RACCOON CITY
RECORD: Fugue
RELEASED: 03|14|2025
LABEL: Dog Knights Productions
COLOUR | EDITION: Half Green/Brown Smoke, Half Blue/Black Smoke w/ Cream Flared Half-Pulsar, Limited to 100
FAVORITE TRACKS: Waiting For An Alternate Ending, If You Can Ever Hear This, Keeper Of The Lamp
PURCHASED: Dog Knights Productions
BAND DISCOVERED
As a long-time follower of the Dog Knights label, I eventually became aware of the Australian band Raccoon City. It must have been around 2021, when the band changed its name from Raccoon City Police Department to simply Raccoon City and returned from a six-year hiatus with their outstanding album For Nobody, Nowhere. The tracks Nocturnus, Carnation, and Liminality became all-time favorites. In 2025, the band then released their third album, Fugue.
BESIDES THAT
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful vinyl releases of 2025 in terms of the color design.
WISH
Of course, I’d also love to see this band live.
MIDRIFT
BAND DISCOVERED
While looking into the 2026 lineup of the Outbreak Festival in Manchester and checking out the music of some of the bands and artists playing there, I came across an announced tour by Turn Of Phase together with a band called Midrift. I was surprised by their current streaming numbers and, above all, by the band’s latest output: the three songs Safe And Sound, Tell Me Everything, and Reaching For You.
KILLER SONG MOMENTS
The song Reaching For You seems to have everything my ears are looking for: something gripping, something driving, plenty of emotion, and a touch of emo nostalgia. So far, it’s their strongest output in my opinion.
FAVORITE LYRIC LINE
„It’s everything I’ve ever felt, winning cards are never dealt to me / you see for the worst, I’d keep you if I could“ from Reaching For You.
CHARACTERISTICS THAT APPLY
driving | melancholy | emotional | honest
BESIDES THAT
This year, Midrift are touring with Turn Of Phase, Fleshwater, Julie, and Angel Du$t. So far the tours are limited to North America, except some UK dates, Paris and Best Kept Secret Festival in the Netherlands – hopefully some more European mainland gigs will follow soon.
WISH
Can’t wait for more.
RED SUN
RECORD: At Their Very Best
RELEASED: 01|26|2026
LABEL: Wax Bodega
COLOUR | EDITION: Blue, limited to 400
FAVORITE TRACKS: Slayce, Office Jenny (Redux), re:Dallas, God Bless Luke Wittrock, Eat What You Earn
PURCHASED: Wax Bodega
BAND DISCOVERED
In 2024, I discovered their EP Best Buds and have been waiting for news about their debut album ever since. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the announcement came that At Their Very Best will be released on Wax Bodega in January 2026.
BESIDES THAT
God Bless Luke Wittrock is a top song and deserves to be played every hour on the radio.
WISH
With the signing to Wax Bodega, several doors are likely opening for Red Sun. Hopefully they’ll make it across the big pond to Europe someday.
GLEAN
RECORD: Worlds Apart
RELEASED: 10|03|2025
LABEL: Sunday Drive Records
COLOUR | EDITION: Transparent Red, Single Sided 12″ EP, Limited Edition of 200
FAVORITE TRACKS: Sediment, Receive You, Vacant, Face To Face
PURCHASED: Deathwish
BAND DISCOVERED
A flyer for a Militarie Gun gig in the US had a support slot from Glean that caught my attention. Spreading on social media made it possible. So sometimes it’s nice to see which bands support your favorite artists. Often it’s in the hands of the local promoter or venue. But sometimes the right guys from booking agencies or the main act itself choose which band or artist does the support. So it’s always worth it to give those bands a listen. So this time Glean was my listening. The fact that the current EP is being released by Sunday Drive Records and that it was available in the Deathwish store convinced me to order it right away. What a great EP.
WISH
As always when I discover a relatively new band from North America: the desire for this band to make it to Europe for a few concerts at some point.
ALICE IN CHAINS
RECORD: Alice In Chains
RELEASED: 01|09|2026
LABEL: Columbia
COLOUR | EDITION: Opaque Orchid & Canary Yellow, 2LP Limited Edition, 30th Anniversary Reissue
FAVORITE TRACKS: Grind, Sludge Factory, Heaven Beside You, Again, Frogs, Over Now
PURCHASED: Alice In Chains Webstore
BAND DISCOVERED
Around 1991, one afternoon after school, a classmate introduced me to Facelift by Alice In Chains. The songs Man in the Box and It Ain’t Like That immediately stuck in my mind. As the band began appearing more and more in rotation on MTV and was featured in 1992 with the song Would? on the Singles soundtrack, Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell, Mike Starr, Sean Kinney, and later Mike Inez became impossible to ignore. The Pacific Northwest rock explosion had completely drawn me in. The Big Four from Seattle went on to define every mixtape through 1996.
The self-titled third album (also known as Tripod) was the last studio album with Layne Staley. At the time, I wasn’t really aware of how heavy and dark the record was—it was more a matter of just going with the flow. For a long time, the vinyl was out of print and only available as overpriced black-market copies. This January, the band officially re-released the album, presented in a remarkably elegant package.
THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER
NTS Session
00:00 the chase
03:55 rl stine
06:30 trainers
