Once scrappy post-punk poets, they’re now one of the biggest bands in the world. As they release new album Dopamine Chamber, fans including Kneecap and Shame explain their sensational rise

When Irish rockers Fontaines DC emerged in 2019, they were a bunch of post-punk poets making abrasive guitar music at a time when Dance Monkey, Drake and The Greatest Showman reigned supreme. But today, as their fifth album Dopamine Chamber is released, the quintet are looking towards a 2027 filled with gigs in UK stadiums, US arenas and headline slots at big European festivals – plus rumours of topping Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage. It’s quite a trajectory.

Their rise has been strangely traditional for a time when social media has culture in a chokehold. Ever more ambitious albums, the support of radio and institutions such as the BBC, and a lot of touring have all played parts. Beyond that, “fact is, they’re one of the best bands in the world,” says fellow countryman Mo Chara, one third of Kneecap.

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© Photograph: Ewen Spencer

© Photograph: Ewen Spencer

© Photograph: Ewen Spencer

Starting with Sixth Wonder - Burnout, and Sixth Wonder - IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME?, fron Glasgow. The first video might haunt your dreams tonight. (previously)

Spiritbox - Mourning, their first new music since Tsunami Sea. They said it's a new direction, I tend to believe them. (previously) BLACK SPIKES - SENAS DEMONAS and BLACK SPIKES - APATIJA, both off their album Ydos, which I already posted, but they didn't have a videos before. (previously) The Rat Utopia Experiment - Three-Banded Armadillo, the circus punks are back. (previously) SECRET RULE - Someone Killed the Pope, Italian modern metal, title track of their eleventh album. 天乞い - amagoi / Character, ex-Jungfrau. CRYPTA - A Portrait of Decay, death metal from São Paulo. MADAM - Fell In Love With A Girl, the Toulouse trio doing the White Stripes. (previously) 星熊南巫 - HOSHIKUMA MINAMI / NOVA feat. Kenta Koie, the Crossfaith and AFTERVOID frontman guesting, plus YD from Crystal Lake. Kami Kehoe - LOVE IS A WEAPON, alt-rock with pop instincts and some nice breakdowns. LUNA KILLS - LEECH, the Finnish four-piece. (previously) RAZE - ทิ้งไว้กับฉัน (UNFADING) and RAZE - จํานน (Break Me), metalcore from Thailand with two vocalists, Murlyn screaming and Yoko singing. 花冷え。 - バリバリBuddy, the Harajuku-core crew doing the ending theme for the anime I Reincarnated as a Sword II. (previously) 闇雲 -yamikumo- / 悪党 (AKUTOU), nine members, visual kei and idol in one, and the song is a television ending theme. ANKOR - ITACHI · blood moon, singing about Naruto on the second volume of I SEE RED. (previously) The whole thing as a single playlist.

Drawing from post-hardcore, twee and emo, the Exeter trio’s intoxicating energy feels like an invitation to form your own band

From Exeter, UK
Recommended if you like Boyracer, the Promise Ring, Rites of Spring
Up next Little Bastard EP out now

It’s tempting to view any half-decent scene as either a magical happening or a simple quirk of geography and timing. In reality, they’re more like monuments to the importance of showing up. For that to continue to happen, you need bands like Pushbike. Rattling through four songs in well under 10 minutes, each crooked hook, euphoric yelp and cheesewire guitar lead on their Little Bastard EP feels like an invitation to form a band, draw a flyer, or book a show.

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© Photograph: Courtesy of Molly Boniface

© Photograph: Courtesy of Molly Boniface

© Photograph: Courtesy of Molly Boniface

Whether on the frontline in Ukraine or skate parks in Soweto, the genre is still a vital outlet for disaffected people everywhere. Here, musicians explain how they rage against the machine

Andriy Zholob, vocalist/guitarist, Beton: When MTV arrived in Ukraine, I heard Nirvana, the Offspring, Bad Brains, Social Distortion and thrash metal, and realised that all this started from punk rock. Our drummer and I were in a ska-punk band first, but when our vocalist became pregnant we started Beton in 2017 and played lots of festivals.

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© Composite: Jess Clark for the Guardian: Getty Images/ Katrīna Līva Dalbiņa, Alejandra Núñez, Assante Chiweshe, Ruslan Bulgakov, Valeriia Nekhvodiuk, Yulia Sachul

© Composite: Jess Clark for the Guardian: Getty Images/ Katrīna Līva Dalbiņa, Alejandra Núñez, Assante Chiweshe, Ruslan Bulgakov, Valeriia Nekhvodiuk, Yulia Sachul

© Composite: Jess Clark for the Guardian: Getty Images/ Katrīna Līva Dalbiņa, Alejandra Núñez, Assante Chiweshe, Ruslan Bulgakov, Valeriia Nekhvodiuk, Yulia Sachul

Daft Funk Live is a tribute band paying homage to legendary EDM robot duo Daft Punk with their own highly produced performances - Studio Session London 2024 (youtube channel)

Ahead of the Irish alt-rockers’ highly anticipated fifth album, Dopamine Chamber, we count down their potent, occasionally political, catalogue

A single inspired by the birth of bassist Conor Deegan’s daughter, It’s Amazing to Be Young is a lovely example of Fontaines DC operating in euphoric mode, a relatively recent addition to their emotional mood board: “Sometimes,” offered frontman Grian Chatten, “optimism is a necessary delusion.”

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© Photograph: Theo Cottle

© Photograph: Theo Cottle

© Photograph: Theo Cottle

The Post Brothers, Savage Henry, Lord Cthulhu, and all Carolines jam one last time. Matt Howarth, creator of so many comics and book illustrations, passed at 72.

Official site. The Bugtown Mall.

Kim Stanley Robinson won't read aloud his climate disaster scene from 'The Ministry for the Future' - "As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Robinson says he has been invoking the American Revolution in discussions about climate change. Despite declaring independence from Britain in 1776, it wasn't until 1783 — when a peace treaty was signed after years of brutal battles — that the country truly became a nation. 'The story of the American Revolution is lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, win,' said Robinson. 'So where did the win come from? It came from keeping to fighting despite the losses.'" (previously)

also btw...

• Scientists hope deeper-rooted soybeans can withstand climate extremes and store more carbon - "Research scientist Ashish Rajurkar kneels in the dirt, lifting a large clod of soil tangled around a soybean plant. He knocks away pieces of earth from the plant's roots, which slope straight down instead of out to the side like typical soybean plants. Researchers hope roots like these could help crops withstand some effects of climate change while also drawing more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it underground."
• The Iran war is driving clean energy development. It's not enough to help the planet, yet - "When the U.S. and Israel launched the war in February, some backers of renewables opined it could drive a green transition as oil and gas prices spiked. So far, more than 30 governments have enacted policies to move away from fossil fuels or improve energy efficiency. Yet at the same time, global emissions of greenhouse gases increased slightly and investments in clean energy fell compared to the same period last year."
• Worsening El Nino threatens Asia with drought, potentially raising food prices globally - "El Nino is part of a natural climate cycle of warming ocean temperatures, but this year's is expected to reach new extremes of drought, heat waves, flooding and other climate-related disruptions in South America, Africa and Asia."
• Major gaps remain to tripling global renewable energy capacity - "The world must build more than 6 terawatts of renewable power in the next five years — more than all previous years combined — to deliver on a goal to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, according to a new report." (China's clean tech exports prevented more than the UK's annual emissions)
• Climate finance needs an overhaul - "For developing countries, more green tech capital doesn't always translate to a cheaper and cleaner energy system." (Inside China's $7 Trillion Green Finance Market)
• Electricity could meet a third of global consumption by 2035 - "Electricity could cost-effectively meet a third of the world's energy consumption by 2035 based on existing technologies and pre-war energy prices, putting a proposed goal to boost electrification within 'striking distance,' the International Energy Agency found. High energy prices caused by the Middle East conflict could make even more of today's energy demand economical to electrify, the Paris-based agency said in a new analysis."
• Carbon Removal Falls Short as World Blows Past 1.5C Target - "Taking CO2 from the atmosphere is seen as necessary to mitigate climate change."

meanwhile...

• The Geothermal Energy Wild Card Is Getting Wilder - "Following a long term R&D program supported by the US Department of Energy, next-generation geothermal systems are forging into new territory, aided in part by methods borrowed from the oilfield services industry along with advanced exploration technologies and speedier, cost-cutting drilling systems." (DOE Selects Fervo, Zanskar and Quaise as Part of $99M Funding to Advance Next-Gen Geothermal)
• Google-backed energy outfit brings 33 MW of 4 GW geothermal potential online in Utah - "Fervo Energy aims to have 100 MW online by New Year and half a gigawatt by 2028."
• Company to drill deep beneath Newberry Caldera in search of geothermal energy - "A second company is drilling for geothermal energy south of Newberry National Volcanic Monument, south of Bend, with plans to build a 50-megawatt power plant by 2030."

Berlin's LUTHER: the proggy post-hardcore of Five Of Cups; the Korn-ish nu metal of Giving The People What They Want; and their debut, Next time send a killer.

Please hold on to your butt, and don't stick it or anything else out the window, thank you. Enjoy. Blue Medusa - Crocodile, Alissa White-Gluz's post-Arch Enemy band, in their first full-band performance video. Never Obey Again - Play Pretend, Italian electro-metalcore with a grudge. Defiance - Choice, two minutes of Stuttgart hardcore about bodily autonomy. Blood Command - The Plague On Both Your Houses, Norwegian death pop. STMLT - SiLENT KiLLER, death growls and rap. NEMOPHILA - Anatadare, a nine-and-a-half minute '80s slasher movie. Slow Pulse - Comatose ft. False Reality, Austin metallic hardcore fronted by Brooke Hampton, teaming up with UK hardcore band False Reality. Her blood - cut/here (with Stirling), dark, witch-house-y electronics. The Rat Utopia Experiment - Lobotomize Me, circus rock from Tacoma. Electrify - Fake, grungy alt rock from Querétaro, Mexico. Saint Agnes - Good Boy, London industrial goth. Valentyne - In Your Head, Manchester alt rock. Sally - IMPLICATION, instrumental shred from the Lipstick/mellows guitarist, played live with a Japanese supergroup: AYUMI (BRIDEAR), Azu (Cyntia) and MARI (Mary's Blood). Temperance - The Tower: Lean Into Fear, Italian symphonic power metal. Anna Fiori - Dejar Ir, cinematic Aztec metal. Sangham - Reclaim, eco-feminist prog/djent from Marseille. Perrish 9 - Red Thread, cinematic modern metal from Atlanta. Speed of Light - Inch by Inch, fuzzy garage rock from the Santa Monica sibling trio. MADAM - BULLSHIT, a garage rock trio from Toulouse calling out a fake friend. Na na na na na. Softcult - I Held You Like Glass, dreamy shoegaze. Parallyx - Gimme A Fkn Break, Paris metalcore in English, Arabic and Darija. LOVEBITES - Reaper's Lullaby, not a lullaby Fervence - Ascension, a short, fast fever dream of prog metalcore. And the pièce de résistance, Tina Guo - Red Cathedral, electric cello, EDM and industrial metal.

For Natalie Fratto, putting on her dark green jumper from US microchip giant Nvidia is like wearing the kit from a favourite sports team. On the front of the $178 (£132) woollen garment is a cartoonish image of the tech company's boss Jensen Huang. Fratto doesn't work for Nvidia. Instead, she's a fan of the company.