[Repo]

RELEASE DAY EVE: March 13th, 2026

The Siren.


Trying Times (2026) by James Blake

Every now and again, an artist’s sound is so beautiful & beguiling it beckons you into new waters. Genres & sounds you never would have considered listening to before without their siren call. James Blake is one such artist. When I first heard his self-titled debut from a rec from another BEA user, it got me out of my comfortable RAWK-ing chair and into what I like to call Plastic Soul out of reverence to the siren to end all sirens - David Bowie. God knows Bowie got me to embrace all sorts of different genres back in the day. Anyways, I’ve got a pretty good hunch that David would have absolutely LOVED Blake’s twisted, genre-bending taking on R&B. And probably would have talked him into working with him on his next record to boot. 😅

Can someone a bit more educated than me tell me what genre this is exactly? Is it Neo-soul? And what others artist(s) would be closest to approximating this kind of sound. I'd love to explore more. Sirens or not, their waters would be worth the risk. Even on Friday The 13th! 😈

What MARCH 13th, 2026 release do YOU have your ears & heart set on when midnight strikes?! 🔭👀

[MadhattanJack]

[Repo]

[MadhattanJack]

With a little extra effort you can do image links in this thing, so I'm going to try it this way because I like making things unreasonably complicated for myself.

The fact is, this is kind of a weird week for me in terms of new releases. There are about 16 albums coming out tomorrow that I could conceivably be interested in, but from what I can tell so far, my fave three new albums of the week have already been released. The first two are from people I'd never heard of before:



Bright Black by Future Ghosts is a sort-of "grungegaze" type of 90s=era indie-rock LP that should appeal to fans of, say, the Smashing Pumpkins or maybe Superchunk. Probably the hardest-rockin'/least-mannered new thing I've heard this week. (Perhaps this is not saying much.)

Pink House by Lithia is a good album if you like Wednesday but wish they sounded less "Southern." This one has the most appeal to me personally... and hey, she's from Chicago! 😁

Lean In by Art School Girlfriend is a kind of atmospheric-minimalist electronic dreampop/trip-hop album, apparently for people who can't get the center-weighted auto-focus to work properly on their digital cameras. I usually don't have a problem with that myself. It's not really my favorite kind of music, but it's a pretty good album. It would be nice if Art School Girlfriend would get a Ph.D., because then I could call her "Doctor Girlfriend."

As for the rest, the big release of the week is still probably Play Me by Kim Gordon — it's not exactly a "fun" album, but it's definitely an interesting one. Apparently it's a full-length diatribe against Artificial Intelligence, which she clearly doesn't like at all! (Neither do I, but I just see it as part of the overall "extinction event.") Lots of electronics and trip-hoppiness, but not all the way through... She still can't sing very well, and if anything her voice has gotten even more strained and strangled-sounding than before, which might make some concerned listeners like myself fear for her well-being. But I'm sure she'll be fine.

Of the two OG post-punk albums, I think I personally prefer the new Swell Maps LP to the Monochrome Set's, but they're both better than I'd expected. And if you're looking for something from a band that goes back even further, there's a new Soft Machine album.



Another well-known OG musician who, as it turns out, cannot sing at all is Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, who is therefore releasing his first solo album tomorrow as an "old-guy" rapper, Colours and Passions. (Dee Dee Ramone did the same thing.) The PR folks say this record has been 10 years in the making, with lots of high-profile guest musicians whom he's worked with in the past (Todd Rundgren, Buckethead, Jello Biafra, Hugh Cornwell... no XTC members though, as he played some drums on Skylarking — oh well). It's also sort of a concept album, in that each track refers to a color and an associated emotion, going from purple ("Purple Ecstasy") to black ("Black Horror") over the course of 14 tracks. What could be better than that? Surely nothing could be better than that.

The rest of my list looks like this (most of these have yet to be added to the BEA database, so these are Bandcamp links):

• Cashier, The Weight: Punky alt-rock from Louisiana.
  
• The Orielles, Only You Left: Cool post-punk/art-rock (and mostly-women) band from Liverpool. Songs could maybe stand to be a bit more pop/catchy, but I say that about lots of bands.
  
• Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Irreversible: Sort of like high-energy Britpop, but from Chicago, which I guess is where Brigitte hangs out.
  
• The Long Ryders, High Noon Hymns: Actually, these guys have been around just as long as those other bands, so why am I putting therm here?
  
• Sweet Pill, Still There's a Glow: Fun pop-punk band from Philadelphia; apparently there were too many bands already named "Bitter Pill," so they kind of went in the other direction.
  
• Traitrs, Possessor: He sounds like Robert Smith, so if you don't want to hear someone who sounds like Robert Smith, just move right along...
  
• Good Riddance, Before the World Caves In: I think these guys started out as skate-punkers, then broke up and reformed a few years later, and are now calling themselves a "political punk" band — though I'm not certain what their politics are other than "anti-establishment." Basically they're a melodic punk band who are a little too close to emo for my tastes, but still, not bad.
  
• Killigans, This is Only a Drill: There have been four pre-release singles from this thing, and they say it's coming out tomorrow, but we'll see. Good band — sort of like Nebraska's answer to the Pogues, or maybe Jimmy Eat World... you know, your basic accordions 'n' harmonicas punkish group.
  
• The Notwist, News From Planet Zombie: C'mon, everybody likes these guys! I was going to commend them for keeping us informed as to what's happening on other planets, but then I realized... anyway, moving on.
  
• Red Sun Atacama, Summerchild: French "desert punk" band, heavily influenced by the Gun Club and stoner/doom metal, but not quite enough to be called "metal." So... I like them? Haven't heard the whole thing yet, so maybe not.
  
• Vitamin X, Ride the Apocalypse: Hardcore punk from Amsterdam, clearly influenced by the DC harDCore scene, so hey, good for them.

[Tap]

I'd agree the Kim Gordon album is the big week but also

ELUCID & Sebb Bash - I Guess U Had To Be There
https://elucid.bandcamp.com/album/i-guess-u-had-to-be-there

I love all the stuff that comes out of BackwoodzStudioz, and Armand Hammer rules, so I feel plenty sure that this will be an essential listen

But there's more!

Paperclip Minimiser - II
https://paperclipminimiser.bandcamp.com/album/ii

peak oil has been a label I check everything on ever since the Topdown Dialect stuff. If you like to get in your head with bass in electronic music, this'll be one to check

Bill Orcutt - Music in Continuous Motion
https://billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/music-in-continuous-motion

For fans of guitar

Laurel Halo - Midnight Zone (Original Soundtrack to the Film by Julian Charrière)
https://laurelhalo.bandcamp.com/album/m...-charri-re

Just a soundtrack but Laurel Halo is always so good

[LedZep]