Nik Havert

Review: The Quality of Mercury – The Voyager

Check out that album cover. That pretty much sums up how The Quality of Mercury‘s new album, The Voyager, is going to sound.

Jeremiah Rouse, otherwise known as The Quality of Mercury, has come back from a nine-year journey to release his new record, and my guess is that was how long he was cruising around in that spaceship on the album’s cover because The Voyager is full of cosmic riffs and epic sounds that seem to drift around distant planets or alongside speeding comets.

“Moonrise” starts off the journey with Rouse proclaiming, “Sleeping giant rise. It’s time to breathe the stars.” The sleeping giant could be us, the moon, the Earth, a celestial being, or just the sound of the entire album. “Radiate” blasts you with Hum-like intensity and an intense tale of an astronaut fleeing a burning, crumbling ship in one last ditch effort to leap from his craft to a space station and hope his oxygen doesn’t run out before he can reach it. “Ganymede” is a story of how the future, or even distant moons, aren’t far enough to escape heartbreak (“Thirteen was the number of the airlock where you left me…Now I’m broken and still frozen on this ice moon where you left me.”).

“Heaven’s Gate” is indeed about the doomed cult of the same name, but not about its ideals. It’s about how those people wanted to find something in the stars that they were missing on Earth…even though it was around them the entire time. The thick bass line Rouse plays on it is a good touch. “Desperate Measures” has two lovers on opposite sides of space taking great risks to reunite. This theme of longing for connection is prevalent on the whole record, and Rouse has said how “…relationships, both human and spiritual, are at the center of everything.”

“Receiving Hertz” has Rouse (Who, by the way, plays everything on this record.) singing about wishing for a human connection across vast distances as he gets “signals from a distant light. Receiving hertz, but still out of sight.” Rouse’s guitar work on “Selenite” has so many layers to it that it feels like he’s terraforming a landscape with it. The title track, which ends the album, has Rouse leaving on his journey into the stars to search “…for purpose and meaning, but the space goes on and on. Tranquil horizons deceiving.” He thinks he’ll be alone, and he might be right, but he also knows he has to make the launch.

We all do at some point, be it into adulthood, parenthood, a new job, a new relationship, a move across the country or the cosmos. We’re all seeking connection here on Earth and even across our galaxy. It’s the eternal quest, and The Quality of Mercury invites us to take it.

Keep your mind open.

[Be sure to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shamless Promotion PR!]

Go “Runnin’ and Searchin'” for Valerie June’s new single.

Photo Credit: Dr. letef Vita Photography

Earlier this year, “Americana darling” (Bandcamp) Valerie June released her new album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, via Concord to high acclaim. NPR Music deemed the album “inspiring…music that’s bringing people together,” while Paste described June as “one of roots music’s premiere cosmic travelers.” Today, June unveils a new single, “Runnin’ and Searchin’,” accompanied by a visualizer filmed by Dr. Ietef Vita in Big Sur, California.

Owls, Omens, and Oracles was a means for June to explore the discovery of a glimmer of hope in challenging times. “Part of the reflection is realizing that we are all oracles who write the future with every choice we make throughout the day,” June explains. “To write about our future, we must know something of the past. From heartbreak to poverty, oppression, injustice, failures, and pain, we all experience loss. ‘Runnin’ and Searchin” is a song that encourages us to use our setbacks as a doorway as we steadily step into the uncertain and unknown path that lies awaiting us with every tomorrow we’re gifted.”

Watch the Visualizer for “Runnin’ and Searchin’”

June’s singular sound and energy is an undeniable north star. Her Tennessee twang grips listeners, with her expansive sound growing from her psychedelic folk, indie rock, Appalachian, bluegrass, country soul, orchestral pop, and blues root system. Halfway through a decade of immense and rapid global change, Valerie asserts a multidimensional Blackness steeped in laughter, truth, magic, delight, and interdependence.

“The resolutely upbeat Valerie June” (New York Times) is an author, poet, Grammy®-nominated singer-songwriter and three-time Americana Music Honors and Awards nominee. She’s been praised by Bob Dylan and written music for Mavis Staples. She is the subject of an exhibit at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville featuring artifacts from her storied career. She has shared the stage with Willie Nelson, Dinosaur Jr., John Prine, Tyler Childers, Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Meshell Ndegeocello, and well beyond.

Following a run of shows in Tokyo and the southwestern United States, this fall and winter, June continues on her Big Ole Worldwide Tour.

Listen to “Runnin’ and Searchin’”

Listen to Owls, Omens, and Oracles

Valerie June Big Ole Worldwide Tour Dates
Sat. Nov. 15 – Barcelona, ES @ Feroe’ 25 Festival
Sun. Nov. 16 – Valencia, ES @ 16 Toneladas
Tue. Nov. 18 – Madrid, ES @ Teatro Magno
Wed. Nov. 19 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilborock
Thu. Nov. 20 – Santiago de Compostela, ES @ Outono Códax Festival 2025 (Sala Capitol)
Sun. Nov. 30 – Paris, France @ New Morning
Mon. Dec. 1 – London, UK @ EartH Theatre – SOLD OUT
Tue. Dec. 2 – Brussels, BE @ Orangerie Botanique
Wed. Dec. 3 – Amsterdam, NL @ Zonnehuis
Thu. Dec. 4 – Rotterdam, NL @ Bird
Fri. Dec. 12 – New York, NY @ Town Hall
Thu. Jan. 15 – Mon. Jan. 19 – Puerto Aventuras, Q.R. @ Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky – SOLD OUT
Wed. Feb. 11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie Lecture Hall

Keep your mind open.

[Run over to the subscription box!]

[Thanks to Yuri at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Stomp Records celebrates its 30th anniversary with big shows across Canada.

Matt Colyer & Mike Magee of Stomp Records

Thirty years ago, Stomp Records kicked off in Montreal with a simple mission: to give Canada’s independent punk and ska bands a home, a voice, and a way to reach beyond their own city limits. It was an ambitious idea for a couple of musicians with no business plan and even less money, a plan that should’ve crashed harder than a tour van on bald tires in a prairie blizzard. Instead, it helped ignite a national movement and built one of Canada’s longest-running and most influential independent labels. From day one, Stomp Records wasn’t just releasing records, it was building culture. In the pre-internet era, Canadian punk and ska scenes were thriving in isolation, each city a bubble. Stomp burst those bubbles, uniting bands from coast to coast, creating touring circuits, and turning hometown heroes into cross-country road warriors. “This label is built on community, creativity, and helping each other get our shot,” says Stomp co-founder Matt Collyer. “We’re still here because the fans show up, the bands work their asses off, and we love every minute of doing this.”

Throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, Stomp helped define the next wave of Canadian punk and ska, not by chasing trends but by championing artists with grit, conviction, and personality. They supported small scenes through compilation series (The All-Skanadian Club) and got in the van with bands — literally and figuratively — helping develop careers from the bar circuit to international festival stages. As trends shifted and the music industry free-fell into the Napster era, most indie labels folded. Stomp didn’t. They embraced digital early, built a full-service ecosystem of booking, management, and publicity, and widened their sonic scope to reflect the beautifully messy realities of underground music. Punk, ska, rockabilly, hardcore, folk-punk, skate-punk, bagpipes, brass, blood, sweat. if it had guts and a pulse of rebellion, Stomp gave it a home.

That fearless curation brought countless Canadian subcultural staples into the world: The Real McKenzies, Wine Lips, The Dreadnoughts, The Flatliners, The Creepshow, The Anti-Queens, Brutal Youth, Belvedere, Bedouin Soundclash, Raygun Cowboys, PKEW PKEW PKEW, The Sainte-Catherines, Down By Law, Snuff… and many more who continue to fill rooms and make noise worldwide. It has never been a smooth ride. Along the way there have been industry collapses, floods, robberies, broken bones, car jackings, even literal Nazi attacks. Somehow, through all of that, a few Juno nominations, a win, and accidental gold and platinum plaques still ended up on their walls.“The odds were stacked against us from day one,” says long-time Stomp partner Mike Magee. “Luckily Stomp Records didn’t, and still doesn’t, give one single flying f*ck about the odds.”

Three decades in, the mission hasn’t changed: artists first, community always, and a stubborn refusal to water anything down. And the stats speak for themselves: nearly 300 releases with distribution in over 190 countries, artists who’ve earned Juno recognition, and alumni who have gone on to perform in Simple Plan, Walk Off The Earth, Kings of Leon, The Stills, Patrick Watson and Broken Social Scene among a long list of others.

To celebrate surviving 30 wild years, and because they love any excuse for a loud night out, they’re celebrating with a nationwide run of absolute blowout shows. A toast to every late-night drive, every curb-side gear load, every sweaty pit, and every fan who ever found belonging in the chaos.

For interview opportunities with Stomp founders and artists, please reach out. -Chad

30TH ANNIVERSARY SHOWS

Nov 21 – Vancouver – The Rickshaw Theatre

The Real McKenzies, The Planet Smashers, Raygun Cowboys

Dec 11 – Toronto – Lee’s Palace

The Dreadnoughts, The Creepshow, The Filthy Radicals

https://www.ticketweb.ca/event/dreadnoughts-with-the-creepshow-lees-palace-tickets/13786114

Dec 13 – Ottawa – Overflow Brewing

The Dreadnoughts, The Creepshow, The Filthy Radicals

https://www.ticketweb.ca/event/the-dreadnoughts-the-creepshow-the-overflow-brewing-co-tickets/14579493

MONTREAL – DOWNTOWN VENUES

Dec 10th @ Turbo Haus

Capable, Doghouse Rose

FR: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/stp251210001

EN: https://thepointofsale.com/tickets/stp251210001

Dec 11th @ Turbo Haus

Dig It Up, Brutal Youth, Crossdog

FR: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/stp251211001

EN: https://thepointofsale.com/tickets/stp251211001

Dec 12th @ Foufs

The Dreadnoughts, The Creepshow, PKEW PKEW PKEW, K-Man and the 45’s, The Penske File, The Fake Friends, Boids, The Filthy Radicals

FR: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/stp250923001

EN: https://thepointofsale.com/tickets/stp250923001

Dec 13th @ Club Soda

The Planet Smashers, The Flatliners, Wine Lips, The Anti-Queens, Crash Ton Rocks

FR: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/stp251213001

EN: https://thepointofsale.com/tickets/stp251213001

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Chad at No Rules PR.]

Rayon takes us “Shopping” on their new single.

No-wave, angular post-punk outfit Rayon present their beautifully whacked-out single ‘Shopping’, a tongue-in-cheek ode to consumerism and travel born from near-burnout and a revitalizing trip south of the border. The video for ‘Shopping’, filmed with their awesomely nostalgic Super 8 video, showcases grocery store antics before being kicked out, proving that new life can always be found on aisle five.

Along with B-side ‘Running’, the single is available on 7″ vinyl and as a two-track digital release via Little Cloud Records. This is the first in an exciting new series of similar records in the works for Rayon.

The project of long-time North Portland resident and Detroit-area native Eric Sabatino, Rayon now also involves members of Sun Atoms, Yuvees, Pastilla and Martha Stax – namely Anna Sabatino, Riley McLaughlin, Eric Rubalcava and Derek Longoria-Gomez. Recording on rainy weekends in a garage studio packed with old reel-to-reel tape machines, partially-functional tube amps, and leaky British motorcycles, these songs were recorded onto 16 tracks of 1/2” tape, while running the tracks through a slightly-wonky sounding tape echo.

Sabatino broke tradition with this release, deciding to mix it together with famed recording engineer Larry Crane (Cat Power, Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, The Go-Betweens, Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie) at Jackpot Recordingand Timothy Stollenwerk (Yo La Tengo, Grouper, Morphine) at Stereophonic Mastering.

“Doing everything on film and tape is a bit of a safety check-valve, to make sure we make everything like humans with no autotune, copy/paste or AI. I’m becoming an imperfectionist,” says Eric Sabatino.

“This was the first time we’ve engaged a “professional” to work on our recordings. The education we received was immense, and Larry was kind with his explanations of everything we had previously done “wrong” with our recordings, was willing to work with what we provided and willing to get weird with us.”

Written in two parts, ‘Shopping’ is a tongue-in-cheek song about consumerism and travel, written by a person who travels and consumes quite a bit. ‘Running’ is an anxious song about the people you love and the addictions that they can’t shake – and the sound of a tape echo that’s about to stop working.

Rayon spent last winter honing these and other songs through a series of live shows, including an epic trip to Guadalajara, which served as creative fodder for the band’s latest inspiration and re-invigoration.

“This EP almost didn’t happen. I nearly walked away from Rayon. The last record wasn’t selling, a lack of decent show offers, festival rejections and a general feeling of burnout was happening. Our second guitarist left, and then our drummer. The addition of guitarist Riley McLaughlin (from Yuvees and Club Deluxe) and Eric Rubalcava (drums) and Derek Longoria-Gomez (percussion and bass) from our “band-in-law” Sun Atoms brought new life and energy to the band,” says Eric Sabatino.

“We played some of the first enjoyable shows in a few years, and a new energy emerged. We started functioning as a band, we traveled to Mexico, and came back to record these songs. And another record is in the works. As for the new video, we got kicked out of two grocery stores making it. The Mexican Tienda was cool as hell; they loved it. We shopped and goofed around in stores, drove the old car down to the park under the bridge and had a picnic. Jeff filmed it all on a cute old Super 8 camera.”

Before forming Rayon, Eric Sabatino spent years playing with bands in Southern Michigan and Portland, sometimes with as many as six projects on the go at the same time. Self-described as “a guy who grew up on 80’s/90’s post punk and grunge trying to reconcile their love of R&B, Soul and 60’s British Pop”, Sabatino is now fully focused on this one project, built on the experience of years of writing, collaborating, studio work and touring with some of the Pacific Northwest’s hardest working bands.

‘Shopping b/w Running’ is out now digitally and available as a limited pressing of 150 blue transparent 7″ record and 150 black 7″ vinyl. It can be ordered in all formats via Bandcamp.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you head off to the store.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR!]

Blackwater Holylight ask, “Heavy, Why?” on their newest single.

Blackwater Holylight have carved a heavy niche in the Los Angeles underground, following their dispatch from Portland, Oregon. Today, the hard rock trio announce the full-length Not Here Not Gone, out January 30, 2026 via Suicide Squeeze Records. The album is shaped by location change, refining a strain of heavy, ethereal doom and shoegaze. Nowhere is this stronger than lead single “Heavy, Why?” Pondering the experience of being disembodied, moody riffs build to an electric climax. The fierce outcome is timeless and innovative.

On the track, singer Sunny Faris shares: “‘Heavy, Why?’ Is a lyrically light and instrumentally heavy arrangement that cryptically but intentionally speaks to the experience of being disembodied and poses the question, simply, of: ‘Why? Why is it such a hard, lonely, agonizing and heavy experience to be turned away from Self.'”

Along with the news, comes a headline tour announcement throughout North America and Europe / UK starting in February through May of 2026.

See all details below.

UPCOMING 2026 LIVE DATES

2/13 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
2/14 – Phoenix, AZ @ Last Exit
2/15 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
2/17- Austin, TX @ Radio/East
2/18 – Houston, TX @ White Oak
2/19- New Orleans, LA @ No Dice
2/20 – Pensacola, FL @ Handlebar
2/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
2/22 – Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
2/24- Charlottesville, VA @ Southern Cafe
2/25 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro
2/26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
2/27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Meadows
2/28 – Braintree, MA @ Widowmaker Brewing
3/02 – Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl
3/03 – Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle
3/04 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
3/06- Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
3/07 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
3/08 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High
3/10 – Seattle, WA @ Nuemos
3/11 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
3/12 – Sacremento, CA @ Starlet
3/13 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
3/14 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley
3/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Pacific Electric
4/18 – Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Fest
5/06 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
5/07 – Hamburdg, DE @ MS Stubnitz
5/08 – Copenhagen, DK @ A Colossal Weekend Fest
5/09 – Oslo, NO @ Desertfest
5/10 – Gothenburg, SE @ Monument
5/12 – Poznań, PL @ Pod Minoga
5/13 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
5/14 – Berlin, DE @ Desterfest
5/15 – Nuenkirchen, DE @ Stummsche Reithalle
5/16 – Brussel, BE @ Obsidian Dust Fest
5/17 – London, UK @ Desterfest
5/18 – Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny
5/19 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
5/20 – Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
5/22 – Helsinki, FIN @ Sonic Rites Fest

Keep your mind open.

[You’re not subscribing? Why?]

[Thanks to David at Suicide Squeeze!]

Home Front embrace their (and our) mortality on their new single – “Eulogy.”

Photo By Lyle Bell | L-R Clint Frazier, Graeme MacKinnon

Home Front reveal new single and video “Eulogy”. The cathartic punk hymn “is a reflection on what it means to lose the people we care about,” the band tells. “In these turbulent times we recognize death comes for us all, but it’s the recognition of someone’s lasting impact that leaves its imprint on us. We all have scars, but wear ours proudly as we move forward into the haze.” “Eulogy” is the latest preview of Watch It Die, their new full-length coming November 14 via La Vida Es Un Mus

For decades Home Front’s Graeme MacKinnon and Clint Frazier have embedded themselves in grass roots music making, community building, and the overpowering ebbs and flows of diy punk. Formed in 2020, they’ve given their lifetime of experience a chance to distill and then power into this musically omnipotent project which equally conjures textured Tangerine Dream sounds in a film montage, or the pummelling soundtrack to the first steps taken towards winning the fight of your life.

Listen / Share / Playlist “Eulogy” | Official Music Video

Home Front holds on to a particular kind of passion. The sort of thing that guides you – like a climbing vine steadily blanketing your bests and worsts, cutting through changes and impasses; victory and loss. MacKinnon and Frazier’s nod to influences and the themes of their lyrics are direct and detailed while maintaining enough creative distance to feel universal and unique. The production has again been bolstered by a team of long time confidants making a huge and unique record under the humble and hard working circumstances of remote pre-production and choosing to do their recording in home studios in their home town in Edmonton, Alberta.

The architecture of Watch It Die is simple – 12 songs of danceable, hummable, rousing and honest music that only Home Front could make. The emotion of this LP is what solidifies these musical notions into meaningful art. “For us, ultimately, this is music that comes out of loss and heartbreak and failure, but I hope people have a good time listening to us. You can get rowdy, you can get emotional, you can do whatever you want, but maybe with all of that freedom, we all take a second to reflect on all our fallen brothers and sisters and friends who may have slipped away.”

On previous revered recordings Games of Power (2023) and Think of the Lie(2021), Frazier and MacKinnon gave us a snapshot of a cynical and alienating world. A place where hope was tempered by insignificance, exhaustion takes us, and where 2,000,000 voices screaming in unison can still go unheard. Watch It Dieinstead of asking us why and how we got here, struggling to cope with the sadness of a desperate world, brings us their “step forward” moment. A dose of optimism and ownership in the bleakest of times in which maybe it doesn’t have to feel so bad to be alone or desperate. Where the passage of time is not coloured by the nostalgia of a lost youth but more toward the celebration of wisdom earned. Watch it Die owns the ills it describes and catapults us alongside its creators who have the confidence and presence of mind to live beyond their limitations.

Watch It Die is a road map of hope. MacKinnon and Frazier state: “For all of us in Home Front, ‘Watch It Die’ comes at a very transformative time. Geopolitically, musically and in our personal lives. With friends and close family members dying, to massive uncertainty around the world, this album encapsulates what it’s like for us to step into a ‘new world’ where all the old adages of ‘everything is gonna work out fine’ feel like a joke. We watch rich people get richer while the rest of us struggle just to get by. We watch colonizers kill without consequence and in an age of information at our finger tips we watch people choosing to be ignorant to what’s going on around them. ‘Watch It Die’ speaks about our own humanity, a rebirth into a new world and how we can never go back to the way things were. We suffer for their dreams, but in saying that we must recognize the importance of our own community and look to energize them to build a better way of life. We have always been an anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-peace band. We are against crimes to human rights and all of those struggling through the horrors of imperialism. We stand with the people of Palestine and we stand with the Canadian Indigenous communities who struggle to uphold treaty rights as well as basic human rights like clean drinking water and generational trauma. One takeaway from our music is to make a safe space where our community can come together to air out grievances and find a better way to a new future.”

Pre-Order Physical | Pre-Save Watch It Die

Home Front have confirmed a run of West Coast dates including San Francisco, Sacramento and two nights in Los Angeles at The Palladium supporting Cock Sparrer on November 22 and 23. See below for a full list of dates and stay tuned for additional touring announcements. Home Front’s touring members Brandi Strauss on bass, Ian Rowley on guitar, and Warren Oostlander on drums.

Home Front Live Dates:

Nov 20: Sacramento, CA – The Starlet Room
Nov 21: San Francisco, CA – Thee Parkside
Nov 22: Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium #
Nov 23: Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium !
Dec 13: Winnipeg, MB – The Handsome Daughter +
Dec 19: Calgary, AB – Palomino *
Dec 20: Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room ^
Feb 06-08: The Hague, NL – Grauzone Festival

# w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four, Castillo
! w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four, Generacion Suicida
+ Record Release Show w/ Imploders, Pure Impact
* Record Release Show w/ CloseTalkers, Puppet Wipes, Poltergeist
^ Record Release Show w/ Languid, Real Sickies

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe?]

[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side!]

James Adrian Brown releases first single, “Generator,” from upcoming debut solo album.

Today James Adrian Brown, former Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist, announces his debut solo album ‘Forever Neon Lights‘ out Jan 30th via Castles In Space. After achieving chart success, touring the world, and releasing four critically acclaimed studio albums with PABH, Brown has begun paving a new path in instrumental electronic music and composition. New single “Generator” is online now and Brown will be touring the UK and Ireland throughout November.

Forever Neon Lights is inspired by Brown’s formative memories of visiting the Blackpool Illuminations as a child. Those bright lights by the sea became a personal symbol of hope, possibility, and escapism, shaping the creative vision Brown now brings to his solo work.On the new single, Brown says ” ‘Generator’ is about creating your own momentum and powering through life’s challenges. Just as the illuminations need a generator to shine, we all have to find and build our own energy source to keep moving forward. For me, it’s about resilience, staying true to your dreams, and making them real.”

“Generator” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-S3w9ILL2I4
“Generator” on other streaming services:: https://ffm.to/generatorjab

Brown’s solo work is heavily electronica-based, utilising analogue synths alongside tape machines, piano, strings, and immersive ambient atmospherics. His focus lies in the analogue process of capturing and creating sound using physical hardware. Taking inspiration from artists such as Boards of Canada, Rival Consoles and Thom Yorke, Brown is exploring, evolving, and pushing his songwriting into bold new sonic territories.

Hot off the heels of producing Benefits’ critically acclaimed album Constant Noise earlier this year, and following a continual flow of live shows, singles, EPs, collaborations and remixes by the likes of Hayden Thorpe, Blood Red Shoes & Benefits.

A deeply personal yet outward-looking debut, Forever Neon Lights is a conceptual record that draws on memory, imagination, and transformation. Across its tracks, Brown reflects on childhood wonder, the excitement of possibility, and the struggles and triumphs of chasing a creative life. The Blackpool Illuminations serve as both literal and metaphorical inspiration: dazzling, unending, and powered by unseen energy.

Sonically, the album finds Brown pushing into new territory with long-time producer James Mottershead, weaving pulsing electronics, immersive textures, and evocative melodies into a dynamic, shifting instrumental landscape. It marks a bold evolution from his guitar-led past into a fully realised electronic vision.

Speaking about making the record, Brown says:

“This album is me laying everything out, the things I’ve carried since being a child, the hopes, dreams, and doubts I’ve felt as an adult, and the stubbornness to see things through. Writing and recording it felt like reconnecting with that wide-eyed version of myself who thought the lights back in Blackpool wrapped right around the entire country every Christmas and went on forever. It’s about taking that feeling and turning it into something lasting and real.”

Forever Neon Lights will be released January 30th, 2026, on one of Britain’s most essential electronic record labels, Castles In Space. The album will be available on limited 12” gatefold vinyl and across all streaming platforms.

See James Adrian Brown live:
20th Nov – Preston – Mad Ferret
21st Nov – Leeds – Headrow House
25th Nov – Manchester – 33 Oldham Street
27th Nov – Belfast – Black Box
28th Nov – Dublin – Crowbar Terrace

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

DITZ really brings your room together with their new single “Don Enzo Magic Carpet Salesman.”

After the release of album Never Exhale at the start of the year, DITZ return with a 9 minute, three-part noise-rock epic new single ‘Don Enzo Magic Carpet Salesman’, and it marks a bold new direction for the band. Fierce, hypnotic and unpredictable, it captures their live energy in full force, and comes with additional track ‘Kalimba Song’.

Both will be also be available on a limited edition 12” on 28th November via City Slang Records, with the first copies sold exclusively on their upcoming tour ahead of this date.

Vocalist C.A. Francis says of the new single, “Don Enzo began as a demo Jack Looker made after our touring wrapped early in the year. It started as one short movement, but after I added lyrics and sent it back, he returned it with five more minutes of music, creating a three-part structure. The song reflects my frustration with AI art – the first part reacting to the issue, the second written from the AI’s perspective, and the final section representing the last gasp of real art before being overwhelmed by artificial output.”

Listen to ‘Don Enzo Carpet Salesman’ / ‘Kalimba Song’ HERE

Keep your mind open.

[It would be magic if you subscribed today.]

[Thanks to Amy at AfterHours PR.]

Dion Lunadon releases new gritty and sizzling single – “Gold Standard Love.”

“Gold Standard Love” is the latest single from Dion Lunadon. It comes out as a limited edition 7″ flexi disc inside the Fall issue of America’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll magazine, CREEM. 100 flexi’s inside 100 copies.

150 copies will be available only at shows while stocks last.

“Gold Standard Love” is a futuristic rocker that crackles and grooves out of a thought crime, foregoing any current trends within the 2025 rock ’n’ roll genre.

“The FBI, The CIA, can’t take my dreams away, will you supply, GOLD STANDARD LOVE”.

Keep your mind open.

[Set the gold standard by subscribing today!]

[Thanks to Dion!]

Review: pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km

The debut album from Irish / Portuguese quintet pôt-pot, Warsaw 480km, is an album about feeling adrift during dark hours but also knowing that light eventually will come.

Lead singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Mark Waldron-Hyden wrote most of the album while bouncing around different landscapes and residences…all the while dealing with grief over the death of his father. What emerged was a pretty damn cool post-punk / krautrock / Ennio Morricone (and, believe it or not, James Brown)-inspired album.

“22° Halo” opens the record with a fierce bass lick from Joe Armitage and guitars that you think are going to overwhelm you for a moment but then fade into the shadows. “Sextape” started out as a jam session and became your next favorite song to put on a psych-rock mixtape. The blend of male and female harmonies between Waldron-Hyden and Elaine Malone and Sara Lelsie and near-surf rock guitars from Waldron-Hyden and Mykle Oliver Smith are instantly hypnotizing, and Malone’s harmonium is like incense in your meditation chamber.

“WRSW” was inspired by the road sign mentioned in the album’s title as Waldron-Hyden was riding in a car with his father’s ashes. As the story goes, he saw the sign emerge along the road on a dark night and it gave him the sense that he’d get through both the night and his grief (even in the latter would remain to some degree for a lifetime). The upbeat krautrock rhythm gives you (and Waldron-Hyden) the power to keep moving forward. “Fake Eyes” is a haunting track that seems to just…hover.

The press release I received for Warsaw 480km mentions how “I AM!” is indebted to Lou Reed. That’s correct, as it sounds like a groovy Velvet Underground track you forgot existed. Waldron-Hyden’s swaggering beat on “Can’t Handle It” reminds me of Cramps records – as do the repeated lyrics of “Tell me, baby, do you feel all right? Tell me, baby, would you take my life? Because I just can’t handle it.”

The guitar work on “The Lights Are On” is a great mix of psych-garage and dark country twang. “Hot Scene” continues that Morricone influence and adds a bit of Delta 5 post-punk flair as it builds to a loud buzz in your head. The album ends with “Change Your Life,” which could be a suggestion made by Waldron-Hyden to us, a friend, a lover, or himself. I’m not sure…or if it matters.

What does matter is that you give this album a spin. It’s a great debut and portends more good things to come from them.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]