The Bug Club - On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System - VINYL LP

Dummy is a rock band from Los Angeles comprised of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O'Dell, and Joe Trainor. Their debut full-length Mandatory Enjoyment (Trouble in Mind) arrived in late 2021, becoming one of the year's sleeper hits and garnering praise from Pitchfork, Stereogum, and more. Coming out of lockdown, the band spent two years touring in support of the record, and it is this transformational experience that pulses through Free Energy, the exhilarating follow-up to Mandatory Enjoyment.A creatively restless band, Dummy (Ewell drums, synths, bass; Maatman vocals, synths, organ; O'Dell vocals, guitar, organ; Trainor guitar, bass, synths) wanted to get harder, dancier, more psychedelic for their next record. This meant applying explorative potentials of electronic textures to the elemental qualities of rock i.e. more vocal loops, sampling, more crazy rhythms, and playful synths - but make those samples of Trainor's guitar, let Maatman sing bolder, experiment with using cold mechanical elements in warm and sparkly ways, and lean harder into traditional-yet-still-awesome forms of rock guitar experimentation like feedback. The result is a record that celebrates music's ability to move the body, whether that be through a teeth-rattling wall of MBV-esque noise, a sticky pop chorus, or a joyous drum machine-or, if you're Dummy, maybe all of them in the same song.Pop music has always been a big part of Dummy's sound and it manifests in different ways all over Free Energy the bubbly synth sequence made with a Korg EM1 popping all over InchNullspace,Inch the revved-up drone-pop inspired by second and third wave Dunedin Sound bands like Look Blue Go Purple and Dadamah, and the motorik beat powering InchNine Clean Nails,Inch perhaps the most confidently pop song Dummy has ever recorded and one that exemplifies Free Energy's balancing of live performance intensity with

Seductive and cinematic soundscapes between ambient, drone and indie-neoclassical music these are the best words to describe Hior Chronik's style. A style that captures ears and soul, bringing you into an imaginary world, arousing emotions, making the mind wander to distant places. This is the goal of the Greek musician, now living half of the year in Athens and the other half in Berlin. You can hear it in his new record InchOut Of The DustInch, produced by himself, mixed by John Vallasis and mastered by Francesco Donadello at Calyx Studio, Berlin.InchI tried to combine ambient and drone sounds with strings and piano following a harmonic directionInch, Chronik explains. InchI wanted to make a soundtrack for a movie that was never shotInch. The mood is melancholic, but not only that InchThere's a dark side, but I made it run parallel with bright soft melodiesInch, Chronik continues. And on the topic of his music influences InchIt's hard to specify what exactly they were, but I think I'm close to Max Richter and in some ways to Arvo Part. Besides that, true inspirationa division of !K7 Musiccomes from my life experiences, even the small little things books, films, people I meet, travels. And being close to nature I would say that's the base of everythingInch.After three solo records and two in collaboration with Arovane, Chronik is now ready to launch his new work InchOut of The DustInch. InchThe title is a political quote about how we can fight against the crisis, but also against the existential anguish of surviving. A movement of no fear and the beginning of a new lifeInch, he explains. On how he developed the songs, he says InchI recorded piano, trumpet and strings in their analogic sound, then I used effects as I always do for the ambient and drone soundsInch.InchOut Of The DustInch shows a personal and unique style that brings Hior Chronik's music to a wider

The Bug Club are back with a new album. It's been a whole seven months since their last. Where have they been?Every Single Muscle, the band's fifth LP overall, is the third to be released by the Welsh duo's esteemed Seattle-based patrons Sub Pop. Since Very Human Features, which emerged in June of 2025, the non-stop tour has seen the BBC 6 Music and KEXP favourites ping-pong across the Atlantic like they used to the Severn Bridge. Various festival slots in the summer kept them from having any sort of holiday - who needs one when you live in Wales anyway? - until it was time to head back to the writing room. Which is most likely still a bedroom in Caldicott frequented by a greyhound called Ted (listen out - he shows up in one of the songs). Ever self-effacing, songwriters Sam (guitar, vocals) and Tilly (bass, vocals) go as far as to claim that they've been sitting around Inchdoing nothing at allInch during the song InchIt's Our Manager David.Inch That's clearly a lie. Every Single Muscle gets off to a full-throttle, chugging start with InchMiss Wales 2012,Inch referencing a competition both Tilly and Sam have actually won. It's the first of many sub-two-minute tracks on the album, setting the tone for The Bug Club's punkiest offering yet and recalling both the short, sharp snaps of their very first singles and the grunt of recent releases. So packed is the album with wall-to-wall riffs and lyrical hooks rammed into tight confines that Sam actually asks permission to squeeze in a solo during second track InchA Good Day For Dying.Inch He's given two seconds. Happily, Sam asks again later on and is granted more. Across eighteen tunes there's enough classic Sam/Tilly guitar interplay to satisfy even the most vociferous Bug Club club member and firmly refute the band's own claim that they are only Inchjust about technically proficient on our instruments.Inch This record's a