Michele Boscacci aka Merli Armisa makes hazy, homespun dream pop. The Sondrio, Italy-based guitarist’s off-kilter tunes hit just out of focus, brimming with a lo-fi microtonalities that bring a dynamic edge to the genre’s hypnagogic textures. Today, we’re excited to premiere Merli Armisa’s excellent new double single “Koto”/“Al Cader Dela Giornata.”

SAVAK are getting ready to release their seventh full length, SQUAWK!. Their veteran status is evident from the jump - there’s a clear focus to the songwriting, reaching into post-hardcore’s most earnest elements and just enough “college rock” jangle to keep things breezy.

She’s Green set themselves apart in the current shoegaze wave. The Minneapolis project’s dynamic blend of the genre’s prettiest and heaviest elements is all-consuming and highly intentional. They pull off bold, anthemic dream pop without ever sounding the slightest bit corny. 

Richmond duo Suped Up is former Antiphons lead Brian Dove and Diet Cig drummer Noah Bowman. The band’s super-charged super-pop is first-thought, best thought in action. “No Ghost No Problem” is an existentialist plea for complete nonexistence: not now, not later, not ever.

Tlooth’s 2024 single signaled their impending reinvention, one of melody, restraint, and a bit more cohesion to their reinvigorated push-pull formula. Today, we’re premiering the leadoff cut “Too Calm” from their self-titled full length, an immediately gripping opener for fans of Sonic Youth, early Polvo, and finding the hook-in-the-hubbub. 

Set to release Monarch Joy on May 23rd via Swimming Faith, Science Man has shift from solo project to band. It could best be described as the difference between claustrophobic sci-fi terror vs a roving gang of ruthless maniacs. It’s still chaotic, but the chaos has evolved.

What comes next for Deady is anyone’s guess, but we’ll find out soon enough as the band are getting ready to release 2 Dead 2 Furious in June. Continuing to stretch their amorphous punk core, “Hot Damn” finds itself rooted in anthemic hardcore.

The quartet of Sonam (Drill, Ursula), Pier (Privacy Issues), Kat (Amanda X, Clasp) and Juliette (Corey Flood), bring together so much of what makes Philadelphia’s DIY punk scene great, their music is scrappy and inventive, melodic yet raw, remarkably irreverent and socially conscious.

Federico Stock’s “Paper Plate” is a meditation on the world’s fragility, a world where something as steady as the moon can be ripped up like a paper plate. In spite of this, the song is immovable, anchored by a warm, fingerpicked guitar that doesn’t let up until the song’s final seconds.

There’s a careful balance between Cor de Lux’s distortion and melody, wonky textures and glistening immediacy, captured with great effect on the band’s new single “Long Face People,” an expansive song that pierces and surges through locked-in grooves.

While it might not have a “pop” immediacy, Alpha Hopper’s corrosive sound is still bright and accessible, poking at our spongy brains with a pointy stick and a mischievous smile. Let Heaven and Nature Sing II, their first album in nearly five years, is oddly mesmerizing, picking apart blistering riffs and pounding drums, constructing a rampant onslaught of boundless energy.

La Sécurité’s “Ketchup” is a spring-loaded post-punk shuffle; a high-energy, no-bullshit, all-French number built around the wonderful Québécois phrase “l’affaire est ketchup” which means “all is well.” 

Following the album’s release and a split 7” with Heavy Meddo, Queen Serene are sharing the Taylor Browne directed video for “In a Rut (I’m Stuck)”. Browne brings a brilliant mix of stop-motion claymation and a acidic charm to the natural world as good and evil forces battle it out under waves of psychedelic chaos.

“Peace” is an immediate song, blasting out the gate with a dreary wall of sound, the tone bleak but massive all the same. Lee eschews abrasion though as “Peace” sounds heavenly, the dirge of distorted guitars and pounding drums embedded in swollen melodies.

“Agglutination” feels cathartic, working from a general ease toward a mounting tension, but glistening all the while. The video, shot by Bryan Hamill and animated/edited by Rick Rude’s own Ryan Harrison, pairs together live performance footage with delightfully scribbled cartoons.

The video, directed by Luke Csehak and Madeline Rose Carter is delightfully strange and equally as wonderful as the single itself, a “Lentil-pilled” trip that only gets more surreal as time passes and the “drugs” take hold.

Considering the fact that Chicago’s Bursting features members of Yautja, Stress Positions, Thou, and Coliseum (among others), it’s fair to have expectations in terms of quality. The good news is that beyond having pedigree for days, any expectations are blown away.

Miami’s Winded are back, and they’ve come to rip. While Thrin Vianale recorded each of the previous releases solo, the project has expanded into a quartet for Double Single, an enormous reintroduction to the band, recorded together with Jon Nuñez (Torche, Shitstorm).

Eight months after the release of their last single, the band return with the hypnotic “Snare,” a song tangled in detached grooves and pointed lyrics. Ringing with distortion and a minimalist structure, the band dive into sustained noise, clamoring beats, and swirling momentum.

“Magic Mind,” one of the record’s brightest shining moments, fuses together country twang with a melodic power-pop glue. It’s the kind of song you want to belt out among friends on a hot day with cold drinks. The video matches the good spirited vibe of the song to perfection.