Earlier this week, Irish post-punk quintet Fontaines D.C. released the incendiary “Starburster,” the first single from their upcoming album Romance. The album will be the follow-up to the Dublin-based group’s incredible third album Skinty Fia, released back in 2022. Volatile, ruminative, brooding, and slightly gothic, Skinty Fia was largely influenced and informed by, in frontman Grian Chatten’s words, “Irishness existing in England,” as well as the resulting chaos, conflict, and culture that has resulted from it; “I Love You,” one of the best songs that the group has ever released, was inspi ..read more

Last week, English Teacher released their brilliant debut This Could Be Texas. The Leeds, UK based quartet’s sound is a remarkable amalgamation of post-punk, psychedelia, and fuzzy alternative rock, with an unparalleled energy and uniqueness that shows throughout the debut in singles like “R&B” and “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab.” Our favorite track on the album, “I’m Not Crying You’re Crying,” is an absolutely gorgeous math-rock stunner with a focus on embracing complexity and nuance (the pacing and instrumentation of this and other tracks actually, strangely enough, remind me of Black ..read more

Next month, Hana Vu will release Romanticism, follow-up to her brilliant album Public Storage. Described as a “contemplative, coming-of-age indie-pop that mourns the impermanence of youth,” Romanticism will provide a collection of songs that are honest and vulnerable, with narratives unafraid to consider the existential side of identity and the true depth of affect and emotion, showcasing “how thrilling it can be to look directly at our feelings, to sing their sorrows and praise.” Following the album’s first single “Care,” which explored the subjectivity of individualized emotional experience ..read more

Last week, synthwave duo CD Ghost released their incredible new EP Vignette II, the follow up to the stunning Vignette I released just last year. The pair of EPs are Cody Han and Blake Dimas’s first major releases since their incredible album Night Music released back in 2022, which placed just a bit more emphasis on their darkwave inspired synth and reverb-heavy vocals, as well as gorgeously drew out the quiet brilliance of solitude; there was a phantom-like quality to those tracks, at once shadowy and impossibly lush. On both Vignette I and Vignette II, the tracks are a bit more upbeat, but ..read more

This past Friday, Vampire Weekend released their brilliant fifth album Only God Was Above Us, their first full-length album in nearly five years. For the past two decades, the (now) trio have maintained their intelligent, meticulous take on indie rock, with a focus on nuanced composition and charming, yet earnest lyrical narratives. Only God Was Above Us may very well be their saddest album, for lack of a better word, concerned with life and love and politics and memory, and, at times, an amalgamation of all that came before it; but, at the same time, as indicated by the album’s final tr ..read more

Last week, Local Natives released their gorgeous new single “Alpharetta,” the latest from their upcoming album But I’ll Wait For You, the companion piece to their 2023 album Time Will Wait For No One. An amalgamation of the the chaotic softness of Hummingbird, the vivid warmth of Sunlit Youth, and the brazen vulnerability of Violet Street, the album was a gorgeous addition to the indie group’s already impressive discography. And of the new release, the band explained that its …maybe not an answer to a question but an exhale to an inhale. There is so little that’s in our control but among all ..read more

Earlier this week, Hana Vu released “Hammer,” the striking second single from her upcoming album Romanticism. Described as a “contemplative, coming-of-age indie-pop that mourns the impermanence of youth,” Romanticism will provide a collection of songs that are breathtakingly honest and vulnerable, with narratives that are unafraid to consider the existential side of identity and the true depth of affect, showcasing “how thrilling it can be to look directly at our feelings, to sing their sorrows and praise.” Following the album’s first single “Care,” which explored the subjectivity of individu ..read more

Earlier this week, Vampire Weekend released “Classical,” the third single from their upcoming fifth album Only God Was Above Us. It will be their first full-length release in nearly five years, following the New York-based indie band’s fourth LP Father of the Bride, which was released back in 2019. Fronted by Ezra Koenig, for almost two decades the (now) trio have gone through such an incredible evolution in terms of their sound, but have always maintained the intelligence, charm, and skill that initially set them apart. “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops,” the album’s first two tracks, encapsulate ..read more

Last month, Memory Drawers released their stunning self-titled debut album. The Manila-based outfit – composed of friends Kevin Ingco, Paula Castillo, Andrea Alegre – beautifully blend together jangle pop, noise rock, and shoegaze in order to create a multi-textured and multi-dimensional sound that’s at once soft and jagged, wistful and direct, retro and modern. Most of note in their sound, however, is their hyper focus on melody, the guitar leitmotif that sets the precise tone for their tracks. This, at least, is what drew us to “Maybe,” one of our favorite songs on the debut. While tracks l ..read more

Earlier this week, NY-based singer-songwriter juno roome released his stunning new single “think you’re falling.” Though his sound can be described as ambient pop, and, at times, even psychedelic rock, in our eyes his music truly defies genre; we’ve described it in the past as being gorgeously, effortlessly kaleidoscopic, evoking colors of ranging intensities and textures, oscillating between heartache and infatuation so wonderfully that the resulting dizziness is a delight rather than delirium. His previous single “marriott downtown” was a charming, almost tongue-in-cheek love song about som ..read more