Boil metal down to its muscle, sinew, and bone - razor-sharp guitar, percussive pummeling, and a lone, stark howl - and use them to commit a vicious assault. The lyrics paint loathsome, frightening images of pitch-black self-hatred and the frailty of the human experience. These musical manifestations only serves to cement their already legendary status.

‘Fairy Rust,’ the new album from Wombo (Sydney Chadwick, Cameron Lowe, Joel Taylor), contemplates the spaces in-between, a meeting of the physicality of the land with the fluidity of the imagination, to uncanny effect. Across twelve tracks, sharpened guitar work, distorted freakouts and downtempo musings see the trio make a sonic leap forward into new and transformative places. Conceived over the course of the last two years, the record is steeped in its own time warp of escapism, and influenced by fairytales like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson (“RVG” is short for “Rip Van Winkle”) that blend surreal situations with the mundane. ‘Fairy Rust’ plays on this preoccupation with fantasy (“especially in a time where people are seeming to gravitate towards these kinds of stories”), and the resulting record sounds like no one else.

“Below the House” was inspired by the folklore of Chadwick’s unconsciousness, and is about the intangible ties that ground us in our surroundings. Although the band was inspired by the rust belt and agricultural landscapes that permeate the background of their hometown of Louisville throughout the recording process, Wombo’s music is also imbued with the ephemeral quality of being shaken awake from a dream. There’s unassuming clues and hidden messages scattered across the album, where references to doors, windows and walls play with the idea that while scenery can change, home remains a grounding point. Tracing out melodies before incorporating vocals, bits and pieces of lyrics are gradually assembled creating a framework that transcends a simple bassline or guitar part, Wombo weave together a tapestry of sound that’s both intoxicating and effortless, where one minute it’s all deadpan post-punk energy, and the next Stereolab on a mountain top. The music functions as their own localized language that feels uniquely out-of-body. “Another time around / another time around and around,” Chadwick intones in “Blackflip,” a dizzyingly propulsive number where the trio’s interlocking instrumentals propelled by Chadwick’s vocals build on top of one another in an exhilarating tailspin.

“Backflip” was inspired by a freeway drive with Chadwick’s grandmother, where she turned to her in the passenger seat and wondered aloud: “we’re all just gonna meet ourselves at the end of this, aren’t we?” The single itself accelerates while Chadwick’s eerie vocals twist and guide the piercing guitar into strange and inviting new sonic explorations. Time itself is a construct that’s constantly revisited during ‘Fairy Rust,’ and many of the songs are set in a fading twilight ambiance that’s ambiguously watercolor, a portal of potential where anything goes. “Evening looms beyond my view,” Chadwick sings in “7 of Cups”, the sprawling final track that gesticulates to a horizon that’s a signpost to an unimaginable future.

Heavy on Wombo’s mind are the simple effects of coexistence. The imagery throughout ‘Fairy Rust’ often hints toward the juxtaposition of the city and the wilderness that surrounds it. In “Below the House,” Chadwick contemplates “some things are better if we leave them alone,” and in “Sour Sun” ruminates: “underneath the hill was a hidden town / buried were the fields and the buildings drowned.” There’s a multitude of references to earth and water throughout the record, while the band contemplates the impact of the elements and the ability for human nature to leave its mark for better or for worse. “We are trying to speak on something called sacred darkness in mythology. It means that darkness is not always a negative and is a necessary part of the equal balance between light and dark and sometimes it can signify renewal and the birth of creativity.” In the weird world of Wombo, regular demons are just a party of everyday life, with shadowy natures that are always half in and half out of step with morality and the setting of rules. The record upholds the certain romance that comes with knowing that no matter what, life is out of our immediate control, and the planet will persevere, with or without us.

Wombo stress that the unknown is key to the ongoing journey of self-discovery. The future cannot be predicted, and ambiguity should be understood as a crucial part of life. According to Chadwick, “endings are always beyond my level of understanding or comprehending, or knowing at all. I wanted to end the album with that kind of message, that the mysteries in life are not to be solved but experienced and respected, to be kept at a distance.” With ‘Fairy Rust’ the band present one moment of fragile time that reverberates throughout human experience.

Los Mirlos is a group dedicated to promoting the music and culture of the Peruvian Amazon. Although it was formed in Lima in 1973, its true roots are in Moyobamba, the city where its members were born and began their musical careers.

As pioneers of psychedelic Amazonian cumbia, Los Mirlos have spent 50 years performing worldwide, proudly showcasing the distinctive rhythms of the Peruvian jungle. Today, they are a prominent influence, known for a sound that has evolved and endured through changing musical trends. The group continues to engage a young audience eager to explore new textures and rediscover the origins of this unique genre.

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Los Mirlos es un grupo dedicado a promover la música y la cultura de la Amazonía peruana. Aunque se formó en Lima en 1973, sus verdaderas raíces están en Moyobamba, la ciudad donde sus miembros nacieron y comenzaron sus carreras musicales.

Como pioneros de la cumbia psicodélica amazónica, Los Mirlos han pasado 50 años actuando en todo el mundo, mostrando con orgullo los ritmos distintivos de la selva peruana. Hoy en día, son una influencia destacada, conocidos por un sonido que ha evolucionado y perdurado a través de las tendencias musicales cambiantes. El grupo continúa atrayendo a un público joven ansioso por explorar nuevas texturas y redescubrir los orígenes de este género único.

If you know how to work the angles, you can fit a lot into the container of a three- or four-minute pop song. Graham Hunt understands this. Since he was a teenager, he’s been working at perfecting the form, writing songs that get to the heart of what makes Midwestern guitar pop so essential, and doing it while sidestepping any of the dead-end creative moves that weigh down many in the genre.

Nowhere is this balancing act as clear as on the Madison-based artist’s new LP, Try Not To Laugh. It’s a record where breakbeats coexist with anthemic choruses and synth runs go toe-to-toe with acoustic guitars. From start to finish, the song stays at the forefront. It’s been the throughline for Hunt, who has played in street punk bands and power pop bands and hardcore bands and the underrated Midnight Reruns, who pushed a distinctively Upper Heartland kind of songcraft, one that led to opening slots for The Replacements and a diehard following of Wisconsin alcoholics.

Do you want some reference points? Well, you don’t need them to enjoy this music, but here goes: this music sounds like the Dust Brothers, if they produced an album for Paul Westerberg; this music sounds like Guided By Voices, if Robert Pollard was more influenced by Happy Mondays than British prog-rock; this music sounds like whatever mildly funky Zoomer indie rock band you want it to sound like, if any of those kids knew how to write a chorus.

Speaking of choruses, the record’s lead single “Emergency Contact” has one so big and satisfying that, in a different era, it would’ve knocked on the door of the Top 40—or at least the CMJ charts. The song’s lyrics, like many of the lyrics on this record, are a collaged rendering of the quotidian Midwest experience, made triumphant through the force of the music. With Try Not To Laugh, Hunt has made an album that is made for living inside of.
“Driving down 94/The power grid’s on fire/Don’t get out of the car until the song is over.”

Safe Mind is the collaborative project of Augustus Muller and Cooper B. Handy.

Muller is one half of the beloved electronic duo Boy Harsher, a cornerstone in the contemporary goth and darkwave scene. Handy is an underground sensation, making a name for himself with his left field approach to beatmaking through his solo persona LUCY and various recording projects (The Taxidermist, Club Casualties). Featuring club-ready bass, punchy drum beats, and post-punk guitar lines alongside Handy’s singular voice, the band’s first single “6’ Pole” introduces listeners us to the duo’s playful pop sound.

In 2020, Muller approached Handy to collaborate on a track for Boy Harsher’s album, The Runner (Original Soundtrack), and the result was the anthemic album standout “Autonomy.” Handy’s loose take on songwriting proved an unlikely match with Muller’s neurotic attention to detail and production experience. Handy and Muller took note of their chemistry and continued to casually work on music over the next few years. As the tracks started to accumulate, they acknowledged a shared emphasis on honesty and innocence in the songs they were making and Safe Mind was born.