The Preatures are a rock and roll band from Sydney, Australia. 

Ben Howard returns with his 4th album, Collections From The Whiteout, produced alongside Aaron Dessner (The National). The foreboding darkness that coated Ben’s second record I Forget Where We Were and thinly veiled its follow up Noonday Dream, isn’t so evident on Collections. These are songs written from headlines scanned, or news stories scrolled past, providing inspiration for a selection of vivid narrative snapshots – the death of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst (Crowhurst’s Meme); Russian fraudster Anna Sorokin (Sorry Kid); the man who stole and crashed a plane in Seattle (The Strange Last Flight Of Richard Russell); and the dismembered body a friend of his father found in a suitcase floating along the Thames (Finders Keepers). Alongside them, the personal anecdotes from the same scattered period living between Paris, Devon and Spain. Yussef Dayes features, as does Kate Stables (This Is The Kit), James Krivchenia (Big Thief), Kyle Keegan (Hiss Golden Messenger), and Dessner. Thomas Bartlett, St. Vincent’s go-to pianist, and Rob Moose, a long-standing arranger of strings for Bon Iver, are also present. Long-term guitarist to Ben’s band, Mickey Smith (A Blaze of Feather), remains a reassuring constant. It’s a sonic adventure that continues this nagging suggestion that Ben is one of the UK’s most inventive and naturally talented songwriters. CFTW is his latest opus, and arguably his most fully realised to date.

Boards of Canada is a Scottish electronic music duo comprised of brothers Mike Sandison (b. 1 June 1970) and Marcus Eoin (b. 21 July 1971). 

They have released a number of works, most notably Music Has the Right to Children and Geogaddi, with little advertising and few interviews. Their sound has frequently made reference to sounds of the 1970s and the 1980s. It recalls, amongst other things, the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s television, and indeed, band members Michael and Marcus admit to being inspired by the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group's name comes.

Send us your demos for Friends & Family Records! fandfdemos@gmail.com

The ever shape shifting, critically hailed Hercules & Love Affair return with brand new album In Amber, to be released on 17th June 2022 via Skint/BMG.

“Across this record, there are emotional fields I hadn’t ventured into previously with Hercules & Love Affair,” says Butler. “Destruction, rage, loss, but also redemption and journeying towards empowerment are all touchstones on the album. It has taken years to make, but I am happy to put it forward now, at a moment in time where we have all been confronted with such heightened feelings collectively and on an unprecedented scale”.

Reuniting with ANOHNI for the first time since her stellar turn on the eponymous debut in 2008 (which undeniably produced one of the most beloved dance tunes of the oughts “Blind”) proved key to this process. Both share a love and deep respect for music of a more aggressive bent, zig zagging from grindcore like Godflesh and Bolt Thrower, via electronic avant-garde like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire to female fronted punk and metal like Sacrilege, Fear of God and Diamanda Galas.  On the other end of the spectrum, they have an equally intense appreciation for darker ethereal acts such as This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance. In Amber reflects this wide swathe of emotion and sound.

Naik is a musician and filmmaker from Perth Western Australia.

Naik’s music has been described as a “genre-tastic swirl of everything from instrumental hiphop beats, monster movie sound effects, gypsy violins, hammond organs and spaghetti-western soundtrack guitar-licks”. Armed with an ever expanding arsenal of vintage instruments and recording equipment, Naik performs, produces and records all of his musical output, merging the organic and the electronic into futuristic compositions that draw upon psychedelic and soundtrack music from the past, as well as electronic music from the present.

Naik has been nominated for 6 WAMI awards, including best electronic producer and best electronic act, and 4 Perth Dance Music Awards including best live act and best hip-hop act.

Naik has played at festivals such as Future Music, Summadayze, Parklife, Low:Fi, Breakfest and Origin and supported the likes of Bonobo, Tricky, Ratatat, Pharoahe Monch, Gaslamp Killer, Kid Koala and Clark. Naik’s live show features Naik on buttons, effects and guitars accompanied by live drums. Naik’s live show was voted best Australian live performance of 2009 by the Members Only writers of Drum Media.

Naik released his debut album ‘In The Shadow of Thunder Mountain’ on Paper Chain in 2009. It received critical acclaim coming in at #5 in RTRFM music manager Dave Cutbush’s top 10 albums of 2009, and at #7 in the top 10 of Drum Media’s Jo Lettenmaier. Naik also released an album of collaborations and B-sides called ‘Mutating Machines’ in 2013. Naik’s second studio album is slated for release in 2014.

Naik’s background as a filmmaker also informs his music. Naik produced the 2009 WAMi award winning music video for Downsyde’s Fortune and Fame. He has also produced videos for the likes of Birds of Tokyo and Antistatic and directed videos for Eleventh He Reaches London and Diplo’s Mad Decent label for Kito & Reija Lee.


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