Later this spring Chicago‘s Babe Report will release their debut full-length album Did You Get Better via Exploding In Sound, the long awaited follow up to their rambunctious 2021 EP The Future of Teeth. But if the band took their time between releases, they waste none within the songs themselves. The ten tracks clock in at less than half an hour in total and all are charged with the same frantic momentum which made aforementioned EP such a fun experience. Or perhaps even more momentum, as opener and lead single ‘Turtle of Reaper’ attests. A searing indictment of clickbait culture which burns white hot, the chorus invokes the hysteria of the Millennium Bug as guitars and drums combine into a frenzy of their own.

Cosmo Sheldrake – More Than A Mountain

London-born, Stroud-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Cosmo Sheldrake always pushes the boundaries of what music can do and be. His previous album Wild Wet World offered undersea soundscapes which incorporated everything from “plaintive whale song to clicking parrotfish and snapping shrimp.” Latest record Eye To The Ear is even more ambitious, a twenty-one song album which combines traditional and electronic instrumentation and also, to quote the album notes, “both human and more-than-human voices” to address both the dire situation faced by the natural world as well as the radical possibilities which might cease or reverse its destruction. Single ‘More Than A Mountain’ is as good a place to dive in as any, offering an understated, brooding tone as it meditates on the scene before us.

Got the beast but left the burden,
It’s the step before the fall,
It’s the pause before the question,
It’s the window or the wall

Little Wings – Ha Ha Blues

Back in February we introduced High On The Glade, the forthcoming album from Little Wings on Perpetual Doom with single ‘Bubbles Go Pop’. A song “every bit as idiosyncratic and inventive as you’d hope,” we wrote, which told “the story of a wild party in a zany vaudevillian procession befitting of a Pynchon novel.” Second single ‘Ha Ha Blues’ might have a more languid rhythm but the writing is no less inventive. Beneath the  rhythm’s apparent warmth stirs a darker, melancholic edge. “Field thinks of this as being his most Irish record, full of heartbreak and violence,” the album notes describe, and ‘Ha Ha Blues’ hints at this side of the record despite its sunny disposition.

Ha ha blues what can I do you for?
What did you choose before a door in your distance
My what news mining persistence
How many wishes once the floor falls through?

Max Blansjaar – Burning In Our Name

After single ‘Anna Madonna’, a song which “acknowledges the hurtful nature of the world and the resulting temptation to react with anger or bitterness” but “becomes the antithesis to such moods,” Max Blansjaar has shared ‘Burning In Our Name’ to further introduce upcoming album False Comforts on Beanie Tapes. It’s another blurring of the line between wry humour and earnest emotion as Blansjaar negotiates the experience of perpetual difficulty that is existing in this world of ours. “Caught up in a maze of hedonists and lies / Putting all our faith in devils in disguise,” as he sings in the chorus. “Just trying to escape when everything’s on fire / And burning in our name.”

nudista – Somebody Else

‘Somebody Else’ is the latest single from London duo nudista (Pilar Matji Cabello and Robbie Carman), ahead of their sophomore EP Nothing Makes Sense Until It Does on Sad Club Records. As with previous singles ‘Different Eyes’ and ‘Waiting Line’, it’s a song full of emotive introspection and a desire to live a truer, better connected life. “’Somebody Else’ is about coming to the realisation of having been living a life not trusting your own voice and path,” Cabello explains. “It explores the idea of not knowing fully who you are, about going on a self-exploration journey to find the voice within you and to tune into your own instinct.” It might unfurl with a gentle grace, all soft acoustic guitar and subtle percussion, but it’s message of self-determination is a powerful one. As Cabello puts it at the end of the chorus: “I guess I’ve just been living for somebody else.”

Nothing Makes Sense Until It Does will be released via Sad Club Records and you can pre-order it now from the nudista Bandcamp page.

Shit Present – Acting Tough

“Start again and you’ll be fine / Aren’t you sick of looking for answers all the time?” So ask Exeter outfit Shit Present on the title track of their forthcoming EP, Acting Tough on the ever-reliable Specialist Subject Records. The song introduces the band’s signature blend of pop punk energy, emo sincerity and raw punk rock attitude, making for a sound at once empathetic and cathartic. A useful blend considering the track’s intentions. An attempt to disarm the defence mechanisms of insecurity, and banish the nagging weight of pessimism through sheer momentum and shout-along release.

It’s such a shame to have to see you acting tough
Did somebody make you feel like you aren’t good enough

Tara Jane O’Neil – Glass Island

Written during what she calls “the skirmishes and shuffle of the seven years since her self-titled album,” The Cool Cloud of Okayness is the forthcoming new album from California multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Tara Jane O’Neil. Fittingly for a record preoccupied with life’s changeable nature, it was recorded at O’Neil’s home studio, which is built on the ashes of her previous home destroyed by the Thomas wildfire that devastated southern California in 2017. These themes of destruction and new growth, life’s cyclical rhythms and cruel repetitions snake throughout the record, nurturing green shoots of hope in the charred earth of loss and grief. Latest single ‘Glass Island’ explores these patterns with all the delicate beauty the title suggests. “Another day,” O’Neil sings, “ring around the moon and back again,
dig in again.”

The song comes complete with a video by Harry Dodge:

The Cool Cloud of Okayness is out on the 26th April via Orindal Records and you can pre-order it now.

tilt – all and nothing

tilt is the project of Brooklyn-based trio Isabel Crespo Pardo (vocals), Kalia Vandever (trombone, vocals) and Carmen Quill (acoustic bass, vocals), who draw on their considerable solo credentials to make formally inventive, jazz-inflected art pop. Next month, tilt will release their debut album something we once knew on Dear Life Records, a record which takes us by the hand and leads us into a world of improvisation and idiosyncratic style. Lead single ‘all and nothing’ feels like a doorway into this landscape, a calm song that breathes in an organic rhythm behind its careful composition. A delicate but confident vocal duet rises and falls on the mournful draught of Vandever’s trombone, tracing elegant and unexpected patterns on the backdrop of negative space. The result is both bright and somehow pensive, like the shapes thrown by golden afternoon sunlight as it slants through a window.

Work Wife – Control

“A warm and introspective song of trying to find yourself in the vast bustle of the city amidst its noise and countless strangers […] ending in a thumping singalong finale.” That’s how we described ‘Strangers’, the first single from Work Wife‘s EP Waste Management. With the EP now out via Born Losers Records, latest single ‘Control’ highlights a different side to the release, swapping out the intimate clarity of the opener in favour of something dreamy and enveloping. Despite clocking in at barely two minutes, the track possesses a real sense of scale, washing over the listener with layered richness. When Meredith Lampe’s vocals eventually emerge, it feels as though you have passed into the centre of something to find the intimate truth within.

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Self-described “depression pop band” bathtub cig are an outfit who live up to their name. A project which looks to evoke those private moments of contemplation and small comforts, be they born of wallowing or self-care. Latest single ‘Red Pine’ sees lead Hilary James joined by Skyler Nowinski (bass), Dave Power (drums) and Hannah Hebl (keys) to bring to life one such situation with a mix of indie rock rhythm and bedroom pop tenderness, and culminates in an affirming chorus to match the bright joy of a queer relationship.

The Fourth Wall – Darkness Of Heart

Back in November we previewed Return Forever, the forthcoming album by The Fourth Wall, with single ‘Never a Part’ introducing a record which sees songwriter Stephen Agustin delve deep into the immigrant experience to reveal the difficulties and complications therein. “An attempt to weigh the cost of such an action against what is gained to come to a better understanding of the traumas buried within the process,” as we put it. “What must be given away to make a new start possible?” As the title suggests, latest single ‘Darkness of Heart’ flips the pattern of Conrad’s novella to present a non-Western protagonist’s journey deep into the so-called ‘civilised’ world, only to see the truth behind the illusion of the American Dream. The horror, the horror, indeed. Watch the video by director/cinematographer Maura Campbell-Shun below:

Return Forever will be released later this year via DevilDuck Records.

 Linn Koch-Emmery – Ebay Armour

Built on propulsive percussion and vulnerable but confident vocals, ‘Ebay Armour’ is the new single from Swedish artist Linn Koch-Emmery. The first glimpse of a forthcoming LP due this spring, the song is a widescreen slice of indie rock that seems destined for big things with its blend of contemplative songwriting and visceral instrumentation. “This song is about a person close to me, that I never really figured out.” says Koch-Emmery. “Trauma and grief has its own illogical ways. Sometimes we cope with it through substances, others by buying a life sized armour off the internet.”

‘Ebay Armour’ is out now and available via streaming services and the Linn Koch-Emmery Bandcamp page.

Little Champion – Like the Earth is Flat

The most recent project of Asheville, North Carolina songwriter Dustin Goldklang, Little Champion draws on a wide range of influences to shape its distinctive earnest style—from the PNW indie scene to New York anti-folk. What results are songs able to exist with both hearts on sleeves and tongues in cheeks, as latest single ‘Like the Earth is Flat’ attests. Taken from the upcoming Little Champion LP Curiosity, the song braids life’s banalities and joys into a seamless thread, searching for peace in a world burning up, caving in, and always trying to sell you something.

I could use a heart attack like the earth is flat
So calm me down
Say it’s okay
Let me go

The Problem With Kids Today – All I Wanna Be

Based in New Haven, Connecticut, The Problem With Kids Today are a trio of “rock and roll delinquents” who make songs that hark back to vintage punk and power pop, with elements of several varieties of pop thrown in for good measure. At the end of the week The Problem With Kids Today will release a new album, Born To Rock, which as its title suggests is chock full of vigorous devil-may-care punk songs. The final single before the record’s release, ‘All I Wanna Be’ sees the band weave some eighties jangle pop influences into their scrappy punk style, taking the foot off the accelerator compared to some of the record’s other tracks, but losing none of the buoyant infectiousness.

Born to Rock will be released this coming Friday and you can order it now from the The Problem With Kids Today Bandcamp page.

SAVAK – Will Get Fooled Again

Next month, Brooklyn post punks SAVAK will release Flavors of Paradise via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Peculiar Works. Following previous single ‘Leash Biter’, which we said “shows off the brooding swagger and bite of the SAVAK sound, simmering around a taut rhythm and gradually coming to a boil,” the band have unveiled a new single, ‘Will Get Fooled Again’. “There’s always a dude who thinks he’s smarter and better than everyone else,” says joint-lead Michael Jaworski. “Thankfully most people [can] recognize the insecurity behind the charade. This song addresses that insecurity.” It somehow sounds simultaneously catchy and burnt out, adding a sober tinge of anxious melancholy to SAVAK’s usual dynamic post punk. Watch Paul Heck-directed video below:

Flavors of Paradise is due for release on 1st March via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Peculiar Works. Pre-order it now from the SAVAK Bandcamp page.

Speedy Ortiz – Ranch vs. Ranch

Last year, we featured several songs from Rabbit Rabbit, the latest album from Speedy Ortiz on Wax Nine Records, with tracks like ‘Scabs‘ and ‘Ghostwriter‘ showing a band at the height of their game. Caustic and empathetic, crushing and affirming, the album had it all, but one perhaps understated feature of the Speedy Ortiz sound is how much fun it possesses. New single ‘Ranch vs. Ranch’ is a celebration of this side of the band, with a video capturing their time in the studio as what feels like a celebration of what the project represents. “Two years ago easily feels like ten to me now, and watching the footage feels like finding a time capsule full of lost gems,” Molholt explains. “It’s a warm reminder of how much fun we had making Rabbit Rabbit, and of how integral the two eponymous ranches—Rancho de la Luna and Sonic Ranch—were to this record.”

Rabbit Rabbit is out now via Wax Nine Records and you can get it from Bandcamp.

Split System – The Drain

Naarm punks Split System return at the end of the week with Vol. 2, their second full-length record of back-to-basics raucous fun. Released across the globe by Legless Records (Australia), Goner Records (USA) and Drunken Sailor (UK/EU), Vol. 2. promises to find a typically Aussie blend of blistering punk and good-time classic rock, what the liner notes describe as “all hooks and glory, all the time.” Third single ‘The Drain’ is a great entrance point for the uninitiated, spiky and infectious with a chorus that seems destined to inspire a thousand beer-soaked yell-alongs. Watch Ben Ulitzka Portnoy’s video below:

Vol. 2 is out this coming Friday and is available to pre-order from the Split System Bandcamp page.

Work Wife – Strangers

Based in Brooklyn, Work Wife is the indie rock project of Meredith Lampe, Cody Edgerly and Kenny Monroe. In April, Work Wife will release Waste Management, a new EP via Philly label Born Losers Records. The follow-up to 2022 debut Quitting Season, the band say the record is about “living in New York, watching the world change rapidly and feeling like you should too, wandering in and out of friendships and relationships and locations and moments.” Lead single ‘Strangers’ is the perfect introduction, a warm and introspective song of trying to find yourself in the vast bustle of the city amidst its noise and countless strangers. It builds across its almost three-minute runtime, ending in a thumping singalong finale. Watch the soothingly minimal video below:

Waste Management will be released on 12th April via Born Losers Records. Pre-order it now from the Work Wife Bandcamp page.

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