St. Louis-based Indie Rock band “Shady Bug” are dropping their third full-length album I Wanted to be There on October 30th, and today the band have shared a new track off the album titled “seed.” About the track, lead singer Hannah Rainey says “The song ‘seed’ was written out of a screwed situation of a past love trying to re-enter my life after a sour break-up. “You planted a seed I never wanted you to / I just wanna feel fine but now it all seems so screwed…” I wrote this one on garageband on my ipad before bringing it to the band. I was playing with time signatures and also juxtaposition of moods. I am very obsessed with the solemn love songs ala Cindy Lee. Dark tenderness and nostalgia are huge themes on the entire album.” I Wanted to be There will be released via “Julia’s War Records” You can watch the music video for “seed,” as well as pre-order I Wanted to be There below:
Following the 10th anniversary of her For Young Hearts EP, singer/songwriter Sophie Allison has just released her first new track under her “Soccer Mommy” moniker in two years. The track is titled “Rings Of Saturn,” and it was produced by Elliott Kozel. About the track, Allison says, “This song is about feeling lost and looking for hope from anywhere. I wrote it during a difficult time when I would often take my telescope out into the yard to look at the moon or at planets. There’s something about feeling small that can kind of take the weight off.” You can listen to “Rings Of Saturn” below:
UK-based singer/songwriter Jordan Bussell has released her first single in three years titled “If You Let Me.” This follows her sophomore album What You Wouldn’t Do For Me. In true Jordan Bussell fashion, “If You Let Me” is a soulful acoustic ballad that offers a sense of optimism while it tackles heavy themes. About the track, Jordan says, “I wrote this sitting with a close friend just after both of our worlds had all but fallen apart. I’d just learned the relationship I was planning my life around had been full of deception, betrayal and manipulation. My friend had also lost his relationship, his home and the future he had envisioned. We sat shell shocked and lost. Trying to support with his pain helped distract from my own.” “If You Let Me” will appear on her upcoming third album Aftershocks, which will be released at the end of September/start of October. You can listen to “If You Let Me” below:
Being a musician trying to make it in this day and age can be a discouraging process. The internet is so over saturated with countless artists trying to get their music out there that it’s easy for one’s music to slip through the cracks. I can attest to that, I’m a musician with 2 monthly listeners on Spotify. This can be disheartening, but the best thing to do is to just keep going. London musician Eaves Wilder experienced this at a very young age. Following the release of her 2023 E.P. Hookey, she considered quitting music altogether, so she stepped back and waited until she found her voice to begin making music again. Now, after a period of writer’s block and an existential crisis, Wilder has returned with her long-awaited debut album Little Miss Sunshine. This album is a prime example of why you shouldn’t rush creativity, because you can tell there was much time and effort put into it. Being more true to herself and her personal music influences, as opposed to succumbing to the pressure of making a hit, Wilder crafts a perfect amalgamation of guitar-driven Alternative Rock, Power Pop melodies, and lush vocals, and this album uncompromisingly drives us through her vulnerability, but all while maintaining a powerful feminist spirit. The track “Just Say No!” highlights the importance of setting boundaries to protect oneself from being taken advantage of, “Mountain Sized” is a self-reflective track that finds Wilder questioning her role or purpose as she tries to navigate young adulthood, and “Ropeburn” is about cutting off toxic people and re-evaluating personal relationships, which all leads to an introspective experience that can resonate with just about anyone, but if this album has an anthem that perfectly summarizes the entire record, it most certainly would be “Everybody Talks.” I haven’t heard a song that perfectly captures the feeling of wanting everyone to shut the fuck up like this one in a very long time, and in a world where people are constantly spewing out their unprovoked opinions and arguing online, this is an important track to hear. It can also be an anthem for introverts. This song takes me back to that lost feeling I had when I was a young introvert trying to navigate life in a society that favors the extroverted. Themes such as these are what makes good genuine music, and if you have the songwriting ability to back it up like Wilder has, your music will move a lot of people. Little Miss Sunshine is an astonishing debut that will resonate with many.
There’s a bone I’ve got to pick with major music publications. For awhile now “Rock” and its countless subgenres have been neglected by your favorite cool and contemporary music blogs and publications, and this stems from the misguided belief that “rock is dead.” Now I’m not here to scream “Rock is not dead!” like a character straight out of a Wayne’s World movie, but the negligence that plagues the modern Rock world is more problematic than you think. Rock is not the zeitgeist, and it hasn’t been for over a decade. In fact, the last movement to reach commercial success other than the short-lived Garage Rock Revival scene of the early 2000s was the Nu-Metal movement, and I’m not even going to mention how embarrassing that is. This is problematic because the countless bands in the Rock world whether it be Post-Punk, Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Punk Rock, Indie Rock etc. aren’t being pushed to the masses enough, and this failure falls on major streaming platforms and their poorly curated playlists, and most contemporary Rock stations whose heaviest or most cutting edge band they play is “Twenty One Pilots.” This unfortunately leads to less exposure. That isn’t to say Rock bands aren’t thriving in the underground. In fact, this gives countless bands the chance to garner a more devoted fan base, which will weed out the trend-hoppers, and the internet is so vast that you can discover as many bands as you want at anytime. I just would like to see more music publications providing a more in depth analysis when covering Rock bands. This has got me thinking that L.A. based duo “Broken Baby’s” new album Late Stage Optimism would have topped the charts had it been released in the 90s or early 2000s. Not that the album is derivative or overly nostalgic, but there was more of a respectful focus on Rock music in those times. However, don’t misconstrue my old man yells at cloud rant about contemporary Rock music as charity or a ploy to get you to feel sorry for Broken Baby and other bands of their like, because Broken Baby are doing just fine with their explosive, fun, thought-provoking, and infectious music. Their sophomore album Late Stage Optimism is their best work by far, and the perfect example of how to correctly combine attitude driven guitar Rock with Pop sensibilities. The Pop elements come from lead singer Amber Bollinger’s catchy as Hell vocals, and I do mean catchy. She has crafted some of the most sing-along-able choruses I’ve heard in a very long time, but along with those catchy hooks lies her sharp and witty lyrical content. These lyrics refuse to stay in one spot, they tackle important topics but the album never gets too bleak or serious, which may be a reflection on how we awkwardly approach touchy topics or try to exit certain conversations with a nervous laugh, and this might be a complete misinterpretation, but I feel like the frequent sense of humor on this album satirizes the try-hards out there who speak out against injustice but freeze up when confronted with the real deal. A track like “Madonna’s a Dick” has no business being that catchy given the fact that it’s about the unfair treatment women face in the entertainment business where they’re sexualized and faced with double standards, but if you want people to listen, sometimes you have to lure them in with straight-forward catchiness. However that sense of humor and sense of fun are far from performative, because it’s evident that the two have a natural sense of humor. Just listen to the opening track “Get the Piss Up” and you’ll know what I mean. The track is a celebration of those moments when you’re having the time of your life dancing and raging with friends. The catchiest track on the album “Manic Panic” has some clever wordplay that inspires me to write better, not to mention the line “Nada Surf with you” on the closing track “Hand Heat” still blows my mind. These multi-faceted lyrics have prompted me to over-analyze, and the journey has been frustrating and immensely enticing, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Is the track “Meaniac” about men victimizing themselves and labeling women “mean” when they don’t get what they want? Is the track “Cloud Coverage” about escapism and the many vices we use to bury vulnerability? Am I completely misinterpreting these songs? Am I really being over-analytical? All of these questions arise while the music sounds fully-fleshed out with just two primary members, and this is the result of guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Dezen’s eclectic guitar stylings. This is some of the most unique and utterly infectious guitar work I’ve heard on a record in quite a long time. I believe this album will forever remain timeless. Though it has elements of genres that will remind you of an older era, it still manages to sound modern and features topics that will remain relevant for a very long time, and who can deny the addicting personality this album offers? If there’s an album that can get the masses to pay attention to the Rock world it’s this one, and I feel like this is the step in the right direction, but don’t simply lump Broken Baby in a category, because Broken Baby are Broken Baby, and no one else.
We all have them. Our favorite spots to hang out. Whether it be coffee shops, bars, venues, or diners, it’s part of the human experience to get out and meet people, have conversations, or even people watch as you gaze at someone you find attractive, intriguing, or maybe someone who is obnoxiously making a scene, whatever the case may be, these are the things, good or bad, that make us human. These are the things we’ve grown accustomed to, but what happens when all of that is taken away from us? That’s what we were forced to endure last year during lockdown. The importance of human interaction made itself more clear than ever, making us realize we took these things for granted. However, that isolation lead to self-reflection for many of us, and prompted countless artists to create such profound art, artists such as “Lucky Iris.” Inspired by their desire to get out into the world again, the Leeds duo created a dance floor ready banger rich in Electro-Pop and Disco titled “Coffee Shop,” and the track reflects on those times of normalcy, inspiring us to slow down and savor these times as they slowly return. The track was produced by Ed Heaton, and mixed by Lee Smith. You can listen to “Coffee Shop” below:
Italian band “Vanarin” have returned with a new single titled “Care.” Set to appear on their upcoming full-length album Treading Water, “Care” is the most adventurous the band have sounded musically with a synth-driven outro that brings to mind 80’s Sci-Fi/Horror á la John Carpenter. The track is lusciously dreamy, and the lyrical content reflects the moody yet groovy tone of the music speaking on those moments where we get lost in our own thoughts, and i’m sure most will agree with me that we’ve had plenty of self-reflection to deal with thanks to our current pandemic. You can watch the music video for “Care” below:
Valentine’s Day was almost a week ago, but London based trio “Panic State” aren’t done sharing the love, viral love that is. Today the band dropped their new single “Viral Love” and it’s the band’s most fun track yet filled with energetic instrumentation and an earworm of a chorus that will have you shouting the lyrics. You can listen to “Viral Love” below:
Billy Nomates released her debut album last year and immediately solidified herself as the voice for the forgotten normal people. The people who work regular jobs who would love to roll up their sleeves and lay their bosses out with a nice fat punch to the face. She’s someone who acknowledges the working class, but rather than preach, she observes the importance of normal people and sheds a catchy light on said people to provide realistic Pop music that is the antithesis of Pop music that celebrates luxury and celebrity. Today she has announced that she will release a new E.P. titled Emergency Telephone on March 5th via “Invada Records.” She has also released a new single off the E.P. titled “Heels,” which is about knowing who you are and finding the warrior within you to fight the many obstacles and inconveniences that break you down. You can watch the music video for “Heels” below:
“Everything is Weird in America” isn’t exactly a new song from Hannah Rogers’ “Pixx” project, the track was featured on her debut album The Age of Anxiety back in 2017, but the sentiment of the song still rings true. After three years, Rogers has finally released a video she had shot for the song, and now seems like the best time to release it, because right now things are incredibly strange here in America. You can watch the music video for “Everything is Weird in America” below:
