Dear warriors,

The relentless festival season continues as we decamped down to Devon last weekend for Beautiful Days - the annual shindig put on by the Levellers. In the blistering heat, we enjoyed many bands on a bill topped by the Sex Pistols, who sounded quite remarkable with their romp through their mini yet much loved catalogue of songs that somehow never seem to date. On the vocals, Frank Carter did a great job of being Frank Carter and was not a Johnny copyist, and this somehow gave the band a different twist. It take nothing away from the Rotten one being perhaps the greatest front man of all time way back in the punk wars - he was a game changer then but the current Pistols sound great and seem a much happier ship without him. 

There is one more festival to go this summer with Krankenhaus up in the Lake District, which will be fun and games in the woods near Muncaster Castle for Sea Power’s own festival that has flying buzzards, book readings, and country walks as all part of its shenanigans. This bank holiday weekend seems to somehow mark the end of summer before we start the relentless grind towards xmas so its time to cram in the remnants of summer life but there was still time in the fying embers of sunshine to write a review of Beautiful Days whilst still bathed in the glorious sunshine

California’s Deftones are back after a five-year absence with their hotly awaited tenth album. The band who have constantly been at the forefront of the possibilities of metal have released an album that for many fans is the musical event of the year.

The Oasis summer that has threatened to engulf all other bands but almost silenly like a ninja Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. have moved up a gear and played a series of their biggest shows to 30 000 people a night making them the next band to move up into the super league of indie. Their headline slot at Wythenshawe Park’s summer music event was their biggest Manchester show to date and was backed by a formidable line-up of rising artists. From the feral chaos of KNEECAP to the hypnotic pull of the headliners themselves, the night unravels as both a celebration and a communion of sound, spirit and political fire.

Smashing Pumpkins have returned for a series of big summer shows that celebrated their hefty back catalogue with a set full of surprises that just kept coming. From a left field cover version, deep album cuts, Oasis shoutouts, inane weather chat, a snippet of a Black Sabbath classic and even a smile from Billy Corgan. Alongside all the big hits and three standouts from last year’s back-to-basics Aghori Mhori Mei, these moments make for a scorching headline performance on one of those equally unexpected gorgeous late-Summer days. 

In the post punk mash up there were many musical avenues and adventures with 

Swell Maps being the definitive UK oddball punks – but they were just naturally odd, unlike say the contrived, thought-out, weirdness of some of their contemporaries. The band’s mixtures of scuzzy punkoid glam trash and artful noise was always a captivating adventure. 

One of the most fascinating of pop stars, Self Esteem has been wowing us with her adventures in the form. Her recent third album, A Complicated Woman reached Top 5 in the album chart, bettering 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure by six places. Iain Key interviewed  Rebecca Lucy Taylor about her captivating twists and turns. 

Every year the punk rock family descend on Britain’s greatest seaside resort of Blackpool to relive their youth, meet old mates and watch some of the movement’s best bands. Paul Clarke joined Rebellion Festival’s mohican mayhem by the sea. 

Melvins, the cult classic sludge metal legends, shook the foundations of Manchester Academy on a sweltering summer night. Melvins have a renowned history in music dating back to the early 80s; they helped pioneer the driven and sludgy sound in metal that bands only like Black Sabbath can rival. With a hefty tour schedule across the whole of England in support of their new release Thunderball – they blaze through venues, leaving behind a trail of awestruck onlookers with much more left to come.

Ahead of the debut showing of the re-score for The Passion of Joan of Arc at Manchester’s Cultplex cinema, Ryan Walker catches up with Chris Massey and Richie V of Sprechen Cinema about their project, an immersive, multisensory odyssey through sound and vision, where silent films have never spoken as loudly.

Emerging after a temporary sabbatical from live performance, the customary circus-slaughterhouse that Tiss Vampiric is the appointed ringleader of presents their latest single, Beautiful Freak. By Ryan Walker.

Selector Dub Narcotic are back with the album When Boys Cry and a new single Love Don’t Come Around… LTW premiere the video