Two are a couple. Five are a handful. Twelve are a dozen. Thirteen are a baker’s dozen. Twenty are a score. And 144 are a gross. But what about 22? There’s no nickname for 22. It seems like there should be. So I propose this: The double deuce. Catchy, right? Let’s make it happen. But first, check out more of the great new music headed your way:
Van Morrison
Remembering Now
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Van Morrison’s new album Remembering Now represents his first collection of original music since 2022 and also follows the acclaimed covers albums Moving On Skiffle and Accentuate The Positive. With Remembering Now, Morrison returns to the transcendent, uncategorisable rhapsodies that make him unique. Soul, jazz, blues, folk, country — this is music in conversation with all of them but limited by none. Its rich with hallmarks of classic Morrison, from dominant themes of love in spirit to specific references to locations from his youth. Morrison’s voice, guitar and saxophone continue to mesmerise and he is surrounded, as always, by a fabulous band — Richard Dunn (organ), Stuart McIlroy (piano), Pete Hurley (bass) and Colin Griffin (drums and percussion) — who have worked with him since Three Chords And The Truth in 2019. Remembering Now also features an array of accomplished collaborators. Its strings were arranged and directed by Fiachra Trench (Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello), whose association with Morrison goes back to Avalon Sunset in 1989. Those strings were performed by the Fews Ensemble, led by Joanne Quigley. Other contributions come from Michael Beckwith, the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, renowned lyricist Don Black (Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Quincy Jones) and the acclaimed folk artist Seth Lakeman.”
Peach Pact
Die Hydrated
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “What do you do when the patriarchy keeps pushing you down? You plug in, turn up, and push back — loudly. Leading that charge are Peach Pact, Northern Ontario’s juggernaut femme-punk trio. Their debut album Die Hydrated is an unapologetic salvo of empowerment — a rapid-fire collection of brash and poignant songs, poised to become a 21st-century punk rock manifesto. Like a banshee that discovered electricity, Peach Pact’s music comes at you fast. Not just another riot grrrl band, they draw from vast punk and non-punk influences to transport listeners to a place of empowerment, adding a layer of soul with their vocals and lyrics, all driven by a locked-in backbeat. This is the genius of Peach Pact: Their music has the self-reflexivity to not take itself too seriously despite the importance of their songs. Their sonic palette and clever lyrics evoke the same feeling one would get on the side of a frozen Northern highway as they would watching the sunset in the California desert.”
Puffer
Street Hassle
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This is not the end of a dark alleyway in some U.S. city. This is not the bottom of a platform heel in England. This is not the back corner of some dusty drawer at a record fair in Holland. These are not the places you’ll find rock ’n’ roll. This is Quebec: A different sensory perception of rock ’n’ roll. A heightened awareness of the highest highs and the lowest lows. This is Belgium with snowmobiles, Catholic Texas, Ugly France. All the crumbling highways, the coldest beers, and the loudest joints. Guitars do different things in Quebec. Puffer shimmy across the invisible barricade between Montreal and the rest of the world not just as another crop of punks but as the great descendants and inheritors of modern greats like Inepsy’s Rock and Roll Babylon and Annihilation Time’s II. Loud, brash, unrelenting. You’ll go deaf before you get bored of it. Self-produced, self-recorded, and mixed by the band, this is the vanguard of punk that has lived long beyond its moments of origin. This is a pure blast of 1979 — by way of the hellish end-times of 2025 that have made the necessity of punk rock feel so real.”
Sex Beat
Crack
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Crack is radical reduction – For their second album, Berlin band Sex Beat stripped away all differences and embellishments, recording a punk album in their rehearsal space that needs no further genre labels. DIY isn’t a gimmick here but an unavoidable necessity — Crack was made without a studio, without a producer, and without a clue.
Sex Beat approach punk with historical awareness, drawing from a wide range of influences, from Oblivians and Suicide to Hot Snakes. Sonically, they take cues from the ’90s Dischord Records catalog: Bass and drums drive forward, while guitar and vocals spit and snarl in between. The songs shift between being heavily fragmented and mechanical to intricately crafted, but they always remain raw and unfiltered. Lyrically, it’s all about what grinds your gears: Broken politics, broken society, and all the little broken things within ourselves.”
The Swell Season
Forward
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Swell Season (the acclaimed duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) return with Forward, their first new album in 16 years. An eight-song collection that manages to capture both the familiar heartrending, joyous emotions and moments of beauty listeners have come to love from The Swell Season — as well as new slice-of-life, where-are-we-now chapters still being determined and understood — the album was produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson and recorded at his and Irglova’s Masterkey Studios in Iceland, alongside original Swell Season musicians Marja Gaynor and Bertrand Galen (strings) and Joseph Doyle (bass), and newcomer Piero Perelli (drums and percussion). Coming so long since the release of their previous album, 2009’s Strict Joy, you might have expected that they would title a new LP something commemorative or reflective. But The Swell Season don’t exactly do things the typical way. When the longtime friends decided to reconvene for a handful of shows in 2022, it led to a recording session. A single encouraged the pair to converge again the studio in 2024, and from there, well, it seemed there was only one direction for The Swell Season to go. “It felt right to title the record Forward because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” Irglová says. “Both of us have grown and changed; we’re in different places and getting to know each other again as the new people we’ve become.”
Whitney Walker
Where To Go And How To Get There
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Whitney Walker has not followed a linear course during his strange and epic journey through the music industry. The former addict had spent years dealing with alcoholism, drug use, and stretches of homelessness, all while somehow raising two children, through decades of darkness. Despite seemingly constant torment, Walker spent his early adulthood touring and releasing music with a slew of indie projects — all ambitions and agendas inevitably falling into the abyss of depression and addiction. At one point, he hit rock bottom with an attempted suicide that resulted in two emergency open heart surgeries, and he still wears the scars to this day. And with these scars, or any of the wounds Walker suffered via years in the gutters, they heal with time — time spent in remembrance and reflection, and internal occupation, something he spent years trying to escape. In so many ways, the music of Walker encapsulates both the perilous odyssey and journey of redemption home, times spent in murky passage, and times between incidents, the aftermaths. Through all of this, Walker’s songs march, forever and triumphantly, and most importantly, fearlessly, through the valleys of life and death. For this reason, his songs have come to symbolize the bizarre pageant that freethinkers, independent philosophers and artists, often find themselves a part of. This is music from the jagged edges, where Walker has spent much of his life.”
The Wants
Bastard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The electronic post-punk trio The Wants were formed by Madison Velding-VanDam and Jason Gates in 2017, with Yasmeen Night joining in 2021. The songs of The Wants are defined by the power and traction of the processes of their members: The floating rhythms are the soul of the new songs, while the pulsing synthesizers subvert direct instrumentation. The new album Bastard is an evolution of the first grains planted in the first album Container (2020). The Wants forge an unlikely alliance of sons that seems radical and inevitable. Velding-VanDam channels the brute puissance and humor of Public Image Limited and the romance of The Smiths so that Gates can channel the intensity of groups like Bauhaus and Throbbing Gristle, inspired by experimental techno. The sound of Night links back to that of alternative rock from the ’90s, recalling Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage and the nocturnal trip-hop atmosphere of Massive Attack. The results are in a class of their own — too ugly for pure electronic music, too mechanical for pure rock – while attracting favorable comparisons to contemporaries like Model/Actress.”
Gary Wilson
Come On, Mary
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Come On, Mary is the brand new album from music’s most surreal romantic of quirky bedroom pop, Gary Wilson. It contains 11 all-original songs that continue Wilson’s trademark blurring of the line between the bizarre and the heartfelt, offering some of his more strangely catchy and emotional songs to date. Having influenced everyone from Beck to Earl Sweatshirt, Wilson remains perhaps the most important cult artist working in music today. An American experimental musician and performance artist, Wilson is best known for his 1977 album You Think You Really Know Me. His music is characterized by its eclectic blend of genres, including avant-garde, jazz, and pop, as well as his use of unconventional recording techniques and surreal, often autobiographical lyrics. After releasing a few more recordings and gaining a cult following during the 1980s and 1990s, Wilson resurfaced in the early 2000s, continuing to release new material and perform live. He remains an enigmatic figure in underground music.”
WITCH
Sogolo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Legendary yet ever-evolving, WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc) continue to push boundaries with their bold new record Sogolo. After their remarkable resurgence and 2023’s critically acclaimed Zango — their first album in nearly 40 years — Sogolo proves that their innovative spirit remains as strong as ever. Derived from the Zambian word for future, Sogolo weaves together strains of the garage-infused psych, funk, and rock that WITCH quite literally helped invent back in their 1970s heyday, all while embracing the experimental spirit of the moment. Recorded in Berlin during their whirlwind world tour, Sogolo brims with urgency, excitement, and discovery, propelled as always by the magnetic presence of frontman Emmanuel ‘Jagari’ Chanda. With Sogolo, WITCH reaffirm that their creative fire still burns bright, proving their legacy is far from finished.”
Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts
Talkin To The Trees
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Talkin To The Trees is the debut album from Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts. It is a personal and powerful album featuring ten new compositions by Young. Big Change, the first song from the album, was released in January, with a message that left no doubt where Young stands in these challenging times. The Chrome Hearts are Spooner Oldham (organ); Micah Nelson (guitar and vocal); Corey McCormick (bass and vocal); Anthony LoGerfo (drums) and Young (guitar, harp, piano, vibes). The album was co-produced by Lou Adler and Young, and recorded at Shangri La Studios in Malibu.”
