9 December 2025
Joan Armatrading was born on the British Leeward Islands on 9 December 1950. Happy 75!
Last year she released her 21st full-length with
‘How Did This Happen and What Does It Now Mean’.
Image on top: cover of her LP ‘Consequences‘.
19 October 2025
Band: OF MONSTERS AND MEN
Who: Icelandic indie folk/rock outfit
formed in Garðabær in 2010.
Album: ALL IS LOVE AND PAIN IN THE MOUSE PARADE
Press info: “The title and beating heart of Icelandic collective Of Monsters
And Men’s fourth album hits a lot closer to home than you’d expect. A tapestry
of stories, moments, and conversations, the album explores how love and pain
intertwine.
Feelings that might seem at odds with each other, but co-exist simultaneously and
need one another. Tales both big and small — from the loneliness and longing of living
in a block surrounded by strangers, to missed connections in a grocery store, to the lives and losses of a community of mice in a vacant house during winter.”
AllMusic says: “Hitting on the highs and lows of life, the Icelandic quintet stick close to
their established sound: touching and tender indie folk anthems that play on earnestness
and innocence. Rather than shaking things up, Of Monsters and Men play to their strengths
and opt for soothing familiarity and comfort on a micro scale.”
TUTV: This is what melancholic, folk-inspired splendour is about. Galvanically
crafted songs that touch heart and soul. Rainbow-colored reveries about daily
life put to bewitching music with a leading role for beatific piano play amidst
enticing orchestrations and idyllically alternating and duet vocals.
Think Scottish romantics Belle & Sebastian. This is the kind of
gratifying records to cherish and embrace when your mind
wants/needs a break from the outside world.
Mesmerizing, just mesmerizing.
SINGLE
ALBUM
Daily noise that works faster than a stream of caffeine
23 August 2025
Band: THUMPER
Who: Rowdy rockers from Ireland, who released their
debut album Delusions Of Grandeur in 2022.
Track: THE DRIP
Lead single from their upcoming
second album. Details TBA.
“The Drip is a song about tour burnout and relationship strain. The song was written almost a line at a time, small lyrics jotted down at different moments on tour, in different cities, different head spaces. The title refers to that slow accumulation, drip torture was on my mind, but also an IV drip – something that keeps you alive, hooked to your veins. In this case my deep love for making music, and the people I make it with.Best headphones deals
The song has no chorus – no release. But it’s joyous and builds with momentum with each passing section, even as the lyrics seem to become more abstract. This conflict between love for the thing, and that thing destroying you – that’s The Drip. ‘Poke to find a vein, flick the bag’.”
Mental guitars + madcap drummer + psychotic vocalist = SICK SHIT
14 August 2025
The writing was on the dressing room wall.
The Cure‘s maestro ROBERT SMITH made a surprise appearance at Glastonbury Festival last June, where he joined songstress star OLIVIA RODRIGO for a duet of The Cure’s 1987 classic Just Like Heaven (more than 608 million streams on Spotify).
Out Of Control (from their 1980 debut LP ‘Boy’) played live at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Denver, Colorado, in 1983.
I dedicate this titanic rock performance to all weeping U2 haters.
