Heathen Disco Music Reviews #0159 (January 9, 2026)

To all who aren’t certain, it is possible, maybe even preferable to hold multiple thoughts at once. Channel your anger into the moment and let the music temper your steel into an instrument of justice.

Next few newsletters will be me working on clearing the backlog of records sent. Please keep adding to it:

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EMILY ROBB Soundtrack to The Space Between Attack and Decay LP (Petty Bunco)

out January 23rd

There are enough revelatory examples of musicians making solo guitar work for them, but Emily Robb’s work in this space is the most satisfying examples we have out there, quite simply because it is so deeply rooted in the best and grittiest rock music we have. Both of her previous solo albums, and the tapes, CD-Rs, collaborations and downloads that bridge them, find a player that is really indebted to maximalist, uncorked burn in a way that feels forward and righteously liberating, but also gives the impression that she is just warming up. This soundtrack to a short film by Jessica Kourkounis represents her widest vistas yet, another set of levels to play off of through glimpses of acoustic rhythms and leads, vocals, drums, bass, trumpet and piano, in instrumental tracks that sketch characters and intent felt even without the movie. Hearing her rip into Spanish-influenced mandolino style longing and carrying that motif from the subtle ballad it begins with into full on Doug Yule-meets-Hasil Adkins electric riffin’ via the score to Repo Man feels even bigger than the triumph it portends across the suite on side A. Flip it over and you get a better perspective on that block of feedback she’s been carving over the years. Both sides feature that trademark hint of unsteadiness that becomes part of her style, finding ways to both keep the beat and riff around it. Not much else to say, except that a new level is opening up, and it'd be a shame to let it go unrecognized (a new quartet lineup, with members of Writhing Squares and Heavenly Bodies, looks to firm that one up even more).

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