Nick's Pick of the Week is Voivod's Symphonique, released Friday June 5th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/symphonique-live-24-bit-hd-audio and my review can be read below.

Voivoid: Symphonique (21st Century Media)

Released June 5th 2026

Heavy Metal has been accused of many things, there are some who think it takes itself too seriously, some who say it doesn’t take itself seriously enough and then there are those “satanic panic” folks who blame it for all of the evils of the world —including a spate of teen suicides in the 1980s. Canadian progressive-thrash band Voivod somehow manage to (rather masterfully) combine all three of those complaints and use them as building blocks to create their idiosyncratic and highly technical brand of metal.

Formed in 1982, Voivod’s earlier music shared much in common with their speed/thrash-metal contemporaries such as Metallica and Exodus. As their career advanced and their lineup changed, they began to incorporate even more technical and progressive themes into their sound. This —coupled with an interest in Cold War era politics and science-fiction that informed their lyrics— led to some of the band’s greatest triumphs, such as Dimension Hatröss and Nothingface.

On Symphonique, Voivod team up with the Orchestre Symphonique De Québec to blast through an expertly curated set of some of their most memorable songs and throw in a Pink Floyd cover (Astronomy Domine) for good measure. Metal bands teaming up with symphony orchestras is nothing new, with numerous bands (dating as far back as Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion album) adding orchestral flourishes to their recordings through to Metallica’s legendary 1999 concert album, S&M.

Half of the performance is culled from (the aforementioned) Dimension Hatröss and Nothingface: Cosmic Drama, Experiment and Tribal Convictions from the former and Into My Hypercube, Pre-Ignition and The Unknown Knows from the latter. Aside from Forgotten In Space, from Killing Technology (1987) and Nuclear War, from War And Pain (1984) the rest of the show contains tracks from some of the bands more recent albums, such as the excellent Synchro Anarchy from 2022. Across the whole of the seventy-three minute set, Voivod’s songs, regardless of the era, fuse seamlessly with the musicianship of the Orchestre Symphonique De Québec to create something equally epic and enjoyable.

Symphonique, despite the formality of its setting and Voivod’s reputation for technicality, is a thoroughly gratifying listen. Transformative at times, it takes the listener on a journey through outer space, apocalyptic visions and nuclear war, without ever losing its sense of fun. This is an album made to be enjoyed loud, so, suspend your beliefs for an hour, slip off your shoes, kick back and enjoy the ride.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Lankum - On A Monday Morning
• Antenna - Rolling By
• Adorned - Tears Of Pride
• No Allegiance - Take Control
• Ed Kuepper - Also Sprach The King Of Euro-Disco
• Fancy Weapon - I'm Not Done
• Kitchen's Floor - Northern Fort
• Bleak Squad - Ghost Of The Bad Humour Man
• Crow - You Can't Turn Away
• Big|Brave - Skin Ripper
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Planned Obsolescence
• Wire Worms - The Faithful Bird
• Interview - Zoh Amba - Part 1
• Beings - God Dances In Your Eyes
• Interview - Zoh Amba - Part 2
• Zoh Amba - Southern Soil
• Camping - Dicky Bird
• Super Hotel - Rory Calhouns
• Dirty Harry - Give It Back
• Magnolia Electric Co. - North Star (Live)
• Greg Charles & The Ex Catholics - The Boy With The Golden Heart
• Xiu Xiu - Breakdown And Then
• These Immortal Souls - So The Story Goes
• Voivod - Forgotten In Space (Live)
• Sleep - Have Spacesuit Will Travel (4:20 Flexi Edit)
• One Leg One Eye - Many Are My Names Besides

Nick's Pick of the Week is Big|Brave's In Grief Or In Hope, which was released on Friday June 12th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://bigbrave.bandcamp.com/album/in-grief-or-in-hope and my review can be read below.

Big|Brave: In Grief Or In Hope (Thrill Jockey)

Released June 12th 2026

Big|Brave’s tenth album may be their best yet. Never content to take the easy road, In Grief Or In Hope documents a band that is unafraid to risk it all for the sake of the song. A devastating and dense wall of sound that is (at times) both brutal and beautiful.

Formed in Montreal in 2012 by guitarists (and sole constant members) Robin Wattie —also on vocals— and Mathieu Ball, Big|Brave’s lineup has also previously featured Louis-Alexandre Beauregard and Tasy Hudson on drums. On In Grief Or In Hope, Australian bassist Liam Andrews recorded with the band for the first time, after serving as their live bassist for several years prior.

Across its eight tracks, In Grief Or In Hope crackles, buzzes and hums with an industrial energy that has been merely hinted at on previous records. What May Be The Kindest Way To Leave opens the album, with seven and a half minutes of grinding, droning guitar tones under Wattie’s pitch-shifted vocals. A Shape Of Shame begins in ambient territory, before building slowly into a cacophony of catharsis, whereas A Holding Tongue —with its ebbs and flows of feedback— maintains an (almost) peaceful vibe that is both soothing and disquieting. Skin Ripper (near the end of the record) is an absolute behemoth of noise that lives up to its name, whilst the final and title track is nothing short of apocalyptic.

With each new release, Big|Brave do their best to adhere to Forrest Gump’s analogy for life, “… like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” That said, the arrival of any new music from Big|Brave heralds far more excitement than what can be provided by a piece of confectionary. Their only constant is continual evolution and their only certainty is the drive to never, ever rehash old ideas. In Grief Or In Hope showcases the group at the absolute height of their powers —at least until their next record arrives.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tape/Off - Monday
• Electric Prawns 2 - City Streets
• The Fall - 30 Degrees
• Kristin Hersh - Dark Eyed Junco
• Thurston Moore - Thurston Moore
• Loren Connors & David Grubbs - Somewhere In The Wind (Excerpt)
• Mono - Statice
• Black Duck With Elena Setién - Land Of The Many Eyes
• You-On - End-Side
• Helen Franzmann & Nick Huggins - Slow Moving Waters
• William Barton & Veronique Serret - Petrichor
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Teflon Blues (Edit)
• The Valery Trails - Waiting
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - People Ain't No Good
• Mood Board - Maybe I'm Dead
• Dirty Harry - Give It Back
• Granddaughter - Teeth (Demo)
• Leaker - Wrong
• Raw Impact - Time's Up
• Antenna - Rolling By
• The Birthday Party - Funhouse (Live)
• Emma Ruth Rundle - Powerless
• Big|Brave - A Shape Of Shame
• Plainer - Port
• Zoh Amba - Weed Eating

Nick's Pick of the Week is Zoh Amba's Eye's Full, which was released on Friday June 5th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://zohamba.bandcamp.com/album/eyes-full and my review can be read below.

Zoh Amba: Eyes Full (Matador)

Released June 5th 2026

Zoh Amba has built a reputation as one of the most exciting saxophonists to emerge from New York’s avant-garde scene. Amba has worked with experimental luminaries like John Zorn and Shazad Ismaily and has frequently collaborated with (legendary) Australian drummer Jim White. Her latest release —which is being billed as her debut solo record— Eyes Full, is a stylistic about turn for Amba, an album of stripped back, confessional folk/country that is as astounding as it is surprising.

Eyes Full contains a cast of characters that includes —the aforementioned— White on drums as well as bassist Landon George, guitarists Kevin Hyland and Adam Brisbin, violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul and Colin Miller, also on drums. Recording took place in Asheville, North Carolina, which (potentially) accounts for the album’s rustic feel, with additional sessions, for the tracks Blueberry Thorn and Emahoy, taking place in Brooklyn, New York City. Released through the iconic indie label Matador, Eyes Full contains elements of bands like Big Thief and is poised to introduce Amba to an audience less acquainted with her experimental output.

Across thirteen songs, Amba bears her soul, describing the highs and lows of various personal friendships and relationships. OCD and Another Time are country inflected ballads, with a twist of Daniel Johnston, whereas Dead End Street, Thousand Years, Odd Jobs and PG Tips add a touch of slacker rock to keep things interesting and stomping in a little grit for good measure. Whether owing to the cast of characters involved, or Amba’s generally eclectic nature, there is more than enough variety across the album’s forty minute run time to keep the shortest attention spans entertained.

Amba is a unique voice among singer/songwriters, likely due to her background in avant-garde and experimental music. Eyes Full, as previously mentioned, is likely to raise her profile amongst an audience with indie sensibilities, without abandoning her roots. There is enough weirdness across the record to skew it into less traditional territory, without deviating too far or losing focus. Amba seems to be most comfortable when she is out of her comfort zone and one can only hope that this unexpectedly poignant offering is a sign of more surprises to come.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Clamm - Monday
• Waak Waak Djungi - White Cockatoo
• Neptune - Furies
• Shogurei - Boku
• Xiu Xiu - In Heaven
• Zkarv - INTER
• Blood Incantation - Dawn
• Wire Worms - True Thomas
• Big|Brave - The Ineptitude For Mutual Discernment
• Interview - Greg Anderson [Sunn0)))] Part 1
• Engine Kid - Jumper Cables
• Khanate - Wings From Spine
• Interview - Greg Anderson [Sunn0)))] Part 2
• Sunn0))) - Glory Black
• Roberts Dinters - Yes?
• Keanu Nelson - Wati Kutju
• Baby Cool - Sacred
• The Replacements - Unsatisfied
• Tara Clerkin Trio - Slow Island
• Mood Board - Footsteps
• Bloodletter - Doom Town
• Ancient Channels - Black Metals
• Relay Tapes - Avalon
• Zoh Amba - Dead End Street
• Camping - New Language
• Antenna - Rolling By

Nick's Pick of the Week is One Leg One Eye's Crone, which was released on Friday May 22nd. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://onelegoneeye.bandcamp.com/album/crone and my review can be read below.

One Leg One Eye: Crone (AD 93)

Released May 22nd 2026

One Leg One Eye is the (rather terrifying) side project of Ian Lynch from Lankum. Crone is their second LP, following 2022’s And Take The Black Worm With Me, and —as with their debut— also features co-conspirator George Brennan. 

Lankum’s music —for those who may be unfamiliar— dwells in the darker regions of the Irish folk canon, One Leg One Eye on the other hand, is completely consumed by darkness. Crone is occupied with the occult aspects of early Irish folklore: legends filled with ghosts, premonitions and an unquiet afterlife. This is midnight music, rich with atmosphere and with no shortage of dread.

Containing only four songs, two of which are in excess of ten minutes, Crone gasps and wheezes malevolently across its thirty-seven minutes, taking the listener on a journey that some will relish and few will want to repeat. Album opener, Many Are My Names Besides, begins with nothing but voice, before rapidly expanding into a cacophony of organ drones and electronic noise. Neither Fell Nor Flesh does much the same, commencing with a low, sustained note and then exploding in burst of wheezing static. What I Shall Follow, I Shall Hunt bears all the crepuscular charm of being stranded in the woods after dark, whilst Save What Birds Will Bear Away In Their Claws feels like an epic incantation for the end of days.

Crone is an exploratory piece of experimental music that is about as atmospheric as it comes. One Leg One Eye are without parallel when it comes to creating art that so willingly revels in the depths of darkness and the mists of the unknown. Some may find it beautiful, others will be horrified, but few will be unmoved.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Radio Birdman - Monday Morning Gunk
• Rebel Yell - Theme
• Ear - Will
• Penelope Trappes - Red Dove (Smote Rework)
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Planned Obsolescence
• Swans - Cathedrals Of Heaven (Live)
• Amby Downs - Terraformed Land
• Loose Fit - Diminishing Returns
• Scraps - Hot Sauce
• Sa Pa - Modular System
• Blue Communications - Ghosts Of The 17th Century
• Body Type - Mulberry
• Grace Cummings - My God
• Interview - Tara, Sunny & Patrick (Tara Clerkin Trio) Part 1
• Nobokazu Takemura - FallsLake
• Interview - Tara, Sunny & Patrick (Tara Clerkin Trio) Part 2
• Tara Clerkin Trio - Somewhere Good
• Tortoise - Oganesson
• Blue Diner. - Sea Anemone
• Mr. Finn - To Be In It!
• Babycool - Sacred
• Come - Shoot Me First
• Craning - Clings
• Tropical Fuck Storm (Feat. Amy Taylor) - This Perfect Day
• Mulga Bore Hard Rock - Young Men
• Ed Kuepper - Electrical Storm
• One Leg One Eye - What I Shall Follow, I Shall Hunt
• Browning Mummery - Pixelated Dub
• Sunn0))) - Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?

Nick's Pick of the Week is Marisa Anderson's The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, which was released on Friday May 22nd. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://marisaanderson.bandcamp.com/album/the-anthology-of-unamerican-folk-music and my review can be read below.

Marisa Anderson: The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music (Thrill Jockey)

Released May 22nd 2026

Marisa Anderson is one of the most interesting and distinctive guitarists currently working within the field of experimental music. A serial collaborator, Anderson has worked with innumerable artists throughout her career, including Big|Brave, William Tyler and Jim White, to name just a few. Her latest solo album, The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music is as unique as Marisa’s playing; with an unusual origin story to boot!

A collection of interpretations of traditional songs from countries and regions impacted by conflict with the USA, the roots of The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music lie in the archives of the Bob Dylan Center — and before that in the record collection of Harry Smith. Smith, who passed away in 1991 was many things, an artist, filmmaker and anthropologist, with gnostic beliefs and a bohemian lifestyle, he was also, most importantly, a record collector and preserver of traditional music. 

Each of the songs on The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music are instrumental, with Anderson performing all the instruments, with the exception of Gisela Rodríguez Fernández, who adds violin and viola to several tracks. Some of the songs are performed on acoustic guitar (Quodlibet, Rabāba, Taqsim For Guitar etc.) whilst others feature electric guitar, notably Hamb, Rop Koh and Pair Of Duduk. In addition to guitar, Anderson embellishes many tracks with flourishes of electric keyboards, synths and other atmospheric instruments.

On the surface, The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music is a beautiful, peaceful listen, until one reflects upon the criteria for each song’s selection. Every single one originates in a place affected —with some still being impacted to this very day— by the brutality of American interventionism. It’s a sobering fact, especially when one considers the USA’s recent actions in Venezuela and Somalia, the ongoing campaign against Iran and the its current blockade of Cuba. As wonderful as the songs are, The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music serves as a far too stark reminder that those in power can’t help but continue to make the same mistakes, again and again and again.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• Tegan & Sara - Monday, Monday, Monday
• Arab Strap - You You You
• Party Dozen - Special Unit
• Eartheater - Paradise Rains
• Crow - The Charley Horses
• Refedex - Backburner
• No Hoper - Headlights
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Planned Obsolescence
• You-On - Verbatim
• Hand To Earth - Ŋurru Wäŋa Part I
• Swans - Away (Live)
• Big|Brave - An Uttering Of Antipathy
• Interview - Doug McCombs (Tortoise) Part 1
• Plainer - Drive
• Chris Brokaw - Away From Me
• Interview - Doug McCombs (Tortoise) Part 2
• Tortoise - Night Gang
• Craning - Jawmax
• Valve - Silent Witness
• Ed Kuepper & Jim White - Demolition
• Camping - I Don't Wanna Fit In
• Dirty Harry - You
• Isa Gordon - Street Hassle
• Blue Communications - Intro
• Primitive Motion - Higher
• Marisa Anderson - Pair Of Duduk
• For Breakfast - Salt
• Tara Clerkin Trio - Lazy Daisy

The first, with Mabe Fratti, a Guatemala born, Mexico City based, cellist working within the realms of experimental music. This Friday sees the release of Almost Waking, Fratti's collaborative album with guitarist Bill Orcutt. Almost Waking is released by Tin Angel Records, you can find out more about it here; https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/track/almost-waking and you can discover (and purchase ) more of Mabe's music here; https://mabefratti1.bandcamp.com/ 

The second interview is with Daniel Tuite, the vocalist for No Hoper, a Naarm based noise-rock group. No Hoper will be playing their first shows in south-east Queensland over the coming weekend. Catch them at Season Three Space on Friday May 22nd with Gentle Ben and His Shimmering Hands, Refedex and Granddaughter, at a secret location barn show on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday May 23rd with Jack Dylan and The Villains and Guppy and at PFR Lounge on Sunday 24th May with Valve, Moth Trap and Attention Shoppers. Find out more about No Hoper (and purchase their music) here; https://nohopermusic.bandcamp.com/

Nick's Pick of the Week is Snailgun's Glass Walls, which was released on Friday April 17th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://undunnrecords.bandcamp.com/album/snailgun-glass-walls and my review can be read below.

Snailgun: Glass Walls (UnDunn Records)

Released April 17th 2026

For the third time in as many weeks, the pick of the week features an album that was actually released in April. This isn’t to say that May hasn’t delivered some incredible albums (Kneecap, Tashi Dorji & Efrim Manuel Menuck and SUSS, to name but a few) but more widely indicative of the fact that I am still getting through a massive backlog of some stellar releases from last month. Snailgun’s Glass Walls is one such record. Released by Naarm label Undunn Records, Glass Walls is an abrasive slab of solid Aussie noise-rock that channels the very best the genre can offer.

Snailgun are a three piece who hail from Naarm/Melbourne. The band is comprised of Adam Osth on guitars, vocals and piano, Daniel Little providing bass and vocals and Sam Maher behind the drums. Glass Walls is their debut album, following a 2024 EP titled Reset Power Eject, and their first release for Undunn Records — a label run by Max Ducker from fellow Naarm noise makers, No Hoper.

Glass Walls features eight tracks, a mix of short, sharp songs reminiscent of the metallic clang of Big Black, Straight Ahead, Midway I and Midway II, to longer more expansive numbers like Shadow Operator, It’s Called Fear and Screamy Cat. As fun as the short songs are, Snailgun really spread their wings and come into their own on the extended tracks, with Screamy Cat, in particular, proving that the band aren’t above locking into a groove and not afraid to get weird.

Modern noise rock can be a fickle beast, with so many bands being far too derivative of those that have come before — for example, there a million bands that sound like Shellac, but only one Shellac. Snailgun do a bang up job of paying respect to the past whilst taking care to carve out their own unique place within the genre’s future. Glass Walls is a killer debut from a band who—by all accounts and purposes— appear to be in it for the long haul.

Nick Stephan

• Songs played
• New Order - Blue Monday
• Big|Brave - The Ineptitude For Mutual Discernment
• Guttersnipe - Threads Of Radical Unaliveness
• New Age Doom (Feat. HR) - Amaseganalo Pt. 2
• J.WLSN & Liam Keenan - Teflon Blues (Edit)
• Lawrence English - Sodium Vapour Halo (Alone)
• Helen Franzmann & Nick Huggins - Slow Moving Waters
• Interview - Mabe Fratti Part 1
• Slokar Brass Ensemble - Musiche Veneziane Per Trombe E Tromboni - Sonata Pian E Forte A 8 (Sacrae Symphoniae)
• Interview - Mabe Fratti Part 2
• Mabe Fratti & Bill Orcutt - El Inicio Es Cuestión De Suerte
• Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty
• Camping - Down & Out
• En Kernaghan Band - Land Of The Green Sun
• Laurie Anderson (Feat. Sexbomb) - Junior Dad
• Ringlets - Hard Evidence
• Guppy - Thunder Under The Mud
• Valve - ... Where Your Subtleties Lie
• Gentle Ben & His Shimmering Hands - Tactical Empathy
• Refedex - Free Form Doubt
• No Hoper - Black Swan
• Snail Gun - Straight Ahead
• Ancient Channels - Black Metals
• Relay Tapes - Avalon
• Tortoise - Vexations

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