June Ends Loud

By Cliff Potts, CSO and Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

BAYBAY CITY, LEYTE, PHILIPPINES — 1235 PHT, June 30, 2026 — The end of June brings a remarkable three-album release run from Cliff Potts & the AI Rebellion, continuing one of the most ambitious independent music projects currently underway.

The release cluster begins on June 23 with Between the Years, followed by Bringing in the Line on June 24, and concludes with Business to Business Blues on June 26.

While each project stands on its own, together they represent another chapter in the ever-expanding WPS News creative universe. What began as a journalism project has steadily expanded into music, books, essays, podcasts, and experimental storytelling. These three albums continue that tradition while exploring very different themes and musical styles.

Between the Years

Released through DistroKid, Between the Years is a blues-rock album about forgotten people, broken systems, protest, memory, resilience, and survival.

The songs examine what happens when institutions fail, promises are abandoned, and ordinary people are left to navigate the wreckage. Yet despite its serious themes, the album remains hopeful. Running through the music is a simple message: we’re still here.

Part protest album, part reflection, and part declaration of stubborn endurance, Between the Years speaks to workers, dreamers, activists, outsiders, and anyone who has ever felt left behind by the modern world.

The systems may be cracked. The headlines may be discouraging. The years may blur together.

But the voices remain.

Bringing in the Line

Released through Amuse, Bringing in the Line takes listeners in a very different direction.

This short-form audio rock opera tells the story of a city that has existed for years without a transportation connection. People have discussed building a rail line for generations. Plans have been proposed, delayed, shelved, revived, and debated.

Then one day the project finally moves forward.

On the surface, the story is about bringing a railroad into a city. Beneath that, it becomes a metaphor for progress itself. It is about connecting people, ideas, opportunities, and communities after years of waiting.

Anyone who has ever waited for a project, a dream, a government program, a business venture, or a personal breakthrough will recognize the deeper themes hidden beneath the tracks.

Sometimes the line is a railroad.

Sometimes the line is hope.

Business to Business Blues

The final release in the trilogy arrives on June 26 through Amuse.

Business to Business Blues blends classic Chicago blues and jazz influences to explore one of humanity’s oldest challenges: trying to build a successful business.

Whether you’re opening a shop in Chicago, running an online business from the Philippines, freelancing from a laptop, or trying to sell mining equipment somewhere on the far side of the Galactic Compass, many of the challenges remain surprisingly familiar.

Paperwork.

Customers.

Regulations.

Marketing.

Bills.

Unexpected setbacks.

The album approaches these realities with humor, perspective, and a healthy appreciation for the fact that entrepreneurship has always required equal parts optimism and stubbornness.

After all, launching a business is one of the few activities where a person can work eighty hours a week to avoid working forty.

Part of the Continuing WPS News Project

These albums are part of the growing body of work being produced by Cliff Potts & the AI Rebellion, an ongoing music project connected to the broader WPS News ecosystem.

Working from Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines, 68-year-old Cliff Potts continues to expand WPS News beyond traditional journalism and into music, books, podcasts, and multimedia storytelling. The goal remains simple: tell stories that matter, preserve experiences that might otherwise be forgotten, and occasionally have a little fun along the way.

Three albums.

Three different stories.

One continuing journey.

And somewhere out there, the next project is already waiting in line.