What a week! Hope things are good with you. Me, I’m distracting myself as usual with lots of new music and today I review six new records, plus a look back at a Cocteau Twins album that sounds pretty great right now.

Over in Notable Releases there are reviews of new records by WU LYF (first in 15 years), Melvins & Napalm Death, and more.

This week’s episode of BV Interviews is a good one if I do say so myself: Bob Mould talks all things Sugar, not to mention Hüsker Dü, Hedwig, and lots more.

And on BV Weekly, Andrew and I continue our look back at 1996.

In other Basement-friendly news: Tacoma garage punks Girl Trouble are back; French duo and Indie Basement faves The Liminanas announced their first US tour in 15 years; surprise, we’re getting a Nine Inch Noize album next week; Harry Styles booked Getdown Services (and other cool acts) to play the 2026 Meltdown Fest; and it was a good week to be an Angine de Poitrine fan.

Head below for this week’s reviews.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Station Model Violence – Station Model Violence (Anti Fade / Static Shock)
Total Control frontman moves to Sydney, forms new band, releases debut. It rips.

If you’ve found yourself wondering, “Hey, what’s up with Total Control?” the answer is not much. The Melbourne band who raged near the epicenter of the city’s incestuous, mullet-clad “dolewave” post-punk scene haven’t played live since 2020 and the members have scattered. Mikey Young settled down with Grass Widow’s Raven Mahon, making music together as The Green Child, but is otherwise best known these days as a mastering engineer. But for those who miss Total Control, singer Daniel Stewart — now based in Sydney — has a new group called Station Model Violence, and they’re awesome.

Stewart formed Station Model Violence in 2024 with Buz Clatworthy, who also records as R.M.F.C. Clatworthy’s guitar style goes a long way toward making the band — and their self-titled debut — not just a Total Control clone, even if there’s plenty of shared DNA. Along with the incendiary, angular shredding, he leans heavily on 12-string guitar, adding a chiming, jangly shimmer to these hard-hitting songs. In that sense, he recalls Daniel Ash, and there’s more than a little Bauhaus here; Stewart’s voice can easily slip into that same menacing, melodramatic mode.

Station Model Violence is heavy, darkly glam, melodic, psychedelic, punishing, and hypnotic. It’s the kind of record where you put it on and immediately think, “Oh yeah, this is the stuff.” It absolutely rips. You might want to head straight to “Heat,” the band’s first single, built on a descending riff and tom-heavy drumming that just keeps building, adding hooks along the way. It’s eight minutes long, but the groove is so strong it could go on for 80 and you wouldn’t get bored.

On either side of “Heat” are full-throttle burners (“Drip Away,” “Falling Down”), slashing anthems (“Learn to Hate,” “Immolation”), goth sea shanties (“Cliffs”), crystalline ballads (“Two Eyes for an Eye”), and songs that recall The Chameleons’ blend of muscularity and empathy (“Leisure,” “Crepe Throne”). It’s all different shades of grey — sometimes nearing black, sometimes shining bright and white-hot — with enough textural variety (hello, saxophone) to captivate across its perfect 38-minute runtime. Oh, and Mikey Young mastered the album, bringing everything as full circle as you can get. Sure, new Total Control would be nice, but having Station Model Violence instead is no compromise.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Hannah Lew – Hannah Lew (Night School)
The former Grass Widow and Cold Beat bassist blooms on her solo debut

One of the most underrated bands of the 2010s, Cold Beat were led by onetime Grass Widow bassist Hannah Lew, who explored her love of early synthpop and post-punk while never forgetting to write a great song. With each album, Cold Beat got prettier, more human, and more empathetic, while musically heading further into pure vintage electronic territory. Following 2022’s excellent War Garden, Lew has now gone solo — a natural progression — with what might be her most fully realized album to date.

Like War Garden, songcraft is front and center on Lew’s eponymous debut, and these nine songs would sound fantastic on acoustic guitar, but here they’re presented as an electronic garden overflowing with flora that blooms as you listen. The vocal arrangements are especially inspired: the descending countermelody harmonies on “Another Twilight,” the understated delivery of “Move in Silence,” and the gorgeous chorus of “Sunday.” That’s not to discount the rest of the sound — hooks stack on hooks as you’re enveloped in a swirling mass of arpeggiations, ethereal guitar washes, and Lew’s ever-present, driving basslines.

There are bangers, too: “Replica” is ABBA by way of Gary Numan, “Damaged Melody” recalls Book of Love, and the aforementioned “Another Twilight” is ethereal disco bliss. Then there are perfect pop songs like “Distance of the Moon” and “The Clock,” which close out this wonderful album on a high. Is it over too soon? Maybe. But that’s as good an excuse as any to hit play again.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #3: My New Band Believe – My New Band Believe (Rough Trade)
black midi’s Cameron Picton mathy punk for acoustic, high drama sophistipop with My New Band Believe

Many were sad when mathy Londoners black midi broke up two years ago, but I’m enjoying the burning embers more than the original fire. At first, most of the attention focused on Geordie Greep, who burst out of the gate with his impressively wigged-out The New Sound. The band’s other singer/guitarist, Cameron Picton, kept a lower profile but emerged last year with a solo project that has since evolved into My New Band Believe.

Picton has gone even further afield than Greep with MNBB, but in a more grounded way. Acoustic guitars are at the center of this pretty, lushly arranged record that at times recalls the string-laden, wildly romantic sophistipop of the ’80s. Songs flow into one another, swooping daringly with the melodrama of a film score, as Picton moves the action from Paris to Seville and then to London for a little English prog. You can’t take all the math out of him after all.

Interestingly, My New Band Believe announced a non-LP single, “Numerology,” which is out today as well and was perhaps too singular a pop song to squeeze onto the album. And the day before the album’s release he shared another new song. Picton is moving fast and it’s exciting to think where he’ll land next.

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Squarepusher – Kammerkonzert (Warp)
Circuits are swapped for chamber strings but ‘Kammerkonzert’ still sounds like Squarepusher

For his 16th album as Squarepusher, Tom Jenkinson forgoes bonkers electronics in favor of strings, horns, woodwinds, and live drums. (Or at least what sound to be; Jenkinson is the only listed artist and computers have gotten very good at mimicking real things.) At times Kammerkonzert recalls ’70s jazz fusion, Ennio Morricone at his most ornate, or the composerly “New Music” of the ’80s, all filtered through skittering arrangements that hint at his IDM beginnings by way of a chamber ensemble. On “K4 Fairlands,” Jenkinson’s past bleeds into his present as timpani turn into squelchy beats and French horns give way to an 8-bit wall of sound. Even with oboes and flutes, Squarepusher can still do your head in.

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Mei Semones – Kurage (Bayonet)
Mei offers up a quick trip to the tropics in between albums

NYC polymath Mei Semones follows up her wonderful 2025 debut album, Animaru, with this equally enjoyable EP, which finds her collaborating with different musicians on all three tracks. Things begin with the dizzying bossa nova of “Koneko,” a duet with Brazilian/English singer-songwriter Liana Flores. “Tooth Fairy,” meanwhile, features the vocals of fellow Brooklynite and bandleader John Roseboro. Finally, there’s the gentle, breezy title track “Kurage,” featuring Mei’s father, Don Semones, who is “a chemical engineer by day and euphonium player by night.” For those wishing for more of Mei’s melding of tropicalia and fuzzy indie rock, this EP stays strictly in the tropics and that’s a perfect soundtrack to sunny day, or one you wish was.

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Pictish Trail – Life Slime (Fire)
Tuung’s Mike Lindsay helps Johnny Lynch make one of his most all-encompassing Pictish Trail albums yet

As DIY indie vet Pictish Trail, Johnny Lynch rarely makes the same album twice, while still staying (mostly) within the lines of idiosyncratic psychedelic pop. Life Slime, which might be his 10th album depending on how you’re counting, is more like all his albums at once. Lynch recorded it with Mike Lindsay of Tuung, making this one even more folktronic than usual. Lynch balances quirky earworms with trips to outer space, the deep ocean, and the extremes of autotune, while still making room for plenty of dayglo slime. Actually, I take that back — all of Lynch’s records are the same: they may sound different, but they’re all unmistakably Pictish Trail.

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INDIE BASEMENT CLASSIC: Cocteau Twins – Victorialand (4AD, 1986)
Cocteau Twins, take me away!

Days like these — meaning the mood, not the weather — were made for Victorialand. Stressed out from the gig economy, whoever we’re at war with now, global warming, or just hitting “Select All,” lie back and put this on, and within 30 seconds of “Lazy Calm” you will feel better. Cocteau Twins’ fourth album was made by just guitarist Robin Guthrie and “Voice of God” singer Liz Fraser — bassist and multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde was busy working on This Mortal Coil’s Filigree and Shadow — and primarily features acoustic guitars, with occasional saxophone by Richard Thomas of fellow 4AD group Dif Juz.

Those are heavily treated acoustic guitars, mind you, and with Fraser’s layered vocals it makes for the most featherlight album of their career. Victorialand is a truly lovely record, especially for those who just want Guthrie’s guitar and Fraser’s voice, and it’s perhaps more about mood than melody. That’s no slight — this is magisterial, transportive stuff. It’s also largely free of the ’80s signifiers that mark the rest of their work from that decade, making it arguably their most evergreen release. You can put this on repeat while you work and never get sick of it, and I’ve personally fallen asleep to it more nights than I can remember. What I don’t forget: how great Victorialand is.

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THE MOON & THE MELODIES: 12 SONGS FEATURING ELIZABETH FRASER

This Mortal Coil – “A Song to the Siren”

Most people want Elizabeth Fraser for her voice’s more angelic qualities, but she’s got quite the range, and her lower register can be just as transportive, as this spine-tingling cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren” proves. This Mortal Coil was the recording project of 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer, and “Song to the Siren” — Ivo’s favorite song of all time — was TMC’s debut single in 1983. With guitar from Robin Guthrie, it remains one of the most unforgettable showcases for Fraser’s emotive pipes. This Mortal Coil’s version has touched a lot of people over the years, perhaps none more so than filmmaker David Lynch, who has called it his favorite piece of music ever. He was obsessed with “Song to the Siren” during the making of Blue Velvet, and wanted Fraser and Guthrie to perform it in the film, but usage rights were out of the film’s budget. Lynch eventually got to use it 10 years later in Lost Highway. “That song does something to me, for sure,” Lynch told The Guardian.

Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser – “All Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” (demo)

Jeff Buckley loved This Mortal Coil’s cover of his father’s “Song to the Siren,” and the musical admiration was mutual, as Fraser was enamored with Jeff Buckley’s album Grace. Their mutual admiration grew into a short but passionate love affair somewhere around 1994, which was not long after her relationship with Robin Guthrie ended. (Cocteau Twins continued till 1997.) “I just couldn’t help falling in love with him,” she said in BBC documentary Jeff Buckley – Everybody Here Wants You. “I read his diaries, he read mine. We’d just swap…I’ve never done that with anybody else.” While it didn’t last, at least one song was written during their relationship. “All the Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” is a gorgeous duet between Buckley and Fraser, with Jeff singing the chorus of “Oh, all flowers in time bend towards the sun / I know you say that there’s no-one for you / But here is one.” It’s a rough demo that has never been commercially released, but you don’t really need much more than their voices to have you wondering what could have been.

Elizabeth Fraser w/ Massive Attack at Radio City Music Hall, 2019 (photo by P Squared)

Massive Attack – “Teardrop”

Elizabeth Fraser’s most popular song, Cocteau Twins or otherwise, is probably “Teardrop,” one of three songs she sings on Massive Attack’s 1998 album Mezzanine. It is the trip hop group’s biggest UK hit, reaching #10, and it went to #1 in Iceland, and in the ’00s became known as the theme song to TV show House. Liz says she learned of Jeff Buckley’s death while recording it which influenced her lyrics. “I’d got letters out and I was thinking about him,” Fraser told The Guardian. “That song’s kind of about him – that’s how it feels to me anyway.” Interestingly, the track was almost given to Madonna. Massive Attack’s Mushroom sent Madonna the instrumental and she really wanted to make it a single of her own. No disrespect to Madge but we’re glad 3D and Daddy G won out. She can still belt it out, too.

Felt – “Primitive Painters”

One of the great UK indie singles — and duets — of the mid-’80s came about through happenstance. Felt, the cult band led by the iconoclastic Lawrence, hired Robin Guthrie to produce their 1985 album Ignite the Seven Cannons, the centerpiece of which was “Primitive Painters,” with its hypnotic, cyclical riff. (You’re right, it does sound a little like Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City.”) Liz Fraser came to visit Guthrie in the studio while Felt were working on the song, and he had the idea to have her sing on it. Lawrence told Uncut: “He just played her the end section. I wrote the lyrics out for her on a piece of paper, she went in, listened to it once on headphones, and then just improvised around it. It was as real as that. It was a remarkable moment. When you listen back to something like that, we knew we’d got it.” A classic was born.

photo by Barnaby Roper

Jónsi – “Cannibal”

One wonders if The Cocteau Twins didn’t inspire all of what we think of as “Icelandic music” — the kind that sounds like glaciers and waterfalls — even if just through osmosis. Sigur Ros certainly got compared to the Cocteaus a lot when they first started, though the band always claimed they’d never listened to them. (Never?) “I really didn’t like that,” says Sigur Ros’ Jónsi of the comparisons. “I hated being compared to anybody. Then I got really into Cocteau Twins like two or three years ago. They’re so good. I understood the comparison then.” Thankfully he came around as it’s given us “Cannibal” from Jónsi’s new solo album. It’s the sound of two one-of-a-kind, unearthly voices meeting in the heavens.

Dif Juz – “Love Insane”

Dif Juz were one of 4AD’s early signings, an instrumental post-punk group whose sound fell somewhere between Cocteau Twins’ ethereal wash and Dead Can Dance’s baroque orchestrations. (The mix proved influential on the ’90s post-rock scene.) Their 1985 album Extractions features this beautiful collaboration with Fraser that pairs her voice with delicate piano and saxophone. The group’s Richard Thomas would return the favor by playing saxophone on Cocteau Twins’ 1986 album Victorialand.

Ian McCulloch – “Candleland”

Here’s another case of two iconic ’80s voices coming together to make magic. Echo & the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch brought in Fraser to sing on the title track of his 1989 solo debut. “Candleland” has a bit of a Cocteau Twins sound to it, with a gentle melody and treated, arpeggiated guitars, and would probably be considered a pleasant but less impressive song without her. What really makes “Candleland” soar is the alchemy of McCulloch’s smoky croon and Fraser, who is at her most angelic here. The call-and-response at the end of the song could go on twice as long — three times — and would not get old. McCulloch & Fraser worked similar magic on “Heaven’s Gate” from his second solo album, Mysterio.

Medicine – “Time Baby 3”

Los Angeles shoegaze band Medicine were kind of America’s My Bloody Valentine, not afraid to mix harsh noise, ethereal beauty and electronica in new and cool ways. The band appeared in the 1993 film The Crow, performing a rocking version of Time Baby II” in a club scene. The Crow soundtrack, however, featured a dreamy remix of the song by Robin Guthrie, dubbed “Time Baby III.” Guthrie added some of his signature guitar stylings and brought in Liz Fraser for backing vocals. Most of what Fraser does is subtle, but then she unleashes her full power on some “no no nos,” sending things into the stratosphere.

Elizabeth Fraser – “Moses”

Fraser hasn’t made much music under her own name since the Cocteau Twins disbanded. She released a limited edition single, “Underwater,” in 2000 (only 200 pressed); contributed a cover of Chic’s “At Last I Am Free” to Rough Trade’s 25th anniversary cover comp Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before; and she put out this 2009 single which she released as a tribute to her friend and Echo & The Bunnymen collaborator Jake Drake-Brockman, who died that year. Made with her partner, drummer Damien Reese (Lupine Howl, Massive Attack, EATB), “Moses” rides a trip hop vibe by way of the French Riviera, but Fraser’s voice is really the main instrument, with layer upon layer of gorgeous harmonies.

Howard Shore – “Lothlorien (feat. Gandalf’s Lament)” (from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

When you’re making movies out of some of the most beloved fantasy novels of all time — say, The Lord of the Rings series — it’s good to have access to a “Voice of God” who is used to singing in invented languages. Director Peter Jackson and composer Howard Shore brought in Fraser for The Fellowship of the Ring scene where the Fellowship rests in Lothlórien, while the elves sing a lament for Gandalf. Needless to say, her Elvish is impeccable (skip to around 2:30 mark on the track to for Fraser’s entrance). They brought Fraser back for The Two Towers’“Isengaard Uleashed” sequence. Speaking of heavenly voices: Fellowship of the Ring‘s soundtrack also featured Enya.

Yann Tiersen – “Kala”

Composer Yann Tiersen, who gained fame in 2001 for his Amelie score, released Les Retrouvailles in 2005 which found him collaborating with a number of great vocalists, including Jane Birkin, Tindersticks frontman Stuart Staples and Fraser, who contributed to two songs on the album. “I was a huge fan of [Cocteau Twins] and of her voice,” Tiersen told The Beijinger. They wrote the fanciful, swooping and dramatic “Kala” together. “It’s like a very good moment in the studio we spent together…to see her working and see her ideas coming from nowhere. It was great.”

The Wolfgang Press – “Respect”

Chances are you’ve never heard Liz Fraser like this before. Certainly not since, either. The Wolfgang Press were a dark and brooding band signed to 4AD, cut from the same cloth as The Birthday Party but with an interest in funk, dub and drum machines. Having become fast friends with Liz and Robin of the Cocteau Twins, TWP asked Liz to sing on their debut EP…for a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” It’s true. Liz provides the “Just a little bit!” backing vocals in the chorus. “Our version was too rigid,” Wolfgang Press frontman Mark Allen said in 4AD chronicle Facing the Other Way. “It should have been thrashier, heavy, more tribal. It was almost comical by the end.” It’s probably the most comical song 4AD released in the ’80s, and more of a curio than anything else, but it’s nonetheless interesting to hear Fraser so outside her wheelhouse.