‘Berlin’ is the sound of a city trying to hold itself together while everything underneath it buckles. Here, Belgium’s WHOLES turn that instability into a ferocious collision of new wave, noise-punk and post-hardcore, pairing the nervous pulse of the 80s with the uglier physicality of Butthole Surfers and The JesusContinue Reading
The Carringtons have built much of their appeal around brevity, and ‘NOISE’ shows exactly why that approach works so well. At just two minutes long, the Quebec City outfit’s latest single wastes no time getting where it needs to go, packing swagger, hooks and abrasion into a compact blast ofContinue Reading
‘Forever and Tomorrow’ finds Valerie Chanelle continuing to develop the balance between contemporary R&B, funk and pop that has shaped her recent work. The Swedish-born, LA-based singer-songwriter approaches the track with a controlled, understated delivery, allowing the vocal performance to carry much of the song’s character. Her phrasing is smoothContinue Reading
There’s something immediately striking about ‘Lord Look After Me’: it sounds less like a song seeking salvation than one trying to survive long enough to believe salvation is still possible. Drawing from southern gospel, old hymns and the darker storytelling traditions of artists like Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, NoelContinue Reading
No Drinks For Jimmy have always understood that the best modern rock works when melody and impact arrive together, and ‘Broken’ pushes that balance with real conviction. Built around the idea of reaching rock bottom and trying to find a way forward, the single turns emotional collapse into something forcefulContinue Reading
Lawrence Timoni’s ‘Cheap Glass Halo’ is built around the deceptively simple trick to make the music move even as everything inside the song starts to fall apart. The Berlin-based artist begins with claps, snaps and percussion struck directly on an acoustic guitar, giving the track an immediate, tactile pulse. VibesContinue Reading
‘Three Things’ isn’t a track that eases its way into view. Here, Germany’s Cosmic Souls frame the song as a bleak, searching response to a world they see becoming harsher, more conformist and increasingly comfortable with authoritarian impulses. Inspired by a quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and written in the aftermathContinue Reading
NEEB have always had a knack for making sophistication feel easy. And on their latest offering ‘You Are Not Alone’, the Hartlepool quartet step away from the brighter sheen of ‘Feeling Tonight’ and settle into a gentler, more inward-facing piece that brings out the subtler side of their songwriting. InsteadContinue Reading
Paul Garside’s ‘Mariana Trench’ is built around one of his strongest metaphors yet: the feeling of being so far beneath the surface that light seems almost unreachable, followed by the slow, uncertain journey back towards it. Written about his own experience of depression, the track carries that emotional weight withoutContinue Reading
Underlowe take a clear, uncomplicated idea and give it enough weight to carry ‘No Pictures’: the value of being present without feeling the need to document every moment. The Cardiff band frame that message through a mix of pop-punk familiarity and heavier contemporary production. The opening is relatively restrained beforeContinue Reading