Over vs. Under

By Henry Lipput

If the classic song “Over The Rainbow” is about the dream of a better future then what does “Under The Rainbow,” the new single from Shapes Like People, mean? The first song is a fantasy that doesn’t exist of a wonderful life with little work needed to achieve one’s goals. “Under The Rainbow" is, on the other hand, the good life that you and your loved ones make for yourselves, using what you have, “knocking up a feast from scraps you’ve grown/using all the things you have around.”

“Under The Rainbow” is the second single (and also the title track) in advance of next year’s Shapes Like People album and a follow-up to this year’s Ticking Haze. Described by the band’s Kat and Carl Mann as a “hopelessly addictive slice of jangly indie pop” there’s also a strong bass line and strummed acoustic guitar building a foundation.

New Singles From The Legal Matters and The Jack Rubies

By Henry Lipput

2026 is already starting to look like a good year for music. Both The Legal Matters and The Jack Rubies have both released singles for albums coming out early next year by Big Stir Records.

“Everybody Knows” – The Legal Matters

Next year it will be six years since Chapter Three, the last album by Michigan’s The Legal Matters, came out in 2021. I became a big fan with their brilliant second album Conrad (2016) and so it came as great news that Lost At Sea will be available early next year.

The new single, “Everybody Knows,” is the kind of wonderful pop for which The Legal Matters is known. The core band is made up of Keith Klingensmith, Andy Reed, and Chris Richards. Richards is lead vocalist on the new single and all three take turns in the spotlight. The trio also provides the soaring harmonies that lift the songs to Fab heights.

"Greedy" -- The Jack Rubies

“Greedy” is the second single and the lead-off track from Visions In The Bowling Alley (out on January 2026), the new album from The Jack Rubies. These post-punk and C86 veterans’ comeback album Clocks Are Out Of Time was a Pure Pop fav last year. 

With “Greedy” The Jack Rubies continue to mine the vein of what our (insert your own adjective) world has become. Following the single “Are We Being Recorded?”, a look at the surveillance state, the new song asks the musical question “When is it ever enough” and responds to the many -illionaires that are made each day: “What you have you do not need.”

All of this might sound more than a bit overbearing and scholarly but you don’t have to worry – because it rocks!