That was a long month and a little bit quiet on the music front for me but I’ve managed to find nine things that touched a nerve musically in the grey, wet January of 2026.
First up is David Harrow‘s rendition of Terry Riley‘s ‘In C’ which, although it has been around for some years now (the edition on Bandcamp is from 2020), has just got a vinyl release on Transmat of all labels! No wonder as it’s a fantastic electronic interpretation that flitters all over the place and is ranked high in my list of favourite versions. Heliochrome is the second release from new label Silkzoo and channels 90’s electronica in fine style whilst Ruth Anderson‘s name popped up in two different places over the Xmas period, leading me to Bandcamp to purchase. Firstly she was mentioned in Matthew Blackwell‘s excellent Plunderphonics book which just snuck onto my end of year list at the 11th hour, then a track from her turned up on Jon Nelson‘s Some Assembly Required show, a repository of everything cut up and sample-based. Check her work out, tape collages and drones from the 1970s. A wonderful 45 by Penza Penza turned up on Misha Panfilov‘s label mid December and the event release of Jan was undoubtedly the long-awaited James Adrian Brown album on Castles In Space. I like it’s grit and nothing outstays its welcome, I think James benefits from coming to electronic music via a live band scenario, a very original record.

I have to highlight my friend Forsaj‘s new release with Lu_x2 under the name Radiamax on Never B Alone Records, it’s a 3-tracker of the best retro breakbeat acid I’ve heard in a long time, imagine Meat Beat Manifesto mixed with LFO and a good dose of 303 action. I really hope this is getting a vinyl release but at the moment it’s digital only. John Davis aka Datasette released the second volume of his ‘Offal’ compilations recently and this one is a huge 200 tracks(!) covering a smorgasbord of experiments, remixes, mashups, versions and lost oddities going back to the 90s in some cases, you have to dig but there’s gold in there. Graham Dunning and I have finally put the recordings of our first collaborations onto a cassette tape on my Infinite Illectrik label. Entitled ‘E-x-t-e-n-d-e-d Turntablism’ (also the name of a short burst of shows coming later this year) it features highlights from the Fogfest 2023 set plus unheard rehearsal jams and is the first in several volumes we’re preparing for release. Lastly, Tristan Perich & James McVinnie released their ‘Infinity Gradient’ opus last year, consisting of hundred speakers wired to the Royal Festival Hall organ, relaying an unfurling minimalist piece in seven movements, it’s got to be heard with no distractions.