Audio

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Moon Construction Kit Returns with Breezy and Anthemic “Right Across the USA”

Olivier Cornu is a a Lausanne-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and creative mastermind behind Moon Construction Kit, With Moon Construction Kit, Cormu specializes in a sound that draws from and blends elements of indie pop, psych pop, synth pop, late 1960s pop and film scores.

The Swiss producer, singer/songwriter and musician has had a busy year so far, with two previously released singles “Long John Silver” and the Steve Stout co-produced “Down the West Coast.” Building on the growing buzz surrounding him and his Moon Construction Kit, Cormu’s latest single “Right Across the USA” was written to feel a bit like a companion piece to “Down the West Coast” but while leaning more into punchier power pop. Seemingly nodding at The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the song is superficially a breezy and downright summery road trip track unpinned by a bittersweet, nostalgic longing for a world that seemed simpler and less outwardly confrontational.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Erica Tucceri Shares Breezy, Dance Floor Friendly “Grazie Ragazzi”

Erica Tucceri (pronounced like “two cherry”) is a Melbourne/Naarm-born, London-based producer, composer and flautist, who first cut her teeth as a prolific collaborator, working with Surprise Chef, ZEFX, Don Glori, Alexander Flood and a list of others from the local jazz scene while amassing a cult following for her signature tonal control and explosive solos.

Tucceri stepped out into the spotlight as a band leader and composer at 2024’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival, where her anticipated “Take Note” composition for 10 piece ensemble with strings was a triumphant sold-out headline debut that also showcased her continuing evolution as an artist.

Since relocating to London, the Aussie-born producer, composer and flautist signed to DeepMatter Records, who will be releasing her highly-anticipated full-length debut. Route 96. The album, which is slated for a November 27, 2026 release is part-diary, part-love letter to Melbourne/Naarm that was conceived during an unlikely stint moonlighting as a tram during during COVID-19 lockdowns. The rhythms and every day patter of the city and city life are translated into a blend of percussive, flute-driven cosmic jazz, informed by psychedelia and the dance floor. “This album is what happens when you leave a moonlighting musician alone in the drivers cabin of a Melbourne tram for a few years,” Tucceri says. “The compositions took shape while I drove. Influenced by the city around me, I’d sing ideas into my phone at the end of my shift, tying the fabric of the music to the sights, sounds and memories of the city. My only rule: if it was catchy enough to have remembered throughout the shift, it was worth capturing.”

Sitting on a growing stockpile of ideas, it wasn’t until the return of longterm friends Lewis Moody (keys, production) and Ziggy Zeitgeist (drums) to Melbourne/Naarm in late 2022 that she realized she actually had an album’s worth of material. Her backing band is rounded out by Matthew Hayes (bass) and Ray Pereira and Javier Fredes, two cross-generational masters of percussion and scene stalwarts, who contribute Cuban and West African-inspired percussion reuniting for their first collaboration together in twenty years.

The album follows upon the critical success of previously released single “Hey Bear” and “Flute Trip,” which received airplay across Australian community radio stations, including PBS FM and Triple R, and broke through onto UK national radio with airplay from Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova and BBC 6 Music’s New Music Fix Daily, as well as Jazz FM, Rinse FM and more. And adding to a growing profile, she has toured the world with various projects and has showcased her own music at EFG London Jazz Festival and at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Route 96‘s first single “Grazie Ragazzi” is a breezy and strutting bit of disco-tinged jazz funk, anchored around African-inspired percussion, a deep dance floor friendly groove, an incredibly catchy melody and some fiery and passionately improvised solos. Sonically resembling a mix of 70s jazz fusion and contemporaries like Surprise Chef, Mildlife and L’Eclair, the track captures — and evokes — the lingering buzz of joy of freedom, of seeing sweaty bodies moving and grooving and the appreciation of collective experience after a show at Section 8.

“I will never forget the way the energy of the whole room turned. It was heaving,” Tucceri recalls. “Everyone in the space turned to face the stage, the band were on fire and the dance floor went completely nuts, almost as one. I’ve spent many a night at Section 8, but I’ve never seen that again.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy’s Summery Remix of Joshua Idehen’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

After nearly two decades in London‘s poetry scene, Joshua Idehen found widespread recognition with the viral success of “Mum Does The Washing,” a poignant, witty pice set to music by his creative partner Ludvig Parment, a.k.a. Saturday, Monday. The success of “Mum Does The Washing” led to sold-out shows, major festival appearances — including Glastonbury — and a new chapter in Idehen’s artistic life. 

Initially drawn to film, Idehen’s poetic journey began after being captivated by Dizzee Rascal‘s Vexed on Channel U. Inspired by Scroobius Pip, he began doing poetry with music, collaborating with the likes of LV, Benin City and Sons of Kemet. His career as a singer/songwriter/performer coincided alongside a series of personal challenges, including a divorce and mental health struggles. Relocating to Stockholm during the COVID-19 pandemic gave him space to reflect and begin anew. 

That period of rebirth led to Idehen’s highly-anticiapted debut album, I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try, which was released earlier this year through Heavenly Recordings. Made with his longtime collaborator Parment, the album is a sonic embrace for the weary, mixing house-tinged beats, choral flourishes and lyrical meditations on hope, self-worth and collective resilience.

The album includes the previously released “It Always Was,” “Don’t Let It Get You Down,” and “This Is The Place.” Idehen and Heavenly Recordings shared Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy’s Cosmodelica remix of I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone is Hurting. Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try track “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The album version features Idehen’s vocal over an atmospheric, gently throbbing production to create a song that simultaneously sounds like a house music-inspired take on The Streets and a paranoid, sleepless walk with the narrator’s rapid-fire thoughts during the uneasy isolation of COVID restrictions and lockdowns. The summery Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy’s Cosmodelica remix pairs Idehen’s vocal with a buoyant house music production featuring a bouncing and strutting bass line, a playful percussive rhythm and glistening synths. The remix opens the curtains and parts the clouds to reveal bit of sunshine in the gloom, giving the song a deeper sense of resilience through the think of it, even if you have to fake it.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Halfway Up a Jagged Hill Share Sludgy and Expansive “Silver Sword”

Brooklyn-based indie duo Halfway Up a Jagged Hill (HUAJH) — longtime friends Devin Gilbert and Jeb Holstein — were walking in the woods one January night, looking for owls, when they can came across what could only […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Womack Sisters Share Soulful and Heartbroken “Monster”

Rising Los Angeles-based sibling soul trio The Womack Sisters — Kucha, Zeimani and BG — can trace the origins of their careers to their childhood: The trio were singing before they could even walk. They grew up on stages and in studios across the globe, singing behind their parents, as well as their legendary uncle, Bobby Womack. And adding to The Womack Sisters’ remarkable pedigree, their grandfather was the iconic Sam Cooke. 

No matter where they called home at the time — London, Thailand, Amsterdam, Kenya, West Virginia, The Bahamas — music and family were always a constant at the center of their lives. Of course, as the sisters grew up, each with their own respective journeys, experiences and heartaches, they managed to find their own voices and their own path.

Each member of the trio has their own individual vocal styling and timbre, but they playfully trade leads and effortlessly blend their harmonies perfectly in a way that only siblings can do.

Back in 2016, a mutual friend introduced The Womack Sisters to Daptone Records co-owner and producer Gabriel Roth, a.k.a. Bosco Mann, who heard them sing and fell quickly and deeply in love with their voices. Shortly after, they met, they went to Daptone’s Riverside, CA-based Penrose Studios to record their label debut, “If You Want Me“/”I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye).”

The rising Los Angeles trio’s long-awaited self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a Friday, August 14, 2026 through Daptone Records. The album will feature the previously released “Chauffeur” and the album’s latest single “Monster.” “Monster” is a slow-burning and heart-wrenching ballad rooted in a cinematic and old school-inspired arrangement and production. The song is about coming to terms with the devastating, emotional void left by unrequited love that features the siblings’ vocals expressing heartache, confusion, yearning and stubborn, determined pride within a turn of a phrase.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Atlanta’s Go Public Shares Punchy, Post Punk Cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

Formed back inn 2022, Atlanta-based quartet Go Public — Masters of the Hemisphere‘s and Still Flyin”s Sean Rawls, Masters of the Hemispehre’s and Elf Power‘s Adrian Finch, Sam Gunn and Jay Domingo — features some grizzled veterans of their hometown’s music scene. Since their formation, the band has become a live staple of the southern post punk scene.

Go Public’s full-length debut You Are Traffic is slated for a September 18, 2026 digital and physical release through HHBTM. The Atlanta-based outfit’s long-awaited debut, reportedly sees the band firmly establishing a sound that they’ve dubbed mutant disco, “bleaky vibrant jam for end-times dance parties” featuring skronky contortions, nope wave deconstructions, prickly wisdom and post-punk pith.

You Are Traffic‘s third and latest single “Dream Over” sees the Atlanta-based band tackling Crowded House’s 1986 global smash hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and turning the bittersweet and melancholy yet hopeful tune into a punchy and wiry post-punk ripper, while retaining the heartbreak and defiant resilience at the core of the original.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Velatine Returns with Dead Radio Remix of “Playing With The Orbits”

Producer, songwriter and musician Loki Lockwood is the creative mastermind behind the Melbourne-based darkwave/goth recording project Velatine. For the bulk of the project’s history, Lockwood collaborated with different vocalists while creating a unique and fresh […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Ayanna Witter-Johnson Shares Gorgeous, Meditative “Blue”

Born and raised in North London to Jamaican parents, acclaimed and rising, Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Award-nominated composer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ayanna Wittter-Johnson grew up surrounded by the sounds of reggae, gospel and classical music. After earning a first-class Bachelor’s degree at Trinity Laban Conservatory and a Masters at the Manhattan School of Music, supported by a Higher Education Scholarship, Witter-Johnson has built a career founded in authenticity and cross-genre collaboration.

From composing to performing, the London-born artist’s work is a sonic bridge between worlds, seamlessly blending jazz, reggae and soul while celebrating her Jamaican heritage, culture and identity. Witter-Johnson’s recorded output — 2014’s Black Panther EP, 2018’s Truthfully Still and Ella, Reuben & Aly EP, 2019s full-length debut, Road Runner, 2021’s Rise Up EP and 2023’s sophomore album Painted Light — has seen her collaborating with producers Marc Mac and James Yarde, as well as pianist Robert Mitchell, vocalist Cleveland Watkiss and rapper Akala while earning critical acclaim and widespread acclaim across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Music 6, Jazz FM and Magic Classical. 2023’s Ocean Floor, a collaborative album with the London Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble dove into her Jamaican heritage, weaving classical textures with island rhythms and ancestral storytelling.

As a composer, Witter-Johson has won the Nordoff and Robbins 02 Silver Clef Classical Award and an RPS and AIM Awards Best Life Performer nominations — and she has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Chineke! Orchestra, Guerzenich Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as numerous chamber ensembles.

The acclaimed London-born artist has been both prolific and very busy: She’s currently working on a major new commission for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to celebrate their 90th anniversary and co-scoring her first TV drama for Sky Arts, which is slated for release this year.

Witter-Johnson’s highly anticipated album New Roots is slated for a September 18, 2026 release through her own Hill and Gully Records. Written across a series of retreats, hotel rooms, quarantine lockdown and quiet pockets of life on the road, New Roots documents moments where stillness becomes a portal, a place to her ancestral voices, confront personal truth and re-anchor yourself in what matters. Further cementing the London-born artist as a world-builder and musical polymath, the album sees Witter-Johnson delving into her heritage and spiritual practice, reflecting on British-Caribbean identity, the inheritance of Windrush Generation wisdom, grief and remembrance and the the strength required to keep choosing oneself. (By the way, the Windrush Generation was the Caribbean Island folk, who moved from the island nations from 1948-1971)“It’s an album about finding centre — personally, culturally, and cosmically — and about learning that new roots can be grown even in unfamiliar or fractured ground,” the acclaimed artist says,

Sonically, the album reportedly sees her expanding on her signature fusion of R&B, soul, classical and jazz, while tracing her Jamaican heritage through lush orchestration and raw, personal storytelling. The result is an effort that’s both deeply rooted and yet forward-looking.

New Roots‘ latest single “Blue” is built around a sparse yet gorgeous arrangement of Witter-Johnon’s percussive cello playing and subtle bursts of strings beneath her expressive, searching delivery. The result is a song that’s intimate, lived-in and yet cinematic. Sonically seemingly to nod at Joni Mitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello and contemporary R&B, “Blue” was originally written pre-pandemic during a “write-an-album-in-a-week” retreat, and was a way of processing the emotional fallout of a toxic relationship. But with distance and reflection, the song took on a new life.

“With distance and reflection, ‘Blue’ has grown into something broader: a meditation on patterns of pain and the ways in which victimhood can quietly shape multiple areas of life,” Witter-Johnson explains,. “The song now stands as a metaphor for a range of difficult relationships and situations — moments where suffering becomes familiar, and where growth comes from recognising and gently releasing that identity.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Drums Teams Up with Mareux on Chilly and Brooding “It Didn’t Matter”

New York-based songwriter and producer Jonny Pierce is the creative mastermind of the acclaimed and beloved recording project The Drums. Since the project’s formation back in 2010, Pierce has released six albums, cultivating a fiercely loyal fanbase through sharp songwriting and a timeless blend of indie pop, surf rock and post-punk.

The Drums have consistently sold-out headlining tours across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, while making multiple runs of the global festival circuit, playing sets at Coachella, Primavera Sound, Outside Lands, Corona Capital and Lollapalooza. Pierce’s work has appeared in film, television and global campaigns for brands, including Volkswagen. Their breakthrough single “Money” has taken on a remarkable second life, fueled by viral TikTok trends that have introduced the song to millions of new listeners. Recently certified platinum, “Money” has amassed hundreds of millions of streams while simultaneously resonating with fans both old and new.

Iranian American artist Aryan Ashtiani is the creative mastermind behind the goth-inspired project Marueax. His career has been a stratospheric rise: Ashtiani played his first sold-out Mareaux show in June, after his viral cover of The Cure’s ‘The Perfect Girl” lit up the internet, eventually being certified platinum in the States and gold in France. Less than a year later, Ashtiani played Coachella, embarked on two US tours and a European tour, while landing sets across the international festival circuit.

Having helped spark a resurgence of internet in post-punk and dark wave among a constantly online new generation, Maruex finds himself at the forefront of the latest innovative strain of goth. “I want to become a gateway to older subcultural genres for people who are just discovering alternative music today,” the rising Iranian American artist says.

Building upon a rapidly rising profile, he released his debut album 2023’s Lovers From The Past, and quickly establishing his brand through cult favorite videos for “Night Vision” and “Lovers From The Past.” Last year’s Nonstop Romance saw the rising Iranian American artist prioritizing feel and vibe over clarity rooted in his desire to “make every day about making someone happy and giving them the best life possible.”

Ashtiani will continue to support Nonstop Romance with a European tour and East Coast tour to close out 2026.

Last week, Pierce launched a new label, Abysmal Records. He founded the label as a home for collaboration experimentation and emerging artists he deeply believes in. The label’s first single “It Didn’t Matter” is a collaboration with Pierce’s The Drums and Ashtiani’s Maruex. “It Didn’t Matter” feat. Mareux not only kicks off Abysmal Records in grand style, it’s the first of a six-month series of collaborative singles originating from recording sessions with a handpicked group of artists over the past two years, artists whose work has inspired Pierce and whose work he wanted to amplify.

Built around a sleek and chilly, darkwave-inspired motorik paired with Ashtiani’s yearning, heartbroken delivery, “It Didn’t Matter” is a brooding tune featuring a narrator desperately seeking an explanation. Throughout the song’s runtime, Ashtiani’s narrator expresses feelings of confusion and foolishness over a heartbreak with difficult to ignore pleas. The result is a song grounded in a deep, psychological realism that gives the song a walloping emotional punch.

“Not since writing my earliest music has a song come together so effortlessly. Whenever that happens, it makes me feel certain the song was meant to exist—that it needed to be here, for all of us,” Jonny Pierce says of the collaboration. “Mareux’s synthesizer wizardry threw me back to my teenage years, when almost everything I listened to was synthesizer-based music, especially synth-pop. His sounds, textures, and perfect pop chord changes reminded me of the soundtrack to such a tender time in my life—when I was desperate for love but just couldn’t find it, and synthesizers became the soundtrack to my sadness. This one is for those of us who keep banging our heads against the wall of another heart, only to be given nothing in return.”

The Abysmal Records series will pave the way for The Drums’ 12th album, which is planned for a 2027 release.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: EYRE LLEW Shares a Meditative, Atmospheric Ode on Loss

Nottingham, UK-based trio EYRE LLEW — Sam Heaton (vocals, guitar), Jack Clark (drums, piano) and Jack Bennett (guitar, piano) — will be releasing their highly anticipated sophomore album Bloom on September 18, 2026 through Penance Music Group.

Bloom is deeply influenced and informed by pandemic-era quarantines and lockdowns. For the bulk of the band’s existence, they had defined themselves by seemingly constant motion: Cities blurred into one another. Border crossings were routine. Their lives revolved around airports, late night drives, ferry ports, backstage rooms, festival fields, hotel corridors and long-distance journeys. As a touring band, success, such as it exists, is often measured in miles traveled, crowd size, and momentum developed and sustained.

They kept moving at that frenetic pace, because that’s how it always was. As countless bands would view it, slowing down would mean — on some level, at least — that the momentum was slowing; that your career was stalling out. And stopping would mean accepting failure, when “making it” seemed to just within their grasp.

Much like all countless other acts across the globe, the pandemic dismantled their trajectory. That relentless forward motion that shaped their identity for the better part of a decade just suddenly stopped. Tours vanished. Plans dissolved. The result was an uneasy, unsettling silence. And understandably, for the trio, it was devastating.

However, in the stillness, something else emerged for the trio — space: For the first time in a decade, the space to rest, reflect, recover, and to make much different choices. The band made a quieter, more human recalibration, shifting away from survival towards sustainability. Rather than constantly feeling as though they had to prove something, they moved towards building something — and choosing meaning over the endless chase of momentum.

Written during lockdown and the subsequent years post-lockdown, Bloom is reportedly about several things simultaneously: presence, the love that feels like home, stillness as strength, devotion without spectacle, grief without melodrama, healing without performative optimism and growth that happens slowly, privately and honestly.

The shift in approach, fittingly led to a shift in their sound. Bloom continues to carry the vastness they’re known for, but it lives alongside a newfound sense of fragility and restraint. Instead of actively attempting to overwhelm the listener, the band is actively trying to meet the listener where they are right now.

The album will include the previously released “Miningsby,” the album title track “Bloom,” and its third and latest single “Rainbow Bridge.” “Rainbow Bridge” is a slow-burning and atmospheric tune rooted in a devastatingly confusing and heartbreaking sense of grief, nostalgia, and a life-affirming sense of gratitude that’s lived-in yet restrained. It’s your eyes tearing up over a loss with a wistful smile or a sad laugh over some idiosyncratic thing over your pet would do — or some small, mundane moment that you wish you could repeat just one more time. Sonically, the new single channels a blend of Sigur Rós and A Storm In Heaven-era The Verve.

Inspired by the much-loved poem depicting the place where departed animal companions wait to reunite with their owners in the afterlife, “Rainbow Bridge” is a personal mediation on love and loss. Written after the passing of family dogs, the song reflects on the quiet ways animals leave lasting marks on our lives, their fearless curiosity, unconditional affection, and the everyday moments that become treasured memories once they’ve gone.

“Rather than dwelling in grief, the song sits in gratitude.” the band says “It acknowledges loss, but frames it through warmth, memory, and the idea that love doesn’t disappear; it just changes shape. Rainbow Bridge is a soft tribute to the companionship.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Skinshape Shares Shimmering and Introspective “The Blade of a Knife”

Will Dorey is a London-based producer, singer/songwriter, producer and creative mastermind behind the solo recording project, Skinshape. And with Skinshape, the London-based artist has established himself as a master of understated soundscapes, blending rich textures with an array of eclectic influences from around the world. Dorey’s work is known for being imbued with warmth, depth and a timeless character.

Every Skinshape effort reflects the London-based artist’s meticulous approach to composition and production, rooted in the distinct sonic identity made possible by the vintage analog recording equipment he uses.

The London-based artist’s 11th Skinshape album, Chapman’s Pool derives its name from a a secluded bay on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, near Dorey’s childhood home. The album draws inspiration from the landscapes that have remained a constant source of influence throughout his career.

Chapman’s Pool’s first single “The Blade of a Knife” is a shimmering tune that sounds as though it draws from psych soul, Northern soul and troubadour pop — and in a way that reminds me a bit of The Beach Boys, Bobby Oroza, Common Saints, and others. Rooted in an deeply introspective lyricism, the song is poignant, seemingly lived-in ode to the vicious cycles and loops that can wrap us up in down times, but while keeping a sliver of light — just in view. “This song was written about the mental struggles one faces in life. How we are a slave to our mind and the habits we form go round and round day after day. We wish to be free of our confusion as it stabs us like the ‘Blade of a Knife.'”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chrome Sparks Teams Up with Jónsi and Khalid on Ethereal and Cinematic “Sleeper”

Jeremy Malvin is a producer, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind the acclaimed electronic music project Chrome Sparks. And over the past decade, Malvin has firmly established a distinctive voice, building a singular world that sees him effortlessly move between electronic music and ambient composition paired with deeply emotional songwriting. Since breaking through with 2013’s “Marijuana,” the Chrome Sparks mastermind has balanced intricate production with lush melodic and atmosphere with 2014’s Goddess EP, 2018’s self-titled, full-length debut and 2019’s “Be on Fire.”

Since “Be on Fire,” Malvin has been extremely busy, focusing largely on collaborations and production for other artists, including contributing production, songwriting and instrumental work for a collection of acclaimed and rising artists, including

Slayyter‘s “Unknown Loverz,” off this year’s WORST GIRL IN AMERICA‘; Lily Allen‘s West End Girl, which reached #2 on the UK Albums Chart and received a BRIT Award nomination — with co-production credits on “Dallas Major,” “Let You Win,” and “Madeline;” Selena Gomez‘s and Benny Blanco’s “Sunset Blvd.,” off their Billboard 200 #2 album I Said I Love You First; and Mallrat’s ARIA Platinum-certified “My Darling, My Angel.”

Malvin’s work has earned praise from a growing list of renowned media outlets including The New York Times, Billboard, NPR, Pitchfork, The Fader and more.

The acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and producer’s first Chrome Sparks album in eight years, Ball of Light is slated for a September 11, 2026 release through ChromeSounds/AWAL Reportedly, Malvin’s most expansive, fully realized and personal work to date, Ball of Light marks a creative rest and the beginning of a new chapter. Expansive yet intimate, the album builds cinematic worlds with glistening and glowing synths intricate production and earnestly felt melodies. The result is an effort that sees the Chrome Sparks mastermind reconnecting with what first drew him to making music while simultaneously pushing his sound into new territories. “Over the last seven years, I’ve focused mostly on collaborations and other artists’ projects,” Malvin says, “Ball of Light is me finding myself again.”

Ball of Light‘s latest single “Sleeper” feat Khalid and Sigur Rós‘ Jonsi is built around a lush, slow-burning and cinematic production of swirling, atmospheric synths, twinkling strings and thumping beats. Khalid’s and Jonsi’s otherworldly and ethereal harmonies languidly float over the mix, seemingly expressing a lovelorn yearning. The result is a song that’s hauntingly dreamlike.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Delafaye Shares Introspective, Lived-In “Intrusive Thoughts”

Louisville, KY-born, Jeffersonville, IN-based singer/songwriter Andrew Shockley is the creative mastermind behind the indie folk recording project Delafaye, which derives its name after the name of a street that formed part of Shockley’s childhood memories.

Created back in 2016, the Louisville-born, Jeffersonville-based artist’s solo project sees him crafting deeply relatable, melancholy-fueled songs rooted in honest, raw, heart-worn-on-sleeve-driven reflections on modern day concerns that he records he records at his home studio, Beechwood.

Shockley’s latest Delafaye song “Intrusive Thoughts” features a gorgeous, folksy arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, subtly bluesy electric guitar twinkling keys and a simple yet propulsive backbeat beneath the Louisville-born, Jeffersonville-based artist’s gravelly Jesse Welles-like vocal. While clocking in at a little over 2:30, “Intrusive Thoughts”focuses on a lonely guy, smoking cigarettes at a local bar with intrusive thoughts of self-doubt, self-loathing and despair with a novelist’s attention to psychological realism that feels lived-in.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Twin Temple Returns with Soulful and Yearning “Haunt Me”

Formed back in 2017, Twin Temple — married couple Alexandra and Zachary James — are an acclaimed Los Angeles-based duo, who specialize in a new sub-genre and style that they’ve dubbed “Satanic Doo Wop,” which blends their practice of Satanism with a sound that’s influenced by The Platters, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and the like. 

The Los Angeles-based duo have developed for being one of the contemporary scene’s most talked about crossover acts, earning widespread coverage from media outlets like Rolling Stone, NME, Billboard, American Songwriter, Stereogum, Consequence, Revolver, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Loudwire, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and a long list of others, and for being one of the most provocative acts out there right now. Their uncompromising artistic vision routinely sparks much larger and more serious conversations about artistic freedom, religious freedom, freedom of expression, censorship, the role of controversy in art, and on a broader sense, the wider role of art within the cultural landscape.

Some of y’all, have heard of the duo after Charley Crockett abruptly dropped the band from his shows earlier this month — specifically because of their usage of Satanic imagery. This led to Jack White publicly inviting the band to open for his Los Angeles area show in September. Serendipitously, the duo’s highly-anticipated third album Doomed Lovers will come right on the heels of their latest, and arguably biggest controversy to date.

Slated for an October 9, 2026 release through their own Pentagrammation Records, the Shooter Jennings-produced Doomed Lovers was recorded at Hollywood-based Sunset Sound‘s iconic Studio 3 and marks the acclaimed duo’s boldest chapter to date.

Born from one of the darkest periods of their personal lives, Doomed Lovers is reportedly their most intimate and emotionally revealing work to date. Expanding upon the cinematic scope of the sound that has won them acclaim while remaining rooted in the timeless sound and traditions of early rock ‘n’ roll, the album is their most ambitious and fully realized artistic statement so far. The album continues the band’s commitment to analog recording while expanding upon their sound with lush orchestral arrangements performed by a 37-member orchestra. Yes, 37!

“We poured everything into this new record that we made with Shooter,” says the acclaimed and controversial duo. “We wanted to push ourselves creatively and expand the production further than we have before, drawing inspiration from the lush orchestral productions of Roy Orbison, The Ronettes, and The Shangri-Las, and added in some Countrypolitan flair. We brought in some incredible musicians like Matt Chamberlain and Jay Bellerose, and a 37-piece orchestra. We wanted to make something as beautiful as we possibly could – of course with our dark spin on things.”

The truth is, this album was made during one of the darkest periods of our lives. We had been struggling with grief, health issues, addiction, and depression. But day by day, going into Sunset Sound, making music with incredible people who believed in us, and being surrounded by that creativity slowly brought us back to life. We started smiling and laughing again. I was becoming alive again. It connected us to why we fell in love with music in the first place and became our most personal album yet.”

The album will include the previously released, breathtaking gorgeous, album title track “Doomed Lovers,” and the album’s latest single “Haunt Me.” “Haunt Me” is a decidedly twangy, Wall of Sound-meets-Sun Records-like tune with a subtle node to gospel that should remind the listener that country’s iconic period is heavily indebted to gospel, the blues and a early rock ‘n’ roll. That’s right, think of some of those early Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry albums — but rooted in a confusing, paradoxical mix of dread, jealousy, fear and longing that feels lived-in and deeply experienced.

“‘Haunt Me’ is a gothic love song about fear, obsession, dread and jealousy with nods to classic American gospel, 1960s rock n roll and the blues,” the duo explain. “It romanticizes the terrifying nightmares your lover brings, and the paradox of never wanting them to stop haunting you.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tinlicker Teams Up With Helsloot on Euphoric “Edge Of Forever”

Acclaimed Utrecht-based electronic music outfit Tinlicker — founding member Micha Heyboer along with Jordi van Achthoven and their newest member Hero Baldwin — can trace their origins back to 2012: Heyboer initially founded Tinlicker as a solo project, releasing the act’s debut EP, 2012’s My First Time Here and the 2012’s Remember The Future demo compilation through his own label, Zero Three Zero. 

In 2014 Jordi van Achthoven was introduced to Heyboer through a mutual contact. The pair bonded over their mutual inspirations of Paul Kalkbrenner, Trentemøller and Moderat, and at that point, Tinlicker expanded to a duo, releasing three EPs through Feed Me‘s Sotto Voce, 2014’s Like No Other, 2015’s Into The Open and The Space In Between, which featured “Oudegracht,” a track that amassed significant attention online. 

2017 saw the duo releasing material through Anjunadep, Armada Music and deadmau5′s mau5trap before singing a record deal with Anjunadeep, who released their breakthrough full-length debut, 2019’s This Is Not Our Universe, which featured contributions from alt-J, Run Rivers, Thomas Oliver and Belle Doron. The album reached #1 on the dance charts in the US, Australia, India, Canada and Finland and #2 in the UK, The Netherlands and Poland. 

The duo’s sophomore album In Another Life was released in February 2022. But by November 2023, the duo announced that the third album, 2024’s Cold Enough for Snow would be released through [PIAS] Électronique. The album featured collaborations with Brian Molko, Editors‘ Tom Smith and Circa Waves. The Dutch duo supported the album with sets at Pinkpop Festival, CRSSD Festival, Crystal Palace Bowl, Coachella and Sziget Festival. 

Now, back in 2020, as Dutch duo were achieving commercial and critical success, they started a successful and ongoing collaboration with London-based signer/songwriter and producer Hero Baldwin that has continued through a series of singles including last year’s “I Started A Fire.” Shortly after the release of ‘I Started A Fire,” Heyboer and Achthoven invited Baldwin to be a full-time member of the group. “Jordi and Micha seem to pull something out of me that resonates with my emotional landscape every time we make a song,” the London-based singer/songwriter and producer says. “I think it’s so important to feel creatively and emotionally secure, and Jordi and Micha always afford me that privilege.”

The act’s Melkweg Amsterdam show was their official debut as a trio. She also joined the duo for their biggest live show to date, Tinlicker In The Park at Crystal Palace Bowl. 

Earlier this year, the trio released their fourth album — and first as at rio — Dreams of the Machine earlier this year. The album features album singles “I Want My Freedom,” “Reborn,” and “Release.” The trio recently released the standalone single “Edge of Forever,” a collaboration with producer, longtime friend and collaborator Helsloot through Remember The Future/[PIAS]. Their latest collaboration can trace its origins to the two acts sharing a bus during their recent European tour together.

“Edge Of Forever” is a club and festival stage banger that features Baldwin’s emotive pop star-like vocal floating atop glistening synth oscillations, pulsating reverb-soaked bass lines that slowly builds up to a cathartic and euphoric frenzy. While continuing to cement the act’s long-held reputation for crafting melodic, emotional house music, “Edge Of Forever” may arguably be one of the more cinematic tracks of their growing catalog.

“The guys were noodling around while I was looking through the great sweep of glass at the front of the bus, the landscape passing almost imperceptibly beneath us,” Tinlicker’s Hero Baldiwin explains. “There is something contemplative about travelling in that way; cities, towns and villages drift past, fields give way to forests, and before long you find yourself less aware of the places themselves than the quiet passage of time between them. Later Thomas (Helsloot) and I listened back to what had been started on the bus, pressed record and the lyric and melody emerged intact in a single take.”