Shall we write a new editorial? Oh the endless demand and who needs a damn editorial? No time for editorials, 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 (and getting) zero respect since the last century, zero flips given, let me circle around one more time and give you the heads up on that one..

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 somewhere in Fort Lauderdale, Florida or wherever Gouge Away are based now…

1: Gouge Away – “Six months after the release of their third full-length LP Deep Sage, Gouge Away have shared a music video for the album’s standout track, Newtau“.  Is it the standout track though? Must admit the release of the Fort Lauderdale, Florida band’s latest album passed us by when it came out back in March, Newrau has now dragged these ears in and the whole album sounds good from where I’m standing. Here’s the video, the track and here’s the full album that came out back in March. I’m guessing it is no accident that they share a and name with the name of a Pixies song….

2: Unstable Shapes – More Feral Joy or whatever it is, the noise rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota are sounding as good with this new single as they did with the last one, neat art work again, do like a band who cares about the artwork… bandcamp

3: Bonnie Trash released a rather impressive EP a few weeks back, this rather fine version of the Bad Seeds classic was hanging around at the end of it. Find the EP on Bandcamp – “Bonnie Trash is the darkened shoegaze/post-punk drone project by twin sisters Emmalia and Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor. The recent addition of longtime friends Emma Howarth-Withers (bass) and Dana Bellamy (drums) gives the group a new lavish and layered sound”. Now I know that it is said about every piece of music ever but you really d ohave to play this one loudly, you have to let it wrap around you, engulf you, and yes I know it has now been covered many times but…

4: Nick Carlisle – Northern Irish, Brighton-based artist Nick Carlisle has shared a rather fine video for the second single Spiralling from his new album of what we’re told is “scintillating art rock, DIY pop and vintage electronics”. The album Sailors On The Roiling Sea is out on November 22nd.

“The second single to be taken from Nick Carlisle’s ‘Sailors On The Roiling Sea’ is ‘Spiralling’, released 8th November 2024, an introspective, fraught piano / Mellotron song touching on mental health issues. Nick plays the piano, guitar, ARP / Minimoog and Mellotron as well as handling the vocals; Aubrey Simpson (Pale Blue Eyes) adds fretless bass & Simon Adams is on the drums”.

Nick Carlisle on Spiralling: “This is my health anxiety song, as sung from the perspective of someone with an avoidant personality – a lethal combination. The urge to shut our ears to any potential anxiety triggers takes us down a dark hole that can be difficult to re-emerge from”

The song comes accompanied by a video shot by Aubrey Simpson. Various prisms and lens filters place the protagonist in a claustrophobic context, stationary yet on an inner journey.

And we can report the rest of the album is just a good, more in a day or two once we’ve explored it a little more… Here’s some links

5: Black Flower – it is a state of the mind thing and this is rather different, different is good, we like different. Black FLower tell us they are a “five-piece hybrid jazz combo from Belgium piloted by saxophonist / flutist Nathan Daems, mixing Ethio jazz and oriental with afrobeat and dub”. I guess it is soemwhere deep in their DNA…. Bandcamp / other places

And while we’re here, here’s some Punishment of Luxury…