Alanis Morissette marks a year without touring with a new song, “I Miss the Band,” that pays tribute to her backing band.
The sweet piano ballad finds Morissette evoking every facet of life on the road, from wondering what city she just arrived in, to the ritual huddle before the show begins, to the blinding stage lights. But much of “I Miss the Band” captures the unique relationship between Morissette and her bandmates, especially the opening lines where she sings, “The inside joke well understood,” she sings, “The nudge nudge wink wink/And finishing each other’s harmonies.”
Morissette also released a music video for “I Miss the Band,” directed by Victor Indrizzo, that pairs the track with behind-the-scenes footage from past tours. “Deeply yearning to play live music again,” Morissette wrote in the video’s description. “The sweat, the rapture, the movement, the love. I miss seeing your faces and being with my bandmates. Soon… we’ll be back together.”
Morissette is also encouraging fans to donate to Backline, a non-profit that helps music professionals and their families find mental health and wellness resources.
Last year, Morissette released a new album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road. The record marked her first since 2012’s Havoc and Bright Lights.
Morissette is also encouraging fans to donate to Backline, a non-profit that helps music professionals and their families find mental health and wellness resources.
Last year, Morissette released a new album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road. The record marked her first since 2012’s Havoc and Bright Lights.
MUSIC PREMIERES
Four years on from the ‘Actual Life’ series lifting him into the mainstream spotlight, Fred Again.. continues to feel unavoidable. The London producer and DJ born Fred Gibson has moved at a relentless pace, bouncing between sold out stadium dates in New York and surprise appearances at Sheffield’s 1,000 capacity Forge, while also making history as the first electronic artist to top the bill at Reading and Leeds in 2024.
Where the ‘Actual Life’ releases and his fourth album, 2024’s ‘Ten Days’, leaned into warmth and joy pulled from ordinary moments, Gibson has also sharpened his instinct for high impact club weapons rooted in garage, dubstep and jungle. That side of his output lives on ‘USB’, an “infinite album” first imagined in 2022 as a home for tracks that exist outside any fixed universe, including defining moments like ‘Rumble’ and ‘Jungle’.
‘USB002’, the second vinyl only chapter of the ‘USB’ project, brings together 16 recent tracks, many of which surfaced gradually on streaming services over a ten week stretch. The music was shaped live, in step with ten unannounced DJ appearances across the world from Dublin to Mexico City. Even with a Glastonbury style registration system in place, The Times reported that 100,000 people tried to secure tickets for the opening night in Glasgow.
Appropriately, ‘USB002’ feels alive and constantly in motion, helped along by contributions from close collaborators such as Floating Points and Sammy Virji. The rigid, techno driven pressure of ‘Ambery’ echoes elements of Floating Points’ 2019 album ‘Crush’, while Gibson’s take on ‘The Floor’ builds like the slow climb of a rollercoaster before dropping back to earth without warning.
The guest list stretches beyond the usual dance circles, with two Australian guitar bands popping up in unexpected ways. ‘You’re A Star’ reworks Amyl and The Sniffers’ ‘Big Dreams’ into a breakbeat driven rush, while ‘Hardstyle 2’ pulls the experimental post punk edge of Shady Nasty into an Underworld adjacent space alongside Kettama. Gibson’s real trick is his ability to connect with anyone. These tracks are not reinterpretations but full takeovers.
The visual world wrapped around the ‘USB002’ rollout reinforces the instinct behind the music. Phones were prohibited at shows staged in vast warehouse spaces under sweeping light rigs, while Gibson’s team shared striking black and white footage and created artwork for each single on site. Bottling that sense of urgency, the project is rooted in the thrill of the present moment, something Gibson seems able to summon simply by turning up.
If the ‘Actual Life’ series and ‘Ten Days’ captured passing snapshots of experience, ‘USB’ is defined by constant movement, a space where boundaries are removed entirely. Sitting somewhere between an album and a playlist, ‘USB002’ underlines why Fred Again.. feels so dominant right now, and suggests that his current run may only be the beginning of something much bigger.
