Grain: Heavy Metal Kids, Engravings, Seasons

I started listening to metal late and am still learning, but I find it uplifting to hear about different ways the genre empowers people who might normally be sidelined. In response to a wave of self harm in Native American young people in Montana, teachers created a course looped around a local heavy music festival to bring together kids who are isolated and potentially at risk, letting them access a world of loud healing and joyful catharsis. via HCN

I’m so happy to tell you I got the masters back for my album Engravings which allows me to finally keep it in print. To celebrate, it’s been remastered by the legendary Rashad Becker and pressed up to limited double vinyl and CD, the first time physicals have been available in forever, including unheard bonus tracks.

Substack subscribers get a private head start on release via my webstore. (US/ROW buyers might find better shipping/duty paid rates at partner stores, live from this weekend).

Holly Haworth’s beautiful piece about the seasons, and about how going outside every day and looking and noticing them can in itself feel somehow radical, I found really powerful. At a time when climate shifts mean seasons and life itself can feel blurred across the year, just observing these micro-differences (colours, textures, ecology) can sharpen your attention and deepen your experience day-to-day. via Emergence

I’ve been enjoying Perception by the Philadelphia band Catalyst, a recently reissued lost cratedigger classic of avant garde jazz that’s not been on vinyl for 50 years. via Bandcamp

The early-mid 00s scene that Black Eyes were part of was so eye opening and influential to me and this band in particular managed to synthesise all the stuff I loved about post-punk/dub/leftfield music in a really hypnotic, forward thinking package. New album Hostile Design continues that journey years later. via Bandcamp

I’ve had Trio by German drummer Simon Popp on a lot this past week - a collaboration record that uses almost exclusively drums, wood blocks, singing bowls, tuned gongs and all sorts of other bits to take you through the cosmic possibilities of percussion. via Bandcamp

The latest album from the legendary Clark has been playing in my studio a lot - a really elegant and fun mixture of rave, jungle and dissonant contemporary classical. via Bandcamp.