Category: New Single

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Healing Power of Horses Share Slinky “i wait, i sink”

The Healing Power of Horses is a mysterious and emerging East Anglia, UK-based duo, who defy easy categorization, as they prefer. They’ve spent too much time in the attic making music and not enough time outside, and as a result, they’re pallid, bug-eyed, knock-kneed and on and on.

The duo caught the attention of Los Angeles-based section1, who signed the UK-based duo and released their debut single, “i wait, i sink.” “i wait, i sink” is a slinky and sultry bit of Garbage-like trip hop that rattles, shakes and stomps about the room before fading out into the ether. Their debut single showcases a remarkably self-assured outfit that can craft a brooding yet sexy tune with incredibly catchy hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alex Amen Returns with Homesick and Weary “California Blues”

Alex Amen is a rising, 26 year-old Texas-born, Los Angeles-based indie folk/country singer/songwriter. When he was four, he took up piano and studied with the same Houston-based jazz pianist through the end of high school. The rising, young country folk artist started playing guitar in his mid-teens after discovering Nirvana, Neil Young and the like. When he was 18, Amen relocated from Texas to California to study filmmaking — with the intention of making documentaries about rock climbing, one of his lifelong passions.

After one semester, he dropped out to focus on music full-time and moved to the Dittman Family Commune, an Anaheim-based commune with historic ties to the countercultural movements of the mid 1960s, where he started his first band, a psychedelic folk rock outfit named American Slang in 2017.“The commune was a crazy place to live—there were hippies and punks and skaters, all in this beautiful house that used to be on six acres of strawberry fields but now it’s surrounded by strip malls,” the Texan-born singer/songwriter says. ““The house was owned by a professor who’d bought it in the mid-’60s and still lived there with his family, so it had this fascinating history with the anti-war movement and renowned civil-rights/psychedelic activists from that time. We’d have these big communal meals every day and debate art and God and food and politics. It was a pretty amazing place to live for a while.”

The band broke up shortly after its formation. And Amen relocated yet again from Southern California to an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. Over the course of the next three years, Amen spent n relative isolation, taking up interests in mycology, mountaineering, poetry and wooden boat building. But as the years began to pass, he felt an increasing need to return to California to pursue music. 

In January 2023, Amen self-produced his debut EP, last year’s The Zorthian Tapes in a self-built studio at Altadena, CA’s historic Zorthian Ranch. He now resides in Los Angeles, releasing music among the city’s growing folk/Americana/country scene and playing shows across North America and elsewhere. 

The past 18 months or so have been very busy: Last year he toured with Folk Bitch Trio, a tour that included a stop at Baby’s All Right. He has also made the rounds of the international festival circuit, playing Pitchfork Festival London and Pitchfork Festival Paris, Newport Folk Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Austin City Limits and Outside Lands. And he participated in the Americana Music Association‘s annual Grammy Eve concert at the Troubadour to honor the legendary Neil Young. 

The rising young singer/songwriter recently signed to ATO Records, who will be releasing his highly-anticipated debut Sun of Amen on June 12, 2026. The album will include “Cabin by the Sea,” which features some gorgeous and expressive pedal steel from Tommy de Bourbon and strutting bass from Grammy-nominated Billy Mohler, and the album’s second and latest single “California Blues.”

Subtly channeling a mix of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and the Laurel Canyon sound, “California Blues” features a homesick vagabond and wandering troubadour narrator, who illuminates an uneasy contrast between the quintessential California dream and its lived reality of heartbreaking isolation and desperation. “‘California Blues’ is a song I wrote years before I ever lived in California that somehow expressed the things I felt living there years later,” says Amen. “More than any other song made during my time in California it touched on the balance between excitement and isolation one can face when they chase their dreams out West.”

Amen is currently on tour. And along with the new single, he announces a summer run of tour dates that includes a July 29, 2026 stop at Elsewhere Rooftop. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alaska Blue Shares Brooding and Groovy “White Spaces”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spilled a bit of ink covering the Italian indie duo and JOVM mainstays Alaska Blue — singer/songwriter Elisabeta Giordano and musician Davide Cast. The duo recently released their third full-length album, personal troubles are public issues last week.

personal trouble are public issues’ latest single “White Spaces” is a brooding, deeply introspective tune that sees the band blending elements of synth pop, indie soul and soul, featuring a strutting and sultry groove and shimmering synths paired with Giordano’s soulful delivery and the duo’s uncanny knack for catchy hooks. The result is a song that’s perfect for restless, late night drives and makeout sessions while channeling the likes of Geowulf, Still Corners and Tan Cologne among others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: lazybed Shares Jangling, Hook-Driven “time”

Macau-based Filipino artist Richard Winstanley can trace the origins of his music career back to high school, when he started writing, producing and mixing demos using GarageBand. His first solo project, a fictional band he called The Yankies saw him writing and recording songs in both English and Filipino. Although he never released those early tracks publicly, this early work wound up laying the foundation for his future musical explorations.

Winstanley stepped away from music while attending college. But after graduation, he found his passion for music re-ignited. He publicly emerged with his second solo recording project Cardz, which saw him release 2024’s mini-album Lok Kuan Express through Bandcamp and YouTube. For the most part, music was a beloved hobby that offered him a creative escape from his full-time job.

Earlier this year, the Macau-based artist emerged with his latest solo project lazybed, which derives it name from “lazy afternoons on [sic] my bedroom making music.” lazybed reflects a shift in sonic direction that sees Winstanley embracing guitar-driven indie rock. jangle pop and psych pop. Drawing from Broken Social Scene, MGMT, Blur, Eraserheaads, Mac DeMarco and more, the Macau-based artist creates songs from his bedroom using his MacBook and Logic Pro X.

The Macau-based artist’s latest single “time” is a remarkably catchy, hook-driven song that seemingly channels 00s jangle pop, slacker pop and New Order while thematically focusing on the inevitable passing of time, getting older and feeling like you’ve wasted both time and your life away. The song is rooted in a timeless theme that would be familiar to someone in their 20s or their 40s — but with a slightly different weight.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jazen Happy Teams Up with Solara Harris on Euphoric “Las Guardianas”

Jazen Happy is an electronic producer and artist, who has developed a reputation for crafting an upbeat and vibrant fusion of techno and electronic dance music paired with catchy lyrics that’s inspired from both underground rhythms and mainstream trends. His latest single, “Las Guardianas” feat. Solara Harris is an upbeat and summery bit of melodic house, anchored around glistening synth arpeggios and Harris’ soulful delivery that’s simultaneously club and festival friendly — and showcases the producer’s ability to craft a remarkably catchy hook.

Jazen Happy explains that the song is inspired by Tulum sunrises and is specifically designed to create a real emotional lift.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Joey Alexander Tackles a Beloved Jazz Standard

22 year-old, Balinese-born, Grammy Award-nominated composer and pianist Joey Alexander has spent more than a decade establishing himself as one of jazz’s most celebrated young artists, with his career starting in earnest back in 2013 when Wynton Marsalis invited him to play at Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala. Since then, Alexander has played with Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding at the Obama White House, and he has been the subject of profiles on 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and a list of others.

Alexander’s third album, the Jason Olaine-produced Celestial Keeper is slated for a July 17, 2026 through Mack Avenue Records. Celestial Keeper sees the rising, young composer and pianist reflecting on creativity, faith, gratitude and personal transformation. Inspired by what Alexander describes as his “celestial keeper” — a spiritual force akin to a muse or guardian angel — the album explores the challenge of overcoming doubt and artist’s block. “There’s a spiritual force that reminds me of the gift of music that God has bestowed upon me,” Alexander explains. “That voice prompts me to keep the lamp burning or the music playing.”

The album comes during a pivotal chapter in the rising young artist’s life, following his family’s recent move back to his native Bali after spending years in New York and Baltimore. Immersing himself in Indonesia’s nature and rhythms — again — deeply shaped the album’s aura of beauty and wonder, “I live by the mountains, which are a constant reminder of the beauty of nature and the gift of life,” he says.

Celestial Keeper also sees the debut of Alexander’s latest trio: Kris Funn (bass) returns from 2023’s applauded Continuance and Jonathan Barber (drums), recording with the Balinese-born composer and pianist for the first time, after two years of touring. The trio is joined by Philadelphia-born Jaleel Shaw (saxophone) for three tracks. Alexander added vocals to the nix for the first time on the album, collaborating with with rising singer/songwriter Alita Moses on a new original “Whispers of Love” and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Lisa Fischer on a rendition of the beloved standard “My Funny Valentine.” And in a full circle moment, the album was produced by Jason Olaine, who produced Alexander’s 2015 debut, My Favorite Things.

Celestial Keeper’s first single, sees the Grammy Award-nominated composer and pianist, tackling the beloved standard, “Stella By Starlight.” Channeling Alexander’s lifelong love of Miles Davis and Bill Evans, the young Balinese delivers a vibrant and soulful take that showcases his ability to breathe new, youthful life into an oft-covered standard.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: George Aletras Shares Shimmering “Τώρα”

George Aletras is a Greek singer/songwriter and musician, whose work sees him moving between indie rock, post rock and cinematic soundscapes, frequently blurring the boundaries between them. At times, his work leans into experimental territories, not as a statement of style, but a a natural consequence of exploration, where form isn’t followed but discovered,

Aletras’ latest single “Τώρα” is a shimmering, hook-driven bit of 80s-inspired post punk and New Wave that’s cinematic while channeling Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen and contemporaries like PLOHO.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: FRACTILES Share Bruising “Call Me Slick”

German electronic music duo FRACTILES — Christoph Schauer and Max Filges — features two internationally acclaimed musicians and film composers, who combine their individual energies into an uncompromising sound that meshes elements of industrial electronica, […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Modern Ideas Shares Glistening “This Is How It Hurts”

Modern Ideas is a Melbourne/Naarm-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who specializes in dark synth pop rooted in a belief that pop isn’t about perfection, but transformation. In particular, our power to change shape, to become new forms, to have new feelings and new identities.

Drawing from 80s synth pop and contemporary darkwave, Modern Ideas’ is anchored around a simple conceit: Although modern life may be artificial, within that artifice lies the possibility of something beautiful, strange and new.

The Aussie synth pop project’s latest single “This Is How It Hurts” serves as the perfect introduction to its overall sound and approach. Built around glistening analog synths, a tight, skittering four-on-the-floor paired with an understated yet aching vocal and a remarkably catchy hook, “This Is How It Hurts” seemingly channels Depeche Mode, New Order and TR/ST while anchored around a spacious and clean, modern production.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Philly’s Sri Lanka Shares Brooding “Eventide”

Sri Lanka is a Philadelphia-based band that originally formed back in 1986. The band quickly established a sound that draws from goth and post-punk, as well as elements of alternative rock and psych rock. They saw extraordinary popularity in the Philadelphia and New York underground music scenes of the late 1980s and 1990s before going through a series of tumultuous lineup changes following the departure of founding member and the tragic death of frontman Brett Turner

Suffering from depression, Turner took his own life back in 1989, when he was 20. The band went on to try out several vocalists before landing on Jose Maldonado. And with Maldonado, the Philadelphia-based post punk outfit went on to record and release 1992’s Shadow and Ivy EP and 1993’s Here. Friction between band members Erb and Maldonado started early on and ultimately led to the band splitting down the middle shortly after the release of Here with Erb and Chairs going in one direction, Maldonado and Stein going in another. Rob Studt retired from music altogether.

Erb went on to rejoin his original founding partner Lee Daniels and formed the band [needle] in 1995.

Back in October 2020, the band announced the forthcoming release of Leviathan on their Facebook Fan page, after a 25 year hiatus. And that November, they released the album’s title track “Leviathan.” They also released two live recordings from Christmas 1998 at Philadelphia’s Club Memphis and February 1989 at Philadelphia’s Revival.

Late last year, the band shared “Solstice,” a driving with of goth-tinged post punk that seemingly channels Cocteau Twins and contemporaries like ACTORS, while showcasing the band’s ability to craft a driving and rousingly anthemic, catchy hook and chorus.

Leviathan‘s latest single “Eventide” continues a run of driving goth-leaning post punk — but unlike it’s immediate predecessor, there’s a more of a shoegaze element to the proceedings that adds to the song’s brooding, late night vibe.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Hallucinophonics Share Dance Floor Friendly “Ten Thousand Suns”

British indie outfit Hallucinophonics exists as the crossroads of consciousness and sound, creating immersive, psychedelic soundscapes that defy and blend the boundaries between reality and dreams. Drawing inspiration from Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, NEU! and others, they attempt to create […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Hannah Scott Shares Thoughtful and Politically charged “Sitting In The Dark”

Suffolk-born, London-based folk artist Hannah Scott will be releasing her newest EP Threads on June 19, 2026. Threads is the follow-up to Scott’s widely praised third album, 2024’s Absence of Doubt.

The EP marks the first effort the Suffolk-born, London-based has both written and self-produced. She worked alongside acclaimed engineer Adrian Hall and recorded piano, acoustic guitar and vocals at home — with a makeshift vocal booth in her wife’s wardrobe. The EP’s material is inspired by family, nostalgia and grief — and perhaps in a small, unexpected way, a desire to change the rental market for the better. (Shit, you got me there, lady!)

The EP’s second and latest single “Sitting In The Dark” showcases Scott’s thoughtful storytelling rooted in a subtle yet powerful critique of capitalism and the local rental market, calling out the greedy developers, landlords and others, who have helped to put her narrator in a lousy apartment that she can barely afford with shitty furniture and power outages.

I have a shitty and greedy landlord, so this song hit close to home. You’ve most likely have been there, too.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: El Paso’s oKMark Shares Swooning “Sin Tu Permiso”

El Paso-based outfit OkMark crafts an analog synth-driven take on space rock and psych rock, anchored by their frontman Marco’s deeply personal lyricism.

Their latest single “Sin Tu Permiso” is a brooding bit of lo-fi-like psych pop that seemingly channels JOVM mainstays Tame Impala and Kainalu but anchored around a swooning, desperate heartache and unease. The song captures a narrator, who’s paralyzed by their own fear in the face of an unbelievably difficult situation.

The band’s frontman explains that he wrote the song for anyone, who has wanted to leave a relationship but couldn’t — not because of their partners but because of what they would be leaving behind.

“I started working on the music on a Shinkansen train in Japan using an OP-1, building upon minor chords that already carried that weight of melancholy,” he explains. “The production reflects this: a Moog bassline [sic] at 90 BPM, dense layers of dark synthesizers, and vocals that crack at the emotional peak. It is dark electronica infused with the intensity of the Mexican bolero.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: SHOLTO Teams Up with Phoebe Coco on Brooding and Atmospheric “Everything is Stolen Anyway”

Initially known as being one-half of indie outfit Sunglasses for Jaws, the rising London-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Oscar “Sholto” Robertson grew up with with a deep and abiding love of jazz, soul, krautrock and soundtracks from the 60s and 70s. As a producer, Robertson honed his production skills under the guidance and tutelage of Allah-Las‘ Nick Waterhouse and Inflo.

A handful of years ago, Roberston stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with his recording project, SHOLTO. And with SHOLTO, the rising London-based multi-instrumentalist has firmly cemented a cinematic take on instrumental, psychedelic soul. 

Now, as you may recall Roberton’s sophomore SHOLTO album, last year’s 12-song The Sirens was recorded at the JOVM mainstay’s Hackney-based SJF Studio, and the album saw him continuing an ongoing collaboration with a familiar cast of musicians, including Syd Kemp (bass), Clementine Brown (strings) and Rachel Horton Kitchlew (harp) to craft an album that’s emotionally unflinching and explores themes of duality temptation and emotional dissociation, “blurring grief with groove, seduction and surrender,” as Robertson says.

Sonically, The Sirens saw Robertson building upon the groove-driven, string-soaked soundscapes and ethereal textures that have won him attention in the UK and beyond but while evoking a haunting, uneasy fever dream.

Robertson’s latest single, “Everything is Stolen Anyway” sees the JOVM mainstay diving deeper into his long-held trip-hop influences with a brooding, jazz groove-driven arrangement that seemingly channels Portishead, Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp and No Angel-era Dido among others.. The song also features frequent collaborator Phoebe Coco‘s mesmerizing, whiskey and longing soaked vocal.

“Everything Is Stolen Anyway” is rooted in two central concepts: the comfort in repetition and that nothing we feel or think is entirely new. “Moments of love, loss, wonder and the quiet awe of the sea’s tide arrive to us as if they’re ours alone, yet they’ve all been lived before. Borrowed feelings, borrowed time,” the two collaborators say.

“’Everything is Stolen Anyway’ leans into the thought that art works the same way; every melody, every painting, every idea carries echoes of something earlier,” Robertson and Coco continue. “Songs are fragments passed forward, reshaped, reframed, and retold through new hands and new voices. In that sense, nothing is truly original. But the first time you hear or feel something, it becomes new again.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Olympia, WA’s Waves Crashing Shares Shimmering “Marine Garden”

Rising Olympia, WA-based indie outfit Waves Crashing — Joshua Calisti (vocals, guitar, cello), Bryce Albright (drums and Zach Olson (bass backing vocals) — burst into the regional and national scenes with their breakout full-length debut, last year’s Effection, which landed at #88 on KEXP’s Best of 2025 List, #28 on Obscure Sound’s Top 50 Albums of the Year. The album also landed at #92 on the NACC charts.

The trio supported their debut by opening for Ringo Deathstarr and Cloakroom, and they shared stages with Flying Fish and Cigarettes For Breakfast.

Building upon a growing profile, the Washington State-based trio’s sophomore album In The Blur is slated for a May 20, 2026 release through Audiomanic Records. Where Effection served as an introduction to the band’s sound which paired lush shoegazer textures with soaring hooks, In The Blur sharpens the edges and widens the lens a bit. The eight-song In The Blur reportedly sees the band boldly and confidently stepping into their sound while pushing it into new territory, further cementing their immersive blend of shoegaze atmospherics, post-punk pulse and melodic alternative rock. The album also showcases the band’s growth in songwriting, production and overall sonic depth. The end result is an effort that feels simultaneously cohesive yet exploratory, and equally suited for live rooms and late-night headphone listening.

Thematically, the new album touches upon social division, the pressures of the music industry, unwavering love and gratitude and mental fragility.

In The Blur‘s latest single “Marine Garden” seemingly channels a hook-driven synthesis of Ocean Rain-era Echo and the Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs and 1990s shoegaze with the song featuring an arrangement of shimmering, reverb-kissed guitar textures, brooding bursts of cello and a familiar post punk pulse. And while nostalgia-inducing for the old heads, the song is rooted in a deeply modern sensibility.

The rising Olympia-based trio will be supporting the new album with a run of the regional festival circuit and with a UK tour. More on that, soon.