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Austrian extreme metal titans Belphegor are revisiting one of the most savage chapters of their history. Mystic Production, under a new deal with Nuclear Blast, has launched its Classic Blast series by bringing the band’s 2006 masterpiece, Pestapokalypse VI, back into the light. Order it now! When it first landed nearly two decades ago, Pestapokalypse … Continue reading Belphegor’s black metal landmark Pestapokalypse VI gets the reissue treatment

Montreal progressive rock heavyweights Karcius have announced they’ll be dropping their seventh studio album, Black Soul Sickness, on May 8. This new record serves as the haunting conclusion to a trilogy that started with 2018’s The Fold and continued through their 2022 cracker, Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold. Produced by the band and mixed … Continue reading Montreal’s Karcius announce final chapter of trilogy with Black Soul Sickness

With the “Love Will Bring You Home” Tour 2026, Kiefer Sutherland announces his return to European stages this coming spring. After a lengthy hiatus from touring due to extensive film projects, the internationally acclaimed actor and musician is set to perform live again—with a series of select headline shows in Germany. The tour will take… Continue Reading →

Junior Varsity, the spunky LA alt-pop band who caught our attention last year, are back with another dose of blog-era nostalgia. “Radio,” released last Friday, layers a driving rhythm section and some sparkly synths with some smooth, dreamy vocal melodies about wanting to keep somebody closer to you: “I wish that you’d stay/ The moment…

The post Junior Varsity – “Radio” appeared first on Stereogum.

Matteo Mancuso is mid-tour and mid-breakfast when we catch him. It’s 10 AM on the road somewhere in the US — a luxuriously late start by his band’s standards — and the Sicilian guitar virtuoso sounds settled, cheerful, and remarkably clear-headed for someone who has to shred for ninety minutes every night. Route 96, his second album, isn’t out yet, but it’s already spilling out of venues across the country: the setlist is built almost entirely around new material, and the audiences are filming it all.

Mancuso is not entirely thrilled about that last part. “A lot of people are doing live videos with their phone, and they’re uploading sometimes the old concert on YouTube,” he says. “I’m not necessarily a big fan of that, but it’s how it works today. You cannot escape that.”

The Anatomy Of His Second Record

Route 96 arrives carrying more weight than a typical sophomore effort, partly because of who shows up on it. Steve Vai contributes a solo to a track called “Solar Wind,” a collaboration pieced together remotely through audio files exchanged across a busy tour schedule. Mancuso had the solo back in under a month.

What makes the track notable isn’t just the guest. It’s the intent behind it. “It’s not fusion, it’s not jazz,” Mancuso explains. “It is, let’s say, my attempt to write something that was the most Steve Vai thing I could ever imagine. Just to put him in the right mood, because I already knew I needed to send this track to Steve, and it needed to be something that Steve was comfortable playing with.”

He also brought in guitarist Antoine Boyer for “Isla Feliz,” filmed at a theater in Mancuso‘s hometown of Palermo. The track was built as an experiment in layering — electric guitar, classical guitar, and gypsy jazz all occupying the same space. “There are a lot of Pat Metheny influences, a lot of Brazilian music,” he says. “The theme itself is South American-inspired in a way. There’s the European jazz with Antoine, there’s the electric part of it — and I think it came out great.”

The album also includes “L.A. Blues One,” which Mancuso describes as a tribute to the session players who shaped his sound: Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton, and others. It’s the kind of track that doesn’t announce itself; it just feels like a long drive somewhere warm.

The Architecture Of The Album

Track sequencing, Mancuso says, is something he thinks about deliberately. The opening track has to be one of his favorites. Ballads are placed to give the ears a rest between the more demanding material. The pacing of Route 96 reflects that careful construction: calmer pieces like “The Great Wall” and “Mourning Light” sit alongside harder-charging ones like “Black Centurion” and “The Chicken.”

The recording process also shifted significantly from the debut. The first album leaned into the looseness of playing without a click track. This one was built around demos first, with the Milan-based rhythm section — bassist and drummer — recording their parts before Mancuso added the guitars on top. The result is denser, more layered. “It sounds a little bit fuller compared to the first one,” he says, “because there are a lot of guitars, especially on some of the songs.”

Mancuso‘s name gets attached to jazz as often as it does to rock and fusion, and there’s a reason for that. His playing carries the harmonic language of the genre, but he draws a firm line when it comes to tradition for its own sake.

“I really like in my music the power and the energy of rock, and the colors and the harmonic sophistication of jazz,” he says. “I always try to combine both. But I was never attracted by playing jazz standards, because I don’t think it’s something you should do in 2026.”

He’s direct about it: a power trio playing jazz standards, in his view, is an exercise in musicianship — not a viable artistic project. “It’s been done. You have to do it, but more as an exercise to develop your musicianship, not as a project centered on jazz standards. I don’t think it’s an interesting musical project.”

Life On The Road

Before 2021, Mancuso wasn’t touring at all — by choice. He was happy playing the occasional gig, spending most of his time studying and playing with friends. He didn’t want to call venues, didn’t want to manage logistics, and didn’t particularly enjoy planes. What changed wasn’t his personality; it was having a manager who took on the infrastructure, so he didn’t have to.

“Ninety percent of the work behind is my manager doing all that stuff,” he says. “So I’m happy because I can think only about the playing part.”

That manager spent nearly a year securing work visas for Mancuso and the rest of the band. Touring the US, he’s careful to note, came through the proper channels. “If Trump is listening to me right now, I’m 100 percent completely legal.”

The playing, he says, is only about ten percent of what touring actually involves. The rest is travel, meals, shared vans, and navigating the logistics of getting from one city to the next. Getting along with the people around you isn’t optional — it’s what makes or breaks a tour.

The Practicing Routine

Asked what someone at his level actually works on, Mancuso doesn’t glamorize it. He still runs through basics — scales, arpeggios — because the alternative is falling behind faster than you’d expect. “Progress is slow, but decay is fast if you don’t play the basics.”

But the approach isn’t rigid. He has no set routine, no hour-by-hour schedule. If it stops being enjoyable, he changes what he’s doing. “If it feels like work, that means you’re doing something wrong.”

Most sessions start reluctantly and become something else. He picks up the guitar, plays for ten or fifteen minutes, and then finds his way into whatever is holding his attention — a solo he wants to learn, a passage that challenges him, something he hasn’t tried before. “Sometimes it starts like something I don’t want to do, but then it develops into something that I would like to continue.”

His Bucket List

There are still names Mancuso wants to share a stage with. Eric Johnson is near the top — a player who, it turns out, has spoken publicly about Mancuso, something that meant a great deal when he saw the video. Guthrie Govan is another. George Benson. Pat Metheny, whom he describes as one of his favorite musicians, regardless of instrument.

And then there’s Allan Holdsworth — the one name on the list that carries a different weight. “I would love to have played with Allan Holdsworth, but it’s too late, sadly. I never saw him live. That’s one of my biggest regrets in life.”

Route 96 is out soon. The tour continues. Pre-order the album here.

The post MATEO MANCUSO Talks New Album “Route 96”, Touring America, Influences & More: “I Would Love to Have Played With ALLAN HOLDSWORTH — That’s One Of My Biggest Regrets in Life” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Last summer post-punk icons Gang Of Four played what they had been saying would be their last-ever shows. Some farewells, however, end up being see-you-laters: It turns out Gang Of Four already have a few shows lined up for 2026, including a set at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival. And now, they’ll have at least one…

The post Gang Of Four – “NO KINGS HERE!” appeared first on Stereogum.

Once again using their illusion.

The post Watch: Guns N’ Roses Played “Bad Apples” Live For The First Time Since 1991 appeared first on Theprp.com.

Does She Know by ktwheels unfolds like a slow emotional unraveling, pulling you into its tension before you fully realize it. The groove feels steady at first, almost comforting, but there is something unsettled underneath that keeps building. Her delivery is raw and unguarded, capturing that confusing mix of desire, jealousy, and quiet heartbreak. As the track progresses, everything tightens, the guitars grow heavier, the emotion sharper, until it finally breaks open. It feels deeply personal, almost intrusive in its honesty, turning vulnerability into something cathartic and hard to ignore.

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Well, that was one hell of a week.

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The direct support spot on that tour remains pending.

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