ACID KLAUS
If you look at some of the most exciting, innovative & critically acclaimed electronic music that has come out of the beautiful North of England over the past years; from the psychedelic electronic rock of The Moonlandingz, to the folkloric radiophonic avantgarde Of Eccentronic Research Council ft Maxine Peake, to the party electro of International Teachers of Pop; at the forefront of all these projects (and many more) is a man in a hat and shades called Adrian Flanagan.
Adrian has spent two decades working on the fringes of alternative music as a songwriter, wordsmith, musician, producer, remixer, DJ and cultural agitator – working with artists as diverse as Maxine Peake, Yoko Ono, The Human League’s Philip Oakey, Fat White Family, Sean Lennon and many more. Adrian returns with his debut album under the Acid Klaus moniker, Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris.
‘The Acid Klaus live collective experience is not dissimilar to taking ecstasy. You will feel love, you will feel euphoria, you will feel the crashing lows of your own insatiable lust for a good time! But don’t let that put you off!!’ Says Adrian.’
SHELF LIVES
Much like this point in time, Shelf Lives’ music feels chaotic, tense, and wired. Pairing hardcore punk’s brief blasts of energy with electroclash’s minimal and sleazy sonics, they raise themes of societal collapse and hyper-consumerism with a warped smile. The result taps into headspace that’s as rotten as it is dopamine-flooded, with pent-up frustration and pop hooks tossed together in a way that makes, in their own words, “the fucked up seem fun.”
Though Shelf Lives has only been a band since 2021, they’ve already played acclaimed sets at Glastonbury, supported Skunk Anansie on a full EU/UK tour, were ‘ones to watch in 2022’ and joined fellow confrontational noise-makers Bob Vylan and HO99O9 on the cover of Gigwise.
On the face of it, Shelf Lives make catchy, energetic pop songs that bring the abrasiveness and physicality of punk back to a small, cramped house party setting. It’s music so rowdy you can practically feel the sweat on the ceiling and the sound of crushed cans under your feet.