New Releases

Austin band CorMae rages on sarcastic new EP Everything is So Great

CorMae's "Everything is So Great" sounds as fun and celebratory as the world currently is not.

Photo courtesy of CorMae

Five-piece local punk band CorMae release their new EP, Everything is So Great, on June 12. It's a record about economic anxiety, mental health, doomscrolling, and the general sensation of being crushed under the weight of modern life, set to fun, frenetic guitar punk.

"It just seems like everything is just ... not great, which is why our album is named Everything is So Great," says vocalist Amber Appleton. "Big, fat, sarcastic asterisk next to that title."

The EP opens with a jolt. "Time Deleter" launches out the gate with a propulsive guitar riff and Appleton’s signature shouting vocals, setting the EP's no-apologies tone. "Mindst8" follows with a whistling, chipper melody, the ironic refrain functioning like a mantra for anyone white-knuckling their way through whatever bad news cycle is up next.

The album's lead single, “Rut,”, is a standout: a thunderous double-bass stomper about being stuck, waiting for a break that may or may not come. Appleton’s hyperventilating vocal delivery late in the song feels like genuine catharsis. “Rut” will be featured in a music video due out today, June 12.

There’s irony all over the album, like the more cutting “Bigtime”, an indictment of fame culture and the endless performance of ambition. But some tracks, like the pointedly looping “ADHD” and the 43-second interlude “Credit Card? You Got It” offer comic relief with enough self-awareness to make the listener laugh and wince simultaneously.

Drummer Aaron Gilligan calls felt the emotions hit hard in “Big Time,” which bleeds into closing track “Tired” to form one cohesive story ending in an adrenaline crash. Appleton and Gilligan are the couple at the center of CorMae, and Gilligan recalls being moved by Appleton’s full-throated scream before the song breaks down.

"I remember when we were recording that moment, bawling my eyes out in the studio, because I know where that release was coming from," Gilligan says.

Everything is So Great album cover Everything is So Great by CorMaeAlbum art courtesy of CorMae

Everything is So Great, produced by Jonas Wilson, is the perhaps CorMae’s most cohesive release, a natural evolution from two previous EPs and a live record released in 2025. The current lineup — Appleton on lead vocals, Tessa Cayton on lead guitar and backing vocals, Meryl Mabin on guitar and backing vocals, Maria Romero on bass, and Gilligan on drums — sounds like a band that has truly settled into itself.

CorMae are “figuring out what our ethos and sound is," Gilligan says. "We don't allow ourselves to be sandwiched into one little microgenre. We're always exploring different stuff."

Austin critics have been paying attention. KUTX called CorMae "the perfect garage punk fuel for the riot grrrl coursing through your veins," and the band was nominated for Best Punk Band at the Austin Chronicle's 2025–2026 Austin Music Awards. They’ve shared stages with Murder City Devils, Pretty Girls Make Graves, and Of Montreal.

The connection with Of Montreal turned into something bigger. Appleton submitted the band to open for them in 2025 and got a last-minute call when the original opener dropped. Appleton hung around after the set, found the group’s co-founder, Kevin Barnes,, told him exactly how much his music had meant to them, and asked if CorMae could join him on tour

It worked. CorMae heads out June 19 on a 16-date national run supporting Of Montreal, hitting Webster Hall in New York, 9:30 Club in DC, and Thalia Hall in Chicago, among others.

But first, CorMae celebrates the release right here at home. On June 12, they'll sign records at Waterloo at 5 pm before playing their official release show that night at the 13th Floor with Heavy Velvet, Fifi Knifefight, and Top Down.

Everything is So Great is available to stream or purchase now. Vinyl records, cassette tapes, and band merch are also available via the band’s online shop.

new releases local artists music

Movie Review

Disclosure Day is instilled with classic Steven Spielberg wonder

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

Tommy Martinez, Emily Blunt, and Josh O'Connor in Disclosure Day.

With the release of Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg has now directed 17 feature films over 26 years in the 21st century, the exact same number over the exact same period of time he did in the 20th century. The first half of his career was mostly defined by his blockbuster films, while the second half has seen him exploring a lot more serious material. Disclosure Day marries the two for an experience only he could deliver.

The film starts in medias res, as Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is being pursued by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) and a team of henchmen for stealing intellectual property from Wardex, a government contractor for which he works. As the audience gradually discovers, Daniel is a cyber-security programmer who has discovered evidence of alien life in the company’s servers. He and others within the company, including Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), are determined to release the information to the public.

Concurrently, television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) starts experiencing weird things, including the ability to speak multiple languages and read people’s minds. Without either of them actively trying to seek each other out, Daniel and Margaret are set on a path to meet, with Scanlon (with the help of a mysterious alien device) trying to track their every move.

Directed by Spielberg and written by David Koepp, the film is an almost even mix between classic Spielberg wonder and a deep story about what it is to be human. By starting the film in the middle of the story, Spielberg immediately ramps up the excitement level. While the movie has relatively little action, that sequence and a few others deliver the type of propulsion for which Spielberg is revered, keeping the 145-minute film moving at a brisk pace.

Of the different types of alien movies Spielberg has made over the years, this one is closer to Close Encounters of the Third Kind than E.T. The story ponders the ethical, religious, political, and sociological effects that revealing the existence of aliens could have on the world. The debates had by various characters purposefully take the film out of being a sheer popcorn flick, forcing the audience to grapple with issues that they may have never considered before.

Unlike some other Spielberg films, he and Koepp don’t hold the audience’s collective hand throughout the story. There are a lot of times when viewers have to use context clues to understand exactly what is happening. That especially goes for an extremely important aspect of the world in which the story takes place that could pass you by if you’re only paying attention to the main characters’ dialogue. Spielberg’s using only subtle allusions for an element which would be the main focus of most other films is a fascinating choice.

O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man, Challengers) has that everyman quality that a story like this needs. It always feels like it's him against the world, and does a terrific job of exuding both confidence and fear. Blunt delivers a fantastic performance, switching between confusion and composure with ease. Firth makes for a solid villain, and the story is helped by great turns from Domingo and Eve Hewson.

The idea that the nearly 80-year-old Steven Spielberg is still making blockbuster-style movies over 50 years after he made Jaws is astonishing, and the fact that he still knows how to make them work is even more impressive. Disclosure Day may not be the type of alien movie many were expecting, but it’s another high water mark in a career that has been full of them.

---

Disclosure Day opens in theaters on June 12.

movies film emily blunt steven spielberg colman domingo josh o'connor colin firth movie review