For your eyes
7 February 2026
Canadian musician/composer DAN SNAITH is best known
for his work with Caribou, but he also operates under the
alias of Daphni.
With the latter project, he has a new longplayer out
today, titled BUTTERFLY with arrestive artwork.
STREAM
7 February 2026
Artist: BERANG
Who: Dedicated and emotive Belgian
singer-songwriter Bert Janssens.
Album: DOES IT EVER GET BETTER.
His sophomore, following debut
Eternal Friend released in 2023.
Janssens: “It’s a protest record for anyone who’s lost their bearings due to the world’s
woes and finds it sad reading the newspaper. But the message remains: find warmth in
your surroundings and believe that everything will turn out alright in the end.
Just like always, I still play indie folk with a punk soul, but punk rock is more prominent on this album. Think of something like The Weakerthans and Elliott Smith, or Bob Dylan on steroids.”
Artwork by Jolien Wilke
TUTV: Does It Ever Get Better balances between Evan Dando & The Lemonheads‘ energetic, guitar-pop rapture (The Last Fortunate Timeline / Specific Ways Of Being / Does It Ever Get Better / Valere and my favorite track, closer Support Of Any Kind) and Father John Misty‘s dreamy intimacy (Don’t Keep Your Soul So Close / Safe And Satisfied / Fair Winds And Following Seas / You’ll Be Alright).
Janssens strums his 6-string with fervid flair and bouncy bravura on the fast
tunes and with gentleness on the slow musings. A galvanising balance that
offers a varied ear-pleasure. His hearty voice adds a sonic warmth and fits
his songs like a pair of new gloves.
Does it ever get better? Maybe, maybe not. We’re in the middle of intolerant times,
which is reflected in his stories. But there’s no sense in carrying all the world’s problems on our shoulders all the time. As somebody used to sing, There’s Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Friends and family will help to keep that light shining.
One thing is obvious. Berang is getting better on this new full-length.
Enjoy.
6 February 2026
Band: RATBOYS
Who: Chicago’s beloved guitar pop
indies, fronted by ratgirl Julia Steiner.
Album: Singin’ To An Empty Chair.
Their 6th longplayer.
Album artwork
Press Info: “11 songs showcase Ratboys‘ twangy, effervescent, as confident as they’ve
ever been, and more emotionally interrogative than ever before. If the band’s last record, 2023’s widely-praised The Window, was “a level-up record,” then Singin’ to an Empty Chair
is Ratboys at the peak of their powers.”
Julia Steiner (vocalist/lyricist/guitarist): “A big, overarching theme of this record is my
attempt to document my experience being estranged from a close loved one. The goal is to update this person on what’s been going on in my life and to try to bridge that impasse and reach out a hand into the void.”
DIY Magazine (UK) says: “At a time when country-tinged indie rock is by no means
in short supply in America – Wednesday, Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman all spring
to mind – Ratboys have earned their seat at the top table.”
TUTV: Expect a tsunami of indie guitar pop fervor. Made me immediately think
of Australian group The Belair Lip Bombs, who scored best album of 2026 on
TUTV’s list with their 2nd one Again.
Signin’ To Empty Chairs is not as good as Again. Mind you, we get a handful of bouncy tunes (Open Up / Know You Then / Anywhere / What’s Right and At Peace In The Hundred Acre Wood), but we also get a handful of lukewarm songs to make this a memorable record. Anyway, indie guitar pop is alive and kicking.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
4 February 2026
Band:PVA
Who: A genre-hopping London trio, intuitively blending club music and
a smart pop sensibility with the more organic elements and instrumentation
of new-wave and post-punk.
Album: NO MORE LIKE THIS
Their 2nd.
Press info: “This record dives into repression as a dismissal of authenticity. It reflects on how we misremember and remain uncertain about what is true or real. Immersed in the waters of others’ wants, the album asks: What do we truly desire? How can we know what genuine want is?
The Quietus says: “No More Like This is a rippled watery reflection of PVA’s work so far – familiar yet distorted. Their prior releases, such as their (2020) EP Toner are echoed in the group’s continued musical exploration of queerness and the body. No More Like This is intelligent but not chin-stroke music.
No More Like This sees the familiar and unfamiliar shake
hands, like a hallucinatory introduction between friends.”
The disturbing artwork
TUTV: PVA mix trip-hop-pop and electro throbbings since they entered the scene
in 2017. They produce shadowdancing music to chill out to in the morning hours
after a night in the city. Several times I thought “Okay, here they go, decibels up” but
it doesn’t happen.
The distance between them and their fellow citizens Dry Cleaning is quite close.
Whispering vocals, velvety atmospherics, and bassy Massive Attack beats. After
a couple of spins, everything falls into place. This record is about daydreaming
at dawn while mysterious ghosts fill the room.
– SINGLE –
– ALBUM –
3 February 2026
Press photo
Band: KULA SHAKER
Who: British psych rock vets, fronted by charismatic
vocalist/songwriter Crispian Mills. Their 1996 debut LP,
titled K made them instant indie stars.
New album: WORMSLAYER
Their 8th one.
Press info: “Named after a 9th-century Indian poet king, the band have always existed
in an alternate reality, mixing mysticism, psychedelia, and raucous rock ‘n’ roll energy. With Wormslayer, they continue that quest, creating a kaleidoscopic journey that feels both
timeless and urgently fresh.”
TUTV: KS show again their passion for 60s psychedelic rock/pop. Broke As Folk,
Little Darling, Shaunie and Wormslayer are obvious examples of their retro delirium.
Think early Pink Floyd, The Kinks, and Arthur Lee’s Love.
And they are very good at it. Wormslayer is stuffed with top-flight pop-edelia tunes, elevating this 8th LP to a must-hear level. Voice/face/songwriter mastermind Crispian
Mills lifts his troops to ecstasizing nostalgia heights. Respect.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
UK/Euro Tour 2026
25 January 2026
Artist: LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Who: Longtime lauded and award-winning
songstress (now aged 72) from Louisiana.
New album: WORLD’S GONE WRONG
Her 16th.
Press info: “Gone Wrong captures Williams responding to global and personal upheaval through deeply human songs that balance grit with grace. Joined by Mavis Staples, Norah Jones, and Brittney Spencer, she channels blues, country, and rock traditions into something profoundly of its time — a reminder of music’s power to witness, resist, and heal.”
UNCUT Magazine (British glossy music monthly): “Williams reveals her chief preoccupation: America and where it stands today. Her natural impulse is to channel compassion, concern, empathy and anxiety in a batch of wise songs that know their past and present but refuse to crumple or compromise.
One year into Donald Trump’s second term, Williams knows people need to feel their woes
are acknowledged and understood, and more so, that they need hope for a kinder future.
The music is straight and soothing, a band coming together in a rootsy salve as Williams returns to a favourite theme, deliverance through music. She is engaged in nothing less
than a battle for America’s soul.”
Williams: “We are here to bear witness to this monstrous sickness.”
TUTV: If you have any kind of common sense, you’re disgusted by that orange dictator’s damaging politics in the White House. First of all, all the not-brainwashed Americans, of course, but also at least half of the world despises him because of his ‘Me, Myself and I‘ politics.
Lucinda Williams is one of those millions of Americans who are sick of this MAGA cult POTUS. She embeds her rage into a series of most captivating songs, sonically, vocaly and lyrically. World’s Gone Wrong is both a worrying, candid, and sharp-observing record. Don’t miss it.
The two singles.
– WE’VE COME TOO FAR TO TURN AROUND –
– THE WORLD’S GONE WRONG –
ALBUM
(No streaming
on Spotify)
Other platforms to stream the LP on here.
23 January 2026
Artwork new and final album
Californian thrash metalheads MEGADETH are one of those musical institutions that
have been around for ages. In their case, since 1983, and they’re ready now to finish
their impressive career with their Final Eponymous LP, released today.
Dave Mustaine (co-founder, frontman and primary songwriter): “There’s so many
musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional.
Most of them don’t get to go out on their own terms on top, and that’s where I’m at in my
life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and
the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them.”
We’ve made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour. Don’t be mad, don’t be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. We have done something together that’s truly wonderful and will probably never happen again. We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it’s played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world.
I love you all for it. Thank you for everything.”
The Guardian (British newspaper): “Conspiracy theories and combustible fingers on thrash metallers’ curtain call. Dave Mustaine has rarely needed much prompting to pick at the subject of being ousted from Metallica over the intervening 40-plus years. If nothing else, bringing it up one last time is very on brand, as is the rest of Megadeth, good and bad.”
TUTV: First things first, I’m not a trash metal fan. On the other hand when I hear it,
like with this one, I always wonder how many fingers the guitarists have. 15? 20? The resonance of their nuclear speed riffs sound at times mindbogglingly inhuman. Anyway, respect for a pioneering group of the genre, that entertained millions of fans for 40 years.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
16 January 2026
Band: CARDINALS
Who: Young, fast up-and-coming
Irish rock indies from Cork.
Album: MASQUERADE
Their debut. Out on
Press info: “It’s a record that is at once grand and intimate, awash with romance
and flickers of holy imagery, and most of all, it’s an undeniable fulfilment of the
innate promise the band have shown since their earliest beginnings.
These are emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of
violence, cynicism or fervent discontent and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability.”
Euan Manning (frontman) is confident about the LP as he told NME: “Classic albums are different for different people. I don’t know whether it’s a classic or not – it’s not up to me. But
I’m really proud of us. I’m really proud of the record. Personally, in my heart, it’s a classic. It’ll always be there for me, whether I’m in love with it or if I’m hating it.”
So far, no less than 4 singles to warm up.
– BIG EMPTY HEART –
– THE BURNING OF CORK –
– BARBED WIRE –
– MASQUERADE –
9 January 2026
Band: DRY CLEANING
Who: Much lauded indie outfit from London, fronted by
spoken-word frontwoman Florence Shaw, who made their
breakthrough with their 2nd LP Stumpwork from 2022.
New album: SECRET LOVE
Their 3rd one.
NME says: “From six-minute jams to new adventures in
freak-folk, the London band carve deeper into their niche
on album three.”
TUTV says: I have mixed emotions about this one. At times DC come close
getting your hips activated and make a move, but as many previously tunes,
here are too many sleep-inducing musings. So, play it before you go to bed,
spoken-word dreams will pop up in yourt mind.
– KEY TRACKS –
Hit My Head All Day
Cruise Ship Designer
Blood
Rocks
– SINGLE –
– ALBUM –
.
Instagram – Facebook
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Band: THE CRIBS
Who: Beloved indie bros – one pair of twins and a young brother – from Wakefield, England, making riff-charged racket since 2001. Once upon a time Johnny Marr was
a member for a while.
New album: SELLING A VIBE
1st in 5 years, their 9th overall.
The Guardian (English newspaper) says: “What is striking is how uniformly
well-written and powerful the songs are. Time and again, they hit a perfect balance.
Nothing here feels slick or overworked, but the melodies soar, the choruses hit,
everything clicks faultlessly.”
TUTV says: I’m not as enthousiatic as The Guardian. Many tracks are guitar pop by numbers, as so many bands of the genre produce. Okay tunes, but nothing more.
Then again they caught my ears’ attention with 3 standout gems: Never The Same,
Looking For The Wrong Guy and You’ll Tell Me Anything. Three tracks that stick and
make you reach for the repeat button.
– KEY TRACKS –
Never The Same,
Looking For The Wrong Guy
You’ll Tell Me Anything.
– SINGLE –
– ALBUM –
.
Instagram – Facebook – All Albums
Artist: JOE GLASS
Who: Chicago singer-songwriter, member
of Kai Slater’s Sharp Pins.
Album: SNAKEWARDS
His somophore one.
Stereogum says: “Songs that infuse many hooks with jittery/jangly energy
a la the dB’s or Undertones, the exploratory whimsy of Elephant 6, and the
requisite GBV-esque anthems and dirges.”
Glass: “13 scrap-rock sketches straight from the heart to the gut.
Maybe we can keep rock’n’roll alive for one more day? Who knows.”
TUTV says: A blend of early R.E.M. electricity, garage Ty Segall rock
and Replacements buzz. Get the picture? I’m sure you do.
– KEY TRACKS –
Dust On Your Halo
Freight Train Woman
All About You
It’s A Drag
– SINGLE –
– ALBUM –