The Van Pelt "Remain Obscure"
The Van Pelt are one of the great cult bands of American independent music.
Formed in New York City in 1993 around singer, guitarist and songwriter Chris Leo, the band emerged from the same fertile underground scene that gave rise to many of the most influential post-hardcore, indie rock and emo acts of the decade. Yet while many of their contemporaries went on to achieve wider recognition, The Van Pelt chose a different path: one built on artistic independence, restless experimentation and a stubborn refusal to fit comfortably into any scene or trend.
Across two landmark albums — Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves (1996) and Sultans Of Sentiment (1997) — The Van Pelt developed a singular language that combined intricate guitar interplay, spoken-word intensity, literary lyrics and emotional depth. Their music occupied a unique space between post-hardcore urgency, indie rock invention and the introspective sensibility that would later become associated with emo, influencing generations of musicians while remaining largely outside the spotlight.
After disbanding in 1997, the band’s reputation continued to grow. What began as a well-kept secret among underground music fans gradually became a touchstone for listeners searching beyond the obvious narratives of 1990s alternative rock. Reunions in 2009 and 2014, the release of the long-lost Imaginary Third, and a series of acclaimed live performances introduced their music to a new audience while reaffirming their enduring relevance.
In 2023, The Van Pelt returned with Artisans & Merchants, their first collection of new material in more than twenty-five years. Rather than revisiting old formulas, the album expanded the band’s sonic vocabulary while preserving the qualities that made them unique: curiosity, intelligence, vulnerability and an unwavering commitment to following their own instincts.
Now, more than three decades after their formation, The Van Pelt are set to return in 2026 with Remain Obscure, their fifth studio album. Continuing their tradition of defying expectations, the record pushes beyond the familiar boundaries of the band’s sound while embracing the same spirit that has defined them from the beginning. A band whose influence has consistently exceeded its visibility, The Van Pelt remain one of independent music’s most enduring and rewarding secrets
Perennial "Modernism"
Perennial is sharp, quick, ferocious, focused. Their bruising, bombastic sets come and go before you know it: all over but the sweating. 20 minute marathons, on stage and wax. On Modernism, the New England mod trio’s newest LP, that lightning-strike chic is devoted to a pocket-symphony rave-up — 10-songs built from all the keenest bits of The Who, The Blood Brothers, Otis Redding, Stereolab, MC5, Wilson Pickett, and Le Tigre. Op art to dance to. Mellotron loops bracket electric feedback squalls; freakbeat riffs tangle up beneath Stax/Volt hooks. The band’s deep, eccentric record collections, turned into a 1,200 second action painting.
Formed in 2015 in Connecticut, Perennial is Chad Jewett (electric guitar and vocals), Chelsey Hahn (electric organ and vocals), and Ceej Wolf (drums). Focusing on both unforgettable live shows — frenetic, joyful dance-punk rites of spring — and studio-as-instrument modernist recordings, the band has built a cult of dedicated international aficionados, one sticky-humid basement show at a time. Touring tirelessly, they honed their Motown-via-Dischord sound to a keen, glossy point. With their longtime producer Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die), Perennial has added layer after layer to their sharp mod collage: free jazz, ambient electronica, big beat, dub, Musique concrète, all within explosive 90-second sprints.
Modernism is their best/catchiest/densest LP yet. The hooks pile high and stick fast atop dance floor strata of fuzz bass, tambourine, and Vox Continental organ jabs. Modernism marries the experimental to the ecstatic, the impressionistic to the incendiary. Available September 18th via Ernest Jenning Record Co. (US and International) and Safe Suburban Home (UK), Modernism is a new benchmark for one of punk music’s most intrepid aesthetic explorers.
Anthony Geraci "Where Were You"
From Making A Scene:
“All the compositions on Where Were You were written, arranged, and conceived by Geraci, and recorded at Delmark Riverside Studios in Chicago by Julia A. Miller, and mixed by Elbio Barilari and the legendary Fred Breitberg at Freddie B Audio in Evanston, Illinois. On the opening title track, Geraci, on piano and Hammond organ, is joined by vocalist-drummer Sheryl Youngblood and bassist Rodrigo Mantovani, as Sheryl sings, “Where were you when the blues said goodbye, where were you when the blues said goodbye, woke up early in the morning and I cried and I cried…where were you when the blues said goodbye, where were you when the blues said goodbye, we’ve got to carry the torch, sing those blues lullabies, sing those blues lullabies.” On the instrumental “Brooklyn Boogie,” pianist-organist Geraci is joined by guitarist Barrett Anderson (Ronnie Earl, Monster Mike Welch) and drummer Nick Toscano.
On “All’s I Got Is You,” with guitarist Jon McDonald, bassist Tom Terry, and drummer John Medeiros Jr., keyboardist Geraci takes the lead vocal as he chimes, “All’s I got is you, all’s I got is you, all’s I got is you, pretty baby, all’s I got is you…you said you were my woman, I was your hoodoo man…you dress me in the morning, about the break of day, you dress me in the morning about the break of day, all I got is you, pretty baby, all I got is you.” On the jazzy instrumental “Caterpillar Dance,” Geraci is joined again by bassist Tom Terry.
“Rockin’ til Dawn” is another boogie-woogie instrumental, featuring the brawny tenor sax of Mario Perrett (Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, Ronnie Earl). On the New Orleans–styled “Say La-Ti-Da,” Geraci plays piano in the Chicago Otis Spann–Pinetop Perkins tradition, while guitarist Dave Specter appears for the first of five stints, with Rodrigo Mantovani on bass, Pooky Styx (Buddy Guy) on drums, and Sheryl Youngblood returning for another vocal as she chants, “saw you alone on a Saturday night…Say-La-Ti-Da, cha cha cha, there’s food on the table…I told you that I love you and I want to hold you tight, we sang and we danced, we sang and we danced the cha, cha, cha, sang La-Ti-Da.”
Eje Eje "Mezze"
Following his work with Şatellites and a growing catalogue of solo releases exploring psychedelic groove, Middle Eastern traditions, organic hip hop and global rhythms, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Eje Eje returns with Mezze, a five-track EP inspired by the simple ritual of gathering, sharing food and listening deeply.
Named after the tradition of serving small dishes designed to be enjoyed together, Mezze grew from regular trips into nature with a close friend, where music, conversation and home-made food became inseparable. Drawing inspiration from old Turkish, Arabic and regional recordings played around what they affectionately called a ‘Turkish campfire’, due to the food they brought and shared, the EP offers five concise musical sketches, each exploring a different flavour while belonging to the same table.
If Eje Eje’s previous work has always thrived on unexpected musical collisions, Mezze distils that approach into its most intimate form yet. Rather than treating traditions as separate worlds, the record allows Turkish psychedelia, Gulf rhythms, Greek melodies, Saharan influences and laid-back hip hop to coexist naturally, creating something that feels less like fusion than a personal musical language.
For Eje Eje, the music is never about faithfully recreating traditions. Instead, it reflects the way he has always collected records, absorbing sounds from wherever they resonate before reshaping them into something unmistakably his own. “I see no reason not to combine musical worlds,’ he says. “That’s how I listen to music, so that’s how I make music.”
That philosophy extends beyond the influences themselves. While much contemporary production strives for bigger arrangements and constant stimulation, Mezze deliberately embraces restraint. The tempos remain unhurried, the grooves spacious and the arrangements economical, leaving drums, bass and melody room to breathe. Quarter-tone guitar, electric bağlama, oud and vintage keyboards replace dense layers of production, creating a record that achieves more by doing less.
The opening ‘Beija Flor’, named after the hummingbird, combines Gulf-inspired percussion with West African pentatonic ideas and desert psychedelia, while ‘Yemen Eye’ follows with slow-motion breakbeats inspired by traditional village celebration music, reimagining communal dance traditions through a relaxed, organic hip hop lens.
The celebratory ‘Pickled Pine Cones’, featuring longtime friend Romano on Farfisa organ, shifts towards the warmth of a Mediterranean afternoon, where Turkish psychedelia meets the spirit of a Greek taverna. Driven by bright electric guitar and Romano’s exuberant one-take Farfisa solo – a performance Eje Eje simply describes as ‘genius’ – it becomes the EP’s most uplifting moment. Its title, and the jar of pickled pine cones pictured on the sleeve, also carry a deeply personal significance, reconnecting childhood memories of gathering pine cones with a discovery he made years later in Istanbul, where something familiar suddenly appeared in an entirely different context.
‘Phantom Love’ draws closest to the classic sound of 1970s Turkish psychedelia. A slow, shuffling breakbeat gradually develops into an almost marching groove, with chiming bells and intertwining electric bağlama creating one of the EP’s most hypnotic hooks. Almost two minutes in, the arrangement dissolves into an atmospheric passage where a mysterious treated vocal drifts through the mix, reflecting the song’s central idea: the lingering ache of a love that could never fully exist.
Closing piece ‘Rising Fire From The Liver’, borrowing its title from traditional Chinese medicine, gently raises the tempo through Brazilian percussion, mantra-like repetition and hypnotic psychedelic grooves that gradually build towards something closer to a ceremony than a song.
Almost entirely recorded by Eje Eje himself across his home studio and a small number of additional recording spaces, Mezze features guest appearances from Romano alongside drummers Lotan Yaish (bandmate in Şatellites) and Guy Ben Ami (of Boom Pam), with mixing by longtime collaborator Shuzin.
Yet beyond its instrumentation and influences, Mezze is ultimately an invitation to slow down. Conceived during a time of constant information, endless distraction and increasingly automated creativity, the EP offers twenty minutes of space simply to sit, listen and breathe. ‘I hope people take a deep breath,’ says Eje Eje. ‘Just pause for twenty minutes. Then come back to the world with a little more strength.’