New music releases from New Orleans: September 2025
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW ORLEANS: SEPTEMBER 2025
We've got everything from big band to bounce, indie pop to minimalism, all coming from the talented musicians in our city. Let's take a listen - you can click on the links to do just that as you read.
(Do you create music in New Orleans? Send us links to your new releases - outalldaynola [at] gmail [dot] com)
Reviews by Paul Oswell
(Do you create music in New Orleans? Send us links to your new releases - outalldaynola [at] gmail [dot] com)
Reviews by Paul Oswell
Bruce
BRUCEY
What you’ve got right here, see, is a veritable super group of New Orleans indie talent, with musicians from The Fruit Machines, Island Days, Night Medicine, Bad Operation, and Mesopeak. Self-identifying as slacker rock, loosey BRUCEY do sound like the kind of band that a character played by Janeane Garofalo or Winona Ryder in a 1990s indie flick would be into. Rousing guitar licks lead Nick Pope’s laconic baritone and the brighter ripostes of Brittany Silva. “Let's hit it,” says Silva to introduce the first song, “Feel it Sway”. And all throughout this line up of indie rock bangers, they really do.
BRUCEY
What you’ve got right here, see, is a veritable super group of New Orleans indie talent, with musicians from The Fruit Machines, Island Days, Night Medicine, Bad Operation, and Mesopeak. Self-identifying as slacker rock, loosey BRUCEY do sound like the kind of band that a character played by Janeane Garofalo or Winona Ryder in a 1990s indie flick would be into. Rousing guitar licks lead Nick Pope’s laconic baritone and the brighter ripostes of Brittany Silva. “Let's hit it,” says Silva to introduce the first song, “Feel it Sway”. And all throughout this line up of indie rock bangers, they really do.
alice
loucey
After loosey BRUCEY, we have bruisey loucey, a band that we talked to earlier this year about their fantastic debut album, ‘participation trophy wife’. Vocalist/lyricist/musician Cherie McCabe told us then that she had, “Turned inward. Home life was on my mind. (The album) is about what it's like to have expectations that come with parenthood and trying to be an artist.” alice is perhaps the album’s most overt example of this theme, starting off with a near lament over a simple bass and organ line: “Could it be/I want/a baby/to save me?” Strength gathers as Ben Lorio’s always-exciting, world-building beats solidify and McCabe has shed all doubt over stabbing strings: “But I’ll raise you to be a good man/through and through”. It’s a beguiling new arrival.
loucey
After loosey BRUCEY, we have bruisey loucey, a band that we talked to earlier this year about their fantastic debut album, ‘participation trophy wife’. Vocalist/lyricist/musician Cherie McCabe told us then that she had, “Turned inward. Home life was on my mind. (The album) is about what it's like to have expectations that come with parenthood and trying to be an artist.” alice is perhaps the album’s most overt example of this theme, starting off with a near lament over a simple bass and organ line: “Could it be/I want/a baby/to save me?” Strength gathers as Ben Lorio’s always-exciting, world-building beats solidify and McCabe has shed all doubt over stabbing strings: “But I’ll raise you to be a good man/through and through”. It’s a beguiling new arrival.
From My Side
Deep Sleep Atlantic
It’s only last month that we reviewed DSA’s single ‘On My Knees’. This atmospheric follow-up is a showcase of restraint from singer/songwriter Travis Marc. The lyrics are pointed and direct, delivered over dark but dynamic atmospherics that evoke Violator-era Depeche Mode or a scathingly bruised Trent Reznor. It’s an unhurried build, a controlled burn into evolving, heavier territory with deep piano and ever-rockier guitars gradually joining the slow-motion fray. The climax is a masterfully measured one, and none the less resounding for it.
Deep Sleep Atlantic
It’s only last month that we reviewed DSA’s single ‘On My Knees’. This atmospheric follow-up is a showcase of restraint from singer/songwriter Travis Marc. The lyrics are pointed and direct, delivered over dark but dynamic atmospherics that evoke Violator-era Depeche Mode or a scathingly bruised Trent Reznor. It’s an unhurried build, a controlled burn into evolving, heavier territory with deep piano and ever-rockier guitars gradually joining the slow-motion fray. The climax is a masterfully measured one, and none the less resounding for it.
David Bode
Good Hang
I’ve always been a sucker for the big band sound. Give me some timeless horns with a leader just unapologetically having a whale of a time and you can leave me unattended, confident that I won’t get into trouble. Good Hang could keep me enthralled for hours. Bode is making his debut as leader, marshalling a wealth of great musicians, and he draws on diverse musical touchstones to deliver on the title’s promise. I was smiling and swaying all the way through Happy People and Cold Train Funk (featuring friend of the site, Evan Oberla). There are wonderful homages to John Coltrane, Astor Piazzolla, and The Beatles, plus a Jeff Buckley cover that could have been arranged in the 1940s, but still somehow feels current. Great hang, I’d say.
Good Hang
I’ve always been a sucker for the big band sound. Give me some timeless horns with a leader just unapologetically having a whale of a time and you can leave me unattended, confident that I won’t get into trouble. Good Hang could keep me enthralled for hours. Bode is making his debut as leader, marshalling a wealth of great musicians, and he draws on diverse musical touchstones to deliver on the title’s promise. I was smiling and swaying all the way through Happy People and Cold Train Funk (featuring friend of the site, Evan Oberla). There are wonderful homages to John Coltrane, Astor Piazzolla, and The Beatles, plus a Jeff Buckley cover that could have been arranged in the 1940s, but still somehow feels current. Great hang, I’d say.
Time Becoming
Tina Beef
That this collection of six songs is available on cassette only adds to the gloriously dreamy, 1980s post punk/new wave-y-ness of it all. Second track ‘Icarus’ probably flew closest to the sunny rays of my preferred songs, but there’s not much in it. The vocals are just so tantalizingly elusive in the mix, with guitar twangs that somehow made me think of Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks theme. If you’re aware of songs like ‘Hotel Home’ by Molly Nilsson, we’re not far from that kind of territory. The balancing act of threading the lo-fi with the cinematic is genuinely impressive, at times Beef almost sounding like a Gen X version of The XX. Gen XXX.
Tina Beef
That this collection of six songs is available on cassette only adds to the gloriously dreamy, 1980s post punk/new wave-y-ness of it all. Second track ‘Icarus’ probably flew closest to the sunny rays of my preferred songs, but there’s not much in it. The vocals are just so tantalizingly elusive in the mix, with guitar twangs that somehow made me think of Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks theme. If you’re aware of songs like ‘Hotel Home’ by Molly Nilsson, we’re not far from that kind of territory. The balancing act of threading the lo-fi with the cinematic is genuinely impressive, at times Beef almost sounding like a Gen X version of The XX. Gen XXX.
Devotional
Island Queen Satans Flower
I make no secret of my affection for electronic minimalism, such as that of local Neal Todten’s own compositions (reviewed in July). IQSF sways into even more abstract and ambient territory. Opener ‘for pavo’ favors sine waves over acoustic instruments to conjure up a meditative rhythm, while beautifully distorted synth chirps wander in and out of the mix. ‘roast’ is a nine-minute soundscape with what sounds like distant video game consoles and experimental sound effects. ‘SOUNDBATH’ and ‘breath bath’ are similarly immersive, and the kind of sonic pools that I, for one, love to splash around in.
Island Queen Satans Flower
I make no secret of my affection for electronic minimalism, such as that of local Neal Todten’s own compositions (reviewed in July). IQSF sways into even more abstract and ambient territory. Opener ‘for pavo’ favors sine waves over acoustic instruments to conjure up a meditative rhythm, while beautifully distorted synth chirps wander in and out of the mix. ‘roast’ is a nine-minute soundscape with what sounds like distant video game consoles and experimental sound effects. ‘SOUNDBATH’ and ‘breath bath’ are similarly immersive, and the kind of sonic pools that I, for one, love to splash around in.
Donnie
Donyae Asante
Multi-pronged artistic threat Asante (formerly of this parish, recently relocated to Chicago but psssshawwwww, details, we’re including them) is still in the flush of youth, but this is a maturely assured album. A cross-media performer, I was first impressed by the acting chops in a 2023 production of The View UpStairs, then a couple of musical releases since and now this collection, a notably evolved production. My admiration for the talent on display only increases. This is such a personal, expressive work, too expansive to contain in a paragraph. To pick a couple of immediate favorites, ‘Black Sheep’ is a dark manifesto of owning your own truth set over irresistible hooks, and ‘Donnie’ closes things out with a self-affirming blast of infectious nu disco/soul. By their works will ye know them; enjoy the emphatic closeness that these 13 songs deliver.
Donyae Asante
Multi-pronged artistic threat Asante (formerly of this parish, recently relocated to Chicago but psssshawwwww, details, we’re including them) is still in the flush of youth, but this is a maturely assured album. A cross-media performer, I was first impressed by the acting chops in a 2023 production of The View UpStairs, then a couple of musical releases since and now this collection, a notably evolved production. My admiration for the talent on display only increases. This is such a personal, expressive work, too expansive to contain in a paragraph. To pick a couple of immediate favorites, ‘Black Sheep’ is a dark manifesto of owning your own truth set over irresistible hooks, and ‘Donnie’ closes things out with a self-affirming blast of infectious nu disco/soul. By their works will ye know them; enjoy the emphatic closeness that these 13 songs deliver.
Good Crook
Chris Vincent and the Raw Deals
Purportedly (and there’s no reason to not believe this) these twelve songs were recorded in one take, the crook in question playfully shifting between Vincent himself and the often cunning object of his raw affections. Sometimes that includes our own city, a rasped quick qualifier to the title on New Orleans, My Darling that “You had your way with me.” Vincent has the kind of growlingly charismatic voice that you can only ever imagine ringing out after midnight, and though he’s more than ably backed up by Dean Zucchero (bass) and Johnny Vidacovich (drums), it’s a stripped-down, no-frills affair. This is electric blues with a carefree swagger, seeing the dirty tricks that life sometimes throws at you but acknowledging that it’s all part of the game, so you may as well try and enjoy the ride.
Chris Vincent and the Raw Deals
Purportedly (and there’s no reason to not believe this) these twelve songs were recorded in one take, the crook in question playfully shifting between Vincent himself and the often cunning object of his raw affections. Sometimes that includes our own city, a rasped quick qualifier to the title on New Orleans, My Darling that “You had your way with me.” Vincent has the kind of growlingly charismatic voice that you can only ever imagine ringing out after midnight, and though he’s more than ably backed up by Dean Zucchero (bass) and Johnny Vidacovich (drums), it’s a stripped-down, no-frills affair. This is electric blues with a carefree swagger, seeing the dirty tricks that life sometimes throws at you but acknowledging that it’s all part of the game, so you may as well try and enjoy the ride.
HaSizzle
Bra$$ and A$$
With his characteristic enthusiasm, Wild Wayne opens proceedings, listing the credentials that mark HaSizzle’s two decades as ‘the king of bounce’ with ‘a voice like no other’. Who’s going to argue? Not me, that’s for damn sure as hiccups. It’s a raunchy romp, distilling the energy of late-night second lines and euphoric block parties, the man himself just frenetically unloading over the beautifully blaring engine room of the To Be Continued Brass Band. Even the most theoretically downbeat number, All Alone, can’t help but sound celebratory. These are big bounce anthems, the climactic Mardi Gras brazenly celebrating the city, twenty years of absorbing its energy and serving it back to the people with interest.
Bra$$ and A$$
With his characteristic enthusiasm, Wild Wayne opens proceedings, listing the credentials that mark HaSizzle’s two decades as ‘the king of bounce’ with ‘a voice like no other’. Who’s going to argue? Not me, that’s for damn sure as hiccups. It’s a raunchy romp, distilling the energy of late-night second lines and euphoric block parties, the man himself just frenetically unloading over the beautifully blaring engine room of the To Be Continued Brass Band. Even the most theoretically downbeat number, All Alone, can’t help but sound celebratory. These are big bounce anthems, the climactic Mardi Gras brazenly celebrating the city, twenty years of absorbing its energy and serving it back to the people with interest.
Sign up for your free, weekly arts and culture email: