‘I’m Tired Of Being Your Mother’ is the third and final post-release digital single from the Jesus Lizard and, along with ‘Cost of Living’ and ‘Westside’, will make up the Record Store Day exclusive Flux EP, out April 12th in independent record stores.
This will be the only physical release of these three songs, available April 12th, on Black Vinyl with an etched b-side. Download and stream now, along with the new album, Rackhere.
About the track, David Yow says; “When a friend of mine was about eight years old, living outside of New Orleans, his mother once said to him, in a slow dull drawl, “I’m tired uh bein yo mutha.” That really struck me. The lyrics are actual quotes of awful things mothers have said to their children. Heartbreaking!!”
Sydney’s sludgiest stoner outfit Amammoth has dropped a new single, ‘Among Us,’ from their forthcoming record, Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies, to be released via Electric Valley Records on February 21 on three vinyl variants and across digital platforms.
“Our second single ‘Among Us’ is a B-grade psychedelic, sci-fi adventure, kind of like ET on acid,” says Ammamoth about the track.
This is the third single from NOISEPICKER’s 2nd album "The Earth Will Swallow The Sun", released on 21st March 2025. Noisepicker’s Harry Armstrong about the video: "Just like our music, all our videos are homemade, organic and completely free from ‘AI’. We create 100% of our art and stand by all of its flaws. And we have the scars to prove it! This video was filmed in London at the historic ruins of the Crystal Palace, which burned to the ground in 1936. The ruins are surrounded by some of the smoothest concrete in England, and contain much of the skin I lost learning to skate as a child. This video combines our love of noise and skateboards. An idea that was originally written off as logistically impossible – Somehow mounting all our equipment onto skateboards and capturing it like a live performance? Madness. But the seed had been sown, and we just had to try. The result is ‘Tomorrow Lied The Devil’. The bruises that cover our limbs tell the truth. Skate and create."
With more than a quarter of a century of noise making history behind him, singer and guitarist Harry Armstrong returns, alongside drummer Kieran Murphy, as Noisepicker and release their second album on March 21st 2025 via Exile On Mainstream Records.
Also known as the current bass player in Orange Goblin, you may well have caught Armstrong on countless festival line ups, experimenting with sounds in bands such as the hard rock of Blind River, the thrash metal of End Of Level Boss, the piano-led jazz rock of The Earls Of Mars, getting his stoner fix in Hangnail and Firebird (alongside Bill Steer and Ludwig Witt), the instrumental soundscapes of The Winchester Club, the death metal of Decomposed, and that’s just to name a few. Murphy has been earning merits in Cold Comforts and several other bands such as being the drummer for Paige Kennedy.
On a permanent search to constantly try “something else”, Armstrong has taken to writing, recording and mixing this new record himself, just to see if he could. Recorded in a rehearsal room, and mixed in his kitchen, it is an approach to music with a DIY ethic fully embedded in it’s heart.
Do not expect neat, polished, note perfect, carefully constructed opuses in this environment. Noisepicker are loud, abrasive and in constant flux, influenced by their love of all things doom, punk and blues. Come stare aghast at it. The album is released on vinyl with the CD bundled, No seperate CD release.
Friday 28 February brought the new Black Swan album from German post-punk / darkwave legacy band PINK TURNS BLUE , which is released on limited edition vinyl, CD and digitally via Orden Records. They simultaneously unveiled the video for the focus track ‘Can’t Do Without You’, a song about the increasing polarization of society, the counterproductive nature of dismissing opposing viewpoints, and a plea for unity and understanding in a world marked by division.
Watch the video here below… album review to follow…
Formed in Minsk, Belarus, two previous album releases by alternative metal group Mission Jupiter have hinted at their potential to be one of the few acts from that territory to achieve lift-off worldwide. Having recruited powerhouse singer Kate Varsak prior to writing and recording their upcoming third album, Aftermath, the result is a set of dramatic, epic songs with thoroughly modern production values that should see them soar.
‘Self-Destruction’ has been released today as the latest single to be teased from the record. The heaviest and punchiest song by Mission Jupiter to date, the band explain that the story behind it is deeply personal and refers to a battle with mental disorder. “When you’re feeling down, it feels like the parasite living inside you has won, and you’re stuck in mental and physical discomfort forever. The only way to survive is to take a pill to ease the pain. We hope this song will resonate with our listeners on a profound level.”
’Self-Destruction’ follows the recent ‘Human Nature’, a song that Prog stated “displays the far-reaching appeal of a band who mix atmospheric prog, the darker undercurrents of Cocteau Twins and up-tempo alternative metal”, while Metal Talk described it as being “swamped by wonderful moods and melodies driven by guitarist Vlad Shvakel and drummer Eugene Zuyeu, all wrapped around a stunning female voice.”
Long-serving Manchester UK Psychonauts The Speed Of Sound present ‘Eight Fourteen Monday’, a compelling highlight track from their mega-album trilogy A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty, released via Californian cult label Big Stir Records.
Arriving on the heels of their latest audio-visual trip – ‘Permafrost’, this song narrates the everyday experience of a dreary commute to explore themes of isolation, detachment, and the contrast between superficial politeness and genuine emotion, all while subtly referencing the devastating historical event of Hiroshima.
Since their formation in 1989, The Speed of Sound’s music has always been idiosyncratic and counter-intuitive, in search of something new. Creating music with lyrical bite, expanding their foundation of 1960s, punk and new wave influences, their dynamic and stylistic variation crossing borders and pushing boundaries at every opportunity.
“Light and spaciously airy, the music contrasts with the imagery of a dark and gloomy early Monday Manchester morning commute. The inevitable announcements of delays and cancelations say “we would like to apologise” rather than “we apologise”; a subtle difference with a totally different meaning. Everyone is wrapped in their own thoughts and staring at their phones, retreating internally to avoid thinking about the discomfort of the journey,” says frontman John Armstrong, further noting "Eighty years ago, as of August, the bomb fell above Hiroshima at eight fourteen on a Monday.”
With overlapping themes of independence – both culturally and artistically – each disc of the A Cornucopia trilogy has its own vibe and personality: Minerva is belligerence in musical form, Victory is a manifesto of artistic creativity and Bounty represents the fruits of artistic freedom, all taking place far from the grasping tentacles of the ‘music industry’.
A Cornucopia began with the band’s own love of the album format and a determination to make long-form music rather than merely produce a conveyor belt of unrelated singles. The interlocking themes of A Cornucopia are deliberately made for album listeners to enjoy, each disc being its own standalone entity while also forming part of the larger whole trinity.
Backxwash, aka Ashanti Mutinta, is a Zambian-Canadian rapper & producer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 Polaris Music Prize-winning album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It.
Her work includes a culmination of themes around the intersection between faith, identity, and queerness. The poetry of her lyrics are the beginning of a cathartic healing process in which she is granting herself permission to be angry.
Backxwash’s critically acclaimed trilogy—God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It (2020), I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses (2021), and His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering (2022)—has cemented her as a visionary in experimental hip-hop. The trilogy reflects different points in her life and delves into themes of identity, spirituality, and personal struggle, blending haunting beats with unfiltered, introspective lyricism.
Backxwash emerges from the shadows of her trilogy with Only Dust Remains, a new direction that showcases her evolution into a broader and more diverse sonic landscape. The record details the experience of life and death all occurring at once, while embracing a more melodic and complex soundscape.
Lyrically, the verses on Only Dust Remains are more complex, word-heavy, and poetic. The album touches on themes of mourning, reflection, and hope, exploring them with a sincerity and depth that deepen her storytelling. This is a work that balances light and shadow, crafting a narrative that is as introspective as it is outward-reaching.
Only Dust Remains stands as a testament to Backxwash’s ability to evolve while maintaining the raw emotional power that defines her music. This is an album that demands to be felt as much as heard, inviting listeners to engage deeply with its intricate layers and striking themes.
It seems like all of the bands of yesteryear are resurfacing in some form or another right now.
Indie rock duo The Bolshoi Brothers present their new single ‘Just a Girl’, previewing their debut eponymous album, set for release on March 21. The accompanying video is an appealing black and white visual vignette, filmed by Matus Foris and Vegas Storm and featuring Nova Clark as ‘The Girl’.
Now based in the USA, The Bolshoi Brothers is made up of Trevor Tanner and Paul Clark, both original members of legendary Beggars Banquet-signed 80s new wave band The Bolshoi. The two hadn’t recorded or played together since the band’s fateful breakup 35 years ago. Due to working on this album during Covid lockdowns, they recorded the tracks remotely from their respective home studios – Trevor in Florida and Paul in Seattle.
“Working with Trevor again after a significant hiatus was akin to find a little gate behind the bushes at the end of the garden that leads into a whole new world. Within days of passing rough musical ideas back and forth, we were making great music again, created at a time when the world was in lockdown, with a pandemic and all that comes with it, creating fear and confusion,” says Paul Clark.
It might be a stretch to describe Brain Pills as a supergroup, but the various members of this trio all have form, with guitarist Mike Vest being a one-man guitar-driven noise industry and with 11 Paranoias and Bong being among his extensive catalogue of projects – and he’s joined by percussionist Nick Raybould and Poundland vocalist Adam Stone. It should be no surprise, then, that this is dark, dense, and gnarly.
‘Faded’ offers four and a half minutes of thick, sludgy, trudgery that feels like an eternity – in a good way. It’s reminiscent of early Melvins – think the slow grinding trawls of Gluey Porch Treatments, rarely over three minutes in length but churning the guts low and slow and feeling twice that.
The sound is immense, a mass of distortion, the kind of overloading, all-out speaker-damaging wall of noise that hits you physically.
The heavy effects on the vocals – magnificently low in the mix – adds a brain-bending psychedelic twist to the megalithic sonic landslide, making for punishing, gnarly perfection.
The band are currently looking for a label to release the album which ‘Faded’ is taken from.
SWANS have announced details of their seventeenth studio album, Birthing, due for release on Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 30 May 2025. Birthing will be released on triple vinyl (in a brown chipboard sleeve, double CD (in a brown chipboard digi-pack), and digitally. Initial pressings of the triple vinyl and CD editions will come with a bonus DVD featuring ‘Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar’, a live concert film directed by Marco Porsia from the last Swans US tour, plus Christopher Nicholson’s documentary from Michael Gira’s solo tour in 2022 entitled I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me To Sing.
Listen to the first track to be shared, ‘I Am a Tower’ here:
“The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course of a yearlong Swans tour, during 2023 – 2024 (‘The Healers’, ‘I Am a Tower’, ‘Birthing’, ‘Guardian Spirit’, ‘Rope’, and ‘Away’), then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio (‘Red Yellow’, ‘The Merge’).
In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I’m blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live (listed below), and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.
This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it.
After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream.” – Michael Gira / Swans
Aural Aggravation 