Positive future punks Never Not Nothing have released their new single ‘Ritual Destruction’, accompanied by a video that sees the band perform completely-live in front of glaring visuals created and edited entirely themselves. We spoke to Space & Vibes about the tracks that influence them.
“This is a collection of tracks that at some point I’ve been addicted to soaking in for one abstract reason or another. A lyric, a blown out drum sound, a statement of brazen honesty, a mood, or just extreme noise. It’s all over the place genre wise. But I will not be policed by nuance truants and neither should you. Soak it in! Bathe in the sounds and words. Become Empathy Machines!”
Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit
I feel like watching footage of Billie Holiday sing this song should be on every school curriculum. So much sorrow. You can hear a life of struggle, oppression and abuse in every word. The brutal depiction of young innocent bodies hanging lifeless from the trees like fruit rotting on the trees destroys my faith in humanity for days every time. Absolutely essential listening but brutal.
Gesaffelstein – Pursuit
The synths in this track are so aggressive and hedonistic. Both myself and Vibes were addicted to the moment of quiet just before the kick slaps you round the face. This is true dystopian party music. There aren’t many tracks that make me want to flail with true nihilistic abandon until the end of everything. Ha ha! Good times!
Unkle – Burn My Shadow
This was produced by a dear friend at one of my favourite places on earth ‘Rancho De la Luna’. A true home from home. The drum sound and beat gives the track such a frenetic yet motoric forward motion. Ian Astbury almost croons over the top. ‘I’ll burn my shadow away’, what a great line. We all feel like that sometimes. That feeling of wanting to run away from yourself. Love to Davey, Goss, Bingo, BOC and all the Mojave Lords family.
M.I.A – Born Free
This track is great for so many reasons. Distorted and blasted out. That sample of suicide churning menacingly under some kind of Art Blakey Jazz drumming. Then M.I.A ranting over the top about existentialist freedom. Painting the brutal killings of Tamils in an absurdist video to show how senseless and brutal the killings are. What a vital piece of art. We dig M.I.A.
Do Nothing – Lebron James
I was sent a demo of this song by the bands manager asking if I’d produce the band and I was hooked straight away. The lyrics are so perfectly sardonic, wry and funny. The bass line is so addictive. I totally jumped at the chance of working with guys and is one of the few songs I still like to listen to after the obsession and overexposure that happens in the studio.
Antipop Consortium – Ping Pong
I have no idea what this track is about and I love that. It’s completely surrealistic, dark and wonky. Also so into the pingpong sample panning through the beat. Such a pleasing sound. Totally underrated pioneers in leftfield hip hop.
Battles – My Machines
This track is such a mad mashup. Pummeling drum track with the best crunchy room sound, Gary Numan’s future croon, Beatles-esque mellotron strings psyching out over math madness. I am so in love with this track. It takes me to infinite parallel realities when I listen to it. I guess there is a reason my nickname is SPACE! Ha ha.
How To Destroy Angels – How Long
What can I say… I am a sucker for some Trent. For me, it’s all about the lush vocal on the lyric ‘How long can we keep holding on’. It’s almost too perfect for the lyric which adds an odd hyper pop sensibility to the track.
Peggy Seeger – I’m Going To Be An Engineer
This is an epic, darkly funny and profound tale of the life of a woman that wanted to be an engineer and was pushed back by the bastard patriarchal system of norms crushing her. What a great subversive piece of art. Folking greet!
Charles Bradley – Changes
The way he sings this song brings so much heft and sorrow to the words. It brushes me with that sickly sweet melancholy that feels so good and is hard to pull yourself out of. All I need to do is remember that this song was written by Ozzy and it pulls me straight out. What a bizarre world. RIP Charles.
Full Of Hell – Burning Myrrh
Full of Hell are my go to when I need to exorcise demons. It helps me manifest my anger in constructive ways. I stick this on my headphones, go outside and whittle a bit of old wood whilst meditating on my rage. Good times! Ha ha! So heavy.
Rival Consoles – Vibrations on a String
I have been addicted to this record recently. I love sound machines that can evoke a soulful sound with a little help from distortion and reverb. It’s like an ear massage that makes you want to run away to some cold mountainous part of the world and read books. You can also whittle sticks whilst listening to Full of Hell here. I grew up in Norway and the middle of nowhere in the Northeast of Scotland so I am extremely fond of those landscapes and music that can conjure it in my mind for some ridiculous reason.
P.O.S – Bumper
P.O.S features on the very first song we wrote. At the time I was really diggin on his flow and the production on this record. Go and check him out and all of his different projects. He’s from Minneapolis and is involved in loads of great acts from the scene there. Marijuana Death Squad, Doomtree Collective…get involved.