It will be 25 years since the release of Refused’s landmark third album The Shape of Punk to Come at the end of October. Though the band broke up right after, they reunited 10 years ago and have been touring since, while releasing two more albums. They are supposedly breaking up permanently after this current tour.
As part of the celebrations, a tribute album to Shape will be released a week or so after the 25th anniversary. The first track from it is a cover of “Tannhäuser / Derive” by fellow Swedes Cult of Luna. Funnily enough, Cult of Luna formed in 1998. “Tannhäuser / Derive” is the longest track on Shape and, like most of the album, deviates sharply from the formula of ’90s punk: The song begins with a cello solo and then the band jams along with it. There’s some silence and then the song proper starts. As befitting a song with a slash in the title, around six minutes in there is a second part with stand-up bass and melodica. Continue reading »
OK, skip the awful title and possibly, too, the cover, but as tributes go, Ian McNabb’s Fleetwood McNabb is pretty solid. McNabb is arguably better known, in America anyway, as the prime force behind the Icicle Works, still sometimes touring under the name, give or take the availability of various ex-members. Aside and away from that, he has an enduring solo career with dozens of releases. We’ve seen him here before, his covers set of 2018, 
