Track Of The Day: Headman - Be Loved (Daniel Avery's 'Divided Love' Remix) (Relish)

 

I’ve just come across this very recent Daniel Avery remix of Headman’s ‘Be Loved’, and had to post it. If, for nothing else, nostalgia’s sake. I had quite a few Headman records a while back, but they seem to have vanished. I think they may have all been taken in the great flood of spring 2016, when I lost around a quarter of my collection courtesy of a small pipe which went into the bathroom sink suddenly bursting when we were in France. Luckily one of my sons was passing the house at the time and he thought he’d pop in for some free nosh. Imagine his surprise top enter the kitchen to get showered and to soon find around an inch of water on the floor.I was in Monet’s garden in Giverny at the time, were it was also pissing down. Having to arrange an emergency plumber from another country wasn’t part of the plan, but we got it done. I dread to think what would have happened if the leak had gone undiscovered. Anyway, I lost a lot of records, amongst other stuff, including my collection of Headman heat. Luckily we’ve got people like Daniel Avery who are up for a reinterpretation. And this is truly excellent. A slo-mo bleep fest that pulses its way across the dance floor using a combination of low end sonar and high end brittleness. Losing my Headman records wasn’t my happiest moment, but it’s good to see a and hear that the chug and bleeps remain intact.

Luxus Varta - Super Filter (In Abstracto)

 

Title: Super Filter

Artist: Luxus Varta

Label: In Abstracto

Cat Number: IA05

Genre: Electro

1: Shadow Play

2: Heavy Cream

3: Easy Listening

4: Tragic Fit

Monsewer Varta’s music isn’t the easiest to categorise, and I guess he probably likes it that way. Electro is just a sobriquet because although it feels like that, it’s so much more. ‘Shadow Play’ for example, relies on break beats to propel it through the thick, dark water that infuses the sonic underpass, but it feels like a reinterpretation of a Sisters Of Mercy record played through the apex of a Naum Gabo sculpture. ‘Heavy Cream’, the title alone feels radioactive, breathes like a Geiger Counter draped in menacing black underwear. Now when I think of easy listening, I think of Val Doonican and Perry Como. However, this eponymously titled track sounds like the accompaniment to a Vampire getting up for a midnight stroll with only one thing on its mind. ‘Tragic Fit’ is possibly the most conventional electro piece on the release, but it feels like it was composed by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, put in a centrifuge and then passed on to John Barry to see if he “could do something with it”. It’s possibly the best track on this release, but it’s all good. Just make sure you’re in the mood and it’s Hallowe’en. 

Call Super @TheLotRadio 10-16-2026

 

Track Of The Day: Brainticket - Black Sand (Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah)

 

Brainticket have been buried deep within the recesses of my mind for at least forty years. I first came across them during the scag years. Synthetic heroin flooded Merseyside in the late seventies and early eighties. I wasn’t a participant, but I knew some who were. There was also a rush on very strong cough medicines at the same time. Actifed and Phensedyl being particular favourites. Anyway, if you couldn’t get hold of any scag or methadone, you could try your local pharmacy and see what they had. If they saw you coming, then more frustration would await. Once equipped, back to a squalid flat or bedsit to be accompanied by Hawkweed or some other far out purveyor of sonic bliss. The organ stabs on ‘Black Sand’ are instantly recognisable, and take me back to a place I don’t want to revisit. I got out alive though.

Track Of The Day: Mondocane - Touring (Cosmovision Records)

 

Simple psychedelic chug just the way it was meant to be. It’s a deceptively minimal arrangement which makes good use of some off-key dynamics and a persistent, almost under the radar guitar riff to drive it along. Not much more to say, except I’m stunned that the video has only had four likes in the three years since it was posted. One of those being me.

Naturalis 2026 Earth Stage with Vladimir Ivkovic b2b Manfredas

Naturalis Festival · Naturalis 2026 Earth Stage with Vladimir Ivkovic b2b Manfredas

XDB - Live From Dimensions '26

Dimensions Festival · XDB - Live From Dimensions '26

Hamish & Toby - Live From Dimensions '26

 

Dimensions Festival · Hamish & Toby - Live From Dimensions '26

Various Artists - Filaments (Silver Threads)

 

Title: Filaments

Artist: V/A

Label: Silver Threads

Cat Number: STo4

Genre: Ambient

1 Blush Tide - Cate Francesca Brooks

2 Say More - Bea Brennan

3 Nangan Island - Ryan J Raffa

4 Between Voids - Jo Johnson

5 Hold, Together - Jo Johnson & Hilary Robinson

6 Trompos - Mareena

7 Let Them Out - Raica

8 Timeblind - Erika

9 Expectation - Ana Quiroga featuring Leilehua Lanzilotti

10 Entropy Remainder - C. Lavender

11 Silver Filaments Connecting Us All - Anthony Child

12 We Think a Spoon is a Saw - Loula Yorke

13 Mesmer - Polypores

‘Filaments’ is, as you can see, a various artists compilation on Silver Threads. We came across the label back in May on the occasion of Plant43 releasing ‘Spells For Warding Off Evil’. Now I feel with such a release that words are, to a large extent, more meaningless than they normal. An album like this is all about holistic reception, conception and connection. Right, waftle over. I believe that on an album such as this, sequence counts for a lot. With that in mind the listener is in for an undulating experience. Hardly a violent one though. Label head and album curator Jo Johnson makes two contributions in sequence: ‘Between voids’ and ‘Hold Together’ with Hilary Robinson. The former a delicate deconstructed, orchestral  piece the constituent parts of which have been scattered to the four winds.The latter feels like the prelude to something sinister, or its aftermath. iT feels like walking though empty rooms in a derelict mansion where only traces remain of its occupants. It’s. An album which alternates between darkness and light, but lives more within the shadows than the Sun. The repetition of  ‘Entropy Remainder’  by  C. Lavender

evokes a feeling of malfunction, Something that is immediately dispelled by Anthony Child’s ‘Silver Filaments Connecting Us All’, which isn’t the only piece that reminds me of seventies French electronica, another example being Raica’s ‘Let Them Out’. And it’s towards the album’s end that the machines feel a bit louder and more cohesive. The final two contributions: ‘We Think a Spoon is a Saw’ by- Loula Yorke, and ‘Mesmer’ by Polypores lean on each other to establish momentum. Firstly by gently unfolding and soundtracking the origins of life on Earth,, which leads into what feels like a kosmische piece of intense chug.

Track Of Yesterday & Today: Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (Island) & Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing (RCA)

An Iggy Pop piece of work which is on ‘The Idiot’, ‘Nightclubbing’ is one oof those tracks that was given a new lease of life by another artist. In this case Grace Jones and not too long after the original came out. Anyway, the original comes on like some sort of Brechtian gothic rock. Maybe that’s the Berlin influence, and Bowie, who produced it. It’s a marvellous piece of music and impossible to duplicate. So Grace Jones goes for the electric reggae approach which, at the time, was proving to be incredibly influential. I guess that can be put down to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare wanting to push the music forward, as well as it being recorded at Compass Point Studios on The Bahamas. Location was a critical ingredient in the composition of each of these tunes, something which may have been lost a little in recent years, what with home studios and all.

hanging in the balance

tom thumb · hanging in the balance

Slow Life Friends Podcast - 031 - DEMOFATHER

Slow Life · Slow Life Friends Podcast - 031 - DEMOFATHER -

Zeina at Night Moves, London /March 21, 2026

Zeina · Zeina at Night Moves, London /March 21, 2026

#173 | Eli Verveine (CH)

 

Recorder.13 · #173 | Eli Verveine (CH)

Track Of The Day: H-Foundation - Passage Of Time (Soma)

 

Went to see A Certain Ratio at Dingwall’s last Friday, and I’m off to see Cabaret Voltaire’s last ever gig in Sheffield in a couple of weekends time. So the temptation to start going through all of those two acts tracks that I haven’t yet posted is texting. And I will get through them, but it will by by osmosis. Meanwhile, in a world removed from those parallel pleasure spheres, here is a track from H Foundation who, I do believe, are on the cusp of a moment. Their sound is definitely coming around once more and, having already posted ‘Hear ‘dis Sound’ and ‘Future’ (not strictly H-Foundation, but Halo), here’s an underrated gem form them. One for the warm up or a bridge into something bigger. Great track with more than one string to its bow; this is an underrated tune from Hipp-e & Halo with a groove as great as any of their other stand out tracks and one that reveals something new on every listen. Obviously best appreciated on a big system. Big room tribal tech innit.

Track Of The Day: Norma G - Son Of Norma (Urban Sound Of Amsterdam)

 

I know this track because it’s the second one on ‘Psychotrance 2’ which is mixed by Darren Emerson. And it’s by Steve Rachmad, who may have put a foot wrong, but I’m not aware of when.  There are great comments on its YouTube page, which namecheck Colin Dale for playing it. One of his faves apparently. It’s just a great tune though. When techno was bursting ut of its rave shell, cross-pollinated by influences and bathed oil analogue warmth. One from when the machines were a ,little bit more than digital interfaces, and you can tell.

Shawescape Renegade 09.10.2026

 

Praslea @ SUPER DOMMUNE - 22.09.2026

Eric Cloutier - Super Dommune 01.06.2026

 

Eric Cloutier || Palinoia · Eric Cloutier - Super Dommune 01.06.2026

Dr. Dunks feat. Zopelar - Plateau Alone (Quiet Village)

 

Title: Plateau Alone EP

Artist: Dr. Dunks feat. Zopelar

Label: Quiet Village

Cat Number: QV005

Genre: Is It Balearic?

1: Plateau Alone

2: Slow One Eleven

3: 88 Lights

Well is it? I would say yes without any qualification. ‘Plateau Alone’ feels like it’s caught between at least three different points of reference. The bass, the various analogue synth embellishments and the kick. Beyond all that it runs free in the sonic savannah. ‘Slow One Eleven’ is pure chug business, and one which I could have heard at Covenanza last Friday night. I do like to remain in the moment while simultaneously taking notes. And I’m probably too old to change so don’t judge me. That’s my nerdy side coming out I guess. Anyway, without the geeks as gatekeepers what would we do? Great track though, making use again of similar flourishes to ‘Plateau Alone’, which I’m guessing are the work of Zopelar? ’88 Lights’ takes us by the hand to guide us through a soporific landscape and when the vocals come in it sounds like we’re in late sixties psychedelic California on mogadons listening to The Mamas & Papas. I’d like to say this is a truly wonderful release with something for everyone, and it is. Turn on, tune in and drop out tho.

Signal Type - Breakthrough (Cultivated Electronics)

 

Title: Breakthrough

Artist: Signal Type

Label: Cultivated Electronics

Cat Number: CE050

Genre: Electro

A1: Breakthrough

A2: Breakthrough (Radioactive Man Remix)

B1: Breakthrough (Silicon Scally Remix)

B2: Breakthrough (Morphology Remix)

Signal Type, for those not in the know, is “the collaborative project of label head Sync 24 and Matt Whitehead”. And this is Cultivated Electronic’s 50th release, so it had better be good. Thankfully, first impressions are very positive indeed. The original mix is an energetic nod to the birth of electro. It’s a boogie down Pandora’s box of energetic machine funk tropes elegantly welded into one cohesive whole. And if that sounds painful you’d better get the KY jelly out for Radioactive Man’s squelchy low rider of a version. It’s a dense piece of cerulean syncopation that purposely flies under the radar in its guise as a heavy duty example of rogue machine funk. The Silicon Scally mix is equally emphatic, but focuses on the high end, polishing the sonic stalactites and stalagmites that overhang a more open and empty panorama. And the dots are joined by Morphology, whose take is probably the most similar to the original, but reserves the right to the dramatic interlude with sweeping, symphonic synth stabs before reverting back to a dive back into the electro funk wormhole.