I saw Derik's videos on Youtube when he was homeless, living in his car, suffering from various ailments and drinking heavily.

He spoke about his circumstances becoming so energised that language seemed to fail him, that there were no words that could express his anxiety.

I tried to contact him but then his channel disappeared. If anyone knows where he is, let us know so we can send him a few quid.

I first saw Captain Charlie on some documentary about cops. She had been travelling around America by herself playing music on the streets when she was arrested. I then found Charlie’s videos on Youtube and one of them was her talking about her experiences which I edited with some samples from her songs.

She has her own channel on Youtube. Please listen. https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainCharlie

No Pasaran! is a documentary set to music that celebrates the International Brigades who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).

Many never came back and thousands of Spanish workers were killed by Franco’s fascist death squads.

We commemorate the International Brigades and the selfless commitment of thousands of men and women from all over the world.

In Spain they were poorly equipped and badly fed, but material shortages did not inhibit them from fighting the fascists.

The bravery of the volunteers and Spanish workers showed how effective our collective strength can be despite our political differences, and that we all share the same goal: to stamp out fascism whenever it appears.

No Pasaran! is dedicated to the memory of life long anti-fascist and anarchist Richard Bircumshaw (1951-2019).

Pink Punk Poetry is a collaboration between Swedish performance poet Lou Ice aka Louise Halvardsson and AVzounds (UK). The raw coming of age poems blend well with an experimental sound-scape of lo-life beats and samples.

Lou Ice is known for ”throwing her poems at people” and brings her punk attitude up on stage, creating her own rhythm. The themes of her poems deals with identity, friendship, love, loss and going your own way. There's often a subtle balance between being serious and being funny. By among others she's influenced by Patti Smith, Joolz Denby, John Cooper Clarke and Jonny Fluffypunk.

Between 2004 and 2012 Lou Ice was very active on the poetry scene in Brighton & Hove. She has also performed in places like London, Edinburgh, New York, Berlin, Phnom Penh and all over Sweden where she now makes a living from her creative work.

There are certain voices that draw us closer in, that have an aura of intrigue and Hans Ostrom’s is one of these. His voice has a steady authority that persuades us subtly of the truths within the words he reads, words he chooses carefully, whether his own or those of others.

The social and political themes of the poems are clear, but Hans does not shout at us or harangue us, he speaks without drama, always delivering at the same level, confident that the words he reads will always be more important than any performance of them.

Speak is the first album by AVzounds and we are proud to have been able to work with Hans Ostrom, so we hope you enjoy listening to his voice as much as we have enjoyed putting music around it.