Welcome to the first installment of the newly relaunched IBD Jukebox. Earlier this year we launched Friday Night Jukebox as a roundup our staff’s favorite new music. For this sixth article, we’ve decided to shift Jukebox to a new monthly format so our writers have more time to dig in to what’s new.
Brown Horse – “Sorrow Reigns”
The country-shoegaze hybrid commonly known as “bootgaze” has made its way over to the UK. Brown Horse provide a worthy entry into the canon of this new genre with “Sorrow Reigns” full of the fuzzy guitars and pedal steel that you’d expect. They also have a bit of influence handed down from the British folk rock tradition. That is to say, if you like the Tubs, for instance, you’ll find as much to love about Brown Horse if you’re a Wednesday fan. The song is also really strong, even without a chorus it is catchy and memorable, and it’s a good prelude to their upcoming album Total Dive. – Ryan Gibbs
DJ Baghdaddy – “I Will Replace AI”
How frustrating is it that artists have to clarify that no AI has been used in their art these days? Scrolling through the new arrivals tab on Bandcamp always yields interesting results in this regard. If a user were to scroll through any given genre tag now, chances are that they’ll be subject to a now very common and depressing conundrum.
Either AI “artists” generating neverending slop that will clog your feed or real musicians who are looking to release their art into the world and need to label their music as “made by humans” or “No AI involved.” What a reality we’ve built for ourselves. In that process of discovery, however, they will inevitably come across some hidden gems in the digital sewage. DJ Baghdaddy’s new EP, Music To Have An Existential Crisis To, is one such release.
“I Will Replace AI”, the opener to the project, sets the tone right away and it does so with undeniable force. This track is wonderful – deep, textured and all-around kinetic in nature. As the record progresses, we’re gifted with deep house warbles and pulsing drums that create an ever-alluring atmosphere. DJ Baghdaddy’s approach here is akin to unstable matter in a test tube suspended in the moments before eventually breaking containment. It holds the listener close in an intimate, tight groove and doesn’t let up until the very end.
This is the type of music that would be heard at a 1 a.m. warehouse rave with other sweaty, existential humans dancing the anxiety away – even for a single night. Sharing a communal space with real people is the goal of this music. This song (and the EP more broadly) reads as a statement – not just against AI – but the passivity of dance music as of recent.
It’s not meant for coffee shops or corporate parties. This is for the times where you’ve hit your wits end and just need to cut loose even if everything around you is falling apart. In the age of the infinite scroll, music that compels us to get up and move our bodies becomes increasingly essential and DJ Baghdaddy understood the assignment. – Mark Wesley
Me Rex – “Protection Runes”
In a bit of a change from their usual indie sound, the British band Me Rex goes drum and bass on their latest single “Protection Runes”. The song has an ethereal sound to it, as the music swirls around the vocals. Band leader Myles McCabe said the song was based on seeing runic symbols sprayed onto electricity boxes near where he lives, the rightward drift of British politics, and an incident where he pulled down a St. George’s Cross flag while on his bicycle in Brixton. Thom of Scene Media writes, “The two images began to connect in his mind, linking symbols that might appear harmless to some people but threatening to others depending on where they are displayed.” It’s entirely possible to enjoy “Protection Runes” without all that context, but it adds a new dimension to a great song. – Ryan Gibbs
Panopticon – “The White Cedars”
If you ever wanted to get into the modern Black Metal scene but didn’t know where to start with the genre’s endless variety and sub-genres, you can’t do much better than throwing a dart at a list of Panopticon’s many albums. The Kentucky based band was originally a studio-only solo project of Austin Lunn and has been consistently releasing music since the early 2000s, bringing a uniquely American take on a genre historically rooted in the freezing cold of Northern Europe.
Incorporating elements of folk, blue-grass, ambient and electronic with the genre’s traditional blast beats and shrieking, Panopticon has reliably created some of the most interesting soundscapes and atmospheres in music. If the lead single off his upcoming album Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet is anything to go by, this looks to be one of their most immediately gratifying releases to date. Following 2025’s dual album releases that saw the folk and metal sides of the band split, “The White Cedars” marries the two sounds in furious catharsis.
Despite the track reaching the 8 minute mark, the song glides almost orchestrally through enormously violent sections buffered by gorgeous passages of violins and folk-strings, forming a uniquely dynamic sound that feels like nobody else on Earth could create. Featuring guest vocals from the singer of the Norwegian band Vemod and lyrics about the Scandinavian immigrant culture of the midwest, “The White Cedars” is a remarkably strong entry point for new fans of a historically unapproachable genre.- Quinn Parulis
The Saddest Landscape featuring Julien Baker – “The Invisible Hurt”
Julien Baker has an established history as a guest vocalist on a wide variety of punk and metal songs in the past (check her features with Touche Amore or Turnstile for some highlights), but it was usually just to bring some harmonies or a contrasting softness to some heavy tracks. Not so with “The Invisible Hurt”.
A seven-and-a-half-minute behemoth of a song by one of the all-time great screamo bands (in the really intense/hardcore way rather than the warped tour/scene way) on their first album following a decade-long hiatus, “The Invisible Hurt” is easily the most exciting of the singles released so far for the upcoming Alone With Heaven.
One of The Saddest Landscapes’ most defining features has always been their vocalist, Andy Maddox, and the unique warble that he inflects into his screams, something that keeps the lyrics legible while still bringing the intensity the genre necessitates.
Here, that gets matched with the most strained and raw vocals Baker has given us since the most pained songs off Turn Out the Lights. It is a stunning throwback to her early days in the punk scene and something that might shock the fanbase she has built up through her recent work in the folk/country scenes or work with Boygenius. The song itself transitions through multiple stages throughout its runtime, morphing from an opening with what seem to be almost rap-inspired vocals over a siren-alarm guitar line into a traditional screamo sound with rapid drumming and screamed vocals.
That eventually gives way to a post-rock section that crescendos into a shout-along duet between Maddox and Baker, her singing the least pretty she has ever sounded. With one of the coolest collaborations the scene has seen in ages, The Saddest Landscape’s return is poised to be one of the strongest reunions of the year. – Quinn Parulis
Sweetpea – “All Night Bender” and “The Truth”
This two pack release from veteran London DJ and producer Sweetpea is a bit of drum & bass that definitely leans into the bass side of things. Structurally, these songs possess very similar characteristics including a signature sturdiness that holds everything into place. An ominous lead-up ushers into the first record, “The Truth”. After a few moments, we are thrust into a headrush of muscular bass and tight jungle grooves. The track has a heft to it as well, as if it were wanting to make itself known in the room. You can almost see the record pumping out its chest and giving it a thump out of confidence.
In contrast, “All Night Bender” opens much lighter – almost atmospheric at certain moments due to various splashes of synth popping in and out of frame. Then the pace kicks up and we’re gifted with another display of towering bass and discordant rhythms that are so incredibly satisfying. As with the previous track, there is a sturdiness here that guides “All Night Bender” through its many evolutions. Even when it begins to slow down and embrace more atmospheric textures again, the train never goes off the tracks. It’s one of those jungle records that will, undoubtedly, be a staple in the rave circuit this year. – Mark Wesley
