Archive
Test Dept. release new album, Disturbance
Test Dept have released their first new album in 21 years. Titled Disturbance, the album sees the band maintaining the protest roots of their work through their first period of activity during the ’80s and ’90s.
Ahead of its release, you can stream the album in full above, exclusively via tQ. “The mess we’re in now is unbelievable, hence the title,” says Test Dept’s Graham Cunnington of the themes explored on the album. “It’s disturbing in the extreme.”
The album’s roots lie in a project Test Dept undertook in 2010 involving their extensive archives of protest music. They wanted to sort through their old recordings to, as Cunnington puts it, “re-establish our history and get our music out there again.” This was after many of their 14 albums had gone out-of-press.
A film installation and live dates followed the return to Test Dept’s archives, and then the question of what music they would play during those shows came up. They set out reworking older material and working on new music, which makes up their first album since 1998’s Tactics For Evolution.
Cunnington says there’s a positive message to take from the new album, and that they are “trying to see something optimistic in the potential of building networks and in positive protest, instead of just rioting and looting. We wanted to show the possibility for change and escaping this scenario.”
One Little Indian released Disturbance on March 1, 2019. Order it here.
Lisa Morgenstern releases single + video, Answers
Lisa Morgenstern announces debut album + single
Lisa Morgenstern announces the release of her forthcoming debut album ‘Chameleon’ with new single ‘Answers’ (out February 22nd).
With her debut album ‘Chameleon’ (scheduled for release in April) Bulgarian/German pianist, singer and composer Lisa Morgenstern finds herself taking dramatic strides to expand her range, marching her far-sighted approach to both snyths and piano with her background in classical music. Recorded in collaboration with Berlin based Argentinian producer Sebastian Plano the songs showcase her extraordinary octave-spanning voice that combines expressive elegant piano instrumentals, baroque synth-pop and atmospheric electronica.
‘Answers’ is the first track taken from the album – Lisa Morgenstern details it here:
“Sometimes it is not so easy to be honest with yourself or with the people who trust you. Many answers to a question can be the truth and a lie at the same time. At certain moments I can feel that there is not just one spirit in my head. I think there are many of them with different opinions, different needs and different moods. Everyone knows that on bad days your mind changes your view in a pessimistic direction. But that’s not really what I mean. It’s more than that and it’s certainly not always negative to see many horizons. For example, you can easily empathise with different people and adapt to many situations, but, it can also drive you crazy when you adjust to the wrong people. You might get insecure about who you are, what you want and what is good for you – then, it is easy for the demons to win, to act destructively, in many ways, and to lose control.
That was the case back then when I wrote this song, and I very much blamed myself for my mistakes. Now though, I have, most of the time, found a way to avoid this confusion, and to accept the fact that there are actually people who care a lot about me and that life can be good, if I let it.”
LISA MORGENSTERN ‘Answers’ First single from debut LP releases February 22nd
© Miguel Murrieta
Lyrics, photos & cover art: https://press.bettercallrob.tv/Lisa-Morgenstern-Answers-press
Lisa Morgenstern – links: http://www.lisa-morgenstern.com https://www.facebook.com/LisaMorgensternSongs/ https://www.instagram.com/lisamorgensternmusic/ https://twitter.com/li_morgenstern
Black Acre announce debut single and EP from Evadney
Debut EP ‘Sold Love, Sold’ on Black Acre
Released 8th March 2019Consuming you in one swoop, across the 3 track EP of poetic electronic-pop odyssey’s Evadney captures his own outsider experience. Throughout ‘Sold Love, Sold’ his distinct and melancholic voice acts as the guiding force, weaving between driving electronic elements, subdued rhythms and almost beatless moody textures.
The politics of sexuality, identity and Evadney’s intersectionality are played out across this cinematic piece of work. He claims “I couldn’t find an open reference for the black gay male when I was growing up. As it became my experience it also became my struggle.” On ‘I Think Of Being In Love’, Evadney’s vivid storytelling flows effortlessly throughout, as he sings about believing in love enough to find it and explore it. ‘Who’ll Raise You?’ acts as an exaggerated version of love, with its possessive flavours of infatuation, obsession and lust. Whilst ‘Jamaica’ is about navigating the sea of grief that followed his grandmother and aunt both passing away.
Growing up in the UK in a big Caribbean family, Evadney’s sound has been shaped by a variety of different sounds, from hearing old school soca and calypso tunes at family parties, to his love of bold artists like Bjork, Kate Bush and Grace Jones, and later studying the likes of John Cale, Stockhausen and Musique concrète during his MA in Music Composition at Goldsmiths University. “My mum is from Jamaica and my dad is from Barbados so island life is in me. Being at the sea triggers a lot.” Now splitting his time in Brighton between making music, working part time at a charity organisation and DJ’ing at the weekends, his debut EP looks set to solidify Evadney as a bold new voice on the UK music scene, bringing with him a new world of melancholy, narrative-driven pop.
Tracklisting:
- I Think Of Being In Love
- Who’ll Raise You?
- Jamaica
Welcome to LittleBig :: Evadney
Every now and then someone very special lands in front of our eyes and ears, and blows our tiny agent minds. And this is the case with Brighton-based singer and producer, Evadney, our most-recent signing, who’ll release his debut EP, ‘Sold Love, Sold’ on Black Acre, 8th March 2019.
Consuming you in one swoop, across the 3 track EP of poetic electronic-pop odyssey’s Evadney captures his own outsider experience. Throughout ‘Sold Love, Sold’ his distinct and melancholic voice acts as the guiding force, weaving between driving electronic elements, subdued rhythms and almost beatless moody textures.
The politics of sexuality, identity and Evadney’s intersectionality are played out across this cinematic piece of work. He claims “I couldn’t find an open reference for the black gay male when I was growing up. As it became my experience it also became my struggle.” On ‘I Think Of Being In Love’, Evadney’s vivid storytelling flows effortlessly throughout, as he sings about believing in love enough to find it and explore it. ‘Who’ll Raise You?’ acts as an exaggerated version of love, with its possessive flavours of infatuation, obsession and lust. Whilst ‘Jamaica’ is about navigating the sea of grief that followed his grandmother and aunt both passing away.
Growing up in the UK in a big Caribbean family, Evadney’s sound has been shaped by a variety of different sounds, from hearing old school soca and calypso tunes at family parties, to his love of bold artists like Bjork, Kate Bush and Grace Jones, and later studying the likes of John Cale, Stockhausen and Musique concrète during his MA in Music Composition at Goldsmiths University. “My mum is from Jamaica and my dad is from Barbados so island life is in me. Being at the sea triggers a lot.” Now splitting his time in Brighton between making music, working part time at a charity organisation and DJ’ing at the weekends, his debut EP looks set to solidify Evadney as a bold new voice on the UK music scene, bringing with him a new world of melancholy, narrative-driven pop.
Tracklisting:
- I Think Of Being In Love
- Who’ll Raise You?
- Jamaica
Stream link https://fanlink.to/Evadney Bandcamp https://evadney.bandcamp.com/ Ben Frost presents Widening Gyre, 360 show
Ben Frost live – VERSION01 from Rosforth on Vimeo.
With Frost’s critically acclaimed 2017 LP The Centre Cannot Hold as a departure point, Widening Gyre combines the unique studio approach of the album into a new live performance concept; a powerful and highly volatile multi-point sound environment performed in the round.
Created as part of a residency at ZKM Karlsruhe, Widening Gyre sees Frost dive deep into the physicality of spatialisation. Synthesis, analogue tape and live guitars are all fed in real-time through an array of digital objects which relentlessly push and pull against one another in a new kaleidoscope of sonic ecology.
Notes on performance space:
The show is infinitely flexible and readily adapts to new space. Churches, warehouses, craters, strip clubs the stranger and more unique the space the better. Architecture with huge natural reverberance are especially effective. It can be seated or standing, it can be focussed listening or a nocturnal acid-fuelled sweatbox. It requires no stage at all, only that Frost performs from the centre of the space with all channels of audio radiating out from that central point, louder and more physical than a jet engine.
Bobbie Johnson live at Musicbox Lisboa
Superstar-in-the-making, Bobbie Johnson, chatting and performing live at Musicbox Lisboa
Welcome to LittleBig :: Test Dept.
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the legendary Test Dept. have signed to LittleBig for worldwide representation (excluding North America).
Back in 1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government.
37 years later, 2019 sees Test Dept. return with their first album for twenty years – Disturbance – with a sound that is as incendiary as ever.
Contact Debbie & Mia for bookings.
Test Dept. announce first release in 20 years
In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue.
Back in 1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever.“It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print.
When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music.The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.”
“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same.
Release Date: Mar 1st 2019
The album will be available on black heavyweight vinyl and CD.Jon Hopkins’ Singularity nominated for a GRAMMY
61ST ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS (2018)
Nomination ::
BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUM
Singularity, Jon Hopkins
“So thrilled that Singularity has been nominated for a Grammy for best Dance / Electronic album. Massive thanks to all of you for all the support and love this year, it’s been surreal and beautiful” Jon Hopkins
Gazelle Twin shares Glory video
‘Glory’, from the album ‘Pastoral’ by Gazelle Twin. Out now on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray. https://www.gazelletwin.com
CREDITS: Director: Tash Tung Producer: Femi Anderson PM: Adam Logan DoP: Lee Thomas 1st AD: Rob Akin Focus Puller: Jon England 2nd AC: Maggie Stanaszek Drone Op: Ed Stone Gaffer: Jack Hamilton DIT: Katrina Tung Runner: James Barrett Driver: Kaivalya Brewerton
With thanks to: Bradley at The Original Tea Hut, Epping Forest Jan & Jim Emmyland Ltd. Starring: Crispian Belfrage Gazelle Twin Fiona Fletcher Teri Varhol Earl Wan Chris Thomas Femi Anderson
Jon Hopkins shares new video, Feel First Life
Taken from his critically acclaimed new album, Singularity, Jon Hopkins is very happy to share the video for ‘Feel First Life’. Featuring a meditative piano solo that morphs into a 15-part choir, ‘Feel First Life’ marks the mid-point and distinct change in pace of the album from the energetic into the transcendent. The video was directed by frequent collaborator Elliot Dear.
On the heels of a sold out coast-to-coast North American tour, Hopkins continues to dominate the live circuit with tour dates across the UK and Europe including 2 sold out dates at London’s Brixton Academy plus a very special show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire for War Child UK as part of their Learn to Live Campaign. A full list of dates can found below.
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Praise for Singularity:
“His long standing enchantment with nature, electricity and mindfulness glimmers anew on Singularity” Q 4*
“One of the most celebrated electronic musicians of his generation.” New Yorker
“A sonic realization of a better world, conceived in the depths of psychedelic experimentation” MOJO 4*
“Pitched between heat-seeking acid house and ambient bliss, the techno auteur’s first album since 2013 is a beat-music odyssey that thrums with spiritual resonance” Pitchfork, Best New Music
“A beautiful bastard of a record” Mixmag 9/10
“Jon Hopkins knows how to fill a dance floor with techno that throbs insistently. But he’s also got a tremendous gift for the comedown; for warm, ambient baths of sound that slow the blood and settle the mind” NPR Music
“Hopkins remains in ascension and no one is on his level right now” CLASH 8/10
“Hopkins’ open-minded take on an altered state becomes an experience that reveals itself a little more with every glorious listen” Loud & Quiet 9/10
“Singularity amplifies Hopkins’ music to blockbuster proportions.” RAUpcoming Jon Hopkins live & DJ dates
10th Oct – Rockefeller, Oslo SOLD OUT
11th Oct – Nobelberget, Stockholm
12th Oct – Den Grå Hal, Copenhagen SOLD OUT
13th Oct – Movement Festival, Turin
18th Oct – Vicar Street, Dublin SOLD OUT
19th Oct – The Galvanizers, Glasgow SOLD OUT
20th Oct – Paradiso, Amsterdam SOLD OUT
20th Oct – Het Sieraad for ADE, Amsterdam (DJ)
24th Oct – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels SOLD OUT
25th Oct – Columbiahalle, Berlin SOLD OUT
26th Oct – Le Trianon, Paris SOLD OUT
27th Oct – BIME Live, Bilbao
2nd Nov – O2 Brixton Academy, London SOLD OUT
3rd Nov – O2 Brixton Academy, London SOLD OUT
17th Nov – Boiler Shop, Newcastle SOLD OUT
22nd Nov – Albert Hall, Manchester SOLD OUT
23rd Nov – Spazio 900, Rome
25th Nov – War Child presents Safe & Sound @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
28th Nov – La Riviera, Madrid
21st Dec – Jon Hopkins Curates Fabric, London (DJ)BOBBIE JOHNSON RELEASES DEFIER EP
Bobbie Johnson, a solo hip-hop artist from the UK, mashes her multi-genre influences of hip-hop, grime, garage and glitch, to form an amalgamation of sounds that showcases her conscious thought and social commentary. She uses the self-healing tool of music to explores self-reflective themes of love in her upcoming EP ‘Defier’, out October 8, on QM Records.
Defier shows an artist evolving; her production skills reach a fresh and complex twist on her sound as you know it. Citing influences such as James Blake and FKA Twigs, the ‘Defier EP’ plays around with ideas of rebellion, it highlights the struggles in love – futile love, unrequited love, destructive love and the importance of self-love.
Listen to Another Man, from Defier EP
‘Rainbow Flags’ is very close to Bobbie’s heart; spitting topics of homosexuality, being overly sexualised, commercialized or suppressed. ‘Another Man’ – the first single from the Defier EP – talks about the social commentary of relationship games, sexual fluidity and learning about yourself. All guided with the garage-reminiscent vibe and dreamy vocals. Her quick wit is showcased on follow up single ‘Go Get Mine’ featuring up and coming Brighton rapper Taff. A sound that is more familiar to the Bobbie you may know, focusing on your career but with a cheeky look back into the past to see how far you’ve come, all over a grime-influenced beat.
Defier EP
Out October 8, 2018Manager Cara Topping cara.topping@gmail.com
Label Nicholson contact@qmrecords.com // press@qmrecords.comJon Hopkins shares Singularity video
Jon Hopkins – “Singularity” from the album of the same name, out now on Domino Record Co.
Taken from his critically acclaimed new album, Singularity, Jon Hopkins is very proud to share the video for the title track. Directed by Academy Films’ Seb Edwards, ‘Singularity’ is a visual pinnacle of the album’s arc and a continuation and deepening of all the themes that pervade Jon Hopkins’ work.
Jon Hopkins says of the video: “This is the single most epic video I’ve ever had made. Seb has been a friend and collaborator for nearly 15 years now, but this is the first opportunity we’ve had to work with total freedom on a video for my own music. The power of what he has done left me speechless the first time I saw it. He translated the themes of destruction and defiance that I fed into the music into a powerful, violent ballet between male and female and I totally love it.”
Director Seb Edwards adds: “I’ve always loved Jon’s work and we’ve been wanting to collaborate for a while. ‘Singularity’ is such an incredible track, its merciless intensity somehow reflects our troubled times. I wanted to capture the feeling of defiance that rises from the initial brutality. The track is ultimately about acceptance and finding peace in nature. I hope I did it justice.”
In what has been an incredibly successful 2018 so far, Hopkins is currently on a sold out tour in North America and will be returning to Europe and UK for a slew of sold out dates including two at London’s Brixton Academy in November. A full list of shows including festival appearances can found below.
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‘Singularity’ video credits:
Production Company – Academy Films
Director – Seb Edwards
EP – Medb Riordan
Producer – Ash Lockmun
Cast: Aliashka Hilsum
Cast: Jarkko Mandelin
DOP – Khalid Mohtaseb
Production Designer – Robin Brown
Choreographer – Hofesh Shechter
Stylist – Bratsk
Local Service Production Company: BAS Productions, Belgrade
Editor: Sam Rice-Edwards @ Assembly Rooms
Sound Design: Mark Hills @ Factory Studios
Colourist: Jean-Clement Soret @ MPC London
VFX by Mikros-MPC—
Praise for Singularity:
“His long standing enchantment with nature, electricity and mindfulness glimmers anew on Singularity” Q 4*
“One of the most celebrated electronic musicians of his generation.” New Yorker
“A sonic realization of a better world, conceived in the depths of psychedelic experimentation” MOJO 4*
“Pitched between heat-seeking acid house and ambient bliss, the techno auteur’s first album since 2013 is a beat-music odyssey that thrums with spiritual resonance” Pitchfork, Best New Music
“A beautiful bastard of a record” Mixmag 9/10
“Jon Hopkins knows how to fill a dance floor with techno that throbs insistently. But he’s also got a tremendous gift for the comedown; for warm, ambient baths of sound that slow the blood and settle the mind” NPR Music
“Hopkins remains in ascension and no one is on his level right now” CLASH 8/10
“Hopkins’ open-minded take on an altered state becomes an experience that reveals itself a little more with every glorious listen” Loud & Quiet 9/10
“Singularity amplifies Hopkins’ music to blockbuster proportions.” RA
Buy Singularity now:
65daysofstatic release test render
Ahead of their upcoming October and November tour dates, Sheffield’s 65daysofstatic have shared results from their recent exploration into new ways of harnessing algorithmic music techniques in the form new track ‘Z1’. The band state:
“We’ve been busy trying to write music that isn’t also a song at the time. So – here is some brand new music from us. It is a live take of some machines we made to make music like we make, except in ways we might not have thought of ourselves.
At this point there is probably hours of 65 audio that these machines have churned out. We’ve alienated ourselves from our own creative production. Full automation, a Fordist’s dream. And you all thought 65days weren’t commercially viable! Well, you were dead wrong. We’ve solved music now, so are currently looking into franchising options. Hit us up if you’d like to run your own 65daysofstatic branch locally. Also give us a shout if you’re a venture capitalist billionaire who still thinks technology will save us from Full Spectrum Doom, we will take your money and buy lots of drum machines.
No.
Look here instead. It’s a video of a new 65 song manifesting itself. Is it a true representation of the algorithmic process or a reverse-engineered illusion of the algorithmic process? Is the fact that we wonder about this difference a sign of the importance we attach to oblique creative processes as a valuable defence against the endless demand for content, or is it actually evidence of how capitalism has ruined our imagination to the extent that we can only perceive music in fixed commodifiable forms instead of endless streams of potential? Or is it the reason we don’t get invited to many parties any more?
Just kidding we never really got invited to any parties.”
Decomposition Theory Live
12.10 AMFest, BARCELONA | TICKETS
14.10 Paradiso, AMSTERDAM | TICKETS
27.10 Funkhaus Kultursaal, BERLIN | TICKETS
19.11 The Contemporary, NOTTINGHAM | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)
20.11 Village Underground, LONDON | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)
21.11 Band Studios, BRISTOL | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)
22.11 CCA, GLASGOW | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)
23.11 Howard Assembly Room, LEEDS | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)
24.11 Sage 2, GATESHEAD | TICKETS (support from Johanna Bramli)Clark announces E.C.S.T. T.R.A.X. EP
Clark will handle the first release on his new label, Throttle Records.
The label name might feel familiar to fans of the Warp mainstay—in the mid-’00s, he released three EPs with “throttle” in the title, followed by the Throttle Monolith compilation in 2012. The first 12-inch, which lands on September 21st, features two tracks, both of which were inspired “as much by classical/orchestral and avant garde greats as dance music,” according to the press release.
The EP, E.C.S.T. T.R.A.X., was recorded in partnership with sample library and virtual instrument company Spitfire Audio.
Harpischord E.C.S.T.
Taken from the double A side 12″ ‘E.C.S.T. T.R.A.X.’. Released 21 September 2018 on Throttle Records, Clark’s newly established record label.Piano E.C.S.T.
Taken from the double A side 12″ ‘E.C.S.T. T.R.A.X.’ release 21 September 2018 on Throttle Records, Clark’s newly established record label.Welcome to LittleBig :: Bobbie Johnson
‘Music is my only release, it’s the only thing that soothes my soul. It’s my stabiliser, my passion, and my wife.’
— Bobbie JohnsonUK producer and rapper Bobbie Johnson combines hip hop, grime, garage, and glitch to form an amalgamation of sounds that showcase her conscious thought and social commentary. She has gained the nickname of the ‘Rapping Adele’ increasing her fan base with every show she commands, promoting a new age voice of hip hop.
Bobbie is based in Brighton, UK, and draws inspiration from a range of musicians, including James Blake, FKA Twigs, Kendrick Lamar, OutKast, Queen Latifah, Tom Misch – and many more – and has supported Children of Zeus, The Pharcyde and Roots Manuva, and has also toured with Rag ’n’ Bone Man.
She released her debut EP ‘You & I’ in 2016, which catalysed attention and local support that she has been garnering over the last few years, followed up with 2018 EP ‘Defier’, and single ‘Another Man’.
Gazelle Twin shares new Hobby Horse video
4:3 is proud to present Gazelle Twin’s ‘Hobby Horse’ from new album, Pastoral, out on 21 September on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray.
Aphex Twin announces COLLAPSE EP
Aphex Twin has shared release details for his forthcoming EP, alongside a new video for first track ‘T69 collapse’.
Released on 14 September across digital and physical formats, the ‘Collapse EP’ features five new Aphex Twin tracks – the first on Warp since 2016’s ‘Cheetah EP’.
Watch the visual for first track ‘T69 collapse’, directed by Weirdcore below.
The ‘Collapse EP’ is available to pre-order via:
Aphex Twin Store • Bleep • iTunes
‘T69 collapse’ is available to stream now:
Youtube • Spotify • Apple Music • Google Play • Deezer
Gazelle Twin announces album, Pastoral
GAZELLE TWIN – PASTORAL
NEW ALBUM OUT 21 SEPTEMBER 2018
ON ANTI-GHOST MOON RAY“Bound to shake your walls and rattle your windows” Max Reinhardt, BBC RADIO 3
“The first bit of evidence that Elizabeth Bernholz’s next album Pastoral – due out in September – could be her best to date”. THE QUIETUS
“Will likely be one of the year’s very best records.” CLASH“What species is this?
What century?”Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England’s rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present.
Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that “there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the “quaint” ”. The village square – once host to centuries of public torture – becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui.
Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz’s J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show ’Kingdom Come’ (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) – a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England.
As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin “The Composer, Musician and Producer” has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation – the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics – to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz’s signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of ‘90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory. In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species.
Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin “The Artist and Performer”, constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above – a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century. The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. “It” (not “she”) hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The “Ye Olde” and “The Everyman” of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle’s, and a mad, fixed GRIN – first glimpsed in the single, ‘Hobby Horse’ (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray).
A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.
Pastoral is released on 21 September 2018, on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray (cat number AGMR035), and is gratefully supported through the PRS Foundation Momentum Fund.
Aphex Twin sells out 8000 cap Berlin venue
The mastermind of ‘Windowlicker’ and ‘Come to Daddy’, who notoriously shuns the spotlight, selected Shedhalle, Berlin’s spectacular warehouse concert hall in the GDR broadcasting station to host his first show in Berlin in 15 years.
The reappearance of the most celebrated and influential electronic artist on a former cold war stage that recently transformed into the world’s most noted music complex, is highly anticipated.
FacebookTickets:Aphex Twin to headline Club 2 Club festival
The 18th edition of Club To Club, #C2C18, will take place in Turin from 1st to 4th November. The first name in the lineup to be unveiled is one of the most iconic and influential musicians of the past 30 years: Aphex Twin.
Born in Ireland and raised in Cornwall, Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin first found fortune with his imprint Rephlex and subsequently with cult label Warp Records, on which he released a plethora of records that went on to become contemporary classics: his productions have touched many different genres yet they remain unclassifiable, just like his logo (and his face) have become pop icons. While his ironic, media-shy approach has contributed to build around him a legendary aura, Aphex Twin’s musical legacy, broad as much as it is indisputable, has paved the way to new sounds and approaches, changing the history of music forever.
Club To Club is also pleased to announce the theme for the new edition: La luce al buio [light over darkness].
Inspired by Nicolas Jaar’s lead track of his #C2C17 closing set, an unusual and distinctive edit of Franco Battiato’s L’ombra della luce, it was a track made by Jaar, enriched with samples from a Battiato interview.Super Early Bird Weekend Passes (Friday 2nd + Saturday 3rd) are now on sale at €65 – limited availability: http://bit.ly/C2C18_TICKETS
More news will be announced over the next coming weeks.
http://clubtoclub.it
Rival Consoles premieres new video, Hidden
Taken from the album ‘Persona’ out on 2LP/CD/DL: http://phonofile.link/rivalconsoles-p…
Director: Dan Medhurst65daysofstatic announces Decomposition Theory AV show
“We’re really excited to announce a run of special A/V shows around the UK as part of our ongoing Decomposition Theory project. Each show will be a unique, live collaborative performance with generative music algorithms we made. When we started this project, it was a way to try and imagine better futures from the mire of the outmoded music industry… Automation as emancipation, not alienation!
Didn’t turn out that way though. We don’t trust the thoughts we’ve coded into our machines. They don’t trust us either.”
19-Nov Nottingham, The Contemporary
20-Nov London, Village Underground
21-Nov Bristol, Band Studios
22-Nov Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts
23-Nov Leeds, Howard Assembly Room
24-Nov Gateshead, Sage 2Jon Hopkins releases new album, Singularity
Singularity, the new album from Jon Hopkins, is out now.