After The Noise
Everything Is Equal
Friday 12 June 2026
Gaskin, Ellia Jaya, Wildish, Aaron Pfeiffer – Livin’ It Up
Welcome to another Friday exploring new music. The joys of being a 57-year old trying to grapple with the pop kids of today.
I’ve learned not to expect too much. It saves disappointment.
Straight away, I’m confronted with one of modern music’s great mysteries. Why does it take four or five people to create a song that sounds like it could have been made by one bloke in a bedroom?
That seems to be the way things are done now.
To be fair, this isn’t bad at all.
A decent beat. Fairly catchy. Toe-tapping enough.
Then comes the inevitable vocoder.
Honestly, is there an unwritten law in modern pop stating that every vocalist must pass through a vocoder before release?
Didn’t see Morrissey spend his career fiddling around with vocoders.
Still, complaints aside, this is perfectly serviceable pop music for 2026.
The problem is that I’ll probably never hear it again.
Four or five people involved and all I’m left with is:
- a beat
- a bassline
- a keyboard
- a vocal
Surely somebody is getting an easy ride here. More silly artist names. Gaskin? Wildish? Brain baffled.
YHWH Nailgun – Stillness Blues
Now this is different.
For a moment I thought we were getting tribal drums and atmosphere.
Then the vocals arrive.
Not so much singing as a controlled collapse.
Excellent.
A minute and twenty seconds long and I’m wondering what on earth has just happened. The sort of thing I could imagine John Peel playing back in the day. Which immediately makes it more interesting than most of the playlist.
It’s noisy, aggressive and slightly ridiculous.
A welcome break from the usual algorithmic wallpaper. A slight relief that there are still things a little bit different out there.
ANOTR, 3DDY – It’s So Nice
Another collaboration.
Another name I don’t understand. Let alone pronounce. Damn, pesky pop stars! They’re such scamps!
Honestly, modern artist names look like somebody dropped a keyboard down the stairs.
That said, this is actually pretty good.
Everything sounds a little samey these days, but this has enough groove to lift my mood.
Which is useful because I’m still battling the world’s most stubborn June cold.
I didn’t even take Bowie out today. He didn’t seem too bothered. Bastard shat in the house twice today. But, you cannot be mad with his little tyke face too long. I’ve noticed him sneezing too, so maybe he’s got a little of what I have.
Managed to get to Superdrug and purchase more supplies of Lemsip. It just won’t go away.
I’ve layered up, hoping to sweat the thing out.
Tomorrow morning involves a Skoda service in Stockport, which is not currently filling me with joy.
The Weeknd was playing Manchester last night. And again tonight. Two nights at the Etihad Stadium. That baffles me as much as these names.
Why remove the “e” from weekend?
Perhaps this is simply what happens when you get older.
You stop questioning the music and start questioning the spelling.
Still, credit where it’s due.
Not bad at all.
Finn Wolfhound – Tunnels
Now we’re talking.
For starters, Tunnels is a decent song title. Simple. Memorable. No unnecessary punctuation or missing vowels.
Progress.
And then, miracle of miracles, actual music arrives.
Guitars.
Proper guitars.
No disco beats. No endless collaborations. No vocoder lurking around every corner waiting to pounce.
Fair play, Wolfhand.
Although I still have no idea whether Wolfhand is a band, a solo artist or somebody’s cat.
This isn’t revolutionary. It won’t change your life. Nothing really does at my age.
But it reminds me of bands like The Lemonheads, which is hardly a criticism.
There’s a decent hook here too.
I like hooks.
People often underestimate how much difference a good hook makes.
This is easily the strongest thing I’ve heard today.
Will it change my life?
No.
But then again, neither will most things.
Music can still move me though. Dead Can Dance proved that recently. Threshold completely blindsided me and sent me charging off into their catalogue.
That’s the joy of listening.
You never know when something will suddenly connect.
Debba – Crazy
Back to modernity.
At least this appears to be one artist rather than six producers and three featured guests spread across four countries.
That’s refreshing.
The title, however, is less inspiring.
Crazy.
I’m fairly certain that one’s been used before.
Several thousand times.
The song itself is pleasant enough.
Quite quirky.
A little repetitive.
Not that repetition is necessarily a bad thing. Some of my favourite songs rely on repetition.
It just needs something extra.
Halfway through, somebody drives past in a Jaguar making more noise than the song itself.
An unexpected highlight. The Jag, not the tune.
Hanbee – Call Me Yours
Another artist name that sounds like it emerged from a brainstorming session involving sleep deprivation and a broken keyboard.
Once again, we’re in the territory of pleasant modern pop. With a daft name. Hanbee appears to be one of those girlie singer-songwriter type people. Not enough of them on the market!
A decent voice.
A decent tune.
Nothing particularly offensive.
Nothing particularly thrilling.
I find myself thinking the same thing over and over again.
Pleasant enough.
Without being thrilling.
In many ways, that sums up much of the new music I’ve heard recently.
Competent.
Professional.
Perfectly listenable.
Yet rarely capable of making me sit up and think:
“Bloody hell, what’s this?”
Perhaps that’s unfair.
Perhaps it’s my age.
Or perhaps I’m still waiting for the next song to surprise me. I don’t hold out too many hopes!
END OF LISTENING LOG
The Listening Log 