Bridges Ablaze – Apocalypse (Live)

    Austin-based Bridges Ablaze, the buzzing rock band born from the serendipitous encounter between two incredibly talented artists—Brien Allen and Ruben Zamora—continues to captivate audiences with their transformative music journey. Bridges Ablaze announce their live video for “Apocalypse.” Hot off the release of their singles “Take Me,” “Heartbroken Angel,” “Numb,” and “Apocalypse” (over 28M plays on TikTok).

    From chance meeting to dynamic partnership, their story is nothing short of awe-inspiring. In the heart of El Paso, TX, Ruben Zamora, originally destined for a career in the Military, found himself contemplating his future. Despite previous band experiences, Ruben’s unwavering passion for music propelled him towards a career in the industry. His professional approach to the chaotic music world has been instrumental in his success. A fateful visit to Guitar Center would accelerate his life’s trajectory.

    On the other side was Brien Allen, pursuing a Petroleum Sciences degree at the University of Texas. Brien’s musical journey began in middle school when he taught himself the guitar, overcoming challenges with a unique determination. Inspired by musicians and situations that pushed him, Brien’s dedication to improvement became his trademark. All this led him to an encounter at an Austin Guitar Center.

    Their paths aligned as if scripted—Brien and Ruben, drawn by the magnetic pull of music, met in the afore-mentioned Guitar Center, recognizing each other’s exceptional talent. The mutual admiration sparked a connection, leading to the formation of Bridges Ablaze in 2019. With a lineup of talented musicians, Bridges Ablaze made their mark with a compelling cover of 30 Seconds To Mars’ “The Kill.”

    Their quest for the perfect producer led them to Robby Joyner (Fire From The Gods), where synergy on a personal and musical level flourished. The collaborative process became a harmonious blend of respect, flow, collaboration, and vulnerability. In 2023, armed with insights gained through mentorship under industry luminaries, the band orchestrated a professional release strategy, assembling a stellar team to execute every detail with precision.

    About Bridges Ablaze

    Bridges Ablaze is a rock/metal band from Austin, Texas. Bred by an “all-in” passion and a mutual disdain for the status-quo, Bridges Ablaze is the predestined voice for a generation that refuses to be put into a box. The duo, composed of founding members Brien Allen and Ruben Zamora, doesn’t bend their identity to any one idea.

    Rather, they draw from specific influences, ranging from deathcore to jazz and beyond, to craft their own sound that is equal parts unique and anthemic. Brien Allen and Ruben Zamora are both central songwriters as well as lead singers and lead guitarists for Bridges Ablaze, making their sound unique. With a diverse palate of influences, the duo seeks to push the edge of the known sonic envelope while defining their own distinguished sound in a world of oversaturated subgenres. Bridges Ablaze sings about all kinds of authentic life experiences, making their music both cathartic and relatable as well as recognizable. One goal of the music, aside from being catharsis for Brien and Ruben, is to inspire the listener to feel what they need to feel – be it excitement, joy, sadness, or rage.

    Their debut single, “The Kill” (originally by 30 Seconds to Mars), was engineered and produced by Cory Brunnemann and was released on April 1st, 2020. The song was originally an experiment – a sort of “proof of concept” for the project. Slowly (and at times, quickly), the project became something progressively more and more involved. After multiple years of rigorous artistic and business development, the band finally released their debut music video for “The Kill” on January 21st, 2022 on YouTube.

    Given the positive response to their cover of “The Kill”, Brien and Ruben decided to record an album with Robby Joyner in Houston, Texas. In 2023, the duo released the singles “Hellbent” (January 13th), “Never Too Late” (April 14th), “Forever Fallen” (July 21st), and “Heartbroken Angel” (October 20th) on all streaming platforms with accompanying music videos on YouTube.

    In 2024, the band continued releasing singles without signs of slowing. “Numb” (January 24th), “Apocalypse” (June 12th), and “Take Me” (August 23rd), as well as acoustic renditions of their songs “Heartbroken Angel” (April 24th) and “Numb” (May 8th) were released across all platforms with accompanying music videos on YouTube. The band intends to release more singles in 2025, culminating with the release of their debut album in 2025 or 2026.

    Since inception, the band has been releasing singles and music videos consistently, with many more releases planned for the future. Since 2022, the band has grossed over 2.5 million views on YouTube and over 2.5 million streams across Spotify and Apple Music. In the last year, Heartbroken Angel also grossed over 28 million streams on TikTok due to being added to TikTok’s “Rock Playlist”.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINK:
    https://linktr.ee/BridgesAblaze

    Sea Fever – Go To Ground + Tour Dates

    Sea Fever has released their new single and video titled ‘Go To Ground’, from their upcoming second album ‘Surface Sound’, dropping May 30th via Cosmic Glue.

    A clubhouse feeling designed for the stadium with a retro electro-feel of an early summer and a lasting party, ‘Go To Ground’ gives us that final, fourth single stylized ‘gateway drug’ of what is to come with ‘Surface Sound’.

    ‘Go To Ground’ experiments with emotions as much as that cross-Euro dance and pop tasted that creates an excitement as much as an anticipation upon that first listen.

    “’ GoTo Ground’ is an upbeat, no-nonsense song about ambition and change,” says singer, guitarist, and lyricist Iwan Gronow. “People can be held back by the system, dulled down and told to stay in their place, and this is our call to climb out of the box that people put us in. Positive thinking brought me to Manchester in the first place, grew my self-belief, and I’ve always tried to follow this doctrine. Feelings of being lost change to being more certain about who you are and where you are going.”

    About ‘Go To Ground’ & ‘Surface Sound’

    Flowering into pure confidence and blooming with possibility, Manchester’s carriers of the synth-powered flame, Sea Fever, sing an up-front and high-octane dance floor anthem for those cast out and lost for belief with the release of their latest single, Go To Ground. Picking up the breadcrumb trail left by pioneers of electronic music past, not least Giorgio Moroder, the tight-knit five-piece foundry of new ideas in sound releases the single as the latest, anticipation-superheating hint of what lies in store on their upcoming second album, Surface Sound.

    Having introduced themselves to 2025 with the frosted and cracked winter splendour of Loose Cut at the turn of the year, quickly followed up with bold album opener, Breaking Out, inFebruary, Sea Fever’s declared sense of refreshed cohesion and self-assurance has already seen them out jump the artistic leaps evident on their acclaimed debut, 2021’s Folding Lines. Putting another piece of the puzzle gently into place with the ‘leak’ of the cut-glass-guitars-by-weighty-beats anthem, Shouldn’t Have Been This Way, every minute of the band’s collective, main stage experience is revealed.

    Applying equal importance to studio and stage, the band’s select list of live appearances, complete with a wash of bespoke visuals, grows with confirmation of Kendal Calling in their summer calendar. Three, intimate acoustic in-store appearances are also confirmed, in addition to a special hometown album launch show at The Yard in Manchester on Friday, May 30th, 2025.

    While bassist Tom Chapman, also a member of New Order, names Go To Ground as the band’s “Italo-Manc disco track… an electronic funky experiment of syncopated beats and anthemic chorus”, the lyrical context reveals sensitivities to be found within the welcome sense of bombastic, wired abandon.

    Released on multiple formats, including vinyl, CD, and digital, Surface Sound was written and recorded in studios in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, self-produced by Sea Fever with support from long-term collaborator and PetShop Boys’ musical director, Pete Gleadall. Special vinyl editions of Surface Sound will be packaged with a bonus 7” featuring Explanation, Sea Fever’s collaborative track with the late, much-missed Primal Scream and electronic singer, Denise Johnson.

    ‘Surface Sound’ Tracklist

    'Surface Sound' cover.
    ‘Surface Sound’ cover.
    1. Breaking Out
    2. Go To Ground
    3. Shouldn’t Have Been This Way
    4. Sincere To Some
    5. Able Eyes
    6. Thrills, Kicks And Lies
    7. Triggers Us
    8. Loose Cut
    9. Truth Dare
    10. Seen As A Lifeline

    About Sea Fever

    SeaFever’s story became public with the release of their first single, Crossed Wires, in 2021. The band gathers the innate, restless artistry, studio craft, and stage experience of Gronow and Chapman alongside New Order guitarist Phil Cunningham, Section 25’s Beth Cassidy and drummer Elliot Barlow, formerly of Brix and The Extricated. Gronow’s own international touring and extensive record-making experience comes as a former member of cult indie heartbreakers, Haven, and a constant by the side of Johnny Marr as his bassist for more than a decade.


    LINK:
    https://linktr.ee/seafeverband

    Lisa Oribasi – Yuma

    Lisa Oribasi - Yuma
    Lisa Oribasi - Yuma

    Writing soulful music is as natural as the very earth, singer-songwriter Lisa Oribasi says. Raised in the heart of the Swiss mountains, it’s no wonder that Oribasi’s inspiration comes from the world around her. Channeling her inner child, her music is told through the freedom and imagination of child-like wonder, yet there’s a maturity in the lyrics and her indie-folk soundscape. The sun, the moon, the seasons, and her relationships all play a part in her storytelling, while her stage presence is its force of nature.

    Lisa Oribasi’s songwriting journey began when she was 8 years old, picking up the guitar and crafting songs underneath a tree, in her tiny village. The innocence and naivety of childhood still linger in Oribasi’s songs, but now that expression holds a cheeky irony and adult perspective. Staying true to her roots, her sound is organic and nostalgic, blending natural instrumentation with man-made textures. This intuitive writing style led Oribasi to the metropolis of London, where she developed and nurtured her talents in a Vocal and Songwriting degree in 2015. Her time in London offered an array of impressive opportunities, performing at venues such as the O2 Islington, Under the Bridge, and Shepherd’s Bush Empire, including a personal invitation to perform at the iTunes Head Office in London. 2017 became a pivotal moment in Oribasi’s career when she was chosen as the artist for the Swiss equivalent of John Lewis’ Christmas advert, retail company Coop, performing her song ‘Memories.’ Within a week, the song reached number 1 in the charts and has amassed nearly 3 million streams on Spotify alone, with over 20,000 monthly listeners. She was a noted songwriter for ‘Victoria Line’ by Pegasus, which became the most successful Swiss song of the year, before joining them at their stadium show at Zurich Hallenstadion.

    2021 saw the release of her single ‘Mustard Yellow,’ of her EP ‘Red Earth’ accompanied by a vibrant music video she shot in Berlin, or the release of the ‘Red Earth’ video just like the her recent live EP ‘The Red Earth Live Session’ and many more – all available on her YouTube channel.

    After she released her 1st EP ‘Red Earth’, Lisa finally released her long-awaited 2nd EP ‘Somewhere IDK’ in 2024. In September last year, she became SRF3 Best Talent – a placement she had dreamed of for a long time.

    ‘Somewhere IDk’ is again a body of work she fully wrote and produced by herself alongside Ball-Zee (world champion beatboxer and music producer), who is the only other creative force collaborating on her new music.

    Besides being a musician at her core, Lisa Oribasi is a green witch, a yogi, a vocal teacher, a sound healer, an astrologer, tarot reader, amongst many other interests, which created the foundation of her sound. In other words, Lisa Oribasi’s music is an accumulation of numerous samples recorded as she wanders around channelling songs.

    For this multi-instrumental singer-songwriter, storytelling is at the core of her art, and her sound follows a journey of surrender, surrendering to the present moment and to everything that co-exists.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINK:
    https://linktr.ee/lisaoribasi

    Rags and Riches – Hush

    Rags and Riches - Hush
    Rags and Riches - Hush

    Brothers Tanner and Peyton Whitt, performing as the adrenalized alt-pop duo Rags And Riches, bring high-energy hope to inspire a generation of dreamers. Hailing from Lexington, Kentucky, these brothers aren’t just making music—they’re crafting anthems that ignite souls.

    Their latest single, “Hush,” was written after witnessing the unraveling of a shocking situation with someone the duo was close to for years. The brothers confide, “For a long time, we trusted and looked up to him, someone who held immense power and influence within their community. But behind closed doors, it was revealed that he had been using his position to manipulate and take advantage of vulnerable women and girls. His actions, hidden for so long, finally came to light, and the consequences were devastating. The lyrics are a reflection of the anger and frustration we felt watching him lie and deny his wrongdoings, even after everything came crashing down. He lost his wife and kids, but continued to claim that he did nothing wrong, refusing to take responsibility for the harm he caused. It was a surreal experience to witness someone in such a respected position completely crumble, all while hiding behind his lies.”

    “Hush” is a commentary on secrets, power, and the eventual truth that always finds its way to the surface. The line “I know what you did last summer” encapsulates that feeling of knowing what someone has done but not being able to stop them, until it’s too late. It’s a reminder that lies and manipulations may hold up for a while, but the truth always has a way of coming out, no matter how hard someone tries to keep it buried. In the end, this song is about facing the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable, and holding people accountable for their actions. It’s a way of reclaiming the power that was taken away and refusing to let those who abuse their position get away with it.

    “Hush” and their previous single “Yes We Will (Mob Squad)” are off of an upcoming EP, which marks a new chapter for Rags And Riches. Unlike anything they’ve written before, their new sound blends hip-hop, pop, and alternative into one. Covering themes of controversy, the duo reveals real-life, vulnerable stories, from breakups and affairs to liars and backstabbers.

    Picture this: 300+ shows in 45 states, directly supporting legends such as Smash Mouth, Judah & the Lion, Fitz & the Tantrums, and Stop Light Observations, to name just a few. It’s not just about the music; it’s about connecting with audiences on a deeper level, leaving them energized and inspired. When the duo isn’t rocking stages, they’re smashing records too. Winning a Josie Music Award for Pop Artist of the Year, 4 Lexington Music Awards for Pop Artist of the Year (3X Winner) & Song of the Year, clocking in over 11.5 MIL+ career streams, and racking up 5.5 MIL+ video views all in just 6 years. And let’s talk about their playlist prowess—landing on Apple Music’s coveted ‘New In Alternative’, snagging placements on Spotify’s ‘Nu Disco’ and ‘it’s alt good’ playlists, they continue to push boundaries and redefine the alt-pop landscape. They truly are a force to be reckoned with.

    Rags and Riches aren’t just brothers making music—they’re dreamers, creators, and trailblazers. And as they continue to rise, one thing is certain: their journey is just beginning.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.tiktok.com/@ragsandrichesmusic
    https://www.instagram.com/ragsandrichesmusic
    https://www.facebook.com/ragsandrichesmusic
    https://x.com/_ragsandriches
    https://www.ragsandrichesmusic.com/

    Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie – Donkey Song

    Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie has just released their lead track, “Donkey Song,” from their highly anticipated second album, Whoop It Up, set for release on April 25. This high-energy track features a chaotic, mind-bending vibe, blending psychedelic British rock with a danceable groove reminiscent of the ‘90s. The music video, directed by Shosuke Sasaki, is now available on their official YouTube channel.

    The video follows Chi- and a gorilla on a quest to find a “treasure banana” in various locations—will they succeed? Additionally, the music video will be featured on MTV JAPAN’s “April BUZZ CLIP.” The album cover art is a collaboration with up-and-coming artist HATO, known for designing their 2024 single “REACH feat. PES.” Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie continues to expand their global fanbase with powerful performances and a distinct sound, establishing themselves as an artist to watch closely.

    About Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie

    Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie (CLWP) is a solo unit founded by Chi-, known for her bright orange hair. The band also includes two other members, Whoopies No.1 and Whoopies No.2. Together, they not only write and perform music but are also involved in various other creative endeavors. Their debut single,“Dear Idiot,” was released in December 2019. In 2021, they were selected as one of the featured artists for Spotifyʼs RADAR: Early Noise 2021. The following year, they performed at one of Japan’s biggest festivals, Summer Sonic 2022, in Tokyo and Osaka.

    In 2023, their first-ever appearance at SXSW was praised by VIBE as one of the “10 Best Performances We Saw At SXSW 2023” among over 1,000 participating artists. In 2024, their SXSW performances were highlighted by British media outlet CLASH as one of the “SXSW 2024:The Best 15 Acts.” With growing recognition and continuous collaboration requests from musicians and producers across various genres and countries, CLWP is pushing creative boundaries as a next-generation artist.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.instagram.com /chameleon.lime.whoopiepie
    https://www.tiktok.com/@clwp_official
    https://www.instagram.com/madeintyo

    George Brown – Jazz In Paris

    George Brown - Jazz In Paris
    George Brown - Jazz In Paris

    George Brown has today posthumously released his latest album titled ‘Jazz In Paris’ via Astana Music Inc/BFD/The Orchard. George “Funky” Brown, the divine one who put the beat behind all that was Kool and The Gang, and absolute pioneer of everything for not only an entire genre, but an entire decade, reaches out for possibly one last time with his new album.

    A suave mix of retro meets metro, with a set of songs designed for the cool kids, ‘Jazz In Paris’ reminds me of that old argument people make regarding the Bible vs science. What I mean by this is, if you put ‘Jazz In Paris’ vs Kool and The Gang in that same argument, you get the same answer: One tells you how, the other tells you why.

    Enough said. Take a listen. Make your own call.

    About ‘Jazz In Paris’

    Inspired by the smoky jazz clubs of Paris and New York in the late 1950s and 60s—a sound that shaped Brown’s musical world from an early age—the album reflects his passion for jazz while showcasing his extraordinary range as an artist.

    Meticulously crafted, Jazz in Paris blends the timeless elegance of classic jazz with Brown’s signature touch, reflecting his lifelong dedication to the universal language of music. Produced by Brown, co-produced by Curtis F. Williams (Kool & The Gang Musical Director) and the late Wolfgang Amadeus Aichholz, with Claude Ismael as Executive Producer, the album captures Brown’s reverence for jazz while incorporating contemporary influences he gathered throughout his six-decade career.

    Recorded primarily during the pandemic at his Alley Kat Studio in Los Angeles, the album features collaborations with longtime musical allies, including Williams and Louis Van Taylor. Countless nights were spent in the studio, crafting the music that usually came to Brown in his dreams or dream-like states in the early morning. Following Brown’s passing, acclaimed drummer Vinnie Colaiuta stepped in to finalize several key tracks.

    Curtis F. Williams reflects on the album and the process of completing it:

    “George’s spirit is woven into every note of this record. Those of us who were closest to him could feel his presence guiding us in the studio—it was as if he was still there, speaking through the music. Every track touches a nerve because it’s so deeply personal and true to who he was. Jazz in Paris isn’t just a record; it’s an intimate window into George’s creative world, and we’re honored to help share that with the world.”

    A central influence on Jazz in Paris is the groundbreaking work of Miles Davis. Inspired by Davis’ boundary-pushing brilliance, Brown infused the album with textures reminiscent of the First and Second Great Quintets. On tracks like “Lisa” and “MDD” (short for Miles Dewey Davis), Brown channels the depth and sophistication of classic jazz standards, while his broader range shines through funk-infused standouts like “Addicted to the Hustle” and the bluesy “Daddy Jazzbow.”

    The album concludes with “In the Land of Allah – In the Land of God,” a deeply personal track dedicated to Brown’s lifelong friend and Kool & The Gang co-founder, Khalis Bayyan (born Ronald Bell). The expansive nine-and-a-half-minute piece features Brown performing drums, bass, percussion, keyboards, piano, and vocals, alongside contributions from Turkish Sufi musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek on trumpet, percussion, and vocals. This poignant closing moment encapsulates a life shaped by music and guided by a profound spirituality — one that transcended religion, faith, creed, color, and belief.

    Throughout his remarkable career, George Brown toured extensively across Europe with Kool & The Gang, earning a dedicated following in Paris. Their concerts, especially at the iconic Olympia Theatre, were met with overwhelming love from French audiences. Brown’s connection to the city extended well beyond the stage—his frequent visits to Paris served as a wellspring of creative inspiration. Jazz in Paris stands as both a love letter to the city and a heartfelt homage to the jazz legends who first stirred his imagination.

    To honor the album’s release, The George Brown Ensemble comes together for a special night of music at The Sun Rose in Los Angeles on April 24. Featuring some of George’s closest friends and collaborators—Louis Van Taylor, Curtis Williams, Stu Pearlman, Andrea Lisa, Ian Martin, Mike Condone, Katja Koren, Lyndon Rochelle, and Mykail McDade—the ensemble performs Jazz in Paris in its entirety across two shows, at 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM. Each set includes a special opening performance by George’s son, vocalist and pianist Aaron Brown, making it a true family affair.

    About George Brown

    George Brown was a pioneering musician and a founding member of the legendary group Kool and The Gang. With a career spanning decades, George left an indelible mark on the music industry with his unparalleled talent and groundbreaking contributions. Through his music, he continues to inspire and uplift audiences worldwide, ensuring that his legacy lives on for generations to come.

    Even up until his passing, Brown’s remarkable contributions persisted, including the production of Kool & The Gang’s 2023 album, ‘People Just Wanna Have Fun,’ and the release of his memoir, Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me. Brown’s first solo album, ‘Where I’m Coming From,’ was released posthumously in September 2024, further showcasing his musical vision. These efforts further solidified Kool & The Gang’s place in music history alongside their iconic hits like “Ladies Night,” “Celebration,” and “Jungle Boogie.”

    George Brown passed away in 2023 at the age of 74, leaving behind a lasting legacy. He is survived by his wife, Hanh Brown, and five children.

    Kat Velasco – Name on My Phone

    Kat Velasco - Name on My Phone
    Kat Velasco - Name on My Phone

    Kat Velasco has today released her new single titled ‘Name on My Phone’. Kat is in the middle of a musical transition, in my opinion. Having reviewed a few of her tracks so far, I can hear that musical maturity coming forward, more and more. Keeping the radio-friendly aspect, yet branching out into her own signature sound of experimentation and transcendence of styles and genres.

    ‘Name on My Phone’ is an accessible track that anyone can appreciate. Yet gain a following from fellow musicians and music ‘aficionados’ in that the music is intricate, yet not-in-your-face, while still retaining that ‘accessibility’.

    Hints of country and pop abound, Kat takes it to that next level of originality by taking that musical leap of faith.

    Check out our other features with Kat Velasco HERE.

    About ‘Name on My Phone’

    Written by Kylie Sackley, alongside Erin Kirby and Robyn Dellunto, and produced by Andy Sheridan, “Name on My Phone” transports audiences back to that “butterflies in your stomach” emotion of crushing on someone new. With lyrics like, “When it lights up / I won’t lie, if it ain’t you / I get disappointed every time…,” and, “When we hang up / Do you miss me / Like I miss you…,” Velasco narrates the rollercoaster of internal thoughts one experiences when catching themselves infatuated by their lover.

    As the singer herself describes it, this single is “…all about that undeniable spark when someone new comes into your life–the thrill, the late-night texts, and the way they start taking up space in your world.” Behind the vocals, listeners can hear a layer of instrumentals performed by Jared Kneale on drums, Matt Utterback on bass, John Shaw on electric guitar, and Sheridan on keys. When played all together, the instrumentals lay the foundation for an upbeat and sunny atmosphere throughout the track’s duration, giving it an “…effortlessly cool…made for summer drives…” energy. “Name on my Phone” kick-starts the summer season with both lyrics and production that embody the tenderness of fantasizing about fresh love, “golden hour, [and] warm breezes.”

    Velasco, now based out of Nashville, was originally raised in South Carolina, where her adoration for music first blossomed out of her background in musical theater. The singer began releasing her original songs in 2021, with her breakout single, “Leave Me Wild,” garnering her spots on Spotify’s top playlists such as New Music Weekly and Fresh Finds Country. Thanks to her distinctive, edgy sound and impassioned vocals, Velasco was able to secure several radio interviews across the U.S., including having her single “Call Me” be featured on multiple popular playlists and its music video aired on CMT. More recent singles, “Burning Man” and “Paper Boy,” have received praise from acclaimed outlets like Wide Open Country, Holler, Ones to Watch, and Music Connection. She has performed as an opener for acts like Love and Theft, BRELAND, David Nail, and Tierra Kennedy.

    About Kat Velasco

    Nashville-based Western pop artist Kat Velasco, originally from South Carolina, discovered her passion for music and performing at an early age. With a rich background in musical theater and the music industry, Kat has long been writing songs and performing on stage. In 2021, she began releasing her music, and her third single, “Leave Me Wild,” gained traction, landing on popular Spotify playlists like New Music Friday and Fresh Finds Country. Her sound is an edgy blend of Western influences, paired with strong, soulful, and captivating vocals.

    In 2022, Kat’s single “Call Me” made waves, earning her invitations to radio stations and interviews across the U.S. The track hit multiple popular playlists, and its music video was featured on CMT. Other singles, including “Let it Ride” and “Lifetime Lover,” both garnered 15K streams within a week of their release. Earlier this summer, she headlined her first Nashville show at the iconic Exit/In. She has also opened for notable artists like Love and Theft, Frank Ray, BRELAND, David Nail, John Morgan, and Tierra Kennedy. Kat is set to perform at several festivals later this year, sharing the stage with headliners Megan Moroney, Jon Pardi, and Chase Rice.

    Her spring release, “Shania,” is currently charting on Country Radio and making waves on Music Row. Her latest release, “Got Away,” has already surpassed 10K streams and is featured on playlists like Fresh Finds Country, CMT, and ACMAs.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.katvelasco.com/
    https://www.facebook.com/KatVelascoMusic
    https://www.tiktok.com/@katvelascomusic
    https://www.instagram.com/kat.velasco.music
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH3jjOaHOIlxlloC2FjlC

    Wyldlife – Dizzy

    Wyldelife - Dizzy
    Wyldelife - Dizzy

    Wyldlife have today released their new single titled ‘Dizzy’ from their upcoming album ‘Sorted’, dropping May 16th via Wicked Cool Records.

    Retro sounding as a major plus, due to the infectious and inclusive way about the song without sounding like a tribute or a copy of everything cool back in the day, Wyldlife gives that feeling you get when you find your next favorite band when Spotify randomly throws a bunch of music at you. Consider this as that ‘aha’ moment in your music discovery journey.

    A combination of slacker anthem and Gen Z overtones, ‘Dizzy’ is that gateway drug for what is to come.

    About Wyldlife

    Fueled by infectious riffs, shout-along choruses, and undeniable charm, Wyldelife delivers a sound that nods to the golden age of ’70s punk, glam rock, and power pop. Their music crackles with raw energy and a sense of timeless cool, fusing melody, attitude, and a rebellious streak into every track. With a deep reverence for rock ‘n’ roll’s icons, they channel the high-voltage swagger of the past while injecting a sharp, modern edge, creating songs that grab you instantly and live shows that hit like a bolt of electricity.

    Reflecting on the new single “Dizzy”, vocalist Dave Feldman says, “In writing ‘Dizzy,’ we just wanted people to have that feeling of coming home from school in 1995, turning on MTV and hearing some ‘choooon’ from the UK. I never want to lose that feeling or exit that headspace. We always told journalists, ‘we love BritPop’ and we did it way before it was cool (again). Well, here you go, folks: Here’s our love anthem to BritPop.”

    “Dizzy” will appear on the band’s forthcoming Wicked Cool Records release, ‘Sorted.’

    LINKS:
    https://www.facebook.com/wyldlifeband
    https://www.instagram.com/them_wyldlife_boys
    https://wyldlife.bandcamp.com/

    Lucy Frantic – Buckwheat Swamp

    Lucy Frantic - Buckwheat Swamp
    Lucy Frantic - Buckwheat Swamp

    Lucy Frantic, a rock trio from Finland, has released their debut album “Buckwheat Swamp” on April 18. The band has been playing together since 2018 and previously released three singles. Their first single, “Endless Greed”, along with its animated music video, won an international IMVA award in London in 2021.

    The band abandoned many modern recording techniques, opting to record live as a group instead. On “Buckwheat Swamp,” there is no click track dictating tempos or autotune correcting vocal imperfections. What you hear is the band in its rawest, most honest form.

    Lead singer and guitarist Mr. Jones reflects on the album’s creation:

    “We had already produced and carefully arranged numerous songs in the studio. But when we started playing them as a trio, reality hit. So we decided to make a rock album that could be performed live by just three people, without the arrangements falling flat. The album is straightforward rock, but we haven’t abandoned our psychedelic side. It’s in our DNA.”

    Check out our other features with Lucy Frantic HERE.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.lucyfrantic.com/
    https://www.facebook.com/lucyfrantic
    https://www.instagram.com/lucyfrantic
    https://www.tiktok.com/@lucyfrantic
    https://www.youtube.com/@LucyFrantic
    https://found.ee/Lucy-Frantic-180425

    Fozzy – Fall In Line + Tour Dates

    Fozzy - Fall In Line
    Fozzy - Fall In Line

    Fozzy has today released their latest single titled ‘Fall In Line’ via Madison Records. With an almost operatic style of flair via grandiosity and emotional feeling from the first note, ‘Fall In Line’ feels like an experience as much as a song.

    A solid track that feels like it’s part of a concept album; a lush and vivid idea that is a cog in the wheel of a much bigger story, ‘Fall In Line’ draws that line clearly outside of the box and far left of a mundane center.

    Virtuosic levels of cacophony shower Chris Jericho’s vocals of experience with the necessary scope they need to make a solid impact.

    About ‘Fall In Line’

    Fueled by razor-sharp guitars, thunderous drums, and Chris Jericho’s signature powerhouse vocals, ‘Fall In Line’ is pure fire and a hard-hitting anthem that dares listeners to stand up, speak out, and never Fall in Line.

    “‘Fall In Line’ is the most exciting and unique song Fozzy has recorded for so many reasons. It has the familiar Fozzy sound that’s been our trademark for 25 years, yet sounds nothing like anything we’ve ever done. We feel it’s gonna be a MASSIVE addition to our catalog, and are stoked to unleash this tune to the world AND play it live on our tour!”
    Chris Jericho

    About Fozzy

    Featuring Superstar showman Chris Jericho on vocals, tagging with the iconic signature riffs of maven guitarist Rich Ward, Fozzy is set to launch the next phase of their 25th Anniversary tour with guitarist Billy Grey, bassist P.J. Farley, and drummer Grant Brooks rounding out the band.

    With five consecutive TOP 20 singles, Fozzy is steadily becoming one of the most successful bands on Modern Rock Radio, with their breakthrough massive smash song “Judas” achieving Gold Record status of 500,000 units sold in February of 2022!

    Rich Ward is one of the most versatile, talented riff machines & songwriters in rock n’ roll today. Chris Jericho’s skills as a frontman are second to none, and his vocal style & range are both powerful and instantly recognizable. The spirited drumming of Grant Brooks complements the blazing solos of Billy Grey and the rock star energy of bassist PJ Farley. These are five seasoned pros, whose electricity and charisma light up every stage they play on and every crowd they perform for. As a result, it’s no surprise that Fozzy has skyrocketed into one of the hottest rock acts in the world today.

    The band inched up the ladder after releasing four progressively popular studio albums in the 2000s. However, it was 2012’s “Sin And Bones”, which featured the hit single “Sandpaper” (over 4.5 MILLION views on YouTube), that found the band reaching a level of legitimacy that drew a mass audience to drink in their trademark heavy melodic groove. The album eventually reached #143 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, but it was their next album, “Do You Wanna Start A War” (produced by Ward), released in the summer of 2014, that blew the door open, debuting at #54 on Billboard and giving the band their first top 30 single in “Lights Go Out” which was blared in sports arenas nationwide.

    But as much success as the band had enjoyed, nothing compared to the juggernaut of 2017’s “Judas” album. Released in May 2017, the aforementioned title track spent 5 weeks at NUMBER ONE on the highly influential ‘Big Uns Countdown’ on Sirius/XM’s Octane channel, amassed over 55 MILLION views for its video on YouTube, cracked the TOP 5 on the US Rock Radio Charts and is still heard by millions of fans worldwide weekly on TBS Network’s hugely popular “AEW Dynamite” program. The follow-up singles “Painless” hit Number 9 on the charts (almost 10 MILLION views on YouTube), “Burn Me Out” peaked at Number 18, “Nowhere To Run” cracked the Top Ten again and their most recent single “Sane”, (with its roller coaster themed video- one of the most thrilling & heart stopping ever made) landing at Number 8!

    Now, with those massive songs in their arsenal and the new album “Boombox” cocked and ready to go, Fozzy looks forward to being back on the road for their Saving The World 2022 Tour. After sharing the stage in recent years with Metallica, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown, Slash, Three Days Grace, Nickelback, Steel Panther & Buckcherry, Fozzy is stoked to storm back on the stage to bring good times and kick-ass tunes to their fans around the world… and elsewhere!

    LINKS:
    https://fozzyrock.com/
    https://x.com/fozzyrock
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/59CIPNdUfewexxn1CJEdp5
    https://www.facebook.com/FozzyRock/
    https://www.instagram.com/fozzyrock
    https://www.tiktok.com/@fozzyrock

    Sarah Banker – Into The Heart

    Sarah Banker - Into The Heart
    Sarah Banker - Into The Heart

    Sarah Banker has released her new EP titled ‘Into The Heart’ today. Recorded and produced by Jeff Franca (Thievery Corporation) in his studio, at 9,000 feet elevation in the Indian Peaks Wilderness in Colorado, ‘Into The Heart’ has an old school feel, in regards to folk, with a modern tinge of songwriting featuring memorable hooks and enough diversity in the music to bring appreciation from all ages.

    A genuine mix and mash of aforementioned folk with modern pop, Americana, and a unique blend of instrumentation, including strings and horns, all come together in such a way that it gloriously works memorably. I wish more artists dared to experiment in such a way.

    About Sarah Banker

    Sarah Banker is a heartfelt singer/songwriter based in the mountains of Colorado. Drawing inspiration from her childhood experiences performing in theatrical productions, Sarah found her true voice through songwriting after learning guitar, following her degree in Cultural Anthropology. After only three months of playing, she had her first guitar performance. Instantly hooked, 18 months later, she sold most of her belongings and set out on the road with just a backpack and her guitar. Her journey of exploration and curiosity has taken her from the jungles of Hawaii to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, down to the deserts of southern Utah, and up to the peaks of Colorado—each place influencing her musical releases and touching others along the way.

    Sarah Banker’s ability to capture the complexity of emotions in simple yet expressive lyrics is a consistent strength across her music. Her songs feel universal and deeply personal, inviting listeners to reflect, heal, and embrace what’s to come.

    Ultimately, her musical intention is to be a source of light and love through sound. She also hopes her music inspires others to be the best version of themselves, sharing, “You are the ONE, the one who has the potential to make the changes that lead to a fulfilling life experience. You have everything you need within you to take charge of your life.”

    LINKS:
    https://www.instagram.com/sarahbankermusic
    https://www.facebook.com/sarahbankermusic

    Yogi-G & The Family Tree – Shine On Brother

    Yogi-G and The Family Tree have unveiled their powerful new single Shine On (Brother), featuring Queen Vee and Chris Barton which has dropped ahead of the band’s eagerly awaited album Show Me The Truth out May 23rd. Led by Gaz Whelan—co-founder, Ivor Novello winning songwriter and drummer of the legendary Happy Mondays—this project blends his iconic Madchester groove with fresh, infectious energy, delivering music that’s both raw and transcendent, and also features the irrepressible vocals of Rowetta making the sounds of 1990 come alive again in glorious fashion.

    Gaz’s influences mainly stem from John Lydon, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan. A more cerebral character than bandmates Shaun, Bez, and co. but still a major proponent of that larger-than-life Mancunian braggadocious swagger that has paved the way for a whole subculture of British indie pop bands like The Stone Roses, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, The Charlatans, Primal Scream, Badly Drawn Boy et al.

    With a working title of ‘A Record Collection in One Album’, the newly titled and as yet unreleased album Show Me The Truth is a genre-free zone, a collision of moods and styles that dovetails Whelan’s ragged, dark lyrical musings with soulful vocals and African rhythms.

    It’s the aural equivalent of lying in a warm bath in the middle of a snowstorm—where spaghetti western strings stretch from heaven, rubbing up against filthy electric guitars and punk gospel rhythm and rhyme. A hidden optimism weaves through its DNA, offering soul salvation for the cynical, a haven from an ever-insane world.

    As Gaz explains, “Yogi-G and The Family Tree are not hippies, we give a fuller human experience that is more devolved from the punk experience, where you never quite know if you’re going to get a hug or a headbutt. Life is filled with peace and love but equally excitement and pain.”

    Started in Toronto and finished in Warrington, the album was born out of frustration and creative restlessness, as Gaz further explains, “I got fed up waiting around to try to agree to write a new Mondays album. When it became apparent, we couldn’t agree, I decided to do my own. I think it’s bloody great and the support has been outstanding for all the good ones we’ve lost along the way like Gil Scott Heron, Tony Wilson, and more recently my bandmate Paul Ryder, this is for them, and for all those who just love to get off on good music.”

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://yogigandthefamilytree.co.uk/
    https://www.instagram.com/yogi_gfamilytree/

    Heartwells – Backstabbers

    Heartwells - Backstabbers
    Heartwells - Backstabbers

    Heartwells have released the new single “Backstabbers” via HEY!FEVER Records. Recorded and mixed by Paul Miner at Buzzbomb – Studios Orange, CA; Mastered by Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) at The Lighthouse Recording StudioGuest musicians: Hornwells – Rocky and Jay

    The track is the band’s first new music since 2024’s ‘The New Old School.’

    JT of Heartwells says, “Backstabbers is a song about seeing the true side of people once you have nothing left to offer them. The users and abusers of this world who only take from you until you have nothing left.”

    About Heartwells

    Heartwells are Long Beach, CA punk rock! Where the sun, sand, city, and punks meet to party. Formed in Gilmore Music, consisting of members from: @bornonjeffreys / Get Dead / Room 7. Justin Tauch (Vox/Guitar), Moki (Bass/Vox), Chris Stout (Drums/Vox), Sam Peterson (Guitar/Vox). Hitting the pavement playing crusty bars, stages, shows and touring whenever possible. Born from a brief connection on Craigslist, over a couple of beers, Liquid Deaths, THC Hi-Boys, & some extremely mediocre rounds of golf during a world pandemic.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINK:
    https://linktr.ee/heartwellsband

    The Dandy Warhols – I Will Never Stop Loving You (ft. Debbie Harry) (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix) + Tour Dates + ‘Rock Remaker’ EP Releasing May 16th

    The Dandy Warhols have today released their new video for the remix track titled ‘I Will Never Stop Loving You’ (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix) featuring Blondie’s Debbie Harry, from their upcoming remix EP titled ‘Rock Remaker, dropping on May 16th via Sunset Blvd. Records.

    With the recent passing of Blondie’s Clem Burke (our interview HERE), I’ve been on a nostalgic renascence concerning not only Blondie but that era in general. It had that certain something about it that defined the era and solidified the memories. I get that vibe with The Dandy Warhols as well (our interview HERE). Some artists become attached to memories, feelings, and special moments you can’t explain or describe to anyone else. With this remix, there is an addendum to that. A reimage, if you will. A new song evolves from the Phoenix that was before and begins its existence. Those are the best remixes you can find. Not the ones that simply attach their wagon to the car.

    Oliver Ackerman (A Place To Bury Strangers) doesn’t breathe new life into an already lively track, but he does add a piece of himself to an already original piece. Bringing Harry to the center stage of the track brings it to a different space that was just as out-of-the-box as the original, and, while you have the room to decide which version you like better, you can’t deny that this is the next step of TDW’s own evolution of revolution.

    Check out our other features with The Dandy Warhols HERE.

    About ‘Rock Remaker’

    “I absolutely love remixes, someone else’s interpretation, or complete destruction of a song,” says Peter G. Holmström, guitarist/keyboardist of The Dandy Warhols. His obviously-not-unprompted statement refers to ”Rock Remaker”, releasing May 16, 2025 via Sunset Blvd., The Dandy Warhols’ upcoming EP of remixed tracks from their critically hailed album ”Rockmaker” which was released in 2024. “On this EP, we got to work with some favorites… Andy Bell from Ride and Oasis, Anders Trentemøller, Oliver Ackerman from A Place To Bury Strangers, and Night Club.”

    The initial remix to be released is A Place To Bury Stranger’s re-imagination of “I Will Never Stop Loving You.” The original – the dark album closer – featured Blondie’s Debbie Harry, whose radiant vocals provide a bright contrast to Dandy Warhols’ vocalist/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s sinister growl. The remix amplifies Holmström’s searing guitars and positions Harry’s vocals front and center while Taylor-Taylor’s ominous repetition of the song title lurks in the shadows.

    “I’ve been a massive fan of Oliver (both A Place To Bury Strangers and Death By Audio) for ages, so I’m honored that he picked ‘I Will Never Stop Loving You’ to remix,” chimes Holmström. “His flavor of audio destruction and Debbie Harry’s sublime vocals… Perfect!”

    “[‘Rockmaker’] is a total reinvention of the band, so to be asked to do a remix from this record was an absolute honor for a band that I have loved for so long and is still making incredible and pertinent music,” beams A Place To Bury Stranger’s Oliver Ackermann. “I got a chance to smash reverb tanks, throw guitars, melt tape, and blow a cloud of sonic destruction with two of the most iconic voices in the music industry Debbie Harry and Courtney Taylor. Mind blown!”

    Elsewhere on the EP, GLOK (the electronic alter ego of Andy Bell of shoegaze legends, Ride) strips away the verses from “Alcohol And Cocainemarijuananicotine” and isolates Taylor-Taylor’s mantra of the illicit substances in the chorus, transforming it into a percolating and hypnotic synth anthem. Copenhagen’s celebrated electronic artist Anders Trentemøller overhauls the textural fuzz of “Teutonic Wine” (which Far Out Magazine called a “thunderous wall of sound”) and positions the vocals atop funky, deep midnight dancefloor rhythms. While ‘Rockmaker’ embraced elements of goth and darkwave, Los Angeles-based electronic duo Night Club ups the ante in their reworking of “The Cross,” propelling it into a gravedigger battle against goth club staples as Front242, Joy Division, and Killing Joke.

    ‘Rock Remaker’ Tracklist

    'Rock Remaker' cover.
    ‘Rock Remaker’ cover.
    1. Alcohol And Cocainemarijuananicotine (GLOK Remix)
    2. The Cross (Night Club Remix)
    3. I Will Never Stop Loving You (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)
    4. Root Of All Evil (New Bass Remix)
    5. Teutonic Wine (Trentemøller Remix)

    The “New Bass Remix” of “Root of All Evil” pumps some industrial soul (and moves the horns up in the mix!), while highlighting the song’s meaty basslines. “Jagz Kooner reworked his album mix with the additional bass from Melvin Brannon who Courtney and I knew from The Dan Reed Network,” explains Holmström. “The first time Jagz heard ‘Root Of All Evil.’ he thought it had a bit of Sly Stone. Melvin was the obvious bass player to take it farther in that direction.”

    With a healthy handful of East Coast dates in May including Asbury Park, NJ’s iconic Stone Pony, Daryl’s House in Pawling, DC’s The Howard and four shows in New York City, The Dandy Warhols have not slowed down one iota.

    With ‘Rock Remaker’ continuing ‘Rockmaker”s success while the band continues working on the follow-up, there seem to be no plans for slowing down in the near future. The Dandy Warhols is Courtney Taylor-Taylor (vocals, guitar), Peter G. Holmström (guitar, keyboards), Zia McCabe (keyboard, bass, percussion), and Brent DeBoer (drums, backing vocals). ‘Rock Remaker’ will be released May 16, 2025, via Sunset Blvd.

    Featured image by Nicole Nodland.

    LINKS:
    https://www.dandywarhols.com/
    https://www.facebook.com/TheDandyWarhols
    https://x.com/TheDandyWarhols
    https://instagram.com/thedandywarhols
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/7siPLyFwRFYQkKgWKJ5Sod
    https://www.tiktok.com/@thedandywarhols
    https://youtube.com/user/TheOdditorium/

    Dubh Lee – My Poor Boy

    Dubh Lee - My Poor Boy
    Dubh Lee - My Poor Boy
    1. My Poor Boy Dubh Lee 02:40

    Dubh Lee is set to drop her new single titled ‘My Poor Boy’ on May 9th. That first listen to this track instantly gives me that one-summation of Dubh Lee: virtuoso. To be so young and already self-established with a signature sound and unique vibe is something that rarely happens in the indie music scene.

    ‘My Poor Boy’ sounds like a track from someone much older. More worn down by life and propped up by experience. A solid mix of vintage and modern, the song feels more like a story as much as a lush piece of music. Dubh has a weathered angelic tone to her voice where the power is in the inflections as much as the vocal range.

    Lyrically pristine in execution and imaginative in subject delivery, ‘My Poor Boy’ puts the listener in the situation. Relatable as much as it is original, we learn about the artist as a person as much as a talent and take away a part of the story with the comfort that we are not the only ones.

    About ‘My Poor Boy’

    “My Poor Boy was written two years ago in 2023 as I was driving home from a date that went poorly. I was looking out the window of my taxi ride home and thinking about various poor choices I had made recently about romantic encounters and as we drove down Cork Street towards Crumlin (in Dublin city) I incorporated words from different signs and shop fronts into the lyrics.

    I had been listening to Marvin Gaye a good bit around that time and I tried to capture some of the yearning you can feel in his music, in the melody of My Poor Boy. It probably doesn’t sound much like it anymore but a lot of the initial inspiration for the melody and chord progression for the track came from Heard it Through the Grapevine. When blended with my usual travis-picking and folk leanings I ended up with this mellow lonesome soundscape. My Poor Boy was initially just the working title but the phrase inspired lyrical ideas around dog imagery – ‘throw me a bone please’ and ‘curl up at your feet’ etc. At the time I was in the middle of a love triangle with my ex and a new guy who turned out to be a total narcissist. I felt pathetic and the lyrics are trying to get at that type of feeling – like a dog that has been kicked.

    I came up with the western-y electric guitar motif that happens after each chorus on the spot in the studio. I knew I wanted something like that in the interval between verses and choruses so I drew from the likes of the Fistful of Dollars theme; there’s also a great modern example of that type of guitar tone in Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey. Once that was in, the song started going in this desert/dusty direction so I invited trombone player Oran O’Neill to lay down some lines. The percussion is simple – just a shaker and tambourine.

    I knew I wanted that type of organ you hear at baseball games so my co-producer and studio engineer John Leader, helped me write the organ line. He also played bass on the track and wrote the string arrangement that gets introduced from the second verse onwards. I love a short song and it comes in at a tidy 02:46. My Poor Boy is the second track (but the first single) from my upcoming EP which is called FUFO. The EP ties folk, rock, and psychedelic elements together and is darker on the whole than my previous release. The cover art for the EP is a collage I made whereby each quadrant represents a song on the EP. The quadrant for My Poor Boy is the bottom right (which is a picture of my dog Sam, who is now deceased).”
    Dubh Lee

    About Dubh Lee

    Dubh Lee is an Irish guitarist and singer-songwriter who emerged on the Dublin music scene in 2018 with her lively residency in The International Bar and has since entertained countless audiences across Ireland. With wide-ranging influences from folk, blues, and rock and an unadorned, honest vocal style she writes songs that examine excess, ennui, heartache, and womanhood.

    Dubh Lee has performed at festivals and events such as the Ruby Sessions, Electric Picnic, Fuinneam,h and All Together Now as well as intimate shows opening for acts such as Alabama 3, Jerry Fish, and Bagatelle. Her song ‘To My Sisters’ won the Night and Day song contest in 2023. She supported jazz band Jimmy’s Cousin on their Irish tour, which included performances in The Set Theatre in Kilkenny, Dolan’s in Limerick, and The Sugar Club in Dublin. Not afraid of experimenting with genre, Dubh Lee’s vocals have featured on the tracks of hip-hop and drum’n’bass artists and her live shows are dynamic, with earnest acoustic folk tunes building up to intense, electric-guitar-driven bangers. In 2020 she released Carousel, a bluesrock stomper with a psychedelic music video and themes of debauchery and despair.

    Dubh Lee’s debut EP, Animals and Friends, came out in May 2023. The 4-track EP explores the artist’s internalized misogyny and romantic misadventures, with old and new sonic influences from Aldous Harding to The Band. The release was accompanied by an acoustic Irish tour, with 9 shows across multiple counties in April and May 2023.

    LINKS:
    https://linktr.ee/dubh.lee
    https://dubhlee.bandcamp.com/
    https://www.tiktok.com/@dubh.lee
    https://www.facebook.com/dubh.lee/
    https://www.instagram.com/dubh.lee
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Bu1aoXYEAs9SaqDaN19o4

    Trincao – Medellin + Q&A

    Trincao - Medellin
    Trincao - Medellin

    There’s a certain kind of deep longing which is stitched into “Medellin”. Meet independent rock-pop artist Trincao; a world-famous musician who has recently interviewed individuals on the streets of Colombia (and then created a song about it). Through “Medellin” Trincao has embodied the pain of humanity.

    The song has a rich and cinematic start with piano and a touch of haunting South American flute. Then it gets a more upbeat bittersweet stride. Out of this, a mantra emerges…“Leave the night alone, let me go home”

    The soundscape of “Medellin” feels nostalgic and anthemic; The broad, big sounds of 1980’s classic rock meet marvelous, far-away sounds of the Iberian Penisula…” “Medellin” could easily be likened to a modern Fado– A melancholic traditional Portuguese song which speaks of life struggles (but also exudes passion).

    The synergistic combination of orchestral violins and Latin-American sounding guitars, and again we return to the mantra: “Leave the night alone.” Is it sadness we sense? Inside “Medellin” there is something ineffable.. wisdom perhaps. That tired feeling that only comes with life experience, place inside a lavish sonic environment… And resilience despite it all.

    In “Medellin” hope, doubt, and yearning all intertwine into a earthy narrative. The end result? A gentle, expressive anthem exuding lived-in truth. Trincao’s smooth vocal performance is not just singing, but rather, raw storytelling. Genre-wise, classical rock meets cinematic pop, and gets twisted with Iberian music, and a hint of the grandeur of “Hotel California”.

    In this line alone, the artist embodies crushed hopes, drug use, longing passion, and strength. This is not just art, but rather, a call to action which demands us to hold space for people in pain…and finally, to bring social issues of Colombia into the main frame.

    Q&A

    What first drew you to Colombia? What is the most beautiful part to you? What is the most painful part?

    I’ve always been fascinated with Medellin. I’d be lying to you if I wasn’t first captivated by the idea of going to Medellin because of all the controversy that this city has generated in the world. There was something about this place on earth that sparked my interest. I wondered, “What is happening there that creates such an environment for someone like Pablo Escobar to become so determined, tenacious, and ruthless to pursue his vision at all costs?” I’ve always observed extreme behavior, which is something I like to understand. So I decided to travel to Medellin to understand this.

    Most beautiful part of Medellin is its people. They are so warm, gentle, and kind. I fell in love with the city because of that.

    The worst part is to feel the subjugation of its people to sex, drugs, and nightlife in general. It’s quite heartbreaking to walk around places like Park Lleras, and see young teenagers subjugating themselves because of the economic incentive that that life brings to them.

    How did you go about conducting these street interviews?

    I just went and did it. Walked outside of El Poblado and started asking people “How would they define Medellin in 1 word? The variety of answers was incredible.

    You mentioned that this single was partially recorded at Criteria Recording Studios. What was this experience like? Where was the rest of the song recorded?

    Walking in Criteria Recording Studios is like walking in Valhalla. The amount of greatness that you see around you just inspires you to do your absolute best as an artist. The rest has been recorded in Portugal under the leadership of the great Jose Ferra, a legendary guitar player in Portugal that has been leading and coordinating Portugal’s most iconic musical productions.

    You grew up in Portugal: Do you feel any of the stories you’ve heard bear any similarity to things you’ve witnessed where you are from, or did your childhood home feel vastly different?

    I think the reality it’s very different. Portugal is very safe, stable, and protective. The more I travel, and the more perspectives I get to witness, the more I value how I grew up and the protection my father gave to me. In Portugal we grew up very safe as kids. That was one of the reasons why I felt very sad, and empathetic about what these teenagers and people in Colombia feel, by being forced into doing something they don’t want to.

    Was any of the music “Medellin” intentionally inspired by Fado?

    Great question. I did bring that suffering and sadness from Fado, in the way I approached my singing, and the musical arrangement with the strings and guitars. Interesting you ask that.

    Do you tend to write songs about places? How did writing “Oh America” feel similar or different from “Medellin”?

    It happened to be, but not only limited to it. Oh America is a story about me. Being an immigrant living in America for almost 10 years, and realized after these 10 years of living there, that America is now what I call home.

    Finally, what was the first moment when you realized you were going to write this song? The seed of “Medellin” and your creative process, if you will?

    Right after meeting the girl I interviewed and learned about her story, that’s when I felt I had to tell her story!

    LINKS:
    https://www.instagram.com/trincaomusic
    https://x.com/tryncao

    Ran Nir – New Joy + Q&A

    Ran Nir - New Joy
    Ran Nir - New Joy

    Ray Nir’s music is self-described as being “sad music for happy people, and happy music for sad people,” and this new single is no exception. Performed, recorded, and produced entirely by the artist, “New Joy” is an overflowing, unfolding fusion of shifting feelings and unexpected threads of complementary sound… The single begins with strong indie-pop sensibilities, morphing into an effervescent auditory panorama.

    As we step into Nir’s soundscape, we are caught up in a breeze of nostalgic lyrics, and symbiotic musical lines that are immediately melodic, nostalgic, and catchy.

    The opening verses are reminiscent of 2010s American pop like Vampire Weekend…This unfolds to meet the driving European electro feel of Avicii and pairs with the earworm-ish and melodic sensitivities of The Wombats.

    Instrumentally, we hear a combination of upbeat guitars, paired with percussive sampled claps, and soulful synths: a groovy intertwining of the roots of multiple genres.

    “New Joy” is simultaneously soulful and peppy. The song has delicate backing vocals (performed by Alice Rose Smith) that add a subtle timbral richness to the mix…Then there’s Nir’s vocals, which soar atop everything else, showcasing the artist’s diverse range of tone colors. We are treated to light and airy verses (a-la indie rock) and, in the next breath, dive to the oceanic depths of his baritone sound…

    Midway through the journey, we are introduced to a completely new theme, which is more rhythmic; a season change, if you will. Then, seamlessly as ever, we return to the main theme. However, as we journey with Nir, the tone of the chorus subtly shifts into a more hopeful headspace.

    “New Joy” fades and warps away, and we are left feeling safe and sound, as if basking in a pile of leaves, kids again, lying on our backs in the diaphanous autumnal sunshine…

    Q&A

    Who inspires you artistically from the past, and the present? Do you feel drawn to a particular era of arts and music?

    In the past, I have been very much inspired by Leonard Cohen as a person, poet, artist, writer, songwriter, and performer. At present I am inspired by any unknown artist I see trying to kill it on social media.

    I recently discovered Jesse Welles, he is pretty awesome, a modern-day Bob Dylan.

    How has the music scene around you affected you?

    I have disconnected from a music scene. My music scene is my country-side house, my wife, and my kid 🙂 It’s great!

    Is “New Joy” a personal story of yours? As your single progresses, it blossoms into positivity. What causes this change of heart/twist in the story?

    Good Catch. Everything I write is a personal thing, I don’t like to share specifics as I believe it ruins the experience for the listener to discover what it is for them. However I did start this song as a sad song on top of happy music, as I do sometimes, I played it to a woman in my publishing team and she mentioned it would probably be more optimistic and fun as “New Joy” instead of “No Joy”, I agreed, and decided to tell a different story, however as I was working on it I kept missing the original intro part, then I realized the two are part of one big story, it starts with sadness and ends with new joy. The song was finally complete.

    What have you taken with you from your experience in Asaf Avidan & The Mojos, and how have you branched away?

    I took with me my friendship with the Mojo members, some of the best friends I ever had (and still have), I took away lots of information about the music industry, I took with me some bad habits and addictions I had to get rid of over the years, and happily, I did! and I have completely branched away from that period long ago, to do my own thing, it has now been 14 years since that band broke-up, I try to think fondly of that time even if it holds some harsh and hard to let go memories sometimes.

    In a way I am a completely different person to the one that played that band, and in a way he is still there in me, and that’s just great.

    As an educator and consultant in the music business and someone who has had two decades of experience in it…If you could only give one piece of advice to new composers/musicians, what would it be?

    It always goes back to knowing our business. You are not just a musician/artist. You are running a business. If you mean to be a professional musician you need to learn and know all the ins and outs of the music industry, the music business, rights, royalties, and technological advancements. Making music is only one part of it. Otherwise, you could still be a successful musician, but then please no interviews complaining about how you always get screwed over by your manager/label/publisher or whoever. take some responsibility for your career.

    Finally, when can we look forward to hearing about your next project?

    I am working on more music to be released in 2025, I am sharing snippets and hints on my IG account or other social media from time to time, so it’s good to follow. I promise some surprising and fresh music is coming!

    LINKS:
    https://www.facebook.com/RanNirMusic
    https://www.instagram.com/ran_nir/
    https://x.com/RanNirMusic
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/3wrzVI0RGQnUzijkahgON9

    We Are Scientists – Please Don’t Say It + Tour Dates

    We Are Scientists - Please Don’t Say It
    We Are Scientists - Please Don’t Say It

    Indie rock mainstays We Are Scientists return with news of their highly-anticipated ninth studio album ‘Qualifying Miles’ via Groenland Records.

    The band is also sharing the lead single and video, ‘Please Don’t Say It.’ With its anthemic, infectious hook and a splash of melodrama, it captures the wry charm and emotional punch that have long defined the band’s enduring appeal.

    On the track, Keith says:

    “I’m always happy to spew all kinds of drama in song, just don’t make me talk about it in person, okay? “Please Don’t Say It” is, I guess, a song about being unwilling to confront my glitches anywhere but in that very song. Except, now I’m talking here about using the song to not talk about it. Weird.”

    On the video, Keith offers:

    “You know what we haven’t explored enough in our many years of video media creation? Fog. We’ve run rampant through city streets (‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt’), rode horses across Irish bogs (‘Chick Lit’), and had our eyes speared by nail guns (‘Dumb Luck’). Somehow, though, the cinematographers of those videos never had the wherewithal to exploit the sex appeal of a good fog machine. Sure, yeah, we’ve had loads of haze (‘Your Heart Is A Weapon’). Hell yes, we’ve deployed light steam (‘Rules Don’t Stop’). But it took our many accrued years of cinematographic education to finally nail the fog layers sensual enough to convey the steamy carnality of this, the most sensually befogged song of We Are Scientists’ career. Please, now: get lost in the murk of ‘Please Don’t Say It’.”

    Nearing twenty years from their commercial breakthrough, the NYC band, comprising founding members Keith Murray and Chris Cain – are still constantly reinventing themselves. But with this new record comes a return to the music that shaped their childhoods, with echoes of ‘90s guitar music threading throughout the project. With their trademark danceable, razor-sharp hooks and witty lyricism, Qualifying Miles is the sound of a band revisiting their roots while interrogating the distance they have traveled.

    Check out our other features with We Are Scientists HERE.

    About ‘Qualifying Miles’

    On Qualifying Miles, Keith Murray and Chris Cain continue to approach their craft with the same blend of intelligence, wit, and musical adventurousness that put them on the musical map. The record follows two previous self-produced albums Huffy (2021) and Lobes (2023), which were beloved by fans and critics alike for their ambitious experimentation with studio production and expanded sonic palettes. Qualifying Miles is a sharp, reflective ninth studio album that trades studio maximalism for raw immediacy, exploring themes of loss, memory, and the half-haunting pull of the past. And that’s what makes the record so compelling: it feels instinctive, unfiltered, and human – the kind of record only a band this experienced and self-aware could make.

    On the album, Keith says:

    “We Are Scientists’ writing process these days is to just write incessantly – good songs, terrible songs, sincere songs, goofy songs, whatever. It’s a fun process, but it kind of makes it hard to stop and get to the harder work of recording the actual album. Sometimes, it takes a song like ‘Please Don’t Say It’ to come along and get you so excited about sharing it with everyone else that you simply have no choice but to call a wrap on the writing process and immediately start making a record. We got so excited by the appearance of ‘Please Don’t Say It’ that was the last song we wrote for Qualifying Miles; we needed it out in the world.”

    ‘Qualifying Miles’ tracklist

    'Qualifying Miles' cover.
    ‘Qualifying Miles’ cover.
    1. A Prelude to What
    2. Starry-Eyed
    3. Dead Letters
    4. The Big One
    5. Please Don’t Say It
    6. The Same Mistake
    7. What You Want Is Gone
    8. A Lesson I Never Learned
    9. I Could Do Much Worse
    10. I Already Hate This
    11. The Mall in My Dreams
    12. Promise Me

    Featured image by Sari Murray.

    LINKS:
    https://wearescientists.com
    https://x.com/wearescientists
    https://www.facebook.com/wearescientists
    https://www.instagram.com/wearescientists

    Lake – Ferrari + Tour Dates

    Lake has just now dropped (literally) their new video for the track titled ‘Ferrari’ from their latest album ‘Bucolic Gone’ released via Don Giovanni as well as officially kicked off their tour tonight (April 14, 2025) in Spokane, Washington (dates below).

    A simple yet effective mix of quiet pop and brooding melody that highlights the harmony and warms the heart, ‘Ferrari’ is one of those songs that doesn’t need to be loud, because subtlety gives you enough when it counts. Taking a swerve into the slow lane and letting you relax as you sooth to the rhythm makes the song, and Lake, memorable beyond that first listen.

    About ‘Bucolic Gone’

    After a five-year absence following 2020’s creative elevator-punk exploration Roundelay, Ashley Eriksson, Eli Moore, and Andrew Dorsett of LAKE return with Bucolic Gone, a mature and polished album that is at once groovy, upbeat, meditative, and slow-rolled. As LAKE’s 10th official full-length release, Bucolic Gone is a cohesive work of sophistic-pop that embodies an adult, contemporary sound—intimate, serene, mournful, and hopeful in equal measure.

    The multi-instrumental trio is joined by an impressive lineup of collaborators, including guest vocalists Nicholas Krgovich on “Glad Rags” and Daisy Jaberi of Suver with original lyrics on “Love Is Deeper Now.” Frequent contributors also make appearances: Karl Blau delivers standout shredding on “Ferrari,” Mark Buzard of The Format provides guitar textures across multiple tracks, and New York jazz musician Eric Vanderbuilt-Matthews contributes intricate woodwind arrangements. Steve Moore (Earth, Sunn O))), First Aid Kit, Sufjan Stevens) adds trombone to “Love Is Deeper Now,” while legendary Canadian singer Jenn Grant lends her unique vocals to the outro of “Ferrari.”

    From the sorrowful depths of “Blue Horizon” and “My Dear Brother”—written the day Eriksson lost her brother to COVID-19—to the clarity of self-soothing and healing in “Airplane” and “Love Is Deeper Now,” the emotional arc of Bucolic Gone moves from darkness to light. A heartfelt ABBA singalong pays tribute to Eriksson’s family and brother, while Moore reflects on his life as an artist in “Wonderful Sunlight,” mining uplifting memories for clues to life’s complexities. The album concludes with a breezy, surfy reprise of their cult hit “No Wonder I,” famously BMO’s favorite song in the popular international animated series, Adventure Time.

    Recorded at The Anacortes Unknown Recording Studio by longtime collaborator Nicholas Wilbur and in the band’s home studios, Bucolic Gone marks another step forward for Eli Moore in production and mixing. His meticulous attention to arrangement and balance—alongside an arsenal of distorted “whatchamacallits”—creates a rich, layered sound.

    Celebrating 20 years of ethereal, yearning pop songs, LAKE’s latest effort is their most produced but also most intimate album. Now signed to Don Giovanni Records, the band is ready to continue delivering jams. While the world has changed since LAKE’s last official release, Bucolic Gone shows that time has been on their side.

    LINKS:
    https://linktr.ee/laketheband
    https://laketheband.bandcamp.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/laketheband/

    Kula Shaker – Charge of The Light Brigade + Tour Dates

    Kula Shaker has dropped their new video for the single titled ‘Charge of The Light Brigade’. ‘Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years…’ never rings more true than with a band like Kula Shaker.

    From, what I call, one of the best eras in music, when alternative was still the alternative but the mainstream was starting to listen, Kula Shaker has evolved, disbanded, reemerged, and, in the end, stayed in the lane they created for themselves.

    A steady evolution from what ‘Natural Magick’ was, ‘Charge of The Light Brigade’ continues that retro-tastic stance in the stanza with bravado and flair from a set of truly original musicians that don’t give a fuck yet give it all they got.

    About ‘Charge of The Light Brigade’

    Packed with allusions to spiritual vampires and the fairy cavalcade of Celtic folklore, this three-minute musical trip is the first of several new tracks the band has recorded for their upcoming eighth studio album (title to be announced) and heralds their March/April shows in the U.K., where they will be riding out with Ocean Colour Scene as very special guests on their 2025 tour.

    The tour, with extra dates added due to huge demand, kicked off on March 27th in Leeds, UK, and runs until May 4th in Newcastle, will see the bands playing 24 dates across the country including two dates at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on April 4th and May 1st and two dates in Glasgow on the 15th and 16th of April. U.S. dates are to be announced shortly! (current dates below).

    About Kula Shaker

    With their seventh and latest album Natural Magick (2024) released across the world and topping the Independent Album Charts in the UK (“The best album of their career” – Shindig!), and having completed successful tours of North America, Asia, the UK and Europe last year, Kula Shaker are well and truly back in the saddle, galloping at speed, in a startling return to form.

    The band’s sound feels more amplified than ever with the return of Hammond organ wizard Jay Darlington after a decade with Oasis and various Gallaghers, reuniting all four members of the band’s classic line-up (Crispian Mills: guitar/vocals; Jay Darlington: Hammond organ; Alonza Bevan: bass; Paul Winter-Hart: drums) for the first time since 1999’s Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts.

    Delivering that renewed wild energy we know and love, Natural Magick proved to be a mesmeric 13-track incantation incorporating blazing psychedelic sermons, raga rave-ups, stardust-coated pop pearls, and mood-enhancing mantras. A technicolor sonic pathway towards a more enlightened state of mind, this was Kula Shaker casting their most powerful spell yet.

    Named after a ninth-century mystic, Kula Shaker first carried their freak flag of spiritual sonics to the top during the heady days of Britpop, first with their debut hit “Grateful When You’re Dead” / “Jerry Was There,” followed by top five songs like “Hush” and “Tattva” (a pop song written in Sanskrit) before releasing the legendary “Govinda.” The band became UK album chart-toppers with 1996’s imperious multi-platinum selling debut album K and the follow-up Peasants Pigs & Astronauts saw them push the creative envelope further, before their premature dissolution.

    Having formed their own label Strangefolk in 2007, Kula Shaker has slowly but surely returned to their sonic summit, with a prolific surge of writing, which began in 2023 with 1st Congregational Church Of Eternal Love And Free Hugs, followed by their acclaimed Natural Magick in 2024.

    Sounding the charge for 2025, this new song continues the ever-evolving Kula Shaker legend, which has both entertained and inspired listeners for decades, and 2025, and sees the band advance once again as “Charge of The Light Brigade” trailers the release of a new studio album.

    25 years on from the debut album K, Kula Shaker have proved they are still one of the most exciting and ecstatic bands around, an unstoppable tour de force, with kinetic energy cursing through every second of their “electric” live shows.

    The band will be releasing new music and embarking on international tours, headlining venues and festivals throughout 2025.

    LINKS:
    https://kulashaker.co.uk
    https://www.facebook.com/kulashaker
    https://x.com/kulashaker
    https://www.instagram.com/kulashakerofficial
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoTrZweaRXMDdY9ItQ3RiZA

    Little Mazarn – The Gate + Tour Dates

    Little Mazarn - The Gate
    Little Mazarn - The Gate

    Little Marzan has today released the lead track titled ‘The Gate’ from their upcoming album ‘Mustang Island’ dropping on June 20th via Dear Life Records.

    The track feels personal on a memorable level. Quietly becoming you. Taking you in and caressing you with comfort and consciousness in a way only a near-perfect song can do. A beautiful set of instruments gives the song an almost heavenly atmosphere that lends the subtlety a solid voice amid the atmosphere.

    The buildup throughout the song is stellar. It surprises you and causes you to listen to it again and again. The abrupt ending is the only downside. The song should be longer than it is, but, like life, it is all to short while it’s how you make it.

    “‘The Gate’ was a song that came to me in a dream. I was in a profound state of grief at the time and in the dream, I was offered a solution from the heavens to deal with the constant thundering pain of it inside my chest. Simply build a gate. I woke up and started dictating the words as they came to me into my phone.”
    Lindsey Verrill

    About ‘Mustang Island’

    Mustang Island, the third album from Austin-based band Little Mazarn, is a gentle force. Waves of grief crest like surf on the Texas coast. Wild horses break through long-shuttered gates, only to come back around. Lead songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Lindsey Verrill (she/her) joins bandmates Jeff Johnston (he/him) and Carolina Chauffe (they/them). The core members cast out seventeen years apart in both directions, placing the project at the cusp of multiple generations.

    The balance of acoustic instruments and electric effects on Mustang Island also thrives firmly in the in-between. The ten-song collection continues work with Dear Life Records (MJ Lenderman, Fust). A full-throated romp through the capabilities of community-minded songcraft, Mustang Island is both naturalistic and futuristic, completely recasting Little Mazarn’s origins in primitive folk. Instead, the band reaches towards sonic experimentation and spacious expansion.

    Lindsey’s heart-opening vocals and Jeff’s singing saw both trademarks of the project, mixed with unexpected bombastic drums, dissonant synthesizers, and a chorus of orchestral oddities. Shaking off any genre and geographic boundaries, Mustang Island manages to swirl its creators’ love for The Beach Boys’ melodic rock, wise Southern singer-songwriters, and never-too-much ambient minimalism. This mid-career ode dances confidently in the creative liberties granted by decades in the game – more dazzlingly lively, and honestly somber, than ever before.

    “I was thinking about the pony as a metaphor for consciousness,” says Lindsey. “Trying to be gentle with yourself, but not allowing yourself to stray off into the wild fields. Whether or not your consciousness needs to be disciplined or pushed back on the trail.”

    Ever evolving, Little Mazarn began in 2015 as the banjo-and-saw duo of Lindsey and Jeff, who were both raised in Dallas. You can find the group playing anywhere legends and youngsters may rub elbows, from secret house shows to indie scene stages to Wizard Rodeo, an annual music festival Lindsey helps run. The band’s crossroads branch across prominent Texas outsider music: On cello, Lindsey has recorded on Patty Griffin’s Grammy-winning albums, Patty Griffin and Servant of Love, as well as with the band Dana Falconberry for seven years. The longtime side player wouldn’t write her first song until age 34. Jeff has played in Bill Callahan’s band, as well as with Li’l Cap’n Travis and Orange Mothers. Carolina, known for their prolific solo project Hemlock, enfolds their background from Louisiana Cajun country.

    Little Mazarn has also collaborated with Lomelda to release their last EP, Honey Island General Store (2023), following past LP’s Texas River Song (2022) and Io (2019). Mustang Island was recorded at South Austin’s Ramble Creek Studios, a steady home for Little Mazarn’s improvisational assemblies. The only rule? No guitars.

    “We were trying to be wild, or do something that you would never do,” says Lindsey. “On other albums, I was thinking how these songs have to be performable live. This time, I just didn’t worry about that. We did add some banjo and some of Jeff’s classic elements, but it was a lot less, ‘This has to sound like Little Mazarn.’”

    Lindsey might arrive early with a seed of a song, like the title track’s electric bassline, ripe for listing what she loves about the “bathwater warm” Gulf Coast. Alongside her bowed banjo and thrift store Casio, Jeff might pull out a stylophone, Taishōgoto, or melody flute. Sessions are scheduled around the roaming touring of Carolina, whose choral harmonies drape each song. Track contributors include Nora Predey, Roberto Sanchez, Mari Maurice, Gary Newcomb, Sowmya Somanath, and Walter Nichols.

    During the album’s creation, Lindsey left her job of seventeen years teaching cello at a local school. To commemorate the seismic shift, Lindsey invited four of her outgoing students to play on otherworldly, encouraging album sendoff “The Golden Hour.” Spare and sonorous, “Dark Pleasure of Endless Doing” further explores her clearing of a more intentional artistic path, specifically through the wacky weeds of social media. The track introduces Lindsey’s creative totem of the pony. Horses – like those belonging to the artist Jad Fair, which Lindsey helps care for – run wild throughout the album, including the ghostly centerpiece “The Gate.”

    “I wrote ‘The Gate’ in an intense dream,” says Lindsey. “I was trying to reckon with how to be with grief. How do I be with this feeling that’s so overwhelming and painful? I was like, ‘You just have to let it go and know it’s gonna come back. Then you hold it, and then it leaves.’ When I woke up, I was like, ‘I’m the gate.’”

    Grief, and the acceptance of it, directs much of Mustang Island. One of many curious examinations of heaviness, “The Cloud and the Snail” asks: “Does the earth feel the weight of me, the burden of my two feet? The weight of my sorrow, better tomorrow.” The recording also aligned with the passing of Jeff’s father, a career educator. As a high school English teacher in Dallas, his encouraging presence aligned with several music-making students, including Michael Martin Murphey and Ray Wylie Hubbard, as well as his son Jeff, and neighbor kids who went on to form Old 97’s.

    “Grief, and the avoidance of grief, is a big part of being human,” says Lindsey. “You make a choice, and then you grieve for the other choice. Or you finish a meal and grieve that it was so good. If you befriend grief, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s here, in this pancake, which I loved so much that I ate the whole thing, and now it’s gone.’”

    There are also flashes of silliness, from a “queso volcano” to a girlhood memory of galloping horseback to Dairy Queen. Continuing the band’s airy reinterpretations of old cowboy songs, the album adds another “New” to Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys’ 1940 re-recording, “New San Antonio Rose.” Another cover uplifts the work of undersung songwriter Kate Wolf. Between sorrow and joy, the horizon-facing 1982 track specifies Mustang Island’s place at the precipice:

    “Where the rivers change direction, across the great divide.”
    Rachel Rascoe

    LINKS:
    https://www.littlemazarn.net/
    https://littlemazarn.bandcamp.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/littlemazarn/
    https://www.youtube.com/@DearLifeRecords
    https://open.spotify.com/artist/29HDEKFQllgODYWX9zzR0j

    Desi Trill – Higher Love (ft. DJ Khaled, Cardi B, Natania & Subhi)

    Desi Trill has just released his new video for the track titled ‘Higher Love’ featuring DJ Khaled, Cardi B, Natania & Subhi, from the upcoming Paramount Animations movie ‘Smurfs’, with the Movie Soundtrack dropping July 18th via Roc Nation Distribution.

    Yeah, I know, this isn’t that ‘indie’. It was submitted, approved, and, well, here I am. And, you know what, it has that unique nostalgic feel that I love in the summertime. With obvious hints of Belinda Carlisle’s 80s hit ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth‘ and a modern take on modern music, it hits all the right spots and feels that cross a generic line and give the soundtrack that extra push into validity.

    Shameless nostalgia for a new generation.

    About ‘Smurfs’

    When Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is mysteriously taken by evil wizards, Razamel and Gargamel, Smurfette (Rihanna) leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save him. With the help of new friends, the Smurfs must discover what defines their destiny to save the universe. SMURFS features an all-star voice cast including Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Billie Lourd, Xolo Maridueña with Kurt Russell and John Goodman.

    About Desi Trill

    The world is opening up to new music like never before. As the musical landscape in South Asia continues to expand with newer artists, varied genres, and diverse sounds catering to audiences with different musical tastes and dialects, two veterans of music Shabz Naqvi and Ty Ty Smith are the founders behind a groundbreaking new music company Desi Trill. What sets Desi Trill apart from other labels is its endeavor to create a new music genre, one that hasn’t been explored by anyone in the past.

    The innovative blend of Hip Hop, R&B, and the dynamic essence of South Asian (Desi) music will give listeners a genre that’s not only captivating but also transformative. It’s a mindset and a home to the next generation, everyone is invited. Distributed globally by Universal Music Group, Desi Trill is launched at a time when Desi Music’s popularity is at its zenith, with millions of die-hard fans. All whilst the sound of hip-hop is celebrating over fifty years of influencing culture across the globe. Desi Trill envisions a future where South Asian artists gain widespread recognition on grand stages, embracing cultural heritage while pushing musical boundaries.

    LINKS:
    https://thesmurfsmovie.lnk.to/higherlove
    https://www.instagram.com/desitrill

    Ledher Blue – Fait Divers

    Ledher Blue - Fait Divers
    Ledher Blue - Fait Divers

    Ledher Blue’s new album ‘Fait Divers’ came from an existential crisis. Admittedly, it was shameful to accept that the most generic of internal conflicts were at hand: the “what’s the purpose of life?”s and the “why am I here?”s out of every self-help book seemed adequate, but needed to be articulated in a particular way. What was the purpose of my life until now; “Why am I here?” Zé from Ledher Blue thought as he got into Dublin.

    Ledher Blue are the product of two distinctively different individuals that the waves of life comically decided to beach in a northern town of Portugal – Guimarães. The city is known for its historical meaning in the birth of Portugal, for its nasty hooligans, for its emigrant parvenus, its domestic parvenus, its humble proletariat, its shame, envy, resignation, and most importantly a mystical ability to see the depressed times – which have long been in the region – united in empathetic jealousy, certain that betters days are coming. The club keeps losing but we’ll be champions, the people are poor but we’ll get better, everything may be bad but he will rise in a foggy sunrise.

    Zé and Pedro, the pair behind Ledher Blue, encapsulated the diversity of the town existentially. One was always happy, one was always longing, one found a girl, the other found the one, one flourished, the other stagnated when one fell in love with the bars and was now bored the other said, “Don’t gamble your life for a couple of poems”, but impressively they would always converge from different perspectives to the same idea. Certainly, one loved Illiad for Aquiles and the other for Hector, one for Vronski another for Levin, one for Grey the other for Vane, one for Liam another for Noel… what matters is that instinctively – or “Zoroastrian” – the pure meaning for their message was not what each wanted to say but the product of the pressure. This conflict was in their youth the birth of friendship and in their slope the birth of the band.

    That is why one can say that one song looks happy with a mournful feel, or rebellious with fearful grooves; it can be satirical in lyricism and classical in structure, and it tries to be a singular unitarian message independent of the peripheral chatter. It’s alternative sometimes, post-punk in others, even poppy on some choruses, but most importantly it always feels original and unique.

    Zé’s move to Dublin meant a big separation for the friends and bandmates, but most importantly, it brought a new perspective on their old problem. The problematic youth from Guimarães, their problematic youth, was not unique to the land. It could be observed in the Irish town. The lifeless eyes, the change dribbling in an oversized pocket, the fortuity misfortune, the keys in the bathroom, a generation sprayed with anxiety and embalmed in panic. It was paralyzing.

    The song forcefully quieted on the lips of a dead philosopher was slivering to the bones of our time. It was as if everybody – even unconsciously – believed that regret was the only certainty of existence; that unescapable longing for the unlived life. And as the uniqueness of our situation dissolved, as our small town became countries, we found new binoculars, not only to inspect reality but most importantly our own. Transcendentally, we found our true selves, which we may have seen before, but were now so overwhelmed to the point of acceptance. As theory imprisoned and pressured reality, the only answer was King Sebastian.

    The individual who could look down at Narcissus smugly and was able to curse a whole nation was mystified as the long-awaited savior. Sebastian may have led Portugal to the abyss when he disappeared in the desert but with it, he created a myth; the myth that he would return in a foggy morning and save us all. Hope. This hope was what united our town. What united the past generations from this existential dread and what would cure our generation? Sebastianism was the cure, it was clear.

    “Not only the message was so clear it seemed to dazzle but also the universe, the habitat of each song was drawn.”, says Ledher Blue. “We felt rain during ‘Dublinesque’, the popped dark smoke from old cars for ‘Sorrows of the Amended Hearts’, the lady on the bus in ‘Craic’, the winey red out of an absolutist cape emerged on ‘Èlan’ with libertarian scarlet blues and shadowy greens, we heard the people talking in the pubs of ‘Fun’, we could distinguish the whiteness of their teeth; it stopped being a group of songs and became something else. Complete. Portugality embroiled in Irish thread. A message for all but about none, a concept for the unknown based on the past, a tale without morals.”

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.instagram.com/ledherblue/
    https://linktr.ee/ledherblue

    Frank Viele – The Trouble with Desire

    Frank Viele - The Trouble with Desire
    Frank Viele - The Trouble with Desire

    New England’s Songwriter Frank Viele returns with The Trouble with Desire — a powerful new album that channels the spirit of heartland rock in the vein of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger, infused with the skilled, emotional storytelling of Tom Petty.

    The album’s title track, “The Trouble with Desire,” is a standout, showcasing Viele’s seasoned songwriting and gift for raw, honest narratives. Across 13 tracks, the record takes listeners on a dynamic ride — from the uplifting anthem “Mountains We Can Climb,” to tender ballads like “Caffeine & Cabernet” and “Claws,” the latter evoking the grandeur of ’80s ballad rock storytelling à la Rod Stewart and even U2. Meanwhile, “Lo-Fi Goodbye” shows a more gritty side, and “Necessary Evil” feels like a tip of the hat to Petty’s ability to craft hook-driven songs with heart. It’s clear: Viele stands tall among his peers and continues to grow as one of the great modern American songwriters. The Trouble with Desire captures the heart and soul of a road warrior chasing dreams while reflecting on life’s hardships, hope, and redemption.

    Written and developed over several years between his home in Hamden, Connecticut, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the album is the culmination of a long creative journey. It was recorded with Grammy-winning producer Jimmy Nutt (Jason Isbell, American Aquarium) and acclaimed songwriter James LeBlanc (Travis Tritt, Will Hoge) at the famed Nutthouse Studios.

    “Growing up, artists like Bruce Springsteen stood out to me not just for their music, but for their honest storytelling and grit,” says Viele. “The Trouble With Desire speaks to second chances and overcoming the odds — it’s for the underdog.”

    Before launching his solo career, Viele fronted Frank Viele & The Manhattan Project, working with Billy Joel saxophonist Richie Cannata, who produced and played on their single “Turn Around” from Neon Lights — an album that earned 5-star reviews from outlets like Relix Magazine and led to tour dates with The Wailers, Foreigner, Blues Traveler, Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, and Gavin DeGraw. The band eventually dissolved just weeks after the release of their Acoustic Vudu EP.

    That chapter’s end brought Viele back to Connecticut, where he teamed up with producer Vic Steffens (Horizon Music Group) for his solo debut Fall Your Way. Featuring notable players like Tim Palmieri (Lotus, Kung Fu) and Adrian Tramontano (Twiddle, Kung Fu), along with a guest spot by blues legend Joe Bonamassa on “Broken Love Song,” the album won two New England Music Awards and Deli Magazine’s “Best Emerging Folk/Soul Act” honor.

    The next few years saw Viele back on the road supporting artists like Allen, Mack, Myers, Moore (feat. Zach Myers of Shinedown), Howie Day, Tony Lucca, Lee DeWyze, and Pat McGee.

    His 2017 follow-up, What’s His Name?, marked a sonic evolution — blending his earlier soul-infused roots with the Americana and Southern rock elements that would come to define his later sound. The album earned him his first “Songwriter of the Year” award from the New England Music Awards and ultimately led to an invite to Muscle Shoals in 2020 for a songwriting session with Jimmy Nutt and James LeBlanc. That trip became a creative turning point and laid the groundwork for the Time Is a Thief EP in 2021.

    Time Is a Thief — a four-song collection partially recorded in Connecticut and partially in Muscle Shoals — featured famed Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto and Grammy-nominated cellist Dave Eggar (Coldplay, Ray LaMontagne). The EP served as a stepping stone, laying the groundwork for a deeper, more collaborative writing and recording process with Nutt and LeBlanc over FaceTime.

    In 2023, the first songs off The Trouble With Desire received critical acclaim from American Songwriter, Chorus FM, Americana UK, No Depression, and others. Viele played 130 shows across the U.S. — headlining and touring with John Waite, Lee DeWyze, and Jeffrey Gaines — checking off his 40th state in the process.

    But while his musical evolution continued, Viele’s mission deepened. In 2024, he founded Bigger Beast Records and All Boats Rising Entertainment, two ventures aimed at uplifting artists and creating lasting impact through music. Their first two events — the 21 Songwriters Music Festival (benefiting Musical Intervention) and Shelter From the Storm (with Family Promise) — raised significant funds and support for mental health, addiction recovery, and families in need.

    With The Trouble With Desire album, Frank Viele not only showcases his most ambitious and personal work to date, but also reaffirms his commitment to giving back and building a more connected musical community — one song, one story, and one show at a time.

    Featured image by Donato Biceglia.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.youtube.com/@FrankViele
    https://www.facebook.com/FrankViele/
    https://www.instagram.com/frankviele/
    https://www.tiktok.com/@frankviele

    Wild Love Tigress – On The Prowl

    Wild Love Tigress - On The Prowl
    Wild Love Tigress - On The Prowl

    Wild Love Tigress is an eight-piece band complete with horns, backing singers, and the full spectrum of hairstyles, Wild Love Tigress plays hard-grooving modern funk music that combines high-caliber musicianship with thoughtful songwriting. They put on a high-energy live show that always gets crowds up and dancing.

    Their most recent album, “On the Prowl”, features the singles “Bendy King”, “I Plead the Fifth” and “If I Can’t Run.” The band has played all over Colorado, including venues like the Fox Theater and Cervantes, and has toured in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.

    SOURCE: Official Bio

    LINKS:
    https://www.facebook.com/WildLoveTigress
    https://www.instagram.com/thewildlovetigress