Nine Inch Nails‘ collaborations with Boys Noize began in 2024, when the German EDM producer remixed Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ Challengers soundtrack, and it blossomed last year when NIN made a short set of songs with Boys Noize a centerpiece of their Peel It Back Tour.
Now, they’re releasing a unique, “purely electronic” full-length Nine Inch Noize album recorded “all over the place – some of it’s live, some in studios, hotels, planes, etc.”
“The creative fulfillment of working on the Challengers and Tron scores with Boys Noize led me to think that including him in the Peel It Back tour could be an interesting way to express NIN in more purely electronic terms live – a concept I’ve wanted to explore for some time”…
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Their last album with works by Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg and Tõnu Kõrvits saw the Gazzana sisters Natascia and Raffaella “achieve the highest levels of instinctive expression”, according to the French daily paper Le Monde, and one could argue that this holds even more true for their new recording with music by Sergei Prokofiev, Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke.
The duo’s reading of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 1, op. 80 opens the proceedings with urgency, true to the composer’s intention (Prokofiev famously declared that a particular passage “should sound in such a way that people should jump in their seat…”), but also with lyrical serenity, casting the work’s third movement in a spellbinding light. His Five Melodies op. 35a are interpreted with…
First ever CD release for this incredible live concert from Ian Dury & The Blockheads at London’s Dominion Theatre on Christmas Eve 1980. Originally transmitted as a special TV performance for the ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ on BBC2 TV and for John Peel on BBC Radio 1.
Following on from the run of singles “Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3”, “I Want to Be Straight” and “Sueperman’s Big Sister” 1980 saw the release of new album ‘Laughter’ by Ian Dury & The Blockheads. The ‘Laughter’ tour took place in December 1980 and on Christmas Eve Ian Dury & The Blockheads performed at London’s Dominion Theatre live on Radio 1 and on TV via BBC2’s ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ – introduced on TV by Annie Nightingale and on radio by John Peel.
Supergroups have a history of not being particularly super, but Tomora are different. This alliance between the Norwegian electro singer Aurora and Tom Rowlands, of the 1990s dance-floor maximalists The Chemical Brothers, is a mesmerising melding of two minds unified by a love for stomping choruses and banging rave beats. They put the mega in megaduo – to the point of overcoming that clunky portmanteau name (which is also, apparently, Japanese for a “friendly companion on earth”).
Stomping and banging truly are the words. Their debut album, which follows on from several guest turns by Aurora on Chemical Brothers records, is a glittering juggernaut where everything is supersized. This is hardly out of character…
The many-time Brit Award nominee Jessie Ware has cemented her status as a modern-day disco queen — from the turning point that was her fourth studio album, 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, to her sixth, Superbloom.
On Superbloom, Ware leans further into playfulness, not-so-subtly transporting listeners to a time of big hair and light-up dance floors. Her songs, once defined by ethereal, upbeat love ballads, have transformed into sexy, soulful singles about lust. Her steamy, innuendo-laden “Sauna” evokes Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 hit, “Physical.” “If you wanna / Last longer / I don’t need faster / I need stronger / Take it to the sauna,” she commands over funky synths and heavy breaths.
In her previous discography, Ware has…
There aren’t many artists releasing two new albums per year, and even fewer doing that within three months. If you’re already a fan of blue-eyed soul man Marc Broussard, these two discs arriving close together is a surprise gift. Even though S.O.S. V: Songs of the 50s was yet another title in his ongoing cover series, the appearance of Chance Worth Taking with 14 new tunes predominantly co-penned by the singer with bassist Calvin Turner, confirms that Brossard’s work ethic and creativity is well-oiled.
Perhaps the input of longtime supporter Joe Bonamassa and shotgun riding producer/right hand man Josh Smith (they also helped write four tunes) pushed Broussard to pen extra material. It’s also more organically blues-based than…
Blues? Maybe, in atmospheric terms. But not in the 12-bar, blues-rock or Delta blues sense. Or most other senses. The album title is a play on Miles Davis’ end-of-’60s LP Bitches Brew which, at that point, was his most overt nod to the dynamics of rock music. Nonetheless, Bitches Blues doesn’t obviously use the 1969 set as a point from which to jump. But the reference sets up the first studio album from Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns – the latter word a slang reference to the trio’s Norwegian identity – as non-conformist, carving-out their own musical character; albeit just within the limits of the outer edges of jazz.
Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns are guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen, whose other band Hedvig Mollestad Trio distorts the boundaries…
Despite its sound owing much to late-‘90s alternative – and that it’s coming two years on from her initial breakthrough – there’s something so beautifully ‘now’ about Little Miss Sunshine, this debut full-length from Eaves Wilder. Not the ‘now’ that one might imagine rapacious, cartoonish A&Rs to seek – that’s already been and gone, despite their efforts, if it even existed. But a ‘now’ that, among other things, has digitally-literate teens metaphorically crate-digging in a way that’s seen many a veteran act performing to audiences younger than their biggest hits; Olivia Rodrigo using her stage as a pseudo mixtape, Hayley Williams spilling her own guts across new material, and acts like Mitski, Wolf Alice and Wet Leg crossing over into pop spheres…
‘No Time for Poetry (Easy Listening Edition)’ is a reimagined instrumental version of the 2025 album ‘No Time for Poetry’ by the Oakland-based duo The Saxophones. This edition replaces the original vocals with saxophone, bass clarinet, and alto flute lines to create a smooth, “easy listening” experience.
With their first three albums, The Saxophones — married couple Alexi Erenkov (vocals, woodwinds) and Alison Alderdice (drums, backing vocals) with multi-instrumentalist Richard Laws — have established a haunting and dreamy, lightly jazz-inflected style of minimalist indie pop that evokes smoky back rooms, seaside reflection, romance, and the analog era.
Their fourth LP, No Time for Poetry, finds them…
Flying Lotus (or Alice Coltrane’s great-nephew) proves that Plug Research is the perfect home for him with his debut full-length, 1983. Sounding like a mix between Ammoncontact and Dntel, Lotus layers spacy keyboards over bass-heavy beats, clearly very much influenced by the whole free jazz-based electronica and hip-hop Sa-Ra craziness that’s prevalent in the L.A. area (he also takes a cue from Stones Throw producers Madlib and J Dilla, using fractured rhythms and subtle chords to propel the songs forward). However, unlike many of his labelmates, Lotus doesn’t drag out his pieces; instead, all but two of them fall neatly under four minutes, keeping 1983 from becoming a masturbatory exercise in keyboard lines and instead making it very…
In the heart of Tunisia lies a giant salt lake called Chott El Djerid, or “Lagoon of the Land of Palms”. Measuring 160 miles across, the lake has been the subject of numerous works of art, most famously Star Wars, where it was used as a filming location in A New Hope.
Although Chott El Djerid is crossable by foot or car in the summer, when the lake is dry, this is generally inadvisable — the salt crust on the surface is often thin and unstable. What appears as a desert can quickly turn into a drowning pool.
It’s against this backdrop that Chott arrives, the second full-length album from Tunisian producer Taroug, out via Denovali Records. Everything about this LP is echoey and huge, from its searing string arrangements to its down-swooping…
On Friday, March 20 as new Tedeschi Trucks Band album Future Soul made its way into the world, the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi led twelve-piece powerhouse returned to New York’s Beacon Theatre for night six of a ten-date residency and show number 70 overall for the group at the storied venue.
To begin the night, band officially welcomed the crowd to the age of Future Soul with a full performance of the eleven-track album culminating in the live debut of “Ride On”, the last of its songs to break into the live rotation. To fill out the remaining minutes of the Future Soul set, Susan led the group through longtime staple “I Want More” before passing the baton to Derek to channel some “Soul” from the past-that is…
The very first release on Frontier Records in March 1980 was an EP by Pasadena’s Flyboys – a power pop/punk band that began in 1977 with singer/songwriter John Curry and Jim “Trash” Decker from The Crowd (and tangentially, Jay from The Simpletones, who would later sign to Posh Boy). Flyboys gigged all over the Southland, paying their dues opening for every national and local punk band from Huntington Beach to Hollywood. They were anything but typical punks with their day-glo clothes, Cuban heels, and maddeningly catchy songs. Infectious hooks and John Curry’s bleached-blonde pompadour were the band’s trademarks.
Lisa Fancher interviewed Flyboys when she was a rock scribe at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. The band’s lack of traction…
Featuring new member Simon House on synths and violin, and following the departure of Robert Calvert and electronic effects man Dik Mik, Hall of the Mountain Grill feels like something of an interim album for Hawkwind. Despite their cosmic pretensions, they were wary of the commercial success they had enjoyed with 1973’s Space Ritual and pondering which direction to go in next.
The album was named after a restaurant in London’s Portabello Road in which the group used to convene, a self-effacing title at odds with the grandeur of the cover, depicting a derelict spaceship in the mists of an alien lagoon; in 1974 we were two years into the post-space age. Tracks like The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke) are quintessential Hawkwind space…
Hearing a classic R&B song like “Money (That’s What I Want)” originally by Barrett Strong in 1959, the Beatles in 1963 & quirky in 1979 by the Flying Lizards, it’s amazing to hear a bluesy rendition in 1960 by blues-great John Lee Hooker (1912-2001). But here it is. Hooker’s voice is the attraction, with its deep tones & dark storytelling manner. “Come and See About Me” is nearly a whisper, but with John’s presence, it resonates as a tune he could sing personally to you if you’re wearing headphones.
This 12-track studio set was recorded in Feb.1960 as That’s My Story: John Lee Hooker Sings The Blues produced by Orrin Keepnews, who also wrote the liner notes. Despite the blues tag, the songs are recorded with a whispery personal application.
When deary, the dreampop three-piece composed of Ben Easton (guitar), Dottie Cockram (vocals, guitar) and Harry Catchpole (drums), named their debut album Birding, it wasn’t just as an homage to our feathered friends, they were referencing the sense of expansion, wonder, and abandon their music evokes. They chose the title to draw attention to the direct impact humans have on the world around us, whether that be nature, or ourselves.
“I got really into reading about birds and all these historical stories and poetry about them,” says singer/guitarist Dottie. “You find these beautiful images of birds that represent hope, but they’re also animals. Some of them, like vultures and crows, are a sign of death to some people. They represent all these different…
Few modern blues artists collaborate as naturally and as successfully as harmonica master Bob Corritore. With Ernestine Blues, his latest album under the banner of Bob Corritore & Friends, the Arizona-based blues champion gathers an extraordinary lineup of vocalists and musicians from across the contemporary blues scene.
The album brings together powerful voices and seasoned bands for a collection of story-driven songs that move comfortably between classic Chicago blues, early R&B, Mississippi country blues, and soul-blues traditions. The first taste of the album arrived on March, 2026 with the release of “I Love the South“, a collaboration between Corritore and soul-blues legend Johnny Rawls. The pairing proves once again…
In overseeing Club d’Elf since its inception over 25 years ago, founder-leader-bassist Mike Rivard has maintained a core lineup around which has revolved a colorful cast of collaborators as eclectic as the music they have played.
Loon & Thrush is no exception, yet its creation took place in the shadow of the passing of vocalist- multi-instrumentalist Brahim Frigbaine, not just an artistic contributor, but a practical point of reference for the group’s exotic pursuits. Much as Rivard collected himself to rally in the wake of serious illness prior to the gestation of the preceding Club d’Elf studio album, You Never Know (2022) so has he, with the customarily adventurous ensemble in tow, soldiered on in the wake of their departed comrade.
The satisfyin’ soul-pop group from the UK Mamas Gun are poised to follow up Cure The Jones with another collection that recalls what was great about American R&B in 60s and 70s. DIG! is their sixth studio long-player, featuring more of songs that take you back to the Motown, Philly Sound and Hi-Hat Memphis soul of the Impressions, Marvin Gaye, Spinners and Al Green, but with a contemporary vibrancy. It’s led by a gifted singer-songwriter and instrumentalist in Andy Platts (Young Gun Silver Fox) who has a limitless knack for hooks and blending vintage styles into a familiar but fresh approach.
Andy Platts’ got a gift for songcraft but even he get writer’s block sometimes. When he had the concept for a song mostly…
For years, Cactus Lee has quietly built a singular body of work, playing honky-tonks around Austin while releasing records at a steady, self-driven pace.
Lee’s Dream, his second album for Western Vinyl, feels like the natural distillation of that journey-written on the road, refined at home, and shaped by the push and pull between devotion to music and devotion to family. Conceived during a monthlong solo tour through the Midwest and South, the songs began as sketches written in vans and motel rooms, sparked in part by a visit to Guy Clark’s reconstructed basement at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Returning home to personal upheaval, Kevin Dehan turned inward, writing songs…