Sunday, June 21, 2026
INsiders GuideFEATURED

INsiders Guide: Kayla Stewart, OBLQ, SPEARMINT, Enola Bedard, Mutomba, YORGHAKI…

featuring @itskaylastewart @oblq.001 @enola.bedard @mutomba @yorghaki @waysideonline @edenintherain @thedyingseconds @josh_evert_

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kayla Stewart returns with her new single, ‘Lavender’, a delicate and personal release that incorporates elements of indie, folk and pop. Formed on the foundation of thoughtful songwriting, the track continues Stewart’s exploration of love in its many forms, offering her most settled and hopeful perspective yet.

‘Lavender’ is available now on your streaming service of choice via APOLLO Distribution.

An anonymous new voice in club music, OBLQ launches their debut release, “Be Yourself” / “Kick Up,” a double single on DJ Tennis’ label Life and Death after a stratospheric support run. 

Last fall, OBLQ previewed “Sunshine” on SoundCloud and has since received support from the likes of Interplanetary Criminal, Main Phase, Hamdi, DJ BORING, and more. The release of “Be Yourself” / “Kick Up” marks the first time any of OBLQ’s music has been publicly available.

Across the two tracks, OBLQ sharpens a sound built for strobes and DJs who like their club music with a bit of teeth. “Be Yourself” leans into big-room pressure with raw, ravey energy that surges through a slick vocal sample and classic techy drums. “Kick Up” is the wilder counterpunch, a UK bass banger full of snapped breaks, vocal chops, and sub bass that rattle the back wall.

“Be Yourself” / “Kick Up” is out now via Life and Death.

Buy/Stream: OBLQ – “Kick Up” / “Be Yourself”
https://lifeanddeathforever.bandcamp.com/album/be-yourself-kick-up

London’s Spearmint follow-up their acclaimed 2023 record ‘This Candle Is For You’ with the ambitious new concept album ‘Chase Me’ on Friday 24th July 2026.

The first single from the album is called “1986” and will be released digitally and on limited edition numbered 7-inch vinyl on Friday 5th June.

STREAM ‘1986’ ON ALL SERVICES HERE

New single “1986” evokes a time when the world wasn’t connected by technology, but there was still a strong connection across the globe: music. Specifically in the song, it’s folk in Newcastle and Madrid who are dancing to the same music. The vinyl version also features an exclusive track “Is It Just Nostalgia?” which sees the band time-travelling past ‘The Tube’ and ‘Soul Train‘ to Friday nights of the past. Standby for the follow-up single in July…

Spearmint have been making great records since debut ‘A Week Away’ in 1999 (‘Sweeping The Nation’, ‘A Trip Into Space’, ‘We’re Going Out’). Still the same line-up: Shirley Lee (singing, guitar), Simon Calnan (singing, keyboards), James Parsons (guitar) and Ronan Larvor (drums). This will be their eleventh album proper and the 65th release on their own hitBACK label.

Re-united with producer Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti, Cardiacs), the ‘Chase Me’ album tells a story of success, disillusionment, disconnection, peril, and resurrection. Anchored by three chases across a city at night, book-ended by two out-of-body experiences, and working towards a suite of uplifting love songs, it’s a thriller, it’s a horror, it’s an allegory. Song-writer Shirley explains “The story would make a good movie I think… but we don’t know how to do that, so we did this.”

Multi-disciplinary artist Enola Bedard returns with her new single, ‘Water’, out now via DOOGOOD. Blending English melodies and French spoken words with fluid melodies and rhythmic, ‘Water’ is a song built around movement, both physical and emotional. At its core, it explores connection – the people who keep us grounded, help us push forward, and remind us that progress is rarely something we achieve alone.

Listen to ‘Water’ via your streaming service of choice HERE.

 “Water’ is about connection – the truth that none of us gets where we’re going alone”  explains Enola. “It’s a song about leaning on one another, about community, and about that one person who helps keep you moving when you feel stuck. We’re meant to move through life together.”

That sense of motion sits at the heart of Enola’s creative world. As both a dancer and singer-songwriter, she approaches music through rhythm, energy and visual storytelling. Her songs are designed to be experienced as much as heard, with each release carrying a strong sense of movement that naturally extends into performance and choreography.

Leicester-based R&B and soul artist Mutomba returns with his latest single, ‘Want Me Too’, featuring guitarist Callum Sansome. Smooth, slick and deeply soulful, the track combines Mutomba’s rich vocal style with warm guitar work and a subtle funk influence, making the cut feel rhythmically alive.

‘Want Me Too’ is available now on your streaming service of choice, via APOLLO Distribution

Latin GRAMMY-nominated Venezuelan artist and producer Yorghaki unveils his new album, Antes de Que Sea Tarde,” available everywhere now. Marking a radical creative evolution from his previous work, the eight-track project introduces Yorghaki at his most vulnerable, instinctive, and emotionally transparent: a body of work created not for trends or expectations, but as a reflection of joy, freedom, and artistic self-discovery.

Built around live instrumentation, organic percussion, and warm Caribbean textures, “Antes De Que Sea Tarde” finds Yorghaki stepping fully into his own voice as both an artist and storyteller. While his earlier work focused heavily on experimentation and sonic identity, this album represents something far more personal: a deliberate decision to create music rooted in feeling, presence, and human connection. The album’s title, “Antes De Que Sea Tarde,” reflects the project’s central philosophy: embracing life fully before time slips away. Rather than chasing commercial success, the artist approached the album with a singular intention, to create timeless music that reflects who he truly is in this chapter of his life.

I never really thought about what I would do for a second album because I was so focused on making the first,” shares Yorghaki. “This project was a radical change for me. I made it for myself: to explore, to feel free, and to create something I’ll be proud of forever. It was also the first time I truly felt comfortable exploring my voice in this way. The Caribbean inspires me deeply — it reminds me of home, of Venezuela, of joy. This album came from being in spaces that felt safe enough to express emotions I don’t usually say out loud.

To commemorate Pride month, global house DJ Matt Suave will be dropping his anthemic debut single “My House” on Friday, June 19 alongside its celebratory music video. Pouring every groove and every influence he has absorbed on the dancefloor into a single track, “My House” is a high-impact vocal disco bop that arrives amidst a wall-to-wall run of headline dates across North America and taps into Matt’s community as the founder of PlayHaus, Denver’s premier queer dance collective.

Wayside returns in 2026 with new music, building on the band’s distinct sound with one of their heaviest, most dynamic tracks to date: “Invisible Strings.” Written collaboratively between members Thomas Davenport, Josh Ehmer and Izzy De Leon, this marks a cornerstone in the band’s discography and a new chapter musically for the three-piece.

With “Invisible Strings” comes news of Wayside signing to Memory Music, the label run by Grammy Award winner Will Yip (Turnstile, Balance and Composure, Citizen), who also produced the track. 

“Joining Memory is a dream come true for us,” vocalist Thomas Davenport says of the signing. “It feels like our music finally has the right home… it feels like family.”

GRiZ officially enters a bold new chapter with the announcement of his long-awaited album, Future Funk Volume 1 – a sprawling, groove-driven body of work that captures the full spectrum of his current creative identity. Blending soulful funk, explosive bass music, psychedelic experimentation, and emotional release, the project arrives as the clearest distillation yet of what GRiZ has spent the last year building toward. Future Funk Volume 1 will be released Friday, June 5th, 2026.

Leading the album rollout is “Rump Shaker,” a long-awaited reunion between GRiZ and Big Gigantic – a collaboration steeped in history and over a decade in the making. Ten years after the release of their fan-favorite anthem “Good Times Roll” (48.3M+ Spotify streams), the two funk-forward bass pioneers reconnect for a record that feels both nostalgic and entirely forward-facing.

Peanut butter and jelly. Saxophone and bass. GRiZ and Big Gigantic. Some things just belong together.

Built around explosive brass work, groove-heavy production, and festival-sized energy, “Rump Shaker” sets the tone for Future Funk Volume 1 and signals the arrival of a new era centered around instinct, movement, and emotional connection.

Across the album, GRiZ channels the core DNA that has long defined his sound — sax-driven melodies, hip-hop influence, uplifting energy, and immersive sound design — while simultaneously pushing further into heavier bass territory, freer experimentation, and a more expansive creative process than ever before.

Eden Rain returns with her new single ‘Open Season’, the first glimpse into a new chapter that finds her pushing further into her world without losing the warmth and sharp-eyed writing that has defined her music so far.

‘Open Season’ is available now on your streaming service of choice via APOLLO Distribution.

Calgary-based rock artist Garrett Barbutoopens the next chapter of his debut solo album, Growing Wild & Old, today with the release of double singles “Rouyn-Noranda” and “Lasting On.”  In addition to the double single, Barbuto has released the entire album on Bandcamp for those who would like to listen to it in its entirety before it becomes widely available on other streaming services over the coming year. It is only fitting that this album by an artist whose lyrics focus more on the story than on a single instance should be released in this way.

Of the two tracks, “Rouyn-Noranda” is immediately striking. It’s a slick and sweat-drenched song that draws on the attitude of old-school blues rock, yet incorporates surprises that prevent the song from becoming anything but a knock-off. An unexpected falsetto injects tension into a song about youthful indiscretion and hazy concepts of adulthood. The song has been crafted around a certain ritual unique to young Ontarians coming to Quebec to experience their first moment of adulthood in years of bad decisions.

After more than a decade in the making, The Dying Seconds return with “Precious Rusted Things”, released June 12th, the first single from forthcoming album Feast, due later this year.

Built around a hypnotic, Saharan-inspired syncopated guitar figure wrapped in granular synth textures and glitchy percussion, “Precious Rusted Things” is both expansive and deeply intimate, a warm, rattling anthem for imperfection, memory, and enduring love. Drawing influence from the rhythmic eccentricity of Talking Heads and the melodic warmth of Fleetwood Mac, filtered through the communal experimentalism of Animal Collective and Broken Social Scene, the song celebrates the worn, weathered things we carry with us long after their initial shine fades.

Precious Rusted Things is a joyful celebration of the things we carry with us through life, long after they’ve lost their initial shine,” says the band. “It is an anthem to the flaws which make a cherished thing more personal, more unique, more human.

The track also offers an early glimpse into the scope of Feast. Alongside The Dying Seconds’ core line-up, singer, songwriter and producer David Cantan (lead vocals, guitar, synths and beats), Gary Donald (bass, guitar, vocals), Jack Quilligan (piano, trumpet, vocals and synths) and Mark Rooney (guitar) — “Precious Rusted Things” features guest contributions from a bassist in Lagos, Nigeria, Nigeria’s Epoch House Choir, and guest vocalists from Malaysia and Indonesia, assembled remotely as part of the band’s global approach to collaboration.

That spirit of long-distance creation defines Feast, an album whose origins stretch back to 2012, when The Dying Seconds relocated to London after receiving praise for earlier work from figures including Aaron Dessner, who described the band as “stunningly beautiful and ambitious”, and broadcaster Bob Harris, who called their music “something really special”.

The band had planned to record a follow-up quickly, spending endless evenings in cramped South London rehearsal rooms writing together with restless momentum. But during recording sessions, chronic illness left Cantan unable to continue, bringing the project, and the band’s live ambitions, to an abrupt halt.

Unable to travel or perform, and separated by geography, The Dying Seconds refused to abandon the songs. Instead, over the following years, Cantan slowly rebuilt Feast from rural Ireland, combining material begun in London with performances contributed remotely by musicians across five continents. Progress was painstaking, often interrupted by illness, but the slower pace allowed the album to become more expansive, patient and deliberate in its vision.

https://thedyingseconds.bandcamp.com/track/precious-rusted-things

Cassius Wolf & Das Abs is the musical project of Cassius Wolf and Don Watson. Formed in Liverpool during the original wave of post-punk and new wave, the project began when Cassius met Don at school at the age of 11. The two later worked together at the now-legendary Liverpool club Eric’s, where they were immersed in the energy of the city’s thriving music scene, officially forming the band in 1978. Surrounded by the influence of bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, OMD, and The Teardrop Explodes, their sound took shape through a shared love of independent creativity, punk attitude, melodic experimentation, and the cross-pollination of punk, reggae, and alternative culture that defined the era. Decades later, that same spirit drives the band’s return as long-lost material from their original cassette archives is restored, remixed, and reimagined for a new audience.

Barrie, ON-based indie folk artist Rogan Mei shares “Don’t Look Twice,” a restless and emotionally charged indie folk/Americana single that drifts between late-night haze and uneasy clarity. Anchored in gritty storytelling and cinematic detail, the track explores addiction, avoidance, and the fragile negotiations that unfold inside a relationship slowly unraveling under the weight of denial.

At its core, “Don’t Look Twice” is about the moments where truth is seen but deliberately ignored; when one person chooses to acknowledge what’s happening while the other insists on silence. The song traces a relationship shaped by cycles of escape and return, where fleeting highs and emotional distance become a way of life rather than something to confront.

South London hailing artist Dopesmoke continues to bring the prestigious 67 legacy
to an entirely new audience with the release of his latest single “True Flavours”.
“True Flavours” opens with the archetypal crescendoing hi hats, but quickly
descends into the dark cauldrons of UK Drill as a warbling bassline rises and falls
like the lines on an ECG monitor. Dopesmoke navigates the rocky terrain like a
seasoned professional, with a cadence that boasts a clarity ensuring each lyric
crashes into the instrumental for maximum impact. The track is filled with
Dopesmoke’s swaggering lyricism as he revels in the art of war: “I’m in a ding dong
moving low with one objective”.

Josh Evert is very pleased to announce that “Sound of Machines”, the first single from his forthcoming full length Photogenic Memory can now be heard via your platform of choice.

LISTEN TO “SOUND OF MACHINES”

Evert is an audio engineer, songwriter, composer, and producer whose music is defined by a palpable sense of place, meticulous textures, and a deep curiosity about how sound behaves in the natural world. Photogenic Memory, is both a culmination and a reframing; an album written in fragments across more than a decade, then assembled with the clarity of hindsight. It is a record about how memory distorts, reframes, and sometimes – beautifully – gets it wrong.

An expanded edition of Dustin O’Halloran’s seminal album Lumière will be released this Friday, June 12th via Splinter Records, in the year of its 15th anniversary. Originally released in February 2011 by FatCat Records/130701, the reissue will include three previously unheard tracks recorded during the album sessions and an electronic remix, offering a new look into a beloved record, and a richly creative period for O’Halloran.

Lumière was recorded during a time in his career that was both transitional, and prolific. The writing began during a stint living in Italy, when he was working on the soundtrack for Marie Antoinette — “a time about appreciating beauty in nature and all its forms,” in O’Halloran’s words. But much of the work happened after a move to Berlin, which had become the epicenter of Europe’s avant garde music scene. “The city was such a hub of experimentalism,” he says. “I’d made two lo-fi piano records, and I wanted to explore something more produced and layered, and to work with more colors, instruments, and strings.”

Dustin found himself part of a milieu that included luminary composers like Max Richter, Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm, and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. They would go to each others’ concerts, bounce ideas off each other, and collaborate; Frahm, Broderick, and Jóhansson all have credits as players or engineers on Lumière. “It was just a very vital period,” says Dustin. “Everybody was feeling really inspired. And there was a lot of fire in everybody to explore, and create. And that was infectious.”

Experimental duo Allegories return with “Honestly, that’s enough honesty,” a buoyant yet introspective indie rock/shoegaze-leaning single that explores the fragile space between truth, performance, and self-deception. Built on shifting textures and genre-blurring arrangements, the track moves between dreamy catharsis and unpredictable emotional turns, embodying the duo’s long-standing fascination with unstable narratives and fractured perspective. It’s taken from Allegories’ upcoming new album, By accident, On purpose, set for release on October 16th, 2026.

At its core, the song questions the idea of authenticity itself. Written from the perspective of unreliable narrators, it reflects on how even our most “honest” expressions are shaped by distortion, memory, and self-mythology. “People often assume I’m a confessional songwriter,” Adam Bentley explains. “It’s not that elements aren’t drawn from my life, but the songs feel more like channeling characters and fragments of people I’ve observed.”

  • Email: neill@outloudculture.com

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