Reviews

Melbourne-based rock project Reetoxa turns a teenage musical awakening into a lively tribute with “Dancing With Lou,” a vibrant cut from the album Soliloquy. Led by Jason McKee, the song looks back to 1995, when a friend’s father introduced the then-15-year-old McKee to Lou Reed’s solo work through The Blue…

Aux Volta’s “GENERIC GAZELLE” seems to wander into the room quietly before rearranging the furniture. Following the duo’s previous single “Ouroborus,” it approaches its dystopian real world with an intentionally strange mixture of club music, experimental electronics and darkly playful storytelling with base materials of Epstein recordings, Nigel Farage video…

Liverpool four-piece RISE turn an emotional crossroads into a full-bodied rock surge with “Hard To Leave You,” a reworked version of their 2024 song that finally brings the aggression and energy they felt was missing from the original. The Barbarian Mix isn’t merely a touch-up; it pushes the track closer…

Philadelphia rapper DAPS brings the streets of Cobbs Creek into sharp focus with “Down wit dat (cold killa),” a remix that turns lived experience into a catchy, hard-edged hip-hop statement. Raised on 60th Street, DAPS approaches the track less like an outsider observing a neighborhood and more like someone opening…

Laji George digs into the quieter side of grunge with “Sittin Here Thinkin,” a soulful alt-rock single that finds strength not in sheer volume, but in reflection. The New York City artist draws heavily from the raw spirit of ’90s Seattle rock while folding in blues, folk, and classic soul…

Vela Jones’ “Back To Blue” turns homesickness into something wonderfully cosmic. The Epsom-based self-described “contemporary space hippy” imagines life in a human colony in 2099, far from Earth and everything familiar, and this third single captures the ache of wanting to return home. It is also a gentler, more trippy…

Dark Archer’s “Burning Mind” plunges into the murky territory where manipulation becomes so gradual that a person can no longer tell where their own thoughts end and someone else’s influence begins. Blending alternative rock and psychedelic rock with a cinematic sense of psychological unease, the song examines gaslighting, institutional pressure,…

Ryan Stayes’ Poems from the Past is an album for anyone who has ever caught themselves staring out a window and wondering where the years went. Across its indie-alternative landscape, Stayes turns nostalgia, growing older, family, love, regret, and everyday restlessness into cinematic songs built around memories that refuse to…

DJ Cards takes a familiar seasonal mood and gives it a fresh coat of cinematic polish with “Grab That Fall Feeling (Reimagined),” an expanded version that trades some of the original’s simplicity for greater warmth, depth, and atmosphere. The reimagining makes the landscape feel wider and more immersive, turning autumnal…

Starry Venus takes her award-winning “Do You Feel It” from cinematic introspection to the dance floor with “Do You Feel It (Eric Kupper Remix),” a melodic trance reimagining shaped by veteran DJ and producer Eric Kupper. The original song explored feminine awakening and the electricity of inner connection; here, that…