London’s rising various hip-hop and R&B storyteller Kairos The Author makes a robust introduction with the discharge of his new single “CAN’T TALK” and debut EP “AND STILL I LOVE,” each out now.
A standout second on the venture, “CAN’T TALK” finds Kairos at his most susceptible but assured, weaving uncooked, heartfelt storytelling over soulful, genre-bending manufacturing. The observe captures the common ache of looking for closure after heartbreak, whereas additionally celebrating the power that comes with private progress and leaving previous variations of ourselves behind.
“‘CAN’T TALK’ got here from reflecting on my first actual heartbreak — wanting that one remaining dialog, that closure you by no means fairly get,” Kairos mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s additionally about progress, about realizing you’ve outgrown phases of your life and the individuals who had been a part of them. It’s private, however I believe everybody is aware of what it feels prefer to have one thing to say lengthy after the second has handed.”
The one displays the emotional duality on the coronary heart of “AND STILL I LOVE.” Throughout the EP, Kairos explores themes of affection, religion, heartbreak, and renewal, pairing hard-hitting tracks like “CAN’T TALK” with stripped-back, introspective moments resembling “GOOOD THING.” The result’s a cohesive but different physique of labor that balances vulnerability with confidence.
Raised on church bands quite than classical coaching, Kairos discovered to play completely by ear — an instinctive talent that now informs his melodic, cinematic method to sound. His music blends confessional lyricism with lush, soulful manufacturing, creating immersive soundscapes that resonate with listeners navigating their very own tales of loss, hope, and self-discovery.
Positioning himself alongside artists resembling Little Simz, Loyle Carner, Kojey Radical, and Slowthai, Kairos The Author steps ahead as not only a musician, however a storyteller decided to seize the intricacies of on a regular basis life via music.
Stream “AND STILL I LOVE”: Spotify Hyperlink
With their newest collaboration, “Extra Than A Feeling,” Esther Anaya, Parker Matthews, and JAYEM ship a high-voltage observe that thrives on ardour, power, and connection. Constructed on lush manufacturing, hovering vocals, and stay instrumentation, the one channels that transformative second when music transcends sound and turns into pure emotion — the place rhythm collides with soul.
Anaya — famend DJ, singer, violinist, producer, and the Official DJ of the Los Angeles Chargers — brings her signature electrical violin and haunting vocal textures to the forefront, infusing the music with a dynamic and natural edge. Identified for collaborations with Thomas Gold and Snoop Dogg, she elevates the report along with her uncommon mixture of depth and intimacy. Parker Matthews provides his highly effective vocal presence, grounding the observe in uncooked emotion, whereas JAYEM’s modern, club-ready manufacturing retains the momentum surging from the primary beat to the ultimate drop.
With Colombian roots and over 20 years of coaching, Esther Anaya has established herself as a flexible performer in international dance music. Because the Chargers’ official DJ for the previous three NFL seasons, she’s commanded phases at marquee occasions together with the Tremendous Bowl, Professional Bowl, F1 Mexico Metropolis, Anaheim Geese video games, and the PGA’s Waste Administration Open. She’s additionally held DJ residencies at Zouk Las Vegas and E11even Miami, sharing the invoice with heavyweights like David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Zedd, and DJ Snake.
From classical conservatory beginnings to the world’s largest phases, Anaya’s artistry continues to evolve with boundary-pushing collaborations like “Extra Than A Feeling.”
Stream “Extra Than A Feeling”: Spotify Hyperlink
Dundee alt-rock newcomers Crimson Vanilla return with their model new single “Oh No, I Obtained Older,” arriving at present on all main streaming platforms.
The observe marks the band’s first launch since their critically acclaimed 2024 debut EP “Days of Gray,” and lands alongside a music video filmed in Thailand through the quartet’s first worldwide exhibits earlier this yr.
Recorded with producer Kieran Smith within the spare room of lead guitarist George’s Dundee flat — now remodeled into the band’s personal DIY studio — the one previews a bigger physique of labor set for launch in 2026.
“The recording course of may be tense,” the band shared. “If you care a lot, you place your self beneath such strain to make every part excellent, so utilizing our personal area was a extremely large deal for us. We simply felt at dwelling, which completely elevated our confidence, and in flip, our efficiency on the brand new songs.”
Lyrically, “Oh No, I Obtained Older” captures vocalist Anna Forsyth’s reflections on time, mortality, and ambition.
Since releasing their debut single “Embers” in 2022, Crimson Vanilla have steadily grown into one among Scotland’s most fun new voices. Their debut EP “Days of Gray” earned reward from CLASH Journal, VISIONS, The Skinny, The Listing, The Courier, The Punk Website, and extra, establishing them as a daring and impressive new act.
With a dense, guitar-driven sound wrapped in ’90s-inspired vocal hooks, the band has been carving their path on the stay circuit, showing at Outwith Pageant 2022 alongside Fatherson and Pulled Aside By Horses, supporting Dea Matrona and Kyle Falconer (The View) at London’s Camden Underworld, and sharing phases with rising contemporaries like Reminders, Seaside Riot, and Redwood.
“Oh No, I Obtained Older” is one other step ahead for Crimson Vanilla, channeling urgency, worry, and ambition right into a hovering alt-rock anthem. Additional particulars of recent music and stay exhibits shall be revealed within the coming months, with choose 2025 dates already on sale now.
Stream “Oh No, I Obtained Older”: https://distrobolt.lnk.to/OhNoIGotOlder
Chicago’s Sleepwalk have launched a remastered model of their single “Flesh”, taken from breakout LP “Splatter” — now accessible on vinyl for the primary time. The discharge additionally features a b-side acoustic rendition of “Hit The Floor” and arrives simply because the band prepares for a fall tour supporting The World Is A Lovely Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and ASkySoBlack, additional cementing their place within the rising nugaze scene.
Recorded by Matt Holmes at The Echo Mill and blended/mastered by Adam Stilson at Decade Music Studios, the remastered “Splatter” sharpens the report’s heaviest moments with out dropping its atmospheric edge. Lead observe “Flesh” epitomizes Sleepwalk’s fusion of post-hardcore urgency and shoegaze textures — a duality the band dubs “heavy music for the sunshine hearted.”
“‘Flesh’ has all the time represented the punk fringe of the report,” the band defined. “It’s aggressive however nonetheless drenched in ambiance—precisely the strain that defines Sleepwalk.”
Drawing on influences like Smashing Pumpkins, HUM, Nothing, and Title Battle, “Splatter” oscillates between grit and dreamlike haze. Tracks like “Craving” hit with distortion and drive, whereas “Bumblebee” and “Crumble” lean into softer, shoegaze-laden textures.
Sleepwalk’s popularity has grown steadily, bolstered by excursions with Mass of the Fermenting Dregs and assist slots alongside Glassjaw, Thursday, and Hotline TNT, performing in main venues together with Chicago’s Vic Theater, Toronto’s Phoenix Theater, and Brooklyn Metal.
With the remastered “Splatter” and a stacked fall tour forward, Sleepwalk proceed to outline themselves as some of the thrilling new acts within the various underground.
Stream “Flesh”: https://orcd.co/flesh
Oakland alt-rock/darkwave trio Sword Tongue have scored a career-defining milestone with a Grammy nomination for his or her explosive EP “Bonfire In The Tempest.” The nod locations the band within the firm of a few of at present’s largest names in music, whereas spotlighting their means to translate uncooked emotion and social commentary right into a sound that resonates broadly with followers and critics alike.
Their fourth EP emerged in an period of cultural upheaval, fusing 90s-inspired guitar tones — lengthy delays, lush refrain, flanges, and modulations — with distorted bass strains, propulsive percussion, and pulsing digital textures. At its coronary heart are Jennifer Wilde’s hovering, shape-shifting vocals — slipping between croon and roar — backed by Gaetano Maleki’s shimmering guitar work and Dan Milligan’s dynamic, intricate drum strains. The result’s a daring sonic mix of rock, shoegaze, industrial, post-punk, and journey hop.
Singles “We Are The Resistance” and “Diamonds To Rust” encapsulate the EP’s imaginative and prescient: politically charged, emotionally susceptible, and deeply reflective of its time.
“Initially, this album was meant to be extra of a danceable opus with a visit hop taste,” Wilde mentioned. “Nonetheless, after the U.S. Presidential election, we realized that our album needed to carry a extra particular message on the present political local weather, on ageing, and on transitions. We wished to provide voice to the frustration, the anguish, the power, and the hope in all of us.”
Fashioned in 2020 by Wilde and Maleki through the pandemic, Sword Tongue has all the time created “darkish music for darkish instances,” drawing from private historical past and cultural turbulence to carve their area of interest. Wilde, a classically skilled vocalist with ties to Love Spirals Downwards, brings a haunting theatricality, whereas Maleki’s heavy background provides weight to his glittering soundscapes. Milligan, identified for his work with The Pleasure Thieves and collaborations with members of Ministry, 9 Inch Nails, and Killing Joke, brings depth and drive to the venture.
Stream “Bonfire In The Tempest”: Spotify Hyperlink
Toronto songwriter JEEN (also referred to as Jeen O’Brien) returns this fall along with her new EP “For The Romance,” arriving October 30, 2025. Recorded at ProGold Studio with longtime collaborator Ian Blurton (guitar, co-producer, mixer) alongside Stephan Szczesniak (drums) and Anna Ruddick (bass), the gathering captures JEEN’s signature mix of uncooked grit and pop accessibility.
The venture almost didn’t see the sunshine of day. Starting In early 2025, the classes had been derailed by yet one more bruising spherical of trade turmoil — a cycle JEEN has confronted greater than as soon as in her solo profession.
She was about to trash the entire EP and begin once more, however a change of coronary heart over the summer season made her decided to rise from the ashes. That resilience has outlined JEEN’s DIY path, carving area in a music panorama that may be particularly unforgiving to unbiased girls artists.
Lead single “Look What You Did” — out October 1 — units the tone: an easy-to-sing-along pop observe with sharp edges.
“On the finish of the day, it’s a pop music so I simply wished it to be mild and straightforward to sing together with however hopefully nonetheless have some tooth,” she mentioned. “It’s about being entranced by somebody or one thing and following that feeling all the way in which, though you’ll be able to’t see the place it should lead but. I’ve needed to be taught a variety of arduous classes on this trade and 2025 examined me greater than ever on that entrance, however for the primary time shortly, I’m comfortable I’m nonetheless right here, even when I’ve to observe a bit blindly for now”.
With over 2 million Spotify streams, placements in commercials (Google, Estée Lauder, MasterCard) and TV collection (Degrassi, Workin’ Mothers, Catfish), plus collaborations with artists like Serena Ryder and Brendan Canning, JEEN has lengthy been a quiet pressure in Canadian indie. “For The Romance” proves she’s nonetheless writing her personal script — on her personal phrases.
Stream “Look What You Did”: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jeen6/look-what-you-did
Veteran NYC songwriter and producer Charlie Nieland returns with “Disgrace”, a fiery glam-stomp that units the stage for his forthcoming album “Tales From The Borderlines,” anticipated on October 24. Directed by NYC artist Hypnodoll and filmed by Alice Teeple, the observe’s video channels the music’s themes of obsession, self-loathing, and queer id into one thing each defiant and intoxicating.
“We eroticize what we despise,” Nieland mentioned. “’Disgrace’ twists the warfare over gender id right into a stomping glam anthem with large guitars and a psychedelic afterburn. I wrote this music for ‘The Bushwick E book Membership’ once we learn Hugh Myers’ e-book ‘When Brooklyn Was Queer: A Historical past.’”
Nieland’s intensive résumé consists of work with Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Blondie, and Scissor Sisters, in addition to scoring tasks for movie and tv (The L Phrase, The Security of Objects). His new report pushes additional right into a lush mixture of post-punk, dream pop, glam, and prog, with contributions from keyboardist Joe McGinty (The Psychedelic Furs, Nada Surf).
“Tales From The Borderlines” follows Nieland’s EP “The Ocean Understands” and marks his newest leap as a solo artist after a long time of manufacturing, collaborations, and time with Her Vanished Grace. The album’s lead observe “Win” even options activist-rapper spiritchild, highlighting the adventurous scope of the venture.
“Disgrace” is out now on streaming platforms, with the total album accessible for pre-order through Bandcamp. Nieland will rejoice the discharge with a present at Berlin Underneath A (NYC) on November 5, joined by Life in a Blender and Jessie Kilguss.
Stream “Disgrace”: https://charlienieland.bandcamp.com/observe/shame-2
