Melt Yourself Down are a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based band who incorporate elements of West African musical styles (

afrobeat Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting ...

), punk, jazz and funk. Founded in January 2012, the band is led by saxophonist

Pete Wareham Pete Wareham is a British saxophonist, composer and band leader. He leads the genre-defying North African/punk/jazz/dance band Melt Yourself Down and is a member of Nadine Shah’s Mercury Prize-nominated band, Seb Rochford’s Pulled By Magnet ...

, former leader of now defunct jazz/punk band

Acoustic Ladyland Acoustic Ladyland was a London-based jazz-punk band consisting of Pete Wareham on vocals and saxophone, Seb Rochford on drums, Chris Sharkey on guitar, and Ruth Goller on bass guitar. Tom Herbert of The Invisible (band), The Invisible played b ...

and saxophonist in British jazz band

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

. The original line-up included saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings (

Sons Of Kemet Sons of Kemet are a British jazz group formed by Shabaka Hutchings, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, and Tom Skinner. Theon Cross replaced Marshall on tuba after the first album, and Eddie Hick replaced Rochford on drums after the third. Career T ...

The Comet Is Coming The Comet Is Coming is a London-based band who incorporate elements of jazz, electronica, funk and psychedelic rock. The band originally recorded for The Leaf Label, on which their debut EP ''Prophecy'' was released, on limited edition 12" vi ...

The Heliocentrics The Heliocentrics are an English, London-based musical collective that combines funk, jazz, psych, and library influences. The group is based around drummer and producer Malcolm Catto, bassist Jake Ferguson, guitarist Adrian Owusu, and multi-ins ...

), drummer Tom Skinner (

Sons of Kemet Sons of Kemet are a British jazz group formed by Shabaka Hutchings, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, and Tom Skinner. Theon Cross replaced Marshall on tuba after the first album, and Eddie Hick replaced Rochford on drums after the third. Career T ...

Mulatu Astatke Mulatu Astatke (; French pronunciation: Astatqé; born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of "Ethio-jazz". Born in Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he ...

, Hello Skinny), vocalist Kushal Gaya (Zun Zun Egui), bassist Ruth Goller (

) and percussionist Satin Singh (

Fela! ''Fela!'' is a jukebox musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based ...

Transglobal Underground Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground) is an English electro-world music group, specializing in a fusion of western, Asian and African music styles (sometimes labelled world fusion and ethno techno). Their f ...

). They were signed to

The Leaf Label The Leaf Label is a British independent record label based in Yorkshire, England. Initially an electronic music label, releasing mainly instrumental music, the company's approach now features artists spanning jazz and post-punk. History The Le ...

and released their debut album on 17 June 2013, followed by '' Live At The New Empowering Church'' on 19 April 2014. Their second studio album, ''

Last Evenings On Earth ''Last Evenings on Earth'' (''Llamadas Telefonicas'' in Spanish) is a collection of short stories by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño, published in 1997 with a translation into English by Chris Andrews published in 2006. The stories in this volu ...

'', was released on 29 April 2016. They signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

in 2019 and released their third studio album ''100% Yes'' on 27 March 2020.

Career

Early history

After the break up of Acoustic Ladyland, bandleader Pete Wareham began exploring Egyptian, Nubian and other North African music. In an interview with M Magazine, Wareham explains that he included some of this music in a DJ set he was performing, and seeing the positive reaction from the crowd, decided to write and perform music in this style. He assembled the band from musicians he had worked with in various projects and collaborations, initially intending it to be an instrumental line-up. Vocalist Kushal Gaya was added to the group shortly after the initial rehearsals. The name of the band comes from an album by

James Chance James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953), is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. A key figure in no wave, Chance has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and pun ...

, released in Japan in 1986 on Selfish Records. Wareham has stated that he contacted Chance with a request to use the name and received "his blessing" for the project. Melt Yourself Down subsequently performed with James Chance at shows in New York and London in 2014. Wareham and Chance had previously collaborated when Chance performed on a track from Acoustic Ladyland's third album,

Skinny Grin ''Skinny Grin'' is a 2006 album by Acoustic Ladyland, featuring the singles "Salt Water" and "Cuts & Lies". It was recorded at Eastcote Studios in London, engineered by Philip Bagenal and Al O'Connell. James Chance's guest appearance was recorde ...

''Melt Yourself Down'' (2013)

In June 2013, the band released their self-titled album '' Melt Yourself Down'', featuring the singles "We Are Enough", "Release!" and "Fix My Life". The album was produced and mixed by London-based songwriter, electronic musician, and artist

Leafcutter John Leafcutter John is the recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician and artist. He makes frequent use of Max/MSP in his compositions. Much of Burton's style is based in computer music and use of samples of everyday sounds. However, he a ...

, who performs alongside Wareham in

. The album's "intense brew of jazz, punk, and African elements" has been described as ''"the sound of Cairo '57, Cologne '72, New York '78 and London 2013"'' in a review by

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

amongst an array of other positive reviews. A second edition of this album was released in January 2016, as part of a series of re-releases made by

as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations through the

Pledge Music PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

service.

''Live at the New Empowering Church'' (2014)

As part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2014, Melt Yourself Down released the album '' Live at the New Empowering Church'', with only 900 copies of the vinyl LP available worldwide. The album was recorded at a sold out show in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen E ...

, on 29 November 2013 and features seven tracks from the band's debut album. Melt Yourself Down saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and bassist Ruth Goller are replaced by Wayne Francis (United Vibrations) and Leon Brichard (Ibibio Sound Machine) respectively.

''Dot to Dot'' (2015)

On 18 November 2015, Melt Yourself Down released "Dot to Dot", the first single from album ''

''. A music video followed on 26 November, shot by the Diamond Bros in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

alongside photographer

Vincent Laforet Vincent Laforet (born 1975, Switzerland) is a French-American director and photographer. Laforet shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography with four other photographers (Stephen Crowley, Chang Lee, James Hill, Ruth Fremson) as a membe ...

and Andre Constantini. The video release coincided with shows in

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

as part of Leaf 20, the 20th anniversary celebrations of

. The track was released on 12" vinyl in January 2016, along with a remix by Italian producer DJ Khalab. The remix premiered on The Ransome Note.

''Last Evenings On Earth'' (2016)

Melt Yourself Down's second studio album was released on

on 29 April 2016. The track "The God Of You" was released on 26 February as a second single, premiered on

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

. In an announcement by Clash, the album was described as a "blast of musical exploration" with "an apocalyptic tone".

Drowned In Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

wrote that "the compositions are more complex, the music tighter and everything has an immediacy that was missing before...Last Evenings on Earth is as vast and sprawling as their self-titled debut, yet at the same time it’s concise and refined". In August 2016, ''Last Evenings On Earth'' was nominated for Best ‘Difficult’ Second Album in the AIM awards.

''Another Weapon'' (2016)

On 12 July 2016, Melt Yourself Down announced the release of new single "Another Weapon". This "live favourite" was recorded and produced by Dan Carey (whose credits include

Kae Tempest Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest; born 22 December 1985) is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright. At the age of 16, Tempest was accepted into the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in ...

and

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

), and was released on his Speedy Wunderground label on limited edition 7" vinyl. A stream of the track premiered on Line Of Best Fit, who described its "spidery basslines... '80s post-punk vocals and pumping percussion" as reminiscent of "Orange Juice meets New Orleans".

''100% Yes'' (2020)

In 2019 Melt Yourself Down signed to

and on 17 July 2019, announced the release of new single "Boot & Spleen", the first from their upcoming third studio album ''100% Yes''. They capped this off with a concert that evening at

The Lexington The Lexington, also known as Lexington Apartments, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The five-story brick structure on a raised basement was completed in 1908 as the city's first high-rise apartment building. with ...

in London. Following the release of further singles "It Is What It Is", "Every Single Day", and "Crocodile", the band released "100% Yes" on 27 March 2020, which was planned to be followed by a national tour which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Melt Yourself Down'' (2013) * ''Last Evenings On Earth'' (2016) * ''100% Yes'' (2020) * ''Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In'' (2022)

Live albums

* '' Live at the New Empowering Church'' (2014)

Singles

* "We Are Enough" (2012) * "Fix My Life" / "We Are Enough" (2013) * "Release!" (2013) * "Camel" (2013) * "Dot To Dot" (2015) * "The God Of You" (2016) * "Another Weapon" (2016) * "Boot and Spleen" (2019) * "Every Single Day" (2020) * "Crocodile" (2020) * "Pray For Me I Don't Fit In" (2021)

Musical style and influences

Melt Yourself Down takes its musical interests from a diverse range of countries and cultures and has built a unique style, drawing from Egyptian and Nubian music, punk rock, jazz, psychedelic rock, electronica, funk and more. Wareham has described the style as "Nubian inspired party-punk music". In a later interview he added "The need to dance is still there but now I’m feeling inspired by the idea of the city as a prism through which all kinds of global influences pass...Translation, immigration, overcoming obstacles - and most of all, human unity."