Honest Thoughts on the Past that had Lead to Now and Never.

by A.J. Kaufmann



My first solo cassette was recorded in 1998. It was awful. I had some good ideas for a kid, but no talent at all, maybe except a knack for lyrics, and a bit of a gift for classical guitar and bass, definitely not for singing. I was also interested in much different music than most people my age in Poland back then. That’s why it took 4 years to form my first band in 2002. To take the shortcut, it took 9 more years to release my studio debut album “Second Hand Man”. In 2012, I started Sauer Adler, my second real band. And to take the shortcut again, in 2022, I formed Psychedelic Mayhem, and in 2024, I formed Bezkwit. Along the way, I also jammed, recorded, played, composed, and improvised whenever and wherever possible, with whoever was available at the time. That, through many shortcuts, takes us directly into the once-very-futuristic year 2026 (certainly around 1998).

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Finding Joy in A Broken World

by Baileigh Jane (Wilks)

Baileigh Jane (Wilks)
credit: Sydney Tate

It feels ironic to be releasing my song ‘Better’ at a time where it appears the world is, in fact, doing worse. Civil rights and liberties are being rolled back while our governments flirt with the idea of World War III, and yet, when I finished this song several years ago, I thought to myself, “I’ll release this when the world is better”. But as I’m getting older, I’m learning life is more nuanced than that. You can’t wait for the world to be better, you can’t wait for the world to give you permission to find your joy.

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The Opposite Of Shapes

by Laura of Outer Shapes

Outher Shapes


“The Opposite Of Shapes” is a term I’ve coined for the sound I hear in my favorite songs – the one I strain my ears for, impossible to pick out of the mix, so loud and so subtle at the same time, until I just have to believe it’s the final instrument – the sound that bubbles in between all of the tracks, everything and nothing at the same time. The element that makes a song good or not, well mixed or not, a hit or a flop. Sometimes it’s a feeling, sometimes it’s an actual sound. When that final piece reveals itself in a song, I can float in it, become it, and insert myself into that mysterious and thrilling space. I feel like it’s been made just for me.

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Epilepsy

by Martin Ejlertsen

Epilepsy from The Admirer by Black Light White Light


How can you convey a song about a disease? Especially a disease like epilepsy that most people have heard about but probably know very little about. And can I express the feelings and the hopelessness associated with having a child with this disease without it being simply too much for others to listen to?

Among other things, it was with these thoughts that I started writing the song Epilepsy. A song that has now become very central to my album The Admirer, which is my most personal album to date. The song was also the first single from the album, and was released on International Epilepsy Day. That all made sense.

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KC to LA: A Westward Pilgrimage

by Heads or Heads

KC to LA: A Westward Pilgrimage by Heads or Heads

When I stepped out of LAX and into the warm evening air I suppose I fell in love.

Kansas City, as much as I adore it and feel proud to represent, will never be as warm as Los Angeles was that night in mid-December, nor will it evoke the feelings of excitement and hope that still exist within. So when you grow up in a rural place it’s not uncommon to dream of bigger things – in the back of my mind LA was always the destination.

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Life Goes On

by Valerija Kravale

Life Goes On by Valerija Kravale
“Life goes on” has come out with quite a psychedelic buzz – it has had a big CD release party in the Hangar49 in Berlin on May 24th. For me, “just a girl with guitar from Eastern Europe,” the album turned out to be a momentum of all the things unsaid, a story of moving abroad, a cry-your-heart-out type of collection for self-therapy.

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