Hall of Ukrainian Rock’n’Roll
In our traditional support of the Ukrainian rock scene, we would like to offer you a story about a remarkable event that took place in western Ukraine in the small town of Manevychi. Every year, at the end of May, all the world's museums hold a night at the museum, and such a night took place in Manevychi, where at the same time the soft opening of the first hall of the future Rock Capital museum took place. The hall is called The History of Ukrainian Rock and Roll and is the first of seven planned halls of the Rock Capital Museum. Perhaps it would not have been so attractive if the Rock Capital Museum had not truly been the first rock museum in Ukraine.
Do you know at least one Ukrainian punk rock band?
Do you know at least one Ukrainian punk rock band? Of course, no one asked me such a question, but I sometimes ask it to my friends. Talking about the glorious traditions of Ukrainian rock n roll, I don't want to miss punk itself. The first thing that comes to my mind is the band Borshch. Some people will say it's not punk rock, and maybe they're right. But musically and lyrically, Borshch has a spark that only lives in this style.
David Bowie’s first address
It remains interesting that even such alien rock stars as David Bowie had his parental home on our unfortunate planet. The future star lived the first 6 years of his life in 40 Stansfield Road, Brixton, London.
Formation of the Ukrainian rock n roll scene
2022 has become too difficult for one of the largest countries in Europe. It is about Ukraine and its heroic people. The passing year has brought devastation and tears, pain and suffering to the country. In its fight against the invaders, Ukraine is choosing its freedom and the right to a democratic future. Today we wanted to remember the glorious past of this musical nation and especially, we are interested in the development of the rock scene in Ukraine, in a country with its ancient roots and culture. How it was and how it was born.
LeBarons – Running River
Toronto and Hamilton have quietly been brewing something worth paying attention to, and "Running River" is the proof poured out in full. LeBarons have spent years working the unglamorous seam between alt-country and something rawer, more wounded, and on this single they finally strike a vein of pure gold.
Honey Sky – Honey & Gold
Five years is a long time to leave a guitar in its case. Long enough for an audience to drift, for a name to fade from playlists, for the whole enterprise of "making it" to quietly die of neglect. Honey Sky did all of that — walked away from nearly 1,900 days of silence — and what he has brought back with him on *Honey & Gold* is not the sound of a man scrambling to catch up, but of one who has stopped running altogether.
Sdubsthereptillian – DARK VAULT
Hip-hop has always trafficked in myth-making, but few practitioners commit to the bit quite like Sdubsthereptillian, who arrives on "DARK VAULT" less as a rapper than as a self-appointed medium, channelling voices from the graveyards of Florida into three minutes of unrepentant, unfiltered testimony. The backstory alone — nocturnal cemetery sessions, spiritual "soul transfer," a life hauled up from Ypsilanti's harder streets to Daytona Beach's studio lights — reads like something Nick Cave might have scribbled on a napkin after too much red wine. And yet the record delivers on its own outlandish promise.
Oceanless – ONLY FOR TONIGHT
Oceanless have never been a band content to sit still, and "Only For Tonight" confirms it with the swagger of a group who know exactly what they're doing to your Friday night nervous system. This is the sound of a band mid-transformation, caught somewhere between the sticky floors of a provincial indie disco and the queasy 4am comedown that follows it.
Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas – Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas
Cornwall has a way of producing things that sound like the weather: changeable, briny, prone to sudden brightness. Flo Crowe & The Dilemmas fit that mould, and their self-titled debut arrives less like a calling card than a small weather system of its own — thirteen tracks that swing between squall and clear sky without ever losing their footing.
HZPROD – WarTorn
There is a particular species of record that arrives not as product but as confession, and *War Torn* — the debut curatorial statement from Doha-based producer HZPROD — belongs unmistakably to that lineage. It is the sound of a man who has spent years behind the boards for other people finally stepping forward to say something only he could say, and doing so not with a microphone but with a Rolodex, a conscience, and, by his own account, twenty grand of his own money.
Mickey P – Good Love
East London has always kept its own time signature — somewhere between the last night bus and the first shift at the market — and Mickey P understands this rhythm in his bones. "Good Love," his five-track offering, doesn't so much announce itself as slide onto the dancefloor already mid-groove, sunglasses on, unbothered.
Faris Ishaq – JASAD جَسَد
Few instruments carry as much unspoken history as the nay. Reed cane, no mouthpiece, no keys — nothing between the player and the note but breath and intention. On *JASAD* (Arabic for "Body"), Bethlehem-born virtuoso Faris Ishaq turns that austerity into a manifesto, and the result is one of the most quietly commanding solo instrumental records to emerge from the Levant in years.
OpCritical – Parachute
Rock and roll has always had a soft spot for the grand gesture — the three-minute sermon dressed up as a single, the chorus built to be bellowed back at the band from a festival field. OpCritical understands this instinctively, and "Parachute" arrives as their most fully-formed statement yet: a song that takes the oldest trick in the songwriting book — turn a physical object into a metaphor and don't let go of it — and executes it with the kind of conviction that makes cynicism feel like a wasted effort.
The Sonic Travelers – Please Comfort Me
Some songs arrive fully formed and instantly dated, tethered to whatever sonic gimmick happened to be fashionable the week they were tracked. Others get buried for decades and come back sounding like they were always meant for right now. "Please Comfort Me," the new single from The Sonic Travelers, belongs firmly to the second camp — a song written in the late 1970s by George Aiello and John Ingram that has spent nearly fifty years waiting for its moment, and has finally found one worth the wait.
Fish And Scale – Holy Man
Roland Wälzlein has never much cared for tidy categories, and "Holy Man" makes that abundantly clear within its opening bars. Recorded live in the studio, the piano sits close and unadorned, each note allowed to hang in the air a beat longer than convention would permit — a decision that rewards patience rather than punishing it.
Xxäm – Riddle me this
Chesterfield rarely produces cultural earthquakes, but Xxäm has just tilted the axis of British electronic pop a few crucial degrees with a debut that arrives fully formed. "Riddle Me This," the first single and video from the act's upcoming self-titled album, plays less like an introduction and more like an accusation whispered across a darkened room. By the time the first chorus detonates, you'll have already confessed to something you didn't do.