Happy 60 LOU BARLOW
17 July 2026
Ohio‘s musician/singer-songwriter LOU BARLOW, co-founding member of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion, was born named Louis Knox Barlow on 17 July 1966.
Happy 60 to the man credited with helping to pioneer the
lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Have a flaming day.
– SEBADOH –
– DINOSAUR JR –
Brand new single
MUSE – British Rock Heroes Released Their 2nd Album ‘ORIGIN SYMMETRY’ 25 Years Ago Today
17 July 2026
British rockers MUSE have more than 3 decades on their clock. Impressive.
The band fronted by singer/guitarist/songwriter MATT BELLAMY
released their 2nd LP ORIGIN SYMMETRY on 17 July 2001, today
25 years ago.
The album title derives from the 1994 book Hyperspace by the theoretical
physicist Michio Kaku, which suggests the title The Origin of Symmetry for a
future book about the discovery of supersymmetry.
#3 in the UK.
NME – 2001
Bellamy said: “Everyone’s been writing about the origin of life
so now they’ll start looking at the origin of symmetry; there’s a
certain amount of stability in the universe and to find out where
it originates from would be to find out if God exists.”
LEAD SINGLE
ALBUM
BOB DYLAN – In The Middle Of A World Tour The 85 Year Old Legend Announces New Dates For The UK
16 July 2026
BOB DYLAN, arguably the greatest singer-songwriter ever, started
his so-called Never Ending Tour ages ago. Even at 85, he doesn’t like
to sit in a lazy chair at home. He thrives on playing live like no one
else (I know).
He’s in the middle of another extensive world tour. ALL DATES HERE.
And he’ll return to the UK in November/December.
TICKET INFO HERE.
How does it feel to tour forever like a rolling stone, Bob?
Summer Of 2007 – 16 July – THE WHITE STRIPES Play Shortest Gig Ever
Every day of this summer we go back to the same summer day somewhere in history
16 July 2026
On July 16, 2007, today 19 years ago, THE WHITE STRIPES entered the record books
by playing the shortest-ever live gig when they appeared at a Newfoundland venue
called George Street during a Canadian tour.
They played just a single note with a cymbal crash (no encore, I suppose) before
exiting the stage. The “concert” was recognized by the Guinness Book Of World
Records in 2009. Unfortunately, the book’s compilers dropped the category a year
later after being swamped by applications for similar record-breaking attempts.
I want more than one note (fantastic video).
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN Return With Ominous Single ‘BRUSSELS IS HAUNTED’
Daily electricity to load your batteries
16 July 2026
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
No expiration date for Liverpool‘s indestructible
post-punk-pop rockers ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN.
On 18 September they will launch their 13th LP,
their first in 12 years, named Apples For Isaac.
No idea who that guy is.
Press info: “The Bunnymen have recorded an album that is as bold as it is vulnerable, that perfectly captures the essence of what makes the Bunnymen so great. All but one of the tracks features the late drummer Clem Burke, who sadly passed away during its creation.”
On the first single, frontman, big mouth and big voice Ian McCulloch explores
the ghosts and characters of the Belgian capital haunted by World War 2. As a
fanatic E&TB fan, I know they played Brussels countless times, but the last time
I was in Brussels (I’m Belgian), about two weeks ago.
But you never know these days.
Can you hear me, Ian? You can
run, but you can’t hide.
Whatever, this new single confirms that longevity isn’t always
a negative, getting boring, factor for artists. BRUSSELS IS HAUNTED
is, er, a haunting, sha la la home run.
See you in Brussels, Ian.
British Synth Pop Champs OMD Cause Euphoria In Belgium
16 July 2026
British synth pop champs OMD, abbreviation for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,
have been entertaining people since 1978. In 2006 they took a deserved 10-year hiatus. Ten years later, in 2006, they returned and never looked back.
They recorded/released 14 LPs thus far, with
Bauhaus Staircase from 2023 as their most
recent one.
They scored big hits with great gems such as Electricity, Messages,
Souvenir, Maid Of New Orleans and their biggest one, Enola Gay.
Last Saturday they played at Rock Zottegem Festival in Belgium.
It was a non-stop, effervescent best-of set causing euphoria all around.
TUTV was there.
Live in the dark
Synth pop bliss all night long
Shine on OMD
This one is for Chrissie Hynde who hates phones at her expensive concerts
XIU XIU Fascinate with A Hallucinatory Sonic Odyssey On ‘ERASERHEAD XIU XIU’
16 July 2026
Californian experimental duo XIU XIU deliver their second LP honoring the iconic filmmaker David Lynch (1946-2025), with their musical vision of his first pitch-black, surreal fantasy movie Eraserhead from 1977. It tells the story of a bizarre man who
tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newborn mutant child.
This new XX’s project is named ERASERHEAD XIU XIU
Movie trailer.
Press info: “In 2016, with the blessing of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, Xiu Xiu released and toured the surprisingly successful album Plays The Music Of Twin Weaks.
Now they return with Eraserhead Xiu Xiu. A new live concert with accompanying film
and full-length album that uses field recordings, concert specific homemade instruments, organ, modular synths, vocals, flashlights, electrical interference, and elements of musique concrete to express the bizarre emotionality, conflicted sexuality, relentless darkness, and singularly unsettled moonscape of this most incredible of midnight masterpieces.
The album itself is a masterpiece in sound collage and experimentation, shifting
from minimal auditory sensations to a clobbering, grotesque cacophony.”
TUTV: XX’s hallucinatory sonic odyssey is as outlandish, Kafkaesque, and
phantasmagorical as the movie. You need to take time, separate yourself from
your surroundings, dim the light, and sit down to immerse yourself, with your
earphones on, in the petrifying, distorted sound disturbance spread across
7 trance-like (long and short) tracks.
Don’t go to sleep immediately after.
Play it loud.
BECK Announces Details Of His 15th LP – Hear New Single ‘IN THE NIGHT’
16 July 2026
📷: Autumn de Wilde
The now 56-year-old songsmith BECK has announced the upcoming birth of his
15th full-length. It’s named RIDE LONESOME and will show up on September 18th.
Pre-order info here.
Press info: “His first album of all-new material since the Grammy-winning ‘Hyperspace‘. Harkening back to the rich, atmospheric sounds of ‘Morning Phase‘ and ‘Sea Change‘, the album reunites Beck with musicians from those acclaimed releases. Produced by himself and mixed by Nigel Godrich, Ride Lonesome marks a compelling return to the intimate, cinematic style that defines some of his most celebrated work.”
Album artwork
Before this album news came in, we already got, a few
weeks ago, the gentle title track with Ride Lonesome.
And here’s a 2nd appetizer named IN THE NIGHT.
Just like the title track, it’s an intimate, mellow reverie.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE Surprise With New Acoustic Feel Good Hit Of The Summer ‘EASY STREET’
Daily electricity to load your batteries
15 July 2026
Photo Andreas Neumann
Josh Homme‘s turbulent turbine QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE released a 5-track EP
last year, called Alive In The Catacombs. It was recorded in the literal catacombs, the
old cemetery tunnels under Paris. Five old, stripped-to-the-bone songs.
And it looks/sounds like he wants more of that intimacy with the new single EASY STREET.
Homme: “It’s kind of a funny song. It’s like hitting your funny bone, where it’s funny because
it hurts and it hurts because it’s funny. You’re serious, but it’s funny. We made it the way you’d make a demo. No click track, mistakes left in. It speeds up, it slows down, the claps aren’t great, but they’re not bad, and a bad clap adds this human thing you can’t fake.”
TUTV: Certainly another kind of feel good summer hit than the one from 2000. No bragging about taking a ton of drugs here. No macho riffs. No astronomic power speed. Easy Street is an acoustic power pop gem. Infectiously melodic, spiced with duet vocals here and there. Let the freaks and the birds sing.
Here we go.
