featuring @emmaharner @strangefruitofficial @anginedepoitrine @jason_mraz @shes__green @lavaloveband @itsconnorwren @izzyorambrown @paperroutewoo @megelsier
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Emma Harner reveals her debut album Evening Star. Across the album’s 11 tracks, which include recent singles “Gale,” “Seams,” and “You’re Right,” she showcases her signature blend of intricate guitar work and emotionally direct songwriting.
Harner wrote every part and performed every instrument across the album, shaping each song from the ground up with an intentional spirit that underscores its emotional weight and sonic cohesion. The album was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Jamie Mefford (Gregory Alan Isakov, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Jamestown Revival), whose expansive, textured production elevates Harner’s singular vision without ever compromising it.
“Evening Star is an album about nostalgia, wishing, and everything else that has bothered my brain in the last couple years,” she shares. “Anyone following along on the writing journey for this album through the short clips I was posting will hopefully be happy to hear the fully realized versions of some of their favorites.”
Indonesian electro-bliss outfit Strange Fruit presents their new ‘Drips’ EP, a lucid trip to the edge of sonic consciousness, released by Gentle Tuesday Recordings. A defining moment in the band’s evolution, this release unifies fragments of their kosmische experimentation over the past 11 years to achieve a more cohesive sonic identity. It also sees the Jakarta-based collective step into a new league with the involvement of world-class producers Hardway Bros, Tom Furse and Jonathan Kusuma in this release.
The band also share the video for the highlight track ‘Monopolar’, a sensory explosion that keeps us suspended between dream and awareness, between that which is surreal and radiant. Gradually fading and blurred in technicolor, the video is directed by Mellow Splice, who also created the EP cover artwork, reflecting the track’s fluid and surreal qualities through abstract, water-like imagery.
Strange Fruit is Baldi Calvianca (vocals & synth), Irza Aryadiaz (synth), John Tampubolon (guitar), Nabil Favian (bass) and Dino Kristianto (drums). Since their 2015 debut EP ‘Dolphin Leap’ via Leeds Records, they’ve moved fluidly between noise pop, krautrock, shoegaze and electronica. Now converging into a more focused, hybrid sound with deeper integration of electronic elements, this EP is driven by machine-led rhythms and analog textures, fusing emotional depth with rhythmic precision.
multi-hyphenate artist Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts) released Spaceman: A Love Story – a duel album and animated short film – that fuses music, narrative, and striking visual storytelling into a singular cinematic experience. Watch HERE. Listen to the album, Too Beautiful, HERE.
The project initially stemmed from an album that Ambudkar was writing and co-producing alongside his longtime musical collaborator, Kyle McCamon. Over the course of their sessions, the pair made an album that explores the themes of love, family, culture, and what it means to “fit out” when “fitting in” becomes self-destructive. Around that time, Ambudkar also began working with animation director Alex Salsberg, which ignited the idea of expanding the project beyond an auditory album and into an animated, musical short film.
“This album felt cohesive, like a story, and I wanted to highlight that narrative thread visually,” says Ambudkar.” Around that time, I had just collaborated with Alex Salsberg, and I was struck by his singular, visceral animation style. Together we spent nine months expanding the album’s themes into a full story while his team worked to bring our imagination to life.”
As a short film and audio offering, Spaceman: A Love Story follows the journey of Spaceman, a runaway alien who crash-lands on Earth and finds refuge within an enclave of financially struggling, yet joy-filled, artists. There, he discovers an extraordinary ability: to connect with humans through love and empathy, visualized as radiant pink energy. But this gift carries a dangerous counterpart – a seductive blue energy capable of influencing and controlling those who encounter it. As opportunistic entrepreneurs commodify Spaceman’s powers and elevate him into a global phenomenon, he embraces the spotlight in hopes of supporting his newfound community. Yet with every endorsement and performance, his pink life force fades while his manipulative blue energy intensifies, leaving him internally diminished even as his external influence grows. Meanwhile, Spaceman’s past resurfaces. Once a soldier in a dictator’s army on his home planet, he became disillusioned by its brutality and attempted a failed coup against a tyrannical warlord. Now a fugitive, his unique energy signature leads a battalion of enemies to Earth – threatening the fragile world he has grown to love.
“Spaceman: A Love Story is a love letter to the MTV generation of the 1990s,” says Ambudkar. “Using lush, arresting visuals to tell a musical love story that exists somewhere between animation, album, and cinematic poem.”
Ultimately, the animated album aims to spread a message of hope. In a fractured, distracted world, art matters, the immigrant experience matters, community matters, and leading – with love first – matters most of all.
Microtonal cardboard duo Angine de Poitrine have released their eagerly awaited new album, Vol. II. The album stretches the boundaries of Angine de Poitrine’s sound with even bolder, more dynamic structures. Once again, three essential forces fuel the duo’s music: acid techno, disco, and rock. A brisk, high-voltage album, Vol. II includes the acclaimed single, “Fabienk,” which, true to the group’s style, revolves around a single microtonal guitar loop that repeats, doubles, and evolves through a groove that is both insistent and liberating.
Multi-GRAMMY® Award winning artist Jason Mraz today revealed that he will release an album originally recorded for his grandmother almost two decades ago. Grandma’s Gospel Favorites, a Christmas gift for his “Nanny Razz” in 2007, will reach a broader audience on May 8, 2026 in honor of the late Mary Helen Mraz-Fowler and just in time for Mother’s Day.
“My grandmother asked me to make her a gospel album, so I did,” said Mraz.
Grandma’s Gospel Favorites honors some of Mraz’s earliest musical memories: the songs he heard in church on Sunday mornings in rural Virginia. Today Mraz revealed the first song, a stirring version of the 1905 hymn “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.” The album also includes standards like “Old Rugged Cross” and a bluegrass version of “Turn Your Radio On” with harmonies and mandolin pickin’ set to a backbone of upright bass. Johnny Cash’s “Daddy Sang Bass” is a standout, and Mraz fans will immediately recognize longtime collaborator Noel “Toca” Rivera singing background vocals. Andy Powers, CEO/Chief Guitar Designer of Taylor Guitars, plays mandolin, banjo, dobro, and pedal steel throughout the album, while Ray Suen composed and performs its string arrangements on violin and viola.
Mraz also covers gospel favorites “It Is No Secret” and “Evening Prayer,” both songs previously recorded by Elvis Presley and Jim Reeves, as well as “Never Grow Old,” another Reeves favorite also covered by Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin. Overall, the album pays homage to the roots of American popular music and the sounds of Appalachia that Mraz grew up hearing.
Mraz penned two original songs to complete the album: the cheeky uptempo “Peach Pie” about the squirrels laying siege to his peach tree and “When We Die (You Are Loved),” a beautiful intimate acoustic song of wonder about what happens after this life.
Minneapolis band she’s green are excited to announce a new EP, Swallowtail, arriving July 10, 2026, via Photo Finish Records. “paper thin” premieres today with an official music video, exploring the connection between love and lust over soaring reverberation. As the song unravels, fragile tension builds with gauzy guitars and Zofia Smith’s melancholy vocals. Every sound is on the verge of breaking apart, delicate but loaded with emotion, capturing the feeling of love slipping away.
“‘paper thin’ explores the power of lust in a dying relationship: how it can be confused for love when in reality, the relationship has already faded,” explains bandleader Zofia Smith.
The Bay Area Rap Avengers, otherwise known as 1 Umbrella, have shared “Yeah Yeah,” the second offering from their forthcoming deluxe debut LP. Blessed with a glistening instrumental co-produced by P-Lo and OMGKenny, the song layers chirruping vocal samples over thumping mob percussion. Two of the group’s three San Francisco emcees, Lil Bean and Lil Yee, lead the track off with melodic verses, mixing high-rolling flexes with reflections on their station in life. The Oakland rappers, ALLBLACK and 22nd Jim, arrive with hard-hitting 16s, before SF’s ZayBang closes the song with electric energy. The song welcomes a guest spot from Sacramento’s ShooterGang Kony, who fits in seamlessly with the group’s banter.
LavaLove have released their second album ‘TAN LINES’ via Pure Noise Records today! Fans can now stream the album in full and watch the new music video for “Hopelessly Devoted” as well as the previously released singles for “Sniffin’ Around”, “Never Better”, and “Go Go Boots”.
“Hopelessly Devoted is one of our all-time favorites!”, says singer and guitarist Tealarose Coy. “The back and forth of the lyrics is just so fun and it’ll have you singing along in no time. It’s the perfect song to come out of a garage and I, personally, miss the days writing it!”
Pop performer and songwriter Connor Wren has released his new album Second Adolescence, a cinematic culmination of bright pop tracks. Full of heart, Wren uses his masterful narrative songwriting skills and impressive vocals to create an unforgettable collection of songs. Second Adolescence is now available to stream on all digital platforms.
The album begins with the joyful eruption of “Skyline Heart.” A stimulating synth immediately hooks the listener, accompanied by Wren’s powerful vocals. This song serves as an anthem for believing in yourself and appreciating the growth it took to get here. Wren uplifts through poignant lyrics like “The light I thought I lost still glows / I’m not who I was, I’m who I chose.” He then delivers a nostalgic ache in “Polaroid Ghosts,” creating a colorful soundscape. The bridge highlights Wren’s showstopping voice as he belts out with palpable emotion. The title track, “Second Adolescence,” drips with 80s influence yet remains entirely fresh and intoxicating. The song explodes in a breathtaking riff from Wren, followed by a stirring beat and delightful electric keyboard. The track is undeniably catchy, holding onto a youthful fire with a new sense of confidence. Wren’s lyrics bring a refreshing take on adulthood: “Got that teenage rage, with a little more age.” “Songbird” closes out the project, akin to the credits rolling on your favorite coming-of-age movie. “This album is the beginning of a new era for myself and finally allowing myself to take up space in the rooms I’ve been comfortable fading into the background for the last ten years,” Wren says. Connor Wren proves himself a unique talent, having written, recorded, and produced the entire project by himself.
Dirtybird today launches its Flight Week Brazil writing camp series with the first release from Brazilian duo BadComppany. Created as part of the sessions held in Belo Horizonte, No Rules is an adventurous two-track EP featuring Breno Miranda that captures the collaborative spirit and global exchange at the core of Dirtybird’s Flight Week series.
No Rules channels the immediacy and unpredictability of the writing camp environment. ‘WTF’ hits with Breno Miranda’s punchy vocal hook and low-end drive, while ‘Loco’ dives into rhythmic experimentation, highlighting the percussive, playful energy born from the camp’s freeform sessions. Together, the EP reflects the bold creativity and inventive momentum of Flight Week Brazil.
“Love U the Same”—a plainspoken, broadly strummed pop ballad and the emotional highwater mark of Izzy Oram Brown’s new LP What I Want—sketches out a journey toward accepting emotional paradox. Singing in hushed but soulful tones that bring to mind Christine McVie, the Massachusetts-born, Queens-dwelling songwriter returns to chords that she reframes in every verse, setting up a resolution that never comes, mirroring the lost promise of a broken compact between lovers who really tried to make it work. An ambiguous chord, neither bright or despairing, frames both an admission of hurt and bittersweet statement of re-devotion (“But no matter what I do or say, you’re with me.”) It is only after the narrator accepts that only time can make mutual empathy and acceptance possible that the harmony settles and the arrangement expands: “If we tire of the work/of finding who’s to blame/I will remember/I love you the same.” With its nostalgic, carefully arced melody and lyrics, the song holds pain, contradiction, and a genuine warmth of spirit easily. It’s a combination which often eludes even the greatest artists who write about romantic wires getting crossed.
These strengths permeate What I Want, Brown’s sophomore release, from beginning to end. Each song dramatizes a frank and comprehensive self-analysis session in their basic structure. Throughout the album, Brown convincingly tackles the broadest possible thematic material with deliberateness and clarity. Though she began life immersed in singing folk songs, she has spent much of her musical career as an accomplished session and touring guitarist—known for her work playing with musical legends like Julian Lage as well as rising NYC bands like Why Bonnie and Youbet. Taking a break from jazz studies, she moved to Nashville in her late teens to do live and session work, and fell in love with the architecture of pop songwriting. For her, writing music is as much a responsibility as a pastime. “Every song I’ve ever written happened because I decided it was time to write some songs,” she explains. Hesitant to waste anyone’s time, including her own, she writes when she is ready to, and as a result, the songs on What I Want ring out with the lucidity of someone who has thought hard about what they are going to say long before they say it.
Thanks to this presence of mind, Brown was able to design What I Want to cover the gamut of human emotional experience, treating it as a conceptual roadmap. Just as her narrators struggle to order their feelings and priority lists, Brown worked inexhaustibly to make sure What I Want describes a full introspective arc, building mood boards and inspiration playlists to help her chart a journey from indecision to decision, from overwhelm to clarity, from desire to manifestation. The thematic resonance of the lyrics and musical DNA are enhanced by ear-candy-filled, electroacoustic arrangements, courtesy of Brown, multinstrumentalist Jesse Bielenberg (Altopalo, Jesse in Grey, Dora Jar), and drummer Connor Parks (Cafune, Little Mystery, Tony Vaz). Far from sounding like a typical indie-folk songwriter record, What I Want is full of synth comet-streaks and fiery bits of unidentifiable sonic debris that function like musical evocations of both life’s unwelcome surprises and unprecedented wonders.
https://izzyorambrown.bandcamp.com
Telling street stories and tough-talking tales through his music, PaperRoute Woo is one of the realest rappers in Memphis. The artist is sharing a new visual for “Da Ghetto Part,” tomorrow, April 7th. The release takes listeners back to Woo’s roots, filled with nuggets of wisdom about life on the streets and motivational flexes about his rise from “Da Ghetto Part” of town to the top of the city’s rap scene.
Toronto-based lo-fi artist mage tears today releases a reissue of her beloved 2022 debut album cats in the cold via Lauren Records, alongside a run of Canadian tour dates this May with Ebril.
Originally released to a growing online audience, cats in the cold has quietly become a cult favorite in the bedroom pop and DIY scenes. The album’s resurgence – fueled by organic discovery across Bandcamp, TikTok, and streaming platforms – has cemented mage tears as a comforting and deeply resonant voice for listeners navigating early adulthood.
LISTEN: https://magetears.bandcamp.com/album/cats-in-the-cold-2
Chicago band This House is Creaking (THiC) are excited to share their new single “There’s A Stench In The Air.” As a general rule, strangeness spirals off of their music. This song has all of THiC’s funny, jagged, guitar-laden edges, until the hooky chorus emerges as a sort of sunlit clearing, with a melody that attests to their capabilities as pop songwriters. It’s a warm, buzzing track that grows in a new direction for the band, taking further steps down the unique path they’ve carved out for themselves. This single follows the fall’s release of their song “2 LAMP (lava lamp)”, which was chosen for Pitchfork Selects and Alternative Press A-Sides, and “Something Else,” which received acclaim from Stereogum and more. This song previews a new album out later this year, with further details coming soon.
“Have you ever had a strange smell in your apartment? No? Just us? Well, we fondly wrote a song about that and other daily annoyances that we experience,” says This House is Creaking. “Learning to love the places you exist in and making them work for you is the name of the game.”
Electronic collective XANIMAL presents ‘The Awakening’, a high vibration track that reflects our shifting consciousness, weaving trip-hop rhythms with evocative world music elements across a downtempo landscape. This is a call to awareness, a reminder that we are all part of something greater and that, as the world evolves, so do we. The video was created by Fumihito Sugawara for Fumanstudios, who also designed the cover artwork.
Based in Austin, XANIMAL is made up of Claude McCan(Claude9, 35MM, Supercreeps), Noëlle Hampton (The Belle Sounds) and Ken Christensen (Love Athletics, East Coast Boogiemen). But on this single, East and West co-mingle harmoniously thanks to a collaboration with fellow Austin musician Nagavalli that infuses this track with meditative tranquility. An Indian-American artist, her brand of “Eastern Soul” blends pop, rock and trance with east-Indian overtones and melodies.
Indie-rock breakout meg elsier returns with her new single “meaning of life,” out today via Bright Antenna Records.Built on hazy guitars, delicate vocals, and her unmistakably sharp lyricism, the track captures both the intimacy and edge that define her sound.
“’meaning of life” is about giving depression company,” meg shares. “It’s being fucking tired, stuck in self-sabotage and procrastination, feeling nothing and living vicariously through other people instead. It’s a pretty goddamn selfish song.”
She continues, “It’s also about ruining normal, sweet moments with nihilistic thoughts, like what happens when I die while I’m trying to find that a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon. There’s no reason to it. And if there’s no reason to it, then maybe there’s no reason to me. It’s about the freedom and relief in realizing that maybe it’s not about everything being meaningless, but about how hard it is to find meaning when there’s no reason to it.”
Brighton’s rising indie-rock quartet Fever Rouge share their brand new single ‘Boys Will Be Boys’, deliberately on the nose, ironic that marks their most direct statement yet. It’s an incredibly catchy rock anthem that pulls no punches with a call for revolution that you can sing along to.
‘Boys Will Be Boys’ is available now on your streaming service of choice via APOLLO Distribution.
At its core, the song explores the experience of growing up and drifting away from the people who once defined you. It captures the strange mix of nostalgia and distance that comes with that shift, looking back while recognising how much has changed.
But ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ pushes further. It questions how easily that sense of youth can be shaped and redirected, particularly in a landscape dominated by social media and algorithm-driven narratives. The band points to the subtle ways ideas are absorbed and reinforced, often without being challenged.
The track’s title takes aim at the long-standing phrase used to excuse harmful behaviour. Rather than accepting it, Fever Rouge turn it back on itself, highlighting how it has often been used to dismiss misogyny and avoid accountability. Alongside this, the song reflects on a kind of surface-level activism, the tension between pushing back against systems while still operating within them. It’s a contradiction captured in the line “Weekend dreams done on Monday,” where protest and routine sit uncomfortably side by side.
Fresh off the release of “Big-Box Store Heart” and “24-03-04_BIRTHDAY_B4,” Prince Daddy & the Hyena present two more tracks from their forthcoming album, Hotwire Trip Switch, out April 17 on Counter Intuitive Records: “30days30days30days” and “SHITSHOW or Boulevard of Soaking Dreams.”
Produced by Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball), Hotwire Trip Switch is Prince Daddy turned up to eleven. “30days30days30days” enters abruptly, addressing the idea of self-improvement with a sardonic grin; meanwhile, “SHITSHOW or Boulevard of Soaking Dreams” leans into something far more anthemic, delivering a sideways nod to one of their most obvious inspirations, Green Day. Vocalist Kory Gregory echoes the iconic refrain, “I walk alone, I walk alone,” before slamming it upside down with Prince Daddy’s signature blend of self-deprecating whiplash.
Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Cédric Dind-Lavoie returns with “Chrysalide,” a textural, comforting, and quietly melancholic instrumental piece that moves between shelter and transformation. Rooted in folktronica and electroacoustic exploration, the track unfolds like a memory.
Intimate, enveloping, and gently evolving, it’s taken from Cédric’s upcoming album, Collages (2019–2022), a new series of studio explorations and reinterpretations of music originally created for contemporary dance and documentary film, set for release on April 17th.
“Chrysalide” took shape naturally around a two-part guitar motif. That repeating pattern inspired an arrangement steeped in childhood nostalgia, evoking the warmth and safety of a familiar refuge. From there, the composition expanded outward, layering subtle textures while maintaining a restrained emotional core.
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