Suffering Jukebox

This morning's episode features an interview with Liturgy's Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix. Haela will be performing a solo Liturgy gig this Thursday 28th August at Warehouse 25 in Milton, alongside Blind Girls and Gorgina. More information about Liturgy can be found here; https://liturgy.bandcamp.com/

Also featured this week is an interview with Adalita about her latest project Bleak Squad, which also features Marty Brown, Mick Harvey and Mick Turner. Bleak Squad released their debut album, Strange Love, last Friday, 22nd August via Poison City. More information about Bleak Squad can be found here; https://bleaksquad.bandcamp.com/album/strange-love

Nick's Pick of the Week is Superchunk's Songs In The Key Of Yikes, which was released last Friday, August 22nd. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://superchunk.bandcamp.com/album/songs-in-the-key-of-yikes and my review can be read below.

Superchunk: Songs In The Key Of Yikes (Merge Records)

Released 22nd August 2025

Far from proving unlucky, Superchunk’s thirteenth studio album, Songs In The Key Of Yikes, sees the band deliver their finest collection of songs since 2013’s I Hate Music. In this reviewer’s opinion, however, Mac McCaughan and co haven’t released a bad record, even if they do have some that are better than others. Songs In The Key Of Yikes is full of all the catchy power-pop that the group has built their reputation on, whilst McCaughan’s lyrics continue to gaze further outwards, examining —and lamenting— the sorry state of the world in 2025.

A cursory glance at some of the album’s tracks —No Hope, Care Less and Everybody Dies, to name just three— might lead listeners to think that Superchunk have given up completely. Despite the bleakness of the titles, however, by the end of Songs In The Key Of Yikes, one can’t help but feel that everything will work itself out. When asked about the album, McCaughan stated, “It’s always been the case that everyone is going through something that you may not be aware of. This is currently more true than ever —but also the case that we are all going through some things together.”

Album opener, Is It Making You Feel Something, addresses the impact of self-doubt —particularly when it comes to artistic pursuits— and the all-too-human trait of questioning our instincts. No Hope, one of the album’s finest moments, explores the collective malaise humanity experiences by bearing witness to endless atrocities, whilst knowing that they are powerless to stop them. Elsewhere, the equally cheerily titled, Everybody Dies is a short and fast burst of rational pessimism that muses on the inevitable fact that, eventually, everybody dies.

Cue lets a little light into the room, a tender recollection of the early days of a relationship that would gradually develop into a lifetime of shared commitment. Ending with the lines, “You wake me up / Over and over and over and over again,” it’s a touching moment on an album that, despite the buoyancy of the music, is thematically quite heavy. Finally, Some Green ends the album with an affirmation, a reminder to search beyond the negativity of the now to find something positive on the horizon.

After almost forty years, one might expect Superchunk to start slowing down, but, aside from a few lineup changes over the years, they seem as content and inspired as ever. Songs In The Key Of Yikes is a strong entry in the band’s extensive discography that is true to form without feeling recycled or formulaic; a poppy yet poignant distraction from the stress and the strain of our daily lives.

Nick Stephan