I hope you’re all having a great bank holiday weekend. I’m going to take myself off to see ‘Coyote Vs. ACME’ in a few hours, and I think I’ve managed to find a cinema showing ‘Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma’ as well. So, film wins all round.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox:
wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

8110118
JIWA KRUNGU
Bandcamp

It’s always good when an album slaps you round the face from the off and never lets up. So it goes with ‘Jiwa Krungu’, the debut album from this Indonesian electronic artist. 8110118, or Hajar as he’s known in reality, draws from his time as an art student for ‘Jiwa Krungu’ (the Javanese for “audible soul”) as well as the concept of “Jiwa Ketok” (“visible soul”), a term conceived by Indonesian painter Sindudarsono Sudjojono that called for art to reflect the artists “internal states, emotions, and thoughts”. There’s a distinct cyberpunk feel to ‘Kiwa Krungu’, which makes sense considering 8110118 was influenced by our age of information overload and having to navigate Jakarta, a city he says where “overstimulation is an inseparable fact of daily life”. Manic percussion dances across a sea of ebbing ambient textures on opener ‘Embong’ - there’s something of Fuck Buttons about it, and then those guitar licks kick-in. Delicious. The industrial glitchiness of ‘Leang-Leang’ is suffocating, peppered with cybernetic whirs and growls before bursting into explosive drum ‘n’ bass trills. And ‘Pralina’ is like a sledgehammer to a wall, an aural rage room that doesn’t let you breathe. Very exciting album, this. If you like your electronics on the heavier side, get it on loud.

Tudor Acid
AN EARLY START
Bandcamp

I’ve been really enjoying this collection of tracks from Bristol-based electronic musician Richard Wigglesworth, who records as Tudor Acid. ‘An Early Start’ combines two of Wigglesworth’s loves - French house and the hills. It’s also inspired specifically by new year hikes he’d take with university friends around the turn of the millennium. While it’s not what I’d necessary call a “chill out” album, there’s a relaxing vibe to many of the tracks here, with percussive hisses that putter along at their own pace. I love the bassy wahs on ‘From Blue Skies And Concrete’ that gurgle from within a scaffolding of lively percussion, and there’s a certain charm to ‘It Will Be A Laugh’, as buoyant electronic tones skip along glistening synthlines. There’s a real bucolic vein that runs through this record, and it sort of reminds me of something you might find on Frances Castle’s Clay Pipe Music.

Moray MacDonald
MUSIC FROM DOCTOR FAUSTUS
Bandcamp

The Happening Again inbox is often full of surprises, and this from Moray MacDonald was no different. MacDonald is a composer based in Bristol who creates ambient soundscapes, and also records with a laser harp under the alias Cephid. ‘Music From Doctor Faustus’ is a score MacDonald composed for a performance of ‘Doctor Faustus’ at the Wharf Theatre at the start of the year. “Acoustic dungeon synth” is how this album was described to me and, yep, that’s pretty spot on. The strings on ‘Somewhat To Delight (Dance)’ spring into life with Renaissance vigour, while ‘Divine Astrology’ twinkles with an ecclesiastical ambience. Big fan of ‘Library Of Incantations’, full of atmospherics that wail eerily but sparkle with an impish wink. If there was a arcane draught blowing through a wizard’s tower, it would sound something like this.

Korn
KORN
Immortal/Epic

About a month ago, Angel “Fire-Toolz” Marcloid posted about how Korn’s first two albums are actually noise records in a nu metal trench coat (not her exact wording but you get the gist). Korn occupy a weird space for me musically. I was forever getting them mixed up with Slipknot, and I feel that, despite its popularity in the UK in the 90s and 00s, nu metal was always far bigger in the US than over here. That said, it and other forms of metal did seem to seep into the mainstream in the early and mid-00s, when I was a young teen. So I thought I’d give Korn’s self-titled debut a listen and, you know, Marcloid does have a point. ‘Ball Tongue’ in particular contains some pretty interesting sonic experiments - the way the band play with their own vocal groans, as well as some those more avant-garde string squeals on top of static. I do also like the bagpipe-led opening to ‘Shoots And Ladders’, which is quickly overtaken by the thunder of electric guitar. I think this is probably the first time I’ve properly listened to Korn. I’m concerned further listening could cause regression to my teenage years. If I get any strong urges to grow my fringe out, I’ll call 999.

Shygirl
ALYSE
Because Music

The new Shygirl single immediately burrowed itself into my brain the second I heard it. I’m glad Blane Muise is getting more recognition these days, and it’s no coincidence that she featured on one of the best tracks on Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ remix album. ‘Alyse’ starts off gently, Muise’s distorted, fairytale-esque vocals intoning over bassy strings before there’s a pause, and those strings explode into a visceral shudder of industrial rhythms, with the energy of a toolbox in a tumble dryer. It’s a dark, heady mix of rocky electronics, and while Muise has never been one to stay static when it comes to genre, ‘Alyse’ takes her into interesting new directions. Let’s hope there’s a new LP on the way.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// They let John Wilson make a film about concrete, and gave it a theatrical release. I can’t wait. If you haven’t, do yourself a favour and watch ‘How To With John Wilson’. The episode about scaffolding lives in my mind.

// I really love these sci-fi hand-cut collages by artist Silva Robinia. They’re made primarily with old science books and magazines. They look amazing! You can also follow Robinia on Instagram.

// For all the nonsense that has surrounded Rockstar and ‘GTA VI’, I can’t say I’m not impressed with this recent gameplay trailer. The level of detail is insane. It feels like the first “next-gen” game (and we’re, what, six years into the PS5’s lifespan). Now if only they’d release it on a disc…

// And on that note, I enjoyed this piece by my fellow Electronic Sound scribbler Fat Roland, on the music of ‘Grand Theft Auto’. And I agree Fats, you would make an amazing ‘GTA’ main character.

I’m a week late and on a Monday - very much riding on the “ish” of “fornightly(ish)”. I had every intention of getting this out last week, but I was away from my desk and, well, best laid plans and all that.

In the meantime, my interview with experimental pop sensation Káryyn was published. The feature doesn’t scratch the surface of everything we spoke about, but it was great fun to write and Káryyn has such an interesting and thoughtful approach to music.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox:
wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Polypores
WILDLIFE
Aural Canyon

Stephen Buckley has completely ditched the synthesisers for his latest record. Yes, I almost couldn’t believe it myself. Until I remembered that Stephen is incredibly good at reinventing and experimenting. ‘Wildlife’ uses only piano, woodwind, guitar, drums, and “home-made percussion implements.” It’s a real change of pace, but it stands to reason that Stephen’s electronic brain would have some more organic outcrops here and there. Inspired by the likes of Steve Reich and Pharoah Sanders, it would be easy to point at the big neon-flashing “New Age” sign to describe ‘Wildlife’. But as with most things Stephen does, it’s far more interesting. There’s a hazy dreaminess to ‘Thought Bubble’, and an ordered chaos to the percussive ripples that stampede under that winding flute on ‘The Faceless Clock At The End Of Time’. ‘The Sanctuary’ feels like I’ve entered a part of Stephen’s brain, as textures spiral and trill and neural fauna interact with one another. It’s a really interesting record, and shows a different (yet wholly natural) side to Polypores that we’ve only heard snippets from before.

Midlum
OGE SUND
Bandcamp

You may remember that earlier in the year I covered ‘Under Stillhet’, the first entry in ‘A Soundtrack For Paintings’ the collaborative project between musician Midlum and artist Christiaan Kuitwaard, both from the Netherlands. Very happy to see the second entry is now in the wild. The story behind ‘Oge Sund’ concerns a small island in the North Sea - “a place where land and water never agree on a boundary” (you can read more on their Substack). The track itself is gorgeous, a delicate piano melody that climbs in front of the breeze of a synth. Everything slowly builds, percussion hissing into focus, before everything slows again like the tide rolling out. But then it washes over you again in a cascade of electronic stabs and echoing textures, all circling back around that piano. Really can’t wait to see in what direction this series goes.

Numinal Void
CAPRICORN SUN
Bandcamp

I’ve been an admirer of Andy Kelly’s work for ages now. I first discovered him on Twitter back when he was a video games journalist, and have since followed his career with interest. A career that seems to be based about creating things tailored to my own interests. He made the beautiful One More Win fanzine, his tribute to racing game ‘Ridge Racer Type 4’, as well as wrote ‘Perfect Organism’, the celebration of video game ‘Alien: Isolation’. So I couldn’t not check out his concept album ‘Capricorn Sun’. Recording under the alias ‘Numinal Void’, ‘Capricorn Sun’ is a sci-fi score to a fictional movie of the same name. There’s a whole proper backstory to read through, but the music here is in the vein of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter. Sign me up. You know you’re off to a good start when the opening track is the jingle to the film’s production company ‘Zenith Pictures’. I’m a big fan of how wobbly the synthlines are on ‘Stargate Approach’, and there’s a feel of Boards Of Canada to ‘Descent To Capricorn’. This is a full-on production in every sense - make sure you grab a limited transparent red cassette copy. I can’t imagine they’ll stay in stock for long.

Various Artists
THE SILENT HARVEST VOLUME ONE
Folk Police

I’ve been meaning to feature this compilation for a couple of weeks. I’m not sure why I haven’t until now. Folk Police’s ‘The Silent Harvest’ is a tribute to ‘The Long Harvest’ series of records that were released between 1967 and 1968 by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Those albums contained variants of traditional folk songs. The electronic cohort featured on ‘The Silent Harvest’ were asked to “immerse themselves in the arcane and sometimes unsettling imagery” of the music on ‘The Long Harvest’, resulting in a collection of dark, hauntological eeriness. Where to start? I love the muted electronic thumps that smatter like rain on Jo Johnson’s ‘Deluded Them All’, as well as that melancholic piano melody on Veryan’s ‘The Gosport Tragedy’. The guitar work on Hawksmoor’s ‘Corvus III’ is achingly beautiful, almost Americana as if plonked into the sodden British countryside. And I’ve not even mentioned cuts by worriedaboutsatan and Field Lines Cartographer. It’s really full of gems this compilation, and if that wasn’t enough all profits from ‘The Silent Harvest’ will be donated to The Wildlife Trusts. Oh, and if that’s still not enough there’s a Volume Two for you to fill your boots with.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// Please enjoy this video of a walkable cyberpunk city made entirely by ASCII characters.

If last time was another ambient edition, this issue I seem to have veered into modern synthwave territory more than I expected to. Must have it on the brain.

I’ve had another influx of new subscribers recently, so hello to all new readers. I hope you’ll discover all manner of new music through this newsletter (and maybe some other bits and bobs that interest you).

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox:
wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

L’Avenue
EN VOGUE
Bandcamp

I’m sorry to disappoint you all, but Jesse Reuben “L’Avenue” Wilson isn’t actually French. The UK-based electronic musician feels like one of those voices in synthwave that has been around forever, with his latest musical foray being his ‘En Vogue’ LP. Dripping in nostalgia, its 1980s references are as pure and undiluted as they come. The album conjures a certain anemoia for me, particularly opener ‘Cover Girl’, especially when those horns kick-in. ‘Electric Eyes’ has been on repeat since I first heard it. Those descending chords? The vocals? The melodic shifts? ‘Photo Shoot’ is like a synthpop à L’Avenue, and features a fab sax solo from Alex Bone, and I love the electronic growls that roar through ‘Monaco’. Make sure you’ve got the corded phone and the CRT telly at the ready when you have this on. Maybe skip the leg-warmers though (actually, don’t).

Wavefinder
RAVEFINDER
Bandcamp

The last time we saw this pairing was back in 2023 when Eric Sferro and Makeup And Vanity Set teamed up for their self-titled ‘Wavefinder’ debut. Wasting no time, the group wrote second album ‘Ravefinder’ while touring in 2024. They’re such an exciting pairing, lively synthy stabs puncturing chill, airy chords. Tracks like ‘Bomberstage’ have a late 90/early 00s drum and bass streak to them (very “racing game on the PS1”), while ‘Upgrade System’ jaunts along with an almost psychedelic funkiness, and a round of applause for the bright synth tones of ‘Ohio Funk’, that lends the track a certain playful buoyancy - like the field recording of a particularly intense game of ‘Pong’. Don’t let this one slip your notice.

Jim Kirkwood
CASTLES OF SAND
Out Of Season

Originally released in 1992, ‘Castles Of Sand’ is one of Jim Kirkwood’s many, many fantasy-influenced albums, the man having become a bit of a mythical figure within the dungeon synth scene (something he didn’t even discover until 2019). Initially in a metal band with his friends and brother, he soon gained an interest in synthesisers and the Berlin School, and in the 90s started releasing what has now been recontextualised as “dungeon synth”. ‘Castles Of Sand’ is one of his many cassette albums that have been re-released by the Out Of Season imprint, and you can instantly hear why this man is so revered. ‘The Spell That Binds’ could have been taken from an 1970s episode of ‘Doctor Who’, otherworldly screams layered on top of a spectral drone that haunts the thud-thud of bass, as ritualistic vocal samples speak their enchantment. ‘Shaper Of Forms’ is rich with a multitude of synthesiser melodies and looping motifs, almost feeling like a prog track at points. And of course I went straight for ‘Tangerine Dreams’, for all the reasons you might expect. I hope Kirkwood has been enjoying his renaissance - he’s more than earned it.

KLSR & James Adrian Brown
SLIPSTREAM
Bandcamp

James Adrian Brown returns with his first bit of new music since his debut solo outing ‘Forever Neon Lights’ which released at the start of this year. ‘Slipstream’ is a collaboration with audio-visual artist KLSR, and is a beautiful piece of vibrant but delicate electronica. The way those panicked arpeggios buzz like a swarm of mechanical insects around the muted rumble of bass and forlorn, expansive strings? It adds another dimension to Brown’s music, KLSR sanding the harsher corners of that analogue synthesis. The accompanying ‘Hologram Mix’ of the track isn’t half bad either, morphing ‘Slipstream’ into a slowly expanding cloud of hazy drones and wailing textures. What a collaboration. Brown just gets better and better. Thank God he switched from guitar to synths.

Miami Nights 1984
DISK 1
Bandcamp

This is a nice, zingy EP that slipped out towards the start of the month. As Miami Nights 1984, Canadian musician Michael Glover has been at the heart of the internet synthwave scene since 2010, founding Rosso Corsa Records as well as releasing a slew of electronic, synthesiser-focussed music. ‘DISK 1’, it says here, is “the first installation from a world where dial-up never died and the internet felt like an adventure”. Sign me up! He’s even managed to pull a few pals on board, including WOLFCLUB and the normally-elusive Lazerhawk. It’s all great stuff - the sparky ‘We’re Online’ bounces forward with hissing textures and groovy synth chords; ‘Overclock’ ups the ante with renewed Outrun vigor, speeding along like some neon-lined steam engine. But Lazerhawk’s appearance on ‘Server Ghosts’ is where things sparkle, those heavy electronic pulses and bassy twangs leading into a barnstorming key melody. ‘Disk 2’ is on the way, thankfully.

Jon Hopkins & Imogen Heap
RECKONING
Megaphonic

Imogen Heap is an artist that I’ve always thought should be way bigger than she actually is (and she’s hardly underground). She’s been an electronic music innovator for years now, and has been tinkering with AI years before the generative boom. She’s had a huge influence across the musical spectrum, and has been namechecked and sampled by the likes of Ariana Grande, A$AP Rocky, and probably most famously, Jason Derulo. She’s also been mates with Jon Hopkins since they were both teens, Hopkins having played in Heaps’ first touring band. This pairing has been a long time coming then, and ‘Reckoning’ is the perfect melding of Heap’s vocals and Hopkins’ beats. Heap’s ethereal voice, backed the hiss-hiss of percussion lays a foundation that Hopkins builds on, warping vocal fragments into head-nodding clubbiness. Neither guides the other - rather both voice and rhythm snake in tandem. Would love to hear a whole album of these two together.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// I know I shouldn’t be moaning about Reddit in the year 2026 but, following on from the “CRT is the same as IMAX” discourse on /r/movies this week, there’s something to be said about the absolutely mad stuff that makes it to the front page these days.

// I do not need to write a paragraph about what I think about this.

// Couple of film trailers have caught my eye recently. First up, the final trailer for ‘Coyote Vs. ACME’, which I’m so glad is getting a theatrical release after all the bullshit it was put through. It looks hilarious.

// I am very much looking forward to Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’.

// This looks interesting as well. ‘Buddy’ follows a group of children as they try and escape a surreal 1990s children's ‘Barney’-esque TV show as their host loses the plot rather violently. It stars Patton Oswalt, Cristin Milioti, and Topher Grace, and is directed by Casper Kelly, who also directed for ‘Too Many Cooks’.

// And just for the hell of it, if you haven’t seen ‘Too Many Cooks’…

I’m heavy on the ambient records again this issue. There must be something in the water. Or maybe it’s the weather.

In case you missed it, you can read my words on Dohnavùr’s ‘We Owe Each Other Everything’, the final album from the Scottish duo in last week’s Moonbuilding Weekly. And after that, read today’s issue.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:

ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Fief
VII
Out Of Season

The seventh album from Salt Lake City, Utah musician Fief is awash in medieval melodies and atmospheric synthesis. ‘VII’ almost feels like a dungeon synth record that loops all the way round to the origins of the genre, in a very Music For The Middle Ages way. He takes archaic strings, fluttering panpipes, and assorted found sounds (you can hear more than one grunt from a pig) and augments them with an array of electronics and it all just works. Take ‘Echoes Of The Apse’, all chorus over static, like someone tuning a temporal radio to Middle Ages FM. And then a minute in the angels join in. The impish ‘Fool’s License!’ bounces from tambourine to tambourine, while strings and flute snake like a sine wave throughout. ‘Peasants’ Vigil’ is a real change of pace, sombre and forlorn, the patter of rain encompassing swelling drones, textured with literal coughs. But ‘Meet Me When Turrets Notch The Setting Sun’ should be your first port of call if you’re still not convinced; a proper fusion of electronic dungeon synth and acoustic European instrumentation. There’s lots of interesting stuff going on in this record, and it’s more than well worth your time.

Starthrone
APHELION
Bandcamp

UK-based Starthrone is another Instagram discovery, but a very welcome one nonetheless. I really love how these three tracks combine the darkness of dungeon synth with the dreaminess of ambient sci-fi. ‘SYS//001/The Sword Of Orion’ starts off all sinister and foreboding, before those star-sailing synthlines start soaring, like shooting stars across the sky. And I’ll never not love thick and heavy drones, like the ones on ‘SYS//002/Sorcery On The Seventh’. For a quid this is a steal. Hope these weren’t just a one-off.

Hunter Complex
CALL OF THE WILD AND VOID
SFI

The sixth album by Dutch electronic musician Lars Meijer is finally in the wild and it’s glorious. Meijer is a dab hand at this sort of thing, having been tinkering away within the scene since the late 1980s. Now on ‘Call Of The Wild And Void’ he’s recruited Aquiles Navarro on trumpet and Kat Epple on flute just to up the ante even more. And it all pays off. Opener ‘One More Drift’ has a 1990s Encarta-like feel to it the second those pipes kick-in, as electronic textures sparkle in the background. I can’t get enough of those drifting synthlines on ‘The Lure Of The Animal’, fronting a key melody that saunters into focus. But ‘Losing The River’ is my personal favourite - it slowly builds, looping piano motifs gliding across spectral tones that dissipate like mist off a river. Everything is turned up a notch when those bassy drums make their entrance, before it all leisurely subsides, a staggered exit of instruments walking stage left one-by-one. Make sure to nab this on Iridescent Seafoam vinyl as well. It won’t hang about.

Don Slepian
SEA OF BLISS: NEW MUSIC FOR DIGITAL ORCHESTRA
Bandcamp

Thank you to Gavin “worriedaboutsatan” Miller, who switched me onto not only this album, but Don Slepian himself. It feels like he’s a bit of an unsung pioneer of the ambient scene. Music technologist Slepian was initially a computer engineer before becoming an ambient composer at the end of the 1970s. ‘The Sea Of Bliss’ was originally released on cassette in 1980, but Slepian has given it a new lease of life on his Bandcamp page. ‘Sea Of Bliss’ ebbs and flows with tides of warm synthesis as an overlay of starlight chimes shimmer endlessly. The yang to the yin of ‘Sonic Perfume’, shading its ethereal melodies on the darker side, as deeper, expansive drones yawn chasmically below light fluttery textures. It’s no surprise that this is his most well-known record, and deservedly so. It must be deep-dive time again; looks like I’ve got another back catalogue to peruse.

Bill Nelson
CHANCE ENCOUNTERS IN THE GARDEN OF LIGHTS
Cherry Red

I can viscerally remember the morning a certain Neil Mason waved the double CD boxset of this record at me from across his desk in the Electronic Sound office. I hadn’t come across Bill Nelson before. “You’ll like this,” Neil said, as he turned the volume knob of the ES sound system to the right. He wasn’t wrong. Yorkshireman Bill Nelson has a back catalogue that stretches half a century and all manner of record labels. His music spans prog, art rock, glam rock, post-punk, and new wave (and then some), but it’s this ambient record that really turned my head. ‘Chance Encounters In The Garden of Lights’ was Nelson’s third consecutive instrumental album, and one that he calls his “most personal and yet least demonstrative”. Spanning a whopping 63 tracks, this was originally released as a double LP back in 1987, with an accompanying seven-inch EP called ‘Ecclesia Gnostica’. It’s Gnostic influence lends it an occult quality (that’ll be the influence of Austin Osman Spare); if there was ever a big budget adaption of Alan Moore’s ‘Jerusalem’ (and there never should be) you can imagine this scoring that. Rich with electronic choirs, twinkling synths, swelling chords, and snippets of sampled speech, it’s a proper epic in every sense, and probably one of my favourite ambient albums of all time. We should champion Bill Nelson more often.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// Solidarity to all those losing their jobs through no fault of their own as the video games industry goes through another dreadful period, because C-suite executives at Xbox have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

// Not content with Xbox taking all the attention, PlayStation announced that they will no longer be making physical game discs from 2028 onwards, apparently without telling any of their partners. That’ll be a digital-only PS6 then. That’ll likely cost more than a grand.

// Does anyone want to buy me this? Thanks in advance.

// We really have come full-circle.

This week has felt a bit like being in the gym just before the first lockdown, every single screen tuned to BBC News talking about a virus that was rapidly spreading around China. But on a much larger timescale. Cheery, I know, but I can’t imagine wearing a jumper ever again.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Leenalchi
HERE COMES THAT CROW
Luaka Bop

Now this is my kind of K-pop. I was deeply and immediately taken with Leenalchi the second I heard the opening bars of ‘Hihi Haha’. They’re a madcap guitar-less seven-piece from South Korea, who straddle the line between post-punk and new wave. Their EP ‘Here Comes That Crow’ is delightful, all thick rippling basslines, psychedelic synthesisers, and some truly zesty lyricism (I can’t understand Korean, but I love how lyrics on tracks like ‘Look At Me Look At Me’ bounce and flow off one another). ‘Bird’ is great fun, starts off all groovy bass and then those synths kick in. Glorious. No wonder they’ve found a home on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label. Need an album pronto.

Two Way Mirrors
SOME MEMORIES ARE CLEAR AND SOME ARE NOT
Frosti

This almost made it into last issue had it not been for me discovering it mere minutes after hitting that “send” button. Thomas Ragsdale returns to his Two Way Mirrors moniker for this 15-minute drone piece, released on his own Frosti imprint. ‘Some Memories Are Clear And Some Are Not’ is “a taste” of a split release coming to the label in July, four tracks apiece between Ragsdale as TWM and another mysterious artist. All dark industrial ambience that groans like wind through a factory, the track was designed around numerous strange “clang” sounds Ragsdale recorded, as well as an ARP that’s been reverbed and delayed to within an inch of its life. He’s written an in-depth breakdown of the track on his Patreon. It’s great to see Ragsdale back under his more atmospheric Two Way Mirrors alias, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s conjured with this split release next month.

Takeshi’s Cashew
OPERATOR
Siluh

Regular readers will know I always enjoy surprises in my inbox, and this week was no different. Look, if you put “for fans of ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ soundtracks” in your press release, say no more. Takeshi’s Cashew (I wish I’d thought of that band name) are a sextet from Vienna that dabble in krauty psychedelia as well as “Psych Medieval Nintendo Core”. They’re a riot. New single ‘Operator’ fuses looping video game-inspired melodies with motorik rhythms and a touch of medieval folk. Not your usual genre mix, but all the better for it. They’ve got a third album due out in October, ‘Planet Odyssey 64’ which I’ve heard snippets of. Oh yes, we’re in for a treat. For now though, check out the visualiser for ‘Operator’ for some trippy pixelated weirdness. Trippixelation? Psychepixelia? Still need to workshop that one.

You’ll Never Get To Heaven
WAVE YOUR MOONLIGHT HAT FOR THE SNOWFALL TRAIN
Mystic Roses

Real life partners Chuck Blazevic and Alice Hansen have been fairly quiet since this, their third full-length as ambient dream pop duo You’ll Never Get To Heaven. If the internet is to be believed, they’ve been playing some live dates recently, and there’s the possibility of a new album on the way. That’s rumours and hearsay though. I came across You’ll Never Get To Heaven via an Instagram reel, which feels like a horribly modern way to discover music. But their ethereal ambient tones drenched in drifting melancholia are hard to resist, so straight to ‘Wave Your Moonlight Hat For The Snowfall Train’ I went. There’s a little of Julee Cruise about ‘Setting Sun’, while delicate looping xylophonic chimes climb across ‘Pink And Gold And Blue’. I’m particularly fond of the piano-led ‘Eye, Soul, And Hand’ (with those cut-up, echoing voices in the background) as well as the looping synth-heavy ‘Eternal Present’. It’s all very gentle and sombre, like they live on the same estate as the Cocteau Twins. Whether that rumoured album materialises we’ll just have to see.

Angine De Poitrine
VOL. II
Spectacles Bonzaï

Finally caught this pair on Jools Holland the other night after somewhat sidestepping their online virality. Like a krautrock Daft Punk, this Québécois duo took the internet by storm earlier this year due to their zany masked outfits - two aliens that look like they’re distantly related to Mr. Blobby. Known only as Klek de Poitrine (drums) and Khn de Poitrine (custom-made double-necked hybrid guitar), they create kaleidoscopic math rock full of looping, hypnotic percussion. And I can see what the fuss is about. There’s a certain madness to their most recent album ‘Vol. II’, particularly on tracks like ‘Mata Zyklek’ and ‘Yor Zarad’, that I really love. But the whole record is an outrageously fun proggy cosmic carousel, that proves the band are more than just a meme.

Steve Roach
STRUCTURES FROM SILENCE
Projekt

I’m not really sure how I found myself revisiting Steve Roach’s seminal ‘Structures From Silence’ recently. Often thought of as Roach’s “breakout” album, the album is a masterclass of expanding synthlines and cyclical motifs. There’s a strong Vangelis vibe to it, particularly on ‘Quiet Friend’, and the whole record is rich with very space age, science fiction atmospheres. Roach really knows how to wield an Oberheim. This album has been particularly welcome during these hazy summer evenings; a slight cooling breather. I wonder if he ever crossed paths with Angelo Badalamenti. The title track really reminds me of some of Badalamenti’s later work. ‘Structures From Silence’ will likely be familiar territory for many of you, but do give it a listen if you’re new to Steve Roach (and then go and raid his back catalogue).

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// Loved this horror short by Spanish director Iván Castell. ‘D.I.T.’ follows a conversation between a production assistant and a D.I.T about a horror script the latter is writing. Influenced by Dario Argento and Italian Giallo in general, it’s made all the better by a fantastic Berlin School score by none other than
OGRE Sound. I’ve been a fan of Castell’s since his ‘The Rise Of The Synths’ documentary, which is basically required viewing for Happening Again readers.

// “Hi I’m Saul Goodman, and I want to talk to you about what makes America great,” opines everyone’s favourite criminal lawyer on a YouTube channel called Saul4Democracy. There’s two videos - ‘Know Your Rights!’ and ‘Democracy!’. Sneaky suspicion these are related to the upcoming 250th birthday of the USA and not any upcoming Vince Gilligan projects.

// GTA VI pre-orders finally went live this week, and I’m not sure what the point of releasing a physical version of the game is if that physical version contains no disc (but still costs £69.99).

I’ve had an influx of new subscribers recently. So I’d like to start this issue by saying a big thank you to everyone who not only subscribes but shares Happening Again, whether in the real world or online. I never take any of it for granted.

I hope you continue to discover new music through this newsletter, or maybe some older records you might not have come across.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Sferro
ESCAPISM
NewRetroWave

Happy belated birthday to Eric Sferro, who turned 40 last week. And what a way to bring in the big 4-0 with this. ‘Escapism’ is, in Sferro’s own words, the “house record I’ve wanted to write since I was 16”. That’s an idea that’s been cooking for a while, but it was worth the wait. ‘Escapism’ is one of the first true “summer” records I’ve been spinning this year, and draws from the likes of Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx, and Justice. Where to start? Firstly, just look at that gorgeous sleeve, created by German artist Jaqueline Ruther (known online as Mizucat).
The vibes are set. It’s impossible not to nod along to the title track, those kinetic drum machines and synth tones bobbing forward without a care in the world. There’s a whiff of Daft Punk about ‘Eternal Summer’ (no bad thing), while the Balearic closer ‘Tranquil’ will whisk you off to a beach somewhere. ‘Escapism’ is truly that - a short trip away from reality, full of buoyant electronics and thudding basslines. Someone pass me a cocktail. And get Sferro one while you’re at it.

Hunter Complex
VOICE OF THE COAST
SFI

Hunter Complex has been on my radar since his 2019 record ‘Open Sea’, but his musical history is far greater than that. For the uninitiated, Hunter Complex is Dutch artist Lars Meijer, who’s been tinkering with synthesisers since the late ‘80s. ‘Call Of The Wild And Void’ is his sixth studio album and this time around comes via Seattle-based label SFI Recordings. It’s due at the beginning of July, so look out for more words on that closer to the time, but for now we’re treated with this. There’s a lot to love about ‘Voice Of The Coast’. Beginning its seven-minute runtime with gentle aquatic tones and a blast of trumpet, we’re soon joined by a delicate piano melody, sci-fi arpeggios, ghostly hisses, and electronic drums. It all has a discordant harmony that makes for really dynamic listening, each part taking turns to be front-and-centre without ever outstaying its welcome. If this is a taster for what’s to come then we really are in for a treat.

Discovery Zone
LIBRARY COPY DO NOT REMOVE
RVNG Intl.

Originally a commission for a spatial audio performance inside the Zeiss-Groß Planetarium dome in Berlin, ‘Library Copy Do Not Remove’ is “a creation mythology for the simulated universe”. Say no more. Written by American-German composer JJ Weihl (Discovery Zone), in conjunction with Lucas Chantre under his WORLD BRAIN moniker for all but one track, this is a gloriously imaginative slice of electronic experimentalism. The concept around ‘Library Copy Do Not Remove’ revolves around the idea of the universe as a simulation - in that even if that is the case, by definition of us existing within the simulation, we are still shaping reality (don’t think about that too much). Written for live performance and shaped through Ambisonics, this is a record best listened to from start to finish (as all albums should). But if I’m being picky, the bright ‘Dusk’ is like diving headfirst into a computer running a copy of an Encarta encyclopaedia from 1999, while ‘Arp Angels’ is a biblical cybernetic chorus, presumably descending from simulated Heaven. Jokes aside, this is all cracking stuff, and an album I will be coming back to for the forseeable.

K Wata
GIVE U SPACE
Short Span

The very ‘Backrooms’-esque album sleeve is initially what drew me to this record - and thank God it did. K Wata is the alias of New York-based producer Kenzo Perron who creates spacious dub techno. And ‘Give U Space’ is certainly very spacious. Ripe with minimalist ambient dubstep and meticulous sound worlds, this is a record that’s been produced with capital “P” precision. Perron is great at conjuring atmospheres. The otherworldly ‘Looking Glass’ ripples with cavernous microsounds, and while there’s a vein of disquiet that runs through the entire album (most pronounced in the closer ‘As I’ve Always Said’), it’s never overbearing. ‘Whisper Dub’ is the track you’d most likely find on a club dancefloor, layered with breathy percussion. But my personal favourite is ‘There Will Be Love’, a transportive 13-minute epic that swells with textures - echoing clangs and whirs that highlight the importance of negative space.

Jake Kaufman
MINA THE HOLLOWER (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
Yacht Club Games

I’ve been really into ‘Mina The Hollower’, the newest game from developers Yacht Club Games. I’ll have more to say on that in Stray Thoughts, but for now this original soundtrack by composer Jake Kaufman is the business. Across a whopping 96 tracks (which includes compositions for cinematics and trailers), this is rich with retro chiptune melodies. It’s a proper analogue affair (with some digital enhancements), as Kaufman created this score with the Game Boy sound chip, along with the Konami Sound Cartridge (052539 / SCC+). The music was then written in the free open-source chiptune music program Furnace. It’s all good stuff, and impossible to pick favourites - just start from the opening ‘Cinematic Intro’ and you’ll get the idea. And don’t miss out on the game either, if that’s your sort of thing.

Boards Of Canada
INFERNO
Warp

I should have known that the online discourse surrounding this album (and any hyped bit of media these days) was going to quickly dissolve into chaos. Boards Of Canada’s ‘Inferno’ is both “the best” and “the worst” album they’ve ever released, depending on who you ask (and what time of day it is, what phase the Moon is in etc). I’m almost reticent to add any further opinions. But in short: ‘Inferno’ is really rather good. I love how much it leans into the occult (‘Age Of Capricorn’, ‘Acts Of Magic’, ‘Blood In The Labyrinth’), as well as its use of eerie cut-up vocal samples. The blend of dreamy post-rock with sinister dark ambient works a charm (or a curse, to be more thematically relevant), and it’s definitely one of those records that rewards repeated listens. In a lot of ways it reminds me of ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’, with a more pronounced hauntological sound running through it. But it’s Boards Of Canada, there’s not much more to say. But ignore all the noise and dive right in. You won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some Stray Thoughts and some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// Good news! There’s a rise in children and teenagers enjoying reading in their spare time for the first time since 2021.

// Take a trip through a small part of West Yorkshire via the album covers of worriedaboutsatan aka Gavin Miller. I love that Gavin put this together, and I’d never really realised how much of Shipley and Saltaire had been featured on the sleeves of his records. And while you’re at it, treat yourself to something from his catalogue on Bandcamp.

// I was very sad to hear about the death of Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French writer, cartoonist, and director best known for her amazing autobiographical graphic novel and film ‘Persepolis’. ‘Persepolis’ follows a young girl as she comes of age during the time of the Iranian Revolution. It feels more timely now than ever; I must be due a re-read.

// On a similar note, RIP David Hockney. I won’t pretend to have been any sort of huge follower or fan of his, but I always loved his painting of Salts Mill.

// I like the look of this TraumaGotchu, the “virtual pet with baggage”. It’s a quirky modern twist on the popular ‘90s virtual pet, and I do love that art style. It’ll be launching soon on Kickstarter, but you can watch a demo of it below.

// Stop reading now if you have no interest in video games, but as I said further up the page, ‘Mina The Hollower’ is as good as you’ve heard (if you’re in any way plugged into the video game ecosystem). It’s a cross between FromSoft’s ‘Bloodborne’ and the Game Boy ‘Legend Of Zelda’ games. Chock-full of fiendish fights and intricate puzzles (and great music), I can highly recommend it. Have a gander at the trailer below if you think it might be your sort of thing.

It’s a packed issue this fortnight. And sixty! It feels like some sort of milestone, even though it really isn’t. Happening Again can’t even claim a pension these days.

I’m back in Moonbuilding Weekly again, reviewing Dan “Danalogue” Leavers’ fantastic debut solo record ‘Teleportations’. It’s a science fiction album in every sense, and there’s a bonus trippy full-album visualiser to go with it.

Elsewhere for Juno Daily I spoke to Joakim Forsgren, a Swedish artist and musician who records as Autorhythm. His recent album ‘Self Help Manual’ is great, but the story behind it is fascinating. It’s the tale of a man that not only refused to let serious illness get the better of him, but grabbed it by the horns and used it to his advantage.

Yes, I know you’re all listening to the new Boards Of Canada album. Yes, I am too. No, I haven’t included it here because I haven’t properly absorbed it and therefore cannot give a fully formed opinion on it. That is the dedication I have to this whole music writing business dear reader. Although I did enjoy all the memes about the heatwave being an elaborate PR campaign for the band.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Parasol
END SKY ATLAS
Orange Milk

“Wendy Carlos at a rave” is how I’d describe this second album from Sydney, Australia’s Chuyi Wang. I was instantly hooked from the second I heard those MIDI keys on the opening bars of ‘The First Turn Of The Screw’, and the entire album has this exciting, frantic energy that runs through it like lightning. But in some ways, that almost sells it short. While the title track might start like a bunch of static ricocheting within a glowstick, by the second half you’re treated to an ambient synthscape accompanied by a sombre string melody. There’s dashes of hyperpop to ‘Find (New Earth Mix)’, while the slow electronic lament of ‘Predictive Heart’ slowly glitches and decays before bubbling back into life. There’s a full-bodied sound palette on display with ‘End Sky Atlas’; “MIDI is a miracle” says Parasol on their Bandcamp page. In their hands it certainly is.

Dan Moore
KIELDER WATER MUSIC
Bandcamp

It’s always nice when something like this drops into my inbox. Bristol-based Dan Moore creates meditative and moody soundscapes, and has featured on BBC Radio 3’s Night Tracks, played piano on Massive Attacks recent single ‘Boots On The Ground’, and has worked with the likes of Damon Albarn, Adrian Utley, and Seb Rochford, to name but a few. He’s also a member of both the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble and Modulus III. Quite the CV! ‘Kielder Water Music’ is his ode to Kielder Dam in Northumberland - in his own words “built for an industrial expansion that never came”. Combining field recordings, electronic piano, and a string quartet, it’s an EP in four distinct parts. And it’s gorgeous. I love the unexpected drum ‘n’ bass feel ‘The Architect’ has, skittering forward alongside a twinkling arpeggio. Contrast with the string-led ‘A Shift In The Land’ that invites you to drift slowly with it before bursting into orchestral sky-high euphoria. It’s not hard to understand why Moore is a musician in demand. More like this please.

Fire-Toolz
LAVENDER NETWORKS
Warp

I have words on this record in other outlets, so I shan’t repeat myself. In a word: banger. Angel Marcloid’s debut for Sheffield’s Warp is a ferocious one, and her very specific blend of experimental, glitch, post-vaporwave, metal, cybergrind, IDM, and more is a force to be reckoned with. Moving in ways you never expect, ‘Lavender Networks’ is a wild rollercoaster full of screaming vocals, textured static, fantasy synthlines, and thudding bass. I reckon it’ll be up there as one of my favourites of the year. Warp are lucky to have this.

Gnoomes
FOREIGN AGENT
Rocket

I was so happy to hear that psych-rockers Gnoomes have a new album on the way. The band, the duo of Sasha and Masha Piankova (although I’m also counting recent canine addition Fižol as a member as well) are now based in Slovenia, having relocated several years ago from Russia for obvious reasons. ‘Foreign Agent’ (tongue-firmly-in-cheek with that title I’m sure) is the first single taken from upcoming LP ‘Foley’ and it’s a corker. Slowly building with a mix of motorik percussion (recorded back in their native Perm by former bandmate Pasha Fedoseev (do yourself a favour and check out his work as KIKOK)), hazy guitar chords, and wiggly hallucinogenic electronics, it all makes for a heady cocktail. But it’s Gnoomes, I expect nothing less.

SUSS
COUNTING SUNSETS
Northern Spy

New York City-based ambient country trio SUSS’s latest album ‘Counting Sunsets’ has been on almost-permanent rotation recently. Divided into 10 ‘Sunsets’, each track expands on the groups trademark slow-moving Americana. Think Ry Cooder and Hayden Pedigo, but more fuzzy, more minimal, and yet more atmospheric. ‘Sunset IV’ and ‘Sunset V’ are my personal favourites, although I also love the melancholy of ‘Sunset VI’. But frankly it’s all gold. The way the band utilise negative space, as well as squeezing every inch out of those decaying steely chords is a marvel. This is the perfect album for the recent hot weather, but I know I’ll still be listening to this come the end of the year.

John Carpenter
LORD OF THE UNDERGROUND
Sacred Bones

The Horror Master, along with son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, returns with the latest entry in their musical canon. Upcoming album ‘Cathedral’ follows their scoring work for the most recent string of ‘Halloween’ films as well as their ‘Lost Themes’ albums, their “soundtracks for the movies in your mind”. ‘Lord Of The Underground’ is the first single taken from upcoming LP, which looks to be the full works. An album and a graphic novel based on a dream Carpenter had in 2024? “An abandoned cathedral. A gruesome murder. A powerful supernatural entity living in the catacombs. It all comes to a head in downtown Los Angeles. What will happen and who will live to tell the tale?” reads the blurb. ‘Lord Of The Underground’ has a heavier sound than some of the trios’ other work, full of Gothic synthesisers, Davies’ gnarly guitar chords, and ecclesiastical chorus, but still full of those panicked ‘Halloween’-esque electronics. There’s never a dull moment with John Carpenter who, when I interviewed him back in 2018, was far more interested in talking to me about video games than anything film or music related.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// A recent New York times investigation has uncovered that Steven Rosenbaum’s book ‘The Future Of Truth’ about the effects of AI on truth contains quotes entirely made up by AI. Because apparently the future can get even more stupid. In response, Rosenbaum has started his own “investigation” into how this happened (spoilers: because he used ChatGPT and Claude for “research”). What happened to good old fashioned human-led research?

// An autonomous submarine examining the ice shelves in Antarctica discovered strange structures under the ice, lost contact with researchers, then disappeared. Aliens? Hidden intelligent civilisation? Dark under-god that we’ve disturbed? Well, no, probably not.

// Lots of films have caught my eye recently, so a quick rundown…

// I don’t know a lot about Canadian mockumentary series ‘Nirvanna The Band The Show’, but I do know it has a not-insignificant cult following, as does its film adaption ‘Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie’. It’s finally getting a UK theatrical release via Vertigo. Kooky off-beat comedy? Might be worth a shot.

// I’ll always look forward to a new Nicolas Winding Refn film, even if I end up not caring for it (looking at you ‘Only God Forgives’). ‘Her Private Hell’ is a horror-sci-fi that involves a mysterious mist, an American GI, and Sophie Thatcher (who I don’t think I’ve seen in anything since ‘The Boogeyman’). As always, it visually looks a treat.

// I was a big fan of ‘I Saw The TV Glow’, so I’m very much looking forward to Jane Schoenbrun’s next film ‘Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma’. The film follows a queer director who becomes obsessed with casting the “final girl” in her horror franchise. They had me at Gillian Anderson.

I can’t believe another two weeks have whizzed by. At least the weather’s getting a bit nicer. Sort of. Anyway, if you’d like to read more of my writing, I recently covered the upcoming reissue of Monolake’s ‘Interstate’ for Juno Daily. It’s a great album, and sounds just as fresh as it did 30 years ago.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Alex Zhang Hungtai
DRAS
Shelter Press

You know when you discover what you think is a fresh face, and you do some background research and you realise there’s a whole world out there? Well, not only didn’t I realise that Taiwanese-Canadian artist Alex Zhang Hungtai has been recording music since 2011 (first as Dirty Beaches, then as Last Lizard), he also appeared in the fifth episode of ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’, performing as Trouble alongside Dean Hurley and Riley Lynch. Who knew! Armed with a saxophone and initially recorded in 2019 inside Montreal’s Saint Joseph Oratory, Hungtai has delivered nine cavernous drone compositions on ‘Dras’, each of them haunting in their own unique way. Comparisons to Lynch had already crossed my mind, and make even more sense now, but there’s also an air of worriedaboutsatan here, particularly his more sinister, ambient outings - just listen to the eerie ‘Estado’. It once again looks like I’ve got some digging to do.

Mu Tate
LIFE OF MU
OST

I have a feeling this record might slowly become one of my favourites of the year. Mu Tate is the alias of Latvian-born, Berlin-based electronic producer Artur Strekalov who creates dubby landscapes littered with field recordings, cut-up samples, and vaporous textures. He’s been tinkering away since the end of the 2010s, and by my count this is his fourth LP. ‘Life Of Mu’ is a document of life, aural snapshots of the everyday, augmented by Strekalov’s spacey textures. Opener ‘World Has Ended For Me Many Times And Still Began Again In The Morning’ filters Gen Z anxieties over the state of the world through the wub-wub of electronics, while there’s almost a motorik feel to ‘Heavyweight’, a pulsating drone countering a steady drum beat. The album’s also segmented by three personal tales - ‘Vlad’s Story’, ‘Era’s Story’, and ‘Yves’s Story’. Each of them is peppered with atmospheric synths, experimental textures, and some warped vocal processing. ‘Life Of Mu’ stands on its own as an album, but also as a snapshot of society’s current moment.

Gobby
I GUESS BRO
Bandcamp

In a similar vein to ‘Life Of Mu’, I’ve been really enjoying this from Gobby. The New York City producer faces modern life with a shrug on ‘I Guess Bro’, a truly experimental collection of songs. Tracing a line from his time producing hip hop, this is 21 tracks of cut-up samples, processed vocals, glitch, and noise. Some tracks run under a minute, and will swing sharply from dark and dirgy (‘The Brutalist’), to bright and melodic (‘The Pianist’). “Party at my house / We are all hanging out” intones Gobby with the manner of someone actively trying to discourage you from coming to their house party. The plucky background strings of ‘Decline Recline’ are joined by distorted voice reminiscent of Tobacco/Black Moth Super Rainbow and Lynchian backwards-speak. And there’s a bubbling mania to the squelchy ‘Splice’. This is a proper flurry of sound ideas, clocking in at just under 40 minutes. A statement on information overload? Who knows. But it’s good stuff all the same.

Makeup And Vanity Set
I MADE THESE SONGS FOR THE FINAL SEASON OF THAT HUGE STREAMING SERIES BUT THEY DIDN’T USE ANY OF THEM
Bandcamp

The title speaks for itself, but this is a fab collection of synthwave cuts from Makeup And Vanity Set which I’m sure would have made a fine addition to any 1980s-influenced TV score. ‘Blank Tape’ has an sinister 1950s Roswell feel to it; arpeggios like Escher’s staircase climb around reverbed bell chimes on ‘High School’; and expansive synthlines crash like waves on ‘Until The End’. It’s great that these have seen the light of day, and can be enjoyed independently of “that huge streaming series”. No prizes for guessing which one.

Mega Drive
16BIT BLESSINGS
Bandcamp

This small selection of darksynth tracks from Mega Drive has also really hit the spot. ‘16bit Blessings’ is four gritty cybernetic monstrosities, each of them carved with a chiptune-edge as a call-back to the video game era the Dallas-based musician takes his name from. But these are not just chiptune tracks. ‘Infinite Ammo’ is guttural with its industrial peals, hissing away like some cyberpunk kettle, while ‘Sunset Strip’ is the most video game-y of the bunch. Spiky looping synthesis covered in a ghostly wind scores a level that ends with some gnarly electronic textures, as though the boss has just appeared for the final bout.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// I don’t normally include yet more music in this section, but there’s been a few releases that have caught my ear that deserve mentioning.

First up two more tracks from Boards Of Canada, taken from their hyper-hyped upcoming album ‘Inferno’. I didn’t expect ‘Prophecy At 1420 MHz’ to be quite so proggy and gothic, but I’m not complaining.

// The Midnight have also released a new song ‘Neon Odyssey’ as part of the launch of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign of the same name. I have never played D&D. But if you’re in the mood for some nostalgic synthwave, the song (and music video) are very good.

// Because I’m a normal person, I semi-regularly search for covers of Tangerine Dream’s ‘Love On A Real Train’ (which, gun to my head, could be my favourite song of all time). I recently discovered this one from Change Request, which I think really captures the essence of the song without being a straight-up copy.

// Japan has run out of robot wolves in its fight against bears. I feel like the headline says it all, but the article is fascinating. Robot wolves that are solar-powered and have red LED eyes made to scare bears? This is the sort of story I want to hear about in the 2020s.

I’m a week late with this one, as I’ve been beavering away on bits and bobs for various other publications. I’m sure you’ll be able to read those soon. And in the meantime, Boards Of Canada have returned. Wild! A bit more on that further down. And somehow it’s May!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:

ko-fi.com/happeningagain

ESCOTE
COLUMN ADDRESS STROBE
Bandcamp

If you’re a fan of video games, particularly the indie variety, you may already be aware of this artist and not realise it. ESCOTE is the alias of Luis Hernandez, who served as the creative director and music producer on the hilarious surreal comedy adventure game ‘Jazzpunk’. ‘Column Address Strobe’ is, in his own words, “explorations in FM percussion and formant synthesis” which is pretty on the money. It’s a heady mix of industrial, glitch, and IDM, and there’s also a kit list for the synth nerds among us. I’m a big fan the buoyant ‘Stormy Sunday’, full of visceral metallic textures that ricochet like springs, as well as the propulsive ‘Super Silver Haze’, which sounds like a field recording from the inside of a desktop computer from the early 90s. There’s lots of really interesting sound design going on here - and if you’re that way inclined do check out ‘Jazzpunk’. It’s a lot of fun and absolutely hilarious.

Field Lines Cartographer
ROOTS IN THE FIRMAMENT
Astra Solaria

Umpteen albums in at this point and Mark Burford still knows how to dazzle us with his analogue cosmic ambience. Like several of his contemporaries, he’s got this down to a fine art at this point, and ‘Roots In The Firmament’ is no different. In his own words, Mark describes this record as “where the breath of the forest meets the vast stillness of the stars”. Yes please. Looping arpeggios are wrapped in gusts of haunting ambience (‘Circling’), while spiralling electronics climb like branches reaching for the sky (‘Sandalwood’). ‘Softly The Trees’ is just sublime, as though Mark has unleashed hundreds of polyphonic butterflies, each wingbeat radiating ripples of fluttering synth tones against the backdrop of a warm drone. Maintaining this level of quality is never easy, but this is Field Lines Cartographer we’re talking about. ‘Roots In The Firmament’ is another of many gold stars for Mark. Glorious stuff.

Plini
IMPULSE VOICES
Bandcamp

Anyone who has been in my vicinity over the past two weeks will know that this album has been on repeat and then some. Plini Roessler-Holgate’s guitar work just activates certain neurons in my brain like nothing else. ‘Impulse Voices’ is Plini’s second full-length LP, released in the November of 2020 and recorded from his bedroom studio earlier from March to May. Remote recording sessions seem not to have hindered the album at all. My personal highlights include the jazzy stylings of ‘Pan’, the melancholic prog metal of ‘I’ll Tell You Someday’, and the plucky string work of the title track. But honestly, it’s all good stuff. I’m due another listen (and then another one).

Skylar Spence
ALMOST BUTTERFLIES
Carpark

Skylar Spence is a new find for me, but I was quite taken with his ‘Almost Butterflies’ mix. The artist formerly known as Saint Pepsi (who in reality is Ryan DeRobertis) has been beat-making since 2012, releasing a slew of records that year that straddled vaporwave, future funk, and plunderphonics, before a certain fizzy drink conglomerate took issue with his name. In 2013 he switched monikers to Skylar Spence, releasing pop album ‘Prom King’ in 2015. ‘Almost Butterflies’ is much in the same vein - 22 minutes of cut-up samples, funk-laden chords, head-nodding percussion, and groovy electronics. Looks like I’ve got some research to do, seeing as though ‘Prom King’ got the deluxe 10-year anniversary reissue treatment via Carpark Records last year (and 2013 album ‘Hit Vibes’ has just been released on yellow vinyl).

Choir Boy
I’LL ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN
Dais

A single with that sleeve art was never not going to attract my attention but this, Choir Boy’s first bit of new music since 2020 is great. ‘I’ll Always Let You Down’ is a nostalgic mix of indie, dream pop, and dark wave - a little bit like New Order and Drab Majesty were shut in a studio together. There’s some power behind Adam Klopp’s vocals, as crisp synths and bass stab against the patter of shuffling drum machines. They’re currently supporting Californian rockers A Fire Inside on tour, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have another album on the way.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// Everyone I know has been vibrating with excitement (myself included) over the return of Boards Of Canada and ‘Inferno’, their upcoming new album. They released ‘Tape 05’, which seems to match ‘Father And Son’ off the record’s track listing. Exciting! You can listen to it below.

// Meta lost 20 million users at the start of the year, which may seem like a rounding error in the grand scheme of things, but appears to signal that growth is somewhat over. Maybe the worm is starting to turn.

//Andy Kelly’s fantastic ‘Ridge Racer Type 4’ zine ‘One More Win’ is back in stock permanently and I can highly recommend it. You don’t have to have played the game, or even really have an interest in video games to appreciate it. It’s such a lovely looking thing. But for those that are interested, it contains seven original essays that dive into the game’s aesthetics, soundtrack, and storytelling. Do also have a look at the expanded edition of ‘Perfect Organism’, Andy’s celebration of ‘Alien: Isolation’. I have many memories QA’ing the game, and although I only played a small part in its development, I’m very proud with how it turned out.

// I am asking once again for the headphone jack to be put back on phones (maybe I should go back to using an MP3 player…)

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. Nothing much to say this time round, other than to plug my wares one more time. Part I and Part II of ‘False Prophets’, a short previously unpublished crime story I wrote, are available for your reading pleasure.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Plini
MANALA
Bandcamp

It’s always fun when a record punches you around the chops, and doesn’t stop battering you until it ends. And so it goes with ‘Manala’, the latest single from Australian guitarist Plini Roessler-Holgate (known mononymously as “Plini”) taken from his upcoming third album ‘An Unnameable Desire’. This is finger work at its finest, starting off as a furious melodic metal number, shredding guitar chords so hot you can smell the rubber. Everything shifts down a gear at the mid-way point, tempos are lowered, and the focus is pulled entirely on Plini’s guitar. But when those synths kick-in? On repeat for the foreseeable and then some (and then some). On his Bandcamp page Plini describes his music as “hard easy listening”. I wish I’d thought of that.

GENA
THE PLEASURE IS YOURS
Lex

From the first few bars of opener ‘Who’s Got A Problem With GENA’, there’s something immediately inviting about ‘The Pleasure Is Yours’. For the uninitiated, GENA is a jazz-inspired duo consisting of Texan-born, California-based artist Liv.e and producer and drummer Karriem Riggins. There’s a free-form, almost-improvisational quality to this partnership, smooth deconstructed beats running alongside Liv.e’s smoky vocals, with warm melodies dripping in nostalgia. I wouldn’t say R&B is a genre that I have on regular rotation, but when it’s flecked with alt hip hop and neo-soul this expertly, it can stay. Highlights include the silky smooth ‘HOWWEFLOW’, the hazy ambience of ‘This Is So Crazy’, and ‘Unspokerrn’ shifting like a clipped, echoing mosaic.

Brian Foote/Paul Dickow
HIGH CUBE
Geographic North

Wisconsin raver and Kranky records right-hand man Brian Foote teams up with Portland-based DJ and producer Paul Dickow for this, their debut ‘High Cube’. The rules for this record were simple - “five machines, a one-hour timer, and a total ban on overthinking”. And the results? A set of shifting, experimental grooves, all spacey and expansive. Opener ‘Volcano Snails’ shuffles lazily like the animal it’s named after, woolly percussive hisses chuntering next to spiralling chimes. ‘Mother Of Thousands’ almost feels like an ambient track, beats muted by a thick cloud of atmospherics, and I love the kinetic ‘Yonaguni’, stabs of synths and clattering drums bobbing up and down like meerkats. And these were all made in an hour? Maybe more musicians should add some restraints to their production process. Especially if the results sound this good.

Loose Meat
LOOSE MEAT
Whipped Cream

I’m not sure how I found myself revisiting this self-titled (and sadly sole) record from UK duo Loose Meat, consisting of Archie Bronson Outfit’s Mark Cleveland and producer Kristian “Capitol K” Robinson. It was one of the first albums I ever reviewed for Electronic Sound, and I will never forget that record sleeve. ‘Loose Meat’ is 10 tracks of funky downtempo electro, awash in hissing drum machines and chunky analogue synthesisers. Brazilian artist Cibelle helps out in the vocal department, and there’s some additional contributions from Viva Seifert of Joe Gideon & The Shark. It’s great! ‘MdrnLv’ is the aural equivalent of dropping a tab of acid and jumping down a helter skelter, while there’s something of '“Kraftwerk goes to the disco” to ‘Regulator’. Glad I dug this out again.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// I can’t stop looking at this image taken during the Artemis II crew’s lunar flyby.

// Amazon is pulling support for Kindles made before 2012. Even if they work perfectly well. A good time to remember: books. Books never let you down.

// Definitely keeping my eye on whatever is going on with Boards Of Canada and these recent VHS tapes that keep being sent to random Warp customers…

// Sneaking into this newsletter at the last minute, I’ve just clocked that a split tape of the worriedaboutsatan gig I went to in February is available now - one side ‘satan, one side Hexama. Sadly the physical tapes went in a flash, but you can still grab yourself a digital copy. Bonus photo (that I forgot to post) of said gig.

A couple of things to go through before we get started. After a few conversations with several folk, I’m going to switch on paid subscriptions for this newsletter. This is entirely optional - Happening Again will still be completely free. This is only if you fancy supporting me and music journalism monthly. Think of it as buying me brew every month. Every little helps these days, and while I love writing this it doesn’t keep the lights on. It’s tough out there for everyone. But again, this will never be a paid newsletter.

You may have also seen that I put out my unpublished short crime story ‘False Prophets’ over the last week. I’m really proud of it, and thought I might as well chuck it out into the world rather than let it sit gathering dust. Both Part I and Part II are available for your reading pleasure.

And finally, you can find me in this week’s Moonbuilding reviewing Hawksmoor’s excellent drug-induced album ‘Am I Conscious Now?’. What drug, I hear you ask? You’ll have to read and find out. And subscribe to Moonbuilding if you haven’t already.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

Magic Sword
SIDE QUEST
Bandcamp

I’m a big fan of this latest single ‘Side Quest’ from electronic group Magic Sword, released today and taken from their upcoming album of the same name. The mysterious trio, hailing from Boise, Idaho, only go by The Keeper, The Seeker, and The Weaver, with their work revolving around their personas and their link to a magical sword. ‘Side Quest’ continues the group’s very specific flavour of synthwave - less 80s-influenced, and more guided by electro-rock. An optimistic guitar solo accompanied by euphoric synthlines, all wrapped up in video game score sensibilities? Sign me right up. And that album artwork. Just look at it! Glorious. You’d be correct if you feel like you’ve heard these guys before. An edited version of their 2015 single ‘In The Face Of Evil’ was used in the ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ trailer almost… 10 years ago. Christ. What was it Smash Mouth said?

Fire-Toolz
BALAM =^..^= SAYS IPv09082024 STRAWBERRY HEAD
Warp

She’s becoming a regular fixture among these pages, but I’ve no complaints if she carries on making music as good as this. Chicagoan electronic producer Angel Marcloid has announced her next record ‘Lavender Networks’, which will be her debut on Sheffield’s Warp Records - what a pairing! Going by first single ‘Balam =^..^= Says IPv09082024 Strawberry Head’ (you didn’t think those intricate song titles were going away did you?) we’re in for a treat. ‘Balam…’ is a firehose of maximalist IDM, peppered with screamo vocals and vaporwave melodies, before exploding into a cacophony of frantic metal-adjacent drum machines, manic electronic textures and an absolutely delicious shredding guitar solo. Play this nice and loud, and make special effort to annoy the neighbours. I can’t wait for the album.

worriedaboutsatan
NO KNOCK NO DOORBELL
This Is It Forever

He’s good is that Gavin Miller. Almost annoyingly so, but I can’t be mad. ‘No Knock No Doorbell’ is Gavin’s 20th album to date, and also celebrates 20 years of ‘satan. This record feels like a change of pace for worriedaboutsatan - I’m hesitant to use the word “acoustic”, but there’s definitely more noticeable guitar and drum work going on, and it’s all the better for it. I’ve said before that Gavin has this down to a fine art, and ‘No Knock No Doorbell’ is a blinding way to celebrate two decades of hard graft. A guitar drenched in reverb echoes into infinity on ‘Inside A Dream I: What Year Is This?’ (and on that song title, I see you Gavin, I see you). The deep, guttural loop of ‘A White Horse’ really gets into your bones, and I’m a huge fan of ‘Before Your Eyes (We Are Your Ancestors)’, an epic at almost 10 minutes. There’s a cyclical guitar melody that’s joined by a flurry of percussion, and then a bit more for good measure, before everything peters out into ambient prog. Shout out to his partner Sophie Green for her sublime string work on the fuzzy, menacing ‘A Terrifying Thing To Wake Up To’, one of my personal highlights of the album. How they manage this level of quality with releases this regular I’ll never know. But the scene is richer for having Gavin still doing what he does 20 years down the line. And if you ever get the chance to see him live, don’t miss out.

More Eaze
SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN THE COUNTRY
Thrill Jockey

The last time we heard Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Mari Rubio was her sparkling experimental ambient collaboration with fellow synthesist Claire Rousay. Now, under her More Eaze moniker, Rubio is putting vocals at the forefront of this latest outing on Thrill Jockey. ‘Sentence Structure In The Country’ melds processed vocals and meticulous electronic production with notes of country and folk, creating an album that merges the electronic and acoustic in a rather masterful way. Rubio has a knack for not only squeezing the most out of her instruments, but injecting some real dynamism in her music. Gentle keys, alien whirs, and dripping textures back manipulated vocals on opener ‘Leave (Again)’, while ‘The Producer’ is Rubio doing a straight forward folk track, that string melody accompanied with the metallic tick of a metronome. ‘A Chorale’ is entirely string-driven, with little help from anything electronic, but the real highlight is the almost-8-minute centrepiece ‘Biters’, a glorious miasma of harsh drones, chiptune textures, muted voice, and scattered percussive ripples. It’s really carefully realised stuff, and once again shows how Rubio has such a talent for innovative and exciting composition.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// It’s absolutely mad that buying a PS5 at launch is now considered a solid investment, considering Sony just announced some pretty considerable price rises for its line of PlayStation 5s. Six years into its life cycle you’d normally expect discounted bundles. Isn’t the future great.

// I’m not sure I can recommend this with my whole chest, but I’m been fascinated by HBO’s ‘Neighbors’ (with no relation to the Australian soap). It’s a docu-series by filmmakers Harrison Fishman and Dylan Redford, exec produced by Josh Safdie, that focusses on the petty neighbourhood squabbles of Americans. And it is insane. It’s like they managed to find a bunch of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ NPCs and film them. One episode could have been lifted straight from ‘Napoleon Dynamite’. I’m not sure I’d say it’s good, more morbid fascinating. And it absolutely captures the United States at its current, stupid, moment.

This is the second and final part of ‘False Prophets’, a short story I wrote a few years ago.

You can read Part I here.

Normal service resumes at the end of the week.

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

FALSE PROPHETS

Part II

This time it had been a jogger. Or rather, a fell runner, that had found the body. Another arm, stuck out awkwardly, gently caressed the bottom of the craggy outcrop. Large stones like shark teeth jutted out at all angles from the bottom of the precipice, as though some great creature was trying to eat its way out of the earth - and caught a person for its troubles. Unlike the scene of Jack Skaver’s death, this would not have made a beautiful painting. The body lay crumpled in an unnatural heap, limbs splayed and twisted in ways they shouldn’t. Blood was splattered in all directions, now a dark reddy-brown, like someone had flecked it there with a giant toothbrush. The victim’s face gazed vaguely up at the sky, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar, brain matter collecting at the side of a rock like exotic moss. This time, a helicopter was needed to retrieve the body.

“And your name is?”
“David Pearson.”
“And you say you found the body while out running?”
“That’s right. I thought I’d go for an evening jog after taking the dog out. I live just a few miles from here.”
“Bit dangerous to go out for a country run at night isn’t it?”
“I’ve never really thought about it. It’s something I do quite often. If I can’t go in the morning I’ll often go in the evening. Get the head torch on and off I go.”
“And you say you found him on your run?”
“Yeah, the route I take goes through the bottom of this crag. I saw the arm in the flash of my lamp. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what it was at first. I thought it was maybe a sheep that had fallen off the cliff or something. But then I spotted the arm. That’s when I immediately rang you.”
“And you’ve never seen the victim?”
“No, I don’t know him. Though to be honest, I’m not sure I’d recognise him even if I did. He was in a bit of a state, to say the least.”

Given the geography of the crime scene, and the time of the discovery, it took the police a while to recover the body of 18-year-old Lewis Jessop, a resident of Gorthed, a town about 10 miles away from Valles Vale.

#

Unlike Jack Skaver, Lewis Jessop was not widely liked in Valles Vale. But like Jack, Lewis was not unknown to the town. Expelled from school at 16, sacked from numerous jobs shortly after, Lewis was a drifter and a trouble maker who had already had several run-ins with the police in his short life. While not a resident of Valles Vale, he could often be seen smoking and drinking in street corners with his posse of hooded associates, harassing passersby, and sometimes starting fights on a Friday night outside the pub. “A terror,” is how one elderly Valles Vale resident would later describe him. “Good riddance,” another would say, “I shan’t be losin’ any sleep”.

If Jack Skaver’s death had lit the blue touchpaper of the rumour mill, a Guy Fawkes Night-level bonfire was about to erupt throughout the town, as people spread stories and theories about what they thought, or what “they were sure” had happened.

“He killed himself I reckon.”
“You think? Why would he do that?”
“Dunno. He was wrong in t’head.”
“Ey, behave. He was a bugger but you can hardly blame him.”
“I can and I will. He once started shouting at me and me missus outside the pub for no reason.”
“That’s not a reason for him to die.”
“I’m not saying it is! I’m sayin’ he ‘ad problems. He was probably off his face on something an’all. Probably had no idea what he wa’ doing.”

“Have you heard about Lewis?”
“Jessop? Yeah course I have. What do you mean ‘have I heard?’? It’s the only thing this fucking town is talking about now. It feels like everyone’s forgotten about poor Jack.”

“Weird innit?”
“What, his death?”
“Well yeah, but also how it happened.”
“What do you mean? Jumping off a cliff? Not the weirdest way to die.”
“Yeah, but he might have been forced to.”
“By who?”
“Dunno. What do you reckon?”
“Reckon about what?”
“What I’ve just said.”
“You haven’t said anything, you’re spreading nonsense!”
“Still weird though innit.”
“Shut up.”

“What about Lewis then?”
“What about him? I don’t care. The lad was a cunt to all and sundry. I’d sooner piss on him.”
“Bit ‘arsh.”
“Don’t care.”
“Anyway, did you know he was friends with Jack?”
“Was he? When did that happen?”
“They used to meet up every now and then apparently, but kept it fairly quiet. Jack’s mates say that he used go over to Gorthed every now and then, but wouldn’t really say why. Just ‘to see Lewis’. They were a bit surprised they were mates.”
“Wonder what they were up to. I’d never put those two together.”
“That’s why it’s weird. Dean reckons that it could be something to do with the VVs, what with how secret it was.”
“Dean reckons a lot of stuff. And anyway, the VVs? You believe all that do ya?”
“You never know.”
“What, and Jack and Lewis were both members?”
“Could be. Dean says-”
“Dean says a lot of shit. Stop listening to him.”

The VVs, or Veevees depending on your preferred conspiracy literature, was allegedly a secret society that had been running things in Valles Vale since the Middle Ages. They took their name from the initials of the town. There’s little evidence to suggest that they exist, or existed, save for the carved VVs that can be seen outside the church and in the corner of one of the paving slabs in the town centre. That didn’t stop the town’s population recounting stories about how the VVs were the ones who originally built the church; how every third member of the town council was a VV; and how the VVs ruthlessly dealt with anyone or anything that made trouble for Valles Vale. Teens with little else to do could be found spray painting two “Vs” on the side’s of businesses, with other’s getting “VV” tattooed on themselves, claiming to be members. A short-lived punk group from the 70s, The 55s, misunderstood or parodied the name for their band. The all-powerful invisible hand of the VVs directed much of Valles Vale’s history, and yet no one could concretely identify a member, or knew one personally.

When Lewis Jessop’s body was found not far from Jack Skaver’s, with the two deaths likely occurring close together, the theory that one or both were involved with the VVs quickly gained traction. They must have been offed for some reason - what did they know that others didn’t? One of them must have killed the other, under the order of the VVs - people must have got fed up of Lewis loitering around town; Jack must have been sent to kill him. Someone had seen - yes seen! - Jack getting a “VV” tattoo on his wrist. That was evidence enough. If the VVs were involved then it was best not to question anything further. “People shouldn’t be poking their nose in places it wasn’t wanted,” was a phrase heard in more than one establishment after Lewis’s body had been found. Ironic, considering this was Valles Vale.

John “Suppers” Brockley, initially rumoured to be the corpse in the bog, was often said to be a long-time member of the VVs. Now in his 50s, single, and a born and bred Valles Vale local, he worked as a farm hand in the area, and could be often seen outside any of the three pubs in town, observing the residents as they went about their lives. “Supping on an ale is his favourite past time”, people would say, hence the nickname. Though quick to rubbish any notion that he was a part of a secret society, or that a secret society had anything to do with the deaths of two teenagers, he was overheard sharing one bit of information that was unknown to many of the residents of Valles Vale.

“The VVs? Load of shite. Don’t believe any of that rubbish. They’re not real and I’m sick of having to say that. They wouldn’t have had owt to do with kids anyway, not that they exist! But no group would have had owt to do with Lewis Jessop. That lad was a nightmare. I had more than a few run-ins with him. Tried to start on me more than once, the twat. Still wouldn’t wish death on him though. Not with his upbringing. Did you know he was put into care at one point? His mum was at her wits’ end, apparently. Not that she was much use. No dad to speak of either. Well, none that I heard about.

“Jack was another story though. Poor lad. I wa’ shocked when I heard it was him. Drowned in a bog is a horrible way to go. And I’ve seen enough of them when I’ve been up at the farm. They’re deeper than you think, some of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lewis had summat to do with Jack’s death. You know they were mates? They’d meet up every now and then. It was like some big secret. I saw them once and watched them walking up the street. No not like that, fuck off. But they were close. I thought they were fighting at first, but then they wandered off ‘appy as Larry. They were holding hands an’all. I swear, they were! I don’t think they realised anyone was there. Hand-in-hand, they just went off into the night. This were a bit ago mind you. I’m not saying owt, but that’s what I saw.”

#

A vigil was held for Jack Skaver the day after his death. Hundreds of bouquets of flowers, along with printed photos and Polaroids of happy memories were left in the town centre. A town councillor could be heard joking that they needn’t turn on the street lamps that night; the candles and tea lights were enough to illuminate most of the town. There was no vigil for Lewis Jessop, and even in neighbouring Gorthed, only a small group of people gathered in his memory.

One month after the bodies of both Jack Skaver and Lewis Jessop had been recovered, the police announced that they were closing the criminal case into their deaths. Jack’s was ruled as an accidental death, with a toxicology report showing that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.20% (a fact that was later disputed by his mother and several of his friends). Lewis’s death was ruled as suicide, a troubled teenager who thought the world didn’t care about him and didn’t matter. He was reported to have had both alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time of his death.

The swiftness of the conclusions coupled with how quickly the police closed the case, led to many questioning when “the real truth” would come out. A local policeman would later admit that one of the locals had alleged that they had seen Jack, Lewis, and one other figure wandering the fields late into the evening. Who this mysterious third person was, if they even ever existed, no one would ever know. Whispers that they had both been killed by the mysterious VVs persisted, despite the continued lack of evidence surrounding the reality of the group. Most were more bothered about what this would do to the town’s reputation.

Would would this mean for Valles Vale’s chances at another Cosy Yorkshire Award? Would the town be featured in any more brochures? What about tourism, nationally and abroad? Some residents decided it was best to forget about the whole thing, and pretend it never happened. A tragic accident that we won’t talk about again. Wouldn’t want to ruin anyone’s income. Others sought to capitalise on the horror. If plain old regular tourism wouldn’t suffice, it was time to pivot to dark tourism. It was reported that at least two town council meetings erupted into angry shouting and profanity at the idea of monetising a recent town tragedy, and the idea was quickly shelved.

What if it had just all been a terrible accident? Jack had been wandering in a field, got lost and taken a fall. Not realising how deep the bog was, he’d panicked, his erratic movements encouraging the bog to pull him deeper and deeper, until he drowned. Lewis could have been taking a drug-fueled hike, which wouldn’t have been unusual knowing him. In his state he misjudged where exactly he was, and one misplaced step led to no ground becoming sharp ground.

Ask Suppers what he thought however and many reckoned he was closer to the truth. The revelation about the closeness of the two boys sent many heads spinning, and some grinning. One drunken evening at the Red Lancastrian, a somewhat ironic name for a pub in Yorkshire, Suppers would tell a small group of hangers-on that he thought it was a lovers quarrel gone horribly wrong. Jack and Lewis had snuck out for one of their semi-regular but secret rendezvous, with Lewis supplying the booze. They’d gone out for an evening stroll, but something had turned the mood sour. Why? Suppers wouldn’t speculate, but whatever it was had got nasty enough that they’d had a fight, and a violent one at that. Drunkenly scrapping in the middle of a field as night set in, neither had realised how far out they’d walked, or how dangerous things could get. Lewis had accidentally killed Jack, either by drowning him in the bog, or some other way, and later dumping his body there. The realisation of what he’d done was too much, and through a mixture of panic, grief, and anger, he’d found the highest nearby point and jumped.

One year after the deaths of Jack Skaver and Lewis Jessop, a group of Valles Vale teenagers headed up into the fields, close to the spot where Jack’s body had been found. Armed with several bags-for-life stuffed with alcohol and three grams of weed to share, they spent almost the entire night drinking, smoking, and laughing under the stars, as nearby sheep baaed and murmured at the disturbance. The farmer, up early to do his rounds, the same farmer who found Jack’s body, spotted them heading back towards Valles Vale at around quarter to five in the morning.

As his quad bike rumbled through the fields, border collie eagerly darting ahead, he spotted a hand reaching out of a nearby bog. There were no sheep circling it this time. Swearing under his breath, he slowly drew closer as his dog went to investigate, but lost interest almost immediately after a couple of sniffs. The arm flopped sideways, attached to nothing, the bog bubbling ominously as though threatening to swallow it. “Bloody teenagers have no shame or respect,” he would later tell the barmaid in the pub. He retrieved the prosthetic limb and fastened it to the back of his vehicle, collie shooting off in the direction of a group of sheep, mist swirling like spirits around the dark gurgling patch of earth, as he continued his checks throughout the early morning.

And now for something completely different. I thought I’d share a short story with you all that I wrote a few years ago for entry in a northern crime anthology. It ultimately did not get picked to be included, but I’m quite proud of it and thought it might have an audience somewhere out in the vast wide web. This is just something extra.

‘False Prophets’ surrounds the death of a teenager in the small rural town of Valles Vale, and the fallout that occurs from the accusations and rumours that follow.

You can read the first part below, with the final part coming next week.

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

FALSE PROPHETS

Part I

The hand had started to sag by the time it had been found. There was an almost comic strangeness to it, protruding from the bog like the spout of a teapot, the surrounding reeds spiking upwards in shocked clumps. Taken as a whole, the scene was as bleak as it was picturesque. “It would have made a beautiful painting,” one crime scene investigator would say later, as she studied her photos. The muddy grey-blue sky was streaked with clouds, glistening wet fields rolling in green waves around a yawning inky bog, a deep, dark brown, the paling arm sticking out and upwards dead centre.

It was a farmer that found it, while doing his routine morning checks. They said it was normally a jogger, or a dog walker, that found these things. Rarely a farmer. But the body had caught the attention of his sheep. They’d become fascinated by it, braving the bog to get closer, congregating in an eerie circle. As the quad bike growled up to the flock, the border collie’s ears went up, and like a dart it bolted towards the centre of the livestock. A swift phone call to the police followed. The farmer would tell the police he thought they were going to have to send a helicopter this far out. No, they’d said. The single track access was only a short walk through the fields. And anyway. They had to be sure this was serious.

“So, just go through it with me again. How did you find the body?”
“Wull ah wa’ just doin’ me usual checks. Ya know, mekin sure all t’sheep were OK. Mekin sure everythin’ wa’ in order. It can get a bit ‘airy sometimes, ya know. Foxes an’ that. Sumtimes the odd badger. Anyway. As ah wa’ sayin’, I cem up on the quad and I saw the sheep all sorta stood in a circle.”
“Right. And then what?”
“I thought it wa’ reyt strange. Sheep are bloody stupid ya know. Scared of owt an’all. So ah thought it wa’ weird that they were in a circle like that. Kinda sniffin’ as well.”
“Sniffing?”
“Yeah, sniffin’ around the arm. They rarely tek an interest in that sorta stuff. So ah knew there were summat wrong. And they’re never that co-ordinated. I wa’ shocked it wa’ almost a perfect circle! Obviously ah know now why they were so interested.”
“OK. Did anything else happen? Did your sheep disturb the body?”
“What are you suggestin’? Ah’ve done nowt to it and neither ‘ave me sheep. Though the dog went straight fo’ it. That’s when ah knew summat wa’ really wrong. She weren’t happy at all.”
“Did the dog disturb the body then?”
“What are ya accusin’ me of? If you’ve got summat to say just say it. I’ve done nowt. But she did have a sniff. I thought it wa’ just a stick at first. The way it wa’ pokin’ up from the ground. Shook me up a bit, to tell ya the truth. Nowt like that happens around here. As soon as I knew what it wa’, that’s when ah called you lot.”
“I see. And you didn’t see anything? Sir, sir, I’m not accusing you of anything. What I mean is, do people usually walk through these fields? Is it normal to see people walking through them? Do people know about the bog?
“Ya get the odd rambler now an’ again. Ah guess some of the kids from the school sumtimes wander through. Ya know what t’youngens are like. Drinkin’ in t’fields an’ that. But any local worth their salt know not t’go in t’bog. Poor lad. I ‘ope it weren’t long.”

The body was identified as 17-year-old Jack Skaver, a local teenager from the nearby town of Valles Vale. He was born, bred, and eventually laid to rest there.

#

Valles Vale sits in one of the most northerly parts of North Yorkshire, not far from the Lancashire border. Like many things in Valles Vale, the history of the town is somewhat up for debate, but it’s thought its origins lie as a tiny unnamed Celtic settlement, from around 78 AD. It was only once the Romans arrived a few years later that it would get its name, but not before some bloody encounters between the native dwellers and foreign invaders that now laid claim to Britain. It would take a year of skirmishes before both parties would peacefully co-exist, in a manner of speaking. It was then that the town was named, though the debate still rages to this day about how it actually came to be. The main theory stems around a translation issue between the Celts and the Romans, combining the Latin word valles meaning “valley” with “vale”, both factions refusing to use one or the other and ultimately using both. However, this doesn’t entirely stand up to scrutiny. “Vale” would not have been used until the Norman conquest some thousand years later (though “don’t mention the French” was a common edict throughout England). The word “dæl” or “dale” may have appeared when the Vikings arrived in the late 8th century, and through another mistranslation the word became “vale”. But whether it was the arrival of the Romans, the plundering and pillaging of the Norse, the conquest of the Normans, or the bloody War Of The Roses, in which the town became a battleground hotspot between the two warring houses, bloodshed was wrought throughout the early history of Valles Vale.

Since the very beginning, the rural settlement was a trading outpost as well as a farming town, primarily sheep, but not exclusively. It still is to this day, with tractors and quad bikes a regular feature of the single track roads. Throughout the 20th century, Valles Vale became a benefactor of tourism, most prominently after the Second World War. From 1996 to 1999 it received the prodigious Cosy Yorkshire Award, and in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007 was awarded gold in Best Rural Getaway. It is regularly featured in holiday brochures both nationally and abroad. So when news of Jack Skaver’s death ran like wildfire throughout the town, all hell broke loose.

At first many simply didn’t believe a body had been found nearby. These things simply “did not happen in places like this”. It must have been a mistake, or a cruel, sick, practical joke; someone was spreading lies on Facebook, it was a rumour that had gotten out of control. But when it became clear that not only was this a very real thing that had happened, but the body had belonged to a local - and a teenager at that - everything began to unravel.

The discovery was early in the morning, and despite the police’s best efforts, the news had reached the town as the school buses pulled into Valles Vale Secondary. Privacy was hitherto unheard of in a town like this. The Secondary and local Primary school were immediately shut for the day, which some would later attest was one of the worst things that could have happened. Waves of students were left to roam and congregate throughout the community; left to make up their own minds about what had actually happened. A few names had already been floated.

“It’s Suppers I heard.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Got pissed then drove up t’farm. Had another couple then went for a walk.”
“But they said it wa’ a lad from school.”
“Nah, the police don’t want you know the real story. You know what they’re like.”
“Eh?”
“Danni says she knows who it is.”
“Yeah? Someone she shagged is it?”
“Fuck off. She says it’s one of Deans mates. Says she heard he was coming back from one of those field parties near the farms.”
“What, and then he drowned in a bog? How did that happen?”
“That’s the weird thing, no one knows. Danni says that Ellie said he ‘adn’t been drinking. Says he was sober, which she thought was weird. I reckon there’s something else going on.”
“I reckon you’re talking shit.”

By lunch time, Jack Skaver was the name on everyone’s lips, and the mood had shifted. No longer was this just a game of rumours and whispers. The body had a clear face and personality known to the area. “It” had become a “he”, who had friends, enemies, and family that many knew, and that others knew of. People were sad. But people were also very angry.

#

There was nothing particularly remarkable about Jack Skaver, though he certainly wasn’t an unknown quantity. A fairly normal teenager in his first year of sixth form, studying for his A levels after achieving average to above average grades in his GCSEs. Tall, good-looking, and athletic, he was often seen on the football pitch both during and after school, though sport was not something he “wanted to make a career of”. He had a strong and far-reaching circle of friends, and was popular throughout the community. He was not without his rivals, but was too well-liked to be bullied. Though he had been involved in a fracas, which had escalated into a rather nasty fight, just one day before he died.

“Did you hear about Jack?”
“What?”
“Jack Skaver?”
“What about him?”
“Did you hear about him and Greg?”
“No? What are you on about?”
“Greg started on Jack last night. They had a huge shouting match at Crag Park after a kick-about. I can’t believe you didn’t hear about it.”
“What? Really? Why?”
“Greg said he’d heard about Jack sleeping with his girlfriend. Said he wanted to know why Jack hadn’t owned up to it ‘like a real man’.”
“Jack slept with Ella? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. It was at a party somewhere a few weeks ago. Dean says he thinks it’s been going on for a while.”
“Oh yeah, course he did. What else did Dean say? That he’d won the lottery?”
“Fuck off. This is real, this. The fight was proper bad ya know. Greg started screaming at Jack. I mean, properly screaming at him, then threw a punch. Clacked him on the side of ‘is ‘ead. Jack then jumped him and started punching him proper. Like, one after the other. It was really mental. Some of the footy lads had to break it up.”

It was true that Jack Skaver was close with Ella Crosby, much to the chagrin of Greg Deighton. It was also true that at a house party thrown by one of the Year 12s to celebrate the start of sixth form, Jack and Ella were rarely seen apart for most of the night. Greg had been absent and, if some were to be believed, was at another party with another girl. But there was no evidence to suggest that Jack and Ella had been intimate with one another. As some would later attest, that just wasn’t Jack’s style. When Jack’s mother Linda was asked about this particular incident, her grief was briefly punctured with a flare of indignance.

“He would never do such a thing. Our Jack knew what honour was, not like some around here. Ella was a friend, and a good one at that. I can’t believe you’d ask such a question.”

When news of Jack’s death began to ripple through Valles Vale, Greg Deighton became the first target of the town’s ire and accusations. Another local, tall, dark-haired, good-looking, and one of the louder, more popular boys in the sixth form, Greg was a known trouble maker, and had been arrested more than once for drunk and disorderly behaviour. The town had swiftly become convinced that whatever had happened to Jack, Greg was behind it. When Valles Vale Secondary closed after the news broke, several groups of sixth form boys immediately headed to Crag Park, the local football spot, to let off some steam and deal with their grief. But when Greg arrived to join them, a civil war erupted between two factions of lads: one that was sure “it was him”, the other mounting a violently passionate defence of “don’t be so stupid”. It wasn’t long before members of the rugby team joined in, as well as a few local layabouts, and the police were called in. No arrests were made.

Rumours continued to swirl throughout the day, and accusations flung left, right, and centre.
It was another of the football lads, who’d never liked Jack anyway.
It was Richard and Todd, twin brothers who owned the tool shop. Why? They hadn’t liked Jack when he’d done work experience there, and anyway, they were weird. Who wants to own a shop with their twin?
It was Sandra Hood, the English teacher at Valles Vales Secondary. “She’d had it in for Jack since he was in Year 9”, his mother was overheard telling someone in the pub.
It was gypsies, it was pakis, it was that “fucking Polish bastard” that was occasionally seen in town. It was anyone remotely “other” to Valles Vale.

That evening, shortly after the police had decided to make no arrests at Crag Park, Greg Deighton walked home to find a small crowd waiting outside his house. In the pale blue of early twilight, the harsh white glare of camera phones bobbing up and down looked like a sinister collection of large fireflies, shouts of “where is he?” and “stop hiding him!” echoing throughout the street. Greg watched as his stepdad, looking haggard at the front door, told the crowd to fuck off, as the windows of neighbouring houses creaked open, pairs of eyes staring with glee but pretending not to.

At the very same time, around three quarters of a mile from the bog where Jack had been found, another body was discovered at the bottom of a steep cliff.

***

I’ve accidentally made this issue an ambient issue, although I guess it could be argued that a lot of these are strictly “ambient” issues (note for next time: stop saying “issue”). Music journalists and their genres, eh?

I’m back reviewing in the new issue of Electronic Sound, whose star this month is the mighty Cabaret Voltaire. The cover feature is excellent, written by some guy called Neil Mason. No, I’m not sure either.

You can also find my words (for the next 26 days!) on Rival Consoles excellent ‘Persona’ album on Cantilever. Personal bias aside, I really do think Aaron is building something quite special with this streaming service. Despite the fact I’m often on the hunt for new music, I’ve found myself looking forward to what is coming up on the service, as well as all the extra bits that come with the music. Do give it a try if you haven’t already (especially if you’re sick and tired of the usual suspects).

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Midlum
UNDER STILLHET
Bandcamp

Sometimes, it’s not just Bandcamp or my inbox that brings in the goods. I found Dutch musician Midlum via Substack. ‘Under Stillhet’ is the first release from a series titled ‘A Soundtrack For Paintings’, a collaborative project with fellow Dutch artist Christiaan Kuitwaard. You can read the story behind the work, as well as view the online exhibition here, but the focal point of this entry is a house in Denmark in midsommer. Via expansive ghostly textures and delicate key work, Midlum translates the shades, the colours, and the space of the painting aurally into a melancholic, beautiful slice of neoclassical. The way it builds with those swelling electronics reminds me of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s work. I’m very interested to see where this series goes, especially if the rest is as good as this entry.

Dylan Henner
BART VS THE WORLD
Bandcamp

I promised in the last issue (that damn word again!) that I’d have more on Dylan Henner’s ambient ‘Simpsons’ album, and don’t you worry, I’m a man of my word. Having already dazzled me with his plunderphonic portal ‘Star Dream FM’, he apparently wanted to appeal even more to my tastes and released ‘Bart Vs The World’. At first glance this might seem a bit gimmicky, but there’s actually quite a lot of interesting world-building going on here. ‘The Simpsons’ has always had a really visually interesting method of representing darkness; the way the animators use blues, purples, and teals gives Springfield at night-time a dreamlike quality. Whether it’s Bart getting up at four a.m. to look at a comet, Lisa and Nelson gazing at the town from the top of a hill, or Homer sat on the bonnet of his car, staring up at the stars - it conjures up a hazy, almost illicit feeling that’s hard to describe. And yet Dylan Henner has managed to translate these feelings into music. Using a mix of electronic textures, choral pads, and field recordings (along with suitably long titles that Henner is known for), ‘Bart Vs The World’ really does feel a stroll through Springfield in the wee hours. Haunting ambience shifts like mist on ‘A Single Pool Of Light Illuminating The Corridor Outside Marge And Homer’s Bedroom’. ‘An Abandoned Industrial Building In Downtown Springfield’ starts off exactly like the show’s opening, a choral note that extends, and is gradually accompanied by a looping, dissipating glockenspiel melody. It’s a track that feels like it bleeds melancholy - a contrast to the spry synthesiser stabs of ‘Barney’s Bowlerama Car Park At Night’. ‘The Simpsons’ sometimes feels like a cheat code to get the attention of a certain type of person. And an ambient concept album based around ‘The Simpsons’ could have been a cheap gimmick. In the hands of Dylan Henner, it’s anything but.

OHYUNG
IOWA
Bandcamp

I was deeply and immediately taken by this album, which is always good sign. OHYUNG is the alias of Brooklyn-based artist and composer Lia Ouyang Rusli. She has an impressive CV, having scored Eva Victor’s award-winning ‘Sorry Baby’, as well as Salvadorian comedian Julio Torres’ HBO series ‘Fantasmas’ and his surreal comedy film ‘Problemista’. ‘IOWA’ is OHYUNG’s ode to the US state of the same name where she lived for 11 months, and is also an homage to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’. Whereas Springsteen’s voice is the driving force behind that album, OHYUNG uses a sonic palette that includes hissing tapes, soaring chorus, warped found sounds, and blossoming synths. It’s pretty poignant stuff, and there’s an unease that runs through the entire record. ‘Purgatory’ sounds exactly how I imagine it to be - bassy growls, muffled scratches, twinkling tones, and a hazy chorus so thick you can almost feel the condensation. ‘Driftless’ ebbs and flows, making as mush use of negative space as it does its chatter of found sounds. But the highlight for me is ‘Christofascism’, that ever-present chorus taking a sombre turn, dark synth chords sighing, drones and percussion building with a sudden sense of optimism, before it all fades to silence. An interesting, evocative album from an interesting, provocative artist. And if that wasn’t good enough, all vinyl and Bandcamp sales from ‘IOWA’ will be donated to the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. Great music for a great cause.

KMRU
KIN
Editions Mego

“‘Kin’ is a record to be played slow and LOUD,” it says on KMRU’s Bandcamp page. KMRU is Kenya-born, now Berlin-based electronic composer Joseph Kamaru. He’s a sonic menace, having produced around 20 albums between 2017 and 2020, while his double album ‘Peel’ was made in two days. ‘Kin’ was initially conceived as a vague sequel to ‘Peel’, with Kamaru starting work on it in Nairobi in 2021 before life, death, the universe (and likely the pandemic) got in the way. I really like how dense this record is; it’s as though Kamaru carved ‘Kin’ from stone. Thick synthlines oscillate with warmth on opener ‘With Trees Where We Can See’, while ‘Maybe’ drifts glacially, yawning drones swirling with a flickering intensity. ‘They Are Here’ is a standout - nails on a chalkboard is an often tired metaphor, but this is a steel girder dragged along concrete, ominous vibrations constantly building with intensity, slowly joined by decaying squeals. It really is a tune that you should be playing slow, and loud.

Caterina Barbieri / Bendik Giske
AT SOURCE
Light-Years

An Italian synthesist and a Norwegian saxophonist walk into a bar. Well, they don’t. But they do make an EP together. What started as an artistic residency at Milan’s ICA in 2021 has flourished into an EP, in which the pair join forces to create their own cosmic sound worlds, wielding their preferred weapon of choice. It’s a genius pairing, and while analogue meeting electronic is nothing new, the way these two musicians interact with each other makes for very dynamic listening. On ‘Intuition, Nimbus’, Giske’s saxophone flutters like a brass butterfly across the winds of Barbieri’s airy electronics, that start off all floaty and then soar bright and loud. The 11-minute ‘Impatience, Magma’ is a real banger - the panicked, processed sax quivering against growing analogue loops, ricocheting off each other before everything churns like a vortex, Barbieri and Giske each taking turns to pull focus. It’s great to see these two artists not only flex their composition muscles, but mesh so well together. Essential listening.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

// I must be terribly naïve, and also sound like a luddite, but I was pretty shocked when I saw a writer and journalist I highly admire asking which LLM was more accurate for asking questions. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just… research something yourself.

// Any child of the 90s will know that, regardless of what games console or gadget you might have been messing around with, to your parents it was always “the Nintendo”. Even if it was a PlayStation. Well, they may have been onto something because the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas has managed to get hold of the mythical Nintendo PlayStation that never made it past the prototype stage. It’s a amazing piece of video game history that was thought to be lost to time. This Sony MSF-1 is the earliest known system of its type, and was planned as a CD attachment for the Super Nintendo.

// On the subject of video games, I thought it was interesting that GOG, the PC storefront that specialises in retro games, reports that ‘Heroes Of Might And Magic III’, a strategy game from 1999, is their top-selling retro game with half of buyers under 25. This, they say, is due to younger generations growing up with games like ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Roblox’, games where graphical fidelity takes a backseat. I’d argue that graphical leaps are less severe than the jump of, say, the Super Nintendo to the N64. Regardless, it’s a marked change from pouring hours into a microtransaction-laden live-service games.

// Put the headphone jack back on phones.

I’ve got this one out a week early to compensate for the delay of the last issue. I know you were all on tenterhooks.

Not that I ever do an Album Of The Year round-up, but there’s definitely an AOTY contender here among the pickings. No prizes for guessing which, but it’s a banger.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

username/Marsh Crane
OVERTIME
Bandcamp

Nashville-based producer username teams up with Portland, Oregon producer Marsh Crane for this remarkably fun meeting of musical minds. ‘Overtime’ is a patchwork of hip hop instrumental, footwork, and samples, knitted together (while also cut-up, slowed, and processed) into a dynamic electronic record. Marsh Crane and username are no strangers to collaborating, with the latter mastering Crane’s ‘GSH’ album, as well as the pair putting out a handful of singles last year. With this, their first album proper together, the pair really flex their production muscles. There’s a bit of Flying Lotus here, an edge of Iglooghost (‘That’s It’), as well as shades of Kid Koala. I’m a big fan of how ‘Repetition’ uses, ahem, repetition to great effect, sampling Lil Wayne saying “repetition” and “record spins” on top of an overly dramatic instrumental. In fact there’s a cheeky playfulness to the whole album - you can’t help get the feeling the pair are mocking certain elements of modern hip hop. There are calmer moments, like the shifting ‘Report’ where drum patterns ripple like raindrops hitting a puddle. This is not something I’d normally have on rotation, but when you have an album this fun it’s hard not to have it on repeat. Get it? Because, there’s loads of samples and that. I’ll get my coat.

Fire-Toolz
PRIVATE ANGEL MESSAGE
Bandcamp

Not that surprising that I found myself revisiting Angel Marcloid’s catalogue as Fire-Toolz after her mesmerising work as Yapping Portal. ‘Private Angel Message’ is a single (or mini EP?) she released last September, a snip at three tracks but another genius insight into Marcloid’s bright musical mind. It’s an eclectic mix (par for the course) that skates around ambient pop, vaporwave, video game score, new age, noise… it’s Marcloid, you know the drill. Even with just three tracks, there’s some real range here. The sombre ‘Everything & Everywhere Is Screaming Into Me’, with its melancholic string work and ghostly ambience bubbles with something sinister, before folding into itself, musical dimensions whining, glitching, and fizzing under their own weight. Contrast that with the beautiful juxtaposition of 80s shopping centre muzak and screamo vocals of ‘The Halcyon Waterfall [CODENAME_FAILED DESERT MEMORY]’. Never a dull moment with Angel Marcloid.

Carpenter Brut
LEATHER TEMPLE
No Quarter Prod

French synthwave composer Franck Hueso completes his ‘Leather’ trilogy with possibly the finest entry yet. ‘Leather Temple’ reminds me a lot of Hueso’s debut full-length ‘Trilogy’ (which itself was a compilation of the three Carpenter Brut EPs), and from the off it never lets up. There’s extensive lore to this entry in the “Leather” canon (I’ve gone through it before but if you’re interested it’s all here), but ‘Leather Temple’ works as both a finale to a trilogy and a self-contained record. There’s a lot to enjoy. The ominous ‘Ouverture (Deus Ex Machina)’, a sinister organ-led symphony with the aura of the gate of a Gothic castle slowly rising, melts into the ferocious ‘Major Threat’, a cut of visceral, propulsive darksynth that hurtles forward with a white-hot fury. There’s a glorious 1980s euphoria to ‘Neon Requiem’, while ‘Iron Sanctuary’ is a monstrous titan of industrial textures; deep bassy oscillations that’ll set your teeth on edge. Hueso even treads into synthpop territory with ‘The End Complete’, its triumphant twinkling keys a palate cleansing finale. But this is synthpop by Carpenter Brut - there’s some orchestral twists and turns to be found. Whether you’ve been following the lore or not, with ‘Leather Temple’ Carpenter Brut puts his foot down and rarely let’s up. Album of the year contender this absolutely is.

Danny L Harle
CERULEAN
XL

One day I woke up, and I suddenly kept seeing the name “Danny L Harle” everywhere. I felt like the name rang a bell. Let’s have a look at Wikipedia shall we? Oh, formerly signed to PC Music and a member of Dux Content with A. G. Cook. That’ll be it. Daniel Jack Eisner Harle is a British composer who started life releasing songs as part of Dux Content, went on to produce for the likes of Caroline Polachek, Rina Sawayama, and Charli XCX. He released his debut studio album ‘Harlecore’, a furious explosion of hardstyle, eurodance, and rave - a bit of a jump from his most recent offering ‘Cerulean’. Harle has assembled the crème de la crème of contemporary pop chanteuses for this record, featuring collaborations with PinkPantheress, Oklou, Dua Lipa, as well as ol’ pal Polachek. That said I’m sort of torn with ‘Cerulean’. There are some really bright moments (the Balearic ‘Island (Da Da Da)’, the fast-paced choral ‘Starlight’ with PinkPantheress, the dancefloor-ready ‘Crystallise My Tears’ featuring the vocals of MNEK and Oklou), but there’s something that’s not completely clicking with me. It all feels a bit opportunistic. Maybe I’m being unfair. And hey, there’s nothing like striking while the iron is hot. I think I need to sit with this one a bit longer. Despite that, it’s still well worth a listen.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// RIP Éliane Radigue. Radigue was a pioneer of musique concrète in the 1950s, working alongside the likes of Pierre Schaeffer periodically at Studio d’Essai. She went on to become the assistant to Pierre Henry at Studio Apsome, developing her own techniques in tape loops and feedback. Her weapon of choice was the ARP 2500, and she spent the majority of her career developing her sound, before going in a more acoustic direction at the turn of the millennium. Admittedly, I was only vaguely familiar with her through Pierre Schaeffer’s work, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of memorials I saw for her going up online. There’s something to be said for the work and innovation that women have contributed to electronic music.

// Please enjoy this visualiser for the free Simpsons-themed ambient album ‘Bart Vs The World’ that Dylan Henner released at the start of the month. More words on that next issue.

// What a complete mess the Warner Bros. takeover has become. After announcing that they would be welcoming WBD and its subsidiaries to the family, Netflix has backed out of the takeover, leaving a hugely debt-ridden Paramount Skydance to acquire the company in a $111B deal. Despite Paramount themselves recently reporting a quarterly loss of about half a billion dollars. As well as Warner Bros. Discovery reporting a net loss of $252 million. Controlling both CBS and CNN is great and all, but I struggle to see how the company isn’t going to be in the shit in a few years. Ready for Netflix to swoop in and buy them both up.

// On that note, I’m getting increasingly tired of living in a world where the most comically evil people are constantly winning.

Too often I feel that I start these things talking about the weather but it was only the other day, when it felt like the sun decided to show itself for the first time this year, that I realised how dark 2026 had been. In a very literal sense. But you know, in an everything-everywhere-all-at-once sense, as well.

My good friend Neil Mason, he of Moonbuilding, asked me to review Conflux Coldwell’s ‘Shadows And Simulacra’ EP in last week’s edition, a record that was made partly with generative AI. There was lots to write about, and it was great to talk to CC about the process and thoughts behind the album. Get it read before the new Moonbuilding comes out tomorrow.

I’m also happy to say you can also find my writing as part of Cantilever, the streaming service that wants to do things a bit differently. I’ve written about it before, but the conceit involves albums only being available for a limited time, but with accompanying reviews, interviews, and other tidbits. It’s £4.99 a month, with a free trial, and a fairer share of royalties goes towards artist. Subscribe, and you can read my words on Iglooghost’s 2017 debut album ‘Neō Wax Bloom’.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Yapping Portal
BLUE FIFTY-SIX
Blue Tapes

Angel Marcloid is a woman of many personas. You may, in fact, have heard her music before. She’s (probably) more commonly known as Fire-Toolz, and she’s been a somewhat regular feature on Hausu Mountain. But she also has a whole host of monikers (sometimes one-use) that she uses to create music under all sorts of genres (my favourite, taken from Discogs: “␍◥☳ ⏨⍳⏨⎹⎹⍲⍝↸⏨♨♸ ☃⑆ - A one-off moniker used by Angel Marcloid aka Fire-Toolz. Electronic noise/glitch”). Here a new alias births a new album, or maybe it’s the other way around. “Yapping Portal material is composed in several stages” Marcloid explains. “There are hours of exploration and experimentation that go into it: Yapping endlessly. An open portal of expression.” Collected here as ‘Blue Fifty-Six’, Marcloid shares with us 18 sound portraits, all with varying degrees of experimentation. Easy listening this certainly isn’t, but I love an artist who isn’t afraid to get muddy. There’s suitable bonkers song titles as well. ‘Into Volo Bog ! Sapphire Slug Parliament’ is a swirling vortex of gurgling liquid static being poured down a plughole, while on ‘Web Gloss Flexible ! Infinite Blue Scroll’ a thick, heavy drone is peppered with alien bleeps and a stream of light percussion. Marcloid gets top marks for ‘Orphaned Automation Complete ! Carbonated Parroting Theory’, fizzing and crackling electronic textures so visceral they feel as though they’re dribbling out of your speakers. This won’t be for everyone, but I’ve always got time for someone who messes this intuitively with sound.

bvdub + East Of Oceans
REPLICANT MEMORIES
LILA लीला

I’ve been really taken with ‘Replicant Memories’, the album that Brock Van Wey put out at the end of last year in which two of his aliases join forces. Van Wey, who more commonly records as bvdub, is originally from San Francisco but is now based in Shaoxing, China and has released over 70 albums since 2007. He primarily makes ambient techno under bvdub, with his Earth House Hold and East Of Oceans used for deep house and drum ‘n’ bass respectively. So is ‘Replicant Memories’ a fusion of ambient techno and d ‘n’ b? Sort of. Across four tracks, each 20-minutes-ish apiece, Wey takes us across a sea of textures, beats, and genres. There’s something very dreamlike in the way tracks shift, in that it can seem sudden and left-field, yet make perfect sense (the way ‘We Felt The Glowing Rain’ fades from ambient soundscape into avant-IDM is a treat). It’s all very hazy, all very nostalgic, and even at its most breakneck crystalline drum ‘n’ bass, all quite melancholic. But I keep returning to ‘Replicant Memories’ for both active and passive listening, and finding glints of instrumentation that I hadn’t heard previously.

Kirinji
TOWN BEAT
Syncokin

Maybe summer has been on my mind subconsciously, but I’ve been listening to a lot of Japanese city pop recently. A friend recently switched me on to Kirinji, who have been making serene, jazz-inflected city pop since the late-90s. With an ever-changing line-up, the group now appears to be a solo vehicle for OG founding member Takaki Horigome, with a rotating cast of former band members. ‘Town Beat’ is the group’s 17th album, and there’s something just infectiously joyous about it. The keyboard solo on ‘What A Night’? The fast-paced ‘Lemonade’ with some vocal help from composer Tomomi Oda? In contrast to the smooth funk of ‘Curious About Your Weekend’? It’s buoyant, it’s fun, and it will be perfect for those hazy summer nights, pint in hand, the sky glowing orange as it slowly turns purple. Well, we live in hope. Just got to pray it stops raining soon.

Oklou
CHOKE ENOUGH
True Panther

Sometimes a song is able to touch a certain emotion, grip on, and refuse to let go. And it was through another listen of Oklou’s debut ‘Choke Enough’, that a certain number of songs had that effect. I think I was first made aware of Oklou (pronounced “Okay Lou”, the stage name of French musician Marylou Vanina Mayniel) via Sega Bodega. Musically, she slots somewhere between hyperpop menace and Y2K optimism, and is somewhat PC Music-adjacent. At the risk of sounding like an ageing millennial, Mayniel feels like a quintessential pop diva for Gen Z, from her futuristic sound to her insistence in stylising everything in lowercase. It’s the deluxe edition of ‘Choke Enough’ that caught my attention, particularly ‘Viscus’, a delicate avant-pop track she recorded with FKA Twigs, and ‘What’s Good’, a sombre yearning piano number that less tugs at your heartstrings and more takes a chainsaw to them. But there’s lots of good stuff here (‘Family And Friends’, ‘Obvious’, ‘ICT’), and she’s an artist well worth exploring. It all feels a bit star-in-the-making, and it reminds me of the early days of Charli XCX.
Time will tell, but for now Oklou’s trajectory is only upwards-facing.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// It’s a shame Marvel malaise is in full-swing, because I really enjoyed ‘Wonder Man’. A self-referential, briskly-paced mocking of superhero fatigue, Hollywood, and the trials and tribulations of trying to get a foot into showbiz. Well worth your time for those inclined.

// Big fan of this video for Carpenter Brut’s recent single ‘Speed Or Perish’, taken from upcoming album ‘Leather Temple’. Which is great, by the way. Look forward to words on that very soon…

Can you still say Happy New Year on the second of February? Happy New Year regardless. I hope you all had a great Christmas and joyous break. 2026 is now in full-swing and so is Happening Again.

You might see a few changes around here this year. I’m going to try a couple of things out - some way work, others might not. But that’s all part of the fun!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

James Adrian Brown
FOREVER NEON LIGHTS
Castles In Space

There seems to be no stopping the notorious JAB. The ex-Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist is now equipped with an arsenal that includes analogue synths and tape machines. Last year he toured the UK and Ireland with fellow electronic knob-twiddler Thomas Ragsdale (who performed under his Sulk Rooms moniker), and in October he released his single ‘Generator’ taken from this, his debut solo venture ‘Forever Neon Lights’. Inspired by visiting the Blackpool Illuminations as a child (all northerners likely recoiling instinctively at “leaving the big light on”) ‘Forever Neon Lights’ is Brown at his most vulnerable. “This album is me laying everything out,” he says. “The things I’ve carried since being a child, the hopes, dreams, and doubts I’ve felt as an adult, and the stubbornness to see things through.” Sirens blink and fade around a metallic rumble on the opening title track, like a haunted fun fair, before everything spirals into a carousel of synthesised mania. There’s a gentleness to ‘Promenade’, that builds to a crescendo with a shuddering, visceral intensity, before petering out into cavernous chords and clicks. And I can’t get enough of ‘Somewhere I’m Not’, a haunting sci-fi soundscape; Blackpool as an alien world (not entirely hard to imagine). It’s been a joy to watch Brown shed the guitar and embrace the synth. When you’ve got a debut solo effort as good as this, it shows it was a worthwhile exchange.

Kayla Painter
TECTONIC PARTICLES
quiet details

Kayla Painter’s upwards trajectory has been a joy to witness. Where to even begin? There’s her ‘Ambient Owl Core’ series, so far three volumes of night-themed soundscapes that use field recordings of urban and rural owls. Last year she joined forces with Jilk bandmate Jon Worsley for their barnstorming self-titled ‘Sarno Ultra’ record. And at the end of 2025 she joined Thomas Ragsdale and James Adrian Brown for the Irish leg of their tour - two nights of electronic excellence. And that’s not mentioning her workshops, radio shows, and lectures at the University of South Wales. Her latest record sees her on Alex Gold’s quiet details, and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit. ‘Tectonic Particles’ is eight tracks of delicate ambient soundscapes, combining field recordings with Painter’s luminous melodies. ‘Forest Floor’ cascades with crackles and chirrups, a muted electronic loop occasionally joined by bright, frantic ripples. I’m a big fan of ‘Star Stuff’, and how Painter uses a range of singular tones that coalesce into a dynamic minimalist sound world; like sonic rainfall hitting the surface of a pond. The diversity of her sound palette has always been a joy, and maybe best exemplified by ‘Lesu Mai’, those sonorous horns yawning alongside rumbling atmospherics. It’s all gorgeous stuff, and really shows an artist who truly understands sound design. More of this please.

Kuedo
INFINITE WINDOW
Brainfeeder

It was one Gavin Miller, known around these parts as worriedaboutsatan, that switched me onto this record and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. Kuedo is London-born, Berlin-based electronic producer Jamie Teasdale, and ‘Infinite Window’ is his third long-player, released on Brainfeeder back in 2022. Thanks for the recommendation Gavin, I’ll be checking out his back catalogue very soon. ‘Infinite Window’ spans 11 tracks and combines Tangerine Dream-esque panoramas with jungle-adjacent percussion. Not the first two genres I’d combine, but boy does it work well. Highlights include the sprawling ‘Harlequin Hallway’ that moves spider-like from bombastic garage rhythms to panicked, glitchy textures; the unrelenting cyclical synthesis of ‘Skybleed Magic’, that ominously swells into futurist atmospherics reminiscent of Vangelis; and the club-ready ‘Shadow Dance’, oscillating with groovy synthlines that’ll get your head nodding. Right, I’ve got some catching up to do. Now, where to start…

Kareen Lomax
IDEA OF YOU
Music Is Fun

While it was on the fourth self-titled Diplo record that Kareen Lomax was first introduced to the wider masses, readers around these parts may have originally found her via Kavinsky. The French synthwave pioneer featured Lomax on his song ‘Cameo’, taken from his second album ‘Reborn’. Lomax, originally a dog groomer from Atlanta, Georgia has since gone onto release a string of her own material, and I’ve been particularly taken with recent single ‘Idea Of You’. There’s something about her rich, androgynous vocals, as they weave around an 80s-inflected synth melody, that just hit the spot. “Alt R&B” is how her music is described, but that label does a disservice to what’s going on here I think. And when you chuck in that gnarly funky guitar, you’re onto a winner. I can also highly recommend ‘Apartment’, the single Lomax put out towards the end of last year. Here the funk is augmented with a lick of bass guitar, propelled by blasts of cymbal, with Lomax evoking Frank Ocean. It’s buoyant, it’s catchy, and I hope we won’t have to wait too long for a debut solo record.

The Protomen
ACT III: THIS CITY MADE US
Sound Machine

Please don’t adjust your monitors, smartphones, or whatever else you might be reading this on. Yes, a whole 17 years after releasing ‘Act II: The Father Of Death’, The Protomen have finally blessed us with the third act of their rock opera epic. For the uninitiated (strap yourselves in), The Protomen are an American rock eight-piece from Nashville, Tennessee whose members include Commander B. Hawkins, Shock Magnum, Gambler Kirkdouglas, and K. I. L. R. O. Y. They’re best known for their series of rock opera concept albums that started back in 2005 with their self-titled debut (retrospectively referred to as ‘Act I’). In a nutshell, the rock opera chronicles the continued rebellion against Dr. Wily, the fascist ruler of an Orwellian city who controls an army of robots. ‘Act I’ charts the failure to take down Wily, ‘Act II’ serves as a prequel showing Wily’s rise to power, while this record ‘This City Made Us’ acts as a last stand against our nefarious dictator. Those well-versed in video games will have already clocked that this entire saga is inspired by the ‘Megaman’ series (with the titular hero making several appearances). And if you’ve been following so far then congratulations, we can now get onto the music. This is a proper musical in every sense, and for the cynics reading please let it be stated for the record that I normally despise musicals. Narratives don’t need singing, unless it really works, like here. ‘This City Made Us’ straddles chiptune and prog, glam rock and new wave, hair metal and synthwave. I’m struggling to choose some favourite tracks - take your pick from ‘No Way Back’ (the way the vocal morphs into the guitar solo?!), ‘Buried In Red’ with its frantic krautrock-edged percussion, ‘Calling Out’, that could only be more 1980s camp if it was wearing neon leg warmers, ‘A Show Of Force’ which is like if Ennio Morricone scored the ‘Terminator’ films… Honestly, the list goes on. It won’t be for everyone, but it was worth the 17-year wait.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// God only knows why anyone would feel nostalgic, never mind romanticise, 2016 but I’ve been observing a bizarre phenomena occurring among certain folk who seem to be trying to portray the year as further away than it was. We had PS4s and 4K tellies. I don’t know why you’re posting a grainy video that looks like it was shot in 2003.

// My good friend Neil Mason’s Moonbuilding is back in action for 2026, and thing are changing somewhat. You can read all about it in the new issue, out now. And if you aren’t already subscribed, well, why not? Chop chop.

// They’ve been featured in this newsletter pretty much since its inception, but I want to give props to 404 Media. They’ve been doing some excellent reporting on what’s going on with ICE in the USA and how they’re using AI to kidnap people. There’s also more light-hearted reporting, like whatever is going on with Meta’s AI-generated women. Maybe '“light-hearted” was the wrong word.

// If you’re looking for something to watch, but not quite sure what (a modern problem if there ever was one), I was quite taken with Role Call. Making writers the focal point and using your favourite TV shows as a starting point, it allows you to discover other projects the writers of your favourite programmes have been involved in. It’s nice to see the spotlight shone on writers for a change, often the unsung heroes of truly great television.

// Ethel Cain started the new year by releasing a handful of demos from her fantastic ‘Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You’ album. I’m particularly fond of the pared-back ‘Shrug’, which would eventually become ‘Janie’, as well as the more experimental versions of ‘Tempest’ included here.

// Carpenter Brut has revealed that ‘Leather Temple’ will be released on 27th February. There’s a joyous snippet of what’s to come included in this announcement trailer:

Christmas is almost upon us. I hope you’re all suitably prepared, because I’m not. This will be the last Happening Again of the year. I will return at some point in January having eaten double my weight in cheese over the festive period.

Thank you to all of you who continue to read and share this newsletter. It is no secret how hard things are and continue to be for creatives of all stripes. I never take any audience for granted and I feel that, in some ways, the pendulum is slowly swinging towards smaller, more indie outfits in a world full of insane tech conglomerates and ever-growing AI sludge.

So a very merry Christmas to you all, and best wishes for 2026. See you on the other side.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Sulk Rooms
REWILDING
Floodlit

Despite recently finishing up a tour, Thomas Ragsdale isn’t done with 2025 yet. Oh no, that would be far too simple. Cramming in one more record before the year is out, ‘Rewilding’ takes us on another jaunt through Ragsdale’s sonic universe. With a palette that now includes high-gain guitars and kick drums, Ragsdale says the album nods as much to Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze as it does South Yorkshire industrial and Belgian post-metal. Never a dull moment! ‘Rewilding’ is rich with cinematic auditory panoramas - not that unusual considering Ragsdale’s previous output, but it does feel like everything has been turned up a notch this time. I love the motif that runs through ‘Innellea’, arpeggiating through a film of fuzz before bursting into a hiss of scratchy industrial. ‘Hyper Action’ feels like following the pheromone flightpath of a butterfly, flickering melodic synthesis that undulates and echoes against a drone. And let’s talk about the epic ‘Let’s Choose Our Words Carefully’, a chuntering steam engine of percussion acting as a propelling force, blurring the reverbed guitar chords that whizz beside it. What a way to round off the year. I can’t wait to see what Ragsdale’s got on the agenda for 2026.

Robinson’s Village
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATE
Bandcamp

While “Happy Birthday” is not something one regularly says to others on Christmas Day (unless it’s to Jesus), ‘Happy Birthday, Mate’ has an undefinable sort of Christmas feel to it, which isn’t that surprising considering its conception. Armed with his Tascam Portastudio, Nottingham-born, London-based electronic musician James Burns started writing the tracks for this record while back in his hometown during the Christmas period of 2024, with a couple done during the summer of this year. There’s something very soothing about the ambient soundscapes here. A hazy wall of distortion cascades in waves like snow in a storm on the aptly named ‘Christmas’; modular tones twinkle like fairy lights against the growl of electronics on ‘Fun’s Over’; and the finale that is the title track is a dreamy drone that fades in and flows alongside gurgles and clicks, swirling with an edge of melancholy but never veering fully into mournful. There’s a delicate beauty to ‘Happy Birthday, Mate’. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a walk through the snow at night, that barely perceptible muffle as snowflakes hit ground, as your feet crunch through an already-made ice carpet.
Merry Christmas, James Burns. I think I’ll make a habit of putting this on at this time of year, every year.

Brett Naucke
GROUND FAULT MATINEE
Gateway Gardenia

We went to go and pick up our Christmas tree yesterday, and I ended up having a conversation with the guy at the nursery about Silver Apples, the psychedelic rockers from 1960s New York. We then moved onto ‘Silver Apples Of The Moon’, the seminal electronic composition from Morton Subotnik, released in 1967, the same year Silver Apples formed. Not a particularly festive conversation, but welcome all the same. Why am I telling you this? Well, Subotnik is namechecked as one of Brett Naucke’s influences, an experimental composer from the US that really grabbed my ears with this record. ‘Ground Fault Matinee’ comes after a three-year break for Naucke, and was conceived as a two-EP suite: Side A ‘Universal Voltage’ and Side B ‘FM To FM’. ‘Universal Voltage’ is influenced by the aforementioned Subotnik and his heavy on vintage analogue synths, while ‘FM For FM’ was originally a Radio Arts programme commission for Black Mountain College Museum. I love how chunky this all is, with sounds so visceral you have a clear image of the machinery being used. The warped squeals and squelches that litter ‘Krylon 78’? Glorious. There’s a touch of ‘Blade Runner’-era Vangelis about ‘Roland’s Theme’, while ‘Eden-Olympia II’ sparkles with crisp ambience, like looking up at a clear night’s sky and hearing the stars. And ‘FM For FM’ is like listening to the field recordings from a mechanical planet; electronic crickets chirping, the drip of liquid bass in a cavern, while chimes echo in the background. It all has that organic feeling, like these were the sounds Naucke’s hardware just happened to make, and he deftly wrangled them to his liking. I’m embarrassed I hadn’t heard of Brett Naucke prior to this album. But I’m hoping I won’t have to wait another three years for his next record.

Carpenter Brut
LEATHER TEMPLE
Quarter Prod

Christmas has come early, for me at least. With all the energy of an angry big cat released from a cramped, too-small cage, Carpenter Brut (the alias of French composer Franck Hueso) unleashes ‘Leather Temple’, the final act in a trilogy of albums that started with ‘Leather Teeth’ in 2018. Protagonist Bret Halford is certainly a far cry from the lovesick teenager he started this journey as. As Heuso explains in a post on the Carpenter Brut Substack: “From the basement to the light, this is how Lita Connor leads the resistance rising in the shadows of Midwichpolis. With the help of a genetically enhanced Bret Halford, she pushes back against Iron Tusk, a ruthless tyrant who keeps the entire city locked under fear and control.” ‘Leather Temple’ is as abrasive as you’d expect from Carpenter Brut, synthesised howls like circular saws and drums so explosive they could blow the barn doors off. I’m excited to see the direction the narrative goes in. Midwichpolis seems like it will be the beating neon heart of ‘Leather Temple’, a kind of ‘Mad Max’-cum-‘Blade Runner’, contrasted with the poverty of the Midwich Slums. Midwich Valley has already played a role in the Carpenter Brut canon with the slowly building ferocity of ‘Escape From Midwich Valley’ (the first Carpenter Brut track I ever heard). Expect the full album sometime next year, but for now this single will more than suffice.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// If you like the sound of the above Carpenter Brut track, the accompanying video is suitably bonkers. You can watch it below.

// There’s nothing to say that hasn’t already been said about Netflix buying Warner Bros. (to quote ‘Alien Vs. Predator’, we all lose), but whether or not Paramount’s hostile bid for the company goes anywhere remains to be seen. What amused me the most was the press release that announced that HBO Max is (allegedly) launching in the UK next spring, only for this news to upend it all.

// I mean, I’m not even sure where to start with this one. Disney has inked an initial three-year $1bn deal with OpenAI, while at the same time has sent a cease-and-desist letting to Google claiming their AI model is engaging in copyright infringement on a “massive scale”. While I understand the concept of rights holders, famously litigious Disney suddenly not caring about how their own IPs are used signal a huge shift in the media landscape. Quite why they’ve decided to allow OpenAI to use their characters, especially for a video generator that is no doubt going to be used to make a lot of Elsa porn, is lost on me. I thought this reaction from games designer Seamus Blackley was very interesting. I for one can’t wait for videos of Mickey Mouse saying the Holocaust was fake or whatever.

Fifty! Five-zero. Fifty editions of this silly little newsletter and I couldn’t be more grateful that people are still reading. To all of you who read and subscribe, thank you. Although this isn’t the last issue of the year, I already have my eyes set on 2026. There’s a lot of good stuff on the way.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

If you like what I do and enjoy reading these little send-outs, you can drop me a few quid in my ko-fi jar:
ko-fi.com/happeningagain

Loula Yorke
HYDROLOGY
DiN

Oram Award winner, educator, sound artist, and much more, it feels like Loula Yorke never stops. Easily one of the hardest working synthesists on the scene, her alluring compositions conjure minimalist electronic worlds like no other. Not a surprise then that her latest outing ‘Hydrology’ has found a home on Ian Boddy’s ever-excellent DiN label (a description I have used before and will no doubt repeat in the future). The six aquatic-themed tracks presented here are emblematic of Yorke’s approach to modular synthesis; delicate, meticulously crafted soundscapes that pulse like living organisms. There’s a playful bouyancy to ‘Fontana’, where synth tones ricochet like rain drops hitting a puddle, while buzzing keys oscillate and spiral with an abundance of textures like a slowly building whirlpool on ‘Flumen’. And the opening gambit, the almost 12-minute ‘SICL’ flows like a river, veined with a motif that ebbs and flows, rich in synthesis that bubbles and ripples before dissipating into nothing. There’s never a dull moment with Yorke. She’s an artist in the truest sense, one with a clear vision that continues to push boundaries. Those wanting more should seek out her album ‘Volta’ from last year. You won’t be disappointed.

Pandacetamol
BELOW THE SURFACE
Mahorka

I’ve written before about the spider’s web of electronic music, the connective tissue that draws bridges between labels and musicians in ways you sometimes don’t expect, leading to a journey of musical discovery. And so it was that last issue I wrote about David Bourgoin’s very lovely ‘Cobwebs’ record, his debut on the Bulgarian Mahorka label under his Selective Hearing alias. It was from here that I went digging and discovered this by Pandacetamol. Originally a duo consisting of Paul Alexander and Mark Rushbury, Pandacetamol is now a solo vehicle for Alexander’s IDM-inspired soundscapes after the pair parted ways in 2016. ‘Below The Surface’ sees him return to Mahorka after a three year break, and is his debut working solo after a string of collaborative releases. And as solo debuts go, this is a cracker. ‘Cold Horizon’ warbles with an otherworldly eeriness accompanied by the hiss of pattering percussion, while the deep bassy throb of ‘Hall Of Broken Mirrors’ expands outwards into shimmering radiophonic whirs like something from 70s-era ‘Doctor Who’. A personal highlight is ‘Dry Cantina’, chuntering with analogue grit, angular and industrial with a sprinkling of sci-fi ambience. For a first outing on his own, Alexander has played a blinder. Thank God for that spider’s web. I wouldn’t have discovered him otherwise.

Dylan Henner
STAR DREAM FM
Phantom Limb

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of plunderphonics. The art of creating sound collages out of recognisable works, and twisting them into something new; deconstructing audio and turning it into something entirely different. Plunderphonics might be a too simplistic description of this new record by Dylan Henner. The story behind it is great. “Late one evening, I was listening to the radio alone at home. I couldn’t find the station I wanted, so I shifted the dial around for a while,” he explains.
“I found a station I’d never heard before. To my amazement, the station was broadcasting my own memories. I called some friends and asked if they could find the same frequency, but no-one did. I stuck a blank tape into my hi-fi and hit record. At some point I heard the jingle and the name of the station: ‘Star Dream FM’.” Like an aural version of Jane Schoenbrun’s ‘I Saw The TV Glow’, and complete with long, almost poetic song titles, ‘Star Dream FM’ definitely has that clandestine, middle-of-the-night vibe to it. Opener ‘I Borrowed My Dad’s Car…’, floats with gentle atmospheres laced with choral voice, while the haziness of ‘Her Parents Were Out So We Shared A Joint…’ its singular, warm tones acting as a backdrop to glitchy, warped vocals, builds into a crescendo of angelic vocals, as though Saint Peter himself is behind the synthesiser. I really love ‘We Were Dancing In Her Bedroom And Then We Made Out’ - you could almost see it soundtracking a film, the electronics twinkling like starlight that explode into a burst of triumphant arpeggios; that moment when the boy gets the girl. Autobiographical or not, Henner has a way of transporting you to a particular place or feeling with such deftness it’s like you were really there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a radio frequency to try and tune into.

All India Radio
THE UNIFIED FIELD
Spectra

Not to be confused with India’s state-owned public broadcaster, All India Radio are a Tasmanian electronic group founded by musician Martin Kennedy in 1998, who is the only constant member of the band. They’re a proper melting pot of sound, with a sonic palette that includes sci-fi atmospherics, ambient prog, and lo-fi downtempo. According to some sources this is their 21st studio record, though it’s hard to keep count - they’re pretty prolific, having released all manner of singles, EPs, remix albums, and demo collections. “Lynchian” is a descriptor that’s often overused and wrongly applied, but it couldn’t be more apt here. The whole album is a tribute to the director, with song titles that directly reference his work, and a sound that, in the band’s own words, captures “the moody atmospheric aesthetics of David Lynch’s cinematic world”. With noodling shoegazey guitars aplenty, ‘The Unified Field’ is a wonderful tribute to a man who felt like he’d live forever. Dark ambience blows like wind through a guitar melody on ‘The Red Room’, as echoing snippets of Lynch’s own voice speak on the theory of the Unified Field. ‘Wisteria’, likely a reference to Lynch’s unrealised Netflix project, is proggy, that oscillating bass an anchor to the shimmering synths and melancholic guitar melody. The tender, airy ‘Catch The Breeze’ recalls Julee Cruise, while those reverbed chords that ripple across ‘Drifting’ distinctly reminds me of ‘No Stars’ by the late Rebekah Del Rio, a track she collaborated with Lynch on for ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’. It’s a sad truth of reality that Lynch and many of his collaborators, have moved onto their next journey from this mortal coil. ‘The Unified Field’ is a fitting tribute to the man, and functions wonderfully as an album in its own right.

Oneohtrix Point Never
TRANQUILIZER
Warp

Daniel Lopatin uses the end of the 20th century as his focal point for his eleventh album. ‘Tranquilizer’ features a sonic palette formed from a set of commercial sample CDs that Lopatin found on the Internet Archive from the 90s. Upon discovery, Lopatin bookmarked the page with an intention to investigate further at a later date, but when the time arrived he found that they had been deleted. It was only when he was making 2023’s ‘Again’ that he discovered it had reappeared (there’s a great interview with Lopatin in this issue of Tone Glow about the process that I highly recommend). While there’s an element of ambience to the 15 tracks included here, they’re far more kinetic and kaleidoscopic to be simply labelled as such. I love how Lopatin has coaxed out a certain level of nostalgia with these sounds, without them ever sounding dated. The 90s ideal of what constituted to “the future” can be heard through the space age tones and Encarta-like chimes of ‘Bell Scanner’; ‘Cherry Blue’ is a digital menu of blips and hisses, with a Vangelis-esque synth turn around the mid-point; there’s a subterranean feel to ‘Vestigel’, like walking through a cavern generated from dot matrices; and ‘Rodl Glide’ is like forcing two repelling magnets together, a smooth R&B rhythm slowed to a crawl that’s then electroshocked into a flurry of chunky techno and vibrant rave. You can tell Lopatin had fun making ‘Tranquilizer’. Which is great, because I had a lot of fun listening to it.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// Remember when the internet wasn’t filled with AI slop? Australian artist Tega Brain has created a scorched-earth solution to eliminate generative AI from the web. Slop Evader is a browser extension that only shows you search results from before November 30th 2022 (the day ChatGPT was released publicly). There are obvious downsides to this, but I thought it was interesting the lengths some people are going to pushback against this aggressive roll-out of a tool many find distasteful.

// It was a cold and icy evening last Thursday (20th) as I ventured out from the wilds of rural Yorkshire to cross the border into Lancashire for a night of DIY knob-twiddling. The Ferret in Preston hosted a triple whammy of analogue electronic excellence as James Adrian Brown, Sulk Rooms (Thomas Ragsdale), and Polypores (Stephen Buckley) took to the stage and transported us to their own unique sonic worlds.

First up was Polypores, whose technicolour soundscapes set the tone for the night ahead. Bright energetic polyrhythms that are impossible not to nod along to.

Brown was up next, slowing things down and taking us on a journey through dark ambient textures and industrial-licked electronica.

And finally, drenched in red light and armed with an electric guitar and reel-to-reel tape machine, Sulk Room’s cinematic soundscapes made for a fantastic finale.

It was great to see these guys behind their respective battlestations. JAB and Sulk Rooms round off their tour in Dublin tonight with the added bonus act of Kayla Painter. If you missed them this time, do try and catch them at some point next year if they’re playing near you. There’s no better time to support independent artists, particuarly those of the DIY electronic variety.

These past few weeks I’ve been consumed with battling modern technology. Isn’t the future rubbish? Trying to do the simplest thing turns into a farcical three-act play. Anyway, the bottom line is I managed to fix my phone without forking out for a new one. Nothing like doing things yourself.

There’s a bit of a spillover this issue from the back-end of Halloween. Spooky Season might be over (as we hurtle frighteningly towards Christmas) but these were too good not to include. On that note, did everyone put up their Christmas decorations the second November rolled around?

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been spinning recently…

Are you a musician? Do you have a certain band or artist you think I should be listening to? Drop them into the Happening Again inbox: wearehappeningagain@gmail.com

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The Night Monitor
ON THE TRACK OF DISCOVERY
Fonolith

I was only thinking the other day that we hadn’t heard from Neil Scrivin for a hot second. And what would you know, a new release appears precisely when we need him. ‘On The Track Of Discovery’ is a selection of tunes composed between 2019 and 2023 that have previously appeared on labels such as Library Of The Occult, Castles In Space, and Woodford Halse. There’s also two previously unreleased tracks - this is a proper treasure trove of goodies that I’m glad have been compiled together. Take the title track, a gorgeous, glittering Vangelis-esque soundscape, which was originally released as part of Castles In Space’s Vangelis tribute compilation. Or the terrifically sinister ‘It’s In The Computer’, where radiophonic tones burble and echo across dark ambient textures. The unreleased tracks included here are stonkers. ‘Malefic Power Spiral’, an outtake from Scrivin’s 2022 record ‘Their Dark Dominion’ is a helix of sirens trapped within a cacophony of haunting atmospherics, while ‘Irradiation Of Omniscience’ builds like a maelstrom, bright twinkling synthlines peaking through a dark cloud of rumbling synthesis. ‘On The Track Of Discovery’ feels like it bookends a chapter in The Night Monitor canon. I can’t wait to see what Scrivin cooks up in 2026.

Field Lines Cartographer
APEIRON ANXIETY
Castles In Space

Mark Burford uses chaos as his focal point for the latest outing under his Field Lines Cartographer moniker. ‘Apeiron Anxiety’ takes its title from the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander’s cosmological theory of apeiron, the idea that reality is a state of primal chaos that infinitely creates, destroys, and eventually reforms in one boundless cycle. Ancient Greek philosophy is more topical than you might think, as Burford explains: “It seems that humanity in the 21st century is living in a type of apeiron with our social, political, technological & economic structures. One crisis is seemingly resolved only to be replaced with another.” Across five glorious analogue synth soundscapes, Burford takes us on a rich sonic journey of cosmic chaos. The 11-minute ‘A Summoning’ slowly fades in with an array of muted staccato twangs that crystallise into focus, arpeggiating and expanding into a vortex of perpetual electronic textures. The thick fuzz of ‘The Wave That Breaks Us’ blossoms into pulsing synthlines, a melody of sci-fi ambience setting the stage like watching the birth of a star system from somewhere deep in the cosmos. And there’s a delicacy to ‘Dying Embers’, melancholic sonic drawls that dissipate into the ether. This is another golden entry in the Field Lines Cartographer catalogue, an aural voyage through our own ever budding and destructing apeiron.

Selective Hearing
COBWEBS
Mahorka

After shedding his Another Headache alias, UK electronic musician David Bourgoin now records under the name Selective Hearing, a change he felt was necessary due to a change in his working methods. On ‘Cobwebs’, Bourgoin conjures contemplative sound worlds that use a mixture of spoken word, guitars, field recordings, and electronics. It’s pretty intoxicating stuff. ‘A Longer Distance’ start off with a series of alien gurgles and squeals, like an otherworldly radio transmission, before morphing into a frenzy of bubbling synthesis and muffled found sounds. The dark and ominous ‘Faint #2’ shudders with a heavy intensity, hisses and chimes that melt into alarm cycles that overlays spoken word in which someone recalls their own experience of losing consciousness. Meanwhile ‘Jitter’ is expansive and cinematic, a blast of static that bursts into a bluster of birdsong that weaves through ambient, sci-fi-adjacent textures. ‘Cobwebs’ is one of those records in which you find something new on every listen. These thoughtful esoteric compositions show that Bourgoin cares deeply about the structure of his work; “selective” is exactly the right word for it. Don’t hesitate on that limited edition cassette version either. It won’t hang about.

Lazerhawk
HAUNTED HIGHWAY
Rosso Corsa

Well what a welcome surprise this was. Reappearing out of nowhere after not being heard from for eight years, Lazerhawk returns in a blaze of glory with ‘Haunted Highway’. The last time we heard from Garrett Hays was back in 2017 when he released his fourth album ‘Dreamrider’. Now this synthwave stalwart casually dropped this single just before Halloween. The rumble of thunder, the click of an ignition, the thrum of windscreen wipers, and the sound of a radio crackling to life sets the stage for a horror-themed electronic excursion. As those synthlines ripple forward, it all seems like a fairly run-of-the-mill affair. That is until that electrifying guitar solo kicks in. Lazerhawk was one of the first artists I got really into when I started listening to synthwave. It’s good to have him back. Is this the start of the road to a new album? We can only hope. (For those who want more Lazerhawk, his 2012 record ‘Visitors’ is a perfect starting point).

Mega Drive
GRAY TOWN
Bandcamp

And now for something completely different. Well, for Mega Drive at least. The Texan synthesist swaps cybernetic industrial darksynth for something far softer but no less foreboding. Inspired by “restless dreams”, ‘Gray Town’ is 20 tracks of eerie ambient soundscapes, and marks a distinct change in both Mega Drive’s sounds and compositions. It’s quite startling really. Gone are the heavy fist-pounding rhythms, visceral electronic roars, and face-melting arpeggios. And do you know something? Mega Drive shines just as bright with this change of pace. ‘Denial’ and ‘Forest Trail’ make a great duology, dreamy textures that float like clouds on an autumn day. A synth tone fades in an out of existence, haunting like a siren in the fog, backed by muffled industrial noise on ‘Left Alone’. There’s a gentleness to the chimes of the ambient drum ‘n’ bass on ‘Tender Hearts Club’, and the melancholic piano on ‘Eulogy’ is surprising but welcome new territory for this Texan terror. It’s all really evocative stuff, perfect for these overcast days as the nights draw in.

That’s it for this time. As always you can find my ramblings elsewhere in both print and online in Electronic Sound. I am going to tentatively dip into the world of microblogging again, so follow me on Bluesky if that’s your sort of thing.

But before I go, here are some things from across the internet that have caught my eye…

Some Stray Thoughts

// Remember when you could just slide the back cover off your mobile phone and replace the battery without having to get the tool kit out?

// I’m very interested in this UK-based streamer Cantilever. The idea is simple. Every few days a new album joins the service, while the oldest record on the platform is cycled off. Each addition is accompanied by articles by music journos or interviews with the artist who will reflect on the release. The Guardian recently interviewed founder Aaron Skates, who sets out Cantilever’s goal rather nicely. “The pool is far less diluted,” he says. “We’re paying out a maximum of 30 artists for all subscriber revenue, versus the 100m tracks on Spotify. Also, we pay on a user-centric basis, so that means your fee will only ever go towards the music that you actually listen to.” Cantilever focuses on independent artists, and has already attracted labels such as Ninja Tune, 4AD, and Warp. A subscription is £4.99 a month, with the first month free. You can also follow Cantilever on Substack. Regular readers will be well aware of my thoughts on streaming, and the direction Big Tech seems to want us to travel, but this seems like a thoughtful and interesting alternative to a system that quite blatantly isn’t working.

// I can already tell I’m going to become very annoying about Vince Gilligan’s new TV show ‘Pluribus’, fronted by the incredible Rhea Seehorn. Seehorn never got her flowers for her amazing performance as Kim Wexler in ‘Better Call Saul’, so it’s a joy to watch her front-and-centre in this new sci-fi outing from Gilligan. It’s as stylish as both ‘Saul’ and ‘Breaking Bad’, and as equally gripping. It’s released weekly, with the third episode out today (no spoilers please, that’s this evenings viewing). It’s better to go in completely blind, but if you need anymore convincing you can watch the (spoiler-free) trailer below.