BDRMM Vinyl & CDs

Review: To categorise bdrmm as "British shoegazers" may be accurate. Or not. There has to be a limit to how far a genre definition can be stretched before it begins to include a whole load of other noises and styles. In the case of Microtonic, the sonic palette is at once broader than most understandings of the sound and yet it's hard to pinpoint a more apt tagline. Sometimes sweeping statements work for a reason. Arguably their most far reaching work, and certainly up there with their finest and most epic hours, bdrmm don't reject the sound of the cosmos space told through soaring guitars and lofi distortion - the title track, 'In The Electric Field', which features Olivesque, and 'Lake Disappointment' are just two cases in point. But then opener 'Goit', with Working Men's Club's Sydney Minsky Sargeant, 'Snares', and 'Clarkycat' embrace other moods. Intelligent dnb, industrial-edged electro, chill out house, to name but a few.

Review: When Yorkshire-based four-piece bdrmm released their self-titled debut in 2020 via Sonic Cathedral, it was a homage to the power of foreboding reverb-soaked guitar music. Now with their 2024 release - after they moved tentatively towards it with their 2023 follow-up I Don't Know - they have ventured into soundscaped dance music kept within a pop context. It's still got a darkness to it and the guitar is there but it's given no more importance than the synths and arpeggiators. Overall, having more tools to sculpt their sound with makes them sound liberated. Lead singer Ryan Smith has one of the most evocative voices in British music, leaning into the stoner feel that reverb provides, but still retaining an ear for melody - as if to say there's no shame in pop. Having the lead singer of Working Men's Club - Syd Minsky-Sargeant - as a guest is a huge get for them and suggests that bdrmm have elite taste for collaborators as well as the ability to recognise when the time is right to shift from what they first set out to do when they formed. This is a rebirth and they sound all the better for it.

Review: Popular Hull-based shoegaze quartet bdrmm are building up to their latest tour with the release of single 'Standard Tuning, arriving hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed second album, 'I Don't Know'. Written and recorded during those same sessions and very much similarly flavoured, it continues a fine vein of form right now, with high praise coming in from the likes of Rolling Stone and Consequence. This special 10" also comes with a remix of the live favourite 'Alps' by Ninja Tune/Cambria Instruments electronica specialist Nathan Fake.