Giant Day is the latest musical project by multi-instrumentalist Derek Almstead and singer Emily Growden, bringing together their pop and psychedelic influences from years in the vibrant Athens, Georgia music scene. Almstead (Circulatory System, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Glands, Elf Power, of Montreal), is known for his work with the storied The Elephant 6 Collective, and has established himself as a respected song-writer, producer and recording engineer. Growden (Marshmallow Coast, Faster Circuits, The New Sound of Numbers), with her background in vocal studies at the University of Georgia, has lent her voice to various recordings and live performances in the indie music scene. Giant Day’s debut album, Glass Narcissus,out in 2024 bore a unique weight — it wasn’t just a debut album, it was the debut album by the first official Elephant 6 band in more than 15 years. With the 2023 wide-release of the documentary The Elephant 6 Recording Co. codifying the E6 “sound” for some and introducing it to others, what Giant Day conjured into being on Glass Narcissus was, if not against type, notably darker than the lysergic, sun-drenched pop associated with their former Athens, Georgia home. On October 10, 2025, The Elephant 6 Recording Company will release Alarm, their second full-length album.

Cuddle Magic is a six-piece avant-pop / chamber-pop band formed in 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. The members — Benjamin Lazar Davis, Alec Spiegelman, Christopher McDonald, Kristin Slipp, Cole Kamen-Green, and Dave Flaherty — met while they were students at the New England Conservatory of Music. Their music blends a variety of styles and influences: indie folk, experimental pop, world music, complex meters and compositional techniques (e.g. 12-tone rows), chamber instrumentation, vocal harmonies, and often a tension between acoustic and electronic sounds. They have released several albums, including Cuddle Magic (2008), Picture (2010), Info Nympho (2012), Ashes/Axis (2017), and Bath (2020), the latter recorded with all six members performing together in a bathroom, with no overdubs. Their work has also incorporated world music elements: Benjamin Lazar Davis has done study in West Africa, and Ashes/Axis reflect Ghanaian musical influences. Their songs move with chamber-like intimacy, weaving acoustic instruments, rich harmonies, and curious electronics into something both fragile and bold.
Underwater, their latest full-length is out now via Egghunt Records.

Glo-worm formed in Washington D.C. in 1993, “or it might have been sometime in ’92, no one can remember“. Previously, singer Pam Berry had been in Black Tambourine. Guitarist Terry Banks played in Tree Fort Angst, with an earlier stint in English indiepop combo St. Christopher, and drummer Dan Searing had been in Whorl. During the course of glo-worm’s two-and-a-half-ish year lifespan, the band released three 7” EPs, issued successively by the Somersault, Slumberland and K Records labels all leading up to the Glimmer album which was released (as a CD) by K in 1996 and includes the songs on Glo-Worm‘s volume in the International Pop Underground series, Travelogue, as well as all the other 7″ releases from Glo-Worm.
“Pam Berry vocalisations are quite unique, pleasing. If the original question is “What kind of heaven do you want?” the obvious answer is “One where the angels can sing like Pam Berry.” (Calvin Johnson- K Records).
Now, almost 30 years later, Glimmer was released on September 19th via K Records as a 12” vinyl LP.

Dutch-born Chantal Acda, who is now based in Belgium, has been making music under the name Sleepingdog since 2006. Between 2006 and 2011, she released three albums under this moniker, culminating in With Our Heads in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Fields, a collaboration with Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid, A Winged Victory For The Sullen). Having earned her stripes in bands like Isbells, True Bypass, and Marble Sounds, Acda sought out like-minded musicians to create an album filled with freedom, intensity, and meaning. She found them in German pianist and producer Nils Frahm (Ólafur Arnalds, Woodkid), Icelandic cellist Gyða Valtysdóttir (Múm), and American multi-instrumentalists Peter Broderick (Efterklang) and Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog). Following her first solo album, Let Your Hands Be My Guide (Gizeh Records, 2013), arrived The Sparkle In Our Flaws (2015) and Bounce Back (2017). Live at Jazz Middelheim (Glitterhouse), by Chantal and Bill Frisell, was released in 2018. Again in 2018 came out Nu Nog Even Niet, in which Acda sings the verses of the Dutch poet Lotte Dodion. In 2019, Chantal created Pūwawau, a musical theater performance for the Oerol Festival in the Netherlands, in collaboration with Valgeir Sigurðsson (Björk, Thom Yorke, Sigur Rós) and singers from the Dutch Chamber Choir. In 2021, Chantal released the album Saturday Moon( with Bill Frisell and Mimi and Alan Sparhawk, among many others). Her collaboration with Italian composer and pianist Bruno Bavota resulted in the album A Closer Distance, released in 2022 on Temporary Residence. Chantal Acda & The Atlantic Drifters‘ album Silently Held came out in 2024), featuring contributions from Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan, Eric Thielemans, Shahzad Ismaily, Colin Stetson, Jozef Dumoulin, Niels Van Heertum, and Joachim Badenhorst. Chantal is also a member of the bands Distance, Light & Sky (with Chris Eckman of The Walkabouts and Eric Thielemans) and Isbells. On 19 September 2025, Chantal Acda will release her new album (on Starman Records): The Whale, a rougher and more rock-oriented project.

Kevin Wright is a unique figure in British pop music: his career has flourished with cult labels such as él, Cherry Red, Le Grand Magistery, Siesta, and more. In the late ’80s, under the name Always, he issued the exquisite Thames Valley Leather Club and Other Stories (él, 1988), a suite of literate miniatures that fit perfectly in that label’s eccentric constellation, and Looking For Mr Wright (Suburbs Of Hell 1990). Soon after, as Mr. Wright, he released a string of fragile albums across cult imprints such as Siesta and Le Grand Magistery (The Fancy Man, Le Grand Magistery 1997; Star Time, Le Grand Magistery 1998; Hello Is Anyone Out There?, Le Grand Magistery 2001 Metropolitan, Siesta 2004; Diary Of A Fool Series Two Records 2009). In the new millennium, under the guise of The Dreamers (with Sarah Nyberg Pergament) the cult indie folk record Day For Night (Friendly Noise 2007). His work with él Records, in particular, remains extraordinary, not only for its crisp production and cultivated sensibility, but also for the way it captured Wright’s nostalgic, intricate songwriting at its most intimate. Fast-forward to more recent years: under the moniker Hotel Artesia, Wright quietly released fourteen lo-fi pop tracks on YouTube between 2021 and 2023. These tracks, collected as Everywhere Alone, were lovingly assembled into a vinyl release in November 2024 by Honey Muffin Records, thanks to the support of Noah Wilson (aka Mr. Muffins), who felt these songs deserved a life beyond the obscurity of YouTube. Reissued on CD in 2025 by fabulous Brest-based label Too Good To Be True, the album was followed last week by the Something to Sing About EP, the eighth in the label’s 2025 EP series, featuring lush dream-pop textures, tight arrangements, and wistful lyrics typical of Wright’s unique style.