Described as a “multifaceted, multigenerational recording project from Albuquerque, New Mexico,” AJ Woods counts members of a Hawk and a Hacksaw, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Neutral Milk Hotel and Heather Trost Band among its roster, and the level of experience shines through in the sound. Forthcoming via Perpetual Doom, new album Hawk Is Listenin’ uses this multitudinous style to evoke nature in all of its diversity, reminding us that not only should we be more attuned to the natural world, but moreover that it is more aware of our presence than we might think. The opener and title track sets out these ideas in characteristically inventive style, layering a dreamy folk song from all sorts of sounds and images, and punctuating the careful arrangement with bursts of evocative noise.

alx frncs – good is your friend

“An attempt to process an extremely difficult period via an intimate, gentle sound.” That’s what we wrote back in March about alx frncs‘s ‘i cant do anything right’, a song which typified the confessional yet empathetic nature of the Brighton songwriter’s work. Written in response to the loss of her childhood pet, new single ‘good is your friend’ is no different, exploring themes of grief and mourning in a kind of post-religious space. The lapsed-Catholic state of mind where dogma might no longer be the organising logic of a life, yet the imagery and rhythms remain. The atmosphere is subdued and enveloping, with a textured cinematic feel that blossoms from its modest beginning.

christ i’ve given in
give in me mortal sin
if we don’t find out
where we’ll end up now

time,
passes by

Bitter Calm – Surrender

‘Salt’, the first single from Bitter Calm‘s forthcoming album Eternity In The Lake of Fire on Earth Libraries, represented something of a change for the band. As we wrote in a preview, “the song is still concerned with the weighty themes of love and death” that marked debut Good Grief, but “the shadowy slowcore sensibilities are replaced with something altogether brighter and more melodic.” But rather than a compensatory turn to positivity, the tone is something won in the hardest of manners, brightness not as an absence of dark but rather the strange marvel at being alive to record at all. Final single ‘Surrender’ turns to alt folk sensibilities to further this style, positioning itself between acts like Songs: Ohia and Purple Mountains, the high priests of such moods.

Eternity In The Lake of Fire is out on the 6th September via Earth Libraries and available to pre-order from the Bitter Calm Bandcamp page.

Decimal Decade – Trace

Decimal Decade is a recording project led by Chicago-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Nico Tiparescu. Born in Venezuela to Romanian and Peruvian parents and growing up in Spain and later Chile, Tiparescu has a more diverse background than most, and the breadth of his personal experience is evident in the debut Decimal Decade EP, Soon to Evolve. It’s a synthesis of styles and interests which emerged from the dissolution of a previous band, Tiparescu seeking to rekindle his love of music after a period of disappointment. “A constant parameter that I tried to follow was that everything in the songs felt natural to me,” as he explains. “All the ideas I put in had to be completely in line with what felt honest. I was just moving towards what made me excited about the music.” Listen to single ‘Trace’ for a glimpse into the release:

Masayoshi Fujita – Our Mother’s Lights (feat. Moor Mother)

Coming next month on Erased Tapes, Masayoshi Fujita‘s new album Migratory sees the Japanese composer, vibraphonist and marimba player continue to explore the possibilities that exist in the spaces between electronic and classical music. The record’s title is apt, the release drawing upon the phenomenon of avian migration as a central image for its far-reaching sound. The album was “inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland,” Fujita explains, “as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots.” Artists like Mattias Hållsten and Hatis Noit feature on the album, but its is Camae Ayewa, AKA Moor Mother (Irreversible Entanglements / The Art Ensemble of Chicago), who steals the show with vocals on new single ‘Our Mother’s Light’.

Neighbours Burning Neighbours – Always Winning

Described as “an anthem for all of those who struggle with navigating the whirlwind of ADHD,” Neighbours Burning Neighbours‘ new single ‘Always Winning’ finds the Rotterdam-based outfit further their distinctive blend of post-rock and noise pop sensibilities. The song, a glimpse of their forthcoming self-titled album on Subroutine Records, follows previous track ‘Neil Young‘ in its ability to sound at once discordant and infectious, pulling the audience into its rhythm and holding them there through the ebb and flow between taut slacks and hectic rapids.

Oh, Rose – Toilet Water

Back in June we shared ‘The Call’, a single from Oh, Rose‘s new album Dorothy, coming soon via Antiquated Future. A track which “originated in an inflection point,” as we wrote, “one where Rose was made to consciously decide to continue her pursuit of her artistic energies when life seemed intent on strangling them.” Named after Olivia Rose’s grandmother, the album takes inspiration from the skill of quilting. A collection of styles and genres stitched together with patience, where many small pieces unite into something greater than the sum of their parts. “I always said this album was going to be a love album,” she says, “and this record feels emblematic of the love I shared with her.” The closing track of the album latest single ‘Toilet Water’ sees the Olympia, Washington outfit work up an affirming chorus in the face of continuing difficulty, as though wrapped in the blanket of the record, they are ready to face down whatever might come their way.

Retail Drugs – Net

The new project of Laveda‘s Jake Brooks, Retail Drugs offers the Brooklyn-based artist a vehicle to explore new sonic directions and get playful with production. His album i love you so ! is out now via Candlepin Records, a record the label say is about “a distaste for music scenes, the grief of losing a loved one, fear of age & irrelevance, & clutching on to specific moments in time even while finally understanding that moving on is a part of life.” Lead single ‘Net’ is a great intro to Brooks’s blend of saturated tape textures and DAW wizardry, a slow-burning track that sits somewhere between the dense slowcore of Duster and They Are Gutting a Body of Water with the joyful, earnest and slightly submerged delivery of early Youth Lagoon.

Surf Party, USA – Beach Ball

We’ve featured a number of tracks from Surf Party, USA in recent times, with ‘Barrel’ and ‘Umbrella’ capturing different dimensions of their new album, Surf Party, USA 2. The former offered all the fun and chaos of a good day on swell, while the latter was more reflective, as though the sun was dipping below the horizon at the end of the day. With the record now out, the Brooklyn-based outfit have released another single, ‘Beach Ball’, a song which sits at the languid end of the Surf Party spectrum. Perhaps it represents that peace when night has finally fallen and everything seems to find a kind a melancholy perspective.

teasea – Always

As well as being half of the indie-psych soul duo Ritual Talk, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Tom Criblez also records solo under the moniker teasea. The act is a vehicle for a heavier, shoegaze-adjacent style which sits somewhere between My Bloody Valentine and Midwife. Part of a new EP, single ‘Always’ is a great place to start for the uninitiated. A densely layered track which envelops the listener from the off. But more than being a lesson in size and heft, the song is far more nuanced. Introspection manifest as sound, the track’s depth coming to mimic that of our interior lives, not to mention the murky network of relationships we maintain. But for all of its gloomy weight, there’s a certain lightness arcing through the sound too. The sense everything is reaching towards some state of enlightened truth.

‘Always’ is out now.

Wanda What – Besties

In recent weeks we’ve previewed Dyke TV, the new album from Harmony Reynolds’s Wanda What, with a number of singles which brought into relief what we’ve described as the “central tension” of the project, “one which might be crudely described as the friction between dreams and reality.” ‘Big Tree‘ offered a country-inflected croon which split the difference between playfulness and heartache, while ‘Bye Bye‘ turned to noughties buzz bands for influence for its sunny and energetic sound. With the album now out via Youth Riot Records, latest single ‘Besties’ shows yet another dimension of the project. A pop banger which doubles as an ode to those friends who always have your back. “I love to lean into a sort of goofy cheerfulness,” Reynolds describes. “Its okay to simply write a pop banger about loving your friends.”

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After lead single ‘Brunch’ introduced a country twang to the mix, latest single ‘Bye Bye’ turns its gaze in a different direction in search of influence. Namely the buzz bands which made the early noughties so fun. Which means a nostalgic blend of sunny energy and immersive haze, though of course with that added dash of Wanda What femininity to make something new. “I was bred on bands making fast paced early 2000’s lofi garage indie rock, like locals such as Wavves, Heavy Hawaii, Japanther, The Crocodiles,” Reynolds explains. “You can hear the buzz of the amp, the bass has a crunch to it you can feel in your mouth, the vocals are washed out like recorded under a wave. It showed me the beauty in recording yourself, that you can capture a time and a place within a sound, and that you don’t need fancy equipment to create your own authenticity.”

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Fallout, the forthcoming album from Grand Rapids trio Major Murphy on Winspear, is an album concerned with cycles of ruin and renewal. Drawing equally from the wells of nineties indie and seventies soft rock swagger, the sound lives up to these themes with a careful balance of lightness and weight. The result is something not so much overcome by the turbulence of our times but able to surf atop of it. Lead single ‘Time Out’ typifies the style, where the pressing momentum of the drums is matched by an easy-going spirit, highlighting the band’s ability to be at once punchy and languid.

Even water falling don’t run to an end
Somehow, somewhere it will collect
and life begins again

Marem Ladson – A Song to the Siren

Hailing from the northern Spanish region of Galicia and now based in Brooklyn, Marem Ladson makes introspective music that draws on folk and pop and her home country’s rich tradition. Following 2023 EP Baby Light, Ladson has released a standalone single, a gently haunting take on ‘Song to the Siren’, Tim Buckley’s much-covered doom-laden classic. Ladson’s version is soft and intimate but loses none of the original’s power, loneliness and longing washing together as the narrator find themselves shipwrecked in search of love. The cover originally appeared on the Musicians For a Free Palestine benefit album, a compilation organized by Babehoven’s Maya Bon, Andy Molholt and Raquel Denis, which is still available and very much worth your time.

make yourself at home – High

Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, make yourself at home—that’s Billy Campbell (lyrics/rhythm guitar), Zach Tittel (lead guitar), Thomas Luminoso (bass) and Husam Suboh (drums)—is a band working at the intersection of shoegaze, noise rock and indie. ‘High’, their latest single via Second Floor Recording Co., serves an the ideal introduction for those unfamiliar with their sound, where angsty desperation meets carefree defiance. “Fucking up, falling down / Another year of trying not to drown,” as Campbell sings in the opening lines. “How can I say what’s on my mind / When all I wanna do is go get / high?” Hopelessness has never sounded so cool.

Nate Terepka – The Woods

“A few years back I did an exercise where I took a several-hours-long night walk in the woods of Maine and thought through every year of my life from birth to present in chronological order, remembering as much as I could,” explains Nate Terepka. “I was surprised by how many forgotten memories were stirred up and came out of it with a feeling of empathy for my younger self, as well as a strong desire to not repeat past mistakes.” He wrote new single ‘The Woods’ the next morning, the latest taste of his upcoming album Not Yet which encapsulates an EP willing to grope into the messy heart of life in order to hold aloft its love and truths. Intuitive in its rhythms yet finely crafted in style, ‘The Woods’ represents the work of an accomplished artist driven by emotional necessity. Watch the video with animation by James Thatcher below:

Not Yet is out on the 19th July and available to pre-order now via Bandcamp.

Noa Jamir – Indebted

“This is a song written for Little Noa, who often struggled with standing up for herself,” explains New Orleans-based songwriter Noa Jamir of new single ‘Indebted’. “While writing it, I channelled all of the things I wish I’d said in moments when I needed to defend myself, but felt too powerless to do so.” The resulting track presents an assured brand of folk rock which pairs an understated sound with almost conversational vocals. The track builds subtly across its runtime but never quite breaks its controlled burn, though the result is all the more powerful for it. There is no need for yelling or bombast here. The message is simple and full of conviction. Able to operate on its own terms.

I’m tougher than I look
My thoughts would scare you off
if I told you everything
And you’re not quite as tall as I recalled you to be
I used to let you look down on me
Now, we’re standing eye to eye
Eye to eye

Saffron – Star Child

Late last month, San Diego psych pop outfit Saffron released a four track cassette by way of farewell. The band, comprising mainly of Ali Mehraban Ramirez (Guitar, Vocals, & Songwriting), Galia Shakked (Guitar and Vocals), Audrey (Drums), Ryan Ebaugh (Guitar and Saxophone) and Cameron Rogers (Bass), made a name for themselves with their experimental live shows, which saw songs morph form set to set in an exercise in freedom and improvisation. The tape is a little different, presenting Saffron at their most “pop,” four songs crystallized into a final, perhaps more easily digestible form. Nowhere is this better illustrated than on final track ‘Star Child’, a sunny and easy-going, Yo La Tengo-style indie pop song that’s all shambling percussion and hooky guitar.

Solid Blood – All I Need

Penned over a span of several years between Brooklyn and Houston, Solid Blood’s new EP Western Sun feels very much a product of the various environments in which it was created. Graham W. Bell looks to preserve the small details of life amid a wider unease, carving out an introspective, inquisitive space in which we might shelter from the dire state of the world. With the EP coming soon via Rue Defense, lead single ‘All I Need’ introduces the style. Where warmth and intimacy are shadowed by an awareness of the wolves at the door.

Wanda What – Big Tree

Building on the nostalgic brand of bedroom pop that made previous LP Startin’ Drama a success, new full-length Dyke TV sees Wanda What (AKA LA’s Harmony Reynolds) push their self-described ‘dyke rock’ sound to new heights. There’s a central tension to the Wanda What project, one which might be crudely described as the friction between dreams and reality. There’s a tangible desire for the glamour and celebrity of stardom, something Reynolds owns wholeheartedly within the Wanda What persona, though this is balanced by a more earnest, down-to-earth side too. It’s no surprise then that Dyke TV vacillates between moods—playful and serious, ironic and sincere—but what makes the project so exciting is its willingness to embrace this duality. With a newfound country twang, latest single ‘Big Tree’ offers a glimpse of the human behind the personality, landing somewhere between sincere bedroom pop honesty and lonesome cowboy croon.

‘Big Tree’ is out now via Youth Riot Records and available from the usual places. Dyke TV is coming soon.

Yon Loader – Another Year

After sketching out a series of demos which would come to form his self-titled debut album, James Stuteley of Aotearoa project Yon Loader took the songs to an array of friends and collaborators who helped realise their full potential. Those involved is something of a who’s who of the New Zealand indie scene with members of acts like members of Recitals, Welcomer, For Everest, Model Home, Fouler, First Move and Bad Friend all contributing, as well as engineer and producer Harry Lilley. With the album’s release pencilled for later this year on Tiny Engines, Lead single ‘Another Year’ shows how this team elevate the Yon Loader sound into something as hefty as it is detailed, Stuteley’s intimate emo-adjacent lyricism given all the supporting momentum it deserves without being overwhelmed.

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