When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson—better known simply as Anika—quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art—or simply tried to live through—the recent global pandemic. “It’s a moment caught in time,” she says of Change, her much-anticipated new record. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite Anika, the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. “This album had been planned for a little while and the circumstances of its inception were quite different to what had been expected. This colored the album quite significantly. The lyrics were all written there on the spot. It’s a vomit of emotions, anxieties, empowerment, and of thoughts like—How can this go on? How can we go on?”

Having worked collaboratively in the past with the likes of BEAK> and Mexico City’s Exploded View, Change was ultimately the product of necessity. “After recording the initial ideas alone at Klangbild studios in Berlin, a few months later and by some stroke of luck, Mr. Martin Thulin of Exploded View, managed to make his way over from Mexico, to co-produce the album with me and play some live drums and bass,” recalls Anika. “Between Reality Baitz and Impression Recordings in Berlin, we managed to get the album together.

The intimacy of its creation and a palpable sense of global anxiety are seemingly baked into the DNA of Change. Spread across nine tracks, the central feeling of the record is one of heightened frustration buoyed by guarded optimism. The songs offer skittering, austere electronic backdrops reminiscent of classic Broadcast records or High Scores-era Boards of Canada, playing them against Anika’s remarkable voice—Nico-esque, beautifully plaintive, and—in regards to the record’s subject matter—totally resolute. Incantatory tracks like “Naysayer” and “Never Coming Back” are both, as Anika explains them, both a call to arms and a warning. “Never Coming Back” was written after reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring,” she explains. “I was living in the old East countryside outside of Berlin, where there seemed to be no shortage of birds. Apparently their numbers have dropped significantly, but it is one of these changes that we never really stop and notice. We take things for granted, until it’s too late. With all this other noise going on, care for the environment has quickly been moved to the back-burner. So long as we get what we want NOW and on demand, who cares about whether we are taking care of the future?”

Finger Pies

"Bury the Lines" is the second single from Eaters s/t debut out April 15 on Driftless Recordings / Dull Tools.

www.driftlessrecordings.com



Eaters - Bury The Lines

Taken from Monotony's S/T 6-song EP, released on August 14 by Faux Discx on 12" vinyl (limited to 300 copies) and digital download.

Pre-order here:
http://www.fauxdiscx.com/shop/monotony-monotony
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Faux Discx is FINALLY putting out the first 6 songs written by the band Monotony on vinyl. Previously only available as a download and fleetingly as a limited cassette on Comfortable On A Tightrope, these six rough, instant and infectious songs were created without any intentions but soon took on a life of their own. The 12” repeats on both sides for a fully monotonous experience with hand screen-printed artwork by The Positive Press and limited to 300.

Monotony, known for their simplistic dirge punk, formed in the summer of 2014 when they wrote 5 songs in an hour, recorded them on a Sunday with Mark Jasper at Sound Savers in Homerton, put them on the internet and thought nothing more of it. BBC 6 DJ Marc Riley heard them, started playing them and refuses to stop, ruining dinner time for many people across the UK.

Since then they have made various attempts at being a real band by playing the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, DRILL festival on personal invitation from Wire, a 6 Music session for Marc Riley, a BBC Television performance (also for Marc Riley, on his All Shook Up program) and a UK tour. They’ve also played at Power Lunches.

Monotony is comprised of Lindsay Corstorphine (vocals), Christopher Murphy (guitar), Richard Phoenix (bass) and Jen Calleja (drums).

“Why do the dick heads on twitter bother to judge music they don't like sad people with nothing better to do get your arse out and watch bands or don't listen to music you don't like. Favourite track: Wrong.” – Simon Spry, Bandcamp user

MONOTONY – Back To The Castle

Flatworms - "Red Hot Sand" debut 7" EP. B-sides "Petulance" and "Sovereignty". 

Red Hot Sand

LIMITED COLOR VINYL

FLAT WORMS - Red Hot Sand (DEBUT 7")

Fictional Decision

The Beat Escape - Half Empty Happiness

We’re excited to announce Sunflowers 2nd album ‘Castle Spell’ will be out February 9th 2018, through Stolen Body Records and Only Lovers Records
.
To celebrate its announcement, we share with you the first single (and title track) with a video by Luís Namora.
Keep an eye out for pre orders being announced soon.
https://youtu.be/VnOpQbkWNTg

Castle Spell

Sunflowers - Castle Spell

from the album "Oh" released 10/11. Tour dates: THU 9 Nov @Brighton Up Bar, Sydney  FRI 10 NOV @Franks Wild Years, Wollongong WED 15 Nov @ NSC, Melbourne FRI 24 Theatre Royal, Castlemaine

Machine Translations "Sola"

New single from Russian-Swedish duo GHLOW, out now via PNKSLM Recordings.

www.facebook.com/ghlowofficial/
www.facebook.com/PNKSLM/

GHLOW - "Mess With Me"

ARTIST: Solid Space
SONG: A darkness in my soul
DISC: Space Museum (1982)
LABEL: In Phaze Records

Solid Space - A Darkness in My Soul

A stylistic sampler of the Mexican Summer / Software Recording Co. catalog

GHLOW - "Mess With Me"

PNKSLM

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