The Fat Angel Sings

Black Country, New Road return with a new album, “Forever Howlong”, out now on Ninja Tune.

The long-awaited new record was produced by James Ford (Fontaines D.C., Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur) and sees Black Country, New Road settled into a new shape in which vocal duties – and most of the song writing – is split between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw.

The band’s ability to respond to changing circumstances is not only down to their close-knit friendship but due to their talent, adaptability and long standing relationship together as musicians. A mix of classically trained and self-taught, the multi-instrumentalists gathered steam as a band in the late 2010s, regularly playing The Windmill in Brixton alongside friends and peers such as Squid and Black Midi, and soon found themselves being labelled “the best band in the world” by The Quietus.

When singer and guitar player Isaac Wood left Black Country, New Road just ahead of the release of their second album, “Ants From Up There“, that could have been the end of the band. They carried on instead, and this year “Forever Howlong” arrived as their first proper record with the changed line-up. With Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery (also of Jockstrap), and May Kershaw handling vocals and most of the songwriting, it’s a  different perspective from their last two albums, and their heady chamber pop, which builds slowly and bursts into bloom, sounds like it’s coming from a group fully locked in with each other. The soaring crescendos are particularly mesmerizing, and seeing them pull it off live this year, swapped instruments, flourishes and all, was thrilling. With their current incarnation, Black Country, New Road have become a more interesting band, and they’re making some of their best material yet right now.

Here in 2025, “Forever Howlong” is an ambitious, meticulously detailed record that includes everything from folk to prog via baroque pop and touches of alt-rock – with nods to everything from Joanna Newsom to Randy Newman via Fiona Apple and Janis Ian – yet all the while retaining that unmistakably unique sound that only this combination of musicians can come up with. Although hugely varied and expansive, the album also feels deeply cohesive and focused, as it takes three distinct voices and styles and seamlessly intersperses them into a new collective sound.  

Pool Kids are energy. Raw, sporadic, and indisputably authentic, the four piece group originally hails from Tallahassee, FL. Pool Kids, the band’s masterful self-titled album, fuses fan-favourite math and art rock familiarities with a tide of emotional and technical growth, engulfing the listener in a wave of impassioned indie rock angst. ‘Pool Kids’ is the first studio album to include writing contributions from new additions Nicolette Alvarez and Andy Anaya, seeing the band at their final, most kinetic form. Recorded in Seattle by producer Mike Vernon Davis, the latest LP is more crisp and polished than ever before, blending synth layers with post-hardcore guitar riffs and indie-pop textures with hot-tempered vocals.

While the universal pain we all feel as we stumble into adulthood serves as the connective thread that runs through each of the songs on the album, the individual songs subject matter cover a dynamic emotional range. From everything to coping with trauma, the dissolution of romantic relationships, disillusionment with and shedding of friendships, and more, all while maintaining the power, humour, and resilience that defines the band

As someone on the internet once said: “This album is all killer, no filler!” And they would be completely right. Florida indie-rockers, Pool Kids, self-titled record is a masterclass in math and art-rock. It is a powerhouse of raw heat and angst, flittering between post-hardcore guitars, pop sensibilities, and tangy vocals. Blending the raw ecstasy of indie-rock with emotional growth that weaves in and out of the record’s runtime, Pool Kids know exactly what they’re doing here, and with this strong effort it proves it’s only up from here for the band.

Writing, recording, manufacturing, and promoting this record would be impossible without the assistance, support, and hard work of numerous people behind the scenes. It’s a team effort and we would like to express our most sincere gratitude toward the following:

Sean and Morgan Hermann for all of your sacrifices, dedication, and undying love and support from the very beginning. We love you.

Mike Vernon Davis for your guidance, commitment, technical savvy, and heart; your exceptional creative vision lives inside each song. Jake Barrow for your assistance, and diligence; thank you for the innumerable hours of laughs. Sam Rosson for swooping in at our absolute lowest and reigniting our creative flame with your warmth and skill. This record could not have been completed without you three pushing us to heights we were unsure we could reach. We feel so lucky to call you our forever family.

released July 22nd, 2022

Pool Kids is:
Christine Goodwyne: Vocals, Guitar
Andrew Anaya: Guitar
Nicolette Alvarez: Bass
Caden Clinton: Drums

One of the leading lights of the contemporary country outlaw set, Tyler Childers has been evolving his sound with each new album, and giving less of a fuck about the country scene with each step. “Snipe Hunter” is his masterpiece. Including long-requested live favourites like ‘Nose On The Grindstone’ and ‘Oneida’, the real treasures here are a song about Indian religion (‘Tirtha Yatra’), a song about payback (‘Bitin’ List’), and the funkiest country vibe of 2025, Dirty Ought Trill. But then again, every song on “Snipe Hunter” is a treasure.

After toying with old-timey fiddle music (2020’s Long Violent History), gospel (2022’s Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?), and Elvis impersonations (2023’s Rustin’ in the Rain), Tyler Childers returned with his most all-encompassing album in years. The record ranges from melancholic country-folk balladry to honky tonkin’ twang to jagged Southern rock to a Hare Krishna chant, while constantly toeing the line between “traditional” and “crossover” and sounding like no other artist in the world.

On “Snipe Hunter“, Tyler throws every idea at the wall and often sounds even more cohesive than he did on his “genre” projects. He just sounds at his freest on “Snipe Hunter“, and the freer he is the harder his songs hit. 

Australian quartet The Belair Lip Bombs call their music “yearn-core,” mixing indie rock with country and power pop. It’s a very 2025 combination, but their second album feels timeless, pulling from ’70s AM radio, ’80s college rock, the ’90s country resurgence, and modern Australian indie. With warm charm, clever wordplay, and the powerful voice of singer/guitarist Maisie Everett front and center — backed by a sharp band — they deliver one instantly likable song after another. It’s the kind of record that makes you want to see them live. Fans of Wednesday’s Bleeds and The Beths’ Straight Line is a Lie should feel right at home.

On “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair),” the new single from the Belair Lip Bombs, Maisie Everett’s singing is a blockbuster, and the riffs curling around her spill out of guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on, say, that great new Florry album. The song is a saga of unpredictable volumes, skating through post-punk and country-rock like it’s no one’s business. Last month, I declared “Hey You” as one of my favorite songs of 2025 so far. I still think that, because I love how infectious and anthemic it is, but “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair”) is just as perfect, perhaps even more so.

Alex Lahey came up with the “you gotta make your own luck,” and the the debaucherous, twin-guitar chords twist, shriek, and crash into honky-tonk bedlam. And that dirty tone on Jimmy Droughton’s bass… Stick a fork in me, I’m plum captivated! This is the Melbourne quartet at its best, in a bluesy hailstorm of porch-playing impulse. Halloween can’t come soon enough; I need Again here right now. 

the upcoming album “Again”, out October 31, 2025 on Third Man Records.

Say what you will, but Steven Wilson never plans on doing anything the same way twice — and certainly never twice in a row. “In my studio, I have this whiteboard, and I write down all the things that I need to get to doing,” he said in 2023 with his seemingly always full schedule. “They’re all on there. The problem is, stuff’s coming in faster than I can get through, which is a great problem to have.” Besides the cavalcade of multichannel and stereo remixes he’s forever tasked with doing, Wilson never has a problem coming up with his own new material — and for his latest, and eighth, solo LP “The Overview“, he went all-in on the one-song-per-side concept, in turn delivering a post-prog masterstroke. “Objects Will Outlive Us” (which runs 23:17) encapsulates the entirety of Side A, and the title track, “The Overview” (which clocks in at 18:21), owns Side B — and they are both absolutely beyond-the-cosmic pale.

Wilson explained that the album’s concept is based on what’s known as “The Overview Effect” phenomenon, something astronauts experience upon going into space and looking back at the Earth. Many astronauts have since reported experiencing a “very profound cognitive shift” and then say they’ve come to understand “just how small, fragile, and beautiful the Earth is in relation to the cosmos, and therefore, by extension, just how small and insignificant the human species is.”

Each “Overview” track reflects those spatially heady concepts, and they are also partitioned into multiple sections so you can pick your interstellar poison each time through, so to speak. In “The Buddha of the Modern Age” — section two of “Objects” on Side A — Wilson (seen below, in fine planetary balance) takes a deliberately staccato approach to how he sings each compound syllable, each line getting additional vocal layers as this section continues. “Permanence” — the sixth and final section of the title track on Side B — is an instrumental duet between Wilson on keyboards and celesta (a struck idiophone with a keyboard that gives off bell-like sound) and Theo Travis on soprano sax, and their respective bleats, chords, and wails go all aswirl for the last 3-4 minutes; celestial seasoning, if ever there was.

Besides deep black half-speed-mastered 180g wax, “The Overview” also appears on limited-edition red and mint green colour vinyl. Given how “The Overview” is presented and arranged, you’re likely to find something new to focus your ears and mind on, upon each successive listen on vinyl — something I’d be happy to do again and again for the next billion years or so myself.

Legendary former King Crimson members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin banded together with guitar virtuoso Steve Vai and explosive Tool drummer Danny Carey to create the band BEAT, a creative reinterpretation of the three iconic 80s King Crimson albums – “Discipline”, “Beat”, and “Three Of A Perfect Pair“. In 2024, the ensemble staged 65 shows in North America, before following it with an expansive run in Mexico and South America in 2025. On the 26th September 2025, in partnership with InsideOutMusic/SonyMusic, the ‘Live’ audio/visual package will be released, with a sold-out show in Los Angeles as its focal point.

Originally the opening track from Crimson’s 1981 album “Discipline“, which introduced a new-look band to audiences in a new decade, the new live clip is taken from the upcoming live release, “Beat Live” subtitled ‘Neon Heat Disease’ – which has just been released on Blu-ray, vinyl and CD through InsideOutMusic/Sony.

Onetime King Crimson compatriots guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin had an itch to scratch, so they went out and recruited guitar god Steve Vai and muscular drumming marvel Danny Carey to see if they could bring prime 1980s Crimson material back to life in the modern day — and thus, with head Crim Robert Fripp’s blessing, BEAT was born.

The chops-for-days quartet played 65 shows in North America throughout 2024 (followed by briefer runs in Mexico and South America in early 2025), and they captured one of the tour’s best outings at The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles on November 14, 2024, for the 3LP black vinyl edition of (all caps required, please) BEAT LIVE.

On “Beat Live”, the fearsome foursome uplifted complex KC material like the polymetric street dustup of “Thela Hun Ginjeet” (LP3, Side Two, Track 2), the electronic drum showcase “Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part III” (LP2, Side One, Track 1), the slide balladry of “Matte Kudasai” (LP3, Side One, Track 2), and the expressive art narrative of “Indiscipline” (LP3, Side Two, Track 1; “I like it!”) — not to mention ’80s KC songs never before played live like the metallic robotics of “Dig Me” (LP1, Side Two, Track 2) and pleading tones of “Model Man” (LP1, Side Two, Track 1) — with aplomb and panache. The band recently confirmed they’ll be returning to the road next summer (albeit Euro-centric dates only, at least for now), but in the meantime, “Beat Live” deserves your rapt repeat-spinning attention. 

The band celebrated the album’s release earlier this month with a one-off show at Tokyo’s famed Budokan Hall. “In the eighties Robert Fripp made the observation the King Crimson quartet was perhaps the best live band in the world at the time. Tony, Steve, Danny and I are committed to honouring this legacy with each and every performance staged,” Belew has stated.

Available in 3 different formats, the Los Angeles show is mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and is available as a Special Edition 2CD+Blu-ray Digipak, a Limited Deluxe 3LP Triple Gatefold & Digitally. A limited deluxe 3CD +Blu-ray Artbook edition will also be available, including extensive photos plus an additional 12-track ‘Live in North America’ CD. The blu-ray features the full Los Angeles show in 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo, as well as bonus interview content with the band.

Beat have previously released live versions of “Frame By Frame”, “Neal And Jack And Me” and “Thela Hun Ginjeet”.

Adrian Belew, Danny Carey, Tony Levin and Steve Vai have just released “Beat Live” 

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.