Ricky Albeck - MF Tomlinson - Shiloh Lindsey - Starpainter - Olivia Wolf - Cordelia Gartside

Photo - Harry Freeman

Ricky Albeck - Spend the Night.

Tartanya/Adelaide post-pub-rocker, and a favourite hardworking touring machine, Ricky Albeck has announced the release of a new album in 2026 via Bedroom Suck Records. "Expensive Music" is Ricky's second full-length after 2024's Nocturnal, not counting this year's earlier vinyl-only project Downtown Ricky.

Known for his frequent touring both in solo format and with the infamous Belair Line Band, Ricky has become a staple of the Adelaide music scene. You can find him most nights playing somewhere in town, and his weekly honky-tonk residencies at the now-defunct Crown and Anchor Hotel are things of legend. 

Ricky celebrates this album announce by sharing a track from the record, Spend the Night. Recorded by Jon McNichol at Twin Earth Studios in Adelaide, and featuring the Belair Line Band, the track also has a guest appearance by Edo Ekic (Carla Geneve, Peter Bibby) on slide guitar. 

Says Ricky on the making of the record, "The original idea for this album was hatched over time. The songs were mostly written between 2022 & 2024 and then in late 2025 me and the band started looking at deciding where & when & how to record them. I really wanted to work with Jon at Twin Earth because he’s got a heap of really cool shit there in terms of gear and he records to tape. It’s also a nice big live room and we knew we wanted to do it all live."

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - Heaven Is Other People (EP).

This week MF Tomlinson releases a new EP Heaven Is Other People, led by loose-limbed new single 'Now, I Am Free'. MF Tomlinson will play Left Of The Dial Festival in Rotterdam in October. Heaven Is Other People is Tomlinson's first body of work since completing a remarkable self-produced album trilogy with 2025’s Die To Wake Up From A Dream. 

Awarded 9/10 by Uncut, included in Mojo's Best Albums Of 2025 and supported by Rolling Stone,  The Needle Drop, The Line of Best Fit amongst others - the album marked a career high for the London-based Australian. Now a father, Tomlinson returns creatively transformed, working more instinctively and making some of the most open-hearted, immediate music of his career.

Written following the birth of his first child and recorded during impromptu sessions at his studio in Poplar, London, Tomlinson describes Heaven Is Other People as "a collection of lo-fi gestural pieces on human connection".

Speaking about the EP, Tomlinson shared: "Sometimes the power of a song is to reach for meaning words cannot access. At other times it’s a gift that lets you name something profound - so simply - that it feels effortless. It’s too easy to forget in the cynicism of our day-to-day that it’s people who make our lives what they are, and people that we will see in our dreams."

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Shiloh Lindsey - Failing Hail.

Canadian singer-songwriter Shiloh Lindsey shares “Failing Hail,” a tender, bittersweet, and quietly hopeful alt-country ballad drawn from one of the most personal moments on her forthcoming album, The Western Veil, set for release on November 6th, 2026. Blending the warmth of Canadiana, indie folk intimacy, and roots rock restraint, the single transforms a late-night message between siblings into a moving meditation on resilience, compassion, and the ways we carry one another through life's darkest seasons.

The song began not with a guitar, but with a text message. While Shiloh was recovering from the devastating motorcycle accident that nearly claimed her leg, her oldest brother found himself awake at two in the morning wrestling with demons of his own. Hoping, as he later told her, to “fool them with some nicer thoughts,” he wrote a poem and sent it to his younger sister.

Deeply moved by his words, Shiloh eventually transformed the poem into a song. “It became about the quiet ways we carry one another through difficult times,” she explains, “Sometimes hope comes from someone else when you’re having trouble finding it yourself.”

Its title comes directly from one of the poem’s most striking images: The bad times will fail like melting hail. The metaphor immediately resonated with Shiloh, who saw something profoundly comforting in the idea that even life’s fiercest storms cannot last forever. “Hail can arrive violently and suddenly and feel overwhelming while you’re caught in it,” she says. “But it can’t sustain itself – it melts.” 

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Starpainter - Cayenne Flowerbed (Album).

Following the singles "I Found a River" and "Rabbits," this week Starpainter releases their latest album Cayenne Flowerbed, an 11-song collection that sees the band’s sonic ambitions, established on their internationally acclaimed 2023 album Rattlesnake Dream, pushed even further.

Produced in Calgary by Chris Dadge—who also plays drums with Alvvays and Chad VanGaalen—Cayenne Flowerbed began as a project that Starpainter’s principle singer/songwriter Joel Stretch says grew to become their most collaborative to date. “I’m always seeking greater artistic freedom. I love albums that feel like they’re searching and taking risks artistically.

“Creating this album was a process of trying things out and it turned out different than I could have predicted going into it. There was a real sense of exploration as we recorded this one that I haven’t always allowed myself on previous projects. All six of our personalities come across pretty strongly and really shaped this album, and Chris really jumped in as a significant collaborator and artistic contributor as well.”

The pride of Lethbridge, a city in southern Alberta that serves as the hub of the local rural community, Starpainter likes to think of itself in similar geographic terms—a little bit town, and a little bit country.


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Photo - Mason Poole

Olivia Wolf — Drag It Back.

Nashville-based artist Olivia Wolf announces she has signed with Soundly Music/Thirty Tigers and will release her sophomore album Snake Of Diamonds on January 22. The follow up to her acclaimed debut Silver Rounds, which found Wolf processing unimaginable grief, this new album turns its attention toward what comes next. Traditional enough to feel timeless. Adventurous enough to feel unpredictable. That's the balance at the heart of Snake Of Diamonds. 

Wolf isn't trying to erase the past so much as learning to live alongside it, balancing restlessness with hard-earned redemption. "I'm focusing on myself now," she says. "Far too often, as a woman, you're taught to make everyone else comfortable. What happens when you put yourself first instead?" The debut single "Drag It Back" is an anthem of appetite and ambition, released this week alongside a fiery music video filmed in Joshua Tree, directed by Mason Poole, who has also helmed videos for Beyoncé, Annie Lennox and Allison Russell.

After writing her way through life-changing loss on her 2025 debut, Olivia Wolf found herself tackling a different challenge during the months that followed: not just how to survive, but how to truly live again. Snake Of Diamonds captures that transition. Teaming up with producer Sean McConnell again, she chased down a sparse and singular interpretation of folk music. Vocals were recorded quietly, often just above a speaking voice, and imperfections remain. Her songwriting takes center stage, with sharply-written explorations of romance on the rocks, a country torn apart by division, and a narrator caught at the intersection between danger and adventure. "I wanted this record to feel like roots and dirt and earth," Wolf explains. "If something wasn't absolutely perfect, that's what we wanted, we wanted raw, real sounds." 

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Photo - Jacob Swetmore

Cordelia Gartside - good.

Alt-rock newcomer Cordelia Gartside blends powerful lyricism with post-rock intensity. Now she releases her invigorating new single 'good' via state51 Distribution. Recorded live with Gartside’s band in a single take, 'good' builds from controlled restraint to a visceral vocal release, the melody rising through groaning guitars, strings and relentless drums as she confronts the cycle of self-criticism that once followed her offstage.

"i used to have performance anxiety so bad that i'd be depressed for weeks after shows. i got therapy, and i love playing live now, but this song speaks to the voice that told me i really sucked at it. and all the voices that tell me i’m not good enough in other ways," she says. On 'good', Gartside uses repetition to capture the distance between her self-belief and denial. In the chorus, she insists "if it took a long time / if it hurt for a while / I’m good," before questioning what exists inside and outside her own head: "it’s not a lie / if you believe it isn’t."

Across just a handful of releases Gartside has established a distinct sound - combining stark intimacy and uneasy atmosphere with distorted guitars and cathartic vocals, with reference points spanning Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey, Mitski and Radiohead. Recent singles 'hospital corners' and 'x ray' both received support from BBC 6 Music's Emily Pilbeam on her Introducing Mixtape: "Cordelia's voice is just wild. The power in this song is truly something else."

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Nora Stanley - Josaleigh Pollett - RADEMAN - MF Tomlinson - Lauren Minear

Photo - Rachel Andes

Nora Stanley - Red.

Taken from her solo debut album due out on July 31, we have a quote from Nora regarding the latest single. “Red” is the psychic centerpiece of the album, a circular and hypnotic track that begins with the immediate intimacy of voice and guitar alone, patiently adding layers of synths, electric guitars, and flutes as it builds. “Red” is about the comfort Nora finds in the generous nonlinearity of Anne Carson’s work as we hear exactly the ways Nora sees love as an echo of literature’s curious detachment from/demarcation of time, seeking refuge and comfort in Carson’s poetry in the face of romantic loss and healing.

From her work with indie songwriters like Cassandra Jenkins to avant-garde icons such as Fred Frith, Stanley has built a reputation as a versatile and expressive multi-instrumentalist—moving fluidly between woodwinds, synthesizer, voice, and guitar. Drawing inspiration from Anne Carson's writing, the songs on the new album 'Glass' explore reflection and separation—how we see ourselves refracted, held at a distance from the outside world.

Glass is one of those small big words poets most prize. Reflective and transparent, hard and fragile, natural and supernatural, Glass is polymorphic. As a saxophonist, flute player, clarinetist, and synth player, Nora Stanley has accompanied many of our most cherished living songwriters, including Cassandra Jenkins, Beth Orton, and The New Pornographers. She has performed improvised creative music with Benny Bock, Fred Frith, Kenny Wollesen, and Peter Apfelbaum, too. Luckily for us, Glass is not a simple summation of these not-so-disparate paths. The complexity of that giant noun characterizes Nora’s approach to this record’s production as much as it does the variegated career that led to its existence. Glass is a record of subtly devastating songs by a cool headed observer; a mirror and a window.

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Josaleigh Pollett - Bed of Quiet.

"Bed of Quiet is an over-thinker's anthem. A song for the sleepless, and the hours spent playing and replaying scenarios on a loop in your brain where there is no right decision, digging for a yes or a no in a mountain of perhaps. We wanted the production to feel like it belonged in the middle of the night, when you're not quite yet dreaming, but suspended above your body like a projected film of the last few week's events you can't stop watching, playing too loud for sleeping." 

"When Chris Walla sent us some instrumental recordings from the early 2010's he'd yet to use, they fit perfectly into the fitful, crumpled sheets of the bed we were making. The post-chorus vocal "a little doubt-" is also the only time Jordan sings on the record, pitch-shifted all to heaven, of course." – Josaleigh Pollett.

Salt Lake City-based singer-songwriter Josaleigh Pollett issues "Bed of Quiet," which features a guest contribution from Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), and is the final single from their fourth full-length album, ‘If I Let It Quiet. The new record will be released July 24th via Audio Antihero (Frog / Tiberius / Avery Friedman / CIAO MALZ) and Lavender Vinyl on digital and vinyl.

Although the continuation of Pollett and Watko's collaboration was never in question, the new album's creation faced new challenges due to Watko's relocation to Japan. Despite this separation, the pair opted to make their first cross-continent collaboration more ambitious and exploratory than what had come before.

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RADEMAN - Get Back Up.

All we are going to say on Beehive Candy is this.. "This is one unique and incredible baritone voice, with a song that let's it shine above so many others - fabulous." RADEMAN is a South African-born, Sydney-based country-rock artist. His music combines direct storytelling, a mature dark baritone and guitar-driven production built around resilience, consequence and the battles people carry privately.

RADEMAN creates country-rock, outlaw country and southern rock shaped by direct storytelling and emotional weight. Born in South Africa and based in Sydney, RADEMAN writes about resilience, internal conflict, accountability and the decision to stand up again when life has taken something from you.

The music moves between restrained, vulnerable verses and full-band choruses. Guitars, low-end weight and a mature dark baritone carry the songs without losing the human detail inside them. Get Back Up is RADEMAN’s debut single and the opening chapter of The War Inside, a wider body of work about the battles people rarely speak about.

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - Heaven Is Other People.

Australian, London-based MF Tomlinson today announces new EP 'Heaven Is Other People' and shares its life-affirming, piano-led title track, marking his first new music since the release of his critically acclaimed third album Die To Wake Up From A Dream (2025). Entering a new creative chapter, Tomlinson describes Heaven Is Other People as "a collection of lo-fi gestural pieces on human connection", written following the birth of his first child and recorded during impromptu sessions at his studio in Poplar, London.

Across its five tracks, Tomlinson embraces a looser, more instinctive approach, balancing patient, spacious songwriting with richly layered instrumentation alongside his regular collaborators (the "MFs"): Ed Grimshaw (drums), Ben Manning (bass), Gail Tasker (flute) and Kayvon Nabijou (keys and saxophone).

Carried by buoyant piano, circling woodwinds and radiant orchestral swells, lead single and title track 'Heaven Is Other People' moves Tomlinson's singular songwriting into unexpectedly joyful territory. Growing from intimate reflection into an expansive hymn to human connection, 'Heaven Is Other People' finds transcendence in the ordinary, celebrating the people who shape our lives.

On the new song, Tomlinson said: "Ten months ago I became a father - not long after, fragments of lyrics and chords assembled themselves into this song. This song is a crystallisation of the sun in the morning, three in the bed, three hours sleep-happiness that’s here now. It’s the sound of a little smile, a release after a long time of quietly hoping, a trajectory that brought on a whole new body of work. We recorded this in our studio, inspired by artists like Tom Waits, Mitski & Ron Sexsmith. Hope you dig!"

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Lauren Minear - Ellie.

New York–based alternative singer-songwriter Lauren Minear returns with “Ellie,” a warm, uplifting, and emotionally resonant new single that explores the complexities of neurodivergence, identity, and self-understanding. Balancing deeply personal subject matter with buoyant, liberating production, the track transforms a moment of recognition into an anthem of compassion for both ourselves and the parts of us we may have spent years trying to understand.

The song was sparked by an unexpected emotional reaction. After listening to a podcast exploring eight different presentations of ADHD in girls, Lauren found herself profoundly affected by one particular profile. Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, she immediately recognized something familiar in the story.

“I had a very strong emotional reaction to one of the profiles,” she explains. “So I wrote her a song.” Though rooted in a specific experience, “Ellie” ultimately speaks to something much broader: the feeling of growing up without the language to explain who you are. 

Rather than leaning into melancholy, Lauren intentionally chose a more uplifting sonic direction. “For some reason, I always heard ‘Ellie’ as a dance track,” she shares. “The first time I listened to it, I was literally dancing in my closet.” Inspired in part by watching artist sombr build his breakout track “back to friends,” Lauren wanted the production to counterbalance the darkness of the song’s themes with a sense of movement and release.

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Isabel Rumble - KĀMA - Mollie Elizabeth - Maddison Kate - MF Tomlinson

Photo - Elise Idiens

Isabel Rumble - Soften.

Indie-folk songstress Isabel Rumble just released her captivating single 'Soften' and its elemental music video. Her 2023 debut album 'Bird Be Brave' was embraced by the music scene with open arms, drawing praise for its intimate songwriting, gaining a Folk Alliance Australia Award nomination, and going on to spur an international tour across Europe and Australia. Having supported artists like Lior & Domini, Daniel Champagne, Holly Arrowsmith and Ireland’s David Keenan, Isabel Rumble is a rising star in Australia's sky. 

'Soften' is a perfect picture of the kind of songwriting that has earned Isabel Rumble her flowers: she aimed to write a song that encapsulated "acceptance of choices made, and a longing to return to the knowing of the body," and delivered in full. 

Exploring how it feels to surrender to an inevitable change through soft, intertwining guitar riffs and tender vocals this song feels like listening to a careful, vulnerable conversation. Then, with a gentle burst, the song blossoms with keyboard and slow-jam drums, exploring the quiet strength drawn from those who came before.

Filmed on Thaua Country, Yuin Nation, in the far southern valleys of NSW, this sepia-toned visual offering moves with the land that shaped it. Minimal and elemental, the video captures Isabel's body in gentle motion amidst ancient rock formations. It is a quiet conversation between self and place. 'Soften' is a song that teeters on the edge between light and dark, softness and strength, and this video captures that dance.

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KĀMA - Is It So Or Not.

KĀMA recently released the single Is It So Or Not, taken from the debut album Propaganda. Is It So Or Not blends post-punk, art-rock and experimental minimalism influences for a romantically restless anthem. 

The sonic energy crosses industrial territories: the tinkling of the guitars weaves a hypnotic plot for a gentle and deep baritone voice questioning the nexus between reality and imagination, while the pressing bass riff and the nervous and broken drums prepare an imaginary meeting between the Smiths, the Jam, the Talking Heads and the Einstürzende Neubauten; the rhythmic breaks wink at the concrete experimentations of Pierre Schaeffer; the crooked intersection of the final guitar arpeggios pay homage to the minimalist phasing of Steve Reich.

The song is paired with a surreal video clip, featuring the metamorphosis in negative blue of the faces of the four members of the band, as a visualizer for the reality-imagination nexus on which the song's lyrics are built. With Is It So Or Not, KĀMA confirm their unmistakable style: contaminated, cultured, in the sign of the most audacious and contemporary alt-rock.

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Mollie Elizabeth - Doe Eyes.

Following her debut EP Dirty Blonde, Mollie Elizabeth delivers a visually stunning music video for “Doe Eyed” (dir. Maya Sassoon). The 21-year-old Washington State-based artist Mollie Elizabeth released her debut EP via Neon Gold / Virgin Music, known for her whimsical, melancholic, and empowering songs, the Pacific Northwest artist describes her music as “tiny worlds”, a refuge shaped by her upbringing in the Washington woods, suffused with old-Hollywood elegance and emotional depth. Mollie co-produced her newest song, “Doe Eyes”, along with her Dirty Blonde EP with Dean Reid (Lana Del Rey, Marina) and co-written with Reid and GRAMMY-nominated Casey Smith (Olivia Rodrigo, Ashe, Benson Boone).

Mollie adds: “I have always had a bad habit of romanticizing things/people that are now lost to time. This song is really the anthem for all the girls and guys out there who just can’t help but think one more night might be a good idea- even though it’s definitely not!”

Last month, Mollie released “Until We Meet Again” - a dusky, cinematic ballad steeped in Old Hollywood glamour. With a rare blend of chic elegance, playful confidence, and sincere sweetness, she infuses the track with timeless allure. The single was produced by Dean Reid (Lana Del Rey, MARINA) and co-written with Reid and GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Casey Smith (Olivia Rodrigo, Ashe, Benson Boone).

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Photo - Samuel Murray

Maddison Kate - More To Me.

Meanjin-based folk artist, Maddison Kate, continues to deliver raw emotion with her warm tones and tender melodies in her single 'More To Me' (just out Friday, July 11). She brings a contemplative and honest energy on this stunning new track, providing a glimpse of her upcoming EP 'What I'd Say To You', out on Friday, August 8.

Maddison Kate's journey into music started at age 9, where she would perform at open mic nights with just her vocals and her guitar, and since then her career has taken off to soaring heights. Now, she has a number of notable venues under her belt, including Gympie Music Muster and Queensland Music Festival, and recently, opening for Kyle Lionhart, on the Queensland leg of his 2024 ‘Careless’ Tour. 

Her poetic sound, folk melodies, and earthy tones have led to plenty of eyes on her and won her competitions like the 2TM Discovered Competition for Tamworth Country Music Festival and Queensland Music Festival’s On Song competition. 

'More To Me' is an introspective tune made from the gentle plinking of piano, soaring violin, charming guitar and vocals that play with the spectrum of emotion and become something angelic. This gentle song explores the overwhelming feelings about being better off without someone unless they grow and change, and hoping for that change regardless.  With her enchanting voice and delicate composition, this song is an introspective and meditative folk-pop number that moves like a playful dance. 

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - Die To Wake Up From A Dream (Album).

MF Tomlinson releases new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' on PRAH Recordings. Tomlinson plays a run of in-store dates this coming week before embarking on a headline tour this October.

MF Tomlinson's third studio album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' marks the final chapter in a trilogy of self-produced full lengths, following his 2021 debut 'Strange Time' and 2023's 'We Are Still Wild Horses', respectively drawing universal praise from Uncut, Mojo, The Times, The Arts Desk, Record Collector, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH Magazine and many more.

An opus on human experience, new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is an urgent and vivid description of the times in which we live. Inspired in part by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s installation Labyrinth (My Mother’s Album), the album confronts darkness head-on; mapping the psychic geography of our reality, journeying through personal and collective dreamstates before emerging into a nuanced, grounded sense of hope.

Encompassing folk, shoegaze, art-rock, prog and orchestral traditions, the new album was produced by Tomlinson in his studio in Poplar, London. Meticulously captured one instrument at a time, 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream' is a psychoacoustic odyssey of impossible proportions.

From the post-punk pulse of today’s focus single 'Dream Of You' and the grandeur of album opener 'Blink And You’ll Miss It', to the liminal landscapes of instrumental pieces 'A Dream' and 'A Meadow (Part I)', Tomlinson’s work remains characteristically expansive.


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Lavinia Blackwall - The Kentucky Gentlemen - Anand Wilder - MF Tomlinson

Lavinia Blackwall - We All Get Lost.

New single We All Get Lost’ tackles emotional struggles with both introspection and hope. Of the new single, Lavinia says: "The single was written during a time when I was still a teacher and was finding the job particularly stressful. I was looking for a way out before I broke. We all get lost sometimes whilst trying to find our way in life and this was an important detour that taught me a lot."

With influences spanning from Jefferson Airplane to Weyes Blood, The Making is a testament to Blackwall’s ability to weave together diverse musical inspirations into a cohesive and compelling body of work with songwriting at its centre.

Lavinia Blackwall, the celebrated voice behind Trembling Bells, is set to release her highly anticipated new album The Making on May 30th via The Barne Society. A rich tapestry of folk, rock, and psych-power pop, the album showcases Blackwall’s unparalleled vocal prowess and evocative songwriting, further cementing her reputation as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music.

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Photo -  Peyton Dollar

The Kentucky Gentlemen - To The Moon.

Twin-brother country duo The Kentucky Gentlemen share "To The Moon," a soulful country ballad with background vocals from their friend Brittney Spencer. Accompanied by a music video with footage of all three vocalists recording in the studio, this is the final single released ahead of the pair's full-length debut album Rhinestone Revolution (out June 6 on River House Artists).

The Kentucky Gentlemen on their new song: "'To The Moon' reflects the bittersweet emotions you feel when nearing the end of your relationship. It's a farewell drenched in nostalgia, love, and reflection, but most importantly acceptance. Within those emotions you often get the desire to make that last night together feel like something extraordinary – one last time to relive the beautiful moments and show each other what could’ve been before the inevitable goodbye. This song carries both a sense of closure and the aching recognition that this love has reached its final chapter…and that’s okay.”

The Kentucky Gentlemen have been making their way in Nashville's country music scene as independent artists for the last decade while simultaneously embracing, defying, and expanding the constructs of genre. Recorded with producer David “Messy” Mescon (Megan Moroney, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, Reyna Roberts), Rhinestone Revolution encapsulates the infectious blend of authenticity, self-acceptance and joy that has led them to quickly become one of Nashville’s most exciting new acts. The album is already garnering early praise for its singles, including "Made for Movin' On," which Rolling Stone called "a catchy mid-tempo country-rocker that contains layers of depth," and "Country Hymn," which prompted MusicRow to declare "These guys always know how to bring the party." "To The Moon" follows their latest single, "Whiskey Does" a boot-scootin' drinkin' song that Wide Open Country called "fun, upbeat, and an overall banger."

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Photo - Jo Zasloff

Anand Wilder - Appointment in Samarra.

Yeasayer co-founder Anand Wilder releases new single “Appointment in Samarra” via Last Gang Records / MNRK Music Group, his first solo release since a 2023 ambient album and the follow up to his 2022 solo debut I Don’t Know My Words. Opening with the sounds of a harmonium and a flute, the track uses an inevitable confrontation with death as a metaphor for music industry dynamics – “hanging on for dear life” amidst the trials and tribulations of being an artist in today’s landscape. 

Anand Wilder on the new single: “This song started out as a harmonium and flute call and response jam with Walter Fancourt, and then I added Scotch tape and clinking glass sounds for the beat. Lyrics came from a series of text messages with my other producer, Jachary, who also laid down bass and Juno Synths. Kaleidoscopic delayed out baritone sax and ngoni by Walter on the double breakdown section. Title from ancient Mesopotamian tale recited by Boris Karloff as Byron Orlok in the Peter Bogdanovich film, Targets.”

On his 2022 solo debut I Don’t Know My Words, Wilder took the spiritual exercise of going solo seriously. Stripping his songcraft down to the studs, he recorded every note himself. The hard work paid off, earning praise from Stereogum, NPR Music, Consequence and many more. Since then, he released the 2023 ambient album Cannibalizing The Conductor and two tracks with Maia Friedman celebrating Last Gang Records 20th anniversary. He’s also kept busy touring throughout the US and performing DJ sets at the Crown Heights bar King Tai.

With “Samarra”, Wilder returns to the collaboration and the art rock experimentation he made his name with as a member of Yeasayer. He collaborated with Walter Fancourt, a guest saxophonist on Yeasayer’s Amen & Goodbye to help write and record, as well as lauded multi-instrumentalist Jachary to co-produce. The new track features a soundscape that’s reminiscent of the lush synthetic palettes of the 1980s. Similar to Yeasayer’s music, a mix of synths, strings and harmonies bring to mind the psychedelic worldbeat and electro-pop of the critically-acclaimed Brooklyn band.

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - I'm On The Border.

Today MF Tomlinson reveals new single 'I'm On The Border', the latest glimpse of new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream', out 11th July on PRAH Recordings. A reflection on Tomlinson’s real-life experience of facing potential deportation from the UK, 'I'm On The Border' transforms that anxiety into something poetic and transcendent. Built around piano, strings and synth bass, the arrangement unfolds with cinematic grace. We hear strings, waves recorded at Chesil Beach, electronic timpani and a Beach Boys-style drum track processed to sound like a battlefield; with the beauty and chaos evoking fragility and defiance at once.

What begins as a meditation on borders - political, emotional, existential - becomes something more: symbolic brushes with death, a mourning for those in far darker situations, a resolve of belief in human connection. “How could they tear us apart? / The answer is they can’t,” he sings, delivering the line with quiet conviction. The result is a song that’s both intimate and immensely powerful, drawing inspiration from artists like Yo La Tengo, Tindersticks, Nick Cave and Cat Power.

Speaking more on the song, Tomlinson shared: "I began writing this song in 2014 during one of the worst periods of my life, when I was fighting to earn the rights to continue to live in the UK. Lyrically, the song is purely about my personal experience, but as the recording progressed, I began to channel the incredible sadness I was feeling about the conflict that surrounds us into the arrangement.

The experiences I’m describing in this song shone a light on how hidden, often invisible, the injustice of how our borders are controlled really was to so many around me. My case is the best case example - the tip of the iceberg. I’m one of the lucky people who have been successful in gaining citizenship, for many it is impossible. I would love it if this could be a window into just how emotionally devastating these systems can be, to keep those who are in real peril closer in mind, to resist those who want to make our world smaller, and to remember just how lucky we are."

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Amanda DeBoer Bartlett - MF Tomlinson - Blue Foundation - The Kentucky Gentlemen - Woahgetter

Photo - Aleksandr Karjaka

Amanda DeBoer Bartlett - Storm.

“Storm,” the latest single from Amanda DeBoer Bartlett (of Ensemble Dal Niente), is out today on all platforms. Following the dreamy sway of March’s “Skyscraper,” “Storm” hits with fire and force—a driving, fiddle-charged collaboration with the powerhouse players of Fiddle in the Middle. It’s folk fusion with heart: Appalachian grit colliding with Irish fiddle fireworks, all sweeping into bold, cinematic terrain.

Amanda recorded this one at Chicago’s Electrical Audio with producer Taylor Hales, continuing her blend of classical training, experimental chops, and raw Americana spirit.

The full album Braided Together arrives June 6, and she’s just announced a string of Midwest tour dates this June, including appearances in Des Moines, Milwaukee, Omaha, and Chicago—joined by a rotating cast of special guests like Abbie Sawyer, Ben Eisenberger, and Fiddle in the Middle.

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Photo - Andrea Zvadova

MF Tomlinson - Blink And You'll Miss It.

MF Tomlinson unveils the new single 'Blink And You'll Miss It' a lush, expansive second taste of new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream', out 11th July on PRAH Recordings. MF Tomlinson will launch the new album with in-stores at Rough Trade East, Rough Trade Bristol, Drift Records in Totnes and David's Music in Letchworth.

Written in collaboration with Is Tropical's Gary Barber, new single 'Blink And You'll Miss It' opens the album with a blend of shimmering beauty and melancholic depth. Softly plucked guitars, feathery flute runs, and warming saxophone interweave with luminous harmonies, as Tomlinson explores the challenge of staying present: 'I try to keep all the pieces from drifting away / Here in the darkness.'

With nods to the sonic mastery of Galaxie 500, My Bloody Valentine, Astral Weeks and Bon Iver all in the same breath, Tomlinson thinks of the song as “the sound of all of your life happening at once.”

Speaking more on the song, Tomlinson shared: "The song is about aging, at any age. As the album's opener, it flows seamlessly from We Are Still Wild Horses down to the beat. It’s a moment — a view from a great height — when the full weight of the distance between the person you used to be and the person you are now hits you like a freight train. It fills you up and empties you out all at once. Everything that has happened brought you here. You can never go back, but then again, you don’t need to. All of those moments are still happening endlessly inside you. You’re holding them all like a vessel."

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Blue Foundation - Close to the Knife (Album).

‘Twilight’ soundtrack legends Blue Foundation dropped their new album ‘Close to the Knife’ on Friday!

Blue Foundation is renowned for their distinctive fusion of electronic music and dream pop. Drawing inspiration from the ethereal nature of dream pop and a moody, introspective atmosphere, the band creates immersive soundscapes characterized by emotive vocals and intricate production. Their music often evokes a sense of melancholy and reflection, resonating with listeners who appreciate ambient, emotive melodies and introspective themes.

Blue Foundation's music has been featured in various popular films, such as Michael Mann’s ‘Miami Vice’, and TV shows like ‘The Vampire Diaries’. Their song ‘Eyes on Fire’ gained significant fame after being included in the soundtrack of the movie ‘Twilight’. Blue Foundation is sampled by Lil Durk featuring French Montana on his track ‘Fly High’ and Young Thug's song ‘She Noticed’. They co-wrote the song ‘Taurus’ for Machine Gun Kelly.

‘Close to the Knife’ begins a new chapter for the band as Nina Dahlgaard Larsen joins their lineup.


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Photo - Peyton Dollar

The Kentucky Gentlemen - Whiskey Does.

Twin-brother country duo The Kentucky Gentlemen release "Whiskey Does," a boot-scootin' drinkin' song about pouring one up to get over heartbreak. It is the latest single from the pair's full-length debut album Rhinestone Revolution, which is out June 6 via River House Artists.

The Kentucky Gentlemen on their new single: “We had an absolute blast recording this one. 'Whiskey Does' is one of those ‘drinking 'cause I want to stop thinking’ kind of songs — the kind you blast when you're laughing through the heartbreak. Sometimes it’s easier to toast to the losses when you’ve got a good vice in your glass. Breakups suck, but whiskey doesn’t.”

The Kentucky Gentlemen have been making their way in Nashville's country music scene as independent artists for the last decade while simultaneously embracing, defying, and expanding the constructs of genre. Recorded with producer David “Messy” Mescon (Megan Moroney, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, Reyna Roberts), Rhinestone Revolution encapsulates the infectious blend of authenticity, self-acceptance and joy that has led them to quickly become one of Nashville’s most exciting new acts. The pair announced the album last month and shared the music video for their song "Made for Movin' On," an earworm blend of old school country and 2000s pop that Rolling Stone called "a catchy mid-tempo country-rocker that contains layers of depth." Earlier this year, they released the come-as-you-are country bop "Country Hymn," which prompted MusicRow to declare "These guys always know how to bring the party."

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Woahgetter - Even Dad Had A Fiver On Love.

Following the release of their single ‘I Can’t Love You Anymore’, alt-indie collective Woahgetter explore the absurdities of contemporary romance with ‘Even Dad Had A Fiver On Love,’ out this week via Silent Kid Records.

Fusing angular guitars, lush chamber strings and infectious avant pop melodies, the latest offering from the Northampton based group is a sharp, unsentimental lament on postmodern alienation delivered in the guise of an increasingly manic internal monologue spilling out in front of a mirror.

"I'm sure most of us can easily call to mind a 'Dad' figure that has seemingly very little invested in the notion of love," says Woahgetter of the titular character, "but even in the coldest of cases, there's usually some small stake in something classifiable, if only tenuously, as love... which probably says more about the nebulousness of the word 'love' than it does about any particular individual.”

The narrative is delivered by an end of tether baritone, accompanied by five other (as far as we are aware) genetically unrelated voices, giddily riffing on the limitations of a seemingly singular eponymous anti hero and is set against an assuredly danceable and momentarily anthemic arrangement. With the fusion of vocal tones, the chorus reflects a relatable frustration towards the meaning of love and how to find it in an increasingly chaotic world.

The self-produced track promises to resonate with fans of sharp-witted, deeply affecting storytelling. Imagine if The National taught a masterclass in brooding indie rock and Father John Misty delivered a lecture on musical storytelling, Woahgetter would be the brilliantly rowdy students who learned the lesson, then blew up the classroom.

woahgetter · Even Dad Had A Fiver On Love

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MF Tomlinson - Hippie Flowers - Little Low - Franklin Gothic

MF Tomlinson - Die To Wake Up From A Dream.

MF Tomlinson shares the album's centrepiece and 9-minute title track, ‘Die To Wake Up From A Dream’. Sonically drawing from the work of John Martyn, Talk Talk and My Bloody Valentine, Tomlinson tells us of dreams of monsters in his childhood, before drifting into long days and nights of weary work. The new album 'Die To Wake Up From A Dream', is out 11th July on PRAH Recordings.

“It speaks to the sensation of drowning in the years. Scenes flash by so fast we soon know that we are in a dream, then a nightmare," he says.

As the song’s steady pulse builds to an unholy crescendo - digital effects warp and distort like the walls of the world crumbling. But – "When you die in a dream you are safe. When you die in a dream you dream another dream. This is the deus ex machina for us all to remember - that for most, when things seem darker than ever, happiness still exists beyond the tiny parameters that we have set for it. In realising your own power you set yourself free - not one day, but right now. This song is a treatise on resilience, hope and the frankly wildly psychedelic experience of being alive," Tomlinson says.

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Hippie Flowers - Happy Happy Joy Joy.

The Berlin-based producer collective, Hippie Flowers, has entered its first phase of transformation, a true changing of the guard, as originally envisioned. As a result, the music will take a fresh direction, deviating slightly from their previous singles. The new style is also reflected in the artwork, signaling a new beginning.

The collective’s first release under this new chapter is the single Happy Happy Joy Joy, a vibrant blend of progressive house, future house, big room, and EDM influences. The track’s lyrics reflect a positive, carefree outlook on life, embracing the moment and enjoying life as it comes. Let the music take you on a journey of joy and freedom.

In the musical melting pot of Berlin, a producers group of sonic adventurers known as Hippie Flowers are stirring up a delicious brew. Their eclectic mix swirls with the vibrant flavors of Euro House, Dance Pop, Tropical House, and Electro Pop. Over the years, they've been musical chameleons, releasing tunes under a myriad of monikers across a smorgasbord of labels. But in the flower power of Hippie Flowers, they've found a common ground where their preferred dance beats harmoniously blend. They're armed with a volley of singles, just waiting to be catapulted into the musical stratosphere. Who knows where their individual paths will lead or if they'll intersect again? It's as uncertain as a choose-your-own-adventure novel.

TCBYML · Hippie Flowers - Happy Happy Joy Joy

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Photo - Brittany Rose Queen

Little Low - Dark Beer Archives.

Boston, Massachusetts-based punk/indie outfit Little Low release Sunshine Guilt via Sell The Heart Records (U.S.), Thousand Island Records (Canada), and Waterslide Records (Japan) on May 9. The band has also shared the single, "Dark Beer Archives".

With their introspective lyrics, twinkly and melodic guitars, and heart-on-sleeve delivery, the band draw inevitable comparisons to emo pioneers like The Get Up Kids, Hey Mercedes, and Jimmy Eat World. Simply put, Little Low deliver a cathartic and hook-filled sound that is equally reverent of its forefathers while bringing to the mix some magic that is unmistakably their own.

Formed by Christine Atturio of Save Ends and Mike Assatly of Beartrap, the East Coast outfit ire completed by Tom Ciesluk and Brad Rheault, both of Save Ends and No Trigger. Their fiery debut LP, Sunshine Guilt, was recorded at Anchor End by Trevor Reilly of A Wilhelm Scream, and offers a vibrant discovery of love, loss, and the bittersweet moments that linger long after they’ve passed. Sunshine Guilt reminds listeners that sometimes it’s OK to feel a little low—but it’s a lot harder when signing along to these songs with the people you love.

“This song is about learning the hard way that when it comes to drinking there is a fine line between things being fun and things getting out of control,” says Atturio. “I’m always trying to find a balance in life, and it remains a constant struggle. But what I eventually realized was that at the end of the day, it’s always going to be on me. I can be my own best friend or my own worst enemy.”

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Franklin Gothic - Echoes (Album).

It's a real pleasure to feature Franklin Gothic's second album. Musically I just cant easily pin this beautiful collection down, one moment you are mellowing out, the next your energy levels are soaring. Either way the craftsmanship is superb and makes this a must hear album in full.

Franklin Gothic's second full-length album Echoes is the musical project of Portland-based songwriter Jay DiBartolo. Weaving melodic indie pop with atmospheric shoegaze and noisy dream rock, Echoes emerges as the perfect soundtrack to first kisses and tear-filled goodbyes. With the help of producer Erik Blood and drummer Alex Westcoat (Pickwick), DiBartolo crafted an album that centers on themes of repetition and self reflection, delving into the emotional cycles and internal struggles he often finds himself revisiting.
 
DiBartolo fell in love with music while watching skateboarding videos as a kid in New Jersey and never looked back. He was inspired to teach himself to play guitar and began writing his own songs, producing, and self-releasing bedroom recordings throughout high school and college. After graduating, he put a band together and toured the Northeast while working as a recording engineer for music festivals and televised performances.

Soon enough, DiBartolo made the journey to the Pacific Northwest, settling in Seattle, WA. He started a new band and released a record with Michael Benjamin Lerner of Telekinesis. Then the pandemic hit, that band dissolved, and Franklin Gothic was born. This was his first time teaming up with Erik Blood to release the debut LP Into the Light (2022), which received critical acclaim from KEXP, BBC, Bandcamp, and more.

On Echoes, DiBartolo embraces growing pains, reminding us that sometimes it's necessary to step into the discomfort. A touch melancholy yet so damn catchy, it’s the idealized mixtape that summons the emotions of long-forgotten moments that went on to shape our lives. Languid echoes of post-rock, skating on the edge of innocence, Echoes puts everything in its right place.

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Crying Day Care Choir - Great Time - MF Tomlinson

Crying Day Care Choir - The Dreams Of Alice.

After a successful summer performing at festivals such Sziget Festival, Malmöfestivalen, Be Alternative and many more, Swedish alt-follk trio Crying Day Care Choir recently formed their own label ELZ Productions, with their first release an internationally groundbreaking EP with cover art by Damien Hirst and the art itself as source of inspiration.

CDCC’s new EP ‘Give Me Something Vol.1’, the first of three new collections released in the coming months, explores the relationship between art and music and challenges the idea of how music is created. The full album acts as a continuation of Damien Hirst's project ‘The Currency’, where he explores the concept of value through art and money. The Currency contains 10.000 unique pieces, with different titles produced by an AI generator that's been fed with some of the artist’s favourite music. The buyers of these different art pieces were left with the decision during the summer of 2022, to either keep their physical piece or to keep the NFT version of it and let the physical painting burn.

This project led to new artistic ideas for the musicians in CDCC, and the concept for the record ‘Give Me Something’ took shape. The idea is to take the titles from the burnt artworks and put them together as lyrics, thus giving them new life in a new art form -“Reborn, as songs”.

With Damien Hirst’s permission the work began in September. Damien Hirst’s artwork ‘Give Me Something’ will act as album cover for the release. The world famous artist however is no stranger to the concept of making album art with his latest involvement being in Drake’s ‘Certified Loverboy’ from 2021. CDCC is Jack, Sara and Bill Elz. A Swedish band always breaking new ground by exploring new sounds to mix with their patented brand of indie folk.

Crying Day Care Choir · The Dreams Of Alice

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Great Time - Feather - Live in Philadelphia.

Great Time doesn't want to fit in a box. Living up to their name, the band just wants to have a great time making music that they love. Tired of being advised to "pick a lane" by some of their industry peers, Great time set out to create music that celebrates their wide-ranging sound, incorporating genres from synth-pop and electronic to jazz, punk, rock and R&B.

Prior to the first single, 80z Slo Jam, on the upcoming album Live In Phildelphia, their most recent releases are a series of EPs titled “Sounds Like ____”. The band had the idea to turn the EP titles into a Mad Libs type of game "so that someone could put their own adjective or descriptor for the EP in the blank space," explains singer/multi-instrumentalist Jill Ryan. The projects explore some of the different sounds and styles that influence Great Time. “Some people thought [our 2018 debut LP] 'Great Album' was all over the place, so with the ‘Sounds Like’ series, we decided to lean even further into our multi-genre tendencies and place the option of categorizing or putting us in a box on the listener.”

True to their vision, each EP carries a different sound. On Vol. 1, Great Time create a blissed out atmosphere, with R&B and neo-soul melodies. For Vol. 2, the band zones in on its electronic and pop influences, creating a livelier soundscape that feels ripe for dancing. Whereas Vol. 3 shows a guitar-heavy, more traditionally rock-influenced side to the three-piece group, with individual tracks ranging from punk to acoustic folk.

With their "Sounds Like _____" EP series completed, Great Time's next project is a live album that features the new material, allowing existing fans and new listeners who haven't had the opportunity to see them perform yet enjoy how the band stunningly transforms their songs for live performances. Great Time are so excited to be sharing "Feather (Little Dragon Cover)" ,  the next single from this project is just out.

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MF Tomlinson - The End of the Road.

London-based, Brisbane/Meanjin-born singer-songwriter MF Tomlinson releases his new single "The End Of The Road" - the third track from his upcoming second album We Are Still Wild Horses, out 17th February 2023 via PRAH Recordings (Falle Nioke, the Umlauts, Pozi).

‘The End Of The Road’ is a magical realist hymn for the end of the world. A paean to community and culture - celebrating the hope of humanity in the face of the hopelessness of the human race.

Inspired by his memories of the Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion protests of 2019, Tomlinson’s song plays like a vivid dream in which all ‘the people like me and you’ (those who believe in justice for human beings and the rest of the natural world) convene to enjoy the apocalypse in unison – traveling from Trafalgar Square to the bucolic vista of End Of The Road festival in Dorset, one of the last transcendent communal experiences he had before the onset of the pandemic.

With ‘Last Waltz’ arrangements and luminous vocal imbuements from frequent collaborator Connie Chatwin, Tomlinson verbally paints this paradise under silvery starlight. Protesters and friends all gathered together, crooning with open hearts - at peace with the coming darkness that they know will sweep them away to whatever awaits on the other side. It’s a breathtaking vision of the human spirit, filled with love, compassion and beauty until the very last breath. In that same breath, it's an impassioned protest song - a statement of defiance from a crowd of people to those in power:

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