We Speak Indie Artist
Leoni Alexi Impresses With “Time Shift”
There is a certain kind of debut record that sounds like a diary entry. Not in a sentimental sense, but in the way it captures a specific turning point in someone’s creative life. Leoni Alexi’s “Time Shift” has that feeling all over it.
You can almost hear the moment where DJ curiosity turns into full-blown production obsession. The track is unapologetically club-focused. It runs on a fast pulse, wrapped in thick bass and sharp percussion that keeps tightening the groove every few bars. Nothing here is trying to be radio-friendly, and that is exactly why it works.
Alexi has spoken about learning production in Playa del Carmen under David Bau, and there is a sense of exploration in the track that suggests those early studio sessions were about pushing buttons, breaking things, and figuring out how far the sound could go. Instead of polishing the edges too much, “Time Shift” embraces the grit.
The collaboration with Pig&Dan adds muscle to the record, particularly in the low end. Their experience with big techno systems is obvious, but the personality of the track still belongs to Alexi. It feels like someone discovering how powerful their own sound can be.
The result is a debut that feels alive. Not overly calculated. Not overly careful. Just a dark, driving techno track that seems designed for that point in the night when the dancefloor stops talking and starts moving.
There’s a particular kind of hunger that defines a band on the verge — that combustible mix of raw talent, hard-won momentum, and the unmistakable sense that everything they’ve been building is about to break wide open. The Chads, the pop-punk-ska fireballers out of Sayville, New York, have that hunger in abundance. And in 2026, they are ready to feed it.
The foundation is already in place. The four-piece — Joy, Mike, Mark, and Santino — spent the past year stacking wins that most bands spend a decade chasing. They took home the WEHM Battle of the Bands, earned a coveted spot on the Jumbalaya Stage at the Great South Bay Music Festival, and walked into a WPIX Morning Show segment that put their faces and their music in front of a New York City-wide audience. For a band still in the early stages of their career, it is a résumé that commands attention.
Their debut single “The Neighbors” — a razor-sharp, high-energy pop-punk-ska hybrid pulled straight from a true story of Long Island life — announced their arrival with a wink and a riff. Tongue-in-cheek in tone but tight as a drum in execution, the song showcases exactly what makes The Chads stand out in a crowded regional scene: they can make you laugh and make you move at the same time, which is a far rarer skill than it sounds. The track is available on Spotify and has been making steady inroads on radio, building the kind of organic buzz that no marketing budget can manufacture.
Now comes the next chapter. The Chads are heading into Dream Studios with producer Jason Mekler to record their new EP — a project that represents the most significant creative investment of their career to date. Mekler’s production experience combined with the band’s live-honed instincts makes for a pairing with serious promise. If “The Neighbors” was the introduction, the EP is the statement — the recorded proof that what audiences have been experiencing in clubs and on festival stages across Long Island translates just as powerfully through speakers.
The tri-state area has been the proving ground. The world is next.
Pop-punk has always thrived on authenticity — on bands that sound like they mean it, that write songs about real places and real people and real absurdities of everyday life.
The Chads check every one of those boxes. They are a Long Island band in the truest sense: specific enough to feel genuine, relatable enough to travel far beyond the island that made them.
Watch for the EP. Watch for the tour dates. Watch for the name.
The Chads are coming — and they are bringing Sayville with them.
Watch The Chads “MFH” music video on youtube here:
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