The New Rock Generation - July 2026
Twenty new reasons to roll the windows down, turn the volume up, and let July do the rest.
Featuring Deardarkhead, Soft Science, Softklub, The Bankes Brothers, Matty Simpson, King Falcon, Deer Fang, The Roost, FLOK, A.D.A.M. Music Project, Cinema Stereo, Zach Riley, The Braymores, Tobacco Road, Radio Days, YASSiN & Sean Terrio, Lightwatch, Old Joy, Weird Bloom, and Birth Life Death Drive.
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The New Rock Generation - Alternative / Indie / Garage
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Deardarkhead - In Another Life
Photo credit: Rob Weiss
You don't need a single lyric to understand what In Another Life is trying to say. Every shimmering guitar line feels like another road you never took, another "what if" drifting through your mind before disappearing again.
It's a beautiful reminder to stop bargaining with the past and live where your feet are. The song is the second single from The Pendulum Swings, Deardarkhead's first full-length album in over 25 years.
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Soft Science - Spinning
Soft Science somehow make emotional frustration feel weightless. Spinning swirls around shimmering guitars and dream-pop glow while asking the exhausting question, "Am I getting through now?"
It's the first single from their upcoming fifth album Sand, arriving September 4, and if this is the direction they're heading, count me in.
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Softklub - Calling The Rain
Calling The Rain doesn't rush to its destination; it slowly pulls you deeper until suddenly you're surrounded by towering guitars and emotions you didn't realize you'd been carrying.
Keenan Gregory's vocal performance gives unrequited love and obsession an aching humanity without ever tipping into melodrama. The song is taken from Softklub's debut EP, Give Me More, and it's one of those moments that makes you want to hit replay before the silence settles in.
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The Bankes Brothers - Aaliyah
Photo Credit: Steve Bays
Some songs feel like letters you'll never throw away. Aaliyah carries that feeling from beginning to end, wrapping beautiful harmonies, warm acoustic guitars, and the joy of loving someone enough to write them into a song.
It's gentle without feeling fragile, and somehow leaves the world sounding just a little softer for a few minutes.
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Matty Simpson - Boxcar Baby
"It's been fifteen days since somebody said my name".One line, and suddenly you're standing beside the narrator in the rain. Boxcar Baby shines a light on people so often overlooked, balancing loneliness, memory, and hope with remarkable tenderness.
Even in its darkest moments, the song refuses to let compassion slip away.
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King Falcon - Nothing Feels Amazing
Photo credit: Xander Strohm
"Nothing feels amazing anymore". It's a painfully simple line, and that's exactly why it lands so hard. King Falcon don't pretend to have all the answers; they just sit with the numbness long enough for you to recognize your own reflection in it.
Somehow, even while staring straight at that emptiness, the soaring chorus still leaves a crack open for hope.
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Deer Fang - Forest For The Trees
Few album closers feel this earned. Forest For The Trees carries grief without letting it become the whole story, turning loss into a promise to live with the same kindness as the person who's gone. "Only you could see the forest for the trees...How do I match your light?" is devastating in the best way, while the towering shoegaze and grunge guitars make every emotion hit that much harder.
As the closing track of Deer Fang's debut album Forest For The Trees, it's a farewell that somehow also feels like a beginning.
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The Roost - Wicked Dreams
Wicked Dreams doesn't waste time dressing itself up. It kicks the door open with thick riffs and keeps pushing forward while the lyrics wrestle with fear, confusion, and the feeling of losing yourself. Then, just when everything seems ready to collapse, "Through the smoke, I see a spark" changes the mood completely.
Darkness means more when you can still see a way through it.
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FLOK - Stop Turning
Some songs don't waste time getting to the point, and Stop Turning is one of them. FLOK channel the frustration of watching something that could have meant everything slip through your fingers, wrapping it inside punchy guitars and a chorus built to echo back at you long after it's finished.
A seriously satisfying alternative rock hit.
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A.D.A.M. Music Project - Knocked Down
Who knew Pitfall! could inspire such a fist-pumping rock anthem? "Knocked down, but I won't be broken" becomes more than a lyric; it's the heartbeat of the whole song. Big riffs, bigger hooks, and enough determination to power through every obstacle make this title track from Knocked Down impossible not to root for.
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Cinema Stereo - NOW WE FEEL SPECIAL
Cinema Stereo bottle that rare feeling of meeting someone at exactly the right time. NOW WE FEEL SPECIAL celebrates those chance encounters with bright guitars, infectious energy, and a reminder that the right people have a funny way of showing up at exactly the right moment.
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Zach Riley - Wasting Away
Photo Credit: Oliver Borce
Every summer needs at least one song that makes you want to text someone, "Let's just go". Wasting Away is exactly that. Bright guitars, soaring hooks, and a chorus that makes starting over sound a lot less scary than staying where you are.
"Let's make our escape somewhere where no one knows our name". Honestly...who's not ready to hear that right now?
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The Braymores - Thought Control
Thought Control is one of those songs that makes you want to keep driving long after you've reached your destination. It wraps the emotional leftovers of a breakup inside bright guitars and an irresistible chorus, reminding us that even the relationships we leave behind usually gave us something worth remembering.
Equal parts bittersweet and carefree, it's pure summer fuel.
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Tobacco Road - Baby Goodbye
If someone asked me what summer sounds like, I'd probably hand them Baby Goodbye. Sunlit harmonies, jangly guitars, and that irresistible feeling of driving toward somewhere new make it an instant windows-down soundtrack.
The sweetest part is knowing the story behind it: a song born from real feelings between two bandmates, making every mile feel just a little more honest. It's the second single from the band's upcoming project, due later this year.
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Radio Days - One Heart One Love
Few songs bottle sunshine quite like this one. Between the racing power-pop hooks and lines like "You're the missing note I needed in this song", One Heart One Love practically begs to become the soundtrack to every July road trip.
It's the opening track from Off The Record, arriving September 4, and what a way to kick the album off.
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YASSiN & Sean Terrio - DON’T DO THAT
This one feels like the pep talk you wish your future self could give you. "Don't you look back if you're not looking to learn" isn't just a great chorus, but advice worth stealing.
Behind all the energy sits a story about creative burnout and self-doubt, but the song never lets either one have the final word. It's the opening track from the upcoming album Learn + Apply, and exactly the anthem you blast when you're ready to move forward.
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Lightwatch - Here We Go Again
We've all known that couple- the one that's breaking up on Friday and kissing in the front row on Saturday. Lightwatch turn that beautiful disaster into a hook-filled alternative rock anthem that's as entertaining as it is familiar.
It's loud, fun, and perfectly aware that sometimes love is the mess nobody wants to clean up.
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Old Joy - Gut Shot
The more I listened to Gut Shot, the less it felt like a breakup song and the more it felt like a portrait of people refusing to give up on each other, even when they probably should. It's hopeful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly fun all at once.
Bonus points for one of my favorite lyrics this month: "she still loved the holes in him, they were the only parts still let light in".
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Weird Bloom - Gimme Flowers (SOS)
Listening to Gimme Flowers (SOS) feels like stumbling into the world's coolest dive bar at two in the morning. Glam, garage rock, psychedelia - they throw it all in together and let the whole thing wobble gloriously off course. The song is taken from Wrong Time, Wrong Place.
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Birth Life Death Drive - The Breather
The Breather feels like one long journey through an hourglass. The lyrics keep one eye on time and the other on moving forward, while the band's grunge-leaning alternative rock gives every line real momentum.
Add the wonderfully nostalgic 90s video game aesthetic, and Birth Life Death Drive have found a personality that's entirely their own.
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About Eugenia Roditis
Eugenia's passion for music was ignited from an early age as she grew up in a family of musicians. She loves attending concerts and festivals, while constantly seeking fresh and exciting new artists across diverse genres. Eugenia joined the MusicnGear team in 2012.
Contact Eugenia Roditis at eugenia.roditis@kinkl.com
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