808 STATE have released a brand new song: ‘Where Wye & Severn’.
A charitable release, 808 State are dedicating this track and its proceeds to their friend and booking agent Ben “BK” Kouijzer. Ben has set up a Go Fund Me page in his fight against a rare and aggressive form of cancer called MPNST. Read about BK’s journey HERE.
‘Where Wye & Severn’ was an unfinished track from the sessions for the band’s recent album: ‘Transmission Suite’. With a sound harking back to the band’s ‘Don Solaris’ pastoral landscape compositions, it seemed a little out of place for their latest album. It is instead released as a one-off track today.
‘Where Wye & Severn’ has been mixed and completed in the (early) Summer of 2020, with Ben and his positive nature and the connective all in mind. The title is a reference to the poem ‘Tintern Abbey’ by Wordsworth – simplified as a sentiment to “nature as a curative force”.
The new track follows the band’s recent announcement of a LIVE homecoming show at Manchester’s O2 Ritz this Winter. Taking place on Friday 18th December 2020, Messrs Graham Massey and Andrew Barker, accompanied by live drummer Carl Sharrocks, will play a full headline 808 State set, with support performances from Manchester-based Ghanaian/Russian/German DJ & producer maverick Afrodeutsche, plus DJ sets from Jackson Massey + Porchcrawler. TICKETS. Speaking about the gig 808 State said:
“So many plans unravelled during the past few weeks, and for good reason. But looking ahead, today we are pleased to announce this Hometown Xmas bash, which will be a family affair with our very special guest Afrodeutsche. Hoping we can gather safely in the winter and emerge with a fresh perspective into 2021”
Formed in Manchester in 1988, 808 State are widely recognised as one of the prime originators and shapers of UK dance music. Breaking out with singles such as “Pacific”, “Cubik” and “In Yer Face”, the band also became the first electronica act to craft longform dance music albums, well before the likes of Leftfield and Orbital with whom they are often compared.
In a career of intrepid exploration now stretching across five decades, the band have released genre defining LP’s including “Ninety” characteristic of their early acid house era recordings, to indie-dance crossover classic “ex:el”, plus a subsequent array of uniquely boundary-pushing albums such as “Gorgeous”, “Don Solaris” and “Output Transmission”. In the process, they have attracted the attention of major stars including Bjork, Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, Elbow’s Guy Garvey and more, who have all collaborated with them.
In 2019, 808 State released their seventh album: ‘Transmission Suite’, the band’s first new material since 2002. Cementing their reputation as an essential act, both as scene forefathers and as torchbearers for boundless avant-garde electronica, the album was released to critical acclaim, with The Wire Magazine praising: “808 State’s music has lost none of its foreboding, finesse and power.”
808 STATE – NEW SINGLE: ‘WHERE WYE & SEVERN’ – OUT NOW
DOWNLOAD HERE: https://state808.bandcamp.com/track/where-wye-severn
