The Fat Angel Sings

Like The Clash’s 1977 debut before it, “Inflammable Material” is a record that’s impossible to divorce from the historical backdrop against which it was created. Born in the thick of The Troubles, Stiff Little Fingers’ debut cuts with razor hooks and even sharper sociopolitical commentary that pinned punk rock’s proud anti-authoritarian leanings to something tangible. Far from sloganeering, “Inflammable Material” bristles with hard, street-born truth, documenting life in a war-torn corner of the world bereft of hope. Jake Burns’ haggard growl aptly captures the record’s anger and desperation, and the band’s marriage of punk rock and early American rock and roll made for songs that were both cathartically fierce and catchy as hell. There’s no fat or extraneous filler to be found anywhere on the 13-track outing, which teems with almost feral political urgency,

Many bands readily act the part, but Stiff Little Fingers live out the strife and blue collar frustrations they sing about. “Inflammable Material” walks the walk, and no record to date has come close to matching its tried-and-true brand of incendiary street punk. Essential Track: “Suspect Device” remains an anthem of disenfranchisement more than 40 years on. Has Burns’ paranoia taken him off the deep end or have the powers that be truly made life this bad?

Originally released in 1979 at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the album depicted volatile life in Belfast at the time and was met with critical acclaim.

The formats for reissue are a 4CD+DVD deluxe set, a 2LP vinyl edition and a 2CD version. All offer a new remaster, with the 4CD+DVD set adding previously unreleased demos, John Peel Sessions (some never broadcast), an unreleased 1979 concert from Troon and finally a DVD which includes the Rough Trade 1979 SLF promotional film along with concert footage from Friars in Aylesbury originally broadcast on BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980 and a rare clip of ‘Alternative Ulster’ from the 1979 film Shellshock Rock.

The book-pack presentation features 9,000 words of notes from Stuart Bailie and includes fresh interviews with original band members and manager/lyricist Gordon Ogilvie.

The 2LP vinyl and 2CD editions include the remastered original album on the first disc and add the unreleased Troon live performance on the second. “Inflammable Materials” will be reissued on 27th November 2025, via Parlophone Records.

The Damned will release a new studio album, “Not Like Everybody Else”, early next year. It’s a covers album, dedicated to the memory of Brian James, the band’s founding guitarist, who died in March this year.

Recorded in five days at Revolver Studio, Los Angeles, The Damned line-up for this album is: Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensible on guitar, Rat Scabies on drums (back in the studio with the band for the first time in 40 years), Paul Gray on bass and keyboardist Monty Oxymoron.

Songs on the album include R. Dean Taylor’s 1974 hit ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’ , Pink Floyd’s ‘See Emily Play’, The Animals’ ‘When I Was Young’ and poignantly ‘The Last Time’ by The Rolling Stones featuring Brian James which is taken from his final live performance with The Damned at Hammersmith, in 2022.  

To celebrate the new record, The Damned will play a one-off covers show at Albert Hall, Manchester on 28th January 2026 performing songs from the new album, alongside fan-favourite covers that have marked their career. There’s also going to be a 50th anniversary show at Wembley on Saturday 11 April 2026, 

Depeche Mode‘s upcoming live album, “Memento Mori: Mexico City“, includes four previously unreleased songs from the “Memento Mori” sessions as bonus tracks. A rumination of mortality, “In the End” is a pretty terrific Depeche Mode song, all midtempo mood as they sing “We’re weightless / Floating endlessly / We’ll be dust again / In the end” over layers and layers of very cool-sounding synths. How did this not make the album?

DEPECHE MODE: M is an expressive and dynamic cinematic experience built around footage from the band’s three sold-out Mexico City Foro Sol Stadium shows on the 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour. The feature-length film takes audiences on a musical and spiritual journey, as the songs resonate in real time with fans, illustrating their timeless multi-cultural influence while delving into the profound connection between music, mortality, and Mexican tradition.

Coming up on October 28th is Depeche Mode: M, a documentary film from Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frias, a reflective chronicling of the legendary synth-pop band’s Memento Mori tour in 2023-24. In addition to the film, there will be two accompanying physical releases: The CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray bundles of the Depeche Mode: M film and the CD/vinyl pressings of “Memento Mori: Mexico City” live album. Each of those will be released on December. 5th.

“At its core, our new film ‘M’ is about the deep connection between music, culture, and people—and Fernando Frías, who directed and conceived the film, did a beautiful job telling that story that through the lens of Mexican culture and our shows in Mexico City,” said Dave Gahan.

“Memento Mori: Mexico City” is available as 2-CD and 4-LP vinyl formats, and both feature exclusive live photos from the Foro Sol shows. The Depeche Mode: M DVD and Blu-ray sets come with a full “Memento Mori: Mexico City” concert film.

Released on: 24th October 2025

Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan and frequent collaborator Kyle Pulley team up for a new project fuelled by multi-layered art pop. It’s been way too long since we’ve heard from Hop Along, and even pretty long since we’ve heard much from bandleader Frances Quinlan in general.

The launch of Frances’ solo career was cut short with their debut solo album “Likewise” coming out right before COVID, and they haven’t done much since, outside of contributing a song to the “I Saw the TV Glow” soundtrack, but now Frances is back with the debut EP by a new project, “Parts Work”.

It’s a collaboration with Kyle Pulley, who worked on most Hop Along albums and played in the band Thin Lips, and it features contributions from other familiar faces like Thin Lips singer Chrissy Tashjian (who’s done backup vocals on every Hop Along album) and former Hop Along member Dominic Angelella.

It’s just four songs but the music is so fleshed-out and multi-layered that it feels like a substantial return for Frances. It’s more heavily electronic than Hop Along and more chaotic and maximal than “Likewise”, resulting in a batch of lively art pop arrangements that stand out from everything you’ve heard from Frances before. So it’s fresh but also instantly familiar, thanks to the larger-than-life voice and distinct songwriting style that couldn’t have come from any other person in the world. And damn it feels great to hear that voice again.

Angst again meets danceable riffs on this Bay Area band’s second album that features a duet with Sharon Van Etten, In these dark times and they are bordering on pitch black remembering to have a little fun is important, even as the world crumbles around us. Spiritual Cramp are here to help. After a decade on the scene, the Bay Area band — made up of vets from the hardcore world finally delivered their 2023 debut album, which took inspiration from the party-hardy ‘00s indie scene that gave us The Hives, The Strokes, and The White Stripes and many The O.C. soundtracks. Their second album, produced by John Congleton, expands their range while still delivering danceable, electro-fuelled rock earworms.

“Rude” isn’t all sunshine and rainbows; lyrically, most of the songs have a dark sense of humour that some might just see as dark. But they all deliver fist-pumping riffs and instantly memorable choruses, from the slashing “At My Funeral” (“nobody came”) to the Bloc Party-esque “Automatic,” the ripper “I Hate the Way That I Look,” and “True (Love is Hard to Find),” which finds frontman Mike Bingham questioning his recent move to L.A.

Congleton gives the whole thing what they used to call a radio-friendly sheen, expertly layering synths in with all the guitars. That takes them further into Killers territory on “Crazy” and “Young Offenders,” lets them explore their love of 2-Tone ska and reggae on “Violence in the Supermarket,” and paints a big canvas for “You’ve Got My Number,” an anthemic duet with Sharon Van Etten that has an irresistible “bah-dah-bah-dah” chorus. In another era, that one — and half this record — would’ve been hits.

released October 24th, 2025

Produced and Engineered by John Congleton

Tortoise have announced “Touch“, their first album in nine years, which will be out October 24th on physical formats and streaming on November 11th via International Anthem / Nonesuch. Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker made the album across three cities where members now call home (Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago) and features contributions from Marta Sofia Honer, Skip VonKuske, and Tucker Martine.

The album includes single “Oganesson” from this past spring and the new single from the album is “Layered Presence” which is a tight blast of jazzy, percussive, krautrock with some very interesting sound design elements in there. Watch the video, directed by Mikel Patrick Avery, 

Tortoise – “Layered Presence” taken from the album “Touch” (International Anthem / Nonesuch Records, 2025)

On “We Were Just Here”, Dundalk’s Just Mustard surge out of the shadows from the submerged world of Heart Under with a sound that leans toward light and euphoria. Their signature elements remain intact – warped guitars, cavernous low ends, twisted sound design – but this time the noise is channelled into something warmer and more melodic. Inspired by club spaces and physical joy, the songs strive for immediacy and feeling. Katie Ball’s vocals rise higher in the mix, capturing a conflicted pursuit of happiness that she describes as “trying to feel euphoric, but at a cost.”

Produced by the band and mixed by David Wrench (FKA Twigs, Frank Ocean, Caribou) the album expands their emotional palette while keeping things strange, textured, and uniquely their own. “We Were Just Here” explodes into technicolour, creating a world that feels immediate, haunted and ecstatic.

On “We Were Just Here”, Just Mustard surge out of the shadows from the submerged world of Heart Under with a sound that leans toward light and euphoria. Their signature elements remain intact – warped guitars, cavernous low ends, twisted sound design – but this time the noise is channelled into something warmer and more melodic. Inspired by club spaces and physical joy, the songs strive for immediacy and feeling.

London psychedelic art-rock band Ulrika Spacek have announced their fourth album, “EXPO”, which will be released on February 2026 via Full Time Hobby. The band produced it themselves, recording in London and Stockholm, and they say “in an age of hyperindividualism we are proud to say it is our most collective effort yet.”

“Our music has always been a collage – a bit patchwork, sonically – but what makes this album a landmark for us is that we went one step further and made our own sound bank and essentially sampled ourselves,” they say in a shared statement.

The first single from the record is “Build a Box Then Break It,” and the title also sounds a bit like the album’s mission statement. Washes of synth sweep across the stereo field as crashing, jazzy drums recall Portishead and everything glitches pleasingly. It’s also got a big, cinematic chorus in usual Ulrika Spacek style. 

Rhys Edwards – Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Sampler, Electronics
Joseph Stone – Keyboards, Piano, Guitar, Sampler, Saxophone, Electronics
Callum Brown – Drums, Percussion, Electronics
Syd Kemp – Bass, Electronics
Rhys Jenkins – Guitar

releases February 6th, 2026

UK trio The Orielles have announced their fourth album, “Only You Left”, which will be out March 13th via Heavenly Records. It was made in Hamburg and the Greek island of Hydra with producer and longtime collaborator Joel Anthony Patchett.

After the experimental/improvisational 2022 album “Tableau”, Esmé Dee Hand-Halford, Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford and Henry Carlyle Wade have transformed themselves again. “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums,” says Henry. “It comes naturally,” adds Esmé, “it’s not something we consciously do.”

“As soon as we booked the studios, certain songs just took these paths,” explains Henry. “We were picturing recording it in this cold, clinical space in Hamburg or this laid back, bohemian, church-esque space in Greece. And then that just completely influenced how we played and how they were written.”

The first single from “Only You Left” is its opening song, “Three Halves,” which sets an ethereal melody and vocal to some grungy instrumentation. The band say: “Citing ideas that we took interest in during the early stages of writing the new record, ‘Three Halves’ flips between its absurd contrasts as the name suggests. Built upon a soundscape of droning organs, guitar, and cello it floats between noise and emptiness, precision, and catharsis, welcoming each half leads into the next.”

Henry Carlyle Wade – Guitar, Synth, Organ Esmé Dee Hand-Halford– Bass, Vocals Sidonie B Hand-Halford – Drums, Percussion Lili Holland-Fricke – Cello Taken from their 4th record, ‘Only You Left’ out 13th March 2026 via Heavenly Recordings

The two songs were originally recorded during the sessions for Tamara Lindeman’s seventh The Weather Station album, “Humanhood”. “There were so many strong songs I left off “Humanhood” because the album had such a narrative arc to adhere to, “Lindeman says. “‘Airport’ was one of them that I’m glad to release now. I’ve always hated airports; I find them so dehumanizing. This song tells a story of a person trying to mirror what is around them; that sort of shutting down, not caring, acting like you don’t care even when you really do. At the heart of it though is, of course, an intense longing, and a hope for something alive that feels like it can’t be.” 

Lindeman describes “Only The Truth” as “one of my favourite songs from “Humanhood” and just didn’t make the final track-list at the very last moment, but it feels so relevant and connected with the record. It intersects with ‘Neon Signs,’ it expands on the same idea; that the truth is this sort of lumpen, complicated, organic thing. Falsehoods and lies glimmer, reach towards you, need you; but the truth ‘doesn’t care if you care / all it ever is is there.’”

Meanwhile, the Weather Station’s European and UK tour begins on November 1st. It includes multiple festival appearances, a co-headline date with Destroyer, and a London Jazz Festival performance in which the band will be accompanied by a string quartet.

The two songs were originally recorded during the sessions for the Humanhood album