Three rock acts, three entry points: a Birmingham multi-instrumentalist working from his own studio, a Rome guitarist stepping out after seventeen years in a band, and a New York songwriter releasing decades of writing all at once.
PJD – On New Horizons
PJD makes “On New Horizons” into a brilliant alt-rock stunner: live, restless, and recorded with an genre-hopping urgency that’s loads of fun
“On New Horizons” opens PJD’s album “A New Religion” with its subject matter right there in the title: the human compulsion to keep moving, to believe something better exists beyond the next ridge. Recorded mostly at PJD’s own Newfield Studio in Birmingham, with drums captured at a larger studio to give the rhythm section room to breathe. This reminds me slightly of a Pink Floyd song, possibly in it’s chord structure, or it’s lyrical tone. But it’s definitely a unique piece, shifting between synths, screaming guitars, a great vocal, and an insistent rhythm that I love.
PJD spent years as a session guitarist working prestigious venues and festivals before channelling that experience into a solo project where he controls everything: writing, instrumentation, vocals, production. His touchstones are Bill Nelson’s melodic invention, Gary Moore’s guitar weight, Eric Clapton’s feel and a touch of Bowie. Some big names then, but the result sounds very PJD. Excitingly, the “A New Religion” album doesn’t sound like it will lack ambition, tackling everything from humanity’s relationship with wealth and power to personal loss connected to the 2025 LA wildfires. It’s a great intro to the world of PJD, and we can’t wait for more.
Lipford – THE MUSIC
Lipford makes ‘The Music’ into a superb hard rock stunner about creativity as survival, and the conviction behind every bar makes it impossible to resist.
“THE MUSIC” is a deliciously hard rock track about one thing: using music as a lifeline. It wastes no time in getting down to it, and the production keeps the intensity front and centre. Guitars are crunching wonderfully, while the lyrical theme of resilience through art gives the whole thing a personal urgency that goes a long way beyond generic rock posturing. Melodically it’s great, and like all good rock music, it’s not just whizzy guitar solos, there’s also a genuinely good song at the core.
Lipford was born in Rome in 1985 and spent seventeen years as guitarist and composer for Italian rock band MANTRAM. When the group disbanded in January 2019, he chose to reinvent himself, stepping out under his own name with a sound shaped by those years of composition but no longer filtered through a group identity. His solo work is great, blending heartfelt melodies with introspective lyrics, and we’re very glad he made the move into his own stuff. On the strength of this, he’s got a very exciting future.
36 Plots – Since You’ve Gone
36 Plots make “Since You’ve Gone” into a genuinely excellent rock track: the kind of song that sounds like it has been waiting years to exist.
“Since You’ve Gone” arrives as part of “12 Reimagined Souls,” a project built around songs by the wonderfully titled AC Cashdollar. He’s written across decades, revisited and released for the first time in 2026. This one’s a big, bold and beautiful rock ballad with a lot of 80s influences, and the melodies are exactly what you’d hope from a track in this space. There’s a stunner of a guitar solo too. The hook and the chorus lands, and it’s definitely lighters in the air time.
AC Cashdollar has been writing songs since the age of 14, working as vocalist, bassist, and guitarist across a string of bands and projects before releasing his own acoustic album in 2002. He subsequently moved into electronic music production, which gives the 36 Plots project a broad technical range to draw from. The name “36 Plots” comes from the concept of 12 Reimagined Souls, and it’s good to have more music with an ambitious framing these days. However it’s framed, it rocks and you should check this banger out below.