Tag: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Shares a Slick, Deep House Banger

French JOVM mainstay LutchamaK‘s latest EP, the four-track  Hybrid EP sees the prolific producer continuing to bounce around several different styles and genres of electronic music, all while showcasing an uncanny ability to make it cohesive.

I’ve managed to write about three of the EP’s singles:

  • EP title track “Hybrid,” a slick synthesis of joyous Larry Levan-like house, and glitchy, industrial-leaning Detroit and Berlin-like techno that slaps hard.

  • “Innsæi,” a swaggering banger that recalls Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks paired with some glitchy, retro-futuristic synths. 

  • “Outside Observer,” a brooding and subtly menacing bit of house featuring skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling hook, atmospheric bass synths, glitchy oscillations and a spoken word vocal sample. While reminding listeners of the JOVM mainstays uncanny knack for sleek productions paired with razor sharp hooks, “Outside Observer” continues a run of remarkably cinematic yet club friendly material.

“What We Do” sees the French JOVM mainstay crafting a deep house-meets-Tour de France-era Kraftwerk production featuring stuttering boom bap, shimmering synths and glistening oscillations with a retro-futuristic vocal sample. Out of the EP’s four singles, “What We Do” may arguably be the EP’s most direct and straightforward deep house banger.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bēdu Brāļi Teams Up with Múr on Dreamy “Kas Ir Mainījies?”

Riga, Latvia-based alt rock outfit Bēdu Brāļi — Oskars Tu (vocals, guitar), Jānis Liepiņš (bass) and Pēteris Ozols (drums) — spent their formative years in their homeland’s vibrant mid 00s punk and rock scenes. While the scene’s fiercely independent ethos and the use of Lativan lyrics rubbed off on them, they’ve managed to stand apart from their peers. 

The Riga-based outfit’s full-length debut, 2022’s Duende saw them crafting a sound that featured elements of shoegaze, psych rock, post-punk and more. Building upon a growing profile in their homeland, the trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Lauskas will be released April 8, 2025 through I Love You Records.

Deriving its title from the Latvian word for shards, the Riga-based outfit’s sophomore album reportedly sees the band further cementing their boundary pushing sound.

In the lead-up to the album’s release next week, I’ve written about three of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Ikdienas-dzive,” a track anchored around glistening guitars, a chugging motorik groove and a woozy, shoegazer textured guitar solo paired with Tu’s punchily delivered vocal. While recalling Montréal‘s Atusko Chiba, “Ikdienas-dzive,” captures a nagging sense of vacillating self-doubt, bored and uneasy dread and frustration that should feel familiar to anyone who’s slaved away at a soul-sucking day job. 

  • “Pieskaries,” is a brooding, decidedly post punk affair featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, rolling drum pattern and bursts of slashing guitars serving as an uneasy bed for Oskars Tu’s desperate wails. While continuing a run of material that reminds me a bit of Atsuko Chiba, “Pieskaries” captures a modern sense of isolation and unease while being with others. 

  • “Drošākā vieta,” a tense and brooding song featuring an angular and propulsive bass line, swirling shoegazer textures guitars paired with Oskars Tu’s achingly plaintive delivery before ending with a noisy coda. Deriving its name for the Latvian phrase for “safe place,” “Drošākā vieta” captures the long for a safe place in a mad, mad world.

“Kas Ir Mainījies?,” Lauskas‘ fourth and latest single is a slow-burning song that’s one-part 90s alt rock and one-part dream pop, anchored around a classic grunge song structure featuring alternating quiet verses with shimmering guitars and big, power chord-driven choruses serving as a woozy bed for Bēdu Brāļi frontman Oskars Tu and Latvian-born, London-based vocalist Múr to trade dreamily delivered vocals on what may arguably be their most pop-leaning track to date.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Slumbering Sun Shares Cinematic “Midsommar Night’s Dream”

Formed back in 2022, Austin-based outfit Slumbering Sun — Monte Luna‘s James Clarke (vocals), Destroyer of Light‘s Keegan Kjeldsen (guitar) and Kelly “Penny” Turner, Temptress‘ Kelsey Wilson, and Monte Luna’s and Scorpion Child’s Garth Condit (bass) — is a Texas underground metal scene All-Star outfit that specializes in “music for crazy romantics,” as they’ve dubbed it, a melodic doom metal that incorporates elements of Celtic folk, grunge, prog rock and shoegaze.

The Austin-based quintet’s full-length debut, 2023’s The Ever-Living Fire debuted at #20 on the Doom Charts. The band played their first show at SXSW’s Stoner Jam, then embarked on a series of regional tours before capping off the year with a set at Ripple Fest.

The band spent the bulk of last year, writing and recording their highly-anticipated sophomore effort, Starmony, which is slated for a limited-edition vinyl and digital release on May 6, 2025. In between writing and recording sessions, they toured the Midwest and released last year’s “Out of the Blue & Into the Void,” a song that seemingly mashes up classic tracks by Neil Young and Black Sabbath.

Slumbering Sun’s latest single “Midsommar Night’s Dream” begins with a gorgeous and pensive piano and string-driven introduction, before morphing into a swooningly heartfelt and nostalgia-fueled dirge anchored around the sort of fuzzy power chords that would bring a smile to the faces of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Neil Young, all while being arguably the most cinematic song they’ve released to date.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Shares Brooding “Outside Observer”

French JOVM mainstay LutchamaK returns with the four-track Hybrid EP. Released today through Chicago-based Urban Kickz Recordings Special Series, the French JOVM mainstay’s latest EP sees him continuing to bounce around several different styles and genres of electronic music, all while showcasing an uncanny ability to make it all cohesive. 

So far, I’ve written about two of the EP’s singles:

  • EP title track “Hybrid,” a slick synthesis of joyous Larry Levan-like house, and glitchy, industrial-leaning Detroit and Berlin-like techno that slaps hard.

  • “Innsæi,” a swaggering banger that recalls Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks paired with some glitchy, retro-futuristic synths.

“Outside Observer” is a brooding and subtly menacing bit of house featuring skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling hook, atmospheric bass synths, glitchy oscillations and a spoken word vocal sample. While reminding listeners of the JOVM mainstays uncanny knack for sleek productions paired with razor sharp hooks, “Outside Observer” continues a run of remarkably cinematic yet club friendly material.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: L’Eclair Teams Up With Phoebe Coco and A Ghost Column on Dance Floor Friendly “ODESSOS”

With recorded output that includes 2018’s full-length debut, Polymood, 2019’s Sauropoda, 2020’s Noshtta EP and 2021’s Confusions, the acclaimed Swiss-based group L’Eclair, founded and led by Bulgarian-born siblings Stef and Yavov Lilov established themselves as masters of a mind-bending, spacey grooves. Along with two live sessions for KEXP, which amassed over 900,000 views combined, the Swiss-based group have built up an international following, while landing on the playlists of adventurous listeners and DJs seeking deep grooves,.

L’Eclair’s fourth album Cloud Drifter is slated for a June 20, 2025 release through Innovative Leisure. Meticulously crafted over the last four years, Cloud Drifter makes a decided departure from the group’s signature instrumental music, with the album’s material featuring vocal contributions from a wide array of frequent collaborators they’ve worked with over the past few years, including Pink Slifu, Girl Named GOLDEN, Gelli Haha, A Ghost Column, and more. Having toured with The Cinematic Orchestra and W.I.T.CH. — including writing and recording W.I.T.C.H.’s 2023 effort Zango and The Cinematic Orchestra’s forthcoming album this year, and production work with Varnish La Piscine and Maston, the Lilov brothers have assembled a vast network of likeminded musicians. And across the entire album, they keenly curate a cohesive vision incorporating many disparate contributions.

Cloud Drifter‘s first single, “ODESSOS,” features Phoebe Coco‘s and A Ghost Column’s ethereal vocals paired with twinkling and oscillating synths and a dub-inspired motorik groove. Arguably one of the most club friendly songs the Swiss outfit has ever released, the new single is a bold, sonic left turn that retains their long-held penchant for crafting mind-bending grooves. And unlike their previously released material, “ODESSOS” manages to convey the freewheeling, improvisation-driven and infectious energy of their live shows.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Shares Swaggering “Innsæi”

French JOVM mainstay LutchamaK returns with the four-track Hybrid EP. Released today through Chicago-based Urban Kickz Recordings Special Series, the French JOVM mainstay’s latest EP sees him continuing to bounce around several different styles and genres of electronic music, all while showcasing an uncanny ability to make it all cohesive. 

You might recall that I recently released about EP title track “Hybrid,” a slick synthesis of joyous Larry Levan-like house, and glitchy, industrial-leaning Detroit and Berlin-like techno that slaps hard. The EP’s latest single “Innsæi” is a swaggering banger that recalls Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks paired with some glitchy, retro-futuristic synths. But interestingly, “Innsæi” may be the most cinematic track of the JOVM mainstay’s growing catalog.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alaska Blue Share A Shimmering Ode to Loneliness”

Earlier this year, Italian indie duo Alaska Blue — singer/songwriter Elisabeta Giordano and musician Davide Cast — released “Cigarette,” a subtly Bossa nova-like take on neo-soul that evokes late night/early morning solitary walks in an industrial city that has seen much better days, reminiscing over what once was and may never come back; and of dreaming of escaping your dreary surroundings for something different — or for something seemingly better.

The duo explain that the song explores themes of destiny, the weight of nostalgia and the struggle of working-class folks and life on the city’s edge. “The lyrics paint a personal vision of concrete-paneled buildings in the outskirts of a port city,” they say. The “song will resonate with anyone, who’s ever felt the weight of unspoken words and the quiet beauty of a lonely night.”

The duo’s latest single of 2025, “Starless” is a slow-burning and soulful bit of dream pop that brings a synthesis of Still Corners, Geowulf and Amy Winehouse to mind while continuing to showcase their unerring knack for paring catchy hooks with earnest and deeply introspective lyricism.

The duo explain that “‘Starless’ highlights that while we are in the rush to chase deadlines, grab a meal before the store closes, or catch the last train, so many lives are left unseen. This track captures the aching loneliness of those at the edges. . . .”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Returns with Sleek “Hybrid”

French JOVM mainstay LutchamaK returns with the four-track Hybrid EP. Released today through Chicago-based Urban Kickz Recordings Special Series, the French JOVM mainstay’s latest EP sees him continuing to bounce around several different styles and genres of electronic music, all while showcasing an uncanny ability to make it all cohesive.

The EP’s latest single, EP title track “Hybrid” is a slick synthesis of joyous. Larry Levan-like house, and glitchy, industrial-leaning Detroit and Berlin-like techno that slaps hard.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Total Fucking Darkness Shares a Sardonic and Uneasy Banger

Besides being an awesome band name, Total Fucking Darkness features: 

Earlier this year, the trio shared “Desolation Boys,” a slick yet chaotic synthesis of Tweekend-era Crystal Method and Come With Us-era Chemical Brothers-like big beat, LCD Soundsystem and deep house with glistening synth arpeggios delivered with a nihilistic, tongue-in-cheek absurdity.

Created in the final hours of a manic, 72-hour writing spree with McFall flying in from London, “Desolation Boys” encapsulates the band’s volatile energy. The song is anchored around spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness-like lyrics and a raw vocal take where Campbell can be faintly heard yelling “go fuck yourself,” mid-chorus. Who is he yelling at? Himself, perhaps? 

The song reflects the band’s ongoing exploration of themes like the futility of existence, the exciting pointlessness of class war and the rejection of everything that doesn’t BANG. 

The trio returns with “Take It Easy,” a relentlessly pulsing and unsettling track that pairs propulsive dance floor friendly energy with a tongue-in-cheek and irreverent sense of despair. The song finds the trio daring listeners to embrace the void rather than resist it; to readily acknowledge that the world and everything you know is on fire and there may be little you can do about it. As the old saying goes “Might as well laugh, ’cause it hurts too much to cry.”

The irony of the song’s title isn’t an accident. The song is anchored around a platitudinous phrase used as a bitingly sardonic weapon in an our hellish, at times, Kafka-esque moment.

Written in real-time, “Take It Easy” was born from pure instinct. The trio’s Torquil Campbell wrote the lyrics while listening to the track for the first time, which baffles his bandmates Stephen Ramsey and Tom McFall. And there are sheep. Yeah, sheep.

“There are sheep involved in the track. It’s not the first song I’ve heard with sheep in it this year,” Total Fucking Darkness’ Ramsey says. “If you think about it, songs with sheep in them are an incredibly good sign, because there’s never been a bad song that mentions, or actually features sheep. Think about it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bedridden Shares Furious “Philadelphia, Get Me Through”

Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and musician Jack Riley can trace the origins of his music career to when he was five and making music on a thrift-store guitar emblazoned with Kurt Cobain‘s name. Riley moved to New Orleans for college, where dabbled in punk and fell in love with shoegaze before starting the first iteration of Bedridden. The Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and musician recruited Pasadena, CA-born jazz trained Sebastian Duzian (bass) and Claremont, CA-born Nick Pedroza (drums), who grew up on rock, metal and jazz to form a live band. 

The first lineup released their debut EP, 2023’s Amateur Heartthrob, a noise-washed blend of shoegaze, DIY and indie rock that Riley says is a “coming-of-age EP — these formative stories about not having a bed, dating, being kind of a jackass. I was making fun of myself a lot.” The EP caught the attention of Julia’s War Recordings‘ Douglas Dulgarian, who then signed the band. 

The band relocated to Brooklyn. After relocating, the band recruited Wesley Wolffe (guitar) to complete the band’s lineup as a newly minted quartet. The current incarnation of the band encompasses a patchwork of styles, influences and friends that the band’s Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based frontman has accumulated over the years. 

The next iteration in the band’s development and maturation is their full-length debut, the Aron Kobayashi Ritch-produced Moths Strapped To Each Other’s Back. Slated for an April 11, 2025 release through Julia’s War Recordings, the album’s titled is derived from a mysterious missive Riley received on the popular astrology app Co-Star. The 10-song album’s fuzzed out and sometimes gnarly songs sees the band ruminating on dating, drugs and survival. “Last year I was way too reliant on other people — my partner at the time, my friends,” Riley says. “I was strapped to them in a weird way — and flying in circles. This album is about that time.”

“Some of these songs have been around for years,” says Riley, adding that they were recorded last February at Brooklyn’s Studio G. “As opposed to Amateur Heartthrob, we attempted to blend more clean guitars into a driving sound to capture more clarity — one that also sounds live… and raw.”

So far I’ve written about two of the album’s previously released singles”

  • “Etch,” a woozy yet mournful Dinosaur Jr.-like  ripper built around fuzzy power chords, rousingly anthemic, mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses and thunderous drumming that’s anchored around a seething, simmering anger that inspires a daydream about punching someone in the jaw. “‘Etch’ was a rhythmic accident that didn’t stem from any direct inspirations,” Riley explains. “The irregular triplet line came to me first and sounded somber, yet hostile. It lent itself well to phrases I had written not about heartbreak, but about the subsequent temper that it had induced. I was dreaming of fighting, I was dreaming of winning that fight, and lastly dreaming of defaming my competitor. The song is frantic and doesn’t have a tonal center. With its weaving guitar harmonies laid underneath countering vocal melodies, it sounds to me like that regretful fistfight that I was longing for.”

  • “Chainsaw” is a rousingly anthemic Dinosaur Jr./Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins-like ripper that sees Riley expressing the frustrations and pent-up annoyances with roommates and their quirks and foibles. “The song is written from my perspective about a time when I made an uncertain decision to move in with a partner and her friend and a slew of manic stories that ensued after the fact,” Bedridden’s Jack Riley explains “One of the stories was that of the roommates incessantly searching to buy a new lamp and how it bothered me. The video is me trying to break through that anger by destroying the lamps.”

Moths Strapped to Each Other’s Backs‘ latest single “Philadelphia, Get Me Through” may arguably be one of the album’s angriest and most forceful rippers. Featuring driving rhythms paired with Dinosaur Jr.-meets- The Colour and The Shape-era Foo Fighters-like riffage, big shout-along worthy hooks and choruses, “Philadelphia, Get Me Through” is a one-part tongue-in-cheek joke, one-part diss track informed by personal experience.

“This is the most charged song I wrote for Moths,” Bedridden’s Jack Riley says. “I was hyper-aware that I was losing it at the time. I was chasing a relationship that only made me feel belittled. Bedridden took a day trip out to Philly to play a show with Worlds Worst and I thought that having a good night away from Brooklyn would cure me. It didn’t. Soon after, I dug up this angular, repetitive riff in a 5/4 time signature and found the melody quickly. The song crescendos into damn near a metal track. Nick wrote an incredible drum part. I had the perfect groundwork for a diss track.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Population II Shares Ripping “La Trippance”

Acclaimed Montréal-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated, Dominic Vanchesteing-produced third album Maintenant Jamais on Friday through Bonsound.

The 14-song album reportedly sees the band drawing from their formative influence with a deep, sense of sophistication. The album will feature the previously released “Le thé set prêt,” and “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” a krautrock/prog rock-like take on psych rock featuring pulsating drum patterns paired with glistening synths and fuzzy power chords serving as a lush and languorous bed for Gratton’s dreamy cooing that sees the band subtly — and perhaps playfully — expanding upon their sound while reminding listeners of their adroit musicianship and songwriting.

Just as they were about to embark to Austin to play this year’s SXSW, the trio shared the  Dominic Vanchesteing-directed live short film, Carillon — Population II in concert. Shot among the massive, brutalist-inspired concrete monoliths of the Monument québécois à la mémoire des héros du Long-Sault. Recalling Pink Floyd‘s Live at Pompeii, the live footage features the band performing songs in front of a camera eye that languorously floats and circles around the band and the enormous monoliths around them. 

Just before the album’s Friday release, the French-Canadian trio shared the album’s third and latest single “La Trippance.” Beginning with a brooding intro that features buzzing Farfisa organ and buzzing synths, the track quickly morphs into arguably one of the album’s heaviest and hardest hitting tracks with Gratton’s drumming merging with staccato guitar bursts and a blazing proto-punk-meets-metal guitar solo before closing out with a brooding and buzzing coda.

Much like the album’s previously released singles, “La Trippance” showcases the French-Canadian trio’s uncanny tightness and musical prowess, while serving as a reminder that they are crafting some of Canada’s hardest hitting and trippiest material out there right now.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Swimming Bell Shares Lush and Dreamlike “Meet My Shadow”

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and musician Katie Schottland is the creative mastermind behind Swimming Bell. Her five-song, Rob Schnapf-produced EP Somnia is slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Perpetual Doom.

Somnia invites listeners to an ethereal sonic realm, a sort of underwater dreamworld where melodies drift effortlessly and rhythms pulse like ocean currents. Schottland envisioned the EP as an escape from the crushing weight of reality, a space where listeners could feel suspended — as though they were floating — between wakefulness and dreaming. Collaborating with Schnapf, Schottland embraced a much more percussive approach, allowing textures and rhythms to guide the listener through the material’s shimmering soundscapes.

“I wanted this EP to feel like sinking into water, where everything is softened and suspended,” says Schottland. “Given all the stress and tension in the world, I wanted to make a feeling of escape – something hypnotic and transportive. Rob and I explored percussive layers in a way that felt both grounding and dreamy, creating movement within.”

Somnia’s first single, “Meet My Shadow” is a shimmering mix of Laurel Canyon, Nick Drake-era psych folk and country featuring shimmering pedal steel, twinkling keys, gently rolling percussion, strummed acoustic guitar, and a supple bass line serving as a lush and dreamlike bed for Schottland’s gorgeous yet effortless delivery.

“With this song, I wanted to strip things down and focus on the feel – letting the groove take the lead and allowing the melody to float within it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dead Pioneers Share An Incisive Ripper

Denver-based punk outfit Dead Pioneers — Josh Rivera (guitar), Abe Brennan (guitar), Shane Zweygardt (drums), Algiers’ Lee Tesche (bass) and acclaimed indigenous visual and performance artist and activist Gregg Deal (vocals) — will be releasing their sophomore album PO$T AMERICAN on April 11, 2025 through Hassle Records. 

Deal, who is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, is a visual and performance artist and activist, whose work frequently includes exhaustive and detailed critiques of American colonialism, society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals and performance art, Deal critically examines issues within Indian Country such as decolonization, stereotypes and appropriation among others. His work has been exhibited at cultural centers nationally and internationally including at the Smithsonian Institution and the Venice Biennale. 

After a 17 year stint living in the Washington, DC area, Deal and his family relocated to Colorado, coinciding with his time as Native Arts Artist-in-Residence at the Denver Art Museum. Dead Pioneers can trace their origins from a 2020 performance piece The Punk Pan-Indian Romantic Comedy, a deeply personal one-man show that explored themes of music, personal experiences and meaningful connections. A grant allowed Deal to expand upon the project, incorporating original music written specifically for the performance. 

The Denver-based punks pair a DIY ethos with a mission to champion the rights of marginalized communities, including Indigenous, Black, Brown, Asian, LGBTQ+ folks, as well as workers’ rights. The band’s work sees them boldly and unapologetically confronting the social, political and cultural issues in the United States — a focus that’s central to their identity. 

The Denver-based outfit self-released their self-titled full-length debut last fall. Clocking in at 22 minutes, with only one of the album’s 12 songs exceeding three minutes, the album’s material may be a breakneck and furious roar, but it covers a huge amount of ground. The album caught the attention of Hassle Records, who signed the band and then re-released the album. 

PO$T AMERICAN‘s material was written last February and records last July. The album forecasts the turmoil of our last Presidential Election and reflects on the fears and disilluionsments of modern life, “The title PO$T AMERICAN reflects a collective disillusionment with the so-called American Dream,” Dead Pioneers’ Gregg Deal explains. “It critiques capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy while imagining a path toward unity beyond those oppressive systems.” 

The album’s material sees the band balancing minute-long punk rock explosions, impassioned explorations of modern-day America and spoken word interludes with the shifts in form and tone not distracting from its central themes. Sonically, the album draws from Rage Against the Machine, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Johnny Cash, IDLES, Black Flag, Rollins Band and Dead Kennedys among others. 

Perhaps as a result of the direct influences of its creation, the album manages to eerily presage the mood and state of our country right this moment: The fear, uncertainty, the bitter divisiveness, the racist scapegoating, the gaslighting, the gross incompetence, the oppression, bullshit and buffoonery we’ll face every day for the next four years — or even more.

“What we wrote was relevant politically and socially. We felt good about it, and moved forward in that confidence,” the band says. “It’s sad that scathing statements about fascism, white supremacy and racism in the American political landscape are somehow more relevant just because of an election, but here we are.”

And yet, the overall feeling is one of cautious optimism. “Although we didn’t expect the political relevance to become more relevant, we have no illusions to the American dream, or to where we seem to be going. But we have hope that we can get to a better place for people to have what they need. It is an album that speaks to and for this precise time and place; that perhaps could not exist at any other time. It is an album for now.”

Earlier this year, I wrote about album title track “PO$T AMERICAN,” a bruising ripper that sonically and thematically reminded me of Pearl Jam‘s “WMA” and “Push Me Pull Me” anchored around righteously furious critiques of America and American politics. If you’re a member of a marginalized community — and I guarantee that most of you readers actually are — the song should capture the distress, anger, insult and the bitterness that you feel right this second and will continue to feel for some time.

“We, like many people in our communities, are incensed by the overt and jarring political and social moves of United States Politics,” Deal says. “From the current administration to the administrations before it, there has been a trajectory in this country that has brought us to the critical moment we are all looking at. Our hope in this song is maybe, just maybe, we are saying something you feel too.” He continues, “I wrote this song on White people’s day of Independence, July 4, 2024. I wrote it sitting next to my oldest son while watching fireworks and having a discussion on what this day was supposed to mean. It went into a discussion of everything that was happening at that moment. Little did I know at the exact moment, that the relevant things would escalate, and become more stark. This was written to be scathing, honest, saying the quiet thing out loud. As we look upon the United States political landscape, this is very much how we feel.”

PO$T AMERICAN‘s latest single “The Caucasity,” continues a run of bruising art punk. Featuring propulsive and tribal rhythmic pulse and squiggling, reverb-soaked guitar blasts paired with Deal’s bemused and frustrated spoken word delivery, the song as the Dead Pioneers frontman explains “. . . tells the story of a true moment with a common set of languages and communications by non-Native people. While tongue and cheek, it’s also a true reflection of a marginalized person being asked to justify their actions, if not their entire existence.”

“This piece is the true story of an interaction with a shamelessly bold white college student that turns into a perfect example of the word while also showcasing the hurdles put in front of professional People of Color despite age, education or perceived authority. These are everyday occurrences in public spaces, academia and throughout our lives.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chatom Shares a Sleek and Futuristic Banger

Chaton is an emerging electronic music artist, whose debut single “From the Future” is a melodic bit of hard-hitting deep house that may remind listeners 

a bit of Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK.

Fittingly “From the Future” is inspired by futurism, the aspirations to create technologies to enable a better life for all.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Martin Oh Shares Breezy and Euphoric “Neverland”

Martin Oh is a rising singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who recently released his SOHN co-produced debut EP Better Place. The EP is features shimming, euphoric electro pop that specifically designed to get you dancing — and to set hearts on fire.

Better Place EP’s latest single “Neverland” is a slickly produced breezy bop that recalls a mix of 80s pop, St. Lucia and Rush Midnight, anchored around earnest lyricism and the rising artist’s knack for remarkably catchy hooks. Simply put, it’s a much-needed reminder of joy and fun in our dark, uncertain times.