French-based outfit Zonbi bring their hypnotic, Haitian-rooted blend of saxophone-driven jazz, voodoo ritual, and heavy groove to Live on KEXP, recorded at ESMA in Rennes during Trans Musicales 2025. Led by Dimitri Milbrun on vocals and alto saxophone, the five-piece move through five tracks, “Lanmou Ak Lanmo,” “Bwodè,” “Bizango,” “Ogou Feray,” and “Divine Horsemen,” summoning a sound that’s equal parts trance, fire, and spiritual invocation.
Rising UK Heavy-Rocker Georgia Nicole Turns Struggle Into Anthem on “Too Alive”
A piano ballad grew teeth and became a rock powerhouse. Rising UK heavy-rock talent Georgia Nicole returns with her latest single “Too Alive,” a raw, electrifying anthem born from personal struggle and resilience. Known for her dynamic vocals and high-octane live shows, she’s been captivating audiences across the UK since 2021.
The song came out of a difficult stretch. “Too Alive” was written during a particularly challenging period, capturing feelings of isolation and inner turmoil before it evolved from a quiet piano ballad into an anthemic, chant-driven rock track. “I wanted to show people that they’re not alone in their suffering,” says Georgia, and that intent gives the song its real emotional pull.
Georgia has been making waves since her debut, with her first single racking up over 23,000 streams in six months. She performed five times at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2025 alone, on stages including Platform One, Kashmir, and Electrolove, broke the South Coast Music Show record for consecutive weeks in their top ten with “Game You Play” (which reached number 2 in their 2025 charts), and earned One to Watch features on Isle of Wight Radio in 2024 and 2025.
Her versatility runs wide. She’s lead vocalist for the celebrated function band Forever To Go, performs as Hayley Williams in Paramore tribute act Paramour (which drew a 4,000-person crowd at its 2025 Isle of Wight Festival debut), and sings in an Eminem tribute that regularly fills Electrolove to capacity. Inspired by Nothing But Thieves, The Killers, Muse, and Shinedown, she blends powerful riffs with emotionally charged lyrics.
“Too Alive” is part of her upcoming EP ‘A Little Bit Of It All,’ and marks the next step in her journey, highlighting the resilience, passion, and dedication to live performance that have defined her rise.
Indonesian Alt-Pop Trio Elephant Kind Sign to Alcopop! and Unleash Genre-Blurring Album ‘More Time’
Six years between proper singles ends with four arriving at once. Indonesian alt-pop trio Elephant Kind have signed to Alcopop! Records and released their third studio album ‘More Time,’ out now, kicking off with four new tracks, “Plan,” “Hooked,” “Strangest Thing,” and “Exactly What I Needed,” plus a live performance video of all four filmed in their hometown of Jakarta.
The new material introduces a more upbeat, dance-influenced side to the band, built on striking lyricism and dynamic production. “We’re so happy to finally share our first singles in 6 years that leads into a full album,” says vocalist and guitarist Bam Mastro. “This time we’re holding a complete record we truly believe in. More Time is Hip Hop, House, Rock, Eastern, Dance, and more genres we can’t even put into words, a twist and turn of frequencies pulling you from one realm to the next. An innovation.”
Comprised of Bam Mastro (vocals, guitar), Bayu Adisapoetra (drums), and Kevin Septanto (bass), Elephant Kind have built a signature sound shaped by their journey from Jakarta to London and beyond, blending genre-bending alternative indie with sharp pop sensibility. The band developed ‘More Time’ from 2023 through 2025, a period of significant transformation, and return with their most personal and expansive record to date.
Written between the sprawling chaos of Jakarta and the introspective quiet of London, the album explores transformation, longing, and the relentless pursuit of meaning in a world that moves too fast. It captures a group fully stepping into their identity, unafraid to fuse alt-rock roots with breakbeats and melancholic ballads with dance-floor catharsis.
The production carries serious pedigree. “Plan” and “Exactly What I Needed” were produced by Bam Mastro, while “Hooked” and “Strangest Thing” were co-produced with Iain Berryman (Arcade Fire, Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, Sam Fender, Young Fathers), engineered by Drew Dungate-Smith at Narcissus Studios in London, mixed by Robert Adam Stevenson (QOTSA, Jeff Beck, KT Tunstall), and mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road Studios.
By 2025, Elephant Kind had hit remarkable milestones, playing major UK and European festivals including YNot, Tramlines, and Wilderness, completing a sold-out headline tour, and delivering sessions on Radio X, BBC Radio 6 Music, and BBC Introducing. Their return to Jakarta saw them sell 3,000 tickets in under five minutes, their biggest headline shows yet. A UK headline tour is scheduled for September, with more live dates to be announced.
‘More Time’ Album Tracklist:
- Emotion
- Plan
- Exactly What I Needed
- Hooked
- The Ability To Listen Before You Speak
- This Feeling
- So Many Dayz
- Love Scene
- I Love The Cold Weather But Keep The Sun Around Longer
- Man Enough
- More Time
- Strangest Thing
Dublin Dark-Folk Trio Saltaire Make Their Mark With Debut EP ‘Only Moonlight’
A love song about falling fast across an ocean opens the debut from Saltaire. The Dublin dark-folk trio have released “Aldborough Parade,” the focus track from their debut EP ‘Only Moonlight,’ which is out now. The single establishes Saltaire as a formidable new presence in the contemporary Irish folk and trad scene.
“Aldborough Parade” is a stirring original written by member Ian Kinsella about the feverishness of falling quickly, the ache of love stretched across an ocean, and the sweetness of finding home in another person and their music. It sets the tone for an EP that interlaces original work with carefully chosen folk classics.
The record moves through a rich mix of tradition and invention. A richly textured take on “Matty Groves” refracts an English folk song through Appalachian melodies, grounded by ominous folk cello, intricate guitar and bouzouki, and a pulsing bodhrán heartbeat before a climactic bouzouki-led outro from Conor Lyons. The instrumental set “Slip Jigs & Jenny’s” gathers four traditional tunes and highlights Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz’s cello as both atmospheric foundation and lead melody player.
The EP takes its title from a line in its rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs”: “Gather up the gold you’ve found, you fool it’s only moonlight.” The trio see something fitting in it. “Sometimes being a musician feels something like that; we try to gather gold in what we create and navigate the shifting shadows of doubt,” they say. They were drawn to the song for its bite, too, calling it painfully pertinent amid a rise in racism and anti-immigrant hate, and a reminder of Ireland’s own long history of immigration and asylum-seeking.
The EP closes with debut single “The Axe,” a contemporary take on the murder ballad inspired by the true story of the Axeman of New Orleans, who terrorised the city between 1918 and 1919. The track navigates fear, bigotry, the sensationalising of tragedy in media, and the ways collective terror can either splinter or bind a community.
Saltaire bring together three distinct voices: singer and cellist Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz, guitarist Ian Kinsella, and bodhrán and bouzouki player Conor Lyons, all shaped by years in acclaimed Irish trad and folk bands. Cullen-Verhauz has performed with 2025 RTÉ Folk Award winners Natalie Ní Chasaide and Iarfhlaith Ó Domhnaill, Lyons is a founding member of The Bonny Men, and all three feature in Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin’s live band. Recorded at Black Mountain Studios in Co. Louth with co-producer Alex Borwick and mastered by Seán Mac Erlaine, ‘Only Moonlight’ arrives as a defining calling card.
‘Only Moonlight’ EP Tracklisting:
01 Aldborough Parade
02 Matty Groves
03 Slip Jigs & Jenny’s
04 Lungs
05 The Axe
Boston Pop-Rock Veteran Robert Ellis Orrall Opens His Vault For Unheard Taylor Swift Collaboration
A favorite song that nobody had ever heard sat in the vault for decades. Boston singer-songwriter Robert Ellis Orrall has finally released it, as the title track to his new album ‘Wonderland,’ out now via Fixation Records. The record gathers a freshly produced batch of unreleased songs from his seemingly endless creative vault, plus a reimagining of a fairly famous track he co-wrote with Taylor Swift two decades ago.
The collection takes its name from the MBTA’s Blue Line stop near Orrall’s North Shore home, and the songs share a theme. “I spent many years writing songs for other artists, and along the way, I wrote songs for me to record but I never released them,” Orrall admits. “Some of my favorite songs ever, in fact. Now that I’m back performing and recording with my original band, it was time to release this collection into the world.”
The title track came out of a search through his own catalogue. “Someone asked me ‘What is your favorite song you ever wrote?’, and I reflexively said I don’t think I could pick one, there are over 2000 in my catalog, including over 350 cuts,” Orrall says with a laugh. “But I thought it would be fun to revisit a few hundred songs to see if I really could pick a favorite. The clear winner was a song that has never been cut, really never been heard by anyone. It’s called ‘Wonderland.’ Sad songs are my favorite songs, and this one is the saddest of them all.” It opens the album with a grand orchestral arrangement conducted by David Hofner, setting the thematic tone before the record turns toward Orrall’s more upbeat nature.
Lead single “Brand New Me” is where that energy kicks in, a shoulder-swaying anthem fit for arenas and post-Valentine’s playlists. “I love the way this song kicks off with drums and sparkling electric guitars,” he reveals, “and the lyric dives right into a back-handed admission of guilt and the lament that although he has supposedly fixed all his flaws, she’s not around to see it. He’s sad, he’s angry, he’s sorry and he’s showing off at the same time.” Orrall is obsessed with harmonies, sometimes stacking as many as 20 vocal tracks, and that love runs through the whole set.
The deeper cuts keep the unrequited-love thread going. “I’m Coming With You” rides a cruising piano and guitar groove, the smoky “I Disappear” came from his work with Juan Carlos Perez Soto, and the glam-tinged “Carol Ann” was co-written with Plain White T’s frontman Tom Higgenson of “Hey There Delilah” fame. “End Title Song” nods to Orrall’s screen work, which most famously includes “Ultimate,” written for Lindsay Lohan and heard at the end of 2003’s Freaky Friday, then rebooted by The Beaches for last year’s Freakier Friday.
The album also folds in one Swift collaboration. “I’m Only Me (When I’m With You),” first made famous on the deluxe edition of Swift’s 2006 debut, trades the original’s guitar-pop propulsion for an orchestral ballad. “When Angelo Petraglia and I wrote the song with Taylor for her debut album, it was a fun uptempo declaration of love,” Orrall recalls. Now 45 years into a loving marriage, he reads it differently, “like in a I-can’t-imagine-life-without-you kind of way,” and reworked it accordingly, adding a note of hope to a record otherwise built on longing.
Orrall’s history runs deep. RCA Records signed him in 1980 alongside his dream band of Kook Lawry (guitars), Don Walden (bass), and David Stefanelli (drums), part of a New Wave of Boston artists who rocked The Rat, the Paradise, and the Orpheum and toured with U2, The Kinks, and the Psychedelic Furs. After the band dissolved in the mid-’80s, Orrall moved to Nashville and became a prolific songwriter and producer, earning five Number 1 songs, helping launch Swift’s career on her 10x-platinum debut, and founding indie label Infinity Cat Recordings. The band reformed in 2021 and has released five albums since. Across ‘Wonderland”s 10 songs, Orrall calls them “10 singles for single people,” finally getting the release they deserve.
Live Dates:
August 7 – The Cut, Gloucester, MA
September 3 – Wildcat Outdoor Concert Series, Jackson, NH
German Punk Risers MELONBALL Sharpen Speed and Feeling on New LP ‘Take Care’
Confrontation and introspection share the same record on the latest from MELONBALL. Germany’s fast-rising punk band return with their second full-length, ‘Take Care,’ out now via Thousand Islands Records in North America and Rookie Records in Germany. It’s their most expansive and emotionally direct work yet, connecting urgent political themes with deeply personal moments while pushing their fast, technical sound into new territory. Listen here.
The album moves confidently between the external and the internal. “129” takes aim at the criminalization of left-wing activism, while “Exist” confronts the fragile reality of self-determination. “Garbage Day” and “Bullshit Revolution” deliver fierce, clear-eyed takedowns of right-wing ideology and political complacency. Against those, songs like “The Static” and “Back To My Gut” explore emotional uncertainty, self-reflection, and the tension between comfort and growth, giving the record real balance and depth.
Musically, MELONBALL stay rooted in their signature blend of speed, precision, and melody, but ‘Take Care’ opens up the arrangements, letting atmosphere and feeling carry as much weight as sheer momentum. Multifaceted guitar work and intricate rhythms collide with sharp hooks and memorable choruses, while a deliberately raw production keeps everything immediate. Vocals arrive with minimal post-production, emphasizing urgency, honesty, and presence.
Serious without ever turning defeatist, the album channels energy, clarity, and the joy of resistance. Its message stays simple and direct: take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and above all take care of those who can’t do it on their own.
MELONBALL have built their standing through relentless touring and high-energy shows. They’ve played festivals including Ruhrpott Rodeo, Manchester Punk Festival, Mighty Sounds, Mission Ready, Punk Rock Holiday, and Music 4 Cancer, and shared stages with A Wilhelm Scream, Punk Rock Factory, Authority Zero, Belvedere, Lagwagon, The Iron Roses, and ZSK. Following a 2023 UK tour and a 10-show run across Eastern Canada in 2024, they kept the momentum going with 2025 tours alongside The Iron Roses and Satanic Surfers, averaging roughly 40 shows a year, and picked up the GUNDA Pop Culture Award in 2025.
Their debut album ‘BREATHE’ arrived in 2023 via Thousand Islands Records and Lockjaw Records, followed by the acoustic EP ‘eup•nea’ in 2024. ‘Take Care’ marks their most versatile, emotional, and politically direct release to date. The band is Oli (vocals), Basti (guitar, backing vocals), Vik (guitar, backing vocals), Jens (bass), and Tommy (drums).
‘Take Care’ Track List:
Silence = Compliance
Ignite
Ally Or Alibi
The Static
Architects of Comfort
Garbage Day
129
Toxic Routine
Exist
Tolerance for Ambivalence
Bullshit Revolution
Back To My Gut
Dublin Psych-Pop Duo Unique Freaks Detonate the Fun on New Single “Explode Ur Head”
A synth patch named after a hairy frog fish spawned a whole EP. Dublin psych-pop duo Unique Freaks, also known as THEE U.F.O, have released their new EP ‘Hairy Frog Fish,’ out now, with lead single “Explode Ur Head” arriving alongside its own official music video. The EP collects songs that grew out of the “Hairy Frog” synth patch but didn’t make it onto the album, including the title track plus “Kick It Down (Take It),” “Letting Go Of The Controls,” and “Explode Ur Head.”
Frontman Darragh Hansard has a story for each one. “Hairy Frog Fish, a ridiculous name for a ridiculous song,” he says. “Messing around on the synth and made the sound of the Hairy Frog Fish. I guess I was making a song for cyberpunk.” He calls “Kick It Down!” the one with the least thought and the most fun, while “Letting Go Of The Controls” went deeper. “Having major control issues as it relates to life and death and the general narrative of my own life, it’s time I let things happen as they must. I’ll still be here doing my thing.”
“Explode Ur Head” came out of a heavy Peaches listening phase. “A dum dum fun punk song,” Hansard says, paired with a deliberately cheesy workout rage video inspired by Jane Fonda and WWF’s attitude era. “Made on a Wednesday over a few beers. We wanted it to be low quality, however it turned out worse than we had thought lol. Hope you all enjoy!”
Unique Freaks are in a real moment of blossoming. They began as an industrial duo, stumbled into freak-folk on debut ‘Light Boat Drones,’ then unleashed two psychedelic ear-bleeders in ‘Ponderous Fug’ and ‘Beaming A Moments Reflection,’ both critically acclaimed. In summer 2024 they shifted toward shorter, more concise songs on the ‘Glowing Friends’ EP, their first release as Unique Freaks, and all that sonic shifting has fed into this latest project. The new material takes a pop approach in its production while the duo’s whimsical, often vulnerable personalities bleed through.
Throughout their time as THEE U.F.O, the Freaks have shared stages with Godcaster, Jim Jones All Stars, Meatbodies, Acid Mothers Temple, Cardinals, Search Results, and more, plus a spot at All Together Now 2023. In September 2024 they debuted a new live line-up featuring two drummers and a psychedelic light show, aiming to make their shows more overwhelming and bizarre, and 2025’s ‘Enjoyment Planted’ landed on Nialler 9’s best Irish albums of the year list.
Live Date:
Friday, September 25th – Whelan’s, Dublin
Melbourne Acoustic Duo Opal Ocean Reach for the Cosmos on New Album ‘Temple of the Stars’
Nine mind-bending guitar tracks written between tours and time zones make up the latest from Opal Ocean. The Melbourne-based duo of Alex Champ and Nadav Tabak have released their new album ‘Temple of the Stars,’ out now, alongside their first-ever run of UK shows.
‘Temple of the Stars’ marks a milestone for the pair. It’s the first album they’ve written and recorded entirely from home, between tours, between time zones, and between ever-evolving lifestyles. The music, like the artwork, reflects both an introspective and outward journey of who Opal Ocean are in 2026 and what their sound has become.
Opal Ocean built their name on a singular trick: making two acoustic guitarists sound like a full band. Since their debut ‘Terra’ EP in 2015, the duo have blended high-octane Spanish guitar techniques with dynamic, psychedelic-tinged soundscapes. A viral video of them busking their track “J.A.M.” on the streets of Melbourne racked up a staggering 50 million views across platforms, launching them as one of the most exciting acts in modern instrumental music.
That momentum carried far. They’ve headlined major events like the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 and were invited to design their own “Opalburst” and “Oceanburst” guitars with Canada’s Godin Guitars. Their debut album ‘Lost Fables’ (2016) took them across Canada, New Zealand, and Europe, while follow-up ‘The Hadal Zone’ (2020) featured a collaboration with Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess. The 2022 ‘Fish Food’ EP reimagined tracks from Joe Satriani, Pink Floyd, and System of a Down, and the years since have brought live albums, sold-out European club tours, and standout festival sets across Australia and Europe.
This spring brought their thrilling live show to UK stages for the first time, with raw energy, technical mastery, and rich sonic layers that often make it hard to believe only two musicians are on stage. ‘Temple of the Stars’ captures that same chemistry in studio form, and stands as a confident snapshot of where the duo are right now.
London Indie-Dance Five-Piece AWAY FANS Bottle Messy Nights on “Perfect Moment”
Messy nights and hungover mornings get their own anthem on the latest from AWAY FANS. The London indie-dance five-piece have released “Perfect Moment,” a distorted, high-octane indie-rock dance track that BBC Introducing London premiered ahead of its release. It’s out now.
The band describe themselves as a five-piece built to get everyone dancing, screaming, and misbehaving, and the new single delivers exactly that. “Perfect Moment is an ode to messy nights and hungover mornings with the people you love,” they say. “It’s a celebration of youthful stupidity and hedonism, as well as the long-lasting connections we can make in all the silliness. Inspired by bands such as The Streets, and taking elements of UKG, whilst in-keeping with the current wave of danceable, clever indie from bands such as Wet Leg, Drycleaning, and Getdown Services.”
Formed in the early 2020s, AWAY FANS bring a comprehensive, electric live show that others have described as an infectious dirty dance with propulsive disco rhythms. The lineup is Tom Fisher (vocals), Alice Seymour (vocals), Alex Boffey (guitar and synth), David Lewins (bass and vocals), and Matt Foley (drums).
They had a prolific 2025, releasing “Take” in March, the ‘Honey EP’ in June, and “Keeping On” in October, all well received by radio and press. Fame Mag praised the way they swap guitar grit for club sweat, fusing indie-rock bite with rave energy, while OBS Mag pointed to a sound laced with murky post-punk attitude and Madchester rave grooves, bound together by London grit.
“Perfect Moment” carries all of that forward, fresh and genre-blending and built for the dancefloor. The track was written collectively by the band, recorded, produced, and mixed by Harri Chambers at Zigzag Studios, and mastered by Shuta Shinoda.
Swiss Pop-Rocker Borovsky Steps Into the Unknown on Nostalgic New Single “A Leap in the Dark”
Leaving a job after 17 years can shake loose a song. Swiss singer-songwriter Borovsky returns with his latest single “A Leap in the Dark,” a powerful, emotionally charged pop-rock track about the tension between uncertainty and excitement when stepping into the unknown.
The song came straight from a real turning point. “I wrote ‘A Leap in the Dark’ after leaving a company where I had worked for roughly 17 years,” says Borovsky. “The song captures that moment when you feel both concern about the unknown and the thrill of a new beginning. It’s really about restarts, taking risks and making big decisions in life.”
Written in London and deeply personal, the track blends reflective lyrics with uplifting melodies and atmospheric production, the kind of song built to resonate with anyone facing change or searching for the courage to take the next step. It plays to Borovsky’s strength for translating universal experiences into heartfelt songs that connect across generations.
The sound stays rooted in the era he loves. Borovsky continues to build on his signature nostalgic pop-rock, drawing from the melodic and emotional traditions of the 1980s. Fans of Simply Red, Simple Minds, Chris Rea, Yes, and Billy Idol will find a familiar yet fresh energy here. “With ‘A Leap in the Dark,’ Borovsky captures the thrill and uncertainty of life’s turning points, wrapping it all in the lush, nostalgic pop rock sound that fans of the 80s will instantly recognise and love,” shares music publicist Danielle Holian of Decent Music PR.
Borovsky grew up in the Basel region of Switzerland and has been writing pop and rock songs since the 1980s. His debut album ‘Top of the Rock’ arrived in autumn 2016, kicking off a steady run of albums, EPs, and singles including “A Question of Time,” “Skyscraper,” and “The One.” Across all of it, he keeps returning to themes of change, resilience, and personal growth, and “A Leap in the Dark” is a warm, confident addition to that body of work.