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Tech-Nology was launched in 2003 specifically to make records with the artist Bjorn Svin. Bjorn was the first Danish artist who made underground crossover into commercial hit territory via "Mer Strom" - but still keeping respect in the "real" music world for his enthusiasm, non-compromising style, persona, and sweaty live performance skills - his musical understanding and need to explore new directions took the crowd on a personal musical journey from jazz and classical musicians to early electronic pioneers - but always in a tone of his own. Bjorn always felt a need to escape norms, to grow and not to repeat, but investigate and create. The first record on Tech-Nology was born under the alias - El Far: Couples of lonely dancers. "Bjorn is maybe the most talented electronic producer ever in Denmark" and he was celebrated as a wonder kid by the media back in the 90's. An insider with new knowledge of Bjorn told us: "Yeah I think its good music.. It's not for everyone I must add, but it's definitely quality music for those who dig this sound.. sometimes a bit too deep.. which kind of works against it, cause you really need to listen to it.. you cannot just skip through it, cause then you don't really grasp the soul of it.. so this is what makes it more difficult to sell - but if a guy like this was a bigger name he would sell much better.."

We love Bjorn and we agree - We have tried to sell Bjorn and his music for over 2 decades now - But you can't capture Bjorn, you can't own him - he is only making music for himself - and you can get on the ride if you want to, but don't expect all the rides to be fun - sometimes it hurts! Bjorn is difficult to sell, but we don't think Bjorn really would like to sell much better if he had the option to do a more commercial approach to his music - because Bjorn is about not selling out, he's a purist at heart, making music documents for the few. Bjorn is bigger than superficial success and streaming numbers. He made jingles for Nokia, toured and played Roskilde's main stage, the biggest Festival in Denmark, but he still doesn't care... and that is important if you want to make interesting music that last for the future. When Bjorn met Mester Jakobsen, label boss of Tech-Nology, he has been releasing on numerous underground labels, made the jump to a major label, and everything more or less turned out as a big disappointment, so Bjorn presented a completely experimental album to the Tech-Nology label under the moniker Prinz Ezo - The Body Offset. We loved it then - we still love it now - and a truly collectors item and a secret DJ tool.

Today, Bjorn is still breaking all habits and rules, still doing the same thing - just in new ways, but he has gained insight on another level, adding even more nuances and textures to his post-genre compositions.

Welcome to the second album by Prinz Ezo on Tech-Nology: KURIER Why Kurier? Because Bjorn left to explore the Berlin Underground, shortly after the first two releases on Tech-Nology - he left his roots to search for a bigger meaning, a bigger understanding, to compose real mature sounds and understanding his skills, at the point where you understand why you have to cross borders, still incognito, doing smuggler-sounds, always in transit - between cities, between cultures, between worlds, time and space. Not Restless nor rootless, just forever on the move, always discovering new landscapes! But now Bjorn is settling down - accordingly with the music - to find - not inner peace, but to be completely in balance with the music inside of him. Prinz Ezo is raw, narrative, minimalistic electronic storytelling that refuses to freeze. Tension builds and releases - feel the energy and the drama for the last 2 decades if you dare to take the journey?

Almost twenty years after the first Prinz Ezo album, it has now been possible to make the music for those who never arrived.

It has been a long time since Creepy Crawl released any music – the return to the fray was not something we had had thought about – times have changed, the world of underground music is almost unrecognizable – however things came back into focus earlier this year when the underground legend that is Mike Vest came calling…. Mike Vest is a one man musical tour de force known for his extensive work with such bands as Bong, Drunk in Hell, 11 Paranoias, Blown Out and Mienakunaru to name a few, releasing records on many underground labels such as Riot Season, Ritual Productions and Cardinal Fuzz etc For Brain Pills Mike has teamed up with Adam Stone from the excellent Poundland on vocals and Nick Raybould from Thought Bubble on drums and art – the result is very impressive indeed – primitive but deadly drums, pulverizingly heavy riffs – lots of fuzz and distortion going on coupled with Adam Stones demented and haunting vocal style all topped off by the excellent and disturbing artwork courtesy of Nick Raybould.

The LP Goatshead is homage to Mike's hometown of Gateshead – Goatshead being the ancient pagan name. The record has been mastered for this vinyl release by crust punk legend Bri Doom, known for his work with Sore Throat, Doom, Lazarus Blackstar and most recently with the excellent Disciple BC - the sound is massive, just what you would expect. Released on clear yellow vinyl with OBI strip and limited to just 300 copies – consume or die!

A“This album is about what it means to be human, and its creation is my offering. I attempt to tell a tale of the human experience in the reflection of my own.”

‘In the Andean mythology, condors are believed to be immortal. It is said that once they feel old, without energy, and useless, they climb to the highest peak and let themselves fall to death.’

The Allegorist is a visionary, enigmatic, transmedia, and boundary-pushing artist known for crafting deep, immersive dark sonic tales. Embracing a wide array of influences, weaving together the mysteries, art and spirituality, the art project defies categorisation, resonating with those who seek the unconventional.

From Birth Until Death is an introspective and immersive concept album that reflects on the essence of the human experience. Crafted over six years by The Allegorist (aka Anna Jordan), the album traces the arc of life—from its fragile beginnings to its inevitable end—using sound art to explore existential and philosophical terrain. Inspired by the Andean mythology of the condor – a symbol of immortality – the album blends electronic soundscapes with raw field recordings, evoking a deep sense of connection between the natural world and human existence.

The album’s progression mirrors the stages of life, starting with the birth of new beginnings and culminating in death, with each track offering a unique reflection on the moments in between. From the dynamic energy of Momentum, to the ethereal, illusionary world of Fata Morgana, the tracks guide the listener through emotions, perceptions, and experiences that shape the human condition.

A distinctive feature of From Birth Until Death is its intricate production. The album incorporates field recordings from Grunewald Forest, a distant roar of a jet, barking dogs, blending the sounds of nature – footsteps in the snow, birdsong, ocean waves – with layered synthesisers and electronic beats. The bass and ambient textures are crafted using an array of analog hardware, while all vocals, both lead and backing, are performed and recorded by Jordan. Some of the vocal takes were intentionally left raw, capturing the spontaneous energy of early recordings, while others were re-recorded to balance the album’s organic yet polished feel. Each element is meticulously crafted, revealing its deeper meaning as the album unfolds like a multidimensional, living sculpture.

At its core, From Birth Until Death is a meditation on the full spectrum of life. The album’s title track, From Birth Until Death, encapsulates this journey, reflecting on the passage of time and the unique experience of being human. The final track, Death, offers a melancholic yet beautiful exploration of endings, not as finalities, but as moments in the grand cycle of life. With its combination of evocative sound design and deeply personal themes, From Birth Until Death invites listeners to contemplate their own lives, offering a moving experience of reflection, growth, and transformation.

About From Birth Until Death
Words By Robin Rimbaud (Scanner)

From Birth Until Death is a deeply personal and reflective album and beautifully crafted. A detailed listen reveals that Jordan was in search of a profoundly human and authentic expression. In an era when so much around us seems defined by speed, Anna Jordan, aka The Allegorist, stands apart – aware that skimming the surface of life is neither sufficient nor rewarding. She reminds us of the value of deep, authentic listening.

The track Andean Condor seductively draws us into a smoky, blurred rhythmic soundscape, capturing the essence of the darkest Berlin nightclub, while Birth pulses with an almost shamanic transformation of sound, moving from the organic to the musical. It features a recording of Jordan’s footsteps in the snow in Grunewald Forest, Germany.

At times, the music feels almost sculptural in shape and tone – lifting, pushing, lilting, opening, and closing – where each piece is given room to fully develop. Many of the works blend synthetic sound with the natural, incorporating the human voice alongside environmental recordings: the wild waves of the ocean, a jet flying overhead, and barking dogs.

With From Birth Until Death, Jordan, like an alchemical architect revealing in the process of getting lost and relinquishing control, leaves us with a taut, immersive soundtrack in which to lose ourselves.

About the album ‘From Birth Until Death’
words by The Allegorist

“The album From Birth Until Death did not come easily to me. I started working on it in 2019, and it underwent many alterations over the years. I produced multiple versions of the tracks each year, but the album name, the track titles, and the album cover art stayed the same for 6 years. Not everything I did fit into the album’s final form, but I hope the heavy selection just made it better. I played this piece live in my techno live set between 2019 and 2020, and in the years after, I performed different art, ambient, and vocal versions of it, most notably the one at the church St. Marienkirche in Berlin in 2022. It just wanted to live and didn’t want to be finished. As I aged, this album aged with me. And now I’m ready to let it go.”

As they landed from their extended hovering adventure – a journey en(capsule)ated by twists, turns and various chops – the Fast At Work crew found themselves drawn to the idea of a new, singular sonic flow. Always on a noble mission for a future-forward vision of higher-deeper tempos, the crew realized that often the most meaningful iterations of their gospel can be found in the most inconspicuous places – “not even noticed,” some might say. Within these subtle crevices, a rising duo emerged to carry this torch (disc) forward into new, uncharted realms. Taking inspiration from “Eteus,” the god of light and knowledge, this duo expertly crafted four original offerings, all with a distinctive, minimalistic fusion of breaky, hopeful expansion. While the title contribution echoes a sermon of oozing bassline flows and siren signals, “Drip Advise” equally mesmerizes with its spiraling melodies and strong percussive foundation. On the disc’s flip, the anointed duo broadened and refined their journey via the acid-tinged bedrock of “Creamavity,” while the final offering “Anxious” ironically synthesized the full pilgrimage into a polished musical (and vocal) definition – “release yourself, into the unknown.” With the hope of sharing this glistening gospel far and wide, the mystical duo prescribed a set of two reshapes from enlightened phonic gurus in their own right. While Wisdom Teeth’s K-Lone opted for the always reliable essence of strong foundational grooves and deep airy textures, Maara (founder of the newly formed Ancient Records) crafted an oceanic odyssey – over 10 minutes of timeworn atmospherics and sensorial sensibilities.

For his third long-player under the Phi-Psonics banner, Ford-Young marshalled a series of live recordings at the Healing Force Of The Universe record store in Pasadena, sculpting fourteen tracks, largely composed in the moment with a fluctuating cast of players, which wonderfully transmit his ideals of community and inner peace. Called "Expanding To One", it features exquisitely calming yet searching pieces like "There"s Still Hope", where Seth"s softly undulating bassline underpins beatific explorations from core Phi-Psonics members, Sylvain Carton and Randal Fisher (both on saxophone), and Josh Collazo (drums), alongside guests Zach Tenorio (Wurlitzer piano) and Mathias Künzli (percussion). Equally sublime, "Healing Time" ripples like a mountain stream, with Ford-Young, Carton, Fisher and Tenorio joined by Minta Spencer (harp), Dylan Day (guitar) and, on drums/percussion, Jay Bellerose, a revered LA stickman most recently under the spotlight in Jeff Parker ETA IVtet.

Emerging from the Sydney punk scene alongside bands such as Gee Tee, R.M.F.C., and Tee Vee Repairmann, and with large side of Egg punk accompanying their NWOBHM bacon (also maybe the beans in this messy breakfast are AOR?… I think we might be overreaching with this metaphor). Steröid are ready to rock the main stage with more thunderous aplomb than an atom bomb, hard-boiled and clad in chainmail ripping blisteringly hot rockin’ riffs all night long. Brought to you by rock and roll savant Lord Gordith also known as (at least some of the brains) behind Gloomy Reflections and Quest Master proving once again that he might very well be the most exciting act to follow in heavy underground music these days.
This is a record about rocking, and never stopping, and then rocking some more. You can rock with friends at a gig or a show. Sometimes you have to rock alone, but thats okay. Just give it your best, and never miss your chance to rock.

More than a decade after his last full album, Kim Hiorthøy returns with Ghost Note, released by the Belgian label Blickwinkel. Though his music has quietly existed in the background—shaping contemporary dance, film, and theatre—this album brings it into focus once more. Ghost Note is an exploration of sound on the edge of presence and absence, a fictional world that is both constructed and organic.

Using mostly digital technology, Hiorthøy created a set of instruments that are real—you can hear them, they have tone, timbre, and resonance—but also not. The percussion, for instance, sounds like cheap scrap metal drums. But are they real? Do they exist? Hiorthøy plays with perception, challenging what feels real and what feels like a memory. In doing so, Ghost Note becomes an invitation to embrace uncertainty and indefinability.

“It's a kind of foggy area between theatre and daily life. Ghost notes. I wanted to try to make music that existed in this in-between space. Electronic music that is acoustic, a kind of emotional music that also hides in abstraction (or the other way around), and to try to make tracks that were sort of falling apart as I was making them.” ­- Kim Hiorthøy

sferic land a debut album of thizzing and blown-out ambient trap x dub techno vapours from XTCLVR.

Produced under trying circumstances, Ukraine’s XTCLVR wrests an escapist sense of hazed beauty on a compelling maiden voyage for bleary-eyed specialists sferic, written and recorded during long nights under curfew and occasional shelling. Vocals are there, but mostly unintelligible, disrupted by a persistent offbeat churn and fragmentary instability, a paradoxically lush but anxious sound that reflects broader butterfly effects of war and its ripples of socio-economic fuckery on one level, and simply a trippy soundtrack to the afters on another.

Ten smudged shots unfurl across a 3D stereo space in gyring and shearing motion, cryptically shielding and scrambling a message meant to be deciphered by your sixth senses. A vocoder is diffused in aerosolised designs on the rugged lean of ‘Perspective’, setting up a chain reaction that buckles to more fraught feels on ‘Allergen’ and the ruptured raptures of a ‘Storm Shadow’ recalling Nazar’s recent sound design spheres for Hyperdub.

BSW948 lends nervous bars laced into the warped matrix of ’Night Shift Cut’, and OB3TH perfuses the iridescent dub techno of ‘The Wise Mystical Tree’, whilst Indy lends to the ambient drill of ‘Acid Flavour’, and closer ‘Dead Smoke’ perhaps best betrays, even if metaphorically, a feeling of psychic distress in its dank, submerged mire.

It’s been ten years since Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL last released on Planet Mu. In the meantime he's been running his own label Blueberry Records, been in-house producer for Mykki Blanco and has become a dad. The best things come out of play and it was Drew’s relationship with his young daughter that switched on this playful side of his music. The album in question, ‘Neurotica,’ expresses Drew’s fun in creating such energetic pieces people will want to move to. It's a dizzying sugar-rush at a high-speed bounce; the music is fresh and inviting and most important of all, joyful."Summer of ’24, we were in Catalonia. My girl, our young daughter, the old folks. Days by the village pool, afternoons on the dirtbike. At night, I made salads. Simple things. Good things. One afternoon, lying back, phone in hand, I saw a friend post a GRWM. The music behind it stopped me. A song grabbed hold. The track was ‘Secret’ by Mietze Conte, which is fast-paced euro-pop dance music, like soft fluffy gabber with childlike vocals. I hunted down the full version. Played it again. And again. Twenty times over the next few days. It unlocked something. The best music does that. Like the first time I heard Burial. Had to know what was happening under the surface. That time, it led to ‘Love Is A Liability’ in 2009. This time, it led to ‘Neurotica.’“ “I started to record, getting down fast, bright, sugar-rush sounds. 185 to 200 BPM. I wrote them quick—half a day per track. In between, I slowed things down. Gave space for breath. Mike Paradinas helped shape the album, his ear guiding the flow. I tested the tracks. Played them for kids barely out of diapers and grown folks who still move like they are. It worked, on all ages. I kept it simple. Only two rules: keep it moving and don’t look at my phone. Cut the vocals like I used to.” ‘Neurotica’ is FaltyDL with his mojo refreshed, a new life squared, do yourself a favour, crack a smile and feel the joy.

CATCHY, MESMERIZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, DREAMY CHAMBER POP WITH A FOLKY TWIST

Music can have a multitude of emotional impacts and can create inner worlds out of voices, sounds, and moods.
If you open heart and ear to the mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful soundscapes of AURI, you might find a beacon of light inside a sonic realm untouched by today’s often scary, grim realities; a dreamscape that can be profoundly uplifting.
On their third studio album, III - Candles & Beginnings’ the stars have aligned yet again. Propelled by the unique and celestial voice of Johanna Kurkela, the magical textures of Nightwish mastermind Tuomas Holopainen and the almost unlimited musical palette of Nigtwish multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, Auri have presented a world to be unlocked with the senses, blending folk, progressive and symphonic elements, world music, pop and avantgarde.
Right after completing Nightwish’s 2024 monument Yesterwynde, the songwriting for the third chapter in Auri’s musical adventures started in 2023, with Troy writing in Yorkshire and Tuomas and Johanna working their creative magic in Kitee, Finland. By Autumn 2024, a 10-song demo was complete, setting the stage for what would become another breathtaking Auri journey. The band and their trusted engineer Tero “Teecee” Kinnunen took the mixing process to sunny Spain, letting the Andalucian vibes infuse the music whereas in March 2025 mastering was wrapped up by Tim Oliver at the legendary Real World Studios - a ground-breaking recording complex started by Peter Gabriel in 1989.
The album is a tapestry of emotions - each song a world of its own, touching on childhood memories, vivid life experiences, and even a nod to one of the group’s most beloved places on Earth - The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, a historic spot nestled in the North York Moors and one of the most remote pubs you will ever find.
Visually, the cover artwork by Pete Voutilainen, layout and watercolors by Mikko Pankasalo plus calligraphy by Johanna Kurkela provide wonderful illustrations perfectly capturing Auri’s unique musical visions.
With guest musicians like Frank Van Essen (strings), Jonas Pap (cello), Juho Kanervo (basses), and the incredible drumming and percussion courtesy of Nightwish’s Kai Hahto, Auri III - Candles & Beginnings is as lush as it is atmospheric and provides astonishing dynamics.
Having been a studio endeavor in the past, Auri is finally going on tour with their first-ever live European trek kicking off in August 2025, followed by summer festivals in 2026, allowing you to hear, see and feel songs from their previous two albums, as well as brand new pieces from III - Candles & Beginnings.

The quietest voices can be the most durable.

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it.

Like Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, even Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release.

Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s American Football (LP2). The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come.

‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’

Enter American Football (LP3). ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

As a result, LP3 is less obviously tethered to the band’s past than the second album. An immediate contrast between LP3 and its two predecessors is its cover. The two previous albums featured the exterior and interior of a residence in the band’s original hometown of Urbana, Illinois (now attracting fans for pilgrimages and photo opportunities), by the photographer Chris Strong. But American Football knew that LP3 was an outside record. Instead of the familiar house, this time the cover photo (again by Strong) features open, rolling fields on Urbana’s borders. It is a sign of the album’s magnitude in sound, and of the band’s boldness in breaking away from home comforts.

American Football also joked that LP3’s genre was ‘post-house’, because of this very conscious visual break. But, in a strange way, there are links in LP3 with an actual post-house genre: shoegaze. The more exploratory members of the original British shoegaze scene were inspired by the dreamtime and circularity of house music (ambient house in particular), cherishing its sonic possibilities. That spirit drips into LP3, most obviously on ‘I Can’t Feel You’, a collaboration with Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

The album also features Hayley Williams from Paramore on the album’s catchiest moment, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’, and Elizabeth Powell, of the Québécoise act Land Of Talk. Mike wrote lyrics in French especially for her.

LP3 is contemplative, rich, expressive, yet with a queasy undercurrent. It is heavy with expectancy, revealing its ideas slowly, eliciting the hidden stories people carry around with them. ‘I feel like my lyric writing has changed a lot over the years,’ says Mike. ‘The goal is to be conversational, maybe to state something giant and heavy, but in a very plain way. But, definitely in this record, I keep things a little more vague.’ As on the first album, the lyrics on LP3 may seem confessional and concentrated, but the more you scrutinize them, the further their meaning slinks away. Or, as Mike tellingly sings on ‘I Can’t Feel You”: I’m fluent in subtlety.

‘Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band,’ says Steve Holmes. American Football is now a bona fide ongoing focus, and they are making some of the best music of their lives. American Football (LP3) stands with two other rare reunion successes – Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine’s mbv – as a fine example of how a band refinding one another can augment, rather than taint, their legacy.

‘I think that there are those albums, or the music that you heard when you were younger, and they imprint on you,’ says Nate. ‘And no matter where you go, or what you do they’re always there.’ He is talking of Steve Reich – an early and ongoing influence on American Football – but he might as well be reflecting what is said of his own band, and the ardent following they inspire. American Football stands as an enduring symbol of elusive emotional landscapes, where introspection can be as dramatic as confrontation

2025 Repress

Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut. Of this beloved masterpiece, the legendary skater himself says: "my 1st album. It was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. Oh so naive..." And you know what? It's definitely Be With's fave too. An astonishingly great record. A chill, blissful, deeply moving album, it was rightly garlanded as an instant classic.

A laidback, fusionistic ride replete with loopy drum tracks underpinning Tommy's trademark reflective guitar stylings, Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues remains powerfully evergreen. Originally released in 1997, there's elements of jazz, trip hop, rock and downtempo groove. All shot through with a heavy dose of soul. Thirteen tracks of lo-fi (mostly) instrumental freshness fused with Cuban, Latin and blues, it's a must for fans of Money Mark, J Dilla, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Pete Rock. As ever with Tommy's records, the title sums up the music contained within most aptly. And writing about his songs, his vibes, is one of the trickier things to do, it has to be said. It's just all gorgeous!

A total vibe throughout, to blast Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is a majestic experience, one that suits a start-to-finish listen and renders the picking out of highlights totally redundant. Featuring nagging, deeply melodic guitar lines - both electric and acoustic - over simple rhythms with such sumptuous elegance, the hypnotic playing against unrushed percussion releases a crystal clear stream of healing frequencies. It's ust divine. This album laid the blueprint from which Tommy Guerrero would subsequently explore further on A Little Bit of Somethin' and Soul Food Taquiera.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

MEMOTONE, aka Will Yates, has announced details of a new 12-track album, smallest things, set for release on World of Echo on 1 August 2025 on vinyl and digitally.

The album launches today with first track, ‘Time Is Away Theme’, a live favourite that is finally available on album. Watch the video HERE Talking about the release, Will has said, “Staring at a square inch of neglected concrete, I recognise the beauty of existence. Quietly hysterical. While humanitarian catastrophes bubble across the planet, the tides remain in constant and disinterested motion. Your money is worth less than the dusty moss that powders this pavement.

It's certainly not worth a life. We are the smallest things, along with everything else." Will Yates has made music as Memotone since 2007. He operates in the tradition of what Robert Fripp has called 'a small, independent, mobile, and intelligent unit.' If you book him, he will come. When he arrives, he will have everything he needs to make his complex, engaging music: a clarinet, a guitar, synths, samplers and pedals, quickly unpacked in the corner of a club, gallery or village hall. Starting small, he will build layer upon layer of melody, accompanying himself and cutting across himself, creating a music that avoids cliche and moves beyond easy description. His recordings have followed the same trajectory. Moving quickly, he has released fifteen or so albums across various labels (including Trilogy Tapes, Discrepant, Soda Gong). Taken together, these recordings are the sound of a skilled, inventive composer pushing at the edges of what he wants to listen to himself. It is possible to hear a variety ofinfluences in his music: folk and jazz forms, the textural inventiveness of British DI electronica and Chicago post-rock and the blurred sci-fi brass of Jon Hassell are all discernible. But mostly, Will's work seems to stem from a constant drift between long hours in his home studio, and time spent outside in the woods and hills around his home in Wales.

Listening to the album, lushness creeps in at the edges, tiny green shoots appear on what might at first appear to be bare soil. smallest things sheds the skin of Will's previous recordings, removing the electronics and the looping and layering of previous work, to create something almost entirely acoustic. But don't be fooled into imagining music that's folksy, pastoral or twee. Opening track 'I Could See the Smallest Things' is a statement of intent. Widely spaced guitar is underpinned by earthy cello and sleepwalking clarinet, making a gorgeous threadbare pattern, which recalls a Morton Feldman miniature or a Morandi still life.

Beyond the skill involved and the years of self-taught music making that have gone into putting this record together, it is Will's close, careful attention and his talent for existing, observing and creating in the moment that make his work special. Memotone will perform at World of Echo’s annual birthday celebration on 8 Nov Expected Music, when they take over Walthamstow Trades Hall for an inter-genre, day-long investigation into some of the more outré manifestations of the contemporary worldwide underground.

Born in 1981 in Detroit, MI, Negative Approach were the undisputed champs of Midwestern hardcore in the early to mid-'80s. Led by John Brannon's hoarse wail, with OP Moore on drums and brothers Rob and Graham McCulloch playing guitar and bass respectively, the band concocted an extreme sound devoid of frills. This was first documented on their 10 Song 7" released on Touch and Go Records in 1982. The band released the more metallic-sounding Tied Down in 1983. After disbanding Negative Approach in 1985, John Brannon went on to form Laughing Hyenas. For over three decades, Negative Approach's minimalist and aggressive brand of punk has inspired countless hardcore bands around the globe. Their classic LP, Tied Down, is still considered paramount by most hardcore fans new and old.

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), andtrad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

Second album by influential British hard rock band Black Sabbath, originally released in 1970, containing some of the band’s most famous tracks such as War Pigs, Iron Man and the title track.

New colour on Enter Shikari’s 2023 number 1 album.

Enter Shikari are a rock band from St Albans, UK. In 2020, they released their sixth album - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible - which also gave them their sixth album to debut in the UK Album Chart top 5. Frequently collecting Best Live Artist awards, Enter Shikari’s seventeen-year career thus far has seen them rise from teenagers touring the UK grassroots venues, to festival main stages and arena headliners worldwide.

It was in the Spring of 2022 that the band descended to the coastal town of Chichester, and a delipidated farmhouse, to rebuild their studio setup and capture their renewed momentum on record. Using only solar power to track the album–in what Reynolds says was to “bring back some sense of naivety” – the life-giving properties and Technicolor palate of A Kiss For The Whole World were made real. Reynolds continues: “Back to basics. This band - my best friends - bundled into an old farmhouse, miles away from anywhere. Off-grid, and ready to rediscover ourselves. This album is powered by the sun, the most powerful object in our solar system. And I think you can tell. It’s a collection of songs that represent an explosive reconnection with what Enter Shikari is. The beginning of our second act”.

Mutant is proud to present Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino’s latest installment of his Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen series - Featuring more iconic scores from Giacchino’s career that have been exclusively rearranged and re-recorded for this series in the retro lounge style of the 1950s.

Volume 2 spans the period of 2012 to 2022 and features not only his work with Marvel Studios (including their iconic Marvel Studios Fanfare, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and more!) but also more career defining music for Disney • Pixar (Inside Out, Coco and Lightyear) as well as smaller, cult classics like John Carter, and Tomorrowland, more personal films such as Jojo Rabbit and The Book of Henry. He has taken these iconic themes and transformed them into soothing, beautiful 60’s lounge-inspired reworks.

Other highlights include ‘The Batman Suite’, taken from Matt Reeves' 2022 blockbuster The Batman, ‘Jyn Erso’s Theme’ from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as well as themes for War For The Planet Of The Apes, Jurassic World and two selections taken from his directorial debut Werewolf By Night

"We are thrilled to continue exploring Michael’s storied career with this incredible collection of some of his most beloved themes reworked for warm summer nights with a cocktail (or mocktail) in hand," says Mutant co-founder Spencer Hickman. "Michael is a rare composer who is comfortable with superheroes, horror, action, or intimate drama. He always manages to create incredibly beautiful earworms that have been further highlighted by these stripped-back downtempo versions of his award-winning themes.’

Featuring liner notes by Charles Phoenix, artwork by Luke Insect, and pressed on limited edition color vinyl (also available on CD)
“So much was rooted in the big orchestral sound, so it was really about scaling it back. The real trick is figuring out the little fun hooks and things you can add along the way. There were no rules; I was up for anything. It was a way to re-engage with the material and be creative in a new way.”

Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 includes an array of reinterpreted pieces from Michael Giacchino’s career. Highlights include ‘Primordial Forest’ from the 1997 video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, ‘Life and Death’ from Lost, the theme from Ratatouille, ‘Roar!’ from Cloverfield, ‘Enterprising Young Men’ from Star Trek (2009), ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’ from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and a Super 8 suite.

Featuring package design by Luke Insect, and liner notes by Charles Phoenix.

Linda Smith and The Smashing Times are the best of friends. They are both currently based in Baltimore, USA. This split 7” EP celebrates that friendship with two new tracks by each act; united by DIY spirit, a bedroom-pop sensibility and now a puddle of black vinyl.

Songwriter Linda Smith has a gentle but unconventional experimental style that continues to evolve as she adds new entries to her storied catalogue. Smith’s pioneering work with four-track production in the '80s found her at the beginning of a home-recording movement that would set the pace for the decades of indie rock that followed. During this most active period, Smith's music was limited mostly to obscure cassette and 7" releases. This trailblazing time was recently revisited on Captured Tracks’ compilation ‘Till Another Time: 1988-1996’. Shortly after Smith’s retrospective, she teamed up with like-mind and collaborator Nancy Andrews to release an album of beguiling pop entitled ‘A Passing Cloud’ (2023). The duo performed songs from that record at Upset The Rhythm’s 20th anniversary party at Café OTO that same year. 2024 saw further reissues of Smith’s music including Nothing Else Matters (1995) and I So Liked Spring (1996).

The Smashing Times are a premier East Coast Pop Experimental Group. They have also gleefully performed in London for Upset The Rhythm twice in quick succession. Known for their dogtooth style, waggish mod attitude and tumbledown sound, The Smashing Times have holes in their socks and sit idly between The Kinks and Tori Kudo. Their previous albums on K Records, Perennial and Meritorio are a cherished commodity steeped in Paisley psyche and slapdash panache.

Special fifth anniversary repress of 2020 debut album by bdrmm. Named after a postcode in their native Hull, the HU5 Edition comes pressed on blackand amber vinyl, features alternate artwork and a printed lyric insert. The almost self-titled Bedroom was hailed by The Guardian as a lockdown classic on its original release and ended up in Rough Trade's top ten albums of the year. The 10-track album was recorded in 2019 at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It's a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles and EPs. Musically, there are nods to The Cure's Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the Pale Saints' The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. "A modern day shoegaze classic" - NME "The general roller coaster of being twenty-somethings in post-Brexit England who find themselves awash with a shimmering soundscape that recalls Oshinera DIIV, Deerhunter's Microcastle, or even The Cure at their most ambiently grandiose" - Under The Radar "Assured and brilliant" - The Line Of Best Fit