New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Bridey has released her latest EP called "Pop Diary". This comes just four months after the release of her debut album, Honey.
This is indie pop with a guitar-driven rock backbone. Our favorite track is "Strange Pains", but feel it should be accompanied by a trigger warning during these times. "Oh God, I think I got the flu again/Strange Pains are running through my lungs again".
Streetlight Shakers are back! Well, they have not really been gone at all, but their new single “The Story” is just as triumphant, just as worthy of a hero’s welcome. The uplifting track serves as the hymn the three men from Connecticut share with the masses: a single jam-packed with the symbiotic rhythm that Nick Powell (drums, vocals) and Silvain Castellano (bass, vocals) produce + Jeff Boratko’s piano leads and vocal scales is all that is needed to celebrate a better tomorrow ahead. For the past few somber months, the group has managed to entertain its fans with creative recordings from home, showing them a glimmer of light among the shadows, something worth producing a smile for indeed. “The Story” feels like the end of the tunnel, or damn near close to it, it is a song meant to take you on the journey you have been longing for, somewhere away from troubles and closer to a better view. Stream “The Story” below for the midweek break you deserve. – Rene Cobar
Paddlefish has released the first single, "Small Song", from their forthcoming debut studio album Flyer. The band members come from around the Midwest, but are based here in Chicago while attending school. The album is about that transition of leaving home for the first time and finding yourself alone in a big city.
This is the work of Owen Misterovich (guitar, vocals, and songwriter), Bayden Fraley (bass), Missy Farrell (drums), and Zaida Wade (guitar/keyboard).
Holiday Majick is the new project from Pamela Maurer (aka Baby Money). She recently released the lead single, "Urgency" from her forthcoming album Welcome Freshman. This is LoFi, dreamy, bedroom Pop with a heavy ’60’s girl group influence.
The Deals have released their first single, "Brainwash", along with a cover of the Fountains of Wayne song "Mexican Wine".
Ben Cruz (Bass), Bin (Lead Guitar), Emerson Hunton (Drums), Joe Suihkonen (Rhythm Guitar/Vocals) Margaret McCarthy (Vocals)
Ben, Margaret, and Emerson are also perform as a trio called Moontype which also released a new single on May 1st.
American Slang has released the lead single, "Holy Roller", from their forthcoming debut album, Death Drive, which is due out May 22nd.
This is the Post Hardcore of Rob Henriksen (Guitar and Vocals), Adam Bevel (Vocals), Aaron Kubisak (Drums), Chris Prunotto (Bass), Tyler Grier (Guitar and Vocals), and Hunter Borchardt (Guitar and Vocals).
Comedic music group Handsome Naked has released their latest video, "Hat/No Hat". This is a fun zoom-based concept clearly inspired by the craziness of constantly being on conference calls.
This is the work of Eric Oren, Chucho Pérez, and Brad Kemp.
Misty Boyce has a new collaboration out with Doe Paoro in the form of "The Clearing". The new single pairs Misty’s dark indie dream pop with Doe’s haunting voice, resulting in a track that burns with its emotion. "The Clearing" previews what’s to come on Boyce’s upcoming album genesis, a product of her thoughts over the last two years. Stemming from disaster, "The Clearing" and the songs on genesis cover a rebirth from trauma, as well as what it’s like to ruminate on that trauma day after day. They illuminate Boyce’s view on the female experience, as well as the freedoms and lack thereof associated with it. Take a listen to "The Clearing" below, and check out genesis when it comes out on September 25th. – Will Sisskind
Tenci has released visuals for the latest single, "Joy", from her forthcoming LP, My Heart Is An Open Field, which is due out June 5 via Keeled Scales.
The video actually combines both "Joy" and "Joy 2" from the album since the tracks act like a seven minute suite of sorts.
Regarding the modern indie-pop aesthetic, Boston’s Gillian perfects it: classy-creeping piano leads, pumping beats, and the singer-songwriter’s honeyed melodies slowly cascading over them. However, the theme of her latest single “High” goes beyond the standard, it digs a bit deeper, tackling a subject that is scarcely discussed in the youth’s pro-recreational mildew: sobriety. Gillian vents, via infectious hooks and exquisite harmonies, frustrations about a partner struggling to remain sober and how that struggle becomes an illness turning love languid, disappointment vivid. The music video for the track, directed by Nolan Knight, captures the exact atmosphere and heartbreak the song so radiates. Gillian is not only a bright beacon of indie-pop and its current influence on the mainstream but also an artist digging deeper, as artists do. Stream the music video for “High” below. – Rene Cobar
Rich Jones has teamed up with David Ashley to release a new single called "Coffee". This is the third single from Jones since the release of is 2018 album The Shoulder You Lean On.
The music of Queens-based musician Tall Juan frequently eludes genre-descriptors, ever the joyful amalgamation of sounds contemporary and classic, performed in a manner that’s wholly unique. His new single “Irene” is representative of this wide-breadth of influences; a freak-folk instrumental provides the backbone for a modern interpretation of Caetano Veloso’s 1969 track, wherein Juan Zaballa’s vox leaps and bounds with energy reminiscent of his previous garage-rock efforts, albeit this time decidedly more acoustic. Such an approach is demonstrative of Zaballa’s ethos for his forthcoming LP Atlantico, a collage of differing sounds and languages that ultimately pays tribute to the influence of African music in South America. Give it a listen below, ahead of Atlantico’s release next week on May 11th. Photo by Matthew James-Wilson
