New film also features a previously unheard Jarvis Cocker collaboration
Mere days after The KLF‘s Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty‘s long deleted back catalogue turned up on streaming services, news has emerged of ‘Welcome To The Dark Ages’, a film about a pyramid they plan to build out of human remains in Toxteth, Liverpool. Read more
Legendary American producer and DJ Kerri Chandler had shared his tough dancefloor remix of Bonobo and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ recent single ‘Heartbreak’.
Members of London’s thriving new jazz scene have criticised a leading exam board’s decision to drop the study of jazz from its A-Level syllabus. Read more
Stewart Lee’s guest spot on Asian Dub Foundation’s dubstep-slanted hard hitter ‘Comin’ Over Here’ has been tearing up the internet this week, and all in a good cause too, with proceeds going to help the Kent Refugee Action Group. There are even whispers that it and its acerbic message about immigration might make it to the top spot for Brexit Day at the end of this week.
Terry Edwards of PJ Harvey’s band guests on the sultry rendition of 50s classic
Marianne Dissard, the self-styled ‘queen of desert noir’ and Terry Edwards, most famed for his role in PJ Harvey‘s current band, have unleashed their hot under the collar version of ‘Come On, Let’s Go!’ by doomed 50s rock ‘n’ roll hero Richie Valens.
Find out what Amon Tobin, A Man Called Adam. Aux 88, The Bug and a host of other greats rate as their tracks of the year, in part one of our comprehensive review of 2020
DJ Dickey Doo enlists Grammy Award winner Jamecia Bennett on fiery soulful house single ‘Do What You Want’
Hypernatural Recordings have announced the upcoming release of new house single ‘Do What You Want’, a soulful smashing-of-worlds by collaborators Dickey Doo and Jamecia Bennett.
The Oram Awards 2020: A vibrant live medley from innovators in sound
This year’s Oram Awards, a ceremony and live-streamed series of performances by winners Loula Yorke, NikNak, Pouloumi Desai, Una Lee, Vicky Clarke and Yifeat Ziv, took place on the evening of December 17.
Techno giant Mills shows his more chilled side on Milsart album number 13
Jeff Mills has released the thirteenth instalment of his experimental ‘Every Dog Has Its Day’ series this week, under his ambient techno moniker Millsart.
Trump and Putin ‘deepfakes’ star in the conceptual promo for Gloria’s debut ‘PTS’
Transcendent songster-producer Gloria, hailing from Budapest, has unveiled her new single ‘PTS’, a cryptic house heater out now on Ivan Dorn’s Masterskaya label. Along with the track comes a topical music video directed by international film collective Kinopravda, depicting an unnerving fantasy ending to 2020.
Glued to their screens, helpless subjects of a global idiocracy cry at the news of a societal breakdown. People bawl at the gym, snivel in the street, whimper at home. Meanwhile, world leaders and 1-percent-ers – Bezos, DiCaprio, Trump – laze about, happy to watch it all burn.
That is until a young woman sacrifices herself, reinvigorating the planet with a single status update. Somehow, she’s able to fit her manifesto for a new world order inside the word limit. Amassing millions of likes, ‘the post’ rouses the world to care and hang IRL, un-frying the global brain’s reward circuit. A transformation ensues, and the young woman becomes Gloria, a glorious interconnected being, the first stage in posthuman evolution.
Of her new musical persona, Gloria says: “I had to create something to believe in because there was nothing left to believe in. I had to create her to heal me.”
Watching the video, you can’t help but feel dread. Along with the music, it feels deliberately naïve. Sooner or later, you realise the shots of billionaires and presidents ‘woke-ing up’ are facially-reconstructed AI deepfakes. A bittersweet take on 2020, ‘PTS’ will leave you feeling jinxed, but at least you’ve now got an infectious deep house cut to keep you cautioulsly optimistic until doomsday.
“This is an angry record” – punk legend Spizz’s elegy for a lost age of London venues….
Spizzenergi, the legendary punk outfit who were the first ever to top the indie charts, are releasing a typically angry seasonal single in collaboration with Bowie producer Tony Visconti. Read more
Hear what happens when Elizabeth Bernholz and a drone choir cover a track from ‘The Wicker Man’ soundtrack…
Gazelle Twin & NYX: electronic drone choir have shared the first track from their forthcoming collaborative album, a thoroughly creepy cover of ‘Fire Leap’ from the soundtrack classic 70s horror film The Wicker Man.
South Londoners release album number two and take to the road in support of beleagured venues nationwide….
facet%5Bmirror_artist_facetm%5D%5B%5D=shame&solrorder=relevancy&hide_forthcoming=0″>Shame have announced a full UK tour of socially distanced gigs in February in support of their second album Drunk Tank Pink – and to help ailing British venues.