Beak

After a 6 year hiatus, Beak emerges with a new ep on Earstroke! Having published the majority of his work on the revered, but no longer active Monotonik net label, Beak's incredibly creative blend of guitar and electronic music is deserving of a new platform. His newest, Affection EP, turns to a darker sound featuring huge beats adorned with clips of family life, driven guitar, wild synth lines and a sense of urgency befitting the times.

Two years in the making Kosmik Musik is a collaboration between artist Joe Currie, writer Ben Wheatley and musical group Beak>, who worked closely with the artists to provide a musical accompaniment for the graphic novel.

Alto saxophonist Allan Praskin has a formative influence on the stylistic emphasis on the music of the Jazz Consensus, whose clear domain is … contemporary bebop. “Happy Frog”, the first track on the album, is an Adelhard Roidinger composition where his bass is featured. The piece presents the melody on bass, doubled by saxophonist Allan Praskin on Giant Steps-like changes after an eight bar recurring vamp. “Longing”, penned by Allan Praskin, a beautiful ballad brings forth emotions of loneliness, loss, and melancholy through its haunting melody. It also distinguishes itself in coming to a full stop before a short cadenza in the middle of the melody section.

The prodigies of the animal kingdom have feathers, beaks – and unexpectedly large brains! Just how high does their intellect soar? Rest upon the wings of the Keas in New Zealand and the New Caledonian Crows and take part in this ultimate avian I.Q. test. The Keas of New Zealand are both brawny and brainy, as the only parrots that live in snowy mountain areas. They put their intellectual capacity to the test by solving puzzles and challenging tourists. Follow them as they unscrew bottle-tops, dismantle windshield wiper blades, and tear open rucksacks.

"At its core we always wanted it to be head music (music for the ‘heads’, not headphone music), listened to as an album, not as individual songs. This is why we are releasing this album with no singles or promo tracks."
The band continues, "the recording and writing initially began in a house called Pen Y Bryn in Talsarnau, Wales in the fall out from the weirdness of the Covid days. Remote and with only ourselves and the view of Portmeirion in the distance we got to work." "With the opening track, "Strawberry Line" (our tribute to our dear furry friend Alfie Barrow, who appears on the albums cover) as the metronomic guide for the album, we then resumed recording, as before, at Invada Studios in Bristol, whilst still touring around Europe and North/South America." "After playing hundreds of gigs and festivals over the years we felt that touring had started to influence our writing to the point we weren’t sure who we were anymore. So we decided to go back to the origins of where we were at on our first album. With zero expectations and just playing together in a room."