Phantom Pink - Jasmin Wagner - Special Friend - Farveblind feat. Emmeline - The Tammy Shine - Son Little

Photo - Rachel Frichette

Phantom Pink - Czech New Wave.

Phantom Pink is the hauntingly tender alias of Los Angeles-based artist Brayton Walls, whose dark, cinematic strain of art-rock captures the beauty in emotional chaos. Blending jagged textures with dreamlike melodies, Phantom Pink’s sound is otherworldly, yet familiar. 

Originally from Las Vegas, Walls began writing songs at 10 as a way to navigate his growing pains and identity. After years of shaping his voice in DIY scenes across the West Coast, Phantom Pink has emerged with a sound uniquely bruised and beautiful

In October, he released the first single “I’m at the right place at the right time” from his forthcoming full length album Gothika (due 2026). The song - mastered by Joe LaPorta (Beabadoobee, Laufey, Future Islands) - is loosely based on the cult classic thriller, Possession (1981). This year, he follows with “Czech New Wave” (out 1/16/26) inspired by the film movement of the same name, it’s a splash of color in a black and white world.  

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Jasmin Wagner - Were You Happy Today.

Jasmin Wagner comes from Kerns in the Swiss canton of Obwalden and is releasing a catchy new single titled “Were You Happy Today.” The 23-year-old singer and songwriter didn’t just discover her love of country music today. In fact, this sound has accompanied Jasmin since childhood—alongside her second passion, besides music: flowers. How does she combine these two loves? Quite simply, as “The Singing Florist,” as she likes to call herself.

It’s therefore no surprise that ideas for songs often come to Jasmin when she’s out in nature. She loves being in the mountains and finds inspiration when moving through the fresh air amid the Alps.

Growing up with a guitar in her hand, Jasmin began performing at weddings, christenings, and celebrations at the age of 14—and for several years now, also in renowned Swiss clubs. Always with her Western guitar and her expressive voice, which truly shines in the country and folk repertoire.


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Special Friend - Breakfast.

Special Friend have become the masters of weaving elegant and sophisticated pop musical webs while staying true to their DIY roots.  The French/American duo (Guillaume on guitar and vocals, Erica on drums and vocals) manage to create a sound like no other band.  When they play live, audiences marvel at the huge, intricate structures the band construct, while falling in love with the crystal-clear vocal melodies that are threaded in between the shards of guitar and the rattle of the drums.  How can a duo achieve so much?  UK audiences will be able to ponder this question in March: Special Friend are coming over from France to do a substantial tour of the UK. 

The new album is more diverse that the last, with the high-tempo indiepop of first single ‘Breakfast’, the majestic, Yo La Tengo like dreampop of ‘Clipping’ and the country-ish, gentle, homesick melancholy of ‘Isolation’.  Final track ‘OOO’ is a bold piece of Krautrock inspired experimentation; ‘Mold’ is a beautiful slice of slowcore and opener ‘Paint A Picture’ is modern pop at its catchiest and most direct.  

‘Clipping’, the album title, refers to the discipline of pruning growth back, removing dead wood to create a perfectly shaped tree with abundant blossoms: an accurate description of the album, and of the songs that hang from its elegant branches.  The album artwork is by Erica: Special Friend are in control of every aspect of this elegant artifact.

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Photo - Noemi Kapusy

Farveblind feat. Emmeline - Natural Behaviour.

Copenhagen trio Farveblind just announced their debut album 'Micro Pleasures', will be out 15th May. Produced by Farveblind and mixed by Swedish engineer Gustav Brunn (whose credits include work with Yung Lean and Viagra Boys), the album will feature a cast of contributors and guest vocalists including Django Django, k.flay, Elliphant, USERS, Foreign Air and Emmeline. With touchstones ranging from Battles and The Chemical Brothers to Underworld and Viagra Boys, Farveblind's hard-edged brand of electronic music collides breakbeats, acid-drenched techno, punk fury, and sweeping cinematic layers. 

Their forthcoming debut album 'Micro Pleasures' pulls that punk volatility, industrial precision and widescreen electronic drama into the same gravitational field and is previewed now by new single 'Natural Behaviour', featuring London vocalist Emmeline. Built on a pulsing, subterranean groove, Emmeline’s vocal moves between shadow and clarity, circling the refrain “I’ve been waiting for a change in your natural behaviour” while the skittering instrumental tightens around her.

Speaking about the track, Emmeline says: “When the boys sent me the rough draft of this instrumental it was already so driving and epic. I wanted to write something equally dark but with a momentum and force to it that would move the song into something broadly philosophical and/or existential. The phrase ‘Natural Behaviour’ came to the fore pretty quickly, and I started to think about what that actually means. How much are we a product of the music around us? Of the people? Of the availability of light? Then I started thinking about someone waiting for someone’s natural behaviour to shift — and how that can be a pretty futile task. Maybe the song exists in a club at the ends of the earth, where we’re all questioning why the grass grows upwards, why the bassline hits harder when the beat drops, why we punish the earth for what it gives us — and how some patterns are hard to break.”

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The Tammy Shine - So Very Little.

Just released the new solo single and video So Very Little by indiepop legend and lifer Tammy Ealom of the band Dressy Bessy. It's been 6 years since the last Dressy Bessy album, but this time Tammy is back under a new name The Tammy Shine with an album she wrote, recorded, and mixed all herself. It doesn't stop there as she also shot all the promo photos, made the videos, and did all the album artwork and packaging. This was her first time in full control of an album from start to finish. 

Set for release on February 20, 2026, Ok Shine Ok finds the perfect home on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records (HHBTM), a label known for championing idiosyncratic and authentic indie pop. The album title itself serves as a mantra—an affirmation of positivity amidst the chaos, a nod to the "shine" Tammy has always brought to her visual art and stage persona.

Fans of Dressy Bessy will still find the undeniable hooks and melodic sensibilities that are Ealom’s trademark. However, they will also discover a new depth—a vulnerability that comes from the singular approach and the confidence of a woman who has lived through the changing tides of the music industry and emerged even stronger.

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Jasmin Valcarcel Photography

Son Little - Be Better.

Son Little has announced ‘Cityfolk’, his fourth album and first since 2022. Although Little is often placed in the category of “roots musician”, ‘Cityfolk’ defies genre and lets the evocation of his storytelling pierce through. “The industry likes to keep artists in little boxes, and for Black artists it has meant being defined by your proximity to ‘urban,’” Little admits. “But my music has always had flashes of country, rock and folk, as well as hip-hop, blues and R&B. So I've always struggled as an artist who kind of, I think, lives in the spaces between genres.” 

With today’s album announcement comes 'Be Better', a track that is perfectly apt for the start of a new year. A song about release, resilience, and the quiet power of self-belief, 'Be Better' sheds the weight of old stories and broken expectations, trading despair for movement and renewal; it’s a hymn for transformation, challenging anyone ready to leave the past behind to step forward, even when the road ahead is dark. 
 
Now living outside of Atlanta, Livingston attributes the development of ‘Cityfolk’ to going even further south to record in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in January 2025. It was there that Little connected with Ben Tanner, a two-time Grammy-winning musician, Alabama Shakes band member and producer of St. Paul & The Broken Bones, John Paul White, Foy Vance and more, to flesh out sketches of songs that he’d crafted through epiphanies about his family’s roots. Already having an understanding of his father’s side, Little views his maternal line as a “mystery unfolding,” but it was in Shoals that the stars aligned, both through retracing his history and formulating an organic chemistry with Tanner.

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The Tammy Shine - The James Hunter Six - ARK IDENTITY - Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer - The Promise - Argyro

The Tammy Shine - Junk Mail.

Indiepop legend Tammy Ealom of Dressy Bessy fame debuts the new solo project and single / video Junk Mail under the name The Tammy Shine. 

On February 20, 2026, one of indie rock’s most enduring and vibrant figures will reintroduce herself to the world. Tammy Ealom, best known as the snarling frontwoman and creative force behind Denver’s legendary Dressy Bessy, presents her debut solo album The Tammy Shine, Ok Shine Ok. Released via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records (HHBTM), the album marks a pivotal moment in Ealom’s three-decade career. Ok Shine Ok is the first time she has taken complete command—writing, performing, engineering, producing, and mixing the record entirely on her own.

The Tammy Shine presents a collection of songs that are as gritty as they are glossy, embodying the DIY ethos that has defined her life since childhood. Ealom’s songwriting on Ok Shine Ok is a masterclass in blending disparate genres, a skill she developed through her father’s eclectic record collection. Her first personal purchase was Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, a polished masterpiece of pop production.

Seeing her enthusiasm, her father gifted her a stack of vinyl that included the album Hang On Sloopy by The McCoys. Perhaps the most compelling narrative of Ok Shine Ok is Tammy’s role as the technical architect of the album. In an industry where female artists are often assumed to be just the "voice" or the "face," she has quietly become a formidable studio engineer.

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The James Hunter Six - Here And Now.

This week, The James Hunter Six shares the dreamy new single "Here And Now," arguably the most beautiful tune on the band's new album Off The Fence, which releases on January 16 with Easy Eye Sound. A moving song written for his wife, Jessie Perez Huntsman, "Here And Now" showcases Hunter's ability to conjure up his own musical atmospherics as a guitar player, with his lilting, evocative fretwork recalling the great instrumentalists of the ’60s. 

James Hunter on the new single: "I first got talking to Jessie at a gig I was playing in New York. A year later she came to a show in Wilmington. We struck up a friendship, stayed in contact and had our first date in Jamaica, NY after I had played in New York with Van Morrison. She drove from her cousin's wedding in New Jersey to meet me, and we hung out for a couple of days before I had to fly home. She dropped me off at JFK, and I checked in while she looked for a parking spot. It took her a long time to find one, and the departure time was getting closer. With perfect timing, just as I was reluctantly making my way to the departure gate, she threw herself at me from behind in a frantic rugby tackle. We embraced, and I saw a tear in her eye. I told her I loved her, something I'd never done on a first date. And I've felt that way ever since. This song's about her."  

British singer, songwriter and GRAMMY-nominated James Hunter has been a legendary fixture in the scene for over three decades, with MOJO dubbing him “The United Kingdom’s Greatest Soul Singer." His eleventh studio album delivers another dose of timeless rhythm & soul, marking 40 years since his recording debut. Featuring twelve self-penned gems, each song is delivered with Hunter’s customary blend of smooth vocal control coupled with heart-worn grit and wit. The band has already shared two singles, including the infectious blues blaster “A Sure Thing” and a rare duet with legendary Irish singer Van Morrison called "Ain't That A Trip." 

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ARK IDENTITY - Falling Apart.

Toronto indie pop artist ARK IDENTITY (Noah Mroueh) returns with "Falling Apart," a late-night anthem that captures the ache of modern heartbreak in the digital age. Built around a heartbeat-on-the-edge pulse, the track unfolds with hypnotic layers of synth, reverb-soaked guitar, and ARK IDENTITY's signature ethereal vocal delivery – a sonic mirror of what it feels like to come undone through a screen.

"We all experience heartbreak at least once in our lives," Noah shares. "The song's lyrics were inspired by modern-day breakups that mostly unfold through screens and text messages. In some ways, it's a reflection of how people can grow apart in the digital age."

Originally titled "On My Cell Phone," the song evolved into "Falling Apart" – a title that felt truer to its emotional weight. Recorded in a single session, the song came together almost effortlessly. "It just poured out," Noah explains. ""One of those rare days where every sound seems to find its place before you have time to overthink it. The rhythm section gives it a heartbeat-on-the-edge pulse that ties the whole track together."

The production choices were intentionally imperfect. The choruses carry a low rumble – almost like interference – that mirrors the experience of losing connection both literally and emotionally. "I didn't want it to sound too clean; heartbreak isn't clean," Noah adds. "It's messy, blurry, and human."

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Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer - Some Other Stories (Album).
  
We are really pleased to feature Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer. They tell us "Music doesn’t need to raise its voice to be powerful" and describe their sound as "gently harmonised voices and palette of fingerpicked acoustic and shimmering electric guitars" This is musically everything they want to say, and I have to say it is absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes talent can excel quietly, this is a case in point! 

Melanie and Ross began playing together when Melanie was bitten by the songwriting bug and began to play her songs live. Ross – also a songwriter and veteran of many folk and roots bands – sat in on guitar and started to sing some harmonies. Before they knew it, their personal partnership was also a musical partnership. Since then, they’ve released an EP, Away from the City, a debut album, Quiet After Midnight, and now Some Other Stories, their second full-length record as a duo.

Produced and largely recorded at their South London home, Some Other Stories contains 11 self-written songs and one arrangement of a traditional. Drawing on influences from Fairport Convention to Elliott Smith, it pushes the themes they explored on Quiet After Midnight into new territory. The songs contemplate the connections we make with each other and what happens when those connections break down. They examine the people we are and how we become those people. They look at the past with a kind eye and to the future with cautious optimism.

While handling the majority of instruments between themselves, Melanie and Ross brought in a team of exceptional players to add light and shade to their songs, including Adam Beattie and Colin Somervell on double bass, Basia Bartz on violin, Nick Frater on piano and Hammond organ, and Ben Handysides on cello. Ross’s Great Days of Sail bandmates Yo Zushi and Russell Parton also feature in the choir on the traditional ballad Our Captain Cried All Hands. Jon Clayton recorded some of these musicians, and Dave Milligan mastered the album. These wonderful people helped Melanie and Ross to tell their stories.

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The Promise - The Last Drop.

This is a sensitive and very touching song from The Promise who tell us "Love is hard. Despite the best efforts of the couple it doesn’t always work out. The grief may last a lifetime. This song is about reaching the final stages of that grief – when all that’s left is the last drop."

Artist Background - We are a folk rock indie band formed in 2025 to carry forward our collective love of music and of making music together. 

Andrew Curran (songwriter and vocalist) is also a paediatric neurologist with 38 years experience working at the front line of the NHS. Flo, Julia and Aiden are rising stars in the folk scene in the South West (England) with numerous appearances throughout the region including Glastonbury festival. Noah and Fraser are established musician and producers in the Manchester area. Noah is also Andrew’s son.

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Argyro - Lifeline.

Multi-instrumentalist, charting songwriter, and featured actor Scott Argiro, known musically as Argyro, releases his brand-new single and official music video “Lifeline” today Friday, December 5th. The song marks the final release of an exceptionally strong year for Argyro—one that has seen him expand his presence across music, film, and entertainment.

“Lifeline,” originally featured on Argyro’s acclaimed album Glitterati, stands out as one of his most emotionally resonant and lyrically urgent works. Built on themes of unity, compassion, and human connection, the track showcases Argyro’s hallmark multi-instrumental performance—drums, bass, keys, guitars, vocals—and his instinct for blending introspective songwriting with cinematic pop soundscapes. The accompanying music video, also premiering December 5th, visually amplifies the song’s message with a bold, heartfelt narrative that reflects the tension and hope embedded in the lyrics.

Argyro’s 2025 has been marked by continued chart accomplishments, with multiple tracks from Glitterati landing international airplay and streaming traction. His music’s blend of melodic pop, rhythmic pulse, and thoughtful lyricism has drawn comparisons to artists like John Mayer, Rob Thomas, and Chris Isaak, while firmly establishing Argyro as a standout voice with a sound all his own.

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