23rd September

Today, 23rd September, is the end of summer in astronomical terms and also the autumn equinox. Harvest festival time. The start of autumn. It's strangely non- autumnal here in Manchester, very mild, warm on many days, and the leaves are still green and are on the trees. The shifts in our seasons, weather and climate, seem increasingly pronounced. 

It is also 99 days until the end of the year, something you might or might not want to be counting. 

Derry musician/ producer outfit Autumns released an album in 2024 called Dyslexia Sound Source with a track on it titled 23 Summers which seems appropriate today.

23 Summers

Autumns make minimal ambient/ industrial, post- punk/ dub. 23 Summers is two minutes and thirty nine seconds of drones and static with a sax squawking somewhere in the distance, dissonance and noise as music. It's an interim track really, an interlude between two others. 

Earlier this year Autumns made a track with Belfast DJ/producer Black Bones, a thudding dark disco industrial delight called Cruising. A bassline so taut you could walk on it. Percussion to match. Someone yelling intermittently. Find it at Bandcamp.  

And because I tend to post it most autumns and because it's a total mood shift and contrast to the two above, here's Yo La Tengo's magnificent and beautiful Autumn Sweater, an indie rock hymn to escape and withdrawal. 

Autumn Sweater

'When I heard the knock on the door
I couldn't catch my breath
Is it too late to call this off?

We could slip away
Wouldn't that be better?
Me with nothing to say
And you in your autumn sweater'

Monday's Long Songs

This compilation came out back in May but I missed it and have been catching up recently- Occupied Minds Vol. 1, an eighteen track multi- artist album from Belfast released in solidarity with the people of Palestine and raising funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). Many of the artists are new to me and the range of music is huge, from ambient to folk to techno and covering a range of emotional responses. This one, We Are! We Want!, is by The Light Brigade, who you might know as an alias David Holmes uses.

We Are! We Want! rides in subtly but gathers pace with rattling drums and metallic percussion and the wobble of synth bass. There are pauses and stabs of synth, the ever present rumble of the bass and some early 90s tension. 

Over the top of this is the voice of James Baldwin, speaking about humanity and love, about the actions of individuals and what people choose to do and who they choose to be.  

'What you’ve got to remember is what you’re looking at is also you. Everyone you’re looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop. And you have to decide, in yourself, not to be'

Baldwin was talking about life in the USA in 1970 and the daily racism he and other black Americans faced. He was honest but optimistic- grace and humanity would save the world from despair he believed. 

Occupied Minds is at Bandcamp. 

In some ways We Are! We Want! reminds of some of David's earliest work, tracks like Johnny Favourite and Four Boy One Girl Action and their sole release, the 1993 single The Hawaiian Death Stomp. Eleven minutes of early 90s progressive house/ techno spliced and an equally long, slowed down thumping, stompy dub. Moody, tribal and Sabres- esque.

The Hawaiian Death Stomp

The Hawaiian Death Dub

The four boys were Holmes, Jagz Kooner, Gary Burns and Kris Needs. The girl was Patti Smith, sampled, fucking with the future. 

Also on Occupied Minds is Timmy Stewart, Belfast producer, DJ and promoter who along with Aaron Black records as Black Bones. Timmy's track on Occupied Minds is The Right To Life, a rattly, spacey slice of 2026 dub techno. 

In April Black Bones released a self titled album pulling together tracks they'd released on 7'', 10'' and 12''. It's here and highly recommended. In May they put out an EP/ 12'' single called Black Bones 008, four pieces of dark dance floor Balearica/ electronic edit mayhem that sound great in the mid- August sun. Listen/ buy here.  

Blacked Out

Black Bones, a Belfast duo, released a six track album last year that took nightclub music- techno, dub, disco, whatever else gets people dancing- and lit a fire under it. Tough beats, wonky experimental sonics, a dark Balearic feel, more than a little influenced by various points in Andrew Weatherall's back catalogue- the noir feel of Sabres, the basement beats of 2000 era Two Lone Swordsmen, the adventurism of his solo work from the 2010s. 

Black Bones have followed that album with a new 10" single, two more slices from Belfast. The A- side, Barrios And Barricades is an urban trip with voices, a banging bassline, a rattling snare, shrieks and cries, the thump in the chest you get when music is played through a big soundsystem and the staccato flash of the strobe. Full blooded music that makes you feel alive and in the moment. Listen and buy at Bandcamp. 

On the flip is Cruising, a Black Bones- Autumns collaboration. Cruising drives in with the same four four thud, the drum sound pushed to the edge and a bassline that would chew up the carpet at parties. Swirling around those two elements there are crashes and FX, echoed shouts, metal on metal and at two minutes forty seven seconds a breakdown, a brief pause before the tension and the rhythm returns. 

An Hour Of 2025 Dub/ Dance

A follow up to my New Year's Eve mix which was an ambient/ downtempo and largely instrumental hour of music. This one starts out dubby and then heads in Balearic and dance directions, getting increasingly thumpy with a three tune Belfast detour before finishing with the voice of Andrew Weatherall. As maybe all mixes should. 

There were a lot of things that I couldn't find room for here, not least Four Tet's Into Dust (Still Falling)- maybe there's time for one more 2025 mix next Sunday to see that year out. 

An Hour Of 2025 Dub/ Dance

• Adrian Sherwood: Spaghetti Best Western
• Soft Cotton County: The Future's Not What It Used To Be (Justin Robertson's Five Green Moons Remix)
• Rude Audio: No Sleep
• Escape- Ism: Last Of The Sellouts
• Daniel Avery ft. Cecile Believe: Rhapsody In Blue
• Jezebell: Movimento Lento
• Puerto Montt City Orchestra: ...And We'd Be So Happy
• Pandit Pam Pam: The Senator
• Le Carousel: We're All Gonna Hurt
• Factory Floor: Tell Me
• Black Bones: Voodoo
• The Light Brigade: Shuffle The Pack

Adrian Sherwood's The Collapse Of Everything was one of my favourite albums of 025, a solo album that becomes a mystical sonic adventure, Sherwood reaching out from dub into soundtrack territories and beyond. Spaghetti Best Western's guitars are worth the price of entry alone. 

Soft Cotton County's Coward Of The County Fair came out in January 2025, a single backed with a pair of Justin Robertson dubs (wearing his Five Green Moons hat- and the Five Green Moons Moon 2 album should have showed up here too). SCC are an indie/ dreampop/ shoegaze duo from Richmond- upon- Thames. This is lovely, laid back folk/ dub. 

Rude Audio are a South London dub/ dub techno specialists under the leadership of Mark Ratcliff. The Strange Phenomenon EP was a 2025 highlight, premium grade Dulwich dub. 

Escape- Ism's The Charge Of The Love Brigade was one of my 2025 peaks, a ten song trip inside Ian Svenonius' world, the last man in the business to sell out. 

Daniel Avery and Cecile Believe's Rhapsody In Blue was the most 80s teen drama, pop moment on Tremor (and came with a Midnight Version too, dirtier and tougher). It still hits the right spots now, six months after its release.

Jezebell's second album, Jezebellearic Beats Volume 2, pulled together some further remixes and productions together with some new material- this track, Movimento Lento, and the closer Turn It Yes, were a perfect pair of bookends. 

Puerto Montt City Orchestra's ...And We'd Be So Happy came out on Brighton's Higher Love label, the home of many fine modern Balearic releases. A spoken word family trip to the seaside in the pouring rain. 

Pandit Pam Pam is from Sao Paulo and makes uneasy ambient music. The Senator is the most dancefloor friendly thing in the Pandit Pam Pam back catalogue, dynamic and lively but still a little unpredictable and the horn that floats above the drums is a thing of beauty. 

Le Carousel is Phil Kieran from Belfast. We're All Gonna Hurt is full on, pulsing, electronic dance music, uplifting but shot through with heartbreak, like all the best dance music is. 

Factory Floor's 2025 return saw them come back with more bone shaking beats and face melting synths, on a pair of singles, Tell Me and Between You. Stephen Morris added some drum programming touches to Tell Me. Experimental, machine music with a random human heart. 

Black Bones are also from Belfast. They released an album across a variety of vinyl formats, dark industrial basement music- acidic, technoid, dubbed up Belfast rave. 

The Light Brigade are David Holmes and Keith Tenniswood. Shuffle The Pack is a righteous acid house record, a call to arms and positivity and very much part of Holmes' 'music as an act of resistance' vision that fades out leaving Andrew Weatherall's voice talking about music, smoke, coloured lights and acid house as gnostic ceremony. 

Black Bones

Belfast's Black Bones have released a six track album, vinyl only, with four further tracks to come out via a 10" and 7". The six on the self- titled album are to some extent inspired by/ influenced by dub, dub- techno and the underground percussive sounds of early 80s post- punk but this is music that is also very much being produced on its own terms, in its own world. Black Bones are big fans of the work of Andrew Weatherall and his attention to detail and singular sound can definitely be found inside the grooves of the album. 

The only one that exists in an online way is Zanzibar (also at Soundcloud)- it arrives with a subterranean, two note bleep surrounded by a murky hiss, and then a minute in a heavy duty drumbeat thunders in, not a million miles from some of Sabresonic's metallic dub- techno but much tougher and rougher, as if hewn from a cliffside. There's a vocal sample, an echoed chant, and more drums, shunting everything else along. 

On the disc Zanzibar is followed by the industrial dub of Take It Personal and then Warped, which starts out at a crawl with early 90s synth sounds bent out of shape and then kicks into gear with a piston powered breakbeat. The sound of rave gone dark and ominous. Flip the disc over and Voodoo rattles in, percussive and intent on gaining your attention. Persuasion is tougher still, a monkey wrench smacking  apiece of scaffolding in an echo chamber with dub FX and a hissing voice. There are synth stabs and a voice shouting, 'What's this what's this what's this?'. It ends with King Of The South, an abstract Two Lone Swordsmen indebted tribal dub outing, a tiny reminder from across the Irish Sea. 

Edit: the whole thing can be listened to and bought at Bandcamp. 

All In Good Time

Belfast's Black Bones are riding a wave at the moment, the DJ/ production duo firing out releases on various labels, their dark psychedelic/ dub/ techno/ house sound perfect for this time of year. Their latest release is a two track EP led by All In Good Time, a five minute percussive monster, all bass and tough drums, unexpectedly joined by a wailing, James Chance- esque sax. There's lots of dub space in the track's production but with the energy of early 80s New York. I like this a lot- it never quite does what you expect it to and that's always a good thing.

The flipside is Pressure Point, a dubbier cut with a very low slung rhythm and more of that saxophone, some helicopter noises, muffled voices and odd bursts of shaker. It's out now on Optimo, people who know a good tune when they hear one, and available at Bandcamp. 

Previously Black Bones have released singes on Hoga Nord, Touch Sensitive and their own self- titled label. Earlier this year they put out a four track EP on Dust Down which came with this cowbell heavy Chicago jack house edit, Coming On Strong, a track that sounds like a strobe light looks. The entire four track EP is a winner. Get it here. 

Nairobi Night Train, out a year ago on Gothenburg's always excellent Hoga Nord, kicks and thumps and twists, again never following the formula- and all the better for it. Black Bones are over this side of the Irish sea next week with gigs in Liverpool, Todmorden and London.