Suffering Jukebox

This morning's episode features an interview with Kathryn Mohr, whose latest album, Carve, will be released by The Flenser on Friday April 17th. You can find out more about Kathryn Mohr (and purchase her music) here; https://kathrynmohr.bandcamp.com/

Nick's Pick of the Week is Sunn0)))'s self-titled album, which was released on Friday April 3rd. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here;https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/sunn-o-2 and my review can be read below.

Sunn0))): Sunn0))) (Sub Pop)

Released April 3rd 2026

Sunn0))) have been pushing the boundaries of guitar noise for almost thirty years now. Their sound is characterised by intense volume, slow tempos, and lengthy, drop-tuned compositions that ignore traditional song structures. It has been almost seven years since Sunn0))) released the one-two-punch of Life Metal and Pyroclasts —each of which was recorded in 2018 with the late Steve Albini— and the first release in the band’s discography to solely feature Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley.

Released by the iconic Seattle label Sub Pop, a homecoming of sorts as Anderson and O’Malley formed Sunn0))) in Seattle in 1998. Sunn0))) was also recorded in Washington State —at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville with Brad Wood as engineer. Sunn0))) is monolithic, not only in sound, but in scale and scope. Each song contains over 100 individual guitar tracks, the result of micing not only the room, but each speaker in Anderson and O’Malley’s massive amp rigs, alongside field recordings and found sounds from the environment surrounding the studio. 

Further emphasising the epicness of the album, 80 minutes of music, across four LPs, is the album’s artwork, which features two paintings by the famed American abstractionist, Mark Rothko. Whilst Sunn0))) and Rothko’s artistic methods may be light years apart, each embodies an approach that can only be described as monolithic minimalism. Many of Rothko’s famous pieces are almost monotone, utilising one or two colours or shades to communicate with the viewer. Likewise, Sunn0))), at its core, is the sound of an amplified guitar pushed to the extreme. It sounds simple on paper, but, like abstract art, it’s the application that matters.

How does one review Sunn0))), or explain the methodology of the group to those unacquainted with their style? It is guitar music for one, but so is Guns ’N’ Roses. Noise? Drone? Noise-drone? Drone-metal is a regularly applied term, with the group considered pioneers of the genre that owes as much of its ethos to Black Sabbath as it does La Monte Young. Perhaps, like looking at a Rothko, there are no easy answers.

When examining a painting, it is up to each individual viewer to decide what they see —or don’t see. The same applies to Sunn0))), some will hear noise and nothing but, some will question its purpose and whether they can do the same thing or better. Ultimately, this isn’t music that panders. It is as expansive as it is esoteric, a rejection of convention in pursuit of endless possibility. Listen, absorb and (most importantly) submit to the volume.

Nick Stephan