2026 and all that...#1

The nights are drawing in - there's no getting around it, 2026 is winding down. It feels like only a couple of months have passed since we reduced and sold off the last of the 2025 Christmas Puds at work, yet in the middle of September I found myself making room on the shelves for the first of this year's stock. Time flies when you're having fun.

Within a few short weeks, retrospective blogposts will begin to pop up round this neck of the woods, reminding me of all the great music I missed over the past 12 months and causing a serious dent my wallet as I attempt to catch up. I'll be deep in the retail trenches by that point, so if you'll forgive me, I'm going to start early, dropping the odd post about memorable gigs I've attended and notable LPs I've tucked under my arm throughout 2026.

Take Shane Parish's most recent offering for instance. Already a well established guitarist in the trad/arr arena, Parish's 'Autechre Guitar', improbably, does what it says on the tin. He took a bunch of tunes from the first four Autechre records and literally, painstakingly, transcribed them for solo acoustic guitar, with no additional effects or overdubbing. Now I can't claim to be an expert on Autechre's oeuvre, but I do know that reinterpreting their stuff for a single unaccompanied acoustic instrument can't be a walk in the park, yet despite the tight compositional structure and minimal approach, 'Autechre Guitar' is an intimate, riveting listen that I've returned to consistently since its release in February. 

Yulquen