Next month, Chicago’s Ganser will release their third LP Animal Hospital (due out August 29th on felte). Produced by Liars’ Angus Angrew, the album has been previewed with two singles, “Black Sand” and “Discount Diamonds,” which have earned an enthusiastic critical response, earning praise from outlets like Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, FADER, Stereogum, Alternative Press, and BrooklynVegan.
Today, the band are sharing a third single from the LP, a track entitled “stripe,” along with a video created by band member Alicia Gaines.
Recorded at Jamdek Studios by Doug Malone (with additional recording by Nick Broste at Electrical Audio) and producer Andrew (Liars) between January and March of 2025, Animal Hospital is a masterwork of Ganser’s long-honed craft. Songs from the album began life as notes scratched as far back as 2020, though “stripe” dates back even further, having first been demoed in 2001), as Gaines explains.
This one dates back to October 2001, one of my earliest experiences recording with a computer after years of suffering through noisy cassette recorders and 4-track machines. It’s a testament to the durability of digital recording that much of the instrumentation that made it onto the album is from the original demo session. The lyrics and melody, added this year, describe everyone living in their own narrative– where what can be perceived as wrong or right can vary from individual to individual, and how in reality the truth is sometimes more of an evolving idea than a fixed concept, for better or worse. A compass points true until you follow it far enough to get lost.
No Joy is the project of Jasamine White-Gluz. First coming to wide attention as a three piece band around the release of their 2011 debut LP Ghost Blonde, the project has morphed into Jasamine’s solo project, and she has consistently evolved in unexpected ways over 4 LPs and a handful of EPs. Her most recent LP, 2020’s Motherhood, which featured Tara McLeod of the prominent early ‘oughts nu metal band Kittie, was perhaps the most critically-acclaimed of No Joy’s career, receiving an 8.0 from Pitchfork who described it as “a shoegaze album with a rare scope and an even rarer sense of fun and imagination.“
Today, No Joy is back with another re-invention and another unexpected collaborator, as she announces her follow up to her 2020 LP. Produced with the much buzzed about Chicago experimental artist Fire-Toolz, No Joy’s latest album is entitled Bugland and will be released on Hand Drawn Dracula and Sonic Cathedral on August 8th. To mark the announce No Joy is sharing the album’s titled track “Bugland.”
In some ways, Bugland feels more like a collaborative album than a producer/artist relationship, with both Jasamine and Fire-Toolz pushing each other to find new horizons within the other’s sonic world. It takes the adventurous genre mashing of No Joy’s previous album as a starting point, but pushes so far beyond any genre’s accepted confines, and in such imaginative ways, that it feels like it creates something entirely new.
“The collaboration really felt limitless,” says Fire-Toolz (aka Angel Marcloid). “I didn’t have to adhere to a certain vision in a way that made me feel like I couldn’t be Fire-Toolz. I could easily relate to this album because Jasamine and I liked a lot of the same music, and I was able to be creative in ways that were freeing as if I was making my own album.“
The album’s title track was also the genesis of their collaboration, and neatly encapsulates the way their styles have melded. Some of the heavy elements of Motherhood remain, but are tempered by a tapestry of glitchy electronics that make up the track’s constantly shifting arrangement.
White-Gluz says of the track:
This was the first song Fire-Toolz & No Joy produced together, initially without any plan to ever release it. Our production styles melded so well together on this track that we decided we should make a whole album. The song came together super organically, from the Korn-esque bass lines to the earworm vocal, it’s the welcome sign of the album letting you know you’ve officially entered our world.
Making Time ∞ — also known as Making Time Forever — proudly returns to Philadelphia’s Fort Mifflin this fall, Friday, September 19 – Sunday, September 21. Today, the most ambitious DIY event in America announces the lineup for its fifth and most transcendental year yet. Founded 25 years ago by legendary Philadelphia promoter Dave Pianka, this year sees the beloved event series Making Time celebrating its silver anniversary (MTMXXV) and five years of Making Time ∞ at Revolutionary War-era Fort Mifflin.
This year’s lineup is jaw-dropping in its quality and enormity, launching with over 120 acts. Headliners include Four Tet, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, Boy Harsher, Panda Bear, and Moodymann. Accompanying them are some of the best DJs in the world, including Avalon Emerson, Ben UFO, DJ Nobu, Donato Dozzy, Interplanetary Criminal, Optimo (Espacio), Gerd Janson, D. Dan, Paurro,Lena Willikens, Powder, Badsista, and VTSS, to name just a few.
Live acts encompass a greater margin of this year’s lineup. Full Body2, Maria Sommerville and Milan W. display diverse approaches to dream pop, post-punk, shoegaze, while Moin and YHWH Nailgun bring a more aggressive palette to the fore. Electronic live acts include Aya, James K., Crash Course in Science, Fcukers, Ghost Dubs, and Holy Tongue. On the experimental side are Moor Mother, Voice Actor, and Disiniblud (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith). Making Time ∞ also boasts a superior ambient offering including live performances from Suzanne Ciani, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Windy & Carl, and Suzanne Kraft.
Some festival favorites are playing bespoke sets: John Talabot will play two sets—a DJ set and a disco set, while Jubilee will throw down a freestyle extravaganza. In addition to the Optimo (Espacio) set, JD Twitch will host a “beatless rave” while Kuniyuki plays both dance and ambient live sets. Loidis and DJ Python team-up for a rare back-to-back DJ session, following the former’s ambient live show under his beloved Huerco S. alias.
The unique geography of Revolutionary War-era Fort Mifflin has allowed each zone, or stage, to develop its own personality. There’s the RA Majestic Zone, a wide-open space perfect for dancing or hanging with friends by the river. The Transcendental Zone, situated on a straightaway in front of former soldiers’ barracks, begins with live acts in the afternoon and ends with peak-time DJ sets. The Lot Radio livestreams from a stage that takes on infectious “free party” energy. The casemates, which have been used over centuries as munitions storage and a jail, are now an indoor club and chill-out room. This year, a new zone called Option + 5 launches in a canopy of trees next to the Delaware River, promising a transcendental forest rave. Returning once again are longtime Making Time collaborators Klip Collective who will project visuals on various structures all weekend.
The motto for MTMXXV is “choose transcendence.” For over 25 years, Making Time has been about partying your ass off and transcending the mundanity of the everyday, the average, the mediocre. If that means laughing with Laraaji during a meditation session, zoning out to plaintive folk songs of Joanne Robertson, or head banging to Blawan, it’s all here at Fort Mifflin this fall. Anyone looking for an overview of the best in underground dance, ambient, guitar, and experimental music should have Making Time ∞ on their calendar.
Three-day passes for Making Time ∞ 2025 are available to purchase now for $235 (plus taxes and fees). Tickets with no service fees are available at the following locations: The Lot Radio in Brooklyn, Middle Child & Middle Child Clubhouse in Philadelphia.
In the Summer of 2021, Swordes made her debut playing at the many warehouse raves and parties of Brooklyn, New York’s underground scene. Fearless, pop leaning, and addicted to melody, her live set is hardware synths, drum machines, and an emotive, operatic vocal. There’s no computer in sight.
Swordes is a multimedia artist and producer beginning to forge a singular path through Brooklyn’s underground with brooding, poetic lyricism and hypnotic, hardware-driven electronic music. Hailing from Honolulu and now based in NYC, she emerged from Parsons’ fine art program only to reject academia and carve her own sonic language. Since her 2021, she has captivated crowds with visceral, computer-free live sets that embrace experimental electronic, alt-pop, glitchy club, hyperpop and forward-thinking femme energy.
Her new single “Boyfriend La La La” is a chaotic power play—equal parts baby talk, club weapon and surrealist performance art. Playing a character of a stereotypical manic pixie dream girl/crazy girlfriend, Swordes chants obsessive mantras over infectious basslines and cartoonish 808 beats with a chorus that feels like a cursed nursery rhyme. It’s part pop fantasy, part manic delusion—and totally addictive.
“I love being a crazy girlfriend. There’s nothing wrong with that,” she says in character. “Here’s a quote from my boyfriend: ‘I’m her muse. Who wouldn’t be crazy about me?’”
It’s the first taste of her upcoming debut album out later this year—an eclectic, cinematic body of work blending pop vocals with the club inspired sounds of late 90s dance music — written, produced, and mixed entirely by Swordes. Known for her raw, hardware synth live sets and bold visual world, she’s already caught the attention of Versace (SS25 runway sync), PAPER, and FLAUNT. Viral on TikTok (25k followers + 575k likes), with a growing cult fanbase, Swordes is building something that lives between fashion, noise, pop, and performance.
Today, Constellation Performing Arts announces the inaugural Sound & Gravity, taking place September 10-14, 2025 at beloved Chicago venues Constellation, Hungry Brain, Judson & Moore, Beat Kitchen, Guild Row, and Rockwell on the River. Sound & Gravity is a new and ambitious event that promises to be a unique adventure for music enthusiasts. Featuring 48 acts, this immersive experience showcases a diverse range of musical genres, including jazz, experimental, contemporary classical, and indie music, reflecting the eclectic programming ethos of Constellation Performing Arts, its organizing entity.
Performers include Bill Callahan,Mdou Moctar, Body/Head, Helado Negro, Mary Lattimore, Irreversible Entanglements, Jeff Parker Expansion Trio, ganavya, Tarbaby, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, Julianna Barwick, Mary Halvorson, Steve Gunn, Olivia Block&Lea Bertucci, William Tyler, Elias Rønnenfelt, Glenn Kotche, and more, plus additional surprise sets curated by ElectricalAudio.
The 2025 inaugural edition takes place in the vibrant Bricktown/Avondale area of Chicago, known for its burgeoning creative industries. Capitalizing on the neighborhood’s walkability with all venues a 5-15 minute walk from each other, Sound & Gravity offers attendees the opportunity to experience the local culture during five days of cutting-edge performances.
Sound & Gravity also serves as a fundraiser for Constellation Performing Arts, a not-for-profit organization that has become a cornerstone of Chicago’s forward-thinking music scene. Founded in 2013 by musician and presenter Mike Reed, who also launched and produced the PitchforkMusicFestival until its final iteration in 2024, the venue has filled a crucial void in Chicago’s cultural landscape by providing a reliable, high-end platform for avant-garde and experimental music. Of the festival, Reed says: “Sound & Gravity extends Constellation’s mission, offering a concentrated dose of the venue’s innovative spirit across multiple locations in one of the city’s most creative neighborhoods.”
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, May 7 at 11am CT, and can be purchased here. Ticket options include an all-eventfour-day pass at $240, a single-day pass at $95, and a Wednesday opening night pass at $45.
Sound & Gravity 2025 Lineup: Bill Callahan • Mdou Moctar • Body/Head • Helado Negro • Mary Lattimore • Irreversible Entanglements • Jeff Parker Expansion Trio • Tarbaby • The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis • Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore • Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis • Steve Gunn • William Tyler • Elias Rønnenfelt • Glenn Kotche • Rafiq Bhatia • Saccata Quartet • Third Coast Percussion • Chicago Underground Duo • Darius Jones Trio • Sam Prekop • Eucademix • ganavya • Geologist • Nabihah Iqbal • Hannah Cohen • Jeremiah Chiu • Ken Vandermark Edition Redux • Anna Webber’s Simple Trio • Cooper Moore • Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez • Glyders • Maria Somerville • Olivia Block & Lea Bertucci • Zoh Amba Sun Ensemble • JJJJJerome Ellis • Lia Kohl/Macie Stewart/Whitney Johnson • Luke Stewart’s Chicago Quartet • Magic Tuber Stringband • Nadah El Shazly • James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg • Edsel Axle • Ana Everling • Hanging Hearts • Michael Zerang’s Puzzle House • Mute Duo • sinonó • Andreas Røysum Ensemble w/ Marvin Tate
Shrunken Elvis is a Nashville-based trio born from long European drives, cold winter jam sessions, and a mutual love of genre-defying sound exploration. The group unites three seasoned musicians—Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson, and Rich Ruth—each bringing a distinct musical background to a shared creative space that prizes intuition over ambition.
Cullum, a pedal steel guitarist originally from East London, has recorded with artists like Angel Olsen, Lambchop, Miranda Lambert, and Billy Strings, while also releasing two solo LPs of folk-psych compositions on UK label Full Time Hobby. Thompson, a Nashville native, emerged from the city’s DIY scene playing in his first band Gnarwhal, and later helping to form other bands including Promised Land Sound. He’s toured and recorded with Margo Price, Skyway Man, Erin Rae, and others. Known for his immersive solo project Rich Ruth (Third Man Records), Michael Ruth blends spiritual jazz, ambient, and synth-infused post-rock into meditative and expansive compositions.
Now all based in Nashville, the trio thrives within the city’s supportive and exploratory music community. That environment has allowed them to forge a path that veers from Music City’s more traditional output, offering space to experiment and innovate freely. You can hear the fruits beared from this path on the upcoming self-titled album Shrunken Elvis, announced today for a September 5th release via Western Vinyl. Pre-order the albumhere.
The stunning first single “An Old Outlet”is a track that zeros in on the junction point between genres such as kosmische, jazz fusion, electronic, and ambient — collective loves of the three members. Check it out on YouTube.
Recording their debut album presented a unique challenge: to preserve the energy of their live three-piece dynamic without over-cluttering the arrangements. Their goal wasn’t to make an instrumental album that highlights individual prowess on pedal steel or guitar—but rather to construct a musical terrain where all elements coexist, each voice contributing to something entirely new. Embracing a philosophy of “no goals, just ideas,” the group let the music unfold naturally.
Mixed by Jake Davis (William Tyler) and featuring cover art by UK psych-folk artist Max Kinghorn-Mills (Hollow Hand), the debut Shrunken Elvis record is music made without expectation—but full of purpose. It’s the music they’ve always wanted to make: immersive, intuitive, and deeply alive.
Shrunken Elvis’s music exists in a naive, open-ended state—unconcerned with outcome but guided by deeply honed instincts. Having spent much of their careers as side musicians, this project represents a rare opportunity to create purely for the sake of collaboration and curiosity. Influences range from Alice Coltrane, Michael Rother, and Pat Metheny to KLF, Ashra, and Can—along with visual and cinematic touchstones like ECM album art, Kurosawa, and Bergman. Ideas often emerged in old English pubs on tour and were carried into the studio with quiet urgency.
The group’s origins trace back to a 2022 European tour behind Cullum’s solo record. Long drives crammed into a VW Passat—traversing Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the UK, and Ireland—fostered a kind of creative incubator. With no fixed plans or agenda, the trio began crafting compositions using their compact tour setup of two guitars, pedal steel, and synths.
Their shared listening experiences on those journeys helped shape a collective sonic language, one that transitioned seamlessly into winter recording sessions back in Nashville. Gathered around a small fire heater in a shed studio, they captured that same spirit of spontaneity and collaboration in sound.
There’s an obscured beauty and a slithering cool that oozes throughout First Taste of Heaven– It’s raw and driving, powerful and playful, all with direct songwriting that is as revelatory as it is mysterious and compelling. Nuclear Daisies is made up of Austin players Rob Glynn (ex Temple of Angels), Alex Gehring (Ringo Deathstarr) and Robby Williams. Together the three created a record that is literally and figuratively– an eye-opening, DMT-soaked view at a world in chaos– not to mention a new vision for 90’s alternative and big beat for the next generation.
First Taste of Heaven is about life in all its glory and shroud– a post-apocalyptic journey through celebration, love, heartache, pain, acceptance and finally transcendence– physical, spiritual and even supernatural. And though the creation of the record was based on personal trials and tribulations, it also offered escapism from that same harsh reality in the form of catharsis and healing.
“Infinite Joy”, available today announces itself with the snap and the thump of a breakbeat and a snarling bassline, starkly contrasting from Gehring’s breathy, seductive vocals which drive the track. The juxtaposition adds drama to pensive lyrics that mine the dredges of mental health and the road to recovery. “The lyrics perfectly express the depths of depression and the hopelessness that someone can feel to claw their way out of it,” admits Gehring.
Nuclear Daisies tracked First Taste of Heaven at Hungry Dog Sound & Studio in Austin, Texas with Williams at the helm over the course of a year. Their inspiration was less obvious – “I’d say it wasn’t specific productions but more specific vibes that we wanted to emulate,” specifies Williams. “We had clear visions of how we wanted certain songs to not only sound, but feel too– very sci-fi and dystopian. One song we wanted to feel like attending the vampire rave from ‘Blade’– tense, pulsing, but also a little bit dangerous. We wanted a different track to feel like the underground rave at the end of the world from ‘The Matrix’ – just sort of this lawless party of no rules at the end of days. There were also times when Alex would be in the booth and we’d say ‘sing it like you’re crying’ or ‘try it like a dead choir member.’ There are a lot of wild influences in there that come from disparate places and not just conventional ideas.”
First Taste of Heaven is droney, cacophonous, and antagonistic yet serene and with melodic pop sensibilities that hook into you and don’t let go. It’s the follow up to their 2022S/T debut which featured hit single “Heaven In Your Head”. Nuclear Daisies will soon see its reissue via Portrayal of Guilt Records in addition to the release of First Taste of Heaven on August 1.
Cass McCombs announces his new album, Interior Live Oak, out August15th via Domino, and releases a new single/video, “Peace.” Interior Live Oak is Cass’s most personal album to date, and, more than any previous record, shows Cass’ vast range as a lyricist and musician. It draws from everything Cass has created over two decades of experimentation to cut through with a direct and clarifying light. Throughout, his attitude is hopeful, which may sound odd for someone who often sings about the more extreme aspects of modern life. Interior Live Oak, however, is the resolve of someone who has lived those extremes.
In creating Interior Live Oak, McCombs was inspired by the return to Domino and the revisitation of his early material in last year’s reissue campaign and the archival release, Seed Cake on Leap Year. This led him to work with some of his earliest collaborators in the Bay Area, including JasonQuever (Papercuts) and ChrisCohen, among others. Additional recording in New York City brought contributions from other perennial collaborators, including MattSweeney and MikeBones, whose guitar work has always been a favorable complement to Cass’ own distinctive style. Interior Live Oak simultaneously expands upon his vision and is a return to a more economical form.
Following Interior Live Oak’s “Priestess,” released earlier this year alongside a Tiny Desk Concert, today’s single, “Peace,” is a straightforward rocker with serpentine riffs. “Peace is what we say when we say goodbye,” Cass sings, bidding a melancholy farewell.
In a time of temporal anxieties, Cass’ music seeks an alternate route to break through the noise and discover a moment of presence— of beauty. As NPRMusic puts it, his songs “are slow, languid and beautiful, which feels like the right counterbalance to our fast-paced times.”
Coinciding with the release of InteriorLiveOak, Cass will tour Europe with a mix of headline, festival, and support dates with Father John Misty. He’ll then return to the US for two headline dates in California and a show with MJ Lenderman. All dates are below, and tickets for the UK and California headline shows will be available on Wednesday, June 18th here.
Cass McCombs Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Wed. Aug. 13 – Porto, PT @ Paredes de Coura ^ Sat. Aug. 17 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival ^ Tue. Aug. 19 – Bristol, UK @Lantern Hall ^ Wed. Aug. 20 – London, UK @Bush Hall ^ Thu. Aug. 21 – Manchester, UK @ YES ^ Sat. Aug. 23 – Galway, IE @ Leisureland * % Sun. Aug. 24 – Dublin, IE @ Wider Than Pictures Festival * % Mon. Aug. 25 – Belfast, IE @ Ulster Hall * % Tue. Aug. 26 – Cork, IE @ City Hall * % Thu. Aug. 28 – Glasgow, SCT @ Barrowland * % Fri. Aug. 29 – Glasgow, SCT @ Barrowland * % Wed. Sept. 10 – San Diego, CA @The Casbah ^ Thu. Sept. 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall & ^ Fri. Sept. 12 – Riverside, CA @Farmhouse ^
* with Father John Misty & with MJ Lenderman, Nap Eyes % Solo ^ Full Band Performance
Ireland’s Just Mustard return with a new single/video, “POLLYANNA,” via Partisan, and announce an intimate New York show on Tuesday, September 9th at National Sawdust. Following the release of their “thrillingly untraditional” (NME) 2022 breakout,Heart Under, “POLLYANNA” is a luminous and lurching first tease of their highly anticipated third album due later this year. Anchored by the group’s signature sonic disorientation but newly embracing directness and melody, “POLLYANNA” sets the tone for a new era of Just Mustard, one that finds beauty in contradiction, pairing the raw power of noise-rock with a conflicted optimism that’s as disarming as it is cathartic. With warped guitars, submerged beats, and front woman Katie Ball’s dreamlike vocals pushed higher in the mix than ever before, it captures the band at a turning point: reaching for euphoria while wrestling with its emotional cost.
Ball, who directed the video herself, comments: “We shot the video using different CCTV and VHS cameras around our hometown Dundalk trying to have as much fun as possible, the kind of fun that makes you feel sick almost instantly, which suits the themes of the song.”
Just Mustard is Katie Ball, David Noonan, Mete Kalyon, Rob Clarke, and Shane Maguire. Heart Under earned Just Mustard widespread acclaim, with the band racking up rave reviews from NME, The Telegraph, Pitchfork, DIY, The Independent, and plenty more. Their music has been championed by BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, KEXP, as well as The Cure, Depeche Mode and Fontaines D.C., all of whom they’ve supported on tour.
Following a string of festival dates, including Seisiún Festival in Boston, the band will return to New York City and then head to the UK/EU for select underplays in London, Paris and Berlin. A full list of dates is below.
Just Mustard Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Sat. Aug. 16 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival Sat. Aug. 30 – Stradbally, IE @ Electric Picnic Sat. Sept. 6 – Sun. Sept. 7 – Boston, MA @ Seisiún Festival Tue. Sept. 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust Fri. Sept. 19 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival Mon. Sept. 22 – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub Wed. Sept. 24 – Paris, FR @ Point Empemere Thu. Sept. 25 – London, UK @ Hoxton Hall
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Pearly Drops found their footing in an eclectic corner of the Finnish underground, going on to become rising stars in the global indie-electronic circuit. The forward-thinking duo of Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin has worked with artists including Nourished By Time and Vitesse X, in addition to receiving a Teosto Prize. Today, Pearly Drops announce their upcoming full-length The Voices Are Coming Back, which is out August 29, 2025 on Music Website. The album was conceived in Los Angeles through 2023-2024, draws inspiration from time spent during their travels in the “land of opportunity” and serves as a work of autofiction, a surreal, emotionally charged descent through an imagined Los Angeles, filtered through dream logic and internal chaos. Pearly Drops has also shared the single “Ratgirl,” which fully conveys the album’s shape-shifting surrealism. Lyrics about crawling through the walls as a rat tap into Lynchian mysticism, while grappling with themes of the Hollywood fantasy and surreal disillusionment. Supported by a propulsive, electro clash instrumental, “Ratgirl” embodies the sun-soaked weirdness at the heard of The Voices Are Coming Back.
On the track, Pearly Drops share:“‘Ratgirl,’ like the previous single ‘Mermaid,’ drifts further down Talmadge Street, now submerged in a feverish and uncanny night. With a full-on fantasy imagery and certain abruptness — ‘Ratgirl’ is like the weirdest scene in a David Lynch movie. Within this hallucination, becoming a rat crawling through the walls of a luxury Airbnb in Silver Lake feels less like a metaphor and more like a calling.
“In the realm of the real world, ‘Ratgirl’ may be our first work that leans more towards Dance music, fragmentarily attempting to recall the New Rave and Electroclash of the early millennium. As always, Pearly Drops’ Indie Disco most likely feels more tailor-made for the record bag of an imaginary DJ. Think of a foggy, empty and dirty club with a strobe light tearing through the dark—kind of eerie, kind of intense. That’s the feeling we wanted to bring into the music video.“
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