little chief

Erik David Hidde has been recording music in his living room in Los Angeles for years. Eleven albums under his old name Prison Escapee, a debut Mohawk Castle record, and now a sophomore album with “In Moonlight” as its closing track. He writes it, records it, mixes it, and masters it. This is impressive. The …

Two hardcore lifers from Houston pick up acoustic guitars and make something genuinely good. That’s the short version. The longer one involves True Detective, Schopenhauer, and a Bandcamp bio that reads “sad music for a$$holes”, which Daniel Austin confirms is funny because it’s true. Austin and Chris have played together since they were teenagers, mostly …

Okay, so I went in knowing basically nothing about Audren, and that’s probably the best way to hear this record. No context, no expectations. Just eleven tracks and a lot of genre-blurring that takes a few songs to get used to. A New Page kicks things off with acoustic guitar and these neoclassical strings that …

Trickshooter Social Club is a Chicago band built around guitarist Larry Liss and singer Steve Simoncic, and this EP sounds like what happens when two guys have been playing together long enough to stop overthinking it. There’s no fussing around with production tricks or fashionable genre tags. They play roots rock, the guitars are loud, …

NYC’s YACOVELLI just dropped their fourth single, Since Emilia, and it’s the kind of track that makes you wish rock radio still existed the way it did in 1994. Alex Yacovelli is a DIY frontman through and through, and that shows up in every production choice here. The song opens with a Baglama, a small …

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a lutenist from the Elizabethan era stumbles into a flamenco bar, Martin Howard’s new solo guitar piece might give you a pretty good idea, and “Hidden Andalucia” opens in a cool, measured style that owes a clear debt to John Dowland, all careful fingerpicking and that slightly melancholic …

The Buddyrevelles have been making indie rock since 1998, and the new single “Make the Dings Louder” sounds like a band who never lost the thread. It’s the second track off their upcoming EP The Conviction, and it opens with the kind of instrumentation that makes you turn your head. Not loud for the sake …

Edie Yvonne is still a teenager, and she’s already writing songs that make you do a double-take. “Act of Love”, the lead single off her forthcoming EP Look Me in the Eye, the release dropped June 1st, and it’s a sharp left turn from what fans might expect. The song is built almost entirely around …

Art Schop made an album about Ludwig Wittgenstein. Not inspired by him, not loosely themed around him. Actually, about him. The philosopher. And here’s the thing: it works. Art Schop sits somewhere in the same neighborhood as Bill Callahan and Father John Misty, which means his songs have that particular quality of being easy to …

Today I am listening to the latest track from Puerto Rican songwriter Ivelisse Del Carmen, and it has been on repeat all morning. Titled “Before I’m Done,” this new single tackles the heavy feeling of jumping back into your passion after a long break. Ivelisse took some time away from music due to burnout, and …

I came across Victims of the New Math a few weeks ago, and their latest album, The Stories That You Weave, has been glued to my turntable ever since. There is a raw, basement-tape quality to the production that hits right if you miss late-nineties indie rock, and the opening track hooks you immediately with …

I found a great new electronic track today that immediately put a massive smile on my face. Jamythyst, a solo artist crafting vibrant pop tunes directly from her Jersey City apartment , recently dropped a fresh single called “Skyline”. Anyone who deeply misses the glorious golden age of mid-2000s indie-pop should definitely pay attention here. …

I first found the Hamilton indie scene through random Bandcamp deep dives, and Bleach Dreamer has been on my personal radar for quite a while now. Their new four-song EP, Surrender, came out on May 19th, and I have been living with these tracks for the past week. It is a great little record that …

Hey friends, I just stumbled across Sasha Joy’s new track, and it completely blew me away. In a world full of digital, highly synthetic pop songs, this tune lands like a massive breath of fresh air. What really caught my attention is her commitment to entirely live instrumentation, and you can actually feel the warmth …

Most punk songs about politics come from people who eat, sleep, and breathe the stuff. Reetoxa is the opposite. Former navy sailor, self-described political know-nothing, and apparently someone who nearly killed himself writing 1800 songs during Melbourne’s lockdown. “War Killer” is the odd one out in his catalog, and honestly, that’s what makes it interesting. …

You have to wonder if Lisa knows. Somewhere out there, a chance encounter at a Spiderbait gig became a full track on a Melbourne double album, and the woman at the center of it may have no clue. That framing alone makes “The Lisa Song” feel different before it even starts. Jason McKee wrote this …

The title alone sets up the whole thing. A question mark on a word that should feel definitive. That’s kind of the thesis of the record right there. HZPROD keeps the instrumental tight and atmospheric. It’s not trying to compete with the rappers, which is the right move because both guys show up with something …

Mary Knoblock’s new album PEACH is a lot to sit with, and I mean that as a compliment. The Portland singer-songwriter has been quietly building a catalog for years now, and this one feels like she finally said everything she’d been saving up. Think hushed piano, wide open spaces in the mix, and Mary’s voice …