Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

Accomplished musician / producer Bryan Richie, bassist for American rock band The Sword, has announced a new solo project under the pseudonym Galactic Protector. Overflowing with bright, synthesizer melodies and blissful, melancholic IDM, the 15 track effort plays out like electronic dream pop songs, hovering between ambient introspection and more active synth pop and post-rock elements.

Tranquil, nostalgic and melodic, 'Evening' pushes sound beyond the realms of IDM and ambient, conjuring a more kinetic, experiential expression of sound. Using an arsenal of analogue and digital synths, Richie's music as Galactic Protector blends new wave and cinematic influences with sophisticated downtempo beat patterns. The tracks initially took shape at Richie's home studio as well as in the Portland studio of producer Tucker Martine (Neko Case, Modest Mouse) during recording sessions for The Sword's 2018 release 'Used Future'.

Das dritte Album des Brightoner Duos Grasscut (Andrew Philips und Marcus O'Dair) erscheint auf Lo Recordings, nennt sich "Everyone Was A Bird" und überzeugt mit einer Mischung aus Electronica, Post-Rock und songbasierter Live-Instrumentierung (Strings, Piano, Gitarre, Drums) als die wohl organischte und eindringlichste Arbeit des Duos bislang.

* Coming together over three years since his critically acclaimed last album, Hyetal completes his transformation from off-kilter dance music producer to futurist pop visionary on Youth & Power. 'Previously my approach to writing music was very rooted in escapism,' says David Corney aka Hyetal. 'I began experiencing a sense of detachment in my life which led me to question how healthy this approach was. I wanted music to help me feel connected again.' Wrenching his music free from the 'confines of computer grids' and pushing melody to the forefront, Youth & Power's texturally rich, psychedelic palette is littered with live played synths, electric guitars, drum machines, processed noise and 'some under-loved 70s home keyboards' recorded at Hyetal's South London home studio.
* 'I'd describe it as experimental pop music,' says Hyetal. 'the sound is in part a return to music I was listening to as a kid, more song- and instrument-based.' Youth & Power is Hyetal's debut as a vocalist, also scrapping samples in favour of live instrumentation and hook-laden songwriting laced with myriad influences. 'I took some time out to teach myself how to sing using an app on my phone. At first I found my vocals worked best for me when there was some distance from the natural sound of my voice so everything was abstracted through a few different processes.' he explains, 'As I became more comfortable singing I decided I wanted to contrast this approach and use some natural sounding vocals that embraced the imperfections'. The album strikes a balance between robotic Kraftwerkian simplicity and soulful organic pop, contrasting the various pitch-shifting and abstracting vocal effects with sharply concise lyrics. Semblances of Hyetal's origins in Bristol's early dubstep movement are still present too, deep inside the album's meticulous rhythm beds. Elsewhere chiming retro keyboard notes and drum machine beats at times recall the likes of Yellow Magic Orchestra contrasting against waves of guitars and noise which bring to mind the influence of Bauhaus and other post punk experimentalists.
* Written as a form of catharsis for Hyetal in his search to return his music from detachment, Youth & Power seeps a sense of hope. 'I found from a distance the most immediate workings of humanity can appear extremely brutal', says Hyetal, 'but when looking through this lens you miss the beauty that happens in the moment.'

A spoken word and music project by writer Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus. It also features Ghost Box's own Belbury Poly. Based on live performances of Hopper's 2017 book The Old Weird Albion (publ. Penned in the Margins), it’s a poetical, autobiographical and psychogeographical account of his experiences at Chanctonbury Ring on the West Sussex Downs.

The album is a blend of folk, electronic music, poetry, prose and environmental sound. Kraus’s electro-acoustic soundscapes and songs interweave with Hopper’s rich, intimate narration. Musically it moves effortlessly from the traditional to the avant-garde with Belbury Poly contributing music and production throughout and bookending the work with a memorable theme tune.

Finding its spiritual home on Ghost Box, the project is reminiscent of a lost era of poetry and music albums, like David Cain and Radiophonic Workshop's The Seasons. It comes artfully packaged in a style that recalls a poetry and music for schools LP, with a nod towards 1960s Topic folk anthologies.

HEXAGON is the new album on More Than Human by duo Stephen Wood and Scott Gubbels aka Kensington Gore. It's an immersive 6-track album full of propulsive electronics, eerie sci-fi soundscapes and Kosmische chug.

For all it's dark eldritch tones and dystopian leanings 'Hexagon' is a curiously optimistic record. There's darkness in the anxious synth stabs for sure but also wistful melodies and subtle shades of instrumentation - which seems fitting as the band are named after the fake blood used in old Hammer horror films, it's an intriguing combination. Like an ancient curse whispered in a space station.

One of the most slowly riveting psych LPs we've spun in a while'
THURSTON MOORE (on 'Kensington Gore')

'Acrobats' is the debut album from Laura Moody, a wildly alternative cellist, vocalist and avant-singer songwriter. Fascinated with words and songwriting as well as sounds, noises and textures, Laura draws on the infinite possiblities available from her solo cello and voice. From a multitude of influences, Laura creates emotive songs that inhabit a unique space between the avant garde, classical music, pop and singer-songwriter tradition.

Originally conceived as a hip-hop scratch/battle record for turntablists, Do or Die is made up of short instrumental beats interlaced with sound effects and vocal snippets. Predominantly constructed from obscure vinyl samples, the record also features an Emu Drumulator, and live performance samples of cello, organ and percussion. Re-contextualized as home listening experience, the album sounds timeless and fresh, a musical journey rich with drama, romanticism, and humour.

Do or Die, was produced over the course of a year (2003-2004), and self-pressed by Milk & Beef as 1,000 vinyl LPs at the end of 2004. This pressing was taken on by short-lived label The Thin Man, and released in 2005 with catalog number TTM001.

Of the 1,000 copies pressed, 100 were distributed directly by Milk & Beef, and we believe a further 150 were sold through The Thin Man. So roughly 750 copies remained in stock, 50 of which were held by the artists, 700 by the label.

In 2009, Milk & Beef were approached by Bladud Flies! with a view to re-releasing Do or Die. The Thin Man were duly contacted to request the return of the 700 copies, but to our horror and disgust, confessed to having 'thrown them in a skip' a couple of years previous. They showed very little remorse, and we were left shocked, upset, and short of 700 records...

Not wishing to dwell on this distressing and acrimonious situation, we decided to go ahead anyway, individually screen-printing a new sleeve design for the 50 copies still in our possession, and releasing them as a now very limited one off edition: Do or Die (Resurrection). Vinyl purchasers will also receive a free download of a digital version re-mastered by The Bricoleur and featuring 2 bonus tracks, Louise and VW.
We suspect there are still copies of The Thin Man release of Do or Die out there somewhere, possibly in the back of a record shop, or maybe in a skip near you. However, it's safe to say that this limited run of 50 editions are all salvaged artefacts to be treasured.

Is this the end of the Milk & Beef story Or will there be 'Life After Death'...

- Milk & Beef

A shimmering and tragic delirium - improvised piano of Richard Moult, recorded in single takes at St. Leonards Parish Church, St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. Aside from the vocal by David Tibet on Five and the oboe of Mark Baigent on Four, the remaining sounds have been tweaked and teased out of the piano by The Bricoleur. Recorded by Michael Lawrence at St. Leonards Paris Church, 2008.

Limited edition - 500 copies.

The long awaited third album from much loved vintage synth maestros Billy Bainbridge and Mike Johnston, finally finds its home on Ghost Box Records. This is unironically joyful and melodic electronica; informed by library music, music for children’s TV and a deep passion for the history of music technology.

Plone are very much part of Ghost Box’s DNA. They were a central part of the 90s retro-futuristic scene in Birmingham that included Broadcast and Pram and to which the label has always had strong ties through graphic designer and co-manager, Julian House. They are also cited by the label’s other boss, Jim Jupp, as a major influence on his work as Belbury Poly.

The band was formed as a three-piece in the mid-90s and their debut single, Press a Key, was championed by John Peel. The first album, For Beginner Piano, was released on Warp Records in 1999. Their warm, witty and unfunky music stood out from the crowd, almost in defiance of the moody and masculine post-rave electronica of their contemporaries.

A selection of bootlegged demos from the early 00s was rumoured to be the follow up album, but it never materialised. After that Billy went on to tour with Broadcast and later formed Seeland with another former band member Tim Felton (also of Ghost Box’s Hintermass). Meanwhile Mike formed the ZX Spectrum Orchestra, released solo singles as Mike in Mono and was a member of The Modified Toy Orchestra.

Twenty years on and Plone have reconvened as a duo with a third album, Puzzlewood. It’s compiled from material recorded at various points since the “lost album”, right up to the present day.

Racah is an on-going collaboration between South England based sound artists RSPTN (f.k.a. Rasputin) and The Bricoleur. Their Summoning / Edge Lands is the 6th entry into the Bladud Flies! Abhorrent Jukebox 7" series. Selected from over four hours of continuous music, these two short tracks are microcosmic distillations of the nighttime recording session as a whole, downbeat, fugue state ambience occasionally boiling over into pulsating blasts of noise.

The claustrophobic Summoning takes some cues from dub with a distant bass line propelled by a slow lurching beat and spluttering space age electronics, while Edge Lands is an even more disparate and dissonant affair. Murky, blown-out tones shift into pink noise as the childlike chimes of a carillon lullaby echo sinisterly in the background.

The 7" lathe comes housed in a beautiful screen-printed sleeve with yellow paper inner. A particularly elegant touch is the BF! logo and catalog number that has been engraved on side A.

Racah is the merging of RSPTN (Milk & Beef) and The Bricoleur delivering dysfunctional and anxiety driven electronica. Produced by RSPTN and The Bricoleur. Mixed, mastered and lathe-cut by Michael Lawrence at Last Offices, Bladud Flies!

Racah is the merging of RSPTN (Milk & Beef) and The Bricoleur delivering dysfunctional and anxiety driven electronica. Produced by RSPTN and The Bricoleur. Mixed, mastered and lathe-cut by Michael Lawrence at Last Offices, Bladud Flies!

RSPTN (formerly Rasputin) is a London based producer and one half of both Racah and Milk & Beef. North/South is his first solo release for Bladud Flies! and the fifth volume of the Abhorrent Jukebox 7' series.

On Planet North, the resonance of temple gongs and dreamy tape-reversed ambience are interspersed with snippets of dialogue before settling into an almost industrial middle section. Blown-out, slowed-down drumkit and an off-kilter guitar loop disperse into what could be a symphony of tambouras propelled by a fantastically heavy hip-hop beat of the Madlib/Dilla variety, of which there are many throughout North/South.

The melancholic tremolo of a minor-key classical guitar phrase opens Planet South, accompanied by beats and the nocturnal noise of a thousand crickets chirping in the background. The track shifts gears abruptly: field recordings and a Puerto Rican jazz double bass line give way to hypnotic, Congolese inspired rhythms.

THE NEW SELECTA VOL. 1 is the first of 3 new records to be released by Richard Wilson under his Rognvald moniker via WIFETRAX on Love Love Records.
The New Selecta is an explosive exploration into uncharted territory of the deepest and dankest UK jungle using a 'future-old skool' template. Deep, gut-busting bass fires down through swampy ambient clouds while hyper-edited breaks crack like lightning, swelling into moody skanking grooves. The hyper-retro-futurist junglizm of The New Selecta rushes too relentlessly to have been put out all at once so listeners will get their fix in 3 instalments in order to prevent fainting.

‘Gentle Persuaders’ is the Love Love debut from London based neo-noise-jazz outfit Sly & The Family Drone. In the form of a four track long player, Sly vomit forth a smooth serving of curious and clattering noise not devoid of fun.

With the ingredients of shattering baritone saxophone, splurges of analogue noise, rolling drum derangements and snarling feedback it is immediately clear that these formidable noise-mongers have honed their methods of ear-attack adeptly. Textural spaces are peppered with bouts of densely packed controlled-chaos creating a tension that builds almost imperceptibly until the crushing pay-off that comes with the final track.

The politest of bludgeonings, ‘Gentle Persuaders’ has a real sense of cohesion and style, at times subtle and at others shudderingly direct.

With their unusual and interactive live shows, the group cut their teeth stunning the audiences of punk and noise scenes across the UK and Europe. Now, Sly & The Family Drone present their most complete recording to date; a rush of sheer ataxia ushering in a new age of noise.

Soccer96 is made up of two thirds of The Comet Is Coming, currently whipping up a cosmic storm on their Mercury Prize nominated album Channel The Spirits.


Their bold approach to improvised composition, recording processes and experimentation is reminiscent of Flying Lotus, Can, Thundercat and Gaslamp Killer.

SW2 returns to GD4YA after his previous release with Moses Boyd, this time with Joe Armon-Jones & Badwithphones+

Remixes from SP:MC & Hodge

WAYS OF SEEING is a beautifully produced and melodically rich suite of electronic pieces from The Advisory Circle and was inspired by late 70s and early 80s melodic electronic library music.

The Advisory Circle is the work of Jon Brooks, melodic and often melancholic electronic music inspired in part by soundtracks and library music of the 70s and 80s. Brooks is a stalwart of the Ghost Box label and an extraordinarily prolific artist. He has released five albums and four collaborative singles as The Advisory Circle. He also records as The Pattern Forms with Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson of Friendly Fires.

He works with vocalist Tim Felton as Hintermass, and along with Ghost Box founder Jim Jupp he is half of The Belbury Circle. Under his own name and several pseudonyms, he has released albums on Clay Pipe Music and his own Café Kaput label. Before joining the Ghost Box family in the early 00s Brooks recorded for Lo Records as King of Woolworths.

As a producer and mastering engineer, Brooks is a contributing presence on most Ghost Box releases. He has years of experience as a commercial and library composer and his mastering and audio restoration skills are much in demand, particularly on re-issue labels such as Trunk Records.

The CD&LP packaging is designed by Julian House. Elegantly simple artwork and typography, reminiscent of 80s photographic manuals and magazines, is rendered on metallic gold foil packaging. The heavyweight vinyl LP includes a free download card.

The Art of Sleeping Alone marks somewhat of a curveball within Burning Witches ever-growing catalogue, and fans of the label's output may wish to look away now. But they'd be wrong to, of course, because nothing is that simple. Nothing!

Oh Baby are Rick Hornby and Jen Devereux - distant cousins, apparently, who met in unexpected circumstances and began creating exquisitely crafted bitter-sweet 80s-sounding pop songs (that in a parallel dimension would be sung by Carly Rae Jepsen and be soundtracking sweaty end-of-summer evenings across the globe).

The band cite influences ranging from Grace Jones, A Certain Ratio and Kraftwerk, to John Carpenter, The Police and Fun Boy Three, but I'm going to chuck HAIM in there too for a more modern reference point to what some of this music reminds me of, certainly on the fabulous 'Part of the 80's' anyway.

The latest entry into Bladud Flies! Abhorrent Jukebox series denotes something of a departure for Hastings based producer The Bricoleur. While Path of the Nyau Perpendicular To Everything shares a similar headiness to The Bricoleur's previous introspective drone work, this latest offering is a far more confrontational and spontaneous affair, bristling with punk rock energy.

On Path of the Nyau heavily manipulated gamelan samples trigger in flurries that overlap and intertwine, bringing to mind Harry Partch's microtonal compositions for percussive instruments, Wolf Eyes in-the-red industrial brashness and fellow British explorers Liberez. Perpendicular To Everything sees long lost snatches of naively prophetic and desperately paranoid radio transmissions disintegrate into a molasses-slow hip-hop beat.

Combining ethnic and electronic music into impossible clamorous forms, The Bricoleur offers a brief yet beatific blast of ritualistic noise.