Back after a week away at Whitby, we return once again to the now-usual Friday round-up of new music, upcoming releases, events worth looking out for and other musical news stories I might have noticed in the meantime.

I’m still trying to catch up a bit – my listening pile (both physical and digital) is growing, and I’m intending on spending this weekend listening to as much of it as possible, especially as I have a rare weekend of mainly downtime.

There are still plans for quite a bit of new content on the site during November before I start the usual end of year round-ups, look out for that starting to appear after the weekend.

If you want to submit anything to be included here? E-mail me (You know what to do with that to make it work, right?), comment/message on Facebook at the amodelofcontrol.com page, and over on Twitter (@amodelofcontrol).

New Releases this week

This actually covers last week, of course.

The big release for me this past week was the surprise release of Fever Ray’s second album Plunge, which while still having her trademark, unsettling electronic sound, takes her concept to new and thrilling places.

Athan Maroulis’ NOIR project also returned with the Reburning EP, and Grendel are back with their first album in a while, Age of the Disposable Body. I’d rather got bored with Grendel a while back, but I’m hearing good things about this album so I may need to give it a go. There is also the new hypnoskull release die4.generation.

Onto this week… In advance of their twin albums in a couple of weeks, Empathy Test have released their new single Everything Will Work Out today.

Then, iVardensphere release the excellent Hesitation today, and Primitive Race are back with Soul Pretender.

In more metallic releases, Converge’s latest is The Dusk In Us, and out on Artoffact is Dead Quiet’s Grand Rites, which may appeal to those of you who like your stoner metal.

Finally, there is also a 40th anniversary set of Throbbing Gristle re-issues out today (more about this next week).

Upcoming Releases

The news about other releases coming up just keeps flooding in, too.

Cesium_137 are back with Rise to Conquer, the EBM warriors Wulfband are about to release their second album, you can now hear the first track from the forthcoming Godflesh album Post Self, and ESA has a new album That Beast out in March. In the meantime an excellent new single Bad Blood Will Out has been released.

Wait, there’s more. Meat Beat Manifesto release The Impossible Star on 19-Jan, Björk’s new album has a name (Utopia) and extraordinary artwork, while both My Bloody Valentine and Mazzy Star appear to be preparing new material for next year…

Upcoming gigs and clubs

As always let me know if you want your event featured.

03-Nov – JUDDER Hallowe’en Spectacular at Two Pigs, Cheltenham
04-Nov – Electronic Liberation Tour at Corporation, Sheffield
04-Nov – Toni’s night w/ Celldöd, Trenton Chase and more at The Waiting Room, N16
07-Nov – Zola Jesus at Village Underground, EC2A
08-Nov – Igorrr at O2 Academy Islington, N1
09-Nov – Vulture Industries, Code, Talanas at Boston Music Room, NW5
10-Nov – SIN CITY Returns at Electric Ballroom, NW1
10-Nov – Into Darkness Presents: TAPEWYRM + Mouth Of The Void at The Facebar, Reading
11-Nov – PWEI at ULU, W1
11-Nov – REPTILE at Club Kolis, N19
16-Nov – Blanck Mass at Village Underground, EC2A
01-Dec – THE FINAL JUDDER at Two Pigs, Cheltenham
02-Dec – Manuskript, The Memepunks and Foxcunt at The Islington, N1
02-Dec – Carpe Noctum at The Library, Leeds

Other things

I turn forty next summer. And what could be better as part of my celebrations than the mighty Emperor doing Anthems… in full at Bloodstock next year, on the day after my 40th birthday. Oh. Yeah.

In more serious news, the shocking revelations from Alice Glass last week need to be read.

I think I’d missed this previously, but it seems legit – going to gigs regularly makes you happy

“An Australian study involving 1000 people has concluded that people who regularly go to concerts are happier with their lives overall than those who don’t. Basically, the survey reports that people who went to any sort of communal musical event said they were pretty satisfied with their lot, on a bigger scale than those who didn’t.”

Hallowe’en, of course, means lots of Goth coverage (hey folks, goth is not just for Hallowe’en, it’s a lifestyle). Pitchfork’s story of goth in 33 songs has an excellent interview with Pete Murphy and a great playlist.

Then there has been 6Music. Goth Week on Lamacq’s show has been enormous fun, including interviews with friends of mine (and a Real Gothic teammate!), and lots of music we don’t normally hear on the radio.

amodelofcontrol.com content in the past week

DJ: Guest: 091: GVWI Hallowe’en Party 2017 – 21-October 2017
My sets from a fun Hallowe’en party
Tuesday Ten: 313: Tracks of the Month (October 1997)
A last look at my musical tastes in 1997, ending a two-year series that covered 1996 and 1997