Tag: Fugue State In the Lurch

Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 20 – 16

It’s time for the top twenty of the 40+ albums I reviewed last year. Who’s in the top half?

#20: The Quality of Mercury – The Voyager

This one came out of nowhere and landed much like the alien craft on the cover. It’s a sharp mix of electro, prog-rock, and shoegaze…all done by one guy riffing on the idea of lonely spade travel.

#19: Fugue State – In the Lurch

Wild garage punk that will leave your stereo system feeling like the wreckage on the album cover. This is another band who came out of nowhere for me that I was glad to find.

#18: Dog Lips – Danger Forward

Loud, brash, and energetic post-punk here that stresses the punk more than the post. This was another band that came out of nowhere. Good stuff lies ahead for them, and for you if you snag this record.

#17: Birds of Nazca – Pangaea

Two Frenchmen making cosmic rock that sounds like it was made by at least a quartet because it’s so damn heavy and loud. It’s all instrumentals, too, which I love.

#16: Anika – Abyss

It’s always good to hear Anika, who returned in 2025 with another sultry and spooky record. Anika has a voice that can instantly hypnotize you, and her dark electro music is always alluring. I still need to catch her live one of these days.

Who’s in the top fifteen? You’ll have to come back tomorrow to learn that.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Fugue State – In the Lurch

The press release I got for Fugue State‘s new album, In the Lurch, described it as sounding like it’s “broadcast through a warped transistor radio from another dimension.” That’s a good way to put it. It’s a wild album that blends punk, jazz, garage rock, and other things I’m still trying to define…but should I bother?

After all, vocalist and guitarist Shane Bruno has said that the lead track (and single), “Moot Point,” is “not meant to be taken entirely seriously” — even though it’s a song about questioning your place in the universe. Perhaps that is the moot point: We’re all floating on a speck of dust in infinite space, so why are we so worried about everything?

Gage O’Brien‘s opening bass on the title track is like the sound of a muscle car engine roaring to life. The rest of the track is that same car tearing through a junkyard wall. “The Pipeline” combines surf and psych along with some weirdo rock and makes a somewhat spooky brew. “Mundane Man” is bonkers, as Bruno shreds his guitar and rolls his eyes at a dude who can’t stop talking about himself.

Drummer Jonathan Hanson goes nuts on the punky-funky “I’ll Keep It in Mind,” making you want to sign him up for your next punk band. “Facts” sounds like Osees making a weird surf album. “Joie de Vivre” is wonderfully warped. Bruno’s guitar sounds like he’s running it through at least three pedals and maybe even an old sewing machine.

“Connecticut Girls” reminds me of Dead Kennedys with its distorted vocals about picking up girls and surf-influenced garage punk sound. “I Don’t Wanna Be Here” could be the theme of the day, week, year, decade, country, and / or planet. O’Brien’s synths (and the horns!) on the closer, “Abscess,” are a neat touch, taking the song back and forth from Hasil Adkins weirdness to Julian Cope-level strangeness.

This is one of the wildest records I’ve heard all year so far. I need to see these guys live. It must be bonkers.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll be left in the lurch if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Dan at Discipline PR!]