Who needs who? No time for editorials, repeat, replete, reheat, 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 bird seed and…

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? 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? 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, the second five of a new year, this time we start somewhere in Stockholm

1: Les Big Byrd – Well it starts out soundling like it wants to be Valium Ten or maybe like it was standing on the runway wating to take off and and that surely is a good thing? It goes on past the golden void and many places those Hawks might have been at one time of another yet here on Hökvind Stockholm’s Les Big Byrd have just enough of their own fingerpring on things to make this more than worthwhile; “Ruin Everything is the fifth studio album Stockholm psychedelic-rock pioneers Les Big Byrd. Since forming in 2011, the four piece have perfected their blend of space rock, hypnotizing psychedelia and disciplined kraut. Fronted by songwriter and producer Jocke Åhlund, Les Big Byrd have toured around the world while building a rabid following, alternating between being one of Sweden’s biggest rock bands at home and an underground psych act abroad”.

Not sure about the “psychedelic-rock pioneers” bit there, kind of sounds like a lot of things that have flown through here well before they landed in 2011 but this first very Hawkwind flavoured taste of Les Big Byrd’s new album is more than enough to satisfy (again), well it is for now anyway, let’s see what the rest of the album has to offer? Another fine start, Hökvind indeed. Here’s the Bandcamp – the album is once again released via Chimp Limbs

2: Visible Cloaks have just released a rather soothing couple of pieces; Thinking/Shapes (featuring Félicia Atkinson, Yoshio Ojima and Satsuki Shiban The music is taken from forthcoming album Paradessence (released May 22nd via RVNG Intl) and right now we really don’t need to add that much to the mellow beauty of it all right now do we?

Featured as separate tracks on Paradessence, Thinking and Shapes are presented today as an extended diptych. The songs were initially developed live as a quartet during Visible Cloaks’ world tour with Ojima and Shibano in support of their 2019 collaborative album serenitatem. Thinking is structured around a poetic text written by Ojima read by Shibano in Japanese and then subsequently translated into French and read by Atkinson. As the lines roll out, the space between the words fills up with wavering layers of sound. Shapes weaves a pulsating sequence of gossamer pads to catch virtual horns, Shibano’s coruscant piano shards, and distant vocals.

The accompanying music video by Doran and London-based photogrammetrist grade eterna alternates between methods of 3D scanning to capture visual information from physical environments and generate digital representations of them. Here’s the Bandcamp page with more details and such…

3: Papangu – Brazilian prog mavericks (and Other Rock Show favourites) Papangu have announced Celestial, their third studio LP. The new album is set to be released on August 7th, 2026. A first taste of the album has just been released, a piece of music called Calado (de Olho), here it is. This band do not mess around, they are the real deal. We’re told to explect a “sprawling, layered concept album divided in ten parts, Celestial sees the João Pessoa band weaving retcon prog, MPB, black metal, zeuhl, ciranda, and forró into a multicoloured tapestry of superstition, doubt, and self-affirmation that is both earthbound and otherworldly…” Here’s that first taste and more details via their Bandcamp

“Taking a bold stance against the usage of so-called “AI” tools in art, Papangu rejected all digital shortcuts: Celestial was recorded and mixed to magnetic tape, with no computers whatsoever, and mastered fully analogue at the renowned Emil Berliner Studios in Germany.

Recorded mostly live in the studio over the course of nine days, the band’s second collaboration with Berlin psych producer Richard Behrens (Elder, Kadavar, Earth Tongue) makes heavy use of vintage instruments and legendary recording gear from the 60s and 70s.

Aiming at the future while evoking echoes of Lô Borges, Alceu Valença, and Hermeto Pascoal all the way to Blind Guardian, Gentle Giant, and King Crimson, Papangu’s third record makes no compromises and reaffirms the Brazilian band as generational mavericks of experimental rock.

Celestial will be released digitally on Friday, August 7th, on Bandcamp and across streaming platforms, and will be available on AAA (pure analog) vinyl, CD, and cassette formats”.

4: Bigmoth have just released a rather ambitious new track, the title track of their debut album Meggah Konstrukt Meggah Konstrukt. “Amsterdam-based progressive groove and hardcore-fusion metal outfit, Bigmoth return with a thunderous statement of intent…” reads the press release. Here’s the band’s Linktree full of links and doors and bits of things you need to find out more…

5: Beasts – Precisely 25 years ago to the day, the french-american metal giants Gojira released their debut albumTerra Incognita. To celebrate this, Beasts have today shared a cover of Blow Me Away You (Niverse), especially arranged for the occasion and recorded live in Antoine Romeo’s hometown at Le Vecteur in Charleroi, Belgium.

And while we’re here, yes this is a new video Fangus made this year (and not in 1971), something from an album released this month that we need to explore the band from Montreal and their proto metal a little more….

And something from the previous Les Big Byrd album while we ait for more of the new one…