One Louder Magazine… RESURRECTED!

One Louder Magazine… RESURRECTED

Introduction
Album of the Week
Honorable Mentions
Missed The Cut
Addendum
On The List
Looking Forward To
Fine Print
About One Louder Magazine

Greetings!

Hey, I’ve got a few quick things to get off my chest, so let’s get started straight away.

First off, I would like to dedicate this mailer to singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters. Dude had a knack for writing fantastic tunes, and his voice is golden. In fact, he just released two absolute banger live albums earlier this year:

Don+t Settle (Vol. 1 – Transmissions East) [Live]
Don+t Settle (Vol. 2 – Transmissions West) [Live]

I’m sorry for his wife, Maire Saaritsa, and their 3-year-old son Christy, whom he leaves behind. And I’m sorry for all of his friends, family, and fans, of whom there are many. Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world. In addition to being an extraordinary songwriter, it sounds like he was a very well-liked individual who always wanted to give back to the community.

I got into Glen way, way back in 2007 when he starred in the movie ‘Once’, an exceptionally well-done romantic musical drama following two struggling/busking musicians. It was widely revered and made the top-10 best movies of 2007 from no fewer than 40 North American critics. The (micro)budget for the film was roughly $150k… and it ended up earning around $23M! If you haven’t watched it yet, please do! I also urge you to check out some of his albums (solo, The Swell Season, The Frames).

I’m f’n crushed.

RIP Glen Hansard: April 21st, 1970-July 29th, 2026

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The primary election is coming up. Please make sure to read the pamphlets and vote for the candidates and issues that are most important to you. No, it’s not the midterms or presidential election, but primaries are no less important – 10 U.S. Representatives in the state of Washington alone! Get out the vote!

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I have a story to tell you that stretches over a nearly 6-month period, but was finally resolved just last week.

It’s a story as old as time.

For the most part, people in “creative” jobs – tech writers, like me!, graphic designers, art directors, video editors, animators, and more – tend to prefer to work in dark places. In our old Woodinville office, we were upstairs in the painted-black-walls Marketing area. ‘Twas blissful. Easy to see your work.

I believe we moved to Bothell in 2019. The walls were also painted black in the new office… at least where Marketing was located. At the time, our group was maybe 7-8 people. We all had the shades drawn to help drown out any sign of sunshine. Lastly, there was a vote to keep the overhead lights on or off. It was unanimous. Not a single employee wanted the lights on. Perfect working conditions. Nice and dark. Our Teams name was ‘Dark Mode Marketers’.

Fast-forward to approximately six months ago. The marketing team dwindled down to just a few of us, so a decision was made to move us into (what I call) “gen pop.” Terrible decision. Awful. The overhead lighting was (and still is) horrible, several of the shades are open, and more.

This was NOT an ideal working situation.

I cried about it and was told to get a doctor’s note. I made an appointment to see my doc, and he’s like (paraphrased), “I don’t know shit about your eyes, let me refer you to an optometrist… you know, someone who knows even less about you than I do.”

My doc is through Optum, which is widely known, with offices all over Washington and other states, as well. Make the appointment – through Optum’s optometrist; say that 10 times fast! – only to find out that they don’t accept our insurance, so the price would be… uh, too high. So our insurance is good enough for me to see my PCP at Optum, but not an optometrist, also at Optum? Got it.

Find an optometrist who WILL accept our insurance, but he’s booked out, like six f’n weeks. But I take the first open one, anyway. He doesn’t know jack shit about me or my eyes, but he understands about shitty overhead lighting. Sets me up with some new glasses – it’s been a few years since I last had ’em checked – and, fun fact: I’m near-sighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other, whoa! Anyway, he also writes a note, wishes me luck, and sends me on my way.

I send the note over, and they ask what working conditions work best. I answered that I had been working remotely since 2006 and am able to have the conditions exactly as I like. That was not an option, so I said a dark, windowless office where I can keep the lights off. They suggested I take a look around and give them my top-5 locations.

Interestingly, in the middle of all of this, I also had a routine dentist appointment. It was a new hygienist, but she said (paraphrased), “ok, it looks like here in your notes that you like to wear sunglasses with a washcloth over that.” Yes, yes, I have been doing that since forever and a day. The overhead lighting affects me… badly. I should’ve given them a note from my dentist instead – he knows my “eye situation” better than the optometrist did/does.

Anyway, long story short, I moved over last Thursday evening, but wanted to try it out for a few days before revealing my thoughts.

Well, one could say that it’s like night and day <bah dum cha>. Everything I could’ve wanted and more. Basically pitch-black, except for the light emanating from the computer monitors and products I can’t yet tell you about.

I used to wear “grandpa glasses” over my regular glasses to try and help alleviate it when I was in gen pop, but I still had massive reflections/refractions and could visibly see the people working behind me on my monitor (in front of me). So you can imagine that seeing that while trying to work on something like block diagrams, hookup diagrams, and more would be challenging, to say the least.

Grandpa glasses are gone, and it has been a joy to work in this environment for the past few days. Don’t see anyone else anymore, but that’s ok. My job doesn’t require daily interactions with anyone… and certainly no one in this building. Engineering (which is a couple of miles away), yeah… and our acoustic engineer in Vancouver and Product Manager in Toronto.

Lone wolf. Dark room. No shades over glasses. I like it this way. I prefer it this way. Always have.

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Last thing before we get to the music.

Football!

Hey, it’s only pre-season still, but the first game of the year – the annual Hall Of Fame Game – is next week! Thursday, August 6th – Panthers at Cardinals in Canton, OH. From there it’s only a month out from REAL football!

Every year, I’m in a league of 17 that selects a Super Bowl winner. The winner of the previous year gets the last pick the following year. The person who chose the team with the worst overall record the previous year gets the first pick the following year. I thought the Cincinnati Bengals were going to light it up last year, only for them to see star QB Joe “Cool” Burrow go down in Week 3. Therefore, I ended up with the third-worst record in the group, resulting in the third overall pick in this year’s draft.

I believe the best strategy is to look at odds on favorites to win the whole thing, mixed with each team’s strength of schedule (SOS)… or if you’re a late pick, then just sandbagging it so you have a higher pick the following year.

Not that anyone asked, but here’s a glimpse into my thought process. These are the top-10 easiest SOS, from easiest to hardest:
Cleveland Browns
New Orleans Saints
Cincinnati Bengals
Atlanta Falcons
Indianapolis Colts
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans
Baltimore Ravens
Philadelphia Eagles

Looking at that list, I’d say that the Ravens and Eagles probably have the best chance to win the SB, followed by the Lions. I think the Bengals and Saints will be fun to watch this year, but I don’t see either winning the whole thing. The Texans have been to the playoffs every year since drafting QB CJ Stroud in 2023, yet they just don’t have the IT factor to push them over the edge. All IMO, of course.

The top-5 best odds to win the Super Bowl are as follows:
Los Angeles Rams
Baltimore Ravens
Seattle Seahawks
Buffalo Bills
Kansas City Chiefs

Before the draft, I chose my “top-4” picks based on best odds and SOS. It didn’t look a little like this. It looked exactly like this:
Seattle Seahawks
Los Angeles Rams
Baltimore Ravens
Philadelphia Eagles

My thought/hope is that the Rams would get selected before me. I think they’re gonna suck this year. In fact, I believe QB Matthew Stafford gets injured on (or before) Week 6, is out for the season, followed by retirement. Of course I thought the same thing last year and all he did was go out and win the MVP trophy. Perhaps (and hopefully) I was off a year.

Of course my hope was that somehow, someway, the Seahawks would fall to 3. No such luck. The top-2 picks went exactly as I had them (Seahawks, Rams), meaning all I had to do was pick the next team on my list, the Baltimore Ravens. Ninth-easiest SOS and one of the top-5 teams considered to have the best odds to win the whole shebang!

In the end, I’d rather pay out and have the Seahawks win another SB, but if I can’t have that, then winning the pool with the Ravens would suffice… I suppose <le sigh, haha>…

You may be wondering, “hey, if the season doesn’t start for another six weeks, why are you picking teams so early?” The answer is simple: it adds another wrinkle to everything. Players get injured often during practices, pre-season games, and more. Just adds a little salt and pepper to the mix. And we’re all on a text thread, so it can be brutally fun throughout the season.

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Wait, one more thing – I thought foosball was the final thing, but alas…

Watched a documentary the other night titled, ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist’. You can likely guess from the title that it’s about AI, and you’d be correct. He invites a bunch of super-smart people for interviews to gather their thoughts on AI.

I have used AI occasionally – and have my thoughts about it (both good and bad; perhaps someday I’ll do an extended “Troy’s thought process on AI” intro, but for now, just the doc) – but there’s one story from the doc that I gotta share… in case you, ya know, don’t watch it. It was a “holy shit!” moment for us.

Check it out – one of the interviewees (can’t recall who) spoke about a firm that had been utilizing AI for some stuff on a trial basis. The group had been discussing whether or not to fully implement it. In the end, the firm decided against it for whatever reason, but…

This AI had access to the employees’ emails, found out that the lead engineer had been having an affair, and basically blackmailed him so it wouldn’t “lose its job”… holy shit, amiright?!?! My jaw hit the floor. That’s scary, man.

Speaking of scary AI and robots, it reminded me of a movie I watched back in 2014. The sci-fi thriller, Ex Machina. That final scene was like O.M.G. IYKYK.

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What an absolutely brilliant week for new releases! Just about everything was a banger, or at the very least, worth a mention!

The albums that made me take the most notice were the following two:

42,199 – REZN – Cycles In The Infinite Dream
85 – Changing Places in the Fire – Changing Places in the Fire

Gotta jam ’em a few more times to see if one (or both) will be crowned champ, but for now they lead the pack this week. Start there!

Are you a casual fan who stumbled across this site? If so, be sure to SUBSCRIBE, as these are delivered every Thursday at 9 PM PT. With a subscription, you’ll be sure to never miss an issue!

😁 BE THE REASON SOMEONE SMILES 😁

Be sure to let me know what you agree / disagree with, etc… always fun to hear your opinions, too. Happy listening… and see you next week!

Cheers,

Troy

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Album(s) of the Week** – July 24th to July 30th, 2026:

TBD.

Honorable Mentions (in order by “popularity”*):

4,245,286 – Foreigner – In The Eye Of The Storm – Celebrating 50 Years: 1976-2026 [Live]

Dude, Foreigner are legends… and this live release just confirms that! The tunes are timeless, and it’s always great hearing them! The album is half electric (Live on Ellis Island) and the second half is acoustic (Live from the rooftop of DUMBO House).

From amazon: “In The Eye Of The Storm was recorded live in New York on September 6th & 7th, 2025 as the soundtrack to a film celebrating Foreigner’s 50th anniversary. The album features an electric performance of the hits executed on Ellis Island, and a stunning acoustic presentation from the rooftop of Dumbo House overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, which includes a very special rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’”

3,469,268 – Snow Patrol – Eyes Open [20th Anniversary Special Edition – 2006] (2 CDs)

What a fun album to revisit! It had been ages since I listened to this album, but it all fell back in place like getting together with an old familiar friend. Mellow at times, quite grand at times, well-produced. I’ll jam again.

From Interscope Records: “The 20th anniversary deluxe 2CD edition of Eyes Open expands one of the UK’s most successful albums with an entire bonus disc of live and stripped-back recordings from Union Chapel and live in Berlin, alongside remixes. The original album, featuring the era-defining ‘Chasing Cars,’ is joined by rare material and enhanced with new sleeve notes written by Gary Lightbody, offering fresh insight into the record’s legacy.”

2,545,842 – Cypress Hill – Dios Bendiga

I’ve always dug hip-hop legends, CH, and I like this release, too… but I don’t love it. Still heavy on their trademark hip-hop grooves, but I’d probably reach for an older release over this one. This is their very first album sung entirely in Spanish.

From amazon: “Hip-hop legends Cypress Hill were the first Latino-American hip-hop group to achieve platinum and multiplatinum success. In partnership with HYBE Latin America, they present the first fully Spanish-language album of their career. The album includes all new music, written and performed by the band entirely in Spanish. This is a deeply personal and spiritual project for the group that highlights their Latin roots and reconnects directly with their cultural heritage.”

884,642 – Meshuggah – Catch Thirtythree [20th Anniversary Edition – 2005]

If you’re unaware of Meshuggah, they play some extremely heavy shit! Melodic… but heavy. Vocally it’s kinda hit-or-miss for me with the growly Cookie Monster style, but the music – the rhythm, the groove, the soloing – is intense. There are some very unique, interesting things happening throughout that keep the listener’s attention. This is not a “new” album, per se, but rather, ‘Catch Thirtythree’ remastered for its 20th anniversary. Meshuggah is always fun to revisit!

From Reigning Phoenix Music: “Celebrating 20 years of one of Meshuggah’s most revered and uncompromising works, Catch Thirtythree returns in a powerful re-release. Available as a 2LP gatefold edition and CD Digipak, it features a brand-new 2025 remaster, created directly from the original 2005 recordings and never before available in any format.”

884,642 – Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve [30th Anniversary Edition – 1995]

If you’re unaware of Meshuggah, they play some extremely heavy shit! Melodic… but heavy. Vocally it’s kinda hit-or-miss for me with the growly Cookie Monster style, but the music – the rhythm, the groove, the soloing – is intense. There are some very unique, interesting things happening throughout that keep the listener’s attention. This is not a “new” album, per se, but rather, ‘Destroy Erase Improve’ remastered for its 30th anniversary. Meshuggah is always fun to revisit!

From Reigning Phoenix Music: “Destroy Erase Improve: Remastered Anniversary Edition celebrates 30 years of Meshuggah’s genre-defining breakthrough with a version that finally does justice to its revolutionary sound. Fully remastered in 2025, this release presents the original 1995 album with unprecedented clarity, weight, and precision. This remastered version has never been available in any format before. A landmark album. A definitive remaster.”

498,904 – Bootsy Collins and Buckethead – Metal Health

Two absolute gods of their instruments in funkateer bassist Bootsy Collins and guitar wizard Buckethead team up again for a smorgasbord of bangin’ tracks. Not only that, but they also invite a few friends to the party, who are no slouches of their own (see tracklist below). Fun fact: Bootsy and Buckethead have stated that they are best friends, having met over 35 years ago in 1991 (awwwwwww).

From The Music Universe: “Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and funk pioneer Bootsy Collins releases his new collaborative album, Metal Health, via FUGA. Created alongside acclaimed guitarist Buckethead, the 16-track project brings together an eclectic lineup of collaborators including Robert Trujillo, Victor Wooten, Samuel L. Jackson, Eric Gales, Jennifer Batten, Billy Sheehan, Tobotius, Nate Alien, Barbie T, Ouiwey Collins, and more.

Blending funk, rock, and metal, Metal Health explores themes of creativity, emotional wellbeing, and personal evolution through a collection of genre-defying records. The album pairs Bootsy’s unmistakable bass-driven sound with Buckethead’s signature guitar work, resulting in one of the most expansive and collaborative projects of Bootsy’s career.

Produced by Collins, Metal Health serves as both a musical statement and an extension of Bootsy’s ongoing Metal [Mental] Health initiative. Originally launched during Mental Health Month in May, the initiative uses music as a platform to encourage conversations around emotional wellbeing, self-expression, and community support.

The first single released from the album was “Manic Depression” featuring Eric Gales, an officially approved reimagining of Jimi Hendrix’s classic released with the blessing of the Jimi Hendrix Estate; “Metal Health Revibed” featuring Buckethead and Victor Wooten; “Water Walkin’” featuring Robert Trujillo; and “Afflictions” featuring Samuel L. Jackson. Across the project, Bootsy and Buckethead channel their shared spirit of experimentation into a body of work that moves fluidly across genres while remaining rooted in the groove and boundary-pushing creativity that have defined their respective careers.

With a career spanning more than five decades, Collins remains one of music’s most influential and forward-thinking artists. From his groundbreaking work with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic to collaborations with Keith Richards, Herbie Hancock, Kali Uchis, and Silk Sonic, Bootsy’s impact continues to shape generations of musicians and fans alike.

Most recently, Bootsy partnered with Supreme and continues to expand his cultural reach through music, gaming, and community partnerships, including the Capture the Funk Fortnite experience, promoting conversations around mental health.”

Tracklist:
1. My Recovery Day with Buckethead
2. Funk Can Save You
3. Total Psycho
4. Metal Health Revibed with Buckethead & Victor Wooten
5. Game On Fire with Ouiwey Collins
6. Self Replicate with Buckethead
7. Water Walkin’ with Buckethead & Robert Trujillo
8. Bucket Girls with Buckethead, Nate Alien & Barbie T
9. B3 Trilogy with Robert Trujillo
10. Full Goner with Tobotius
11. Bernie N Da Sky with Billy Sheehan
12. Space Bass Evolution
13. Free Bucket with Buckethead & Jennifer Batten
14. Street People with Buckethead & Tobotius
15. Afflictions with Samuel L. Jackson
16. Manic Depression with Eric Gales

454,148 – The Revivalists – Get It Honest

Great tunes from this NOLA-based eight-piece rock & roll collective! It’s somewhat reminiscent of Kings Of Leon, et al. Good stuff!

From Concord Records: “We’re returning with our new album Get It Honest. Built from the road, the quiet moments, and everything in between, this record leans into the grit, soul, and honesty that’s always driven us forward.”

350,328 – Twizted – Herb N Legends EP

Horrorcore rap duo releases another EP, and… it’s not like previous releases where there’s chunky guitar throughout, making the hip-hop and metal marriage work beautifully. This is more of a straight-up hip-hop EP. That said, I still dig it. These dudes are rad! My only complaint is that it was too short at five songs and a run-time under 20 mins. That album title is pretty funny!

From Majik Ninja Entertainment: “In April of 2017, a man disappeared in the forest of West Branch, Michigan while heading to a cabin for a weekend getaway with friends. The man was found 73 hours later stuck inside a hollowed-out tree, extremely high, dehydrated & delusional. A twenty-minute recording was recovered from within the man’s hand explaining where he had been and exactly what happened to him. These are the recordings.”

326,150 – Cory Wong & Joshua Redman – On A Random Tuesday: Live At The Blue Note

Cory Wong is a bad-ass guitarist who dips his toes into a variety of styles: funk, soul, sometimes jazzy rock ‘n roll, and more! And Joshua Redman is a bad-ass jazz saxophonist. Here, they team up and release an all-instrumental live album that just crushes! Two legendary dudes just pushing each other to the limits of what each can do. Killer album!

204,692 – Combichrist – The Venom In The Mouth Of God

Combichrist play “electro-industrial aggrotech” and this shit bangs hard. If you need some hardcore workout music, need to work out some aggression, or simply want to hear some bangin’ tracks, look no further!

From Out Of Line Music: “Feel the poison in your veins…

“The Venom In The Mouth Of God” is Combichrist at their most expansive and most honest, a record that tears open the gap between who we are and who we perform ourselves to be, and leaves it bleeding.

Andy LaPlegua has been one of industrial metal’s defining forces since the early 2000s, fusing EBM brutality with hard rock muscle in a way few acts have managed to replicate. This new album plays like a descent and a reckoning in one. The opening run from “ODR” through “Born Deströyer” lands like a controlled demolition: dense, mechanized, merciless. Mid-album, the mood shifts and stretches, with “Each Scar A Vision” and “The Way We Want To Be Seen” pulling at something more psychological – the masks we wear, the versions of ourselves we construct for others.

“Demons Wanna Be Summoned” features King 810, the Michigan-bred rap-metal outfit known for their confrontational intensity – a collaboration that fits the album’s relentless atmosphere like a blade in a wound.”

198,675 – Madball – Not Your Kingdom

Just a straight-up, kick-ass hardcore punk band delivering fourteen blistering tracks from NYC’s finest…. No frills, go for the jugular beats and riffage, yes! It has been quite well-received by fans and critics alike, as well.

From amazon: “New York City’s Madball continues to let you know that they’re still here, still sincere and still doing it better than everyone else. Their 10th album, Not Your Kingdom, is in line with the temperature of the times and dripping with ferocity, integrity and passion. Ain’t nothing changed.”

167,701 – Apollo Brown – No Pressure, No Diamond.

Erik Vincent Stephens (bka Apollo Brown) plays super-tasty, mellow-ish, all-instrumental hip-hop jams. This was so great, I love his stuff!

From his bandcamp page: “There are certain truths in life that are simple enough to fit into a few words, but powerful enough to shape entire careers. “No Pressure, No Diamond” is one of those truths. Four words that carry the weight of struggle, perseverance, sacrifice, pain, discipline, and ultimately reward.

We live in a world that loves outcomes, but often ignores process. We admire the trophy, but forget the training. We celebrate success, but overlook the sleepless nights. We applaud the finished masterpieces while paying little attention to the countless imperfect drafts that came before it.

Everybody wants the shine of the diamond, but not everybody wants the uncomfortable pressure and time it takes to create this most precious gemstone.

Think about that while you listen to this album for the first time. The color isn’t perfect. The cut is not close to symmetrical. The clarity might be a little cloudy. But the process is tried and true.”

No pressure, No Diamond. 💎

107,685 – Pete Yorn – All The Beauty

Fantastic mellow, acoustic singer-songwriter album… I like his stuff!

96,686 – Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown – A Supreme Blue

What an interesting, unique concept… and one that (I think) worked well! Nicholas Payton is a NOLA-based trumpeter, keyboardist, and singer, and Butcher Brown is a Virginia-based jazz quintet. Here, they teamed up to, oh, I dunno, “reinvent” two of the (arguably) greatest jazz albums in history with Miles Davis’ bona fide 1959 masterclass, ‘Kind Of Blue’, and John Coltrane’s all-timer in 1964’s ‘A Love Supreme’. Heck, I got ’em both on vinyl! Anyway, I thought this reinterpretation, or reinvention, or whatever you want to call it, was ballsy as hell, but well-executed. Bravo! Oh, and I love the album title, combining the two – fantastic!

From Concord Jazz: “Two of the Greatest Albums Ever Made, as You’ve Never Heard Them.

GRAMMY Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger Nicholas Payton teams up with Virginia-bred collective Butcher Brown for A Supreme Blue, a bold and deeply considered reimagining of two of the most revered albums in recorded music, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue (1959) and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (1965). Created in honor of the centennial year of both Davis and Coltrane, the album arrives digitally July 24 on Concord Jazz, with vinyl release to follow on August 14. The second track, “Pursuance,” is available now.

The project was born from a single unplanned moment at a Butcher Brown show, when Payton sat in over the band’s House-inflected groove and began quoting the opening theme of Coltrane’s “Acknowledgement.” Something locked in. By that night’s end, the text had gone out from Payton to drummer Corey Fonville: “Yo man, we gotta do a record.” The Instagram clip from the evening was hashtagged #AHouseSupreme. The concept followed.

Payton and Fonville go back to 2010, when Fonville was a student at the Brubeck Institute, and Payton was Artist-in-Residence. The New Orleans music master immediately recognized Fonville’s rare dual fluency, swinging and groove-playing with equal authority. Their creative relationship deepened across years of collaboration, Payton serving as mentor, co-conspirator, and champion as Butcher Brown came into their own, making A Supreme Blue the natural culmination of that long arc. The Richmond-formed collective comprises Corey Fonville (drums, percussion), DJ Harrison (keyboards, piano, percussion), Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney (tenor saxophone, vocals), Morgan Burrs (guitar, MPC), and Andrew Randazzo a/k/a R4ND4ZZO (bass guitar, synth bass).

The centennial frame gave the project its purpose; the rhythmic argument gave it its architecture. Payton heard the connection immediately: both albums share a modal approach, a spiritual component, and a foundational African rhythmic conception, the percussive Mozambique groove threading through “Acknowledgement,” Elvin Jones’s drumming rooted in an African musical sensibility. Those elements, refracted through House music’s pulse, became the album’s engine.

Sessions at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond proceeded with minimal preparation and no rehearsal, by design. Tracks emerged organically from the room itself. ‘Pursuance,’ the single out today, is characteristic: R4ND4ZZO arrived at a bass line, the group fell in, and Payton, who arranged the track, called for tape. Tennishu took the tenor, and with no keyboards present, the track assumed a darker quality no one had anticipated thirty minutes before. The whole album unfolded this way.

Recording and mix engineer Alex de Jong proved integral to the album’s identity, adding dub-influenced effects in real time during tracking, a process that shaped how the musicians played, not just how the record sounds. Listening back to the mixes, Fonville said simply: “King Tubby would be proud.”

Liner notes for A Supreme Blue are written by Ashley Kahn, author of both Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece and A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album, making him a rare voice capable of fully contextualizing what Payton and Butcher Brown have achieved here. The album was mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtletone Studios, with photography by Ryan Gary of The Sunroom and package design by Jamie Breiwick. The album will be available digitally and as a 2-LP limited edition of 1,500 worldwide in standard black vinyl.

A Supreme Blue is not a tribute record. It is an act of creative faith in the source material, in the musicians, and in the music’s capacity to go where it wants to go. “This is fresh,” Fonville says. “I think they would have appreciated hearing their music in this way, and not hearing it still being played the way they did it in 1959 or 1963. It’s 2026.””

TRACKLIST
So What (Miles Davis)
Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
Blue in Green (Miles Davis)
All Blues (Miles Davis)
Flamenco Sketches (Miles Davis)
Acknowledgement (John Coltrane)
Resolution (John Coltrane)
Pursuance (John Coltrane)
Psalm (John Coltrane)

42,199 – REZN – Cycles In The Infinite Dream

They call themselves “heavy psych”, but I call them awesome! There are bits of shoegaze, drone, and doom, as well. This album is tasty AF! Will definitely need to spin this again, as well as dig into their previous releases.

From Rough Trade Records: “Over the last decade, Chicago quartet Rezn have carved out a unique place in the landscape of heavy music, chiseling away at the crude formations of the topography, mining the most concentrated metallic ore from the dirt, and shaping it all into something monumental, imposing, and divine. While Rezn has always fused seismic riffs with effortless beauty and grandeur, their shifting strategies for wielding that polarity have involved varied compositional and stylistic decisions, most notably the light-and-dark contrast of companion albums Solace (2023) and Burden (2024). But with their newest full-length offering, Cycles in the Infinite Dream, Rezn masterfully harness the oppressive weight of their full sonic armory to celestial melodies and sublime synesthesia-inducing atmospherics in a manner so seamless it feels otherworldly, as if occupying a liminal space between two realities.

While Rezn traffic in the unbridled realms of metal and untethered reaches of psychedelia, their latest release showcases a band working with discipline and intention, even when those intentions are rendered to be purposefully cryptic. As the album title implies, Cycles in the Infinite Dream explores the nexus of our waking and nocturnal worlds. “We moved towards the dream and subconscious state as a lyrical concept and melodic theme,” the band explains. “The pseudo-waking state is a reflection of a second existence—something that you can flee to or be imprisoned by.” Much like the subconscious-guided work of David Lynch, Cycles in the Infinite Dream exists as parallax between the artist and the audience, creating an obscured and distorted space that is both familiar and alien, like a corridor into our past where we recognize our surroundings but somehow still feel lost within its warped geometry.

One of Rezn’s most understated assets lies within guitarist/singer Rob McWilliams’ vocal approach. Eschewing heavy music’s guttural growls or operatic gymnastics, McWilliams has been steadfast in his soaring, delay-drenched melodies, providing a beguiling path through even the most primal and pummeling moments in the band’s repertoire. Like a piper calling you to join him, McWilliams forges through the darkness yet remains cloaked in mystery. Indeed, the voice serves more as an instrument and a guidepost than as a vehicle for poetry or a portrait of a personality. “Most of the instrumentation was created with vocal melodies in mind,” the band clarifies. “We made a lot of choices that were dictated by the vocals, sometimes rewriting songs completely if the vocal melodies demanded it.” That said, the band’s instrumentation on the album is still in the foreground and is an exceptionally mesmerizing presence throughout.

REZN have long operated—and thrived—in the subterranean realm of music heads who crave the aural equivalent of altered states. And with Cycles in the Infinite Dream, they have created their most psychotropic work to date.”

33,351 – The King Blues – A Monkey Could Do That

This is their first new album in seven years… welcome back! As with previous efforts, this was a solid punk rock record. At ~1 hr and 8 mins, I thought it may be a bit too long, but it’s really diverse. Hardcore punk, pop-punk, acoustic/Celtic punk, klezmer, reggae, ska, gang vocals, M/F call-and-response vocals, and more. They kinda throw the kitchen sink at it, yet it doesn’t sound discombobulated, or anything. I will continue to keep my eyes and ears peeled on this rad band!

2,903 – MOULD – Hoping As A Coping Mechanism

A nice, tight 13 punk/post-punk songs wrapped up in 35:44. Short ‘n sweet, but I liked what I heard.

From Townsend Music: “Written in snatches of time in hometown Bristol, recorded in London’s 5dB Studios and produced by Sean Oakley who flew in from LA especially for the project, ‘Hoping as a Coping Mechanism’ is the strongest display of MOULD’s talents yet. In their own words, it’s “more focused, paced and thought-out.” Over 13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain, MOULD’s debut also hits with the thrills of a brilliant live band who’ve distilled that energy to tape.”

2,380 – North Sea Echoes – How To Cast A Shadow

I absolutely shit on their debut album, 2024’s ‘Really Good Terrible Things’, but found this one so much more palatable… and frankly, enjoyable! The band is comprised of long-time veterans vocalist Ray Alder and guitarist/composer Jim Matheos, both of Fates Warning (and many, many other projects) fame. This is unlike anything FW plays (prog-metal), but that’s fine; both guys have released mellow, ambient, soundscape-y albums, as well. This lands somewhere in the middle, betwixt prog-metal and dreamy ambient/soundscapes. Brilliant and beautiful!

From Metal Blade Records: “NORTH SEA ECHOES – featuring progressive metal pioneers singer Ray Alder and guitarist Jim Matheos of Fates Warning – are back with a new studio album, How To Cast A Shadow, set for release on July 24th on Metal Blade Records!

On NORTH SEA ECHOES’ critically acclaimed 2024 debut, Really Good Terrible Things, Alder and Matheos garnered rave reviews for songs that possessed “liberating sonic space and emotional vulnerability… from somnambulant electro-fog to gritty, overdriven disquiet, to the quietly devastating (Blabbermouth).”

With this year’s How To Cast A Shadow, the band’s identity is further explored and expanded. Matheos explains, “This record is a bit heavier, with several more songs featuring real drums, played by Dennis Leeflang. It wasn’t necessarily intentional or planned, just the way things shaped up and how they emerged this time.”

Alder concurs. “[A track like] ‘I’ll Leave A Light On’ is much heavier than anything on Really Good Terrible Things. It has a darker, melancholic feel that fits well on this album. I loosely based the lyrics on a character from my favorite sci-fi series. I won’t say which, but they do use the quote ‘out there in the black.’”

From the radio-ready rock of “All That Comes After” and the intimate, escalating “A Time Of Innocence And Purpose” to the powerful, timeless ballad “Villains Or Saints,” How To Cast A Shadow cohesively crosses genres and challenges aural preconceptions.

The duo’s shared and separate histories help to forge a fresh creative opus. Alder has been the vocalist and main co-writer for prog metal heroes Fates Warning for 37 years, recording ten albums between 1988 (No Exit) and 2020 (Long Day Good Night). Rounding out his discography are seven albums with Redemption, two solo records, and the band A-Z, which debuted in 2022.

Revered guitarist and producer Matheos is a cofounder of Fates Warning, the lineup debuting with 1984’s Night On Bröcken on Metal Blade. In addition to thirteen albums with Fates Warning, Matheos launched several solo albums, four LPs alongside former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore under the name OSI, and Kings Of Mercia, which launched in 2022.

Of NORTH SEA ECHOES’ sophomore album, the team says, “You could say that there are elements of everything we do or have done on this album, yet Fates and our various other projects are totally different types of music.” How To Cast A Shadow ups the promise of its predecessor with provocative words of hope, sorrow and consciousness, paired with Matheos’ equally emotive, varied and deeply moving guitar work.

In advance of the release, today the band unveils the lead single, “Enjoy the View.” Comments Alder, “The guitars and drums have this great drive that builds throughout the song. The combination of quiet verses and heavy choruses made me think (lyrically) of a darker side to some people. Those who would choose numbness over pain.””

2,194 – Monarch – MA3

These guys are a rad psychedelic / stoner rock band that deliver a journey through time and space, man… dig. Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell guests on the final track, ‘Face To Face’.

From their bandcamp page: “San Diego’s Monarch have long been known for explosive live sets and harmony-drenched psych rock. Their third studio album, MA3, marks a significant leap forward. Where Two Isles (2016) and Beyond the Blue Sky (2019) drew from classic and modern psych rock, space rock, and progressive rock, MA3 finds the band threading electronics through the bones of their heavy psych sound – big, layered synths and tighter arrangements that hold the weight of their earlier records while reaching toward something sleeker and more luminous. Think Pond’s sun-baked psych rock fused with Daft Punk’s heavyweight synth production, but distinctly Monarch.

Monarch has toured extensively in the US and Europe, including a 2023 run with Earthless, whose guitarist Isaiah Mitchell contributes a scorching guest solo on “Face to Face.” The album’s visual identity was created by San Diego photographer and creative director Dana Trippe, known for her work with Tame Impala, Angel Olsen, Automatic, and Pond’s Nick Allbrook.

The album arrives as Monarch returns to the stage for a run of 2026 live dates, with synth textures and vocal harmonies that reward both headphone listening and a live audience.

MA3 is released on PFR Records as a limited pressing of 200 on vinyl with a full-color sleeve.”

1,426 – DDENT – Feeding The Void’s Luster (2026)

This is not an album of new songs, but rather previously released songs reinvented! The reinvented songs include: ‘Dis à la lune qu’elle vienne’ and ‘Longue, obscure et triste lune’ (Toro, 2018), ‘Arzel’ and ‘Kohol’ (آكتئاب (iktib), 2017), and wrapping it all up with ‘Noir taureau de douleur’ (also from 2018’s Toro album). It’s a super-interesting mix of post-metal, black metal, industrial metal, and more… a heavy-duty potpourri of sorts, if you will. I don’t totally love it (vox get old), but I like it enough to put here and continue to keep my eyes and ears peeled for future releases.

From Distorted Sound: “French post-metal collective DDENT return with Feeding the Void’s Luster, a powerful reinvention of their earlier work. Rather than simply revisiting old songs, the band completely deconstructs and rebuilds five compositions into heavier, darker, and more emotionally charged pieces. Recorded live in just two takes—with no metronome or samples—the album captures an organic, raw intensity while showcasing the chemistry of DDENT’s renewed lineup.

The record marks several firsts for the band: the arrival of drummer Alain Minot, whose hardcore and punk background injects the music with newfound urgency, and the addition of blackened vocals from bassist Nicolas Zivkovich. These vocals complement, rather than overwhelm, DDENT’s signature blend of hypnotic post-metal, doom, post-rock, and industrial textures. The result is a towering, cathartic listening experience that bridges crushing heaviness with expansive atmosphere.”

442 – Nova Koloso – Source Code

Shoutout to my bro Justin for recommending this album. I never would have heard of ’em otherwise! They play a wildly eccentric blend of neo-psychedelia, and frankly, my only complaint about the album is that I listened to it sober. I’m sure it would transport me to another dimension if I were stoned out of my mind. Thanks again for the reco, they are now on my watch list!

From Justin: “This is my buddy Mark’s band. I had many bands with him in high school and college. My friend Tim is also in this band (a guy I knew before Mark did as we both went to UMBC together in the same program – great guitarist). Enjoy!”

From their bandcamp page:
Mark Colegrove – Vocals & Guitar
Tom Colegrove – Drums
Dustin Moraczewski – Keys
Tim Yungwirth – Guitar
Morgan Bell – Bass

Produced by Nova Koloso & Steve Wright
Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Steve Wright at Wright Way Studios

190 – V.B.O. – Vice Business Only

Yeah, this was kinda bangin’! It reminded me of cruising the streets of my old digs (Tucson, AZ) with my bros, and cranking some ’80s synthwave. Plus it ends with a killer version of Duran Duran’s ‘Wild Boys’. This is the band’s debut album, and they are on my watch list. Looking forward to hearing more from them!

From Rough Trade Records: “Step into the neon-drenched world of Vice Business Only (V.B.O.), where excess meets elegance and the night never ends.

Born from the reunion of Wind Rose frontman Francesco Cavalieri and electronic producer Simone Giusti, V.B.O. fuses retro-futuristic synthwave with rock and metal into a bold, cinematic sound. Driven by pulsating synths, powerful vocals, and 80s-inspired energy, the album blends nostalgia with modern production.

Inspired by icons like Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, and Justice, V.B.O. delivers a high-stakes sonic experience—stylish, intense, and unapologetically bold. This is more than music. This is V.B.O.”

110 – Svindel – Drömfeber

Well, they sucked me in with the rad album artwork, but the album itself? It’s a mixed bag. On one hand, I feel like I lost my bell-bottom jeans… about 50 years ago. Love that hippie dippie psychedelic rock meets proto-rock. That said, it didn’t give me all the feels, either. I’ll keep an eye on ’em; this is their debut. Fun fact: Drömfeber is Swedish for “Dream Fever”.

From their bandcamp page: “Swedish proto-psych and classic rock newcomers SVINDEL have signed to Ripple Music for the release of their debut studio full-length “Drömfeber” this July 24th, and present the debut single and title track today.

Drömfeber is the debut album from Svindel – a feverish, sprawling journey into psychedelic rock that took one year of hard work and relentless experimentation to perfect. The album title (“dream fever” in English) describes a state where the longing for something grand overtakes the perception of the mind, leading to both ecstatic highs and haunting lows.

Drawing inspiration from psychedelic pioneers like The Electric Prunes and Hendrix, while weaving in modern influences from jazz, blues, and rock, Svindel has crafted a collection of songs rich with variation. The result is both timeless and fresh. It was recorded live over a single weekend in Stockholm, with vocals and additional tracks added afterward. That raw, immediate energy runs through every note of Drömfeber – a debut that announces Svindel as a vital force in modern Swedish psychedelia.

Svindel is a power trio for anyone who craves the raw, hypnotic soul of 70s psychedelic rock. Their sound is big, groove-driven, and unapologetically diverse, sailing a steady course toward their own island on the psychedelic ocean. With feet on the ground and heads in the clouds, their lyrics carry both grit and poetic weight, setting them apart in a sea of genre revivalists. Since 2022, they’ve stormed countless stages and brought their storm to Swedish Radio. Their debut album Drömfeber will be released on July 24th, with preorders available from Ripple Music.”

85 – Changing Places in the Fire – Changing Places in the Fire

Hey, this self-titled debut album made me take notice. I was expecting an open-shut case, but that wasn’t where we landed. They blend post-metal with a little prog-rock for good measure, and the results are stunning! I’ve got my eyes on ’em now!

From Wild Thing Records: “Changing Places In The Fire is the sound of the zeitgeist, a dreamlike journey into the labyrinths of the human condition. A flame burning through the past and places that can only exist in the longing of the imagined. The self-titled debut album integrates post-metal, progressive, and alternative elements in ten songs that resist genre conventions and channel the melancholy and violence of the present.

Changing Places in the Fire is a band shaped by upheaval, memory, and distance. Formed by five Venezuelan musicians now scattered across Europe and South America, out of the ashes of the Caracas scene—Daz Medrano (vocals), Alfredo Ovalles (keyboards), Javier Landaeta (guitar), Antonio Silva (guitar), and Miguel Ángel Moliné (drums)—the band makes music steeped in the emotional and political realities of migration.

The project grew out of their earlier bands Echoes and Triad back in Venezuela, taking shape remotely as each member moved countries, rebuilt their lives, and dealt with the ongoing collapse of their homeland. That fragmentation drives the tension and atmosphere of their self-titled debut. Singles like ‘The Fury and the Sound’, ‘A Reason To Fall’, ‘The Epiphany Tree’, and ‘Home’ grapple with estrangement, fractured identity, and the lingering pull of memory.

Musically, the group sits somewhere between post-metal and art rock, blending the emotional sweep of Dredg, the heaviness of Deftones, the layered expansiveness of Oceansize, and the moody introspection of Porcupine Tree. It’s a sound built on contrasts: aggression and fragility, density and space, closeness and distance. Changing Places in the Fire is a long-distance collaboration born out of necessity and shared history—a record of survival, displacement, and transformation.”

Missed the Cut (in order by “popularity”*):

12,860,702 – Avenged Sevenfold – STATICA EP

These guys get a bad rap, but I dig ’em, and I think their albums have gotten stronger with each release. That said, this release is hot garbage. I kept waiting and waiting for a good song to play. I was ready to defend the band again, but I can’t this time. Listen to their earlier (≤2016) releases instead, not this shite.

From Metal Injection: “Today, July 24, Avenged Sevenfold have just surprise released a new four-song EP, ‘Statica.’

By now you should expect the unexpected when it comes to Avenged Sevenfold. Today, the band dropped a new EP, Statica, on the eve of their co-headlining tour with Good Charlotte, and boy is it an experience.

Sonically, and this isn’t marketing hype speak, it really doesn’t sound like anything they’ve ever done previously. It’s clear that the band has decided to push their sound in experimental directions; their last full-length, the 2023 Life Is But a Dream… polarized fans for going hard in its experimentation, moving them into a full-on progressive metal lane that they’ve only crested around previously.

Statica takes it further. Guitar riffs are used as texture, M. Shadows’ voice is caked in autotune, and electronic elements ride the line between 70s psychedelic throwback and textural and weird in the same way that producers like Pharrell might incorporate in a Neptunes-produced song. The most rock-forward song, “Rejoice,” repeats the same riff over and over until it becomes a hypnotic sort of texture, breaking out of the structure of the song at random points for huge, sweeping synth parts.

The entire thing sounds less like any rock album and a lot closer to the maximalist heights of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Shadows has been very open about West’s influence on his own approach to making music in the past, and there are so many obvious parallels in the EP’s bitcrushed synth parts and hopeful angling to everything in the music.

Safe to say, fans that are praying every morning that the band returns to making songs akin to what they were doing on City of Evil or their self-titled are probably going to have opinions on this record. Still. If you’re open-minded and ever wanted to hear what a Led Zeppelin record would sound like if Kanye West produced it and provided all production duties, then there might be something you’ll dig. If not, Live In the LBC is still there.”

7,095,453 – Charli XCX – Music, Fashion, Film

Pop meets electronic. Charlotte Emma Aitchison (aka Charli XCX) is wildly popular, but it ain’t really my thang. Like at all. Gotta pass.

6,701,952 – The Strokes – Reality Awaits

For years, I have been lukewarm with The Strokes: “Liked it, didn’t love it… like most of their releases… Kinda reminds me of The Killers meets The Bravery.” That said, this felt like more of a letdown, not even making lukewarm status. I think there might be too much auto-tune on the vox for my taste, and the songs just don’t hit. Reviews were wildly varied from hot trash to album of the year. I say dig into their older catalog.

3,543,894 – Shania Twain – Little Miss Twain

Little Miss Shania Twain returns with her first studio album in three years. Never really was a fan of hers or country music in general, so this is a miss. I will say, though, that she has an incredible voice. Tunes just don’t do it for me. The title track features country music legend Tanya Tucker, the song ‘Faded Blue Jeans’ features Queens of the Stone Age frontman/guitarist Josh Homme, and the song ‘Take It To The River’ features husband-wife duo, The War and Treaty.

3,307,268 – Willow – The Thread

Actor Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s kid goes solo with her EIGHTH solo album… and she’s only 25! I love what she’s doing, she has a great voice, and the tunes are really interesting… but… always a but… will I listen to this again? Hardly. I’ll listen to future releases and enjoy her rise, but no need for another spin…

From amazon: “An eclectic musical trailblazer for her generation, WILLOW delivers her new album The Thread. Her eighth studio album and second release of 2026, following petal rock black, the 10-track album was written & produced by WILLOW and collaborator Chris Greatti, who previously worked together on CopingMechanism (2022) and Grammy-nominated Empathogen (2024).”

1,181,670 – Rico Nasty – RX EP

Rico Nasty is the stage name for rapper Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly. This is not an album I’ll reach for again, but it seemed to be a bit of a departure from “typical” rap albums. For example, a couple of her influences include Joan Jett and Avril Lavigne, totally outside of the rap and hip-hop universe. I think this gives her rap album an interesting twist! Fun for a listen, but I don’t need to listen again. That said, I’ll continue to follow her, see if it catches on with future releases.

1,082,051 – The Hu – HUN

Mongolian folk metal! Reminds me a lot of the other “famous” Mongolian rock bands like Tengger Cavalry and others… Probably not an album I’ll reach for again, but I do like it! In fact, it may be my favorite of the bunch yet.

563,035 – Waterparks – JINX

Waterparks has several releases under their belt already, yet this is my introduction to them. It’s a ‘tweener release for me. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s also nothing I’ll reach for again, nor do I need to follow the band. Anyway, they play a solid blend of pop-punk. Well-written and performed songs, solid production, yet I’m just ‘tweener-ish on it.

231,843 – Punch Brothers – The Unsung Adventures Of Punch Brothers

The Punch Brothers play a unique brand of bluegrass meshed with modern classical or (as they call it), “American country-classical chamber music.” I have found previous releases to be quite bland and very forgettable, but this may be my favorite release of theirs yet. I believe that has to do with two facts: (1) it’s the first album by the band to be entirely instrumental – no vocals!, and (2) it’s the first Punch Brothers album to feature new band member Brittany Haas (on fiddle and violin). These are steps in the right direction!

From Townsend Music: “The seventh album by Punch Brothers – and its first comprising all instrumental tunes as well as its first with fiddle player Brittany Haas, who joined the quintet in 2023 – features eight new original compositions by the Grammy-winning band as well as three traditional songs they arranged.

The album’s title is more than a play on words: without lyrics to guide the listener, these are stories, impressions, and emotions communicated entirely with strings through melody, harmony, rhythm, and a literary sense of musical structure.”

145,481 – Baby Queen – I Hope You Don’t Remember Me

Terribly boring and forgettable dance-pop album.

91,599 – Alex Cameron – Late To Set

Boring and forgettable indie synth-pop / electronica… not really my jam. What’s next?

From amazon: “In January 2025, Alex Cameron exploded his life in a controlled detonation largely ignored by the universe. The charred remains of Cameron’s life fragmented and reassembled into 9 synthetic rock songs detailing his world’s deep confusion and regret.

He continues to find pieces of his own reflection in the shattered characters he creates and embodies. The promised Messiah. Agamemnon’s appetite for war. Mel Gibson’s ransom note. Humanity’s Pro-War destiny. A cold war breakup. These are songs of protest against life itself. This is the world our fathers feared and here is its soundtrack.”

38,748 – Robyn Hitchcock – The Confuser

I can hear what all the fuss is about, but his brand of psychedelic-pop-folk doesn’t much work for me. Good album, iconic rocker, but I’d be fine not listening to this again. But congrats on still writing and releasing albums in your 70s, my man. I tip my hat to you, good sir!

4,114 – Desmond Child – Desmond Child Rocks The Parthenon – The Live Concert Album (2 CDs)

I first became aware of John Charles Barrett (bka Desmond Child) when I was roughly, oh, I dunno… 10 years old? Dude is a songwriter, having written some of the biggest hits in history. MASSIVE: Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, KISS, Cher, Bonnie Tyler, Ricky Martin, Kelly Clarkson, Scorpions, Katy Perry, Joan Jett, Ratt, Michael Bolton, and, yes, even the almighty Dream Theater (‘You Not Me’). And that barely scratches the surface! Dude is 72 years young now, so you can imagine the wealth of hits under his belt over the years.

Anyway, this is a live album of Desmond Child performing several of these hits throughout the evening with a rotating cast of vocalists. My thoughts? Fun to revisit these classics, but I’ll stick with the originals. Thanks for the music and memories, Desmond!

From Shorefire Media: “Today, Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Desmond Child releases DESMOND CHILD ROCKS THE PARTHENON – The Live Concert Album via DESTON / BMG. Recorded live at Athens’ historic Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the album captures a once-in-a-lifetime concert celebrating Child’s legendary songwriting catalogue.

Recorded beneath the Acropolis and overlooking the Parthenon, the concert featured a star-studded lineup of acclaimed international artists to celebrate Child’s legendary songwriting catalogue, including the late Bonnie Tyler, Alice Cooper, Rita Wilson, The Rasmus, Kip Winger, Sakis Rouvas, Chris Willis, Andreas Carlsson, Justin Benlolo, Tabitha Fair, Leo Dante, George Lembesis, and more.

Organized in collaboration with Greek songwriter Phoebus and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Greece and the Acropolis Museum, the concert also supported the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece, which are currently housed in the British Museum in London.

Throughout the evening, Child and his guests revisited some of the most beloved songs in rock and pop history. Standout moments included Alice Cooper’s electrifying performances of “Poison” and “Bed Of Nails,” Bonnie Tyler’s powerhouse performances of her hits “If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man),” “Stronger Than A Man,” and “Hide Your Heart,” Rita Wilson’s soaring duet rendition of Aerosmith’s “Angel,” Leo Dante’s interpretation of Aerosmith’s “Crazy,” Finnish rock stars The Rasmus performing “Livin’ In A World Without You,” “Jezebel,” and “Love Will Keep Us Alive” (made famous by the Scorpions), and Desmond’s performances of megahits made famous by Bon Jovi (“Livin’ on a Prayer” and “You Give Love a Bad Name”), Aerosmith (“Dude Looks Like A Lady”), KISS (“I Was Made For Lovin’ You”), Ricky Martin (“Livin’ La Vida Loca”), and countless others.

Sakis Rouvas energized the Athens crowd with the Greek-language favorites “Ola Kala” and “Mia Zoi Mazi.” The evening culminated in a celebratory all-star finale featuring the entire cast joining Child for “Livin’ On A Prayer,” bringing together artists from across generations and genres beneath the shadow of the Acropolis.”

838 – Zan/Cody – Beautiful ‘N Damned

Zan/Cody is vocalist Zinny Zan and guitarist Harry Cody, formerly of Shotgun Messiah. It’s your basic ’80s meat ‘n potatoes hard rock meets sleaze rock. Although I won’t listen to it again, I actually thought it was a pretty solid album for a couple of dudes in their 60s! Maybe I’ll follow ’em… Keep rockin’, fellas!

From Frontiers Music S.R.L.: “When two of the founding architects of Swedish sleaze hard rock reunite, the result can only be explosive. Zinny Zan (vocals) and Harry Cody (guitars), the original front duo of cult legends Shotgun Messiah, are back together under the banner ZAN / CODY, delivering a brand-new album, aptly titled “Beautiful ‘N Damned,” that reconnects directly with the genre-defining sound they helped create.

Shotgun Messiah’s self-titled 1989 debut remains a cornerstone of glam and sleaze metal, a record that shaped an entire generation and secured the band’s status as one of the most influential cult acts in Scandinavian hard rock. Now, decades later, Zan and Cody rekindle that chemistry with a record that proudly revives the classic Shotgun Messiah sleaze vibe, while pushing it forward with renewed energy, attitude and modern punch.

At the center of the album is Harry Cody’s unmistakable guitar work—sharp, melodic, gritty, and instantly recognizable. Long regarded as one of the most respected guitarists to emerge from the Swedish scene, Cody delivers riffs and solos that are both street-wise and technically refined, perfectly complementing Zinny Zan’s raw, charismatic vocal delivery, steeped in attitude and rock ’n’ roll swagger.

Mixed by Chris Laney (Pretty Maids, Crazy Lixx), the album captures the perfect balance between classic sleaze authenticity and contemporary production power, ensuring the songs hit hard while retaining their dirty, dangerous edge.

With their highly anticipated appearance at Sweden Rock Festival and a new album on the way, the sensation is real: ZAN / CODY are not here to rewrite the past, but to carry the Shotgun Messiah legacy into the future. Fans can expect uncompromising sleaze hard rock, undeniable hooks, and the spirit of a band that helped define a scene—reborn, louder and sharper than ever.”

788 – Tu-Ner – Rendezvous Rodeo [Live]

These guys – Trey Gunn (Warr guitar), Pat Mastelotto (drums, electronics), and Markus Reuter (touch guitar) – are some of the most talented artists out there, having played and/or collaborated with King Crimson, among others. Yet, it is so weird and abstract that I just couldn’t get into it. It’s basically all-instrumental experimental electronic improvisation…? Incredible musicians(hip), boring-ass output.

From amazon: “Tu-Ner – touch guitar visionary Markus Reuter, King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto, and Warr Guitarist Trey Gunn – deliver their latest release, Rendezvous Rodeo. Three world-class improvisers locking into near-telepathic grooves, the record spans reimaginings of classic King Crimson pieces, compositions from each member’s solo career, and a new take on a piece Gunn and Mastelotto performed at the Royal Albert Hall with David Sylvian and Robert Fripp. Since their debut Contact Information, Tu-Ner has established itself as one of the most compelling ensembles in contemporary progressive music.”

277 – Yeti On Horseback – Traditional Addictions

I dig the band name, but the love stops there. Down-tuned to hell and slow as molasses doom/sludge metal. Damn these Yeti bands, ha!

178 – Steve Blanco – Misztikus

Ooph. Steve Blanco is the bassist, keyboardist, and composer in NYC-based experimental / avant-garde metal band, Imperial Triumphant. Like that band, I simply could not get behind this release… but I had high hopes! It’s all-instrumental piano-heavy extreme music. Like Imperial Triumphant, this solo release is also experimental / avant-garde. It almost felt like I was listening to someone speaking in tongues… but musically. All gibberish. Hey, if I can’t dance to it, hahahaha…

‘Misztikus’ is not as godawful as ‘Shadow Arc Suite’ is, released earlier this year (on March 10th, 2026), but it’s still a swing at a ball in the dirt.

From his bandcamp page: “MISZTIKUS is a collection of spontaneous acoustic piano improvisations recorded live in real time and unedited. It is an exploration into the unseen of which music connects all of us.”

88 – Svjetlost – The Forever Silent

Forgettable doom/sludge metal album from this Dutch band. Meh, moving on, what’s next?

From their bandcamp page: “Born during the isolation of the pandemic, Svjetlost began as a deeply personal creative outlet for Jamie Kobić, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of Dutch doom outfit Gavran. What started as a desire to explore songwriting through guitar gradually evolved into The Forever Silent, a debut album that blends crushing doom and stoner metal with the rich emotional heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Initially inspired by bands like Sleep, High on Fire, OM, and YOB, the project soon found its true identity through an unexpected source: Sevdah, the traditional music of Bosnia. Drawn to its melancholic atmosphere and expressive chord progressions, Svjetlost reimagines those elements through the lens of heavy, riff-driven music, creating a sound that feels both ancient and deeply personal.”

69 – Stay Dead – Beneath The Weight Of Worlds

I had high hopes for this release (read ahead), but was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. The band is led by vocalist Ryan Garney, who also fronts the rad band High Desert Queen. The song ‘White Noise’ features Mastodon bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, ‘Electric Mistress’ features High On Fire/ex-Sleep guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike, and ‘Chrysalis’ features Coma Hole bassist/vocalist Eryka Fir and stoner/doom band Aiwass (aka Blake Carrera). The album ends with a cover of Stillwater’s ‘Fever Dog’ (from the movie ‘Almost Famous’). Should be killer, right? Eh…

From their bandcamp page: “Ryan Garney, the mastermind behind High Desert Queen, launches an ambitious new venture with Stay Dead’s debut album. This fresh project showcases a distinctly heavier approach, marrying sludgy riffs with doom-laden atmospherics into something altogether fresh within the metal landscape.

What makes this release particularly noteworthy is the roster of collaborators Garney assembled. Guest appearances from notable names in heavy music elevate the record beyond a standard debut, bringing varied perspectives to the band’s moody, crushing soundscape. This Laguna Blue Marbled pressing from Ripple Music captures the weight and texture of Stay Dead’s vision in a format that collectors will appreciate.

A brand new band who moves mountains with this great debut!

Ryan Garney from High Desert Queen is on to something with his new project Stay Dead. Quite different, as this band plays great sludgy, doomy, and moody metal of an unheard kind.”

32 – Sunswarm – Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn

This is the band’s debut album, a blend of industrial metal and noise rock. It was described as post-metal, but I got none of that from this release. Pass.

Addendum (in order by “popularity”*) – Albums that were released earlier in the year (or previous years) that I missed, but are worth mentioning, anyhow:

3,307,268 – Willow – petal rock black – [February 17th, 2026]

Actor Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s kid goes solo with her SEVENTH solo album… and she’s only 25! I love what she’s doing, she has a great voice, and the tunes are really interesting… but… always a but… will I listen to this again? Hardly. I’ll listen to future releases and enjoy her rise, but no need for another spin…

Her stuff is growing on me, though…

162 – Melanie Radford – For The Sakeness Of Stillness – [June 26th, 2026]

Melanie Radford is the bass player of Built To Spill, but here she ventures out on her own. I absolutely loved the idea on paper (read ahead), but I guess I envisioned something different with words like those. Not better, not worse, just different. A little underwhelming, actually.

From amazon: “For the Sake of Stillness, her debut solo album, is an offering of music that asks you to pay attention. Most of the songs are at a walking pace, mimicking the long walks through foreign cities and the observant headspace they come from.

Stillness was recorded during and in-between touring, coming together over years as a centering practice and statement of self. An ambient score of natural sounds from these wanderings flows under many of the songs, records of place: the rhythm of footsteps on crisp ground, birdsong, rain falling outside, an impatient car shouldering into distant traffic, the pulse of the ocean, the warm texture of unintelligible and overlapping conversations.

These pocket recordings, interweaving with the music, give an added impression of closeness. We hear the place in the music, and the music is a window into what was felt there. Like an invitation into a daydream, a view into someone’s private world.

The music is quiet, dreamy, steady, and self-assured. There’s a rhythmic heartbeat and little flares of exuberance: touches of magic and awe everywhere. It channels the disparate moments and impressions collected in her tours through the U.S., Europe, Australia, Brazil, and unifies them through the strength of Melanie’s artistic personality and perspective.”

On the List (in order by “popularity”*) – Albums that I didn’t get to (yet) for one reason or another. Will (hopefully) get to them at a later date:

Only listing ones that made me take notice, not everything…

4,217,596 – Keane – Under The Iron Sea [20th Anniversary Edition – 2006] (3 CDs)

Alt-rock, Britpop. Disc one is the original album remastered, and discs two and three contain demos, acoustic versions, radio versions, rarities, cover songs, multiple previously unreleased tracks, and a whole lotta live tracks.

From amazon: “Keane’s sophomore album, Under the Iron Sea, celebrates its 20th anniversary on June 12, 2026. The hugely successful album, which debuted at #1 in the UK, has sold over 3 million copies worldwide with certifications including 3x platinum in the UK and gold in the US and Germany.

It features the singles “Nothing in My Way,” “Atlantic,” “Crystal Ball,” “A Bad Dream,” “Try Again,” and the hit single, “Is It Any Wonder?” To celebrate the anniversary, the album is presented as a Deluxe Edition featuring the original album newly remastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

Plus, two discs of rarities feature previously unreleased tracks including B-sides, demos, acoustic versions, covers, live performances and rare BBC sessions. Housed in a 3CD Digipak with roll-fold poster featuring beautiful illustrations from the original album’s designer, Sanna Annukka Smith.”

4,174,846 – Goo Goo Dolls – Let Love In [20th Anniversary Edition – 1996] (2 CDs)

Alt-rock. From the band website: “Celebrate Goo Goo Dolls with the 20th Anniversary Expanded Limited Edition of their acclaimed album, Let Love In. This 21-track special two-disc set features the original album and a second disc of 10 “Live And Intimate” recordings from a special session captured at Capitol Studios. This intimate live set features songs like “Better Days,” “Stay With You,” “Let Love In,” and “Feel The Silence.””

Looking forward to (in order by “popularity”*) – These albums will be released this week and should be in next week’s AOTW blog:

111,337,684 – Ariana Grande – petal

1,824,174 – Shaboozey – The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales

257,896 – Bear McCreary – The Singularity: Ekleipsis

200,997 – DOMi & JD BECK – WHO ASKED?

95,448 – Dead Meadow – Foundlings

61,299 – GA-20 with Charlie Musselwhite – BLUES NOW

50,750 – Tim Montana – Entire State of Tim Montana

25,441 – Trashcan Sinatras – Ever The Optimist

7,091 – Iconic – II

5,253 – Forced Entry – As Above, So Below (35th Anniversary Re-Release – 1991)

2,095 – Donnie Vie – Beautiful Things

…and several others. Some that I am looking forward to and others not so much.

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Small print that’s normal size print:

*These albums are listed in order by “popularity”. Wait, what? How? By no means is it a measured calculation. They’re listed in order by number of ‘followers’ on Spotify. While it is listed by Spotify ‘followers’, the order would (most likely) be similar if looking at the number of ‘likes and/or followers’ on each band’s social media pages. Speaking of “popularity”, there is a bolded red number. This number (more or less) represents the number of Spotify ‘followers’ at the time of review.

**Album of the Week. No promises, but I will do my best to NOT include Greatest Hits, Best Of, Live releases, re-releases, etc. Even if these “new” releases include a ton of bonus goodies, multiple unreleased tracks, demo versions, etc, I’ll still (try to) hold off.

All albums are listened to IN FULL unless stated otherwise.

Some artists are quite controversial. My goal is to review the album on its own merits, not based on the history, beliefs (political or otherwise), police records, and/or anything else that could be considered “unsavory” of the artist(s).

(Almost) all albums are hyperlinked. I link in order by Bandcamp first, YouTube next, then Spotify last. This is so you can check out (AND PURCHASE) the album, if interested. I do and hope you do, as well!

Do you have any friends or family who might be interested in this weekly blog? If so, send ’em this way!

Until next week…

Cheers,

Troy