Premiere: Joseph D’Agustino delivers the stunning ‘Dustine’, readies second album as Empty Country
As noted in the press materials for his new album, the concept of a Great American Rock Record may feel outdated in 2023, but that’s sure as hell not stopping Joseph D’Agustino. You might know him from Cymbals Eat Guitars. You should know him as Empty Country. Rescued from label hell in early 2020 as …
Premiere: Montreal’s Population II ready new album with the intense ‘Pourquoi qu’on dort pas’
There’s no language barrier with Montreal trio Population II, so don’t worry if you can’t speak French – the Francophones serve up enough intensity to get the meaning across. They’ve been building up toward the release of their new album Électrons libres du québec for a few months at this point, but its release is …
Premiere: John Chiaverina returns as Rustbelt, shares EP taster ‘You Got Nowhere to Go But You’re Going There Tonight’
John Chiaverina doesn’t look particularly pleased to be on that lounger. There’s a possibility the Milwaukee native could be thinking about his project as Rustbelt going down in flames, but failure is a risk worth taking in creative endeavours; he’s written a new EP all about that. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because …
Premiere: Stream Careful’s first new music in a decade, the ‘Promise/Practice’ EP
Back in June, Eric Lindley resumed releasing music as Careful after taking a hiatus from the project following 2014 album The world doesn’t end. His first new release since then picks up where he left off nine years ago as if no time had passed. Of course, a lot can happen in nearly a decade, …
Premiere: Safari Room picks up the pieces on new single ‘Broken Things’
Now is as good a time as ever to catch up with what Omaha-born and Nashville-based Alec Koukol has been up to. Wasting no time after the release of Complex House Plants, his second album as Safari Room, Koukol’s been continuing to flesh out his vibrant and varied indie rock sound since then, and has …
Premiere: Portland collective Family Worship Center let the good times roll on ‘Snake Dance’
‘So we just do whatever, right?’ is how we imagine the photo shoot went, but Portland nine-piece Family Worship Center are much more focused on record. Five of the eight songs on their debut album hover around the 5-minute mark at minimum. Their new video features aliens getting down to ‘Snake Dance’, one of the …
Premiere: Stream ‘Army Ants in Your Pants’ from Bruce Haack’s reissued LP Captain Entropy, out tomorrow
2023 marks 35 years since the loss of Canadian experimental musician Bruce Haack, so he’s being commemorated in the latest release from the archives of Shimmy-Disc with a reissue of 1974’s weird, whimsical and wonderful Captain Entropy – to sum up, it’s music aimed at children which can be enjoyed by anyone, originally composed by …
Premiere: Stream New Yorkers FORAGER’s essential debut album Pipedream Firewood
We’ve been lucky enough to live with this album for a little bit. If there’s one thing you need with New York trio FORAGER, it’s time – there’s an immediacy to their music that’s quite refreshing, but the added layers of complexity will take more than one listen to begin to reveal themselves. It also …
Premiere: salamander share ‘xylem’, announce debut album for October
We’ll have what they’re having because we’re very excited about this band. Say hello to New York trio salamander, which took shape when PJ Hunter and Leo Frampton were asked to play a last-minute experimental pop show at college in 2019. They took a thread and ran with it, bringing drummer Ben Verde along for …
Premiere: Ben Hazlewood risks it all in a game of ‘Chemical Roulette’
Earlier this year, Melbourne-based Ben Hazlewood (born in New Zealand, lived in London for a few years – he’s been places) kicked off a series of single releases with ‘Fumes’, the first of five standalone tracks he’s put out this year. No word on a follow-up to 2020’s debut album Bloodlines yet, but that may …