Halloween has arrived in Bristol, and this week’s new-music haul moves through heavyweight bass, experimental hip-hop, doom, ambient soundscapes and more.
At the top is Life Support, with Massive Attack’s Robert “3D” Del Naja helping curate the soundtrack. Mystic State and Third Degree, Classic Trucks, PERSONAS and Dubruvvas lead our other picks, alongside discoveries from across Bristol’s underground and its independent labels.
There are previews as well as releases already out, each clearly dated. And if you are heading out instead of staying in with headphones, the Halloween diary is packed.
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WEEKLY SELECTION
Album of the week
Album of the Week
Various Artists · 3D / Robert Del Naja“Life Support”
Experimental · Electronic · Soundtrack
Battle Box
This week’s Album of the Week has a deep Bristol connection. Life Support is the soundtrack to Daniele Rugo’s documentary following medics working in Gaza, jointly curated by the film’s producers and Robert “3D” Del Naja, Massive Attack co-founder and the artist behind Battle Box.
Across 13 tracks, Del Naja’s score sits alongside Habib Shehada Hanna, Yasmine Hamdan, Kneecap featuring Fawzi, 47Soul, Massar Egbari, Aar Maanta, Siba and Monkyman, and The Five Techniques with Paul Weller, David Holmes and Róisín El Cherif. His contributions include Explosives Of The Future, Perfect Victims and House Of Healing, plus his remix of Palestine.
The range of contributors makes this a substantial collection in its own right, while its purpose remains tied to the documentary and the people at its centre. Battle Box says all profits from the vinyl edition will go to the Health Workers 4 Palestine solidarity fund. BMW Album of the Week.
Bristol label The Chikara Project opens the door to Connections Vol. 4 with Mystic State and Third Degree’s You Are Loved, the compilation’s first available track. It is our route into a 14-track selection that brings together collaborations and individual productions from the community around the label.
Mystic State, Mellon, KĀZ & ILÜZI, Motiv, Omnist, Marenn Sukie, Dharma Dutty, Criteria and others appear across the full collection. Nearly three years after the previous instalment, it is a welcome chance to follow those connections across drum and bass and neighbouring bass-music territory. You Are Loved is available to hear now; the full compilation follows on 6 November.
Classic Trucks is Josh Jarman’s solo project, alongside his work with Langkamer and Breakfast. Bird Underwater, featuring Bristol duo Mumble Tide, is available now as a preview of his debut album Eventually.
The forthcoming record brings in Getdown Services, Flora Hibberd and Naima Bock as well as Mumble Tide, connecting indie-pop, alt-country and folk. There is a local marker in the tracklist too: Sea Mills Lane features Bock and Hibberd.
This is a look ahead, rather than an album released this week. Bandcamp lists 4 February 2027 for the digital album, while the physical-edition copy points to 5 February. For now, Bird Underwater is the new entry point.
Bristol producer PERSONAS returns to two tracks first made in 2012 under a different alias, rebuilding them with contemporary production while retaining their original foundations. TranZit began as a response to the zombies map in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, an influence the producer connects directly to its disorienting momentum.
Alongside Trek, it brings bass weight together with orchestral ambience and cinematic textures. That combination gives this release a more specific identity than a straightforward reissue: older ideas revisited through the sound PERSONAS has developed since. A fitting selection for Halloween week’s darker listening.
Bristol-based Transparent Audio welcomes Dubruvvas back for Notions / Mic Man. The pairing crosses from stripped-back drum and bass into dubstep and grime, giving the two sides distinct roles.
Our pick is Mic Man, which brings longtime collaborators Limmz and Kaisan T to the microphone to trade bars over a grime-led rhythm. Notions supplies the minimal drum-and-bass counterpart, built around rolling drums and low-end pressure. It is a neat example of the range that can fit inside a single bass-music release. Bandcamp dates the release 29 October; streaming stores list 30 October.
Independent selection · AI covers disclosed by the artist
The davros1 Bandcamp account credits 1994 to Bristol musician David Bence. It appears on Ravy Davy’s Gravy, released on 26 October.
There is an important detail in the artist’s own description: Bence identifies the album as AI covers of his own tunes and directs listeners to other albums for the originals. We are retaining that distinction here rather than presenting this as a conventional new performance. The official page is linked so listeners can explore the release and the wider catalogue directly.
Something heavier for Halloween: Bristol doom band Dewer’s Pack of Hounds appears on the five-track The Whisht Hunt, alongside Sepulchral, Down, Dreamless Sleep and Repent. The record runs beyond half an hour, with Pack of Hounds stretching past six minutes.
The band’s own Bandcamp currently lists 31 October for the album, so we are treating this as a Halloween preview. There is an immediate live connection too: Dewer join Goat Major, Erronaut and Bristol’s Epimetheus at Moor Beer Co on Saturday 31 October. Halloween dress is encouraged.
Bristol’s MALADAPTION brings a sharper, rap-led edge to the week with NEEDS. The release pairs the vocal track with an instrumental version and credits production to MALADAPTION and akaJazy, with recording at The Laundromat.
Its tags range from experimental and industrial hip-hop to noise rap, punk and digital hardcore. That places it among this edition’s more abrasive discoveries, and gives listeners two ways into the production.
DEEP INSIDE closes Bristol producer rippy’s new RIPPY003, following IN THE MIX, SMOOTH OPERATOR and WELCOME TO MY LIFE. The four-track release arrived on 29 October and continues the artist’s garage-focused output.
We are picking out the closer, with the full EP linked for anyone wanting to follow the sequence from the start. Another independent Bristol release to keep within reach for the weekend.
Easy / Underground is a two-track release by Clifford on Bristol’s FatBelly page, which tags its catalogue across house, tech house and UK garage. Both tracks arrived on 29 October.
The distinction matters: FatBelly is the releasing page, while Clifford is the artist credited on this record. We are featuring it through that Bristol label connection, without assuming the artist’s home base from the label’s location.
Mike Cosford“Tempo Fiesta vs Buruchacca (Mike Cosford Edit)”
House · Club edits
Mike Cosford revisits a pair of 1990s club records, combining Tempo Fiesta with elements of Buruchacca. Alongside the combined version, the release includes individual edits of both tracks with revised arrangements and refreshed drums.
The Bristol DJ and producer’s own note traces Tempo Fiesta to 1995 and connects its bassline to the familiar Yeke Yeke remix. A DJ-minded selection that reminds us how edits and reworks remain part of the city’s independent release culture.
Portway’s next two-track release pairs 8z8z8z with A74-Sylver. The Bristol artist’s Bandcamp page points listeners to SoundCloud to hear both tracks ahead of the 6 November release.
This is a preview for the diary, rather than a full release arriving within the edition’s dates. Follow the artist-provided SoundCloud link below to explore the pair now.
Vektah returns to Break’s Bristol-based Symmetry Recordings with Together and Simmer Down, released on Friday 30 October. The label presents the pair as another forceful follow-up to the support for Can I Get Your Attention.
This is a Bristol-label selection: Vektah’s biography identifies him with the South West, which is not by itself evidence of a Bristol base. For listeners following Symmetry’s drum-and-bass output, the two-track single is a fresh addition to the weekend pile.
Bristol composer Matthew Richards strips the recording process back on In The Absence Of Noise. Its six pieces were captured largely in one or two takes, with little post-production, letting keyboards, synthesizers and guitar develop in real time.
Richards describes the approach as close to a live album. The ambient foundation leaves room for fragmentation and harsher swells, giving this quieter selection a different sort of intensity among the week’s bass, punk and metal. The full album is now out, following our earlier preview.
Bristol instrumental trio Motorik Road Trip offer Xenolith as a preview of Perceptions from a Dark Earth. Recorded at Axe & Trap Studios in Somerset, the forthcoming eight-track album brings psychedelic melodies and hypnotic grooves together with stoner and doom influences.
Formed in Bristol in 2022, the band released debut album V in January 2025. Xenolith is one of two tracks currently available from the next record, alongside Prism Cascade. The full album follows on 27 November through Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records, making this another look ahead rather than a finished album released this week.
If you were planning a quiet Halloween weekend, Bristol has other ideas. Saturday 31 October brings Pocket Sun’s Watercolours album launch at Strange Brew, Thunderbonk Spooktacular #2 at The Thunderbolt, Goat Major, Erronaut, Epimetheus and Dewer at Moor Beer Co, and The Furrow Collective with Bristol’s Heartwood Chorus at Bristol Folk House. On Friday 30 October there is Qwälen + Peasants at The Old England, G33 / Lu.Re / Harmonia at Moon Club, Dreamland with Peach + TBH at Strange Brew, and A 2 Story Collapse at The Thunderbolt. Follow the full diary for venues, times and ticket links.
James Blake at O2 Academy Bristol: the full review
We were at O2 Academy Bristol on Wednesday 28 October for James Blake’s Trying Times tour, with Monica Martin opening. It became a night of contrasts: exposed piano and near-silence one minute, bass shaking the room the next. Martin made an outstanding case for arriving early, while Blake moved between new material, older favourites, guitar and electronics before returning to voice and keys. Read our full review, with original Bristol Music Weekly photography.
Brighton rock band Soot Sprite open their UK headline tour at The Croft. Cautious Optimist (Reckless Version) revisits the closing track from Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon as a full-band recording. It also leads towards the Carbon Copy EP, arriving through Specialist Subject on 20 November. One we will be watching closely.
Essex band The Bracknall bring their guitar music to Exchange on 19 November. Their team reports tens of thousands of pounds in fan pledges helping support the next album, planned for 2027. Recent EP Waiting For The Lights To Change is the introduction before the Bristol date, and a chance to see that audience connection in one of the city’s grassroots rooms.
Manchester singer-songwriter Robbie Cavanagh returns for a full-band headline show at Exchange Basement. Do What You Like begins the build towards an album recorded in Edinburgh with Idlewild’s Rod Jones producing. After Bristol Folk Festival and a support appearance with Skipinnish at St George’s earlier this year, the Basement offers a more intimate setting.
The Foo Birds celebrate Coloursound at Mr Wolfs with a five-piece blend of nu-soul, R&B, jazz harmonies and pop, leaving room for improvisation in their live set. Welsh singer-songwriter Bethan supports with jazz and soul influences. A different prospect across town on the same night as Robbie Cavanagh, and another reason to keep November’s diary open.
Our Bristol Music Weekly Spotify playlist has passed 500 tracks connected to Bristol artists or releases featured through the site. It has become a rolling snapshot spanning drum and bass, trip-hop, electronic music, indie, punk, folk, hip-hop and experimental sounds. Dive in, discover an artist and support their music directly.
