TRIMDON GRANGE EXPLOSION - 'DREAMS BURIED UNDER THE SEA'

Formats

• FC62 - LP

  5061041821721

Details

Next up on North London’s FERAL CHILD label, comes a real treat- the long planned full length from the great TRIMDON GRANGE EXPLOSION. A superb 10 track record that follows 2018’s self titled debut on Cardinal Fuzz | Feeding Tube (which prompted Rolling Stone’s David Fricke to describe them as “arch modernists within their historical domain…like a farm-house Velvet Underground.”) Recorded in rehearsal rooms and homes in the aftermath of a pandemic, “Dreams…” carries a sense of Autumn: an ending of things, and new beginnings. Of harvesting and the storing of all that is good, in preparation for the harsh winter to come. Initially falling together from the ashes of sometimes celebrated electric-folkies The Eighteenth Day Of May back in 2006, Trimdon Grange Explosion have a way of taking their time. Built on the strong friendships of the individuals going way back, their approach to music-making has involved infrequent London based live appearances, but lots of recording, the results offered forward only when necessary. The years following have seen the departure of founding member, viola player Alison Cotton to concentrate on well received solo work, but still appearing on three tracks on the new record. Alison’s departure preceded the arrival of new member, formidable bassist Ben Reed whose long resume includes work with Frank Ocean, Sampha and Hannah Peel, in addition to making solo records, the most recent being “Bandaged” on Esoteric in 2023. His arrival frees up original bassist Mark Nicholas to join Ben Phillipson on guitar duties. Phillipson also takes sole charge of vocals, double-tracked and harmonised. Drummer Karl Sabino completes the line-up, also handling most of the recording and production. Not completely putting their folk tendencies to one side, the album documents a band learning to communicate with the new line-up; a sound that stretches from the Albion Country Band’s pastoral intricacy to Pavement’s lo-fi inscrutability by way of The Rain Parade/Byrdsian school of chiming guitars. A recent live review in Shindig! (July 2025) noted the “propulsive ride-cymbal-driven drum and bass groove underpins intertwining dual raga-drone guitar lines; when one goes high, the other goes low and vice versa, making for sublime psych-head listening”. “Dreams Buried Under The Sea” is at times uplifting, often heavily melancholic, and marks a culmination of sorts for Trimdon. Its release on Dom Martin’s Feral Child label also completes a circle, their debut release being a 7” on his previous Great Pop Supplement imprint way back when. 

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Audio & Video

JAMES STEVENS - 'OST: THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE'

Formats

• BUTR135 - 10"

  5061041821738

Details

**COMES WITH FILM POSTER!!** As is often the case with vintage b-movies, it's the poster for the 1967 Amicus production of They Came From Beyond Space that draws you in. The curvaceous space woman and her menacing alien team fi ring upon a terrorised planet Earth suggests more action than perhaps the fi lm delivers, but it does the job. The movie is a typically low-budget aff air - a sci-fi drama (released as a double bill with The Terrornauts) directed by Freddie Francis, the celebrated cinematographer who went on to shoot The Elephant Man and Martin Scorcese's Cape Fear. Whilst it’s a cheap aff air, it’s also good fun, helped along by a tense, swinging, jazz infl ected score. The opening titles grab you immediately with psychedelic lighting and a swaggering big band theme by British composer James Stevens. Having worked as an uncompromising avant-garde composer for the BBC in the 1950's, Stevens was skilled in blending unusual and dynamic sounds into mainstream projects. A lifelong pacifi st, CND campaigner and buddhist, Stevens was highly regarded in serious music circles but failed to gain wider acclaim during his lifetime. He passed away in 2012 leaving a sizeable collection of classical, operatic and experimental works alongside his soundtrack recordings. Despite lengthy investigations, the only surviving copy of They Came From Beyond Space's score that I could locate was a musty 1/4 inch compilation tape tucked away in his archive at the British Library. After careful digitisation by the Save Our Sounds team, additional work was needed to remove heavy wow & fl utter along with some nasty tape scrunches. It was a challenging process but hopefully we've managed to present the best available version of this groovy, long forgotten soundtrack. The score has a distinctly Brit-Jazz, Soho swing feel with it's bombastic themes countered by moments of drawn out suspense and some lovely, pastoral grandeur. Considering jazz wasn't his main repertoire, Steven's music stands up alongside 1960's big-band contemporaries such as Michael Garrick, Tubby Hayes, John Surman, Ian Carr, Mike Westbrook, Alan Skidmore and Tony Oxley.

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Stands up alongside 1960's big-band contemporaries such as Michael Garrick, Tubby Hayes, John Surman, Ian Carr, Mike Westbrook, Alan Skidmore and Tony Oxley.

Audio & Video

NOVELTY ISLAND - 'JIGSAW CAUSEWAY'

Formats

• NXN039LPX - LP (COLOURED)

  0632556093344

• NXN039CD - CD

  0615625581089

• NXN039LP - LP

  0615625581072

Details

**ORANGE VINYL** Ten track collection of Lo-Fi, melancholic, and surreal pop. It expands theclassic-pop influence of their earlier material, into the fuzzier wooziness ofBeck, Grandaddy, and Boards Of Canada, and was composed by utilisingfragments of music in a variety of combinations. Novelty Island is theproject of Liverpool-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer,Tom McConnell. He grew up between Liverpool and Newcastle, and takesinspiration from the pop music, surrealism and melancholy of the North.

Tracks

1 Jigsaw Causway A2 Northern Nowhere A3 Someone Disappearing A4 Foam Animals A5 I'm Glad its not Sunny B1 ApolloB2 Floating B3 Rainy B4 The Only Train Driver in England B5 An Orange Goodbye

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Audio & Video