News | Houndstooth

Djrum returns with new album ~ 'Under Tangled Silence'

2025-02-26 01:22:02

“We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.”

Buy / stream / download - whatever your preferred way to listen to Djrum, we've got you covered

CLICK HERE >> https://hth.lnk.to/djrum-LP

This line from Patti Smith was going round and round Felix Manuel’s head as he gradually constructed Under Tangled Silence, his first album in six years and a record of a literal creative rebirth. Felix originally began it in earnest in 2020 Covid lockdown, but a catastrophic hard-drive meltdown destroyed almost all his work and sent him close to psychic collapse himself. However, ultimately this pushed him to rebuild from scratch and in so doing to confront and reassess every part of his musical and psychological processes.

The result is utterly extraordinary. Felix was a child prodigy as an instrumentalist and his advanced musicality has always been prominent in his music, but here he has put himself front and centre as pianist, harpist and more. And this sense of exposure as a performer interweaves with an unflinching emotional openness too. Where sometimes electronic production as advanced as this can use intellect and techniques as shields from soul-baring, this is the sound of someone who can boldly say “I feel things, I cry all the time, and I'm not afraid to say it or show it in the music.”

But this doesn’t mean there’s a move away from the soundsystems and dancefloors where Felix made his name as a uniquely innovative vinyl DJ. Even just in the opening track “A Tune for Us”, minimalist piano ripples and jazz drumming flow into the breaks of vintage jungle – and as the structure of the LP unfolds, a deep ambient meditation like “Hold” can sit very naturally in between the futurist dancehall of “L’Ancienne” and the high-definition acid house mind movie of “Galaxy in Silence”. In fact, as with the hands-on musicianship, that gutsy big-speaker electronic impact is delivered with more certainty, more expertise, more personal flourishes than ever. And all of those elements are more integrated than ever too: the sound of a total musical personality emerging afresh is truly something to behold. An already remarkable talent has been refreshed, reborn and is making the music of his life.

---------------

Street Date: April 25, 2025

Written, produced and arranged by Felix Manuel from 2017 to 2023.

Piano, harp, mbira, percussion - Felix Manuel

Cello - Zosia Jagodzinska

Tracks 1,6,7 - additional writing by Zosia Jagodzinska

Track 8 - vocals by Willow and Rudy Manuel

Mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Metropolis, London.

Manufactured at optimal-media, Germany.

Creative Director & Photographer - Riya Hollings @riyahollings

Art Director - Vassilis Skandalis / RGB Complex

Djrum signs to Houndstooth

2024-10-18 00:27:50

Djrum's career has blossomed in recent times, in no small part thanks to his mind-mangling and frequently thrill-a-minute DJ sets. - Just check out Djrum's set for fabric in the deepest darkest-depth of COVID --- Spinning 3 decks LIVE in one take within the confinds of the incredible Tower Bridge, London.

Unusually given his prolific work-rate earlier in his career, the much-admired producer has not released much new music of late; in fact, extended EP marks his first 100% fresh release for six years.

It's predictably impressive, with highlights including the twisted TB-303 trickery, bombastic sub-bass and polyrhythmic post-dubstep UK bass beats of 'Codex', the high-octane modular techno insanity of 'Crawl', the spaced-out and dubbed-out, Autechre-ish IDM weirdness of 'Frekm (Part 1)', and the deconstructed breakbeats, psychoactive electronics and metallic effects of 'Frekm (Part 2)'. [Words: Juno]

We are up for 'Best Boutique Label' at the 2024 AIM Awards

2024-10-11 18:11:25

We are so proud to be nominated by The Association of Independent Music (AIM) for 'Best Boutique Label' - for a 4th time!

fingers crossed for us - we will find out on October 17th

From the AIM Awards website

This year’s ‘Best Boutique Label’ (in association with Qobuz) nominee list sees innovators AD 93, home of Damsel Elysium and Joanne Robertson, and Houndstooth, whose roster covers world-class artists ranging from Call Super and SCALER. The shortlist also includes LAB Records (Antony Szmierek, BEKA, The K’s) , New Soil (Theon Cross, Tumi Mogorosi, Ill Considered), and Sonic Cathedral (Dot Allison, deary, Whitelands).

#AIMAwards2024

[EDIT] ...... we lost out again! maybe 5th time lucky one day :(

SCALPING share video for new single ‘Monolithium’ + announce new ‘Flood’ EP out 18th June

2021-04-20 18:15:20

Following an exciting end to 2020, which saw them sign to us here at Houndstooth, releasing a blistering single ‘Deadlock’ and named in the NME 100 for 2021, SCALPING prepare their first full body of work, ‘FLOOD’ EP which is set for release June 18th.

To mark the announcement the band have shared a brand new single entitled “Monolithium”, which is also accompanied by an intense and surreal new futuristic visual designed by Jason Baker, who is a long-term collaborator on SCALPING’s live visuals and an active "fifth member" of the band.

Preorder FLOOD 12" Colour EP here:

WATCH "MONOLITHIUM" below:

“Monolithium” has a pulverising, gyrating ferocity that unstoppably grinds through the gears to a riotous peak, perfectly capturing the unrelenting raw energy of the band’s notorious live shows. The track stands as a powerful statement of intent for the EP with SCALPING continuing to defy classification, whilst honing and expanding on their propulsive and entirely inimitable sound.

Alongside the new EP and single, SCALPING have also announced further live dates for 2021 including their rescheduled tour dates with Squarepusher (an early supporter of the group) and sold-out Peckham Audio headline show. Dates are as follows…

02 Sep 21 – Peckham Audio, London (Headline), UK

03 Sep 21 – Wide Awake Fest, London, UK

04 Sep 21 – Manchester Psych Fest, Manchester, UK

11 Sep 21 – Misty Field's Fest, Heusden, NL

24 Sep 21 – Loco Klub, Bristol, UK

23 Oct 21 – Boiler Shop, Newcastle, UK*

25 Oct 21 – Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, UK*

26 Oct 21 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK*

27 Oct 21 – Concorde2, Brighton, UK*

28 Oct 21 – Metronome, Nottingham, UK*

29 Oct 21 – Roundhouse, London, UK*

*w/ Squarepusher

Tickets are available HERE

SCALPING have quickly established themselves amongst the UK’s most sensational acts, drip-feeding explosive shots of techno, punk and hardcore into the world and igniting venues and festivals across UK and Europe with a precise, unrelenting energy. The ‘FLOOD’ EP is a major milestone for the band and is the first proper holistic realisation of SCALPING’s stylistic breadth and mastery of a unique boundary-blurring approach, along with a developed sense of the total control exerted over their music at all times. ‘FLOOD’ is undoubtedly the sound of a band seizing and maximising a singular vision.

The pneumatic crushing weight of ‘The Perimeter’ is constantly cranked up, increasing in volume, depth and power eventually forcing out a trance-metal hybrid gemstone, once again displaying SCALPING’s remarkable ability to forge anything they choose to from whatever they feel like.

‘Cloudburst’s throbbing acid synth line provides a more straightforward dancefloor orientated sound whilst still maintaining dizzying energy and ruthless propulsion. ‘Empty Cascade’ is an epic mission statement, a perfect combination of rave fundamentals and straight up system blowing sludge that could legitimately only be pulled off by SCALPING.

SCALPING is the Bristol based group comprised of James Rushforth, Alex Hill, Isaac Jones, Jamie Thomas and Jason Baker, initially formed at the end of 2017 with a desire to pair their hometown's visionary, off-kilter dance music to the more organic instrumentation you might find in noise-rock and post-punk. They have since won all manner of plaudits at radio, press and through fervent word-of-mouth for both their eclecticism on record and for the pummelling intensity of their live performances and high-profile fans including Giant Swan, DJ October, Bruce and many more.

PRE-ORDER HERE

Tracklist:

1. Monolithium

2. The Perimeter

3. Cloudburst

4. Empty Cascade

"As far as introductions go, this is pretty remarkable." – Mixmag

“Fierce and relentless” – DIY

“Raucous techno meets blackened punk in a fresh, thunderous cocktail” – NME (NME 100 Essential Emerging Acts)

The Only Music You Need To Hear This Month – DAZED

Tracks Of The Year – The Guardian

"An EBM band inspired by Bristol sound-systems... the city's next breakthrough act" – Loud & Quiet

" A joyous bashing together of acid, industrial racket and techno – The Quietus

"Eye-bleeding techno and cataclysmic noise rock collide under the banner of Scalping. Tinges of HEALTH's earlier, mayhem-ier roots glint through the chaos Scalping offer - but these sounds are not really like anything else about." – The Line of Best Fit

Penelope Trappes announces Penelope Three - Out 28 May 2021

2021-03-01 17:48:57

Penelope Trappes has announced details on her third album ‘Penelope Three’, to be released on May 28th as well as details of a UK tour planned for May. Along with the announcement, Penelope has also shared the first single and video, “Nervous” which you can watch below.

‘Penelope Three’ is the third and final instalment of the Australian-born Brighton-based musician’s trilogy. She completes her ambitious and other-worldly triptych with an album of healing, on which she looks to release herself from fear and into love, evoked in Penelope’s signature ambient gothic dreamlands that are equal parts shoegaze pop and surrealist soundscapes.

Preorder - Limited Edition Crystal Clear Vinyl

Preorder - Classic Black Vinyl and / or CD

The powerful yet fragile lead single, “Nervous,” blossoms like a flower in time lapse, swelling with reverb and decaying into a dense sound world. Commenting on the video, Trappes says: "In mid 2020 I began renting a strange and unique house in Brighton, but I couldn’t actually move into it for a month, so I used the odd space and time to film this video. It delves inside the mind of a nervous smoking woman, which takes the form of an oppressive strange house. Inside, she is confronting the balance between the masculine and feminine within her, which take the form of two spirit characters. Outside there are expansive but liminal moments of reprieve from the claustrophobia, but she invariably gets drawn back into the anxious loop of her own mental entrapment."

Despite formal vocal training in opera and jazz when she was younger, it wasn’t until after her daughter was born that Penelope began writing her own music. Now in her 40s, she says coming into music later has been eye opening, and she laments the fact that women past 30 are too often discarded by the music industry: “Creativity doesn’t go away when you get older, it flourishes, changes, grows like all of life,” she says, “it amazes me that this is still something for society to wrap their heads around.”

Where 'Penelope One' explored aspects of birth and rebirth and the power of the female body, and 'Penelope Two' was centred around the acknowledgement of grief and how we carry our own stories of loss, 'Penelope Three' Is about healing the stories held in her body by surrendering to universal love. In it, she explores her metamorphosis through tales of motherhood, the divine feminine, anxiety, healing powers and their spiritual connections through vocal loops, piano and guitar drenched in reverb, all underpinned by subterranean drones. She looks not just to release herself from the grieving process in Penelope Two, but also of societal anxieties, embracing the generational shift that is happening as her daughter grows up, her mother gets older and how she sees the world drastically changing.

“I’m digging up the underworld with visual motifs, and a mystical, gothic darkness that symbolises my struggles” she says of Penelope Three. “Yet the universal message is that of overcoming our fears to allow the love in. This is the healing.”

Crucially, for this final part of the trilogy, Penelope has returned to focus on her voice, her first and original instrument. “The compositions are very driven by the vocals, because it is our primal instrument that can tell our story,” she says. Her singing is swaddled and haunted by brooding and atmospheric soundscapes, her poetic lyrics lifted by sounds sometimes light and hallucinatory, other times menacing and cavernous.

In between instalments of the ambitious trilogy, Penelope has released a clutch of both experimental and more dreampop-oriented EPs. She demonstrated her versatility in the extended 25-minute deep-listening composition 'Gnostic State' (Longform Editions), and the arpeggiated electronics and minimalist songwriting on the 'Eel Drip EP', which was accompanied by image and film inspired by Francesca Woodman’s 1970s series of nude self-portraits with eels. She also released a bonus sister EP to 'Penelope Two', titled Withdrawn, and an album of reworks, Penelope Redeux, with contributions by Mogwai, Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Nik Colk Void, among others.

Here, on 'Penelope Three', Trappes wears her breadth of life experiences with pride; pain, joy, love, loss, and the freedom in accepting change and acknowledging lessons learnt. It is a celebration of womanhood and a testament to the wisdom acquired through living and allowing oneself to live.

2021 Live dates:

13 May - The Great Escape, Brighton (UK)

24 July - SNNTG Festival, Hannover (Germany)

23 Sept - The White Hotel, Manchester (UK)

24 Sept - The Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow

25 Sept - Future Yard, Birkenhead (UK)

26 Sept - Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester

30 Sept - The Rose Hill, Brighton

12 Novr - St Pancras Church, London (UK)

Bristol's Scalping sign to Houndstooth

2020-11-16 18:59:41

Bristol's Scalping return with much-anticipated new material in the shape of the propulsive, muscular "Deadlock" and the news that they have signed to us here at Houndstooth.

The band themselves have the following to say about their return and specifically the release of live favourite "Deadlock":

"Deadlock has been in our live set for over a year now and it's always a highlight; it's fierce, relentless and gets a great reaction whenever we play it."

The first versions of this song were based around a one bar synth loop that ran for the duration, it gave us a lot of space to improvise and play with the dynamics and structure live, to push and pull off both each other and the crowd. The energy coming back off the audience always has a huge impact on how we perform but it was particularly noticeable with this song, it would feel very different every night as we'd each be trying out different things.

With us not being able to play it live for the foreseeable it felt like the perfect time to record a definitive version of the song. After coming off tour we finalised and recorded this version of Deadlock at the start of the year, before lockdown, split between our homes in Bristol and Rockfield Studios in Wales."

As the opener to what will be a flurry of activity, any deadlock up to now ends right here.

Written, produced and performed by Scalping.

Recorded by Joe Jones at Rockfield Studios and Scalping in Bristol.

Mixed by Sean Oakley.

Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Mastering, London.

SCINTII Signs to Houndstooth Shares new single & video "Times New Roman"

2020-09-09 12:16:06

We are delighted to announce our newest signing, Shanghai-based Taiwanese singer-producer Scintii, with her first single for us, "Times New Roman". Its melancholic 21st century nu-trip hop sound was developed with guest producer Danny L Harle (PC Music, Charli XCX).

"Times New Roman" is Scintii's first release since her second EP, Aerial/Paperbags, on SVBKVLT in 2018, and marks a step up from the wistfulness of her previous EPs to a tougher, deeper sound. The video for "Times New Roman" was directed by Kynan Puru Watt who has previously worked with Arca. Scroll down to watch in full.

"Times New Roman is one of the main languages used in graphic design," Scintii explains, "and this song is about finding that language for myself as an artist."

Times New Roman is loaded with remixes, from the cream of current underground club music producers. SVBKVLT label mate Osheyack shakes out its hard lines in classic trance stabs; Mechatok ups its saturation for a bouncing hardcore version; hyped London producer Loraine James takes the track apart by stems and re-plaits them into glitched-out IDM, and Palmistry (who just worked on a track with Charli XCX) chases rushing synths before dropping into a bubblegum breaks.

Preorder the 5 track EP or listen via your preferred streaming service HERE.

Sophia Loizou announces album 'Untold' and poetic collection ‘Untold: A Tellurian Memorandum’

2020-07-29 23:55:16

Composer and multidisciplinary artist Sophia Loizou's new album, Untold, depicts a series of speculative sonic landscapes. Animals, ocean waves and weather systems are abstracted into eco-centric cyber-dreams in powerful ambient electronic compositions, inviting us to try to see the Earth through the eyes of others.

Untold is not about the natural or the technological but the relationships between the two, where sonic textures, breaks and melodies are shaped by the dynamics of a lions roar or the rhythm of a dolphins echolocation emissions. "I didn't want to make it human-centric," explains Sophia. "I wanted to remove my compositional and structural domination, to find ways to make it about the symbiosis of systems I see in the world."

2xLP (Ocean Blue / or black Vinyl) Preorder

BOOK: Untold: A Tellurian Memorandum’. Preorder

Untold is Bristol-based Sophia Loizou's third full-length release following offerings on Astro:Dynamics, Kathexis, and Cosmo Rhythmatic. Loizou operates at the intersection of contemporary electronic music, speculative fiction and the ecological. She is currently working on a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is a lecturer in music production.

Untold opens with 'Anima' – a half-remembered cyber-dream, stretched and excavated into oceanic washes of sound and disembodied voice. 'Celestial Web' engineers the snap and drive of sampled breaks into warm, organic systems; 'Vestal Waters' is new age D 'n' B for the anthropocene; 'Inner Dreams' exposes galaxies of earthly entanglements before the brittle ambience of 'Sylphonia' leads into the bubble and eddy of 'Fluxus'. The breathy 'Bicameral' almost takes flight, a harbinger of the pummelling breaks of 'Hypnotik', culminating in the roiling waves of the moody 'Apeiros'.

Loizou took sounds from living systems, her own field recordings, and from human, animal and technological origins, not just as raw sound sources but as control sources, envelopes and signals. The movement of waves, sounds of insects, vultures, and lion roars were used as sources for the dynamic and shaped. "Early on in the sound design process I realised that I found the most compelling sounds to be those that had a movement I could not have imagined or constructed, these wild signal changes allowed me to access something else, something non-human." Those processes mean she can spend hours crafting a sound, either through careful construction or through unpredictable experimental strategies.

Untold's nine tracks are part of a much bigger multi-disciplinary project that also includes an illustrated collection of poems and sonic landscapes, an AV show and a lecture performance. The literary and AV limbs of Untold include photography, poetry and a long-form sound-work, which combine to create a fresh take on the ambient read. The text contains rhythmic refractions of composition, reflected in the visual sibilance of oceans in the static and moving images of her AV work Tellurian Visions.

"My writing was triggered by lots of weird and changeable weather events, at home in the West Country and on trips to Scotland and Iceland," she explains. In huge storms in remote areas of Iceland she experienced feelings of liberation from the self that can happen when faced with the power of the earth or the scale of the sea. “I'm not the sitting still type but when I stop and observe the world, I become transfixed by the shapes and movements of those natural forces."

Tracklist:

1 – Anima

2 – Celestial Web

3 – Vestal Waters

4 – Inner Dreams

5 – Fluxes

6 – Hypnotik

7 – Sylphonia

8 – Bicameral

9 – Apeiros

Guy Andrews returns with ‘Permanence’

2020-07-29 14:08:33

A prologue to the album called "Twenty Seven Inches Of Mercury" is out now - Listen here

Permanence is the name of the new album by the musician/producer Guy Andrews, whose work lies predominantly in the sphere of abstract electronic composition, crafting sonic textures which brood as they do blossom. Incoming via Houndstooth on September 16th, the record will be followed by an ambient counterpart [MT][NT][ET] on 11th November, with a further release of remixes by Kevin Drumm to follow early in 2021.

A prologue to the album called "Twenty Seven Inches Of Mercury" premiered today via Son Of Marketing, which channels Guy's evolving compositional process and resourcefulness when looking for inspiration.

Preorder Permanence

Preorder [MT][NT][ET]

There is an honesty, openness and raw nature that defines Guy’s music, which has always been guided by his emotional responses to events in his life. Permanence is the evolution of his sonic storytelling, going deeper into Guy’s psyche and exploring his own genius loci or spirit of place. Permanence is part of a personal evolution and realisation of what is important to Guy, discovering that making music as a means of creative expression is far more meaningful than simply succumbing to an internal pressure or to the commercialisation of being creative.

“We cannot claim permanence in our lives, but what we can hold onto permanently is the idea of change.” - Guy Andrews

On Permanence, Guy pushes his creativity out of his comfort zone, leveraging sound design with composition to further express his own ‘language’ of textures (rather than lyrics and melody) to articulate feelings and to process life experiences. Every layer of sound carries purpose and meaning. The resulting record is an autobiographical stream of consciousness designed to be listened to as one continuous long-playing piece of textural music, and for the audience to draw their own sense of meaning.

This idea of encouraging listeners to engage on their own terms also extends to the process of creating the artwork. Guy commissioned Totnes based artist Jenny Frances to provide a visual, subjective response to the music. The final piece will be offered as an art print alongside the digital album release.

Permanence is ultimately about creating something meaningful and positive, that can potentially be as liberating for the listener as it is for the creator.

Warped, experimental, deconstructed compilation: Alterity

2020-07-08 13:17:08

On August 28th a new compilation of warped, experimental and deconstructed club music entitled ‘Alterity’. This is a globe-spanning collection that takes in artists from almost every continent in the world, piecing together the story of how shared sounds and ideas connect many seemingly disparate scenes and cultures across the planet.

Fuelled by a desire to dissolve borders and transcend perceived norms to promote the existence of alternate viewpoints, lifestyles and identities. ‘Alterity’, defined as a state of being “other” or outside convention, aims to push the idea of “radical otherness” and outsider culture to the fore, embracing its vitality for creating, maintaining and enriching society.

Pre-order 2xLP / CD or digital

‘Alterity’s 15 tracks document a journey to a parallel plane, through amorphous techno wormholes, caverns of industrial beat science and colossal panoramas of glistening hyper-stylised trance. Each creation espouses local sounds and adapting global musical styles to create a singular, holistic map of modern dancefloors: championing their diversity and inclusivity.