2025-09-12 19:32:15
German folk metal outfit Faun are back with some classic ethereal pagan folk on new album "Hex". Discordant strings, dual chanting vocals, the smell of dead wet leaves. OK the last one is only in my mind.
Opening with the sound of rainfall is always going to grab my attention and New Zealand's Finnegan Tui doesn't disappoint. "Lost Tales, Vol. 1" is a EP of Irish-y gloom folk with a whiff of Nick Cave to it. Ideal for autumn walks.
After a brief foray back into pop punk, Demi Lovato returns with dancefloor filler "Here All Night" which sounds like a Cool For The Summer B-Side. Vocoding a voice like Lovato's should be an actual crime. Bouncy, danceable, forgettable. Shame.
Another sadly forgettable release I heard this week is "The Scythe" by The Last Dinner Party. There's nothing wrong with it — it just feels a bit formulaic but lacking the oomph and grit of earlier releases.
As we head into Autumn, Leo Einaudi's rework of dad Ludovico's "Santiago" is bang on trend. Melancholy piano instrumental with gentle strings supporting.
Latvian industrial nu-metallers, Morphide, return with new single "Of Healing Part 1 - Denial"; mechanical fast-paced percussion, distorted guitar, and floaty female vocals that drop into guttural growls Alissa White-Gluz would be proud of.
2025-09-12 05:43:25
I read the book of this TV show many years ago and, as best I remember, it's pretty true to the original.
A competent cast of actors and the moody British Columbian landscape bring this tale of bullying and teenage murder to life.
Nothing groundbreaking but a decent true crime dramatisation.
2025-09-08 13:56:02
Earlier this year, AK Krajewska affectionately wrote about Bella and her truck and prompted a re-read of Stephenie Meyer's polarising vampire novel.
Full disclosure: I, unironically, love Twilight.
At its core, it's a conservative morality tale and, like many other vampire novels, draws upon centuries of lore depicting vampires as allegory for the perils of unsuitable dalliances and sex before marriage.
Edward Cullen is supposed to be a creep because he's a "predator" — not just a killer but in the sense of a sexual predator. "I can't help myself around you" kind of rape culture vibes. As though the woman is to blame for the man's unseemly behaviour. If only she hadn't lead him on and played hard to get… 👀
On this read-through it feels even more apparent; there are clear parallels in this older man targeting a romantically-inexperienced girl with low self-esteem and telling her she's the most special girl ever (in his eyes). We see it in his gentle negging of Bella's perceived faults and the way he casually overpowers her to demonstrate his strength and control. We see it when her eventually isolates her from her friends until he is her entire universe.
We're absolutely not supposed to root for them; Bella is heading into an abusive relationship that we can see but she can't and we should be screaming "Run, girl! Run!" not buying "Team Edward" shirts.
The less said about Jacob Black the better. Meyer caught some flak for her portrayal of the indigenous people of the Pacific North West and, honestly, it was probably well deserved. The whole werewolf tribe storyline feels extremely icky! 😬
The daftest plot points include Edward's glittery skin and Thunderstorm Baseball™ but they are throwaway fun moments and people who say vampire novels have to be serious are gatekeeping misery-guts.
The sequels were stupid, granted. Although, I'm kind of convinced there'd definitely be some pseudo-Catholic camp af vampire Illuminati mincing around Rome. But, yeah, silly.
Anyway, despite pretty much everyone missing the entire point of the story and fixating on the wrong things, it's actually very good.
2025-09-08 01:20:09
we are in the digital streaming age, there is no control over the algorithm, and it is stressing people the fuck out.
Lizzo
2025-09-07 21:07:38
The department I work in is having a launch event soon so we need a website to advertise it. I've been doing some actual frontend coding for the first time in a looooong time. It's been really nice to exercise that part of my brain again.
Walking in the park I heard, and then saw, a tiny Goldcrest. Another new-to-me bird friend!
On the way home, I saw three baby jackdaws, fledglings, honking like the horn in a child's toy car following a parent around the roof while said parent studiously ignored the little free-loaders.
The teenager checking my ID for beer at Tesco said he liked my Nirvana t-shirt. Double winning.
Started watching "the BBC's answer to Love Island", "Stranded on Honeymoon Island" and, aside from Davina McCall's omnipresent crow face and the fact they aren't in any real way "stranded", it's off to a good start!
2025-09-05 17:09:53
Pocket-sized pop princess (is she royalty now, I think so!), Sabrina Carpenter is back with her cutting observations on modern life and relationships all delivered over bouncy effervescent pop music. New album opener, "Manchild", sets the tone for the album — not deviating from the three-minute pop song trope that caused delight and consternation on last year's "Short n' Sweet". From Eighties-tinged synth and fuzzbox electric guitar to the touches of country without feeling "trend-chasing", Carpenter gently genre-bends while still delivering a cohesive album. Confessional, confident, and controversial; "Man's Best Friend" shows Carpenter is back with a bang!
"Cacophony" by Paris Paloma is out on Bandcamp with an exclusive track! Confident and quirky English indie for fans of bolshy weird female vocalists; Laura Marling, Amanda Palmer, Chloe Slater, Marissa Nadler.
Icy synths and distorted squidgy basslines under ADÉLA's over-processed vocals make "The Provocateur" feel dirty and clean at the same time. Sleazy well-produced alt pop. I'm old enough to remember when a track like "SexOnTheBeat" would be considered "weird mosher shit".
The sleaze continues with the new single from Ashnikko. Staccato, bombastic, fuzzy; "Sticky Fingers" is yet another slice of confident dark dirty pop music.
Opening with a riff The Cure would be proud of, Maggie Lindemann's new single "spine" is much less heavy metal than her last release (2024's "Headsplit") and more a pleasing jangly indie a lá The Smiths.
Resolutely not holding back on the rock n roll are The Pretty Reckless. Back with their first release since 2022, "For I am Death", Taylor Momsen's bluesy grunge rock band bring Dirt-era Alice in Chains song structures, Appetite-era Guns n Roses swagger, and her distinctive voice floating a growling and cracking like she's only ever consumed cigarettes and whiskey.
NME described sombr as smirking sad-boy pop
and, having listened to "undressed", I agree. Melancholy yet knowing lyrics about a breakup accompanied by a shimmering arrangement Foster the People wouldn't kick out of bed.
Eurovision darlings Lord of the Lost & Käärijä team up for gothic dancefloor filler "Raveyard" showcasing their tongue-in-cheek approach to a traditionally earnest genre. Crank it, embrace the cringe, and dance like it's 2002.
There's a sub-genre of indie-pop that I'm starting to really get into; think Baby Queen, Chloe Slater, Orla Gartner, and now Alessi Rose. "CRUSH!" is 2 minutes and 45 seconds of gorgeous up-tempo indie I'd love to dance to, do housework to, or see live.