THINK AGAIN!

I'm amped to be putting on the fantastic MICHAEL in Worthing in a few weeks time... If you're in the local area and fancy getting the January cobwebs blasted out of your various sockets, come on down. www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/wor...

Here you go. Just what you've all been waiting for. The 25 releases of 2025 that made the biggest impact on me. Plus a trio of excellent compilations and my usual crowbarring-in of some near-misses. You can read it here: pacificbeliefs.journoportfolio.com/articles/top...

And a fitting 40th for A.R. Kane @cafeotodalston.bsky.social

The dreamy Jabu last night at @cafeotodalston.bsky.social

A little belated but we're no less elated to shout about this heroic triple-threat coming your way on 7th February: The Eurosuite Phat Problem M.Woodroe Charles Dickens, Worthing. Grab an advance ticket: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

The first of today's two show announcements! MICHAEL 24th Jan Charles Dickens Worthing 5 highly medicated bad guys simultaneously embodying the dual spirits of Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath in a hail of raw, psychedelic noise rock. Advance tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

The good folks at @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social invited me to contribute to their end of year lists. No prizes for guessing my choices.

Proper appreciate everyone that came down for the inaugural @dreamsmotherers.bsky.social show last night. All the bands put in a serious shift and we had a cracking time. More to come!

Assemble ye Leatherists! Here are your set times for this evening. Final advance tickets here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

Sick shows tonight in Newport, Worthing, and Reading. We're doing it, friends. Freaks off the beaten track rise up!

Charles Hayward (of This Heat fame) and MC @daleknwk.bsky.social combine their myriad powers on this collaborative record. Heres my review for @thequietus.com: thequietus.com/quietus-revi... @relapserecords.bsky.social

Come along to our first show tomorrow and you can grab a Dream Smotherers loyalty card Collect 4 stamps (1 per show) & your 5th show is FREE ENTRY Tickets shifting fast for tomorrow's heady combo of Human Leather, Total Melt, & Last Days Of Analogue Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

'Japanese Television's Al Brown eagerly licks the toxins of the back of a Sonoran desert toad and sinks into a bottomless funk of motorik rhythms, twisting basslines and Balearic guitars' Unite The Worms by Golden Toad is tQ's Album of the Week buff.ly/rss4LCT

If you haven't yet heard elijah jamal asani's beautiful record from this year, give it a whirl. It'll brighten up your morning.

Your lad from Japanese Television, Al Brown, spent some time in a garage in Kent, cranking out an album's worth of earworms. They're not half bad. My Album of the Week review is in over at The Quietus. thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

More tape labels to know and love.

Kel C kindly answered some of my questions about his label - Adhesive Sounds - for this month's Tape Label Report over at @bandcamp.com You can give it a read here: daily.bandcamp.com/tape-label-r...

Just 1 week until the inaugural Dream Smotherers show! We're rapidly pulling together a tasty lineup for 2026 but, before that, Human Leather, Total Melt, and Last Days of Analogue will be in full force next Saturday at the Charles Dickens. Don't miss out: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

Albums of the year list is in over @thequietus.com. Check it out for a thorough investigation of the year's finest music... Including half a dozen titles I reviewed.

Just when Papa C thinks he's out... Tickets: www.gigantic.com/tst-68-comeb...

I'm about 500 pages into this great hulking beast from @markzdanielewski.bsky.social and I have some musical accompaniment suggestions for the journey through the canyons and mountain peaks of Tom’s Crossing: John Fahey Gwenifer Raymond Joseph Allred elijah jamal asani Daniel Bachman Robbie Basho

It's less than a fortnight 'til Last Days of Analogue harnesses all manner of synths, drum machines, and digital jiggery-pokery to carve out sizzling pathways between your synapses. Full body immersion is very much on the cards. Cop a ticket here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

Cases in point...

Stewart Lee's let himself go etc... I stand by my theory that the number of shirt buttons you have undone is in direct correlation to how much of a cunt you are.

3 weeks out from the jarringly discordant & pleasantly rambunctious racket of Total Melt spanking the slop out of the Charles Dickens' stage. Strap in for big angular riffing & the sort of walloping drums that fizz around your cranium like fireflies Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

'I wonder what it was that first attracted Mike Patton to the billion+ streamers, The Avett Brothers? Hitching his wagon to their populist folk pop horse is surely just a peculiar coincidence, right? Let’s hope so because, musically, it’s a travesty.' AVTT/PTTN - S/T buff.ly/u1Yde1j

An appropriately scatological review of Mike Patton and “the Mumford & Sons of North Carolina.” 👇💩 @thequietus.com

Brutal review. What was Mike Patton thinking here?

Mike Patton has teamed up for an album with The Avett Brothers... Let's just say it's not all it's cracked up to be. Here's my review for @thequietus.com thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

'Based out of a similar neck of the Pacific Northwest’s woods that brought us Twin Peaks, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Mandy by Panos Cosmatos, Earth Ball navigate the lure of nature with a weird bit between their teeth.' Earth Ball - Outside Over There buff.ly/OSIh5dO

An unsettling, untamed rumpus has emerged from the woods of the Pacific Northwest... I had a crack at pinning down Earth Ball's latest for @thequietus.com. thequietus.com/quietus-revi... @upset-the-rhythm.bsky.social

In 4 weeks, Human Leather travel from Brighton to rip us an entire wardrobe full of fresh ones. Their recent debut nails down the turbo-charged, Lightning Bolt covering Electric Wizard aesthetic, even daring to throw a little “melody” into the melee. Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dream-smothe...

Five tape labels to know and love from October.

Had a nice chat with Paul Moore of Acroplane Recordings for this month's @bandcamp.com Tape Label Report. Take a peek here: daily.bandcamp.com/tape-label-r...

Celebrated 6 months off the sauce at Autechre last night. It was like rush hour in an isolation tank. The textural assault built into what felt like fireworks trying to fuck my brain. Only the bambi-on-ice, regretamine'd dancing of nearby attendees took me out of the trance.

Here we fucking go!

I'm going in... See you in 1200 pages time. @markzdanielewski.bsky.social

Joseph Allred was in cosmic form yesterday evening, summoning entire worlds from the tips of his nimble fingers. @poorfaulkner.bsky.social

A good friend and I are taking the bold and perhaps slightly barmy step of putting on gigs in Worthing from next month. If you're in the South Coast locale and fancy getting the low down, give @dreamsmotherers.bsky.social a follow.

Thx Resident music for The Bug vs @ghostdubs.bsky.social write up "this deadly duo have 1 thing on their collective mind: total bass destruction. And they bring it in enormous, tsunami-sized waves of sonic weaponry. FFO: Burial / JK Flesh / Techno Animal / King Tubby / Sunn O))) / Rhythm & Sound"

Moin were in fine form the other night at ACCA... Like they were weaving a battering ram out of vibrating atoms.

Re-upping this as it's out this week and thoroughly deserving of your attention.

Jon is doing god’s work, beautifully written and this album is insane

To help work through the grief of losing her father, @annahogberg.bsky.social got her old ensemble back together for a sonic trip across mountain and sea. My review for @thequietus.com: thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

'It warns of an impending future, of the age of automation gone horribly wrong. When humans are deemed superfluous, tossed aside, and our new mechanical overlords party all night long to artificially intelligent dance music...' SickElixir by #Blawan is tQ's Album of the Week buff.ly/w3iT3i6

Blawan's got a cracking new record out so naturally I used up the word count harping on about Armand Van Helden, robotics, Transformers, AI, and maggots. Album of the Week action for @thequietus.com thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

Fantastic word work from @spinal-bap.bsky.social here, on Richard Ashcroft's latest complete-lack-of-effort "You’d think someone who is a million different people from one day to the next would have more than a couple of ideas in that busy noggin of his." thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

Huge billowing soundscapes formed with delicate poise by @k-lc.bsky.social at the ICA last night. Very much looking forward to her third(!) album of the year.

Cracking evening at Soho Electronic on Saturday. It sounded like there were some dazzling performances earlier in the day but it began for me with Noise Warfare at Farsight Gallery.