Buscar:breakneck

Balancing traditionally timeless grit with 21st century gusto, Judiciary hammer out hardcore grooves at breakneck thrash speeds. The Texas quintet—Jake Collinson vocals, Kyle Calfin [bass], Austin Looney [drums], Jimmy LaDue [guitar], and Israel Garza [guitar]—wield a searing signature style unlike anything in heavy music. With calculated intensity, it bludgeons without compromise, draws back for a breath, and strikes again even harder. Piling up millions of streams and inciting the applause of Stereogum, Revolver, and more, the group perfects this incendiary hybrid of metal and hardcore on their 2023 second full-length LP, Flesh + Blood [Closed Casket Activities]. “It’s a mashup of old school heavy metal with contemporary energy,” says Kyle. “We didn’t just change anything for the sake of change—we’ve elevated everything in every way.

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First Word Records is very proud to present a brand new full-length album from Kaidi Tatham. 'It's A World Before You'.

Following on from two EPs released on First Word last year ('Changing Times' and 'Hard Times'), Kaidi has delivered us thirteen tracks that deftly illustrate his various talents as a multi-instrumentalist.

Kaidi is probably best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, though his musical contributions over the years have also included Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Chris Dave, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff and IG Culture to name but a few! In recent times, he's worked with DJ Jazzy Jeff on a variety of projects, including his most recent album 'M3', touring Europe for Jeff and Will Smith's reunion shows, and on the PLAYlist album 'Chasing Goosebumps', with Glenn Lewis, Stro Elliot (The Roots), Masego, Maimouna Youssef, Rich Medina, Daniel Crawford and more.

All this in addition to heating up dances around Europe with his inimitable DJ sets, and working heavily with First Word label-mate, Eric Lau (who also mixed this album) on a variety of projects, and adding releases to his already impressive catalogue on 2000 Black, Eglo and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre, Dego (who features on the album's title track).

This album personifies Kaidi's diverse palette of sounds - bar Eric & Dego's features, every piece of music is played by himself. Largely flowing on a broken beat rhythm section, Kaidi effortlessly incorporates washes of afro, latin and funk throughout. From the harmonics of 'Your Dream Don't Mean A Thing', to the breakneck funk of 'Outta Audah', each and every riddim exudes energy. But this isn't simply a bruk record. The album is laced together with downtempo beats and future jazz interludes throughout, and some sweet synth boogie is never very far away, especially on the weighty vibes of 'It's About Who You Know'. To top it all off, there's two delightful nuggets of hip hop soul - Mancunian label-mates, Children of Zeus, feature on the neo-soul vibes of 'Out Here On My Own', and there's a feature from Amir Townes, better known as Uhmeer - an upcoming MC from Philadelphia, and son of one Jazzy Jeff Townes - who rides a sub-heavy, piano-led slice of boom bap, voicing an assortment of characters to tell the tale of 'Cupid'.

'It's A World Before You' is set to cause serious damage to sound-systems over the Summer, and show and prove once again the skills of one of the UK's best unsung musical talents, Kaidi Tatham.

Ernest Hood’s Neighborhoods was released some two decades after the Portland, Oregon born and raised musician’s first forays into field recordings. These very recordings, and those captured over intervening years, define the universal sound and aural images of childhood, a theme memorialized by Hood’s privatelypressed opus of 1975.

Sprawling through a haze of zither, synthesizer melodies, and foraged pedestrian sound, Neighborhoods is both a score and documentary composed and directed by Hood to offer, in his words, joy in reminiscence. Hood’s nostalgic impulse ran parallel to the developments of other artists, writers, and filmmakers of the 1970s who were looking back to the 1950s to convey a collective memory of childhood. Unlike some of the widely embraced work of this nature, the music of Neighborhoods eschews irony or detachment for lucidity, striving above all for a dream-like return to the details of sensory memory.

Born into a musical lineage, Hood’s early, promising career as a guitarist in a globetrotting jazz outfit was cut short when he contracted polio in his late twenties. Moving from guitar to less physically-demanding stringed instruments in the late 1940s, Hood first began implementing field recordings in his jazz ensemble collaborations as early as 1956. In 1961, Hood and trumpeter Jim Smith collaborated on a local Portland television program, with their large, tight ensemble providing breakneck contemporary jazz for an action painting by famed West Coast modernist painter Louis Bunce. Hood incorporated his own field-recorded sounds of birds in the performance – an element that would resurface in Neighborhoods with great abundance among other found sounds.

Originally released in 2004, El Ten Eleven’s self-titled LP has been embraced by fans of many genres - from math rock, to jazz, to lo-fi hip-hop. The duo's sound is sharply evocative in mood and feeling, yet simultaneously abstract and meditative. Back in print on Gold Vinyl. Brimming with breezy melodies, breakneck percussion, & electronic flourishes. Back in print, on Gold Vinyl. 181.8 k Spotify Listeners, 7.5 Million Streams. Recommended If You Like: Do Make Say Think, Explosions in the Sky, Ratatat, The Album Leaf, Mogwai, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage. Track Listing: My Only Swerving / Sorry About Your Irony / Lorge / 1969 Central Nervous Piston / Thinking Loudly / Fanshawe / Connie / Bye Mom

“El Ten Eleven have cemented their place in the annals of instrumental music.” OC Weekly // El Ten Eleven’s 2007 album Every Direction is North is back in print on Green Glass Vinyl. - Brimming with breezy melodies, breakneck percussion, & electronic flourishes. Back in print, on Green Glass Vinyl. 181.8 k Spotify Listeners, 1.12 Million Streams. Recommended If You Like: Do Make Say Think, Explosions in the Sky, Ratatat, The Album Leaf, Mogwai, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage. Track Listing: 3 Plus 4 / Every Direction Is North / Hot Cakes / Estrella / Music for Staring at Ceilings / Keep Dax Pierson / Living on Credit Blues / The 49th Day Bye Annie, Bye Joe, Bye Michael, Bye Jake

Brimming with breezy melodies, breakneck percussion, & electronic flourishes. Back in print, on Clear Vinyl. 181.8 k Spotify Listeners, k Streams. Recommended If You Like: Do Make Say Think, Explosions in the Sky, Ratatat, The Album Leaf, Mogwai, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage. A poetic riff on Built to Spill’s album Keep It Like A Secret, and a tongue-in-cheek reference to the band’s “underground” status, instrumental duo El Ten Eleven’s fourth album is a brash and bold 12-track post-rock odyssey. It’s Still Like A Secret is back in print on Clear Vinyl. Track Listing: Ya No / The Sycophants Are Coming! The Sycophants Are Coming! / Indian Winter / Falling / Triangle Face / Ian Mackaye Was Right / Marriage Is the New Going Steady / Cease and Persist / Anxiety Is Cheap / Settling With Power / 83 / Tomorrow Is an Excuse for Today

Brimming with breezy melodies, breakneck percussion, & electronic flourishes. Back in print 10th Anniversary, on Orange Vinyl. 181.8 k Spotify Listeners, 1.12 Million Streams. Recommended If You Like: Do Make Say Think, Explosions in the Sky, Ratatat, The Album Leaf, Mogwai, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage. Transitions is the 2012 album by post-rock duo El Ten Eleven. Bobbing and weaving from one time signature and tempo to another, the duo of Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty jolt the listener into new sonic territories with the delicacy of a tilt-o-whirl. Includes a cover of Duran Duran's "Tiger Tiger". Back in print on Orange Vinyl. A refreshing trifecta of compositional prowess, intricate riffage, and experimental pop melodies. --Premier Guitar // “El Ten Eleven is proof that live looping and programming can rock; and that instrumental tracks can captivate and hold a room’s attention as well as any vocal-led group.” --Tape Op! // Track Listing: Transitions / Thanks Bill / Yellow Bridges / No One Died This Time! / Birth / Tiger Tiger / Lullaby

As on Under A Burning Eclipse, between each song on Sacred Rites & Black Magick is an intricately positioned interlude building the ambiance and steering the thematic intensity of the album. Beginning with echoing, clean dual acoustic guitars, introductory interlude “Hymns Of The Slumbering Race” begins the procession of grand ascension and hair raising riffage to come. “Internal Fulmination Of The Grand Deceivers” flashes STORMRULER’s brand of Imperial Black Metal Warfare, shining with heavy bass and blastbeats before cascading into icy atmosphere topped by smoke-cloaked vocals. Entrancing guitars match an ebb and flow of carefully paced interludes and merciless, speeding fury, showcasing standout leads and a blazing solo. Similar epic songwriting, lush lyricism and skillful dynamics can be witnessed on tracks such as the brooding “Entranced Within The Moon Presence”, intricate “In The Shaded Vlasian Forest” and introspective, glistening “Along The Appian Way”. “To Bear The Twin Faces Of The Dragon” stages some of the most menacing sonic escapades and memorable leads of the 20-track offering, combining chants of sorcery with searing screams and waves of crushing melody, while tracks such as “Upon Frozen Shores” weave a sonic tale of occult doom atop triumphant soundscapes, breakneck rhythms and ghostly melodic passages. Standout title offering “Sacred Rites & Black Magick” sets the supreme lyrical and musical mood of the album itself, depicting just how deftly STORMRULER conjure lucid black metal as they inject energetic, unforgettable grooves and riffs into their scorching delivery – succeeding in convincing even the newest of genre converts.

Fly Anakin's debut studio album 'Frank' draws influence from the classic
R&B and Soul his dad played him as a child, showcasing a gift for
songwriting alongside the breathless raps he's become known for
Recorded at the same time as 'FlySiifu's', it features Pink Siifu on the DJ Harrison
produced 'Black Be The Source', as well as link ups with another Richmond hero
and Anakin mentor Nickelus F, and fellow Mutant Academy members Big Kahuna
OG and Henny L.O..
Beats by Madlib, Evidence, Jay Versace, DJ Harrison, Ohbliv, Foisey, Graymatter
and Like of Pac Div.
"A perfect display of Anakin's captivating lyricism and delivery... flexes the New
York-tinged ruggedness in his breakneck raps as he reflects on his past, present
and future." Paste.
Fly Anakin is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, who was described by Madlib as
"one of the illest MCs", and has previously collaborated with Freddie Gibbs. He's
co-founder of the Richmond rap collective Mutant Academy.
"Anakin's detail isn't a skill that could just be picked up from studying the legends
of the genre, it's a gift." Pitchfork
Singles have received press suport so far from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER,
Hypebeast, Stereogum, Vibe and Okayplayer.Fly Anakin recently performed on
Benji B's BBC Radio 1 show, and guested on Mary Anne Hobbs' BBC 6Music show
and Ebro's Apple Music 1 show. US radio support on the singles from Peter
Rosenberg on Hot97, Sirius XM and NPR. Singles have been featured in playlists
by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Dummy, Crack, Ryan Schreiber Pitchfork, Brooklyn
Vegan, Vinyl Me Please, Red Bull, Warp Records and Fool's Gold Records.
Fly Anakin will tour the UK and US this Spring in support of album release. In
November 2021 he performed a European tour alongside Pink Siifu, with dates
across the UK, France & the Netherlands, including Le Guess Who? Festival,
Utrecht.

Fly Anakin's debut studio album 'Frank' draws influence from the classic
R&B and Soul his dad played him as a child, showcasing a gift for
songwriting alongside the breathless raps he's become known for
Recorded at the same time as 'FlySiifu's', it features Pink Siifu on the DJ Harrison
produced 'Black Be The Source', as well as link ups with another Richmond hero
and Anakin mentor Nickelus F, and fellow Mutant Academy members Big Kahuna
OG and Henny L.O..
Beats by Madlib, Evidence, Jay Versace, DJ Harrison, Ohbliv, Foisey, Graymatter
and Like of Pac Div.
"A perfect display of Anakin's captivating lyricism and delivery... flexes the New
York-tinged ruggedness in his breakneck raps as he reflects on his past, present
and future." Paste.
Fly Anakin is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, who was described by Madlib as
"one of the illest MCs", and has previously collaborated with Freddie Gibbs. He's
co-founder of the Richmond rap collective Mutant Academy.
"Anakin's detail isn't a skill that could just be picked up from studying the legends
of the genre, it's a gift." Pitchfork
Singles have received press suport so far from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER,
Hypebeast, Stereogum, Vibe and Okayplayer.Fly Anakin recently performed on
Benji B's BBC Radio 1 show, and guested on Mary Anne Hobbs' BBC 6Music show
and Ebro's Apple Music 1 show. US radio support on the singles from Peter
Rosenberg on Hot97, Sirius XM and NPR. Singles have been featured in playlists
by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Dummy, Crack, Ryan Schreiber Pitchfork, Brooklyn
Vegan, Vinyl Me Please, Red Bull, Warp Records and Fool's Gold Records.
Fly Anakin will tour the UK and US this Spring in support of album release. In
November 2021 he performed a European tour alongside Pink Siifu, with dates
across the UK, France & the Netherlands, including Le Guess Who? Festival,
Utrecht.

Hailing from the vermin-saturated remains of upstate South Carolina, SLUGCRUST are preparing to release their debut full length, Ecocide, via Prosthetic Records this summer. Featuring members of WVRM, SLUGCRUST embodies true Southern grind in all its grimy, punishing glory. With two ferocious EPs already under their belts, the breakneck speed with which SLUGCRUST operate gives a fair indicator of their approach. However, their focus isn’t compromised by their accelerated work ethic. Drawing from various literary inspirations the political issues at the heart of SLUGCRUST’s output is given a darkly poetic twist. SLUGCRUST seeks to bring political issues to light in a way that galvanises action and activism. The title derives from the process of destroying environmental structures or ecosystems, either via natural means or - as is more pertinent in the case of this album - deliberate human actions. Depravity is a recurring theme throughout the lyrics; emotional and physical immorality and degeneracy permeates the twelve tracks that make up Ecocide.

Banoffee Pies Records, in its eighth year of operating, hit the 20th release milestone in their Original Series. Joining the roster, Cairo based producer Hassan Abou Alam steps up with a 4 track solo EP entitled "Fasla".

A decisive selection of attitude packed wormhole bass lines and dark basement jams.

The A side was produced in a special collaboration with local artist SHBL-LBSH who's vocal works feature across "Kesibt" + "Fasla". The B side delivers a series of sharp and cutting synth lines in "Mawkif" and breakneck low end rumbles in "Hanshoof".After a series of works on the likes of Naive, Not For Profit and Rhythm Section, Hassan fittingly joins the Berlin based, Bristol born label with more boundless sounds that slice through the fabric of styles that BPR have fostered since inception. Tailored club music fromone of Egypts new wave of producers.Hold your hats and check your Bassbins. BPR. X

Bogotá’s UNIDAD IDEOLÓGICA sound is pure high intensity hardcore. The eight songs on their debut 12” clock in below 15 minutes and not a single second is wasted. Their sound is very bass and drum driven, full of breakneck, pummelling relentless beats which do not rest for a second, setting a claustrophobic atmosphere for the noise to grow. Feedback ladden guitars at times verge on BM, which brings RAW POWER, EXECUTE, GISM and DISARM to mind, creating the perfect background for a raging vocalist full of venom to sing about fear, control, technology, and the rampant neoliberalism destroying their land and literally killing as we speak. UNIDAD IDEOLÓGICA was conceived at Bogotá’s Rat Trap, then recorded at Epia Estudios by Santiago Gonzalez during Colombia’s strict lockdown and curfews earlier this year. Finally it was mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.The design was undertaken by Darcy Cabrera with the photographic help of Isabel O’Toole.

Vandoliers are a uniquely Texas band, distilling the Lone Star State’s vast and diverse musical identity into a raucous, breakneck vibe that’s all their own. After spending much of the last three years furiously writing and recording music, this Dallas-Fort Worth six-piece is back with The Vandoliers, a new album that proves these rowdy, rollicking country punks are tighter, more cohesive and more sonically compelling than ever.

Camille Bertault and David Helbock are two of the most jawdroppingly talented members of the cohort of European jazz
musicians currently in their mid-Thirties. Their journeys in improvised
music are always adventurous, playful and exciting.
 She is the rising star of French vocal jazz. He, Austrian-born, is one
of the most fascinating pianists on the scene. Their personalities
appear to be polar opposites, yet Bertault’s livewire humour and
Helbock’s calm self-assuredness only appear different on the surface.
When it comes to the musical choices they make, they are
emphatically on the same page. Each is astonishingly versatile, with
an innate sense of dramaturgy. This voice / piano duo reaches
unbelievable levels of inventiveness here on ‘Playground’.
 “We both love Egberto Gismonti and Hermeto Pascoal, Björk and
Monk,” Helbock explains. “We also wanted a classical piece.” The
duo found the initial repertoire to explore and to spread their musical
wings with relative ease. Bertault’s vocal artistry is hers and hers
alone. Her voice is a magnificent instrument to carry a melody,
whether at breakneck speed and with devastating precision or at
pindrop volume. Helbock’s creativity, as he exploits all the sound
possibilities of the grand piano, is completely ‘sui generis’ as well. He
dampens the piano strings, he plays directly on them, he uses the
piano case as a percussion instrument, he makes use of electronics.
And ‘Playground’ is the first time he has worked with loops.
 His accompaniment therefore has an almost orchestral scale and
depth, a jewel case for this scintillating and very special voice. The
pair have written seven new numbers for the album: we hear the
whimsical blues of ‘Lonely Supamen’, the mysterious ‘Fabelwesen’,
the chanson-esque ‘Aide-moi’ and the ethereal-melancholic ‘Bizarre’.
 ‘Playground’ is a kaleidoscope of sounds and emotions which
invigorates, excites - and will always surprise. The craft and
technique may be breath taking, but neither musician ever forgets the
essential: “It’s not about showing strength or virtuosity, but about
expressing the truth of the moment,” says Camille Bertault. And that
is what she and David Helbock have delivered with each and every
track.

AN ISLE ATE HER don’t have the typical story that most bands in metal music do. They were an artistic mathematical monster that took over Atlanta, Georgia in the early 2000’s, but it’s members had taken some very unexpected turns in artistic direction as solo artists after they disbanded.
Absolutely manic breakneck tech grindcore that was as mind-bending to listen to as it was to see live. Formed initially in July 2007, Vocalist Chaz Bell, guitarist Collin Hutchinson, drummer Matt Cooper, and various other members performed under various names, playing countless shows and tours while constantly building their musical skills.
500 PRESSED WORLDWIDE . For Fans of: Daughters, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Red Chord, PIg Destryer

Album - 3 singles - vinyl “Make all the uncertainty and adventure of growing up sound like the best days of your life” - UPSET “A ripper that channels sounds from all throughout punk history” - Brooklyn Vegan "On a take-no-prisoners assault" - Tom Robinson, BBC 6music “California compacted into three rowdy minutes” - The Rodeo “Scorching slacker pop” - CLASH Reminders approach punk rock from where they know it best: a forgotten seaside town. Formed on the Isle of Wight in 2017, the band cut their teeth writing songs about teenage lust and suburban boredom, gaining attention after they independently released Water Sports and Major Cities. Fresh-faced and excited, the then-teenagers coined their sound 'beach punk'; a tongue-in-cheek ode to their hometown that they stand by today. 
 Firmly solidifying their identity as breakneck but bubblegum, a pop-tinged punk band, Reminders work to introduce themselves to anybody willing to listen. After an unexpected hiatus during COVID which delayed the release of their album, the band are now raring and ready to go with their new label home at Venn and forthcoming tour dates. 
 Already championed at radio by BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music and BBC Introducing, as well as landing placements on esteemed Spotify and Apple Music editorial playlists alike, they were labelled 'scorching slacker pop' by the influential CLASH Magazine, dubbed 'About to Break' by UPSET Magazine, and have already shared stages with rock legends and pop stars Liam Gallagher, The Killers, and Camila Cabello. Debut album Best Of Beach Punk released 1st April 2022

After turning heads with the densely orchestrated Riddles, produced by Dan Deacon, the Baltimore-based duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat have given us another giant leap forward with their fourth record Nightclub Daydreaming. The whiplash-inducing stylistic shifts between aggressive noise rock and operatic gloom pop that have become the band’s trademark have given way to a single aesthetic that fuses both impulses. On Nightclub Daydreaming, menace teems just below the surface as propulsive, stark arrangements leave space that Schrader fills with strident, reverb-soaked narration.

LIMITED GOLD VINYL w/ Download Card

When Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice began writing the record in 2019, the idea was to make a fun, danceable album, but an underlying moodiness proved unshakeable. As Schrader puts it, “The cave followed us into the discotheque.”

The duo road-tested the songs “This Thirst,” “Echo Base” and “Black Pearl” with drummer Kevin O’Meara on tour with Dan Deacon in February 2020. COVID restrictions cut the tour short, squashed plans to go immediately into the studio and sent the touring party on a sprint from LA to Baltimore. “We broke down outside Roswell,” Schrader recalls. “And these cops laughed at our dumb asses as we used all our pent-up stress and fear to propel our half-submerged bus out of the muck, yelling epithets to the sky.”

It was one of the last experiences they had with O’Meara, whose death in October 2020 weighed heavily on Rice and Schrader’s minds as they worked on the record. It was also a cathartic moment that presaged the aesthetic that would permeate the songs on Nightclub Daydreaming: “mad euphoria in the face of doom,” as Schrader puts it.

“This Thirst” is an alienation-fueled barn burner barely restraining itself through musically sparse, lyrically dense verses to culminate in a howling, synth-saturated chorus that beats horror punk at its own game. “Came from the north with a twisted planetarium, rock salt, nervous tic and novocaine,” Schrader sings, assuming the guise of a vagrant whose irresistible urges lead him through a fever dream of chemicals, back-alley bartering and existential threats.

The hyperactive “Echo Base” exudes agitated-cool, with breakneck drum fills and a relentless bass line. The narrator is stranded in a frozen landscape and running out of options. “She is just a night train away,” we are assured, and yet we sense that may not be an altogether good thing.

The band recorded and mixed Nightclub Daydreaming over a two-week period with Craig Bowen at Tempo House in Baltimore with David Jacober on drums, turning demos with artificial sounds and placeholder melodies into fully realized songs playable by a live band. The end result is not the album of “sunny disco bangers” that Rice says the band set out for, but something deeper, darker and more rewarding.

Esencia are proud to present the third album by Culross Close - Pressure. The album opens with the sound of PRESSURE! a world where synths blend with keys and the visceral expressions of city life. Things then move from minimalist expressions to beat-driven fusion. With searing string and trumpet arrangement courtesy of Yelfris Valdes, To Belong straddles beat-driven fusion and jazz with mastery. Misguided takes things up a notch, with breakneck rhythms and an enchanting melody. The mood changes on Tipping Point, with the quintet heading into psychedelic territory.
Convictions is a sombre piece, laced with keys and heartfelt intentions. Shifts is both delicate and challenging, stirring and settling. The Will To Change is a solo piano piece and the album’s closer, The Will To Change (I,II) showcases Culross Close at their best: playful, considered and able to hold a groove. Enjoy!

Additional Thoughts:
Pressure. The invisible hand that has the potential to propel or paralyse, to create beauty or despair. Pressure mounts. Builds. Until it reaches a tipping point, after which, things shift and change finds us.

Tripe. It’s what graces the cover of Cassels’ third album, A Gut Feeling. It looks gross. And Cassels are a rock band who’ve often sounded gross. You know the adjectives. ‘Discordant’. ‘Angular’. ‘Cynical’. Shellac quickly mentioned. I’ve done it already, see?Listening to A Gut Feeling, though, Cassels sound different. Not too different – the molten riff of advance single ‘Mr Henderson Coughs’ puts paid to the idea that the London-based duo have taken a hard 180. But instead of writing as quickly as possible, riding the churn forced on DIY bands by an indifferent ecosystem, the Covid-19 pandemic gave the brothers Beck (Jim, guitar/vocals, and Loz, drums/BVs) some time to mull things over. Instead of sticking with the stripped-back recording approach of previous LPs, Jim and Loz spent time at Tom Hill’s Bookhouse Studios in South London, considering tone, layering tracks, and bringing new instruments into the fold. Lyrically, the approach has changed too. Rather than presented as personal experience, Jim notes that his words this time around “are an intentionally muddy mix of experience, opinion, red herrings and fiction,” adding, “I found that setting myself the brief of writing character pieces offered a nice way of sneaking quite personal things into the songs without being explicitly autobiographical.” The result is the most satisfying and unexpected collection of songs in the Cassels catalogue. Instruments at turns razor-sharp and bludgeon-blunt provide the backing track to a savage, hilarious, and tender collection of short stories. Jim notes that “writing can be a great way of unearthing hang-ups and becoming acquainted with your own anxieties”. Hardly new ground for a rock band, but presented in this third person format – unbiased and filled to the brim with human warmth – these songs are more empathetic than anything the band have written before. You might have been Michael on his daily commute. Perhaps you’re Sarah, or have a mum like her. And many of us will recognise ourselves in the heart-breaking ‘Family Visits Relative’. It’s clear that the band still aren’t afraid to tackle weighty subjects too, with A Gut Feeling picking up where their previous album, The Perfect Ending, left off. ‘Charlie Goes Skiing’ pulls a similar trick to Future of the Left’s ‘Goals in Slow Motion’ – setting a screed against consumerism to one of the most propulsive, catchy tracks on the record. It’s followed by ‘Dog Drops Bone’, a rustling loop overlaid with sad, simple chords reminiscent of a Sparklehorse tune, which uses the internal monologue of a beloved canine companion to question the true depth and sincerity of human relationships. This kicks into the breakneck ‘Beth’s Recurring Dream’ – a track exploring a sexual identity crisis which owes as much to early Los Campesinos! as it does Steve Albini. Of ‘Your Humble Narrator’, the album’s punishing, pulsing opener and A Gut Feeling’s thematic frame, Jim explains: “I liked the idea of introducing an unreliable narrator who frames the album as an exercise in manipulation for personal gain. When a person engages with a piece of art they are invariably being manipulated by the artist to some degree – that’s part of the fun. The artist aims to elicit some sort of emotional response, the audience buys into the conceit at the promise of experiencing some form of escape.” as listeners, we experience that manipulation first-hand on A Gut Feeling. But the fact Cassels have packaged it up as offal feels like another bleak wink. This is far from a stinking by-product, salvaged and sold to maximise profit. It’s nothing less than the most complete, relatable, and fully realised piece of art the duo has produced to date. Emotional response elicited. Conceit embraced.