Discover Ghostly Vol. 4
Summer Sessions from crushed & TOPS, a mellow playlist, and more.
A debut album for crushed, No Scope is out September 26th
As crushed, musicians Bre Morell and Shaun Durkan make maximalist dream pop music for themselves. Recording out of various homes, not fixed to any single location (Morell from Texas, now based in Los Angeles, and Durkan in Portland, Oregon), they write the songs they want to hear, tuning from shared taste for trip-hop, Britpop, electronica, and the canon of '90s alt radio, a desire for emotionality, and an instinct for when it sounds right and honest; when it means something real to them.
Their full-length debut, no scope, embodies their trust in one another and in their craft. A "no scope" kill in the video game lexicon is achieved by shooting a sniper rifle at close range without scoping in on your target, an apt metaphor for two artists following their pop impulses, shooting from the hip with precision. "It might also mean like, having no future," jokes Morell, "getting no-scoped by life." The reality of failure looms in most creative pursuits, perhaps more pronounced the further into your field you get. Several musical lives and midnight transmissions have led Morell and Durkan to this project. And on the triumphant no scope, crushed take life's best shots with their strongest work, wielding melodic, open-hearted hooks through a maze of breakbeats and spliced sound design with unprecedented immediacy and clarity.
Out September 26th on PSG1 color vinyl and CD (photos by Ben Rayner), with co-production by Jorge Albrecht & mastering by Dave Cooley, no scope is up for pre-order now. crushed kick off a US tour with Cafuné in September.
New single/video for TOPS
Montréal band TOPS shares “Falling On My Sword,” the third single from their forthcoming album Bury The Key due August 22nd.
Showing another facet of their darker side, "Falling On My Sword" channels band member David Carriere's love of hardcore punk from an arrangement perspective, "but played in our style" he says. "We were joking around quite a bit when we started writing this song, Jane was playing bass which is very out of the norm for us. It’s written from the perspective of a teen girl who thinks that everyone sucks and the societal norm of monogamous commitment is pathetic. I guess it could be from the perspective of an adult as well. We tried to lay the song out in the form of a hardcore punk/beatdown tune, with tritone power chords and a breakdown (for moshing). In the end it sounds more like a TOPS song than anything else but it was a fun diversion that led us to a cool new place."
Hat by Eric Hu
Remaining hats from our Eric Hu for Ghostly 2025 capsule have been added to our site.
Ghostly: At Rest playlist
Easing into the long weekend with our latest At Rest playlist update feat.
, Annahstasia, Felbm, Lucy Gooch, Biosphere, and more. Check all our playlists here.