For the second single from their forthcoming debut EP, Look, Stranger! (the new musical project of Ian J Cole and Louisa Rose) have taken the unusual step of releasing a remix of the as-yet-unreleased lead track, ‘Broken’. Longer than the single version – which in itself is six minutes in duration – it replaces the sung vocals with a spoken narrative and dialogue – source undisclosed, but it’s quintessentially northern, to the extend you half expect Sean Bean to make a cameo with a “bastards!”
Despite the underlying electro instrumentation, the end result is quite different from its predecessor, ‘The Last Thing’, and, indeed, the rest of the EP. It’s indicative of an act not tied to formula and willing to mix things up – which gets the Aural Aggravation vote!
It might have been a result of the inclement conditions, but setting foot in Huddersfield for the first time in my life, I’m struck by how incredibly quiet the streets are for a Friday night, and it’s far from packed in the upstairs room at The Parish when The Shakes take to the stage at 8:15. Now, I am a strong advocate of checking out support acts, and have discovered some outstanding bands by getting down early doors. This isn’t one of them. Musically, they’re competent players, but the material is very middling rock, the kind that’s easy to take or leave, but the singer thinks he’s some kind Bono meets Michael Hutchence rock star. It’s not a good look, and even if it were, it would require some serious charisma and immense talent to pull it off, and this fella has neither. The No Great Shakes, you might say. The room is considerably busier half an hour later. It’s almost as if people knew.
The Shakes
Having joined Skeletal Family in 2021, replacing Hannah Small after a brief tenure, and making her the band’s fourth vocalist, Anneka Latta has not only settled in nicely, but brings her own presence and a wonderful dynamic to the unit. Having recorded Light From Dark, released in 2023, their first album since 2009’s Songs of Love, Hope & Despair, her place feels not just solidified, but integral.
Skeletal Family
Tonight’s set draws substantially on Light From Dark, as well as featuring a new and unreleased song, which they’re planning to record in the coming months, indicating that as much as they’re a ‘heritage’ band, they’re still very much creatively active as well as keeping busy on the live circuit. And not only are they sounding fantastic, but there’s a real energy about their performance tonight. Anneka is all the energy, relentlessly bouncing, bounding, swinging and swaying about the stage, but the rest of the band are well animated, too: Ian “Karl Heinz” Taylor is particularly ambulant when switching synths for sax and adding some nice groove to the solid rhythm section, with stand-in drummer doing a superb job of delivering those quintessential rolling tribal rhythms paired tightly with Trotwood’s solid, urgent basslines. It’s all topped with Stan Greenwood’s spindly guitar lines – very much a defining feature not only of the Skeletal Family sound, but representative of that early northern goth sound. It’s clear they’re having a great time, and their collective enthusiasm is infectious.
Skeletal Family
And as much as the set showcases their current creativity, it does, essentially, contain a respectful share of their definitive early 80s back-catalogue, busting out the rambunctious sax-blasting ‘Move’ up front and an extended ‘She Cries Alone’ landing in the first third of the set. Non-album single ‘Just A Minute’ gets an airing, too, representing their poppier mid-80s sound (as was the direction of the scene around Leeds at the time, as output from this period by The March Violets evidences, and one can’t help but feel that major labels picking up the top-selling ‘alternative’ acts may have been a factor). The sole cut from debut Burning Oil is ‘Someone New’, meaning the spiker, punkier songs like ‘So Sure’ don’t make the set, but might not have been such a good fit with the rest of the songs or Anneka’s more conventionally ‘rock’ vocal style. That, and the fact they keep it tight with a punchy set of around fifteen songs, packed into a little over an hour, with no encore.
They leave us with ‘Promised Land’, which is without doubt one of the best singles of that ‘first wave’ of goth era, with its nagging guitar and driving bass. They perform it with gusto, and it sounds as fresh and exciting now as ever, topping off a set that’s both entertaining and exhilarating.
The iconic Jah Wobble has teamed up with guitarist Jon Klein on Automated Paradise, their third collaborative album and debut album as a duo with Dimple Discs. Out March 27th, this eight-track collection is previewed by the invigorating lead track ‘Fading Away’, a track that pulsates with motorik drive and the raw electrical tension of British post-punk and new wave, its shimmering progressive layers seemingly surging through the circuits of life itself.
The pairing of post-punk legends Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd.) and Jon Klein (Specimen, Siouxsie & The Banshees) is no coincidence. Initially combining forces on the Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub album, released in 2021, they continue to collaborate – both live and creating music in the studio.
“Jah Wobble and I share a mutual desire to keep a momentum going at the centre of the creative process. So we keeping it moving and trust our instinctive decisions and ideas. Automated Paradise is essentially a collection of jams and sketches, all made very spontaneously. We’d made several albums together previously, starting with 2021’s Metal Box – Rebuilt in Dub, so he had a wide range of experiences and strategies to draw from,” says Jon Klein.
“‘Fading Away’ is an end-of-civilisation story, echoing one of the earliest themes of human literature and reflecting a persistent human anxiety about the fragility of social order.”
Jah Wobble adds, “Making this record with Jon Klein was (as ever) an absolute buzz . Totally in the moment. Proper post punk. Angry and humorous. ‘Fading Away’ was the first track we finished from this album. We did this record in a handful of very intense, spontaneous sessions. Right place, right time sort of thing”.
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This album follows two 2025 albums for Wobble - Dub Volume 1 (Dimple Discs) and the expanded reissue of the 2017 album The Usual Suspects, featuring 25 career highlights, re-recorded and including some of Wobble’s finest material, alongside tracks by Invaders Of The Heart and PiL.
This is Jah Wobble’s first post-punk album in recent years, following an array of travel and dub records. The brash guitar-driven tracks reflect his continuing preoccupation with the declining state of the nation. Driven by his experience working weekly at a music-based community project in Merton, along with Jon Klein, this record recalls the spirit of Mark Stewart – angry in an empathetic, constructive way. Like much of his recent work, the lyrical content was often inspired while traversing London’s transport system.
Jon Klein is a guitarist and producer best known as a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1987 until 1994, which saw the release of the albums Peepshow, Superstition and The Rapture. Originally in the Bristol band Europeans, he then formed the glam-goth act Specimen and relocated to London, where he co-founded The Batcave nightclub. He has worked with Talvin Singh and Sinéad O’Connor, and co-produced a string of No. 1 albums for Warner-signed Spanish band Fangoria, fueling a decade-long streak of chart-topping success in Spain. His most recent work being as co-producer and guitarist with Jah Wobble.
Jah Wobble (born John Wardle) is a bass guitarist and vocalist from East London, whose career encapsulated genres from post-punk, dub and world music to experimental rock and electronic music. An original member of Public Image Ltd (PiL) from 1978-80, he made two groundbreaking albums with the band, which included the iconic Metal Box.
Now in their twentieth year of uncompromising and mind-bending music, Gnod return with Chronicles of Gnowt Vol. 1, the first of a planned trilogy, to be released via Rocket Recordings on 10th April. Vol.2 should arrive in October and Vol. 3 in early 2027. Today, they share the first preview from Vol.1 ‘Shadow Mirror’.
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“I am only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation,” Susan Sontag once remarked. Sontag never had the chance to work out how she felt about Gnod, given she sadly left this earthly realm in 2004. Yet Gnod’s now twenty year journey through spiritual and audial exploration has been nothing if not that. Driven by relentless curiosity, magpie irreverence and a fierce countercultural imperative, their project has always refused to acknowledge all or any rules and boundaries, internal or external.
The latest adventure of this band may never have been intended to celebrate their two-decade anniversary, but as long-time Gnod member Paddy Shine notes, they don’t always have a lot of say in these matters –“I know that we didn’t plan it this way but perhaps it was always in the plan and we just didn’t know it,” he notes cryptically. “I guess what I’m saying is that the Gnod thing seems to have its own energy now and certain things tend to take care of themselves”.
“We haven’t reflected too heavily on the twenty year mark and maybe we shouldn’t, but I’m glad we are marking it in true Gnod fashion by releasing too many albums” he laughs –indeed, what began as a trip into a residential studio setup in Hellfire Studios with producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy (Lankum, Black MIDI, Caroline) for six days resulted in more potent material than anyone bargained for.
“Working with Spud was probably the best studio experience we’ve had,” Paddy notes. “He was open to all our ideas, facilitated them the best he could and always had great suggestions. The vibe was right and things just flowed”. The end result has been three studio albums to be released over the next year. “This trilogy revealed itself to us in the studio,” says Paddy. “We were hoping to get a good album out of the session and lo and behold we got three of the fuckers. It’s interesting that we did pretty much capture the full spectrum of the Gnod sound across all three”.
2026 tour dates
05 May / UK / Bristol / Strange Brew 06 May / UK / Brighton / Dust 07 May / FR / Paris / les instants chavirés 08 May / DE / Duisburg / Stapeltor 09 May / DE / Berlin / Kantine am Berghain 10 May / PL / Poznań / Pawilon 11 May / CZ / Prague / MeetFactory 12 May / AT / Innsbruck / PMK 13 May / CH / Bern / Dachstock 15 May / NL / Nijmegen / Sonic Whip Festival 16 May / BE / Brussels / Obsidian Dust Festival 17 May / UK / St Leonards / The Piper 03-06 Sep / UK / Dorset / End Of The Road Festival
mclusky have returned with new music (and some not-so-new music) in the form of a mini album called i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley, which ipecac recordings will release on 20th march (digital) and 1st may (vinyl). it will be released in the following formats: digital, black vinyl, ipecac/band translucent red vinyl and the rough trade exclusive variant, crystal fuchsia.
this follows their album the world is still here and so are we which was released in 2025.
content. it drives the modern music world. photos. opinions. more photos. more opinions (please note – not all photos and opinions are bad, just 99 per cent of them). how about – and indulge me here – music? that content-y enough for you? fact is we can’t stop writing, at least at the moment. it’s fun (that’s all it needs to be). it’s the common denominator of band. only death will slow us down (note – it won’t stop us).
the idea for this release started as a bit of a stop-gap – a thing with which to help promote the north american tour – and ended up as something else entirely. ‘i know computer’ and ‘as a dad’ are new and are singles (they may make the next album, who can say, it’s already half-recorded and you will like it). damien probably likes ‘i am computer’ a bit too much but that’s okay, the heart wants what the heart wants.
‘spock culture’ and ‘hi! we’re on strike’ were recorded during the the world sessions. why didn’t they make the album? i’m not sure. lyrically they are important historical documents, up there with the pusheen the cat books and/or the US constitution.
‘fan learning difficulties’ and ‘that was my brain on elves’ have only had a digital release before and are, to quote british children from forty years ago, ‘skill’. hopefully you can agree that i – and by osmosis, all of us – have read a lot of books. – falco x
Serving as a bridge towards their full-length album Dandy Variances album, out later this year via Records, Man Records, genre-defying NYC outfit Ecce Shnak deliberately revisit ‘Katy’s Wart’, a hidden gem originally released on their 2019 Joke Oso album. Telling a visceral tale of justice, the new video introduces a cruel madman, who finally meets his end at the hands of five purple goddesses of righteous vengeance.
The story is presented in two formats: as a three-minute ‘Animated Music Feelm Version’, and an immersive ten-minute ‘Extended Feelm Version’ – which we’re sharing here – with a dramatic backstory that builds tension and context, centered on a well-dressed maniac lacking basic human dignity, whose harmful acts finally trigger a cosmic intervention. The heroic twin sisters, played by Rachael Rae Robertson and Rebecca Robertson, ultimately fend him off with the help of otherworldly agents of chaotic justice. In a supernatural animated turning point, five spirits are conjured to deliver him a dose of instant karma.
A blistering indictment of bigotry and cruelty, this surreal narrative was brought to life through a collaboration with some of the industry’s most innovative creative minds. The project’s striking visual identity is the work of the production-direction team of Hollye Bynum and Sam Owens, as well as the band’s own David Roush. The eery and mind-boggling animation was crafted by the industry titans at Titmouse Productions.
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Based in New York City, Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock) is made up of David Roush (composer, bassist and one of two singers), Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums). With this high-fidelity animation, ‘Katy’s Wart’ is now a definitive piece of Ecce Shnak lore, bridging their historical catalogue with their ambitious future. In revisiting this slept-on art, they are clearing the path for new music and film works.
Legacy postpunk-shoegaze outfit Lowsunday has shared ‘Soft Capture’, with a new video by Jer Herring. This is the second single from the Low Sunday Ghost Machine – White EP, following ‘Love Language’. Released via Projekt Records and ranking second among Post-Punk.com’s Best EPs of 2025, this is the band’s first record of all-new material since 1999.
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Born in the mid-1990s within the local Pittsburgh scene, Lowsunday (initially known as Low Sunday Ghost Machine) emerged as a “retro-futurist” pioneer, blending darkwave and shoegaze long before the genres saw their modern revival. Their legacy was cemented with their debut album Low Sunday Ghost Machine and the 1999 masterpiece Elesgiem, both of which were re-released via Projekt Records over the past 18 months (for their 30th and 25th anniversaries, respectively).
The band dissolved, leaving behind a cult reputation for mercurial sounds and blistering guitar work that set the stage for subsequent generations of alternative artists. Following a nearly 25-year period of inactivity, the band resurfaced as a duo in 2025—consisting of original members Shane Sahene (vocals, guitar, synth, bass, drums) and Bobby Spell (bass, guitar, drums).
“With ‘Soft Capture’, we wanted to layer vintage synths over a droning bass line, topped with a wandering guitar melody. As the guitar descends, we felt it taking on a darker tone, but then it creates a bit of a silver lining as the melody climbs back up. We used the lead guitar feedback almost like a theremin, letting it melt through the background,” says Shane Sahene.
“Lyrically, we were thinking about the traps of life and the ways we often submit to things, but the song eventually circles around with an optimistic glimpse of having the opportunity to run away. We feel like the backing vocals on the chorus are what really bring that sense of strength and hope to a situation that might otherwise feel like a surrender.”
Serving as both a reflection and a resurgence, the White EP ushers in a welcome return, marked by superb production and a renewed creative clarity, bridging three decades of distinct sonic legacy with balanced doses of escapism, dreamlike sounds, drones and feedback. This first of a two new EPs planned this year, their crystalline shimmer, classic song structures and melodic hooks shows their atmospheric sound to be as timeless and relevant as ever.
The White EP is a natural expansion for Lowsunday, building upon guitar-driven atmospheres, synth textures, emotive vocals and drum beats. A confident return to form that explores darker yet more expansive sonic territory, they bring atmospheric noise and, at more delicate moments, a dream pop air of deeper melancholia. Distilling years of sonic exploration and inspiration, lyrically and sonically, classic post-punk rhythms and atmospheric layers merge to express raw and genuine emotion.
Hunter As a Horse (HAAH) is the South African musician and vocalist Mia van Wyk. Based in the Western Cape, she has spent the last few years self-releasing a diverse series of singles and EPs that combine electronically-focused songs with intense, melancholic lyrics that are given a darkly cinematic production.
Having recently signed to Metropolis Records, the first HAAH single for the label is ’Lighthouse’, an extremely personal song that weaves together mythology and psychology. Inspired by Carl Jung and ‘shadow work’, it is about how only the broken can truly understand each other. “But, one who was broken and is now healed has greater power to lead the broken through the dark night of the soul because they know the territory,” explains van Wyk. “It’s like if someone who died came back to guide the lost back home. I’m ignoring every warning about how you can’t save someone and declaring that I can. It’s about fearlessly challenging somebody else’s demons.”
Seamlessly genre-hopping between alternative, indie, electronic and dream-pop, with diversions into alternative dance and even nu-goth, the songs of HAAH have been described as mysterious, apocalyptic soundtracks for the strange happenings of our time, with the UK newspaper The Guardian commenting: “Brings to mind the mesmerising atmospherics of Lamb and Zero 7. Dark and very lovely indeed.”
The song lyrics of van Wyk are a mystical ride through her strange and synchronicitous life. Deeply authentic, they are inspired by death, addiction, astral visions, CPTSD, melancholia, nostalgia and magical thinking.
Damage Control is an electro-industrial music project centred around its current core members Bill Barsby, Richard Thacker and Alex Wise, who are all based in Australia, plus Markus App from Germany. Both Barsby and Thacker are originally from Birmingham, England.
Having collaborated with a number of other like-minded musicians from all over the world on their well received 2017 debut album, Ultranoia, they have repeated the trick for its long-awaited follow-up, Oblivion Grid, a release date for which will be announced shortly. As with the first record, they have also retained the skills of Canadian producer Chris Peterson (Front Line Assembly, Noise Unit, Unit:187) and engineer Greg Reely (Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Fear Factory).
‘Rage’ is released today as the first single from the new album and features the Danish musician Leæther Strip aka Claus Larsen on vocals. “We like working with guest singers and have always loved Leaether Strip since the early ’90s industrial and darkwave club scenes,” states Barsby. “We were curious to hear what the combination of our song, Claus’ vocal and Chris’ production would sound like.”
Peterson adds: “Ever since my first conversations with Bill Barsby over a decade ago that led to the first Damage Control album, I believed in the project and that he was making music from his heart that was something special. This is also the case the second time around and holds true with the artists we were lucky enough to have come on board; we all wanted to help and be a part of it. The result is a wonderful release with a variety of songs that is their best work yet. It is a testament to the creative spirit and joy of making and sharing music that attracted so many valuable contributors to lend their talents over the time it took to realise.”
And so they shall return: Port Noir are starting the year not just with their newest single “Noir”, released today, but the band has also announced their 5th album “The Dark We Keep”, to be released May 15th, 2026, via InsideOutMusic. The newest record by the Swedish prog band will include 11 tracks, delivering their signature blend of alternative metal with progressive influences – creating a captivating journey told by powerful arrangements and pure emotions.
‘Noir’ offers a further glimpse of what people can expect of the band’s newest record, being one of the heaviest songs Port Noir have ever released while keeping it true to their dark atmospheric nature and raw emotionality.
The band comments on the new single:
"’Noir’ taps into the dark and raw energy that signifies the vibe of the new album. We wanted to create something that relentlessly keeps building, like an overwhelming void of light that won’t give in. It’s a lot heavier than anything we’ve released to date, yet there is a sense of sentimentality and solace that guides you through the storm that is ‘Noir’. Lyrically it takes you through a seemingly endless night that bends you to its will. Where bliss and despair make you grasp at anything to get through.”
