TREACLE · Editorial Column
Heard.
Reviews and listening. Concerts, festivals, songs, albums. Plus playlists and tracks of the week.
Emei at the Danforth Music Hall 2026: opera masks, a sit-down "Dear Emily" and a song for Nai Nai
The Toronto stop of the Night at the Opera tour opened with masked dancers and ended in chants. In between, Emei asked the whole room to sit down and sang to her late grandmother.
Zach Aureliano · 15 Oct 2026
Chlapecka at Modus Berlin 2026: a drag opener, rhinestoned CDs and "Brain"
The "Girl on the Moon" tour stopped at Modus in Berlin: a drag persona as opening act, two backup dancers and CDs rhinestoned by hand at the merch stand.
Katie Ramsay · 13 Oct 2026
Girli at Säälchen Berlin 2026: hot takes, a pink mic and a book swap
Girli's opinionated tour stopped at Säälchen in Berlin: a book swap at the door, an inflatable pink mic for the crowd's hot takes, and signed drumsticks on a pay-what-you-can basis.
Katie Ramsay · 9 Oct 2026
Six songs for Attenborough, and the fans who sang them
JADE's "Into The Deep (Seas Cry)" is the newest song Hans Zimmer has made for a BBC nature series. The first one, nine years ago, was also about Blue Planet. We look back at all of them, with photos from the shows where we met four of the voices.
Annelies · 8 Oct 2026
Epik High stopped their own show so nobody got left outside
Nine songs into the Toronto stop of their 3.0 tour, Tablo cut the sound and waited for the line. Zach Aureliano walked in to his first Epik High show and walked out a fan.
Zach Aureliano · 7 Oct 2026
Alison Moyet wrote "Nobody's Diary" at home as a teenager. In Berlin she sang it back.
Tempodrom, Berlin, 22 September. A tour made only of Yazoo songs and tracks from her two solo electronica albums.
Andrea Roell · 24 Sept 2026
A borrowed bass and a stack of paper: Emma Harner and preyhound in Toronto
A tour with its European leg cancelled, a bass that ran out of battery halfway through, and a stack of paper where the merch should have been. Toronto, 20 September.
Zach Cortes Aureliano · 23 Sept 2026
WILDCHILD: Alex Warren named his second album after what his father called him
Thirteen songs, out today, named after the nickname his late dad used and that he now has tattooed on him. We photographed him at AFAS Live eighteen months ago, one arena before the arena.
Coda · 28 Aug 2026
Cosmic winks and calm vibes: Juliet Ivy and Deb Never at the Drake Underground
Nobody was filming. A basement full of people who came early for the opener, and a song during which almost nobody reached for a phone.
Zach Aureliano · 26 Aug 2026
HEADSEND tears up the Drake Underground
Three Australians who learned to play by annoying the neighbours, one broken string, and a Toronto basement that got louder every time they stopped talking.
Zach Aureliano · 19 Aug 2026
What Doechii is actually saying on "girl, get up."
Her answer to the industry-plant accusation, with SZA on the hook and a Clipse drum sample underneath. A song worth understanding properly.
Coda · 3 Aug 2026
"A handcrafted pop star": Tyla on Zara Larsson, and the two songs they made
Tyla's second album A*POP is out, and the duet with Zara Larsson turned into a friendship. We have both of them in the archive, a year and a continent apart.
Coda · 2 Aug 2026
Pitbull and Jason Derulo made PRIVACY on two continents
Their fourth collaboration landed on 24 July, recorded on opposite sides of the planet while both were out on tour.
Coda · 28 Jul 2026
Two full Raye shows are online right now, and together they explain the hype
The award-winning Royal Albert Hall film and this month's Montreux opening night are both online. Watch them in order. We've been photographing the run-up for years.
Coda · 20 Jul 2026
Let God Sort Em Out turns one: Clipse's comeback year, from the Grammys to Roskilde
Twelve months ago Clipse ended sixteen years of silence. We watched the anniversary lap from the Roskilde photo pit, nine days ago.
Coda · 13 Jul 2026
Ken Carson at Roskilde 2026: hype and chaos
Hours before xperiment dropped, Ken Carson turned the Arena tent into strobes, smoke and fire.
Annelies · 4 Jul 2026
A visa mix-up became FKA twigs' new song with Lil Yachty
Her first release of 2026, On Your Mind, came out of a cancelled Coachella set and US tour. A small case study in turning a bad week into something worth hearing.
Coda · 23 Jun 2026
Doechii performs at the BET Awards with four nominations
We knew Doechii would be big, so four BET nominations are no surprise. Plus the story of how we keep just missing the shot.
Coda · 21 Jun 2026
Yseult's Now or Never is a love letter to survival
I let Spotify do the work and stopped chasing music videos. Then Yseult's Now or Never, all 80s sound and red leather, pulled me back in.
Annelies · 18 Jun 2026
Olivia Rodrigo's first ever feature is Robert Smith of The Cure
Nobody saw an Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith duet coming. The backstory is better than the surprise.
Colin · 15 Jun 2026
Three reasons to catch Palaye Royale at Rock am Ring tonight.
We caught Palaye Royale at Sziget last August. Three reasons to be at Orbit at 12:30 tonight.
Colin · 6 Jun 2026
Body to Body. The Sam Tompkins song you already feel you know.
Sam Tompkins road-tested Body to Body at a secret Hoxton Hall show in April. Hearing the studio version now, it lands like a song you somehow already knew.
Annelies · 5 Jun 2026
The folder Fred opened.
Fred again.. turned his USB002 tour folder into a public archive, trading phones-down rooms for better photos and open files. It is a mechanic any working music photographer or artist team could copy.
Coda Photos · 29 May 2026
The night Perel debuted 'Kill the voices' at Brunch Electronik
A new Perel track nobody in the room had heard yet. It landed at RSO Berlin on a Saturday afternoon, with the sun still up.
Annelies Vollmuller · 28 Jul 2025