Seven months after changing their name from The Warlocks, Grateful Dead were a scuffling, unsigned band searching for an identity when they played Bill Graham’s Independence Ball on July 3rd, 1966. That show — making its vinyl debut exactly 60 years later — captures the transformative energy of a band moving almost too fast to catch.
The original performance was recorded by Owsley “Bear” Stanley and the new release was produced by Grateful Dead legacy manager and archivist Dave Lemieux, and mastered by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering with speed correction and tape restoration by Plangent Processes.
While the Dead’s archive is legendary for its depth, complete high-fidelity documents of the band’s first year are rare. The July 3rd recording — which debuted in 2015 as part of the 50th-anniversary box set “30 Trips Around the Sun” — stands as a primary exception. It captures the group in the midst of a radical mutation, a charged R&B dance band already moving toward new musical terrain in the star-spangled ether of the Independence Ball. At the time, the band featured Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Bob Weir.”
“The heaviest Deep Purple album in many years.” Deep Purple announce new album “Splat!”explores the end of humanity not in any crude apocalyptic sense but as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence”
“Where we are now with this incarnation of Deep Purple feels very much like a very ‘now’ version of Deep Purple as it was in the seventies,” says frontman Ian Gillan. “I have to say, now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with past songs “Highway Star”, “Smoke On The Water”, “Lazy,” the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from 69 to 73.
“Arrogant Boy” the first release comes from Deep Purple’s upcoming 24th album, “Splat!” Classic rock icons Deep Purple, who announced details of their 24th studio album, last week, have launched the first single from the album. “Arrogant Boy“, described by drummer Ian Paice as “a “Highway Star“-style rock’n’roll tune”, features lyrics that’ll leave fans scrambling to figure out who they’re referring to.
“This is the story of Billy, who couldn’t read or write,” says frontman Ian Gillan, with a smile. “He is unhappy with things, so he speaks up, and finds a way of irritating, one way or another, the elite. And I can’t think of anything more fun than irritating the elite. It would be a joyous exercise for me every morning after coffee.”
“It’s a lovely story,” says Paice. “You could use your imagination about who it could be about.”
“It’s amazing,” adds bassist Roger Glover. “What started off as a dubious thought becomes my favourite track on the album.”
Deep Purple have released a second single from their upcoming 24th album, “Splat!” New track “Diablo” follows in the sonic footsteps of first single “Arrogant Boy”, and finds the band in typically frisky form.
According to Purple’s people, “Diablo” opens the door to one of Deep Purple’s surreal new story worlds: the most dangerous place on earth, where a heroine crosses a river, jumps into a fighting pit, celebrates with a bucket of wine, falls into the glitter pool and somehow makes it back home with a tale to tell.”
“It is all about taking chances,” advises frontman Ian Gillan. “Just for once in your life, do something exciting, step out of the mould, take that curious bend in the road instead of sticking to the highway and do something that will, for the rest of your life, either guide or warn you.”
“Diablo” also features some additional guitar work from country star Keith Urban, who seems to be making a habit of this sort of thing, and also appears on “Brown Paper Bag”, the new single from ZZTop man Billy F Gibbons.
Deep Purple have released another new single from their upcoming album “Splat!” The supercharged “Guilt Trippin’envisages a conversation between God and Charles Darwin, the pair sharing a pint or two as they reflect on how things on Earth have not exactly worked out as intended.
“The song starts, and I’m in the studio,” says Gillan. “I don’t have any words for it yet. So I just start screaming. It was the pure joy of yelling it.
“I vowed when I was 40 that I’d stop screaming by the time I was 60. Now I’m looking back and thinking, ‘Whatever happened to that?’ So we’ll give it a go.”
“Guilt Trippin” in the third single to emerge from Deep Purple’s upcoming twenty-fourth album “Splat!”
“Guilt Trippin’ follows the release of first single “Arrogant Boy” in May, and “Diablo” earlier this month, and is accompanied by a video in which a fly and a sycamore-seed spaceship embark on a wild ride through an increasingly surreal landscape.
Deep Purple’s 2026 world tour is currently on the road in Europe, with North American shows scheduled for August and September. Further European dates follow, climaxing in a run of UK shows in November.
“Splat!”, which is produced by regular collaborator Bob Ezrin, will be released on July 3rd
Know well the cost of artistic integrity. In 2020, the Ontario duo – Cody Bowles (vocals/drums) and Kevin Comeau (guitar/keyboards/bass) – were the hottest tip in blues rock, backed by Universal Canada for their self-titled debut and toasted as Breakthrough Group at Canada’s Juno Awards. But when the pair decided – on 2023’s appropriately titled “Fearless” – that their hearts beat to a proggier time signature, the industry turned cold on them.
Now, as they release new album “Apocalypse“, they tell us they prefer to be on the bottom rung of a ladder they actually want to climb, rather than a higher rung of one they don’t.
Formed in 2015, the Canadian progressive rock duo Crown Lands have garnered acclaim in recent years with their self-titled debut album released in 2020, followed by the brilliant 2023 follow-up, Fearless. Now signed to InsideOutMusic, the Juno Award-winning group is poised to take the next step in their journey. While the duo, made up of vocalist and drummer Cody Bowles and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Comeau, work on their third studio album, they are first set to release a pair of ambitious instrumental albums titled Ritual I & Ritual II. Both albums are layered with drums, synths, and various bits of percussion to create a complex tapestry of music unlike anything they have created before.
Recorded during the uncertain period of the pandemic, with the band unable to enter the studio or tour, Bowles and Comeau looked for a creative outlet. “I suppose this record became our act of defiance against stagnation, in a time when so many familiar lights around us flickered out in the deafening silence. It was a glimmer in our darkness,” claims Bowles. “Ritual I” was made during a tumultuous time in our lives, alongside producer Justin Meli in our little B Room at Chalet Recording Studios. It served as a reprieve from the upending haze of the pandemic, far from the high-pressure studio sessions that typically accompanied the pursuit of our mainstream sound.”
Beginning each day with a communion of Psilocybin, followed by yoga and meditation and equipped with a handful of demos created over a few weeks, Bowles and Comeau, started working on the music that would become “Ritual I”.
Bowles explains, “The Serpent,” was the first we recorded, and it wasn’t even one of the demos we’d made to track. It all came together spontaneously within a single day. Perhaps it was the excitement of it all, of beginning something new, or maybe it was the moment Graham Shaw walked in with a collection of the coolest African percussion instruments I’d only ever dreamed of playing— now sitting right there in front of me. Whatever it was, it was magic.”
Bowles continues, “I had studied West African hand drumming, dancing, singing, as well as Afro-Cuban kit drumming for five years in university, so I saw this as a perfect chance to showcase a dimension of myself (and by extension, the band) that few listeners might come to expect from a loud Prog Rock band. We knew right from the onset this record was going to be out-there, with me playing an array of flutes while drumming polyrhythmic bliss over Kev’s undulating and expansive aural matrices of synthesis.”
Other songs follow naturally, eventually resulting in the completion of “Ritual I”. A couple of years later, the idea of “Ritual II” came to be. This time, they recorded the music themselves with Comeau spearheading the recording.
“We wanted to record this one ourselves as our own decompression from the mechanical precision of the Fearless sessions with David Bottrill. It didn’t follow the same process as the first time around, and it was certainly not as fungal! The only constant between the two was the ritual of coming together under a different pretence to the norm—not to fulfill a specific expectation or outer pressure, but rather to create solely with the joy of creation in our hearts. In a special way, this record was truly our own in a way none other had been before,” says Bowles.
While most of the tracks began without a plan and even without direction, the resulting music mysteriously fell into place. The process became a rhythm of its own, a natural cycle that guided the pair.
Bowles concludes, “It felt liberating to be so free with our creativity, and it was the next logical step for Kev and I, both in musicality and in scope: more textures, more strings, more complexity. We hope you enjoy these two journeys into unknown realms, and uncover the mysteries of the “Ritual” for yourself.”
The studio version appears on the album ‘Apocalypse’ 15th May 2026 via InsideOutMusic.
Defying the odds of emerging from one of the most economically deprived areas of the UK, West Lothian, which succumbed to the devastating effects of Thatcher’s de-industrialisation in the 80’s, The Snuts proved themselves to be only Scottish band to break through and gain international acclaim in the past 5 years, despite the unprecedented challenges stacked against them.
After rising from grass roots venues to sold-out arenas, The Snuts return with their most personal album to date. Since their chart-topping 2021 debut “W.L.”, the band have consistently evolved, refusing to be defined by genre, both with their follow up LP, the politically angst driven “Burn theEmpire” (2022) and in 2024, their energetic pop-driven “Millennials”.
Their new record, “Joy In Short Moments”, pairs anthemic songwriting with honest themes of mental wellness, crisis, identity, growth and belonging after a succession of life changing events leading to their most personally raw and visceral songs to date.
Standing on the brink of their biggest chapter yet; The Snuts return their raucous new single ‘Motherlands’ and the emphatic ’Summer Rain’ on this extremely limited edition 7” vinyl. Having cemented their status as one of the UK’s most exciting acts, achieving three Top 3 albums in just three years; The Snuts are gearing up for something very special on the horizon.
With their ever-mutating brand of jazz-and-country-laced punk, Opus Kink have always cut a singular figure in a saturated landscape. Making their name with incendiary, cult-like live shows, the band – formed in Brighton (UK) in 2017 — has developed a sound as elusive as it is recognisable.
Underscored by a formidable horn section and ragged, sardonic delivery, the band bear passing resemblance to post-punk and no-wave acts like The Pop Group, Birthday Party and Lounge Lizards, but it’s the weaving of older, more traditional influences – choral, folk, country, Latin, Weimar cabaret, cruise-ship-crooning – into the fabric of their music that sets them apart.
Their highly anticipated debut album “The Sweet Goodbye” is released via So Recordings and follows a series of EPs and singles.
The album is produced by Grammy award-winning producer and mixer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Florence and The Machine, Baxter Dury, REM, Kronos Quartet, Sam Fender), with album track ‘The Head Tree’ featuring The New Eves (No.1 Independent album in 2025).
From the upcoming debut album ‘The Sweet Goodbye’, out 31st July 2026
Phoebe Bridgers is known for a restrained vocal style and lyrics that move between close-up confession and broader reflection. Alongside solo albums “Stranger in the Alps” and “Punisher”, she has collaborated widely, including as part of boygenius. Her songs favour carefully observed detail, dry wit and an unforced sense of intimacy.
Beloved in equal measure for her deceptively subtle voice and her meticulous, incisive lyrics, PhoebeBridgers’s solo records have been accompanied by a number of collaborations, including the supergroup boygenius, with whom Bridgers won three Grammys for 2023’s the record. Her songs are hallmarked by a kind of intimacy that’s hard-found in contemporary music, and scale between the macro and the micro with an ease that’s matched only by her towering, prodigious way with words.
Already with a sold-out arena tour on deck for late 2026 in the United States and the U.K., singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has now announced a new studio album, “Lost Weekend“.
Bridgers’ third full-length will be released August. 14th via Dead Oceans. The album’s first song will be “Lost Boys,” which features Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Alex G, Jack Antonoff, Christian Lee Hutson, Blake Mills, and others.
It is accompanied by an epic music video featuring Bridgers at a Renaissance faire taking part in Live Action Role Playing..
Here’s how a news release summarizes “Lost Weekend”:
… anyone queuing up “Lost Weekend” can expect to discover something more remarkable still – Bridgers is at the height of her powers, a master, taking nothing more seriously than this craft, refining here many of the motifs that distinguished her work previously on this new album that’s otherwise, everywhere, full of surprises.
The album announcement follows a series of concerts where the singer debuted her first new material in three years, culminating in a phone-free show at New York’s Madison Square Garden and the unveiling of a fall tour (dates below).
The album cover appears below; no further details were announced, although reports say she has been working with Taylor Swift/ Lana Del Rey collaborator Jack Antonoff and singer-guitarist Alex G (who opens dates on her tour).
The Jayhawks announce their new album, “Sanctuary Park“, out August 28thvia Thirty Tigers, along with the lead single, “Keeping Our Heads Above Water,” and a fall North American tour. Produced by Bob Ezrin, “Sanctuary Park” shows why The Jayhawks remain such an important band after more than four decades. They’ve created music that embodies the enduring spirit and soul of classic American songwriting. Song after song the needle-perfect pop melodies, lush three-part harmonies and thoughtful lyrics reflect their genre-defying, category-busting style that dates back to the band’s pioneering days in post-punk Minneapolis when they foretold today’s Americana movement. Defying the winds of fashion, the band has always stuck to what it does best: write and perform great songs, whether on stage or in the studio.
For “Sanctuary Park”, The Jayhawks are reuniting with the legendary Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed), who produced our 2000 album Smile, a “classic,” according to The New York Times.
When he heard Gary Louris was seeking a producer Ezrin immediately signed on, and invited the band to his hometown of Toronto to record. “I love their music,” says Ezrin. “There is gentleness and a sweetness to their sound, and I found myself craving a little bit more of that.“
A conscious decision was made to highlight the strengths of the band – Louris’s songwriting, the band’s trademarked three-part harmonies, and the intuitive interplay between Louris, keyboard player Karen Grotberg, drummer Tim O’Reagan and bassist Marc Perlman – on display on today’s “Keeping Our Heads Above Water.” This interplay only comes with years of playing together, creating their own musical vocabulary. “Get us in a room together and there’s no one better; we have a certain musical magic that happens without even a word or a discussion.” Playing live in the studio made this record what it is… a time, a place, music of the moment.
While the album title references an actual location in Dundas, Ontario, “Sanctuary Park” is also a fictional place where distant memories re-emerge, childhood friends from years prior start speaking again, and teenage lovers start lives that their older selves are determined to renew. In these songs the hands of time tick past regrets and move toward greater possibilities.
The album has a definite sense of place. Not only was it recorded in Canada with a Canadian producer and Canadian engineers in a Canadian studio, but lyrically there are numerous references specific to Canada. After marrying his wife Stephanie, a born and bred proud Canadian, Louris became a permanent resident, giving him a somewhat unique view and perspective that has contributed to the content of these songs. Ironically, although the band has always had the tag of a true “American” band, in truth there has always been something truly Canadian about their sound.
Sanctuary Park arrives at a momentous time for the band as they celebrate their 40th year – the Jayhawks self-titled first record (known to fans as The Bunkhouse Album) was released in 1986. The Jayhawks have played most every major music festival, from Farm Aid to Primavera Sound, Pinkpop to Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. In the tradition of The Band and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Jayhawks have toured with and served as backup band for many of music’s most acclaimed visionaries, including Ray Davies, Roger McGuinn, and Johnny Cash.
The band will be touring throughout the world in the fall of 2026 and spring of 2027 to promote the new album and build upon their already impressive legacy.
“Sanctuary Park”, the 12th Jayhawks studio album, is set for release on August 28th, 2026 via 30 Tigers.
Their first album in 12 years by Inspiral Carpets ‘Burn Like The Sun’ is out on 29th January 2027 via Scruff of the Neck Records.
Recorded at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, “Burn Like The Sun” arrives 43 years into the band’s story, not as a nostalgia exercise, but as the sound of a group still evolving, still ambitious and still creatively driven. The album marks a major new chapter for Inspiral Carpets, rooted in endurance, connection and forward motion.
At the centre of that story is the return of original frontman Stephen Holt, whose rejoining of the band reconnected Inspiral Carpets with their earliest creative identity while opening the door to an entirely new era. Rather than revisiting the past, the band approached “Burn Like The Sun” determined to create something fresh, relevant and emotionally honest – a record that acknowledges their history without being defined by it.
“In the vast expanse of the universe, there are billions of suns. Some flicker briefly…and fade.
But others, rare, extraordinary; burn long and bright. Defying time. Enduring. Evolving.
For decades, Inspiral Carpets have been one of those stars. A constant force…radiating energy across generations.
Now, that journey continues. “Burn Like The Sun”. A new album. A new chapter. The same unrelenting fire.”
An extended hiatus left the future of the band uncertain, and the return to writing and recording became something deeper than simply making another record. What emerged is an album rooted in endurance, connection, and forward motion. Announcement video shot authentically in Manchester beneath Helios by Luke Jerram at Victoria Baths, narrated by Professor Brian Cox.
The Cramps’ Lost Album Gravest Gravy featuring unreleased recordings from the 1977 sessions that spawned “Surfin’ Bird” and “Human Fly”
The Cramps formally ended in 2009 following the sudden death of their co-founder Lux Interior. Ever since, there’s been no new music, reissues, or archival releases from the band, not even after Jenna Ortega’s viral dance to “Goo Goo Muck” in Wednesday caused a surge of interest. That changes today with “Gravest Gravy”, a lost collection of songs the Cramps recorded with Big Star frontman Alex Chilton in 1977. It’s out August 21st via Vengeance.
Listen to the previously unreleased track “TV Set” below.
In October 1977, the Cramps recorded their first two 7″ singles—“Surfin’ Bird” with “The Way I Walk,” and “Human Fly” with “Domino”—with Chilton producing, which they released the following year on their own label.
Come 1979, they bundled the four songs with a cover of Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town” and called it the “Gravest Hits” EP. During those storied sessions, the Cramps also tracked a number of additional songs, many of which never saw the light of day.
“In 2026, Larry Hardy, owner of In The Red, surfaced with what he’d returned to topside with: six ¼” reels of tracks, mixed by Lux [Interior] and [Poison] Ivy…
“Gravest Gravy” is one of the purest collections of unrestrained, wild music you’ll ever hear. The Cramps were one of the greatest bands in the history of recorded music, and anyone who heard or saw them, knows and abides by this groovin’ truth. The Cramps made this music for the love of Rock ’n’ Roll. Lux and Ivy made this record for you.” – Henry Rollins
Nearly a decade later, Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy returned to those sessions hoping to release the recordings. Yet, for “reasons lost to time,” per a press release, they were shelved. Fast forward to present day, where Brian Kehew transferred the music from the old reels, which were in “pristine condition.” From there, Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye, both longtime friends of the Cramps, listened to the multiple mixes available for each song and agreed on the final versions. MacKaye then volunteered to handle EQ and level adjustment on two tracks with Don Zientara at Virginia’s Inner Ear Studios, while Pete Lyman mastered the final versions at Nashville’s Infrasonic Sound and Poison Ivy gave them the final stamp of approval for public listening.
“This new chapter for the band is a combined effort of people whose lives were changed by the music of the Cramps,” Rollings wrote in a statement. “the opportunity to bring this music to fellow Cramps fans is beyond a thrill. It is an absolute honour that we feel so fortunate to be a part of.”
Additionally, Poison Ivy has formed the Cramps, Inc. with In the Red Records owner Larry Hardy and the Cramps’ former producer-turned-film catalog owner Jimmy Maslon. Under the title, they’re restarting the Vengeance imprint, planning to reissue the band’s past records, and finally listing official merch for the Cramps. (The latter is a bigger deal than it sounds considering the majority of the Cramps’ current merch in circulation is bootlegged.) As the press release notes, Poison Ivy is the major beneficiary, while Larry and Jimmy handle all the logistics.
Dead Pioneers should be the soundtrack to your discontent this summer as the country celebrates its milestone birthday with nary a mention of the genocides that occurred to “Make America Great Again”. The band, led by artist Gregg Deal, are on the rise with their brand of acerbic, rage-filled punk
Gregg Deal worries about life in America right now. As a man with Native American roots, he understands division and oppression. On Dead Pioneers’ new album “Wagon Burner”, he says there’s great responsibility in saying what needs to be said about where things are at. “There’s a lot to be fixed on its best day. But we’re going backwards…”
Dead Pioneers blaze a path through modern punk-rock with a sound that harks back to the days of 90’s west-coast American punk, but with a strong lyrical focus on Gregg Deal’s indigenous heritage, and cultural issues in the USA as a whole. A brilliantly hefty, scathing blast of noisy punk rock. Just what we need.
Sonically, you can hear greats like Dead Kennedys (not the inspiration for the band name, though, by the way), Suicidal Tendencies, and Minutemen, with the rebellious heart of Public Enemy. The lead single from their newest, “Wagon Burner”, is “Nazi Teeth”, a rager with guest vocals from StephanieByrne of Cheap Perfume. “Nazis, fascists, and incel scum, go back to where you came from,” snarls Deal.
It’s a powerful opening salvo, and the rest of the tracks build on the promise of their previous releases. Sleaford Mods show up for “The Worst Among Us”, and “Never Alone” is an upbeat ode to punk rock’s ability to save lives that features the Interrupters. In the late 1980s, hip-hop was the real world’s CNN. In 2026, it’s easy to hear Dead Pioneers carrying the torch with these songs.
‘The Worst Among Us’ by Dead Pioneers, featuring Jason Williamson. Taken from the album ‘Wagon Burner’
The Fat Angel Sings 