Listen: X-Ray by The Notwist

Having spent recent years pursuing a form of musical experimentation, notably in the form of 2021’s improvisational, jazz-influenced album Vertigo Days, German outfit The Notwist are back with a renewed focus on creating pop songs.

With a new album, News From Planet Zombie, forthcoming next year, new single X-Ray is a preview of what to expect. Whilst not perhaps pop in the sense that is going to bother the top of the streaming charts, there is a psychedelic sense of wonder in the song’s cacophonous melodies and the innocent sound of Markus Acher’s vocals.

Shifting back and forth between playful nostalgia, and dark waves of layered distortion, X-Ray audibly sits somewhere between hope and terror. Guitars screech, a metallophone builds a sense of child-like curiosity, and loose drums patter. X-Ray is a wonderfully sloppy collage of sound, like heading to space in the rocket from a child’s drawing, wet pitch-black synths eventually swallowing you up like a black hole.

Check out X-Ray below, and look out for the album News From Planet Zombie, due via Morr Music on 13 March 2026.

Watch: Song By The Sea by Tsar B

Tsar B has just unveiled her latest single, Song By The Sea, taken from the forthcoming album, The Writer.

The musical pseudonym of Belgian artist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Justine Bourgeus, Tsar B takes elements of pop, dance and classical-baroque sounds to create a sound that brings together artistry, emotion, and experimentation in equal measures. Here on Song By The Sea, the result is stark, vulnerable, and beautiful, blending humanity and crisp electronics, evoking the sounds of FKA Twigs and Björk.

Song By The Sea depicts a love that consumes a couple, with lyrics that depict the experience of falling for someone so deeply that you give yourself over to it. Describing the song, Bourgeus says Song By The Sea is ‘about two lovers entwined in an eternal hug, transformed into stone like the lovers of Pompeii, sanctified, canonized, as they made love on the beach’.

Organs underpin transcendental vocal flourishes and slow-moving percussion to create a feeling that shimmers with romance and sexuality, whilst encircling a sense of disaster. Tsar B’s melodies tease like fingers tracing the contours of a body — irresistible and constantly leaving you wanting more.

Watch: I Won’t Yell by Romanie

Coincidentally, coming days after Trump told female Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucy to “Quiet, piggy”, Naarm/Melbourne-based musician Romanie has just unveiled her unapologetic single. I Won’t Yell is about the experience of being a woman in a world where female voices are frequently not heard.

Originally raised in Belgium, Romanie moved to Australia in 2019. She has since gone to build a reputation as an adept live performance, having performed around the globe, and has gained acclaim from Australia’s Triple J. I Won’t Yell comes alongside the announcement of Romanie’s new forthcoming album, It’s Not That Funny, which is due for release on 20 February 2026 via Community Music.

I Won’t Yell was born out of a folk song Romanie wrote years ago. With co-production duties performed by Adam Hyde and Tom Stell, the song was transformed into the dynamic and furious piece you hear over a three-day session in Sydney. Describing the experience, Romanie says:

‘We turned this small acoustic song upside down into this powerful statement, keeping basically all the lyrics and giving them a new meaning. The song is about not being heard as a woman: oftentimes we get called “too much” or “too loud” with the result of keeping our emotions to ourselves, or not speaking up about the things that we want to. I Won’t Yell was a fun song to make: letting go of my constant self judgement with the nudge of Tom and Adam, who let me yell in the vocal booth.’

The result is a record that combines dream-pop synths with grungy guitars and thin, acerbic industrial drums. Romanie’s record retains the space for her voice to be heard, however, a response to those times when she has felt silenced, as she deadpans her way through the double standards women are often subjected to.

Pulling together the crisp melodies of post-punk with a dash of The Slits or the 90s Riot Grrrl movement in her vocal performance, Romanie has created something with the feel of early New Order, but arguably more to say. Check it out below:

Listen: Joy by LO’99 & Ray Foxx

LO’99 is known for producing house music, but doing so whilst infusing his music with tech and warehouse sounds. Joy is his new single, and comes off the back of remix work for everyone from Fatboy Slim, Röyksopp, Kaskade, and Moby, through to AlunaGeorge.

On the new single, LO’99 teams up with DJ and producer Ray Foxx to create a 90s tinged piece of rave-y house. Warm synth strings wrap around a loved-up vocal refrain, repeatedly calling out to ‘Bring me joy, bring me happiness’. The overall feeling evokes late sweaty nights in the company of friends and loved ones, the sun coming up whilst you aren’t quite ready to let go yet.

Joy plunges into broken beats and darkness before resurfacing for a glorious, hands-in-the-air moment, those warm melodies and some savage sub-bass combining to create something beautiful and uplifting. What LO’99 and Ray Foxx have created here may not be subtle, but what it lacks there is more than made up for in raw feeling. It takes me back to the dance floor in my head, and the opportunities for human connection we all seek.

Listen: Ouchie by Willoh

Following on from last month’s single, Buckshot, 19-year-old Missouri artist Willoh is back with another new single, Ouchie.

Buckshot was a piece on the nature of finding acceptance and giving yourself permission to let go and move on. Wrapped in broken beats and layered vocals, it was introspective and a little resigned. In contrast, Ouchie is more clear eyed, and whilst Willoh continues to leverage overdubbed vocals to great effect, here they have a greater level of processing. Processed vocals can often rob a song of some of its humanity and emotion, but the application on Ouchie is handled delicately. The result is insistent but still human and, as Willoh wrestles with whether to fight or give up, she has a building determination in those vocals.

The tension at play in Ouchie’s slow-moving instrumentation, but assertive vocal performance reflects Willoh’s desire to capture the feeling of holding things in until you can’t any more. She describes the song as ‘the breaking point that comes when you can’t anymore. It’s the sound of that explosion.’

Check out Ouchie below: