Cerca:dr space

I wrote this album in prison. I went to the music room every week to play on their keyboards. I studied different styles of beat patterns and sound recording to be a recording engineer. I wanted to create this new sound, so I took go-go, hip-hop, house, and drum and bass to blend up a new pattern of beats with a DJ sway. So I rapped on it. I need a perfect mix sound so I used a reverb gate, small room because I was in a small room. I used my moms blankets to trap the sound waves in the room. I use a digital mic from radio shack and was rapping with a blanket over my head to trap the sound waves. I played my keys in F flat to deepen the tone. I put tom toms on it to fill the spaces with handclaps to have that snap. Then I put a reverb gate on every instrument to get the lo-fi audio sound. I mastered it with all knobs on zero. Equalizer on zero. I mastered my own sound by tweeking and listening with cheap headphones. So that's why I call myself Mix-0-Rap because I master my mix and DJ rap style with a touch go-go rapping. Thank you for supporting me and my music, I hope you enjoy this.

Horrorful Heights markiert ein beeindruckendes neues Kapitel im umfangreichen Werk von The Bevis Frond und zeigt die anhaltende Kreativität des Songwriters, Gitarristen und Frontmanns Nick Saloman, der nun in ein weiteres Jahrzehnt als Musiker startet. Seit langem als eine der markantesten Stimmen des britischen Underground-Rock etabliert, verfeinert Saloman weiterhin die Qualitäten der Band aus melodischer Psychedelia, drahtigen Gitarrenepen und Songwriter-Kunst. Einer der zugänglichsten Einstiege in die Bevis Frond Welt, welcher alle Stärken zu einem zusammenhängenden, lebendigen Ganzen vereint. Das Album bewegt sich fließend zwischen klirrendem Psych-Pop, schweren Gitarrenriffs und pastoralen Träumereien. Die Bandbreite des Albums ist groß, aber klar definiert. "Draining The Bad Blood" erinnert an den klassischen Bevis-Frond-Stil melodisch inspirierten Gitarrenpops der 60er Jahre, "Space Age Eyes", eine prägnante neunminütige Odyssee, verweist auf die transzendentalen Erkundungen des elektrischen Miles Davis der 70er Jahre. Der mit Sitar untermalte Titeltrack driftet durch rauchige Psychedelia mit mehrstimmigem Gesang und geschichteten Tablas - ein liebevolles Echo der Headshop-Mystik, mit der Saloman während der gesamten Bandgeschichte gespielt hat. An anderer Stelle verbindet "Mossback's Dream" lysergische Leads mit der treibenden Energie des amerikanischen Hardcore der 80er Jahre und schafft so einen Hybrid, der sowohl zeitlos als auch völlig eigenständig wirkt. Weitere Höhepunkte sind das von den Byrds beeinflusste "Buffaloed", das wirbelnde "Silver Insects" und "That's Your Lot", ein rasantes Feuerwerk melancholischer Euphorie und einer der unmittelbarsten Songs des Albums. Obwohl eklektisch anmutend, ist es ein fokussiertes Porträt von The Bevis Frond im Jahr 2025 - vital, melodisch und frei von Nostalgie. Saloman beschreibt die Sammlung ganz einfach: die besten Songs, die er in den letzten Jahren geschrieben hat, entstanden ohne Zwang und ganz instinktiv. Das Ergebnis ist ein Höhepunkt aus der Spätphase einer der stillsten einflussreichen Underground-Bands Großbritanniens.

John Andrews has spent the past few years tucked away in Red Hook, Brooklyn - a neighborhood that sits just beyond the natural drift of the city. Once shaped by maritime industry and later a haven for artists in search of vast warehouse space, its history and isolation give it a quiet magnetism. Streetsweeper, the fifth album by John Andrews & The Yawns, reflects that vantage point-tranquil, self-contained, and curious about the movements most people overlook.
Just a few cobblestone blocks from the freight-ship-lined harbor, Andrews wrote dozens of new songs at his electric piano. Nine of them found their way to Los Angeles to be recorded with Luke Temple, who played guitar and some bass. Drummer Noah Bond and bassist Kevin Louis Lareau, both longtime members of The Yawns and Cut Worms, form the rhythm section. Will Henriksen of Florry played fiddle on “Something To Be Said,” while Emily Moales of Star Moles sang harmonies recorded remotely by Kevin Basko at Historic New Jersey.
Red Hook may not be the easiest neighborhood to reach, but that distance gives it a singular glow-one Andrews sneaks into every note of Streetsweeper. The Super 8 video for “Something To Be Said,” shot by Hilla Eden, wanders through its streets like a hazy love letter. The album offers a similar invitation: step off the main road, linger a little, and notice the small, overlooked moments that make a place-and a life-rich. Andrews has swept those margins with care, leaving songs that listen, observe, and stay with you.

With two albums released—and a third arriving—in less than two years, Agitator are as ferocious in their release pace as they are on stage. All the more surprising, then, that the forthcoming album "Året av sex" is the darkest and slowest work they have made to date. Influenced as much by chanting witch doctors as by Christian Kjellvander and Leonard Cohen, and drawing from electronic and avant-garde music, the band reshapes its sound into something more brooding and expansive.

Partly recorded in a barn on the island of Öland, the album’s soundscape sees the drum kit augmented—and at times replaced—by scrap metal found in a nearby bay. Through this process, Agitator expand the idea of both what a creative process can be and what a rock band might look like in 2026. The result is bold, unsettling, and compelling: an album that digs deeper than many are willing to in Sweden today.

The lyrics on "Året av sex" are darker, more dangerous, and more precise than ever before. Given greater space within the broader sonic landscape, they become central to understanding this new incarnation of Agitator.

Agitator’s new album is released on March 27 via Adrian Recordings, preceded by three singles. The band’s first two albums have previously been praised by outlets including Dagens Nyheter, P3, Gaffa, Café, and PSL, leading to sold-out tours. A full Swedish tour is scheduled in connection with the album release.

John Andrews has spent the past few years tucked away in Red Hook, Brooklyn - a neighborhood that sits just beyond the natural drift of the city. Once shaped by maritime industry and later a haven for artists in search of vast warehouse space, its history and isolation give it a quiet magnetism. Streetsweeper, the fifth album by John Andrews & The Yawns, reflects that vantage point-tranquil, self-contained, and curious about the movements most people overlook.
Just a few cobblestone blocks from the freight-ship-lined harbor, Andrews wrote dozens of new songs at his electric piano. Nine of them found their way to Los Angeles to be recorded with Luke Temple, who played guitar and some bass. Drummer Noah Bond and bassist Kevin Louis Lareau, both longtime members of The Yawns and Cut Worms, form the rhythm section. Will Henriksen of Florry played fiddle on “Something To Be Said,” while Emily Moales of Star Moles sang harmonies recorded remotely by Kevin Basko at Historic New Jersey.
Red Hook may not be the easiest neighborhood to reach, but that distance gives it a singular glow-one Andrews sneaks into every note of Streetsweeper. The Super 8 video for “Something To Be Said,” shot by Hilla Eden, wanders through its streets like a hazy love letter. The album offers a similar invitation: step off the main road, linger a little, and notice the small, overlooked moments that make a place-and a life-rich. Andrews has swept those margins with care, leaving songs that listen, observe, and stay with you.

Complimenting his singular debut LP, 2025’s ‘Light Months Will Fly Over Us’, singer-songwriter and producer Addy Weitzman sees his thoughtful artrock and new wave aesthetic expanded by The Time & Space Machine for a limited three-track 12".

The long-running alias of British DJ, archivist and acid pioneer Richard Norris, this trio of remixes from The Time & Space Machine’s central processing unit finds Norris in a jubilant raving mode, his trademark psychedelia contributing to Slacker at its best and baggiest. The initial mix captures Weitzman’s songwriting in full, including his portentous vocal hook – “No man is a prophet in his own land” – a proverb first found in the gospels, blessed with the innovative Norris’s application of hypnotic groove, fat low-end and a ton of percussion.

The B-side sees Norris stripping things back in two directions: the Shango Dub draws focus on the higher vibrations found in the track’s beautifully intertwined percussive and synth elements, while the Riddim Mix reduces the frequencies further still, with a phased, slightly fried drum workout primed to spin heads as the night gets deeper and darker.

With RAUF001, Rauform Records steps out of the gate with a clean, floor-focused statement from label owner Markus Homm: The Cross, a 12" built for late-room pressure, long blends, and sound systems that love detail.
Homm’s writing here is all about restraint and intent: deep house warmth shaped by minimal discipline, tight drum architecture, and dub-leaning space that breathes without ever losing momentum.
Pressed on black vinyl and made for selectors who value depth over drama, The Cross marks a confident first chapter: timeless tools, finely engineered, quietly powerful.

Interstellar Echoes is a deep, hypnotic blend of Dub Techno and Dub House swing, built for late-night systems and long transitions. WM002 on Watermellow Music brings Benjamin Shock into full orbit mode: Warm chords drift through cavernous delays, low-end pulses stay locked and steady, and each track unfolds like a slow-moving spacecraft patient, spacious, and heavy with atmosphere. From the rolling drive of “Analog Odyssey” and the expansive glide of “Space & Time” to the tougher push of “Thunder Jam” and the weightless swirl of “Orbital Resonance,” this 12” is pure cosmic dubbing subtle, immersive, and endlessly repeatable.

Formed in Taipei in 2013, Scattered Purgatory (破地獄) has occupied a liminal space between drone, ambient, psychedelic folk and ritualistic kosmiche experimentation. Their early work, including ‘Lost Ethnography of the Miscanthus Ocean’ (2014) and ‘God of Silver Grass’ (2016), blended dense instrumental drones, improvisational guitar, and ambient textures rooted in the heat, humidity, and urban pulse of Taiwan. Over the years, the duo-turned-band has drawn on Krautrock, minimalist electronic music, and heavy drone traditions while remaining firmly grounded in Taiwanese geography and culture.

‘Post Purgatory’ emerges after a three-year hiatus following the pandemic, a period the band describes as pivotal to the album’s conception. “The feeling of loss and uncertainty has later become the inspiration of this record, and ‘time’ is the main theme – it can heal or it can destroy,” they explain. Musically and lyrically, the record traverses Taiwanese, traditional Chinese, and English, reflecting the multilingual fabric of Taipei life. While there isn’t a linear storyline, metaphor and poetry imbue the lyrics with reflections on love, loss, and the human experience, interlaced with influences of Hokkien and Mando pop and traces of trip-hop.

Recorded half in their home and half at the studio where they composed their first album, ‘Post Purgatory' integrates precision, clarity, and digital production techniques. Guest contributions—from White Wu’s dynamic drumming to Minyen Hsieh’s tenor saxophone and dotzio’s sci-fi-infused vocals—expand the band’s sonic palette, creating a doom metal record shaped by electronic sensibilities.

‘Post Purgatory’ is a statement of loss and re-empowerment, a bridge between their past and present. Through it, Scattered Purgatory reclaim their distinctive voice, presenting a sound that is at once rooted in Taiwan, informed by global musical traditions, and unflinchingly forward-looking.
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Nach dem "makellosen und zeitlosen Soul" (The Guardian) des 2019er-Vorgängers "American Love Call" öffnet "Private Space" von Durand Jones & The Indications die Tür zu einer breiteren Palette von Klängen und führt die Band kühn in eine synthielastigere Soul-Welt aus mit Streichern durchsetzten Disco-Beats. Das harmonische Zusammenspiel zwischen Aaron Frazers sanftem Falsett am Schlagzeug und Durand Jones' kräftigem Gesang sitzt noch immer tadellos und wird von Blake Rhein (Gitarre), Steve Okonski (Tasten) und Mike Montgomery (Bass) perfekt abgerundet. The Indications bleiben auch auf ihrem dritten Album wahre Meister darin, Revival-Sounds mit einer modernen Haltung zu verschmelzen. "Private Space" atmet den Geist der vergangenen Disco-Ära und die zehn Tracks liefern so eine dringend benötigte Dosis Eskapismus nach diesem turbulenten Jahr 2020. Das Album entstand nachdem die Band einen Großteil des Jahres getrennt voneinander verbracht hatte. Die Freude des Wiedersehens und am kreativen Miteinander ist auf "Private Space" jederzeit spürbar. Der hoffnungsvolle Sound setzt auf die Idee, dass Freude uns befreien kann. Die Kraft eines guten Songs, ein Licht in der Dunkelheit zu sein. Bandleader DURAND JONES fasst es treffend zusammen: "At the end of the day, I just want people to close their eyes and forget where they are. Just the way a Stevie Wonder album does for me."

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.

Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place"" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. ""Immortality Project"" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.
Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with some tracks beginning in 2018.

The long writing process offered time that most records don't get. Time to live with ideas, revise endlessly, to let structures settle. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote everything in advance, creating a surplus to pull from rather than working under deadline pressure. The difference shows.
Coming off Further Still, an album built on constraint and economy, Bosse-de-Nage sought the opposite: sprawl, strangeness, fewer rules. Space for ideas to develop without rushing them. Dynamics that move through quiet as much as noise. Presence earned through atmosphere instead of volume. The record even includes ""Mementos,"" which might be considered the first love song the band has ever written.

Nothing here coheres into a theme. These are pieces pulled from low moments and private feelings made public through sound. The band has never been interested in positivity, in music that resolves cleanly or offers comfort. But bleakness doesn't mean humorlessness. There's something darkly funny running through much of it, even when it shouldn't be.
Hidden Fires Burn Hottest doesn't explain itself. It just insists: what you feel is as real as what you can see."

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.

Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place"" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. ""Immortality Project"" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.
Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with some tracks beginning in 2018.

The long writing process offered time that most records don't get. Time to live with ideas, revise endlessly, to let structures settle. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote everything in advance, creating a surplus to pull from rather than working under deadline pressure. The difference shows.
Coming off Further Still, an album built on constraint and economy, Bosse-de-Nage sought the opposite: sprawl, strangeness, fewer rules. Space for ideas to develop without rushing them. Dynamics that move through quiet as much as noise. Presence earned through atmosphere instead of volume. The record even includes ""Mementos,"" which might be considered the first love song the band has ever written.

Nothing here coheres into a theme. These are pieces pulled from low moments and private feelings made public through sound. The band has never been interested in positivity, in music that resolves cleanly or offers comfort. But bleakness doesn't mean humorlessness. There's something darkly funny running through much of it, even when it shouldn't be.
Hidden Fires Burn Hottest doesn't explain itself. It just insists: what you feel is as real as what you can see."

Anton Toorell’s second solo album, Solos II, deepens and intensifies the six-string language introduced on his 2022 debut, Solos. Rather than widening his scope, the Swedish guitarist, composer and producer sharpens his focus, homing in on the physical and sonic relationship between player, instrument and tuning. The result is three extended pieces of cascading tonality that feel disciplined yet light, their conceptual frameworks always secondary to the luminous sounds Toorell draws from two guitars.
Throughout Solos II, Toorell explores both the guitar’s potential for silvery, sometimes clashing textures and his own physical engagement with the instrument. Across ‘Volta’, ‘Cripta’ and ‘Scala’, he plays two guitars simultaneously: one fretted with the left hand using hammer-ons and pull-offs, while the right hand activates mostly open strings on a guitar resting in his lap. Despite the inherent complexity of this approach, the music never feels busy or demonstrative. Technique remains a quiet servant to Toorell’s compositional instincts and improvisational sensitivity.

The album leaves space for unplanned resonances and happy accidents, yet its structures are clear, resilient and finely balanced. The seventeen-minute ‘Volta’ unfolds as a shimmering continuum, its repeated figures gently reshaped through minute inflections, creating a sensation of constant motion. ‘Cripta’ spirals inward, cycling hypnotically in a way that recalls both Terry Riley’s iterative minimalism and the hallucinatory guitar loops of early Seefeel.
With the closing ‘Scala’, the recording environment comes fully into view. Captured in a 16th-century wine cellar at Palazzo Stabile in Piemonte, Italy, the room functions as a guiding presence and an implicit third instrument. Toorell tuned the guitars in response to the cellar’s reverberant character, seeking configurations that would open up the space itself.

The duo’s debut album sets off on an airy, groovy odyssey.

Recorded at the legendary La Frette studio (Parcels, Fontaines D.C.), the album follows an extensive period of demo development.

Immersed alongside outstanding musicians, the team worked in a relaxed, old-school spirit: a handful of takes, tape recording, and analog gear. Plenty of space was left for ideas to emerge organically in the studio. The arrangements—synthesizers, flute, backing vocals, percussion—were then carefully refined over many months.



"Idésia" stands out for its delicate production, brought to life by Maxime Kosinetz on recording (Oracle Sisters, Bon Voyage Organisation), Stan Neff on mixing (Andrea Laszlo de Simone, Polo & Pan), and Chab on mastering (Daft Punk, La Femme).



The record unfolds across changing sonic landscapes, with Will’s voice gliding over melodies rooted in a bright, warm groove. A subtle blend of pop and Californian warmth runs throughout the album.

The album explores themes of childhood (Sur le Chemin de l’École, L’Île Perdue), ecstatic escapes (Holiday(s), Pas de Côté, Escalier), and simple pleasures (Le Bal, Cavalière de l’Aube). It also casts a poetic eye on the evolution of the world (Dernier Vol, Robot Rêveur, Balayeur de l’Espace). Will & Paul play with contrasts, shifting perspectives along the way.



"Idésia" is the imaginary world in which Will & Paul gracefully lose themselves - a suspended place between nostalgia and science fiction, as if their silhouettes were drifting from a bright, carefree past toward a place suspended in time.

Schmitz is a cool guy. He dreams of meeting the ruler of the universe. One day, his dream comes true: he meets the electro goddess Irma. The compilation is a kind of audiobook in 13 acts, danceable and cool, fast and loud, an homage to all space cats. The LP comes with a booklet introducing the bands and telling the story.

MYRYRS3 presents a calculated compilation of cuts pulled from a variety of styles and backgrounds for their third and largest release to date. Having been quiet on the release front since 2023, this collection sets a calibrated tone for a label in its growth stage. Comprising present, esoteric, and regional techno expressions. Remaining grounded in their cultivation of a space where dancefloors and artistic endeavours share conversation, this release opens the room to an array of talent who approach the idea from varying angles of the dancefloor.

A Pandora's box of modern and daring ideas awaits inside MYRYRS3.

Repress

Escola Records is very proud to present a refreshing reinterpretation of Uptown Funk Empire’s 2009 cover of Pharoah Sanders’ You’ve Got to Have Freedom. The release features four dancefloor-oriented versions crafted by legendary French DJ and producer Greg Gauthier, alongside talented musician, DJ, and producer Lucas Moinet (half of Groove Boys Project and Keraw). The A-side delivers the smooth and mellow “937” Vocal and Dub versions, where Greg and Lucas offer two uplifting, soul-infused reworks in a groove- heavy ride full of organic grooves and a beautiful xylophone solo, creating the perfect space/beat for some of the most hopeful vocals we could ever dream of. The B-side completes the package with the “Dance Culture” remixes, paying tribute to the legendary party Greg launched over 20 years ago at Paris’ iconic house music mecca, the Djoon club.

Boutique-pressed 7" vinyls A-side: "Wonderin'" / B-side: "Dream"

Drawing influence from the likes of CAN, Faust, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and David Vorkhaus, Shakti Soundsystem traverses the borderlands of psychedelic rock, Krautrock, jazz fusion, and ritual improvisation. But this isn't a retro trip—this is future folklore.

Each track is a trance in motion, built on hypnotic basslines, spiraling melodies, and moments of ecstatic dissonance. The instrumentation is as unconventional as the process: Bulbul Tarang, modular synths, guitars, drums, and vocals that oscillate between invocation and surrender.



Their first singles have already made waves across tastemaker blogs and listener-curated Spotify playlists, includingNeo-Psychedelia, Psych Rock Melting Pot, Rock for when 26 King Gizzard albums aren't enoug and Psychedelic & Space Rock.

"Wonderin',"described by Analogue Trash (UK) as "an absorbing, psychedelic jam that thrives on hypnotic repetition and a raw, live energy,"introduced their trance-infused sound to a wider audience.
"Silver," hailed by RMAS (Mexico) as"a hypnotic journey between Krautrock and spoken word... a sonic delirium that recalls CAN and the free spirit of the European underground," cements their place in the modern psych scene.

April Records proudly presents the new album from Stockholm Stockholm-based bassist and composer Jon Henriksson - a confident and flexible statement that deepens his place within contemporary Scandinavian jazz. Following the success of his 2023 debut Harmonia which placed second in Orkesterjournalen s Golden Album " readers " poll, Henriksson returns with music that foregrounds collective interplay, shifting forms, and a strong compositional voice. Born in Gothenburg and now active across Sweden and Europe, Henriksson has collaborated and toured with artists including Lars Jansson, Hakan Broström, Erik Söderlind, Klas Lindquist, Jonas Kullhammar and Christina von Bülow. Alongside leading his own ensembles, he remains a soughtsought-after bassist in a wide range of projects, balancing a deep connection to the jazz tradition with a modern, exploratory approach. Shapeshifter is built around a core quartet of tenor saxophone, piano, double bass and drums, expanded with guitar on three tracks and trombone on two. The album moves fluidly between contrasting moods, from forceful and driving to reflective and restrained, with each piece shaped by the musicians " intuition and responsiveness. The title reflects Henriksson s compositional philosophy: allowing roles, textures, and forms to evolve as the music unfolds.The ensemble brings together long long-standing musical relationships. Pianist Rasmus Sorensen and Henriksson have collaborated since their studies at Skurups Folkhögskola (Henriksson is a longstanding member of Sorensen s own trio), while drummer Jonas Bäckman forms part of a well well-established rhythm section partnership with the bassist across numerous projects including the Britta Virves Trio. Saxophonist Karl Karl-Martin Almqvist, a member of the Danish Radio Big Band, completes the quartet, with guitarist Pelle von Bülow and trombonist Rasmus Holm joining the session shortly before recording to expand the album s sonic palette where the music called for it. Originally conceived as a quartet album, Shapeshifter took its final shape in the lead lead-up to recording as additional instrumental colours were introduced organically. The piece Toninho , a tribute to Brazilian guitarist and composer Toninho Horta, features acoustic guitar and subtle wordless vocals, reflecting melodic influences that sit naturally within the album s contemporary jazz framework. Across the record, space, pacing, and interaction remain central. Rather than forcing constant motion, the music allows ideas to develop with clarity and intent, resulting in an album that highlights Henriksson s growing assurance as a composer and bandleader, while keeping the collective at its core.

Special Friend have become the masters of weaving elegant and sophisticated pop musical webs while staying true to their low-fi indiepop roots. The French/American duo (Guillaume on guitar and vocals, Erica on drums and vocals) manage to create a sound like no other band. When they play live, audiences marvel at the huge, intricate structures the band construct, while falling in love with the crystal-clear vocal melodies that are threaded in between the shards of guitar and the rattle of the drums. How can a duo achieve so much? UK audiences will be able to ponder this question in March: Special Friend are coming over from France to do a substantial tour of the UK. These shows are highly recommended!
The new album is more diverse that the last, with the high-tempo indiepop of first single ‘Breakfast’, the majestic, Yo La Tengo-like dreampop of ‘Clipping’ and the country-ish, gentle, homesick melancholy of ‘Isolation’. Final track ‘OOO’ is a bold piece of Krautrock-inspired experimentation; ‘Mold’ is a beautiful slice of slowcore and opener ‘Paint A Picture’ is modern pop at its catchiest and most direct.

‘Clipping’, the album title, refers to the discipline of pruning growth back, removing dead wood to create a perfectly shaped tree with abundant blossoms: an accurate description of the album, and of the songs that hang from its elegant branches. The album artwork is by Erica: Special Friend are in control of every aspect of this elegant artefact.
‘Clipping’ was recorded in 2025 at Studio Claudio by Alexis Fugain and Margaux Bouchaudon. Set in an isolated rural environment conducive to immersion, the band had seven days in the studio—significantly more than for previous records—allowing for greater care in the recording process, particularly for vocals and arrangements. Several tracks feature synthesizers and organs, acoustic guitar, and even an electric bass on “Sanctuary,” a first for Special Friend. Overall, the record benefits from a more developed and detailed production while preserving the band’s direct approach and spontaneity.

The album was mixed by Syd Kemp, who has worked with artists such as Thurston Moore, Ulrika Spacek, Caroline, Crack Cloud, and Vanishing Twin.
Special Friend’s previous album on Skep Wax, ‘Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In’ was an underground hit, with a significant amount of airplay in the UK and in the US.
‘Clipping’ is a co-release with Howlin Banana Records and Hidden Bay Records (both in France). Skep Wax is proud to present the album in the UK and in North America.