Latest Posts

Mise en Scene – “Burn Out”

May 27, 2023

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Winnipeg-based act Mise en Scene (ICYMI, we covered them all the way back in 2017). Don’t be fooled by their Canadian roots – this duo pumps out sugary surf-pop that blends vintage Beach Boys roots with a modern day sassiness a la Best Coast or Beach Bunny. “Burn Out” is their latest offering – a perfect encapsulation of what surf-inspired indie rock is meant to be. An upbeat and boppy good time, layered heavy with reverb and borderline doo-wop lyrics with simple rhyme schemes that anyone can relate to. You can find “Burn Out” below via YouTube or on Spotify.

The Rocket Summer – “M4U”

May 27, 2023

If you’re a millennial of a certain age like me, you might remember the mid-00s… More specifically, the sun-soaked emo-pop coming from Bryce Avery, aka The Rocket Summer. Those were good times, but like any good artist, Avery refuses to sit still, and that’s evident in his latest offering, the genre-bending “M4U” (which, I have gleaned, is short for “made for you”). The cornerstone of his 8th(!) full-length album, SHADOWKASTERS, “M4U” is built around a dizzy acoustic guitar, a blippy drum machine, and Avery’s unmistakable voice. It’s gritty, it’s catchy, and its unmistakably Avery, and we can’t help but love to see/hear that he’s still making great music 15+ years later. You can find “M4U” on YouTube (below) or on Spotify.

Jake Minch – “Handgun”

May 26, 2023

20-year-old Connecticut native Jake Minch embodies our misspent youth here on latest single, “handgun.” With nothing more than a voice, an acoustic guitar, and some atmospherics, Jake brings us back to our college days (not that we’re too OLD to relate… or something) – drunk and hungover and coming into our own as adults. Striking imagery and charming lyrics reminiscent of The Front Bottoms or Modern Baseball really help to paint us a picture of Jake’s wonderfully youthful world view. With deeply narrative songs like this one, sometimes it’s best just to hear from the artist themselves – here’s what Jake had to say: “The song takes place right before ‘doing music’ was on my mind. It lives in the morning, waking up after my first big party-weekend at a new school. My head hurt too much to move, so I skipped my Econ class to lay with my thoughts[...]

Thavoron – “Why”

May 26, 2023

Get ready to be inexplicably crushed by Seattle-based artist Thavoron – the 22-year-old has crafted a slice of indie/folk/emo called “Why” that is goosebump-inducing. Reminiscent of emo acts like The Hotelier or indie-folksters like Alex G, “Why” pairs a spiraling guitar twinkle with strikingly gentle falsetto to create an odd amount of beautiful tension. Just when you think you can cut through the mood with a knife, Thavoron adds a booming drum sample or a smattering of woodwind energy to root you back to earth. It’s a song you need to truly experience for yourself… But only if you’re ready to feel heartbroken (and not be 100% sure why). Check out “Why” on Spotify Thavoron · Why

Salarymen – “Echoes”

May 26, 2023

Sydney’s Salarymen strike a perfect balance between retro and contemporary on their latest dream-pop track, “Echoes.” At the forefront is vocalist Renee de la Motte’s beautiful vocal delivery – it lays overtop a bed of warbly guitar energy and otherwise reverbed-out instrumentals, giving the song an expansive and atmospheric vibe. A trip past the three-minute-mark will reward you with an emotionally soaring outro that will put you into a heavenly trance. Fans of Alvvays, Beach House, or Still Corners will like what “Echoes” has to offer. Check out the YouTube video below or peep “Echoes” on Spotify.

Gold Spectacles – “Man or Machine”

May 21, 2023

buffaBLOG and Gold Spectacles have a long, storied history – in case you’ve missed all of our previous articles, you can find them here and here and here and… here. They’ve certainly caught our ears a number of times, so it’s no surprise that they’ve nailed it yet again, this time on effervescent new single, “Man or Machine.” Twinkly synth sprinkles and spaghetti-Western guitar tones give this one a lighthearted feel and the perfect backbone for soothing, cooed vocal melodies. Sure, Gold Spectacles know how to write a hook, but they also know how to inject some true meaning into their songs – here’s what they had to say about “Machine” below: “… the lyric[s] came after chatting about a person that is very close to our hearts and how gritty they are. They have this deeply caring nature and desire to make sure everyone is OK even down to[...]

Blondes – “Beautiful World”

May 20, 2023

Nottingham’s Blondes are on a bit of a hot streak lately (ICYMI, here’s our writeup of their previous single, “The Basement”). The quartet strikes again with their warm and luscious take on dream-pop, this time in a song called “Beautiful World.” A bouncing bassline provides the root for twinkling guitar leads to spiral around your ears – it’s topped off with a beautifully-delivered vocal, airy and gentle, that seems to yearn for better times. The band further explains their perspective below: “Beautiful World feels like our first proper pop song. It’s my favourite that we’ve written so far. It’s about our relationship with our environment and each other. We wrote it to speak not just for ourselves but to anyone that finds themselves looking around at our world and wondering just how we’ve become so disconnected from one another and the planet. We hope you like it.” Fans of Turnover,[...]

Ellur – “Anywhere”

May 9, 2023

Halifax’s Ellur is here with a guitar-pop jam that encapsulates an entire coming-of-age story. With soaring melodies, a driving beat, galactic synth plunks, and Ellur’s passionate vocals, “Anywhere” brings to mind indie luminaries like Angel Olsen, Lorde, and HAIM. We’ve all been enthralled with people that are no longer in our lives at one point or another and Ellur zeroes in on those feelings of regret and longing with pinpoint accuracy – further explaining the song, Ellur explains: “Anywhere is a song written for your ex (the one that you’re not over). Set on a summer night, at dusk, after a day of drinking in a park somewhere with your friends. Your skin is warm, your head is dizzy and your recent ex is walking towards you. A song about a feeling I think everybody has felt. The building tension between you both; your past relationship and all the feelings[...]

STARRY EYES – “No Show”

May 9, 2023

The emotion is tangible in the newest single from Californian duo STARRY EYES. “No Show” is a grunge-pop ode to a heroin-addicted father – with a guitar-driven backbone and somber melodies aplenty, the ennui comes pouring out over the course of this song’s 4:46 runtime. With plenty of 90s alt-rock energy (think “The Freshman” from The Verve Pipe or “Stars” by Hum) and a pinch of emo revival energy, “No Show” checks all our emotional boxes with a healthy dose of starry-eyed (pun intended) nostalgia. About the EP, singer guitarist John Shippey adds: “These songs are for people who’ve been through some shit — music is our catharsis. Many of the songs on ‘Ciao Bella’ wrestle with the issues of addiction and loss, but we always try to balance the negative with the positive and keep looking toward the future.” “No Show” is available on the band’s new EP, Ciao[...]

charlø – “Lemon”

May 5, 2023

LA’s charlø (aka songwriter, vocalist, and producer Charlotte Reed) is here with a tape-aged bedroom-pop banger called “Lemon.” Synths that warp in and out of a vintage warble power this one forth, giving “Lemon” an indie rocker feel without losing sight of top 40-quality melodies. Complimenting the smooth production and pop-minded songwriting approach, “Lemon” is a song with a much deeper meaning – charlø uses her songwriting chops to diatribe about the challenges of being a female in the music industry, ultimately fantasizing about flipping the bird to her haters from the top. Here’s what Charlotte has to say about “Lemon” below: “Lemon came about from a general frustration around being written off by people in the music industry and just wishing that I could tell people to shut the fuck up sometimes. I hate feeling like you can’t risk burning bridges by speaking up for yourself in relationships where[...]

girlhouse – “gen x boyfriend!!”

May 5, 2023

Sugar and spice for sure – emphasis on the spice. We’ve been digging the latest from girlhouse (aka Lauren Luiz), a one-two punch of honeyed melodies and blistering guitar energy called “gen x boyfriend!!.” Relationships (especially ones full of love bombs) can often feel explosive in both good and bad ways and “boyfriend” certainly takes that sentiment to heart. With the raw intensity of Hole (think “Celebrity Skin”) working against girlhouse’s saccharine vocal chops, “boyfriend” feels like an outpouring of anger from someone sweet who’s been constantly keeping themselves in check. Check out what Lauren has to say about this one below: “Basically we wanted to tell the story of someone who is in the very beginning ‘they can do no wrong’ phase of a relationship, where all the red flags are ignored and all the abuse is somehow super endearing and ‘real.” I used to be super into older[...]

Idle Riot – “Happy Thoughts”

May 5, 2023

Idle Riot’s debut single, “Happy Thoughts,” was actually influenced by… Avoiding some not so happy thoughts. See below: “Happy thoughts was written shortly after Russia invaded the Ukraine and California was experiencing wildfires. It is a demonstration of our collective passiveness to a lot of the really dark things going on right now, which is ironic given the technology we have available.” With dreams of just sitting back and ripping some Mario Kart, Idle Riot acknowledges our collective ability to ignore what’s going on in the world and pacify ourselves with some sweet, sweet technology. It’s an omni-relatable sentiment in our increasingly digital existence, but Idle Riot executes it with such surfy brilliance that it really doesn’t seem so bad. Stabby guitars and slacker-esque vocals are the highlight here, bringing to mind elements of The Strokes, Beach Fossils, and FIDLAR. Check it out below via Soundcloud, on YouTube, and also[...]

Futureheaven – “Coldgaze”

April 25, 2023

Coming to us all the way from Sydney, Australia, shoegazers Futureheaven caught our ears with the icy brilliance of their latest single, “Coldgaze.” Immediately, lovelorn guitars soaked in bell-tone ambiance pierce through your speakers, swirling around your head with a surprising amount of clarity for an otherwise shoegaze-y track. There’s (of course) a wall of fuzzed-out guitar backbones to appease any MBV stans out there, but fans of fuzzlords like Pity Sex all the way to surfy dream-poppers like Alvvays will also find lots to sink their teeth into here… Just be sure not to get a brain freeze (you know, because it’s cold). “Coldgaze” is available now on lots of streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp – you can also preview it via the YouTube link below.

Hana McCartney – “Dope”

April 24, 2023

“The Gen-Z love child of Sky Ferreira and Lana from the Ultraviolence era? That’s Hana McCartney.” Their words, not ours… But we think it’s an apt description of this exciting young talent. We’re here to share Hana McCartney’s latest offering, the 90s tinged (but still 2023-flavored) indie pop of “Dope.” Thick with plenty of guitar texture, dramatic synth ambiance, and Hana’s forlorn vocal presence, “Dope’s” indie pop vibe has the feel of a song that could comfortably exist in any of the past 2.5 decades. Hana had a specific vision for this song before it was penned – here’s what she shared with us: “The idea of each song having a drug reference or innuendo was already in my mind when I started writing this album. Taking taboo topics like abusive relationships, substance abuse, addiction, and mental health and personifying them into stories that are relevant to me and others[...]

Sol Bishop – “Write Off”

April 16, 2023

Melbourne based artist Sol Bishop brings a intriguing, punk-forward track into his usual hip hop offering with “WRITE OFF.”  Filled to the brim with self loathing about a failed relationship with lines such as “So I tell you that I’m changing/just to see you naked/but it’s still the same shit,” Bishop doesn’t let up much on his self-critique and clearly takes the blame but doesn’t take responsibility (Baby, I’m a write off). A buzzing bass line reverberates throughout that will stick with you long after the final note, certainly more on the punkier side of things while still retaining Bishop’s spitfire hip-hop delivery. Fans of The Streets, Gorillaz, or even Linkin Park would find this track interesting and may find this a good stepping stone to find more interest in hip hop. You can hear “WRITE OFF” Sol Bishop over on Soundcloud or Spotify as well as several of his[...]