Also in this issue: The Eagles at their height. New Order air their linen. Rickie Lee Jones revisits Pirates. ’80s King Crimson resurrected. Can’s Irmin Schmidt opens up. The Spencer Davis Group, Throwing Muses, Taj Mahal, Cream, Motörhead, The Lemon Twigs and way
more.
This month’s Free CD, titled ‘Can & Irmin Schmidt Replay 1968-2026′, features
15 gems and rarities from theCAN vault compiled by Irmin Schmidt exclusively.
You can purchase a copy and have it sent to your home address. Info HERE.
Who: Hefty Belgian noise-rock outfit, formed in 2020 in Liege, Belgium.
They produce an explosive mix of punk energy, raging guitar riffs and
infectious melodies, fully formed and bristling with a wiry tension.
Their music sits somewhere between the dance-floor swagger of Viagra Boys
and the explosive urgency of The Hives. Raw yet subtle. Visceral, unpredictable.
Their feverish brand of rock is a true call to let go.
Vitalizing tunes that work faster than a stream of caffeine
7 May 2026
Courtesy Pussy Riot – Photo by Nikita Teryoshin
You can’t shut up the imperishable Russian political activists PUSSY RIOT and
their ever-growing fanbase. This year marks their 15th year of opposition against
the Kremlin tyranny.
Thus far, they expressed their fierce discontent with two loud and clear studio LPs,
several mixtapes and a series of barbed wire singles, and countless live protests
in their home country, in Ukraine, and in the Western world.
And now, after yesterday’s protests in Italy (more below), the band released,
in a rush, a guerrilla-made punk flamethrower, annex video of the happening.
A nasty slam dunk, called DISOBEY, comes amid the controversial Russian
return to this year’s Biennale Arte in Venice – Italy, which has led to the
EU cutting funding, the Jury resigning, and many protests. Of course, the Pussy Riot movement was present on the front line.
Over 50 PR members stormed the Russian Pavilion at the Biennale, only yesterday.
Police were forced to close the doors of the pavilion. They tackled PR followers
who managed to get inside and open the door that was being blocked. All Pussy
Rioters wore pink ski masks and had pink smoke, they raised their fists, played
guitars, and moshed as a protest.
Time to act pronto, musically too!
Nadya Tolokonnikova (founding PR member): “I wanted to do a classic punk song,
in old school Pussy Riot style. I’ve been trying to be polite, writing letters via the Council
of Europe, writing directly to the board, to the president, to people in the art world, and
dead ends everywhere.
Polite society doesn’t work when you are dealing with thugs and crooks, so we meet
them with punk, we have to scream our anger and disdain for what is happening.
Over 50 members of Pussy Riot, from all over the world, came here to the Storm of Venice, to scream and take part in this moment.
We quickly go into editing mode after, gathering photographers and video people,
we cut the video sitting in a cafe, and turn it around in a day, this is our actionist training
in action. This is our art, and our protest. We hope the punks, freaks, and actually anyone
who ever felt like fucking screaming to enjoy this song and moment with us. Fuck Putin.”
Band: YARD ACT Who: British post-punk outfit from Leeds, fronted by poetic wordsmith James Smith, who catapulted themselves to the top of indie world with
2 splendid albums, The Overload (2022) andWhere’s My Utopia (2024).
It’s the first time the band have made an album live in the same room.
James Smith: “The first two records were both laptop records essentially.
This album was written in uninterrupted five month period of creativity. We
went on to produce 40 or 50 songs. It felt like freedom. It felt like everything
I’d wanted from being in a band”.
TUTV: Redeemer is a mighty, slow-mo banger, spiked with ferocious guitar riffage
and a familiar shanty chorus. More tenebrous and jaggeder than their previous stuff.
English symphonic hard rock titans DEEP PURPLE
have no expiration date whatsoever.
On July 3rd, they will launch their 24th LP, namedSPLAT.
Ian Gillan (vocalist): “Where we are now with this incarnation of Deep Purple feels very much like a very ‘now’ version of Deep Purple as it was in the seventies. I have to say, now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with ‘Highway Star’, ‘Smoke on the Water’, ‘Lazy’, the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from ‘69 to ‘73.” ”
At the heart, SPLAT! is an idea conceived by Gillan. Rather than treating the end as destruction, the album imagines it as transformation. It explores the end of humanity
not in any crude apocalyptic sense but as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence.
To celebrate the release, Deep Purple will continue their extensive 2026 touring schedule with no fewer than 86 shows across 28 countries on three continents. All dates HERE.
TUTV: This is one of those indie DIY records that overwhelm my (experienced) ears way more than some massive mainstream successes within the same genre, in this case, powerhouse-noise rock.
I listened to the new Foo Fighters LP ‘You’re New Favorite Toy’ twice, and I probably won’t return to it, except for a couple of corking standouts. Thus far, this Japanese Jesus debut (released the same day as the Foos LP) has heated my earphones about 10 times now.
And it won’t be the last time.
Why? Well, it’s simple. These two hepped-up underdogs come up with more impressive tunes than Dave Grohl‘s globally famous band. With The Beige, Big Balls, Boredom Forever, No Rest and Over It the Irish turbo deliver riff-sick master blasters (think The Jesus Lizard on amphetamines, backed by Black Sabbath‘s cast-iron rhythm section) with blood-curdling melodies at the core of them all and vociferous vocalist Bertie Kelly screaming, at times, way more scarily than the former Nirvana drummer
With “I’m Bits,“ “Right Back Where They Started,” and “Whatever,” they offer some reflective moments amid the overall paranoid racket, balancing the record comprehensively well.
Japanese Jesus have outscored the Foos. Say no more, except for the
fact I always love it when the underdogs beat the big rock stars.
THELMA HOUSTON (né Jackson), one of the most famous and succesful
disco soul artists ever, was born in Leland, Mississippi on 7 May 1946.
Happy 80!
Her mother was a cotton picker. She and her three sisters grew up primarily
in Long Beach, California. After marrying and having two children, she joined
he Art Reynolds Singers gospel group and was subsequently signed as
a recording artist.
She released 17 albums with 2007’s A Woman’s Touch as her latest.
The greater part of her work was written and composed by collaborators.
Yesterday in London, metal icons IRON MAIDEN ‘s documentary Burning Ambition had its world premiere. The whole band was present, as was their eternal mascot Eddie who opened the festivities.
