, little blasts of therapy, quirky moments. Pleasing no-one but herself.

This release is an artistic gesture as much as a musical one. This project emphasizes that creativity doesn't require permission or external validation. It encourages anyone making stuff to ignore self-doubt and focus on just making art for its own sake, valuing the creative process over the result. Bandcamp (HERE).



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Photo - Calli Westra

Hiding Places - Waiting.

Brooklyn-based indie rockers Hiding Places announce their debut album, The Secret to Good Living, May tour dates across the northeast USA, and release single "Waiting." The just-released single "Waiting," written by vocalist/guitarist Nicholas Byrne, is a grungy song heavy with distortion and grief. The video (also created by Byrne) juxtaposes live footage of the band alongside video of the demolition and an animated simulation of the iconic Kingda Ka rollercoaster (R.I.P.).

"Hiding Places’ first bassist, Anthony Cozzarelli, left the band in July of 2022. I wrote the chorus the day before Anthony left the band. I recalled the slow death of my uncle, and the painful anticipation that filled the interstitial space between here and gone. I wrote the verses six months later in the freezing cold on my way home from my studio in the industrial part of our neighborhood. I sang this song to my aunt years later as she was dying. We both cried," Byrne said.

The band, originally from North Carolina, caught our attention after self-releasing a trio of excellent EPs. Now a four-piece of Audrey Keelin, Henry Cutting, Nicholas Byrne, and Michael Matsakis, started as an almost tradition-like practice; meeting in rural Georgia for a week or two at a time to record and write; to open themselves up to songs that would visit and hone their technical ability to capture them. Marked by a consistently collaborative process throughout their career, Hiding Places' debut LP is their first collection recorded together in a professional recording studio. 

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SAMAJAMA - I Still Get BUTTERFLIES.

SAMAJAMA, a former global executive, lived a fast-paced and luxurious life, traveling the world and closing major deals for Fortune 500 companies. However, his true happiness always lay in coming home to his daughter and wife. The success of his career allowed him to purchase and build a beautiful horse farm and mountain home. Despite the wealth and glamour of his job, his heart was always with his family and the simple pleasures of life such as hiking, bonfires, and spending time with his beloved animals.

However, when the global epidemic hit and he went through a divorce, his life seemed to crumble around him. In a state of forced isolation, he turned to music as a form of healing. Over the years, his love for music evolved into songwriting and singing about the raw and emotive experiences of humanity. Music became his solace and lyrics became his source of healing.

Through this journey of recovery and resilience, SAMAJAMA found his way back to victory, always holding onto the belief that "music soothed him, but lyrics healed him".

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Staci Gruber - This Time Around.

The new single "This Time Around" from Boston-based singer-songwriter Staci Gruber is released this week. The rock meets Americana tune was recorded in Nashville and produced by Erik Halbig (Ty Herndon, Jamie O'Neal). Written by Staci and Michael Orland (American Idol), the track is a relatable and infectious honky-tonk anthem. Staci shares, "This Time Around is really a story of love that pulled too hard, truth that came too late, and a heart that finally listened when it mattered most". 

Staci shares, "This Time Around is really a story of love that pulled too hard, truth that came too late, and a heart that finally listened when it mattered most". 

Staci has found success performing with Dan Aykroyd and the Blues Brothers, writing an anthem for Billie Jean King, and performing at several large events with collaborator Michael Orland. Through her music and her research, Staci Gruber exemplifies the power of connection – whether through the transformative power of music or the scientific exploration of medical solutions—and reminds us all that no matter where we are, we are never truly alone. She shares, “Maybe music really can help people feel things they need to feel… I always hope that music allows people to understand someone else’s perspective – empathy in its truest sense.” 

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