Too Goth to be Punk. Too Punk to be Goth.

by Scott Hays of Black Rain


Black Rain – Three grumpy men from the North East of England. We are excited to share our debut album with the world. We’ve poured our hearts and souls into creating something that truly reflects who we are. We’ve always felt like we exist in a unique space – “Too Goth to be Punk. Too Punk to be Goth.” – a phrase from a review of one of our early gigs, and we felt it captured what we are about far more concisely than we have ever managed to.

We’ve come to embrace the idea that we don’t fit in to one particular musical pigeon hole and in fact it’s something we wear with pride. A sonic storm of raw energy, brooding atmosphere, and razor-sharp intensity. The music blends the cold, jagged edges of classic post-punk with a modern a unrelenting drive and dark overtures. You’ll find haunting melodies, pounding rhythms, and a relentless emotional pull that we hope you won’t be able to ignore.

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Story is Everything

by Lincoln the Lawyer


When I was a kid, I discovered Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” in my Dad’s record collection and played it obsessively. I fell in love with the stories that that album told and the colorful characters in songs like “Big Iron” and “El Paso.” It was immediately apparent that to me, music was not just a melody and a beat; it was also visual and preferably cinematic. The story that the lyrics told was what really brought a song to life for me.

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If I Were To Have A Daemon, It Would Be A Squirrel

by Liv Luce

Liv Luce


Writing music has been a constant in my life. I was the kind of kid who sang constantly to myself, my friends, my parents, stuffed animals, anyone, anything. For a while, I had a pen pal with whom I’d exchange song lyrics. I’m pretty sure there was one about a baby swallow I tried and failed to nurse back to health in my parents’ attic.

I began taking piano lessons around the age of nine. Being an introvert, I spent many a school break in the music rooms playing and composing songs. Then, aged 12, I plucked up the courage to approach other musicians about forming a band. It was then that Suzie (guitarist in my first band, Caliber) introduced me to Radiohead and Nirvana. I learned bass and have been in bands ever since.

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Release It Creatively

by Simon Grundy a.k.a. Subtle Amnesia

Simon Grundy a.k.a. Subtle Amnesia


Subtle Amnesia is a one-person band prioritizing new sounds. With these sounds, I introduce philosophical ideas and the more grim aspects of reality to my music. I am a spiritual person who has had my fair share of mental health issues, and that ingrains itself into my music quite heavily.

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No Easy Way Out

by Ezra Meredith of Supplemental Pills

No Easy Way Out by Supplemental Pills


On our sophomore full-length album, “No Easy Way Out,” we examine tragedy underneath a bed of pulsating drone-rock following the murder of our bass player Aron Christensen in 2022, inspired by artists like Spacemen 3, The Velvet Underground, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

We do a lot of things: heavy blues, psychedelic, and atmospheric rock. It’s not as psychedelic/jammy as our first record. It’s more dark and brooding. It has some jams in it, but it’s far more focused.

Tragically, the biggest story isn’t our sound but the death of Aron Christensen, who was murdered while hiking with his four-month-old puppy, Buzzo. Inept police work, a lazy district attorney, and many questions that will probably never be answered have led many news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, to write about Aron’s mysterious murder. However, before his passing, we were finishing what would become No Easy Way Out, an eight-track collection of songs that explore, examine, and contemplate life, death, and how nobody makes it out alive.

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From Infinite Vacation to Central Pacific State Beach

by Rey Montano

Rey Montano - Central Pacific State Beach


I guess if I had to describe my “story,” the story that at least gets told through my music, it would be a story of adolescence, at least for now. I have lived in Fresno for all of my (admittedly short) life, and I think it can show through my music at times. But I’m always looking for a way to escape. Whether it be the mountains or the beach, make no mistake that I’d rather be anywhere than Fresno from at least July up to September. Our summers are scalding and long.

If I can’t do that, though, I still have the long-standing escapist cliche of music.

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Cruel Optimism – The story behind the music of Natural Velvet

by Corynne Ostermann of Natural Velvet

Natural Velvet


My name is Corynne Ostermann; I’m a multidisciplinary artist and musician playing bass & providing vocals for the Baltimore-based group Natural Velvet.

Natural Velvet started in 2012, and I’ve been involved since the beginning, as well as with my bandmates Spike Arreaga (guitar), Kim Te (guitar), and Greg Hatem (drums, production). I genuinely feel so lucky to have had my bandmates’ attention for as long as I have had, and as a result, I’m very protective of them and the long-term sustainability of our project.

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Fake Artists

by PH Mazza

PH Mazza - Fake Artists


The story behind “Fake Artists”, although still recent, dates back to mid 2019 where I was invited to go to one of those hipster parties in an abandoned loft called “Solar dos Abacaxis”, something that the artistic bourgeoisie loves to turn into a stage for events (kind of like a reference to the Berlin experience, but which is already dated by the clichéd pedantry of this same privileged/intellectual bubble).

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Some things stop, some things don’t

by jakson

jakson


I am jakson.

jakson is a musical project by me, jakson.

It first began in 2019 with the release of ‘guilt.’ There have been three releases since.

The latest release, ‘too artsy for the footy kids, too footy for the art ones,’ was released in February 2023.

It was written and recorded in my bedroom as I moved across Melbourne, Bendigo, and Canberra over the last three years. Its title comes from a line in its second song, ‘michael cera, serotonin.’ It references how I fit in socially, growing up in a country town with an interest in sports and art.

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