The first, with Tashi Dorji, a Bhutanese born experimental guitarist now based in North Carolina. Last Friday saw the release of Bloom & Ruin: Two Liberations, Tashi's fourth release already for 2026 and a collaboration with Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Efrim Menuck. Bloom & Ruin: Two Liberations was released by The Garrote label, you can listen to it -as well as Tashi's other releases- and purchase their music here; https://tashidorji.bandcamp.com/music

The second interview is with Brian Case and Noah Leger from the Chicago band FACS. You can catch FACS live on Saturday 16th May at Season Three Space as part of their first ever Australian tour. Find out more about FACS (and purchase their music) here; https://wearefacs.bandcamp.com/music

Nick's Pick of the Week is Lupo Citta's Inverno, which was released on Friday April 24th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://lupocitta12xu.bandcamp.com/album/inverno and my review can be read below.

Lupo Città: Inverno (12XU)

Released 24th April 2026

Chris Brokaw is a busy man. When he isn’t performing solo or with the bands Codeine and Come, he’s in the studio, writing, recording or producing music for himself and others; and occasionally even teaching music. April saw the release of two Brokaw records, The Undone Is Done Again with Tanya Donelly (last week’s pick) and Inverno by Lupo Città, which features Sarah Black on guitar/bass and Jenn Gori on drums. Oh, and he’ll be in town at the end of the month, as part of a string of solo shows supporting Tortoise on their Australian tour.

Lupo Città is one of the many bands Brokaw has performed in or been a regular part of. Alongside the previously mentioned Codeine and Come, he has also played in GG Allin’s band, Pullman, The New Year, Martha’s Vineyard Ferries and The Lemonheads —his complete discography could fill a book! Lupo Città formed in 2021 and released their first, self-titled album in 2024. An eclectic, ecstatic collection of garage-rock songs, Lupo Città’s debut was a grinding and enjoyable slab of solid rock and roll. Inverno, its follow-up, is (perhaps) a more refined, mature affair.

Across ten tracks, the group shifts between punchy rock numbers (Can’t See and Southern Forests), mellow grooves (Satisfy and Something Else) and the ambient instrumentalism of (title-track) Inverno. It’s a diverse collection of songs that truly showcases what the trio is capable of. Brokaw and Gori trade and share vocal duties, which results in an increased depth of character across the album’s duration, providing the listener with the varying perspectives offered by multiple singing styles —plus, who doesn’t love a singing drummer!

Inverno, which means Winter in Italian, is anything but cold. Rather, it is a surprising and shifting album that catches a band in the midst of changing gears and shifting phases. With Inverno, Lupo Città outgrow the juvenilia of their debut, take a giant musical leap forward and declare that they are only just getting started; bring on record number three!

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lankum - On A Monday Morning
• Chimers - Red Chair
• Mouse - Mannequin
• Zkarv - Nameless Grave III - Remnants Of Broken Cries
• Interview - Tashi Dorji Part 1
• Tashi Dorji - They Fall Because They Must Fall
• Interview - Tashi Dorji Part 2
• Tashi Dorji & Efrim Manuel Menuck - Dark Wet Soil Liberated From Human, Pesticide And Bomb
• Peachy - Gutted
• Interview - Brian Case & Noah Leger (FACS) Part 1
• Local Authority - Falling
• Ritual Disorder - Not The Same
• Interview - Brian Case & Noah Leger (FACS) Part 2
• FACS - Sometimes Only
• Blue Diner. - Stylus Writer
• En Kernaghan Band - Witch Girl
• Camping - Dicky Bird
• Kneecap (Feat. Kae Tempest) - Irish Goodbye
• Earl Sweathshirt & Surf Gang (feat. Mike) - Leadbelly
• Penelope Trappes - Platinum (Saint Etienne Remix)
• Nicholas Krgovich - Secret Garden
• Keanu Nelson - Warumpinya
• Carla Dal Forno - Nighttime
• Lupo Citta - Southern Forests
• Granddaughter - Teeth (Demo)
• No Hoper - Luggage
• Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti - Almost Waking

Nick's Pick of the Week is Chris Brokaw and Tanya Donelly's The Undone Is Done Again EP, which was released on Friday April 17th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://firerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-undone-is-done-again and my review can be read below.

Chris Brokaw & Tanya Donnelly: The Undone Is Done Again (Fire Records)

Released April 17th 2026

A brief but beautiful collaboration between Chris Brokaw of Come, Codeine and countless others and Tanya Donelly from Belly and Throwing Muses. The Undone Is Done Again —released by Fire Records for Record Store Day 2026— is a four track EP of medieval music that has been reinterpreted by Brokaw and Conelly following a joint performance at a charity benefit in 2024. 

Featuring Brokaw on guitar and Conelly on vocals, the EP’s sessions took place at Waltham, Massachusetts’ Woolly Mammoth Studios in Spring 2025, The Undone Is Done Again’s four songs were all originally composed between the 12th and 15th centuries. Each of the pieces were originally written as yuletide madrigals, which makes it an early or late Christmas album, depending on which side of the fence you sit on.

Opening with Novvus Annis Adiit, Brokaw’s spidery, reverb-drenched guitar lines weave majestically in and out of Donelly’s ethereal vocals, it is a beautifully crafted song that almost feels devotional. Sainte Nicholaes feels slightly darker and spookier, which is, perhaps, ironic, given the original was the first hymn to be dedicated to the individual who would go on to inspire the legend of Santa Claus. In Hoc Anni Circulo is, another shining example of divine interplay between Brokaw’s playing and Donelly’s voice, whilst (final track) Plaudat Letitia is far more voice forward and finds Donelly bordering on the operatic.

It would be an understatement to call The Undone Is Done Again unique, there is —realistically— little else to compare it to. It is too experimental to be considered traditional, but may be too traditional to be truly experimental. Either way it’s a wonderful collaboration, a lovely surprise and perfect, albeit short, reprieve from the madness of the modern world.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Pulp - Monday Morning
• Guided By Voices - We Outlast Them All
• Ben Barker - Magic Man
• Thesis - Retumbar
• Camping - Golden Bird
• Greg Charles & The Ex Catholics - Rain On A Velvet Town
• Super Hotel - Box Of Prawns
• Sunn0))) - Mindrolling
• Interview - Dan Shaw (Landowner) Part 1
• Discharge - The End
• Antelope - Game Over
• Interview - Dan Shaw (Landowner) Part 2
• Landowner - Normal Returns To Normal
• Snailgun - Labyrinth
• Miranda Vs. Arizona - Temporary
• Mood Board - Sentimental Breeze
• McKisko - Come Home
• Madeleine Cocolas - A Celestial Awakening
• Carla Dal Forno - Confession
• Deafcult - New Land Old Sun
• Ancient Channels - Black Metals
• Craning - Start Pregnant
• Chris Brokaw & Tanya Donelly - In Hoc Anni Circulo
• Bad Mothers Union - Cut In Half
• Tashi Dorji - Gathering

Nick's Pick of the Week is Carla Dal Forno's Confession, which was released on Friday April 24th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://carladalforno.bandcamp.com/album/confession and my review can be read below.

Carla Dal Forno: Confession (Kallista Records)

Released April 24th 2026

Recorded in a decommissioned hospital in the small town of Castlemaine, Victoria, Carla Dal Forno’s fourth album, Confession, turned in to a far more personal journey than the songwriter initially intended. Dal Forno has carved out a niche creating minimalist post-punk, first with groups such as F Ingers and Tarcar, then, since 2016, as a solo artist. Her earliest recordings were distributed by the legendary, though now sadly defunct, label Blackest Ever Black, whilst her more recent output, including Confession, have been released through Dal Forno’s own Kallista Records.

Dal Forno originally envisioned the songs on Confession to —lyrically at least— be far more abstract and obtuse, but as the compositions developed, the songs became, as the title implies, far more confessional. The tracks on Confession detail the complexities of a relationship that starts innocuously enough, before developing into something far more intense and excessive.

“You will belong to me soon / You will belong to me there’s no other way,” is just one of the many lines in Going Out, the album’s first single, that highlights the possessive and obsessive nature of the relationship in question. Like much of the album, Going Out is propelled by Dal Forno’s trademark propulsive bass lines and simple drum machine rhythms. Despite the lyrical content feeling heavier— musically, Confession, when compared with Dal Forno’s previous work, has a much lighter and brighter feel.

Comprising eleven songs, Confession features a mix of instrumental and lyrical tracks. The instrumental numbers, Drip Drop, On The Ward, Off The Beaten Track and Staying In function as a bridge between the lyrically driven songs, shuffling the listener along whilst adding to the ethereal feel of the album. Sonically, Confession draws inspiration from all manner of genres such as twee-pop, funk and dub, whereas the title-track bears an uncanny resemblance to the Italian exploitation soundtracks of the 1970s.

One of the album’s highlights is the cover of The Sunnyboys’ jangle-pop classic, Alone With You. Dal Forno’s take strips away all the ebullience of the original, imparting a distant, voyeuristic tone that borders on being uncomfortable. It’s a remarkable interpretation that completely flips the connotations of the song, adding a unique perspective and embedding it with a totally different meaning.

Confession is a classic “don’t judge a book by its cover” record, wherein the musical feel of the album is often at odds with the subject matter of the lyrics. Confession by title and confessional by nature, this is an album that explores the darker side of falling head over heels for someone, whilst managing to sound frivolous and carefree at the same time. It’s beauty and the beast all wrapped up in one and another excellent release from one of the more unique voices in Australian music.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lee Hazlewood - If It's Monday Morning
• Screamfeeder - Static
• Velociraptor - Timebong
• Total Pace - Another Prick In The Wall
• Sunn0))) - Butch's Guns
• Slowcut - Threaded
• Craning - Metro North Access Line
• Big|Brave - In Grief Or In Hope
• Swans - Away (Live)
• Interview - Martín Schellekens (Land Whales) Part 1
• Sonic Youth - Hey Joni
• Interview - Martín Schellekens (Land Whales) Part 2
• Land Whales - The Torment
• Powerplant - The Fork
• Zoh Amba - Another Time
• Keanu Nelson - Family
• Shugorei - Yume
• Yirinda - Yunma (Sleep)
• Locust Revival - Tired Of Myself
• Electric Prawns 2 - Inside My Head
• Sacred Hearts - Pig City
• Blue Diner - Disc 2
• Watership Lounds - Last
• Carla Dal Forno - Alone With You
• FF8282 - I Could Have Been
• Camping - Soft To The Touch
• Landowner - Slippery Abyss

Nick's Pick of the Week is Neurosis' An Undying Love For A Burning World, which was released on Friday March 20th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://neurosis.bandcamp.com/album/an-undying-love-for-a-burning-world and my review can be read below.

Neurosis: An Undying Love For A Burning World (Neurot Recordings)

20th March 2026

In 2022, the metal community entered a collective state of shock when Neurosis’ former guitarist and vocalist, Scott Kelly, released a statement admitting to perpetrating years of abuse against his own family. Following Kelly’s statement, the remaining members of Neurosis informed fans that, upon finding out about Kelly’s behaviour in 2019, they promptly fired him from the band. Thus, Neurosis entered a period of dormancy and uncertainty, with many of their fans resigning themselves to the fact that Neurosis was done for good. Until now, when the group unexpectedly dropped An Undying Love For A Burning World, with Aaron Turner, of ISIS, Sumac and Old Man Gloom, replacing Kelly on guitar and vocals.

Neurosis were trailblazers of the post-metal sound, first forming in 1985, as a crust-punk band, they soon expanded and developed their sound to incorporate hardcore, doom, experimental and progressive elements. Initial albums were far more simplistic, with 1992’s Souls At Zero being the first record to fully push the band into uncharted territory, whilst 1999’s Times Of Grace set the early benchmark for the more avant-garde sound that the band would be eventually credited with pioneering —it was their first record engineered by Steve Albini, something that would continue until the band’s hiatus in 2016 and finally ended by Albini’s passing in 2024.

The inclusion of Turner is a perfect fit. A lifelong Neurosis fan, he has made a career of playing in several boundary-pushing metal bands, most notably with his current group Sumac, but also as an accomplished solo musician and improviser, with an epic list of collaborations to his name. It is astonishing, really, that no one saw this coming, nor saw fit to suggest it to either Neurosis or Turner, for —despite the unholy noise of their collaboration— their union is nothing short of celestial.

An Undying Love For A Burning World’s shorter songs are some of its most intense, such as Mirror Deep, Seething And Scattered and Untethered, but it is the longer songs that truly re-establish Neurosis’ place at the forefront of experimental metal. It is the album’s last two tracks, each exceeding ten minutes in length, In The Waiting Hours and Last Light, that truly reiterate why Neurosis are such masters of their game. Explosive, expansive and gleefully punishing, each song is a journey, a trek into the unknown that remains rooted in the past whilst reaching for the unfamiliar 

Neurosis’ return is a welcome surprise, and An Undying Love For A Burning World is a furious and fitting soundtrack to the apocalypse of our current, everyday existence. It is an epic record that is both sprawling in scope and painstakingly refined. Dust off that old Neurosis shirt, fellow metal aficionado, one can finally wear it with pride again.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Clamm - Monday
• Landowner - Landowner Plays Dopesmoker 666% Faster With No Distortion
• Mogwai - Sweet Leaf
• Melvins - Boris
• Sleep - Holy Mountain
• Camping - Cleaners
• Selve - Creature Of The Night
• Ancient Channels - Chimera
• Sprints - Deceptacon
• The Notwist - X-Ray
• Shugorei - Kimi
• Massive Attack (Feat. Tom Waits) - Boots On The Ground
• Phew & Danielle De Picciotto - The Cat
• Interview - Carla Dal Forno Part 1
• Even As We Speak - Bizarre Love Traingle
• Interview - Carla Dal Forno Part 2
• Carla Dal Forno - Under The Covers
• Andrew Tuttle - SR 2025
• D. C. Cross - The Tik Tok Goodbye Song
• Blank Realm - Baby Closes The Door
• Spirit Bunny - Gold & Brown
• Refedex - Reduced
• Smudge - I Just Get Caught Out
• Miranda vs. Arizona - Big Smoke
• Neurosis - Untethered
• Sunn0))) - Everett Moses
• Land Whales - The Torment

Nick's Pick of the Week is Sunn0)))'s self-titled album, which was released on Friday April 3rd. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here;https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/sunn-o-2 and my review can be read below.

Sunn0))): Sunn0))) (Sub Pop)

Released April 3rd 2026

Sunn0))) have been pushing the boundaries of guitar noise for almost thirty years now. Their sound is characterised by intense volume, slow tempos, and lengthy, drop-tuned compositions that ignore traditional song structures. It has been almost seven years since Sunn0))) released the one-two-punch of Life Metal and Pyroclasts —each of which was recorded in 2018 with the late Steve Albini— and the first release in the band’s discography to solely feature Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley.

Released by the iconic Seattle label Sub Pop, a homecoming of sorts as Anderson and O’Malley formed Sunn0))) in Seattle in 1998. Sunn0))) was also recorded in Washington State —at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville with Brad Wood as engineer. Sunn0))) is monolithic, not only in sound, but in scale and scope. Each song contains over 100 individual guitar tracks, the result of micing not only the room, but each speaker in Anderson and O’Malley’s massive amp rigs, alongside field recordings and found sounds from the environment surrounding the studio. 

Further emphasising the epicness of the album, 80 minutes of music, across four LPs, is the album’s artwork, which features two paintings by the famed American abstractionist, Mark Rothko. Whilst Sunn0))) and Rothko’s artistic methods may be light years apart, each embodies an approach that can only be described as monolithic minimalism. Many of Rothko’s famous pieces are almost monotone, utilising one or two colours or shades to communicate with the viewer. Likewise, Sunn0))), at its core, is the sound of an amplified guitar pushed to the extreme. It sounds simple on paper, but, like abstract art, it’s the application that matters.

How does one review Sunn0))), or explain the methodology of the group to those unacquainted with their style? It is guitar music for one, but so is Guns ’N’ Roses. Noise? Drone? Noise-drone? Drone-metal is a regularly applied term, with the group considered pioneers of the genre that owes as much of its ethos to Black Sabbath as it does La Monte Young. Perhaps, like looking at a Rothko, there are no easy answers.

When examining a painting, it is up to each individual viewer to decide what they see —or don’t see. The same applies to Sunn0))), some will hear noise and nothing but, some will question its purpose and whether they can do the same thing or better. Ultimately, this isn’t music that panders. It is as expansive as it is esoteric, a rejection of convention in pursuit of endless possibility. Listen, absorb and (most importantly) submit to the volume.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tape/Off - Monday
• Courtney Barnett - Another Beautiful Day
• Ancient Channels - Black Metals
• Harry Howard & David McClymont - Enough's Enough
• Orcutt Shelley Miller (Feat. David Yow) - Hot Head
• Gnod - All Tunnel No Light
• Fancy Weapon - Squid
• Soviet Dust - Varanasi
• Cannon - Gravity
• Mood Board - Footsteps
• Interview - Kathryn Mohr Part 1
• Songs: Ohia - Lioness
• Interview - Kathryn Mohr Part 2
• Kathryn Mohr - Commit
• Los Thuthanaka - Ay Kawkinpachasa? (Capo-Kullawada)
• More Eaze - Biters
• Regurgitator - Black Bugs
• The Go-Betweens - Apology Accepted
• Screamfeeder - Static
• Crooked Fingers - The River
• Low - I'm On Fire
• Lucy Dacus - Dancing In The Dark
• Sunn0))) - Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?
• Craning - Jawmax
• Carla Dal Forno - Under The Covers

Nick's Pick of the Week is Land Whales' How To Make Breakfast, which was released on Friday March 13th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-make-a-breakfast and my review can be read below.

Land Whales: How To Make Breakfast (Buh Records)

Released March 13th 2026

Formed in 2021 in Havana, Cuba, Land Whales were originally called Hey Joni and (if the band name didn’t give it away already) were heavily influenced by Sonic Youth and other 90s indie rock stalwarts. Their first album Null Days, from 2023, had a scrappy, alternative-rock feel and was recorded with an expanded —four-piece— lineup. Land Whales’ key figures and only constant members are Martín Schellekens and Martín Espinosa, who, as a duo, performed, recorded and mixed How To Make Breakfast themselves.

Land Whales’ sophomore release heralds a sonic shift for the band. Far heavier than their debut, How To Make Breakfast bears the influence of noise-rock and drone, landing somewhere in between Flipper and early Swans, albeit slightly catchier. Album opener, Pierce builds slowly over a single palm-muted chord that is almost drowning in distortion and feedback. Pierce sets the tone for the rest of the record early, chugging along sluggishly and taking almost two-minutes before it really kicks into gear. The Trial, Eyes Out and Little Glow, pick up the pace and form a trio of faster and punkier affairs, driving the record forward before Slit Your Guts drags things to a crawl once again.

Even slower —and far more menacing— is How To Make Breakfast’s centrepiece, the nearly nine minute drudge-fest that is No Privacy. At its core, No Privacy is little more than overdriven and distorted guitar, played at a snail’s pace and at times reminiscent of acts like Sunn0))), Earth and early Boris. No Privacy has a loose improvised feel that fits the band perfectly, emphasising  the fact that Land Whales are at their peak when they play their slowest —and act their weirdest. 

Released by Lima, Peru’s trailblazing Buh Records —who deserve endless credit for documenting the diversity Sof outh and Latin America’s musical underground— How To Make Breakfast has garnered significant (and well-deserved) international attention. Land Whales highlight the presence of an alternative voice in a country that is better known for its Buena Vista Social Club than anything remotely resembling a punk scene. How To Make Breakfast is a spark from the dark, a sludgy brick of discontent that serves as a reminder that incredible things often hail from the unlikeliest of places.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Wilco - Monday
• Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
• Mulga Bore Hard Rock - Stay
• Antenna - Rolling By
• Plainer - True
• Hachiku - Shark Attack (Live At Phoenix Central park)
• Chimers - Memory Lane
• Grinding Eyes - Translucent White (Alt Version)
• Crow - You Can't Turn Away
• Top Shortage - Toi
• Craning - Jawmax
• Interview - Maja Milner & Hugo Randulv (Makthaverskan) Part 1
• Joy Division - Passover
• Interview - Maja Milner & Hugo Randulv (Makthaverskan) Part 2
• Makthaverskan - Pity Party
• Blue Diner - Trucks
• Total Pace - Another Prick In The Wall
• Still Full From Lunch - Termites
• Super Hotel - Shaq Attack
• Camping - New Language
• The Velvet Underground - Candy Says
• Greg Charles & The Ex Catholics - The Boy With The Golden Heart
• Beth Gibbons - Sunday Morning
• Anna Calvi & Perfume Genius - I See A Darkness
• Land Whales - Pierce
• Kneecap - Smugglers & Thieves
• Sugar - Hoover Dam

Nick's Pick of the Week is Bill Orcutt's Music In Continuous Motion, which was released on Friday March 12th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/music-in-continuous-motion and my review can be read below.

Bill Orcutt: Music In Continuous Motion (Palilalia Records)

Released March 13th 2026

Bill Orcutt’s latest studio album, Music In Continuous Motion, is a spiritual sequel to his 2022 album, Music For Four Guitars. Both were recorded in his living room studio —with Orcutt playing all four guitar parts— and released via his own Palilalia Records. Music In Continuous Motion contains twelve tracks, the titles of which make little sense on their own, but, when read together, assume a mysteriously poetic quality:

“Giving Unknown Origin

Unexpectedly Heavy

Reflective, Silent

Because Sharp Also Smooth

And Warm To The Touch

Now nearly Gone

Unfinished Not Fragile

Yet Always Moving

Impossible To Reach

Is Left Alone

Barely There

Or Difficult To See”

As these song titles may imply there is a beauty to Music In Continuous Motion that isn’t immediately evident in Orcutt’s other work; a devastating beauty, but a beauty none the less. Little else needs to be said about Music In Continuous Motion, other than, Bill Orcutt has a new album out, go listen to it - right now!

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• The Jam - Monday
• Metallica - Master Of Puppets
• Powerplant - Wingspan
• Fugazi - Facet Squared (Albini Session)
• Tanya Tagaq - Exit Wound
• Amby Downs - They Cleared The Land Of Indigenous Foods To Plant Crops Familiar To Settlers
• Asma Ghanem - Bang Bang Opera
• Craning - Clings
• Kathryn Mohr - Commit
• Big|Brave - The Ineptitude For Mutual Discernment
• Kim Gordon - Play Me
• Holloh - Bowser
• Scud - Weed Slayer
• The Pogues - Rainy Night In Soho
• Greg Charles & The Ex Catholics - No Danger
• Station Model Violence - Falling Down
• WAAX - Ur A Rat
• Bruce Springsteen - Rainy Night In Soho
• Plainer - Intro & Port
• Watership Lounds - Last
• Deafcult - Chemicals
• To The North - Rescue And Return
• Local Authority - Falling
• FACS - Casual Indifference
• Ritual Disorder - Rewind
• Bill Orcutt - Unfinished Not Fragile
• Bill Orcutt & Chris Corsano - Busting Up The Blues
• Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti - Almost Waking
• Tara Clerkin Trio - Somehwere Good
• Makthaverskan - Black Waters

Nick's Pick of the Week is Crooked Fingers' Swet Deth, which was released on Friday February 27th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://crookedfingers.bandcamp.com/album/swet-deth and my review can be read below.

Crooked Fingers: Swet Deth (Merge Records)

Released 27th February 2026

Just prior to the release of Swet Deth, Crooked Fingers’ founder, frontman and lone constant member, Eric Bachmann, had his own brush with death, in the form of a heart attack. Bachmann survived, although he was required to cancel any tour dates scheduled in support of the album, at least until his health issues could be managed. It is tempting, therefore, to listen to much of the music on Crooked Fingers’ first album in fifteen years and hear a middle-aged man musing on his own impermanence, but only half of that is true.

Much of Swet Deth is a reckoning with mortality, just not Bachmann’s own. The record was completed before his heart attack —which occurred around Halloween of 2025— and as much as the album’s songs have a preoccupation with dying, this (more or less) coincides with the fact that Bachmann has reached the age where friends and family are (sadly, but inevitably) starting to pass on. Adding further coincidence (and perhaps, insult to injury) the album’s artwork was created by Bachmann’s nine-year-old son and —rather prominently— features a grave adorned with the singer’s name —something Bachmann himself has described as “prescient.”

One of the great, if under-appreciated, songwriters of the early-mid 1990s, post-grunge, indie-rock boom, Bachmann formed and fronted Archers Of Loaf, an outfit that was lauded for their acerbic lyrics, energetic shows and discordant (yet catchy) music. Archers Of Loaf stuck it out until 1998.  Following their dissolution, Bachmann founded Crooked Fingers, who —despite never formally announcing their hiatus— stopped producing music around 2011 when Bachmann began recording and releasing albums under his own name.

Archers Of Loaf reformed as a live band in 2011 and released their (likely) final album, Reason In Decline, in 2022. Bachmann is loath to label the group as over, but has indicated in interviews that various members’ lack of interest in playing shows and recording forms a barrier to the group’s continued existence. All the while, Crooked Fingers lay dormant and forgotten —by many— until now,  when Bachmann found himself working on several songs that required more expansive musical arrangements than he felt fit for a solo release. Enter Merge Records, who were already finalising a suite of Crooked Fingers reissues, to suggest that perhaps it was time to dust off the old moniker and release some new music as Crooked Fingers.

Manyof the songs on Swet Deth are classic Bachmann and any longtime fan is unlikely to be disappointed by the offerings here. Cold Waves (featuring Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan) opens the record and —despite its acoustic beginnings— is charged with all the power-pop gusto one would expect from the combo of Bachmann and McCaughan. Spray Tan Speed Queen (In A German Car) is classic catchiness, fused with a bit of Ennio Morricone melodrama, to soundtrack a story of downtrodden pessimism brightened by an unexpected and uncharacteristically human interaction in Las Vegas, of all places. 

Haunted (featuring Sharon Van Etten) is another obvious highlight, a wonderfully repetitive ode to regret; Bachmann and Van Etten’s vocals pair together perfectly to create an especially luminescent example of indie-pop perfection. Hospital is, perhaps, the most predictive piece of songwriting Bachmann has ever done. “My heart spilled out / Ain’t no place to die, it's impossible,” speaks far more foresightedly to the songwriter’s health issues than anything else on Swet Deth, making one wonder if Bachmann should try reading fortunes for a change —or, perhaps, purchase a lottery ticket!

Swet Deth is not just a brilliant comeback record, for Crooked Fingers at least, but another excellent entry in Bachmann’s —almost— daunting discography. As an occupant of (and champion for) the underground, Bachmann’s songwriting efforts are often unappreciated in a much wider and broader sense. With Swet Deth, he may have made a record that will finally propel him beyond the confines of his devoted fanbase of indie snobs and into the wider consciousness of a much larger audience; in doing so, may Eric Bachmann live long and prosper.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• David McCormack & The Polaroids - Monday Morning
• Lou Reed - Big Sky
• Smallpox Champion - Fugazi
• Exek - Don't Answer (When They Call)
• Crown & Country - Ngurra Kurlu (Home)
• Carla Dal Forno - Going Out
• Bill Orcutt - Is left Alone
• You-On - Verbatim
• Plainer - Drive
• Craning - Born With It
• Interview - Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" BIlly) Part 1
• Palace - Horses
• Interview - Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) Part 2
• Aldous Harding - One Stop
• Chris Brokaw & Tanya Donelly - Novvus Annis Adiit
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Bride Of The Lion
• Robin Wattie - Striation
• Ed Kuepper - Miracles
• The Go-Betweens - Cattle & Cane
• Kev Carmody - Eulogy (For A Black Person)
• Mick Harvey - Demolition
• Bleak Squad - A Suitcase In Berlin
• Crooked Fingers (Feat. Sharon Van Etten) - Haunted
• Kim Gordon - Not Today
• Greg Charles & The Ex Catholics - The Coldest Arrow
• Ritual Disorder - The Fade The Pull

Nick's Pick of the Week is Shane Parish's Autechre Guitar, which was released on Friday February 27th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://shaneparish.bandcamp.com/album/autechre-guitar-2 and my review can be read below.

Shane Parish: Autechre Guitar (Palialia Records)

Released February 27th 2026

“This record shouldn’t, strictly speaking, be possible at all.” Thus begins the press-release for Athens, Georgia based guitarist Shane Parish’s latest record, Autechre Guitar. Released through Bill Orcutt’s label, Palilalia Records, Autechre Guitar contains exactly what the title suggests, ten compositions by the UK electronic group Autechre, transposed and performed on guitar.

Autechre Guitar is an astonishing feat and an album that contains moments of both complex beauty and simple pleasure. A labour of love, with its origins dating back almost a quarter century, Parish came to Autechre’s music through his partner, Courtney Chappell. Recognising a unique challenge, in 2004 he composed his first rendition of Slip, but it wasn’t until completing his 2024 album Repertoire, which contained covers of Aphex Twin and Kraftwerk, that the potential for a more expansive and dedicated collection of songs became apparent.

The tracks that comprise Autechre Guitar are drawn solely from duo’s first five years of existence, namely the albums, Incunabula (1993), Amber (1994), Tri Repetae (1995), Chiastic Slide (1997) and (1998’s) LP5. In interviews, Parish has indicated an interest in attacking the group’s later period in follow-up releases, but —given the time required to complete this volume— those anticipating a sequel will be need to be patient.

Generally, when considering the merits of an album of covers, one would compare them with the originals. In this instance, however, the differences are as stark night and day, making any attempt (at best) unfair and (at worst) impossible. What can be said is that Parish truly “gets” the material he is sourcing from, creating interpretations that —whilst radically different— contain the essence and spirit of the originals.

On Eggshell, Parish masters the art of multiple melodies that slip, slide and snake within and without of each other to create something truly unique and beautiful. With Yulquen, the background hum of the original is recreated through the rhythmic thrum of a palm mute, whilst the ambience of Slip is achieved through perfectly placed arpeggios. These are just three highlights across an album that, more or less, contains no low-points, a record of constant surprises and subtle shocks that holds your attention from beginning to end.

Concept album’s don’t come much stranger than Autechre Guitar, but through persistence and patience Parish has created a record full of astounding individuality and daring elegance. Far more than just being an LP of guitar music for electronic fans, this is something completely different, a bridge between sonic worlds and a link between two —often opposing— schools of musical thought. Open your mind, suspend your expectations and enjoy the ride.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Pulp - Monday Morning
• Bikini Kill - Double Dare Ya
• Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis - Clutch
• Craning - Metro North Access Line
• Sunn0))) - Butch's Guns
• Crown And Country - Ngatilyka (Australia)
• Amby Downs - Jemaluk
• Barry Walker Jr., Rob Smith & Jason Wilmon - Aether Ore
• Electric Prawns 2 - Blind Point
• Watership Lounds - No Trem
• Wetwork - Mutt
• Interview - Eric Bachmann Part 1
• Eric Bachmann - Mercy
• Interview - Eric Bachmann Part 2
• Crooked Fingers - Spray Tan Speed Queen (In A German Car)
• Primitive Motion - Portrait Of Living On Rafts
• Slow Walkers - The Flood
• McKisko - The Reservoir
• The Cure - Pictures Of You
• Ritual Disorder - Static Hum
• Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven
• Roy Montgomery - Pyromantic Ideation
• Converge - Gilded Cage
• Shane Parish - Eggshell
• Autechre - Eggshell
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy - They Keep Trying to Find You