So, yeah, no update for a month. Been busy, primarily writing things that people will pay me for… plus I had to skip the Mono show due to lack of friend-with-a-car (because the train timetable between Brighton and P-town is made of FAIL). And, in the name of being honest, I’ve lost my enthusiasm for [...]

Swans are (not) dead; if you’re a fan of Michael Gira’s crew of noise-rock nihilists, My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky will be manna from hell.

Alert the historians: this is the day a band defied my ability to string genre definitions together coherently. Ladies and gents, 342 by Pin Up Went Down…

Guitarless Leatherhead trio Second Head take two basses and a drumkit and do something kinda Sonic Youth-y with ‘em on their debut Head First EP. Interesting.

More Belgian oddities from the Jezus Factory in the form of Static Moves, Sukilove‘s new album of… whatever you’d call this stuff. Antwerpian alt-psyche-pop?

London guitar-and-drum duo Dead Days Beyond Help aren’t the usual mess of faux-garage clichés; Access Denied! is studded with avant-post-rock gems.

Nephu Huzzband have a very silly name, but their furious and progressive post-hardcore clatter is all business. How can you find out more? Elementary, my friend…

Pens are the latest word in uber-hip lo-fi noisy stuff, apparently, and Hey Friend! What You Doing? is their debut long player. Is it trash, treasure or both?

Is this finally the one? Is Born Again Revisited by Times New Viking the lo-fi album I can recommend without reservation? D’you know, I think it might be close.

One part metal, one part swing big-band, one part circus sideshow, Diablo Swing Orchestra are about as unique an act as I’ve heard this year so far.