Home Blog Page 187

Irish Alt Pop Visionary Rosie Carney Unveils “The Evidence” From ‘Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here’

Eric Alper
-
0
Irish Alt Pop Visionary Rosie Carney Unveils “The Evidence” From ‘Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here’

Irish singer-songwriter Rosie Carney announces her fourth studio album ‘Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here,’ arriving February 27, 2026 via cool0nline. Alongside the news, she shares the bold new single “The Evidence,” complete with a video directed by Cal McIntyre. It is a striking third preview of a record that expands her sound into darker, more atmospheric territory.

“It’s funny because I LOVE the production of this song, it’s so exciting to me. But the song’s theme is very dystopian,” Carney says. “It’s about that state of delirium you experience when you’re burning out but resting or being still is out of the question because it makes you feel too guilty.” The track surges with alt-pop urgency and shoegaze haze, capturing that fever-dream spiral in full colour.

Co-written and co-produced with Ross MacDonald and Ed Thomas, and mixed by Jonathan Gilmore, the album was shaped across months of sessions in London. Carney pushes far beyond the intimate folk foundations of her early work, pulling from electronic textures and widescreen sonics. The production feels expansive and charged.

“Making a sonic pivot was something I really wanted to achieve,” she explains. “Although the songs are essentially bigger and louder, they feel almost more personal than anything I’ve created before. The bigger sound almost worked as a shield while I was writing.” ‘Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here’ stands as her most ambitious and emotionally layered statement to date.

When They Riot Detonate ‘Covers’ With Green Day’s “Brain Stew”

Eric Alper
-
0
When They Riot Detonate ‘Covers’ With Green Day’s “Brain Stew”

Leeds-based alt-rock insurgents When They Riot unleash ‘Covers,’ a distortion-soaked reimagining of era-defining alternative tracks. This is not imitation. It is reconstruction. The band tears into foundational songs and rebuilds them with grunge abrasion, hard rock muscle and unfiltered emotional charge. The result is ferocious, immediate and unapologetically loud.

Pendulum’s “Propane Nightmares” is reborn as a guitar-driven onslaught, shifting the electronic pulse into full-throttle rock urgency. Their take on Green Day’s “Brain Stew” drags the slacker anthem into darker terrain, layering grimy distortion and suffocating atmosphere over its brooding core. It is tense, heavy and unrelenting.

With Alice in Chains’ “Again,” When They Riot deliver a crushing homage that honours the original’s bleak weight while injecting volatile edge. Each track feels physical. The riffs grind. The drums slam. The vocals cut through with snarl and purpose. ‘Covers’ stands as a declaration of intent from a band staking their claim.

At its core, this EP plants When They Riot shoulder-to-shoulder with their influences. They are not revisiting the past. They are detonating it and building forward from the wreckage. “Brain Stew” from the EP is out now across digital platforms.

Melbourne Singer Songwriter Caddy Callaghan Unveils “Wait A Minute” From ‘There You Are’

Eric Alper
-
0
Melbourne Singer Songwriter Caddy Callaghan Unveils “Wait A Minute” From ‘There You Are’

Melbourne-based singer-songwriter and pianist Caddy Callaghan shares “Wait A Minute,” a dramatic and tender new single from her debut solo album ‘There You Are,’ out now. The track captures the ache of longing for a love that feels destined yet impossible. It is heart-wrenching and fearless, built on emotional honesty and classic pop-rock craft.

Written and performed by Callaghan, the song was recorded and produced in Nashville by Rick Price. Soulful vocals lead the way, unfolding over echoing, nostalgic instrumentation. A soaring guitar solo from Mark Punch answers her voice like a second narrator. The result is cinematic and deeply felt, grounded in real instruments and timeless production.

“For me, songwriting is mostly like a journal entry with rhythm, rhyme and metre. I write from a heart state. It’s deeply personal, vulnerable and cathartic,” Callaghan says. That openness defines “Wait A Minute.” Every line carries weight. The emotion is front and centre, delivered with warmth and melodic strength.

A songwriter for more than three decades, Callaghan has earned an Australian Songwriters Association Award, national ABC radio support and mentorship through Tuesday Night Song Club led by Mark Seymour, Liz Stringer and Charles Jenkins. Balancing motherhood, independent artistry and running Cadwyn Clare Records, she channels resilience and faith into ‘There You Are.’ This is heartfelt pop-rock storytelling at full emotional scale.

Punk Supergroup YAKKIE Ignite “Rabbit’s Got The Gun” From ‘Kill The Cop Inside Your Head’

Eric Alper
-
0
Punk Supergroup YAKKIE Ignite “Rabbit’s Got The Gun” From ‘Kill The Cop Inside Your Head’

London-based DIY punk supergroup YAKKIE unleash “Rabbit’s Got The Gun,” a live-wire blast from their debut album ‘Kill The Cop Inside Your Head,’ out now. Recorded in one take, the track is a ferocious statement of resistance. It simmers, then detonates, driven by almighty riffage and protest-fuelled urgency. This is punk at full volume and full force.

“‘Rabbit’s Got The Gun’ is an uncompromising rager about resistance recorded in one live take. It’s about planning a strategy and surprising your enemy when they least expect it,” says vocalist and activist Janey Starling. That spirit runs through the entire record, captured live to reel-to-reel tape in four days at Middle Farm Studios with producer Peter Miles. No digital polish. Just raw power.

The album’s title track sets the ideological core. “This is a song against self-defeat,” Starling explains. Drawing on Augusto Boal’s concept of the “cop in the head,” she frames the record as a rallying cry against internalised oppression and political paralysis. The message is direct. Imagine a better world. Organise. Resist.

Starling, returning to the mic after focusing on anti-prisons activism, is joined by Robin Gatt, Laura Ankles and Maeve Westall. Together they build a hulking wall of sound, equal parts shredding guitars and thunderous rhythm. YAKKIE hit the road with Dead Pioneers, bringing that fury to stages across the UK.

SEE YAKKIE LIVE

w/ Dead Pioneers:

26-Feb-26 – Bristol – The Croft
27-Feb-26 – Manchester – Rebellion
28-Feb-26 – Leeds – Key Club
01-Mar-26 – London – Underworld

London Alt.Rock Firestarters Middleman Confront Nostalgia On Debut LP

Eric Alper
-
0
London Alt.Rock Firestarters Middleman Confront Nostalgia On Debut LP

“It’s hard to find your way, following the ghost,” sings Noah Alves on the title track of Middleman’s debut album. The London DIY four-piece take aim at nostalgia and the weight of the past, interrogating how memory can stall forward motion. From the opening moments of “CSN,” driving riffs and pummelling drums frame a restless meditation on authenticity, myth and the pull of bygone eras.

“CSN” nods to Crosby, Stills and Nash while refusing to romanticize them. “Ideas about authenticity definitely crop up quite a lot,” Alves says. “And nostalgia too – looking at the past with a focus on how our perception of this can be distorted. I wouldn’t describe it as anti-nostalgia but more how nostalgia can be damaging when you feel like the best stuff is in the past and there’s nothing new and exciting to be done.” It is sharp, self-aware songwriting with bite.

Alves, Harper Maury, Rory White and Ted Foster channel the wiry assault of Mission of Burma, the melodic charge of The Replacements and the punch of Wipers, balanced by flashes of Big Star and Neil Young. The album moves between punk velocity and hook-laden craft. “CSN” explodes into blistering alt rock, “All But The Flame” surges with melodic lift, and “Distractions” barrels through two minutes of pure overdrive.

Recorded and mixed by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse Recording Studio, the record captures a band in full stride. “We wanted to balance songs between more punky ones and slightly softer ones,” says Alves. Subtle tambourine, acoustic guitar and a collaborative writing process deepen the texture. The result is raw, immediate and fiercely alive, a debut that plants Middleman firmly in the present.

Welsh Electronic Visionary Max Avoidance Unleashes “Alone” And “Lightyear” Ahead Of Debut EP

Eric Alper
-
0
Welsh Electronic Visionary Max Avoidance Unleashes “Alone” And “Lightyear” Ahead Of Debut EP

Max Avoidance is the electronic pop project of Welsh producer Hari Limaye, and he arrives with two immersive statements, “Alone” and “Lightyear.” Recorded between a storm-lashed family home on the Gower coast and his London studio, the tracks pulse with atmosphere. Darkwave textures, glitchy electronics and dream pop haze frame a project forged through upheaval and renewal.

Limaye once balanced medical school with composing scores for high fashion houses including Hermes, Calvin Klein and Coach, alongside projects for Kendall Jenner. Personal trials reshaped that trajectory. Years of rebuilding followed. Max Avoidance stands as the sound of emergence, a focused electronic identity shaped by lived experience and relentless craft.

“Being alone isn’t the same as being lonely, being centered in oneself isn’t the same as being self-centered,” Limaye says of “Alone.” Raised on The Cure, Magazine, Cocteau Twins, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees, he adds, “I wanted to write something that was a homage to them with a 21st century take on those sounds and out came Alone.” The result is brooding, propulsive and emotionally direct.

“Lightyear” stretches even further. “What if distance was a feeling? It would feel like Lightyear,” he explains. “We are all memories across space and time, and like everything in the universe, we will return to cosmic dust and regenerate in a timeless cycle.” Holed up in a candlelit house during a winter storm with Christian (OC Saint), Limaye captured that tension. The debut EP featuring “Alone,” “Lightyear” and “Poison” signals a bold new electronic voice.

Indie Folk Auteur Jessie Kilguss Unveils “Fool’s Fight” From ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There’

Eric Alper
-
0
Indie Folk Auteur Jessie Kilguss Unveils “Fool’s Fight” From ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There’

NYC-based singer-songwriter Jessie Kilguss steps forward with “Fool’s Fight,” a sweeping indie-folk anthem drawn from her album ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There,’ out now. The track moves with emotional velocity, tracing the surrender to a love so immediate it feels cosmic. Guitar and voice anchor the song before it expands into something vast and luminous. It lands as a striking introduction to her sixth full-length.

Kilguss writes from a place where literature, cinema and memory intersect. “When I wrote ‘Fool’s Fight’, I was deeply ensconced in Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neapolitan Quartet’, which I loved! The song is slightly inspired by those books. As with any song it also relates to my own life but I like to let people project their own stories onto my songs, find their own meaning,” she says. The result is intimate yet wide open.

The album was engineered, produced, mixed and mastered by Charlie Nieland at Saturation Point Studios in Brooklyn. “I’ve been working on this album for the past year with producer Charlie Nieland, with whom I have been collaborating since 2007. We started every track with just voice and guitar and built them out from there,” Kilguss explains. That process shapes a record that grows from spare beginnings into layered, cinematic statements.

A longtime presence in New York songwriting circles, Kilguss surrounds herself with heavyweight collaborators including Kirk Schoenherr, John Kengla, Andrea Longato, Rob Heath, Dave Derby and Rembert Block. ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There’ also features the melancholic lead track “Howard Johnson’s” and the slow-burn revelation “St. Teresa in Ecstasy.” It is a bold, literary indie-folk statement that commands attention.

British Soul Master The James Hunter Six Glide Into “Here And Now” From ‘Off The Fence’

Eric Alper
-
0
British Soul Master The James Hunter Six Glide Into “Here And Now” From ‘Off The Fence’

British soul institution The James Hunter Six unveil “Here And Now,” the luminous centerpiece from their album ‘Off The Fence,’ out now on Easy Eye Sound. The track moves with warmth and restraint, carried by Hunter’s lilting guitar and hushed vocal delivery. It is arguably the most beautiful moment on the record, a love song that feels suspended in time.

The story begins in New York. “I first got talking to Jessie at a gig I was playing in New York. A year later she came to a show in Wilmington. We struck up a friendship, stayed in contact and had our first date in Jamaica, NY after I had played in New York with Van Morrison,” Hunter says. A wedding detour, a borrowed window of time, and a looming flight home set the scene.

“She drove from her cousin’s wedding in New Jersey to meet me, and we hung out for a couple of days before I had to fly home,” he continues. “With perfect timing, just as I was reluctantly making my way to the departure gate, she threw herself at me from behind in a frantic rugby tackle. We embraced, and I saw a tear in her eye. I told her I loved her, something I’d never done on a first date. And I’ve felt that way ever since. This song’s about her.”

GRAMMY-nominated and hailed by MOJO as The United Kingdom’s Greatest Soul Singer, James Hunter marks four decades since his recording debut with ‘Off The Fence.’ The twelve-track collection also features the blues-charged “A Sure Thing” and the Van Morrison duet “Ain’t That A Trip.” Backed by Myles Weeks, Rudy Albin Petschauer, Andrew Kingslow, Michael Buckley and Drew Vanderwinckel, The James Hunter Six deliver timeless rhythm and soul with authority.

5 Unknown Facts Todd Rundgren’s ‘Something/Anything?’

Eric Alper
-
0
5 Unknown Facts Todd Rundgren’s ‘Something/Anything?’

Todd Rundgren’s 1972 double-album masterpiece, Something/Anything?, stands as a landmark of DIY recording and pure pop craftsmanship. As his first release under his own name, the project serves as a definitive showcase for Rundgren’s transition into an independent and experimental powerhouse. While the album reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 and launched massive hits like “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light,” the story behind its creation involves a mix of chemical inspiration, literal earthquakes, and an artist obsessed with total control.

The One-Man Band Experiment

Driven by a general dissatisfaction with studio musicians, Rundgren temporarily moved to Los Angeles to record nearly three-quarters of the double album entirely by himself. He played every instrument and sang every vocal part for the first three sides, often developing songs spontaneously as he recorded. Because he was a novice drummer at the time, he would hum the melody in his head to keep his place, and if he made a mistake, he would simply change the song to fit the error rather than fixing the drum part.

Chemical Creativity and 20-Minute Hits

Rundgren wrote the material for the album at an incredibly prolific rate, a feat he openly attributes to his use of Ritalin and cannabis. These stimulants allowed him to crank out songs at an incredible pace, leading him to write the hit “I Saw the Light” in just 20 minutes. He even admitted that some rhymes were simple moon/June/spoon patterns because the process was moving so quickly.

An Earthquake Forced a Change in Plans

After recording a massive amount of solo material in Los Angeles, a literal earthquake struck the city, prompting Rundgren to move the sessions back to New York City. To lighten the mood after the disaster, he decided to abandon his solo approach for the final quarter of the album. He held live-in-studio sessions with any musicians who happened to be nearby, including future stars like Rick Derringer and the Brecker Brothers.

The Improvised Success of “Hello It’s Me”

The album’s highest-charting single, “Hello It’s Me,” was a re-recording of a song from Rundgren’s former band, Nazz. Despite its eventual top-five success, the new version was rehearsed and recorded in under two hours during a loose live session. The iconic horn lines and backing vocals heard at the end of the track were completely improvised on the spot by the session players.

The Home Studio Advantage

Rundgren pushed the boundaries of 1970s technology by installing an 8-track recorder in his rented home in Nichols Canyon. This setup allowed him to conduct lengthy, solitary experiments with equipment like the Putney VCS3 synthesizer without wasting a professional studio’s time. Several tracks on the album, including “Breathless” and “One More Day (No Word),” were captured in this domestic environment, adding to the record’s intimate and authentic feel

5 Surprising Facts About The Temptations’ ‘All Directions’

Eric Alper
-
0
5 Surprising Facts About The Temptations’ ‘All Directions’

In 1972, The Temptations pushed the boundaries of R&B with the release of All Directions, an album that redefined their sound under the bold direction of producer Norman Whitfield. Reaching number two on the Billboard 200, it stands as the group’s most successful non-collaborative effort on the chart and secured their twelfth number one on the Top R&B Albums chart. While the record is anchored by the massive, 12-minute cinematic masterpiece “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” the project was born out of intense creative friction and a complete departure from the group’s classic ballad roots.

The Song the Group Fought to Avoid

Despite its legendary status today, The Temptations fought tooth and nail against recording “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”. The group was convinced that the track and the All Directions album would flop, leaving them eager to return to their traditional ballad style found in hits like “My Girl”. They specifically disliked that producer Norman Whitfield’s complex instrumentation was receiving more emphasis than their own vocals.

A Case of Mistaken Dates and Personal Friction

A long-standing legend suggests lead singer Dennis Edwards was deeply upset by the song’s opening line about a father dying on the third of September. While the story claims his father died on that exact day, his father actually passed away on the third of October. Furthermore, Whitfield forced an increasingly frustrated Edwards to re-record his parts dozens of times to capture a specific bitter grumble, a grueling process that eventually contributed to Whitfield’s dismissal as their producer.

The Secret Length of a Classic

While the album sleeve for All Directions lists “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” at 11:45, the original vinyl version actually runs significantly longer. Due to an extended fade-out featuring sequential drum fills, the true original LP version reaches approximately 12:04. Most CD reissues and compilations use a shortened 11:45 edit, meaning the full 12-minute experience is primarily found on the original vinyl or the Psychedelic Soul compilation.

A Socially Conscious Struggle

The group also strongly resisted recording “Run Charlie Run,” a track dealing with the social phenomenon of white flight. The song required the members to repeatedly call out “the n***** are comin’!” using an affected Caucasian accent. This socially conscious Black power track represented the experimental and often uncomfortable territory Whitfield pushed the group toward during this era.

The Triple-Grammy “B-Side” Success

“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” was such a powerhouse that it secured three separate Grammy Awards in 1973, including one for its own B-side. While the Temptations won for Best R&B Performance by a Group, the instrumental version on the flip side—featuring only the Funk Brothers’ backing track—won Best R&B Instrumental Performance. This marked the last classic number one hit for the group and their final competitive Grammy win.

1...186187188...3,537Page 187 of 3,537

Follow us on Instagram @thatericalper

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

Popular posts

Popular category

© Copyright - That Eric Alper