So many submissions and so little time. Like all blogs, review sites and radio stations we receive a constant influx of submissions, and this means there are some singles, EP and albums we don’t have the time to cover in depth. Our irregular feature Little Bundles of Joy is designed to shine a light on some of the releases that are too good to let slip by.
wilks – left hand drive
Left Hand Drive is the new EP from Cheltenham based producer and electronic artist wilks. This 6-track release is broad in both its influences and sonic soundscapes. Opener ‘Before The World Awakes’ lives up to it’s name with its gentle electronica and subtle samples of voices. With its blips and glitchiness, it really does feel like one does as the sleep gets rubbed from the eyes and the day comes into focus. Very clever.
‘First Light’ is a slightly heavier affair with bigger beats and a techno bent. ‘GVDub’ is again a more dance and jungle-tinged track that would get the stiffest person up dancing. Great track. Wilks says of the release, “The EP was made in-the-box with Ableton and a handful of plugins and lots of samples that I recorded on my phone. I’ve taken this approach mainly because I don’t have any outboard gear at the moment, but also because I want to learn as much as I can about the tools that I have at my disposal.”
‘Left hand drive’ is a very expansive and impressive release that’s a massive calling card for a very talented and innovative producer. Look out for the name wilks over the next few years….
The EP is set for release on 29th March on Glasgow based underground electronic music label Bricolage.
Review by Ioan Humphries
Bad Breeding – Discipline
‘Discipline’ is the latest single release from the fifth album from Stevenage-based hardcore band Bad Breeding. ‘Contempt’ is out on June 14th via One Little Independent Records and Iron Lung Records in the US. I’m not new to Bad Breeding having covered them several times for Joyzine over the last few years. One of the UK’s best bands in my humble opinion, they always accompany every release with a meticulously researched and written essay on issues affecting the UK now. The essay to accompany ‘Contempt’s release is ‘Towards an Uncivil Solidarity’ by Alasdair Dunn of Scottish metal avant-gardists Ashenspire. Alasdair attacks the capital’s centrality in the UK’s homelessness crisis.
What of ‘Discipline’? Well, this sprawling 5.28 opens at 100mph with the band at full intense speed as always and Chris Dodd’s lyrics spat out with the usual amount of venom. All is business as usual until you reach the 1.15 mark. What happens next is an intense and expertly controlled exercise in measured noise as a weapon. Perfectly executed, this barrage abuses the listener into Bad Breeding’s submission. It’s Discipline. It’s Contempt. It’s Bad Breeding. It’s astounding. It’s essential.
Bad Breeding comprise of Christopher Dodd (vocals), Idris Mirza (guitar), Charlie Rose (bass), and Jimmy Guvercin (drums).
Pre-order ‘Contempt’
Follow Bad Breeding: Facebook | Website | Instagram | Spotify
Review by Ioan Humphreys
Annie Anxiety – Barbed Wire Halo
Crass continue their vinyl reissue series through Crass Records, in association with One Little Independent. The series, including over twenty bands and solo artists recorded at the legendary Southern Studios and produced by Penny Rimbaud, continues with ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ by Annie Anxiety. New York City musical maverick and performance artist Annie Anxiety, aka Little Annie aka Annie Bandez, began her illustrious career (including work with Adrian Sherwood, Coil, Current 93, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) with Crass.
Lead track ‘Cyanide Tears’ is 6.23 of the most claustrophobic, schizophrenic music you will listen to today. That said, it’s also the most rhythmic and danceable slice of improve and sample heavy musical soup that you will experience in your short 24 hours. Virtually impossible to describe, ‘Cyanide Tears’ is what happens when complete and utter creative control is given over to an artist with no agenda at all. Freedom to improvise. Freedom to utilise spoken word poetry. Freedom to use performance art so brilliantly and effectively. This release is utterly indescribable and utterly essential.
Follow Crass: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Review by Ioan Humphreys
Flux of Pink Indians – Neu Smell / Tube Disaster / Poem / Sick Butchers – Background Of Malfunction
Also part of the Crass vinyl reissue series through Crass Records, in association with One Little Independent is ‘Neu Smell’ by Flux of Pink Indians. Flux of Pink Indians were an iconic anarcho-punk band active from 1980-1986. In 1981 the band signed to Crass Records, releasing their debut EP ‘Neu Smell’ the same year, featuring indie hit ‘Tube Disaster’.
The first three tracks of the infamous EP feature an impassioned spoken word intro regarding the disposal of nuclear waste. That leads into an immediate throbbing bass intro and 100mph spiky guitar of ‘Tube Disaster’. The vocals are spat out with equal measures of
indignation and integrity. What a track!
‘Poem’ completes the trilogy and it is very beautiful. Again, Crass Records have released another utterly essential record that is seeped in musical history and is thoroughly of its time. Ignore it at your peril.
Jody Prewitt – Trails
Jody Prewitt is a man who knows his way round a stringed instrument. His gentle nature-inspired music features guitar, ukulele, mandolin and piano. The album Trails is a walk through the countryside on a warm summer’s day. ‘Cove’ was recorded at Mullion Harbour, Cornwall and ‘The Wood’ features birdsong recorded in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. The tracks feel like the evolving landscape of a walk with some like ‘Sylvie’ feeling more pensive while others like ‘Glade’ are often buoyant and full of ornamental flourishes that evoke sunlight sparkling through the canopy (the Japanese have a word for this: Komorebi, which translates as ‘sunlight leaking through trees’) .
As Jody says on his Bandcamp page he’s “available for village fetes and house parties” and he definitely has the gentle soul of a man who would soothe the refreshment tent with his bucolic folk as well as being an asset for judging large root vegetables, jams, and the scruffiest dog.
Trails is available to buy on Bandcamp and you can follow him on Instagram and X (Twitter)
Review by Paul F Cook
The Zawose Queens – Maisha
Super-happy vibes radiate out from ‘Maisha’ and I think even the most hard-hearted people would not be able to help raise and smile and a toe-tap to this glorious song. The Zawose Queens are Leah and Pendo Zawose of the Tanzanian Wagogo people. It says on the YouTube page ‘Maisha’ is “a song whose lyrics tell of the daily fight for a better life, whose potent ancient-to-future sound finds the Queens on vocals, illimba and percussion, Wamwiduka Band on backing vocals and percussion and club-focused production including drums, synths and 808 bass“
The bringing together of traditional instrument and modern electronics is seamless and he combination allows the song to bounce along and the rhythm change half way through is unexpected and brilliant. Add to that the joyous video of the sisters playing thumb pianos on a lush beach and you day will feel way sunnier whatever the weather is doing outside (it’s a bank holiday weekend in the UK so it will be raining).
You can pre-order their album Maisha on Bandcamp and follow them on Instagram
Review by Paul F Cook
Library Card – Cognitive Dissonance
Vividly imagined, passionately executed story of our ability to notice suffering and simultaneously ignore it. Jangly, antagonistic, aurally dissonant in all the right places – music and lyrics perfectly aligned. Very zeitgeisty.
Library Card: Bandcamp | Instagram
Review by Aitch Nichols
Shameless Band – Nakhu Ses’Fika
Apparently “Nakhu Ses’Fika Kau, Siyajika Lento Kau” means “we’ve arrived and are going to turn things on their head” and Shameless Band SA (or Shameless Band) are true to their word, releasing this rallying cry of a Zulu Metal/Afro Punk single. With a determined, fierce and unrelenting rhythm and impassioned lyrics, echoed for emphasis, this is an unimaginably powerful, metamorphic, alt-rock ballad. It has ALL your favourite flavours – jazz, punk, rock, blues, with notes of kwaito and mbaqanga. Drink it in.
Shameless Band: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Twitter
Review by Aitch Nicol
MF Tomlinson – A Cloud (Julia-Sophie’s Balearic Storm Remix)
Post-apocalyptic Ibiza vibes, when the uplift no longer lifts, but the memory remains. Like swaying around on a sweaty dancefloor, on a wafty, but mildly depressing comedown, trying not to think about work tomorrow. Feels like accepting the inevitable. The dream is gone, but in a zen way.
Track from the album We Are Still Wild Horses
MF Tomlinson: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Review by Aitch Nicol
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