‘Malcolm’s Law’ is a sizzling, maximalist, impossibly complex guitar record. While Waldo’s Gift have been associated with the UK jazz explosion, mainly owing to their focus on improvisation, within their full-length offering there are unmistakable shades of post-rock, prog-metal, and the more intense ends of Squarepusher or Aphex Twin. As they put it, “We essentially Trojan-horse metal into jazz venues,” Unbelievably, every track is a single live performance, recorded with no overdubs or extras. Since emerging onto the scene, they’ve been gaining steady support from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and have played major sets at Glastonbury,We Out Here and Copenhagen Jazz Festival, as well as inclusion in BBC 4’s documentary ‘Spitting Fire’ as one of UK Jazz’s brightest new lights.
‘Malcolm’s Law’ captures the story of their unusual beginnings, their weekly residency at Bristol venue The Gallimaufry where they built a cult following with their intense & bizarre performances. The artwork is by another notable fan, RUFFMERCY. Known for his work with Thom Yorke, Earl Sweatshirt, Ghetts, Danny Brown and The Chemical Brothers amongst others, the elusive artist was the band’s dream collaborator. One day the band were chatting about their love of the artist, for the first time, with Gallimaufry’s owner. “He said, ‘Oh, he comes in here to drink all the time. He used to come to your residency nights,’. It transpired RUFFMERCY was indeed a local, who loved the band and agreed to make the cover artwork – based on glitched photographs – that very week.
The spirit of the record is best explained through the story of another fan of the band: the titular Malcolm. “Malcolm is in his late-60s, and he has quite a few health problems and mobility issues, but his attitude is so infectiously positive,” Malcolm had just suffered a stroke when he met Guitarist Elliot-Williams, requesting guitar lessons from him despite his limited freedom of movement. Another time, he built a boat with no previous experience, and nearly sank in the harbour. One day, Waldo’s Gift got a mysterious booking for a tiny pub in Southampton – it turned out to be Malcolm, who had booked the pub so he could open for the band with his son. “We played to about five people – including Malcolm & his son,” they explain. “Malcolm had brought all the instruments to make it as easy for us as possible: the drums were the weirdest drums I’d ever seen, like Phil Collins shit with nine toms and cowbells everywhere.” Malcolm’s opening set with his son was no less strange. “His son was on drums, and Malcolm was on guitar, vocals and synths. The music he’s playing is fucking cool, but the most batshit, atonal music I’ve ever heard. He decides to face away from the crowd, and is teetering on the edge of the stage, and he’s so frail we’re worried he might genuinely die if he falls.” He’d also managed to get a cable wrapped around the synth – an old Prophet which was clearly worth a lot of money – and was gradually pulling it off the stand.
“Everything about it was so surreal, and so anxiety inducing,” Vine says, “but the gig finished and nothing bad happened. Everything was fine. We got home and we were like, ‘that’s Malcolm’s Law’ – so much shit happened, and so much shit has happened to this guy, but everything was cool in the end.” For the band, the night gave them clarity on how they thought about their own music. “There’s this teetering on the edge of chaos,” Vine smiles, “but it’s always fine.”
With the release of their debut album just a month away, rising punk rock act Winona Fighter is excited to share another new single from the record. The band has today released “R U FAMOUS”, an aggressive message for social climbers and hangers-on, alongside a brand new music video. Watch “R U FAMOUS” here:
“’R U Famous’ is about someone who always tries to see what they can get out of people doing well in their music career. I think the term is called a “starfucker” but I don’t think you can say that in an article haha! But that’s seriously what it’s about,” shares front woman Coco Kinnon. “It’s a situation I think unfortunately happens to a lot of up and comers, and something that has happened to us via a person we thought was a friend.”
About the video she adds: “We’ve always said ‘if we REALLY start leaning into a Y2K aesthetic then that’s how you’ll know we’re just going for a money grab.’ So what better way to represent a slimy person than to be that money grab! We’re All Gonna Die productions did an amazing job at really bringing our Tony Hawk Pro Skater aesthetic to life. We had so much fun being a couple of Y2K bros for the day but I’m okay never wearing low rise pants ever again…. like ever.”
Acclaimed indie artist, songwriter, and composer Tessa Rose Jackson (formerly releasing under the moniker Someone) is set to release her new EP, A Mirror Sometimes, on January 17, 2025. The project is a bold return to her roots, marking her first collection of music under her own name in six years. The EP promises to be a deeply collaborative and emotionally rich journey that highlights Jackson’s ability to merge storytelling, intimacy, and a touch of the fantastical.
Following a year that saw Jackson expand her artistry in groundbreaking ways—including contributing five original tracks to the soundtrack of the highly anticipated video game Life Is Strange: Double Exposure—A Mirror Sometimes is an invitation to dive deeper into her evolving sonic world.
“‘A Mirror Sometimes’ is a passion project that coloured my year magical,” Jackson shares. “It started out as an experiment—writing with songwriters I admire to shake up my creativity—but it turned into something much more profound. Each collaboration brought a new spark of inspiration, reminding me of the pure joy of making music.”
Guster has unveiled Ooh La Luxe, an expanded edition of 2024’s critically acclaimed Ooh La La, available digitally via their own Ocho Mule Records on Friday, January 24.
Ooh La Luxe adds four previously unreleased tracks to Ooh La La, including a pair of demos and two brand new songs, “It’s Wild” and “Enchanté,” both of which will also be available on an extremely limited 7” vinyl single available exclusively on the upcoming final leg of Guster’s landmark We Also Have Eras Tour. The deluxe new edition is heralded by today’s premiere of an edited version of the original album’s “When We Were Stars,” available everywhere now accompanied by an official music video streaming now at YouTube.
Applesauce Tears is the brainchild of Athens, Georgia based musician Craig Bennett, who’s been gifting the world with a pleasant catalog of music since 2011. Now consisting of a collection of friends and acquaintances, the group create catchy, yet unconventional instrumentals that are bound to captivate any who listen. Furthering their unique brand of cinematic soundtracks and psychedelic experimental music, these sound collagist dropouts are ecstatic to release Balcony Confidential
multifaceted vocalist and musician Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens has announced his new solo project, Haunted Mouths. His debut album A Collection of Greetings will be released on February 14 via Rise Records. The first single and opening track of the new album, “Further Til We Disappear,” is available to stream now.
Reading Julia Cameron’s 1992 self-help book, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, kickstarted a new approach in Kellin’s songwriting. This new record is a romantic love letter, literally and figuratively, and a celebration of life’s rich complexity. It’s a singular experience, with each song demanding a listen to the next. Haunted Mouths wraps an invitingly familiar voice in powerful, dreamlike soundscapes. Brimming with atmosphere and mood, the name pays homage to the cemetery near Kellin Quinn’s childhood home.
The opening track, “Further Til We Disappear,” resonates broadly with diverse listeners while intimately speaking in a type of code designed for an audience of one, sprinkled with shorthand references to specific places and things within the singer’s longtime marriage.
“That song mentions many of my wife’s favorite things and different things we share. The whole record is a love letter to her,” explains frontman Kellin Quinn. “I didn’t want to make a pop album or an acoustic record. It needed to be dark, drony, haunting, but beautiful.”
Oklahoma City’s some fear, the four-piece band led by Branden “Bran” Palesano, are excited to share their debut album, some fear, out now via Houston’s tastemaking Rite Field Records. Recorded in the band’s home studio in OKC, the album was self-produced with mastering from Boone Patrello (Teethe). A masterful slowcore exploration of life, this record presents a different side of Palesano as his artistic ambition reaches new heights with delicate soundscapes of introspection.
“‘some fear’ is 8 songs spanning back to 2021 that cover specific parts of my life,” says Palesano. “It’s also the first collection of songs I’ve written by myself and because of that, it’s very special to me. some fear started as a means to help me become a better songwriter, and I am very proud of this album and hope that you enjoy it.”
Country roots-rock band, Ghost Hounds are thrilled to share “She Runs Hot.” An electric new song that the band described as dangerous, reckless and fun. As a band, they honed their sound on the road, having supported legendary acts like The Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Garth Brooks, Guns N’ Roses, and Bob Seger. With their chemistry at an all-time high, the band is set to bring even more blues-rock brilliance in the future.
“She Runs Hot” follows the recent releases of “You’ll Never Find Me,” “You’ll Never Find Me (Strings Version)” and “Long Ride Home feat. Patty Griffin.”
Miami-born audio-visual artist, singer, and rapper ROZET has released their new single ‘Shadow Wurk’ out now via Young Art Records. ‘Shadow Wurk’ serves as the fourth and final single off their upcoming HEADEP following ‘Eat’, ‘Thinking A Lot’, and ‘Feelings Aren’t Facts’.
‘Shadow Wurk’ is a tantalizing addition to HEAD that continues to draw on ROZET’s experiences as a ballroom enthusiast and LGBTQ community member. Empowering from start to finish, ROZET gives a sassy and assertive vocal performance, sparking rhythmic flows over glamorous synths and light house percussion. The track embraces ROZET’s therapeutic approach to processing emotions while honing a sense of self-confidence and defiance against conformity both sonically and lyrically.
“I wrote this song to activate this unapologetic phase of facing my subconscious, the suppressed aspects of myself head on, and being proud of it while exposing it. The prefrontal cortex helps with self reflection while the amygdala is accessing difficult emotions like fear and anxiety. They are all having a whole ballroom dance battle against each other but all a part of the same space, community, and brain. By integrating these aspects it creates this greater sense of mission and self worth in society. Using the shadow as less of something to fear but to dance with.” – ROZET
Refuge. Resilience. Redemption. For TT, that’s what music has always represented: an opportunity to turn life’s challenges into something beautiful and empowering.
TT began making that discovery at six years old, decades before he debuted with his first album, 2025’s Man On The Corner. Diagnosed with a chronic kidney condition as a child, TT spent years dealing with the physical pain and emotional trauma of a disease that left him crippled at a young age. As he relearned to walk, he found comfort in music — not only the musical theater songs that his mom sang around the house, but a wide mix of country, classical, and rock & roll. Those influences would eventually inspire “A Moment Ago,” a genre-bending record rooted not only in TT’s eclectic musical tastes, but also the observations made, lessons learned, and social implications that resulted from his health challenges.
When he was a teenager, TT bought his first guitar, forking over the money that he earned by caddying on weekends and bussing tables at night. The instrument became a lifeline and a launchpad for something larger than himself. “I was an introvert, so being able to escape into a room to sing and play guitar was my sanctuary,” he remembers.
TT began playing local gigs after moving to Los Angeles as a young adult. Even so, progress stalled for several years when he began pursuing a business career to help pay the bills. Then, his kidney disease came out of remission, and he spent three months in and out hospitals, where everything changed. He was given a life expectancy of six years and started thinking about how he wanted to spend those six years. He wanted to focus on things that really mattered, and therefore, would go back to his original passion – music.
Atmospheric indie-rock artist, Byland, has joined forces with acclaimed singer/songwriter, The Bones of J.R. Jones (Jonathon Linaberry), for the new single, “Jubilee.” After several nights of onstage collaboration during a February 2024 tour, writing together felt like the natural next step. LISTEN HERE.
Between busy tour schedules, the two eventually crossed paths again in Los Angeles and got to work. After starting the song with her husband, Jake Byland, Alie brought what would become “Jubilee” to Linaberry.
“Right away I felt like the lyrics, ‘What would happen if you put down the weight of the world’ meant something different to each of us,” she says. “He, a seasoned musician who’s spent years on the road, and me, in my formative and eager years in this career. We spent a while together, going over the melody, fine-tuning the first verse, and writing instrumental chords. It felt like we both realized this could be special.”
They parted ways with Jonathon’s objective set to write the second verse, which brought both Bylands to tears when they heard it.
Hrishikesh Hirway, acclaimed musician and the creator of the award-winning podcast Song Exploder, will release his original score album for the forthcoming film Companion on January 24 through WaterTower Music in advance of the film’s international release on January 28 and US release on January 31. The album will receive a limited color vinyl release with artwork by Greg Ruth via Made By Mutant—preorder will be available beginning January 24.
Ahead of the score album, Hirway today shares a single, “Iris’s Theme,” featuring vocals from Sophie Thatcher, (Yellowjackets, The Boogeyman), who stars in the film—listen/share here.
Written and directed by Drew Hancock, (My Dead Ex, Suburgatory), Companion also stars Jack Quaid (The Boys, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Lukas Gage (Smile 2, Dead Boy Detectives), Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever, It Lives Inside), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows, Blue Beetle), and Rupert Friend (High Desert, Asteroid City).
Mid-2023, in the early stages of the film’s development, Hancock tapped close friend Hirway to begin drafting a score from the script. As a composer, Hirway has previously written and recorded original scores for the Netflix series Everything Sucks!, the film Save the Date, the CNN documentary Our Nixon, the video game The Red Lantern, and the theme for ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast.
When initially composing “Iris’s Theme,” with a female singer in mind, Hirway demoed a vocal himself, artificially pitching his voice up—Hear the initial demo here. The final track with Sophie Thatcher was recorded in Spring 2024 at Los Angeles’ famed East West Studios with a 12-piece string ensemble. Reflecting on a moment in the film involving digitally altering one’s voice, Hirway left a subtle layer of his own pitch-shifted voice underneath Thatcher’s.
Hirway shares, “Drew and I listened to scores from the ‘60s, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Laughing Woman. I was especially inspired by Sophie Thatcher’s performance in the footage I got to watch before the film finished shooting, and in that time, I wrote Iris’s Theme. And then, Drew told me that Sophie happened to be a singer herself. I thought of how powerful the theme to Rosemary’s Baby is because it features Mia Farrow’s own vocals, and knew we had to have Sophie record the melody.”
Companion, at its core, is a relationship story, revealed across the album’s 17 tracks; despite some of the film’s sci-fi themes, the soundtrack strives for timelessness. Hirway reflects, “Companion was an incredible experience. I finally got the chance to work with my old friend. The script had made me laugh and gasp and thrill on my very first reading, and the performances and production lived up to the promise on the page. It feels unbelievable to me that I got to contribute to a film I would have absolutely loved, just as a fan.”
Matteo Liberatore, an artist and composer who has become a fixture in New York City’s experimental and intermedia art scenes over the last decade, today announces the debut album from his audio-visual electronic music alias Molto Ohm. After introducing the project with live performances at DIY spaces, art venues, and music clubs—often collaborating in duos with artists like Taja Cheek (L’Rain), More Eaze, and Ka Baird—Liberatore is set to release FEED on March 21 via New Focus Recordings.
On the work, Molto Ohm presents his thesis: “FEED aims to capture the fragmentation and alienation of modern life, an exploration of ambition, consumerism, purpose, intimacy, and self-awareness, juxtaposed with a longing for calm, joy, and human connection.”
Alongside the album announcement, Liberatore is sharing the project’s first-ever released track, “Sponsored #1,”which serves as a captivating entry point into Molto Ohm’s idiosyncratic and concept-driven world. The lead single delves into the commodification of self-care, where the quest for mental well-being is shaped by algorithms and consumer-driven promises of a better you. Beginning as a blissful electronic track overlaid with a voice that sounds dialed in from a meditation or self-help app, the track shifts into uncanny territory, magnified by Liberatore’s video, which splices together footage of faux advertisements for a dentist along with shots of smiling individuals and an unsettling last 20 seconds.
Hot on the heels of announcing their highly-anticipated annual Deadrocks show at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre, along with two additional album tour dates, the “One Of These Mornings” arrives as a poignant reminder of the duo’s boundless artistic evolution.
The track opens with an instantly recognizable sample from Ella Fitzgerald’s iconic masterpiece, “Summertime,” immediately transcending listeners on a journey through space and time as Zeds Dead reimagines the 1950s jazz classic through their dark, atmospheric lens. The duo effortlessly entangles Fitzgerald’s sultry vocals with intense, bone-shattering bass, giving the track a hauntingly nostalgic, almost otherworldly feel.
“One Of These Mornings” defines Zeds Dead’s technical prowess, blending classic elements with cutting-edge production and showcasing their ability to defy genre and age with a track that is equally soulful as it is energetic. Embark on the journey through space and time and listen to “One Of These Mornings.
Roc Nation announced the forthcoming release of Supreme Magnetic, along with the project’s first single & video, “Evelyn & North” by rising New York MC, Errol Holden.
When we say rising MC, don’t take our word for it. Cam’ron says “the best lyricists are from Harlem, go argue with your Mother,” as he has tapped Errol to be the first featured artist for his new Freestyle Friday’s platform; which will premiere on 1.24.25.
Previously aligned with Nas’ Mass Appeal imprint, Errol has now signed a distribution deal with Roc Nation and is also now affiliated with Roc Marciano’s PIMPIRE International imprint. “Errol is something special; he is bringing game to the game” Roc Marciano shares. “Shit is inspirational”!
Errol has a very active 2025 lined up, including three full projects; starting with Supreme Magnetic on 2.25.25. Errol will follow up his debut Roc Nation project with the sequel project, Joe Frog 2, and will close out 2025 with 615 W 150 Street.
You can now stream and watch the video for Errol’s new single “Evelyn & North,” which is now available at all DSP’s.
“Nobody knew my real name until I started rapping,” shares Errol Holden. Now, the emerging New York City artist is making an impression with his identity. After years of hustling on rooftops and navigating the badlands of his concrete and steel universe, Errol creates art that shares vivid imagery and grim humanity.
Raised between Harlem and The Bronx in a Panamanian-American household, Errol has only had two jobs in his life. One, working for famed Harlem fashion designer Dapper Dan, the other in the Harlem River Houses library, ended with the adolescent taking paychecks. Even before then, the teen known as “H-O” in the streets, hustled hard. After he dropped out of high school he took to making money on 123rd, 111th Street, and other corridors within the boroughs, as well as in Pittsburgh, South Carolina, and upstate. That lifestyle lasted decades, complete with incarceration, fractured family dynamics, and a myriad of valleys and peaks.
In 2019, Errol Holden transitioned from the roof to the booth. The artist side of Errol found solace in writing his life in verse. Those thoughts and accounts of life eventually resulted in a handful of self-released projects, presented to customers directly through social media outreach, only to discover people valued the work to the point of paying sizable sums. “I am a lifelong criminal in transformation, and music has shown me that you don’t have to do bad” Errol states.
Errol Holden’s Supreme Magnetic will be released on 2.25.25 via Roc Nation.
Larkin Poe – the GRAMMY® Award-winning duo of Georgia-bred, Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell – are kicking off the new year with their latest single, “Easy Love Pt. 1,” available now via their own Tricki-Woo Records. An official music video premieres today on YouTube. The track heralds Larkin Poe’s upcoming new album, Bloom, arriving Friday, January 24. Pre-orders are available now.
“‘Easy Love Pt. 1’ is, hands down, the truest and most detailed love song I’ve ever written,” says Rebecca Lovell. “As referenced in the lyrics: there is in fact an Eiffel Tower recreation in Paris, TX. And yes, it does have a little cowboy hat on top. We can’t wait to perform this song live, the instrumental interlude creates a trippy little 70’s rock ’n’ roll moment that we can’t wait to jam out.”
Email:neill@outloudculture.com
Socials: @neillfrazer
