Notes From The Record Room: The Necks, Guerilla Toss, Dag och Natt, IRK, Anna von Hausswolff, SQUANDERERS
Record Room: Friday, 8/22
To whom it may interest,
I’ve been dealing with what I believe to be a sinus infection this week—scratchy throat, unpleasant post-nasal drip, behind-the-eye headache—so a solid night of sleep has been elusive. Hoping that I can gain a few hours this weekend so I can feel rested enough to concentrate on some of the writing and listening that I’ve been struggling to keep up with.
Autumn is approaching. With about four months left in 2025, I’m eager to find out how the year continues to play out in terms of upcoming albums and gigs. Admittedly, I’m still not completely decided on a top 10. It seems like an abundance of solid recordings have emerged in the past few months, which has made me rethink most of my placements. Setting myself on revisit mode to some extent moving forward.
The Necks
Disquiet
Northern Spy Records
Releases: 10/10/25
Disquiet will be the third consecutive release from Australian avant journeymen The Necks, this streak starting with 2023’s Travel and following with 2024’s Bleed. As intro to The Necks’ upcoming four-track / three-disc opus, “Causeway” begins with a slow and swelling tonal start that shifts into slight dissonance, eventually leading into some soulful improvisational keys. Necks tracks tend to find some balance with regard to the performance in spite of their penchant for organic movement and improvisation. It’s rare that the trio will loosen the reigns so much that these renderings collapse into scribbled discord, though “Causeway” comes close as the track interestingly shifts into an off-time rush of shuffling percussion, demonstrating some aggression as organ and piano keys talk over each other, content to argue without much of a pause till each perspective has been fully aired.
Once the clatter subsides, streaks of organ tone and ambient radiance intermingle, the earlier sonic frustration seemingly appeased.
Disquiet is planned for release on October 10th via Northern Spy Records.
Links:
The Necks — Official / Bandcamp
Northern Spy Records — Official / Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Clandestine Label Services:
On Disquiet, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This is their twentieth studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band’s existence.
Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured.
The music of The Necks has always carried a profound sense of shared responsibility –– between the players, of course, in their utter commitment to the improvisational –– but also between the work and its audience. With music so open, there are profound opportunities to choose: what to focus on, whether to focus at all, etc. Disquiet takes this further: there is no particular listening order prescribed. There is no “Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3.” The music itself seems to stretch time, and this presentation challenges ideas of sequencing. The Necks, one may argue, are a mode of discovery as much as they are a band.
Regarding the sound itself, The Necks’ signature restraint and textural depth remain, with subtle tonal shifts, evolving motifs, and roiling phases of keen and propulsive clatter, strains of subdued surprise and unmatched intentionality –– as ever, expansive and absorbing.
Guerilla Toss
You’re Weird Now
Sub Pop
Releases: 9/12/25
Awash in the colorful and fully-synthesized myriad of triumphant melodies and descending, busy swarms of staccato chirps, Guerilla Toss’s “CEO of Personal & Pleasure” is the latest single from their upcoming album, You’re Weird Now. Since around 2017’s GT Ultra, Guerilla Toss has shifted away from the eccentric art punk of Eraser Stargazer or Gay Disco, opting instead for more pop-leaning hooks and sugary textures.
Per GT vocalist, Kassie Carlson:
“Instead of marinating in the void, I’ve chosen to gaslight myself into greatness by firing my inner critic and reinstating myself as the slightly unhinged CEO of my own emotional start-up. The CEO of Personal & Pleasure doesn't have a 5-year delusion, but I do have dogs, vicious optimism, and a vague idea that being alive should occasionally feel good. Late-stage capitalism meets self-care nihilism ... and blooming from it, the CEO of Personal and Pleasure.”
There is a general sense of cheer-dressed-as-self-awareness (“Jaded by my own sense of meaningless identity”) that I quite enjoy about this track, its personal application seeming to comment slightly on the futility and / or myth of work-life balance.
You’re Weird Now is set to indoctrinate the normies on 9/12/25 via Sub Pop.
DAG och NATT
Years And Years
Labrador Records
Released: 8/15/25
A little late here: two months after surfacing, I checked out the single “Iron Man” from the now-released album, Years And Years, by Swedish dream pop outfit DAG och NATT. Lush and ethereal, I was immediately drawn to the stony edges of the bass rhythm and remarkable chill the guitar notes exude. There’s a vastness that you’ll hear in albums by Slowdive or BDRMM, an aural sheen in line with gazers, but there are darker elements here as well, a shadowiness cast against the ice that brings to mind 4AD bands like Cocteau Twins.
Admittedly, I’m still absorbing the full album, but “Iron Man” provides strong incentive to give Years And Years your attention.
The full album can be sampled here:
Links:
DAG och NATT — Bandcamp
Labrador Records — Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Stereo Sanctity:
Dag och Natt is a band from Stockholm, Sweden, whose music finds a delicate balance between density and lightness. Intricately layered melodies flow together fluidly, creating a sense of emotional movement. “We like to work with layers of melodies that live side by side,” the band explains. “They don’t fight for space – instead they support each other and know when to step forward or stay in the background, so the full picture becomes stronger.”
The three women at the heart of Dag och Natt – Elia Mårtensson Almegård, Maja Zetterberg, and Sara Engström – each take turns as vocalists, bringing shifting tone and texture to the music. Together with drummer Lars Blume Jensen, they craft songs that feel intuitive and lived-in, shaped by deep trust and a shared creative rhythm.
The band’s name, Dag och Natt (Day and Night), was chosen intentionally, reflecting their desire to explore emotional duality – the interplay between light and dark – through sound. Initially, the band considered forming two separate projects – one light and one dark – with the same members. However, they soon abandoned that concept in favor of bringing everything together under the name Dag och Natt.
Their debut album, Years and Years, is a collection of songs shaped by time and experience. “The title reflects the emotions and stories that have shaped us over the years,” they say. “It’s a way of capturing all that we've been through, and how it’s come together in the music.”
Themes of duality run throughout the record – joy and struggle, brightness and shadow, strength and vulnerability, connection and isolation, mirroring the interplay between day and night. “We live in a very individualistic society, where being alone is often seen as something strong,” they explain.“Many of the songs touch on the feeling of being together versus being alone, and how we sometimes shape our lives based on our own insecurities.”
Love, too, is central to the album – love for the people closest to us, the fear of losing them, and the quiet ways we carry one another through life. “Even if it’s not one clear story, there’s definitely a red thread in the lyrics – a mix of thoughts and emotions that connect the songs.”
Years and Years was recorded at their friend Mark’s home studio in the Swedish countryside. Drums were tracked behind shower doors, and most vocals were captured in Maja’s closet, surrounded by her collection of beautiful dresses. The result is a record that feels both grounded and expansive, marked by intimacy and openness.
At its core, Years and Years is a record about time, tenderness, and truth. It’s a reflection on what lingers—memories, fears, moments of closeness—and how those fragments shape us. Through layered melodies and unguarded lyrics, Dag och Natt offer a debut that’s both deeply personal and quietly universal: a soundtrack for feeling your way through the dark, together.
IRK
The Seeing House
Nefarious Industries
Released: 9/26/25
From Leeds, UK, IRK’s upcoming new album, The Seeing House, is preceded by the anxiety-inducing arithmetallic “Toothache In Prison” and the swampy and thudding “Idiot Plot.” As both tracks ably demonstrate the trio’s affinity for rhythmic irregularity and Unsane-level sonic viscosity, IRK answers the question “what would a collaboration between SKiN GRAFT and Amphetamine Reptile sound like?” Surely someone would’ve asked eventually, right?
The Seeing House will be issued 9/26/25 via Nefarious Industries.
A new single, “Idiot Plot,” recently premiered at MetalSucks.
Links:
IRK — Bandcamp / Instagram
Nefarious Industries — Official / Bandcamp / Instagram
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Earsplit PR:
MetalSucks is hosting the premiere of a new video from English experimental/noise rock trio, IRK, for “Idiot Plot.” The song marks the second single to drop preceding the band’s second LP, The Seeing House, nearing September release on Nefarious Industries.
The Seeing House sees IRK taking their already rambunctious sound to even more explosive sonic territory. Ten new tracks showcase the trio’s abrasive and rhythm-heavy sound, balancing the technical intensity of mathcore with the raw energy of noise rock to create a distinctive brand of angular, unpredictable music. Fans of Chat Pile, Prostitute, The Jesus Lizard, Cherubs, These Arms Are Snakes, KEN Mode, and even Meshuggah must hear IRK.
The Seeing House was recorded, mixed, and produced by Andrew Edwards and Matthew Deamer at Glide Studio in Leeds, UK, mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon (The Armed, Locrian, Deadguy), and completed with cover art by Kazland, and design and layout by Greg Meisenberg. Additionally, the string arrangement on “Lifetime Achievement Award” was handled by Jamie Chambers with cello on the song performed by Jenn Chubb, guitar on “My Life In Bins” was provided by Jack Evans, and gang vocals on “The Great Wasp Of Reluctance” and “Wedding, Berlin” were delivered by Stewart Ramsay, Kerry Ramsay, and Jenn Chubb.
Alongside the new song, IRK vocalist J.S. Gordon reveals, “‘Idiot Plot’ came together in a whirlwind of ritualistic shakshuka consumption and fervent readings of paperback books on chess strategy, with a bass and drum dialogue that Gregory Porter would waterslide into from a height most wuthering, it’s the musical equivalent of a Weezer song. The lyrics touch on a range of topics, none of which are relevant, but take my word for it when I say they send a clear message which aligns utterly with your own personal thoughts and feelings, and furthermore, expands on them in interesting new ways that you find compelling and sexy. Ultimately, there’s a lot I could say about this song, but it would be far more challenging, intriguing, and convenient, if you just listened to the thing and see what kind of rumbles it gives you - tum tum or bum bum?”
John Figler, who directed the video for the track, adds, “‘Idiot Plot’ is a technophobic breach of trust between friends.”
MetalSucks writes with their premiere of the track, “When the words 'noise' and ‘mathcore' precede a band's self-ascribed genre, the mind tends to race to the high speed, frenetic works of bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Boris. But ‘Idiot Plot,' the latest single from British experimental noise outfit IRK’s forthcoming record The Seeing House doesn’t really fall into those categories... ‘Idiot Plot' manages to plod along for a while with a steady pulse, its fury stemming from the fury in vocalist J.S. Gordon’s delivery.”
Anna von Hausswolff
ICONOCLASTS
YEAR0001
Releases: 10/31/25
Admittedly painting broad strokes as I generalize about the state of pop music in 2025, Anna von Hausswolff’s latest two singles, “Stardust” and “The Whole Woman, (which features vocal accompaniment from Iggy Pop), have her venturing away from pipe organ instrumentals and darker musings, instead composing a brand of pop interpreted through her own lens. “Stardust,” specifically, is aiming for lightness and movement, albeit through thoughtful arrangement and an overt melodic focus. “The Whole Woman” is more of a ballad, Pop’s deep and distinct croon contrasting well with von Hausswolff’s breathy falsetto. Pop being no stranger to the duet, (his performances with Kate Pierson for “Candy”, Debbie Harry for “Well, Did You Evah!”, and Le Butcherettes for “La Uva” come to mind), his presence here sounds fitting and comfortable.
ICONOCLASTS is due out this Halloween and will be Anna von Hausswolff’s first release from YEAR0001.
Links:
Anna von Hausswolff — Bandcamp / Instagram
YEAR0001 — Official / Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of another/side:
Revered Swedish musician and composer Anna von Hausswolff has announced her new album ICONOCLASTS, her first release with YEAR0001, due October 31. Throughout the years her releases cemented her as an artist of unpredictable and vast creativity – always moving forward, always melding tradition with experimentation in unimaginable ways.
Taking the pipe organ, with its ancient whirring character, as her instrument of choice, von Hausswolff’s sound has long played with the ethereal qualities of breath: of taking in, holding, and releasing it. This sometimes takes the form of colossal, doom-laden rock songs, and at other times, as intimate organ pieces. On ICONOCLASTS, her sound evolves again, bringing a poppier and more vibrant element to her moving songs. Produced by von Hausswolff and longtime collaborator Filip Leyman, it is an opus of stirring movement, anthemic ritualism, and maximalist composition, marking a new chapter in von Hausswolff's music and featuring appearances from Ethel Cain, Abul Mogard, Iggy Pop and Maria von Hausswolff.
Today she reveals lead singles “Stardust” and “The Whole Woman”, a moving duet with Iggy Pop. Of “Stardust”, von Hausswolff comments,
“Let's break up with basic convenience and established ideas of how to live life. Let's not roll our thumbs when the world is crumbling.”
Discussing “The Whole Woman”, she reflects: “Sometimes we need to throw ourselves into the deepest of waters and hold our breath as long as we can. Once we reach the surface we can see beyond the pettiness of life and speak only the truth. This love song is a tribute to the man who knows how to listen; it is for the woman who is brave enough to dive in.”
SQUANDERERS
SKANTAGIO
Shimmy-Disc
Released: 8/22/25
“Theme for Insufficient Overpreparation” is a bit of acoustic improv by SQUANDERERS, which is the work of Wendy Eisenberg, David Grubbs, and producer and Shimmy-Disc label founder, Kramer. While chaotic and lightly dissonant, the track exhibits an air of impending bad happenings, the trio at first conforming to a perceived meter and then very quickly finding their own divergent paths away from each other, a steady bass pluck not offering much of an anchor to a series of busy guitar phrases and off-register strums. The disorder, though, is understated since the volume is relatively low and the instrumentation is acoustic. It’s as if The Dirty Three composed and recorded a relentless whisper.
SKANTAGIO, SQUANDERERS’ second LP, was released 8/22/25 via Shimmy-Disc.
Links:
SQUANDERERS — Bandcamp
Wendy Eisenberg — Instagram / Substack
David Grubbs — Bandcamp / Instagram
Shimmy-Disc — Official / Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Tell All Your Friends:
Deemed a “sound-experimental supergroup" by Stereogum, SQUANDERERS is the trio of guitarists Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs alongside multi-instrumentalist and legendary producer Kramer. The group was born from a spontaneous, exploratory afternoon studio session — three renowned players coming together with only a shared curiosity: how do time and space conspire to create sound?
From that first meeting came If a Body Meet a Body, their debut collaboration, released this past November on Shimmy-Disc. Pitchfork's Raphael Helfand called the project “a testament to the transcendence that can occur when a group of individual geniuses sit down together with no greater aim than melding their minds for a while."Now, SQUANDERERS return with their second full-length, SKANTAGIO, out August 22 via Shimmy-Disc. Following recent singles “THEME FOR SKANTAGIO” and “THEME FOR NARCOLEPTICS,” the trio now shares the album’s final pre-release meditation: “Theme for Insufficient Overpreparation.”
The track is a glimmering, crinkly piece that gradually builds an uneasy intensity—chords quicken, scatter, and ultimately bloom into a kind of organized chaos, a dissonant harmony that feels as deliberate as it is unbound.
Kramer explains, “Theme for Insufficient Overpreparation is an auditory Time-Meditation on the 17-year life cycle of the ‘periodical' Cicada (genus; Magicicada). Currently in concert around my home in Western North Carolina after nearly two decades of silently composing underground, they emerge and sing beautiful droning songs at about 100 db. It is an ‘endurance' performance that goes on for weeks. They also utilize what limited time they have above ground, to breed (see video). Then they are gone, again. 2025's ‘Brood XIV' is the offspring of cicadas that emerged in 2008, when The Motorola RAZR was the top-selling mobile phone. George W. Bush was president, and Obama was bright on the horizon. The first recorded American sighting of this brood was made by William Bradford (governor of the Plymouth Colony) in 1634. Food for thought."
As with the first two singles, the accompanying video was created by Kramer in his signature Ambient-Cinema style, features footage of the Cicada mating ritual and explores the concert of ‘The Preparedness Paradox' or the incorrect perception that there had been no need for careful preparation as there was little harm, although in reality the limitation of the harm was due to preparation.
With SKANTAGIO, SQUANDERERS hone in on singular ideas and stretch them into whole worlds—invoking thought, creativity, and deep reflection. Though born from improvisation, the album was guided by an evolving vision. As Kramer puts it:“I can see where an LP is going before the recording process is done. It's like 3D chess. I naturally think several moves ahead."
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
