Manchester Orchestra

Beneath the audible progress of Foxing's 13 year career - from the chamber emo of debut The Albatross to the art pop of 2021's Draw Down The Moon - has been a gradual movement towards self-sufficiency. Appropriately, the quartet of vocalist Conor Murphy, guitarist Eric Hudson, drummer Jon Hellwig, and bassist Brett Torrence (who recently joined after years as a touring hired gun) chose to self-title their fifth LP simply,Foxing. The album was entirely produced by the band and mixed by Hudson. The cover art was created by Murphy and Torrence, and it is being released on the band's own Grand Paradise label. DIY requires doing, and Foxing was not an easy album to make. I share a studio space with the band and was an onlooker to the tedious two year process of its creation. I heard good songs emanating from their room at the bottom of the stairs, only to be abandoned and later reborn as incredible songs. I also witnessed some absolute garbage - a testament to the quartet's willingness to entertain any idea and push it to its furthest conclusion before filling their iMac's recycling bin. I was jarred by explosive cheering as the band turned the basement hallway into a makeshift putting green during breaks. I overheard arguments that were decibels shy of shouting matches. There were some moments when their creative stalemates seemed unresolvable and others wherethe enthusiasm of making a transcendently great album was intoxicating.It is fitting that tension is at the core of Foxing, an album that balances hopefulness and nihilism, the pastoral with the tumultuous. Whether oscillating between visceral noise rock and intimate bedroom cassette experiments on opener "Secret History" or cruising at the edge of collapse on "Barking," the dramatic dynamics that have long permeated Foxing's music have never felt so extreme. Five albums into a discography defined by its own restlessness, Foxing is a document of a bandfinding comfort in their own chaos. - Ryan Wasoba

Buzzworthy indie rock artist Michigander, the sonic alter ego of Michigan native Jason Singer, has released his new single "Stay Out Of It" via C3 Records and announced a fall headlining run, The It Will Never Be The Same Tour, with support from friend Abby Holliday. "Stay Out Of It" follows Michigander's recent single "In My Head" with Manchester Orchestra which first premiered on SiriusXM Alt Nation's Advanced Placement. The track has been hailed as "infectious" and "restrained and rollicking all at once," with American Songwriter declaring, "it's the kind of song that gets you out of your seat and gets you out of your comfort zone." The two tracks usher in a new chapter for Michigander, whose 2021 critically lauded EP, Everything Will Be Ok Eventually (C3 Records), elevated his growing career via the Top 5 Triple A radio hit "Let Down" and Top 10 Triple A radio hit "Better." Tracks from the collection have received immense support across DSPs, with featured placements on key playlists from Apple Music (New Music Daily, ALT CTRL), Spotify (The New Alt, New Music Friday), Pandora (ALT Select Radio), and Amazon Music (Fresh Indie), as well as radio airplay and spins on SiriusXM's Alt Nation and The Spectrum. Named one of TuneCore's Top 10 Rock/Alt Artists for 2021, Michigander delivers elevated and eloquent songcraft, uplifting instrumentation, and plainspoken heartland storytelling punctuated by alternative flare. Since 2014, the now Nashville-based singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist has garnered the acclaim of NPR, Paste, SPIN, Forbes, BrooklynVegan, Guitar World, KCRW and many more, in addition to over 50 million career streams globally. In 2016, his independent debut single "Nineties" achieved viral success, claiming real estate on multiple major Spotify playlists. Michigander's first two EPs, Midland [2018] and Where Do We Go From Here [2019], have become fan favorites, with the latter's standout single "Misery" eclipsing 10 million streams and earning Michigander his first Triple A radio hit. On the road, Singer and his band have shared the stage with everyone from Manchester Orchestra, Band of Horses and The Lumineers to Hippo Campus, Mt. Joy and Silversun Pickups, and graced the stages of such marquee festivals as Lollapalooza, Electric Forest, Summerfest, Shaky Knees and more. More from Michigander coming soon!