Suffering Jukebox

This morning's episode features an in-studio interview with Ben and Kade from local noise-rock group Valve. Gadren Wall, Valve's brand new single, was self-released last Friday and is the first taste of their forthcoming debut album, Last Hands Of Heaven And Angels - release date TBC. Find out more about Valve (and purchase their music) here: https://valveposting.bandcamp.com/

Nick's Pick of the Week is Black Duck & Elena Setién's Black Duck with Elena Setién, you can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here: https://blackduck.bandcamp.com/album/black-duck-with-elena-seti-n and my review can be read below.

Black Duck & Elena Setién: Black Duck with Elena Setién (Thrill Jockey)

Released 28th August 2026

Based out of Chicago, Black Duck is a trio that features guitarist Bill MacKay, bassist Doug McCombs and drummer Charles Rumback, all veterans of the Windy City’s underground, experimental and improvisational music scenes. To list each of their respective projects, collaborations and other musical outlets would take days —and multiple pages— but think Tortoise, Bill Callahan and Ryley Walker, to name but a few. For their second album, Black Duck with Elena Setién, the band recruit Basque singer Elena Setién to contribute vocals and add a timeless, cinematic edge to the group’s unmistakable and incomparable sound.

Setién and the members of Black Duck became acquainted when the latter was on tour in Spain in 2025. Their mutual respect and admiration for each other’s artistry led to a cross fertilisation of ideas that culminated in collaborative sets taking place throughout the tour. Following this, studio time was booked and the current project rapidly took shape, resulting in the tracks that comprise Black Duck with Elena Setién.

Black Duck with Elena Setién is an album that sounds fresh and full of surprises. The connection between the artists is evident in the interplay and —despite the rapid timeline from realisation to completion— the group sounds as if they have been performing together for years. Seekers of experimental and filmic visions will find much to love here, but, despite its artistic pretensions, Black Duck with Elena Setién remains an accessible and beautiful album that will curry favour with all kinds of forward thinking music fans.

Nick Stephan