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Articles by Simon Kirk
Decade of Defend: An Interview with Defend Vinyl’s Graham Jones
Running any independent business in this day and age is an uphill battle. But to be ten years into such endeavours, well, in 2026 it’s probably one of the most punk things you could do. Apt considering Defend Vinyl is Liverpool’s go-to for all your punk needs. Tomorrow, the record store celebrates its tenth birthday. For any business involved in the music industry these days, such feats are a minor miracle.
Imperial Teen Interview: “It’s always interesting to hear what people take away from the songs”
The world needs more bands like Imperial Teen. Or does it?
Pete Swanson & Ilyas Ahmed: Things Left Unseen
Creatively, Ilyas Ahmed has always coloured outside the lines. The Portland-based artist’s solo canon, led by With Endless Fire (2012) and I Am All Your Own (2015), exquisite journeys in terrestrial dream-folk that few others have replicated. Ahmed has moved beyond, too, with A Dream of Another (2013). A release that, at times, is so quiet that you can almost hear the blood running through your veins.
Melanie Radford Interview: “I hope people can find comfort in it”
Throughout the year in new music, there will always be lovely surprises that fly out of left field. From a personal point of view, Melanie Radford is one of those artists. The Seattle-based songwriter, spending years on the road as member of Built To Spill as well as a part of the stoner alt-rock three-piece, Blood Lemon. While both different bands completely, Radford continues to shift, moving centre stage for her debut solo release, For the Sake of Stillness.
SQUANDERERS: Bright Madness
In 2026, there has been many a good post-rock act. So good in fact, that it wouldn’t have been complete without SQUANDERERS in it. This year alone, the trio of Wendy Eisenberg, David Grubbs and Kramer, each have carved out different paths aside from this project that has birthed three albums in as many years. Grubbs, recently releasing his third collaboration alongside fellow experimental guitar veteran, Loren Connors (Somewhere in the Wind – Room40).
Linda's Head - Sun 13
Since the turn of the century, few have matched the ghostly essence of a Liz Harris composition. Predominately through the lens of Grouper, Harris has felt her way through the miasma, exposing wonderful contrasts between beauty and darkness. Through her ever-expanding body of work, Harris has emphatically showcased that the two can coexist. There have been lighter moments, too. Helen, for example.
Oren Ambarchi: Cooked
In the world of experimentalism, few in this era have had a run quite like Oren Ambarchi. Some will claim the Australian has been the leading light in said space for a lot longer and, honestly, they are valid claims. The last two months alone have seen the guitar wrangler release a swathe of new music. Three full-lengths in total, and all worthy of more plaudits they have so far gained.
E-Clark Cornell Interview: “I believe that true art uses the human being as sort of a lightning rod”
For much of this decade, Bandcamp has been the most vital catalyst for experimentalists from all across the world. Many of which don’t garner the plaudits they deserve, simply because there’s just too much choice to wrap your ears around. You could spend the next three lifetimes in the quest to be all-knowing, and it still wouldn’t be anywhere near enough time. Which is why it’s important to give the music you do manage to encounter the time and respect it deserves.
Ghost Dubs: Oblique
Under the Ghost Dubs moniker, Michael Fiedler has been the architect of soundscapes that are a vital backdrop to these times. Via Kevin Martin’s Pressure label, Fielder has added extra potent ingredients that intensify the dread. However, unlike Martin’s endeavours – whether it be through The Bug or under his own name – Fielder has ventured down different paths to reach the same point.
The Drin: I Lost My Way For Centuries
The Drin have been the leading lights from a Cincinnati scene that has basically used the ’80s Australian underground as their their mission statement to thrive. That kind acerbic post-punk that kept the world at arm’s length. What started out as Dylan McCartney’s brainchild has slowly evolved into the kind of organic, communal wanderings that teleport you back in time.
Albums Quarterly #23
With summer in the rearview mirror, things are beginning to ramp up again. Yes, we’ve lamented about the absurdity of the yearly release schedule many times (and probably enough). But with the festival season drawing to a conclusion, new music is brimming where it’s impossible to keep up. Still, we try, but you can never be across everything. That’s why our AQ feature has always worked both ways.
16 Underground: Without A Trace
With so much new music out there, it’s becoming harder to find something that completely blows your mind. Each weekly release schedule, continuing to grow longer and longer, as one release bleeds into the next and with it your feelings, too. In some ways, it’s monotonous; in other’s it illuminates the thrill of the chase. And in all things illuminating, 16 Underground are the latest to provide that moment via their second EP, Without A Trace. These days, it feels like 16 Underground are a rarity.
The Afghan Whigs: Soft Control
Greg Dulli has always written lust songs, not love songs. Since The Afghan Whigs’ 2014 comeback album, Do to the Beast, the Cincinnatians proved that all reunions weren’t just a chance to cash in and recapture past glories. Alongside Polvo and Archers of Loaf, no other band in indie-rock has had an Indian summer quite like The Whigs. The fact that they are one of the best live acts on the planet has solidified their position.
Immersion: What Is Lost Will Return
As the chief architects of post-punk, Wire have always existed to break boundaries. There are many examples of this. The clearest, perhaps the masculine side of punk where Colin Newman and Co. reacted to it in polar opposite fashion. Quite literally, dressing more like office workers than any by-product of some inner-city London squat. It’s this polemic attitude that Newman has carried ever since, and really, it’s been his hallmark card.
Ty Segall: Chrome
“When I died / I was alive,” sings Ty Segall on Chrome’s eponymous closing track. Sonically, Segall hasn’t sounded so vibrant in years, while lyrically, it’s the kind of message permeating with the spirit of Bowie and Bolan.
Black Duck with Elena Setién: Black Duck with Elena Setién
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 Interview: “The horizon is a drug for me”
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.
RIBS: COLD RIBS - Sun 13
“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.
Track Premiere: Wade Easy’s Hot Honey
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.
Roy Montgomery and Martha Skye Murphy: Nebular
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.
Out of Step #7
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: Remembered Adventures in Widescale
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).
Lawrence English: The Rest Is My Ghost
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?
Sparta: Cut A Silhouette
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.
Almost An Island: Few Words Are Enough EP
Kenneth James Gibson is never far away from releasing new music, and alongside Cynthia and James Bernard, the trio return as Almost An Island. Following last year’s self-titled debut LP, Few Words Are Enough sees the trio unveiling a piece that was originally released on Past Inside the Present’s year-end compilation. It something that evolved on a larger scale.
Prison: Big Rigs on the BQE
Don’t let their name fool you. In what is the juxtaposition of the decade, with their third long-player, Prison are at their most liberating. Not before the New York collective was responsible for one of the greatest moments in Sun 13 folklore. Our 2023 interview, conducted via the medium of choice: a FedEx notepad. (Which still hangs on the mantlepiece.) It’s been these kind of moves that epitomise the Prison experience. Totally footloose and lawless, both in spirit and sound.
Unstoppable Sweeties Show Interview: “No idea is truly off the table”
There have been many DIY bands in Liverpool toiling away in the shadows over the years. So many acts, punching up and fighting the good fight in the face of adversity that this current world has to offer. Bands like the Unstoppable Sweeties Show. The five-piece, consisting of Yashashwi (vocals), Lucy (drums), Prob (guitars / vocals, field recordings), Gareth (saxophone, vocals) and Dr Rob (bass, vocals), have been at the fun end of experimentalism and the avant-garde.
Video Premiere: Rongorongo’s Push
Liverpool six-piece band, Rongorongo, return with their new track, Push – the second single from their long-awaited debut LP, The Shell of a Lullaby, which is set for release on September 4. Ahead of tomorrow’s release of Push, exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to listen and watch the video for the track below. Push follows lead single and album opener, No Sympathy.
Hackedepicciotto: LICHTUNG
Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke have spent their existence going against the grain. It’s what makes their art so compelling. As artists and life partners, their ceaseless quest to place it above all else in this climate makes them true punks. And, in turn, true outliers. Spending the last 14 years nomadically wandering the world, as hackedepicciotto, their latest full-length release, LICHTUNG, finds the duo at their most content.
Miracle: The Living Likeness of My Electric Daemon
Depeche Mode have always seemed like an overrated concern to me. We all have bands that we should like, and Depeche Mode probably fits the bill for me. In my opinion, their ideas have always overshadowed the final product. Something that has always seemed too thin, lacking the panache to lift the music to where it needs to go. So, why pick on Depeche Mode? It’s not picking on them, per se. But listening to Miracle’s Time is the Fire and, well… it’s the song the ’Peche never wrote.
Tibshelf: The Effete Descendants Of Robber Barons Are Poison To Civilisation
Sonic liberation can come in different forms. There are the sounds, of course, but there’s also the ideas that, sometimes, are so strong that they override the sound. Under the Tibshelf moniker, this is where Lee Etherington unearths his most interesting, thought-provoking concepts.
American Cream Band: Twin
With fluid checks, brooms and beeps, on Elegant Automobile, the second song from American Cream Band’s latest release, Twin, Nathan Nelson and Liz Buhmann ask the question, “Let’s see how fast this thing can go?” The answer is far. The Saint Paul, Minnesota duo, backed by a Springsteen-like array of musicians, lead the way for a journey where the is destination unknown. Twin doesn’t transcend countries and continents: it’s a bridge that connects them all.
Sandy Chamoun: Sawt El Doumouh
Sandy Chamoun has been among the most crucial voices out of Lebanon during this decade. The country, entrenched in turmoil where every day circumstances change within the blink of an eye. It’s hard to believe, given Beirut’s a vibrant music in particular. Led by Chamoun’s SANAM, who have been making some of the most forward-thinking music out of the region, with last year’s Saemtou Sawtan the collective’s best release yet, welding Middle Eastern traditions to modern-day electronica.
The Bug / Dis Fig: Ladybug 1
Some things just land at the perfect time. The trite saying, ‘Everything happens for a reason’? Well, maybe it isn’t nonsense? For the last couple of weeks, it’s not only felt like a slog finding new full-length releases, but also and writing about the few which have resonated. Is it summer burnout? Maybe, but apart from the releases in our latest Weirdo Rippers column and coupled with getting annihilated by the gale-force of Sunn O))) last week, everything else has felt somewhat fallow.
Weirdo Rippers #23
As Sunn O))) tore through town last week, it got me thinking: are they the bastion of experimentalism? Galvaniser’s of worlds, as metal and experimentalism coalesce. It’s quite astonishing for a band who has been the apostle of drone to reach such heights. People from all backgrounds and musical tastes converged for a performance that, judging by many of the comments since, was arguably the best of their U.K. tour. Experimentalism and fandom are a funny thing.
Sick Gazelle: Veld
Post-rock from Chicago is immune from failure. All killer, no filler, and Sick Gazelle are the latest at making every post a winner. Formed by Bruce Lamont (Bloodiest, Yakuza), Eric Block (Veloce) and regular gun for hire, Steve Shelley (Winged Wheel, Sonic Youth, Disappears), following their 2019 debut, Odum, Sick Gazelle draft in bassist and Chicago post-rock legend, Douglas McCombs, for their follow-up, Veld.
MMM: Lunistice Alignments
Gayle Brogan, Nick Jonah Davis and Elizabeth Still have spent years carving out their own sonic niches across the U.K.’s DIY experimental landscape. Brogan’s endeavours, through the lens of Pefkin and Burd Ellen, where she has paired drone with mediative field recordings to great effect. The peak, via the former’s Unfurling (Morc Records), released earlier this year. Meanwhile, Jonah Davis and Still have evoked similar feelings through their art, albeit via different paths.
Emmaleen Tangleweed: The Weaving
Emmaleen Tangleweed’s songs creep up on you like a spectre from the deepest parts of the night. First coming to attention via Cruel Nature Records’ re-issues of her first two albums, The Sun will Still Shine when you Die and Songs from the Unseen, the Unsaid and the Unborn last year, the Western Cape, South Africa based songwriter spins the kind of yarns that leave permanent marks.
The Pines of Rome: When You Are as Full as the Moon
In 2022 at the Porto edition of Primavera, on the hilltop watching Karate cherry-pick from their esteemed body of work confirmed just how blues-laden slowcore was tailor-made for sunsets. It was a beautiful moment, and one that I instantly thought of when hearing The Pines of Rome’s excellent new LP, When You Are as Full as the Moon.
Track Premiere: The Black Drumset’s ‘From a Different Place’
The Black Drumset, the project of multi-instrumentalist Brian Willey, has announced details of their third full-length release. Following the project’s self-titled debut (2009) and Charged (2019), Friends In Dark Places will be released on July 17. Exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to listen to From a Difference Place. It follows the hypnotic lead single, The Ice Melted, We Had to Swim. A collision of synths and guitar that make their way through the briars that lead to psychedelia.
BIG|BRAVE: In Grief Or In Hope
BIG|BRAVE are one the most potent experimental acts on the planet. The Montréal band’s collision of metal, post-hardcore and folk, one-of-kind, reaching the apex on their excellent 2024 release, A Chaos of Flowers. For all its inventiveness and eternal power, at the time it felt like one of those generational underground releases that would be a key reference point in decades to come. And two years on, that consensus remains. It felt like a moment where BIG|BRAVE’s hard work had paid off.
Wade Easy Interview: “I just make the music I want to hear”
Some things just come into your life at the right moment. In this case, it’s the music of Wade Easy. Through a hazy concoction of nicotine and liquor providing a subtle catharsis, the Morgantown, West Virginia-based songwriter is the architect of music for solitude. Each note, sinking deep into the bones. Easy’s music frames less complicated times, when the distraction of smart phones and social media didn’t existent. When art meant more.
Daughn Gibson: Lake Mary not mysterious
Through the lens of Daughn Gibson, Josh Martin doesn’t break the rules. He just never knew they existed. The rogue outlier has spent the last two decades taking the scenic route. (And that’s not a reference to his well-documented almost-phantom vocation as a truck driver.) It’s one of the many aspects of Daughn Gibson’s murky world that many have dined out on.
The Taps of the Holy Trinity: Customs & Rituals of The Taps of the Holy Trinity
Following last year’s The Right Hand Is Doomed to Blacken, Australian perennial drifter, Michael Plater, returns with another new project, The Taps of the Holy Trinity. Also featuring Arthur Karanikas (electric guitar, tzoura, zurna, djembe), Dee Hannan (vocals, organs, lauto) and David Bullock (percussion), The Taps of the Holy Trinity will release their debut LP, Customs & Rituals of The Taps of the Holy Trinity on June 20 via Fenny Compton.
Albums Quarterly #22
Our summer edition of Albums Quarterly is here! Is it that summery, though? You can be the judge… In our latest edition, it’s apparent that certain releases have been out into the wilderness for a while. Such as the volume of new releases each week, it’s fair to say that majority get overlooked. The shelf-life circa-2026, far less in an attention economy where something becomes old news within the blink of an eye. We’re a bit old fashioned that way.
Seefeel: Sol.Hz - Sun 13
Seefeel occupy a special place in the heart. Their timeless 1993 opus, Quique, one of those albums that completely stopped you in your tracks the first time it met the ear. On Quique, Mark Clifford, Sarah Peacock, Daren Seymour and Justin Fletcher orchestrated something that possessed a dark undercurrent that felt more aligned to the coldness of Northern Britain than anything from down south.
BLOOM AND RUIN: Two Liberations
Tashi Dorji and Efrim Menuck are no strangers. Their paths crossing on the former’s second Drag City release, we will be wherever the fires are lit, in 2004, while Menuck gatecrashed Dorji’s renegade project with drummer Thom Nguyen, MANAS, a year earlier for the improv’ release, At House Unamerican. It was more of a case of when than if that Dorji and Menuck would join forces as a duo, and as BLOOM AND RUIN they do just that.
Bonner Kramer • Thurston Moore: They Came Like Swallows
The only surprise about the new collaboration between Bonner Kramer and Thurston Moore is that it hasn’t happened sooner. A constant sprinkler of fairy-dust led by the storied discography of Galaxie 500, Kramer has also featured behind the soundboards on releases from the likes of Low (I Could Live in Hope, Long Division) and Will Oldham (West Palm Beach) in between his endeavours as founder of Shimmy-Disc. The label with its own storied history, occupying both ends of the spectrum.
Track Premiere: Unlettered’s ‘Before::After’
Unlettered, the New York studio project featuring Mike Knowlton (Gapeseed, Poem Rocket) and Kelly Grimm, are set to release the follow-up album to their 2024 release, Five Mile Pilot. Devil’s Bowl is out on June 26, and exclusive to Sun 13, you can listen to their latest single, Before::After, ahead of its official release below. Before::After is a breath of fresh air. Alt-rock in the now, Unlettered surge to new places.
Lupo Città: Inverno
Lupo Città aren’t a jam band by any stretch of the imagination. However, they are the embodiment of what it is to be in a band. People in a room, exchanging ideas and letting the creative process take its natural course. The story of Lupo Città is one where the stars align. Spirits forming as one, it was something that was meant to be.
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