Temples - Shelter Song

British neo-psychedelic band Temples combine a trippily retro approach with classic pop craftsmanship, though they aren't afraid to stretch the fuzzy boundaries of their chosen sound. The group debuted a core style of chiming guitars, tight harmonies, and an easygoing T. Rex-inspired boogie on 2014's Sun Structures, an album that gained the band a following that expanded beyond neo-psych circles. Nonetheless, Temples found themselves at the forefront of a miniature psychedelic revival, along with fellow travelers King Gizzard and Tame Impala. Their guiding principles stayed firmly intact, even when exploring synth-heavy territory as they do on 2017's Volcano, or giving their sound a sonic glow up courtesy of a Dave Fridmann mix on 20223's Exotico.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/temples-mn0003051049#biography 

Royal Thunder - Fade

“I want to tell my story and I want to be honest,” Royal Thunder singer/bassist Mlny Parsons says after I offer her the opportunity to tell me if there’s anything she’d rather keep private from the hour-long conversation we have. “My father killed himself in 2017. He overdosed and I still haven’t dealt with it. I haven’t really touched that. I forgave. I get it – mental health, life falling apart, addiction.” Parsons shares this story, as well as revealing her own struggles with addiction and how she’s come through on the other side, in hopes that other people who are experiencing similar issues don’t feel so alone. While those addictions were present during the making of Royal Thunder’s fourth album, Rebuilding the Mountain, Parsons says she considers February 1, 2023 to be the start of a new, positive chapter in her life. As with most of us, the pandemic had some negative mental health side effects on Parsons and her bandmate, and ex-husband, guitarist Josh Weaver. The two had been slumbering along with fill-in drummers after Evan Diprima left suddenly while on tour in 2018 and, while battling their own demons, were reaching a crossroads in their musical career when they were hit with another blow – a global pandemic. If there’s a silver lining for Royal Thunder, it’s that Diprima came back to the band and the reunion inspired the trio to start working on new material. 

2020 happens and we’re all in a bad place – the country, the world, politics, Covid. Had you started working on new music?

MLNY: It’s weird how quick we are to punish ourselves when we lose something. I don’t know what’s in that. I went through a thing where I didn’t want to hear music. I didn’t care if there was something brand new that came out and everybody was like, “Have you heard it?” and I was like, “No, and I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care about my favorite album that I’ve been listening to since 1992.” I didn’t enjoy anything. I was very suicidal, depressed, confused. I felt just naked as fuck and ugly inside and I didn’t have an outlet or anything. It was not a good time. I threw myself at self destruction. I was just like, “I’m going to fucking hide. I’m just going to bury my head and make this worse.” It felt so bad to not have it anymore. I wonder what’s in that? Maybe it’s an excuse to be like, “Everything’s fucked up and it’s gone.” And it was my excuse to be like, “I’m going to drink this whiskey at 9am because look what’s happening. Everything’s fucked, so fuck it.” It was just a good excuse to not give a shit and I really didn’t.

If this is not too personal of a question, how were you able to get out of that hole you were in?

MLNY: I barely made it out. I didn’t make it out until February 1 of this year. I was sober when we were making the album but that was a good behavior. Show up, do your job, be clear headed, be present. I didn’t really do it for me, I did it for Josh and Evan. But, really, all I was done was crawling out of my skin to get out of the studio as possible. I wanted to get fucked up. I was like, “Man, we’ve got two more weeks.” I was going to get an eight ball. I was going to fuck it all up. I was not in a good place until February 1 and what got me out of it was getting really sick from not drinking. I thought I had Covid or the flu. I thought I might be dying because I was throwing up everything I ate. I had constant heartburn. I was bleeding. Everything was just off. I was bloated. Actually, in “The Knife” video, and especially in the new video we did, “Fade,” it’s hard for me to watch because I can see it in my eyes and my face. I was just so sick. 
What got me out of it was getting sick and not being able to do it. Getting through that and then waking up and having a clear head after a few days and being like, “I have completely fucked over my bandmates. I have fucked myself over. And everybody in my life has been putting up with my bullshit.” It hurt. It broke me when I actually realized what I was doing to myself and to other people. That really broke something in me and I’m glad it did. It was not easy to realize that you’re kind of a piece of shit. You’re making really bad decisions. But I walked through it on February 1. I was like, “All right, I got do to this.” The first 30 days was not even about being sober. It was about my old self being like, “What the fuck?” I was at war with myself big time. 
And when we were making that album, I didn’t realize it until recently, it’s an internal warfare. It’s what was coming talking to what was. It’s me in a mirror, a two-sided mirror, just figuring it out and calling myself out and being like, “I know you’re really comfortable over here but it’s time to get uncomfortable and make some positive change.” I turned that corner. I cried so fucking much. I was like, “I didn’t know it was possible to cry as much as I was crying.” I was like, “Am I just that broken? Am I going to cry every day for the rest of my life?” 
I fucked up a lot of shit. It’s a little embarrassing but I pretty much almost killed myself accidentally. I got some cocaine and was playing Scrabble with my friend and my friend was like, “Dude, are you okay?” We were playing Scrabble at four in the morning, doing blow, and I’m drunk and I turn ghost white and start sweating and the room is just disappearing. I’m thinking, “You got to go.” I’m stumbling down my apartment complex parking garage and the cops are standing there and they’re like “Put your hands on the hood.” And I’m like, “Fuck.” They’re like, “What are you doing?” And I’m thinking, “Did I do all that coke or is it in my pocket?” Then I’m in the ambulance and then I’m being told I need to go to the hospital because I’m probably having a fentanyl overdose and I run out of the ambulance. All this to say, I’m blowing everything up. I’m blowing up my relationship. I’m losing my apartment. I’m getting talked to at work about how drunk and fucked up I am by other people who are drunk and fucked up. And I’m like, “Wow, I’m really blowing it.” 
I ended up moving in with Josh and his girlfriend. I live with them now. It’s just temporary but they were like, “Bring your two cats. We’ll put them in the basement.” We can’t have cats upstairs so they live in the basement. They’re happy. I made a cat cave. It was my crying cave for a long time and then it became a cat cave. I did a lot of healing down there. Things got really shitty but I’m thankful that they did because I came out of that and I wouldn’t trade how real life feels right now. I can’t fight myself anymore. I’m winning all the time. In my mind, I’m like, “I know what I need to do. I know how I feel. I know what’s next. I know what I want.” I wouldn’t trade that. I didn’t know for years who I was or what the hell I wanted. I thought I did. I thought the louder you are, the more confident you are. I found out that’s not so true.

From: https://bigtakeover.com/interviews/interview-royal-thunder 

Orkan - Ytan

Gothenburg−based rock force Orkan returns with a storm. Today, they unleash “Ytan”−the powerful first single from their forthcoming album Vakendrömmar (Dreams You Dream While You’re Awake), due for release on August 28th via their newly founded label Blåsväder Records. With nearly 200 shows across Sweden and Europe under their belt, Orkan−Swedish for Hurricane−has become a name synonymous with raw energy and politically charged rock that resonates deeply with fans of the Swedish prog tradition. Their high−voltage live shows, swirling psychedelic riffs, and fierce lyrical honesty have established them as torchbearers of a sound that’s both rooted in history and fearlessly modern.
“Ytan” (translating to The Surface) sets the tone. It opens with a signature Orkan riff−gritty and hypnotic−then unfolds into a psychedelic shuffle that bends and breathes like a fever dream. Lyrically, the song explores deep exhaustion−the kind that pulls you under and makes you long for a world that feels just out of reach. As the track surges toward its finale, it blossoms into what can only be described as a rock symphony.
The upcoming album draws on the eerie essence of The Mare; a figure from Swedish folklore known to haunt sleepers by night, forcing them to relive the day’s traumas in paralyzing darkness. Vakendrömmar inhabits this haunting borderland between reality and dream, day and night, injustice and hope.  From: https://femmusic.com/2025/06/05/orkan-ytan/

Reflective Detectives - Brave New Boogie

Reflective Detectives are a group from Los Angeles led by songwriter, producer and guitarist Ryan Gabrinetti. Drawing from the city’s vibrant past and present, their sound propels and subverts the tropes of modern garage and psychedelia while seasoning them with social and political consciousness. Joined live by Cameron Burt (bass) and Warner Hiatt (drums), the Reflective Detectives inject the tunes with dynamic improvisations and mind-bending freak-outs that are never played the same way twice.  From: https://shindig-magazine.com/?p=4092 

Laboratorium Pieśni - Saidalo

Laboratorium Piesni was formed in 2013 in Poland and is made up of seven women, Iwona Majszyk, Kamila Bigus, Karolina Stawiszyńska, Klaudia Lewandowska, Lila Schally-Kacprzak, Alina Klebba, and Magda Jurczyszyn. They sing ancient folk music passed down through generations from many countries across the globe, specifically from; the Ukraine, Balkans, Poland, Belarus, Georgia, Scandinavia, just to name a few. These traditional songs are brought from their homeland of origin by members of the group, they then work together to create an arrangement that brings new life to the folk music of the past while keeping the original integrity. Both the original and new version are sung in the traditional polyphonic way of singing creating an enchanting sound that resonates with modern day as much as when the songs were new. Most of the songs they sing are acapella, some are minimally accompanied by ethnic instruments adding a genuine touch. Shaman drums, a shruti box, kalimba, flute, gong, zaphire, koshi chimes, singing bowls, and rattles are some of the instruments used. 
Laboratorium Piesni does more than just make albums and perform concerts. They hold musical workshops where they keep the stories and music from days gone alive in this new generation. Keeping history alive is very important to these women, passing on the music and poetry to generations that would otherwise never have known them. While doing this they also help ensure that the cultures of the world are not forgotten and continue to be passed down to new generations. During their theatre performances they use these traditional songs to tell stories about disappearing cultural rights and heritage. 
While singing most songs acapella you would think it would be difficult to identify musical elements, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even acapella you can easily find the harmonic texture known as polyphonic. Two or more independent melodies can easily be found while listening to Laboratorium Piesni. Another standout sound you can hear in the voices, a drone, much like the sound of bagpipes some of the singers maintain a single note while singing. Even the minimal accompaniment from different instruments adds a layer to the overall timbre of the music.  From: https://priscillamusicf200x.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/a-musical-journey-with-laboratorium-piesni/ 

Igorrr - ADHD

According to Igorrr mastermind Gautier Serre, Meat Dept. extensively (and ethically) trained the AI using their own artwork and properties to create the video. The video also reflects the music of "ADHD", in that it's impossible to recreate in the real world. 
"The music of 'ADHD' was in the making for quite a long time – a couple of years actually," said Serre to Metal Injection. "I wanted to take time to experiment with that unreal feeling coming from real drum sounds, and use those glitches almost as an instrument that makes actual notes. If you pay attention, the drums are actually playing a melody that follows the bass, and that has been done only by audio glitches and not synthesizers. 
"This track is not humanly possible to play with real instruments, so I thought it was a great opportunity to call back my friends from Meat Dept. They always create a kind of surrealist imagery for my music, as they did on 'Very Noise' back in the day, and this track 'ADHD' is completely in that vein. 
"We started the clip in 3D like we did for 'Very Noise', but at some point we were laughing so hard while messing around with AI that the clip ended up as a mix of both technologies.
"Meat Dept. actually trained the AI extensively with their own work so we could maintain that 'Very Noise' feel, but it was pretty hard to create an actual storyline throughout with this very new and unstable technology, especially with two main characters that had to be and look like the same person until the end. AI technology still lacks accuracy and doesn't consistently show the exact same character every time. Even still, a lot of work from Meat Dept. was put into this piece. 
"The music approaches a difficult topic, which is a condition affecting real people that makes their life a bit less real, so I created it with tools that take roots from the sound of real instruments and make them less real through glitches. And the music video does the same."  From: https://metalinjection.net/news/igorrrs-gautier-serre-explains-the-insane-ai-video-for-new-single-adhd 

Beth Orton - Stolen Car

What makes Beth Orton’s Central Reservation better than the yearning-but-uplifiting Trailer Park isn’t just the fact that the tone is slightly darker. Central Reservation works due to Orton’s focus and commitment to each song, as there isn’t a single vocal performance that doesn’t feel 100% genuine and there isn’t a moment wasted musically. Opening song “Stolen Car”, for example, burns with a nervous energy, Ben Harper’s wild electric guitar texturing giving the song drive and verve, highlighting descriptive lines like “You were sitting / Your fingers like fuses / Your eyes were cinnamon” — simple, sharp, and precise details that set the scene but never tell you directly what to feel. It’s moments like this that make Orton as effective a storyteller as she is, luring you into the nature of the moment instead of telling you the moral of the story. 
In typical attention-grabbing fashion, she follows that firestarter of an opener with a lush, romantic, string-drenched number called “Sweetest Decline”, which, according to T. Cole Rachel’s brief-yet-casual liner notes, is a song that Orton considers one of her all-time favorites, decorated with gorgeous jazz piano (courtesy of Dr. John) and a string section that does more than play the same refrain ad nauseum, switching up their playing style at numerous intervals to keep things lively. Although Orton explored some cosmic-jazz textures on Trailer Park, she really refines those instincts into tight, formal structures on Central Reservation, with augmented vibraphone bends in “Couldn’t Cause Me Harm” giving a specific kind of texture without meandering too far off the pasture. It’s so easy for your ears to simply “accept” into the grooves that Orton and collaborator Ted Barnes are able conjure for this album, but only upon close examination do you realize how well-considered their choices are, these detailed chasms of sound giving way to Orton’s immaculate songcraft.  From: https://www.popmatters.com/183683-beth-orton-central-reservation-revisited-2495639556.html