LITM Rock Picks Midday Tunes for you featuring Close To the Sun, Wastrels, mollywater and More!

LITM Rock brings you tunes for your midweek blues, brought to you by Close To The Sun, Wastrels, mollywater, Night Enjoyer and Craigs Small Music!

1. Close To The Sun – "The Song of Nothing"

Close To The Sun's "The Song of Nothing" feels like stumbling home from London at 2 AM, worn out, wired, and ostensibly wiser. It's psych-rock for the disillusioned urban romantic, the one who still sees poetry in flickering streetlights and empty pint glasses. From the initial twang of guitar, you're enveloped in its smoky haze, a cinematic drift through the neon haze of compromise and studious rebellion. The words cut like a sigh you didn't know you were holding. And then there's that solo guitar: moody, weeping, and hovering on the brink of insanity, as if confessing in a shattered mirror. Close To The Sun doesn't merely perform psych-rock; they carve atmosphere. "The Song of Nothing" is a love song to the lovely uselessness of urban existence, a foggy anthem for anyone who's ever found clarity within chaos.

2. Wastrels – "Bell Jar / Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed"

If Sylvia Plath sat in on a post-rock séance, it would sound very much like Wastrels' "Bell Jar / Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed." The Minneapolis pair translates existential pain into something dense, rich, and eerily radiant. "Bell Jar" quavers with spectral guitar lines that hover between desolation and forgiveness, but "Devil Built a Home…" cranks it up, imagine cathedral-large riffs colliding with poetic despair in a dark basement. The production is dripping in atmosphere, all echo and pain, as if heard underwater as memory repeats itself. You can sense the crash of old sorrow and new expansion meeting in each note. It's the sound of something holy being broken, to be replaced with something more mortal beneath. This isn't your run-of-the-mill atmospheric rock release — it's a sermon from the ashes, a heavenly exorcism masquerading as two songs that will not go quietly into the night.

3. Mollywater – "Tea & Toast"

"Tea & Toast" by mollywater is heartbreak served in lowercase, intimate, raw, and wonderfully British. The Brighton artist succeeds in getting silence to sound like something, in making the most mundane morning routine a meditation on loss, yearning, and survival. The guitars don't strut; they sigh. The drums don't beat you over the head; they linger like an afterthought. It's all so quietly shattering that you might overlook how precise it is, each pause calculated, each word teetering on the point of falling apart. mollywater's tone is dry, understated, and poetic in the way of "I've been weeping, but I still need to go to work." You can sense the seaside sadness spreading in, not the postcard variety, but the drab, out-of-season cold where all seems nearly beautiful. "Tea & Toast" is indie rock's gentle revolution, a whisper that screams louder than any shout, a debut that sounds like someone letting the truth escape for the very first time.

4. Night Enjoyer – "Gridded Sky"

Night Enjoyer's "Gridded Sky" isn't a song, it's an alien cathedral constructed from synths, dreams, and starry heartbreak. The Geneva-based band takes the human condition, feeds it through a neon prism, and gives us something dazzlingly strange in return. Imagine if Blade Runner had a folk band; this would be their lullaby. The track glows with haunted beauty: synths shimmer like artificial stars, guitars slice the dark with mechanical precision, and somewhere between them, a voice rises, fragile, prophetic, half-human, half-signal. It's its most cinematic electronic melancholy, in which grief buzzes in computer code. "Gridded Sky" is ancient and modern, medieval minstrels hooked into contemporary despair. It's broken heart, reprogrammed; belief, redefined in neon blue. Night Enjoyer are not creating music, they're constructing digital legends for the soul. You don't hear this one, you upload yourself into it and never quite return.

5. Craig Small Music – "Sunkiss"

Craig Small's "Sunkiss" is like inserting your heart into an amp. Bursting out of Katoomba, Australia, the song shines with grit, sweat, and a dash of wild sunlight. You can almost catch the whiff of solder and coffee that stoked its two-week gestation in his home studio; every note smells lived-in. Distorted bass hums like hot pavement, guitars sweep like desert mirages, and Craig's voice sits just exactly where raw and radiant meet. It sounds as if the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More surfed together and decided to document falling in love with the horizon. But under the groove, "Sunkiss" conceals a perilous type of obsession, that addictive tug between infatuation and creative perfection. It's euphoric and slightly deranged, like looking too long at the sun but being crazy about the blister. "Sunkiss" is not merely a debut; it's a proclamation: Craig Small has arrived, aglow and unrelenting.

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LITM Rock Picks Tunes Featuring GAZ, Doug Mishkin and Sean MacLeod!

Week Day Tunes by LITM Rock brought to you by GAZ, Doug Mishkin and Sean MacLeod!

1. GAZ – "Let It Roll"

"Let It Roll" is the sort of song that compels you to let your sideburns grow, put on a leather jacket, and cruise down a sun-kissed highway with nothing but attitude in the tank. Barcelona's GAZ are unapologetically retro- they don't emulate the blues-rock spirit, they bring it back to life. The tune begins with a snappy rhythm section that's smoother than a shot of bourbon, with the guitar riffs sauntering in like they're trying to own the world. Josep Antoni López's vocals have that old-school grit - the kind that sings the blues, rather than just singing about them. But just when you think you've got the track down, along comes a sax solo so pleasantly exquisite, it's about as close to the cherry on this rock 'n' roll sundae as you can get. "Let It Roll" isn't reinventing the wheel- it's buffing a classic one until it shines. Raw, loud, and alive- just as rock needs to be.

2. Doug Mishkin – "Tip of the Spear"

Doug Mishkin has no intention of providing background music. He's here to make you feel. "Tip of the Spear" is not merely a folk record- it's a fireside chat with a man who's watched the world unravel and still holds out hope that it can be sewn back together. Mishkin's songcraft crosses that scarce border between protest and tenderness; he whispers truth rather than screaming to make an argument. The melodies are straightforward, yes- but that's precisely where the strength is. His voice has the kind of integrity that makes you want to pay attention, even when it's painful. "Tip of the Spear" is a call to action wrapped in empathy- a musical message that being right doesn't have to be boisterous, just honest. In a world swimming in static, Doug Mishkin's music is that still pool that ripples and alters everything.

3. Sean MacLeod – "Romeo"

Sean MacLeod's "Romeo" is a ballad that doesn't languish- it rocks. The Irish singer-songwriter replaces sadness with propulsion here, presenting an indie-rock sheen that is like sunshine bottled. From the opening jangle of guitar, you know MacLeod's not messing around: this is the sound of a man who's fallen in love and rediscovered his beat. The production is sharp, the riffs are confetti-like, and his vocals- half-whimsy, half-admission- draw you in. The reason "Romeo" is so catchy is that it's balanced: it's heartfelt but not heavy, catchy but not tacky. You'll be tapping your foot, you'll be humming the chorus, and before you know it, you'll be smiling like an idiot. Sean MacLeod doesn't compose songs; he constructs atmospheres. And "Romeo" is evidence that sometimes, you only need three chords and a lot of guts to fall in love anew.

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LITM Singer-songwriter presents tunes featuring Joshua Caleb Smith, Dryadic, Bishopskin and more!

LITM Singer-songwriter brings you tunes brought to you by Joshua Caleb Smith, Dryadic, Bishopskin, Eddie Cohn and Vanngo.

1. Joshua Caleb Smith – "Barkeep"

"Barkeep" has the feel of being recorded in a dark bar where secrets flow more freely than booze. Joshua Caleb Smith doesn't simply sing- he tells secrets. His voice is worn but welcoming, like a mix between gravel and benevolence, the sort that could tell an old Western or forgotten love letter. The production is bare to its essence- rootsy, smoky, cinematic. It's no wonder that Smith's songs have strayed into television and cinema; it creates pictures without a camera. Each note in "Barkeep" sounds lived-in, as if an old tale told too often and yet never quite the same twice. There's toughness here, but also exposure- the delicate balance of sheen and hurt. Imagine Chris Stapleton drinking bourbon with Bruce Springsteen. "Barkeep" isn't a song, though- it's a subdued confession cloaked in Americana poetry.

2. Dryadic – "Redevelop Our Souls"

If folk-rock were going to have a protest march, "Redevelop Our Souls" would be headlining with a flute and a raised fist. Dryadic's EP lead is half-anthem, half-city sermon, and fully heart. Zora's voice comes in like a call to arms- velvety and volcanic- cutting through the din of contemporary politics. The words cut deep: "Flattened, demolished, do away with the old," she warbles, and you can hear the bulldozers of capital grinding in the distance. The group stacks percussion and melody like a hand-painted banner- raw, intimate, and impossible to overlook. It's hard to find a song this politically sounding, this alive; rather than sermons, Dryadic offer up a track that moves. The combination of folk instruments and contemporary edge makes "Redevelop Our Souls" sound ageless, as if Joan Baez suddenly plugged in and had tea with Florence Welch and sparked a revolution.

3. Bishopskin – "Doggerland"

"Doggerland" is not a song- it's an archaeological excavation to music. Bishopskin have transformed the vanished land between Britain and Europe into a folk-rock Atlantis, and the process is wonderful. The track feels liquid: violins ripple like waves, clarinets drift like sea mist, and Tiger Nicholson’s voice rises and falls like the tide. It’s history made emotional- melancholic, mythic, and mesmerising. The interplay between Nicholson and Tati Gutteridge feels ritualistic, as if they’re summoning forgotten spirits from beneath the channel. By the time the last swell arrives, you don't know whether you've heard a song or seen a myth being remade. It's brazen, textured, and full of guts- proof that Bishopskin are more than musicians, they're sonic mapmakers charting the affective coast between punk, folk, and the divine. "Doggerland" leaves you soggy- in sound, story, and reverence.

4. Eddie Cohn – "Get Back My Way"

Eddie Cohn's "Get Back My Way" is the musical equivalent of a storm-swept dawn- gritty, radiant, and gloriously human. There's a veteran authenticity here, a nod to the golden age of rock in the 90s when songs actually mattered and voices cracked up for good cause. You can hear bits of Eddie Vedder creeping into Cohn's delivery- earthy, impassioned, but with his own indie spin. The song starts from a coarse-strung guitar growl and ends up being a cathartic anthem for finding your truth again. It's less "rock song" and more "emotional return narrative." The cello creeps in on us like a secret weapon, adding cinematic bombast to the whole affair. What makes it land the hardest, though, is Cohn's belief. You trust every syllable. "Get Back My Way" isn't nostalgic; it's a self-takeover, loudly. This is music that rolls up its sleeves and gets down to business.

5. VANNGO – "Tears Fall Like The Rain"

VANNGO's "Tears Fall Like the Rain" is heartbreak with a halo—stripped, simple, and achingly lovely. It's the sort of song that does not demand attention; it deserves silence. A ghostly violin, an acoustic guitar, and VANNGO's voice- cracked like an old photograph. It's refreshingly raw in an era of overproduced pop music, the type of song you listen to at 1 a.m. when your chest aches but you don't know why. It's what makes it magical- the balance- it aches, but it heals. You can almost hear him treading the thin line between despair and acceptance, with each breath an exhale of memory. There is grittiness in the vulnerability and poignancy in the sadness, such as rain on a summer evening. "Tears Fall Like the Rain" is not only sorrowful- it's real. VANNGO has made breakups into a hymn.

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