Slayyyter has a new album on the way. The rising pop star’s third full-length, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, is out March 27 via RECORDS/Columbia Records. Here’s everything we know so far.
What’s the backstory?
The highly-anticipated project marks Slayyyter’s major label debut, following 2023’s STARFUCKER. She teased it with a euphoric run of singles including ‘BEAT UP CHANEL$’, ‘CANNIBALISM!’, and ‘CRANK’ before announcing it alongside the hypnotic ‘DANCE…’ on Friday, January 16.
What does the album cover look like?
What’s the tracklist?
1. DANCE…
2. BEAT UP CHANEL$
3. CANNIBALISM!
4. OLD TECHNOLOGY
5. CRANK
6. GAS STATION
7. YES GODDD
8. UNKNOWN LOVERZ
9. OLD FLING$
10. I’M ACTUALLY KINDA FAMOUS
11. $T. LOSER
12. WHAT IS IT LIKE, TO BE LIKED?
13. PRAYER
14. BRITTANY MURPHY.
What are the inspirations behind it?
Slayyyter has offered some hints as to the influences behind WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA over on Tumblr. Responding to a fan about what inspired her shift in sound, she said:
ME. me as an artist. the sound is purely me. people are going to try to compare it to current artists which is soooOoooo annoying and annoys me already but micro trend terminology has no place here . this new music is truly the essence of me. soft and sweet, nasty and vicious, heavy and fast. im rapping im SPITTING im singing my heart out tapping into my full vocal range its real instruments its electronic its punk its indie electro its sad its funny its clever its dark its bitter. its when u put an ipod on shuffle and u hear a track by U2 then m.i.a then kid cudi back to back but they all feel sonically related. it’s the album i was born to make and took many years of sharpening my skills and gaining live music/stage experience to create.
She also opened up about some stylistic reference points, saying: “style inspo has been like two different sides, kind of like the music, boyish shit and streetwear, supreme, number (N)ine, old shredded up denim, sharpied ripped up t shirts, muddy boots, trucker hats, and then theres also this half of my style that is feminine and romantic, i have taken a lot of inspiration from pictures of costumes i wore as a kid, princessy dresses, ballerinas, dress up kind of clothing like the uptown girls star shoe replicas i made. a lot of nods to things i grew up loving. brittany murphy is my favorite style icon overall. not even just red carpet but even her street style was so effortlessly cool to me.”
Will Slayyyter tour in support of the album?
Slayyyter has some festival appearances in the months to come, including Coachella and Gov Ball in 2026.
The creator economy is no longer a fringe concept. It is the foundation of today’s cultural evolution. With millions of creators producing content across fashion, music, visual art, and lifestyle, digital creators are shaping what culture looks like in real time. More than just influencers, they are entrepreneurs, tastemakers, and community builders operating outside traditional media frameworks.
This shift has democratised cultural production. Creators are not waiting for gatekeepers. They are launching clothing lines, composing viral songs, and building loyal fan communities from their phones. According to Goldman Sachs, the creator economy could exceed €440 billion by 2027. But it is not just about numbers. It is about values like ownership, authenticity, and innovation.
Platforms Are the New Cultural Hubs
For creators to thrive, they need platforms that do more than host content. They need ones that understand how culture moves. Forward-thinking platforms offer monetisation tools, fan engagement features, and flexible content control.
Take these fashion photographers as an example. Each one is reshaping visual narratives through a creative lens and personal brand. Their work reaches beyond galleries and lives across social feeds and subscription platforms that reward both quality and consistency.
This is where InstaFans enters the conversation. As a thoughtful OnlyFans alternative, InstaFans gives creators full autonomy with features like adjustable visibility, direct messaging, and flexible pricing. All of this is wrapped in a transparent commission structure. Its focus on safety, sustainability, and community makes it a standout for creators looking to grow without compromise.
Community Is the Core of the Creator Economy
Cultural influence today is measured less by follower count and more by community engagement. Fans want connection, access, and authenticity. The platforms that succeed are those that empower creators to foster real relationships with their audiences.
InstaFans supports this through its Discovery Page, which promotes public content, along with real-time messaging tools and a low 18 percent commission for early adopters. It is not about viral trends. It is about building trust, encouraging creative freedom, and giving creators the space to scale responsibly.
Creators can offer paid posts with free previews, schedule content for consistency, and manage subscriptions with clarity. These are small tools with big impact. They help creators not just perform but build sustainable digital businesses.
From Culture Consumers to Co-Creators
What makes the creator economy so unique is how it blurs the line between audience and artist. Fans are not just watching. They are subscribing, tipping, and helping creators shape their next move. Music artists like Charli XCX exemplify this with collaborative rollouts and bold aesthetics, such as her latest single “Wall of Sound” which reflects the hybrid nature of today’s culture.
Platforms like InstaFans support this energy by giving creators control over their content and their community. They do not just host. They empower. And that is the key to keeping culture moving forward.
Final Thoughts
As the creator economy matures, the future of culture will be built by individuals rather than institutions. It will be shaped by creators who value freedom, by audiences who value connection, and by platforms that value both.
In that future, InstaFans is already ahead of the curve.
Denzel Curry has announced a new collective called The Scythe. The project features Ferg, Bktherula, TiaCorine, and Key Nyata, all of whom appeared on Curry’s last record, 2024’s King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2. The Scythe will release their first LP, Strictly 4 the Scythe, on March 6 via Loma Vista. Listen to the fiery ‘Lit Effect’, featuring Bktherula and Lazer Dim 700, below.
“The Scythe is a family and a group,” Curry said in a statement. “We still have our respective solo careers, but when we come together, it’s The Scythe.”
Strictly 4 the Scythe Cover Artwork:
Strictly 4 the Scythe Tracklist:
1. The Scythe w/ TiaCorine & Ferg
2. Lit Effect w/ Bktherula & LAZER DIM 700
3. Phony Shit w/ Juicy J, Ferg & Key Nyata
4. Mutt That Bih w/ 1900Rugrat & Key Nyata
5. Hoopty w/ TiaCorine & Smino
6. You Ain’t Gotta Lie w/ 454 & Luh Tyler
7. Tan w/ Bktherula & TiaCorine
8. Up w/ Rich the Kid, Ferg & Sadboi
Arctic Monkeys are back with their first new music since 2022’s The Car. ‘Opening Night’ will appear on HELP(2), an upcoming benefit album for the UK-based children’s charity War Child, alongside contributions by Big Thief, Pulp, Cameron Winter, Olivia Rodrigo, Arooj Aftab and Beck, Sampha, King Krule, Depeche Mode, and Black Country, New Road. (What a lineup!) Listen to the buzzing, slinky ‘Opening Night’ below.
The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer served as the creative director for HELP(2), which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with James Ford. It’s set for release on March 6. Other contributors include Anna Calvi, Arlo Parks, Bat for Lashes, beabadoobee, Beth Gibbons, Dove Ellis, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Sampha, the Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, and Young Fathers.
“When James Ford called and asked if we’d contribute to the HELP(2) album we set to work on a song idea and assembled in Abbey Road to record it,” Arctic Monkeys stated in a press release. “We are proud to support the invaluable work War Child do and hope the record will make a positive difference to the lives of children affected by war.”
The project is inspired by the 1995 charity compilation HELP, which raised money for War Child’s humanitarian aid in Bosnia and featured Radiohead, Oasis, Massive Attack, and Sinead O’Connor.
“I felt incredibly honored when War Child asked me to work on HELP(2),” Ford said.”The original HELP meant a lot to me and to have the opportunity, given the current news cycle, to help galvanize our music community into doing something as unarguably positive as helping children in war zones seemed like a no brainer. The experience of making the album itself has been very powerful, and dare I say life affirming for me personally, against the backdrop of a very difficult year. I’m extremely proud of the results and of the efforts made by all involved. I can’t wait for people to hear this very special record.”
HELP(2) Cover Artwork:
HELP(2) Tracklist:
1. Arctic Monkeys – Opening Night
2. Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest – Flags
3. Black Country, New Road – Strangers
4. The Last Dinner Party – Let’s do it again!
5. Beth Gibbons – Sunday Morning
6. Arooj Aftab & Beck – Lilac Wine
7. King Krule – The 343 Loop
8. Depeche Mode – Universal Soldier
9. Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng – Helicopters
10. Arlo Parks – Nothing I Could Hide
11. English Teacher & Graham Coxon – Parasite
12. Beabadoobee – Say Yes
13. Big Thief – Relive, Redie
14. Fontaines D.C. – Black Boys on Mopeds
15. Cameron Winter – Warning
16. Young Fathers – Don’t Fight the Young
17. Pulp – Begging for Change
18. Sampha – Naboo
19. Wet Leg – Obvious
20. Foals – When the War is Finally Done
21. Bat For Lashes – Carried my girl
22. Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis – Sunday Light
23. Olivia Rodrigo – The Book of Love
The 2026 Oscar nominations have been announced. This year’s contenders for Best Original Song include Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s ‘Train Dreams’ (from the film of the same name), HUNTR/X’s ‘Golden’ (KPop Demon Hunters), Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson’s ‘I Lied to You’ (Sinners), Dianne Warren’s ‘Dear Me’ (Dianne Warren: Relentless), and Nicholas Pike’s ‘Sweet Dreams of Joy’ (Viva Verdi!).
Göransson was nominated for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score this year. His score for Sinners is in the running alongside works by Jerskin Fendrix (for Bugonia), Alexandre Desplat (Frankenstein), Max Richter (Hamnet), Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another).
The winners of the 2026 Academy Awards will be revealed on Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Conan O’Brien is set to return as host.
Art captures the wonders and diversity of human life, yet gallery admission fees, geographical barriers and cultural gatekeeping often limit who gets to experience it. Public art offers a vital way of bridging these gaps. In recent years, ambitious projects across cities worldwide have demonstrated how public sculpture and installations can be innovative and socially meaningful, transforming urban spaces into sites of reflection and dialogue.
In the Cloisters of Bryn Mawr College, a work of public art quietly reshapes the ground beneath visitors’ feet. Don’t Forget to Remember (Me) transforms the courtyard into a braided network of more than 9,000 hand-laid pavers that loop around the central fountain in the form of a knot. Embedded within this pattern are nearly 250 engraved stones bearing the names of Black maids, porters and domestic workers employed by the college between 1900 and 1940. Scattered among them, illuminated glass pavers mark the many people whose labour sustained the institution but whose names were never recorded.
2. Antony Gormley, Close (Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 2025)
For Bukhara Biennial “Recipes for a Broken Heart”, Antony Gormley worked with Uzbekistani artist Temur Jumaev and local brickmakers to create Close. Using traditional techniques and 95 tonnes of unfired sun-dried earth and straw, they shaped roughly 100 ‘pixelated’ bodies arranged in a labyrinth of meditative and crouching forms. The result is a stunning encouraging visitors to actively explore the installation, connect with their roots, and consider themes of belonging and coexistence.
3. IMAGINE, About A Living Culture (New York City, US, 2025)
Nepalese artist IMAGINE (Sneha Shrestha) works across sculpture, painting and murals, blending Sanskrit scriptures with graffiti aesthetics. For her public sculpture, About a Living Culture, installed in Jackson Heights’ Diversity Plaza, she created a six-foot golden arch composed of repeating cut-steel renderings of ‘Ka’, the first letter of the Nepali alphabet. Drawing on the arched thresholds common in Nepalese vernacular architecture, the work serves as “an homage to the Himalayan diaspora’s living traditions.”
4. Laura Lima, An Indistinct Form (Boston, US, 2025)
Brazilian artist Laura Lima brought her ecological practice to Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center in 2025 with An Indistinct Form. Collaborating with local volunteers, naturalists and scientists, Lima created a series of sculptural interventions designed to serve the animals themselves — offering shelter and enrichment for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. The installation invites visitors to reconsider their relationship with the natural world, lending the spotlight to non-human inhabitants.
Ai Weiwei’s Roots: Palace was installed in St Botolph without Bishopsgate for Sculpture in the City’s 14th edition. Cast in iron from moulds of endangered Pequi Vinagreiro tree roots sourced in Brazil, the sculpture transforms millennia-old organic matter into weathered forms through the traditional ‘lost wax’ method. Working with Brazilian artisans, Ai Weiwei channels themes of displacement — both his own exile and the broader crises of refugee populations and indigenous communities facing forced removal from their lands.
The recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update has finally given Resetti something useful to do. The grumpy mole now runs a Reset Service, which allows you to remove furniture, fencing, and other placed items without having to do everything yourself. Instead of picking up items one by one or tearing an area down piece by piece, you can use Resetti’s Reset Service to reset specific sections or even the entire island in one go. So, if your island is starting to feel a little too crowded, or you’re planning a complete makeover, here’s how to use Resetti’s Reset Service in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to clean things up.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: How to Use Resetti’s Reset Service
You do not need to complete a long quest or meet any hidden requirements to unlock the Reset Service. To use Resetti’s Reset Service in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you just need to update the game to version 3.0. Once that’s done, Resetti will eventually start wandering around your island. When you find him for the first time, go up and talk to him. Resetti will introduce himself, explain what resetting is, mention that he’s the one who’ll show up every time you use the Rescue Service app, and then walk you through what his new Reset Service can do.
After that somewhat lengthy conversation, the Reset Service will be unlocked permanently. The next day, Resetti will even send you a letter in the mail, just to let you know you can call him again through Isabelle at Resident Services. To use Resetti’s Reset Service in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, head to Resident Services and speak with Isabelle. Sit at her counter and select “Call the Reset Service.” Once Isabelle confirms the call, Resetti will appear somewhere on your island. Talk to him to get started.
When he arrives, Resetti will ask if he should start resetting. Select “Yes, please.” He’ll then give you four options: reset a specific area, reset the beach, reset the entire island, or “I changed my mind.” If you choose to reset a specific area, Resetti will hand you a Transceiver. From there, head to the spot you want to clear, open your inventory, select the Transceiver, and choose “Call Him Over.” You’ll see a square preview showing the exact area that will be reset, and you can cancel at this point if the placement looks off. Once you confirm, Resetti will take care of the cleanup.
For beach or full island resets, you can speak to Resetti directly. If you cannot find him, use the Transceiver to call him over, then talk to him as usual. When you reset larger areas, Resetti will ask what to do with flowers and custom designs and even check your available home storage space. If you do not have enough room, he will tell you exactly how much space you need. Just like with specific area resets, you will see a preview of the cleanup and you can cancel the reset if you change your mind.
Your first use of Resetti’s Reset Service is free. After that, he will charge a flat day rate of 60,000 Bells, which includes unlimited resets for the entire day, from midnight to 11:59 pm. If you have multiple areas to clean up, it’s worth planning them all for the same day to get the most value.
2025 is that friend you still see at parties even though you stopped liking them in March. Some outfits were untouchable, most were confusing, and a few were genuinely scary. A part is worth unpacking, and a part deserves to stay in the floorboard of last year’s taxi ride. But here’s what made the cut.
Jogging In Silk
Elevated athleisure is what happens when sportswear outgrows the gym. And the coffee shop. And the errands. Suddenly, sweatpants aren’t just for emotional avoidance, they’re paired with leather, pointy kitten heels, and the confidence of someone who didn’t break a sweat. It keeps some of the comfort, and leans into styling.
Folded Up
One collar just wasn’t enough. Shirts, jackets, even the occasional sweater felt the need to compete for attention at the neckline. Two collars, stacked neatly, sitting above the shoulders like tiny architectural statements, it made sense. Simple layering, but I was truly convinced.
Choke Chic
High necks were taken seriously, let me tell you that much. Everything climbs a little higher, sleeves push up a little tighter, collars stand a little prouder. Possibly the most uncomfortable trend of all, but oddly commanding. Fashion can be suffocating, literally, and still look good doing it.
Wild On Walk
Animal print went feral. Cow, leopard, deer, and snake prints were all over. I saw a girl slapping leopard tapestry around every single one of her apartment’s walls at some point. Too much for some, bold and patterned for others. But one slightly wrong move from anyone, and it bites back, brutally, and often ends up on the worst outfits of the year.
Cover All Coat
There’s nothing more satisfying than an ultra-long coat when your closet is actively working against you. It hides everything beneath it and turns avoidance into style. It’s fashion as self-protection, no effort, no explanation, just a good old long silhouette. Make it a trench if you want to pass for put-together, a leather one if you want bonus points, and that’s really it.
The Wrap-Up
Fashion sometimes just wants to drape. Capes and ponchos showed up in every possible context, except the warm old granny way. Sheer over wedding-guest dresses, weighted and serious on the Met steps, sliced open at the back for no real reason other than effect. Everything was intentional, fabric moving exactly when, where, and how it was meant to.
Much like in real life, tools in Hytale don’t last forever. Knowing how to repair tools in Hytale can save a lot of frustration, especially once longer mining runs and deeper exploration start damaging your gear faster than expected. Tools are needed for almost everything you do in the game, and their durability starts to drop more quickly once exploration really opens up. Crafting replacements is always an option, but doing it over and over can use up valuable materials and set you back, especially as better tools need rarer resources. So, to help you keep your gear in working order, here’s how to repair tools in Hytale quickly and easily.
Hytale: How to Repair Tools Using Repair Kits
As you spend more time mining and exploring in Hytale, tools will start breaking down much faster, and constantly replacing them can quickly become inefficient once materials become harder to come by.
To repair tools in Hytale, you’ll need to craft a Repair Kit at a Tier 1 Workbench or higher. In a nutshell, Repair Kits are portable, one-time-use items you can carry in your inventory that let you fix damaged tools, weapons, and armor while you’re out exploring.
Now, to craft a Repair Kit, you’ll need two Linen Scraps, one Iron Ingot, and one Light Leather. You can find Linen Scraps as rewards from humanoid enemies like skeletons and goblins. Iron Ingots are made by smelting Iron Ore in a Furnace, which is typically found underground in the Emerald Grove near copper veins. Light Leather is made by processing light hide at a Drying Rack, which comes from animals such as rabbits, pigs, rats, and boars.
After collecting all the items needed, simply head to the Workbench and open the Tools Tab. You’ll find the Repair Kit icon in the first box. Once crafted, simply place a Repair Kit into one of your quick slots and equip it by pressing the right mouse button.
Using the Repair Kit will bring up a menu showing every tool, weapon, and piece of armor in your inventory that can be repaired, along with how much durability each item has left. Select the item you want to fix and, voila, your item will be restored. However, every time you repair an item, its maximum durability will drop by 10 per cent, so the more times you repair something, the faster it will break. Therefore, it’s best to use Repair Kits in Hytale on gear that’s already worn down.
There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
Sugar – ‘Long Live Love’
It’s been a few months since Sugar returned after three decades with ‘House of Dead Memories’. It’s a great song that accompanied news of some shows in New York and London, and today the Bob Mould-led band has shared another affirming single, ‘Long Live Love, and announced the Love You Even Still 2026 World Tour. “I wrote ‘Long Live Love’ in 2007 while living in Washington DC,” Mould recalled. “It was the George W. Bush era, I was deep in my DJ world with Blowoff, yet still writing pop songs on guitars. Garbage 2.0 is one of my desert island albums, so it’s not surprising that ‘Long Live Love’ reminds me of a long lost Garbage song!”
The New Pornographers – ‘Votive’
The New Pornographers’ new album, The Former Site Of, has been set for release on March 27. Lead single ‘Votive’ takes its time but grabs your attention as soon as that piercing electric guitar and driving beat kick in.
Wendy Eisenberg – ‘Meaning Business’
2026 might be the year of idiosyncratic singer-songwriters self-titling their albums. First Jana Horn, and now Wendy Eisenberg, whose new album will be released April 3 via Joyful Noise Recordings. The outwardly folky ‘Meaning Business’ was written in honor of David Lynch days after his passing. “I loved his work dearly, especially Twin Peaks/Fire Walk With Me/The Return, which is an especially important work to me and so many other people who have experienced sexual assault,” Eisenberg explained. “Recovery from the trauma of that particular horror is a hallucinatory and psychedelic process because you’re reckoning with true horror – basically, the thesis of the Twin Peaks universe. This song sees me trying to find the little kid who I was, who endured that horror, and ultimately trying to free her from being trapped in that memory (‘Find Laura’).”
Greogory Uhlmann – ‘Lucia’
Chicago-raised, Los Angeles-based guitarist, composer, and producer Gregory Uhlmann – who has worked with artists including Perfume Genius, Tasha, and Hand Habits – has announced a new album, Extra Stars, arriving March 6 via International Anthem. The quietly immersive lead single ‘Lucia’ features labelmate Alabaster DePlume. “This song began with a field recording of the waves in Big Sur. Named after the Lucia Lodge, my partner and I stayed there for a couple nights and found the sound of the waves both calming and a little unnerving. There’s an intensity to being on a point with waves crashing down around you. I wrote the piece years ago and always had Gus (Alabaster DePlume) in mind to play, but finally worked up the courage to ask him recently. What he added was perfect and beyond what I could’ve hoped for.”
Avalon Emerson & the Charm – ‘Jupiter and Mars’
Avalon Emerson & the Charm has a new album on the way: Written into Changes is out on March 20 via Dead Oceans, and it was co-produced with Nathan Jenkins and Rostam Batmanglij. Lead single ‘Jupiter and Mars’ has an emotive chorus that ensures I’ll be going back to it. “For the first album, the songs were pretty soft and kind of bedroomy, Emerson commented. “And then playing them on a big kind of festival stage was a learning experience. Coming back into the studio for a second round, it was important to think about the dynamics and energy of what we were making and how they might be performed in the future.”
Lime Garden – ’23’
The first preview of Lime Garden’s sophomore LP, Maybe Not Tonight, is bouncy and exhilarating. “‘23’ the concept was born from a dream I had where I was talking to my younger self,” vocalist and guitarist Chloe Howard explained. “In the dream I was essentially ripping into my own personality and lack of success. ‘23’ the song was born on a rainy January afternoon, a Happy Mondays–inspired jam paved the way for the main bassline.”
SPELLLING – ‘Portrait of My Heart’ [feat. Brendan Yates]
SPELLLING has enlisted Turnstile vocalist Brendan Yates for a new version of ‘Portrait of My Heart’, the title track of her most recent album. (Which featured a collab with Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory.) “I was really happy to discover that Brendan was into SPELLLING when I saw him speaking about The Turning Wheel being his album of the year on NPR’s ‘faves on faves,’” Chrystia Cabral said. “It’s the most fun and affirming aspect of making music for me, finding out my favorite artists are also attuned to what I’m making. Turnstile brought me out to play some shows with them in 2022 and during a soundcheck I heard Brendan playfully singing ‘I hate the boys at school’. That planted the seed in my mind that a collaboration would work really well. Having him sing on this ‘Portrait of my Heart’ remix was such a cool way to capture our radically different but mutually appreciated musical expressions.”
Tinariwen have announced their tenth studio album, Hoggar, out March 13, and shared the new single ‘Sagherat Assani’ featuring Sulafa Elyas. “‘Sagherat Assan’ is a traditional song carried from Sudan to the Sahara, Japonais (one of the band founders who died in 2021) and I were in Al Kufrah (a city at the border between Sudan and Libya) in 1989, when I was beginning to learn the guitar,” Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni explained. “We met a musician who was playing this song and loved it so much that Japonais learned it and began performing it again and again, allowing it to travel and endure. This version features Sulafa Elyas, an extraordinary Sudanese singer and oud player now living in exile in France.”
Knumears – ‘Fade Away’
Knumears have announced their debut full-length, Directions, to be released April 3 via Run for Cover. The dynamic lead single ‘Fade Away’ features Jeromes Dream vocalist Jeff Smith. “I think what draws us to this music, just like everyone else, is the absolute raw emotion,” guitarist/vocalist Matthew Cole remarked. “In this kind of music people can really write about whatever they want, whether it’s being super angry, super sad, super happy–all of it has something in common, and that’s feeling so strongly about it that all they can do is scream.”
Lightning Bolt – ‘CLOUD CORE’
Lightning Bolt have announced a split LP with OOIOO, the side project of Boredoms drummer YoshimiO: THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL drops April 24 on Thrill Jockey. ‘CLOUD CORE’, an unrelenting freakout, is out today.
Searows – ‘In Violet’
Ahead of the release of his new album Death in the Business of Whaling on Friday, Searows has dropped one more single, the mesmerizing ‘In Violet’. “In my head, this song is visually a very dramatic tale that is not nearly as mundane as the feelings I wrote it about,” Alec Duckart shared. “The song is essentially about not living up the version of yourself you wanted to show to someone, and the various types of disappointment that go with that. But I imagine it as this fantastical epic that lives up to the weight and the drama that those emotions feel like they have in real life.”
Paula Kelley – ‘Static’
Drop Nineteens’ Paula Kelley has shared ‘Static’, a sparkly new song from her first solo full-length in over 20 years, Blinking as the Starlight Burns Out. “I had thought this was going to be a throwaway as I wrote it; just a filler song,” Kelley commented. “Then I tweaked one chord in the chorus and a whole new path opened up. I remember listening to an early mix and saying aloud, ‘Holy shit, ‘Static’ is actually good now.’ We had a helluva time getting it right, arrangement and production-wise, but I’m shocked at how well it turned out, given how it began.”
Dry Socket – ‘Rigged Survival’
Portland-based hardcore outfit Dry Socket have announced a new album, Self Defense Techniques – out March 27 on Get Better Records – with the ferocious ‘Rigged Survival’. The track “is about the suffocating reality of being priced out of your own life,” Dani commented. “It’s about waking up everyday in a system where your value is in your obedience and output. Even our hobbies, our art and joy have become a luxury most of us can’t afford. This song is that crushing feeling that this can’t be it, life should have more to it than working a job that destroys you and living with the fear of a medical bill making you houseless.”
Bloodworm – ‘Bloodlust’
Nottingham’s Bloodworm have dropped ‘Bloodlust’, their first single of 2026. “‘Bloodlust’ was written about the duality of relationships and the angst of being stuck in a small town,” frontman George Curtis said. “We had the raw excitement of starting something new and just not really caring about anything else aside from the music itself. We’ve really tried to capture the feeling of that energy in the recording.”
SUPERWORLD – ‘The Dream’
San Jose-based screamo band SUPERWORLD have announced their debut album, Super World, out February 13 via Lauren Records. It’s led by the single ‘The Dream’, which flaunts both their technical chops and aesthetic maximalism. “I think for any group working within this sort of guitar-driven music it can be easy to overengineer parts because we all have so many influences to draw upon,” SUPERWORLD guitarist Dan Vo reflected. “It felt right to lean into that tendency here. All the instruments are constantly trading lines back and forth, with contrasting layered vocals and the addition of piano and trombone. As fast and aggressive as we were playing, the melodic elements were key to keeping listeners engaged.”
Melodi Ghazal – ‘Numb’
Danish-Iranian alt-pop artist Melodi Ghazal has unveiled a new single, ‘Numb’. “I received this beautiful major folk guitar chord progression from my guitarist and friend Peter Bruhn, which I instinctively wanted to sing along with, and my melodies quickly made it a bit darker,” she explained. “With this song, I explored what the greatest inner drama might sound like when you have sort of understood that there is nothing to be done. Control is lost and you are merely an observer of a life that is yours. With that starting point, the composition is repetitive, raw, blurred, and slightly distanced.”
