Vitalizing tunes that work faster than a stream of caffeine
22 September 2026
Photo by Derick Smith
A few weeks ago AL JOURGENSEN, the general of legendary industrial metal tormentors MINISTRY, announced the final stand of the band after a trashing journey since 1981.
Jourgensen: “I’m fucking done. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’m amazed at the path that it’s taken, from With Sympathy to where we’re at today, and all points in between. It’s been quite a ride, but I’m completely at peace with the fact that it’s done. It’s time to herd goats.”
Ahead of it, we get a 3rd preview grenade, named SINGULARITY
“Your time on this planet has passed…we are in control,” warns a cyborg on the dystopian new single. As new fears of AI dooming humanity have come to dominate the news in recent days, Al Jourgensen and co. are ready to fight.
No expiration date for Liverpool‘s indestructible post-punk-pop rockers ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN (one of my all-time fav bands, on record and
on stage), fronted by big mouth/songwriter Ian McCulloch.
They just launched their 13th longplayer, their first in 12 years,
titled APPLES FOR ISAAC. No idea who that Isaac guy is.
Album artwork
Press info: After years spent performing their immense catalog of classics to
audiences around the world, the Bunnymen have recorded an album that is as
bold as it is vulnerable, that perfectly captures the essence of what makes
the band so great.
All but one of the tracks features the late Blondie drummer Clem Burke, who sadly passed away during its creation.
UNCUT (British music monthly magazine) says: “But elsewhere the album draws deep on Mac’s rich and strange memories of the 1970s, outside of the holy trinity of Bowie, Cohen and Reed. On an album keen not to outstay its welcome, you feel, quite reasonably, that this one should have run maybe three times as long.
‘If Apples For Isaac’ is the beginning of the descent, if it inaugurates the official start of the Bunnymen’s Late Style, this promises to be one of the great final seasons in British rock.
TUTV: Almost 50 years into their career, The Bunnymen come up with their first masterwork of the 21st Century after 4 average albums, but in the meantime, still delivering electrifying goods on their never-ending touring. It matches their 1999 LP What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life?
Like that grand opus, this new one is a near-solo Ian McCulloch effort, musically
and lyrically. Longtime brother in arms, Will Sergeant‘s role is relatively minimal.
As the line “Is this the blues I’m singing?” goes in their 1980’s classic cracker Rescue
that sentiment is all over the place right here. At 67 McCulloch also gets gripped by melancholia, by memories of a lifetime. He translates them into his often cryptic, poetic,
and shadowy language and embeds them in a stunning series of astounding tunes enflamed by his eternally awesome voice.
The outcome is strikingly vital. Not one weak moment, and with Can’t Be Sold, Brussels Is Haunted, I’ll Be Your Sunshine, The Light That Surrounds You, Lab Rats Ran, and We Prayed In The Dark as the 24-karat gold nuggets.
“She sat down at the piano, took the gum she was chewing out
of her mouth and stuck it onto the Steinway, and glared at the pieno like it was her enemy and just thundered into the song.”
Brighton‘s guitar indie group PORRIDGE RADIO had an impressive journey for 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, with 4 full-lengths, the wistful goodbye EP
called The Machine Starts To Sing,and adrenaline-charged live shows.
Sad news then. Good news now with the return of the
fervid frontwoman/songwriter DANA MARGOLIN.
The single was recorded in a converted barn in rural Somerset, where Margolin worked with Sam Yardley and Dan Hutchins. Using equipment and instruments acquired from car boot sales and eBay, the trio set themselves the restriction of recording everything onto whatever an 8-track machine could hold.
Margolin: “We go all the way down together, down a spiral staircase into the centre of the earth where there is darkness and nothing can grow, and we chose to go there, and wasn’t it fun, and right there at the deepest depths of the journey is a glowing ember, something luminous, a big and beautiful sound.”
Hear the acoustic-driven, intimate, and emotive daydream here.
British blues rock tandem ROYAL BLOOD will launch their 5th full-length,
titled DEAD COMPANY on November 13th. Tracklist and order info here.
Press info: “Self-produced, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher headed into the studio in 2025
with no deadline and no distractions. The result is raw, direct and stripped back to the essentials, with all the force and immediacy of Royal Blood at full tilt. Written with the
stage in mind, Dead Company is built to hit hard live.”
Album artwork
Thus far we can go nuts to two fired-up riff whoppers.
The Recording Industry Association Of America’s new mid-year
report shows that compact disc revenue increased by 58.6 per cent
during the first six months of the year, reaching $171million.
Vinyl revenue also grew by 17.7 per cent over that period, meaning
that CDs outpaced it in terms of growth. Physical music revenue
increased by 25.9 per cent overall.
Artist: HANNYA WHITE Who: Experimental noise
crusader from London.
Press info : #Freak moves through dark, high-bpm soundscapes, capturing that late-night space where isolation, love from afar, and a quiet, collective freakishness collide.
TUTV: Get your speakers ready for some far-out white noise spread over four nightmarish escapades propelled by relentless, merciless bass/drum beats that pulsate non-stop. White is into noise exploration driven by her appetite for unorthodox distorted percussion, outlandisch wailing and, eh, birds. Mind you, this is not noise to torture your eardrums,
it’s challenging noise that arouses your eardrums with something far more intruiging than your average aggressive EBM and industrial droning.
White has is driven by comparable exploring spirits such as Xiu Xiu and Aphex Twin
who also produce mind-boggling music, seemingly comming from dark corners in
their minds.
White‘s #FREAK draws you into her/his David Lynch-like labyrinth. Beware, as
an eagled band used you to sing, menacingly in the 70s “you can check in, but
you can never leave.”
TOM WAITS (76 now) released his 4th album, named SMALL CHANGE today, 50 years ago, on 21 Sept 1976.
It peaked at #89 in the US, actually his first charting album.
Waits:“It’s all about ambulance drivers, night watchmen, ticket takers, street sweepers,
tattoo parlors, stage door jockeys, shoe string hotels from New York City to Chicago, Buffalo, Los Angeles, all the way from Tuxedo Junction to swing town. Did it in five nights on the corner of Selma and Cahuenga. Recorded complete and direct to 2-track stereo tape.”
Los Angeles Times said: “He has not only fulfilled the promise of his early
work, but extended it in a way that makes him one of America’s most valuable
pop performers. By refusing to stay in the safe mold of his first albums, he
enriched his art.”
