BRIAN ‘BORDELLO’ SHEA’S REVIEWS ROUNDUP – INSTANT REACTIONS.

Hello Cosmos ‘Black Gloss’
Single (Cosmic Glue) Out Now
Black Gloss is a Fall-like frenzy of Glam stomp post punk attitude; a song that one can imagine getting many plays on Dandelion Radio and receiving platitudes from various music blogs. Even this one.
John Howard ‘Can you Hear Me Ok?’ (Prof Stoned Remaster)
Album (Think Like A Key Music) Released 30th January 2026
Can You Hear Me Ok? was supposed to be the follow up to John Howard’s Kid In A Big World on CBS records in 1975 but for some strange reason was never released, which I will put down to major label foolhardiness, which is a common thing and has never changed and has helped the music business turn into the shambles it is today. But I digress.
Anyone who is familiar with the music of John Howard may already have heard or even own a copy of this fine album as it was released a number of years ago on CD. But it’s well worth giving this, the remastered version by Prof Stoned, a listen or indeed a purchase as it brings all the eloquence and style and downright talent and charm of the lovely John into a marvellous technicolour splendour: like in the Wizard Of Oz where Dorothy is transported from the grey black and white Kansas to the magical multi-coloured land of Oz, which means maybe we should start calling The good Prof Stoned Wizard Stoned.
Anyone who has not had the divine pleasure of hearing John’s music before should maybe give up an hour or so of their life and lose themselves in the pure 70’s pop piano balladry as I feel there is always room in one’s life for a well-crafted pop gem and this album is full of the darlings.
The Legal Matters ‘Lost At Sea’
Album (Big Stir Records) 27th February 2026
Ah, lets Bad Finger boogie shall we. Let’s cut some rug and roll turf and make shapes like it’s a pop frenzy of nobodies understanding. Oh, dearie me, this album is fun. It is seventies guitar pop covered in a Beatlesque stature of a stolen Cheshire cat’s smile.
Lost In Sea is a fine pop album, so good it could have been Jellyfish’s third or a time travel delight of being emitted from your transiter radio stuck on BBC radio one in their golden decade of the seventies when all their DJs where nonces but had great taste in music. Yes, you could picture this playing in the background whist Dave Lee Travis slapped his sectaries backside whilst dressed as Aladdin on his way to star in a Pantomime wondering which lucky young lady he will be able to pull out of the audience to rub his magic lamp.
Lost At Sea is an album made to be played on the radio, and an album to be added to your collection and filed alongside your Bad Finger and Cheap Trick CD’s unless of course you file alphabetically, and it won’t be anywhere near those.
Neon Crabs ‘This Puppy Can See The Frog’
Album (Cruel Nature Records) 27th February 2026
This Puppy Can See The Frog is an album that is only available on ltd cassette from Cruel Nature Records, and by the time you read this review it could be sold out. I have already bought my copy, so “na na na na na” to you. So, I am one of the lucky owners of this artefact of art punk joy and it makes me think I wonder who else will have this ltd treasure in the collections and if so, will they appreciate the special madness they hold under their roof. Will they marvel at the Stooges riffs, the whooshing cold metallic synths and post punk attitude that party together on this fine debut album; an album that has a certain drop dead cool and dark humour – imagine if you will that Mark E Smith was American and a cartoon super hero scientist that wore a psychedelic lab coat and read the Washington Post with eyebrows arched and wandered through the day with a steady stream of The Banshees and Wire and Killing Joke and the Stooges being fed into his brain by a microchip implanted to give him his superpower of aiming his lyrical pop shots with the accuracy of a paid assassin. That is what this little spool of cassette boxed frenzy is to me. And to you if you have bought one.
Occult Character ‘Silver Fork Stories’
EP (Half Edge Records) Released 30th January 2026
Occult Character, yes, I know I reviewed a single from this eccentric Texan Gentleman last month but that was released on Metal Postcard Records and this 5 track EP is released on Half Edge Records. It is another fine release so deserves a little acclaim thrown once again his way, and acclaim thrown in the direction of Half Edge records who are savvy and brave enough to release this eccentric darkly comic experimental montage of musings from the modern-day Woody Guthrie. And as the world gets stranger and darker by the day, thank God for artists like OC soundtracking these difficult and horrific times.
Salem Trials ‘Tell’
EP (Metal Postcard Records) Released 27th January 2026
The Salem Trials are back with another 5 track EP of post-punk genius. The wonderful madness of this duo is for all to see or hear. They have a wonderful live cool that would have Tubeway Army reaching for fake fur coats. They hold a complete fascination with me, like watching Giant Haystacks eating a vat of soup with a dessert spoon. They walk the tricky tight rope of experimental and commercial post-punk perfectly. “Spit & Soldier” is quite marvellous, sounding like John Cooper Clarke fronting the Fall – and why did that not ever happen?! “Tell” is just simply marvellous.
Rusty Santos ‘Psycho Horses’
Album (Self-Released) 19th February 2026
Rusty Santos is a great name. A name that will stick in your mind in fact – I receive so many albums sent to review that a name like Rusty Santos leapt out and I thought is this an album of old country music that my dad used to play in my youth. Well, it is not but it is a rather lovely album of American alt folk with a sci-fi undercurrent of whooshing synths and throbbing bass – imagine Elliot Smith guest starring in an episode of Space 1999 or a lo-fi David Bowie just pre his Hunky Dory days. Yes, it is that good, and Rusty Santos is defiantly a name to review for so many reasons.
Vlimmer ‘Aufbeiber/ Young Folks’
Single (Blackjack Illuminist Records) Released 6th February 2026
Yes Vlimmer,everybody’s favourite dark wave messiah from Germany is back with two more sad (in a good way) tracks of dark beauty and mistrust. Like a harmonic Valentines card from a slightly spooky uncle who resolves to put the world right by manoeuvring his angular thoughts onto his delipidated garden shed walls where he keeps treasure troves from his ex-wife who left him: for his idea of a good time was not to everyone’s taste. Two tracks that could bring a tear to a stuffed ferret.
White Fence ‘Your Eyes’
Single (Drag City) Available Now
I like this single. It has a laid-back lackadaisical charm which is very becoming, and I also like that for the first twenty seconds or so it is going to be a cover of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’: which is no bad thing. I also remember my band The Bordellos getting compared to White Fence in a review years ago, and I never got around to giving them a listen and now I have, and they are very good so will have to investigate further.
Our Monthly Playlist selection of choice music and Choice Releases list from the last month.

We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month, but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the time or room for – time restraints and the sheer volume of submissions each month mean there are always those releases that miss out on receiving a full review, and so we have added a number to both our playlist and list.
All entries in the Choice Releases list are displayed alphabetically.
Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal, with all the choice tracks from June taken either from reviews and pieces written by me – that’s Dominic Valvona – or Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. Our resident Hip-Hop expert Matt Oliver has also put forward a smattering of crucial and highlighted tracks from the rap arena.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
Armstrong ‘Handicrafts’
Review
Audio Obscura ‘As Long As Gravity Persists On Holding Me to This Earth’
Review
Francis Bebey ‘The African Seven Edits’
Jeff Bird ‘Ordo Virtutum: Jeff Bird Plays Hildegard von Bingen, Vol 2’
(Six Degrees Records) Review
Che`Noir ‘The Color Chocolate 2’
Dave Clarkson ‘Was Life Sweeter?’
(Cavendish House) Review
Half Naked Shrunken Heads ‘Let’s Build A Boy’
(Metal Postcard Records) Review
Novelistme ‘Fabulous Nonsense’
Review
Nowaah The Flood ‘Mergers And Acquisitions’
Luiz Ser Eu ‘Sarja’
(Phantom Limb)
Various ‘TUROŇ/AHUIZOTL’
(Swine Records w/ Fayuca Retumba) Review
Voodoo Drummer ‘HELLaS SPELL’
Review
The Wants ‘Bastard’
(STTT) Review
Warda ‘We Malo’
(WEWANTSOUNDS) Review
THE PLAYLIST
Bedd ‘Messed up Your Head’
Dragged Up ‘Clachan Dubh’
John Johanna ‘Seven Hunters’
Vlimmer ‘Gleichbau’
Heavenly ‘Portland Town’
Novelistme ‘I Want You Here’
Half Naked Shrunken Heads ‘Let’s Build A boy’
Juppe ‘Woozy’
Noura Mint Seymali ‘Guereh’
Francis Bebey ‘Agatha – Voilaaa Remix’
Anton de Bruin & Fanni Zahar ‘Running On Slippers’
Chairman Maf ‘Wild Turkey’
Lord Olo & TELEVANGEL ‘BEAT EM!”
Masta Killa Ft. Raekwon & Cappadonna ‘Eagle Claw’
Aesop Rock ‘Movie Night’
Oddisee ‘Natural Selection’
Nowaah The Flood ‘Protocol’
Ello Sun ‘River’
Luiz Ser Eu ‘O Sol Nas Suas Pestanas, Adora’
Elena Baklava ‘Kamber’
Jason van Wyk ‘Remnants’
Mary Sue & Clementi Sound Appreciation Club ‘Horse Acupuncture’
Evidence ‘Different Phases’
Vesna Pisarovic ft. Noël Akchoté, Tony Buck, Greg Cohen, Axel Dörner ‘Vrbas vodo, što se često mutiš?’
Itchy-O ‘Phenex’
Tom Caruana Ft. Dynas ‘Aisle 9’
C-Red & Agent M ‘Godspeed’
Scienze & NappyHIGH Ft. Benny The Butcher and Elaquent ‘Capt. Kirk’
Charles Edison ‘No Love Lost’
Parallel Thought & Defcee ‘Graduation Picture’
Fashawn & Marc Spano Ft. Blu ‘No Comply’
Che Noir ‘Blink Twice’
Saadi ‘Homo sapiens’
Charlie Hannah ‘St. Gregor the Good’
HighSchool ‘149’
Swansea Sound ‘Oasis v Blur’
The Wants ‘Data Tumor’
Tigray Tears ‘Wishing for Peaceful Times to Return’
Jeff Bird ‘Shining White Lillies’
The Good Ones ‘Agnes Dreams of Being an Artist’
Briana Marela ‘Value’
The Still Brothers & Vermin the Villain ‘Alright’
LMNO & D-Styles ‘Best to Lay Low’
The High & Mighty Ft. Breeze Brewin ‘Super Sound’
Slick Rick & Nas ‘Documents’
If you’ve enjoyed this selection, the writing, or been led down a rabbit hole into new musical terrains of aural pleasure, and if you can, then you can now show your appreciation by keeping the Monolith Cocktail afloat by donating via Ko-Fi.
For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored, and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love or interest in. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail









