Sincere Engineer: The Probable Claws Tour
When Sincere Engineer entered the studio to begin recording their fourth full-length album, they were already building on a foundation primed for success. Tracking the record entirely at Chicago’s Electrical Audio—the studio of the late Steve Albini and the origin of hundreds of revered independent releases—the band tapped into a space synonymous with unfiltered artistry. The result: Probable Claws (leave it to Sincere Engineer to pull a punny title out of the hat), a record that solidifies her punk-fueled catalogue as a formidable quartet. As Sincere Engineer frontwoman Deanna Belos continues to mine the deeply introspective terrain of her past work, the question remains: how does this latest chapter measure up? For starters, it leans into a thematic core that feels relatably universal, especially for anyone who has felt the pressure of life’s eternal ticking clock. “I think the overall theme of this record is being uncomfortable with the passing of time and how quick time passes,” Belos shares. “Not all the songs touch on that, there’s some songs about me moving too fast through life myself.” That sentiment pulses through the album’s lead single, “Cooler,” which landed on streaming platforms in March. The track stands as a quintessential example of Sincere Engineer’s signature brand of cathartic, angst-fueled punk—refined, yet no less urgent. And while Belos’ audience now stretches to a global scale, her sound remains grounded in a gritty, blue-collar ethos, undeniably shaped by her Chicago, Illinois roots. “We set out to make a very straightforward pop punk record,” Belos says, before noting that fans can still expect a handful of Sincere Engineer’s characteristically poignant ballads woven throughout. Make no mistake: Probable Claws is a no-skip listen. Across 11 tracks, the album is meticulously sequenced to grip from the outset, kicking off with the commanding “Twist My Tongue” and closing on “Dynamite,” a finale that lands with emotional weight. A well-placed Bad Religion nod on “LOL” only deepens the record’s relatability level, bridging generational gaps within the punk community. Of course, every album has its emotional centerpiece, and here, Belos delivers it in “Arborvitae Evergreen.” “It’s my favorite,” she shares. “It’s kind of the song I’ve been telling people I wrote for myself. It’s about the backyard of the house I grew up in. When we recorded it, I was so stoked with how well it came out… it takes me back to that place.” All in all, Probable Claws finds Belos sitting in some of her strongest writing yet, wielding her sharpest pen and laying her heart out on the table. “I’m excited for the new chapter of SE. We’ve done so much touring with so many amazing bands that we all look up to. I can’t believe we’re on our fourth record and we’re excited to get on tour and play the new songs live. The recording process was a dream—Electrical Audio is an incredible studio, literally one of the best in the world. We were very excited and fortunate we got to make the record there!” Website · Spotify · YouTube · Facebook · Instagram
Bad Cop Bad Cop
In the final moments of “Dead Friends,” the penultimate track of the new Lighten Up, Bad Cop Bad Cop guitarist-vocalist Stacey Dee sings, “So try to love your life, while you can.” These words serve as a powerful thesis for Lighten Up (out September 19, 2025 on Fat Wreck Chords/Hopeless Records) the SoCal punk group’s fourth full-length. The album paints a striking portrait of life’s hard-won victories and hard-fought losses. “I think that’s what I write my songs about,” Dee says. “Life is hard, but it’s still beautiful. Stop picking the hard shit to look at—look at the beautiful stuff too. Lighten up.” Dee and her bandmates—bassist-vocalist Linh Le, drummer-vocalist Myra Gallarza, and guitarist Alex Windsor—know what it takes to persevere. Resilience surfaces throughout Lighten Up. In “Strugglinh,” Le confronts self-doubt and finds strength, and in “See Me Now,” she turns family loss into triumph. “Straight Out of Detox” details a transformational night in Dee’s life, and“Note to Self” is her reminder to keep things in perspective, aided by iconic LA underground rapper 2mex. Playing like a big-hearted sibling to the Jim Carroll Band’s iconic “People Who Died,” “Dead Friends” has been in the works for years. “This was the first time that I dug in to tell stories that I was too afraid to talk about prior,” Dee says. “We’ve made records that were unapologetically strong, but the way we got to be unapologetically strong was dealing with things like this.” Unapologetically personal best describes Lighten Up. “It started with having the girls over on Sundays. I would cook brunch, we’d drink tons of bottles of Prosecco, and we would write music together,” Dee says. “This was family the entire time. It was who we trusted, who we loved, who we knew we could work with.” That’s why Bad Cop Bad Cop recorded at the Compound in Long Beach, home to veteran producer Antoine Arvizu (Sublime, Ryan Bingham). The band loved recording the singles “Shattered” and “Safe and Legal” there in 2023 with Arvizu and Dee’s partner, Migs (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars). “The way that Miguel produces, he lets you be you until something needs to be added or reeled in. He always says, ‘Never a dull moment on a record,” Dee explains. Bad Cop Bad Cop stretched their signature hooky, melodic punk into unexpected places, like the jazzy “Las Ventanas,” the dub-inflected “Note to Self,” or “Johnny Appleseed,” a reimagining of the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros classic. After tracking the instruments, the band spent 10 intense 12-hour days recording vocals with longtime collaborator John E. Carey Jr. (Old Man Markley, NOFX, Get Dead). “The singing was the most important part for us. We really tried things out,” Dee says, adding that Gallarza stepped up to sing third harmony for the first time.Lighten Up also benefits from Windsor, an expert guitarist who not only shreds (check out the end of “I4NI”) but whose music theory knowledge proved invaluable. “Alex’s guitar playing is just so fantastic and has really elevated our songwriting, truly,” Dee says. Website · Instagram · Bandcamp · Facebook · Spotify
Cosmic Charlie – High energy Grateful Dead
“Cosmic Charlie really is a great band – these guys do this music the way it should be done: having the conversation in their own voices.” – David Gans, Grateful Dead Hour Cosmic Charlie was born in the musical Mecca of Athens, Georgia. From its summer 1999 inception, the band swiftly cemented its reputation as a band that puts a unique and personal twist on the Grateful Dead catalogue. Cosmic Charlie is a Dead cover band for folks that are ambivalent about Dead cover bands. Rather than mimicking the Dead exactly, Cosmic Charlie chooses to tap into the Dead’s energy and style as a foundation on which to build. The result is healthy balance of creativity and tradition, where both the band and its audience are taken to that familiar edge with the sense that, music is actually being MADE here tonight. Moving and shaking even the most skeptical of Deadheads, Cosmic Charlie storms into a town and plays with an energy that eludes other bands, an energy that sometimes eluded the Dead themselves. Those precious moments during Dead jams when the synchronicity is there and all is right with the world – these are the moments that Cosmic Charlie relishes and feverishly welcomes with open arms. Clearly, Cosmic Charlie’s audiences are also eager to partake in these moments, and together with the band, they have indulged in many memorable evenings. Most nights, Cosmic Charlie walks onstage without a setlist, not even knowing what the first song will be. Any Dead tune can rear its head at any moment, and fan requests are always welcome. “INSPIRATON, MOVE ME BRIGHTLY” is Cosmic Charlie’s mantra, allowing the music to truly play the band. Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Tommy Prine
Website · Instagram · YouTube · Facebook · TikTok
Andrew Marlin & Josh Oliver
Andrew Marlin & Josh Oliver (of Watchhouse) have been playing and touring together for over a decade in an array of configurations with countless different collaborators. For the first time, they’re hitting the road to share their music as a duo. These special hometown shows will feature a mix of Andrew & Josh’s original songs, alongside a number of covers and traditionals. Website · Facebook · Instagram
Soda Water Sea
Soda Water Sea is a musical collective from Durham, NC. A rock band, a chorus, a mini-orchestra, 20ish people of all ages making beautiful music together. Bandcamp · Instagram
Future Islands
Future Islands are an emotionally charged synth pop group, known for their dexterous melodic touch, stately momentum and impassioned delivery. Over the past twenty years they have travelled a rare arc, from promising newcomers to best-kept secret, from cult favourites to heroes of the genre. As they reach this remarkable milestone, they resist the obvious move. Instead of a ‘best-of’ compilation victory lap, Future Islands present From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth—an immediate and accessible collection, half of which has never appeared on streaming services, comprising alternate hits, rarities, and fan favourites that showcase the band’s palette and bring further colour to their uniquely universal appeal. Future Islands have chosen this moment to shine a light on the less obvious, giving everyone the chance to glimpse at how they’ve grown as a band. This is not mere fan service however, nor a nostalgic exercise in self-congratulation. I’ve worked with the band since their first album, and this release feels more like a resetting of the narrative, or rather a reaffirmation of who they truly are. Future Islands have always been more than a viral moment; their career contains extraordinary depth and nuance, often overshadowed by louder peaks. Here, that breadth is finally acknowledged. These songs reveal a band comfortable with subtlety, grace, and emotional endurance—and they have never sounded more eternal. As the title suggests, this double-LP traces the group’s journey from humble origins toward ever-widening horizons. Twenty songs for twenty years, four members of the band, four sides of vinyl. There’s a well-known Tennessee Williams quote that talks of this kind of duration—“time is the longest distance between two places.” It is time that really separates the floor from the fountain. Future Islands have developed from a pulse-quickening prospect into something more majestic and sustaining. What remains constant though is that romantic core, keeping perfect time with a melancholic pendulum, documenting those moments that vanish with fleeting beauty. Thinking back to those early days spent with Future Islands on that first tour of the UK in 2009, my memories surface in vivid flashes—a frozen February visit to Stonehenge, wrapped in long scarves as we stalked tree-crowned barrows. “Take all the time it takes, make all the time it takes,” sings Samuel T. Herring on phenomenal woozy serenade “Sail,” urging further recollection. I remember a battered copy of the Collected Roethke hanging out of a torn duffle coat pocket, sleepwalking through strange rooms, and driving the van into a snowstorm after the Bristol show; we were all sublimated into a full-beam screensaver of shooting stars. There was vocalist Herring’s instant rapport with a venue lackey in Nottingham, sparked purely by the coincidence of matching hats, a small moment of unlikely shared humanity, emblematic of the band’s warmth and decency. That same charisma animates their performances even now, remaining crystalline, vivid, and alive. The songs on this anthology unfold like pages torn from a diary by a sudden gale. From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth takes its title from the opening line of “Pinnochio,” a smouldering anthem built on a persistent bass motif and soaring keyboard line, rising toward an air-punching climax. Website · Facebook · Spotify · Instagram · YouTube
Future Islands
Future Islands are an emotionally charged synth pop group, known for their dexterous melodic touch, stately momentum and impassioned delivery. Over the past twenty years they have travelled a rare arc, from promising newcomers to best-kept secret, from cult favourites to heroes of the genre. As they reach this remarkable milestone, they resist the obvious move. Instead of a ‘best-of’ compilation victory lap, Future Islands present From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth—an immediate and accessible collection, half of which has never appeared on streaming services, comprising alternate hits, rarities, and fan favourites that showcase the band’s palette and bring further colour to their uniquely universal appeal. Future Islands have chosen this moment to shine a light on the less obvious, giving everyone the chance to glimpse at how they’ve grown as a band. This is not mere fan service however, nor a nostalgic exercise in self-congratulation. I’ve worked with the band since their first album, and this release feels more like a resetting of the narrative, or rather a reaffirmation of who they truly are. Future Islands have always been more than a viral moment; their career contains extraordinary depth and nuance, often overshadowed by louder peaks. Here, that breadth is finally acknowledged. These songs reveal a band comfortable with subtlety, grace, and emotional endurance—and they have never sounded more eternal. As the title suggests, this double-LP traces the group’s journey from humble origins toward ever-widening horizons. Twenty songs for twenty years, four members of the band, four sides of vinyl. There’s a well-known Tennessee Williams quote that talks of this kind of duration—“time is the longest distance between two places.” It is time that really separates the floor from the fountain. Future Islands have developed from a pulse-quickening prospect into something more majestic and sustaining. What remains constant though is that romantic core, keeping perfect time with a melancholic pendulum, documenting those moments that vanish with fleeting beauty. Thinking back to those early days spent with Future Islands on that first tour of the UK in 2009, my memories surface in vivid flashes—a frozen February visit to Stonehenge, wrapped in long scarves as we stalked tree-crowned barrows. “Take all the time it takes, make all the time it takes,” sings Samuel T. Herring on phenomenal woozy serenade “Sail,” urging further recollection. I remember a battered copy of the Collected Roethke hanging out of a torn duffle coat pocket, sleepwalking through strange rooms, and driving the van into a snowstorm after the Bristol show; we were all sublimated into a full-beam screensaver of shooting stars. There was vocalist Herring’s instant rapport with a venue lackey in Nottingham, sparked purely by the coincidence of matching hats, a small moment of unlikely shared humanity, emblematic of the band’s warmth and decency. That same charisma animates their performances even now, remaining crystalline, vivid, and alive. The songs on this anthology unfold like pages torn from a diary by a sudden gale. From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth takes its title from the opening line of “Pinnochio,” a smouldering anthem built on a persistent bass motif and soaring keyboard line, rising toward an air-punching climax. Website · Facebook · Spotify · Instagram · YouTube
Future Islands
Future Islands are an emotionally charged synth pop group, known for their dexterous melodic touch, stately momentum and impassioned delivery. Over the past twenty years they have travelled a rare arc, from promising newcomers to best-kept secret, from cult favourites to heroes of the genre. As they reach this remarkable milestone, they resist the obvious move. Instead of a ‘best-of’ compilation victory lap, Future Islands present From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth—an immediate and accessible collection, half of which has never appeared on streaming services, comprising alternate hits, rarities, and fan favourites that showcase the band’s palette and bring further colour to their uniquely universal appeal. Future Islands have chosen this moment to shine a light on the less obvious, giving everyone the chance to glimpse at how they’ve grown as a band. This is not mere fan service however, nor a nostalgic exercise in self-congratulation. I’ve worked with the band since their first album, and this release feels more like a resetting of the narrative, or rather a reaffirmation of who they truly are. Future Islands have always been more than a viral moment; their career contains extraordinary depth and nuance, often overshadowed by louder peaks. Here, that breadth is finally acknowledged. These songs reveal a band comfortable with subtlety, grace, and emotional endurance—and they have never sounded more eternal. As the title suggests, this double-LP traces the group’s journey from humble origins toward ever-widening horizons. Twenty songs for twenty years, four members of the band, four sides of vinyl. There’s a well-known Tennessee Williams quote that talks of this kind of duration—“time is the longest distance between two places.” It is time that really separates the floor from the fountain. Future Islands have developed from a pulse-quickening prospect into something more majestic and sustaining. What remains constant though is that romantic core, keeping perfect time with a melancholic pendulum, documenting those moments that vanish with fleeting beauty. Thinking back to those early days spent with Future Islands on that first tour of the UK in 2009, my memories surface in vivid flashes—a frozen February visit to Stonehenge, wrapped in long scarves as we stalked tree-crowned barrows. “Take all the time it takes, make all the time it takes,” sings Samuel T. Herring on phenomenal woozy serenade “Sail,” urging further recollection. I remember a battered copy of the Collected Roethke hanging out of a torn duffle coat pocket, sleepwalking through strange rooms, and driving the van into a snowstorm after the Bristol show; we were all sublimated into a full-beam screensaver of shooting stars. There was vocalist Herring’s instant rapport with a venue lackey in Nottingham, sparked purely by the coincidence of matching hats, a small moment of unlikely shared humanity, emblematic of the band’s warmth and decency. That same charisma animates their performances even now, remaining crystalline, vivid, and alive. The songs on this anthology unfold like pages torn from a diary by a sudden gale. From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth takes its title from the opening line of “Pinnochio,” a smouldering anthem built on a persistent bass motif and soaring keyboard line, rising toward an air-punching climax. Website · Facebook · Spotify · Instagram · YouTube
Alcantara, Country Fetish, Snide
Formed in 2022 by transplants from the vibrant scenes of Brooklyn, Oakland, New Haven, Raleigh, and Salt Lake City, Alcantara is a riveting ensemble showcasing the talents of Brooke Suffridge, Justin Blau, Eric Bliss, Myles Peterson, and Adrian Drummond-Cole. These seasoned musicians converged in the Triangle and found a whole more than equal to the sum of its parts. Pulling in equal measures from indie, post-rock, punk, and post-hardcore, Alcantara specializes in off-kilter grooves and earworm melodies. Songs flow from wistful to wrathful, reflective to rebellious, always bursting with energy. Their live performances around the state have earned them a growing following as well as a spot on Raleigh’s Boared to Death Records. Alcantara recorded with Kei Mizobuchi and Chris Wimberly at Carrboro’s Night Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Westbrook. These first five songs capture a band brimming with potential, confident in their collaboration and hungry to create. The Bee EP released digitally on 02/21/2025. A recent interview with the band on The Daily Tarheel can be found here. Instagram · Bandcamp · Linktree SNiDE Is a four piece American rock and roll band from chapel hill, NC. Featuring Two suave guitarists in love, a hunky rhythm section with a brotherly bond. Topped by a big gay sparkling frontman whom will not be ignored. Slamming untamed self expression into mountains of reverb. Crafting concerningly personal songs With themes inspired by the sanctuaries and alleys of the queer human experience. Known widely for providing excellent value in dollar to entertainment ratio. Their music lies somewhere between Motörhead and The Beach Boys. with a snarky attitude backed up with pure bop ass melodies. Delivered in a hardcore punk package. Linktree Persimmon Linktree