Known for their intricate vocal harmonies and unique instrumentation as well as their poetic lyrics, Raynes combine their diverse influences to form a group that draws inspiration from around the globe. Incorporating elements of folk, rock, and chamber pop with Celtic and world music to create a wholly original—and difficult to categorize—sound that has become the British-American trio’s own. Although they have yet to headline their own tour, the band’s immense stage presence and star studded force has landed them opening slots for Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, The Young Dubliners, and Yachtley Crew. “Your Mouth Is a Garden” is the third single from the upcoming EP Bloom.
Scottish indie artist Theo Bleak shares her latest single with a stunning official visualizer, “Said Like A Poet,” offers another look into her forthcoming EP, Bad Luck Is Two Yellow Flowers, arriving May 15, 2025 via Polymoon. A sharp and introspective track, “Said Like A Poet” explores the tension between intellect and emotion, questioning the way ideas can be beautifully articulated yet still fall short of true meaning.
“Said Like A Poet is a scathing look at how much I idealize intellect, even though I’m entirely emotionally driven,” Theo Bleak shares. “I think ideas can be beautifully written between people, but ultimately, there are concepts that lack properness—regardless of how pretentiously you write them out. I wrote this song about very human things, things I wish I knew how to ask for.”
Lily Lane is a born entertainer, captivating audiences with her powerful voice. From selling out venues like the House of Blues to performing at Madison Square Garden, she has established herself as a force to be reckoned with. Graduating with honors from the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU, she is not only a talented singer but also an advocate for body positivity and LGBTQ representation. With a standout voice that combines the grit of Amy Winehouse, the range of Demi Lovato, and the soul of Alicia Keys, Lily Lane is an independent artist in control of her own destiny. Her music has been featured on popular TV shows and gained recognition from influential sources. She has headlined festivals, collaborated with notable artists, and continues to impress with her unmatched vocal prowess.
Her debut independent EP, “Nothin’ But Trouble,” gained recognition when it was featured on Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars and garnered praise from influential outlets like Nylon, Just Jared Jr, and Perez Hilton. Throughout the 2020 lockdown, Lily Lane’s music amassed over 720,000 streams, and she collaborated with Trinidad James on a track. Additionally, one of her songs served as the theme for two seasons of the Netflix original series “Get Organized with The Home Edit.”
Jet Black Roses – the genre-blending, self proclaimed Coolest Dad Rock Band in America is here to bring the world their own brand of “rock n roll with a country soul”. With major tour slots alongside legends like Styx, Sammy Hagar and Collective Soul and a rapidly growing fanbase, the southern rock band is poised for an explosive 2025 following the release of their latest single, “PsychoBoogieHoochieCoo.” The tune, produced by Greg Archilla (Neil Young, Collective Soul, Matchbox Twenty) is paired with a mind bending music video created by Steffan Heil, released just in time for 420 celebrations.
South Jersey pop punk torchbearers FRND CRCL are back with vengeance. Their newest single, “Nice Guy,” delivers a punch of 2000s nostalgia with a modern twist. The high-octane anthem that channels the golden era of pop-punk—think punchy guitar riffs, anthemic hooks, and raw, relatable lyrics.
Listen to “Nice Guy” now here.
This is the second official single from their upcoming fourth full-length album, JRSY FRSH, set to drop May 30.
Previously Featured on Paste, AltPress, Ones To Watch, New Noise Magazine and more, “Nice Guy” is FRND CRCL doing what they do best—capturing emotion, energy, and era—all in under three minutes.
With a chorus made to be shouted in sweaty basement shows and just the right amount of digital polish, the track taps into that familiar angsty energy while still pushing the genre forward.
At this point in history, it can sometimes feel as though anyone can make anything, anywhere. One might argue that the ubiquity of computer programs, digital workstations, plug-ins, sample banks, and software synths threaten to erase any particular sense of place in music –– and in electronic music in particular. This is precisely why Gryphon Rue cuts such a remarkable figure in contemporary music.
Rue’s latest full-length,I Keep My Diamond Necklace in a Pond of Sparkling Water –– a title which paraphrases poet James Schuyler –– is brimming with complex and contrasting textures that are staggeringly vivid, evocative of the forests and fields around the former bungalow colony deep in the Catskills where Rue lives and records. The composer and interdisciplinary artist finds inspiration –– and source material –– in the world around him. The yipping of coyotes or a chorus of spring peepers is warped and wound around pulsing rhythms born from bowed chimes, singing saws, bowed electric bass, flutes, synths, gongs, and so on. Rue’s project, at least in part, is one of worldbuilding, something like Nurse With Wound or Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing or herMusic and Poetry of the Keshwith Todd Barton. To call this music any one thing in particular is to sell it short, for it is an ecosystem of sound.
Many artists claim to make art that is dreamlike, but Gryphon Rue seems to have harnessed something essential about the oneiric: dreaming is a psychic activity, sure, but it is also fundamentally physical. The dreamer remains enmeshed with their senses, indisputably in the physical world. Rue’s music is created in a way that parallels this and, indeed, feels like it. On I Keep My Diamond Necklace …,Rue pays great attention to each object with which he works, whether flute, xylophone, or Casiotone. These objects are used to produce sounds, which rise and fall, so that they may induce in the listener a trance. This is essential for Rue, who says he hopes for the music “to absorb small details that become magnified and precise, once one slows down and crosses over into this trance state.” I Keep My Necklace … overflows with these sorts of details.
“I became interested in the idea that recording is a bottomless medium,” Rue says. “You have a bag that can fit any sound – the room in the bag is limitless.” Something like a dream.
Rue counts Irish outsider musician Michael O’Shea among his influences on this record, and while at first one might think the solo work of a street musician playing a homemade zither might be a far cry from the Boards of Canada-like soundscapes that Rue constructs, that object-becomes-dreamstate affinity between Rue and O’Shea’s gently propulsive, chiming songs is clear. Rue specializes in this crossing over from physical to hypnagogic. Taylor Deupree, who mastered the record, calls it “a strange mix of organic and electronic, where you don’t quite know which it is–or where they cross over.”
After more than a decade of sonic exploration and quietly burning evolution, Electric Penguins return with the announcement of their third studio album, The Way Lights a Fire, Pt.1, out June 6, 2025. The release marks a long-awaited new chapter for the Dublin-based band, known for their ambient-electro dreamscapes and genre-defying sound.
To coincide with the announcement, the band will release their powerful new single, “When The World Is On Your Shoulders,” on April 25.
The Way Lights a Fire, Pt.1 is the culmination of years of artistic growth and creative rebirth. Built on a rich foundation of cinematic textures, progressive electronica, vintage psychedelia, and alt-rock heart, the album also marks the band’s first studio work since 2010’s critically acclaimed II.
Electric Penguins, formed in 2005 in Dublin, Ireland, is a proggy, folky, rocky ambient electro band featuring Mark Cummins and Paul Murphy. Initially a trio, they released their debut album, Goodbye from the Electric Penguins, in October 2006, garnering acclaim for its ambient electronic soundscapes.
Their sophomore effort, II, released in October 2010, continued to explore their unique blend of genres. The lead single, Highgate Hill, became a London anthem, heavily played by BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms, who named it his track of the year.
Beyond their albums, Electric Penguins have contributed to various projects, including composing the score for Channel 4’s “Sounds From The City” series. They’ve also collaborated with artists like Kim Wilde, remixing tracks such as Hope and Burn Gold / Silent Night for her Wilde Winter Songbook.
After a period of quiet evolution, the band is set to release their third album, The Way Lights a Fire, promising a return to their signature blend of vintage psychedelia, cinematic dreamscapes, progressive electronica and straight out alt-rock – with Paddy Kiernan on bass, Tony Brereton (Sack) on drums, and deeply missed, the late Barry Grace on piano.
In the run-up to the album’s release, the band has unveiled two new tracks: Close Your Eyes (And Try Again) and Oxygen, showcasing their continued sonic evolution and artistic depth. These releases mark a new chapter in their journey, reigniting the spark that has always made their music an otherworldly experience.
Irish-Nigerian artist Tolü Makay returns with War, a defiant new single out April 29, 2025. A soul-stirring cry of resistance against fear, silence, and self-doubt. Known for her emotionally charged voice and poignant storytelling, Makay now dives into deeper, darker territory with a sound that is both raw and empowering.“WAR began as a poem. I had just returned from a gathering at the London Irish Centre, where women shared stories of how Sinéad O’Connor gave voice to the voiceless, often at great personal cost. That night, overwhelmed by emotion and collective grief, I found myself reflecting deeply”, Makay shares.“The poem evolved into a song about the internal battles we face shame, fear, guilt, silence and how they mirror the systems and injustices around us. WAR is a reclamation of power. A whisper that can be heard over an army. It’s for those who feel small, but know they must speak first for themselves, and eventually for others. This song is my first step.”With pulsing drums, haunting harmonies, and a sense of urgency that simmers just beneath the surface, War marks a new chapter for Makay — one that explores what it means to reclaim your voice and fight for yourself from the inside out.War also sets the tone for her upcoming EP due later this year — a project exploring resilience during life’s brightest seasons, when public joy masks private pain. The EP follows her critically acclaimed single My Eyes Are Open and builds upon her reputation for truth-telling, genre-blending, and cinematic soul.This release follows a standout year for Makay, including a show-stopping support slot for Gabrielle at Dublin’s 3Arena, her first Symphony Orchestra collaboration, a growing international following, and recognition from tastemakers across Ireland and the UK.
Minneapolis band she’s green are excited to share their new single, “Figurines,” via Photo Finish Records, arriving alongside a poignant official music video. “Figurines” embodies a dreamy introspection of that past, pairing Zofia Smith’s ethereal vocals with the band’s lush, organic instrumentation. True to she’s green’s signature style, the track begins in a mellow haze before erupting into vibrant, full-bodied release.
LISTEN TO “FIGURINES”
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “FIGURINES”
“In the setting of someone finding themselves lost at a crossroads, ‘Figurines’ depicts the distressful feelings of adolescent self-discovery,” say she’s green. “The emblem of a figurine embodies eerily familiar images of adolescence, forgotten memories that resurface with newfound significance in adulthood.”
The music video for “Figurines” premiered yesterday on Post-Trash, visually mirroring the song’s emotional arc with shifting light, shadows, and a haunting sense of memory. It follows a disturbed Zofia as she drifts through the quiet interiors of her home. Natural light filters through the windows, casting soft glows that wash over each scene, while each passing moment brings a memory to life. As night falls, the memories intensify, colliding and converging, drawing her into a powerful, emotional reckoning.
“Figurines” follows the release of February’s “Graze,” the band’s first offering since their 2023 debut EP, Wisteria, which received recognition from all corners of the internet, especially on Reddit, amid the growing North American shoegaze renaissance. Songs like “Mandy” and “Syndulla” quickly became fan favorites for their otherworldly sound, thoughtful production and emotionally intense lyrics.
GRAMMY-winning Halestorm today unveiled “Darkness Always Wins,” a slowly-building, cinematic hard rock anthem that marks the band’s first release of 2025. The song, produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell) is the first to be revealed from a new album from Atlantic Records, details of which will be announced soon.
“‘Darkness Always Wins’ is not a song of hope, nor is it a song of despair,” said Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale. “It is reality. History repeating. Evil prevails and the good depart first. But we are not doomed as long as we persist and keep our fires burning. The war may not be won in this lifetime. But our mission is to pass the torch so that those who follow have a light to fight with.”
This summer, Halestorm will travel to Europe to support Iron Maiden followed by a US run supporting Volbeat, but not before a one-night-only performance at Black Sabbath’s last show in Birmingham, England on July 5. See below for a full list of all 2025 dates.
Last month, Lzzy Hale joined Lacuna Coil’s Christina Scabbia and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante for Spotify’s “Women of Metal Roundtable.” Their conversation is here.
Email:neill@outloudculture.com
