This edition of LITM Rock Picks brings riveting releases from artists Matt C. White, RAAR Trio, Johnny Barr, Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends, and Girona City Boy.
Read MoreLITM Rock Picks Tunes That Are Just Perfect For You Featuring M. Spano, Camryn Quinlan, Vanderwolf and more!
LITM Rock Picks Tunes Brought to You By M. Spano, Camryn Quinlan, Vanderwolf, Milk Buttons and Sehore
M. Spano - Long Time Comin’
With the first strum, M. Spano's Long Time Comin' draws you into a world of nostalgia, love, and long-awaited realization. With warm guitar melodies and heartbeat drumbeats, the song is like golden-hour light streaming through car windows—hopeful, exciting, and deeply personal. Spano's voice is silk-smooth, with quiet confidence, as though someone finally embracing the love they've always dreamed of.
The chorus erupts with sizzling guitars and heart-thumping rhythm, and the lyrics express the sense of hesitant uncertainty giving way to certainty. And just as you'd think things can't get any more thrilling, Spano breaks into a soaring guitar solo that transports the song to anthemic heights.
By the end, Long Time Comin' leaves you breathless, wrapped up in the glow of a long-awaited romance. Spano blends nostalgia and new energy with ease, and you can be certain he's resurrecting early 2000s love.
2. Camryn Quinlan – ex box
Camryn Quinlan’s ex box transforms a simple breakup relic into a powerful pop anthem. With sleek electronic beats and warm organic instrumentation, the song feels cinematic, like a late-night reflection with old love letters scattered across the bed. Quinlan’s honey-smooth vocals make the heartbreak feel deeply personal yet universally relatable.
Directed by Baldvin Hlynsson, ex box was penned as a freshman by Quinlan, who drew inspiration from the nostalgic pieces of a former love. Years later, the song now bears the burden of time, resonating with the bitter sweet pain of release. "Keeping those physical memories almost kept the person in my life," she says—a feeling that rings true for anyone who's ever clung to an ex box of their own.
With inspirations such as Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves, Quinlan writes a song that's painfully authentic but irresistibly catchy. It's the ideal soundtrack for that final trip down memory lane.
3. Vanderwolf – A Time To Die
Vanderwolf's A Time To Die is a hazy, ethereal song that converts existential questions into musical verse. Spurred on by an unsettled plane ride to Amsterdam, the tune glides across sparkling tones, soft brass, and an unnerving melody incorporating pop, R&B, and psychedelic rock.
Lyrically, Vanderwolf conveys the fear of death, as he sings, "Can it make much sense / Tossed in turbulence / With the ones you love so far behind?" His ethereal vocals float on top of a dreamy soundscape, presenting introspection as well as refuge. The production, courtesy of Chris Cordoba and Sam Sallon, imbues the tune with depth and texture, rendering the song to feel like an instant frozen in time.
With a career that has run the gamut from New York to London to L.A., Vanderwolf still stretches musical boundaries. A Time To Die is a hypnotic, introspective track-one that plays over and over again in your head long after the last note sounds.
4. Milk Buttons – Love and War
Milk Buttons' Love and War is stunningly complex mixing of jazz, indie, Americana, and psychedelic rock. It begins with a hypnotic contrast—spattered drums and peaceful, Eastern-inflected piano melodies—before slowly building in layers of harmonies, strings, and textural instrumentation to create a lush sound world.
In spite of the complexity, each piece of music has a place, interweaving effortlessly into the canvas of the song. There's no jockeying for room; rather, the music ebbs and grows, sounding closer to a precision-crafted composition than a live jam session.
With influences ranging from new wave to alt-folk, Love and War is impossible to categorize but flourishes in its individuality. Milk Buttons creates a track that doesn't beg for attention but repays those who listen intently. A hypnotic, immersive experience, this is music that refuses to be pigeonholed—giving something new with each repeat listen.
5. Sehore – Safari
Spanish alternative rock project Sehore makes a strong statement with Safari, an experimental song that marries outside composition with socially profound commentary. Constructed on the seldom-employed whole-tone scale, the song is atmospherically eerie and otherworldly yet somehow still radio-friendly.
Lyrically, Safari addresses aporophobia—the aversion or fear of poverty—challenging listeners to consider societal prejudices. As part of Sehore's debut album Ladencia, the song emphasizes their trademark blend of kitschy visuals and raw, natural textures. Recorded at Paco Loco Studio and mastered by Mario G. Alberni, Safari features a precise production that balances complexity with emotional impact.
Sehore's distinctive musicianship isn't going unnoticed—the project received a Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards for Pesadilla, showing their forward-thinking sound is getting picked up. With Safari, Sehore keeps pushing what alternative rock sounds like, creating music that's both cerebral and sonically bold.
Follow the playlist for all new artist updates!
If you would like to submit your music for playlist or review consideration, please submit here.
LITM Singer-Songwriter Picks features Claudio Olachea, dr.rift, Hybrid Kid, and other exquisite artists
In this edition of LITM Singer-Songwriter Picks, experience absorbing themes and hard-to-forget tunes from artists Claudio Olachea, dr.rift, Hybrid Kid, Caitty, and Bailey Perrie.
Read MoreLITM Rock Pick Tunes That Will Set The Vibe For You Featuring Here’s Your Martyr, Bureau De Change, Rough Born Legends and More!
LITM Rock picks tunes brought to you by Here’s Your Martyr, Bureau De Change, Rough Born Legends, Pascal & The Shades and Zachary Mason
Paid By Cash -Here’s Your Martyr
Your West Yorkshire shoegazers Paid By Cash is a maelstrom noise that draws you into its whirlpool centre. The song rages like a frenzy, brooding and inescapable, propelled by Ollie Carter's heavy vocals over the maelstrom quicksand of fizzing guitars and thudding drums. Carter's vocals veer between hold-back and sheer emotion, dancing atop the maelstrom soundscape like an ethereal spectre that can't be silenced.The combination of brooding basslines, strangling drumbeats, and wild guitars is claustrophobic yet strangely intimate. It's a sonic struggle between sanity and precision, perfectly choreographed to suspend ears on the brink. In its orchestral texture, the song develops as a slow-motion tempest, every beat drawing you into its emotional maelstrom.
Here's Your Martyr is an ode to Paid By Cash's skill in making songs linger, ask questions, and make one think. New listener or old, the track is a spellbinding entrance to the band's high-voltage world.
2. Bureau De Change - Dumb Men (Radio Edit)
Bureau De Change's Dumb Men is a scathing, unforgiving call to arms that wrestles with catcalling, rape culture, and toxic masculinity with moral indignation. Frontwoman Flora draws on lived experience in a bid to release a seething denunciation of social etiquette, converting anger into provocation. The phrase "Why don't you just get fucked?" growled with raw, poisoned venom, is as cathartic as it is provocative, cutting through the din on sheer anger.
Musically, the song is a whirlpool of anarchy—seething guitars, pounding bass, and furious drums all joining together to form a storm of sound. Avoiding accepted root chords is all it does, and it works in its defiant appeal, exactly capturing Flora's angry indignation. The entire song simply sounds like revolt, from its structurally disorganized nature to self-consciously blasphemous lyrics.
Dumb Men is more than a song, it's a call to freedom and responsibility. Bureau De Change releases a dirty and shameless message that cannot be overlooked, cementing them again as a band to keep an eye on in 2025.
3. Rough Born Legends - Bright Star
London's Rough Born Legends sparkles with Bright Star, a sparkling single that marries ancient rock roots with modern flash. Released at the start of 2025, the single distills the spontaneous chemistry between lead guitarist Riki Andov and bassist Paul Bown. Their music chemistry created out of Bandmix projects has treated the world to a song that is classic but original.
Taped in Andov's studio shed, Bright Star preserves the magic of middle-of-the-night jamming. The propulsive bass and classic guitar motifs open up a roomy, earthy space simultaneously. Lyrics, composed of astral metaphor and love poetry, create an atmosphere of wonder, inviting listeners to reflect on relationships and harmony.
Taking cues from such legends as David Bowie and Led Zeppelin, Rough Born Legends employs contemporary aspects to give meaning to their music so that it becomes more enticing in the contemporary era. Bright Star is thus a radio-friendly, emotionally engaging single. The track puts them squarely in the realm of rock music and with a rosy future ahead.
4. Pascal & The Shades - Danger Moon
Danger Moon by Pascal & The Shades is a psychedelic ride on psychedelic rock and experimental folk. Composed by Paschalis Kalogeroudis, the song conjures an extraterrestrial magic through reflective verses accompanied by intergalactic melodies. The worlds of the song are expansive in scope, blending filigree guitar textures with inescapable rhythms to present an experiential experience.
The music explores emotion and transcendence, leading the listener to a realm of introspection where fantasy and reality cannot be separated from one another. Kalogeroudis' singing, backed by the band's virtuoso musicianship, creates an atmosphere that is both haunting and comforting. Danger Moon is an auditory journey into the unknown, a trip to the bottom of human relationships and self-awareness.
Pascal & The Shades will not be bound by the trappings of their genre, making music that lingers in the head hours after the last note. Danger Moon is a creative vision, providing music from another world that needs to be heard again and again.
5. Zachary Mason - I Wish Humans Were Made In A Factory
Zachary Mason's I Wish Humans Were Made In A Factory is a free-form, mind-stretching adventure into the nuts and bolts of humanity. Starting from disillusion public and private, the song meshes scorching lyrics with a catchy indie rock rhythm to become a song both as captivating and unsettling.
Mason's vocal inflection is drenched in desperation, fluctuating between reporter-like matter-of-factness and the occasional spasms of zealotry. Phrases such as "Bitter glances. Angry eyes. Messed-up minds in messed-up lives!" summarize the angst and irony of his accounts of the flaws of life. Using the human-being-as-factory-product cliche ridiculed the sloppiness of life and taunts the fallacy of perfectionism.
Musically, the album is a raw, gritty indie rock gem. Gritty grungy guitar riffing, hyperkinetic keyboard textures, and pounding rhythm section are exactly the right attitude for Mason's thoughtful rambles. Its raw-around-the-edges accessibility and in-your-face lyricism, I Wish Humans Were Made In A Factory is a classic record that has a field day with Mason's unapologetic creativity.
Follow the playlist for all new artist updates!
If you would like to submit your music for playlist or review consideration, please submit here.
LITM Rock Picks Some Ground-breaking Music Featuring Fuches, Jakob The Liar, Ray Joyce and More!
LITM Rock picks tunes that have caused ripples across the music realm brought to you by Fuches, Jakob The Liar, Ray Joyce, Lockdown Co. and Novozero!
Fuches - Reckoning
FUCHES' Reckoning is a fist-pounding, genre-defying piece of art that addictions you from the first note and won't let go. It starts with a pounding synth riff that sets the warning sign for danger, trapping listeners in a high-stakes situation that's as raw as it is exhilarating. It's the sonic equivalent of coming across a sunset face-off between smoke-talkers—tense, brash, and unforgettable. The lyrics read like scenes from a gritty film, vividly painting a narrative of internal and external struggles. Lines like, “I left my wits in the trunk of my old car / ’Cause I’m done trying to prove myself,” resonate with raw emotion and vulnerability, adding depth to the track’s ferocity.
FUCHES' whiskey-voiced vocals add raw-around-the-edges grit to the party, slicing through with the filthful soundscapes. Full-steam-ahead production marries atmospheric synths, punishing beats, and crescendo-building tension, detonating with a gasping release. It ain't music; it's an experience—an experience unto itself.
2. Jakob The Liar - A Song Like You
Jakob The Liar releases a love song to put an end to all love songs in A Song Like You, a life-giving, effervescent love parade larger than life. From the opening glistening chord, the song constructs a make-believe heaven where love's an affair of the senses. Jakob's raspy voice with enthusiasm speaks the vulnerability and anticipation of finding "the one." The rhythm section is cranked up with thudding drums, slapping bass, and electric guitar riffs that burst like fireworks at night.
The song's lyrics are truly real, skipping over the clichés to speak of getting over past wounds and finding a love that has been worth waiting for. Jakob's genre blend here succeeds because aspects of pop, indie rock, folk, and retro rock mesh to create a sound that is uniquely his. A Song Like You is not a song; it's a feat, an indication that love's magic is waiting to be unlocked.
3. Ray Joyce - I Hope You Are Happy (But Not Too Much)
Ray Joyce's I Hope You Are Happy (But Not Too Much) is a brilliant take on post-breakup feelings' bittersweet ambivalence in brilliant composition and actual delivery. The song balances the dilemma of wanting one's happiness, but suffering from the agony of leaving behind. Joyce's lyrics are perceptive and introspective, walking the thin line between bare and perception. The lyrics aptly weave the contradictions of love and loss.
The immaculate drums and guitars are super effective, and the texture creates a perfect backdrop for the naked emotion in Joyce's voice. The structure of the song gives ample room for the storytelling to be center stage, providing very personal listening. It's not just a break-up tune—it's a journey of the human experience, with great melodies and lyrics that any individual can connect with. Joyce has crafted a song that stays in your heart once it's over.
4. Lockdown Co. - Frontier
Frontier is a revelation for Lockdown Co., though, with their ability to take liberties and challenge themselves without sacrificing their uncompromising rock roots. This track is a masterclass in how to pare down ostensibly contradictory things - grunge and blues, progressive rock - into something new and somehow instantly familiar. Leah Bell-Miller's vocals are the star, with measured performances tastefully backed by the trio's intricate arrangements.
The production is mature and regal, a reflection of how far the band has come from the times when they were essentially instrumentalists. The song is packed with soulful melodies, heavyweight riffs, and rhythmic complexity to make for an engaging listen. Frontier also taps into introspection, longevities, and creativity finding an engaging start-to-finish journey. Lockdown Co. has put out an album of music that not only establishes them within the underground rock fan base but makes one question if they will ever be able to crossover into the mainstream successfully
5. Novozero - To All The Times
Novozero's To All The Times is a dreamy blend of psychedelic and atmospheric rock that takes listeners on an aural and emotional journey. Anna on synths and vocals and Andreas on guitar and bass create a dense, enveloping soundfield as the Northern Norwegian duo. It begins with a wailing bassline and faint electric guitar melody, immersed in a hypnagogic synth pad that creates an otherworldly mood.
Anna's gentle but firm voice navigates the intricate sound schemes with even comfort. The tempo is faster in the song and is sustained by a repetitive drum beat that drives the song. The chorus is superb with enormous guitar riffs, bluesy vocals, and a spine-tingling solo that entertains the crowd to the duo's skill. With inspiration from legends like Pink Floyd and Muse, Novozero offers a song that is retro but progressive—a must-listen for global rock enthusiasts.
Follow the playlist for all new artist updates!
If you would like to submit your music for playlist or review consideration, please submit here.
Oliver Pinder, Poem Rocket, Neovenator, and others bring absorbing rock releases in LITM Rock Picks
In this edition of LITM Rock Picks, prepare to witness searing energy and rousing emotions from artists Oliver Pinder, Poem Rocket, Neovenator, Blue Orchid Reaction, and Little Wasters.
Read MoreInterview: LITM interviews psych-rocker Vanderwolf on the latest release 'Sweep Away The Shards' and upcoming album 'The Great Bewilderment'
Psych-rock wizard Vanderwolf crafts yet another mesmeric and immersive soundscape in “Sweep Away The Shards.” It is a compelling glimpse into the artist’s upcoming album, ‘The Great Bewilderment.’ The music unravels with warm synth spreads, tendrils of guitar melodies, and powerful vocal deliveries.
Read MoreInterview: LITM interviews Vancouver-based musician Pranatricks on his latest single ‘Cobras’ and upcoming album ‘Elements Of’
Pranatricks, a genre-bending multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter brings us an entrancing, experimental sound in his latest single ‘Cobras.’ The track is part of his upcoming album ‘Elements Of.’ He taps into the expanse of psychedelic rock and channels that boundlessness and energy into an intricate geometry of melody and message.
Read More