"tell me all the things you have discovered / and all the things you can’t explain / speak of all your holy moly others / tell us all the things you’d do the same..." A great song will move me while simultaneously zapping my brain with a flood of memories or sonic touchstones, connections. It is inevitable having written about indie music for over 15 years. The spinning zoetrope of "Secret Sister" by the enchantingly artful Winter Aid, the moniker of San Francisco-based, Irish songwriter Shane Culloty, does just that flooding a sonic map in my head with locations. Some of those locati ..read more

  "Miss you now / I tried so hard not to waste you / You’re doing fine / Gotta' find a way just to make it / Right moving clockwise / Am I that late?" The enchanting now and nostalgia of "Candice" by Moscow based shoegazed indie rock Mental Map is beautifully rendered simmering with appropriate eruptions of airy chords, lovely shuffling drum beats, heavy bass, feeding-back guitars, tom tom beats and hushed vocals galore that might make you long for the wide eyed wonder of youth but not it's bruised heart brevity. I am smitten with Mental Maps unabashed 90's rock sound that feel (to me ..read more

  "some say / you gotta start anew..." The slightly lo-fi indie rocker "Everybody Runs Away" by Dr. Rocket, the musical moniker of Seattle singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, self-recordist, self producer Nick Carver sounds beautifully effervescent and interestingly wonky. I love that word, wonky because it is so interpretive (isn't it?). From Carver's pushed, go for broke inspired vocal countenance to the sort of psychedelic jangle pop guitar strains, the shuffling drumming courtesy of Carl Christensen, the big anchoring bass, and the wonky (glee) synth sounds that at one point f ..read more

  "How you gonna change it all now? / Take it as it looks in its form / Told me you would soften the blow (Oh, oh) / If you knew how you’d have done it by now..." The cinematic artful abstractions of "The Ransom" by 23 year old Dublin based, Irish composer, multi-instrumentalist / DIY producer Chameleon begins with Al Pacino's voice as Sonny Wortzik from Sidney Lumet brilliant 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon and then descends into a darkly dreamy post rock escapist movie of it's own. Chameleon builds his sonic universes from the ground up writing, recording, producing all asp ..read more

  "Mû par la nécessité de brouiller les pistes dans du bruit qui pense..." The orbiting alternative angular drama of "Seuls" (Alone) by French Canadian alt rock / progressive band zouz builds and shape shifts like a lab experiment gone beautifully awry. Beginning with almost stoic shapes from the chunky guitars / bass / drums triad, the experimental mayhem begins early on. When the collision of what might be called math rock and fiery progressive fusion happens it is a mesmerizing thing. A sprinting amalgam of sonic tensions, emotions like running toward something unknowing of what ..read more

  "it's all in my head / creeping up like water / creeping up like sand / I mean everything, everything..." The orchestral melancholia, pressed paged beauty of "everything, everything" by la loye, the project name of 24 year old Dutch singer songwriter Lieke Heusinkveld, blooms like existential moments of self discovery and swells like tears. Lieke has a hushed vocal countenance that nonetheless holds tons of emotional context within her gentle lilt. Not the quiet before the storm but a simmering blend of self aware sadness, questions, peers into dark places but looking for light. Teete ..read more

  "you sit me down / I turn around / you cut me up /  and never make a sound..." The cagey massive tensions of "HEAVY EYES" from Hull, England's DEADSET simmer and explode. From the sonically rich guitar screams, the barrage drumming, the big bass anchors and absolutely brooding blood swallowing gritty vocals, the sensations is turmoil, feeling squashed, put upon and striking back at others and at oneself. I don't know why (really don't) but I thought of an amalgam of bands like The Velvet Underground, the Cult, Metz, Nirvana, The Jim Carroll Band. I know that is strange but f ..read more

  "I'll listen if you want me to / But what I hear is a fear that I outgrew / You go, I'll be right through / Taking a moment to enjoy the view..." The artful raging drama of "Beat Of The Sun" by AKASAKA, a project started in Brooklyn, New York this year (2024) by Pasquin Mariani reminds me of the fertile DIY garage rock community in Southern California circa 2000's (maybe more specifically 2012). The times, places might feel different for you but the emotional urgency, the unfettered raw nature, subversion and romance holding hands is what I am hearing, feeling listening to this ..read more

  "getting lost in the wild blue yonder / in the solace of my favorite author / the sky is bending with the twist in the ending / life is heaven sent / life is heaven sending..." I was going to begin this write up by describing the song as stripped back, as in a stripped back performance but it occurs to me that saying this suggest that things, whether other instrumentation or vocal harmonies have been left out. Saying this would just be a tendency to rely on past things said, a writer's cliché, but nothing would be further from the truth because the tender beauty of "Summer in Sweden ..read more

  "706 west / 30th street / Our home slow motion / Drawn in a dream..." The jazz cut folk gospel amalgam of "Bambi" by Alma Jette, the musical monkier of Los Angeles, by way of Austin, singer-songwriter, musician Mary Bryce is so perfectly rendered, constructed around her magnetic complex vocal countenance that is feels like a forever song, timeless as if it has been here for decades. Maybe it is my station in life but it does feel like one of those iconic 70's folk pop songs that would inevitably be graced with a wonderfully fluid sax solo by Michael Brecker. "Bambi" does, in ..read more