Cal Mercer reviews guitar-driven music, alternative releases, and louder independent acts, focusing on energy, originality, performance, and production weight.
“If the rhythm section is honest, the rest can be argued.”
Weezer’s live-tracked breakup duet hands half the song to Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman — and is honest enough to let her steal it, pedal steel and grunge-deadpan smeared across vintage power-pop.
A 1990 power-pop showcase from Bellybutton where Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning cram Beatles harmonies, Queen drama and Beach Boys sunshine into one giddy, overstuffed song — maximalism as a love language.
3fixx’s “Fly Away” is a sincere, guitar-driven rock track built around the familiar but durable desire to break free from whatever has become too heavy to carry. With its classic-rock instincts, steady melodic shape, and unpretentious independent spirit, the song feels less interested in chasing trends than in capturing the emotional release of movement, distance, and starting again.
Dan Byrne’s “She’s The Devil” is a confident, unapologetic blues-rock single from a UK voice that clearly knows what it wants the song to sound like — and what it doesn’t want it to apologise for. It’s a Frontiers Music srl release from his debut album, due May 22, 2026.
