Nashville singer-songwriter India Ramey conjures up the apocalyptic dread of the Trump era in “King of the Ashes,” from her upcoming album Shallow Graves. Over ominous minor chords and rumbling baritone guitar, Ramey describes a serpent-tongued wolf in sheep’s clothing who “preys on the fearful and the weak.” But instead of hopelessness, she’s calling for action, to speak up and rise up: “‘Cause hate is gasoline and silence is the matches.”

Popular Music’s cover is even more haunting and bare-bones than the breathtaking original, and Zac’s voice remains as unmistakable as ever.

The video for “King of Ashes” reflects our social distanced spring, with Ramey singing out as if from an underground pirate radio station, getting out the message to friends, family and fans who had each sent in clips of them listening and responding to the renegade broadcast. Finally, it’s artfully strung together as an urgent black and white call to action that has much more life than any Zoom connection. It ends with a booming guitar outro with a link to voter registration.

The original song credits FIVE MEN with the songwriting. Unbelievable, because it’s literally two chords and lyrics that rhyme ‘gun’ with ‘one.’ That’s nice though because I think even when you skip intro they still get a cut. It’s like when you win the lottery with your work friends.

If you close your eyes and turn on Cry All the Time, the new LP by Impulsive Hearts, the surf-rock band’s sound will transport you to a gloomy beach, where you’ll want to dance, reminisce, and of course, cry. But the Chicago-bred band’s music will do more than take you to the water — it will help the Chicago community.

Impulsive Hearts have a history of dropping summer-themed jams just when it seems like warm weather might never come back—plus they use their music to do good! The local five-piece, led by singer-songwriter Danielle Sines, donated proceeds from a 2019 EP to Chicago sexual-violence-prevention nonprofit Resilience. Their excellent sophomore full-length, Cry All The Time, arrives Friday, March 6 (via Midwest Action and Cavity Search), and a portion of vinyl sales will benefit Girls Rock! Chicago. Impulsive Hearts play Thursday, March 19, at Sleeping Village as part of Midwest Action’s Spring Showcase with Bev Rage & the Drinks, Harvey Fox, and Richard Album.

Southeast Michigan-based country rock outfit Loose Koozies make thrillingly unfussy music. Pedal steel guitarist Pete Ballard has a hypnotically languid style, lead guitarist Andrew “Mad Dog” Moran [Ed. Note: Hell yeah] is as comfortable lounging at the back of the mix as he is giddily bursting into solos, and bassist Erin Davis and drummer Nick German seemingly have the sort of implicit connection that underpins most great rock bands.

The inspiration for “My Beautiful Enemy” came from the song Andralis wrote before this title track. The subject of the original song was the same, but he found the tone was “just mean.” This rough draft allowed for a release of built-up toxicity and cleared space in Andralis’ heart for what would come next.

“Lock Me Up,” the single obtained exclusively by Queerty, meditates on feelings of demonization and being the outcast, with a sound that channels the Riot Girrl rock sound of bands like Veruca Salt and the folky introspection of Liz Phair. A beautiful, pensive tune, it’s a marvelous palate cleanser for the overplayed bombardment of radio pop.

This is a fitting video for today since it is Halloween. This video features a vampiric Sam Miller doing things vampires do like drinking blood and playing the piano. Theatrics aside we think this is a top-notch track. It has nice piano melodies with a little bit of country feel against lovelorn lyrics that will instantly hook into the listener.