KURT BAKER – Undertow Afterglow / My Brave Face

Despite being a prolific artist, singer songwriter Kurt Baker experienced a creative lull in 2025. Due to a change in personal circumstances – spearheaded by a massive change of location and a divorce – over the course of the year, he only released one digital single, before bowing out with a contribution to Wicked Cool Records’ Xmas compilation. Eventually buoyed by new writing partnership, his big return with ‘Undertow Afterglow’ puts the Kurt Baker stamp on a new year – and effectively a new beginning – in record time, appearing barely a week into 2026.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #138

With January now underway, this visit to the Singles Bar offers a great and varied selection of new and recent sounds. We’ve got a pair of power pop bangers, the return of some industrial legends, some alternative electronica from a band making their debut in 2026, and more besides. There should be more than enough here to remind people that Real Gone is so much more than “a metal site”, setting us off with best foot forward for the coming year! As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy…

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RAYON – Shopping / Running

Rayon’s ‘Colour’ album – released in October 2022 – presented twelve tracks of pleasingly angular indie/post rock throughout a vinyl friendly forty minutes. Although there were times when main man Eric Sabatino’s work couldn’t claim to be one hundred percent original, the best bits of that long player were hugely entertaining. The highlights really showed off a band who could work a great riff: ‘Canada’ attacked with a harsh guitar sound coupled with a funky bassline, sounding like a deep cut from XTC’s ‘Drums & Wires’ before introducing a faintly psychedelic vocal; ‘Come Along’ mixed classic indie rock riffs with a finely tuned sinister edge, occasionally sounding like Robyn Hitchcock fronting the early 80s Cure, and ‘Blue Nights’ applied a fierce jangle and contrasted that with a vocal that was far more attuned with a dream pop sound, creating something surprisingly effective.

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Listen: UltraBomb share new single ‘Artificial Stars’

Some bands look great on paper, even before you’ve heard a note. That certainly applies to alt rock/melodic punkers UltraBomb. Featuring musicians associated with Minneapolis scene legends Soul Asylum and Hüsker Dü along with a member of Social Distortion, Ultrabomb is a legacy act in every sense.

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TOMBSTONES IN THEIR EYES – Under Dark Skies

Following 2024’s ‘Asylum Harbour’ – which featured a pair of very strong singles, ‘Mirror’ and ‘Gimme Some Pain’ – LA’s Tombstones In Their Eyes sound equally enthused on their sixth full length release ‘Under Dark Skies’. The record’s ten tracks take in some mighty riffs, mixing the huge sounds of shoegaze with the haziness of old school psych, adding a pinch of blues and a sprinkling of goth along the way, to create something that’s often very rewarding.

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