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Following on from our Best Bandcamp Releases Of The Month, we’re thrilled to announced a second new column, this time digesting the best contemporary cassette-only releases. The cassette circuit is a wellspring of inventive and surprising music – and more often than not, the best releases get minimal-to-zero coverage. In the first instalment of a new monthly column, Brad Rose – boss of nonpareil cassette and vinyl label Digitalis Recordings - picks out the cream of under-the-radar tape releases from the last month or so. 

The number of tapes being released on large and small labels alike these days is ridiculous, and trying to wade through all of it is an impossible task.

Worse is how many of these cassettes are nice enough but generally unremarkable.  As always, though, there are a handful that stand out from the pack, yet too often go unnoticed.

This month we dig into subterranean electronics from Black Hat, the industrial grime of Lavas Magmas, Beaunoise getting his remix action on, echo-heavy Pod Blotz, New Age stealth from Discoverer, and a weird as hell tape called Shampoing and Toner.

Use your keyboard

Beyond, his debut album for Hyperdub" src="http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/walton-hyperdub-album-5.22.20131.jpg" alt="Mancunian producer Walton announces Beyond, his debut album for Hyperdub" width="685" height="384" />

Manchester producer Sam Walton today announces his debut album for Hyperdub, Beyond. 

A contribution to Keysound’s All-Stars series aside, Walton has only ever released on Hyperdub, dropping a pair of EPs (Walton, 2011; All Night, 2012) and more recently announcing a vinyl only release for the label titled ‘Baby’. On Beyond, his productions really sparkle technically – there’s an impressive physicality to the whole album, with a woody texture to the drums creating cohesion – as he tackles 4×4 house, ghostly garage and, at times, grime. In Walton’s words, “I just wanted there to be a contrast between bright and dark, I didn’t want to stick to a specific genre either. Just a vibe.”

Beyond marks Hyperdub’s second full-length of 2013 following the instrumental version of LV’s Sebenza, with the announcement of a new Ikonika album set to follow.

Last May, Donna Summer, the queen of disco, sadly died. 

Best known for her Giorgio Moroder-produced hits ‘I Feel Love’ and ‘Love to Love You’, the news of her death prompted this tribute piece by Todd Honeycut, a YouTube user who makes recreations of hits using just his voice; in his words, “all of the sounds are human – sound produced by me only, without pitch correction or auto-tune.” Although in his cover of ‘I Feel Love’ he breaks his own rules slightly, using pitch-shifting for one of the drum sounds and a bass note that “no human could hit”, it’s still damn impressive, and was brought to our attention this week by Moroder himself, on Facebook.

Check out the cover above, and stream Moroder’s first ever DJ set, from New York this week, here. New to Moroder’s work? Check out our beginner’s guide to him here.

Jacques Greene and How To Dress Well join forces to prove there’s still life left in the future garage revival with new track ‘On Your Side’.

The Montreal producer will release a new EP next month and the titular track features falsetto vocals from Tom Krell. The pairings love for house music and R&B respectively is the song’s foundation with sampled ‘yeahs’ running throughout alongside an ever rising bass drum loop.

On Your Side EP is out 3 June digitally and 1 July on 12″ via LuckyMe.

Dip into the second effort from Will ‘Baths’ Wiesenfeld. 

2010′s Cerulean was a tasty stew of ambient, alt.rap and The Postal Service-indebted indietronica; whilst hardly the most bruising release of the year, it won Wiesenfeld a squad of loyal fans, and rightly so. Follow-up Obsidian arrives after some low-key dabblings under the Geotic alias, and sees the producer’s picaresque music swerve off into darker territory. Head here to stream the new LP, courtesy of Pitchfork Advance. Interested parties should make their way towards our recent chat with Wiesenfeld, a catch-up covering everything from serious illness to Daedelus.

Obsidian is out this month on Anticon.

We’re glad to hear Jacques Greene back in our ears, and having How To Dress Well tag along with him is an added bonus. On new tune On Your Side, Greene brings the production, slow, swung drums and astral keys, and HTDW brings the sumptuous vocals:

Programming sage Keith Fullerton Whitman has released a new studio LP of surprisingly danceable fare.

Fullerton Whitman’s had a fascinating musical journey to date. He worked across a vast array of aliases in the 1990s, playing guitar in outfits with fruity names like The Liver Sadness and Sheket/Trabant, and earned particular notoriety for his frenzied breakcore under the Hrvatski moniker. The 2000s saw him turn out releases on Kranky, Editions Mego and Carpark, with the results tilting from ambient drift through to fiercely complex algorithm-based compositions. The latter have become a particular interest in recent years, as embodied on last year’s exceptional Generators LP. His last record was Live Occlusions, released on Protracted Audio in January.

Printing press and art label Shelter Press have now issued the Split 12″, featuring contributions from Fullerton Whitman and Belgian artist Floris Vanhoof. Fullerton Whitman handles Side A, offering the four-track ‘Jardin Electronique’ suite. In contrast to the frantic bleeps and chirrups which characterise his recent work, Fullerton Whitman’s side sees him on pretty, tuneful form. Side B will feature a Vanhoof drone piece, created exclusively on analogue synthesiser. Shelter Press promises the sound of “two modular experimentalists stretching the world map”, which is more than alright by us.

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VIRALS returns from a mini US tour to release a new free download ahead of performances at a number of Field Day events this weekend.

‘Wax-Work’ is the final teaser before Hencher begins work on a full length album and has the kind of inescapable kinetic energy that has become VIRALS’ signature  over the past year or so. It’s a power-pop blowout with a motoring riff that shoots straight for the sun.

Hencher and band will play live on Friday (24 May) at the first of three FREE Field Day parties we’re hosting at the Shacklewell Arms this weekend, as well as at Field Day itself on Saturday (25 May).

RSVP to our Field Day Parties here.

Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie’s iconic Spiders From Mars combo, has died aged 62 following a battle with cancer.

The Yorkshireman came up playing alongside Mick Ronson in R&B combo The Rats in the late 1970s, and became part of Bowie’s regular backing band in 1971, contributing to Hunky Dory (1971) The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973) and Pin Ups (1973). Bolder went on to join proto-metallers Uriah Heep in 1976, playing with the band up until early 2013. His musical CV also includes stints with Wishbone Ash and Cybernauts

Uriah Heep have issued a heartfelt statement following Bolder’s death:

It is with great sadness that Uriah Heep announce the passing of our friend the amazing Trevor Bolder, who has passed away after his long fight with cancer. Trevor was an all-time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, and one of the finest and most influential bass players that Britain ever produced. His long time membership of Uriah Heep brought the band’s music, and Trevor’s virtuosity and enthusiasm, to hundreds of thousands of fans across the world.

He joined the band in 1976 and, barring one short break, was a fixture until his ill health forced him to take a step back early this year. Prior to joining Heep he was a founder and ever-present member of David Bowie’s ...