The Fire Note

Video  ·  Sacred Bones Records The Melbourne cult figure signs to Sacred Bones, announces evidence — new wave, glam, and soul from someone who has clearly been through something July 2026 New Video Spike F*ck Spike F*ck has existed for a decade more as a messy myth than an active artist. His Smackwave EP on Partisan became a cult classic.

Swapmeet — 2026 ReleasedJuly 17 LabelWinspear Produced ByMaxwell Elphick, Josh Doherty, Venus O’Broin & Jack Medlyn Runtime34 min / 9 tracks Album Review Swapmeet • Mount Zero • explosive noise pop “Mount Zero turns quiet builds and sudden guitar eruptions into a debut that feels far more assured than a first record should.” Swapmeet know how to lull you before they level you.

Video  ·  Domino Recorded with Dave Fridmann, their seventh album arrives September 25 — Iggy Pop called it Wagnerian, and he’s not wrong July 2026 New Video Protomartyr Joe Casey has imagined his country as an aging hotel. Each song on Hotel Usona is a room haunted by its own troublesome guest. The album was recorded with Dave Fridmann at his Tarbox Road Studios in western New York, and it finds Protomartyr reckoning with the horrors of the current moment without flinching from any of them.

The Strokes — 2026 ReleasedJuly 24 LabelCult/RCA Records Produced ByRick Rubin Runtime43 min / 9 tracks Album Review The Strokes • Reality Awaits • AutoTuned Indie Rock “The Strokes sound older, stranger, and more comfortable letting their songs wander before snapping back into focus.” Six years is a long time to sit with expectations, and The Strokes seem to know it.

Mesh — 2026 ReleasedJuly 24 LabelFeel It Records Recorded ByIan Norris & Mesh Runtime28 min / 11 tracks Album Review Mesh • No Fun At All • jangle post punk “Mesh prove that five years away did nothing to dull their edge, only sharpen the hooks.” Five years is a long time to sit on momentum. Mesh sold out multiple pressings of their 2021 self-titled cassette, then settled back into the Philly scene.

Video  ·  Merge Records “Day in the Sun” is the lead single from Do Not Dare to Dream, out October 9 — filmed at Black Bay Studio on Great Bernera, where ancient ruins meet a crashing sea July 2026 New Video Teenage Fanclub Norman Blake has made twelve albums and still finds naming them difficult. The thirteenth is called Do Not Dare to Dream, which is also the title of a Blake song that gently pushes back on hollow optimism. “Those ‘dare to dream’ sentiments are kind of ridiculous,” he says.

Guitar Wolf — 2026 ReleasedMarch 13 LabelGoner Records Recorded & Mixed ByToshimi Nanseki Runtime25 min / 10 tracks Album Review Guitar Wolf • More Jet • garage punk fury “More Jet proves Guitar Wolf still know only one speed: louder, faster, and completely over the edge.” Thirty-three years after Goner put out Wolf Rock, Guitar Wolf are back on the label that started them, and this is an in-your-face reunion and a blast of pure noise.

Video  ·  p(doom) Records The Australian rock quartet announce their sixth album Out in Oslo, out September 18 — produced by Declan Mehrtens of Amyl and the Sniffers July 2026 New Video C.O.F.F.I.N C.O.F.F.I.N (Children of Finland Fighting in Norway) have spent twenty years evolving from a Northern Beaches upstart into one of Australia’s most respected rock exports, sharing stages with Amyl and the Sniffers, Viagra Boys, and King Gizzard along the way.

Ultra Lights — 2026 ReleasedJuly 10 LabelChunklet Industries Produced ByKris Sampson & John Robinson Runtime32 min / 11 tracks Album Review Ultra Lights • Pleasure’s All Yours • slacker indie jangle “Bent guitars, underdog lyrics, and slacker-pop hooks give Pleasure’s All Yours an easy charm that sticks.” John Robinson spent lockdown in Atlanta with little to do but write, and Pleasure’s All Yours sounds like a guy finally getting a decade of songs out of his system.

Video  ·  K Records / Pereninal Members of Poison Ruin, Sheer Mag, and Zorn share a witches brew of power pop and 90s slacker rock on Official Researchers of the NJ Devil, out July 31 July 2026 New Video Mopar Stars Mopar Stars surfaced in the summer of 2023 with a four-song tape called Shoot the Moon and immediately landed on the radar of people who pay attention.