W/e 27/02/26 - Above, Below, New Found Glory, Peaches, Thumper, Robert Miles

Congrats to Thumper, our winners this week and straight in at the top of the 2026 list, ending Cardinals single week reign.

They also have one of our most popular TOTWs with 10 of us choosing it.

Above, Below are 2nd bottom this year, screaming into the spot femtanyl took last week. What a pair.

Sam keeps the 😀 by some distance. Perhaps no surprise Disgusted from Tonbridge has the ☹️ , his first since July thanks to awarding his lowest ever set of scores.

Robert Miles was enjoyed without blowing away, and land next to Genisis and The Libertines on the classics.

Andy

Above, Below - On first listen this was even a bit much for me as Soothsayer rips right through you. On second go I found it much more enjoyable, especially from the driving drums and guitars. Not the best metalcore around but not too bad 6

New Found Glory - Punk Pop OGs doing what they do and doing it pretty well. Catchy stuff all round 7

Peaches - Once you get past the horniness extreme sex positivity there’s some catchy tunes in here. She’s certainly a woman in control of all of her holes 5.5

Thumper - a solid bit of rocking indie that pleasingly only once goes for the “hi mr tv producer, if you’re not using Fontaines we’ve got a song for your new gritty crime drama” 7.5

TotW - You Didn’t Hear This From Me by Thumper

Robert Miles - Children is an alright tune but I will never see the value in 70 minutes of it. 4

Phil (OG)

Above, Below 4.5

Pretty tedious example of, what is it? Shredded synth metal? Plus points: some great song titles – An orchestration of carbon probably the best – and terrific drumming. But when the vocals were normal the music was dull and when the shredding began it was borderline unlistenable.

New Found Glory 6

Sam tells me that this lot are pop punk heroes! Andy refers to them as OGs. Well, I’m sorry, I found them pretty ordinary. Listenable but in no way memorable.

Peaches 6

Fairly standard electro-pop, but with added rudeness, and lots of it. Fuck how you wanna fuck (thanks, Peach!) probably qualifies as the album’s mission statement. That said, Take it and the closing track Be love are incongruously pretty. How did they get in?

Thumper 7.5

Strange name for a heavy guitar band. They do know about Bambi, don’t they? Knuckle Sandwich might be appropriate. They’re not doing anything even vaguely new but there’s a refreshing ballsiness about them that keeps you listening. Oi, you! Outside - now!

TOTW – Thumper – Middle management

Classic

Robert Miles 5

This is quite listenable if a little one-dimensional, rather like New Age music with a back beat. It did go on a bit as well.

Carlo

Above, Below – 4.2

Ahh I see… Heaven & Hell – it all makes sense now, I only clicked about 1/2 way through. Most of the songs lull you into a false sense of melodic security, then suddenly fall off a cliff when the screaming kicks in. It may well be therapeutic for the singer, but defo not for me.

New Found Glory – 5.2

Guitar heavy, Teen American pop/rock – not for me. I expect to hear them in shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Presume they're not teens anymore?

Peaches – 5.4

So Rude! Won't be playing this out loud… didn't mind it though.

THUMPER – 6.6

Some good, solid, feet tapping tunes.

TOTW: Peaches – Take It

Classic Robert Miles – 8.9

More synths, less guitar, any day of the week! OK Children is timeless for me, the rest of the album gets a bit dreamy. Sadly I do enjoy Euro Trash (just don't tell anyone).

Guy

Above, Below – Just a massive racket with very few decipherable tunes and a load of screaming. Very little to redeem it other than it not being quite as bad as Sleaford Mods. 45 minutes of my life I’ll never get back - 3

New Found Glory – I’ve never been a massive fan of this American pop punk, angsty stuff – oft seen on the Main Stage on Sunday at the Festival (in the recent past but no longer). Everything sounds the same and it’s hard to differentiate one band from the rest. Still, the good news is this has a tune at least – 5.5

Peaches – Wow. It’s a little hard to see past the lyrics. We’ve had the potty mouths of the rap scene before, but this takes the biscuit. As Andy said, if you ignore the words, the tunes aren’t bad including the last track but boy oh boy, it’s hard to ignore the words when she’s shouting them out all the way through… - 5.8

THUMPER – Well Spotify warned me to expect a wall of sound and their two drummers and four guitarists certainly produced that – particularly on my TOTW. Good Indie album. – 7.5

TOTW – Middle Management - THUMPER

Robert Miles – I like ambient house and piano house – so not surprisingly found this very pleasant. That said, it did feel a bit like the sort of thing you’d put on while working as it didn’t require much ‘active listening’. Attention was grabbed by the hits but deductions for breaking the hour mark – 7.3

Phil (New)

Above, below: 4.5

Some of the music was ok, but I can't cope with the screaming. A dance in the leaves was a decent track and a welcome end to it all.

New found glory: 6.8

I shouldn't like this, I actively tried not to like it, but in the end it won. Nostalgic lyrics and energetic tunes. Very much sounding indentical to everything in the genre, but good fun.

Peaches: 3

Fisted up the arse pretty much sums it up.

Thumper: 8

What a sound! Big noise. Loved this, fantastic album.

TOW: Middle Management - Thumper

Robert Miles: 5

Pretty much the same track rehashed and repeated over and over. Children is an ok tune but a tiresome listen for over an hour.

Simon

Above, Below: not quite sure how I ended up voting for this racket - must have just listened to the vocal-free opening track. Think I would have preferred Mumford & Sons (and that's not a sentence I'd ever imagined writing). 3

New Found Glory: can't believe I voted for this either - tiresome and irritating American punk rock lacking any spark of originality, and if I ever hear that tedious repetitive drumming again it will be too soon. I almost prefer Above, Below. 3

Peaches: I'm all for a bit of fruitiness in music, and as a genre electroclash probably suits it better than most, but it's possible to go too far and this certainly does that. That's a decent album in here somewhere but it gets lost amongst all the filth. 6

Thumper: the band name isn't great but the album is excellent - not wildly original but they attack everything with such gusto and aplomb that you can forgive them that; more than a handful of cracking tracks as well. 8

TotW: Thumper - Middle Management

Robert Miles: he hit upon a winning formula with Children so no surprises that this is all variations on the same theme - also no surprise then that it does get pretty monotonous after a while. 6

Justin

Above, Below - Painful 2

New Found Glory - Great if you like Sum 41 etc 6

Peaches - Silly song titles and lyrics. Some tunes okay. 5.9

Thumper - Quality loud indie rock 7

TOTW Thumper - Middle Management

Robert Miles - Children is a dance classic but this album is really just versions of the song. 6

Sam

Above , Below: it’s a shame that when he doesn’t shout he relies on the vocoder . Still some of the non shouty stuff was fine . But overall a 5.5

New Found Glory : pop punk is one of my favourite types of music. They do this very well . 8

Peaches : you lot make me laugh , show me on this doll where Peaches hurt you ? 59 year old Canadian woman talks about sex a lot . I thought it was fun : 7

Thumper : what a belter ! Loved this from start to finish. 8.8

TOTW : You DIdnt hear this from me by Thumper .

Robert Miles : in a week where the sun actually shone I enjoyed this , it’s light but enjoyable. 7.1

Mark

Above Beyond - silly over dramatic noise that takes itself far too seriously, totally devoid of any groove or soul - 3.5

New Found Glory - standard Green Day / Jimmy Eat World style pop punk, the likes of which we'll have heard plenty of at Reading over the years. I'm not averse to this kind of thing, but only in small doses - 6

Peaches - musically it's actually pretty decent, some confrontational electro clash going on. I remember seeing her in a tent at Reading quite a few years ago, maybe when she (and we) were merely in our 40s and she wasn't messing around. Good to see that age hasn't mellowed her - 7

Thumper - I really liked the big 10 minute mental freak out at the end, but otherwise it was a bit hit and miss for me. As current day indie guitar bands go though, it's pretty decent - 7

TOTW - Middle Management, by Thumper

Erol

Above, Below - yet more devil screeching. Have heard it all before and I still don’t like it. Mostly pointless noise. 2

New Found Glory - frat rock, Green Day sound alikes. A decent listen but nothing exceptional. 6

Peaches - I have no interest in listening to rubbish like this. The tunes are weak and the lyrics are filthy and offensive. 1

Thumper- rollicking indie guitar anthems with a welcome brashness. Nice. 7.5

TOTW - on and off again, Thumper.

Classic - pleasant enough synths and basic drum machines, with the odd pia-pia-piano thrown in for good measure. More background (or even lift) music but it’s still half decent. A bit of editorial pruning wouldn’t have gone amiss though. 6.5

Paul

Above, Below (3)

Heavy music and heavy going for me.

New Found Glory (5.5)

Ok but not a huge fan of pop punk so struggled a bit, all a bit emo.

Peaches (5)

Musical filth! Ok electro pop but it just puts you off after a while.

Thumper (8)

Excellent lively indie rock with a few contenders for TOTW.

TOTW - thumper, middle management

Robert Miles (7)

Used to have children on CD single back in the 90s, but never really head much beyond that. A very pleasant listen but all a little bit samey.

Matt

Above, Below - more below - 4

New Found Glory - not quite - 5.5

Peaches - Some tunes, so rude. 5

Thumper - thumping. 7.9

TOTW Thumper, Middle Management.

Adam

Above Beyond - 5

New Found Glory - 6

Peaches - 6

Thumper - 7

TOTW - there will be blood - thumper

Classic - 7

Annette

Above, Below: 4

New Found Glory: 6.5

Peaches: 5

Thumper: 7.5

TOTW: Middle Management by Thumper

Classic: Robert Miles - 7.5 Can I have Children as TOTW.

Jim

Above, below 2

Uber silly, and whereas others can be passable when the screaming stops, this never was

New Found Glory 5.5

Is there a pop-punk landfill site next to the Indie one? If so, these chaps drive pretty close to it. I feel this genre is best delivered by angsty youngsters. Olivia Rodrigo does this sort of thing much better

Peaches 6.5

She’s a force of nature for sure. Some decent electro pop sounds, lyrcis made me smile more often than wince.

Thumper 7.5

Moseys along nicely with decent, if not standout tracks then ay caramba they absolutely nail it with the TOTW.

TOTW: Thumper’s Middle Management

Robert Miles 7.5

Yeah, it’s just a smidge one dimensional , but it’s a smooth tasty trance dimension I’ve always liked