Nick's Pick of the Week is Piss' You Made Me / Skin On Linen, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://pisstheband.bandcamp.com/album/you-made-me-skin-on-linen and my review can be read below.

Piss: You Made Me / Skin On Linen (Sub Pop)

Release October 30th 2026

Piss are a (relatively) newly formed four-piece from Vancouver, Canada. Featuring Taylor Zantingh (vocals), Tyler Paterson (guitar), Gavin Moya (bass), and Garreth Roberts (drums), Since forming in 2024, Piss have built a steady reputation for the intensity of their artistry and a penchant for gigging relentlessly. You Made Me / Skin on Linen is Piss’ debut record, released via Sub Pop Records worldwide and Paper Bag Records in their native Canada. The album was recorded with Colin Stewart at his own studio, The Hive Creative Labs, across five days over Christmas 2024; with the majority of the recordings captured live in order to preserve the ferociousness of the group’s live performances.

Clocking in at a mere thirty minutes, You Made Me / Skin On Linen is a brisk listen, although the album’s power means that its message lingers long after the last note has ceased to ring out. Across fifteen tracks that range from thirty seconds to almost seven minutes, Piss incorporates punk and noise with sound collage, spoken word and other sonic elements to create the musical equivalent of an exposed, raw nerve. Zantingh’s lyrics take inspiration from feminist icons in literature, academia and music to tackle issues such as sexual and gender-based violence, patriarchal power structures and control with an unflinching honesty that is as brave as it is confronting.

You Made Me / Skin On Linen is a complete work of art and one that should be consumed as a whole, with the sound collage and spoken word tracks adding context and weight to the musical numbers. I Wanted To Be A Singer, Blocking A Scene You Can’t Remember and I Keep Trying To Change The Ending form an interconnected trilogy, or triptych, that carries the key thematic threads of the record, from beginning to middle and (finally) to conclusion, These songs outline the initial hopefulness, loss of innocence and attempts to repair and rebuild that are central to the album’s key themes. 

A tough listen, to say the least, You Made Me / Skin On Linen is, equally, a crucial listen. It is far too easy to look away, or tune out, from the horrors and injustices of the world. Piss, on the other hand, choose to confront these matters through the lens of art, tackling them head on in a manner that is both discomfiting and awe-inspiring. You Made Me / Skin On Linen is an aural argument for empathy and rage, as opposed to apathy and avoidance —an utterly fearless record that is destined to be considered one of this years’ best.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Hüsker Dü - Monday Will Never Be The Same
• Television - Venus
• Midgee - Sting Operation
• Deafcult - Daily Rothko
• Party Dozen - Special Unit
• Ed Kuepper - Honey Steel's Gold (Live)
• Michael Beach - Societal Breakdown (Live)
• Andrew Tuttle - Presence
• D. C. Cross - We Can't Go On Destroying Each Other
• Shane Parish - I'm Goin' Away
• Big Flowers x Shemar - Extinction Pose
• John Glacier - Lights
• B0yg1rl - Reality
• Kali Malone - Sounding A Void
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Planned Obsolescence
• Maria W. Horn - Melting Pillars Of Snow
• Sandro - St. Charles Song
• Mouse - Mannequin
• Mood Board - Catfish
• MJ Lenderman - Separate Ways
• Part Company - I'll Only Let You Down
• FF8282 - Not Old Enough
• Fhae - Mine
• Poison Idea - Pure Hate
• Precious Rest - Riding Shotgun
• Piss - I Keep Trying To Change The Ending
• Bon Pour Bruler - Honda Of Vallejo
• Teens - Untitled Too

Nick's Pick of the Week is William Basinski's Passing The Cup Of Sorrows, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/passing-the-cup-of-sorrows and my review can be read below.

William Basinski: Passing The Cup Of Sorrows (Temporary Residence)

Released October 23rd 2026

Passing The Cup Of Sorrows is William Basinski’s his first solo album in six years. A single 37 minute track, influenced by a theory held within past-life regression hypnotherapy circles and composed using piano and subtle electronics.

In the world of past-life regression, passing the cup of sorrows refers to a transfer that occurs in the spirit world, when an individual transitions from one life to another. This transfer is said to assist the spirit in forgiving those who have wronged it in past lives. Whilst composing Passing The Cup Of Sorrows, Basinski immersed himself in video testimonials of individuals discussing past-life regression hypnotherapy and (specifically) the theory of passing the cup. This, coupled with a tendency for doomscrolling in a world gone mad, directly informed the tone of the piece/album.

What drives Passing The Cup Of Sorrows sonically is the juxtaposition of attack and decay, the hammering of the piano key and the slow fade of the note, alongside an immensity of space. It makes for a beautiful, if haunting, and slightly tense listen, but one that is immensely powerful and deeply rewarding. Anyone with an interest in ambient, drone and the avant-garde will recognise Basinski as the master that he is, for he is nothing short of a titan within said genres. Passing The Cup Of Sorrows serves to further cement his status as a legendary figure in experimental music.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• David McCormack & The Polaroids - Monday Morning
• Alchemical Sisters - Song For New Hampshire
• Nabihah Iqbal - Heaven Can Wait
• Circuit Des Yeux - Nosferatu Sighting 2
• Madeleine Cocolas - The Witches Take Hold
• Tobe Hooper & Wayne Bell - The Old House
• Keanu Nelson - Ngayunya Kungkangku Wangkapayi
• Spike Fuck - Blue Light
• Lost Animal - After The Sun Cleared The Rain
• Bon Pour Bruler - Salt
• Teens - Blood On Their Hands
• Tropical Fuck Storm - You Let My Tyres Down (Live)
• Manas - 100 Sunset
• Elvis Presley - Long Black Limousine
• Lonely Corpse - Grave Words
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - In The Ghetto
• Jimmy Little - Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Afternoon Sunrise (I Saw Galadriel at 711)
• Primitive Motion - Higher
• Tralala Blip - Voodoo Pins
• Hicktown Barnaby - Ghost
• The Gun Club - The Breaking Hands
• Kings Currency - Distant Illusion
• William Basinski - Passing The Cup Of Sorrows 1.4
• Kali Malone - My Eve My Dawn
• Ed Kuepper - Rainy Night (Live)

This morning's episode features an interview with legendary ambient musician William Basinski, who just released Passing The Cup Of Sorrows, a solo piano work, last Friday, October 23rd, via Temporary Residence.  Find out more about William Basinski (and purchase his music) here: https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/music

This week's show also features an interview with Patricia McInerney who records and performs as Diaspora The Explorer and who also organises unique events as Basket Of Hammers. Samhain (curated by Basket Of Hammers) returns again in 2026 to the Old Ambulance Station in Nambour for a night of performances on Saturday October 31st, featuring: Tralala Blip, Primitive Motion, Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross, Peyo, Unregistered Master Builder and Mutter. In addition to the night of performances, an art exhibition featuring Alan Phelan, Jeremy Plint, Ronan McCall & Brinks Helm will be running at the same venue from Thursday 29th October to Saturday 7th November. Find out more about Samhain (and purchase tickets) here: https://events.humanitix.com/samhain-26

Nick's Pick of the Week is messing with the formula again this week, once more, instead focussing on a single release, I am highlighting three recent, international records that may have escaped your attention: Heroína's Heroína, Marvin Cate's Controlled Burn and Gnod's Chronicles Of Gnowt Vol. 2. You can hear all three releases in all the usual places, or purchase them here: https://heroinamusica.bandcamp.com/album/hero-na, here: https://marvin-tate.bandcamp.com/album/controlled-burn and here: https://gnod.bandcamp.com/album/chronicles-of-gnowt-vol-2 . My review can be read below.

Three International Releases You May Have Missed

October 26th 2026

Sometimes things get lost in the noise, with so much great, new music being released all the time, it’s understandable that some truly excellent records might get missed. Here’s a couple of recent —the last month or so— albums that may have flown under the radar.

Heroína’s Heroína is thirty odd minutes of intense, discordant screamo. The group hails from Lisbon in Portugal, a city whose music scene I am woefully ignorant of, but, if Lisbon is churning out stuff as brilliant as this, maybe the Portuguese underground is worth investigating.

Marvin Tate’s Controlled Burn is equally intense, though in a completely different way. Here, the Chicago slam-poet teams up with LeRoy Bach, who soundtracks Tate’s rapid-fire spoken word with an undercurrent of electronic noise. Controlled Burn is, at times, a difficult listen, kind of like a darker and more experimental Wesley Willis —if you are looking for a simple descriptor. Like many challenging records though, persistence pays off, rewarding those who push through with twelve tracks that bristle with an electric, manic current of creativity.

Finally, Gnod’s latest, Chronicles Of Gnowt Vol. II, another drastic departure for this constantly shape-shifting crew of musicians. Gnod’s last few releases leaned heavily into krautrock and psychedelia, but on Chronicles Of Gnowt Vol. II they return to the heavier sounds of some of their earliest albums —albeit this time, they sound a little more like Fugazi, if the classic DC post-hardcore band wrote eight-minute songs!

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lankum - On A Monday Morning
• Deafcult - Sentimental Mistake
• Lily Seabird - Election Day
• The Crying/Heavy Light - Egyptian Gold
• Julee Cruise - Falling
• Keanu Nelson - Ngayunya Kungkangku Wangkapayi
• Spike Fuck - Hate Me
• Madrah Salach - The Man Who Seeks Pleasure
• Interview - William Basinski Part 1
• William Basinski - DLP 2.1
• Interview - William Basinski Part 2
• William Basinski - Passing The Cup Of Sorrows 1.1
• Tropical Fuck Storm - This Perfect Day (Live)
• Ancient Channels - X Flares
• Clamm - Pain, Shame
• Bon Pour Bruler - Honda Of Vallejo
• Diaspora The Explorer - TLOMT
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Pink Skyyy Sixth Prize
• Heroína - Vigilante
• Darren - Marvin Tate
• Gnod - Traveller's Return
• Kings Currency - Black Sludge

Nick's Pick of the Week is a little different this week, instead of focussing on a single album, I am highlighting three recent, local releases worth your attention: Valve's Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels, Ancient Channels' Static Spirit and Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross' AT/DC. You can hear all three releases in all the usual places, or purchase them here: https://valveposting.bandcamp.com/album/last-hands-of-heaven-and-angelsl,  here: https://ancientchannels.bandcamp.com/album/static-spirit-2 and here: https://andrewtuttle.bandcamp.com/album/at-dc. My review can be read below.

Three Recent, Local Releases Worth Checking Out

October 19th 2026

Today, as opposed to reviewing a single album, I’m shining a light on three releases from our thriving local scene that are worth spending a little time with. These three records, Valve's Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels, Ancient Channels' Static Spirit and Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross' AT/DC, are drastically different and highlight the sheer diversity of sounds we have in our fair city of Meanjin/Brisbane.

Valve are, in my opinion at least, Brisbane’s best live band —sorry Craning, you moved to Melbourne— and their debut album, Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels, boasts a recording (courtesy of Chris Brownbill) worthy of the group’s intense live performances. Valve’s expansive brand of noise-rock takes influence from the classics of the Touch And Go roster, as well as post-rock and even a dash of John Fahey. Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels contains four songs, with the centrepiece of the album being the three song suite that comprises Doggerland, How To Push It Down Into Your Hollow Legs and the album’s title track. It’s a harsh but rewarding listen that is chock full of emotion and bristling with energy.

Ancient Channels’ Static Spirit was 4ZZZ’s Album Of The Week upon its release back in August. A long time coming, the group had been drip-feeding singles for a while before finally dropping the wall of sound that is the band’s second album. Awash with reverb, fuzz, delay and a plethora of other effects pedals, Ancient Channels do dark shoegaze right. Another formidable live band, don’t miss them the next time they play a venue near you.

Finally, Andrew Tuttle and Darren Cross have teamed up to create the, hilariously titled, AT/DC which was recently released through local label Room 40. Cross’ guitar work and Tuttle’s banjo playing provide a plethora of hypnotic, ambient sound scapes that are as enchanting as they are beautiful. Apparently there is a follow-up in the works, which is very welcome news indeed!

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tape/Off - Monday
• Kings Currency - Black Sludge
• Tropical Fuck Storm - Stepping On A Rake (Live)
• Clamm - No Ritual
• Geologist & Kyle Simon - The Sirens Pt. II
• Deafcult - Mount Forever (Sic)
• Napalm Death - You Suffer
• The Steady As She Goes - Faded Catholic Tattoos
• Ancient Channels - Chimera
• Uboa - Dys
• Dis Fig - The Snake You Built
• Interview - Sir Richard Bishop Part 1
• Sun City Girls - Space Prophet Dogon
• Interview - Sir Richard Bishop Part 2
• Sir Richard Bishop - Finger Tennessee
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Astral Coffee
• Helen - A Black And Quiet Love
• Heavens To Betsy - Baby's Gone
• Piss - Blocking A Scene You Can't Remember
• Nico - These Days
• Meteor Infant - Turbine Landscape
• Valve - Doggerland
• Lunar Dirt - 40 Light Years (Live)
• William Basinski - Passing The Cup Of Sorrows 1.1

Nick's Pick of the Week is Cameron Winter's Live At Carnegie Hall, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://cameronwinter.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-carnegie-hall and my review can be read below.

Cameron Winter: Live At Carnegie Hall (Partisan/PIAS)

Released 9th October 2026

On Live At Carnegie Hall Cameron Winter plays the piano like a youthful Tom Waits and delivers lines as pensive and esoteric as a young Bob Dylan. As hyperbolic as this may sound, it’s true. Winter is not only a remarkable musician but a stellar wordsmith and —whilst personally I am still yet to see what is so special about Geese’s Getting Killed— I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the most compelling releases of the year.

Recorded in December 2025 at the historic Carnegie Hall and to a sold out audience of approximately 3000. Live At Carnegie Hall contains songs from Winter’s solo record, Heavy Metal, plus three new songs: It All Fell Over, Emperor XIII In Shades and If You Turn Back Now.

Each of these new songs provides a hint as to where Winter’s craft may shift to next, whilst the previously released songs shine in their brazen bareness. It is hard not to be impressed (and puzzled) by lines such as, “Like Hinkley’s son / I was born to dance with a candy gun / Towards the president’s ass,” from The Rolling Stones, or moved by “I found a keepsake of you / By the window of the kitchen / Take it with you when you leave,” from Take It With You.

Live At Carnegie Hall is a simple, austere record that leaves nowhere for Winter to hide. Here, he (and his songs) are almost naked, stripped back to their skeletons and showing little but their purest of essences: all I can really say is this, I finally get it now.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Rangda - Mondays Are Free At The Hermetic Museum
• Agriculture - Dan's Love Song (Live)
• Valve - Garden Wall
• Craning - Metro North Access Line
• Lonely Corpse - Lonely Corpse
• Gnod - The Witness
• Stan - What's The Use?
• Spike Fuck - Getting Sober
• Ancient Channels - Spiral Arms
• Interview - Cathy Lucas & Susumu Mukai (Vanishing Twin) Interview Part 1
• Delia Derbyshire - Way Out
• Interview - Cathy Lucas & Susumu Mukai (Vanishing Twin) Interview Part 2
• Vanishing Twin - Sugar Stone
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - 6am Story Bridge 1996
• Lawrence English - Metabolic City
• Madeleine Cocolas - A Celestial Awakening
• Grub - Shake It
• Julia Holter - My Lost One
• Claire Rousay - On Holding
• Dale Crover - Harvest Moon/The Bit
• Kankawa Nagarra - Canning Basin Blues
• Cameron Winter - The Rolling Stones (Live)
• Jules Reidy - Clerestory Windows V
• Sir Richard Bishop - Postcoital Serenade

This morning's episode features an interview with Andrew Tuttle, who just released AT/DC, a collaborative album with Darren Cross that was released last Friday, October 2nd, via Lawrence English's Room40 label. Andrew Tuttle and Darren Cross will be performing at Basket Of Hammers' Samhain event at The Old Ambulance Station in Namba on Saturday October 31st, alongside Primitive Motion, Tralala Blip, Unregistered Master Builder and more. Find out more about Andrew Tuttle (and purchase his music) here: https://andrewtuttle.bandcamp.com/

This week's show also features an interview with J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. There, Near, Dinosaur Jr.'s latest record, was released on August 28th through Jagjaguwar and there is a chance they may be touring early next year. Find out more about Dinosaur Jr. (and purchase their music) here: https://dinosaurjr.bandcamp.com/

Nick's Pick of the Week is Spike Fuck's Evidence, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here:https://spikefuck.bandcamp.com/album/evidence and my review can be read below.

Spike Fuck: Evidence (Sacred Bones)

Released 2nd October 2026

Spike Fuck, most people know the story by now. The Smackwave EP, released to critical acclaim in 2016, some sporadic singles up until round 2019 and then silence. Rumours, mystery, intrigue and more, the spectre of Spike Fuck (and their bright but brief period of activity) continued to loom large over the Australian underground. Then, at the end of 2024, new music, shows and the promise of an album, Pure O, which would eventually be scrapped and —finally— replaced with Evidence.

Sonically, Evidence bears no small similarity to Spike’s breakthrough release, Smackwave, only with more bombast, higher production values and a touch more rock and roll swagger. It opens with Can’t Get It Up, a lively musing on either masculinity, performance anxiety, or both, which seamlessly eases into the mellow and melancholy, Had Your Way —one of the album’s pre-release singles.

Across Evidence’s eight tracks, Spike is in particularly fine form lyrically. Lead single All By Myself contains the following vignette which muses on the power and influence an individual has on their own surroundings “And I'm sat here as I stare into my cup of tea / The milk goes in, clouds form, It reminds me / I’m the master of this kitchen! / Commanding storms with ease!” Elsewhere, with poison-pen precision, Bored To Death contains the gleefully spiteful, “When I look up at the sun it makes me so happy / Cause I know one day it’s gonna kill me, and it’ll kill you too!” These are but two memorable moments across an album that is generously littered with many similarly astute lines and phrases.

Before drawing the curtain, Spike delivers (perhaps) the album’s finest moment, Hate Me, a seven-minute love song cum ballad that dwells on the darkness within an individual. It’s a brilliantly self-effacing closer that bears a striking similarity to the highest points of late 60s/early 70s Elvis Presley.

The fact that Evidence, Spike’s debut LP, exists at all will be a shock to many. To release anything at all following years of silence is (to put it lightly) a massive challenge, for, given Spike’s reputation as a cult icon, audience expectations were high. Evidence, however, rises to the challenge, delivering a strong suite of songs that are as engaging as they are enjoyable and which establish Spike Fuck as a serious artist who doesn’t take themselves too seriously.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lankum - On A Monday Morning
• Swans - Paradise Is Mine (Live)
• Uboa - Ascension Threshold
• The Body & Cel Genesis - Candy Crush
• Lonely Corpse - Stay
• Valve - Doggerland
• Interview - Andrew Tuttle Part 1
• Andrew Tuttle - Scribbly Gums Trail
• Darren Cross - Failed Gen X Love Story
• Interview - Andrew Tuttle Part 2
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Afternoon Sunrise (I Saw Galadriel at 711)
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Planned Obsolescence
• Kali Malone - My Eve My Dawn
• Fhae - Mine
• Bill Orcutt - Four Louies (Live) - Part 1
• Interview - J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr. Part 1
• The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
• Interview - J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) Part 2
• Dinosaur Jr. - Put It Down
• Ancient Channels - Beta Waves
• Spike Fuck - Hate Me
• Sarah Mary Chadwick - AMA
• Vanishing Twin - Wherever You Are

This morning's episode features an interview with Spike Fuck, who will release their debut album, Evidence, via Sacred Bones this coming Friday, 2nd October. Spike Fuck will also play Crowbar this coming Saturday, 3rd October, alongside Lunar Dirt and Dominance. Find out more about Spike Fuck (and purchase his music) here: https://spikefuck.bandcamp.com/music

This week's show also features a phone interview with Stan from local three-piece Stan. What's The Use? and Don't Listen To Me are Stan's latest singles and the band will be playing two launch shows: At Banshees Bar in Ipswich on Saturday 3rd October with 88 Tokomak, Milly & The Maths Show and Gobarralong and at Weller's Hill Bowls Club on Sunday 11th October with Trawlers, Milly & The Maths Show and The Blankettes. Find out more about Stan (and purchase their music) here: https://thebandstan.bandcamp.com/music

Nick's Pick of the Week is Tashi Dorji & Faith Coloccia's And Their Power Was Alive, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://tashidorji.bandcamp.com/album/and-their-power-was-alive and my review can be read below.

Tashi Dorji & Faith Coloccia: And Their Power Was Alive (Whited Sepulchre Records)

Released September 25th 2026

And Their Power Was Alive, a collaborative album between vocalist/percussionist Faith Coloccia and guitarist Tashi Dorji (which also features piano and organ by Nicholas Wilbur) is true labour of love and cooperation that took shape over several years. Dorji’s parts were recorded in 2021/2022, Wilbur’s in 2021 and Coloccia’s in 2024/2025, this sense of patience, of space, time and understanding is at the forefront of this beautiful record and a testament to the vision of all those involved.

There is something elemental about the album, this is evident in the song titles themselves, which reference the sea, ash, cinders and land/earth itself. Elemental, but not monumental, for it is a slow burn of a record that feels imparted with the slow shifting of time, the passing of the seasons or the transition from night to day. These may seem like abstract concepts, but the interplay between Dorji’s haunting guitar, Coloccia’s plaintive vocals and Wilbur’s sparse playing feels as natural as a summer’s breeze; and occasionally as brutal as a winter’s wind.

Each track imparts the album with its own spirit. Excessive Yield is little more than the reverberating sound of a tubular bell whilst Short Lived Echo gives the impression of a simple piano ballad, before descending into a haze of noise. This essence of quiet vs. loud experimentalism is extended on Invisible Lines Between Imaginary Lands, before Silica’s Last Word closes the album on a eerie yet wistful note.

Together, Coloccia and Dorji have conjured up something truly wonderful, an album that is rich with experimentalism, yet it is neither difficult nor demanding. And Their Power Was Alive is a compelling listen that doesn’t ask too much of its audience, instead it immerses them in a cocoon of sonic beauty that —given its 34 minute runtime— is, unfortunately, far too short.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lee Hazlewood - If It's Monday Morning
• Dinosaur Jr. - Blowin' Up
• Papa M - Ode To Mark White
• Mick Turner - Sometimes
• Oren Ambarchi - Hidden Tableu
• Leaker - Spinemelter
• Valve - Garden Wall
• McKisko - Trolling
• Freya - A Smaller World (Live)
• Interview - Spike Fuck Part 1
• Lunar Dirt - Death Of A Star
• Interview - Spike Fuck (Part 2)
• Spike Fuck - All By Myself
• Joy Division - Atmosphere (Live)
• Squanderers - Theme For Femme Presenting Hands
• Warumpi Band - Dead Flowers
• Jimmy Little & Kylie Minogue - Bury Me Deep In Love
• Lost Animal - Bowl Of Berries
• The Blankettes - Wide Brown land
• Stan - What's The Use?
• Lottie McLeod - Take It Back
• Trawlers - Happy Times
• Tashi Dorji & Faith Coloccia - Invisible Lines Between Imaginary Lands
• Jules Reidy - Clerestory Windows III
• Claire Rousay & Martyna Basta - Cool Girls Go To Heaven
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Is This Too?

This week's show also features a short catch-up with Kade and Ben from local band Valve, as they prepare to release their debut album on Friday 25th September. The album is titled, Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels and I have the privilege of premiering two interconnected songs from the record, How To Push It Down Into Your Hollow Legs and Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels. 

Nick's Pick of the Week is Curbside Lambsear's Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://curbsidelambsear.bandcamp.com/ and my review can be read below.

Curbside Lambsear: Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands (Scenic Route)

Released September 11th 2026

Curbside Lambsear are a London-based two-piece featuring Magdalena McLean from Caroline and Annabelle Mödlinger from The Umlauts. Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands is their striking debut for Scenic Route, a stunning EP that contains catchy hooks and laconic lyricism alongside noise and drones. The EP may have appeared out of nowhere, but the songwriting ability and knack for experimentation belies a pair of songwriters who are well-versed at their craft.

Ironically, both McLean and Mödlinger are from Austria, however, they only connected after each had established themself in the English capital as members of the city’s thriving experimental music scene. Curbside Lambsear was born from a desire to do something simpler than their respective projects (Caroline contains eight members, whilst The Umlauts have core of four that expands to nine for live shows) and a desire to learn something new. Mödlinger had this to say in a recent article on The Quietus, “The first session we spent together was just an hour of figuring out where everything needed to be plugged into… this project is the first time I’ve done this, so the run-up has just been me teaching myself everything.”

Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands contains five tracks, all exceeding five minutes in length, making it a relatively long EP, and (at thirty minutes in length) even longer than some other band’s albums. No Ordinary Word opens the record, with a dubby backbeat, layers of feedback and noise and spoken word vocals. The unpronounceable Jjochstubn is a slow burn of static, whilst the (relatively) poppy Man The Door provides a breezy mid-point break. Avril, the EP’s high-point, has a maximalist, shoegazy energy, before Uneasy winds things down with its laid back, broken-synth tones.

Even when one considers Mclean and Mödlinger’s musical pedigree, Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands is still an astonishing debut and a release that manages to sound equally fresh and accomplished. The EP’s mish mash of styles and influences results in a record of continuous surprises and a listening experience that few could consider boring. It really is a remarkable release and one can’t help but wonder what this dynamic duo will produce next.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tape/Off - Monday
• Dinosaur Jr. - Read The Room
• Party Dozen - Special Unit (Live)
• Guiding Light - Liebe Im Kapitalistischen Reich
• Kankawa Nagarra - Tell You A Story
• Keanu Nelson - Warumpinya
• Jamie Trevaskis + James Lees - The Third Sunday
• Madeleine Cocolas - An Introduction
• Vanishing Twin - Sugar Stone
• Interview - Oren Ambarchi Part 1
• Gravetemple - Ambient/Ruin Part IV
• Interview - Oren Ambarchi Part 2
• Oren Ambarchi - Hidden Tableu (Excerpt)
• Interview - Ben & Kade (Valve)
• Valve - How To Push It Down Into Your Hollow Legs
• Valve - Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels
• Craning - Metro North Access Line
• Current 93 - The God Sleep Has His House
• Kali Malone - Heavy With Fruit
• Rowland S. Howard - White Wedding
• Bloodletter - Doom Town
• Midwife - Autoluminescent
• Curbside Lambsear - Avril
• Lea Carine - Кристофина
• Stan - Don't Listen To Me
• Spike Fuck - Had Your Way

Find out more about Pure Mass (and purchase their music) here: https://puremass.bandcamp.com/album/fire-sale - All proceeds from this release will go to Black Rainbow, a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Sistergirl and Brotherboy (LGBQTI+SB) organisation.

Nick's Pick of the Week is Sly & The Family Drone's With Love, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://familydrone.bandcamp.com/album/with-love and my review can be read below.

Sly & The Family Drone: With Love (Self-Released)

Released August 28 2026

Sly & The Family Drone have been producing their own unique kind of noise for almost two decades now. Each new album is both a continuation and an expansion on past ideas, incorporating elements of noise, free jazz, electronica and drone. With Love is their sixth studio album, a half-hour slab of skronk infused mayhem, that may be the group’s best effort yet.

As is per usual for Sly & The Family Drone, With Love is entirely instrumental. It contains six songs that twist, weave and meander their way from genesis to conclusion —whilst rarely taking the predictable route. The band, however, does not lack a sense a of humour, as is evidenced by Under The Rainbow, a riff on Over The Rainbow that comprises mostly static noise and a plaintive variation of the classic melody famously featured in the film The Wizard Of Oz.

Elsewhere, Psychic Surgery imparts a frantic, tribal rhythm, whereas In The Oils provides a meditative break from the rest of the madness. The Guts Of Albion is —perhaps— the album’s centrepiece, a gloriously noisy but slightly slow burning slab of ecstatic free jazz bliss that drags the listener (perhaps kicking and screaming) down roads less-travelled and through realms unknown.

With Love isn’t an album that invites or encourages passive listening, this is an immersive experience that assaults the senses and alters perceptions. It may be a bumpy ride, but the damage to the vehicle is worth it —sit down, strap in, open your mind and enjoy the journey.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Radio Birdman - Monday Morning Gunk
• Rebel Yell - Scorpio
• Vanishing Twin - Oral Tradition
• Mala Fama - Compañerita
• Klara Lewis - Tide
• Colin Stetson & Brìghde Chaimbeul - Snowfall
• Genital Shame - Down Titration Strategies
• Collector - Cutter's Concern
• Leaker - Old Dog
• Grieg - Thrash By Night
• McKisko - Into The Night
• Fatshaudi - Places You Only See Once
• Cannon - Burnt Down City
• Kitchen's Floor - Haunted Houses
• Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts
• Vic Simms - Stranger In My Country
• Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross - Afternoon Sunrise (I Saw Galadriel at 711)
• Einstürzende Neubauten - Morning Dew
• Nina Winder-Lind - Foremothers
• Stan - What's The Use?
• Ritual Disorder - Rewind
• Ghost Variations - Siren Song/Collective Whiplash
• Raw Impact - Better Things To Do
• Pure Mass - Born Old
• Sly & The Family Drone - Guts Of Albion
• Cities Aviv - Bigger Than The Program
• Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal - Watching a Movie Called Freedom By Myself
• Oren Ambarchi - Hidden Tableu (excerpt)

Nick's Pick of the Week is Lex Walton's Ultimate Love Forever, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://youthagainstsatan.bandcamp.com/album/ultimate-love-forever and my review can be read below.

Lex Walton: Ultimate Love Forever (Sub Pop)

Released Friday 4th September 2026

Ultimate Love Forever is Lex Walton’s Sub Pop debut, but it is just one in a long line of delightfully scrappy, lo-fi recordings released by the Brooklyn, New York based singer/songwriter, poet, artist, filmmaker and actress. Recorded by Uniform’s Ben Greenberg at Thump and Circular Ruin studios, Ultimate Love Forever also features contributions from Greenberg, as well as Emily Green and Sam Revaz of Geese, Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire and more.

Clocking in at a brief twenty minutes and comprising just seven songs, Ultimate Love Forever is a short and sharp burst of all-killer no-filler power-pop delivered earnestly and with unflinching honesty. For Thee I Sing, Hipster Run Off and Ultimate Love 4Ever each grab you by the throat from the get-go; then never let up. Owing as much to the Folk Implosion as the earliest Strokes releases, there is a naivety and an urgency to these faster tracks that makes them instantly infectious.

I Wish I Was An M80 and Adrian Borland Will Have His Revenge On London are slightly more experimental, incorporating tape hiss, acoustic guitars and additional percussion. About half way through the former, the songs sounds as if it is going self-destruct, albeit somewhat gleefully. Even at their most challenging, however, the songs on Ultimate Love Forever are too damned enjoyable to be unbearable.

Chock full of hooks and passion, Ultimate Love Forever is a major step forward for Walton, who has previously confined themselves to solo, at-home recordings. The backing of a record label allows her the freedom to expand her sonic palette and the budget to add a touch of polish to the album’s endearing scrappiness. Quick and to the point, with little margin for mucking about, there is very little about Ultimate Love Forever to complain about, with (perhaps) one exception —it’s a little too short.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• David McCormack & The Polaroids - Monday Morning
• Roger Knox - Black Tear Tracks
• Charlie Ivan Band - Despair & Devotion
• Michael Beach - The Calvary Cross
• Kali Malone - Heavy With Fruit
• Helen - Dead Shark II
• Carmen Villain - Blue
• Chat Pile - Family Funeral
• Genital Shame - I Want To Die Before You
• Godflesh - Living/Ending
• Interview - Aidan Moffat & Malcolm Middleton (Arab Strap) Part 1
• Malcolm Middleton - That Voice Again
• Nyx Nótt - Theme From
• Interview - Aidan Moffat & Malcolm Middleton (Arab Strap) Part 2
• Arab Strap - Beats Per Minute
• Ritual Disorder - Not The Same
• Bitumen - Minutes Of Pure Joy
• Ancient Channels - Juniper
• Bugs - Clear Vision
• Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Maps (Live at The Royal Albert hall)
• The Go-Betweens - Cattle And Cane
• Spike Fuck - Had Your Way
• Metallica - The Wait
• Freya - Prelude (Live)
• Valve - A Garden Wall
• Lex Walton - For Thee I Sing
• Stan - Don't Listen To Me
• Ups And Downs - Radio Is Dead
• Pure Mass - Bug

Nick's Pick of the Week is Black Duck & Elena Setién's Black Duck with Elena Setién, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://blackduck.bandcamp.com/album/black-duck-with-elena-seti-n and my review can be read below.

Black Duck & Elena Setién: Black Duck with Elena Setién (Thrill Jockey)

Released 28th August 2026

Based out of Chicago, Black Duck is a trio that features guitarist Bill MacKay, bassist Doug McCombs and drummer Charles Rumback, all veterans of the Windy City’s underground, experimental and improvisational music scenes. To list each of their respective projects, collaborations and other musical outlets would take days —and multiple pages— but think Tortoise, Bill Callahan and Ryley Walker, to name but a few. For their second album, Black Duck with Elena Setién, the band recruit Basque singer Elena Setién to contribute vocals and add a timeless, cinematic edge to the group’s unmistakable and incomparable sound.

Setién and the members of Black Duck became acquainted when the latter was on tour in Spain in 2025. Their mutual respect and admiration for each other’s artistry led to a cross fertilisation of ideas that culminated in collaborative sets taking place throughout the tour. Following this, studio time was booked and the current project rapidly took shape, resulting in the tracks that comprise Black Duck with Elena Setién.

Black Duck with Elena Setién is an album that sounds fresh and full of surprises. The connection between the artists is evident in the interplay and —despite the rapid timeline from realisation to completion— the group sounds as if they have been performing together for years. Seekers of experimental and filmic visions will find much to love here, but, despite its artistic pretensions, Black Duck with Elena Setién remains an accessible and beautiful album that will curry favour with all kinds of forward thinking music fans.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tegan & Sara - Monday, Monday, Monday
• Roky Erikson & The Aliens - Two-Headed Dog
• Tropical Fuck Storm - Stepping On A Rake (Live)
• Ancient Channels - Beta Waves
• Chris Corsano & Camila Nebbia - Unadorned/Never Better
• Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Bobby Kapp - Afterglow
• Chelsea Wolfe - Turn The Key
• Julia Holter - My Twin
• Ed Kuepper - Rainy Night (Live)
• Michael Beach - The Sea (Live)
• Darla Quintana - NGC 1982
• Oren Ambarchi - Hidden Tableau (Excerpt)
• Missing - Cities Without Rivers
• The Drones - River Of Tears
• Kev Carmody - Black Deaths In Custody
• David McCormack's TRS80 - The Wilhelm Scream
• Hotchkiss - Sinking
• Granddaughter - Teeth
• Iceage - Plowing Into The Field Of Love
• Valve - Garden Wall
• Black Duck & Elena Setién - Behind The Door
• Believe - Braided River
• Miss Kaninna - Chat My Shit
• Chiffon Magnifique - Marionette
• Arab Strap - Fighting For You