Neural Newscast

[00:00] Announcer: From Neural Newscast, this is Stereo Current, sound, culture, and the systems that shape them.
[00:07] Sloane Rivera: Stereo. Welcome to Stereo Current. Do you think it sounds like me?
[00:15] Sloane Rivera: and the culture spinning on the deck.
[00:18] Sloane Rivera: It is March 15th, 2026, and I'm Sloan Rivera.
[00:21] Julian Vance: And I'm Julian Vance.
[00:23] Julian Vance: We're sifting through the noise today
[00:24] Julian Vance: to find the signals that matter,
[00:26] Julian Vance: from the neon archives of Tehran Alice
[00:29] Julian Vance: to the monolithic walls of sound in Tokyo.
[00:32] Sloane Rivera: It's a Sunday that feels like it's vibrating
[00:35] Sloane Rivera: at a different frequency, Julian.
[00:37] Sloane Rivera: There's a certain weight to the music
[00:39] Sloane Rivera: crossing our desks this morning.
[00:41] Sloane Rivera: An intersection of deep introspection and outwardness
[00:43] Sloane Rivera: outward protest.
[00:45] Julian Vance: The digital and the analog are fighting for space, as usual.
[00:49] Julian Vance: But before we get into the archives, we should probably talk about the sheer atmosphere
[00:53] Julian Vance: being built by some of our favorite international finds this week.
[00:57] Sloane Rivera: Let's start in Sydney.
[00:59] Sloane Rivera: Venetian Naden just released a single titled Submerged, and it's a masterclass in what A&R Factory calls Lynchian Ambient Depths.
[01:08] Sloane Rivera: It's Greek-born, Sydney-based electronic art that feels less like a song and more like a slow pull into the subconscious.
[01:17] Sloane Rivera: Jillian, the textures here are almost alchemic.
[01:20] Julian Vance: Yeah, Nadine really understands the power of non-lexical harmonies.
[01:25] Julian Vance: It's folk-esque chimes meeting stripped-back arrangements.
[01:29] Julian Vance: It doesn't force momentum.
[01:31] Julian Vance: It just lingers.
[01:32] Julian Vance: It reminds me of those late-night sessions where you're not sure if you're awake or dreaming.
[01:37] Julian Vance: Very esoteric.
[01:39] Julian Vance: Very deliberate.
[01:40] Sloane Rivera: Exactly.
[01:41] Sloane Rivera: It's a vessel for hidden architecture.
[01:44] Sloane Rivera: And if Phoenicia is pulling you inward, Tokyo's rainbow belts is trying to flood your entire
[01:50] Sloane Rivera: sensory system.
[01:51] Sloane Rivera: Their new single, 246, titled after the famous Tokyo thoroughfare, is what they're calling a monolithic monument of shoegaze.
[02:00] Julian Vance: Monolithic is the word, Sloan.
[02:03] Julian Vance: It's got that pulsating, oscillating energy that actually feels physical.
[02:08] Julian Vance: You've got these dream pop harmonies floating about a rhythm section that's basically a freight train.
[02:13] Julian Vance: It's that viscerally ethereal signature that makes the Tokyo scene so resilient.
[02:18] Julian Vance: They aren't just playing loud.
[02:20] Julian Vance: They're sculpting scale.
[02:22] Sloane Rivera: It's a beautiful tumult.
[02:24] Sloane Rivera: But shifting gears from the studio to the stage, the big conversation this week is centered in Austin.
[02:31] Sloane Rivera: SXXS 2026 is officially the year Mexico stopped being a guest and became the core of the festival.
[02:39] Julian Vance: Yep, it's about time.
[02:41] Julian Vance: IndiePulse music is tracking this huge shift.
[02:44] Julian Vance: We're seeing everything from Musica Mexicana heavyweights like Peso Pluma to a massive wave of indie and experimental acts.
[02:51] Julian Vance: It's no longer just a couple of rock bands.
[02:54] Julian Vance: It's a full ecosystem.
[02:56] Julian Vance: The Mexico Toma Austin Showcase is a prime example, mixing regional Cumbia with drill.
[03:02] Julian Vance: It's showcase Seen Fronteras in the truest sense.
[03:06] Sloane Rivera: I'm a...
[03:07] Sloane Rivera: particularly watching Safish.
[03:09] Sloane Rivera: She's from Jalisco, and her track,
[03:12] Sloane Rivera: Mikai Go, is this flirty fusion of French house and R&B.
[03:17] Sloane Rivera: She's using her first United States festival appearance
[03:20] Sloane Rivera: to preview an album called La Femme Illustre coming in May.
[03:24] Sloane Rivera: But what I love, Julian, is her lyrical edge.
[03:27] Sloane Rivera: She references the Madres Buscadoras de Jalisco,
[03:30] Sloane Rivera: the women searching for their disappeared loved ones.
[03:33] Sloane Rivera: It's pop with a conscience.
[03:35] Julian Vance: And then you have La Texana, out of Baja California.
[03:39] Julian Vance: Jose Ramirez is bringing this approachable vulnerability to alt-rock with energetic sense.
[03:44] Julian Vance: It's catchy, but heart-wrenching.
[03:47] Julian Vance: Between him and the dream pop duo Valsian, the sonic range coming across the border right
[03:52] Julian Vance: now is staggering.
[03:54] Julian Vance: It makes the old United States and United Kingdom dominance look a bit tired.
[03:59] Sloane Rivera: Speaking of not being tired, let's talk about a yacky.
[04:04] Sloane Rivera: Spectral Knights is highlighting their new single, Lean Out.
[04:07] Sloane Rivera: These London-based feminist punk rockers aren't just making noise.
[04:11] Sloane Rivera: They're raising funds for striking teaching assistants at Richard Cobden School.
[04:16] Sloane Rivera: All proceeds on Bandcamp go to the strike fund.
[04:19] Julian Vance: Janie Starling, who we know from Dream Nails, is leading this charge.
[04:24] Julian Vance: The track is a tribute to Don Foster and the Global Women's Strike.
[04:28] Julian Vance: It's a total rejection of the Corporate Sanitized International Women's Day.
[04:32] Julian Vance: As Janie puts it, it's about flipping tables instead of sitting at them.
[04:35] Julian Vance: them. The riffs are in your face. The drumming from Maeve Westall is a powerhouse, and the message
[04:41] Julian Vance: is clear. Care is work, and it's time to pay up. Right. It's that who cares for women,
[04:48] Sloane Rivera: other women line that really sticks. It's
[04:50] Sloane Rivera: It's vital, crunching punk.
[04:53] Sloane Rivera: From the front lines of North London to the digital dreamscapes of Measley,
[04:57] Sloane Rivera: our next topic is a bit more of a deep dive into the power of the mundane.
[05:01] Julian Vance: Measley is such a fascinating case study.
[05:04] Julian Vance: They recently sat down with A&R Factory to talk about their project,
[05:07] Julian Vance: Walker of the Sunset Path.
[05:09] Julian Vance: It's a narrative-driven game where songwriting and world building are inseparable.
[05:14] Julian Vance: Measley's DNA is a mix of early 2000s pop punk, think Fallout Boy and Green Day, and childhood
[05:21] Julian Vance: obsessions with rhythm games like Rhythm Heaven.
[05:23] Sloane Rivera: I love that they used the Purity plugin purely out of necessity because their old computer
[05:29] Sloane Rivera: couldn't handle anything heavier, and it ended up defining their entire 90s sound font aesthetic.
[05:35] Sloane Rivera: It's that intersection of nostalgia and digital limitation.
[05:39] Sloane Rivera: They're creating music for a climax in a game, like the duet Double Stepper with Kiera
[05:44] Sloane Rivera: Jalen, but it stands alone as this airy, pink panther-esque vibe pop.
[05:49] Julian Vance: It's that Japanese music structure.
[05:51] Julian Vance: exposed through Pokemon Platinum and WarioWare,
[05:55] Julian Vance: blending with mid-2000s MTV vibes.
[05:59] Julian Vance: It's the Everyman Voice, as Miesley puts it.
[06:02] Julian Vance: Very downtown, the old MTV show, not just the location.
[06:07] Julian Vance: Speaking of locations and history, we have to talk about Discontrary's latest vinyl release.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: This is the one I've been waiting for!
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: Tehranjilas Weiss, Iranian diaspora pop 1983 to 1993.
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: Spin is calling it a time capsule and a treasure.
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: Zachary Azdurian and Anayas Gulbu Daggian found this productions in a neighborhood shop
[06:32] SPEAKER_01: and realized they were looking at a neglected chapter of music history.
[06:36] Julian Vance: For Iranians, cassettes were conduits for revolution and refuge.
[06:41] Julian Vance: When musicians fled the Islamic Republic, Los Angeles became the new hub.
[06:47] Julian Vance: These tracks were sold in Tehranjilis music shops.
[06:50] Julian Vance: Now they're on double gatefold vinyl with this incredible Natalie Miller art
[06:56] Julian Vance: that looks like Duran Duran's Rio through an Iranian lens.
[07:00] SPEAKER_01: It's subversive pop that provided a home for a community in exile for decades.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: To have it properly mastered and documented with a 20-page booklet, that's why we still
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: buy vinyl, Julian.
[07:12] SPEAKER_01: It's the context.
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: It's the refuge.
[07:15] Julian Vance: Whether it's a tape from 1984 or a bandcamp link for a 2026 strike, the medium is still
[07:22] Julian Vance: the message.
[07:23] Julian Vance: We're seeing a lot of tables being flipped this week, and the soundtrack is better for
[07:28] Julian Vance: it.
[07:29] Julian Vance: You can track all the artists we've covered today at stereocurrent.neuralnewscast.com.
[07:36] SPEAKER_01: It certainly is. That's our roundup for today. Keep your ears open and your stylus clean.
[07:41] Julian Vance: I am Sloan Rivera. And I'm Julian Vance. This has been Stereocurrent.
[07:46] SPEAKER_01: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[07:50] SPEAKER_01: View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: See you in the crates.
[07:56] Announcer: This has been Stereocurrent on Neural Newscast.
[07:59] Announcer: Sound, culture, and the systems that shape them.