Rambling Fox

October 2026 Music Round-Up

Art by Sancoon

Better late than never!

New Music Immediate Impressions

There was way too much new music in October. So this month we're doing things a little differently to save time on what is already quite a delayed post, and we're doing a good ol' quickfire round with no nuance. Bang bang!

Alien Boy - Rearrange My Mind

Alien Boy record parts of their back catalogue in a stripped down, acoustic form, with a couple of new songs to boot. It's Alien Boy, but acoustic. I doubt anyone's going to convert into a new fan out of this one, but if you're already tapped onto their wavelength this is a nice new way of enjoying these songs. I love Weber's voice and now it features on an AB album that's perfect for the moody autumn days that have made their appearance known.

As Seas Exhale - Boreal II

As Seas Exhale/Hyenablood/Forestbather/(one half of) Cobalt Bloom just keeps on giving, seemingly running through a non-stop stream of incredible atmospheric work in various forms across the past 12 months. This is more deeply entrenched and ethereal ambient, but compared to the first part it lives a little louder - there's percussion, more acoustic guitars, various textures and moods, etc. The first part was good but this I think is even better.

The Avalanches - No Bad Memories

The Avalanches' sample-bashing deep dive into the browser-surfing madness of the frutiger aero days is a hefty ordeal that's taking quite a while to reveal its layers, but its greatest strength is that despite its nostalgia-baiting aesthetics it's fueled by wistfulness, not cheap attempts at seizing millennial daydreams. Make sure you listen to the physical version though: the physical-only "Evergreen Altar" is one of the album's best songs, and the digital-only songs tacked onto the end of the streaming version slow the pace to a crawl and kill the emotional momentum of the album's final parts.

Avian Invasion - Into the Trees

The long-running house/trance act has finally released a full length album instead of just dropping random singles (which are such a havoc for me to try to listen). I've a soft spot for this kind of euphoric and explosive flash of big bright synths and bigger backbeats, and Into the Trees gives me exactly what I want in that regard.

Carter C - Asterisk*

Carter C returns with a snappy EP full of energy and continuous evolution in their craft: the sound is still centered in their sharply delivered and thoroughly passionate rock, but the sample work is even more cunning and the arrangements are growing more dense and detailed in such a delightfully playful manner. There's a real tangible joy of creativity all over this quick set of tracks, and that makes it such an exciting listen.

Editors - Surface, Echo & Sound

After a string of electronic-oriented albums, Editors return to a more strictly defined live band sound with minimal overdubs, and touching base with the slightly more 'American' vibes of (the underrated discography highlight) The Weight of Your Love. Only it's not really got the songs... ? It all sounds very pleasant but several listens and barely anything has really taken hold, beyond vague notions towards a couple of songs (e.g. much love has a sexily sturdy bassline). So so far, one of the less interesting albums of October. But the thing with Editors and me is that I've been finding all their new albums for years relatively uninteresting when they're released, and then a year or two later I go back to them randomly and have my mind blown at how much I misjudged them. Maybe this one too. Fingers crossed.

Litku Klemetti - Sata pahaa poikaa

Finland's premier indie pop group digs through the frontwoman's dad's record collection and is inspired to lay down a good ol' fashioned rock record full of attitude, with some classic Litku sparkle and charm to be found as well. Very much a fun album. Bet this will be great live.

Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible Live

It's the Manic Street Preachers' third album The Holy Bible, performed live. Arrested Development, dead pigeon in the fridge. The concert - performed in 2014 for the album's 20th anniversary - is fine and all but I think I'm just starting to get a bit tired of The Holy Bible due to reasons that are not at all the album's fault. A great band in great form playing great songs, but I can't muster much enthusiasm for it.

Nive & the Deer Children - My Mother's Name

Nive Nielsen and her nebulous collective of Deer Children (the only real constant collaborator being John Parish) released a couple of albums of charmingly cosy indie folk pop in the late 2000s, and now joins the class of comeback kids of 2026 with her first album in 15-odd years. The music isn't quite as quixotic as it used to be - "matured" is perhaps a word one might use to describe the new album's vibe - but Nielsen is still such a magnetic singer and you just feel immediately welcomed and warm when her voice beckons you to sit down among her acoustic mid-tempo musings. A more nuanced take on the ideas of the initial albums, but still oh so compelling to come back to over and over again.

Spring Silver - Mixed Race

I bought Spring Silver's previous album 2024 album Don't You Think It's Strange?" on a complete whim last AnthroCon (the excellent Sonic Sez riffing shirt at their merch table played a part of it) and that turned out to be an excellent little grab. The new album Mixed Race is everything the previous album offered but lusher and deeper: the rock parts rock harder, the electronic parts are sleeker, the dance elements more infectiously groovy. There's so much lushness, atmosphere and passion in this that I'm having a little honeymoon phase. Even went out of my way to get a CD copy even though they don't ship it directly to the UK.

Remi Wolf - Mud

In a recent Revisit of the Week post I was talking about how excited I was about Remi Wolf, and ironically her third album isn't really grabbing me. Lot more muted and one note, giving plenty of space for her impressive pipes but otherwise finding it a little.. beige. It's got its highlights and I appreciate her trying something different, but maybe just not the mode where we meet the closest (based on first impressions). But "Twiggy" at least has proven to be a great addition into her singles collection.

Hoard Updates

CD

Digital

October's horde of a hoard is the result of two particular variables. One, the busy release schedule obviously contributed to the amount of things heading my way. Two, a lot of bigger orders and pre-orders happened to also come through this month: that includes a bunch of Finnish albums I ordered together with the new Litku Klemetti album, the Blue Prince OST (a really beautiful ambient journey) and the Sidney Gish albums for the first time on CD. Elsewhere it's mainly business as usual. I continue with my Uncle Tupelo explorations, I picked up missing back catalogue entries from Craig Finn and W.H. Lung after recent events (seeing Finn live for the former, the announcement of their split for the latter).

The digital release was another Bandcamp Friday job. The main curio here is the Black Hill & Cousin Silas album which was recommended to me via Bluesky, and the ambient americana soundscape of it tapped into my nerve with just the right power that it became an easy BC Friday whim shop.

Music reviews

Some strides taken in the Daft Punk discography run, and I reviewed the rest of the Sonic Riders soundtracks.

Most played song of the month according to Last.FM

It's Lemonator's iconic-in-my-world single "Once I Killed a Boy With a Girl", from the afore-listed The Waltz. A standout bit of Finndie Flintcore. It's a shame the music video has seemingly become lost media - the crude CGI animation had a great vibe to it.

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