Die #Feierabend-CD wurde heute mit einer ⚂ erwürfelt. Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon. #progRock #psychRock ♫♪♫

Magic Castles Release New Single ‘Mary Anne’

Magic Castles release new single ‘Mary Anne’, the second to be lifted from their incoming album ‘Realized’. Due out April 24th on Fuzz Club, ‘Realized’ is a set of lush psych-rock reveries from Minneapolis songwriter Jason Edmonds, blending late-60s folk-rock warmth with shoegaze shimmer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTAQcT5M3NU

Consisting of nine dreamlike, melody-led trips that unfold in waves, ‘Realized’ is equal parts hazy nostalgia and widescreen modern psychedelia, centring dreamy, heavily-layered arrangements and floating vocal harmonies. Following recent lead single ‘Abandoned Mansions’, ‘Mary Anne’ is the latest taste of what’s to come. The band’s Jason Edmonds says of the track:

“This one was recorded at Pachyderm Studio (the legendary rural Minnesota studio where Nirvana recorded In Utero) with the Magic Castles band. It’s myself and Izaak on guitars, Kristof on bass and Adam drumming. It’s a catchy pop song with this dreamy push-and-pull energy. Tight and rocking, melodic and upbeat, but with a streak of melancholy running through it. Not quite shoegaze… but it lives in that atmosphere, with some call and response type backing vocals for fans of Television thrown in. The Mary Anne in question is someone maybe struggling with communication breakdowns and the weight of the world, but she’s strong, resourceful, and ultimately ready to kick ass.”

Magic Castles was formed in Minneapolis MN in the early 2000s by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jason Edmonds. Their debut album ‘Lore of Mysticore’ caught the ear of Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, culminating in four albums released on Newcombe’s label ‘A’ Recordings Ltd over 2012-22 – including, most recently, 2021’s ‘Sun Reign’ (a song from which would feature on an episode of the hit HBO series Succession). After a headline tour of Europe in 2023, Jason returned to Minneapolis and steadily finished piecing together ‘Realized’ – the band’s fifth-full length, now ready to see the light of the day on their new label home Fuzz Club.

Edmonds and the rest of the current Magic Castles line-up (consisting of Adam Patterson on drums, Izaak Drew on guitar and Kristof Marden on bass) recorded the tracks with Nick Tveitbakk at the legendary Pachyderm Studios in Minnesota, with additional recording by Edmonds at his studio the Map Room and in Neil Weir’s remote chapel-converted-to-studio, Blue Bell Knoll, where Edmonds and Weir would loving co-mix the end result. The result takes Magic Castles’ music to a newfound level of clarity, whilst still retaining that same, long-harboured analogue warmth only made possible through an array of vintage amps, guitars and transistor organs. 

🎸🔥 GARAŻE GITARY – NA ŻYWO Z BORÓW TUCHOLSKICH!
🎤 Luciano serwuje: #GarageRock #GaragePunk #PsychRock #NoiseRock
📻 Słuchaj na: pawarotaradio.pl oraz w aplikacji Radio Cult (z czatem na żywo!)
#GarażeGitary #MuzykaNaŻywo #Radio

Sludge Hawking / Mystical Zenith / Convoy

X-Ray Arcade, Friday, April 10 at 07:30 PM CDT

X-RAY ARCADE PRESENTS
LIVE MUSIC / ALL AGES
6:30PM DOORS / 7:30PM MUSIC
$15 CASH DAY OF

SLUDGE HAWKING
The new hard folk from Milwaukee, WI.

MYSTICAL ZENITH
Milwaukee Psych Rock

CONVOY
Milwaukee Country / Rock n' Roll

https://mkeshows.com/event/sludge-hawking-mystical-zenith-convoy

#ListeningTo
"Dins"
by #PsychicIlls
https://psychicills.bandcamp.com/album/dins
Released February 7, #2006
via #TheSocialRegistry and/or #SacredBonesRecords
#PsychRock
#ThankYouPeople!

Temita loco perdido que no estaba en youtube y lo tuve que subir. 🍻

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MtBukBqOeQ

#haiabusa #stonerrock #psychrock #stonerpsychrock #masterpiece #obramaestra

https://youtu.be/z_YWynW9PmU?si=n_A1OGhzSOSpCzrm

La meva #CançóDelDia per al dijous 26 de febrer és aquesta dels #KulaShaker #London #PsychRock 🕉️!

Repost: New post out about the new Doom Charts Perorations and my participation there in and relocation to Writizzy (away from Substack).

https://shrike.writizzy.com/p/doom-charts-perorations-for-december-and-january

#music #recommendations #metal #stonerrock #psychrock #doommetal

Miembros de Tame Impala, Geese, Pond y King Gizzard coinciden en estudio | #RollingStoneES

https://es.rollingstone.com/miembros-de-tame-impala-geese-pond-y-king-gizzard-coinciden-en-estudio/

#colaboración #geese #kinggizzardthelizardwizard #noticia #pond #psychrock #reunión #tameimpala

Nottingham Psych-Rock Trio Cult Of Dom Keller Release New Single And Video

Nottingham band Cult Of Dom Keller are today releasing ‘Let Me Go Satan’, the second single to be taken from their long-awaited new album ‘Unholy Drum’, out March 27th 2026. Their first album in five years lands produced by Angus Andrew of LIARS, with whom the band struck up a fruitful creative partnership with when LIARS were drafted in to remix a track from their previous record, 2021’s.‘They Carried The Dead In A U.F.O’.

‘Unholy Drum’ is the result of half a decade spent evolving and deconstructing, Andrew digging his claws into the Cult’s vault of demos, ideas and fragments until something stranger stepped out –  a more expansive and left-field art-rock sound shining through the cracks in the band’s dark psychedelic noise-rock. The band say:

“Songs were cut apart, inverted, whispered to. Left alone long enough to twitch back to life. All while the fever dream of global instability seeped into the DNA of the record… Working with Angus brought a different angle of experimentation to the way we worked. Together, everything was dismantled and pushed further into the dark… And yet, there was liberation. A freedom in abandoning defined roles. In serving the song rather than the structure. In hearing an idea suddenly explode into life.” 

On new cut ‘Let Me Go Satan’, which arrives following the recent release of lead single ‘Leaders With Hoovers, Cult Of Dom Keller add: “Let Me Go Satan was the first song we worked on with Angus (Liars). The original demo was the bass line over a drum loop Ryan came up with and was experimenting with trying to make his guitars sound like a choir. Verses were wrote there and then but bringing to the band we struggled at first to come up with any vocal melody for the verse and choruses. Angus really connected with this demo early on and really worked us hard for several months developing and pushing the melody development. Once we found what worked well we started experimenting and this fuzzy little demo over time developed into a fully formed slice of dreamy psych as we really went for it building the layers of harmonies. We liked the idea of having a more upbeat sound at conflict with its dark lyrical narrative as well as burying some messages low down in the mix for the listener to discover…”

https://youtu.be/iMkR1O9Toy0?si=jHcC2GCEw40aGFL_

‘Unholy Drum’ is the long-awaited sixth album from Nottingham band Cult Of Dom Keller – not a ‘return’, for they were never really gone, but the product of five years spent evolving. In collaboration with Angus Andrew of LIARS on production duties, “Songs were cut apart, inverted, whispered to. Left alone long enough to twitch back to life. All while the fever dream of global instability seeped into the DNA of the record.” The result – due for release March 27th 2026 on Fuzz Club – finds a more expansive and left-field art-rock sound shining through the cracks in the Cult’s dark psychedelic noise-rock. 

Reflecting on the time leading up to ‘Unholy Drum’, the Cult – now comprised of Neil Marsden (vocals/keys/synths), Ryan DelGaudio (vocals/guitar/synths) and Alistair Burns (drums) – write: “It’s been nearly five years since we slipped through a crack in the world – and couldn’t find the same exit twice. It was a time where bassists dissolved like mist. Where bodies glitched in ways that felt half-medical, half-mythic. Where everything stalled except the music. Ideas kept arriving. Fragments. Residue. Ghost scraps clinging to existence like unfinished dreams, waiting to become whole. But this time, we wanted to create something totally different.” 

And then came LIARS’ Angus Andrew: not a producer in the traditional sense but “a kindred spirit who opened a door we didn’t even know we had locked.” Working with Angus on a LIARS remix of their 2021’Run From The Gullskinna’ single, a new creative relationship was immediately forged and the Cult’s vault of ideas soon pried upon for Angus to dig his claws into: 

“Working with Angus brought a different angle of experimentation to the way we worked. Together, everything was dismantled and pushed further into the dark. Sound was dissected until it sprouted limbs. We went so deep inside the tracks that eventually it felt like the songs were waiting for us to catch up… And yet, there was liberation. A freedom in abandoning defined roles. In serving the song rather than the structure. In hearing an idea suddenly explode into life through, say, the force of a full orchestra. It felt like any sound in our heads was now possible, and we continued to craft and shape the songs.”

For all that ‘Unholy Drum’ might mark a departure from the crushingly heavy or freak-out-inclined sonics that characterised much of the Cult’s ever-evolving back-catalogue, the shadowy, post-apocalyptic visions that have always been at the core remain deeply-rooted. Only this time something stranger stepped out, wired directly into the voltage of now. ‘Unholy Drum’ is an album that brushes against our bleak political reality without delivering a manifesto – not a sermon, but the sound of a fever, a possession, a rupture.

“The Unholy Drum is the pulse you obey without meaning to. The rhythm that already owns you. It’s the click-track of modern existence – the subliminal march of markets, governments, algorithms, and the digital ghosts that crave our attention more than our blood. We didn’t name it to provoke. We named it because it was already there. At times it felt less like making an album and more like receiving a transmission from a future we wanted no part of. UNHOLY DRUM is that transmission.”

https://youtu.be/EZx-Px4-7YY?si=Htj8atjE1DTXUB1I

La meva #CançóDelDia per al dilluns 16 de febrer és aquesta de les #CocoRosie #Iowa #Hawai #FreakFolk #PsychRock #IndiePop #Electrònica 🤤!

https://youtu.be/waEoKZIa0S4?si=JX92p0Wlz_a-fUFn

Written in Perth on some mis-tuned gear.

How the mighty have fallen, and others thrive.

#MelodysEchoChamber #PsychRock #DreamPop #Shoegaze

Golden Hours Released New Album “Beyond Wires” Via Fuzz Club

‘Beyond Wires’, the sophomore album from Berlin/Brussels post-punk group Golden Hours is out today on Fuzz Club. Alongside the release of their second full-length, the band are also releasing a video for ‘The Same Thing’ – following earlier singles ‘The Letter’, ‘Heading For The Moon’, and ‘Arctic Desert’. 

Based between Berlin and Brussels, Golden Hours are Hákon Aõalsteinsson, Wim Janssens, Tobias Humble and Rodrigo Fuentealba Palavacino – an outfit of seasoned players who between them have performed as part of Gang Of Four, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tricky, The Fuzztones and more. Golden Hours first rumbled out of the shadows in 2023 with their self-titled debut and are now emerging once more with ‘Beyond Wires’.

‘Beyond Wires’ was knit together in-between the tours and other obligations of its four members, written and recorded in rehearsal rooms in Berlin and an old mansion in Brussels. “The latter definitely put its stamp on the record with its noisy electric static bleeding into every song”, says Wim. But a band like Golden Hours never shies away from these things: they lean into it and welcome those ghostly appearances with open arms and just try to out-fuzz the buzz with layers of noise and strong melodic elements that cut through like a knife.

“With the new album, the band is stealthily moving closer to a sonic space that we can call our own”, says Wim. The sum of all the influences gathered in the recording room could easily crush any other band that doesn’t have the mileage under its belt like Golden Hours has – but for all the influences deeply encoded in its DNA, the band is able to add their flavor time and time again. 

‘Beyond Wires’ is the sound of four people gathering in a Berlin rehearsal room, punching holes in a wall and picking up the fallen bits to create something new over the course of a few days. Not easily distracted or outgunned in the game of trial and error that is still their favorite tool in the creative process, Golden Hours seems to swear by the simplest of rules: “A light shakin’ of the head to the left and right will kill a weak idea in a heartbeat, when no-one says anything the idea is likely accepted. You’ve got to keep the roads clear, to let all the good stuff pass through. You can throw up road blocks in your own time.”

https://youtu.be/82YjtSwxIHU?si=FY6Lk9aOIop119Ho

On the release week single ‘The Same Thing’, Wim says: “The Same Thing leans heavily on Tobias deadpan drum groove and shows the band in full repetitive kraut modus. The song was the last one added to the long-list for the album. When all tracks were recorded, the question was asked: did anyone still have any gems hidden up their sleeves? Hakon started playing this guitar riff, and we all instantly locked in, and within 15 minutes, a song structure appeared. After 2 takes, the basic track was nailed. The song took a slight turn when vocals and extra layers were added in post-production, away from the obvious and into more atmospheric realms, in sync with the overall sound of the album.”

“The song is about the inevitable that comes for you, mostly in moments when you let your guard down. Good things, bad things…The ground beneath your feet can disappear in an instant. It’s the stuff you can never prepare for unless you want to live your life in fear, hiding in a bunker somewhere in a desert where the floods can’t reach you. And it hardly ever happens to you alone, even when no one else gets hit, there’s always collateral damage, stuff that pops up and rears its ugly head years after the avalanche turned your world upside down. It’s a cleansing ritual at best if you’re able to get from under the snow. You can’t keep an eye on everything all the time, and you probably won’t see or hear it coming anyway, but as Tom Waits so beautifully put it:“We’re all gonna be just dirt in the ground”, so no need to go check on your car that fell into that sinking hole before your time is up.”

Tonzonen Festival Berlin 2026

BLO-Ateliers, Friday, March 27 at 06:00 PM GMT+1

Als Independent Label arbeitet Tonzonen Records seit 2012 mit vielen Bands aus den Genres Stoner Rock, Psych Rock bis hin zu Neo-Krautrock zusammen. Dabei steht die Förderung von neuen, jungen Bands genauso im Fokus, wie die Arbeit mit etablierten Bands der Szene. Seit bestehen des Labels gab es bereits zahlreiche Labelnächte in verschiedenen Städten und als größeres Event das Tonzonen Festival, welches 2022 in der Kulturfabrik Krefeld zum ersten Mal stattfand.

Mit 400 Zuschauern feierte das Tonzonen Festival 2025 im ausverkauften Bollwerk Moers einen großen Erfolg. 2026 wird es das Tonzonen Festival an zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen geben, in Berlin und Dresden. Die B.L.O. Ateliers in Berlin-Lichtenberg ist eine Gemeinschaft von Künstlern/Künstlerinnen aus unterschiedlichen Stilrichtungen. Hier wird täglich Kunst gelebt und hier findet auch musikalische Kunst statt. Ein spannender Ort für unsere Bands und fürs Publikum.

EIN FESTIVAL - ZWEI STÄDTE - VIER BANDS:

WEDGE - https://wedgeband.bandcamp.com/

ACID ROOSTER - https://acidrooster.bandcamp.com/

BISMUT - https://bismut.bandcamp.com/

THE BIRCH - https://thebirchband.bandcamp.com/

https://berlin.askapunk.de/event/tonzonen-festival-berlin-2026

Crescent – Milogather Parts 1 & 2

In these times, when so many bands compete over who’ll get a better guitar tone, polished production, and become the next big thing on a contemporary music scene, there are still music outlets that rely on authenticity, tradition, and classic sound that drew all of us into a rock ‘n’ roll world in the first place. Crescent are definitely torchbearers of that sweet, soulful, calm yet dominant sound where warm, commanding guitar tone meets groovy drum beats. They deliver music straight from the heart without even needing modern tools to polish their songs. It’s all about sincerity, passion, emotion, and the immense desire to deliver magnificent rock music. With their “Milogather Parts 1 and 2,” they achieved something many bands fail to achieve even throughout their entire careers, and that’s bringing the classic rock sound while infusing many signature ideas and moves at the same time. Even their approach to writing, composing, arranging, and producing music is different in so many ways from any other band you’ll stumble upon nowadays. In an era when countless artists and bands favor speed, digital tools, and immediate impact, Crescent rather chooses to gradually build a steady, healthy, honest relationship between them and listeners by carefully, thoughtfully, skillfully assembling songs that gradually get into your head and refuse to let go long after the last notes and beats end. Lyrically, both tracks explore love and relationships, but with a slightly different approach. Lyrically, both parts of this double single function as two perspectives on intimacy, imbalance, and connection, simple on the surface, but emotionally unresolved underneath. Part 1 circles around uncertainty, age difference, and emotional reassurance, delivered with a lightness that masks its vulnerability, while Part 2 explores emotional labour, unmet support, and the slow realisation that hope doesn’t always lead to change. Together, they act as a conversation that vividly explains how love, emotions, and relationships actually work.

Sonically, Crescent uses various approaches, techniques, directions, and styles to depict such a lush sonic imagery that perfectly suits the lyrics. Perhaps psychedelic rock comes to mind fist, as all fundamental elements of this music genre are vividly hearable from scratch to finish, but do not be surprised if you stumble upon some of the finest properties borrowed from seventies rock, classic rock, blues, etc. The band uses all these additional music genres as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other detials to uplift their music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. As soon as you press play, you’ll immediately notice how Millie Jones’ marvelous vocal harmonies elevate both compositions to new heights, command attention, and guide listeners on this epic journey through an expansive sonic universe. She seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything Crescent intended to achieve with these songs. Besides decorating all those segments and orchestrations, her voice also contributes more than necessary soul, emotion, depth, and complexity over an already intricate soundscape. In the meantime, Caleb Hay helps her out by contributing additional vocal layers, back vocals, and sing-alongs, significant embellishments that make these tracks so ethereal, anthemic, and otherworldly. Of course, both songs have been adorned by many brilliant ideas and outstanding instrumentations, vividly hearable during all those profoundly detailed segments. You’ll immediately notice how Caleb Hay’s impressive guitar works shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. All those incredible themes, melodies, harmonies, and jangly chord progressions are responsible for why Part 1 resonates with that recognizable psychedelic atmosphere. You’ll also hear many subtle bluesy leads and accentuations along the way, spicing things up to the max. Part 2 offers much heavier, generously distorted guitar riffs, but the quartet has also included those qualities mentioned before. This particular track balances rawness, heaviness, and aggression with calm, soothing, relaxing, and ethereal instrumentations, perfectly showcasing the diversity and creative range of the band.

Besides all those guitar works, it’s good to mention how keyboards contribute even more melody and harmony through a comprehensive collection of luxurious soundscapes and chord progressions. This particular instrument also adds depth and soothingness, especially during Part 1. Also, this epic sonic journey wouldn’t be complete without an equally impressive rhythm section. Beneath all those guitars and keys, you’ll hear how Jake Beddow’s intricate, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumble, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while simultaneously acting as a binding element between the mentioned instruments and rhythmic patterns. In the meantime, Christian Tunney’s exceptional drumming performance, based upon tastefully assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics, keeps the remainder of the instrumentations in line while dictating groove and pace. Each instrument has its place and purpose in this sonic equation, making both parts of “Milogather” a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. With “Milogather Parts 1 and 2,” Crescent demonstrate their lush, intricate, fascinating sound that goes beyond comprehension so many times during these two tracks. Their love for retro psychedelic rock is so profound that you’ll be immediately transported into the sixties, an era when psych-rock ruled the airwaves. Their music not only brings back the golden age of the genre, but also showcases many innovations, rarely heard or seen in music delivered by other contemporaries. “Milogather Parts 1 and 2” is enchanting double single that vividly showcases all the brilliance of this magnificent quartet, and you should immediately place these songs on your music radar, because these highly creative folks demand your utmost attention.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2pVHHFHhPqFntheKMSjjsR?si=fiW7cBvbT2-1g3hWz8mwuA

Fingerless ‘Repeater’ Album Launch w/ Chiffon Magnifique + 88 Tokamak

The Cave Inn, Friday, March 13 at 07:30 PM GMT+10

‘Repeater' is the fifth album by the band Fingerless.

Launching at their favourite inner city haunt, The Cave Inn, with friends Chiffon Magnifique and 88 Tokamak along for the ride.

1930 // doors
1950 // 88 Tokamak
2040 // Chiffon Magnifique
2130 // Fingerless

Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/repeater

It was recorded mainly in Jeff Lovejoy’s studio Black Box Recording, with some tasteful overdubs done in my dodgy home studio. The title of the album has a bit more meaning than you might think. The life of a musician is full of repetition: listening to the same song(s) or artist(s) over and over again, learning/practicing an instrument is just playing the same thing(s) over and over again, writing a song is just playing a riff or chord progression over and over again until you find a lyric or melody or whatever that goes with it, writing lyrics feels like saying the same thing over and over again—and don’t even get me started on the recording/mixing/mastering process.

More than this, though, most of the songs on this album seem (to me, at least) to circle around the same topic: human connection and hope. We need this. We’ve always needed this, and we always will. We’re all repeaters, in the end. Some of these songs were written during the extended post-2020 malaise, while others were written before COVID, and still others were written more recently. But for whatever reason these songs ended up being about things people share; moments, lifetimes, tears, fears, ambition, jealousy, jokes, stories and legacies. None of this is new, we tell the same stories to each other over and over again; we all feed the same stream. But, nevertheless, there’s always more to come, more to share, more to lament. More of the same? Probably. But does that make it any less meaningful?

Playing and believing, tell me something more revealing.
Taking and repeating, building something more appealing.

‘Repeater' will be launched at a venue that the band has played repeatedly, The Cave Inn, on Friday March 13th - spooky! - with help from Chiffon Magnifique (debuting new live band after a 12 month hiatus) and 88 Tokamak (who’ve recently been receiving lots of love on account of their stellar debut album 'Telescopes Out At The Rollerdisco').

Continuing their tradition, Fingerless are releasing ‘Repeater' on 3.5” floppy disk (and digitally). In addition to the new album being lovingly packed in the now long-defunct format, Fingerless’ first four albums will also be available for purchase on 3.5” floppy as well. Look, when everything is available online in super high def, even buying vinyl becomes a gimmick - so why not buy a floppy disk and support the artists in a different way?

https://brisbane.askapunk.au/event/fingerless-repeater-album-launch-with-chiffon-magnifique-88-tokamak

Suburban Death March – Deny Defend Depose

Anarchic and engaging polygenre collection of politically themed tunes that’s full of surprises.

https://suburbandeathmarch.bandcamp.com/album/deny-defend-depose

@suburbandeathmarch.bandcamp.com

https://www.etherdiver.com/2026/01/23/opm-a-unique-situation/#SuburbanDeathMarch

#PsychRock #WeirdoRock

Hot Face Release Debut Album ‘Automated Response’

London trio Hot Face have released their debut album Automated Response on Speedy Wunderground. The album was captured live in one take at Abbey Road Studios in front of an audience.

The story of Hot Face’s debut album takes them from recording in their bedrooms, to gracing one of the most hallowed studios in existence. It all begins after a chaotic midnight headline show at Left of The Dial in Rotterdam, when producer Dan Carey and the band renewed their vows (having previously linked up for former single ‘dura dura’) to record an album. The premise was simple – the album was to be captured over the course of one day in 3 takes straight to tape, with the last unfolding in front of a live audience. A short while later, after yet another show, on a cold London night, Hot Face received a call from Dan in the early hours of the morning. Cramming themselves into the green room toilet to escape the noise, the band were offered the chance to record the album at Abbey Road Studios, the very next week. While a daunting proposal, the band accepted and Hot Face entered Studio Three at Abbey Road Studios. The resulting 25 minutes is what happened that day. A raucous ode to live music, blemishes and all. Within these songs, Hot Face (with Dan Carey manipulating the band’s sonic mayhem live alongside them) bring their feverish live performance to you. Committed to tape and mixed by Dan Carey for your pleasure. Meeting their audience eye to eye, you can almost hear the sweat dripping off the walls.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1rUqGhkYNHhsgOmNScQATs?si=aShIuPKMTJOD0xjFoCaYYQ

Hot Face have shared two singles from the record, ‘Pink Liquor’ and ‘Bumble Been’, each of which saw the band proudly plant their flag in the sand, and declare their biting garage-punk the order of the day.

Guitarist and vocalist James Bates comments on the album: “Automated Response was put together with the live show in mind. We wanted it to be a powerful jab to the cranium – a sonic freight train that leaves you spinning long after it’s passed. With the premise laid out by Dan, it kinda had to be that way! Despite our best efforts we weren’t exactly going to be coming out of Abbey Road with Dark Side Of The Moon under our arms after one day of recording – so a garage-punk record it was.

However, the songs that make up Automated Response are us focusing not so much on a particular sound but more an energy. A kind of pent up explosive kineticism that is the result of leaving the garage and sharing a body of music with the world after what felt like an aeon. An energy that we were letting loose at every show we were playing whether the room was empty or full – pedal to the metal no matter what. 

We had the opportunity to do this with Dan acting both as producer and 4th member, in Studio 3 at Abbey Road, in front of an audience, straight to tape. Real cool fun time.”

Automated Response was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios as part of their annual Amplify initiative, which is designed to empower the next generation of artists, producers, composers and creatives through a free festival of invaluable insights, direct engagement and practical skill development.

#garage #HOTFACE #MUSIC #NEWS #PSYCHROCK #PUNKROCK

Helicon X Al Lover Shared New Single And Video “Not A Thought”

Glasgow band Helicon and Los Angeles-based producer/DJ Al Lover are today releasing the third and final single, ‘Not A Thought’, from their incoming collaborative album, ‘Arise’. Due out February 13th 2026 on Fuzz Club, the bold new record finds Helicon’s counter-cultural psych-rock infused with Lover’s genre-bending electronics – resulting in a maximalist, uplifting sound with a baggy, hypnotic pulse.

On the new single, which follows ‘Arise’ and ‘Backbreaker’, Helicon’s John-Paul Hughes says: “This one’s for the heavy psych heads. Pounding, motorik momentum, swirling fuzz guitars and a dense, enveloping mix that feels circular rather than linear. Looping and locking you into a euphoric, swirling psych-out. Lyrically, it’s about pretending everything’s OK when it isn’t. Mantra-like in its repetition, it captures collapse and the quiet violence of modern mental saturation. When generating ideas and demos for the album, it was the first track where AL took the lead, sending over the initial beats and chords, which we then arranged, expanded and built into the final version we recorded together in Glasgow with Tony Doogan.”

Lover adds: “’Not a Thought’ was a fun one. Most of the album came together with the band sending me demos to tweak and build on, but this track worked in reverse. I sent over a few loops, and what they came back with completely blew me away. I love how unhinged the final version is—it’s unlike anything I’ve heard, and it really feels like new ground was broken. It’s dark, heavy, and freaked out, but there’s a light touch of humor and a real blasé attitude to it. That kind of juxtaposition is what makes it work, and it feels connected to the spirit of bands like The Velvet Underground and The Stooges.”

https://youtu.be/KrhnxxqD0r8?si=pSao046ehxWNZlRx

Produced by Tony Doogan (Mogwai, The Jesus & Mary Chain) at Castle Of Doom Studios in Glasgow, ‘Arise’ is a dense, hypnotic, and fiercely rhythmic record that layers trip-hop breaks, deep low-end and dub textures. The record’s alchemical creative approach was built initially on a trans-Atlantic online back-and-forth of demos between Helicon and Lover. Once upwards of 20 demos had been bounced across the ether and eventually whittled down, the Helicon band (clocking in at nine members at the time of writing, with Belle & Sebastian’s Chris Geddes also playing piano on ‘Goodbye Cool World’) headed into Castle Of Doom to lay down the bare-bones, ready for Lover to fly over and join them and work his magic on drum machine, synth and samplers.
 
“For me, psychedelia is about breaking things open and seeing where it can go next”, John-Paul says: “How far can it stretch and still feel vital? Working with Al Lover let us twist it into something new and prove it can still evolve, still surprise, and still mean something in a world of conformity where everything begins to look and sound the same.” With Lover adding: “The process of working with Helicon on this project has been nothing but a joy. It’s so nice to have music be the conduit for human connection. This is an ongoing theme with any creative endeavour that I’ve undertaken. I hope that connectivity reaches through the music to the listener, helping them feel like a participant in the music, not just passive observers.”

UPCOMING HELICON LIVE SHOWS

2nd Feb – Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh

26th Feb – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield

27th Feb – The Deaf Institute, Manchester 

21st Mar – The Georgian Theatre, Stockton On Tees

25th Apr – Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek

26th Apr – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate

27th Apr – Hot Box, Chelmsford

1st & 2nd May – Fuzz Club Eindhoven

3rd May – Kulturzentrum Kinett, Kusel, Germany 

10th May – Neue Zukunft, Berlin, Germany

13th May – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

2nd Aug – Kendal Calling, The Lake District

19th Sept – Psyched Up! The Old Woollen, Leeds 

25th Sept – The 100 Club, London

More to be announced soon

Tickets:https://www.heliconglasgow.com/live 

#ALLOVER #FUZZCLUB #HELICON #MUSIC #NEWS #NOISEPOP #PSYCHROCK #PSYCHEDELICROCK

Espers - Mansfield and Cyclops

https://youtu.be/AIGPSCB3JeM

#Espers #PsychRock #PsychedelicRock