Music

Midwife is the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston. She lives and works in San Miguel, New Mexico by way of Denver, Colorado, where she spent the better half of the past decade developing her experimental pop project. As a self taught guitarist and recording engineer, Midwife explores dark subject matter in her anthemic, soft-gaze hits. Self-described as “Heaven Metal,” or emotive music about devastation - catharsis.

When 2020 began, Johnston had several national and international tours planned, but the pandemic shifted her focus back to recording, and back to her internal landscape. Midwife’s third full length record, Luminol, was written and produced during quarantine.

Luminol is a chemical used by forensic investigators to reveal trace amounts of blood left at a crime scene. When it reacts with blood, luminol emits a chemiluminescent blue glow that can be seen in a darkened room. In the same way this chemical reveals evidence at a scene, Midwife is interested in profound truth - turning trial and tribulation into sources of light.

Luminol navigates themes of incarceration, locus of control, clarity, self harm, confinement, agency, and truth-seeking, all erupting in a bioluminescent Rothko color-field of blue.

The Luminol album cover shows a dark figure standing at the edge of a body of water. It symbolizes the way humanity had been on a precipice throughout 2020, to later find out they had been there all along. Being one of Midwife’s most personal records, Luminol's cover artwork is a picture of Madeline Johnston's mother taken in the 1980’s, when she was the same age as Madeline at the time of recording. By redacting the figure, Johnston hopes that anyone could see themselves there, by the water, as a form leftover when all the elements of their lives are stripped away and what is left is a host.

Luminol features collaborations from Tucker Theodore, Angel Diaz (Vyva Melinkolya), Zachary Cole Smith, Ben Newman, and Colin Caulfield (DIIV), and Dan Barrett (Have A Nice Life).

Track Listing:

1. God is a Cop
2. Enemy
3. 2020
4. Colorado
5. Promise Ring
6. Christina's World

Uboa’s fifth album Impossible Light almost never made it out of the dark. From its initial conception in 2018, this record went to hell and back, dragging its immensity and too-big-to-hold emotion through the torturous process of translation to sound and returned triumphantly as a full-bodied record in a distinct new style.
 
Impossible Light begins where Uboa's 2019 breakout album The Origin of My Depression left off — and ends somewhere entirely different. The Origin stunned with its methodical use of doom, harsh noise, ambient soundscapes while documenting a raw, unhindered account of Xandra Metcalfe’s experiences with her transition and her struggles with mental health. Over time The Origin steadily grew a cult-like following which developed into a full-fledged internet community focused around noise, neurodiversity and transness. While Uboa’s signature style of highly polished, cinematic ‘hypernoise' is front and center in Impossible Light, there is also a daring departure into the genres of industrial metal/rock, setting it apart from any other Uboa release thus far and distinguishing it from other contemporary noise records.
 
Metcalfe kept the lyrical content of this record as a time capsule of the catastrophic ups and downs and rapidly changing environments within herself and in the world from 2018-2023. Key collaborators include Blood of a Pomegranate, Otay:onii, Charlie Looker and Haela Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy. Impossible Light dives fearlessly into queer sexuality, trans embodiment, grief for those who couldn't make it, solidarity for those facing unimaginable discrimination, the toxic spread of transphobic hatred and misinformation, and the ultimate hope of recovery from trauma and mental anguish. This is a record about the light at the end of the tunnel and the power it takes to keep moving towards it.

Track Listing:

1. Phthalates
2. Endocrine Disruptor
3. A Puzzle
4. Gordian Worm (ft. Blood of a Pomegranate)
5. Pattern Screamers
6. Jawline
7. Weaponised Dysphoria
8. Sleep Hygiene
9. Impossible Light / Golden Flower (ft. Otay::onii)

Ill Natured’s "Cryptic Psychosis" 7" is an unrelenting descent into sonic madness. The first full record of material since their 2018 "Twisted Visions" LP, this new release sees the band dive deeper into their chaotic sound, delivering four new tracks. Recorded throughout 2024 by bassist Joe Andersons, mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit (Nails, Xibalba, God's Hate), and mastered at Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.

Track Listing:

1. Cryptic Psychosis
2. We Still Remain
3. From The Ashes
4. Found My Peace

Caribou - Honey (Black Vinyl)

Dan Snaith's latest album, "Honey," marks an intriguing new phase for Caribou. Over more than two decades Dan Snaith has had many guises. After putting every ounce of himself into Our Love and Suddenly, for his sixth Caribou album Snaith now pulls himself away a little in search of music that isn’t about any one person and is available to everybody. Huge dancefloor tracks twinkle, shimmer and surprise in a way only Snaith’s productions can but with a freshness that defines an artist who is too excited by music-making to ever truly settle into any one sound. 

There’s never been a Caribou record that sounds like the last, so change here is just as comforting as constant. They say expect the unexpected and you’ll never be surprised; well there’s plenty here to be surprised by, but then with a Caribou record you’d never expect anything less. "Honey" captures Snaith's curiosity and joy in music-making, offering a fresh yet quintessential Caribou experience.

Tracklisting

1. Broke My Heart
2. Honey
3. Volume
4. Do Without You
5. Come Find Me
6. August 20:24
7. Dear Life
8. Over Now
9. Campfire
10. Climbing
11. Only You
12. Got To Change

Caribou - Suddenly (Black Vinyl)

Suddenly is the most surprising and unpredictable Caribou album to date. Though it retains the trademark Caribou warmth and technicolor, this album is littered with swerves and left turns. Songs drop out and morph into something else entirely just as they’re hitting their stride, samples chopped up beyond all recognition burst out of nowhere. Suddenly refers to the moments of dramatic and unexpected change that occur at points in any life and within any family - universal themes that catch you off guard and change your life in a heartbeat.

Tracklisting

1. Sister
2. You and I
3. Sunny's Time
4. New Jade
5. Home
6. Lime
7. Never Come Back
8. Filtered Grand Piano
9. Like I Loved You
10. Magpie
11. Ravi
12. Cloud Song

Last Ride Records Australian exclusive colour of the Day By Day 12"EP from Flatspot Records. First established in 2014, Day By Day pride themselves on being a no frills, do-it-yourself hardcore band. They made a name for themselves self-releasing the Never Ending Lies EP (2015), From Now On EP (2017) and Nowhere To Run (2018), which led to touring throughout America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Now the south Florida-based band joins independent hardcore label Flatspot Records for the release of Dust and Ashes.

The six song EP was recorded with Andy Nelson at Bricktop Studios in Chicago, IL, and then mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. Day By Day wanted to avoid a modern and polished sound, and instead recorded live in the studio in order to capture the raw and heartfelt sound on the EP. The tracks are massive, concise, and hard-hitting, centered around the uncertainties in life and friendships. Opener “Respect 101” sets things up with a dark and devastating tone that blazes right into “Until Then…It’s War”. Day By Day's triple vocal attack is a highlight on the song and across the record, lending a rigid, in-your-face hardcore sound while showing you a scowling, deeper style. The EP is also packed with unique tempo changes and groove-driven guitars, as exemplified on “Still Bleeds” and closer “Fakes and Liars II.” The latter track finds the band coming full circle as a follow-up to “Fakes and Liars” off their first EP, addressing bands that are disingenuous.

Track Listing:

1. Respect 101
2. Until Then...It’s War
3. The Poison
4. Peace Or Annihilation?
5. Still Bleeds
6. Fakes & Liars II

Back with their first recorded material in 12 years, NCHC legends Dropsaw return with their new 7" "Revive". "Revive" features four new tracks that deliver on the classic Dropsaw metallic hardcore sound that they have been crafting since their inception in 2006. Recorded in mid-2024 at Woodriver Studios with Joe Andersons, and then shipped off for mixing by Taylor Young at The Pit and mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. Artwork by Matt Stikker.

Pressing information:

Track listing:

1. Mortal Annihilation
2. Desolate Existence
3. Suffocation
4. Innocent Feast

Formed in Fredericia, Denmark in 2015, Lifesick create brutal and brutally honest songs with lyrics inspired by the turbulent nature of life. Musically influenced by Swedish death metal, Lifesick's authentic and explosive mixture of crushing tones and modern breakdowns create an uncompromising sound and vision.

Track Listing:

1. Death Wish
2. Peace Through Superior Firepower
3. Double Cross
4. Hollow Treats
5. Legacy of Misery
6. Poems for My Funeral
7. Liquid Courage
8. Loved by None
9. The Mourning March
10. Straight Jacket

Secret World is a group of friends from Sydney, Australia. With members who've played in bands like Speed, Trophy Eyes, and Downside, Secret World formed to scratch the itch for more melodic punk music. Their initial demo, released in 2023 on Last Ride Records, offered a taste of their heavy melodies and abrasive riffs and vocals. In 2024, Secret World is releasing their debut EP "Guilt Is Good" on Last Ride Records, with Sunday Drive Records in America.

Producer Fletcher Matthews joins new members James Watroba, Adrian Kelly, and Dennis Vichidvongsa to expand on the demo's sound, crafting bigger hooks perfect for singing along and piling on. The lead singles "Living Less" and "The Way It Goes" showcase this evolution, with the latter accompanied by a music video capturing the group in their hometown. "On Show" and "Silhouette" offer a heavier, darker mid-tempo sound. Though concise at four tracks, Secret World creates a dynamic EP, building on post-hardcore sounds reminiscent of Seaweed, Fugazi, and Quicksand, while adding their own alternative rock 'n' roll flair.

Track listing:

1. Living Less
2. On Show
3. Silhouette
4. The Way It Goes

For over a decade, Drug Church have been building a very strong case that they're the best loud guitar band in the game; their fifth full-length PRUDE-a 28-minute blast of aggression, melody, irreverence, and genuine heart-feels like the undeniable proof. The album is so downright satisfying it tricks you into thinking there's nothing all that surprising about a difficult-to-pigeonhole punk band from Albany, NY, with a name like Drug Church somehow having a career at all, much less one that would last over 10 years and qualify them as the best band going. But before you start trying to think of who might have them beat (good luck), consider what just might be the key to Drug Church's unexpected staying power: Don't take it too seriously.

Track Listing:

1. Mad Care
2. Myopic
3. Hey Listen
4. Demolition Man
5. Business Ethics
6. Slide 2 Me
7. Chow
8. The Bitters
9. Yankee Trails
10. Peer Review

with you in spirit, the fourth Balance and Composure LP, is an arresting, atmospheric collection of melodic post-punk and towering rock. Due out October 4 on long-time collaborator and Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip's Memory Music, it's the band's first LP in eight years, and a thrilling full-length comeback after their four-year hiatus. It thunders and stirs, dipping between beautiful, crystalline arrangements and punishing, earth-shaking climaxes; in between all, a gripping, near-physical tension crackles and growls and grooves, waiting to rip open. It's an intensely self-reflective record for vocalist and guitarist Jon Simmons, an uprooting and examination of the supports on which a life is built. Preemptive grief, wrestling with god and faith, familial responsibility, familial mortality-these are the things Simmons was carrying while writing this material. They're also things he was trying, for better and worse, to avoid-hence the record's title.with you in spirit feels like the work of songwriters reaching new heights, exploring new depths. Sometimes, the record itself feels like a band grappling with its own avoidance, its own mortality, and deciding to face these things the only way they know how. Balance and Composure are with us in spirit, yes, but in the flesh, too, for now.

Track Listing:

1. restless
2. ain't it sweet
3. any means
4. cross to bear
5. believe the hype
6. lead foot
7. sorrow machine
8. a little of myself
9. closer to god
10. with you in spirit

In the little over a decade since Neck Deep formed in the Barlow brothers' spare room in Wrexham, Wales, a lot has changed. But now, as the band stand on the brink of their fifth, self-titled full-length, there's an acknowledgement that the more things change, the more - in some ways at least - they stay the same. True enough, this collection encompasses everything the Walians have excelled at across their career, enhanced and dialed to 11.

Track Listing:

1. Dumbstruck Dumbf**k
2. Sort Yourself Out
3. This Is All My Fault
4. We Need More Bricks
5. Heartbreak Of The Century
6. Go Outside!
7. Take Me With You
8. They May Not Mean To (But They Do)
9. It Won’t Be Like This Forever
10. Moody Weirdo