Editor’s Note: Anyone who says there isn’t good music coming out these days — and quite literally, every day — simply isn’t paying attention. Vanyaland’s compilation feature The V List highlights the best in new music, both homegrown and national, over the past month, pulling together the sounds that have soundtracked the website in recent weeks. It’s all the stuff we’re bumping here at Vanyaland HQ, one new bop at a time.
Haute & Freddy, ‘Touch Touch’
We find ourselves in a time and place where pop-escapism is needed now more than ever. Haute & Freddy are here to provide an aural portal. The breakout Los Angeles duo of veteran songwriter and vocalist Michelle Buzz (“Haute”) and drummer and producer Lance Shipp (“Freddy”) delivered one of 2026’s more essential albums in March’s Big Disgrace (and not simply due to its hyper-aware title), and return this month with a soothing electronic-pop bop called “Touch Touch.” It’s a cinematic throwback to ’80s enchantment synth, full of drama and casual grandeur, and has us recalling late nights under neon lights spent dancing to Cyndi, Laura, and Bonnie. As the new and familiar make out in a darkened corner, “Touch Touch” has a transportive effect on our overstimulated minds and understimulated hearts, and the theatrical duo has shifted the kiss from our ears to our eyes through a vibrant new high-concept music video directed by Amalia Irons. “I don’t know if it’s more about the empowerment of intimacy or the simplicity of letting community soothe the insanity of life right now, but regardless, it’s shamelessly dramatic,” says Buzz. “We were writing in Joshua Tree, and Lance was laying down the bass line. I was dancing in the kitchen and just instantly thought, ‘I think I have a chorus — let’s lay it down.’ We were both like, ‘Yep!’ The chorus is lusty and fun, while the verses embrace the sensitive side of us underneath all the escapism.”
Mel Denisse, ‘Hunted’
We suddenly found ourselves on the other side of Labor Day here in the states, which means the days grow darker, the air feels crisper, and the landscape shifts to something a bit colder. The skies are colored a magnetic shade between black and white, and its within this gray area where Mel Denisse’s new single “Hunted” finds its colorful bloom. The Nashville-based artist and producer dropped her latest in early-ish September, drawing from dark romance themes that blur fear and obsession, and it’s a nocturnal glide of alt-pop and alternative rock with jagged edges protecting an atmospheric core of human vulnerability. “It’s a bit of a psychological game, blending obsession, fear, and desire towards someone or something that you are fighting one day, embracing the next,” says Denisse. “Things aren’t always black and white and this track explores a lot of those emotions.” Take it with you through as autumn unfolds and the world shifts into something more primal.
The War on Drugs, ‘Who’s That’
Indie rock luminaries, they’re just like us. While we’re banging out short bursts of creativity and embracing tiny acts of sanity in between mundane daily commitments, some of our fave musicians are doing the same. This month The War on Drugs returned with their first new music in four years, a weathered and self-assured rock and roll cruiser called “Who’s That,” and it came together one day before the kids had a chance to get their learn on, notes band ringleader Adam Granduciel. “’Who’s That’ was written in 10 minutes somewhere between first coffee and school drop off,” Granduciel says. And like for most of us, that sweet sense of clarity kicked in during the morning hours, with the full day ahead and a fresh perspective fully welcomed. “It’s a song about trying to love yourself despite things we can’t always control,” he adds, “like the anxiety, depression and self-doubt that may stand in the way of living the life.” Grab a cuppa the Philly crew’s latest via the Max Flick-directed video below.
Mollie Coddled, ‘Raincloud’
We’re standing on the edge of autumn here in New England, which means after the blissful quarter of holiday ‘Ber months ahead, winter’s cruel darkness is lurking right around the calendar’s corner. So when Mollie Coddled says her new single, an effervescent alt-pop floater called “Raincloud,” was inspired by “a suffocation of emotional turbulence and shitty English weather” and written during “the depths of bed rotting season,” we take note. We’ll be there soon enough. The North Yorkshire artist dropped the track this week, and it’s another look into her creative portal as a queer artist with autism and ADHD. “As someone who pushes it all down in an attempt to avoid spiraling into an emotional mess, I find it pretty impossible to cry,” Coddled adds. “So, I’ve always used listening to sad songs as a way to purge my emotions and give myself permission to wallow; ‘Raincloud’ is a manifestation of that (I want to cry every time I hear it now, hahaha).”
Dinowalrus, ‘The Scavenger’
Few British bands of the ’90s have been as influential in the following decades as Ride. And while the pioneering shoegaze quartet — certainly no stranger to our pink-ink pages — has continued to expand its warm, encompassing sound in its celebrated second act, frontman Mark Gardener has also helped shape a scene behind the board, working studio magic with the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Andre Obin, Swervedriver, and others. New York City’s Dinowalrus have also tapped Gardener to capture a certain musical mood, one with a lineage that draws back several decades without ever not looking forward, and that shines in blissful brightness through the foursome’s swirling new single “The Scavenger.” Gardener linking up with the psychedelic post-punk band to mix their latest appears to be a perfect match, as “The Scavenger” balances a line of fresh and familiar, aligning with the classics with a dose of propulsive 2026 melancholy and wistful yearning. It’s where the vibrancy of Madchester dances with the shadows of Brooklyn, filtered through a mind that understands both.
“Having Mark Gardener mix it in his Oxford studio was really meaningful,” says guitarist and vocalist Pete Feigenbaum. “Ride’s retro/future take on British psychedelia has obviously been a huge influence on us, and Mark brought a new perspective on mix hierarchy, and a lot of classic rack gear into the mix session, including a Lexicon PCM 60 reverb unit — the same model that was used on The Stone Roses’ debut album…That connection to the recording history behind the music we’re drawing from was really cool, but more importantly, Mark brought a lot of clarity and depth to the mix while letting all those vocal layers and the rhythmic backbone coexist.” Get lost in the Ben Hozie-directed video for “The Scavenger” below.