Weekly Dose
Get Down Services, Benefits tribute to Albini, Loving Paupers dubs, Brontosaures, Christoph El Truento, Kabin Crew, Frankie Archer, Jennarie, Delistic, Dawuna, Corto.Alto and 2000BLACK.
Subscribe above to receive a weekly dose of the freshest and finest new tunes. You can also follow the playlists on one of the streaming platforms here but below are a few recent highlights. Some of which are only available on Bandcamp.
Getdown Services - ‘I Got Views’
Topping their new EP, Crumbs on Breakfast Records which showcases a tasty selection of B sides and wild rarities from the recording sessions that gave us their debut album Crisps last year, ‘I Got Views’ is a master stroke; an angry ode to the day to day annoyances of everyday life. (Review from Wax Music)
James Adrian Brown (Feat. Benefits) - ‘The End Of Radio’
June 6th was to be the first time I’d see Shellac live but Steve Albini’s sudden death inevitably led to the Electric Ballroom gig being cancelled as tributes poured in.
Former Pulled Apart By Horses musician Adrian Brown collaborated with Benefits on last years’ Council Rust remix, and the pair teamed up again to pay tribute to Steve.
“Within hours of receiving the devastating news that musical behemoth, recording artist and producer Steve Albini had passed away, James Adrian Brown and Kingsley Hall set to work collaborating on their own take of one of Albini’s tracks. Kingsley and James’ interpretation of the classic Shellac track ‘The End of Radio’ fuses Hall's provocative, moving vocals with Brown's sonic sound-scaping; the cover is far removed from the original but is an apt tribute to the lost legend.
Reflecting on the news and collaboration, Brown shares, “I was so shocked; I genuinely thought it was some kind of social media wind-up. Albini paved a path forward for me as a teenager. I’d never heard anything so sonically pleasing and intriguing. I’ll never forget hearing Shellac for the first time. This whole idea of doing a cover with Kingsley was basically therapy. Long live his work. RIP, Albini.”
All proceeds from downloads will be donated to Steve Albini's wife's charity, 'Letters to Santa', which provides direct assistance to families facing urgent financial hardship”.
The Loving Paupers with Victor Rice - ‘Dubbing My Friends’
Named to echo the pivotal Burning Spear dub album Garvey’s Ghost, the new record has every track from the original album dubbed by Latin-GRAMMY winner Victor Rice, who engineered the original album, and has done dub mixes for tons of artists, from The Soothsayers and Cas Haley to Easy Star All-Stars and SunDub. The original album was picked as an Album of the Year by BBC 6 Music for 2023. Guitarist Jorge Pezzimenti said about the project, “We are excited for fans to hear these dub versions of these songs, because it highlights how much energy and focus we put on the instrumental layers in our songs.”
Brontosaures - ‘120 Vincents’
Recorded over a couple of rainy Lisbon days in November 2022, the duo of Charif Megarbane and Alex Dubus aka Lemon McWright push the envelope of their previous outings (“Footprints & Handshakes”, 2020) letting go a wee bit of the drums machines - though they´re still present on several cuts - and embracing more elastic rhythms and dynamics, including forays into Brazilian exotica and abstract electronic territories. This is music for funky dinosaurs but young gazelles too.
Christoph El Truento
Amazing mystical dub sounds out of New Zealand. Deep Lee Scratch inspired analogue sounds!
New 7” vinyl available taken from the album “Dubs From The Neighbourhood”, two alternate versions of the tracks “Performer Dub” featuring the vocal stylings of Mara TK, and “Pīwari” - Both mixes are only available on the 45, not on album.
Lovely artwork on the album by Asher McShane
Kabin Crew - ‘The Spark’
The Spark was created on a shoestring budget by Rhyme Island, a youth rap project based at Kabin Studio, a non-profit at Knocknaheeny, a suburb of Cork, in collaboration with Creative Ireland, a government initiative that funds Cruinniú na nÓg, an annual celebration of youthful creativity.
The song features about 30 children aged nine to 12 from the neighbourhood plus a group who live in refugee accommodation in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare.
Think you can stop what we do? I doubt it
Frankie Archer - ‘Oxford City’
Oxford City is a traditional song nearly 200 years old, but when I first read the lyrics I was reminded of things happening right now: incel culture and drink spiking. It’s tempting to think about old songs of times gone by, especially of songs dealing with the way women were treated and the awful things they faced, and say ‘wasn’t it awful back in the day, I’m so glad it’s not like that now’. While some things generally have gotten better, women still face male violence just sometimes in different forms. The poison wine in this song is a man spiking a woman’s drink to do her harm. Murdering her is an expression of rejection and jealousy which manifests as the same hate against women that incel culture feeds on: “if you won’t be my true lover, you’ll never be no other man’s bride”.
Jennarie - 'Never Been Small'
I was introduced to Jennarie via The Indelicates’ music recommendation thread on Discord (which then feeds a Spotify playlist). Jennarie’s song went viral on Instagram in late March after she penned the lyrics in response to hateful comments about her appearance. A few million views, and enthusiastic comments form the likes of SZA later and it’s been officially released.
I have never been small
I have never been thin
I’m almost 6 feet tall
So tall I stretched my skin
2000BLACK - ‘London Boogie’
Learning from the past and looking towards the future, the 2000BLACK collective, named after a 1975 Roy Ayers’ recording, was established in 1998 by Dego. On ‘London Boogie 7’ the sound of modern boogie and house combine.
Delistic - ‘Big D*ck’
Delistic is a DJ and producer from the Netherlands and you can recognize him from his typical “Good feeling” tech house music with some old school influences. I’ll leave you to work out what this tunes about but what a tune!
Dawuna - ‘Bottom Energy’
‘Bottom Energy’ is taken from 'Southside Bottoms', a concept album about the characters and times that occupied Dawuna's life years ago in Southside Richmond, Virginia.
Corto.Alto - ‘Chubby (48)’
Future jazz from Glasgow’s Corto.Alto and the first of “30/108”, a project to release a single a day for 30 days!