#MusicMonday Review - February 2026 Part 2

[osornios]

#MusicMonday is the hashtag I've been using for quite a while to share music recommendations from up-and-coming artists. Always fresh, and always different, trying to look for trends before they become one. You can check February's Part 1 review for more music.

In this edition, let's explore the dark side of technology, not without looking back on how history, and our families, can give us a guiding light to navigate through life. Give them a listen, with a word from the artists themselves. 🎧

Thistle Sifter – Ghost Acres

"We're totally dependent on farming, and it's surrounded by all these sort of comforting myths and stories for the very young children about this lovely livestock farm where there's one horse, one cow , one pig, one cat, one dog living in harmony, and that's how we'd like to see it, but the reality is it's the greatest cause of habitat destruction, greatest cause of extinction, one of the greatest causes of climate breakdown, of fresh water pollution, of marine pollution, also major cause actually of air pollution.

We don't think about that very often. It's a major cause of soil loss, a major cause of water use. It is amazing how little it features in our environmental consciousness. We talk about transport, we talk about home insulation, we talk about industry, and yet somehow we don't want to go there."

We begin our travels in Utrecht, NL with a Progressive Post-Rock track about the classic line of thought regarding the countryside as the seed of innocence and purity, while making the city an evil, corrupt, entity. Is there more to the story?

"Ghost Acres was inspired by the book Regenesis by George Monbiot, and also features a quote from Monbiot talking about the effects of modern day agriculture on our natural environment.

In an age where most developed countries outsource food production, ghost acres represent the real amount of land that is needed to produce the products that we consume. The title of the track symbolizes the idea that most Westerners live their lives dependent on ghost acreage, far removed from the origins of the food they are consuming."

spotify:track:3k3E4vHumb9ANAwncKKAhb:small

CALL IT VAIN – Saturday Superhero

I’m left with these growing pains
But nothing else feels the same
As it once did, the silence
Covered in laughs as a kid
What I’d do to bring it all back

It’s just a sigh for attention
To teach me a lesson again
I find myself staring at the ceiling, then
I try to, don’t like to
Lock it up, can’t cry, no time to

We go now to Yorkshire, England for an Indie Rock track about that person whose guidance saves you from breaking down, and makes you nostalgic from remembering everything you did together:

"I wrote this when I was 18 and wanted to use it as a way of expressing my relationship with my dad. I’ve always had a lot of respect for my dad and I’m very grateful for everything he’s done for me. I’ve always wanted to make him proud and that’s something I go into in the song.

I talk about feelings of self-doubt, admiration and anything else that makes a father-son relationship. This is my favourite song to play live because it always reminds me of one of the reasons I started playing music in the first place, because of him."

spotify:track:32Hv3TIUaYi1MK6FfTDdL4:small

The Corner Laughers – Rainbow Cardigan

I climbed up to Kendal Castle on a cold and rainy day
Saw the ruins all around us and the town so old and grey
Wrapped in a rainbow cardigan to keep the blues at bay

I went whistling through the graveyard, for I didn't know the way
Stumbled in the muddy puddles past the stone walls in decay
Wrapped in a rainbow cardigan to keep above the fray

From Redwood City, CA, we get an Indie Pop/Folk song about being old, and young, at the same time, with all the faults, and responsibilities, that makes us who we are:

"Often when I write a song, it starts with a little scrap of something and only after it’s all stitched together is the pattern unveiled. Here, the concept seems to be of a woven textile piece representing the knitting together of time and space – a kind of cosmic map or web. The song is a bit of a microcosm of the album as a whole, with its imagery of colors and shades, its distinctive blend of sadness and joy, anxiety and wonder.

There is, in fact, a real rainbow cardigan, which I fell in love with and bought from a little shop with a wonderful owner in the town of Kendal, England. Looking around at the ruins, I realized that old as they were, in the grand, universal scheme of things, they – and all of humankind’s civilizations and buildings – they really aren’t old at all. And that leads into how it feels to me, heading into my own 'middle ages', sometimes unspeakably ancient and sometimes like a little child. Perhaps you’ve felt the same?

We then move to one of my favorite places on Earth – Lake Lagunitas, in Fairfax, California, where I grew up – and to the way reliving past mistakes can seem to replay endlessly. I was thinking of earthquake faults and topographic maps, which lead me back to textiles. All the good and bad and colors and textures of life woven and wrapped up together, I suppose."

spotify:track:2zRXdw8Ool5XE5VaHxA4Li:small

Baby Condor – Backcountry Towns

Your eyes betray all lies you ever told

your smile fails to disguise the ones still on your tongue

If only you were stolen from your golden coach

to roam the concrete jungle home to common folk

You’d know

We fly now to Deventer, NL for a Modern Americana track about how simple life in the country is, without the complications of technology:

"Well it’s basically a protest song against the modern oligarchs, mainly because of what’s happening in the US with the big tech bros. consolidating power by controlling the information flow and killing our critical thinking.

Small town simple truths and humaneness for the win 😄"

spotify:track:5qGzVDh9YMXhz1OSK35V1u:small

Howling Hawk – Nine Miles High

There’s poison in the air and there’s lead in the water
And we're dead in the water if we believe the news
Nine miles high, there’s an eye in the sky
They see inside and they don’t like the view

They see you in the morning and they see you in the dark
And you’re halfway there if you take it all to heart
Nine miles high, electric is the night
They’re anywhere and everywhere you are

Our musical trip ends in London, England with a Britpop track helping someone with a serious technology addiction, where sunshine seems so far behind:

"A friend of ours was going absolutely mental, spending too much time online and believing in all the noise. He got really paranoid, thought people were spying on him through his phone. The song is about pulling someone out of that hole."

spotify:track:3vxnvMgQC2JnnSBqpi3Xgo:small

#MusicMonday 2025

It's time to recap 2025 with this year's compilation. 76 titles from original artists covering all types of genres, represent the multiple trends independent artists were proud to establish. Have a listen:

spotify:playlist:71fadol0hgsdSjLpM828HZ

Listen to them and much more on the complete playlist

spotify:playlist:2IYRLjcwf2X9vC0QrI0b0P

See you next time!