M. Lockwood Porter’s single off his forthcoming EP, Communion In The Ashes (out March 29, 2019) is a what a good folk-Americana song is supposed to be: it’s solid folksy rock infused with cultural heritage and the frustrations of our roots. Think Mountain Goats and Neutral Milk Hotel met the passion of There Will be Blood’s Eli–but less creepy, less religiously obsessed. After teaching in San Francisco for over a decade, Porter’s songwriting began to really reflect what he saw. He writes of the frustration of gentrification, of the sometimes heartless culture of change. In his own words, “The tech boom of the last 10 years has totally transformed the whole Bay Area and essentially made it a playground for the rich…Working-class folks and artists aren’t welcome there anymore and this has manifested in rising housing costs, closure of music venues, and the proliferation of homeless tent cities.” His album is an angry-beautiful homage to the people of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley. Give this song a listen, stay tuned for the full EP, and catch him at Amnesia on April 19. –Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Swimming Bell, the solo project of Brooklyn-based songwriter Katie Schottland, found its start in 2015, after Schottland broke her foot and used the downtime to learn guitar. Perhaps a consequence of her homespun background in recording and composition, Swimming Bell’s music is endowed with a rare authenticity, creating raw, unfettered folk songs from memories of people and places past. Her newest effort “1988” is the latest example of this craft, accompanied by a video that seeks to recreate the innocent wonder of childhood against lush acoustics and overdubbed vocals. And as the first single from her forthcoming LP, Wild Sight, it demonstrates a focused, fresh approach to folk ahead of the album’s release later this spring.

Schottland will return to New York on April 6th to perform a record release show at Trans-Pecos, supported by Monteagle, Pale Mara, and Andrew Victor. Until then, you can watch the video fro “1988” below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

Musicians usually have a broad range of influences to draw on, but few can pinpoint them with such specificity as Simon Hanes. As the composer of the 15 piece ensemble band Tredici Bacci, Hanes has a very precise set of inspirations: 1970s Italian film scores. Listening to the music of Tredici Bacci feels like the peeking into a truly eccentric world – Hanes often performs as various characters of his own invention, playing songs that are in turns melodramatic and raucously buoyant. The project’s imagined scores could fit perfectly in a movie by Fellini, for example, and carry all the best elements of camp and drama from the genres the group admires. Their next album, La Fine Del Futuro ’70, is set to be released March 11th – stream their featured single "In The 1970s" below. – Sunny Betz

New York power-pop group Big Eyes have no qualms calling out a comfy, wealthy existence in their new video for “Lucky You.” As syncopated Gibson guitar lines interweave scenes of the band drinking champagne and snorting caviar, frontwoman Kait Eldridge sarcastically praises “sleeping through the afternoon” and the benefits of a life without worry. While the lyrics are embedded with a punk attitude, the track offers good production values with a rather polished (yet distorted) guitar sound and tight rhythmic breakdowns, delivering a punchy anthem for those of us who still have to hustle for a dime. Watch it below, and catch them at Union Pool on March 30th, supported by Metaled and Moral Panic. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

Oakland’s own SPELLLING released her sophomoric album, Mazy Fly last month and it’s full of vampiric vibes and haunting lyrics. Tracks are somewhere between dark synth pop and experimental R&B, with wild noise clips of flies and whispers, spaceships and flying saucers. Chrystia Cabral, the woman behind SPELLLING, says she wants to evoke the disturbing feels of colonial violence “…that haunt the historical slave ship routes of the Middle Passage.” When you listen with that in mind, tracks take an even darker leap and plunge the listeners into reflection and emotion. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Equal measures of industrial rock, seductive vocals and fashion glamour are woven together in the music of Turbo Goth. As popularity continues to grow in both their native Philippines and adopted home of NYC, the duo of Paolo Peralta and Sarah Gaugler now sets their sights on an official SXSW showcase. A new album titled “Master Force” is in the works, with first video single “Love Will Be All there Is” (streaming below) giving us a taste of what’s coming, with its close-up focusing on guitar strokes that sound like synth bursts in between Sarah’s sensual vocals lines. Its forward stomping progression, bass-buzzing crunch and Paolo’s slo-mo hair-flying movements are tempered by Sarah’s flirtatious come-hither vocals and graceful tattooed body. Picture a less-pop (and much cooler) Ariana Grande fronting a band like Ministry for what this band has to offer. They play an official SXSW showcase on 3/11 at Valhalla. – Dave Cromwell

Calling their music "cumbia" would only scratch the surface of Combo Chimbita’s material. On their forthcoming album Ahomale, out May 3rd, the New-York-via-Colombia group turns the entire genre, and all its preconceptions, on its head. Weaving their fondness for psychedelia, metal and punk into a sound they call “tropical futurism”, this quartet creates a vehicle through which they explore the complexities of the Afro-Latin diaspora, and with which they imagine a stunning and prophetic destiny. Not only is their musical intent ambitious, Combo Chimbita has the musical chops to carry it through – the songs on Ahomale are driven, vivacious, and uncompromising. Check out their first single “Brillo Más Que El Oro (La Bala Apuntándome)” below, and don’t miss their show at Elsewhere on May 4th. -Sunny Betz

Flatbush’s Jacob ZL isn’t afraid to channel his own struggles through his music, toiling in smooth vintage-inspired beats and self deprecating lyrics as he rides the wave out of an intense breakup. In "Distance" is song about a romance gone wrong, that sees the MC delivering lines about the end of a tormented relationship with the ease of someone resigned to his fate. It might not be easy listening, but it’s definitely intriguing – check out the track below. -Sunny Betz

Posture, the sophomore EP by Brooklyn’s atmospheric synthpop duo Haulm, features an aged desert landscape contained within a thick white border. It’s a perfect fit for the brooding, dark, and spartan work laid down over the release’s five tracks; one can almost picture an unknown beast slouching from the sandy landscape against the dissonant keys of Reed Kackley, as JT Norton’s distant, almost fugue-state vocals weaves in and out. It’s an EP oozing with atmosphere that’s curated using relatively few musical elements, and speaks volumes to Haulm’s penchant for fine tuning sparse synths and the human voice into engaging, mysterious soundscapes.

You can catch Haulm at SXSW on March 12th and 15th – until then, stream Posture below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

Hailing from Queens, Lina Tullgren plays music that almost denies this geography and origin. Whether it’s her collaborations or solo material, the music from this DIY artist rarely conforms to the ideas of the moment or regional trends, without using the kitchen sink approach to experimentation. Thrashing drums and guitars that are simultaneously gritty and pristine can sneak up on you, whereas Tullgren’s vocals dip into emo territory at times and are the gravitational center for every song; these compositions are so powerful because of their disparate elements and how they resemble genres we know, but are blended in unexpected ways in her music. The even more surprising part is how these uncomfortably surreal songs harmonize together, reaching a point where these funeral marches are equal halves of hypnotic and skin-crawling. It’s music that beckons us to go deeper into the void, and you’ll be able to see it live on March 15 at the upcoming unofficial SXSW show linked to our Austin Synth and Pedal Expo – more info soon! – Tucker Pennington

The Brooklyn dream-pop duo known as CLAVVS has always had their feet squarely planted in the realm of electronic soul-pop. Swaying soundscapes and luscious vocals were synthesized into a potent formula. Yet with this recent run of new singles to promote their upcoming EP No Saviors, the pair have cracked open new patterns to make their distinct ideas sound infinitely more versatile. Lay Back adds a baroque flourish (reminiscent of some Tricky’s best ideas) that crashes down like a waterfall of strings, while the title track (streaming below) bursts with polyrhythms and self-assured brashness. Retaining their hazy aura and breaking out of the dream pop bubble with exuberance is a balancing act that CLAVVS pulls off with the utmost ease. – Tucker Pennington