Ariel Levine grieves, Story & Tune loves, Jim Ryan covers, Blue Largo releases, and Kimmi Bitter’s signature beer

Singer-songwriter Ariel Levine plans to release new singles on October 22 (“Closure, Roaches, and Ghosts”), November 22 (“Don’t Give Up”/“Time,” combining Kate Bush and Pink Floyd covers), and December 22 (“Shake Your Brain Around”). “October and November’s releases wrap the long delayed conclusion of The Seven Singles,” says Levine, “a semi-autobiographical series of songs, chronicling one’s descent into heartbreak, loss, trauma, anger and rage, the varied phases of grief, and the tumultuous path back into the light.”

Karyn Thurston Gilmore and Ben Grace Gilmore are Story and Tune, a coffeehouse and lounge act which they describe as “The real-life love story of two artists from different corners of the world, who found their way to each other via Instagram.” A debut album is due before the end of the year.

The third solo album in twelve months from Jim Ryan (Cardiac Kidz), 555, is due December 16, preceded by the Acoustic Mayhem and No vOICE full-lengths that dropped earlier this year. A single is streaming online for the track “Girl With the Beautiful Smile.” Aside from what Ryan calls “political referendum punk,” the newest full-length also includes a Beatles cover, “All You Need Is Love.”

Country-inspired singer-songwriter Kimmi Bitter is a San Diego native whose debut EP West Side Twang, released in 2019, features a California take on traditional country and soul. She supports her music by touring in a 1995 Dodge camper van nicknamed THEKRNL, which is also the name of a KRNL Bitter Blonde signature beer recently created by Oceanside’s Northern Pine Brewing in honor of the vehicle. Bitter is reportedly working on a new EP, produced by Mark Neill.

Blue Largo plays original music and big-band jump blues, mixing in ’50s and ’60s R&B, straight-up boogie, and heartfelt soul. Their sound was fully formed by the time they recorded their album Before the Devil Steals Your Soul, released in summer 2018. Blue Largo will debut a new CD on October 20 at Humphreys Backstage on Shelter Island.