Sun 13

The thing about this writing jam is that you can’t be all-knowing. For those who think they are a paragon of omniscience, well… they’re full of shit. In fairness, it makes the thrill of the chase even more thrilling when excellent releases slip the net. Ones exactly like Elena Setién’s 2022 LP, Familiar Minds. The Basque artist, releasing a beguiling, vague hybrid of avant-pop that kept you going back for more.

Antietam are a band that fits like a glove. If you glance at your record collection, they are like a concoction of all your favourite things in it. Street-level but possessing the powers to be somehow worldly, with riffs and melodies all built on raw spirit and soul.

“One thing leads to another / One way or the other”, admits Mike Wallace on Working In Shoes – the closing track to RIBS’ sophomore release, COLD RIBS. Wallace is a vital source in dispensing home truths. His street-level cynicism as leader of RIBS, more than warranted. Not least because the Raleigh, North Carolina band – also featuring guitarist, Finn Cohen, bassist, David Mueller and drummer, Josh Germeroth – should be reaching far more ears.

In Wade Easy’s world, there’s no rest for the wicked. Shortly after the release of his excellent sophomore LP, Sea of Night, which dropped earlier this year, the Morgantown, West Virginia-based songwriter is seemingly making up for lost time with Hot Honey. The lead track from his second LP in 2026, Honey Venom, which is set for release on October 2. Ahead of Hot Honey’s official release tomorrow, exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to listen below.

In a piece of good news that has brightened up the post-heatwave days – Moongoose are back! Our favourite purveyors of widescreen cinematic soundtracks return with a remix of The Woodentops’ Too Good To Stay, from their 2024 album Fruits of the Deep ahead of news that new Moongoose album is just around the corner. Too Good To Stay is a guitar drone stomper that puts me in mind of the likes of Spacemen 3 and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Some of the best music during this decade has often come from collaboration, and Roy Montgomery and Martha Skye Murphy are the latest alliance to carve out alluring results together. Alongside the likes of Loren Connors and David Grubbs, for decades, the London-born, Christchurch-based Montgomery has been a sentinel in the experimental guitar space. The veteran composer, the architect of compositions that blur the years, the generations and styles.

Welcome to our summer edition of Out of Step. Not that any of the releases featured have any seasonal vibes, as such (And to be honest, I’ve not even thought about that until typing this missive.) The summer has been a little quieter for new releases, and while it would generally a good thing, you know it’s set to change. EPs and long-players, coming thick and fast in the last quarter of the year. They always do, and yet again, it’s a perfect example of an industry that doesn’t seem to learn.

Marlophone take you back to a time and place. The clue lies within the title of the Sydney three-piece’s debut full-length, Remembered Adventures in Widescale. Times that were more innocent, and where art felt like it had the power to change the world. Made from prime DIY Antipodean stock, Marlophone is bassist / vocalist, Saskia Clapton, vocalist / guitarist, Patrick Haid (Idles of Space) and drummer, Nick Kennedy (Knievel, Big Heavy Stuff).

Nostalgia is at the centre of Lawrence English’s latest full-length release, The Rest Is My Ghost. It has a lot to answer for now; both good and bad, and in the lead up its release, English spoke about its societal impact and how it’s largely amplified to fictitious levels. There are reasons why, of course. Were people too close to the culture to truly ascertain the level of potency of what it is they are now judging? Or is it a case misremembering, or a shift in brain chemistry?

When most people suggest a band has returned to form, in many cases, said band never really lost it. This is certainly the case with Sparta. While certain moments have captured the imagination more than others, all told, it’s been a solid reign.