New Music: Ever The Optimist

           

The legendary Scotish band Trashcan Sinatras has just releaed the official music video for "Ever the Optimist". Filmed at the Harbour Arts Center in Irvine, Scotland on June 18th, 2026. The new Trashcan Sinatras album “Ever the Optimist” is also out now. Since then, they’ve survived label turnover, bankruptcy, losing their studio and members now living on both sides of the Atlantic, releasing five more albums, the last of which was 2016’s wild Pendulum.

New Music: Bye Bye Bailando

           

Flans continues celebrating four decades in music industry with the release of their new and fourth single "Bye Bye Bailando," taken from their latest album, "Flans 40 Sin Control." The new track follows the success of the singles "Si Mañana Es Nunca," "Trágico Mágico," and "Por Amarte Así," solidifying a phase in which the singers focus on relatable, everyday stories, accompanied by contemporary sounds and a renewed vocal style that showcases the adaptability and harmony between Ilse and Mimi. Rather than dwelling on the past, the now duo says this anniversary is an opportunity to thank their fans for their support over the past four decades and, at the same time, continue captivating new generations. Video directed by Selma Cervantes. 

New Music: All Falls To Me

           

Jesus Jones shares their new single "All Falls To Me" is the second track to be taken from the upcoming band's new album "Twilight" to be released in September 2026, the visuals are taken from the band's travels, on the world tour they did in 2023/2024. The tune start with a Flamenco intro and the goes into transition to a dancy sound pretty much as Jesus Jones trademark, in the video you can see Mike diving into the idea of Solipsism the tought that the onlu thing which truly exists is oneself. 

New Music: Now We Can't Be Friends

          

Bloc Party has premiered a new song called "Now We Can't Be Friends," a track off the band's upcoming album, Anatomy of a Brief Romance. The single marks the third song to be released off Anatomy of a Brief Romance, following "Coming on Strong" and "Love Bomb." the new album it's due out September 11.

Retro: Vanilla Ice En Concierto

Hoy hace 35 años tuvo lugar el llamado "Concierto Del Año" como los medios de aquel entonces se encargaron de llamar al show que Vanilla Ice conocido también como el rapero blanco ó el "Elvis del rap, vino a dar a Guatemala. 

 

Y si efectivamente era todo un suceso por la talla del artista que se trataba y porque era algo raro y bueno todavía lo sigue siendo, que un artista en su prime venga a ofrecer shows por estos lares, generalmente lo hacen cuando ya les paso el momento, y si no, a manera de decir que "peor es nada" la infame moda de traer grupos o artistas tributos para que el público se conforme al menos con eso. 

 

Hubo una vez una división entre el rap comercial y el de las calles, y precisamente Vanilla Ice pertenecía al primera que sin necesidad de entrar en polémicas y enfrentamientos con la industria musical, lograron tener éxito, la llamada época dorada del rap comercial con nombres de la talla de M.C. Hammer, Kid 'n' Play, Tone Loc y por el Iceman que ayudaron a popularizar el género entre finales de los 80s e inicios de los 90s.

 

Por aquel 1991, se barajeo la posibilidad de traer a M.C. Hammer y hasta confirmaron que el malogrado acto C+C Music Factory vendría a ofrecer un show, al final todo se quedo en la nada, pero curiosamente se confirmo la llegada de Vanilla Ice y desde ese momento, se convirtió en el evento del año. Había jingle que decía así: "Coca Cola te trae una noticia que bien te cae es Vanilla Ice es Concierto compra tus entradas en Discos & Cosas a Q. 40.00 y Q. 65.00"  toda una ganga comparando los precios de los shows de hoy en día. 

 

El concierto tuvo lugar en el Teodoro Palacios Flores, pusieron de teloneros a un grupo llamado Stress que la verdad nada que ver con el estilo de Vanilla Ice, pero era lo que había, al final hizo su presencia frente a una 8,000 personas aproximadamente durante unos 90 minutos interpretando los temas de su disco "To The Extreme", aunque por momentos me recordó mucho al "Extremely Live" álbum en directo que por ese entonces también se estaba promocionando. 

 

El show tuvo sentimiento encontrados para muchos fue increíble y para otros no tanto y entonces comenzaron a correr el mensaje que ese no había sido el verdadero Vanilla Ice sino un impostor, ya que no se parecía físicamente, además que no se sabia los pases de baile como en los videos, casi no hubieron bailarines, el sonido estuvo malo (aunque eso siempre ha pasado en los conciertos que se han dado por aquí), al final vino e hizo lo suyo y su show quedo marcado en los anales de eventos musicales destacados en la historia nacional y que hoy 35 años después recordamos como uno de los momentos más icónicos de aquel 1991 y de la década de los 90s. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Finest And Brilliant "Life's Rich Pageant" Turns 40

 

Released on 28 July 1986 "Life's Rich Pageant" was the 4th., studio album by the US alternative rock band R.E.M., produced by Don Gehman and recorded at John Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Studio in Belmont, Indiana. This was the only album the band recorded with Gehman, who moved them from the more obscure and dense sound of their earlier albums to an accessible, hard rock-influenced quality. The album spawned two singles "Fall On Me" & "Superman."

During the first half of 1986, the band took a break from touring to recover energy. They wanted to make a change from the sound of their previous album, with Mills saying "We wanted to get away from the sort of murky feelings and sounds that we got out of Joe Boyd, producer on Fables of the Reconstruction] in London". They wanted a "really hard-driving record, but we also like to throw in a lot of things: pianos and organs and accordions and banjos and what-not" and considered working with Gehman as they liked the acoustic sound of his work with John Mellencamp.  They initially met for a number of demo sessions at John Keane's Studio in Athens, Georgia, in January & March 1986 (These recordings would later be released as the "Athens Demos" on the 25th-anniversary re-release of the album). After being initially skeptical, they embraced the new recording process with Gehman 

Recorded at Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Recording Studio in Belmont, Indiana, in April and May 1986. The recording studio was larger and had newer technology than they were used to, and they enjoyed the area, attending many concerts in nearby Bloomington while there. The band were also happy with the production of the record and the extra clarity of the vocals 

The album's title was inspired by a line spoken by Inspector Clouseau in the 1964 film "A Shot in the Dark." The cover art features an image of drummer Bill Berry and a bison below, alluding to the album's environmental theme and referencing Buffalo Bill. By then, the band's fame was already transcending the boundaries of college rock, so a new recording was needed to propel them into a more mainstream sound, and indeed, the gamble paid off, as the production allowed the album to reach gold status, peaking at No. 21 and becoming, at the time, the band's best-selling and most successful album. 

Two singles were released from the album: the powerful and ecologically charged "Fall On Me," a favorite of Stipe and myself, and "Superman," sung by Mike Mills. But other tracks also appeared, which curiously became unofficial singles: the equally powerful and socially and ecologically charged "Cuyahoga," about the highly polluted river that flows into Lake Erie, referencing the times the river caught fire due to the high levels of pollution; and "Flowers of Guatemala," which, it is said, alluded to the genocide in that country during the armed conflict. 

Praised by many critics who highlighted the band as brilliant and unconventional with a promising future. They emphasized the dark folk sound of its predecessor, "Fables of Reconstruction," but noted its much more dynamic and upbeat sound. While some cited a lack of progress in the band's sonic evolution, this was of little consequence, as the band was at the zenith of its career and everything from then on would run smoothly, thanks to the outstanding work of Don Gehman, who definitively made the band sound much more open and unmasked. 

 

Life's Rich Pageant Track List:  

 

1. Begin The Begin

2. These Days

3. Fall On Me

4. Cuyahoga

5. Hyena

6. Underneath The Bunker

7. The Flowers Of Guatemala

8. I Believe

9. What If We Give It Away?

10. Just A Touch

11. Swan Swan H

12. Superman 

New Music: Pin Up Boys

           

The Manchester, England four-piece Westside Cowboy are releasing their debut album, It Goes On, on August 2. Now they have shared its second single, "Pin Up Boys," The band collectively had this to say about the song in a press release: Pin Up Boys was written a year and a half ago using an acoustic guitar, a drum machine sample pad and some screwdrivers as drumsticks. It is by far the longest serving song on the album and the one that we have played the most live, which was a blessing and a curse when we came to record. After realising this song was set in its ways, we thought the recording should be a somewhat faithful version of the live performance. We hope you get something out of it. Jack Shep directed the song’s video and had this to say about it:  Westside Cowboy's performance style is so energetic and distinct. They clearly have a mountainous future ahead of them, and it was awesome to work with young people at the precipice of starting something really special together. In the video we wanted to capture the band's dynamism, through a spotlight. We follow this fixed, malevolent spotlight chasing our hero (played by the band's mate, Will) as he tries to escape its gaze. As he runs, he manages to escape, splitting into a new spotlight with a new version of the band. The whole thing begins to buckle and shatter.”

New Music: Cigarette Curls

          

Beth Orton shares "Cigarette Curls" a wonderful, time stood still and beautifully put together not a sound out of place. Beth Orton reflects here on a past relationship that ended abruptly, leaving the singer feeling lost and alone. The metaphor of 'cigarette curls' symbolizes memories that linger like smoke, while the repetition of being 'afraid' highlights the fear and regret of not following one', the single is taken from her forthcoming album "The Ground Above" video directed by Joseph Lynn & Imogen Knight

New Music: My Lover

           

The Afghan Whigs shares their new single "My Lover" a song that neatly distills the emotional ambivalence of a deceitful relationship sustained by lust but doomed to fail, it's the 3rd., single taken from the band's forthcoming new album "Soft Control" due out next 8th., August.

New Music: Day In The Sun

           

Teenage Fanclub have announced their new album, Do Not Dare To Dream, out 9th October, and shared its lead single, Day In The Sun, with a video by Donald Milne filmed at Black Bay Studio on Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides. The album is the band's thirteenth and follows the melancholic warmth of 2023’s Nothing Lasts Forever, whose lingering understated vibe makes Day In The Sun all the brighter. Those lush multi-part harmonies, 60s jangle, rich acoustic textures, and organ are still there in abundance alongside some really nice flourishes — that really subtle vox wah in the back and that harp opening, all accentuate that Californian psych glow, presenting a playful sparkling optimism that leans towards The Byrds.