Press info: A record bursting with creativity and experimentation.
A blend of dark fables, intricate melodies and moments of revelation.
Album artwork
NME: “On their long-awaited first record, the London trio continue weaving fantastical tales with their surreal sound. The record’s sinewy assurance and structure across its first half also forms a trap, at times more constraint than conduit for the trio’s natural charisma. Across the latter half, the music again feels like a shared pact for dreaming, structures that build and wind. Sometimes magic is all in the details, grand or granular.”
TUTV: MITJ create capricious, entrancing, voltaic indie music with tortoise-like,
torch-burning songs. As inventive and adventurous as their countrymen Black Country,
New Road and English Teacher. They don’t rock, they don’t punk, they don’t pop, they
don’t scream and shout.
They embed illusory and poetic meditations into cloudy compositions with a mesmerising intimacy and creaking violin moments. Guitarist Clari Freeman-Taylor‘s vocals are weirdly charming and instrumental for this engrossing debut triumph. Wrap yourself in their imaginative spheres. It’s a transfixing place to be in.
Texan duo THE MARS VOLTA featuring Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala,
who both started their careers with wayward rockers At The Drive-In, will follow their
8 studio LPs with a live one, named LUCRO SUCIO; UNFINISHED BUSINESS out on September 4 (digital) and October 16 (physical editions).
The band had offered fans access to previews of recordings captured during their live 2025 tour and invited them to vote on which ones should make the final album. Each song was represented by a visual marker related to the city where its recording was captured.
English legendary hard rock titans DEEP PURPLE have
their 24th album, titled SPLAT! out. Order info here
Press info: 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.
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.” ”
MOJO Magazine (British music monthly): “Producer Bob Ezrin has turned up
the group’s Deep Purple-ness without lapsing into self-parody. Most of the songs
here crack along at a furious pace.”
TUTV: No expiration date for Deep Purple, who score here a high-voltage,
hard-rocking piece de resistance. Yes, after more than 5 decades they still
sound the same, with all DP’s characteristics on all cylinders: jumbo tunes,
staggering orchestrations, symphonic organ vibrancy, old skool guitar solos
and Ian Gillan‘s still brobdingnagian vocals, but the all-around, non-stop
puissant forcefulness is timelessly strong.
Never change a winning formula. Headstrong hellraisers like Arrongant Boy,
Diabolo, The Only Horse In Town, Guilty Trippin’ and Sacred Land show us why Deep Purple still is a fireball turbine.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
.
Their extensive 2026 touring schedule will bring them
in 28 countries on three continents. All dates HERE.
Band:BUTTHOLE SURFERS Who: San Antonio‘s heavyweight rockers who made a lot of riff racket between
1981 and 2017 with 8 LPs. Then they had a break and returned last year with
some live shows.
Now referred to as the 1998 lost album. After recordings were finished, their
then their label Capitol Records refused to release it. Too far-out to sell in big
numbers, they said.
The band changed labels and fabricated another LP, named Weird Revolution
with songs from the dumped After The Astronaut, but the critics sabered it.
Now, after all these years, the Surfers got back to work
to rejuvenate the original recordings the way they want.
Blabbermouth.Net says: “The entirety of the release is steeped in a forward-thinking kind of psychedelia that doesn’t sound dated even now decades later. Subdued beats and electronic grooves slither their way through your earholes with no intention of leaving.
Their playful and creative use of electronic, pulsing sounds and stuttered beats would make most trip-hop bands cross their arms with envy. The musically maniacal Texans strike creative gold with “After the Astronaut”. The rest of us can finally properly appreciate it now.”
TUTV: I’m suspicious when I hear the term lost album. In many cases, it means that a label wants to make money off something that went wrong the first time, to cash in years later, on the back of an artist/band that became famous over the years.
But this is a jawdropping exception. The album feels like the Surfers put all their past frustrations into it, leading to a momentous rock work. It’s a gloriously loud and clear triumph from start to finish. These veteran motherrockers still matter, big time.
A record that landed without foreplay
or warning. 5 tracks, 32 minutes.
Is it an album, is it an EP?
According to the common understanding, an EP contains more tracks than
a single but fewer than an album (8-10). Contemporary EPs usually contain
up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 30 minutes.
Osees‘ general calls it an album.
He’s the boss. So an album it is.
Credit Osees
Dwyer: “We went back to an older method of writing for this one. We jammed
and jammed and jammed. I took the tapes home and ironed out some mutant
tunes. We went back into the studio and burned them to tape live and then I
took it home and did the vocals. Spice is always nice.
Mixed it all up in the cauldron and thus we have a strange brew indeed Floating in
the smoke we have: A couple long jams, a couple short jams and a finale that’ll dump
a bucket of ear worms on you (reminiscent of “the axis”?) Dip your toe in organ rock
and roll.”
TUTV: EP or LP? Whatever, to my ears it’s one of the best things Osees did
in recent years. No riff mania, but 60/70’s psych prog rock-inspired work-outs,
a bit of Deep Purple in their symphonic phase.
Mind-bending and trance-inducing, coming close to the extravagant trips
of that other ultra-productive team King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
The Trick is my fav track. An instrumental, Krautrock-like, motorik piece
that thrives on organ and hyperkinetic drumming. Flabbergasting. Mind
you, all 32 minutes have a dumbfounding effect.
Band: THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA Who: London-based DIY duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy)
that fills a gap in music by bringing literature, art, and history together into a
space where rock and metal meet electronica.
Press info: “‘Misantropi‘ presents a raw, unfiltered manifesto for those who despise humanity. According to the duo, this album is: rue to their roots, the album melds spoken poetry and spoken word over heavy metal riffs, but with a new emphasis on going back to the classic set up of drums, bass, and guitars. There is more singing and melodic vocals, adding a visceral human element to their already intense sound.”
TCOMAS:“The album is human made. It’s played with real instruments, with hands,
feet, vocal cords, and human body parts. It’s raw and unfiltered. It is for those who see
through the facade and aren’t afraid to admit that they hate what we have become.”
TUTV: More direct, yet constructed brick by brick. More melodic, yet fiercely aggressive. More singing/howling/growling than spoken word this time. Rage pushes this new TCOMAS opus sonically and lyrically throughout. Rage is the common thread that obviously stoked up Samara and Manimal to produce arguably their most unambiguous and alarming opus. Rage has been the world’s most dominant topic in the past few years.
The duo’s vehement and sharp-mouthed vocal (inter)actions are an important key in translating their infuriating frustrations. Fucks, spits, and sneers fly around and infuse Misantropi with an imminent volcanic threat. The production is flawless, the execution is overpowering, the visuals (artwork/video’s) are masterful (again), the album is TCOMAS’s masterpiece (thus far). Hands down.
Artist: WHERE WE SLEEP Who: The musical project of British songstress Beth Rettig started to realise her musical vision, and to experiment and express a deeply personal and poetic vision, following her previous collaboration in Blindness, signed to AC30 Records, and performing with the likes of Lene Lovitch, and Viv Albertine.
Rettig: “The Arsonist is about change, starting again where necessary, identifying things that aren’t working for us and things that aren’t necessary to us. Things that are weighing us down, be it systemic, societal or personal. A lot of people fear and fight change but if things aren’t working as they are, sometimes you have to take the risk. And then comes the liberation, in
the power of walking away.”
TUTV: Song by song, Beth Rethig draws you in her disturbed state of mind and her
sonic translation of her heart-and-soul-related meditations. After slow-burning torch opener Under A Big Sky, electro-guitar-punk banger Headlong changes the sonic timbre drastically.
Rethig applies this musical mood swing process from there on, to a puzzling,
chilling and blood-tingling effect, bringing a different dynamic from her debut
album.
Her mesmerising voice is an instrumental determinant throughout, carrying and accentuating both the doubting and hopeful tone of The Arsonist, while the imposing darkwave-goth-industrial reverberations- jolting mixes of menacing bass play, scorching guitars, and gloomy synth waves – sculpt an astonishingly fitting soundtrack. Bang-on.
An impressive accomplishment on all levels.
Band: PUSSY RIOT Who: The notorious Russian punk feminists and political activists, led by mastermind and driving force since day one Nadya Tolonkonnik who spent two years, along with 2 fellow pussy riotiours, in a Russian jail for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after her protest performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour church in 2012.
Album:CYKA (Russian for bitch)
Following several mixtapes, a series of barbed-wire singles, and countless
live protests in their home country, Ukraine, and the Western world PR finally
comes up with their first LP.
Tolokonnikova about the LP’s reactionary motivation, the ongoing war with Ukraine: “Me and my countrymen could have prevented it, we just had to fight harder for our dream
of a peaceful democratic Russia. I live in exile, like a rat. Everything I loved was taken from me; my entire country was stolen. My mother died of cancer in Moscow, and I couldn’t be there to say goodbye.
The father of my daughter nearly died after being poisoned with a nerve agent by the FSB. My friend Alexey Navalny was murdered in jail. And I no longer know whether I’ll ever be able to let people get close to me again – being torn away from everyone I loved cost too much. Vengeance is what forces my eyes open in the morning, and what keeps me going. “OUTRO” is dedicated to my mother and my love to her.‘
TUTV: Musically, only on smoking punk grenades Faceless Pigs, Disobey, Candy Dopamine and Blizzard, PR lash out with rage, the Bikini Kill way. Sonically, CYKA is for the greater
part a trip-hop, EBM-orientated record spiked with both reflective and spiralling synth-orchestrated flare-ups.
Vocally, Tolokonnikovashe alternates bouncy, whispering rap rants with poppy,
near-helium-like echoes. We have a unique party album here. One to dance to
when Putin is going down.
Lyrically Pussy Nadya unravels all her outrage and is in constant attack mode.
She will never quit attacking the Russian dictator (who appears on the title track).
She will never stop exposing his crimes. She’ll never back down. She’s a fearless
warrior. She’s a tenacious bitch.
British long-time renowned singer-songwriter BETH ORTON has her
9th full-length, titled THE GROUND ABOVE out today. Order infohere.
Press info: “For more than 30 years, Beth Orton has been our antenna to the cosmos,
the poet laureate of forces too vast to take in all at once. A testament to her artistry,
the album her most direct and unapologetic music to date.
Urgent, raw, embodied and emotionally fearless, moving between subconscious expression and expansive, timeless song craft. Her voice, from whispered incantation
to primal wail, equally delivers melodies reminiscent of classic songbook form. Throughout the album, Orton documents survival and renewal, motherhood and identity, political unease, and the ongoing choice to stay – in love, in art, and in the world.”
TUTV: Orton lights candlelight delight, starring her vulnerable, slightly hoarse,
but very absorbing voice. She translates ruminative life-mattering thoughts into
moving music that evokes the listener’s silent attention for the full 47 minutes. The Ground Above is a enthrallingly bittersweet humdinger of a record.
But the wait is over. Full-length #11 is in the bag. DIOS BENDIGA is an album performed entirely in Spanish that aims to highlight their Latin roots and reconnect directly with their cultural heritage. Out July 24th. Pre-order info here.
Press info: “Hip-hop legends Cypress Hill were the first Latino-American hip-hop group to achieve platinum and multiplatinum success. In partnership with Hybe Latin America, they present the first, fully Spanish-language album of their career.
The album includes all new music, written and performed by the band entirely in Spanish.
This is a deeply personal and spiritual project for the group that highlights their Latin roots
and reconnects directly with their cultural heritage.”
Some JOY DIVISION live music
came out back in 1980 and 1981.
First, the registration of a concert in Preston, UK. You can stream it here.
The recording took place a few weeks before Ian Curtis‘s death (18 May 1980).
A year later saw the release of a double album called Still. It consisted of previously released and unreleased studio material and a live recording of Joy Division‘s last
concert, performed at Birmingham University, 2 May 1980.
Now Warner Bros Music just announced a new, expansive JD project.
A live boxset featuring no less than 14 CDs and 2 DVDs, titled ETERNAL.
The collection reveals audio from 16 live performances, meticulously sourced
from audience recorded cassettes, soundboard tapes and broadcast recordings,
all mastered at Abbey Road Studios.
The two DVDs show over 2hrs 30mins of live shows, including the previously
unseen Plan K, Brussels concert and the Apollo Theatre, Manchester gig. Both
have only been partially released on VHS, in 1982, and get a brand new edit
here for the box.
Release date: September 30th.
Offical JD store HERE
Along with the news we get a preview of of an emotional live version of their
sublime stand-alone single Transmission from a 1979 concert in Paris.
On August 10th, they will unleash their long-awaited debut
full-length, called Cannonball. Tracklist and order info here
Press info: “Grand and exuberant, rich with unconventional structures and world-beating choruses, the long-awaited record makes good on the band’s years of hard touring while unearthing new dimensions and unlikely facets in their songwriting; It is a sharp, smart first record, one which presents Man/Woman/Chainsaw exactly as they are right now.”
NME: “Their debut album is an exploratory, widescreen record that significantly levels
up the south London six-piece’s early material, expanding the runaway art-rock chaos that landed them in last year’s NME 100 into something no less intriguing but significantly more pop.”
A new tribute album for American rock heavyweights THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (formed in 1998 / 13 LPs) arrives, digitally on August 14th, vinyl in October. Pre-order info here.
Named Sending Hearts To All My Dearies: A Tribute To The Smashing Pumpkins
the album contains 15 cross-genre covers of songs spanning Pumpkins’ discography. Contributors include Tame Impala, Alice Glass, Nita Strauss, Yonaka, Des Rocs, Meg Myers, Between The Buriedand Me, and Palaye Royale, among others.
Tame Impala‘s version of Hummer, a track from the Pumpkins‘
1993 LP Siamese Dream is downright luring, even more psychedelic
colored than the original.
TAME IMPALA
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
Tracklist
01. Tame Impala – Hummer 02. Yonaka – Today 03. The Midnight – Tonight, Tonight 04. Carpenter Brut – Cherub Rock 05. Barns Courtney – 1979 06. Meg Myers – Eye 07. Palaye Royale – Bullet With Butterfly Wings 08. Between The Buried and Me – Jellybelly 09. Alice Glass – Drown 10. Starbenders – Tonight, Tonight 11. Nita Strauss – 1979 12. Bones UK – Cherub Rock 13. Moon Taxi – Thirty Three 14. Des Rocs – Bullet With Butterfly Wings 15. Urban Heat – Ava Adore
NME says: “A career high. While other artists, they came up with, have
called it quits, the British indie band have kept moving forward. Their fifth
album rewards that resilience with some of their most beautiful work yet.”
TUTV: Bittersweet pop melancholia sugar-coats this new opus. It has a similar intimate
and treasuring life-and-love idealisation of Coldplay‘s 1998 debut Parachutes. Three-hanky sweet (a bit too much at times), but genuine and honest-to-goodness. Heart-and-soul stirring stories, familiar to some of us. Swim Deep
