Features

Paul Claxton’s seventh solo album, To Whom It May Concern, out January 30, could be a handwritten letter you slip under the door. It’s that personal, unguarded, and steeped in decades of musical living. Born in Liverpool and shaped by years on stages big and small, Claxton carries experience you…

There’s something disarmingly real about Derby Hill, the self-titled EP from Detroit singer-songwriter Derby Hill, released on January 27, 2026. Rooted in blue-collar neighborhoods, back porch swings, and late-night reckonings, this EP feels like a handful of lived stories passed across a kitchen table. Recorded in Chicago basements and hall…

After nearly a decade of grinding it out across the Midwest, Carrying Torches sounds like a band that knows exactly who they are—and more importantly, what they’re willing to face. Hailing from the Chicagoland heartland, they’ve logged close to 200 shows and built their identity on what they call Electric…

Anthony J. Resta’s “Guitar Man” is like a long-overdue self-portrait. A Laurel Canyon lifer and studio OG with decades of iconic credits behind him, Resta finally steps out from behind the console and into the light, reimagining Bread’s 1972 classic as a cinematic confession about devotion, survival, and the love…

Karen Salicath Jamali begins 2026 with a breath. Her new single, “Angel Sandalphon (The Angel of New Beginnings),” released on January 29, feels like a quiet clearing of the slate—a gentle invitation to step into the year with intention. It’s her first release of the year, and fittingly, it arrives…

New Year’s Eve Jam 2025 comes beautifully unpolished to show us where charm actually lives. J Dulva, a seasoned voice from Eunice, Louisiana, reunites with Chris Segar, separated by a generation but bonded by shared roots, for a cover album that was meant to happen at one point or another. Recorded…

Running through “Bottles” is the familiar tinge of nostalgia that grips you hardest in longing when summer feels impossibly far away, and memory is doing most of the warming. Athens pop-punk trio The Unfamiliars? lean fully into that feeling here, with this nostalgic, bittersweet single that bottles up sun, salt,…

There’s something magnetic about “Song For A Diva.” It slowly pulls you under with mood, memory, and meaning. ALLEY the band, a four-piece from England’s South Coast, continue their introspective streak here, creating indie alternative pop/rock that relates to you in a genuine manner. Following their debut “The Release (Now…

After nearly two years of silence, QEERAN steps back into the frame with “CLOSER/HARDER,” and it doesn’t feel like a comeback so much as a deliberate reintroduction. Based in Melbourne, the artist returns sounding sharper, darker, and far more self-aware, channeling a period of withdrawal, healing, and reinvention into an…

Crescent don’t arrive too subtle with Milogather Parts 1 & 2—they arrive patiently. This debut EP on Shy Bairn Records hits like a statement of intent. Formed around a shared love of blues-soaked psychedelia and classic indie, Crescent builds songs that breathe, stretch, and sit with discomfort. You can feel…