We’d like to say thanks for all the continued support we’ve received over the past year. We hope we never take our privileged position as music-makers for granted and hope we can repay some of the love when we’re back on stage, playing for you.
Speaking of which, we’re excited to report that last week we had our first full rehearsal in over 14 months, and it feels good to be looking forward with a renewed energy.
On that note, we are now booking live dates from mid-September onwards. Keep an eye on our website and socials over the coming months for more news on that. For booking enquiries, recommendations (promoters/venues/festivals etc) or general chat, feel free to drop us a line.
Friday 7th May will be another Bandcamp Friday. In recent months we’ve shared the names of some artists and bands we’ve been supporting, and we would love to hear your recommendations, too. We LOVE hearing new sounds, from all genres.
If you haven’t checked in with us for a while, we released our second album Chemical Reaction on double vinyl and download in June 2020, to some really lovely reviews. We were lucky enough to work with dancer and choreographer Darren Pritchard from Manchester’s renowned House of Ghetto on the video for the title track, which you can watch here:
Limited edition Gildan 100% preshrunk heavy cotton shirt, with screen-printed design by artist Rosie Rackham, available on Bandcamp NOW!!
Available in shirt colours BLACK (white ink) and WHITE (black ink), sizes:
S – 34/36″
M – 38/40″
L – 42/44″
XL – 46/48″
White tee
Black tee
White tee
Black tee
Rosie Rackham is an interdisciplinary designer and graduate of Leeds Arts University. In 2020 she was one of two graduating students shortlisted for the first online Global Design Graduate Show, organised by leading launch platform for emerging creatives, ARTSTHREAD and i-D in collaboration with Gucci.
We were inspired to contact Rosie after seeing her ‘Music Connects People’ design for MAP Charity. We love Rosie’s concept-led bold and graphic style which uses botanical, geometric and figurative forms to explore interpersonal and environmental relationships.
Our debut album Let The Rhythm In (Dither Down 2017) is available worldwide from the following shops and online sources. More to be added…..
UK
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE (London)
PHONICA (London)
TOME (London)
LOVE VINYL (London)
LION COFFEE & RECORDS (London)
KRISTINA RECORDS (London)
YAM (London)
LOBSTER RECORDS (London)
RUBADUB (Glasgow)
PICCADILLY (Manchester)
JUMBO (Leeds)
DISQUE 72 (Leeds)
TRIBE (Leeds)
VINYL TAP (Huddersfield)
THE VINYL CURTAIN (Brighton)
REDEYE (Ipswich)
NORMAN RECORDS (Leeds)
VINYL RESTING PLACE (Manchester)
WOO TOGETHER (Leeds)
WAH WAH (Wakefield)
SOUND IT OUT (Stockton)
POP RECS LTD (Sunderland)
FRIENDLY RECORDS (Bristol)
HOT SALVATION (Folkestone)
EUROPE
OYE RECORDS (Berlin)
HHV (Berlin)
LA CHINERIE (Paris)
EXTEND AND PLAY (Marseille)
RUSH HOUR (Amsterdam)
BORDELLO A PARIGI (Amsterdam)
KOMPACT (Cologne)
GROOVE ATTACK (Cologne)
TOPIC DRIFT (Cologne)
DISCO PIU (Rimini)
CLONE (Rotterdam)
DEEJAY (Dohlau)
DISCOS PARADISO (Barcelona)
PLATTFON (Basel)
UNITED STATES & CANADA
GROOVE (Chicago)
CO-OP 87 (New York)
JUNE RECORDS (Toronto)
ATOM HEART (Montreal)
LA RAMA (Montreal)
REST OF WORLD
STRADA (Hyogo)
TECHNIQUE (Tokyo)
DISK UNION (Osaka)
JET SET (Tokyo / Kyoto)
WAX MUSEUM (Melbourne)
ONLINE
JUNO
DISCOGS
BANDCAMP
DITHER DOWN
ITUNES
EBAY
…and more
Guestlist has premiered the video for the radio edit of our song ‘How Do U Feel?‘
The video was shot in Hackney Wick and showcases the incredible talents of Kamilė Davidonytė, a Lithuanian-born dancer now living in London. We followed Kamilė as she freestyled around the streets of Hackney dancing in the sunshine, against a backdrop of graffiti and urban noise.
Filmed and directed by BBC director and founder of Phono Films Clare Tavernor, the film also features Keith Haring-inspired graphics by Victoria Ford which add a further playfulness and accentuate Kamile’s dancing perfectly.
‘How Do U Feel?’ is taken from our new album Let The Rhythm In (Dither Down) and will be released as a digital single on Dither Down along with exclusive guest remixes.
GALAXIANS – LET THE RHYTHM IN
Debut album on Dither Down (Brooklyn, New York).
“A tour de force of exuberant club energy” CLASH
Available from Dither Down Records from 20 October on limited edition gatefold 180 gram double LP.
Pre-order the vinyl and download at Bandcamp. Vinyl available from selected record stores from 5 November.
Produced by Ross Halden at Ghost Town, Leeds 2016. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles. Artwork and layout by Luke Drozd.
Photography by Tim Dunk.
GALAXIANS
(Dither Down / Stargaze)
G_P
(Stargaze)
VIDE0
Brudenell Social Club
19.10.17
8pm
FREE ENTRY
We would like to invite you to party with us as we celebrate the release of our first long player, Let The Rhythm In. The record is our first as a trio and our third release on Brooklyn New York imprint Dither Down.
GALAXIANS
Within the music of Galaxians – the trio of Emma Mason, Matt Woodward and Jed Skinner – lies a powerfully hedonistic strain that does much to loop a thread through the party lineage of their adopted hometown of Leeds. Coupled with the first impressions of what the pair loosely term their “pre-digital dance music”, you might not raise an eyebrow to find out that their cues are taken in-part from classic disco and house labels such as Sleeping Bag or Chicago’s TRAX, nor that their early EPs found homes across the Atlantic on the similarly-minded Dither Down in Brooklyn, and Atlanta’s Rotating Souls Records.
However, it’s the beating pulse of Northern England club life, married with the thriving independence of much of the region’s best venues and spaces that forces its way through on the duo’s debut LP Let The Rhythm In. Recorded at Leeds Ghost Town studio with Ross Halden, the eight tracks come steeped in the Yorkshire city’s less-trumpeted but enduring house heritage – with inspiration drawn from the all-day parties of the late 70s and early 80s, the disco that emerged from the fading Northern Soul movement of the early 80s and the resonant acid house era that boomed across both sides of the Pennines.
Previous 12”’s Galaxians and Personal Disco Component captured much of the lo-fi scuzziness that Galaxians have long-surrounded themselves with – as likely to pop up playing more punk-associated DIY spots like their hometown’s Wharf Chambers as they are in front of the heads at Beat-Herder or late-night with the likes of Horse Meat Disco and Auntie Flo. That raw playfulness in their sound still bubbles beneath the surface, but there’s a whole new fluidity to proceedings, a seamless flow between the rattle and strut of their analogue funk.
If Skinner and Woodward have deftly refined things however, then what’s altered the soundscape unequivocally is the addition of long-time friend and vocalist Emma Mason. Though not a constant, her presence is felt immediately on the opening track Street Level, a powerful, soulful vocal that commands the track in a way that resonates far beyond the relatively brief time she actually appears. On Subway Dancers, meanwhile, the heat and hustle of its bassy propulsion melts beneath the shimmer and sway of the melody.
19.10 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
20.10 BRISTOL Crofters Rights
21.10 AMSTERDAM Doka (ADE)
22.10 JEUMONT Jardin de l’espérance
24.10 COLOGNE Buhmann & Sohn
25.10 BRUSSELS Bonnefooi
26.10 LILLE Gare Saint Sauveur
28.10 LONDON Total Refreshment Centre
G_P
The artist formerly known as Game_Program, aka multi-instrumentalist and member of Hookworms, Cowtown, and Nope, Jon Nash.
Recent performances have shown a tasteful refining of ideas incorporating lo-fi, lo-slung house grooves, arpeggiated synth lines designed to hypnotise, and classic drum machine sounds. Altogether it’s a sound not dissimilar to artists such as Warp’s Clark and Argentinian DJ / producer Leonel Castillo, though it’s an arguably more soulful listening experience.
VIDE0
Back to basics pop duo VIDE0 comprises song writing partners Alex Brown and Emily Garner, previously of bands Bathymetry and Prowles. Operating in Salford, the pair’s direct, uptempo, fun pop music may come as a surprise given the more whimsical guitar-focused sound of their previous band. However, in reality it’s a logical progression to a more immediate, fully formed sound, expressed for the most part through sparkling synths and riff-heavy bass, accompanied by machine programmed beats and dual vocal melodies. Comparisons to New Order may appear lazy, but there’s a definite link here to the city’s lineage of bass-driven synth pop and post-punk.
Leeds-based Matt Woodward and Jed Skinner formed house act Galaxians in 2012. Over the past five years they’ve forged a beautiful soundscape that’s all about keeping dance floors moving and grooving. Now a trio thanks to the addition of vocalist Emma Mason, they’re about to unveil their full-length, Let The Rhythm In, on Brooklyn’s Dither Down. The LP is an expression of their love for soul to house music, and it’s founded on the studio experience they’ve gained over the years.
Galaxians put the single “Out They Minds” in the capable hands of SIREN, a collaboration between NYC legends Darshan Jesrani of Metro Area and Dennis Kane. It’s nothing short of spectacular, and we’re thrilled to world premiere it! BIG SHOT
Galaxians formed back in 2012, vowing to make dance music that wasn’t actually ‘dance music’.
Reaching back to the roots of electronic music in the North of England – think electro, synth pop, and early Warp – the group began building up a distinctly individual sound and approach.
Now expanded to a trio, Galaxians are currently prepping new release ‘Let The Rhythm In’, a tour de force of exuberant club energy.
Clash is able to premiere ‘Out They Minds’ and it matches EBM influences to cold wave, early techno, and machine funk. Basically, it slaps. CLASH
Super Friendz & Youth Club Sounds Collaborate On Mixtape
From I Like Press press release…
With the Collaborationz project, the promoting team behind Belgrave Music Hall and Headrow House, Super Friendz, wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the people and partnerships that make the North an exciting place to collaborate. One collaboration will be launched each month with each having its own focus on a different partnership, the aim is to highlight the diverse range of talent being cultivated in the North at this moment in time.
The first three months of 2017 will see Super Friendz and the venues partner up with the likes of Youth Club Sounds, Welcome Skate Store and Alphabet Brewing Co. Details of each collaboration will be released quarterly and each will be produced on limited release and available for one month only.
The first collaboration to see the light of day will be a 16 track mixtape put together in conjunction with Leeds label Youth Club Sounds, featuring a host of Leeds’ artists including Krrum, Caro, Denmarc Creary & Izzy Flynn, and Galaxians. Harris Hameed who has received heavy rotation from the BBC Asian network, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Dulahli who’s chopped and screwed hip-hop has seen his added to this years Soundwave festival.
Youth Club Sounds continue the grand tradition of Leeds’ Hyde Park area sitting at the beating heart of its underground and DIY music community. Youth Club Sounds’ Robbie Russell explains their beginnings “We started Youth Club about 18 months ago, for fairly selfish reasons. We simply wanted to hear the music we loved on big speakers. It opened a door for us to start introducing the city to new music, influenced by the experimental Soundcloud beat scene, fusing together aspects of Atlanta trap, New York hip hop, grime and dance music.”
Youth Club Sounds were approached by Super Friendz to become a part of the Collaborationz project. “Having the opportunity to work with Super Friendz has been immense, as they’re always willing to commit to pushing the Leeds scene, facilitating shows with cutting-edge musicians and given local talent a stage to cut their teeth on. This release is about showing the city off, condensing the best of Leeds new wave onto a nicely packaged cassette tape.”
The Super Friendz / Youth Club Sounds Mixtape will be available from Crash & Jumbo Records in Leeds and available to listen to on Soundcloud from the 28th January.
Ben Lewis – Head Booker, Super Friendz:
“Leeds has always had praise heaped on its guitar music, but right now there’s a really exciting scene coming up of producers, multi-instrumentalists and MC’s, what we’re doing with this mixtape is wanting to shine a light on some of these artists and the forward thinking, progressive music they’re making. We’ve teamed up with Youth Club Sounds to help curate the tape as they’ve been at the forefront of pushing Leeds’ nightlife in the last few months and have really nurtured a stable of artists, many of whom can be found on this mix.”
