Category: New Single

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Shaina Haynes Shares Shimmering “Timid”

Shaina Hayes is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, whose work effortlessly blends folk pop clarity with alt-country warm and a deep attention to emotional detail paired with graceful vocals, thoughtful lyricism. Her debut, 2022’s to coax a waltz and 2024’s sophomore album Kindergarten Heart helped the Montréal-based singer/songwriter firmly cement her intimate songwriting.

Alongside her musical career, Hayes continues to operate a vegetable farm in the tiny, rural Quebecois hometown, where she grew up. Fittingly, the land remains a grounding force in her life, shaping her sense of rhythm, patience and presence. Her dual existence as a touring musician and a hands-on farmer, informs the clarity and steadiness that runs through her work.

Kindergarten Heart received coverage from Consequence, KCRW, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, Far Our Magazine, Uncut, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6. The album landed on the year-end lists of Le Devoir, Radio Canada, CISM, DOMINIONATED, Le Canal Auditif and a lengthy list of others. Both albums were supported with tours opening for the likes of The War on Drugs, The Barr Brothers and JOVM mainstay Elisapie.

Earlier this year, she released “Flourish” which received praise from Clash, Wonderland and RTÉ. Hayes’ latest single “Timid” comes on the heels of a short European tour opening for The Barr Brothers. “Timid” is a breezy and shimmering indie pop take on her long-held folk sound, while arguably being one of the more hooky songs she’s released to date.

Recorded in Montreal with a backing band featuring Francis Ledoux (drums), Étienne Dupré (bass), David Marchand (electric guitar), and Lysandre Ménard (upright piano) “Timid” sees Haynes and her collaborators balancing on a tightrope between jam-like looseness and taut, almost mathematical precision, rooted in the warmth and earthiness she’s long been known for. Sonically resembling Julia Jacklin, the new single is an ode to introverts and quiet thinkers; a song that celebrates the richness of the inner while gently encoring vulnerability and self-expression.

“‘Timid’ was a track that came about during a period when I was listening to a lot of Julia Jacklin and Billie Marten. Lyrically, I wanted to explore the idea that even at our most articulate, the way we express ourselves is just a tiny glimpse into what’s actually going on inside us – that we contain whole, unseen universes,” Haynes explains. Ultimately, ‘Timid’ is a song about everything we feel but rarely manage to express.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: ELEVIN Shares a Sleek, Melodic House Banger

ELEVIN is a mysterious, emerging electronic music producer, who specializes in creating musical experiences designed to make audiences feel — while reflecting “the geometry of existence.” 

His latest single “Edge of Sight” continues a remarkable run of slickly produced club and festival friendly, melodic house bangers anchored around dense layers of glistening of relentless motorik pulse, skittering thump and a cinematic heft, But at it’s core is a song specifically created to get people to head to the dance floor.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Christian Sean Shares Woozy “Saint Loreto”

Montréal-based pop artist Christian Sean is a firm believer in the transformative power of pop music. As a kid, he was drawn to indie rock and left-field electroinca, part of a local scene that disavowed commerciality in favor of innovation and creativity. But as he got older, he surrounded to his true calling — making what he believes is the best music of his life, anchored around a unique blend of melodic sensibility and avant-garde experimentation.

Sean’s debut, last year’s Hallelujah Showers was the culmination of years toiling on the local scene as a producer and multi-instrumentalist and was released to praise internationally from the likes of Ones To Watch, The FADER, Earmilk, and others. He capped off a busy 2025 by opening for French alt pop artist Zaho de Sagazan on their Canadian tour and making a run of the Québecois festival circuit with sets at POP Montréal and Santa Teresa Festival.

Building upon a growing profile, the rising Montréal-based pop latest single “Saint Loreto” is a slickly produced, hook-driven bop featuring lived-in songwriter Sean’s achingly tender falsetto and a glitchy, forward-thinking production that’s both club and radio friendly. But under the slickly produced surface is a song anchored around a familiar, woozy internal battle between self-doubt, indecision and longing.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Super Plage Teams Up with Virginie B on Summery “POOL PARTY”

Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed, JOVM mainstay recording project and Super Plage. Founded back in 2019, Super Plage sees Henry crafting slickly produced, dance floor friendly electro pop that draws from house and nu-disco. He frequently collaborates with local French Canadian artists to create a playful, fun-loving and escapist universe, where it feels good to party.

Since 2019, Henry has released four albums, including 2023’s Magie á minuit, which received an ADISQ Félix Award-nomination for Electronic Album of the Year. Building upon a growing profile, Henry has made a run of both the provincial and international festival circuits, playing sets at Francos de Montréal, FME and Festival d’été de Québec, SXSW, Wide Days and others. He has opened for Miel de Montagne, Juilen Granel, Bon Entendeur, MYD and more.

Last year’s GROOSE MAISON featured a sleek and daring blend of house, disco and French touch anchored around catchy, downright funky grooves, much like on album single “Tip Top.”

The French Canadian JOVM mainstay’s latest single “POOL PARTY” continues his longtime collaboration with Virginie B. Sonically drawing from classic house music, “POOL PARTY” is a breezy and summery, dance floor friendly bop that showcases Henry’s unerring knack for sleek production and razor sharp, catchy hooks paired with a sultry, pop starlet performance from Virginie B. It’s a much-needed, early blast of summer.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: James Tonic Shares Cinematic and Yearning “At The Time In New York”

James Tonic is a Montréal-born, New York-based dream pop artist, who over the course of seven albums firmly established a sound built on analog synths, live drums and unflinching lyrics. 2024’s Stuck in LA, an […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: C.M. Samuels Shares an Industrial Techno-Inspired Banger

Best known for handling synths, samples and drum machines as a member of Western post-punk outfit Ritual Howls and for being a member of ambient post-industrial project Mission to the Sun, C.M. Samuels stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with the release of his solo debut EP After Selection, which was released earlier this month.

Samuels has long been deeply rooted in Detroit — its environments and ever-evolving music scene that has shaped the core of his sound. He cut his teeth decades ago in industrial projects and now, he channels that foundation while crafting electronics for Ritual Howls and exploring much more experimental directions with Mission to the Sun. Fittingly, the EP which was released earlier this month through Detroit Industrial, the five-song After Selection draws from Samuels’ long-time love of classic EBM, early Wax Trax! Records, Skinny Puppy, and others.

His five-song debut EP is an instrumental EP firmly entrenched in EBM and industrial techno. Anchored around driving rhythms, pulsing synth lines and a sharp sense of momentum, Samuels’ debut effort is specifically designed to energize the dance floor and keep bodies moving.

The EP’s latest single, EP opener “Body Interface” is a club banger anchored around punchy industrial thump and a buoyant bass line that lock into a relentless and forceful motorik-like groove. Sonically, the track seemingly channels early Nine Inch Nails and 90s industrial techno while possessing a remarkably modern sensibility.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: maticulous Teams Up with El Gant and Brother Ali on Politically Charged “Wordle”

maticulous is a Pittsburgh-born, Brooklyn-based producer, who can trace the origins of his music career to being an on-air DJ at Indiana University of Pennsylvania‘s WIUP‘s The Underground while in college. Soon after relocating to Brooklyn back in 2004, he landed an internship at beloved, now-long shuttered, local underground hip-hop record shop Fat Beats. He quickly moved up the ranks: He was a buyer managed by DJ Eclipse and then became an A&R/sales representative for Fat Beats Records and Fat Beats Distribution.

Being fully immersed in hip-hop cemented the Pittsburgh-born, Brooklyn-based producer’s true passion and desire — to create and release his own original music. His debut effort 2011’s The maticulous EP featured the critically applauded “Body The Beat,” featuring Ruste Juxx, R.A. The Rugged Man and Heltah Skeltah‘s Rock. The accompanying video eventually amassed over 130,000 YouTube views.

maticulous’ full-length debut, 2015’s The maticulous LP features guest spots from Masta Ace, M.O.P.’s Lil Fame, Rah Digga, Guilty Simpson, Blu, and Your Old Droog while highlighting his versatility as a producer. Back in 2017, a chance meeting with Justo The MC at SiriusXM led to a long running collaboration that began with 2019’s Mind of a Man, an album that was named one of Bandcamp‘s Top Albums in the month of its release — January 2019. They quickly followed up with that summer’s Bonus Room EP. They capped off a busy year with Mind of a Man landing on several Best Of the Year lists. They continued their collaboration with 2020’s County of Kings.

2021’s no caps featured guest spots from Homeboy Sandman, Skyzoo, Breeze Brewin, Uptown XO, Guilty Simpson, yU and a lengthy list of others. Continuing a now, long-held reputation for being prolific, the Brooklyn-based producer released two more albums, 2022’s Three and 2024’s The Expanse.

maticulous will be teaming up with New York scene veteran emcee El Gant and beloved indie emcee Brother Ali on a collaborative album House of Cards, which is slated for a summer release. House of Cards‘ first single, “Wordle” sees El Gant and Brother Ali trading fiery and impassioned verses tackling socioeconomic inequality with astute observations of our late stage capitalistic hellscape over a boom bap-driven production that seemingly channels BDP‘s DJ Scott La Rock and DJ Premier. Arguably one of the most politically-charged songs of the Pittsburgh-born, Brooklyn-based producer’s growing catalog, it’s a song that captures the frustration and desperation to survive that many of feel right now.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Riga’s Les Attitudes Spectrales Return with Scorching “Absorbed”

Riga-based noise punks Les Attitudes Spectrales — co-founders French-born, Latvian-based Julien Stark (vocals, guitar) and his Latvian-born spouse Rūta Stark (bass, vocals), along with Adrians Grīns (guitar) and Mārtiņš Kuzmins (drums ) — was initially founded in 2014 as a duo featuring its co-founders Julien Stark and Rūta Stark. And as a duo, the band released two lo-fi albums 2014’s Floral Wreck and 2015’s Where’s My Ghost Milk?

Shortly after the release of Where’s My Ghost Milk?, the Riga-based outfit expanded into a quartet with the addition of Grīns and Kuzmins. As a quartet, the band released 2019’s Vampire in the Summer and 2022’s award-winning Songs For No One on vinyl through boutique French label Specific Recordings. 

The quartet signed to Latvian underground tastemaker label I Love You Records, who will be releasing the band’s fifth album, Watch The Sword About To Drop on May 26, 2026. The 10-song album is reportedly one of the most fearless and heaviest albums they’ve written and recorded to date, while capturing a band on the verge of exploding into the global noise and rock scenes. 

Watch The Sword About To Drop will feature the previously released, breakneck  King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Osees-like “A Trip Down Memory Loss” and the album’s second and latest single, “Absorbed.” Arguably one of the more straightforward songs of the forthcoming album, “Absorbed” is a scorching ripper that seemingly channels Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, The Men and others. It’s two-and-a-half minutes of raw, forceful playing and mosh pit friendly vibes.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Remington Super 60 Shares Shimmering, Dance Floor Friendly “Time to breathe”

Remington Super 60 — currently founding member, primary songwriter and producer Christoffer Schou, Elisabeth Thorsen and longtime collaborator Magnus Abelsen — is a Fredrikstad, Norway-based indie pop outfit the can trace its origins back to 1998 when its founder, Christoffer Schou started the project as a Casio synth pop band. Over the course of the Norwegian outfit’s almost 30 year history, the band’s sound has frequently bounced back and forth between Casio synth pop and 60s-inspired bubblegum pop drawing from Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, Stereolab, The High Llamas, Cornelius, Yo La Tengo, Eggstone, New Order, The Cure and Adore-era Smashing Pumpkins, while releasing a handful of albums, EPs and singles through a number of labels across the globe.

The Norwegian outfit’s latest single “Time to breathe” is a decided change in sonic direction. Featuring a disco-influenced bass line and shimmering synth arpeggios, the song’s upbeat, hook-driven, ABBA-meets-Comme dans un penthouse-era Le Couleur-like arrangement serves as a lush bed for Elisabeth Thorsen’s ethereal vocal.

“’Time to Breathe’ is a little more energetic than our usual dream‑pop leanings — built around a groovy bassline and our singer’s soft, airy vocals,” Remington Super 60 founder Christoffer Schou explains, It was recorded in my living‑room studio, surrounded by guitars, basses, and a pile of well‑worn 80s Casio and Yamaha toy keyboards that have quietly shaped our sound over the years.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Index Shares a Bruising and Forceful Ripper

Formed last year, and currently split between Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Index — Alan Creedon (he/him) and Alex Lichtenauer (they/them) — is a subversive, electronics-influenced hardcore punk band featuring two close friends, who are also former members of Control Top, an act that I’ve covered here on this site. When Creedon and Lichtanauer started the band, it quickly became clear that their band’s sound would grow out of their friendship. Stripping away the dense orchestration of their previous band, Index sees the duo leaning into sweaty, visceral physicality with Creedon’s guitar intuitively locked into Lichtanauer’s drums, navigating complex rhythms. The result is music that feels as immediate as it does immediate — with the two longtime collaborators and friends reinvigorated by the act of creating something altogether new together.

Produced by Arthur Rizk, the duo’s debut single “Cellophane” was written across coasts, recorded at Show Me The Body‘s Corpus Studios and released through Lichtanaeur’s Get Better Records. The single is a bruising, eardrum shattering ripper that pairs snarling and roaring hardcore punk fury with pummeling rhythm and howled vocals. “Cellophane” captures someone barely holding it together in a brutal, absurdist hellscape. It’s the sort of song that would turn a room into a sweaty, moving mass of bodies.

“‘Cellophane’ is a song about self-deception and the rituals we perform to convince ourselves we’re holding it together,” the bicoastal based duo explain. “Musically, we wanted to move away from anything riff-based and write in a way that felt fluid and unstable. The two of us function as a single organism, threading through shifting time signatures rather than locking into them. We were interested in the physicality of electronic body music pushed through a hardcore framework. Something precise and controlled, but still capable of impact in a room.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tricky Returns with Brooding and Atmospheric “Because I Don’t Know”

Trip hop pioneer Tricky will be releasing his 15th studio album, Different When It’s Silent July 17, 2026 through his own label, False Idols. The new album is the first full-length effort from the legendary and influential artist and producer under his own name in six years. 

Different When It’s Silent came about during a rather prolific period of activity. Since 2020’s Fall to Pieces, Tricky has released material under several different guises including, Lonely Guest‘s 2021 self-titled effort, a collaboration with Mike Theis, called Theis Thaws, which released 2024’s Fifteen Days and last year’s collaborative album with Marta Złakowska, Out The Way. 

Returning to releasing an album under his own name took on a different shape. Recored between Tricky’s home in France and sessions in Bristol, the album is reportedly a direct, focused batch of material that reconnects with the distinct sonic language that has defined the legendary artist and producer’s work since 1995’s iconic Maxinquaye. And he does by drawing deeply on the musical community that has shaped him and his work. Central to the album’s sound is Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders, whose soulful falsetto is featured through such of the album’s songs. Their deep connection reflects a shared musical background and an instinctive chemistry between the pair. 

“In my mind it was another side project” Tricky explains. But after hearing the material, his manager Alan McGee felt the songs clearly belonged to a Tricky record.

The 14-song Different When It’s Silent sonically sees Tricky blending skeletal blues, brooding electronics, distorted guitars and stark hip-hop rhythms into a sound that’s simultaneously stripped-back and expansive. The album moves fluidly across different styles while rooted in the restless experimentation that has long defined Tricky’s work over the past three-plus decades. 

“I just love making music” Tricky says. “I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to live this life and keep creating.”

The album will include the previously released “Out of Place,” feat. Marta Złakowska and the album’s second and latest single, “Because I Don’t Know.” Featuring Bristol-based vocalist Mitch Sanders’ yearning falsetto delivering the haunting refrain “Can you feel my pain? Do you feel the same? Just let me know” over a pulsing and shadowy synth figure and blasts of scorching guitars. Tricky’s murmured vocal lurk in the background. The song is a tense, uneasy and probing examination of vulnerability, heartache and menace.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: French Nancy Shares Broodingly Chilly “The Guarantee”

Hackney, London-based post-punk duo French Nancy — Jack Gooding and Joel Friel — features former members of Bear Muda and Paris, Texas. Drawing from Motorama, Black Marble, Topographies, The Cure, Joy Division and New Order, the London-based duo’s sound pairs post punk urgency with krautrock-inspired rhythms and introspective lyricism.

The duo’s latest single “The Guarantee” is anchored around a similar krautrock-like motorik pulse and reverb-soaked guitar attack as their previously released “The Vow” and “The Lovers” but while arguably being one of the broodingly chillier songs they’ve released to date with the single seemingly nodding at the likes of Soft Kill, Molchat Doma, PLOHO, Sei Still, Whispering Sons and others. “It’s a song about staying inside a negative feeling rather than trying to fix it, and the production matches: opening cold and lean, with each layer adding to its final angry crescendo,” the duo explain.

Written and recorded at Hackney-based Gun Factory Studios by the duo, “The Guarantee” makes the start of the band’s most prolific stretch to date, with the band planning to release a batch of singles over the next five months, ahead of a forthcoming UK tour later this year.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bel Cardin Shares Introspective “Trust”

22-year old Bel Cardin is an emerging, Raleigh-born and-based singer/songwriter. Coming from a family of music lovers, the young North Carolinian can trace the origins of their music career to when they picked up the guitar at 13. Raised on Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Elliott Smith, Cardin later fell in love with a collection of artists that emerged in the 2010s, drawing from those artists’ penchant for melodic and crisp guitar, slightly ambiguous song structures and meticulous lyrical imagery.

Cardin’s debut, 2023’s 10-song Petrify was a melancholy, guitar-driven batch of songs recorded at their college campus’ music studio.

The North Carolinian’s latest single “Trust” is the first single since the release of Petrify. Beginning with a lengthy, dreamily atmospheric introduction featuring strummed guitar and Cardin’s heartbreakingly tender delivery, “Trust” slowly builds into a thunderous climax and gentle fadeout. Seemingly drawing from the likes of Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and others the new single thematically touches upon previously established themes of human nature, vices, loneliness and what it means to connect with the people around them.

Sonically, the new single sees Cardin taking a bold step forward in production and songwriting while retaining elements of her previously released material. It also marks the first track from a forthcoming sophomore album.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Genesis Owusu Shares Glistening, Woozy “BIG DOG”

Acclaimed multi-ARIA Award-winning Ghanian-born Canberra-based JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu released this highly anticipated third album REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE today through OURNESS.

REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE sees one of Australia’s most celebrated and visionary contemporary artists construct an exposed state-of-the-day record that’s experimental yet cohesive, desolate yet ecstatic, unflinching yet free. Duality is at the core of an album that sees the JOVM mainstay layering musings on an unsettled world with piercing reflections of his, and our own places within the world. Rich in lyricism and earnest in its message, REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is a resolute effort that confronts a divisive era in which humanity and its institutions seem to be ripping apart at the seams and heeds a desperate need for unity. 

Sonically drawing from and meshing elements funk, neo-soul, Brit rock and alt pop the album’s overall sound feels both sprawling and deliberate. “The world hasn’t ended yet,” Owusu. says. “We’re still moving, we’re still jumping, we’re still living, and so we shall continue. Through rain, shine, exploitation and warfare. We, the people, will always stubbornly persist, and hopefully persist hand in hand.”

The album includes the previously released “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE,” “STAMPEDE, “LIFE KEEPS GOING,” and the album’s latest single “BIG DOG.” Drawing from footwork, drum ‘n’ bass, glitchcore, and alt R&B, “BIG DOG” is anchored around a dense layers of dizzying synth arpeggios and skittering beats. The acclaimed JOVM mainstay alternates between punchily delivered bars and crooning over the woozy, uneasy production. The song sees Owusu surveying the world’s wreckage and takes aim at the higher institutional forces at play while still being danceable and oddly enough, almost feel good.

Owusu says of the “It’s a jam, man. Just something to have fun and feel good to. In the context of everything I’ve been releasing, the political, the disruptive, the punk – it’s important to remember what all that fighting is for: we’re fighting to be able to live life to the fullest. Live, laugh, love and all that. Fight for your right to party, as some wise men once said.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ Primitive Ring Shares a Bluesy, Black Sabbath-Styled Ripper

Loa Angeles-based power trio Primitive Ring — Bert Hoover (bass, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals) and Jon Modaff (drums) — formed back in 2024 when Hoover and Moothart came together seeking a new creative outlet. They hauled amps and drums into bars to hone their sound, quickly settling into a sound that aimed to capture the primal essence of rock,

Last year, the band release four 7 inches on four different labels — Greenway Records, In The Red Records, Reverberation Appreciation Society and Fuzz Club. They closed out a busy year by recording their self-titled full-length debut at Echo Park-based Station House Studio with Mark Rains.

Their 11-song, self-titled, full-length debut dropped today through In The Red Recordings. Clocking in at 42 minutes, the album showcases the distinct writing styles of each member, but while anchored around an overall aesthetic of a spawning of a collective vision. The result is a pummeling, psychedelic joyride that arrives on the heels of a recent tour supporting Ty Segall.

The album features the previously released “Lies From The Other Side,” “Heads Will Roll,” and the album’s latest single “The Callous Man” Beginning with a bluesy Pink Floyd meets Cream intro, “The Callous Man” quickly morphs into an early Black Sabbath-styled ripper in which the musicians’ dexterous and muscular playing is the star of the show. Play loud and rock out y’all.