Where were we? Asked that the time before last time, enough of that and on with the music and the going off and things (and how good was it) and what we said last time or last week or last year, you’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, just jump down past this bit, who needs an editorial? Jump past and let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of apples and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other, “Gawd, is Organ still going?”

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and same as last time (and the time before that) five, and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and cut cut slash and cut it, who needs an editorial or words or worms in general? What’s Wordsworth? Just facts and links and sounds then. Here you go, play the music, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some fresh music and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…

Here we go again, five slices of music that have recently come our way, in no particular order, starting somewhere in Bristol this time

1: Anta – A track taken from the album Organessonm out on Stolen Body records 5th June 2024.

“We’re old and familiar friends. These compositions represent the thing that happens when we get together. They aren’t representative of one individual, one moment in time, or one chain of decisions. Some are ancient refrains, beginning life as habits and warm-ups, in-jokes; others are distilled jams; more still are refined from MIDI sketches and ideas whistled into voice notes. On whatever terms these elements become something we’re happy to stand in front of you and play, to put on record, so be it.”

So ANTA describe the process behind 2024’s Organesson. Characteristic of the Bristolian Sci-Prog quartet, the record weaves together mesmerising, muscular riffs in insanely loud compositions that extend well into excess. Less typical is the polarisation at play, where granular polymeters will yield in an instant to passages of one or two-note simplicity. The record strides from one raging refrain to the next, lurching between devastation, joy, chaos, and stirring the themes accumulated along the way in exposition”.

The vinyl is via the record label, the CD details are on Bandcamp, they’re on the road in the coming weeks including a gig for Chaos Theory here in London at Signature Brew in Haggerston On June 4th – they’re in Lincon on thr 1st, Worcerster 2nd June, Strange Brew in Bristol on the 5th, details on the Bandcamp page or tune in to Facebook or updates via Linktree (awful video). oh and they are playing Arctangent, a four day festival in Bristol in August with Julie Christmas, Earthtone 9 and hundreds of other bands who aren’t featured on this page this week (headliners include Mogwai and Meshuggah and we see Slift are in there on the massive bill as well)

And while we’re talking about that Anta gig in London on June 4th, support comes from Bristol’s rather artful Sans Froid

2: Julie Christmas – well the couple of tastes of the new album we’ve had so far sound more than good, she;s jsut delivered a third, find all three on her Bandcamp. Julie Christmas has announced details of her long-awaited second solo album, ‘Ridiculous and Full of Blood’, set for release on June 14th via Cult of Luna’s Red Crk label. Along with the announcement, she has shared a first single and video, entitled “Supernatural” and has announced European live dates including headline shows in London and Leeds as well as festival appearences at Arctangent, Roskilde, Hellfest and more

3: Dos Monos – From Tokyo, and ready to go with what threatens to be a positively challenging new album, we’re always keen to hear what they’re doing. Out next week, right now we can only hear one track on the bandcamp page but it does have us as interested as ever, we look forward to more – “Dos Atomos is the groups first full-length album since their debut “Dos City” (2019) and marks their biggest musical turning point. Here they make a bold leap from their signature sample-driven sound and mix everything they loved as children, from rap, metal, noise rock and even J-rock, with live instrumentation and help from some guest musicians such as the legendary Otomo Yoshihiae. The result is the most explosive project they’ve done yet….” Bandcamp / Previously on these pages

4: Snooper – More from Nashville’s finest, this time a fifty second Devo cover, they do like their covers, they do kind of go off and things, we have said this before, several times probably. Squallor is alive in Nashville…

5: Earthtone 9 – Good to see our old friends are doing things again (yet again), more comebacks than whoever you wish to insert here, seems no band ever truly comes to an end. And well we did lots with ET9 back there, sounds like they still have lots to offer including a new album called In Resonance Nexus out on Candlelight Records any moment now (a label we did quite a bit with back in the day as well). You do have to cynically smile, not at the ‘tone though, they’re sounding strong, good to hear.

We are slowly throwing a few old Organ things on one of our own Bandcamp pages at the moment, well very slowly, do keep an eye on it as we did things out here in the overcrowded studio. There were something like 200 releases on ORG Records over the years, most long sold out and deleted, we should put a few up, and there are a few back issues of Organ from the print days (1986-2011) and there are new physical things being made, mostly new pieces of art that are wrapped around old bits of music. (we do have an art shop as well of course)

Meanwhile last weekend’s Other Rock Show went like this…

The Other Rock Show happens ever Sunday night on London Arts Radio station Resonance 104,4FM, brought to you by Organ and driven by Marina Organ who presents an hour of music each week, music that uses unconventional structures and ‘other’ time signatures, music gathered from the worldwide undergrounds of math rock, avant prog, weird electronica, strange pop and more. Here’s last Sunday’s show… Or listen back to hundreds of Other Rock Show broadcast via Mixcloud

And while we’re here…

The debut Album from Mexico City’s Rostro del Sol is finally being re released with a bonus tracks on Stolen Body Records. “A musical collage of Blues, Jazz, Funk, Progressive and Psychedelic rock from the golden eras of the 60s and 70s, which offers unexpected moments developed through different sonic intensities inside the songs, each one composed to tell a story on its own. Just listen and let the music take you on the first journey by this young band. This debut Album was recorded between 2019 and 2020 at Rec On studios in Mexico City by Jorge Trejo and mixed by Juan Puget. Saxophone by Daniel Samhain. The insane artwork comes from the Spanish illustrator Elena Ibañez”.

Finally went down a bit of a Sebsatian rabbit hole this week, it is one of the most beautiful songs ever…