Cerca:ad 2022

While many have tried to emulate the ancient German (black)thrash sound, CRUEL FORCE brimmed with an authenticity that could not be denied, as well as songwriting that added to that noble tradition rather than lazily picking at its corpse. Their two successive albums, 2010's The Rise of Satanic Might and 2011's Under the Sign of the Moon, made CRUEL FORCE a certifiably CULT name in the international metal underground. Sadly, the band fell into a hiatus following that second album, but returned reinvigorated with the comeback 7" EP Across the Styx in 2022 and, a year later, the glorious full- length Dawn of the Axe at the hands of new label home SHADOW KINGDOM. Continuing to make up for lost time, CRUEL FORCE storm back with swords gleaming high on their fourth full- length, Haneda.

Where a line could be drawn between the band's "first era" of The Rise of Satanic Might / Under the Sign of the Moon, so continues this Second Era that began with Dawn of the Axe - one that harkens to the "Jurassic period" of heavy metal, when everything was rawer, less polished, and more energetic and powerful. As displayed by that pivotal predecessor, Haneda further proves that CRUEL FORCE are more so an old-style speed metal band, largely bereft of that blackened edge during their First Era. The tradeoff is that there's a prominent mysticism coursing through that speed, and the blue-collared aspect of Dawn of the Axe is now spit-shined to a lethal slickness that makes Haneda hit that much harder.

However, it must be stressed that, while it follows logically from Dawn of the Axe, Haneda is very much its own headspace, its own continuation of a still-vital aesthetic. At times more epic, exuding both more and different atmospheres, CRUEL FORCE here take the listener on a journey from old temples to desert planes, from deep jungles to mountain tops, and other mysterious locales beyond; indeed, the whole record is like a journey through mystical realms. Although no concept album, Haneda is very conceptual in its aesthetics, even down to its production: BIG and naturaltoned, from the guitars to especially the drums, everything here is as '80s and authentic as possible, underlining

Repress on black vinyl. Goldfoil embossed cover. Alright! 2023, Black Rainbows are back with 12 fresh, brand new tunes! The new album sounds huge, with of a great deal of attention paid to the guitars in the recording, and it seems that the band has finally found the perfect balance and tone for their heavy super stoner sound! This album gives you not only incredible heavy rock-stoner gems, but also: one space acoustic song, one super psychedelic suite and one melodic trippy ballad that adds a perfect mixture of what is sure to be the best album released by the band so far! "Superskull" has been recorded by Fabio Sforza (the same producer of the last two recordings), in May 2022, and after much work and effort by the band in mixing and mastering, the album will see the light of day one year later. The incredible artwork has been delivered by the brazilian artist Pedro Correa.

Repress on black vinyl. Goldfoil embossed cover. Alright! 2023, Black Rainbows are back with 12 fresh, brand new tunes! The new album sounds huge, with of a great deal of attention paid to the guitars in the recording, and it seems that the band has finally found the perfect balance and tone for their heavy super stoner sound! This album gives you not only incredible heavy rock-stoner gems, but also: one space acoustic song, one super psychedelic suite and one melodic trippy ballad that adds a perfect mixture of what is sure to be the best album released by the band so far! "Superskull" has been recorded by Fabio Sforza (the same producer of the last two recordings), in May 2022, and after much work and effort by the band in mixing and mastering, the album will see the light of day one year later. The incredible artwork has been delivered by the brazilian artist Pedro Correa.

Yuvi Havkin aka Rejoicer returns with an exceptional collaborative album, California Space Craft. On this aptly titled record, he joins forces with seasoned LA bass polymath Sam Wilkes — known for his inspired studio work with Sam Gendel and his dynamic live performances alongside Louis Cole and KNOWER — and drummer Tamir Barzilay, completing the LA-connected trifecta alongside a select handful of key featured guests. The idea for California Space Craft was born out of a series of inspired live sessions in Los Angeles between 2019 and 2022, notably at Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree, where the trio’s natural chemistry first began to bloom. The resulting recordings encompass a wide variety of inspired sound stylings, as one would expect from any of these accomplished artists on their own; however, the sum is truly greater than the parts here, with the fluidity of their freeform improvisations over a dedicated three-day recording session feeling remarkably focused as a cohesive whole. Opening track “Traveling Light” sets the LP’s tone with equal parts Sly & Robbie-style, space echo– drenched rhythms and the cozy kosmische, guitar-led feel of early-2000s genre-fluid explorers like Tortoise. As we continue on to “Ritual in G#,” we are reminded that this is indeed a unique and timeless sonic space the trio has created, as Havkin’s crisp Rhodes chords anchor an ever-evolving psychedelic sound bed. The soaring trumpet of Avishai Cohen adorns the Afrobeat-indebted “Lion Water,” with Barzilay laying down a proper Allen-esque groove, while “Further (with you),” featuring Nitai Hershkovits on keys, offers a defining look at the titular concept of the album — with pure Cali feels coalescing effortlessly into sciNew Release Information fi narrative modes and a proper dose of Rejoicer futurism. Elsewhere, “Her Hair in the Air” shines with fresh polyrhythmic intention, illustrating the balanced bond between the three collaborators at their conversational peak, and the brisk synth strokes of “Early Porpoises,” alongside LP closer “Oceanic Friends” — again ideally named — double as a grand, in-stereo ride into the blissful Pacific sunset horizon. California Space Craft embodies the power of open, collective intention and musical kinship, offering memorable, uplifting moments and an aural glimpse of hope, warmth, and loving melodious calm in an otherwise quite chaotic time for humanity.

Soft Echoes presents the first physical edition of ‘In a Few Places Along the River’ by Abul Mogard as a limited run of 500 vinyl copies. Originally released digitally in 2022, the album now appears in its intended form, marking the label’s second release.

Three long pieces, composed between 2019 and 2022, emerged from Mogard’s meticulous experimentation with analogue and digital instruments. Slowly evolving harmonic fields of layered drones and spectral textures drift across the record. They are enhanced by reverb from Scotland’s Inchindown oil tanks, which hold the longest reverberation of any man-made structure, giving the music a haunting resonance and a sense of suspended space.

‘Against a White Cloud’ and ‘In True Contemplation’ open the album with their nocturnal tones that gradually intensify into dense, immersive waves of sound. Side B is devoted to the 21-minute elegiacal piece ‘Along the River’, which flows between weight and silence, unfolding with reflective depth and moments of subtle transcendence. As one listener observed, “His music doesn't break the wilful suspension of disbelief: you stay in its trance.”

“Recording for this album began in 2019, when I was still living in London,” Mogard explains. “The first version of ‘Along the River’ was created at my studio near Brick Lane. It started with experimenting around a chord progression inspired by a classical piece I had once been recommended, though, strangely enough, I no longer recall what it was. Early in 2022, I revealed the identity behind Abul Mogard and wanted to mark this new period, so I decided to release it quickly, by myself, as digital-only.”

After returning to Rome, Mogard created the other two pieces, working with new digital instruments alongside his modular synthesiser, and integrated recordings from the London sessions. The music reveals a patient attention to texture and space, defining his usual restraint. Mogard adds, “I was trying to explore very subtle changes in the spectral characteristics of the music using extremely slow, intertwined tones.”

Described by critics as one of Mogard’s most melancholic and absorbing releases, the album maintains an austere beauty and contemplative weight, leaving a lingering impression that lasts far beyond the final note.

The music has extended beyond the album itself, with tracks appearing in films and contemporary artworks. Most notably, Swedish artist Peder Bjurman’s ‘Slow Walker’ audiovisual installation and French filmmaker Fleuryfontaine’s politically charged animated film ‘Soixante-sept millisecondes’.

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri and cut to vinyl by Lupo, the record emphasises the clarity and depth of Mogard’s frequencies, with each layer precisely balanced. The cover artwork and design are by Marja de Sanctis, who has collaborated with Abul since his first cassette release in 2012.

Critically acclaimed Death Metal force TEMPLE OF VOID return with their new album, The Crawl. The caveman brawn of previous albums, namely Summoning the Slayer (2022), remains, but there’s a wider dynamic on the group’s fifth full-length album at play. Now a quartet—featuring guitarist Alex Awn, drummer Jason Pearce, vocalist/guitarist Mike Erdody, and bassist Justin Malek—the Michiganders aren’t shying away from their non-metal influences, seeking greater integration of grunge and post-punk with their brutish signature. Singles “The Crawl” and “Soulburn” demonstrate the proficiency of TEMPLE OF VOID's death-cloaked, spearheaded attack. From the high intensity of opener “Poison Icon” to the granite wall of “The Twin Stranger,” The Crawl isn’t just TEMPLE OF VOID evolved, it’s a harbinger of death metal to come. “The biggest shift for me on this record was not feeling like we had to fly the ‘death-doom banner’ as part of our identity,” says Alex Awn. “Death-doom, as a genre, gave us something to anchor our sound around when we started. It was always a reference and touchstone. At the same time, we always wanted to make sure we had our own spin on it. We’ve always been adding to the conversation, adding to the genre, giving our point of view. A huge part of what makes a Temple of Void record is the non-death-doom influences that make up our DNA. And on album five we never once asked ourselves, ‘Do we have enough death metal? Do we have enough doom metal?’ We simply wrote a heavy-ass record—let the chips fall where they may.” For lyrics, Erdody built on the psychology and fear themes of Summoning the Slayer. The overarching theme of The Crawl is, put rather simply, an “allegory about life, choices, and consequences.” It’s a qualitative view on the horrors of the human condition and the contemplation of our monstrous capabilities. “The Twin Stranger,” for example, is about being stalked by a person’s doppelganger; “Godless Cynic” draws on a short story by sci-fi author Harlan Ellison; and “Poison Icon” tackles the crushing effects of mankind’s intrinsic nature to deceive and control.

KALEIDOBOLT’s fifth album is pungent to the ears – KARAKUCHI out in March Karakuchi is one record you can judge by its cover. The first time Kaleidobolt’s faces have adorned an LP, they have been fused into a torpedoing biomechanical vehicle. Echoing The Birthday Party’s Junkyard or Motörhead’s Orgasmatron (…on acid?!), the illustration epitomises perfectly Kaleidobolt’s agenda of “hyperkinetic rock”. Their feverish, psych-prog sound is full of motion. It jerks around at different speeds, threatening to spin out of control and crash into flames at any given moment. What’s more, it isn’t taken too seriously. This is heavy and intricate music, yes. But as bassist and co-singer Marco Menestrina puts it, the Kaleidobolt attitude is “an ugly smirk more than an angry face with a fist.” On their fifth album since forming in 2014, the Helsinki-based outfit lean into their strengths as a formidable power trio. With their previous two records, 2019’s Bitter and 2022’s This One Simple Trick, they had thrown everything at their disposal into the recording with no expense spared on overdubs, effects and kitchen sinks. Produced again by Niko Lehdontie (Oranssi Pazuzu), Karakuchi comes from tightly rehearsed, live-in-the-studio takes. Kaleidobolt realise that greater sparsity can be a strength, and they’ve allowed their instruments extra space to breathe. It makes for their earthiest, purest and perhaps most authentic record to date. Karakuchi’s exuberant style emerges from the individual members’ contrasting listening habits. These span classic prog, Japanese city pop, noise rock, post-hardcore and historical podcasts. One record they can all agree is a masterpiece, the centre of the Venn diagram where all three members meet, is King Crimson’s Red. As for their new album’s title, that’s as suitable as the cover art. “Karakuchi” is the slogan of the Japanese beer brand Asahi Super Dry. Translated literally, this means “pungent to the mouth”. As drinkers of that product, Kaleidobolt acknowledge its parallels to their songs. “It’s very intense, right at the front, like at the first bite,” explains Menestrina. “And then it leaves your mouth feeling refreshed. The flavour doesn’t linger in your mouth, basically. It has a quick, hard finish. With a bit of a stretch, we thought that that could also be said of our music.” Karakuchi is Kaleidobolt at their hardest, fastest, tightest and super-driest. Pungent to the ears. -JR Moores, November 2025

KALEIDOBOLT’s fifth album is pungent to the ears – KARAKUCHI out in March Karakuchi is one record you can judge by its cover. The first time Kaleidobolt’s faces have adorned an LP, they have been fused into a torpedoing biomechanical vehicle. Echoing The Birthday Party’s Junkyard or Motörhead’s Orgasmatron (…on acid?!), the illustration epitomises perfectly Kaleidobolt’s agenda of “hyperkinetic rock”. Their feverish, psych-prog sound is full of motion. It jerks around at different speeds, threatening to spin out of control and crash into flames at any given moment. What’s more, it isn’t taken too seriously. This is heavy and intricate music, yes. But as bassist and co-singer Marco Menestrina puts it, the Kaleidobolt attitude is “an ugly smirk more than an angry face with a fist.” On their fifth album since forming in 2014, the Helsinki-based outfit lean into their strengths as a formidable power trio. With their previous two records, 2019’s Bitter and 2022’s This One Simple Trick, they had thrown everything at their disposal into the recording with no expense spared on overdubs, effects and kitchen sinks. Produced again by Niko Lehdontie (Oranssi Pazuzu), Karakuchi comes from tightly rehearsed, live-in-the-studio takes. Kaleidobolt realise that greater sparsity can be a strength, and they’ve allowed their instruments extra space to breathe. It makes for their earthiest, purest and perhaps most authentic record to date. Karakuchi’s exuberant style emerges from the individual members’ contrasting listening habits. These span classic prog, Japanese city pop, noise rock, post-hardcore and historical podcasts. One record they can all agree is a masterpiece, the centre of the Venn diagram where all three members meet, is King Crimson’s Red. As for their new album’s title, that’s as suitable as the cover art. “Karakuchi” is the slogan of the Japanese beer brand Asahi Super Dry. Translated literally, this means “pungent to the mouth”. As drinkers of that product, Kaleidobolt acknowledge its parallels to their songs. “It’s very intense, right at the front, like at the first bite,” explains Menestrina. “And then it leaves your mouth feeling refreshed. The flavour doesn’t linger in your mouth, basically. It has a quick, hard finish. With a bit of a stretch, we thought that that could also be said of our music.” Karakuchi is Kaleidobolt at their hardest, fastest, tightest and super-driest. Pungent to the ears. -JR Moores, November 2025

Just when you thought Kevin Richard Martin's music couldn’t go any slower, lower or deeper, Sub Zero emerges. A slow-motion excavation of drug-tech, dub, dreamy noise and frozen ambience, the album gradually mutates into hypnotic pulsations and melodic melancholia. It is arguably Martin’s most striking release to date under his given name.


Originally released digitally on Bandcamp only in the depths of winter 2022, amid the final year of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, this desolate epic went on to become KRM's best-selling digital album on the platform. With persistent demand for a vinyl pressing and a full DSP release from fans, Martin thought the time was right for Sub Zero to finally surface in its full glory: remastered and paired with fresh new artwork.


Unnervingly, the album is as beautiful as it is solemn, as glacial as it is relentless, and as subtle as it is terrifying. A trip into a sonic abyss, with a tour of a philosophical void, it’s to my ears, KRM’s most seductive work yet, and also his most emotionally resonant. Martin expertly balances tear-jerking motifs with heavier than hell rhythmic weight. With its melodic fog, eternal drones and eerie atmospherics, the peripheral throb of distant kick drums, the heartbeat punctuation of cavernous subs and the snowstorm blizzard of fuzz absolutely envelopes the mind, whilst crushing the soul.


In terms of lineage, Sub Zero might recall a more paranoid Porter Ricks, a dystopian GAS, or a brutally dubbed-out Pan Sonic. Most fitting, however, is its kinship with the deepest dub terrain Martin previously explored on In Blue, The Bug’s acclaimed 2020 collaboration with Dis Fig for Hyperdub, where he obsessively probed subaqueous pulses and low-end modulations.


Sub Zero is possibly the most minimal, desolate, and deviant dub record yet released on Martin’s PRESSURE label. It marks the point at which dub disappears into its own effects trails. Dub music capturing frozen moments in time. Dub as an addictive painkiller, that sounds both sacred and ocean deep.

Desinteresse releases their second album Onschuld through Fabrika Records on September 9, 2025.

Desinteresse is a Dutch Coldwave act consisting of Bart Vranken (bass), Joppe de Swart (drums), and Sem van den Munckhof (vocals/synth/guitar). Formed in late 2022 as a duo, Bart and Sem released their debut album Voor Altijd in April 2023 and the EP Ik Wil Dood Als Ik Het Vergeet in November 2023, both on cassette through their own label DECADENCE. With the addition of Joppe in early 2024, they released their first work as trio in August 2024, the 7” single Grijze Dromen.

Desinteresse produces their music using original vintage equipment as a deliberate form of artistic expression and identity. Their live performances are a melancholic, but mesmerizing affair, where music and vocals amplify the weight of their message, emphasizing the non-existential and abandoned emotions that define their sound. An absolute delicacy for fans of Fad Gadget, The Normal, Joy Division and early work from The Cure.

The titles and lyrics are in their native Dutch. Onschuld (also the title of the opening track) translates to ‘innocence’. With other titles such as Niets Te Zeggen (nothing to say), Brekend Glas (breaking glass) and Grizje Dromen (grey dreams), this pensive album could be a good-bye to innocence, but it’s certainly the ideal companion for ruminations on gloom.

Built on the solid, classic rock foundation of three-part harmonies and dual guitar leads, Canada's Juno Award-winning and multi-platinum selling - the Sheepdogs blend Southern boogie rock, groove-based psychedelia, and bluesy barroom swagger into a modern rock & roll revival. Hailing from the small prairie city of Saskatoon, The Sheepdogs are one of Canada’s most successful bands amassing a legion of fans worldwide with their rich harmonies, rounded guitar tones and classic rock-influenced sound. The band has achieved thirteen top 20 hits on Canadian Rock radio, with ten reaching the top 5 and three claiming the #1 spot. Most recently, their single "Take Me For a Ride" cracked the top 5 and spent over eight months in the top 20. This success followed their 2022 run of  90 cumulative weeks with at least one song in the top 20 at Canadian Rock radio. Hit singles “I Don’t Know” and “Feeling Good” both reached Platinum certification, with “The Way It Is” achieving Gold sales. Additionally, the albums Learn & Burn and The Sheepdogs both achieved Platinum status, and to date the band has been nominated for 11 JUNO awards, including 2022’s “Outta Sight” and winning four awards.

Scupltures is composer and pianist Derek Hunter Wilson’s third solo album, an ode to the ancient and contested shorelines of the Pacific Northwest. Deeply embedded in place, the six longform pieces that make up the album reflect the artist’s journey through grief (including losing his father) and the passage of time, each one built upon loops created from extended sessions with harpist Joshua Ward. Like the foggy, moss-encrusted locations that inspired the album, Sculptures has a timeless feel to it, shadowed by the rumblings of a colonial system in decay.

Award-winning poet Mathias Svalina composed a poem for the album, entitled “A Dream for Sculptures”. It is reproduced on an insert that accompanies each LP.

Derek Hunter Wilson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Portland. He has released two solo albums on Beacon Sound (Travelogue, 2017; Steel, Wood, & Air, 2019), as well as a collaborative album with Location Services entitled Wake (2022). In 2018 he collaborated with visual artist Gregory Euclide for his Thesis Project label, resulting in a split 10" with Spanish musician Rauelsson. He has additionally worked with poets Zachary Schomburg and Brandi Katherine Herrera for several sound and performance pieces, and has performed live on the West Coast and in Berlin, sharing the stage with artists such as Colleen, Amulets, Patricia Wolf, Pulse Emitter, and Liima.

Recorded during lockdown and previously only available as a CDr self-released in an edition of 99 in 2022, 'The Sympathy Portal' collects four tracks (one of which is divided into three parts) that make full use of Edward Ka-Spel’s command of melodies, cosmic churn, subtle field recordings, percolated vocals, hypno-rhythms, tempered noise, broken clocks, atmospheric keyboards, uncoiling springs and carefully hewn dynamics. Coupled to often despairing or melancholic lyrics, the album ultimately forms a fantastic addition to a body of work from this hardworking artist usually found at home fronting The Legendary Pink Dots and apparently barely able to rest when not engaged in commitments to them. Here is what he says himself about 'The Sympathy Portal': “'The Sympathy Portal' was created as 2020 drifted into 2021 with the world in the grip of a pandemic. He studied charts on TV, horrified by statistics, temporarily free from a lockdown but well aware that we'd be back in our cubicles soon enough. It was hard to be positive in such an environment and this album reflects much of the fear and tension of the time. But the last song, 'Angel Trail ( Slight Return)', was intended to offer some genuine hope, having been revived for the release after first appearing in a different form on The Legendary Pink Dots' '9 Lives to Wonder' back in 1994.” The album pays testament to a troubled and troubling time that now, a mere few years on, strangely appears like the grand entrance to a series of heavily dark periods we are still desperate to crawl from. It could be argued that the angel trail Edward so eloquently refers to is something that needs to be found more than ever and that, thankfully, his music helps to illuminate this despites its mostly distressed overtones.
Away from the confines of a now hard-to-find and long sold out CDr, Lumberton Trading Company brings this album back as a vinyl release that’s limited to 300 and is scheduled to appear in February 2026.

From out of nowhere comes a unique collaborative album from Edvard Graham Lewis (WIRE) & Mark Spybey (ZOVIET FRANCE). Mixing lush electronic rhythms, sonic collage, ambient soundscapes and manipulated field recordings, these six compositions form an album with a strong identity. That this is such a vital and fertile partnership should come as no surprise. After all, both men have made careers out of creating confidently questing musics. Lewis with Wire, He Said, Hox, Dome etc. and Spybey with Dead Voices on Air, Beehatch, Altered Statesmen, Zoviet France and so on. This new album however, is something different again: experimental, yet tightly focused, and not averse to the groove or the sly hook. The pair met via an appearance on a podcast in November 2022, hosted by cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy. They hit it off immediately. “We did a live chat with Graham - which I think, went on for about three days” jokes Spybey. It was Spybey who first broached the idea of collaboration. “It was a bit like shy bairns get nowt: I just said ‘maybe we should make something together.’” And so, with no plan other than to see what might develop, the duo began to assemble the compositions at long distance. Indeed, Lewis and Spybey only met in the real world after the album had been completed. “Mark sent half a dozen tracks in a stereo mix,” says Lewis. “And I looked at the ’topography’, to see where the spaces might be. So then I’d add to those areas. But then, when do you take it away? Sometimes you let it drop off a cliff, land in the shingle, and it gets washed out to sea again.” The process moved at a pace. “Almost everything each of us brought, ending up being incorporated in some way.” Says Spybey. “We didn’t really go down any cul-de-sacs.” As Lewis observes “We have such a sympathetic tone.” Full of inventive sonics that draw on both men’s previous work, ‘Lewis/Spybey’ offers up a richly detailed soundworld

With their two previous albums, Hoarse (2019) and New World Blues (2022), the band delivered uncompromising rock rooted in an international guitar-rock tradition (think The Rolling Stones, The Replacements, The Saints, and Flamin’ Groovies), while a few sleek mid-tempo ballads added dynamics and variety. The new 1st Impression #2 completes the trilogy and is also the band’s first release on Beluga Records.

Juegos Nocturnos is the new project from two essential musicians of the '80s Spanish scene, coming from iconic bands like Décima Víctima and P.V.P. In this new musical venture, they deliver nine guitar-centered, refined pop-rock songs that reflect influences developed over 40+ years, recorded between 2020 and 2022. Jesús Amodia (guitar, vocals, programming, and keyboards) was a founding member of the punk-rock group P.V.P., a band often compared to The Clash and other British acts of the era thanks to their blend of punk energy with Jamaican influenced sounds. The project also features Per Mertanen (bass), member of cult band Décima Víctima, known for crafting a very distinctive sound with echoes of Joy Division, The Cure, and other British post-punk groups. Now united in this new musical adventure called Juegos Nocturnos, they present nine guitar-driven, sophisticated pop rock tracks that showcase influences shaped over more than four decades of musical career, recorded between 2020 and 2022.

Macclesfield 3-piece Cassia make their extremely welcome return with the announcement of their most ambitious release yet in new studio album everyone, outside - out April 11th.

The album marks a bold new chapter, and recently served up a tropical-tinged first offering in ‘heat’ - with today serving a superb Round Two with the stomping, insatiable, hook-laden new single ‘friends’.

everyone, outside takes Cassia’s sound to new heights. Written fresh off the back of two years of relentless touring, the band channelled every ounce of their renowned live energy into the album, returning to a studio they built themselves in Macclesfield, after creating their previous album in Berlin. The journey provided an added twist, recording the majority of tracks live on TikTok, giving fans a unique, inclusive experience to be part of the process.

The album’s title is a metaphor for embracing your truest self and reflection of a band who are at their happiest outside. It’s a message that speaks to the idea of reconnecting with nature and Britain’s finest summers. As frontman Rob explains, “That title, ‘everyone, outside’ started as a song about how weird it is that we stay inside all the time when being out in nature always makes us feel better. Over time, it came to mean more than that - like a metaphor for being your truest, most natural self, unburdened, like when no one’s watching.”

Drawing influences from a host of genres and cultures, everyone, outside reveals Cassia’s venn diagram of global sounds and intimate storytelling. A trip to Mexico during the writing process injected the record with a new energy, while their time spent in their new space back home gave the band a freedom to try new instruments, new sounds, acquire new tools to hone their production skills - and to simply have fun and explore. “The time we spent in Berlin taught us so much, but coming back home to Macclesfield allowed us to really focus on making something that felt like it came from us. No distractions, just pure creativity,” says drummer Jacob Leff.

Cassia’s rise has been impressive. From their early days busking the streets of Cornwall to playing major festivals, touring the world and receiving critical acclaim from BBC Radio 1, Radio X, The Independent, Rolling Stone UK, Clash & many more, the band has carved out a unique niche. Their sound, influenced by the African music Rob’s father introduced him to, combined with the indie heritage of nearby Manchester, combines the positivity of bands like Foals and Vampire Weekend, with the jazz-tinged afrobeats of Fela Kuti and Ebo Taylor.

After signing to Distiller Records in 2018, the band gave up their full-time jobs and ventured to Bath to record their debut album, Replica. Tracks such as ‘Right There’, ‘Drifting’ & ‘100 Times Over’ have amassed millions of streams, seeing the band sell out multiple headline Tours both in the UK and Europe. Playing to a homecoming capacity crowd at Manchester’s O2 Ritz, as well as sold out headline shows at London’s KOKO & The Garage, the band have accrued a huge, loyal following and their live shows earned them a nomination for Best Live Act at the AIM Awards alongside Idles and DMA’s, as well as making them the winners of Reeperbahn’s Anchor Award in 2022.

Cassia will tour the UK in May 2025, playing songs from the new album and some of their biggest tracks - headlining Leeds, Bristol, a newly added night in Southampton, a special Manchester homecoming, Glasgow, Birmingham, & a huge show at London’s HERE @ Outernet - dates below & Tickets Here. The band will also take things Stateside this year for their first ever run of headline shows in the US & Mexico.

Loaded with tension and anchored by bold textural and stylistic contrasts, Sam Slater’s third solo full-length finds the British sound artist, composer, and engineer grappling with his creative contradictions head-on.

Having spent a life time in bands and producing records, Sam transitioned somewhat by accident through his work with Johan Johansson into working as a composer on high profile projects such as his collaboration with Hildur Guðnadóttir on the Grammy Award-winning Joker and Chernobyl, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on the soundtrack to the lauded 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Having a vast set of interests and influences is an asset when helping realise a directors vision for a soundtrack, but one's own musical voice can end up being constrained. In Lunng, Slater has gone back to his wildly divergent range of influences and rather than shy away from the extremes, he's used them to create a singular vision.

Take the opening track “Heatsick”: Slater imagines an extravagant fusion of 2000s drone metal and vintage British brass, welding ear-splitting overdriven drones and blown-out choral vocals to stirring trombone swells from veteran player Hilary Jeffery. On paper, it’s hard to imagine—but Slater’s intentionality conducts these polarizing elements into a surreal blur of sonic extremes, with the guitars’ relative harshness softened by Jeffery’s eerily nostalgic colliery echoes.

His last solo album, I do not wish to be known as a Vandal (Bedroom Community, 2022), showcased this breadth by assembling a team of collaborators including Sam Dunscombe and Yair Elazar Glotman. On this record he’s linking up with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Maria W. Horn, idiosyncratic sax virtuoso Bendik Giske, versatile percussionist Adam Betts, and the aforementioned Jeffery, Slater ushers these players toward a lattice of calculated confutations.

Working to explore the tension between the divergent practices of his collaborators—Lunng was meant to be challenging. On “Praya”, Giske’s familiar overblown horn phrases are almost vaporized, vanishing among Slater’s weightless synths and Horn’s chillingly hoarse vocals. There are traces of Horn’s Funeral Folk project, but Slater shifts the emphasis, letting her voice brush past the other elements like a hallucination.

Slater’s use of extremes isn’t just in the micro; dynamics drive the album’s overall flow. “Praya” sets the stage for the record’s heaviest, most prickly moment: “Passengers”. Here, Horn’s voice cracks, rasps, and gurgles over serrated synths and Betts’ ritualistic drums. Slater turns an industrial symphony into a folk opera—dark, dramatic, and strangely beautiful—etched with Giske’s fluttering phrases.

But the mood soon shifts. Slater careens toward chaos, unleashing double-time rhythms and piercing textures familiar to anyone with a soft spot for classic black metal. These grotesque incongruities are deliberate; Slater surveys years of musical conflict and leans in, using dissent as fuel to build kinetic energy.

The weight of sentimentality bears down on “Black Metal Rewind (Night Drive Astra, 2006)”, melting teenage memories into hypnagogic ambience—shoegaze dreams whirled with angelic choral delusions. On “Death by Nostalgia, 1688”, he ventures further into polarizing territory, distorting AutoTuned voices with cryptic strings and medieval tonalities, unsettling any stable sense of past or present.

In this record Slater focuses on pure energy, color, and mood. Lunng distills years of listening into a bracing brew—boiling each sound down to its essence, then serving it with unflinching intent.

John Twells, 2025

Pelican war schon immer eine Band, die nicht nur aus Chicago kommt, sondern echt typisch für Chicago ist. Gegründet im Jahr 2000 von den Gitarristen Trevor Shelley de Brauw und Laurent Schroeder-Lebec zusammen mit den Brüdern Bryan und Larry Herweg am Bass und Schlagzeug, hat Pelican seine Wurzeln in der regel- und genreunabhängigen Szene, die man mit dem Fireside Bowl verbindet. Nachdem Schroeder-Lebec nach dem Weggang von Dallas Thomas im Jahr 2022 zur Band zurückgekehrt war, konnte Pelican in dieser wiedervereinigten Besetzung an den Geist ihrer Gründungszeit anknüpfen und mit ihrem 2025 erschienenen Album Flickering Resonance" etwas ganz Neues schaffen. Das Album ist bereits in der dritten Vinyl-Auflage. Sowohl neue als auch alte Fans stöbern wieder im Pelican-Katalog, was auch zu zusätzlichen Neupressungen und Wiederveröffentlichungen ihrer beliebtesten Titel geführt hat. Mit drei Vinyl-Neupressungen allein im ersten Jahr und mehreren Tourneen in den USA und Europa zur Unterstützung des Albums hat Pelican nun eine EP mit vier Titeln aus der Flickering Resonance"-Ära als neue 12"-EP Ascending" neu aufgelegt. Pelican-Fans werden die letzten beiden Tracks Adrift" und Tending the Embers" wiedererkennen, die 2024 digital selbst veröffentlicht wurden und nur auf einer limitierten Anzahl von Kassetten erhältlich waren. Diese 12"-Platte enthält auch eine Gesangsversion der Lead-Single Cascading Crescent" von Flickering Resonance mit Geoff Rickly von Thursday. Diese Version des Tracks war bisher nur auf einer limitierten Anzahl von 7"-Singles erhältlich, sodass sie nun zum ersten Mal digital veröffentlicht und auch in physischer Form allgemein verfügbar ist. Der Titeltrack der EP, Ascending", wurde etwa zur gleichen Zeit wie Flickering Resonance aufgenommen, aber nicht auf dem Album veröffentlicht, da er eher wie ein eigenständiges Werk wirkt. Die Zusammenführung dieser vier Tracks auf einer EP unterstreicht einmal mehr, dass Pelicans regelwidriger Ansatz der Kern dessen ist, was Pelican zu einer festen Größe in allen Genres macht, die sie erkunden.

Pelican war schon immer eine Band, die nicht nur aus Chicago kommt, sondern echt typisch für Chicago ist. Gegründet im Jahr 2000 von den Gitarristen Trevor Shelley de Brauw und Laurent Schroeder-Lebec zusammen mit den Brüdern Bryan und Larry Herweg am Bass und Schlagzeug, hat Pelican seine Wurzeln in der regel- und genreunabhängigen Szene, die man mit dem Fireside Bowl verbindet. Nachdem Schroeder-Lebec nach dem Weggang von Dallas Thomas im Jahr 2022 zur Band zurückgekehrt war, konnte Pelican in dieser wiedervereinigten Besetzung an den Geist ihrer Gründungszeit anknüpfen und mit ihrem 2025 erschienenen Album Flickering Resonance" etwas ganz Neues schaffen. Das Album ist bereits in der dritten Vinyl-Auflage. Sowohl neue als auch alte Fans stöbern wieder im Pelican-Katalog, was auch zu zusätzlichen Neupressungen und Wiederveröffentlichungen ihrer beliebtesten Titel geführt hat. Mit drei Vinyl-Neupressungen allein im ersten Jahr und mehreren Tourneen in den USA und Europa zur Unterstützung des Albums hat Pelican nun eine EP mit vier Titeln aus der Flickering Resonance"-Ära als neue 12"-EP Ascending" neu aufgelegt. Pelican-Fans werden die letzten beiden Tracks Adrift" und Tending the Embers" wiedererkennen, die 2024 digital selbst veröffentlicht wurden und nur auf einer limitierten Anzahl von Kassetten erhältlich waren. Diese 12"-Platte enthält auch eine Gesangsversion der Lead-Single Cascading Crescent" von Flickering Resonance mit Geoff Rickly von Thursday. Diese Version des Tracks war bisher nur auf einer limitierten Anzahl von 7"-Singles erhältlich, sodass sie nun zum ersten Mal digital veröffentlicht und auch in physischer Form allgemein verfügbar ist. Der Titeltrack der EP, Ascending", wurde etwa zur gleichen Zeit wie Flickering Resonance aufgenommen, aber nicht auf dem Album veröffentlicht, da er eher wie ein eigenständiges Werk wirkt. Die Zusammenführung dieser vier Tracks auf einer EP unterstreicht einmal mehr, dass Pelicans regelwidriger Ansatz der Kern dessen ist, was Pelican zu einer festen Größe in allen Genres macht, die sie erkunden.