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Parody, like anything else, has its regional variants. And like wine or chocolate, not every region’s soil will yield the best results. As someone who has made a home in multiple climates, the European version is the hardest of the parodic nuts to crack, especially Western EU. Why? Well, let’s just get this out of the way: it’s not very funny. Complicate this formula with the fact that the artists in question are Swiss, and that’s quite an uphill battle.
10 Sept 2026
A Julian Cope Primmer
Erupting into the mainstream on February 19th 1981, The Teardrop Explodes’ debut ‘Top of the Pops’ television performance featuring their brassy, bouncy hit ‘Reward’ is to this day probably the moment from which most people recall Julian Cope. If your image of Julian remains that of an earnest young budding pop star sporting a fleece-collared flying jacket and a shaggy bowlcut of shoulder-length tresses, if you failed to maintain pace with his entry into the cosmos, if you dismissively describe him (as I’ve seen thereabouts) as “a Smash Hits pin-up”, you have one hell of a lot of catching up to do. Musique Machine have tasked me with leading their readers through the psychedelic jungle and beyond, here, and I have to say that Julian probably merits the ‘beginners’ guide to’ / ‘recommended records’ treatment more than just about any other artist in the music sphere, at least in terms of how public perception and the ‘reality’ (if such a word is appropriate in this extreme case) have a near-unbridgeable gulf.
10 Sept 2026
From the mid-1960s, The War Game is one of the most troubling, at times downright terrifying portrayals of a nuclear attack ever put to film. The mock docudrama blends newsreel-like recreations, on-the-ground intense-to-grim filming, with talking-head input, and quotes from civil defence manuals. The film was initially banned by the BBC for being too troubling for the public to see. Here from Severin is a deluxe reissue of the movie, featuring a dual UHD/ Blu Ray release- taking in five and a half hours of new extras. With a reprint of the 1967 paperback tied to the film, a postcard, and a recreation of the mock evacuation card from the film- all presented in a slipcase.
Danish artist øjeRum (Paw Grabowski) moves full form into his Støvfigur alter ego for its first and self-titled release, bringing a mix of minimalist electronica and ambient to 12k. Combining the Danish words for "dust" and "figure," the electrostatic phenomenon is an intriguing (and apt) description of Støvfigur's sound - one's periphery comes to life. Subtle and evocative, Støvfigur is like resting in your room, the record player picking up light static from the inner ring, and hearing your neighbor's IDM softly penetrating through your walls. Much like the støvfigur that results when residue and acoustics collide, the music is an ephemeral glimpse at something just out of reach, dancing at the periphery, begging for further investigation.
at war with everything that moves on tracks — 060398 casualties 101
4 Sept 2026Hana Haruna — [shoppers at suburban mall, May 1993]
4 Sept 2026Sado Rituals — Scattered Identity
4 Sept 2026Nightwing — Long Hard Road (CD boxset)
4 Sept 2026Lee’ Scratch’ Perry/ VA — Flashing Echo
4 Sept 2026The Girl Who Leapt Through Time — The Girl Who Leapt Through Time(Blu Ray)
2 Sept 2026Stephen Holliger — Fives and Sixes
2 Sept 2026Hammer Volume Seven: Ships & Giggles — Hammer Volume Seven( Blu Ray Boxset)
1 Sept 2026
Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere Interview
Early this year, the band released their most recent album Theta 7, on Discus Music-which is sadly to be their last. Band leader Martin Archer kindly agreed to give us an email interview, discussing the project's history & why they’ve decided to call it a day.
Vacant Align Interview
Active since October 2025, Wisconsin’s Vacant Align is one of the more atmospheric and texturally inventive wall noise projects to appear in some time. It’s a project that takes its time in releasing work, and you can certainly hear it, as each of their releases so far is a perfectly crafted blend of expressive and engaging textures. Behind the project is John Engman, who very kindly agreed to give us an email interview
Jasper Sharp interview
In the year 1971, Nikkatsu, the oldest/ at one point, the biggest film production company in Japan. Did something quite daring/ some would say crazy- they completely switched over their production to softcore adult films, which would become known as Roman Porno. Between 1971 and 1988, the company produced around 850 of these titles. The thing that made these films stand out from general softcore films is the often creative & inventive choices made- yes, the films primal focus is sleaze, but great examples of the genre are so much more than that. In the last year or so, there has been a spate of reissues of films in the genre from labels such as 88 Films, Third Window Films, and Klubb Super 8. One of the key figures/contributors behind these releases is Jasper Sharp- one of the world's experts on the genre, and the wider Pink genre it’s connected to. Jasper kindly agreed to give us an email interview discussing his history with the genre, his contributions to releases, and the new/updated edition of his book Behind The Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema on Fab Press.
King Futile Interview
King Futile is the new project from Scotland-based Lea Cummings( Kylie Minoise, Official Music Team, etc), and it’s a big departure from his normal noise or retro sample & electronica sound. It's lo-fi acoustic music, with an outsider feel, and often quite tongue-in-cheek/ sharply sarcastic tone to the lyrics. So far, the project has put out three albums- Casual Misery, How To Have Fun, and Zen As Fuck. I tracked down Lea for an email interview.
