This fresh 12 from Abigail Ward’s Ghost Assembly alias features two new tracks, in a variety of mixes. When spinning the A-side you’ll be rocked by the righteous Resist! The press one-sheet describes how the track was recorded in the wake of a demonstration in Manchester City centre – calling for an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza. Made quickly and angrily it’s “the spirit of protest put on wax.” Beginning with collaged, bass heavy beats, machined into a sort of stop / funk – kinda a la Prince’s Alphabet Street – elements are then added one-by-one. Building a modern mutant take on house. African drum drops, bursts of Chicago jack bass, and a furious TB-303. Eventually topping the lot off with icy cold wave keys. Serrated shouts come from Harper Hay, whose stage name telling refers to Manchester’s most deprived district. 

A remix from the rudely dubbed Utter Kunt slows things to a bionic bogle. Constructed from a drum pattern that brings to mind Andrew Weatherall’s beloved bolstering of Saint Etienne’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart, its seismic stomp grinds out a growling mid tempo groove. Stabbed by strings and peppered with chopped up, chopped out vocals. The rearranged rhyming recalls Heavenly Recordings’ Revival Season, while the low end menace had me thinking of Renegade Soundwave’s Cocaine Sex. In line with that kinky late `80s Rhythm King release there are strange porno noises, like the sound of shagging being sucked backwards. 

The other new tune, titled I Keep On Making The Same Mistake, ups the BPMs and the NYC freestyle / proto-house energy, balancing its boisterous break and snarling acid with trippy tumbling chimes and a darkly romantic, symphonic synth swell. Referencing the `80s but banging like the 2020s. The first voice we hear is the, again Mancunian monikered, Hazel Grove, while the final fade is spoken in French. Bonus Beats, a Radio Edit and String Reprise complete the package whose proceeds will be donated to MAP (Medical Aid For Palestinians). 

Ghost Assembly’s Resist! can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp.