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  

New Music: Blow My Mind

           

Robyn, the pop singer rewrote one of her love and well-knowm songs for her three-year-old son, of course, her latest song will be familiar to longtime fans. "Blow My Mind," the fourth single on her new album, Sexistential, is an electro-funk remake of her original 2002 love song of the same name. This time, it was rewritten and re-recorded, the song's new lyrics are all about her three-year-old son. Robyn said in a press statement. "I was in that early stage when I was with him all the time, and something about that closeness opened the song up to me again. Listening back to the original I thought, ‘I think it's one of the best songs I ever recorded, and I'm just gonna do it again.' I rewrote the lyrics and I love this version's rawness. It's not cute, because it's not cute with children. They're cute, but the experience isn't. "Blow My Mind" follows the release of singles "Sexistential," "Dopamine," and "Talk To Me."

New Music: Waiting On You

           

Nearly a month ago Rick Astley released "Waiting On You" a landmark to celebrate his 60th., birthday, now the legendary Rick shares the official video for "Waiting On You", A nighttime wander through London, actually the intro showcasing London Bridge iluminated reminds me a little to certain scenes of Paul McCartney's "No More Lonely Nights", the video was filmed on location in London on Apple iPhone by Peter Neill and Lee Thorpe.

New Music: Play Me

           

Kim Gordon releases "Play Me," the title track from her upcoming solo album via Matador Records, continuing her legacy as a pioneering figure in alternative and experimental rock. The Influential musician Kim Gordon, best known for her work with Sonic Youth, has released the title track from her upcoming solo album as her third single. With "Play Me," Gordon continues exploring experimental sonic territory, blending industrial textures, minimalist electronic elements and sharp cultural commentary. Her work maintains the conceptual depth and critical perspective that have characterized her artistic vision for decades. The single is accompanied by a music video directed by Barney Clay, which enhances the provocative and minimalist aesthetic that defines this new creative chapter for Gordon.

New Music: Star

           

After several years of relatively quiet, with singer and guitarist Elias Rønnenfelt releasing his debut solo album Heavy Glory in 2024, followed by Speak Daggers in 2025. The new single of the band "Star" arrives as the first new music from the band since their 2021 album Seek Shelter, and comes alongside a video directed by Thinh T. Petrus Nguyen. The track is described as a love song with Rønnenfelt's grit building the core. 

New Music: I Just Can't Get Over Losing You

           

The Lemon Twigs aka brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario have announced a new album, Look For Your Mind!, and shared its first single, "I Just Can't Get Over Losing You," via a music video. Look For Your Mind! is due out May 8 via Captured Tracks. The new album features live members Reza Matin (drums) and Danny Ayala (bass), which opens up the recording process after on previous albums the D’Addario brothers handled everything in the studio themselves. Aboute the album title, Brian says in a press release: "I do think that now is a time of insanity. You really have to hold onto your own mind if you don’t wanna lose it." About the new single, he says:  "Every time we try to write something that's completely straightforward, we can't help adding an element which comes out of left field. We always want to write a song we've never heard before."

Rocktrospectica: Pet Shop Boys Hit Medley "Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) " Turns 35

Released on 11 March 1991 "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)" was a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. The song was a medley of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a 1967 song by Frankie Valli, though in an arrangement informed by the 1982 disco version of the song by the Boys Town Gang rather than the original.

The song accompanied "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", the third single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour, as a double A-side in the United Kingdom (both singles were released separately in the United States). Released in March 1991 by Parlophone, the song became the duo's 15th consecutive top-20 entry in the UK, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart.

Chris Lowe had the idea for the unusual mashup, realising that "you could sing the one going into the other", while recording "I'm Not Scared" with Patsy Kensit for her band, Eighth Wonder. Lowe and Neil Tennant then noticed that "the guitar on U2's record sounded like a sequencer". The duo intended to record it with Eighth Wonder as a follow-up to "I'm Not Scared"; instead, they recorded it themselves several years later, as they "needed a big hit. It was absolutely shameless." Having "turn[ed] a mythic rock song into a stomping disco record".

The Pet Shop Boys version differs significantly from that of U2 in its musical arrangement. In contrast to the U2 version's instrumental build-up, the Pet Shop Boys version opens abruptly with synthesized and sampled noises and a drum machine. The musical climax of the song was also changed in other elements; a background vocal sample of "burning down love" was played right at the start, and synthesised horns erupt with even higher notes immediately following each chorus. Tennant performed the lyrics with no vocal exertion or stresses, in contrast to Bono's performance. In addition, at the transition between "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Tennant sang the two lines one after the other, with no change in pitch, demonstrating the similarities in the two songs.

The single's other A-side, "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?", criticised the insincere humanitarian messages of a number of pop stars during the 1980s and the institutionalization of rock and roll. The band noted that "one song is about rock stars so to have a U2 song with it serves as a further comment." 

Following the release of the single, U2 joked, "What have we done to deserve this?", referring to a Pet Shop Boys song. Critics were mixed and fairly good by saying the track was a cool, happy music no-one else took the piss quite so shockingly. A bizarre mixture of two completely different songs, on paper it read and felt like a painful nightmare. But on record, it gels rather well. Neil and Chris' Hi-NRG treatment of both tracks run ridiculously smoothly with added eloquence, forcing even the Boys' detractors to give credit where it's due.

 

Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off You Track List:

 

1. UK/Australia 7-inch and cassette single 

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?

2. UK 12-inch single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) Extended Mix
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
• Bet  She's Not Your Girlfriend

3. UK 12-inch single (remixes)

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) David Morales Remix 
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Mo Mo Remix
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Ragga Zone Remix 

4. UK CD Single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
• How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? Classical Reprise 

5. US 12-inch single

• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  12-inch dance mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  red zone mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)  eclipse mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) ska reprise
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) 7-inch version

6. US And Canadian CD Single

• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) original 7-inch mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) 12-inch dance mix
• Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) red zone mix
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend
• I Want A Dog techno funk mix 

7. US And Canadian Cassette Single

• Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) original 7-inch 
• Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend 

In Memoriam: Boston Lead Singer "Tommy DeCarlo" Dies At 60

Tommy DeCarlo, who became the lead singer of the band Boston for nearly 20 years based on a Myspace tribute to the band's original singer, has died at 60.

DeCarlo's children, Annie, Talia and Tommy Jr., said in posts on his Facebook and Instagram pages that their father, who had been struggling for months with brain cancer, died Monday. They said, "He fought with incredible strength and courage right up until the very end." 

Brad Delp, the original singer of the band that was founded in 1975 and had hits including "More Than a Feeling" and "Peace of Mind,", & "Amanda" died in 2007. DeCarlo, then a 43-year-old working at a Home Depot in North Carolina, wrote, sang and recorded a tribute song to Delp. He posted that song along with a few Boston covers to his Myspace page and sent the link to the band.

DeCarlo initially got a polite rejection, according to Rolling Stone. But founding guitarist and songwriter Tom Scholz, struck by his voice's resemblance to Delp, invited DeCarlo to perform at a tribute concert for the late singer. Scholz then asked him to join the band. "It wasn't like I was trying to sing like Brad," DeCarlo said in a bio on the band's website, "it was just that I loved to sing along with him."

DeCarlo toured with Boston for nearly 20 years and sang on their 2013 album, "Life, Love and Hope."

New Music: The Monster Of Pig Alley

           

Morrisey has just released their brilliant new album "Make-Up Is A Lie" and a week later of the released of Roxy Music cover "Amazona", the icon released his new single with a video "The Monsters Of Pig Alley" with a video directer by Lewis Cater, the track is fantastic, you see this is what happens when Mozza and aAlain Whyte work together, a brilliant tune from the beginning 'til the end.  

New Music: All In Now

           

Keanu Reeves band "Dogstar" have announced their new album "All In Now" and shared its title track as a single, the alt-rock band, in which the movie star Reeves plays bass alongside vocalist Bret Domrose and drummer Rob Mailhouse, reunited in 2023 after a two-decade absence. Now, they have confirmed that the follow-up to that album ‘All In Now’ will be released on May 29. The video was shot by Carlos Garcia Medina.

New Music: Why Don't You

           

The legendary band Squeeze are back with a brand neew album "Trixies" and a new single "Why Don't You" it's the band first new album in nearly a decade is based on material written when they were teenagers, the single has all the Squeeze classic sound and video mixing scenes of the band with dancers and acrobats was directed by Oska Zaky and Connie Virdie

New Music: The Best Thing

           

The legendary icon rockers Cheap Trick have released the official music video for their latest single "The Best Thing", taken from the band 21st studio album "All Washed Up" out now. The album was produced by Cheap trick with longtime associate Julian Raymond and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge. 

New Music: Universal Soldier

           

The English electronic band Depeche Mode has just released the brand new track "Universal Soldier" via War Child Records. The track is out now as part of the charity compilation "HELP(2)", released last March 6, 2026, and is included alongside contributions from Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C., Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Oasis, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers.

Rocktrospectiva: R.E.M.'s Final Album "Collapse Into Now" Turns 15

Released on 7 March 1991 "Collapse Into Now" was the 15th., and final studio album by US alternative rock band R.E.M. Produced by Jacknife Lee, who previously worked with the band on Accelerate (2008), the album was preceded by the singles "It Happened Today", "Mine Smell Like Honey", "Überlin" and "Oh My Heart".

Regarding the album's title, lead singer Michael Stipe noted, "It's the final thing I sing, the last song on the record before the record goes into a coda and reprises the first song. In my head, it's was like I'm addressing a nine-year-old and I'm saying, 'I come from a faraway place called the 20th century. And these are the values and these are the mistakes we've made and these are the triumphs. These are the things that we held in the highest esteem. These are the things to learn from."

The band did not tour to support the album and therefore never performed any of the songs in concert, although Michael Stipe did play "Every Day Is Yours to Win" without R.E.M. for the Tibethouse Annual Benefit Concert.

In 2008, while touring in support of Accelerate, R.E.M. discussed the possibility of ending the band in the near future. Entering the studio with producer Jacknife Lee, the band began recording a final studio album, with the intention of "going out on a high note." Regarding these initial discussions, bassist Mike Mills stated, "We knew we had some decisions to make regarding our contract with Warner Bros. We had to make some decision about how to continue going forward as a recording unit, and if we still wanted to tour together. Oddly enough, I think that independently, we all arrived at the conclusion that this was such a great opportunity to walk away on our own terms, that we thought, 'Why not take advantage of it?'" Buck later would state that the final decision to end the band came when Stipe remarked that "I need to be away from this for a long time." Buck suggested "How about forever?" and they thus decided to break up.

Collapse into Now was recorded in four different cities: Berlin, Germany; Nashville, Tennessee; and New Orleans, Louisiana, with demoing taking place at Jackpot Studios in Portland, Oregon. Regarding the recording process, and the fact that it marked the conception of their final studio album, Mills noted, "We tried to enjoy it as much as possible and make it as fun as possible, but we’re not super-sentimental people in that sense. The only time we got really poignant was when we were working in Berlin, and they have a beautiful room there, Meistersaal, where we recorded seven or eight songs. There was no one there really except some friends, family, and significant others, and we knew that was probably the last time we would ever play together as R.E.M. That was a pretty fraught day. But it was fun."

In comparing the record to the band's previous release, Accelerate, Mills noted that the band, "wanted this new one to be more expansive. We wanted to put more variety into it and not limit ourselves to any one type of song. There are some really slow, beautiful songs; there are some nice, mid-tempo ones; and then there are three or four rockers." He has spoken about the album's theme, saying: "It's more of a personal record than a political one. Current events do come into our mind when we write, but the themes here are more universal." The album had guest appearances by Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder, Peaches, Lenny Kaye, and Joel Gibb.

According to Michael Stipe, the album contains "one of the only autobiographical songs of my entire career as a songwriter, in the opening track, 'Discoverer'. It's a song of discovery. It's about realizing that the city offers you this unbelievable potential and opportunity; all the things you are looking for in your teens and your twenties. That's what New York offered me."

To promote the album, the band released music videos for each song on the album, featuring directors such as James Franco, Sam Taylor-Wood, Jim Herbert, and lead singer Michael Stipe. Stipe notes that: "The idea was to present a 21st-century version of an album. What does an album mean in the year 2011, especially to generations of people for whom the word album is an archaic term? An album for me as a teenager in the '70s was a fully formed concept. It was a body of work from an artist I liked or trusted or who excited me..[...] I wanted to present an idea of what an album could be in the age of YouTube and the Internet.

During promotion, the band stated that it had no intention of touring to support the album, with Peter Buck citing in an interview with NME that "it does seem like we've toured a lot in the last eight or ten years. To some degree it felt like we'd just been doing kind of the same thing we did last time. You just don't really want to repeat yourself in that way." He also stated that touring doesn't help album sales and concluded, "It seems like less and less people are buying albums, so do what you want."

Complying with their resolution of not engaging in a new tour, R.E.M. officially disbanded as a group in September 2011, six months after the album was released.

Collapse into Now received "generally favorable reviews" by saying that this album is host to more such complexity than anything since 1998's Up, but Collapse Into Now still sounds like the work of a band caught between old habits and new adventures." Others called the album as mostly sounded like a familiar friend—reliable in all the best ways, but still capable of quietly insinuating surprises.

 

Collapse Into Now Track List:  

 

X-axis

1. Discoverer

2. All The Best

3. Überlin

4. Oh My Heart

5. It Happened Today

6. Every Day Is Yours To Win

 

Y-axis

7. Mine Smells Like Honey

8. Walk It Back

9. Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter

10. That Someone Is You

11. Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I

12. Blue 

Rocktrospectiva: The Modest "Journeys To Glory" Turns 45

Released on 6 March 1981 "Journeys To Glory" was the debut studio album by the English synth-pop band Spandau Ballet. All of the songs on the album were produced by Richard James Burgess and written by band guitarist Gary Kemp to appeal to the patrons of a weekly Tuesday night club the band started attending called the Blitz, where they were accustomed to hearing "white European dance music". 

Their performances at the Blitz and other exclusive venues attracted the attention of record labels eager to sign them, and one of the songs they had been performing, To Cut a Long Story Short", gained popularity through a recording session made at BBC Radio 1.

The high demand for their music instigated the commencement of recording the album and the release of "To Cut a Long Story Short" as their first single. The song reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, and two subsequent hits, "The Freeze" and "Muscle Bound", peaked at 17 and 10, respectively. 

The influence of David Bowie on Journeys to Glory has been discussed by Kemp as well as critics of the album, who gave it mixed reviews upon its release and years later. After their composer attempted to shift to a more American style of funk with songs like "Glow" and the first single for their next album, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", he remembered that the songs from Journeys to Glory had been rehearsed at concerts before they were signed to a label and had received the approval of their original fanbase. When some of the new songs for the second album did not chart as well, the band recovered by remixing a fourth single as a more pop-flavoured tune and lost the interest of the hipsters that Spandau Ballet had initially courted with the songs that were recorded for their debut. Kemp then felt freed from trying to please that crowd and began writing mainstream pop songs that were the band's biggest hits.

While still performing as the Gentry, Spandau Ballet recognized that a new London club scene was taking root at a weekly Tuesday night gathering called the Blitz and decided to focus on playing what they had become used to hearing there, what their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp called "white European disco music". He was committed to their new genre: "All fancy rock patterns had to go …, we'd discussed it at the club: these new songs would be to a disco beat; there would be a [discarding] of all the old power pop stuff; our future sound had to be like the one we heard every Tuesday night. If we were to attempt to be the band that represented this new cult, then we had to be absolutely ready.^"

Before the Gentry members began attending the Blitz in February 1979, their hangout was a similar Soho club called Billy's that they first went to in the autumn of 1978. According to Spandau Ballet's guitarist/saxophonist, Steve Norman, "The oldest song on the album, 'Confused', is the only song to survive from the period before we first went to Billy's." He described how it created a meaningful point of entry for them into the club scene: "It's the song that, when we first got to Billy's, would make you think we belonged there." Their guitarist, Martin Kemp, admitted that "Confused" was the track from the album that meant the most to him because it dates back to the period when the band was still called the Makers and he was just a roadie for them. During a two-week stint in the summer of 1980 at a club in Saint-Tropez, the band performed "Confused" along with "Age of Blows", an instrumental that Norman felt was one of the weaker cuts on the album and theorizes. "To Cut a Long Story Short" the singer begins providing details regarding certain undesirable circumstances but concludes with, "To cut a long story short, I lost my mind". On BBC Radio 4's Mastertapes series in 2013, Kemp said, "The lyrics to those kind of songs, I mean, I suppose they owed something to Bowie's famous cut-ups, you know, slightly esoteric, this grand landscape that we're all living on. That was the kind of lyric, very early '80s lyric about a kind of heroic place that we all wanted to put ourselves."

Puzzled by the opening line of "The Freeze", "Blue sing la lune, sing lagoon", former Evening Standard and music magazine journalist David Johnson did not see the song as an obvious choice for a single but pointed out that it "was not chosen for singability but for its New Romantic clubbing credibility. In 1981 the pathfinding band were consolidating the new approach they had styled—White European Dance Music—led on 'The Freeze' by Gary Kemp's two-fingered synth arpeggios, plus enough percussive kick-drum snaps underpinned with bassline rhythms to fill dancefloors. "Muscle Bound" According to Kemp he was asked about working with Graham Smith on the cover art for Journeys to Glory and commented, "We enjoy playing with imagery, but at that time everyone was taking us far too seriously." To give an example of a lighter moment from the album, he said, "'Muscle Bound' was quite tongue-in-cheek," and explained, "I've always liked folk music since I was really young, and 'Muscle Bound' was like a folk song with quite a funny lyric."   

The recordings began in September 1980 Spandau Ballet began recording Journeys to Glory at The Manor in the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire. Because "To Cut a Long Story Short" was so well received at BBC Radio 1, the record labels competing for the band agreed that they could start recording it as a single in addition to the rest of their first album and that the label they signed with would pay for the studio time. Some of the sessions were also done at Trident Studios. Norman said, "The sound of all the legends must have been in all the walls," and described the effect of those particular surroundings: “The place had such an energy to it; it makes you raise your game." Its location in Soho also made a difference in that their friends from the Blitz could hang out and provide support.

The album received generally mixed reviews at the time of its release. Some called the album, he wrote, represented 'superficial music for superficial people." Others called an unremarkable affair by any standards. Not bad, but modest." Other chose "Age of Blows" and "Confused" as the best tracks on the album. a more than fair debut album with some good songs and a couple of duff ones, a talented set of musicians and a singer who needs a tragic love affair or something to put a little humanity into his performance."

 

Journeys To Glory Track List:

 

1. To Cut A Long Story Short

2. Reformation

3. Mandolin

4. Muscle Bound

5. Age Of Blows

6. The Freeze

7. Confused

8. Toys

Rocktrospectiva: The Consistent "When You See Yourself" Turns 5

Released on 5 March 1991 "When You See Yourself" was the 8th., studio album by the US band Kings of Leon, it was preceded by the singles "The Bandit" ,"100,000 People" & Stormy Weather". The album was the first released by the band in 4 years and also became the second band to released an album in NFT (not fungible tokens).

Through out the years, the odd shift back and forth between experimental vanguard, bombastic feel good rock, dysfunctional family drama and well-dressed cosmopolitan troubadours somehow seemed necessary to understand "When You See Yourself", the band’s eighth album and best in more than a decade. The album’s title functions as a mission statement of self reflection. 

The album provided several interesting tracks such as the mid-album highlight "A Wave" which was a good indicator of this strategy. Ultimately a typical Kings of Leon track – a nostalgia-laced ballad that builds into the triumphant refrain – was aided by a very unique guitar tone. The absolute highlights of this approach were also "Golden Restless Age", "The Bandit" and "Echoing"; rock tracks that structurally had more in common with power pop songs. "Golden Restless Age" mixed slight melancholic longing with a central riff and gradually building synthesizers.

"The Bandit", had a prominent rhythm section and faintly-veiled guitars could be a throwback to Because of the Times. The tricky "Echoing" constructed like a prank, the song’s structure, with its breakdown during the chorus and galloping drums, seems to led towards a big catharsis, which comes right after the three-minute mark, only to end just as it started. It's kind of a tease, but its sudden ending functions like a hype-up and will very likely be a live favourite. It also marks the return of Caleb's Lou Reed-infused "I just can't be bothered" songwriting style, this was evidente on closer "Fairytale"sounded like a reverb-drenched "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" homage. 

Despite some critics called the little lesser moments on – like "Stormy Weather" and "Supermarket" – cause are associated with the band’s more coastal sound. The tracks aren't bad, especially for "Stormy Weather" but don't feel all that special and sadly feature some pretty generic lyrics. And finally the country-infused "Claire & Eddie" and the synthesizer-led "100,000 People", whose atmospherics and melodies were so much more engaging. 

Considered at the time as a collection recording of tracks that at times muscular, at other times breezy, but recorded with care that allowed the band retunring to the rough live sound of their early days, perhaps the album should be released somewhere in the late 00s than early in the 2020s.  

 

When You See Yourself Track List:

 

1. When You See Yourself Are You Faraway

2. The Bandit

3. 100, 000 People

4. Stormy Weather

5. A Wave

6. Golden Restless Age

7. Time in Disguise

8. Supermarket

9. Claire & Eddie

10. Echoing

11. Fairytale 

Rocktrospectiva: The Decent And Enjoyable "Thicke Than Water" Turns 35

Released on 5 March 1991 "Thicker Than Water" was the debut album by the all femala pop band The Triplets, their album featured 11 tracks and spawned three singles "You Don't have To Go Home Tonight" their most popular single so far, & the minor lesser known "Sunrise."

The Triplets were a pop rock band that crossed over musical boundaries from the U.S through Latin America. Composed of the triplets Diana, Sylvia, and Vicky Villegas (all born April 18, 1965) of an US mother and a Mexican father, the group recorded in both English and Spanish. They first gained recognition after winning the MTV Basement Tapes Contest in 1986 for the song "Boys", and were awarded a contract with Elektra Records and released their first EP "Break the Silence"

For their debut album, the band relied Starsong Productions as the producer and recorded in Los Angeles, this time, the band showed some potential with a good amount of slick and highly commercial songs, indeed the album was released just in time before the grunge/alternative music took it all over. In spite of that, what sets the Triplets apart from other female pop-rockers of the early 1990s were the Spanish and Latin touches the trio brought to catchy selections on tracks such as "Spanish Surrender" and "Dancing In the Shadows." As a proof of their slick and fine production, the band achieved to score a hit single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1991 with "You Don't Have to Go Home Tonight" peaked at No. 14 as well as on the Adult Contemporary Chart they did with "Sunrise" at No. 16. 

 

This was definitely corporate rock, not fantastic but decent and enjoyable on the whole, "Thicker Than Wate"r should have done better. But unfortunately, the pop-rock market paid little attention to the talented siblings in the months to come after the alternative bandwagon began to dominate the charts. 

 

Thicker Than Water Track List: 

 

1. Dancing In The Shadows

2. Light A Candle

3. You Don't Have To Go Home Tonight

4. So Hard

5. The Sunrise

6. Blood Is Thicker Than Water

7. Spanish Surrender

8. If I Could Only Make You Love Me

9. Where Were You When I Needed You

10. Reminds Me Of You

11. Pyramids Of Pleasure 

Film: Legendary "Trainspotting" Turns 30

Trainspotting the 1996 British black comedy drama film directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald in her film debut. It is written in English and Scots. Based on the 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.

The film follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film include an exploration of urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh. Nobody expected a movie about a gang of dropkick Scottish junkies to be a success.

Made on a paltry budget of 1.5 million pounds ($2.8 million), Trainspotting starred a cast of relative unknowns speaking in thick accents and engaging in explicit, sometimes despicable misadventures. It didn't exactly scream blockbuster.

However, director Danny Boyle's adaptation of Irvine Welsh's cult novel didn't just end up striking box office gold. It was a pop culture phenomenon. The film helped usher in a new era of independent British filmmaking, and a wave of cinematic imitators

Thirty years on, Trainspotting remains as a cultural reference point, the film’s raw energy and visual language still influence graphic design, poster art and underground aesthetics. Hard to believe, but 30 years have passed since Trainspotting first exploded into cinemas and reshaped 1990s pop culture. The film quickly became a cult classic, leaving a permanent mark on cinema, music, fashion and graphic design. Three decades later, Trainspotting still stands as one of the most influential British films of all time.

Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, the story pulls straight from the grit of Edinburgh's streets. Welsh’s raw, confrontational writing gave Boyle the perfect blueprint: a world that feels lived-in, uncomfortable and impossible to sanitize. At a time when heroin addiction rarely appeared on screen without soft focus or moral padding, Trainspotting told it as it was, sharp, chaotic and darkly funny.

Led by Ewan McGregor as Mark Renton, the cast delivered performances that helped define a generation of movie characters. Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Diane feel grounded in real places and real attitudes, caught between boredom, violence, humor and desperation. Their energy still resonates with audiences discovering the film for the first time.

Beyond cinema, Trainspotting became a visual and cultural reference point. Its influence spilled into poster design, typography, album artwork and underground print culture. Distressed layouts, bold color blocks, lo-fi textures and aggressive type choices echoed the film’s attitude. Designers pulled from its aesthetic the same way musicians pulled from its soundtrack, as raw material to remix and reuse.

The film captures a fundamental element: it's often less about the substance itself and more about what someone is trying to change or escape through use. Effective support recognises this diversity and meets people where they are, without judgment. Every person's life has value, regardless of where they are in their journey.”

Whatever way you look at it, these final moments clearly call all the way back to the opening ones. Renton repeats the "Choose Life" monologue, but this time he’s sincere and smiling. The things heroin once became an escape from are now the things that become an escape from addiction. Living a normal life seems like a sense of euphoria rather than a fear because it is the escape he needs. 

Trainspotting was released to critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the best films of the 1990s. The film was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Pleasing "Kill Uncle" Turns 35

Released on 4 March 1991 "Kill Uncle" was the 2nd., studio solo album by the English alternative rock singer Morrissey. The title comes from the black comedy film Let's Kill Uncle (1966). The album was preceded by the single "Our Frank" & "Sing Your Life". 

Recorded during a transitional phase for Morrissey, having parted ways with record producer Stephen Street but not yet working with his future long-term team of guitarists Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer. The album was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley with most of the music written by Fairground Attraction's guitarist Mark E. Nevin.

The album opened with the single "Our Frank", described "frank and open, deep conversations" that get the singer nowhere and leave him disheartened. "Asian Rut" told of the murder of an Asian boy by three English boys, in which Morrissey's vocals are backed only by strings, bass, and sound effects. The song continued the trope of Morrissey writing about English racism from a unique angle. "Sing Your Life" had Morrissey encouraging the listener to express themselves, as he sang, "Walk right up to the microphone and name all the things you love, all the things you loathe." A rockabilly version of the song also exists, recorded live at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles after Morrissey started working with new guitarists Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte. "Mute Witness" told of an attempt to get information out of a shocked witness who cannot speak at a trial, featuring piano backing composed by Clive Langer. "King Leer" followed, a relaxed tune with sardonic lyrical puns. "Found Found Found", another Langer track, was the only heavy song on the album. Morrissey sings that he's found "someone who's worth it in this murkiness" but ends complaining this person is "somebody who wants to be with me... all the time".

"Driving Your Girlfriend Home" was a ballad in which Morrissey tells of driving home the girlfriend of an unspecified person. He revealed she asks him, "'How did I end up so deeply involved in the very existence I planned on avoiding?'" and that "She's laughing to stop herself crying." These outpourings are interspersed with directional instructions. Morrissey told us "I can't tell her" the answer to her question and that the ride concludes with them "shaking hands goodnight so politely."  "The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye", often cited as Morrissey's most misunderstood song. The lyric described the "pain because of the strain of smiling" and the dichotomy between one's public image and private personality. The music consisted of a carnival-like synthesizer and also features sound effects like a door slamming and a camera shutter snapping, along with piano accompaniment. In "(I'm) The End of the Family Line", the singer rued he will never have children, an insult into the "fifteen generations... of mine" that produced him. The lyric is complemented by a subdued guitar backing, and ends with a similar 'false' fadeout similar to such Smiths songs as "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore". The original album closed with "There Is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends", a simple piano piece that reflected the existential longing of the album and showcases Morrissey's torch song influence.

The album was reviewed as a collection of songs that were both very good and like nothing much else in pop, a pleasing work that pleased everyone, althought other criticised the lack of creativity, Mozzas least dinstiguished record and the short running of the album.

 

Kill Uncle Track List:  

 

1. Our Frank

2. Asian Rut

3. Sing Your Life

4. Mute Witness

5. King Leer

6. Found Found Found

7. Driving Your Girlfriend Home

8. The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye

9. (I'm) The End Of The Family Line

10. There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends