The new Clocolan album, It’s Not Too Early For Each Other, is set for release on July 19th on extremely limited cassette and DL. Preview four tracks from it here and check the lead single, Thirstland above. It seems incredible that this is getting such a limited release when the quality is so high and, elsewhere, people are fawning over utter garbage. A portion of each sale goes to Extinction Rebellion.
Music
The current musical landscape is awash with great new music in equally great design and packaging – at least in the independent sector, I can’t speak for the mainstream because I rarely dip my toe in. On the fringes there are some fantastic records and tapes being made and I’ll attempt a potted round up here as much for my own sanity as anything else because I can barely keep up. Phew! This took ages to compile, buying links in descriptions…
Jane Weaver – Loops In The Secret Society 2xLP (Fire Records) A gentler, deeper, cosmic take on parts of Jane’s last two albums, The Silver Globe and Modern Kosmology, with new tracks and interludes to tie it all together into one sublime trip. Buy here NOW!
Luke Vibert – Valvable 2xLP (Balkan Vinyl) – Luke makes an entire double album using only a Roland TB303, TR808 and JX-3P, on random variant coloured vinyl. It’s funky, minimal and instantly recognisable as Vibert. Coloured and black vinyl has sold out at the label’s Bandcamp but check the shops as black variants are shipping this week.
Various Artists – Corroded Circuits EP 12″ (Downfall Records) Great contemporary acid, ConSequence‘s ‘Glass Of Water’ is one of the most joyous, funky pieces of dance music I’ve heard all year. Downfall shop – warning, no digital.
Beans – Triptych (Gamma Proforma) A curveball from Gamma, who ceased operations a while back, these are the last two releases from that phase of the label, finally released. The Beans album is a collection of works from 3 albums that were released simultaneously and isn’t available in any usual retailers unless directly from either Beans, artist O.Two who hand-painted all 140 of the covers or Rob at Gamma. The shame is that it’s a cracking hip hop record that’s provided one of the only breaths of fresh air I’ve heard in the genre for years. Worth it for the Broadcast-sampling ‘Pendulum’ alone, destined to be a sought after classic. Listen to selections here
DJ Krush – Cosmic Yard LP (Gamma Proforma) The Krush album was actually released late last year, also has its fair share of banging beats plus two collaborations from old cohort Toshinori Kondo and this one should at least be more generally available. *Also catch him with me in support on July 21st at Oslo, Hackney, London, plug plug*
Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology LP/CD/Cassette/DL (Fire Records) One of the albums of 2019 already and a cracking live band – the comparisons with Stereolab and Broadcast are warranted but only a starting point, they’re far more cosmic than that. Beautiful artwork, spiral picture disc version and full colour fold out band poster – a very special record, why they’re not bigger is a mystery to me. Buy here from the label or find the cassette direct from the group’s Bandcamp page.
The Relations – Night’s Prelude cassette/DL (Spun Out Of Control) – Correlations‘ Neil Hale unveils a multi-collaboration side project with touches of psychedelia, krautrock and a lovely cover by Eric Adrian Lee. Buy digital here
Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus w The Belbury Poly – Chanctonbury Rings LP/CD/DL (Ghost Box)
Another essential GB release – see full review here
Pictogram – Trace Elements cassette/DL (Miracle Pond) Beautiful ambient music from one man graphic factory Nick Taylor on his new Miracle Pond label, is there no end to this man’s talent? Buy Miracle Pond releases.
The Future Sound of London – Yage LP/DL / Humanoid – Built By Humaoid LP/CD/DL (FSOLDigital) – While they finish their Amorphous Androgynous magnum opus, ‘We Persuade Ourselves That We Are Immortal’, there’s more than enough to keep hungry FSOL fans happy. ‘Yage’ from their Dead Cities album has been revived, remixed and expanded into an album and Brian has reactivated his Humanoid alias for a new album of acid experimentation. Order here, including new T-shirts, magazines, posters and more, it’s hard to keep up.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Fishing For Fishes LP (Flightless) Back for their first LP of the year (so far) Giz decide to go glam boogie and it works! Comes with full colour fold out poster and seaweed-coloured vinyl.
The Home Current – Civilian Leather LP (Castles In Space) A unique album of 80’s post punk electronics meets Plaid-like hyper-detailed composition, a real mixed bag of a record, sometimes sounding more like a compilation because of the variety of styles. Lovely Nick Taylor cover and inserts too Check it out here
Heat Death – Dalham LP (Castles In Space) – Shades of Boards of Canada permeate this album of instrumental electronica on the now essential Castles In Space label. There’s more going on here than mere BoC pastiche though, I’ve not had enough time with it to fully immerse yet, hear a couple of tracks on the mix below to judge for yourself. Or preview / buy here
Andy Votel – Archipelagogo cassette (Hypocrite) Soundtrack to the exhibition of Felt Mistress and Jonathon Edwards figures inspired by the work of Tove Jansson and first release under the Votel name for a while.
Colours May Vary in Leeds have copies.
Simon James – Cosmic Surgery cassette / DL (Spun Out Of Control) Soundtrack previously only available with a book gets a full release via the excellent Spun Out Of Control label. It’s hard to keep up with James’ output of late, not only did he release a tape on Nick Luscombe‘s Musicity label of foley and Buchla recordings in China but also has a meditation/relaxation release entitled Space No Space out on Golden Ratio Frequencies at the beginning of July.
Posthuman – Voyager 3 cassette (The Dark Outside) More cassette-only madness with The Dark Outside and a concept album based on the (possibly fictitious – or is it?) Voyager 3 space probe from Posthuman. More ambient than acid, this tape goes deep and needs the full headphone treatment for full effect. Unfortunately this is all sold out so it’s a hunt on the secondary market for this one. UPDATE: Digital is now available here
Various artists – WXAXRXP 30 broadcasts (NTS) Boards of Canada dropping a rare mix of inspirations scattered with little unreleased sketches from their archive, Autechre delving into their unreleased pre-Warp tape archive, Brian Eno with Extinction Rebellion, Aphex Twin live sets, a vintage mix tape made by Trish from Broadcast, unreleased Mark Pritchard club edits, Warp really know how to celebrate a birthday in style. 100 hours of exclusive material, they even played my Blech 20.1 mix from 10 years ago as well apparently 
If you want to hear some of the above then here’s a recent Out Of The Wood radio show I did for WNBC.London which features selections from about 50% of the above and other recent purchases.
Forthcoming:
Clocolan – It’s Not Too Early For Each Other cassette, July
As One – Communion LP (De:tuned) – First new album from Kirk DeGiorgio in 10 years with a cover by yours truly. Also don’t forget the monthly DE.10 releases (up to #5 currently) of a variety of artists celebrating a decade of the Belgian techno label. Listen on their Soundcloud
Tomorrow Syndicate – Citizen Input mini LP (Polytechnic Youth) Who knows what this will bring but the previous LP was one of my albums of the year.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rat’s Nest – yes, another LP, album no.15, merely 2 months after the last, rumour is that this is the heavy thrash record fans have been waiting for.
Nutters, no idea what is going on but looks like the thrash metal album is go
Invest The Rat’s Nest – album XV – out Aug 16th on Flightless Records
– Deluxe yellow and black galaxy wax (2000 copies)
– Deluxe black smokey wax with brown, red & gold heavy splatter (2000 copies)
– Deluxe highlighter yellow wax with blue & green splatter (2000 copies)
– Gatefold sleeve with matte lamination
– 24″ x 36″ fold out wall poster
– 4″ iron on embroidered patch
– Record sleeve comes packaged in a custom paper bag
– Comes with FLAC Lossless Download of the album
Out today: #5 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists coming up across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off.
Pre-order:
Phonica
Juno
Bleep
Clone
Rush Hour
Red Eye
Norman
Deejay
Decks
HHV
Triple Vision
A couple of weeks ago I joined friend George Stewart-Lockhart at Soho Radio to chat about my clubbing experiences from the 80s to present. George has a new show at the second Soho Radio building just opened on Broadwick St. He has an old head on young shoulders and his show aims to interview people who have been around a bit, seen and done things and can honestly use the LCD Soundsystem adage, “I was there”.
We cover the mid to late 80’s hip hop and acid house era, the 90’s chill out clubs, Blue Note and Ninja Tune nights, the 00’s mash up scene and the Solid Steel residency which continued throughout the decade from London to Bristol. I also bought along a handful of records that resonated with me as being key milestones or reminders of these days but I have to stress, this is just my take on things, my memory is fairly good on dates but we’re going back over 30 years here in places.
Update: George’s show is now re-titled ‘Five On The Door’ and he’s been steadily adding more great shows – all handily compiled over on his site http://gslstudio.com/radio/
South London posse – FREE this June in Crystal Palace, I’ll be performing a long form rendition of Kraftwerk‘s Radio Activity track alongside Howlround, Kumo and more – great flyer too
The newest release from Ghost Box is another leftfield curveball, even for a label so esoteric. In a scene currently awash with acts sporting tenuous back stories to the origins of their material (usually involving Satanic rituals, fictitious B-movie composers or uncovered master tapes), GB has unearthed a tale deeply rooted in UK history. In the South of England lies Chanctonbury Ring, an ancient site that contains a hill-fort and a ring of beech trees said to be haunted or the site of weird visitations. Scour the web and you’ll find numerous accounts of incidents said to have taken place there at different times of year from unnatural acts to strange sightings.
Justin Hopper, an American writer based in the UK, takes us on a journey to the Rings where several occurrences make his trip more than a quiet ramble in the countryside. His soft American accent is in stark contrast to the very British history and myth he explores but it works and bears repeated listens. Accompanying him musically is Sharron Kraus, folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who has previously appeared on the final Other Channels 7″ release from the label. I can’t say I was a huge fan of that release personally so I approached this album with some trepidation but needn’t have worried as, aided by Belbury Poly aka Jim Jupp, she fleshes out Justin’s observations beautifully with just enough to evoke the scenes he’s witnessing.
Much like the best examples of Mike Mignola‘s original Hellboy comics, where ancient local myths and locations are explored in silent panels before a big reveal, Chanctonbury Rings, weaves its tale over 16 short chapters/tracks that work best as a whole rather than singularly. Listened to in one continuous, seamless sitting it has some genuinely affecting moments and I wasn’t expecting to be so easily transported to the South Downs whilst sitting at a computer in my concrete residence in such a busy city. The album explores and unsettles as it unfolds and I imagine would be quite the companion in headphones on a walk through the countryside it describes. Top marks to all involved for pushing out of the usual comfort zone but still exploring the essence of the hauntology genre the label is known for.
Pre-order it here: LP/CD/DL
To launch the above album, Ghost Box and Trunk records are holding an incredible gig on June 21st in London, featuring Justin and Sharron performing live, Pye Corner Audio, The Soundcarriers soundtracking a Julian House film, Jonny Trunk and Robin The Fog playing original Basil Kirchin tapes, a Wisbey request set, DJ sets, T-shirt printing, food and an exhibition of Clay Pipe Music artwork.
I was happy to be asked onto Jonny Trunk’s OST show on Resonance FM yesterday to feature various selections from my flexi disc collection. Listen back to our Flexible Finds and Wobbly Sounds from earlier, lots of stupidity and hilarity, inc.Star Wars, Biz Markie covering Elton John, Humpty Dumpty, Fenella Fielding, Ken Nordine, Blondie doing a Christmas version of Rapture and a silly competition.
Out today: #4 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists coming up across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off. This one comes with an extra Peshay track as a digital download too.
Buy:
Red Eye: https://bit.ly/2Vzl9T6
Bleep: https://bit.ly/2uNPfqm
Norman Records: https://bit.ly/2FSdQiW
Intense Records: https://bit.ly/2D1Y6t7
Juno: https://bit.ly/2YQzYDb
Clone: http://bit.ly/2UtbpZy
Deejay: http://bit.ly/2XAEB2O
Decks: http://bit.ly/2GzOKqH
HHV: http://bit.ly/2UOU02o
Triple Vision: http://bit.ly/2W3edOw
The Delaware Road event in August continues to ramp up the line up as word gets around about it with more announcements to come. This will be a truly unique event, the likes of which haven’t been seen on this scale before. Transplant yourself to a secluded army base in the middle of the Salisbury countryside for over 12 hours of sonic, audio visual and performance-based adventures in sight and sound with a who’s who of the current crop of leftfield electronic, weird, and experimental practitioners working on the margins today. Buried Treasure, the label who hosted the last two experiences, have put together a mix showcasing some of the acts playing.
Tickets are available for the event, including group and camping options and follow the Facebook event for updates and competitions to win tickets and packages of merch from some of the featured acts and labels.
I completed this a few weeks back for my friend Allison who hosts the Mix-Ins show, it’s her birthday today so we agreed to hold it until then. Nearly two hours of contemporary acid, rave and footwork, this is what’s floating my boat club-wise at the moment. If anyone wants to book me to do this kind of set at their night (or even send me this kind of music) then get in touch.
I met Allison years ago in Montreal after corresponding online (she went by AlisonWonderland before another DJ claimed the name and went big time). Based out of Boston Massachusetts, her and Paulinnate started Mix-Ins loosely as a way to share the music (mixes and original productions) of the many talented people they are surrounded by. They try to feature an exclusive mix once a month although at times it can vary.
Whilst putting together my recent Kraftwerk: Klassics, Kovers & Kurios AV set I’ve been searching for the best quality footage possible for the visuals. One thing that has always alluded me is a decent copy of Roger Mainwood’s trippy video for ‘Autobahn’ that was commissioned by EMI in the late 70’s, originally to be issued on laserdisc. Bad to worse copies have cropped up on YouTube for years, hazy, blurred and cropped, always seemingly encoded from video sources which was the only official release it gained eventually.
Well, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a French DVD compilation of the Halas & Batchelor studio which features a whole host of animations, including the aforementioned Kraftwerk hit. I was expecting a better quality version with un-muddied colours but was blown away by not only the crystal clear clarity of the image (you can see pencil lines on the figures) but also new areas of each frame, much of which had been cropped off when encoded for the web. See above and below for some A/B comparisons of what I’d been missing, the new edition on the right will now be making its way into my future sets for your viewing pleasure.
I’ve contributed a half hour guest mix to The Allergies podcast along with a short interview with my old mate DJ Moneyshot (one half of the duo along with Adam Rackabeat). It’s more of a selection than a complex, all guns firing mix where I picked out tunes that really get people coming up to the decks when I play them to ask what the hell they are. These are mostly one-offs, oddities that appeared and were never followed up by anything else in the same vein by the artists involved, songs that don’t sit easily in the background but tap you on the shoulder to get your attention. Some are bizarre, some just silly, all exist on vinyl in one form or another and reside in a section of my collection labelled, ‘Misc.’.
If you like what you hear and want to check out more episodes then…
Subscribe on iTunes > https://apple.co/2tLFJ7z
Stream on Mixcloud > https://bit.ly/2PnVlaj
Stream & DL on Soundcloud > https://bit.ly/2ZsXxCg
It’s a radio sort of week as I spent this morning chatting to George Stewart-Lockhart for the first episode of a new show at Soho Radio about two decades or more of clubbing, starting off in my native Surrey and then moving to London in the 90s. The show will go out in the coming weeks but first I have a 100minute + mix set to debut this Saturday (April 27th) on North American show, Mix-Ins which is a pure acid/rave mash up.
Just so much going on at the moment, hard to keep track – Record Store Day was great fun, got a few releases (the Yage and Acid 88 releases are excellent, the Stone Tape less so). Played silly flexi discs at Audio Gold with Shane Quentin first thing, the shop was bustling and my Jonathan King ‘Lick A Smurpf For Christmas’ disc got a cheer. The staff generously treated us to pizza and drinks as well as pushing a couple of filthy flexi’s my way – thanks guys!
Excellent package of the day goes to the Kubrick 7″ from Silva Screen which is a delight on many levels even though it’s actually Wendy Carlos arrangements re-recorded by Mark Ayres and not quite what it was sold as on the original RSD info mail out. The Acid 88 design is also particularly tasteful with the label designs causing some excellent flickering motion when revolving.
After this we headed down to Palace Vinyl in Crystal Palace for a bit of acid techno with the Downfall crew and a dig through their considerably stuffed crates – if you want any kind of secondhand electronic dance music from the last 30 years then this is the place to go although they mainly sell online. The new Corroded Circuits EP on their label is another winner.
Last stop was the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood where we nearly didn’t get in it was so packed for the showing of Shawn Lee‘s ‘The Library Music Film’, a 2 hr journey through the medium that had our legs aching as we had to stand the whole way through. Records were bought, played and beers consumed afterwards too and it rounded off a great day with friends and a set from King Michael that culminated in a shop-clearing Goblin tune.
Monday saw a private showing of Vickie Bennet‘s ‘Gone, Gone Beyond’ 360 degree film at Goldsmith’s College, a kind of fever-dream across multiple screens with surround sound that made me wonder if she was sane. Collage cross-referencing across multiple decades and genres was the order of the day with a particularly successful hall of mirrors sequence and crazed compression of what seemed like my 70’s childhood for a finalé. If you get the chance, go and see it but it’s only showable in a tiny amount of spaces due to the nature of the surround medium.
Tuesday night saw Shane, myself and Jonny Trunk at Spiritland in Kings X for the Wobbly Sounds book launch, playing flexi discs on their mega sound system – it sounded awful! 😀 It didn’t matter though as the place was packed and everyone had a great time, especially the Four Corners Book publishers Elinor and Richard. I ended up chatting to actor Paul Putner (aka The Curious Orange from This Morning With Richard Not Judy among many other roles) who is a massive music fan who really knows his stuff.
Off to Bristol this Saturday for the second performance of my Kraftwerk: Klassics, Kovers & Kurios AV show at the Cube Cinema with DJ Cheeba, which is sold out! There are two mixes forthcoming this month too, one imminently and one on the 27th – both very different, more info soon.
Out today: #3 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists coming up across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off.
Order
Phonica:
Juno:
Bleep:
Clone:
Rush Hour:
Red Eye:
Norman:
Deejay:
Decks:
HHV:
Triple Vision:
A quick round up of all things flexi disc-related that’s coming up over this month. The good news is that the Wobbly Sounds book by Jonny Trunk and published by Four Corners Books that I contributed to is back from the printers and looking great! It’s 160 pages and is only a tenner – pre-order here for an April 15th release date.
As a result there’s a plethora of promotion coming up: The Eye on Design blog has just published this article on the book.
On April 13th (Record Store Day) I’ll be at Audio Gold in Crouch End, London with Shane Quentin from The Garden of Earthly Delights radio show, playing flexi disc sets with hidden discs in the racks and free beer as well – check the event page for more details.
April 16th sees the official book launch at Spiritland in Kings X, 6.30-8pm along with Jonny, Shane and Andrew Beedell Coram with an evening set by Jonny from real vinyl.
Later this month I should be joining Jonny on his OST show (4.30-6.30pm) on Resonance FM for a flexi special, playing selections from the book and more, hopefully with the usual competition hilarity.
I’m told print pieces in Record Collector and Shindig magazines are on the horizon too…
Other non-flexi related things happening: I have a guest mix coming up on The Allergies podcast mid April
I’ll be playing on Out Of The Wood radio at the Book & Record Bar this Sunday 7th with Pete Williams during the first West Norwood FEAST of 2019.
Also at the B&RB on Record Store Day (April 13th, remember?) I’ll be playing records with Ceri Preston after a showing of The Library Music Film and a Q&A from Shawn Lee. Starts at 7.30pm and goes to 1am.
Unfortunately the Kraftwerk AV gig I was to do at the Sheffield O2 Academy on the 27th April has been rescheduled for Nov 8th now but will be locking more in for May/June.
Also, I’ll be supporting DJ Krush on June 20th at Oslo in Hackney – tickets just went on sale yesterday.
It’s almost impossible to keep up with the onslaught of great new music coming out or up for pre-order at the moment and all just 2 weeks before the Record Store Day tidal wave too. Here’s just some that I’ve been listening and looking forward to…
Jane Weaver – Loops In The Secret Society LP – Pre-order
Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology LP (Fire Records). Pre-order (black or swirl pic disc – Rough Trade have a gold vinyl edition too)
Simon James – Cosmic Surgery (Spun out Of Control) Cassette – out this Friday
Pre-order tonight – audio preview. Also see his recent Simonsound cassette Musicity (only 2 left!)
De:tuned 10th anniversary 12″ EPs DE:01 / DE:02 / DE:03 (yeah I know I’m biased)
Previews
Drew Mulholland plays Delia Derbyshire Three Antennas In A Quarry (Buried Treasure) 10″. Limited to 250 copies on 10″ vinyl with sleeve notes by Drew + a sleeve design by Nick Taylor, up for pre-order now
Jon Brooks Applied Music: Science & Nature LP (Cafe Kaput) Order now – be quick, these will go!
Various Artists – ERR Library vol.2 – beautiful cover and music
Think this sold out at source, might have to hunt around
Loka with Julius Vanderbilt – Invisible EP – pre-order here
Chris Moss Acid Machine Heavy 12″ (Balkan Vinyl) Buy here
Fracture – Big Up The Ladies 12″ (Astrophonica) – New 4 tracker with T-shirt and print options
Been enjoying this lately too – Acid House Ragas
also forthcoming….
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard LP (Flightless) only 50/50 sold on what I’ve heard so far though
Various – Plastic Dance 2 LP (Finders Keepers) 
The first three releases from the De:tuned 10th anniversary monthly releases just turned up! I’ve been waiting to get my hands on these for months, turned out even nicer than expected 
These are selling very fast with DE:10.01 sold out at the label (but still available from Phonica on that link), DE:10.02 down to the last 10 copies and half of the pressing for DE:10.03 spoken for despite it not being out for two more weeks.
Very happy, roll on the next seven 12″s…
Hit me up for design work if you like these or check www.openmindesign.uk
This is why Ruben Sutherland is one of the trippiest animators out there – new Sculpture release just out – Tapegrot Vol.1 – a digital EP on their freshly-baked label Plastic Infinite.
Hats off to Electronic Sound magazine for their next issue cover, the best looking (and smelling) magazine about electronic music celebrates all that is European. For anyone outside the UK reading this, the UK has descended into madness, more than half of us don’t want to leave the European Union, and most of the British people never gave it a second thought until a minority of Tory MPs decided that the new EU tax laws would threaten their bank balances thus forcing a weak Prime Minister’s hand into calling an advisory referendum on something few fully understood, either inside or outside of Parliament. The British people have been duped by the 1% and the right wing press while the supposed ‘opposition’ party has done anything but. Two days after we leave is April 1st – April Fool’s Day in the UK – but our country has become an international joke, due to lose much more than we would ever gain by leaving the EU. Rant over