Review

Exzenya flips the whole VIP thing on its head with this track, and it’s pretty clever, the talented artist delivered something unique and meaningful, and the beat hits hard while Exzenya spits bars about courtrooms and mandatory seminars like she’s recapping the world’s most uncomfortable field trip. She’s got this knack for taking crappy situations …

So this album sat in storage for forty years. Wild, right? Rusty Reid recorded a full rock record back in the day, then just shelved it. Now it’s finally out, and honestly, it rocks harder than his usual stuff. Rusty Reid trades his folk guitar for electric mayhem here, “Attitude Change” has this bouncy, sarcastic …

MAHUNA, the Berlin-based Irish songwriter pulled this one straight from a dream, and honestly, it shows – there’s that hazy quality dreams have, where everything feels important but you can’t quite explain why. He keeps things simple here, just voice and folk instruments doing their thing without any fancy production tricks. You can tell it …

“Take A Chance” has this crazy cool thing going on where every sound you hear comes from human voices, but they’ve made it sound like a full ’80s synth-pop production. Kevin wrote this about those early days with his wife, and man, you can tell. Tyler’s vocals hit just right, not too smooth, not trying …

“Sliding Door” starts with a guitar riff that grabs your attention immediately. This song doesn’t mess around with puzzles or riddles like the band usually does, you know exactly where you stand from the first verse. Gerry sings the main parts while Amber jumps in at just the right moments. Her voice doesn’t clash with …

When most artists avoid heavy topics, she decided to write about sexual violence. The song came from her own rough patch, where she felt betrayed and powerless. You can hear that anger and hurt in every line, but she doesn’t leave you hanging in the darkness, its beautiful. The song confronts sexual violence head-on, exploring …

Ottawa’s indie pop duo Wotts digs back into their hip-hop past with “terminal”, a song about the weird limbo you get stuck in after a breakup. The beat hits with these lush synths that wrap around your head while keeping things bouncy enough to nod along to. Those Childish Gambino vibes come through in the …

Marianne Nowottny’s covers album under her Marzanna alias takes on some serious heavyweights like Kate Bush, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Siouxsie and the Banshees and somehow makes them all sound like her own creations. After a brutal five-year recording process that included multiple hard drive crashes, she finally got this thing finished. Her voice is …

Kaia Fincher has crafted a debut that sneaks up on you with its quiet power, as “Something New” wraps listeners in warm synth textures and honest vocals that feel like late-night conversations with your best friend, and there’s a real sense that she’s sharing something personal without oversharing or being too precious about it. You …

“Kissing Stacey” by Dreaming Soda came from watching some YouTube video about Barbie movies and queer theory, which honestly sounds like the most random source of inspiration ever. The production on this thing is really solid without being overdone, and you can tell they spent time getting it right at Hercules studios because every little …

The El Paso/Juarez duo knows how to build tension without getting too heavy-handed about it, layering in dance elements and shoegaze textures while keeping those gothic vibes running underneath everything. You can tell these guys learned a lot from their last album, “Rhythmic Body Reflexes” because they’re playing with sounds here that feel both experimental …

The House Flies are back with a track that hits you right where you want it to, mixing their dark midwest vibes with enough melody to keep you humming along even when the lyrics are painting pictures you’d rather not think about too hard. Burnie Eckardt joining as the second guitarist has given them room …

“Last Name” by Cali Tucker takes the old Cinderella story and turns it into a country song about making your own way in the world. Cali sings like she’s lived every word of this song, her voice shifting between soft vulnerability when she talks about having no safety net and real grit when she gets …

The remix grabs the original’s heart and wraps it in beats that’ll get your head nodding from the first second. Carl knows exactly how to handle Sam’s vocals, keeping them front and center while building this whole electronic world around them Right from the start, you can tell this isn’t your typical remix job. The …

This was 2013 Jack figuring out new ways to approach the piano, and hearing it now with better sound quality makes you appreciate how bold he was being back then. The track builds slowly, the way Jack always does, but there’s something different here. Maybe it’s because he was still experimenting, still pushing boundaries he …

Chloe Tsangaris gets messy with the truth on her latest single, calling out a friend who was playing both sides while keeping secrets. This track hits hard because it’s about that awkward moment when you finally confront someone who’s been messing you around and we’ve all been there. The talented artist’s voice sounds fierce and …

Kevin Driscoll stumbled onto something good with his latest single. A guitar riff discovered while exploring Maine’s coast became the backbone of a song that sounds like it was recorded in your buddy’s living room – in the best possible way. The track runs on simplicity without being boring. Driscoll played everything himself except for …

The Atlanta singer-songwriter Katie Belle takes her real struggles with insomnia and wraps them up in synth-heavy beats that’ll get your head nodding whether you want it to or not. Her voice has this scratchy quality that works perfectly over the electronic layers, like she’s singing from that weird space between being awake and asleep. …