Electronic + Dance

The latest from Do Your Best comes from Manchester's Another; Country $$$$ with their album 'GRIEF STRICKEN LISTED BUILDINGS'.

The album ceaselessly melds the warped, the gritty and the shiny to form a blissful space where beauty is simultaneous with uncertainty.

With beautiful and exclusive new artwork from NGA D'Grayt (@nga_dgrayt) both inside and out, the album is presented on a luscious transparent red cassette.

Recorded in Brussels and The Exotica House, Los Angeles. Mixed at China Girl studio, Paris and Andere Baustelle recording studio, Berlin.

2020 features music from some of our favourite artists and closest friends on the new Manchester scene. The Covid-19 pandemic has placed a colossal strain on the music industry. 2020 has been assembled with a vision of providing financial support for Manchester artists, with all proceeds split 50/50.

Featuring hand-picked tracks, contributed by artists whose music spans neo-soul, jazz, afro-electronic and more, 2020 is an eclectic discovery of inspired and curated sounds; a shining light on the emerging stars of Manchester’s live music scene.

2020 is the first of a series of fundraiser compilations to be released on Band on the Wall’s new in-house imprint; Band on the Wall Recordings.

This physical edition includes the album on CD and a limited edition high quality pull-out commemorative poster.

By purchasing the physical CD version you directly support both a collective of emerging Manchester artists at a time of crisis, and help keep Band on the Wall alive.

TRACK LISTING
01 Honeyfeet x Werkha – You Go To My Head (rewerked)
02 Mali Hayes – Oceans ft LayFullstop
03 Secret Night Gang – Don’t Mess With My Heart
04 Agbeko – There is a Jungle (Live)
05 Porij – Closer
06 Lovescene – To The Side
07 Skeltr – Lojong
08 Contours – Northbound
09 Cervo – Reaching
10 Katbrownsugar ft Al Turnbull – Jungle
11 Yemi Bolatiwa – Troubled Living
12 Shunya – The Clay & The Sculpture
13 Lieko Quintet – Black Lake
14 MSC Big Band – Grown Ups (Live)

'The Complete Illustrated Book of Failure' is the second album from industrial-punk outfit, Self Love.

A concept album tracing the journey of Don Quixote and his companion Sancho Panza in the epic Cervantes novel, the tracks freely move between the claustrophobic meanderings of 'Livin' La Vida Locust' to the anxious release of tracks like 'Knight of Cups'.

A lesson in human fallibility and changing musical dynamics, stay on your toes.

Artwork by @nga_dgrayt

Limited Edition Black Cassette with Exclusive Zine

Barcelona-based singer-songwriter and Slow Dance signee Uma releases debut EP ‘Bel-li’, via “the collective at the cutting edge of London’s live music scene” (Dazed), Slow Dance, (the likes of Black Midi, Jockstrap, Sorry, Goat Girl, PVA, Squid and more).

‘Bel-li’ is composed of five tracks, emphasising Uma’s intensely interpersonal and deep connection with music and lyricism. “Writing for me is my way of processing and expressing the world around me and the experiences I’ve gone through. I feel a lot for the people I’m surrounded with and the issues I really care about, such as mental health and the under-representation of females within the music industry.

These tracks, though accessible in their listenability, blur the lines of traditional genres, as Uma focuses on the beauty and versatility of sound. The use of classical arrangements and Spanish guitar are a beautiful echo of her roots and upbringing. At the heart of these releases lie a sense of raw humanity and honesty. With arduous intensity, she expresses: “It is all about home and falling into a great love. Late night bowls of spaghetti in your belly. Endless summers watching the sunset from my roof. Imminent tragedy and inescapable melancholy.”

Aftershock is a collaborative effort by violinist extraordinaire Mia Zabelka, Vienna and extreme metal bassist/guitarist Arun N, Bangalore which reflects their respective styles and playing, equal parts of soothing ambience, textures make way for improvised parts created predominantly from violin and bass guitar

Juxtaposed with a vibe of post-apocalyptic illegal but now legal gatherings, aftershock gently caresses never before heard hard ambient with free improvisation, techno and experimental electronic music all in a single wave packed into a solid 60 min set meant to be heard from beginning to end in a single sitting to grasp. Adding to this concoction is a special guest, trumpet veteran Joshua Trinidad from Denver

Recorded in the covid months of 2020 (August to October in Vienna, Austria and Bangalore, India). C60, J-card, postcard, presentation envelope.

'American Utopia' is the first solo record in 14 years from iconic polymath David Byrne. The album comes as part of a larger project entitled 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' - a series of works that strives to antidote pervasive social and political anxieties. In keeping with this, 'American Utopia' questions realities of contemporary culture with playful writing that shifts perspectives and favours optimism over despairing pessimism.

Being the product of working with 25 collaborators, 'American Utopia' feels like something of a sonic patchwork, but doesn't ever feel sprawling, neatly tied together by Byrne's inimitable sense of melody and harmony. 'American Utopia' doesn't offer any transcendental conclusions on how to save the world, but advocates positive and unusual ways of looking at the world around us, and with a career underpinned by a singular and indescribable quirkiness, Byrne is the ideal candidate the job.

After the messy and uninspired Humanz, The World’s Most Famous Virtual Group™ needed a shake-up. So Gorillaz have locked up their bassist and hellraiser-in-chief Murdoc and drafted in a new member, Ace, in his place. The Now Now features eleven new tunes from Damon Albarn and his Merry Men. Early signs are promising - first single ‘Humility’ features George Benson and sees them rediscover a little of the sunny charm of Plastic Beach.

Good time music alert. If Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild weren’t a band already you’d be snapping at their heels demanding they form one quick-sharp. Fact is, they are, and they release Confident Music For Confident People, their 11-track debut album for Heavenly Recordings.

Confident Music For Confident People is a big pop album that hints at Dee-lite, LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads and The Avalanches. Standout tracks Boyfriend, Bubblegum and Better Sit Down Boy are big and brash and bright as hell, like Dee-Lite tooled up and ready for our berserk modern times. Here is a set of songs that take the kind of all-consuming interior monologues that bored, disaffected youth are wrestling with the world over and places them square in the middle of the dance floor before adding call-and-response choruses for good measure – it’s the best collection of perfect pop music you’ll hear all year, the perfect embodiment of the characters that made it that somehow manages to be both wildly ambitious and deceptively simple at the same time.

Former Things is the follow up to acclaimed 2015 album Hinterland which garnered praise from The Guardian, The Quietus, The Financial Times and more. The soundworld of Former Things was entirely crafted by LoneLady during her time spent in Somerset House Studios Rifle Range, an 18th century shooting range that has now been adapted into an experimental performance space. The album was inspired by a seismic move for LoneLady who left her native Manchester, decamping to London’s Somerset House Studios in search of a new cityscape to inspire her poised machine funk.

Psychic Liberation proudly presents Acid For Babies, the latest full-length from Mexico-based artist Ñaka Ñaka (AKA Jeronimo Jimenez). Acid For Babies is a glistening invitation to an environment of minimal complexities. Its textures and repetition were fine-tuned to soothe or delight a baby’s ear — specifically, that of his new daughter. “No babies were exploited in the making of this album,” Jimenez notes.

This record marks the first release Ñaka Ñaka — Jimenez’s club music alias — has contributed to the Psychic Liberation discography. The playful, unassuming tracks are one-take tape recordings from hardware instruments. The album is bookended with an interpretation of Raymond Scott’s little-known final composition: a piece for MIDI titled “Beautiful Little Butterfly.”

In March 2020 Parham Ghalamder collaborated with Kaveh Soory on an animation titled Situation Number One during the lockdown. The animation was funded by the Sheba Arts Festival and has been exhibited at the Warrington Museum and Gallery as part of the Warrington Contemporary exhibition 2020 as well as the private Old Bank Noma online film club. There are more plans for public screening by the end of 2021

After a year in isolation, the artists have revisited the animation, and consider how the sounds would be perceived in a new context out of lockdown/isolation in the analog forms of Cassette. A re-assessment of the works in a recontextualized situation

Parham works as a Teaching Assistant at the MA Painting program at Manchester School Of Art. He has been involved in more than 15 exhibitions, projects, and commissions in 2020 including a major solo show with Workplace Foundation in Gateshead. Parham recently provided the artwork for "To live a la West" produced by Saint Abdullah and released by Important Records

Kaveh Kaveh was born on 24 of September 1980, just two days before the Iran-Iraq war, in a middle-class family in Tehran-Iran. In those days, music was forbidden ( Haram), and there was no official production of music inside the country

A self-taught guitarist and student of the sound scientifically and artistically, he decided to migrate to the UK in 1999 in order to discover a new world and release himself from all those limitations created for his generation in Iran’s society. Since then he is settled in Manchester and produced his conceptual album, “ Koozeh”, in 2015

No Matter What Mood is the second release by Industrial Lounge trio, Sonny Bliss - Núria Prat Ortillés, Robin Williams and John Burgess of Manchester’s 6a6y 6 collective - respectively on Alto Sax, Drum Machine + Tape Echo, and Flute.

Improvised during two aleatoric recording sessions in Manchester between August & October 2019, artificial instruments were sonically glued to organic, live woodwind using analog tape echo, forming structure through controlled chance.

Inspired by sounds of 1980s Miles Davis, Laurie Anderson, Chris & Cosey, Olev Muska’s ‘Old Estonian Waltzes’, Phew, Robert Dick and Stockhausen - the compositions soundtrack the reoccurring dissonance of poignantly subversive voices being cancelled by big business.

Here's something to get us through the crisis - the promise of a new Lady Gaga album. Cue excitement amongst her 162 million little monsters fanbase. CHROMATICA is said to be a cyberpunk record (perhaps a bit like Billy Idol's 1993 album?) and sees her working with producers such as Mark Ronson, SOPHIE and Boys Noize.

hannas barber are Dan Rambaut, Simon Richardson & Ed Martin. hannas barber formed in leeds 1995 & comprises ed martin aka edv3ctor, simon richardson (vj vitascope) & dan rambaut (the bard of crouch hill). they are a non genre specific freeform, folkart band w/ tentacles that cross the divide between hip hop samplerdelia, motorik grooves, electronic minimalist & full fat experimentalism. now split between england & scotland, the group still refuses to be categorised & have releases on the defunct dalriada & their own instant action object imprint.

‘Supernormal’ and ‘Mercury and Me’ is the first new music from Everything Everything since the release of acclaimed 5th LP RE-ANIMATOR last year which emerged to widespread critical acclaim last summer with many hailing the band’s visionary cocktail of intricate experimentation and immediately accessible art-pop. Released on 10inch colourful splatter vinyl for Record Store Day 2021, the realise also includes remix from tracks from RE-ANIMATOR from Foals and IOE AIE.

The Comet is Coming follow up their globally successful 2019 releasees Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery and The Afterlife with this Record Store Day exclusive 12' vinyl titled Imminent. Side A is 'Imminent', a pulsating, frenetic number featuring lyrics and vocals by Joshua Idehen.

Break-ing into 2021 from Sweden via Manchester JERK002 comes from Bars of Beats co-owner Oblique with 4 tracks of Break influenced Techno.

As Another Entity opens up with menacing intent and slamming drums beckoning the end of rave as we know it, before A2 sends us falling down Futility Flight’s ‘Fuck Th’ twisted wormhole.

On the flip we have Mania, a break infused high tension builder, giving way to an all-consuming bassline and closing things off with Faulty, a sub bass lead heady groove that’s threatening to implode.

Early support coming from Interplanetary Criminal, Ian DPM & Ascot /WW

London based arts collective Slow Dance serve up a hand stamped, white label featuring 5 originals. Artists featured are Hambling, Jude Woodhead, Glows, Dj Grapefruit and Micachu and the Shapes drummer Suitman Jungle.

Experimental electronics from drummer, writer, producer and artist Matt Tulloch.
Guitar - Performed by Charlie Coxedge 
Saxophone - Performed by JJ Box

Super high quality sky blue Cassette with a red ribbon Obi strip.
Housed within a vellum case. 
Very limited copies available.

'Billennium Soundscapes is a beguiling mix of live performed electronic percussion and toasty, burnt out synthesisers. A sound that slops into your ear holes and clags brain cavities with a syrupy sonic cream.'

This album was produced over Christmas 2020 in a semi-derelict hideout on the outskirts of Blackpool, England.

All the Drums & Percussion were performed live on an electronic kit and recorded (as were the synths) directly to cassette.

Electronically orchestrated broken beat with hip hop-style vocals bring together itsnatevendahk's second album, Wedontdothatanymore. CD includes stickers. 

Produced by itsnatevendahk, mastered by Robin Williams. Overdubs on "Must Find Out Who He Is" performed by Hafsa Aziz. Vocals on "Just Maybe" co written by Katie Pham.

2021 FFFINOS Productions.

A collaboration between Our Wrongs (Kenny Sanderson, Adam Jennings) & God Is War (Mack Shami).

3 track cassette. Art work by Shea Hardacre - 2 sided j-card, Side A Label, 2 sided postcard. Red cassette shell, presentation envelope.

Two years, two self-released albums and various UK and international live shows later, j.b. glazer returns to Them There for another round of mutant club hitters and abstracted dungeon blues. Following on from the blinding 2018 debut album ‘Compact Break’ - ‘Divine Glint Music’ captures glazer working to the utmost extremes of his practice, wrestling with themes of duality to give rise to some of his most realised and polished work to date.

Divine Glint Music represents a stirring experiment in new production techniques for j.b. glazer, initiated through the reconstruction of forgotten collaborative material and the use of turntables as a compositional tool. His natural flare for sample manipulation and drum programming are apparent throughout but ‘Divine Glint Music’ is set apart from previous works by a new sense of spontaneity and impulsiveness. 

Recorded live in London 2020. Recreated using original recordings featuring Bianca Scout, Violence Grass Band, Elena Isolini, James Walker and Halfs.

Hyperdawn is the moniker of Salford based experimentalists Michael Cutting and Vitalija Glovackyte. Off the back of their prolific individual projects, ranging from multimedia performances to studio releases, orchestral works to solo live sets, the duo has steadily developed a distinctive voice as Hyperdawn, forging modified keyboards, homemade instruments and reel to reel tape recorders.

Their debut album Bleach takes their physical, process-based aesthetic with imperfections of warped tape and faltering hardware and pushes it towards the boundaries of pop music. Hints of verse-chorus structures are now apparent with the use of Vitalija’s voice as an essential introduction, giving the duo’s rough-grained instrumentals a new level of poignancy.

Michael and Vitalija have taken their live show to venues and festivals across the UK, US, Canada and Europe as well as had their music broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (Late Junction), NTS Radio and Berlin Community Radio amongst others.