Sam Davies

After much persuasion, Persian speaks.
For months, we’ve exchanged emails. For years before that, interview requests have been ignored. And for three decades, this quasi-mythological artist has been completely hidden from view, putting even Burial to shame in “ratio of brilliant club tracks to level of anonymity.” But eventually, he answers a video call with—to some surprise—his video switched on.

Wooden wirelesses, 60s transistors and 80s boomboxes are some of the obsolete gadgets having fresh life breathed back into them by tech tinkerers. Sam Davies spoke to this up-cycling community and found out why up-cycling retro speakers is so important.

On his new album ‘Distracted’, Thundercat - the acclaimed bassist, sought-after collaborator, and cultural iconoclast - is joined by Tame Impala, Mac Miller and A$AP Rocky as he takes on the social media age. It’s a complicated portrait of an artist facing up to a strange time in his life - and an even stranger time in the world at large.

The word bunt means “colorful” in German, and, at the risk of sounding pat, that’s an apt descriptor of Levi Wijk’s sound, attitude, and story so far. “I think that’s what the Bunt. brand is all about,” he says. “Sweat, energy, honesty, positivity, happiness, and killing the barriers that some artists have between them and their fans.”

The Collectors is a new feature series that celebrates the intimate communities that congregate around tech and how these alternative families keep devices relevant. For Part 2, Sam Davies speaks to passionate “funtographers” keeping the Game Boy Camera alive and relevant.

The Helpline is a special issue of Bandcamp Notes devoted to answering your most burning music-related queries. Today, we help a podcast hater in search of road trip tunes and another fan seeking contemporary choral music recommendations.

“How did we get here?” ask the liner notes of Netherfield Works, Craven Faults’s debut EP. “It’s not important,” is the conclusion. “It’s important to ask the question every now and then. The answers, less so.” The “here” is Yorkshire, in the north of England, some time in the post-industrial era of the mid-to-late 20th century. The “why” is more ambiguous. The “who” even more so.

The 14th of February is almost upon us once again. But reach not for the Whitman’s sampler, the scented candle, or the rose bouquet. Instead, select a gong, a tuning fork, and a singing bowl. For it is also World Sound Healing Day, and what better way to commemorate the occasion than a massive ambient compilation released on the same weekend?

After a recent show in his beloved hometown of Birmingham, England, Tony Bontana got to chatting with two Americans hanging out in the smoking section. Tony was excited to hear that they’d flown over from L.A. to see him, but he was not expecting what happened next. As it turned out, the kids were brothers, and they had a famous dad who was also a fan of Tony’s music. Who was he? Beastie Boy Mike D.

Wrote about 'Moving the Centre' by Introspekt

Wrote about 'Romantic 2001' by DJ Deller, the 69th-best electronic track of the 2000s

Wrote about 'Wookie' by Wookie, the 71st-best electronic album of the 2000s

After embedding himself in nightclub culture over the past 12 years, the man once crowned the Prince of Techno has made a rock album featuring The Kills’ Alison Mosshart, an Oasis bassist, and a certain pseudonymous singer with an instantly recognisable voice. Ahead of his sixth studio album ‘Tremor’, he opens up about making the natural transition from DJ to rock star.

Another hit from France's best hope for a modern day dubstep great.

Forty years ago, the series' original game was released by Nintendo. As well as trying to complete it, fans were desperate to access a secret world that became legendary.