gemini summer is the kind of electronic release that gets its strength from what it leaves alone. Across five tracks, iLo Fields avoids overcrowding the music by building from soft layers, long decay and subtle rhythmic movement that allow each piece to unfold at its own pace. Throughout, the South LakeContinue Reading
LOVESHY finds Eli Derby settling into a more defined version of his sound. Across twelve tracks, the Maryland singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist brings together contemporary R&B, pop and guitar-led soul while keeping the focus firmly on desire, uncertainty and the complications that come with opening yourself up to somebody else.Continue Reading
On the captivating Stuff, East Cleveland solo project Monophonic Underground takes a deliberately restrained approach to experimental electronica, favouring atmosphere, texture and unusual source material over obvious hooks. The result is an EP that feels considered rather than chaotic, with its stranger ideas given enough space to fully register. Created aloneContinue Reading
There’s something immediately appealing about a band that understands exactly where its rough edges belong. And on their new collection EP3, Riverside four-piece Loser Demon continue refining a sound that lives somewhere between wiry post-punk, fuzzed-up indie rock and the kind of early-2000s guitar music that once made nervous energy feelContinue Reading
There’s something distinctly nocturnal about Held the Pulse. Throughout its runtime, Glasgow singer-songwriter Stewart Traquair seems drawn to the point where a city starts to empty out, conversations become looser, memories sharpen and optimism has to fight a little harder to survive. Across five tracks, Traquair moves between psychedelic colour, soul-inflectedContinue Reading
Shaven Primates take a more direct route on Kill The Algorithm. The Oxford four-piece have previously moved between dark wave, art-rock, post-punk and progressive influences, but this EP places greater emphasis on hard rock and punk, using that heavier framework to explore anxiety, persuasion and the different ways control can takeContinue Reading
At first, the tracks ‘Trojan Horses’ and ‘I’ll Follow You’ appear to belong to different releases. One moves with immediate melodic energy, its rhythms pushing forward and its sharper structure offering the closest thing ‘Fading’ has to an obvious entry point. The other takes its time, spreading guitars across a much broaderContinue Reading
On his latest offering ‘Sombra Del Sol’, Spanish Castles brings together a broad range of historical and regional influences without forcing them into a conventional rock or singer-songwriter format. The EP is built primarily around guitar, atmosphere and instrumental storytelling, resulting in a release that feels considered, detailed and strongly connectedContinue Reading
Red Bird approach their new EP ‘The Follies’ with a degree of understatement. Across five tracks, the Oxnard band favour direct arrangements, loosely textured guitars and reflective songwriting over dramatic production or overt displays of ambition. The result is a compact indie-rock release concerned with uncertainty, ageing and the attempt to findContinue Reading
On his new EP ‘Тигролови (Tiger Hunters)’, Berlin-based Ukrainian artist Daniel Merkulov, recording as Aircraft, gathers fragments and memories of his homeland into a six-track meditation that moves between human cruelty, historical trauma, friendship, nostalgia and myth. Taking its name from the novel by Ukrainian dissident writer Ivan Bahrianyi, the EP arrives with anContinue Reading