San Francisco-based shoegazers, Topographies, are fresh from the release of their latest EP, Not My Loneliness, But Ours, and their inclusion in Dune Altar's tribute to The Sound compilation. The band prepares to unveil their long anticipated debut full length, Ideal Form, and introduce it with first single, Rose of Sharon.

Led by Gray Tolhurst, the son of The Cure's Laurence Tolhurst, Topographies haven't disappointed with any of their early singles and EPs thus far, on the contrary, they have laid out an astute sound which pulls form shoegaze and post punk in equal measures, and showed exquisiteness and high standards in songwriting, production quality and impeccability in the way they build their instrumentals into something utterly atmospheric.

The goth-tinged Rose of Sharon is no exception, and finds Tolhurst delivering a hearty performance over brilliant reverberating guitars and absorbing rhythms in an overall riveting outcome.

Topographies have consistently been upward bound, and there's a good chance their coming album is going to continue on that trajectory.

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Ignat Frege is one half of the experimental duo Wreck and Reference, and a restless creative who found a way to explore his production savvy even further. Through his personal project, hand model, Frege will be releasing the new album, manufactured joy, on October 9th, 2020. 

With the profoundly existential, dark and nihilistic lyricism standing out from the attributes that define the intricate sound of hand model, there are certainly parallels to the avantgardism and unconventionality of Wreck and Reference. This time Frege also draws from noise, house and pop music to craft his new project's character.

run circles with knives is bitter and belligerent, and a distinguished listen for those who can take the acidity and the truthfulness of its dark poetry.

Led by producer, Dicky Moore, Bristol-based collective, Bearcraft, release a new single and fantastic video off their recent sophomore full length, Fabrefactions. Where The Sun Sets combines Moore's love for Kate Bush's A Sky of Honey, and the novel, The Drowning Pool, written by his sister about the legend of a sea-witch called Sarah Moore who lived in Leigh-on-Sea in the 1800s.

"This is one of the few tracks I started writing after I had started working on the album with Joe Reeves," Dicky Moore reveals. "Because of that, I was able to just focus on the lyrical, harmonic and melodic content, and leave it up to Joe to add the rhythmic and synth stuff. A Sky of Honey by Kate Bush has been one of my favourite albums since its release, and I admire the sense of space and she creates within it. When my sister got in touch to ask me to write a song inspired by her first novel, The Drowning Pool, with Kate Bush’s sumptuous and spacious compositions, and Syd Moore’s compelling narrative in mind, the song came easily."

Where The Sun Sets is one of the most lyrical pieces from the overall exploratory psychedelic electronica of Fabrefactions, and most expressive of Bearcraft's shadowy aspect, but it's also indicative of Moore's dexterity in a more straightforward and smoother to take in style of writing. 

The single's accompanying video was shot on VHS by Say Goodnight Films, and it's a completely picturesque film which enhances the music's hazy and surrealistic properties. "Beginning with abstract concepts and building a narrative was helpful on where we could utilize the location of home/space we had during lockdown to create an original and dreamy video," Paul from Say Goodnight remarks.

Fabrefactions was written by Dicky Moore after being diagnosed with acute hearing loss. The album was recorded with Joe Reeves (Shitdisco, Age of Consent), mixed by Ali Chant (Gruff Rhys, PJ Harvey, This Is The Kit) and mastered by Anthony Chapman (Franz Ferdinand, Future of the Left, Klaxons), and it's out through the independent label, Australopithecine Records.

For their debut on Blitzcat Records, the not at all bluesy, Sapphire Blues, take a dark and tense post punk direction, and deliver their most realized single thus far. The Bristol-based trio continues on from the impressive dynamism of previous offerings, Good Morning Britain and 119.

Ourselves Forgotten is an aggressive post punk rocker, more straight-shooting than the The Fall or Public Image Ltd, yet of the same idiosyncratic nature. The band reveal that the song was "inspired by an urge to get away from the memories under the skin of every street," thus its haunting qualities protruding quite prominently, together with the track's pristine production and the group's frenzied delivery.

"Based off a voice memo Chris (percussion) randomly captured from a drum and bass night we hardly remember," Sapphire Blues comment. "It's about hanging onto your daydreams as a means of escape from small-town monotony."

Mr. Bungle have returned to action for good, and the date for the release of their first album in 21 whole years approaches fast. The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo comes out on October 20th, 2020 through Ipecac Recordings.

The album was introduced last month with single and video, Raping Your Mind. New track, Eracist, comes with a dystopian video directed by Derrick Scocchera with photography by Nicholas Finn Myggen.

The band's core of Trey Spruance, Mike Patton and Trevor Dunn is completed with the addition of metal greats, Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo, as they revisit the song's written for their 1986 cassette only demo, together with covers of tracks by S.O.D. and Corrosion of Conformity.

"Recording THIS music with THESE guys was an enormous head-rush of virtuosity and surprises every day in the studio,” Mike Patton comments. “Trey’s video game-esque solos, Scott’s bionic right hand and cyborg-like precision, Dave’s caveman-meets-Bobby Brady-like drum fills, Trevor’s solid foundation and laser-focus to detail. There is nothing sweeter than getting your ass kicked by true comrades…where everyone has a singular drive and mission.”

“Recording this record felt like we were finally utilizing our Ph.Ds in Thrash Metal,” says Trevor Dunn. “All we had to do was go back to our original professors for some additional guidance and talk them into joining us. Turns out we were A+ students. We even went for extra credit by revisiting some tunes that we'd given up on back in the day. It was less like a trip of nostalgia and more like the refining of an original, worthy document. We were haunted for 35 years by the fact that this music wasn't given it's due respect. Now we can die.”

Following last year's Over & Under EP, Leeds indie pop sextet, Talkboy prepare for the release of a new EP, and reveal new single, Stupid Luck, an exercise on harmonious nostalgic pop, keeping on building the acclaim they have earned with their first offerings.

"As a group of people we love to push the blame around and look for excuses," the band describe, "trying to find little life get-out clauses that justify our existence as big kids. Birthdays are beginning to become things that are scary events where you realize maybe stuff hasn’t turned out quite how you planned. That being said, I think it’s good to remember although that may be the case and that being driven is important for sure, being able to realize how lucky you are is too."

Talkboy's new EP will arrive in 2021, while the band already has multiple live dates scheduled.

Talkboy are composed of Katie Heap (vocals), Calum Juniper (vocals), Tim Malkin (guitar), Charlotte Jones (keys), Tom Sargent (bass), Jake Greenway (drums).

Talkboy · Stupid Luck

Cabin Fever, the new single by dreampop act, Day & Dream, may have been written long before the pandemic by the band's own keyboardist and vocalist Abby Amaya, but it obviously agrees very well with the current situation. The track was recorded in quarantine at the band's home studio, Fuzzy Forest. in Asheville, NC, and it deals with the notion of feeling trapped at home.

"Home is one of our favorite places but too much of anything is never good," the band remark. "As much as we love snuggling with our dog, cooking and eating good food, playing music, watching TV, reading books, relaxing… there’s a craziness to the constant repetition."

Cabin Fever is a smooth dreampop piece which verges on jazzy trip hop, and in part it finds Day & Dream presenting their slicker side, until it challenges itself by erupting to something wilder but entirely consistent.

"When too much of a good thing sets in, a dizzy and crazed mental state can result where you grow anxious and bored from doing the same things over and over," Day & Dream conclude.

Day & Dream · Cabin Fever

The Valley, the second single and closing track from May Our Chambers Be Full, the upcoming collaborative album between Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou, reveals the project’s more delicate and darker character. 

Thou guitarist Andy Gibbs describes the new track: “Fragile yet powerful; sad but fearless. It’s the feeling you get when you listen to a lot of Emma’s music.”  

“The Valley is a place.” Emma further details. “A landscape that lacks vistas and perspectives. An analogy for unrelenting, crushing mental illness, physical pain, addiction and the isolation that can arise as a result of these diseases. There is a choice one must make once initiated into The Valley's fold; to press on living where no hope will ever show itself or to dissolve into its bleak grayness. On the journey, remains of those who came before us and succumbed are visible. Instead of hope, we turn to anger and defiance for fuel and with those we fortify ourselves. The ending doesn't resolve, but successful escape from The Valley is unlikely.”

May Our Chambers Be Full will be out on October 30th, 2020 as part of Sacred Bones’ Alliance Series of collaborative releases.

Photo by Craig Mulcahy

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The grungy shoegaze and dreampop sound which New York through Britain artist, Cherry Slide aka Dale Humphries, laid out in the very fine debut that was his self-titled record from last year, now takes a bit of a more upbeat and moderately hopeful direction through the new single, Right Now.

"This song is a representation of everything being exactly as it should be right now," the artist describes. "An upbeat tune that represents a sense of completeness in life," and that intention seems to be well met, since the song, an engaging composition presented through a driven performance and solid means of production and instrumentation, makes for an exciting listen for it's five and a half-minute total.

Right Now comes paired to the lo-fi psychedelic pop of Miracle Eye, which presents a bit of a different aspect of the artist's writing, a little more reticent, still no less charming.

Cherry Slide · Right Now

Portugal's Camila Fuchs reveal a second track and video from their upcoming album, Kids Talk Sun, expected out November 13th, 2020 on Felte. The exploratory strangeness of the previous single, Sun, is now followed by the vibrant, artfully complex and multi-colored, Moon's Mountain, another fine exercise in modern psychedelia.

The album was produced by genre veteran Peter Kember of Spacemen 3 and Sonic Boom, who's also worked with many other artists, most prominently Beach House, MGMT, Panda Bear and Moon Duo.

Camila Fuchs remark: "Moon’s Mountain is the song that references moments and places during this time: experiencing psychedelics, encountering days with odd colored skies, the moon drawing the mountain we see from afar, the non-need of being careful, Pete coming by and dropping off plants at our doorstep morning after morning, sitting and waiting for the music making to start, the love that spread from day to day."

Camila Fuchs · Moon's Mountain