DEARDARKHEAD – The Pendulum Swings

Deardarkhead whip up a superb sound on ‘Letting Go’. Building from a solid bassline, the number takes a mid tempo groove and layers that with a soaring guitar that shares a very lyrical sounding melody. The lead guitar tone is beautiful, bringing a pinch of very commercial goth to an already great sound. A key track on an instrumental album, the music here is so strong that a vocal really isn’t missed, despite Deardarkhead sharing something that would typically find space for a spacey, studio treated voice to bring an extra layer of atmosphere. In and out in a little over three minutes, this number relies on absolutely no padding, and as the last notes fade, you might feel a definite urge to hit the repeat button… This is an absolutely stunning track, and it turned out to be perfect way to advertise ‘The Pendulum Swings’ via a pre-release since, although the rest of the album is quite varied, it often resembles this track in a way that really doesn’t disappoint.

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TARKOVSKY: Cold Spring issues lavish 5CD box set of film scores

Andrei Tarkovsky has long been considered one of the most important figures in the history of Russian cinema. He died in 1986, at the age of 54, following a battle with cancer which left fans of world cinema forever wondering what he could’ve achieved had he lived a full and rich life. Nevertheless, his 1983 film ‘Nostalgia’ is something that, once seen, is never forgotten. The slow climax featuring one of the lead characters slowly traversing an empty swimming pool mightn’t be one of the big screen’s most epic scenes, but it shows perfectly how Tarkovsky was a man who was fully aware of how much tension could be gleaned from something so relatively mundane.

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Watch: Stay For Tomorrow share new video for ‘The Fallout’

In August 2026, Stay For Tomorrow released ‘Nuisance’, a hard hitting single that paired massive sounding, grunge influenced riffs with thoughtful lyrics concerning mental health issues and the importance of staying positive. In terms of presenting a full picture, it quickly became one of the Scottish rock band’s most important recordings.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #174

The Real Gone Singles Bar has always championed emerging talents, but in terms of doing so, this week’s column goes an extra mile, casting a spotlight on a couple of Scottish singer songwriters, a fantastic new track from a fantastic Irish performer and a US singer going against geographical location. For those who came to hear a couple of newer rock singles, we’ve got those too: one from a familiar name continuing their run of great releases, and one from a new band we hope will be big in 2027. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy.

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THE MORNING LINE – Stars

There’s so much new music being released in the modern world, it’s become all too easy to miss the good stuff. This fact hasn’t escaped The Morning Line. Their 2026 release ‘Stars’ provides a handy recap of the best bits of the San Franciscan band’s catalogue, even stretching as far as including a couple of the year’s singles. It’s more than a standard compilation, though; for those who’ve been on board for a while, there’s still interest, since ‘Stars’ goes to the effort of remixing some of the previously released stuff to bring it up to scratch. With that in mind, and whichever way you look at it, ‘Stars’ has all the makings of a career defining disc, showcasing a superb blend of college rock, power pop and other retro sounds.

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