5 BEST ALBUMS OF THE MONTH – OCTOBER 2026
29 October 2026
Band: FONTAINES D.C.
Who: The Irish indie stars, fronted
by their charismatic and highly talented
singer/songwriter Grian Chatten.
Album: DOPAMINE CHAMBER.
Their 5th. Order info here.
Grian Chatten (frontman/songwriter) who spent time among the faded grandeur
of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration: “I think Romance was maybe
60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling.
This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little
more. I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness
honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”
TUTV: Their first 2 LPs were afire ones, the ones young gunslingers make, full of vim
and vigour and stuffed with muscular barnstormers. With their third album Skinty Fia
the growing-up Irishmen showed signs of change of course, sonically and lyrically.
The 4th full-length Romance confirmed their new direction completely
and now with Dopamine Chamber they created/crafted a masterpiece.
A strings sweeping, orchestral, gloom/doom triumph. More cinematic, designed synth arrangements, less youthful guitar upheaval, more in-depth reflections about what worried Chatten sees and hears around him in this dark era.
His ruminative tonality and affecting storytelling timbre are on his most entrancing
button. This sign of the times exploit will spin on my headphones for a long time. One
of the most fulfilling records of 2026.
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Band: FAT DOG
Who: London disco-punk cowboys who shoot from the hips.
They made an immediate impact with their debut LP WOOF.
Album: CANCEL ME (I’M TIRED)
Their 2nd longplayer.
Press info: Fat Dog have created an exhilarating, swaggering, panoramic, inventive,
re-inventive, re-re-inventive electro-punk-art-pop-rock’n’roll-space-country triumph that deserves all the adjectives. Over ten mind-bending and melodic tracks, it blends electro-pop anthems, cascading rave bangers, cowboy-tinged pitstops and swirling psychedelia.
TUTV: Fat Dog are barking at the same tree. They use their prize-winning formula
of their debut again, and it works fabulously piquing. Electro-punk pyrotechnics accompanied by boosting bass riffage, drubbing drum beats, crescendo-going vitality,
and Joe Love‘s pressurizing vocals combine for another tiring 24-hour party where you
can chase your tail all night long.
It would be a major blunder to cancel them.
Never modify a victorious dog team.
Let’s go to the races with FD.
KEY SINGLE
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Artist: JOHNNY MARR
Who: The former The Smiths‘ guitar hero, who played afterward
several years with Modest Mouse, also with The Pretenders, Brian
Ferry and many more.
Album: THE AGE OF EVERYTHING
His 5th solo one.
Marr: “This is the record that’s been the most cathartic. The title came to me early in the process and became an inescapable idea. It seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling. It’s all encompassing, but it’s not necessarily a negative statement. There’s a sense
of overwhelm in the culture brought about by technology, but looking at it with a different light, there could also be a sense of possibility.”
TUTV: Arguably his best solo effort. A series of top-drawer tunes, action-packed
guitar riffs and sparkling hooks, as usual, with vocal striving. This charming man
made a notably arresting record, up there with The Smiths‘ better work.
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Artists: WHOLE
Who: German darkwave duo featuring Alexander Leonard Donat of Vlimmer
and Fir Cone Children and Thomas Schernikau of Forced To Mode/Forced Movement.
Album: THING
Press info: While rooted in synthpop, THING constantly drifts into darker territory, pulling in elements of post-punk, darkwave, industrial and EBM. It’s an album shaped by two very different musical personalities: one drawn to urgency, noise and momentum, the other to restraint, atmosphere and reflection. Somewhere between those poles, WHOLE found its most direct and cohesive work yet.
Lyrically, the record revolves around a simple but increasingly relevant question:
what makes a human being human? In an age of algorithms, profiles, AI and endless
self-optimization, where exactly is the line between a person and a thing?
TUTV: Overall, Thing sounds like wandering aimlessly in a puzzling labyrinth.
Many ways to walk, many ways to lose yourself, only one way to freedom. WHOLE are looking for answers in this world’s growing AI spider web. Who or what are we, really?
The duo shifts from industrial textures to darkwave dynamics, from gloomy goth to doomy
post-punk percussion, from Die Krupps to Bauhaus, from Nosferatu to Lebanon Hangover. Participate in their sonic odyssey; it’s a worthwhile adventure.
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Blackjack Illuminist Records
Band: KIDS WITH BUNS
Who: Belgian dream pop duo, featuring
Marie Van Uytvanck and Amber Piddington.
“We started out with Kids With Buns at age 18 and 20 respectively, and we were
not trained musicians by any means. To be able to put that complete puzzle together.
The arrangement, the songs, the production everything contributes to the whole of
a song.
We have had the privilege of learning it by doing it, from the bedroom
to the stage. And we see the potential in each other’s ideas where no one
else would.”
Album: BELL JAR
Their 3rd. Recorded in
Philadelphia.
The album title is a direct reference to the famous semi-autobiographical
novel by American author Sylvia Plath (1932-1963).
KWB: “The theme of The Bell Jar is how every process in your life is actually circular,
regarding the healing from mental health issues. When things get better, they will also
get worse, and at some point, that becomes a very present theme in our lives. We felt
that we kept falling into certain patterns.”
Pukkelpop Festival, 22 August 26, photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: Once again, we can hear/experience how heartfelt music can generate
a healing force after a break-up and hurting lovesickness. These two wonderful
buns also channel their crestfallen feelings through their singer-songwriters skills
in the hope of a cathartic recovery.
Marie and Amber enchant with guitar-sparkled musings, with warm vocals and
breezy harmonies. Dream-pop tranquillity with a rehabilitating outcome. Enlivening
tunes and ambivalent lullabies alternate throughout this falling down, standing up
record. Bittersweet symphonies for twilight moments.
KEY SINGLE
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