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Rick Monroe and The Hitmen Bring Crowd-Sourced Heart to New Country-Rock Single “Our Love”

Eric Alper
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Rick Monroe and The Hitmen Bring Crowd-Sourced Heart to New Country-Rock Single “Our Love”

Rick Monroe and The Hitmen didn’t just make a song about community. They built the visual around it. “Our Love,” out now via Asylum 1212 Records/TLG/Virgin Music Group, arrives with an official lyric video crowd-sourced entirely from fan and friend submissions, candid real-life photos from the people who’ve followed Monroe throughout his career.

The song itself draws from 1970s country-rock with warm harmonies, ringing guitars, and emotionally grounded storytelling. The Eagles and Jackson Browne are the obvious reference points, but Monroe’s vocal delivery carries its own weight, unhurried and lived-in, the kind of voice that makes a lyric feel like something that actually happened.

“‘Our Love’ is about staying grounded when life pulls you in every direction,” Monroe says. “It’s about choosing love, even when it isn’t perfect, and seeing how fans connected to that message made this release even more meaningful.”

The Hitmen didn’t exist before the pandemic. Monroe had spent years as a solo act running through Nashville’s rotating cast of hired players. When the world shut down in 2020 and a planned West Coast tour evaporated, Monroe, Bobby Perkins, and Alan Beeler stayed together instead of scattering. Live streams from basements and garages kept them connected, and a standing Tuesday writing session between Monroe and Beeler eventually became the foundation of their current album.

Producer Malcolm Springer came in through mutual connections, and when he brought Jason Bohl into the studio, the band’s sound locked into place. The name came from a joke one night about how well everything was working. Someone said “The Hitmen” and it stuck.

Multi-Platinum Country Hitmaker Dierks Bentley Takes the “Off The Map Tour” to Amphitheaters This Summer

Eric Alper
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Multi-Platinum Country Hitmaker Dierks Bentley Takes the “Off The Map Tour” to Amphitheaters This Summer

Dierks Bentley has a specific idea of what a summer show should feel like. The “Off The Map Tour” runs through June and July across a limited run of amphitheaters, and the lineup he’s assembled around it reflects exactly that thinking.

Bentley hand-picked every act on the bill. Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder join on select dates, as do Kaitlin Butts, Cole Goodwin, Owen Riegling, and Mountain Grass Unit. It’s a roster built from genuine admiration, not obligation. “I am big fans of theirs,” Bentley says. “Can’t wait to get out there and watch their shows before we get to go out and do our thing.”

The tour follows stadium dates with Luke Combs this spring and arrives on the heels of Bentley’s newest album BROKEN BRANCHES. That record extends a catalog that includes eight No. One albums, 22 No. One songs, over 9.5 billion global streams, and 15 Grammy nominations. Membership in the Grand Ole Opry sits alongside all of it.

Bentley described the tour’s namesake song plainly: “Off The Map is about going to that place where you take a break from it for a little bit, whether it’s a bar stool sipping something cold, or a back porch down a back road.” The shows are built around that same release. Two hours away from everything else.

Beyond the road, Bentley runs four locations of his gastropub and live music venue Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, a Flag & Anthem lifestyle collection called Desert Son, and recently released a third expression of ROW 94, a Kentucky Straight Bourbon made with “three ingredients and the truth” at Green River Distilling Co. He also launched the Broken Branches Fund with Music Health Alliance, providing mental health support for music industry professionals.

Tickets are on sale now at Dierks.com.

Off The Map Tour Dates:

12 Jun — Rogers, AR (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Owen Riegling)

13 Jun — Kansas City, MO (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Owen Riegling)

25 Jun — Bonner, MT (w/ Mountain Grass Unit, Cole Goodwin)

26 Jun — Airway Heights, WA (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Cole Goodwin)

2 Jul — Colorado Springs, CO (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Cole Goodwin)

9 Jul — Gilford, NH (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Kaitlin Butts)

10 Jul — Bridgeport, CT (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Kaitlin Butts)

11 Jul — Canandaigua, NY (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Kaitlin Butts)

16 Jul — Wilmington, NC (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Cole Goodwin)

17 Jul — Charleston, SC (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Cole Goodwin)

18 Jul — St. Augustine, FL (w/ Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Cole Goodwin)

Dark Electronic Breakout ghostbells Arrive Fully Formed With Debut EP ‘Catacouture’

Eric Alper
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Dark Electronic Breakout ghostbells Arrive Fully Formed With Debut EP ‘Catacouture’

ghostbells didn’t ease into this. The dark electronic duo launched their debut EP ‘Catacouture’ on Out of Line Music with nearly two albums’ worth of material already written, a label deal already signed, and a live debut at Poland’s Castle Party Festival under their belt, all before most people had heard a single note.

‘Catacouture’ is six tracks of icy new-wave melodies, 90s EBM pulse, pulsing basslines, reverb-drenched guitars, and hypnotic synth textures. It’s the kind of debut that sounds like a band who knew exactly what they were building before they let anyone else in the room.

The EP opens with “Darkness Saves,” ghostbells’ debut single, a track built on 80s-inspired melodies and 90s EBM energy where surrender becomes the whole point. From there, ‘Catacouture’ moves through melancholic romance, wrath, longing, and cinematic atmosphere across every track. Amplify The Noise described it as moving “with a predator’s grace through the neon-slicked alleyways of the modern club scene.”

ghostbells signed to Out of Line Music in June 2025 after spending nearly two years writing, recording, and producing visuals before approaching any label. Their release strategy since then has been deliberate, a new single and video every six weeks, building a global audience through touring and immersive visual storytelling. The UK tour supporting Ashbury Heights and a direct support run with industrial pioneers Die Krupps on their 45th anniversary U.S. tour have sharpened the band’s live presence considerably.

The upcoming schedule keeps ghostbells moving across multiple continents. Berlin’s Out of Line “The Weekender” Festival arrives May 7, followed by Pacific Northwest dates in Portland and Seattle in June. Manchester’s Infest Festival lands in August, and a Miami date closes out the year in November.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

7 May — Berlin, Germany — Out of Line “The Weekender” Festival

12 Jun — Portland, OR — The Coffin Club

13 Jun — Seattle, WA — Central Saloon

23 Aug — Manchester, UK — Infest Festival

14 Nov — Miami, FL — Las Rosas

Yorkshire Singer-Songwriter Fiona-Lee Confronts Rape Culture Head-On With ‘Every Woman’ EP

Eric Alper
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Yorkshire Singer-Songwriter Fiona-Lee Confronts Rape Culture Head-On With ‘Every Woman’ EP

Fiona-Lee writes songs that demand a response. ‘Every Woman,’ her second EP via Gravity/Capitol Records, is out now, and the Yorkshire songwriter isn’t interested in making anyone comfortable. The title track addresses sexual assault directly, calling out rape culture and the systemic failure to hold perpetrators accountable.

“‘Every Woman’ is about sexual assault, a subject that remains dangerously silenced,” Fiona-Lee says. “I want women to hear it and feel anger, not as something to suppress, but as something validating and energising. And I want men to hear it and know this song is addressing them, and calling on them to take responsibility.”

The track delivers on that intent. Frenetic guitars, biting vocals, and a call-to-arms structure make it one of the most direct pieces of songwriting she’s put her name to. Produced by Thom Lewis, the architect behind Sam Fender’s ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ and ‘Seventeen Going Under,’ the recording matches the weight of the writing.

Dork Magazine called her “East Yorkshire’s answer to PJ Harvey.” DIY Magazine drew comparisons to Florence Welch. Rolling Stone UK described her simply as “a very special artist.” BBC Radio 1’s Sian Eleri put it more bluntly: “An arresting voice that will stop you in its tracks. I love her so much.” These aren’t throwaway quotes. They reflect a songwriter consistently earning serious attention.

Fiona-Lee has already supported CMAT and Miles Kane, sold out a headline show in Leeds, and earned airplay across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and BBC 6 Music with Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq. The press trail runs through The Telegraph, Clash, Rough Trade, Wonderland, and The Line Of Best Fit. The foundation is already there.

The live schedule keeps building. A support slot with Paul Weller at Ludlow Castle in July sits alongside summer festival appearances at Neighbourhood Weekender, Big Feastival, and Victorious Festival. Fiona-Lee is moving fast and the music is keeping pace.

‘Every Woman’ is out now via Gravity/Capitol Records on all digital platforms.

‘Every Woman’ EP Tracklisting:

  1. Erin
  2. Every Woman
  3. Imposter
  4. Not My Friends
  5. Rational
  6. Victim

Upcoming Tour Dates:

23 May – Neighbourhood Weekender, Warrington (UK)

17 Jul – Ludlow Castle, Shropshire (UK) w/ Paul Weller

28 Aug – Big Feastival, Kingham (UK)

30 Aug – Victorious Festival, Cornwall (UK)

Soul-Psych-Funk Nonet The Sh-Booms Drop First New Music in Six Years With “This Is a Test”

Eric Alper
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Soul-Psych-Funk Nonet The Sh-Booms Drop First New Music in Six Years With “This Is a Test”

Six years is a long time to wait. The Sh-Booms have ended it with “This Is a Test,” the title track from their new EP ‘This Is a Test,’ out now digitally and on limited 12″ vinyl. It’s the Orlando nine-piece’s first recorded music since 2019, and it lands with a sound that’s moved well past where they left off.

The single runs over six and a half minutes. Bandleader and bassist Alfred Ruiz describes it as “a sci-fi vision of two astronauts on a collision course in the cosmic ocean,” where euphoric intergalactic love collides with a mission that threatens everything. It’s a premise that sounds ambitious on paper, and the track earns it.

New Wave textures, post-punk lock-grooves, funk-driven vocoder passages, and widescreen space-rock builds all share space inside one song. There’s dancefloor urgency running underneath cinematic scale, and the combination works. Flood Magazine put it plainly, drawing comparisons to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, and Alabama Shakes.

Production came from Grammy-nominated engineer Alan Armitage (Boyz II Men) at his Orlando studio The Snake Arcade. Grammy Award-winner Emily Lazar (Beck, Vampire Weekend, Minus the Bear) handled mastering at The Lodge in New York. The technical pedigree behind this record is serious.

The Sh-Booms formed out of Orlando’s underground scene with Ruiz pushing the band toward a sound built around movement and communal energy. Vocalist Brenda Radney, previously signed to Justin Timberlake’s Tennman Records, joined in 2015 and shifted the band’s trajectory sharply upward. Festival appearances followed, along with shared stages with The Roots, Of Montreal, KRS-One, and a mini-tour with The B-52’s.

When 2020 shut everything down, the band regrouped at The Snake Arcade and went deeper. Soul foundations got layered with psychedelia, post-punk, New Wave, synth textures, and art-pop experimentation. ‘This Is a Test’ is what came out of that process, and it reflects every bit of that stretch.

The EP is out now digitally. The limited 12″ vinyl is available now everywhere. Pre-save and streaming at https://thesh-booms.hearnow.com

‘This Is a Test’ EP Track Listing:

Side A

  1. Love of a Ghost (Shivvvers)
  2. This Is a Test

Side B

  1. Broken Open
  2. Sin & The City (Heavy Weather)

Indie-Emo Favorites Time Spent Driving Reissue ‘Just Enough Bright’ With a Long-Lost Track

Eric Alper
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Indie-Emo Favorites Time Spent Driving Reissue ‘Just Enough Bright’ With a Long-Lost Track

Twenty-four years after its original release, ‘Just Enough Bright’ gets the treatment it always deserved. Time Spent Driving’s 2002 album arrives April 10 on vinyl through Thirty Something Records, newly remixed by original producer J. Robbins and remastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio.

Robbins recorded the original ten tracks at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco in January 2002, and he’s returned to remix every one of them specifically for this reissue. Coutant’s mastering work restores depth and balance without pulling the record away from what it originally was. The bones are intact. The sound is sharper.

The reissue adds an eleventh track, “What It Should Be Like,” written during the original album sessions but never completed at the time. It was recorded in 2024 at Compound Recording by Olav Tabatabai. That’s a song sitting unfinished for over two decades, now finally released as part of the record it was always meant to join.

“Angel and I” (Remastered) is streaming now on No Echo, offering a direct listen to what Robbins and Coutant have done with the source material. It’s a precise, considered reissue from a band whose catalog has earned this level of attention.

Time Spent Driving formed in 1998 out of the San Francisco Bay Area punk and hardcore scene. Their emotive, indie-leaning approach stood apart from regional trends from the start. Over more than 150 shows across the U.S. and Europe, they built a following that never really left. Music landed on national television and video game soundtracks. Labels worldwide put out their releases.

The band signed with Thirty Something Records in 2025 to reissue their back catalog, with new music also on the way in 2026. ‘Just Enough Bright’ is the right place to start. It’s the record that defined what Time Spent Driving could do, and this version makes the case all over again.

The vinyl comes in two first-press variants: Corona White x Green (100 copies, TSR/Band Exclusive) and Yellowish Green (100 copies). Pre-orders are open now through Thirty Something Records for EU/World and Steadfast Records for the U.S.

Tracklisting:

Angel and I

Sleepyhead

Not Yet

Faking

Drive

Slow Down

More Than This

Running

Holding On

Just Enough Bright

What It Should Be Like

The Browning Rebuild Their 2011 Electronicore Blueprint on ‘Burn This World (EVOLVED)’

Eric Alper
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The Browning Rebuild Their 2011 Electronicore Blueprint on ‘Burn This World (EVOLVED)’

The Browning have done something most heavy acts wouldn’t dare attempt. They’ve gone back to the beginning and rebuilt it completely. ‘Burn This World [EVOLVED]’ is a full ground-up reconstruction of their 2011 debut, and the result is a record that hits harder, sounds bigger, and makes the original feel like a rough draft.

Jonny McBee launched The Browning as a solo project in 2005, and it was the 2011 debut ‘Burn This World’ that put the band’s electronicore signature on the map. Fusing punishing deathcore with the relentless pulse of electronic dance music, the record established a sound few others could replicate. Fifteen years later, McBee has gone back in with modern production and an entirely new lens.

“15 years of Evolution has led me to fully recreating Burn This World from scratch,” McBee says. “Heavier breakdowns, higher energy techno, better vocals. It’s been a long 15 years for me, and I appreciate your support every step of the way. This is for you.”

The digital release is out now on FiXT, with vinyl also available. Every track on ‘Burn This World [EVOLVED]’ has been re-recorded from scratch, preserving the raw ferocity of the original while pushing each element into a sharper, more aggressive space. This isn’t a remaster. It’s a reimagining.

Leading the album is “BLOODLUST” [EVOLVED], a complete reworking of one of The Browning’s most recognized singles. The track delivers thrashing guitars, mechanical synths, and a darker, more cinematic edge. The accompanying red-and-black music video leans into a sinister vampire aesthetic, with one ominous throughline: “We will never die.” It’s a strong, visceral entry that sets the tone for the full record.

The Browning’s catalog runs deep. ‘Hypernova’ (2013) was named Album of the Week by Revolver. “Bloodlust” crossed 2.6 million views. ‘Isolation’ (2016) generated millions of views on tracks like “Dragon” and “Disconnect.” Their 2024 album ‘OMNI’, followed by ‘OMNI [ULTRA]’ in 2025, kept the momentum rolling through a relentless touring schedule that covered the US, Canada, and Europe.

The current lineup of McBee and guitarist Hardcore Keem, a heavy music influencer with over 300K in social reach, brings a sharp creative focus to the band’s next phase. McBee also hosts the “Burn This World Podcast” and streams his creative process live with fans in The Browning Discord. The band’s reach is wide, and it’s growing.

Acid-Punk Cult Legends Clinic Get the Archival Treatment They Deserve on Domino Vault

Eric Alper
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Acid-Punk Cult Legends Clinic Get the Archival Treatment They Deserve on Domino Vault

Clinic’s earliest recordings deserve to be heard properly. Domino Vault, the archival imprint dedicated to long out-of-print cult classics, has announced the Liverpool outfit’s self-titled EP compilation as the next release in their carefully curated series, pressing 300 hand-numbered copies on heavyweight vinyl. Listen here and order it here.

The compilation brings together Clinic’s first three EPs, originally released when the band signed to Domino in 1999. Equal parts acid-punk heroes and pop legends, those early recordings drew from 60s pop, psych, dub, and classic US-flavoured punk, delivering something that felt genuinely unlike anything else happening at the time.

Frontman Ade Blackburn frames the band’s early philosophy simply: “With the early EPs, we wanted to set our stall out as being into pop music and rhythm playing a large part in the songs. Above all, for the music to be fun and entertaining.” That spirit runs through every track, from the guitar-heavy “Cement Mixer” to the lilting grooves of closer “Voot,” with churning organ lines and locked-in drums underpinning Blackburn’s distinctively detached vocal delivery throughout.

These recordings aren’t just historical artefacts. They’re the foundational DNA from which Clinic’s later explorations of psychedelia, minimalism, and warped pop would grow. From ‘Internal Wrangler’ through to ‘Fantasy Island’, every step of their remarkable discography traces back to these seminal early EPs.

The compilation is available now exclusively via Domino Mart, limited to 300 hand-numbered copies. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Danish Composer and Pop Visionary Hannah Schneider Blurs Every Boundary on Hypnotic New Single “Membrane”

Eric Alper
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Danish Composer and Pop Visionary Hannah Schneider Blurs Every Boundary on Hypnotic New Single “Membrane”

Hannah Schneider operates in a space entirely her own. “Membrane,” the new single from the Danish pop and alternative composer, is out now on Midnight Confessions, a hypnotic, deeply expressive track that moves between experimental neoclassical textures and strong melodic hooks with total assurance.

Built around a bass clarinet motif and driven by restrained, almost hip-hop-like drums, the track unfolds with subtle intensity, letting atmosphere and emotion carry everything. Schneider’s voice sits in close dialogue with the instrument’s dark, breathing pulse, reflecting on emotional shields, distance, and the fragile barriers that form when understanding begins to fade. It’s minimal and deeply affecting.

“Membrane” is taken from her album ‘In This Room’, out now. To make it, Schneider invited a carefully chosen group of musicians to her residency at Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen, turning the historic space into a laboratory where composition and recording were approached from entirely new angles. The central question driving the project: what happens when acoustic instruments become the starting point for modern electronic music?

Produced with longtime collaborator Christian Balvig (When Saints Go Machine, BBC Proms arranger) and featuring Efterklang frontman Caspar Clausen, ‘In This Room’ marks a new creative lane for an artist already celebrated as one of Denmark’s strongest voices. In 2023 and 2024 she won the Danish composers prize Carl Prisen alongside contemporary jazz duo Kaleiido for her work on “Elements” and “Places.”

Her broader creative footprint is remarkable. As one half of electronic duo AyOwA, she earned BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music airplay alongside international press acclaim. As a composer, she’s created commissioned pieces for essential museums and cultural institutions across Denmark. As part of performance duo Philip Schneider, she explores the boundaries between music and art through seductive spatial compositions and installations.

Irish Nu-Metalcore Contenders Following The Signs Smash Through Limitations on New Single “Break The Frame”

Eric Alper
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Irish Nu-Metalcore Contenders Following The Signs Smash Through Limitations on New Single “Break The Frame”

Following The Signs mean every word they play. The Cork-based five-piece are back with “Break The Frame,” the latest single from their EP ‘Evolve’, out now, and it’s their most direct and ferocious statement yet.

Built around pummeling riffs, thunderous breakdowns, and soaring yet abrasive vocal dynamics, the track confronts restriction, expectation, and the invisible structures that confine identity and ambition. The band frame it with a sharp conceptual edge: “Break The Frame is written with the idea of living in a simulation connected to a machine, the mainframe. Upon waking you realise the simulated world is not what it seems, so you fight to break free to live in the real world.” Heavy subject matter handled with total commitment.

Formed in Cork in 2018, Following The Signs have spent years building a reputation for combining groove-heavy nu-metal influences with the precision and aggression of modern metalcore. ‘Evolve’ is their most cohesive and focused body of work to date, a five-track narrative exploring survival, resistance, societal pressure, and transformation. Where previous single “Call To Rise” stood as a rallying cry against oppression, “Break The Frame” turns inward, targeting the psychological barriers that prevent growth.

Recent headline shows in Warsaw and Kraków, their largest international performances to date, have demonstrated clearly that their momentum is building well beyond Ireland’s borders. A rising force in modern heavy music, Following The Signs are moving fast and hitting harder with every release.

‘Evolve’ Tracklist:

Stuck In Place

Call To Rise

Break The Frame

Evolve

Infectious

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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