Brook Fox - Ryan O'Reilly - Grasstime - Plasma Driver - Frankie Archer

Brook Fox - Rome.

Brook Fox brand new single 'Rome' is released today April 7th 2026. Brook Fox is an indie-pop/rock artist from South-West Wales known for energetic live shows and emotionally direct songwriting. Brook quickly grew obsessed with songwriting throughout the 2020 pandemic, idolising the likes of Sam Fender and Catfish and the Bottlemen for both their ear-worm literature and working class lyricism.

Drawing inspiration from his personal experiences, his music combines down to earth lyrics with indie pop/rock influences, offering a fresh and authentic soundscape. Brook's five singles have surpassed over 250K streams in under a year, paving the way to BBC introducing, BBC Radio Wales and other media outlets. 

Brook has supported the likes of Liverpool’s “Keyside” and the Welsh Pop Sensation Mali Haf, and has also shared the bill with names such as; McFly and Kaiser Chiefs, at "Tunes on the Bay" and "In It Together Festival".

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Photo - Linda Esperanza

Ryan O'Reilly - Elizabeth.

Berlin-based songwriter Ryan O'Reilly releases the official studio version of “Elizabeth,” a reflective and memorable alternative folk gem written nearly 20 years ago. Originally penned in 2006 before a summer tour of Canada with future Dwayne Gretzky founders Tyler Kyte and Nick Rose, the song channels O’Reilly’s deep admiration for Gram Parsons into something more country and bluegrass-inflected than typically associated with Irish or English songwriters.

“Elizabeth” offers a preview of O’Reilly’s forthcoming album Native Companion, set for release on April 14th, 2026, his birthday. Inspired by David Foster Wallace’s essay collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, the album title nods to the collaborative spirit that defines O’Reilly’s journey from Toronto’s Dwayne Gretzky community to Berlin’s L.A. People. The record features contributions from Spencer Cullum Jr., classical cellist Anastasia Povekvechnykh, Jadea Kelly, Missouri songwriter Ian Fisher, and screenwriter Christopher Moynihan.

Lyrically rich and poetic, “Elizabeth” paints the portrait of an enigmatic, slightly troubled young woman who “steals the show” despite the darkness and loss that surrounds her. The song captures the beauty and unpredictability of young love and the feeling of standing mid-scene in a play, unsure of the ending but fully immersed in the moment.

Recorded at Dwayne’s World studio in Toronto, the track reunites O’Reilly with longtime collaborators Tyler Kyte and Nick Rose, alongside members of Dwayne Gretzky: Simeon Abbott (piano), Adam Hindle (drums), and Dave Dalrymple (bass). Engineering duties were handled by Ian Docherty, guitarist of July Talk.

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Grasstime - Waltz of Time.

The newest Grasstime single 'Waltz of Time' is rooted in the rich, dark soil and the quiet heartbreak of rural life, Grasstime’s upcoming album is a soul-stirring journey through love, loss, and memory. The collection blends timeless Americana with a raw emotional honesty that feels like a series of letters from a dusty backroad—intimate, weathered, and undeniably true.

The heart of the project is the title track, "Waltz of Time," written by Mike Richards and Laura Leigh Jones. Inspired by the personal experiences of Mike and his mother Pat’s journey. Mike mentioned “it came on quietly, almost unnoticed, or we pretended her minor lapses had no real meaning. One day she didn't show up to meet us at a place in town she had been a thousand times….no call, no show. It's hard on her, my dad and family. We are thankful we still have her”. The song draws from Mike’s personal reflections on memory loss, enduring love, and a shared dance.

“This song is so meaningful to me. 'Waltz of Time' resonated with me the moment Kristy sent it to me. I instantly knew I wanted to record it when I heard it. Because of what my family faced with my mother Deloris’s passing from Lewy Bodie and my grandpa Robert’s journey with Alzheimer’s. I know these horrid diseases impact so many people, and there are so many trying to figure out how to navigate them. In the song I could see my folks dancing in the living room in their earlier years throughout the later, and it really moved me. I sincerely hope this song brings back some joy and pleasant memories for folks, like it did me. ” Robbie Morris

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Plasma Driver - it.

We are catching up a little with the song 'it' which has been out for a short while however Plasma Driver have enough plus point's for Beehive Candy to happily feature their latest single, “it,”  It's described as "a thought-provoking and visually driven release that explores the absurdity of the human search for meaning through a uniquely playful lens." Some background: The band’s name came from lead singer Bryan’s early experiment with an Erica Synths modulator called a Plasma Drive... and so, Plasma Driver was born. 

Blending atmospheric indie rock with narrative-driven songwriting, Plasma Driver continues to carve out a distinct identity rooted in existential themes, dark humor, and cinematic world-building. Inspired by artists such as Interpol, Queens of the Stone Age, and Arctic Monkeys, the band pairs British influenced introspective lyricism with a creative approach that draws from film, anime, poetry and classic animation.

At its core, “it” examines the contradictions in how people and media attempt to define life’s purpose. Rather than presenting a straightforward answer, the track leans into ambiguity, personifying loneliness and cosmic indifference as characters within a surreal narrative. The result is a concept that feels both philosophical and oddly entertaining.

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Photo - Rob Irish

Frankie Archer - Death and The Maiden.

Northumbrian electro-folk musician and producer Frankie Archer shares new single 'Death and The Maiden' the latest taste of her debut album 'The Dance Of Death' - out 5th June via prrr of the bear. Frankie Archer will tour the album this autumn with dates in London, Liverpool, Gateshead, Bristol and Birmingham.

Drawing on a 1907 retelling of Death and the Maiden, the track centres on a young woman’s futile attempt to bargain her way out of mortality - a premise rooted in folklore, but delivered here with scale and urgency. What begins in stark, folk-led minimalism gradually unravels, expanding into a dense, unpredictable arrangement where traditional instrumentation is pushed into something far less contained.

Speaking on new single 'Death and The Maiden', Frankie Archer said: "The inevitability of death has haunted humans throughout history. In folklore, Death appears personified as a shadowy figure who comes to claim you when it is your time. There are countless tellings of people trying to bargain with death. In my version, based on one collected in 1907, a maiden offers death gold, jewels and expensive clothes, just for a few more years of life. But death is final and undeniable.

"When I was arranging my version of the song I did some research on the story of Death and the Maiden and I found a string quartet by Schubert with that name. The opening phrase floored me and it perfectly matched what I’d produced so far. I recorded the first few bars straight away at home, pitch-shifting my fiddle to mimic the cello and double bass, and that’s what you hear in the song. As the album opener I wanted it to hit hard so there’s voices in multiple octaves, huge drums and an unhinged guitar solo, which is my first time playing guitar on a recording."

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Cuchulain - Spectator - The Rolling People - Poi Rogers

Cuchulain - It's Always Something (Album).

Regarding his new album Cuchulain Kelly tells Beehive Candy "This album is an ode to the nonsense, chaos, and humor of my life. It's also a love letter to the band I had in Eugene, Oregon for four years, who shaped my sound immensely. I'm a new parent and recent transplant to Ithaca, NY, and a lot of that comes out in this music." 

Cuchulain is a low-voiced songwriter with a wry wit. Featured four years in a row as the NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest "Desk of the Day," the multi-instrumentalist's duets album FEAT was called "an as-yet-unpublished portion of the Great American Songbook." Cuchulain's deep baritone and clever lyrics have drawn comparisons to Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Randy Newman. From the Kennedy Center to the Oregon Country Fair, from Club Passim in Boston to the Cobblestone in Dublin, Cuchulain's lyrics have brought laughs and tears to audiences across the US and beyond. 

He has shared the stage with renowned folk acts including Ira Wolf, Jeffrey Lewis, Viv & Riley, Billy Keane, Upstate, Julianna Zachariou, Jenner Fox, R.O. Shapiro, and more. His Sing In The Shower single release tour took him to Europe in the summer of 2022, and his nationwide My Dog single release tour criss-crossed the US in summer 2023. His experimental album Minute To Win It, a visual album of 20 songs in 20 minutes peaked at 20,000 monthly listeners on Spotify; was screened at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, & Technology and Portland Panorama; and won awards at the Oregon Short Film Festival, the San Francisco Arthouse Festival, and Minute Madness Toronto. 

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Spectator - Venus + Jupiter.

Spectator is a husband-and-wife duo from St. Louis, Missouri, featuring Megan Rooney and Jeffrey Albert. Their music draws comparisons to the indie rock and the dreampop styles of Mazzy Star and early Tennis. Their double-sided single, “Venus + Jupiter,” was released on Friday, April 3, 2026. Drawing from folk, soul, indie, and Brazilian bossa nova influences, the pair have cultivated a distinctive sound rooted in evocative melodies and heartfelt storytelling. This project began during the pandemic, developed and nurtured at home, and shows how creativity can flourish in unexpected times. 

The two songs delve into themes of family, time, and parenthood, offering a window into the duo’s experience as musicians raising young children while sustaining their long-standing creative partnership. The new single marks their first release since the acclaimed 2019 album, Charlie, Baby. Megan and Jeffrey began collaborating in 2006, united by a shared passion for melody and atmospheric songwriting. They debuted with the EP In the Brick in 2012, followed by their full-length album, The Last Exchange, in 2015. Rooney and Albert describe their songwriting process as beginning with melody and fragments of language that slowly reveal the emotional core of a song. Their music often explores nostalgia, fleeting moments, relationships, and the contradictions between melancholy and hope.

“Venus” began as a quiet song that Megan and Jeffrey played for their daughter as a baby. The track became a dreamy meditation on memory and the passage of time, inspired by old photographs, family heirlooms, and the way memories resurface like scenes from a home movie.

The companion track, “Jupiter,” was written shortly after the birth of their son in early 2020 during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song reflects both the wonder of watching a newborn grow and the emotional tension of welcoming a child during a time when the world felt simultaneously vast and closed off.

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Photo - Freya Barber

The Rolling People - Outlier (EP).

Manchester England band The Rolling People have released their new EP Outlier today 6th April. Marking a bold step forward in both sound and identity, the EP captures a band in the midst of reinvention - sharper, more expansive, and unapologetically themselves.The EP coincides with the launch of a new brand partnership alongside Pretty Green. 

Outlier sees The Rolling People deliver on their already feverish hype. Produced by Richard McNamara (guitarist of Embrace, production credits including Basht., EEVAH), the six track release retains the raw energy that has defined their rapid ascent as both a live and recording band whilst bringing a more rock focused, driving and anthemic grit. McNamara’s influence brings clarity and scale to the band’s evolving identity, balancing anthemic indie hooks with atmosphere and depth to create an expansive and immediate, yet, emotional and reflective sound. 

From the punching drums and a dense wall of guitars on opener ‘State Of Things’ and ‘Your Take’, to the melodic depth and expansive weight of ‘Soldered Souls’ the band showcase a completeness to their sound and a giant, intense stadium ready depth to their sound.

Speaking about the EP, the band explain: “Outlier is our most expansive work yet, addressing meanings and narratives that we previously haven’t explored. We utilised sounds that pushed our creativity forward, working with our producer, Rick McNamara, who really encouraged us to get the best out of each track. The EP is a deeply introspective account of the struggles and emotional challenges that we each face in life. Each song on the EP represents a different emotion that people may think is a vulnerability; however, they are actually normal, with everyone going through them at some point in their lives. The themes span across love, loss, intrusive thoughts, fear and more, which are all relatable to the audience’s own experiences in their life.”

The Rolling People · Outlier

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Poi Rogers - Gil Carter.

‘Gil Carter’ off Poi Rogers’ upcoming sophomore release, ‘Whirligig’, tells the little known story of the longest home run in baseball history, hit on August 11th, 1959, by minor leaguer Gil Carter of the Carlsbad, NM, Potashers. It was documented at a staggering 733’ from home plate, thanks to reporters finding the peach it knocked out of a tree two blocks from the stadium. No replays, no videos, just documented by a single peach. 

Nominated alongside Sierra Ferrell, Brennen Leigh and Melissa Carper for the 2023 Western Swing Female Ameripolitan Award, Poi Rogers' bassist Carolyn Sills has gained international recognition for her catchy and intelligent songwriting about atypical subjects. Her 2019 collaboration with Grammy Award Winning engineer Sylvia Massy (Johnny Cash, Rick Rubin), on her original, Marty Robbins based concept album, ‘Return to El Paso,’ earned her a whole new fan base.

Carolyn shares, “what I love about Gil Carter's story is the humbleness of it all... even with that colossal home run, his team lost the game that day, and he never made it to the Majors. He retired to Topeka with that legendary ball and bat; folks would visit like a pilgrimage just to see them and hear the story. He was inducted into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame just after he passed in 2015. It's one of the most impressive moments in baseball that hardly anyone saw or speaks of. I felt compelled to write a song about it.” 

Poi Rogers recorded ‘Gil Carter’ as simply as they perform: Gerard Egan on the acoustic guitar he built while a luthier at Santa Cruz Guitar Company, Carolyn on her 1940s Kay upright bass. With the help of virtuoso mandolinist Tim Connell and drummer David Roda (Melvin Seals, Scott Law), they bring a classic, honest sound that listeners are longing for now more than ever. Poi Rogers' 2026 release - ‘Whirligig’ due out May 1st - is set to introduce this oddly original Americana duo to a much wider audience, as they continue their quest to keep music organic, intimate and real.

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Maria Taylor - Faith Eliza - A Place To Bury Strangers - Christine Plays Viola

Photo - Liz Bretz

Maria Taylor - Story’s End (Album).

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Maria Taylor released, Story’s End on Friday, her first full length album release in 7 years out now on Conor Oberst’s Million Stars Records. The 10-song collection unfolds like a hazy, cinematic narrative—songs acting as chapters that trace love, loss, fracture, and the quiet search for solace in the aftermath of personal upheaval.

“These songs have a personal, yet universal, narrative of loss, surrender, transformation, and growth,” Taylor explains. This record is about a divorce; it’s about losing a friend I thought I would have forever; it’s about my love for this life; it’s about my love for my kids; it’s about mistakes and desire, about growing older and stronger; it’s about acceptance. It took me five years to complete Story’s End – the longest I’ve ever spent on a single album. The story was still unfolding.”

Last month, Taylor released “Sorry I Was Yours” featuring Conor Oberst that was praised by The New York Times, who called it “a bittersweet reminiscence about a long-ago romance, recalling both thrills and heartache and ending in apologies.”

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Faith Eliza - Monsters.

"Monsters” showcases Faith’s bold vocals and sharp songwriting, blending emotional storytelling with a vibrant, modern sound. The track is built for both radio and streaming playlists, connecting with fans who love anthemic, authentic rock music.
  
"Monsters dives into the fear-based patterns we develop to protect ourselves, and the moment we stop letting them run the show. The bridge brings a punch of defiance, calling those thoughts out and kicking them to the curb with 'I'm done being haunted' and 'I'm taking the trash out.'" ~ Faith Eliza

Monsters was recorded at Off the Row Studio and produced by PT Houston and showcases Faith Eliza’s introspective songwriting and emotional depth. Written entirely by Faith, the track blends her alt-rock edge with her signature storyteller soul — a haunting, honest look into the shadows we face and the strength we claim.

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Photo - Patricio Lizama

A Place To Bury Strangers - Rare and Deadly (Album).

Rare and Deadly cracks open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos from A Place To Bury Strangers. Spanning 2015–2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments, and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered—caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes. Pulled from Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes, and half-finished sessions, here the interference is closer, the electricity more dangerous, the edges left jagged on purpose.

What makes Rare and Deadly truly unprecedented is that every format tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl, and digital editions each feature their own unique tracklisting, a fractured release strategy that is almost unheard of. No single version contains the “complete” album. Instead, each format becomes its own window into the archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links, and parallel versions of the band’s inner life. It’s a deliberately unstable document: the album shifts depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.

Across these recordings, you can hear the evolution of Ackermann’s restless mind. Some pieces feel like prototypes for future chaos, seeds that later bloomed on studio albums. Others are dead ends—ideas too volatile, too strange, or too personal to ever fit the frame of a proper release. But together they form a secret history of the band, a parallel world of possibilities that existed just outside the spotlight. The tracks contain riffs mutated by malfunctioning pedals, songs born from gear pushed past its limits, or delicate melodies overwhelmed by walls of feedback until only their ghosts remain.

Rare and Deadly is less a compilation and more a documentary—an aural snapshot of how sound takes shape before it hardens into something finished. You hear the room, the accidents, the restless experimentation, the immediacy of a moment being captured before it disappears. It’s a reminder that A Place To Bury Strangers has always thrived in this in-between space: the tension between control and collapse, melody and noise, beauty and distortion.

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Christine Plays Viola – Desolate Moments.

‘Desolate Moments’ is the new video-single from Italian darkwave / post-punk quartet, Christine Plays Viola: a fragile, moody, processional ballad exploring the loss of self and dissolution of identity, for fans of Faith or Disintegration-era Cure, and Closer-era Joy Division. The song is the third video-single from the band’s latest album, F.I.V.E. – Fear Increases Violent Emotions (Cleopatra Records, January 2026). 

Guitarist, songwriter and bandleader, Fabrizio Giampietro, says of ‘Desolate Moments’: “Desolate Moments is about that fragile space where you realize you’ve lost yourself, but you’re still conscious enough to feel it. I was thinking about the idea of emotional disappearance — not in a physical sense, but in a psychological one. That moment when you look back at your life, at promises you made, at people you loved, and you understand that somewhere along the way… something broke. There’s a strong sense of guilt in the song, but also inevitability. Like being trapped inside your own mistakes, watching your world slowly collapse while you’re unable to stop it. The line ‘you exist nowhere’ really sums it up for me — it’s about losing your place in reality, becoming a shadow of yourself.”

Discussing the video, Fabrizio adds: “Musically and visually, we wanted to reflect that dissolution of identity. That’s why in the video we chose silhouettes instead of faces — no clear identity, just fading presences merging with memories, like fragments of something that once was. It’s probably one of the most introspective and emotionally exposed tracks we’ve ever written.”

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Mystery Art Orchestra - The Surge - Brand New Heartache - Frog - Divorce Attorney - Thomm Jutz

Photo - Shirin Bartel

Mystery Art Orchestra - Love (Album).

We have to say this is one wonderful album that delivers all the band promises in their press release, talking of which, we include in full for a clear and concise background. Since the early 2010s, 'Love' has as part of the alliterative phrase 'Live, Laugh, Love' degenerated into a cheesy cliché that acts as a set of self-deceptive blinkers to the actual absence of that capitalistically corrupted trinity.

The noise-pop formation Mystery Art Orchestra (MAO) explores this theme on their second studio album, which has just been released including on vinyl April 3 2026.

Wrapped in soundscapes that, with a touch of self-irony, evoke the over-the-top cheesiness of early shoegaze escapism, repetitive post-punk rhythms, and pathos-laden new-wave anthems, the voices in the eight tracks inquire after emotional belonging, the value of trust, and hedonistic escapes from one’s own reality.

These are by no means excursions into romanticism, but rather an illustration of cracks in a frigid present that looks back on a romanticized past. In no way is the motif of ‘Love’ self-indulgent; it focuses instead on the vacuum left in the wake of its absence. MAO consists of singer and guitarist Tino Bogedaly, André Wlodarski on synthesizers and Bastian Müller on drums. The members live in Berlin and Brandenburg. The tension between urban and rural spaces influences both the band’s cool soundscape and a sense of a lack of belonging and persistent disorientation. 


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Photo - Pete Coombs

The Surge - You’re In Love With Yourself.

South Coast England alt-rock outfit The Surge return with their sharpest statement yet in new single “You’re In Love With Yourself”, released today 4 April 2026 as the lead track from their upcoming four-track EP.

Built around the band’s trademark tight, heavy sound and cutting lyricism, “You’re In Love With Yourself” taps into a familiar modern trait — the tendency for some people to put themselves front and centre above everything else. Rather than pointing fingers, the track leans into a tongue-in-cheek tone, playfully calling out those whose closest relationship might just be with their own reflection. It’s a knowing, self-aware take that admits none of us are perfect… but some definitely think they are.

The single sets the tone for the forthcoming EP, which sees The Surge expanding on their signature blend of driving riffs and incisive storytelling. Across its four tracks, the record moves through themes of social commentary, relationships, and political observation, all delivered with the energy and precision the band have become known for.

Hailing from across the Hampshire/Dorset border, The Surge have spent the past year writing and recording new material, building momentum ahead of a busy 2026 that will also see the release of their second full-length album — the follow-up to their 2023 debut Amped. Their rise hasn’t gone unnoticed, earning them a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist at the 2024 Original Music Awards and cementing their place as one of the UK’s most exciting independent acts.

The Surge · You're In Love With Yourself

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Brand New Heartache - Raise the Shade.

Nashville-based Eleese and Matthew Meschery (Brand New Heartache) are launching their new single, "Raise the Shade" a song that fuses authentic Americana with anthemic indie-pop and dreamy harmonies. It's off the upcoming album, A New Alchemy (July 24,  2026). 

The track releases on April 3rd on Mule Kick Records, and features a stellar cast of players; Matthew Szlachetka, Grammy nominated keyboard artist, Jimmy Wallace, Darren King (Mutemath, Earthsuit), and Sarah Aili. It's the first single off of the upcoming album, A New Alchemy (spring 2026) and was produced and mixed by Michael Patterson (Beck, B.R.M.C., She Wants Revenge).

In Eleese's own words: '“Raise the Shade” is about reconciliation — written in the wake of our own dark stretch, when we weren’t connecting and weren’t sure how to find our way back. The song picks up just after a fight, in that fragile space between bitterness and breakthrough. In that moment, it felt like the only way forward was to let a little light and air into the room — and to reconnect with the things that brought us together in the first place. 

For us, that meant music, humor, and time in nature. It’s a love song for the aftermath — when connection doesn’t come easy, but you choose it anyway. With lyrical nods to Chaka Khan and The Jayhawks, and a wink toward the hard-earned wisdom of therapy, “Raise the Shade” turns vulnerability into something triumphant."

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Frog - Dark Out.

On April 17th, New York’s Frog will release their eighth studio album, Frog for Sale. A continuation of the series that began with 2025’s ‘1000 Variations on the Same Song’ and was followed six months later with ‘The Count’ (which found fans in Wednesday, Friendship, Dry Cleaning, and MJ Lenderman). These twelve songs see the brothers take inspiration from songwriters like Paul McCartney and Buddy Holly.

Since Daniel Bateman returned from a four-year Frog absence (with the addition of his younger brother Steve on drums) to release the highly acclaimed ‘Grog,’ the band has been incredibly prolific. Frog for Sale is their third album in just 14 months, while the band have been on the road for multiple tours of North America with numerous sell-out shows, in addition to sessions for the likes of KEXP, WFMU, and WFUV.

“This is an album about how money sometimes gets in the way of love,” says Daniel. Aptly, while Frog continues to barrel ahead with a growing audience in tow, the album’s cover, a childhood image of Daniel holding Steve as a baby, allows the brothers a chance to look back. 

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Photo - Daniel Lincoln

Divorce Attorney - Always Something (EP).

South UK art-rock 5-piece Divorce Attorney release the striking debut EP Always Something (April 3rd). Showcasing the band’s brooding, alternative-rock meets shoegaze and post-punk flavoured sound, the EP captures the essence of the band’s live sound with its raw edge whilst highlighting the depth of their musicality with inventive song structures, psychedelic flourishes and vibrant dynamics. 

Produced by Spencer Withey (Back/Burden, Man/Woman/Chainsaw; Cowboy, Alien Chicks) and mastered by Felix Davis (Geese, CQ Wrestling, Westside Cowboy), the EP brings together dark, bubbling live instrumentation with affecting melodies, cathartic, emotive delivery and poetic lyricism to create a sound unique to Divorce Attorney. 

Speaking about the EP, frontman and rhythm guitarist Nathan Key explains: “A lot of the influences into the EP were 80’s to Noughties goth and post-punk and from that one of the principles going into the project was to make something still in line with the gothic aesthetic, but also danceable so people at our shows can engage in a way they want to receive the music.”

Making a name for themselves as a live band touring across the UK, Divorce Attorney have opened for the likes of SANAM (Beirut), Alien Chicks, University, Lunar Vacation, Lifeguard among other bands, played sold out shows at The Windmill, Green Door Store, and have played on Homegrown Festival & Wanderlust Stages. With growing support across tastemaker press and national radio, the band are building a driving momentum into the release of the new EP. 

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Thomm Jutz - Ring-A-Bellin (Album).

 “I wanted to start recording every song with the smallest musical unit appropriate to the song,” says singer-songwriter, producer, guitarist, and composer Thomm Jutz of the process behind recording his new album, Ring-A-Bellin’. “And only add what felt necessary and relevant.” That’s what Jutz’s carefully crafted songs deserve, and through a series of thoughtful recording sessions, that’s exactly what they received. “Some songs started and ended with just me singing and playing, others with me and bass player extraordinaire, Mark Fain, or as a trio with Tim O’Brien and Michael Rinne.” 

All of Ring-A-Bellin’s main ingredients were played live, in the room, especially Jutz’s at once soothing and haunting vocals. “It was extremely liberating to record like this, in the moment, with almost no premeditation, no direction to the players, not even much, or any, direction to myself. It felt immensely freeing to my guitar playing and reconnected me with an energy I wasn’t sure I still had.”

With Ring-A-Bellin’, the German-born, Nashville-based Jutz shows off his alchemy-like songwriting talents for which he has been tapped by the likes of John Prine, Nanci Griffith, Todd Snider, and Billy Strings, to name a few. These tunes are modern creations, steeped in history, but crafted by a man with his finger on a much deeper pulse, influenced by the analytical psychology of Carl Jung as much as he was by the Stanley Brothers or John Hartford. 

The result of Jutz’s involved and thoughtful process is an album that feels old but not nostalgic, and whatever the opposite of gimmicky might be. Ring-A-Bellin’ is a shining example of what it looks like to respectfully carry the torch of traditional music into the modern era.

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The Riflebirds of Portland - India Ramey - Lauren Braddock - Gee & Tee - Emma Hunter

The Riflebirds of Portland - April (Album).

Nearly four decades after first taking flight, The Riflebirds of Portland return to their origins with the reissue of April, their long-out-of-print debut album, released today April 3, 2026 on Regional Records. Produced in 1988 and newly re-imagined in 2025 by Marvin Etzioni (Grammy winner and founding member of Lone Justice), April captures a young band at full emotional stride, its folk-rooted melodies, literate songwriting, and understated power sounding as vital now as they did at the dawn of their story.

Originally released only on cassette in 1989 and mastered by Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering, April has long been a whispered cult favorite among those who encountered it during the band’s brief but promising late-’80s run. Now fully restored and reintroduced, the album stands as both a time capsule and a revelation.

“You’d think listening to the songs on The Riflebirds of Portland’s April would amount to a trip down what one song calls Memory Street,” writes acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin. “But what really matters here is how timeless it all sounds. The sweet, deceptively simple melodies, the complexity of feeling, the spare but effective production, all sound perfectly contemporary… Springtime, like youth, may be fleeting. But the joys of The Riflebirds of Portland’s April persist. Listen.”

Formed in Portland, Oregon in 1985, the original Riflebirds centered on songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lee Oser and guitarist Kevin Kraft, later joined by vocalist Kate Lieuallen and drummer Kevin Jarvis. Their initial run (1985–1989) yielded two singles and April, produced by Etzioni, with the song “Pieces of Time” earning placement on the coveted College Music Journal CD and early interest from Columbia Records. Before momentum could fully build, the band dissolved.

Life carried the members in different directions. Lee and Kate married in 1988 and moved east, where Lee became a professor of English literature and author, and Kate a children’s librarian. Kevin Kraft settled in Silicon Valley. Kevin Jarvis built a successful career in Los Angeles as a session drummer, engineer, and producer, working with artists including Brian Wilson, Lucinda Williams, and Elvis Costello. Decades later, Lee reconnected with Etzioni, and in 2024 the original lineup reunited as The Riflebirds of Portland, adopting the new name to reflect both their roots and a naming conflict abroad. With Etzioni once again producing, the band reconvened at Jarvis’s Sonic Boom Room studio in Venice, California.

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Photo - Stacie Huckeba

India Ramey - We Ride At Dawn.

Nashville outlaw country siren India Ramey releases “We Ride At Dawn,” the latest from her forthcoming LP Villain Era, out May 8 via Copaco Records/Blue Élan Records. In celebration of the release, Ramey will also embark on a Nashville Honky Tonk tour. “Nashville reaches so many different audiences depending on the room, so I wanted to take this new music on a mini-tour of some of my favorite spots around town,” she shares. 

A callback to “King of the Ashes” from her 2020 album Shallow Graves, “We Ride At Dawn” delivers an anthemic feminist call to action in response to the stripping away of women’s bodily autonomy. Through a spaghetti western lens, Ramey spins a scorched-earth tale in which a band of women rises up, chases down the bandits who have destroyed their town, and reclaims what was stolen. It’s a promise of revenge from the ones who survived.

“We Ride At Dawn” follows “Scattered and Smothered,” a tongue-in-cheek, 2 a.m. Waffle House booth confessional, and “Welcome to My Villain Era,” a danceable declaration from a woman done suffering fools and setting boundaries with anyone who dares to cross them. “If my boundaries offend you,” Ramey says, “I’ll happily play the villain in that story.”

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Lauren Braddock - Purple Party.

“Music City Royalty” indie artist Lauren Braddock celebrates a GenX milestone birthday with the release of “Purple Party!” 

Known for being a “fierce artist” with “a poet's eye and a child's heart,” Lauren-the daughter of Hall of Fame songwriter Bobby Braddock-has seen her songs covered by legends like Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton. 

Produced by Grammy-winner Don Henry, “Purple Party” is a “Beatles meets Prince” anthem-a vibrant call for peace, inclusivity and radical joy.

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Gee & Tee – Gil In Dub

It’s been said spring can be revolutionary and when it comes to Gil Scott Heron’s music, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ came out in April 1974'  while ‘B-Movie’ came out in March 1981 two special and very political tracks. In these times of political unrest, these classic tunes ring as true as they did half a century ago, their blasé laid-back acuity only seem sharpened by today's events.

Tackling such milestones as "B-Movie" and "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" can be tricky, but Guillaume Metenier & Slikk Tim not only have been producing music together for years, but most importantly are on the same page when it comes to personal convictions. "We felt like we couldn't just do a quick dub of these tunes and chicken out on the political aspect of the music", says Tim. "As we started to work out different ideas, it became evident the meaning of the tunes were dead-on with the realities of our time".

'B-Movie' -- here reworked as “Nothin’ But Bad TV" is a perfect example, the new lyrics echoing the bizarre similarities between yesterday's US president with today's one. "We played that one pretty close to the original as the vocal parallel felt right , but the dub version takes it a step further", says Guillaume. 'The Revolution...' is a different affair, going for a heavyweight, stripped-down arrangement, brooding with intensity -- the vocal restrained here to a heartfelt acknowledgement of Scott-Heron's spirit amidst the controlled sonic chaos.

"We took our time to make sure we would approach these works in a real way. Of course , we don't share Scott-Heron's hardships -- but when it comes to his attitude, we wanted to be all the way with it, from the music to the meaning", concludes Tim. "And then even if you remove the words -- you still get the message across".

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Emma Hunter - Snake.

The new single 'Snake' by Oxford, UK indie alternative band Emma Hunter, has been released today April 3rd 2026. 1950s-inspired guitarist, and loop-maker Emma Hunter, together with the trip-hop-inspired percussionist Tom Bruce, and bassist Hayley Wright, create evocative, sun-blistered soundscapes. Intricate melodies and harmonies lie at the heart of every darkly imaginative song. Emma Hunter is an experienced singer and songwriter working in collaboration with Tom and Hayley. Their influences include; PJ Harvey, Imogen Heap and the mysticism of Ancient Mexico. Sharon Van Etten and Anna Calvi are her most prolific comparisons.

'Snake' is the last single to be released from Emma Hunter’s album Yolanda. The album tells the story of Yolanda and Danny-star-crossed lovers from a time, long ago: 1950s Mexico. The album explores the tensions between love and desire; addiction and death. Emma Hunter, often compared to Sharon Van Etten or PJ Harvey, plunges the listener into a cinematic world of sunsets and dust, darkness and desire. Each song creates both evocative soundscapes and a visual world for the listener akin to the kind of music you would expect to find in a David Lynch film. 

'Snake' is no exception and layers vocal harmonies over lush, Morricone, flamenco style guitars and in a dark cinematic soundscape. 'Snake' explores themes of addiction and love. The snake becomes a metaphor for alcohol, taking inspiration from Mayan mythology. Yolanda is asking Danny to choose her over his addiction and the lyrical content portraying themes of anguish and longing are represented in the dramatic nature of the music. They have played the main stage of Truck Festival, Riverside and Cornbury Festival, the Oxford 02 Academy and other venues throughout the UK and have featured in numerous music magazines both published and online and have been played on radio shows around the world. 

Emma Hunter · SNAKE

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