This week, we see the likes of The 1975, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and new blink-182 with Tom DeLonge officially back in the line-up after his alien-spotting escapade. Oh, and October Drift releasing an album in October.
Who’d have thought, eh?
Being Funny in a Foreign Language//: Ah yes, the band that aren’t afraid to explore new experimentations – with ‘love’ in brackets always making an appearance. “I like my men like I like my coffee, full of soy milk and so sweet, it won’t offend anybody.” After their art collage of Notes on a Conditional Form was released in 2020, the band has not been able to truly portray the album at release within a live setting.
Now, paving the way for a new era, comes the elusive, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, as it swoons and careens into delicate pockets of mischief. Happiness, All I Need To Hear and Oh Caroline lead the pack. Despite me hoping that they’d lean a little bit away from the exhausted discussion of love in music, it’s The 1975 quite possibly at their most troubled.
The funk train stops for no-one. Our favourite peppers included. From their surprising success of Unlimited Love this year, it came more of a surprise when they said that they would drop a second later in the year. Like myself, many were sceptic how this would pay off. And many were right about that scepticism. While Return of the Dream Canteen has some moments of classic Peppers, it is very much a pile of B-sides that didn’t make the cut.
One of the most prominent bands to emerge from the Southern California punk scene, blink-182 have returned in emphatic fashion with the announcement of Tom Delonge formally back in the band. It comes after Tom left the band shortly after 2011’s Neighbourhoods. Matt Skiba shortly filled the missing gap for two studio albums but it was always written in the stars that Tom would return. A band very much dripped in nostalgic teen angst and individualism, they’ve announced a new album and a world tour. This alleged excitement comes with proof too. EDGING comes with the usual crank of Tom’s vocal sneer that only seems to fit with Blink’s outfit.
Finally for this weeks’ nmf, one of our most promising acts to emerge over recent years, October Drift with their sophomore release, I Don’t Belong Anywhere. It features rejuvenated Waltzer, Insects, Webcam Funerals and Lost Without You. A work of statement, it marks another emphatic alternative victory of new music worth listening to.
mvm. 
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