It’s been a busy few weeks on the local new releases front. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Ali McGuirk dropped her latest single, “Graveyard,” last week. The tune, a sultry, almost trippy slice of R&B, was the last advance single from McGuirk’s new album, Watertop, released on September 12 on Signature Records.
McGuirk’s lyrics on the new record lean heavily into her social activism, which is summed up nicely on opening track “Love Goes First.” “Love is the thing that keeps us afloat,” McGuirk wrote in a press release. “I like to frame love as a practice. It forces us to confront ourselves and it opens whole worlds and portals within us.”
Watertop is available on all streaming services, and McGuirk plays the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge in South Burlington on Saturday, October 4.
Experimental progressive indie-rock band the Dead Shakers are getting ready to release their latest album, Now That’s What I Call Missiles and Bombz 4 Kidz! As the title infers, the record carries heavy political themes. Singer-songwriter, guitarist and front man Kevin Bloom puts all of his thoughts on the war in Gaza at the forefront, with track names such as “To Conflate Jewishness With Zionism Is Itself a Profoundly Anti-Semitic Act, and I Question the Motives of Those Who Do Things Like This” and “Whenever I Hear a Human Being Called a Human Shield.”
Bloom shot a video for the album’s first single, “Raytheon’s Quarterly Profit Review,” which dropped on Tuesday. The video, which focuses on defense contractor Raytheon, was shot in Vergennes near the Collins Aerospace campus. The company is a subsidiary of Raytheon’s parent company, RTX.
The video is streaming now on YouTube. Now That’s What I Call Missiles and Bombz 4 Kidz! drops on Friday, September 19. The Dead Shakers celebrate with a show at Burlington’s Radio Bean on the same day, along with experimental indie-rock act Infinite Cousins.
Fresh off a performance at Grace Potter’s Grand Point North festival over the weekend, singer-songwriter and vocalist Grace Palmer is dropping new music from a forthcoming debut album. After releasing the single “Drunk Sometimes” in August, Palmer returns with “Wanna Go Out?” The jazzy track showcases the singer’s evocative and summer-warm voice as she croons over simple acoustic guitar.
The song is a teaser from Palmer’s upcoming album, which is being produced by Stowe guitarist George Walker Petit, who tapped Palmer to sing in his Tower of Power tribute, Power of Tower. Petit and Palmer perform with the band on Friday, September 26, at Foam Brewers in Burlington. “Wanna Go Out?” is streaming on all major services now.
It’s time for my absolute favorite annual indie festival, POP Montréal. Back for its 24th edition, the fest kicks off next Wednesday, September 24, and runs through Sunday, September 28. There’s nothing quite like POP, which features more than 200 musicians, artists and comedians across 50-plus venues, mostly around the culturally dynamic Mile End neighborhood.
While there isn’t a strong Vermont contingent at this year’s fest — something we really need to address, so be sure to talk up our killer scene if you make the trip — POP’s 2025 lineup is jam-packed with the likes of Toronto electronica act Holy Fuck, Gnawa music torchbearers Asmaa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou, Palestinian hip-hop pioneers DAM, indie-pop act Chanel Beads and Canadian indie-poppers U.S. Girls, among many others.
There’s more to POP than just tunes, by the way. Encompassed within the fest are mini-scenes like Art POP, Film POP and Comedy POP, as well as a new feature this year that I will 100 percent be attending: Fashion PUP, a canine fashion show on September 28.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit popmontreal.com.
Listening In
Playlist of Vermont jams
This article appears in Sep 17-23 2025.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!