A pumping bass that has a post punk edge, a weird clicking sound and a mumbling vocal: three things you wouldn’t necessarily expect to hear together, and three things that pretty much give no clue as to where teethin’s current single ‘Throwin Shapes’ is headed. It could be a punky banger; it could be a slab of post rock fury; it could be an abrasive piece of alternative dance…
THE BLACK KEYS – No Rain, No Flowers
The Black Keys’ thirteenth studio album ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ finds Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney taking a massive musical detour. The bulk of the material finds the duo in a light mood, from a musical perspective. There are a few recognisable guitar lines along the way; a familiar sounding musical hook or two, but in the main, the album stands as their grand adult pop-rock opus. Part of this shift will be, no doubt, due to enlisting pop producer Rick Nowels for both musical and technical duties, along with other collaborators from outside of the garage rock and blues field. This isn’t a move that’s likely to please some of their hardcore fans, but it could win them new supporters on this leg of their already long journey since, although very little of ‘No Rain’ sounds like classic Black Keys – at least on the surface – its songs are brilliantly arranged, and some of the “poppier” elements show off a great finesse.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #118
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past couple of weeks. This time out, we welcome back an indie hero with a superb solo venture, celebrate some big, modern pop from a rather prolific artist, take in a couple of metal tracks and even make time for some classic sounding yacht rock. As always, we hope you like what you hear.
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RISE OF THE WOOD – Discharge
In the summer of 2023, Dutch metal band Rise of The Wood released the ‘Sleep’ EP, an excellent three tracker that signified their long overdue return, but also a rebirth. Their first new music in six years, ‘Sleep’ was also the first Rise release to feature vocalist Leo Gstrein. His confident tones immediately outshone any of the work on the band’s 2017 debut and the music sounded much better all round. This suggested that band’s decision to take time out to regroup had been more than beneficial.
Max Rael shares new video for ‘Pressing Against The Glass’
History of Guns man Max Rael has delivered one of 2025’s most interesting albums. By taking all of his electronica influences and fusing them with the spoken work aesthetic of his experimental project Decommisioned Forests, Max;s solo debut ‘The Enemy Is Us’ fuses a world of synth pop with strong 80s influences with touches of Kraftwerk which, joined by a world of slam poetry and introspective thoughts, to create a deeply personal record.
Personal it may be, but never in an exclusional way. There’s a real appeal in the material’s honesty. …And never more so than in the current single ‘Pressing Against The Glass’.