Antigen Records

06/09/2025

Many (belated) happy returns to DJ Zaphod MAnn, who turned 70 last month! If I ever grow up, I want to grow up to be like him - living in a cave and making radio. Hopefully with the same insatiable enthusiasm for discovering new music.

Zaph very kindly played another deep cut from the latest Rev Simpkins album on his globally syndicated show, The Beat Goes On (formerly the In Memory Of John Peel Show). You can listen to The Brink from Headwater, and loads of other weird and wonderful stuff, right here: https://inmemoryofjohnpeel.com/2025/08/23/the-beat-goes-on-20250822-026-podcast-playlist/

04/09/2025

Yesterday’s news, today! Under-employed antigen factotum Jason returns after an unexplained absence, with a nostalgia-packed 50th episode of the Antigen Internet Radio show. Crammed full of last month’s current affairs: non-binary terror, UKIP st*****rs, and the solicitors on the front line, protecting bread-loving Zionists from the beanie badge menace.

Find out the ugly truth about Bob Vylan... More shocking than anything at Glastonbury! Plus, as AI relieves humans of the burden of creating art, discover how you can help Daniel Ek develop the autonomous strike drone capacity that will protect his vision of the future.

And, after five years and fifty episodes of putting listeners at ease with inappropriate comments about seaside people, Jason finally seeks help to discover why he’s not responsible for anything he says on the radio.

Listening instructions below. Only on Ship Full of Bombs - Thames Delta Independent Music Radio Station

02/08/2025

John Callaghan will be at the Museum of Comedy tomorrow - Sunday 3 August. Is this because his jokes are old and need to be preserved as part of our cultural heritage? Is he is being exhibited as a national treasure? Is it for a third reason I can't be bothered to invent to satisfy the rhetorical rule of three?

No... John will be delighting crowds with his Cabaret Electro show, as part of the Camden Fringe.

Everything is explained in the accompanying video. Ticket details below.

Also sprach Jubie Andrews!I'll be performing at the Museum Of Comedy in London on August 3rd 2025.https://camdenfringe.com/events/john-callaghans-cabaret-ele...

06/07/2025

"I haven't heard anything like that in this studio... EVER" - Paul Dupree is left stunned when his reaction to a live version of Bleephead by Rev Simpkins is turned into a clickbait headline on the antigen records page, designed to entice casual readers into clicking 'see more'.

Paul chats with the Rev'd Matthew Simpkins about music, meningitis and the genius of John Callaghan. And he discovers how Bloaty Head from Theme Hospital inspired their recent video collaboration. Features two exclusive live tracks.

Listen on Chelmsford's one and only City Sound Radio (Rev chat approximately 40 minutes in): https://www.mixcloud.com/CitySoundChelmsford/transmission-w-paul-dupree-guest-rev-simpkins-020725/

05/07/2025

In an auspicious move that bodes well for the their chance of securing promotion next season, Ipswich Town Football Club launch their 25/26 home and away kits to the sound of Beehive by Gaffa Tape Sandy.

If you can't afford 60 quid for a shirt, you can still show your support* by purchasing a vocal version of the soundtrack on 7" for a mere £7 from: https://antigenrecords.com/releases/meat-head-beehive/

* For antigen records (not affiliated with ITFC in any way). All proceeds will be wasted on releasing more records.

04/07/2025

Update to Wednesday’s post. Human recording artist Ben Brown is at risk of losing his primary revenue stream – eating vegetables for likes on Instagram – after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek unveiled a new AI-powered cucumber-eating machine, which can masticate salad items into unrecognisable pulp without any human intervention.

The device was developed by his tech bro pals at Helsing AI, during downtime from designing autonomous strike drones to ethically protect our common democratic values.

Ek hopes the machine will provide monthly subscribers with guilt-free mechanised mulching entertainment, without the tiresome inconvenience of compensating individual artists like Ben for their vegetable-based creative output.

Is this ethical? Let us know in the comments.

PS. I know cucumbers are fruit. Don't make me block you.

02/07/2025

We received a message yesterday from human recording artist Ben Brown (pictured below, eating a cucumber for attention) warning us about The Velvet Sundown, a band he believes to be made entirely of AI.

Although I suspect an elaborate publicity stunt by a real band so musically unadventurous they just sound like someone typed “create soulless dinner party music for people who find The War On Drugs too edgy” into ChatGPT, I genuinely hope they are the product of a malign machine intelligence lurking in a network of fibre-optic cables.

Then, we’ll finally have the future Spotify CEO Daniel Ek imagined for us all – AI-generated music, curated by streaming algorithms, for a fake audience of bots. And all we humans have to do is work 40-hour weeks to generate the power to run the servers.

But you might not agree. You might prefer a future listening to Ben Brown, whose work is in many ways the opposite of Artificial Intelligence. It is real. And he posts clips of himself on Instagram, eating salad vegetables for likes.

Do you have an opinion? If so, vote now and we'll let the internet decide.

29/06/2025

A tough choice for fans of Nigel Farage at 5pm today. Do they tune in to Rod Stewart at Glastonbury to hear an 80-year-old multi-millionaire exhort the crowd to 'give Farage a chance'?

Or do they head to Leigh-on-Sea to meet the musician who will be responsible for ministering to Nigel's spiritual needs, as his local Anglican priest, when he takes over at St. James's and St. Christopher's in Clacton-on-Sea and Jaywick, in September.

Catch Rev Simpkins performing at the Fishermen's Chapel at 5pm today, as part of Leigh Folk Festival.

21/06/2025

On 6 June, Rev Simpkins pumped himself full of steroids for the live launch of Headwater at The Minories in Colchester. Delivering a juiced-up power trio set of tracks from his new album, plus crowd-pleasers from Big Sea and Pissabed Prophet - his 2023 collaboration with Ben Brown of SuperGlu and DINGUS KHAN (who injured himself yet again, accompanying the Rev with overenthusiastic fireplace log percussion).

Thanks to everyone who turned up. If you missed it, you can read about it in the International Times. Find your way to the review by navigating the comments below.

Photo: Geoff Lawrence bags the money shot - special guest John Callaghan ending his set with the notorious Tear My Body Out. A song that instantly separates the audience into two groups - people who’ve seen John before and people who thought they were safe in the garden.

17/06/2025

How do YOU discover new music?

Perhaps you like your music served up by a predictive algorithm developed by a team of tech bros, who’ve programmed a vast machine intelligence to learn your music tastes by analysing your online shopping lists and the cat videos you watch on Instagram?

Or perhaps, like us, you tune into the mutterings of a wizened seer dwelling in the Soup Caves of Oregon...

It's time to plug our favourite radio show - The Beat Goes On, with Zaph Mann (formerly the In Memory Of John Peel show).

If Spotify is the aural equivalent of vanilla Angel Delight, then The Beat Goes On is like a taster menu at the Fat Duck, and Zaph is the Heston Blumenthal of radio playlisting. One moment it's snail porridge, the next, it's reindeer milk ice cream scrambled in liquid nitrogen.

Always ahead of the curve, Zaph is first to play a track from the new Rev Simpkins album, Headwater. You can hear it by following the listening instructions in the comments.

25/05/2025

Cashing in on the enduring popularity of father-son double acts with his Christian fanbase, Rev Simpkins has roped in son Jim to provide drums for his show at The Minories in Colchester on 6 June. They will be performing songs from their new album Headwater (copies of which will be available on the night) and hits from the Rev Simpkins back catalogue.

Also on the bill, the incomparable John Callaghan, with a repertoire full of songs and a suitcase full of costumes to delight and confound the expectations of the audience.

Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1862622167835463/

Album details: see below

21/05/2025

In November 2023, Rev Simpkins was hospitalised with aseptic meningitis, a rare side-effect of the immunotherapy treatment he was receiving for stage 4 metastasized melanoma. Slipping in and out of delirium, he fashioned a Mini-Matt from a urinal bottle for company. Now, he has created something arguably even more impressive, inspired by his experience as an in-patient.

Headwater is the new Rev Simpkins album, available on CD from 6th June 2024. Eleven songs and hallucinations from the brink, diving deep into – and out of – the dark waters of a seemingly terminal illness. Using analogue oscillators and synthesisers, he tried to recreate the sounds and visions he experienced on the hospital ward as music. Then, as he convalesced at home, he worked with his son Jim to flesh out these sketches into songs.

Headwater charts an extraordinary journey of recovery, from a time approaching death, to the moment when he became the first person to be discharged from care services provided by his local hospice-at-home team.