Former Teen and Gareth Inkster Reviewed
Former Teen – Bullet for your gun
The Manic Street Preachers, upon releasing their flawed but objectively brilliant debut “Generation Terrorists,” proclaimed that the only bands that were ever worth taking seriously were those who had the decency and foresight to break up after making just one album. This is something they promised to do and, as of 2026, the group had released dozens of great albums.
But Richey Edwards, the band’s propaganda minister, was right in a lot of ways. The only truly great rock albums are the ones that feel built on exuberance and despair so big that they can’t possibly be replicated. The only albums that feel like they’re going to change things are the ones that are constructed with self-destruction written in.
The Jesus and Mary Chain were a revolutionary unit, but the band’s unnatural level of energy couldn’t be maintained. You need to find a substitute. Former Teen’s “Bullet for your gun” offers to be just that in 2026. This is a great single, the kind that feels written in a moment of deep, personal crisis and that, honestly, can’t be replicated. That’s why you ought to treasure finding it! And where does the band go from here? There’s no reason to make plans after reaching near-perfection.
Gareth Inkster – You Are Not Young Start Walking
If you’re lucky, when you’re young, you get to visit a place like Berlin, Tokyo or Riga and stay there for a while pretending to be an artist, filling up your contact list with eccentrics and learning to move to minimalist techno beats at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday night. If you’re really lucky, you get to opt out pretty quickly after acquiring all of those experiences.
If you don’t and get suckered in, don’t feel too bad! It’s the rock n’ roll lifestyle that did you in, and everyone in a leather jacket who ever tried to sell it to you. The modern, bohemian life is one filled with great music, healthy food and unhealthy substances, but it’s also filled with an inability to make a decision about anything important. It takes a modern philosopher like Gareth Inkster to get us talking about these things again.
“You Are Not Young Start Walking” is something of a modern, lo-fi alt-rock spiritual. It certainly is an attempt to find something greater than oneself. Ultimately, Inkster seems to come to the conclusion that picking a road and walking it confidently is the only certain method that exists. “You Are Not Young Start Walking” is a charming rock song that will get you away from spending your life trapped in Berlin.
