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ArcTanGent 2026 was always set to be an emotional one, with fans of the more niche end of the underground scene gracing the grounds of Fernhill Farm for the last time. Tickets sold out not long after the announcement that the festival would be moving to new pastures for 2027, and there’s a palpable sense on site that everyone in attendance plans to make the most of every minute of their time here this weekend.

Words: Ellie Odurny //  Photos: Paul Lyme

Ronker

The early morning rain has all but vanished, and the sound of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexyback’ drifts across the fields from the Yohkai tent. ArcTanGent is a beautiful mixture of bands who take themselves very seriously, and those who absolutely do not. Ronker are very much in the latter camp. With big energy, the power of three guitars and an enchantingly animated vocalist, the Belgian noise rockers fill the stage with moustaches, mullets and a whole lot of sass. Calling for the slowest circle pit ever, they may not have been aware that Swamp Coffin opened the festival yesterday and set the bar incredibly slow. Everyone here is clearly having too much fun to put the brakes on and there’s a healthy space for the more energetic pit action, with bodies bouncing gleefully into one another during a cover of Kelis’ smash hit ‘Milkshake’. Slower numbers like ‘Snuff’ display a more sensitive side to the band, who excel at storytelling as much as they do playing hard and fast.

Michael Sarah Palin

There is a universal sense of community and belonging that ripples throughout the weekend, with many bands highlighting the importance of inclusivity, diversity and support. Michael Cera Palin are one such band, with vocalist Elliott Brabant expressing solidarity “…for all my fellow Queers, fellow Homos, for my trans brothers, sisters and siblings waiting for an answer.”  Musically, the Midwest emo influences are strong, with melodic vocals, clean guitar tones and upbeat rhythms. It’s the lyrical content and fierce energy that set MCP apart from so many other bands in that category, the passion positively oozing from every inch of stage covered by the Atlanta trio.

Alcest

Word trickles back through the crowd meandering towards the main stage for Alcest that they’re running late. Some people hang around, others turn around and walk away, presumably hoping to catch a few minutes of XO Armor over on PX3. When Alcest do appear, it’s immediately apparent that their delayed arrival meant they’d not had time to get the mix right. The treble is tinny, the screams are muffled and there’s nowhere near enough weight in the bass. That being said, the ethereal waves of guitar and dreamlike vocals in the slower sections still float around the space with sensitivity, and there’s no doubt that the crushing contrast of the heavier post-black-metal infused sections would have been fabulous if only they filled the tent with the intended intensity. The short set is not their finest, and we can only hope that they will return to the new site in the not-too-distant future to set things right.

Igorrr

Opera, synth, blast beats and heavy, blackened metal shouldn’t work together. But somehow, they absolutely do when presented through the ritual of an Igorrr show. What started as a solo project from French multi-instrumentalist Gautier Serre has grown into a full spectacle of a live experience. Darting between baroque rhythms and guttural growls, techno beats backed up with ferocious drum fills and operatic vocals soaring over devastating riffs, there really is no other outfit that produces such a multifaceted sound. At times it borders on terrifying, but in such an enjoyable way it’s impossible not to be drawn in. The aptly named ‘ADHD’ sums up the clever melee, with dark, harpsichord tones running into heavy techno synth in an indescribably effortless way. There are moments of pure serenity that descend into demonic screams, an all-out rave in the middle suddenly becomes a savage onslaught of hefty riffs without leaving time to take a breath. It’s all-encompassing and entirely brilliant.

Maruja

Whilst the clever scheduling and convenient layout of ArcTanGent mean there’s only ever a 50/50 choice between acts playing at any one time, it does mean that there’s very little time to decompress if you’re planning on catching two bands back-to-back. Nonetheless, there’s a steady procession of mildly shell-shocked punters making their way over to the Yohkai tent where Manchester post-punk jazz quartet Maruja have just appeared. Known for their fiercely political content and intense saxophone-drenched crescendos, Maruja manage to lean into the free-form nature of jazz whilst still sounding cohesive and concise. The instrumentation grows like a living beast into a frantic, monstrous noise; vocal passages teeter between emotive poetry and heated rage. In their own words, “We may be aggressive, but our message is one of peace. This festival is a testament of solidarity, of love.” This is a sentiment that is echoed countless times over the weekend. Be noisy, be furious, go wild in the pits, but be kind, stand together and look out for each other.

Chelsea Wolfe

For all the chaos that bounces around site earlier in the day, ArcTanGent often chooses to book darker, less erratic headliners, and this year is no different. Chelsea Wolfe is at once powerful and delicate, brooding and tender. The anticipation for tonight’s set is doubly loaded, this being a rebooking from the cancelled 2020 edition as well as a day before the release date of new album ‘The Dark’. The sun has long set now, and the stage lights add to the atmosphere of gothic fantasy, silhouetting Wolfe against a minimal backdrop. The whole set is minimal in a way, with big, rumbling chords carefully placed to drive the sonic journey ever forwards at a considered, calculated pace. Despite the overt simplicity of the material, nothing feels lacking. In fact, the live show has injected another level of ineffable intensity, the fuzzy bass bringing additional warmth, the soaring vocals just that bit more haunting. It’s a welcome sight to see (and hear) Alcest’s Neige appear for guest vocals on ‘Vex’; a redemption of sorts after the difficulties of their own set. Three tracks from the new album are delivered at the end of the set, aptly welcoming the inevitable dark of the late night. It’s a gentle end to the first full evening, but one filled with depth, emotion and quiet assurance.

ELLIE ODURNY

As Mouse On Mars, Jan St. Werner has been making forward-thinking, reality-altering electronic music with Andi Toma for well over three decades; he’s been pursuing similar aims in Microstoria with Oval’s Markus Popp for nearly as long. But St. Werner has also made solo records, sometimes using the alias Lithops, and his 2023 release Space Synthesis was a solo joint under his own name. That’s the case with his upcoming EP too, sort of.

The post Mouse On Mars’ Jan St. Werner Announces New EP <em>Squares Will Fall</em> Feat. Justin Vernon, Sufjan Stevens, Zach Condon, & More: Hear The Title Track appeared first on Stereogum.

Reclus.É, the new band from Daniel P Carter and Tummyache’s Soren Bryce, have revealed the details of their debut album.

The duo will release ‘The World Can’t Take Much More’ on November 13 via Rise Records.

Dan had this to say about what the record represents:

“This album is the sound of two people becoming friends through the collaborative, creative process of making a record. It’s a body of work that represents both Soren and Daniel, but also a third thing that is simply Reclus.É. Writing and recording the album was a process of learning what each other is about, honouring each other’s creativity, becoming friends, and celebrating the moments when ideas and opinions aligned. It’s a document of each letting go of the reins to allow them to find something neither would have made alone. Made in an era of great social turmoil, it’s a comment on life in current climes, at a time when the world can’t take much more…”


The artwork looks like this:

Whilst the tracklisting is more like this:

1. A Muted TV
2. Stain
3. Golden Radio
4. Isolationist
5. Headstart Season
6. With Fire
7. All Bark No Bite
8. Belly Of The Whale
9. Cold Candles
10. Honey From Lions
11. Dogs
12. Waste Not Want Not
13. Swarm

Opening track ‘A Muted TV’ is already out in the world, and it has been joined by ‘Belly Of The Whale’, a cortorting, haunting, angular piece of alternative flair and drama. Beautifully building and brimming with plenty of indie rock spikiness, it’s yet another stunning piece from the duo.

Soren had this to say about the themes of the track:

Belly of the Whale was heavily inspired by my relationship to religion. The first verse is about the community I found in my life wanting to ‘save me’ when I was younger, with the line about wearing the wire implying my role as ‘the informant’, the connection to the outer world, the person feeding back the modern life I was encountering outside of my schooling, and it being met with resistance.

“The second verse is referring to myself as Jonah, an isolated existence that instead traps me within this Bible story to avoid the conflict and backlash of questioning beliefs. The bridge is very much my anger toward this so-called ‘Christian’ community, seeing the hypocrisy and especially American fundamental Christianity having nothing to do with what ‘Jesus’ was actually like.  Overall, the song is to encourage the ability to question things that don’t sit right within your values and morality, and that to believe in something requires a thorough investigation of what it is you are supporting.”

The post Reclus.É Announce Debut Album ‘The World Can’t Take Much More’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

(written by Islander) On this day (a Bandcamp Friday for those who pay attention to such things) the Italian band Stygian are releasing a new two-song EP named Hunt the Divine. It follows their 2025 debut album Dreadlands, which we had the pleasure of premiering and reviewing. As we wrote then, Dreadlands presented “an intersection […]

The post AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STYGIAN — “HUNT THE DIVINE” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

Bernard Allison will bring together family, friends and several notable guests on his new studio album, Loving You, due October 16.

The veteran blues guitarist and singer, son of the late Luther Allison, has spent more than three decades building his own career with a sound that combines blues, funk, R&B and rock. Loving You continues that approach while placing an increased emphasis on collaboration.

The 10-track album features guest appearances from Devon Allman, Larry McCray, Victor Wainwright, Matthew Curry, Matthew Mwangi and Heather Hardy. Allison’s nephew Jasper Allison and niece Lyndsey Allison contribute backing vocals, while rhythm guitarist Stephen Johnson, also known as Stevie J Blues, co-wrote five of the album’s seven original songs.

“I’ve always wanted to record an album, bringing family and friends together!! Loving You is simply showing my appreciation and respect for my family and friends. So, I decided to invite and collaborate with a selected group of musicians and family members. I placed them on tracks where I felt they could bring out their true emotions and musical passions. We created a well-rounded album full of surprises, while showing our appreciation to all of our musical influences and genres. We laid down my blues foundation, with a taste of Funk, R&B, and Rock!! And we did it, The Allison Way!!!,” Allison said.

Stevie J Blues, a Jackson, Mississippi native and former member of Bobby Rush’s band, also joins Allison’s core band alongside bassist George Moye, drummer Sam Butts Jr. III and keyboardist Eric Roberts.

Loving You opens with “Left Me With My Guitar,” a funk-driven electric blues number centered on Allison’s relationship with his instrument. Victor Wainwright joins Allison on vocals and piano for “4 O’Clock In The Morning (Waiting On You),” while Larry McCray and Matthew Mwangi contribute guitar to “Time Traveler.”

Allison keeps things soulful on “Slide On Over,” which features backing vocals from Jasper and Lyndsey Allison along with Stevie J Blues. The record then moves into rock territory with a new version of Rick Derringer’s “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo,” featuring Matthew Curry on guitar and vocals.

Devon Allman appears on guitar on the title track, “Loving You,” while Larry “Doc” Watkins contributes handclaps. Heather Hardy adds violin to “Pay What You Owe Me,” which also features Jasper and Lyndsey Allison and Stevie J Blues on backing vocals.

Other songs include “Busted & Disgusted,” “Should I Wait” and album closer “Blues Thang.”

Allison emerged as a solo artist during the 1990s after previously playing guitar in his father’s band. While Luther Allison remains a major influence, Bernard Allison has also cited guitarists including Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan among the musicians who helped shape his approach. Over the course of his career, he has released more than 20 albums while touring extensively in the United States and Europe.

Loving You continues that career with an album built around the musicians and family members Allison has developed relationships with along the way.

TRACK LISTING

1. “Left Me With My Guitar” – 3:31
2. “4 O’Clock In The Morning (Waiting On You)” feat. Victor Wainwright – 4:20
3. “Time Traveler” feat. Larry McCray and Matthew Mwangi – 4:26
4. “Slide On Over” feat. Jasper & Lyndsey Allison, Stevie J Blues – 3:21
5. “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo” feat. Matthew Curry – 3:48
6. “Busted & Disgusted” – 6:13
7. “Loving You” feat. Devon Allman and Larry “Doc” Watkins – 3:53
8. “Should I Wait” – 3:17
9. “Pay What You Owe Me” feat. Heather Hardy, Jasper and Lyndsey Allison, Stevie J Blues – 4:01
10. “Blues Thang” feat. Stevie J Blues – 4:03

The post Bernard Allison announces “Loving You” appeared first on Blues Rock Review.

Our 10 Best Classic Rock Songs About Needing Help looks at a musical genre that has always dug deep into themes of needing help. Ask yourself how many times you have gone to music for salvation. Whether it’s reaching out for emotional support, battling personal demons, or simply crying out for connection, classic rock is full of songs that explore vulnerability, struggle, and the desire for rescue. Many of these songs are not just about individual cries for help but also about artists searching for ways to change the world, a topic that we found in many of the most

The post 10 Best Classic Rock Songs About Needing Help appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

It’s the Friday before Labor Day weekend, and summer is pretty much over now even if it is still oppressively hot outside. That means it’s a great time to let a sighing cascade of blurry synths hit your ear. So it’s good timing that the always-evocative retro-indie maximalist M83 just dropped the first single of his upcoming album.

The post M83 – “Blister Sunrise” appeared first on Stereogum.

Prince may not be on this mortal realm with us, but he left behind an immense archive of work that is still being released to the public, reminding us of the limitlessness of his creativity. Last week, his estate released the album Timeless, which has sparked some controversy with its album credits.

The post Prince’s Label Clarifies Controversial “Calabama” Credits appeared first on Stereogum.

Pyroclast – Fractured State (Furious Music)