Michael O Connor Marotta

Indie rock luminaries, they’re just like us. While we’re banging out short bursts of creativity and embracing tiny acts of sanity in between mundane daily commitments, some of our fave musicians are doing the same. This week The War on Drugs

Fast Tracked: The English artist drops an an effervescent new single that's a look into her creative portal as a queer artist with autism and ADHD.

Few British bands of the ’90s have been as influential in the following decades as Ride. And while the pioneering shoegaze quartet — certainly no stranger to our pink-ink pages — has continued to expand its warm, encompassing sound in its celebrated second act, frontman Mark Gardener has also helped shape a scene behind the board, working studio magic with the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Andre Obin, Swervedriver, and others.

The month was soundtracked by new and notable efforts from Haute & Freddy, Mel Denisse, The War on Drugs, Mollie Coddled, and Diinowalrus.

Sometimes a song title sets up all we need to know, and that’s the case in Death Valley Girls’ rousing new psychedelic garage-rock single “How Losing Everything in the Fire Taught Me to Love Myself.” The latest from the cosmic Southern California collective sets up Welcome to Earth, out Friday (October 9) on Suicide Squeeze Records

Fast Tracked: The Ottawa duo deliver an upbeat alt-rock cruiser about holding on to the simple moments that help get us through the days.

Here in the Northeast, we’ve reached the point of the year where our emotions are split into two halves. We’ve embraced all that autumn has to offer, the crispness of the air snaps back against the invigorating fall foliage and color pop, and the onset of the glorious ‘Ber months brings a smoky comfort to our lives. But we also know the cradled coziness has an expiration date, soon giving way to a cold and bitter winter that delivers seasonal depression and frigid confinement trapped under endless ice. Chicago band

New Sounds: The Canadian dance-punk duo party like it's 2004 with a kinetic release of rock and roll tension.

Fontaines D.C. have given us the 2026 album our lives in 2026 deserve. This month’s Dopamine Chamber is a slow-burn, self-contained universe, a moody and caustic fit of the type of sounds that swirl through your head before you even interpret them as your own.

Editor’s Note: Anyone who says there isn’t good music coming out these days — and quite literally, every day — simply isn’t paying attention. Vanyaland’s compilation feature The V List highlights the best in new music, both homegrown and national, over the past month, pulling together the sounds that have soundtracked the website in recent weeks. It’s all the stuff we’re bumping here at Vanyaland HQ, one new bop at a time.