English art rock quintet Squid will be releasing Cowards on February 7, via Warp Records. There’ll be a massive promotional tour to support the new record… so expect the band to come to your home town to play live.

Squid at Fine Line (19 Feb 2024)

We caught the band in Feb 2024 and wrote, “Squid had quite a successful 2023. Their sophomore album, O Monolith, was well received and one of their songs “Blades” won a United Kingdom Music Video Award for Best Rock Video.
The band consists of Ollie Judge on drums and lead vocals, Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson on guitar, Laurie Nankivell on bass and Arthur Leadbetter on keys. They met at Brighton University and had an understanding that the band would not only be egalitarian but also not defined.”

Tour Dates

Feb. 17 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Feb. 18 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz Manchester
Feb. 19 – Glasgow, UK @ Old Fruitmarket
Feb. 21 – Newcastle, UK @ NSU Domain
Feb. 22 – Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill
Feb 24 – Cambridge, UK @ Junction 1
Feb 25 – Norwich, UK @ Adrian Flux Waterfront
Feb. 27 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
Feb. 28 – Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms
March 1 – Margate, UK @ Lido
March 2 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
March 4 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO
March 5 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon
April 9 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
April 10 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
April 11 – Dresden, DE @ Polimagie Festival
April 12 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
April 14 – Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur
April 15 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
April 16 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
April 18 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique Festival
April 19 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
April 26 – London, UK @ Roundhouse

Squid Game 2
netflix.com

In my original review of Squid Game, I mentioned that the show left an opening to continue the story, but I felt the story should just end with the first season. I didn’t need a continuation of the first season.

Of course, with all the money that Netflix threw at show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk… he signed up to write and direct the second season.

The entire second season dropped on Netflix on December 26, 2024, and I’ve been binging through it.

The new show takes place right after we saw Player 456 with his winnings and hair dye. He decides to take his winnings and devote that money to finding and ending the games. He recruits a gangster and the undercover cop in the first season to help him.

Anyway, 456 finds himself, once again, playing the games. At first, we’re familiar with the Red Light, Green Light game, which 456 tried to help the other players survive the game. You think it’s going to be a breeze from here on… but unfortunately, the second game is brand new.
Each game is intense, as it’s a matter of life and death if they lose.

Season two also introduces a new cast of players. We’re quickly introduced to the colorful cast of characters: mother and son, an old guy with 20 billion in debt, “Thanos” the rapper, a former marine, a transgender character, a pregnant girl, a crypto bro, a shawoman, etc.

What’s interesting is that the new Player 001 is someone we’ve seen before in Season 1… I won’t give away the secret, but it was weird to see the character again.

So… the ending. It will lead to Season 3… which will drop in 2025. The filming for the third season was done back-to-back with Season 2, so I suspect Season 2 was probably much longer and larger, that they had to split it up into two seasons.

Jei-Rynn
linktr.ee

Los Angeles-based alternative pop artist Jei-Rynn recently released a new single called “i’m an octopus”, taken from the new EP
viole(n)t dreams out November 15.

The single is described as a dark, absurdist look at life in late stage capitalism and was produced by Marshall Gallagher with drums by Anthony Salazar (both are band members of Teenage Wrist).

The Japanese, Italian, and South American descent Jei-Rynn started playing piano at the age of 9, before picking up the guitar at the age of 12.

viole(n)t dreams track list

1. ok, you got me
2. i’m an octopus
3. bloodsuckers
4. mr. skeleton

Ruth Goller
ruthgoller.com

Italian-born and London-based composer, bassist, vocalist, and octopus lover, Ruth Goller, released the vinyl reissue of her debut solo record skylla on International Anthem. This album of otherworldly detuned bass harmonics and dense vocal arrangements was initially released in 2021 on Vula Viel Records, but have been long out of print.

The vinyl release will be issued on deluxe 140 gram and is on “Octopodic Iris” color vinyl LP, with an IARC dome patterned poly-lined inner-sleeve inside a heavyweight matte jacket. Pressed at Pallas in Germany with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST.

Additionally, you can watch an inky underwater video of “What’s really important she wanted to know, pt. 2” as part of the promotion for the reissue, via YouTube.