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Alt-Rockers MX Lonely Release “Anesthetic” and Debut Album ‘All Monsters’

Eric Alper
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Alt-Rockers MX Lonely Release “Anesthetic” and Debut Album ‘All Monsters’

MX Lonely dig into the dark with purpose. The Brooklyn three-piece release their debut full-length album ‘All Monsters’ via Julia’s War Recordings alongside new single “Anesthetic,” a grunge-streaked alt-rock track that vocalist Rae Haas describes plainly as “a love song to the addict, an ode to feeling highs and lows rather than searching for something to numb the pain.” The accompanying music video, directed by Owen Lehman, captures the shift from desolation to visceral power that defines the song’s emotional arc.

‘All Monsters’ is the album MX Lonely have been building toward since forming out of AA meetings, where Haas, guitarist Jake Harms, and bassist Gabriel Garman first connected. Entirely self-recorded, the album captures the live, immediate, analogue energy of their shows across eight tracks that tackle gender dysphoria, addiction, codependency, shadow work, and the internal monsters that make you feel like a bad person. “ALL MONSTERS is about, instead of killing yourself, killing your monsters,” Haas says. The cavernous guitars, soaring vocals, and hulking low-end stretch into the longest songs the group have ever made, including the haunting seven-minute closer “Whispers In The Fog.”

The singles leading into the album set the tone precisely. “Big Hips” earned praise from Stereogum, FLOOD Magazine, and Chasing Sundays for its portrayal of trans adolescence through seasick indie rock and fuzz-riff eruptions. “Shape Of An Angel” explored addiction and codependency. “Return To Sender” interrogated the impossibility of controlling others’ perceptions. Together with “Anesthetic,” they sketch a record that moves between murky creep and full-intensity catharsis without losing its emotional thread.

MX Lonely have been on the road supporting ‘All Monsters’ since February, with the North American tour now wrapping up its final dates through early April.

‘All Monsters’ Tracklist:

  1. Kill the Candle
  2. Big Hips
  3. Shape of An Angel
  4. All Monsters Go To Heaven
  5. Blue Ridge Mtns
  6. Anesthetic
  7. Return to Sender
  8. Whispers In The Fog

Charlie Nieland and Joe McGinty Unveil “Making of Today” Video From ‘Stories From The Borderlines’

Eric Alper
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Charlie Nieland and Joe McGinty Unveil “Making of Today” Video From ‘Stories From The Borderlines’

Charlie Nieland and Joe McGinty pull back the curtain on one of the most beautifully realized songs on Nieland’s acclaimed album ‘Stories From The Borderlines.’ The two NYC veterans share the “Making of Today” video, a behind-the-scenes companion to Alex Dar’s devastating and hopeful stop-motion clip for “Today,” a hymn of loss and acceptance that transforms personal darkness into a universal meditation on the beauty of the finite. The new video walks through how the collaboration came together, including studio footage and McGinty’s deep dive into the extraordinary keyboard collection he brought to the session.

The pairing makes complete sense. Nieland had been singing in McGinty’s long-running NYC performance series “The Loser’s Lounge” and had him as a guest on his podcast “An Embarrassment of Prog” before the two connected musically. When “Today” needed something more than Nieland’s own keyboard parts, he asked McGinty to create layers with the feel of the semi-obscure Jon Anderson/Vangelis song “So Long Ago, So Clear.” McGinty fired up a remarkable array of vintage and new instruments, including a Freeman String Symphonizer, Moog Muse, Oberheim Xpander, and Therevox ET 5, bathing the track in what Nieland describes as “a unique glow that really elevated the feeling of hope and sadness.”

‘Stories From The Borderlines’ is out now and drawing serious attention. Named Artist of the Year by The Manc Review, Nieland brings decades of production and writing credits to the project, including a UK Gold record for his work on Blondie’s ‘Greatest Hits Sight & Sound,’ a Top 10 Billboard Dance Chart position with Debbie Harry’s “Two Times Blue,” and film and television work including scoring the feature film ‘The Safety of Objects’ and Showtime’s pilot episode of ‘The L Word.’ The album presents a visceral blend of post-punk, glam, dream pop, and progressive rock across eleven tracks, with additional contributions from drummer Billy Loose, guitarist Dan McAssey, and Staten Island rapper spiritchild.

Nieland performs tonight at 503 Social Club in Hoboken, NJ alongside Renee Maskin and Karyn Kuhl.

‘Stories From The Borderlines’ Tracklist:

  1. Cease To Turn
  2. Brutalist Monuments
  3. Win (feat. spiritchild)
  4. Drown
  5. Hypnotized
  6. Back To Life
  7. Redshift
  8. Sentinel
  9. Shame
  10. Today
  11. You Fell Down

Mastodon Head to Europe and the UK This Summer With Loathe

Eric Alper
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Mastodon Head to Europe and the UK This Summer With Loathe

Mastodon are taking their heaviest show yet across the Atlantic. The Grammy-winning Atlanta alt-metal titans announce a European and UK summer tour kicking off June 3 in Prague, featuring a mix of headline shows and major festival dates across more than a dozen countries. English nu-metalcore group Loathe join on select headline dates. Tickets are on sale now.

The tour arrives during a significant transitional moment for the group. Founding lead guitarist Brent Hinds departed and subsequently passed away, leaving a void that Canadian guitarist and songwriter Nick Johnston has stepped in to fill both live and in the studio. According to guitarist Bill Kelliher, Johnston has been actively involved in writing and recording Mastodon’s as-yet-untitled new album, the follow-up to their Grammy-nominated 2021 double album ‘Hushed and Grim.’ The European run will give audiences their first extended look at where Mastodon goes from here.

The itinerary is stacked. Festival appearances include Download Festival at Castle Donington, Hellfest in Clisson, Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Copenhell in Copenhagen, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Nova Rock, and more. Mastodon also bookend the run with appearances at both iterations of Sick New World, in Las Vegas in April and Fort Worth in October, making for one of their most expansive touring years in recent memory.

The collaboration with Lamb of God on “Floods of Triton” has added further momentum heading into this run.

Mastodon 2026 Tour Dates:

April 25 – Sick New World, Las Vegas, NV

June 3 – O2 Universum, Prague, CZ (headline, w/Loathe)

June 5 – Rock am Ring, Nürburg, DE

June 6 – Mystic Festival, Gdańsk, PL

June 7 – Rock im Park, Nürnberg, DE

June 9 – Komplex, Zurich, CH (headline, w/Loathe)

June 11 – Nova Rock, Nickelsdorf, AT

June 13 – Into the Grave Festival, Leeuwarden, NL

June 14 – Download Festival, Castle Donington, UK

June 16 – Garage Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken, DE (headline, w/Loathe)

June 17 – FZW, Dortmund, DE (headline, w/Loathe)

June 19 – Hellfest, Clisson, FR

June 21 – Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, BE

June 22 – Docks, Hamburg, DE (headline, w/Loathe)

June 24 – Copenhell Festival, Copenhagen, DK

June 25 – Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, DE (headline, w/Loathe)

June 27 – Rock Pod Kameňom, Snina, SK

June 28 – Tvornica Kulture, Zagreb, HR (headline)

July 3 – Rock Imperium Festival, Cartagena, ES

July 4 – Resurrection Fest, Viveiro, ES

July 5 – Evil Live Festival, Lisboa, PT

October 24 – Sick New World, Fort Worth, TX

Hip-Hop Legends De La Soul Bring “Different World” to The Tonight Show in a Performance Worth Stopping For

Eric Alper
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Hip-Hop Legends De La Soul Bring “Different World” to The Tonight Show in a Performance Worth Stopping For

De La Soul took the Tonight Show stage and performed “Different World” with the kind of grounded authority that only comes from three-plus decades of doing this at the highest level. The clip is streaming now, and it’s a reminder that few acts in hip-hop history have maintained their artistic identity as consistently or as gracefully as this group. “Different World” suits the moment and the room, and the performance carries genuine warmth without sacrificing an ounce of edge.

RZA Unites the Juice Crew for the First Time in Decades on ‘Bobby Digital Presents: The Juice Crew’

Eric Alper
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RZA Unites the Juice Crew for the First Time in Decades on ‘Bobby Digital Presents: The Juice Crew’

“This is a super duper dynamite blast”!  Hip-hop history comes full circle as RZA, the iconic, visionary artist and founding architect of the Wu-Tang Clan, has united one of rap’s most influential collectives, the Juice Crew, for a brand-new project; Bobby Digital Presents: The Juice Crew.

The reunion project, curated and produced by RZA, marks the first official Juice Crew release in decades — bridging two of the most influential crews in hip-hop history together in a generational meeting of mastery, message and movement.  Bobby Digital Presents: The Juice Crew collaboration both celebrates and preserves the roots of the trend-setting crews, while introducing their raw, uncompromising artistry to a new generation.

Formed in the mid-1980s under the guidance of Marley Marl, the Juice Crew helped define the early golden era of rap, with members like Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté (who was recently honored by becoming the first female rapper to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 67th Grammy Awards Ceremony), Masta Ace, Craig G, and Biz Markie (RIP) and Grandaddy I.U. (RIP).  The crew’s influence continues to echo through generations — and now, with RZA at the helm, that legacy evolves into a brand new chapter.

Bobby Digital Presents: The Juice Crew re-imagines the Juice Crew sound through RZA’s cinematic lens, blending his signature production with the crew’s storytelling mastery. The result is a project that stands as both a tribute and a testament — a reminder that true hip-hop never fades, it evolves.

Ian McKellen Stops The Late Show Cold With a 400-Year-Old Shakespeare Speech That Hits Like Today’s Headlines

Eric Alper
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Ian McKellen Stops The Late Show Cold With a 400-Year-Old Shakespeare Speech That Hits Like Today’s Headlines

Ian McKellen sat down with Stephen Colbert in February and delivered something television rarely makes room for anymore. Midway through an extended conversation covering his decades on stage and screen, McKellen performed the “Strangers’ Case” speech from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More, a 400-year-old monologue advocating for empathy toward immigrants and refugees that landed in the studio with the weight of a current headline. The extended interview is streaming now and well worth the full runtime.

UK Alt-Pop Trio Exploring Birdsong Confront Paranoia and Conspiracy on Cinematic New Single “42”

Eric Alper
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0
UK Alt-Pop Trio Exploring Birdsong Confront Paranoia and Conspiracy on Cinematic New Single “42”

Exploring Birdsong have been building toward something bigger, and “42” is the clearest signal yet that they’ve arrived. The UK alt-pop trio release their striking new single alongside an official video, centered on Lynsey Ward’s arresting vocals and a richer, more expansive sound that marks a genuine evolution from their piano-led beginnings. This is cinematic, emotionally layered alt-pop with real ambition behind it, and it sounds like a group fully in command of where they’re headed.

The song tackles paranoia, conspiracy theories, and confirmation bias from the inside out. Ward wrote it from the perspective of someone who has lost touch with reality, seeing patterns everywhere but never quite grasping the full picture. “Conspiracy theories are more rife than ever,” she explains. “We wanted to present this as a sympathetic look at how something so simple can go so wrong, and where that desperation can lead: a state of anxiety, isolation, and losing touch with the world around you.” The great irony, as Ward notes, is that the group now find themselves noticing the number 42 constantly, updating each other every time it appears somewhere unexpected.

Exploring Birdsong sold out two headline shows at London’s St Pancras Old Church in minutes last year, following sold-out showcases in Manchester and London the year before. They’ve shared stages with Katatonia and Sleep Token and appeared on main stages at RADAR Festival and Euroblast. Lynsey Ward, Jonny Knight, and Matt Harrison have built a sound that draws comparisons to Everything Everything, Kate Bush, and Enter Shikari while remaining entirely unclassifiable, straddling pop, progressive rock, and something that genuinely defies easy categorization.

A headline UK tour follows in September, with dates in Glasgow, London, Bristol, and Manchester. Tickets are on sale now.

September 2026 UK Tour Dates:

September 23 – Glasgow

September 26 – Manchester

Grace VanderWaal’s “Prettier” Asks the Question That Hollow Admiration Can Never Answer

Eric Alper
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Grace VanderWaal’s “Prettier” Asks the Question That Hollow Admiration Can Never Answer

Grace VanderWaal has been in this space before, the space where clarity cuts through noise, and “Prettier” is her sharpest arrival yet. The internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter and actress returns with an intimate new song co-written with Julia Michaels, Grant Boutin, and Mark Schick, built around a single question that lands harder the longer it sits: “Do you feel prettier when you hold me?” It’s a song about being seen without being known, admired without being understood, and the quiet loneliness that lives inside that gap.

The imagery is vivid and cutting without overstating anything. “I’ve been sharing my body with somebody who sees it as glass, a fragile piece on your mantle” says everything about the dynamic VanderWaal is examining. Her voice stays restrained and resolute throughout, moving through crowded rooms and hollow praise with the kind of self-possession that makes the emotional weight land cleanly. “Prettier is written about being seen but not heard in a relationship, and wanting something more,” she says. That’s the whole song in one sentence, and the music earns every word of it.

“Prettier” follows “High,” a reflective, quietly euphoric track rooted in nostalgia and emotional stillness that marked the beginning of a new chapter last fall. Together the two singles build on the foundation of her critically praised album ‘CHILDSTAR,’ a body of work about growing up in public, reclaiming autonomy, and stepping fully into her own voice. Where ‘CHILDSTAR’ examined the scars, “Prettier” lives in the present tense, sharper, more self-aware, and completely unafraid to name what’s wrong.

Manhattan Dub and Groove Collective Nevaris Release “Remedy – Live” From ‘SoundSession’ EP

Eric Alper
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Manhattan Dub and Groove Collective Nevaris Release “Remedy – Live” From ‘SoundSession’ EP

Nevaris arrives with something the music world genuinely needs right now. The Manhattan-based percussionist, keyboardist, and composer Agustín Nevaris releases “Remedy – Live,” the second offering from his ‘SoundSession’ EP, and the title says everything about the intention behind it. “The song speaks to the power of music to bring healing to our bodies and minds, especially during troubled times like the present,” Nevaris says. “We all need remedies in this world.”

Built on ultimate groove and rhythm, jazzy saxophone, a slick bassline, addictive lap-guitar, cinematic soundscapism, and turntablism, “Remedy” moves with the kind of warm, unhurried authority that only comes from musicians who know exactly what they’re doing. The ‘SoundSession’ EP marks the fourth collaboration between Nevaris, legendary bassist-producer Bill Laswell, and this particular nine-piece ensemble, which includes DJ Logic, Jonathan Maron, Will Bernard, Peter Apfelbaum, Angel Rodriguez, Jojo Kuo, Lockatron, and Matt Dickey. Recorded live in a single session at Laswell’s Orange Sound studio in West Orange, New Jersey with no edits or overdubs, every note captured exactly as it happened in real time.

The EP follows Nevaris’s 2023 debut album ‘Reverberations,’ released via M.O.D. Reloaded, which earned praise from Carlos Santana as “a work of supreme creativity.” Big Takeover Magazine called the sound “grooves and moves, ambience and addiction, brass and bass, analogue and digital, the old and the new, the timeless and the forward-thinking all subsumed into a dub sound.” That description holds completely for “Remedy,” which sits at the intersection of Afro-Latin, dub, funk, and jazz with the kind of effortless fluidity that makes the whole thing feel inevitable.

‘SoundSession’ is out now digitally. A second studio album featuring special guests is already in the works for later in 2026 via M.O.D. Reloaded.

‘SoundSession’ Tracklist:

  1. Ninth Sun – Live
  2. Remedy – Live
  3. Document
  4. Dub Orchestra

Sleep Theory Drop “Words Are Worthless” Video With European Tour Mostly Sold Out

Eric Alper
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Sleep Theory Drop “Words Are Worthless” Video With European Tour Mostly Sold Out

Sleep Theory had one of the heaviest breakout years heavy music has seen in recent memory, and they’re not letting up. The four-piece release the video for “Words Are Worthless” from their debut album ‘Afterglow,’ a violin-enhanced power ballad wrapped in a goth noir visual that showcases exactly the kind of range that’s made this group impossible to ignore. The clip finds the group in full performance mode, dark, commanding, and completely in control.

‘Afterglow,’ produced by David Cowell and mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bring Me The Horizon, Bad Omens, Architects), has accumulated over 515 million global streams since its release last spring on Epitaph Records. Revolver called it “an exciting mix of metalcore, pop and R&B.” Kerrang! named Sleep Theory “one of the most compelling new acts in heavy music.” They covered Rock Sound, Kerrang!, Revolver, and Outburn in the same year. Praised by Jelly Roll and David Draiman, and having toured with Shinedown, Falling In Reverse, and Beartooth, they became the fifth most-played artist on Active Rock radio in under two years.

The European headline run with The Pretty Wild is mostly sold out, with several venues upgraded to meet demand, including sold-out nights at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town, Berlin’s Hole 44, Hamburg’s Uebel & Gefährlich, and Cologne’s Carlswerk Victoria. Radio shows with Three Days Grace and I Prevail follow, alongside a packed slate of U.S. and European festival appearances running through October, including Sick New World, Download Festival, Graspop Metal Meeting, and Pinkpop.

Cullen Moore is the kind of vocalist who changes the ceiling of what a heavy music front person can do, drawing on classic pop, R&B, and rock with a range that consistently outpaces the genre around him. With ‘Afterglow’ still building momentum, Sleep Theory are positioned to carry that upward trajectory well into the year ahead.

U.S. Festivals:

April 25 – Sick New World, Las Vegas, NV

July 18 – Inkcarceration, Mansfield, OH

July 19 – Summer of ’99 & Beyond Festival, Tinley Park, IL

October 24 – Sick New World, Fort Worth, TX

European Summer Festivals:

June 9 – Rock in Roma, Rome, IT (w/The Offspring, A Day To Remember)

June 10-14 – Download Festival, Leicestershire, UK

June 18 – Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, BE

June 19 – Pinkpop, Landgraaf, NL

June 26 – Vainstream Rockfest, Münster, DE

June 27 – Impericon Festival, Leipzig, DE

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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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