Browsing Tag

Alternative

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

Careful, King redefined resilience with trap-pop reverie in ‘Don’t Test Me’

Posted on 27 April 2025

In his latest single, Don’t Test Me, Careful, King redefined resilience through the lens of vulnerable trap-pop introspection. While the title may prepare you for a fiery diatribe, there’s a tenderness to his sonic touch which speaks volumes of his ability to stand his ground while never relinquishing his aura of pure intent.

As emotive as Lil Yachty, but with authenticity coursing far deeper than any superficial resemblances, Careful, King delivered a melodically aching arrangement where every rhythm and every lyric feels earned. It’s not just his vocal flow that marks itself with distinction; the way he arranges his wavy trap-pop instrumentals into rhythms of pure candid catharsis is proof that even if you did a full lap of the contemporary trap scene, you’d never encounter an artist in the same vein as Careful, King.

By channelling the emotional weight of lifelong battles with self-perception, self-worth, and the desire to be authentically seen, Careful, King injects raw humanity into his scar-mapping aural canvas. His story of wrestling with the need for validation, finding solace in self-love, and creating purely from the drive within himself resonates through the track’s bruised yet hopeful core.

Through ‘Don’t Test Me’, Careful, King proves that life’s most powerful moments happen not under the spotlight, but in the quiet spaces where we choose to love ourselves enough to be whole.

‘Don’t Test Me’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zach Hodges Bottled an Atomic Glitch in Jazz Fusion Form in ‘Nuclear Muskrat’

Posted on 26 April 2025

Zach Hodges let chaos reign in Nuclear Muskrat and conducted it with a conductor’s cultivated touch and a mad scientist’s curiosity. The 19-year-old Midlands-based musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist may be early in his career, but through his LP, Baby Landmark, he’s already proven that genre loyalty is a concept best left in the past.

Hodges, known for his work as a theatre musical director for String Cheese Theatre, his position behind the kit in Midlands jazz trio Head to Head, and his international touring experience, funnelled every inch of his multidisciplinary pedigree into this 7-minute experimental tour de force. Nuclear Muskrat isn’t content to sit still—within its frenetic framework, it flexes polka funk motifs, indietronica laced with avant-garde effects, funked-up disco grooves, blues-drenched riffs, erratic polyphonic keys, and incendiary synth bursts.

While it could have been easy for this to feel like a pure act of self-indulgence, it’s easy to go along with the ride with Hodges as he demonstrates the malleability of sound in a way so seamless it is as though all of the textures, tones and tempos have always been complementary pairings. It’s as though the contemporary history of music has been condensed in the explorative mind-melter that continually pulls the rug and lays down a different one before the last footstep can land.

If you’re always on the hunt for music that challenges mediocrity, Nuclear Muskrat is the ultimate contender.

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

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Tequila Wave’s Lies: A Darkwave Post-Punk Sermon from the Shadows of Inner Conflict

Posted on 21 April 2025

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Sisters of Mercy had a new sibling after the emergence of Lies—the darkwave earworm by Tequila Wave that also teases Joy Division-esque guitar lines into the production, where the synths sink percussive gravity into the track as much as the beats. As the moody vox reverberate shadows through the mix, the danceable kinetic energy lends an air of transcendence; an invitation to pull away from the weight of your weary soul and sink rhythmic catharsis into your veins. Tequila Wave may not have reinvented the darkwave post-punk wheel with Lies, but why ruin an already perfect formula when you can inject fresh lifeblood into it?

Channelling discontent and transformation into every brooding note, the Mexican artist Jorge Luis Niño proves that Tequila Wave is far more than an alias—it’s an emotional vessel. With a sound rooted in goth, post-punk, and darkwave, but never limited by them, the artist’s bilingual approach and unfiltered self-expression reach far beyond the surface. The themes aren’t theatrically dressed up—they’re unvarnished truths, stitched into pulsating synths and shivering riffs that hold enough weight to carry listeners through their own internal reckonings.

Where previous releases like Take Away the Mask peeled layers back with surgical precision, and Café offered a deeper look at his cultural identity, Lies digs into the emotional marrow. It’s less of a song, more of a séance.

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

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

FATHER THEA Channels Heaven and Hell in the Hymnal Howl of ‘I STILL PRAY’

Posted on 19 April 2025

FATHER THEA didn’t bow in reverence for her debut; she ripped through the silence with I STILL PRAY, a siren-esque tour de force that haunts as much as it heals for anyone struggling with a lack of faith, or a lack of ethereal metal earworms on their playlists. Dropping with a seductively atmospheric, artfully dark official video on February 28th, the track is a testament to her ability to crawl under the skin and stay there. Thematically anchored in the torment of unanswered pleas and the defiance it breeds, it’s a metal prayer soaked in catharsis and the sonic equivalent of staring into the abyss and it screaming back.

Born in Greece to Albanian roots, FATHER THEA has remained entirely independent while unleashing a sound that commands attention far beyond fledgling status. Her vocals reverberate around the same spectral arena as Evanescence, Nightwish, and Within Temptation, but instead of chasing shadows, she conjures them. The vocal register soars and sears, elevated by instrumentals that bare the teeth of chaos.

Midway through the track, the middle-eight detonates any illusion of restraint. FATHER THEA doesn’t just hold her own against the cataclysmic breakdown—she becomes it. Her screams carry the same raw conviction as Poppy and King Woman, swerving into noise-drenched territory without sacrificing melodic magnetism. It’s impossible not to be desperate for the sophomore after being taken along for the visceral ride with I STILL PRAY.

I STILL PRAY is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, watch the official music video. 

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.

Nick Cody & The Heartache’s ‘Next Up’ Is A Swaggering Alt-Rock Serenade to Survival

Posted on 11 April 2025

With their latest single, Next Up, from the freshly pressed LP This is Love and the Heartache, Leeds-based Nick Cody & The Heartache have decidedly dialled up the swank and swagger. Frenetically paced grooves pull listeners into a sandstorm of Jim Morrison-esque desert-infused vocals, while backing harmonies create a dynamic, kinetic whirlwind of alt-rock reverence. The ensemble seems charged with an infectious energy that leaps effortlessly from musician to musician, ensuring the track becomes a certified serotonin shot—even against the stark refrain, ‘you don’t know what it’s like to die ‘round here’.

Clearly the band’s boldest sonic exploration to date, the creative gamble has spectacularly paid off. Genre boundaries crumble away as Next Up seamlessly sways from funk to college radio rock, slipping into vintage soul without missing a beat or dropping intensity. Released via Green Eyed Records—an imprint championing creative collaboration, previously hosting acclaimed artists like Jon Gomm and Martin Simpson—the single underscores Cody’s razor-sharp lyrical instincts and penchant for crafting melodies that refuse to fade.

Next Up is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Precious McKenzie – ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’: Alt-Indie Proof Romance Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Nihilistic

Posted on 9 April 2025

Manchester’s Precious McKenzie scratched their 7-year hiatus itch with the release of their single, ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’ on April 7; a precursor to their upcoming EP, which brings with it a promise of more cerebrally Machiavellian lyricality and stylistic ricochets across the alt-indie spectrum.

As an exposition of emotional addiction, hedonic excess and how the intersections between them can lead to the avenue of alienation and desperation to evade apathy, the single opts for realism over resolve, affirming how in the end, we return to dust, and yet, there’s catharsis in the emotive cataclysm which proves that romance isn’t dead, it’s just nihilistic and as dysfunctional as its perpetrators as they chase the impermanence of satisfaction in an era of dystopia.

With a chorus that delivers the visceralism we crave to abstract us from the monotony of unaltered mental states following palpitatingly taut verses of angular guitars fuelling the tension and visualising the anxiety that instils itself in the preludes of indulgence, ‘Soft Skin, Screaming’ is the sharpest blade on the alt-indie execution block in 2025.

Through chameleonic vocals that deliver poetic tender sentimentality, augment into anthemic 00s indie adrenaline, find room to inject sardonic spite and let restraint slip into ether while keeping flawless pitch like an indie crooner on the brink, Soft Skin, Screaming, is a buzzsaw through the mind, body, soul and rhythmic pulses.

Soft Skin, Screaming is now available to stream on all major platforms, including  Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Luke O’Hanlon’s ‘The Parrots of Lark Lane’: A Feathered Alt-Folk Elegy to Liverpool’s Hidden Magic

Posted on 7 April 2025

Liverpool alt-indie folk singer-songwriter Luke O’Hanlon becomes a conduit for naturalism and catharsis when armed with his acoustic guitar and warmed vocal chords. Released on the 31st of March as a teaser from his upcoming LP, The River Only Flows One Way, the standout single The Parrots of Lark Lane allows listeners to witness his infatuating sensitivity—his rare ability to perceive what we usually overlook.

As the track unfurls, it evolves gracefully into a Neutral Milk Hotel-esque lo-fi arrangement, with O’Hanlon, the poet of melody, gripping his pen firmly as he writes calligraphy with his affecting sonic signature. There’s a touch of James Yorkston in the observational clarity of his lyricism; its gentle grandeur inspires listeners either to adopt a similar macro lens or simply indulge in the reverie of his unique perspective. His innate gift lies in tying personal experience to wider phenomena, creating tenderly affectionate parables of everyday existence.

O’Hanlon, known for weaving poetic storytelling with evocative melodies, continues to delve into nostalgia, survival, and the quiet poetry found in ordinary life. His latest single gracefully blends sharp observational songwriting with surreal beauty, honouring Liverpool’s iconic Lark Lane with affectionate authenticity. Through O’Hanlon’s lens, even the smallest details feel monumental.

The Parrots of Lark Lane is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Arnold J.’s ‘Eden is Burning’: An Alt-Rock’s Cosmic Elegy to Lost Paradise

Posted on 5 April 2025

Arnold J.’s latest single, ‘Eden is Burning’, allows listeners to imagine Tracy Chapman’s iconic singles filtered through Bowie-esque cosmic pop-rock, soaring riffs, and twilight-drenched synths. The Ghanaian-born, Canada-based artist, whose creativity first took root amidst the streets of Ghana, defies every boundary with a genre-fluid sound built from raw emotion and untethered imagination.

‘Eden is Burning’ instantly grips with eccentrically ethereal vocals, weaving swooning melodies haunted by 80s nostalgia without succumbing to convention. The experience echoes the otherworldly charm of Science Fiction/Double Feature from the Rocky Horror Picture Show—except here, the surrealism intensifies. Arnold J. crafts a love song steeped in desolation, a harbingering elegy to the absence of someone capable of transforming the seventh ring of hell into a utopian escape.

Arnold J. has always marched to his own rhythm, from daydreaming melodies in Ghana to electrifying thousands at Assiniboia Downs on Canada Day. With ‘Eden is Burning’, he continues this pursuit, sculpting sonic portraits from poetic introspection, surreal imagery, and existential musings.

For alternative rock listeners drawn to music that traverses emotional depths and existential heights simultaneously, Arnold J. offers an experience as profound as it is soul-stirring.

‘Eden is Burning’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube and Apple Music. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast