I am trying to drink more water. So I downloaded a tracking app. Based on my height and weight and age and whatnot, it decided I should be downing nearly 2.5 litres a day! That’s a lot of liquid. And easier said than done; way too often, I catch myself guzzling a big glassful late in the day to top up the tank. Naturally, that can only mean one thing: I have to get up in the middle of the night to empty it again. Which means I also have to feed the cat. Which means I end up being wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. Thankfully, that could turn out to be a good thing next week, when I will have more than two dozen new albums to check out. Plus, while I’m doing all that late-night / early morning listening, I can get a head start on the next day’s H2O total. Grab a beverage and join me:
The Afghan Whigs
Soft Control
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Afghan Whigs’ new album Soft Control is testament to the old David Bowie quote, where he describes aging as “an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” By now, the volatile years of band leader Greg Dulli’s youth have been substituted with a wry and self-aware satori. The edge and sensitive temperament remain but the unchecked infernos of ego and rage no longer threaten personal immolation. And Dulli’s vocals are simultaneously the strongest and most delicate that they’ve ever been. “I’ve worked hard on my inner peace,” Dulli commented. “I was an angry young man, and it fuelled my art, ambition and my drive. I wouldn’t change anything because I can’t. But as I got into photography and other art forms, I realized that I’m not in competition with anyone — including myself. Now, I know what I’m doing and there’s a quiet confidence that comes with being able to back it up.”
The Barbarians Of California
Megatons
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The West Coast’s contribution to hardcore punk is undeniable. That tradition of aggression, passion, and scrappy melodicism continues with The Barbarians Of California, an engaging new manifestation of iconoclastic spirit and true bombast. Born from the shared passion of Aaron Bruno (AWOLNATION) and his longtime engineer Eric Stenman — who cut his teeth in the same Sacramento community that eventually launched diverse and disparate acts like Deftones, Team Sleep, Dance Gavin Dance, Death Grips and Trash Talk — the spirit of the underground and the personal catharsis delivered through metallic hardcore never left either of them. With their second full length, The Barbarians Of California are unleashing fresh chaos straight from the sun-soaked, teeth-gnashing heart of the Golden State. Blending raw hardcore energy, razor-sharp riffs, and that signature mix of ferocity and tongue-in-cheek humor, these new songs hit like a caffeine-fueled fever dream.”
The B-52’s
Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mesopotamia, the 1982 EP from The B-52’s, was produced by David Byrne (Talking Heads) and was originally planned to be the band’s third studio album. Due to conflicts with Byrne and record label pressure, recording sessions were aborted prematurely and only six of ten songs to be completed were released. Highlights include classic party anthems like Cake, Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can and Mesopotamia. This deluxe edition reinstates previously unreleased and rare material from the original sessions to present the album as originally intended. The set contains the restored album, two additional albums of rare remixes, and a complete, previously unreleased live show recorded on the Meso-America tour in 1982.”
Cobrafuma
Droga Total
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cobrafuma’s Droga Total is not your prototypical metal record. It inhales rock’s decadence, groove and lyrical prowess, and exhales it in smoking-hot, out-of-control riffing rage. All the extremes come in play for a hallucinated carousel of fast, furious, distorted songs that borrow as much from punk in the pounding d-beat drumming, from thrash in the screeching solos, as they do from death’n’roll’s guitar tone, or sludge’s heavy but steady riffing. Their totality is geographic, covering all terrains of extreme music, and conceptual, reaching to rock’n’roll’s traditions of crafting ideas and lyrics and imbuing their songs with witty metaphors and analogies to create powerful, liberating ideas. Cobrafuma do not abide by any cult; their creed is the adrenaline of the riff, their mass is the mockery of the powerful, their prayers are sheer sonic ecstasy. A famous Portuguese poet once said that religion is the opium of the people. Cobrafuma replaced it with a more powerful new drug.”
Cornelius
Refractions
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For more than three decades, iconic Japanese musician, producer and composer Keigo Oyamada (aka Cornelius) has occupied a singular space in contemporary music, transforming everyday sound into intricate rhythmic systems and immersive, cinematic soundscapes. Refractions continues this trajectory while marking a subtle but important shift outward. “This time, instead of turning inward, I wanted to open the work through interaction with others,” he says. That philosophy runs through the fabric of Refractions, which also features contributions from Arto Lindsay, Bid and longtime collaborators Sean Ono Lennon and Shintaro Sakamoto.”
The Cramps
Gravest Gravy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded at Ardent Studios in October 1977 as part of the sessions that birthed Gravest Hits, the tracks on Gravest Gravy were contained on seven 1/4 inch reels. The tapes were transferred by Brian Kehew, the tracks were selected for inclusion by Henry Rollins, engineered by Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios and mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound. Originators of a mutant and primal, stripped-down sound with its roots in the primordial soup of rock ‘n’ roll, The Cramps crafted their art by delving into the past, dredging into the deepest, darkest crevices of pop culture for derelict and abandoned treasures to add to their ever-expanding arsenal of songs and sounds — with rockabilly, the most primal of all rhythmic impulses, at the spearhead. Gravest Gravy is a revelation: Steeped in rockabilly, instrumental rock, soul, surf, psychedelia, and ’60s punk with lyrical inspiration drawn from a myriad of cultural influences including late night television, sci-fi reruns, car culture, exploitation, slasher and horror films.”
Karen Dio
Fugaz
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brazilian firebrand Karen Dio returns with her second release Fugaz. The followup doubles down on the breakout success of her debut EP, 2024’s My World. To introduce the album, Dio issued the first single: The energized Free Yourself. The liberating tone of the track is fueled by Dio’s high-octane delivery, which fuses raucous rock with the punch of punk for a short, sharp and electrified jaunt. “Funnily enough, Free Yourself is a song that I dreamed,” she says. “Most of the time I unfortunately forget the songs by the time I’m awake, but I’m glad I remembered this one. Later the same day, I decided to work on it and the melody of the chorus immediately came. When I showed the embryo of it to Matt (Bigland of Dinosaur Pile-Up), he immediately was like, ‘That’s a hit!’ so we started to write the rest.”
Faerie Ring
Faerie Ring
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Faerie Ring, the hard-rocking, retro-tinged stoner-rock band out of Indiana, have announced their third album: A self-titled effort that marks the band’s sonic rebirth — and one that emphasizes tighter songwriting, blistering hooks, and a new emotional depth that was assisted through the mastering process by Torche guitarist Jonathan Nuñez. “Our last album Weary Traveler was happy-go-lucky,” says band guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter James Wallwork. “But so much has happened since that came out in 2023, both in our personal lives and in the rest of the world. Songs like Lost Boy reflect the furious, “I don’t even care” attitude I felt after my divorce, while Gargoyle is a doomed-out perspective of realizing you’ll grow old alone. No Surrender, meanwhile, was inspired by the latest Israel-Palestine conflict, and it’s written from the perspective of someone living in Gaza during the war. Ultimately, Faerie Ring is a cathartic album that acknowledges that death is real, but so is love. This is an album about love and triumph in a time of existential dread.”
Brandon Flowers
Thrasher
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brandon Flowers — best known as the frontman of Las Vegas rockers The Killers — steps back into the solo spotlight with his his new album Thrasher. The Nashville-recorded project is his first solo album in more than a decade, following 2015’s The Desired Effect. Flowers recorded it at historic RCA Studio A in Nashville with longtime producers Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado. The album features several Music City players, including guitarist David Rawlings, pedal steel player Bruce Bouton and harmonica player Charlie McCoy, whose work appears on Bob Dylan’s Nashville recordings. In the announcement, Flowers said the record grew from a return to the country-western music he heard through his father and from stories rooted in his childhood in Nephi, Utah.”
Grandmas House
Baby You’re A Winner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Baby You’re A Winner is a perfect illustration of the elevated musicality found on the album that bears its name. Linking up across the record’s 12 tracks with producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Yard Act), Baby You’re A Winner showcases a real levelling up for Grandmas House: More layered and involved than their trio of previous EPs — Grandmas House (2021), Who Am I (2023), Anything For You (2025) — with a greater focus on the use of vocals and harmonies to embolden the meticulously crafted arrangements. It’s the sound of the quartet — Poppy Dodgson (vocal, drums), Zoë Zinsmeister (bass, vocals) and Polly Jessett (guitar) — bringing a greater sense of nuance and space to their music, while deploying myriad genres to maximum effect. From the righteous, elasticated rock of recent single Dog to the syncopated post-punk and brass blasts of Dance and on to the chamber folk ambiance of closer Spring, Baby You’re A Winner is the most authentic, realised portrait of Grandmas House to date.”
Guiding Light
Fear On My Own Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The instrumental branch of Guiding Light had already prepared their first batch of songs when they approached Elise Cook to sing — who, miraculously, had lyrics ready to go. That moment of kismet led to their first EP, a frenzied 11 minutes and 50 seconds that defined their post-punk sound for the culturally curious. Now Cook’s melodies are born in the same room as the precise jangle of John Morales’ guitar, the sharp-toothed bass of Rachel Kirk, and the pounding intensity of Charles Powell on the drums. The result is Fear On My Own Time, a new album by a band who know what they’re good at and keep getting better. It’s hard to tell that recording was split into two sessions, six months apart, because you can sense urgency in the work. As anger propels action, energy becomes the reaction.”
Paul Heaton
Jenius
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ask Paul Heaton how many songs he’s written and he’ll tell you he’s not really sure. Perhaps that’s unsurprising: This summer it’s 40 years since The Housemartins released their debut album, Hull: 0 London: 4, peaking at No. 3 in Britain. Subsequently, he’s released, in various configurations — with The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, solo and with Jacqui Abbot, not to mention as Biscuit Boy — another 21 studio albums, plenty going gold, some multi-platinum, as they’ve risen to the charts’ highest reaches. For each, moreover, he’ll have written many many more songs than he’ll ever include. Now, less than two years since The Mighty Several — itself his sixth album to go Top 5 in a dozen years — this prolific, poetic observer of human nature is back with another 15 gems. Silly or serious, poignant or pointed, therein lies Heaton’s Jenius. The album’s title is a symptom of Paul’s modest style. “If anybody ever calls me a genius,” he explains, “I always say, ‘What?! With a J?!’ The spelling would obviously be wrong.” Indeed, Jenius betrays the truth of his talents, and its songs — of love and loneliness, pubs and booze, community and counsel, a nod to football, the state of the nation, and the overall wisdom of kindness — are distinguished by his notably tender voice, his enchanting melodies and a meticulous, effortless craft. “If I can get a variety of people of all sorts of backgrounds to say, ‘Oh, that could be about me or you,’ ” he says, “then I’ve been successful”.
Sawyer Hill
Everybody’s Home, Nobody’s Happy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter Sawyer Hill’s debut album Everybody’s Home, Nobody’s Happy grapples with religion, relationships, the pull of home, and the growing disillusionment felt by many young Americans. The album arose after the artist spent years on the road, leaving his home state of Arkansas for the first time. The album was crafted during sessions in Los Angeles with collaborators including Mike Crossey (1975, Arctic Monkeys), Chris Greatti (Poppy, Yungblud) and Ryan Linville (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy). Billed as his most personal work to date, its sound continues Hill’s blend of blues, Americana, and alternative rock. “On my earlier music I felt like I was singing about things less specific to me,” Hill explains. “Maybe I hadn’t figured it out yet and therefore could not get across who I am, which makes this album feel more genuine.”
