Effie Zilch - Wynona Bleach - Interstella Boy - Temp Wishes

Photo -  Scott Witt

Effie Zilch - Lover Boy.

San Francisco duo Effie Zilch unveils “Lover Boy,” the latest single and video from their forthcoming LP Higher Calling, out July 10 via Redtone Records. The tongue-in-cheek, Motown-infused track finds the pair leaning fully into their playful side, pairing irresistible grooves with effortless swagger. 

Featuring a Benny Benjamin-inspired backbeat, a prominent bass riff, and Vandellas-style background vocals, “Lover Boy” began as something of an inside joke. It quickly evolved into one of the album’s most infectious standouts. “Sometimes songs don’t have to say anything deep or important.  Some of our favorite music is playful and lighthearted.”  “What is serious about the track is its composition, arrangement and style. It’s a fresh take on an old, familiar sound.”

Sticky-sweet and swaggering, “Lover Boy” brings classic soul revue energy into focus through Effie Zilch’s distinctly Bay Area lens. The accompanying video leans into the song’s vintage charm - shot at historic Sacramento locations once used as filming sites for silent-era icons like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, it pays homage to California’s cinematic history. “We knew we wanted to make a silent film, but how to capture the fun and whimsy of the song eluded us until we fully leaned into the ridiculous,” the band explains. ‘Our video team, Station to Station Creative, didn’t bat an eye at our bizarre treatment.  Instead, they went out and found the dapper duck costume the following day. A Flapper, Amelia Earhart, and a proper damsel dame set their eyes agaze on Mr. Gentleman Duck.  Cat and mouse chases, train track mishaps, and old-timey title cards tell the silent tale of this strange love story.”

“Lover Boy” follows lead single “Easy,” a restrained and deeply felt meditation built on gospel piano and a melodic bass line. Written as a message to a daughter, the track unfolds like a Sunday sermon before slipping into a subtle current of Bay Area funk reminiscent of Sly Stone, carrying both tenderness and urgency. Together, the two singles reveal the wide emotional and sonic range of Higher Calling, a record shaped by reflection, connection, and craft, drawing equally from gospel, Bay Area funk, deconstructed blues, and classic soul through the duo’s deeply intuitive approach to songwriting. 

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Wynona Bleach - Animal Style (Album).

The new Wynona Bleach album Animal Style is officially out now everywhere via Propeller Sound Recordings (US) & Fierce Panda (UK). The Belfast band’s long-awaited sophomore album delivers towering guitars, sharp hooks, and the kind of emotional intensity that’s already making serious noise with press on both sides of the Atlantic. Wynona Bleach will be hitting the road in support of Animal Style, bringing the album’s massive guitars and high-energy live show to audiences across the UK. 

Formed in 2018, Wynona Bleach quickly gained momentum on the live circuit, including performances at Reading & Leeds Festival, a headline 12-date Russian tour, and high-profile support slots with Feeder, Slow Readers Club and rock icons Alice in Chains on their sold-out Irish dates. Their debut album Moonsoake (2022), recorded in an abandoned Portuguese factory with Bill Ryder-Jones and mixed by Bradfield & Mackintosh, garnered both critical acclaim and industry attention, leading to Northern Ireland Music Prize nominations for Album of the Year and Live Act.
 
The creation of Animal Style was a deeply collaborative journey, tracked partly in a retro Belfast ballroom-studio and refined across sessions with Bradfield & Mackintosh in London. Following 10 showcases at SXSW 2025, New Colossus NYC, Nashville festival appearances, and a personal invite to Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studios in Los Angeles, Wynona Bleach secured their U.S. deal with Propeller Sound Recordings, strengthening their transatlantic profile. Animal Style marks a reinvigoration of the band’s core sonic identity: an unapologetically guitar-driven album with depth, punch and wide-ranging emotional resonance. Wynona Bleach continues to expand their reach as one of Northern Ireland’s most compelling rock exports.

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Interstella Boy - Underpass.

Interstella Boy, the creative project of songwriter Richard "Dil" Williams, is proud to announce the release of its new single, "Underpass". For more than a decade, Williams has been living with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a progressive and incurable lung disease that causes irreversible scarring of the lungs. Diagnosed 10 years ago, he was given a prognosis that typically sees patients survive between three and five years. Despite the ongoing decline in his lung function and the need for oxygen therapy for up to 15 hours each day, Williams continues to embrace life with determination, creativity, and optimism.

Throughout his journey, songwriting and music have provided a powerful source of therapy and personal expression. However, as the disease has increasingly affected his ability to sing, Williams has made the difficult decision to step back from lead vocal duties.

Taking the microphone for Interstella Boy's latest release is long-time collaborator Phil "Barney" Jones, who delivers the lead vocals on "Underpass". The new single marks an exciting chapter for the project while maintaining the songwriting vision and spirit that have defined Interstella Boy from the beginning. As Williams continues to live life one day at a time, "Underpass" stands as a testament to resilience, friendship, and the enduring power of music in the face of life's greatest challenges.

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Temp Wishes - Flash Fantasy.

Temp Wishes is the new project from Josh Chicoine (The M's, Cloudbirds, Cult Canyon), Edward Anderson (1900s, Mazes), Colby Starck (Mar Caribe, Bobby Conn), and Glenn Rischke (AM Slingers, Bora Bora, Arks).  

It is lo-fi psych pop, and songs are concise with sticky melodies, harmonies, and grooves. Flash Fantasy is the first single released from their forthcoming LP. They quietly released a single entitled "Flash Fantasy" a couple weeks, however the accompanying video was released last Friday.

The band's first-ever show will be at the Hungry Brain in Chicago on Friday, June 5. The song itself has a gentle laid back feel where the mood shifts from dark to light vibes without unsettling the listener, and the arrangement could be from an early seventies folk rock band with above average gritty determination.  

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Kissing Other ppl - BABAL - Margaux Regan - Interstella Boy

Kissing Other ppl - Kissing Other People.

kissing Other ppl, is the team-up of rising indie-folk artists Rachel Baiman and Viv & Riley. Together, they made a gorgeous, indie-folk album of interpretations of a variety of choice covers. The band is kicking off a two-leg tour, the first in August and the second in October, and it includes a set at western MA’s Arcadia Folk Fest. The artists combined have a monthly listenership of some 160,000 on Spotify alone. 

As the three began working out an arrangement for Lennon Stella’s “Kissing Other People”, sitting cross legged on the floor in Griffith’s living room, Griffith stealthily placed microphones, as well as a vintage camcorder in the room. What emerged was a completely live take of the song, organic and full of magic. The recording set the tone for what followed, an 8 track album of covers ranging from cult favorites like Magnolia Electric Company, Dr. Dog and Joan Armatrading, to modern but lesser-known writers like Waylon Payne.

With Griffith’s influence, the project explored more analog, indie and grunge sounds than any of the individual artist’s previous work. The recording captures the beautifully uncaged feeling of the collaboration, as Leva switches to playing drums for “Hold on Magnolia”, and Baiman plays a wildly dissonant guitar solo on “Woncha Come On Home”. Every idea was attempted, and every song was captured in real time.

Kissing Other PPL is a project about openness to exploration, collaboration, and creativity above technicality. It finds a trio of accomplished musicians that seeks to unlearn boundaries of perfection and find the best sound for the given song in the given moment.

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BABAL - Running In The Gutter (Album).

'Running in the Gutter’ is BABAL’S 13th album, but the first to be released by Fruits de Mer Records. The band will be unveiling the LP at this weekend's 'Son Of Sardonicus' festival in Cardigan this weekend.
 
“Could it be argued that Crass are joining force with Cardiacs to deliver a Beefheart take on Byrne? Possibly, but instead of attempting to work out the influences and wonder how to describe them, instead say this is classic BABAL with the band putting their troubles behind them and being at full strength. 

Long may they continue as for prog to survive it needs to be as uncompromising and challenging as this.” - Kev Rowland: Prog Archives.

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Margaux Regan - Radio Silence.

Following her successful debut, rising singer-songwriter Margaux Regan drops new single "Radio Silence" today August 8th. 

A reflection on unrequited love and longing, the power-building ballad is emotional in its progression and resonant in its vulnerable themes. From piano clad verses and poetic lyrics to a powerful chorus and standout bridge, the track achieves a range of moods and moves seamlessly through different tempos. Margaux’s voice impresses with sweet layered harmonies and strong belts that serve to enhance the track’s raw emotionality. Careful production and a mix of ad-libs and sound effects make the track a dynamic pop anthem.  

With “Radio Silence”, Margaux explores feelings of both jealousy and uncertainty. The track’s intense bridge declares, “I have a million questions that now you won’t answer / Like are you with her / You left me pacing in my own mind / Oh I bet you have someone you call.” 

Inspired by Gracie Abrams’s momentous hit “I love you, I’m sorry”, Margaux set out to create something relatable in subject matter yet unique to her own personal experience. “I wanted a strong bridge and a change of beat or tempo change… I wrote (Radio Silence) after having been ghosted by what I had believed to be a situationship, while still not having gained any clarity and still being confused where our connection stood,” says Margaux of the track’s inception. She continues on today’s dating culture, “I think this happens too often in our generation and I didn’t know any song talking about it that I could aggressively cry to.”

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Interstella Boy - Life In A Seaside Town.

It was during the lockdown that Richard Williams, sometimes ‘Will’ or ‘Dil’ began writing poetry and prose. He had a 38 year career in Mental Health as a CPN but had been diagnosed with a severe life limiting lung disease. It was suggested that singing may have a good therapeutic effect on the illness, so the poems became songs.

It was a chance meeting with Adrian, Paul Edwards’ father, where it was suggested that Paul may help Richard with his songs. His first album called Interstella under the name of Dil Williams was well received and clocked up substantial global airplay. It was a meeting with local music commentator ‘Stag’ Marks where it was suggested he change his name to Interstella Boy.

Under that name a second album ‘Terminal Earth’ was recorded, featuring the hit single ‘Warm Love’. ‘Anvil Sand’ is Interstella Boy’s third album with ‘Waiting for the Ding’ the first single release. A lovely textured layered vocals. However, it is ‘Life in a Seaside Town’ the focus track that stands out,  as we reminisce about time's gone, with 70s/80s welsh holidays by the seaside, compared with the current state of our beloved 'Porthcawl' - A music video created by TIWN's Kaysha Louvain features her very own family cine camera footage of her grandparents, uncles and mother that has encapsulated the essence of the song.

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