Weekly digest #21
Featuring Nirvana, Sparks, Deafheaven, The Specials, Bloc Party and more
Welcome to Fire Red Sky’s latest weekly digest of punk rock, alt rock and indie music news and writing.
It’s a light read, a quick catch up on the week that lands with you every weekend.
The links are mainly taken from my social media feeds, so if you want more of this sort of thing than you can follow me on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon (I’m also on Instagram).
Headlines
The surviving members of Nirvana reunited with Joan Jett, Kim Gordon (pictured above) and St. Vincent at the LA fires benefit concert (NME)
Sinéad O’Connor left her family £1.7million and instructed to children to “milk” her music “for what it’s worth” (NME)
David Bowie ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ live album to be released for Record Store Day 2025 (NME)
Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis releases solo cover of The Cure's b-side 'Breathe'(Stereogum)
Sparks release new single, reveal new album title (Louder Than War)
New releases
Deafheaven (pictured above) announce new album, Unveil lead single 'Magnolia' (Consequence of Sound)
Black Country, New Road unveil new album Forever Howlong (The Quietus)
Bay Area hardcore band Spy announce new EP Seen Enough, share 'Dim' (Brooklyn Vegan)
Gothic country band Murder by Death announce final album and farewell tour with Laura Jane Grace, AJJ and more (Brooklyn Vegan)
Indie-folk project Free Range release new single 'Hardly' (Stereogum)
📷 Xaviera Simmons
Listen/watch
TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe (pictured above) details solo album, shares new song: listen (Pitchfork)
Watch Tool perform surprise set at Bass Magazine Awards (NME)
Sleigh Bells reveal new song “Wanna Start a Band?”: stream (Consequence of Sound)
Watch Lauren Mayberry cover The Verve’s 'Bittersweet Symphony' at San Diego tour opener (Stereogum)
Guided By Voices release new song 'Elfin Flower with Knees' (Punk News)
Long reads
The story of 'Too Much Too Young' and how The Specials got their first number one single (The Quietus)
Mogwai's 'vaguely upbeat' return after tough personal times (BBC)
Bloc Party's Silent Alarm turns 20 (Stereogum)
Eight things we learned from Nick Cave’s Desert Island Discs (BBC)
Opposites attract: Manic Street Preachers interviewed (The Quietus)
Elsewhere on Substack
And finally…
Here’s Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Wonderwall’ cover (Stereogum)
Do you have a Substack article, news tip or other piece of writing you’d like to be considered for the digest? Send it to tangleofwires@gmail.com (same goes for press releases etc.)
Joyful dance punk for joyful dancing punks
Regular gig going is often as much a story of the concerts you missed as it is about those incendiary nights that remain seared into your memory months, years and even decades later.
Thanks for the Radio Unfriendly mention!