[UPDATE: a free Bandcamp sampler has been released featuring the below releases + more]

Matt Earle’s Breakdance the Dawn label has a habit of releasing a generous handful of new CD-Rs and tapes at once. The pattern continues with nine new recordings, all available now through the label’s website. I’ve not heard any of them yet though a few samples have been uploaded, among them this three minute section from a new Mermaids release, which comes in the form of a VHS / CD-R release.

As we’ve pointed out before, The Mermaids is a Newcastle duo featuring Michael from Cock Safari / the Grog Pappy label, and Nick from Polyfox and the Union of the Most Ghosts. The few recordings I’ve heard from the duo vary widely. The sample below – a bed of static harried by clipped vocal samples – is dramatically different to the atmospheric synth sleep of ‘Greetings in Three Languages‘.

‘Static with clipped vocal samples’ sounds like it’d be annoying, but strangely enough, there are few sharp edges to the sample below. It’s involving and evocative. I’m not sure how the VHS format factors into the end product, but expect it to be fascinating, and probably discomforting.

As for the other new Breakdance the Dawn releases, there’s stuff by xNOBBQx, Sun of the Seventh Sister, Goods Van, The Sha, Club Sound Witches, Squiding, Bad Intentions and Statis Duo. All are available as either CD-R or tapes, except the VHS tapes of course. Buy them here. Sample the rest of them here.