Music

Spellbound: A Gothic Rock Compendium

I wouldn’t say I’ve got a goth bone in my body but I’m fully on board with Wesley Doyle’s new publication, Spellbound: A Gothic Rock Compendium from Ruffian Books. A weighty hardback, beautifully designed throughout by Chris Bigg, it’s one of the most stunning books I’ve seen in a long time.
You may remember Doyle as the author of the Some Bizarre history, Conform To Deform a few years back and here he widens his scope from a label to a genre.

Charting the inspirations and roots of the gothic movement from the late 60s through the seventies, into the eighties and the genre’s heyday before highlighting its influence and maturity in the nineties and beyond. At times it may raise a few eyebrows at what Doyle deems to fall under the gothic banner but why not reappraise and redraw a few boundaries?

This book does that with so much style, courtesy of Biggs’ pitch perfect design and Doyle’s exceptional picture research. Key figures and releases are highlighted with brief interviews and notes on each record featured and I was surprised at how many albums I had in my collection by the end of the 400+ page book.

An absolute must have for the darker corners of your bookshelf and perfectly timed for Halloween, it’s available now from the publisher’s website, which is in the US so postage will be high for non-residents but they assure me they will be working on getting international distribution in the New Year. If you can’t wait until then and there’s a goth in your life who you need to buy a present for, then look no further (it’s actually on sale all of October) BUY IT HERE

Huge thanks to Chris Bigg for sending me a copy, I will truly treasure it.

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DJ Food 45 Live mix 2026

This year’s mix for the 45 Live radio show, hosted by DJ Greg Belson on Dublab, is upon us! Posting this after the event as I was too preoccupied at the end of last week but as usual I got an hour to do what I like as long it’s all played from 7″ vinyl. The selection veers from the late 80s through the early 90s, taking in hip house, regular house, rave and that breakbeat sound mixed with ragga vocals that soon sped up and morphed into jungle. A supremely interesting time and one I followed closely via radio shows like Colin Faver’s Abstrakt Dance and Colin Dale‘s Outer Limits shows on KISS FM alongside Max & Dave’s hip hop show.

The mix is part of Friday’s Oct 2nd show and here’s the archived show, my mix starts around the 30 min mark.

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DJ Food Music Recommends October 2026

New on De:tuned this month, Terrace with a new album hot on the heels of ‘Branches’, ‘Nodes’ is a double and I join Al White on artwork duties again although the front cover is all his own. Boards of Canada reissue their ‘Hi-Scores’ EP for the first time on Warp for its 30th anniversary and it’s still as peerless as ever, up there with the best of their albums. Robin The Fog just missed out on last month’s list with his ‘This House Burned Still’ release of two live Howlround tracks nipped and tucked into one self-released CD.

Having wound up the Ghost Box label for the foreseeable, Jim Jupp aka Belbury Poly has now put his back catalogue on Bandcamp, everything’s up there as well as his new album, ‘Sorcery’ but you could do worse than start at the beginning with ‘Farmer’s Angle’ and work your way through two decades of music. Luke Vibert never sleeps, hot on the heels of his triple ‘Variety Magic’ album here’s a 4-track 12″ with more unreleased vintage mid-90s DnB cuts, again on De:tuned. Also on art duties again is Pablo Fiasco who painted a number of ‘Robotic Futuristic’ pieces around London’s East End which I then massaged into a sleeve. Birmingham’s HALT. (very important full stop there) bring to mind classic 90s era Autechre or Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia on their ‘Slag Anthems’ album – genuinely refreshing dark electronica.

Jo Johnson‘s Silver Threads label has just announced its first compilation, ‘Filaments’ and on first three preview tracks alone it’s a must purchase. Actually, just the Cate Brooks track had me adding it to my basket to be purchased this coming Bandcamp Friday. Speaking of Cate, she had an album out in April that I’ve only just caught up with, ‘For Your Security’ reminds me of elements of THX1138, disembodied voices and electronics from CCTV monitors chattering away to melodic beats. There’s another artist I can’t keep up with and that’s Hieroglyphic Being, he’s put out seven albums in the last month, probably more by the time this goes live.

‘Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90’ is a compilation of obscure experimental music from the pre-internet era of underground cassette releases put together by the makers of my new favourite podcast, Cassette Culture. The pod explores the web-like network of micro labels, lone music makers and fanzines that formed the ecosystem of a pre-streaming niche music scene via interviews and snippets from ultra obscure releases that are now under the microscope as yesteryear’s lost treasures. Listen to the podcast here, The The‘s Matt Johnson is the latest guest. In tribute to seeing possibly the greatest live performance in memory last Sunday – Steve Reich‘s ‘Music For 18 Musicians’ played by the Paraorchestra in the round at the RFH – I dug this version up by Keith Lo Bue. ‘Music for 324 Musicians’ takes 18 different performances of the piece, lines them up and presses play. Over the course of the hour + playing time things drift and wobbly, the differences and speeds of the versions push and pull at each other, often threatening to fall to pieces which is itself quite an experience.

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Steve Reich in the afternoon – Music For 18 Musicians played by Paraorchestra

Warning – spoilers! I don’t generally do gig reviews but I’ve just witnessed one of the most incredible, life-affirming performances I think I’m ever likely to. The Royal Festival Hall are hosting a series of performances of Steve Reich’s work on the cusp of his 90th birthday this week. ‘Music For 18 Musicians’ has been on my bucket list to see for years and I’ve always just missed it or been away. When the Paraorchestra‘s performance was announced I jumped on it and I don’t think I could have experienced a better version.

Situated in the Clore Ballroom, a sunken, black-draped space inside the upper level looking out over the Thames on London’s Southbank, the players are not on stage but scattered around the room with a circular centre delineated by huge pillars. The audience are invited to roam about during the performance and we find ourselves, quite by chance, standing right next to the two marimba (or was it xylophone?) players who start the whole piece off. Immediately I feel a lump in my throat as the first notes project out into the room, the lights are low and there is a slight smoke haze in the air. All the instruments are acoustic, only the four vocalists have amplification, and moving around the room means you can use the space as your own mixing desk, drifting in and out of range of any instrument you please, shifting the balance of the sound. Despite it being a continuous piece there are obvious stages where the focus shifts and a new pattern forms whereby the audience begins to drift as it senses a new section ending, reorientating themselves to a new space for the next part.

The centre of the room becomes the sweet spot, a place where everything can be heard equally and a large gaggle of people cluster together there whilst others weave in and out or around the perimeter. Suddenly there’s a woman in orange throwing angular shapes which seem at odds with the music, she’s joined by more dotted all over the room and my first thought is, ‘oh god, contemporary dance.’ They weave their way around the audience, picking spots to perform, distracting from the players but breaking up the relentless shuffle of the crowd. It’s fine but feels a bit forced, the players deep in concentration as is the audience, some with eyes closed, some pacing, turning, filming or bobbing their heads. There are a few young children with parents, the dancers entice them to join in inside the central space, a couple of kids read books on the floor, unengaged with the spectacle unfolding around them.

Without wanting to spoil the proceedings further for those who haven’t seen it (yet), something happens in the middle of the piece, an obvious transition and suddenly the centre of the room erupts in collective dance, professional and punter alike. It hits you like a truck and the room becomes one, the centre emanating pure joy and the music shifts up a gear as inhibitions are loosened. We’re inside the music now, inhabiting a living, breathing, growing performance in a way that simply can’t be experienced watching a group on a stage. This is true surround sound but instead of a static listening point, we move to the instruments we want to hear foremost. It’s exhilarating being in control like this and the players move too; two players to one piano, one section sees three on one xylophone in unison, an incredible display of dexterity.

Now half the audience are sitting around the centre, swaths of wide beam lighting sweeping the audience and slowly people are drawn back up into circles in the middle, hands up in revelation, adoration, release to the pulse of the performance. It’s a joyous, life-affirming feeling, a collective connection bringing some to tears. At its end the applause is rapturous, lasting several minutes and we don’t want to leave this womb-like space and return to the outside world. I implore anyone to experience this piece in this way if they get the chance, it was simply mind-blowing and I don’t know how it can be topped. Gig of the year.

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DJ Food Recommends Sept 2026

Another mix of new and old favourites this month. Top of the pile is the re-recording and reanimation of Marc Almond and JG Thirlwell’s cover of Suicide‘s ‘Ghost Rider’ in a new edition with three remixes by JG. A live favourite (seek out their performance from the 80s on YouTube), this ups the ante and also comes with a great video by Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. “America, America is killing its youth” – well indeed, one of my records of the year for sure. Dimensional Holographic Sound is back with a new album which doesn’t happen often and ‘Concept Record’ is packed with samples as you’d expect from Ben Stokes who is always worth a listen. Nate Krafft wasn’t a name I was familiar with but I did the cover art for this release sometime last year for Musique Pour La Danse, it went off to manufacture and I forgot about it. I didn’t actually realise it was even out until I stumbled across it on Bandcamp earlier this month, a double disc reissue of two hard to find techno/electro discs in one package.

Ferries were new to me too, a ‘secret’ band who’ve done a couple of albums so far of which ‘Eye Wander’ is the second. If you dig dubby, mellow, psychedelic krautrock then this might be for you, out now on World of Echo. Pentagrams of Discordia are a recent discovery too and their new album is full of their take on the darker occult side of electronica that Boards of Canada do so well. The LP with bonus 7″ sold out on the day of launch but don’t let that put you off. I can’t keep up with The Allergies, they put singles out so often around an album I lose track, I think there are now two physical singles so an album must be imminent. ‘Dig It Up’ is an excellent fast party rap track featuring Andy Cooper and Dutch MC, Blabbermouf with a fantastic animated video.

Andrew Poppy‘s ‘The Beating of Wings’ album, originally on ZTT, is 40 years old! Where did the time go? Probably my first exposure to modern classical composition / minimalism as a 16 year old and still sounds great today. Ramjac (aka Ramjac Corporation) has an equally long history in the rave scene and this new compilation of unreleased material from ’88-92 on Mental Groove Records. It comes complete with period adjacent artwork by Grant Fulton who did The Shamen‘s Synergy flyers of which Ramjac was a part way back in time. Lastly I thought I’d feature KiF Productions‘ ‘Passiflora’ again as it slipped out quietly last month on cassette via Music To Watch Seeds Grow By and I’d missed it. I saw Will from the group last week at Doug Shipton‘s Pour Decisions night at the Tate Modern and he played an excellent set of chilled tracks.

Right, back to work, lots to do… until next month!

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Alien Metal Jason Galea posters

Resident King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard artist, Jason Galea is on fire with his recent designs for their new Alien Metal album and four night run of gigs in the US this weekend just gone. A quartet of designs appeared featuring robots in the style of Shogun Warriors or early Transformers, each made up of elements that relate to previous KG records or songs.

Besides designing these mecha warriors he also 3D printed and painted versions as seen below, how does he find the time?

Below is the new album artwork, no AI, 100% physically printed and painted sculpture which was built digitally before 3D printing. His Instagram shows a speeded up film of the process which is frankly mind-blowing. He also printed the dragon from the song of the same name’s video, also seen below.

Vintage inspiration from Jason’s studio.

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DJ Food Recommends August 2026

DgoHn (pronounced ‘John’!) has a new album on Planet Mu and whilst I’m not hugely up on current DnB, his music is always pushing that envelope as well as being suitable for home listening. My good friend Ali Gibbs aka Nebraska has changed his two decade long moniker to Dubl Drat and produced a new EP of electro funk and ‘understated club functionality’ (not my words – © Electronic Groove website). That’s his dog Olive on the cover too. I was sent a mystery package of occult-themed electronica by someone last week containing all sorts of bits and pieces by the band Pentagrams of Discordia, a shadowy collective who make music somewhere between FSOL and BoC whilst bringing something new to the table with their longform pieces containing multiple sketches and tracks.

Michigan native, Rebecca Goldberg has her debut album out now and it’s a great collection that builds across the spectrum of night time electronica, acid house and ravey techno. PC is back! Patrick Carpenter, my old DJ Food companion, mixmaster in crime and brilliant DJ has released the second instalment of his Electric Envelope (sort of) archive series. I’ve heard some of these tracks in different forms for years, one even dates back to 2009! Someone commission this man to soundtrack their film, it’s his natural calling. Stephen Buckley‘s release schedule takes some keeping up with, his Hungry Vortex release on Feral Child comes from late last year and sees him in vari-speed psychedelic mode, well worth a listen.

Funki Porcini recently put up a collection of early 80s experiments originating from his time in San Francisco – field recordings, tape collages and ambient pieces that are fascinating. Sherman Heath‘s second release on Coarse Fish Records swings from site-specific nature recordings to dark acid and on into wonky garage by the end of side 2 – out this week. Only two tracks are available from a new, barely advertised archive release from Vanishing Twin so it’s hard to tell how the whole thing will sound but they are always worth investigating, roll on September.

I do so hate to relentlessly promote things I’m involved with but if I don’t them this pile of tapes won’t leave the studio. I’ve repressed the tape I did with Graham Dunning earlier this year as it sold out pretty fast. I have less than 10 copies here I think but Graham has some on his Bandcamp too – it’s our FogFest performance from 2023 as well as a bunch of rehearsal jams we recorded around that time, vol.2 is nearly finished. Duplokit will be winging their way back to New Zealand shortly after their stint in Europe for the Extended Turntablism dates and their debut album, Warpdrive, is something I’m very happy to be involved with. The music originates from a few years ago when James Meharry was playing with a similar four-armed turntable set up to my own and a bunch of self-made locked groove records. Both of these are on my Infinite Illectrik label and are the first physical music releases I’ve done, so far they’re limited edition, hand-assembled objects that I’ll do more of if they sell. Rounding out the selection and just released on Friday – SD_OA‘s second album arrives on Detroit Underground with more meticulous clipped and cut beats and tones, wrapped in beautifully minimal artwork by his graffiti alter ego Soda.

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Duplokit ‘Warpdrive’ cassette

It’s been a while coming but finally the Duplokit Warpdrive tapes are ready. Each red glitter cassette has a fold out mini zine inlay with double die-cut hexagonal windows. Every one hand cut, scored, folded and die-cut personally, complete with a full Infinite Illectrik discography inside the fold out inlay.


The Extended Turntablism UK dates so far have been great fun. Brighton (even with its 10pm curfew / football clash) and Bristol all bought the local heads out to see how many tone arms we could pack onto a stage with our turntable-driven contraptions (10 at the last count). Despite a major technical failure with their set up at soundcheck in Brighton, Duplokit still managed to wow the audience and, after a week of scouting for parts, were back up and running for Bristol at the Synced night Holotronica host out in Long Ashton.

Next up for the duo is a trip to the continent for a Berlin date at Drugstore on July 25th and then they’re back in the UK on August 1st for a headline slot at FogFest in Iklectik‘s new space in the Peckham Levels. Furrowed and I will be doing our first live collab on that bill as he cuts parts of my set onto vinyl in real time before feeding the loops back into the mix.


We lose Graham Dunning for that gig as he’s playing elsewhere but gain PuttyRubber who provided amazing visuals for us in Bristol and at Graham and I’s debut live outing at FogFest 2023. Talking of which, there are restocks of the tape featuring most of that performance and a pile of rehearsal jams over on Graham’s Bandcamp page right now as well as his latest album, Quern.

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DJ Food Recommends July 2026

I struggled to find nine releases this month, most probably because I haven’t listened to as much new music, choosing instead podcasts, live sessions on YouTube and a wealth of old music that I both bought or am auditioning for possible future sale. But there is still plenty out there: Posthuman‘s albums always catch me off guard as they’re more listening affairs than club bangers, their new record is no exception but the tracks will worm their way inside your head after a few listens. I’ve still not had time to full engage with the Lines of Silence album Lines In Opposition yet but the first listen was rewarded with motorik krautpop that immediately draws nineties Stereolab comparisons before descending into Berlin school kosmische ambience. Awkward is back with a fifth collection of Secret Remixes, this time centred on one very famous hip hop trio who are no longer active (although one member has recently launched a solo career). He concentrates on the less obvious/classic tracks from their later albums and makes them over in his own image in ever more interesting ways.

Luke Vibert aka Wagon Christ dips into his unreleased DAT drawer and comes up with 11 mid 90s DnB jams from his Plug alias on Variety Magic for De:tuned, the sleeve of which I had the pleasure of putting together with my good friend, stencil artist Pablo Fiasco. Duplokit‘s Warpdrive album is finally out on my Infinite Illectrik label after sitting on my hard drive for far too long. Multi-armed turntable experiments from New Zealand make up this first outing and there’s already another collection awaiting release for later – cassettes are coming to Bandcamp this month too. Lone takes ‘Affinity’ from his recent Hyperphastasia album and creates two new versions for a single release, ‘so good, so good’ as the chorus goes.

The Empress is a new alias for Paul Osbourne, appearing on the ever reliable Library of the Occult label with an album of guitar-led psych funk fuzz. KiF Productions return for the summer with a new album centred around plant life – Music To Watch Seeds Grow By – it’s not out for another month but I’ve heard the whole thing and it’s a beautiful ambient record. Raz Ullah‘s Noosphere is a woozy oddity on Andy Votel‘s new/old Twisted Nerve / Niche Market label, arriving on cassette format full of short abstract electronic modulations and found sound adventures like some long lost sixties time capsule, finishing with a beautiful, undulating ambient piece.

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Extended Turntablism gigs in July/August

The month is upon us, three Extended Turntablism gigs with Graham Dunning, Furrowed, Duplokit, PuttyRubber and myself are happening this month in the UK with several more on the continent for Duplokit who arrive next week from New Zealand. Get a taste and buy tickets at the links below… Duplokit’s ‘Warpdrive’ album and mine and Graham’s ‘Extended Turntablism vol.1’ cassettes are nearly ready to go too, available at the shows.

Rose Hill Tavern Ticket link – July 11th

Church House Studios Ticket link – July 17th

FogFest Ticket link – August 1st

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DJ Food – I Hear The Sun – an Inferno promo mix

I Hear The Sun graphic 1
As many know, after thirteen years, Boards of Canada‘s fifth album, Inferno, is finally here in all its glorious mystery, sending fans into an internet frenzy after weeks of coded sound and vision and a masterful promo campaign. By now the world has immersed itself into its multi-layered delights and is no doubt trying to deconstruct exactly what they’re seeing and hearing.

BoC Inferno 4
BoC inforno 1
Apple Inferno:Early Hours mix
I was honoured to be asked by the band and Warp to make an Early Hours mix to accompany the album on Apple Music. My mix went up on the day of release, if you use Apple Music you might have found it, some people did but it was there, hiding in plain sight, another little audio Easter egg to be found by fans. The mix is 84 minutes long and contains lots of Boards-adjacent material and music, plenty of details to obsess over too.

Could I hear the album before release and include tracks from it? Actually, yes, so I was the lucky recipient of the record the same day the pre-orders went online – keeping that quiet was difficult I can tell you. I really have to thank the label for trusting me with this and it shows the goodwill surrounding the group that the album only leaked less than a week before release date, no mean feat when you consider the anticipation.

Predictably, Apple have their formats that you have to fit into so the mix title ‘I Can Hear The Sun’ disappeared along the way and a few questions I answered regarding the set got edited down in the process too so I’m reposting them in full below.

​- Did you envision this more as a chill-out set for after a night out, or something for someone just starting their day?

I think this is more of a late night thing personally. I usually start the day by clearing the decks, taking care of business and doing all the little things that need to be done before I can get down to some serious creative work. I’m not sure if this is a ‘background music’ kind of set, the listener will get more out of it if they’re focussed on the details, connections and mood shifts.

​- Do you have any go-to tracks that always are in your chill sets, or do you approach such a mix fresh every time?

I try to make every online mix different if I can but occasionally a mix of two elements is just too good not to repeat. Currently there are a couple that I’ll replay, both were included in my ‘O Is For Orange’ mix for Bleep last year; Spooky’s ‘Orange Coloured Liquid’ with Dream 2 Science‘s ‘My Love Turns To Liquid’ a cappella over the top and Boards of Canada’s ‘Everything You Do Is A Balloon’ with Bomb The Bass’ ‘One To One Religion’ (Skankapella) mix.

​- What was your general approach with assembling this set? What’s key to putting together such a set in terms of headspace or philosophy?

This mix was all about song selection and mood. Being lucky enough to hear Inferno a month ahead of release I could gauge the tone of the album and try to construct something that mirrored the feelings I got from it. To me, the album projects themes of religious devotion and worship, life and death/rebirth, celestial divinity and possible alien visitation – a higher power or calling. There is also a darkness alongside the revelation and sci-fi elements in terms of samples. I wanted to convey all these by showcasing songs I felt conveyed similar sentiments, certain artists who I felt share the unique sonic space BoC have created as well as giving a nod to a few Scottish artists and labels. I think it taps into the same places as the ‘O Is For Orange’ mix, often sharing some of the same names.

In terms of the approach to assembling the mix, the majority of this was done digitally and I used stem-splitting apps to deconstruct some of the tracks and remix or re-edit parts in ways it wouldn’t be possible to do easily with conventional DJ equipment. Boards of Canada are one of the hardest groups to mix into DJ sets in that their music is nearly always out of tune with whatever you want to mix over it melodically. To add to this, they often use unconventional time signatures or add extra bars into a sequence so that a standard 4/4 arrangement will slip out of time with their song structures. I did a lot of work rearranging other songs to fit with their arrangements rather than the other way around and to present the album tracks in new ways rather than untouched.

​- Tell us about 2-3 of your favorite tracks here, and why you chose them/love them.

Linkwood ‘Hear The Sun’ from the early days of the now seemingly dormant label Firecracker Recordings. This track partially gave the mix its title and is the kind of downtempo cosmic jazz thing I love.

​​When I’m making a mix I’m looking for ‘moments’, it might be a transition from one song to another or it can be the coupling of two songs together that form a magical third piece. There’s the moment where I use a sample of a girl talking to someone in a coma, she’s saying ‘I hope you can hear me, ‘cause I want you to know…’ before the BoC track ‘Memory Death’ kicks in, they seemed perfect for each other. I then added spoken word I’d made via voice cloning software over the top using notes from a conversation with a friend who related their experiences on a DMT trip. Together they give the Boards track a new dimension which is, for me, the point of a mix like this.
​​
​​Jane Weaver’s ‘Your Time In This Life Is Just Temporary’ (PJ Philipson version) is a song equally charged with emotion for me. I originally thought it was about death (and it could well be) but it could equally be about the passing of a relationship. There’s something about this version of the song, the guitars evoke another band I love, The The, and it’s a ‘please play this at my funeral’ kind of song for me.
​​
​​There seems to be a lot of lyrics or spoken word relating to death inherent in this mix, that wasn’t intentional at all, I just discovered it as I was near the end of making it. I like to think it’s the peaceful, transcendent kind of rebirth into a new life.

BoC Inferno 3
Boc Inferno 2
Also, here is the full track list, as Apple inserts ‘ID 1/2/3’ etc. when it can’t recognise a track (ie: it’s not on the platform).

DJ Food – ‘I Hear The Sun’
 – an Inferno promo mix

Studio Kosmische – Golden Dunes 

Jon Hopkins – Singing Bowl (Ascension)(Excerpt)

The Gates of Eden – No One Was There (Requiem)
Field Lines Cartographer – Dying Embers 

The Advisory Circle – A Mechanical Eye (a cappella)

Sven Helbig – Olson (Orchestra Variation)
Hawksmoor – Adviata
The Sexual Objects – Sometimes (Boards of Canada Remix)

Clocolan – Then The Morning Comes
James Adrian Brown – Limbic System 

Boards of Canada – Memory Death
SareemOne – Losing Nilsa 

Atticus Ross – The Bed Montage
Broadway Project – From Treetops

Boards of Canada – All Reason Departs

Beautify Junkyards – Raridade de Contrastes

Datashat – Out To Lunch

The Mothers of Invention – Oh No (a cappella)

Deepart – Connection

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Forever Heavy

Nebyudelic Sound System – Down To The River

Orgone Box – Mirrorball (When I Want To Feel) 

Boards of Canada – Arena Americanada

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Blue Morpho (a cappella)

Paul Cousins – Blueprint

Two Quiet Suns – Ambient Source

Patrick Carpenter – Arrival

Jane Weaver – Your Time in This Life is Just Temporary (PJ Philipson Version)

Studio Kosmische – The Great Author Of The Universe
Linkwood – Hear The Sun

Danalogue – Out Of Phase

Jeff Wayne – The Heat Ray (DJ Food re-edit) 

Boards of Canada – The Word Becomes Flesh

Move 78 – In The Age of Data
Papa Blue – Luna En La Pampa

Boards of Canada – Age of Capricorn

Parchment – Son of God

Boards of Canada – Naraka
The Shamen – Lightspan (samples)

*cough*

Last but not least, the fabled blue hexagonal flexi disc (Hexi Disc) hinted at in the garbled dialogue of the VHS tapes sent out to fans at the start of the campaign. Nothing materialised when the formats were announced online but inside the booklet of the limited edition LP was this unlisted treat with a track not included on the album. No mention on the sticker, nothing in the sales notes or promotion, Marvelous!

BoC Hexi Disc

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Duplokit – Warpdrive album and mini tour

ii18DL cover webI’m very pleased to (finally) release the debut Duplokit album, ‘Warpdrive’, today on my Infinite Illectrik label.
This has been a while in the making but the digital album is up now with a limited cassette to follow later this month. Those with long memories may recall that New Zealander James Meharry contacted me some years back after seeing my Quadraphon turntable online as he had been doing a similar thing – albeit with two turntables, each with two tone arms.

Culled from numerous jams recorded over the last three years and edited down to 13 tracks, the album title refers to the extreme pitch controller James built into his modified turntable set up. All tracks were made using locked groove records on the custom built quad-tone arm WARPDRIVE with Mastersounds Radius 4 mixer + FX, glimpses of which can be seen below.

Warpdrive stills
Duplokit will be touring in Europe this summer (James will aided by long time collaborator Mike ‘Misled Convoy’ Hodgson), see the attached poster for dates and look out in New Zealand over the next month as they are on the loose! Furrowed and I will be accompanying them on all UK dates and Graham Dunning will be on the Brighton and Bristol dates.

Duplokit poster web

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DJ Food Recommends June 2026

BMC June 2026 3
The month rolls around so fast these days but boy is there some great music out there. As I write this, ‘Inferno’ has been released across the world and it’s boiling in London town. Kicking off June’s selection from the top left: KINACT – ‘Kinshasa in Action’ – these guys, I don’t know what to make of them. Primarily a street performance group who fashion outfits and instruments out of discarded refuse in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s tribal, industrial, DIY and very original. Little Barrie‘s ‘Gravity Freeze’ has some great preview tracks although I’ve not had time to hear the whole thing yet. SML just announced a live album consisting of two long form tracks as have Move 78 from the launch event for their ‘In The Age Of Data’ album.

I discovered The Velveteers via random videos on Instagram and the combination of badass baritone guitar-wielding frontwoman and double drummers pulled me in from 30 second clips to investigate their two Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) produced albums. If you like fuzzed-up garage rock with hints of QOTSA, the drums of Adam & The Ants and all the attitude a trio of American twenty-something’s can muster then this might be for you. Between the two of them sits the debut album from Danalogue (ex The Comet Is Coming) who has crafted a fine record with crossover points between the new Lone and Boards of Canada records, it’s out now on Castles in Space and I hope it doesn’t get passed over in the shadow of the latter’s album.

Bovine Boy‘s album contains some sublime moments or fresh acid, dark downtempo and ravey electro, worth a listen for sure. The Natural Yoghurt Band also have a new album out entitled ‘Carne’ but I prefer the previous release, ‘Biscuits’ which fits 20 tiny drum and electronics pieces over a 7″. A mention should go to Factory Floor who dropped a new single today in the shape of ‘Buzzsaw’ which is always good news but what’s going on with that artwork? Jesus, my eyes!

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DJ Food Recommends May 2026

BMC May 2026
Well, the big news is obviously the forthcoming Boards of Canada album, their first in 13 years, the ‘Inferno’ will be on us in less than a month! (cue a million fire-based descriptors in the reviews and any interview headlines). If you caught the ‘Tape 05’ video teaser you’ll know it’s going to be good. Angine De Poitrine are still rocking my world and album No.2 doesn’t disappoint, their rise is seemingly unstoppable although Boards did turn a few heads away from their microtonal loop riffs this month. Another new favourite is Studio Kosmische with their ‘Electronic Meditation for Inner Space Travel’ album which mixes ambience with saxophones and shouldn’t work but does exactly what it says on the tin. I’m slowly checking out the rest of the Dreamlord Recordings catalogue and there are some gems there. Nihiloxica are back with a stomping remix EP, heavy on the beats, and I slid a little Tom Scott reconstructed edit out last month that chops it into oblivion.

In the wake of Angine de Poitrine, several people started posting ‘if you like this then you’ll love this’-type pieces across the web and at least one of them measured up at least in part for me. Meule are really closer to what King Gizzard were doing five years ago than Angine but a microtonal guitar and two drummers is always going to sound interesting. I wasn’t sure about the lyrics first time round but it’s growing on me. Turbulent Space is a new project by Brian ‘Humanoid/FSOL/Yage’ Dougans, that runs the gamut between trip hop, acid jazz and, dare I say it? big beat in places. Cate Brooks has got the 303 out and seems to be conjuering up an album of business funk electronica from the three tracks previewed. Finally, Luke Vibert unearths another stash of unreleased mid-90s Plug cuts across a triple vinyl set for De:tuned. I had the pleasure of assembling the artwork with good friend and stencil artist supreme, Pablo Fiasco – look him up, he’s doing something very unique.

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More Torre Pentel

TP King Gizz - Torre Pentel
We’re overdue another Torre Pentel aka Alejandro Torrecilla appreciation post and his latest post today is reason enough as he’s broken the mold somewhat, leaving his hip hop and jazz heroes for something totally differnt; King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard!
I’ve pulled a load of other content from his Instagram page too, the De La Soul below is quite old, before he started mining the Jack Kirby visual lexicon and it’s fascinating to scroll through an artist’s account and watch their progress.

TP DeLaSoul
TP John Coltrane
TP Kid Cudi
TP Nina Simone
TP Rakim
TP Yusef Lateef
TP Thundercat

Apologies for so little content here of late, I’ve been so busy with work, some of which I can’t wait to share but don’t want to spoil with even the smallest of glimpses. Gigs are picking up too, I seem to have patches where I’m super busy, then very little. The Open City Documentary Festival party at Rich Mix the other week was great fun, loads of great liquid light visuals. This weekend I’m in Glasgow with Andrew Divine and Spacial Awareness (an ambient Belle & Sebastian offshoot) and then I’m back again on the 23rd for the Knockengorroch World Ceilidh festival, south of the city.
Between those (and not formally announced yet) I’m in Coventry for Deliaphonic at the Delia Derbyshire building alongside PuttyRubber who will be providing visuals to my DJ set on May 14th. Aside from those gigs I’ll largely be chained to my desk either designing, mixing or writing as well as organising the Extended Turntablism gigs this summer (Bristol is happening on July 17th – again, not announced yet). There will no doubt be carboots, record shops, galleries and the odd film showing happening to fit in as well now that the good weather is upon us.

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Boards of Canada posters in Soho

BoC posters Oxford StIt’s been an exciting week for Boards of Canada fans. News broke last Tuesday of a VHS tape sent out to selected people across the world containing a brief but garbled message, very much in the style of similar transmissions around the time of the band’s last album promo campaign for ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’. The fact that the tapes were sent from the same address used by Warp and Bleep for their distribution rang alarm bells.

vhs-tape-no-code-on-the-side-v0-dbx5fjnw86ug1

Fans immediately set about trying to decode the tape and decipher the muffled spoken word or identify the brief visible images which include a sign saying ‘I Love Jesus’, images of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and what appears to be a 3D rendeing of a hexagaon made up of smaller hexagaon, the same logo printed on the label of the VHS tapes. The audio seems to have been identified as coming from what may have been a radio advert for a magazine (Moody Monthly, that does exist) from the Moody Bible Institute AD, a religous organisation from Chicago, originating in 1886. Their website states; “Moody exists to proclaim the gospel and equip people to be biblically grounded, practically trained, and to engage the world through gospel-centered living. In short, we prepare people for their purpose and calling!”

The unconfirmed audio source also mentions hexagonal flexi discs several times but no trace of a flexi disc associated with the magazine has been located yet. What is odd is, as a collector of flexi discs (and odd formats in general) as well as religious records, I have NEVER seen a hexagonal flexi disc. I have a couple of hexagonal vinyl discs but not a flexi as you’d have to cut down a larger disc to achieve the shape and the largest flexi I have is a 10″. Is someone trolling us with this supposed interpretation of the muffled audio clip or have BoC inserted new audio into the ad to sow more seeds? Is a 7″ hexagonal flexi disc the next thing to look for? Possibly on Record Store Day this weekend? At the time of writing approx 30 VHS tapes had been identified, all seemingly the same in content but in both PAL and NTSC formats.

Friday night/Saturday morning saw pictures of four posters bearing distressed ‘children of the damned’ type images on them start appearing on streets in London, Barcelona and LA. Each poster had only the same hexagon symbol as the VHS tape in one corner, nothing else, seemingly confirming a connection at least. I spent part of Sunday afternoon in Soho, looking for posters with my partner and managed to snap these images, firstly sitting in plain sight on a hoarding on Oxford Street.

BoC poster 1
BoC poster 2
BoC poster 3
BoC poster 4
The posters below were some of the first to be found and posted online, nestling down St. Anne’s Court, a side alleyway off Wardour Street in Soho. To me, these could all plausibly be connected to a new release from Boards and I’m looking forward to what they do next…

BoC posters St Anne's Court

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Extended Turntablism in Brighton

Extended Turntablism flyer Portrait web
The first of several gigs this summer under the banner of ‘Extended Turntablism’.

Graham Dunning: Mechanical Techno pioneer, building turntable towers that trigger an array of rhythms with each layer. Modular synths, light-reflecting prisms and even ping pong balls come into play.

Furrowed: The Vinyl Tattooist, literally at the cutting edge via homemade record cutters creating loops in real time.

Duplokit: Lathe cutting journeymen on a quest to further the exploration of rhythm, sonic groove theory and the boundaries of turntablism. Their UK debut, all the way from Aotearoa, New Zealand!

…and myself (with my Quadraphon turntable) will be descending on The Rose Hill Tavern in Brighton for a night of experimental turntablism

Ticket link : Extended Turntablismtherosehill.co.uk

We’re working on Bristol and London dates too and if you’re interested in putting on this line up in July or early August then please get in touch.

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