Listen: Sugar in my Drink by Tricky FM

Opening with a dialling tone, one-sided snapshots of a phone call and warm, widescreen synths, Trick FM’s new single evokes a kind of late ‘90s / early ‘00s electronica. Fractured drum beats and ambient found sounds create an assembled sound that evokes urban Britain.

What is surprising is that Tricky FM is the musical pseudonym of Hana Freed, based in San Francisco. Whilst Sugar in my Drink basks in the kind of open skies and warmth I associate with the Bay Area, I haven’t heard anything quite like this from a US artist before. Cymbal crashes flip from one channel to the other, centring the listener amidst all the colours Freed is painting with. The result is warm and hopeful, as reflected in vocals that depict someone cautiously embracing a love and newfound self-respect. Everything feels good, and yet the only question is whether that, in and of itself, is a problem.

When I first heard Sugar in my Drink, it reminded me of Underworld’s Scribble. Both because of how they similarly combine drum & bass with thick, uplifting synths, and also because both songs make the use of the found phone call recording aesthetic. The snatched words of Scribble always captured my curiosity — a little mystery box within a record. Here, Freed adds backstory and texture to her performance in a way that connects us to her story, and it adds to the emotional stakes of her performance.

Having established herself across a variety of clubs, venues and punk bars in the Bay Area and beyond, Hana established her sound with her debut album, Peace, Love, Unity, Rave, on Cherub Dream Records. That record arrived amidst urgency and anger. The follow-up, Twin Star Fantasy, is born the other side of this reckoning — within a newfound stillness. That is reflected in the quiet contemplation snatched amidst the rolling drums here on Sugar in my Drink. The result is a dynamic yet beautiful listening experience.

Listen: IDWTC by Adrobski

Pulling together elements of electronic production, with heavy synths and fractured distortion, with traces of alternative rock, Adrobski creates a kind of beautiful noise on IDWTC.

The individual pieces glisten, like an explosion of broken glass in slow motion, whilst garage rock elements act like gravity and keep the overall sound grounded. Feedback swirls, bit crushed vocals squeak under the weight of compression, and drums rattle. A beauty emerges from the surprisingly organic feeling collage of sound French artist Adrobski creates here, a distillation of the tension the song is born from.

IDWTC is the title track from Adrobski’s forthcoming EP, which deals with the experience of growing up. Here on the preceding single, Adrobski wrestles with a choice he refuses to make — between music and ‘real life’. In doing so, it feels like he gets to the hardest thing about growing up — the realisation that our time is finite, and choices we make come with an opportunity cost.

Check out the song IDWTC below, and look out for the EP on Friday.

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Listen: Waitin on Mine by Steve Stout

Steve Stout’s Waitin on Mine opens with a simple instruction, a disembodied voice calls ‘Hit it!’, and the band leap into life. Every time I hear it over my headphones, it makes me jump — the voice seemingly right there. The sound that follows envelopes the listener, slightly steely guitars strum as a piano, played by Walker Igleheart, gently wanders through my mind.

Written by Stout, together with M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, the song employs a considered ear to its production. There is a psychedelic tightness to the music — a kind of unexpectedly vivid trip. The song achieves a colour that is surprisingly bright for such a conventional approach to instrumentation. In that sense, it reminds me of the creativity of Kurt Vile, who always seems to achieve so much with so little. There is also a little of MJ Lenderman’s relaxed story telling at play.

As Waitin on Mine progresses, it gradually loops layers upon itself, like the record is picking up another track with each rotation, building in complexity and volume. Following a quiet bridge, the song hits an outro the sees a repeated refrain of the chorus — layers and layers of vocal harmonies creating a beautiful depth, right before things melt away with the clink of a piano.

As one half of Øzwald, and the guitarist with Lifehouse, Stout has plenty of experience creating music. Working as Steve Stout, his focus is on creating personal tales about a life (mostly) as an ex-rocker. Describing his experience working with Taylor, and the thinking behind the song, Steve said:

‘We hit it off right away and it was such a pleasure to get to write with an artist that I was a fan of and looked up to so much. Little bit of touring life energy to the verses and some truth from life of feeling like no matter how far you've come in your career or life path there can be those days still of just feeling like, man when am I gonna catch a break.’

Check out Waitin on Mine below.

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Watch: I Can’t Stand the Silence by Tears Before Bedtime

The new single from Tears Before Bedtime makes its intentions clear from the moment you hear its haunted, dark vocals and the thumping drum track that punctuates them… This is a track that is done lying down.

I Can’t Stand the Silence blends Tears Before Bedtime’s influences — which include Joy Division and New Order, and more modern influences in Chvrches, and Boy Harsher — into a kind of jet black angular post punk meets gothic art pop. The sound reaches a similar collage of sound as that which the Horrors assembled, from similar original influences, at the start of their career.

Tears Before Bedtime represents a new collaboration from Bob Malkowski, of The Modern, Inertia, and Die Laughing, and Beejarabbit, who has previously released under that same name, and played with several other outfits. I Can’t Stand the Silence represents the debut release for the pair’s new project, and it comes ahead of their debut EP, Antifragile, which is due out in Autumn 2026.

The song deals with the kind of emotional manipulation that comes from being in a relationship with someone who deliberately shuts you out, weaponising distance and silence to gain control. In the face of such manipulation, I Can’t Stand the Silence shifts from being a cry for help to an outright refusal to accept the situation. As Malkowski and Beejarabbit exchange lines, a swirling darkness builds, guitar riffs in a call and response with one another, locked in some sort of battle. It all underlines a determination to regain control and move on. The result is tense yet liberating — an explosion of emotion that forces change and growth. Describing the song, Malkowski says:

‘I Can’t Stand The Silence was the first song we wrote and the moment we knew we had something special working together. The ‘silence’ in the song is the kind used to shut someone out, keep them guessing, and take control of a situation without saying a word. We’ve both experienced that in our personal and professional lives over the years. It was cathartic for us both. It’s a great song to play loud and defiantly, and to send a message to people who have treated you badly: ‘I cannot stand you.’

Check out I Can’t Stand the Silence below.

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Listen: Miracle by Judah & the Lion

Describing their new single, Judah & the Lion band member Judah Akers says Miracle embodies the concept that ‘life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you’. With a vocal that streaks across the skies of my mind like some kind of rainbow-coloured revelation, there is a staggering humanity and warmth to what Akers and bandmate Brian Macdonald have created here.

With inspiration found in the everyday wonder of being alive, the duo created a song that reflected the experience of growing older, and finding little moments of beauty. Describing the song, Macdonald says:

‘I think Miracle is just a beautiful representation of the stage of life that both of us are in right now. Especially with me having kids, miraculous is truly one of the only ways you can describe that feeling.’

Akers adds:

‘Some people think that a miracle has to be some big, dramatic event. But it's like, what if a miracle is waking up in the morning? What if the miracle is a cardinal showing up in your yard after your grandpa died? What if a miracle is the flowers growing? What if a miracle is being there for a buddy? It’s these types of small things. Especially with how negative the world is, let's think about the things that are beautiful.’

Listening to Miracle gives me goosebumps, heavenly vocals riding a wave of reverb, whilst tightly wound guitar rhythms hum with an overwhelming excitement. Together, Akers and Macdonald have created a track that pulses as synths soar, it feels like a post-rock interpretation of U2’s collaborating with Panda Bear, determined to make their most epic sounding record yet.

Miracle is taken from the Nashville duo’s forthcoming album, I am a Prism, due out 14 August via Dualtone Records. Check out the single below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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