Melbourne’s Paradise Valley feel like a force that’s been gathering shape for years. Made up of four friends – Harry, Lee, Matt and Brandon – who speak about their work with a quiet certainty: “Writing music is our destiny and is what drives us through each day.” Their sound sits somewhere between the dynamics of Kings of Leon and the emotional clarity of Sam Fender, but the band’s identity is shaped by something more unexpected.
London-based singer Matt-Felix is an artist who speaks in images before he speaks in statements. Now back with his latest single ‘All You Need’, he delves deeper into a dark and emotive landscape.
Wifeswap’s new EP marks a shift from the claustrophobic anger of their earlier work into something heavier and more reflective. The band spoke to us about cracked-open songs, Dublin’s disappearing venues and the strange grace of watching bigger artists up close. This is Wifeswap’s turning point, so make sure to tune in.
Emerging US artist Jackson Laird is chasing a simple goal: making people dance again. There is something undeniably infectious about his music. Blending disco-pop anthems with retro pop sensibilities, Laird is building a sound designed to pull listeners out of their heads and onto the dance floor.
Parkgate don’t really remember a time before they were a band. They talk about themselves the way childhood friends do – because that’s exactly what they are. Officially, Parkgate began last year with a debut gig in Bello Bar. Unofficially, and more truthfully, it began when they were sixteen, and even before that, when they were four years old and already orbiting each other’s lives in Donegal. “Our friendship has always been the foundation,” they tell us. “I think that if we didn’t have this band we would all still want to be friends, which is always a nice thing.”
There’s a particular type of band that forms in college and never quite dissolves: Stanleys are that band. Four lads from Wigan who met in college, picked up guitars, and somehow built a sound that’s equal parts indie sparkle and alternative grit. They’ve been called a lot of things from indie pop, alt‑rock, but none of those labels quite capture the ease and sincerity they carry into every room. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously and just enjoy performing and recording music together,” they tell us.
Silk is the sound of one person pushing themselves to the edge of their own emotional landscape. The Belfast‑based shoegaze project, helmed entirely by Michael Smyth, turns solitude into a creative engine: writing, performing, and recording every element of Auralux alone before bringing friends onstage to bring the songs to life. The result is a record that feels deeply internal yet unexpectedly expansive, shaped by memory, loss, cinematic influence, and the strange clarity that comes from doing everything yourself. We sat down with Smyth to talk about the making of Auralux, the moment Silk found its voice, and how the project’s emotional and visual identity came into focus.
Dublin’s Picture Postcard don’t believe in building worlds to inhabit, but rather haunting the ones you already live in. Their debut EP with time folds the rawness of 2000s emo into the gauze of modern shoegaze, creating music that feels like stepping into a dreamlike space. We talked to the band about their new EP and how a swan became the symbol that tied their creative universe together.
If you overheard someone talking about Laney Lebo in a bar, you’d probably hear something like: “She’s the girl who’ll distract you from your heartbreak, buy you a shot, then accidentally start a group therapy session.” The Nashville‑based singer‑songwriter moves between sass and sincerity with disarming ease, crafting songs that flirt, sting, and soothe in equal measure. With her new single “Bitch,” she steps into a character who’s unapologetically herself, while Laney herself remains the grounding force behind the chaos.
Newcastle-based Central Arcade are building something special. We caught up with the band to talk about origins, their creative process, and what it feels like to bring their new EP No Place To Be to life on stage.
Swallow Sorrow have embarked on their “Cur Le Chéile” tour, which got its name as a means to highlight the importance of collaboration and to promote unity between women throughout the Irish music scene. Joined by Other Mother, Dogswim and For Nina, the tour hits Galway, Cork and Dublin. We talked to Swallow Sorrow about touring, the female music scene in Ireland and connecting to the audience. This tour does not only feature incredibly talented musicians, but it's also a reminder that the future of Irish music is being built collaboratively, ferociously, and in real time by women who know exactly what they’re doing.
Los Angeles–based artist and songwriter JULITH releases her debut EP This Is A Kindness today, April 10th, and she was kind enough to sit down and talk to us about the politics that inspire her songwriting, and why rebranding is needed sometimes.
We caught up with The Rhino after their gig in Frankfurt - read here or watch over on our Instagram!
Photo Credits: Maggie London
Charlotte Sands is proof that alt-pop can bleed. She’s the artist who designs her own merch. Who stitches together outfits when inspiration outpaces budget and who thrives in the restless life on the road. She’s a mythmaker of independence, turning every DIY survival tactic into art. Her new album Satellite is her cosmos, a record that insists on feeling everything, even when it hurts.
Born in Norwich’s outsider ecosystem and sharpened in London’s restless sprawl, Chest carry the energy of a group who never learned to colour inside the lines because no one ever handed them the colouring book in the first place. The five‑piece have carved out a sound that refuses to sit still, refuses to behave, and refuses to be anything other than exactly what they want to hear. “We take elements from across genres and come out with something that is very hard to put your finger on,” they tell us. “We make the music we want to hear which is normally high energy, introspective and diverse with pop sensibilities.”
There’s something about the name Glacmanis that lingers. It sounds like a word misheard, a surname that never was. “In the place I used to work I misheard someone’s surname and thought it was ‘Glacmanis’. When I realised it wasn’t Glacmanis and was actually something slightly different I thought it would be a good name for a band.” And so it stuck.
If you have ever wondered what it might sound like to trap Shaun Ryder, David Byrne, Grian Chatten and the devil in a Belfast bar crawl, Madams Last Discovery may have already done it and recorded the soundtrack. “That quote comes from a friend of ours, Taylor Johnson”, the band tells us. “He is a radio presenter for BBC Introducing and is in a brilliant band called Brand New Friend. He wrote it in a press release he did for us a while back, and we thought it was so funny. I think it describes our sound quite well, as we take influence from so many different areas in our music. In the end it comes together as a random combination.”
From the pubs of Ireland to the stages of mainland Europe, Croíthe (KREE-HA) are fast becoming one of those bands you feel before you fully hear them. Loud, layered, and unapologetically heartfelt, their debut EP A Brief Respite plays like a sonic diary – one filled with breakups, Catholic guilt, and a fierce political pulse. It’s a collision of youthful chaos and emotional clarity, stitched together by guitar textures that echo both the confusion and catharsis of growing up.
Manchester-based band Sixth Day sat down with us to discuss the evolution of their sound, the meaning behind their name, and how platforms like TikTok are shaping their connection with fans.
If you overheard someone in a pub talking about Therapy Horse, you might catch a muttered “They were loud, and scary.” Or maybe, “They sound awful, but in a good way.” And yet, that chaos is the point. Therapy Horse doesn’t aim to soothe, they aim to rupture, to release, to make you feel something primal and unfiltered.