New Music Highlights April 9th, 2026: U for Lifers

widrmusic
3 hours ago
2 min read

This week at WIDR, we're enjoying some of the spring weather coming through Kalamazoo as the semester comes to an end. We're still hard at work making sure your source for radio evolution is stocked up on brand new tracks every week! We'll be starting off with Caity Ahearne and some of her thoughts on the track Laid Back by Heat Above:

"It's giving futuristic vibes with the synth going on. I really enjoy how it's upbeat, the vocals come in and it slows down a bit, but then the chorus hits and BOOM. So good. I very much enjoy this one."

Laid Back is a track off Heat Above's most recent album Lifers. Heat Above is a genre-blending band from Michigan formed in Flint in 2021. They recently played a show at the Old Goat Tavern in Kalamazoo and are currently on tour across Michigan. If you are interested in seeing Heat Above on tour, you can find tickets on heataboveband.com . You can listen to Lifers on the WIDR App and anywhere you get 89.1 WIDR FM.

On the other side of Michigan artists spectrum, we have underscores! April Grey, a.k.a underscores is an (honorary) Michigan artists due to her last album Wallsocket being a concept that takes place in the fictional town of Wallsocket, Michigan. Gabriel Williams shares some of their thoughts on the new track Music:

"This song starts hard with some funky beats mixing with soft vocals. The artist knows how to mix talking, singing, electronic beats into a crazy combo that works so well. There is also a crazy switch up about 2 minutes in where the beat goes away to something entirely different, a strange mash, but honestly somehow it works?? Love this artist."

Music was one the first singles for U, underscores more recent album. U represents a departure from April's regular sound, leaning more into electronic pop instead of her usual brand of hyper pop and rock. You can listen to U on the WIDR App or anywhere you get 89.1 WIDR FM. underscores has announced a tour for the album, if you are interested you can find tour dates and tickets on underscores.plus .

For our final highlight of the week, we turn to Black Country, New Road's contribution to the complication album HELP(2) by War Child Records. We previewed one of the lead singles previously on the blog, Opening Night by Arctic Monkeys, with the full album coming out last month. HELP(2) features tracks from Damon Albarn, Cameron Winter, Fontaines D.C, and King Krule. As a charity album, all funds generated goes to support children living in high conflict areas. Will McManus shares his thoughts on the Black Country, New Road track Strangers:

"I liked the folky vibes on this, the female vocals, mandolin, and eventual fiddle were cool. What really sticks out to me is the tape saturation, which sounds too good to be an emulation. I love how the whole mix distorts when the kick and cymbal hit at the same time, that is very cool. Overall a great song."