Blang Records are thrilled to announce they’ll be bringing the wild streets of Manhattan to the UK and Europe this autumn with the vinyl re-release of Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’. The LP sold out of its first pressing and has been impossible to buy anywhere for years…until now. Out on exclusive Random Mix Colour Reground EcoVinyl in record shops from 20th September.

Blang Records and Jeffrey Lewis have history: before Blang was a label, it started life as a live night at the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, hosting many a set of the NY Antifolk artists over on UK shores, including Jeffrey Lewis. Now 20+ years since Jeffrey first played Blang, it feels fitting that tour support comes from UK antifolk linchpins, Blang Records mainstay, and arguably one of the UKs most criminally underrated bands, David Cronenberg’s Wife (“A mix of 80’s fall and the Velvet Underground” - NME).

Native New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book writer/artist and a musician. A cult hero birthed from the now infamous antifolk movement that sprung up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 90s, Jeffrey has released dozens of albums showcasing his unique blend of bleakly witty observations, scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky folk/anti-folk, all firmly rooted in a strong DIY sensibility. Jeffrey and his band have toured the world multiple times over, released albums on Rough Trade, Moshi Moshi and Don GIovanni Records, and have been featured by NPR, The History Channel, The NY Times and more. ‘Manhattan’ was mixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Phosphorescent, War On Drugs) and recorded by Brian Speaker at SpeakerSonic Studios NY, produced by Brian Speaker and Jeffrey Lewis.

“We’ve been fans of Jeffrey Lewis since seeing him at the Sidewalk Cafe in 2001, so we’re really really pleased to be really-re-releasing the excellent album ‘Manhattan’ just in time for his September UK Tour. This all started when Jeffrey asked for help looking after his merch after his UK tour finished last year and we said we’d help him press some records in Europe from a UK address as the postage costs from the US were way too much. This ultimately led to us re-releasing his classic album (and respectful nod to Lou Reed's New York) ‘Manhattan’. It's beyond a dream come true. Blang is the home of fantastic lyricists and that's exactly what Jeffrey is - this is a perfect fit.” - Blang Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Scowling Crackhead Ian
2. Thunderstorm
3. Sad Screaming Old Man
4. Back To Manhattan
5. Avenue A, Shanghai, Hollywood
6. Outta Town
7. It Only Takes A Moment
8. Support Tours
9. Have A Baby
10. Athiest Mantis
11. The Pigeon

South London ne-er-do-wells Meatraffle make huge strides forward with this third album of funky trumpet-laced street pop combining a caustic wit with a tender heart.

TRACK LISTING

Lovesong Industrial Complex
Posh People In Pop
Secret Fizzy Wine Drinker
Mannaggia La Miseria
Street Names (part 1)
New Maps Of Hell
Robots
Bully Boss
Power Shower
Lambeth Walk
Street Names (part 2)
Smallest Gang

American songwriter-inventor THOMAS TRUAX joins forces with ex-Slits/Banshees drummer BUDGIE to produce a gemstone of art-rock, post-punk and surreal Americana.

Thomas Truax is (pronounced troo-aks) an imaginative American singer/songwriter and inventor who has been touring and releasing records for 2 decades, usually performing solo with his own ‘band’ of self-made (sometimes mechanical) instruments. His music evades easy pigeonholing as his songs flit between art rock, post-punk, and a distinctive brand of surreal Americana. UNCUT Magazine wrote: "Truax is shaping up nicely as one of the great rock eccentrics.”

Budgie is an English drummer known best for his work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Slits, and The Creatures. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential drummers of Alternative music.

SPIN Magazine wrote: "Budgie drums up a marvel of kinetic syncopation and invention."

Currently he co-hosts a podcast with Lol Tolhurst of the Cure, and is writing an autobiography.

Mother Superior is the third in a series of motorized mechanical drum machines built by Thomas. She’s made primarily from recycled parts including bicycle wheels, hubcaps, spoons, a horn, and other percussive bits. She is widely celebrated for her ability to play steadily and make quite a din.

Allusions to dreams are woven throughout Thomas Truax’s 10th studio album Dream Catching Songs, whether they be literal night dreams, aspirations, fantasies or broken dreams.

As a shy art kid growing up feeling trapped in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, Thomas dreamed of being in a rock band. As a teen he moved to New York City and formed several of these in succession, but grew frustrated with the typical problems of keeping a human band together and committed. Especially when it came to drummers, whom it seemed were always jumping ship just as things started to go well. He finally decided to build his own motorized mechanical drummer and go ‘solo.’

He found a warm welcome for this new brand of lineup when touring Europe and the UK, and scored licensing deals for his first albums. Eventually he relocated to London.

Though he mostly sticks to his solo live routine and original compositions, in recent years he has collaborated with Jarvis Cocker, James Smith of Yard Act, and drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls/Violent Femmes). Following a meeting with David Lynch, he delivered a well-received covers album ‘Songs From The Films Of David Lynch’ .

When he had to leave England after his work permits were exhausted, he moved to Germany, and it was here while they were both performing at a festival event that Thomas and Budgie had a chance to get properly acquainted.

Thomas: “We had a great conversation over dinner. I’d been a fan of his work since my teenage days in Denver but he didn’t know mine. My performance was scheduled for later and he said he’d watch it. I warned him that sometimes human drummers take offense to Mother Superior, seeing that something so mechanical could, in a way, threaten to take their place.”

“But when I finished my set I went back stage and there was Budgie, waiting in the wings, very enthusiastic about my set. He was even holding a flower for Mother Superior, and said he was in love with her.”

“We crossed paths a few more times and we discussed the possibility of him doing some recording with myself and Mother S. on some new material I’d been working on and he was very much up for it. So when I was next touring through Berlin (where Budgie is based) I booked some extra days off the road and we set up to record in his underground ‘Bunker’.

“We really dove straight into it and he came up with incredible stuff. My tendency is to work slowly and if someone doesn’t stop me, I’ll work on the tiniest details forever. Budgie likes to work faster and stresses the value of spontaneity.”

“Spontaneous is where the best stuff happens,” he says. He also emphasizes the importance of chemistry in artistic collaboration: “What is it about creative energy? It’s to do with chemistry and relationship.”

Thomas jokes: “I worry that Mother Superior might run off with him, they obviously have a special chemistry.”

From the gentle allure of the opening title song through its final sweeping orchestrated mini-movie of a track, Dream Catching Songs is an inspired and powerful entry in Thomas’s catalog of recorded work, and a shining example of Budgie at his dynamic best. A poignant, sometimes tender, often raucous collection that - much like Thomas’s music machines - has been crafted with great care and affection. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Dream Catching Song
2. Everything’s Going To Be All Right
3. Birds & Bees
4.The Anomalous Now
5. Free Floaters
6. A Wonderful Kind Of Strange
7.Origami Spy Arrives In Paper Boat
8. A Little More Time
9. Big Bright Marble
10. The Fisherman’s Wishing Well Prayer

Since writing the last Sergeant Buzfuz album, 2015's "Balloons For Thin Linda", songwriter Joe Murphy has lost both parents, got married, been a victim of a smear campaign (as a whistleblowing union rep), co-founded charity QQF (a theatre company for adults with special needs) and relocated to his native Sheffield. Joe has also continued to co-run Blang, the DIT* label he started in 2005 (including working on the first album from ex-Fall members Brix & The Extricated) and has worked part-time in special needs schools in London and Sheffield to fund the recording of "Fox Pop".

"Balloons For Thin Linda" received positive press but life events got in the way of much live promotion. The band recruited Joss Cope on bass, Stu Crane on slide guitar and Polly MacLean on backing vocals and released the "Humble Pie" EP in 2017. The debut album from the new line-up is finally here. It's the seventh Buzfuz album. It's got tunes bursting out all over the place, lyrics from the head, heart and fist and is rich in variety with two-minute pop songs, ballads, post-punk, freakbeat and strands of the band's Celtic DNA.

Opening track ‘There’s Idiots, Then There’s Idiots With Money’ “is about me imagining I'm attending one of those Mansion House dinners where the Chancellor gets summoned to report to the City.” Says Joe. It’s a stomping working class anthem that quickly gets under the skin with intricately woven shuffling guitars and percussion that make way for a psychedelic flute solo. Second track ‘Theresa McKee’ is a refreshing lively blast of pop peppered with mandolin and acoustic guitar, showing off the band’s more folky roots with finesse. Other album highlights include ‘Who Art In Seven Hills’, a clever and humorous re-work of The Lord’s Prayer replacing names and places with those of Joe’s native Sheffield (a la Ian Dury's Bus Driver's Prayer). The interlude makes way for the jollity off-kilter harmonies of quirky ‘Rare & Racy’, a busker-esque jam about a second hand record/book shop in Sheffield which had to close when the Council, having to obey new Tory Government planning laws, approved the property owner's plans to turn the building into flats. ‘Fill In The Blanks’ and ‘Rear View Mirror’ are other great moments of raw and instantly familiar catchy classic punk on this album which celebrates real lives and real musicianship through the band’s own unique lens. The album, with its Squeeze & Kinks like anti-folk chant singalongs and storytelling is a perfectly crafted antidote to chart pop, Brexit and the current state of the world. It’s fun and meaningful and a constantly surprising delight from this band who are well sewn into the fabric of the UK music scene.

Buzfuz have played three live 6 Music sessions for Marc Riley and Tom Robinson and had lots of radio support from Gideon Coe as well as press acclaim across the board including from the likes of NME who described them as ‘Universally Charming’. There will be full band shows and solo shows from Joe to come around the album release where you can rest assured Buzfuz will fill you up with ‘Fox Pop’. *DIT = do it thissen, when Yorkshire people do things themselves. Joe promotes his own gigs (Blang emerged from live nights he ran at London's now sadly defunct 12 Bar Club), runs his own label and started his own charity.

TRACK LISTING

1. There's Idiots, Then There's Idiots With Money
2. Theresa McKee
3. The Tongues They Wag Away
4. Who Art In Seven Hills / Rare & Racy
5. Clouds In Your Eyes
6. Rear View Mirror
7. Fill In The Blanks
8. Your Time Is Tomorrow
9. The Years Dressed In Gold
10. In The Folds Of Her Robe
11. Back To The Willow

The Reverse is a North London guitar band making an urgent and literate style of indie-rock that’s been likened to “Belle and Sebastian meets Pulp meets Lloyd Cole”. There’s a dark and twisted nod to Britpop’s more irreverently humoured acts such as David Devant & His Spirit Wife and The Auteurs, mixed with a hint of post-punk in The Reverse’s Wire-esque chugging guitar riffs, laced with a touch of the gothic, and a sprinkling of alt-folk. The Reverse’s forthcoming album is described by the band as an album influenced by “the personal and the political with more than a little darkness but also plenty of humour.”

Recorded as the band performed together, to capture the essence of their live sets, Which Way Out moves through energetic rock songs to more delicate acoustic laments, offering nuanced tone shifts through emotional and stylistic ranges. Frontman and lyricist Nathan Loughran’s delivery veers from anger and sarcasm to vulnerability and compassion, unsurprising with influences including iconic purveyors of the raw and laid bare truth, such as Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Which Way Out opens with the fury of the reverb drenched and darkly caustic track ‘Crush My Chest With Your Hate’, which laments a culture of hate and envy that has led to the dehumanisation of refugees, and the disturbing rise of the far-right.

Whilst the sardonic ‘Nobody Likes You, Everybody Hates You’ explores all that divides us in increasingly binary terms, with a deliciously darkly humoured swipe at everyone from The Sun newspaper through to Jeremy Kyle. ‘Abstract Heart’ is another heavier rock-edged track, to a backdrop of chugging Wire-esque riffs the anti-love song celebrates the broken people destroyed by the lessthan-perfect reality of the romantic dream. Elsewhere on the album there’s hints of classic observational song-writing, with ‘Nothing on Telly’ offering a kind of kitchen sink storytelling realism worthy of Pulp. Whilst tracks like ‘Kill Us All’ recall the aforementioned David Devant & His Spirit Wife and The Auteurs with its tongue in cheek misanthropy (“You seem nice, you talk a lot but I don’t need new friends when I hate the ones I’ve got” – Kill Us All). Then there are more fragile and naked moments such as ‘A Vague Arrangement’ and ‘Skimming Stones’, both take Loughran’s laid-bare honesty that runs through the veins of Which Way Out but laced with a gentler, more compassionate touch, aided on the former track by the introduction of Teresa Kelly’s delicate and moving vocal. The songs explore the vulnerability of falling in love and the fragility of the human existence. They offer up a more vulnerable side to The Reverse, proving Which Way Out to be an album of many nuances.

TRACK LISTING

1 Crush My Chest With Your Hate
2 Which Way Out
3 Nothing On The Telly
4 Abstract Heart
5 A Vague Arrangement
6 Kind Eyes
7 Nobody Likes You, Everybody Hates You
8 Skimming Stones
9 Kill Us All
10 The Day Before We Died
11 The Stars Were A Mess 

Jack Medley passed away on 6th May 2019 aged 41. He was a legendary promoter and personality at Brixton’s Windmill and friend/fixer in the early years for the Fat White Family and subsequent spin offs The Insecure Men, WarmDuscher and also Madonnatron. All bands performed at and helped promote his celebratory wake “MegaRave” at The Windmill Brixton 26th May 2019, much of which is now available on social media. A permanent mural of Jack adorns the wall of the Windmill’s smoking room aka Jack (Medley)’s “Reggae Shack”. The album was hatched from an experimental ketamine induced recording session posted on bandcamp by Medley following which he teamed up with producer Dom Keen (Holy Magick, Dark Horses, Death In Vegas) as a writing team to create a driving, chaotic and hypnotic album opening with “Sauly” a cheeky apology to his pal Saul Adamczewski for the “homage”. Within 5 days of Jack’s death, a GoFundMe campaign organised by Brixton Windmill regulars WarmDuscher, Madonnatron and La of Reprezent FM had raised sufficient to finance the production of a short run of pink and black splatter vinyl LPs now being released on Blang Records, also home to Medley’s UK Antifolk family and favourites Milk Kan, David Cronenberg’s Wife, Corporal Machine & The Bombers and Lucy’s Diary. A unique collectable for which proceeds go to Music Minds Matter. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Sauly
A2. People Are Strange
A3. Lose It
A4. Taking Care Of Business
A5. Suck It Up

B1. Shameless Plug
B2. Math Rock
B3. Bear On A Hot Tin Roof
B4. Lady In Red 
B5. Get Your Freaky Beak On