A bumper edition covering the past two weeks, also ft. The New Eves, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Brown Wimpenny, SILVERWINGKILLER, MAQUINA., Clémentine March, Lucy Leave and Pebbledash.

Opus Kink – ‘I’m A Pretty Showboy’

Opus Kink return with a snarl and a smirk on ‘I’m A Pretty Showboy’, a track that opens with a groove so infectious it almost masks the madness beneath. Since forming in Brighton in 2017, the six-piece have carved out a sound that resists easy categorisation, where post-punk collides with jazz-inflected disorder and grimy funk, stitched together with theatrical flair. Angus Rogers’s vocals shift from deep, seductive murmurs to deranged yelps and frayed melodies. He delivers lines like “Every breath is wasted / All is vanity / But I’m a pretty showboy / I don’t want to be free” with both a wink and a wound, teetering between self-aware decadence and existential dread. Trumpets and saxophones twist around shimmering keys, while guitar and bass tangle in a dance that’s both precise and unhinged. Percussion pulses beneath, anchoring the frenzy without ever restraining it. The result is deliberately disorienting, both playful and apocalyptic in equal measure. Opus Kink thrive in contradiction, and ‘I’m A Pretty Showboy’ is a tightly wound spectacle that seduces as much as it unsettles. (Isabel Kilevold)

The Last Dinner Party – ‘Second Best’

The Last Dinner Party release ‘Second Best’, the third single from their upcoming album ‘From the Pyre’, due October 17th via Island Records. A fleeting choral arrangement lifts the track into a mythic register, where hands and tears are lost to the wind, before Abigail Morris’ voice brings it crashing back to earth with visceral clarity. “You know I hate to lose / And maybe that’s why I’ve left you behind,” she sings, giving voice to the quiet agony of feeling like the second best in a love that is slipping away. The track pulses with feminine rage, soft, but never submissive, where the ache simmers beneath elegance. Morris’ vocals glide from crystalline highs to biting declarations. A steady bassline anchors the shifting dynamics, weaving through delicate keys and a driving guitar melody. Percussion drifts between restrained pulse and sharp urgency, echoing the emotional arc of the track. The London-based five-piece continue to craft a distinct blend of indie rock where baroque accents meet pop melodrama. Built on shifting dynamics and restrained crescendos, ‘Second Best’ finds its momentum in the space between tenderness and unrest. (Isabel Kilevold)

The New Eves – ‘Red Brick/Whale Station’

The New Eves could certainly be forgiven for taking a little rest, given the very recent release of their critically acclaimed debut record ‘The New Eve is Rising’. Nonetheless, the outfit continue to do things their own way, and amidst their UK tour have swiftly followed up with double single ‘Red Brick / Whale Station’. ‘Red Brick’ carries their signature pagan-esque, garage-punk scuzz, channelling The Velvet Underground should they unleash their jam freakout at Stonehenge. On the other hand, ‘Whale Station’ channels CAN and Neu! for a krautrock meets art-rock chiller. As expected, glorious stuff from possibly the most exciting new band in the world and beyond. (Brad Sked)

Melody’s Echo Chamber – ‘In The Stars’

Gifting us with yet another cosmic, ambrosial delight, Melody’s Echo Chamber (aka Melody Prochet) has unveiled ‘In The Stars’. The single arrives ahead of their upcoming fourth album ‘Unclouded’, and with the record’s release date set for the 5^th December, it will no doubt carry the fruitful torch of bright, cloudless summer days through to the darker, gloomier depths of winter. The single is a short and sweet celestial space psych-pop gem, a sun-drenched psychotropic sonic offering that feels as whimsical as ever. Melody’s Echo Chamber will also be making a rare live outing in the UK next year, playing in London on the 21st April at Electric Ballroom. (Brad Sked)

Brown Wimpenny – ‘Sheffield Grinder / Black Joak’

Brown Wimpenny have become one of the essential new live acts on the folk circuit, platformed by Broadside Hacks alongside the likes of Goblin Band and Spitzer Space Telescope (with whom they tour over the next two months). The band have at last released their debut single ‘Sheffield Grinder / Black Joak’ on Broadside Hacks’ label imprint. Originating in Manchester and at one point numbering 25 members of varying levels of formality, the group are now composed of a relatively sensible 11 performers, but this spirit of sprawl and inclusion is felt in the singalong quality they bring to ‘Sheffield Grinder’ as well as its metamorphosis into the Morris Dancing tune ‘The Black Joak’. ‘Sheffield Grinder’ is an embittered lyric dating back to the mid-19^th Century, attacking the way the rich and powerful would “blame and shame” impoverished workers “for struggling to look after themselves”, a logic that persists in modern media and political debates today. Its pairing with a dance tune translates this relevant anger into an uproarious moment, inspiring collective unity and action rather than mere grim passivity. (Lloyd Bolton)

SILVERWINGKILLER – ‘HOLD UP (ALL FIREARMS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM) / S.W.K.’

I literally feel like I’m inside an electric razor listening to Manchester’s SILVERWINGKILLER. The emergence of bands like these, who truly embrace the club nights, the underground and the hardcore, is forceful tonic in the face of our national nightlife crisis, and SILVERWINGKILLER deliver this in spades on their debut single ‘HOLD UP (All Firearms in the United Kingdom)’. Each sugary sonic texture, with its sci-fi video game lyrical references, succeeds in inflaming the senses for a succinct 2-and-a-half-minute rollercoaster. It underlines a newer sentiment among gig-goers that’s been suspected for a while too (with the exception of the 6 Music dads, maybe) – that audiences seeing artists at small, grassroots venues want to go absolutely nuts. It’s a night out. They want energy. They want speed. You can really feel that sense of release in pit stop B-side ‘S.W.K.’. No surprises that this lot are sharing a stage with Fat Dog in November! (Fil Pollara)

MAQUINA. – ‘misfit’

MAQUINA. have unleashed ‘misfit’ into our mortal world, a near 9-minute mind-melter arriving via forward thinking imprint Fuzz Club. ‘misfit’ sees the Lisbon trio inflict a tenebrous charge of heady, psychedelic space-rock and krautrock that is as ominous as it is inebriating. Fitting for these impending Halloween nights, ‘misfit’ is a terrific sonic terror trip, where one’s psyche is dragged into a nightmarish netherworld. Brilliant stuff. On the single itself, MAQUINA. state “This song was created with the idea of a soundtrack for a horror movie in mind”, which is very fitting. ‘misfit’ is out now digitally, with a very apt release on Halloween via 12” vinyl. Add it now to your Halloween playlists. (Brad Sked)

Clémentine March – ‘Lixo Sentimental’

A catharsis of weekend abandon that whisks you away to some glistening river’s edge with a drink firmly in hand, Clémentine March’s ‘Lixo Sentimental’ is a buoyant DIY chamber pop excursion brimming with character and craftsmanship. Written as an homage to Brazilian pop star Rita Lee, the track is sung entirely in Portuguese, combining textural and melodic elements akin to Stereolab with the essence of Tropicália’s greats. The resulting concoction is pliable, robust and worn into like treasured leather, steeled with a timelessness that swells with nostalgia and a convivial knowingness like a wise old friend. The new single from the French born, London-based multi-instrumentalist arrives ahead of her upcoming album ‘Powder Keg’, due for release in January via PRAH. (Hazel Blacher)

Lucy Leave – ‘Diane / Luxury Trap / Tractor’

Genre-sprawling DIY group Lucy Leave announce their return with a new TRIPLE single, perhaps the only appropriate way to introduce a new 26-track album. ‘Feelings Explorer I & II’ is set for release in the new year on Divine Schism, with ‘Diane’, ‘Luxury Trap’ and ‘Tractor’ out now. A knack for indie melodicism runs through the three tracks, but all are nuanced by gleefully discordant elements. ‘Tractor’ establishes a winding Richard Dawson-like melody through which its lyrics are woven before collapsing into a spiralling vocal-led nosedive that pushes through the expected bounds of the piece. ‘Luxury Trap’ is driven on by a great arching guitar riff, and its rough-edged quality feels very Postcard Records, but lyrics about the mindless sedation of late capitalist consumerism shifts the focus into something tougher, backed up by the crunchy tangle of a chorus brilliantly anchored by a skittling drum beat. ‘Diane’ is perhaps the most conventional in its consistency, laying the foundation for a rich and uncertain narrative lyric that interestingly mingles bodily metaphors with the question of shedding undesirable elements of a past self. Across these three joyously clanging and jangling songs, we peek into the complexity and range of Lucy Leave’s gargantuan new collection. (Lloyd Bolton) 

Pebbledash – ‘Cell’

The Cork four-piece share ‘Cell’, the second single from their upcoming EP ‘To Cast the Sea in Concrete’, set for release November 5th. The track is brimming with atmospheric post-punk textures that pulse beneath a shoegaze haze. Pebbledash have crafted a sound that fuses the emotional lilt of Irish traditional music with the raw edge of alternative rock. ‘Cell’ is both ethereal and grounded, its layers deepening with the weight of time slipping, of something vanishing even as it forms. Guitar lines echo with feedback, wrapped around vocals that feel more exposed than performed. There’s a fragile intensity in the way the dissonant melody lands, carried by the soft, aching duet of Asha Egan McCutcheon and Fionnbharr Hickey. Their voices move close, almost whispering through the noise, holding an eerie sense of intimacy. The track lingers in the space between tension and release, where distortion carries more than it obscures, and melody fractures into quiet disorder. (Isabel Kilevold)