Asylums - Further Listening Playlist
Asylums release one of the years best records this week, and to celebrate guitarist Jazz Miell has made us an exclusive Further Listening playlist, with great selections from Aphex Twin, Miles Davis, BadBadNotGood, Todd Rundgren, and loads more.
Asylums have been quietly building an impressive back catalogue of albums since the release of their debut Killer Brain Waves in 2016. With three full studio albums and a stand-alone single behind them, Asylums are back with their fourth album Signs Of Life - their first since the release of 2020’s Steve Albini recorded 3rd album Genetic Cabaret.
Listen here>> Asylums Further Listening
Buy Signs of Life HERE
Everett David - Them Airs
One of the best under the radar bands out there and one of my favourite discoveries of the past few years, both albums released in 2020 are well worth checking out - Union Suit XL and Doped Runner Verse the latter of which this song is taken from.
Pop the Question - Eyedress
An artist I really admire and listen to most days, each album spans multiple genres from rap to shoegaze and the quality and rate of his content has become a real inspiration point in my life creatively. This song comes from 2020’s Let’s Skip To The Wedding and has one of my favourite videos of all time to go with it.
Zopf: From The Colonies - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
This came from one of those 3am soul searching sessions, listening to anything and everything you can find. They also have an album called Signs of Life so they were more of a mistake discovery than a deliberate one! Luke and I have really come to love their music recently and in particular this album Music From The Penguin Cafe
Wicked Puppet Dance - Chat Pile
This band are one of the heaviest around at the moment, I’ve heard they have a reputation for unpredictable and chaotic live shows so Mike and I are hoping to catch them if they tour over here at some point. For fans of Deftones/Big Black/Pantera..
Dear, Snow - Larry June
Probably the most underrated rapper in the game right now with an extensive back catalogue of consistently high quality albums, often dropping 2 or 3 in a year. I heard this song in a skate part and I’ve loved his music ever since, Smoothies in 1991 is well worth checking out as well.
Witchita Lineman - Glen Campbell
One of the best written songs of all time, the instrumentation and use of strings was a real inspiration point for our new album Signs of Life, I spent alot of time listening to this song on repeat when we made the album at Rockfield in 2021. The tremolo guitar solo gets me every time… it really inspired a solo I wrote for a song on the album called Erase The Edges which quotes the vocal melody and then extends it just like this.
City of Mirrors - BadBadNotGood
Signal from the Noise dropped whilst we were away recording Signs of Life at Rockfield Studios in Wales, I can remember hearing it for the first time at about 4am on headphones lying in a field after a lengthy, intense day of recording and being absolutely blown away… this band can do no wrong in my eyes - IV was my favourite album of 2016 and Talk Memory which this song comes from was my favourite of 2021 without a doubt.
Can We Still Be Friends? - Todd Rundgren
I was late to the party with Todd Rundgren, his music was played in my house alot growing up but I never really warmed to it until recently. I’ll never forget Kingsley from Rockfield Studios telling us a great anecdote about visiting Bob Dylan’s house with Todd Rundgren in NYC in the 70’s whilst we were recording there... Luke and I both love this song… mainly because it’s used in the ending scene in Dumb and Dumber!
It Never Entered My Mind - Miles Davis Quartet
All of us are Jazzers in the band (minus Mike probably!) and we often end up listening to Miles Davis on long journeys or tours… I love the treatment Miles gives this song, it’s become my go-to song for calming nerves before a show or just in day to day life…
Aisatsana [102] - Aphex Twin
This is probably the most perfect piece of music you’ll ever hear, I read that he wrote it for his wife Anastasia which is the title backwards. I love the sounds of birds, the piano pedals opening and closing…the way it develops but never strays from the original motif…this song brought great comfort in a time of despair and continues to every time I hear it.
Buy Signs of Life HERE