Hailing from Jakarta, Indonesia Strange Fruit have been playing synth / motorik / krautrock / electro music for over a decade and have now released a wonderfully trippy new record – Drips.
Beginning with the bouncy, blissful “Pouvoir Moteur,” Dino Kristianto‘s repetitive, robotic beats instantly get your head and feet bouncing and the synth work by Baldi Calvianca and Irza Aryadiaz and Nabil Favian‘s bass line locks in the groove. John Tampubolon‘s guitar chords drift in and out of the track like a groovy ghost.
“Iridescent” is like a haunting goth synth track you once heard in a car ride one night and have been searching for ever since. The lyrics allude to how light and color can cause euphoric bliss under the right circumstances…and so can the entire track.
Calvianca’s vocals on “Monopolar” sound like transmissions from orbit, and the rest of the track is something you’d want while doing a space walk to gather ore samples on an asteroid, or while drifting in a boat on an Indonesian river, or while making out at an afterparty…with an android.
The title track closes the EP and appropriately has Tampubolon’s guitar sounding like its melting like a slow-burning candle As if these four tracks weren’t cool enough, the EP includes the Jonathan Kusuma “Hypnodubmix” of “Iridescent” and four different versions of “Monopolar”: remixes by Tom Furse and Hardway Bros and then two live dub mixes (one with and one without vocals) by Hardway Bros. The Furse mix is especially good and makes the track even more psychedelic.
This is the kind of EP that makes you want to track down everything else a band has to offer.
Austin Psych Fest 2026is just around the corner! Today the festival is releasing the official schedule, along with lineup additions to their sprawling 2026 lineup. Austin Psych Fest takes over The Far Out Lounge May 8–10 with another wide-ranging exploration of psychedelic sound, bringing legendary icons, forward-thinking indie rock, global grooves, and deep-cut psych favorites to the big stage under the stars in South Austin.
The stacked 2026 lineup welcomes new additions to Friday’s roster including budding Austin favorites both garnering buzz for their enigmatic performances – trippy glam rock performance art outfit J’Cuuzi and electro-pop dance duo Almost Heaven. Saturday’s lineup additions include more Austin-based artists gaining traction – psych-rock band Dead Canyon Family Reunion and power-pop rock group Commercial Breaks.
Since its inception in 2008, Austin Psych Fest has embraced an expansive definition of psychedelia — not as a single genre, but as a feeling — tracing its roots from 1960s experimentation through modern interpretations shaped by reverb-soaked guitars, hypnotic rhythms, and adventurous songcraft. The 2026 lineup continues that tradition, spanning classic psych, indie rock, soul, cumbia, global psych, and everything in between.
Austin Psych Fest wouldn’t be possible without the support of its sponsors. The festival is excited to share the first round of this year’s partners, including Liquid Death, White Claw, Montucky Cold Snacks, Twisted X Brewing/McConohaze, KUTX and more to be announced.
Look out for final lineup additions to be announced soon, along with Kick Off and Night Shows across downtown Austin.
3 DAY PASSES and SINGLE DAY TICKETS available HERE. Early Bird Tickets have sold out and limited Tier 1 passes and tickets are still available!
Janis Stage 2:35 – 3:30 PM — Adrian Quesada (DJ Set) 4:25 – 5:00 PM — Como Las Movies 6:00 – 6:40 PM — Dumbo Gets Mad 8:05 – 8:35 PM — Trish Toledo
ADDITIONAL ACTS + NIGHT SHOWS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON.
VISUALS + VIDEO + ART INSTALLATIONS FROM: TV EYE • MAD ALCHEMY DRIP//CUTS SHELUSHY • ATTIC SPACE • SLIM REAPER • BILLGAZER CHURCH OF THE ETERNAL SUN • FEVER DREAM EL TALLER DE PIYAMAS • COSMIC DOMMY
Dion Lunadon has a habit of dropping crazy, wild records on a consistent basis and now he’s about to release Rare Gems Volume One.
The album is comprised of ten rare and unreleased studio tracks recorded between 2016 and 2026 and also features fan favorites, 1976 and When Will I Hold You Again.
The first single is the unreleased track, Dead Or Alive, which is already out for your listening pleasure.
Rare Gems Volume One is now available for pre-order. It will be available on 12” black vinyl and a very limited edition run of 2-tone liquid smoke vinyl, CD and digital download.
These bundle options are available through Dion’s Bandcamp page:
In case you’re not aware, Caron Decoy is an excellent doom / psych-rock band out of Detroit, Michigan whose newest album, Crush the Sun, explores mythological themes while unloading cosmic, colossal riffs. The trio of Jared Jordan (bass), Earl Mudd (guitar), and Casey Rowe (drums and vocals) were kind enough to participate in a short interview with me about their influences, other Detroit bands, and interests outside of music.
7th Level Music: I’m intrigued by your band’s name. Why the play on carbon decay, changing it to decoy?
Carbon Decoy: Honestly, it was just two words that we thought sounded cool when put together. We definitely were thinking of atomic structure and matter using the word carbon (evident with our first single “Atomic #6“), but there wasn’t much else that went into the name.
7LM: Greek mythology themes are prominent on Crush the Sun, with the story of Icarus and the characters of the Sirens being in the forefront on those tracks. Has mythology always been a favorite subject or inspiration, or did all of you gravitate toward it on this record for a particular reason?
CD: Mythology is definitely something that we all have a strong interest in and a subject we likely will continue to draw inspiration from.
7LM: Some riffs on Crush the Sun reminded me of heavy southern rock, and the opening riff on “Forest of Lies” has a great blues sound to it. Are some of those 1970s bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and Mountain or Delta blues artists influences on all of you?
CD: We are all very influenced by the bands from the 70s. Mountain is a huge inspiration for the entire band. Creedence Clearwater Revival is another. The Delta Blues are at the core of many of our songs and a lot of Earl’s guitar work.
7LM: That being said, are there any influences you all have that some of your fans might find surprising?
CD: A lot of folks might be surprised to find out how influenced the entire band is by classic/outlaw country music. Honestly though, you never know what we are listening to when we’re cruisin’ in Casey’s Safari. Willie Nelson, Herb Alpert + The Tijuana Brass, Electric Wizard, Wu-Tang Clan, CCR. It’s like a box of chocolates in there.
7LM: While we’re on the subject of bands and other musicians, are there any other Detroit scene bands you all love and think more people need to hear?
CD: Detroit is thriving and busting at the seams with great music. We could go on and on and undoubtedly will forget someone, but just a few of our favorites include Glass Chimera, Cherry Drop, Sonic Smut, MRKT, Eck!, The Cult of Spaceskull, The Velvet Snakes, Dunamis, Winds of Neptune, Duende! and so many more.
7LM: Do you have any tour plans soon, or festivals you hope to make it to in 2026?
CD: We are taking it pretty easy in 2026. Jared added a new baby to his family this year. We have a short Midwest tour planned for the fall, and will likely add a few one-off dates through the summer.
7LM: I always like to wrap up with this story and question: I once heard an interview with Ray Charles, and in it he said he sometimes got a bit depressed because most people only wanted to talk to him about music. So, outside of music, are there other things you’re all fascinated with, or interested in, or just enjoy?
CD: Earl is an incredibly talented photographer and has a passion for film. Jared has a small farm and loves working cattle and gardening. Casey is an extremely skilled builder and loves working with his hands.
All thanks to Carbon Decoy and Ksu at Discipline PR!
Beneath the rollicking exterior of Yayo Trujillo’s Las Cruxes lies a tender heart. His Omaha-based solo project-turned-collective will release its third full-length, Las Cruxes, out April 24 via Conor Oberst’s Million Stars label. Today, Trujillo shares the single “Frio,” which explores the necessity of sadness atop distorted fretwork and a chugging beat. Spanish-language lyrics probe the desire to scream until nothing comes out while hoping you said the right things. It is cathartic and human.
On the track, Las Cruxes’ Yayo Trujillo shares:“‘Lo sé, lo sé, que nunca seré feliz, te prometo, siento que me muero,’ is how I feel every single day. The dreadful feeling of putting on a smile for the person you love. The mirror doesn’t talk back. We need sadness in our lives.”
As a native of Los Angeles, music guides Yayo Trujillo. “It all started hanging out with my older brother, who used to play traditional boleros to serenade his girlfriend,” he recalls. “I was lucky enough to tag along.” With a notable following in Mexico and Latin America, his Las Cruxes project has evolved in moves between Mexico City, San Francisco, and Omaha. He also spent years in Pastilla, a Latin rock institution on Aztlan Records and BMG.
As a Nebraska-based artist, it seems inevitable that Trujillo would encounter hometown hero Conor Oberst. After gigging at his bar, Pageturners Lounge, he signed a deal with Million Stars — the label now issuing Las Cruxes’ self-titled third full-length. The album embraces straightforwardness, favoring live performances captured on classic consoles with vintage microphones. The sessions were led by Bright Eyes affiliates Taylor Hollingsworth (Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band) and Adam Roberts at ARC Studios. It bears traces of new wave, shoegaze, and lofi experimentation.
Across 12 cuts, Spanish vocals crest over fuzzy melodies and pounding grooves. “The writing process was the same as everything else — very ‘let’s do this,’” Trujillo reflects. “No thought to it — just very natural, free flowing.” Opener “El último” unfolds with a driving bassline that escalates in a raucous chorus. “No creo que pueda olvidarte / No creo / No creo,” Trujillo repeats atop rickety fretwork. On “Déjà vu,” searing riffs interrupt brooding verses. Closer “By Frank” is the only English language piece, propelled by shakers and woozy organs. “I know it’s a lie they’ll never really tell you / I know it’s lust / I’ll never really tell you,” he proclaims in the refrain. Las Cruxes weaves macabre insistence with themes of mental collapse and romance.
Las Cruxes doubles as a solo practice and fluid collective, both on record and live. “I write everything, but I do it thinking about who is in the band at that moment — who’s wearing the Las Cruxes suit that week,” Trujillo muses. This time around, he tracked the majority of the instruments himself, though a handful of peers were invited to contribute. In addition to a cast of Omaha locals, Californian Ellie English (L.A. Witch) appears on drums. Jeffrey Davies (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) and Jorge Vilchis (La Gusana Ciega) were tapped for guitar. The record channels simplicity at its finest.
I’m intrigued with Carbon Decoy‘s name. It’s a play on “carbon decay,” the process used for carbon dating, and the skull on the cover of their new album, Crush the Sun, indicates a version of decay, but they chose “decoy.” Their name seems to indicate being a stand-in for the decayed, or for the dead perhaps.
I mean, the heavy doom riffs they play certainly help back this theory. “The Trip” opens the album with a gas pedal-stomper that makes you want to hit the open road, pick up a weird, sexy hitchhiker, fight a band of cultists, and discover a doctor’s bag full of loot at the end of the road. Earl Mudd‘s guitars on “Castle East” sometimes sound like they’re straining to hold back undead hordes attacking said castle, and the agonized wails from drummer / vocalist Casey Rowe amplifying the image.
Jared Jordan‘s bass is spread thick across “Icarus,” and Rowe’s drums reflect the surely panicked, euphoric, and then panicked again heartbeat of the doomed man who flew too close to the sun. The swagger and groove of “Forest of Lies” is outstanding. It’s a swampy, sludgy one amidst the doom, and I’m all for it. “Sirens” goes back into mythological lands (and waters, in this case) as Rowe bemoans that he’s being beckoned by physical and metaphorical monsters. Speaking of monsters, the trio hammers away on “The Wraith,” in which they apparently try to banish such a spirit with the power of crushing riffs and pounding beats. The album ends with “Ghost Town,” this time with Jordan on vocals and the sounds of wind blowing through a spaghetti western that takes place near a haunted coal mine that probably houses some sort of horrible creature of the souls of a hundred trapped miners.
For most of its runtime, Crush the Sun feels heavy enough to do just that. Carbon Decoy’s created one of the best doom albums of the year so far.
Recorded during an extensive European tour in which they opened for The Dandy Warhols, Live in Europe 2025 by Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor is an excellent introduction to SOYSV’s live sound if you’ve never heard it. They continue to expand and reshape their psych-rock with every record and remain one of the best psych bands you’re, for some reason, still missing.
Starting with “Sweet Girl Insanity,” the album begins with droning synths and reverbed vocals that go on for over four minutes before unleashing a barrage of fuzzy sound at you – setting the trippy, roaring, and slightly spooky tone that will creep through the whole record. Sean Morrow‘s guitar on “Die Die Die” seems broadcast from another planet. The horror movie grindhouse grit of “Suck Upon the Living” is palpable in this live version.
“See You in the Mourning” is always sad and haunting, and the live version here at first drifts like incense smoke lit in memory of the band’s friend who’s the subject of the song. It bursts open like sunlight through a cloud around the two-minute mark, with Rick Sawoscinksi‘s beats creating a hypnotic groove for the rest of the track.
“Walk of Sobriety” starts the second half of the album, and it’s a wild ride. Eric Oppitz stirs up an anxious energy with his synth tones at the start before he and his bandmates kick in with a tight groove and Morrow sings for the back of the venue. The bright sound of “Crystal Cup” brings to mind 1970s soul jams and psych-era Motown sounds. Oppitz’s bass on “Night Crawler” is slick, again reminding me of soul grooves.
The album ends with one of their classics, “Black Mind,” which is always a heavy, wild, chaotic freak-out. This one is made even wilder with the inclusion / short cover of The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and a bit of “She’s a Pariah” in it.
I’m glad SOYSV put this out there. We’ve needed a live album from them for a while, and I hope this isn’t the last one.
New-York based band A Place To Bury Strangers release “Where Are We Now,” the third single/video from their new rarities album, Rare And Deadly, outApril 3rd via Dedstrange. Following the “full-on sonic attack” (Consequence) of “Acid Rain,” on which “frontman Oliver Ackermann delivers deadpan, near-chanted lyrics about systemic cruelty,” (Consequence) “Where Are We Now” finds A Place To Bury Strangers reflecting on the past: “Where are we now // Is it too late // Should I reach out // Where we are now // caught in our lives //did our dreams fade.” Ackermann says the song is about “looking back at friends you lost touch with. Wondering where they ended up. Remembering when everything felt possible.” The accompanying video was put together by Ackermann with footage from the Library of Congress National Archives. Ackermann says he made the video because “I think we need to look at people more and see the value and wonder of life so we can be compassionate towards others.”
Rare and Deadly cracks open a decade-long vault of raw nerve and sonic chaos from A Place To Bury Strangers. Spanning 2015–2025, this collection of demos, B-sides, abandoned experiments, and forgotten fragments reveals the band at their most unfiltered—caught between breakthrough ideas and beautiful mistakes. Pulled from Ackermann’s personal archive of late-night recordings, blown-out tapes, and half-finished sessions, here the interference is closer, the electricity more dangerous, the edges left jagged on purpose.
What makes Rare and Deadly truly unprecedented is that every format tells a different story. The CD, cassette, vinyl, and digital editions each feature their own unique tracklisting, a fractured release strategy that is almost unheard of. No single version contains the “complete” album. Instead, each format becomes its own window into the archive, revealing alternate paths, missing links, and parallel versions of the band’s inner life. It’s a deliberately unstable document: the album shifts depending on how you choose to hear it, mirroring the chaos of its creation.
Across these recordings, you can hear the evolution of Ackermann’s restless mind. Some pieces feel like prototypes for future chaos, seeds that later bloomed on studio albums. Others are dead ends—ideas too volatile, too strange, or too personal to ever fit the frame of a proper release. But together they form a secret history of the band, a parallel world of possibilities that existed just outside the spotlight. The tracks contain riffs mutated by malfunctioning pedals, songs born from gear pushed past its limits, or delicate melodies overwhelmed by walls of feedback until only their ghosts remain.
Rare and Deadly is less a compilation and more a documentary—an aural snapshot of how sound takes shape before it hardens into something finished. You hear the room, the accidents, the restless experimentation, the immediacy of a moment being captured before it disappears. It’s a reminder that A Place To Bury Strangers has always thrived in this in-between space: the tension between control and collapse, melody and noise, beauty and distortion.
It’s no secret that Motherhood loves surf music – they are Canada’s Evil Beach Boys, after all. But usually by the time they release a song, the original influences have been hidden under layers of subterfuge, with our attraction to play far outweighing our ability to stay put.
“With ‘Kyle Hangs Ten,’ we were trying to write the most surfy song we could without over-complicating a genre that, at it’s core, is just swaggy country music” explains the band. “Adam had a drum beat that we jammed over, eventually falling into a Miserlou-adjacent guitar melody and filling the rest with pastiches.”
When the band were preparing to record their latest LP, Thunder Perfect Mind, the band couldn’t agree on the proper tempo for the song, until Kyle Cunjak (co-producer of the album) suggested both speeding it up AND slowing it down, creating 2 songs with the same bones.
“In the end, the slow version (the spaghetti western “Kyle Hangs at Noon”) made the record and the fast version (“Kyle Hangs Ten”) didn’t,” explains the band, “but we still love the song. Kyle promised us he’d be able to hang 10 by the time this song comes out. If not, he hangs at noon.
March 28 – Boise, ID: Treefort Music Fest // tickets April 18 – Fredericton, NB: The Cap May 14/15 – Paris, FR: Supersonic’s Block Party // tickets May 16 – Strasbourg, FR: Pelpass Festival // tickets May 18 – Skofja Loka, SI: AKC Nama May 19 – Budapest, HU: Szimpla Kert // FREE May 20 – Pilsen, CZ: Mistni Borci May 21 – Hamburg, DE: Deichdiele May 22 – Frankfurt, DE: Dreikönigskeller May 23 – The Hague, NL: Sniester // tickets
Keep your mind open.
[Catch a wave to the subscription box.]
[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]
Yayo Trujillo’s Las Cruxes is muscular. The fluid Omaha project doubles as a solo outlet and collective, united by an electric undercurrent. This quality beams bright on Trujillo’s third full-length, Las Cruxes, out April 24 via Conor Oberst’s Million Starslabel. Today, he shares the second single, “El último.” It is anchored by fuzzy propulsion, culminating in a distorted solo. This is timeless rock and roll, tailored to top-down desert drives. Check out the premiere on New Noise Magazine.
On the track, Las Cruxes’ Yayo Trujillo shares:“El Ultimo-(pasajero). ‘Tu luz Enciende, despierta mi alma’ are the opening lines to this song. It’s when love is way too fast and heavy (for my own good). It’s that feeling of meeting someone and realizing you were wrong about everything, then you wake up and remember it shouldn’t be that easy.”
As a native of Los Angeles, music guides Yayo Trujillo. “It all started hanging out with my older brother, who used to play traditional boleros to serenade his girlfriend,” he recalls. “I was lucky enough to tag along.” With a notable following in Mexico and Latin America, his Las Cruxes project has evolved in moves between Mexico City, San Francisco, and Omaha. He also spent years in Pastilla, a Latin rock institution on Aztlan Records and BMG.
As a Nebraska-based artist, it seems inevitable that Trujillo would encounter hometown hero Conor Oberst. After gigging at his bar, Pageturners Lounge, he signed a deal with Million Stars — the label now issuing Las Cruxes’ self-titled third full-length. The album embraces straightforwardness, favoring live performances captured on classic consoles with vintage microphones. The sessions were led by Bright Eyes affiliates Taylor Hollingsworth (Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band) and Adam Roberts at ARC Studios. It bears traces of new wave, shoegaze, and lofi experimentation.
Across 12 cuts, Spanish vocals crest over fuzzy melodies and pounding grooves. “The writing process was the same as everything else — very ‘let’s do this,’” Trujillo reflects. “No thought to it — just very natural, free flowing.” Opener “El último” unfolds with a driving bassline that escalates in a raucous chorus. “No creo que pueda olvidarte / No creo / No creo,” Trujillo repeats atop rickety fretwork. On “Déjà vu,” searing riffs interrupt brooding verses. Closer “By Frank” is the only English language piece, propelled by shakers and woozy organs. “I know it’s a lie they’ll never really tell you / I know it’s lust / I’ll never really tell you,” he proclaims in the refrain. Las Cruxes weaves macabre insistence with themes of mental collapse and romance.
Las Cruxes doubles as a solo practice and fluid collective, both on record and live. “I write everything, but I do it thinking about who is in the band at that moment — who’s wearing the Las Cruxes suit that week,” Trujillo muses. This time around, he tracked the majority of the instruments himself, though a handful of peers were invited to contribute. In addition to a cast of Omaha locals, Californian Ellie English (L.A. Witch) appears on drums. Jeffrey Davies (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) and Jorge Vilchis (La Gusana Ciega) were tapped for guitar. The record channels simplicity at its finest.
