Ahead of their spring tour of the EUK and Ireland, Miki Berenyi Trio have shared a new single. “‘Island of One’ took shape because I became quite obsessed with the track ‘Just A Western’ by Nilüfer Yanya last year, and the Latin-y beat got me inspired,” Berenyi says. “But I wanted a lively, catchy song to add to our live set, so it ended up less laidback and more 60s-breezy with some driving, scratchy guitars – once all three MB3 members pile in on the embellishments, a song ends up a fair distance from where it started!
Miki Berenyi Trio are Miki Berenyi on vocals/guitar (Lush), Kevin ‘Moose’ McKillop on guitar (Moose) and Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere, Aircooled). The three musicians first worked together during Piroshka’s 2021 tour – Miki and Kevin being founder members, Oliver coming in on bass to replace Mick Conroy (Modern English) who had moved to the US.
As ever, recording and production took place in our various home-studio set-ups, and the song was mixed by our brilliant Bella Union labelmate, Paul Gregory.”
Vince Clarke (Erasure), Neil Arthur (Blancmange), and Benge have a new project, Doublespeak, and their self-titled debut is out on May 29. It reimagines 11 of their favourite songs from the past four decades, and the first single is their rendition of Fad Gadget’s “Back To The Nature.”
Their self-titled debut album sees them put a new electronica feel on tracks from ABBA, The Carpenters, Young Marble Giants and more, as they share their cover of Fad Gadget’s ‘Back To The Nature’
The ‘Doublespeak’ album is divided between songs from the postpunk netherworld brought blinking into the light (Fad Gadget, The Sound, Young Marble Giants), pop radio monsters ushered back down a dark stairway into the club (ABBA, David Essex, The Carpenters) and buried treasures from the 1990s onwards (The Magnetic Fields, Ed Dowie and Laptop).
The roots of the new synth pop supergroup group stem back to 2017, when Arthur – who had already recorded a track for Vince Clarke’s project, The Assembly – suggested that the two join forces to put a unique spin on some of their favourite songs from the past four decades.
They then brought Benge into the line-up, following him collaborating with Arthur on the Fader project and also working with the musician by co-producing six Blancmange albums.
They are set to release their self-titled debut album – which sees them reimagine a selection of classic and cult songs with a new analogue electronica feel – on May 29th.
The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool & Sean Lennon is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy.
Told across 14 songs – which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings – and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.
“The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy“, is a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men. It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.”
Les Claypool of Primus and Sean Onon Lennon release their new album as The Claypool LennonDelirium, “The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy”, on May 1st, and they’ve given us another preview with “Meat Machines.” “Some people think humans are just biological machines,” Ono Lennon says. “They think free will is a hallucination and we’re destined to be replaced by robots. Not only are they happy about this, but they’re actively trying to make it happen as fast as possible. Some of us think we still have a choice. We think there’s something special about living, breathing and feeling. We believe we can shape our own destiny, because we know we are more than just ‘Meat Machines.’”
The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool & Sean Lennon (the previous sold over 150,000 combined) is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy. Told across 14 songs – which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings – and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.
Squirrel Flower says her new single “Wheels,” which features Babehoven and Billie Marten, was inspired by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris’ 1987 “Trio” album. “I wanted to write a song that really let my voice shiiiiine, and the final vocal take is the original scratch take, sleepy and loose,” she says. “Maya and Billie recorded their angel harmonies remotely and perfectly. Inspired by a gas station attendant a couple years ago telling me ‘may your wheels stay on the ground.’”
Recorded live at 12 AM in a makeshift studio in Door County, WI, the collaborative single captures the ever-present beautiful uncertainty of life on the road. With a classic sound and warm Rhodes piano from Free Range’s Sofia Jensen, the track is anchored by Williams, Marten, and Maya Bon (Babehoven), whose voices intertwine in harmonies that swell with an almost choir-like brilliance.
Speaking about the song’s creation and inspiration, Williams shared the following story:
“While on tour a couple years ago, a gas station attendant said to us, ‘may your wheels stay on the ground.’ I thought that was so beautiful + it inspired the song while driving through a harrowing snowstorm between Boston and the Hudson Valley in February 2025. I had my Townes Van Zandt live cd playing, and sang this song into my phone mic while listening to Townes, dodging ice on the highway. I really wanted to write a song that let my voice shine in a way that my heavier songs don’t always allow. I got to the Babehoven house in Hudson and played it for Maya. She wrote a stanza (“you said you wanted/something i don’t/i am always coming/just as you go”), helping me finish off the song.
This summer, Squirrel Flower will hit the road solo alongside The Beths and Spoon, for what will be a jam packed June.
Friends, past tour mates, songwriters, and musicians Maya Bon of the duo Babehoven, and Ella Williams of Squirrel Flower, are thrilled to share their first ever collaborative release – a cover of “My Life in Art” by beloved British rock band Mojave 3.
On making the cover, the two shared, “We ate lentils by candlelight + sat by the fire + imagined the future beyond the snowy fields… where a new version of a classic song would come to roam”
Their take on the Slowdive-adjacent group’s song is a beautifully lush and layered rendition that breathes with new life.
Performed by: Maya Bon and Ella Williams Guitar, bass, drums, keys: Ryan Albert Acoustic & electric guitar: Ella Williams Accordion: Ella Williams
Pye Corner Audio, aka UK synth stylist Martin Jenkins, has announced “More Songs About The Sun” which will be out June 19th via Sonic Cathedral. The album features four songs co-written by Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis, including this first single.
“‘Cycle’ is probably the most direct ‘pop’ song that I’ve written,” says Jenkins. “I wanted the whole record to be awash with distortion and saturation, but not in a blown-out guitar amp kind of way. Almost every element has been subject to some form of saturation. The musical influences are all the usual suspects – Stereolab, Spacemen 3, Harmonia, Cluster, Suicide,” reveals Martin. “But I think that this album wears them in a much more direct way. For some reason I was a little more wary of that on Let’s Emerge!.”
The first single from the new Pye Corner Audio album ‘More Songs About The Sun’, which is released on June 19th, 2026.
Andy Bell – additional guitars on ‘Euphoria’, ‘Analogue Dreams’, ‘Cycle’ and ‘As We Begin’ Hannah R – vocal on ‘My Shimmer’ Ian Rankin – spoken word and lyrics on ‘The Breath Of Now’
Thrum announce ‘Rifferama’ reissued & reimagined along with new UK tour dates
The long-awaited reissue and remaster of “Rifferama” by the acclaimed debut album by Glasgow indie trailblazers Thrum, is set for release this June 26th on Fire Records, celebrating one of the most revered cult records of the 1990s UK guitar scene
Originally released to critical acclaim, “Rifferama” captured a moment when melody, distortion and emotional urgency collided to create something timeless. Now newly remastered from the original recordings, the album returns with enhanced depth and clarity, reaffirming its reputation as a lost classic of the era.
Fronted by the unmistakable voice of Monica Queen (also known for her work with Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol), Thrum’s sound blended shimmering pop hooks with driving, fuzz-laden riffs. Alongside Johnny Smillie’s distinctive guitar work, the band forged a sonic identity that stood proudly alongside the era’s most influential alternative acts.
The reissue follows renewed interest in the album, including a recent feature in the Glasgow Herald newspaper, where journalist Russell Blackstock hailed “Rifferama” as a “classic album” and revisited its enduring impact on Scotland’s musical landscape.
Speaking about the reissue, the band said: “Rifferama” was made in a blur of noise, instinct and belief. Hearing it remastered has been emotional — it sounds like we always hoped it would. We can’t wait to play these songs again and celebrate them properly.”
The long-awaited reissue and remaster of “Rifferama” by the acclaimed debut album by Glasgow indie trailblazers Thrum, is set for release this June 26th
Kristin Hersh has shared a new song ahead of the first stop on a US tour with her trio Throwing Muses, which kicks off at NYC’s Cabinet of Wonders this weekend. Shadowy and atmospheric, “Sundial” is the first taste of a new Hersh solo record – her 12th overall – to be announced later this year on Fire Records.
The cello from last year’s Throwing Muses album “Moonlight Concessions” is back in a big way on “Sundial”, which Hersh describes as a song about the physical and emotional alignments that can form, and remain, between musicians when they play.
Writing in a press release she says: “Musicians’ heartbeats align right before they start a song together. Real musicians, anyway… This is a measurable phenomenon, but no one has measured how long our hearts keep beating together. A long time, I think.”
“Sometimes I’ll miss someone so suddenly, like a lightning strike. If they’re a fellow musician, this is usually triggered by musical moments; certain tempos and keys. A person’s sound story… is an intense, rainstorm-dark and sunshine-bright orientation, like telling time with a sundial. It doesn’t leave you.”
“Sundial” · Kristin Hersh released through Fire Records
Meg Remy has covered a remarkable amount of ground with her U.S. Girls project over the past 20 years, from droning lo-fi to high-concept disco and smooth soul—yet it wasn’t until last year’s festival debut of Grace Glowicki’s sci-fi sex comedy Dead Lover that she’d dipped her toes into the realm of film scores. Rather than approaching the gig conventionally, Remy explained that the score came together from various “scraps” of sound pulled from the public domain and even U.S. Girls’ scrappy early discography, which she then “collaged” with the assistance of Glowicki and Remy’s recent songwriting partner Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs fame).
Among these scraps, though, the soundtrack centerpiece “You’ve Got Everything – But a Smile” is a fully intact original U.S. Girls single gliding on warm synths and Remy’s soothing vocals. As Remy shares with us, the backbone of the track came from one of Lawrence’s recordings that she happened to be tinkering with when she was brought onboard to soundtrack Dead Lovers.
“One day, I was listening to the lyrics for the song and realized that they fit well with the subject matter of Dead Lover,” she says. “My instinct told me to send it to Grace. So I did, and she loved it. The song and its heartbreaking synth melody ended up becoming the glue of the score. This outcome never could have been engineered or achieved by other means; it was pure synergy.”
Los Angeles six-piece The Sophs just released their phenomenal debut full-length, “Goldstar“, a thrilling, anachronistic piece of art that defies both time and genre. Its unhinged, folk-tinged rock ’n’ roll hedonism exists in both the past and the present, and is both self-aware and sincere. A wide-ranging existential crisis put to tape, it sees the band—frontman Ethan Ramon, keyboard player Sam Yuh, electric guitarist Austin Parker Jones, acoustic guitarist Seth Smades, drummer Devin Russ, and bassist Cole Bobbitt—immerse themselves wholeheartedly in the world their music creates in a way that’s very rare.
Incredibly, the band got signed to the prestigious and trailblazing record label Rough Trade after Ramon emailed the band’s demos to label head Geoff Travis. They’re surely not the first band to do so, but they may well be one of the first to do so successfully. But then, Travis surely heard the ineffably special quality that weaves its way through the bones of the record’s 10 songs.
Each one sounds like something you already recognize, yet which also feels completely new. The result is a cohesive album that sounds like a favorite record of your youth that you never listened to until now.
The Los Angeles six-piece The Sophs have ridden a wave of notoriety ever since signing to Rough Trade Records on the strength of their demos – which they cold-emailed to lableheads Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee before they ever even played a show. Following last year’s releases of stand-alone singles ‘I’m Your Fiend’, ‘Sweat’, and ‘Death in the Family’ and worldwide touring, the band are ready to unleash their debut album “Goldstar”.
Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety — and “don’t expect me to act pretty” sentiment — that could get The Sophs a slot on nearly any stage. At any moment, The Sophs are entering pop-punk; blazing through funk; talk-singing to the audience. Their enthusiasm for every iteration is evident, and Ramon’s rich, full voice deftly nestles into endless categories, utterly chameleonic.
“We never try to be as versatile as we end up being,” Ramon said. “Goldstar” has a Delta Blues-style song; it has a ZZ Top-inspired tune. To some degree, The Sophs see song creation like pop art: they’re focused on the idea of reproducing something over and over again until it’s meaningless. “I want to steal and plagiarize and borrow,” Ramon explains.
Most of The Sophs’ songs don’t let the listener relax — mostly because you never know what’s coming next. The band has a passion for sudden and complete destruction, for playing with the tension between pulled-back silence and total explosion. That’s where you hear The Sophs members’ as they really are: explosively positive, happy, collaborative. Think of the “degenerative posturing” instead as a “jester’s privilege.” When they’re playing together in a room, you see nothing like the character they’re putting forward. Instead, you feel a bombastic, thrilling energy that underlies the sextet’s creative power.
The Fat Angel Sings 
