New Tracks

Jordan Alexander – “Take Me Out Tonight”

Jordan Alexander’s “Take Me Out Tonight” is an impressive pop track that expands from nocturnal verses into a chirpy, emotive chorus full of twinkle-eyed yearning. The Toronto-based pop artist has been rising in

Imperial Manor – “Birthday”

“Birthday” is a hazy ride through murky psych-rock, where Ari Shellist’s dazed vocals work seamlessly around steady percussion, a lush bass line, and psychedelic guitar workings. The whole effort has a ceaselessly hypnotic

Luxury Mane – “Hard to be Easy”

Based out of St. Petersburg, Florida, trio Luxury Mane released an impressive album this past October, Lux Runnin Out. “Hard to be Easy” provides a good showing of what to anticipate, being

Venn – “Surreal”

DC-based rockers Venn introduced themselves last year with a captivating cover of Slowdive’s “Alison” (below), serving as a tasteful preview of their stylistic leanings, that being shoegaze-y and textural rock. New track

Obscure Sound: Best Tracks of 2016

I’ve compiled our top 70 tracks of 2016, including both unsigned/independent acts and the more well-known from the year. It’s a great combination of highlights from the year’s greatest albums and single

New Dakotas – “Turn My Head Around”

New Dakotas by New Dakotas Based in the Boston Area, New Dakotas is a catchy power-pop act with members attending Tufts and Harvard. Their first release – a four-track self-titled EP –

Echo Texture – “Rayon”

Seattle-based group Echo Texture have a very apt name — as their sound adds textural depths to a vein of alternative-rock that values trickling post-punk verses and emotive blasts of emotion in

Christina Rubino – “Down to the Sea”

This past December, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Christina Rubino’s “Godspeed and Guns” showed an artist capable of eclectic stylistic appeal and contemplative, philosophical themes. The track explored the concept of Jung’s “shadow self”, over

New Albums

Mon Rayon – ‘Image Repertoire’

Mon Rayon’s lovely debut album Image Repertoire brings together an affection for classic pop songwriting and carefully arranged orchestration across the Swedish

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Wade Easy – ‘Honey Venom’

Wade Easy’s absorbing new album Honey Venom is a psych-rock success steeped in hypnotic guitars, meditative rhythms, and understated phrasing, drawing its

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John Ross McEwen – ‘Late Bloomer’

Wichita, Kansas-based singer-songwriter and guitarist John Ross McEwen presents Late Bloomer as a deeply personal full-length shaped by intimate acoustic songwriting and

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WELTSCHMERZ – ‘Refugium’ EP

Berlin-based WELTSCHMERZ pairs warm, melancholic hip-hop with organic instrumentation on Refugium, a four-track instrumental EP. The project’s reflective approach is informed by

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