Bill McClintock made a mashup of Huey Lewis and the News and The Trammps : The Power of Love + Disco Inferno = The Power of Disco. Want more? His YouTube channel has lots of them.
June 29, 2026
Makeshift Art Bar: Marionette
photo: Isabella Bull
Belfast based post-punk quartet Makeshift Art Bar make a serious kind of electronics drive noise on their new EP Marionette. The four tracks cover all the bases that have been in the disgruntled youth playbook for longer than anyone cares to remember: ennui, boredom, and wanting to be heard and seen. O, and loved. That kind of struggle is always an uphill battle, for the band and their audience alike.
They used all the tricks that 21st Century technology has to offer, plus some tried-and-true ones from the past, punishing and distorting their instruments so harshly that the uninitiated will have trouble to make out what the Hell they are actually at any given time. Throw snarling vocals into the muddy, fuzzy mix, and you have caught the sound of the last forty-five years or so of barely contained anger.
June 28, 2026
Icarus Phoenix: Gallop
photo: Jefferson Liu
Three of the tracks on the new Icarus Phoenix EP Gallop already saw the light of day as singles, but with the addition of the upbeat pop punk song Depresso Dragon Bop it becomes a concise release about having fun, despite life throwing obstacles in the way of main man and songwriter Drew Danbury. Having regrets is not helpful at all and soldiering on is the only way to stay sane and being able to move on.
As a lyricist Danbury never holds back, using straightforward words to describe his joys, angers and pet peeves, although most listeners will reach for the dictionary to look up "desiccate". The EP is filled out with alternate - and quite frankly superior - endings for two of the songs, plus acoustic solo demos. The latter gives a good idea of his modus operandi, before the other band members come in and work their magic, turning them into songs that will appeal to both folk rockers and punkers.
Words about music (842): Siouxsie Sioux
Gothic in its purest sense is actually a very powerful, twisted genre, but the way it was being used by by journalists - 'goff' with a double f - always seemed to me to be about tacky, harum-scarum horror, and I find that anything but scary. That wasn't what we were about at all.
Siouxsie Sioux
June 27, 2026
Remy van Kesteren: on tour in The Netherlands & Belgium
photo: Nick Helderman
Dutch harpist Remy van Kesteren has one show left to play in the Summer. He will back on the road in The Netherlands and Belgium in the Fall.
Live dates:- 07/03 Wonderfeel 2026, 's-Graveland, Netherlands
- 10/07 Theater aan de Slinger, Houten, Netherlands
- 10/21 The New Church, Den Haag, Netherlands
- 10/23 Muziekcentrum Enschede, Enschede, Netherlands
- 10/24 Chassé Theater & Cinema Breda, Breda, Netherlands
- 10/30 Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- 11/04 Parkstad Limburg Theaters, Heerlen, Netherlands
- 11/06 The Storm, Winterswijk, Netherlands
- 11/07 Cultuurcentrum Strombeek Grimbergen, Grimbergen, Belgium
- 11/20 Flint Amersfoort,Amersfoort, Netherlands
- 11/21 CC De Warandepoort, Tervuren, Belgium
- 11/28 Theater De Landing, Amstelveen, Netherlands
- 12/01 Schouwburg Tilburg, Tilburg, Netherlands
- 12/04 Posthuis Theater, Heerenveen, Netherlands
- 12/05 Theater Sneek (Noorderkerkzaal), Sneek, Netherlands
- 12/11 PHIL Haarlem, Haarlem, Netherlands
- 12/17 Theater de Meervaart, Amsterdam, Netherlands
HCTF review of Live at Concertlab (Unplugged)
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