The New Rock Generation - September 2026
Fresh guitars, restless hearts, loud ideas, and 19 reasons to keep rock turned all the way up!
Featuring Girl Tones, NP York, The Light Show, Desert Eyes, Rookie Mistake, REAVEN, Junior VP, The Crowns, The Grawks, Alternative Ed, The Roost, PRISONER, The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, Dylan Hensley and the Major Awards Band, Cast of The Wanderer, Sonic Train, LUPO, Joyer, and Sleepytown.
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The New Rock Generation - Alternative / Indie / Garage
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Girl Tones - Pretty Face
artwork by Kaio Cesar & Lindsay Wong
Pretty Face doesn't buy into the polished version of anything. It rips the mask clean off. The lyrics hit at vanity, numbness and the exhausting need to appear okay, while the punky bite keeps everything wonderfully sharp. Taken from their debut album Precious, out November 6, this feels like Girl Tones planting a flag and saying: we're not here to play.
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NP York - As bold as a heart
Photo by Jens Martin York
I absolutely get the love for that voice. There's something wonderfully lived-in about it. As Bold as a Heart embraces the beautiful stupidity of falling for life and love again, even when you know exactly what it can cost. Warm folk-rock, a huge chorus, and just enough reckless optimism to make you want to throw your arms in the air. The single is the third taste of What's Next?, arriving in September.
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The Light Show - Code Name E.M.M.A
Code Name E.M.M.A. sounds like the musical equivalent of running away from a relationship at 100mph, which, conveniently, is exactly what it's about. Fast, riff-heavy and gloriously punky, it barely gives you time to catch your breath before the chaos kicks back in.
That chant-along middle eight feels like the tiny moment of sanity before everything goes completely off the rails.
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Desert Eyes - Crushed in the Moment
Crushed in the Moment feels like getting trapped inside your own thoughts and turning the volume all the way up. Desert Eyes balance shoegaze haze and psychedelic weight with vocals that bring the emotional mess right to the surface. It's chaotic, raw and strangely infectious; a beautifully bruised glimpse of their debut album, due later this year.
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Rookie Mistake - Fear and Loathing In Modern Times
This is the kind of slacker-rock anxiety I can absolutely get behind: bad weather, expensive beer, exes on Instagram, overthinking everything and wondering what the hell we're doing with our lives.
Beneath the sarcasm, though, there's a genuinely tender thread running through those lyrics: "there's a thousand different ways to end up alone". The lead single previews their debut album Fields of Plenty, out September 25.
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REAVEN - Sing For The Revolution
REAVEN take all that modern loneliness and turn it into something communal rather than miserable. The guitars push forward, the chorus practically begs to be shouted back, and the message is refreshingly simple: maybe our voices still matter when we use them together.
It’s a big rock anthem with a beating heart underneath all that volume.
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Junior VP - Red Cardigan
Red Cardigan has that wonderfully dangerous ability to make nostalgia feel like a place you could actually move back into. A long-lost first love, dreamy guitars and a chorus you apparently won't be able to stop humming - basically, 2000s indie-rock memories with a fresh coat of paint.
It's taken from Do You Feel The Same?, Junior VP's forthcoming debut album, due in 2027.
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The Crowns - Home With You
I love the idea of a song growing alongside the people who wrote it and Home With You has exactly that feeling. Written during The Crowns' earliest days, it became a live favourite and now circles back to the places, people and memories that shaped them.
Indie-rock warmth with a very human message: sometimes home is the people, places and memories that stay with you, wherever life takes you.
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The Grawks - Slow Death
"Did you hear the shots ring out?" The Grawks open Slow Death with a question that sets the tone immediately. The lyrics move through violence, lies, grief and the struggle to hold onto that "still small voice" beneath all the noise.
Raw and uneasy, the song carries the darker weight of Magnificent Little Deaths, their 2026 EP.
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Alternative Ed - Mental Health
I like that Mental Health takes a subject that could easily become heavy and instead pushes it forward with guitars, energy and genuine optimism. Its message is ultimately about taking control, getting back up and refusing to let obstacles write the ending for you.
A live-feeling set closer with plenty of heart and the remastered version gives this upbeat alternative-rock track another shot at being heard.
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The Roost - Black Mountain
"The Black Mountain is calling me out / Can you hear it too?", and suddenly this isn't just a song title; it's somewhere you've been dragged into. The Roost wrap existential unease, racing thoughts and flashes of light inside heavy riffs, drones and emotionally charged vocals.
Black Mountain is their new mini-album, and this feels like the kind of alt-rock darkness that leaves the door open rather than simply slamming it shut.
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PRISONER - Je ne retiendrai que toi
Je ne retiendrai que toi - I’ll remember only you - lands with a surprisingly human thought: when everything else fades, who actually stays with us? On an album built around cinematic tension, repetition and garage-psych grit, this feels like a small, intimate question hiding inside a much bigger world.
Taken from PRISONER, their self-titled debut album, released August 7.
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The Stevenson Ranch Davidians - Love, Light, Beauty & Truth
"Everything you give to me / I will give right back to you". I love how uncomplicated that feels. The Stevenson Ranch Davidians turn love, light, beauty and truth into something almost tangible, wrapping their message in shimmering psych-rock, folk and Americana warmth.
Recorded back in 2019 and finally released now, it somehow sounds like a song that waited for the right moment.
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Dylan Hensley and the Major Awards Band - I Only Ever Wanted To Be In California (I Only Ever Wanted to Be With You)
California sounds pretty irresistible until someone you love is waiting somewhere else. Dylan Hensley turns that push-and-pull into jangly Heartland rock, with walls of guitars, Hammond organ and a wonderfully lived-in vocal. It's nostalgic without feeling stuck in the past.
A song about wanting two different lives when, annoyingly, you can only choose one.
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Cast of The Wanderer - Ride With You
Ride With You carries that old-school rock 'n' roll feeling, blending soaring theatrical vocals with the classic sound and storytelling spirit at the heart of The Wanderer. Part of the Broadway-bound musical inspired by Dion DiMucci's life and music, the song brings that timeless rock energy into a theatrical setting.
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Sonic Train - No Kids
"No kids, just me / Standing in the dust" - ouch. Sonic Train take a deeply personal sense of loss and turn it into a stark alt-rock reflection on the life someone imagined but never got to live. The repetition gives the song an almost haunted quality, as that unanswered question keeps coming back: what if things had gone differently? The track previews their forthcoming album, due digitally in September.
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LUPO - I Must Be Crazy
“I must be crazy if I’m still with you” is about as blunt as a breakup realisation can get — and honestly, sometimes blunt is exactly what you need. LUPO turns frustration, failed communication and emotional exhaustion into an energetic alternative rock-pop track that gradually shifts from questioning to choosing yourself. That “million stars” waiting outside the relationship gives the whole thing a little light at the end.
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Joyer - Something To Prove (Bleary Eyed Remix)
Photo Credit: Ave Davis
I really like what happens when a familiar song gets handed to another band and comes back slightly stranger. Bleary Eyed push Something To Prove into darker shoegaze territory, with distorted guitars, electronic touches and Sabrina Nichols' vocals giving the track a whole new weight.
The remix is taken from On the Other End Of The Line...(Crossed Lines Remixes), out September 11.
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Sleepytown - If the Brown Shirt Fits
Photo credit: Andreas Carlsson
Sometimes you just need some unapologetically old-fashioned rock 'n' roll and a song that sounds like it should be playing while you're driving nowhere in particular. If the Brown Shirt Fits is upbeat, cheeky and gloriously committed to its own barroom-rock universe.
It's the first taste of 10 Great Drinking Songs, Sleepytown's fourth album, arriving October 10 and honestly, the title tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
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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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