It seems like a thousand centuries ago since The Underground Youth held me in their spell at Eindhoven Psych Lab.

After what feels like one of the longest pre-orders in history, the wait is nearly over and the ache is soon to be sated.

‘Naked’ is the first release from the forthcoming EP ‘Beautiful & Damned’ due out on Fuzz Club Records on the 25th of October.

As with all great bands, ‘Naked’ feels like The Underground Youth never went away, just withdrew into stately repose where they have crafted yet another trademark marble edifice. I am not talking here about marble in the cold, austere sense but rejoicing in the warm sumptuous folds of a Baroque Canova sculpture.

This is about as infectiously epic as 4 minutes and 15 seconds of pure garage-pop-punk gets…

Reborn from the 10 year old ashes of Meine Kleine Deutsche, Body have just released their digital debut EP through PNKSLM Recordings.

Stockholm based Body comprises Mia Johansson on vocals, along with  Mikey Korsgren, Patrik Boman, Martin Stenberg and Charlotta Paulin.

Flipside, Hollow follows in the same vein, plugged like a mains circuit cable straight into your spinal column.

Sloath released their eponymous sold-out album in 2010 on Riot Season, with the promise of more to follow, soon…

The vagaries of life though, saw fit to enforce a 4 year wait for their shortly to be released follow-up album “Deep Mountain”.

Whilst running PNKSLM Recordings, Luke Reilly has also found the time to get his own project, Lucern Raze, off the ground.

Debut release, “Sunshine Blues”, via PNKSLM is available for pre-order as a  7” transparent red, limited edition pressing of only 250 copies.

A raucous sing-a-long of a track, with a sneering vocal reminiscent of “Wrecking Crew” era Meteors with a bit of Tenpole Tudor thrown in for good measure.

Recently, thanks to Brett Savage of Dead Sea Apes, I was introduced to the sonic delight that is Haikai No Ku’s “Ultra High Dimensionality” – when I saw that sister-band Blown Out were about to release “Drifting Way Out Between Suns”, I knew I had to have more of that sound in my life.

My brain, what there is of it, paints pictures, usually cinematic approximations of what I hear, and in the case of Haikai No Ku and Blown Out, I am immediately, transcendentally conveyed to the Do Long Bridge scene in Apocalypse Now…

I was already a huge fan of Hendrix when I first saw the movie on video as a teenager, so the Hendrix inspired, Randy Hansen scored bridge scene remains indelibly seared onto my hippocampus.