Imagine being an Austin trio eyeing the sound the cream of the crop of English bands - they name the Damned and the Arctic Monkeys as prime examples - and trying to come close to that. Yup, can't be done, so The Schisms added a bit of goth to their psychedelic blues single I Learn To Love instead. Plenty of swagger in the main melody, plus a leftfield coda that will confuse the dancers. It is the lead single for their Tejas EP, due for release on October 2.
Xavier Palau, member of post-punk quintet HERE[IN], has collected the pieces he recorded since 2020 for his one-man project Xavier MONAX. The result: an introspective album called Music for the Basses that will be embraced by fans of the Cure in their Faith / Pornography phase. Palau has carefully stacked the instruments (mostly guitar and bass) to give voice to his inner thoughts that keep him awake at night.
Wiht such a long creation process, it is quite surprising that he managed to lay down consistent compositions that somehow fit together. It is obvious that he has given each piece a lot of thought before pushing "rec". The eerie spoken word bits that pop up every now and then will have listeners strain their ears trying to make out what he is saying.
Italian experimental ambient musician Abul Mogard (nom-de-plume of Guido Zen) made good use of the acoustics of Mimerhaven, a huge former mining structure, when he played the tracks of his Quiet Places as a continuous piece as part of the Norbergfestival in Sweden on July 10th this year. He let the layered synth soundscapes and drones set up a whispered conversation, with a bit of natural echo as part of the proceedings.
The full performance was recorded for a live album, so now this immersive sonic experience can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home. Best enjoyed with a pair of decent headphones or a good sound system in a room with a high ceiling.
Steven Wilson announced the release of his new album Requiem for a Village with a video for the title track, played in the studio with Randy McStine (guitars, backing vocals) and Russell Holzman (drums, percussion), a prog rocker that brings back the sound of his Grace For Drowing and Hand.Cannot.Erase albums.
Craig Benedict Valentine Badynee sticks to what he does best on his new single I've Been In Trouble Before, another melanchiolic, slow paced art rocker that comes close to a crooner ballad. He blames himsef for making the same mistakes all over again - mostly lying - causing another relationship to fall apart. His daughter Viv lend a hand, providing an extra layer of jazzy "La-La-Las" backing vocals.
Swiss instrumental post-rockers hubris. used immortality as personified by Tolkien's elves as the starting point for their new album White Shores. Living forever is no picknick, according to these mythical creatures who refer to death as "the gift of men". That outlook on life (no pun intended) offered some solace for the band's songwriter Jonathan Hohl, who was quite shaken by his grandfather’s passing. The album goes through six seamless movements>.They are lined up as a continuation: Death. Is. Just. Another. Path (the latter in two parts).
Going through the various stages of grief, Hohl leads the band through the fond memories and the stories his grandfather told him, keeping him alive within his mind's eye, using tinkling ambient textures, shards of metal and gentle electronic elements. The music does all the talking, because sometimes words fail, but carefully constructed sounds will take over to get the message across.
Atlanta mutant disco quartet Go Public wrote a track about the grippling anxiety of a gambler. Craps Tempo is pushed forward by simple but highly effective drum beat, before the guitar, bass and sax join in for a punk-flavoured floor filler. Sean Rawls, Adrian Finch, Sam Gunn and Jay Domingo have been part of the underground scene for decades, before getting together to play a spicy mix of leftfield indie.
Garage post-punkers Lemongrab have a not so secret weapon on their new Another Kind Of Freedom u EP: the shared vocals of Gaëlle Cordeau and Léonie Dishaw. They can do really fucking fast (Pay To Play) and detached without a care in the world as well (Necessary Condition). It makes the four tracks on their new EP unpredictable in a good way.
It is fuzzy, decidedly lo-fi music, wherein separation and careful balancing of the instruments is laughed at. Lead single Yoko serves as a well-deserved reappraisal for an artist who has been dragged through the mud for decades. The unrelenting Jaki Liebezeit-inspired backbeat of the final track No Receipt brings a bit of Krautrock to a band who obviously were inspired by X-ray Spex and the Au Pairs.
Melbourne-based Things We Built make a plea for leaving the grind and boredom of a day time job and hit the dance floor instead on their Daddy's Gone Disco single. O, and he is not going back ever.
It starts out plain and simple enough, but once they have reached the middle-eight they chose wisely and kept it going for quite some time for a prolonged adventurous break, before circling back to the safety of the basics to bring the track to a close. What the fuck just happened? Better play it again.
Mancunian post-rock trio Dead Sea Apes do things differently on their new Psychic Tension, with the drums and bass upfront, as a dare for their guitarist to make himself heard. It is a game of tension and release, well mostly tension in fact, going through the dark back alleys of noise rock with a bit of psych trying finding its way in during a lull in the title track. It will kill the mood at a party within a minute, but those who choose to stay are rewarded with a towering in-your-face excursion that they don't want to end.
Even when they slow down a bit in Ursa Minor, they retain a kind of intensity that is both troublesome and alluring. Amidst all the chaos and subsequent emotional turmoil that reigns supreme in todays politics, the band tries to find a way out, looking fro an escape from the shit storm. They don't have any answers, but their wordless screams of righteous anger and agony will drown out the whispers of one's inner demons for sure.
English quintet The Fierce & The Dead are gravitating to a blend of shoegaze and metal on their new album Regional Theatre. The post-rock leanings and forays into progressive rock are still there, but not as prominent as before. It makes it a bit easier to digest for people who are not familiar with the history of the band. They started out in 2010 as an all-instrumental experimental trio with the long-form track Part 1. Over the years their sound has shifted slightly with each release. The big surprise came in 2023 when bass player Kevin Feazey stepped up to the mike for the News From The Invisible World album. Textures gave way to "proper" songs albeit with a twist. Start with Hypernormalisation which covers all the bases (caveat: they are a lot of them).
Fast forward to 2026 and the band have found a new common ground for coming up with melodies that can sit comfortably on top of intricate rhythms - a track Somehow may sound radio-friendly, but there is plenty to enjoy for people who can appreciate the layers that are not so obvious. Black Sabbath will love the rumbling Hey Nightmare and their ode to rock 'n' roll The 1234 could be their ticket to long overdue airplay.
Phish
2026/09/06
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
English twee trio The Happy Somethings rounded up a bunch of "outtakes, undertakes and pre-takes" and a live one, because they felt they needed a bootleg. If people go to trouble of releasing your recordings without your consent, you made it, but since there were no takers so far they want ahead and put one out themselves. Straying Waifs (Bootleg) does not suffer from poor sound quality, false starts and sub-par songwriting. The acoustic versions of Consolation Street and Fragile The Heart are as catchy as the electric versions that ended up on their A Healthy Dose Of Hope album.
Long-time followers of the band will be pleasantly suprised by the bass-heavy take on Hi There Sunshine and Just Call Me (Again). Three-part harmonies get an outing with the previously unreleased Bed Friend (Clean Sheets), plus it offers some sensible relationship as well. These songs were not deemed worthy until now, but most indie bands would kill to come up with even one or two of them.
Phish
2026/09/05
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
Liverpudlian queer six-piece indie band Flower Show play what they themselves "charity shop pop" on their new album A Cake In A Daydream, which is kind of accurate when you incorporate art rock, glam, New Wave, and a bit of vaudeville. They poke fun at the dating game (Jimmy From LinkedIn), job interviews (I Want To Hold Your Man) and lack of fashion sense (The Morning Horn). The darker bits are covered as well with a slow zingers like The Only Way Is Down and the strings driven rockers Size Queen and Lorraine.
The band's songwriter and vocalist Craig Sinclair clearly has a vision where he wants the band to go: start with the heyday of early 70s Sparks and Roxy Music and let emotions roam freely. Add the wordplay of fellow crooner Ward White and presto: a stylish album that fits like bespoke wardrobe.
Phish
2026/09/04
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
How many songs can you write about alcohol? It is no problem for Irish punk folk duo The Guzzlers, who wrote a love song about Guinnes. Brothers Tom and Cian O'Dowd name a bunch a stumble blocks they have encountered in life, consulted their friends and came to the conclusion that A Pint Of Plain Is Your Only Man is the one thing you can count on, no matter what. It is not the kind of poetry that comes close to the level of Shane McGowan, but it will surely get the thumbs up from their audience, who will have surely nourished quite a few of drinks themselves.
Singer-songwriter Drew Danburry seriously regrets that he did not vote, so to make amends he wrote a soft-spoken warning song about not making that same mistake again for his folk rock band Icarus Phoenix: "While everyone was watching a liar get elected I was making love to the person I care for most // And rather than engaging in powerless worry // I wrote the next three words you'll hate. I didn't vote."
As per usual the track is also available as a solo acoustic version, but this time there is an extra treat: an early demo recorded with the full band.
Roots trio Jeffrey Halford & The Healers have been making the rounds on the club circuit for more than 30 years, treating their audience with bluesy swagger and heartfelt Americana. Main man Jeffrey Halford is never afraid to point out his flaws and making fun of them, like the cool uncle who will pick a guitar and tell a story that will make you laugh, cry or think (sometimes within the space of the same song). The new album Used Parts deals with ageing as well as promise to himself to make some changes - well, not giving up being a guitar man and setting stages on fire, because he can't and doesn't want to get away from that.
Matters of the mind and the heart are for scrambling for getting the upper hand, but in turns out that he does not have to commit, as long as he manages tor retain a careful balance. It all comes together in the superb soulful Chasing Forgiveness ("sunrise is no friend of mine, for promises it can't keep, it's way too late for warning signs"). Smart move to include the stand-alone single Mississippi Flyer, a Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings' cover, as well, as it fits the mood of the album perfectly. Jeffrey Halford & The Healers are road rats, who thrive on stage. They won't bring Halford's son and daughter with them, but their parts on the album are proof that they have inherited his genes and are putting them to good use.
Canadian psychedelic raga band Elephant Stone have unveiled a video for Parallel and Contrary Motion, the centrepiece of their ASHA album, a song about the suicide of band leader Rishi Dhir's friend Christian Dorey: "Being torn apart by emotions it downed on him that it was about his friend's decision to take his own life. Horrible as that might be, it made him rethink and respect that choice." The clip was directed by John-Mark Lapham.
