The Fat Angel Sings

It only took him, what, 32 years since he dropped his underrated 1993 solo debut “In Thrall” on DGC, but expat Guadalcanal Diary lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Murray Attaway sure delivered in spades — or rather, make that delivered in stereo — with his most excellent next-century followup, “tense music plays. . .].” Presented via his own Moonray label on limited-edition colour vinyl, [tense] is an exhilarating, endlessly enjoyable listen from the initial needle drop to the final needle lift — and it provides even more aural goodness upon repeat listens. “It almost takes my breath away,” Attaway sings on Side 1’s lead track, “Breath,” exhibiting a long-learned level of control and emotion in the deliberately extended vowels in its recurring refrain.

The interplay between his naked lead vocal, acoustic guitar, and Ana Balka’s violin on the ensuing track, “Stars Behind the Moon,” is also breathtaking in its own right — as is the payoff looooong-vowel extension in the back half of “Hole in the Ground,” the track that follows it.

And don’t get me started on the snarling, sultry groove drama comprising “Old Christmas” (Side 2, Track 2) — or maybe do. “The songs tell you how they should sound,”

Attaway said on Zoom earlier this year “I hope the LP sounds honest and genuine — not manufactured,” he continued. “I’m aware that my vocals aren’t perfectly on pitch and all that, but I was okay with it because I thought, ‘Well, this is what I sound like right now’ — and that’s honest.” To modify an old Guadalcanal Diary line, honest is as honest does, so I suggest you go directly to Attaway’s Bandcamp page to get your own copy of this stellar LP right now, in the present tense. (My copy is on orange-crush vinyl, but clear vinyl is what’s currently available.

Mick Abrahams, original Jethro Tull guitarist and founder of blues rock band Blodwyn Pig, died Friday at 82. It is with great sadness that we learned yesterday of the passing of Jethro Tull founding member Mick Abrahams. Mick was vitally important to the early Tull formation out of the ashes of The John Evan Band and McGregor’s Engine, the blues band he formed with Clive Bunker in the Luton/Dunstable area.

Martin Barre, who succeeded Abrahams in Jethro Tull and played with the band until its dissolution in 2011, posted a tribute to his predecessor on Facebook. “My friend and mentor Mick Abrahams has passed,” Barre wrote. “He was so nice to me and that is something I will never forget! What a magnificent guitar player who gave us so much! Rest in peace.”

Born on April 7th, 1943 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Abrahams co-founded Jethro Tull in 1967 alongside Tull vocalist Ian Anderson, bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Clive Bunker. He played on the band’s debut album, “This Was”, released in October 1968.

Abrahams’ tenure with Jethro Tull was short-lived. He left the band in December 1968, in part because of disagreements over the band’s musical direction. Abrahams brought prominent blues rock and jazz fusion elements to the group, while future releases would feature Jethro Tull’s classic mix of prog and folk rock.

Following his departure from Jethro Tull, Abrahams formed the blues rock band Blodwyn Pig. They released two albums, 1969’s “Ahead Rings Out” and 1970’s “Getting to This”, both of which reached the Top 10 on the UK Albums Chart.

“We could hold our own with any company,” Abrahams said in 2018. “It didn’t bother us if we were put on the bill with Crimson or Zeppelin. Nothing changed for us, and nothing phased us.”

“As a strong vocalist and experienced, powerful and lyrical guitarist, Mick commanded the stage in his rendition of “Cat Squirrel” at the Marquee Club and every show we did together – even when we supported Cream on one occasion! “I remember his contributions so very well to the band. Deepest sympathies to his family and friends as well on their loss.”

Blodwyn Pig initially disbanded in 1970 but reformed intermittently over the years. Abrahams formed the short-lived Wommett, then embarked on a solo career, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1971. Several more solo albums followed over the years, as did albums with the reformed Blodwyn Pig.

Health issues later years made it nearly impossible for Abrahams to play guitar. “I had two heart attacks and a stroke almost at the same time [in November 2009]. Those have left their mark on me,” he told Prog. “These days, I can join in a bit on guitar with others, but nowhere near the level I was once able to achieve. That upsets me.”

Abrahams reportedly had a heart attack in 2009. He was reported to have Ménière’s disease a year later. Ménière’s disease is a chronic inner ear disorder due to excess fluid that causes sudden, severe vertigo, tinnitus, fluctuating hearing loss, and ear fullness.

Abrahams released his final solo album, “Revived!”, in 2015. The LP featured several guests, including his Jethro Tull successor Barre. He is survived by his wife Kate, their two sons and his grandchildren.

Throughout a career full of stops and starts, Abrahams kept the same goal. “Making good, honest music,” “without any prejudice.”

The kids are alright when they’re listening to the latest record from Baltimore’s Turnstile. In a world increasingly saturated with AI slop, there’s something powerful in being so authentically human that can make a record stand above the fray — especially when experienced with a live crowd. Expanding on the evolution of their sound from 2021’s “Glow On”, Turnstile don’t shy away from showing their fans how different scenes and styles can show up in their hardcore world, like how “Look Out For Me” winds down into a B’more club interlude.

Turnstile introduce their anticipated follow up to “Glow On” with its title track, a song whose similarity to the previous album’s opening track/lead single “Mystery” is so on the nose that it has be intentional. But if its placement as lead single and opening track made you think you’re in for a ride you’ve been on before, buckle up. After the comfortingly familiar album opener, “Never Enough” is loaded with musical fusions that even Turnstile’s day ones might be caught off guard by. 

In April, Turnstile’s name unexpectedly appeared in vast letters on the backdrop of Charli xcx’s set at the Coachella festival. In the coming months, she suggested, “Turnstile summer” would replace her ubiquitous “Brat summer”. Hedging her bets slightly, she also suggested that 2025 would be the summer of everyone from Addison Rae and Pink Pantheress to Kali Uchis to Pulp. Nevertheless, Turnstile’s name stood out: the quintet are, at root, a hardcore punk band, a product of the fertile Baltimore scene that spawned Trapped Under Ice, Ruiner and Stout. For the most part, hardcore exists in its own world of rigid rules and codes, some distance from the mainstream: extant hardcore punk bands seldom get shouted out by huge pop stars.

“Magic Man.” A song that asks what Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” riff would sound like in Turnstile’s hands? “Slowdive.” The most pop punk Turnstile song since “Blue By You”? “Time Is Happening.” Glitched-out Turnstile with help from A.G. Cook? “Dull.” (Maybe that’s related to the Charli XCX co-sign.) A nearly-seven-minute Turnstile song with an all-timer riff, 

Then again, hardcore punk bands don’t tend to receive Grammy nominations or make the US Top 30, as Turnstile have done. Meanwhile, Charli xcx’s endorsement is just another celebrity nod in the band’s direction after backing from Metallica’s James Hetfield, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, R&B star Miguel and Demi Lovato, who described them as her favourite band. Their tipping point came with the release of 2021’s “Glow On“, on which frontman Brendan Yates moved his shouty vocal style towards singing, and the band expanded their musical remit in unexpected directions. They may be the only act in history to sound like a warp-speed hardcore band in the time-honoured tradition of Minor Threat or the Circle Jerks, and – entirely without irony or satirical intent – like the kind of glossy new-wave 80s pop to which hardcore was once ideologically opposed, on adjacent tracks of the same album.

Four years on, “Glow On’s” stylistic shifts feel like a tentative dry run for “Never Enough”. Yates has abandoned the raw-throated aspect of his vocals entirely: the album’s lyrics seem to be dealing with relationship trauma in characteristic emo style (“lost my only friend”, “it’s unfair” etc), but something about his voice and melodies now recall Police-era Sting; there’s an occasional hint of AutoTune in the mix, too. Some of the experiments Turnstile conducted on “Glow On” are repeated – the vaguely Smiths-y jangle of that album’s Underwater Boi gets another airing on “I Care“, this time around decorated with what sounds like a Syndrum; guest Dev Hynes, better known as alt-pop auteur Blood Orange, is engaged once more on “Seein’ Stars“, this time part of an impressive supporting cast that includes Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Wire star Maestro Harrell and singer-songwriter Faye Webster.

But they’re joined by deeper forays into unexpected territory. Sunshower starts at 100mph, clatters to a halt, then reboots as a wall of proggy synthesiser and a lengthy flute solo, courtesy of Shabaka Hutchings. Dreaming has a curious, vaguely Latin American rhythmic slant, and horns courtesy members of jazzy funk band BadBadNotGood. Dull, meanwhile, melds beefy nu-metal inspired choruses to glitchy electronic verses, the latter presumably the work of “additional producer” and xcx affiliate AG Cook. Elsewhere, there is neon-hued pop punk bathed in a dreamy swirl of echo (Time Is Happening), riffs borrowed from Black Sabbath (Sweet Leaf, to be specific, on Slowdive), distinctly U2-esque guitar solos and divebombing dubstep bass “Never Enough”.

After 20 plus years spent fulfilling their contract for Atlantic Records – a contract Williams signed as a mere teenager Paramore announced in December of 2023 that they were finally an independent band. This surprise collection is self-released by Hayley Williams on her new venture Post Atlantic.

These songs come as the third batch of work released from Williams as a solo artist. The COVID-era saw her release two extraordinary albums – 2020’s “Petals For Armor” and 2021’s “Flowers for Vases“. 

Both albums were gorgeous and stark meditations on loss and offered up a contrast to the high-energy and up-tempo muscle she displays in Paramore. “The record—epitomizing vulnerability and transformative growth—reveals a more mature and introspective side of Williams,” said Pitchfork of Petals, and went on to say of “Flowers” “her voice is undoubtedly the standout feature… husky and gentle, dangerous yet warm,” and explained that the minimal production “makes this a purposeful reset.”

Hayley Williams has had a generational run compiling her work as the frontwoman of Paramore and her two previous solo works “Petals for Armor” and “Flowers for Vases“. Emerging from a twenty-something-year contract with Atlantic Records and having not yet toured any solo work due to covid-19, a twenty-track follow-up album was likely the last thing fans anticipated.

Enter “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party”, standing as Williams’ magnum opus, her first independent release and the most authentic. An album of firsts, “Ego Death” relied on public radio and a unique fan-focused engagement plan, with Williams releasing the album initially as singles, before taking to fan-built playlists for the album’s final tracklist. From initial joke turned bold opener ‘Ice In My OJ’, which revisits one of her earliest projects, the Christian comic Mammoth City Messengers, to the weighty ‘True Believer’ which delves into gentrification, capitalism and the inequalities of Southern Christian culture, “Ego Death” is a powerful reminder of how much of a multifaceted light Williams is.

On ‘Kill Me’ she revisits the topic of generational trauma, a theme which protrudes through much of her solo work, as well as her rootedness and ​​resistance to Nashville, Tennessee’s corporate greed “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party“. Combining the wider themes of socialism and politics, with closer to home themes of self-worth, love and fame, sprinkled across multiple genres and styles. This is a witnessing of renewal, Williams herself outside the constraints of expectation, and it feels like one that’ll be referenced years into the future.

“The Human Fear” is Franz Ferdinand‘s sixth album and their first in seven years (the seventh album if we include their collaboration as FFS with Sparks back in 2015). The line-up has changed, and yet the band sounds as alive and firing on all cylinders as they ever have. It is an album that doesn’t hang about, feeling as fresh as anything they have ever recorded (yes, I am perfectly serious). It’s 11 songs and 35 minutes in length, and it’s very much a case of quality and quantity (I mean, yes, there was a time when people thought an album should fill up an entire CD of approximately 78 minutes and look where that got us).

I’ve tried to work out what the standout tracks are, but over the course of half a dozen listens (and there will be more, believe me) it keeps changing. Which is a pretty commendable state of affairs.

Produced with Mark Ralph, who previously worked with them on their 2013 album “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action“, the album showcases Franz at their most immediate, upbeat and life-affirming, unashamedly going for the pop-jugular in classic Franz style. Recorded at AYR studios in Scotland, the 11 songs on “The Human Fear” all allude to some deep-set human fears and how overcoming and accepting these fears drives and defines our lives.

Ever since their beginnings, throwing illegal parties in condemned Glasgow buildings, Franz Ferdinand have been defined by a fresh, unfading, forward-facing outlook, a transgressive art-school perspective, but with a love of a big song and “The Human Fear” undoubtedly continues in this tradition; distinct yet new, musically, and creatively it’s a record eager to push forward.

Pretty much all written before they hit the studio, the idea was to have a songbook ready before they started recording and once in the studio it was all quickly executed – a lot of it recorded live with the band in the room and many of the vocals on the album being the original takes.

The first studio album to feature members Audrey Tait and Dino Bardot, the record also sees Julian Corrie step forward to collaborate with Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy on songwriting and creative duties. A band for whom the aesthetic and style is almost as important as the sound, as ever the importance of this is reflected in the cover artwork which was inspired by Hungarian artist Dóra Maurer’s self-portrait 7 Twists – Maurer’s work appealed because it does exactly what they want from their music: a striking immediacy that is impossible to ignore, but with a depth and vulnerability that bears many returns and satisfactory repetition.

Maybe this is a set of songs about fear, maybe this is a set of bangers from an era-defining band continuing their unquestionably living legacy. Is that something to be afraid of?

Can it really be almost 30 years since Ash thundered into our lives with their single-laden debut Number One album “1977?” Well that’s what my calendar is telling me so it must be true after all this time, does the world need a 9th proper Ash long player? Well it seems that Ash have decided that they do, and they have chosen to rip up their current playbook and go back to basics, to the formula that made them everyone’s third favourite band (seriously, do you know anyone who doesn’t like Ash?)

On ‘Which One Do You Want?‘, it turns out that Ash do jangle marvellously, it’s quite the delight, and the pop doesn’t stop there, as it rolls straight into another guitar masterclass, this time from their actual real-life Britpop-era chum Graham Coxon, on ‘Fun People’, which he sings on and shreds throughout.

Containing eleven brand new tracks, including their raucous take on surprise single and ‘Beetlejuice’ staple ‘Jump In The Line’, “Ad Astra” sees Blur guitarist Graham Coxon appear on two particularly sassy songs and catches the perennial power-pop kings in especially rocket-fuelled form.

“Ad Astra” follows hot on the heels of 2023’s “Race The Night” (the band’s highest charting album for 20 years), being released two years and one month later, and this is no coincidence. Ever the band who live for live music, Ash vowed that the fierce pandemic-induced five year chasm between [2018 album] “Islands” and “Race The Night” would never happen again.  

Ash release their ninth studio album Ad Astra via Fierce Panda Records.

Stereolab is back with their first album in 15 years, titled “Instant Holograms On Metal Film“. This new album features 13 new studio recordings and is played by Laetitia Sadier, Tim Gane, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson, and Xavi Muñoz.

It also includes contributions from Cooper Crain and Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas, Ben LaMar Gay (composer and jazz multi-instrumentalist), Holger Zapf (Cavern of Anti Matter), Marie Merlet (Monade), and Molly Read, among others.

On “Holograms On Metal Film“, Stereolab have distilled their sound and made a dazzling return. One of the album’s most striking moments is when Laetitia sings, “I’m the creator of this reality” on ‘Vermona F Transistor’. Stereolab has influenced some of today’s best artists (Jane Weaver, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Dummy, Gwenno etc), and the reality she sings of is one only these people together could make. Getting lost in their technicolour world will always be such a pleasure. If they come back soon or if it’s another 15 years, it seems unlikely they’ll ever be taken for granted again. 

Stereolab took an even longer break than Chicago Underground Duo, although there has been some touring since they last released an album, “Not Music“, in 2010. There’s not a trace of rust to be found on this album as it unwinds as a total treat. Compositionally and instrumentally, everything falls into place, and Laetitia Sadier’s voice remains one of the treasures of modern music. Overall, this album compares very well to Stereolab’s earlier work.

New Threats From the Soul is not so much new sounds from the old west as it is a record that completely stretches the boundaries of alternative country music. Along with its predecessor, Dancing on the Edge – 2023’s debut album from Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – this record is also populated by dazzling storytelling, imaginative characters, and a series of songs where the melodies extend outwards before twisting and turning in such unexpected and wonderful ways.

“New Threats From the Soul” Tough Love Records Released on: 2025-07-25

Written by a band on the edge of breaking up (founders Asha Lorenz and Louis O’Bryen fell out during its conception) and mixing scuzzy nursery rhyme melodies with lyrics that lean into self abandonment, “Cosplay” conjures up songs which gnaw at the listeners deepest fears. The title “Cosplay“ and the visual (the band posing in grotty looking masks, hiding their identity) leans into the fourth trauma response fawning  (after fight, flight, freeze) where people blend in, Zelig-like, in order to survive. On the lurching, building-to-breaking-point ‘Candle‘, the protagonist is broken  (“I’m just a candle fitting in/ I don’t get fat, I don’t eat anything“), while the moody ‘Life In This Body’ (“I have loved every version of you“) speaks to the splintering of the self.

Throughout the album, the band repurpose phrases from fizzy, quasi-novelty pop songs and it feels like a juddering wi-fi signal or a radio going in and out of reception. The call and response of Toni Basil‘s ‘Mickey‘ (‘”Hey! Mickey! You’re So Fine! You Blow My Mind! Hey Mickey!“) becomes a lurching, lonely come-on on ‘Waxwing‘; Shaggy‘s ‘Boombastic‘ reads as another line of self abasement for the desperate characters in ‘Jetplane‘. It plays as meta-commentary around the idea of costume and mask wearing, underlining the emptiness of ‘performance without context’. They are also sonic band aids, where words have failed and real connection is oblique and fragmented. “Cosplay” leaves you feeling unsettled but it’s a brilliant, unforgettable gasp from the forgotten. 

Filled with fiery politics at its forefront, and opening track ‘Bad Apple’ dives in at the deep end. Initiating the listener with blaring sirens and distorted bass, before splintering into a raging breakbeat as vocalist Phoebe Lunny proceeds to tear down the British police force, ensuring that no issue or problem with the institution is left undiscussed. To accompany the scathing lyricism that Lunny lays down throughout the album, the instrumentals of each track can be equally as ferocious. It certainly seems as though bassist Lilly Macieira has grown increasingly more confident, with a willingness to explore a breadth of styles that helps to diversify each track from the others.

The anger on display in the opener doesn’t dissipate soon either, ‘Company Culture’ discusses the gross actions of men in professional environments, while ‘Big Dick Energy’ tackles men that pose as caring about women’s issues, but as a ruse to try and make themselves more attractive.. While the album on its surface is so outwardly aggressive, there are layers of introspection that show a new level of depth to the duo’s writing, from the battle to express queerness in such a volatile, queerphobic society on ‘No Homo’, the narration of a battle with an eating disorder on ‘Nothing Tastes As Good As It Feels’, or the experiences of trying to fit in with an undiagnosed condition on “Special, Different.’ Who Let The Dogs Out” is a serious punk album that does well to remain witty and smart even when faced with the world’s biggest issues. It should and hopefully will put the duo right at the forefront of modern punk trailblazers.

Lambrini Girls are a buzzy Brighton punk duo leading the fight for change

The world is on fire, and on their debut album, the Brighton punk-heroes respond by bringing an Exocet missile to a gunfight. Ferocious and funny, their endlessly quotable lyrics skewer police brutality, misogyny and nepo babies over exhilarating barbed-wire riffs, while the riotous party-starting electroclash of ‘Cuntology 101’ provides an empowering (and joyously sweary) manifesto. 

With in-your-face and bombastic by design, you can expect Lambrini Girls‘ Phoebe Lunny to spend most of the gig in the crowd. Their loose, jagged brand of punk continues to call out the abuse, transphobia and misogyny that’s plagued their local scene and beyond for far too long. Their fight for safer, inclusive spaces is one worth rallying behind.