STACK #253 November 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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WHAT’S OUT

Whether it’s a voyage of musical discovery or a sonic reacquaintance with a favourite band or artist, check out these fresh releases heading to JB this month.

MAVIS STAPLES Sad and Beautiful World ROCKET “Sometimes I get so sad,” music legend Mavis

Staples sings on her 15th studio album, her first in six years. “Sometimes you

just make me mad. It’s a sad and beautiful world.” The title track is a deeply moving cover of a song by Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous, who tragically died in 2010. Staples – the last surviving member of The Staple Singers – is still sounding resolute and resonant at the age of 86.

EDITOR’S PICK TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS GLORY COMMUNITY MUSIC Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers celebrate the tenth anniversary of their formation in Canberra with their eagerly awaited second album, the follow-up to 2023’s Top 10 debut, I Love You . The band has dubbed their sound “bubble grunge”, an apt descriptor as the pop hooks sit comfortably in a punky package. Produced by Australia’s Catherine Marks – who has worked with boygenius, Wolf Alice, and The Killers – the record is like a throwback to the slacker rock days of the ’90s: all indifference and attitude. “You want to call me, 1-800-BORE-ME,” Anna Ryan sings in Bait . But this album thrills from start to finish. GLORY is appropriately glorious.

MIDLAKE A Bridge to Far ROCKET

AUSTRA Chin Up Buttercup UNIVERSAL Austra is the recording name for classically trained

CHEAP TRICK All Washed Up UNIVERSAL

Midlake – American folk rockers who don’t mind a dose of prog rock – started out in Denton, Texas in 1999. A Bridge

Forty-five years after their All Shook Up album, American rock legends Cheap Trick release their 21st album, All Washed

Canadian musician Katie Stelmanis. After releasing Austra’s fourth album,

to Far is their sixth album, and they point out the title is not a typo, but a means to “explore the hope, belief and ultimate path to something or somewhere greater, despite the circumstances. Escapism can be a double-edged sword, but the desire is to encourage it for good.” THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan ROCKET It’s an intriguing title and it came to The Mountain Goats’ leader John Darnielle in a dream. “I transcribed what I could remember of it into the note-taking app I keep on my phone. The note reads, ‘Through this fire across from peter balkan #dream.’” The record – the band’s 23rd studio album – tells the tale of a shipwreck, where only three people survive. Special guest Lin-Manuel Miranda sings on Armies of the Lord .

HiRUDiN , in 2020, Stelmanis was rocked by a break-up. “The person I loved woke up one day, told me she wasn’t happy and I basically never saw her again.” Putting on a brave face – “chin up, buttercup” – and inspired by Madonna’s Ray of Light , Austra has delivered a break-up album filled with dancefloor bangers. AEROSMITH & YUNGBLUD One More Time UNIVERSAL This is one of 2025’s great collaborations – legendary American band Aerosmith teaming up with the preciously talented English artist Yungblud for a killer rock EP. It comes nearly 40 years after Aerosmith’s groundbreaking collab with Run-D.M.C, and hot on the heels of Yungblud singing Black Sabbath’s Changes at Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert. There might be a 49-year age difference, but Steven Tyler and Yungblud sound like they were made to sing together.

Up . It’s a title dripping in irony, as the band still has much to offer. Indeed, singer Robin Zander calls the record “Just one more great album from the best rock band in the world”. And on the first single, Twelve Gates , he sings: “Maybe it’s just a brand-new start.”

DUFF MCKAGAN Lighthouse: Live from London ROCKET Guns N’ Roses bass man

Duff McKagan has released three solo albums, including 2023’s Lighthouse . This live album, recorded at London’s

Islington Assembly Hall in 2024, draws on songs from that record, as well as Duff’s take on classics such as I Fought the Law , I Wanna Be Your Dog and GN’R’s You’re Crazy . And Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols pops up on covers of Johnny Thunders’ Y ou Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory and David Bowie’s Heroes . HAYLEY WILLIAMS Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party ROCKET Paramore’s Hayley Williams

BENEE Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles INERTIA

RADIOHEAD Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) ROCKET

Radiohead celebrate their 40th anniversary with their second

The second album for New Zealand’s Benee, who was born Stella Bennett, comes after she relocated to LA. “I was

initially launched her third solo set via her hair dye company, Good Dye Young (“Ego” is the name of her yellow dye). It’s

official live album, featuring performances from 2003 to 2009 in London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Dublin, drawing on tracks from the band’s sixth album. Thom Yorke listened to the live recordings when he was working on the theatre production Hamlet/Hail to the Thief . “I was shocked by the kind of energy behind the way we played [so] we decided to get these live recordings mixed and released – it would have been insane to keep them for ourselves.”

feeling a little bit lost in the chaos, like everything was falling apart,” she says. “I felt like nothing was working.” But Benee embraced the chaos to deliver another pop winner.

also released on her own label, which she has cheekily called Post Atlantic, following the band’s stint on Atlantic Records. The record features Glum , a dark pop delight, where Williams sings: “On my way to 37 years, I do not know if I’ll ever know what in the living f-ck I’m doing here. Does anyone know if this is normal?”

52 NOVEMBER 2025

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