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Charles Webster, one of the most influential deep house producers and a true master of his craft, makes his debut on Pariter with a landmark reissue of one of his most timeless records, The Strength.

Originally released under his mid 90s alias The Presence, the record has long stood as the most coveted release from the project. Nearly three decades on, The Strength remains a benchmark for sophisticated deep house, effortlessly fusing emotional depth with driving, tech leaning groove that commands dance-floors and creates a truly immersive atmosphere.

This special reissue not only reintroduce a certified classic on Pariter, but also marks the 30th anniversary of its originally release. An essential piece of house music

Charles Webster, one of the most influential deep house producers and a true master of his craft, makes his debut on Pariter with a landmark reissue of one of his most timeless records, The Strength.

Originally released under his mid 90s alias The Presence, the record has long stood as the most coveted release from the project. Nearly three decades on, The Strength remains a benchmark for sophisticated deep house, effortlessly fusing emotional depth with driving, tech leaning groove that commands dance-floors and creates a truly immersive atmosphere.

This special reissue not only reintroduce a certified classic on Pariter, but also marks the 30th anniversary of its originally release. An essential piece of house music

Ataxia return to Planet E with two club-optimized cuts that capture their rolling, characterful approach to the authentic roots of Detroit's electronic culture. Marking the duo's return to Planet E following 2020's Oblivion EP, both tracks deliver energy tapped from a fundamental understanding of house and techno, equally charged with their punk and DIY background.

Immediately establishing a deep, hypnotic beat, 'The Whistles' expands into a collage of unruly samples that tour the club, the street and the true characters between. Playfully hinting at the tension between Detroit's party people and those who would like the music turned down, the track is a steamrolling club cut that finds Ataxia going wild with their most psychedelic studio trickery.

'Hocus On Pocus' is a tightly wound, punchy psychedelic wormhole of analogue FX and rubbery basslines, adding layers of pressure and surprising sonic twists. The result is an offbeat banger in the spirit of Planet E's wildest moments; primed for the dancefloor but with personality to spare.

More Modern Soul madness from the team at Celestial Echo. No Stranger To Love is one of those rare tracks that crosses over both Modern and Northern scenes & has long been a favourite of collectors and selectors with original copies regularly changing hands for £100 + on the second hand market.

This lead to the synth laden funk track being picked up by Dam Funk & the Stones Throw crew, who shone a new light on the track via online mixes which has only increased the demand.

Officially reissued for the first time in 40 years and as always, officially licenced and remastered by Celestial Echo Records. Needless to say, buy or cry.

Repress on Transparent Red Vinyl

If you’ve spent any time in a London club over the last few years, you know the name. Rossi. has gone from being the “secret weapon” of the underground to the guy everyone is trying to book. After cutting his teeth with a residency at Fabric and tearing the roof off Printworks and Studio 338, he’s finally given us the anthem we’ve been waiting for.

The bosses new single on Homegrown., ‘Ease Your Mind,’ isn’t just another tech-house filler. It’s the perfect distillation of that “Rossi. sound” that’s been vibrating through the UK scene lately.

Brånd is one weird/post black metal act from the Upper Austrian town of Linz.

Started off in 2015 as a solo act by Vritra (also in Kringa and Weathered Crest) with the need for a form of expression free from perfection or boundaries, over the past ten years the ever-evolving project ventured into various soundscapes, from crude black metal to lo-fi ambient and from ferocious post-punk to psych downer rock, all while splitting releases with extreme underground torchbearers like Absolute Key, Calvary and Rosa Nebel.

Joined by musicians to evolve old and new ideas, Brånd debut full-length album grew from 4-track demos gathered over the last decade to become an album of richly arranged songs from all over the fields of interest, breaking from their lo-fi tradition to new horizons.

To describe thoroughly “Tåg & Nåcht” is possibly the hardest task to do, given all the influences that are skilfully intertwined and perfectly balanced. In this witches’ brew the most schooled listeners will hear some angular post-punk à la Gang Of Four sustaining pagan declamations in the vein of Fenriz folk metal excursus Isengard. Straight forward dark anarcho punk assaults are mitigated by almost new age juxtapositions. Traces of 70’s German krautrock like La Düsseldorf are melted into a heavy metal cast, while wind instrument raids that are equally James Chance and Death In June seem to drop when least expected.

The sound is crunchy and surprisingly warm, contrary to what one might expect of a band emerging from a black metal background. But right now, Brånd is so much more than this: they can master a wide range of sounds that span from 70’s space rock, passing through 80’s post-punk and UK82, reaching 90’s black metal and 2000’s blackgaze, all in one incredibly coherent album. If this sounds too good to be true, suit yourself and press Play.
Split released with Tour De Garde in US/CA.

Ital Tek's new album 'Mind Abandon' takes a different direction from his recent run of releases, embracing a more human touch in contrast to the dense, world-building drone of his previous albums and film work. This time, he set out to compose away from the computer as much as possible _ working more instinctively and allowing himself to get lost in the music. Alan found the most natural starting point was his own voice, processing vocals into shifting pads and textures. His guitar sits at the centre of much of the record, joined by live, hand-played percussion and effects, often captured in quick, spontaneous performances. The result is an album of spacious, contrasting dynamics, with textures pressing against each other and rhythmic elements fighting to surface from glutinous, layered sound. "It feels like a very introspective record for me," Alan says. "Losing my sense of identity/self as part of the process - the increasing effort to calm my mind and embrace humanity/imperfection in the music. This path made sense as a jumping off point for a lot of the music to be vocal or guitar experiments - singing in ideas and then processing to become less identifiable." The album feels carved and three-dimensional, weaving industrial and shoegaze influences with the darker edges of post-rock. Subtly embedded in its architecture are traces of dubstep dynamics _ a sound that remains part of Alan's DNA. Opening track "The Ice Is Thin" is driven almost entirely by live guitar and keyboard, awash in reverb. On "A Hidden Path," everything apart from the drums stems from processed vocals and guitar, with a fleeting appearance from his daughter's toy ukulele. It unfolds like the beginning of a journey _ vast and cinematic _ nodding to the widescreen tension of Ennio Morricone before building into a towering wall of noise. "Killswitch" disorients with pounding kick drums crafted from twanging acoustic guitar, pushing through layers of static-charged chords. "Undertow" spirals outward on looping guitar figures set against a pulsing Rhodes. "Misted," built around a rare four-to-the-floor beat, uses guitar as a driving rhythmic device, opening with a bassline that wouldn't feel out of place on a The Cure record. "Imagined Landscape" introduces icy keyboard textures that foreshadow the dark closer, "The Pull," where an arpeggiated bassline reminiscent of DAF underpins unnerving, internalised sound design that feels as though it's scratching from within. Mind Abandon closes on a heavy, stalking note _ fresh sounds drawn from the body and the heart.

Emotional Rescue returns after a much-needed year hiatus, refreshed and ready, as it moves into its 15th year, to further explore the environs of oft-forgotten musical secrets and present them to new heads and minds.

To celebrate, the label looks back to one of its favourite collaborations, the music of French ‘Ethno-Industrialists’ Vox Populi! in presenting a truly unique EP of “In Dub”, inspired remixes by 4 fellow Paris based artists of today in Full Circle, Froid Dub, Krikor and Shelter.

“In Dub” takes a selection of songs from the series of albums reissued or compiled on Emotional Rescue and sister label, Platform 23, and gives the Master tapes to this talented ensemble to offer their own, unique dub reworks. The project explores the on-going advances in technology offered, mixed with pure talent and a respectful homage.

Formed by Axel Kyrou and including wife Mitra, as well as long-term music and art partners Pierre Jolivet aka Pacific 231 and Francis Lafont aka FR6 Man, they forged a path from obscure, drum and drum-based cassette releases on to fully realized albums and compilations on their now cult Vox Man Records.

Alexis Le Tan and Joakim’s Full Circle project starts, with their electronic dub remake of Soleyman Dub from the ‘Alternatif Réalisme’ compilation (ERC079). With releases on Good Morning Tapes, Offen and their own “Released” label, their plaudits as master diggers and producers of dubby tripped-out inspired electronics – releasing slowed Trance some 10 years before anyone else – is inspired. Tuning in and turning on the original dub into a mantra style slow-breaks (Digi)dub is the perfect experimental flavour.

Jube Man is next, a twisted, psychedelic dub out by rising stars Froid Dub. The stand-out from the ‘Magiques Creations’ release (ERC052), an album that explored Vox Populi’s furtive post-industrial period of 1984 to 1988, Jube Man was the perfect selection by the duo of François Marché and Stéphane Bodin.

Froid Dub have steadily developed their “cold” Digidub style to acclaim –

releasing a steady flow of dub inspired electronics on their own label Delodio, as well as recently appearing on sister label Emotional Response’s 10th year anniversary collection, ‘All Trades’. Their haunting, shuffling and murky acid / piano dub, with the drifting “Space Echoing” of Mitra’s vocals from the live desk mix, creates a ghostly version to effect.

Next, master mixer, producer and engineer Krikor serves a steppers remake with his “OverDub” of Zen-Dub. With a career that spans releases on Tigersushi, LIES and Soul Jazz, his sound has developed from Electro, House and Techno, to Acid, Bleep, Dancehall, Dub and touches of Gabba.

Taken from Vox Populi!’s master-opus Aither (ERC030), the first of our reissues dating back to 2016, Zen-Dub’s pacey, lo-fi dub experience is transformed and overdubbed into an incessant sound system throb, a true bass quaking “steppa”.

To close, Micro Climax is put through Shelter’s increasing avant dub exposition. Appearing on the likes of Growing Bin, Emotional Response and his own Protopost, as well for – and being in-house designer – on the much-missed Séance Centre, Alan Briand aka Shelter productions have developed from Balearic, Edits and House to explore Avant, Raga and live Dub productions.

Appearing on the recent ‘Ethniques Pyschedeliques’ compilation on Platform 23 (PLA032), in original form Micro Climax is a sprawling 10-minute ethno-dub of whispered vocals, drone and sub bass. Shelter strips it back, keeping background effects, adding live bass and percussion to create a wonky, slow, shuffling ska-lite excursion to complete a true “In Dub”.

NEIL ARDLEY – KALEIDOSCOPE OF RAINBOWS The Definitive 2LP Reissue of a Landmark in British Jazz Fusion
Analogue October Records proudly presents the long-awaited reissue of Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, Neil Ardley’s 1976 masterpiece, originally released on Gull Records. Produced by Neil Ardley and recorded at London’s famed Morgan Studios, the sessions were engineered and mixed by Martin Levan, capturing one of the most ambitious and beloved works in British jazz. Following the acclaimed reissues of Courtney Pine’s Journey to the Urge Within (AOR-001-ST) and Neil Ardley’s Harmony of the Spheres (AOR-002-ST)—both praised by the audiophile press including The Tracking Angle—this third release confirms Analogue October as one of today’s most meticulous and exciting reissue labels.
A Suite of Sound and Colour
Commissioned for the 1975 Camden Jazz Festival, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows is structured as a seven-part suite, each movement reflecting a colour of the spectrum. Ardley’s composition weaves together jazz improvisation, progressive rock energy, and orchestral elegance in one of the most imaginative British jazz recordings of the era. Featuring Ian Carr, Barbara Thompson, Tony Coe, Trevor Tomkins, and Geoff Castle, the album is a who’s who of the UK’s vibrant 1970s jazz scene.
Cut at Abbey Road, Pressed at Record Industry
For this definitive edition, Analogue October worked directly from the original Gull master tapes. Mastering was entrusted to Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, using his renowned half-speed process to extract every detail and dynamic from Ardley’s score. To give the music the headroom it deserves, the reissue has been expanded to a deluxe 2LP set, pressed on the highest-quality vinyl at Record Industry in Haarlem, Netherlands. The result is a presentation that finally does justice to the scope and brilliance of Ardley’s vision.
Deluxe Package – Restored from the Source
The artwork has been meticulously restored from the original film elements, ensuring a sleeve of unmatched vibrancy and fidelity. Inside, a 12-page booklet printed on heavyweight card features an in-depth essay on Neil Ardley and the making of Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, written by Jazzwise magazine editor Mike Flynn, alongside rare photographs from the period.
Curated and Produced by Craig Crane
As with every Analogue October release, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows has been curated and produced by label founder Craig Crane with a collector’s eye for detail and a deep respect for the music’s legacy. This reissue is not only the definitive vinyl edition of one of the great British jazz fusion albums—it also continues the label’s mission to restore and celebrate the most vital recordings of the era.
Neil Ardley’s Kaleidoscope of Rainbows—vivid, expansive, and timeless—returns as the essential edition for audiophiles and jazz lovers alike.
Retail-ready product description (short form):
Produced by Neil Ardley and recorded in 1976 at London’s Morgan Studios, engineered and mixed by Martin Levan, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows is a cornerstone of British jazz fusion. This definitive 2LP reissue, mastered at Abbey Road by Miles Showell from the original Gull master tapes and pressed at Record Industry (NL), finally gives the music the dynamic headroom it deserves. The deluxe edition includes restored artwork and a 12-page booklet featuring an in-depth essay by Jazzwise editor Mike Flynn.

W.R.F. was formed in 2015 by Nina and late studio partner Andrew Weatherall to help wrangle the vast output recorded together beyond his solo releases.
Spotlighting nine tracks from the Apparently Solo series of EPs recorded between 2016- 2019 and released on Bandcamp in 2023, this lustrous time capsule marks the culmination of Walsh and Weatherall’s creative relationship born after they clicked at London’s earliest acid house clubs, becoming partners then managers of their Sabres Of Paradise/Sabrettes labels before taking different paths by the late '90s.
An accomplished musician, Nina had learned the art of studio technology by the time they reunited and started working together in 2012. Created at her Facility 4 Studio situated in the dangerous, gang-ridden no man’s land between Streatham and Mitcham, Anamchara captures the super-prolific creative stretch starting in 2015 that produced Weatherall’s Convenanza and Qualia solo sets, W.R.F.’s The Phoenix Suburb (And Other Stories) plus a whole lot more. According to Nina, Andrew envisioned the spectacular ‘Borderland’ as natural successor to ‘Smokebelch’, his most revered track. When it came to his remix, Nina enlisted renowned viola virtuoso Sarah Sarhandi and composed new harmonies with Pachelbel’s Canon in D Minor in mind.
The set also catches the breakthrough period when, through Nina’s careful coaxing, Andrew started using the computer system she’d set up to better express his musical visions by arranging the elements, grooves and melodies she sent him. Still considered the UK’s greatest DJ-producer, Andrew’s arrangements were inspired by his club-igniting sets. “This allowed me to mix the colours for his palette whilst he was painting the picture,” says Nina. Anamchara straddles the gamut of musical styles explored by W.R.F. at this time, from slower paced psychedelic “drug chug” outings ‘We Two’. ‘Heat To Meat Ratio’, ‘Hidden Watchers Part 1’ to banging acid house and techno sometimes inspired by the violence outside the studio door, including ‘SCHLAP’, ‘Crack-Ed’ and churning acid juggernaut ‘Yacidik’ (“After much dangling of the acid carrot, Andrew took a bite and, after one familiar raised eyebrow, never looked back,” says Nina).
Many tracks fly elements from the enormous sonic library Nina inherited from late partner Erick Legrand that she called The Akashic Library of Sound. Marking Andrew’s 2016 admission into the vault, ‘Rattly Old Puffin’ boasts Erick’s psychedelic guitar and tumbling drum loop Weatherall would run with, including on ‘Borderland’. “Erick was like our third member,” says Nina.
Bringing down the curtain, ‘Alma’’s exquisitely poignant melody that unfolds over thirteen time-stopping minutes was composed by Nina while navigating Erick’s birth and departure date anniversaries to accompany Andrew’s reading from Gordon Burn’s 1991 same-named novel at 2018’s Durham Literary Festival. Burn’s novel imagines early 60s popstrel Alma Cogan, who succumbed to cancer in 1966 surviving to reflect on fame. “Now it just makes me think of Erick. And every time I hear those well-placed cymbal crashes I can only think of the Captain himself.”
A beautiful grand finale for this astonishing selection of pure gold from the vaults.
Kris Needs / 2026

A DJ, producer and significant figure in contemporary electronic music, Marcel Dettmann steps forward to contribute to Running Back’s ongoing Mastermix series. Whereas previous editions of Mastermix have taken an ear to the sound of lapsed, legendary clubs such as Wild Pitch and Front, Dettmann’s curation deftly captures the man himself in ongoing perpetual motion, raiding the vault for his own precision-tooled edits, long-employed on dancefloors to devastating effect. Alongside a continuous mix, this release arrives as a 3LP gatefold, and as a limited edition cassette.

Closely associated with Berlin’s techno landscape, Dettmann was born and raised in the former GDR, then later immersed in the bleary-eyed counter cultural landscape of post-unification Berlin. Initially oriented by post-punk, industrial and new-wave music, Dettmann has been DJing since 1993, always expanding and perfecting his repertoire. He later began working behind the counter at the city’s tastemaking rave boutique Hard Wax, and a decade after he first dropped a needle, became (and remains) resident at notable local nightspot Berghain/Panorama Bar, where his instincts have helped sculpt the signature sound of both main dancefloors.

Of course, you’re probably not asking, “Who is Marcel Dettmann?” More importantly, you might want to know; just what treats has he gifted us here? The trip begins with a simple pitch-shift skywards, transforming Identified Patient’s creeping ‘The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania’ into a peak-time freakout, before an alternate take on Toctronic’s ‘Bis uns das Licht vertreibt’ emerges from the vaults for the first time. Dating from 1995, and one of Dettmann’s all-time favourites, Cristian Vogel’s ‘Untitled’ clambers back into the box with respectable cuts, while John Bender’s ‘Victims of A Victimless Crime’ kicks off the flip sporting a new arrangement, transporting us back to the foundations of a confident, stripped-back sound.

A few subtle edits to Clark’s perilously funky ‘Dirty Pixie’ takes us to Dettmann’s remix of Junior Boys. Produced in 2010, it transposes the Canadian duo’s sophisticated pop with our curator in his minimal prime, and has since become an irresistible prize for high-minded diggers. The same can be said for Experimental Products’ explosive proto-electro anthem ‘Who Is Kip Jones?’, empowered from pricey Discogs purgatory with just the slightest of tweaks. It’s deservedly sandwiched between the guiding influences of Chicago and Detroit in the form of Mutant Beat Dance’s raw ‘The Human Factor’ and a shimmering new version of previous solo production ‘Water’, featuring close friend and Ostgut Ton ally, Ryan Elliot.

The second half of the Mastermix seamlessly connects the mechanical past and digital present of EBM and industrial in the dance, with Dettmann’s instincts as a guiding hand. Severed Heads’ iconic ‘We Have Come To Bless This House’ emerges with mere nips and tucks, while Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Shame’ is significantly reimagined as a highwire act of rhythm and tension, setting up a sensual second take on a 2017 remix of ‘Limbo’ from Swiss synth heroes, Yello.

Core musical memories are shaken and stirred with a context-shifting take on Frank Duval’s emotional classic ‘Ogon’, while Ian North’s ‘Sex Lust You’ and Ford Proco’s notable Coil collaboration ‘Expansion Naranja’ effectively throb with only minor adjustments, respectfully imagined as “shadow versions”. Meanwhile, a simple breakbeat lifts Albert Kuningas’s ‘Astraalprojektio’ in the direction of wide-eyed dancefloors, while a fresh take on K-Alexi Shelby’s ‘Season of The Real’ inexplicably emerges somehow even funkier than before.

The conclusion of the compilation leads back to Das Tier from the prolific experimentalist Conrad Schnitzler, whose swirling synths and hypnotic vocals are duly tightened by Dettmann, but only as he puts it, “in conversation with the original.” Concluding three discs and thirty years of commitment to the dancefloor, this Mastermix not only offers us the opportunity to eavesdrop on this endless exchange, but to gain some sought-after material for our own record collections.

But rest assured - it's still the same excellent band from Ruda ?l?ska, only this time instead of a forest full of ghosts or a land of fairy tale creatures like a Fruwajacy Przestepca the duo of producers takes us on an interstellar journey!

The artists' third album, just titled KOSMOBOTANIKA, is an over forty-minute work skillfully composed from a multitude of various samples, and genre-wise presenting the sounds of deep house, trip-hop, breakbeat, ambient and even jazz. This is electronic music with a very cinematic, visual and imaginative character, something at which ETNOBOTANIKA has undoubtedly achieved mastery confirmed by their first two very well-received albums. This cinematic style (electronic concept album?) is reminiscent of the classic albums of the genre's progenitors from the UK like The Orb (first releases) or The KLF (the iconic "Chillout" album), but also the French Motorbass.

The Silesian duo does it their own way, of course, with a local twist. Thus, in the cosmic journey our guides will be in-sampled familiar voices from Polish television, cinema, radio and dusty vinyls (yes - samples from Mr. Kleks in Space had to be on the album, of course :) ).
There is no shortage of atmosphere-building instrumental fragments here, but also quite song-like tracks with catchy melodies and vocals. Fans of the band will certainly be satisfied.

What is there to say - ETNOBOTANIKA has created another classic, which simply must be on the shelf :) Trust them and let yourself be taken on a cosmic journey - satisfaction guaranteed!

Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.

Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.

A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.

BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.

There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.

Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.

Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.

A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.

BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.

There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.

Kercha’s debut album ‘Open The Door’ arrives this April via DNO Records. The Black Sea artist’s mystical, disorienting style has set the tone for the label since he dropped the inaugural release six years ago. Now, across 16 tracks — including collabs with Mystic State, Congi, NST, Khromi and Finnoh — his smoky sampledelic dubstep is tighter, heavier, and more curious than ever, with a new sense of danger and bubbling rage that feels fit for our chaotic times.

Themes of movement and change course through the LP. On the opening gambit ‘A Path Into The Unknown’, twinkling arpeggios emerge from the gloom like stars lighting the way. Tracks like the eponymous ‘Open The Door’ and ‘Mind Extraction’ deliver that classic Kercha sound, where left-field samples dart in at right angles. ‘Dangerous Road’ weaves between the call and response action of grotty stabs and devilish subs. ‘Take A Break’, featuring Mystic State, goes on the attack with searing acid. ‘Can’t Wait For Today’, though lethargic in its pace, sees San Francisco-based rapper Finnoh deliver stream-of-consciousness bars that skewer our present and nudge us to revolution.

Work took place over the course of several years, during which Kercha relocated with his family from Russia to Georgia, where he now resides in the capital, Tbilisi. “Sometimes I wrote music while travelling on a bus, sometimes late at night while my family was asleep, sometimes just sitting on the grass in a park, and of course in my home studio as well,” he says. “By the time the album was finished, it included music from different periods, and it may vary in sound and concept.”

Any major upheaval in life will result in moments of hardship, but also hope. Both can be found throughout ‘Open The Door’. There’s times when the darkness threatens to envelope everything: during the cold, crackling ‘Disclosed’ and the eerie, dystopian ‘Infection Of Lies’; on ‘Trigger Activation’, with its grunting lows and broken glass hook, and ‘Ballistics’, where a wall of sub-bass is pierced by shrapnel stabs.

The balancing light comes on ‘4 AM’, featuring Nottingham duo Congi, when clashing swords and cinematic strings, meet a soft Rhodes piano — the juxtaposition between heavy low-end and floaty keys and vox reflecting those moments of transcendence often found in the early hours. From the injection of garage energy on ‘Bubs’, with Edinburgh’s Khromi. And on with ‘My Feeling’, featuring South Russian vocalist NST, which closes the album on a deep but expansive note, bookending the experience with more starlight synth tones.

“It’s a reflection of my life journey and the changes connected with emigration and overcoming various difficulties,” explains Kercha. “This period means a lot to me, which is why the album includes tracks from the time of preparing to leave up to adapting to a new country.”

Still, he wants listeners to be able to derive their own understanding. “I think the essence lies in the ability to contemplate, not in any predetermined meaning,” he says. “I can only say one thing: thank you for appreciating what I do and for your support. I hope it inspires you to make the same firm decisions to change for the better as it did for me.”

Out via 4 x 12” vinyl, ‘Open The Door’ is a captivating artistic statement, showcasing the journey of an artist with a truly original signature sound — a rarity that should be treasured and celebrated.

Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.

'Honesty Flowers' is the fourth studio album from Italian multi-instrumentalist Alessio Ferarri under the Upupayāma moniker. An epic double album set due for release May 29th 2026 on Fuzz Club, 'Honesty Flowers' finds Upupayāma's ever mind-blowing brew of organic psychedelic rock meets global grooves at its most percussive, lively and distorted. Equally hedonistic and heady, it courses through rhythmic funk grooves, doubled-down scorched fuzz riffing, winding motorik jams, tranquil drones and pastoral acid-folk across its seventy minute run time. A six-piece band live, where things take a more ever-evolving improvisation-based approach (see their recent 'Live At Fuzz Club Festival '25' LP), on the recordings Ferarri writes, plays and records everything himself – guitars, keys, flute, sitar, and an arsenal of percussion all feature. Never not working on new music, Ferarri started laying down these new tracks in his home barn studio in a small mountain village overlooking the city of Parma before its 2024 predecessor 'Mount Elephant' even hit the racks. The result was mixed by Chris Smith at Kluster Sounds (Kikagaku Moyo, Wax Machine) and mastered by Joseph Carra (King Gizzard, Babe Rainbow, ORB) On the new record, Ferarri says: "Honesty Flowers was born from listening to lots of funk music from all over the world, lots and lots of African music, and from listening to myself as I spent whole nights playing all kinds of percussion instruments. I would fall into a sort of trance and play the same rhythm for hours on congas or on a djembe. It's an album that was born above all from the beauty of being able to narrate the unknown and recognise yourself in it, which could translate into telling stories and bringing them to life.

Non-sensical, un-user friendly, at times half finished. Camper Van Beethoven"s second album II & III saw the folk-punk of the band"s debut LP morphing into an even wider melting pot of stylistic influences and (un)ironic contradictions, all rolled up into a coherently incoherent collection of some of the band"s most defining songs. Originally released in 1986, the follow up to Telephone Free Landslide Victory did much to develop an already iconoclastic Camper Van Beethoven idiom. II & III ranges from alt-country ballads ("Sad Lovers" Waltz") to call-backs to the European folk instrumentals of the debut ("No Krugerrands For David", "4 Year Plan"). Also featured is the band"s bluegrass-Americana take on Sonic Youth"s "I Love Her All the Time", feeding their appetite for cover songs. This deluxe double CD set brings together the original II & III album with a 17 track live album of material from Camper Van Beethoven shows supporting REM on their Life"s Rich Pageant tour. This audio was mostly recorded at the Lincoln, Nebraska show from October 10th, 1986, but is supplemented with audio from other shows of the tour. The Teal Vinyl re-issue features a newly revisited collage version of the artwork, plus a reproduced 11"x11" insert, designed by Victor Krummenacher using original photos, lithograph prints, lyrics and leaflets.

We are pleased to announce the first FEX live album, Don't Look Back. The release features selected recordings from two concerts in Paderborn and Uelzen, both captured in 1985. All tracks on the album are previously unissued, including entirely unheard songs such as It's a Hard Life, Just Get Back, Legend, and Waiting Song, alongside a previously unreleased version of Subways of Your Mind, widely known as "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet."
One of the most striking aspects of the album is the remarkable sound quality of the live recordings, as well as the strength of the performances themselves - particularly given that FEX were still considered a newcomer band at the time. The four-piece lineup consisted of singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Ture Rückwardt, Michael Hädrich on keyboards and occasional second guitar, Norbert Ziermann on bass, and Hans-Reimer Sievers on drums. In 1985, the band was preparing for broader exposure through a nationwide tour organized by the small promotion company HBM-Musikbüro.
The album opens with the psychedelic Skyscraper, a track Rückwardt reportedly regarded as a personal favorite to perform. Hädrich contributes dynamic synthesizer layers, while Ziermann underpins the track with a distinctive slap bass groove. This is followed by the energetic rock number It's a Hard Life, which once again demonstrates that the band possessed multiple songs capable of matching the impact of their best known track Subways of Your Mind.
After this energetic opening, the album shifts into a more restrained mood with the synth-pop ballad I Got My Eyes On You. It is followed by Strange Feeling, presented here in a particularly compelling live version that arguably surpasses the previously released studio demo featured on the Skyscraper LP, with Rückwardt delivering one of his most expressive vocal performances. On Goldrush, another fan favorite, it is Hädrich's DX7 synthesizer work that stands out.
Don't Look Back continues to flow seamlessly, moving between styles such as new wave, synth pop, and a blues-influenced form of classic rock. On It's Good To Know, a song addressing the theme of stardom, the band returns to a heavier rock sound. In contrast, the synth-driven Just Get Back reflects on the conflict in Northern Ireland, then ongoing at the time. Lines such as "It's the money, it's the money why they come along" are directed at mercenary soldiers, while "even Sunday's a killing time" directly references Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2.
Previously known songs such as Dirty Slapstick and Heart in Danger lead into We Don't Want It No More, perhaps the band's most striking pop ballad. It is easy to imagine that the track had the potential to achieve radio success in the 1980s. The following piece, the epic Legend, explores themes of loneliness and love simultaneously. With poetic and abstract lines such as "some isolate in the falling rain" and "that's why I count all the reasons they call out for living, sadness is falling inside," it builds an almost eerie atmosphere.
One of the final highlights of the album is Subways of Your Mind, recorded in Uelzen. In this version, Rückwardt's vocal performance is even more on point than on the previously issued recording from Paderborn. Another notable moment is the driving, 1970s-inspired rock 'n' roll track Waiting Song. Both the composition and its live performance carry an energy that could easily stand alongside the repertoire of bands such as AC/DC. It was usually the track that FEX ended their concerts with, calling out each band member at the end of the song.
This leads to a broader reflection: it is striking that FEX did not achieve a wider breakthrough at the time. The performances captured here suggest a band capable of delivering consistently, song by song, note by note. It is not difficult to imagine FEX performing in large venues and engaging sizeable audiences. In reality, however, most performances in 1985 took place in front of relatively small crowds. The recordings featured on this album originate from the Roxy club in Paderborn and a small, unknown venue in Uelzen, likely in front of fewer than fifty attendees.
An essential figure behind these recordings is the engineer known only under his nickname Hase (German for "rabbit"), who was responsible for capturing not only these concerts but many other surviving FEX recordings. Bringing his own mixing desk to performances, he developed a deep familiarity with the band's material and was able to shape the live sound with precision, including the timely use of vocal effects. The original recordings existed only on cassette and required careful and extensive restoration work. Zoey Cairs was finally responsible for bringing them to their present quality.
This album marks the beginning of the Live Waves series, following the rediscovery of additional recordings that have gained international attention since November 2024, when they surfaced through what has been described as the largest "lost wave" music search to date. The title of this first live LP Don't Look Back carries a certain paradox. While the album invites listeners to revisit recordings from forty years ago, FEX themselves were always oriented toward the future. In that spirit, further releases of brand new material are already planned.
The cover artwork is once again based on an image by Magnussen from the Kiel archive, depicting the Prinz-Heinrich-Brücke. The bridge, once located in the northern part of the city, no longer exists. As a symbol, however, it remains fitting: a bridge stands for movement and connection - qualities that FEX sought to embody on tour, bringing their music to different places and audiences.

WRWTFWW Records presents an ultra limited (100 copies !) vinyl edition of Meemo Comma’s Decimation Of I album, originally released digitally in 2024 on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label. The collector’s pressing is housed in a heavyweight sleeve.
Decimation Of I is the fifth album by Brighton-based electronic musician Meemo Comma. It's a work based on the Strugatsky brothers‘ 1971 novel Roadside Picnic, a book that was also turned into the Russian cult classic Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky. The inspiration came from reading the book alongside the backdrop of global climate disasters where an environment is rapidly becoming less habitable, all while powerful nations occupy and commit genocide.

The rough story of both film and novel is about a select group of characters exploring a land that has been transformed by alien visitors. We never meet the extraterrestrials, nor is it important to, we only have the artefacts left behind. The environment itself becomes the character, neither wholly Earth-like nor alien, but a surreal blend of both, inviting introspection on our insignificance amidst profound change. Within this land’s rebirth, our characters confront ego death, a necessary step towards the profound revelation, the discovery of one's true desire in the absence of ego.

The album opens with the innocent flutes of ’They, spoke,‘ and the disorienting electronica of ‘The Soldier‘ building towards the Terry Riley like undulating clarinets of ‘The Poet’, whose intertwining synth organ drones set the scene. Nods to the seventies electronica of Wendy Carlos and Eduard Artemyev can be heard with the use of Bach melodies in ‘P3Alpha Exotoxin‘ and ‘Area X,‘ however each of these songs draw the listener to primal noise undercurrents, their disintegrating melodies hinting at humanity's gradual dissolution, unveiling profound revelations beyond our comprehension.

As the album reaches its midpoint, ‘Spectral Alignment‘ paints a hazy morning prairie scene with Aaron Copland style French horn, restful woodwinds, spatial arpeggios and a warm drone culminating in an emotional pitstop as the soldiers wake in the dewy morning of this alien landscape, unaware the last of their humanity remains.

The last sentence in Roadside Picnic “HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE, AND MAY NO ONE BE LEFT BEHIND!” is the inspiration for ‘As It Is Written.’ We can either take from this the total annihilation of self has been filled with propaganda from their homeland, or the epiphany of their own autonomy in the war against a land and its inhabitants.

A conjuration between our favourite dreamweaver Spencer Clark and Italian psychic traveller Mondo Riviera, Lorenzo's Oil present an oracle of aural travelogues between seen and unseen worlds on 'Paperopolis'.
Two likeminded individuals on their distinct but complementary quest for the netherworld, Clark and Riviera's meeting of the minds projects sonic artefacts assembled from lucid dreaming keyboard pads, narcotic late night TV rhythms, spiralling sequences and mangled voices.
The 10+ minutes 'Neo-Paperopolis Jump Suite' makes these intentions quite clear right from the start, veering from no frills keyboard runs to a mid tempo bounce and on towards the house of mirrors synth stabs and driving rarefied percussion that close the suite and open the pathway to such "places" as 'Central Jungle, Paperopolis' and "visions" as 'The Neverending Skylines of Taipei'. Ride on.  

2026 Repress

Deadbeat & Tikiman's occasional collaborative performances have since blown the minds of many audiences

Deadbeat. Tikiman. Infinity. Dub. A quadrangle of such obvious statement and perfect musical inference may very well never have been uttered for those of the wholly weeded out persuasion. Indeed, when the great book of Dub music is written the names Scott Monteith and Paul St Hilaire will undoubtedly figure highly in its chapters devoted to recent years. Monteith, the last great prodigal son of the doctrine handed down from the Blue Mount of Lord Scratch and King Tubby, St Hilaire the undisputed voice of a generation, those fanatical warrior monks, followers of the most Holy House of Ernestus and Von Oswald incarnate.

Having developed a fast friendship from their very first meeting in Montreal at the premier Micro Mutek event a decade ago, Deadbeat and Tikiman's occasional collaborative performances have since blown the minds of audiences from Berlin to Tokyo and many points in between. No great surprise then that their first album length venture is a Tour de Force of Dub music of the highest order.

Nearly a year in the making, the genetic code of Deadbeat's Infinity Dubs series gets shot through with a Dreader than Dread Kingstonian logic, hi hats dropping back from the three to the one, Tikiman at his most militant, poetic, fierce, and flowing. These are the recordings of two lions uncaged, and none who bare witness shall escape their fiery judgement.

If music is truly eternal, here be two voices which shall echo in infinity with all the weight, reverence, and dire power unleashed with every tectonic bass hit, and every whimsical turn of phrase. And if these eight burnt offerings are any indication of what happens when these two sit down for a session of smoke and reasoning, here's hoping they choose to do it frequently. Dub without end. Ad Infinitum.

‘An Undying Love For A Burning World follows Converge’s Love Is Not Enough this year as a pivotal metal album about acknowledging the darkness for what it is and trying to accept it.’ - the QUIETUS

‘Neurosis Know You’re Hurting. Their Stunning New Album Is a Life Preserver.
An Undying Love for a Burning World, the band’s first album with new member Aaron Turner, is a reminder of how even the darkest music can be a guiding light’ - 9/10 ROLLING STONE

Evolution can be ugly and beautiful, painful and euphoric. An Undying Love For A Burning World is the first new release from Neurosis in a decade, and a potent statement of intent and rebirth - one that marks the first new steps of resolve and resilience.

An Undying Love For A Burning World is an epic album of colossal hypnotism - beautiful, fearsome and utterly compelling in a way that only Neurosis can be. Aaron Turner (Sumac, Isis) joins the band on vocals and guitar, a name whose legacy is intertwined with the band’s own and a true kindred spirit.

“From the moment I first heard Neurosis over 30 years ago, I felt this was the music my heart and mind had been seeking but not yet heard. Now after many years travelling along various musical paths of my own, the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. It is an honor and a true pleasure to have been welcomed so warmly into a band that not only shaped my perspective on the limitless possibilities of music - but has lived and exemplified the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.” - AARON TURNER

Neurosis have never been afraid of change, and here they embrace endless regeneration, surrendering to the emotional exorcism through heaviness and distortion that their music incites. Just as the universe tends towards balance, Neurosis’cacophony of noise, rhythm and dissonance always resolves towards moments of beauty. The addition of Turner's powerful vocals and wildly creative and unhinged approach to guitar proves to be a vital force as Neurosis find themselves again at the mercy of evolution and expression.

On every song in the band’s history, Neurosis shifts restlessly between tension and relief, invoking a feeling both feral and transcendent in listeners. The band describe their songwriting process as an inescapable impulse to create with each other - a need rather than a choice. Indeed, the band insist that their return is “not a reunion - we never broke up.”

The album was recorded by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Sumac, and Great Falls) at Studio Litho in Seattle during three weekends this winter, and mixed in three days just six weeks before release at Evan's Antisleep Audio in Oakland.

Neurosis will play their first show in seven years on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana as part of Fire in the Mountains festival by special invitation of Firekeeper Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to reducing youth suicide in Indian Country.

FITM, is a unique festival known for bringing epic music to epic landscapes with the intent of reconnecting and immersing oneself with the natural world, and strengthening our ancestral roots as human beings - an aim which aligns directly with Neurosis’ deep-rooted power.

Stay tuned for further news over the coming months.

PREVIOUS PRESS:

‘In less skilful hands, this relentless sonic oppression would be gruelling, but by expressing human frailty with such visceral abandon, Neurosis have once again turned darkness into euphoria.’ - 4/5 THE GUARDIAN

‘The Oakland band has evolved from gritty metallic punk to harrowing post-hardcore prog to the majestic doom of their current phase’ - 7.9 PITCHFORK

‘It’s not often an album of such stature exceeds one’s anticipations, but Honor is too astounding to not be revered.’ - The QUIETUS

“Fires Within Fires is the summation of thirty years of experimentation in tonality and texture. Yes, NEUROSIS are firmly positioned within the extreme metal underground yet their music, with its ability to generate images of beauty akin to those many of us have experienced in our own lives – not to mention the loss that accompanies them – challenges this categorization. ‘’ - WIRE MAGAZINE - FULL PAGE REVIEW.

"Their intensity remains undimmed on Fires Within Fires...The already converted will take heart from the evidence that age is unable to wither the fury of this heaviest of bands." - KERRANG! 4K REVIEW

"Every monstrous sludge riff gnashes menacingly for the right amount of time and every delicate moment of folk-inspired drift is emotionally exacting. Neurosis continue to create art without equal, and Fires Within Fires is another worthy addition to an awe-inspiring canon containing a number of truly pioneering and timeless albums." - METAL HAMMER - 8/10 LEAD REVIEW

WRWTFWW Records is thrilled to announce their 5th archival release taken from cult Tokyo label FORM@ RECORDS' catalogue, this time with the first-ever vinyl edition of Re-Form Ver-1.0. The remarkable, yet not widely known, 1999 remix compilation is now available as a limited edition 45rpm cut double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve, as well as in digital format.
Originally only available on CD in extremely limited quantities, Re-Form Ver-1.0 resurfaces as a fascinating document of FORM@ RECORDS' late-1990s creative peak. Re-imagining key pieces from the label's catalogue, the remix collection offers a rare glimpse into Tokyo's electronic underground, where techno, house, ambient, and IDM breathe freely through FORM@'s soulful and exploratory vision.
Highlights include two remixes of Missing Project's adored gem "Poisson D'Avril" (including its well known ethereal ambient Galaxy Dub which appeared on Music From Memory's Virtual Dreams II) as well as the otherworldly Fossil (aka the legend Virgo) Mix of Penance's "Cure & Soul". Throughout, the compilation balances dancefloor sensibility with introspective listening, embodying the warm human approach to machine music FORM@ RECORDS excels in.
Another essential time capsule from a crucial era of underground music, Re-Form Ver-1.0 echoes the spirit of Warp's Artificial Intelligence era, alongside the forward-thinking energy of Ken Ishii, Carl Craig, The Black Dog, and Ian O'Brien, while keeping its feet and individuality firmly rooted in local context - the magic recipe for creating a universal, timeless language of electronic expression.
Re-Form Ver-1.0 follows the vinyl edition of Virgo's Landform Code (1998) and Remnants (1999), as well as the FORM@ compilations Art Form I (1997) and Art Form 2 (1998), further expanding WRWTFWW's archival series dedicated to uncovering hidden gems of late '90s Japanese electronic music.

Extinction Burst! is the new invocation in album-form by Guttersnipe, Leeds’ premier and pre-eminent XFCER (XFCER: Xenofeminist crisis-energy rock)* duo. Slamming at full speed to multi-dimensional oblivion, Extinction Burst! is the most full, hidefinition lurid dream-mare yet spewed out by Uroceras Gigas & Tipula Confusa. Engineered and mixed by Ross Halden at Hohm Studio in Bradford and mastered by Rashad Becker, Extinction Burst! follows 2018’s My Mother The Vent, which garnered universal critical adoration. Nevertheless, this long-awaited follow up is more extreme: it is wildness beyond reason, splitting new tears in the reality gauze, ultimate hallucination through sound ecstasy. 2026’s Guttersnipe are evolved, mutated by 8 years of touring together and with the labyrinthine network of groups both Guttersnipe members are involved with - Tristwch Y Fenywod, Nape Neck, Petronn Sphene, Yexxen to name a few. On Extinction Burst!, as with previous material, the duo are heavily augmented with technology. Tipula Confusa's drum kit triggers chasm-causing synth pulses with thumping low end attack.. Strafing from all over the stereo field the constant shatter of the cymbals and toms feel like Sunny Murray or Rashied Ali in full flight during a John Coltrane session in 1967. Uroceras Gigas’s guitar + synth storm is by-now similarly an instantly recognised tool kit in underground music. Switching from screeching guitar atonality to intricate riffs from the black metal/Voivod hinterland to ultra-distorted synth meltdown, it’s an utterly overwhelming, essential and vital pouring-out of the full emotional spectrum. Both artists vocalise, ecstatic and primal, drawn out or yelped in pain or pleasure or panic. Alive On Tuesday begins with some of the only space on Extinction Burst! Digital crackles and tight-delays blow out into a fullthrottled death-dive into sweet opaqueness, offset by the duo’s vocals. There’s a popular believe that Guttersnipe is chaos, but over 9 mins here the group are clinical in their control of the simulated entropy. Mincing while the Maelstrom Churns’s guitar is modulated into jagged atonal atonement, duetting with the virtuoso drum patterns before it thuds into gear at quadruple the speed. Threads Of Radical Unaliveness veers close to the extreme Metal influences with blast beats and guttural vocalisations until the track exhausts itself into unaliveness. Keep Honking summons a demonic digital panic, with the duo reincarnating in real time as haunted versions of themselves, almost translating the lurid, ultra vivid, simultaneous hell+heaven of being alive in this dimension. Primordial Invagination harnesses No Wave’s dissension of normality before the structured collapse of Skra¨ckblandad Fo¨rtjusning, in which Tipula Confusa’s accelerating drums simulate a bouncing barrel of brimstone descending into a primordial gunky ooze, a respite in the middle before the record splutters to a stuttering finale, both members’ vocals out there in the neon realness, alive with crisis energy. There is nothing on this cursed earth like Guttersnipe. For over 10 years they have whirled in a wiggliness both woebegone and wonderstruck on a mission of radical mutant exaltation using rock music weaponry loaded with a queer hysterical ammunition to rupture the fabric of the known Rock universe and unleash a tendril-soft hallucinatory violence; thrumming with the bracing vividness of insect bodies, crazed with alien synaesthetic emotions, harnessing jagged excoriating illogic as a face meltingly snazzy affront to redundant macho mediocrity with the hope to break minds, squeeze hearts, explode pelvises and maybe even reset the parameters of reality. Addendum: xenofeminist : proposing and creating a world defined not only by sexual/gender equality, queer empowerment and the toppling of the racist heteropatriarchal hegemony and it’s tyranny of phallogocentric signifiers, but a philosophy of radical queerness that explodes the basic notion of embodied existence itself beyond even the human, where we see bacteria, invertebrates, reptiles, marine life, animalia in general, inanimate objects, quantum phenomena and as yet inarticulated bodies and minds as social and political equals that may inspire and inform our concepts of self, feeling and meaning as we labour to build a collective reality that doesn’t completely suck!! crisis energy : a term borrowed from the weird fiction author china mieville to describe a type of extreme concentration of power which emerges when a system or organism is pushed to it’s absolute limit; the point of rupture, chaos, entropic overload, just before it all breaks apart. rock : Rock ’n’ Roll, rock music, the devil’s music, sex, guitar, drums, voice, rhythm, riffs!

Felipe Gordon is back on Shall Not Fade with his new album Tezeta and f*ck is it special.

Felipe Gordon is SNF label mainstay... (we released his triple repressed debut album "A Landscape Onomatopeya" in 2022 as well as 7 x 12" EPs on SNF over the years plus an extra 12" on Lost Palms)... so given his consistent and exceptional output on our record label you'd probably forgive some complacency with this write up, you might even afford us license to assume we're preaching to the choir and allow us to rest easy knowing that at this stage Felipe Gordon's records sell themselves.... Well none of those things are happening here because when an artist makes a record this complete, this good, you have to try to find the words. You use words like "timeless", "complete and "special". Words that can carry the weight. Because when you've listened to an album dozens of times, and not once, in any part, on any listen in any way has it fatigued you, you need to say. When a record felt so wonderfully familiar from the first listen and just kept on giving you the same feels ever since, you need to say. When a record makes you think about you how you feel about certain Air & St Germain albums (even when you know what it means to put that in a press release), you need to say. So here we are, saying these things.. Tezeta is a special record, one that exists in the rarefied air. A proper album. A record that every time you press play you will immediately remember why you own it and why you love it. A record that your subconscious will know so well that if shuffle is on you will know in an instant. An album that when it's in your collection and the first track starts you get a twinge of annoyance because you didn't listen again sooner and when the final track stops you stop too.

Given paint and a canvas we can most of us paint a picture, but only those that are gifted can paint something that makes us feel. Tezeta makes you feel. Feel familiarity when it's playing, yearning when its not, and absence when it ends. This alone would be enough to make the argument as to why this album is special and justify the gushing opening paragraph of this press release. But we're not done yet.

We don't really have a word in english for what Felipe Gordon has created with this album and how it makes you feel. "Tezeta" that word.

Tezeta is a one of four musical modes within the traditional Ethiopian modal music system known as Qiñit. Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz, frequently uses this mode, often translating it as "nostalgia" or "longing". Gordon says Mulatu's own tezeta recordings convey to him "feelings of melancholy and longing from a point of affection". This is exactly the feeling Gordon has captured. It is what he has woven through every recording on this album. Tezeta is the prime ingredient. It's the base note in recipe, it's sprinkled over the signature jazz-sampled house tracks. It powers the vast array of synthesizers Gordon deploys. It underpins the explorations into trip-hop. It's present in Gordon's varied vocal deliveries and it tunes his guitar. It's in the running order. It's the flow. Tezeta is tezeta in electronic music form, with 4/4, breakbeats, samples and synths.

Gordon says a big part of what differentiates this album from from his previous albums is that is was recorded in a period where he allowed himself to create music without the constraints of time or self-pressure which coincided with a moment of heavy personal growth which allowed him to reflect deeply on his work.

There is a word in Portuguese "Saudade" that Gordon says has a similar meaning to Tezeta - Saudade is defined as a deep, sometimes bittersweet, longing or nostalgia for someone or something that is absent or lost. But here at SNF we think that in Tezeta nothing has been lost. Quite the opposite. Through Felipe Gordon's artistic explorations we have all gained something very special indeed.

A sprawling, meditative journey into inner and outer space, the new double album from Ivan The Tolerable sees Oli Heffernan retreat fully into the solo realm - crafting an expansive sonic world that feels both intimate and cosmic in scope. Recorded entirely alone and released via Riot Season, this latest work drifts away from structured forms and toward something more fluid, exploratory, and transcendent.
Drawing on the devotional atmospheres of early ambient pioneers and the hypnotic pulse of kosmische music, the album unfolds as a series of slowly shifting soundscapes—analog synths breathing in long, patient waves, tape loops dissolving into shimmering drones, and melodies that seem to emerge from nowhere before gently receding again. There are echoes of ritual, of vast landscapes, of time stretching and folding in on itself.
Across its two discs, Heffernan embraces a deeply immersive approach—less concerned with destination than with the act of drifting itself. It’s music that invites stillness and surrender, equally suited to deep listening or quiet disconnection from the noise of the everyday.
Unbound by genre yet rooted in a rich lineage of experimental sound, this is Ivan The Tolerable at his most introspective and transportive - a double album that doesn’t just ask for your attention, but your presence.

New vinyl colorways of Demigod's Slumber Of Sullen Eyes out in May 2026 The crown jewel of Finnish Death Metal, Slumber of Sullen Eyes by Demigod, reissued in a band-approved edition. Features a vinyl master from the original source by Noise for Fiction, comes in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet featuring a lengthy feature by Hippo Taatila and some visual memorabilia. Available on Svart exclusive Pink/Green/Black Marble edition, Transparent Red edition and Classic Black edition. Together with bands like Demilich, Abhorrence, Disgrace, Xysma and Sentenced, Demigod from the wastelands of Loimaa, southern Finland, put Finland on the map in the global death metal scene in the late 80's and early 90's. Having risen to underground fame with their demo Unholy Domain, Slumber of Sullen Eyes was a hugely expected debut album. When it was finally released in 1992 after a complicated creation process at Tico-Tico Studios in northern Finland, it was received with open arms and drooling excitement by the then very active underground death metal scene. That scene was, however, short lived,and by 1994 pretty much every band had switched from death metal to something else entirely. What was left after the bands had left the building was a number of classic albums that constitute the legacy of Finnish Death Metal. Among them, Slumber of Sullen Eyes is one of the most original and ferocious. There was nobody like Demigod.

New vinyl colorways of Demigod's Slumber Of Sullen Eyes out in May 2026 The crown jewel of Finnish Death Metal, Slumber of Sullen Eyes by Demigod, reissued in a band-approved edition. Features a vinyl master from the original source by Noise for Fiction, comes in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet featuring a lengthy feature by Hippo Taatila and some visual memorabilia. Available on Svart exclusive Pink/Green/Black Marble edition, Transparent Red edition and Classic Black edition. Together with bands like Demilich, Abhorrence, Disgrace, Xysma and Sentenced, Demigod from the wastelands of Loimaa, southern Finland, put Finland on the map in the global death metal scene in the late 80's and early 90's. Having risen to underground fame with their demo Unholy Domain, Slumber of Sullen Eyes was a hugely expected debut album. When it was finally released in 1992 after a complicated creation process at Tico-Tico Studios in northern Finland, it was received with open arms and drooling excitement by the then very active underground death metal scene. That scene was, however, short lived,and by 1994 pretty much every band had switched from death metal to something else entirely. What was left after the bands had left the building was a number of classic albums that constitute the legacy of Finnish Death Metal. Among them, Slumber of Sullen Eyes is one of the most original and ferocious. There was nobody like Demigod.

CQ Wrestling are today announcing their sophomore album Resistance for release on 29th May.
There’s a saying that simmers beneath the sonic assault of Resistance, the new album from CQ Wrestling. “Nothing changes if nothing changes,” recites Jake Mac, who knew of this idiom before 2024; before the loss that turned his and bandmate Charlie Woods’ worlds upside down; before the “year of complete mayhem, mess and chaos” that followed. From the outside looking in, the Brighton-based duo may have seemed on the top of the world. Then known as Chappaqua Wrestling, the exhilarating energy of their debut album Plus Ultra had seen the band lauded as future British music scene conquerors. The pair had a major label record deal to their name. Sweat dripped from the walls at headline show after headline show, in front of rapturous fans – and yet something felt amiss.
“We were selling out tours and people were loving the music, but honestly, we just felt f****** lost,” says Woods. Then tragedy struck. “It completely derailed us,” says Mac, recalling how the sudden death of his father – “a big part of the project” since its inception – sank them both into a period of grief and introspection. Amid the mourning emerged a desire to transform.
RESISTANCE is an album forged in the embers of personal tragedy and hammered into shape by desire, resilience and resolve. Detailing a metamorphosis, new single ‘Pacifico’ draws a line in the sand for the band as they recover from a time of tremendous upheaval to find themselves following their own creative compass, with renewed vitality.
"This album is a collection of songs above all about trying to find joy and hope in dark times”.

BABY BLUE COLOUR VINYL

The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album Future Me Hates Me, forthcoming on Carpark Records, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Slanted and Enchanted or 'Cannonball.'

Front and center on these ten infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland's rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. 'Fronting this kind of band was a new experience for me,' says Stokes. 'I never thought I had the right voice for it.'

From the irresistible title track to future singles 'Happy Unhappy' and 'You Wouldn't Like Me,' Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me's dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R+B of the '60s, while inverting the trope of the 'sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.'

All four members of The Beths studied jazz at university, resulting in a toolkit of deft instrumental chops and tricked-out arrangements that operate on a level rarely found in guitar-pop. Beths guitarist and studio guru Jonathan Pearce (whose other acts as producer include recent Captured Tracks signing Wax Chattels) brings it all home with an approach that's equal parts seasoned perfectionist and D.I.Y.

'There's a lot of sad sincerity in the lyrics,' she continues, 'that relies on the music having a light heart and sense of humor to keep it from being too earnest.' Channeling their stew of personal-canon heroes while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Alvvays and Courtney Barnett, The Beths serve up deeply emotional lyrics packaged within heavenly sounds that delight in probing the limits of the pop form. 'That's another New Zealand thing,' Stokes concludes with a laugh. 'We're putting our hearts on our sleeves—and then apologizing for it.'

Five years after their radiant debut Ufo Bar, Italian cinematic funksters Banda Maje are back with Costa Sud to take us deeper into their land of ‘Salifornia’—a Southern province of sun-drenched coastlines and decaying buildings where dreams of exotic escapism sprout and bloom.

Once again, behind the eight tracks in the album—and behind the wheel of the fiery red Alfasud on the cover—is composer and keyboardist Peppe Maiellano. He has meticulously tailored each piece to his virtuoso partners in crime: a 'family' of exuberant musicians spread between Salerno and Naples, all bound by deep-rooted ties to the region and a shared belief in the grit of independent artistry.

The Costa Sud (South Coast) imagined by Banda Maje is a shimmering ribbon of sun-baked asphalt stretched between the sea and the ancient pine forests of the Gulf of Salerno. It is a land of enchanting but wounded places, where the grace of Ancient Greek civilization sits in a restless silence alongside the scars of rampant building and neglect. “But if truth is beauty and beauty is truth,” Maiellano explains, inverting Keats’s famous line, “with the right eyes, you can find beauty and poetry even under a layer of moral and material filth."

Conceived and recorded entirely in the South, the album nevertheless looks beyond the horizon. While Neapolitan funk and golden-age Italian soundtracks remain the double helix of the band's DNA, this album welcomes new influences from across the ocean, weaving Italy, Brazil, Africa, and contemporary sounds into its unique vision of the 'global South.'

Side A is an immersion into Salifornian territory and its myths: from the carefree instrumental disco-funk of the title track, which sublimates local contradictions into enveloping cinematic atmospheres, to the mellow groove of “Baia”—a fusion of Neapolitan funk, afrobeat, and disco that pays homage to Salerno’s famous beach, squeezed between millennia-old sea rocks and mountains of shipping containers. The band’s heartfelt sense of belonging shines in their fresh soul-disco version of “Mo…” (a 1981 cult classic by Neapolitan legend Peppino di Capri) featuring Maiellano’s own vocals, while the reimagining of Tonico 70's “Jet Lag” celebrates a fraternal partnership with the Salerno-based rapper/producer, charting a musical itinerary that unites Brazil, the States, and Salifornia through evocative grooves, sharp synths, and Gianfranco Campagnoli’s exquisite trumpet.

On Side B, the sound becomes even more eclectic with the samba-funk warmth of “Samba Maje”, where Mediterranean melodies and lush vocal harmonies marry jazz-funk arrangements and disco-inflected Brazilian rhythms. The next track, “Africana”, is dedicated to a legendary dolce vita nightclub on the Amalfi Coast (and its founder Luca Milano); here, a rhythmic mantra incorporating tribal African elements blends with synths that evoke RAI television themes of the late 70s. The journey concludes under the sign of the silver screen: the disco-funk elegance of “Black Glamour Girl” (from the early-80s road-trip comedy In viaggio con papà), a tribute to the compositional genius of Piero Piccioni, and “Lovebossa”—an easy-listening homage to the "Cine Bossa" atmospheres that characterized so many Italian soundtracks of the 60s and 70s, finally carrying the listener ‘ncopp’ ‘e nuvole (above the clouds—which is basically Salifornian for "somewhere over the rainbow").

Available on LP and Digital from 15 May 2026.

Now into its sixth year, NuNorthern Soul’s Summer Selections series has become a popular annual fixture. Like its predecessors, 2026’s edition showcases a variety of Balearic dancefloor workouts, sensual soundscapes and tracks tailor-made for poolside sun-down sets.

As usual, Summer Selections Six is a vinyl-first affair, offering wax enthusiasts a chance to cop killer cuts set to feature on a swathe of forthcoming NuNorthern soul releases – including some that would otherwise be unavailable on physical formats.

To begin, is It Balearic? label regulars and Rotation Sound System crew members Wrekin’ Havoc turn their attention to NuNorthern Soul favourite B.J Smith’s 2014 cover of Outkast’s ‘Prototype’. Their take, which will be featured on a forthcoming collection of reworks of Smith’s NNS material, places the long-serving producer’s beautiful, beguiling vocals atop lo-fi 80s electro beats, moody pads, squelchy synth sounds and far-sighted electronics.

Up next is label newcomer Sasha Foam, a fast-rising Lisbon-based DJ/producer whose Memoria EP is set to land digitally soon. ‘Curios’, his contribution to Summer Selections Six, is a propulsive and ear-catching affair, with joyful synth melodies, rushing piano riffs and cheerful TB-202 style acid tweaks rising above a crunchy, drum-machine driven mid-tempo groove.

Rounding off side A is ‘Call To Wind’, a rootsy, warming and sun-baked slab of Balearic dub gorgeousness from Strictly Dub Records founder Saimon AKA Roots Artefact. The track, which marks his first new material since last year’s NuNorthern Soul debut Different Perspective, is one of the many highlights set to be featured on the Estonian’s forthcoming Rocking Boat EP.

Turn to the flipside and you’ll find three more inspired, immersive treats. Dan Dub Lounge, Muzka and Simon Sheldon being their Visions of Light project back to NuNorthern Soul with the borderline genius ‘ReBorn Slippy’, an exotic, intoxicating and sitar-laden slow-motion instrumental cover of the Underworld favourite taken from their soon-come collection of ‘mild pitch’ takes of dance and electronic classics.

To complete another stellar Summer Selections 12-inch label founder Phil Cooper platforms two recent additions to the roster. First is Potteries-based producer Andrew Wright AKA Lonely Deckchair. Wright offers up ‘Adaflo’ from his forthcoming debut album. Atmospheric and magical, ‘Adaflo’ is a simmering, slowly unfurling fusion of poignant pianos, minimalist beats, shuffling bass and tumble-down chords.

Then there’s Aussie artist Perth Lewis, whose first two self-released albums (Moments In Time and Distance Between) were recently reissued by NuNorthern Soul. The Sydney-based producer is set to release a new EP, Cherry Moon, soon, and ‘Monolith’ is taken from that collection. Deep, dubby and beguiling, it sees Lewis pepper a head-nodding, effects-laden beat with spacey sonics, cascading piano motifs and some seriously sparkling synths.




d B1: Visions of Light -

Unearthed from the original DAT at Strange Weather Studios in South London, Get Fucked's Unearthed Stash traces a chronological journey through the legendary group's earliest recording sessions, from the raw chaos of their 1999 debut album to the more refined dub house explorations that led into their second LP.

Sourced from the best surviving master DATs this collection brings together remastered classics, lost versions and previously unreleased edits, offering unfiltered look into one of the UK underground's most fearless creative period.

Each track has been carefully remastered to preserve the saturated punch, tape grit and raw energy of the original sessions, while expanding definition for modern sound systems.

Pressed on 180g heavyweight black vinyl, Unearthed Stash is strictly for collectors and true heads preserving the energy and attitude that made Get Fucked pioneers of the London underground sound. A raw document of a lost era, revived.

Archival Gold. From The Source. Unearthed at Last.

Terry Francis stands as one of the original architects of acid tech house, a genuine pioneer whose influence shaped the sound and spirit of London’s underground scene in the 90s. From the seminal projects with Housey Doingz to his enduring tenure as a core resident at fabric, Terry has remained a constant and uncompromising force at the heart of the scene.

His contribution is impossible to overstate. Across three decades, Terry’s unmistakable sound, forward thinking approach and steadfast dedication have inspired artists across the globe. His work helped define an era and continues to resonate today.

Following a widely acclaimed run of reissues from the golden age of the early 2000s London underground, where the label was born, Sushitech Records now joins forces with Terry for a landmark moment, his first Sushitech LP, featuring various tracks from over the years alongside unreleased session recorded at Strange Weather Studios in 1999.

This special collection brings together eleven tracks, officially remastered from the original tapes and source material for the very first time. These are timeless productions, restored to reveal new depth, clarity and detail while preserving the raw energy that made them so vital and sought after, pressed on 180g vinyl. The release also features standout collaborations with Ricardo Afonso, Gideon Jackson and Haris, further cementing its status as an essential document of an era. A landmark collection, restored with precision and reintroduced in its fullest form.

After a savage summer of performing over 35 festival shows, COLLIGNON continue their journey with the release of Bicicleta.

Bicicleta was written and recorded right in the midst of the band's summer tour. Gino, Yves and Jori seized the moment, the album captures exactly where they currently stand as a band: thriving on the energy of their live performances, with the desire to dive deeper into their music.

The result is Bicicleta—a diverse and authentic album that stays true to COLLIGNON’s distinctive blend of wildly grooving beats, psychedelic guitars, and sharp keyboard riffs. The music transports listeners across many borders, all while maintaining their signature COLLIGNON sound.

This album was made with vinyl in mind, designed to be experienced as a complete journey. From the first Maloya rhythms of "Fonkér la Mér" (Kreol for 'fond du cœur de la mer', meaning ‘from the bottom of the heart of the sea’) to the Brazilian groove and cosmic crescendo of "Vai Vai Vai (Into the Stars)", Bicicleta is a trip that flows from track to track.

The album, recorded while Jori left his Portuguese studio for a year-long stay in the Netherlands, pays homage to what -without engine, exhaust or pollution- might be considered the finest emblem of Dutch culture: the bicycle.

The words of adventurer Nellie Bly, written in 1896, still ring true today: ‘In a frenetic era of expanding possibilities, cycling offers a journey into a landscape of dreams. The bicycle has always signified independence and freedom in steering one’s daily course and the byways of its occasional adventures.’

To truly experience this album, nothing compares to holding the vinyl sleeve in your hands and spinning the record on your turntable.

Hip-hop royalty returns—Bun B and Statik Selektah team up once again for the fourth chapter of their blazing collabo-rative saga: TrillStatik 4. Recorded in real-time with that unmistakable underground urgency, this album is a master-class in modern rap chemistry, blending Bun B’s Southern grit with Statik’s boom-bap precision.

The guest lineup is nothing short of legendary. From DJ Premier setting the tone on “Live From Houston,” to Griselda heavyweights Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, and Boldy James blessing “Trillselda 2,” every track hits with purpose. Regional flair runs deep, too—Paul Wall, Maxo Kream, and Lil’ Keke represent H-Town with pride, while East Coast lyricists like Termanology and Tek bring bar-for-bar fire.

This is more than a record—it’s a cipher of cultures, connecting street narratives, soul-drenched beats, and coast-to-coast talent.

Heavyweight psychedelic improvisers EarthBall are back with their third and most monstrous record to date: ‘Outside Over There’, released on Upset The Rhythm (Nov 7th). Born from the haunted basements of Nanaimo, Canada, the quintet thrives on spontaneity, shaping improvisation into jagged hallucinations and ecstatic eruptions.
Recorded live-off-the-floor in 2024 in Jeremy, Izzy, and Kellen’s basement, and mixed by drummer John Brennan, ‘Outside Over There’ is an album that feels both summoned and inevitable. Each track lands with uncanny purpose, as if uncovered rather than written.
The opener, 100%, features a cameo from comedian and English icon Stewart Lee, who lent his blessing for the band to use a fragment of his stand-up. The album was mastered by John Dieterich (Deerhoof), with liner text contributed by longtime comrade John Olson (Wolf Eyes). Olson describes the album in his unmistakable style:
“This eight-track odyssey unfolds like a dreamscape, where whispered incantations brush against the shadowy fringes of the cosmos, and wild, Cézanne-inspired rock anthems erupt like geysers of color in the midst of a western warm and wet rain storm… culminating in the sprawling eleven minute masterpiece, ‘And The Music Shall Untune The Sky,’ aptly dubbed the Earth Crusher. A creation so utterly deconstructed and intertwined with the pulse of nature itself that if AI was called upon to conceive ‘Outside Over There’ anew, it would just spit back, “F.U. in Tree Font”. An enchanting invitation for even the flat-earthers to join the circle, if only just a little.”
EarthBall’s trajectory has been relentless. Their 2024 album ‘It’s Yours’ was praised by The Quietus as “fully aggressive and fully life-affirming,” and by The Wire as "a boisterous mind-melting album”. The band’s live double set LP ‘Actual Earth Music Vol. 1 & 2’ (2025) captured blistering performances: a performance opening for Wolf Eyes at the Fox Cabaret, and a Café OTO improvised throw-down featuring Chris Corsano and Steve Beresford. These releases on their own confirm them as one of Canada’s most vital experimental exports, not to mention the impressive self-released discography on their Bandcamp. The band’s reach has stretched far beyond their west coast roots with a UK tour May 2024, plus this past June, EarthBall closed Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon. This November they will perform at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, with a European tour to follow (tour dates below). Outside of EarthBall, each member carries their own torch. Jeremy Van Wyck, founding member of the legendary Shearing Pinx, has toured extensively, released over 100 records, and has been a vital force in the Vancouver and West Coast underground for the past 25 years. He and Isabel Ford (Izzy) play together not only in EarthBall, but also in Psychedelic Dirt, Shearing Pinx, Behaviours, and Crotch.
John Brennan collaborates widely, including recently with Endlings (Raven Chacon and John Dieterich), Evichen (Victoria Shen), Francesco Fonassi, Plan Your Future (with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof), Brennan/Corsano duo and Physics with John Dieterich. Kellen Maclaughlin performs with KVMP and Ora Corgan, while saxophonist Liam Murphy is a west coast staple, playing with the best across Vancouver Island and the mainland. On three of the tracks of ‘Outside Over There’, the band is joined by their comrade Justin Patterson, who also plays with Brennan in the duo Modale. This cross-pollination fuels EarthBall’s sound - a collective improvisation, psychically overdriven, and grinding into bloom.
Outside Over There’ is more than an album though, it is a ritual, a gathering of sound at the forest’s edge; where feedback, saxophone screams, and ecstatic vocals dissolve the boundary between chaos and clarity. EarthBall invite you into their circle, to share in the joyful terror of spontaneous creation. ‘Outside Over There’ will be released on November 7th through Upset The Rhythm digitally and as a limited blue-in-black vinyl LP.

Somewhere close to Manchester’s ever changing city centre, as the sun fades and peeks through the newest glass facade, you’ll find Shaking Hand. One part in shadow, the other basking in prisms of light as they sketch out their own sonic landscapes in the dusty redbrick mill they call home. One that is just about clinging on from the encroaching developments that surround them.

Against this back-drop where buildings are constantly torn down & built back again, the three piece craft away. Pulling from early post-rock, and 90s US alternative rock, crafting their own brand of Northwest-emo. Assembling something new, yet nostalgic. Looking ahead towards the transforming horizon. Shaking Hand’s music is built on tension and release – quiets that stretch, louds that overwhelm. Repetition that feels both hypnotic and destabilising.

The band’s musical DNA runs through experimental guitar outfits like Women, Slint, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Ulrika Spacek, balanced with the melodic sensibility of Big Thief and the dynamic intimacy of Yo La Tengo. Their compositions push against structure: sudden jolts of tempo, polyrhythms that almost fall apart, and riffs that unravel into something fragile or ecstatic. Yet, as Ellis notes, there’s an underlying warmth too: “Like walking through an empty city late at night but catching flickers of life in the buildings you pass.”

Early ideas like ‘Night Owl’ and ‘Sundance’ grew out of George’s lockdown “bedroom years,” where new tunings (open E, drop D, and stranger Pavement-inspired set-ups) opened up uncharted textures. Later, in grim rehearsal rooms, the murky epic ‘Cable Ties’ and the hypnotic ‘Mantras’ absorbed the gloom and grit of the band’s surroundings.

The album was recorded with producer David Pye (Wild Beasts, Teenage Fanclub) at Nave Studios in Leeds, housed in a converted church. “The live room was huge and perfect for capturing our sound,” says George. Determined to bottle their onstage energy, the band tracked the foundations live, layering vocals and guitars later. Soviet-era microphones, odd mic placements, and even phone-recorded demos fed into the mix. “You’ve got to watch out for David though,” Freddie laughs. “He made me play four tambourines in one hand, really hurt, man.”

Lyrically, the record drifts between abstraction and lived moments. George’s words often spill out instinctively, words falling into place before their meaning becomes clear. “A lot of the lyrics look like they’re buried in abstraction,” he says, “but when I look back I can see what they were about — whether that’s an emotional response at the time or just an observation of what was happening around me”. There’s contrast at the heart of it all – optimism vs. doubt, the lightness of youth vs. the monotony of work, a city in constant redevelopment vs. the people drifting through it.

The album artwork is taken from unused plans for the 1970s redevelopment of Los Angeles by architect Ray Kappe, entitled ‘People Movers’. Hypothetical buildings for real people, it feels a complement to the band’s own constructions. One thing’s for sure, Shaking Hand’s debut is built to last.