Monday, 9 June 2025

Worn Through - Walter The Producer


Photo - Ilenia Triplett
Worn Through - Everything's Different Now.

Baltimore's Worn Through have just shared a video for "Everything Is Different Now" from their debut LP, Barely Real. Worn Through is a band that feels like a late-night conversation with an old friend, someone you know who has been through the fire and has come out the other side wiser, somehow kinder. Raw and honest, they let you behind the curtain to hear what they’ve kept guarded for so long, revealing the sting of lost loves, regrets of tender recklessness and those small, fleeting moments that carry the weight of the world.
 
Each song sung like unmailed postcards scattered on a living room floor, telling stories with beautifully entangled melodies and hopeful, yet melancholy guitars; picked like a petal with sophisticated twang. Driven between dash-lines by a reliable rhythm section that flows down the dark interstate of infinite time. Each player protecting the delicate flame that may have once burned them, but now invites them to find and keep peace.
 
Comprised of former members of Tin Armor, Angel Du$t, Wild Honey and Saintseneca, these kindred spirits have lived a life of rock n’ roll, only to realize that the road is “a goddamn impossible way of life,” echoing the parting sentiment of the original Band. At some point without noticing, their impulsive, roaming days had reached the end of the line, allowing them now to handle with care the opportunity to begin again, together in Baltimore, Maryland.
 
Immediately, with the release of their debut album, Barely Real (via Strange View Records/Just Because Records on June 20), they have found their sound, and harnessed the collective ache of lost time like car wheels down a gravel road. Yet, for all their introspection, there’s a quiet strength in their music, a sense that even in the face of heartbreak and uncertainty, there’s beauty to be found.


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Photo - Angel Orozco
Walter The Producer - Modern Rock (EP).

Walter The Producer continues to blaze musical trails with the release of his highly anticipated new EP, Modern Rock, out now. A soul-stirring sonic joyride through an array of genres, the six-track project showcases Walter The Producer’s signature blend of heartfelt storytelling and genre-bending production.
 
Modern Rock features the dramatically spacey new single, “Lonely Cowboy,” which Walter The Producer crafted with his collaborator, Alex Beitzke, during a whirlwind recording session last Spring.
 
“I came up with his guitar riff, and we built the song around that,” shares Walter The Producer. “Then, a couple of months later, we got back together and re-recorded everything in a key higher. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix. So, I was definitely inspired by Hendrix. But also, by AC/DC and Brent Faiyaz’s song called ‘L.A.’”
 
Part indie, part soul, part fever dream, Modern Rock is fully Walter The Producer, who has been heralded as everything from “a psychedelic architect” to “borderlessly creative” by outlets like Pigeons & Planes and GLIDE Magazine. Ones To Watch describes the EP as “an effervescent thrill ride through many shades of rock.” In addition to “Lonely Cowboy,” Modern Rock features previously released singles “Little Lies,” “I’d Know,” “Tell Me Again,” “Bad Bad Man,” and “Roadtrip.” 


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Sunday, 8 June 2025

Staci Gruber - Victoria Akua - VANNGO - Rosin

Staci Gruber - Be Kind With My Heart.

Staci Gruber is a transformative Boston-based artist whose exceptional musical talents, storied songwriting, and emotional depth resonate deeply with her listeners. Her work seamlessly intertwines personal experiences with the emotional stories of others, creating a profound musical connection that explores themes of isolation, loneliness, and hope.

While her musical career flourished as a vocalist, Staci also achieved distinction in a completely separate field as a renowned Harvard Medical School professor and pioneering neuroscientist at McLean Hospital. In her groundbreaking work on cannabis, she focuses on understanding the long term impact of cannabinoids across a wide range of conditions. Staci’s research has been a game-changer, generating real-world data that has influenced clinical trials and provided critical insights into the potential benefits of cannabis for various medical conditions.

Staci Gruber’s new country meets Americana single "Be Kind With My Heart" was recorded in Nashville and produced by Erik Halbig (Ty Herndon, Jamie O'Neal). The emotive and gorgeous ballad tackles the aftermath of betrayal or infidelity and the reletable emotions that ensue. She shares, "Each one of us experiences so much throughout our lives- joy, sorrow, love, loss. They help to define us and allow us to evolve. We’ve all been heartbroken and felt betrayed, wondering if we’ll make it through. Be Kind With My Heart echoes the sentiment that no matter what role we play in lost love, kindness is key". 


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Photo - Camilla Vodstrup Øverup
Victoria Akua - Move with the Wind.

Move with the Wind is the new single by Victoria Akua from Copenhagen, Denmark. Victoria describes her music as a genre mix of indie pop, folky singer-songwriter and meditative music. Victoria Akua on her new single: "While creating this song, I felt like I was singing myself into a very soft and restful state. For me, Move with the Wind has become a song for calming the nervous system and to gently drop from the head into the heart."

Victoria's music is based on her own journey, which began at a young age, searching for more balance and a deeper peace and understanding within herself. In a hectic world where it is so easy to be pulled in many directions, she wants to find ways to stay centered with an open heart in the hope that her music can support others on their own paths. The intention of the music is to have a nourishing, calming and healing effect. 

Music that comes from the heart and that reflects and creates inner peace, trust and self-love - and connects us. Her music is inspired by the rhythms and cycles of nature, healthy and nurturing connections between people and creating spaces for expression, creativity and loving energy. Through the simplicity of the music, the listener is invited directly into a calm cocoon where breathing becomes deeper and the mind can rest.


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VANNGO - Hunger For Love.

After his first two singes that carved out a uniquely raspy voice equal parts cinematic and unapologetic, indie rocker VANNGO returns with his emotionally charged release: “Hunger For Love.” This new single doesn’t beg for attention, it kicks the door in and invites you to feel something. Set against a smoky backdrop of harmonica and Rhodes keys, Hunger For Love opens like a confession and lands like a collision. Gritty guitars, thunderous drums, and VANNGO’s unmistakable vocal worn, raw, and magnetic cut through the noise.

“This isn’t a heartbreak song,” VANNGO says. “It’s about what comes before that gnawing, restless ache to be understood, to be felt, to matter to someone, to be part of a community. That hunger that either wakes you up or wears you down.” There’s nothing overly polished here. Hunger For Love isn’t trying to sound perfect. It’s trying to sound real. It’s a shot of bourbon chased with fire. It’s restrained and explosive all at once.

VANNGO’s voice is entirely his own. The track doesn’t ride genre trends. It builds its own lane equal parts analog heat and emotional weight. A Rhodes keyboard hums in the hook, adding warmth and tension. The harmonica, featured in the opening bars, acts more like a character than a flourish. Every sonic choice points back to the core theme: a deep, human craving for connection.


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Photo - Talia Zanger
Rosin - just a boy.

Rosin reveals her sweet, sonic love letter ‘just a boy’ Gentle and intimate, Rosin returns with a full heart after finding love unexpectedly. Stripped back production brings her vocals to the forefront as she shares her new found connection. Sharing more Rosin explained: ‘I fell in love with someone while I was travelling and shortly after I found myself in a long-distance relationship.

It had been so long since I experienced being in love so strongly and it made me romanticise everything! (which I think is necessary to cope with the distance). I just found it so fascinating that we are in different countries, having different lives, speaking different languages but that we still share this bond with each other, that makes us want to be together, even if we are apart.’

As a self-confessed romantic, Rosin finds much of her musical inspiration through matters of the heart. Taking inspiration from the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Adrienne Lenker, Rosin has evolved her emotive songwriting to embrace the vulnerable moments that many people spend their lives running from. Last year listeners were treated to ‘Intention’ a delicate track that displayed the beauty found in the more temporary moments of intimacy. More recently saw the release of ‘Nest’ which took shape as a charming, starry-eyed keepsake depicting the joy of instinctive love.

As a daughter of two visual artists, Rosin’s upbringing in Berlin was rich in creativity. In more recent years she relocated to London via Brighton to pursue her music career. This has seen her sound evolve into a style that is authentically her own. Her enchanting sound toes a line between folk, indie and experimental pop moments with flecks of electronica.


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Saturday, 7 June 2025

Splitsville - Amanda DeBoer Bartlett - Tooth Gore - Heavenly - At Baron Lane

Splitsville - Beth Steel.

“They're burning down the empire, but the trains still run on time”: that's the brash opening couplet on Splitsville's new single, and it's guaranteed to turn a few heads. Equally arresting is the sound of the new song, with churning guitars joined by a loping, Revolver-esque drumbeat leading up to a lush, yearning chorus (“You can't run away from yourself”) and a bridge to die for. 

It's clear that the band hasn't reunited for the sake of nostalgia, although their legacy would allow for that: formed in 1994 by identical twins Brandt and Matt Huseman of the beloved power pop band The Greenberry Woods along with former GBW guitar tech Paul Krysiak and later adding Tony Waddy, Splitsville was one of the leading lights of the turn-of-the-century guitar pop revival. From their home-recorded debut through 2003, their initial run yielded five critically acclaimed albums including genre classics like Repeater(1998) and the retro-focused concept record The Complete Pet Soul(2001). 

They've been missed, but the audacity of the new single indicates that Splitsville have returned not only with their melodic gifts and powerful sonics intact, but with heady new ambitions. The title “Beth Steel” might suggest a classic power pop “girl's name” song, but there's much more at work here. And while the talk of burning empires evokes the global realities of 2025, there's something much more local –and personal –at the core of the song. 

It's a hint of the thematic concerns the band explore on the forthcoming album, as they explain: “From 1887 to 2012, the Bethlehem Steel mill at Sparrows Point provided steady -if dangerous -work for tens of thousands of men and women. The closing of the mill had a devastating effect on the lives of many residents of Baltimore, including a former supervisor who was Brandt’s Uber driver one evening. She inspired the lyrics to this song.”

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Amanda DeBoer Bartlett - Braided Together (Album).

Braided Together is Amanda DeBoer Bartlett’s second collection of original songs. Blending her roots in country, folk, classical, and experimental music, the album delves into Bartlett’s childhood in Nebraska, her life as a young musician on the road, and the transformations of early motherhood. 

The songs pay tribute to gas stations and cheap motels, embrace the chaotic sweetness of raising babies, and contemplate reckless escapes into the clouds. With powerful and expressive vocals, Bartlett brings these themes to life through intricately crafted songs, recorded with Taylor Hales at the legendary Electrical Audio and performed by some of Chicago’s most admired players in the folk, jazz, and indie rock scenes. Amanda’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Bandcamp Daily, I Care If You Listen, and more.

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Tooth Gore - For Losers, By Losers (Album).

Brit surf punk artist, Tooth Gore, released his explosive sophomore album, For Losers, By Losers, on Friday 6th June. TOOTH GORE (aka Kobi Joe) is a supremely talented and exciting surf punk solo artist hailing from the seaside town of Newquay, Cornwall. Tooth Gore sprung to life in late 2021, but it wasn’t until last year that Kobi started turning heads and making waves.

By meshing gutsy fuzzed up guitars and taking in the emotive raw punk energy of modern acts such as Fidlar, The Frights, PUP and Jeff Rosenstock, Kobi Joe also blends in hooky reverb drenched doo-wop vibes (which are inspired by the music of the 1950s) and has crafted a sound that is unique and absolutely engaging. Kobi’s lyrics channel his uncertainties and anxieties, capturing both the joy and terror that comes with youth. The end result is something deeply alluring, passionate and cathartic.

Tooth Gore dropped his debut album, Halloween, last Spring, and tracks from the record picked up widespread global radio airplay (including support from BBC Introducing), as well as hearty Spotify streaming numbers. The single, Werms, was also featured on a curated playlist by Frank Turner. Kobi is now ready to step up further and is loaded with his best work to date in the shape of his new album, For Losers, By Losers. The record is poised to be a game changer for Tooth Gore. From back to front, the album twists and contorts and is such an accomplished piece of work. Kobi remarks: “For Losers, By Losers, was inevitable, it was necessary for me as a person, it's a step up in every way from everything I’ve ever worked on before. It also taught me so much about myself as a person and has been an expression of all the bad stuff that goes on in my head all the time. I’ve really found myself as an artist and can’t wait for people to hear what I’ve got in store.”

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Heavenly - Portland Town.

It’s been a long time coming – 29 years in fact – but influential indiepop band Heavenly are releasing a new single. (A full album will follow in February 2026.) Portland Town is as effervescent a pop song as any of Heavenly’s past recordings, with duelling vocals from Amelia and Cathy; looping, twanging, ‘how-did-he-do-that’ guitar escapades from Peter, and a super-catchy melody. As so often with Heavenly, though, the lyrics have real bite.  

The song embraces those who find themselves on the margins of a hostile world where maleness, straightness and conformity are in the ascendant.  So why Portland?  It has always been a sanctuary – one of those places where difference is celebrated, a place where, as the song puts it, anyone can fit in.

The B side is a cover version of a much-loved Only Ones song, ‘Someone Who Cares’. Copies of the 7” single will be available with a special signed postcard at Heavenly’s only show of 2025, at Islington Assembly Hall, London on 19th July, as part of the Skep Wax Weekender.

Heavenly formed in 1989 out of the ashes of short-lived punk pop combo Talulah Gosh.  Original members Amelia Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff, Rob Pursey and Mathew Fletcher were joined later by Cathy Rogers, and the full Heavenly sound - a combination of an energetic punkish rhythm section, sweet, wandering lead guitar lines and full-on girl group harmonies - was consolidated. The band recorded for cult label Sarah Records in the UK and, by the time of their second album, for K Records in the US.  


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At Baron Lane - Future-Men.

Just a few bars of the playful indie-pop song "Future-Men" are enough to bring back fond memories: New Radicals, A-Ha, Tears for Fears, Eurythmics... These bands may have inspired At Baron Lane on this track. And they give a hint as to what makes the new single from the Zurich and Schwyz-based band so special: clever arrangements, airy electro beats, and partly multi-voice vocals, all woven into atmospheric synth sounds.

A track like this isn't just written on a whim. A glance at At Baron Lane’s history helps explain it: Since their debut album in 2019, the band has continuously refined their songwriting with numerous releases – and successfully tested them live at countless concerts. The quartet has already performed at venues such as Schüür in Lucerne, Amboss Rampe, and Werk21 at Dynamo Zurich.

Now, At Baron Lane have set their sights high: "Future-Men" is the first taste of a concept album to be released later this year.

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Friday, 6 June 2025

Penny & The Pits - Electric Litany - Lydia Luce - Ketch Secor - The Happy Fits

Photo - Nicole Cecile Holland
Penny & The Pits - Headcrusher.

Penny & The Pits have just shared "Headcrusher" along with a video, whilst the new LP Liquid Compactor is due June 27.  You might be familiar with Penelope Stevens from their role as bass and keys shredder and sometime vocalist in Canadian avant-rock trio Motherhood (whose 5th LP Thunder Perfect Mind came out recently and was described as "wildly entertaining" on Bandcamp Daily and "a welcome, alien presence in today’s musical landscape" on Post-Trash).

We are told that “Headcrusher is about trying to blame yourself for someone else's bad behaviour. But then it's also about refusing to do that anymore and just sending them out to die at sea." Fans of Motherhood, Amyl & the Sniffers, and other jagged and sometimes mathy rock with blown out guitars will find a lot to love.

Liquid Compactor, the debut statement from Penny & The Pits, is the result of Stevens putting their voice front and center for the first time. It’s a gritty, adventurous punk-rock album that processes feminist joy, rage and revenge. Across the album’s ten tracks, Stevens tears through a series of personal and collective traumas with a pulpy sense of exuberance. “I spent a lot of time making challenging work that would test both myself and the listener,” they reflect. “Now, I’m trying to make music that feels good; music that connects the heart to the body.” 


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Electric Litany - Diamonds.

Gleaming with handmade DIY synth chimes, syncopated drum machine drills,  loping Hooky-like basslines, and the otherworldly resonance of the Persian santoor - an instrument now synonymous with the Electric Litany sound; “Diamonds” is an understated gem from the London four-piece. As complexly faceted as it is sparklingly polished, it finds the band distilling the primordial post-punk thrills of early Cure or New Order, via the modern pop productions of the here-and-now to create something both familiar and enigmatic, nostalgic and contemporary, all at once.

With singer Alexandros Miaris’s haunting refrain, of “it’s not too late…” rippling across its multilayered plateaus, his reflective vocal offers a glimmer of reassurance in a track that grapples with this age of uncertainty.

Reciprocating the archival touchstones at the heart of “Diamonds” the track is accompanied by a retro-shaded official video. Taking an unconventional approach, by using vintage BBC 1970s tube valve cameras (bought on eBay for £10), the video shot by cinematographer Ruth Woodside is both fragile and timeless in its aesthetic. Produced by Electric Litany alongside longtime collaborator George Botis, “Diamonds” was recorded at the revered studio Fish Factory, a former fish-packing warehouse in Neasden, London.

Having already road-tested “Diamonds” in the spectacular setting of the Mayan Warrior stage at Burning Man 2025 (as part of Alexandros Miaris’s collaboration with renowned electronic artist Echonomist), the track was met with an electrifying reception on the festival’s main stage and signals the way towards one of the band’s most ambitious and forward-thinking releases yet…


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Lydia Luce - Wisteria.

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Lydia Luce shares her new single "Wisteria," a dreamy celebration of hope and the space to change. Produced by Jordan Lehning (Joy Oladokun, Caitlin Rose, Kacey Musgraves) and co-written with songwriting duo Jake Finch and Collin Pastore (Lucy Dacus), the track gently wraps around Luce's vocals before building into a swell of strings as she declares "Everything seems possible / Anything is possible." The accompanying music video finds Luce exploring the English countryside after the song was recorded at Real World Studios. 

Lydia Luce on the new single: "Quite often I’m at home and I hear my partner laughing or singing to himself upstairs. It makes me so happy. I sometimes can’t believe we are where we are. Our relationship began with substance abuse and codependency and we have found our way to a safe and loving marriage with the help of therapy and the willingness to grow. This song is about hope and believing that change can happen. I feel that way with our relationship and with my chronic pain/injuries. It’s so beautiful it makes me want to cry. We will continue to face challenges and there will be weeks of physical pain but I know we can get to the other side with time. For now it feels so good to sit on my couch with my dog and listen to Ryan sing to himself upstairs."

She continues, "The music video for 'Wisteria' was filmed in the English countryside with Katie Sylvester. We had just finished recording at Real World Studios in Box and we stayed a few days extra to film in the area. We wandered through fields of cows and sheep and filmed at the beautiful Iford Manor gardens." 

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Photo - Jody Stevens
Ketch Secor - Catch Me If You Can.

Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor shares his new single “Catch Me If You Can,” the next offering from his debut solo album Story The Crow Told Me, out July 11 on Equal Housing Records via Firebird Music. Featuring Old Crow alums Critter Fuqua and Willie Watson on backing vocals, the song grapples with the life of a hard-touring musician and arrives with a music video co-starring singer-songwriter Gowa Gibbs.

About the new song, Secor says: “Twenty-seven years ago when I started Old Crow I couldn’t have imagined how people I loved could ever turn into people I once loved. But so are the highs and lows of life on the road in a band. The conditions are right for a few things to thrive and a few more to falter, and ultimately fail. Friendships, allegiances, marriages, these are often the casualties of a life like the one I chose and yet I can’t go back and make it any different, nor would I.”

He continues, “Ever since I was young, people have inevitably made a pun with my name. From Catcher In The Rye to Heinz vs. Huntz, I tell ya life ain’t easy for a boy named Ketcham. One phrase I always heard was ‘Catch Me if You Can.’ Well, last spring when I was going through this catharsis of playing back the hands of time in the proverbial rearview mirror, I sat down with Jody Stevens and wrote this song in a short bittersweet burst. I wanted to explore the feeling of sacrifice that it takes to love someone like me. Someone who probably is going to miss your birthday party because I’m going to be playing a show in Newfoundland, Newark, New Orleans, or Newport News. I hope it was worth it.” 

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Photo - Anna Koblish
The Happy Fits - Cruel Power.

Indie/rock darlings The Happy Fits announced their new album Lovesick will release on September 19th. Their first full-length album in over three years, Lovesick arrives in the wake of an emotional maelstrom in which the band’s world turned upside down in every way imaginable. Rather than let it break their stride, though, the acclaimed quartet leaned into the turmoil, transforming all the heartbreak and uncertainty they experienced into their most exhilarating, adventurous, and cathartic record yet. The band also shared their new single “Cruel Power” along with an official video featuring world-renowned dancer and choreographer Lucy Vallely. A gritty, chip-on-the-shoulder rocker, “Cruel Power” embodies the push and pull of a toxic breakup, inviting heartbreak, if only for the rush.

“This track lives in the messiest corners of attraction,” stated frontman Calvin Langman. “It’s about knowingly putting yourself in a situation that’s bad for your heart, and doing it anyway. The lines between friend and lover blur, and suddenly you’re watering someone else’s plants and wondering how you got here. There’s humor in it, self-deprecation, and a little lustful chaos. I wanted it to feel like a late-night spiral in song form. It captures that ridiculous, electric moment when you know you’re being played—but part of you kinda loves the drama.”

Of the video, Langman continued, “I love one-take music videos. I love how it breaks down the convention of band and crew and it forces everyone to assume the role of performer. Every movement is carefully planned and the entire set has to move like one giant hive mind. This video was a huge group effort.”

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Cactus Lee - Sons of Sevilla - Gwenno

Cactus Lee - Got A Heart Like Rainwater Blues. This spring Cactus Lee released a new self-titled album (with R. Crumb artwork) via the este...