Album of the Week – 25/09/26

It’s another busy week, with releases from Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz, Anagram Ensemble (The Travel Agency Is On Fire), Protomartyr (Hotel Usona) and claire rousay & Martyna Basta (hotel room).

Gurriers have just released Nobody’s Coming To Save You and will play The Grand Social in Dublin on the 24th of Sept. They’re well worth checking out.

For our album of the week, we’ve gone for Gilla Band… one of the coolest bands Ireland has produced in recent years.

Album of the Week – Gilla Band – Pugnello

From our review by Killian Laher, which you can find here. 

“As with all their albums, it’s absolutely bonkers. You can’t sing along to it, and it hasn’t a hope of getting on any radio station anywhere. People say these guys are really influential, but I don’t think there’s anyone in music, Irish or otherwise, who is doing anything like what they’re doing; they really are unique.”

“Gilla Band never know where they’re going next. For over ten years now, the Dublin quartet — vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner — have been redefining what you could loosely call “rock music” in the 21st century, influencing a wide swath of similarly forward-thinking guitar acts along the way. Across 2015’s Holding Hands With Jamie, 2019’s The Talkies, and 2022’s Most Normal, the band perfected a vision that wasn’t quite post-punk, wasn’t quite noise-rock, wasn’t quite anything besides an idiosyncratic, ground-breaking hybrid that could only come from the four of them. As soon as they submitted Most Normal for mastering, they began the patient search for their next destination. Over time, the process led them to their fourth album Pugnello, the boldest left turn in a career full of them.

In the four years since Most Normal, each member embarked on other artistic endeavors. Kiely fostered a newfound love of painting, Faulkner played drums for Lankum on the road, Fox became an increasingly in-demand producer guiding ascendant acts like Sprints, Lambrini Girls, and Mandy, Indiana, while Duggan Borges launched his solo project the Null Club with collaborations featuring Mandy, Indiana’s Valentine Caulfield, the Horrors’ Faris Badwan, Miss Grit, and Brooklyn MC Elucid. All their extracurricular activity existed in parallel with the exploratory route towards Pugnello, but also informed the band as they reconvened to crystallize the album’s vision.”

Albums of Note: 

— Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz, Anagram Ensemble – The Travel Agency Is On Fire

— The Decemberists – Live Home Library Vol. 2

— Gurriers – Nobody’s Coming To Save You

— Protomartyr – Hotel Usona

— claire rousay & Martyna Basta – hotel room

September 25th:

— 1Ski OG – Alter Ego

— 7ebra – How To Land a Plane

— Adult DVD – Adult DVD

— AJJ – Dirty Old Power

— Andrea Bocelli – Romanza (30th Anniversary)

— Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz, Anagram Ensemble – The Travel Agency Is On Fire

— Applied Communications – applied communications bites the big one

— Ari Balouzian – Primetime (Original Soundtrack)

— Ax and the Hatchetmen – Stick & Poke EP

— Becky Hill – Rebecca

— Benny Sings – 22 Durnham Dew

— Big Moochie Grape and Zaytoven – Grapetoven

— Blondshell – Violins

— The Brook & The Bluff – Lookout Pond EP

— Brandi Carlile – Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version)

— Brother Bird – The Lodge In Miller County

— Bullion – Nearly

— Bush – The Sea of Memories (15th Anniversary Edition)

— Can – Can Live in Arles 1975

— Cara Delevingne – Not Normal

— Chelsea Cutler – Is This the End?

— claire rousay & Martyna Basta – hotel room

— cowboyy – revocder EP

— Darla Dean Lewis – We’re Gonna Fly EP

— The Decemberists – Live Home Library Vol. 2

— Dylan Gossett – Ramblin’

— Europe – Come This Madness

–– Fatboy Slim – Better Living Through Chemistry (Reissue)

— Forest – Swan Dive

— Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention – Freak Out!: 60th Anniversary Edition

— gash – at least you know what you’re laughing at

— Gaspar Claus – CELLS

— Gåte – Sigil

— Gilla Band – Pugnello

— Godflesh – Decay

— Gurriers – Nobody’s Coming To Save You

— Harry Connick, Jr. – Babe: Elaboratio

— Hermanos Gutiérrez – Los Ojos Del Cóndor

— HOL1D4Y (Rival Sons’ Scott Holiday) – TOPOLOGY

— Horse Jumper of Love – Horse Jumper of Love (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

— Ian Noe – Canyon Falls

— Index – Vis Inertiae

— Israel Nash – Sweetheart of the Rodeo

— Jae Stephens – AUDACITY

— Joy Division – Eternal (Live)

— Joy Oladokun – Hope Is a Heavy Thing

— Julia Jacklin – The Gem

— Kamran Khan – I Came From Nowhere & Nowhere Is Where I Am Going

— Kenny Chesney – Silver Sands Marina

— Kiefer – Memory Bomb

— Landon Smith – Don’t Mind Me

— Lawrence Rothman – Here Lies Love / Sawdust to Stardust

— Leon Bridges – Happiness Anytime

— M83 – I Wrote You a Letter

— Mac McNown – Leave on a Light

— Machine Head – Unto The Locust (15th Anniversary Edition)

— Mary Gauthier – Reckoning

— Max McNown – Leave On A Light

— Meg Lui – Instant Validation

— megiapa – Intentions

— Mija – Hard Disco EP

— Mr Bison – The Garden of Forgotten Dreams

— Ms. Rachel – I’m So Happy

— Murex – Inventio

— Neighbour Club – Snail Mail EP

— Nessa Barrett – Tough Love

— Orbital – Glastonbury 1994

— Oskar Haag — Lost Cause

— OSTON – Isn’t That Sweet

— Penelope Isles – 3

— Pete Fij – Up’s The New Down

— Protomartyr – Hotel Usona

— The Reds, Pinks & Purples – True Love Daydream

— Renny Conti – Split Second

— Sleep In. – Tangled In the Vines

— Smidley – Murphy Horse

— Soft Cell – Dancerteria

— starbelliedbug – Lash EP

— Starcleaner Reunion – Umbrella

— Stryper – Throne of Thorns

— Susannah Joffe – Dust Settles and So Will I

— Tank – Experience

— tankerlow – SLAGROOM

— Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore

— Tee Grizzley – They Forgot

— Till Lindemann – Live In Kraków

— Tinashe – Popstar

— Tom Morello – Everyone Gets Everything They Want

— UCHE YARA – BODYSCANNER

— Various Artists – By Any Means: The Album

— Various Artists – Rise Up! Hamilton: The Anthology

— Warren Zeiders – No Brakes

— Wednesday 13 – Un-Alive from Pol’and’Rock 2025

— World Famous Pets (feat. Edie Brickell, Matt Chamberlain, Kaveh Rastegar and Mason Stoops) – World Famous Pets

— Your Old Droog – Bread & Butter