Samuel Taylor - Fast Money Music - Annika Zee

Samuel Taylor - Lost & Overgrown (EP).

Suffolk (England) indie-folk newcomer Samuel Taylor has released his debut EP Lost & Overgrown via No Roads Records (Mt. Desolation). The EP release comes following two radiant singles released in 2025 which established the Suffolk newcomer as one to watch, gaining support across tastemakers including: Notion, Atwood, Earmilk, Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing to name just a few. Alongside the new EP in January 2026, Samuel will also be releasing his first music video of EP track ‘Little World’, by director Mat Kirkby (Adele, Basement Jaxx).

Having been discovered and quickly signed to No Road Records by founder Jesse Quin (Keane, Mt. Desolation), Taylor’s upcoming EP showcases the solo artist's heart-rending songs of love and longing that leave you certain that, however bad things get, it will all be alright.

Produced and mixed by Jesse Quin at Old Jet and mastered by Kevin Tuffy at Tuff Mastering, Lost & Overgrown presents a cohesive and deeply considered musical palette that runs throughout the EP. Rooted in Taylor’s heartfelt, organic indie-folk sensibilities, the collection is defined by a sense of emotional intimacy and careful restraint, allowing each song to unfold naturally and with purpose.

Across the EP, Samuel Taylor’s fragile, emotionally attuned vocals sit at the centre of meticulously crafted soundscapes, anchored by finger-picked acoustic guitar and gradually enriched with subtle layers of strings, keys, banjo and understated percussion. Ambient textures and distant swells create a feeling of space and reflection, while bass and fuller rhythmic elements emerge sparingly, lending the music a cinematic sense of growth around the central folk leaning elements. 

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Fast Money Music - Unfortunately.

Fast Money Music returns with “Unfortunately”, a bittersweet anthem and the latest glimpse at his self-titled debut album arriving this spring. Following the momentum of “Round and Round” (Steve Lamacq BBC 6Music, Clash Magazine) and “Lover Boy” (HERO, Flaunt Mag, John Kennedy Radio X), Fast Money Music is back with “Unfortunately”, and the announcement of the debut album ‘Fast Money Music’, arriving on April 17th 2026.

“Unfortunately” is a bittersweet anthem built on dueling guitars, a driving pulse, and lyrics that sway between intimacy and distance. The track unfolds with seaside imagery: waves, moonlight, and hushed silences, all echoing the cycles of timing in relationships. At its core is a refrain that admits to carrying too much, with both voices weighed down by baggage they can’t quite put aside. Tender yet restless, it captures that familiar space between holding on and letting go.

Recorded between Hackney Road Studios and Fast Money Music’s own space in Dalston, “Unfortunately” pulls from the grooves of The War On Drugs, infusing early New Order sentimentality with a dash of Orange Juice’s bright jangle. “It’s my haunted reply to Rupert Holmes’ ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song)’,” explains Nick Hinman, “this time centred around NOT drinking, and with the uncertainty of whether the two ever end up together. At its core it’s about intuition, the weight of self-doubt, and how often we’re at the mercy of the forces of nature.”

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Annika Zee - Emerald Spy (Album).

Annika Zee, the Toronto-born multimedia artist and genre-defying musician, returns with her most conceptually daring project to date: Emerald Spy, a vivid and emotionally resonant album released today 19 January 2026.
 
Emerald Spy weaves together diverse sounds and global perspectives into a project that challenges dominant narratives around technology, race, and identity. A fusion of 90s pop nostalgia, ambient electronica, and abstract lyrical storytelling, the album explores the tension between personal fragmentation and collective empowerment in the digital age.
 
Anchored in a commitment to reimagining community and collaboration, Emerald Spy defies conventional pop frameworks. It speaks to a future unbound by extractive technologies and white supremacist AI models, offering instead a vision rooted in memory, resistance, and radical tenderness.
 
“This album connects people across socio-economic and cultural boundaries,” says Zee. “It's about challenging imposed systems while also celebrating the beauty of imagination, resilience, and multiplicity.”

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Lauren Minear - Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys - Sin Cos Tan - Anna Smyrk

Lauren Minear - Perfect Girl.

New York–based alt-pop singer-songwriter Lauren Minear returns with "Perfect Girl," a razor-sharp, darkly playful exploration of what it means to be a woman expected to shapeshift endlessly to please others. Written from the perspective of a fictional, satirical character, the track leans into the absurdity of "perfection" and the way chasing it strips away humanity in the process.

Built on deliberately hard, robotic production choices, "Perfect Girl" captures the inhumanity of trying to be universally palatable. Minear originally drafted the song in 2021, but it found its true place during the creation of her new album, Boxing Day (released October 17th), a project rooted in anger, honesty, and reclamation. At a co-writing retreat, the track came fully into focus with the help of Dan Weeks, Dan Barrenechea, and Leah Wheatley, who pushed the melody and arrangement into sharper, more subversive territory.

"This song is unlike anything else I've ever written," explains Minear. "It plays with themes of body privilege and power to illustrate how the construct of perfection hurts and disconnects everyone (including men)."

Though the track is built around a fictional voice, "Perfect Girl" taps straight into Minear's longstanding thematic terrain: womanhood, mental health, self-perception, and the quiet wars we wage between who we are and who we’re told to be. "I don't deliberately write about the female experience," she says, "but I am a woman, a mother, and a psychotherapist trained in a feminist relational approach – it comes very naturally to me." In the end, "Perfect Girl" lands as defiant, mischievous, and liberating – a mirror held up to the impossible standards women navigate every day, delivered with a wink, a snarl, and a fully embodied alter-ego.

Lauren Minear · Perfect Girl

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Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys - Damp.

As the release of their seventh studio album Pale Bloom approaches (February 13th via Unique Records), Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys unveil the record’s final single, “Damp,” which arrived Friday January 16th.

What began as a stripped-back acoustic sketch from Kruger was later reshaped by guitarist Liú Mottes into something more urgent and propulsive, gradually unfolding into a deep exploration of collapse, raw vulnerability, and the fragile promise of renewal. A steady pulse runs through the track, lending it movement and momentum while leaving space for uncertainty. Feelings of isolation are rendered physical and warm, with drifting violas fading in and out like the last light of day.

“Like most of what I write, it’s about a desire for depth and connection—a kind of quiet mocking of the mundane and domestic,” Kruger explains. “The first verse reflects that polite culture of not saying what you mean, of being too afraid to ask for what you need in case you seem too much, or expose the mess of falling apart. There’s a wanting, though—to give in, give up, or simply to give. Eventually, the fantasy of a breakdown moves closer to the tongue, almost reaching release, before slipping back into silence. Something restrained that feels both tender and oppressive, mirroring the path that led me to the mess of not making a mess in the first place.”

At its core, “Damp” wrestles with the distance between feeling and expression. The lyrics circle restraint, politeness, and the fear of asking for too much. The song builds toward release without ever fully arriving, settling instead into a quiet tension that reflects its central paradox: holding everything in, even when it might be easier to let it spill. Kruger adds, “I like that the thought that can’t quite be spoken hovers veiled above a bed of sound that expresses the feeling far better. It’s in that clash—the friction between what’s said and what’s felt—that the song finds its meaning, or at least does justice to its complexity.”

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Sin Cos Tan - In My House.

Finnish synth-pop duo Sin Cos Tan continue their new chapter with In My House, the second single from their forthcoming album Greed. The track deepens and expands the album’s world by highlighting a more rhythm-driven, club-aware side of the band, without losing the melodic precision and emotional restraint that define their sound.

Formed by producer-DJ Jori Hulkkonen and singer-songwriter Juho Paalosmaa, Sin Cos Tan are known for their rare balance of Nordic melancholy, classic pop songcraft, and precise electronic production. Their music exists between nostalgia and the future: timeless synth pop that feels equally at home in headphones, on night drives, or in late-evening settings.

In My House is darker and more direct than the album’s opening single Cutting Losses. It is built on a steady pulse, repetition, and a rhythmic structure that reflects the duo’s long-standing relationship with club music. Rather than referencing house music as a genre, the track draws on it as an understanding of movement and space. There is something distinctly nocturnal about the song, about the moment when rhythm takes over and carries the listener forward. Within Greed, In My House approaches themes of power, ownership, and desire from its own angle, without explanation or emphasis.

Jori Hulkkonen is one of the central figures in Finnish electronic music, with a career spanning over three decades across multiple strands of electronic sound. In the 1990s, he emerged as a key artist on the influential French label F Communications, contributing to the golden era of French electronic music alongside the label’s founder Laurent Garnier and contemporaries such as Mr. Oizo.

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Photo - Michelle G Hunder

Anna Smyrk - Skin Thinner.

Naarm/Melbourne based singer-songwriter Anna Smyrk lets down her walls with ‘Skin Thinner’. The new single is here ahead of her debut album ‘Spectacular Denial’ which will be out on the 20th of March via Community Music. Arriving as a catchy dose of indie-pop, ‘Skin Thinner’ shines a light on the complex processes that come with the loss of a loved one. Sonically upbeat, the lyrics bare an unexpected and powerful vulnerability.

Sharing more Anna explained: ‘I wrote this song about trying to peel away the layers that I put up to protect my mind after my dad passed away unexpectedly. It’s a resolution to try to work through the shock and denial and be open to the world again.  

Denial and staying numb can be a useful part of the process, it can protect you when you’re not ready to feel your feelings. But at some point, if you want to feel all the good stuff as well, you need to find a way to stay open and hold the painful stuff and the joyful stuff at the same time.’

With the release of her first full length album ‘Spectacular Denial’ coming in March, listeners can look forward to a beautifully compelling body of work. Shaped by her deeply personal journey with grief and her exploration of the many forms denial can take, the new album sonically sits in a rich space between indie, alt-pop, and folk.

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Phantom Pink - Jasmin Wagner - Special Friend - Farveblind feat. Emmeline - The Tammy Shine - Son Little

Photo - Rachel Frichette

Phantom Pink - Czech New Wave.

Phantom Pink is the hauntingly tender alias of Los Angeles-based artist Brayton Walls, whose dark, cinematic strain of art-rock captures the beauty in emotional chaos. Blending jagged textures with dreamlike melodies, Phantom Pink’s sound is otherworldly, yet familiar. 

Originally from Las Vegas, Walls began writing songs at 10 as a way to navigate his growing pains and identity. After years of shaping his voice in DIY scenes across the West Coast, Phantom Pink has emerged with a sound uniquely bruised and beautiful

In October, he released the first single “I’m at the right place at the right time” from his forthcoming full length album Gothika (due 2026). The song - mastered by Joe LaPorta (Beabadoobee, Laufey, Future Islands) - is loosely based on the cult classic thriller, Possession (1981). This year, he follows with “Czech New Wave” (out 1/16/26) inspired by the film movement of the same name, it’s a splash of color in a black and white world.  

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Jasmin Wagner - Were You Happy Today.

Jasmin Wagner comes from Kerns in the Swiss canton of Obwalden and is releasing a catchy new single titled “Were You Happy Today.” The 23-year-old singer and songwriter didn’t just discover her love of country music today. In fact, this sound has accompanied Jasmin since childhood—alongside her second passion, besides music: flowers. How does she combine these two loves? Quite simply, as “The Singing Florist,” as she likes to call herself.

It’s therefore no surprise that ideas for songs often come to Jasmin when she’s out in nature. She loves being in the mountains and finds inspiration when moving through the fresh air amid the Alps.

Growing up with a guitar in her hand, Jasmin began performing at weddings, christenings, and celebrations at the age of 14—and for several years now, also in renowned Swiss clubs. Always with her Western guitar and her expressive voice, which truly shines in the country and folk repertoire.


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Special Friend - Breakfast.

Special Friend have become the masters of weaving elegant and sophisticated pop musical webs while staying true to their DIY roots.  The French/American duo (Guillaume on guitar and vocals, Erica on drums and vocals) manage to create a sound like no other band.  When they play live, audiences marvel at the huge, intricate structures the band construct, while falling in love with the crystal-clear vocal melodies that are threaded in between the shards of guitar and the rattle of the drums.  How can a duo achieve so much?  UK audiences will be able to ponder this question in March: Special Friend are coming over from France to do a substantial tour of the UK. 

The new album is more diverse that the last, with the high-tempo indiepop of first single ‘Breakfast’, the majestic, Yo La Tengo like dreampop of ‘Clipping’ and the country-ish, gentle, homesick melancholy of ‘Isolation’.  Final track ‘OOO’ is a bold piece of Krautrock inspired experimentation; ‘Mold’ is a beautiful slice of slowcore and opener ‘Paint A Picture’ is modern pop at its catchiest and most direct.  

‘Clipping’, the album title, refers to the discipline of pruning growth back, removing dead wood to create a perfectly shaped tree with abundant blossoms: an accurate description of the album, and of the songs that hang from its elegant branches.  The album artwork is by Erica: Special Friend are in control of every aspect of this elegant artifact.

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Photo - Noemi Kapusy

Farveblind feat. Emmeline - Natural Behaviour.

Copenhagen trio Farveblind just announced their debut album 'Micro Pleasures', will be out 15th May. Produced by Farveblind and mixed by Swedish engineer Gustav Brunn (whose credits include work with Yung Lean and Viagra Boys), the album will feature a cast of contributors and guest vocalists including Django Django, k.flay, Elliphant, USERS, Foreign Air and Emmeline. With touchstones ranging from Battles and The Chemical Brothers to Underworld and Viagra Boys, Farveblind's hard-edged brand of electronic music collides breakbeats, acid-drenched techno, punk fury, and sweeping cinematic layers. 

Their forthcoming debut album 'Micro Pleasures' pulls that punk volatility, industrial precision and widescreen electronic drama into the same gravitational field and is previewed now by new single 'Natural Behaviour', featuring London vocalist Emmeline. Built on a pulsing, subterranean groove, Emmeline’s vocal moves between shadow and clarity, circling the refrain “I’ve been waiting for a change in your natural behaviour” while the skittering instrumental tightens around her.

Speaking about the track, Emmeline says: “When the boys sent me the rough draft of this instrumental it was already so driving and epic. I wanted to write something equally dark but with a momentum and force to it that would move the song into something broadly philosophical and/or existential. The phrase ‘Natural Behaviour’ came to the fore pretty quickly, and I started to think about what that actually means. How much are we a product of the music around us? Of the people? Of the availability of light? Then I started thinking about someone waiting for someone’s natural behaviour to shift — and how that can be a pretty futile task. Maybe the song exists in a club at the ends of the earth, where we’re all questioning why the grass grows upwards, why the bassline hits harder when the beat drops, why we punish the earth for what it gives us — and how some patterns are hard to break.”

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The Tammy Shine - So Very Little.

Just released the new solo single and video So Very Little by indiepop legend and lifer Tammy Ealom of the band Dressy Bessy. It's been 6 years since the last Dressy Bessy album, but this time Tammy is back under a new name The Tammy Shine with an album she wrote, recorded, and mixed all herself. It doesn't stop there as she also shot all the promo photos, made the videos, and did all the album artwork and packaging. This was her first time in full control of an album from start to finish. 

Set for release on February 20, 2026, Ok Shine Ok finds the perfect home on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records (HHBTM), a label known for championing idiosyncratic and authentic indie pop. The album title itself serves as a mantra—an affirmation of positivity amidst the chaos, a nod to the "shine" Tammy has always brought to her visual art and stage persona.

Fans of Dressy Bessy will still find the undeniable hooks and melodic sensibilities that are Ealom’s trademark. However, they will also discover a new depth—a vulnerability that comes from the singular approach and the confidence of a woman who has lived through the changing tides of the music industry and emerged even stronger.

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Jasmin Valcarcel Photography

Son Little - Be Better.

Son Little has announced ‘Cityfolk’, his fourth album and first since 2022. Although Little is often placed in the category of “roots musician”, ‘Cityfolk’ defies genre and lets the evocation of his storytelling pierce through. “The industry likes to keep artists in little boxes, and for Black artists it has meant being defined by your proximity to ‘urban,’” Little admits. “But my music has always had flashes of country, rock and folk, as well as hip-hop, blues and R&B. So I've always struggled as an artist who kind of, I think, lives in the spaces between genres.” 

With today’s album announcement comes 'Be Better', a track that is perfectly apt for the start of a new year. A song about release, resilience, and the quiet power of self-belief, 'Be Better' sheds the weight of old stories and broken expectations, trading despair for movement and renewal; it’s a hymn for transformation, challenging anyone ready to leave the past behind to step forward, even when the road ahead is dark. 
 
Now living outside of Atlanta, Livingston attributes the development of ‘Cityfolk’ to going even further south to record in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in January 2025. It was there that Little connected with Ben Tanner, a two-time Grammy-winning musician, Alabama Shakes band member and producer of St. Paul & The Broken Bones, John Paul White, Foy Vance and more, to flesh out sketches of songs that he’d crafted through epiphanies about his family’s roots. Already having an understanding of his father’s side, Little views his maternal line as a “mystery unfolding,” but it was in Shoals that the stars aligned, both through retracing his history and formulating an organic chemistry with Tanner.

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Maddy Little - Hirta - KickDr - The Corner Laughers - All For Jolly - Heidy H King

Photo - Carly Boomer

Maddy Little - All My Fault.

Canadian indie alt-pop artist Maddy Little returns with "All My Fault," a raw, bittersweet reflection on self-doubt, emotional manipulation, and the quiet power of finally choosing yourself. Written in the aftermath of a situationship defined by push and pull, the track captures the moment where self-blame gives way to clarity and growth.

Built around a stripped-back, organic production style, "All My Fault" keeps its focus firmly on emotion. Little explores the toll of being caught in a cycle of unmet commitment, questioning her worth while mistaking manipulation for affection. "I was constantly either being blamed, or blaming myself," she explains. "I didn't think I was good enough, or I felt too weak to walk away from a situation where I wasn't valued."

What makes the song especially resonant is its emotional arc. "All My Fault" moves from internalized blame toward self-recognition, marking a turning point where Little finds her voice and reclaims her value. The contrast between vulnerability and resolve sits at the heart of the track, mirroring the process of leaving something painful behind and stepping into something healthier.

"It feels like the end of something painful, but the beginning of something better," says Little. "I'm finally out of that dark part of my life and focused on being happier, and I truly am." 

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Hirta - Birds In The Loft.

We have the third and final single from Hirta's upcoming Soft Peaks LP. The track is called "Birds In The Loft" and it perfectly embodies the undercurrent of mourning and optimism that runs throughout this record so gracefully. Hirta is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Alistair Paxton and this record hasn't left my rotation since I first heard it last autumn. 

Hirta’s ‘Soft Peaks’ finds solace in the natural world and comforts through an intriguing map of familiar trailheads and newly chartered terrain. The debut official release from Scottish - American multi instrumentalist, Alistair Paxton, ‘Soft Peaks’ casts a windswept and lonely spell yet retains an air of optimism across its ten warm and desolate tracks. 

This album was self produced and recorded in 2025 in sessions split between the Hudson Valley town of Nyack, NY and rural Bovina in the Western Catskill mountains culminating in both vinyl and digital releases under Paxton’s own imprint, Half Painted Door.

Soft Peaks reveals layers of intricate acoustic fingerstyle guitar and plaintive drums under sparse and tasteful contemporary textures. A subtle and evocative blend of traditional folk voicings and indie rock charm which conjures fleeting nostalgia and offers some hopeful light in a dark time. Through songwriting that crafts propulsive repetition and embraces the power of restraint and economy, Paxton’s vocal harmonies remain unadorned and carry a poetic honesty while delivering elegiacal verses both timeless and universal."

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KickDr - Dubtitles (EP).

Dubtitles is the second KickDr EP on Moom, following last year’s Afro-inspired Neema. The EP was shaped by a period of deep listening to dub music across genres — from the classic sounds of King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry to electronic landmarks like Leftfield and Basic Channel.

Dubtitles brings the light touch of dub into a house EP, creating something that balances movement and energy with space, warmth and atmosphere.

Dubtitles is built to travel. Equally at home on the dancefloor, the beach, in the car or drifting through your living room, it’s designed for effortless, repeat listening — music that soundtracks moments rather than being locked into a single setting.

Moom Sound · KickDr - Dubtitles EP

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The Corner Laughers - Rainbow Cardigan.

The Corner Laughers return to make good on the promise of a long-awaited new album –their first since 2020 –with the new single “Rainbow Cardigan.” The new track is a blend of melancholy and exuberance that's a thrilling sign of things to come. “Rainbow Cardigan” is out today January 16.

“Rainbow Cardigan,” like the album it heralds and the band that created it, is an exhilarating study in remarkably consonant contrasts. For longtime fans of The Corner Laughers, the sound will be instantly recognizable, kicking off in a minor key with the solo vocals and jangly ukulele of Karla Kane (both distinctive calling cards of the band), spinning a tale where the title garment is the only splash of color in a graveyard on a grey British morning. 

When the chorus hits, though, it's positively jubilant, all major chords, driving rhythms and interlocking harmonies. Still, there' a dichotomy at the core: “We were old, yes we were ancient; we were young, yes, we were barely conceived.” For all that depth and intrigue, it's also flat-out catchy, with intricate acoustic guitar by Khoi Huynh, spaghetti western bass and electric guitar by KC Bowman (both also suppling those harmonies), and propelled over the edge by a folk-punk explosion of drums by Charlie Crabtree and, coming in with a burst of electric guitar distortion for the grand finale, an exciting cameo by original band co-founder Angela Rhoades (nee Silletto), her first reunion on record since leaving the band more than a decade ago. 

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All For Jolly - Lifeblood.

Penzance (Cornwall England) based folk-punk band All For Jolly have announced their upcoming single “Lifeblood” a release that sits at the heart of a wider campaign highlighting the ongoing closure of grassroots music venues across the UK. The track is both a tribute to independent venues and a frank reflection on the growing pressures facing the grassroots music scene, from rising operating costs and redevelopment to the increasing financial strain placed on DIY artists.

For All For Jolly, the issue is deeply personal. The band built their career touring the UK’s grassroots circuit and credit small, independent venues as the foundation of their journey — and as vital spaces where new artists can survive, develop, and connect with audiences. “Grassroots venues are the lifeblood of bands like ours,” the band say. “They’re where scenes exist at all. Without them — and without proper support — making music becomes impossible for so many people.”

Following the release of “Lifeblood”, All For Jolly will embark on a UK tour throughout February 2026. The run will also mark the band’s final tour as a full band for the foreseeable future, with rising costs and the realities of remaining fully independent making extended touring increasingly unsustainable. Together, the single and tour underline the campaign’s central message: the fight to keep grassroots venues alive is inseparable from the fight faced by the artists who rely on them. Fans will be encouraged to support local venues, attend shows, and buy tickets in advance wherever possible.

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Heidy H King - The Washing Machine.

Inspired by the likes of Carole King & Kate Bush singer-songwriter Heidy H King, has many inspirations. It's obvious, after just a few bars of the newly released folk-pop number “The Washing Machine.” With this catchy and sophisticated track, Heidy H King presents herself to a wider public for the first time.

The song is carried by Thomas Güttinger’s acoustic guitar playing—and, of course, by Heidy H King’s voice. The musician was born in Schaffhausen and has been living in the canton of Zurich for 38 years. Even if her name may at first glance appear new on the music scene, she is in fact an experienced artist with extensive live experience. She began writing her own songs at the age of 17 and later deepened her musical craft at the Lucerne School of Jazz as well as through various training and continuing education programs in Switzerland and abroad.

Heidy H King in her own words about 'The Washing Machine' The song is a homage to the washing machine and tells how I make myself comfortable during the washing cycle. With this song, I wanted to prove that instead of a love song or a protest song, you can also write a ballad about a washing machine. I googled to see whether there was already a real washing-machine song—and ended up finding over 100 videos of spinning washing machines (for meditative purposes).

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Kee Avil - The Darts - Archive - Adam Weil - Honey Motel

Photo - Caro Etchart

Kee Avil - itch.

Kee Avil (Vicky Mettler) this week shares the next move in what has been a notable and highly praised musical journey in recent years. Rather than produce and drop a traditional album, Mettler is teaming up with NNA Tapes to experiment with a one-track-at-a-time-over-the-course-of-a-year project, Vapor. To be clear, this is not merely an album with a bunch of singles –– this is Mettler writing, recording, and releasing her album in real time, in chronological order. 

It feels to me like a response to the public-diaristic modes that have emerged alongside the life of the Internet and digital social communications. Mettler says: "Creative inspiration is often like vapor, appearing and dissipating quickly. This album represents what inspires me in the moment."

"Vapor is a deconstructed album that I’ll be releasing song-by-song throughout 2026, a sort of sonic diary. Creative inspiration is often like vapor, appearing and dissipating quickly. This album represents what inspires me in the moment, it’s my attempt at capturing fleeting moments of creativity, and finishing them quickly while they’re still fresh and breathing. For me, it’s a way to let go and make music without thinking too far ahead. Once a song is finished, I move on. I don’t try to link the songs: each tells its own story. My hope is that at the end, a natural cohesion appears, a concept reflecting a frozen moment in time, a process from start to finish."

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Photo - Tina Gross

The Darts (US) - Midnight Creep.

Seattle’s all-women garage-rock wrecking crew The Darts kick off their new album cycle with “Midnight Creep,” the first advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, out March 3 on Adrenalin Fix Music. The single dropped yesterday and finds the band slipping deeper into the spooky, swagger-heavy garage-trash universe they’ve been flirting with since day one. If you’ve ever wished the Back From the Grave comps came with a dance craze, you’re already in the right neighborhood. The Darts have spent the last decade carving their name into the global underground with Farfisa-first garage chaos, sold-out shows across Europe, the UK, and North America, and multiple sold-out vinyl runs. 

They’re known for genuine, close-to-the-crowd performances and Nicole’s honest connection with the room, a band that brings people into the show and plays from real joy rather than polish. They’ve landed sought-after KEXP live sessions and hit major festivals like Punk Rock Bowling, Binic Folk and Blues, SJOCK Festival, and Bear Stone Festival, earning fans ranging from Dave Vanian to Stephen King to Jello Biafra. With Nicole Laurenne (vocals and keys), Rebecca Davidson (guitar), Lindsay Scarey (bass), and the returning Rikki Watson (drums), this lineup feels like the most dialed, dangerous, and joyfully unhinged version of the band yet.

“Midnight Creep” started as a surprise curveball when Lindsay brought Nicole a demo called “Phantom Creep.” Nicole was already quietly writing a Halloween-themed album and immediately heard a chance to chase something different: an honest-to-ghoul old-school monster dance, the kind that might’ve aired on a haunted Shindig episode taped in a basement full of fog machines and paper-mâché bats. She rebuilt the tune into a slinky, organ-driven earworm; Lindsay created a simple, go-go-friendly choreography; and suddenly The Darts had a Halloween banger that felt both brand-new and weirdly familiar.

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Photo - Yagub Allahverdiyev

Archive - City Walls.

The unique, enigmatic and acclaimed South London collective Archive share the latest single, "City Walls", from their forthcoming record Glass Minds (due out February 27 via Dangervisit).

Archive are a musical group based in London, England, whose music spans electronic, trip hop, avant-garde, post-rock and progressive rock. Over their 31-year history, the band has released twelve studio albums and enjoyed established success throughout Europe.

On 29 April 2022 Archive released their twelfth studio album Call To Arms & Angels recorded at RAK Studios and produced by Jérome Devoise. The album features 17 tracks and is accompanied by the documentary Super8: A Call To Arms & Angels. Archive released music videos for the tracks "Shouting Within", "Fear There & Everywhere", "We Are The Same", and "Frying Paint". The album introduced Lisa Mottram as the band's new vocalist. 

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Adam Weil - A Little Broken.

Adam Weil is a Midwest-based singer-songwriter whose music blends unguarded lyricism with a stripped-down Americana sound, favoring emotional honesty over embellishment. He released his debut album, Same As I Used to Be, in 2024, establishing a voice rooted in intimacy and reflection. Adam continues to refine and expand his artistry with his forthcoming release, A Little Broken, on Friday, March 27, 2026. His songs delve into themes of resilience, self-reflection, and quiet perseverance. Adam’s voice carries a subtle tension throughout the record, balancing vulnerability and resolve that feels quietly disarming. There’s a rawness to the music that suggests the songs were written to be felt first, not explained. 

The CD was produced by Grammy-winning producer Sheldon Gomberg, who also produced Same As I Used to Be, engineered by Kevin Smith, and recorded at Carriage House Studio in Silver Lake, CA.  The musicians playing on the CD are Adam (acoustic guitar, lead vocals), Jay Bellerose, Gary Novak (drums), Rob Humphreys (percussion), Joshua Gooch, Trevor Menear (guitars), Anna Butterss, Alan Hampton, Jorgen Carlsson, Jennifer Condos (bass), Carey Frank (organ), Chris Stills and Kipp Lennon (background vocals.) 

Weil’s friendship with Sheldon is important. “Sheldon and I actually go way back. We used to play together, and years ago, I was the first full-length album he ever produced, which makes coming back together for these projects even more special. There’s a deep level of trust between us — he knows how to draw out performances that feel completely honest.” Adam released two college-era albums with his band, followed by two more in his early twenties under the name Rhythm Tree. 

He then moved to Los Angeles, where producer Marvin Etzioni produced his album Proof. During those sessions, Adam met bassist Sheldon, and their creative partnership began. Adam later released Out of the Blue on an indie label, followed by Expectation Bridge, Sheldon’s first full-length production. Though unreleased, it was a key creative milestone. After stepping away from music for years, Adam reunited with Sheldon last year to release Same As I Used to Be and A Little Broken.

Adamweil · A Little Broken Final Mixes

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Honey Motel - Mammoth Bones.

Honey Motel release the soulful final single ‘Mammoth Bones’ ahead of their anticipated new EP Motel FM (Due Feb 20th). Produced by Alec Brits (Clean Cut Kid, Michael Aldag, St Catherine’s Child), the EP bursts with character - from moments of heartfelt reflection to others of driving alternative rock intensity. ‘Mammoth Bones’ brings one of the most emotive moments on the EP, bringing a shimmering blend of neo-soul and drampop to the band's indie tendencies. From its bubbling downtempo mainstay, the track moves to a funk influence finally as a tasteful guitar solo tops the chopping rhythmic shift.  

Talking about the EP, the band explain: “‘Mammoth Bones’ is about the beautiful absurdity of navigating life with someone who makes everything feel okay. It’s a reflection on how the chaos of the world seems to fade into the background when you’re side by side with the right person. The song explores that feeling of drifting through the universe with your person, so content and locked in that even if it all ended tomorrow, you wouldn’t mind. ‘Dying wouldn’t be so bad if it was with you.’ There’s a quiet, defiant peace in that idea. Love can make the noise fall away.

Musically, the song mirrors that journey. It begins steady and measured, then gradually opens up into something more expressive and free. It’s a love song at its core, just one that floats in space rather than walks the earth.” The upcoming 6 track EP ‘Motel FM’ showcases the Liverpool quartet’s radiant musicality and growth, blending elements of indie, alt-rock and alt-pop through a guitar led sound that is nuanced yet raw, capturing the essence of their live sound whilst delivering varied, at times intense and high octane, at others textural and emotive soundscapes. 

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