Matt on ‘Catch Me If You Can’

Any memories? No not really cos it’s from a long-long-time ago innit? It just feels like it’s always been how it is now; even though there must’ve been some sort of writing process involved…. Surely?! Errm, sorry, bare with, I’m at a wedding… me kids are running riot…

[Two days later] I can remember wanting to put an odd time signature into a dance tune to see if it’d work, because it’s not something you really hear; maybe for a reason? I can remember faffing about with a tapped bass line and an idea developing from there. I can remember trying to come up with a section change that gave us a bit of let-up from the tapping part, but it just didn’t work rhythmically. That tapping, for me, felt like it needed to be relentless and persist throughout; so the distinction between section changes became more chordal.

I can remember thinking, “OMG what have I let me sen in for with this bass part!?” I think I must’ve been listening to a lot of Primus? It is quite reminiscent of DMV. Anyway, I was really proud of how it turned out but by the end, hated it to play . But, with practise came stamina! Finally adding some chorus to the tone became the icing ont cake and now I love the tune! Well done us…. especially me.

Original improv January 26th 2018.

Tom on ‘Aftersun’

What a bassline!

Perhaps the jam that led to this entire album? An incredibly rare case of an improv working so well, simply relearn and you’ve got a finished track! Not quite that easy perhaps but surprising how close this version is from its progenitor.

Pretty sure all the synths are Oberheim SEM, with the definite exception of some Absynth 5 pads played via guitar MIDI pickup. We're pretty faithful to the 2022 improv but a proper intro and outro had to be written. See if you can pick out the 17/16 guitar riff!

Also a rare example of a working title that stuck. Initial jam came two days after I’d seen Charlotte Wells’ debut for the second time in a week. Was obviously on my mind as I mixed down our jams from the day, and remains on my mind now.

Original improv November 22nd 2022, as heard on Avadance (Basement Tapes).

Jonny on ‘Still We Rise’

I remember the jam where Matt came up with the “womping” bassline which we then wrote the track around; then re-wrote the track around; then re-re-wrote track around; then re-re-re-wrote… There were a lot of versions of this track! We even recorded a version during the Pineapple sessions in 2019 - but were never totally happy with it. Tom instigated the final re-write in 2023 and we finally had a track we felt good enough to record and release as an instrumental…

BUT THEN, at the very last minute, Ruby Wood (of Submotion Orchestra fame - one of the biggest influences on Postculture) made herself available for collabs, and that was an offer we could not miss. Cue another slight re-write and here you have it: Still We Rise!

Original improv March 25th 2017.

Matt on ‘Updates Install’

I can remember that Tom had either got some new software or a new synth or summat*. He was scrolling through sounds when he landed on that arpeggiator and straight away I was like, “that one!” I wanted to build everything off of that arp for a track: bass, drums, guitars and any additional synths; so that’s what we did! The bassline was written in next to no time around the arpeggiator by picking out allt’ main notes and adding in a few extra root notes for good measure. Incidentally, it ended up being in 6/4 and grooving like a mothaf**ker!

And I remember it being the first time we actually thought properly about how we were gonna write a tune that worked as an instrumental track for an instrumental band; and I think it shows. The structure, the groove, our placement of dropouts, the way it builds throughout, the sample that Tom used and how it’s placed… I think we hit the nail ont head with this track. Really does feel like we’ve upped our game and Updates Install, for me, had set a new precedent for what our music wants to sound like. It was as if POSTCULTURE themselves had had updates installed!

Original improv November 24th 2021, as heard on Avadance (Basement Tapes).

* [Tom clarifies] A Korg Monologue analogue synth. My laptop chose to install updates mid-session, hence switching over to hardware.

Jonny on ‘Lockdown’

My favourite song on the album. Like Aftersun this came from a pretty complete, structured jam, which we then attempted to learn. As a drummer, the main purpose during jams is to keep time, which consequently leads to them not containing the most interesting drum parts to play. As a result, “attempting to learn” for me usually just means writing a completely new part. Other than the intro, that was the case with this song. Me and Matt wrote the “verse” groove together - which I especially like - and the middle section fulfills a long time wish of mine to have an extended section of a song without drums and bass!

Original improv October 29th 2020, as heard on Avadance (Basement Tapes).

Tom on ‘Dill Buffer (Interlude)’ / Taking Hold

Initially a guitar melody and chord sequence which went through a couple of iterations before Jonny’s drum groove solidified the Taking Hold you hear today. We shared an early instrumental online looking for collaborators, Leo Transit answered the call. That vocal sampled in the Dill Interlude is from a live runthrough, he’s singing a first draft vocal. By the time we hit the studio years later, Leo Transit had relocated to South Korea, replacing his microphone for a wife and son. Got permission to finish his melody, rewriting lyrics alongside Anna. She sounds better every year and we remain ever grateful she’s been a part of our journey this whole time. Side note: can’t remember if the arp is a Juno 6 or SH-101? I’d quite like to know!

Original improv September 8th 2019.

Leo Transit demo from May 6th 2021.

Matt on ‘Preage / Triage’

Anything we do musically, we gotta add a bit o’ Yorkshire into it; our inspiration! I don’t think we could have a release that didn’t include summat Yorkshire related. And, for me, grainy old audio samples set to a backdrop of ambience do sound mint.

Also, I was listening to a lot of Tool at the time, particularly their Lateralus album. I was (and still am) really into two tracks that start with the bass playing harmonics, followed by the music progressing cohesively across two tracks. Proper earthy, ambient, tribal sounding tracks where one track leads seamlessly into the next. I really liked that idea and how they achieved it... could that work in our context?

I think so! But, for us though, we wanted it to progress towards a big, dancey groove; which is where the idea of Tom’s chimes taking over from what my bass harmonics are doing, came in. That way, I could focus on a more ballsy, relentless bass groove throughout, throwing in the odd chord change to break it up a bit. A really simple but disciplined part that’d go hand in hand with Jonny’s brutal, hi-hat happy drum groove whilst still giving Tom room to play about with his guitar, arp and synth parts, which become the main things that give the tune its structure.

Again, I think we smashed what we set out to achieve with these two tracks. I can’t listen to one without t’other. Triage feels like a hark back to our first seven minute dance epic, A New Day, but with a new approach to writing instrumental tunes for an instrumental band. Not to mention ten more years of trial and error on our side!

Original improv November 22nd 2022, as heard on Avadance (Basement Tapes).

Jonny on ‘Gold Dust (210% Blessed Mix)’

Wait, Postculture mull over ideas for a long time?!? Gold Dust came together as an instrumental fairly quickly, and we even gigged it a bit in 2018/19. However we always knew this wasn't going to be a totally instrumental track; the problem was we had no idea what to put on it! We tried a few singers over the years, but never really had anything which felt totally right. Jump forward to 2026 and we remembered that a few years ago Rosie Blofeld had sent us one of the tracks off her last EP to remix (which is a story in its own right). Putting her vocal track over the instrumental worked perfectly! It was the same tempo and key - almost like it was meant to be. Thankfully Rosie was kind enough to bless our remix “210%”!

Side note: I wanted to write the simplest drum part possible for this song; real page one of the “drumming for beginners” book stuff. I like the song all the more for that.

Original improv July 4th 2018.

We kicked off 2025 by revisiting our back catalogue. (Nearly) every released song, (nearly) every released skit, relearned then recording for posterity in our HD9 rehearsal room, PCHQ.

Does our work stand-up to the Great American Songbook?  Decide for yourself.  We're using this as an excuse to reflect on our writing over the past decade whilst warming the limbs... in preperation for what, you ask?  All will be revealed!

Our material up until AVADANCE (2023) was written with vocals in mind.  If you've seen us live at any point, chances are you saw a primarily instrumental set.  Sampled vocals would be added to A New Day, Feel The Same and Not Enough but we mostly stuck to karaoke versions.

Therefore these REPLAY versions are the first time an audience outside of the UK can glimpse a live Postculture experience.  Albeit not at gig volume, without the sweat of a live venue, and played by three musicians who aren't too familiar with the material.

COMPLETE
REPLAY PLAYLIST
INCLUDING "DO WE KNOW?" SHORTS

LIVE@PCHQ PLAYLIST
REPLAY TRACKS + MORE LIVE VERSIONS