Final LP of a productive year for Feral Child is an absolute cracker. The latest of a long line of superb full lengths from Stephen James Buckley's incendiary Polypores project. This one is arguably his most adventurous outing to date, the undeniably psychedelic “Hungry Vortex”. Four extended pieces exploring polyrhythmic fixations and cosmic jazz-prog freak-outs.

Percussion-heavy opener ‘The Body Is The Spaceship’ is a fine example of the sort of seamless organic growth we tend to see in Polypores’ music, with slewed synth blips and rolling polyrhythms gradually twisting into unrecognisable strands of melody and unconventional groove before your very ears.

The prog-heavy ‘Wizards!’ sees Buckley’s trademarked playful use of time-signature changes, providing such a wealth of emotional and stylistic variance and immeasurable enjoyment without changing key once (honestly, who needs keys). It’s brilliantly evocative too and could indeed perfectly soundtrack a mushroom-trip wizard march.

As we flip the record over, the flutey flourishes and minimalist clicks of the title track draw the listener into a trancelike state, repeated movements spiralling like myriad creatures crawling over a candy-coloured horizon, echoing forth into an inviting sonic oblivion. It’s ostensibly electronic, yet somehow more natural organism than machine, with little concern for the grid, or indeed, the rules.

Finally, we end on something a little more subdued - the reassuring classicism of the beautiful ‘Void High’, with washes of warm noise and wobbly delay lines whirring and twinkling away, closing the record with an experience that is undeniably emotional, spiritual and as always, uniquely Polypores.

This is a wonderful record with which to close the year out, it comes in a magnificent, spot varnished Jake Blanchard sleeve. A superb record released as a one time only vinyl pressing.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An absolutely superb mix of the wild-eyed wooze of Buckley's more propulsive, jazzy outpourings and the rippling ambient tones we've loved from throughout his discography. A Wonderfully fluid, mad dance odyssey rendered in Buckley's distinctive style, possibly his best yet.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Body Is The Spaceship
2. Wizards!
3. Hungry Vortex
4. Void High

Recorded in rehearsal rooms and homes in the aftermath of a pandemic, 'Dreams Buried Under The Sea' carries a sense of Autumn: an ending of things, and new beginnings. Of harvesting and the storing of all that is good, in preparation for the harsh winter to come. Initially falling together from the ashes of sometimes celebrated electric-folkies The Eighteenth Day Of May back in 2006, Trimdon Grange Explosion have a way of taking their time. Built on the strong friendships of the individuals going way back, their approach to music-making has involved infrequent London based live appearances, but lots of recording, the results offered forward only when necessary.

The years following have seen the departure of founding member, viola player Alison Cotton to concentrate on well received solo work, but still appearing on three tracks on the new record. Alison’s departure preceded the arrival of new member, formidable bassist Ben Reed whose long resume includes work with Frank Ocean, Sampha and Hannah Peel, in addition to making solo records, the most recent being “Bandaged” on Esoteric in 2023. His arrival frees up original bassist Mark Nicholas to join Ben Phillipson on guitar duties. Phillipson also takes sole charge of vocals, double-tracked and harmonised. Drummer Karl Sabino completes the line-up, also handling most of the recording and production.

Not completely putting their folk tendencies to one side, the album documents a band learning to communicate with the new line-up; a sound that stretches from the Albion Country Band’s pastoral intricacy to Pavement’s lo-fi inscrutability by way of The Rain Parade/Byrdsian school of chiming guitars.

A recent live review in Shindig! (July 2025) noted the “propulsive ride-cymbal-driven drum and bass groove underpins intertwining dual raga-drone guitar lines; when one goes high, the other goes low and vice versa, making for sublime psych-head listening”.

'Dreams Buried Under The Sea' is at times uplifting, often heavily melancholic, and marks a culmination of sorts for Trimdon. Its release on Dom Martin’s Feral Child label also completes a circle, their debut release being a 7” on his previous Great Pop Supplement imprint way back when. 

The East London based collective have been active since 2021, releasing a stash of amazing lathe cut releases, all dressed in the most incredibly eye catching packaging and featuring Jonny’s now trademark psych flavoured, lino-cut and screened sleeves. In hindsight it all seems so simple- the marrying up of the most incredible looking records with the bands’ incendiary psyched out, kosmik washed swamp blues is one heck of a draw.

Astutely described as “combining avant swamp blues heaviosity with kosmic free jazz experimentalism in a fluid collective of godless raag brut improvisations - sonic visions of an hallucinatory apocalyptic near future”. Reference points are incredibly eclectic from Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Moondog, Captain Beefheart etc via The MC5 or the blissed out mantras of Popol Vuh to “imagining Spacemen 3 in the high desert being scorched by the hot hot sun”.

The background to this set is probably best coming from Jonny himself: “The origin of this remix project began in the final mixing of the album ‘Acid Blüüs Räägs Vol.2’ with Captain Future at Space Eko East Studios. When the Captain tried out some heavy dub treatments on the opening track ‘Cosmic Fanfare’ the idea for a whole parallel remix project pronounced itself as the righteous path. So, after mixing the album, the Captain set sail for the cosmos with his dub version of track 1. The logical next step was to put the call out to the Invocation family… Jason Stoll, God Unknown label boss and Sex Swing bass swinger gives ‘Fever Dawn’ the dark and heavy treatment. Long time friend and prolific cottage industry remixer The Lincolnshire Poacher takes ‘Wail Of The Dead Woods’ off to his murky hideout to close the first side. On the flip Brother Chris Rotter, the band’s very own sonic traveller of the white and the black keys, pulls out a very cinematic mix of ‘The Sun and The Red Sand’. And the final track ‘Celestial Symphony In D’ is treated to two re-imaginings; first from long term collaborator Charlie Behrens who treats us to some delicious experimental rupturings, under his new moniker Collapsing Drums, followed by former band mate and present collaborator Mr Chestnutt, with a Floating World Pictures cosmic gospel rave mix to close the party. Something for everyone….Dig!!!” 

TRACK LISTING

1. Cosmic Fanfare
2. Fever Dawn
3. Wall Of The Dead Woods
4. The Sun And The Red Sand
5. Celestial Symphony

Next up on the hugely productive current Feral Child conveyer belt comes an absolute banger of a 45. Once again, looking splendid in their new psych flavoured label bags, this new 7 sees the release for a first-time-on-vinyl pair of gorgeous demos from the mighty DELTA.

I’m sure many of you know the back story; how Delta formed in 1991 from the ashes of The Sea Urchins (whose four year career spawned 3 beloved 45s on Sarah, and copious releases on Fierce, Sha-La-La and Kvatch amongst others). Brothers James and Patrick Roberts set out to form a band that reflected their love of records by the likes of The Byrds, The Beatles and Neil Young. Or “just dirty soul music” as James described it at the time in Dazed Magazine.

Sadly, for one reason or another, and despite -as James recalls- having “loads of A&R bods coming up to Birmingham telling us we were the best thing since the Stone Roses”, the obvious genius in the songs was occasionally outweighed by the sometimes ramshackle nature of their live performances and through various tensions the band split on the cusp of recording a debut album, leaving a slew of fabulous 45s only.

Then in 1999, Dishy Recordings released “Laughing Mostly”, a sumptuous collection of previously unreleased demos and outtakes, again showcasing and reminding listeners of the bands’ songwriting prowess. Fast forward to this year and Dell’orso are releasing an expanded edition of that collection and for a first time on wax, these two nuggets are pulled for a 45 release in a limited one time pressing. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A: Real Time
Side B: Clever Girl

Next up on Feral Child (alongside the mighty new Lake Ruth full length) comes an absolute banger of a 45 from The Hologram People.

Following hugely well received and sought after releases on Dreamlord Recordings, Library of the Occult, Up In Her Room and others, the duo of Jonathan Parkes (Korb) and Dom Keen (Studio Kosmische) release 'Bongo Express' as a limited one-off vinyl pressing for Crouch End based label Feral Child.

A heady, psychedelic collision of bongos and analogue synths create a dusty mid 70's groove of masterful krautrock infused funk instrumentation. The duo’s trippy soundtrack and radiophonic leanings are at the fore across both sides of this beauty. It is anticipated that a quick sell out is on the cards, and the single looks wonderful too- dressed in Feral Childs’ new psych company bags designed by label head Dom. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Bongo Express
2. Afternoon Sniper

Working with melodies first, Lake Ruth's Allison Brice knew she wanted a celestial and cinematic narrative to this album, from there threading and interweaving three key strands of influence into the stratosphere. This means that the tracks generate a constellation of tales with many of the lyrics inspired by the voices and tales on the sorrowful podcast about Heaven’s Gate (the cult where the victims fatally believed they would graduate to an alien spacecraft behind the Hale-Bopp Comet).

Second and third to this universe in terms of thematic inspiration are the science fiction novel ‘Children Of Time’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the 1920 print Angelus Novus by Paul Klee, in particular Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of this ‘angel of history’ regarding the unceasing historical cycle of despair.

Of the lyrical laces Allison explains: “A lot of the songs are about the survivors and the bereaved at Heaven’s Gate whose stories really moved me. I wrote about Nancie Brown (who lost her son David Moore) in ‘Potalaka Listening Station’; Terrie Nettles (daughter of cult founder Bonnie Nettles) in ‘Take Me With You’, plus two songs about Frank Lyford and Erika Ernst. They joined the cult as a young couple, and close to the end he got out - but he could not persuade her to leave, and she died in the mass suicide in California. When you listen to Frank speak, it's heartbreaking - the trauma is so evident in his voice.

Visually the themes are reflected in the cover of the album also, mirrored especially in the first verse of ‘To Erika’: “I’m looking upward to the sky/ in one direction, on the chance that you are/ posed in Orion overhead/ while I’m here imprisoned on the surface”. The other song – ‘From Erika’ - are essentially her last words to Frank.

‘Hawking Radiation’ meanwhile is a title that Hewson wrote referring to the energy emitted by a black hole after it consumes something. The black hole is a symbol of the cult but those lost to it are not lost forever, living on as memory. It seems apt as the title of the album.

Contrary to what might be deemed overwhelming subjects are Allison’s ‘hot-knife-through-butter’ seraphic vocals, her melancholic intonation trading blushes with the guitars’ ripple of baroque pop. There is a lightness of touch in the skittering drums too, some touches more familiar to fans of 60s bossa nova. All three members of Lake Ruth have been in other groups – Allison Brice in Eighteenth Day Of May and The Silver Abduction; Hewson Chen in The New Lines and Matt Schulz in Holy Fuck. It’s an effervescent combination that waltzes and flashes like perplexing trails in the night sky.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Diamond On Its Side
2. An Offering
3. Cold Sleep
4. Potalaka Listening Station
5. Astral Voices
6. From Erika
7. The Next Level
8. Promises Made, Promises Kept
9. Take Me With You
10. To Erika
11. Angels Of History
12. Hawking Radiation

The release marks the return of MELODIEN, the project of Liverpool based Harry Sumnall, who, over many years has crafted some of the most beautiful, soaring kosmische sounds out there. This new 3 track EP is a wonderful ode to the golden period of Brain, Sky, Cosmic Couriers et al, spaced out grooves, dreamy textures and drones aplenty. so of course, this comes hugely recommended to fans of Cluster, Harmonia and the Berlin school.

Sleeves are partial wraparounds all hand numbered and FC embossed.

Four beguiling tracks of atmospheric, occasionally acid folk flavoured, melodic > freakout shifts, taking in tips of the hat to Popol Vuh (check Miri’s beautiful vox on “Angel”), Amon Duul and fellow countrymen Acid Mothers Temple and Kikagaku Moyo amongst others.

Formed in 2019, this three-piece consists of Kazuki Toneri (guitar, sitar), Miri (bass, flute, vocals), and Koh Hamada (drums, percussion). Each member is well-versed in music, film, and various other arts, drawing inspiration not only from experimental, psychedelic rock, and noise music but also from art across the world, both past and present. Their music weaves solid, architectural elements with destruction into a dark and gloomy soundscape, is often described as "dark psychedelic."

They released their first album, 'Way Down East', in 2021. In 2022, they relocated to London, where they performed on UK tours and at festivals. Having already played nearly 50 live shows, they are gaining attention in the local scene. Their latest EP, 'Viscum' was released in June 2024. 'Barbican City of Tokyo' is a compilation of tunes previously consigned to digital release only that label head, Dom had free rein to assemble an EP from, which luckily the band wholeheartedly agreed upon! …and all four tracks appear on vinyl here for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reconquista
2. Abandon
3. Angel
4. The Innocent One

Next up on Feral Child comes the debut vinyl release from Austin Tx psych outfit NEON LEMON. Having caught the eye of label head Dom on some cool looking, local Spacemen 3 themed nights’ posters; further digging revealed this incredible, richly melodic, yet deep psychedelic beauty with -seemingly- no home for a release on wax, so it was pretty easy to step in and offer to release it.

“Hypnagogic Visions” is a superb, fuzz n’ drone drenched 6 track 10” LP in a sleeve designed by the legendary Jim Franklin (a friend of the band) who famously designed beautiful posters, flyers and gig tickets for the Elevators, Shiva’s Headband and Canned Heat amongst others, in his role as owner of the Vulcan Gas Company, a revered 60s Austin psychedelic club and concert hall.

As Ben Siebert from the band explains: “This record was mostly written and recorded in a warehouse space outside of Austin (that no longer exists) called The Inner Chamber. We tried best to capture our live sound in this space, and with most band members in a state of constant turmoil at the time of its recording, this space offered a refuge from our personal lives and a place to transcend reality through creation of this music.”

Neon Lemon blends together mind altering psychedelic sounds of the 60's with transcendent space rock of the early 70's. Finding their own balance between free form psychedelia and a mainline of roots rock and roll.

Next up on Feral Child, sees not only a second ever release from New Zealand based VOR-STELLEN but a teaming up with one of label head dom’s favourite ever labels, the mighty Flying Nun.

Despite some patchy European distribution the first VS release “Parallelograms”, was a constant player at FC HQ; 4 superb tracks of super laid back, kraut flavoured slow burners, (lead track “Voyager” especially, comes hugely recommended with its accompanying film clip), so when the band OK’d a second release for Feral Child, we were stoked.

Vor-stellen is the experimental project of Brendan Moran, which blends fixated guitars and drums with ad-hoc electronic layers producing perforated waves of sustain which echoes off the fourth wall. Brendan has released work previously as part of avoid!avoid (their album “Particle and Wave” was released by Flying Nun in 2016) and The Subliminals, of which Flying Nun re-released -in 2021- a vinyl edition of their highly acclaimed album “United State”.

With Vor-stellen he picks up where those other projects have left off as a foray into 'kraut' inspired compositions “which seek to transform pre-determined ideas of music into open-ended sound objects, untethered from any sense of conventional outcomes”.

On this, second VS record, he teams up with his Subliminal buddies once again to continue on an exploration, “folding the weird and the eerie into a dark ecology of long-sound via indefatigable environments of modulation and improvisation, creating sonic counterpoints that hinge on a reanimation of musical gestures”.

The record features two side long slow builders and are released in a beautiful Brendan Moran designed sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

1. Eternal Return Of The Transitional Organ
2. Grendel

Feral Child’s 50th release is an absolute gem; housed in a beautiful 70s styled disco bag- it sees a 12” collaboration between longterm label favourites, Studio Kosmische from the UK and Cloud Canyons from Italy.

A killer double A side featuring a reworking by SK of “Under Neon Stars” (from Cloud Canyons’ great 2023 debut album “Dreaming Of Horses Running In Circles”) which adds to the original versions’ relentless motorik pulse, by adding a few parts and alchemically blending the original elements of the song; the slowbuilding ethereal female vocals, the multilayers of monophonic analogue synths- moulding a shrouding and lilting veil on the 9 minute long original.

Side B features a brand new track, “Black Fruit”, which also sprung from the creative dialogue between the two bands and also clocks in at around 9 minutes, side-long. Born as an instrumental piece by Studio Kosmische, “Black Fruit” developed into a full song thanks to the vocal additions by Michelle Cristofori, Laura Storchi and Stella Baraldi (Cloud Canyons’ singers) and a rich yet minimalistic array of instrumental parts by Studio Kosmische’s Dom Keen, who ingeniously shaped the keys harmonies and rhythmic textures around the vocal lines.

Accomplished by some subtle electronic treatment by Cloud Canyons’ Nicola Caleffi, “Black Fruit” ideally complements “Under Neon Stars” as a two-sided creature, hanging somewhere between krautrock and electronica.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Lysergic, cosmic wooze from the brilliant Studio Kosmische (Dom Keen) & Cloud Canyons. Both sides are longform pieces that are rich in the cosmic tradition but employ various levels of momentum. While 'Under Neon Stars' glows with psychedelic imagery and motorik prog atmospheres, 'Black Fruit' effortlessly brings in a beautiful haunted female vocal for a sparkling disco-adjacent swing. Another banging outing for the ever-reliable Feral Child.

Following the label’s 9 minute sell out of it’s recent Mark E. Smith BBC “football results” lathe cut, Feral Child return with a cracker.

A split LP featuring two of mainland Europe’s finest experimental electronic artists, Germans PHANTOM HORSE and Belgiums’ INNERCITY. 2 side long epics of rich exploratory, kraut tinged Electronica.

Phantom Horse offer up “Pink Star”, a side long slowburner (with production by Kohn’s Jurgen de Blonde) built around opening drones and sporadic kosmische themed synth flourishes. We’ll mention Cluster again in a moment, but this has its head pointed firmly towards the legendary work of Moebius and Roedelius. A lovely track, kinda cleaner and more sonically polished than it’s flip, but that juxtaposition increases the records’ appeal here.

For these ears, it’s Innercity’s epic “Ali” that steals the show here and is easily worth the proverbial price of admission on this one. A monumental, moody, side long piece of lo-fi drum machine enthused electronica recalling some imaginary dream collision of the very finest Conrad Schnitzler flavoured K/Cluster or first 2 LP Kraftwerk with latter day industrial, electronic pioneers of our own, early Cabs, Clock DVA, Throbbing Gristle, Robert Rental et al. Just magnificent and we don’t say “hike it right up” lightly….

Label head Dom has long had Hans Dens -and his Innercity project- pencilled in for releases on his previous labels Deep Distance and Polytechnic Youth which -for one reason or other- never materialized but their coming together here is exquisite and the track is a monster, my “new” track of the year thus far; talk about it being worth the wait….

A lovely record, in a limited one time pressing on vinyl through North London’s homespun Feral Child label.

Next full length up on Feral Child sees a welcome reunion for both label and artist; having teamed up lots in the past, JAMES TOTH and label head Dom, join forces for another beauty.

This time round, 11 previously (and mostly- certainly in these forms) unreleased home recordings and demos from a 10 year period between 2012 and 2022. Titled “Demon Stations”, it’s a beautifully seamless collection, mercifully saved from the relative oblivion of bandcamp / digital only demos and released on vinyl.

Many of course know James best from his Wooden Wand moniker, alongside his work with the likes of Michael Gira and Thurston Moore etc, then one would hope last years’ “Birthday Blues” 33 artist tribute / comp covering songs from various points of James’ career (feat Meg Baird, Lee Ranaldo, Six Organs of Admittance amongst others) will only have raised his star further….

On this collection, James says ““Demon Stations” is a compilation of songs from five different digital-only demo collections I released on Bandcamp between 2021 and 2023. I relied on the ears and judgment of my old friend Dom to curate this comp, allowing him to choose his favorites from over 60 songs. While I might have chosen an entirely different batch of tunes, I was happy to defer to Dom, as I’ve never had much perspective when it comes to assessing my own material.

All of the songs were recorded at home, mostly on the same day they were written. Most are first takes, intended to provide a template for a theoretical band to follow if and when the songs were to be re-recorded “properly” at a later date. A few have since been re-recorded for studio records, and a few others remain in contention for future studio records.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An evocative, beautifully performed selection of minimal acoustic guitar and vocals, reminiscent of traditional country music, but lightened with Toth's wry lyrical direction and light touch on the guitar. It's as ever, another brilliant release from Dom PY / Feral Child and further shows his dedication to the musical cause.

Next up on Feral Child sees the fabulous collaboration between Justin Wright (Expo 70) and Grant Corum (Million Brazilians, Timelash, Psychic Sounds Ensemble) BLAZING WORLDS.

The duo’s self-titled full length was recorded during a week long Midwest summer scorcher, and expands and contracts with six heavily hallucinatory movements that only hellishly humid nights could induce. One that seasoned sonic psychonauts Justin Wright and Grant Corum could venture to manifest a deep phantasmagoric excursion through brilliant atmospheres in a seamless collection.

The material on Blazing Worlds harkens back to Wright’s synth-driven ’Sorcerer of Sound’ full of cosmic tones and other worldliness aura, in tandem with Corum’s bent woodwind work and extraterrestrial sounding samples. Where this is certainly a departure from some of their previous work, the two seem to find equal navigation through their evolving compositions morphing into a singular melting chthonic mass, giving the listener an open-ended impression of mesmerizingly vast sonic topographies all gleaming with moments of both glimpses of gorgeousness and the grotesque.

“Blazing Worlds” provides a wonderful, seamless spin from initial blast to the last. There are lots of strange instrumental textures and propellant pulsations, all pretty much within the confines of modernist electronic invention, and the whole shimmers with a very unusual kind of lambency, while still sounding deceptively discernible. While it can often seem tricky to keep up with Wright and Corum’s many releases and style shifts, it is constantly rewarding and this is another fine addition to their oeuvre.

Brand new on Feral Child, comes a sublime debut 45 from an incredible female electronic / performance duo Digital Roses. Following a chance meeting in a library and an overheard discussion about Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop- Dom FC was sent a bunch of demos and 2 of these fabulous pieces grace their first release on 7" here.

The band describe themselves and their sound thus: “Digital Roses are two queer multidisciplinary arts based in London, whose sound has been described as “hyper-soul” meets “Nordic noir electronica”; a musical feast of experimental art pop, ambient noise, and wistful soul melodies.
Rising from a multidimensional conceptual framework, Digital Roses avail contemporary visuals, computational forms, sound synthesis, and sound art, together with organic instrumentation and voice, to explore the emotional landscapes of the human condition. They aim to share their journey, observations, and musings with the same beautiful, painful, and sometimes aggressive nature that can be found everywhere there is humanity.
‘Waterfalls’ is a song inspired by the mysticism of the Toka Leya Waterfall tribes of Victoria Falls. The tribe’s name loosely translates to ‘those who crossed over to keep away from trouble’, and their drums are believed to hold supernatural powers. The song is the first stop in the imagined mystical journey the Digital Roses take us on. The aftermath of this musical exodus is where we encounter the mysterious and haunting lamentation that is the B-side track ‘Under the Sea’”.

Beating off a mini label tug of war for the right to release the mighty “WATERFALLS”, Feral Child is thrilled to bring this debut release to the table. Icy cool, elegantly experimental electronica which -to these ears- is one of the year’s best singles so far……

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: You always know you're in for a treat with a Feral Child release, but this particular blend of slowed-down post-dubstep and finessed synthetic soundscapes has me particularly floored. Glitched, but particularly organic sounding, pulsing with life and impeccably produced. Stunner.

TRACK LISTING

Waterfalls
Under The Sea

Continuing this super productive year for the Feral Child label, the label releases an absolute peach here. Four totally whacked out, deep cuts that defy any hopes of genre pigeonholing; a deliciously dazzling moulding of ambitious grooves and ideas from the wonderful WET TUNA.

Never short on dizzying ambition, we described it as a ‘Space Dub Psych Disco collision’ on an Instagram post and that kinda holds true a few days on here. Fabulously bonkers and groovy in equal measure, this one comes hugely recommended. WET TUNA feature Matt (MV) Valentine & Erika (EE) Elder alongside Jim Bliss, Woods’ Jeremy Earl and on this record, Myriam Gendron.

We’ve left it to Matt to offer up the introductory words: “Wet Tuna specializes in homegrown, dubwise psychedelia. Exploration is paramount. You have a third ear? Probably if you are that kind, that’s spectrasound. They never do it the same way twice. “Party in the House” features Myriam Gendron and has poetry penned by Benoit Chaput of L’oie de Cravan. Samara Lubelski rips some electric violin, Jeremy Earl from Woods/Woodsist rides some golden tones singing harmony. Wet Tuna also has minor outlying islands, handmade things. Imported records, cassettes, cds. Sonic archepalegos. There are also deep cuts on their Bandcamp. If you really DIG you will find big fun on the mv & ee cottage run private press label child of microtones which they’ve been operating since 1999. You like big DISCO(2000) graphies & dead space? wet channels & foggy notion “jam band” environments, genreless free folk? You are here”.

A fabulously expansive set of jams; totally out there, groovy and beautifully psychedelic. 

TRACK LISTING

01. Party In The House (RAw/poetry Version) [8:09]
02. Electronic Zen [8:22]
03. Rough Road [9:12]
04. Party In The House (beat Poetics: Pornado Version) [7:51]

Next up on Feral Child sees the long-awaited return of the mighty TOMORROW SYNDICATE. The Glaswegians release their first new material since 2020 (on label head Dom’s previous label Polytechnic Youth) and it’s an absolute beauty with which to mark their return. Their sci-fi / synth pop groove is more than evident over the 5 extended pieces here and the band themselves feel that “Higher Resolution’ captures their sound in “full definition”.

Recorded and produced in the second half of 2022 by Andy Miller, the LP provides a detailed introspective of the trio during the process of rebuilding the group and engaging a new trajectory for its future. “Built from a series of panoramic song structures, the release picks up where the band left off but with a sharpened focus on finding expansive territory for their sound. ‘Higher Resolution’ is the bands full document of re-encountering their music and reprogramming their sonic identity within their DIY audio/visual universe.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of my favourite synth artists, and one of my favourite beers (Overtone brewery) together as one! Now we might not have the beer, (though i'll definitely try and track one down) but you absolutely can get involved in the futuristic shoegaze-krautrock post-rock mashup that TS do so impeccably. Higher resolution is a bright, beautiful record full of hope and joy. Exactly what we need.

Kosmik Sun sees the return of Nordenham, Germany based Eugen Kohl, with a side project to his acclaimed Crypt Witch project, whose LPs flew out instantly on Feral Child sister label Deep Distance a couple of years ago.

Alongside Crypt Witch, the band features members of Coven Spell and Devil Leaf, and their debut here is a mesmerizing full length that takes its listeners on a hypnotic journey through the cosmos with its slow, hypnotic riffs and intergalactic soundscapes. Three epic, intensely deep stoner / psych cuts heavy on interstellar trips and hypnotic doom. The LP features beautiful sleeve artwork by DunkleStille. "Medium Interstellar" is a must-have for fans of slow, mesmerizing doom psych / metal and marks them as a name to watch out for with future releases planned….

A limited vinyl only LP on tasty oceanic blue splatter wax with Feral Child insert and wrapped up in cool screened FC outer PVCs…..

A beautiful comeback record of sorts for Marc Rigelsford’s MAGIC ARM project. The 45 is a taster for his own privately released, and utterly fabulous “Dance Mania” full length, currently available via his bandcamp page.

Recorded in isolation in a former whiskey distillery, “Dance Mania” is “Magic Arm whittling and distilling sound down to pure forms, a collage of songs, mood pieces, drones, found sounds and stirring instrumental passages”. The two tracks here are lifted from the album, with its A side, the majestic “Good Views Near North” having already attained 6music airplay.

The songs’ treated piano opening offers no hint to the beautifully incessant, kinda’ motorik groove that then takes over- wonderfully skewed and quite otherworldly perhaps. The groove then changes tack again as it closes with cellos and strings aiding further it’s general ‘out there’ mood. It’s a beautiful piece and by releasing it on 45, one would hope to push Marc’s music out a wee bit further, certainly it’s a thrill for Feral Child to release it and it’s flip, the more electronic, and equally fabulous “432” is just great too.

Having been mooted for a number of years now, it’s the enigmatic new London label ‘Feral Child’ that has the honour of reissuing this revered psych classic, initially issued on the Earworm label in 2000 - with original vinyl copies now reaching £75 upwards online.

The OAM revolves around the studio (bedroom / D.I.Y?) genius of Ontario based Greg Watson, who’s killer musicianship and ear for that authentic Nuggets era sound has arguably never been bettered in the last two decades. Recommended for absolutely everyone into Syd era Floyd, The Seeds, Chocolate Watchband, The Prunes et al. Every track here just bathes in that fried out, oilwheel 60s feel we all adore; Hammonds, Farfisas and FUZZ figure in equal abundance….

It seems crazy that it’s taken so long to reissue this treasured collection. But ‘Feral Child’ have somehow pulled it off. The label that brought you a dubious reissue of the Clothilde/Delphine French Girl / Psych Pop 45s, alongside Pete Astor singles, a recent New Lines LP, yet somehow - indeed, seek pleasure from - exist without any net presence or even contact point.

They also release the imminent debut LP from SNAILS, the new Psych Pop outfit outta’ Bristol, beloved by the likes of Stephen Pastel and having attained 6Music plays aplenty. More on that elsewhere, but The OAM here is dressed up in suitably psych sleeve, coloured wax and in a pressing of 500.