{"title":"XAM Duo","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"xam-duo","title":"Xam Duo","description":"\u003cp\u003eDebut album from XAM Duo - aka Matthew Benn from Hookworms and Christopher Duffin from Deadwall. Six tracks of largely improvised ambient beauty, including the single \u003ci\u003eI Extend My Arms\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2LP - Double black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sonic Cathedral","offers":[{"title":"LP | x2","offer_id":50494604837195,"sku":"1001005","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50494602379595,"sku":"1001004","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2b7f4c1f-5681-4180-b3a5-42c9847272df_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727706940"},{"product_id":"xam-duo-ii","title":"XAM Duo II","description":"\u003cp\u003eXAM Duo – the Yorkshire-based pairing of Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin – follow up their acclaimed self-titled 2016 debut with a new album. They have spent the past few years collaborating with Virginia Wing and releasing the fun single ‘Tisch Tennis’, as well as playing live with everyone from Stereolab, Sonic Boom and Michael Rother to Jessy Lanza, The Necks and Anna Meredith. They are also both members of Holodrum, the band formed from the ashes of Hookworms whose debut album came out earlier this year. Despite being over five years in the making, \u003ci\u003eXAM Duo II\u003c\/i\u003e is a much more concise affair than their debut, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. The journey begins and ends with the beat-driven ‘Blue Comet’ and ‘Cold Stones’, taking in shorter ambient jams along the way, making use of saxophone, drawn out tape chords, floating Rhodes piano and spaced-out synths, alongside very precise and intentional, sequenced and punchy synth tones. With the digital approach it could feel cold and processed, but it’s the opposite – warm and natural. This is something that is reflected in the striking artwork by long-time collaborator Jonathan Wilkinson which comes from a series of prints inspired by his time hiking around the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire. One thing that has stayed the same is the influence of The Sopranos, with three of the six tracks on the album named after episodes of the classic series.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sonic Cathedral","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50502740836683,"sku":"1153179","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50502741360971,"sku":"1153180","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3324dc46-f72d-4fbc-a064-d68ac4766f58_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727792026"},{"product_id":"xam-duo-rmx","title":"XAM Duo RMX","description":"\u003cp\u003eXAM Duo – the Yorkshire-based pairing of Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin – follow-up their The A-side features a reworking of the album’s closing track, ‘Cold Stones’, by legendary electronic artist and DJ, James Holden. In one of his first remixes for a number of years, he has taken the original’s calming, comedown energy and transformed it into an epic, 11-and-a-half-minute journey, which somewhere around the five-minute mark comes right back up. “It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but as they say the sculpture is already in the stone, we just have to find it,” says Holden. “It's like the most rave thing I’ve done for ages and also not rave at all, like a blurry dream about a rave?” Whatever it is, it’s incredible, as are the two further reworkings on the B-side. The Early Years resurface after another lengthy hiatus and reframe ‘LGOC’ as a divine astral jazz \/ krautrock crossover, while Richard Pike (of PVT and Deep Learning, among others) turns ‘Blue Comet’ into a glitchy and discordant soundtrack to the best 1980s computer game you never played. “It’s lovely to hear three different interpretations of songs that we already tend to keep quite loose and elastic,“ says Matthew Benn. “These remixes feel like a natural extension of the music on the album, like they're from the same world, but perhaps in a different language.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sonic Cathedral","offers":[{"title":"Black | 10\"","offer_id":50504632533323,"sku":"1166328","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fe4a19a9-bb75-45e5-bf94-077c5e68c413_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727808020"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/xam-duo.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}