The End of the Month Revue for Feb/March 2026
April 2, 2026
A very much delayed bi-monthly Playlist selection of choice music
Starring…
White Fence ‘Your Eyes’
Dyr Faser ‘Winter Olympics’
Rusty Santos ‘Psycho Horses’
Hello Cosmos ‘Black Gloss’
Cashell ‘Ferris Wheels’
Ira Dot ‘Voices’
Mecanica Clasica ‘Pulsacion’
Greg Stasiw ‘Field’
Triple Blind ‘Chaotic Eyes’
Lauten der Seele ‘Mondratsel’
Simon Mogul ‘Can’t Shake The Spirit’
Shabaka ‘Step Lightly’
Ramson Badbonez & Jazz T ‘Raw Rap Syndrome’
Dominic J Marshall ‘Imagination’
Farma G & Relense ‘Makes Me Wanna…’
DJ Ian Head & Omega Jackson ‘Sith Lord’
Chris Crack & Bruiser Wolf ‘Somebody Pinched MyAss When I Crowdsurfed’
Gregory Uhlmann ‘Pocket Snail’
Benjamin Herman w/ Jimmi Jo Hueting, Thomas Pol, Akihito Obama & Ko Ishikawa ‘Kazegafuku’
Brother Ali ‘Another Country’
Sonnyjim & Sumgii ‘Muse’
Roce ‘Laisse Les enfants courir’
The Architect ‘THE FORCE OF LIGHT’
RJD2 & Supastition ‘Reset (Better Friends)’
Darko the Super, MF Grimm & Doseone ‘Desktop Eternity’
Cult of The Damned, Lee Scott, Black Josh, BeTheGun, King Grubb, Tony Broke, Salar, Sly Moon, Bill Shakes, Sleazy F Baby & Sniff ‘EXT. CAR PARK – NIGHT’
Tiny das Neves e Conjunto Sol d’Africa ‘Africa e’
Lice (Homeboy Sandman & Aesop Rock) ‘The Burgers’
Ras Kass ‘FUN & GAMES’
Farma G & Relense ‘Sun Wukong’
Os Untues ‘Feca non Chiga-za’
aus & The Humble Bee ‘I Follow A Barren Path Across the Old Mountain’
Magda Drozd ‘Piosenka Ludowa’
The Legal Matters ‘Everybody Knows’
Salem Trials ‘Shot Out of Nowhere’
Boilermen ‘Curious Thing’
Vlimmer ‘Aufbeiber’
Black Milk ‘Crash Test Dummy’
hazbeen, Kong The Artisan & Quelle Chris ‘Scary Kids’
Camp Nowhere ‘Hiatus is just emo for breakup’
Origami Horses ‘Joyless’
Xqui & Pyramids of Phobos ‘Hindsight’
BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEWS ROUNDUP – INSTANT REACTIONS.
Bigflower ‘Stay’
Track Released 25th January 2026
Another beautiful cinematic all-encompassing brief encounter with the atmospheric guitar guile of Ivor Perry. Yes readers, a beautiful ballad, a slow waltz of heartache and regret.
Boggis Fringe ‘Desperate Dreams Destroyed’
EP Released 12th February 2026
Desperate Dreams Destroyed is the debut EP by post punk band boggis Fringe and is all jolly and post punky – more punk than the post variety. Do you ever sit in on a Friday evening and watch old Top Of The Pops on BBC 4 and get all nostalgic when the Members or Stiff Little Fingers or The Ruts come on and you start to wax lyrically about the good old days of late seventies early 80’s John Peel shows to your uninterested offspring? If so you will enjoy this EP as it will bring back the essence of small pub venues with smoke filled rooms and sticky beer stained carpets and well-thumbed copies of the NME scattered around the joint.
Boilermen ‘A 1000 Words On Sound’
Album Released 13th March 2026
What we have here is an album of short and sweet punk rock snogs That is supposed to read songs but I will keep it as snogs as it is very appropriate, as this rather excellent kissable bunch of guitar tomfoolery and alt guitar has tunes and melodies that don’t take a lifetime to listen to; songs that come tell you how it feels and gets to the point then piss off again as every good punk song should, and unlike a lot of punk music they are not afraid to mix things up a bit and have an occasional jangle: “By Accident” is a lovely short Wedding Present like gem of a pop song and “Working Abroad Dub” is a fine experimental instrumental that breaks the album up in a becoming way, and the final track “Life Map” at being over 8 minutes long ends this fine album in a haze of atmospheric splendour.
Camp Nowhere ‘Hiatus Is Just Emo For Breakup’
Single Released 18th February 2026
What we have here is the debut single from a young band from Wigan, and rather excellent it is as well, all Sebodah guitars and Mo Tucker drums and an angst that can only be expressed with such punk rock glee by a gang of teenagers with many more years of life left to live and a guitar riff Kurt Cobain would have sold Courtney Love’s best frock for. A wonderful gem of a release and dare I say a band to watch and in time with luck, encouragement and nurturing could become very special indeed.
Legless Trials ‘Listen To Static’
(Metal Postcard Records) Released 12th March 2026
I am not going to start this review with “What we have here” as I have, noticed, that I’ve already started two of my reviews with the phrase, so I will just hop straight in and say more post punk glamourance from The Legless Trials their second album of the year and is as just as good and enjoyable as their last. I especially like the second song “Dead Towns” which in an ideal world would be the theme to the next Batman movie as it is dark and Fall-like and has an aura of Caped Crusader bass madness about it; and I also love “Lubbock Blues” which has a wonderful Andy guitar riff and totally magical madness lyrics from Matt. Have you noticed I have already mentioned the word madness twice in this review and with good cause as insanity is a calling card left by The Legless Trials. I suppose like two psychotic Milk Tray men. So many great tracks so many great guitar riffs and so many fine lyrics: “From The Bottom Of The Well To The Top Of The World” is a great line and can be found on the wonderful chaotic “Ramblin Kook“. Yes, The Legless Trials just seem to get better and better.
Claus Mattheck ‘Chapter 8’
Album (Cruel Nature Records) Released 25th March 2026
I love this album it is just so bloody British, not in a rule Britania, hoist the flag kind of way, but in the standing in the rain waiting for your bus to turn up kind of way. The deadpan dour humour of the lyrics, the monotone spoken vocals that are completely at odds with the Sonic Youth/Fall like mood of the music. Songs about cars, office life, the inanity of small talk, the DIY bore are all wonderfully taken apart with the lyrical accuracy of a sniper’s bullet.
Origami Horses ‘Joyless’
Single (Metal Postcard Records) Released 19th March 2026
This new single from the Origami Horses takes me back to the days of Snub TV, when semi commercial alt/indie guitar used to liven up the hour before you went to bed after getting back from the pub on a Sunday. Yes, the Origami Horses have the sound that would have the major labels scrambling for their cheque books back in the day; they have the commercial sheen of indie glamour down to a perfect tee. Which I’m very much in approval of.
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Reviews Roundup – Instant Reactions. All entries in alphabetical order.
The Conspiracy ‘Dungeness’
EP (Metal Postcard Records) 23rd November 2025
The Conspiracy are back with another fine EP of post-punk art rock; a band that are as British as watching cricket on a summer’s day. The Fall, The Kinks, The Only Ones are all lovingly stroked and warped into a mesmerising shuffle of old man’s fancy. This is the sound of modern-day England as seen through the eyes of middle-aged men who can remember when rock ‘n’ roll had a meaning and need to the young, and soundtracked young rebellion, and was not just something they streamed from their phone as they nip down to Nando’s to ignore their friends as they watch videos on tic tok together but apart.
I Am Hands ‘Lastings’
Single 5th December 2025
This is the debut single by I Am Hands and it is no hands, feet and bumps a daisy but a lovely sail down the river of peaceful tranquillity, a song of the supreme confidence of knowing that your supreme confidence has never been painted in such a blue shade of subtly. It really is a rather lovely track that fans of the first Trembling Blue Stars album might clutch to their cardigan encrusted breast.
The Last Sound ‘All That’s Missed’
Album (Cruel Nature Records) 28th November 2025
This is the sound of candy filled sugar pop, the kind that you might see on Top Of The Pops in the glory madness days of the 80s when Strawberry Switchblade seductively swooned from your transistor radio and pop could be both wonky and bliss like and whisper sweet nothings into your ear like an ethereal Green Gartside. All That’s Missed is an album that really is not to be missed. It’s yet another off-kilter pop wonder released by Cruel Nature Records, a label that certainly specialises in releasing off-kilter pop and or just plainly the off-kilter.
The Lounge Bar Orchestra ‘E.N.D.A.N.G.E.R.M.E.N.T. & The Room of Wrong Reflections’ Album (Self-Release) 26th November 2025
E.N.D.A.N.G.E.R.M.E.N.T. & The Room of Wrong Reflections is a collection of the tracks that made two-vinyl only releases on The Heavens Lathe label. The Lounge Bar Orchestra, who I have written about a number of times in the past, make a magical concoction of easy listening splenditude. The sort of thing one may hear on old sixties spy thrillers or takes you back to the golden age of seventies tv: you can easily imagine Bruce Forsyth willing on contestants on The Generation Game as they attempt to mold a mug in the shape of Anthea’s backside as “The Girl with Golden Hips Plays”.
Once again, The Lounge Bar Orchestra magically transports me back in an aural time machine to the days of Texan chocolate bars, Saturday night bath time, and watching Cilla duet with Marc Bolan as my dad eagerly awaits Starsky And Hutch and Match Of The Day. Yet again The Lounge Bar Orchestra proving why music is the most magical of all arts.
The New Tigers ‘Off The Wall/Butterfly’
Single (Soliti) 21st November 2025
These two tracks are a catchy foray into indie rock/pop, sounding not unlike The Bluetones with just a hint of what Teenage Fanclub might have produced during their heyday. All semi fuzz guitars and delightful melodies, and there is nothing wrong with that, let me tell you.
Origami Horses ‘Scenes’
EP (Metal Postcard Records) Released 23rd November 2025
I do not know if this EP was released to prove that post punk, garage rock, prog and psych can be melded into a hardy brew of rock ‘n’ roll finery. If not, it should have been as in fact that is what this EP is; one wonderful sparkling concoction of all the aforementioned, and track two, ‘Access Denied’, is an eight-minute gem that proves the point, and really needs to be heard by all, and takes one back to those hot summers days in 1989 when Madchester ruled the airwaves. The Scenes is another gem to be added to the aural crown that is the criminally ignored Metal Postcard Records label.
Sir Robert Orange Peel ‘A Man Dressed Up’
Single (Metal Postcard Records) Released 22nd November 2025
‘A Man Dressed Up’ is a beautiful Christmas symphony of seeing the magical time of the year through children’s eyes. A track filled with memories and nostalgia and an innocence to life that we all at one point in our life will lose. The perfect song to soundtrack sipping a sherry and watching the Christmas lights reflect from the baubles hanging from the tree and wishing you or your kids were young again.
Toxic Chicken ‘Quirky & Perky’
Album (Earthrid) 7th November 2025
Toxic Chicken is insanely brilliant and brilliantly insane. And Quirky & Perky is a fine introduction to his crazy world.
TC takes dance electronica and game music to new and unexplored levels of madness, and quite wonderfully tuneful melodious instrumental shenanigans are oozed from one’s speakers.
I would love Toxic Chicken to have made an album with Jim Morrison as for some reason his keyboard skills had me thinking this is what The Doors may have sounded like if they were brought up with the Game Boy and not the blues. A truly great fun listen.
Vlimmer ‘Hintersommer’
Album (Blackjack Illuminist Records) Released 21st November 2025
Ah yes, Vlimmer is back to offer all those lovers of Gothic Euro disco with a hint of post punk synth shoegazery a new Vlimmer of light. Those who’ve never tasted such a shot of pulverising gothic industrial tuneage since members of Fields Of The Nephilim, Smashing Orange and Depeche Mode were chased through the streets of a rain paved Wigan by an angry mob of spotty faced chavs on undersized bikes all holding out for sponsorship by the North Face clothing company whilst waving knocked off vapes into the air like an ancient Greek Olympian wielding his flaming torch. Yes indeed, Deliveroo has never witnessed such a wave of free advertising.
Hintersommer gets around the snag of being sung in German by both Vlimmer being German and myself not really giving a fuck as the tunes are blissfully dark and encouraging enough to imagine that what he is singing about is a worthy subject. So yes, an album I entrust will soon be in the collections of all you old and young goths who still roam this earth.
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