Not The Same

More new stuff- new stuff is a good thing. My internet friend Henry has sent me a new song from his group. Zula are part of a thriving DIY scene in New York and this is my favourite from them to date. Busy, melodic, expansive and effortless. The guitars shimmer over layers of keys and vocals, which build and fall and build again.

Water Pressure

I have an internet friend in New York called Henry Terepka who is in a band called Zula. They are releasing an ep this month (March. It's March already). Water Pressure is inspired by the internet sending all its stuff through undersea cables, mangling their analogue instruments with the digital world. Compressed vocals and skittering beats. Underwater, digital, psychedelia. Interesting and rather good.

Zula Dawn

The new single from New York's Zula, called And More Business, is worth a few minutes of your time if you like a bit of psychedelic. The band take some cues from the edgier end of Manchester circa 1990 and the widescreen productions of dance records from the same time, Weatherall remixes that kind of thing- dancey, left field, groovy pop. The band have had some decent press recently with a review at Spin (where you can also stream the new album) and a mention in the New York Times following live shows at the CMJ. There's some real thought and time spent on the sonic aspects of their songs- breakbeats, delay pedals, general sense of space- and the wispy vocals cut across them nicely. The band would like to add that they are inspired by 'repetition and the transporting and revelatory experience of psychedelic, hypnotic space' and I can't put it any better myself.



There now follow a load of links- The Twin Loss e.p. is at Bandcamp. The forthcoming album This Hopeful can be pre-ordered on vinyl at Inflated Records. Their website is also worth popping in on if you want a further look at what Zula have been doing.

Bad Insect

Earlier this year a reader, Henry from Manhattan (but now Henry from Brooklyn), got in touch and I posted a song by his band Zula. He got in touch again recently having bought a Sandals record from Discogs following it being posted here. Nice how these little ripples spread around the world isn't it.

Henry also wrote about Nigel Godrich's new band/project Ultraista (at this point insert 'most famous for his work with Radiohead'). There's been one of those remix competitions where you can download the stems and do what you like with them. I am often quite tempted by these but never get round to it. Henry's done a remix of Bad Insect by Ultraista which you can listen to and download from Soundcloud; it's nicely groovy and melodic and as one commenter puts it 'Baggy remix!'. The more listens it gets, the more chance it has of making the final list.

Manhattan To Manchester- The Wonders Of The Internet

Isn't the internet wonderful?
A few days ago I got in from work to open an email from a reader- Henry from Manhattan, New York. That on its own is enough to bugger up my mind a little; someone on the other side of the world has been reading my blog. Henry wrote loads of nice things in his email, how he's been exploring loads of English/British bands and acid house from twenty years ago and how Bagging Area 'helps music become a social experience' and how the internet has limitless and instant communication. Which is what blogging is all about really. Henry also sings and plays in a band, Zula, who play psych-indie pop partly inspired by the acid house/post acid house bands and partly by krautrock. Listen to this over at Bandcamp (and download it for free) and I think you'll agree that Henry and Zula have got it nailed down very well and from what he told me their hearts are slapbang in the right place.