Oh the endless parade, where were we? Asked that the time before last time, do we need a new editorial yet? Enough of that and on with this and the music and the what we said last time or last week or last year or many (many) years ago. You’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, jump down past this bit, who needs a damn editorial? Let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of lemons and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other, we have a bad attitude here apparently, no respect for those who work in the music industry, well no poop Sherlock, have you only just worked that one out? We’ve been showing zero respect since the last century, zero flips given…

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, skip this bit, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and what’s Wordsworth? Just the basic facts and links and those sounds (and visuals), that’s surely all you need from us?

Here we go, five more slices of music that have recently come our way, this time we start by a river somewhere near the Scottish border where the woods are alive with the smell of…

1: Smote – Lots to unpack in this delicious eleven minute first taste of the new album, A Grand Stream, from Smote. The album is out in late August, there’s hits of many things in here – “Last Summer, Daniel Foggin, guitarist, writer and chief architect of Smote, uprooted himself from his usual home in Newcastle to live and work in a farmhouse in Kelso, near the Scottish border. “Through the summer when I was working up there, myself and Rob (Smote drummer) would finish work and go sit by a small river and have a couple of beers in the sun, and it was the best thing ever” he relates “So I guess the philosophy is that to some people it looks like any other stream, but to us it was supreme happiness. That can be applied to a lot of things in life”.

Hence came the title of the fourth Smote album proper, one largely recorded in this same farmhouse – A Grand Stream.

It’s an album that’s the truest incarnation thus far of his vision for this band – a full-scale psychic voyage into the ether and a drone-and-repetition-fuelled series of incantations that…” And well you can read the rest of their Bandcamp, this one taste up on the Bandcamp page takes in all kinds of forward movement, are there hints of the mighty Oroonies in there with their rather positive darkness? Are the woods alive? The Opinion Of The Lamb Pt. 1 feels spiritual, it feels aware, it feels right…

2: King Buzzo + Trevor Dunn – a new video for Eat the Spray, a video made by by Colin Raff. Buzz says “I love this video! Probably the best video I’ve ever been involved with.” The song is featured on a four-song, 12” vinyl release, the King Buzzo & Trevor Dunn Eat The Spray ep on Amphetamine Reptile Records and available exclusively on the upcoming US tour dates Buzzo and Trevor Dunn are partaking in sometime around about now which means we can’t get out filthy mits on it over here – hey don’t blame us, we’re just the messengers here to thin the thinkness of your skin, here’s Lucy, she’s choosy of who calls her on the phone.

3: The Gasman has a new album on the way in August, there’s an early taste up on his Bandcamp page right now, it feels like a Plaid flavoured in a rather positive way. He was much loved by Cardiacs leader Tim Smith of course, this first taste will help explain why…

4: Wine Lips – Here’s some rather healthy footage of the Canadian band playing live for US radio station KEXP. There album Super Mega Ultra cane out back in April

Here’s the Wine Lips album…

5: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Long Dark Night, the new single, the third from the forthcoming album Wild God (released on 30th August), do you need us to say anything?

5: Hang on, Nick Cave doesn’t need our coverage and there never can be too much Snooper covering Devo (even though we have covered it already) and they did reacently release a split single with prison Affair as well. Question is when are Snooper going to cover Cardiacs?

And yes we really do need to mention that Prison Affair/Snooper split single even though it has been out for weeks now. Barcelona’s favourite felons @prison_affair have teamed with Nashville’s @snooper_7 for “six tracks of the catchiest punk songs sure to hit this year! Be sure to catch them both touring across Europe Summer 24!” Find it via Static Shock

And while we’re here, didn’t we mention Max Webster earlier, somewhere up there…

And we are still building monthly playlist for those who do the evil Spotify thing…