UK pop riser Chloe Qisha returns with ‘Sexy Goodbye’. If you’re new to Chloe Qisha’s world, then don’t worry – there’s a lot more to come. The pop force-in-waiting will share her new EP on November 15, boasting recent single ‘I Lied, I’m Sorry’ and ‘VCR Home Video’. Deliciously decadent pop thrills, Chloe ups the ante on her latest single. Out now, ‘Sexy Goodbye’ flips the script for a song of departure – it’s about relishing your own worth, and leaving someone with your head held high. Perfectly sculpted, it’s a slinky pop number with a chorus that stays lodged in your mind for days on end. Chloe Qisha comments… “It’s super rare as a songwriter to create a song that you can truthfully say is one of your favourite songs ever (because we’re usually so critical of our own work), but ‘Sexy Goodbye’ is that song for me. The song is about wanting to leave a relationship on your best form – fighting the urge to be sad and hoping that their last impression of you is, ‘damn, they look good.’ We really wanted it to be painfully honest and funny; and we definitely leaned into that as much as possible for the lyrics. I love writing sad/happy songs. I want people to be crying in the club to this song!” [via Clash]

The Velveteers are opening the campaign for their sophomore album, A Million Knives, on a bit of a historic note. The just-released first single, ‘Go Fly Away,’ is a collaboration with the Black Keys — and, in fact, marks the first time Dan Auerbach, who signed the Denver trio to his Easy Eye Sound label and produces the group, and Patrick Carney have produced something together for another act. “Pat’s played drums on some records I (produced) and stuff,” Auerbach tells Billboard. “With the Velveteers he was very hands-on, and it was all of us working in the studio.” Velveteers frontwoman Demi Demitro says Carney was a periodic visitor to the A Million Knives sessions, which took place last December at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. “We didn’t know it was that first time, but it was really cool to work with both Dan and Patrick,” Demitro says. Carney, in fact, started the songwriting process off with the opening keyboard line, which Auerbach says came from a music sample library. “We just kind of worked off it from there,” Demitro recalls. “Patrick’s drumming on the song, both of the drummers in my band (Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig) are playing, then I added this heavy guitar for the after-chorus. After we sat with the song for a little bit we added some overdubs, just to kind of put the little sparkling touches to it.” Auerbach says the idea of a Velveteers-Black Keys combination was organic — and perhaps inevitable. “We’d done some touring together and all of us are friends,” he says, “and I think Pat was excited to get in the studio, too, and work on a song with them. That was a really cool experience.” [via Billboard]

XG has unveiled the music video for their new song ‘IYKYK’. This track is the second pre-release from their upcoming second mini-album, AWE, set to launch on November 8. The song showcases XG’s mission to break boundaries through new challenges, featuring the members as they explore the limitless universe at lightning speed. Notably, ‘IYKYK’ samples m-flo’s classic track ‘prism,’ originally released in 2001, lending it an old-school vibe that complements XG’s modern sound. The newly released music video diverges from XG’s previous visual style by presenting a unique perspective on their world. The theme explores how their surroundings might appear through their eyes, capturing a mystical and surreal ambiance. The storyline revolves around each member’s sensory abnormalities, suggesting that by embracing these differences, they can perceive true light. This concept is artfully depicted throughout the video, blending captivating graphics and imagery that align with XG’s ethereal style. The music video is a visual feast, featuring outdoor scenes with pastel colors that evoke a dreamy atmosphere. The dance vibes resonate throughout, with engaging transitions that shift between real-life footage and cartoon characters, enhancing the whimsical quality of the visuals. The forest setting adds to the enchantment, making for a well-crafted and imaginative viewing experience that resonates with fans. Overall, ‘IYKYK’ is a delightful blend of nostalgia and innovation, reflecting XG’s artistry and their homage to m-flo’s influence. [via Tokyo Hive]

Alexis Lucena – known by her stage name LEXXE – has journeyed from the refined worlds of ballet and classical music to breaking new ground in the realm of pop. LEXXE has been forging a distinctive path in her blossoming musical career, releasing a string of dark-pop-infused singles such as ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘Queen of the Night’, each of which has heightened the anticipation for her latest creation, A Haunted House. Blending elements of electronic and dance music, A Haunted House is a bold and striking debut that immediately establishes Lucena as a key player in the contemporary dark-pop scene. The project’s moody, atmospheric production, combined with LEXXE’s inherent gift for storytelling-infused lyricism, creates a captivating experience. A standout track, ‘All Black Mansion’, opens with infectious synth-driven production and breathy ad-libs, which effortlessly draw listeners in. The track also receives a visually compelling music video that immerses viewers in the full LEXXE experience, bringing the hyper-pop anthem to life in vivid detail. [via Wonderland]

Following the release of their sophomore album, Fantasy Now!, Detroit’s garage-psych trio Shadow Show returns with a new double A-side 7″ ‘Baby Yaga / Spy Balloon’ (Rogue Records). While both tracks journey around bombastic grooves and treasured psych-pop impulses, the new single emphasizes the group’s utilization of the studio as an instrument with inclusions of synthesizers, tape delays, and other various overdubs to their harmonious wall of sound. On the songs the trio say: “Both singles were written and recorded at the same time last year, and always meant to be paired as a unit. Despite both new songs have different sonic influences, they share the same spirit and revolve around themes of obsession, hysteria, and the allure and mysticism of The Unknown. The narrative of ‘Baba Yaga’ was directly inspired by the Italian giallo film of its namesake by Corrado Farina. ‘Spy Balloon’ was written during the spy balloon hysteria in American media last year. Together, they showcase our flexibility as a band, and that’s why we chose to represent them equally as a double a-side. That, and because “The Beatles did it.” On the video they continue: “It was an unforgettable adventure in and of itself. For the ‘Spy Balloon’ portion, we drove four hours north to the Sleeping Bear Dunes in the middle of the night to beat the sunrise and mid-July heat to film with our director Cooper Arent and his assistant Tommy Barnes. A few weeks later, we filmed the ‘Baba Yaga’ portion on the hottest and muggiest day of the summer, and barely survived mosquito assaults. Chaos follows us wherever we go, and yet we still manage to have an unforgettable time.” [via Paperface]

Sister Thieves is a NYC-based doomy rock band known for their heavy grooves overlaid by eerie female vocals. Their unique sound weaves together 70s psychedelic and 90s alternative rock to create something entirely new. Formed as a trio in 2017, Sister Thieves released its self-titled EP in 2019 and played extensively around NYC. However, the pandemic and personal setbacks derailed their momentum, leading to a hiatus. In 2023 Steph and Aaron regrouped as a duo, crafting an album with their strongest material to date. Aaron took on recording and mixing duties from his basement studio as Steph directed and edited the music video for their new single ‘Be Bad.’ The band’s new album, CRAWL, drops October 25. [via Ghettoblaster Mag]

Warm Human has officially released her latest album, Hamartia, via Chicago based label mainstay Sooper Records. This marks her first album for Sooper and with a label. Produced and written by Johnston, along with Conor Mackey (Lynyn, NNAMDI, Mobobody), the album follows last year’s alternative rock-leaning Hometown Hero and swings back towards Warm Human’s more electronic roots, while retaining some guitar-infused elements from the former. The new album is also accompanied by a new stunning runway inspired music video for the album’s focus track, ‘Hamartia.’

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Warm Human (aka Meredith Johnston) has released the second single, ‘My Moods!!’, from her forthcoming album, Hamartia, which is due out on October 11 via Sooper Records. The single is accompanied by the Meredith Johnston and Dana Shihadah directed video below. [via The Deli]

Wallice has announced her highly anticipated debut album The Jester (Dirty Hit) out November 15. The LA native has come out swinging, with a double single singles ‘Heaven Has To Happen’ & ‘The Opener.’ ‘Heaven Has to Happen,’ is a confession about suffering from imposter syndrome even while you’re living your dream. “How many more jokes can I make before the wool gets pulled out from over my eyes?” Wallice sings just before a brief, mid-song outburst of distorted bass. [via Ghettoblaster Mag]

Los Angeles-based electro-pop duo Magdalena Bay (aka Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin) have released a new album, Imaginal Disk, via Mom + Pop. Now they have shared its fourth single, ‘That’s My Floor,’ via a trippy music video. Amanda Kramer directed the video, which continues the narrative from the other videos for the album. Watch it below. The band collectively had this to say about the song in a press release: “This song is about how we imagine a party must be like. We’ve never been to one.” [via Under The Radar]

Back in May, Amyl And The Sniffers shared a pair of singles called ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ and ‘Facts.’ Now, they’ve announced a new album called Cartoon Darkness, the follow-up to 2021’s Comfort To Me. Out in October, it’ll include ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ as well as the latest single ‘Chewing Gum.’ Amyl And The Sniffers recorded Cartoon Darkness with producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) at Foo Fighters’ 606 Studios in Los Angeles earlier this year. ‘Chewing Gum’ has a great, mid-tempo guitar groove, though the band’s punk roots come through in vocalist Amy Taylor’s delivery. “Life is short, life is fun, and I’m young and so dumb/ I’m stuck on you just like a chewing gum,” she snarls. She explains: “The adversity of life is desire never fulfilled. Doing the dishes cleaning, but never the one eating the meal, so close but it’s never enough, and trying to celebrate the ignorance of youth despite it being robbed away, so choosing ignorance, choosing to be dumb and choosing love, despite everything, choosing bad decisions for love, for life, because it is short, or is it long? Surrendering to joy, surrendering to being a vision, in your own power, because making decisions based on emotion rather than logic is liberating, and despite the external inferno, you walk away unscathed, through flames, burnt but only superficially, unstopped, unaffected, unhuman. Life is work, life is not free, we can never work enough because the end goal doesn’t exist, so all we can do is choose to be wrong.” [via Stereogum]

Du Blonde has announced the release of her fourth LP Sniff More Gritty, alongside a new single ‘TV Star’ and an upcoming UK tour. The artist’s fourth LP Sniff More Gritty sees Du Blonde take the role of producer and engineer while enlisting an eclectic list of collaborators, with features from Skunk Anansie’s Skin, Against Me!‘s Laura Jane Grace, Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and The Futureheads’ Ross Millard. Alongside the announcement, Du Blonde has released a new single ‘TV Star’ — a grunge-pop exploration of the toxicity of succumbing to fame, and how people can change with mass attention. “Congratulations, you’re a TV star,” they begin in a monotone drawl over the strum of an acoustic guitar. “Hit the bigtime, bought a brand new car / Was it worth it, do you know who you are? “It’s the story of who somebody was before and after fame, and the sadness of losing the good person they used to be,” Du Blonde says of the raucous track. The accompanying music video stars actor and musician Pete Chekvala, and cuts between new footage and 10-year-old clips of Du Blonde and Chekvala to “depict the purity and innocence of the early years,” the artist explains. “Although I’m acting in the early clips, I can see even now how much softer I was and how much I still believed in the magic of people,” they say of the video that was a decade in the making. “I feel like a lot of the new album swings between characters and mindsets and being able to play with the more unhinged sides of my personality both lyrically and aesthetically has been really freeing and fun.” Sniff More Gritty will see Du Blonde take aim at past loves and record industry execs through a soundscape of glam-rock, punk and pop. [via NME]

Glasser, the elevated electronic project from Cameron Mesirow, has announced the expanded version of her third album crux. crux deluxe includes seven previously unheard tracks and is released by One Little Independent Records on September 27. Glasser uses entrancing and dreamy experimental pop to explore themes of personal identity, emotional vulnerability, and the human experience. crux deluxe collects exclusive material written alongside the sessions for crux as well as complete pieces that had been gestating prior to the album’s release. It also features a slower, early version of her single ‘Drift’, which highlights a darker side to the composition. Of ‘Drift Slow’, she says; “I made like 40 versions of that song. And I still can’t listen to it. It’s been my obsession for the last, I don’t even know how long. That lyric is just something that came out of me like “What a good life / Except for all those times / When you want to die” It was kind of meant to be a joke but sounds quite serious in the context of the entire record. But also, like, jokes are serious sometimes too. It’s good to joke about serious things, for me at least. I made so many versions. And I really wanted the final version to have sort of a dance vibe to it because dancing about death is better than weeping. They’re both good, but I wanted to dance about that.”

Sabrina Carpenter and Jenna Ortega fight to the near-death over a shared lover in the singer’s gory new music video for ‘Taste,’ the opening track on her sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, out now. After a warning advising viewers that the following contains “explicit content and depicts graphic violence,” the music video sees the two former Disney Channel stars alternate strangling, axing and shooting each other. The video is inspired by Death Becomes Her, a 1992 film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. With the lyrics, “Oh, I leave quite an impression / Five feet to be exact / You’re wonderin’ why half his clothes went missin’ / My body’s where they’re at / Now I’m gone, but you’re still layin’ / Next to me, one degree of separation,” Carpenter, 25, sings about finding out her ex (played by Halloween actor Rohan Campbell) is back together with his former partner (Ortega). “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you / If you want forever, I bet you do / Just know you’ll taste me too,” she sings. Just before the video ends, Ortega is seen kissing her boyfriend, who, mid-kiss, turns into Carpenter. When Ortega opens her eyes and sees Carpenter, she grabs a chainsaw and pierces the singer in the abdomen. However, after Carpenter’s bloodied body falls into the pool, she turns back into Ortega’s boyfriend. The final scene shows the two bonding at the boyfriend’s funeral as they walk away hilariously comparing notes on him. “I don’t know how you put with [him],” Ortega questions recalling that he was “very insecure.” Carpenter adds: “Very clingy, lots of trauma.” [via The Independent]

Nemahsis has announced her highly anticipated debut LP, previewed by the new single ‘coloured concrete.’ Verbathim will be released independently on September 13. It follows the 2022 EP eleven achers as well as the career-shifting debacle the singer-songwriter born Nemah Hasan faced last October when she was dropped by her record label over her pro-Palestine activism. ‘coloured concrete’ arrives alongside a music video directed by Hasan’s frequent collaborators Norman Wong and Amy Gardner. With a steady pulse that crescendoes in the chorus as the artist sings hooky vocables and lyrics reflecting on dreaming of a certain unattainable lifestyle growing up, it’s a prime example of Nemahsis’s poised, thought-provoking and effortlessly catchy alt-pop approach. [via Exclaim!]

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An often sarcastic and nearly absurd level of self-awareness is evident throughout Hamartia, a literary term from the ancient Greek tradition meaning the fatal flaw that inevitably leads to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. These tragic characters often find redemption from their hamartia in a deus ex machina… a device that Warm Human also weaves throughout the album. Hamartia is laden with references to the flawed figures, storylines, and plot devices of literary tragedies throughout the ages; reference points for the self-mythologizing of Johnston’s own flaws and tragedies, which she lays bare in an almost too-much-information display that is as deviously fun as it is psychologically disquieting. However, self-awareness and literary ornamentation don’t always have to be somber, and some of the best songs on Hamartia show a more playful side of Johnston. The first single, ‘Love 2 Hate,’ which was ​​mixed by Grammy Award Winning Engineer & Producer Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, The Linda Lindas, M83), is an up-tempo, irresistible Do Revenge cut about the importance of embracing your own negativity from time to time. Johnston notes:

“This record is about my fatal flaw of always hating myself no matter how much better I get. ‘Love 2 Hate’ is the cornerstone song of the record, reflecting how deliciously good it feels to turn your self-hatred onto someone or something else, even if the relief only lasts for a couple of minutes.”

The song arrives with a video directed by Johnston & Dana Shihadah where Warm Human personifies a mix of characters inspired by Marie Antoinette, Mozart and Salieri (“The O.G. hater”, as Johnston calls him). Sitting in her high castle of hater-dom, Johnston looks down on all the things she hates in the world, barely remembering that the thing she hates most of all is herself. All while eating cake and dancing.

Hamartia:

1. Mercy Me
2. Father Father
3. Love 2 Hate
4. Wait
5. Hamartia
6. My Moods!!
7. Holding The Flame
8. Dramamine
9. 2 Steps
10. Maybe

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