The Bird Calls is the musical project of Sam Sodomsky, a writer (a Pitchfork contributor for many years), based in Brooklyn, New York. For a long time, he self-released lots of albums that he recorded at home with just his acoustic guitar and vocals. Since 2022, his approach has expanded and his albums have arrived via Ruination Record Co. Sodomsky released near 40 albums since 2011.His latest, Melody Trail, came out on February 7th, 2025. It features eclectic, colorful production by Ryan Weiner and the sharpest songwriting of Sam’s career. The lyrics are characterized by wry quotations, traces of frontier Americana imagery, and an inimitable cocktail of melancholy, nostalgia, humor, and stone-tablet wisdom about the natural rhythms of self-actualization and disappointment.

Vancouver BC’s trio WUT (Tracey Vath: bass, vocals, and additional guitar; Kaity McWhinney: guitar and vocals; Lauren Smith: drums and vocals) released the debut album, NOW, in 2020, accompanied by 10 DIY music videos. Mingling with the Thorns, their sophomore full-length album, came out August 23rd on HHBTM Records. ‘Mingling with the Thorns’ was created during two years of intermittent quarantines which caused Kaity McWhinney, Tracey Vath and Lauren Smith to write songs independently, and share their ideas through countless emails, dropbox folders, and google drives. This resulted in a collection of carefully crafted pop songs that reflect the bands mutual love for c86 jangle pop and early Flying Nun Records bands. McWhinney’s longtime friend and musical collaborator, Riley (Artsick, / Burnt Palms) joined WUT on the track “Your Feelings”, which pushes the band into the realms of garage rock with her raw and frenetic lead guitar. On a surface level, Mingling with the Thorns may seem fun and carefree. However, a dig deeper into the album’s lyrical content draws up themes that grapple with patriarchy and late stage capitalism; specifically the struggle to find personal autonomy within these social systems.

Alpaca Sports is a Swedish indie pop band founded in Gothenburg (SE) in 2011 by Andreas Jonsson, Amanda Åkerman and Carl Jirestedt. Their music has a cheerful yet bittersweet vibe, with catchy melodies and romantic lyrics. Influenced by twee pop and C86, they’ve released a couple of EPs and two albums: Sealed with a Kiss in 2014, through Dufflecoat Records, and From Paris With Love in 2018, on Spanish label Elefant Records, and have gradually gained a lot of fans around the world. Portland, Oregon (US) based multi-instrumentalist Lisle Mitnik (Fireflies, Tiny Fireflies, Very Truly Yours) joined Alpaca Sports in 2014 for the release of the mini album When You Need Me The Most (their first release with the Spanish record label Elefant Records,) and has since then been writing the songs together with Andreas. The group has toured worldwide, including shows in New York, London, Paris, and Madrid, been on two tours of Japan, and played several popfests around the world. Now they’re back with their third album, Another Day, once again produced by Ian Catt (Saint Etienne, The Field Mice, Trembling Blue Stars) and released by Elefant. The album’s ten songs celebrate the hazy spaces and golden hours when the day turns into night, when summer becomes fall, and all the other in-betweens in our lives that are full of fears, doubts, hopes and dreams.