One of the main talking points surrounding Harry Styles’ indie-dance-oriented Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally was that Styles took profound inspiration from seeing LCD Soundsystem in concert. Now he’ll get to be inspired directly before he himself goes onstage.
The post LCD Soundsystem, Who Inspired Harry Styles’ New Album, Will Open For Him Next Year appeared first on Stereogum.
Breaking a person rarely begins with one spectacular act. More often, it is repetition that does the work: the same insult, the same reduction, the same pressure applied until endurance is mistaken for consent. Yet endurance can hold an unexpected force of its own. A flower may bend beneath the serpent, but the serpent still depends upon the flower to keep it from falling.
Los Angeles shoegaze-punk band Taleen Kali enters that struggle with “Viper,” the lead single from its forthcoming second album, AEPEX, due in early 2027 through Dum Dum Records. Written as a palindrome, the song traps aggressor and victim inside a circular design of taking, breaking, and being driven down, while its central image turns apparent fragility into an instrument of survival.
“Viper” opens upon a heavy, sustained guitar figure whose shoegaze distortion carries the physical weight of metal without sacrificing melody. Taleen Kali’s voice rises through the dense guitars with a majestic, almost otherworldly radiance, pulling the song toward the grand scale of ’90s alternative rock and psychedelic shoegaze. There is also an older pop instinct beneath the volume, particularly in the way the melody keeps climbing above the riff. Around the two-minute-and-forty-five-second mark, the arrangement changes course with an almost progressive-rock turn before closing inside one final rush of guitar noise.
The band explains:
“‘Viper’ is written in the form of a palindrome; it has this cyclical format that isn’t like any of our previous songs. I wanted to write a song about the fractured feminine, about what can happen when we try to break someone down over and over again and again. I remember seeing this nature video of a bright blue viper coiled and perched on top of a red rose, and the rose was holding up the entire weight of this thing–it wouldn’t bend or break. It was fascinating, so it became the artwork for the single and informed a lot of the visuals of our music video.”
That circular structure appears directly in the lyrics, where “Viper / Take her / Viper / Break her” reverses and repeats like a command that has become impossible to escape. Against it stands the image of the wilted flower upon an altar: burdened, objectified, and repeatedly pushed downward, yet never quite destroyed.
Directed by Alex LeGolvan, the accompanying video moves between a pale woodland, an enclosed red chamber, mirrored band performances, and the physical movements of dancer Lark Detweiler. Kali appears in white beneath the trees before the imagery descends into deeper reds and magentas, where flesh, leather, metal, mirrors, and guitar strings are filmed in close detail. The dancer’s body alternately strains, recoils, and reaches outward, giving human form to the song’s repeated acts of restraint and attempted escape.
The video’s viper is no metaphorical stand-in. Nagel the snake, handled by animal wrangler Lyndsey Parker, glides across the body in the final sequence, making the song’s burden intimate and tangible. Taleen Kali, Miles Marsico, Genevieve Quiquivix, and Joseph D’Alfonso appear as the band reflected in mirrors, their performance partially concealed by glass, framing, and red light. Cinematographer Kai McNight gives the forest passages a bleached, exposed quality before the enclosed scenes turn warmer and more claustrophobic. The video was edited and colored by T.J. Maries-Hunt, with guitars provided by Fender.
The flower may appear delicate, but it is the structure holding the predator aloft.
Watch the video for “Viper” below:
AEPEX marks a darker and heavier direction for Taleen Kali, drawing upon influences including The Horrors, Sextile, L.A. Witch, Tamaryn, Curve, and Chapterhouse. Across the record, breakbeat drums, abrupt rhythmic changes, Middle Eastern melodies, massed guitar fuzz, and Kali’s movement between commanding and sugar-sweet vocals carry the band beyond the romantic punk and beach-goth character of its earlier work and into more severe psychedelic terrain.
The band returned to The Cave Studios to record with engineer and producer Josiah Mazzaschi, whose credits include Light FM, Bizou, and Child Seat. Mazzaschi also mixed and mastered the album, while Chris King of Cold Showers and Kai Tak contributed additional mixing to “Aepex” and “Crossed.” AFI’s Hunter Burgan plays saxophone on the dark psychedelic riot-grrrl track “Black Rose” and bass on “Eternal Eye.”
AEPEX also marks Kali’s first time serving as co-producer on a full-length album, working alongside Miles Marsico and Mazzaschi. Guitarist Genevieve Quiquivix joins Kali and Mazzaschi across the record, with former guitarist Royce Hsu contributing several cameo solos. Ciara DeAlba, Marsico, and Mazzaschi provide backing vocals.
Taleen Kali released the debut EP Soul Songs in 2018, followed by the Jeff Schroeder and Josiah Mazzaschi-produced debut album Flower of Life in 2023. The band later issued the remix collection Flower of Death in 2024, and the alternative love-song covers EP Covered in 2025. Its current lineup consists of Taleen Kali on vocals and guitar, Genevieve Quiquivix on guitar, Miles Marsico on bass, and Ciara DeAlba on drums.
Taleen Kali celebrates the single with a headlining performance at Bar Sinister in Los Angeles on September 12.
Listen to “Viper” below and purchase the single through Bandcamp. AEPEX arrives in early 2027 via Dum Dum Records.
The post “Wrapped Around My Heart” — LA Shoegaze Outfit Taleen Kali Confronts the Fractured Feminine in the Video for “Viper” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
Personnel:
Nova Ray – vocals
Orion – bass
Ares – lead guitar
Matt Thompson – drums (guest)
Producers: Braxton Henry
Release Date: August 21, 2026
Record Label: Eclipse Records
Oklahoma trio Nova Riot make their debut with Blood, Lies & Lullabies, bringing together heavy sounds and sharp melodies in what they describe as bubblegum alternative metal.
I have always loved music that can transport you somewhere through its atmosphere. It could make you feel like you are in a horror movie, another era, or even a completely different world. Sound effects or instruments from certain folk traditions can help create that feeling, but there is something especially impressive about doing it with just the usual tools of a band. That is exactly what Nova Riot achieves on Blood, Lies & Lullabies. From the very first track, Nova Ray’s haunting vocals and the sharply produced music pull us straight into the world the band has created.
If you’re into any of these artists, this album should be on your radar.
“The Altar” has pretty much everything I want from a song. It starts off with a soft melody, making it perfectly placed in the album to give the song before it a completely different feel, before hitting you with a heavy beat and a melodic choir. Nova Ray’s vocals are incredible on this song. Not only does she have such a unique tone, but you can really hear how much emotion she puts into every part of it. The Bunny The Bear’s guest appearance works beautifully too, adding another voice that makes the song richer. And then there’s that delicious guitar solo!
Nova Riot call their sound bubblegum metal, which is probably the best way to describe how unique Blood, Lies & Lullabies feels. They mix dark, spooky tones with nu metal vibes, creating an atmosphere that stays with you throughout the album. The guitars play a big part in that, going from the nice opening melodies to expressive solos that bring a lot of emotion to the heavier songs.
Nova Ray’s vocals really stand out on this album. She has such a unique tone, and you can really hear how much emotion she puts into her voice. Her delivery has that early 2000s post-hardcore feel, especially when she gets more intense. She goes from the creepy tone on “Haunting Me” to the beautiful melodic singing on “Casket” without missing a beat. My personal favorite is “The Altar,” where she really shows how easily she can switch between different vocal tones and levels of heaviness. Then there is “Like I Meant It,” where she delivers some very relatable lyrics with so much passion, and “Sorry Mom,” where she just pours all those feelings into the song.
The album deals with mental health, inner conflict, and the difficult choices we sometimes have to make to find some peace. You can hear all of that in the music too. The heavier parts and the brighter hooks give the songs this feeling of being pulled in different directions, while Nova Ray’s vocals really bring those emotions to life.
If that is what bubblegum metal sounds like, count me in. Nova Riot debut with a confident heavy album not afraid to show emotion, while being undeniably catchy.
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Emotional Struggle – escape emotions through some heavy tunes
Working out – great source of energy for your workout sessions
Gaming – listened to it while playing Minecraft and was great
Long drives – but keep eyes on the road
The post Album Review | Nova Riot – “Blood, Lies & Lullabies” first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.
In 2000, at age 19, Tami Hart captivated the queer and feminist punk underground with debut album No Light In August, a set of intimate folk-punk songs released on Mr. Lady Records. She toured with Sleater-Kinney and Indigo Girls and released her more rocking sophomore album What Passed Between Us in 2002. Since then, Hart’s musical output has mostly been channeled into the bands Making Friendz and MEN, but she resumed her solo career with the Thanks For Saying Hi EP in 2023.
The post Tami Hart Announces First New Solo Album In 24 Years appeared first on Stereogum.
We speak of falling in love as though gravity should handle the labor. The harder truth is that affection asks for practice: the slow unlearning of fear, vanity, possession, and the reflex to flee when another person reaches the unguarded parts of us. To say “I learn to love” is to leave the verb unfinished. It admits that tenderness is no permanent achievement, but an education measured in repetition, failure, and the willingness to try again.
Austin psych-goth trio The Schisms make that unfinished education move on “I Learn To Love,” the first single from their forthcoming four-track EP, Tejas, due October 2. The song’s unruly new video was created with Austin film crew Three-Eyed Cat Collective. Led by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Carson Barker, The Schisms also feature Goose McCollum on bass, keys, and vocals and Michael Stockton on drums and vocals.
The track enters on a sustained guitar figure and a firm, forward-driving beat, while Barker’s voice glides over the groove with studied ease. A blues-bitten guitar answers him in metallic clanks; the cymbals then open the ceiling as his delivery rises from a low croon into a full-throated command. Thick proto-metal chords eventually press against the rhythm section, giving the song the physical force of a taproom floor under too many boots.
Much of its frame belongs to late-’60s and early-’70s rock, but an ominous synth bed disrupts the period logic midway through. A buzzing keyboard figure leans toward prog, and Barker’s voice multiplies into an eerie, reverb-drenched cascade. The old forms are dragged into an unstable present. The riff walks into the room with its collar open, while the electronics quietly change the locks.
Barker wrote “I Learn To Love” as a reach toward a higher state of mind, with much of the lyric arriving spontaneously the night before the recording session. The song continued to take shape on the fly with Grammy-winning producer and engineer Stuart Sikes, known for his work with The White Stripes, Cat Power, and Loretta Lynn. Early James Brown and Bo Diddley can be heard in its insistence on rhythm, although The Schisms route that bodily drive through punk abrasion, psychedelic color, and goth unease. A mantra found a backbeat and acquired teeth; The Schisms make self-improvement sound gloriously disreputable.
That productive disorder carries into the video. The clip opens on the exposed conditions of the shoot, with Stockton playing against a bare green screen as studio lights and equipment remain plainly visible. Soon the band are swallowed by liquid blue forms, clipped into circular windows, outlined like cheap television ghosts, and deposited among Texas flags, cattle, cactus country, cowboy hats, fire, leather, and collapsing VHS interference. At points, the trio look as though they were keyed into a public-access broadcast seconds before the tape began to warp.
By returning to the uncovered green screen at the end, the clip makes its fakery part of its regional portrait. Texas becomes birthright and prop, affectionate cliché and private joke. Austin appears less as a civic postcard than as a fever dream assembled after last call.
“For the video, we wanted to do something really trashy, like an old Captain Beafheart vid mixed with VHS-style visual effects. We also wanted something that represents Austin from a born-and-raised Texan’s point of view. There is definitely a grittier, maniacal side of Austin subcultures that often gets overlooked in the media. We wanted to pair that with cliché Texas themes. There are some throwbacks to Nathan and I’s favorite filmmakers, like Jodorowsky. The song was half-written in the studio on the fly with Stuart Sikes. It just felt like a chaotic Bo Diddley song with a dash of punk and psych, so we went with it.”
Watch the video for “I Learn To Love” below:
Listen to The Schisms’ “I Learn To Love” via Spotify or Apple Music, and order the single through Bandcamp.
Tejas extends the single’s upward turn. Barker wrote half of the EP during a winter spent alone in a one-bedroom log cabin in the Colorado mountains and completed the remaining material in the studio with Sikes. Isolation gave him a practical brief: write the music capable of lifting his own spirits. The result steps away from some of the darker concerns of The Schisms’ previous album, Moon, in favor of something brighter, punchier, and more open to instinct. Barker initially wrote and recorded each instrumental part before bringing the songs to McCollum and Stockton for their input.
The name Tejas draws on the word’s association with friendship, while the record itself is Texas-made from end to end. Barker, McCollum, Stockton, Sikes, and Barker’s brother, who created the artwork, are all native Texans. The three musicians grew up in the same town and knew one another for years, although differences in age and timing kept them from sharing a band until the current lineup came together.
“The universe just threw us together, and it’s been amazingly positive,” Barker says. His search for McCollum began with an unusually exact request: “I’m looking for a leather daddy who plays a vintage Rickenbacker bass left-handed. Know anyone?” Stockton joined after letting Barker stay at his house for a month while Barker was between homes. “The chemistry is so positive,” Barker adds, “I feel like we’re the fucking Teletubbies.”
Partially funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund, Tejas arrives October 2, 2026.
Tejas tracklist:
The Schisms begin a 15-date fall tour on September 11 at Houston’s Black Magic Social Club. From there, the band follows the Gulf Coast to New Orleans and Jackson before moving through Birmingham, Athens, and three North Carolina stops. Nashville and Memphis carry the run into its western return through Little Rock, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Denton. The final date brings the band home to Austin on the day Tejas is released, turning The Far Out Lounge into the record’s natural point of arrival.
Tour dates:
Follow The Schisms:
The post Austin Psych-Goth Trio The Schisms Unleash a Leather Clad Texas Fever Dream in the Video for “I Learn To Love” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
The Hatebreed set at The Fillmore Silver Spring proved why the band remains an enduring pillar of heavy music without ever leaning into nostalgia acts or cheap gimmicks. Walking out with zero intro tapes, backing tracks, or wasted fanfare, they launched straight into a wall of sound that immediately seized the room.
The live execution was remarkably tight. Guitarists Frank Novinec and Wayne Lozinak punched out razor-sharp, down-tuned riffs that cut cleanly through the venue's mix, while the rhythm section drove everything forward with relentless momentum. What continues to set Hatebreed apart live is that unmistakable heavy hardcore groove; cuts from Satisfaction is the Death of Desire and The Rise of Brutality hit with the same visceral weight as newer material, keeping the crowd locked into a constant, heavy bounce.
Frontman Jamey Jasta commanded the stage through sheer force of will rather than rock-star posturing. His between-song delivery stayed grounded and self-aware, shouting out the local DMV hardcore scene and keeping the room focused on the collective energy of the room rather than standard stage banter.
On the floor, the response was immediate and unrelenting. The general admission area turned into a massive, non-stop exchange of movement from start to finish, backed by a sound mix that delivered a chest-rattling low end without muddying the details.
They didn't reinvent the wheel last night, but they didn't need to. Hatebreed delivered a punishing, completely honest sixty minutes of heavy music that relied entirely on stamina, execution, and raw authenticity.
Thanks for reading!
Interlay hail from the Windy City, where they whip up a blustery form of noise-caked, melodic post-hardcore that you may decide to file in the shoegaze bucket. Today they’ve unveiled plans for their third EP, the Sylvia Plath-inspired Snow Covers Your Insides, and shared its lead single “Silo.” Something about the dramatic falsetto vocals and overall grandiose doom-and-gloom vibe remind me of Sunny Day Real Estate’s How It Feels To Be Something On, but more than that, if you’re a fan of Knifeplay at their most epically melodramatic, you’ll probably dig this.
The post Interlay Announce New EP <em>Snow Covers Your Insides</em>: Hear “Silo” appeared first on Stereogum.
In 2024, Chastity Belt’s Live Laugh Love was our Album Of The Week. The Seattle indie rockers have shared some songs since then, including a cool 764-Hero cover. Now, they’re back with two new songs, “I Could Say Less” and “Pavement,” the latter of which has nothing to do with Stephen Malkmus. Both tracks are about disillusionment, weighed down by gloomy guitars and resigned vocals. “I Could Say Less” starts with the question, “Why is everything so embarrassing?” “Pavement,” though, ends with hope: “Waking up with a little less dopamine/ Well it can be a good thing.” Listen below.
The post Chastity Belt – “I Could Say Less” & “Pavement” appeared first on Stereogum.