Singer-songwriter D.B. Rouse is out with a new EP, and it’s themed around being stuck in a stormy sea. With four songs, Rouse explains on Bandcamp that each is a mysterious treasure found under a rock deep in the underwater depths. As such, each song brings a powerfully esoteric approach to songwriting, from setting out on a grand adventure with
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Shoegaze project HUMID are out with their debut EP. Consisting of five songs, the duo bring dense and oceanic compositions that ripple with shadow. “Secret” is about getting buried alone, “Diluted” touches on absorbing one another’s energy, and “Dragged” is about never getting anywhere. These are all things that reflect depersonalization, despair, and loneliness. It’s a promising start for the
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Indie rock project Sleepy Gaucho released a new single this week from his upcoming EP. “Vino” means “wine” in Spanish, and it is in fact the Gaucho’s first song containing Spanish. The song itself feels like a summery stroll through lush meadows, living carefree as the wind pleasantly blows. The EP comes out in June – stay tuned.
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Seasoned soul/R&B artist B~Free teamed up with Durand Bernarr for her most recent single, and it’s her first time taking things in a house direction. They sing of the overwhelming feeling of competitiveness they get against someone else. It could be jealousy, but she reminds herself that she can shine while someone else shines too. It’s a song about staying
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Ben Slowey sits down with the Bass Music Mafia DJ and promoter.
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Hip hop artist Uptop Pink released a new album this week. He unleashes previously-untapped potential over seven tracks, themed around being rebirthed and taking flight. It’s fitting, considering he recently underwent a name change from Kane) and now he’s coming with more electric, hard-hitting hooks than ever. The whimsical production contrasts Pink’s blunt, right-to-the-point bars about having the means to
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Post-hardcore band Past is Prologue’s latest single and video dropped this past week. Directed by Xavier Schaetzke and Taylor Wolter, the band is shown rocking out as many different people are depicted in situations that involve passion, love, and pain. A dancing old couple, a fighting younger couple, a struggling artist, a dancing woman, an MMA fight, surfers losing their
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Percussionist Mike Neumeyer’s latest track is one of his longest compositions yet, clocking in at eight and a half minutes. Beginning with minimal phrases, the track gradually ascends into something grand. As more notes are hit by Neumeyer in rapid succession, it indeed feels like the sun creeping up over the horizon and piercing the low-lying clouds. Eventually it returns
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Singer-songwriter Ben Wagner has his new EP out. Consisting of four country-tinged pop songs, it’s got a fitting title, as Wagner shares where his head’s been as of late. “Me, Myself, and I-45” is about making an active effort to change things in his life, “Still Don’t Know” is about being unable to move on from a past lover and
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Ben Slowey talks to the rapper about his career in music.
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Electronic producer Moonbow teamed up with vocalist Ava Vonn for a new single. Vonn sings from the perspective of someone in a relationship, begging the other person to stay. She’s never felt so alive and safe than with them, even when she’s not the best at showing it. All of this accompanies an exciting EDM banger that captivates the supreme
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KennyHoopla and Blink-182’s Travis Barker have another single and video out from their upcoming EP. Directed by LoneWolf, Hoopla and his friends are shown running from a cop down Hollywood Boulevard and then biking around LA. He then hops in a double-decker bus, where he and Barker take the party to the roof and rock out as they ride around.
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Lovely Socialite is an experimental jazz band featuring musicians from both Milwaukee and Madison. Their “Quarantine Loops” series finds members composing different original loop material which is then used as the source for composition by the others. Their third batch of pieces is now out; it’s five tracks that keep it whimsical with a touch of darkness. There’s some guest
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Singer-songwriter Caley Conway has her new EP out. Consisting of three songs (all of which arevaccompanied by videos), this body of work finds Conway being protective of herself. She refuses to allow her emotions to get played with and looks to nature to make sense of love. She’s set up new boundaries with a significant other, because without them, she
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Ben Slowey talks to the Indonesian Junk frontman.
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Synthwave duo Immortal Girlfriend have a new video/short film to accompany their recent single “Others.” It features a couple moving into a new house, excited to share the space together. Eventually they run into personal conflicts that turn violent; the woman attacks and knocks the man unconscious, dragging him into a secret underground room. He wakes up and finds other
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Singer-songwriter Max Devereaux dropped a new album this week. He takes a tropical approach to his artful brand of indie pop here, emphasized by the cover art featuring him with a lei and not really wearing anything else. There’s fifteen tracks, and many of them reflect Devereaux’s fascination by the people around him, but also his interest in how long-term
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Stoner rockers Shogun released a new album this week. Psychedelic and fantastical, the band brings enough riffage here to stop a demonic galleon trekking across the stormy sky. They move mountains with the epic “Delta,” enter a ruminative trance with the somber “Gone Forever,” and cry victoriously with the prevailing “Maximum Ray.” The guitar solos annihilate all in their path
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Ben Slowey sits down with the rapper and podcaster.
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Alternative pop project The Quiet Canon have their debut full-length record out on Poppypop Records. It’s an album that revolves around the pains and pleasures of a relationship. You want so bad to persevere through the speed bumps despite you both being able to see through each other. You want them to do what’s in their own best interest while
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Ben Slowey talks to the This Is It DJ and producer.
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Illicit Eagle is the experimental side project of Anton Sieger, known for playing in indie psych-pop band Ravi/Lola. His debut record is a series of quirky lo-fi beats that even sample a few bird calls. There’s some mind-warping psychedelic effects that complement minimalist percussion, like you’re tripping on drugs while walking through a vibrantly colorful meadow. “Googoots” becomes the climactic
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Long-running power pop rockers Couch Flambeau have a new record out. With eight tracks, the trio come bolting out of the gate with frenzied hooks and riffs that rip. There’s some social commentary about hyper-competitiveness from “My Girlfriend’s Band” and “Blogger Bill”; much of the imagery presented is direct, simple, and easy to place yourself in. “Bunny Hideout” packs nostalgia
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Lo-fi pop artist So Zuppy has the video out from his recent single “Eachother.” It features two animated figures, one orange and the other blue, holding hands and smiling along alternating pictures of nature. The blue figure is shown running with a flower while the orange figure appears with a dog at different points, illustrating how each finds companionship without
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Young hip hop artist Duwayne is out with his debut single. He raps over dreamy production about what he has to do in order to get to the top. He feels himself ascending but he has to “study for it” in order to become successful in his craft. It’s a metaphoric and ambitious start for Duwayne, and we hope to
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