It’s pretty self-evident that Ministry has never been a big fan of ‘Hair Mussolini’, especially now as he bombards the American people on a near daily basis with self-aggrandising AI slop. Al Jourgensen and co. therefore felt it necessary to give ‘Trumplethinskin’ a dose of his own medicine with a new single out today entitled ‘We Hate’. A video for it directed by Joshua Bradford can be seen here:
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‘We Hate’ is the second track to be lifted from a final Ministry album, Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), out 30th October on Cleopatra Records. It follows ‘Burned Out’ video, which was issued in July. The album puts an end cap on an incredible 45-year career that has shaped a whole genre of music.
Ever since 1981, Ministry and Jourgensen have been recognised as pioneers of industrial music across 17 studio albums, 8 live releases, 8 side projects, multiple touring campaigns across 5 continents, an autobiography, 2 documentaries, the administration of last rites no less than 3 times, and, of course, by the band’s countless devoted acolytes and fans.
However, before bidding adieu, creator and music madman Jourgensen has a few things to say on this album about the state of the world, those in charge and how we should all collectively move forward.
It also features one notable final collaboration with legacy member Paul Barker on its very last track, ‘We’re Still Here’, alongside the handiwork of Jourgensen’s current bandmates: guitarists Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto, bassist Paul D’Amour, synth player John Bechdel and drummer Pepe Clarke Magaña.
Dark-electro band, SINA MATIX has announced the release of their new single ‘Killing The Curse’.
‘Killing The Curse’ is about those life-changing moments when an event occurs and uproots a person and puts them into a state of the unknown. Bad luck, divorce, backstabbing, instability along with a fear of commitment – this goes on for years, until a person finally gets the strength to push the “reboot” button on their life. The reboot is ‘Killing The Curse’. SINA MATIX expresses this person’s feelings through certain sounds, landscapes and dramatics. For this single, SINA MATIX sought to convey the song’s message through a sonically-angrier tone but with an upbeat EBM sound to reflect the message of resilience and of moving forward.
SINA MATIX addresses dark themes with a cinematic sound infused with samples for context. As a result, a new sub-genre is born; one that can only be described as “dark dramatic electro”.
Chicago-based alternative music legend Chris Connelly is back with the sensational single ‘House of 70’s’, the invigorating first offering from his new album Doo Wop In The Dark: A Portrait of Lou Reed, out in October via Shipwrecked Industries with distribution by Virtual Label.
Produced by Connelly and his Sons of the Silent Age bandmate Alan Berliant, the adrenaline-fuelled video was produced by Someoddpilot Studios and directed by Chris Eichenseer, originator of the Chicago-based creative force Some Odd Pilot, and features artists Kira Leadholm (Madame Reaper) and Jay Drenkula.
Doo Wop In The Dark echoes Connelly’s critically acclaimed 2022 album Eulogy to Christa: A Tribute to the Music & Mystique of Nico, a colossal 20-track collection exploring one of the most unique, tragic and misunderstood female artists in the history of modern music.
This new record presents a unique mix, including Lou Reed’s own compositions, spanning his career from the Velvet Underground onwards, and songs penned by Connelly, detailing the creative and often turbulent path of Reed’s life from his teenage years through to his death in 2013.
Chris Connelly explains, “’House of 70s’ is Lou Reed’s New York of the early- to mid-70s distilled into a rock song. The 1960s hippy dream burned out, Altamont in the rear-view mirror — while the queens, the uppers, the downers, and the streets are brought to life by Lou’s pen and guitar, a remorseless sarcasm cutting down the competition with a switchblade, Taxi Driver in drag, chain-smoking and blasting the radio at 3 am."
While Connelly and Berliant produced most of the album, four tracks (‘Babyface’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny Viola’, ‘Doin’ The Things That We Want To’, ‘One Too Many Mysteries’’) were produced by Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndegeocello, Seal, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, The Waterboys, Sheryl Crow).
Mixed by Berliant and Bruce in Chicago and New York from 2023 to 2026, and mastered by James Scott at Populist Recording & Mastering, this album is dedicated to Chris’ dear friend Zak Boerger (1973 -2025) and also the wildfire, tempestuous spirit of Lewis Allan Reed.
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Connelly’s latest release was for Fini Tribe in 2025 for their colossal 3-disc anthology The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe: 1982-1987. That same year, Connelly also released The Lives and Loves of the Serial Homesick, Vol. 1, a personal album rooted firmly in his hometown of Edinburgh, his second recent album dedicated to his beloved Scotland. Prior to that he also released The Birthday Poems, which features Monica Queen (Belle and Sebastian, Thrum).
As of August 18th, ‘House of 70s’ is available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp. On October 16th, Doo Wap In The Dark will be released digitally and as a limited edition two-CD set, with a selection of tracks also being made available on vinyl.
CRUCIVORE unveil the crushing music video ‘Depths of Despair’. This brand new track is the first advance single taken from their forthcoming debut full-length Desecration. The Portuguese’s first album has been scheduled for release on November 13, 2026.
Crucivore comment: “The track ‘Depths of Despair’ carries a distinctive sense of eerie darkness”, vocalist Ricardo Proença explains on behalf of the band. “This unsettling atmosphere is created by a melodic foundation that is contrasted with powerful grooves and precisely placed slams, which add crushing weight to the track. Lyrically, this song explores the feeling of being trapped within your own despair, with no apparent way out. Heavy, dark, and captivating, ‘Depths of Despair’ combines a cinematic feeling with brutality to a powerful and immersive experience.”
Check the video and prepare to be devastated here:
For decades & centuries, musicians have used their art to plant a flag in the ground & stand against the tide – from Lead Belly to Pussy Riot … from the broadside ballads of eighteenth century England to Beethoven’s call for equality ‘Ode To Joy’. There will always be a need for people making visceral musical statements questioning the status quo.
Enter Nrvs’ latest offering ‘The Tanks Are Coming Out’. While we’re all busy putting out fires in our everyday lives, governments & leaders around the world are accumulating tanks, bombs & drones. “You think they are just gonna leave them parked up on a backlot somewhere forever?”
The rise of authoritarianism, censorship, community collapse & impending apocalypse are upon us. Nrvs expand on the idea saying “So yeah ‘The Tanks Are Coming Out’ is about Ukraine, Gaza & the rest of the shit-shows. But zoom right in and it’s also about the war that can break out when two people’s hearts get broken”.
Written while Nrvs spent time in jail for peaceful protest, ‘The Tanks Are Coming Out’ is sonically inspired by the music of Brian Eno, John Cale & in particular Faust’s ‘Rainy Day Sunshine Girl’, while production duties fall to band member Matt Allchin whose production credits include Florence + The Machine, Joy Crooks & Mark Ronson. As for the artwork, photomontage artists & Professor of Political Art Peter Kennard, empathising with Nrvs’s mission, has offered them use of his iconic artwork, giving added context to the band’s agenda. There’s a long-form video too, directed by Emmy Chitty & featuring Josef Altin (Pypar in Game of Thrones). Shot in the “bleeding heart of suburbia”, the video perfectly captures their concept of the “everyday horror of the end ”.
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When asked what makes them different, Nrvs says “Many artists like to project an image of rebellion / bad boys / bad girls / fight the power / I’m some kind of cool like pirate or whatever the fuck. Nrvs actually ARE all those things and live that life. I mean several current UK laws were written specifically to try to block Nrvs from doing things (they failed!)”
So where has Nrvs been these last few years? “Nrvs were building pink boats and breaking into places and supergluing ourselves to things. Nrvs were saying No to the bastards and meaning it. Nrvs were in jail, sisters and brothers. Where the hell were you?”
Reflecting on their previous work including the apocalyptic sci-fi tinged psych-rock EP I Like You, Nrvs are shaping “a nightmare-normal vision of the near future, that you can dance to”. Ideologically they are confrontational, unapologetic, existentially on the edge & uncompromising in their beliefs – all of which is reflected in their creative output, whether it’s music, visuals or their involvement in Extinction Rebellion & similar protests against the status quo.
Many artists have been shrouded in mystery: the music & the visuals should strike you first, whether you’re ready for them or not. Looking to the future Nrvs aim to spell out the writing that’s already on the wall – the story continues…
BESVÄRJELSEN let it rip on their new music video ‘Accelerating Hearts’. Putting their pedal to the metal, the Swedish forest rockers deliver a fuzz-fuelled single that burns rubber on their forthcoming third full-length Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem (Into Oblivion).
Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem is slated for release on August 28, 2026.
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Besvärjelsen comment: “In the middle of writing this album, I found out that I was pregnant, which of course changed everything”, vocalist Lea Amling Alazam reveals. ”During my first writing session after that, I was confronted by myself with how much my creative process had always been tied to my vices. There was usually something there like a glass of wine, a cold beer, and of course also coffee, cigarettes, and snus. Suddenly, all of that was gone. ‘Accelerating Hearts’ became, in a way, a love song to that rush of everything that heightens your senses and pulls you forward – this thrilling sense of acceleration. From the start, I knew that I wanted this song to be a duet. At the top of my list was Fred Burman of Satan Takes a Holiday, who is an incredible vocalist and one of the most compelling voices in Sweden. I was beyond happy when he agreed, and what he brought to the track is nothing short of magic.”
Chat Pile’s heralded debut album God’s Country depicted a particularly American flavour of dread, and their 2024 LP Cool World showed a cruel planet defined by global systemic violence. Now, Chat Pile return with Who Loves the Sun, an album that peels back the skin on how a collective indifference for a decaying world defines this new century.
Spanning imagery of coastlines devouring cities as a result of inaction on climate change, the dread of working dead-end jobs, and the species’ collective submission to data-driven inauthenticity, Who Loves the Sun depicts the common experience of existing in a doom loop which feeds the malaise that permeates all aspects of our lives.
The album”s latest single ‘Same Rules’ is lyrically and sonically as aggressive and confrontational as ever, but Chat Pile approach songwriting with hooks in mind, drawing on melodic tones. Bassist Stin says it’s the “…first real Chat Pile song mostly recorded on 4-track cassette. Ray B. had given us the challenge to write a trip hop song and this is what we came up with. Unfortunately he’s rejected ‘Same Rules’ from the challenge as he claims it’s not trip hop at all and that we have to try again. Perhaps we’ll get it right next time.”
Reaching into the collective consciousness to commiserate and carouse, Chat Pile dissect how the apathy-bloated state of 21st-century existence is an active, slow-motion apocalypse, threads of which are woven through the album. Vocalist Ray B. adds: “Everyone needs to read as much as possible. There is so little emphasis put on knowledge right now— it is your most important tool. Engagement with the world might lead to death, but shutting off and staring at your phone all day is suicide.”
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Since Chat Pile’s formation just over six years ago, the Oklahoma City-based quartet has grown from a scrappy passion project of four local film and music enthusiasts into one of the defining heavy acts to emerge from the 2020s underground.
Ray B. (vocals), L. Manhole (guitar), Stin (bass), and Cap’n Ron (drums)’s crushing, crass, and cathartic take on noise rock resonates in a cracked reality. Their music captures a raw, undeniably human essence that’s increasingly fleeting in an age marked by ceaseless torrents of algorithmic slop, technological overreach, and the cold, crestfallen state of society. Nothing about their forthcoming third LP, Who Loves the Sun, feels synthetic. In a world increasingly shaped by disposable content, Chat Pile answers with something defiantly real and organic.
Live dates:
UK/EU 08/11 – Vienna, AT – Arena (supporting HEALTH and Carpenter Brut) 08/12 – Munich, DE – Live/Evil ~ 08/14 – Col Du Lein, CH – Palp Festival 08/17 – London, UK – Bush Hall ~ SOLD OUT 08/19 – Dublin, IRE – Button Factory ~ SOLD OUT 08/20 – Dublin, IRE – Button Factory ~ SOLD OUT 08/22 – Bristol, UK – Arctangent Festival 08/23 – Hasselt, BE – Pukkelpop Festival
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09/12 – Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre = (SISU Fundraiser Fest) 09/17 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue +^ 09/19 – Chicago, IL – Riot Fest 09/20 – Englewood, CO – The Gothic Theatre +& 09/23 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Metro Music Hall + & 09/25 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo + & 09/27 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall + & 09/29 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades + 09/30 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom + & 10/03 – San Diego, CA – Music Box + & 10/04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco + & 10/06 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile Theater + & 10/08 – Austin, TX – Radio/East + & 10/09 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall + & 10/10 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater + & 11/05 – Detroit, MI – The Majestic Theatre + % 11/06 – Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre + % 11/08 – Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall + % 11/10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel + % 11/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer + % 11/12 – Washington, DC – Black Cat + % 11/14 – Charlotte, NC – Underground + % 11/15 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade + % 11/16 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl + % 11/18 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall + % 11/20 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre + % 11/21 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall + % 11/22 – Lawrence, KS – The Granada + %
~ with Ragana + with Soul Glo ^ with Prize Horse & with Virga % with Shallowater = with Portrayal of Guilt, Nightosphere, Traindodge, Primal Brain
Most artists begin with a single. Eilir Pierce waited until his 40th album.
Released on July 10th, 2026, ‘Do-List’ is the first official standalone single from the Welsh artist and filmmaker after more than 30 years of music-making, 39 self-released albums and over 500 songs.
Having spent much of his career operating outside conventional music-industry structures, Pierce recently moved from Wales to Glasgow to begin his most ambitious project yet.
His forthcoming 40th album, Half-Time, is a synth-pop musical about moving to a new city and attempting to become a pop star in middle age. Featuring guest appearances from Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap and Mercury Prize-nominated Welsh artist Gwenno, the project will also become a live stage show and film, with Pierce performing a full run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
‘Do-List’ captures the overloaded mind behind those plans.
The song races through tasks, ambitions and unfinished ideas as Pierce tries to impose order on everything he believes he needs to achieve. Each completed tick provides a smaller reward. Meanwhile, the jobs continue to multiply.
“I make lists because I’m overwhelmed,” says Pierce. “Then the list becomes another thing overwhelming me. I tick something off, feel satisfied for about three seconds and immediately notice the other 27 things I haven’t done.”
He adds: “I also refuse to call it a ‘to-do list’. The ‘to’ is completely unnecessary. That kind of inefficiency is exactly how lists get out of control.”
Built around tense piano and an increasingly agitated vocal, Do-List developed with Glasgow producer Gavin Thomson into a darker arrangement of drum machines, synth textures and strings.
Its clipped, spoken verses carry the blunt repetition of The Fall and the deadpan detachment of Dry Cleaning. The chorus opens into something more exposed, with echoes of early Daniel Johnston and the eerie consolation of the Lady in the Radiator from David Lynch’s Eraserhead.
At the centre of the song is Pierce’s hope for an afterlife free from unfinished admin: “Heaven is a place with no list.” For a moment, the song escapes the pressure of constant productivity. Then another task arrives.
‘Do-List’ is Pierce’s attempt to write a direct pop song after three decades of working largely on his own terms. It is also the first item in an increasingly unreasonable plan involving an album, musical, film, Fringe run and bid for middle-aged pop stardom.
Perhaps Pierce was born in the wrong era.
Or perhaps releasing a debut single after 39 albums is exactly the point.
Fun, funky and fabulously 80s-influenced, Argonauthave just released their latest video single, ‘Hats Off’, filmed and produced by Dave Meyer.
The single is taken from their new album, Interrupted, that despite the upbeat single in contrast plunges into the past year’s abyss, documenting breakdown, burnout, dementia and depression, alongside nostalgia, hope and healing.
The extended mix single of ‘Hats Off’ is out today.
Here’s Lorna to tell you all about it: “’Hats Off’ is the sound of the summer past and present, memories bought back by looking at old photos from when I was younger. I found a hat in a charity shop which reminded me of one I wore in a picture from when I was 15. Around this time I also took a photography course so I incorporated the camera and darkroom imagery into the lyrics. The synth sounds and bass are influenced by 80s bands such as Japan, Duran Duran, INXS, Human League – which worked well with the words.”
Norwegian cult act ULVER return again to the track ‘Hollywood Babylon’ from their previous album Liminal Animals (2024) for the best of all reasons: a stunning music video that has been long in the making. Following a fascinating remix by Gazelle Twin aka Elizabeth Bernholz that offered a brooding reinterpretation, the Norwegians now add this beautiful clip to the growing corpus around the original track.
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ULVER comment: “Working with our wonderfully mad old friend Christian Mona from the Bogus Blimp days never disappoints”, mastermind Kristoffer Rygg writes on behalf of Ulver. “He started to create this video before we released our last album (sorry about that) and he has finally delivered a splendidly grotesque little gem from within his Automated Bathroom. ‘Hollywood Babylon’ has never looked better! It is a distorted mirror of our times. Please feel free to stare into it a little too long.”
The Norwegian visual artist collective AKFF! adds: “2025 marked 20 years since Ulver made the animated music video ‘It Is Not Sound’ in cooperation with us”, Christian Mona states. “It has been a hypnotic journey through the Sea of Sorrows all the way to the Pinnacle of Truth. Thinking back on what a great experience it was to visualise and expand on Ulver’s universe, we started wondering why AKFF! hadn’t made more videos with Ulver. As it turns out, Ulver had been thinking along the same lines! And so the making of ‘Hollywood Babylon’ began.”
Aural Aggravation 