New Music: Our Day Will Come

           

Dead Can Dance's new single is "Our Day Will Come," is a hypnotic ode to solidarity between Irish and Palestinian people. It's got the tingly sweep of their old music, combined with a certain world-weary determination. Lisa Gerrard doesn't seem to be part of the record, and it's the first thing to come out under the Dead Can Dance name since "Mushin," Brendan Perry's one-off collaboration with filmmaker Graham Wood. Half of the proceeds from "Our Day Will Come" go to benefit MAP (Medical Aid For Palestinians)

New Music: So What

            

MUNA returns with "So What", a bold, emotionally charged new track taken from their forthcoming albumDancing On The Wall, due 8 May. A somber epic with a quietly euphoric undercurrent, "So What" is the definition of Muna: defiant, vulnerable, and made for release.  Of the track, the band says, "We're at the point in our career where we've been to a lot fancy parties in beautiful rooms with important people and we know the particular sadness of realizing it doesn’t make you feel better. We've learned the hard way that validation is hollow and we actually just want connection. This is a song about going to one of those parties and leaving worse off than when we got there.” Across the record, MUNA explores desire, intimacy, and connection against a backdrop of a world in flux, capturing the tension of how to keep living, loving, and reaching for one another in challenging times. The video was shot by Dante Capone

 

In Memoriam: Legendary Martial Artist And Actor "Chuck Norris" Dies At 86

Martial arts phenom and Hollywood action star Chuck Norris has died on Thursday at the age of 86, in what his family described as a "sudden passing."

A message poster by his family on Friday confirmed the deceased: "It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning," "While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace." 

Born Carlos Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, he grew up poor. At age 12, he moved with his family to Torrance, Calif., and joined the U.S. air force after high school, in 1958. It was during a deployment to Korea that he started training in martial arts, including judo and tang soo do.

"I went out for gymnastics and football at North Torrance High," he told The Associated Press in 1982. "I played some football, but I also spent a lot of time on the bench. I was never really athletic until I was in the service in Korea."

After he was honourably discharged in 1962, he worked as a file clerk for Northrop Aircraft and applied to be a police officer, but was put on a wait list. Meanwhile, he opened a martial arts studio, which expanded to a chain, with students including stars like Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Steve McQueen, whom he later credited with encouraging him to get into acting.

Before he would become a star in movies and on TV, Norris was wildly successful in competitive martial arts. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion. He also founded his own Korean-based US hard style of karate, known sometimes as chun kuk do, and the United Fighting Arts Federation, which has awarded more than 3,300 Chuck Norris System black belts worldwide.

Black Belt magazine ultimately credited Norris in its hall of fame with holding a 10th-degree black belt, the highest possible honour.

Norris made his film debut as an uncredited bodyguard in the 1968 movie The Wrecking Crew, which included a fight with Dean Martin. He had crossed paths with Bruce Lee in martial arts circles. Their friendship — sometimes as sparring partners — led to an iconic faceoff in the 1972 movie Return of the Dragon, in which Lee fights and kills Norris's character in Rome's Colosseum.

He went on to act in more than 20 movies, such as Missing in Action, The Delta Force and Sidekicks.

"I wanted to project a certain image on the screen of a hero. I had seen a lot of anti-hero movies in which the lead was neither good nor bad. There was no one to root for," Norris said in 1982.

In 1993, he took on his most famed role, as a crime-fighting lawman in TV's Walker, Texas Ranger. The show ran for nine seasons, and in 2010, then-governor Rick Perry awarded him the title of honorary Texas Ranger. The Texas Senate later named him an honorary Texan. 

Norris also made a surprise comedic appearance as a decisive judge in the final match of the 2004 movie, The only on occasion has he taken on acting roles in recent years, including 2012's The Expendables 2 and the 2024 sci-fi action movie Agent Recon. He's due to appear in Zombie Plane, an upcoming film starring Vanilla Ice.

Then it come the "Chuck Norris Facts", it was around the time of Dodgeball that his toughman image became the stuff of legend — literally. "Chuck Norris Facts" went viral online with such wildly hyperbolic statements as "Chuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun — and won" and "They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard."

Norris ultimately embraced the absurdity of the meme, putting together The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, which combined his favourites with supposedly true stories and the codes he aimed to live by. He would also write books on martial arts instruction, a memoir, political takes, Civil War-era historical fiction and more.

"To some who know little of my martial arts or film careers but perhaps grew up with Walker, Texas Ranger, it seems that I have become a somewhat mythical superhero icon," Norris wrote in the forward to the Fact Book. "I am flattered and humbled."

Norris is survived by five children: stunt performers Mike and Eric with his late ex-wife Dianne Holechek; twins Dakota and Danilee with his wife Gena Norris; and Dina, the result of an early 1960s "one-night stand" revealed in his autobiography.

Norris celebrated his birthday just over a week before his death, posting a sparring video on Instagram.

"I don't age. I level up," he wrote.

New Music: Blue Morpho

           

Former Radiohead's Ed O'Brien is back with "Blue Morpho". Now O’Brien is reframing that uncertainty as creative freedom. Writing the album meant confronting the weight of coming from what he calls a “place of extraordinary musicianship and extraordinary songwriting” — and choosing, consciously, to let it go. It’s a mindset that aligns with the album’s nature-driven themes, though the real arc here is internal. If Earth was about searching for footing, Blue Morpho finds O’Brien more willing to trust his instincts — and to follow them wherever they lead. That includes new tools. Among them: the Circle Guitar, a MIDI-controlled, self-strumming electric guitar he says he’s been “longing to find” — and one that may yet shape the sound of his next chapter. The visuals ared under direction by Kit Monteith

New Music: Where Are We Now

           

A Place To Bury Strangers are sharing "Where Are We Now"  the third single and video off the band upcoming rarities album "Rare And Deadly" out April 3 on Dedstrange. The video was made by APTBS frontman Oliver Ackermann: "I put together this video with footage from the Library of Congress' National Archives. At a time when I think we need to look at people more and see the value and wonder of life so we can be compassionate towards others."  About the song "Where Are We Now," is a reflective cut that drifts through memory and distance. The song turns inward, "looking back at friends you lost touch with," wondering where they ended up and “remembering when everything felt possible." Melancholic yet expansive, it captures time slipping by and paths diverging, offering a quietly emotional glimpse into the band's forthcoming rare tracks album Rare And Deadly.

New Music: Riptide

           

Death Cab for Cutie are back and has announced their eleventh studio album, I Built You A Tower, set for release on June 5, 2026, via ANTI- Records, the announcement has been preceded by the lead single "Riptides" accompanied by a Jason Lester-directed video, about the song, it explores the paralyzing challenge of navigating personal struggles amidst global tragedy. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Groundbreaking "Firestarter" Turns 30

Released on 18 March 1996 "Firestarter" was the groundbreaking song by British electronic dance music band the Prodigy as the first single from their third album, The Fat of the Land (1997). It was co-written and produced by Liam Howlett and featured vocals by Keith Flint. It also was the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks, and their first big international hit, topping the charts in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Norway. In the United States, it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video was directed by Walter Stern and filmed in the London Underground, in black-and-white. Melody Maker ranked the song number two in their list of "Singles of the Year" in 1996. 

The songwriting credits included Kim Deal of the Breeders, as the looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from the Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album Last Splash. The drums are sampled from a remix of the song "Devotion" of the group Ten City. The "hey" sample is from the 1984 song "Close (to the Edit)" by Art of Noise. Then-members Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley also receive songwriting credits. 

The accompanying black-and-white music video for "Firestarter" was directed by English director Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych. The video was subsequently banned by the BBC after it was shown on Top of the Pops and supposedly terrorised children.

Critics praised the track because musically this cut found the boys slamming through an exhilarating, breakbeat techno theme for snowboarding freestylers. Half-pipe hardcore — you know the score. Some named it Single of the Week and a the powerful return for the kings of live techno, and that  even managed to make the Chemical Brothers sound soft.

Over the last 30 years "Firestarter" has been used in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reveal trailer and the films Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), The Condemned (2007), Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021), and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), as well as the cold opening of The Beauty (2026). 

 

Firestarter Track List:  

 

UK Cassette Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Molotov Bitch

US Maxi.CD Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Firestarter (Empirion Mix)
• Firestarter (Instrumental)
• Molotov Bitch

European CD Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Firestarter (Empirion Mix)

UK And US 12-inch Single

• Firestarter
• Firestarter (Instrumental)
• Firestarter (Emprion Mix)
• Molotov Bitch 

US CD Single And Cassette Single

• Firestarter (Edit)

Rocktrospectiva: The Lovely And Well-Crafted "Lovelife" Turns 30

Originally released on 18 March 1996 "Lovelife" was the third and final studio album by English rock band Lush. It was released on 18 March 1996 by 4AD. On Lovelife, the band moved away from their earlier dream pop and shoegazing style and embraced a more Britpop-oriented sound. 

The album was produced by Pete Bartlett and the band at Protocol Studios in London, and engineered by Giles Hall. The album spawned three singles: "Single Girl", "Ladykillers", and "500 (Shake Baby Shake)", all of which achieved moderate success on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the top 30 positions. 

Lush first two albums were firmly entrenched in shoegaze style sound-a-like as Slowdive and Sleeper, but this time, the band decided to put a stake on britpop sound and produced three lovely singles from the Britpop era. The band marked a shift in sound, from shimmering introspection to confidently upbeat indie and sparkling, hook-laden pop. But while the melodies became catchier the four-piece didn’t compromise their integrity, and this album represents no cynical pursuit for money by joined the Britpop bandwagon. Compared to albums of the time from the likes of Cast, Menswear and Shed Seven, all of which have dated terribly, Lovelife on the other hand standed up so well to contemporary scrutiny. 

The scene idol Jarvis Cocker descended from his lofty perch above the wannabe pack to duet with singer Miki Berenyi on "Ciao!", "Papasan" was a stripped-bare affair, the interwoven voices of Berenyi and Emma Anderson truly raising the hairs, and Tralala is the atmospheric opposite of its onomatopoeically jolly title, a downbeat delight. "Heavenly Nobodies" was about her and a friend's star-struck encounter with Hole frontwoman Courtney Love. She also added that the song was not intended as a dig towards her, and that the riff was inspired by the Monkees and the Kinks.

"Single Girl" proved to be one of the band's largest hits, though the band's discomfort with the more commercial sound of the song almost led to its shelving. Berenyi recalled, "Pete [Bartlett] knew 'Single Girl' was a single right off the bat but says: 'You and Emma seemed almost embarrassed by the idea of commercial success and Emma kept trying to dismiss it as a B-side'. 

"Ladykillers" and "500 (Shake Baby Shake)" were the hits that evoked memories of teenage days where all possibilities seemed achievable, where one's future wasn’t written by forefathers or schooling limitations. Unfortunately, it was a true tragedy that the band's upward trajectory was so dramatically halted in October 1996, when drummer Chris Acland committed suicide. 

Lovelife was a bittersweet collection of songs crafted so well in the first place that they were effectively withstood the ravages of time. And those singles, with their sing-or-shout-along choruses, rightfully remain indie-club classics to this day. 

 

Lovelife Track List: 

 

1. Ladykillers

2. Heavenly Nobodies

3. 500 (Shake Baby Shake)

4. I've Been Here Before

5. Papasan

6. Single Girl

7. Ciao!

8. Tralala

9. Last Night

10. Runaway

11. The Childcatcher

12. Olympia

New Music: Time Is A Bomb

           

Taken from Romanticize The Dive, the band's forthcoming album, today they're back with another preview called "Time Is A Bomb." Say what you want about the wellness boom, I think it’s a natural response to the unrelenting awareness we have of our mortality," Emily Haines says, continuing: The powerless feeling of wanting to hold on and make time stop while simultaneously doing everything you can to max out your fleeting vitality — this song expresses that inner tension. I love my life and I’m truly amazed that I made it to my happily ever after, but I don't want to spend the time I have left obsessing over personal consequences, being boring and hiding from fun. I don’t expect to be jumping off speaker stacks or crowd surfing like I used to, but it’s still too soon to say never. 

Albums: Wormslayer

Kula Shaker are back and releases their eighth studio album "Wormslayer", the 11 track album featured the singles "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Good Money", "Lucky Number" and "Wormslayer". 

Emerging in the mid 90's in the days of rising Britpop sound, but the band decided to give their touch and mix it with classic 60’s psychedelia and various stylings of Indian music. On their new album, that is "Wormslayer," the band plays with elements that remarks what Kula Shaker's music is: both energetic and stylistically broad, indeed, there's something very British about their sound that fuses Anglo and Indo styles, a style that continues a trend with certain artists such as Cornershop in the 1990s.

Last year, the band shared a handful of new songs that showed they were still spreading their creative wings. The group delved into their funky side with "Good Money", incorporating R&B rhythms and girl group backing vocals for a song that sounds like a lost 70's club banger. They explored the darker edges of britpop and haunting alternative sounds on "Charge of the Light Brigade", played around with certain Bob Dylan when he was electric type melodies on the organ-led sing-along "Broke as Folk".

Apparently and despite the band have risen in the 90’s, their musical heart seems firmly in the 60’s, as the throwback elements of these tracks never feel like an homage. A "folk" song to them isn’t just a man and an acoustic guitar – it's a fully orchestrated, lush production like the dreamy "Little Darling". The pop tune "Shaunie" with uplifting guitar chords, other songs can be just as twisty and poetic as the music, as they spill out lines like "Your crooked smile dances on a serpent for your lover's eyes" on "Be Merciful".

Another element clearly evident is their Beatles (Sgt. Peppers era) journey sound on the excentric "Wormslayer", a song that evolute from heavy into a head-banging denouement. You can also hear Dylan elementes it in the simple melody and thoughtful delivery of "Day for Night", or in the mix of plaintive vocals and group harmonies on the philosophical closer "The Dust Beneath Our Feet". And really, if the music of the 60's is your sound, this album was created for you.

 

Wormslayer Track List:  

 

1. Lucky Number

2. Good Money 

3. Charge Of The Light Brigade

4. Little Darling

5. Broke As Folk

6. Be Merciful

7. Shaunie

8. The Winged Boy

9. Day For Night

10. Wormslayer

11. Dust Beneath Our Feet