Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Wyldest - Savannah Pope - Men Without Hats

Photo - Tom Gaiger
Wyldest - Wax Museum.

Wyldest just shared her new luminous new single 'Wax Museum' the latest glimpse of her forthcoming album 'The Universe Is Loading' out 14th November via Hand In Hive. 'Wax Museum' arrives alongside the announcement of a new UK support tour with Marissa Nadler and follows the album's previous tasters 'Old Flame', 'All It Would Take Is A Phone Call' and 'After The Ending'.

The first song written for her new album, ‘Wax Museum’ was inspired by painter Philip Guston’s warning: “Don’t be a wax museum” - a call against stagnation and repression. Over crystalline guitars and a hazy dream-pop glow, Wyldest explores what it means to stay vulnerable and alive in a turbulent world, asking instead for openness and rawness: “Are you wanting a thrill? / Let the rain wash all over you.”

Speaking more on the release of 'Wax Museum', Wyldest said: “To be a ‘Wax Museum,’ as Philip Guston said, is to be stagnant, lacking honesty and mimicking what already exists - and at times I find myself moving through days like that, choosing the easy road rather than the ones that require thought and action. Familiarity is comforting, but we risk becoming caricatures of ourselves, plucking the flower before it can thrive, too impatient to let it reach its potential. With so much noise and automation in the world, I wanted this song to set a precedent of being honest and present, un-numbing myself to injustice and making music I was 100% excited by.”


============================================================================

Savannah Pope - Terrible Thing.

Savannah Pope makes the kind of hauntingly unique songs you feel before truly understanding. The Los Angeles-based artist, known for her operatic vocals, stunning visuals, and unapologetic-ally raw songwriting, crafts songs that live somewhere between cinematic art rock, poetic-indie, and avant-pop spectacle.

Her forthcoming EP continues the evolution that began with her breakout project Pandemonium, delving even deeper into the vulnerable, and often unspeakable, parts of the human experience. Savannah's journey to music was anything but linear. She first learned guitar in reform school, a place of confinement where stolen moments of creativity became her only escape. In college, she studied painting in Barcelona, later dropping out of Pratt in Brooklyn and returning to LA feeling untethered. 

A spontaneous decision to jump onstage at an open mic night changed everything. “I felt a strange urge in the pit of my stomach,” she says. “I borrowed someone’s guitar and just went for it. The response was electric. I was hooked.” Several years of performing in bands followed; Loud, chaotic, and formative. Her voice transformed to command space among the noise. But just as her own band began gaining traction, Savannah was hit by a car, rendering her unable to walk for months. Addiction crept in. Music, once again, became the lifeline. An insurance settlement gave her the funds to record her debut album, which launched her solo project, a self-directed, genre-blurring universe of sound and vision. Savannah’s work is deeply thematic, driven by personal experience and a surrealist lens. 


============================================================================

Men Without Hats - In Glorious Days / I Love The 80s.

Men Without Hats one of Canada’s most enduring and beloved new wave bands—are back with their upcoming album ‘On the Moon,’ out November 14, 2025. Their latest single, “In Glorious Days,” out now, continues the group’s exciting new chapter, following the viral success of “I Love The 80s,” which has earned over two million views and streams in just three months.

Written by frontman Ivan Doroschuk and Grammy and Juno Award-winning producer Brian Howes, “In Glorious Days” represents the band’s first experience with true creative collaboration. The track captures the spirit of classic Men Without Hats while embracing a modern synthwave aesthetic that bridges the past and future of their sound. “Working with Brian was effortless—the song came together naturally,” Ivan says. “It’s a hybrid of the classic MWH sound with a fresh sonic sensibility. I can’t wait to play it live—it’s going to be a new crowd favourite.”

‘On the Moon’ was recorded in two sessions—first at Howes’ studio in Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, where the pair collaborated on “I Love The 80s” and “In Glorious Days,” and then in Victoria, BC, where Ivan and longtime producer, engineer, and guitarist Sho Murray captured the album’s more intimate moments. With additional vocals from Sahara Sloan and mastering by industry legends Mark Needham and Howie Weinberg, the record is both polished and deeply personal—a sonic journey through reflection, resilience, and renewal.

“In Glorious Days” is an anthem for anyone reclaiming their fire. With pulsing synths, driving percussion, and Ivan’s unmistakable voice, it evokes both nostalgia and transformation. Lyrically, it explores the tension between passion and self-preservation—capturing the exuberant, defiant spirit that made Men Without Hats global icons of individuality and joy.

============================================================================

Tuesday, 14 October 2025

avalon - Dragon Inn 3 - Alex Little

avalon - sydney.

20-year-old singer/songwriter avalon has always had the same mission, remain authentic and use her music to show people the beauty in simply being human. With the release of her newest single, “sydney,” avalon proves that she is indeed sticking to her mission. “sydney” is a gut-punching honest ballad that finds avalon processing loss in real time.
 
“I wrote this song about my childhood best friend, whose name is actually Sydney,” shares avalon.  “After 11 years, when we were both 16, our friendship ended quite abruptly. Fast forward to last year: I was going through a hard time in my life and all I wanted was my best friend. I began to mourn her. And mourning someone who is still alive is incredibly difficult. This song is many things: It’s a time capsule, a love letter, an apology, and an overdue, proper, goodbye to someone I will love for the rest of my life.”
 
avalon (born Avalon Annaliese Rose Baker) has built a reputation for turning her innermost thoughts into emotionally charged pop songs that feel both intimate and universal. Raised in Studio City in a home steeped in creativity—her mother runs the legendary Millennium Dance Complex—avalon began writing, producing, and recording at just 14. Early demos like “Perfume” and “How to Lie” went viral on TikTok, and her official debut single “look what you did to her” (October 2024) amassed over 77 million views, establishing avalon as one of alt-pop’s most magnetic new voices.


============================================================================

Dragon Inn 3 - Full Disclosure (EP).

Dragon Inn 3, the electronic pop project led by former Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin co-founder Philip Dickey, releases its new EP Full Disclosure this week via American Laundromat Records. The special limited-edition cassette release arrives in celebration of Cassette Store Week 2025 and is also available digitally.

The eight-track EP features four brand-new songs alongside four previously released digital singles, blending the band’s signature mix of dreamy synth-pop, sparkling power pop, and timeless melodic hooks.

The first four songs on Full Disclosure - “Send Your Love,” “Never Lost,” “Yer Too Good,” and “Taking It Back” - were written over the course of three decades, reflecting the band’s evolving creative life. Grace Bentley began “Never Lost” as a teenager in 2002, while Philip Dickey started “Send Your Love” in 2015 and found inspiration to finish it after watching True Romance for the first time last year. “Yer Too Good” and “Taking It Back” were co-written by Dickey and his sister and bandmate Sharon Hamm earlier this year.

“We could not have made these songs without some of our new and old friends,” says Dickey. “Ryan Wasoba, who I played shows with in the early 2000s, helped us record guitars on ‘Never Lost.’ Our new friends Nick Wilkerson on drums, Brandon Yangmi as recording engineer, and Scoops Dardaris on mixing helped us out on everything else.”
============================================================================

Alex Little  - Sounds Like A Deal.

Alex Little steps forward with “Sounds Like A Deal,” the first single from her forthcoming EP Spider in the Sink. A Vancouver-born songwriter with roots in both punk clubs and family record collections, Little distills years of playing, listening, and living into a song that refuses to look away from exploitation and spectacle. The track arrives with all the grit, energy, and sharp-eyed honesty that have made her one of the most compelling voices to emerge from the city’s rock underground.

Raised between False Creek and Commercial Drive, Little grew up absorbing a wide spectrum of sounds. Her mom played her The Replacements and Bowie, her dad brought The Beatles and Iggy Pop, and early shows included Roxy Music and Tom Jones before she turned ten. She first sat behind the kit in high school and in the punk band Vapid, before moving to the front of the stage with Alex Little and the Suspicious Minds. With Spider in the Sink, she now claims her name as a solo artist, writing songs that are unvarnished, melodic, and lived-in.

Produced by James Younger of Yukon Blonde, “Sounds Like A Deal” was sparked by Little’s reaction to a recent documentary on The Jerry Springer Show. “The poor treatment and exploitation of the people on the show was truly awful and I needed to sing about it,” she says. That urgency comes through in every line, as she transforms outrage into a searing rock anthem. The track was developed with guitarist and partner Adam Sabla, who worked closely with Alex to translate her ideas into arrangements and provided guitar parts and textures to support her vision. Powered by Tony Dallas on drums and Hayz Fisher on bass, the single embodies the wiry garage-rock riffs and new-wave edge that define the EP.


============================================================================

Sunday, 12 October 2025

Tiberius - Lizard Lemons - CATTY - Miss Emily

Photo - Zoe Hopper
Tiberius - Painting of a Tree.

Boston-based Tiberius announce their upcoming album tour with "Painting of a Tree," the final single from November 14th's ‘Troubadour,’ their label debut.

Tiberius was originally a solo outing for Rutland, VT-based songwriter Brendan Wright (they/them), with the project growing to a four-piece band upon Wright's relocation to Boston. This expanded lineup produces a catchy and cacophonous sound that blends Indie Punk, Alt Country and Psychedelia with confessional, conversational lyrics, which they describe as "Farm Emo."

Following the more frantic Emo Rock sounds of the "Sag" and "Felt" singles, and the rustic Poppy warmth of "Moab," this new single is an aching, slow-burning sprawl, which takes a left turn into darker territory. Downtempo instrumental breaks clash with pounding percussion and raw distortion, as Wright exorcises demons through introspective lyrics like "I hope they love you / Like I do / At least the way I wanted to / Not the way I did." 

Speaking on "Painting of a Tree," Wright shares: “There’s this older man I work with - a kooky gentleman who’s kind of off his rocker - but at the same time can incite this erudite understanding of the human condition. When I asked him if he had any advice for someone really mulling over some heartache, he chuckled. He said, 'an artist cannot paint a tree, unless they examine all aspects of it.' I wrote, Painting of a Tree, as an homage to this idea that this kind of hurt was a truly human experience. A kind of pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but something that I feel thankful to have experienced. The kind of pain that makes us who we are.” – Brendan Wright.


============================================================================

Lizard Lemons - Charlie.

Formed in 2024, south and west Wales four-piece Lizard Lemons have quickly carved out a sound that’s equal parts swagger and sincerity. Taking cues from 90s baggy beats, anthemic Britpop and garage rock – all sharpened with a post-punk edge – the band deliver songs that feel both fresh and familiar.

Following the positive reception of their debut single Complications, which picked up radio play across Wales and beyond, the Lemons return with their punchy follow-up Charlie.

Unfiltered, fast-paced and raw, with driving guitars, urgent drums and vocals that are equal parts observational and chaotic – a sonic snapshot of a night out in Millin’s hometown of Port Talbot. With Ciaran Dodd on lead vocals, Kai Baxter on lead guitar, Andrew Millin on bass guitar and Adam Quill on drums, the band’s chemistry comes from years of playing together across different projects. Now, under the banner of Lizard Lemons, they’re making their mark with music that’s immediate, energetic and ready for bigger stages.


============================================================================

Photo - Nat Traxel
CATTY - Make You Love Me.

Welsh pop renegade CATTY just announced her highly anticipated second EP 'Bracing For Impact', out 24th October via AWAL. The new six-track project will feature previously released singles ‘4am (Back in His Bed)’, 'Joyride' and 'Prized Possession'. Now CATTY unveils the EP's final taster, with soaring new single 'Make You Love Me'. 

On 'Make You Love Me', CATTY turns heartbreak into ritual - a shimmering incantation wrapped in glistening synths and quiet drama. “Lost my faith long ago, every love I’ve ever known / Has stained my cheeks and turned my heart to stone,” she confesses, before vowing to “Live out a different ending.”

Beneath its pulsing production lies a portrait of someone clinging to hope after disappointment, determined to rewrite the ending of every love story that came before. It’s a song of rose-tinted optimism and stubborn devotion, where desperation and desire blur into a thunderous promise.

Speaking more on the new song's release, CATTY said: "Make You Love Me is me casting a little spell. I love with every fibre of my being, and in the words of my lord and saviour Stevie Nicks: “you will never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.” - and you won’t. I will write my little melodies and I will sing them for the rest of time. I’m such a hopeless romantic, a real f*cking idiot in love. I’ve descended from a long line of people who meet their match at a young age and hold their hands forever, which makes me see things as what I hope they are and not what they actually are sometimes - but I love being sensitive and soft and letting my heart lead me, even if it has famously taken me to the depths of hell, I will crawl back out again."


============================================================================

Miss Emily - Solid Ground.

Maple Blues Award winning Canadian blues star Miss Emily releases her second single “Solid Ground” from her upcoming studio album The Medicine. The single is available on all streaming platforms.

Every mother wants to pave the way for their child, but few have done it as honestly and eloquently as Miss Emily does in this soulful future letter to her young daughter. “Solid Ground is one of the oldest songs on my new album,” admits Emily. “This song was written during an extremely vulnerable time when my daughter was incredibly young. We were very poor; I had no financial support and no close family living nearby. There was so much I couldn’t give my daughter during that time, but I knew I had all the love in the world for her and somehow, I would find a way to make her feel secure. This song is that promise to her.”

Emily’s new album, released by Gypsy Soul Records on November 7th, is produced by Grammy winner Colin Linden (Keb’ Mo’, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Diana Krall). The highly anticipated new album masterfully blends soul, blues, and roots, and features an all-star cast of musicians at the top of their game. Including players from Bob Dylan and Keb’ Mo’s bands, the new album pairs her thunderous voice with songs of truth and resilience. Known for her powerful voice and exhilarating live shows, Miss Emily channels two decades of raw experience into music that heals and uplifts.


============================================================================

Saturday, 11 October 2025

Oswald Slain - Talk To Her - Cedarsmoke - The Bros. Landreth

Photo - GLK Media
Oswald Slain - Bucky.

Bristol rock group Oswald Slain are excited to share that their debut album ‘Bucky’ will be released on October 24th 2025 to limited edition vinyl, with the title track being the final single ahead of the album. This is a superb collection of songs with some previously shared singles included below, all of which bode well for this exciting and clearly talented band.

Background is as follows: Born from the creative cocoon of their home studio, Oswald Slain is a testament to both personal growth and musical evolution, their music reflecting a period of deep introspection and growth for the band. Having reconciled with the chaos of youth and the trials of aging, lyricist Fitz channels these experiences into sincere, humorous, evocative songwriting alongside the timeless swagger of old retro rock records.

Their debut album ‘Bucky’ was recorded and produced in-house by Ryan Rogers (Mumble Tide) and the band themselves in their DIY self-built home studio, mixed by John Logan and mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering (PJ Harvey, XTC, Big Special).  For Fitzgerald and Williams, partners in life as well as music, their debut record is more than a curated collection of songs, it’s a love-letter to their trials and errors, their self and musical exploration and perfectly highlights the band’s striking evolution from their previous moniker. Throughout the album’s eight tracks Oswald Slain combine sleazy rhythms, driving drums, nostalgic guitar lines and the evocative lyricism they’re fast becoming known for, to celebrate their personal flaws, flamboyant failures and ultimately sees them finding self-acceptance.

Reflecting on the creation of the album, Fitzgerald says: “Making this record was a massive turning point in our lives. After being a bit unsure of where things were headed and what we were doing, the days spent recording these songs in our little studio were the moments of clarity we needed to get the ball rolling with something new and creatively exciting. 



============================================================================

Talk To HerDyve.

Italian post-punk band Talk To Her have recently announced the release of their second album 'Pleasure Loss Desire' on 30th October via Shyrec/Icy Cold Records. This week, they share their new track 'Dyve'. Representing one of the album's most intense moments, the title is derived from the fusion of 'Dive' and 'Dying.' These recurring words encapsulate the song's theme of dependence, surrender, and self-loss. The track's structure exudes strong tension, showcasing a sharp duality between the calm yet tormented verses and the explosive choruses.
 
Talk To Her use heavily distorted guitars over synth sounds to convey a mix of vulnerability and energy. 'Dyve' is a plunge into the depths, a burst of force that challenges the balance between desire, self-loss and the need to let go. 'Dyve' comes after the first single 'PLD', a track built on dark, obsessive synths, tribal drumming, sharp bass, deep baritone vocals, and guitar textures. 
 
The album traces a descent into a cold world where clarity and oblivion endlessly alternate in search of balance, oscillating between moments of calm and emotional outbursts, exploring the duality between detachment and alienation. Each track unveils contrasting emotions—desire, suffering, nostalgia, hope, fear— painting a raw portrait of the fragilities of those who live in an era marked by uncertainty and changes. With 'Pleasure Loss Desire', Talk To Her explore new soundscapes compared to their previous record “Love Will Come Again”. The themes once tied to the emotional and passionate sphere give way to alienation, suffering, and fear. 


============================================================================

Photo - Thomas Oliver
Cedarsmoke - Something Over Nothing,

Like sunlight spilling over shadows, Cedarsmoke’s new single ‘Something Over Nothing’ finds joy and melancholy moving hand in hand. Out yesterday (Friday, October 10), it offers the final glimpse of their forthcoming album 'Under The Rainbow' (October 31). 

A Brisbane/Meanjin band long admired for their lyric-driven approach and genre-bending sound, Cedarsmoke continue to evolve with every release. Since their 2016 debut, they have moved restlessly between folk, rock, country, and psychedelia, always with singer-songwriter Jon Cloumassis’s storytelling at the centre. Their upcoming third full-length album embraces this adventurous streak fully, with each track tied to a colour and a theme, creating a record that is as expansive as it is intimate.

With 'Something Over Nothing', Cedarsmoke frames life’s extremes as essential, suggesting it is better to embrace the turbulence of joy and sorrow than to settle for stillness. Upbeat and energetic yet tinged with an undercurrent of sadness, it recalls a kind of indie rock where poetic storytelling and ragged honesty sit side by side, turning introspection into something vital and alive.

In keeping with the album’s colour-coded theme, the track shines in yellow, symbolising vitality, excitement and adventure. Its imagery draws on the rising and setting of the sun as a reflection of life’s cycle, casting the song as both a celebration of sweet beginnings and an acceptance of sour endings.

============================================================================

The Bros. Landreth - Knuckles.

Winnipeg duo The Bros. Landreth release “Knuckles” from their forthcoming album Dog Ear – out November 14, 2025 via Birthday Cake Records. “Knuckles” features a beautiful and emotive featured vocal from one of the band's musical heroes, Bonnie Raitt

The Bros. Landreth grew up listening to and adoring Raitt's music in their childhood home. The artists initially connected after sharing a bill at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and some ten years later Raitt recorded her own version of one of their songs called "Made Up Mind." That version won a Grammy for Best Americana Performance in 2023. It feels like a full circle moment to have her iconic voice now on The Bros. Landreth's new album.

Dave Landreth says of the song, “Some relationships will stand the test of time, but a lot don’t. Even the good ones can dissolve, fall apart, drift away. Knuckles is about the idea that sometimes being a punching bag is the last kind thing you can do for someone, when it’s easier to let yourself take all the lumps than to ask the other person to face things that they aren’t ready or willing to.”

Dog Ear explores themes of connection, refuge, and self-reflection with guests like Raitt (“Knuckles”, “Half Moon Eyes”) and alt-pop powerhouse Begonia (“Strange Dear”) offering listeners an intimate yet expansive journey. The album is fueled and informed by the band’s live shows and the many hours they’ve logged sharing the stage together. That is the energy they tried to bottle.“These songs kept circling back to ideas of refuge—a lighthouse, a shoreline, a dog-eared page to hold your place,” The Bros. share. “They’re tiny prayers for who we want to be for our children, and hopeful ideas about who they might become for their own communities.”

============================================================================

Samantha Harlow - Brontës - A-100s - Spencer Krug - Night Swimming - Valo Ato

Samantha Harlow - Ready to Run. Welcome to the brave, new world of music, performance art, and cinema that is Samantha Harlow’s new project...