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  • Gorillaz Reach The Mountain + New Music from Heavenly, Voxtrot and Jupe Jupe

    Cover of Gorillaz The Mountain
    The Mountain, by Gorillaz is out now


    If your taste in music lives at the intersection of 1980s alternative, 1990s Britpop and 2000s indie- and if we know each other IRL, there’s a good chance it is- then this is your week for new music.  Heavenly just dropped their first full-length album in 30 years! Plus, Voxtrot has released their first new album since the MySpace era. And, of course, you know Gorillaz are back. Reviews for all three albums , plus the latest album from Jupe Jupe, a Seattle band who really gets why people still love the new wave bangers, are below.

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  • Peaches Proclaims “No Lube So Rude” + More New Music

    Apparat A Hum of Maybe album cover

    Not to date myself here, but I’ve been around long enough to remember the pre-Shazam days when “Fuck the Pain Away” was the new club jam that had people asking, “Who is this?” That said, in my timeline, a new Peaches album is cause for much celebration. No Lube So Rude, the first album from Peaches in over a decade, is out today. But, that’s not all. We also have new albums from Apparat, Mirah and Night Ritualz available now. Keep reading for my reviews.

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  • Mariachi El Bronx, Charli xcx and More New Music

    Mariachi el Bronx IV album cover

    It’s time for another album review round-up. This week, we have new releases from Mariachi el Bronx, Felsmann + Tiley and Charli xcx, plus albums from KMFDM and Lapêche that were released in the past few weeks.

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  • New Music from Sébastien Tellier, Kula Shaker and Sam Quealy

    Sebastien Tellier Kiss the Beast album cover

    Technically, this is last week’s batch of album reviews, but I put the list on hold until today. Sébastien Tellier, Kula Shaker and Sam Quealy all released new full-length albums on January 30. Musically, they are all very different, but, each one is quite worthy of your attention. Check out the reviews and then follow the links to find where you can stream or purchase them.

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  • Sextile, Pixel Grip + More of What You Heard at Synthwaves 1/23/26

    Synthwaves Grand Star Jazz Club January 23, 2026
    View from the DJ booth at Synthwaves, 1/23/26

    Last night was Club Underground x Synthwaves at the Grand Star. I played the second half of the night in the Synthwaves room, upstairs. Crowd was great, as always. I was happy to get to work in some Italo disco at the end of the night and to close with “Cherry” by Chromatics, which I don’t play out all that often. For those of you who were there, thanks for dancing! Set list is below. New-ish stuff, basically 2025 releases, link back to other mentions here on Beatique. 

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  • Robbie Williams on “Morrissey” and Britpop + More New Music

    Robbie Williams Britpop album cover

    I’m trying to catch up on new releases, so the following reviews are for music that came out in January, but not necessarily today and, not everything released on January 23, 2026 appears in this post. This week’s batch of reviews includes Robbie Williams Britpop, The Cribs Selling a Vibe, Maria Somerville Luster (Remixes) and Draag Miracle Drug. Keep reading for the details.

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  • Xiu Xiu’s Creepy Covers Album + More New Releases

    Xiu Xiu Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 album cover
    Xiu Xiu Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1

    There aren’t enough hours in the day to listen to all of this week’s new releases, but I managed to sit down with a few of them, including Xiu Xiu’s new cover album, Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, Sleaford Mods The Demise of Planet X, Sylvia Black Shadowtime and Tigra and SPNCR Black Rice. Scroll down for the reviews. 

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  • Album Review: Dry Cleaning ‘Secret Love’

    Album cover of Secret Love by Dry Cleaning

    “Hit My Head All Day,” the first single and lead track from Secret Love, the latest album from Dry Cleaning, has been in DJ queue for months now. It’s a song that I keep meaning to drop into a set, but for some reason haven’t yet. It’s such a weird little jam, a slice of ‘80s-style post-disco for the 2020s doomscroller with echoes of Flying Lizards and Dominatrix and the title repeated throughout the song. It’s slow— languid, really— which is probably why I haven’t played it out yet, but the groove is tight. It actually feels like you’re dragging yourself through another day of bad news to the beat of a world that’s on the verge of collapse, which is a very fucked up way to describe a song that you like, but its also art. It’s not supposed to be all hands-in-the-air escapism all the time. And there’s a catharsis that comes with that. 

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  • Purity Ring Builds a Better World On Stage at The Novo

    Purity Ring live at The Novo on November 12, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Purity Ring at The Novo 11/12/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

    A few songs into their set on Wednesday night, Megan James of Purity Ring thanked the crowd for masking up. She talked about a world where we are “caretakers of the land we live on,” where there are no prisons or genocide. “It starts at home with material care for others,” she told the crowd, “like wearing a mask. No one is going to save us. We care for each other. We keep each other safe. Free Palestine.” 

    The night began with security passing out masks near the entrance to The Novo It ended with guards near the photo pit handing out water bottles to people in the crowd, something I have never seen happen at a show before this one. All of this connects to Purity Ring’s new, self-titled concept album, which was released in September. Inspired by RPGs like Nier Automata and Final Fantasy X, the album is itself a soundtrack for an imagined game, wherein the characters’ quest is to built a better world. 

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  • Why I Went to the No Kings Rally in Downtown Los Angeles, 10/18/25

    A balloon of Donald Trump as a scowling, oversized orange baby in a diaper floats over the crowd at No Kings events in downtown Los Angeles. October 18, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    A balloon of Donald Trump as a scowling, oversized orange baby in a diaper floats over the crowd at No Kings events in downtown Los Angeles on 10/18/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

    Right in front of Los Angeles City Hall, a massive inflatable Trump, scowling, raccoon-eyed and decked out in a diaper, hovered over the crowd. “Dump Trump” read the sign just below the inflatable, a caricature of the former reality TV star as an Oompa Loompa positioned like a turd hanging from the big orange baby’s bottom. Not too far from there was an old, worn couch tagged with “JD Vance was here.” 

    In the crowd, there was a zooful of people dressed in inflatable animal costumes, hippos, bears, chickens and, of course, frogs, amongst them. People hoisted signs loaded with dick jokes and memes. But, it wasn’t all comedy. “If there’s money for a parade? Then there’s money for Medicaid,” read a sign posted on a trashcan. Refuse Fascism set up an installation with photos of those who have been disappeared.

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