Another Realm is the symphonic rock and metal project of guitarist, composer, and producer Steven Morrison of Tysondog and vocalist and songwriter Philip Stuckey of Stuckfish, and their second album ‘Origin’ expands the scope of their dark fantasy vision. Following their self-titled debut ‘Another Realm’, the new record is built around a story-driven concept exploring the creation of the world and its evolution, blending myth, legend, and historical ideas into a philosophical narrative. Drawing on Stuckey’s acclaimed prog rock work with Stuckfish and Morrison’s decade-long tenure with NWOBHM mainstays Tysondog, ‘Origin’ lands as an ambitious, immersive journey that fuses symphonic grandeur with metallic weight and thoughtful storytelling.
Rosie Carney Opens A Dreamlike New Chapter With “Fragile Fantasy”
Irish singer-songwriter Rosie Carney shares her second new single, “Fragile Fantasy”, co-produced by Ross MacDonald of The 1975 and Ed Thomas. The track follows “Here”, her first release since the acclaimed 2022 album ‘i wanna feel happy’, and continues a striking sonic evolution. Built on floating, dreamlike synths, the song carries Carney’s emotional clarity into a more expansive, fantasized sound.
“I wrote Fragile Fantasy when I began to reminisce about my childhood – something I often find myself pining for,” Carney says. She traces the song back to a youth shaped by imagination and the challenge of reconciling fantasy with reality, recalling a formative moment with a teacher who encouraged her to “learn how to be humans in this life.” That blend of wonder, vulnerability, and self-reflection gives the track its emotional core, breaking open questions of love, fear, and belonging.
Developed over months of sessions in London, “Fragile Fantasy” pulls from shoegaze, alt-pop, and electronic textures while staying rooted in Carney’s raw songwriting voice. Mixed by Jonathan Gilmore, the song lands with warmth and openness, marking a confident step forward. It also serves as the first glimpse of a larger body of work to follow on the newly announced label cool0nline, signaling a creatively rich new era for Carney.
Interpol And Bloc Party Unite For Era-Defining UK And Europe Arena Tour
Interpol and Bloc Party announce a major co-headline tour across the UK and Europe in November and December 2026, bringing together two of the most influential guitar bands of the last three decades. Spanning 18 dates, the tour begins in Copenhagen before travelling through key European cities and arriving in the UK for a wide-ranging arena run that concludes with two nights at London’s Olympia.
Across the tour, both bands draw from their 20-year-spanning catalogues, including Bloc Party’s landmark debut ‘Silent Alarm’ and Interpol’s seminal sophomore album ‘Antics’. Having previously toured the UK together in 2004 and reunited for co-headline shows in Australia in 2023, this run revives a longstanding musical partnership. The pairing lands with renewed force, offering a shared bill that reflects parallel legacies shaped by urgency, melody, and atmosphere.
Interpol also return to Coachella in 2026 and head to South America for shows in Peru and Bogota, alongside appearances supporting Deftones at Lollapalooza dates in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. New music from the band arrives in 2026. Together, this tour frames both acts at a moment of reflection and momentum, reconnecting audiences with songs that helped define modern indie and post-punk.
Interpol And Bloc Party Co-Headline Tour 2026 Dates:
10 November 2026 – Copenhagen, Royal Arena
11 November 2026 – Berlin, Uber Arena
12 November 2026 – Hamburg, Barclays Arena
14 November 2026 – Dusseldorf, PSD Bank Dome
16 November 2026 – Paris, Le Zenith
17 November 2026 – Amsterdam, AFAS Live
18 November 2026 – Brussels, Forest National
20 November 2026 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
21 November 2026 – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
23 November 2026 – Manchester, Aviva Studios
24 November 2026 – Manchester, Aviva Studios
26 November 2026 – Brighton, Brighton Centre
27 November 2026 – Brighton, Brighton Centre
28 November 2026 – Sheffield, Utilita Arena
30 November 2026 – Dublin, 3Arena
02 December 2026 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
04 December 2026 – London, Olympia
05 December 2026 – London, Olympia
Ho99o9 Return To UK And Europe With Horror-Fueled ‘Tomorrow We Escape’ Tour
Ho99o9 announce their long-awaited return to the UK and Europe with a major headline tour in February 2026, celebrating their recent album ‘Tomorrow We Escape’. The duo’s live reputation is legendary for its raw intensity and cathartic release, and this run brings that confrontational energy back across clubs and festivals. Joining them for the full tour is N8NOFACE, fresh off the road with Limp Bizkit and riding momentum from his album ‘As Of Right Now’.
Released via 999 Deathkult and Last Gang, ‘Tomorrow We Escape’ is Ho99o9’s third full-length and their most emotionally direct statement yet. The album fuses experimental hip-hop, digital hardcore, punk, metal, industrial, and electronics into a volatile and personal whole. Featuring collaborators including Nova Twins, Chelsea Wolfe, Greg Puciato, MoRuf, and Pink Siifu, the record lands as urgent, expansive, and deeply human. Mixed and mastered by Trayer Tryon of Hundred Waters, it sharpens the chaos with clarity and space.
The February tour traces a wide arc across Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe, offering a rare chance to experience Ho99o9’s explosive live show firsthand. Alongside the tour, the duo also appear on NOWHERE2RUN’s track “Little Prince”, taken from the EP ‘What Did You Do?’, released via NOWHERE Recordings. Together, these releases underline a band operating at full force, channeling confrontation, collaboration, and hard-won survival into sound.
UK And Europe Tour Dates:
03 February 2026 – Whelan’s, Dublin
04 February 2026 – The Garage, Glasgow
05 February 2026 – Brudenell, Leeds
06 February 2026 – The Brook, Southampton
07 February 2026 – The Dome, London
09 February 2026 – Cactus, Bruges
10 February 2026 – Melkweg, Amsterdam
11 February 2026 – Bi Nuu, Berlin
12 February 2026 – Loppen, Copenhagen
13 February 2026 – Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm
16 February 2026 – 2 Progi, Poznań
17 February 2026 – Hydrozagadka, Warsaw
18 February 2026 – Flucc, Vienna
19 February 2026 – MENT Festival, Ljubljana
20 February 2026 – Circolo Magnolia, Milan
21 February 2026 – Marché Gare, Lyon
24 February 2026 – Stereolux, Nantes
27 February 2026 – Trabendo, Paris
28 February 2026 – Kulturfabrik, Esch-sur-Alzette
01 March 2026 – L’Aéronef, Lille
Maximo Park Celebrate 20 Years Of Indie Classic ‘A Certain Trigger’
Maximo Park mark the 20th anniversary of their beloved debut ‘A Certain Trigger’ with a special deluxe reissue that celebrates the album’s enduring impact. Available as a single LP, double gatefold LP, and triple LP collection, the release revisits a record that helped define a generation of indie music while still sounding sharp, restless, and alive today.
The expanded editions dig deep into the band’s archive. The double and triple vinyl include Missing Songs featuring tracks like “A19”, “Isolation”, and “My Life in Reverse”, while the triple LP adds a full disc of Rarities and B-Sides with cuts such as “Wasteland”, “Limassol (First Avenue demo)”, “The Coast Is Always Changing (Dilston Road demo)”, and “Kiss You Better (BBC Radio 2 Janice Long session)”. These rarities also appear on a dedicated CD, rounding out a thoughtfully curated release.
Reflecting on the reissue, singer Paul Smith says, “We’ve worked hard to make this reissue worth the listener’s while, and to celebrate both the album itself and the context in which we made it. Delving into the archive has stirred so many memories – mostly good ones! The album documents a time and place in our lives, but we had no idea that it would eventually serve the same purpose for so many other people.” Produced by Paul Epworth and released on Warp, the Mercury Prize-nominated album arrived with enduring singles like “Apply Some Pressure”, “Graffiti”, and “Going Missing”, securing its place as a scene staple that still carries urgency and joy two decades on.
Adults Stitch Indie Pop Chaos And Hope Into New Album ‘A Pocketful Of Seeds’
adults’ new album ‘a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes’ brings together two years of ideas, moments, and emotions into a restless, lived-in whole. The record drifts through indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo, and country, capturing songs written in the gaps between everything else. The band describe it as a collection of deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss, and love, set against the constant hum of a world that strains optimism. The result feels messy in the best way, full of motion and feeling.
Recorded over three months across rooftops and warehouses in South London, the album marks the longest recording process adults have ever undertaken. Long-time collaborator Rich Mandell helped stitch together patchworks of riffs, loops, and overdubs into something more intentional and coherent. The enthusiasm around the record centers on its energy and warmth, with its loud amps, layered textures, and playful experimentation landing as vibrant and human.
Opening track “dead red” slowly unfurls from a wiggly synth before building into something insistent and charged. While not overtly political, the songs carry an undercurrent of radical change and learning how to respond to harm with growth rather than damage. Singles like “flag”, “crying”, and “patterns” highlight the band at their hook-filled and optimistic best, while tracks like “chest pains” and “partner song pest chains” show off their fast, scrappy edge. The album holds frustration, care, and hope in equal measure, tied together by noisy, awkward pop instincts.
Adam Ross Teams With C Duncan On Sun Chasing Pop Single “Drink The First Light”
“Drink The First Light” is the new standalone single from Adam Ross, featuring fellow Scottish songwriter C Duncan. Out now on Fika Recordings, the track marks one of the poppiest and most polished moments of Ross’s solo work, driven by melody, texture, and a bright sense of momentum that feels immediate and open-hearted.
The song began life as an experimental home recording before growing into something sleeker and more abstract. Ross describes it as a departure from his usual narrative-heavy writing, allowing the production to lead the emotion. The response to the single highlights its warmth and clarity, with its hook-forward approach landing as buoyant, confident, and quietly infectious.
Lyrically inspired by seasonal shifts, “Drink The First Light” frames sunlight as a necessity, written from the perspective of an inverse vampire craving brightness and optimism. Duncan, initially brought in as a mixing engineer, added instrumentation and vocal harmonies that deepen the track’s glow. The single follows Ross’s 2024 album ‘Littoral Zone’ and serves as a joyful palette-cleanser before work begins on his next full-length release.
American Lips Return With Jagged Art Rock Full Length ‘On Strike’
Montreal and Los Angeles trio American Lips return with ‘On Strike’, out now via Ancient Fashion Records. The jagged art rock full-length locks into absurdist humor, tightly wound rhythms, and splintered guitar lines that feel restless and deliberate. The record lands with immediacy, delivering sharp songs that buzz with urgency and a crooked sense of fun.
Fronted by Adrian Popovich of Tricky Woo and FRVITS, the band channels raw drive through a playful, serrated lens. Bassist and vocalist Jessica Bruzzese and drummer Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above 1979 bring muscle and precision, grounding the chaos with control. The response to the album has been lively and energized, with its dry wit and wired grooves hitting as cathartic and confidently alive.
Following ‘Kiss the Void’ and the maxi-single ‘Waste of Crime / Labor of Hate’, ‘On Strike’ arrives as a pointed manifesto for the burnout era. Songs like “Cardboard Trash”, “On Strike”, “Sleep”, and “Got It Made” skewer consumer culture, exhaustion, and hollow empire myths. Recorded at Ancient Fashion East in Montreal and Ancient Fashion West in Lucknow Ontario and Los Angeles, and mixed by Grainger, the album sounds noisy, human, and resolutely present.
How simple social games are bringing people together again
By Mitch Rice
Games are a great way to connect with people. However, in this ever-changing world, many of our habits have changed. Many adults now look for new light-hearted ways to spend time with friends, relatives, and colleagues. Simple social games fill that gap because they create moments that feel relaxed rather forced. Whether you’re catching up after work or joining an online session at home, these games help you switch off and meet new people without any pressure.
The rise of social gaming culture
Social and party-style games have surged again this year, with titles like Among Us, Fall Guys, Party Animals, and Goose Goose Duck drawing large UK audiences. You don’t need expert skills to join in, so these games suit adults who want quick entertainment without a steep learning curve. Mobile devices and growing online communities also make it easier to join friends at short notice. Many players choose games based on recommendations from friends or family. These shared choices strengthen relationships because you discover and enjoy experiences together.
Real-life social venues & events
You can see the same shift in real world spaces. Venues centred on social games are booming across the UK, offering playful alternatives to pubs and cinemas. Flight Club turns darts into an easy group activity, NQ64 brings retro arcades back into busy city nights, and Boom Battle Bar mixes axe throwing with beer pong to create lively sessions that feel different from a typical night out. As more venues open, creators and hosts also run regular game nights that draw people who want a welcoming space to meet others. These settings work well because they take the pressure off conversation; a shared challenge or friendly rivalry naturally gets everyone talking.
Interactive networking and team building
Workplaces and networking groups now use simple games to help people mingle in ways that feel more natural than formal introductions. You might take part in bingo at a networking event, where each square nudges you to start a short conversation or discover a fun fact about someone nearby. Teams also enjoy digital quizzes or light hearted challenges during training days because they break up dense sessions and encourage people to chat between rounds. When you bring these games into the workplace, you give colleagues an easy route to bond and understand one another, which often improves teamwork long after the event ends.
Digital safety and responsible play
As online platforms grow, the UK Government has increased its focus on digital safety. Recent regulatory updates aim to help adults navigate social gaming spaces with confidence, while tech companies continue to design features that support safer interactions. You can now find clearer tools for reporting concerns, managing privacy, and controlling communication settings. These improvements matter because they let you enjoy online play without worrying about who might contact you or how your data is handled.
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
Afrotronix Announces New Album ‘KÖD’ — A Pan‑African Sonic Ritual That Merges Ancestral Codes With Electronic Futures For January 16, 2026
Afrotronix (Caleb Rimtobaye), the Chadian‑born artist whose music fuses ancestral rites and Sara, Gourane and Arabic vocal traditions with cutting‑edge electronic production, today announces KÖD, a new album that reimagines the future of music. Reinventing popular genres, KÖD is proof that the most futuristic sound is also the oldest.
Chad’s first electronic export — Afrotronix is an Afrofuturist icon. Led by Chadian guitarist-producer Caleb Rimtobaye from Montreal, the project fuses Electronic Music, Afro Tech, Amapiano, and Afro House into what he calls “Saharan Electro” — a bold, ancestral pulse for the future. Born in Chad and raised amid the spiritual and musical practices of his people, Afrotronix transformed early civil war traumas into a mission of communal healing and unity. Self‑taught in Dj, voice and guitar, he won the Jeux de la Francophonie in 2001 and relocated to Montreal, where he developed a signature sound — “Saharan Electro Blues” — that pairs Nganja initiation chants and Sara vocal textures with deep house, dubstep and ambient electronics.
With 130+ festivals worldwide (WOMAD, Afropunk Paris, JOVA Beach Party), collaborations with Baaba Maal, Youssou N’dour, Lorenzo Jovanotti, and Stonebwoy, and 18 global awards including Best African DJ (AFRIMA 2018) and Best African Electro Artist (2019), Afrotronix is Chad’s most internationally recognized musical export.
Wearing the DOM — a helmet symbolizing reimagined ancestral wisdom — Afrotronix creates sonic mosaics from electric guitar, live percussion, and cutting-edge visuals. His upcoming album Köd imagines an inclusive world rooted in shared memory, healing, and groove: “a dance of intersecting horizons and futures to be created together.”
In a landscape of sameness, Afrotronix is a genuine discovery — music that dares to dream and dance beyond borders, time and space.
KÖD — Language and Code
KÖD is an interrogation and celebration of what must remain sacred as technology evolves. The album embeds ancestral rhythms into modern algorithms, asking which cultural codes should be stewarded by human hands even as we teach machines our cultural vocabularies. Sparse, spiritual motifs sit alongside propulsive production to create immersive, transcendent soundscapes. Raised by griots, trained by machines, Afrotronix transforms cultural erasure into pan-African electronic liberation. (Cf Le Monde – Electro Libre)
KÖD in Sara means the tam-tam, the talking drum that has carried messages across African landscapes for millennia. Through specific beats and rhythms, different tribes decode different meanings — a sophisticated system of communication that predates written language. The talking drum represents one of humanity’s earliest forms of coding: rhythm as language, sound as data, drum as transmitter.This ancient system represents one of the first examples of human coding: information transmitted through rhythm, requiring both sender and receiver to share the same interpretive key. The talking drum required both technical skill (the drummer) and cultural literacy (the listener) — a perfect parallel to today’s relationship between human creativity and digital technology. Humanity’s first algorithm was written in rhythm. KÖD honors this legacy.
A Pan‑African Collaboration
Featuring collaborators from Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Congo and Canada, KÖD underscores Afrotronix’s role as a cultural facilitator and pan African creative leader. The project centers unity, cultural pride and collective healing — music as ritual and gathering for communities across continents.
Baaba Maal – Senegal – Featuring on The Miracle
Born in Podor, Northern Senegal, Baaba Maal is one of Africa’s most internationally celebrated artists. Rooted in Fulani/Pulaar musical traditions, he’s spent four decades expanding the boundaries of African music, fusing ancestral sounds with rock, electronic, reggae, and world music influences. A Grammy-nominated artist and collaborator with legends like Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Mumford & Sons, and Hans Zimmer (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack), Baaba’s soaring voice carries messages of unity, education, and social justice. Beyond music, he’s a tireless humanitarian — founding initiatives to support youth, agriculture, and cultural preservation across Africa. From his groundbreaking albums Djam Leelii and Firin’ in Fouta to recent work like Being, Baaba Maal remains a bridge between tradition and innovation, a griot for the global age.
Stonebwoy – Ghana – Featuring on Beyond the Sky
Ghana’s most decorated dancehall/Afrobeats architect with multiple BET and VGMA awards. The voice that turned “Activate” and “Bawasaaba” into continental anthems, proving African rhythms dominate global stages. Stonebwoy fuses reggae-dancehall grit with Afrobeats fire, creating a pan-African sound that moves from Accra to Kingston to the world. He is a living bridge between Caribbean bass and African soul. The song Beyond the Sky with Afrotronix is a never seen before, experimental structure, deeply spiritual vibrations, the roots of the future african reggae.
Eman Alshareef – Soudan – Featuring on Soudani Girl
A source of many Soudanese musical masterpieces, Eman is a Soudanese voice raising to celebrate unconditional love and cultural beauty. Featuring with Afrotronix states the obvious but also ignored humanity of the people of Soudan. With powerful pieces of art celebrating love and humanity, the goal is to bring attention to the Soudan situation.
Nissa Seych – Seychelles – Featuring on Maachi Wene
Born in the Seychelles and raised on a soundtrack of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, and Lauryn Hill, Nissa Seych has been turning heartfelt words into captivating songs since childhood. Now based in Montreal, her signature engages an eclectic fusion of Afrobeat, reggae, dancehall, R&B, and hip-hop — all rooted in her Creole heritage and Afro-Caribbean identity. Beyond the beats, Nissa’s mission is empowerment: proving women can thrive as authentic artists. With ties to Kaytranada and Mr Eazi, and years refining her craft, she’s ready to break borders — linguistic, cultural, and musical.
Djely Tapa – Mali – Featuring on Untold Stories
Born in Kayes, Mali, into an illustrious griot lineage — daughter of legendary vocalist Kandia Kouyaté and dancer Djely Bouya Diarra — Djely Tapa carries centuries of djeliya (griot artistry) in her voice and commands the future. She collaborated with major artists before launching her 2019 solo debut Barokan, produced by Afrotronix and winner of the 2020 JUNO Award for Best World Music Album. Now Multi awarded artist, her soaring, incandescent voice channels Mandingue tradition through contemporary experimentation, singing messages of feminine strength, hope, and social justice in Malinké, Bambara, Khassonké, and French. She’s shared stages with Oumou Sangaré, Tiken Jah Fakoly, cementing her role as both guardian of griot heritage and explorer of new sonic territories.
Seydina – Senegal – Featuring on Woma
Born in Thiaroye, tempered by humility, refined by music — Seydina’s voice is a prayer wrapped in gold. His songs carry messages of peace and family across mbalakh rhythms, jazz harmonies, and Afro-electro pulses. From Senegal to Montreal, his art awakens and adapts seamlessly across genres: mbalakh, rap, jazz, folk, and Afro-electro.
Artist Statement
“My work teaches digital systems the languages and rhythms of our ancestors,” says Afrotronix. “KÖD is about preserving what is sacred while using new tools to amplify our voices. It’s a call to remember where we come from as we build what’s next.” It is also proof that the most futuristic sound is also the oldest.
KÖD is built on two foundational elements: the ever-present drum, and traditional vocal techniques reimagined as organic synthesizers. Through the vocoder, I’ve created what I call “the voice of an African robot” — textures and words the world has never encountered. For the first time, a robot speaks Sara and Goulay.
The album’s opening track captures machines in the act of learning — attempting to decode linguistic patterns and melodic structures. I’ve fed these machines my life’s work: years of collecting and archiving Sahelian musical traditions, voices preserved on worn cassettes from my childhood, now digitized and made legible to algorithms. The machines are hungry, reaching, learning. Beneath the layers, their message is clear “Feed me with the African database.”
Anything we give AI, it can reproduce. But there are codes it will never grasp—gestures, sighs, silences laden with culture. KÖD celebrates these sacred spaces that make us irreplaceable. We create the machines, but we keep our mysteries. KÖD is a meditation on what eludes machines. Artificial intelligence can learn our languages, reproduce our melodies, even compose for us. But there is a language it will never understand: that of ancestral gestures, sighs laden with stories, ritual silences that speak the unspeakable. These are our secret codes—passed down skin to skin, gaze to gaze, from generation to generation. KÖD celebrates these human mysteries, these sacred spaces where we remain irreplaceable. We create the algorithms. But we keep our souls. We remain the guardians of the invisible, the masters of our own codes. The lords of our creations.