From Manchester, via Peterborough and Shanghai
Recommended if you like Crystal Castles, Mandy, Indiana, acid house
Up next Festival dates including East London Block Party, Brighton Psych Fest and End of the Road
Salford’s Silverwingkiller sound how this summer’s heatwave feels: delirious, dread-filled and jangling with pent-up energy. Named after the Chinese title for Blade Runner, they build pummelling industrial dance music from nervy breakbeats, the acid sounds of the Roland TB-303 synthesiser and the shared sense of creative freedom that James Baca and Yushang Ni discovered on moving to Greater Manchester, from Peterborough and Shanghai respectively.
Since forming in 2024, the duo have released a series of brutal singles on their own DIY label 1000% Triad Funded, combining themes of paranoia, conspiracy and gang violence with adrenaline-seeking electronic production. They’ve also built a reputation for seething, intense performances: Baca on live drums, beating the hell out of his hi-hats, while Ni holds court on the mic, singing with focused calm in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese.
June’s brittle single Gunman Corner is their latest addition to a provocative discography fascinated by violence: whip-cracking drums, howling synthesiser and Ni’s breathy, densely processed vocals build into a maximalist, all-lasers-firing shoot out. The B-side Shang Film offers some respite: baggier and dreamier, combining ambient with big beat, but still coalescing into an atmosphere thick with dread.
The duo recently told Crack magazine that their music is the kind “you would buy from the dark web”. In just two years, Silverwingkiller have built a unique sonic world; one that reflects our grubbiest inclinations. Katie Hawthorne
This week’s best new tracks
Leon Bridges – Tears of Joy
Judging by the four songs he’s just released from new album Happiness Anytime, the US soul man has been digging into old-school afrobeat – a Tony Allen-ish breakbeat patters behind this buoyant song. BBT
Uniiqu3 – Calling My Name (ft Leonce and Cakes da Killa)
“The dancefloor, it keeps calling my name,” Uniiqu3 hymns amid spacey, deconstructed club music – only for Cakes to answer her call (“hello?”) and twist the song towards strobe-dappled Jersey club. LS
Jake Xerxes Fussell – Rock Island Line
The Georgia folklorist merges the American traditional with words from an English nursery rhyme to typically consoling effect: his voice deep and unhurried, the tender arrangement careworn and soft. LS
Beck – In the Night
“Love is hard to know / You watch it come and go …” Back in heartbroken mode, Beck uses the palette of acoustic guitar and impassive strings that gave Sea Change’s Round the Bend such power. BBT
Sweeping Promises – Accent
The bass-driven post-punk spirit of the Slits, Ut and Au Pairs suffuses the brilliant latest single from the Kansas band, vocalist Lira Mondal coiled and prowling then letting go with high-pitched yells. BBT
Eden Samara, Tim Reaper and Comfort Zone – Oracle
There’s a lot going on here – three killer producers, the influence of jungle, gospel and opera, lyrics asking the Oracle of Delphi for guidance – but the skittish, funky prayer radiates an uncomplicated high. LS
Picture – Wooooooo
The Danish techno artist’s album Eeeeeeee was one of our faves of the year, and there’s already a follow-up, Uuuuuuuu – this closing track gallops along, trailing dusty ambient effects in its wake. [Not on Spotify: stream it at Bandcamp] BBT
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