New Music: Sliced By A Fingernail

           

Dry Cleaning have released a new single, "Sliced By a Fingernail." The song comes with an unsettling visualizer by Bullyache, where a dancer takes frontperson Florence Shaw's lyrics quite literally—"Do a headspin / When it's a grubby round ball, grubby round ball"—by... spinning their head in circles on top of a basement washing machine?. The track was inspired by illustrator Jooyoung Kim's Welcome to My Life, a humorous picture book about a dog with a long body. "A lot of attention makes them feel sliced up. So they fantasize about being hidden inside a huge flower bud and about being anonymous in a crowd at night,"nt. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Vigorous And Innovatie "Discovery" Turns 25

Released on 12 March 2001 "Discovery" was the 2nd., studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It marked a shift from the Chicago house style of their first album, Homework, to a house style more heavily inspired by disco, post-disco, garage house, and R&B. Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk described Discovery as an exploration of song structures, musical forms and childhood nostalgia, compared to the "raw" electronic music of Homework.

Discovery was recorded at Bangalter's home in Paris between 1998 and 2000. It features extensive sampling; some samples are from older records, while others were created by Daft Punk. The electronic musicians Romanthony, Todd Edwards, and DJ Sneak collaborated on some tracks. For the music videos, Daft Punk developed a concept involving the merging of science fiction with the entertainment industry. Inspired by their childhood love for Japanese anime, the duo collaborated with Leiji Matsumoto to produce Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, an anime film with Discovery as the soundtrack. The album produced six singles: "One More Time" was the most successful and became a club hit, and also "Aerodynamic", "Digital Love", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", "Face To Face", & "Something About Us".

Daft Punk recorded Discovery in their studio, Daft House, in Bangalter's home in Paris. Work started in 1998 and lasted two years. Bangalter and Homem-Christo made music together and separately, in a similar process to Homework. Rather than rely on the drum machines typical for house music, the Roland TR-808 and the TR-909, Daft Punk used an Oberheim DMX, a LinnDrum and a Sequential Circuits Drumtraks. They used samplers including the Akai MPC and E-mu SP-1200, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, vocoders including a Roland SVC-350 and a DigiTech Vocalist, and various phaser effects. They used the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune on vocals "in a way it wasn't designed to work". Bangalter said: "We're interested in making things sound like something other than what they are. There are guitars that sound like synthesizers, and there are synthesizers that sound like guitars."

Described as a concept album, "Discovery" relates strongly to Daft Punk's childhood memories, incorporating their love of cinema and character. Bangalter said it deals with the duo's experiences growing up in the decade between 1975 and 1985, rather than it just being a tribute to the music of that period. The record was designed to reflect a playful, honest and open-minded attitude toward listening to music. Bangalter compared it to the state of childhood when one does not judge or analyse music. Bangalter noted the stylistic approach was in contrast to that of their previous effort. "Homework [...] was a way to say to the rock kids, like, 'Electronic music is cool'. Discovery was the opposite, of saying to the electronic kids, 'Rock is cool, you know? You can like that.'" He elaborated that Homework had been "a rough and raw thing" focused on sound production and texture; in contrast, the goal of Discovery was to explore song structures and new musical forms, which was inspired by Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker".

The opening track, "One More Time", featured heavily Auto-Tuned and compressed vocals from Romanthony. "Aerodynamic" had a funk groove, an electric guitar solo, and ends with a separate "spacier" electronic segment. The arpeggiated solo was compared to Yngwie Malmsteen, "Digital Love" contains a solo performed on Wurlitzer piano, vintage synthesisers and sequencers; it incorporates elements of pop, new wave, jazz, funk and disco. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was an electro song. It is followed by "Crescendolls", an instrumental. "Nightvision" was an ambient track. "Superheroes" leaned toward the "acid minimalism" of Homework. It begins with a drum roll and includes arpeggios that are said to resemble those in the soundtrack to the 1980 film Flash Gordon. "High Life" was built over a "gibberish" vocal sample and contains an organ-like section."Something About Us" was a downtempo song, with digitally processed vocals and lounge rhythms.

"Voyager" had guitar riffs, harp-like 80s synths, and a funky bassline. "Veridis Quo" was a "faux-orchestral" synthesiser baroque song; according to Angus Harrison, its title is a pun on the words "very disco". "Short Circuit" was an electro-R&B song with breakbeats and programmed drum patterns. "Face to Face" was a dance-pop song featuring vocals from Todd Edwards and was more pop-oriented than the other tracks on Discovery. "Too Long", the final track, was a ten-minute-long electro-R&B song.

Discovery used a number of samples. The liner notes credit samples from "I Love You More" by George Duke on "Digital Love", "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong on "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", "Can You Imagine" by The Imperials on "Crescendolls", and "Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed" by Barry Manilow on "Superheroes". "One More Time" contains a sample of the 1979 disco song "More Spell on You" by Eddie Johns. Daft Punk pay royalties to the publishing company that owns the rights, but Johns has never been located; as of 2021, he was owed an estimated "six-to-seven-figure sum" based on streams. Edwards recalled that he and Daft Punk curated 70 samples each to incorporate into "Face to Face".

The ideas for music videos formed during the early Discovery recording sessions. The album was originally intended to be accompanied by "a live-action film with each song being a part of the film", according to Todd Edwards. Daft Punk decided instead to concentrate on an anime production. Their concept involved the merging of science fiction with entertainment industry culture. The duo recalled watching Japanese anime as children, including favourites such as Captain Harlock, Grendizer, and Candy Candy. Daft Punk brought the album and the completed story to Tokyo in the hope of creating the film with their childhood hero, Leiji Matsumoto, who had created Captain Harlock. After Matsumoto joined the team as visual supervisor, Shinji Shimizu had been contacted to produce the animation and Kazuhisa Takenouchi to direct the film. With the translation coordination of Tamiyuki "Spike" Sugiyama, production began in October 2000 and ended in April 2003. The result of the collaboration was an anime film, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which features the entirety of Discovery as the soundtrack. 

Discovery has continued to accumulate praise since, being widely regarded as among the greatest albums of all time, and is credited for its influence on electronic and pop production over subsequent decades.

 

Discovery Track List: 

 

1. One More Time

2. Aerodynamic

3. Digital Love

4. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

5. Crescendolls

6. Nightvision

7. Superheroes

8. High Life

9. Something About Us

10. Voyager

11. Veridis Quo

12. Short Circuit

13. Face To Face

14. Too Long

The Documentary/News: A New Wham! In China Documentary On The Way

Filmmaker Mike Christie has confirmed that he has directed a new feature length documentary about Wham!’s visit to China in 1985.

"Wham! 10 Days In China" is a 90-minute documentary that pieces together "the untold story" using newly restored footage alongside new and extensive, personal interviews from Andrew Ridgeley, members of the touring party, as well as some of the fans who made up the Chinese audiences whose experiences.

On his Instagram page, Christie says "It's been a long haul to make, but a fascinating, very entertaining, and surprising film!"

On their famous 10-day visit to China in '85, Wham! played two concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou (on 7th and 10th of April). The trip was documented by Palme D'Or winning film director Lindsay Anderson – best known for If (1968) and O Lucky Man! (1973) – but his 77 minute cut, called If You Were There, was rejected by the band. Anderson was let go and the film was re-edited and released on VHS and laserdisc as Wham! In China: Foreign Skies. The original If You Were There got its first (and probably last) public screening at London’s BFI (British Film Theatre) in 2024 as part of its O Dreamland! Lindsay Anderson’s Dark British Cinema season.

Director Mike Christie has a history of music documentaries. He made 2018’s Suede: The Insatiable Ones film, New Order: Decades (also 2018) and last year’s Nick Cave: Veiled World. Wham! 10 Days In China follows Chris Smith’s highly enjoyable Wham! documentary from 2023, which also featured a high profile participation from Andrew Ridgeley.

New Music: Automatic

           

Jessie Ware shares new single, the smooth "Automatic" taken from the artist forthcoming new album "Superbloom". This the third single taken from Jessie Ware’s hotly anticipated sixth studio album, Featuring the dulcet tones of Euphoria actor Colman Domingo, ‘Automatic’ was co-written with Kamille, Karma Kid and Baz and leans into the soulful '70s disco sound Ware has made her own in recent years. Explaning how the collaboration with Domingo came about, Ware says, “‘Automatic’ was the first song where I really felt like I was bringing the dance and soul world together for this album. I wrote it with Kamille, Karma Kid and Baz. Karma had this amazing sample and groove, and it all clicked instantly. Kamille and I couldn't stop writing; it just flowed really naturally. That's probably what I love most about it, it feels effortless and like it can exist in any setting. It's a celebration of romance and connection. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Guitar-Focused And Darker "Regeneration" Turns 25

Released on 12 March 2001 "Regeneration" was the seventh studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. Three singles were released from the album: "Love What You Do", "Bad Ambassador" and "Perfect Lovesong", the latter failing to make the top 40.

Produced by Nigel Godrich, known for his work with Radiohead, this album was distinctly different from frontman Neil Hannon's other work and was darker in tone than what the Divine Comedy's listeners had come to expect. It eschewed the orchestral-driven chamber pop the band was known for in favor of a more stripped down, guitar-focused style, slightly reminiscent of the band's debut album Fanfare for the Comic Muse. It is a more group-concentrated effort, hence the more organic sound.

For the seventh studio album Regeneration, Hannon made the decision to write a number of acoustic guitar demos and present them to his collaborators, instead of composing the entire song himself. Sitting in his garden while his house was refurnished, the crooner found inspiration in recent records that presented a combination of alternative rock and spacey ambience – Radiohead’s OK Computer, Beck’s Mutations, Travis’ The Man Who. Hannon wanted to play with the big boys and the angsty, political ‘acid pop’ of the era fit his desire to reinvent himself. It also allowed for him to abandon his usual tone of cheesy irony, which coated his previous records and probably rendered them a little harmless compared to the biting social critique in the line of Pulp or Blur.

Provided with an actual budget by his new major label, Hannon hired Nigel Godrich, whose involvement in the aforementioned ‘acid pop’ albums guaranteed attention and a new level of acoustic experimentation. It also meant that the majority of the recording sessions would be spent without Hannon, with Godrich concentrating on the large, shuffling cast of musicians that made up the band’s executive force ever since 1993's Liberation. As a consequence, there's less melodrama to be found on Regeneration. Instead, the individual musicians provide their own melodic interpretations of Hannon's skeletal ideas, coming up with an array of beautiful ideas and melodies. This was best observed in "Perfect Lovesong", whose additional harmonies directly reference Hannon's lyrical homage to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, or the impressive lead single "Love What You Do", which reached the heights of Radiohead's "No Surprises" for instance.

Regeneration was clearly The Divine Comedy's attempt at a definitive rock statement, and many of the songs pay tribute to the time they were made in. "Bad Ambassador" featured a guitar lead that sounds unlikely similar to that of Jonny Greenwood, and both "Dumb it Down" and "Lost Property" were incredibly close to Thom Yorke's composition style. Ironically, Hannon's vocal harmonies and overall songwriting aesthetic weren't all that different from his previous works – "Mastermind" or  "Timestretched" could as well have been written during the era of Promenade or Casanova. And that's precisely what made Regeneration such a fascinating – and unique – record. Godrich, the band, and Hannon form a sort of aesthetic trinity, which bridged the aesthetics of Brian Eno's ambient stylization, Radiohead’s sound experimentation, and Scott Walker's early dandy classicism.

The album's closer "The Beauty Regime" was constructed precisely around this creative tension. Starting out with bare drums, guitar and Hannon’s voice, the song instrument by instrument incorporate other instruments like piano and strings, drifts off into other melodies, sees Hannon's voice rise as he intones. The instruments rise and build harmonies around each other as Hannon denounces the narratives of self-help books and beauty magazines and finally subside, to leave only Hannon and roughly 30 seconds of ambient field recording noises, somehow organically reconnecting with the beginning of the album’s first track.

Regeneration was so impressively composed and stylized that it’s hard to envelop in words. The sonic impact of studio trickery – such as the ping-pong ball at the end of the pretty rough for Hannon standards, this sophisticated aesthetic that became Regeneration's big hurdle. 

 

Regeneration Track List:  

 

1. Timestretched

2. Bad Ambassador

3. Perfect Lovesong

4. Note To Self

5. Lost Property

6. Eye Of The Needle

7. Love What You Do

8. Dumb It Down

9. Mastermind

10. Regeneration

11. The Beauty Regime&

News: Erasure/Blancmange Project Doublespeak To Release Debut Album

Doublespeak – a new collaboration between Erasure's Vince Clarke, Blancmange's Neil Arthur and electronic producer-writer Benge – will release their self-titled debut album in May.

Arthur and Clarke first worked together back in the '80s, when the Blancmange man contributed an unused song to Clarke's short-lived project The Assembly. In 2017, Arthur approached Clarke with the idea for Doublespeak, pitching a collection of covers of artists including Young Marble Giants, ABBA, The Carpenters and David Essex using analogue electronics. Bengle – producer of the last six Blancmange albums and Fader – got on board, completing the three-piece.

"I knew so little about some of these songs that they were like demos to me," says Clarke. "They felt like brilliant new songs that you want to get your hands on. I’ve had people do cover versions of my songs and honestly there’s no better tribute. So that’s what we wanted to do here."

"What’s really stood out for us on this journey is how good these songs are," adds Arthur. "It's from doing your own version that you realise what incredible pieces of work they are."

Doublespeak is out 29 May 2026

 

Doublespeak Track List:  

 

1. Back To Nature (originally by Fad Gadget)

2. Brand – New – Life (Young Marble Giants)

3. The Visitors (ABBA)

4. I Can’t Escape Myself (The Sound)

5. Goodbye To Love (The Carpenters)

6. Rock On (David Essex)

7. Smoke And Mirrors (The Magnetic Fields)

8. Day Breaks, Night Heals (Thomas Leer and Robert Rental)

9. Gentle On My Mind (John Hartford)

10. Richard! (Ed Dowie)

11. End Credits (Laptop)

Albums: Strange Life

 

The first full-length release from Australian indie rock trio Howling Bells since 2014's Heartstrings was produced by Ben Hillier, and a welcome return for an underrated band such as this.

"Strange Life" marks a triumphant return for Howling Bells, some 12 years after their last album. And amid distorted, squalling guitars, thunderous riffs and swooning harmonies, the Australian indie-rock trio contemplate past regrets and their lives as working musicians. Full of sweeping, psychedelic melodrama and dark romance, the album’s quieter moments also deliver an abrasive update to the ‘60s girl group sound.

The band, who found success in the UK in 2004, reconnected first via a tour to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their debut release before quickly starting work on new material. Solo projects and parenthood during a decade of seismic global political and societal changes have left vocalist-guitarist Juanita Stein, her brother, guitarist Joel Stein, and drummer Glenn Moule older and wiser but still possessing the fire and spirit of their early years. 

The album's title references not just that changed world but celebrates what they call the power and alchemic magic between the trio and a “constant drive to want to take it further. That theme of being lost in the dream of making it as a musician is explored in the opening track and lead single "Unbroken", while the defiant, grungy "Heavy Lifting" acknowledges years of tireless hard work, paying your dues and the resilience and confidence you gain. The explosive anti-war song "Sacred Land" is considered the album's most political moment, confronting Australia's dark past and the tragic plight of its indigenous people. There are some dreamier moments such as "Angel",  "Looking Glass" and "Dreamer" are equally effective too, while the shimmering and brilliant "Chimera" is particularly beautiful and your host personal favourite.

There is the bittersweet '90s pop song "Melbourne", reminiscent of The Sundays that marks the album's key moment. It finds Juanita returning to Australia on a solo tour, missing the smell of Eucalyptus trees, but discovering the city she knew has changed now that everyone's moved away. It was here she took a call to say her father's health had deteriorated. Weighed down both with grief and an unused suitcase full of tour merch, she attempts to book an emergency flight back to London, uncertain whether she will ever return. The penultimate track, "Sweet Relief", represent the album's weakest moment, a plodding glam rock number.

 

Strange Life Track List:  

 

1. Unbroken

2. Heavy Lifting

3. Angel

4. Looking Glass

5. Sacred Land

6. Halfway Home

7. Melbourne

8. Dreamer

9. Chimera

10. Sweet Relief

11. Light Touch

New Music: For You

           

The new single from the French artist Requin Chagrin "For You" is arriving now, taken from the bands forthcoming album "Décollage" available here https://requinchagrin.lnk.to/Decollage , the video has been directed by Simon Noizat.

New Music: Island Of One

           

Miki Berenyi Trio's new song "Island Of One" is trippy and hypnotic, and it reminds more of Stereolab than Lush. Along with the studio recording, they've shared a video where they play a longer version of the track live in studio. Benreyi said: "Island Of One" took shape because I became quite obsessed with the track "Just A Western" by Nilüfer Yanya last year, and the Latin-y beat got me inspired. But I wanted a lively, catchy song to add to our live set, so it ended up less laidback and more 60s-breezy with some driving, scratchy guitars — once all three MB3 members pile in on the embellishments, a song ends up a fair distance from where it started! As ever, recording and production took place in our various home-studio set-ups, and the song was mixed by our brilliant Bella Union labelmate, Paul Gregory... the video was directed by Sébastien Faits-Divers

New Music: Winter Sky

           

Big Country’s co-founder and longest-serving band member, Bruce Watson, has announced that as of 1st January 2026 the band will move forward under the name Big Country Redux. 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the passing of songwriter, frontman, and co-founder Stuart Adamson. Now there's a new single off "Winter Sky" taken from the forthcoming album Eastworld releasing Sept 2026. The track FeaturesMick McNeill of Simple Minds on accordion.