A Cycle Without End

A dozen picks from my weekend music haul, half-and-half new releases and newly discovered.

I've been dipping into the PRAH label archives, including their annual 'Scratching The Surface...' samplers, mostly name your price and bursting with curiosities from their catalogue. Choice picks here are from Gentle Stranger and Raven Bush, plus a remix of Stroud-based 4-piece The Umlauts by label mate Hiro Ama. All good stuff and well worth a visit.

There's quite an electronic lean to this selection, spanning Prins Thomas, Luke Vibert and Soulwax, from 10:40 to Pye Corner Audio via 100 Poems, with a bold Bowie cover.

Autumns are new to me and I've been listening to the Through The Re-Construction Of Grace EP on repeat. The remix of Trolley Coin featured here has a real Mark Stewart vibe, which I love. A perfect counterpoint is DJ Lui's edit of a Fad Gadget classic, Lady Shave.

Wrapping things up is a remix of Not On The Radar, the title track of Mark Fry's 2025 album. As a teenager in 1971, Mark released Dreaming With Alice, which went on to become a psychedelic cult album. Three and a half decades later, the difficult second album appeared and Mark's been on a roll since, Not On The Radar being album #5.

And who to remix? None other than Richard Norris, delivering another slice of sonic sunshine.

It was such a fruitful shopping trip that a second 12-song selection will be popping up here sometime this week. In the meantime, try then go off and buy!

1) Boiler Suits & Combat Boots (Hiro Ama Remix): The Umlauts (2022)

2) Cycle: Pye Corner Audio ft. Andy Bell (2026)

3) Once In A While: Gentle Stranger (2021)

4) Løveskatt (Prins Thomas Diskomiks): Ora The Molecule (2025)

5) Winner: 10:40 (2026)

6) Perfect We Are Not: Soulwax (2026)

7) To Ziggy With Love (Cover of 'Ziggy Stardust' by David Bowie): 100 Poems (2026)

8) Floss: Raven Bush (2019)

9) Trolley Coin (Dyslexia Mix): Autumns (2026)

10) Lady Shave (DJ Lui Danceteria Edit): Fad Gadget (2015)

11) Don't Touch (Luke Vibert Remix): The Veees (2016)

12) Not On The Radar (Richard Norris Remix): Mark Fry (2025)

2015: Lady Shave EP: 10

2016: The Veees: 11

2019: Jeté EP: 8

2021: Phantom Thoroughfare: 3

2022: Boiler Suits & Combat Boots EP: 1

2025: Løveskatt EP: 4

2025: Not On The Radar: 12

2026: More Songs About The Sun: 2

2026: Partick Sailing Club Presents PSC#001: The Beautiful Flowers Wait For Peace: 7

2026: Perfect We Are Not EP: 6

2026: Through The Re-Construction Of Grace EP: 9

2026: Winner EP: 5

A Cycle Without End (1:02:04) (GD) (M)

Supermarket Sweep

It's nearly that time again, so here's half a dozen 2026 releases that will be scanned at the checkout on Bandcamp Friday and undoubtedly troubling a Dubhed selection or two in the near future.

First up is Broken Chanter with two songs from fourth album This Could Be Us, You, Or Anybody Else. JC from The Vinyl Villain reviewed the album a couple of weeks ago, reflecting that he "long ago run out of superlatives to describe just how much joy and happiness comes [his] way with every new Broken Chanter album."

It was JC and The Vinyl Villain that switched me on to Broken Chanter back in 2020 and, late though I was, I'm up to speed with JC's take on things. I haven't heard the album in full yet but, on the strength of these two, it's an early contender for the 2026 'best of' list.

The brilliantly named Sister Ray Davies, aka Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego, recently released Holy Island Baby, a remix EP companion to last November's debut album Holy Island.

Five reworked songs, including two by the mighty Pye Corner Audio, which are worth the purchase price alone.

Speaking of Pye Corner Audio aka Martin Jenkins, Bandcamp Friday often sees a one-off single drop. This may or may not happen, but either way you can pre-order new album More Songs About The Sun, which is due in June. 

A sequel of sorts to 2022 album Let's Emerge!, More Songs About The Sun features Andy Bell (Ride/GLOK) across several tracks, a spoken word contribution from writer Ian Rankin and even vocals from Martin himself. Great stuff.

What can I tell you about Autumns? Not a lot, to be honest. Autumns is Christian Donaghey and his Bandcamp page has 80+ releases going back to 2014. It was February's 2-track EP, Through The Re-Construction Of Grace, that grabbed my attention.

Opening with a blistering remix of Trolley Coin from last year's Through The Construction Of Grace EP, things ramp up on the flipside with the wonderfully-titled (but with "don't try this, kids" advisory) Spit On A DJ For Therapy.

If you like your pop of the jangly variety, then husband and wife Carl Mann and Kat Mann have got it and then some, performing as Shapes Like People. Their single Lately was recommended to me by Kathryn on BlueSky and it's a shimmering, summery stunner. Sounds even better now that the sun's shining.

Ending on a high, spiritually, metaphorically and literally, is long-time favourite of this blog, Jesse Fahnestock and a fresh release as 10:40.

Winner is constructed around a familiar twangy guitar sample (there's a clue in the title) and it continues the journey that Jesse has been on, via 10:40, Electric Blue Vision, Jezebell, Powder Wax and RetroFit, in pursuit of that perfect synthesis of old and new, borrowed and blue. Personally, I think Jesse nails it every time and his latest release is (excuse the pun) a winner.