{"title":"Ra Ra Rok","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"everybody-in-the-uk","title":"Everybody In The UK","description":"\u003cp\u003eTeenagehood, brotherhood and a genuine love for alternative music has united The Goa Express from the off. Hailing from the industrial town of Burnley and adopted by the Manchester culture carriers, their teenage years can be viewed as something of a hedonistic pilgrimage into the underbelly of suburban rock and roll- their first gig having been 3 songs blasted out their mates garage, the next on top of a local vintage shop where the floor nearly caved in: “when there’s fuck all, you make do with what you got”. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe intensity of this friendship has resulted in the occasional bust up along the way, yet it only adds to the burning chemistry that the band offer on record and on stage. Together, brothers James Douglas Clarke (Guitar + Vocals) and Joe Clarke (Keys), along with Joey Stein (Lead Guitar), Naham Muzaffar (Bass) and Sam Launder (Drums) all contribute to a fuzzy wall of diverse sound, becoming harder to pin down with their constantly evolving, psych-umbrella’d, rock and roll. What sets The Goa Express apart from other musicians who sit comfortably within scenes is that their identity as a band has been growing organically long before the 5 of them decided to pick up instruments and teach themselves art of killing time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheir genuine joy in the everyday; their attitude and antics seem to hark back to the glory days of the NME- if they talk about a night out, you want to be there because these lads ooze charm and wreak havoc. This purist, old school approach to creating music through unified experiences and stimulated good times is married with the plain fact that they are very much young people of this generation, and while they see its flaws its hyperreality, its sheep-like tendencies, they still understand the importance in the immediacy of pop music: of a banging riff, or a glorious chorus and how effective this can truly be, and they want everyone along for the ride.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith influences ranging from Spacemen 3 and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to French existentialism, from Beat Literature to long hours working at the Bookies to the journey into the sunrise on the night bus home, it is their ability to be all these things at once which makes The Goa Express a guitar band for the 21st Century. Nothing is ever a compromise because they are so unapologetically themselves in everything they do- proud Northerners with a DIY foundation that aren’t afraid to look into the often dim future and see themselves shining brightly in it, unforgiving and unpretentious.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo far, the band have released 3 singles with great success. The first: ‘Be My Friend’, produced by Ross Orton right next Sheffield’s famous ‘City Sauna’ brothel, presents itself to us as a cheeky, snarling pop song, holding undertones of raw cynicism laden with psychedelic sunshine. Ross Orton’s studio was also right next door to where the band recorded their last single ‘The Day’ with Nathan Saoudi of Fat White Family at ‘Champ Zone.’ Both these producers have been able to give these instant pop classics a grittier feel, capturing the essence of the unfettered lifestyle the band were living at the time that they were able to capture themselves in the music video for ‘Be My Friend’.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter signing with Ra-Ra Rok, (WU-LU\/Bingo Fury) the band released anthemic summer hit ‘Second Time’, that went straight to the 6 music B-List before quickly heading up to the A-List 2 for 2 weeks. This was followed by the release of its B-Side ‘Overpass’ that almost immediately caught the eyes and ears of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, who had the band on his ‘Next Wave’ Segment. Closing the year that saw them play to thousand-strong crowds at festivals like Latitude and End of the Road, the band headlined their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s Gorilla - its fair to say that this really is only the beginning.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ra Ra Rok","offers":[{"title":"Black | 7\"","offer_id":50417162092875,"sku":"1144649","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3a793255-5106-4d48-ae29-947705077076_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726719540"},{"product_id":"south","title":"South","description":"\u003cp\u003eSouth London’s Wu-Lu releases his latest track \u003ci\u003eSouth\u003c\/i\u003e featuring Lex Amor. A track largely based on growing up in inner-city London, it’s a first-hand account of witnessing everything you know about your city being broken down, about gentrification and relationships deteriorating as you get older. “It’s a feeling that your area is losing all the things that make it what it is: the smell, the look, the taste, and most importantly, the people,” Wu-Lu remarks. “Once someone gets a whiff of money then things start to change. But big changes bring unrealistic outcomes for those who can’t afford the new way of living.” Using his voice to speak up for the silenced and the marginalised through his music means he’s able to communicate his message in a powerful and expressive way, as displayed in his latest track. Written long before the Black Lives Matter movement took momentum,\u003ci\u003e South\u003c\/i\u003e was an outlet for him to convey the thoughts and feelings that he always had, with the message only becoming clearer and more prominent with the movement gathering pace very recently. Cultivating a new sound that lies between the interplay of underground punk and alternative hip-hop, Wu- Lu is stepping out on his own terms with his voice louder than ever. “I use my platform to try and express as many sides of the voice as I can.” Growing up in a musical family, the multi-hyphenate artist has a unique ability to straddle seemingly disparate worlds of music unlike anyone else. Having spent years experimenting with lo-fi, psychedelic guitar and off-kilter hip-hop he is now pushing forward into the world of underground punk with an unparalleled confidence. His undisputed roots in the city’s scene are highlighted through affiliations with musical movement Touching Bass, and co-signs from fellow stalwarts Black Midi, Sorry and Show Me The Body to name a few. With an innate ability to deliver his unique point of view through an ever-evolving and always refreshing sound, Wu-Lu continues to show just why he should be at the forefront of the UK music scene whilst remaining refreshingly underground and relatable.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ra Ra Rok","offers":[{"title":"Black | 7\"","offer_id":50452646756683,"sku":"1114628","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/e118cb98-e730-463c-ac7f-d19025c6210b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727159583"},{"product_id":"times-being-me","title":"Times \/ Being Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eSouth London vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Wu-Lu shares his latest single \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e ft. Morgan Simpson of Black Midi on drums. Accompanied by the official video directed by Ethan and Tom, the track is out June 4th via Ra-Ra Rok Records. The follow-up track to the storming ‘\u003ci\u003eSouth\u003c\/i\u003e’ ft. Lex Amor earlier this year, Wu-Lu - AKA Miles Romans-Hopcraft - shares \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e with similar aplomb. Setting the theme of self-discovery, coming-of-age and of liberation within oneself to grow. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s of understanding that with time comes wisdom. Living life teaches us everything we can to bounce back, we are made of more than what society wants to tell us,” Wu-Lu states. The world weighs heavy on all of our shoulders in different ways. It’s important that we look out for each other in times of growth,” he adds. A hunger for change and of youthful revolution is the sentiment throughout, as he looks from an observatory lens at the shifts in areas, people and places in the city he calls home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGarnering plaudits across the media - with the protest track ‘South’ racing to the 6 Music A-List in a matter of weeks, inclusion in Mixmag’s best tracks of 2021 so far, support from Crack Magazine and Resident Advisor - the pivot to punk and left-field hip hop with a political voice has been truly transformative. With an innate ability to deliver his unique point of view through an ever-evolving and always innovative sound, Wu-Lu continues to show just why he should be at the forefront of the UK music scene whilst remaining refreshingly underground and relatable. Drawing parallels between the clear racial element to gentrification and the movement that swept the globe last year, he tackles the big issues with ease. His music is for the underrepresented, for those without a voice, and for those who struggle to break down the barriers. 2021 is the year Wu-Lu rises. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ra Ra Rok","offers":[{"title":"Black | 7\"","offer_id":50453359657291,"sku":"1121338","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f660d345-f8b2-4214-a768-8ddaf42ca54d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727171085"},{"product_id":"big-rain","title":"Big Rain","description":"\u003cp\u003eBingo Fury music is a masterwork in atmosphere. Littered with monochrome characters in hazy settings, Bingo Fury conjures a glitzy - altogether seedy - Broadway sheen with introductory single \u003ci\u003eBig Rain\u003c\/i\u003e released via Ra-Ra Rok Records. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe closing-time cabaret of \u003ci\u003eBig Rain\u003c\/i\u003e starts as a sombre, noir piano ballad, telling an indistinct tale of alienation on a Bristol street in his hometown. But the haze soon lifts, giving way to a ramshackle swing as Bingo surrenders to a cocky self-assuredness - ‘I can be anything … Words as stark as they ought to be \/ You think you do \/ You don’t pray for me.’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe track was produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning) at J\u0026amp;J Studios in Bingo’s home city of Bristol. Much of the Bingo Fury project was conceived on early-hour walks around Bristol during the first lockdown. Suddenly bereft of its dynamic culture, Bingo saw a blank canvas where he could play out his internal monologues. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough very much a solo songwriter, Bingo’s compositional process relies on contributions from his entire band - bassist Megan Jenkins, and drummer Henry Terrett have been playing together since their teens. In one of their various incarnations, they recruited local avant-jazz legend, cornet player Harry ‘Iceman’ Furniss, with guitarist and percussionist Rafi Cohen later completing the line-up.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInfluenced by classic songwriters as much as pioneers of alternative experimentation, the songs can often land like a jazz standard that got lost multiple times on its journey to the present day. Some pit stops are obvious: the haunting balladry of Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, and the arresting no-wave of James Chance and The Lounge Lizards.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBingo Fury’s name is pulled straight from one of his lyric sheets - a perfect representation of the on-the-nose mystique surrounding the project: what you see is what you get, but ‘what it means’ is far less certain. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ra Ra Rok","offers":[{"title":"Black | 7\"","offer_id":50456362025291,"sku":"1129789","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/8750a851-3ad4-4a6c-9ef4-2cd6dea9d67a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727197897"},{"product_id":"gumball","title":"Gumball","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn anachronism in\ncurrent times where individualism reigns supreme, Teeth Machine are a rare band knitted together through close camaraderie: a\ncollective in the truest sense of the word, whose intricate, improvisational style resolutely resists being reduced to one single\ncontributor. Teeth Machine found its beginnings in the close friendship and musical collaborations of Arthur Bently (saxophonist\/lead\nguitarist) and Gray Rimmer (lead vocals\/guitar). Having played together in various other projects since the age of 17 and disaffected\nwith the music industry, the pair’s first furtive experimentations with the music that would later become Teeth Machine took place at a\ndeliberate distance from the Outside world. This early incubation period, and the music made through endless bedroom sessions and\ndemos recorded on laptops and tapes, became the spine of the project, fostering a sound that still retains both a precious intimacy and\na large, expansive sonic scope. The band’s lineup as it stands today features long term friends and collaborators Anthony Boatright\n(Bass), Jamie Staples (Drums), and Ciara Reddy (Vocals\/Synth). On their first self-assured, recorded offering to the wider world, Teeth\nMachine still bear the imprint of their origins, the band’s sound firmly grounded in the ethos of mutually weighted contribution, as well\nas the closeness cultivated in their early experiences, always retaining an air of uninhibited creativity and adolescent intimacy.\n‘Gumball’, their first release on RaRaRok (Wulu, The Goa Express) was self-produced, mixed by Dilip Harris (King Krule, Mount\nKimbie). It’s a song that conveys the tension and impossibility of communication and language, even when attempting to connect with\nthose closest to us. Despite this, and however much the track itself bristles with an unmistakable air of friction, the listener gets the\nstrong sense that there has not been a love lost, but rather one renegotiated, even expanded. Speaking about ‘Gumball’, Teeth\nMachine said: “‘Gumball’ is about the impossibility of talking. It was written during quite a chaotic period, and the lyrics came about after\nwe had a big argument in the kitchen while trying to record a demo at the time - it tracks the madness and intensity of trying to make\nsense to someone you care about, or to yourself in your head. There’s a kind of antagonistic self help mantra that resonates\nthroughout; it’s about internal and external conflict. It’s angry, but it’s also full of love too\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ra Ra Rok","offers":[{"title":"7\"","offer_id":50486243787083,"sku":"2002049","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a3193343427_16_578a2c67_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727607315"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/ra-ra-rok.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}