Add to playlist: The nervy beats and acid rave of Silverwingkiller and the best new tracks of the week | music

from Manchester, via Peterborough and Shanghai
Recommended if you like Crystal Castles, Mandy, Indiana, acid house
the next Festival dates include East London Block Party, Brighton Psych Fest and End of the Road

Salford’s Silverwingkiller sounds what this summer’s heatwave feels like: delirious, full of dread, rattling with pent-up energy. Named after the Chinese title of Blade Runner, they create raucous industrial dance music from the nervous beats, acidic sounds of a Roland TB-303 synthesizer, and the shared sense of creative freedom that James Baca and Yushang Ni discovered when they moved to Greater Manchester, from Peterborough and Shanghai respectively.

Since forming in 2024, the duo have released a string of brutal singles on their DIY label 1000% Triad Funded, combining themes of paranoia, conspiracy and gang violence with adrenaline-seeking electronic production. They’ve also built a reputation for passionate, intense performances: Baca on live drums, vigorously banging his hat, while Nee grabs the microphone, singing with focused calm in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese.

June’s brittle single Gunman Corner is their latest addition to a provocative, violence-fascinated discography: whip-crackling drums, wailing synthesizers and Ni’s soulful, densely processed vocals morph into extreme laser gunfire. The B-side Shang Film offers some respite: more spacious and dreamy, combining ambience with grand percussion, but still blending into an atmosphere full of dread.

The duo recently told Crack magazine that their music is the kind of music “you can buy on the dark web.” In just two years, Silverwingkiller has built a unique audio world; One that reflects our filthiest tendencies. Katie Hawthorne

The best new songs of the week

Leon Bridges – Tears of Joy
Judging by the four songs he’s just released from new album Happiness Anytime, the American soul man has been delving into ancient African rhythms – and it’s Tony Allen’s beats behind this booming song. BPT

Uniiqu3 – Calling My Name (featuring Leonce and Cakes da Killa)
“Dance floor, you keep calling my name,” Uniiqu3 chants amidst expansive, disjointed club music — only for Kicks to answer her call (“Hello?”) and steer the song toward the Jersey-speckled club. L.S

Jake Xerxes Fussil – Rock Island Line
The Georgia folklorist fuses American traditions with words from an English nursery rhyme to comforting effect: his voice is deep and deliberate, the delicate arrangement weary and soft. L.S

Beck – at night
“It’s hard to know love / You watch it come and go…” Returning to the somber mode, Beck uses the acoustic guitar palette and muted strings that gave Sea Change’s Round the Bend such power. BPT

Sweeping promises – tone
The bass-driven post-punk soul of the Slits, Ut and Au Pairs is infused with the Kansas band’s latest smash hit, and singer Lira Mondal coils, wanders, and then lets go with high-pitched screams. BPT

Eden Samara, Tim Reber, and Comfort Zone – Oracle
There’s a lot going on here — three killer producers, jungle influence, gospel and opera, lyrics asking the Oracle of Delphi for guidance — but the moody, funky Prayer radiates an uncomplicated euphoria. L.S

Picture – wow
Danish techno artist Eeeeeeeee’s album was one of our favorite albums of the year, and there’s already a follow-up to it, Uuuuuuuuu – this closing track gallops along, leaving dusty ambient influences in its wake. [Not on Spotify: stream it at Bandcamp] BPT

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