Nocturnal Transmissions

Different Noises 129

This playlist is a descent into a shadowy, atmospheric landscape where raw energy meets experimental depth. Moving seamlessly between gritty garage rhythms, haunting post-punk echoes, and heavy, immersive soundscapes, the selection favors the unconventional and the evocative. From distorted industrial pulses to moments of ethereal folk and avant-garde exploration, it’s a collection designed for late nights and deep listening, offering a textured journey through the darker fringes of the underground.

AUDIO

PLAYLIST

• The Darts - Midnight Creep ¹

• Shrube - Wind Up ²

• Joint Pains - Lurleen ³

• Occult Character - Her Name Is Terrible ⁴

• Dubmatix - Black Dub ⁵

• Isabel Pine - Wolves/A Flickering Light ⁶

• Billy Brandt - Carnival Souls ⁷

• Awolk - Wild Rose ⁸

• sunn O))) - Glory Black ⁹

• dälek - Better Than ¹⁰

• Kannon - Windigo ¹¹

• Arthur King - Black Cloud ¹²

• Ben Seretan & John Thayer - Watermelon Well ¹³

• Roboquarians - Falsetto Bravado ¹⁴

• The Go-Betweens - Magic In Here (Larry Crane Rough Mix) ¹⁵

• Half Man Half Biscuit - Rawlplugs of Yesteryear (Breaking the States) ¹⁶

• Moff Skellington - hister bott/grool togg betsa nistron/Nurse found a hole in a red potato ¹⁷

• Clare Moore - Lost In Space ¹⁸

• Inca Babies - Damnation ¹⁹

• Mark Snarski - Peggy Finds The Spotlight ²⁰

• The Parasite - Bitter Tears ²¹

• 2 Lost Souls - Labour Under Illusions/Like To Talk/The Morning After The Night Before ²²

• LXRP - Sapper ²³

• The States - You Can’t Take It With You ²⁴

NOTES

1. Seattle’s all-women garage-rock wrecking crew The Darts (no, not the awful retro UK vocal group from the 70s) kick off their new album cycle with “Midnight Creep,” the first advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, out March 3 on Adrenalin Fix Music. The single dropped Tuesday, January 13 and finds the band slipping deeper into the spooky, swagger-heavy garage-trash universe they’ve been flirting with since day one. If you’ve ever wished the Back From the Grave comps came with a dance craze, you’re already in the right neighbourhood. The Darts have spent the last decade carving their name into the global underground with Farfisa-first garage chaos, sold-out shows across Europe, the UK, and North America, and multiple sold-out vinyl runs. They’re known for genuine, close-to-the-crowd performances and Nicole’s honest connection with the room, a band that brings people into the show and plays from real joy rather than polish. With Nicole Laurenne (vocals and keys), Rebecca Davidson (guitar), Lindsay Scarey (bass), and the returning Rikki Watson (drums), this lineup feels like the most dialled, dangerous, and joyfully unhinged version of the band yet.

2. Shrube is “the continuation of a 30 year collaboration betwix(sic)two high-school chums.
A Welsh and a Yorkshire, they doth play and occasionally vocalise in a manner some might label pleasing to the head holes”. The Welsh is definitely Will Gray,otherwise known as Blokeacola, and the Yorkshire is Owen Spence. The track is from their second release (the first being Weird Rules from 2023) and is simply called Shrube but has been referenced as “The Blue Album”. Fans of Blokeacola will recognise the slightly psychedelic vibe herein. Intelligent alternative guitar pop.

3. Joint Pains brings together three long-time mates from the coastal towns of Lake Macquarie, NSW: Shep on bass, Bill on drums and backing vocals, and Rosie on guitar and lead vocals. Every rehearsal session is loud and chaotic in the best way, which transfers into the live shows and album. They’ve just released their debut album, Ouch, now streaming everywhere, with physical records on the way and two more releases already lined up for 2026! From the moment their album, “OUCH” hits the speakers, it cuts through the silence with the perfect balance of drive, explosive intros, melody, hooks, and grit. Joint Pains consistently deliver honest, catchy, heartfelt music and lyrics that resonates far beyond genre boxes. Featured is a song written about living inside self-constructed illusion: avoiding self-reflection/confusing motion for meaning/ clinging to unhealthy intensity/ knowing the truth but postponing it. It’s resigned rather than explosive — more about quiet collapse than dramatic failure. It isn’t a shocked by the loss; they’ve seen it coming the whole time.

4. The prodigious Matt Nauseous returns with yet another Occult Character release - this time from the wonderful Metal Postcard label. Sean says “It’s time for our 3rd release for January at Metal Postcard towers - the always different and sometimes challenging Occult Character is back. He’s been releasing singular contemporary folk, yes a lot of the time it doesn’t sound like folk music but it is, it reflects back the America he lives in as clearly as all those famous folkies you know.”

5. A new single from Dubmatix - which includes the stems if you want to do your own mix.

6. Fables is the first widely distributed release for Isabel Pine after a series of self released EPs and singles on Bandcamp. Her label debut album arrives via kranky on 20th February. She studied classical music on viola from the age of 3 through into college, where she was on a path to be a performer in a large ensemble, but eventually left after feeling frustrated and limited in a world that did not provide much of an outlet for individual creativity. But the doors of perception really opened when she moved to British Columbia and was exposed to the raw beauty of the wilderness there. She began recording at home using a basic audio setup along with a cello, viola, violin and double bass, and spent time making field recordings of natural sounds in BC. Her next idea was to actually move into nature to record, curious as to “how it would sound if I recorded outside entirely, with the natural reverb and sounds of the environment in the recording from the very beginning. The rustling of the leaves or a raven’s beating wings were as integral to the music as whatever I played.” Fables is a mix of pieces that were recorded in the fall of 2024, in a small, remote cabin and outside, primarily using stringed instruments. The result is a series of stunning vignettes, meditations patiently unfurling like gentle waves, slowly advancing and retreating. Two tracks from the album are featured.

7. The Lucky Hustle & The Side Show Shuffle from Billy Brandt, Seattle songwriter, singer & performer comes from a deep devotion to musical storytelling. At turns smooth and swinging, Brandt’s music radiates charm and chutzpah. A voice like dark roasted coffee blends seamlessly with the records’ classic 1970s aesthetic; the album’s story unfolds in layers of rhythm rockin’ and swingin’, then circling back again.

8. Nova Scotia’s Awolk is back with Wild Rose, a new six-track EP that introduces the next chapter of the project led by Jesse Thomas. Made with Toronto-based producer and engineer Eli Browning, the record captures a stripped-back studio-band energy that feels natural and unforced, nodding to Awolk’s earlier releases while clearly moving forward. In Jesse’s words, the EP runs “from the first track to the last” with a sound that complements what came before while “looking to the future.”

9. For nearly 30 years, sunn O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – have pushed the boundaries of heavy music, straddling the worlds of the avant-garde and rock to forge a style instantly recognisable as their own. Now, sunn O))) return with their first album of new material since 2019’s acclaimed Pyroclasts. Their tenth album – their debut for Sub Pop – demonstrates the duo’s mastery of time and space, light and dark, and their willingness to evolve their unmistakable sound into bold new forms. The eponymously titled sunn O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood. This location proved crucial to the recording process. “The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.” sunn O))) have long welcomed collaborators into their self-contained world: past work has featured, Attila Csihar (Mayhem), composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore, polymath Mark Deutrom, Silkworm’s Tim Midyett and legendary singer-songwriter Scott Walker. But on this album O’Malley and Anderson found fresh possibilities in the primal territory of the duo format, performing all the instrumentation themselves. “What’s been happening with our performances over the last couple years with the two of us and no other collaborators has been really fresh and exciting,” says Anderson. The compositions on sunn O))) are expansive and panoramic yet finely detailed, reflecting the arboreal setting in which they were recorded. Amidst howling feedback and glacial crunch, one finds surprisingly delicate moments: a field recording of water trickles beneath, piano interludes lend a hushed, solemn feel. All while the duo attains fresh heights of telepathic intensity as they shape music that breathes the bracing, earthy air of the Pacific Northwest. Pending the April release closing track Black Glory hints on what to expect from the duo.

10. Experimental Hip-Hop legends dälek return with their latest full-length album, Brilliance of a Falling Moon. Taking its name from a section of Erik Larson’s 2011 novel In The Garden of Beasts, the album paints a fiery portrait of life and resistance in fascist America. Conceived, composed, and produced by Will Brooks (aka MC dälek) and Mike Mare, Brilliance of a Falling Moon is a sprawling, uncompromising record that speaks to the political timbre of the day. With the album announcement they share the track “Better Than”, about which dälek says; “Better Than encapsulates the new sound and feel of the record perfectly. It conveys the anger, frustration, and defiance of the moment. Sonically, it is somehow simultaneously, sparse and stripped down, yet complete and dense. A new wall of sound built only of the absolutely necessary elements.” The album cpmes out 27th March via Ipecac Recordings.

11. Kannon is a Nashville, TN based spiritual post-rock quartet that blends the interplay of jazz with the dynamics and instrumentation of post-rock. Formed in 2022, they are about to release their second album, …in a sea of fire. On this release, they have embraced deep listening and spontaneous reaction. By expanding their post-rock aesthetic through free improvisation, the music becomes equal parts meditative and cathartic. Through themes of unity, disruption, and resilience, the album invites listeners into a focused, present moment, free from distractions. The band line-up is Chris Watts on saxophone, Gabe Crouch on guitar, Dillon Smith on bass, and Josh Minyard on drums.

12. Recorded live on August 23, 2025 at the second Ambient Harvest, this essentially drums and guitar performance yields a diverse, hard-to-pin-down selection of music. The event, held in the backyard of AKP Recordings in Los Angeles, brings local cannabis grower MOTA’s faithful together to help trim the current harvest, learn about the inner workings of the cultivating process, sample the product, and enjoy a quadraphonic sound performance. For this harvest Arthur King is Matthew Mallinger on percussion/pads, KamranV on quad mixing board, and Peter Walker on guitar and drone. A late-night zone-out session with ominous distorted drones and darkly raging guitar chords, muted beating drum spurts and dreamy synth samples, the musicians deftly shepherded what came through in the moment. The mix brings the bustling chatter of those gathered at the event into and out of the listener’s consciousness - a document of an organic, multi-sensory experience - giving it a textural depth that moves beyond a typical live recording. The release is called Ambient Harvest Vol. 2..

13. Sunbeam of No Illusion is a new collection of Fender Rhodes impressions from the duo of Ben Seretan & John Thayer. The first single - “Watermelon Well” - came out on January 28th with an accompanying visualizer. Sunbeam of No Illusion is Thayer and Seretan’s first official collaboration on record, though they’ve performed together in a wide variety of contexts since 2023. Drawing on the resplendent natural world of their shared home of upstate New York, the pair calls forth the specters of the valley, spinning up an offering that’s frequently sublime and often a little sorrowful. Imperfections, signal noise, ground buzz, blips, plonks, glitches, and stutters accrete over clumsy, delicate loops of Fender Rhodes piano, accumulating into something that evocatively emulates the sparkling white noise of water or the calm swell of a breeze. Sunbeam is a fine slice of hyperreality, a nuanced, BGM-inflected postmodern pastoral that’s a heady blend of Yoshimura, Fennesz, Badalamenti, and Harold Budd. The poet Richard Brautigan dreamed of a cybernetic forest, computers in the trees - here the wind is digital, trees rustling in binary. At peace with change and permeability, the metal resonance and electrical impulses of the Rhodes hum in the field of the studio as the Earth orbits the sun, an imperfect looping.

14. From Secular Fusionism an album consisting of some repurposed songs that Ayumi Ishito and Kevin Shea salvaged after the demise of the Secular Fusionists. Kevin is in his usual berserker mode of drumming and Ayumi brings her usual one of a kind use of effects on her saxophone. The attempted result is a "Song X" vibe (Ornette Coleman's 80's masterpiece). This is a bit of a departure for the Roboquarians-not the usual total free improvisation. This is also all recorded remotely and not live in the studio. Kevin did record all his tracks with John Epperly at Metropolitan Sound in Brooklyn, but George and Ayumi recorded in the comfort of their own home studio. Kevin Shea and George Draguns first started playing together way back in the 1990s in Storm and Stress. They have maintained a friendship and musical relationship to the present day. Through Kevin , Ayumi was folded into the duo’s baby man aesthetic and have been playing together since around 2021. This trio has released Volumes 1 and 2 on the 577 label under Ayumi’s name, which have been featured on the World of Jazz Show.

15. “Magic In Here (Larry Crane Rough Mix)” is a rare track by The Go-Betweens, officially released as part of the career-spanning box set G Stands For Go-Betweens: Volume 3 (2000–2006), which debuted on December 13, 2024. The track is one of several “rough mixes” created by engineer Larry Crane at his Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, Oregon. These were “one-hour-per-song” quick mixes done on the final day of the U.S. recording sessions for the album The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000), just before the band took the tapes to Germany for final production.

16. The third track on the 16th studio album by the Wirral-based indie legends. The album, titled All Asimov and No Fresh Air, was released on June 13, 2025, through the band’s own R. M. Qualtrough label. The track is a classic example of Nigel Blackwell’s lyrical wit, clocking in at 3 minutes and 40 seconds. True to the band’s style, it combines niche DIY history with sharp cultural commentary. The song humorously chronicles the evolution of the wall plug, specifically contrasting the original jute fibre Rawlplugs of the early 20th century with the modern thermoplastic versions The bracketed title serves as a satirical nod to the common ambition of British bands trying to “break” the American market. The lyrics joke about attempting to achieve international superstardom while writing a song about 1960s hardware components.

17. The last two tracks on his previous album coupled with the opening track on his new one - Portrait of a Humble Tribe.

18. In the absence of new Graney/Moore material (coming soon I am advised) I’m taking a look back at Clare’s 2001 solo album The Third Woman which was released via Bandcamp in 2014. Her debut album this album served as her first major statement as a solo artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

19. “Damnation” was originally released as the third track on their 2014 studio album, The Stereo Plan. The track embodies the band’s signature “Hulme Cramps” sound—a raunchy mix of gothic rock, psychobilly, and punk-trash. This version is from the 2025 release Reincarnation which re-envisions the original.

20. Featured on his double album I Like To Leave A Place As If I Never Stayed, released in late 2025. This album serves as the final instalment of a trilogy Mark began in 2019. It is a sprawling double album that highlights his signature “13-bar blues” and atmospheric, noir-tinged storytelling.

21. From the new album Dreams released on Half Edge Records

22. All three tracks from their new EP Talk and Listen

23. From the compilation So Fresh: Tote-ally Summer For Black Peoples Union - LXRP emerged from the Melbourne underground electronic and "industrial-pop" scene around 2024. They are a three-piece chorus-pedal drum-machine post-punk post-pop rock band comprising Mish Furner, Amy Rogers, and, Heather Jardany

24. Also from the aforementioned compilation. Formed in the summer of 2022–23, this version of The States is one of Melbourne’s most exciting new acts. They are known for a sound that blends vintage glam rock, ‘60s girl-group melodies, and sweat-soaked punk. They released their debut mini-album, Gimme Joy, in March 2025 via Legless Records. It was highly acclaimed for its “short, sharp, and fierce” energy, clocking in at just 20 minutes. The Lineup: The band is a bit of a local “supergroup,” featuring members from other popular Melbourne bands: Scarlett Maloney (from Tuffy and Delivery) on vocals and guitar, Joe Imfeld (from The Prize and Mr Teenage) on lead guitar, Paddy Leahy on bass, and , Georgie Harkin on drums and backing vocals.