Oakland’s Bam! Bam! just released a video for their song "Literary Hoax" and it is old school style with weird imagery that matches well with their vibe. Energy, slamming guitars and all the glory of post punk and pop punk, these ladies are holding it down. They are playing Bandcamp’s Oakland record store and performance space on Friday, September 13. Check them out. – Lucille Faulkner

Long Island natives Hoax, has released their latest single, “Unamerican Dream,” an immigrant’s vision of America in indie pop fashion. Michael Raj and Frantz Caesar are both first-generation immigrants and chose to centered the single’s focus around an immigrant father who, at the end of his life, comes to terms with his shortcomings. Michael and Frantz wanted to pay tribute to the topic by donating 50% of the proceeds to KIND, an organization that aims to help immigrant children find safety and protection in the States.

The song’s soundscape, filled with clean lead synths, guitars, and a tidy beat, blends seamlessly with lead singer Michael Raj’s emphatic vocals, and is in part reminiscent of the so-called sophisti-pop of the late ’80s that saw its peak in bands like Prefab Sprout and and The Style Council, among others. Since releasing their first EP, The Truth and Other Lies in 2017, Hoax has been unloading previews of their musical talent at a promising rate. Check out the new single, streaming below! – Susan Moon

“Contact,” the latest from San Francisco-based alt hip hop artist Morsifire, is a painful song about loss and coping. Raised with a mother suffering from addiction and in a household full of trauma, the artist wrote “Contact” as an emotional reaction to the loss of his sister. He says, "This song is about the immediate aftermath of my sister’s death and everything that came with it. By the end of the song I’m actually addressing her, wherever she is. It’s a raw song, an open wound…"

The track features indie pop singer Emily Afton, who helps infuse and soften the song with her spellbinding voice. "Contact" reminds us of that Eminem track with Dido, and accomplishes a similar feat: a wounded rapper’s anger and pain softened by powerful female vocals. Stay tuned for Morsifire’s live shows in San Francisco and beyond.

–Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

New York / Philadelphia band Field Mouse evoke internal conflict on their new single “Heart of Gold,” basking in lukewarm nostalgia against massive pop punk riffs and a breakneck percussive pace. With lyrics detailing dreams of car crashes and meeting one’s “evil self,” lead singer Rachel Browne’s vocal performance is rife with anxiety and a lingering sense of dread. Despite this apprehension, Browne still expresses a cautious confidence, stating she “still has a heart of gold,” which offset against melodic, explosive guitar work embeds the track with an enduring sense of optimism. Stream it below, and catch Field Mouse at Elsewhere’s Zone One on August 17th. -Connor Beckett McInerney

Joanna Sternberg stands tall as a person of many artistic talents; beyond songwriting and playing multiple instruments, including paints and drawings, often used for the album covers. As Joanna’s visual art contributes to genre-defying — almost spiritual — music, the opposite is the same, as these songs create paintings that appear before your eyes as you listen to them. Sternberg just released debut record Then I Try Some More on Team Love Records last month, and set off on tour with Conor Oberst. Sternberg’s bringing the show back home for a bit, with the next performance at Alphaville on August 18th with Miwi La Lupa and Allegra Krieger. Take a listen to the leading track from Then I Try Some More, "This Is Not Who I Want To Be", below. – Will Sisskind

Boy Scouts just released their latest video for "Hate Ya 2" and it’s a captivating animated creation. What an amazing blend of visual mediums that pairs so nicely with the sad and lovely tune. Shout out to that fly, the balloon, all of it. Boy Scouts’ new album Free Company is out September 30 on Anti Records. Fall tour dates (with Jay Som!) start September 11. 

Says Vicks, "”Hate Ya 2” is about trying to grapple with conflicting feelings. When you still have love for someone who can also make you feel undervalued and hurt, and how confusing that experience can be. The process of recording this song felt very cathartic. Stephen [Steinbrink] and I drove out to my parent’s house with my friend Rose Droll to have her record piano on a few songs from the record, and when she played along to this one we tracked a few takes of her improvising. It added such a beautiful melancholic element, in true Rose Droll fashion.” 

When we asked Boy Scouts’ front person Taylor Vicks why their music has a "golden retriever" classification on Bandcamp, they said, simply, "I really like golden retrievers." A fine, fine reason. Well, we really like you. Give this tune a listen and be damned if you don’t listen to the rest of the album, too. 

– Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Explosive drop-D grunge-metal guitars and thundering drums introduce the new Citris single “Hell Is a Place on Earth” (streaming below). Written and performed by Angelina Torreano (guitar/vocals) and recorded/mixed and mastered by Chris Krasnow (who also contributes drums/bass and guitar) the track is a heavy rumination on personal failings against larger global issues. “Too selfish to die, too right to be happy, too weak to be leaned on. Leave it to me to destroy everything that is good,” the singer laments.  The title line, repeated in the chorus, benefits from harmonized vocal layering, adding a big-studio sheen to that hook, followed by the lyrics “give me your love, then take it away.” A pivotal statement arrives one minute in, when the instruments drop out for the solo vocals declaration “I don’t look back in anger.” While that progression cycles through again (with alternate lyrical content), a sophisticated, angular, prog-metal break emerges around the 3rd minute and takes the track to its conclusion. This initial release comes ahead of the upcoming full-length album “Delusions of Glamour.” Having just completed a west coast tour, the band has a number of local shows in the works including 9/18 at Rubulad. – Dave Cromwell

“Honeysuckle,” a beautifully tender, reflective indie rock song, is the latest single from Brooklyn’s Pom Pom Squad prior to the release of their second EP OW (out on September 6th), following 2017’s HATE IT HERE. Berrin explains that the track is about rebuilding to resolve an issue, which one can only do once the cause of the wound is identified. The band’s sound has evolved in more sophisticated and powerful directions compared to their previous material, with an aggressive electric sound and a more angsty delivery reminiscent of the riot grrls movement of the ’90s . The single progresses from an apathetic stream-of-consciousness series of thoughts to painting a picture of a serious inward and outward, back and forth internal dialogue, tackling a painful personal experience with existential undertones underlined in the chorus: “if I’m nothing without you, am I anything at all?”. Berrin’s sultry vocals never resolve the question, and a concoction of clunky guitars play a chunky tune that continues her honest anxiety. – Susan Moon 

Three NYC-based artists with folk inclinations, Eighty Ninety, Luke Rathborne, and Common Jack will be playing a show together at Elsewhere on Wednesday, August 14th at 7 PM. 

Headliners Eighty Ninety’s sweet, tender songwriting is compelling for its ability to be somewhat indie but still reminiscent of the kind of ear catching radio pop that wavers between the commercial and indie worlds. Luke Rathborne’s single, “Don’t Call Me Baby” is a great example of this singer songwriter and producer’s style blending modern folk and an indie rock attitude. Common Jack balances out the other two acts with a modern folk sound that incorporates synths and electronic effects. Altogether, this curated show offers a night of music that is mellow and warm – check out Elsewhere’s website for more details. – Susan Moon

You know that feeling of spending a few glorious weeks at summer camp, enjoying time out on the water with your bunkmates and roasting marshmallows by the fire and falling in love, only to have to go home with your memories at the end of the season and let them linger in your mind as you try to stay awake in school? That’s what Long Beard‘s new single "Means To Me" sounds like. Feelings of nostalgia come through in Leslie Bear’s ethereal voice; a move back home to New Jersey inspired the wistfulness in her lyrics. The title track on Long Beard’s upcoming album Means To Me — like its previous single "Sweetheart" — explores the meaning of home, not only for Bear to ponder, but for the listener to consider as well. Long Beard will perform at Baby’s All Right on September 26th to support the release of Means To Me; take a listen to the title track below. – Will Sisskind

New York noise enthusiasts ESSi know their way around a busted Line 6 amplifier, and their newest single “Pines Ands Cones” demonstrates an aptitude for all the bells and hisses of an electric guitar. While the track builds its energy with a grimy driving four on the floor beat, it quickly transitions to a meandering, noodling trance; guitarist and singer Jessica Ackerly delivers an aggressive vocal performance against Rick Daniel’s doomsday percussion, resulting in a final cut that feels like an industrial fugue state. It’s disorienting, dissonant, and rough around the edges (in the best way possible), a hype-worthy teaser of what we can expect on the duo’s forthcoming debut, Vital Creatures, out October 11th on Ramp Local. Stream it below, and catch ESSI at Alphaville on October 5th alongside Upper Wilds, Russian Baths, and Wsabi Fox. -Connor Beckett McInerney

Fervent readers and movie buffs know Holly Golightly, the country-turned-cafe-society girl from Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Golightly (played by the unforgettable Audrey Hepburn) has an independent air, an entrancing one; she’s a character who literary analysts have studied as, among other things, a feminist icon. Now Brooklyn avant-blues-indie artist Mima Good has released a single named after Golightly, using clips from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to create a slowed-down groove which accompanies her musings on her own femininity. In her press release for "Holly Golightly", Raechel Rosen — the brains behind Mima Good — says: "To me, [Golightly] is a charming metaphor for surviving under capitalist patriarchy and making it look good as hell." And while toxic masculinity and misogyny still exist in New York and beyond, artists like Mima will take influence from icons like Golightly and keep surviving, too. Take a listen to the single. below. – Will Sisskind