@thebordellos reacts to new releases from @darrenhayman Adjustable Mustard, Antoine Bellanger @UJNSQ , Difficult, Goldscammer, Railcard @SkepWax monolithcocktail.com/2026/10…

The October Digest. @thebordellos The Clean Crime Scene, August Cooke, Josh Johnson @intlanthem Ocean Moon & Silver Ley, Qualm, Séismes. Plus this year's Halloween Playlist. monolithcocktail.com/2026/10…

This month's Perusal features disturbing sonic trauma from Iran, combative guitars, exhilarating jazz and Occitan rave-ups. Brama. @intlanthem Jeremiah Chiu. @allisonAdegroot & Rich Ruth. Antonio Raia @kohlhaasrecords monolithcocktail.com/2026/10…

The Sept choice new music revue: Cover star @Juganaut is joined by @DhaniHarrison @megiapa @YourOldDroog @boycalledcrow @BaBa_ZuLa_ENG @che_noir @ActualJamBaxter @analogafrica @XquiMusic @MikeGaleMusic and many more.... monolithcocktail.com/2026/09…

Thanks this month to @BrimUpNorth & @thebordellos for suggesting tracks for the September Playlist of choice new music. monolithcocktail.com/2026/09…

The September Perusal offering of new & upcoming reviews. Starring Dhani Harrison and Nigel Godrich's psychedelic trip-hop collab Dragonflies, @thebordellos Devon Church @leenalchi @megiapa @intlanthem Stylianos Ou... monolithcocktail.com/2026/09…

Detuned souk-rock-prog-math grooves from @AngineDPoitrine I find them mesmerising, though detractors are out to spoil the fun - I'm finding them almost Monty Python-esque....which is a good thing. youtube.com/watch?v=38rvtcwh…

Yes, I’ve been converted. I won’t lie, I’m energised and excited. There’s nothing entirely new here, but something life-affirming and fun. They’re totally ludicrous! And all the better for it.

And in places the action goes full alien amplified balalaika like, a leap into the Caucuses or even the Black Sea. But just as you get an angle, they suddenly take on a more familiar to Western ears hard rock sound whilst playing fiddle to Indonesian mysticism....

I believe that the guitar is even replicating at times a fuzzed-up shredding saz ala Baba Zula style. And then there’s the Russian dimension; ‘Yor Zarad’ from their latest Vol II LP can be translated into that dialect as “air charge”...

It’s what gives that sound its edge or almost detuned skewered groove; a psychedelic and hardcore transmogrified channelling of famous songs and beats from Egypt, Tunisia, Istanbul, Mali (I’m hearing the Tuareg here) and the Middle East..

At this stage, and with everyone from King Gizzard and Beefheart to Tool, Primus, the Cardiacs, jazz fusion, hardcore, math rock being cited, I’m surprised more hasn’t been made out of their microtonal origins: i.e. the Arabian, the Turkish and African influences...

And with such clever artistry, despite it really being just one bloke with an Ikea wash basket on his head playing a dual bass and guitar (I believe a Stratocaster, so maybe a Fender bass, perhaps a Precession, too) and another big nosed phallic twanged bell jar masked drummer..

They’ve already produced a couple of albums, performed and fronted untold festivals – including playing to the mad 70,000 plus scale audience at the Montreal jazz festival. I’d say they achieved it all....

I think it serves the duo as an outlet to experiment, have fun, have a ball without the scrutiny. If it no longer serves that purpose, becomes a drag, and the critics and trolls and naysayers start to pile on, then it’s a simple task to disrobe and start again...