The Fat Angel Sings

November 2026 marks the arrival of “45 (Vol.1)”, a brand-new LP compilation on 200-gram vinyl, celebrating XTC’s explosive run of singles between 1977 to 1980. Bringing together the A-sides from the band’s first, fiercely inventive years (including the US A side version of ‘Ten Feet Tall’ and soundtrack rarity ‘Take This Town’), the collection captures XTC in an era where many new bands would have sacrificed future first-borns to have one decent songwriter. Yet this run of singles made it abundantly obvious that XTC contained two – in Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge.

Punk and its assorted brethren from New Wave to DIY Electronica, Mod, Ska revivals and more sub-genres shared one vital element in common it was, for a brief few years, to re-establish the primacy of the 7” single. While XTC is, rightly, now remembered more for the consistent brilliance of its albums output, its commitment to the notion that every single should be an event: solid catchy A side, equally inventive (if sometimes more experimental) B side and artwork given as much attention as an album. This made all of their singles, the hits and the non-hits alike, one of the most distinguished catalogues of the 7” artform, from the (planned for end of ’77, actually released January 1978) ‘Science Friction’ through to the 1992 almost release of ‘Wrapped in Gray’ the key single from “Nonsuch” which was caught up in and lost via the turmoil of Virgin’s takeover by EMI.

Listened to now, as a collection, it’s the pace of development of the songwriters in a period of a little over three years that impresses, while the arrival of Dave Gregory following the departure of Barry Andrews gave the band a confident musical stability that enabled it to grow rapidly. The demands of regular singles releases – many of them non-album tracks in this period – pushed the pace of the band’s development which, in turn, fed back into the albums.

Perhaps that’s why XTC are still popular across continents and feel relevant today. Many of their singles resonate as individual songs because they never chased fashion and they built their own distinctive sound.

45 (Vol.1) is more than a retrospective.  It’s a reminder of how exciting the very idea of the single could be.

A 50th-anniversary edition of Frank Zappa’s “Zoot Allures” is set for release on December 4th.

Zappa recorded the guitar-heavy album at Los Angeles’ Record Plant with drummer Terry Bozzio, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bassist Roy Estrada, guitarists Dave Parlato and Denny Walley, and Captain Beefheart on harmonica.

According to a press release announcing the expanded version of “Zoot Allures”, the song “Friendly Little Finger” “provided the first released example of Zappa’s innovative ‘xenochrony’ technique, in which performances from unrelated sources were synchronized to create entirely new rhythmic relationships.”

The upcoming 50th-anniversary box set features 61 tracks, including the original album, newly remastered; Zappa’s original double-LP version of the album, titled “Night of the Iron Sausage” a previously unreleased 1976 concert from Paris; unheard studio outtakes, alternate mixes and edits, radio ads, and other rarities from the era.

Listen to the single edit of “Son of Canard Du Jour,”

The six-disc Super Deluxe Edition box set features five CDs and a Blu-ray disc with rare and unreleased tracks plus a live show.

DIIV are preparing the release of a new album, “ZIRP!”, on October 30th via Fantasy Records. Now they have shared its third single, “Trillions,” . Jaxon Whittington directed the “Trillions” video. The song is perhaps a satire of late stage capitalism and the persistent desire for wealth, although it’s also quite pop sounding for a band that’s usually buried in walls of guitars.

DIIV previously announced the album to fans via a hotline number. Then they officially announced the album and shared its first single, “The Fountain” ,Then they shared its second single, “Kid,” .

British producer A. G. Cook (Caroline Polachek, Charli XCX) produced “ZIRP” and says in a press release: “It was in the spirit of destroying and rebuilding their demos, Screamadelica-style, into a finished product, but that hybrid, half-remix approach felt completely wrong to me.

Cook adds: “I became a bit obsessed with their live sound, and insisted on recording live drums before most of the songs were even finished. We spent a lot of time recording intricate guitar parts with specific guitar pedals, and as little time as possible doing anything on a computer, at least by my standards. After a few rounds of that, “ZIRP!” emerged as a concept, and a sort of utopian, dystopian mantra. For me it became a vehicle to push the band into new territory.”

“ZIRP!” is the follow-up to 2024’s “Frog in Boiling Water”.

DIIV is Andrew Bailey, Colin Caulfield, Ben Newman, and Zachary Cole Smith.

Texas-born/Los Angeles- and Marfa-based singer/songwriter Jess Williamson is releasing a new album, “A Mile South of Heaven“, this Friday via New West. Now she has shared its latest single, “Hum of the City,”. She’s also announced some 2027 tour dates. Rocco Rivetti directed the video.

Williamson had this to say about the song in a press release: “I’m kind of a wanderer by nature, and this song is about my complicated relationship with the idea of home. I’ve spent years feeling pulled between the excitement of life in the city and the peace of a more rural life, never quite sure where I belong.

“There’s a romance to being in hotels alone. I love checking into my room, going down to the hotel bar, and talking with the bartender. I once checked into a hotel and realized I was staying in the very same room I’d been in years earlier (room 12, from the song), during a completely different season of my life, right before a major life change. There’s something uncanny about the anonymity of a hotel room holding such a personal memory.

“The song imagines a conversation with the hotel bartender, asking him to change the music. Sometimes contemporary music feels a little weird if you happen to have history with the person singing it. But old country music always hits.” 

Shooter Jennings produced “A Mile South of Heaven”, recording it at Sunset Sound in Hollywood. It follows 2023’s “Time Ain’t Accidental” and 2020’s “Sorceress”. In 2022 Williamson teamed up with Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) to form Plains and the duo released their debut album under that name, “I Walked With You A Ways”.

“Depending on your outlook, a mile south of heaven may sound sad, or it may sound hopeful,” Williamson explains of the new album’s title. “We’re always a mile south of the impossible goals we set for ourselves, and my point is, maybe that’s ok, because a mile is pretty close. It’s about appreciating where we are now, because there is no finish line. There is always more work to be done.”“

A Mile South of Heaven

‘Violins’, the third album from Blondshell, finds Sabrina Teitelbaum digging in. Following her acclaimed 2023 self-titled debut and 2025’s ‘If You Asked For A Picture’, the 11-track ‘Violins’ trades the veil of bad romantic relationships for something braver, asking how we balance the world’s violence with its beauty across songs about troubled friendships, religion, the body, and the long, unglamorous work of healing. It’s an album of grandeur, drama, and tragedy, built on virtuoso hooks, swelling guitars, and big lead lines, pulling in fresh touchstones from Gang of Four, Teenage Fanclub, The Go-Betweens, and Sade, alongside lyrical nods to Leonard Cohen and Pavement. From the anthemic frenemy portrait of “Heart Has To Work So Hard” to the sunny, insomniac daydream of “Lucky” and the disarming closer “Fur Elise,” ‘Violins’ captures the sound of an artist who has stopped overexplaining and started rendering art on her own terms.

Blondshell has always weaved violence throughout her searing alt-rock. Her ’90s-inspired breakout single ‘Olympus’ started with the head-over-heels promise that Sabrina Teitelbaum would “still kill” for a toxic partner, while her self-titled debut album wrestled with daydream vengeance and potent self-destruction over explosive guitar breakdowns. Her second LP, 2025’s ‘If You Asked For A Picture’, was prettier but no less vicious as she reflected with unapologetic directness on generational anguish, body image struggles and coming-of-age uncertainty.

Coming less than 18 months later, Her third album ‘Violins’ is as playful as it is savage. The album title is an accidental bit of wordplay (violins and violence), while the title track showcases acts of kindness turned into something darker. Instead of a reassuring hand on a shoulder, it’s “a pat on the ass”. Talk of gradual healing is dismissed as boring (“It’s like watching paint”) and there’s no biting back, as Teitelbaum tries to rise above it. “I hope heads don’t roll, they rest lightly on your shoulder”, she repeats like a mantra between celebratory guitar solos. It sets a course for ‘Violins’, an album which defiantly strikes a balance between optimistic beauty and harsh, jagged truths. Throughout, Blondshell fights to stay tender in a world that isn’t.

The cheery ‘Lucky’ flickers between moments of calm on tour and the unavoidable horrors of the news cycle, while the slow-burning ‘Knotted’ showcases complicated, messy love in all its horrible glory. There’s hard-earned joy here, too. ‘Two-Fried’ (co-written with fellow indie darling Samia) sees Teitelbaum flirt with self-love; on the dreamy ‘Sea Legs’, she rattles through a list of her favourite things .

After the one-two origin story of her first two records, there’s a liberated freedom to Teitelbaum’s storytelling here: less diary confessional, more conversational poetry. This turns the swaggering ‘Stone Fruit’ into an open-ended exploration of human connection, but it also makes lines such as “when I PMS, my face looks different” from the jangly indie of ‘Trojan Horse’ hit even harder. Live, those moments are going to inspire deafening singalongs.

released September 25th, 2026

Sabrina Teitelbaum’s next album as Blondshell promised to be a major leap forward from a songwriting and production standpoint, and lead single “T&A” hints at the evolution to come: with glum recollections of a regretful hook-up, an anthemic chorus that asks unanswerable questions and electric guitar work that charges up the song’s energy, “T&A” is a home run of an opening statement, and the sound of Blondshell becoming an indie star.

“T&A” by Blondshell, from the new album ‘If You Asked For A Picture’ out May 2nd on Partisan Records

This week, Blondshell (Sabrina Teitelbaum) released he new album she shared the song “Heart Has to Work So Hard,” her first new music since her critically acclaimed album “If You Asked For A Picture” and its companion release “Another Picture”. The track is out now via Partisan Records and follows its live debut at Coachella.

The song deals with the fallout of a fractured friendship as Blondshell explains: “This song is really about friendship and betrayal, getting stuck in a dynamic and letting things fester. It’s about pain and confusion, no one trains you for the ups and downs of a friendship between two women, but it’s also about a love so enduring that you find compassion no matter what.”

out now on Partisan Records

Uncle Tupelo was an alt- country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active from 1987 to 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records before signing with Sire Records and expanding to a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band’s major-label debut album “Anodyne”, Farrar announced he was leaving the band due to a soured relationship with Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo split on May 1994, after completing a farewell tour. Farrar then formed Son Volt with Heidorn, while the remaining members continued as Wilco.

Although Uncle Tupelo broke up before it achieved commercial success, the band is renowned for its impact on the alternative country music scene. The group’s first album, “No Depression”, became a byword for the genre and was widely influential. Uncle Tupelo’s sound was unlike popular country music of the time, drawing inspiration from styles as diverse as the hardcore punk of Minutemen and the country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams. Farrar and Tweedy’s lyrics frequently referred to Middle America and the working class of Belleville.

Uncle Tupelo is one of the most influential alternative country acts ever. Releasing four amazing records before splitting into Wilco and Son Volt, they truly left a mark on the music scene. Pre-order their first three albums, “No Depression”, “Still Feel Gone” and “March 16-20, 1992″.

Released in October 1993, “Anodyne” was the fourth and final album by alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo. Cut live in the studio in Austin, Texas, the record moves from the driving energy of “Chickamauga” and “The Long Cut” into “Anodyne” and “Acuff-Rose,” where fiddle and pedal steel add a flash of Cosmic American colour.

The album ended Uncle Tupelo’s short-but-remarkable run, with the breakup soon giving rise to two new bands: Wilco and Son Volt. In the new liner notes, music journalist Mark Deming reflects on the album’s lasting weight. “”Over those two weeks in Austin, Texas, recording “Anodyne”, Uncle Tupelo created both a grand finale and a new beginning, and the music and the emotions ring just as clear more than three decades on.”

These are official European pressings from Music On Vinyl, a reissue label that is known for high quality sound, art, and TLC. All three have been out of print since 2021,

“Still Feel Gone” (1991) is the second album by American alternative country pioneers Uncle Tupelo. While its predecessor “No Depression” was filled with uptempo tracks, their follow-up effort showcases a band taking a closer look at the middle ground by acoustic guitars. “Still be Around” and “Looking For A Way Out” are great examples of tracks with high-strung acoustic guitars.

On this album, Uncle Tupelo sounds even more powerful than before. And the broader picture of the abilities of Farrar, Tweedy, and Heidom confirms a strong combination. This reissue gives the album the special treatment it deserves.

“March 16-20, 1992” is the third studio album by alternative country band Uncle Tupelo, released in 1992.

The title refers to the five-day span during which the album was recorded. An almost entirely acoustic recording, the album features original songs and covers of traditional folk songs in near-equal number, and was produced by Peter Buck, guitarist with R.E.M.

With Uncle Tupelo‘s popularity on the rise, “March 16-20, 1992” sold more copies than their first two albums, “No Depression” and “Still Feel Gone”, combined. The album generated positive reviews.

“No Depression” is cited as one of the most important albums in the alternative country genre. Due to the impact of the album on alternative country, the term ‘No Depression’ is sometimes used as a synonym for the genre – especially after a country music magazine named itself after the album.

The album helped kick start a revolution which reverberated throughout the American underground. In 1999, Spin Magazine listed the album as one of the Top 90 Albums of the 90s. Its punk attitude, combined with Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy’s lyrical depictions of rural, blue-collar life paint grim portraits of Midwestern existence, left a long-lasting legacy.

Don’t miss out on these if you’ve been waiting. These are official European pressings from Music On Vinyl, a reissue label that is known for high quality sound, art, and TLC. All three have been out of print since 2021, and those clear versions from MOVLP go for $100+ over on Discogs. They are excellent, and I suspect these will be on par with them, just on black vinyl.

“Cyano” is Emily A. Sprague’s first studio solo album since 2020’s “Hill, Flower, Fog”, following 2025’s “Cloud Time“, a modular synthesizer album recorded live in Japan, and “Double Moon“, a 7” single released earlier this year

The album is the first to combine Sprague’s intuitive synthesizer music with the songwriting she’s known for with her band Florist, introducing singing into her previously instrumental persona

Intentionally primitive and minimal, Sprague’s vocals are a static-y transmission that marks a technical and symbolic juncture, with experimental, formless music that deconstructs the more conventional song styles of Florist.

For fans of Ana Roxanne, Boards of Canada, Green-House, Mouse on Mars, Laurel Halo, Florist

Linda’s Head is the first new album in over a decade from Pacific Northwest trio Liz Harris on guitar and vocals, Scott Simmons on bass, and Jed Bindeman on drums.

Like 2015’s The Original Faces, it deepens their intimate take on bedroom dream pop: a shoegaze of half-light and silhouettes, tuned to melody, melancholy, and undertow.

The title bends across several meanings: head in the clouds, a severance, a made-up landform reaching into the sea. Waves, storms, and escape run through the lyrics, with hints of the New Zealand pop underground, while the trio’s chemistry stays warm, weathered, and beautifully close.