There is a deliberate sense of space throughout Lions and Ore. Its arrangements move between hypnotic repetition, brooding guitar textures and bursts of grungy intensity. Yet, beneath its darker sonic palette lies an unexpected warmth, balancing the weight of its heavier passages with moments of intimacy and vulnerability.

Opening track “Goodnight, Goodnight, Lover Dear” establishes this tension beautifully. Its domestic and almost devotional imagery, particularly in the line “Even bones lose faith in here”, unfolds against a soundscape that gradually moves from stillness into something considerably more expansive. There is an intimacy to the songwriting that feels almost cinematic, as though we have stumbled upon fragments of a private world.

“Lost Literature” follows with a more immediate melodic pull, carried by a restless post-punk pulse. Its imagery of highway nights, rental cars and forgotten songs creates a peculiar sense of displacement, capturing the feeling of being somewhere between where you have been and where you are supposed to be. Meanwhile, “Derelict Crawl” leans into the album’s heavier instincts. Its recurring declaration, “We don’t belong”, becomes something of a mantra, reinforcing the track’s abrasive character and underlying sense of alienation.

The record takes a more restrained turn with “Snakes and Toads”, where devotional language, vulnerability and darker imagery intertwine. Its almost ritualistic delivery gives the song an unsettling tenderness, moving between surrender, affection and spiritual longing. On the second half, “Count Us Down” introduces a hypnotic sense of repetition, while “Shelter Me” brings back the heavier guitar textures, building an almost claustrophobic atmosphere around images of desert heat, old photographs and places we carry with us.

By the time we reach “The Glass, The Orchard”, the album reveals a softer side. Gradually developing from a delicate, reflective opening into a dramatic finale, the closing track leaves us with the tender plea: “Keep me in frame / I’ll remain still.”

Across seven tracks of Lions and Ore, The House Flies deliver a cathartic and atmospheric body of work that finds beauty in its imperfections and tenderness in its darker corners. It leaves us suspended somewhere between melancholy and nostalgia; a little disoriented, perhaps, but rather reluctant to find our way back!

What an incredible Halloween release this is. The stories are very immersive; I found myself entranced and, dare I say, bewitched by Charlotte’s captivating story. The murder ballad vibes are strong in this EP actually the vocals remind me of Murmaider for some reason, like a less growly version of the delivery and storytelling beats.

Musically, however, my favorite song has to be Blackbird. I love the dissonance and the darkness of the bassline. It’s so heavy it feels like stomping with the shuffle groove and together with the reverbed out guitar, they create an incredible atmosphere for the vocals to really shine. This song might actually be terrifying to listen to if you play it in the woods. It has that ominous quality

The rest of the EP fills out the shadowy world. “Bedbugs” is an instrumental interlude that the press materials describe as all atmosphere and no reassurance, and “Leechcraft,” “Long Meg” and “Sister Midnight” close things out. Coven follows 2024’s Mud Music, 2025’s A Carnival of Reveries and the singles “Dead Water and the Seeds of Despair” and “Addict,” continuing a catalog the band seems increasingly comfortable keeping hard to categorize. The press materials call the result less a straight path than a collection of dark tales gathered around the same fire. It is available wherever music is streamed and sold. The opening track, “Charlotte and the Witch,” is the key track and the natural place to start.

I always enjoy St. Divine‘s tonal choices because they are so simple but effective. The arrangements have a real live feel to them and are not overly produced, so it would sound exactly the same if you heard them play live. I have to say I was surprised by that chill xylophone section. The band is clearly open to experimenting with different textures to highlight the song’s narrative, and to push the envelope with the arrangement by creating these tense and hypnotic sections and harmonically using some exceptionally dissonant chords.

The band says “Midnight (to Track)” follows the spirit of “30 Dolls,” an acclaimed track from the album, with a deeper groove and a slightly more measured approach. That makes it feel like a companion piece to The Devil You Know rather than a leftover. They also argue there is far too little political pushback in music today, and this is their answer to that.

Whatever your own politics, the actual ask is modest. The release lists the constitutional amendments that expanded and protected voting rights, from the 14th through the 26th, and the band simply wants people to use them. For St. Divine, a song that nearly went unheard has turned into a timely one.

Described by the artist as “perfect for a chase scene at 200 km per hour,” “Overthinking” unleashes a paroxysmal whirlwind of heavy synthesizers and electric guitars that pushes the boundaries of the project’s signature sound. Recorded in the artist’s home studio in Rome and professionally mixed and mastered for maximum impact, the single captures the frenetic psychological state of its title, building into an unrelenting, high-velocity sonic assault.

Emerging from Rome’s vibrant underground after a rich history of playing in various bands, Komaframe crafts immersive instrumental soundscapes that function like dark film scores. Drawing stylistic inspiration from the brooding atmospherics of Massive Attack and the experimental restlessness of Radiohead, his music weaves elements of stoner rock, psychedelia, and alternative rock into hypnotic compositions.

“an engaging exercise in instrumental storytelling, translating psychological unrest into a visceral electronic-rock experience.” – Cherine Abulwafa of Rock Era Magazine. 

Following his debut single, “Working on a new brain” (released October 15, 2025), “Overthinking” showcases Komaframe‘s unique ability to translate complex human emotions and intense pacing into purely instrumental storytelling.

The single marks Komaframe’s most electronic and intense offering to date. The project explores the intersection of alternative rock, psychedelia, and cinematic sound design, drawing inspiration from the shadowy atmospheres of Massive Attack and the experimental sensibilities of Radiohead. Rather than treating instrumental music as a purely melodic exercise, Komaframe constructs compositions that unfold like film scores, moving between tension, anticipation, and explosive release.

“Overthinking” establishes its restless character from the opening moments. Intricate, almost breakbeat-inspired drumming creates an immediate sense of instability, complemented by dark-wave guitar textures. A sustained, astral synth then introduces a futuristic dimension, expanding the soundscape before another, more cerebral electronic layer pushes the arrangement further into psychedelic territory. Brooding electric guitars gradually intensify the atmosphere, adding weight to the track’s already urgent momentum.

The interplay between percussion, synths, and guitars evokes the tension of a psychological thriller, where every sonic shift feels like a new development in an unfolding scene. It is easy to understand why Komaframe describes the track as “perfect for a chase scene at 200 km per hour.” The arrangement sustains this high-octane energy without becoming one-dimensional, using contrasting textures and evolving layers to maintain the listener’s attention.

The absence of vocals also works in the track’s favour. Without lyrics to dictate an interpretation, the instrumental arrangement becomes the primary vehicle for emotional expression. Its relentless pulse and dark, immersive textures allow listeners to experience the tension rather than simply hear it described.

“Overthinking” by Komaframe is an engaging exercise in instrumental storytelling, translating psychological unrest into a visceral electronic-rock experience. Through driving percussion, psychedelic synths, and brooding guitars, the single creates a soundtrack for a mind that refuses to slow down, blurring the line between music and imagined cinema.

The Oakland-based band’s latest track explores the particular ache of being rejected while still deeply in love. But Hollow Heart isn’t interested in keeping that heartbreak small. It stretches it into something cinematic and anthemic, building layer upon layer until the emotion feels almost larger than the song itself.

At its core is a bassline and arrangement by bassist and producer Izzy the Gent, with Andy Lund’s evocative guitar work and Ian Dowed’s atmospheric textures adding depth around it. The vocals of Sophia Prise and Tobias Hawkins then take the song somewhere bigger, leaning into the drama and emotional release that made power ballads so compelling in the first place.

The production process seems to have followed the same philosophy. What took longer than expected gave the band time to keep adding layers and refining the track. Drummer Cody Rhodes, brought in for this recording, also helped shape the drums around what the song needed, while the recording took place with Rex Shelverton at San Francisco’s Secret Studio.

Interestingly, Hollow Heart also found its natural place live. After initially appearing earlier in the set, audiences began asking for it as the closer. Listening to it, that makes sense: there’s something inherently final about the song’s emotional scale.

“Hollow Heart” by Everything But The Everything isn’t simply reviving an ’80s sound. It borrows its grandeur, filters it through darker contemporary textures; and gives the power ballad a new place to exist. And Everything But The Everything makes a pretty convincing case for bringing it back!

The track is the latest from Toronto-based solo project Dynasty Four, the musical home of singer-songwriter Nikkole Stone, and the first single from the upcoming album Imperials.

The story behind it is almost as entertaining as the song itself. During a difficult period, Stone turned to Hell’s Kitchen for comfort, watching all 20 seasons in just two months. Somewhere between the shouting, pressure, and culinary disasters, she found an oddly reassuring rule: whatever happens in the kitchen, there is only one answer: “Yes, chef.”

That absurdity becomes the song’s strength. Energetic guitars, punk attitude, and a hook made for shouting back give “Yes Chef!” an immediate, playful quality. It is deliberately rough around the edges, leaning into garage rock’s rawness without losing its pop instincts.

But beneath the silliness is something surprisingly relatable. The track turns the pressure of Hell’s Kitchen into a form of release: you are not the one being yelled at; you are watching the chaos unfold from the outside, singing along to it. Sometimes, apparently, watching someone else take the heat is its own kind of comfort.

That balance of humour, nostalgia, and raw energy is what makes “Yes Chef!” so inviting. Dynasty Four doesn’t overcomplicate the premise. It simply turns an unlikely source of comfort into a catchy garage-punk singalong.

Dynasty Four’s “Yes Chef!” is out now, ahead of Imperials, arriving in December 2026.

From 13 to 22 November, Local Blood will perform in Przemyśl, Budapest, Barberaz, Saint-Affrique, Tours, Le Havre, Singen, Cottbus and Warsaw. Over the course of the tour, the band will cover more than 7,000 kilometres on European roads.

International touring is nothing new for Local Blood. In 2024, the band embarked on their first tour across Central Europe, followed by a second and even longer journey through Western Europe in 2025. This year’s route marks another important step in the band’s international journey and will be one of their most intensive tours to date.

“Nine shows, four countries, more than 7,000 kilometres and one van – what could possibly go wrong? This time, we’re not only heading abroad to play shows, but we’re also bringing brand-new music from our upcoming third album. After a couple of tours, we already know what we’re getting ourselves into. And most importantly, we can’t wait to dive in,” say Local Blood members Šarūnas, Žygimantas, Kęstutis and Dainius.

During the European tour, the band will primarily showcase songs from their forthcoming third album, while the set will, of course, also feature fan favourites from their previous records, “Dystopian Disco” and “Loverman.”

“Our third European tour is a very important step for us. Behind nine shows and more than 7,000 kilometres are many months of work, so we’re incredibly happy to have partners and people around Local Blood who believe in the band and help make this tour possible. Now the most important thing is to fit everything into one van and hit the road,” says the band’s manager, Aušra Kareniauskaitė.

And that’s not all Local Blood have planned for this autumn. Just before leaving for their European tour, the band will release their third studio album and celebrate it with an album release show in Vilnius. More information about the new album and the Vilnius show will be announced very soon.

LOCAL BLOOD – EUROPEAN TOUR 2026

13.11 – Przemyśl, PL – FORT XXII
14.11 – Budapest, HU – Szimpla Kert
16.11 – Barberaz, FR – Brin de Zinc
17.11 – Saint-Affrique, FR – Café Associatif
18.11 – Tours, FR – Canadian Café
19.11 – Le Havre, FR – Mc Daid’s
20.11 – Singen, DE – Teestube
21.11 – Cottbus, DE – Chekov
22.11 – Warsaw, PL – Ada Puławska

Local Blood are a post-punk band from Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2022, the band released their debut album “Dystopian Disco,” marking a new chapter in their creative development. The album earned Local Blood a nomination in the Rock category at Lithuania’s M.A.M.A. Music Awards.

In November 2023, the band released their second album, “Loverman,” exploring the criminal romanticism of early 1990s Lithuania – a period when the newly independent country was adapting to a new reality while confronting the darker side that came with it.

“Loverman” attracted attention both in Lithuania and internationally, with coverage from Europavox, CLASH, Bobe.me, Post-Punk.com and other music platforms. For the album’s live presentation in Vilnius, Local Blood transformed Loftas into a Twin Peaks-inspired nightclub, highlighting the dark aesthetic and irony that run throughout the band’s music.

In spring 2024, Local Blood embarked on their first tour across Central Europe, performing in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. Their appearance at Europavox Vilnius 2024 provided a fitting finale to the tour. In 2025, the band headed west for their second European tour, performing in France, Germany, Switzerland and other countries.

This autumn, Local Blood are preparing to release their third studio album and embark on their third European tour, bringing their latest material to audiences both in Lithuania and across Europe.

Press contact:
Aušra Kareniauskaitė
+370 606 83453
a.kareniauskaite@gmail.com
localbloodmusic@gmail.com

Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Stuart Sikes (The White Stripes, Cat Power, Loretta Lynn), “I Learn To Love” began as a mantra before taking shape spontaneously in the studio. Its raw collision of punk urgency, psychedelic atmosphere, and unruly rhythm introduces the punchier, more uplifting direction of Tejas.

For the video, frontman Carson Barker and the band sought to capture a side of their hometown rarely reflected in polished portrayals of the city: “For the video, we wanted to do something really trashy—like an old Captain Beefheart video mixed with VHS-style
visual effects. We also wanted something that represents Austin from a born-and-raised Texan’s point of view.

There’s definitely a grittier, more maniacal side of Austin subculture that often gets overlooked in the media, and we wanted to pair that with clichéd Texas themes. There are also some throwbacks to filmmakers we love, like Jodorowsky.

“The song was half-written on the fly in the studio with Stuart Sikes. It felt like a chaotic Bo Diddley song with a dash of punk and psych, so we went with it.”

⇒ Read our review for the EP here.

Written partly during a winter Barker spent isolated in a one-bedroom cabin in the Colorado mountains and partly in the studio with Sikes, Tejas trades some of the darkness of The Schisms’ previous album, Moon, for music intended to lift its creator—and its listeners—up. The EP also marks a creative departure for Barker, who wrote and recorded each instrumental part himself before sharing the songs with bandmates Goose McCollum and Michael Stockton for their input.

The title Tejas reflects the friendship at the heart of the record as well as its deep Texas roots. Barker, McCollum, Stockton, Sikes, and Barker’s brother, who created the artwork, are all native Texans. The three members of The Schisms grew up in the same town and knew one another for years, but never played together until the band’s current incarnation brought them into the same orbit.

Partially funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund, Tejas arrives October 2.

The vocal style here leans noticeably into David Lee Roth territory, and the song as a whole seems to be reaching for that same 80s rock feel, big, theatrical, and a little larger than life. It’s a swing that pays off. The performance captures that era’s sense of showmanship convincingly rather than just borrowing the aesthetic on the surface, which matters for a song built around a premise this outlandish; it needs a vocal delivery confident enough to sell the concept without winking at the audience too hard, and that’s exactly what’s here.

Doval’s catalogue already runs six albums deep along with more than 25 music videos, and that visual instinct shows in how fully realized the “Rocket to The Moon” concept feels rather than half-baked. With his song “Crush” also set to land in an upcoming Hollywood feature later this year, Doval’s cinematic ambitions are clearly paying off on multiple fronts, and this single is a fun, fully committed example of an artist willing to chase a strange idea all the way to the moon and back.