{"title":"Strange Flesh","description":"\u003cp\u003eStrange Flesh is a skewed pop outfit based in Brooklyn, comprised of transatlantic couple Varrick and Ed Zed. Strung out on an unhealthy diet of hyperpop, angular punk, dub and various forms of bass music, Strange Flesh craft fractured pop music out of drums, grubby synths, animal calls and the myriad horrors of human life.Whether singing of social alienation, moral panic or our friend the urban rat, a dark but wry humor is never far from the surface of Strange Flesh’s oeuvre - all fuel for their technicolor assault on the dance floor.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"single-no-return","title":"Single \/ No Return","description":"\u003cp\u003eTransatlantic pop dislocators Strange Flesh return with a glitteringly glacial new EP, 'Single \/ No Return', on House of Zed. Inspired by the arid allure of deserts both hot and cold, the title track explores the desire for flight—from both the exterior world and from oneself—as well as the simultaneous lure and fear of self-exile.  The music of 'Single \/ No Return' follows a similarly ethereal theme to its lyrics: a skeletal, dancehall-tinged beat and bassline underpin Varrick's hypnagogic vocals, with echo-drenched synths and found sounds woven throughout. Next comes the aloof dancefloor pulse of 'Destructive Relaxation', driven by an arpeggiated synth and Varrick's insistent exhortations to 'get up' and 'lie down'. Relaxation has never been Strange Flesh's strong suit, and here we find them wryly embracing their own neuroses. The EP's diaphanous dub textures come into full bloom at its conclusion in 'Single \/ Dub Return', with a reworked title track now peppered with additional percussion, Monotron, and vocal fragments which swim spectrally in and out of focus.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"House of Zed","offers":[{"title":"Tape.","offer_id":50407711015243,"sku":"2170577","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50407713767755,"sku":"2170578","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/No_Return_-_Single_aad13fd1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726600290"},{"product_id":"croydon-fox","title":"Croydon Fox","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrooklyn's new deities of angular pop, Strange Flesh, bring forth a fresh, stylish, and deliciously dark EP, inspired by the recent 'Croydon Cat Killer' moral panic. Written from a satirically anthropomorphic perspective of the urban fox(es) that the 'killer' turned out to be, 'Croydon Fox' explores an after dark face-off between two of the world's best-loved animals, viewed through the warped lens of a very human media frenzy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMusically, 'Fox' evokes the skulkings of a nighttime prowler - an ominous wobble bass and sinister synths are underpinned by a skittering trap-tinged beat as vocalist Varrick Zed purrs her malicious intent. A fractured kind of pop this may be, but it's still catchy as hell, so prepare for its chorus chant of 'my favorite time of day is night' to be stuck in your head for the foreseeable future.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBacked with a nebulous dub version of the title track, and a slinking, synth-driven companion piece, 'Croydon's Revenge', this threesome will ensure that your Halloween fires are kept raging right through Christmas and far, far beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"House of Zed","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50426518667595,"sku":"2002825","price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/SF_CF_CD_68f9c514_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726811850"},{"product_id":"very-3","title":"Very","description":"\u003cp\u003e'I don’t have a proper job, I'm a metamodern skank' Varrick Zed's insouciant introduction sets the tone for 'Very', a taut new assault on the dancefloor from NYC avant-pop miscreants, Strange Flesh.  Taking aim at societal standards as to how a life ‘ought’ to be lived, 'Very' is the anthem of a woman on her own deliciously precarious path: the soundtrack to beloved but ill-paying employment, discount decadence, no children, and a healthy disregard for the future.  Underpinned by a pulsating bassline and minimal electro-funk beat, the track’s wickedly catchy sonic palate is peppered with deconstructed synth hooks and subtle ambient flourishes, which, together with Varrick’s ice cool sprechgesang vocals, turn ‘Very’ into a full-blown pop leviathan.  For the as-yet-uninitiated, Strange Flesh comprises native New Yorker Varrick Zed, and London expatriate Ed Zed. The duo is based in Brooklyn, where they craft left field pop music out of whatever they find lying around their apartment and their ravaged minds.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"House of Zed","offers":[{"title":"Tape","offer_id":50482976063819,"sku":"2045811","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50482976588107,"sku":"2045812","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Very_main_artwork_a0dd73e8_thumbnail_2048_7733c363_thumbnail_4096.webp?v=1727559073"},{"product_id":"the-hardest-thing-to-burn-is-the-heart-2","title":"The Hardest Thing to Burn Is the Heart","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe heart. We all have a complex relationship with that tough, often inscrutable organ, and on their new album, Strange Flesh journey into some of the heart’s darkest, most mysterious recesses. Sonically, the album finds Varrick and Ed embracing a crepuscular minimalism, with the band's trademark found sounds and animal calls still very much present, but now more often cocooned in glacial reverbs and delays. The band's synth-pop, dub and bass music leanings are also filtered through a more lunar lens - the result a haunting work with one foot on the dance floor, the other hovering over the abyss.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title track, taken from a line in one of the band’s favorite films, is concerned with the armoring of one's heart against emotional vampirism, whilst simultaneously acknowledging the near impossibility of such a fiendish task. From here, they go on to plumb emotional quagmires of various kinds, from time paranoia ('Many Clocks'), familial alienation ('In the Harbour'), reclusive fame ('Our Dinner With Anna'), the desire for physical and emotional flight ('Single \/ No Return'), and the twin specters of anxiety and depression ('Dog Days, Dog Nights').\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey celebrate a woman's defiantly haphazard life with 'Very', skewer tabloid-driven moral panic in 'Croydon Fox', and via their latest single, ‘Chaos Hearts’, deliver a poptastic paean to their own chaotic but unbreakable bond with each other. It's unusual for Strange Flesh to record covers, but this album features two: their driving techno-punk interpretation of The Cravats' 'Burning Bridges', and a particularly disquieting version of Leon Payne's classic murder ballad, 'Psycho', sung by Varrick with ghostly detachment.\u2028\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"House of Zed","offers":[{"title":"Tape","offer_id":50940458664267,"sku":"2230748","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50940458860875,"sku":"2230749","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Strange_Flesh_-_The_Hardest_Thing_to_Burn_Is_the_Heart__13d82ab3_thumbnail_4.png?v=1733478369"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_f838909a_thumbnail_4096_1b95b585-4662-4d13-906d-e53bea0904dc.jpg?v=1726600257","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/strange-flesh.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}