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XLR MAG

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· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every three hours, linked to the original

About

Three pins, and nearly every signal in this business passes through them.

The magazine is named after the cable: the microphone in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX run that fires the lights. Studio, stage and rig share the same cable. Most magazines pick one of the three. This one covers all of it, because the people we read do too — the engineer mixing a record on Tuesday is on front of house by Saturday.

Around a hundred and sixty sources, in English, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Italian: makers and their release notes, reviewers who put a hand on the thing, studios and touring crews, the producers and collectives surfacing this month and the scenes they came out of. Synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lighting. What the trade is talking about is counted and plotted. The editor's letter has just started; it will find its rhythm.

For each story: a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link out. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the maker or the photographer. A German review appears in German and a Japanese one in Japanese, as the writer published it; the link goes to the original.

Nothing is sold on this site. When a link leads to a shop, it is the maker's shop, not ours.

Cover of Group Therapy — Cover via the Cover Art Archive ↗

Album · released 16 Oct 2026

Group Therapy

The Rubens

XLR rating

—

Out of 10 · awaiting a listen by the desk

Press score

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Not collected yet · the reviews we read are linked below

Apple Music ↗Bandcamp ↗YouTube ↗

The player loads only when you press it · Spotify open the artist’s page, not this record · Apple Music, Bandcamp, YouTube open a search

Tracklist

01Love Me America4:02SGR
02Are You Getting High3:40SGR
03Hotel Hotel—:—SGR
04Every Piece Of Me—:—SGR
05Close Ups—:—SGR
06Goanna3:00SGR
07Bright Light—:—SGR
08No Champagne—:—SGR
09The Cannonball—:—SGR
10Run Son—:—SGR
11Oh Saturday—:—SGR

11 tracks · Titles and lengths from MusicBrainz ↗ (CC0), checked 16 Oct 2026 · tracks: Skip · Good · On repeat, by the desk, after listening

The desk’s take

Awaiting a listen.

When someone on the desk has heard the whole record, they write a paragraph here and sign it

What the press said

15 OctTHE RUBENS ANNOUNCE ALBUM LAUNCH PARTIES + NEW SINGLE, ALONGSIDE GROUP THERAPY ALBUM + TOURAustralian Musician ↗
To celebrate the release of their sixth studio album, Group Therapy, The Rubens will host launch parties in Melbourne and Sydney next week.

Headlines and short excerpts from the stories we read, each linked to its source · more appear as the press publishes them

Stylesalternative rock

Style tags: MusicBrainz, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Release data: MusicBrainz ↗, matched from ListenBrainz new releases named in our headlines on 16 Oct 2026