#avantgarde — Public Fediverse posts

Fashion related, but not cyberpunk: Blue Collar Winchester shirt 👔

I've had this idea for a while now: Winchester shirts have white collars and cuffs, but what if we used different colors?

So I finally pulled the trigger on a custom shirt with a blue collar and cuffs! What do y'all think?

#fashion #custom #clothing #creative #avantgarde #menswear #artistic #selfie #wdywt #outfit #ootd #sewing #maker #oc #outfitoftheday #clothes #aesthetic

Fashion related, but not cyberpunk: Blue Collar Winchester shirt 👔

I've had this idea for a while now: Winchester shirts have white collars and cuffs, but what if we used different colors?

So I finally pulled the trigger on a custom shirt with a blue collar and cuffs! What do y'all think?

#fashion #custom #clothing #creative #avantgarde #menswear #artistic #selfie #wdywt #outfit #ootd #sewing #maker #oc #outfitoftheday #clothes #aesthetic

Fashion related, but not cyberpunk: Blue Collar Winchester shirt 👔

I've had this idea for a while now: Winchester shirts have white collars and cuffs, but what if we used different colors?

So I finally pulled the trigger on a custom shirt with a blue collar and cuffs! What do y'all think?

#fashion #custom #clothing #creative #avantgarde #menswear #artistic #selfie #wdywt #outfit #ootd #sewing #maker #oc #outfitoftheday #clothes #aesthetic

Fashion related, but not cyberpunk: Blue Collar Winchester shirt 👔

I've had this idea for a while now: Winchester shirts have white collars and cuffs, but what if we used different colors?

So I finally pulled the trigger on a custom shirt with a blue collar and cuffs! What do y'all think?

#fashion #custom #clothing #creative #avantgarde #menswear #artistic #selfie #wdywt #outfit #ootd #sewing #maker #oc #outfitoftheday #clothes #aesthetic

Fashion related, but not cyberpunk: Blue Collar Winchester shirt 👔

I've had this idea for a while now: Winchester shirts have white collars and cuffs, but what if we used different colors?

So I finally pulled the trigger on a custom shirt with a blue collar and cuffs! What do y'all think?

#fashion #custom #clothing #creative #avantgarde #menswear #artistic #selfie #wdywt #outfit #ootd #sewing #maker #oc #outfitoftheday #clothes #aesthetic

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCLIII (C. J. Cherryh, Alan Burns, Brian M. Stableford, and Irene Clyde)

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. C. J. Cherryh’s Serpent’s Reach (1980)

• David Mattingly’s cover for the 1980 paperback edition

From the back cover: “The constellation of Hydrus, known as the Serpent, is compact and obscure as seen from Earth’s sky. Even in the great era of interstellar colonization it remained obscure. For it was under strict quarantine – harboring an intelligent race, powerful, alien, and inhuman.

Yet there were human colonies within the Serpent’s Reach, cut off from the galaxy beyond, with their own inbred culture, their Families and traditions, and their special relationships to the inhuman majat.

This is the strange and brilliant novel of Raen, the last of the massacred Sul Family, and of her lifetime pledge to find vengeance. It was to take her across the worlds of the Reach into the very center of the alien webwork, into the strands of thought and counter-thought that knit the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred cultures that no outsider could hope to unravel.”

Initial Thoughts: My collection of Cherryh’s pre-1985 SF grows slowly. I still have a few of her pre-1985 SF novels (and short story collections) to track down. I do not know that much about this particular novel other than its place in her sprawling Alliance-Union universe.

2. Alan Burns’ Europe After the Rain: A Novel (1965)

• Cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “Europe After The Rain is a disturbing book, a creation and, no doubt for many people, a re-creation of the nightmare of utter devastation, of hope, of complete disillusionment and of re-affirmation. The author has taken his title from a painting by Max Ernst but the connection between the two works is far more complex. The painting prophetically depicts a vision of rampant destruction close to that which has become a terrifying reality in modern times. Alan Burns, taking the theme to its logical conclusion, shows man not merely trying to come to terms with desolation but combating human cruelty with that resilience of spirit without which survival, both physical and moral, would be impossible.

The narrator is engaged in an arduous search for a girl. The ‘Europe’ through which he travels is a devastated world, twisted and misshapen both geographically and morally. Life and death are curiously intermingled with fear the motive force of men and women expressed through a cupidity and violence which takes on much more than a physical significance. The narrator brings an interested apathy to the horrific events he is forced to witness but never succumbs to complete despair or an easy cynicism. The book ends with a profound experience in love but the initial vision, original and deeply personal, is never marred by sentimentality.

Alan Burns has succeeded in presenting a picture of his age, has captured with disturbing realism what well may be the ‘collective unconscious’ of the twentieth century. And he has done this in a language that can have few rivals for economy, beauty and rhythm. His austere sentences glow with intelligence, colour and force.”

Initial Thoughts: Burns strikes me as a very J. G. Ballard-esque writer. I’m basing my assessment on Babel (1969) and Dreamerika!: A Surrealist Fantasy (1972), both of which I read but never managed to review. Both utilize collage and post-modern experimentation. At least there’s a new edition of Dreamerika!. When I read it more than a decade ago prices hovered around $150. I managed to ILL a copy through my university. As I’ve said many times before, I endlessly fall victim to British post-apocalyptic visions, especially those like Anna Kavan’s Ice (1967), where the physical landscape manifests the psychological afflictions of humanity.

3. Brian M. Stableford’s The Mind-Riders (1976)

• Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “If millions pay today just to watch two men fight for a champion’s crown, tens of millions will pay for the additional thrill of being actually within the mind and body of the boxers themselves, to experience in person the tension and combat, to throw themselves into punch and counter-punch without having to feel the pain.

This is the story of Ryan Hart’s final fight. His was not the publicized name of the boxer. Nobody knew him but the insiders, because he was the man who operated the challenger, whose mind handled the boxer’s muscles, whose agonies were never felt by the E-linked millions, but who would be for a few dozen minutes the embodiment of half the human race!

It’s a novel of two unforgettable battles one the seen and obvious, the other the fight of a single solitary man to regain honor and self-respect in a world he had ceased to believe in.

Initial Thoughts: I’ve had little success with Stableford’s works. However, the plot of this one — sports as a SF vehicle for social commentary on commercialism, trauma, alienation, the media, and violence — is right up my alley. Check out reviews of William Harrison’s “Roller Ball Murder” (1973) and Gary K. Wolf’s Killerbowl (1975) for other 70s exemplars.

4. Irene Clyde’s Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909)

• Seth’s cover for the 2026 edition

From the back cover: Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909) is “a pioneering 1909 feminist utopia. Mary Hatherley, an intrepid British explorer, finds herself transported to an alternate version of Earth. Arriving in Armeria, she discovers a society in which the very concept of gender is unknown. By avoiding the use of gendered pronouns, the story’s author–herself a genderfluid activist–challenges our assumptions about gendered social paradigms.”

Initial Thoughts: I’m a huge fan of the MIT Press Radium Age series. I’m all for bringing back more esoteric utopias and dystopia. For a great recent article on this book, check out Elizabeth A. Allen’s review over at Strange Horizons.

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCLIII (C. J. Cherryh, Alan Burns, Brian M. Stableford, and Irene Clyde)

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. C. J. Cherryh’s Serpent’s Reach (1980)

• David Mattingly’s cover for the 1980 paperback edition

From the back cover: “The constellation of Hydrus, known as the Serpent, is compact and obscure as seen from Earth’s sky. Even in the great era of interstellar colonization it remained obscure. For it was under strict quarantine – harboring an intelligent race, powerful, alien, and inhuman.

Yet there were human colonies within the Serpent’s Reach, cut off from the galaxy beyond, with their own inbred culture, their Families and traditions, and their special relationships to the inhuman majat.

This is the strange and brilliant novel of Raen, the last of the massacred Sul Family, and of her lifetime pledge to find vengeance. It was to take her across the worlds of the Reach into the very center of the alien webwork, into the strands of thought and counter-thought that knit the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred cultures that no outsider could hope to unravel.”

Initial Thoughts: My collection of Cherryh’s pre-1985 SF grows slowly. I still have a few of her pre-1985 SF novels (and short story collections) to track down. I do not know that much about this particular novel other than its place in her sprawling Alliance-Union universe.

2. Alan Burns’ Europe After the Rain: A Novel (1965)

• Cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “Europe After The Rain is a disturbing book, a creation and, no doubt for many people, a re-creation of the nightmare of utter devastation, of hope, of complete disillusionment and of re-affirmation. The author has taken his title from a painting by Max Ernst but the connection between the two works is far more complex. The painting prophetically depicts a vision of rampant destruction close to that which has become a terrifying reality in modern times. Alan Burns, taking the theme to its logical conclusion, shows man not merely trying to come to terms with desolation but combating human cruelty with that resilience of spirit without which survival, both physical and moral, would be impossible.

The narrator is engaged in an arduous search for a girl. The ‘Europe’ through which he travels is a devastated world, twisted and misshapen both geographically and morally. Life and death are curiously intermingled with fear the motive force of men and women expressed through a cupidity and violence which takes on much more than a physical significance. The narrator brings an interested apathy to the horrific events he is forced to witness but never succumbs to complete despair or an easy cynicism. The book ends with a profound experience in love but the initial vision, original and deeply personal, is never marred by sentimentality.

Alan Burns has succeeded in presenting a picture of his age, has captured with disturbing realism what well may be the ‘collective unconscious’ of the twentieth century. And he has done this in a language that can have few rivals for economy, beauty and rhythm. His austere sentences glow with intelligence, colour and force.”

Initial Thoughts: Burns strikes me as a very J. G. Ballard-esque writer. I’m basing my assessment on Babel (1969) and Dreamerika!: A Surrealist Fantasy (1972), both of which I read but never managed to review. Both utilize collage and post-modern experimentation. At least there’s a new edition of Dreamerika!. When I read it more than a decade ago prices hovered around $150. I managed to ILL a copy through my university. As I’ve said many times before, I endlessly fall victim to British post-apocalyptic visions, especially those like Anna Kavan’s Ice (1967), where the physical landscape manifests the psychological afflictions of humanity.

3. Brian M. Stableford’s The Mind-Riders (1976)

• Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “If millions pay today just to watch two men fight for a champion’s crown, tens of millions will pay for the additional thrill of being actually within the mind and body of the boxers themselves, to experience in person the tension and combat, to throw themselves into punch and counter-punch without having to feel the pain.

This is the story of Ryan Hart’s final fight. His was not the publicized name of the boxer. Nobody knew him but the insiders, because he was the man who operated the challenger, whose mind handled the boxer’s muscles, whose agonies were never felt by the E-linked millions, but who would be for a few dozen minutes the embodiment of half the human race!

It’s a novel of two unforgettable battles one the seen and obvious, the other the fight of a single solitary man to regain honor and self-respect in a world he had ceased to believe in.

Initial Thoughts: I’ve had little success with Stableford’s works. However, the plot of this one — sports as a SF vehicle for social commentary on commercialism, trauma, alienation, the media, and violence — is right up my alley. Check out reviews of William Harrison’s “Roller Ball Murder” (1973) and Gary K. Wolf’s Killerbowl (1975) for other 70s exemplars.

4. Irene Clyde’s Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909)

• Seth’s cover for the 2026 edition

From the back cover: Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909) is “a pioneering 1909 feminist utopia. Mary Hatherley, an intrepid British explorer, finds herself transported to an alternate version of Earth. Arriving in Armeria, she discovers a society in which the very concept of gender is unknown. By avoiding the use of gendered pronouns, the story’s author–herself a genderfluid activist–challenges our assumptions about gendered social paradigms.”

Initial Thoughts: I’m a huge fan of the MIT Press Radium Age series. I’m all for bringing back more esoteric utopias and dystopia. For a great recent article on this book, check out Elizabeth A. Allen’s review over at Strange Horizons.

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCLIII (C. J. Cherryh, Alan Burns, Brian M. Stableford, and Irene Clyde)

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. C. J. Cherryh’s Serpent’s Reach (1980)

• David Mattingly’s cover for the 1980 paperback edition

From the back cover: “The constellation of Hydrus, known as the Serpent, is compact and obscure as seen from Earth’s sky. Even in the great era of interstellar colonization it remained obscure. For it was under strict quarantine – harboring an intelligent race, powerful, alien, and inhuman.

Yet there were human colonies within the Serpent’s Reach, cut off from the galaxy beyond, with their own inbred culture, their Families and traditions, and their special relationships to the inhuman majat.

This is the strange and brilliant novel of Raen, the last of the massacred Sul Family, and of her lifetime pledge to find vengeance. It was to take her across the worlds of the Reach into the very center of the alien webwork, into the strands of thought and counter-thought that knit the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred cultures that no outsider could hope to unravel.”

Initial Thoughts: My collection of Cherryh’s pre-1985 SF grows slowly. I still have a few of her pre-1985 SF novels (and short story collections) to track down. I do not know that much about this particular novel other than its place in her sprawling Alliance-Union universe.

2. Alan Burns’ Europe After the Rain: A Novel (1965)

• Cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “Europe After The Rain is a disturbing book, a creation and, no doubt for many people, a re-creation of the nightmare of utter devastation, of hope, of complete disillusionment and of re-affirmation. The author has taken his title from a painting by Max Ernst but the connection between the two works is far more complex. The painting prophetically depicts a vision of rampant destruction close to that which has become a terrifying reality in modern times. Alan Burns, taking the theme to its logical conclusion, shows man not merely trying to come to terms with desolation but combating human cruelty with that resilience of spirit without which survival, both physical and moral, would be impossible.

The narrator is engaged in an arduous search for a girl. The ‘Europe’ through which he travels is a devastated world, twisted and misshapen both geographically and morally. Life and death are curiously intermingled with fear the motive force of men and women expressed through a cupidity and violence which takes on much more than a physical significance. The narrator brings an interested apathy to the horrific events he is forced to witness but never succumbs to complete despair or an easy cynicism. The book ends with a profound experience in love but the initial vision, original and deeply personal, is never marred by sentimentality.

Alan Burns has succeeded in presenting a picture of his age, has captured with disturbing realism what well may be the ‘collective unconscious’ of the twentieth century. And he has done this in a language that can have few rivals for economy, beauty and rhythm. His austere sentences glow with intelligence, colour and force.”

Initial Thoughts: Burns strikes me as a very J. G. Ballard-esque writer. I’m basing my assessment on Babel (1969) and Dreamerika!: A Surrealist Fantasy (1972), both of which I read but never managed to review. Both utilize collage and post-modern experimentation. At least there’s a new edition of Dreamerika!. When I read it more than a decade ago prices hovered around $150. I managed to ILL a copy through my university. As I’ve said many times before, I endlessly fall victim to British post-apocalyptic visions, especially those like Anna Kavan’s Ice (1967), where the physical landscape manifests the psychological afflictions of humanity.

3. Brian M. Stableford’s The Mind-Riders (1976)

• Vincent Di Fate’s cover for the 1st edition

From the back cover: “If millions pay today just to watch two men fight for a champion’s crown, tens of millions will pay for the additional thrill of being actually within the mind and body of the boxers themselves, to experience in person the tension and combat, to throw themselves into punch and counter-punch without having to feel the pain.

This is the story of Ryan Hart’s final fight. His was not the publicized name of the boxer. Nobody knew him but the insiders, because he was the man who operated the challenger, whose mind handled the boxer’s muscles, whose agonies were never felt by the E-linked millions, but who would be for a few dozen minutes the embodiment of half the human race!

It’s a novel of two unforgettable battles one the seen and obvious, the other the fight of a single solitary man to regain honor and self-respect in a world he had ceased to believe in.

Initial Thoughts: I’ve had little success with Stableford’s works. However, the plot of this one — sports as a SF vehicle for social commentary on commercialism, trauma, alienation, the media, and violence — is right up my alley. Check out reviews of William Harrison’s “Roller Ball Murder” (1973) and Gary K. Wolf’s Killerbowl (1975) for other 70s exemplars.

4. Irene Clyde’s Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909)

• Seth’s cover for the 2026 edition

From the back cover: Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909) is “a pioneering 1909 feminist utopia. Mary Hatherley, an intrepid British explorer, finds herself transported to an alternate version of Earth. Arriving in Armeria, she discovers a society in which the very concept of gender is unknown. By avoiding the use of gendered pronouns, the story’s author–herself a genderfluid activist–challenges our assumptions about gendered social paradigms.”

Initial Thoughts: I’m a huge fan of the MIT Press Radium Age series. I’m all for bringing back more esoteric utopias and dystopia. For a great recent article on this book, check out Elizabeth A. Allen’s review over at Strange Horizons.

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

🎨🤖 Breaking News: 'Random Gradients' are the new black? Wang's mind-blowing discovery: start with four colors and let the computer figure it out. Shocking! 🤪✨ Who knew gradients in 2017 were so avant-garde? Thank you, Ben Barry, for revolutionizing the art of "randomness". 🎉
https://justinjay.wang/methods-for-random-gradients/ #RandomGradients #ArtInnovation #TechTrends #AvantGarde #ColorDiscovery #HackerNews #ngated

In case you missed it, my new mini-album is here!

It's a protest against #AI scraping. If you love #MrBungle you might enjoy this.

Don't play it too loud first, it has abrubt changes of volume.

This is deliberately "badly made", it is breaking all the rules and sometimes a glympse of excellence shines through the horror of sound.

I poured my anxiety, fear, despair and anger into this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhk-QaLfWA

Enjoy!(?)

#unfa #music #noai #noslop #fuckai #avantgarde #experimental #eclectic

In case you missed it, my new mini-album is here!

It's a protest against #AI scraping. If you love #MrBungle you might enjoy this.

Don't play it too loud first, it has abrubt changes of volume.

This is deliberately "badly made", it is breaking all the rules and sometimes a glympse of excellence shines through the horror of sound.

I poured my anxiety, fear, despair and anger into this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhk-QaLfWA

Enjoy!(?)

#unfa #music #noai #noslop #fuckai #avantgarde #experimental #eclectic

In case you missed it, my new mini-album is here!

It's a protest against #AI scraping. If you love #MrBungle you might enjoy this.

Don't play it too loud first, it has abrubt changes of volume.

This is deliberately "badly made", it is breaking all the rules and sometimes a glympse of excellence shines through the horror of sound.

I poured my anxiety, fear, despair and anger into this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhk-QaLfWA

Enjoy!(?)

#unfa #music #noai #noslop #fuckai #avantgarde #experimental #eclectic

In case you missed it, my new mini-album is here!

It's a protest against #AI scraping. If you love #MrBungle you might enjoy this.

Don't play it too loud first, it has abrubt changes of volume.

This is deliberately "badly made", it is breaking all the rules and sometimes a glympse of excellence shines through the horror of sound.

I poured my anxiety, fear, despair and anger into this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhk-QaLfWA

Enjoy!(?)

#unfa #music #noai #noslop #fuckai #avantgarde #experimental #eclectic

In case you missed it, my new mini-album is here!

It's a protest against #AI scraping. If you love #MrBungle you might enjoy this.

Don't play it too loud first, it has abrubt changes of volume.

This is deliberately "badly made", it is breaking all the rules and sometimes a glympse of excellence shines through the horror of sound.

I poured my anxiety, fear, despair and anger into this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhk-QaLfWA

Enjoy!(?)

#unfa #music #noai #noslop #fuckai #avantgarde #experimental #eclectic

FACETOUCHER – 3RD
#Experimental #avantgarde #experimentalvocals #glitch #noise #voice #Australia
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://facetoucher.bandcamp.com/album/3rd

Free download codes:

The Shining Tongues - SUMMER SOLSTICE XXI-VI-MMXXVI

"The latest piece in The Shining Tongues' Summer Solstice series. Psychedelic art-rock sound collage full of blinding sunlight and spectral drone."

https://getmusic.fm/l/0u0Qxp

#experimentalrock #artrock #postrock #avantgarde #music

Free download codes:

The Shining Tongues - SUMMER SOLSTICE XXI-VI-MMXXVI

"The latest piece in The Shining Tongues' Summer Solstice series. Psychedelic art-rock sound collage full of blinding sunlight and spectral drone."

https://getmusic.fm/l/0u0Qxp

#experimentalrock #artrock #postrock #avantgarde #music

Free download codes:

The Shining Tongues - SUMMER SOLSTICE XXI-VI-MMXXVI

"The latest piece in The Shining Tongues' Summer Solstice series. Psychedelic art-rock sound collage full of blinding sunlight and spectral drone."

https://getmusic.fm/l/0u0Qxp

#experimentalrock #artrock #postrock #avantgarde #music

Free download codes:

The Shining Tongues - SUMMER SOLSTICE XXI-VI-MMXXVI

"The latest piece in The Shining Tongues' Summer Solstice series. Psychedelic art-rock sound collage full of blinding sunlight and spectral drone."

https://getmusic.fm/l/0u0Qxp

#experimentalrock #artrock #postrock #avantgarde #music

The storms persist, but now it’s getting hot! Steam roils inside the filter ducts as my minions scald themselves in the pursuit of moderately valuable nuggets. Will they succeed before they cook like so many broccoli florets? Only time will tell.

Dead or alive, I’ll make sure these lazy louts deliver their semi-precious lodes. So be thankful, and BEHOLD!

Kenstrosity’s Mountainous Member

Volcandra // Beyond the Will of Mortals [April 24th, 2026 – Prosthetic Records]

Who knows why we don’t get promo sometimes? Countless times I’ve been faced with great anticipation for a new record by a band I was keeping tabs on, and countless times, for unknown reasons, promo never came. Louisville melodic black/death quartet Volcandra now enter those ranks with the unsent Beyond the Will of Mortals. Picking up where The Will of Ancients left off, Beyond the Will of Mortals expands in scope and scale, eliciting a grandeur in composition that recalls the epic yarns spun by Foretoken, Hath, and Astralborne, but with the thrashing sensibilities of Antiverse and Skeletonwitch. Leading the charge in stunning fashion, “Beyond the Will of Mortals” and “Marauders of the Cosmic Vortex” explode with a visceral burst of energy built around high-octane riffs, screaming solos, and majestic melodies. Dave Palenske in particular acquits himself admirably, expanding his vocal range far beyond the expected, foraying into scorching screams and subterranean gutturals with excellent technique and charisma (“Venom March Enchantress”). But the rest of the band easily keeps up, deftly trading blows between power metal-ready gallops, violent swings into thrash territory, and all manner of other pyrotechnics to make Beyond the Will of Mortals Volcandra’s most versatile and varied offering yet. To some, this may create a disjointed experience as rippers like “Mage of Fabled Sorcery” contrast in pacing and personality to its neighbors. However, with repeat listens that effects dissolves, making more room to appreciate how much fun this record really is. The back half capitalizes on that effect, unleashing lean and mean banger after banger to leave you salivating for another round (“Within the Webs,” “Infinite Decadence”). In sum, Beyond the Will of Mortals is a fine, invigorating inclusion into anyone’s rotation; so if you missed it, get on it now!

Creeping Ivy’s Punkyard Dogs

Dead Bob // Nothing Changes Everything [April 21st, 2026 – Wrong Records]

In The Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal, Martin Popoff describes Wrong (1989) by Nomeansno as ‘the mightiest merger between the hateful aggression of punk and the discipline of heavy metal’ (316). Essentially, Popoff affixed to Wrong AMG’s Iconic label: 10/10.1 For readers perhaps unfamiliar with Nomeansno, my best follow-up on Popoff’s portrayal is that the band—formed in 1979 by the Wright brothers (Rob on bass/vocals, John on drums/vocals)—sounds like The Minutemen hijacked a Voivod. After an incredible eleven-album run, Nomeansno officially retired in 2016. Why am I wasting my word count with this history lesson on the greatest Canadian punk band of all time? Because Dead Bob, John Wright’s solo project, released its sophomore album this April. Whereas Life Like fulfills the vision of one man, John enlisted a band for Nothing Changes Everything. Bookending the album are the last two songs John co-wrote with Rob. The techy guitar/bass interplay of lead-off “Centre of the Universe,” as well as the pounding rhythms of closer “No Fun (Alt Mix),” come closest to the punk/metal hybridity of vintage Nomeansno. Between these tracks, the album gets increasingly weird (which is to say, it gets increasingly ‘punk,’ in the word’s original connotation). “Nothing Changes Everything” deploys horns, “Hard is Hard” mixes art/surf rock, and “The Present” sprinkles psychedelic guitar leads over pulsing synths and tribal percussion. If you’re a fan of avant-garde music in a compact package, you can’t go wrong with Nothing Changes Everything.

Poison Ruïn // Hymns from the Hills [April 3rd, 2026 – Relapse Records]

Whilst reading Tyme‘s (excellent) review of Twin Serpent’s (super fun) True Norwegian Blackgrass, a member of the commentariat reminded me of how much I enjoyed Poison Ruïn’s latest offering upon a first listen. That comment got me to revisit Hymn from the Hills, and I’m glad I did. To sell these Philly post-punks to the AMG Faithful, I’ll point out a few things: they’re signed to Relapse Records, they curate a medieval aesthetic (which includes deploying dungeon synths), and the new record was mastered by Arthur Rizk. In addition to liberal metal elements, Poison Ruïn occasionally stride with rock n’ roll swagger (“Hymn from the Hills”), with primary visionary Mac Kennedy channeling Blue Öyster Cult in his role as singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter (“Lily of the Valley”). “Eidolon” perfectly exemplifies the band’s hybridity, mashing up the melody of “Layla,” the propulsive drive of Hüsker Dü, and the rhythmic punctuations of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” This may sound like a critique, but it’s not; Poison Ruïn excels at mixing punk, rock, and metal into their own arthouse concoction. Metal purists might have to wait until the end of the album, though, to have their fancy truly tickled. But wait, they should, as “Sleeping Giant (Interlude)” offers funeral doom content in a punk-sized package, while closer “The Standoff” gets moving with a wicked blast beat. I’ll definitely be heading for these post-punk hills more and more throughout the year.

Scimitar // Scimitarium II [April 24th, 2026 – Crypt of the Wizard]

Scimitar’s first song receptacle was one of my favorite debuts of 2025. On Scimitarium I, this Danish five-piece served up a scintillating selection of ‘black occult rock,’ combining the caustic fervor of Malokarpatan with the psychedelic haze of Blue Cheer, topped off with a post-punk flavoring of Joy Division. A year later, this Copenhagen cutter returns with Scimitarium II, a follow-up that satisfyingly mirrors the album-art format of its predecessor. Whereas Scimitarium I demonstrated range marred a bit by roughshod production, volume II sounds much sharper, slashing and dashing for a lean 40 minutes. The opening title track introduces our combatants: the dexterous drumming of CCsquele; the counter-melodic bass of Olle Bergholz; the sinister guitar fury of Johan L. Ekstrand and Anders M. Jørgensen; and finally, the commanding vocals of Shaam A.2 From there, the album rips through a trio of unrelenting ragers that feel like they can fall apart at any minute but miraculously hold together. “Through Lava Lit Roads to Lavilenda, Pt. II” offers the only reprieve, spotlighting Shaam’s dynamic range and impressive timbre. Closing out the collection is “Mobula Mobular,” a 13-minute monster built around a doomy riff whose chromaticism lurches upward and downward, to hypnotizing effect. If Scimitar can marry the ambition of I with the ferocity of II next time around, they’ll have a blackened-trad killer on their hands.

Andy-War-Hall’s Dandy Score Haul

Elegant Weapons // Evolution [April 24th, 2026 – Exciter Records]

Everything about Elegant Weapons and the super group’s sophomore record Evolution is a misnomer. Evolution is a high-octane slugfest of tried-and-true heavy metal-leaning hard rock, and Elegant Weapons swing, punch, and bite through it with everything but grace. Is this a problem? When Richie Faulkener’s (Judas Priest) riffs are as groovy and burly as ever and his solos as grin-inducing, Ronnie Romero’s (ex-Rainbow, ex-Michael Schenker Group) voice is booming as it is, and when Dave Rimmer (Uriah Heep) and Christopher Williams’ (Accept) bass and drums respectively, carry as tight a pulse as they do on Evolution, not at all. When it all coalesces into uber catchy fist-pumping anthems like “Bridges Burn,” “The Devil Calls,” and “Shooting Shadows,” especially so. Evolution is easy-peasy listening, and Elegant Weapons’ chemistry and knack for hookcraft make its near hour-long runtime fly by, as well as ease the cringe of the hyper-Boomeristic lyricism on “Generation Me.” They also manage to make fairly stock power ballads in “Come Back to Me” and “Keeper of the Keys” feel affecting, driven by a viral vocal presence and emotive, timeless guitar soloing. Evolution is fun, and Elegant Weapons are sharp. ‘Nuff said.

Demon Spell // Blessed Be the Dark [April 24th, 2026 – Dying Victims Productions]

Creeping from an obscure, ancient, and sinister darkness, Sicily’s Demon Spell have conjured a shadow-cast era of heavy metal’s history back to the light of day with their debut Blessed Be the Dark. Wielding the evil auras of Mercyful Fate and Witchfinder General, Demon Spell play an early-80s melange of early thrash, occult rock, and NWoBHM riffcraft and swagger. Blessed Be the Dark is driven by excellent performances. Vocalist Federico Fano’s falsetto wails evoke King Diamond at his best on “As Lucifer Smiles” while drummer Dario Casabona drops slick, pummeling fills over “Curse of the Undead.” Sinister melodies and atmospheres abound on Blessed Be the Dark, with “The Tolling” and “Hexes and Horrors” driving home a vintage horror aesthetic while tearing it up with blistering heavy metal. Blessed Be the Dark also just sounds pleasantly old. Demon Spell’s guitars and bass sound pulled straight from 1981, complementing their retro songcraft perfectly. Blessed Be the Dark sounds like the night come alive, a fast, fun, and delightfully dark exploration of the kinds of heavy metal that gave your grandma panic attacks back in the day. Fall under the Demon Spell today!

Grin Reaper’s Grim Goodies

Nervosa // Slave Machine [April 3rd, 2026 – Napalm Records]

For a band releasing their sixth album in twelve years, Nervosa sounds remarkably vital. Staying the course with a dozen tracks of their signature death/thrash, Slave Machine burns through forty-three minutes of whammy dives, soaring leads, and all-around thrashy goodness. Writing tunes that pay homage to Sepultura (“You Are Not a Hero”), Kreator (“Ghost Notes”), and Sodom (“The Call”), Nervosa bludgeons with blunt-force drama while touting slick riffs and venomous melodies. Slave Machine opens with “Impending Doom,” a stirring salvo that Arch Enemy wishes they’d written, and from there Nervosa hints at the familiar without ever straying from their own lane. “Hate” starts with a riff that simultaneously reminds of Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade” and System of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B.” before spiraling into vaguely In Flames-tinged melodeath. Meanwhile, “Crawling for Your Pride” and “Beast of Burden” draw from the viciousness of mid-aughts Soulfly. Over and over, Nervosa pulls from known sources, yet bakes enough novelty into their songwriting to sound fresh and pummeling. Those intimate with Nervosa won’t find many surprises here, but are in for a treat. If this is your first encounter with these Brazilian badasses, gird your ears and strap in—welcome to the Slave Machine.

Kõdu // Kirjad Sõgedate Külast [April 20th, 2026 – Antiq Records]

Five years after delivering debut Unusta Kõik, Estonian outfit Kõdu graces us with their sophomore album. Translated as ‘Letters from the Village of the Blind,’3 Kirjad Sõgedate Külast details the sordid ruination of a backwoods village, relating its narrative aspects through a series of letters where each song chronicles a different villager’s perspective.4 Kõdu grounds the lyrics in their native language, drawing from nineteenth and twentieth-century Estonian poets for inspiration. Despite the depth of the macabre backdrop, I never would have taken the time to learn more if Kõdu’s music hadn’t entranced me from the outset. Slow-burn black metal abounds on Kirjad Sõgedate Külast, recalling Dødheimsgard’s shifting moods (“II”) and eclectic instrumentation (“III”) muddled with Wayfarer’s rustic arrangements (“VI”) and Emperor’s dramatic flair (“V”). Musically, Kirjad Sõgedate Külast conjures lush soundscapes (“VII”) through considered songwriting, expertly balancing black metal discharges with melancholic passages that give moments just the right amount of time to bludgeon or breathe before pivoting. I regret not getting the chance to review Kõdu’s latest in full, because the folk magic they weave on Kirjad Sõgedate Külast deserves fanfare and kudõs aplenty.

ClarkKent’s Epic Elegy

Bloody Valkyria // Requiem – Reveries Of The Dying [April 3rd, 2026 – Northern Silence Productions]

Bloody Valkyria, the product of Finland’s Jere Kervinen, peddles in the same sort of epic symphonic/folk black metal that the likes of Ancient Mastery, Stormkeep, and Moonlight Sorcery dish out. Kervinen’s emotionally charged project appears inspired by a personal loss, and you can feel his passion in the emotional outpouring of his music and lyrics. On the epic opener, “Symphony of Silence,” Bloody Valkyria reveal their capability with the patient slow burn. There’s the natural, serene ambience of animal sounds, strings, folky flutes, and then a sudden explosion of riffs and blast beats. And boy does Kervinen write some extraordinary leads, which makes his slow-burn approach all the more rewarding. Each song contains a well-earned hooky riff/trem that holds its sway over you even as the song grows into more thoughtful serenity. Reading along with Kervinen’s poetic, touching lyrics makes the experience all the more poignant as he ruminates on death and the meaning of life. The grief by the end, as he sings about his “beloved north” and a desire for its/her embrace, is palpable. This is a beautiful record that may be too good for these dirty filters, but I just couldn’t risk it getting lost in the shuffle of the chaos that is the end of year.

#avantgarde #surrealism #Lynch #Davidlynch #Bluevelvet #film #erotica #vhs #VHSLIB #nude #suburbia #isabella #IsabellaRossellini

#avantgarde #surrealism #Lynch #Davidlynch #Bluevelvet #film #erotica #vhs #VHSLIB #nude #suburbia #isabella #IsabellaRossellini

#avantgarde #surrealism #Lynch #Davidlynch #Bluevelvet #film #erotica #vhs #VHSLIB #nude #suburbia #isabella #IsabellaRossellini

Ah yes, the Shakespeare of Silicon Valley 🎭💾: Coetzee's early "poetry" in code is so avant-garde, it left readers debugging their sanity. Remember, nothing screams "Nobel-worthy" like indecipherable digital hieroglyphics. 🤖📜
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2017/06/28/the-computer-poetry-of-j-m-coetzees-early-programming-career/ #ShakespeareOfSiliconValley #AvantGarde #PoetryInCode #DigitalArtistry #NobelWorthy #DebuggingSanity #HackerNews #ngated

Ah yes, the Shakespeare of Silicon Valley 🎭💾: Coetzee's early "poetry" in code is so avant-garde, it left readers debugging their sanity. Remember, nothing screams "Nobel-worthy" like indecipherable digital hieroglyphics. 🤖📜
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2017/06/28/the-computer-poetry-of-j-m-coetzees-early-programming-career/ #ShakespeareOfSiliconValley #AvantGarde #PoetryInCode #DigitalArtistry #NobelWorthy #DebuggingSanity #HackerNews #ngated

Ah yes, the Shakespeare of Silicon Valley 🎭💾: Coetzee's early "poetry" in code is so avant-garde, it left readers debugging their sanity. Remember, nothing screams "Nobel-worthy" like indecipherable digital hieroglyphics. 🤖📜
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2017/06/28/the-computer-poetry-of-j-m-coetzees-early-programming-career/ #ShakespeareOfSiliconValley #AvantGarde #PoetryInCode #DigitalArtistry #NobelWorthy #DebuggingSanity #HackerNews #ngated

Ah yes, the Shakespeare of Silicon Valley 🎭💾: Coetzee's early "poetry" in code is so avant-garde, it left readers debugging their sanity. Remember, nothing screams "Nobel-worthy" like indecipherable digital hieroglyphics. 🤖📜
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2017/06/28/the-computer-poetry-of-j-m-coetzees-early-programming-career/ #ShakespeareOfSiliconValley #AvantGarde #PoetryInCode #DigitalArtistry #NobelWorthy #DebuggingSanity #HackerNews #ngated

Free download codes:

Evilartform - Broken Pottery

"EvilArtForm releases Broken Pottery: an electro-Sufi meditation on repair and transcendence."

https://getmusic.fm/l/bd3jui

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This avant-garde deathmetal masterpiece deserves another spin. Drummer Kenny Grohowski is one of the best on the scene.

Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar (Nine Class 'A' Tunes)

(2025 – Europe, Limited Edition White [Creamy], 180g
Century Media – 19802875531)

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Enjoy some Mr. Bungle!

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Enjoy some Mr. Bungle!

https://youtu.be/JdJ51dNf15U

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Enjoy some Mr. Bungle!

https://youtu.be/JdJ51dNf15U

#mrbungle #ipecacrecords #metal #avantgarde #mikepatton #scottian #davelombardo #trevordunn #treyspruance #music #rock

Enjoy some Mr. Bungle!

https://youtu.be/JdJ51dNf15U

#mrbungle #ipecacrecords #metal #avantgarde #mikepatton #scottian #davelombardo #trevordunn #treyspruance #music #rock

Enjoy some Mr. Bungle!

https://youtu.be/JdJ51dNf15U

#mrbungle #ipecacrecords #metal #avantgarde #mikepatton #scottian #davelombardo #trevordunn #treyspruance #music #rock