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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.

Akira Sky made a barricade of broken boundaries in her indie pop single, Block My Number

Posted on 16 April 2025

Through moodily ethereal indie pop vocal lines and the quiescent timbres of orchestral swells which drift around acoustic guitar strings and organic indietronica synthetics, Akira Sky invites listeners into a world where the messiness of human emotion unravels. The contradiction of heartbreak and empowerment is rendered with rare lucidity in Block My Number, where raw feeling is carved into every sonic contour.

As a senior at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute, Akira Sky has already shown she has a firm grasp on the emotional chaos of modern life. Her output captures the jittering pulse of being alive in a Pandora’s box of paradoxes. Through a fusion of high-octane pop instincts and vulnerable songwriting, she creates for the beautifully overwhelmed—for the ones who cry with conviction and dance with the same force.

Despite the quiescence of Block My Number, which draws a line in the sand and makes a barricade of broken boundaries, nothing about the single feels diaphanous; the strength of the innovation and soulfully projected self-advocacy ensures Block My Number is a sonorous soundtrack for anyone who wants closure while knowing they will live if they never get it. It’s less of a goodbye and more of a soft implosion—gentle enough to float, heavy enough to pull you under.

Block My Number is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP Electrified the Manhattan Underground with Raw Lyrically Waxed Panache in his Latest Performance

Posted on 15 April 2025

After years of cultivating online recognition through freestyles and an uncompromising dedication to sonic individuality, FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP finally touched down at The Under St Marks Open Mic in Manhattan—and judging by the feral grip he had on the mic and the crowd, he didn’t just arrive, he dominated.

The Jamaica, Queens-raised rapper, formerly known as Fabp aka Fabpz the Freelancer, turned the long-awaited appearance into a livewire exhibition of skill, stamina, and sound system-shaking charisma. With over 2,000 tracks to his name and a catalogue shaped in the Raw Undiluted taste of X-Calade Promotionz, he’s no stranger to commanding attention—but in this live performance, it’s all vibes, the ability to command a room, and years of honing his craft paying off.

The way he flooded the room with energy, finding ways of not only matching the beat but using each electronic pulse as a catalyst for his creativity, sparked rapturous applause through the crowd. He didn’t miss a breath. He made sure no one else could take one either.

Lyrically, he brought the fire that’s made him a regular feature on mixtapes from DJ Ron G and a cult figure online. The bars came fast, came clever, and came with that trademark Fabp edge—chaotic, conscious, and cathartic. FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP proved exactly why his name is ringing louder with every performance.

This live session is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Cameron Jay Drops the Curtain on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ in His Red-Hot Rap Track

Posted on 10 April 2025

Jimmy Kimmel is just one of the tour de luxe hip-hop forces featured on Cameron Jay’s EP, USB Dump Vol. 1. The track does so much more than wax lyrical on the legacy of the late-night figurehead; it drives stylistically smooth rhythms straight into your pulse. The reminiscences to Jay-Z don’t cloud the iconic innovation—Cameron Jay gives the flashy, fully fleshed, scintillating hip-hop timbres a new lease of life.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Cameron Jay is no stranger to sharpening his bars against the concrete of lived experience. With a stage history that includes sets alongside Trina, Joell Ortiz, Sadat X, Steele, and Craig G, and a discography that spans acclaimed mixtapes and 2019’s December’s Son—which saw Ya Tu Sabe rack up over 250,000 Spotify streams—Jay has earned his stripes without theatrics.

Now, with USB Dump Vol. 1, he unloads the vault. Jimmy Kimmel stands as a high-voltage benchmark in that archive—a track that fires through tight, textured beats with bars fuelled by raw charisma. His infectious lyrical delivery doesn’t hit the brakes until the atmospheric outro rolls onto the beat. He keeps the intricately layered instrumentals adrenalised to the last breath, leaving no second sounding like a throwaway cut.

This is more than a nod to pop culture; this is Cameron Jay playing host to his own story, with a delivery sharp enough to cut across the airwaves.

Jimmy Kimmel is now available to stream on all major platforms including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

NY’s The Going Rate fuelled the feel-good fire with their ska track, ‘All This Weight’

Posted on 21 March 2025
The Going Rate

Equally as ‘special’ as The Specials, The Going Rate is ska personified, a breeze of feel-good reverberations that seduce rhythmic pulses as though they’ve never been touched before. ‘All This Weight’ is swanky, soulfully colossal, and tied together with a teasingly progressive tempo that locks you in with unflinching anticipation. Every tonal transition—whether it’s a brass solo bursting with exuberance, a showcase of sun-bleached chanteuse vocal lines bridging the material world with the divine, or quintessential staccato guitars—pulls you further into awe over The Going Rate.

Hailing from Long Island, this multi-gender, multi-racial collective has built a reputation for setting stages alight with high-calibre musicianship, enthusiasm, and an infectious commitment to keeping the dancefloor moving. Their lively horn riffs, danceable grooves, and sharp lyricism have cemented their place in the local scene, earning them spots in venues across New York and beyond, as well as well-earned traction online.

With ‘All This Weight’, they don’t just drop another ska-infused anthem; they redefine what it means to fuse energy with finesse. Whether they’re shaking up intimate clubs or delivering a record that demands repeat listens, The Going Rate ensures every groove bursts with intent. If this track is anything to go by, their mission to become a staple in the greater NYC scene is well within reach.

‘All This Weight’ is available now on all major streaming platforms. Discover your preferred way to listen via this link. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Perenna King Fires Shots at the Elite with ‘Billionaire’

Posted on 21 March 2025

Perenna King isn’t here to play nice with the 1%. Billionaire is a slick, sultry rejection of the pop mould, drenched in bass-heavy afrobeat rhythms that instantly set the NYC singer-songwriter apart. With rap verses that cut through with razor-sharp conviction, she delivers a scathing critique of the ultra-wealthy, making it impossible not to get caught up in the hype of this protest anthem.

In a world where Elon Musk is unavoidable and the rich-poor divide stretches further by the day, King amplifies the frustrations of those grinding to get by, only to realise the system was rigged against them from the start. The track doesn’t just highlight the disparity—it vindicates the ones left fighting for scraps while the billionaires hoard power, influence, and entire economies.

Raised on a fusion of classic rock and literature, King has always had a flair for injecting her music with theatrical drama, but Billionaire isn’t just spectacle—it’s a battle cry. Her latest tour de force breathes fresh air into a genre often too cautious to take a stand. The message is as biting as the beat is infectious, proving that resistance isn’t futile.

Billionaire is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cupid and the Cowboy’s ‘Beer on My Tramp Stamp’ Is a Shot of Whiskey Spiked with Sarcasm

Posted on 18 March 2025

Evading the clichés of every scene and leaving no room for pretence or posturing, Cupid and the Cowboy delivered a satirically subversive and seductively salacious tour de force of literally and figuratively down-and-dirty Americana with Beer on My Tramp Stamp. With folk and alt-country drippings in the soulfully delivered, foot-stomping hit, they find rugged intersections of euphony while the lyrics prove that they’re so beyond pastiche they’ve reserved a spot for other pioneers in the alt-country pantheon. There’s something delicious in the way they go down old country roads, finding new thematic intersections to explore while taking playful shots at the culture they’re dissecting through sound.

This misfit NYC duo thrive on contradiction. Bronx-born Cupid, a sultry wallflower with songs of unrequited love, collides with Maynard, a Reno Casino Cowboy who delivers his raw energy like an open bar tab on the line. Together, they trade vocals and have a proclivity for pulling in everything from country, Americana, dance-pop, R&B, alt-rock, and folk-punk to craft a sound as unfiltered as their songwriting.

With their first full-length album, Misfit Sessions, set to drop in 2025, they’re proving that country can be taken apart and put back together in a way that pays ode without feeling old.

Beer on My Tramp Stamp is available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Seungmin Jung’s ‘Acadia’ Smokes Out Complacency with Sophisticated Jazz Fluidity

Posted on 16 March 2025

For 12 minutes, Seungmin Jung and his virtuosic ensemble take easy listening jazz and give it a smoky revival with Acadia, a composition that reaches the epitome of fluidity. The time signatures refuse to leave room for complacency, locking listeners into a state of mesmerised anticipation. It’s textural tonal alchemy at its finest—low reverberating basslines create a striking contrast against ascending brass notes and the ornate chimes of piano keys, threading together a soundscape as suave as a tailored suit.

Jung’s journey into jazz began in Seoul, where a spontaneous purchase of a double bass at 17 set the course for his future. Now based in New York, he has studied under some of the biggest names in the scene, including Buster Williams and Ingrid Jensen, earning his master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His career has seen him grace renowned venues from Korea’s Giwon Art Museum to Dizzy’s Jazz Club in New York, and his talent has been recognised with a second-place win at the Hyunsik Kim competition.

Acadia showcases a musician who understands the elegance of timeless jazz while fearlessly pushing its parameters. Jung orchestrates moments of undeniable intrigue, making every shift in tempo feel like a deliberate seduction.

Stream Acadia on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ramener’s ‘Anything & Everything’ Injects Visceral Emotion into Prog Rock Panache

Posted on 13 March 2025

Ramener, the veritable titans of Long Island’s alt-rock scene, flex their prog-rock muscles in Anything & Everything with an intro that wouldn’t be out of place in Tool’s discography. But it isn’t long before a high-octane melody locks into the monolithic tableau of viscerally expressive hard rock. The vocals don’t just cut through the mix—they soar beyond the riffs, injecting raw tendrils of emotion that twist around the instrumental intensity, making it clear that the aching lyrical delivery is the real driving force behind the crescendos.

Instead of using their technical chops as a means to showboat, Ramener channel their ability into something far more impactful—a sound that tightens around the soul with an iron grip. The sheer force of the track isn’t about volume or distortion; it’s about how much weight they pack into every note, every lyric, every calculated shift in dynamics. The instrumentals are wielded as artistic devices rather than the centrepiece, amplifying the tension until it reaches breaking point.

With a radio-ready sound that sacrifices none of its authenticity, Anything & Everything is a testament to Ramener’s ability to command attention without compromise. Their future couldn’t be much brighter.

Anything & Everything is available now on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ginger Winn Drops the Temperature with ‘Freezing’—A Hypersonic Alt-Rock Storm

Posted on 11 March 2025

Feel the temperature drop with the arcane etherealism oscillating through Freezing, the latest single from Ginger Winn, which was officially released on March 7th. The cinematically shot music video exhibits the NY-residing alt-rock visionary as a creative powerhouse, and the track itself unfolds with superlative emotive tension around pop-pinched vocal lines that toy with pop-punk nuances while lending a sense of maturity to her harmonies rarely found within the genre.

As the single progresses, the momentum seamlessly shifts, pulling you into a tumultuous vignette of bittersweet longing, exposing how carelessly we can be left out in the cold by the connections we cherish most. The hypersonic intensity of the catharsis-laden crescendo compels you to dive back in and take the ride once more. As the first release from her upcoming album Freeze Frame, Freezing sets the stage for a darker, more expansive alt-rock sound, reinforcing why Winn is fast becoming one of New York’s most promising up-and-coming artists.

It isn’t every day you encounter an artist whose sonic signature is as unique as it is exhilarating; it’s only a matter of time before Ginger Winn is revered as the alt-rock supreme she definitively is.

Stream the official music video for Freezing on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast