Hailing from Chicago Illinois, Koalra cut some fine indie rock shapes on this single ‘Dear Daylight’. There’s the rough and tumbling guitars – part jangle, part visceral screes – post-punk rhythms and a voice that hollers and sings with a beautiful melancholic angst. It all fits together just right on the single, one of many great tracks on their EP Surprise Lights. Koalra call themselves … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Koalra – Dear Daylight
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Sideways To New Italy Ivy League Since the release of their debut album, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have traversed the globe, playing numerous headline shows and music festivals. Now those experiences and the associated dizzying dislocation have fed into their second record, a consistently superb collection of songs that matches the hit rate of their debut. All three singer/guitarist songwriters again … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways To New Italy
Dei Lucrii are a psychedelic noise-punk quartet based in Los Angeles California who’ve just released their new EP Devil’s Thumb. Below you can check out the first two tracks from the release, both of which hit the accelerator and burn ominous rubber across the melting highway bitumen. There are shades of stoner rock and punk, with a dark and heavy underbelly, in their sound. You can … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Dei Lucrii – Devil’s Thumb / Scathe By The Bull
Here’s a really nice slice of 60s-tinged, indie guitar pop from Portland-based artist Alex Schiff who records under the name Blue Canopy. The vocal layering in particular grabbed our attention with their tripped-out Beach Boys vibe. ‘St. Albans‘ comes from his debut EP Mild Anxiety which is out now. “St. Albans is about an old friend who I lost touch with, but consistently visits me … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Blue Canopy – St. Albans
US composer Chris Child & sound artist Micah Frank have recently released their second collection of songs – Tape Pieces Vol. 2, featuring this fine track, ‘Static Wheels’. Experimental post-rock and ambient drone are at the core of it, generated by the heavy use of filtering with effects so the loops blur together and bear just an echo of resemblance to its original. The ebb and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Chris Child & Micah Frank – Static Wheels
Million Square (UK) released their new EP Spirit Bloom last month and one of the highlights is this track, ‘First Block’. Glitchy, effervescent, sparkly notes dart between the speakers above frantic scattershot beats. It’s IDM music but when a haunting, romantic saxophone enters the fray it takes on a new, jazz-leaning vibe and it works wonderfully. London-based electronic duo, Million Square features double-bassist Max Luthert … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Million Square – First Block
Fontaines D.C., who released one of our favourite albums of 2019, are back with a new single ahead of the release of their second album A Hero’s Death on July 31st. The album title-track is a great first single too – with that trademark energy and verve of the band and some added texture and melody thrown into the mix. Singer Grian Chatten has this … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Fontaines D.C. Release New Single and Announce New Album ‘A Hero’s Death’
Hazy, rolling sonic waves are the order of the day on this blissed-out new psychedelic track from El Paso TX band Holy Wave. It slowly builds, layer upon layer of chiming, effects-laden guitars and astral voices, droning and intoning as it heads skyward. ‘Escapism’ is the 2nd single off Interloper, Holy Wave’s fifth album, out July 3, 2020. You can also listen to the title … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Holy Wave – Escapism
New War Trouble In The Air Heavy Machinery Records Last year Sarah Mary Chadwick released an album that she’d recorded on the Melbourne Town Hall Organ – the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. New War had already ticked that box in 2017 when they recorded this new live album. While Chadwick created a grand widescreen soundtrack to her songs, her Melbourne contemporaries … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: New War – Trouble In The Air
Australian composer and sound designer Daniel McCagh has just released his debut album Altered States, an immersive and sonically detailed collection of compositions that range from visceral sheets of digital rain to delicate filigrees and textures. He manipulates acoustic instruments to place them in evocative settings where the organic and synthetic sounds become one. It sounds futuristic yet connected to human spirit, blood flow and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Daniel McCagh – Altered States
With a bass-line straight out of The Cure and Joy Division handbook, this track from bdrmm is undeniably the sum of its influences, but they’re great ones and they approach the music with reverence and respect, keeping all the elements of mood and texture in check. The result is a wistful, melancholically propulsive and free-flowing track that draws from shoegaze, post-punk and dark pop. ‘Happy’ is the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: bdrmm – Happy
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have announced their second album Sideways To New Italy will be released on June 5th and to mark the news they’ve released the video clip for their new single ‘She’s There’. It’s jam-packed with their now trademark busy rhythms, heady strums and jangly guitars. Wistfully melancholic, it’s a great precursor to the new full-length album. PRE-ORDER Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Announce New Album and Single/Video
Doubtful Sounds 