Twenty-two-year-old powerhouse performer Gretel (FKA Gretel Hänlyn) returns with her brand new single ‘Far Out’, co-produced by long-term collaborator Mura Masa and out now via her own imprint Breadcrumb Records, in partnership with AWAL Recordings. Gretel’s aesthetic can be felt in everything she touches. This new era feels more physical and visceral than ever, launching today with cinematic new single ‘Far Out’, it’s yet another example of her exceptional worldbuilding and a huge step up in terms of her range and prowess as a young artist. Directed by Maisy Banks and produced by creative director duo The Reids, the stylishly surreal video pays homage to Bob Fosse’s legendary dance hall scene in ‘Sweet Charity’. Gretel gives a spellbinding choreographed performance – it’s exaggerated yet strangely alluring, and depicts Gretel in the spotlight in a way we haven’t yet seen from the rising talent. Speaking on the single, Gretel explains: “’Far Out’ is a big window into my personality and my favourite bits of the writing process; it’s aloof and came from a kinda sarcastic, rebellious place. There’s elements in the song that I never thought would make the Final Cut, like the loud, constant beeping, but once I started conceptualising the deadpan dancing in the music video, I realised those elements only added more personality. I had an idea a long time ago that I wanted to do a weird dance for a music video but I was waiting for a suitable song to whip out my moves. Alex was actually the one to show me the iconic Bob Fosse club dance scene in his film ‘Sweet Charity’, said it looked like something I’d do, and I was dazzled. The music video pays homage to that scene, and I used styling as a direct nod to Suzanne Charny’s character. This song is the first of many more.”

GRAMMY-nominated, genre-defying dance duo SOFI TUKKER have dropped ‘Spiral’ – the second irresistible banger from their anticipated forthcoming album BREAD to be released on August 23. ‘Spiral’ immediately hooks the listener with its 90’s Euro-dance throwback vibe, guitar hook and seductive vocals. Lyrically, Sophie Hawley-Weld explains, “it’s about coming to terms with the end of a relationship, but it sounds hopeful, dancey and energetic.” Tucker Halpern adds, “I’ve always loved ‘90s, early-2000s dance music and Eurodance kind of genres. We made this song with a nostalgic sound. It’s a club banger that brings you back to 2002 and the video is perfect with Heidi.” The music video for ‘Spiral’ combines nostalgia from 00’s chick flicks and memories from childhood sleepovers. Co-starring iconic model Heidi Klum, directed by Aerin Moreno and produced by Scheme Engine – who were also behind SOFI TUKKER’S previous single ‘Throw Some Ass’ – it follows Sophie and Heidi over the course of one night as they let go of their past relationships, capturing the fun and therapeutic magic of spending a night with your best friend. The song feels both retro and modern, with a timeless aesthetic in both design and cinematography. Heidi Klum comments, “As a huge music fan, I have loved SOFI TUKKER’s infectious energy and sound for quite some time. When they invited me to be part of the ‘Spiral’ music video, I didn’t hesitate for a second as I knew that we would have so much fun and probably be dancing all day. The song is contagious and fun, and I loved spending time with Sophie and Tuck, who are not only talented and full of ideas but also super interesting people. Most importantly, I love that this video is all about leaning on great friendships during hard times.” Sophie adds, “Heidi is one of the most contagiously fun people I’ve ever met. She is a vibe elevator and she’s so good at being excellent at what she does while not taking life too seriously. She made me shine brighter just by being in her presence.”

Tove Lo and SG Lewis have unveiled their new Heat EP in full. The pop queen is an old friend of the UK producer, with the two having met on the dancefloor. Staying in touch as they navigated the industry, Tove Lo and SG Lewis recently decided to go back to basics on a scintillating new EP. Out now, Heat leans on some formative club tropes, ranging from filthy house music through to electro and beyond. Take Millennially-charged ‘Let Me Go OH OH’ with its filthy vocals, with Tove Lo commenting: “We wanted to make something with a similar temperature as Kylie’s ‘Can’t get you out of my head’… sexy, cool and hypnotic.” ‘Busy Girl’ channels raucous 2000s electro-house, with added production from TEED; ‘Desire’ meanwhile it all-out trance, with SG Lewis explaining: “I wanted it to be really emotional, something that could be played at the end of the night. It felt like the perfect way to close off the EP.” [via Clash]

Remi Wolf has released a new single, ‘Motorcycle’. It’s the latest track from her upcoming new album. The follow-up to 2021’s Juno, she will release Big Ideas on July 12, after her UK support tour with Olivia Rodrigo. “Lyrically the song dives into this internal dichotomy I experience a lot in my life,” Remi explains. “One side of me is always wanting to slow down and settle down and be in love and be normal and have babies and shit, while the other, very forceful, part of me needs to be restlessly independent and stubborn and free. The song is essentially a fantasy about me living in a reality where both sides of me can exist simultaneously… Secret lives of the wives of Harley Davidson type…” [via Dork]

Aotearoa’s mega-heavy psych-fuzz troubadours Earth Tongue are clearly in the zone right now, launching their second studio album Great Haunting in the midst of monstrous tour of Europe and the UK, currently supporting Ty Segall. Written during the pandemic lockdown era while holed up bingeing on spooky movies in their Tāmaki Makaurau hausu, the now Berlin-based duo of Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) and Ezra Simons’ (Soft Bait, Troy Kingi) self-described “horrifying rock opera” is a doom-soaked nine track overload — conjuring vast sonics from just guitar, drums and yowls. Maintaining a dark tradition of Aotearoa occult metal tracing back to Timberjack’s iconic 1971 version of Black Widow’s ‘Come To The Sabbat’, Earth Tongue’s new narratives feel akin to flipping through the yellowed pages of ancient Charlton horror comic anthologies, nine tales dripping with unpitying dread. A feeling only reinforced by their video for lead single ‘Nightmare’, an electrifying montage of poltergeists in the kitchen, bloody body on the bed, rural ritualism — directed by Levi Strauss Cranston, shot by Ezra Simons on 16mm Kodak motion picture film, and made with support from NZ On Air. “Being in a relationship brings an extra element of trust to the ban. There is a kind of telepathy that goes on between us when we are playing live, especially with tricky starts and stops. When we record we sing together, on opposite sides of the room. It helps us lock in and makes it a way more fun to record – especially when we got to scream “DEAAAAAATH!!!” to each other during the recording of the song ‘Nightmare’,” says Gussie. [via Under The Radar]

Last month, Hinds announced Viva Hinds and released the extremely groovy tune ‘Boom Boom Back’ featuring Beck, which followed February’s ‘Coffee’. Now, the Spanish rock duo is unveiling ‘En Forma.’ “My boyfriend broke up with me and I turned 30 years old in the same week. This was the first song I could write after months of feeling absolutely devastated, immobile and pathetic,” Carlotta Cosials said. “I just wanted to get better but I just couldn’t, I couldn’t cope with this eternal race of being happier and better and cleaner and healthier.” Ana Perrote added, “When I talk with my girlfriends, in the same afternoon we can chat about wars, philosophy, love and clothes. I tried to reflect on this song the chaos and huge spectrum of what it’s like to be a young woman these days. How overwhelming it can be to juggle the news, politics, our bodies, relationships and laundry.” ‘En Forma’ is their first-ever Spanish language song. Although it’s inspired by difficult circumstances, it’s a blast. Below, watch the ‘En Forma’ video, directed by Cosials and Perrote themselves. [via Stereogum]

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October And The Eyes return with new single ‘Public Image’. The songwriter is prepping her new Certificate Of Participation EP, another display of artful creativity. Constructed on her own terms, it’s an art-pop song cycle, one that frames her relentless ambitions and urge towards expression. Take new single ‘Public Image’. Out now, it’s driven forwards by October’s intense grasp of musicality, with sessions absorbing the assistance of Yves Rothman as co-producer. Over-layering different perspectives, the lyrics analyse our social media selves, and the myriad ways our identity is explored through technology. October comments… “‘Public Image’ in its simplest form is inspired by the idea of the digital panopticon. It’s about my relationship with social media and the incessant pressure to constantly be seen and be seen doing well, but also the relationship between surveillance (CCTV) and voluntary self surveillance (social media) and the lack of actual autonomy we have over our public image.” The striking video was shot by revered visual artist Rei Nadal, a former student of the famed British fashion photographer, Nick Knight. Of the video, October adds… “While inspired by a current reality, I think ‘Public Image’ sets the tone and foreshadows the apocalyptic and science fiction based themes that are presented later in the EP.” [via Clash]

British-Brazilian artist Liana Flores details the release of her debut album, titled Flower of the soul, out June 28 via Verve/Fiction Records. Flower of the soul is described as a transportive release, with Flores painting “vivid pictures of nature, fantasy, love and loss” with a clarity in vocal that imports the the listener right into her inner sanctum. Last month, she shared the bossa-inspired single ‘i wish for the rain‘. With the album announce Flores shares new single, ‘Nightvisions’, a folky lamentation building to a string-laden crescendo, painting evocations of a first love influenced by her favourite gothic romances. Of the album, Flores says: “Flower of the soul wanders through many stylistic influences, from sunshine pop, to bossa nova, to 60s psych folk, evoking the changing seasons of life and nature, and the core emotions that persist throughout.” [via Clash]

Queen of girlie pop and bisexual TikTok sensation Chrissy Chlapecka releases cheeky new single ’10 Boyfriends’ ahead of her highly anticipated debut EP Girlie Pop out June 5. An explosion of fun synthy pop with 80’s sitcom visuals, the boppy track is quintessential Chrissy. The tongue in cheek lyricism is all about having fun, being hot and living by the absolute truth that “a pretty girl should never have just one guy.”

Beth Gibbons releases ‘Lost Changes’, heralding the release of her debut solo album Lives Outgrown on Friday. The evocative video for ‘Lost Changes’ is the directorial debut by acclaimed British photographer Juno Calypso, known for her hyper-feminine, humour-filled and deeply sinister art.

Sacramento punks Destroy Boys have dropped a new song, ‘Plucked,’ produced by Carlos De La Garza (Paramore, The Linda Linda’s, Best Coast, etc). Their first music of the year, ‘Plucked,’ is a tenacious piece of shimmering pop-rock that slowly veers into post-punk territory. On ‘Plucked’, the band notes: “’Plucked’ is an entry to a new era. It’s focused on freedom of expression & learning how to embrace your quirks. It’s ultimately just a little pop-rock banger. It’s super fun to play – we’re excited to play it live in future shows!”

Aotearoa’s Earth Tongue elevate our week with the lurid riff-worship of their new single ‘Out of this Hell’. Gussie Larkin and Ezra Simons go full mondo horror mode with this one, sounding not unlike a pair of town criers possessed as they spread dark word of the hooved one’s mighty return, with cheeky nods to Claudio Simonetti’s classic squelching synth work. Directed by Levi Strauss Cranston, shot on 16mm film by Simons, produced by the group and made with support from NZ On Air, the accompanying clip is a spine-chilling, blood-drenched cinematic masterwork, starring a glamorous Larkin wandering a remote west coast landscape overwhelmed by cult dread. “I couldn’t wait to unleash some screams like a wannabe scream queen. I even cried real tears for this! There’s something a little spooky about the west coast, particularly at night when you’re standing in the cold wielding a knife for the camera. It’s such a wild, remote coastline and there weren’t any houses or people around for miles. I think that helped me with channelling that sense of isolation and turmoil,” says Gussie Larkin [via Under The Radar]

Night In Athens is a dark synth project that was formed in East London in 2020. Unsettling vocals pierce their music with whispers, cajoles, and screams. They delve into the shadows, unearthing the murk and sociopolitical decay of what were once brave societies. Their haunting tunes are dynamic dirges that expose the corruption festering within the human condition. Their latest single, ‘Words Unspoken’, delves into the profound serenity of silence amidst the cacophony of modern existence. Initially, it may seem like a dark wave tune, yet it reveals silence as unsettling, odd, and even frightening. The lyrics portray silence as a sanctuary, a place of wisdom and peace, standing in stark contrast to the world’s turmoil. Through hushed whispers and unspoken words, the song underscores how silence offers true freedom and respite from constant demands, highlighting the modern struggle to communicate emotionally and love genuinely. Silence is often more than just a lack of sound. The haunting video for ‘Words Unspoken,’ a performance piece, was filmed in a North London industrial warehouse, under the direction of Simone Pellegrini. The stark, eerie setting perfectly complements the song’s exploration of silence and its unsettling power, creating a visual counterpart to the song’s theme of finding sanctuary amidst chaos. [via Post Punk]

Melbourne post punk/new wave/art pop band Kosmetika have announced the release of their third studio album Luxury. The announcement comes with the release of lead single ‘Pictures Are Gone’ and its accompanying video. The 10-track record will be out on July 12 via Spoilsport Records. Following their impressive DIY home-recorded effort in their sophomore album Illustration, Kosmetika turn to a more studio focused record featuring engineering from Erik Scerba. They also depart from the more duo focused sounds, to a band heavy approach featuring all five members inputing vocals, song ideas and creating a diverse and detailed 10 tracks channeling a combination of their two previous releases. The new single is a first taste of a more collaborative endeavour from Kosmetika, sitting somewhere between the 80’s melancholic new-wave of the last record and some of the faster paced pop songs yet to come on Luxury. The track settles into a psych-tinged shoegaze slow burner, featuring Eno-like melodic bass lines and washed out distorted guitars. It features Veeka Nazarova, the sole vocalist of ‘Illustration’, and maintains her usual new-wave tinged pop, also found in album hits ‘Automobile’ and ‘Halp’. [via Kool Rock Radio]

Alt-pop sensation Girli has unveiled her latest album, Matriarchy. The new album showcases Girli’s unique blend of electro-pop and introspective lyrics, cementing her status as a leading figure in the alt-pop genre and an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. Girli described the new album: “Matriarchy is an album of honest, authentic, confident but also painfully self-aware songs. It’s a story of the pain of growing up and healing from experiences that diminish your self-worth to nothingness. It’s about building yourself back up again after pain, setting boundaries and becoming a queen of your own queendom. It’s about the pain and joy of the queer experience, the rollercoaster of adulthood and mental illness, setting boundaries and learning to love yourself and ultimately finding your people, your community, your matriarchy.” The album release is accompanied by a new single, ‘Feel My Feelings’, which Girli describes as a song about being “an oversensitive, overemotional, over-reactive person.” She adds, “It’s an apology to a partner who’s getting frustrated with how emotional and dramatic I am. It’s about not being able to control my emotions and mood swings and complicating my relationships beyond my control.” The music video for ‘Feel My Feelings’ enhances the emotive themes, depicting a modern Renaissance banquet where Girli and her love interest convey their overwhelming emotions through surrealist imagery. Girli notes, “This video captures the love and hate embodied in toxic relationships. We see Girli submerged in a water tank, drowning in her emotions, while her lover stands on the other side of the glass unable to hear her.” [via whynow]

Virginia-based singer/songwriter/producer Ryan Wright creates songs that don’t make sense on paper–an ethereal voice singing angsty lyrics over confectionary synth-driven hooks. Her lyrics–at times profane, often tongue-in-cheek, occasionally devastating–reveal a searing wit and a sensitive heart. Her arresting voice embodies the kind of teenage heartache that is deeply personal and yet universal and timeless. Her latest single, ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ marks a new direction for Wright, as she ventures from clean indie guitars and crunchy production, married with a Roy Orbison-esque melody, into a bubble grunge sound with punky production and an edge that cuts deep. Heavily influenced by female artists like Mitski, Momma, Veruca Salt, and Blondshell, the result is a crossover between the grunge production of the 90s and the very female led category of bubblegum pop. Wright confides, “‘Quarter Life Crisis’ is the very essence of what it feels like to be in your early 20s to mid thirties. Although the age gap is vast, the feelings are mutual because in reality it’s not easy to become an independent adult. The song nurtures the very real feelings of the fear of becoming an adult and falling further and further away from youth. The song has a bit of longing that still clings to the urge to act young and dumb like you did as a teenager, but you’re stuck in your twenties feeling like your life is maturing way faster than you are. Quarter Life Crisis is the anthem for the trials and tribulations of aging.”

Irish songwriter Orla Gartland has shared new single ‘Little Chaos’. The artist has been working as one-quarter of bedroom pop supergroup FIZZ, playing some huge dates across the land. Next week she gets back to solo duties, kicking off an intimate tour of the UK and Ireland. Alongside this, Orla has shared solo single ‘Little Chaos’. Out now, the lyrics deal with the struggle of trying to show-up in a relationship, and her desire for emotional truth. As ever, Orla’s magical way with melody makes for enchanting listening, as she sings: “I struggle saying just how much I really love you / You can thank my mom for that”. Out now on her own New Friends imprint, the Dublin-born songwriter comments: “I think a lot about how to move through the world alongside a partner and for a long time I wanted to show up in relationships as easy-going & palatable, never taking up too much space – now I can’t think of anything worse. I can be loud, funny, clumsy, loyal, intelligent, annoying, caring, angry; this song is about showing up as all of it, all at once. I think dropping the act and showing your true self feels like the most vulnerable thing you can do.” The video for ‘Little Chaos’ is out now, shot by emerging Danish director Anne-Sofie Lindgaard. [via Clash]

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Multi-award winning and world-class violinist Lindsey Stirling has joined forces with alt-pop star Royal & the Serpent for her new genre-defying single and video ‘Inner Gold’. With Royal’s gorgeously strange vocals and Lindsey’s strutting rhythms, ‘Inner Gold’ is the second track taken from Lindsey’s forthcoming album Duality out in June and tells the tale of suffering through deception and emerging with a renewed sense of self-reliance. The visuals are huge, featuring both Royal and Lindsey in a choreographed performance.

Imogen And The Knife makes her debut with new single ‘Mother Of God’. The songwriter is already becoming a name to drop, with word of mouth settling on those triumphant live shows. Set to play Abbie McCarthy’s Good Karma Club on May 2nd at London’s Lexington venue, she’s just emerged from the shadows with a full single. Her debut, Imogen And The Knife stakes a claim on ‘Mother Of God’ with its powerful, theatrical vocal and piercing arrangement. Reminiscent of PJ Harvey and Florence + The Machine, the song is strident, full of life, and at times unstoppable. Penned alongside Will Lister and co-writer / producer Alex Parish, ‘Mother Of God’ does what every good debut single should do – it presents an entire world for fans to inhabit. Harv Frost directs the video, which draws on surrealist cinema. “It made sense to reference 1920s surrealist films and artists such as Man Ray and Dora Maar,” tells Imogen. “Where the uneasiness is told through lighting, the deliberate placement and distortion of objects and extreme close ups.” [via Clash]

Earth Tongue blast listeners into a hellscape vortex of sludgy riff overload with their new single ‘Grave Pressure’. Bursting from the soil born anew in the accompanying clip filmed in Berlin and directed / produced by Caity Moloney and Tom Mannion, the zombified duo of Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) and Ezra Simons seem even more glamorous the second time round — made up and stylishly garbed for their journey into the great beyond, with the bonus addition of grit and grass. Like cosmic beings beaming their undead anthem from outside of time and space (I’m feeling shades of the infamously spooky Sapphire & Steel finale), Earth Tongue’s second studio album Great Haunting will be out on June 14 via US imprint In The Red Records. “If this song was a movie, the protagonist would be trapped in a torturous space between life and death… It’s totally schlocky, and we wanted a video to match that,” says Gussie Larkin. [via Under The Radar]

Northern junglist Nia Archives has just released her debut album, Silence Is Loud, a climactic 13-tracker that has been years in the making. Since seizing everyone’s attention with ‘Headz Gone West’ and the Forbidden Feelingz EP back in 2021, the world’s been clamouring for more and Nia has not faltered. One such track, ‘Cards On The Table’, also just got a video. As with some of the other tracks on the project, ‘Cards On The Table’ leans more on her singer-songwriter chops. There’s still a flighty breakbeat beneath it, but the stars of the show here are her heart-on-the-sleeve vocals and lyrics and the indie, almost Britpop guitar licks. Nia Archives has been showing us her versatility beyond the jungle sphere since day one, but Silence Is Loud gives us the most comprehensive look yet. [via Complex]

Gimme more GIMMY! Hot on the heels of the awesome ‘Things Look Different Now’, the Gemma Owens led, Byron-based garage rockers are back with their forthcoming album’s second single. Taking things in a more playful direction than their previous post punk cut, ‘Bathrooms’ fuses elements from new wave and art rock, taking cues from the likes of Talking Heads, B-52s and David Bowie. Capturing the 80s vibes of the track beautifully is the music video, filmed around the Northern Rivers / Bundjalung Country, featuring some idiosyncratic, synchronised sequences… and Bathrooms, of course. GIMMY’s new album Things Look Different Now is out May 31 via Third Eye Stimuli. [via Pilerats]

Pop-punk powerhouse Taylor Acorn has shared her brand new single ‘Greener’, out now. A vibrant and soaring track about realizing that things can be so much better than you ever imagined, ‘Greener’ serves as a follow-up and juxtaposition to Taylor’s previous single ‘Gray’. In a statement about the single, Taylor said: “‘Greener’ has to be one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written! I wanted this song to capture a feeling of revelation in that ‘grass is greener’ turn of phrase that we all know — and I think the music video does a great job in showcasing it too!! We all go through struggles and tough days where we beat ourselves up emotionally, and then when the going gets good, the grass feels so much greener!!” [via Broadway World]

Girl in Red celebrated the release of her new album on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. The 25-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter performed her song ‘Too Much’ during Thursday’s episode of the NBC late-night talk show. Girl in Red, born Marie Ringheim, took to the stage in a pinstriped brown blazer and pants against a backdrop of red curtains. ‘Too Much’ appears on Girl in Red’s second studio album, I’m Doing It Again Baby!, released now. The album also features the singles ‘Doing It Again Baby’ and ‘You Need Me Now?’ with Sabrina Carpenter, along with seven other tracks. Girl in Red released a music video for the song ‘I’m Back’ alongside the album. The video shows the singer wander lush green hills on a sunny day. [via Upi]

Dua Lipa has released the latest single from her highly-anticipated third album, Radical Optimism. ‘Illusion’ arrives with a Tanu Muino–directed music video shot at the Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc in Barcelona. Watch Lipa perform at the luxe pool amid dancers, high divers, and synchronized swimmers below. The picturesque swimming pool in the ‘Illusion’ clip was also the site of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Slow’ video shoot from 2003. Muino’s visual culminates with Lipa climbing a structure inspired by traditional Catalonian human towers, called castells. Lipa co-wrote ‘Illusion’ with Caroline Ailin, Danny L Harle, Tobias Jesso Jr., and Kevin Parker, who contribute across the album. The single was co-produced by Harle and Parker. “‘Illusion’ was the first song Caroline, Danny, Tobias, Kevin and I worked on together, and it really broke the ice for the record” Lipa said in press materials. “It’s about knowing what you’re getting yourself into, but staying for the hell of it. The joke’s on them, it’s the fun of playing someone at their own game because ultimately you won’t fall for an illusion.” [via Pitchfork]

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In Sofia Dobrushin’s ‘Codependency,’ being codependent isn’t a pathological personality flaw but a rallying cry. The Brooklyn-based actor, director, and musical comedian’s ballad is as smart and original as it is catchy, taking the stack of self-help books we have sitting on our nightstands and building something useful out of them; in this case, a song that celebrates our messy, often ridiculous humanity. The video is a technicolor-dipped, ‘80s-inspired dreamland of violet and glitter hearts, informed by John Waters and public access dating show camp. In the video, Dobrushin, who uses she/they pronouns interchangeably, plays herself and hosts a dating show titled “Attached at the Hip” that goes haywire, to say the least. “Codependency/ Stay in bed from 3 to 3/ Bed sores and monogamy/ The only way I want to be,” Dobrushin sings with a natural performer’s vibrato with a melody that plays on loop in your brain like the comforting, incessant reminder of sticky note affirmation on a mirror, backed by Dobrushin’s own close harmonies and light, glistening guitar from Evan Sites. Dobrushin wrote ‘Codependency’ in 2020 during a time when a lot of their friends were moving in with their partners during the pandemic. Dobrushin and their partner Matt Albani, who is also in the video, ultimately decided not to live together. (They do live together now.) “My Cancer-cusp-Leo brain was like, ‘how do I rationalize this? So I bought like three self-help books: Attached, All About Love by bell hooks and Pleasure Activism. I haven’t finished one of those books,” Dobrushin tells NYLON. “I read the one chapter of Attached, where it was like, ‘Codependency is a myth’ and I was like, ‘oh my god what?’ And then I closed it and put it away and now I’m here. I hadn’t heard about codependency in a positive way of, maybe, you’re not crazy and have attachment issues, maybe you’re just not getting your needs met.” Dobrushin produced the song alongside Sites in the winter of 2021 in a recording studio in their room, and shot the video around the same time with a group of their actor and comedy friends, including rising comedy and music stars Jes Tom, Gara, and Softee. While Dobrushin directed the video, their roommate Caroline Knight assistant-directed and edited alongside Dobrushin’s childhood best friend Gaby Sant’Anna, whom Dobrushin grew up filming sketches with. The video’s behind-the-scenes intimacy and conspiratorial silliness is as crucial to it as its aesthetic. The real breakthrough moment, so to speak, of ‘Codependency,’ isn’t the earnest acceptance of the flawed parts of our personalities; it’s the tongue-in-cheek, poking fun of our obsession with self-diagnoses at all. “Only child syndrome is my scapegoat for never taking any accountability,” Dobrushin sings in one line. “My therapist says it’s from my dead dog,” they declare in another, drawing out “eh” in “dead.” “But that’s not how my brain works/ Believe me I’ve tried/ I’ve read Pleasure Activism 45 times,” Dobrushin adds again at a particularly observant moment. As much as we’d like to read a book or follow an Instagram account to figure out why we’re sad, it’s not that simple; we can’t blame our anxieties on being an only child or having a childhood dog die, and ‘Codependency’ pokes fun at the very real school of thought that suggests reading Pleasure Activism makes you more self-actualized, something someone might want to tell the three separate people Dobrushin saw reading the book Jacob Riis beach last week. “When I write comedy songs, it’s really when I’m just feeling a lot of things and music is easier for me to compartmentalize,” Dobrushin says. “It’s fun to have people come up to you and be like, I did not know this was something other people felt.’ You feel like you’re in an echo chamber and then it starts to resonate with people and you remember why you did it.” [via NYLON]

UK vocalist Chrissi has shared new single ‘Lipo’. Blending soulful songwriting with a tendency to over-share, this Essex riser is the all-too-relatable voice you’ve been waiting to hear. Last year’s Back In The Day EP was a sparkling debut, and Chrissi returns with something new as summer hits its peak. ‘Lipo’ is a tongue-in-cheek ode to a failed romance, with Chrissi musing on male expectations, and body positivity. Out now on her own Listen Generously imprint, ‘Lipo’ has a fun exterior, but there’s a serious message underneath. “​I wrote ‘lipo’ because I was upset with a guy who’s sexualised me and then decided he couldn’t be with me because he didn’t want his friends to know what he’s into,” she says. Transforming a negative experience into something more positive, she laughs: “Everyone has to kiss a few frogs I suppose… Made a banger out of it though!” The video comes from Denisha Anderson of Caviar, and features Chrissi (and friends) engaging in a fun dance routine. [via Clash]

With her new album Hold The Girl set for release on September 16 via Dirty Hit, Rina Sawayama is releasing the video for the title track. Directed by Ali Kurr, the video acts as a “metaphor for Rina’s emotional breakthrough in therapy” which inspired her to write the song. “’Hold the Girl’ was the first song I wrote for the record at the end of 2020–I had gone to therapy and had a revelation, so I decided to write this song…that was the start of it,” Rina explains. “I was crying before going into the studio to write about it.” [via DIY]

Former IZ*ONE member and soloist Choi Yena has released the music video for ‘Smartphone’, the title track of her sophomore mini-album of the same name. In the vibrant visual, Choi is a gamer who guides an avatar of herself through a playground filled with whimsical mascots, eventually stopping at a shooting game inspired by the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. “Mix and match as you like / Airplane in my hands / No matter where you’re going or what you’re going to do, get connected / This star is too narrow to contain me,” Choi sings. [via NME]

Stella Donnelly’s new album Flood will arrive at the end of this month, and now she’s promoting it with one more advance single following ‘Lungs’ and the title track. The brisk ‘How Was Your Day?’ taps into the talky vocal vibes that are all the rage these days, but in a way that reminds u of Blur’s ‘Parklife’ turned wistful. It’s an approach Donnelly’s been rocking since her 2019 breakthrough Beware Of The Dogs, and it sounds incredible here. Donnelly on the lyrics: “This is my attempt at building a song out of a very specific dynamic between two monogamously involved people. The verses are just excerpts from real conversations, fragments of what two people talk about when they both know they need to have a real talk but neither wants to be the one to bring it up. This song came out of lockdown and seeing a lot of friends break up or get married.” As for the video, by Nick Mckk and Claire Giuffre, Donnelly writes, “This video does a really good job of portraying how annoying I am! We shot it from opposite sides of the world which was a little bit stressful but a lot of fun.” [via Stereogum]

Ahead of their debut album, Truly Trash, due October 28, London-based international punk quartet Ghost Car are sharing their new single and video, ‘Sex’. Ghost Car look to make the most of their diversity by exploring different writing styles, all the while expressing themes of openness and empowerment. Their new album provides Ghost Car with that platform, as they rage against political injustice and attack patriarchal inequality, homophobia, racism, and toxic relationships. The album was originally planned to be released by Burger Records, though the band pulled out of the release as accounts of sexual assault and exploitation of women by associates of the label came to light. Ghost Car say, “This album is our way to express what bothers us, from personal interactions to international politics. We wanted to explore different themes in a simple way so that they could be accessible to everyone.” Of the video, they say: “We asked our good friend Simon Eaves, who is a director and also in the band Pleasure Complex, to direct this. We’ve always loved his style and knew he would send the song into another dimension, literally. The idea originally was to have Maeve as Kuntessa’s character but we all loved Kuntessa’s style as a performer and thought she brought a different kind of energy we really needed. She is that annoying person you’re stuck in a lift with, no awareness of personal space but also doesn’t give a sh*t. The concept is really just all of us slumming it in a lift: Clara, late for an interview, Laura, the psycho boss from hell, Maeve, the nonchalant grocery shopper, and Cece as a depressed mechanic working in the building, and then Scott, the weird, male architect no one asked for. The idea was contextually different than the content of the lyrics; Simon’s idea was to really go into that feeling of headbanging to your favorite pop banger. There’s something really jumpy about the staccato chords we like. Then when we all hit the ground, we all lose it and get that euphoric, full-body feeling. I suppose it’s about feeling really uptight, going to work, then clocking off, going to that gig, hearing music really loud, incredible. The euphoric part when the music goes a bit more extraterrestrial was so fun to shoot; look at our hair! Our make up! Our outfits! The making of it was pretty wild; Simon managed to pull it all together in two weeks, even sourcing a real elevator, real buttons to push, the ‘sex’ lift panel, real posters made by Maria De La O Garrido, etc. The attention to detail was just incredible. So they rebuilt it for the set, and that’s us, in a real elevator, having existential breakdowns.” The grungy pop-punk anthem and lead single ‘Sex’ channels names like Stiff Little Fingers and The Undertones, mixing the band’s ’60s girl-group influences with the explosive rock sound of iconic acts like The Runaways. The band say that the track is, “about having an interaction with someone once and thinking more of it than it actually was. Especially with social media, being able to see that person all the time, thinking you have a connection when really you just snogged them at a party once. It made us so happy to be a band formed by women from different parts of the world but with the same feelings and frustrations!” [via New Noise]

Whether your head is in the clouds or your feet are planted firmly on the ground, you’ll find ‘Balance’ with Aaria Tae’s new track. Mixing 70s soul with Kendrick Lamar-esque flutters, her distinct melodic tone pierces across dark soulful basslines – effortlessly dancing between sonic spectrums. The stunning self-directed video is in her own words a ‘London meets Egypt’ fever-dream, an offering of self-acceptance as she realises she doesn’t need to be boxed into one culture. “At first, I found it hard feeling like I did not belong to just one specific culture but I have now come to see how it is what makes me and my art stand out” – and thanks to visually captivating drops such as this, we are waiting on tenterhook for her next move. [via Wonderland]

Jazzie Young’s melodic charisma could have easily been inherited. The LA-based indie pop artist is the daughter of Jesse Colin Young whose band The Youngbloods and their iconic anthem, ‘Get Together’ was a major influence in the 60s movement. Jazzie herself looks like a page out of a 60s magazine and sounds like the soundtrack of a long drive up in Malibu in a vintage Ford convertible. For her second EP 27 Club, Jazzie showcases her evolution of sound and further experimentation as an artist providing the listener with velvet smooth vocals and music to float away to. She has just released the title track and it’s accompanying video. Jazzie tells Ladygunn of the song: “I love this song because I feel like the lyrics are very real, but there’s a really cheeky, funny attitude layered on top of the song that keeps it lighter and more tongue-in-cheek. The upbeat piano and production definitely help with that too. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the idea of the “Saturn Return,” but it’s basically this concept of completing these heavy cycles in your life and that’s said to happen around the age of 27. And the strange thing for me was it really hit me like a semi-truck as soon as I turned 27 last year. The whole year was just filled with so much learning and digging through trauma and growing. It was like a year of emotional spring cleaning, which is rough, but also so liberating once you’re through it! So about half way through 27, I really just wanted to write about how I was feeling, but in a way that wasn’t too heavy. I wanted honesty and humor, and that’s where ’27 club’ was born. [via Ladygunn]

Aotearoa all-stars Dateline share the final single from their upcoming debut album Dumb For My Age, out on August 27 via Sunreturn, plus a video directed by Olivia McClymont. The talented foursome of songwriter Katie Everingham, Callum Devlin (Hans Pucket) Priya Sami (BUB) and Ruby Walsh (Lips) feature in the new clip, with a cameo from Annabel Kean (Sports Team and recent UTR Assistant editor). Recorded by Callum Passells (also of Hans Pucket), the visuals for ‘Love Hertz’ show the band in a doctor’s waiting room, where Everingham’s pining for the healing touch of an alluring doctor (Geo Bidois) becomes extreme (and extremely relatable). The grungy pop-infused distortion electrifies Everingham’s delicate vocals and attentive lyrics in a suitably fuzzy blur of infatuation… “I think I was just being a bit moody when I wrote this… It’s me kind of complaining while acknowledging that actually life and love is good and I wouldn’t change anything, but I may just go “humph” from time to time,” Katie Everingham explains. Olivia McClymont adds: “‘Love Hertz’ was an extraordinarily fun music video to make… the premise for the Love Hertz is a bit literal! It’s about how far you’ll go to be with your ‘true’ love… even if that love isn’t reciprocated. Sometimes love truly hurts! Perhaps this is a bit of a warning to anyone who might think otherwise? Self-love before all other kinds of people! In the video, Katie figures the only way she can be with the Doctor she’s enamoured with is if she has legitimate reasons to go to the hospital… but is it all worth it in the end? (short answer – no, haha).”” [via Under The Radar]

Tāmaki Makaurau via Pōneke duo Earth Tongue, aka Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) and Ezra Simons (Soft Bait), have unleashed their first official new tune since 2019’s debut long player Floating Being. Entitled ‘Miraculous Death’ and recorded with Jonathan Pearce (The Beths), Earth Tongue have created a self-directed cinematic masterpiece in miniature for the single, visually channeling the lurid spirit of ’70s European horror and suspense, while pushing the over the top elements of their own heavy-psych / prog-rock sound to delirious heights. Shot by Simons on French 16mm cinema camera and ’80s lenses, star of the clip Larkin explained Earth Tongue’s commitment to conveying the true feel of classic horror in their stunning visuals, made with support from NZ On Air. “When I went to the states a few years ago I visited The Stanley Hotel from The Shining – not the one they shot the film in, the ACTUAL hotel that Stephen King stayed in which inspired the novel,” says Gussie. “That was a cool spooky experience that lingered in my mind for a few years after. I’d been daydreaming about finding a location like that and had even looked into filming at The Chateau Tongariro, although that didn’t work out. I found this house on a shoot location website and it felt like striking gold! It literally ticked every box – the mini hedge maze, the fountains, the winding staircases and OTT dining room. It’s usually a wedding venue but the people who owned the place were very generous with letting us run wild for a day.” [via Under The Radar]

HYRA is throwing it back to the early days of hyperpop with her new single, ‘REM (No Sleep).’ The energetic track draws upon the ever-looming impact of PC Music on today’s cultural landscape and marries elements of its production with that of more mainstream EDM, morphing it into a musical framework that’s as synthetic as it is real. That realness comes through HYRA’s songwriting: “The track is about falling in love with somebody to the point that they’re present in your dreams,” she tells PAPER. “It’s the romanticization of being with someone so adamantly that the ‘person of your dreams’ becomes your reality. REM paints the picture of fast nights infused with energetic and numbing love.” HYRA comes from a long lineage of pop songwriters who combine their emotive side on the lyrics with boisterous electronic production, with Charli XCX and Lady Gaga having been two of her biggest influences. She’s bounced back and forth between all of the US pop capitals — LA, NYC and Miami — and brought with her a full deconstruction of the genre. As a filmmaker herself, HYRA has a keen eye for visuals, waking us up in a futuristic hospital-of-sorts painted in full white. It’s a scenery that normally serves to sterilize — sucking the life out of anything that enters its four walls — but it can’t stop HYRA and her guests from partying the night away before we’re blasted into the real world, color and all. [via PAPER]

Almost two years since the release of the critically acclaimed Conscious Control, KAYE releases her latest EP Neon God. In a new era of freedom from former relationships, societal expectations of women in their thirties, and self-restraint, KAYE has created a masterclass in bridging rock, disco and pop. The EP also arrives with an official video for ‘Respect Me’. On ‘Respect Me,’ she allows her bass skills to shine through on the funk-driven anthem. The official video was directed by KAYE’s sister Liann Kaye. This marks their 15th video together; a testament to the creative identity the two sisters have crafted over the years. In the video, KAYE and her girl band of clones shred and seduce, all with her signature style of kooky choreography.

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