The original concept for COUNCIL ESTATE ELECTRONICS was for Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, Final, JK Flesh, Techno Aniamal, Pale Sketcher) and Diarmuid Dalton, via analog synths and electronics, to pay tribute to the synthesizer music they were influenced by in their youth : Tangerine Dream, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Cluster, etc. Set to the imagery and geography of the council estate in Birmingham in which they were both raised; Shard End and the surrounding areas. Once the duo set to work on the music they found other influences seeping in – seventies dub like King Tubby, Scientist, etc and early dub techno founders Basic Channel, Maurizio, Chain Reaction label, etc, thus expanding the sound palette and the geographical environment that was to be the theme for the project.
The Arktika, launched in St Petersburg, is the first of a new class of ships known as Type LK-60YA, ordered by Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom (eventually there will be three vessels). Its task will be to smash a path through the ice of the Northern Sea Route. Raw power counts for a lot in icebreaking, and by bringing 80,000 hp (60 megawatts) to bear, Arktika will be able to break through floating ice almost ten feet thick. The icebreaker will lead convoys along a route that otherwise would be impassable.
Justin K Broadrick: Electronics Diarmuid Dalton: Electronics
Produced by Justin K Broadrick Recorded at Avalanche and Djouce Justin K Broadrick is published by Mute Song Ltd.
Sleeve by Rutger Zuydervelt A Glacial Movements Records Release, October 2016. All rights reserved.
Release Dates Bandcamp Digital : 14th November 2025 Vinyl / Stream / Digital : 21st November 2025 There will be two editions of the vinyl… A ‘DINKED’ ltd edition on coloured vinyl with a free additional 12″ ft the extra digital tracks 13-16. And the standard edition which will ft tracks 1-12 on black double LP.
Press release : When Chuck D proclaimed “Bass, how low can you go?” on Public Enemy’s anthemic ‘Bring the Noise,’ maybe he was pre-empting or inciting the 10,000 fathoms-deep, spine-bending basslines and sub-quake tremors of ‘Implosion.’
Implosion is a crushing split album, appropriately released on The Bug’s own PRESSURE label. Mapping out a new form of spectral dub, the sound is deliberately immersive, introverted, and yes, definitely implosive. In pursuit of heavy lids, blurred vision, and merciless bass bin punishment, it’s one part meditation, two parts low-end theory, and essentially a confession of devoted sound system addiction.
As expected from a tag team featuring British soundlab explorer and ‘London Zoo’ composer Kevin Martin, aka The Bug, and Michael Fiedler, aka Jah Schulz—a long-time graduate of Germany’s new school of sound system reggae culture—the duo approaches their target differently yet share the goal of keeping their sound “raw” (Fiedler) and “brutally minimal” (Martin). This proves that opposites can attract, even if their tools are different and their methods sometimes diverge.
From such a disparate combo, hailing from different geographical and aesthetic backgrounds, contrasts are certainly on display, even within each artist’s own contributions. From the melancholia and transcendence of ‘Alien Virus (West Indian Centre, Leeds),’ to the duality of ascension and descension on ‘Hope,’ or the Sunn 0))) in dub, visceral drone of ‘Dread (The End, London),’ to the tripped-out repetitions of ‘Midnight,’ which reinvents Chain Reaction for post-millennials, the result is both sacred and narcotic. Each track illuminates the emotional impact and atmospheric pressure being explored across this deceptively sparse album—a mastery of tone and texture.
This collection might be as reduced, minimal, and deep as The Bug has ever gone, perhaps echoing the solemnity of his recent Kevin Richard Martin Black release and invoking the futurist steppas self-pioneered on his previous Pressure album. Alternatively, Fiedler‘s Ghost Dubs project ventures into his most heavyweight direction yet, which is no mean feat considering his previous, the critically acclaimed album Damaged, was a monstrously massive triumph of analogue weight and enviable sound design.
Implosion is ice-cool, a stark contrast to the warmth and sociability of traditional Jamaican roots and the current trends in digi-dub. Instead, the mood is soaked in tension and intense dread, finding an unexpected melting point where classic dub’s stark rhythm attack, isolationist ambience’s eerie drift, dub techno’s floatation strategies, and even the relentless riffs of doom metal collide. As the bass-obsessed pair drop what is arguably the heaviest ambient dub album to emerge from any electronic sector—a moody counterpoint to The Orb’s fluffy clouds, etc, Martin has cited The Roots Radics, Black Jade, and On U Sound’s Pounding System as heavily influencing his approach to the album, while Fiedler has expressed his admiration for Adrian Sherwood’s productions and Rhythm & Sound’s enchanting soundscape. Yet, the super heavyweight pulsations, emotive resonances, and bone-rattling vibrations detonated here effortlessly go far beyond these influences.
Shadowy and elusive, there’s a mysteriousness at this record’s core. A haunting moodiness oscillating between nostalgia and future shock. Despite the deadly fixation with SLOW and HEAVY, the album maintains a totally hypnotic swing throughout. Implosion and its lead single ‘Imploded Versions’ are testaments to being enveloped in bass, seduced by bass, submerged in bass, and utterly crushed by bass, as The Bug and Ghost Dubs seek to craft a new form of dub for zonal headz and Babylon seekers.
Mastered by Stefan Betke (a.k.a. POLE) at Scape Mastering studio, this record is heavy as f-ck without resorting to continuous distortion. It’s low-end worship taken to an absolute extreme, yet remains highly listenable and definitely danceable, albeit at the slowest of paces. Sacred and narcotic, this is low-end worship amplified to the max. Dive in if you dare.
As The Bug, Kevin Martin’s music is built from an overwhelmingly explosive sub-bass pressure, with relentless in-the-red beat production that amplifies mutant industrial sound design, fuzzed, expectant crackle, and bleak greyscale harmonics. Over decades of diverse and storied projects and releases, Martin has earned a reputation as a subverter of expectations. In 2008 – after his gritty, tumultuous album London Zoo, where he and his long-term collaborator Flowdan delivered the instant classic ‘Skeng’ – he unexpectedly formed the new trio King Midas Sound, whose mix of spoken word poetry and Japanese-language vocals (performed by British-Trinidadian dub poet Roger Robinson and WaqWaq Kingdom’s Kiki Hitomi, respectively) created a storytelling approach new to his work. Further collaborations followed as his range and output grew. He worked with long-established experimental composer Fennesz, post-metal pioneers Earth, and even the rarefied, mournful drone-folk of solo artist Grouper, each bringing new dimensions to his sound. In 2019, after the trauma of his son’s problematic birth, he abandoned all aliases and released Sirens, a deeply emotional exploration of dread and paternal love set in the most isolated ambient territory, winning rave reviews.
Michael Fiedler gained international recognition in 2024 with the Ghost Dubs album Damaged, released on The Bug’s own PRESSURE label. The Stuttgart-based artist crafted a wholly original fusion of low-end pressure, live dub techniques, and industrial sound aesthetics which, although inspired by traditional dub/roots, dub techno, and even shoegaze or drone, captured many listeners’ attention with Fiedler’s futuristic sound design and mesmerising, slo-mo dubbed gyrations. Previously known and established under his alias JAH SCHULZ, he is a graduate of Germany’s vibrant dub/reggae sound system scene. It was through that scene that he first released international records, performed at festivals, and developed legendary live dub shows where he began rearranging tracks in real time. Under the name JAH SCHULZ, he founded and co-owned Infinite Density Records and released music on various other labels, including Echo Beach, Green King Cuts, and Basscomesaveme. He also gained support from major international sound systems such as Iration Steppas, King Shiloh, Jah Shaka, and Blackboard Jungle, who regularly feature Jah Schulz tracks in their sets.
Ken Li 2025
released November 21, 2025
Music / Production : The Bug tracks : The Bug (Kevin Richard Martin) Ghost Dubs tracks : Ghost Dubs (Michael Fiedler)
Mastered : Stefan Betke (Scape Mastering)
Artwork : Simon Fowler Gatefold inner photography : Eric Audoubert
A deep reworking of Llyn Y Cwn’s “Megaliths” (2024). The original was a profound dark ambient exploration of the sacred resonance embedded within stone circles; “Megaliths In Dub” is the echo beneath the surface, the unheard rhythm that has always been there.
The megaliths stand – timeless, unyielding. Their histories stretch beyond recorded memory, their presence imbued with silent narratives of the land. “Megaliths” sought to channel this ancient energy into pure sound. Yet no history exists without its counterpart – no creation without its shadow.
On “Megaliths In Dub”, suppressed tempos emerge, pulsing with the primal force of forgotten rites. Guitar invocations from the live rituals weave through the fabric of the album, distorting and reshaping the familiar, exquisite dark ambient Llyn Y Cwn has become renowned for.
It is a sonic metamorphosis – a spectral reflection of the megalithic presence.
The stones have been disturbed.
Presented in a 6-panel digipak with breathtaking photography by the artist.
Music & Photography: Benjamin Ian Powell Mastering: Martin Bowes Layout Remix: Abby Helasdottir
…………………………………………..
LLYN Y CWN “Megaliths” (2024).
Megaliths (2024) was a sonic pilgrimage through burial chambers and stone circles, crafted from years of field recordings and convolution reverbs. Guided by Julian Cope and Aubrey Burl, Llyn Y Cwn channelled the ancient silence into immersive dark ambient soundscapes.
coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/megaliths-csr334cd
ALBUM LAUNCH + CONCERT:
LLYN Y CWN play Unitarian Church, 3pm Saturday 11th Oct at Harmonicon Festival, Tordmorden – with The Transcendence Orchestra (Surgeon and Dan Bean), Bridget Hayden, David Keenan…
LLYN Y CWN conveys atmosphere and environment through deep ambient sounds. A phantasm of echoes reflecting the bleak majesty and poetic melancholy of the hinterland of North Wales. A hole within a void, a place defined by absence in a world of negative space.
Ben Powell has been making electronic music for over 25 years, drawing inspiration from his native North Wales landscape and his participation on Arctic research cruises. While most artists can only imagine what these desolate land and seascapes feel and sound like, Llyn Y Cwn is an authentic reflection of these incredible locations.
The leading black light of OUTDUSTRIAL music, Forgotten Sunrise, have put together a comprehensive remix album of their LP elu. With 21 versions from their closest allies, the album’s timeless tracks are given multiple re-envisionings, yielding many new moments of musical delight across the board. Estonia’s most legendary unquantifiable band have added another piece to their still flourishing discography, striking further into the realms of the unknown.
Purchase also includes code to original full length album!
What Phil created in his time on earth makes our world a better place. He was the kind of person everyone needs to know or at least know about. He was full of unexpected surprises. He held the land speed record for the demolition of food and on tour would go to sleep fully clothed, often with his shoes on.
Phil was everything: a rogue, a maverick, an explorer. He suffered his demons but did so with courage and an unflinching painful honesty. Phil was easy to talk with. He was always engaging, interesting, and interested. He had a mane of dark, dark hair and a smile to melt hearts. His eyes told his entire life story, if one dared to gaze long enough.
Phil loved wholly, without caution, and with the deepest sincerity. His unquenchable curiosity doubled as an altruistic way of disarmament and evoked harmony when met with a different perspective. Phil was relentlessly gentle and understanding even when it was undeserved.
Phil was a veteran psychonaut whose deep inner journeys, life experiences, and struggles imparted him with a degree of insight, wisdom, humility, and humor that is all too rare. His expression of these qualities in his music infused it with a melancholic understanding of the beauty, joy, frailty, tragedy, and absurdity of the human condition.
Phil was a true artist in every fiber of his being. His incredible talent and infectious energy left a lasting impression on the world, and his music will always hold the top spot in our hearts.
Phil continues to inspire us all.
– The Remixers (Worldwide)
The idea for this project came from having a few remix packs that Phil had given me ages ago for some releases I’d curated, and inspired by Dave King’s (Longwalkshortdock) yearly tribute songs that he’d been posting since Phil’s passing. I had already remixed one of Phil’s songs almost a decade earlier, and had just decided to start on another near the beginning of 2021.
In a conversation later that year with Jaime Dunkle (Love Above Will), I mentioned I was working on another remix. During that conversation, I came upon the idea of putting together a bunch of remixes from Phil’s friends/collaborators as a tribute album, which she enthusiastically encouraged me to do.
After receiving the blessings from Phil’s family to move forward and reaching out to all the potential remixers, the pool of available songs for remixing was soon expanded with the invaluable assistance of Tim Hill (Rim). Not long after that, a couple more artists came on board, including Omar Hashmoder who revealed that he had the files for the last song Phil had been working on right up to the night before he left us. That song, “Dream Death,” is now finally being released, as well as a remix by Omar who also contributed some sounds to the original version.
This project was not without its share of delays and complications, one of which was Bandcamp refusing to give access to Phil’s artist page to his mother so this album could live there with the rest of his discography. Thankfully, Robert Shea’s Map Music has given it a fitting home considering that some of Phil’s earliest solo works originated from that seminal record label.
It has been a profound honor to work with all the artists and fellow lovers of Phil throughout this project. More than anything, I hope this album inspires people to continue exploring Phil’s vast catalog of music in all his solo and collaborative guises.
– Seth Branum (Bainbridge Island, WA)
My dear son: I miss you so much, but like your music, you now live in my heart and mind. Love, Mom.
– Enid Western (Vancouver, BC)
credits
released April 20, 2025
Mastering: Martin Granger (www.7d6music.com) and Jesse Creed
Cover Portrait: Simon LaPlante
Cover Design/Layout: Jaime Dunkle
Executive Producer: Seth Branum
All songs originally written by Phillip Western, except “HeWatchedMeSleepLastNight”, written by Simon LaPlante.
Copyright: The Record Company
The bonus track “Dream Death”, previously unreleased and the final track Phil worked on before his passing, is sent to album buyers on 4/20.
The majority of the proceeds go to the fund for Phil’s daughter, Mora Western
In the spirit of the intention of ‘dubs’, comes a new series, Echo Chamber Music, consisting of open ended manipulations of minimal JK FLESH 4/4 ‘techno’ tracks, loosely traversing the ‘industrial dub techno’ concept (some vague meeting point between early industrial music e.g Throbbing Gristle, etc, and dub techno pioneers Basic Channel); gritty dub techno tracks reduced and inverted, indulging in the endless possibilities of the application of the processes of dub through dirt…
The series was intended to begin in 2021 with this first volume, but due to clashes with other project releases around the period, the series was put on hold until now – Nov 2024….
released November 5, 2024
Justin K Broadrick – Electronics @ Avalanche studio, UK. 2021
Ghost Dubs, real name Michael Fiedler, aka Jah Schulz, announces a rebirth with ‘Damaged’, his first album for The Bug’s PRESSURE label..
Having recently dropped two criminally overlooked, experimental dub LPs, with his ‘Dub Over Science’ series, the German producer/bass specialist, now stretches his own parameters of outwardness still further, with these twelve fresh explorations of dub deviance.
For those who feel the fusion of dub techno and ambient drone had creatively ended with the demise of the short lived, Berlin based Chain Reaction label. Ghost Dubs now upgrades, and extends that legendary blueprint’s abstract methodology even further and deeper, floating away upon a wonderfully warm sea of hiss and static bliss. This is dub so atomized that it disintegrates within your eardrums. Its music, where the machines take over and virtually all traces of humanity are erased. But thankfully, the warmest soul still oozes seductively from the pores of Fiedler’s robo riddims. Relentlessly hypnotic, seriously sedated, ‘Damaged’ celebrates the point of departure within it’s mesmerising low end grooves.
Album opener ‘Chemical’, provides an opiated slo-mo skank, which sounds like Plastikman’s ‘Consumed’ era pulsations drenched heavily in sub aquatic fx. A triumph of surface noise surfing and sub woofer testing relentlessness, it provides the perfect intro to this compellingly immersive album. For batty shakers and headtrippers alike, there’s added thrills aplenty, as Ghost Dub’s richter scale tremor rhythms remain impressively massive, and the atmospheric depths of ‘Damaged’ appear tantalisingly(sic) oceanic.
Throughout the duration of the dreamy selection, there is an obsessive balance of bewitching ambience and heavyweight bassbin shaking. The lead single ‘Thin Line’ itself provides a missing link between African Headcharge’s early percussive body probes and Rhythm & Sound’s addictive radiance, with the slightest hint of Burial’s doomed romantic hauntology added for good taste. Alternately, and no less gracefully, ‘Dub Lobotomy’ bizarrely resembles Miles Davis ‘Get Up with it’ chopped, screwed, and relocated to a futuristic Kingston Town. Impressive indeed, Fiedler’s mastery of live dubbing on his mixing desk shines accross(sic) the duration, and gives the album an improvised edge, and sense of peripheral chaos. Elsewhere, spooked steppars(‘Hot Wired’), haunting house (‘True to life’) and 4th World psychogeography(‘Undone’), combine to ensure there is a forever changing mixture of flavours percolating within the admirable consistancy(sic) of the overall sound.
With a tip of the cap, and nod of the head to Pole(‘Second Thoughts’), its no surprise then that PRESSURE would then turn to the great, Berlin based producer Stefan Betke, to master/cut this collection at his infamous Scape mastering room. And a fine job he did too, as high quality sound and levels are definitely maintained throughout.
If you like your melodies submerged, your dub narcotic, your basslines obese, and your beats evaporating, ‘Damaged’ provides the perfect prescription and entry point into Ghost Dub’s spectral soundworld.
Music For The Rest Of Us 