More more more. More albums, shall we dance around it all again, Did we say that last time? And the time before? Where were we? ut reaay was all about the background collage really. Hey, too many albums not enough time, and (some of) these things do demand proper time and anyway, and, and then, and you do know we only have time for the good ones don’t you? Well most of the time, then again sometimes, well sometimes. And you do know no one reads the editorial bit at the top, well why would they? Here’s some more albums…

Dead Star Boys – Rats – Straight out of Medway like we’re still in 1978, think a not so wired Buzzcocks, a more polite less snotty Pistols, think The Members, The Vapors, various other punky power pop bands from 70s with a The at the start of their name. Dead Star Boys might be a little late to the party, they do their chosen thing, their obvious labour or love well enough though. Thing about the those later 70s power pop bands is they all made great singles, they all got the sound of the suburbs spot on as they danced the night away, they never really stayed the course of an album though. Rats started off well enough, got a tiny bit bored five or six tracks in, there’s probably a great single or two here, now all they need ot do is find that timehole at the end of Denmark Street that takes then back to where they clearly want to be… Bandcamp

Digitonal – The Night Album – Says here that the “neo classical/electronica band Digitonal was founded by producer Andy Dobson in the late 90s and together with a moveable cast of collaborators, have built a solid reputation for innovative, melodic, beautiful electronic music….” it all sounds extreemly polite, mellow, very very easy listening to me, way too nice but hey, you might like it, I’m in need of something with a bit more bite…

Irata – Tower – They’re from Greensboro, North Carolina, they sound like they’re still in the last decade of the last century, they haven’t quite got the colour of Jane’s Addiction, the edge of Helmet or the power of Soundgarden, they do have something though. When they hook it all up, liko they do on closing track Daystar, then they do have something. It is their fourth album, you’d expect them to have something hooked up by now… Bandcamp

Fiesta Alba – Drops of Sunshine in the City of Spectres (Neontoaster Multimedia dept./Altipiani) – Five tracks and twenty-three minutes, probably more of an EP than an album. The band say they “blend math rock, electronic music and drum’n’bass with African polyrhythms, progressive influences, sampled voices and guest performances drawn from Rome’s independent alternative scene”, the band hace described their scuttling blend rather well, it is rather African in a mathy kind of way, nice textures, drops of sunshine indeed, this one is worth your time…. Bandcamp

fling ii – 3 (We Are Busy Bodies) – “There are more systems than ever dedicated to figuring out exactly what you want. Every click, scroll, pause, and impulse is harvested, refined, and fed back to you in an endless cycle of hyper-targeted desire fulfilment. On their third album, 3, Ann Arbor’s fling ii asks a simple question: what if you made something for absolutely nobody?”

What fling ii have actually made is a very very (very) breezy, very mellow, very clean cut, very electronic Kraut Rock flavoured very easy on the ear instrumental album. And yes, another band who don’t believe in capital letters and make it look like we’re being slack. This is very very easy on the ear, think a very mellow Can, think Harvey Bainbridge’s Hawkwind flavours, think Neu!, Cluster, think a gentle orbit rather than a thrusting flight, think a very pleasant album, an album that gently hits all the right spots… Bandcamp

Aaron Myers-Brooks – Fictional Planetoids – Aaron Myers-Brooks makes what sounds like one man scratchy instrumental experimental rock, he talks of “prog rock, electronic, and contemporary classical music”, he’s from Pittsburgh, he tells us he’s “always rhythmically quirky. Sometimes microtonal”. Microtonal always sounds rather alien to me, it sounds like something musicians get excited about and the rest of us maybe find a little jarring, a little awkward. This is mostly a guitar and a drum box and he does tend to repeat the same idea, the same motif, the same awkward bit, the same texture, the eight short tracks tend to all sound the same. I guess some will see that as a positive (this has been picking airplay on the Other Rock Show recently), it mostly sounds like a sketchbook of ideas to me, works in progress. If you’re into relentlessly busy slightly scratchy rhythmically quirky. sometimes microtonal guitar workouts then it might be for you, if it is then you’re probably a musician… Bandcamp

Masami Kawaguchi & Anla Courtis – Godzilla’s Quantum Sneeze (UFO CREAtions) – I’ve been to thousands of loud gigs, I’ve survived at least a couple of thousand annoying sound checks, I’ve seen Motorhead many many of times, Venom when they first landed, that time when Psychic TV tried to drive the audience out of the Marquee, thankfully I somehow don’t have the tinnitus so many others complain of but I imagine this opening track is something like what it sounds like? Why would anyone want to listen to this? I guess we could call it art? The art in self indulgence? Actually I quite often like self indulgence, I certainly like experiments, a slice or two of discordant sound art but there is a line surely? The second track sounds like they’re reflecting on things while they strum a guitar and make some kind of vocalised noise in some kind of drug tank. Actually that first track we heard is where the music platform we were listening to this on decided we wanted to start, a track called, oh it doesn’t matter what the track is called, life is too short. The album started to play in the middle of this thing the duo recorded in Tokyo and Buenos Aires in 2025. They’ll probably love it at Cafe Oto or over at East London’s Hundred Years Gallery, I got banned from Hundred Years years ago. Actually the proper opening track sounds like a band tuning up for an hour or two at some kind of psychedelic festival out in some desert or other, tuning up and then the whatever they’ve dropped kicks in and before it properly gets going it all falls apart and…

And well back with it again on a different day now and it still sounds like some crazed lunatics who in their heads think they’re making something mind expendingly life changing while the rest of us are probably thinking maybe their fingers aren’t working properly. I’m off for a cup of tea… Bandcamp

Dismiss – Funeral Fund (self release) – “A Rock & Roll thunderstorm from Athens, Greece” so they claim, they’re certainly kicking up some kind of righteous storm, they are Jo (vocals), Sellyoursouls (rhythm guitar), Monica (bass, vocals), Andy (lead guitar), and Peepeace (drums). They’ve been around since 2021, this is their debut album. Their blend is an energetic one, that classic rock delivered with punk-driven urgency and not an inch or originality to be found anywhere, love it! This is what we needed at the end of this page. They’re loaded with Fast Eddie style riffs and Motorhead flavoured rock ‘n roll riffage, she, Jo, sounds like she’s the no messing real deal on those attitude laden vocals, they’ve got great big classic hard rock hooks and yes, a much needed dose or two of raw punk energy, a party vibe or two, a healthy amount of twelve bar blues, a healthy serving of those New York Dolls with more than a hint of Stooges and if this transfers on to a live stage (which it surely must?) then the explosive chemistry here on this album. This band rock, watch this space…

Live dates over here (who the hell made them drive from London to Preston and then back to Brighton then back up North again? Who plans these things? )

July 22 – London – Hope & Anchor (with Brazilian hardcore punks Anti Virus) – Tickets
July 23 – Preston – The Ferret – Free Entry
July 24 – Brighton – The Pipeline – Tickets
July 25 – Stockport – Spinning Top – Free Entry
July 26 – York – The Fulford Arms – Tickets

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