Laura-Mary Carter, best known as one half of the UK alternative duo Blood Red Shoes, has returned with her awesome new single and video for ‘Four Letter Words‘. The track comes ahead of her debut solo album “Bye Bye Jackie”, out September 26th, and an extensive run of headline shows as well as support for Natalie Bergman across the UK and Europe this winter.
Shot in a farm shop in West Wales, “Four Letter Words” video shows Laura-Mary waiting for someone who never shows and turning the empty shop into her own private stage.
‘Four Letter Words’ sashays and sways but has a sting in the tale; Carter’s withering delivery laced with sweetness and skewering dry wit, threading this strutting, hooky song, it skilfully captures the contradictions at the heart of love, its beauty, absurdity, and volatility.
“‘Don’t be late’ sets the stage, though in truth I am rarely on time myself,” Carter explains. “What follows is a sharp-eyed tale of affection’s push and pull, where the four-letter word could be anything, you decide what it is, with a knowing eye-roll at the chaos of caring for someone who drives you round the bend. It’s irony wrapped in melody, humour folded into heartbreak, all carried by a beat that refuses to stand still.”
The single follows on from‘June Gloom‘, Carter’s atmospheric first offering from “Bye Bye Jackie”, which featured a stormy guitar contribution from Lee Kiernan (IDLES) and earned praise for its raw honesty and emotional immediacy. Together, the two tracks set the tone for an album that balances heartbreak with humour, intimacy with intensity.
For four decades, Farm Aid has stood as both a concert and a cause. Founded in 1985 at the height of the farming crisis, the benefit has helped support America’s family farmers through recessions, droughts, and floods, reminding us year after year that music is not just entertainment but a catalyst for solidarity and social change. On Saturday, that legacy was renewed as 37,000 fans filled Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for Farm Aid’s 40th Anniversary. The milestone has arrived at a critical moment, as U.S. farmers once again face mounting economic challenges. With crop prices falling and bankruptcies on the rise, the sense of crisis is eerily similar to the conditions that first inspired Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp to launch Farm Aid.
This years all-star line up reflected Farm Aid’s balance of tradition and progress, featuring co-founders Nelson, Young, and Mellencamp alongside fellow board members Dave Matthews and Margo Price, the youngest addition to the organization’s leadership. They were joined by a diverse roster including Bob Dylan, Billy Strings, Kenny Chesney, Steve Earle, Lukas Nelson, Wynonna Judd, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, and Madeline Edwards.
Throughout the day, collaborations amplified the event’s spirit of solidarity. Lukas Nelson teamed up with Dave Matthews on Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker” and welcomed Sierra Ferrell for a string of duets including Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend”.
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds enlisted fiddler Jake Simpson from Lukas Nelson’s band, while Billy Strings and Jesse Welles joined Price for a fiery take on a cover of Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”.
Welles and fellow newcomer Madeline Edwards, at 32 and 29 respectively, underscored Farm Aid’s generational reach. Edwards impressed early in the afternoon with a soulful set that positioned her as one of the day’s breakout stars. Welles’ set, meanwhile, cut sharp with commentary-laced originals like “The Poor” and “Red”. He cheekily dedicated his song “Philanthropist” to Bill Gates “and the millions of acres of farm land that he’s stolen from the good people of America,” before closing on a lighter note with “Bugs”.
Price, who received her introduction from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, opened with the defiant anthem “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down”, the last song performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! before the host’s controversial suspension. Steve Earle, newly inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, bookended Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats with two appearances, cementing his role as elder statesman, while Wynonna Judd, Eric Burton, Trampled by Turtles, and Waxahatchee each brought their distinct flavours to the nearly 12-hour program.
As always, the concert’s final moments carried the greatest weight. Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Matthews, Price, and the entire Farm Aid family (save for Dylan) gathered for a heartfelt finale of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”, “It’s Hard to Be Humble”, and “I Saw the Light”. Gov. Tim Walz introduced Nelson by praising him as “a man who truly embodies the American spirit—fiercely independent, generous, kind, irreverent, decent, and a bit of a hell-raiser.”
Forty years on, that spirit remains intact, and so does Farm Aid’s mission. “Don’t believe it when they tell you we ain’t in it together,” Dave Matthews told the crowd, reminding them that the challenges facing farmers are shared struggles. As Neil Young indicated during a press conference where he argued Minnesota-based Cargill and other corporations “need to pay a conscience tax to the farmers of America,” the fight is far from over. Yet for one night in Minneapolis, thousands proved that through music, community, and conviction, the circle indeed remains unbroken.
Dylan who have recently finished the Outlaw Festival Tour with Nelson, played: Dylan was accompanied by his current touring band:
All Along The Watchtower I Can Tell [Bo Diddley cover] To Ramona Highway 61 Revisited Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, meanwhile, played:
Big Crime Rockin’ In The Free World Long Walk Home Be The Rain Southern Man Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Old Man
Since the release of their 2023 debut LP ‘Good Time’, Austin TX outfit DAIISTAR have spent the last couple of years touring relentlessly and spreading their baggy noise-pop good times across North America and Europe – be that headline runs of their own or tours supporting the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Dandy Warhols and LA Witch. When over in the UK in September 2024, they holed up at London’s Lightship 95 studio – a floating studio on the Thames – to record this FuzzClub Session LP, which is set to be released digitally and on limited coloured vinyl on September 26th 2025, alongside a series of videos from the session.
DAIISTAR’s ten-track Fuzz Club Session LP – number 21 in the series – perfectly captures the band’s road-hardened blend of shoegaze, neo-psychedelia and Madchester-inspired grooves, featuring standout tracks from ‘Good Time’ such as ‘Star Starter’, ‘Tracemaker’, ‘Parallel’ and ‘Repeater’.
It also includes their euphoric single ‘Clear’, a ‘Good Time’ outtake released on a limited 7″ last year, as well as their cover of Primal Scream’s ‘Burning Wheel’ which is now available on vinyl for the very first time.
Patti Smith had been kicking around the New York art scene since the late 60s doing everything from painting to acting to journalism to poetry. After co writing several songs for Blue Oyster Cult, with then boyfriend Allan Lanier, fronting a rock band seemed the next logical step. Her debut album was recorded in 1975 with John Cale as producer. The music owes much to garage bands of the 60s while being in step with the emerging punk bands who frequented the famous CBGBs where her earliest shows occurred. Where Smith stands out is in her dramatic often spoken delivery with the end results often described as art punk.
The album opens with Smith singing, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine”. This line encapsulates Smith’s personality perfectly. This intro is actually from the beginning of her cover of Van Morrison’s Gloria. “Redando Beach” follows with a punk reggae sound that pre dated the ska revival by a couple years. “Free Money” is a flat out rocker and deserved to be a single.
“Kimberly” is a more commercial song which plays like a decadently dark version of Fleetwood Mac. The album’s highlight is the nearly 10 minute “Land” suite which couples a cover of “Land Of 1000 Dances” with Smith’s own “Horses”. Smith builds tension throughout the tune whipping herself into a frenzy
What makes the “Horses” album so great is the overall energy and looseness of the songs. The arrangements sound more like a live show would as opposed to being recorded in a sterile studio. Although the album was only a moderate seller at the time of release (#47), it would eventually go gold in many countries.
1975, “Horses”, then. A record that ends the year by popping up like a slap in the face. An impeccably black and white, impeccably sober cover, which by its aesthetic alone — a bit like Bruce Springsteen’s“Born To Run”, and shortly preceding the first Ramones — threw to the dump the airbrushed exuberances, the winged dragons, the neon titles and the dripping colors of Yes, Genesis, Uriah Heep and so on. But this graphic manifesto was not only one. Patti Smith’s entire artistic and poetic approach was screaming the end of the world before.
New York, then, was bankrupt. The city is dark, public services are creaking. On 42nd Street, the facades are crumbling under the signs of peep shows and the neon lights of sex shops, the sidewalks are teeming with prostitution, dealers are on the pavement. “The streets smelled of gasoline, sweat and heroin,” wrote journalist Pete Hamill. Times Square has become a dumping ground: collapsed junkies, corrupt cops, violence on every street corner. The Bowery is just a succession of seedy hotels, squats, lost silhouettes. But in this chaos, poisonous flowers grow, a scene is invented at CBGB’s: Television, Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Richard Hell — a nickname chosen in direct homage to “A Season in Hell”. And Patti Smith in the centre, crazy about Rimbaud, falling in love with Verlaine, Tom.
With “Horses”, Patti Smith brings rock back to the urgency: it’s not a question of virtuosity, there, but of incantations, visions, poetry mounted on electricity. “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”: a whole world cracked in a single sentence. The music has just changed. More than a record, then. “Horses” becomes the standard bearer of a generation that refuses the spectacle for the naked truth. Ditch the Afghan vests for the Perfecto. A shady, poetic, electric, cultured scene: punk. And its echo would cross the Atlantic, influencing and educating London, from the Sex Pistols to the Clash, and then all of old Europe. Fair return.
And a strange thing to be releasing and promoting personal music while there is so much suffering & coarse hatred combing through the world right now…The Fife-born artist Jacob Alon has only released two songs but is already drawing comparisons to Jeff Buckley thanks to their extraordinary voice. If you haven’t heard of Jacob yet, it won’t be long.
Alon says Pals have kindly reminded me that there is maybe a deeper importance to bringing art into the world against these tides of cruelty. I’m trying to remember and keep that in focus. And fuck it, it’s not the most important or vital thing right now, but if it brings a moment of consolation from the fascism then that’s more than I could ask for.
How cool that it will be yours as much this time next week. Thank you for being here with me up until this special moment – I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have yis with me, Alon signed with a manager and then to Island Records, who paired them with producer Dan Carey – which might seem an odd choice to those who know the Speedy Wunderground co-founder for his work with scowling rockers like Fontaines DC and Black Midi. But it’s a stroke of genius to those familiar with Carey’s earlier work,
Jacob Alon releases his debut Dan Carey produced album on Island. Alon crashed with Carey while working on new music, of which an overarching theme will be limerence: the state of intense romantic longing for someone who often does not reciprocate. Those who have experienced limerence will know it can lead to obsessive thoughts – an infatuation that overlooks any flaws or, indeed, turns those flaws into an attractive trait.
The fragile melody of “Confession”, meanwhile, captures the crushing confusion Jacob felt when an ex-boyfriend denied their relationship had ever happened. “It was such a deep rejection,” they recall. “I was so confused that [they] couldn’t come to terms with how they’d felt once, under all the layers of tragic, tragic shame
It was only last November when Alon performed their debut single “Fairy in a Bottle” on Later… With Jools Holland, barefoot and adorned in golden feathers and a scarlet cowl. With their tumble of dark curls and glitter-dusted cheeks, Alon brought to mind some fantastical creature of Arthur Rackham’s imagination. When they sing, it’s with a voice redolent of Jeff Buckley or Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, soaring from a chest-deep croon into a piercing cry.
Jacob Alon performs “Fairy in a Bottle” on Later… with Jools Holland. As a writer, Jacob can be equally tender and ruthless. On “Liquid Gold 25″, external named after a brand of poppers, they tackle the soul-crushing experience of queer dating apps like Grindr, singing: “This is where love comes to die.”
I am so indescribably proud of this record. And so grateful to have had the support and space to make it.
As a writer, Alon is fearless – their songs like sacred hymns, washing away shame and self-loathing by confronting those feelings head on. As a singer, they are extraordinary – in possession of one of the most remarkable voices of their generation.
Working Men’s Club frontman reveals his softer side on his folky solo debut, When we last heard from Manchester, UK’s Sydney Minsky Sargeant, he was leading clenched-jaw raver group Working Men’s Club. He still is, but he’s just released his first solo album, which showcases a gentler side. Not unlike the 2023 solo debut from Fontaines D.C.’s frontman Grian Chatten, “Lunga” reveals a folky, melodic streak you might not have expected.
“I’m trying to wear my heart on my sleeve a bit more; these songs come from a search for meaning and understanding,” he says. “I’m always trying to unpick myself and those around me, the ones I love and loved the most. There were thoughts and feelings that these songs helped me express, address, and make sense of.”
“Lunga” is the sound of a door opening onto a pasture, fog rolling over grass as the sun rises in the distance; it is the sound of renewal, and a sense of optimism. These are glistering melodic songs, an antidote to the chaos and abrasive atmosphere of touring, and a beautiful side-step from the music that Sydney Minsky Sargeant has been recording as Working Men’s Club for the past seven years. The 12 songs that mark “Lunga” were written over a period of years, beginning when Minsky Sargeant was a teenager growing up in Todmorden and following a chronology to the present day. It’s a deeply personal insight and “Lunga” feels like a haven, a world we can all step into.
Made with producer Alex Greaves (Mandy Indiana, bdrmm), “Lunga” is largely acoustic, but layers of sound design add atmosphere to standouts like “A Million Flowers” and “Hazel Eyes.” He does get a little rowdy, too, on the bluesy “Chicken Wire” and the harmony-laden “Summer Song.” I hope we get more Working Men’s Club records—but more like this, too.
Guerilla Toss were already weird but Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio help Guerilla Toss get even stranger. Noted noodlers Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio seemed destined to work together, but who’d have thought it would be on a single by Brooklyn DIY eccentrics Guerilla Toss? The Pavement frontman produced “You’re Weird Now“, the band’s second album for Sub Pop, which was recorded at the Phish frontman’s Vermont studio…
When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since time immemorial aka 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album “You’re Weird Now”, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called ‘punk lunch’: a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable.
Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: StephenMalkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making “You’re Weird Now“, with Malkmus in the producer’s seat
The song in question, “Red Flag to Angry Bull,” is a pretty perfect place for them to link up, actually. The trippy opening riff could go anywhere, but when the rhythm section kicks in with a distinctly loping ’90s-style beat, we’ve got a song that would fit right in alongside Spacehog, Bran Van 3000, Len, and yes, Pavement.
Otherwise, Malkmus doesn’t seem to have altered Guerilla Toss’ already eclectic sound, which has always been some sort of manic hippie electro-punk new wave sugar-coated breakfast cereal. The ’90s groups they most resemble are the genre-blender acts that sprung up in the wake of the Chili Peppers, like Whale or Urban Dance Squad. it’s fun. What is weird, anyway?
The Chameleons return with their first album in 24 years, sporting a rock renovation to their signature sound, The Post-punk greats The Chameleons never seemed to catch a break. They signed to major label Epic in the early ’80s and looked like real contenders to be the next U2, only to get dropped after their first single. Soon after, Big Country and Echo & The Bunnymen eclipsed them.
After two great albums on tiny indie Statik Records, they signed to Geffen for their fantastic third record, 1986’s “Strange Times”, only to break up the next year following their manager’s death. The original line-up reformed in 2000, released the pretty good “Why Call It Anything” in 2001, and did some incredible tours , but old wounds never healed and they split again in 2003. Frontman/bassist Mark Burgess carried on as ChameleonsVOX, sometimes with powerhouse original drummer John Lever, who sadly died in 2017.
Burgess put together a new Chameleons line up in 2021 with original guitarist Reg Smithies (a rift remains with other guitarist Dave Fielding), plus Stephen Rice on guitar and Todd Demma on drums.
An album has been promised ever since, and here it is: “Arctic Moon”, their first in 24 years. Burgess says it signals a departure from the sound of earlier albums, and represents “a new chapter.” It’s not that much of a departure, though without Fielding distinctive, sharp rhythm guitar we don’t quite get that classic Chameleons sound. I appreciate that they didn’t just get someone to imitate his style, which they easily could have done.
The arrangements lean more “rock” this time, including an arm-swaying piano ballad (“Free of It”) complete with a traditional soaring guitar solo. Still, the melodies are distinctly Burgess’, as are his full-throated vocals. There are a few new classics for the canon: ripping opener “Where Are You?,” the ascending “Lady Strange” with its very Chameleons chorus and ringing guitars, and closer “Savoirs Are aDangerous Thing,” which proves Burgess’ lyrical skills remain sharp. And like their other albums, “ArcticMoon” comes wrapped in Smithies’ distinctive, surreal cover art. It’s a worthy addition to The Chameleons’ legacy.
Pink Floyd‘s “Wish You Were Here” was released 50 years ago (September 12th, 1975) and to celebrate they’re releasing a Deluxe Edition reissue on December 12th via Sony Music. It will be available as a 2-CD set, a three-LP set, a Blu-ray, a digital edition, and a Super Deluxe Edition box set.
Half a century to the day since its original 1975 release, Pink Floyd have announced the 50th anniversary edition of their era-defining album “Wish You Were Here“. Out December 12th via Sony Music, “Wish You Were Here 50” gives fans an exciting new perspective into one of Pink Floyd’s most iconic and best-loved records. The 50th anniversary edition features multiple discs of rarities – at the core of this special collection are six previously unreleased alternate versions and demos presenting Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album in a brand new way that demands repeat listening.
“Wish You Were Here 50” will be released in multiple formats including 3LP, 2CD, Blu-ray, digital and a Deluxe Box Set. The digital release includes the original 1975 album, featuring a new Dolby Atmos mix by James Guthrie, whose work with Pink Floyd dates back to 1979’s “The Wall”. It also includes 25 bonus tracks made up of nine studio rarities, and 16 live recordings captured by the renowned bootlegger MikeMillard at Pink Floyd’s Los Angeles Sports Arena concert on April 26th 1975, now receiving its first official release.
The live audio has been meticulously restored and remastered by Steven Wilson. The Blu-ray edition also gives fans the chance to see three concert screen films from the band’s 1975 tour, plus a Storm Thorgerson short film.
The 3LP and 2CD formats include the original album and the nine studio bonus tracks. The Deluxe Box Set includes all 2CD, 3LP (on exclusive clear vinyl) and Blu-Ray material, plus a fourth clear vinyl LP,“Live At Wembley 1974”, a replica Japanese 7” Single of “Have A Cigar” b/w “Welcome To The Machine“, a hardcover book including unseen photographs, a comic book tour programme and Knebworth concert poster. Exclusive 50th Anniversary Merchandise along with Limited Edition product releases will also be available at PinkFloyd.com.
To celebrate the album announcement, a previously unheard early demo recording of ‘Welcome to the Machine’ originally titled ‘The Machine Song’ is also released . Shorter in length than the epic original, ‘The Machine Song (Demo #2, Revisited)’ gives fans an exciting preview of what to expect from “Wish You Were Here 50”. Other studio rarities to be released include ‘The Machine Song (Roger’s demo),’ the first home demo of the song that Roger Waters originally brought to the band, a previously unheard instrumental mix of the track ‘Wish You Were Here’ showcasing David Gilmour’s pedal steel guitar, and for the first time, a complete ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9)’ that joins together the two halves of the song, newly mixed in stereo by James Guthrie.
“Wish You Were Here” has been a mainstay on all-time greatest albums lists for decades. The multi-Platinum-selling #1 hit record was Pink Floyd’s first to reach the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, becoming the band’s fastest selling album. In 1973, “The Dark Side of the Moon” had taken Pink Floyd from a hugely successful breakout British band to one of the biggest rock groups on the planet. “Wish You Were Here” was the band’s powerful response to their newfound global fame.
Featuring the multi-part eulogy to Syd Barrett ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, the hypnotic ‘Welcome To The Machine’, the scathing ‘Have a Cigar’ with its immortal line “Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?” famously sung not by Waters or Gilmour, but by non band-member Roy Harper, and the essential title track, “Wish You Were Here” is undoubtedly one of the most important album releases in the history of popular music.
The record’s themes of absence, isolation, transience, and comment on the insincerity of the music business are embodied in the iconic album artwork. The visual puns developed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell at Hipgnosis remain instantly recognisable visual statements today.
Remembering that time, Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell said:
“In the 1970s, album covers were equally as important as the music, because the cover helped to sell the record. Record stores would carry 10,000 different images in album sleeves, so what we were doing had to look different and stand out amongst the crowd.
I remember turning around to Storm and saying, how are we going to set a man on fire? Because there was no digital way of doing it in those days. He said, Po, you’re just going to have to do it for real. That was it.
One has to remember that Pink Floyd were the only band on EMI and Capitol Records who had the rights to the creative – in terms of album cover – besides the Beatles. That’s why we were allowed to do what we wanted. It was brilliant. Just the same way that Pink Floyd were a very inventive band at the time, so were Hipgnosis. We were determined to keep that abstract, enigmatic image alive and hence, we were able to do that for Pink Floyd.”
In 2025 the ardent support and fascination surrounding Pink Floyd’s music remains. The newly restored version of their ground breaking 1972 film Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII stormed box offices around the world, with the live album debuting at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, marking the band’s first UK chart-topper in eleven years and the seventh in their career. The film was praised by critics and audiences the world over, with The Guardian describing it as a “mesmerically peculiar portrait of a band on cusp of greatness.”
50 years since its release, “Wish You Were Here” sounds as resonant and vital as ever, and in reaching this milestone deserves to be celebrated anew. This special anniversary edition allows fans, for the first time, to delve deeper into a pivotal moment in Pink Floyd’s history.
The Super Deluxe box set contains the LPs, CDs and Blu-ray plus a fourth clear vinyl LP featuring their live performance from Wembley Stadium in 1974, a replica of the Japanese 7″ of “Have a Cigar,” a hardcover book with unseen photographs, a comic book tour program, and a Knebworth poster.
Having recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of their acclaimed debut album “Boots Met My Face”, Admiral Fallow return in 2025 with ‘Avalanche’, a brand new single and their first new music since 2021’s “The Idea Of You” LP.
This release was the band’s first venture on the Chemikal Underground label (Arab Strap, The Delgados, Phantom Band) and that relationship continues with ‘Avalanche’, the band’s tender new single which subtly kickstarts a brand new chapter for the Scottish five-piece. Where “The Idea of You” sang of friendship and carefree adventure, ‘Avalanche’ finds the band in a new territory – the song written by Louis Abbott following the birth of his daughter in 2022. “It tells the story of the day she joined us in the world,” Abbott says of the new single. “I wrote the words very early one morning in Spring as she lay sleeping next to me on the couch.” An elegant undertaking, sonically ‘Avalanche’ is defined by the rise and fall in temperature that swings back-and-forth throughout. Opening in gentle light, Abbott’s plaintive voice sings quiet details of his life as a new father, before the whole thing bursts into something bolder, the full band swelling into life and crafting something altogether more euphoric.
That push-and-pull, of fiery passion and tender restraint, has been a key aspect of the band’s sound, honed over the course of four full-length albums that have seen them championed by the likes of MOJO, Uncut, The Skinny, and more. On ‘Avalanche’, Admiral Fallow’s grasp of both colourful expression and muted delicacy feels as quietly fascinating as ever before.
The Fat Angel Sings 