Kevin Bronson on February 24th, 2023

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Watch new videos from artists with new or soon-to-arrive albums: from Death Valley Girls, Collapsing Scenery and Rose’s Pawn Shop …

DEATH VALLEY GIRLS, “Islands in the Sky”

The title of Death Valley Girls’ previous album was “Under the Influence of Joy,” so what exactly is intoxicating the L.A. quartet’s follow-up, “Islands in the Sky” (out today)? The notion that “everyone has magic powers,” Bonnie Bloomgarden tells Aquarium Drunkard in this interview. So here, a day early, is the album’s bewitching title track, which Bloomgarden says, was written “for our future selves, hoping that if we can share the secrets we have learned from this life, and all our past lives, we wouldn’t have to suffer or feel alone again in our next incarnations.” See also previous singles “Magic Powers,” “Sunday” and “What Are the Odds.” Celebrate by checking out Dylan Greenberg’s video, and maybe by seeing them play April 1 at Pappy & Harriet’s.

COLLAPSING SCENERY, “The Right to Life”

The duo of Don De Vore and Reggie Debris continue to use their icy, dark, multi-hyphenated music as well-aimed salvos in culture and politics. The follow-up to “Gold Rush,” new single “The Right to Life” is the second from their album “A Desert Called Peace” (out March 10). “‘The Right to Life’ was written after a couple years of observing various unhinged responses to the pandemic and its societal impact, in particular an essay by [theologian] R.R. Reno which contemptuously accused the liberal left of being consumed by a pathetic, Godless fear of death, manifested in support for lockdowns, social distancing and masks. This argument (screed, really) was all the more head-spinning coming from a conservative Catholic, who otherwise drones on endlessly about fostering a ‘culture of life.’ To quote another Catholic, the great G.K. Chesterton, ‘When a man believes that any stick will do, he at once picks up a boomerang.’” Alexandra Cabral directs the video.

ROSE’S PAWN SHOP, “Old-Time Pugilist”

What better way to celebrate their first album in eight years than lead it off with a song about perseverance? Rose’s Pawn Shop, longtime purveyors of Americana, today released their fourth album ,”Punch-Drunk Life,” and it leads with “Old Time Pugilist.” Says lead singer Paul Givant: “‘Old Time Pugilist’ is a song about not giving up on yourself — a boxing metaphor and a high-energy Americana, folk-rock, alt-country anthem of inspiration for the little Rocky Balboa that lives within all our hearts.” Director Kenneth Billington’s video follows an elderly man as he steals into the ring to throw a few more punches. Rose’s Pawn Show celebrate their album release with a show tonight at the Hotel Café.