Who needs a damn editorial let alone a new one? Who needs what? No time for editorials, let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing as last time once again, another five (or so) slices of music that have passed our way recently, five slices of music cherry picked for your delight and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of peaches and here comes the editorial.
Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying swordfish out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Cake oil? Snake oil? Bake the oil, everything must go somewhere 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, we never should have done 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 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 music further down the page, 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 on these Five pages we reguarly post?
Here we go, five more slices of music that have recently come our way, this time we start with a band right on our Hackney doorstep…
1: Es – and a just released track that you can download for free, a slice of growing pains that come with a cryptic “Our final song, we hope you enjoy! xoxo Es”…. A piece of forthright energy recorded, mixed and mastered by Sam Ayres and Rachel Kennedy in their home studio. Hackney Downs, September 2025. if it is their last song then I guess almost all good things must come to end, very little last for ever, almost nothing, we want more…
2: Scattered Purgatory – Taiwanese band Scattered Purgatory are another Eastern gem brought to us by Guruguru Brain, this time a heavier mood though. Dense droning guitars, electronic beats and mantric vocals. This is a first taste of a new album Post Purgatory that will be out on January 30th via Guruguru Brain, we shall explore more in the new year…
And over in Los Angeles…..
3: Blackwater Holylight are another band with an album out early in the new year, this is a rather moody rather sublime taste from the Los Angeles based three piece. The album Not Here Not Gone is out on January 30, 2026 on Suicide Squeeze Records, another album we shall hopefully explore once we are finally done with 2025. We have already told you about the album, hear another track via this link and expect more next year – ORGAN THING: Blackwater Holylight announce a new album and share a beautifully moody new single, hear it and read about the now LA based band’s next moves here…
Meanwhile via the very same BBC that orange baffoon is trying to sue…
4: Gouge Away, that’s Christina Michelle from the band just up there, have released a rather fine four track EP. The rather blistering band, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida are almost a throwback in the most postive of ways to the grunge noise of the mid 90s and here they are with this live session recorded for the good old BBC, a recording where they really are at their rawest. Find it on Bandcamp and do what you need to. The press release down there will tell you more….
“Gouge Away released their triumphant third LP Deep Sage in March of 2024 and later that year, the band stopped by BBC Radio 1 for a live session from Maida Vale. Today, Gouge Away have released the 4-song session digitally, available for the first time since it aired September 2, 2024. The band comments: “Daniel P Carter had us record this live session for The Rock show on BBC Radio 1. We were on tour in the UK and always wanted to record a session at BBC so we were thrilled for the opportunity. The session was recorded live and mixed in a few hours. Then we asked the engineer to give us a tour of the whole studio which was a really special experience. When you’re there you can feel so much history under one roof.“
2025 saw Gouge Away touring extensively and next year proves to be no different – they’re kicking off the year in Portland, OR at the Northwest Abortion Access Fundraiser, then hitting the road as support for Wednesday in March and April. In September, Gouge Away will join forces with Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age for two shows in Vancouver and Las Vegas” No sign of any UK dates, find out more here: www.gougeaway.com
Here’s a taste of Gouge Away in slightly less raw form, a slice from last year that we have featured before on these pages….
And here’s Christina Michelle and her band back in July on the ever excellent KEXP with a live session…
5: Empty Threads are from Australia, I know this because I met the Queen of Australia at an art exhibition I was involved in last week, the Queen insisted I check them out, the Queen was right, here’s a video, a track from their recent album Happy Birthday that has us wanting more…
“Kaurna-based sextet The Empty Threats fuse Australian post-punk and noise rock into a metallic rainbow of snarling bass, frenzied guitar work, restless percussion, and electric clarinet. Unleashing unadulterated party rock; unmasked, wild, dirty and free; their shows are an anti-religious spectacle that unifies the audience and band through the power of mindful rock n roll”
The latest Empty Threads album came out in September, we hadn’t heard of them until last Friday and the visit from the Queen. More in a while, there’s lots to explore…. Bandcamp
Previously…
THE ORGAN 