Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 57
July 9, 2025
Agriculture announce new LP ‘The Spiritual Sound’, share “Bodhidharma” music video
Agriculture announce new LP The Spiritual Sound
Incoming October 3 on The Flenser [pre-order]
Watch / share music video for first single "Bodhidharma"
See Agriculture on tour in North America Sep/Oct/Dec
Photo by Olivia Crumm | Hi-res here
There’s a kind of quiet violence in how music is consumed today—flattened into background noise, sonic perfume fed into algorithms, sold as lifestyle. It’s entertainment as anesthesia. Sound without the weight. The Spiritual Sound, the new full-length from Los Angeles–based band Agriculture, stands as a pointed refusal of this condition. This is not a playlist. This is not a vibe. It is a demand.
Across its runtime, The Spiritual Sound traces a narrative arc through extremes and the album is largely a fusing of the visions of its two principal songwriters: Dan Meyer and Leah Levinson—distinct voices, deeply complementary. Dan writes like someone clawing toward the divine through noise, channeling Zen Buddhism, historical collapse, ecstatic grief. Leah’s songs move differently: grounded in queer history and AIDS-era literature, amid the suffocating fog of the present, they carry the weight of survival as daily ritual. Though distinct, their voices converge in a singular spiritual grammar—one that defines the totality of The Spiritual Sound, not as separate parts, but as one unified expression.
The album's first single, "Bodhidharma," arrives today. Dan Meyer says of the track: "Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, was an Indian monk who famously stared at the wall of a cave for nine years. He even cut off his eyelids in order to prevent himself from falling asleep. At one time, another monk approached him in his cave and pleaded ‘master, my head is on fire with anxiety, can you pacify my mind?’ Bodhidharma just kept staring at the wall and Huike waited outside of the cave all night until he was buried in snow up to his waist. Finally, as a gesture of desperation he cut off his arm and offered it to the great master. Huike later became Bodhidharma’s successor.’"
Watch / share "Bodhidharma" music video
Agriculture’s formation mirrors their duality. What began as a loose collaboration between Kern Haug and Dan Meyer in the Los Angeles noise scene evolved into a shared pursuit of the sublime through heavy music. With the additions of Richard Chowenhill and Leah Levinson, the project solidified into the band’s current form. The ecstatic black metal foundation that was laid on 2022’s The Circle Chant expanded into something more precise and far-reaching on their 2023 self-titled full-length, and deepened further with 2024’s Living Is Easy: a record that embraced devotional intensity and radiant heaviness in equal measure.
Agriculture’s writing process is built on dismantling and revision of self. Dan and Leah bring songs to the band and then allow them to be pulled apart and rebuilt communally: reshaped through conflict, repetition, and deep trust. Richard adds guitar melodies and solos, and Kern constructs rhythms which are sometimes familiar but often unconventional. Finally, with Richard producing, the final form of each song is realized through intense collaborative work in the studio. Although a time consuming and ego-frustrating process, this allows the band to find the spirit of the songs not through inspiration, but through persistence.
Yet, even in its most ambitious moments, The Spiritual Sound remains rooted in the ordinary and in the day-to-day relationships between the people who made it. Gas station snacks. Inside jokes. Sleeping on floors. Playing shows in rooms that smell like mildew. The spirit here isn’t abstract, it’s live. This is spiritual music that starts with imperfect gear and a long-in-the-tooth tour van.
Agriculture doesn’t offer salvation. The Spiritual Sound isn’t a map out of the fire. What it offers instead is presence: a confrontation with the moment, however unbearable, however divine. It insists that meaning is still possible, even in a world hell-bent on reducing everything to content, and where suffering itself can be conducive to recovery. As the Buddhist saying goes: “the only way out is in.”
Pre-order The Spiritual Sound here and see Agriculture on the road (November 4 through December 5 dates on sale July 11 at 10am local time):
Sep 3 Bristol, UK — The Exchange
Sep 4 Brighton, UK — Dust
Sep 5 London, UK — Oslo
Sep 6 Manchester, UK — White Hotel
Sep 7 Newcastle, UK — The Cluny 2
Sep 9 Leeds, UK — Brudenell Social Club
Sep 11 Dublin, IE — Workman's Club
Sep 12 Cork, IE — Nudes
Sep 13 Belfast, NIR — Voodoo
Sep 14 Glasgow, SC — CORE. Festival
Sep 16 Paris, FR — Point Ephemere
Sep 17 Kortrijk, BE — Wilde Westen
Sep 18 Haarlem, NL — Patronaat
Oct 27 San Antonio, TX — Paper Tiger $
Oct 28 Austin, TX — Mohawk $
Oct 30 Atlanta, GA — Masquerade $
Oct 31 Saxapahaw, NC — Haw River Ballroom $
Nov 01 Silver Spring, MD — The Fillmore $
Nov 02 Philadelphia, PA — Union Transfer $
Nov 04 Louisville, KY — Zanzabar
Nov 06 Oklahoma City, OK — 89th Street
Nov 08 Albuquerque, NM — Launchpad
Nov 09 Phoenix, AZ — Valley Bar
Nov 11 Denver, CO — Hi-Dive
Nov 13 Salt Lake City, UT — The State Room
Nov 14 Boise, ID — Neurolux
Nov 16 Seattle, WA — Madame Lou’s
Nov 18 Vancouver, BC — Fox Cabaret
Nov 19 Portland, OR — Mississippi Studios
Nov 21 Sacramento, CA — Cafe Colonial
Nov 22 San Francisco, CA — The Chapel
Dec 04 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar
Dec 05 Los Angeles, CA — Lodge Room
$ with Boris
ROCKET Announce Debut Album & Share "Wide Awake"
ROCKET
ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM & SHARE LEAD SINGLE “WIDE AWAKE”
R IS FOR ROCKET OUT OCT 3RD
VIA TRANSGRESSIVE RECORDS / CANVASBACK
OCTOBER US HEADLINE TOUR & AUGUST UK DATES WITH THE SMASHING PUMPKINS ON-SALE
Rocket by Tanner Deutsch
Early Praise for Rocket:
"Rocket make soaring, anthemic alt-rock with a classic feel, picking up a torch from veteran acts like Dinosaur Jr....a band that’s ready to take it to the next level" - Rolling Stone
“nods to ’90s indie rock staples..blissfully detached dream-pop..hard-hitting numbers..Rocket have built themselves a solid launching pad” - Stereogum ‘Best New Artists of 2024’
"It's rare to find a band so fully developed without an album out.. they're certainly not lacking in the songwriting department” - Consequence ‘Artists to Watch in 2025’
"The debut EP from LA quartet Rocket absolutely soars... the band combines a laid-back California charm with biting lyricism and tight, synergetic compositions. If Sonic Youth made pop chart-friendly hits, you’d have Rocket. We need 100 more of these songs."- Paste Magazine
"The harmonies glide, whereas the riffy, daydreamy guitars build to a glorious climax in the back half, reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Momma" - Alternative Press ‘Rising Artists to Know’
“this underground band are making big, open-hearted anthems for a new generation to rally around” - NME ‘Cover Story’
"the alt-rock quartet’s debut EP offers catchy, yearning ballads that evoke nostalgia for adolescent frustrations” - Document Journal
Los Angeles, CA’s Rocket have announced their highly anticipated debut album, R is for Rocket, due out Oct 3rd via Transgressive Records / Canvasback. Lead single “Wide Awake” is a jagged, fuzzed-out introduction to the band’s leveled up sound, balanced out by vocalist Alithea Tuttle’s sweetly hypnotic vocals.
“R is for Rocket is about relationships, the most important part of life; relationships with your friends, your parents, your girlfriend or boyfriend, and most importantly your relationship with yourself,” share the band. “‘Wide Awake’. is the perfect balance of all the elements of this record, after years in the making and countless versions, we’re excited to finally share it.” Read more about the band’s debut album in today’s in-depth Rolling Stone profile, who wrote that the album is an “an explosive introduction” and “levels up their dynamic, Nineties-inspired rock sound.”
Comprised of Alithea Tuttle (vocals, bass), Baron Rinzler (Guitar), Cooper Ladomade (Drums) and Desi Scaglione (Guitar), Rocket have had a busy few years. The Los Angeles crew with friendships stretching back to their childhood formed in 2021, convening in an unmarked shed to put their debut EP to tape. Despite it being the first time any of them had seriously approached the idea of a ‘band,’ they seemed to arrive fully formed with combustible, airtight songs.
R is for Rocket, the quartet’s remarkable debut album, is a joyride through sonic terrain that is gloriously loud, anthemic, bombastic and beautiful, with instantly captivating songs that achieve the rare feat of evoking nostalgia while sounding completely new. The band’s jagged, fuzzed-out sound has antecedents in ‘90s guitar bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, but Rocket are doing something uniquely their own with those touchstones. It’s no wonder they are widely considered one of the most promising guitar-forward bands of their generation.
While the album builds on the energy of their critically lauded Versions of You EP, R is for Rocket is also hugely evolutionary, elevating the band’s craft in major ways. By the time they began work on the album in early 2024, they’d been on a near constant touring schedule, spending countless hours on the road opening for their heroes Ride, Sunny Day Real Estate and Silversun Pickups, and writing in their modest studio – a back house in drummer Cooper Ladomade’s parents’ yard – both refining and expanding their sound.
This Fall, Rocket will embark on their debut US headline tour, kicking off in October after a run of August dates supporting The Smashing Pumpkins across the UK. Tickets on sale HERE.
WATCH “WIDE AWAKE” OFFICIAL VIDEO
Rocket’s 2023 debut EP was praised by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Paste, and Consequence, among others, and landed the band their first cover story at NME. The forward momentum put the band on the road for most of 2024, opening for iconic bands like The Pixies’ Frank Black, Ride, Sunny Day Real Estate, Silversun Pickups, and peers including Julie, Bar Italia, Hotline TNT & more. The band appeared on festival stages around the world, including Pitchfork London & Paris, Bumbershoot, Best Friends Forever, and many more.
The quartet have been slowly releasing their first new music since the 2023 EP this year, sharing album cuts “Crossing Fingers” & “One Million,” a harmony laden and soaring ode to accepting you’ve given all you can in a relationship. The standalone single “Take Your Aim” was written shortly after the release of their debut EP, and will appear on the tracklist of the newly reissued EP, available on vinyl & CD for the first time.
WATCH VIDEOS FOR PREVIOUS SINGLES “CROSSING FINGERS” & “ONE MILLION”
“All of the touring led to the songs changing for the better,” says Tuttle, “because we got to play them for so many different kinds of audiences and hear what worked and what didn’t.” Whenever they got home from a tour, they were infused with new ideas for how to finish the in-progress tunes, and many were upgraded in major ways thanks to the time Rocket took to hone them. “Recording the second half of the album eight months after the first half gave us a lot of time to think about what we were doing,” says Scaglione. “We ended up re-recording three songs because we felt like we could just do better.”
With guitarist Desi Scaglione again at the helm as their producer, Rocket logged time at two Los Angeles studios that provided the perfect balance between those extremes. They tracked the more introspective elements at 64 Sound in Highland Park, which offered an array of tasty vintage gear that was ideal for the quieter, more intimate tunes. The heavier moments were captured during sessions at the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 in Northridge, where they could get the massive drum sound they wanted for tracks like “Crossing Fingers” and “Wide Awake.”
TOUR DATES:
EU DATES
August 8th - Gothenburg, Sweden @ Way Out West Festival
August 10th - London, UK @ Gunnersbury Park ^
August 11th - London, UK @ Windmill Brixton SOLD OUT
August 12th - Halifax, UK @ The Piece Hall ^
August 13th - Scarborough, UK @ Scarborough Open Air Theatre ^
August 14th - Colchester, UK @ Colchester Castle Park ^
August 16th - Wales, UK @ Greenman Festival
^ w/ Smashing Pumpkins
US DATES
Oct 27th - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
Oct 30th - Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Oct 31st - Austin, TX @ Mohawk (Indoors)
Nov 3rd - Nashville, TN @ drkmttr
Nov 4th - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
Nov 6th - Washington, DC @ DC9
Nov 7th - Philadelphia, PA @ Warehouse on Watts
Nov 8th - New York, NY @ Baby's All Right
Nov 11th - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Nov 13th - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
Nov 14th - Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
Nov 15th - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
Nov 18th - Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Nov 19th - Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
Nov 21st - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Nov 22nd - Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
Softcult aren't as "Naive" as you think; new song out TODAY
LISTEN HEREOntario-based modern grunge sibling duo Softcult have today released their new single
Naive
via Easy Life Records.Following the recent release of their searing shoegaze anthem Pill To Swallow and the announcement that production on their highly anticipated debut full-length album is officially complete, Softcult return with Naive - a track that delves deep into disillusionment and emotional clarity.
Speaking about the song, the band explain, “It’s about coming to the painful realization that the person, idea, or reality we trusted and believed in never really existed in the first place. This song is about the moment the scales fall from our eyes after we realize we’ve been romanticising someone or the idea of someone. After this moment we’re no longer able to see them or the world as innocently as we did before.”watch softcult's ‘Naive’ (Official Music Video) below:
![Softcult - Naive [official video]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1752133750i/37051446._SX540_.jpg)
Photo: Mercedes Arn-HornSoftcult's music is a consistent reminder that the revolution is very much alive. Last year's Heaven EP flipped the concept of an afterlife on its head, calling out contradictions of a world fixated on the future while ignoring the very real need for change in the present. It landed them on the cover of Spotify's MARROW playlist (over 4.7 million followers), and brought them on tour across North America, UK, Europe, Australia & Southeast Asia.Born in the studio and free from the industry's constraints, Softcult has been busy carving out their own universe. They've been championed by artists like Hayley Williams and Oli Sykes, opened for massive bands like Incubus and MUSE, and highlighted as a band to watch by Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Paste, Consequence, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, CBC, The Gay Times, and more.
And they do it all themselves––Phoenix leads production, engineering, and artwork, while Mercedes writes, produces, directs and edits their deeply personal and impactful videos. Embracing a fully DIY ethos, they create and produce their own monthly zine, SCripture , and remain actively engaged with their fan community through the Softcult Discord server.
SOFTCULT UK / EU HEADLINE TOUR:
NOVEMBER17 BERLIN Badehaus18 GOLOGNE Helios19 HAARLEM Patronaat20 PARIS Supersonic22 GLASGOW King Tut's
23 NEWCASTLE The Grove
24 MANCHESTER Manchester Academy 3
25 NOTTINGHAM The Bodega
27 LEEDS The Key Club
28 CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
30 SOUTHAMPTON The Joiners
DECEMBER
01 BRISTOL Exchange
02 LONDON The Dome
Modern Nature Unleash Visceral, Politically-Charged Single “Source” | US Tour | LP out 8/29 via Bella Union
Modern Nature
Unleash Visceral, Politically-Charged Single “ Source ”
The Heat Warps LP out August 29 via Bella Union
The Heat Warps album pre-order link
North American Winter 2025 Tour
Tour dates below + here
“Richly sensual and radical in its approach” - Pitchfork
Singles: “
Pharaoh
” “
Source
”
Credit: Michael Stasiak | Hi-Res Download
Modern Nature announced their new album The Heat Warps and lead single “Pharaoh” to acclaim spanning Under The Radar, BrooklynVegan, Earmilk and more. Due out August 29 via Bella Union, it is a deceivingly encouraging collection through which Jack Cooper – the band’s main creative force – continues to explore themes of collectivism, our relationship with the natural world, the weight of consciousness with more directness and purpose. With awareness and care for the sensitivity of the topic stating “it’s important not to turn away from these things,” new single “Source” touches on the recent riots in the UK directed towards asylum seekers and skewers misinformation spread online.
Jack shares, “Source was written in the aftermath of the 2024 UK riots, which were sparked by a campaign of misinformation aimed at asylum seekers. I found myself watching live streams of them unfolding on YouTube, despairing at what I was seeing but oddly gripped. These communities are like the one I grew up in. It's easy to condemn them and of course their actions were appalling, yet amongst all that hate, you could see people desperate for community and collectivism. I wanted to write something about how I saw it and it turned into this strangely uplifting song in the vein of ‘You Can't Always Get What You Want’ or the Beta Band's ‘Dry The Rain’. I was going to send it to Liam Gallagher but then Oasis reformed…”
In the time Modern Nature has been a band, the world has undoubtedly changed. For all the grimmer realities of 2025 that the new album wrestles with, it is ultimately not a record entirely consumed by anxieties. Jack Cooper explains, “Every day we’re confronted with a confusing and scary world. Making music and creating things can sometimes feel flippant or unnecessary, but my own world view was defined and influenced by art and artists who weren’t afraid to highlight and offer solutions: Public Enemy, The Smiths, and a wider American counterculture.” The refreshingly optimistic record's themes and lyrics are directed toward the community they've built in their immediate life and with their fans who are "struggling to reconcile how they fit into an increasingly cruel world." It acts as a siren call to the community to double down with the hope that making an album that’s open, uplifting and ambitious is in itself can be part of the solution.
The Heat Warps features the core trio of Jack Cooper (vocals, guitar), Jim Wallis (drums) and Jeff Tobias (bass guitar) augmented by a new guitarist – Tara Cunningham. Be sure to catch Modern Nature on tour in the US this winter & UK this fall.
Tour Dates - TICKETS
12/10: Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
12/12: Seattle, WA @ Clock Out Lounge
12/13: Portland, OR @ Holocene
12/14: Point Reyes, CA @ Dance Palace
12/15: San Francisco, CA @ 4 Star Theater
12/17: Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers
12/18: Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers
T. Hardy Morris To Release "Artificial Tears" (Produced by Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket) August 8
T. HARDY MORRIS TO RELEASE ARTIFICIAL TEARS AUGUST 8, 2025 VIA NORMALTOWN / NEW WEST RECORDS
PRODUCED BY CARL BROEMEL OF MY MORNING JACKET
MAGNET MAGAZINE PREMIERES “DON’T KILL YOUR TIME (TO SHINE)” TODAY
T. Hardy Morris Photograph by Daniel Dent
T. Hardy Morris will release Artificial Tears on August 8, 2025 via the New West Records imprint Normaltown Records. The 12-song set was produced & mixed by Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket and follows Morris’ 2021 album The Digital Age of Rome. Met with critical acclaim, SPIN said, “Despairingly singing of the contemporary state of the world and of its sorrows and contradictions, Morris has a heartfelt incisiveness unchecked by vanity, one that gushes without fetters,” and Brooklyn Vegan called it “...a glistening slice of melancholy dreampop.” No Depression said “The Digital Age of Rome is Morris at peak songwriting,” Flagpole named it one of “The 10 Best albums of 2021,” while Glide Magazine exclaimed “Thankfully, sadness and despair never sounded so good.”
Today, Magnet Magazine premiered the album highlight, “Don’t Kill Your Time (To Shine).” Morris says, "This is a song directed at young artists, young lovers, former selves; don’t waste your time worrying what others think and definitely don’t kill your time by giving up. Rock and roll is a young people’s game and that’s what I love about it. I love discovering young artists and especially hearing what they’re creating as they’re discovering themselves. That’s the best music to me."
Flood Magazine previously premiered the album’s first single, “Juvenile Years.” The bittersweet song reaches back for memories of a simpler time and place that hang just out of reach. Morris says, “‘Juvenile Years’ is a song somewhat specific to Athens, GA and the live local music scene as I came up in it. It was often a whirlwind of intense bonds over music and what one another was creating. Some of the relationships survive & carry on and some have passed like a strange song, but all were and are meaningful to who I am now.”
Artificial Tears is an electrifying work of existential exploration. It is a raw, rock and roll reflection on meaning and identity in a modern world that’s simultaneously more connected and isolated than ever before. The performances are blissed-out and hazy, captured primarily on a four-track machine, and Morris’ delivery is subtle and understated to match, fueled by tumbling, stream-of-consciousness lyrics rooted in a dreamy sense of longing and nostalgia. Despite the weighty ruminations at its core, the result is a remarkably grounded, down to earth album that’s at once honest and abstract, a poignant, clear-eyed look in the mirror from a master craftsman committed to his work for nothing more—and nothing less—than its own intrinsic value.
In typical fashion for Morris, the songs came slowly at first, then all at once in a rush as he reflected on two decades of highs and lows, on the joys and struggles of a life in music. When it came time to record, he called on Broemel, who ended up not only producing, but playing the vast majority of the instruments on the album. “Hardy’s got a really direct and honest approach to music—and to life—which was refreshing,” says Broemel. “He likes to work fast and not get too precious about things.”
After cutting some rehearsals and demos on a Teac four-track at Broemel’s house, they headed to a studio in Nashville for the “official sessions,” but something was missing. “The studio was great for some of the songs,” Morris recalls, “but I often found myself drawn more to the demos we’d done at Carl’s house, so we headed back to his place to finish the record the way we’d started.” “The quiet songs needed that raw and simple approach to feel right,” explains Broemel. “As we continued recording back at my house, we elaborated on the four-track process and started recording some more full band tracks there, as well.” That intentional embrace of the grit and limitations of four-track recording forms the heart and soul of Artificial Tears.
“I’ve spent a lot of time parsing the difference between art and entertainment,” Morris says. “Not just for myself, but for society at large. What does it mean to be an artist? How do we measure creative success? Where are the boundaries between audience and performer when everyone’s broadcasting their lives 24/7?” Meditations on the true meaning of satisfaction turn up throughout Artificial Tears. “When you focus on entertainment over art, you start reaching for your lowest impulses, for the lowest forms of security and status,” Morris muses. “When you let go of the stuff that doesn’t matter and stop being so overly concerned with material things, you can appreciate the real stuff that’s all around you.” he explains, “I’ll always be writing music, no matter who’s listening. Day in and day out, one phrase to the next. This has always been more than a dream. It’s been a calling.”
Born and raised in Georgia, T. Hardy Morris is a founding member of the rock band Dead Confederate who introduced him to life on the road, playing 200-plus shows a year, supporting R.E.M, and touring Europe with Dinosaur Jr. He is also a founding member of the indie-rock supergroup Diamond Rugs alongside John McCauley and Robbie Crowell of Deer Tick, Ian Saint Pe of Black Lips, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, and Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite. The group have released two albums to date; their 2012 eponymous debut followed by 2015’s Cosmetics.
Artificial Tears will be available across digital platforms, on compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited-to-100 red color vinyl edition autographed by T. Hardy Morris will be available via Bandcamp and is available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
Artificial Tears Track Listing:
1. Write It In The Sky
2. I Guess
3. Juvenile Years
4. Breakneck Speed
5. Don’t Kill Your Time (To Shine)
6. Sweet Success
7. Low Hopes
8. Poets In The Mist
9. Knowing Me
10. Shadows Of Doubt
11. Fight Forever
12. Trouble Will
T. Hardy Morris Live:
August 1 – Atlanta, GA – The Moody Motel
August 7 – Athens, GA – Hidden Gem (Album Listening Party & Solo Set)
August 23 – Chattanooga, TN – Cherry Street Tavern (w/ Justin & The Cosmics)
August 24 – Nashville, TN – Soft Junk (w/ Justin & The Cosmics)
August 26 – Lexington, KY – The Burl (w/ Tyler Ramsey)
August 27 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi Fi Indy (w/ Tyler Ramsey)
August 28 – Milwaukee, WI – Milwaukee Vivarium (w/ Tyler Ramsey)
August 29 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark (w/ Tyler Ramsey)
September 26 – Athens, GA – Flicker Theatre (w/ The Pink Stones)
www.THardyMorris.com
www.NewWestRecords.com
Nashville experimental duo Total Wife announce new album via Julia's War
TOTAL WIFE ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
COME BACK DOWN
ARRIVING SEPTEMBER 19, 2025
VIA JULIA’S WAR RECORDINGS
HOPEFUL LEAD SINGLE
“SECOND SPRING” OUT NOW - LISTEN
ALBUM RELEASE TOUR TO BE ANNOUNCED,
SUPPORTING DUMMY AT THE BLUE ROOM ON OCTOBER 2
Photo Credit: Sean Booz
“With a band prolific as Total Wife, it’s a challenge to pin
down their music as any particular sound.”
- NASHVILLE SCENE
“Off-kilter indie-eclectic sound”
- TURN & WORK
Nashville experimental duo Total Wife, the project of Luna Kupper and Ash Richter, are excited to announce their new album, Come Back Down, out September 19, 2025 via the tastemaking Philadelphia label Julia’s War Recordings. Heralding the announcement is “second spring,” a fuzzed-out sonic journey through sweet melodies and new beginnings, harnessing the hope of change over churning guitars.
“Ash started the lyrics for this song in early spring of 2020, and worked them out over the next few years before Luna wrote this song, which helped her finish them," says Total Wife. “Hard to remember, but flowers will bloom with or without you,” is from the same poem that “Reveal Sky,” was written from (total wife Self-Titled LP, “It’s easy to forget that it’s spring, staring through grey-blue drywall”). “
LISTEN TO “SECOND SPRING”
PREORDER COME BACK DOWN
Total Wife has become a fixture of the East Coast DIY scene over the past decade, cementing themselves as scenemakers in Nashville, TN. Come Back Down marks the duo’s first full-length album since 2023’s in/out, building upon their varied and rich discography. The record was previewed late last year with the band’s 0 EP, featuring heavy-hitting tracks “naoisa” and “(dead b).”
Total Wife will be touring the new record across the East Coast, with tour dates to be announced soon. In October, they’ll be supporting Los Angeles band Dummy at The Blue Room. For more information and to stay updated on upcoming dates, see below and follow Total Wife on Instagram at @totalwife.
TOTAL WIFE LIVE 2025
JULY
26 - The Duchess - Nashville, TN
OCTOBER
2 - The Blue Room - Nashville, TN
TOTAL WIFE
COME BACK DOWN
JULIA’S WAR RECORDINGS
Release Date: September 19, 2025
1. in my head
2. peaches
3. internetsupermagazine
4. naoisa
5. second spring
6. still asleep
7. chloe
8. (dead b)
9. ofersi3
10. make it last
ABOUT TOTAL WIFE:
Come Back Down, the new album by Nashville experimental-pop duo Total Wife, was born from the edge of sleep. When composer and producer Luna Kupper would begin to fall asleep during late-night mixing sessions, the songs would follow her into the halfway place between dream and lucidity. Like Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, she’d wake with a new perspective on the puzzle she was piecing together. “I’m a psychological mixer — I’m trying to think of how someone’s experiencing the sound, versus getting stuck in trying to make all these different tones and using all this gear to make something sound a certain way,” Kupper says.
And like a spiral from waking life into dream, the songs on Come Back Down are endlessly self-referential, building whole universes from a single point. Kupper sold all of her synths to make rent before she started working on the album, and so every inorganic sound is instead built from samples of the band’s own work. A guitar on one song may be reprocessed and used as a synth on the next, while everywhere on the album vocal samples are taken from a single unreleased cover of Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars.” In tribute to this process, the album was almost named The Julia Set after the mathematical equation which feeds into itself again and again, creating beautiful fractal images. The intention was to create something complex but accessible; experimental, yet precise and without abstraction.
In her lyrics, too, lyricist and vocalist Ash Richter is as straightforward as she’s ever been. She drew on her experience of pandemic isolation to write about connection and disconnection, using her lyrics as a tool for the communication that was missing in everyday life. On the soaring, shoegazey track “peaches”, a storm that forced the cancellation of a recording session became a metaphor for emotional distance. “still asleep” chronicles Richter’s euphoria after Total Wife’s first tour, and watches it begins to curdle into paranoia. “Thank the full moon, my heart is overflowing,” she sings, before: “Is there such a thing as too happy?” The experience of isolation was prompting Richter to think back to her childhood, a time marked for her by solitude and natural play — climbing trees, making mud pies, getting lost in the woods. On tracks like “in my head” and “second spring”, she uses the imagery of nature to recall that time and forge a connection with her lonely inner child. “I feel connected with transcendentalist writing and magical realism — trying to convey things in a concrete way, but with that element of psychology and mystery,” she says.
Richter and Kupper, friends from high school, formed Total Wife in 2016, relocating from Boston to Nashville in 2020. Both are visual artists as well as musicians, which they incorporate into their work with Total Wife via layered and purposeful visuals. A DIY streak underpins everything that they do — from handling their own artwork and music videos to recording their own music, releasing tapes through their label Ivy Eat Home, and hosting house shows in the basement they’ve christened Ryman 2. In Nashville, they’ve settled into a weirdo scene living under the record industry’s floorboards, a hive of collaborative and creative energy that has made them excited to call the city home. They’ve also assembled a live band for the first time, injecting their creative process with a jolt of spontaneity and aliveness that has fed back into Come Back Down.
ABOUT JULIA’S WAR RECORDINGS:
Julia’s War Recordings is a community-based record label out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but serving the greater world as a whole. Founded by Douglas Dulgarian of They Are Gutting A Body of Water in 2021, we aim to provide physical media for bands that rock, for people pushing the boundaries of music and creation in the modern day.
CONNECT WITH TOTAL WIFE:
BANDCAMP | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | INSTAGRAM
CONNECT WITH JULIA’S WAR RECORDINGS:
Nicolas Bougaïeff's New EP 'Sunday Summer Is Out Today On NovaMute
NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF
SUNDAY SUMMER EP
OUT NOW ON NOVAMUTE
Photo credit: Barbara Mühlstädt
Today Nicolas Bougaïeff releases his new EP Sunday Summer, via NovaMute
The EP is the third and final entry in his “Prime” Series, following Primal Extensions and Prime Funktion earlier in 2025. The series explores what Bougaïeff coins as prime rhythms, polyrhythms derived from prime number ratios. These asymmetric, complex structures unfold across each EP, inviting deep listening and disorienting groove, so far winning support from the likes of Surgeon and Laurent Garnier.
Opener “Sunday Morning at Panorama Bar When Things Go Sideways” sets the tone with skittish rhythms, rumbling low-end and glitchy synths, imperfect by design and rich with experimental edge. “Blue Seventeen” then brings high-velocity chaos with freakish pulses, incendiary hi-hats and frantic acid lines that tear through the mix before “Organelle” ups the pressure with muscular drum loops, gritty textures and dystopian melodies that feel like otherworldly transmissions. Closing out proceedings, “Summer Beach Bar Where Jodie Foster Goes in the Movie Contact” offers a moment of calm with a dubby, mid-tempo groove laced with organic sounds and whimsical melodies that drift in and out of focus like a mirage.
Based out of Berlin, Bougaïeff is a cerebral artist with a PhD in minimal techno and a creative reach citing Bach, Kraftwerk, visual art and mathematics for inspiration. A longtime Mute affiliate, he co-founded Liine (creators of the Lemur music app), launched the Berlin Academy of Electronic Music and runs the BAEMStudio platform, where he shares acclaimed production tutorials.
Nicolas Bougaïeff Sunday Summer EP is out today via NovaMute.
Sunday Summer track listing:
1. Sunday Morning at Panorama Bar When Things Go Sideways2. Blue Seventeen
3. Organelle
4. Summer Beach Bar Where Jodie Foster Goes in the Movie Contact
Purchase or stream HERE.
FURTHER LISTENING:
Prime Funktion [NovaMute]
Primal Extensions [NovaMute]
EP1 [NovaMute]
EP2 [NovaMute]
EP3 [NovaMute]
Begin Within [Mute]
The Upward Spiral [NovaMute]
CONNECT WITH NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF:
FACEBOOK | TIK TOK | INSTAGRAM | SOUNDCLOUD
CONNECT WITH MUTE:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLUESKY | INSTAGRAM | TIK TOK | WEB
NYC's The Thing have "Something to Say" before they surely go "Insane"
NYC’S THE THING HAVE “SOMETHING TO SAY”
BEFORE THEY SURELY GO “INSANE” — STREAM
LAST PAIRING OF SINGLES BEFORE SELF-TITLED ALBUM IS RELEASED IN FULL ON AUGUST 6
WAYFARING WITH THEIR INSTRUMENTS ACROSS EUROPE IN
OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR “SOMETHING TO SAY” — WATCH
OPENED FOR THE BLACK KEYS IN BERLIN TO SOLD-OUT
10,000 PERSON CROWD + NYC RESIDENCY KICKS OFF TOMORROW — SEE ALL TOUR DATES HERE
Press photo by Seana Adame
“Splitting the difference between classic garage skronk and a metallic murk that eschews doom for grime, The Thing can sometimes seem at war with their own desires: They’re as eager to play heavy riffs as they are to deliver a clean melodic punch.”
“The band melt together ultra-heavy psych with indie rock…”
One of NYC’s most vital new rock voices The Thing today shares the final double A-side ahead of their upcoming self-titled album: “Something to Say” and “Insane.” Out in full on August 6 via the band’s own Onion Records, The Thing has been unveiled gradually since March, released in a series of thematic A/B-sides that echo the analog ethos behind its creation — Stream today’s new releases.
To make a long story short, The Thing have covered a lot of ground in 2025. Last week, they closed out their European tour by opening for The Black Keys in Berlin to a sold out crowd of 10,000 people. While in Europe, they played to ravenous crowds at Freak Valley Fest, Best Kept Secret and Relache Fest. Now back in the states, The Thing will triumphantly return to their home of NYC for a three-week residency at Night Club 101. And newly announced, they will be playing their first ever Australian shows in October including SXSW Sydney. All tour information can be found here.
Today’s pair of singles showcase the band’s raw dynamism. “Something to Say” bursts out of the gate with the kind of conviction only earned through restraint. A fuzz-laced statement of intent about “having a voice” according to the band. Underpinned by a retro-quality, the New York band takes the blueprint and runs with it all the way to the California beaches of yesteryear. But in the official video, the band is seen wayfaring, gear in hand all across Europe — Watch.
“Insane,” meanwhile, mirrors the chaos of its own recording: a broken tape machine, late-night spirals, while also harking back to “a bad end to a situationship,” according to frontman Zane Acord. And for a band that stays as busy as they do, it’s not a stretch to imagine they’re slowly losing their minds.
Formed in New York City in 2022, the band have since played over 300 shows across North America and Europe. Well recognized for their relentless work ethic, dynamic live shows and staunchly DIY ethos, The Thing are torchbearers of the current NYC scene, and a vanguard of what the city’s rock history means under a modern lens. Reverent of the city's gritty past yet restless to rewrite it, The Thing was self-produced, tracked entirely live to tape, and recorded without a single computer - capturing the band at their most immediate and unfiltered.
The album’s singles so far have showcased a band both resilient and untethered, gaining traction as the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds Rock and editorial nods from All New Rock and New Noise, with previous tips from CLASH, Rolling Stone, AltPress, amongst others. They recently released a live session with WNXP filmed during a recent trip to Nashville.
With each set of singles released, the accompanying artwork is one piece of the puzzle that will eventually build out the album artwork.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
NORTH AMERICA
July 10 - New York, NY - Night Club 101
July 17 - New York, NY - Night Club 101
July 24 - New York, NY - Night Club 101
July 26 - Austin, TX - Grandmaster’s Gala
August 22 - Amagansett, NY - The Stephen Talkhouse
AUSTRALIA
October 14 - Brisbane, Australia - Crowbar
October 18 - Melbourne, Australia - The Curtin
All tour info here
July 8, 2025
Ray LaMontagne reschedules 2025 North American tour celebrating 20th anniversary of Trouble to 2026
July 8, 2025— Due to a lengthy healing process after an unexpected oral surgery, Ray LaMontagne’s 2025 North America Trouble 20th Anniversary Tour with The Weather Station has been rescheduled to 2026. All previously issued tickets will be honored for only their show's new date. If you are unable to attend the rescheduled performance, please contact your original point of purchase for further assistance.Find full updated routing below and purchase tickets here.The tour will see LaMontagne performing his seminal debut album
Trouble
in its entirety for the first time since its release. As part of the momentous 20th anniversary, LaMontagne has shared a special remastered vinyl edition of the album, marking the second full length release on LaMontagne’s own Liula Records—purchase/share
here
.Upon the album’s initial release in 2004, Trouble saw rave reviews from
BBC
, who proclaimed it “A classic - listen incessantly,” echoed by
NPR
who praised it as, “timeless, cathartic and uplifting…LaMontagne has a hit debut record.”
Drowned in Sound
named LaMontagne “an artist who you have never heard of but has the potential to change your life in a moment,” while
MOJO
raved, “LaMontagne is blessed with a wood-smoky Paul Rodgers-meets-Norah Jones delivery, oozing the rough-hewn sensitivity of mid-'70s Marlboro ads and Kris Kristofferson movies... He's something special indeed.” Trouble charted on the Billboard 200 and was certified RIAA Platinum.The North American leg of the tour will see stops at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Toronto’s Massey Hall, Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre and will finish with three nights in New York at Beacon Theatre. The Weather Station will support. LaMontagne’s 2026 rescheduled shows in Toronto & Greenville, SC will be announced at a later date.In the UK and Ireland, LaMontagne will make stops at 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham and London’s Royal Albert Hall and Eventim Apollo.LaMontagne has spent the past two decades carving a singular space for himself in modern music. In a career that has seen overflowing critical acclaim, he’s opted out of the spotlight and its accompanying celebrity in the remote hills of Western Massachusetts.
The
New York Times accounts, “Visiting Ray LaMontagne is like going back to another century.” His distinctive voice, described by Rolling Stone as an “impeccably weathered tenor croon,” continues to serve as a conduit for era-defining melodies and songwriting. Across nine studio albums, LaMontagne has let his songs and story speak for themselves, ringing a deep chord in the American subconscious.TRACK LISTTROUBLE 1. Trouble2. Shelter3. Hold You in My Arms4. Narrow Escape5. Burn6. Forever My Friend7. Hannah8. How Come9. Jolene10. All the Wild HorsesTROUBLE 20th ANNIVERSARY US TOUR DATESAugust 23, 2026 — Salt Lake City, UT — Red Butte Garden Amphitheater+
August 25, 2026 — Vail, CO — Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater+
August 26, 2026 — Morrison, CO — Red Rocks Amphitheatre+
August 28, 2026 — Omaha, NE — Holland Center+
August 29, 2026 — Highland Park, IL — Ravinia+
August 30, 2026 — Minneapolis, MN — Orpheum Theatre+
September 1, 2026 — Iowa City, IA — Hancher Auditorium+
September 2, 2026 — St. Louis, MO — Stifel Theatre+
September 4, 2026 — Nashville, TN — Ryman Auditorium+September 5, 2026 — Nashville, TN — Ryman Auditorium+
September 6, 2026 — Louisville, KY — The Louisville Palace+
September 8, 2026 — Syracuse, NY — The Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater+
September 9, 2026 — Wilkes-Barre, PA — FM Kirby Center for the Performing Arts+
September 11, 2026 — Selbyville, DE — Freeman Arts Pavilion+
September 12, 2026 — Philadelphia, PA — The Met+
September 13, 2026 — Vienna, VA — Wolf Trap+
September 15, 2026 — Durham, NC — DPAC+
September 18, 2026 — Columbus, OH — Mershon Auditorium+
September 19, 2026 — Akron, OH — Akron Civic Theatre+
September 20, 2026 — Detroit, MI — Fox Theatre+
September 25, 2026 — Boston, MA — Leader Bank Pavilion+September 26, 2026 — Boston, MA — Leader Bank Pavilion+
September 28, 2026 — Portland, ME — State Theatre+September 29, 2026 — Portland, ME — State Theatre+
October 1, 2026 — New York, NY — Beacon Theatre+October 2, 2026 — New York, NY — Beacon Theatre+October 3, 2026 — New York, NY — Beacon Theatre++with support from The Weather StationTROUBLE 20th ANNIVERSARY UK / IRELAND TOUR DATESMay 20, 2026—Dublin, Ireland—3Olympia TheatreMay 21, 2026—Dublin, Ireland—3Olympia TheatreMay 22, 2026—Belfast, Ireland—Waterfront HallMay 24, 2026—Sheffield, UK—City HallMay 25, 2026—Nottingham, UK—Royal Concert HallMay 27, 2026—Manchester, UK—O2 ApolloMay 28, 2026—Newcastle, UK—O2 City HallMay 30, 2026—Glasgow, UK—SEC ArmadilloMay 31, 2026—Edinburgh, UK—Usher HallJune 2, 2026—Birmingham, UK—Symphony HallJune 3, 2026—Bristol, UK—BeaconJune 5, 2026—Brighton, UK—DomeJune 6, 2026—Oxford, UK—New TheatreJune 8, 2026—London, UK—Royal Albert HallJune 9, 2026—London, UK—Eventim Apollo www.raylamontagne.com
N8NOFACE SHARES "AS OF RIGHT NOW"
N8NOFACE SHARES TITLE TRACK FROM UPCOMING STONES THROW DEBUT “AS OF RIGHT NOW”
AS OF RIGHT NOW EP OUT THIS FRIDAY, JULY 11
N8NOFACE photo by Sela Shilon
LA-based synth-punk mainstay N8NOFACE (pronounced “nate-no-face”) has just shared the title track of his Stones Throw debut As Of Right Now, out this Friday July 11. The track is a story “about two people on two different paths.” They are “dreaming of a future together, but it's just not the right time. How good something could be, but ‘as of right now, it's all wrong’.”
Listen to “As Of Right Now”:
https://sthrow.com/asofrightnowsong
N8 began his music career as one half of glitchy chiptune Tucson duo Crimekills back in the MySpace era, recording one-minute songs on the fly in his closet. He built a fanbase over several years, releasing music at a rapid clip by himself and with labels like Justin Pearson’s Three One G, playing hundreds of shows, and ultimately drawing the attention of Fred Durst, who invited him to join Limp Bizkit’s Loserville tour earlier this year, playing arenas across the US and Europe.
Where N8's earlier music was fueled by his addictions and the dark tales of hometown friends associated with Mexican drug cartels, As Of Right Now is a collection of love songs. On As Of Right Now, N8 he keeps one foot firmly in the synth-punk world while also exploring his more vulnerable, tender side. N8 will headline a series of soon-to-be announced West Coast dates in October
Listen to “As of Right Now”
https://sthrow.com/asofrightnowsong
Pre-order As Of Right Now
https://sthrow.com/asofrightnow
Listen to “Everything We Thought We Knew”
https://sthrow.com/everythingwethoughtweknew
Watch the video for “Waiting to Wait For You”
https://youtu.be/L6GzZ4hCrPU?si=OyXQ8rXLhr8iY62c
As Of Right Now Tracklist
3. The Way Out Of Here
4. It's Happening Again
5. Everything We Thought We Knew
6. I'm All Yours All The Time
7. You Dance Alone
Connect with N8NOFACE: YouTube | Instagram | TikTok
