DEPECHE MODE – MEMENTO MORI: MEXICO CITY
Depeche Mode have a deep connection with their fans in Mexico. Dave Gahan has spoken about the live shows there are “a religion.” With their most recent album being about contemplating death and what it means to be alive, Mexico City was the perfect setting to film the live show. Recorded at Foro Sol in 2023, the set is sleek, dark, and pulsing with grief and defiance. The Memento Mori tracks: “Ghosts Again,” and “My Cosmos Is Mine” sound like hymns for the end times. And “Enjoy the Silence” still sounds like the coolest apocalypse anthem ever written. It’s worth it to pair it with the documentary which goes further into the connection between the fans, the band, and the afterlife.
Stream • Columbia • Connect: @depechemode
GUNS N’ ROSES – “NOTHIN'”
GNR just announced world domination in 2026, or at least a World tour that will take them to Mystic Lake Amphitheater on August 8th. To inspire a reinvigorated love for the band, they dug back into the Chinese Democracy vault to dust off a couple of tracks that never saw the light of day. “Atlas” was whispered about for years, and it lands like a glam-tinged epic (think big chorus, Slash doing Slash things, and a sense that it could’ve been a centerpiece on Chinese Democracy if that album had been less cursed). “Nothin’” is my favorite of the new offerings, it starts off gentle and keys-driven before building up to a Slash solo that’s a little over a minute (I counted) and could have gone on even longer.
Stream • Geffen/UMG • Connect: @gunsnroses
FREDDIE MERCURY – MR BAD GUY (REISSUE)
Freddie’s solo shot was never about playing it safe. Mr. Bad Guy is disco, synth-pop, and pure theater – it’s Mercury without the Queen filter. The reissue gives it a new heft; suddenly “Living on My Own” feels like it could headline a Berlin club night. It’s camp, it’s heartfelt, and it’s Freddie at his most liberated. If you only know him as the guy behind “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this is the deep dive into his wild side.
Stream • EMI/Universarl • Connect: @freddiemercury
THE WATERBOYS – RIPS FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Mike Scott calls these tracks “too unruly for the album,” which is exactly why they’re great. Rips From The Cutting Room Floor is the Waterboys in full cinematic sprawl. The Irish/British band always sounds composed and dramatic, but these 16 new tracks are messy, vivid, and almost too intimate. If Life, Death and Dennis Hopper was the movie, this is the director’s cut with all the weird scenes left in.
Stream • Sun Label Group • Connect: @waterboysmusic
