THE DROP
Sponge have released "Self Inflicted Loss," the first track from *Recuerda Tu Muerte* — out October 2 via Three One Three and billed as the Detroit band's final studio album *, †. Vinnie Dombroski says there's no Auto-Tune and no beat detective on it: "It's more about feel than perfection." *
WHAT TO KNOW
- Album number thirteen across 32 years, following 2024's covers set *1994* and the shelved-since-1999 *Planet Girls* *, †.
- Self-produced by Dombroski and guitarist Andy Patalan, tracked in Detroit at ATP and House Of Tone; Patalan also mixed and mastered *.
- Heavy subject matter: "Lead Gods" tackles gun violence, "Lost Pilots" is an elegy for Scott Weiland, "Stealing Shadows" goes orchestrated sludge *.
- The video was made with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (*Robot Chicken*) using customized 1970s Fisher-Price figures, with Dombroski falling into a candy corn vat — a nod to the *Rotting Piñata* cover *.
- Fall tour with Candlebox runs September 22 to October 30 *, †.
THE TAKE
A band self-producing its own goodbye in its hometown, tracking vocals in a couple of takes, is a far better sign than a farewell record handed to an outside hitmaker. Naming a closing track "Peckerwood" on the album you're calling your last tells you Dombroski isn't interested in a dignified exit.
