Weekly digest #53
Featuring Depeche Mode, Ultrabomb, Soundgarden, David Bowie, Let’s Eat Grandma and more
📷 Still from Depeche Mode’s concert film M
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 Sunday morning.
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
Depeche Mode’s M concert film to stream on Netflix (Consequence of Sound)
David Bowie’s childhood home to open to the public for first time (The Guardian)
Iron & Wine reveals details of eighth album, Hen’s Teeth (The Line of Best Fit)
Heavenly announce first album in 30 years (Pitchfork)
Bernard Butler, Norman Blake and James Grant announce new album Murmurs: Hear ‘Lonely Night’ (Stereogum)
New releases
Ultrabomb (Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, Adolescents) drop ‘Artificial Stars’ from upcoming The Bridges That We Burn album (The Punk Site)
Ian Sweet covers Third Eye Blind’s ‘Semi-Charmed Life’ and makes it interesting (Stereogum)
Angel Du$t share ‘I’m the Outside’ from upcoming album Cold 2 the Touch (Punk News)
Teenage Bottlerocket announce The Invisible Man EP (The Punk Site)
Big Thief’s Buck Meek announces new album The Mirror with introspective new single ‘Gasoline’ (NME)
Listen/watch
Rock Hall shares video of Soundgarden and Taylor Momsen performing ‘Rusty Cage’ (Consequence of Sound)
The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis announce new “punk-jazz fusion” album, share ‘Gestations’ (Brooklyn Vegan)
Great Lives: John Cooper Clarke on Johnny Green, road manager of The Clash (BBC Sounds)
Bowling For Soup and electro-pop duo Able Machines team up to cover Elastica classic ‘Connection’ (NME)
Someone has recreated the glory days of MTV from each decade (NME)
Long reads
David Bowie’s Blackstar turns 10 (Stereogum)
Sound of 2026: How Brooklyn basement band Geese took flight (BBC)
“There’s serendipity to my story”: Emmylou Harris on Gram Parsons, her garlanded career – and her dog rescue centre (The Guardian)
Let’s Eat Grandma’s Jenny Hollingworth: “My parents being boomers probably drilled all those Eighties synths into my head” (The Independent)
When others chased hits, they saw success as a trap: 30 years later, NOFX's moment of self-sabotage is now a punk cult classic (Ultimate Guitar)
Elsewhere on Substack
And finally…
Oasis vs Blur Britpop comedy The Battle confirms cast (What’s On Stage)
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.)