KELSEY MICHAEL – Lethowsow

With its sweeping piano lines and jazzy bass, ‘Gry Maritha’ – the opening track from Kelsey Michael’s debut long player ‘Lethowsow’ – channels material from Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court & Spark’ and ‘Hissing of Summer Lawns’ period, but with the help of a swooning melody and vocal choir, it quickly takes on more of its own identity. Michael’s rich vocal joins a really great sounding tune, and although her voice is used very much carries the melody (as you’d expect), it never dominates the track as a whole. The song’s middle section gives way to some brilliant harp work capturing a dream-like quality, and an unexpected coda finds the band launching into a jazzier groove where the piano and bass come together in a way sounds like a welcome throwback to a McCoy Tyner recording. It’s at this point the listener could become aware of experiencing something rather special.

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STONE DISCIPLE – Stoner Thrash EP

‘Stoner Thrash’ by Stone Disciple is one of those releases that, to use an old phrase, does exactly what it says on the tin. The guitar tones used throughout are pure stoner; the speed of the material, less so. Attacking like a harder edged Fu Manchu colliding with a riffy, speed loving Sabbath clone, this EP’s songs cover all the important stoner bases, and yet convey an energy that feels pleasingly fresh at the time of release.

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Listen: Skye share new track ‘What Am I’

A five piece band from the north west of England, Skye take in a wealth of hard rock, prog metal and alternative influences to create a massive hybrid sound.

On ‘What Am I’, the quiet, almost disquieting vocals and busy basslines owe a debt to the mighty Tool; a massive, relatively commercial chorus pulls influence from bands like Alter Bridge and Shinedown, and a really punchy drum sound adds something even harder. These things combined lead to a massive and genuinely impressive slide of contemporary metal that’s guaranteed to build upon the current Skye following.

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BIDDADAT – Lovesick EP

Biddadat’s self-titled 2020 release shared some great funk oriented tunes. Tracks like ‘Outrageous’ and ‘Younger Days’ flaunted a strong influence from very commercial sounds – with the former actually veering close to something that sounds like a 90s alternative rock band playing ‘Get Lucky’ by Pharrell Williams, and the latter capturing the spirit of a ‘By The Way’ era Chili Peppers deep cut – whilst ‘Hey…I Like Your Body’ teetered a little closer to disco, but still conveyed an easy cool that suggested these musicians were more than happy in their shamelessly retro world. Not that people necessarily noticed: the album was released just weeks before the whole planet ground to a halt and the restrictions brought by Covid-19 pandemic meant that everyone had far more on their minds.

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THE DANIEL JAMES GANG – Darkness Over This Town EP

On one of his social media channels, near the beginning of 2025, musician Daniel James mused how he was always busy. So busy, in fact, that he barely had time to sleep. At that time, he was a member of at least four bands – including Indonesian Junk (who’d just embarked on a hiatus) and reformed punkers Chinese Telephones.

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