Lori Rayne brings grit and edge to her country music, leaning on heavier guitars and an alternative-country feel while staying rooted in Southern storytelling. Her new EP, I Don’t Drink, feels like a clear snapshot of who she is right now — unfiltered, confident, and comfortable standing a little outside the lines. “I Don’t Drink is the most honest reflection of who I am as an artist,” Rayne says. “It holds all the styles and influences that shape my sound and personality. This EP is for anyone who grew up on country or Southern music, but always felt a little outside the box, just like me.”
Who says you need to get drunk to have fun? When most people picture a Friday night out, it usually involves bar hopping and a few too many cocktails. With “I Don’t Drink,” Lori Rayne flips that expectation on its head, celebrating the energy, connection, and release of a night out — without alcohol being the center of it. Her unmistakable tone and soulful delivery ride over extra heavy, driving guitars and a jamming country production that builds with real force, pulling you straight onto a packed honky-tonk floor. The song carries a rock-leaning edge that gives it muscle, proving Rayne’s comfort in the alternative country lane while keeping country's spirit at the forefront.
As she sings, “Tonight I want red lips, tall boots, cut-off jeans / top it off with my rhinestone hoops / I want a little heel-toe do-si-do / drop it down real slow / Boot Scoot n’ Copperhead Road,” it becomes clear this is a line-dancing-ready anthem. Loud, confident, and rooted in real life, “I Don’t Drink” proves you can still show up, show out, and own the night with no inebriation required: “I’ve never been the kind to turn down a dance / but I don’t need a drink in my hand / let me break these boots in while spinning around on this floor / just a little two-step is all the buzz I’m looking for.”
As the EP unfolds, Rayne shows her range while maintaining her edge. “The One That Ran Away” taps into the ache of lost love and lingering questions. “To Be Country” nods to the roots she grew up on, grounded and straightforward, while “Where Do We Go” leans heavier, letting the guitars carry a more alternative, rock-tinged energy. Her stripped-back cover of “Jolene,” released just after the celebration of Dolly Parton’s 80th birthday, is one of the most personal moments on the EP. With just her voice and a guitar, Rayne lets the song speak for itself, honoring the original while bringing her own rich perspective.
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The Vega Vault Project and Sacred Bones Records continue to uncover Alan Vega’s robust collection of work left behind by the influential visual artist, musician and poet. This week for the first time ever, Vega’s highly influential 1980 debut S/T solo album, in addition to its follow up, Collision Drive are available across streaming platforms. Remastered from the original tapes, the two albums have been faithfully re-released by Sacred Bones Records, preserving the raw intensity of Vega’s original recordings while making them newly accessible to listeners worldwide.
The Vega Vault Project and Sacred Bones have meticulously assembled these packages and the series also offers a companion piece Alan Vega Deluxe Edition which is also available today as a limited deluxe double LP and includes unheard demos, unseen photos and new artwork. All three albums contain unseen photos and new album artwork (including Vega's original track sheets from his 1978 Suicide / The Clash Tour Notebook).
Alan Vega Deluxe Edition's previously unheard demos were discovered by The Vega Vault Project's Liz Lamere and Jared Artaud. The tapes were then transferred by engineer Ted Young and mastered by Josh Bonati. The demos offer a rare glimpse into Vega’s creative process behind his cult classic. All three albums feature new album artwork designed by Artaud and Michael Handis, exclusive to these pressings. The companion piece sheds new light on Vega’s process and vision during this pivotal era, making it a must-have for collectors and longtime fans. (See Bandcamp for details)..
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On T. Gold’s second album Life is a Wonder and It’s Cruel, longtime creative collaborators Saman Khoujinian and Gabriel Anderson put their politics into practice through song. Through playful electronics and off-kilter folk melodies, they investigate how imagination and radical community love can work against the grind of socioeconomic forces.
Anderson and Khoujinian met in high school in Miami, both moved to Carrboro in 2011, and are now well-known in North Carolina’s independent music scene for their frequent collaborations, such as staging the quadraphonic improvisational synthesizer collective Delver. They are the creative team behind Sleepy Cat Records, a pair who will “show up and do the work” (Blank Tapes) supporting the music of artists as varied as old-time legend Alice Gerrard and the Palestine liberation art-rock project DUNUMS. “Our bond, even to this day, is a little bit unamenable,” says Khoujinian. “We’re two very different people. But there is this connective thread between us, and it weaves throughout our creative projects.”
T. Gold sits comfortably within the label’s curation – a bit of acoustic twang, a little vocoder, and plenty of earnest politics. Bookended by Khoujinian on guitar, synthesizer, and vocals and Anderson on percussion and drums, T. Gold’s 2020 self-titled debut was praised for its “warm, relaxed vein of indie Americana” (INDY Week). Since then, the group has operated in fits and starts, functioning as a comfortable musical landing zone where the pair “continues to figure out how to be in music together,” as Anderson puts it.
But far from a monogamous musical twosome, T. Gold is an abundant family affair. Making music with a group is “a long, curvy negotiation,” as Anderson says. “It’s messy, and it’s beautiful. And the growth that comes out of trying to be authentic is what we’re interested in.”
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American producer, singer-songwriter, and instrumentalist Jared Colinger is proud to present the first batch of singles from his forthcoming album. "Algorithm / Limping to the Finish Line", a double offering from The Enigmatic Foe is available now.
"Algorithm / Limping to the Finish Line" are two groovy songs doused in electronica and new wave vibes. Released in conjunction with each other, the first track delves into the painstaking ways in which metaphorical and physical algorithms have us all in a chokehold. “Algorithm” specifically highlights the loneliness that comes from seeking validation, often through the means of social media. Often these connections we make are fleeting, and it can be hard to know how long they will last. Directly inspired by Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night, The Enigmatic Foe balances relatability with melancholy, casting a focal point on Jared Colinger's smooth vocals and delicate nylon guitar strums.
“Limping to the Finish Line” expresses the uncertainties of life after death, and stresses the importance of camaraderie through hard times. A testimony to trying to drown out the unfortunate news that surrounds us, the track’s overall glittery sound helps ease the one two punch that Colinger is delivering lyrically.
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Like a lone flower pushing its way through the ashes of a forest long since burned, Dylan De Braga’s debut single, “Hold The Door,” rises quietly from devastation into something achingly beautiful. Born from one of the most traumatic chapters of his life, the folk-inflected ballad transforms pain into clarity, standing not as a monument to suffering, but as proof that something delicate, resilient, and luminous can emerge in its wake.
Written in the aftermath of a brutal, heart-shattering breakup, De Braga found himself unable to even touch his guitar for nearly two months. Music, once his anchor, felt suddenly unreachable. When he finally found the courage to sit alone with his emotions and pick up his guitar again, the song seemed to arrive fully formed.
“‘Hold The Door’ wasn’t written, it arrived,” he says. “Within minutes, the chords and words surfaced exactly as they needed to, as if they had been waiting for me to be ready. It felt like the first breath after being underwater for too long.”
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