Harbinger Sound
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"My Descent Into Capital" represents the most ambitious recording from this London-based duo to date. Even if they're taking influence from minimal synth, post-punk or early industrial sides, Circuit Breaker are unmistakably contemporary with their delivery.Visit product page →
Forging together metallic drum machines, propulsive synth lines and stark guitar degradation into bold , simple and effective songs about down-trodden themes of isolation, discontentment and the true horror of work. This album transgresses any simple nostalgia for its musical forefathers and showcases a band with their eyes fixed firmly on the future.
Any obvious reference points are contorted and stretched to the point where they are transformed into something new. After ten years of obscurity and a refusal to go away, and after two well-received records on Tombed Visions, this album is their first full-length album, and first for abstract-punk imprint Harbinger Sound.
After many shows with supporting Harbinger Sound mainstays Sleaford Mods, the duo are about to embark on an extensive tour with new label mates Consumer Electronics early next year. The album was mastered by Barry Grint at Alchemy. " -
Consumer Electronics return with a double album of all new studio recordings produced by Russell Haswell.Visit product page →
Some wondered how the songwriting team of Philip Best and Sarah Froelich would fare after the leaving their London home to take up residency in the United States.
Well, here's the answer. Recorded in San Francisco, CE deliver 'Airless Space,' a state-of-the-union address that does for our American cousins what the band's earlier 'Estuary English' album did for a British audience poised upon the coming madness of Brexit.
Unusually for CE, 'Airless Space' clocks in at 60 minutes, a hexed induction for a country labouring under a presidency, that like Brexit itself, few saw coming or contemplated having to endure.
Soundwise, CE have maybe mellowed the tone a touch, allowing their electronics to stretch out and breathe, whereas the frenzied and anxious vocals of Best and Froelich remain as snatched and breathless as ever.
Stunningly produced by Russell Haswell and gorgeously mastered by award-winning cutting engineer Matt Colton, 'Airless Space' by Consumer Electronics is their most complete and rounded statement yet.
Available on high quality 180gm double vinyl with full colour lyric poster and CD digipack.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Body mistakes
2. Carnage mechanics
Side B:
3. Out of it
4. Play therapy
5. Afterfits
Side C:
6. Murder of jj
7. We the makers
Side D:
8. Locust
9. Airless space
Release Date: 31/05/2019 -
Punk/electro/techno-noise trio Consumer Electronics return with an album of all-new studio material, following on from last year's acclaimed "Estuary English" LP and this year's "Repetition Reinforcement" 12" on Diagonal.Visit product page →
Housed in a sleeve featuring stunning cover artwork by Tokyo-based artist Trevor Brown, "Dollhouse Songs" further chronicles frontman Philip Best's trawl through the seedy thoroughfares of crumbling Tory Britain. "Learn Your Fucking Place" sneers Best in trademark-style, aping the austerity mongers of Britain's current right wing junta. Ably assisted on dark cracked electronics by Sarah Froelich and stunningly produced by noise/beat guru Russell Haswell, this latest instalment in CE's state-of-the-nation polemics is sure to be keenly anticipated.
Featuring seven new studio tracks, 'History Of Sleepwalking', 'Knives Cut', 'Condition Of A Hole', 'Nothing Natural', 'The Push', 'Colour Climax' and 'Murder Your Masters' (the last track previously surfacing briefly as an ultra-rare gig only 7"), CE now features a twin vocal attack from the Best/Froelich husband-and-wife team, a furious tide of words spat out over a chaotic spew of mangled beats, bracing synths and state-of-the-art noise generation.
This is their most personal and political album yet. "Dollhouse Songs" was mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy for maximum effect. The record also comes complete with an inner sleeve featuring all the lyrics.
An edition of #1000 copies -
Following a steady stream of ultra-limited 7' singles, that were collated together in 2019 for the Pre/Post: A Collection 2016-2018'on Louder Than War, the bands highly-anticipated debut album, by those that know, arrives with the first bitter taste of new single Pressure'; one-minute-and-fifty-four seconds of screeching feedback, tribal drums and unbridled rage that is exactly the shot in the arm and the boot up the arse this nation, if not the world, needs right now. 'In both music and lyrical content this song sets out to capture the unrelenting pressures of living in the modern world,' explains vocalist and guitarist Jim.Visit product page →
'The pressures and expectations of which 'they' force upon you - with the apparent realisation that you will never be what they want you to be. "Pressure, the twist of the gut, as one door opens another fucking shuts" Since forming in late 2016, Girls In Synthesis have quickly forged a fearsome reputation as one of the most exciting and volatile live acts in London.
In equal parts frantic, considered, ear-splitting and melodic, the group take their cues from the early DIY punk and post-punk pioneers to keep everything in-house; artwork, videos, performances and recordings are created entirely by the group and their handful of trusted collaborators, under a bedrock of heavy, bludgeoning, dark, post-punk.
Now Here's An Echo From Your Future'is their first release for fabled experimental punk label Harbinger Sound and finds the band advancing their sound, making subtle but experimental shifts in texture and tone, helping to break free from the shackled straight-jacket of punk rock that, to be fair, never really held them down in the first place.
Across the album's ten songs, Girls In Synthesis explore a wide range of sensations and sounds as the album detonates into life with opening track Arterial Movements'in a screeching flurry of over-driven guitar and hammering drums. The contrast between the slow, mesmerising look into aging and dying in Human Frailty'(The realisation that you cannot halt their impending death'), to the aggressive attack on the rise of the right-wing in They're Not Listening'(The time-old tradition of the right wing accosting desperate working class people has returned') shows a wide range of subjects and reactions aggressively tackled.
Mental health in a fast-moving, unforgiving world, media control, the divide widening between the have and the have nots, the class divide, the blaming of the poor, NHAEFYF bristles with an unforgiving frustration and temper. The recording of NHAEFYF started at Rockit Studio, Hull in April 2019 during days off on the UK tour to promote the Pre/Post'compilation album. The Hull sessions were engineered by studio owner and local musician Sean Tomlinson.
The remainder of the album was recorded and engineered by the band throughout summer 2019 in a large rehearsal room at Gun Factory studios, Homerton. Production and finishing touches were completed at GIS bassist John's S.I.C.K Studio in Hither Green.
The album was mixed by long-time band collaborator and engineer, Max Walker (currently studying at Abbey Road). The album was mastered by Brett Shaw at 123 Studios, Peckham. In their few years of existence, fans and critics alike have been stunned by the bands pure visceral and punishing wall of sound, as well as applauding the groups way of making a GIS show an all-inclusive experience; playing from within the crowd to create a unique and awe-inspiring spectacle.
Being hand-picked to support acts as diverse as Damo Suzuki, Slaves, Bad Breeding, Warmduscher and Wolf Alice has seen a widening of the groups fan base. Sold out headline shows across the UK have led to frantic and chaotic performances, and packed, sweaty venues, the word is getting out and spreading rapidly.
Catch GIS while you can and witness the rise of one of the UK's most original and unique underground bands.
Tracklisting:
1. Arterial Movements
2. Pressure
3. The Images Agree
4. Scrapped
5. Human Frailty
6. They're Not Listening
7. Cause For Concern
8. Coming Up For Air
9. Set Up To Fail
10. Tirades Of Hate and Fear
Release Date: 28/08/2020 -
With the release of their debut album at the end of 2020, Girls In Synthesis proved that the hype was very much justified when it came to the bands tag as one of the most exciting in the UK. A concise and rabid blast of harsh post-punk, and released during the COVID crisis, the album eerily managed to capture the mood of the moment, despite being written and recorded in 2019.Visit product page →
Rightly so, it was released to stunned reviews and featured in many Best of 2020'end-of-year lists. Always a band with a militant work ethic, the first fruits of their fevered writing and recording period throughout 2020 are borne here with Shift In State'. Featuring 5 brand new tracks, the mini-album sees the trio return to the experimental edge of their early, and highly sought after, EP releases.
The lead track Containment', an abstract, bleak and circular slice of obtuse-punk gives way to an explosive and skewed dub remix featuring languorous horns and industrial sounding percussion. Following on, - ¦ But Still you Wanted More'retains the dub minimalism and adds trudging, nihilistic lyrical content alongside churning, saw-sharp organ. Calm Waters', the groups'first foray into a harsher, electronic landscape, brings to the forefront a crushing, relentless drum machine backbeat and woozy, warped bass hooks.
Finishing on Don't Try', this song sees the band return to their more familiar white-heat blast of post-punk. Shards of harsh, splintered guitar and pounding drums help push the theme of gross governmental incompetence well and truly into the listener's brain. Their incendiary live shows being hugely missed by fans, UK and EU dates are currently being signed off for late 2021 with further key releases also being lined up for release later in the year. Never a band to sit still, Shift In State'sees GIS, once again, surmount all obstacles and proves them to be one of the most forward-thinking and tireless acts in the UK.
Tracklisting:
1. Containment
2. Containment Dub
3. ... But Still You Wanted More
4. Calm Waters
5. Don't Try -
"Vicious, thumping, rough and readsy UK82 snot punk. Angry, inspired and catchy as hell " - Sig Vishnu ( Heavy Metal ) Berlin punk bands debut album.Visit product page →
Rumour says featuring folks from Heavy Metal amongst other gutter celebs from Berlin's less cool quarters.
Very limited. Very ugly.
Tracklisting:
1. You !
2. Trap
3. Head
4. Talker
5. Bodies
6. Homesick
7. Halen
8. Mode
9. Competition
10. Seizure
11. Polizist
12. Anti
Release Date: 21/09/2018 -
Phil Julian is a UK based sound artist, composer and improviser active since the late 1990 - ²s, with a prolific output under the Cheapmachines alias and his own name.Visit product page →
His work has been released on a catalogue of imprints and encompasses sonic textures ranging from harsh squalls of noise to compositions structured around hyper-minimalistic timbres and drones. Studio recordings and live performances within Europe and North America have focused on the use of electronics, particularly unstable and/or chaotic systems e.g. modular synthesisers, feedback, contact microphones, objects and surfaces and computer based works.
'TRACE' was recorded at Stockholm's EMS Elektronmusikstudion during Julian's Guest Composer residency in 2013. Using a combination of the vintage analogue equipment at EMS and various computer processes, the material on 'TRACE' was recorded and mixed specifically for diffusion over the Audiorama 17.4 surround sound system, custom built and installed inside the decommissioned torpedo workshop on Skeppsholmen island in Stockholm. 'Open Form' which takes up the A side of the release is made up of much shorter pieces recorded over the two week residency. 'Corona' is an improvised piece using analogue electronics only and 'Arrival' uses a custom computer patch alongside a complex set of processes running on the huge EMS Buchla synthesiser.
The recordings combine the dynamics and space associated with modern composition and electroacoustic works with the density and abrasive qualities more often encountered in noise and contemporary computer music. -
SUDDEN INFANT is a Swiss Industrial-Dada-Noise-Rock band based in Berlin. Their 2014 album "Wölfli's Nightmare' on Voodoo Rhythm Records was produced by Roli Mosimann (Swans, The Young Gods, Wiseblood) and was very well received by critics and audiences.Visit product page →
In the past Sudden Infant toured with Sleaford Mods and played alongside Wolf Eyes, Ben Frost, Merzbow, Derek Bailey, Jim O'Rourke, Thurston Moore and many others.
The brand new 2018 album - žBuddhist Nihilism' coming in August on Harbinger Sound (Harbinger189) will consolidate the bands ability for bizarre and intense compositions full of left field humor, powerful rhythms and twisted structures. Brilliantly mixed and mastered by Martin Siewert (Radian) in his Vienna studio.
"Buddhist Nihilism, the new Sudden Infant album is a real fistful of sturm und drang, a real departure for the band. The new record leaves some of the noise and industrial elements behind and sees the band streamlining its approach. The barebones, minimal throb recalls fellow travelers The Ex and Suicide, with your somewhat unstable downstairs neighbor screaming at the daily horrors flashing on the television screen.' - Daniel Blumin / WFMU
"Sudden Infant go all the way. Nothing is held back." - Keith Moline / The Wire
"One of Europe's finest Noise provocateurs!" - Matthew Kosloff / Skyscraper Magazine
"Fucking awesome band! I was lucky enough to witness their set live at 100 Club. Killer!" - Steve Crittall / The Godfathers
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Rationality
2. Hong Kong Nursery
3. In This Moment
4. Maybe You're Right
5. 228
6. Tourists
Side B:
7. Puppet Master
8. 100 Word Mantra
9. George Clooney
10. Brownsville Texas
11. French Douche
12. Somniphobia II
Release Date: 21/09/2018 -
"The second album from UK hardcore engine The Lowest Form, Personal Space sees the band cutting through a comedown fug of feedback, sharp butterflyknife guitars flashing deadly over a wasteground rubble of noise.Visit product page →
Songs drawn up from discord, songs of marshalled cacophony, coils of scritching guitars break apart and reform, coalescing around insistent basslines and heavy drumbeats, before splintering again. It's hardcore constructed from textured noise as much as from breakdowns and riffs, rumbling infectious chants emerging from the wavering clamor, the vile keening of consciousness's half-known edges, noise in the grain of it all, noise as bedrock, an abrasive acid bath of fuzz, susurration and machinewhirr.
"SMASH MY FUCKIN' HEAD AGAINST THE WALL" is the line that opens it up, rising out of Interplanetary Bad Boy's hissing swell. Driven through the album are anguished explorations of interior/exterior limits, whirling around viciously in the grubby borders of your skull, spinning hopelessly in the cosmic of the aether, untethered, higher than the sky but way down in the muck.
From Gak Attack's claustrophobic pogo or Last Smash's drawling thump to Star Slammers manic tumble and Dread Future's rolling barrage, The Lowest Form have brought together another LP of murdered-out panicattack punk, lithe and unleashed, born of bad vibes and background radiation, an album at once uncomfortably close and fully heavy." -Joe Briggs
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. IBB Dub
2. IBB
3. Gak Attack
4. Last Smash
5. Star Slammers
Side B:
1. Dread Future
2. Evol
3. No More Hiroshimas
4. Untitled
5. Helter Skelter