"Musical Escape Pod Drop Zone"

Review of new music to cope with anxiety

Today, our release of new music is full of bird chirping and dissonance, helping to cope with growing anxiety. The boiling and seething world needs to be cooled down to a comfortable temperature. Fahrenheit 451 is dangerously close. Call the firefighters who are on our side. Rescue capsules with music are on their way. We go overseas, where:

A stadium rave is buzzing in the enchanted forest TOMORA Jarboe invites you to a sound meditation guided by a little vireo bird Nine Inch Nails now Nine Inch Noize Gem Club explores interpersonal relationships in an ambient pop album after 12 years of silence The Welsh mclusky are playing the fool, sprinkling ashes on other people's heads

TOMORA - COME CLOSER / 2026
TOMORA is a musical project created by Tom Rowlands, member of the duo The Chemical Brothers, and Norwegian singer Aurora Aksnes. The project started in 2025 with the release of the debut single RING THE ALARM .

The artists themselves describe the record as a “landing zone for musical escape pods,” where Tom Rowlands’ signature heavy beats, analog synthesizers and psychedelic backings highlight Aurora’s “elven” vocals. Some critics even compared the duo’s music to “a stadium rave transported to an enchanted forest.” Well, to put it simply, it all sounds like a hybrid of trip-hop, techno and art-pop.

Without further ado, the project participants say about their brainchild like this: “This is our album, and it has everything we dreamed of. We recorded it without any obligations or expectations, driven only by the joy of creativity, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.”

Before officially joining the TOMORA project, Aurora and Rowlands have periodically participated in each other's recordings since 2019. For example, Aurora made a guest appearance on The Chemical Brothers' 2019 album No Geography, and Rowlands produced several tracks on AURORA's 2024 album What Happened To The Heart. They once announced, “We want TOMORA to be a group, not two individuals. This is the embodiment of our musical feelings."

• Listen: Apple.Music Telegram

JARBOE - SIGHTINGS / 2025
American Jarboe, once a member of the Swans team, cannot stop thinking about birds, this time from the passerine family. Her new work Sightings evokes the beauty of the bizarre, ethereal and seemingly alien sounds created by an artist dedicated to her creative inspiration. Self-reflection, solitude in the palace of the mind and spirituality - this is what Jarboe’s new statement is based on.

Sound meditation guided by a small vireo bird. Jarboe combines oral reflections, prose, soundscapes and, of course, folklore to tell the story of his relationship with small birds, using them as a kind of metaphor for human interaction with nature.

The album features contributions from Swans' Thor Harris, Andrea Calderon, Brett Robinson, Chiara Lee and Freddie Murphy. The album cover was designed by Swans drummer Phil Puleo.

Allow me a little offtopic. For special connoisseurs, I offer a couple of excellent recordings inspired by birds. Firstly, Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds is a beautiful neoclassical album that interprets bird poems written by John Keats, Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, Judith Wright and others. And on Songs of Disappearance you'll hear the voices of Australia's endangered and threatened bird species, recorded by naturalist David Stewart in collaboration with Nature Sound.

• Listen: Apple.Music

NINE INCH NAILS FEAT. BOYS NOIZE - NINE INCH NOIZE / 2026
Nine Inch Nails and German producer Boys Noize have released the debut album of their joint project Nine Inch Noize. The release, number 38 in NIN's Halo catalog, was released on the band's own label, The Null Corporation.

The creative synergy of the musicians, which began with the deconstruction of the soundtracks for the films “The Contenders” and “Tron: Ares”, is embodied in a hypnotic sonic manifesto. The album is based on live remixes performed during the joint Peel It Back tour. The release premiered in front of an audience of thousands at the recent Coachella festival.

• Listen: Apple.Music Telegram

GEM CLUB – EMERALD PRESS / 2026
The third in the discography and the first studio album in twelve years by the ambient pop project from Massachusetts, produced by leader Christopher Barnes.

This record is about love, loss and the search for identity. The album is based on the concept of “House”: each song is a “room”, and each musical element is an architectural detail. This structure gives the record a feeling of immobility. By locking himself in each room, Barnes explores the anatomy of interpersonal relationships, where intimacy meets gradual alienation. Minimalistic arrangements perfectly convey the feeling of static tension and inevitable fading of feelings, turning the record into a therapeutic document about the limits of our vulnerability.

• Listen: Apple.Music

MCLUSKY - I SURE AM GETTING SICK OF THIS BOWLING ALLEY / 2026
For those who need an invigorating contrasting soul of noisy rock and caustic punk. The Welsh mclusky continue to babble. This is their third release after 19 years of silence. Snide, raunchy noise rock with invariably clanging guitars and signature nasal vocals. The social subtext of the lyrics emphasizes the topical in the urgent. The song ends with a playful ballad about how the average consumer hides behind deliveries and quick joys, just to avoid seeing the world crumble into dust once again.

• Listen: Apple.Music , Telegram