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The Mae Shi Return as HLLLYH With Apocalyptic, Synth-Infused, Post-Pop Punk Single “Dead Clade”

In the heyday of America’s DIY music world of the 2000s and early 2010s The Mae Shi were stars in their own right as staples of the eclectic and joyous milieu around the venue The Smell before splitting up the first time in 2009. In 2022 Tim Byron felt like he had another story to tell that led him to bringing the band back together for another, initially final, album. But those plans evolved and the new album had to be made as a re-branding of The Mae Shi as HLLLYH, the title to the group’s 2007 former swansong, a move to reflect a link to the past and the creation of something new. Informed by Twentieth century mystics like Gurdjieff, Crowley, McPherson and McKenna the new album titled URUBURU relates a tale of a hero’s journey to the spirit world and back but that hero could really be anyone willing to undertake the trials and tribulations involved. The new album is brimming with the raw exuberance, anthemic hooks and analog electronic weirdness that made The Mae Shi so appealing.

Lead single “Dead Clade” with its music 2010’s-era video game graphics video seems to be tapping into a moment of modern doomerism but delivered with a playful abandon. Images of dinosaurs and humans frolicking about getting downed by natural phenomena and other refinements run through the video. And the lyric about “How we’re not special, we’re just what’s left, we’re not chosen, we’re a dead clade” is a bit arcane except for the sentiment about how humanity thinks its the end of the evolution of life on the planet while we’re doing our level best to ensure our extinction and replacement by a successor dominant species through the self-destructive folly of our current civilizational program. HLLLYH, though, with its upbeat melodies and soaring vocals remind us that it’s not all over for the planet when climate change wipes out the human race as it is and the precious artifacts of all we value and hold dear are swept away, but it is probably over for life as we know it. And there’s something comforting in that thought in the grand scheme of things. Of course it’s tongue in cheek but rarely has the end of the world seemed so cheerful and something to celebrate. Watch the video for “Dead Clade” (a “clade” is a “group of organisms believed to have evolved from a common ancestor) on YouTube and follow HLLLYH at the links provided.

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Chanel Beads Transforms LEYA’s Modern Classical Pop Single “Corners” Into a Haunting Funhouse Mirror Image of Itself

The Chanel Beads rework of “Corners” by Brooklyn-based experimental pop group LEYA from its 2024 EP I Forget Everything pulls its essential textures and melodic elements and recontextualizes them. The intricate harp work sits back while the stroke of the violin is emphasized as a rhythmic feature and the atmospheric ambiance becomes the salient musical feature preserving the song’s sense of mystique. The original’s use of flecks of discordant tonal structure is deconstructed into the flow of sound where the edges of sound are brought to the center to shine. It’s a fascinating remix that gives a new angle on a song that one might not think of as being able to be remixed in such a transformative way. Watch the video for “Corners,” which is very different in appearance if not in spirit from the original music video, on YouTube and follow LEYA at the links below.

Bad Flamingo’s Noir Pop American Single “Miles” is a Tale of Outlaw Love on the Run

Bad Flamingo, photo courtesy the artists

Bad Flamingo has made quite a career for itself with endlessly being able to spin variations on themes of being a rebel on the run from mainstream society and its restrictive social mores. Its “Miles” single shows the band putting some spare yet fiery guitar solos into its tale of passion, lust and a love as star crossed as Bonnie & Clyde. But in that mix too is the group’s always rich array of instrumentation with slide guitar accents, banjo, minimal drum machine and a touch of synth to give some emotive backdrop. But none of those components are throwaway, all serve the song and its mood of leaning into a vagabond love on the run and exulting in the hedonism without shame. And, really, who doesn’t want a love like that where you can be who you are with someone that gets it and celebrates what you have together? It’s a stylistic evolution for the enigmatic duo that always delivers superb songwriting and an ever-growing mythology of noir pop. Watch the video for “Miles” on YouTube and follow Bad Flamingo at the links below.

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Pillow Prince Powerfully Calls for Empathy in a Time of Great Challenges on Dream Pop Single “Care About”

Oakland-based dream pop group Pillow Prince brings powerful blend of urgency, vulnerability and righteous questioning to the single “Care About.” The delicacy of its guitar work and orchestrated swells of emotion hit with real resonance with lyrics that were perhaps inspired in part by the horrific Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs on November 19-20, 2022 but the lyrics expand and resonate poignantly well beyond a specific incident and context. When Olivia Lee sings “When are you gonna care about/Everyone that should be here now/How many faces and names ago/And the hate spewing through their mouths” it is an appeal to conscience and humanity that when delivered with the soaring guitar and an emotionally rich vulnerability it is an example of empathy that reaches deep into you. In the beginning of the song the lines “And finding some little thing to love/Cause everything is fucked” identifies the sense of overwhelming hopelessness that can sink into you which must be overcome if things are to ever get better. The arc of the song traces that psychological path with great nuance and demonstrates how one can find hope in the worst of moments which is a capacity that the world greatly needs now. Watch the fantastic music video for “Care About” on YouTube and follow Pillow Prince at the links below. The band’s new EP pretty, baby! Out April 25, 2025 on download, vinyl and streaming via Dune Altar.

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2MX2’s Stirring Hip-Hop Single “Por Aqui Por Alla” is a Song About the Excitement of Organizing the People

2MX2’s new single “Por Aqui Por Alla” is a stirring call for community unity and cultural solidarity. Utilizing orchestral strings, soaring horns, perfectly accented percussion alongside commanding vocals the Denver-based group makes the prospect of getting people organized seem exciting and inevitable. The lyrics use extended lines in Spanish as one would hope but also in English like when we hear the great line “What the problem is we need to stop and get all our people united like Corky always said” invoking the name of the late, great Chicano movement activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. The production on the song enhances the sheer presence of the performances and captures some of the power of the live show. Listen to “Por Aqui Por Alla” on Soundcloud and follow 2MX2 at the links provided.

Springworks’ Psychedelic Pop Single “Bradbury” is a Retrofuturist Commentary on the Nature of Humanity’s Space Exploration

Canadian duo Springworks in their usual fashion pair vintage footage and film clips with their increasingly eclectic songwriting as manifested on “Bradbury.” It’s a fond look back at a time when things like going to Mars felt like something that might be a scientific and civilizational achievement for humanity broadly and not a narcissistic, oligarchic power/money grab at the expense of everyone else and everything on earth. Yet the way Springworks composes its layers of sound it’s obvious they’re aware of how even with the best of intentions, our species has a habit of doing perhaps unintentional damage or damage in service to prevailing political and economic ideologies. The piano work flows from melancholic to urgent, guitar provides atmospheric swells, synth a touch of tonal coloring and minimal percussion a textured pacing to the song. It’s lo-fi in a way that fits the aesthetic of repurposing the neglected and forgotten. The keyboard melody later in the song sounds like something out of a Procol Harum song before transforming into a sparkling, cycling shimmer of a sound that fades into an outro that is both abstract and intimate as we see images of a landing craft leave the spacecraft and the worried alien beings there to meet them. They can hardly be blamed. We know how humans can be. The science fiction author invoked in the title had his doubts too. Watch the video for “Bradbury” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links below.

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Lula Asplund’s Ambient Drone Composition “Awaken In The Marsh” is Like an Earworm From a David Lynch-ian Universe

The sense of enigmatic foreboding is unsettling and strong in Lula Asplund’s aptly titled “Awaken In The Marsh.” The energy is reminiscent of the vibe of old forgotten places. The slow cycling drones in subtle layers that interweave and complement one another in a background, ambient sound that creeps into your consciousness is undeniably engaging the way the sheer atmosphere of films like Carnival of Souls (1962) or the aesthetics of German Expressionist films. It sticks with you and lingers like a sound you’ve heard your whole life and which has settled into your consciousness that when gone, and when the song ends, you feel like something is missing until your brain re-adjusts. Think something like an earworm from a David Lynch-ian universe. Listen to “Awaken In The Marsh” on Spotify and follow Chicago-based artist Lula Asplund on Instagram.

J. Eka Suggests Letting Your Creative Success Speak For Itself on Bold Yet Introspective Hip-Hop Single “Talk Less”

On the single “Talk Less” South East London rapper J. Eka delivers a bold message about self-confidence without the performative and endless boasting in plenty of hip-hop. With bars from Jatz and production by ETRNL the track and its attendant video is an example of the message in practice. Surrounded by creative beats that deftly interweave texture and atmosphere into the masterful wordplay the lyrics about people who are chasing being a spectacle rather than speaking from a place of integrity and knowledge hit a little harder but without malice. The tone is both direct and introspective and the underlying vulnerability expressed by both J. Eka and Jatz is striking from jump. Watch the video for “Talk Less” on YouTube and follow J. Eka at the links provided.

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Cleo Handler Walks Away From a Relationship With Too Many Granular Demands on Indie Pop Single “rules”

Cleo Handler released her new album compare & contrast on April 4, 2025 and it’s full of songs that contemplate aspects of ourselves when we are in relationships and how we are by ourselves and the way our intuition speaks to us that we can ignore at our peril in pursuit of what we think will make us happy or fulfilled with someone else. The single “rules” is a wry yet lively song that seems to come from a place of being involved with someone who has a lot of rules for their life that they don’t always adhere to themselves in ways that are growth oriented but don’t always extend to accommodating the needs of others. The song doesn’t strike a regretful tone, just one noting the ways in which the relationship with its restrictions would never work out long term and just embracing coming to that realization without rancor. Essentially the song is one that asks oneself what compromises and accommodations you’re willing to make to be in someone’s life and if it’s what you want for yourself and if that relationship is worth it for those restrictions and that it’s okay to decide that it’s not. Which is a major theme throughout the record. Listen to “rules” on Spotify and follow Cleo Handler at the links below.

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Dream Bodies’ Krautrock Infused Gothic Rock Single “Eclipse” is a Song of Personal Transformation and Transcendence

The motorik beat driving Dream Bodies’ “Eclipse” is hypnotic even before the ethereal, Chameleons-esque guitar work comes in to shimmer with introspective melodies. It seems to be a tale of someone transforming in ways he doesn’t fully understand and absorbing influences from the natural world and the cosmos as he travels toward a mysterious fate with references to oblique occult initiation experiences and/or pagan mystery rituals like the Eleusinian Mysteries and attaining a connection to the world that expands one’s consciousness. But all set to beautifully spectral tones and in moments reminiscent of Giorgio Moroder’s soundtrack work for Midnight Express had he reworked that with the help of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. The tonal shimmer in the synths alongside robust low end and commanding vocals in the song make it a standout from the increasingly standardized modern post-punk and darkwave milieu. Listen to “Eclipse” on Spotify and follow Dream Bodies at the links provided.

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