Countdown to Debut: Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi Drops New Single "Crying in Pastel" + Visual

“Crying in Pastel”, the lead single of Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi’s debut album, Undertow, and its music video are out today. She explores memory, growth, and emotion through analyzing violence against women. The song has a tranquil and dark presence, conveying melancholy from the first note. The regret portrayed in her lyrics and vocal tone cuts through the serenity of the instrumentals. In some ways the song is eerie and sorrowful, but in others it is calm and accepting like she already knows the answer to the questions she’s asking.

“Did you think of me?

Something pretty?

Are you scared of me?”

“Crying in Pastel” vacillates between anger, fear and sadness, all feelings that coexist in grief. Rage and ruin juxtapose a hope for connection, a need to understand the psyche of a predatory man.

Currently residing in London, Sophia recorded Undertow in Brooklyn with the help of producer Randall Dunn (Sunn 0))), Pallbearer). On the record, Sophia explores ambient-folk, involving cello, flugelhorn, harp and synth. The minimalistic approach has Sophia experimenting with new approaches, differing from her previous record “Wildflowers.” As heard on “Crying In Pastel,” she’s confrontational, covering bruising topics like violation and deep trust. “My voice and cello act as vessels for the corporeal,” she says. 

Laura Hickli announces LP dark secrets - the release that recounts the most traumatic 24 seconds of her life.

dark secrets out October 3rd, 2025

A classically trained pianist with an elegant voice and deeply evocative lyrics, progressive dark art-pop artist Laura Hickli releases dark secrets, the first of three releases. She is known for balancing raw emotion with intricate detail. With every set, she draws listeners in and holds them there—spellbound by her fearless expression and magnetic presence. The newest release off Laura Hickli’s EP, dark secrets, is the title track, a revelatory glimpse into the accident that grounds the album, embarking on a nonlinear journey of grief, trauma, and recovery.

“I could still feel there was more. The world just kept spinning. We hit the ground again—I thought I had died. Everything went black for a second. And then, suddenly, the van stopped. The g-forces vanished, but inside me, the spinning didn’t. My body was still. But inside, I kept tumbling.”

— Laura Hickli

dark secrets is rooted in a single traumatic moment that lasted just 24 seconds. In 2023, while touring the U.S., her van skidded off the road, spinning 180 degrees into the opposing lane before flying backward off the highway and rolling three times down a steep slope. As it tumbled down the hillside, she watched her belongings rise around her in slow motion, suspended in eerie stillness, time stretching in the space between life and death. 

Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured, but after the crash, her recovery was both physical and psychological. What began as a fear of getting into vehicles spiraled into something deeper: a confrontation with mortality, meaninglessness, and the fragility of the body. The songs that emerged aren’t pretty, polished reflections; they’re raw, unsettling, and painfully human. Feelings that are ugly. Scary. Relentless.

Photo by Sarah Kueler

Music has always held immense power for Laura; it’s how she processes, how she connects, how she survives. So even in the depths of PTSD, she knew she had to find her way back to it. Performance is visceral and transformative for her: on stage, she writhes and sways, folding into herself like she’s summoning something from deep within. It’s not only art: it’s communion. To return to that space, she began exposure therapy: a slow, grueling, and deeply personal process that eventually gave her the strength to get back in a van and tour again. 

The completion of dark secrets marks Laura Hickli’s latest step towards making peace with those 24 seconds. Recovery is not linear, and it is never truly complete, but she has found a connection through the act of creation and the courage to share her story. And in that, she no longer feels quite so alone.

Check out more from Laura Hickli here.

Dimples’ fourth studio album, obscure residue, has touched down to Earth

Reminiscent of their familiar, woeful psychedelia, Obscure Residue introduces a newfound layer of maturity and intent–an aged wisdom and refinement granted through lived-in experience and sonic experimentation. The duo, Greg Hartunian and Colby Nathan, share an intimate bond informed via creation and discovery.

The imagery evoked by Dimples’ Obscure Residue functions within a dreamy, transcendent melding of the physical and supernatural, often tongue-in-cheek and skewed with an ineffable question mark. The record traces a tangible energy, ebbing and flowing throughout. Greg became transfixed while experimenting with an MPC60. The most prominent result of this experimentation is an abundance of layered orchestral elements scattered throughout the album. The emphasis of the sampler introduces an entirely new layer to the Dimples’ universe: sweeping horns and strings are plucked, distorted, and arranged cohesively and often utilized more than once on the record. The listener may venture on a sonic treasure hunt, identifying samples in one track that may later be pitch shifted and implemented again, cyclical yet distinct in sound and function. 

“I wish it just wasn’t like this, how could such roots ever bend, I guess I just blame the wind.”

— Colby Nathan in "Blame it on the Wind"

Take the track “Blame it on the Wind” for example. The instrumentals ascend a haunting, winding staircase of strings and a grounding rhythm, lulling the listener into a dream-like trance. It creates an almost uneasy feeling, but one that keeps you curious to what comes next. You almost want to close your eyes and truly feel the song.

Obscure Residue celebrates and reverberates all things serendipitous and coincidental, weaving an abstract tapestry of experiences that are impossible to explain. This record undulates like a trance with hypnotic strings and pulsing percussion, dissecting universal attitudes towards the passing of time and relationships. Dimples admits the vacancy of a transparent answer, opting to let the listener marinate in a disorienting, reflective state of uncertainty. 

MAD IRIS RELEASES SINGLE "POOR BABY" ON AUGUST 27TH

Formed in 2023, Toronto rock band Mad Iris has the look, sound, and feel of a 90s garage rock band. They got their start by making a name for themselves in Toronto’s local underground alternative scene. Frontwomen Kaiya Rosie and Ela Hintasu are insanely dynamic vocalists - combining those abrasive “bratty” screams with hushed gentler moments. Patrick Muldoon’s kaleidoscope guitar distortion and Josh Pryce’s roaring drum beats highlight that shoegaze, grunge, noise rock style perfectly well. They do not shy away from their 90s inspiration with old school MTV music videos, scrapbook show flyers, alleyway photoshoots, and slacker-rock fashion.

Their new single, “Poor Baby”, is soaked in self-pity and pointing fingers. The track kicks off with fuzzy, dual vocals and a warm analogue guitar line, easing into a chorus that gradually cranks up the intensity like someone slowly turning a dial. The phrase "Poor Baby" works as both a sweet nickname whilst also capturing that raw mix of shame and vulnerability that can show up in romantic relationships - the kind of exposed feeling that comes with being fully seen and loved. It’s incredibly nostalgic how they are able to lean into that 90s garage sound, equal parts comforting and bittersweet , anchored by distorted guitars and rough-edged, feminine vocals.

“Poor Baby” is their first release on Ba Da Bing Records, with much more to come.  Mad Iris self-distributed four releases: “Tipp City”, “Name Tag”, “Under the Bed”, and “Soursweet/Check!”. If you’re a fan of “Poor Baby,” check out their music video for “Check!” and stay tuned for what Mad Iris has in store for the future!

jane sheldon’s flowermuscle out june 27th

Chamber opera composer and singer, Jane Sheldon, goes big on flowermuscle, yet every measure is hushed enough to capture a whisper. Using Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, she explores the corners of a sonic space that feels both powerful and delicate, unfolding his words as sound expands in many directions all at once.

Sheldon’s last album I am a tree, I am a mouth was also a portrayal of Rilke’s poems. However, despite the restrained color palette of that album, flowermuscle’s songs explore a more colorful and diverse atmosphere.

The first single off Jane Sheldon’s upcoming album, flowermuscle, crafts a sonic soundscape both grand and delicate. Showcasing Sheldon’s talent without restraint, “The double realm” transforms the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, captivating and guiding the listener through meditative vocals. Sheldon is inspired and interested by the visceral experience of vast altered states, and she succeeds in producing a lush and transcendental exploration of such consciousness. The track layers synths and vocals upon one another until the listener is enveloped into a vibrating web of possibility, blooming with a rhythmic gentleness and an unmistaken power.

Photo by Olivia Davies

I am a tree, I am a mouth gently filled space within Rilke’s words. Flowermuscle dares to stretch that space–unfolding it into a bolder, stranger, and more vibrant statement. Her new album doesn’t just echo Rilke’s poetry, but reimagines it, fabulating a dreamy world of lush melodies and spellbinding vocals. 

Says Sheldon:

I felt with the last one that holding back was the natural response to what he wrote," Sheldon says about her previous project. "We realized early on with this new album that we didn’t want to play it safe this time and needed to push things, broaden the sonic palette in certain ways. I’m most interested in the felt experience of altered states: I am a tree… lived in the privacy of those experiences, but flowermuscle is much more about their vastness, about the possibility of feeling that you’re in erotic resonance with everything else in nature.

After 45 years, Trigger’s never-released album, Second Round, resurfaces.

Trigger is back - old tapes, but new tracks

The year is 1979. Trigger has standout tracks like “Baby Don’t Cry” and “Rockin’ Cross the USA,” fitting in perfectly with the hard rock sound taking over the airwaves and clubs. After a tour with Cheap Trick, Trigger found themselves in a pivotal moment in their career, their next move more crucial than ever—they rushed right back to the studio and began laying down tracks for their next record. As the finishing touches were being made, they were met with bad news: Their label, Casablanca, was bankrupt and were immediately closing up shop. Their record was shelved, and the band members were forced to hang up their guitars and turn to a life of regular day job normalcy. 

Their long-shelved second album Second Round, recorded in 1979 and left unheard for decades, is finally being released by Ba Da Bing Records. Led by the explosive first single “Backtalk,” the record isn’t a relic—it’s a revelation.

The album was recorded at two of the most iconic studios in rock history—Electric Lady and the Record Plant—at a time when Trigger had momentum, a Casablanca Records deal, and a reputation as one of the most exciting live acts on the East Coast. They had toured with Cheap Trick, sharpened their harmonies, and expanded their sound, bringing a melodic sophistication that split the difference between arena rock and pop precision.

Flashforward to 2025 and Second Round is finally getting it’s moment. All original members—Derek Remington (vocals/drums), Jimmy Duggan (guitar/vocals), Tom Nigra (bass guitar/backing vocals), and Richie House (lead guitar/vocals)— are present on the recordings.  Sadly, Duggan and Nigra have passed away, but Remington and House have overseen this reissue, with songs sourced directly from the analog masters. The Trigger of today maintains a high level of quality, albeit with a bit less flair, and even less hair.

“Backtalk” leads the charge: a snarling, hook-heavy anthem with biting lyrics and guitars that don’t let up. It’s a song that hits with the same urgency as any modern rock revival—and proves Trigger was never behind the times, just caught in the crossfire of a label collapse.

LISTEN TO Backtalk HERE

This isn’t a dusty archival find. It’s a fully realized, forward-driving album that bridges generations of rock with confidence and fire. Second Round isn’t about looking back—it’s about catching up to a band that was always ahead of the curve.

Trigger’s Second Round comes out on May 30th through Ba Da Bing Records.

Haroula Rose and Oliver Hill’s new album, titled “Cycles,” is scheduled for release on March 7, 2025.

Haroula & Oliver bring together dovetailing artistic histories across media - as a filmmaker, Haroula’s feature directorial debut Once Upon a River went to over 40 festivals internationally taking home 19 awards, and her sophomore feature All Happy Families, starring Josh Radnor and executive produced by Michael Shannon, saw a theatrical release in AMC theatersAMCs last fall. Oliver wrote the score and original songs - that soundtrack will be released later this year.   

Oliver has written string arrangements for artists such as Magdalena Bay, Dirty Projectors, Helado Negro, and Broken Bells, and has released critically acclaimed records with his bands Pavo Pavo (“quietly poetic … exploring the stuff of life, love, and loss with a clear head,” Pitchfork) and Coco ("bold, striking pop that seems to be filtered in from another dimension," CLASH.)

“Swarm,” the first single from Haroula Rose and Oliver Hill’s upcoming album Cycles is out today, and much like the entire album, out March 7th, it opens a beautiful world of ambiance in miniature. Traipsing piano lines lead into an off-kilter composition with the sounds of bird song, wood burning, flutes, processed vocals, and embryonic musique concrete. It’s a hymnal collage, an intricate piece of the entire Cycles concept..

The video for “Swarm” echoes these ideas. Animated through charcoal and paper drawings, filmmaker Maia Saavedra draws a series of impressionistic scenes, where bodies morph and intermingle, drift through the air, and develop additional appendages. The warmth of the animation mirrors the qualities of the track - serene and inviting. 

Rose and Hill have a long combined history of film and music work. Rose just debuted All Happy Families, a feature-length film produced by Michael Shannon, and starring Josh Radnor. Hill writes string arrangements for groups like Magdalena Bay, Dirty Projectors, Helado Negro, and Cassandra Jenkins.

The world of Cycles is supine and aquatic. Sounds echo within sounds, which encircle melodies like small creatures gathering. As both a record and a series of short films, Haroula Rose & Oliver Hill have created a friendly, multi-faceted planéte sauvage. 

Written & recorded in one torrentially rainy week at home in Los Angeles, the music explores the acoustics of the tactile world - sounds coarse and smooth, heavy and light, the smell of wet terrain after a long drought, a long deep breath coming up from dark water to the surface. 

Instruments were splayed on the rug and a set of creative constraints were put into place: no words, no drums, no guitars, yes dynamics, yes field recordings around the house, yes fades and slowly overlapping layers. And of course, bells. The result is a series of mercurial and cinematic scene changes - stepping through doors, popping out windows, crossing into and out of interior and exterior settings. 

“Cycles” will be released on Ba Da Bing Records on March 7th, 2025. More glimpses into this wondrous world to come!

Cross Record Announces New Album, Crush Me, Out March 21st

Cross Record — the project of UK-based artist Emily Cross — announces her new album Crush Me, out March 21st via Ba Da Bing Records, and presents its lead single/video, “Charred Grass.” “Charred Grass ” is a pretty song with a queasy aura. Cross sings in a hushed voice, over hazy guitar in a way that suggests all's not well. The video visualizes this; as she walks delicately through the woods, impediments continually break her stride. The track is about “moments that stick with me, and help me feel real— essentially, times in which time itself ceases to exist.” Cross elaborates: “I drive past a lot of fields, and one morning I saw a big fire. The next day there was a baby calf laying on the bit of charred grass close to its mom, who was making eye contact with me as I drove by. Sometimes the car scares the cows but this one seemed to convey only peace and calm.”

This is her first release since her “intricately detailed” (Paste) 2019 self-titled LP . Crush Me is an album that is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. A two-and-a-half-year gestation period offered challenges, disappointments, and joys reflected in the cramped space of the album, which explores how we handle the weights we carry. Cross began writing Crush Me fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula, holding hundreds of Living Funerals, a process during which Cross guides participants through the rituals of their own deaths. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation, where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas. After sending her demos to a major indie label and receiving real interest, Cross prepared a two-week recording session in Germany with a group of skilled musicians from around the world, unlike her usual, inexpensive recording processes. Comfort and traditional structure were eschewed - she left plenty of room in her demos for experimentation, collaboration, improvisation, and obliteration, then resurrection when necessary. Upon leaving Germany, the record was unfinished, and without a roadmap. As passages were recorded as isolated parts, Cross and musician Marcin Sulewski collaborated, facing a haphazard brick pile, waiting to be assembled. Work dipped in and out of view over many months. During that time, the aforementioned interested label went radio silent. Collaborators disappeared,continuing the themes of abandonment, surrender, and disarray that followed the project. Cross physically felt her entire body go numb. In a twist of fate, the record was rescued by long-time friend and supporter Ben Goldberg at Ba Da Bing Records who was eager to help realize the project. Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs. Vocals, guitars, and keyboards float above, as drums and upright bass (often bowed) lurch beneath. Crush Me has the effect of a spell being cast, with songs balancing heaviness and levity.

Scrounge Almost Like You Could Out April 18th

Almost Like You Could ignites its art punk fire with Lucy Alexander proclaiming, “Everyone wants something to talk about/ But not a minute to spare, so be brief.” Not surprising from a song that’s 1:54 (‘Higher’), but the raw honesty in her lyrics ring far after the music ends. Alexander, along with bandmate Luke Cartledge, place the propulsive power of their beliefs at the core of their debut full-length album, and their guiding motivation towards social justice is as fierce as it is welcoming.

“Living as part of the queer community, and being queer myself, leads me towards supporting every person’s truth,” Alexander says. Scrounge’s songs skip to a fast beat, electrifying the entire album with a sense of empowerment. Their approach is OG punk: they make music for their peers and themselves. Only now, with a world of connections possible, they’re able to open arms wide for a far-reaching embrace. Alexander’s rich vocals give their sound its central force, anchoring the songs with confessional lines (“If this is the pinnacle, then I need a miracle/ Cause everyone’s laughing at me,” “There’s not much left/ this corpse I have to keep/ Above board.”). They sing about economic inequality, political corruption, environmental destruction, and collective change. “We’re inspired by those around us, and we write about what we care about. Art has always existed for us as a means of catharsis, a way of expressing something we might not be able to otherwise, and we hope our music can be that for other people too,” says Alexander.

“I think I’ve actually written a filthy banger,” she states while relistening to “Buzz/Cut”, a grunge-honoring hammer of a song that takes a journey from disappointment, to self-realization, to release. Alexander and Cartledge’s gratification in making an album they’re proud of mirrors the empowerment conveyed in their lyrics. 

A follow-up to debut mini-album Sugar, Daddy (Fierce Panda, 2022), Almost Like You Could came together over 18 months, in between “teaching, touring, graduation, and a wedding”, as Lucy explains, for the band always has a handful of shows coming up. It’s a strange outcome for a duo who first bonded over their mutual love of SOPHIE. “She radicalized the structure of sound, and revealed herself through it,” Cartledge explains.  “That was a massive inspiration when we started playing together, stripping everything away to open up new possibilities as artists and as people."

Having already toured Europe and the States, Scrounge is preparing to be on the road throughout 2025. In a world where the idea of true community is ephemeral, Lucy and Luke seek to foster it everywhere they play. And their belief in change is ultimately buoyed by hope. “I know that it’s never been this good,” they sing.

Lisel Releases Captivating New Music Video for Latest Single “The Past Is A Tiger”

Lisel releases the video for “The Past Is A Tiger” off The Vanishing Point, which comes out October 18, 2024. "The Past is a Tiger" is an emotionally direct and evocative song that blends both macabre and ethereal soundscapes (harsh growls, eerie industrial whistles, bell-like synths) with incisive, probing, and self-critical lyrics. The song reflects on how the past can be both elusive and dangerous—something that lurks and occasionally resurfaces. Lisel’s floating vocals and the intricate, dark, experimental production create a haunting atmosphere, inviting listeners to contemplate how memory and melancholy can often lead to self-obsession and self-absorption.

Director Julia Ponce Díaz says,  “We developed a series of visual ideas that were inspired by representations of the myth of Narcissus in painting and sculpture, reflecting on how we willingly contribute to our own self-destruction through thought patterns and behavior we know aren't worthwhile but can't give up. The element of the pond, and the emphasis on reflections and portraiture all derived from this simple concept.

The song and video balance opulent beauty and tension, offering a mesmerizing exploration of time and self-reflection. BAFTA Newcomer Fellow, Julia Ponce Díaz’s visually striking video pairs its stunning, lush scenery  and baroque, extravagant garments with the song’s eerie, mournful undertone. The video encapsulates the melancholy of the lyricism, juxtaposing dreamlike visuals with the raw emotion of Lisel’s performance. “The Past Is A Tiger” showcases the most evolved project between Díaz and Lisel, with stunning production value that is a continuation of their previous collaboration on Lisel’s “Blades of Grass.” 

CREDITS

Song Written, Produced & Performed by Lisel

Director: Julia Ponce Díaz 

Choreographer: Annalise Gehling

Producer: Gia Rigoli 

Cinematographer: Annalise Gehling

Production Designer: Kailah Armond

Editor: Colton Warren 

Wardrobe: Vera Moles

Gaffer: Micah Goldfarb

1st AC: Bella Parisot

Colorist: Taylor Black

Art Director: Demi Anjorin

Set Dresser: Amy Aivazian

Make-up Artist: Guity Rafik-Surrey

Hair Stylist: Graciella Padilla

Production Company Discordia & Vulnerable Ramble

Big Blood’s Quinn and Aidan’s New Band, The Wickies, Announce Self-Titled Debut Album

Quinnisa Kinsella-Mulkerin recorded her first song at five years old with her parents, who comprise the adventurous Maine band, Big Blood. Ever since the age of five, she was writing songs, banging on chimes, strumming guitars, and clanging together whatever else she could find. Improvisation was natural, and she stuck to the approach. Quinn brings this innate sense of songwriting to The Wickies, a duo she formed with Aiden Arel a year ago at age 16, whose chill approach and fluid delivery belie true inventiveness in the underneath mechanics.

Inspired by seventies folk icons like Stevie Nicks, Krautrock bands like Can, and modern indie-rockers like Alex G, The Wickies feel like an amalgamation of these decade-spanning sounds, but uniquely their own. Quinn’s voice croons like a seventies folk star, but it possesses a great and controlled tone. Her vocals feel like another instrument within the mix, building and growing each song to its fullest sound, leaving no detail within the mix unheard. Their use of echoing guitar lines recalls sixties psych, a springboard for their unique take.

Quinn’s lush, free-flowing lyrics, created on the spot, complement Aiden's fleshed out backing instrumentation and over-dubbing. Quickly, the pair created more material than they ever needed, allowing them to mold their recordings into a self-titled debut album. Like a painter crafting the perfect exhibition of their finest work, Aiden and Quinn condensed their improvisations to all the best parts. Tracks like “Campfire Song” and “Skipping Pond,” exemplify the ethereal and lackadaisical atmosphere of their sound. “I keep finding these weird, obscure bands from the seventies that have one album and nothing else, which is awesome,” Quinn said, “I want my music to sound like somebody found it in a record store that no one has ever heard of and uploaded it to YouTube. I want it to sound a little strange.” 

The single “Baby Maria” is out now. The full album will be released on October 4, 2024, via Ba Da Bing Records.

36 Delivers Mesmerizing Soundscapes with New Album Dreamloops

First appearing in 2019 as a series of cassettes, Dreamloops was revisited by Huddleston in 2023 to bring newfound clarity, focus, and cohesion. The eight pieces, each an 18:00 minute standalone self-contained work, the tracks are unified, joined by a shared approach of hypnotizing loops that artfully shift and mutate. In each song, time slows as an ensemble of sounds builds on themes and develops emotional power. In the lineage ofMuch like epic works such as The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars, LaMonte Young’s Well-Tuned Piano, Daughters Of Darkness by Natural Snow Buildings and Morton Feldman’s String Quartet II, each fragment of Dreamloops culls developing melodies towards hauntological steps forward. Sound spectrums don’t spread wide but instead focus on a precise musical statement, exploring its absolute potential.

That said, Dreamloops does not exist in its own idealized sphere. Deep listening reveals tape hiss, oversaturation, wow & flutter, and similar imperfections. The fingerprints deepen part of these tracks’ emotional impact. Henryk Gorecki’s humanity meets Max Richter’s sense of grandeur meets Deathprod’s absolute sound mining, as Huddleston deftly maneuvers his songs toward momentous epic impact. “Emotions get tied in our mind with specific sounds,” Huddleston says. “The whole point of creating music is to explore and discover those frequencies.” A simmering nostalgia is ever present.

"These are slow, hypnotic tracks, that exist in their own time and space. You may be surprised how much changes over the duration of each track. All tape-related artifacts such as hiss, saturation, wow & flutter are both intentional and encouraged. Careful listening will be rewarded. These aren't for everyone, but if you have the patience, they might be exactly what you need."

While the title describes them as loops, this is somewhat misleading, as the tracks are constantly evolving, slowly revealing new melodies, textures and emotions. Each tune was made to be self-contained, yet they work equally well as a long-form listening session. Keen ears will surely be rewarded.

36 (pronounced three-six) is the alias of UK producer Dennis Huddleston, who has been a prolific and leading figure in the modern ambient scene, following his 2009 debut album Hypersona. He currently releases music on A Strangely Isolated Place and Past Inside The Present. He also runs his own label 3six Recordings, which is where he released some of his most celebrated albums, including Lithea and Void Dance. The core of the 36 sound is a combination of warm melodies and widescreen atmospheres that is never shy from the abstract, but one that remains highly accessible. It's dreamlike, introspective midnight music, and the perfect soundtrack for your own Strangely Isolated Place.

Snowgoose Returns with Descendant: A Journey Through Timeless Folk-Rock Sounds

Acclaimed folk rock band Snowgoose are set to release their long-awaited third album, ‘Descendant,’ through Violette Records & Ba Da Bing Records on October 18, 2024.

The follow-up to 2020’s critically acclaimed ‘The Making Of You’ (”...an album that blends Pentangle’s limber folk-funk with the crystalline guitar pop of 10,000 Maniacs.,” Uncut),
‘Descendant’ offers a profound narrative of human emotion, meticulously crafted by the core duo of guitarist Jim McCulloch (The Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits) and vocalist Anna Sheard along with their talented ensemble of Scottish indie royalty.

Snowgoose have been a notable presence in the Glasgow music scene since emerging with their 2012 debut ‘Harmony Springs.’
‘Descendant’ continues their exploration of intricate
musical landscapes, delving into themes of love, loss, and the fleeting moments of life. Anna Sheard describes the album: "Descendant explores the delicate interplay between the joys of love and the inevitability of loss. Each song navigates the complex emotions that connect these experiences, serving as a reflection on the beauty and pain of impermanence."

Recorded live at Chem 19 Studios in Glasgow, ‘Descendant’ captures the raw, unfiltered essence of Snowgoose’s sound. The album features contributions from Raymond McGinley
(Teenage Fanclub) on guitar, Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian) on keyboards, Stevie Jones (Arab Strap) on bass guitar, Tim Davidson (Tracyanne & Danny) on pedal steel, Stuart Kidd (BMX Bandits) drums, and Adam Stearns (Trembling Bells) drums and percussion, enhancing the textured, emotive layers that define the band's music.

Snowgoose has consistently garnered praise for their musical depth and emotive songwriting. The Sunday Times have praised their “purity and precision,” while The Scotsman praised Anna's vocals for invoking "the spirit of Sandy Denny, a soothing instrument no matter what sorrow she is imparting."

To celebrate the release of ‘Descendant,’ Snowgoose will embark on a UK tour during October 2024, featuring both full band and intimate acoustic performances alongside Eugene Kelly (The Vaselines). 

Lisel Announces New Album The Vanishing Point, Exploring the Intersection of Pop, Avant-Garde, and Existential Crises

Lisel (Eliza Bagg) returns with her latest release, The Vanishing Point, an expansive exploration of vocal experimentation, pop tropes, and the existential anxieties of living in an era of crisis. Blending mainstream aesthetics with avant-garde sensibilities, Lisel crafts a boundary-pushing electronic landscape that foregrounds melody and operatic drama within the framework of contemporary pop. As a professional opera singer, Bagg brings a unique perspective, using her classical training to create songs with grandiose scope, all while working within the pop medium. The Vanishing Point—the follow-up to her 2023 release Patterns For Auto-Tuned Voices And Delay—seamlessly integrates auto-tuned and manipulated vocals with striking electronics, resulting in a vivid, emotionally charged sonic experience.

The first single, “Time & Money (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying)”, introduces listeners to the album’s conceptual themes. Beginning with harsh metallic percussion and distorted speech samples, the track builds with driving synths and Lisel’s soaring vocals. It quickly transforms into a futuristic soundscape, offering a speculative narrative from the perspective of an engineer resetting the simulation of our existence. With its edgy, yet danceable energy, “Time & Money” sets the tone for The Vanishing Point’s ambitious exploration of the human condition.

Drawing on mythological storytelling, Lisel transforms dystopian tales into allegorical pop songs. The Vanishing Point paints a sonic portrait of a world on the edge, where ancient musical traditions meet hypermodern sounds. The result is a high-concept work that blends operatic scope, experimental pop structures, and hyperpop motifs. The album’s emotional directness and sonic depth reflect the shared experience of confronting an uncertain future, ultimately leading to the vanishing horizon.

Tracks like “Rings” fuse baroque-inspired clavier synths with futuristic themes, while “The Past Is A Tiger” grapples with collective responsibility for past mistakes. Meanwhile, “On The Road To” combines harsh metallic sounds with electronically fabricated harpsichords to depict a futile path forward. Each song functions as a modern-day parable, blending ancient myth with contemporary pop to form a dystopian fable for our times.

Visually, photographer Carla Rossi complements Lisel’s sonic world with a series of hyper-stylized images that draw on Renaissance and Medieval painting. These photographs position Lisel in classical poses, wielding symbolic objects, bridging the gap between storytelling of the past and a digital, imagined future.

With The Vanishing Point, Lisel continues to dismantle genre conventions while forging a path that merges operatic expression with cutting-edge pop, crafting a soundtrack for a world on the brink of transformation.

Asher White releases new single, "Theme From Leaving Philadelphia"

Asher White releases new single, “Theme From Leaving Philadelphia,” off of her upcoming album, Home Constellation Study, out June 28.

“Theme From Leaving Philadelphia,” is the second offering from her upcoming album, Home Constellation Study, out June 28 on Ba Da Bing Records and Feeding Tube. The feverish track picks up right where White left off on her last full-length LP, New Excellent Woman, and expands with an ever-shifting rock and chamber pop sound. White’s high-drama, vaudevillian album opener follows her on a hungover, early-morning train ride up the East Coast, dazzled by the scenes whirring by outside, communing with the fellow passengers. Uncertain as she voyages into new creative terrain, winding orchestral loops swirl around her. White’s singing is, as always, as celebratory as it is self-conscious. The song chronicles the spontaneous feelings of a drunk Amtrak ride, leaving the city with unbridled honesty, “Leaving Philadelphia was not fantastic, it was fine.”

White gave us a proper introduction to her world on last year’s New Excellent Woman. Home Constellation Study lets us see into her ever-expanding and unpredictable vision more closely. Arranged, performed, recorded and mixed by White alone in her basement Providence studio, the album is indicative of her invocation and sole creativity. It’s another distillation of White’s singular voice, at once sardonic, guilty, compulsively accommodating, and profoundly optimistic.

You can stream and purchase White’s latest single here and pre-order Home Constellation Study here.

Asher White's announces new album Home Constellation Study, first single "Downstate Prairie" out today

Home Constellation Study LP Out June 28th On Ba Da Bing & Feeding Tube, First Single “Downstate Prairie” Out Now.

On Asher White’s newest album, she invites you to step into her creation of a volatile, summertime musical odyssey.

Since her first record was made at fourteen years old (now 23), Asher has honed her songwriting, creating seas of melodies from her warehouse studio full of junkyard instruments. Home Constellation Study is a vibrant explosion of creativity, detonating the fussy chamber pop of last year’s predecessor, New Excellent Woman. These new compositions embrace transcendent horn sections, pulsating basslines, and intricate orchestral loops. White sings tales of bad dreams, the excitement of mobility, and the comfort of settling down, all while savoring the sweetness of sour straws and the optimism of newfound love. Her music is simultaneously witty and deeply hopeful, blending wit and honesty with inventive sincerity. 

“Downstate Prairie”, the first single from Asher White's upcoming album, Home Constellation Study, is being co-released in a special collaboration between Ba Da Bing and Feeding Tube. Opening with combustive, Swans-caliber heaviness, the song adds another piece to her elaborate, experimental folk diorama. “Downstate Prairie” questions the social geopolitics of the Midwest, using skittering drums and untamed guitar noise to color Asher’s composition.

Listen to “Downstate Prairie” here

Home Constellation Study is out June 28th.

Or Best Offer announces their debut album releases their single “Jacket”

Or Best Offer announces their debut album, ‘Center’, out January 26th, and releases “Jacket,” the first single.

On ‘Center’, Grace Schmidhauser and Brian Culligan invite us into a world of unstable nostalgia; footsteps, carnival noises, and sludgy guitars coalesce with moments of sublimity.

The experimental rock duo made up of primary songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Schmidhauser, and drummer and synthesist Culligan. They work with a sense of ceaseless wonder and invention, moving between instruments and technique with fluidity and intuition. After years of collaboration in various forms since their initial meeting in 2018, Or Best Offer’s debut album Center arrives as both a document of and extrapolation on their live sound. The album was created and mixed during a period of geographical transition for Schmidhauser, and fittingly, the world of Center has a unique physics and an unstable gravity, as prone to sudden weightlessness as it is brute force. Recorded and produced by the two entirely in Culligan’s Ridgewood bedroom, Center takes a sensitive, loving approach to its materials with both molecular precision and widescreen grandeur. Distorted ribbons of Wurlitzer twirl against clattering cymbals; signals cut in and out like farewell transmissions.

Listen to “Jacket” here

BARBARA MANNING HAS A NEW RECORD & IS PLAYING SHOWS WITH CODEINE

Barbara Manning’s new CD ‘Charm of Yesterday...Convenience of Tomorrow’ is out December 8th. 

In a four minute catchy song, Manning can communicate what others require novels to express. Whether it’s the songs she covers or her original material, Manning’s music is compact and succinct, and is steeped in multitudes of genre periods and styles.

With an upcoming tour joining Codeine, Manning felt the time was right for something new. Thus, ‘Charm of Yesterday...Convenience of Tomorrow’. It compiles a few different periods. ‘Chico Daze’ is a song cycle that absorbed the dark times and experiences she had in Northern California through the 2010s. ‘The Porch Series’ cover songs were Manning’s antidote to pandemic madness, and features the music by Elliott Smith, Edgar Winter, Richard & Linda Thompson, Galaxie 500, Bob Dylan and The Handsome Family.

The first two singles off of her new album are already out and give a taste of her genius; Her rendition of ‘Twilight’ by Elliott Smith, and her original ‘I’m Running’.

Listen to songs from the album and preorder here

Delia Meshlir Releases New Single, Announces Sophomore Album

Delia Meshlir announces sophomore album ‘Bring Back The Light’, out on November 10th.

Grief can open a window to the past. Nostalgia whelms, and childhood memories surface. We come face to face with a longing to feel grounded and alive, and in these moments, we can forget our purpose in the universe. While making ‘Bring Back The Light’, Delia Meshlir struggled with the loss of her grandmother and the severed ties she felt with her family. The phrase “bring back the light” served as a mantra, manifesting with return to authenticity and a celebration of healing.

Her first single off the new album, ‘Love’, is out today. The video for ‘Love’, directed by Stephane Ryter, is a moody backlit affair, where Meshlir slowly emerges from the dark to dance and sing. And that is precisely the feeling this song evokes. The song has a melancholy tone, while also making you want to lace up your dancing shoes to get up and boogie just like Meshlir does in the video. 

Watch the video here.

Big Blood August Show Dates

First Aid Kit. Released June 2023.

The psychedelic-folk-rock family trio band, Big Blood, are hitting the stages in August. Each night has an eclectic roster and eccentric location, bound to stir delight. Check out the dates below and stop by to see some songs from their recent album release, First Aid Kid, in action.

8/5 Dream Away lodge - Becket, MA

Big Blood, Mal Devisa, and Wednesday Knudsen 

Show Starts at 7:30 PM

8/6 LOST BAG - Providence, ri

Black Pus, Big Blood, Baby Baby Explores, Membrana Monstera

Tickets $15-$20, Doors 7:30 pm

8/11 WFMU Monty Hall - Jersey City, NJ

Big Blood, Snake Union, Motte

Doors Open 8 pm

8/12 Farm Music Festival - Spring Hills farm Dalton, PA

Aviva Jaye, Hot Tears, Big Blood, Kimya Dawson

Show at 7 pm