A Sonic Smorgasbord - And Music News for April 2026…

Hello all - I hope you’ve missed me. If you read this, maybe you have, or maybe you hadn't at all noticed the desperate sprawl of words upon these pages.

Anyways - I’ve been a bit busy and unfortunately the blog has been a little sidetracked as a consequence. So to get back on it, I thought I’d do a sprawling catch up of this month’s music news and a few releases I’ve been listening to…

To add to all of this - I was fortunate enough, in a weird twist of universe karma, to meet one of my drumming heroes last week. I was on the tube platform of to a job interview, in a suit… far from my usual attire, and I happened to stand next to Clive Deamer - drummer of Portishead (and other projects). So I politely asked if he was Clive, mostly with the assurance that he was, and then had the chance to thank him for his contributions to music as well as explaining my own appreciation and inspiration because of his drumming. It was brief - I don’t love the idea of celebrity worship nor interrupting someone’s day, but equally I feel it’s nice to just be polite and show appreciation towards their craft - any further conversation is a welcome bonus. Either way - a lovely interaction and one I’ll remember for a long while I’m sure.

Geese’s Marketing Fiasco

I’ll admit - it was with a great deal of amusement this week that the murmuring news about Geese’s marketing campaign suddenly blew up over the music pages… notably, the whole promotion of Geese’s Getting Killed and Cameron Winters’ own album, Heavy Metal, were indeed meteoric for more than just general popularity - who’d have known!

I say this with a cynical manner, not because I intend to sound mightier-than-thou about their music, but because I am always entertained by the evangelical commotion that occurs when a new band suddenly arrives on the scene - much like the Emperor’s New Clothes.

And I caveat this… I do think Geese are a genuinely great band. I admit, I haven’t listened as of late as their popularity has put me off a little - for me, it makes their music feel a bit less scared, but that’s a temporary feeling.

So - if you haven’t heard, and you probably won’t if I keep getting to the point by the fourth paragraph (run-on sentences be damned), Geese’s sudden surge in popularity was in part due to large collections of fake accounts and bots communicating to one another across internet forums. I haven’t read enough to give you specific details, but it originates from a company called ‘Chaotic Good’ who are largely responsible with marketing bands with this method. In essence, you get some hysteria going on popular music forums, enough that real users then begin to pay attention and circulate the hysteria themselves. It’s clever really, because it just gets the ball rolling.

Of course, everyone is seemingly horrified by this - or at least a little shocked, but really it’s just the reality of marketing in the music scene these days. I have had chats before with people who work in record labels and they can quite easily just tell me ‘Keep an eye out for xyz’ or alike… because these labels have interest in promoting select bands. Put simply, if a band has a new release and is planning to play several headline festivals that year, it makes sense to then push their image across the web, social media, and on billboards… so really nothing new.

In the age of the internet - our vast and wide ranging saviour of information, the irony is that you probably need to be the top 0.001% of that to get noticed. So going viral makes sense from a marketing perspective right? If all press is good press, then Geese being front and centre of music is great for them, just as the cynical existence of ‘Chaotic Good’ also promotes their work - even if you disagree with it. I think it’s probably just fine that this marketing strategy exists - it’s nefarious, but I suppose the cynic in me isn’t at all surprised so I fail to have much reaction. I do have issue however with the ways in which this aligns with Geese’s image. I recall watching an interview with them where they stated how hard it is to record and pay for the production of an album as artists, especially young ones, and of course that much is totally true and a valid point. But, to know that they then in some way funded a company to promote their music seems a bit of a tautology? But, ok, if you believe in your art and want it out there - play the game, I can still vouch for them. However, the whole message of their music … describing the apathy of modern life… well doesn’t this whole strategy go against that a little?

Again - no issue with that, but the pretentious air that seems to float around Geese begins to wear thin for me. I think this is the case with all bands, at some point or another, and really it’s probably a hideous bunfight of trying to save your art whilst staying afloat… fine, but it’s a bit disappointing no?

So really - this is nothing new, but again, it’s a weird world of marketing isn’t it? I haven’t read enough, nor mustered the interest, to make a real astute comment on this situation - but I’m sure you can read deeper.

Angine de Poitrine

It was also this week that I received a text message from my Uncle with a simple ‘Have you seen this band?’ with a link and two polka dot figures in the YouTube thumbnail…

Safe to say - I hadn’t, but had indeed seen these two figures floating about in my feed - which of course I ignore, because I am so cool that I resist the mainstream (irony).

What followed, as I watched their full KEXP set, was a full 25 minutes of being glued to a screen and laughing manically as these two figures played some of the most avant-garde, esoteric music I’d heard in a while, broken up by peculiar stage rituals and vocoded voices. I did wonder if I’d accidentally dropped something in my cereal without knowing.

I will admit - it’s not quite my thing, I don’t love music that operates more mechanically than it does emotionally (my opinion, no problem with this), but I cannot deny that I think their commitment to their alien image and performative rituals is absolutely brilliant.

Maybe we’ll find out that they too are a psy-op in a few weeks… ho ho.

New Listening

Speaking of my less mechanical, emotion based listening, I was very excited for Beck to release a new single this week: ‘Ride Lonesome’, a clear callback to his Sea Change and Morning Phase era - two albums which have both had fairly formative impacts on me at separate times in my life.

Notably, the song itself is perhaps at best ‘more of the same’, but in a good way. I am a bit disappointed by the lack of news concerning any new album, which makes the single feel a little more disparate as a release, but that’s ok - any new Beck music is good to me.

As ever, it features the Sea Change line up (someone dubbed them a modern Wrecking Crew recently, which feels on point) and is engineered by David Greenbaum, and mixed by Nigel Godrich.

Also released, on the low-key, was a new single by The Strokes, which then caused a fair few of my friends to go into a panic about buying tickets.

I’ll admit it - I don’t especially love this track, but I’ve never been much of a Strokes fan beyond the big hits, so much so that I passed up tickets to see them once before. I think it’s because I’m not cool, or have wonky ears, we’ll go with that maybe…

The song itself is catchy enough but whoever decided to apply heavy autotune to Casablanca’s voice needs a talking to. Part of my issue with the Strokes has always been the somewhat lazy delivery of the vocals (which as ever, seem to be a make or break for me), and this just epitomises that a little… the guitars are cool? Bit 80s.

I did however manage to get tickets for Jack White - an exciting prospect.

As a man who I suspect never stops recording, I was pleasantly but not overly surprised by his new release this week. Mostly as a veiled swipe against everyone’s favourite orange, tanned, visage…

Sonically, it sounds like a continuation from 2024’s No Name, with a series of back-to-basics rock tunes and lo-fi production.

Nine Inch Noize made their recording ‘debut’ this week with the aptly named Nine Inch Noize. Really, it’s a techno Nine Inch Nails album full of their previous songs reimagined in the sonic landscape of a Berlin club - that’s no disservice either, it’s brilliant. When I saw them live last year, I felt it was a welcome addition to split the stage (and setlist) into sections, transitioning between the main band-based stage and then more techno heavy remixes over at the B-stage (a square cutout in the centre of the crowd).

If you haven’t seen any of the performances on the Coachella YouTube channel, I recommend you do! That is… if you like Nine Inch Nails to begin with, I know few people that do and for that I fear they are one of my guilty pleasures….

More peacefully - Ed O’Brien (of Radiohead) continued the rolling promotion of his upcoming album this week with a new single: ‘Incantations’.

It’s probably the most oblique of my choices this week but I’m enjoying the new direction O’Brien’s music is heading in after the release of his (already pretty good!) first album, Earth. It’s nice to see how he impacts both Radiohead’s composition, as well as how his own musical choices are beginning to manifest and exist in his own releases… finding new territories.

Opening with a series of folk-style acoustic guitars, ‘Incantations’ goes on a journey away from where it started, moving away from a more regular tonal territory into moments of dissonance and wider spatial territories. To me, it seems to capture O’Brien’s wish to unite his residence in Wales with his time spent in Brazil, and I think you can hear that passover and union during this track - especially in the more rhythmic elements.

It feels like O’Brien is beginning to find his stride as a solo artist with these releases - I also recommend ‘Blue Morpho’, which is equally beautiful and intriguing.

Older Listening

I spent some time this week revisiting a long time favourite Doobie Brothers track: ‘Long Train Runnin’ from 1973. Specifically, I spent some time recording my own version by learning the drum part (simple enough), the bass part (quite busy!), and then the multitude of guitar parts that exist on the track… which all meld together in a way you might not notice at first.

Notably, if you thought it was an acoustic and two electrics, you’d be wrong - as was I. After some critical listening the track features about 5+ guitars, two electrics panned left and right, an acoustic rhythm, an electric doubling that rhythm quietly, and another acoustic which appears across the track… and then on top of that, the strumming pattern changes across sections.

It made me realise - as ever, that often simple ‘groovy’ hits have a lot more going on than you realise, and all of which tends to contribute to their excellence.

As a contrast (mostly), I’ve also been exploring more of Pearl Jam’s discography. So I thought I’d take a stab at one of their less popular albums, Riot Act (2004), and you know what - I think it’s pretty good. Some songs seem to blend together, but even if so, the experience isn’t unenjoyable. I suppose equally, you’ll never beat the non-stop energy of Ten, that album is really hard to beat - but the band’s devotion to exploring new sounds and textures is admirable.

I’m quite fond of ‘You Are’ for its use of DJ-deck style guitars at the beginning, they’re cut up I think? Or using some form of kill switch/slicing pedal? I dunno - the effect is good.

Finally then - I’ve also been revisiting one of my favourite albums, A Ghost is Born (2004), by Wilco - albeit, pretty much a Jeff Tweedy solo album if you read about its production.

I’ve chosen the track ‘Muzzle of Bees’, just because it’s so pretty and emotive despite being constructed of cut-up sentences and irrational lyrical phrasings. I think it’s a great argument for why cut-up lyrics sometimes can be really effective provided they’re sung with intention… sometimes they even gain a meaning from that.

That then, coupled with the unexpected shift toward a country picking rhythm is a great use of drama within a song. Go listen!

Wrapping Up

Ok, my editorial numbskull is performing a peddling motion with its hands, palms outstretched, which tells me I need to wrap up for today.

I will try and get back to meaningful, and regular entries soon enough…