Moving Into Tucson - Sofia Sampaio - Lupus J - Ruth Lyon - Alison Clancy

Moving Into Tucson - People Of The World (Album).

Indie Rock formation Moving Into Tucson is back with their highly anticipated second album, People Of The World, a record that seamlessly blends melody, raw energy, and emotional depth. With 12 diverse tracks, the album moves effortlessly between upbeat Pop anthems, introspective ballads, and electrifying Rock moments.

The title track, People Of The World, is an undeniable anthem of unity, while Are You Ready sets the tone with infectious energy. Songs like Run & Hide and Heart & Soul bring heartfelt emotion, while Everybody Knows and Come On Back To Me inject an irresistible drive. From the playful charm of Stand By Me to the thought-provoking You’re Right, I'm Wrong, every track tells its own compelling story.

Whether you want to dance, reflect, or sing your heart out, People Of The World has it all. The album captures the essence of Indie Rock, melodic, catchy, and deeply moving, while pushing the boundaries with Rock influences and lyrical depth. With unforgettable hooks and dynamic arrangements, Moving Into Tucson proves once again why they are a band to watch. This is more than an album; it’s an experience. Are you ready?

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Sofia Sampaio - Better Off Bored.

We have to say this is a beautifully layered and textured song from Sofia Sampaio. Her dreamy melodic vocals are fabulously placed above a musical backdrop that builds from acoustic to something more powerful but never overwhelming, Beehive Candy love it! 

Sofia Sampaio is a 21-year-old alternative singer-songwriter blending the rich rhythms of her Brazilian roots with the emotional grit of 90s rock. Born in Brazil and raised in Texas, Sofia began writing songs at the age of seven, inspired by her musically inclined parents. At 17, she taught herself guitar and began developing her distinctive voice as a songwriter.

A transformative move to London at 18 led her to study at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, where she honed her craft and embraced music as her true path. Now based in Houston and continuing her studies in songwriting and production at Berklee Online, Sofia brings introspective lyricism and global influences to her growing body of work.

About Better Off Bored: Better Off Bored is the dreamy, emotionally charged debut single from alternative singer-songwriter Sofia Sampaio. Blending ambient rock textures with intimate storytelling, the track explores the push-pull of infatuation and emotional detachment through spacious chords, raw lyrics, and ethereal melodies. Inspired by personal confusion and vulnerability, Sofia captures the bittersweet realization that sometimes, solitude feels safer than obsession.

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Lupus J - Beautiful Smile.

Beautiful Smile gently works it's way into our day, with soft yet refined and definitive vocals, whilst the flowing soundtrack ebbs and flows adding depth and an engaging atmosphere, this is one very fine song.

Behind Lupus J. we find Jan Nilsson, a songwriter who bases his songs on melodies. We asked him about his music and got this fantastic answer back: "The most important thing for me is that the melody is felt in the heart. My music is straightforward and actually quite simple.

What I strive for is that the music should convey joy and other positive emotions. Then whether it's pop, rock or whatever you want to call the genre - it doesn't matter much. The reason I make music is because it's fun. The creation itself is so fun.

It has also become a way for me to disconnect from everyday life. I dream in the form of music. What sparked my interest in music from the very beginning, a long time ago, was Deep Purple. Today, it's still the melodies of the 80s that inspire me!"

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Photo - Sel Maclean

Ruth Lyon - Perfect.

Newcastle indie-folk singer-songwriter Ruth Lyon just released her new single ‘Perfect’. Released today alongside a new video directed by Sel Maclean, 'Perfect' is the latest compelling glimpse of Lyon's forthcoming debut album 'Poems & Non-Fiction' - out 13th June on Pink Lane Records and available to pre-order here. The track follows earlier singles ‘Books’ and ‘Wickerman’.

Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding), 'Poems & Non-Fiction' draws on influences from Adrienne Lenker, Fiona Apple, and Moondog, combining analogue textures and angular indie-folk sensibilities. Lyon’s songwriting gives as much weight to silence as to sound, with poetic nuance and muscular understatement. Her voice floats between the abstract, the archetypal, and raw vulnerability, inviting the listener to both reach out and dig deep.

New single ‘Perfect’ is the album’s most pop-adjacent moment: a sharp indie-pop that critiques the cult of curated living. The sardonic hook: “Isn’t it all so perfect / Sundays were made for worship”, sits uneasily against Lyon’s deadpan admission: “my skin is crawling / I want to shout.” As the production closes in during the middle eight, her voice sounds buried beneath the surface: “I can’t leave.”

On the release of 'Perfect', Ruth said: “It’s about how modern life traps us in a toxic pursuit of perfection – we’re all celebrities of our own life, worshipping at the altar of our egos. It’s kind of infected us all, I think. The perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect health and a perfect body flaunting perfect hair/skin/tits/bum blah blah blah.”

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Alison Clancy - The Valley.

Alison Clancy's haunting new track reflects the questions and ambiguities that just keep coming. Co-written and co-produced with Stephen Masucci of The Lost Patrol and engineered by Larry Alexander (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Diana Ross), the single is an expansive soundscape that shimmers with the melodic nostalgia of a rainy day, laced with a twinge of foreboding strangeness. 

Clancy's voice sounds fragile as it drifts along the razor's edge between vulnerability and power. Are her words questions or statements? Tension hums like a storm on the horizon, but pain, pleasure and release are washed over with piano cascading into misted fantasy.
 
A multi-gifted artist, when she’s not weaving adventurous sounds, Alison is busy dancing with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where she wrote this song in the basement rehearsal rooms. Alison Clancy released her IPR debut, 3-song EP Mutant Gifts in 2022. Composed and recorded when Clancy was invited to live as an artist in residence in St. John’s Church in NYC’s West Village, the EP was mixed by Noah Georgeson (producer for artists such as Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart). Of Mutant Gifts, Backseat Mafia said it’s “expansive, avant-garde, brooding, it’s a helluva way to announce your arrival.”

Independent Project Records (IPR) and singer-songwriter Alison Clancy announced that her latest single, “The Valley,” is released this week via MRI & Proper Music to all digital music platforms.

Alison Clancy · The Valley

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Gwenno - Josienne Clarke - Lou-Adriane Cassidy - The Slackers

Gwenno - War.

'War' is the brand new single from Gwenno's new album 'Utopia.'which is set for release on July 11th, 2025. Having released three albums in Welsh and Cornish, 'Utopia' is Gwenno Saunders’ first album recorded predominantly in English, and presents a very different side to her life and songwriting.

Forty-three years into her life, Saunders has been many people. The disaffected Cardiff schoolgirl; the teenage Las Vegas dancer; the singer in indie pop group The Pipettes. There was a turn in a Bollywood film, a nightclub tour, a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton; of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness and chaos.

'Utopia', Saunders’ fourth solo album, is an extraordinary exploration of all of these selves. If the singer regards her first three solo records — 2014’s Y Dydd Olaf, 2018’s Le Kov and 2022’s Tresor as “childhood records”, rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then Utopia captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone’s daughter and becoming someone’s wife and someone’s mother. They range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, via contributions from Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, and encompass William Blake, a favourite Edrica Huws poem, and the Number 73 bus. It is her finest work to date.

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Josienne Clarke - Tiny Bird’s Lament.

Critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist Josienne Clarke announces her raw and intimate new album Far From Nowhere, due out this autumn via Corduroy Punk. Alongside the album announcement, Clarke shares the first single ‘Tiny Bird’s Lament’, a haunting, minimalist track recorded direct to tape in a remote Scottish cabin. The single offers the first glimpse into the stripped-back sound and emotional clarity that define the new record.

The album will be accompanied by a short film titled Deluded, directed by Alec Bowman_Clarke, offering a candid, behind-the-scenes portrait of the album’s creation. Currently screening at festivals, the film will be shown throughout Clarke’s UK tour this October - full dates now announced - before its general release on November 30th.

Long admired for her crystalline voice and unflinching lyrical gaze, Clarke has always had an ability to evoke a communal melancholy. But with this LP, recorded at a remote Scottish cabin, she’s achieved the feat of stripping away the barriers between artist and listener. What emerges is a record of remarkable intimacy and integrity as Clarke embraces stillness and vulnerability. She sought total isolation but ended up creating something even more profoundly connective.

Also born of practical constraint, Far From Nowhere is a natural step and defiant response to the logistical and emotional tolls of trying to eke out a living in the music industry in 2025. “Making music today, for me, often feels like an exercise in retreat,” Clarke says. “The structure of the industry slowly suffocates the spirit of artists, starving them of the self-esteem that comes from remuneration for a job well done, so retreating to a cabin in the woods to make my album made sense.”


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Lou-Adriane Cassidy - Triste Animal (Album)

Yesterday, fresh off the critical acclaim of her last project, Journal d’un loup-garou, Canadian singer-songwriter Lou-Adriane Cassidy returns with a bold and unexpected follow-up: Triste Animal. A raw, genre-defying album recorded entirely live to tape with zero edits, the album arrives just three months after her previous release, and marks a daring turn toward spontaneity and artistic freedom.

While wrapping up Journal d’un loup-garou, an album celebrated in Quebec for its cinematic scale and theatrical live shows, Cassidy found herself craving something looser, more instinctive. "After two years of deep focus on that project, I just needed to let go," she explains. That urgency led to Triste Animal: eight songs captured live over four days by eight musicians, with no overdubs or polish. The only exception? A guitar solo on “Adieu”, because, as Cassidy puts it, “our guitarist couldn’t make it that day.”

The result is a stripped-down, emotionally potent record that foregrounds Cassidy’s mesmerizing voice and sharp compositional instincts. Backed by some of Quebec’s top musicians (Alexandre Martel, Thierry Larose, Vincent Gagnon, PE Beaudoin), and with vocal arrangements crafted and sung alongside her longtime collaborators Odile Marmet-Rochefort, Ariane Roy, and Lysandre Ménard, the album captures lightning in a bottle: real-time performances that breathe and bleed.

Stylistically, Triste Animal is Cassidy’s most eclectic effort yet, weaving together threads of folk, soul, West Coast country, chamber pop, samba, jazz, and even traces of acoustic grunge. Tracks like “Tout le monde dans autour” (penned by filmmaker-musician Stéphane Lafleur) showcase heart-wrenching tenderness, while the brooding intensity of “Adieu” and the driving, dissonant “Valse frustrée” highlight her dynamic vocal range and emotional grit.

Lou-Adriane Cassidy · Triste Animal

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The Slackers - My Last Star.

New York City’s longtime ska/reggae legends The Slackers have released their newest single “My Last Star,” now available everywhere fine records are sold as a 12” UV Printed Single from Pirates Press Records.

“My Last Star” began as a dream that Greg Lee of Los Angeles’s Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and released it into the world.

Now that the song is finally out for all to hear, and The Slackers, along with a team of close associates head up by writer/direct Pat Byrne, have crafted a poignant music video to accompany this beautiful collaboration with - and tribute to - their longtime friend.

The Slackers are currently stationed in the Los Angeles County area, where they are gearing up to perform five shows in six nights from May 7th through the 11th. These shows in Hepcat’s hometown will function as the record release for “My Last Star,” and they will be playing the song every night.

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The Northern Territories - Seasurfer - Frankie Wesson

Photo - Chris Ruiz

The Northern Territories - Arizona.

The Northern Territories reveal the final advance single 'Arizona', which is taken from the forthcoming new full-length "A Star in Orbit Still". The fourth album of the Swedish melancholic synth duo has been chalked up for release on May 23, 2025.

The Northern Territories comment: "As the title suggests, this song was started in Arizona, on a road trip through the desert on the way to Mexico, while passing cities like Sedona and Tucson on the way to Puerto Peñasco, on the Gulf of California", singer Stefan Sääf writes on behalf of the duo.

"Following our return to Europe, the working title 'Arizona' remained although the song changed somewhat. The idea to start the song a cappella was a last minute thought when we were mixing the track. We had just watched Bon Iver's amazing live version of 'Heavenly Father' and that might have inspired the idea to start with only vocals."

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Seasurfer - Collapsing.

Collapsing is the first single taken from the fourth Seasurfer album Electronic Monsters, which will be released on May 30th, 2025. The main single track is a remix by M!R!M, the solo project of Jack Milwaukee, Italian producer & multi-instrumental artist based in East London. Jack is one of Seasurfer's favorite musicians and the band is very proud about the dark, hypnotic twist he gave to the track.

The single also features Dirk Knight's own Seasurfer single mix and another remix by M/A/T, the electronic music project of Matthias Bischoff, a founding member of the former Hamburg SynthPop band Cyber, who's also been active as a DJ for many years.

Collapsing is an anti-war song. Seasurfer singer Apolonia, who wrote the lyrics, recalls: "When Dirk first sent me the track, the war in Ukraine just started. It was heart breaking to see yet again another useless war, destroying innocent people’s home’s, which could also be my or your home and how it was presented on television like entertainment… 'Watching our own demise'...In the song I ask the question again and again: why?"

Electronic Monsters is the fourth Seasurfer full-length and, after the Zombies album, the second with the current Seasurfer singer Apolonia. Other guest singers can also be heard on the album: the wonderful Gloria Endres de Oliveira, a multidisciplinary visual artist from Berlin with Brazilian origins, the singers Jana Marie and Jade from Hamburg, with ethereal voices and long reverb tails.


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Frankie Wesson - This is Motion (Album).

Singer-songwriter Frankie Wesson’s third studio album ‘This is Motion’ has been years in the making. This coming-of-age record, although boasting two award-winning singles, is more than just a collection of songs. From start to finish it takes you on a journey through periods of Wesson’s life, loves, losses and coming to terms with what never was. A present theme throughout this album is nostalgia in motion, moving from time to place, visiting and revisiting memories and relationships through an older and more grounded lens.

Not only does Wesson explore time in this way through her songwriting on this record but also genre. From soft, folky, almost orchestral soundscapes in songs like Delicate and Valentines. She continues to move through her emotions leaning into country, ambient pop and heavier pop/rock sounds, showcasing her songwriting skills in a range of ways throughout.

Swansea’s Soundboard magazine described Wesson’s music as ‘timeless; appealing to fans of Fleetwood Mac and Paramore alike without compromising or diluting any of the style that makes Wesson’s music her own’.

Frankie Wesson · This Is Motion

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mokina - Chambers DeLauriers - Miko Marks

Photo - Magda Benda

mokina - mirage (EP).

Montreal-born singer-songwriter and producer mokina reveals her gorgeous, new EP ‘mirage’. The five track display of gentle, dreamy, indie-folk arrives with three previously unheard tracks; title track mirage,  ‘heartbreaker’ and ‘dont wait por mim’. See below for

The record sees mokina dive into the complexities, illusions and delusions that often surround romantic connections. It sees them pull from her experiences of wxmanhood, pushing back against the constant critique and scrutiny wxman have come to accept as the norm.  Sharing more about the EP, mokina explained: As wxmen, we’re taught to carry shame for things that are simply human—desire, detachment, choosing ourselves. These songs are about normalizing those experiences and letting go of that inner guilt. They hold space for that emotional complexity, and say, ‘It’s okay—you’re allowed to feel this.'

The new EP acts as a flawless introduction to mokina’s heartfelt lyricism and evocative melodies. She co-produced the record with Jeremy Lachance, on the scenic Portuguese coast, near her home in Ferrel, with moments of English, French and Portuguese peppered throughout the record, paying homage to worldly experiences. The album’s raw and intimate sound is brought to life through the expert mixing of fellow Montrealer Niall Mutter.  

Two of mirage’s singles; ‘true’ and ‘sinner’ have already garnered critical acclaim, earning praise for their haunting beauty and captivating narratives. The visuals accompanying the project were filmed on location by Polish videographer Magda Benda, whose cinematic direction perfectly complements the music’s themes of love, lust and loss.


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Photo - Guy Brooksbank

Chambers DeLauriers - People Gonna Talk.  

Annika Chambers & Paul DesLauriers, aka the dynamic duo Chambers DeLauriers, are excited to announce the forthcoming release of their new album, Our Time To Ride, on August 22nd via Forty Below Records. They are also pleased to share their new single, "People Gonna Talk."

Our Time to Ride, was recorded at Studio MixArt in Montreal by producer Eric Corne (John Mayall, Sugaray Rayford, Joe Louis Walker), with further recording at Eric's Forty Below Studios in L.A. and Sound Arts in Houston, TX. It blends deep blues roots, soulful R&B melodies, and riff-driven rock with heartfelt storytelling, raw emotion, and dynamic musicianship. Rounding out their sound is their touring rhythm section, Gary Davenport on bass and Sly Coulombe on drums. Keyboard duties were handled by Sasha Smith and Jesse O'Brien, horns by Mark Pender and David Ralicke, and background vocals by Corne and Nicoya Polar.
 
The basic tracks were tracked live off the floor in Montreal, capturing the raw energy and chemistry of a Chambers DesLauriers performance. "Eric made sure we were all super comfortable, and things flowed," says Paul. "We had the luxury of feeling like we were just playing live." Once the foundation was laid, lead guitar, vocals, keyboards, horns, and background vocals were layered in. Annika recalls Paul recording most of the solos for the album in one night. "He was in the zone. They were asking him if he needed to take a break, and I said, 'No, just let him keep going, he's on a roll!'"

The new single, "People Gonna Talk," is an upbeat, groove-heavy mix of country, blues, and rock 'n Roll; this track is all about staying true to yourself. With a feel-good vibe that calls for line dancing, it reflects today's judgmental world and encourages listeners to let go of the noise. Imagine Mavis Staples meets The Rolling Stones - a blend of soulful grit and rock swagger that creates an anthem for living authentically.

Chambers Deslauriers · People Gonna Talk

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Miko Marks - Let The Music Get Down In Your Soul.

Miko Marks has released “Let The Music Get Down In Your Soul” via Redtone Records. The song, originally released in 1979 by gospel great Rance Allen of The Rance Allen Group, is one of Marks’ favorites. “When I was around 16 years old in Detroit, Michigan, I was lucky enough to perform with him in a gospel play called 'Mama Don’t,'” she recalls. “This was one of my rare stage performances at that time, and to be able to sing with one of the greats in gospel music is a priceless memory. It reminds me of how music has, and always will be, a healer. As we navigate uncertainty and these tumultuous times in our country, I hope this song can be a sweet respite for the listener to retreat and find a little joy."
 
“Let The Music Get Down In Your Soul” follows Marks’ January 20th release of “Peace of Mind (Live at Feldman’s),” another hope-filled, uplifting track. “‘Peace of Mind’ reminds me to pause for my peace as I navigate my life from day to day,” she explained. “Feelings of worry, fear, anxiety, and stress can really take me to dark places where I feel overwhelmed, and sometimes I'm unable to see my way out.

This song reminds me to take time to step away, to get a larger perspective. As the world hurries and worries itself along, we're part of something bigger and more constant than our struggles, our careers, our politics,” she continued. “Right now, we feel so divided and angry as a nation. Regardless of where we fall politically, we all need to find peace of mind in place of rage, blame, and despair. When I sing this song, I am always able to find the serenity and calm that I need, and I hope the listeners are able to tap into the same. Of all the songs in my live set, this is the one most likely to draw out some of my tears, and you can hear it in this live version,” she added. “They're tears of release and hope and of gratitude for the present and for days to come.”

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