Rock

Thinking about releasing an album? Wait. Read this first.

by Ken Newman


There is an overwhelming flood of music being released every day now. Thousands of songs hit streaming platforms constantly, and even strong records can vanish under that weight. You can spend years writing and recording an album, only to discover that the release window lasts about two weeks before the internet moves on.

That realization hit me while I was standing in my storage area, looking at shelves sagging beneath boxes of vinyl.

Two released albums. A lot of records. Not nearly enough buyers.

Like many musicians, I had taken the album approach. I had even taken the vinyl step. I co-produced Blanket the Homeless, a project I remain deeply proud of, which helped support the San Francisco charity I founded by the same name. After that, I released my solo album, What Am I Afraid Of?

Both albums meant a great deal to me. Both required significant time, money, faith, and energy. People connected with certain songs. We sold some copies. And then, like so much independent music now, they disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived.

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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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Forever and a Day

by The Nouve

The Nouve Band Logo


For Leonard Cohen, Felix Flaucher, Karl Liebknecht & Rosa Luxemburg…

So yes, I’m writing songs, producing songs, mixing songs, writing lyrics, novels, screenplays, essays, doing video clips, short films, sure… but you want to know WHY? Great Question, man! What makes us doing what we do? Is there a rational and catchy answer, maybe a citation (Where is Leonard Cohen when you really need him? Why did he had to go at all??) – Well, “Music was my first love”, eh right, that’s what they all say… but that never led to give up their normal lives: they never had the idea to look behind the curtain, sell themselves at the Crossroads and die on the dream to release just this one and only song that sounds like it did in their head once before they recorded it.

So why? It doesn’t make sense if you could have stayed on the safe and secure consumer site, does it?

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One True Song

by Anna Karney

credit: Tanja Nixx

After my previous album, Creatures In The Garden, I didn’t think I had another one in me.  But suddenly this chorus just popped out, lyrics, chords, and melody all at once,  “We will all come out together for love, love, love.” And I really needed to hear these hopeful words, because of the daily barrage of sad news. It was enough to start me off on my next album journey.

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An ode to true friendship

by Brittany Bexton

Brittany Bexton


When I wrote I REMEMBER YOU, I had been watching a friend go through a really rough time. They had been going through the kind of difficulties that challenge your identity and your ability to show up for life in a healthy way. They had pretty much shut down and tried to hide it from the world, but they were not themselves, and anyone who really knew them could see how much they were struggling.

In moments like that, you have two choices: show up and love the person where they are, and remind them who they are and that they are loved, regardless of whether they can give anything back to you, or check out and leave. I choose to show up.

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In Solitude

by K Gocebe a.k.a. The Strange & Odd Secrets Club


What is The Strange & Odd Secrets Club? It’s not a club, or even a band. It’s really just one person – Me. Hello there! I try to put an emphasis on making my songs sound like a collective effort rather than the solo project that it truly is. Through some “social experimenting” with other musicians I found that I work much better in solitude. Part of this is due to my insecurity surrounding vulnerable lyrical and arrangement ideas, but also because I love taking on the personal responsibility of creating each element of a song.

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Riff Rafting

by Ed Rawlings


I love guitar riffs. Great riffs encapsulate the chords, melody, and feel of a song. They are a force that propels the songs forward. A good song also tells a relatable story, but a great guitar rock and roll riff can draw people quickly into that story.

Sometimes, riffs are memorable guitar melodies, like The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” or  Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” I particularly like riffs that are part chord, part melody, and are often as memorable as the lyrics, or maybe more so – like Chuck Berry’s opening riff for Johnny B. Goode – one of the classics of rock and the inspiration for many riffs to come.

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1% Suckers

by Fabian Schelbert of Dear Misses

Dear Misses


Since 2017, I’ve been the singer and guitarist of the Swiss band Dear Misses, although my first band experience started in 2005 when I was 15. My roots lie in a mountain valley, which is the embodiment of Switzerland: high mountains and deep valleys, a cold blue creek, a lot of snow in winter, green meadows, and Swiss cows during summer. If you don’t believe me, just Google “Muotathal.” It’s old Germanic and means “wild water valley.”

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A Bittersweet Experience

by Zachary Signals

Zachary Signals


When I released my first single, ‘Always Time’ as ZEETRICITY!, I found it incredibly moving how many people resonated with the subject matter; for such a personal song to have such an effect reminds me exactly why I began writing music in the first place.

I have always believed that music is the most powerful form of art because it is a constantly evolving medium that takes on various forms. However, its intention always remains the same: to resonate with the listener.

There is a special connection between the creator of the music and the one listening to it, creating a small window of insight into each other’s lives.

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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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