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The Bug

Machine

    Maverick UK producer Kevin Richard Martin (Zonal / Techno Animal / King Midas Sound) joins Relapse for the release of his devastating new double album Machine, his first solo instrumental record as THE BUG.

    Machine started life as a series of self-released "floor weapons" (to use Martin’s description), landing in installments between 2023 and 2024 on the Bandcamp page of Martin’s own PRESSURE label. And now - always his intention - Martin has collated a single, powerful, unified statement from those EPs. The album detonates apocalyptic dread-tech mutations of crushing intensity, fusing a unique new strain of futuristic dub with deadly deep electronics and killer bass riffs worthy of the heaviest metal. It is, writes Martin, “ice cold and dystopian.” It celebrates “atmospheric pressure, and the joy of full body assaults, via oversized sound systems in undersized club rooms.” Machine also represents the latest metamorphosis of the "Macro Dub Infection" philosophy Martin germinated with the groundbreaking series of compilations he began curating for Virgin Records as early as the mid 90’s.

    As THE BUG, Martin’s music is formed from an overwhelmingly explosive sub-bass pressure, as relentlessly in-the-red beat production amplifies mutant industrial sound design, fuzzed, expectant crackle, and bleak greyscale harmonics. Machine is no exception: no speaker exists big enough to withstand its weight.

    Machine represents a cohesive and narrative journey through dystopian wildernesses. Throughout, the production shakes with scoured textures, black hole gravity, and deceptively crafted nuance, as Martin’s singular mastery of ferocious and annihilated bass music holds the record together in a visceral and pummelling assault. Indeed, Martin describes the EP sequence from which the album was culled as “separate parts of the overall puzzle that becomes fully realised on this longform album.”

    Key moments “Buried” and “Bodied” live up to their names. The former is earthmoving in its sheer weight, opening with a riff-made-machine synthesis of corruscating tectonics over a heavystepping beat destined to destroy dancefloors. “Bodied” begins with an acid-corroded 4/4 kickdrum, around which noxious fumes sputter and billow, spitting pure poison that no human body could survive. It is industrial-strength doom-riff-dub, as slow and low as sonics can possibly go. As such singular music, few comparisons exist, but considering an instrumental SWANS in dub or Aphex Twin covered by Sunn O))) yields something close, though Machine turns up the crushing, pulverising intensity even further still.

    Having recently reissued The Brotherhood of the Bomb and Re-Entry by Martin’s Techno Animal project with Mr. J K Flesh (Godflesh’s Justin Broadrick), Relapse represents a perfect home for Machine. Techno Animal reformed as Zonal in 2019, and released their acclaimed album Wrecked in collaboration with Moor Mother, also through Relapse.

    THE BUG has previously remixed Thom Yorke, Grace Jones, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, EARTH, and worked alongside countless luminaries of alternative and experimental music. His solo work as Kevin Richard Martin continues to blaze new paths of destructive and doom-laden drones. Notably he curated the now-seminal 1994 drone compilation Ambient 4: Isolationism. He has also created music as Ice, GOD, Black Chow and Curse of the Golden Vampire (with Alec Empire) among others.

    FFO: Godflesh, King Tubby, PiL, Adrian Sherwood, Rhythm and Sound, Swans, Porter Ricks, Keith Hudson, Shackleton

    TRACK LISTING

    DISC 1
    SIDE 1

    1. Annihilated(Force Of Gravity)
    2. Shafted(Laws Of Attraction/Repulsion)
    3. Sickness(Slowly Dying)
    SIDE 2
    1. Vertical(Never See You Again)
    2. Floored(Point Of Impact)
    3. Drop(Machine Sex)

    DISC 2
    SIDE 1

    1. Hypnotised(F-cked Up)
    2. Inhuman(Let Machines Do The Talking)
    3. Departed(Left The Body Behind)
    SIDE 2
    1. Buried(Your Life Is Short)
    2. Bodied(Send For The Hearse)
    3. Exit(Wasteman)

    The Bug

    Machines I-V

      Maverick UK producer Kevin Richard Martin (Zonal / Techno Animal / King Midas Sound) joins Relapse for the release of his devastating new double album Machine, his first solo instrumental record as THE BUG.

      Machine started life as a series of self-released "floor weapons" (to use Martin’s description), landing in installments between 2023 and 2024 on the Bandcamp page of Martin’s own PRESSURE label. And now - always his intention - Martin has collated a single, powerful, unified statement from those EPs. The album detonates apocalyptic dread-tech mutations of crushing intensity, fusing a unique new strain of futuristic dub with deadly deep electronics and killer bass riffs worthy of the heaviest metal. It is, writes Martin, “ice cold and dystopian.” It celebrates “atmospheric pressure, and the joy of full body assaults, via oversized sound systems in undersized club rooms.” Machine also represents the latest metamorphosis of the "Macro Dub Infection" philosophy Martin germinated with the groundbreaking series of compilations he began curating for Virgin Records as early as the mid 90’s.

      As THE BUG, Martin’s music is formed from an overwhelmingly explosive sub-bass pressure, as relentlessly in-the-red beat production amplifies mutant industrial sound design, fuzzed, expectant crackle, and bleak greyscale harmonics. Machine is no exception: no speaker exists big enough to withstand its weight.

      Machine represents a cohesive and narrative journey through dystopian wildernesses. Throughout, the production shakes with scoured textures, black hole gravity, and deceptively crafted nuance, as Martin’s singular mastery of ferocious and annihilated bass music holds the record together in a visceral and pummelling assault. Indeed, Martin describes the EP sequence from which the album was culled as “separate parts of the overall puzzle that becomes fully realised on this longform album.”

      Key moments “Buried” and “Bodied” live up to their names. The former is earthmoving in its sheer weight, opening with a riff-made-machine synthesis of corruscating tectonics over a heavystepping beat destined to destroy dancefloors. “Bodied” begins with an acid-corroded 4/4 kickdrum, around which noxious fumes sputter and billow, spitting pure poison that no human body could survive. It is industrial-strength doom-riff-dub, as slow and low as sonics can possibly go. As such singular music, few comparisons exist, but considering an instrumental SWANS in dub or Aphex Twin covered by Sunn O))) yields something close, though Machine turns up the crushing, pulverising intensity even further still.

      Having recently reissued The Brotherhood of the Bomb and Re-Entry by Martin’s Techno Animal project with Mr. J K Flesh (Godflesh’s Justin Broadrick), Relapse represents a perfect home for Machine. Techno Animal reformed as Zonal in 2019, and released their acclaimed album Wrecked in collaboration with Moor Mother, also through Relapse.

      THE BUG has previously remixed Thom Yorke, Grace Jones, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, EARTH, and worked alongside countless luminaries of alternative and experimental music. His solo work as Kevin Richard Martin continues to blaze new paths of destructive and doom-laden drones. Notably he curated the now-seminal 1994 drone compilation Ambient 4: Isolationism. He has also created music as Ice, GOD, Black Chow and Curse of the Golden Vampire (with Alec Empire) among others.

      FFO: Godflesh, King Tubby, PiL, Adrian Sherwood, Rhythm and Sound, Swans, Porter Ricks, Keith Hudson, Shackleton

      TRACK LISTING

      DISC 1
      1. Annihilated(Force Of Gravity)
      2. Shafted(Laws Of Attraction/Repulsion)
      3. Released(The Need To Escape)
      4. Battered(Curse Of Addiction)
      5. Sickness(Slowly Dying)
      6. Hunted(On The Run)
      7. Vertical(Never See You Again)
      8. Brutalized(Headwrecked)
      9. Floored(Point Of Impact)
      10. Limbo(Lust And Paralysis)
      11. Drop(Machine Sex)
      12. Hypnotised(F-cked Up)

      DISC 2
      1. Inhuman(Let Machines Do The Talking)
      2. Skullcrusher(Relentless Catastrophic Implosion)
      3. Possessed(The Light Of Shaka)
      4. Departed(Left The Body Behind)
      5. Buried(Your Life Is Short)
      6. Gutted(Human Filth)
      7. Bodied(Send For The Hearse)
      8. Fucka(Tongue As A Weapon)
      9. Exit(Wasteman)

      The Album Leaf

      Between Waves

      Nearly twenty years into a career that has seen Jimmy LaValle exercising his creativity across the realms of film scoring, sound collage, and electronic / rock music, via instrumental and vocal-driven compositions alike, LaValle and The Album Leaf are poised to deliver yet another sonic triumph with 2016’s Between Waves.

      Born out of a thorough reinvention of LaValle's creative process and approach, Between Waves is The Album Leaf's first proper full-length record in over six years and the first to be recorded and produced as a complete band, and was written with greater emphasis on the group dynamic. The album displays multifaceted, meticulous sound design, a keen ear for balancing disparate influences, and the strongest senses of dynamics, rhythm, and composition The Album Leaf has displayed to date. From the moody evolution of "Glimmering Lights" to the wistful trip-hop stylings of "New Soul" and beyond, Between Waves is a gorgeous collection of euphoric melodies and emotionally charged, multi-instrumental driven soundscapes from the longstanding innovators. This is intelligent, beautifully composed music at its most inventive, most confident, and most impressive.

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Well this is different isn't it? Not like 'It doesn't sound like The Album Leaf' different, it definitely does, but with an urgency previously unheard. I'm a big fan of LaValle's mellow Rhodes-based compositions (the recent reissue of 'In A Safe Place' was one of my record-buying highlights of recent times). The Rhodes is still present here fortunately, but it is backed with thumping drums in places, glitchy snares and giant swells, all topped off with silky vocal refrains. Pristinely produced and exciting from beginning to end. Rich and luxurious. Like a Creme Egg, but better for you.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. False Dawn
      2. Glimmering Lights
      3. New Soul
      4. Back To The Start
      5. Wandering Still
      6. Never Far
      7. Lost In The Fog
      8. Between Waves


      Don Caballero

      Punkgasm

        Don Caballero twists and turns through fourteen new tracks on its brand new album "Punkgasm". "Punkgasm" explodes with all of the bands legendary trademarks and pushes their sound in a host of surprising new directions! "Punkgasm" is a celebration of Don Caballero at its finest!


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