As Britain cack-handedly extricates itself from 40 years of mutual entanglement with Europe, I find myself doing a ‘Brentrance’ – if that’s the opposite of Brexit – having moved (sort of) to Italy.
This being a music blog, not a travel diary I’ll spare you tales of the Northern Lakes but my slightly absurd European commute will hopefully offer a few hours in airports and planes which may improve the shamefully slapdash writing that often accompanies the wonderful sounds featured here!
This month brings SIXTY absolutely essential tunes although as I’ve been absent for a while, there are some ‘oldies’ from months ago that I’ve sneaked in purely on the grounds of utter brilliance.

As ever there’s amazing music scattered all over the multitude of streaming site so the various playlists below are missing tracks. OpenWhyd is the playlist with the least missing music but even that doesn’t include tunes available on Bandcamp, which is increasingly the place to find the best new music.

Listen to the playlists above on Soundcloud, or with a few more tracks on the OpenWhyd and finally subscribe to the ear enlightening monthly playlist on Spotify (Open in the app or your browser).

Here are a few highlights from the list with a leaning to those that couldn’t be featured in the playlists..

MIK ARTISTIK’S EGO TRIP

Sometimes he sing in American, sometime he sing in Cockney,
even though his dad was from Donny
‘. David Bowie was a funny man – Mik Artistik

Unlike famed Radio 2 disk jockey Ed Miliband I’d not seen Napalm Death “from fucking Birmingham” prior to Glastonbury so having got the tent up, Thursday night seemed like as good a night as any to be shouted at. And good fun it was too but after half an hour or 45 songs as it’s known in Napalm time I ambled off to nowhere in particular. My attention was however immediately drawn to the next tent along – The Rocket Lounge – by a strange noise… the sound of unbridled joy!?
There every man and women of a packed crowd seemed to be grinning from ear to ear, singing along to Leeds’ very own Mik ArtistiK and his Ego Trip. Frontman Mic regaled with tales of Dad Muscles, leaves travelling to London and back and the biggest sing-along of all – led by the bands travelling army gaggle – “foxes at the front, leaves in the middle”. As Mik himself pointed out, this makes no sense – certainly if you weren’t there.

Mik Artistik chats to The Guardian’s Harriet Gibsone
Part comedy, part punk funk, but as a live show, pure brilliance. It’s rare to see a band play the audience, although the same can’t be said the next morning, when having ordered a hearty breakfast I sat down to find Mik and co setting up to perform for the hospitality breakfast area! A much tougher crowd, although Mik answering a call from a Guardian journalist in the middle of the set did raise a titter or two from the mostly disinterested liggers suspiciously prodding their sausage around the plate.
They’ve played every Glastonbury every stage that’ll have them for a decade now and every year new converts, like me, are freshly charmed. I can’t think of any higher praise than the fact I spent a good 15 minutes at the end of their set debating whether to buy a £35 pound Mik Artistik teapot.

Website / Twitter

THE GREAT SADNESS

Do you miss the days when The White Stripes were in their howling garage blues pomp? Don’t be Sad, try The Great Sadness.
It’s been a year since Cathy and Steven otherwise known as The Great Sadness graced this here blog so another mention is well overdue – and not just because they made my day by sending me a t-shirt – all be it one featuring the slitting of wrists!
Their debut album is freshly released featuring ten gloriously ferocious bursts of Cathy’s howl and Stephens brutal drumming. Encapsulating their music perfectly, their new video features two ghoulish skeletons freewheeling through a graveyard on Choppers – honestly, it’s perversely life affirming stuff.

Facebook / Bandcamp

MC ALMOND MILK – Wet Wednesday, Pt. 2 (feat. Jonnie Common)

We can please the crowd like Jesus… yet even more people believe in us
This one came out in March… yes I know stop it with the brand spanking new music already! But hang on it’s MC Almond Milk who has featured recently with the future hip-hop classic ‘Studz up’ and his brother Jonnie Common, who occasionally manages to swerve a top 10 spot in the MLD Top tracks of the year by not releasing anything.
‘Wet Wednesday’ is taken from the third compilation of acts huddled under the umbrella of Glasgow based music collective, Save As.

LAPS – Who Me?

ANY WAYS (aka Tom Marshallsay, one half of General Ludd) delivers a whirling, climactic club mix of Who me? by LAPS, preserving the vocals but deepening the low end and tightening the groove for a later-night audience, adding spurts of reeling, almost menacing reverb.

The LAPS original, taken from the ‘Who Me?’ EP on MIC, is their fierce homage to Ru Paul, darting between French and English female power chat and crashing, echoing dub.

XYLITOL – (I don’t wanna be) PUNISHED

“Xylitol is a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener, it looks and tastes like sugar and helps prevent tooth decay. It is often fatal to dogs (it’s more dangerous to them than a bar of your favourite chocolate!).

Xylitol is also the name of a female fronted hardcore punk band from Olympia, Washington. The 4 members are Laura, Jake, Winter and Colter. Exposure to them can give you an energy rush but also leave you with a severe ringing in your ears. You have been warned.”

STRAHINJA ARBUTINA – Burn The Gym

LOW INCOME SQUAD HEAD HONCHO STRAHINJA ARBUTINA, BRINGS US A VARIED ALBUM OV INDUSTRIAL TECHNO AND FVCKED ACID. FVCK THE GYM BURN IT LIKE CHURCH IN 90.

LARRY B – Over N Over

In 2015 he gave us 8 songs, now Larry B is back with 5 sad ones…
“5 Sad Songs from the room in Elephant & Castle.
Sad, but also not so sad. More self help-y if anything.
Helpful to me, hopefully helpful for you too.
Grown nursery rhymes almost!”

ThE DiAboLIcaL LibERTieS – eaST Of tHe DUb cANaL (FEat. gENerAl RUBbIsH & nYaSHa)

Over train’s going north
Over ash and maple and
Spruce and oak
Over flesh coloured Lycra
And killing a joke