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| Photo - Artemis Szekir-Rigas |
Devon-born artist and producer Austel (Annie Rew Shaw) has shared her exquisite second record ‘Mirror To Mine’. The ten track body of work sees Austel dig deep, seeking answers and courageously excavating long-lost memories. The album is a self-produced accomplishment, released independently and mixed by the brilliant Grace Banks (English Teacher, Squid, Haim).
The album's focus single and closer ‘Coast To Coast’ is a rich offering that ruminates on a decade-long journey, which began when Austel left home. From taking bold, brave strides into music to finding a more established sense of belonging, it was written just a few months after meeting her long-term partner, as things started to fall into place. The track touches on shifting priorities and moving into a different stage of life. ‘I think I always know which songs will open and close an album, and this song, with all its themes of homecoming and both departure/arrival, felt so right to end the record - wrapping up this chapter.’ Austel shared.
The arrival of Mirror To Mine signals progression both personally and professionally for Austel. The beautifully expansive project is an acoustic-led endeavour, anchored in nylon string guitar, subtle ensemble arrangements and evocative, delicately placed field recordings. Austel’s efforts in the run up to the album haven't gone unnoticed. With support from the likes of Metal Magazine, Under The Radar, Ones To Watch, The Line of Best Fit and Clash Magazine, who flagged Austel's music as ‘charming’ and ’a space for reflection’. Single 30th Day was featured on alexrainbirdMusic’s May 2026 compilation.
Originally from Devon but now based in London, Austel brings a detail-oriented, emotionally intuitive approach to each project, with a growing portfolio spanning genres and formats. She has a first-class honours MA in Creative Music Production and was long-listed for Breakthrough Producer and Self-Producing Artist of the Year for the 2024 & 2025 MPG Awards. Austel is a member of 2% Rising (a community for female and gender-expansive producers) and an advocate for safer, more inclusive practices within the music industry.
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Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Bochner has built a reputation for sharp, emotionally charged indie-pop that cuts straight to the core. Since her debut, she’s carved out a space defined by candid lyricism and an unflinching willingness to explore the messier edges of love, identity, and self-discovery. Now, with her latest single “Happier You’re Gone (SASE)”, she enters a new chapter, one that feels both deeply personal and transformative.
At its heart, “Happier You’re Gone (SASE)” is a reckoning. Written from a place of distance and hard-won clarity, the track reframes the aftermath of heartbreak into something more introspective, and ultimately liberating. What initially reads like a breakup song reveals itself to be something more nuanced: a confrontation with the past self who stayed too long, ignored too much, or simply didn’t yet know better. For Bochner, the meaning stretches across multiple interpretations, whether that’s a past lover or a more complicated, internal goodbye, but ultimately lands as a letter of good riddance. “A post-breakup note, or a ‘see-you-never!’ to a formerly destructive self,” she explains. After finishing the song, she added “SASE” (self addressed stamped envelope) to the title as a final, knowing detail, a small piece of context for those paying closer attention.
Inspired by a vivid dream in which she encountered a previous version of herself, the song captures a striking realization: I’m happy she happened, but I’m much happier that she’s gone. It’s this duality that gives the track its resonance, balancing vulnerability with a sense of resolve. Sonically, “Happier You’re Gone (SASE)” leans into an indie-pop landscape with alternative edges, reflecting Bochner’s evolving sound. Produced by Jackson Hoffman, the track pairs its emotional weight with a textured, expansive backdrop that allows her voice, and her story, to sit front and center.
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Montreal’s Taxi Girls just returned with “Secret Handshake,” the new single and video and on Stomp Records. Following the punch of their debut “Say It,” the track offers a second look at the band’s upcoming LP Static, out June 26. If the first single kicked the door open, this one tears the walls down.
Formed in 2022, the all-female garage punk outfit has quickly carved out their place in Montreal’s underground, the kind built on packed basements, blown speakers, and nights that don’t really end so much as fade out. You can hear the city all over it, somewhere between a late-night dépanneur run, a half-crushed pack of DuMauriers, and the spill of bodies onto Saint-Laurent after last call. There’s a sense the band picked up half their moves from late-night VHS hangs, rewinding Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, digging into The Runaways, Girlschool, and Nena’s The Stripes, then running it all back louder and faster.
“Secret Handshake” reveals a softer side of Taxi Girls, showcasing the band’s sweeter and more vulnerable side. Written from a place of love and longing, the song captures the feeling of wanting a summer fling to last a bit longer than the fading season. Even when summer is over, you’ll always have your secret handshake.
The lyrics paint a picture as old as time: sharing something special with someone and wishing it could last beyond the summer. Even when time and distance make things complicated, friendship never fades, and you know you’ll always have your secret handshake. As Static takes shape, it's clear this record is not just a collection of punk songs. There is something for everyone. Loud, raw, soft, sweet, gritty - enough to make you want to pick up the phone and call an old pal or have a solo kitchen dance party on a Tuesday afternoon.
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Southern California’s A100s are a brand new band nearly a decade in the making from the core songwriting duo of Matt Hensley (accordionist of Flogging Molly) and Sean Wheeler (vocalist of Throw Rag), playing music inspired by vintage ska & reggae with a touch of Conjunto accordion.
The band has released a new music video for their second single, the title track from their debut LP Rude and Lovely, currently available for pre-order via Pirates Press Records. The LP is scheduled for release on July 10, 2026.
“Rolling through Mexico City looking out the backseat window like one hundred times before...taking in the rhythm of the city, I see a rotulo on a beauty salon’s storefront: ‘Rude and Lovely,’ hand painted to perfection,” explains Wheeler. Unable to get the phrase out of his head, he excitedly called Hensley immediately. “That's it! The perfect statement for what we had been doing musically!”
“Rude and Lovely” follows their debut single & video, for “Too Rad To Be Sad.” Regarding “Too Rad To Be Sad,” Wheeler points to it as a message of hope & resilience. He says it is about “reminding those around us to keep their heads up. Stay in the light and remind them that they are loved, appreciated, and necessary for the bright future ahead.”
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