Fotoform This City is Over

Friday’s a busy day on the release schedule, and Fotoform will be dropping their latest effort, Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom). Alas, you can’t head into the weekend without one last convincing hint at the record, like the latest single “The City is Over.” This go round, the entirety of the song is a personal reclamation of meaning in our life, realizing that goals and expectations are part of the cyclical nature of modernity, and as such, are destructive forces in our lives. All of this is supported by a shiny bit of industrial-influenced dream pop, filled by hazy guitar lines and a exploring the negative space with bubblegum melodies. Grab the LP this Friday!

Yea-Ming Covers The Velvet Underground

If you were fortunate enough to attend the Oakland Weekender in 2024, you might have picked up the tape that featured Yea-Ming Chen‘s cover of “Pale Blue Eyes.” But, while working on the next album (‘rumors’ have it slated for a 2026 release0, Yea-Ming wanted to make sure she got this Velvet Underground cover out into the world. I love how her vocal resonance sounds similar to Lou Reed’s, slightly smoky in its presentation, though clearly grasping to pop sentimentality. Chen recorded the majority of the song herself, so a lot of the VU excess is gone, leaving you a bare-bones version that’s equally as stunning in its own right, with Yea-Ming admitting she embraced some of the imperfections in the recording as a way of connecting with Reed’s spirit. Stream it now below!

Artificial Go Play Musical Chairs

We get a lot of emails, and I have a strange way of listening to the lot; I open 20+ tabs and just bounce back and forth between them to see what sticks in my brain…but then there was this Artificial Go track that just kept coming on and on again, and I couldn’t stop playing it. Going back to the email of the tune, it was talking about C86 and Sarah, but the more I played it, the more something felt very Raincoats-ish. It’s got that same sort of punk sentiment, using sharp guitar sounds to crank out melodies with a snappy little drum kicking right behind to maximize the hook. Then, soak up the vocals; they’re joyous and bouncy, except when they’re not, and they hit a sharper attitude, all throwing caution to the wind and bounding forward with exuberance. Their new record Musical Chairs will be out on May 16th via Feel It Records.

Little Mazarn Announces Mustang Island

Since their earliest EP back in 2016, Little Mazarn has felt like a great secret within the confines of the Austin music scene; they are the artists’ artists; they are a band with an unparalleled musicianship…and now, they’re stretching their sound beyond ‘the gate’ of their own sound. On this first single from their forthcoming LP, the group have almost entirely erased their folk traditionalism (thought faint hints remain) in favor of embracing the expanse of the world as a whole, allowing this to work almost more as a vocal piece. It leaves the lyrical content front and center, and in the case of this song, touching upon the concept of grief and how one deals with its omnipresence. Honestly, this feels like Little Mazarn taking their sound and moving it into territory previously occupied by Low. Mustang Island is out on June 20th via Dear Life Records.

The Perfect English Weather Share London-By-The-Sea

For me, Tuesday’s are always the struggle (I’m a Monday kind of guy!). So, with that, this velvety bit of jangling pop from the Perfect English Weather is the perfect salve for my morning grumpiness. According to the notes, the tune was penned after the band reflected upon a chance meeting with Morrissey back in 1984, and in that, our narrator seems to question is it possible to still love the person he has become (or that’s how I see it). If that’s the case, it’s a quite biting tribute, but disguised in this chamber pop fever dream that seems perfectly suited for a cafe in London-by-the-Sea. The group will be releasing their first album in seven years, Just Beyond the Lights, will be out this May via Matinee Recordings.

The Electorate Return with the Great Divide

Having played in the Aussie music scene for some time, the mates in The Electorate are coming at us with a professionalism that, honestly, we just don’t get that often nowadays. The arrangement boldly builds, only to pull back so that the lyrics can join in, moving towards that sweeping jangle I adore. Light little bits of accented vocals give emphasis to the main mix, creating this budding heaviness that washes over the listener as the song seems to spin into sonic territory that borders on shattering all the pop sensibility they’ve built up. Yet, the restraint and production are such that they never seem to step out of line, making their new album, By Design, seem like a forthcoming highlight of our year; it drops on May 30th.

Eric Schroeder Shares High Low Video

This song from Eric Schroeder was pitched to me as “the greatest hook that Evan Dando never wrote,” and it’ll take you just a few moments to jump right on board with me here. Instantly the guitar sound had me, only furthered when the galloping drums and light piano play join up to drive the song into your brain before Eric even enters the fray. His dulcet tones add a sense of striking calm, with the guitars embracing a deeper tone, albeit one tinged with bits of Western swing nuance. If you’re digging on his sounds, swing on by and listen to his new record, Cat’s Game!

Slack Times Share Swing the Dial

What wasn’t finished on Gone Things, now has a home, as Slack Times have finally put the finishing touches on this bouncing jangler. The Alabama outfit have this incredible nature to bring this bit of Southern rock n’ roll swagger to the world of jangle pop, but for this new track, it’s the instrumental breakdown that has me fawning; it feels like something left on the cutting floor of a Go-Betweens recording session, and that’s never a bad vibe. The style of the vocal recording also appeals to my senses, and guarantees that if we wait patiently, the next LP (which is in the works!) is going to be out of this world. New ditty comes courtesy of Meritorio Records.

Kill the Pain and Power Solo Share New Ditty

You’ll recognize the names of Melanie Pain (Nouvelle Vague) and Phoebe Killdeer (together working as Kill the Pain), but I acknowledge that their partners in this new morning jam, Power Solo, are brand new to me. Together, they have united to create this sort of rock-a-billy meets garage punk sound, fueled by Melanie’s penchant for pop music crossing-over into hook-laden territory. I mean, if you catch onto the refrain in the song’s latter half, it begs the questions of “if you wanna have fun?” Well, do you? If so, keep an eye out for the joint venture on 7″ for Crunchy Frog Records, coming at you real soon.

Sports Team Bring Out Sensibile

I wonder if Sports Team is responsible for Pulp’s return, as both bands seem to embrace this very British form of pop, one that bridges in the peculiarities of rock n’ roll and fuses them with reflections on the mundane aspects of modernity. That being said, this one seems to be poking fun at the common people, in a sense, criticizing the way many approach life by embracing certain simplistic activities; it seems like our narrator finds those things a waste. Their new album Boys These Days is set for May 23rd Release.

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