The Fat Angel Sings

The first studio album from Car Seat Headrest in five years, ‘The Scholars.’ From Shakespeare to Mozart to classical opera, Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo pulled from the classics when devising the lyrics and story arc of ‘The Scholars,’ while the music draws, carefully, from classic rock story song cycles such as The Who’s ‘Tommy’ and David Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust.’ “One thing that can be a struggle with rock operas is that the individual songs kind of get sacrificed for the flow of the plot,” Toledo notes. “I didn’t want to sacrifice that to make a very fluid narrative. And so this is sort of a middle ground where each song can be a character and it’s like each one is coming out on center stage and they have their song and dance.”

While Car Seat Headrest started as Toledo’s solo project, the four-piece is now fully a band. “What we’ve been doing more of in recent years is just taking the pulses of each other.” says Toledo. “It didn’t really feel to me like things got in sync in an inner feeling way until this record, with that internal communal energy. And it’s become that band feeling for me in a much more realized way. That’s been a big journey.”

It is a journey that listeners will want to embark on again and again as they absorb and discover the rich depths and clanging resonances of ‘The Scholars.’

released May 2nd , 2025 Matador Records

‘Interesting Corners’ marks the return of Ulrika Spacek and their first new material since 2023’s “Compact Trauma“

“We’re happy to say we’ve been making a lot of music in the past year but this felt like a song that stood on its own, so we’ve decided to let it free. It’s a pretty sentimental song for us as we started working on it during our last US tour, listening to it and discussing it in the van whilst travelling through the American landscape, it became a soundtrack in and of itself.”

Ulrika Spacek headline the ICA on Friday 9th May as part of Tough Love’s 20th birthday celebrations.

released May 2nd, 2025

“(Not) Indoor Safari Vol. 1” finds Nick Lowe joined by Los Straitjackets for a career-spanning set of Nick’s celebrated staples and tunes from their newest studio album, “Indoor Safari. Recorded across a series of shows from their 2024 tour, you’ll hear brand new versions of all-time Lowe’s such as “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” and “When I Write the Book,” as well as the acclaimed compositions from Nick’s later period, including “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide” and “Blue on Blue.” After spinning this platter, you’ll see why Forbes declares that “Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets are a match made in heaven.”

releases August 1st, 2025 Nick Lowe Ltd. Under exclusive license to Yep Roc, LLC.

Nick Lowe: vocal & acoustic guitar
with Los Straitjackets
Eddie Angel: guitar & vocal
Pete Curry: bass
Chris Sprague: drums & vocal
Greg Townson: guitar

Eyelids contains former and current members of: GUIDED BY VOICES, STEPHEN MALKMUS/JICKS, THE DECEMBERISTS, CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN.
Eyelids have turned inwards to their loves of New Zealand/Flying Nun guitar buzz , their teenage L.A. paisley underground obsessions, haunts of early Athens and all things beautiful, lopsided and rock. 

Eyelids are celebrating 10 years of lopsided rock with this new 2xLP release, “No Jigsaw” (their 20th vinyl offering). A look back as well as forward, it features tracks from their out-of-print 7″s, a multitude of unreleased songs & a slew of recent recordings. Get in…

Covers of: The Cars, Stereo Total, Big Dipper, The Clean, The Fall, Depeche Mode, John-Paul Sartre Experience, Camper van Beethoven, The Moles, Echo and the Bunnymen, Straightjacket Fits and Peter Buck

“Noisy and absorbed, blissful and punchy, moving and anthemic” – Shindig, 5 stars

“Evokes the feel of R.E.M.’s Reckoning with the brightness turned up and Big Star’s Radio City” – Mojo, 4 stars

released March 8th, 2024

I recorded these classic murder ballads for the audiobook version of Katy Horan’s newly released Murder Ballads: Illustrated Lyrics and Lore.

The book unearths the true and fictional stories behind twenty traditional murder ballads, exploring the beauty and horror of the art form through stories, lyrics, and original illustrations. These versions are stripped down, featuring just me on vocals and harmonies and Milky Burgess on guitars, and some atmospherics and riffs

PS- news of my brand new album coming very soon, xxx Marissa released May 1st, 2025

Vocals- Marissa Nadler
Guitar – Milky Burgess

Originally released in 1991 by Slash Records.  Slash records signed the Verlaines, another long-running New Zealand pop band. But where the Chills produced arguably their finest record ever for Slash the first time out, the Verlaines didn’t quite deliver on the promise of their years of indie releases with 1991’s “Ready to Fly”. On previous albums like “Some Disenchanted Evening” and the singles compilation “Juvenilia”, leader Graeme Downes blended a propulsive, brooding form of Kiwi guitar pop with some considerably more sophisticated elements, including perfectly realized string, woodwind, and brass sections. (Downes has a doctorate in music; the first Verlaines album had been recorded as part of a school project, in fact.)

The album was recorded in Sydney, Australia, It was credited that “it’s reminiscent of the Beatles without being a Beatles ripoff, and many of the songs could be show music without losing any of their pop-rock atmosphere.” The songs off “Ready to Fly” prove the Verlaines have the power trio thing down, but it’s still too concerned with tasteful rather than tasty, at its busiest and most dense, the album is still about guitars (electric and acoustic), melody with a killer hook.

On “Ready to Fly”, those two elements of the Verlaines’ music are bifurcated, with only three songs featuring the typical orchestrations, this time almost entirely by themselves, and the other nine songs being unadorned, straightforward guitar pop. This division makes little sense, but aside from that caveat, the songs on “Ready to Fly” are a uniformly strong lot, with the opening “Gloom Junky” an appropriately downcast opener for a less-than-upbeat selection of tunes.

From the original demos for the album “Ready To Fly” released May 1, 2025

Simple Minds will release, “Live in the City of Diamonds“, a new live album, in April. The performance was recorded at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, and songs include ‘Waterfront’, ‘Love Song’, ‘New Gold Dream’, ‘Promised You A Miracle’, ‘Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)’, ‘Alive and Kicking’, ‘Sanctify Yourself’ and, inevitably, ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’.

The new album “Live in The City of Diamonds”, out April 25th 2025. Listen to the first track ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ now.

Recorded at a sold-out Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, this release captures the band on stage in front of 17,000 people and completes the triptych of the Live in The City series dating back to 1987.

“All we wanted was to be in ‘a great live band’ and to spend our lives taking our music with us around the world. Decades later we still relish that challenge every night on tour. “Live in The City of Diamonds captures both the spirit and fever of Simple Minds live at this moment in time.” – Jim Kerr

This release is available as a 2CD set in deluxe hardcover ‘mediabook’ packaging (24 tracks) or as a 2LP vinyl package (black and ‘clear-with-glitter’ options) which has 18 tracks.

“Live in the City of Diamonds” will be released on 25 April 2025, via BMG.

Songwriter, singer, campaigner and force of nature has died, aged 66, Mike Peters, The former lead singer of The Alarm, has died aged 66. He had been battling cancer for three decades.

In 2019, Peters was awarded an MBE for services to cancer care. Since his diagnosis, he released 10 albums as The Alarm MM++, one as the singer for Big Country, played countless gigs and led several awareness-and-fundraising treks across the world. Doctors first discovered his cancer back in 1996 after he felt “a lump in his collar-bone”. After a seemingly miraculous remission, the cancer returned in 2006. Since then, Peters has dedicated a large part of his life to chronicling his battle with cancer and raising awareness and money through the Love Hope Strength foundation.

Peters’ first band The Toilets were formed in Rhyl, Wales, at the height of the punk explosion in 1977. The Alarm followed in 1981. In 1983, their single “Sixty Eight Guns” made the UK top 20 and affirmed them – alongside peers like U2, Simple Minds and Big Country – as part of a new movement of post-punk bands.

The new breed had neither the aloofness of rock’s old guard nor the nihilism or cynicism of the punks. With albums like 1984’s “Declaration” and the following year’s “Strength”, The Alarm’s statements were bold and full of bravado.  In 1999, he formed Coloursound with The Cult’s guitarist Billy Duffy. He helped pioneer fan-centric events by holding The Gathering, a annual weekend event in Wales, for Peters/Alarm fans. In 2000, promoter John Giddings signed him up to support Big Country on their final tour, and billed him as The Alarm 2000.

The following year, he formed Dead Men Walking a kind of ‘punk supergroup’, with Kirk Brandon (Spear of Destiny) and a revolving cast that included Pete Wylie (of the Mighty Wah!), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Captain Sensible (the Damned) In the years between 2017-23, he released seven albums.

Personal matters and changes in musical fashions, brought the band to an end in 1991. Peters continued with a solo career, He was always a beacon of positivity, he was an inspiration to many – a force of nature who took the energy of punk and transformed its nihilism into something positive and inspirational.

The Prestatyn-born singer leaves behind his wife, Jules, 58, and two sons, Dylan, 20, and Evan, 18.

An eight-time GRAMMY winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Buddy Guy (b. 1936) has long been counted among the greatest guitarists of all time. A key figure in the Chicago blues scene, whose work as a singer, songwriter and guitarist always straddled the line of blues and rock’n’roll, Guy has influenced multiple generations of musicians (Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer, to name a few) during his seven-decade-long career.

After relocating to Chicago in the late ’50s, the self-taught, Louisiana-born artist found his footing in the industry, releasing a pair of solo albums, as well as a handful of projects with harmonica player Junior Wells in the ’60s. Those lucky enough to catch Guy in concert, however, were privy to the full breadth of his talents—from his awe-inspiring extended guitar solos to his soulful vocals. Vanguard Records recognized this and sought to capture the power of his electrifying performances with 1968’s “This Is Buddy Guy!”.

Recorded live at the New Orleans House—an intimate venue in Berkeley, CA—the album puts listeners in the front row, as Guy performs original compositions (including his languid “I Had a Dream Last Night” and the funky “24 Hours of the Day”) with well-chosen covers, such as Little Willie John’s “Fever” and Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood.” Accompanied by a tight-knit band—including saxophonists A.C. Reed and Bobby Fields plus bassist Jack Meyers—Guy is truly at the peak of his prowess.

“Buddy Guy is the most dynamic and influential guitarist to have emerged from the Chicago blues scene, with gospel-shaded vocal chops to match his instrumental skills. He is at his focused best on “This Is Buddy Guy!,” writes Scott Billington. “Whether he is playing a simmering line behind his vocal, or spluttering out a solo with the frenzy of a machine gun, his formidable talents are always at the service of sublime passion.”

One of the most compelling artists of the past five years found herself fully formed in 2024. Nilüfer Yanya’s “My Method Actor” is all the promise of her previous two (highly laudable) full-length records realized with a new assurance. That may seem in contrast with the album’s themes of transition, but one has to be firm in their understanding of self to embrace such transformations — or “Mutations,” as Yanya sings on one standout track. Collaborating closely with producer Will Archer, her smoky vocals and intricate guitar work have never sounded so authentically method.

Speaking about “Method Actor” Nilüfer describes how the concept for the song came together: “I was researching method acting – and from what I read, it’s based on finding this one memory in your life, a life-altering, life-changing memory. The reason why some people find method acting traumatic and maybe not safe mentally, is because you’re always going back to that moment. It can be good or bad but you’re always feeding off the energy, something that’s defined you – and that’s what helps you become the character. It’s a bit like being a musician. When you’re performing, you’re still trying to invoke the energy and emotion of when you first wrote it, in that moment. It definitely feels like you’re having to recreate or step into that headspace.”

While writing “My Method Actor” Nilüfer retreated into the studio with her creative partner, Wilma Archer (Sudan Archives/MF DOOM/Celeste). She had toured her second album, “Painless”, for a year and entered a period of transition, between albums, between record companies, between homes. “My Method Actor” deals a lot with the idea of movement from one part of life and into another.

“This is the most intense album, in that respect,” Yanya says. “Because it’s only been us two. We didn’t let anyone else into the bubble.”

“My Method Actor” was released 13th September via Ninja Tune