Category: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jack Manley Returns with Grunge Rock-Influenced “Grow Up”

Jack Manley is a grizzled veteran music, whose career has proven to be the embodiment of resilience and rebirth: He has played in a number of projects, including Cosmonaut, The Jennifer Shop, and Spires. While touring in those projects, Manley struggled with depression and addiction. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the world came to a grinding halt, Manley spiraled downward. Two near-fatal overdoses served as a wake-up call that propelled him back to music. In the confines of a Poughkeepsie hospital room, armed with a broken guitar and sheer determination, Manley began to craft melodies from the threads of his experiences. 

Fueled by a hard-won, newfound clarity, Manley reunited with his childhood friend, classically trained guitarist Billy Pierson. Andy Idol (bass), Josh Eppard (drums) and Noah Sonenstein (drums) were recruited to be the grizzled indie artist’s backing band and collaborated. Since then, Manley and his backing band play regularly for audiences in and around Woodstock, NY.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Save Your Own,” a remarkably catchy song that nodded at The Beatles, Elvis Costello and the like while revealing a slick combination of earnestness and lived-in experience. Building upon the momentum of “Save Your Own,” Manley returns with “Grow Up,” a 90s grunge-like anthem that recalls Pablo Honey-era Radiohead featuring distortion pedaled power chords, enormous raise-your-beer-in-the-air-and-shout-along worthy hooks and choruses paired with Manley’s plaintive delivery.

Anchored around a classic grunge song structure of alternating quiet verses and loud choruses, the song is arguably one of the most personal song Manley has ever written: The song sees the Kingston, NY-based artist reflecting on his life’s journey through young adulthood, addiction and loss. Thematically, the song explores Manley’s need to desperately take control of his life, a message directed at himself as he continues to navigate adulthood and sobriety. Initially dismissed as a rambling note to himself, the song’s words resurfaced after Manley’s father died from COVID in 2022. And in some way, the song unexpectedly echoes his feelings of grief and loss.

Ultimately, the song captures the complexity of adult life, of maneuvering through a life of sobriety and the grief of loss with lived-in bitterness, heartache and resolve.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Manchester UK’s TTSSFFU Shares Woozy “Studio 54”

Tasmin Nicole Stephens is a Manchester, UK-based producer, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the emerging and rising DIY shoegaze solo recording project TTSSFU (pronounced phonetically as T-T-S-S-F-U). With TTSSFU’s debut EP, Me, Jed and Andy, which was released earlier this year, Stephens quickly established an enormous and atmospheric sound that according to some deftly combines the dreamy and eerie qualities of The Cure with the breakneck BPMs of bands like The Strokes and The Drums.

Me, Jed and Andy EP features “I Hope You Die,” a track that is nearing one-million plays on YouTube. Stephens has begun to make the rounds of the British festival circuit, playing sets at Green Man, Bristol Sounds and Manchester Psych Fest, as well as opening slots for acclaimed JOVM mainstay Soccer Mommy and Mannequin Pussy during those two acts’ UK tours. Adding to a growing profile, Stephens recently signed to Partisan Records, the label home of PJ Harvey, IDLES, Cigarettes After Sex, Blondshell and more. The label will be releasing the rising British artist’s forthcoming new material next year, a scheduled EP and a full-length studio debut.

“Partisan is a label that holds a lot of the bands I’ve looked up to for years, and for them to see enough potential in me to be signed was just mind blowing,” the rising Manchester artist says of her recent signing to Partisan. “I’m so grateful to be taken on by such a kind group of people who care about my music and future and are totally on board and patient with me. Biggest thank you goes to Matthew at Partisan who found me in the first place. Without him none of this would have happened x.”

And to close out a massive year, the Manchester-based artist will be opening for English Teacher during their upcoming November UK tour. But in the meantime, Stephens’ latest single off the Me, Jed and Andy EP “Studio 54” is a brooding and uneasy bit of sheogaze featuring an angular bass line, layers of eerie, reverb-drenched vocals and gently buzzing guitars that serve as a woozy bed for for the British artist’s ethereal, achingly tender lead vocal. “Studio 54” reminds me a bit of the big, reverb-soaked sound of My Gold Mask but with an eerie, dreamy quality. It’s slick synthesis of goth and shoegaze that sounds almost as though it could have been released during 120 Minutes MTV-era alt rock days — but subtle, modern sheen.

“‘Studio 54’ is about how Andy Warhol got swept up with the New York party scene and how it eventually pushed his partner Jed Johnson away,” Stephens explains. “Andy let Jed down many times, the drugs made him uncomfortable, and Andy seemed to care more about partying and hanging out with his famous friends. Jed eventually had enough and left him for someone else which ultimately broke him. The story resonated with me because sometimes I don’t recognise what I’ve got when I’ve got it and take things for granted.”

Directed by Seth Lloyd, the accompanying video follows Stephens as she prepares for and heads to a drug and booze-filled party that also features couples hooking up, fighting and breaking up in a seemingly infinite pattern.
“The video was super exciting to make with my good friend Seth,” the Manchester-based artist says. “It was amazing to create the vision that’s been sitting in my head for a while now and bring it to life with such a talented team. We also had some amazing extras who were so fun and helpful all night.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seafoam Walls Shares Dreamily Unsettling “Rapids”

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Miami-based indie quartet Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — quickly caught the attention of underground music and art communities across South Florida with a unique sound that they dubbed “Caribbean Jazzgaze,” a mesh of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. 

The Miami-based outfit exploded into the larger, international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC-based hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the band released 2018’s R-E-F-L-E-C-T EP and 2019’s one-off “Root.”

2021’s full-length debut, XVI, which featured the A Storm in Heaven-meets-TV on the Radio-like “Program” was released through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series. 

The Miami-based outfit’s sophomore album Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room is slated for a Friday release through Dion Dia. The album’s title is partially derived for a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexes that people face in their lives. But it also is a warning about getting caught up in the details — at the risk of missing the bigger picture. “Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “BUT, I say that one is standing too close, because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing their skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room reportedly represents a new chapter for the band: The album’s material not only showcases the band’s evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as bounding-pushing artists, inviting the listener to a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Continuing their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band’s members took production duties, shaping an album that will reward those who will revel in its sweeping soundscapes, as thematically the material delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of its contradictions. 

Last month, I wrote about album single “Humanitarian Pt. II,” a song anchored around glistening guitar melodies, a relentless motorik groove and bursts of whirring synths. The arrangement serves as a lush and dreamy bed for Bertrand’s meditative vocal to sing philosophical lyrics that examines the motivation that makes us choose our paths — and how we go about those paths. Some people are drawn to the attention or superficial perks of an occupation, without understanding what it really entails. Through the song, the listener must face the very shitty reality that only certain efforts, from certain people get rewarded. Certainly, whether as a musician, a writer or a photographer, these observations are familiar, especially when you see others seemingly being much more successful at what you do, than you are. 

“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music,” the band’s Bertrand explains. “Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment. 
 
“I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
 
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room‘s last pre-release single “Rapids” is built around a chugging, aqueous-like groove that pushes murkily sung yet hypnotic mantra-like vocals. The song manages to sound simultaneously comforting and deeply unsettling — and in a way that’s a bit difficult to pin down. “‘Rapids’ is short for white water rapids. A fast-moving body of water that cares or waits for no living being. I see time in a similar way,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “Society will progress without you if you get stuck in your ways. It helps to be as fluid as the times allow.”

The accompanying video continues upon a developed glitchy and noisy VHS-driven aesthetic while focusing on bodies of water and slices of Miami life.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: slo/tide Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Rather Be Blind”

Perhaps best known for being the frontman of the Grammy-nominated outfit Underoath, Spencer Chamberlain is the creative mastermind behind the Underoath side project slo/tide. Chamberlain collaborated with alt rock darlings Sir Sly on the project’s debut “Neck High.”

Chamberlain’s latest slo/tide single “Rather Be Blind” is crowd-pleasing synthesis of indie rock, shoegaze, indie pop and emo anchored around big power chords, twinkling synths even bigger hooks paired with Chamberlin’s plaintive falsetto. Sonically, seemingly to draw from Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here-era Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, Radiohead and others, “Rather Be Blind,” as Chamberlain explains “was a cry for help. We often struggle mentally, appearing to be at our “best” while feeling far from it. I wrote this in the throes of the hell I was in. It’s a bit different than my other band Underoath.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ Reindeer Flotilla Shares Wistful and Brooding “Today”

Los Angeles-based duo Reindeer Flotilla — Neal Harris (vocals, keys) and Josh Brown (guitar) — started jamming together in the basement of an Atwater Village wine store, playing covers of John Carpenter, Brian Eno and Elliot Smith. Those early days playing covers helped the ban develop their own sound anchored around synths and guitar, which they’ve managed to further refine through the release of a batch of singles and two studio albums.

The duo’s latest single “Today” is a swaying and shoegazey bit of New Wave or a New Wavey bit of shoegaze featuring glistening synths, reverb-soaked guitar textures paired with Harris’ wistful croon. The result is a song that seems indebted to Yes‘ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and Avalon-era Roxy Music.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Spiral XP Shares “120 Minutes” MTV Alt Rock-like “Window Room”

Back in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world ground down to a halt, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Max Keyes abandoned a short-lived move to Philadelphia and returned home to Seattle. The false start helped to spark a sort of existential crisis, and he quickly moved back north to Bellingham, WA, where he’d grown up, hoping the sense of home might provide some much-needed grounding. Perhaps best known for drumming with the acclaimed noise rock outfit Versing, Keyes began hammering out his own songs during this quieter and slower time, approaching the guitar for the first time with serious intention. “It was good to have a couple of years just writing and becoming more confident,” he reflects.

Keyes’ latest project Spiral XP initially started out as a lo-fi solo project with his debut EP, 2021’s Drop Me. He followed that up with last year’s It’s Been A While and this year’s TVXP EP, a collaboration with Seattle-based band TV Star. After those EPs, Keyes recruited scene vets Lena Farr-Morrisey (bass, vocals), Jordan Mang (guitar), Kyle McCollum (guitar) and Daniel Byington (drums) to augment the material, which would become the now, full-fledged band’s, JooJoo Ashworth-produced full-length debut, I Wish I Was A Rat, as they saw fit. “They ended up taking on a life of their own,” he explains, “that’s a little scary but also thrilling to me.”

Recorded entirely in analog at The Unknown, the legendary Anacortes, WA-based studio Phil Elverum helped construct in an abandoned church, the 12-song I Wish I Was A Rat reportedly documents the band at their purest, embracing happy accidents and gritty recording artifacts. “It goes back to that search for authenticity,” says Keyes, “It has a lot of limitations and it makes recording harder, but those limitations make the process so much more meaningful and deep.” While the material shows a reverence for the likes of Yo La Tengo, the material is indebted to a number of influential Pacific Northwest bands like Broken Water, Unwound and Beat Happening. The album’s material sees the band crafting a singular distillation of grunge, indie and slacker rock. Thematically the material explores meaning, truth and value under capitalism while navigating late-twenties existential ennui.

I Wish I Was A Rat’s latest single “Window Room” is a 120 Minutes-era MTV-like anthem anchored around crunchy and fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming paired with enormous hooks and choruses and soaring falsetto vocals. But at its core is a mix of boredom and longing that should feel familiar.

“I was inspired to write the lyrics while sitting in an enclosed porch one day and examining the window reflections,” the band’s Lena Farr-Morrissey says. “Making plans of nothing and carving out time that is intentionally left blank, I found myself wondering what can bloom from recycled thoughts and memories. On the inside looking out, ‘Window Room’ carries a longing for being at peace with the unknown.”

Directed by Lauren Rodriguez, the accompanying video for “Window Room” featured saturated Super 8 footage of a woman daydreaming at the shore and a ferry. Fittingly, the video manages to match the 120 Minutes MTV aesthetic of its accompanying song.

I Wish I Was A Rat is slated for an October 18, 2024 release through Danger Collective Records.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: S.C.A.B. Shares Expansive and Brooding “Caught My Eye”

Led by Sean Carmago (vocals guitar), Queens-based indie outfit S.C.A.B. — currently Carmago, Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their first batch of new material in two years with the October 25, 2024 release of the five-song Rose Colored Glasses EP. 

Carmago’s lyrics see him searching for distortions and distractions from the truth, and the interplay between truth and love. And over the pat give years, the band’s work has slowly developed to reflect a worldview created from an awareness of the interplay between truth, love and illusion — and the great comedy of it all. The new EP thematically focuses on love, the uneasy nature of reality, depression, songwriting and being severely, acutely alive.

Last month, I wrote about “IDK New Reality,” a woozy,  120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track track anchored around jangling and distorted guitars, a driving groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Carmago’s earnest croon. 

The EP’s latest single “Caught My Eye” sees the Queens-based outfit crafting a song that synthesizes elements of shoegaze,  120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock, post punk and post-punk and contemporary pop and trap glitch anchored around Carmago’s earnest croon and the band’s penchant for remarkably catchy hooks.

The band’s Carmago offers some reference points for the new single: “Noticing your own wandering eye. Exploring shame. Asking for a lot with little in return. Sharing a song with you. Non-monogamy. Fear of being seen. Thinking about someone else. FaceTime. Unemployment.”
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s APACALDA Shares Cinematic and Woozy “She’s Not Coming”

Cassandra Angheluta is a Romanian-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project APACALDA. Deriving its name from the Romanian word for “warm water,” Angheluta’s solo project is both a reflection of her movement through her art and life, and a reminder to reconnect with the warmth that can calm and ground her, despite the chaos and unpredictability of outside circumstances.

Much like countless other artists, the Romanian-Canadian artist has found that through creating music, she can process and alchemize emotional traumas from throughout the course of her life, while giving her a sense of peace. Her work typically touches upon themes of devastation and transcendence.

With 2022’s self-titled, debut EP, which featured collaborations with Robert Robert; FHANG‘s Luca Fogale‘s and Half Moon Run‘s Sam Woywitka; FHANG’s, Patrick Watson‘s and TEKE :: TEKE’s Mishka Stein; Half Moon Run’s Isaac Symonds and the Esca Quartet, Angheluta quickly established a fresh take on indie rock, electro pop and New Wave/post-punk, crating a sound that has been described as melancholic, dreamy, enigmatic and hauntingly beautiful.

The Romanian-Canadian artist’s Miskha Stein and Sam Woywitka co-produced full-length debut, There’s a Shadow In My Room and It Isn’t Mine is slated for release next year. Thematically, the album delves into mental illness, obsession, jealousy and deceit.

The album’s first single “She’s Not There” features distorted and churning guitar tones, skittering and propulsive beats, atmospheric synths serving as a woozy and uneasy bed for Anghuleta’s achingly plaintive yet defiant delivery, evoking the turmoil and restlessness of its narrator. According to the Montréal-based artist, “She’s Not Coming” tells the story of a woman, who chooses to end her life, despite her outward devotion to God. While capturing the hidden struggles behind its narrator’s stoic exterior, the track sheds light on the pervasive nature of suicide. “I write these songs as an extension of healing—I want to be a medium. I often feel others’ pain and I want to express it in honour of them,” Angheluta says.

Directed by Mallis, a Montréal-based filmmaker, art director and production designer, known for visually rich storytelling, the accompanying video for “She’s Not Coming” was funded by The MVP Project and shot in Georgia, not too far from Angheluta’s homeland. While anchored in the themes of its accompanying song, the video follows the final journey of Louisa, an elderly woman, who ends her life, and is based on the true story of a friend, whose mother’s death was suspected to be a suicide. The friend’s mother was a deeply religious woman, who ultimately chose to leave the church. This lead to her exclusion from her religious community.

The friend’s mom was known to walk along the shores of a beach near her home. One morning, local news outlets reported that a woman’s body washed ashore. The friend knew it was his mother, realizing that he’d never speak or see her again. “Through her story, we really wanted to emphasize the impact of community on someone’s mental and emotional well-being,” the director and artist explain.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Warhaus Shares Sultry “No Surprise”

Maarten Devoldere is a Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is known for being co-lead vocalist and one-half of the core songwriting duo behind the critically applauded Belgian indie rock outfit Balthazar. Devoldere is also known for being the creative mastermind behind the equally applauded solo recording project Warhaus. 

The Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s third Warhaus album 2022’s Ha Ha Heartbreak was inspired by a recently broken heart, and was written during a three-week stay in Palermo. The sorrow he felt was too difficult to handle, so he went to Sicily to escape. But as it turns out, those who try to outrun life and heartache almost always discover that they can never run from themselves.

Ha Ha Heartbreak saw Devoldere attempting to wrap his sorrow into hooks, instantly singalong choruses and irresistible melodies. Sonically, the album’s material is light yet lush, featuring strings, sensual vocals, horns and bursts of playful piano. The result is an album that’s a deep and moving emotional exploration while being musically rich.

Devoldere’s fourth Warhaus album, the Jasper Maekelberg-produced Karaoke Moon is slated for a November 22, 2024 release through Play It Again Sam. Maekelberg and Devoldere spent nine months collaborating in a Bruges-based attic studio, combing through over 50 songs the acclaimed Belgian artist had written since Ha Ha Heartbreak‘s release.

The new album thematically toys with modern views on masculinity. With a quirky sense of humor and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Devoldere effortlessly bypasses an uncomfortable conversation, mocking himself and his kid with double-edged wit. Throughout the album, it frequently seems Devoldere is battling with his own mind, diving into the deep waters of his subconscious.

“No Surprise,” Karaoke Moon‘s second and latest single in its original demo version was a pumping disco-tinged track. But the final album version is a sultry and Sade-era Quiet Storm and Avalon-era Roxy Music-like late night shuffle of a track anchored by Devoldere’s expressive crooning, shimmering guitar and organ-driven choruses featuring Sylvie Kreusch. “No Surprise” will further cement the Belgian artist’s reputation for deliberately crafted material that’s sophisticated yet simultaneously earnest and very funny.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Child Actress Shares Woozy and Achingly Bittersweet “Just Fine Never Better”

Canadian singer/songwriter and musician Rena Kozak is the creative mastermind the solo recording project Child Actress. Initially starting her career in Calgary, Kozak relocated to Montréal in 2017, where she firmly solidified herself as a must-see performer and songwriter, as well as a highly sought-after producer and mixing engineer.

On the heels of last year’s Ancestor Worship, the Montréal-based artist’s just released EP, Just Fine Never Better is the last of a batch of songs she wrote after the 2012 death of her boyfriend, Women‘s and The Dodos‘ Chris Reimer. The EP’s first two songs were written very early on, as she was grieving Reimer’s death. But the last two were written in the last couple of years. For the Canadian artist, it was important for her to finish and release these remaining songs, so she can cleanse of herself of that phrase, and see what might happen next creatively. The EP’s last two songs were included on the EP to symbolize forward motion and growth.

Just Fine Never Better‘s latest track, EP title track “Just Fine Never Better” is an atmospheric Disintegration-era The Cure and Heaven or Las Vegas-era Cocteau Twins-like tune featuring Kozak’s achingly tender vocal ethereally floating over glistening synths and reverb-soaked shoegazer guitar textures. Much like the material its seemingly draws inspiration from and the deeply personal experience that informs it, “Just Fine Never Better” expresses the familiar bitter heartache that accompanies the “what-ifs” and the “if-I-had-only-knowns” of our lives — with the recognition that there are countless times we long for people, things and places we can’t ever get back.

Originally written by Reimer, “Just Fine Never Better” was a song that the couple really liked. And after Reimer’s death, his parents gave Kozak permission to use it with Child Actress.

“I struggled to understand what Chris was saying in the lyrics on the cell phone recording of us jamming together — beyond the phase ‘we could have a regular time tonight,’ I couldn’t make out much else,” the Montréal-based artist says. “I had never asked him what he was singing, I was always delicate with Chris and his creative output. He was shy about his songwriting and was just starting to develop lyrics and I didn’t want to push or influence him by prying. I figured he would make the words clear when he was sure of himself.

“I took the one phrase I could hear to be an implication of his desire to slow down on drinking and partying – a concept we had been talking about a lot. His lifestyle on tour was full of alcohol, and we were having a lot of conversations about how when we moved in together, we would slow down on the drinking; we would have more ‘regular nights,'” she recalls. “I built a little on the idea that he was musing on this with the song – what would it be like to fall asleep sober and wake up feeling fine… and then, for me, I inserted my own self into the theme of what would it be like to wake up with him still alive that day instead of waking up to find he had passed while I slept. In the end, that’s what I made the song about – what if we just went to bed that night and woke up to another day instead?”

The video by Forbidden Candy Productions manages to capture the 80s vibe of its accompanying video with an uncanny, period specific precision.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: French Sibling Duo Legacy Share Anthemic “So Close To Me”

Legacy — Margaux and Alex — is a French sibling duo, who have developed a sound that they’ve dubbed “hyper rock,” which features elements of rock, metal, pop and electronic music, created through a mix of analog and electronic instrumentation. Thematically, the pairs work touches upon frustration and heartbreak.

The French sibling duo’s latest single, the breakneck-paced, anthemic “So Close To Me” is anchored around a propulsive backbeat, a strummed and looping guitar line and dueling boy-girl vocals paired with rousingly anthemic hooks. Sonically recalling Chicago‘s My Gold Mask and The Kills but with nods to post-punk and darkwave, “Close To Me” is a song that reveals a band with a bold and fresh take on a familiar sound.

Thematically, the new single, as the band explains is about the difficulty in finding your soulmate. “It’s a a subject we’ve been hearing a lot, and we felt it was important to talk about,” the French duo says in press notes. “In the end, what does it really matter if we don’t share our happiness? For the music, we took inspiration from Placebo for the guitar sound and tried to fuse alternative rock and EBM.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: S.C.A.B. Shares a Rousingly Anthemic Rocker

Led by Sean Carmago (vocals guitar), Queens-based indie outfit S.C.A.B. — currently Carmago, Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their first batch of new material in two years with the October 25, 2024 release of the five-song Rose Colored Glasses EP.

Carmago’s lyrics see him searching for distortions and distractions from the truth, and the interplay between truth and love. And over the pat give years, the band’s work has slowly developed to reflect a worldview created from an awareness of the interplay between truth, love and illusion — and the great comedy of it all. The new EP thematically focuses on love, the uneasy nature of reality, depression, songwriting and being severely, acutely alive.

Rose Colored Glasses EP‘s latest single “IDK New Reality” is a woozy, 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track track anchored around jangling and distorted guitars, a driving groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Carmago’s earnest croon.

Frontman Sean Camargo offers some points of reference for the track “Losing grip on reality. Clinging to identity. A large crucifix in Bolivia guarded by the police. Sexuality. Don’t forget about me. Dancing in the rain. Accepting the present moment as it is.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Schande Shares Driving and Noisy “Gregor MacGregor”

California-born, London -based singer/songwriter and guitarist Jen Chochinov has been crafting catchy, propulsive rock in DIY circles since the 1990s as a solo artist and in a variety of bands. Solo and full adventures throughout her career have included […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: NYC’s Diary Shares Hooky “Acid Coffin”

Rising Brooklyn-based indie outfit Diary — Kevin Bendis (vocals, keys), Chris Croarkin (guitar, vocals), High Waisted‘s Jessica Louise Dye (guitar, vocals), Two Man Giant Squid‘s Yan Kogan (bass) and Adam Sachs (drums) — can trace their origins to a shared love of jangle-pop, shoegaze, dream pop and psychedelia.

The Brooklyn-based band is keeping the momentum going after touring to support their well-received Kanine Records debut, The Cutting Garden EP with their recently released follow-up Speedboat EP.

“Loosely inspired by Renata Adler’s novel of the same name, Speedboat is an EP about living in New York City and the neuroses that come with it,” the members of Diary explain. “We’ve always been an NYC band but never fully explored what that meant to us. Living here and playing music here there’s a ceaseless oscillation between anxiety and anticipation. Even as you sleep and dream about the buildings and the hum of the street.

“Musically, we turned to Sister-era Sonic Youth, early Dinosaur Jr, Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Methadrone, Swirlies and Drop Nineteens,” they add. “But at the end of the day, we just love big pop songs that run super loud and fuzzy.”

The recently released EP’s latest single “Acid Coffin” is a hook-driven synthesis of slacker pop, shoegaze and jangle pop that reminds me of 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock — but with a subtly modern production sheen.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Irrepressibles Share Joyous Visual for Slinky “Destination”

Jamie Irrepressible is a North Yorkshire-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer. He’s also the creative mastermind behind The Irrepressibles. Throughout his career, the British singer/songwriter and producer has made sexuality — in particular, his sexuality — the centerpiece of his work.

2010’s full-length debut, Mirror Mirror featured “In This Shirt,” which was later included on the soundtrack for the short film., The Lady Is Dead. 2012’s “Two Men in Love” firmly cemented The Irrepressibles mastermind’s reputation for being fearlessly uncompromising in terms of song structure and thematic concern. In 2014, he sang the song at the first wedding between two men in the UK.

Adding to a growing international profile, “In This Shirt” received remixes from Norwegian electronic outfit Röyksopp, Hercules & Love Affairand Zero 7. The British artist would subsequently contribute lead vocals to five tracks on Röyksopp’s 2014 album Inevitable End — “Something in My Heart,” “I Had This Thing,” “Here She Comes Again,” “Compulsion” and “You Know I Have To Go,” as well as backing vocals on “Monument,” feat. Robyn. He contributed vocals on two tracks of Dutch progressive dance duo’s 2022 album In Another Lifetime, “You Take My Hand” and “I Am Free.” He also contributed vocals on three tracks of Röyksopp’s Profound Mysteries trilogy. 

As a solo artist, digital singles released between 2018-2020, “Submission,” “Dominance” and “Anxiety,” saw Irrepressible exploring a starker, darker and much more electronic direction, influenced by a relocation to Berlin, where he eventually wrote and recorded 2021’s Superheroes, “a concept album telling the story of a love affair that’s both set in Berlin and takes its musical cues from the city,” the British artist explains. 

The British singer/songwriter and producer’s forthcoming The Irrepressible album, Yo Homo! is reportedly the most direct, most sexual album of his catalog to date — and a celebratory, uninhibited and steamy rush of lust, love, honesty and community. “I want to make a record specifically for the queer community, to create a safe space where people feel they are being expressed. To contribute something to that soundtrack of our lives, both in the music and the videos.” 

Yo Homo! album single “Destination” is a slinky and sensual song anchored around a strutting guitar line, the London-based artist’s sultrily yearning cooing paired with a steady backbeat. The song ends with a Scott Walker-like orchestral coda, which adds a sexy and smart stylishness to the proceedings. Thematically, the song is about the longing for love in an era of hook-up culture and fast-paced intimacy. The song tells the story of a man living in isolation, going from one one-night stand to another, but desperately longing for deeper connection.

Directed by Jack Willoughby, the accompanying video follows a lonely and melancholic, latex muscle man. “Romance seems to happen in the most unlikely of places,” Willoughby explains. “So when a melancholic muscle man heads to a tropical aquarium to find his precious pet fish, he ends up impressing his own crush with an optimistic mating dance.”