music, cinema, photography, art and more
The World of Dex and Mosscap is a post on my beloved books A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, written by Becky Chambers, following Dex, a tea monk, and Mosscap, a returning robot, as they move through quiet encounters, open questions, and the search for what people need. It can be read on The Polymath site.
Why Sessions at The Listening Room HQ Matter. Reading can open a door, but insight needs a place to live. The Listening Room HQ – my men’s practice – sessions offer men a rare space to speak freely and discover clarity through deep, attentive listening. You can book a session at: https://www.thelisteningroomhq.com/p/sessions.html
Hi with Incantation by Sister Ghost. Have a nice afternoon.
Hi and Happy Sunday with World Cup Fever by Air Miami.
Good morning with Billy Says by Graham Coxon. Have a nice weekend.
words: António Carvalho (edited by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: António Carvalho
Lovers & Lollypops’ garage, transformed into a concert venue, was the chosen stage for Glyders, a three-piece from Chicago, performing in Porto.
It was a perfect setting. Garage rock is one of the distinctly American strands running through their sound, alongside southern rock, psychedelia, experimentalism, classic rock ’n’ roll, blues, and even country, all filtered in their own way.
The metronomic cadence of Miles Luttrell, the guest drummer on this tour, and the powerful bass lines of Eliza Weber form the rhythmic engine that carries Josh Condon’s guitar lines. He moves between melody and dissonance, between substance and explosion, between clarity and change, between a stable, conventional structure and sudden shifts in cadence and time signatures.
Over this, his somewhat cryptic lyrics take shape, supported and expanded by Eliza’s harmonies.
A sense of unity emerges, creating a deep fusion between band and audience, where bodies, legs, and heads respond instinctively. The ten tracks from their two albums sound more intense live, more elusive, even when played right in front of us.
There was even time for an uninterrupted guitar string change, met with enthusiasm by what Josh called a “very polite” audience, and for an encore with the long and multifaceted Steppin’ / Tell Me About the Rabbit.
Rock is alive. It crosses our path, then disappears in a cloud of dust.
Setlist:
Shoreline Maria’s Hunt (2023)
Hard Ride Forever (2025)
Smooth Walker Maria’s Hunt (2023)
Super Glyde Forever (2025)
High Time Maria’s Hunt (2023)
Moon Eyes Forever (2025)
New Realm Forever (2025)
Golden Hour Maria’s Hunt (2023)
Stone Shadow Forever (2025)
Geneva Strangemod Maria’s Hunt (2023)
Encore
Steppin’ / Tell Me About the Rabbit Forever (2025)
Photo gallery on our Instagram
Good morning with our Middle of the Week Songs – Badlands by Kevin Morby. Have a nice day.
words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Vítor Neves
Novos Românticos
A punch to the gut of the patriots. That’s what it is.
Any self-respecting lusitano, with a clear sense of their country’s history, recent or otherwise, will feel the almost unbearable weight of the stark, unvarnished reality served up by Novos Românticos. The silver platter is the sound, let that be clear.
This isn’t just music, it isn’t just musical aesthetics. It’s intervention, it’s agony, it’s the near-psychotic despair of someone who feels the weight of Portugalidade. Someone disillusioned with an Abril that seems ever more distant, with fewer and fewer reasons for pride.
David Félix is the man on duty, presenting himself to the audience as a kind of modern-day guru, fully prepared to press on the wound until it bleeds.
He carries an intrinsic ability to command attention: monochord vocal delivery, the sinuous movement of his body to the measured pulse of an electronic post-punk, hypnotic, corrosive, built on pre-recorded loops of guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, and samplers. He drifts across the stage, almost unsteady, faintly lascivious, but the message lands. That seems to be what drives them, and they achieve it with precision.
They performed material from across their repertoire, with a strong focus on their full-length work, Criptopátria. Worth highlighting are Pátria, Mesa Posta, and a very original version of the iconic Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Bastonada
Bastonada closed the night, delivering verbal and musical blows with their interventionist Electro Punk, edged with rap. It’s pure energy from beginning to end, without a moment’s respite.
They’re young, intense, sharp, and they fire off their songs as if the world were ending tomorrow.
The instruments are always front and centre, and their masked vocalist is a force of nature.
The insolent anger of their youth, combined with the level of competence in their instrumentation, points to a project with real substance and a great deal still to give. It will be interesting to watch.
Concert clips and photo galleries on our Instagram
Hi with Idle Again by Prism Shores. Have a nice afternoon.
words: Telma Mota (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Telma Mota
On 16 April, it was a ‘Happy Day’ at the Teatro Aveirense, with the funeral march of PAUS.
Having announced their end, the band made their fourth appearance of the year in Aveiro with impact and a certain sense of occasion.
They presented their final album in full, in an uninterrupted 30-minute crescendo. As they have accustomed us, this work entitled Enterro is marked by intense, hypnotic and innovative pieces that combine old-school experimental rock sounds, with complex and repetitive rhythms, with touches of indie vocal lines and the psychedelic textures of post-rock.
However, at this stage, arguably more refined and mature, they decided to stop and die in a florid and controlled manner, celebrating their own funeral with a tour that will symbolically end on 19 November 2026, the date on which they began their journey 18 years ago.
In a relaxed register, they made a few pauses at the beginning and end of the concert, between better-known older songs, in some way justifying that it is far more interesting to die and bury PAUS with dignity than to pass away in a disordered manner.
Happily for me, as I prefer the band’s earlier phase, more visceral, raw and unrestrained, PAUS opened this concert with Mudo e Surdo and closed with Pelo Pulso, both from their first EP É uma Água
They said goodbye in style, with the intense rhythm of the Siamese drum set played by Quim Albergaria and Hélio Morais, and the striking sounds of Makoto’s bass and Fábio Jevelim’s keyboard. I stood there, clenched my teeth and tapped my foot, wishing only to be somewhere more suited to dancing and exorcising my demons. It is not often one is invited by the dead to their own funeral, but for those present it was certainly a smiling experience.
And they were PAUS. Fare thee well.
Photo gallery on our Instagram Instagram
Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It my new post on The Listening Room HQ, my men’s practice, The Polymath sister site – speaks of inconsistency in communication as a normal feature of how the brain works, shaped by memory, state, stress, and cognitive load. It does not automatically indicate a problem, but when patterns affect trust, clarity, or relational safety, they may need attention and understanding.
Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It explores how to distinguish between harmless variability and patterns that affect trust, clarity, and relational stability, and how to respond to those matters. It can be read at The Listening Room HQ site.
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 