RXRXBBIT is a mysterious and emerging singer/songwriter, producer and pop artist, who has been rather prolific over the past 18 month or so, releasing a handful of attention grabbing singles.
The emerging artist’s latest single “Sunk Cost” is a swaggering and sultry, dance floor bop anchored around a thumping, hyper pop-meets-alt pop production while featuring an unabashedly unhinged, unafraid and brutally honest narrator, who overshares yet makes it flirty and feminist.
JOVM mainstay Craig Ferguson is an electronic music producer and artist best known in dance music circles as TONNUP. Over the course of the past calendar year, Ferguson has released a handful of club bangers including “I’m So Into You,” “Spymaster” and “Dream of You.“
Ferguson’s latest single “Friction” is a flirty club banger anchored around a throbbing bass line, skittering beats, glistening synths and a sultry vocal sample singing lyrics full of mischievous and naughty double entendres. Expressing the unadulterated lust, curiosity and anticipation of that moment when you make a one-on-one connection with someone on the dance floor that seems to deepen, “Friction” sonically is one-part Chicago house, one-part Giorgio Moroder disco, one-part Kylie Minogue — or in other words, all sweaty, grinding, primal desire.
ARTO is a mysterious, emerging and rather prolific French electronic music producer. His latest single “Drive Me Hazy” is a lush, hook-driven and dreamy synthesis of deep house, Afrobeats and melodic house that’s club and lounge friendly — and most importantly, crowd pleasing.
Rising British indie rock outfit thistle. — Cameron Godfrey (vocals, guitar), Carey Judwynn Rushton (bass, backing vocals) and Lewis O’Grady (drums) released there debut EP, it’s nice to see you, stranger earlier back in July. The EP, which explores themes of isolation, the trials and tribulations of adulthood and ennui was released to praise on both sides of the Atlantic, including Stereogum, Dork Magazine, Clash Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Rolling Stone UK and So Young — and received airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and Radio X personalties Steve Lamacq, Deb Grant and Nathan Shepherd.
The band has played stages across the UK and Europe alongside Westside Cowboy, Upchuck, Witch Post, Cryogeyser and Man/Woman/Chainsaw and are currently opening for Humour on their UK headlining tour. The British trio will be announcing 2026 tour dates and festival appearances shortly. But in the meantime, building upon a growing profile, thistle. recently signed to REX RECS, who released their latest single, “tied,” which sees them collaborating with REX RECS founder, producer, songwriter and musician Macks Faulkron.
Clocking in at a little over 90 seconds, “tied” is able to blistering and breakneck grungy ripper that simultaneously channels 120 Minutes MTV-era grunge/alt-rock and emo, as well as contemporaries like Glimmer and others. The song evokes the uneasy push-and-pull of balancing the grind of 9-5 life, and creative ambitions — especially when they seem wildly incompatible.
“’tied’ is a tribute to the emotional hardcore bands that we grew up on. The lyrics explore the relentless grind of 9-5 work,” the band explains. “It flips between optimism and a feeling of defeat… something we’re always looking for in our music.”
Augu is a mysterious and emerging Lithuanian electronic music producer, who caught my attention with singles like “Foreigner,” “Line“ and “Silence.”
The Lithuanian artist’s latest single, the aptly named “Industrial,” is an industrial electronic banger that subtly channels Ministry and Blanck Mass, complete with the prerequisite thump, and clang and clatter — but with a melodic sensibility.
DJ Rukhlove is a mysterious and emerging Spanish electronic music artist and producer, who has been busily and prolifically releasing material over the course of the past year or so.
Earlier this year, the Spanish producer released the LutchamaK and Kraftwerk-like “Zara To Astra.” His latest single “Echoes of the Cosmic Tuaregs,” is a slickly produced, mind-bending mesh of progressive house featuring glistening and arpeggiated synths and driving groove with live instrumentation, including guitar, violin and duduk. The result is something that’s accessible and club friendly yet evokes something timeless, like a desert caravan traveling under the stars — to a rave.
Atlanta-based dream pop/post-punk duo Silk Daisys — James Abercrombie and romantic partner Karla Jean Davis — have been making music together for some time, but their Silk Daisys and Damon Moon co-produced debut will be their first, official release. Interestingly, the Silk Daisys name has been around even further, with Abercrombie using the name on Soundcloud for about a decade to upload random covers and the occasional original song.
“We recorded our album over two weeks with Damon Moon (Bathe Alone, Sleepers Club) at this studio Standard Electric Recorders in Atlanta. Damon was awesome to work with,” the duo says. “We spent a ton of time just talking about music the three of us love and sharing songs back and forth. We’d name some obscure part of a song as a reference and he’d get it immediately, and dial in the tones perfectly. Damon also played drums and percussion on the album. The three of us produced it together, and it was all really collaborative and fun.”`
The Atlanta-based duo’s full-length debut is slated for a December 5, 2025 release and will feature the previously released Halloween-themed “Haunted House,” a track that seemingly channels Pygmalion and Souvlaki-era Slowdive, and the album’s final pre-release single “honeymilk.”
One-part early 90s shoegaze fuzz, one-part 60s bubble gum pop, complete with boy-girl harmonies, “honeymilk” is simultaneously a contented sigh, full of the recognition of your dearest, beloved one is right by your side, and the fluttering swoon of being madly, obsessively in love.
“This one is about pure infatuation. That feeling when you’re awake but the love of your life is asleep beside you, and you’re in disbelief that you get to be next to this beautiful person,” the Atlanta-based duo explain. “Musically, this one has so many influences, and influences that were influenced by other influences, that it’s almost cannibalistic to talk about it, but I’ll try. I tried to think of this one as if we were a band in the ‘90s covering a ‘60s song. Equal parts shimmer and fuzz. I wanted it to have a doo-wop vibe, almost like ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ by the Flamingos, but also the album version of ‘Crimson and Clover’ by Tommy James and The Shondells is one my favorite tunes of all time, so I wanted to give it this super fuzzed out solo. Damon put a lot of Space Echo on it, which helped give it even more ‘60s vibe.”
Les Arca is a Saudi-born producer, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, who creates music with a global, cinematic lens. He describes his sound as blending alternative pop with atmospheric textures, while drawing inspiration from nostalgia, longing and internal conflict to shape someting that’s emotional, deeply visual and feels universal.
The Saudi-based artist’s debut single “Passenger” is a widescreen, nostalgia-inducing track featuring glistening and dreamy synths, swirling shoegazer-like textures serving as lush bed for Les Arca’s yearning, achingly sensitive delivery while showcasing his ability to craft enormous, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses. “Passenger” evokes a sense of motion, the sort of restless, heartbroken and drifting energy of driving or riding through a city at night with your own thoughts, and no obvious destination.
Singer/songwriter and musician Peter Wallner has been a fixture of the Bay Area and West Coast music scenes for the past couple of decades: He has spent stints in a number of local and nationally recognized acts, including industrial shoegaze duo Astronomers Anonymous, and anthemic synth punk trio Whisper. While playing in Some Ember, he pioneered a drop-tuned “Lodge Goth” guitar style inspired by Angelo Badalamenti. And under his stage name Peter Lightning, he played in post punk outfit and JOVM mainstay act Wax Idols.
Wallner later joined Heaven’s Club as a keyboardist, which eventually led to him playing guitar with Deafhaven during their extensive 2022 European, UK and Scandinavian tour. Across more than a dozen projects, Wallner has refined a sound that blends atmosphere with urgency and melancholy with melody.
His latest project, Bliss Abyss can trace its origins back to the pandemic. Initially started as a synth pop experiment, the project evolved into its current iteration featuring Wallner (vocals, guitar), Kevin None (bass) and Josh Unger (drums). The project crystallized when Wallner met producer and bassist Joe Finocchio while performing in hardcore punk supergroup Culture Spy. After hearing demos, Finocchio quickly committed to producing an album.
Bliss Abyss’ sound sees the band meshing shoegaeze haze with post punk urgency. The result is sometimes dark and angular, sometimes bright and jangly and always driven by Wallner’s melodic instincts. The project’s forthcoming Joe Finocchio-produced debut album is collection of songs with a unique sonic identity that’s tied together by Wallner’s songwriting voice with each song designed to simultaneously stand on its own, while being park of a larger whole. Wallner’s lyrics are dreamlike confessions where heartbreak and desire unravel in a way that’s intimate yet surreal.
The trio’s debut single “star” is an upbeat, 120 Minutes-era MTV-like anthem that showcases their part jangle pop, part shoegaze sound and their ability to craft a big, catchy hook and chorus. And at its core, the song is rooted in a much-needed bit of hope in our very dark, chaotic moment that reminds the listener that sometimes you just need to manifest your dreams — and then get out there and grab it.
“The song started as a kind of spell, a vision of manifesting a life worth living. It’s meant to spark hope in anyone who’s lost,” the band’s Peter Wallner says. “Picture the life you want, the person you actually are, and don’t let anyone’s bullshit block your light. You’re a star, perfect as you are, made from stardust, burning through the same abyss as everyone else.
The New Mastersounds — currently, Eddie Roberts (guitar, production), Simon Allen (drums), Pete Stand (bass) and Joe Tatton (keys) — can trace their origins back to the late 1990s: Roberts was promoting a club night in his native Leeds called The Cooker. When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was both the space and opportunity to put a live band together to compliment the night’s DJ sets.
Coincidentally, Roberts and Allen had previously played together in the similarly named The Mastersounds, an act with a completely different bassist and without a keyboardist. Because of the intimate nature of the local scene, Roberts and Allen met and recruited Pete Hand and Bob Birch (Hammond) to join what would become The New Mastersounds.
Since the release of two limited edition, boogaloo-leaning 7-inch single back in 2000, the quartet has released 24, 7 inch singles, 13 studio albums, four live albums, a remix album and three compilations released in the UK, Japan and the US. And the band has managed to do that while going through a major lineup change with Leeds scene veteran Joe Tatton replacing Bob Birch on keys and organ.
Over their 25 year run together, the band and its individual members have collaborated with an eclectic and diverse array of musicians, DJs and producers, including Lou Donaldson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Quantic, Carleen Anderson, Keb Darge, Kenny Dope, Mr. Scruff, LSK, Lack of Afro, Page McConnell, Grace Potter,Karl Denson, Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Fred Wesley, Pee-Wee Ellis, Maceo Parker, Bernard Purdie, George Porter, Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, Art Neville and Ernest Ranglin.
The New Mastersounds are at the tail-end of their final live Stateside dates, which will culminate with the full live album release of Live At Cervantes, Vol 2., which will be available on 12″ vinyl LP, exclusively through the Color Red Vinyl Club. The band share another track from last year’s live sets at Denver‘s Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom, “Dusty Groove.” First heard on the band’s Ten Years On, the live version is a strutting bit of organ-driven soul jazz that seemingly channels Booker T and the MG‘s paired with swaggering “Funky Drummer”-styled breakbeats. The single captures the unmistakable live chemistry and energy that made a New Mastersounds set, a must-see event.
Phoenix-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstays Glixen — founder Aislinn Ritchie (vocals), along with Esteban Santana (guitar), Keire Johnson (drums) and Sonia Garcia (bass) — was founded back in 2020 by the band’s Aislinn Ritchie, who then enlisted Santana, Johnson, and Garcia to complete the band’s lineup. Emerging from a scene of local DIY artists, the quartet’s unique sound and look set them apart from their counterparts and led to tours across the US with bands like Narrow Head, Cowgirl Clue, MSPaint, Hotline TNT, and They’re Gutting A Body of Water.
Glixen’s debut EP 2023’s She Only Said saw the band adding themselves to a list of contemporary shoegaze outfits actively pushing the genre in a new direction — through a approach that incorporates ethereal pop vocals and shimmering guitars that are meant to guide you toward the feeling of true self-expression.
The Phoenix-based quartet released their highly-anticiapted Sonny DiPerri-produced sophomore EP quiet pleasures earlier this year digitally through AWAL and on vinyl through Wichita Recordings. The EP featured the previously released single “sick silent” and four singles I wrote about on this site:
The JOVM mainstays supported their sophomore EP with stops across the global festival circuit, playing sets at Coachella, Reading and Leeds. They played a headlining Stateside tour with several sold-out shows. They hit the road with Turnover, Panchiko and Scowl — including their first UK and EU tour, supporting Turnover. And they’ll close out the year with a co-headlining tour with Glare across the Southwest and West Coast.
2026 will see the band returning to the global festival circuit with sets at Boston’s Something in The Way and Manchester, UK’s Outbreak. But in the meantime, their latest single, the standalone “Medicine Bow,” sees the band diving further into the harder hitting sound they developed on their sophomore EP: Vulnerably sung, introspective lyrics attempt to swim to the surface of a towering wall of distortion and fuzz-pedaled guitars and thunderous drumming within a classic, grunge-inspired song structure. The result may arguably be the JOVM mainstays must raw, yearning and immediate song to date.
“It’s a sense of urgency bound to the quiet yearning for self-comfort,” Glixen explains. “The song drifts between lucidity and a fever dream, where soft vulnerability meets slow-burning decay. The lead and rhythm guitars melt and unmeld in a hypnotic blur, mirroring the emotional push and pull at the heart of the track. With each refrain, “Medicine Bow” becomes a reflection of that internal ache to hold on while letting go — a sonic unraveling that feels intimate and disoriented.”
RX1F is a Vancouver-based electronic music producer and artist, who has a reputation for openly challenging music norms while staying with an immediate, infectious and accessible pop territory. HIs work is rooted in an approach that frequently balances experimentation and playfulness.
Driven by a desire to push the boundaries of pop music, the Vancouver-based artist frequently tackles unconventional subjects. “I try to find subjects that aren’t normally covered in pop songs and try to make them into pop songs. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes… less well,” the Canadian artist says. “I’m fascinated by old-school pop songwriting and the puzzle of making melodies and chords that play nicely together. It’s a game with only one rule: make it sound good.
“I want to make music that is balanced: there’s darkness, there’s light, there’s energy, there’s emptiness,” he continues. “I get bored very quickly if I sit in the same place and eat the same flavor after a while.”
The Canadian artist’s latest single, the TR/ST-like “Afterimages,” features a dance floor friendly production featuring layers of pulsing synths, propulsive kick drum serving as a woozy yet lush bed for RX1F’s plaintive vocal telling a story of losing someone dear, being forced to accept its inevitability — and then recognizing that ghosts linger.
“This is probably as close as I’ll ever get to writing a love song,” the Vancouver-based artist explains. “It was written many years ago at a point where I could see a relationship was not going to make it, but it didn’t really crystallize until a close friend passed away last year – it’s kind of loss that you can never recover from. You’re always looking backwards.”
SOMBRA is Canadian-born, Tokyo-based producer and songwriter, who blends elements of 90s alt rock, industrial, house, techno and trip hop to create a body of work that effortlessly moves between heavy and atmospheric. Frequently described as “music to turn the lights off to,” the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s live band sets pair his sound with immersive visuals and projection — and feature collaborations with Japanese artists across multiple genres.
His latest single “NINGEN” showcases the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s expansive, forward-thinking and dynamic sound. Sonically bringing Atusko Chiba, Odonis Odonis, and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method to mind, “NINGEN” is both club and arena friendly while featuring some immensely catchy hooks.
Rising Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and JOVM mainstay Thaïs has received attention across the Francophone music world and elsewhere for an atmospheric and delicate pop sound, which perfectly compliments her ethereal delivery.
2022 was a breakthrough year for the JOVM mainstay: She signed with Bravo Musique, who released her highly anticipated full-length debut, Tout est parfait. The following years have been busy for the rising French Canadian artist: She has opened for KYO, M, Arianne Moffatt, Dumas and Suzane while working on her Blaise Borboën and Thaïs co-produced sophomore album Personne, which was released earlier this year.
Described by the JOVM mainstay as “extroverted music for introverts,” Personne‘s material are energetic tracks that are meant to lead towards self-affirmation while allowing listeners to delve deeper into her universe. The album features “Taxi,” a slickly produced, dance floor friendly bop that to my years, sounds as though it were inspired by the likes of Robyn.
The Paris-born, Montréal-based JOVM mainstay recently reworked album single “MTL-Paris.” The album version is simultaneously atmospheric and introspective before slowly morphing into much more dance floor territory, seemingly reflecting a narrator, who’s growing in self-assuredness and confidence. “MTL-Paris V2” is a much more upbeat, dance floor friendly bop from the jump, turning the song from a tale of growing confidence, to one of boldly liberating oneself — with the realization that you’ve only got one life to live.
For the JOVM mainstay, reworking her own work is a creative exercise that allows her to reveal other possible, sometimes even latent facets to her material — all while retaining the “extroverted music for introverts” concept of the album.
Venice-based indie outfit Glazyhaze — Irene (vocal, guitar), Lorenzo (guitar), Francesco (drums, programming) and Vsevolod (bass, backing vocals) — quickly established a sound that draws from shoegaze, dream pop and alternative rock with the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Just Fade Away.
Since the release of Just Fade Away, the band has toured across Europe and the UK, opening for the likes of Trentemøller, Hater, Film School and a lengthy list of others. Building up on a growing profile across Europe and the UK, the band released their Paolo Canaglia-produced sophomore album SONIC earlier this year.
Recorded between Northeast Italy and London, the Italian band’s sophomore album thematically explores the complexities of love through a journey of self-discovery and emotional contrasts. Sonically, the album sees the quartet embracing shoegaze, bedroom pop, post-punk and art rock influences. The band supported the album opening for Soft Cult on their European tour as well as a handful of dates with The Raveonettes, Slow Crush, Lucy Kruger and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And adding to a growing profile, the band has received airplay on KEXP, Rai Radio 2, FM4 and BBC Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq.
Clocking in at a 2:31, SONIC’s latest single, “ROMEO” is a breakneck gallop of a tune anchored around swirling, reverb and distortion-drenched guitar textures, a propulsive rhythm section that seemingly channels 120 Minutes-era MTV-era alt rock. Much like the period that the song and the band channels, “ROMEO” is underpinned by subtle yet noticeable tension between anger, sweetness and nostalgia.
The new single captures the powerlessness that often comes with loving someone who can’t love themselves — and are unwilling and/or incapable of change. As the band explains, “ROMEO” is a song for those who hide behind stubborn pride, who would be more willing to destroy everything rather than show vulnerability; for those who seemingly live with the appearance of control but burn inside and won’t readily admit it. They add that the song is most importantly, a farewell to the illusion — or delusion — that you can save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.
