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HeadFirst Tore Through the Fabric of Modern Disillusionment with ‘Retrograde’

Posted on 29 April 2025

Retrograde, taken from HeadFirst’s LP, Modern Role Models, serves as definitive proof to anyone over 30 that emo was never a phase while welcoming a new generation of grungy pop punk to the sanctity of raw augmented sincerity. With rapid-fire Bloodhound Gang-adjacent vocals snarling through the distortion and melodic hooks that are sharp enough to carve through any former earworms and lacerate a place for this infectious anthem, there’s no denying that Retrograde makes a monumental impact.

If you can imagine how affecting the middle ground between Fidlar, Foo Fighters and Dinosaur Jr would be, you’d get an idea of how the pulse of this track is given the reins to your rhythmic pulses as the lyrics latch onto the tension tearing through your world and give you an outlet.

Formed by Siraj Husainy, Coby Conrad, and Bima Wirayudha, HeadFirst fuse raw post-grunge fervour with the melodic pull of pop punk. Hailing from Boston, the trio pours electric, visceral energy into every performance, whether lighting up dive bars or packed-out venues. Their music rides the tightrope between nostalgia and cutting modernity, crafted with relentless rhythms, emotionally charged lyrics, and hooks designed to leave a lasting scar.

With Retrograde, HeadFirst have solidified their status as a powerhouse for anyone who craves loud, honest expression in a disillusioned world.

Retrograde is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Susan G became the epitome of Seattle soul with ‘Don’t Look Like You’

Posted on 25 April 2025
Susan G

With her old soul and fresh presence stretching far beyond Seattle, Susan G has the kind of vocal firepower and lyrical acuity that instantly turns passive listening into emotional reckoning. Her latest 60s soul-esque single, Don’t Look Like You, is the perfect primer for her deep-cutting emotive style. The smoky, smooth, and fever-swaddled staccato rhythms refuse to let comfort slip into the mix. Your rhythmic pulses will stand to full attention as the raw honesty of her lyricism sinks in.

The reprise of “I don’t know what love is if it looks like you” sears the psyche. It’s a line built to hit anyone who’s ever clawed their way out of a relationship that made them question not only their worth but the very definition of love. Instead of falling into the performative pitfalls of empowerment anthems, Susan G offers something more vital—an exorcism of confusion and coldness, giving a voice to anyone who’s been left picking up the pieces of their gaslit mind.

Susan George—performing under her moniker Susan G—may run a cutting-edge marketing agency by day, but in the studio, she’s a soul-revivalist with a modern R&B twist, weaving poetic truth through every note. Her sound reverberates for the truth-seekers and deep feelers who need something heavier than radio-ready gloss.

Don’t Look Like You is now available to stream on all major platforms. Find your preferred way to listen on the artist’s website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

The Disenchanted Divinity of Feeling Ill-Fitted: Useless Wonder! by The Mercury Sounds

Posted on 24 April 2025

If the sanctuary within the tonality of Useless Wonder! is anything to go by, The Mercury Sounds have become masters of carving relics of nostalgic experimentation that border on divine intervention.

The Baltimore-based duo, Jason Stauffer and Josh Krechmer, have been long-hauling their sonic telepathy since primary school. Two decades later, they’re still refusing to colour within the lines. Their fusion of indie-pop vitality and folk-rock introspection culminates in Useless Wonder!, a cosmic lament steeped in lo-fi 70s alchemy. Through natural vocal proclivity and delicate lyrical agony, they sculpted an aching confessional that stings with the sentiment of not being built for a world that keeps shifting beneath your feet.

The way the vocals bleed with weary existentialism against the gauzy swell of warm distortion and glimmering, melancholic strings carries the same weight as a memory you can’t outgrow. The verses tether you to vulnerability, while the chorus throws you into an orbit of quiet resignation.

Even though it would be impossible to crown a Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan in our modern and fractured industry, it’s clear that if Useless Wonder! had surfaced fifty years ago, it would be playing through grainy AM radios as a national folk treasure.

The Mercury Sounds exhaled a truth for the quiet disenfranchised who’ve long since given up pretending they fit the mould, if you can align to that particular branch of melancholy, hit play.

Useless Wonder! is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Blue Violence. Became the Definitive Sad Boi of Synth Pop with ‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’

Posted on 22 April 2025

Blue Violence. turned the emotional weight of disconnection into a dancefloor confession with ‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’, the keystone single from his 3-track EP, ‘Ugh…’. With synths set to shimmer and sardonic melancholy laced through the beat, this melancholic indietronica lament spins the disco ball on its axis to reflect a darker spectrum of inner turmoil.

Through anthropomorphised sorrow, Daniel Fischetti—writing and producing as Blue Violence.—exposes the paradox of internal desolation amidst external euphoria. While glitter rains and basslines throb in euphoric unison, his feet remain heavy with the weight of unshakable emotional inertia. There’s funk in the Depeche Mode-esque rhythm and pain in the lyricism, stitched together with the same magnetic gloom found in the works of John Grant.

Hailing from Southern California, Fischetti started Blue Violence in 2019 during a collaboration with producer and engineer Chris Caccamise of CJE Productions. Their work on the debut album Modern Love cemented Blue Violence. as a name worth noting in the shadowy corners of synth pop. Since then, Fischetti has remained self-contained in his sonic pursuits, refining his signature style without sanding away the raw emotional contours.

‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’ doesn’t fake the catharsis—it coils around it, examining every nuance of numbness through neon-soaked textures and darkly sweet tones. Blue Violence delivered the funked-up synth pop hit we never knew we needed. He’s the definitive sad boi of synth pop.

‘My Feet Are Sad on the Dancefloor’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Erin Inglish’s I Will Not Obey: A Banjo-Laced Battle Cry in a World Built to Break the Willing

Posted on 22 April 2025
I Will Not Obey by Erin Inglish

Erin Inglish pulled no poetic punches in I Will Not Obey—a protest single that rules out compliance and refuses to be complicit through silence. The honkytonk instrumentation and her hauntingly ethereal folk vocals take protest music right back to its roots while injecting swathes of feminine fire into the production. When the single reaches its chorus, an almost hypnotic tribal energy takes over the track, awakening you to how you’ve slept until you’ve woken up in this fever dream of a tyrannical system where there’s no justice or peace, unless you can pay the price of privilege.

Her razor-sharp songwriting, composed around the words of Utah Phillips, allowed this single to spring to life as far more than the sum of all its parts. It’s almost enough to inspire you to join a Wicker Man-style cult and collectively take down the government.

With arrangement support from Adam Nash and Sean Alexander Collins, and banjo lines that bleed defiance into the architecture of the single, Inglish channels her craft into a folk-rooted statement piece that is far from sentimental nostalgia. Her artistry, sharpened across three solo albums, five collaborative records, and a globe-spanning performance history, culminates in this moment of rebellion wrapped in timeless musicality.

As a banjo-wielding songwriter and activist based on California’s Central Coast, Inglish has always pushed her voice beyond performance—I Will Not Obey ensures that her voice echoes where it’s needed most.

I Will Not Obey is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Mikey Wayne’s Lovin’ and Leavin’: A Bonfire Ballad for Every Heart That’s Learned the Hard Way

Posted on 21 April 2025

With a Hollywood panoramic production projecting the intimate echoes of a soul that knows the sting of a temporal romance all too well, Mikey Wayne invited listeners to do more than just dwell on the pain with Lovin’ and Leavin’ he painted a vignette with the emotions derived from the ebb and flow of love which pushes and pulls the heartstrings until they snap.

Lovin’ and Leavin’ isn’t merely a heartbreak anthem—it’s the internal monologue of anyone who’s chosen passion over peace and paid the price. The Alabama-based singer-songwriter, shaped as much by his Southern California beginnings as his Deep South roots, channels that contrast into a ballad steeped in bittersweetness and bound by conviction. His rendered-in-sentimentality vocal lines honey the nostalgic agony as it melodically pirouettes through the track, which lands in the perfect spot in the bitter-sweet equilibrium, especially when the rock solo breaks through the affecting atmosphere, illustrating the intensity of passion with the conviction of a thousand words.

It’s a classic feat of stellar songwriting, with all the hallmarks of the ’70s Americana greats—yet the scars are Wayne’s own. Raised fronting rock bands through high school and college, and now launching from Nashville after a decade of refining his voice, Mikey Wayne has proven that his stories don’t borrow—they bleed. Lovin’ and Leavin’ is a reckoning for anyone who’s felt the full force of head vs. heart, lived to regret it, and would do it all again.

Lovin’ and Leavin’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Jack Fargo Hits a Natural High with Alt-Pop Anthem ‘Drugs on the Weekend’

Posted on 20 April 2025
Jack Fargo

Jack Fargo’s latest release, Drugs on the Weekend, is less Class A and more A-List radio-ready material—delivered as a wavy lo-fi mash-up of RnB, Hip-Hop, and pop. The track is an exposition on how the oxytocin rush from someone who scintillates your soul as much as your skin surpasses every synthetic high imaginable.

With funk-infused grooves and a horn section lifting the vibe even higher, Fargo turns this bedroom-pop musing into an indie anthem choked with infectious appeal. Fargo’s zealously electrifying vocal lines prove he did more than perform when stepping up to the mic; his verses pour straight from a soul bright enough to illuminate any room or arena. The harmonies and rap-infused verses warm the dreamy, lush layers of saturation, making the track an effortlessly magnetic listen.

Fargo, born Jack Fargotstein, is a Memphis-raised musician who sharpened his artistry through hip-hop mixtapes as Bigmac Jack before earning acclaim in LA as half of The Motel Brothers. Post-duo, Fargo returned to his solo roots, pulling influences from Ed Sheeran’s pop-rock effervescence, Mac Miller’s legendary ease, and classic R&B richness, all vividly showcased in this latest sonic concoction.

Drugs on the Weekend perfectly captures Fargo’s lyrical exploration of authentic connections, resonating through melodies that mirror the intimate rush of genuine chemistry. Fargo isn’t chasing superficial buzzes here; he’s illustrating that the purest high flows naturally.

Drugs on the Weekend is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Latin Pop Luminary Diego Molina Defined Romantic Sincerity in ‘What’s That Light In Your Eyes’

Posted on 18 April 2025
Diego Molina

Diego Molina’s latest single, ‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’, subversively opens with an intimate glimpse into relationship bliss, almost like overhearing a candid conversation through an accidental pocket dial, setting a refreshingly personal context for the heartfelt fervency of the Latin pop serenade that follows, gently redefining romantic sincerity beyond physical admiration.

Hailing from Nashville, Molina wrote, produced, and mixed the track himself, drawing charismatic sentimentality from early-2000s inspirations such as U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and Enrique Iglesias’ Escape. His approach carries an individuality shaped by his first visit to his Colombian roots, channelling the vibrant rhythms and spirited streets of Bogotá.

Sonically, Molina balances Latin pop traditions with synth-driven, new wave innovation. Angular guitar lines delicately ascend through the arrangement, soaring beyond the quickening heartbeat echoed by rhythmic beats. Retro-futurist synth textures amplify the emotional intensity, enveloping listeners in an atmosphere of ardent nostalgia. Molina’s diaphanous vocals, effortlessly slipping into vibrato, further amplify the authenticity and emotional depth of the love letter to sincerity and intimacy, which illuminates a romantic narrative with sophisticated yet accessible charm.

‘What’s That Light in Your Eyes’ is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ian McFarland Used Pop Punk to Augment Optimism in His Latest Single, You Are So Loved

Posted on 18 April 2025

If there’s any justice left in indie’s distorted underbelly, Ian McFarland will be recognised as the artist who gave serotonin back to pop-punk. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has already earned a presence across regional charts and NYC live haunts, but You Are So Loved deserves to break much further beyond.

Following a sticky-sweet synth-pop intro, the single throws the genre right back to the golden era of visceral expression with its pop-punk crescendo of unfiltered optimism. But the stylistic transgressions don’t end there. Jangly new wave indie-pop nestles into the volition of the punk-tinged foundations, allowing McFarland to exhibit one of the most distinctive sonic signatures we’ve heard this year.

It’s not just the sound design that makes You Are So Loved cut through the cynicism often used as a crutch in alt scenes. McFarland weaponises sincerity as if it’s a subversive act. There’s bravery in broadcasting this much raw affection, especially within a genre known for self-deprecation and detached irony. But McFarland knew what he was risking—being written off as cloying or sentimental. He bypasses that pitfall entirely with his unshakable authenticity.

Born from a need to pull joy from bleakness, You Are So Loved is an adrenaline shot of altruism for anyone who needs to remember that the world can still look beautiful through a cracked lens.

You Are So Loved is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Title: WD-HAN Punch Their Passport to Liberation in the Indie Rock Anthem ‘Chile’

Posted on 17 April 2025

Chile is one of the strongest exhibitions of WD-HAN’s versatility as they veer into sonic South American territory to bring the sardonically sweet context of the track to life. They flipped the script on the “I’ll follow you wherever you go” trope, as the protagonist stamps his passport to get as much geographical distance between an ex whose indiscretions and false promises led beyond spite to the sheer exhilaration of freedom.

With the vibrant Latin flavours popping through the kaleidoscope of the production, your synapses will flood with colour as you soak in the South American percussion and staccato guitar rhythms. This is an indie rock anthem to scream from the top of your lungs, to forget the spite with and lean into the euphoria of cutting ties from people whose sole mission seems to be psychological degradation.

Produced by Alex Arias at Fab Factory Studios and released via Red Slushy Records, Chile sees the Floridian alt-rock trio leaving no emotional punches unthrown. Vocalist Spencer Barnes keeps it tongue-in-cheek but razor-sharp as guitarist Cal Henry and drummer Lea Campbell inject every aural atom with augmented rapture. Known for emotionally charged anthems, WD-HAN may have made a departure with this release, but the international lyricality more than suits their status as they amass more acclaim from all corners of the globe. Why are we sleeping on making WD-HAN one of the biggest names in alt-rock is beyond beyond me.

Chile is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.