The highly anticipated new album from Spanish love Songs, following on from their excellent 2020 album ‘Brave Faces Everyone’. Heartfelt and punchy emo-indie-rock at its finest. Fans of The Menzingers, The Hotelier, Tigers Jaw or Modern Baseball should be checking this out.
Brimming with new wave pastiche, fluttering synths, shimmering walls of chorus guitar, and four-on-the-floor rhythms, ‘No Joy’ isn’t an exclamation point follow-up to the emotional catharsis of the landmark ‘Brave Faces Everyone’ as much as it is an exhale – the sound of vocalist and guitarist Dylan Slocum, his wife and keyboardist Meredith Van Woert, guitarist Kyle McAulay, bassist Trevor Dietrich, and drummer Ruben Duarte finding peace in quieter moments and embracing the negative space.
The brainchild of Anishinaabe vocalist/guitarist Tashiina Buswa and multi-instrumentalist Billy Riley, Montreal’s Ribbon Skirt are a post-punk art-grunge band making dreamy, swirling compositions complemented by Buswa’s powerful, breathy vocals. Melody and anxiety commingle, a distinct tension running through these songs. It’s all so very crunchy and rhythmic, deftly blending elements of pop, shoegaze, ’90s alternative and riot grrrl.
At the centre are Buswa’s direct yet poetic lyrics, which explore Indigenous identity, systemic racism, the police state, shapeshifter intimacy, colonialism, religion, grief and relationships; vehicles are a recurring motive, both as a means of escape and confinement. The words are vivid, questioning, provocative, yet also strangely familiar, as if we’ve heard them before — from a half-remembered night out, perhaps? A text argument with a former friend-slash-lover? Through a megaphone at a protest? Or during a bout of self-reflection (and -doubt)?
Easy to swallow yet difficult to digest, “Bite Down” is an exercise in juxtaposition, simultaneously dark and dynamic, fun and unsettling. During the inevitable repeat listens, you’ll find yourself analyzing every cryptic note and fuzzy word in minute detail, wishing it were much longer than just nine glorious songs.
There are some bands that feel placeless, their music not tied to any one city, country or scene. Others, though, feel intrinsically linked to where they’re from, the streets and sights they’ve grown up on as much a part of their DNA as the artists whose music they’ve absorbed to make their own. Cork four-piece Cliffords very much fall into the latter category: Ireland’s second-largest city subtly weaves its way into the lyrics, melodies and perspectives that make up the band’s majestic take on indie.
Although it’s still early days for Cliffords, their story so far reads like one of a group destined to do something big. They formed in 2020 after being inspired by the 2016 film Sing Street and, following some fluctuating line-ups, played their first gig two years later at University College Cork’s battle of the bands. Despite their inexperience on stage, they emerged victorious – early recognition of their potential.
Since then, they’ve cemented their line-up with Lynch, guitarist Harry Menton, keyboardist Locon O’Toole and bassist/trumpeter Gavin Dawkins, and begun to earn a reputation as a band who could be their country’s – and certainly their city’s – next great export.
It’s there in ‘R&H Hall’, the jagged opening track of their recently released second EP ‘Salt Of The Lee’. The song is named after an animal feed company, whose now-demolished grain silos once stood tall on Cork’s skyline, its storyline beginning in the rubble. It rears its head on the heady ‘Feels Like A Man’, from 2024 debut EP ‘Strawberry Scented’, as singer/guitarist Iona Lynch recalls being led up the city’s steep St Patrick’s Hill by an intoxicating partner. ‘Salt Of The Lee’s title – borrowed from a lyric from ‘Bittersweet’ – nods to the river that runs through Cork. “It’s a freshwater river, so I thought that was funny,” smiles Lynch. “There’s no salt in The Lee.
“Everything I write is informed by my surroundings,” she nods between sips of iced coffee in a bustling Brighton café. Lynch and her bandmates have momentarily decamped to the English seaside to play its annual new music festival, The Great Escape, but during our conversation, home is never far away. “It’s the place where I fell in love with music,” she continues, growing more animated as she speaks.
“When I was a teenager, the bands that I thought were the most famous and coolest were local Cork bands. I wanted to turn 18 to go to [local venue] Fred Zeppelins to see them.” When the band eventually got to be a part of their local scene, it was everything Lynch had wanted: “There were about two years that, to me, were like gold dust – beautiful times when we were all out all the time with all these bands playing.”
Talk to them for any length of time and you’ll soon realise that they share a dedication to and a love of being in a band that will be vital in helping them achieve that.
Meet the daydream believers about to own your summer Cardinals come from Cork, Ireland For fans of Fontaines D.C., The Jesus & Mary Chain, The band are an eclectic gothic amalgam of shoegaze, Irish trad folk, and rock which incorporates 60s Wall of Sound elements for a punk- inflected noise that ‘wants to be warm pop.
The Cork five-piece released the one-off single ‘Get It’ last October, the follow-up to their self-titled debut EP in June, and now they are back with ‘Big Empty Heart’, which they have described as “a love song written from beyond the grave”. Frontman Euan Manning added: “It is a waltz as waltzes are the most romantic kinds of songs. Oskar Gudinovic, guitarist wrote the main melody on a Korg synthesiser when he was 12 and the song is built around that.”
The track taps into a gothic, Cure-like mood of introspection and rebellion, with Gudinovic’s guitar straining at the leash.
‘ Underpinning this trademark friction is a soft narrative arc which chases a stark vulnerability, ‘I’ve heard music and seen films and somehow felt less alone,’ says Euan, ‘If we can do that for someone else, then that’s cool in my books.’
Take The Strokes’ knack for a laissez-faire indie hook, a little bit of honey-drizzled shoegaze, some new wave grace, a whole lot of Irish spirit and chuck in an accordion for good measure and you’ve got the punky sun-kissed romance of this Cork five-piece: the Class Of 2025’s ‘most likely to do a Fontaines and get massive’.
Fontaines frontman Grian Chatten having recently described Cardinals as “one of my favourite new bands”.
Taken from the upcoming debut EP Cardinals – Out June 7th.
Jehnny Beth tells us about her new record ‘You Heartbreaker, You’: “I wanted to reconnect with the urge of my time in Savages” Check out the pummelling new single ‘Broken Rib’ as Beth tells us about returning from her movie star life, being inspired by life on the road with Queens Of The Stone Age, and her plans for playing before Kneecap at Glastonbury. Beth is back with ‘You Heartbreaker, You’ due out on Friday August 29th via her new label of Fiction Records
“I wanted to make a punk record,” Beth said of the album. “I knew I wanted to make an aggressive sound and for the record to start with a scream on the song ‘Broken Rib’. This is how I felt: the world was broken, I was broken, but it’s not a sad thing. How can a song recompose those fragments? Is it like a Frankenstein beast? I’m not trying to polish it or hide it.”
The former Savages singer turned solo star, TV presenter, radio host and movie actor released her first record under her own name with the acclaimed ‘To Love Is To Live‘ back in 2020. Since then, the French polymath has released a collaborative album with Primal Scream icon Bobby Gillespie, seen her new music TV show Echoes (a reinvigorated European answer to Later… With Jools Holland) go from strength to strength, and reached new audiences with her celebrated and high-profile roles in films including Paris, 13th District and Anatomy Of A Fall.
She continued: “I’m very proud to release a guitar punk rock record today. You know when Savages were releasing our second record “Adore Life”, 2016] and in the middle of our high, I was told that rock music was dead on this BBC.
‘Obsession’ comes from Jehnny Beth’s new album ‘You Heartbreaker, You.’ Out 29 August.
Laura Anne Stevenson is an American singer-songwriter from Long Island, New York. Born on April 25th, 1984, she gained recognition as a keyboard player for the musical collective *Bomb the Music Industry!*. With her captivating vocals and heartfelt lyrics, Laura has carved out a unique place in the indie music scene.
Her music draws inspiration from a variety of genres including folk, punk, and indie rock. You will find themselves drawn to Laura’s introspective song writing and melodic soundscapes.
Having collaborated with renowned musicians throughout her career, Laura’s solo work showcases her exceptional talent as both a songwriter and performer. Her discography includes critically acclaimed albums like “Wheel” and “Cocksure,” which have solidified her reputation as one of today’s most exciting independent artists.
In the four years since her self-titled album was released, indie-folk icon Laura Stevenson’s entire life has been upended. “Late Great”, released by Jeff Rosenstock’s Really Records, is about letting go, taking charge, and learning to rebuild from the deepest layers of your being: “It’s a document of loss for sure, ” Stevenson says, “but also of this scary and exciting precipice that I am standing on. I am making my own life now. With the record, my job, with everything, this is the first time I get to call all the shots.
“Late Great” was produced and mixed by John Agnello. The live band tracked at The Building in Marlboro, NY – an old church that used to be a pay-what-you-can model venue, a suitable space for an artist with DIY punk roots. The result is a big, smoldering sound that makes you want to roll down your car windows and let the wind whip away your woes. “Late Great” takes you on a journey as ornate arrangements and bombastic rhythms cede way to tender minimalistic arrangements only to find their way back again with Stevenson’s singular voice floating above the kaleidoscopic sonics, feeling powerful and vulnerable all at once.
From the new album “Late Great” released June 27th 2025 On Really Records
This week, Other Lives announced a new album, “Volume V”, and shared its first single “Mystic.” The album is due out October 10th via their new label Play It Again Sam.
Other Lives was originally founded in 2008 in the town of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where founding members Jesse Tabish, Jonathon Mooney, and Josh Onstott recorded their self-titled EP and LP in 2008 and 2009, and second LP “Tamer Animalsreleased in 2011. The group then moved out to Portland, Oregon, where they recorded 2014 album “Rituals” and 2020’s fourth album “For Their Love” with Tabish’s wife Kim joining the band along the way.
For “Volume V”, however, the band has revisited their roots in Stillwater, recording in The Sheerar, a former church that is now the Stillwater History Museum.. “Being back in our home town was, in more ways than one, a sanctuary for us,” says Mooney in a press release.
This week, Melbourne-based psych-rock group King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard shared a new orchestral single, “Phantom Island,” also the band announced a U.S. tour where they will be backed by a different 28-piece orchestra in each city. They also announced a three-day camping residency in Colorado.
“Phantom Island” follows “Flight b741”, the new album King Gizzard released in August via the band’s own p(doom) label.
The band’s Stu Mackenzie had this to say about the new song in a press release: “Hello world. So our last album was 10 songs. Except we recorded 20 in that session. Here’s a track from the other set of 10. It’s even more maxxed out than the last one. There’s a whole fuckin’ orchestra on there. Hahahahahah! But for real, what a joy to be alive. A privilege to be making music for a living and to be here still after all these years. If you’ve been listening to Gizz for a long time, thank you. We love you so much. If you’re just tuning in, welcome to the cult.”
Conductor and music director Sarah Hicks will lead each orchestra. The camping residency will be at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO. These shows will be the band’s only U.S. concerts of 2025.
Strings, horns, and woodwind add a veneer of regal fanfare to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s 27th studio album, reaffirming their joint status as rock court jesters and jam-band royalty. The Australian sextet has scarcely sounded more celebratory than it does on “Phantom Island”, an album of uber-psychedelic soft rock garnished with disco, prog, and fiddly folk flourishes. It is absurd, orchestral, and typically adventurous, but also more “introverted” than usual, says singer-guitarist Stu Mackenzie, the ensemble’s shaggy-dog lyrics dotted with notes of existential wonder.
“Flight b741” is the prolific band’s 26th album. It was first announced on their social media channels. Then they shared the album’s first single, “Le Risque,” via a music video. Then they shared its second single, “Hog Calling Contest,” as well as a making of the album video entitled Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…. “Hog Calling Contest” .
Last year the prolific band released “The Silver Cord”, via KGLW. There were two versions of “The Silver Cord“, an extended one and a version with shorter tracks.“The Silver Cord” followed the elaborately titled “PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation”, which also came out last year.
MJ Lenderman is the project of Asheville native, Jake Lenderman, is the guitarist in country/indie band Wednesday, who released ‘I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone’ to critical acclaim in early 2020 on Orindal Records. His label debut for Dear Life Records is ‘Ghost of Your Guitar Solo,’ a ten-song collection recorded and performed entirely by Lenderman.
The record was written and recorded quickly, songs often being fully constructed and recorded within frenzied single day sessions. Songs were born out of freewheeling jam sessions with his roommates, with Lenderman often freestyling lyrics that would later become the foundations of the finished songs. Inspired by a writing exercise conceived by the late David Berman, Lenderman would write 20 disconnected lines a day, scrapping most of them but preserving a few to be used later. This process aided in what became an extremely prolific writing period for the artist this past spring. The record sounds like country music being played by a noisy punk band, unkempt and imperfect like the characters in his songs.
Lyrically, Lenderman broadened his scope beyond solemn introspection, adding humour to scenes larger than his own life. He points to authors Harry Crews and Larry Brown as inspirations, both who were southern, self-taught writers who balanced empathy, humour, and darkness. This leads to the erosion of the line that separates humour and sadness. The resulting songs are about over-indulgence and drug/alcohol abuse, full of self-loathing and pity while simultaneously celebrating the absurdity of it all.
