Rock – Page 3 – 7th Level Music

atmos bloom beckon us “Closer” with their new single.

Music is what initially brought atmos bloom — Tilda Gratton and Curtis Paterson — together when Tilda auditioned to play bass in Curtis’ band at the University in Manchester.

Seven years on from those rainy nights rehearsing in Trafford, the duo, now life partners living in London, are set to release their most compelling record yet. Everythingness was born out of a series of balancing acts, the journey through youth and young adulthood, chasing adventure while longing for home and falling in love with the city where they found this home, yet still needing to escape it in order to think and create. The record maps the duo’s journey through these themes whilst staying true to what initially brought the two together. It’s set for a July 24th release via Spirit Goth.

Following last month’s release of “Everything,”today they share the new single for “Closer.” It plays into the hazy, half-lucid magic of the band’s formula.

On “Closer,” the band share: “‘Closer’ explores self-love and finding peace with yourself and your inner child, whilst also missing past versions of you that no longer remain.”

Check out the new video via YouTubeandpre-order the album.

atmos bloom’s first musical venture together: a psych-rock-shoegaze outfit inspired by bands such as Sonic Youth, Pavement and julie ignited a love for being in a band and making music. Their debut album Flora was born as the pandemic began to ease and restrictions in the UK were starting to be lifted. The record reflected this new beginning, a shining, shimmering record of hope that felt like an endless summer, with just a glance over the shoulder at the troubles left behind. As a result, Flora was inspired by jangly bedroom and dream pop, such as Alvvays, Beach Fossils and Cleaners From Venus.

On this second album Everythingness, a much different time is represented, a time with more uncertainty, painting a clear picture of the state of flux the duo found themselves in. The flow of the record reflects the endless cycle of feeling up and down and the sudden changes we all experience. From hope, self-realisation and sufficiency to fear, loneliness and unbearable pressures. The most positive and joyous parts of the album are met with the darkest and most lost. Even within individual songs we find ourselves plunged into a landscape that’s unrecognizable from the one where we started, only to be dropped back in and end at the beginning. Neither the ups nor the downs linger for too long and the overall message of the record is left up to the listener.

Do we enjoy the light whilst we’re in it, cut loose in the dark and embrace the unpredictability? Or do we live in fear of the uncertainty that’s around the corner, unable to embrace either the light or dark for fear of a sudden shift. The record ends with a clock-like rhythm, representing the perpetual cycle we find ourselves in, unstoppable and uncontrollable, all encompassing – Everythingness.

Without the restraints of trying to make a particular record, the pair unleash a wide range of influences, all explored through an honest and personal lens on this self recorded and produced work. In particular, bands such as DIIV, Ulrika Spacek, Deerhunter, Broadcast inspired Everythingness, without betraying the duo’s foundation in both psych-rock-shoegaze and jangly bedroom/dream pop.

The album’s artwork and themes reflect the environments in which the album was crafted – a patchwork, a collage, intersecting aspects of life and the world, and the journey to find our place within it.

Keep your mind open.

[Get closer to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

The Black Wizards get “Loose” with their newest single.

Today, The Black Wizards announce their new album ‘Force Majeure & The Acts of God’, set for release on September 4th via Hassle Records. Alongside the announcement, the band share new single “Loose”.

‘Force Majeure & The Acts of God’ is named after the legal phrase used to describe uncontrollable circumstances, reflecting both the chaotic conditions surrounding the record’s creation and a sense of dark humour and defiance that runs through the album’s ten tracks.

The Porto-based trio of Joana Brito (guitar/vocals), José Gomes (bass/vocals) and Helena Peixoto (drums) present their fourth album and their first since 2019’s ‘Reflections’, marking a decisive break from their past. The doomy haze and sprawling stoner-rock tag that once followed the band has been stripped back in favour of something sharper and more poised, deftly traversing a wider sonic palette. These songs don’t lumber forward so much as lunge.

It’s a fresh take on their sound, embodied with the garage rock swagger and bluesy stomp of today’s new single “Loose”, which Joana describes as “a groovy wandering on anxiety thoughts and feeling trapped inside your own head.” She adds: “It’s about accepting those thought patterns and learning how to navigate through them. With everything happening right now in this cursed world, we ride the everyday struggles of 9-to-5 jobs, low pay, poor working conditions, and so on. While it can be difficult to keep up with all this, we wanted to make it a sharp song with a straight to the point chorus, but also release the tension on the verses, relying on the wobbly synth (it’s the first time we use a synthesizer in such highlight) and steady beat.”

“Loose” official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfM3liGboaY
Other ‘Force Majeure & The Acts of God’ links: http://blackwizards.ffm.to/force-majeure

There’s something knowingly tongue-in-cheek about a band called The Black Wizards naming their album after bureaucratic disaster terminology. That tension between absurdity and confrontation runs throughout the record itself: funny, sharp, politically charged and constantly pushing forward. Written as political landscapes across the world spiral into disarray, ‘Force Majeure & The Acts of God’ channels frustration and urgency without ever sinking into hopelessness. “The world is going the way that if you finish writing a song about something that deeply touches you, by the next day there is new shit happening,” says José.

While compiling lyrics for the record, front-woman Joana Brito had been reading books on politics, gender and toxic masculinity, including Grayson Perry’s The Descent of Man, and those ideas bleed through songs that take aim at hollow leadership, social tribalism and the performance of power. Recent single “Killing The Buzz”, released earlier this year on 7” single, in particular cuts through the noise with a sharp sense of humour, mocking political spectacle while refusing to surrender to it.

The recording process itself became its own exercise in chaos management. The band had originally planned to record in Sweden with Cooper Crain of CAVE and Bitchin Bajas, but after a sudden health emergency forced them to abandon the sessions and return to Portugal, they improvised. Instead, Crain flew from Chicago to Porto, where the band cut ten songs in just five intense days at Arda Recorders. Long hours, barely any breaks, constant pressure. They initially planned to record to tape, with Crain even flying over with reel-to-reel machines from the US, before technical problems forced a last-minute pivot to digital recording.

Still, the urgency works in the album’s favour. Nothing here feels overly polished or ironed flat. The rough edges remain intact, giving the record a volatile energy that mirrors the instability that inspired it. “It’s kinda nice to see imperfections these days when everything evolves into AI-based,” says Brito.

For all its anger, though, ‘Force Majeure & The Acts of God’ is ultimately driven by connection rather than nihilism. Long embedded within northern Portugal’s fiercely independent rock community, The Black Wizards remain committed to collaboration, grassroots creativity and building spaces for outsiders like themselves. “We want to encourage kids to get off their smartphones and pick up a guitar, paint, or just be creative,” says Brito. “We want to make the world a safer place for all the freaks like us.”

In the face of chaos, The Black Wizards choose movement, noise and each other. There’s magic in that.

The Black Wizards live dates:
26 June – Paimpol, FR – Paimpol in Rock Festival
27 June – Tours, FR – La Dérive #1
28 June – Manigod, FR – Namass Pamouss Festival
30 July – Guimarães, PT – L’Agosto Festival
7 August – Madrid, ES – Wurlitzer Ballroom
8 August – Benalua, ES – BenaRock Festival
2 October – Karlsruhe, DE – PsyKA Festival
3 October – Pratteln, CH – Up In Smoke Festival
30 October – Oviedo, ES – Lata de Zinc (w/ Death Valley Girls)
31 October – Bordeaux, FR – Deus Ex Machina
23 January – Vienna, AT – Dragged Into Bliss Festival

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Fat Dog pull no punches with their new single – “Go Fuck Urself.”

Fat Dog—the undefinable, raucous South London band—are back with a bang with their subtly named new single, “Go Fuck Urself.” With 80s-tinged, airy synths and dripping in melodica, “Go Fuck Urself” is three minutes of propulsive, jubilant electro-pop. It’s an irascible, exasperated rant wrapped in joyous hooks and Balearic grooves.

As frontman, songwriter and chief rabble rouser Joe Love coolly sings: “Some jokers play the same old game / No one to annoy / Find a mirror and the person to blame,” the song breaks out into a euphoric, technicolor anthem—an ode to escapism when the thing you are trying to escape is yourself.

Co-produced by Love with Oli Bayston (Kelly Lee Owens, Alexis Taylor), “Go Fuck Urself” follows Fat Dog’s standalone singles “Pray To That” and “Peace Song” and their “brilliant, dark, and downright batshit crazy” (DIY) debut album, WOOF., released in 2024.

The video, directed by Nine Screens (Dylan Coates and Travis Barton), sees the band take to a wrestling ring to convey the message they must share with the world. Watch the Video for Fat Dog’s “Go Fuck Urself.”

Stream “Go Fuck Urself”

“Go Fuck Urself” marks the first taste of music from the band—Love, Chris Hughes, Morgan Wallace, Ellis Dickson, Michael Dunlop, Dillon Harrison and Jed Bevington—in 2026 and sets the stage for new music to come. Alongside the single, Fat Dog have confirmed a mammoth UK and European headline tour including a hometown show at London’s Brixton Academy on October 24th. Before that, the band will play their largest ever shows supporting the Foo Fighters at three European arena dates, support Kneecap at their Crystal Palace show in London, and play a number of festivals including End of the Road, Dour, Reeperbahn, Bearded Theory and more. It looks like we’re set for another Year of the Dog.

Fat Dog Tour Dates
Sun. Jun 21 – Landgraaf, NL @ Pinkpop Festival
Mon. Jun 22 – Zagreb, HR @ In Music Festival
Sat. Jun 27 – London, UK @ Crystal Palace Park *
Wed. Jul 1 – Berlin, DE @ Olympiastadion +
Fri. Jul 3 – Vienna, AT @ Ernst-Happel-Stadion +
Sun. Jul 5 – Milan, IT @ Ippodromo Snai La Maura +
Fri. Jul 10 – Trenčín, SK @ Pohoda Festival
Sat. Jul 11 – Neuve-Église, FR @ Décibulles Festival
Sun. Jul 12 – Normandy, FR @ Chauffer Dans La Noirceur
Fri. Jul 17 – Herk-de-Stad, BE @ Rock Herk
Sat. Jul 18 – Dour, BE @ Dour Festival
Thu. Jul 23 – Brindisi, IT @ SEI Festival
Fri. Jul 24 – Siena, IT @ TV Spenta
Sat. Jul 25 – Topcliffe, UK @ Deer Shed Festival
Sat. Aug 8 – Brno, CZ @ Pop Messe
Sat. Aug 29 – Sheffield, UK @ Rock’n’Roll Circus
Sat. Sep 5 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival
Thu. Sep 17 – Sat. Sep 19 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival
Sat. Oct 24 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Thu. Oct 29 – Antwerp, BE @ De Roma
Fri. Oct 30 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli
Sat. Oct 31 – Paris, FR @ Élysée Montmartre
Mon. Nov 1 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux
Tue. Nov 3 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Wed. Nov 4 – Cologne, DE @ Die Kantine
Fri. Nov 6 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Sat. Nov 7 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
Sat. Nov 14 – Manchester, UK @ Victoria Warehouse
Wed. Nov 18 – Dublin, IE @ Whelans
Thu. Nov 19 – Dublin, IE @ Whelans
Tue. Nov 24 – Cardiff, UK @ Depot
Wed. Nov 25 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Thu. Nov 26 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
Fri. Nov 27 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy
Sat. Nov 28 – Glasgow, UK @ Old Fruitmarket
Thu. Dec 3 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City

* = supporting Kneecap
+ supporting Foo Fighters

Keep your mind open.

[If you don’t subscribe, well, you know…]

[Thanks to Matt at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Riviera Gaz release “Monomania” ahead of their sophomore album, “Catacroma.”

Riviera Gaz — the multinational trio of guitarist/vocalist Gustavo Riviera (leader of long-running Brazilian rock outfit Forgotten Boys), multi-faceted bassist/keyboardist Paulo Kishimoto (Pitty, Forgotten Boys) and drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) — have announced the release of their second studio album Catacroma, due August 21 via Shelley’s imprint, Vampire Blues. Weaving together a psychedelic collective consciousness where fuzzy riffs, glam rock energy, fearless studio experimentation, and Can-inspired grooves all melt together to form new mercurial elements, the 11-track collection presents an elevated expression of sound, stretching straight-ahead rock songs into strange and sprawling cosmic experiences. First single, “Monomania (Edit),” an abbreviated mix of the longer album track, is out now and accompanied by a video directed by Tomas Spicolli.

“The song ‘Monomania’ evokes the soundtrack to a road movie, with constantly transforming landscapes, shifting colors and a steady rhythm that takes the listener from earthly horizons to a post-industrial future,” says Riviera. “It’s a celebration of obsession. It presents a world where irrational desires, impossible dreams and personal fixations are encouraged. Within the territory of obsession, of mania, an invitation to surrender to your ‘psychotic dreams’ and trust in the impossible.”

While earlier Riviera Gaz material was largely Riviera’s songs fleshed out by the group, Catacroma is a more completely balanced collaboration, with multiple sessions where everyone contributed from start to finish. Additionally, the band intentionally distanced themselves from the sterile digital aesthetic of modern recording, opting out of using click tracks, pitch correction, or instrument plug-ins, yet embracing the mixing phase of production as a means to organize the wild sound of the record. Extensive editing directly informed by techniques absorbed from famed producer Roy Cicala (John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Forgotten Boys), the subtractive atmospheres of the ‘Elemental Remixes’ of Lennon’s Mind Games, and Brazilian rock pioneer Erasmos Carlos whose most far out material became a central factor of how the songs were composed, resulting in moments like when “Lonely Moon” shifts unexpectedly between earthly heaviness and black hole spaciness, the emphasized tension between stoic acoustic chords and malicious layers of fuzz on “Name the River,” and drawing out of multicolored textures on the slow-blooming instrumental “Crime Scene.”

Lyrically, Catacroma moves through the same waves of the surreal and the unknown as the music. The album title itself is a word made up by the band, assembled from “Cata” (from the Greek katá, something that crosses, that goes downwards or inwards) and “Chroma” (color, tone, tint). This is meant to represent a core of color that expands into sound, but also has a political meaning when color symbolizes territories of dispute — not only sensory elements, but also tools of resistance, affirmation, and confrontation. The word carries the gesture of traversing the chromatic spectrum, dismantling invisible hierarchies that order what can or cannot be seen and heard. This is the starting point for lyrical pictures that summon up haunted hotel rooms, hyper-realistic poetry, a crime in the Hudson Valley where a son believed his mother was Medusa and would turn him to stone, and other shards of abstract thought.

Taken in its totality, Riviera Gaz‘s sophomore effort Catacroma is an aesthetic world of its own design. Its eleven tracks are a hall of fun house mirrors where killer songs break apart and come back together organically, never taking expected turns and always ending up somewhere even more interesting than where they began.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Kevin at Calabro Music Media.]

MAQUINA. team up with Dame Area for hot new single – “dança.”

Following electric shows at The Great Escape & across the UK, Lisbon’s party-starters MAQUINA. have shared “dança (ft. Dame Area)” – a second cut from their forthcoming new album ‘BODY TRANSMISSION’, due out July 10th via Fuzz Club.

MAQUINA. embody all the sweaty togetherness and euphoria a collective music experience has to offer. The buzzy Lisbon trio have been getting punks to dance and club kids to pogo – “making the bubbles connect a little bit” – with such fervour they routinely pack out venues and inspire multiple waves of crowdsurfing at any given live show.

On their new LP they bottle that energy, and they don’t waste any time getting started. Today they share the album’s party-popping opener “dança”, a track pumped and primed to turn heads and get the blood flowing, featuring bratty punk vocals from Silvia Konstance and synths from Viktor L. Crux of Barcelona-based duo Dame Area. Inspired by the pair’s work, MAQUINA. invited them to collaborate on the track, with Konstance swapping her native Italian for Portuguese. The track sets up the heartbeat of the record, all relentlessly propulsive 4/4, feral shrieking, and a smoking guitar line that cuts through the three-note bass riff with searing focus.

Speaking on the track, MAQUINA. comment: “‘dança’ explores a moment of introspection: the importance of being with oneself, of making space for an intimate moment, even if through dance. When words fail, the body speaks. “I just want to dance” becomes a statement suspended between inward reflection and the need for release.”

Listen to “dança (ft. Dame Area)”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJubkifWbzY
‘BODY TRANSMISSION’ album links:http://maquina.lnk.to/bodytransmission

With over 250 gigs and numerous festival appearances across Europe already under their belt MAQUINA. are on a high after their first tour of Brazil and KEXP performance. The three-piece ring in a new chapter with their second LP ‘BODY TRANSMISSION’: a head-banging trip through high-energy noise-rock, motorik metal, and industrial punk that doesn’t stop moving.

Bottling the raw power of their now-legendary live shows, ‘BODY TRANSMISSION’ – co-produced by the band alongside Hugo Valverde – arrives following MAQUINA.’s 2024 debut ‘PRATA’, also released on Fuzz Club and largely driven by improvisation, locking itself into the flow state of a live performance. For their new full-length, the band – Halison Peres (drums/vocals), José “Mendy” Rego (bass), and João Cavalheiro (guitar/effects) – opted for less jamming and more “editing”, taking time to mull over the direction of each track while also looking to condense 10-minute meanders into three or four-minute “bangers” that slap.

The result is a full-body rush geared towards the dance-floor with “no breaks”; a club-ready rock record steered by the trio’s guitar, drums, and bass combo. “It was the most challenging and fun we’ve ever had in the studio because we pushed ourselves to write songs rather than just capturing jams,” say the band. “We wanted it to feel heavy, focused, and relentless. We kept the tempo up and the energy peaking – it’s an ‘always-on’ record.”

MAQUINA. live dates:
20 June – Lucerne, Switzerland – B-Sides Festival
21 June – Martigny, Switzerland – Caves du Manoir
23 June – Bilbao, Spain – Kutxa Beltza
24 June – Madrid, Spain – Café Berlin
25 June – Santander, Spain – The New
26 June – Bergerac, France – La Claque Festival
27 June – Paimpol, France – Paimpol in Rock
28 June – Bourlon, France – Rock in Bourlon
4 July – Sintra, Portugal – Festival Aqui ao Lado
18 July – Lisbon, Portugal – Musa de Marvila (DJ Set)
31 July – Constância, Portugal – Rock ao Luar
6 August – Aveiro, Portugal – Novas Quintas, Teatro Aveirense
7 August – Nuremberg, Germany – Brückenfestival
9 August – Liège, Belgium – Micro Festival
16 August – Santiago de Compostela, Spain – Capitol*
10 September – Šibenik, Croatia – SHIP Festival
12 September – Orléans, France – Hop Pop Hop Festival
* supporting Amyl and the Sniffers

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: Wooden Overcoat – Hello Sunbeam

According to Wooden Overcoat‘s frontman, Brant Hajek, “Recording this EP almost ruined my life, and I hope it sounds like it.”

Hajek wrote, played, recorded, mixed, and edited Hello Sunbeam by himself, wanting “…to make something that sounds old but fresh…something that sounds warm and dense, but somehow also airy.” Mission accomplished, sir, as the EP is psychedelic, dreamy, and fuzzy.

Opening with “Home,” you immediately get the sense of sunbeams waking you in the morning and moonbeams illuminating your late night party that same day. It’s delightfully hooky. “Finally Arrived,” a song about the frailty of human connection, is lush and almost misty. It’s like catching a jasmine smell on the wind and you don’t know its origin, but you want to find it so you can hang out there for hours.

“Heaven Right Now” continues to explore how frail we are and uses reverb-soaked guitars and vocals to show how many of us are always on the edge of the ledge and ready to fall and shatter…yet it’s still hopeful and captivating. It’s no secret that Hajek wrote the album during a dark period of his life. His mother was diagnosed with cancer, he was going through a breakup, and the world was both literally and figuratively on fire (even his band’s name is a nickname for a coffin).

The vocal harmonies on the closing track, “I Knew You Would,” blend well with the psych-surf guitar and soft beats. I’m willing to bet it’s about Hajek’s relationship turning sour and an outcome he saw coming and knew he couldn’t avoid. The guitar solo on it is a standout.

The title of the EP comes from a mantra that Hajek would say when he felt things crushing in on him. It was to remind him that the sun was still there and, as Gandhi once put it, “In the midst of darkness, light persists.” Hello Sunbeam acknowledges the dark, but also embraces the light.

Keep your mind open.

[Say hello to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR.]

You can’t take your ears off Tokyo Tea Room’s new single “Eyes Off You.”

Margate, UK’s Tokyo Tea Room create music inspired by human emotions, exploring themes of longing and the ephemeral nature of existence. Today, they release “Eyes Off You,” an atmospheric track about obsessive love. Written and produced by the band’s Daniel James Elliott, “Eyes Off You” captures the passion of desire through mesmerizing synth, guitar and dreamy vocals by Beth Dunn. True to their introspective universe, yet with a slightly more pop aesthetic, they transform vulnerability into something melodious and danceable.

On “Eyes Off You,” Tokyo Tea Room dive into the murky waters of obsessive love. Weaving a narrative around a love you can’t let go of, even when it hurts, they capture the fatalism of an impossible but all-consuming obsession, singing: “Can’t quit loving you like I was born to lose // Everything I do just leads me back to you.”

Watch the Video for Tokyo Tea Room’s “Eyes Off You”

Tokyo Tea Room is a timeless project whose message transcends the music itself. The band arouses passions and emotions, taking listeners on a journey within a tender, comforting bubble. Their debut album, No Rush, established them as one of the most compelling emerging acts in alternative music, resonating with a growing global audience. With millions of monthly listeners and a sold-out debut North American tour, the band are rapidly building momentum, particularly in the US, where their audience continues to expand. With new music on the horizon, Tokyo Tea Room are entering a defining new chapter, evolving their sound while staying rooted in the emotional depth that defines their work.

Tokyo Tea Room will return to North America this fall touring in support of forthcoming new music. A full list of dates are below and tickets are on sale now.

Tokyo Tea Room Tour Dates:
Thu. Sep 24 – Vancouver – Hollywood Theatre
Sat. Sep 26 – Seattle WA – Neumos
Mon. Sep 28 – San Francisco CA – Bimbo’s 365 Club
Wed. Sep 30 – Los Angeles CA – Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Oct 2 – San Diego CA – Quartyard
Sat. Oct 3 – Tucson AZ – Club Congress
Mon. Oct 5 – Austin TX – 29th St. Ballroom
Tue. Oct 6 – Houston TX – White Oak Music Hall
Wed. Oct 7 – Dallas TX – Club Dada (indoors)
Fri. Oct 9 – Atlanta GA – Terminal West
Sat. Oct 10 – Durham NC – Motorco Music Hall
Sun. Oct 11 – Washington DC – The Atlantis
Tue. Oct 13 – Brooklyn NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Wed. Oct 14 – New York NY – Bowery Ballroom
Thu. Oct 15 – Boston MA – The Sinclair
Fri. Oct 16 – Montreal QB – Bar le Ritz
Sat. Oct 17 – Toronto ON – Mod Club
Mon. Oct 19 – Chicago IL – Lincoln Hall

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t take your eyes off the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

WSND DJ set list: Deep Dive of Culture Club

Thanks to all who tuned in to help celebrate the birthday of Boy George with the Deep Dive of Culture Club on WSND. Here’s the set list in case you missed it:

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
Johnny Osbourne – Mr. Walker
Wang Chun – Dance Hall Days
London – Everyone’s a Winner
The Damned – Neat Neat Neat
Adam and The Ants – Car Trouble
Bow Wow Wow – Do You Wanna Hold Me
Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant
Culture Club – White Boy
Culture Club – I’m Afraid of Me (demo)
Dennis Brown – Money in My Pocket
Culture Club – Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
The Isley Brothers – It’s Your Thing
Culture Club – Time (Clock of the Heart) (extended mix)
Roxy Music – Angel Eyes
Culture Club – I’ll Tumble 4 Ya (12” remix)
Stevie Wonder – Uptight (Everything’s Alright)
Culture Club – Church of the Poison Mind
Helen Terry – Love Lies Lost
The Hideaways – Hide Out
Gilbert O’Sullivan – Matrimony
Culture Club – It’s a Miracle (live)
Blue Mink – Melting Pot
Sailor – A Glass of Champagne
Culture Club – Let’s Dance (live)
The Beach Boys – Passing Friend
P.P. Arnold – Electric Dreams
Culture Club – The War Song
Culture Club – Don’t Talk About It
Culture Club – Move Away (live)
This Way Up – Tell Me Why
Mikey Craig and The Method – I’m a Believer
Heartbeat UK – Jump to It!
Jesus Loves You – Bow Down Mister
Pet Shop Boys – Domino Dancing
Culture Club – I Just Wanna Be Loved
Culture Club – Your Kisses Are Charity (Blouse and Skirt mix)

Come back for another Deep Dive next week!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

You’ll fall in love with Wishy’s new single, “Lovesick.”

After exploding onto the scene with their acclaimed 2023 EP Paradise, Wishy released their debut LP Triple Seven on Winspear in the summer of 2024. The album was one of the more critically-beloved debuts in recent memory, earning praise from outlets like Pitchfork (“a standout voice in a new generation of shoegaze”), Stereogum (“one of the best indie rock debuts in recent memory“), the NME (“one of the most exciting new rock bands operating anywhere right now“), Paste (“one of the most irresistible, unshakeable albums of the year“) Uproxx (“one of the best new bands in indie rock writ large“), and landing on Best of 2024 lists from publications like The New York Times, GQ and Alt Press.

The band’s run of success has showed no signs of slowing in 2025, which saw the release of a follow up EP called Planet Popstar, a Colbert performance, a run of tour dates with Momma, and appearances at Kilby Block Party and Riot Fest.

Today, Wishy are back to announce their sophomore LP Nature’s Pill (out October 2nd on Winspear). To mark the occasion they are sharing the album’s lead single “Lovesick,” a swooning gem sung by Nina Pitchkites that recalls The Cure at their most pop-forward and The Sundays at their buoyant best.

Pitchkites says of the track:

There’s not much more that needs to be said about yearning in 2026, but here it is anyway. Kevin and I are stupidly romantic people who like twee pop so that combination alone was a recipe for a cheeky “main character” song. We really leaned into the overzealous lyrics here because 1) we’re allowed, 2) can do whatever we want and 3) it’s fun 🙂 yay!

In addition to previously announced August tour dates with The Beths and Beach Bunny, Wishy are announcing a run of headline dates that will take them across the US in the fall. Full details can be found below.

Wishy’s origins go way back, to when Krauter and Pitchkites met in high school in Indianapolis. Some years and a few projects later, they joined forces to form Wishy, rounding out the lineup with guitarist Dimitri Morris, bassist Mitch Collins, and drummer Conner Host. The group’s musical synergy was intense from the jump and the beginning of their career has been a prolific burst: the Mana and Paradise EPs in 2023, debut LP Triple Seven in 2024, and a follow-up EP Planet Popstar in 2025. After those releases met acclaim and the band’s stature rose, the conception of Nature’s Pill was fundamentally different.

Wishy’s Nature’s Pill captures a world where life feels unpredictable and overwhelming, yet full of possibility. On their vibrant sophomore record, Wishy entertains the madness–capturing romantic frustration, neurotic desire and the melodrama that ensues from simply being human in a jubilant remix of the past. Nature’s Pill bears all of Wishy’s trademarks: zany lyrics transfiguring melancholia into freedom, choruses set to become instant classics, and an unholy fusion of sugary grunge, indie rock and dream-pop.

Written more collaboratively than past releases, the group reconvened with Triple Seven co-producer Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, where the quintet packed into a tiny studio and tracked half the songs live in the room, imbuing the album with the immediate energy of a band in sync after heavy touring. It gave them the ability to synthesize an even greater array of touchstones this time around, with the ‘90s dream-pop and alt-rock of Triple Seven fusing with ‘80s college rock and ‘00s indie.

Underneath it all, Wishy locate a tenacity to keep trying anyway. “Being in an indie band feels bizarre when the world is on fire,” Krauter concludes. “What can you do at the end of the day other than carve out some space—at the very least I have my imagination and I can invite others to join me there. At a certain point you need to say fuck it and roll with it.” Sometimes you can’t make sense of it all. Nature’s Pill finds Wishy gleefully giving into the madness. After all: If life is absurd, all the possibilities are up to you.

Tour Dates

07/25 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues *
07/26 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Center *
07/27 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall *
07/31 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge *&
08/01 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre *&
08/02 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues *&
08/04 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn *&
08/06 – San Diego, CA @ SOMA *&
08/07 – Pomona, CA @ The Fox Theater *&
08/08 – Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory *&
08/11 – San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic *&
08/14 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory *&
08/15 – Portland, OR @ Courthouse Square *&
08/16 – Seattle, WA @ Woodland Park Zoo *&
08/17 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club Ballroom *
08/18 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM *
08/20 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *
09/18 – Cincinnati, OH @ Fountain Square $
09/26–09/27 – Sao Paolo, Brazil @ Balaclava Festival
10/03 – Indianapolis, IN @ WISHYFEST @ Atomic Duckpin
10/09 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
10/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
10/11 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
10/13 – Portland, ME @ SPACE
10/14 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
10/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
10/17 – New York, NY @ Racket
10/18 – Washington, DC @ Atlantis
10/20 – Durham, NC @ Stanczyks
10/21 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/22 – Asheville, NC @ Revival
10/23 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room
10/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
10/26 – Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
10/27 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

w/ Beach Bunny
*& w/ Beach Bunny and The Beths
$ w/ Ratboys

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll feel lovesick if you subscribe…or maybe if you don’t. I’m not sure.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 5 – 1

The final five on this list were, believe it or not, fairly easy to determine. This is probably because they were so good and also because they all hit some emotional note for me because I didn’t think I’d see any of them ever again (or, in one case, even once).

#5: Nine Inch Nails – United Center – Chicago – August 20, 2025

This surprise tour sold out in rapid time, but luckily Nine Inch Nails added a second Chicago show due to popular demand. I had tickets for my fiancé and I, and then learned that my future stepdaughter was a NIN fan. I managed to get a third ticket to what turned out to be a stunning show with three stages, excellent remixes, and an enthusiastic crowd who were roaring for every song.

#4: Underworld – Radius – Chicago – May 17, 2025

Here’s the band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. Underworld playing two full sets at this intimate venue was an immediate purchase. It was a brilliant time, and stunning to see these two gents who can fill stadiums play such a small show with full energy to keep us dancing until the late hours.

#3: Midnight Oil – Riviera / Chicago – June 10, 2022

Midnight Oil was one of my late wife’s favorite bands. We’d seen them two during college, then on their reunion tour in the 2010s, and then we were supposed to see this show, but she died barely eight months earlier. I felt the need to go to honor her and see friends. It was the right decision. The show helped lift some of the weight off me. Midnight Oil sounded great, and it was their final tour. They belted out classics and left us all ready to resist tyranny and love each other.

#2: Love and Rockets – Riviera – Chicago – June 06, 2023

Here is the band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. I missed them in their heyday, and the closest I’d come until this show was seeing David J play an acoustic set at Levitaiton Music Festival. Love and Rockets flattened the place, sounding as strong as ever and reminding all of us that they were and still are rock stars. I was on cloud nine for the whole show.

#1: Failure – Bottom Lounge / Chicago – July 01, 2022

Failure are one of my favorite bands of all time. I don’t joke when I tell people that their Fantastic Planet album can be life-changing. This reunion tour caught me off-guard. I stumbled upon the announcement and then word that they had a VIP package that included a meet-and-greet and attendance at their sound check. It was another emotional show for me, as I was still reeling from my wife’s death and hearing “Another Space Song” live brought me to tears. The show was powerful for a lot of us. I saw a lot of people beaming throughout it, and the band were all happy to chat with us, sign anything, and talk with us about everything from music to films, and, in my case, grief. Again, I don’t joke when I say this show was instrumental in my healing. I’ll always thank Failure for it.

There have been plenty of good shows already in 2026, so come back in early 2027 to see which of those make the list for the best of the year.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]