Real Life Missives - June 2026

I absolutely adored Agriculture’s ‘The Spiritual Sound’ album from 2025 (released on The Flenser, home to so many incredible bands), so when they announced a show in Manchester I was all over it. It’s obvious from their recorded output, and to anyone who’s watched their excellent KEXP live session, that Agriculture are more than just a ‘black metal’ band, but actually seeing them play together for the best part of 90 minutes made me question whether they were really a metal band at all. Their set was heavy of course, but it was also highly experimental, organic, inclusive and joyous, like they weren’t playing at you but for you, inviting you to join them on whatever journey they were about to embark on. They reminded me more of bands like Lift To Experience or maybe early Wand than any metal show I’ve ever seen, and it became a lot clearer to me as the show went on that this was just an extremely creative, dynamic and exploratory unit who happen to hang the foundations for this experimentation on a metal framework. Absolutely stunning stuff, I can’t wait to hear where they take their sound in the future.

June also saw the release of LIFE’s outstanding new album ‘Abstract/Natural’ which I had the genuine honour of mastering. To celebrate the release, the band played a short tour of independent record stores, including a show at The Jacaranda in Liverpool. A tiny room with a weird shaped stage, The Jacaranda is an intimate affair at the best of times, and LIFE absolutely brought it, playing their new album in full, albeit in a re-jigged sequence. The album is superb and expertly produced, and live the songs took on a more jagged, urgent feel, but every element and instrument was really carefully considered and given the space it required, the arrangements given full opportunity to show how beautifully constructed they are. A brilliant band playing a brilliant record brilliantly.

June was soundtracked by: DJ Haram & sha-ray, Sans Froid, The Fall, Anna von Hausswolff