Tag: New Audio

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dolours Shares Gary Numan-like “Parade”

Dolours (pronounced like colours — but with a d) is a mysterious and emerging UK-based duo, who blend post-punk urgency with noise rock intensity rooted in a defiant DIY approach. The duo have quickly established an atmospheric sound that features driving bass lines, abrasive guitars that thematically explores frustration, disillusionment and emotional unrest.

The duo’s debut EP, Parade is slated for a November 18, 2026 release. The EP was recorded, mixed and produced by the band across a patchwork of bedrooms and studios. The effort’s latests single, EP title track “Parade” sonically seems to channel a blend of Gary Numan and Joy Division while showcasing the duo’s ability to craft remarkably catchy material with a punk rock ethos. Dolours explains that “the track focuses on an act defiance against a coercive relationship and the rebirth that follows. Set almost entirely within the narrator’s mind, it explores the reclaiming of identity and agency.”

The band have announced an EP release show in their native Black Country, and they’ve been confirmed to play The New Colossus Festival next March. Hopefully, they’ll be more tour dates soon.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Creature In The Woods Shares Dreamy and Propulsive “Just Go”

Northern California-born, Brooklyn-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Morrisette is the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Creature In The Woods. Since starting the project back in 2014, Morisette has developed a sound and approach that sees him built productions that blend elements of psych soul, downtempo electronica and surf rock, featuring bass, guitar, baritone ukulele and the Teenage Engineering OP-1. He’s also a founding member of the Brooklyn-trio Graffiti Royale, a project that blends alternative rock and indie hip-hop.

Since the beginning, collaboration has been part of Creature In The Woods with early releases featuring Elisa Coia, Emily Clibourn, J Lately, and July Quin, In 2021 Morrisette took up vocal duties for “Summertime Love,” a track that featured his band Graffiti Royale. The song was featured in the Disney series Saturdays and in the motion picture, In Spite of Ourselves. And since then, Morissette’s vocal has increasingly become a defining part of the Creature in the Woods sound.

Over the years, Creature in the Woods has played across the New York live circuit, playing sets at SOB’s, Mercury Lounge, DROM and The Shrine while receiving airplay from KCRW.

Morrisette is currently releasing a collection of songs inspired by his late mother, which include the recently released “Silver Moon” featuring Arc Iris‘ Ray Belli (drums) and “Halo.” His latest single in the collection “Just Go” is a simultaneously dreamy and propulsive song featuring Morissette’s yearning delivery ethereally floating over African-inspired percussion, skittering beats, a looping Flamenco-styled guitar figure and glistening synths. Nodding at LCD Soundsystem‘s 45:33, “Just Go” is kinetic enough to make the listener get up and start moving or running somewhere but is anchored in overwhelming grief and heartache.

“This song was born in the Oakland hills, on a portable synthesizer in the backseat of my car following a run,” Morrisette says. “After my mom’s passing, my grief was too overwhelming, too kinetic in my body to sit still. So I ran almost everyday. Sometimes away from my grief, sometimes towards my grief, sometimes with my grief. My mantra then was ‘just go.’ ‘Just get onto the trails and run.’ So I did. And it helped.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Filthy Six Share Strutting, Funky “The Favourite”

London-based, Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Nick Etwell has worked with an electric and varied list of music legends and superstars including David Axelrod, Beck, Roger Daltrey, Foo Fighters, Noel Gallagher and Tom Jones, as well as a decade-plus long stint touring with Mumford & Sons. Over the years, Etwell has leaned heavily into his deep and abiding passion for Black American music, working with Carla Thomas, Ronnie Spector, Mavis Staples, Cyril Neville, Fred Wesley, Jill Scott, Thee Sacred Souls, Antibalas, Jon Cleary and Adrian Quesada.

Along with his busy schedule as a highly-sought after session player, Etwell is the founder and leader of the soul jazz outfit The Filthy Six, an act that features a collection of highly accomplished members who have worked with Amy Winehouse, Jack White, Dionne Warwick, Mark Ronson, Robbie Williams, Jamie Cullum, Duran Duran and Madness. The London-based sextet has released three albums on UK label Acid Jazz back in the 2010s, while firmly cementing themselves as one most authentic soul jazz acts in the UK — and as one of the most eclectic live acts in the UK scene.

Sonically, the London-based sextet take the blueprint of legendary Blue Note and Prestige Records artists Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Jack McDuff and others and add a bunch of modern influences to the mix, giving the classic soul jazz sound a bit of a modern sensibility and flair.

Etwell and company’s fourth album Return of The Swagger Junkies: Vol. 1 is slated for a November 27, 2026 release through Color Red. Throughout the album, their unique blend of soul jazz, funk blues and Boogaloo present musical adventures for the mind, body and soul — with a heavy dose of filthy, nasty ass funk. Trust me here, we all need a little bit of that stank in our lives, y’all. The album will also feature guest spots from longtime collaborator Snowboy on percussion.

Return of The Swagger Junkies: Vol. 1‘s will include the previously released, hauntingly gorgeous and mournful “911 Blue (For George)“and the album’s latest single, “The Favourite.” “The Favourite” is a strutting and gritty bit of funk anchored by a deep funky groove, big, swaggering horn, glistening organ lines and a shimmering blues-meets-jazz guitar paired with Latin-influenced percussion by longtime collaborator Snowboy. Sonically nodding at Booker T and the M.G.‘s, “The Favourite” showcases the deft musicianship of a band, who can balance improvisation with songcraft.

“An old school funk number that keeps the rhythm deep and the energy high all theway through,” The Filthy Six’s Nick Etwell says. “James’ Guitar solo leads us off into slightly psychedelic territory first up, followed by Mark laying down some seriously Filthy tenor in response. As the opening track off the album it’s the first opportunity to hear our special guest Snowboy on the record, giving it some welly on the Congas alongside Simon’s heavy grooves for a tasty little drum break before we take it home.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tycho’s Punchy Remix of Elder Island’s “Pink Lemon”

Over the past decade, Elder Island — Katy Sargent (vocals, cello), Luke Thornton (bass, beats) and David Havard (guitar, synths, programming) — have built a dedicated fanbase while amassing 375 million streams globally with a sound that’s rooted in 90s club culture.

The trio’s latest album Hello Baby Okay was released earlier this year. The album sonically features lilting funk pop guitars, hypnotic synths, intricate rhythms and warm analog textures. Last month, the band released the Hello Baby Remixed, Pt. 1 EP, which features remixes from Tycho, Harvey Sutherland and Dam Swindle.

Album track “Pink Lemon” is a breezy, hook driven disco pop tune anchored around Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, twinkling keys and a supple bass line beneath Sargent’s soulful delivery. Tycho’s adds a punchier, funkier bass line, and glistening synth arpeggios while retaining the original’s remarkably catchy hooks, giving the song his singular take.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Puma Blue Shares Hypnotic Lullaby “Whispering”

London-based producer, singer/songwriter and Puma Blue creative mastermind Jacob Allen released his sixth Puma Blue album, Croak Dreams earlier this year through Play It Again Sam. “A Croak Dream is a prophetic dream where you see a vision of how you die. Half the songs on this record allude to how you might decide to live, act, if you somehow knew your awaiting fate. Being daring, romantic… saying what you really mean.” Allen explains. 

Recorded straight to tape at Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios, Croak Dream sees Allen and co-producer and mixer Sam Petts-Davies expanding the project’s sonic world a well as to channel the project’s sultry, emotional and conceptual complexity with an instinct-led take on experimenting with Allen’s art to its most evocative form.

Additionally, longtime collaborator Harvey Grant contributed to the textual quality and identity of the album. “Later at Real World Studios, the band and I recorded tape loops over a small fragment of the demo, none of them heard the finished song, and when Sam and I came back to London we cut those improvisations into this Frankenstein’s monster type collage,” Allen says. “We were really leaning into a mutual love for CAN, Aphex Twin and Queens of the Stone Age.”

The album featured the broodingly cinematic and uneasy album title track “Croak Dream.”

Yesterday, Allen announced that the deluxe edition of Croak Dream, Croak Deluxe is slated for a November 13, 2026 release through Play It Again Sam. Croak Deluxe will include five previously unreleased tracks along with four live recordings. The result is an effort that expands upon the trip hop, dub and nocturnal crooning of the acclaimed, previously released Croak Dream.

Along with the album announcement, Allen shared the previously unreleased “Whispering” is a slow-burning, hypnotic trip-hop-tinged lullaby with twinkling keys and dusty, boom bap beats paired with Allen’s soulful, breathy croon.

“Anything left on the cutting room floor usually stays that way in my creative process,” Allen says. ““If a song doesn’t fit on an album, I either feel like I have unfinished business with it on the next one, or maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. ‘Whispering’ is a curious song to me because sonically, thematically – it’s a sibling of the other songs on the record. It just wasn’t ready in time. It’s been a rare pleasure to see it through.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Warhaus Shares Thumping, Club Friendly “One Day”

Belgian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Maarten Delvodere is the co-lead vocalist and one-half of the songwriting team behind the acclaimed JOVM mainstay outfit Balthazar — and he’s the creative mastermind behind the equally acclaimed JOVM mainstay project Warhaus.

Devoldere’s fifth Warhaus album The Donkey is slated for a January 15, 2027 release through Play It Again Sam. The Donkey is reportedly Belvedere’s most raw and instinctive Warhuas effort of his career to date. As the backstory to the album goes: Delvodere was at home with his girlfriend and his dog, happy, calm and super zen. Nothing but peace and quiet in his life. But an overdose of peace of mind can be dangerous too; that’s how much energy came pouring out when he started writing the material which would eventually comprise The Donkey.

The filter was gone, the anesthetic had worn off and suddenly he wanted something else — something rawer, something perhaps more real? For years, he had churned out a collection of dandyish pop with each song better than the last with an almost insulting ease. So he wondered: what if he threw those beautiful, golden melodies out the window and wrought the primal urges lurking inside his chest?

The Donkey will include the previously released “The Baby” and “Simple Pleasures,” as well as the album’s third and latests single “One Day.” “One Day” is a swaggering, industrial-leaning banger, built around tweeter and woofer rattling beats, twinkling keys, and arpeggiated synth breaks beneath Devoldere’s punchy yet melodic delivery. It may arguably be the most invigorated and primal tune of Devoldere’s growing catalog. At it score, the song sees the JOVM mainstay playing with contrasting moods. pairing the familiar tropes and language of a love song with an uneasy, tense soundscape.

Devoldere explains that “I wanted the band to sound like a DJ. I wanted the love song to sound like a threat.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: These Girls Are Electric Return with Cinematic “Our Day”

Indie electronic music duo These Girls Are Electric — Harris (vocals, organ, piano, synths, guitar, bass and sound design) and Zeno (vocals. guitars. bass, synths and sound design) — can trace the origins of their project back several decades: The longtime friends from Stuttgart began recording music in their bedrooms as teenagers in the 1980s. The duo cut their teeth in the local underground scene, playing in several bands in their youth including My Nature, First Approach, The B’Captains and Die Frohe Bootsfahrt among others.

Their early sound can be described as a melancholic blend of New Wave, synth pop, and underground music that was strange but frequently catchy. And over the years. they worked closely with several local musical heroes.

For the better part of the past two decades, the pair would meet at Musikladen Studio — a place packed with vintage synths, dusty guitars and humming computers, where time seemed to fold in on itself. During improvised sessions that they’ve dubbed “magnetic sessions,” the German duo would create raw, intuitive song sketches. Then they would start production: Selected material is reassembled without losing the original feel. Recordings from their “magnetic sessions” are re-edited, sorted and integrated into thee songs to preserve as much of the studio session feeling as possible.

As These Girls Are Electric, the German duo’s sound is a blend of electronica, lo-fi pop, post-punk and experimental soundscapes. Lyrically, the duo’s work revolves around love, hate, space, philosophy and the search for a lost universe — or a paradise that may have never existed. In their world, artificial intelligences meet broken hearts, cyborgs conjure childhood memories and stardust cigarette light tells stories of humanity in transition. Each song within their catalog is part of a multi-voiced narrative about life in a post-human world and the search for meaning, connection and renewal.

Last month I wrote about the broodingly atmospheric “Ghost In The Bottle.” The duo’s latest single “One Day” strikes me as being a bit of a blend of Public Service Broadcasting and Joy Division/Interpol-like post punk that showcases the German duo’s ability to craft cinematic and broodingly atmospheric material with catchy hooks and anthemic choruses that give the song a reflective yet urgent feel.

The duo explain that “‘One Day’ explores inner struggle, fading ideals and the search for meaning through cryptic, surreal imagery. The refrain ‘This is our day‘ captures a quiet sense of resilience, balancing melancholy with hope.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Belgium’s Solarski Shares a Punchy, Mosh Pit Friendly Ripper

Mysterious and emerging Belgian trio Solarski is inspired by post-punk and indie but steadfastly refused to be easily categorized. Their latest single “Do You Need a Riot?” is a punchy, mosh pit friendly ripper with […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Zacchae’us Paul Returns with Swaggering “TEN outta Ten”

Atlanta-born and based producer, singe/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Zacchae’us Paul released his highly-anticipated sophomore album JAZZ MONEY VOL. 2: SWINGIN’ R&B this past Friday. Sonically, the album sees the rising Atlanta-based artist effortlessly crafting a seamless blend of jazz, R&B, neo-soul and hip-hop that features razor sharp beats complementing nimble, acoustic jazz drumming, emcees effortlessly spitting bars alternating with jazz solos.There’s R&B-styled crooning and sangin.’ There are producer tags, interludes and spoken word sections. And it’s all anchored in jazz improvisation and cinematic storytelling influenced by hip-hop’s golden age.

JAZZ MONEY VOL. 2: SWINGIN’ R&B includes the previously released “LOOK TO THE SKY” “SHE F*CK WITH THE RACKS,” the Zacchae’us Paul and DJ OOOCHILD co-produced “BETTER MUST COME” feat. happy qavah, donSMITH, Keenyn Omari and Derzon Douglas, the Down To Mars-produced “STAY” feat. donSMITH and the album’s release day single “TEN outta TEN.” “TEN outta TEN” is a sleek and effortless blend of trap, R&B and jazz that pairs thumping, eardrum shattering low end and trap beats with soulful crooning, thoughtful lyricism, hip-hop swagger and lounge-ready sophistication.

As a Georgia native, Paul created the song to pay tribute to legendary local hip-hop producer Zaytoven. “I’ve always felt a connection to Zaytoven,” Paul explains. “We’re both preacher’s kids and organists whose musical foundation was built in the church. Even after all of his success, he still plays in church today. That has always inspired me because it reminds me that your gift belongs to God before it belongs to the industry.”

He continues, “Ironically, trap was the first style of music I ever learned to produce. I started making beats in middle school before I ever considered myself a jazz musician. From there, I became obsessed with exploring every branch of Black American music—jazz, gospel, blues, R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop, and beyond. To me, they’re all connected. This record is where those worlds meet: a tribute to one of Atlanta’s greatest producers through my own musical language.”  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Monølo Shares Driving and Hypnotic “A1”

Monølo is a French classically trained pianist and electronic music artist, who has built a career exploring the intersection of acoustic piano and contemporary techno. Throughout his career, his work has seen him crafting a sound […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: GOODTWIN Shares Breezy and Sultry “Roadside”

Led by Augusta “Gus” Alexander, indie pop project GOODTWIN derives its name as an ode to Alexander’s very good twin sister. And with the release of handful of singles over the past two years, the […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mynolia Shares Dream-like “Take the Mountain by Surprise”

After years of constant motion and relocation, singer/songwriter and musician Mynolia decided to embark on on a new beginning, landing in the remote wilderness of the American South, where in new isolation, she began writing the songs that would eventually comprise her forthcoming, new album Salt Around My Bed. And while in the South, she found herself turning into the mundane magic unfurling all around her, making friends with her superstitions and recognizing the holiness in the most humblest of tasks — including the burning of pictures, the scattering of salt, the crushing of eggshells for the garden. Minolta conducts each ritual with equal care throughout the album, small acts of protection that hold real power.

She then brought the album to celebrated jazz musician and co-producer Rich Ruth and with the help of a talented cast of musicians and friends around the world fleshed out the material including Pete Pételle and Florian Holoubek on drums and percussion, labelmate Spencer Cullum on pedal steel, Corin Droullard on horns, Patrick McGonigle on violin and mandolin, Sam Que on bass, All Them Witches‘ Charles Michael Parks. Jr. on bass, Blood Root’s Taylor Waffford contributed backing vocals, and co-producer Rich Ruth also contributed synths, guitar and bass.

The Rich Ruth co-produced Still Around My Bed is slated for a January 15, 2027 release through Full Time Hobby and will feature the previously released singles “Needle,” “Run Like Hell” and Holy Line,” as well as the album’s latest single “Take the Mountain by Surprise.” “Take the Mountain by Surprise” is a gorgeous folksy ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar, gently bubbling synths and bursts of distorted guitar beneath Mynolia’s earthy delivery. Sonically seeming like a blend of old-timey mountain folk, indie rock and shoegaze, “Take the Mountain by Surprise” is both remarkably contemporary and timeless.

“This song had an unconventional birth, inspired by a weird guitar tuning with which I wrote a for-fun song called ‘Sweatpants and Straitjackets’ some years ago. That B part became the guitar foundation for this track, which then came out, lyrics, parts and instrumentation all at once,” Mynolia explains. ” I remember writing and then recording this song in one sitting after a severe rainstorm had washed out part of the mountain road to my house. An act-of-God natural boundary formed between my home and the outside world and it was exactly what I needed. I took it to Florian Holoubek for drums and then to Rich Ruth for final production, mix, and synth flourishes. ‘I wish the creek would rise, take the mountain by surprise / As the landslide pulls away there’s space for me too, today.’ Making yourself small for others to find you more digestible usually has an expiration date. Better to confess in song and set that boundary, as a mudslide won’t always do it for you.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ Charm School Shares A Thumping Club Banger for Our Dystopian Hellscape

Los Angeles-based electronic music act Charm School features Louisville, KY-born, Los Angeles-based multi-hyphenate artist and frontman Andrew Sellers and his longtime collaborators Matt Filip and Dave English. Sellers grew up immersed in Louisville’s underground scene, soaking up the work of local acts like Slint, Crain and Rodan, as well as the catalogs of beloved Chicago indie labels Touch & Go and Drag City. Later, Sellers got into PIL, Swell Maps, The Fall and Fugazi and The Nation of Ulysses. All of that informs Charm School’s sound and approach.

Their debut EP, 2023’s Finite Jest introduced listeners to a philosophically-minded, crushingly loud critique of modern life’s increasingly maddening realities. Last year’s full-length debut, Debt Forever introduced a broader range of influences and a much more acerbic viewpoint with lyrics drenched in salty, satirical humor.

Released earlier this year, Schadenfreude Ploy EP picks up where Debt Forever left off, musing on humanity’s tortured psyche and the confounding implications of living in a technocratic, dystopian hellscape in which tech billionaires, AI and modern life’s various manipulative traps are ubiquitous and seemingly inescapable.

Continuing a remarkably prolific period, the Los Angeles trio’s latest single, the Matia Simovich-produced “Desolation” is a hook-driven, EBM/darkwave/goth banger featuring 80s synthclavier stabs, thumping 808s paired with Sellers dryly sardonic yet simultaneously sincere delivery. Sonically bringing the likes of early Ministry, Depeche Mode, as well as contemporaries like Public Circuit to mind, the song is a club anthem for our dystopian hellscape. The world’s on fire and everything seems hopelessly fucked, so have a little fun, dance and sweat it out with some other humans.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sam Zalta Shares Shimmering “I Might Die Tonight”

Over the past decade, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Zalta is best known as a touring member of JOVM mainstays Bambara, an act that has toured alongside the likes of Foo Fighters, IDLES, Gilla Band, fellow JOVM mainstays METZ and Algiers.

As a solo artist, Zalta’s work occupies a world entirely his own, one increasingly shaped by elaborate storytelling, recurring characters, dreams, devotion and the uneasy space where beauty and pain meet over the course of four albums, 2015’s Paraiso Terminal, 2017’s o, 2019’s It All Ends The Same and 2023’s Memento Mori. The Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist crafts songs that feel superficially soothing but underneath is something more unsettled and stranger that sonically draws from dream pop, shoegaze, indie pop and the likes of The Beach Boys, Spiritualized, Big Star and Swans.

Zalta’s latest releases finds him pushing further into orchestration, narrative and world-building while still being anchored around his penchant for melodicism.

His latest single “I Might Die Tonight” is a shimmering tune that sonically brings Caveman, Tunnel of Love-era Bruce Springsteen and Cocteau Twins to mind and while expressing an aching yearning, there’s a churning unease just under the surface.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: SAOL Shares Earnest and Rousingly Anthemic “Lines”

Irish singer/songwriter and musician Zoë Gough is the creative mastermind of the recording project SAOL, a project that showcases a genre-bending sound that weaves elements of shoegaze, indie rock and grunge paired with vivid lyricism, catchy hooks and an uncanny knack for melodicism. The project is rooted in Gough’s dedication to engaging with music as a social platform while documenting her journey to situating herself within an Ireland that has undergone rapid change while holding onto the strands of the past that tie together the future and finding a way forward.

Gough’s work with SAOL has been played on RTE, RTE 2xm, Galway City Flirt FM and has received national radio play on Ireland’s Radio Nova while drawing comparisons to Hole, The Cranberries, My Bloody Valentine, Sinead O’Connor, and Garbage.

The Irish artist’s latest single “Lines”is a hook-driven tune anchored around earnest songwriting and performances, rousingly anthemic sing along worthy hooks and choruses, fuzzy power chords paired with her powerhouse delivery. While drawing comparisons to Hole, The Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins and contemporaries like Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail, “Lines” draws out the prolonged process of loss and reckons with being the one left alone.