With the proverbial curtain of 2025 thankfully drawing to a close, Week in Pop provides a fleeting snapshot of some of the artists that made this year manageable and out of the deluge of madness—dare we say inspirational. Forever never concerned with hierarchal systems of ranking and the like; this feature stands as a humble work in progress that highlights a handful of the creatives that kept us engaged in the collective spirit of humanity. Never intended to leave anyone behind, but rather cast a bit of shine on just some of our favorites in pseudo-chronological order. So now without further ado it is our pleasure and utmost privilege to proudly present:

Week in Pop’s Year in Pop 2025:

Get Lost Cassidy Frost

The pop praxis of Cassidy Frost; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Presenting a succinct collection of songs that were, according to the artist all written on cold nights for lost loves — San Francisco based tunesmith, media mover, producer, visionary, Get Lost Cassidy Frost presents the intimate expressions that make up Live in Private released through Seattle imprint Puzz Records. The awaited debut solo album from the artist, Cassidy delivers an assortment of songs that were recorded in one take where their inception and articulation were all created in real time. Following up some of our favorite tunes from 2024, Cassidy Frost continues to make music that speaks to the parts of the self that are the most guarded. Ultra visceral vignettes that sting like the abandoned love letters that remain unsent, the feelings that stir us in ways that words by themselves cannot fully convey, the people who capture the whole of our attention, how we process love, how we process the ones that got away, the ways in which love stirs us, surprises us, the memories made, the memories forgotten, and all the memories that have yet to be made. [see also “Like I Did Before”]

Ella Hue

The visceral visions of Ella Hue; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Offering nearly nine minutes of visceral deliverance from the continuous quagmires of the world (both at home and abroad) is the long anticipated visual from Ella Hue for “War” (Round). Featured off their fall 2023 release Magnet from Team Love, Hue unleashes a visual epic to echo into the chasms of the ages courtesy of Natasha Heaszl, Lee Ordway Maps, with choreography by Devin Fulton, and costume design by Molly Minot Hubley. The Ojai artist elevates the punk poetics in the face of power as an introspective endeavor to asses the wars that rage inside of us, to the ones that occur on a cellular level, the battles within our own home communities, to the even larger clashes that define the frail fabrics of domestic civics, alongside the inverted operas that transpire on the geopolitical stage of world theatre.

simmcat

Reflecting with Simona Catalani, aka simmcat; press photo courtesy of the artist.

On the heels of soaring through the existential expanses on the lifted head spaces of “What is Real”, simmcat ventures deep into the heartlands of vulnerability on “Always”. The moniker of Italian artist Simona Catalani shares a sweet swaying string dream from the album I Heard She Lost You via WWNBB that follows up the debut Thought I Was Dreaming. Catalani carefully weaves chamber chansons that move from the deepest senses of the soul and into the uncharted outer realms.

MAN LEE

Tim & Sam of MAN LEE; photographed by Tayler Smith.

In a whirl of thought and sound is MAN LEE with the debut of “Wind”. The Brooklyn based duo of Sam Reichman and Tim Lee follow up their recent treatise on the modern malaise “Celery” with musings on nature, the meanings we apply to the spaces that strike our interests, the magnitude of the world through the lens of memory and so much more. Working in conjunction with producer Arthur Moon, “Wind” breezes through the remnants of places we have known while traversing through the annals of time to the modern day states of longing, desires, wants, and needs. Featured off the upcoming debut album Hefty Wimpy arriving March 7, Reichman & Lee make music for today’s dreamers that yearn dearly for something outside the tired regiments and indoctrinated routines that are suited to serve the status quo of late capitalism’s mechanically engineered orchestrations (and functions).

Myriads

Floral affinities with Myriads’ Maria DeHart; photographed by Meredith James.

Debuting a song for sleepless lovers is Myriads with “5 a.m.” where the midnight movements are met with the sunrise beam signals of daybreak. Featured off the forthcoming Find Ourselves Again, Portland artist Maria DeHart follows up the 2023 EP Win Some, Lose Everyone with songs that center on the human connection. The ties that bind us to loved ones, the threads that reconnect and center us to our inner-selves, and the ways in which we discover newfound energies and inspirations in others and our surrounding communities. Maria makes music about what it feels like to find love, channeling the thrills, excitement, the tinges of anxiety, ecstasy, and enthralled sentiments that defy descriptors of becoming lost in the presence of someone that we are falling truly, madly, deeply, and ultimately head over heels for.

Hectorine

Sarah Gagnon of Hectorine; photographed by Emily Dulla.

Presenting Arrow of Love, the new album by Hectorine. The latest chapter in a lauded and revered pop oeuvre that follows up Live at Lost Church, Tears, and the self-titled — Sarah immerses the audience in the chansons that float between worlds alongside fellow creative visionaries Geoff Saba, Max Shanley, Jon Wujcik, Joel Robinow, Betsy Gran, J.J. Golden, et al. It is no hyperbole to describe this album as one of the year’s most anticipated release in the Bay, a collection of industrial symphonies that traverse the under-worlds and outer-worlds of the most intimate realms of our own personal communities and consciousness.

Alexi Belchere (Gloomy June, Nocean Beach, et al.)

Bay Area fields forever & Alexi Belchere; photographed by @play_w_cc.

Gloomy June is a collaborative journey to draw upon the connections that make us feel a strong sense of empathy, just as the solo and singular vision of Nocean Beach is a celebration of self-examination, actualization, exploration, and acceptance. Alexi entertains the constructs of the ego and super ego as two sides of the same coin, a drive to create the most catchy and meaningful songs that centers the spirit and cultivates the importance of communities. A polymath who seems to be everywhere in the Bay Area all at once, we present the latest creative developments from the artist who further delves into an array of influential constructs that are key to the engine of their unrelenting volition. [see also Gloomy June’s “Kill You”]

eggcorn

The many modes & meditations of Lara Hoffman, aka eggcorn; photographed by Ginger Fierstein.

Entering into the fray of dissecting these polar dualities is Vallejo, CA artist eggcorn with the debut of the fiery and fierce “Hitler Was a Vegetarian”. The Bay Area band based on the pensive perceptions of Lara Hoffman scours the human psyche in a Jungian flight of frightening fancy to understand the good and bad that exists at the savage heart and core of the individual. Featured on the album Observer Effect, Lara follows up Your One True Love with songs that wade into waters that confront the contradictions and abundance of complications that are rife within the messiness of the human condition. Moving toward the closed corridors of chamber championed trajectories that tread through the troves of interior examinations and actualization of the soul; “Vegetarian” grasps at a better understanding of the cogs, coils, and chaos that comprises everything that makes us who we are as people.

Softie

Best of the Bay — Softie; press photo courtesy of the artists via Instagram.

This year saw a barrage of song sketches, works in progress and more from Oakland-based visionary Nicholas Coleman of Softie, featuring singles "Gauzy", "Don't Look Down", created in collaborations amongst friends and fellow creatives. And while those mythic recordings, as of the writing of this feature, currently remain unreleased: they might very well be part of yet to be disclosed larger project. Those big bright tones can be heard within the raging roar of the new single "Kiss Kiss Kiss". Like the magnificent experimentations of ten thousand feet waves of dissonance with expressive intention found on the beloved debut Strong Hold; Coleman shakes up the conventions of infinite possibilities again with the monumental Somersault via Cherub Dream Records. Featuring a strong collaborative showing from longtime friends from fellow beloved acts such as Buddy Junior, Christina's Trip, Figure Eight, Fitting, H. Salt, My Pet Fossil, engineering/mixing by Brad Lincoln, and mastering by Curt Walls; the next level of the Softie vision is realized in full at Deathbed Studios in a recording that shakes the rafters of heaven in lantern shatters of celestial sunlight.

Monte Lately

Sidewalk sits with Monte Lately; press photo appears courtesy of the artist.

In pushes for those elusive better days, we find inspiration in the voices and arts that emerge from the deafening clamor of the crowds. A newfound source of inspiration is SF’s Monte Lately who caused a ripple with the vulnerable beauty and pop bravado of “Pity the Fool”. A new arrival to the Bay scenes, “Pity” is a lavish and loud anthem that exists in the languid spaces of breathy bedroom bop to big stage sensuality. The sleepy, and sinewy lo-fi lyrical lattice textures climb upward to tree tops that find new degrees of clarity and confidence that shines like a well-lit sky path to celestial places. 

On the debut of “Fever Dreams”, Monte Lately excavates the resounding effects of loss through all of the eras and exploring the impacts across the catacombs of consciousness. When the everything doesn’t make sense, the tendency is to venture into the recesses of ourselves and learned schools of logic to rediscover and reconnect to the grounding foundations of reason. Sometimes, often times this is a task better posited than accomplished.

The Pennys

Presenting pop genius of The Pennys’ Mike & Ray; photographed by Alejandro B. Joven.

In the spirit of the Bay's marathon of prominence and aspirational ubiquity — Mike Ramos and R.E. Seraphin unveil the anticipated self-titled of their collaborative pop clique — The Pennys. Formed out of sessions for Ray's solo work at Mike's Bernal Heights flat, the duo expanded their collaboration to include fellow local mainstays Yea-Ming Chen (of Ye-Ming & the Rumours, Ryli), Owen Kelley (previously of Sleepy Sun), and Luke Robbins (formerly of Latitude, as well as Ryli).

The simpatico nature of these collaborations are a no-brainer given the creative cross-sections of connections between all the involved artists. Witnessed here is a captured kind of magic that is one of the most exciting things the Bay hasn’t really heard since the halcyon, hopeful, and restless days of 2009. A time where you could easily bounce between Bottom of the Hill, Eagle Tavern, Hemlock, Hotel Utah, Rickshaw, etc and catch the like of the Fresh & Onlys, Girls, the Sandwitches, Sonny & the Sunsets, Weekend, and countless other local phenoms. Given the current tight bonds shared by many in the local communities, a new era of collectives and cooperatives have emerged between the East Bay, SF, to the southern and northern Bay networks. There is something ecstatic that is happening here, and the momentum has only but begun an unstoppable showcasing of talents in a prolific parade of wonder works that feature contributions from some of the most inspired imaginations.

Yoh

The year of Yoh; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Presenting the debut of the new album Leaning for Youngbloods, Yoh leans further into themselves. From taking leaps of faith into new environments, discovering a greater love, working in new mediums, and accepting new personal challenges; Leaning showcases the artist moving into higher streams of creative movements and exploring even richer textures and lyrical textiles of sound. Self-produced by Yoh, the album offers a privy adventure into new worlds where the visceral and meditative operate on parallel planes of elaborate expression energized with the percolating heartbeats of life.

Cautious Clay

Ticks of the clock observed by the one and only Cautious Clay; photographed by Travys Owen.

Delivering a brand new conceptual work orchestrated to the tick of dawn’s rising clock is The Hours: Morning for Concord Records. Recorded after making the move from Brooklyn to Philadelphia, Cautious Clay’s latest odyssey witnesses the motions and trajectories that transpire at the beginning of a new day. The event of daybreak glides with a demure, intoxicated glee like a late amorous evening turned into a soiree that soars past a planned wake-up call on "Tokyo Lift (5am)". That early morning-after energy breaks like nascent sunrays of light on the heart ripping romanticism of "No Champagne (6am)", that turns the hazy tilt-a-whirl of thoughts during rush hour into a big center stage stealing number on "Traffic (7am)". The classic Cautious Clay sound can be experienced on full sparkling display with the driven vision a.m. jogging "The Plot (8am)" that joyously races ahead like the rapid firing thoughts in the runner's theatre of the frontal cortex.

Fitting

Fitting, from left; Greta, Phil, Eli, and Joey; photographed courtesy of @lo__fire.

Sacramento band Fitting present their new album Stable Vices, titled after the concept of cooped-up equestrian idleness; Greta, Eli, Joey, and Phil deliver a conscious rocking rebellion against those institutions of inertia found in our shared ecosystems and communities of unrelenting reality. Like the relatable sentiments and sensational snapshots that strive to convey the many moods and emotions of modern existence experienced on their lauded album Minutes; Fitting further mines the places where formative memories meet larger picture concepts.

Pax

In the mix with Pax; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Los Angeles-based bedroom pop boffin Pax has mystified the musical undergrounds for years. With a career spanning over a decade, the elusive musician [fka Pictochat] has made a name for themselves as your favorite artist’s favorite artist with countless genre-defying tracks. With an oeuvre spanning releases like leaving, Sophomore, melo.grano, lookbook [french house tape], cherry: outtakes, a holiday album with TV Blonde, Because We're Old, CAMDOG, Tricot, Hazards! & more — Pax presents an east meets the Pacific west discotheque with the island aura of Bermuda.

The new album Bermuda brings a new retro batch of funk and disco that spans across the globe, and expertly trips into different dimensions of time and space. Kicking it off with "Cairo", Pax commands rhythms and keys that dance into a variety of decidedly demure movements and moments that sparkle like that elusive holiday in the sun that you have always wanted. The ultra chic of "San Francisco Disco" is the perfect head bopping number that you want to hear while hitting up your favorite café in the Mission, with a slick and smart style that will transport anyone listening in the world to a bespoke Bay Area natural wine salon replete with obscure vintage wax spinning on the platters. Featuring vocals from TV Blonde, the dreamy vacation vernaculars carries over on to the title track that drifts off to North Atlantic coordinates to explore parts unknown, uncharted, and all around intriguing. "Domino" gradually kicks up the party to the full hilt of a Friday night at a beloved local haunt that makes even the most humble neighborhood dive feel like the most rustic and wondrous watering hole located somewhere in the opposite corner of the world.

Ryli

Bay-dreamers—Ryli; photographed by Corey Poluk.

Ryli arrives like a soaring dove heralding the arrival of a sun-beaming solstice, riding down the UV solar ray slides like the descent of Icarus returning to the cradle of charred earth. Presenting the eagerly anticipated album Come and Get Me: Yea-Ming, Rob Good, Luke Robbins & Ian McBrayer provide ample further evidence of the Bay Area's current creative streak of unstoppable proliferation and collaborations. Philosophies of togetherness, extoling the principles and powers of banding together, combining talents to make a sound of serendipity and an impactful synergistic connect that synthesizes styles into airwaves that broadcast near and far.

Come and Get Me fights the fears that keep us anxiously awake afterhours with pursuits toward places of purpose, prosperity, and points of reason. Opening with “Medicine Speed”, Ryli takes the listener on the rollercoaster of the late night thoughts that toss and turn to find a comfort that shines brighter than an electric nightlight. Yea-Ming’s organic, earnest, and iconic delivery in conjunction with Good’s crisp chiming tones, in hand with McBrayer & Robbins rhythm section that altogether ventures into the foray of freakbeat favorites that pioneered the the no waves and new waves all the movements with post as the prefix.

Omo Cloud

The aura of Omo Cloud; photographed by Jake Kelsoe.

Embarking upon the journey to feeling whole again is San Diego artist Omo Cloud, the moniker of Cole De La Isla. Presenting a first listen to their album Mausoleum courtesy of Dusty Mars Records / Silver Girl Records; the artist works through the youthful traumas that have shattered themselves personally, along with their faith in systems of belief and the character of society at large. In hand with the perils experienced by them (and all of us) during the pandemic, Mausoleum smashes the boulder stones of a cold crypt for something ethereal, eternal, and all out transcendental in ambition, vision, and execution. Cole orchestrates ballads in ways that are unique, unusual, and fascinating in their forms, arrangement, and heartbreaking honesty. It’s an album that confront sobering realities in a sweeping assembly of moving forward whilst putting the pieces of themselves together again on a road of personal discovery, and recovery.

Sex Week

Richard Orofino & Pearl Amanda Dickson of Sex Week, photographed by Alyssa Vitalino and Dillon Camp.

Searches for substance, sincerity, and sensuality amidst modern society's inescapable deluge of smog-cast skies, polluted ecosystems, broken civics, and such is a breathless search and rescue mission in the name of respite. Flooded zones of natural disasters, climate decay, executive edicts of incessant entropy, undermined states, targeted vulnerable groups, social breakdowns, and countless other calamities cause further rifts that further rip people further and further apart from each other. Shining an inviting, beguiling, brightly burning lighthouse lantern red glow amid the ever-present fogs of smoky, manufactured fear is Brooklyn duo Pearl Amanda Dickson and Richard Orofino presenting the Upper Mezzanine EP. The follow-up to last year’s self-titled EP finds the duo building upon their debut with a sound styled for the world’s loftiest stages that can make vast, expansive spaces feel secluded and intimate (and vice versa).

Time Thief

Time Thief, from left: James Walsh & Zoë Wyner; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Providence, RI based artists Zoë Wyner and James Walsh as they present their latest collaboration as Time Thief. Announcing their self-titled debut via Lost Sound Tapes and Musical Fanzine: the duo present the debut of “bus song” that chronicles the changes made by the developer class and the political set determined to redistrict and reduce preexisting socioeconomic ecosystems with little care for communities in a lower tax bracket. Having previously collaborated together in the band Dump Him, together as Time Thief they make music with heart and spirit in the faces of those that seek to alter worlds with little to no input from those that are the most affected by such seismic and callous shifts.

Liz Melina Godoy Nieto

Icon eternal—Liz Melina Godoy Nieto; photographed by Brenden Beu.

The movements and madness of desire and determination rage ahead on “Esa Avaricia” from creative powerhouse Liz Melina Godoy Nieto. Having received an arts grant from the Arts Council of England last year, the currently UK-based multi-hyphenate shares a hyper Banda single that sprints madly like a racetrack runner trying to be the best bet yet. Like the previous single “Display”, Liz orchestrates traditional Sinaloense horns in radically rhythmic sequences that blare like prosodic klaxons for all to heed and feel. 

Mini Golf Water Feature

Relaxing about with Mini Golf Water Feature; photographed by Ellen Rumel.

Introducing Mini Golf Water Feature, from Tacoma, Washington with the debut album Discography 2024-2025. The band’s first proper physical release, courtesy of DIY stalwarts Musical Fanzine; it includes works from their previous digital releases putt, Crop Circles, Stupid Car, as well as a host of new material. The quartet of Nat Peterman, Audrey White, Ollie Nattrass, and Nick Pollock make music to accompany the modern condition of pervasive maladies, ennui, exhaustion, consumption for the sake of consumption, the veracity of vehicular venerations, and a bevy of emotively imbued observations. Rolling out the terroir driven mouth of gravel and mulch is the premiere of “Dirt Eater” from one of the most entertaining, exciting, and beloved surprise releases of 2025.

Kadhja Bonet

Kadhja Bonet’s eyes of perception; photographed by Kelsi Gayda.

Doing the work is Toronto’s shining star Kadhja Bonet who rolls out the debut of “Transistor” off the new EP Battlewear. The rustic cycle of demos follows up 2018’s Childqueen and The Visitor from 2016 that turns up the urgency for a more intensified degree of care and caution as we all collectively navigate the terrain of these brave new worlds. While the existential and very real threats against the LBTQ+ communities, minority groups, and other vulnerable folks are nothing new: the active menace to reduce, silence, and oppress all perceived opposition and dissenting peoples is happening on a scale that defies measure. Bonet brings a sound forged out of armor, building testaments not merely out of defense against the indefensible regressive trends that abound but as a way to break through with hope for an enlightened epoch of equality, empathy, and constructive actualization.

Weekend Lovers

Pop wonders Weekend Lovers; press photo courtesy of Ed Arnaud.

One of Tucson’s top bands Weekend Lovers rolled out their anticipated new album In Your Dreams. Lead by the iconic and mighty Marta DeLeon (previously of the New York and Seattle scenes), with guitarist Dane Velazquez, and percussionist Rick Bailey; the trio present their biggest album of expansive consciousness where the interior/exterior of experience becomes blended and blurred. Recorded by Steven Lee Tracy at St. Cecilia Studios with mastering by Dana Fehr, In Your Dreams beautifully articulates the heart and spirit of these strange times with a tight orchestration and assembly built upon the pop cultural canons of the latter 20th century institutions.

Slugfeast

Slugfeast almighty; photographed by Nicholas Coleman.

Introducing Slugfeast, the Sacramento/Davis/Bay Area trio of Alejandro Magallan, Claire Tauber, and Lucas Wieser who discuss their self-titled album from Cherub Dream Records. Recorded at Deathbed Recording in Oakland with an engineering/mastering assist from Brad Lincoln: Slugfeast present the culmination of their collaborations that have spanned across the past couple years along the western edges of interstate 80. For all of the jaded hearts of the universe, this is the record that will have you falling in love with rock & roll once again. A record that will redefine the worlds that DIY musings can build. A reminder of those fraught balances of beauty and boldness in a harsh and brutal world. A reminder of the power of friendship, and the infinite outlets of expression that fly forward on the wings of inspiration with the power to arrive at new echelons of understanding and artistic enlightenment.

Giant Day

Giant Day’s Emily and Derek live; press photo courtesy of the band.

Giant Day delivered the urgent new album Alarm from the Elephant 6 collective. The duo of Derek Almstead (from Elf Power, The Glands, of Montreal, The Olivia Tremor Control, etcetera) and Emily Growden (of Marshmallow Coast, Faster Circuits) ring the bells that strike with tones of high alert, and an even higher degree of ethereality. Having made the move from Athens to a family farm in Pennsylvania; they follow up Glass Narcissus with a timely record of warning that is just as urgent as it approaches the dawn treading gates of the ephemeral. The two together combine their talents in the face of the threats to our democracy, our worlds, our humanity, all through the power of song that examines everything from the material, spiritual, and supernatural scales of comprehension and manifestation.

Kate de Rosset

Popping out down the spiral staircase with Kate de Rosset; press photo courtesy of the artist.

In this spirit of healing, humanity, and spiritual growth is the glorious new song "What Wish" from the musical pop painter of new ages, newer waves and new-new romantics Kate de Rosset. Featured on the new album It Will Burn arriving in the new year from La Double Vie: the sentiment and expressive intent is one that reaches toward higher grounds and places of unbridled bliss and thanksgiving. It Will Burn acknowledges the torrid and roughshod ways the material realm moves in all of its uncompromising, obstinate, and unconscionable manners of self-serving, short-sighted pigheadedness. Kate shares a series of meditations that lend more than merely coping with the catastrophes that exceed the limitations of singular control and finds the things that bring greater degrees of meaning and deliverance from an otherwise fleeting society of questionable stability that forever finds itself flirting with the drain circling whirlpool trajectories of entropy.

a.gris

Alex Delamard of Hoorsees embarks upon a solo endeavor of economic maximalism; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Addressing the states of our disconnection and deviations is French artist Alex Delamard of Hoorsees, launching the solo project a.gris with the debut of “oblivion 2025”. Taken off the upcoming EP Gris slated for 2026 via the esteemed Parisian imprint Géographie: Alex channels the sum of his creative visions into a vacuum of sound where every chord and note reverberates with a loud and uncanny degree of resonance. It bids farewell to the inexplicably logic defying year of incomprehensible insanity and regressive movements with intoxicating overtures that manifests electro angels and gods in the machines that may descend like mythic spirits set on saving us from ourselves.

Still Ruins

Still Ruins styled as a trio of cool crows; photographed by James Grossi.

Presenting the prismatic luster of Still Ruins’ new single “Our Penance”, out now via à La Carte Records. The successor to their self-titled album, the valiant trio of Frankie Soto, Jose Medina and Cyrus VandenBerghe continue to combine the sum of their talents, bands, projects, and creative visions into a new venerable vanguard of lush pop nobles. From Frankie and Jose's Balearic dream designs in Surf Club, to the weaving of textural tomorrows found in Cyrus' Welcome Strawberry: together they fuse sophistipop fantasias that can be felt like synthesizer phantasmagorias of the sentimental and sublime.

…and so many more…

Keep up with all of our features from this past year and beyond here.

As the curtain of 2024 descends upon the world’s stage, Week in Pop shares a brief showcase highlighting just some of our favorite acts that inspired us throughout a surreal year. Forever eschewing dubious quantified ranking metrics; this feature is (as always) a work in progress that illustrates some of the movers and shakers in the creative pop arts that made this year memorable in the most amazing of ways. And once again the following lineup is not meant to exclude the deluge of fellow talented luminaries that caught our ears, eyes, minds, spirits and hearts this year, but rather a hand picked collection of upstarts presented in pseudo-chronological order. Without further ado it is now our pleasure and privilege to proudly present:

Week in Pop’s Year in Pop: 2024

zowy

Visions of zowy; press photo courtesy of Pete Madden.

Discovering these new degrees of artistic fluidity is multidisciplinary artist Zoë Wyner who presents their latest inspired endeavor titled zowy with the release beware magical thinking for Lost Sound Tapes. A singular set of visions brought to a radical realization with an assist from Brad Krieger at Big Nice, the Providence, RI tunesmith collects and condenses anecdotes, aphorisms and the expanses of intuition into a cavalcade of illustrious curiosities. Wyner pays homage to the scrappy denizens of the DIY ethos on the punchy arpeggiated synth waterfall of “underdog”, to the impassioned fury of "found" that soars through the celestial stratospheres and burns like an inextinguishable bonfire of purpose pure and true. The title track is an exercise in the alchemy of reminiscences, a sprinkling of magical realism, where charged objects and sentimental memories are delivered a in a mix of percussive woodwinds and expressively dissonant chords.

Josh Stokes

The non-stop pop frontiers fashioned by the one & only Josh Stokes; press photo courtesy of the artist.

With 2024 being the year of big time Baltimore scene buzz, local luminary Josh Stokes continues upon a path of unrelenting proliferation. Pushing the limitations of stylistic production with an invigorated sense of purpose, Stokes released Universal Josh I am You You are Me at the start of the year that delivers a message of the inner-connectiveness at work in our shared plane of humanity. Since breaking out onto the scenes around 2016, the world of Josh Stokes can be chronicled by a dizzying oeuvre from Funktion, Toons, God Jewel, countless collaborations and releases that delivers fusions like a perpetual cosmic tabernacle tent revival. Stokes makes music to stir the soul, music for re-centering, music for healing, music that springs from a limitless well of inspirations that always feels fresh and from a place of sincerity and realness.

And while the world spins in an unpredictable and anxiety inducing tilt-a-whirl; Josh Stokes amplifies ecstatic visions and continues to lift up the culture and universal consciousness even higher with Power released later in the year. Stokes ignites movements towards uplifting personal agency. Having established progressive funk rhythms with a gospel fervor, Power propels itself to realms of futuristic hip hop manifested by an inspired maestro dedicated to edifying the epistemology of all things and everyone inspirational.

Foliage

Foliage’s Manuel Joseph Walker offering expansive expressions upon the overpass; video photo still courtesy of Christopher Madrid.

With the release of Foliage’s latest EP Throwaways, Manuel Joseph Walker heralds the upcoming sixth album with some of the artist’s most dazzling and mesmerizing work to date. Boasting a creative repertoire that spans a multitude of directions from encyclopedic DIY intonations, progressive rhythms, a compendium of the contemporary and modern pop classical, to increasingly elaborate textural touches — Foliage has risen to the prominence as one of the west coast’s most treasured polymaths. Elevating the platform of what bedroom recording can be, what emotive expressions can be captured in the worlds of audio arts, what depth and dimensions the power production can encompass, extoling what can materialize within the polarities of minimalism and maximalism alike.

Get Lost Cassidy Frost

Lord of the DIY craft — Get Lost Cassidy Frost; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Presenting the debut of the new Get Lost Cassidy Frost single “C’mon C’mon C’mon C’mon” — the San Francisco artist shares an intimate anecdotal about a birthday evening spent alone on the floor whilst doing some enlightening soul searching. Following up the recent track "(Till the Flood of my Blood Makes a Moat for your Boat to) Float On", Cassidy Frost continues their own journey of embracing inherent identity, queerness, questioning the health of so-called social norms and finding that grounded center from within. Even while utilizing a catchy economy of minimalist bedroom pop production, Cassidy is able to convey concepts that are very real, serious, sentimental and ultimately life affirming in an opulent timbre and tones that will live rent free in the audience’s heads and spirits.

Joh Chase

Drafting together worlds of wonder with Joh Chase; photographed by Shervin Lainez.

The gospel according to Los Angeles by way of Seattle artist Joh Chase is the fantastic devotion to the edification of the self with the world debut of “Gone”. The ecstatic opener to the hotly anticipated new album SOLO for Kill Rock Stars, Chase follows up the recent heartland rumble of “Avalanche” with a personal ode to letting go of the trappings that no longer serve or suit you. Having been brought up in evangelical congregations where they began the development of their musical chops, Joh’s journey charts the pathways from leaving the church to find their own calling and place within the myriad clusters of cultural constellations. SOLO is the sound of a wide-eyed dreamer finding their visions manifesting in the material, terrestrial plane. Joh presents the aura of unity in a world that is broken, increasingly divided and presents songs that are fashioned to the tune of home. A place of one’s own. Joh Chase specializes in the statements of sound that are committed to building bridges, paths of friendship, roads of belonging amid a country of obstacles, barriers and prohibitive walls.

Leisure

Legend of Leisure — Jon Jurow; press photo courtesy of the artist.

In the grand tradition of these seismic solstice shifts is the return of Leisure with the haunting and hypnotic “Seasons”. We didn't mean to wait till the end to finally release this material, bandleader Jon Jurow explains, but now more than ever we feel and hope these songs can bring a sense of comfort, escape and inspiration to those who hear it. The then NYC-based pop group had been developing an album under the working title Hand In Fear after the release of Gone Again back in 2014 but was shelved as the world became consumed in chaos and instability. “Seasons” is the first listen from these sessions, recorded with Gryphon Graham, Leif Anders, and Eric Cardona to create a sound submerged in the chrysalis of creating a sound that gracefully sparkles like an embellished ornament of shimmering lead crystal.

The Fourth Wall

Pub booth meetups with The Fourth Wall; photographed by Lisa Haagen.

The Portland-based group of bandleader Stephen Agustin with Kasey Shun, Chris Lau, Kendall Sallay, and Andrew White presents Return Forever; a cycle of songs dedicated to the pursuit of perpetual jest and a transcendental level of happiness. Agustin draws from his family's own histories from Korea and the Philippines respectively, specifically a story involving a close relative that left behind her daughter when she moved to the United States. The poetry of forgetfulness concept is the groundwork for the album that strives to understand the intricate lineages and complicated challenges of assimilation and identity and all the conflicts that lie therein. Return Forever is an adventure into the eternity of the stars, entertaining the eternal return that can be found in observing the cycles of life that repeat themselves and discovering the traces of joy that connects us all.

Strange Men

From left, Ashley Clayton and Róisín Isner of San Francisco’s Strange Men; photographed by Laura Cohen.

Leading us once again into the zeitgeist of the storm is Strange Men, San Francisco’s rising duo of Róisín Isner and Ashley Clayton who present their new hard raging rocker, “Do What the Boys Do”. Complete with a video that was filmed and edited live at the SF’s studio the Complex by the iconic Panda Dulce (aka Kyle Casey Chu) and George S. Rosenthal with the aid of AI frame blending — Róisín & Ashley ferociously observe the waves of self destruction that surrounds us in hand with our own vulnerabilities. Raging against the status quo and the toxic machines of our own making; Strange Men show us a reflection of the weird, wild and out of control worlds we call home. While we are beset in an age that is obsessed with wellness, putting in the work, addictions to therapy and shopping, parasocial posturing and so forth — “Do What the Boys Do” is a dark ride romp into the malaise that consumes our communities and offers a sense of awareness and all its varying causes and effects.

FINE.

Channeling the futuristic frequencies of FINE. (photographed by Frankie Ferrari)

Experience the visceral, vulnerable and venerable album of ambition and actualization (W)HOLE [via SELF LUV] from Providence, RI band FINE. A basement pop project that began with Iz Dungan and Ly Barber, turned trio with the addition of bassist Betty Amrhein together create queer positive sonic symphonies that orchestrate exuberance and unflinching honesty through unrelenting energetic audio arts. On the immediate surface it might appear that FINE. are following the alternative rock playbooks from your favorite hedonistic heroes from the vintage terrestrial radio dials, but upon a closer listen they have made a record for our current time. Iz, Ly and Betty pour out the contents of fallen soldiers from all of yesterday’s parties, symbols of remembrance of liberties lost in the faces of our world’s acrimonious attacks on trans people, tributes to those that are no longer with us, motions to make more inclusive communities both in our front and backyards and harnessing a thunderous sound that makes melodic moves towards the infinite skies.

R.E. Seraphin

Basking in a world of natural splendor with R.E. Seraphin; photographed by Morgan Stanley.

And as the world went sideways, Ray Seraphin graced us with the sounds and styles that graced our lives whilst quarantined in our home digs. We rocked out to Tiny Shapes, we rolled on with bedroom dormitory dalliance of A Room Forever, the skint, spent & suave Swingshift and now present the debut of the grandiose long player masterpiece — Fool’s Mate via Take a Turn Records / Safe Suburban Home Records. The Vallejo artist teamed up with recording at the Crockett, CA home studio of the Papercuts' Jason Quever with the enlisted brass of Joel Cusumano, Daniel Pearce, Josh Miller and Luke Robbins to round out the full send that Seraphin had been envisioning for over half a decade. The edges of previous works can still be found, with the scrappiness traded in for a fuller sound developed with the aid of a full band to bring Ray’s visions to their brightest zenith.

Total Slacker

Rocking and a bopping in a world of blue with Total Slacker’s Tucker Rountree; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Total Slacker’s Tucker Rountree addresses conundrums of contemporary existentialism in the new single and visual for “Chlorine” from the iconic artful dodger’s fifth album. Juxtaposing the rabid road raging interstates to nowhere of our current states of disconnect by casting the specter from the end of the previous millennium, the double helix of mindless performative mindfulness is mixed with the antiquated aesthetics of the previous dial-toned decades. The everybody is a star mentality that has manifested into the living the best life ever projections of current era showboating is lampooned with a sharp and wry critique that is told through the the camp of classic lifestyles of the rich and famous types of pomp and bourgeois circumstance of yesteryear’s swells and swanky socialites.

Swiftumz

San Francisco hillside styles by Swiftumz; photographed by David Armstrong.

Through the cycles of scenes that have transpired across the Bay Area for over the past few decades, few artists have had the kind of titanic influence over everyone the way Swiftumz has. Creatives and fans alike have name checked Christopher McVicker as one of San Francisco's most beguiling and mercurial stylistic shapeshifters. On the new album Simply the Best for Empty Cellar Records, McVicker has enlisted a top tier roster of fellow icons for the occasion from The Aislers Set, The Bananas, Dirty Ghosts, Kelley Stoltz to name just a few of the shining lights that grace this fascinating new full-length. Just as semantics forever fall short to capture the prismatic pop cult of Chris, Simply the Best boasts a bouquet of musical botanicals that one would expect to hear while digging through crates at the Amoeba Records in the Upper Haight on a foggy afternoon in the spring.

shirlette ammons

Shining bright with shirlette ammons; photographed by Nika Kramer.

The spirit of shirlette ammons’ radical new album Spectacles rises high above the noise and the projections. Based out of Durham by way of Beautancus, NC — the artist meditates on the notions of her own identities of Blackness, queerness, southerness, twinness, not to mention poet, musician, art director, educator and an accomplished Emmy and Peabody awarded television producer into a married embrace of these magnificent multitudes. The follow up to 2016’s Language Barrier is an epic exercise in eschewing the perceptive connotations and nearsighted applications the world at large places on these individual spectacle points of identity and cultural presentations. Spectacles is an astounding portrait of ammons celebrating these myriad kaleidoscopic visions that comprise the beauty of the self and one another. With a production assist from Phil Cook, shirlette’s new album features a dazzling array of collaborators that includes (but is not limited to) Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso, Mavis SWAN Poole, Jessamyn Stanley, G Yamazawa, Kane Smego, the Central Park School For Children, Brevan Hampden, Daniel Chavis, Darion Alexander, DJ Harrison, Chris Boerner, Brad Cook, Nyk Baglio, Matt McCaughan, Mykki Blanco, Fred Moten, Shorlette Ammons, Anansj Stephens, DJ Doowop, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Vivica C. Coxx, Tunde Wey and many more…

Sarah Once Was

A stroll about the great outdoors with Sarah McNamara of Sarah Once Was; photographed by Aja Dewolf Moura.

Delivering these psychic and lunar visions of heart is the debut of "Thumbnail Moon" from Sarah Once Was, accompanied with visuals of natural splendor courtesy of Aja Dewolf Moura. The musical outfit of Sarah “Mac” McNamara, known for work with the studios Wiggle World, Universal Hair Farm and countless other creatives, shares a lullaby for 2024. A song that that provides mindful pause in a world that is always going and going without stopping to appreciate the beauty that surrounds in abundance. “Thumbnail Moon” is a song to quell the pangs of anxiety, a song that assuages the stressors that weigh upon the psyche and soul that allows the serendipity of a sacred space where the entire natural realm feels like a sanctuary or a spa for the spirit from within to safely dwell in the warmth of a blissful solitude.

Zoya Zafar

Streams of sentiments, reflections, thoughts, memories and more with Zoya Zafar; photographed by Ada Chen.

Candid processes permeate the understated majesty of Some Songs from Zoya Zafar. The Orlando by way of Lahore, Pakistan artist follows up the Spaceless Craft EP with a full-length album that has been years in the making. Spanning years that have contended with the pandemic, battling an auto-immune illness and world travels; Zafar delivers music that is made with heart and the utmost care. With production and mixing assists from Max Helgemo and Gia Margaret, each mesmerizing movement on Some Songs glimmers and glows like the planetary stars that keep our humble globe company. An ineffable beauty and striking humility are found all throughout the record, as Zoya elevates the caliber and class of what chamber torch songs can be in a new era of constant kinesis, worldwide clamor and a chance to find a greater enlightenment.

The Doozers

Dilly dallying about with The Doozers; press photo courtesy of @euges.film.

Delivering the ultimate sound of spring 2024 is Detroit’s breakout act The Doozers with the debut of “5/3” that arrives not a day too late. The quartet of Sean Donnelly, Kyle Garland, Parker Grissom, and Melanie Kelley combine forces to create a sound that borrows tropes from all the big festival stage acts from the past 25 years (with trace elements of new romantic flair). Taken from their album Becoming an Entity that follows their 2019 EP, cheekily titled Full Length Album, The Doozers bring a sharp style that splashes like a carefree cannonball plunge off a hi-dive board. The cleverly blended electrified elements together bop brilliantly like the heavenly headliner you have never heard of that enamors all in attendance on the big top amphitheater bandshell. The Doozers arrive like the underdog that undercuts the hype and suddenly appears on every big showcase flier that floods your timeline feed.

S. Raekwon

Sweet, suave, serene, and sophisticated….S. Raekwon; press photo courtesy of POND Creative.

We have been anticipating the album Steven ever since we discovered S. Raekwon’s lauded debut record Where I’m at Now. The NYC-based artist Steven Raekwon Reynolds has a knack for presenting candid cantations through an array of styles that convey varying degrees of the vulnerable, the sacred and sentimental. Steven showcases this trifecta of pathos, ethos and logos like a seasoned tunesmith enjoying a residency in a suave Greenwich Village artist salon. Following up the I Like It When You Smile EP, S. Raekwon takes the creative journey further inward in an exploration of identity like a sophisti-pop therapy session.

Female Gaze

Out of the fray with Tucson’s Female Gaze; press photo courtesy of Velvet & Shadow.

Non-linear sequences abound on the new record Tender Futures from Tucson, AZ trio Female Gaze. Bandleader Nelene DeGuzman, Kevin Conklin and Nicky David Cobham-Morgese create a 5 song cycle designed to be experienced like a Möbius film loop. The band prefaces it with the following:

…[Tender Futures] is a cycle meant to be listened to on a loop, starting anywhere but listening in order until you reach your starting point again…

A record that rose out of DeGuzman’s own health struggles where days and nights blended together into the arbitrary atmospheres of ambiguity, Tender Futures offers tangible textures that enrobe the constructs of time and spaces as we embark upon them. Female Gaze gives room for how we perceive our lives, minute by minute, moment to moment. Honoring these aspects of reality, DeGuzman surveys where we are, how we feel and how we are engaging in that very instance. Tender Gaze invites you to experience time not as a simplified flat line but as a circle, where the the rises and falls of solar and lunar intervals are heard and felt according to a planetary alignment that is outside of our own immediate purview.

nicholas

Popping through the prisms of light with nicholas; photographed by Tim Nagle.

Bravery is allowing others to see our uncertainty and earnestness of heart. Bravery is opening up to your fellow folks about the guarded things you feel from inside yourself. Bravery is the new single “888-BE-BRAVE” from Chicago artist nicholas. The creative call sign of Nick McMillan, the follow up to Heat Island Effect works in minimalistic ways. In collaboration with Marcus Darling and mixing/mastering by Brok Mende; McMillan brings a subdued song of passion, humility, apprehension with a soft string strumming stroll. McMillan makes a song to hum while walking home from a difficult day at work. Self-diagnostics are sung sleepily in a hushed restrained refrain as a personal assessment of aspirations and reluctance gently echo through the brisk air of dusk.

Noelle & the Deserters

Among the flora, the wilderness, a michelada, a Mission burrito & Noelle Fiore; photographed by Doug Avery.

Noelle & the Deserters shared band made visuals filmed at Noelle Fiore’s hometown of Taos, New Mexico and all along the Rio Grande for “Canyon”. Featured off their album debut High Desert Daydream from Speakeasy Studios SF, their new record first arrived on our radar with the debut of the excellent and wonderfully exuberant “Born in the Morning” courtesy of our friends at BFF.FM. DIY pop heads will already recognize Fiore from her work in Tim Cohen’s (of the Fresh & Onlys) Magic Trick, playing with Shannon Shaw of Shannon & the Clams and the Deserters themselves starring Graham Norwood (of Bryan Scary, Graham Norwood), Alicia Vanden Heuvel (from The Aislers Set, Speakeasy Studios SF founder), David Cuetter (of Tarnation) along with Noelle’s hubby Jerry Fiore (from Sonic Love Affair). The group shines a light on what contemporary Americana can be, dusting off the records of your favorite cosmic American psychonauts who established the sounds of the southwest and far beyond that connect the otherwise disparate interstates, lonesome highways and all but abandoned trails to the goldmine portals of fuzzy memories.

Yea-Ming & the Rumours

Loitering about with Yea-Ming & the Rumours; photographed by Corey Poluk.

I Can't Have It All from Oakland’s Yea-Ming & the Rumours sparkles with the honest sentiments that mirror life itself. It is the record that despite the title gives you so much from its roster of talents. Lead by Yea-Ming Chen, the Rumour team is made up and reinforced by Sonia Hayden, Eóin Galvin, Luke Robbins, Jen Weisberg, Jeff Moller, Jasper Leach and more. It follows So Bird… from 2022 with the sound that Yea-Ming & the Rumors have wanted to make since their inception from the mid-2010s. I Can’t Have It All is the record that has it all: the hesitations, the excitement, the apprehension, the ecstasy, the agony, and everything beyond and in-between.

St. Kio

Surfing the sound streets of sueños and more with St. Kio; press photo courtesy of @dentellelamour.

Introducing St. Kio, the creative handle of LA polymath Nicole Bandoquillo who offers the uplifting and ethereal entrances of enlightenment with the debut of “Infinity Mirror”. The artist presents an eternal hymn of empowerment that cuts through the negativity of mindless chatter and manic scrolling with a joyful noise that cuts through the veil of night & day cycles with an aural rush of limitless purpose and inner peace. “Infinity Mirror” conjures up visions of elapsed photography that show the expanses of time through a sped up lens that crashes on through to the mythic other sides of our own respective worlds as we have come to understand them. The almost endless spirals we experience on account of our own programming are interrupted with the senses, sounds and sentiments of new frontiers and new realizations. A track to lift us up to where we belong and want to be that is on the other side of all the thoughts and traumas that bring us down. In Nicole’s own words:

“I wrote this song during a period of heartbreak, loneliness, and isolation. It inspired me to shift from self-pity to self-reflection, focusing on how I could improve and move forward.”

Sophie Swanson

Northeast pop visionary Sophie Swanson; photographed by Abby Clare.

Songs of heartbreak. Songs of healing. Songs of sorrow. Songs of rage. Songs of release. Songs of radical empathy. Welcome to the big surprise breakout hit of the summer, as Sophie Swanson presents the wonder work of Social Burnout. The New Jersey artist captivatingly conveys the strange social awkwardness of breakups, the bliss and burden of friendships, the performative dances we dance, the acts we act and above all the importance of restorative solitude in the face of an overwhelming world. Swanson has made the ultimate record that artists for decades have been trying to materialize and/or perfect. Its the record that you always wanted from the Breeders post-Last Splash, if Avril Lavigne transformed “Sk8ter Boi” into a fully realized subgenre, the record that Olivia Rodrigo keeps trying to make, the best song cycle not ghostwritten by Linda Perry, the solo rock record from Gwen Stefani we never got, and ultimately the sassy and snazzy sound for summer 2024.

Magic Fig

Inhabiting enchanted parks & gardens with San Francisco’s Magic Fig; photographed by Michael Cruz.

And as the technological and pop cultural fashions turn like a carousel of seasons, Magic Fig materializes with their self-titled from Silver Current Records. From the creatives behind favorites such as Almond Joy, Healing Potpourri, The Umbrellas, Whitney’s Playland, and more — Inna Showalter, Jon Chaney, Matthew Ferrara, Taylor Giffin, and Muzzy Moskowitz deliver a sun punch psych dose of pure luminescent solar beams. Levitating at the corner of tranquility and transcendent, Magic Fig journeys into the celestial places of the spirit. Completed with production and engineering supplied by Once and Future Band’s Joel Robinow, along with Paul Korte, and Tim Green — the Magic Fig self-titled sets sail along the cosmic and crystal glass glimmering seas.

Silverware

Silverware’s high rising star Ainsley Wagoner; photographed by Marisa Bazan.

Silverware’s album One True Light for Ghost Mountain Records is the vision of SF by way of Lexington artist Ainsley Wagoner, the track sparkles with a suave serenity that emanates sophisti-pop styles and sounds like the light that passes through the most illustrious gems. Working with Omar Akrouche on the follow-up to 2021’s No Plans, Ainsley casts off the cares and diversions of the world with a sense of resolve, determination, and mindfulness. Joined by a chanting chorus of fellow Bay Area luminaries like Asha Wells, Sarah Simon, Simi Sohota, Taylor Giffin, Tom Smith, and more — Silverware’s lavish creative developments that have been over two years in the making stand as some of the most beautiful and breezy music to compliment the omnipresent San Francisco summer fog.

Close Calls

Jon Bernson and Michael Zapruder seeking new projections of expressions; press photo courtesy of the artists.

With all of this and more in spirit and mind, Jon Bernson & Michael Zapruder launch their collaborative new pop synthesis Close Calls with the single and visual for “JPEGs”. It’s a contemporary sci-fi love letter to the ubiquitous format that threads our connection to others, the earth, ourselves, and any bit of physical and ephemeral matter imaginable. Prolific pioneers of the influential collective and imprint Howells Transmitter, Bernson’s works spans from Ray’s Vast Basement, Window Twins, Exray’s, Higher Lows, holder of an Emmy and Peabody awards, in conjunction with fellow award-winning luminary Zapruder whose projects and developments range from contemporary classical, opera, to current work in rrunnerrss, with a composition doctorate. Together with their talents and visions combined — Close Calls is an exercise in creative concision that works to exhibit our modern day conundrum and curiosities that cuts the 3 minute traditional popular craft by half.

Weaver Line (fka The Ways)

London loves Sally & Benjamin of Weaver Line (formerly The Ways); press photo courtesy of the artists.

The most innovative artists beyond time immemorial express themselves from the central axis of infinite flux. London by way of NYC icon and multihyphenate Sally Way (née Horowitz, fka S the Supplicant, Luxe, Secret Lover, et al.) and Benjamin Way have embraced the alchemy that the stage and the pop craft of song afford. From finding each other through the contemporary circuits of underground theatre events, experimental endeavors that straddle the abstract, the absurd, the odd, to all out eccentrically entertaining — Sally & Ben present their creative duality of Weaver Line (fka The Ways). Fusing the places where the theatrical avant-garde and pop song synergy meet in a marriage under the banner of DIY, The Weaver Line present their inaugural offering of “No Heaven”.

Trap Girl

LA’s bad bad baddies, Trap Girl; photographed by Nani Gross.

Cue Los Angeles force to be reckoned with, Trap Girl, as they unveil the debut of “Baddest Bitch” from their new album The Savage Goddess via Kill Rock Stars. Seen recently at Oakland’s Mosswood Meltdown, bandleader Drew Arriola-Sands, with Jorge Reveles, Jocelyn Aguilera, and Daniel Guzman bring their take no crap message to the whole wide world. Broadcasting a self-proclaimed passion for femme supremacy, Trap Girl brings the rage with a powder keg of queer positivity to drown out the harbingers of transphobia and the petty politicians that peddle their anemic agendas of projected insecurities and platforms of unfounded fear and indoctrinated hate.

Slumped

Between the Mission and Potrero Hill with Nathaniel from Slumped; video still courtesy of Timmy Lohdi / True Colors.

This is the sentiment and mentality of Slumped’s new album Last Day on Earth. The Oakland band have been generating buzz since 2017, increasingly elaborating upon their musical productions to create some of the most grandiose rock & roll fit for both humble dives and stadium stages alike. Guided by the vision of bandleader Nathaniel-Thomas Punty, Slumped exalts the slacker pop canons that recall your favorite 90s underdogs and manages to perfect that punchy practice space luster and catapult it to an astronomical degree. As the Bay continues to bring some of the world’s best talents and arts, Slumped contributes to what can only be described and felt as an unstoppable force of nature that is not slowing any time soon.

WUT

DIY pop wunderkinds WUT; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Engaging with our shared world that is weird, widely repugnant, with striking elements of unlimited wonder [not to mention potential prosperity] are Vancouver’s rising vanguards of egalitarian enlightenment — WUT — presenting their new album Mingling with the Thorns via the distinguished DIY institution HHBTM. The central talents of Kaity McWhinney, Tracey Vath (both from Knife Pleat, Love Cuts), and Lauren Smith (of Tough Age, Jock Tears) deliver the successor to their brilliant 2020 visual album NOW with a record that swims through the undertows and riptides toward calmer, kinder, more sane, and sensible seas. Through collaboration that carried through eras of quarantines and sheltering in place, WUT edify and exalt the underground sound scenes established by the Shop Assistants, We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Going To Use It, Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, etcetera into a full on creative platform to portray the cracked communities of our current era and the sacred, eternal search for the self, heart and soul (within a society that is turned sideways like a funhouse hallway).

Chime School

San Francisco’s new pop royalty Chime School; photographed by Kittie Krivacic.

Welcome to The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, the much anticipated new album from Chime School. Local SF scene ambassador Andy Pastalaniec follows up the lauded 2021 self-titled with a sound and presence that is crisp and magnified to a large scale. Paisley Hotel dwells in a space where the pub circuit set makes the stylistic jump for the big top tent festival stage. Think about the time where your favorite independent idol signed with a major to create their big expensive sounding record, and that industry cliché describes only a fraction of the shimmering semiotics of the new Chime School record. Andy organizes day dream sequences into chapters of song, surfing the shifts of natural progressions with notions of human folly into a musical photo album with ineffably charged energy galore [specially designed to be enjoyed at maximum volume].

Dinowalrus

New York legends Dinowalrus keep the trade alive of dealing mammoth-sized tunes; photographed by Matty Fasano.

Never mind the Oasis reunion hype, as Dinowalrus descends from their DIY throne with the debut of the new single “Tunnel Vision”. The Brooklyn purveyors of brash bops follows up “Blackout Freakout” with a big tune that Richard Ashcroft never gifted us during the heyday of the Verve’s humble beginnings. Call it 90s revivalism, revisionism, resurrection, but don’t call it a comeback. It’s the sound of creativity operating at the speed of sound, racing against the daybreak of inevitable light that strikes at the vanishing point of the horizons that watches days arrive and depart in equal measure.

Still Ruins

From left, Cyrus VandenBerghe, Frankie Soto & Jose Chema Medina of Still Ruins live at The Knockout, SF; press photo courtesy of Week in Pop.

Oakland pop art institution Still Ruins lavished us with one of the best releases of 2024 with their self-titled EP. The combined visions of Frankie Soto, Jose Medina and Cyrus VandenBerghe — they present an in-depth look and discussion of influences and inspirations that span from the obscure to the internationally observed and renowned. A collaborative feature that has been in the works for well over a year, Still Ruins share an exclusive glimpse at the shadows that stretch from the New Romantic era that make up the mesmerizing mixes and molds of songs like “Silhouette”. The deep blue seas and oceanic dimensions that delve into the rapid waters that run from the past and into the modern day tributaries heard on “Perfect Blue”. Tracing back those radical retro radio waves and synth sequenced sensations that informed “Until Then”. The pursuit of perfection and commitment to mining the majesties and maestros of heavenly hymns that gave rise to the blissed out baths of “Of Devotion”. Scouring the scales and archives of nearly infinite ethereal underdogs as arbiters of underground pop knowledge and taste on “Left Against”.

SCHØØL

Tripping, skipping & skating with SCHØØL; press photo courtesy of the artists.

SCHØØL [Francis Mallari (of Rendez-Vous), Erica Ashleson (from Special Friend, Dog Park), Jack Moase (of Liquid Face), and Marble Arch’s Alex Battez] sends the audience to the tattered banks of the earth that are on the brink of total collapse on “The End”. The band entertains what will happen if the world explodes, what feelings remain, and what chances we have as a society to carry on toward something better. Like the previous track “N.S.M.L.Y.D.”, SCHØØL super soaks the soundwaves, the sensations and sentiments that resemble the reckless and riled up youths in rebellion — raging against the monstrous machines. Delivering declarations of defiance in the face of the sordid systems of oppression. The Paris-based band believers in a more beautiful and abundant world lament the lack of peace with projections of anxiety and dismay in the face of perdition.

Baseball Gregg

The beauty and boldness of Baseball Gregg; video still courtesy of Jess Lou.

They are a ray of light. They are a refuge when the going gets rough. They are peace. They are Baseball Gregg. Their new album Briefs from La Barberia, Baseball Gregg’s Luca Lovisetto (based out of Bologna, Italy) and Sam Regan (Oakland, California) celebrate the group’s tenth anniversary with the single and visual for the pensive & poignant “Penetration”. The trademark whistful sea swaying rock carries the weight of confronting prejudices with a vulnerable sense of pride, articulating intimacy and anger in equal measure. Sam confronts the ills and anguish at the work while turning the tables on the negative forces that seek to bring people down.

Slack Times

Having a sit-down sesh with Slack Times; photographed by Newman Evans.

Many meditations, reminiscence, and more can be found and felt throughout the new tape Gone Things from Birmingham, Alabama band Slack Times. The trio of Chris McCauley, Abby Anderson, and Stuart Norman channel the sensibilities and smarts of your favorite cult DIY jangle dreaming act of underrated import in a journey through the ephemeral scrapbooks conjured by the spirit and mind. Mixed by Les Nuby at Ol Elegante, mastered by Álvaro Lissón, featuring additional contributions from Seth Brown; Slack Times’ evolution shows the power of sentimentality when applied to succinct, punchy guitar lead ballads of the utmost sincerity.

Wish Queen

Grace Sullivan, aka Wish Queen, indulging in a cluster of delectable raisins au verts; photographed by Alison Scarpulla, styled by Courtney May.

Wish Queen’s double single Feeder/Floral Sheets is the pursuit of pensive exploration. Cleveland artist Grace Sullivan follows up the album debut Saturnalia with the next chapters that sounds like the foundational beginnings of a follow up full-length. The new duality between the new tracks offers a rewarding journey through the places of up close self-examinations and allowing/opening yourself up to the possibility of an interdependent and ineffable state of amour. Sullivan presents a pair of songs that course through the inward and outward terrain, surrendering and reconciling states of love that unlock new wonder waves of beauty and bliss.

figure eight

Oakland’s fantastic & fabulous figure eight (clockwise from left), Nick Coleman, Nicky Esparza, Nash Rood & Abby Goeser; photographed by jbsux.pdf

Delivering a sweeping and succinct record to sundown a year fraught with frustrations and a litany of grievances is the moving self-titled from one of Oakland’s most beloved bands, figure eight. One of the Bay Area’s best and most slept on acts, they are some of the shiniest and most humble stars of a scrappy—yet prolific—scene of lionhearted upstarts. The principle duo of Nash Rood and Abby Goeser have expanded to a quartet to include the talents of Nicholas Coleman from Softie and Pork Belly’s Nicky Esparza. Debuting with their lauded EP drown, figure eight turns up the tidal roar light of their sound like amplifier vacuum tube bulbs, ever expanding in their creative scope like tungsten filaments rising up n heightened degrees of temperature.

BAYEM

Coastal manifestations by BAYEM; photographed by Owen Thomas.

Delivering seasons of sun to brighten up our sullen solstice is rising Indianapolis artist BAYEM with the debut for the California dreaming coastal cool of “Malibu”. Recently bringing the torch song suave of “No Regrets”, to the retro neon pop steeped maximalism on “Avalanche”; the artist ventures into the azure oceans of deep introspection on the enchantment found with an elevated empathetic connection. BAYEM turns the creative dial to the emotive expressions found on the AM stations that our mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers were raised on. The wave streaked beaches of romantic sentiment are dearly blended with tightly crafted production reminiscent of post-disco dilettantes with a sophisticated, windswept, and sweetened atmosphere of fantastical futurism rooted in the retro modernist of the latter twentieth century.

Discus

Chicago cult pop legends Discus; photographed by Clare Byrne of Sunroom/SUN-ROM.

Pondering thoughts on the journey driven media mainstays are Chicago brothers Jake & Paul Stolz with the new Discus single “On Tour” that postulates the perpetual inherent ennui of trail trekking. Known as the rhythm section for Pool Holograph, Varsity, Central Heat Exchange, and many other acts; they hint at future musical endeavors to arrive in 2025 with a massive electric pop mammoth of a jam. Following up the electric retro rizz of 2023’s mini disc, the crunchy key and guitar odysseys connect together even cleaner, exhibiting two sides of the same coin, communicating an acute balance of both introverted/extroverted observations and languid emotion.

Annika Zee

New York by way of Toronto multihyphenate Annika Zee; press photo courtesy of Guarionex Jr.

Opening up the mythic gates to new dimensions of light is one of 2024’s biggest records from one of the world’s most important artists Annika Zee. The esteemed NYC by way of Toronto pop icon presents the magnificent world of Magnolia via Absurd TRAX, an album of heart and soul lead rhythms that rides toward new degrees of affection and a search for understanding. The prolific artist and designer has spent over a decade redefining what dance based music can be, compounding the world of kinetic and canonical creations into new heightened forms of pop crafts that paint new poignant songs that survey our surrounding societies and the sanctuaries of the self. Magnolia is a journey that searches the reconciliation and assertion of the self in a world of hardships and heartbreaks that marks the latest in Zee’s ever expansive catalogue that counts Patience, Bleu, Factory Pageant, Aging Aesthetics, and many other works that assert how art and expressive actualization takes shape in a rapidly shifting world. A singular pivotal force that forecasted the mainstream sartorial intersection of artistic agency once again shows the entire world how it’s done.

Aan

PDX institution of creative cool, Aan; press photo courtesy of the band.

Presenting the long awaited follow-up to 2019’s Losing My Shadow, Portland’s own Aan delivers the video for “Speculum Aenigmate” from their new album Over the Mountain. The new album from Bud Wilson and company dazzles with somatic sentiments on the grooving "My Body", the density dives of "Black Hole", journeying into the unknown ether of "Laced and Lost", to the enchanted and entrancing "Dope Magic". Embracing the ennui and alchemy of "Waiting Around", to scouring the thread lines of "Searching For Seams", to scouring the broken earth on "Break the World in Two". "Neon Orange Leash" shines color saturated light on the roads and sidewalks ahead, concluding the record with the penultimate "Cold Grey Eyes" that arrives at a smoldering piano lead ballad that brings it all back home with an icy and exhausted glance, leaving room for the possibility of infinite joy and approximations of hope on “Smile”.

Parentz

Coin-op arcade hustling with Parentz (from left), Jeremy Sullivan and Jon Hall in a Bart mask; photographed by Claude Cardenas.

In this spirit of gratitude and grace we present Bay Area institution Parentz and the debut of the visuals for “Freaking Me Out” off the long-awaited mega album 1989. A pop entity that first graced our radars in 2011 with the IP obliterating wonder work Big that showcased Oakland artist Jeremy Sullivan re-envisioning/rearranging in a return to anachronistic alchemy that eschews tired revisionist warping in favor of recreation through resurrection, reconstruction, reformation, and above all re-imagining. The follow-up EP with the decidedly 2010s blogosphere-centric title FP&B<3Z1​:​FLY cast the bright lights on the patented East Bay inflected sound Parentz would pursue from that moment forward. Spending the next decade releasing a barrage of singles, 1989 rides on the wings of a Pegasus toward new future cool clouds that sport a higher degrees of consciousness whilst tech mining the criminally underutilized, underrated, and antiquated electro pop tropes.

…and so many more…

Keep up with all of our features from this past year and beyond here.

Bidding farewell to 2024 and ringing in 2025….