Another Conversation with Colin Moulding
Colin Moulding – Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England)
He is often cited as the quintessential Englishman, founding member and acclaimed bassist and songwriter with XTC, charming Colin Moulding talks about his latest solo EP. Capturing Colin’s distinctive English pop sensibility, Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England), offers a revealing glimpse into his enduringly inventive songwriting. The EP arrives 47 years after XTC’s seminal single Making Plans for Nigel, written and sung by Moulding and released in 1979 as the lead single from Drums and Wires. The song became XTC’s first UK Top 20 hit and remains one of the defining recordings in the band’s catalogue. The anniversary provides a fitting backdrop for a new release from the songwriter whose melodic voice and idiosyncratic approach helped shape XTC’s music and legacy — and whose work continues to explore the relationship between a fully formed song and the creative process that brings it to life.
Veiila – Gain
“Our songs come from pain and despair” say Veiila “Step into our world. it is bleak and hopeless, but so is life – everything in this world is fueled by suffering and there is no point denying or resisting this truth. yet we believe that beauty can save the world. if you are here, you are no stranger to pain and you probably seek beauty in your life. you are not alone” Then, in their email to me, “As Emily Dickinson said: hope is the thing with feathers and it never asks a crumb of you. So instead of giving up we write music and release it to the world that is being consumed by robots and insanity.” Well, thankfully the music created by Vif Nüte and Bes Eirid has not only caught my attention I had to share with you. Veiila’s history began in 2014, St. Petersburg, Russia and are currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina at an art residency in a secluded village in the mountains where the internet is “slower than slow”. There’s much more to tell you about Veiila, most important I like their music. Maybe if the internet gets up to speed I can pursued Vif and Bes to join me on Zoom for an explorative chat? Do not overlook!
Joseph McGann – You Were Inside Of Me The Whole Time
Bristol-based dubstep legend Kahn reveals another side with a debut release under his own name. Revisiting a shelved project from his earliest days as an artist, Old Wounds reveals a softer hue and sees McGann step forward as a singer for the first time. Drifting across a slow, smudged and hazy atmospheric backdrop. Colombian artist Natalia Escobar (Poison Arrow) is featured on You Were Inside Of Me The Whole Time. We have had this album on repeat play at LE Tower because it’s damn good.
Eau The Music – Light In The Dark
Eau the Music (pronounced ‘O’ the Music) is a self-produced dream pop solo artist Ophélie Quraishi based in Ottawa, Canada. She blends melancholy with hope and wonder, softness with rawness and strength. Covering themes of self-discovery, the bittersweetness and beauty of life, her album Light in the Dark incorporates dreamlike soundscapes while diving headfirst into catchy melodies and fuzz guitars. As with all the releases on Shoredive Records you can be certain of exceptional quality. Do search out their catalogue.
Vlimmer – Audendrang
Alex Donat the head honcho at the marvelous Blackjack Illuminist Records tells us that Augendrang is the third and final single from the upcoming sixth album Kiemenatmung. The two-track release features a German-language cover of The Bangles’ 1989 power ballad Eternal Flame as its B-side. Moving between new wave, post-punk and darkwave, Augendrang channels contemporary Weltschmerz through restless rhythms, elastic bass grooves and eerie synths. Its lyrics reflect a world simmering with frustration, where exhaustion and anger have become the default setting. Beneath the feverish imagery lies a dual struggle: humanity’s inability to change course in the face of its own demise, and the difficulty of finding common ground with someone you love. Augendrang was the final song written for Kiemenatmung, coming together in a spontaneous burst of creativity. With just 30 minutes before a 2026 FIFA World Cup match, Donat challenged himself to write and record the synths and drum machine before kick-off. Of course, this is Alex Donat at work so the B-side takes an unexpected turn, transforming The Bangles’ Eternal Flame into a German-language industrial/darkgaze version. Sly smile intended.
Sky Problem – Sky Problem
The latest signing to the excellent French imprint Géographie, Sky Problem, formed in Paris in 2025. Sky Problem is a Paris-based electronic/trip-hop trio comprising Gaëlle Croguennec, Kevin Coeur-Joly, and Ricardo Lepoutre, the band’s music drifts between urban concrete and night skies. They craft a hushed sound where hazy trip-hop, ambient soundscapes, and downtempo beats intersect without ever settling into a fixed form. The self-titled Sky Problem is the trio’s debut release.