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| Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings new LP 08-05-2013 | ||
| SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM 'GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT' RELEASED ON DAPTONE RECORDS ON 26TH AUGUST 2013 HEAR NEW SONG 'RETREAT!' NOW https://soundcloud.com/daptone-records/sharon-jones-the-dap-kings LONDON PRESS DAY - JUNE 3rd Give The People What They Want is certainly an appropriate title for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' new release. After more than a decade of near constant touring, recording, and as one of the most formidable live acts performing today, they know what their audience wants from them. Happily, it’s what they want too. The appeal of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings just keeps growing. Michael Bublé has duetted with Sharon on “Baby, You’ve Got What it Takes”, after recording “Crazy Love” with the Dap-Kings back in 2009. The Dap-Kings also contributed to several songs on this year’s hit Michael Bublé album “To Be Loved”. They count Beck, John Legend, Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright among their collaborators, and of course the Dap-Kings were the band behind Amy Winehouse’s Back In Black album for which Gabriel Roth, bandleader and co-founder of Daptone Records, won a Grammy for his engineering skills. Yet it’s the Augusta, Georgia native Sharon Jones who is the undisputed centre of attention here. A recent Hollywood turn acting alongside Denzel Washington will certainly do her star power no harm, but one listen to Give The People What They Want will tell you Sharon doesn’t need the silver screen to set her name in lights. Her fervent, impassioned singing goes straight to your heart; those sweet soul hooks stay in your head for days on end. These are vocal performances that withstand any comparison to the soul greats. Give The People What They Want is the band’s fifth album, recorded at home in Bushwick's Daptone House of Soul Studios after two years of touring behind 2010's lauded I Learned The Hard Way. These 11 songs are seasoned with the classic Soul sound one might expect - yet there’s a freshness in the band’s performances and songwriting that gives the group’s fifth studio album a feel unlike anything they’ve done before. From the electrifying stomp of album opener "Retreat!", streaming here, to the instantly familiar feel-good groove of "We Get Along," via "Stranger To My Happiness", which perfectly captures the Dap-Kings’ sound in three-and-a-half joyous minutes, this is a record that has it all. |  | |
| Hookworms new single, festivals & Pissed Jeans 18-04-2013 | |
| HOOKWORMS reveal brand new single 'Radio Tokyo', festivals and dates with PISSED JEANS - https://soundcloud.com/too-pure-singles-club/01-radio-tokyo-mastered "Genuinely one of the best gigs I've seen in a very very very long time...like having the top of your brain ripped off " Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, April 2013 "Pearl Mystic is the best British psychedelic album since the 1990s; maybe more than that." The Quietus "the sound of perfection." 10/10 Drowned In Sound "the best of a crop of young guitar bands who deal in incendiary, psychedelic drone-rock, the Leeds based five-piece reference Spaceman 3, Loop and early Verve" The Times "this is not just an album, it's a ride" 9/10 Loud & Quiety "Hookworms relentlessly pulverise the audience with snarling, provocative brilliance" NME "Leeds quintent translate heavy angst into speaker-shredding noiseadelia" "Feel like losing your mind? This might be the perfect soundtrack" 4/5 The FlMojo Even in a 2013 filled with UK success stories so far, it’d be hard to deny that the year hasn’t so far belonged to Hookworms. In a new music world of gimmick-orientated marketing angles, their debut LP ‘Pearl Mystic’ (Gringo Records) has found success – 10/10 by Drowned In Sound, undulated praise from every newspaper, magazine and website around – by sheer dint of simply being GREAT. New double A-side ‘Radio Tokyo/On Returning’ (released 27th May on Too Pure) was written before the hype headed for the cosmos as their music long since has. Shorter, sharper, more instantaneous than the Hookworms you know so far, both songs are based around skeletal structures built by de-facto front man and producer MJ’s farfisa organ. They’re exercises in reduction, of Hookworms taking their fireball energy and myriad scorched sounds and straining to keep them within tight paradigms. They succeed effortlessly. In addition to the new single Hookworms have two shows with Sub Pop hardcore group Pissed Jeans, as well as slots at Latitude, Supernormal and Festival No. 6. The Pissed Jeans shows are the ones though, with MB stating that seeing them last time they played the UK five years ago was a pivotal moment in his artistic learning. “They epitomise everything that we aspire to be and do as a band,” he enthuses. 05/05/13 - York, YO1 Festival 04/07/13 - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club w/Pissed Jeans 05/07/13 - London, Electric Ballroom w/Pissed Jeans 21/07/13 - Southwold, Latitude Festival 10/08/13 - Oxfordshire, Supernormal Festival 18/08/13 - Skipton, Beacons Festival 14/09/13 - Portmeirion, Festival No.6 | |
| Gold Panda new album 'Half Of Where You Live' 12-04-2013 | ||
| GOLD PANDA reveals new track ‘Brazil’ - soundcloud.com/goldpanda NEW ALBUM 'Half Of Where You Live' released 10th June on NOTOWN Gold Panda today reveals the first new music, in the form of the track 'Brazil', from his second album 'Half Of Where You Live'. Hear it over at soundcloud.com/goldpanda now. The full length follow-up to 'Lucky Shiner' is released on Monday 10th June and in the build up Gold Panda is touring the US, UK and Europe through May and June, as well as festivals this summer. Full shows listed below. ‘Brazil’ is the first track from Essex-born now Berlin-based producer Gold Panda’s new album 'Half Of Where You Live', almost three years on since he burst into public consciousness with the glitchy brilliance of the 'Lucky Shiner' LP. Those three years seem a long time and yet, paradoxically, tracks like ‘You’ and ‘Snow & Taxis’ still sound as buoyantly fresh as they ever did upon their inception back in 2010. That’s signatory of Gold Panda though, a producer who absorbs, cultivates and warps so many influences both old and new, so that his tracks spread across eras, rendering such timespans obsolete and transcending any sense of fashion even in the accelerated world of electronic music. For him, new album 'Half Of Where You Live' bears the marks of time on the road and all the perception-altering, personality-defining experiences that have inevitably come his way. ‘Brazil’ is a track that reflects the LP’s overall themes of personal displacement, of Gold Panda’s own reflections on modern city living and the issues contained within that. The cut concerns a trip he made to Sao Paulo on tour: “It was mental,” he explains, “we were nervous about going. People kept telling us ‘it’s not safe.’ It was fine, but the track reflects the sensation of traveling from the airport and hitting this sprawling metropolis, and the disparity between old Brazil and the new economically prosperous country. Like, I was drinking a daiquiri for $40 at the top of a skyscraper that looks like shit.” The track’s minimal rhythm structure and straining, high-pitched emissions replicate the uneasy tension of arriving to the city, the track breaking up into chaos to reflect the metropolis facing Derwin and his crew; the producer says “The repetitive ‘Brazil’ voice sample is kind of like an excited chant bigging up the place, then it all gets confusing to replicate the traffic and buildings.” It’s cosmopolitan track off an undeniably city-sounding album, the constantly shifting elements in each track amounting to Derwin’s own experiences in constantly waking up in new territories. “A jump from location to location,” he explains it, “I felt like I was stealing a piece of each place I went to.” Half Of Where You Live is something of a coming of age for Gold Panda; no longer the blogbuzz artist he was at his beginning, he’s managed to overhaul the tide of hype that swept him along and put himself ahead of it. His music that reflects the inspirations and impulses of himself and not the furore around him. ‘Brazil’ is the glorious proof of that. TOUR DATES APRIL 20th - RECORD STORE DAY - Totnes, Drift Records, UK (NOTOWN special with Luke Abbott) - http://thedriftrecordshop.net/blogs/news/7604181-saturday-20th-april MAY 8th – Toronto, Horseshoe Tavern, Canada 9th – Montreal, La Sala Rosa, Canada 10th – Chicago, The Mid, Il USA 11th – New York, NY The Knitting Factory, USA 14th – Los Angeles, CA - The Echo, USA 15th – Austin, Red 7, TX, USA 16th – Washington, Black Cat Backstage, DC USA 17th – Philadelphia, Johnny Brendas,, PA, USA 18th – Allston, Brighton Music Hall, MA, USA 25th – Dudingen - Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival, SU JUNE 12th – London – The Electric, Brixton UK - with fellow NOTOWN artists Luke Abbott and Dam Mantle 13th – Barcelona – Sonar Festival, ES 20th – France - Paris - La Trabendo, FR 21st – Amsterdam - Melkweg, NE 22nd – Berlin - Fetsaal Kreuzberg, DE 28th – Somerset, Glastonbury Festival, UK JULY 12th - Portugal, Optimus Alive Festival, PO 18th – Brussels, Dour Festival, BE 19th – London, Lovebox Festival, UK 20th – Ireland, Longitude Festival, IE |  | |
| Merchandise come to the UK 04-04-2013 | ||
| MERCHANDISE 'TOTALE NITE' EP OUT NOW ON NIGHT PEOPLE https://soundcloud.com/life-or-death-pr/merchandise-anxietys-door UK SHOWS START 15th MAY AT LONDON'S 100 CLUB In an attempt to summarize Merchandise, the basics will suffice. What began as a standard three-piece punk band has turned into something else entirely. Over the years the band has changed from a trio to a duo and back to a trio again for last year's "Children of Desire" LP. That album, entirely self-recorded in the band's Tampa, FL home, did much to expose Merchandise to a greater audience. Pop sensibilities were more in the foreground than on the band's earlier releases. Music journalism institutions such as Pitchfork, NME, Spin, and Stereogum have all written extensively about the band, foreshadowing great things to come. Merchandise's new record "Totale Nite" is another evolution in their sound. The band sounds like they've aged years between records. These five long-form songs are more focused and nuanced than any of their previous efforts. Pop hooks with an experimental bend are found throughout. The mark of the underground punk/noise community is still easily detectable in their music, but broader sounds and influence see the band turning into an entity of its own. Past comparisons to the Smiths, Joy Division and the Jesus and Mary Chain (while not totally invalid) aren't quite accurate when describing this record. Echoes of Roxy Music, Miles Davis, Merle Haggard, and Franco Battiato enhance the band's post-punk core. The record received a stellar mastering job from the influential Sonic Boom (Spectrum, Spacemen 3, etc.) and is augmented by full-color art by Shawn Reed of the Night People label. The band will be touring extensively in support of this record. Two full US tours, two European tours and appearances at many major international music festivals are scheduled throughout 2013. As of now, a fourth member has been added to the band on live drums. UK dates - 15 May - London, 100 Club 16 May – Brighton, The Haunt 17 May - Brighton, The Corn Exchange 31 Aug - Salisbury, End Of The Road Festival 07 Sep - Isle Of Wight, Bestival |  | |
| Tunng turn Turbines 03-04-2013 | ||
| TUNNG announce new album 'Turbines' on 17th June 2013, listen to a song here: https://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/tunng-so-far-from-here/s-vCBan Play 2 sold out shows at The Lexington on July 8th & 9th Bands as emotive and enduring as Tunng don't come around too often. Across their decade together, the group have honed their pastoral pop to perfection, winning over audiences and critics one rustic twang of guitar, icy electronic echo and sumptuous whisper of vocals at a time to become one of Britain's most championed underground forces – fitting for an act who began literally underground, in the basement of a Soho women's clothing boutique some ten years ago. Now their success story is set to continue with the release of fifth studio album Turbines, their most bewitching and brilliant listen yet. Though their locations have changed, with the band now scattered between England and Iceland, there's a powerful and surprising togetherness to Turbines that founding member Mike Lindsay claims is all thanks to its subject matter: an imagined fantasy village. “It's a fantasy of a place with its own characters where we don't necessarily fit in, where we observe the others and their strange behaviour.” Recorded mainly in a Dorset studio this is the first Tunng album where all six members were more or less all present at each stage of the recording process. Bar an excursion to album engineer and vintage equipment expert Ben ‘Benge’ Edwards’ “synth museum” to add electronic embellishments. It’s an album rich in colour and emotion “I remember thinking that this album would go full circle and match the first record in its experimentalism. But that didn't happen.” Instead came Tunng's most direct and affecting effort to date. “It's more concise,” says electronic wizard Phil Winter on the record. “It's just the essentials, delivered straight.” “It’s our sci-fi folk rock album,” declares Lindsay, who stresses the key to Turbines’ enchanting charm is the sense of family among its creators. “We have been through a lot together, seen some amazing places and some pretty bad places too... and it's time to see some more!” Tunng will play songs from Turbines and their impressive back catalogue at two intimate (and already sold out) shows at The Lexington on 8th and 9th July. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// THE MEMORY BAND 'On The Chalk (Our Navigation Of The Line Of The Downs)' released 20th May 2013 on Static Caravan RARE LIVE DATE - May 7th at the Vortex, London The album 'On The Chalk (Our Navigation Of The Line Of The Downs)' is inspired by The Harrow Way, a "lost road" born of antiquarian theories of an inland prehistoric superhighway stretching from sea to sea across the chalk ridgeways of Southern England. Stephen Cracknell spent 18 months researching its supposed route, reading the literature that described it, visiting many of places it linked making field recordings and following in the footsteps of those who attempted to map it. The results are eleven songs spread across haunting horn noises, crackles, drones, blissed-out beats and tender piano melodies. ”It was all a lot of fun, running round the country playing at psycho-geography,” recalls Cracknell. “Like the landscape that inspired it, it’s an album that at times is dark and imposing and at others more peaceful and serene.” 2013 marks the tenth anniversary of The Memory Band and we look forward to commencing our celebrations at The Vortex in London on 7th May. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// BOBBY WHITLOCK ‘Where There’s a Will There’s a Way: the ABC Dunhill Recordings’ released 24th June 2013 on Future Days Recordings *First time on CD remastered from the original tapes *Featuring George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bobby Keys, Klaus Voormann, and Delaney & Bonnie Continuing the never-ending quest to remaster and repackage the greatest music you’ve never heard (but definitely should), Light In The Attic are set to release on their new Future Days imprint the first two early 1970’s solo albums by Memphis singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Bobby Whitlock. Both presented on 180 gram vinyl and also a CD compilation featuring both albums in their entirety, Bobby Whitlock (1972) and Raw Velvet (also 1972) are star-studded (George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie), soulful albums from one of rock music’s key unsung figures. Whitlock’s story is a remarkable one. Born to a hardscrabble existence, raised in abject poverty, abused by his preacher father and was sent out to pick cotton in the fields. Moving from one railroad town to another, Whitlock was quite literally from the wrong side of the tracks. Yet thanks to his singing and piano playing, music was Whitlock’s escape. Winding up in Memphis, Whitlock hooked up with Stax Records, who signed him as the first white artist to their new pop label HIP. But it was soul music, not pop, that was in Whitlock’s heart – and his break came when Delaney & Bonnie asked him to join their band, The Friends. Following Delaney & Bonnie from Stax to Elektra Records, Whitlock found his life starting to intertwine with ‘60s rock royalty. Delaney & Bonnie took him on tour with Blind Faith, where Eric Clapton was impressed with Whitlock’s playing and the camaraderie he saw in The Friends. Soon, Whitlock joined Clapton, Jim Gordon and Carl Radle in Derek & The Dominos, the crack unit that backed George Harrison on much of the seminal All Things Must Pass and recorded the classic rock album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. During the recording of those albums, Whitlock tentatively made his first steps as a solo artist. Though drugs were already beginning to tear Derek & The Dominoes apart, Whitlock was able to call on some high profile friends (and “Friends”) to play on his album, including Clapton, Harrison, session bassist Klaus Voorman (John Lennon, Carly Simon, et al), drummer Jim Gordon and others. “I really loved my first record and everything that was behind it,” says Whitlock now. “And for the love that was brought to the room by everyone each time we recorded. I know that you can hear it in Eric's solo on The Scenery Has Slowly Changed.” When Bobby presented his album to Atlantic Records they rejected it, citing a different vision for his debut record. So Bobby bought himself out of his contract. Soon after, The Dominos split up following troubled second album sessions. Bobby just kept moving: first back to his rural home in England, then to France, where the Rolling Stones were recording Exile On Main Street. He found a deal for his debut album (via producer Jimmy Miller) and a follow-up too. That second album, Raw Velvet, featured the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the L.A. Symphony, Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon and Bobby’s new band members: Rick Vito on guitar, Keith Ellis on bass and Don Poncher on drums. Andy Johns produced both Whitlock solo albums. Andy was the recording engineer of Exile on Main Street and later produced Television’s Marquee Moon. Pat Thomas, the reissue producer of this project, told Bobby Whitlock during their first conversation about reissuing these recordings: "Your first two solo albums are the missing link for all this seminal music that has been on CD for years; Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, All Things Must Pass, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Dave Mason’s Alone Together, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends 'On Tour’ with Eric Clapton.” Bobby paused for a moment, and said, "I never thought about it like that, but you're absolutely right." |  | |
| April March and Aquaserge, The Baptist Generals 20-03-2013 | ||
| THE BAPTIST GENERALS TO RELEASE 'JACKLEG DEVOTIONAL TO THE HEART' The band's first album in 10 years is released 20th May 2013 on SUB POP Stream or download single 'Dog That Bit You' here http://www.subpop.com/artists/the_baptist_generals "The music is fragile and spiritual, sodden and boisterous. It's as if the players are seeking out loosely sewn faultlines while trying to balance decay and redemption and to escape a permanent rupture in either direction." - [No Silver / No Gold review; 8./5/10] Pitchfork 'Jackleg Devotional to the Heart' is the long-awaited new album by The Baptist Generals from Denton, Texas. The follow-up to the band’s 2003 debut full-length 'No Silver / No Gold' is well worth the wait, produced by the band’s Jason Riemer and Grammy-winning engineer Stuart Sikes (White Stripes, Cat Power) at The Cigar Box and Elmwood Studios in Oak Cliff, TX. The Baptist Generals will support 'Jackleg Devotional to the Heart' with soon to be announced tour dates in 2013. On The Baptist Generals' sophomore album, the word “heart” repeats eight times. Known for a haunting, claustrophobic take on drunken folk, they needed a full ten years to bare their hearts—one of which is in the album title, a name that songwriter Chris Flemmons conjured shortly after he recorded, and then trashed, the album's first attempt in 2005. Flemmons goes so far as to call this his “love album,” and it's an apt description—though love through The Baptist Generals' eyes is plenty complicated. Jackleg's hearts don't resemble valentines. No smooth curls into a final point. The band's vibraphones, guitarrons and ambient feedback combine like a mess of ventricles, aortas and veins—not to mention, from the sound of it, all of the blood spilled while Jackleg lurched for years toward an eventual finish line (Read more on the Sub Pop website). ///////////////////////////////////// APRIL MARCH AND AQUASERGE COLLABORATE ON NEW ALBUM Released 13th May 2013 on Freaksville http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/feb/27/new-music-april-march-and-aquaserge There are great albums, then there are records that take you somewhere. In the case of April March and Aquaserge, it's to a '60s Paris brimming with style, spirit and seduction. It's a slow kiss amid the hustle and bustle of a Belleville patisserie, the final paragraphs of a Ginsberg poem read crisping in the sun on the banks of the Seine, a wine-soaked night chasing shadows down the cobbled streets of Place de la Bastille. And, as the locals might say, c'est fantastique. And why wouldn't it be, with two such remarkable talents at the helm. Take one brigade of psychedelic rock specialists, cult favourites Aquaserge, who feature Tame Impala drummer Julien Barbagallo and recent Melody's Echo Chamber collaborator Benjamin Glibert, add one beguiling Californian songwriter, April March (real name Elinor Blake), whose candid yé-yé pop met international acclaim when her song ‘Chick Habit’ featured in gritty Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse thriller Death Proof, and the sparks are going to fly – let alone with one of the most creative and romantic of settings as their inspiration. A Serge Gainsbourg-indebted Parisian pop masterstroke full of haunted organ sounds, gently crunching guitars, charming harmonies and sumptuous detail, this debut collaboration was written and recorded across continents, between Blake's New Jersey apartment and the group's Vallesville barn in the French countryside (“on warm days we'd have the barn doors to the studio wide open so when I recorded my vocals it'd be to a random audience of birds and chickens,” recalls the singer). All this after Aquaserge and Blake met in 2007 while playing in – where else? - Paris. |  | |
| ALL GOOD THINGS … : A FORK IN THE ROAD FOR BEN WATT'S BUZZIN' FLY 11-03-2013 | ||
| ALL GOOD THINGS ... FREE download of Ben Watt 'Lone Cat (Holding On)' (Original Mix) made available today https://soundcloud.com/buzzinfly/ben-watt-lone-cat-holding-on It is with a bit of sadness and a lot of pride that Ben Watt's Buzzin' Fly Records - in this, its 10th Anniversary year - announces the closing of a significant door. As of now, the label will be scaling back its operations to become an 'archive label' only, with no new plans to sign new artists or release new work. As a small legacy of a great amount of love and effort, its back catalogue of underground club productions - starting with Watt's own 'Lone Cat' in 2003 and ending with Alex Blaxx's 'Evening News' in 2012 - will be kept available, and a clutch of new comprehensive deluxe digital anthologies will be released later in the year, starting on April 22 with Buzzin' Fly Anthology, Vol 1, 2003-2004. "I loved every minute," says label boss and founder Ben Watt, "but all good things come to an end. It simply feels like the right moment. Buzzin' Fly was born out of my commitment to the culture of DJing and helping young artists, but these days I am edging away from it towards other challenges - a new book I'm writing, research for another one, and a long-planned solo music project. "At heart I have always been a creative person - whether as a writer or musician - as opposed to a business person, and after ten years in clubs and in the office I need time again to focus fully on my own stuff rather than other people's. "It feels appropriate to stop now in our tenth year and leave the label with, I hope, a strong reputation for what it has managed to achieve, rather than to continue with a muted presence. Someone asked why I couldn't hand over the reins to someone else, but I don't think it would ever have been the same. In the meantime, I hope my ongoing show for BBC 6Music's 6Mix can still be a distilled showcase for some of the great music I come across. You never know, there might even be another imprint one day." To toast the moment, a clutch of five huge retrospective Buzzin' Fly digital anthologies are planned for later this year, encompassing all of the label's sixty-eight 12" releases. Each volume will cover two years of the label's history, released at monthly intervals starting in April and ending in September. A few hidden gems are expected to surface on vinyl too. The label's innovative and eye-catching artwork by John Gilsenan at iwant will be re-addressed with plans for limited edition screen prints and a book, and Ben Watt's 'Lone Cat' (Cat No. 001BUZZ) - Buzzin' Fly's debut release from April 2003 - will available as a free download for a limited time. The Buzzin' Fly office and online shop will stay open for back catalogue administration, while sister imprint, Strange Feeling Records, will remain quietly active as a channel for the ongoing output of Tracey Thorn. No live events are currently planned. As for Ben, his new non-fiction book 'Romany and Tom' about his parents' life and marriage - the follow-up to 1996's acclaimed 'Patient' - will be published by Bloomsbury in early 2014 followed by a book tour. He remains a resident radio DJ for BBC 6Music's 6Mix, will speak at Other Voices at Wilton's Music Hall in London in April, and is planning to return to the studio to embark on a brand new studio project later this year. 'Buzzin' Fly Anthology, Volume 1, 2003-2004' is out digitally on April 22. Pre-order from iTunes here - http://bit.ly/15wR8DJ. Volumes 2 - 5 covering the years 2005-2012 follow later in the year. "Every road that I walk has a bend, has a fork." (Ben Watt, from 'Bright Star', 2010) http://www.buzzinfly.com/ |  | |
| Andrew Wyatt: Descender 08-03-2013 | |
| ANDREW WYATT releases ‘Descender’ 6th May 2013 on Ingrid / Downtown /Cooperative Music - https://soundcloud.com/officialandrewwyatt *Limited promos for this one so please request and download links available Andrew Wyatt began his career in music years ago in his native city of New York where he made a name for himself playing with Joan Wasser and members of the Jeff Buckley Band in Black Beetle, as well as Michael Tighe's post-punk revival band The A.M. More recently Wyatt can be found fronting Swedish pop sensations Miike Snow. Recorded in Prague with the city's Philharmonic Orchestra, Wyatt's first solo full-length, Descender, finds Wyatt accessing the pop storyteller side of himself. It's a lush song cycle that marries timeless instrumentation with deep confession and forward thinking production, making classical sounds seem thoroughly modern while allowing their untempered natural beauty to still shine. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// AKRON/FAMILY - NEW SONG 'UNTIL THE MORNING' = http://youtu.be/OFBzC34kOp4 LONDON date – 18th July at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, play SXSW next week (hit back for exact timings) Akron/Family have just unveiled a new song from 'Sub Verses' (out 29th April on Dead Oceans, email to hear this one). It's the grief-stricken 'Until The Morning'. Influenced, in part, by monumental land art installations and harnessed by producer Randall Dunn (Sunn 0))), Earth, Black Mountain, Wolves In The Throne Room etc…), in a sense new album 'Sub Verses' sees the band returning to their roots, revisiting the heavy physical impact, emotional confrontation, intensity, and musicality of their collaborations w/ Michael Gira of Swans. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// PINKUNOIZU new ‘Second Ammendment’ EP released 6th May and New Live Dates Listen to ‘Tin Can Valley’ here: https://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/pinkunoizu-tin-can-valley Following their debut album Free Time! (“there surely won’t be a better prog-psych escapade in 2012”MOJO), Danish 4-piece, Pinkunoizu are set to release their sophomore EP (preceded by 2011’s Peep EP), Second Amendment on 6th May. Recorded in a single day at Livingston Studios, London, and subsequently edited by lead songwriter, Andreas Pallisgaard and drummer, Jaleh Negari in their former adopted hometown of Berlin, this EP is a testament to the band’s talent for not only musical composition, but also their ability to successfully experiment with innovative techniques of production and the layering of various textures of sound. Like the sound of that? Hit reply to hear it or see them live here: May 15th London – Electrowekz May 16th Brighton – Prince Albert, The Great Escape Festival | |
| The Postal Service to Reunite in 2013 30-01-2013 | ||
| The Postal Service to Reunite in 2013 Give Up (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition) out 8th April via Sub Pop featuring Two Never Before Released Songs Live dates to be announced - Coachella and Primavera confirmed Watch “Such Great Heights” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wrsZog8qXg Sub Pop is thrilled to share the news that The Postal Service, the much-beloved, long-distance collaboration between Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, will reunite this spring to celebrate the 10th anniversary and deluxe edition reissue of their universally acclaimed release, Give Up. The Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition will include the original 10-track album along with 15 bonus tracks (including the 2 brand new songs "Turn Around" and "A Tattered Line of String," a previously unreleased live recording, and every other official recording the band has ever released -- as well as cover versions of Postal Service classics by The Shins and Iron & Wine) and was mastered by Grammy nominated engineers Emily Lazar and Joe Laporte. Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition will be available as a 2xCD, 3xLP and digitally on April 8 in the UK and Europe and April 9 in North America via Sub Pop. A very limited “Loser” edition of the 3xLP will be pressed on colored vinyl. Please find a complete tracklisting below. The release of the Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition will also be commemorated by the first live Postal Service dates in a decade. Shows will be announced as they are confirmed (Coachella and Primavera festivals being the first). Check http://www.postalservicemusic.net/ for further details as they become available. Give Up was certified platinum last year just shy of 10 years from its original February 9, 2003 release. Led by the single "Such Great Heights,” the landmark album peaked at #114 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and has sold 1,067, 087 copies in the US to date. After Nirvana’s Bleach, Give Up is the second-biggest selling album in Sub Pop’s nearly 25-year history. Give Up, which Entertainment Weekly called a "near-perfect" album, is the first and only full-length by The Postal Service. The album received 2003 year-end praise from an array of publications, including SPIN, Rolling Stone and the Village Voice “Pazz & Jop” critics’ poll. Give Up also earned "Best of the Decade" status from Pitchfork, NPR, Complex, Paste, Under the Radar, and more. Both Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello (as Dntel) recorded albums in 2012: Gibbard's solo outing, Former Lives, was released via Barsuk Records last October; Dntel's Aimlessness was released this past June on Pampa Records. About The Postal Service: You can spend all the time and money in the world trying to craft the perfect pop-music scenario, but sometimes the stars have to align all by themselves. Even though early on the members of The Postal Service jokingly referred to “Such Great Heights” as “the hit” on their debut album, Give Up, there’s no way anyone could have predicted the eventual impact made by a mail-order album designed in a pair of West Coast bedrooms. It’s been 10 years since the little project that could from Seattelite Ben Gibbard (also known as Death Cab For Cutie’s frontman) and Angeleno Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Figurine) emerged from seemingly nowhere and began to burrow its way into the ears of anyone who came into contact with the band’s infectious electro-pop (read more at Sub Pop http://www.subpop.com/artists/the_postal_service). Tracklisting: Disc 1 (Original Album): 1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight 2. Such Great Heights 3. Sleeping In 4. Nothing Better 5. Recycled Air 6. Clark Gable 7. We Will Become Silhouettes 8. This Place Is a Prison 9. Brand New Colony 10. Natural Anthem Disc 2 (New Tracks, Rarities, B-Sides, Remixes, Cover Versions, etc.): 1. Turn Around 2. A Tattered Line of String 3. Be Still My Heart 4. There’s Never Enough Time 5. Suddenly Everything Has Changed 6. Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now) 7. Grow Old With Me 8. Such Great Heights (John Tejada Remix) 9. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (DJ Downfall Persistent Beat Mix) 10. Be Still My Heart (Nobody Remix) 11. We Will Become Silhouettes (Matthew Dear Remix) 12. Nothing Better (Styrofoam Remix) 13. Recycled Air (Live on KEXP) 14. We Will Become Silhouettes (Performed by The Shins) 15. Such Great Heights (Performed by Iron and Wine) |  | |
| Mogwai soundtrack & Akron / Family 24-01-2013 | ||
| MOGWAI to release 'LES REVENANTS' 25th February on Rock Action, hear 'Wizard Motor' now: https://soundcloud.com/rock-action-records/wizard-motor/ There’s something to be said for a band that, seven studio albums, two soundtracks, a live album and two remix albums into their career, can still twist their artistic journey towards fresh directions that continually surprise and reveal new aspects of their sound. If Mogwai’s decision to create the score to Canal+ supernatural thriller series Les Revenants (meaning ‘Ghosts’) came a little out of leftfield, then what they’ve come up with for the French television network probably wrong-footed even those that gave them the brief. A quick background to Les Revenants: adapted from the eponymous Robin Campillo-directed 2004 film, the series unfolds in an isolated French mountain town, where the locals are troubled after children who were tragically killed in a bus crash appear to come back to life, unaware that they’d died. A wonderfully captured perennial sense of unease and limbo sustains throughout each episode, with dully lit scenes and a sparsely-set location adding to the atmosphere. “We were actually big fans of the director Fabrice Gobert’s film Simon Werner a disparu, which had a soundtrack by Sonic Youth,” comments Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite of their decision to take the project, “and we found the story for Les Revenants incredibly interesting.” The band was approached on the basis of their phenomenal work for the Douglas Gordon documentary 'Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait'. Much like on that Zidane soundtrack, the group have turned away again from their recognised path towards the fascinating new; their familiar layers on layers of textural guitar have been stripped away, allowing isolated piano and keys to wander with grip-like tension through the fourteen tracks. There’s something intangibly Mogwai here still, but it’s been refracted through a fresh prism. ******************************************************************** AKRON/FAMILY returns with new album 'Sub Verses' released April 29th 2013 on Dead Oceans Stream "No-Room" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQfd_EKuK0 Yesterday Akron/Family premiered the first song from their forthcoming record, Sub Verses, out on Dead Oceans on 29th April. "No-Room" can be streamed via Pitchfork herealongside a first leg of 2013 live dates (USA). http://pitchfork.com/news/49243-akronfamily-announce-new-album-sub-verses-listen-to-new-track-no-room-now/ "No-Room" showcases the heavier, more direct sound of Sub Verses. Influenced, in part, by monumental land art installations and harnessed by producer Randall Dunn (Sunn 0))), Earth, Black Mountain, Wolves In The Throne Room etc…). In a sense it sees the band returning to their roots, revisiting the heavy physical impact, emotional confrontation, intensity, and musicality of their collaborations w/ Michael Gira of Swans. In a personal statement Gira had this to say about Sub Verses: "We find [Akron/Family] rocking (still rocking), but now in a skittering kaleidoscope. The shards of music styles and influences flung through the speakers from all directions, congealing for a second, then just as quickly dissolving into something new and unexpected. They're amphetamine-crazed jugglers of sound and texture, but there's always those vocals, rooting the thing in a deep and satisfying place. It seems to me lots of groups these days view the whole history of music as fair game for their palette, which might be understandable, since it's all there at easy access now, but most of it seems like playing dress up to me, and certainly it exists in inverted commas. There are no inverted commas in the world of AK. They're inside the music, grinding it, fighting it, chewing it, digesting it, then spewing it up to the sky in a multicolored spray of endless sound and love." The full text from Gira is available, alongside statements from Seth Olinsky & Miles Seaton from Akron/Family here at Dead Oceans: http://deadoceans.com/onesheet.php?cat=DOC078 The album’s art was created by Sunn 0))) guitarist Stephen O’Malley, whose graphic design has appeared on records from Boris & The Melvins to Oneohtrix Point Never. Visit the Akron/Family Tumblr for more insight on the visual influences that informed the work. http://sbvrss.tumblr.com/ Sub Verses tracklisting 1. No-Room 2. Way Up 3. Until the Morning 4. Sand Talk 5. Sometimes I 6. Holy Boredom 7. Sand Time 8. Whole World is Watching 9. When I was Young 10. Samurai |  | |
| Gold Panda returns.... 22-01-2013 | ||
| GOLD PANDA ‘Trust EP’ 12” released Monday 4th March via NOTOWN - digital tracks available now. Headline London show - June 12th @ Electric in Brixton, Sonar Festival and USA, EU & Australasian tour announced. Suis generis electronic artist Gold Panda is set to release a 12” of all-new material, entitled the Trust EP. The 4 track collection is available now via www.iamgoldpanda.com and the vinyl version will be released on 4th March. The EP is available to stream in full via Pitchfork Advance - http://pitchfork.com/advance/ - now and can also be listened to at the artists website alongside purchase links for the digital and pre-order options for the 12” vinyl. In addition, Gold Panda has just announced a headline London show as well as dates in Australia, New Zealand and North America. The show at Brixton Electric is his first London headline show since a sold-out Koko date 15 months ago. Tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday, 25th January. Full touring dates are on his site. An artist who’s never felt the need to try and find his place, or even give the notion of attempting to fit in credence, ‘Trust EP’ is another wonderfully singular piece of work. From the title track, with its mournful horns and baritone vocal sample, to the pressing, insistent rhythms of 'Burnt Out Car In A Forest', the tracks on show are complex and intricate, while remaining profoundly human and engaging. It's another showcase of the elements that made his debut album 'Lucky Shiner' wildly acclaimed, while showing a few new tricks that previously remained up his sleeve. Creating the EP was about “trusting yourself that something is good”, according to Derwin AKA Gold Panda: “[It's about] Trusting your instincts.“ “I make a lot of music but not much gets to see the light of day”, he added. “…but I trust my judgement that these tracks are worthy enough to commit to vinyl. “ The process of recording the tracks for Trust involved a step back a previously regimented routine of studio time each day: “The inspiration was just getting away from computers/laptops made my arrangements a bit more free and natural I think. Just jamming and looking out my window. Then taking a walk to see what I recorded, going back and copying the live arrangement. (Apart from Casyam_59#2 which is my mate showing me the sounds his Yamaha keyboard could make over a loop I made with a cheap Casio one). “I think I've stripped out a layer of my music since Lucky Shiner, maybe it was feeling too cluttered, I think these tracks and the tracks for the new album have more space, but don't feel empty." The EP is his first release since the short-run Mountain / Financial District 7” that emerged last May, and is set to be followed later this year by his second full-length album. In the UK, the 12” comes out on Gold Panda’s own label NOTOWN, which has recently released an album by Dam Mantle and a pair of EPs by Luke Abbott. Further releases are lined up in 2013, including the debut of Hamburg musician, Hannes Rasmus. Ghostly will be releasing the EP throughout North America and mainland Europe. . ******************************************************************** LORD HURON sells out London shows early February 2013 & announces Rough Trade West instore performance Debut album Lonesome Dreams out 28th January 2013 on Play It Again Sam / I AM SOUND - hit reply for copies “Schneider shows such an unerring ability to locate the sense of yearning and wonder that lies at the heart of the best Americana” ‘Album of the Week’, The Sunday Times "Springsteen meets Thoreau" 8/10 Uncut “Something original” The Observer Following the release of their magnificent and much praised debut album Lonesome Dreams - out next Monday, hotly-tipped pop experimentalists Lord Huron are pleased to announce their debut UK shows are both sold out. They will also appear at Rough Trade West on Saturday 10th February as well now. Don't worry we have list spots saved - but be quick and interview requests. Full details of the shows are: 7 February at London’s Old Blue Last (presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties) –SOLD OUT 8 February at The Lexington, London (presented by All Tomorrow's Parties) – SOLD OUT 9 February at Rough Trade West - 2pm - http://www.roughtrade.com/site/news_detail.lasso?story_id=1893 Led by Michigan-born songwriting prodigy Ben Schneider, their sound - a joyous collision of Appalachian percussion, rustic guitars and sumptuous harmonies lit up by lens-flare flashes of electronics – has won rave reviews from either side of the Atlantic. The band’s live shows brings to life the effervescent noises of Lonesome Dreams, an album as vast and easy to lose yourself in as a Sergio Leone cinescape. Inspired by the rust coloured canyons and characters of the Wild West (with the emphasis on wild), the record also encompasses short films, intriguing artwork and a series of imagined novels by a fictional ageing wordsmith, the mysterious George Ranger Johnson. “I'm interested in creating a world with its own mythology,” says Schneider. Watch ‘Time To Run’ video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_e8RRTT0r8 Live on NPR Tiny Desk Concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9eiq-ctKDY ******************************************************************** HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER - NEW ALBUM 'HAW' - 8TH APRIL 2013 ON PARADISE OF BACHELORS STREAM 'SUFFERER (LOVE MY CONQUEROR)' NOW https://soundcloud.com/paradise-of-bachelors/02-sufferer-love-my-conqueror/ “Mystical country. An eerie yellowing photograph.” David Bowie "A thing of gentle charm & unmistakable cosmic American beauty. It is, for those of us who delight in the likes of Iron & Wine, our first contact with a new & wonderful songwriter.” The Independent “country-soul greatness” Uncut Haw is the name of a river, a modest tributary of the Cape Fear, flowing rocky and swift through 110 miles of Piedmont North Carolina, wending Southeasterly past abandoned and repurposed textile mills, rickety hippie homesteads, and red-clay farmland fringed with pine forests. Green corn in the fields/River running like a wheel. Haw is also one of a few names for a small Siouan tribe that once resided in the eponymous river’s valley and may have alternately known themselves as the Saxapahaw or Sissipahaw. After battling British settlers in the bloody Yamasee War of 1715-17, the Haw disappear from the colonial historical record. Their river remains, rolling on. “Haw!” how a muleskinner moves a mule to the left. “Haw,” half a laugh. 'Haw', herein, is an album of eleven songs about family, faith, and an ill-prophesied future, an artifact almost as archaic, lovely and seldom heard today as directional commands for beasts of burden. M.C. Taylor, who wrote these songs, once lived hard by the 'Haw' with his wife Abigail and their son Elijah—Well I come from the bottom of the river Haw, he sings—but he doesn’t live there anymore. Having followed the slipstream to the relative bustle of nearby Durham, North Carolina, he has composed a new clutch of tunes that conjure the half-remembered dreams of peace promised by our pasts. 'Haw' proposes a manifestly mature sense of anxiety and acute but unspectacular workaday pain, mapping a spiritual inscape pricklier and more unknowable than the places explored on 'Poor Moon' (2011), the previous Hiss Golden Messenger record of all new material. Sonically, the arrangements - by turns lush with strings and saxophones and as kitchen-table direct as 'Bad Debt' (2010) - belie the compositions’ Biblical claws with a longing for pastoral comfort, the ease of fellowship, and more minutes than they can contain. Taylor’s writing and singing here achieve a tenebrous clarity, invoking—and occasionally challenging—a intermingling cast of prophetic characters both sacred and profane: Daniel, Elijah, the Apostles, and the Son of Man, sure, but also the Peacock Fiddle Band, Mississippi John Hurt, and by implication, Lew Welch, Waylon Jennings, Michael Hurley, and our friend Jefferson Currie II. | | |
| THE MEN announce new LP, LOW track & Lee Hazlewood debut 08-01-2013 | ||
| We're over the (new) moon to be announcing details of a new record and shows by THE MEN. Also the first track from LOW's 10th record has just been put on the world wide web - looks like Mimi and Alan are going to be in the UK late February for interviews too. Want more in March? OK, Light In The Attic continue their excellent LEE HAZLEWOOD Archive series by reissuing his debut album 'Trouble Is A Lonesome Town' with lots of bonus tracks and interviews.... THE MEN ANNOUNCE FOURTH ALBUM 'NEW MOON', RELEASED 4TH MARCH ON SACRED BONES RECORDS SINGLE 'ELECTRIC' RELEASED ON 7" 22ND JANUARY, STREAMING NOW http://youtu.be/4MKGz5c8p2M LIVE IN THE UK: 19th MARCH 2013 - THE GARAGE, LONDON With their fourth full-length album to be released in as many years, The Men proudly present the sweeping 'New Moon', the most intensely personal and immersive installment yet. 'New Moon' is the follow up to their well-received 2012 release, 'Open Your Heart'. The record’s first single, 'Electric', will be released on 7-inch vinyl on 22nd January The Men quit the city in early 2012 to head for Big Indian, NY - transforming a remote Catskills locale into a full-fledged stray dog studio home. Taking complete advantage of dry eyes and clear mountain mornings, the band thoroughly surrendered their writing process and themselves to the recording environment. Entering with only the most skeletal sketches, the house was selected as an incubator for its technical limitations, 32-hour orbit and predisposal to celestial intervention. Familiar faces remain, the core of guitarists Nick Chiericozzi and Mark Perro, with drummer Rich Samis all returning from 2012’s much-acclaimed 'Open Your Heart'. Friend and producer Ben Greenberg (Pygmy Shrews, Hubble, Zs) officially joins the ranks as bassist on paper, and full-bore compositional partner in practice. In tandem, wayward brother Kevin Faulkner occupies his most substantial sphere to date, dreaming aloud on lap steel. The Men’s oft-cited commitment to their “no-one-is-frontman” maxim surely insists itself all the more emphatically here. -- so much so that it practically creates a new band in the process. This smiling observance induces a fresh fluidity amongst their roles and instrumentation, incorporating at various junctures piano, mandolin, harmonica, four-part vocal harmonies and even no-input harsh noise. 'New Moon' is simultaneously an expansion of palette and a contraction of focus. It is a love letter devoted in bowed humility to the grand continuum, exposing the hoax of the great divide. Allegiances to the glowing patinas of Detroit and San Francisco, New York and Nashville all abound, but ‘nostalgia’ is not her name. The band’s clear ethos is to revisit but never retread. ....................................................................................................................... LOW RELEASE FIRST SONG FROM TENTH ALBUM 'THE INVISIBLE WAY', 'JUST MAKE IT STOP' AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING https://soundcloud.com/subpop/low-just-make-it-stop Sub Pop Records is excited to announce that Duluth, MN, trio Low are releasing the first song from their 10th record, 'The Invisible Way'. 'Just Make It Stop' is available for streaming HERE. 'The Invisible Way' will be released on 18th March. Coincidentally, the release marks Low's 20th anniversary as a band. 'The Invisible Way' was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, engineered by Tom Schick and recorded in Wilco’s studio in Chicago, IL, during the autumn of last year. “Low has made so many great records over the years, so I was pleasantly surprised they wanted to work with me at the loft,” said Tweedy. “I felt privileged to work with them and be a part of this new record.” 'The Invisible Way' finds Low’s majestic melancholy in full bloom yet distinguishes itself with its starker, unadorned soundscapes, layered harmonies and drummer/vocalist extraordinaire Mimi Parker singing lead on five of the eleven songs. The album tackles large issues (“the songs are about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archaeology and love,” says Sparhawk) in a manner that plays a stunning counterpoint to the sublime hush of the music. Tracklisitng: 1. Plastic Cup 2. Amethyst 3. So Blue 4. Holy Ghost 5. Waiting 6.Clarence White 7. Four Score 8. Just Make It Stop 9. Mother 10. On My Own 11. To Our Knees UK April Tour: 24 – Birmingham, UK – Glee Club 25 – Manchester, UK – Central Methodist Hall 26 – Gateshead, UK – The Sage Gateshead 27 – Glasgow, UK – Classic Grand 29 – Bristol, UK – Trinity 30 – London, UK – Barbican Centre ............................................................................................................. LEE HAZLEWOOD 'TROUBLE IS A LONESOME TOWN' (LITA 096) reissued 18th March 2012 + First time available in its original mono mix since the ‘60s + Expanded CD and 2xLP edition with 15 bonus tracks + CD & LP include book-deep liner notes by John Dixon with a previously unpublished 1998 interview with Lee + Unseen archive photos Light In The Attic’s Lee Hazlewood Archive Series continues with an expanded reissue of Lee Hazlewood’s debut album. Re-mastered from the original tapes, this is the first time Trouble Is a Lonesome Town has been available in its original mono mix since the 1960s. Presented as a double LP with 15 bonus tracks and an eight page booklet, this is an essential purchase for Hazlewood fans or anyone curious about about the man before the moustache. Originally released in 1963, Trouble... finds the bohemian cowboy sketching out a vivid picture of a backwater place named Trouble, where trouble with a small ‘t’ is never far away. “Trouble is little and it’s lonesome,” he says, on the title track, “you won’t find it on any map, but you can take three steps in any direction and you’re there.” Lee says plenty on the album. The first voice you hear is Hazlewood’s spoken-word narration. It’s a format the singer-songwriter would revisit frequently, introducing his stirring songs with a touch fireside storytelling in the rich, Texan drawl he’d tried hard to lose during years he was struggling to make it as an aspiring radio DJ. Each mini, pre-song poem seems to impart unexpected wisdom. Indeed, if the record sounds remarkably wise and mature for a debut album, Hazlewood was, of course, no spring chicken on making this debut. 34 years old at the time of the album’s release, he was already a seasoned producer, writer and publisher with dozens of hits under his belt and a few singles under his own name and more under the pseudonym ‘Mark Robinson’ – all of which are included here in this reissue. |  | |
| Lord Huron hits the UK 20-12-2012 | ||
| LORD HURON announces debut UK shows early February 2013, sells out immediately Debut album Lonesome Dreams released 14 January on Play It Again Sam / I AM SOUND Watch ‘Time To Run’ video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_e8RRTT0r8 Live on NPR Tiny Desk Concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9eiq-ctKDY "Ben Schneider's soaring folk-rock project conjures a life unfettered and outside of time - roads and rivers wind.... The palette is broad, with layered guitars, harmonica and saloon piano tinged with gamelan-style percussion and Asian-flavoured melodies, all serving an impressionist Wild West cosmology that includes Schneider's visual art and film work. It's ambitious, beguiling stuff." Rolling Stone 'Artist to Watch' As anticipation builds for the release of their magnificent debut album Lonesome Dreams, hotly-tipped pop experimentalists Lord Huron are pleased to announce their debut UK shows, such is the demand the first show sold out as soon as ATP announced it, so a second has been added at The Lexington: 7 February at London’s Old Blue Last (presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties) –SOLD OUT 8 February at The Lexington, London (presented by All Tomorrow's Parties) – http://www.atpfestival.com/events/lordhuronlondon.php Led by Michigan-born songwriting prodigy Ben Schneider, their sound - a joyous collision of Appalachian percussion, rustic guitars and sumptuous harmonies lit up by lens-flare flashes of electronics – has won rave reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly while an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno confirmed them as a band on a stratospheric rise. Now, after a string of sold-out US shows, that stratospheric rise is set to spread to British shores. Described as “a mysterious, powerful force” by LA Weekly, the band’s live shows brings to life the effervescent noises of Lonesome Dreams, an album as vast and easy to lose yourself in as a Sergio Leone cinescape. Inspired by the rust coloured canyons and characters of the Wild West (with the emphasis on wild), the record also encompasses short films, intriguing artwork and a series of imagined novels by a fictional ageing wordsmith, the mysterious George Ranger Johnson. “I'm interested in creating a world with its own mythology,” says the Michigan native. Lord Huron began as a solo endeavor in 2010 but Schneider has since enlisted some of his “best amigos” to turn his songs into a powerful live experience: Mark Barry (percussion, vocals), Miguel Briseno (bass, percussion), Brett Farkas (guitar, vocals) and Tom Renaud (guitar, vocals). “We’ve got a pretty good working relationship,” he says. “A good wrestling match can solve almost anything we disagree about.” Tickets for the Lexington show are on sale now, while Lonesome Dreams is released on 14 January on Play It Again Same / I AM SOUND. |  | |
| Sacred Bones In the House 12-12-2012 | ||
| We're chuffed to bits to announce In House is going to be working with ace New York based record label Sacred Bones (http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/). We've been big fans of their psychedelic leaning output - The Men, Moon Duo and Psychic Ills to name a few - for a good while now and they release loads of great stuff over their 5 years existence. They've even just pressed the amazing F. J. McMahon loner folk classic 'Spirit of the Golden Juice' on vinyl. Nice one guys. To get the ball rolling we've news of not one but two new releases from Chile and a new Psychic Ills album. Plus Led Er Est are in London on 20th Dec if you wanted to catch up with them. There's definitely (or they're putting) something in the water in the Chilean capital Santiago at the moment as there is a great brew of new psychedelic artists. Here's two of them.. Föllakzoid 'II' debut album released 28th January 2013 Föllakzoid began in Santiago, Chile from what they describe as the result of, “a product of a trance experience between friends, sort of a soul abduc-tion in which they’ve been living since 2008.” The band is made up of multi-faceted artists: Juan Pablo (bass, vocals) is a producer of the Sangre Fresca Music Festival in Santiago, Diego (drums) is a photograher, Alfredo (synth) is an architect, and Domingo (guitar) is also a filmmaker who just premiered his first feature length movie “Partir to Live”. They believe that there is some sort of gravitational force that makes South America able to dialogue directly with other places, times, and dimensions. The band have all known each other from childhood in Santiago. They take their times recording albums, generally allowing two years in between perfecting their songs with their goal being to make something organic, that breaths on it’s own, which integrates into part of a separate, higher and bigger living organism. The Holydrug Couple 'Noctuary' released 28th January 2013 The Holydrug Couple have done a lot of growing since their first release with Sacred Bones Records in 2011. The “couple”, consisting of Ives Sepúlveda and Manuel Parra recorded Noctuary in Santiago, Chile. They put together a home studio and recorded the entire album themselves, from start to finish. Feeling that no one else had been able to capture their sound, Ives decided to take a risk and produce and engineer the album on his own. After four months of obsessively working and barely leaving the house, Ives emerged with a final product of which the band is truly proud. All of this hard work has manifested in a more elaborated, astral sounding album than its predecessor, Awe. While Awe and their Ancient Land EP had a bluesier, woodsy sound, Noctuary plays out like a slow motion 60’s beach party dream that you never want to wake from, sounding like a breezy take on Love or Beau Brummels. Psychic Ills 'One Track Mind' released 18th February, stream new track 'Might Take A While' https://soundcloud.com/sacredbones/psychic-ills-might-take-a When it comes to following the beat of their own drum, New York’s Psychic Ills have exemplified the phrase since their beginnings in 2003. Initially spawned from electronic-centered home recording experiments, they progressed into all-night full-band exploration in a neighborhood where noise wasn’t a problem. They soon after evolved into a live band seemingly at home within the extended jam, exploring a variety of musical terrain. The early years saw several releases for Social Registry, tons of time on the road, and collaborations with artists as diverse as Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) and Sonic Boom (Spacemen Three/ Spectrum). In 2011, their first effort for Sacred Bones, Hazed Dream traded in the synthesizer space-outs and raga rumbles, and delivered a record of sunburned psych pop, awash in warm tones and blues damaged songwriting. This new track 'Might Take A While' features production & back up vocals by Neil Michael Hagerty of Royal Trux/The Howling Hex. The album artwork is by former 13th Floor Elevators songwriter and artist Powell St. John. There will also be a limited value-add covers 7" available at most retail outlets, containing the Ills’ takes on The Godz’ “Radar Eyes” and private press psych pop obscurity Cosmic Michaels’ “Cosmic Michael Theme”. Led Er Est in London on 20th December and available for interviews... https://soundcloud.com/sacredbones/led-er-est-kaiyo-maru Led Er Est emerged from a series of jam sessions that core members Shawn O’Sullivan and Sam De La Rosa started having in early 2007, using bass guitar, some cheap drum machines, and synths. They were inspired to record music largely by 70’s synth prog, and 80’s lo-fi electronic and industrial music. After releases on Wierd Records and Captured Tracks, the groups second full length 'The Diver' was released in August this year on Sacred Bones. On stage and in the studio Led Er Est create a thick wall of atmospheric soundscapes using vintage analog recording devices, samplers, and synths using sci-fi soundtracks and cold wave as reference points. Short of an idea for the Christmas party? Why not join the SB crew, friends and roster to celebrate they're 5th anniversary on 21st Dec. Where? The Mojave Desert. http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/ |  | |
| Harper Simon new LP... 06-12-2012 | ||
| HARPER SIMON releases new LP Division Street on Play It Again Sam on March 25th 2013 Free Download, “Bonnie Brae” available TODAY from Harper's Facebook Or via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pias/harper-simon-bonnie-brae/s-uJnb4 We’re excited to announce the return of Harper Simon, who has announced the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut with new album Division Street, produced by Tom Rothrock (Elliott Smith, Beck) via Play It Again Sam on March 25th 2013. Harper’s self-titled album saw the relative newcomer recording in Nashville with legendary producer Bob Johnston (Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen). The album was a critical success, with Uncut awarding it their ‘Debut of the Month’ calling it “cleverly written, elegantly played and beautifully sung pieces of pop craftsmanship” and Rolling Stone “a gorgeous collection of vintage-sounding country-folk tunes” . With Division Street, Harper dives into new musical territory accompanied by new stories. “I see the character in the song ‘Division Street’ as being at a moment where life can go a couple different ways,” says Simon of the title track from the new record. “I think these songs tend to be like a snapshot of a character at a pivotal moment. They could go this way or that way on the metaphorical Division Street: up or down, negative or positive, to the light or to self-destruction. “Or they’re looking back at a moment they didn’t recognize as pivotal,” he says. “Because we rarely do.” Division Street is a departure for Simon: it features a sound that’s much more driven by electric guitars than his alt country-flavoured debut. “The mission was to make the kind of Rock ‘n’ Roll record I would want to listen to myself,” he says. “Which sounds simple but is, in fact, incredibly difficult.” Simon co-produced Division Street with Tom Rothrock, who produced three albums for Elliott Smith (Either/Or, XO and Figure 8) and Beck’s first album Mellow Gold, among others. As the team worked, the album’s sound grew rougher around the edges. “I felt challenged and inspired by the idea of making a modern psychedelic folk-rock album, a Tom Rothrock production like XO, but then the Velvet Underground and the Stones kept entering in,” says Simon. “Elliott Smith was very influenced by the Beatles but my guitar playing is more influenced by Keith Richards. And I kept wanting to emphasize more lo-fi elements.” Division Street was recorded with a small coterie of guest musicians—including Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello’s Attractions on drums, Nikolai Fraiture from the Strokes on bass, vocals by Inara George, Feist’s musical director Brian LeBarton playing synths, as well as Nate Walcott from Bright Eyes and Wilco’s Mikael Jorgensen. “I’m very lucky,” says Simon. “Everybody that we asked to come and guest on the record showed up.” See you on Division Street. |  | |
| Beach Fossils release 'Clash The Truth' 05-12-2012 | ||
| ////////////////////////////// BEACH FOSSILS ANNOUNCE 'CLASH THE TRUTH' Released 11 March 2013 on Captured Tracks http://soundcloud.com/capturedtracks/beach-fossils-careless-1 We're pleased to be announcing the release of Beach Fossils' album 'Clash The Truth', an altogether bolder, louder and more accomplished release than their last, which manages to ditch the nostalgia but still tug on the heartstrings. Beach Fossils began in 2009 as the solo project of Dustin Payseur. Before and after the 2010 release of the S/T debut LP and 2011’s What A Pleasure EP, they performed around the world with a line-up that once featured Cole Smith (DIIV) and John Peńa (Heavenly Beat). They quickly became known for their highly energetic stage show, bringing the recorded work to a volume and tempo that would make even the indie-est of crowds wind up in a frenzy. With the exception of drummer Tommy Gardner, that line up dissolved to pursue their ambitions with the aforementioned projects. Wanting to bridge the gap between the live and recorded aspects of the band, Dustin began writing Clash the Truth determined to capture the urgency, human flow and spontaneity of the live performance. ////////////////////////////// MAZES 'ORES AND MINERALS' Released 25 February 2013 on Fat Cat Records http://soundcloud.com/fatcatrecords/mazes-bodies 'Ores & Minerals' is a sprawling eccentric opus, self produced by the band this summer in various makeshift Hackney studios. The album draws from a much broader palette than the band's debut; utilizing repetitive loops and samples, playing up a rhythm section that could walk into any recording session by The Fall and feel comfortable, honing an expansive loose guitar sound and all the while retaining that unmistakable knack with melody. It's a really exciting and refreshingly original record. Of the album, the band's Jack Cooper says, "We set about trying to make a record that was far more original and broader than the first one... a representation of all the things that inspired us rather than a small portion." Each new approach opens up more and more layers of motorik rhythms and Verlaine-veined guitars that permeate the album. It's a more refined vision of Mazes' sound, just as buoyant as their last, but honed into a taught exploration of their musical passions that comes through on every level. 19 February - Soup Kitchen, Manchester 20 February - Stereo, York 21 February - Broadcast, Glasgow 22 February - Camp & Furnace, Liverpool 23 February - Workman's Club, Dublin IE 24 February - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 25 February - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham 26 February - Louisiana, Bristol 27 February - Prince Albert, Brighton 28 February - Birthdays, London ////////////////////////////// POPSTRANGERS 'ANTIPODES' Released 25 February 2013 on Carpark Records http://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/heaven/s-rnur9 "Popstrangers exude an effortless but irresistible attitude and excel in grungy, swirling guitars, fizzing, fierce energy and huge hooks." NME Popstrangers are three native New Zealanders who make “pop” music that’s hard-driving, punk-influenced and sonically inimitable. After releasing several singles on fabled New Zealand label Flying Nun, the band arrives with their debut album Antipodes. Recorded in the basement of a 1930’s dancehall, Popstrangers’ first full-length features dissonant, claustrophobic melodies, anchored by the languid affectations of Flyger’s vocals, that bring a vintage feel to their decidedly contemporary garage rock. Channelling early Radiohead and kiwi indie bands of yore, like the Gordons, 3Ds and the Chills, Antipodes further develops the band’s nuanced, distorted “pop” created and cultivated from years spent honing their craft live. ////////////////////////////// CONCRETE KNIVES 'BE YOUR OWN KING' Released 18 February 2013 on Bella Union. Brand new video for 'Wallpaper' here http://youtu.be/R-aBFGjf1ds Fusing youthful exuberance with an artistic prowess far beyond their years, Concrete Knives are a band who have illuminated stages around Europe with their unique blend of resonating guitars, elaborate melodies, charging, pounding rhythms and euphoric collective vocals - an enticing and exciting mixture which unfailingly attracts the undivided attention of all who fall into their path. Now, this lauded Normandy outfit are set to unleash their highly anticipated debut album upon the world. ////////////////////////////// WIDOWSPEAK 'ALMANAC' Released 11 February 2013 on Captured Tracks http://soundcloud.com/capturedtracks/ballad-of-the-golden-hour If Widowspeak's first record serves as a collection of postcards, sent from destinations travelled to in that first transformative year, then their second is the guidebook written after they'd found their sonic home and inhabited it fully. Widowspeak is an American band comprised of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas, known for its dreamy, western-tinged take on rock and roll. The outfit formed in 2010 and released two singles in 2011, Harsh Realm and Gun Shy, followed by a self-titled debut album in the summer of that year; all on Brooklyn label Captured Tracks. Widowspeak was praised for its reverential spaciousness, Hamilton's haunting voice, and Thomas's spindly, Morricone-esque guitar lines; both drawing on 1950's pop ballads and 1970's psych, creating languid call-and-response melodies. The band then toured extensively, wearing in their warm, nostalgic sound. ////////////////////////////// DOGBITE 'VELVET CHANGES' Released 4 February 2013 on Carpark Records http://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/04-prettiest-pills Phil Jones (no, not that one) has been subtly cutting his teeth under the name Dog Bite for years now. After self-releasing his sample-based psych-folk and sitting in the production chair for a few fellow Georgians, he was picked up for a single and an EP on Young Turks. Now, Jones puts forth his debut long-player, Velvet Changes on Carpark Records. Rather than working within the parameters of previous output, Velvet Changes sees Jones eschewing samples and expanding his palette to incorporate the dreamy aesthetics often associated with vintage 4AD bands like A.R. Kane or Cocteau Twins. ////////////////////////////// |  | |
| LOW - NEW ALBUM 'THE INVISIBLE WAY' - 18TH MARCH 2013 ON SUB POP 29-11-2012 | ||
| - New album produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, watch a video trailer now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2swv0SQI_C4 - UK and European tour confirmed for Spring 2013 - Also, a live set entitled 'Low Plays Nice Places' featuring six fan favourites and a new song is available to stream via a Top Spin Widget http://www.subpop.com/artists/low Sub Pop Records is excited to announce that Duluth, Minnesota, trio Low are releasing their 10th record, 'The Invisible Way', on 18th March 2013. The record was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, engineered by Tom Schick and recorded in Wilco’s studio in Chicago during the autumn of this year. Coincidentally, the release marks Low's 20th anniversary as a band. “While driving through Chicago on tour, we finally stopped to visit Wilco at their studio, The Loft,” says guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk. “They had invited us to come check it out several times over the years, but this would finally be the day…What really converted us was hearing the new Mavis Staples tracks they were working on – big, simple, raw and intimate. Plans were made then and there.” 'The Invisible Way' finds Low’s majestic melancholy in full bloom yet distinguishes itself with its starker, unadorned soundscapes, layered harmonies and drummer/vocalist extraordinaire Mimi Parker singing lead on five of the 11 songs. The album tackles large issues (“the songs are about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archaeology and love,” says Sparhawk) in a confrontational manner that plays a stunning counterpoint to the sublime hush of the music. Low are also now making available a fantastic six-song live set they are calling Low – Plays Nice Places. The recording features 5 previously released fan favorites, as well as a new song called "Waiting", all of which were recorded at various historic theaters on the bands April 2012 tour supporting Death Cab for Cutie. Additionally, the live version of "Words" features Benjamin Gibbard on bass and vocals. Please feel free to post using the embed code above. Low Plays Nice Places tracklisting: Words (featuring Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie*) Waiting Sunflowers Witches Pissing Murderer *Benjamin Gibbard appears courtesy of Atlantic Records A European tour has been confirmed to begin April 2013 in the UK at the Glee Club in Birmingham and finishes in France in May. The complete tour dates are listed below with UK shows in bold. April 24 – Birmingham, UK – Glee Club 25 – Manchester, UK – Central Methodist Hall 26 – Gateshead, UK – The Sage Gateshead 27 – Glasgow, UK – Classic Grand 29 – Bristol, UK – Trinity 30 – London, UK – Barbican Centre May 2 – Copehnhagen, Denmark – Loppen 3 – Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser 4 – Oslo, Norway – Bla 7 – Paris, France – La Maroquinerie 8 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal – Nuits Botanique 9 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Paradiso De Duif 10 – Frankfurt, Germany – Zoom 11 – Bologna, Italy – Teatro Antoniano 13 – Barcelona, Spain – Casino de la Alianca 14 – Valencia, Spain – Teatro La Rambleta 15 – Zaragoza, Spain – Teatro de las Esquina 16 – Madrid, Spain – Joy Eslava 17 – Valladolid, Spain – Lava 18 – Biarritz, France – Atabal |  | |
| Allah-Las Winter Brit Invasion 27-11-2012 | ||
| ALLAH-LAS hit the UK, release new video - http://youtu.be/3HaFMaTlryY “It’s all wonderful stuff here” Mojo “A meticulous and sensational new garage rock band from LA” Uncut "dreamy Rickenbacker pop" Q “the swinging sound of ‘60s sunset strip mixed with exquisite boss a nova flourishes” NME "This is a late arrival in 2012's albums of the year list" The Times "A groove heavy masterpiece...a spectacular, modern take on a classic timeworn formula" 4.5 / 5 The Fly "fresh and addictive" 4.5/5 The Sun "Allah-Las manage the neat trick of narrowing the gab between 1966 and the present day" 4/5 The Independent "filled to the brim with shiny pop nuggets" Time Out "powerful songs" The Sunday Times “It's possible to move backwards and forwards at the same time.” This is the mantra of Los Angeles' Allah-Las, whose self-titled debut album is at once a feverous, sweat-soaked nostalgia trip into California's surf rock past and a nod to tomorrow. Expect the Byrds' sun-drenched melodies, Love's golden guitar jangles and the Beach Boys' Technicolor harmonies, all given a modern makeover. Mon 10 Dec - Shacklewell Arms - London - SOLD OUT Tue 11 Dec - The Hope - Brighton Wed 12 Dec - Leaf, - Liverpool Thu 13 Dec - Night & Day - Manchester |  | |
| January Sales 23-11-2012 | ||
| /////////////////////////////////////// DUTCH UNCLES 'Out Of Touch In The Wild' 7 January 2013 on Memphis Industries http://soundcloud.com/dutch-uncles/fester Isn’t it great to see a young band growing the old fashioned way? Three albums into their career, Manchester’s Dutch Uncles, a group who pitched their tents firmly in pop’s leftfield with their eponymous first album before releasing Memphis Industries debut Cadenza in 2011, have made another huge step forward with their forthcoming album Out Of Touch In The Wild. There’s been no great reinvention, just great progress: this is a refined version of Dutch Uncles doing what they do best: making labyrinthine pop of Escher-like complexity and crystal clarity. 5 Feb- Newcastle, The Cluny. 6 Feb- Glasgow, The Art School. 7 Feb- Leeds, Brudenell Social Club. 8 Feb- Liverpool, The Kazimer. 9 Feb- Sheffield, The Leadmill. 12 Feb- Cardiff, The Moon. 13 Feb- Brighton, Green Door Store. 14 Feb- London, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen. 15 Feb- Birmingham, Hare & Hounds. 16 Feb- Manchester, Gorilla. /////////////////////////////////////// MENAHAN STREET BAND 'The Crossing' 7 January 2013 on Daptone http://soundcloud.com/daptone-records/menahan-street-band-the Menahan Street Band are a Brooklyn based multi-instrumental funk and soul ensemble who have made waves with their recording and performance work alongside Paul McCartney, Alicia Keys, Mark Ronson, Cee Lo, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings to name a few. The ensemble are set to release their sophomore album “The Crossing” on Dunham Records, a sub-label of Daptone Records, both independent imprints known for serving up the best contemporary funk and soul, Afrobeat and gospel music such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields, Antibalas and Charles Bradley amongst others. /////////////////////////////////////// LORD HURON 'Lonesome Dreams' 14 January 2013 on I Am Sound/PIAS http://soundcloud.com/lord-huron/time-to-run Lonesome Dreams is the brilliant debut album from rising pop experimentalists Lord Huron, led by Michigan-born song writing prodigy Ben Schneider. A joyous collision of Appalachian percussion, rustic guitars and sumptuous harmonies lit up by lens-flare flashes of electronics, it’s a record inspired by the rust coloured canyons and characters of the Wild West with the emphasis on wild. /////////////////////////////////////// YOUNG FATHERS 'Tape One' 14 January 2013 on Anticon http://soundcloud.com/anticon/young-fathers-deadline Ol’ Dirty chose his moniker because there was no father to his bastard style. Young Fathers earn theirs by making something so fresh it doesn’t yet have a name. These are three fellas from Edinburgh who’ve been working together since they were 14, who have an elastic mind meld that mimics their fused sensibility of sound, who one day locked themselves in a dingy Scottish basement and came out with something that’d never been done — a fearless combination of beat, rap and song that smells not only of its dark and dank birthplace, but of discovery and of communion. /////////////////////////////////////// L.PIERRE 'The Island Come True' 14 January 2013 on Melodic http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/l-pierre-doctor-alucard Across his many projects past and present, it’s under the moniker of L. Pierre that Aidan Moffat has perhaps best opened up the bare bones of his thirst for sonic exploration. The Island Come True is Moffat’s fourth album as L. Pierre and is a work assembled from the vast cavern of his assembled field recordings and samples, a collage that works as a sonic patchwork of the 39 year-old’s own mind. A popular lyrical raconteur whether as one half of Arab Strap, writing under his own name or when collaborating with Bill Wells - as on last year’s Scottish Album Of The Year award winner Everything’s Getting Older - it’s as this carnation where the true extent of his musical eclecticism is revealed. /////////////////////////////////////// TORO Y MOI 'Anything In Return' 21 January 2013 on Carpark http://soundcloud.com/toroymoi/so-many-details The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi's third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established. There's a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id. The producer's hand is prominent- not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. 22 Jan- London, VIllage Underground /////////////////////////////////////// THE RUBY SUNS 'Christopher' 28 January 2013 on Memphis Industries http://soundcloud.com/subpop/therubysuns-kingfishercallme The Ruby Suns, the vehicle for New Zealand producer (now living in Oslo), songwriter and vocalist, Ryan McPhun, are all set to release a brand new album, Christopher. The album sees McPhun make a hand break turn away from the washed out electro psyche of 2010's Fight Softly into a new party starting take on high fidelity electronic pop. It also sees Ryan work with an outside producer for the first time with Chris Coady (Beach House, Gang Gang Dance, TV On The Radio) on mixing duties. 29 Jan- London, Sebright Arms. /////////////////////////////////////// |  | |
| New Toro Y Moi LP & shows / New Zombie Zombie Album 22-10-2012 | ||
| TORO Y MOI - European tour and shares first song from new LP - "So Many Details" (released on 7" on 26th Nov on Carpark) - http://soundcloud.com/toroymoi/so-many-details/ Since 2009, Chaz Bundick's output as Toro Y Moi has bounced back and forth from the work of a "producer" and that of a "songwriter." His debut, Causers of This, introduced him to the world as more of the former, with sampled snippets and effects populating much of the space between the record's slow-motion dance beats. The funky psych-pop of 2011's Underneath the Pine evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer-songwriter spectrum, and his newest 7-inch, "So Many Details," (released 26th Nov and taken from his forthcoming third album 'Anything In Return', released 21st January 2013) sees him poised directly in the middle of the two. Situated in a slightly darker setting than we're accustomed to hearing from Bundick, "So Many Details" builds on a foundation of rolling hi-hats and deep, syncopated kick drums, letting highly variable elements pass in and out of the mix. A slightly fuzzy bass line carries much of the melody, drunken synth stabs try to keep up with the vocals, and lilting guitar adds tension as the track reaches its peak. The producer's hand is extremely apparent here- not least in the sampled vocal punctuations that give it a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and Bundick spends much of the track adding, subtracting, and putting effects on a handful of elements. Remixing himself on the B-side and enlisting Odd Future's Hodgy Beats, Bundick keeps the vibe and shape of the original intact. Trimming off the emotive peaks and valleys to give Hodgy's verse more space, the remix's languid funk sounds like West Coast hip-hop radio of yore. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter's return to producer-hood, "So Many Details" is an exciting aperitif for the next Toro Y Moi full-length. The 7" will be available in stores 26th November 2012. Toro Y Moi - European Tour - January 2013 16/01/2013 - Babylon, Istanbul 18/01/2013 - Bios, Athens 19/01/2013 - Roman Arenas, Bucharest 20/01/2013 - Button Factory, Dublin 22/01/2013 - Village Underground, London 23/01/2013 - Trabendo, Paris 24/01/2013 - MC Theatre, Amsterdam 25/01/2013 - Comet Club, Berlin 26/01/2013 - FM4 Festival @ Arena, Vienna ////////////////////////////////// ZOMBIE ZOMBIE - new album 'Rituels d’un Nouveau Monde' released 26th November on Versatile, UK tour NEXT WEEK Stream 'Illuminations' now http://soundcloud.com/versatile-records/zombie-zombie-illuminations/ Zombie Zombie return with ("Rituals Of A New World"), a new record that looks beyond the confines of human life and towards an imagined, abstract world. Last time out in 2010, the band took on the genius of seminal film score composer John Carpenter, with a series of bewitching takes on some of his finest work. Rituels d’un Nouveau Monde however closes the door on that chapter of the group and sees them stride in an entirely new direction. Etienne Jaumet (analogue and modular synthesizers, rhythms boxes, effects and vocals) and Cosmic Neman (drums and percussion) began recording last spring in between the Jaumet and Neman’s various other projects - the former additionally has a solo project whilst the latter is part of Herman Dune. Instrumental to the new record was producer Joakim, who worked in such an involved way with the group that he came to be regarded as something of a third member. Through sounds and rhythms, the aim of ‘Rituels d’un Nouveau Monde’ is to push the listener towards a dream-like place, a state of trance that recalls the syncopation of traditional African and Caribbean music, and cultures where the “ritual” is a process that allows the human mind to come into contact with a supernatural state. Live next week: 22 Oct 2012, UK, Bristol, Start the Bus 23 Oct 2012, UK, Manchester, Soup Kitchen 24 Oct 2012, UK, London, Lexington + The Oscillation 25 Oct 2012, UK, Brighton, Green Door Store |  | |
| Memory Tapes and Dam Mantle Announce New LPs 15-10-2012 | ||
| MEMORY TAPES RELEASE NEW ALBUM http://soundcloud.com/memorytapes/shelia ‘Grace/Confusion’ released 3 December 2012 on Carpark With six tracks clocking in at over 39 minutes, Grace/Confusion is a rewarding change of pace for Memory Tapes, the length freeing Hawk to abandon dance music tropes and weave together songs from fragmented hooks, snatches of melodies and bombasts of instrumentals. “Discarding any ideas about genre, format or even song structure didn't feel like a liberation though, more like a maze to get lost in,” Hawk says. Out of this confusion came Memory Tapes’ most inventive tracks to date, from the melancholy love story of “Sheila,” told over alternating suites of dark synths and distorted guitars, to the dramatic coda of “Neighborhood Watch.” Lush production adds a dimension of depth to Grace/Confusion’s comprehensive sound, drawing from space rock and classic electro in its experimental rendering of pop music. The essence of Dayve Hawk’s music as Memory Tapes is the exploration of dance music as a medium more experimental than pop melodies and programmed beats. With his third album, Grace/Confusion, Hawk builds on this mission to craft his most ambitious album to date. “I've always explained Memory Tapes as pop music as field recordings.” says Hawk about Grace/Confusion. “I decided to showcase a kind of chaotic reaching. I don't think the record is flat-out shooting in all directions though, because I kept trying to reign it in as much as I embraced it. That’s why I called it Grace/Confusion.” Hawk’s third release channels this chaos in his multifaceted pop music, dipping into disco and krautrock sounds while playing with traditional song structure to craft extended mixes. With all the album’s intricacies and vision, Grace/Confusion inhabits more the title’s first word than the last, showcasing an artist embracing his idiosyncrasies and constructing beauty from chaos. //////////////////////////////////////////////// DAM MANTLE RELEASES DEBUM ALBUM http://soundcloud.com/dammantle ‘Brothers Fowl’ released 17 December 2012 via NOTOWN Recordings Dam Mantle, AKA Tom Marshallsay, the reflective, Glasgow-incumbent artist and electronic producer releases his debut album ‘Brothers Fowl’ via Gold Panda’s NOTOWN Recordings. ‘Brothers Fowl' is the culmination of a long and varied musical path. Tom moved to Glasgow four years ago to study at the School Of Art and has remained in the vibrant musical city ever since, working on a number of projects. Dam Mantle remains his core focus and continues to expand his unique approach to sound. The last few years have been busy with three EPs released though the Get Me, Halleluwah Hits and his own Growing labels, as well as the U.S digital release 'First Wave', a number of splits, collaborations and reworkings. Dam Mantle's performances are central to the focus of the project. Over the past few years he has been on tour with his ally Gold Panda a number of times both in the US and Europe as well as touring extensively on his own terms at events and festivals across Europe. When not recording and performing his own work, Dam Mantle has crafted inimitable and frequently astonishing remixes for labels such as Warp Records, Ninja Tune, Planet Mu, Ghostly and a wide variety of other artists. |  | |
| The Soul Special - Antibalas / Nick Waterhouse & Lee Fields 08-10-2012 | ||
| Just as you thought November touring couldn't get any better - here comes the ultimate soul low-down. The new breed (NICK WATERHOUSE), the old breed (LEE FIELDS), and the afro-beat super group (ANTIBALAS) are all over playing one off UK shows within five days of each other. Best get your diaries out... All artists are available for interviews, and if you would like guestlist or copies of albums, give me a shout. ////////////////////////////////////////////// LEE FIELDS http://vimeo.com/49055001 **** Mojo - "A classic soul album" **** The Times **** The Independent **** Q - "R&B veteran shows neo-soul scamps how it's done" Lee Fields & The Expressions just released the new music video for “Faithful Man,” the title track from the critically praised second album with Truth & Soul Records, released in the spring of 2012. Faithful Man is Fields’ follow-up to the well-received 2009 album My World. The songs on the album feature a modern take on a vintage sound, telling tales of love, heartbreak a blues in a time-honoured way. Born a raised in the small town of Wilson, North Carolina, Fields spent his teenage years singing in church a listening to the classic soul of ’60s Memphis. By the late sixties, Lee was touring with the bands who would lay the foundation for funk music, including Kool and the Gang, Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers, and Little Royal. Back in the 1970s, Fields was also nicknamed Little JB for his similarity to James Brown. These days though, he’s got a soul that’s all his own. 10 November - London, Islington Academy 11 November -Dublin, The Button Factory ////////////////////////////////////////////// NICK WATERHOUSE http://vimeo.com/40590773/ Mojo - “the soul album of 2012" His first London show since his debut album 'Times All Gone', Nick Waterhouse is the New Breed - An R&B fanatic who combines an uncanny old-school sensibility with a charged, contemporary style. For Waterhouse, his muse is the over-modulated sound of vintage R&B, and his take on such a time-honored tradition evokes the back-alley thrill of New Orleans, Detroit and Memphis in their heyday. He combines an astute attention to detail with an honest desire to match the emotional impact of the music that inspires him. 13 November - London, Dingwalls ////////////////////////////////////////////// ANTIBALAS http://youtu.be/DrjZgKXrLF8 Mojo, World Album Of The Month - "This is the album to prove that Afrobeat doesn't have to be a Kuti family affair." The Sunday Times - "One of the albums of the summer" NME 8/10 - "It's impossible to have more fun than listening to an Afrobeat record" Time Out - "our soundtrack to the ultimate summer block party" Uncut - "The best of the many Afrobeat revivalists to have emerged in the last decade" The Observer - "Rich and intoxicating.... an irresistible groove" The Daily Mirror - "Dazzling connectivity, blazing horns and irrefutable rhythmic energy" Evening Standard - "this is Afrobeat at its blistering best" The Independant - "Capture[s] the essential Afrobeat blend of power and subtlety to perfection" Metro - "A seductive storm" Antibalas released their acclaimed new album on Daptone in August of this year, and they're finally coming over to play a one-off UK show at Islington's jazz festival on 14 November. The video above is a perfect new example of how great the band are live, performing album favourite 'Dirty Money' at Daptone's own House of Soul. The 11 strong band prove that the hype from their last album is justified, and that afro-beat is still alive and fresh. Rhythm is what makes a good afro-beat record,” says Gabriel Roth, Daptone Records co-founder and producer of Antibalas’ forthcoming self-titled LP. “Not just the rhythm section, but the rhythm of the horns, the rhythm of the vocals, the rhythm of the keyboards, everybody’s rhythm. It’s about feeling something the same way — everybody hearing music the same way, and being able to turn all those instruments into one voice. Antibalas is the only band that can do that, right now. That’s why they’re still at the front of the scene, after all these years.” 14 November - London Jazz Festival, Islington Assembly Hall ////////////////////////////////////////////// |  | |
| The Reissue Special! Man Chest Hair / Andrzej Korzynski / Listen, Whitey! 02-10-2012 | ||
| A reissue special but one that means you might still have to leave the house and go see something special live: Pat Thomas, author of the LISTEN, WHITEY! book which accompanied the album released through LIGHT IN THE ATTIC earlier this year, is holding a lecture at INIVA in London on Monday 15 October. I've also got two new releases from FINDERS KEEPERS, one from enigmatic Polish composer ANDRZEJ KORZYNSKI (a favourite in our office), and a compilation entitled MAN CHEST HAIR, which we're obviously wishing we came up with ourselves. Read about them below and hit back for finished copies, etc. /////////// The University of East London and Light In The Attic Records presents: "LISTEN WHITEY- THE SOUNDS OF BLACK POWER 1965-1975" Author/producer Pat Thomas at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), 1 Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA London on Monday October 15th 2012 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Admission is £6 for the public /£3 for students http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb/23/listen-whitey-black-power-review http://lightintheattic.net/releases/685-listen-whitey-the-sounds-of-black-power-1967-1974 Author Pat Thomas doesn’t do the 'traditional' book reading, He plays albums of the Black Power Movement era, (rock, jazz, soul, spoken word), while projecting slides of various people, events, and record covers - talking about how the Black Panther Party intersected with "pop culture" including Bob Dylan, John Lennon, David Cassidy & the Partridge Family TV show. The "Listen, Whitey" book (Fantagraphics) and the companion CD (Light in the Attic Records) has received praise from Mojo, Uncut, the WIRE, the London Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Guardian newspaper as well as a feature on the BBC 4 program "Front Row." /////////// ANDRZEJ KORZYNSKI 'Tajemnica Enigmy' (Secret Enigma 1968 – 1981) Album released on 19 November on Finders Keepers http://soundcloud.com/finderskeepersrecords/andrzej-korzynski-the-man-with 22 rare and unreleased vintage tracks from the secret vaults of one of the most enigmatic composers in 60s/70s/80s European cinema. Originally recorded in the best studios in Poland, Italy and France for experimental film, political allegories, lost television shows, sound libraries and radio - these tracks have been hidden behind the Iron Curtain on lost master tapes and film reels until now! Secret Enigma is the first ever-dedicated anthology of this great composer's work. In artistic cinema Andrzej Korzynski's unique experiments with jazz, pop, rock, orchestral and electronic music make his name synonymous with the most praised (Andrzej Wajda) and the most provocative (Andrzej Zulawski) Polish filmmakers (counting many more in between). As an early patron of the Polish New Wave and a key exponent of the development of conceptual Polish pop music his expansive portfolio has remained commercially unreleased and untravelled (like many of the original socialist era Polish made films) and has yet to find its deserved place next to the work of Ennio Morricone, François de Roubaix and John Barry. Now enhanced by a renewed interest in vintage art house film and a subculture of open minded music collectors many Eastern European artists, such as Krzysztof Komeda (Poland), Zdenek Liška (Czechoslovakia) and now Andrzej Korzynski, have finally begun to earn their place alongside their Central European peers. For lovers of film music and experimental pop this debut anthology and appraisal of Andrzej Korzynski’s work is well overdue, and is stylistically, probably never more relevant. /////////// MAN CHEST HAIR by Various Artists, album released on 3rd December 2012 Finders Keepers Records http://soundcloud.com/finderskeepersrecords/urbane-gorilla-ten-days-gone/ "F***ing Brilliant! One of the most important and detailed user manuals for Manchester's secret musical history, I feel like buying a bike just to do this record justice!" Guy Garvey - Elbow 18 outbursts of unreleased testosterone from the 1970s Mancunian rock underground. Unissued studio demos and rare tracks of hard rock, hairy funk, heavy prog from the toughest unknown rock groups of Greater Manchester, England Man/chest/hair liberates 17 heroic outbursts of rare and unreleased Northern testosterone from Mancunian pops awkward coming of age purple period. The hairy funk and hard rock foundations of Manc punk and metal laid down by the self-sufficient post-beat unsignables. Man/chest/hair documents the missing stink between The Hollies, The Hermits, Hamburg, Hannett and Hotlegs with a HEAVY emphasis on dirty drums and filthy fuzz from beneath the black rainclouds of Greater Manchester. Ahead of their time, under the radar and over the heads of the trembling music industry these glorious live action trailblazers crank the ignition of the eclectic Mancunian metal machine, engines blazing between 10cc and full throttle Motorheads. |  | |
| Dutch Uncles Announce New LP / Black Moth Super Rainbow New LP 26-09-2012 | ||
| DUTCH UNCLES ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM 'OUT OF TOUCH IN THE WILD' Released on Memphis Industries 7th January 2013 First single 'Fester' out 12 November 2012 http://soundcloud.com/dutch-uncles/fester Isn't it great to see a young band growing the old fashioned way? Three albums into their career, Manchester's Dutch Uncles, a group who pitched their tents firmly in pop's leftfield with their eponymous first album before releasing Memphis Industries debut Cadenza in 2011, have made another huge step forward with Out Of Touch In The Wild; the album sees them extend their eclectic influences even further with Kate Bush, Stravinsky, Japan, Prince and Neu! all intriguingly thrown into the mix. There's been no great reinvention, just great progress. This is a refined version of Dutch Uncles doing what they do best: making labyrinthine pop of Escher-like complexity and crystal clarity. 'Fester', one of the album's highlights featuring a motorik beat plus duelling marimba and xylophone lines entwined with lead singer Duncan Wallis' tremendous and tremulous vocals, is now available for download from the bands site at www.dutchuncles.co.uk <http://www.dutchuncles.co.uk>. 14 Feb 2013 - London, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen 16 Feb 2013 - Manchester, Gorilla /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW NEW ALBUM 'COBRA JUICY' Released on Rad Cult 12th November 2012 Video to 'Window Smasher' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L1jQ-VV9Fs The roller rink is cracked. Summer is seeping in. The lacquered floor boards are all warped, but the disco ball spins. Ladies and gentlemen, Black Moth Super Rainbow has left the woods, and the man called Tobacco lords over a gang of demon skaters from the DJ booth of some greased up auditorium in a lost corner of Pittsburgh. The band's fifth LP, Cobra Juicy, released 12th November on BMSR’s own Rad Cult Records, declares death to hippies, excising all things flower power and tightening up what sprawl there was into a nastily bright pile of fuzzed guitar, live bass, hot synths and stubby rhythms—eleven pieces of hard candy licked, dipped in dirt, and wrapped up for you. In some ways, Cobra Juicy is the most personal Black Moth Super Rainbow record yet. In other ways, it kinda just wants you to get out there, strap on some wheels, sew a back-patch onto a denim vest, and start a Warriors-style gang tailored to whatever overheated dystopia you call home in 2012. The album will be self-released and funded via Kickstarter, where fans will be able to purchase Cobra Juicy in actual mask form—a latex rictus modeled after the possessed citrus on the cover, music on a USB tooth jammed into the grinning maw. Also, for $10,000, Tobacco will throw you your own roller disco party. Really. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// UMBERTO NEW ALBUM 'NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND SCREAMS' Released on Rock Action 26th November 2012 Stream 'The Investigation' now http://soundcloud.com/rock-action-records/04-the-investigation-mp3/ /"This year at the Glasgow Film Festival Umberto did a performance along to the film Pieces, a frankly mental video nasty and I was lucky enough to be there. We met after the show and asked if he had any plans to release that music and offered to put it out if he hadn't. This record is the result of these incidents. It's a wonderful record and I'm really proud to be involved in its release."/ Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai / Rock Action It was a step into the unknown for former Expo 70 synth and bass player Matt Hill when he agreed to score a film soundtrack for the Glasgow Music and Film Festival in February of this year. For those who aren’t aware of the Kansas City resident, his work under the moniker Umberto has often had the spirit of exploration in it. A master in drawing out emotions of the utmost tension from his seemingly laboratory-constructed aural expanses, the multi-instrumentalist conveys a deep love of the film scoring greats such as John Carpenter, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Vangelis across his two solo LPs thus far - 2009’s From The Grave and 2010’s Prophecy Of The Black Widow, released on Not Not Fun. The film was 1983 thriller curio ‘Pieces’, starring Christopher and Lynda Day George (the latter known for roles in 1970s American TV series like ‘Mission Impossible’ and ‘The Love Boat’). Shorn of the film’s grainy visuals, Umberto’s music still retains an extraordinary impact, a thin line of anxiety pulled tight throughout the ten modified pieces that make up the album. Among those in the audience that night enthralled by Hill’s performance was Mogwai man Stuart Braithwaite who's releasing 'Night Has A Thousand Screams' on his own Rock Action label. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// THE SCANTHARIES SELF TITLED DEBUT ALBUM released on Memphis Industries 3rd December 2012 http://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/thescantharies-the-start Memphis Industries are excited to announce the release of The Scantharies’ debut self titled album on 3rd December 2012. The Scantharies are a new instrumental band put together by Anglo Greek musician and producer Andy Dragazis. You may know Dragazis from his four Blue States albums released variously on Memphis Industries and XL Recordings. Dragazis recorded the album in London and on the Greek island of Evia where he spends much of the year. He envisaged the record as a ‘best of’ compilation of a fictitious band called ‘The Scantharies’ who he imagined bestrode the Greek music scene from the late 60s through to the end of the '70s. Musically, the album is inspired by 60s and 70s Greek bands such as The Persons, The Forminx and Aphrodites’ Child, traditional Greek Rebetiko and music of composers like Stavros Xarhakos and the mainstream instrumental guitar workings of The Ventures. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// GALLOPS - debut album 'Yours Sincerely, Dr. Hardcore' released on Blood & Biscuits 10th December 2012 Album teaser trailer here http://youtu.be/7h9n7sjUuT4 /“Gallops customarily serve up instrumental soundscapes that match metallic brawn with a serrated electronic edge.... attending to both cerebral and dancefloor pleasures.”/ MOJO Out of the unassuming Welsh town of Wrexham, Gallops re-emerge having expanded their tight, punchy math-rock constructions into something of a more panoramic scope for debut LP Yours Sincerely, Dr. Hardcore. A group who take all you know about the more technical, leftfield strands of the musical periphery and turn them inside out, they express a joy in the freedom of being able to jump between time signatures and textures, rather than treating such dexterity as a po-faced exercise in instrument proficiency. 'YSDH' constantly veers from a more orthodox guitar sound to territories as wide and varied as German kosmische, panoramic soundtracks never-to-be, and passages of minimalism and techno rhythms influenced by labels such as Cologne’s Kompakt. Indeed, Gallops happily list further, more indirect touchstones such as Arvo Part, Sunn O))), and film score composers including Vangelis and John Carpenter, but insists again that “An important factor in the song writing process was to groove and not to overcomplicate things, which could’ve been a very easy trap to fall into. We wanted to avoid being clever for the sake of it.” GALLOPS LIVE NOVEMBER (all dates supporting Maybeshewill) Thu 1st NOTTINGHAM Rock City Fri 2nd LIVERPOOL Mello Mello Sat 3rd LEEDS Damnation Festival Mon 5th ABERDEEN Tunnels Tue 6th GLASGOW ABC2 Wed 7th NEWCASTLE Trillians Thu 8th BRISTOL Cooler Fri 9th BIRMINGHAM Academy 3 |  | |
| Los Camp! Xmas 19-09-2012 | ||
| LOS CAMPESINOS! announce special London Christmas show! 'We are delighted to announce we will be playing a special show in London in the run-up to Christmas this year, on Saturday 15th December. At the picturesque Islington Assembly Hall we shall play an extended Los Campesinos! live set, our last show before we begin work on our 5th album. We're excited to be joined on this occasion by our friends Among Brothers and a rare live performance from Rob Campesinos! as Sparky Deathcap' Tickets: www.wegottickets.com and www.ticketweb.co.uk Box Office: 08444771000 / 08702643333 |  | |
| Field Music's 'Plumb' Nominated For Mercury Prize 13-09-2012 | ||
| "Homespun brilliance from Sunderland's pop perfectionists" **** Uncut "Like a delicious menu of rock history. Tuck In" **** Mojo "The Brewis brothers fabulous fourth.. fast becoming the cherished eccentrics of British guitar music" **** Q "A fourth album that's fun and breezy yet also complex and meaningful" 8/10 NME "Terrific songs worthy of celebration" **** Guardian Few bands have been more worthy of a Mercury Prize nomination than Field Music. Having released three albums of consistent quality and much critical praise, their fourth, 'Plumb', released in February of this year has finally seen the brothers Brewis receive a coveted nomination. In truth any one of their four would have been worthy of a nomination but, hey, good things come to those who wait. For those that don't know, Sunderland based brothers Peter and David Brewis have been releasing music as Field Music for seven years, 2005's self titled debut, 2007's Tones of Town, 2010's double album Measure and this year's Plumb (plus a solo album each under the names The Week That Was and School of Language), all on independent label Memphis Industries. Field Music are standard bearers of a DIY music culture, writing, producing, mixing and playing most of the instruments on their records plus designing their own artwork, directing their own videos and managing their own tours. Whilst their outlook is DIY the results are anything but, with sophisticated arrangements and high fidelity production at a premium. So with Plumb Field Music dig into the age-old dichotomy between what is reflective or nostalgic and the disorienting immediacy of the outside world. Songs such as labyrinthine opener Start The Day Right, the chugging, minimalist Just Like Everyone Else and the all a cappella How Many More Times? recall those early-morning /late-night moments where dreaming, memory and the present appear fused together. Elsewhere, Who'll Pay The Bills?, Is This The Picture? and especially Choosing Sides, mine a caustic seam of ambivalence towards whatever passes for aspiration and sincerity in our hyper-mediated and mock-hysterical times. |  | |
| Light In The Attic is 10: Rodriguez, Iggy Pop, Donnie & Jo plus loads more join the party! 07-09-2012 | ||
| Put the beers on ice.. one of our favourite labels in the whole wide world LIGHT IN THE ATTIC (www.lightintheattic.net) will be celebrating it's 10th Birthday later this year. Details on what they've got planned party wise and a series of special 7" (Iggy Pop covering Betty Davies!) releases to make the occasion are below. So a good time to tell you about RODRIGUEZ coming to our shores this November for a full tour. Plus details of the next 2 LITA releases by LEE HAZLEWOOD and RAY STINNETT... In the decade in which the world went digital, Light In The Attic bucked the trend, focusing on creating beautiful, desirable discs. “That’s what gets us up in the morning – finding records, finding new ways to shed light on them and get them the respect they deserve,” says head hencho Matt Sullivan. “The packaging, the album, it all has to be one inspiring experience.” Let me know if want to speak to the owners or any of the artists (or hear them) on the label, talking of which.... RODRIGUEZ full UK Tour Winter 2012, SELLS OUT Royal Festival Hall and The Roundhouse - extra London date added Catch his recent performance on David Letterman here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oYwMBHI39g “to South Africans in the early ‘70s he was their Beatles and Dylan combined” Mojo “Think Marvin Gaye’s What Goes On re-imagined by Arthur Lee” Uncut To see Rodriguez live is to see a Phoenix risen from the ashes. British fans of the cult performer and subject of critical smash movie Searching For Sugar Man (soundtrack out now, DVD will be available Nov 19th) now have a chance to catch a rare performances this winter across the UK. Rodriguez’s recently rediscovered back catalogue is packed with social commentary, brilliant tunes and, in the case of his 1970 album Cold Fact - a genuine psychedelic classic. These live dates will see them performed by the man himself, backed by full band – and he’s never sounded better. Fri 16 Nov The Roundhouse, London - http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/rodriguez Sat 17 Nov The Royal Festival Hall, London - SOLD OUT Sun 18 Nov The Roundhouse, London - SOLD OUT Thu 22 Nov The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool - http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/event_ate_15437a.html Sat 24 Nov The Sage Gateshead - http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/home_rodriguez.html Sun 25 Nov The Usher Hall, Edinburgh - http://www.usherhall.co.uk/whats-on/rock-and-pop/2922/5623/rodriguez.html Tue 27 Nov The Button Factory, Dublin - http://www.ticketmaster.ie/artist/1300544 Wed 28 Nov The Empire Music Hall, Belfast - http://www.ticketmaster.ie/event/1800491FE3645BE1?artistid=1300544&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=2 Fri 30 Nov The Dome, Brighton - http://www.brightondome.org/events/RODRIGUEZ---Searching-for-Sugar-Man/4951 Sat 1 Dec The Colston Hall, Bristol - http://www.seetickets.com/Event/RODRIGUEZ-PHANTOM-LIMB/Colston-Hall/663370 Sun 2 Dec The Academy, Manchester - http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/home_rodriguez.html HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! LEE HAZLEWOOD 'A House Safe For Tigers' released 10th September on Light In The Attic - http://lightintheattic.net/releases/739-a-house-safe-for-tigers *First time available outside of Scandinavia and on CD anywhere in the world / Original Swedish pressing normally fetches $200-300 A House Safe For Tigers is a soundtrack to a TV movie Hazelwood made with the director Torbjörn Axelman during his period living in Sweden in the early 1970s. Hazlewood had moved there to lay low and to help his son avoid the draft, but wound up finding happiness and creative freedom. Many of the albums Hazlewood recorded in Sweden made their way no further than Scandinavia, but of them all, A House Safe For Tigers is the holy grail for collectors, often changing hands for hundreds of dollars. RAY STINNETT 'A Fire Somewhere' released 12th Nov on Light In The Attic - http://lightintheattic.net/releases/755-a-fire-somewhere “I used to be accused of being ahead of my time, so I took some time off.” Ray Stinnett Summer of '69. Ray Stinnett, original guitarist in Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs ("Wooly Bully"), finds himself leaving Memphis for the Morning Star Ranch in Northern California. In keeping with the zeitgeist of the times, he tunes in and drops out. Fast forward to '71 and Ray is back in Memphis recording his masterpiece for A&M at the legendary Fame and Ardent Studios with assistance from Booker T. and co-mixer/engineer Richard Rosebrough (Chris Bell, Big Star). A&M shelves the album and 41 years just slide by. That's the story and here's where it ends up. Over 40 years in the making, A Fire Somewhere is an album oozing with swampy Southern charm. A perfect melding of Memphis soul and San Francisco psych-rock. A DECADE OF LIGHT IN THE ATTIC.... Hard to believe ten years have passed since Matt Sullivan and Josh Wright founded Light In The Attic, the label responsible for some of the sharpest looking and sounding reissues and new albums of recent years. To celebrate their tenth anniversary, Light In The Attic has put together some very special events and a series of exclusive singles. In the ten years since their inception, Light In The Attic has launched The Black Angels to the world and released rare treasures from funk-rock maverick Betty Davis, proto-punk band The Monks, folk singers Karen Dalton, Jim Sullivan, and Michael Chapman, larger-than-life troubadours Serge Gainsbourg and Lee Hazlewood, Korean rock hero Shin Joong Hyun, and Memphis soul heavyweights Wendy Rene and Packy Axton. They've reissued classics from country stalwarts Kris Kristofferson and the Louvin Brothers, brought rock-n-roll farmers Donnie & Joe Emerson to the public, and played a key role in the rediscovery of legendary singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, recently celebrated in the Sony Pictures Classics critical smash film, Searching For Sugar Man. There is plenty more to, the list is long. LIGHT IN THE ATTIC LIVE - THE BIRTHDAY PARTIES... It’s only right, then, that they’re not letting an anniversary like this pass unmarked. Headlining two celebratory concerts is Rodriguez, a man for whom rediscovery via Light In The Attic has taken him from obscurity to long-deserved fame. Line-ups for the two shows – to be held in L.A. and Seattle – will include the third ever U.S. performance by South Korea’s 75-year old ‘Godfather of Rock’ Shin Joong Hyun, veteran Yorkshire finger-picking wizard Michael Chapman, and a very rare performance from rediscovered darlings of private press, Donnie & Joe Emerson. Not switced on to their 'Dreamin' Wild' album? Catch up! http://lightintheattic.net/releases/705-dreamin-wild Friday, September 28, El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles: RODRIGUEZ (Detroit) SHIN JOONG HYUN (South Korea) MICHAEL CHAPMAN (U.K.) STEPHEN JOHN KALINICH (Los Angeles) DJ SIPREANO (Vancouver) Tickets available via: http://www.theelrey.com/view-details.php?id=36826 Friday, October 12, The Showbox at The Market, Seattle: RODRIGUEZ (Detroit) MICHAEL CHAPMAN (U.K.) DONNIE & JOE EMERSON (Fruitland, WA – first Seattle appearance) DJ SUSPENCE (Seattle) Tickets available via: http://www.showboxonline.com/eventdetail.php?id=37143 The first 200 people through the door at both shows get a free 45 single, and the merch stall will be a Light In The Attic record store – heaven for label completists. LIGHT IN THE ATTIC ANNIVERSARY SINGLE SERIES.... In addition to the shows, Light In The Attic will be releasing a series of very special singles as coloured vinyl 7”s. The series features contemporary artists covering a track reissued by Light In The Attic on the A-side, plus the original version on the B-side. The series begins with Iggy Pop & Zig Zags covering Betty Davis, and the standard remains equally high. Here's a sneak preview of that they've got lined up... Iggy Pop & Zig Zags, "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" (2012) b/w Betty Davis, “If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” (1973) Pre-Order: http://lightintheattic.net/releases/767-light-in-the-attic-10-year-anniversary-betty-davis-if-i-m-in-luck-i-might-get-picked-up Sweet Tea featuring Alex Maas (The Black Angels) & Erika Wennerstrom (Heartless Bastards), "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" (2012) b/w Wendy Rene, "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" (1964) Charles Bradley “I’ll Slip Away” (2012) b/w Rodriguez “I’ll Slip Away” (1967) |  | |
| DIIV tour with The Vaccines. PINS, Holograms, Hooded Fang hit the road. 06-09-2012 | ||
PORCELAIN RAFT UK festival dates, new single 'Drifting In And Out' released 22 October on Secretly Canadian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQ7f-zW73k "Strange Weekend drifts and delights" **** Uncut "A ravishing series of nebulous swoons." Mojo "his songs have real soul and substance... High Praise, well deserved" **** The Times "a record that provides nothing but saccharine, hazy highs." 8/10 NME Porcelain Raft's "Drifting In And Out" is the opening track to his debut full length, Strange Weekend. It's the Italian born singer's anthemic, gauzy and chiming call to arms. Remiddi does his best heartstring pulling to date as he sings "and I feel something/something I cannot deny/half my life behind." Having supported Beach House in the UK earlier in the year, Porcelain Raft rounds up the summer with a few UK festival shows 7 Sep - Bestival, Isle Of Wight 8 Sep - Dublin, The Pearse Centre /////////// RACE HORSES support BAT FOR LASHES in Europe, UK headline shows. Album 'Furniture' released September on Stolen/PIAS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA-nBBjTLnc "Bright, theatrical pop with a soulful edge." Guardian Guide "Ambitious Welsh outsiders hit their stride... a constantly thrilling experience" **** Q "There's much to enjoy in this smart, literate, rhythmic pop record." Uncut Welsh pop heroes Race Horses release their album 'Furniture' next week, ahead of a busy spate of festivals and shows, before heading off to Europe to tour with Bat for Lashes. A quick holiday to Paris, anyone? UK dates are below, European shows can be found here http://racehorsesmusic.com/racehorses.html 8 Sept - Llanrwst, Gwyl Gwydir Festival 12 Sept - London, Rough Trade East In-Store - on stage 7pm 15 Sept - Portmeirion, Festival No. 6 22 Sept - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach *ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW* 25 Sept - London, The Lexington *ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW* /////////// DIIV support THE VACCINES, announce headline UK shows and European tour including PITCHFORK FESTIVAL http://soundcloud.com/capturedtracks/diiv-doused-1 “Time to lose yourselves. You don’t need the real world, and the real world doesn’t need you. But DIIV need you, and you sure as hell need DIIV.” NME 9/10 “A sequence of beautiful shapes, billowing magnificently.” The Guardian “This debut album is one long pleasurable sigh of music.” Time Out – Album Of The Week “Whereas some attempt to conjure nature’s awesome unpredictability, DIIV capture the beauty and comfort of its foreseeable ebb and flow.” Pitchfork – Best New Music Diiv are off again. Currently touring the States with Wild Nothing, they're returning to Blighty in November for a FULL UK TOUR (finally), this time with The Vaccines, as well as some headline shows in between. Busy Boys! Their debut album 'Oshin' conquered the music press, and having already conquered London last week with three packed shows in 24 hours- their maiden UK voyage - they've set their sights firmly on covering the rest of the UK in autumn. They have headline shows in Manchester and London, and you can find full European dates on http://capturedtracks.com/tours/ 1 Nov - Paris, Pitchfork Paris Festival 14 Nov - London, The Garage 15 Nov - Plymouth, Plymouth Pavillions (support for The Vaccines) 17 Nov - London, Alexandra Palace (support for The Vaccines) 19 Nov - Leicester, De Montfort Hall (support for The Vaccines) 20 Nov - Manchester, Deaf Institute 21 Nov - Manchester, The Apollo (support for The Vaccines) 22 Nov - Liverpool, Liverpool University (support for The Vaccines) 23 Nov - Doncaster, Doncaster Dome (support for The Vaccines) 25 Nov - Glasgow, 02 Academy (support for The Vaccines) SOLD OUT 26 Nov - Glasgow, 02 Academy (support for The Vaccines) 27 Nov - Newcastle, 02 Academy (support for The Vaccines) 28 Nov - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club (support for The Raveonettes) 29 Nov - Birmingham, 02 Academy (support for The Vaccines) 30 Nov - Bournemouth, 02 Academy (support for The Vaccines) /////////// HOODED FANG full UK tour in November, single 'Jubb' released 15 October http://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/hooded-fang-jubb/s-R7kma “a brilliant hybrid of Dick Dale-style surf guitar, psychedelic / beat group / go-go tunes and 'Nuggets garage attitude - then rejigged it for Strokes and Shins attuned ears" Time Out “The Jesus And The Mary Chain in surf shirts” Uncut “the perfect Sixties pop of the Beach Boys with the raw edge of garage punk” The Times "The Coral joyriding with Black Lips" NME Hooded Fang released their 23 minute debut 'Tosta Mista' earlier this year to great acclaim. They're Canadian, recently toured with Howler, and they're bringing their surf-pop back for a full European headline tour. 'Jubb' is a song about galactic space travel, drinking in alien bars, and water-skiing. It also touches on existential issues such as "why are we here" and "what do smells mean". Their recent tour earned the band a hoard of new fans - including Johnny Marr and Zane Lowe (he gave 'Tosta Mista' album of the week on his BBC Radio 1 show), and now Hooded Fang return with 'Jubb' ahead of a UK tour. Catch them at the following places 6 Nov - Brighton, Green Door Store 7 Nov - Birmingham, Hare & Hounds 8 Nov - London, The Lexington 9 Nov - Manchester, The Castle 12 Nov - Newcastle, Cluny 2 13 Nov - Glasgow, Captain's Rest 15 Nov - Belfast, Limelight 16 Nov - Dublin, Eire - Academy 2 /////////// HOLOGRAMS UK tour, self-titled album is out now on Captured Tracks http://vimeo.com/35850010#at=27 “Sweden’s Holograms’ debut is one of the finest slabs of proto-punk brilliance to come out in ages. All awkward blips and shrieks about ‘desolation’ and ‘isolation’, it’s basically the breakfast jingle to the bristling new Nordic Oi movement” NME We love a good pogo here at IHP HQ, and where better to do it than at a Holograms show? The Swedish lads have taken a few weeks off from their warehouse jobs to do a whirlwind European tour, including 8 shows in the UK in 9 days. That's the Swedish work ethic for you. UK dates below, European dates are at http://capturedtracks.com/tours/ 7 Nov - Brighton, Green Door Store 8 Nov - Bristol, Louisiana 9 Nov - Birmingham, Hare & Hounds 10 Nov - Manchester, Castle Hotel 11 Nov - Glasgow, Captains Rest 13 Nov - Leeds, Melbourne St Studios 14 Nov - Nottingham, Bodega 15 Nov - London, Shacklewell Arms /////////// PINS debut UK tour, their debut EP 'LuvU4Lyf' released 1 October on Bella Union *hit reply for promo/download link* http://wearepins.co.uk/ “Cali-slacker by way of a wet wednesday in the north-west” NME Notching up gigs in disused office blocks and hotel basements to name a few, it was with little incredulity PINS should record their debut EP in an industrial estate. A natural confines for the chilling thrum of near whispered vocals, gutter-grimed guitars and the tribal, thumping percussion. Pins- whilst steeped in the entrancing abrasion of their local Mancunian heritage, bring something new to the foreground, something unique. Exploring themes of heartache and existentialism, the group put out their debut single Eleventh Hour/Shoot You through the band’s own label, Haus of Pins on gold cassette, selling out within a day. This new EP delivers on the scintillating promise of their hyped live shows and acclaimed debut release. The band will be performing live on the following dates... 10 Oct - Liverpool, Shipping Forecast 11 Oct - Glasgow, School of Art 12 Oct - Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s 13 Oct - Manchester, Soup Kitchen 17 Oct - Leeds, Nation of Shopkeepers 19 Oct - Bristol, Louisiana 20 Oct - Cardiff, SWN Festival 24 Oct - London, Sebright Arms |  | |
| Field Music Play... new album released in October 05-09-2012 | ||
| FIELD MUSIC PLAY... album released 1st October on Memphis Industries Stream their take on Roxy Music's 'If There Is Something' now http://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/field-music-if-there-is/s-iqHuq “Homespun brilliance from Sunderland’s pop perfectionists” **** Uncut “The Brewis brothers fabulous fourth…. fast becoming the cherished eccentrics of British guitar music” **** Q “A fourth album that’s fun and breezy yet also complex and meaningful” 8/10 NME “Terrific songs worthy of celebration” **** Guardian With the release, earlier in 2012, of their fourth album Plumb, Field Music once again proved once again they are one of British music’s most unique treasures. But not content with writing their own masterpieces, on 1st October Field Music release a collection of cover versions culled from various cover mounts and limited edition 7”s plus a couple of brand new covers. The compilation, which will feature versions of the Beatles' Don’t Pass Me By, Robert Wyatt’s Born Again Cretin and live favourite John Cale's Fear Is A Man's Best Friend, is only available to purchase from the band’s website at www.field-music.co.uk Full track listing as follows: 1. Terrapin (Syd Barrett) http://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/field-music-terrapin-1/s-9TaWo 2. Born Again Cretin (Robert Wyatt) 3. Heart (Pet Shop Boys) 4. If There is Something (Roxy Music) 5. Don’t Pass Me By (The Beatles) 6. Suzanne (Leonard Cohen) 7. Fear is a Man's Best Friend (John Cale) 8. Rent (Pet Shop Boys) Field Music tour throughout the UK in October with support from Golden Fables and Warm Digits. Dates as follows: OCTOBER UK TOUR Oct 03 2012, Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree * Oct 04 2012, Glasgow, Oran Mor * Oct 05 2012, Leeds, The Cockpit * Oct 06 2012, Liverpool, Kazimier Oct 11 2012, Cardiff, clwb Ifor Bach # Oct 12 2012, Wolverhampton, Slade Rooms # Oct 17 2012, London, Electric Ballroom * Oct 18 2012, Brighton, The Haunt * Oct 19 2012, Bath, Komedia * Oct 20 2012, Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre * # w/ Warm Digits * w/ Golden Fables Field Music's collaboration with Warm Digits, a session originally recorded for BBC Radio 3's Late Junction, will be released on 10" vinyl though Distraction Records on 24th September. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xbckl |  | |
| In London this week.. 28-08-2012 | ||
| Busy times this week in London. Also a quick reminder on upcoming London shows (dates in brackets) and tours for Cheek Mountain Thief (Mike Lindsay from Tunng (11/9)), Sleepy Sun (12/9 with Howlin' Rain) and The Stepkids (6/9)... Weds 29th - MEMORYHOUSE (Sub Pop) play a one off UK date as part of a wider European tour TOMORROW at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen with Wild Swim and Furs. Check 'The Kids Were Wrong' from last years debut 'The Slideshow Effect' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3xVfCG0Hg "The Slideshow Effect ripples with grace and melody." Mojo "Fleetwood Mac re-imagined for a 21st Century audience... an album that could melt the coldest of hearts." Loud & Quiet "The Slideshow Effect is a masterclass" Drowned In Sound Thurs 30th - NATHAN FAKE 'Steam Days' album (out Sept 3rd on Border Community) launch party this Thursday 30th at Electrowerkz, then he's off on a world tour and confirmed for Orbital support across UK in December... http://soundcloud.com/border-community/9-neketona-16bit-finyl-digi/s-uLjiC "Fantastic... his warmest and most approachable yet" Mixmag 8/10 "that rarest of feats, a techno record with a heart" NME "Swashbuckling third album... which broadly alternates between Boards of Canada bliss and gnarly analogue prowlers with icing sugar" Uncut "Fake is his own man... two tracks here celebrate his Norfolk roots, Iceni Strings most impressively" The Observer Thurs 30th - DARK DARK DARK have an intimate date with a Dalston Rooftop at 8.30pm (http://www.seehearclub.com/ - they're showing Back to the Future after) playing songs from their new album 'Who Needs Who' on October 1st - http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/14073-how-it-went-down/ "Dinner party music for those getting used to microwave meals for one. Who Needs Who's piano and accordian-powered jazzbo library rock crushes with panache... A scene of glorious, twilit devastation" 8/10 Uncut "Like all the best break-up albums, Who Needs Who bleeds heartache from every lyric, but keeps faith in music as the surest form of consolation." 4/5 Q Fri 31st - THE PHEROMOANS have an LP launch party with Upset The Rhythm at Bethnal Green Working Mens Club with Liberez & Ela Orlean. The album 'Does This Guy Stack Up?' is leap and bound, commuter belt nowhere rock from the South East of England - http://tinyurl.com/9hvp986 //////////////////////////////// And a reminder that NEXT week THE STEPKIDS bring their heady fusion of 70s soul, funk, psychedelia, electronics, folk, soundtrack, rock - like a 21st century version of Sly & The Family Stone mixed by J Dilla. They are pretty amazing live with full on hallucinogenic visuals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwbR8ubfHtY&feature=related 1-Sep Oxford, End of the Road Festival 3-Sep Brighton, Corner Store 4-Sep Bristol, Start the Bus 5-Sep Manchester, Deaf Institute 6-Sep London, Shaklewell Arms /////////////////////////////////// And the week AFTER NEXT... CHEEK MOUNTAIN THIEF (Tunng main man Mike Lindsay) will be bringing his Icelandic experience alive with a 7 piece band comprising of the musicians from Husavik in North Iceland where he made the record and played on the LP - http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=fC0OHFsj-J0 Support will come from LAURA J. MARTIN - http://www.laurajmartin.com/ 10 Sept - The Point, Eastleigh 11 Sept – The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London 12 Sept – The Thekla, Bristol 13 Sept – The Hare And Hounds, Birmingham “Tunng singer loses his heart in Iceland…a fine advert both for Lindsay and his adopted home.” Uncut "Lindsay’s found his new voice, and it speaks the musical language of his adopted country." Mojo "The often magical result.. is not a million miles away from Sigur Ros's expansive brave warmth." Q "a bizarrely beautiful album" The Sunday Times "the songs are as beautiful and occasionally challenging as the landscape" 4/5 The Guardian SLEEPY SUN return to the UK this September, listen to 'Stivey Pond' from 'Spine Hits' http://soundcloud.com/sleepysunband/sleepy-sun-stivey-pond “For their third album, the San Francisco psych-rockers hit the button marked “classic” and deliver a killer set of rock songs in the grandest tradition – from Jimi Hendrix, to the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath to Queens of the Stone Age.” **** The Times No strangers to the open road Sleepy Sun are a rambling band - a certifiably vagabond unit that have built a quite reputation among American and European audiences as fine-tuned, ironclad locomotive and candy sweet heavy psych-pop machine. In doing so catching the attention of Arctic Monkeys, Black Angels, and Low Anthem who have all personally asked them to join them on their own continental drifting jaunts. They return to the UK to play their own shows, the first since the bands third long player 'Spine Hits' (we've copies in)... 9th September - Bestival, Isle Of Wight 10th September - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham 11th September- The Kazimier, Liverpool 12th September - The Garage, London with Howlin' Rain |  | |
| Dodecahedron dreams... 23-08-2012 | ||
| BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY new single DODECAHEDRON out 8th OCTOBER 2012 on MUTE Watch the NEW VIDEO here: http://youtu.be/ImiWoDQIOf4 HEADLINE TOUR IN SEPTEMBER, including KINGS COLLEGE LONDON on 26th September Debut album “YOURS TRULY, CELLOPHANE NOSE” out now on MUTE “YTCN bristles with ideas… enchantingly odd in parts, deftly pop in others” Mojo **** “Houghton follows her own idiosyncratic path. Where she treads others will undoubtedly follow.” Uncut Debut Album of the Month **** “a record oozing with imagination, quirk and class. A dazzling listen” Q **** “utterly distinctive and genuinely impossible to categorise. An extraordinary find” Sunday Times “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose has an intimate, unusual charm that’s all it’s own” NME "a ferocious talent" The Observer "She is a star in the making and her musical reach is large" Daily Mirror CD of the Week “one of the year’s most exciting newcomers” The Sun 4.5/5 “an airy, fairytale quality” The Guardian **** “the ranks of British art-popper adventurers just swelled” The Independent New Album of the Month Record Collector / Album of the Week Time Out Following a phenomenal response for the debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, released in February this year, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny are set to release a new single: the brilliant ‘Dodecahedron’, which was formerly picked up by Radio 1 BBC Introducing playlist. Showcasing Beth’s extraordinary voice and off-kilter lyrics, ‘Dodecahedron’ explodes in cascades of colours and little drummer boy beats. Watch the video, directed by Sasha Rainbow, here: http://youtu.be/ImiWoDQIOf4 “The night before I wrote it I had a dream that consisted of me running up to strangers in the street and asking them what a dodecahedron was, but no one knew,” says Beth. “I later found out that the ancient Greeks believed the Dodecahedron is a symbol of the universe and represents an idealized form of divine thought. Having said that, despite that first line, the song is nothing to do with Dodecahedrons, it’s just a prelude to a thought.” Houghton & her band The Hooves Of Destiny will be riding into a city near you soon, and there’s a special offer for those in attendance, Beth proposes “On this tour we’re offering each of those attending our shows a one-off original, hand-drawn picture by myself & the hooves, in exchange for some unwanted clothing or canned food, which will then be passed on to homeless shelters in that city”. Check online for more details closer to the tour: http://www.facebook.com/BethJeansHoughton http://bjh.tumblr.com/ REMAINING SUMMER FIXTURES Fri 31 Aug - Moseley Folk Festival, Birmingham Sat 15 Sept – Festival No. 6, Portmeiron, Wales SEPTEMBER TOUR Sun 16 Sep - Cyprus Avenue, Cork - http://bit.ly/Qq8HLm Mon 17 Sep – Wheelans, Dublin - http://bit.ly/Qq8HLm Tues 18 Sep – Black Box, Belfast - http://bit.ly/Qq8HLm Thu 20 Sep – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge - http://bit.ly/ORwQu6 Fri 21 Sep – Cockpit, Leeds - http://bit.ly/ReQohd Sat 22 Sep – Stereo, Glasgow - http://bit.ly/OZbrou Sun 23 Sep - Hartlepool, The Studio - http://bit.ly/PCzAxm Tue 25 Sep – Deaf Institute, Manchester - http://bit.ly/J1qdWU Wed 26 Sep – Kings College, London - http://bit.ly/ReQbu9 Thu 27 Sep – The Cellar, Southampton - http://bit.ly/SSBWZD Fri 28 Sep – The Haunt, Brighton - http://bit.ly/SSC9vF Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose was created with producer Ben Hiller (Blur / Elbow / Depeche Mode). It introduces one of the most self-assured new bands of the year, fronted by a pop polymath whose blend of psychedelia, glam rock and chain gang folk is quite unlike anything else you’re likely to hear in 2012, made from disparate individual elements that wouldn’t work on paper, but sing out like a holy choir in the execution. |  | |
| Upcoming IHP tour of The Pyramids, Mountains, Sun 14-08-2012 | ||
| There's been a bit of a lull recently with gigs (has something else been going on?), so we've tons of new shows to remind and tell you about from ANTIBALAS, THE STEPKIDS, NATHAN FAKE (big news is he'll be supporting Orbital this Dec), DARK DARK DARK, SLEEPY SUN, CHEEK MOUNTAIN THIEF (Mike from TUNNG) and MEMORYHOUSE over the next month or so. Plus we've news of a new album by THE PYRAMIDS - there first since 1972, so let's all jazz the freak-out together... Afrobeat frontrunners ANTIBALAS have just released one of the albums of the summer on Daptone (also see them on the new David Byrne / St Vincent record) and will play a one off London date as part of London Jazz Festival on 14th November at Islington Assembly Hall (https://agmp.ticketabc.com/events/antibalas/). Come and see why everyone from Paul Simon, TV on the Radio, Public Enemy, Amy Winehouse and the stageshow Fela! have worked with them... the band are doing interviews. Even Sesame St are fans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMXlEqlnAIg "This is the album to prove that Afrobeat doesn't have to be a Kuti family affair." Mojo, World Album of the Month "One of the albums of the summer" The Sunday Times "It's impossible to have more fun than listening to an Afrobeat record" 8/10 NME "The best of the many Afrobeat revivalists to have emerged in the last decade" Uncut "our soundtrack to the ultimate summer block party" Time Out "Rich and intoxicating.... an irresistible groove" The Observer "Capture[s] the essential Afrobeat blend of power and subtlety to perfection" The Independent "Dazzling connectivity, blazing horns and irrefutable rhythmic energy" The Daily Mirror "this is Afrobeat at its blistering best" Evening Standard Staying on Africano-jazz-vibe THE PYRAMIDS who were founded 40 years ago, return with “Otherworldly” their first album in over 35 years on 15th October on Disko B. They released three records before splitting up in 1977 – albums that made them one of the most mysterious and legendary of all the spiritual cosmic jazz collectives of the early 70s. Recorded at the studio of Krautrock legends Faust in South Germany, the new album contains 14 never before released tracks. As band leader Idris Ackamoor puts it “we were way ahead of our time, so we decided to let time catch up”. Mike Lindsay mainman from TUNNG moved to a remote northern Icelandic fishing village, Husavik and made an album in the foothills of the dramatic Cheek Mountains (http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=fC0OHFsj-J0). Entitled CHEEK MOUNTAIN THIEF it's been winning plenty of plaudits and Mike will be bringing the whole experience live early this September with a 7 piece band comprising of musicians from Husavik who made him feel so at home and played on the record... nice touch. 10 Sept - The Point, Eastleigh 11 Sept – The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London 12 Sept – The Thekla, Bristol 13 Sept – The Hare And Hounds, Birmingham “Tunng singer loses his heart in Iceland…a fine advert both for Lindsay and his adopted home.” Uncut "Lindsay’s found his new voice, and it speaks the musical language of his adopted country." Mojo "The often magical result.. is not a million miles away from Sigur Ros's expansive brave warmth." Q "a bizarrely beautiful album" The Sunday Times "the songs are as beautiful and occasionally challenging as the landscape" 4/5 The Guardian NATHAN FAKE launches his ace new album 'Steam Days' ("Fantastic... his warmest and most approachable yet" Mixmag 8/10) on 30th August at the Electrowerkz, he's also been confirmed to support ORBITAL on some pretty massive shows this December. Thats the same night (30th Aug) DARK DARK DARK will play songs from their second album 'Who Needs Who' in London - a beautiful haunting collection chamber-folk (The National and Low are big champions). The revealing and personal nature of the lyrics are all the more signifiganct seen as the album was written and recorded after singer and band co-founders Nona and Marshall split after a lengthy serious relationship. http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/dark-dark-dark-tell-me The band are over to play a UK tour including Green Man, Moseley Folk, End of the Road and have a small intimate date in London on 30th August at Dalton Rooftop (last proper London show they sold out Bush Hall, I can't recommed them enough live) - they're around for interviews/sessions as well that week. Full DDD UK dates here: http://www.facebook.com/darkdarkdark?sk=app_123966167614127 THE STEPKIDS are heady fusion of 70s soul, funk, psychedelia, electronics, folk, soundtrack, rock and sound like a 21st century version of Sly & The Family Stone mixed and J Dilla. They play some shows in September areound End of the Road. They are amazing live with full on hallucinogenic visuals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwbR8ubfHtY&feature=related 1-Sep Oxford, End of the Road Festival 3-Sep Brighton, Corner Store 4-Sep Bristol, Start the Bus 5-Sep Manchester, Deaf Institute 6-Sep London, Shaklewell Arms SLEEPY SUN return to the UK this September, listen to 'Stivey Pond' from 'Spine Hits' http://soundcloud.com/sleepysunband/sleepy-sun-stivey-pond “For their third album, the San Francisco psych-rockers hit the button marked “classic” and deliver a killer set of rock songs in the grandest tradition – from Jimi Hendrix, to the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath to Queens of the Stone Age.” **** The Times No strangers to the open road Sleepy Sun are a rambling band - a certifiably vagabond unit that have built a quite reputation among American and European audiences as fine-tuned, ironclad locomotive and candy sweet heavy psych-pop machine. In doing so catching the attention of Arctic Monkeys, Black Angels, and Low Anthem who have all personally asked them to join them on their own continental drifting jaunts. They return to the UK to play their own shows, the first since the bands third long player 'Spine Hits' (we've copies in)... 9th September - Bestival, Isle Of Wight 10th September - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham 11th September- The Kazimier, Liverpool 12th September - The Garage, London MEMORYHOUSE have a one off London date as part of a wider European tour playing Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Wednesday 29th August, get in touch for copies of debut LP 'The Slideshow Effect' on Sub Pop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3xVfCG0Hg "The Slideshow Effect ripples with grace and melody." Mojo "Fleetwood Mac re-imagined for a 21st Century audience... an album that could melt the coldest of hearts." Loud & Quiet "The Slideshow Effect is a masterclass" Drowned In Sound |  | |
| Autumnal Albums 06-08-2012 | ||
| Lots of exciting new albums to tell you about this Monday with news of a TRACEY THORN Christmas record. Probably the most unique album you'll hear all year, THE ECCENTRIC RESEARCH COUNCIL '1612 Underture' is an updated homage to the Pendle Witches and features spoken word parts by the actress MAXINE PEAKE. Plus details on DEERHOOF's new album, JIM NOIR's 3rd and a new record by Fujiya & Miyagi's singer David Best under the name OMEGA MALE. //////////////////////////////////////////////////// TRACEY THORN returns with new Christmas solo album Tinsel and Lights.. On October 29, Tracey Thorn follows her acclaimed 2010 album Love and Its Opposite with a brand-new Christmas album, Tinsel and Lights, featuring ten seasonal cover versions, two new original tracks, and Green from Scritti Politti. Produced by Ewan Pearson, Tinsel and Lights features Tracey’s famously rich vocals and contributions on guitar and piano. Her longtime partner, Ben Watt guests on guitar and piano on several tracks. Leo Taylor (Adele, Hot Chip) plays drums, Steve Pearce - who played on Everything But the Girl's feted album, Idlewild - is on bass, while Pearson adds signature synths and electronics. Three tracks include orchestral arrangements by Nick Ingman. Tracey says, “I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas record. Every year, when the Christmas albums start appearing in November, I get jealous and wish I had one coming out. They’re not all strictly Christmas songs, but if they mentioned winter or snow or even just being cold, that was good enough for me.” Tinsel and Lights will be released on CD, LP and digital by Merge Records in North America and Strange Feeling in the UK/EU. The US LP version will include Tracey's rendition of “25th of December” originally written and sung by Ben Watt on Everything But The Girl's 1994 album Amplified Heart. Track listing: 1. Joy (written by Tracey Thorn) 2. Hard Candy Christmas (originally performed by Dolly Parton) 3. Like a Snowman (written by Stephin Merritt) 4. Maybe This Christmas (written by Ron Sexsmith) 5. In the Cold, Cold Night (written by Jack White) 6. Snow (written by Randy Newman) 7. Snow in Sun (written by Green Gartside of Scritti Politti) 8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (holiday classic) 9. Tinsel and Lights (written by Tracey Thorn) 10. River (written by Joni Mitchell) 11. Taking Down the Tree (feat. Green Gartside) (written by Low) 12. Sister Winter (written by Sufjan Stevens) //////////////////////////////////////////////// THE ECCENTRIC RESEARCH COUNCIL '1612 Underture' album released 3rd September 2012 on Bird (Finders Keepers) Exactly 400 years since the trials and execution of the 12 women now known as The Pendle Witches, on 20 August 1612 in Lancashire, England, a purpose assembled collective of artists, sound designers, experimental pop performers, writers, poets and one actress pay homage to the legendary Lancastrian sisterhood. The collective is The ERC, aka The Eccentronic Research Council, primarily comprising Adrian Flannagan, Dean Hohner and the actress Maxine Peake. One part political commentary and feminist manifesto and two parts theatrical fake-loric sound poem, the 1612 Underture is a sonic mass of multi-disciplined creative reactions, both rehearsed and improvised, built around a skeleton narrative of semi-fictional and symbolic events involving a modern day pilgrimage to Pendle Hill to explore what is now one of the most disastrous, prejudiced and oft mythologised miscarriages of justice in the history of the pre-industrialised north. “Although the nucleus of the project is based on historical events, The Eccentronic Research Council identify an uncanny relevance to our current political and social climate - perhaps things haven't changed so much in 400 years,’ say The ERC. “People are poor again and have to do bad things too eat, individuals who don't fit in are still beaten down with bats, and there are hypothetical witch hunts all around us." The ECR will play the album live to mark the 400th Anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials on Friday 17th August @ 2022 Northern Quarter, Manchester They will also appear at Festival No.6, Portmerion, 14-16 September: http://www.festivalnumber6.com (how good is this festival looking??) //////////////////////////////////////////// OMEGA MALE selftitled debut album out 8th October on Full Time Hobby Listen / DL ‘Omega Male’ track: http://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/omega-male-omega-male/s-1fzgo “An omega male could be viewed as the opposite of an alpha male,” says David Best, singer with this new duo. “An omega male would probably not be a pilot or a CEO of a pharmaceutical company. He'd probably be more likely to be eating crisps. I like to think he watches the world in a detached fashion, as if he's watching television, and that no outside elements can influence his existence…” While the above description of an Omega Male hardly describes a superman, Omega Male could conceivably be described as a supergroup, a Transatlantic duo featuring David Best of Brighton minimalist kraut-funk outfit FUJIYA & MIYAGI and Sammy Rubin of Brooklyn’s digital rock band Project Jenny, Project Jan. The combination is an inspired one – laptop sex music played by two white dudes. ////////////////////////////////////////// JIM NOIR 'Jimmy's Show' released 17th September, check the video to 'Tea' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdN6MEPGvgk For the past 16 months, cult, Manchester singer-songwriter Jim Noir has exhausted himself doing his Noir Club project, releasing a track a month to his internet following. Some of these were culled from dusty files on old computers, some were written brand new that month. And in doing so, Noir cleaned the creative pipes, cleared out the cupboards and readied himself for his brand new LP 'Jimmy's Show'. Central to the album is the bouncy, ‘60s-influenced single, Tea, named after Noir’s second favourite drink. “I actually prefer coffee,” he says. Recording this track, Noir recalls being so into the groove he ended up getting his equipment confiscated by the local council. The video, a slice of psychedelic wonderment starring a puppet and three evil, anthropomorphic magpies, see above link. “I fear its the most gritty and violent video I have ever done,” says Noir. “Someone even gets an egg in the side of his face. Tarantino, watch out!” //////////////////////////////////////////// DEERHOOF to release new album 'Breakup Song' on ATP Recordings in UK & Europe on Monday 24 September 2012 Neon Pink LP (w/ Download), CD and Digital Download "The Best Band In The World." - Pitchfork "Fidgeting like a hyperactive child who's just chomped down a few kilos of sweets...every moment proves irresistible." - The Guardian ATP Recordings are delighted to announce the full release of the 11th studio album from Deerhoof - named Breakup Song - it's out on CD (ATPRCD47), Neon Pink LP with Download (ATPRLP47) and Digital Download this September. Samples of the record can be heard now via the band's wonderful Jingletron. A European tour in November will be announced soon. "Deerhoof drummer Greg here to introduce you to our latest record: We've been called a lot of things, as you know. But pop has always marked the spot on the Deerhoof treasure map. Pop = catchy Pop = new Pop = no rules If you want to come dance or sing karaoke with Deerhoof, you don't have to ask twice. We've just finished this sensational slice of Cuban-flavored party-noise-energy music. We called it Breakup Song. Just don't expect a bunch of Grammy¨-baiting sob stories, OK? In Deerhoof's thesaurus, freedom's just another word for feeling good again and raising hell and getting away with it. Stick with us and the bad guys with guns will never catch up..." |  | |
| Newbies 04-07-2012 | ||
| Here's a 'new act special'- a brief introduction to some people you may not have had the pleasure of hearing before. We've something for everyone - kraut induced soundtrack vibes from Eat Lights Become Lights. Loner folk from Jackamo Brown, a new Upset The Rhythm signing - The Pheromoans - who specialise in "commuter belt nowhere rock". Dignan Porch and Heavenly Beat from Captured Tracks wrap up the new releases. For info, promos, guestlist, whatever, hit reply. THE PHEROMOANS 'Does This Guy Stack Up?' released 3 September 2012 on Upset The Rhythm http://soundcloud.com/upset-the-rhythm/the-pheromoans-grab-a-chair/s-dUUwu The Pheromoans are a six piece experimental rock band from the South East of England who deal in a deadpan DIY music. Wedded to the mundane, surreal reportage of our lives as reflected in the media, their music manages to address the truly restless boredom of everyday life. These are songs for the back of the queue, songs from underneath the ergonomic desk, a glimpse through the commuter window, blasted through with brilliant suburban sunshine. JACKAMO BROWN debut album 'Oh No. The Drift Of The World' released 10 September 2012 Oh No. The Drift Of The World is a debut album that doesn’t feel the need to shout loudly. In fact, it’s probably one of the most stirringly intimate records you’ll hear all year, a collection of bluesy, folky acoustic songs largely consisting of guitar and hushed, smoky voice; performed by the somewhat mysterious Jackamo Brown. The album comes in two 18-minute parts, with ambient recordings linking and running through the tracks. It’s an anti-shuffle record, its mood, feel and ethos coming from another, simpler time. One to file next to Bert Jansch, Drake, Arthur Lee. EAT LIGHTS BECOME LIGHTS 'Heavy Electronics' released 10 September 2012 on Rocket Girl “Eat Lights Become Lights mix Krautrock rhythms and celestial drones to heavenly effect” NME Following on from the release of 2011’s debut album ‘Autopia’ - a critical success in its own right – ‘Heavy Electrics’ is an LP underpinned by a sense of movement, of purposeful direction. At times, such as on ‘Syd Mead Cityscape’ and ‘Terminus IV’, they’ll divert from the accelerated highway that ELBL's solo navigator Neil Rudd drives down, to expand, explore and evoke worlds of great dystopia and expanse; but these are tracks inspired by the driving motorik of krautrock, and the subsequent sense of urgency therein. HEAVENLY BEAT releases 'Talent' 17 September 2012 on Captured Tracks http://soundcloud.com/capturedtracks/messiah-mastered-mp3 'Talent' is the debut LP from the solo project of Beach Fossils' bassist John Pena. The Texas native began writing under the guise of Heavenly Beat in 2009. After releasing two singles through Captured Tracks, he finally releases his debut album. Being influenced by nothing in particular has paid off for John, as many have had trouble pinning the sound down as anything other than “immaculately arranged and paced” and “attractive music for attractive people”. Thus proving that just because you’ve heard a song by The Cure or Neil Young doesn’t mean you have to ape it shamelessly to gain wide acceptance. Heavenly Beat pays homage to no one but himself. DIGNAN PORCH 'Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen' released 13 August 2012 on Captured Tracks http://soundcloud.com/capturedtracks/dignan-porch-sad-shape Optimism is infectious, and there can be few more optimistic statements than the title of the new album from Dignan Porch: Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen. As you listen to the warm-hearted, weirdo pop within, as you’re drawn into their world, you might be inclined to agree with them. Dignan Porch are not just the only UK band to be signed to Captured Tracks, they’re also the only band in the stable to release a second album on the CT imprint. |  | |
| Dark Dark Dark 29-06-2012 | ||
| DARK DARK DARK release new LP 'Who Needs Know' 1st October via Melodic Records. Hear single 'Tell Me' now - http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/dark-dark-dark-tell-me “...perhaps Dark Dark Dark's true accomplishment here is how they mix sounds and influences so effortlessly. They comprise a tight, intuitive unit, especially when the instruments swirl together into an otherworldly eddy of sound.” – Pitchfork “…like a statelier Mazzy Star, dark in all the right places.” – Uncut Who Needs Who, the new album by Dark Dark Dark, is a stirring and rich body of songs that sees the band breaking new ground, and settling into the strengths of a quintet that has worked incredibly hard, both on the road and in their personal lives. The band's commitment to their music has proven to be a double-edged sword. The first single, Tell Me, finds Dark Dark Dark setting a new tone for avant-garde pop. The beat is up, the drums and bass propel the song, and Nona Marie Invie’s voice soars between impassioned yearning and a resigned, empowered hope that reveals wisdom. A download of the single is available to folk who pre-oder the album now from http://www.melodic.co.uk/whoneedswho/. Most of the material on Who Needs Who was written by Invie in Minneapolis, and arranged by the band on tour and in New Orleans, where acclaimed engineer Tom Herbers joined them to record. It’s no minor detail that Nona and Marshall LaCount, Dark Dark Dark's co-founder and producer, were in a serious relationship that ended in early 2011, with a year solid of touring commitments ahead of them. On “Meet In The Dark”, Nona sings, “You want everything to stay the same, and then things change, but I’ll never get tired of singing these songs, no I’ll never get tired of singing these songs.” Despite increased tensions and heated arguments, the band showed immense patience and commitment to the music and their friendships. Ultimately, a five month hiatus at the end of 2011 and early 2012 allowed the band to heal, reflect and refocus. When the band reconvened in New Orleans for rehearsals, the initial awkwardness gave way to the creation of some of their most beautiful, revealing work to date. Since their last full length, 2010’s Wild Go, the band has toured extensively in the US and Europe, enjoying sold out shows and support dates for bands like The National and Low. Their appearance on Channel 4's Live From Abbey Road in 2011 was a TV highlight and Dark Dark Dark will return to the UK in advance of the album release to appear at: 16/08/12 Vendôme (France) 18/08/12 Greenman Festival – Powys 20/08/12 Brudenell Social Club - Leeds 21/08/12 Captains Rest - Glasgow 22/08/12 Sneaky Petes - Edinburgh 26/08/12 The Fleece - Bristol 28/08/12 Brighton Ballroom - Brighton 31/08/12 Moseley Folk – Birmingham 01/09/12 End Of The Road – Dorset 02/09/12 Electric Picnic festival - Stradbally (Ireland) 06/12/12 The Forum - London (+ Kurt Vile + Lower Dens) 07/12/12 ATP festival - Minehead (Curated by The National) |  | |
| Cheek Mountain 28-06-2012 | ||
| CHEEK MOUNTAIN THIEF - debut album (13th Aug on Full Time Hobby), single (6th Aug) and live shows (Sept 10th onwards..) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=fC0OHFsj-J0 Writing dreamy music about a slow-burning romance with Iceland (and an Icelandic girl), Cheek Mountain Thief is a new experimental folk project curated by Tunng co-founder Mike Lindsay and recorded with a host of Icelandic musicians. The eponymous album is released 13 August. Cheek Mountain is the first single to be taken from the album, and it comes accompanied with a stunning video filmed in the very place that inspired the track – and the project – the northern fishing town of Husavik, in the shadow of Kinnarfjöll, aka Cheek Mountain where Mike based himself to make the record. Outside of Cheek Mountain Thief, Mike recently scored the film Mission To Lars, a tale of one autistic man’s quest to meet Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, receiving rave reviews and at selected cinemas this summer - http://missiontolars.com/ Cheek Mountain Thief are also announcing four very special UK shows in September, at which Lindsay and musicians from the village of Husavik, Iceland will attempt to conjure the album’s unique, evocative sound live on stage. The debut show takes place in Mikes home town of Eastleigh… 10 Sept - The Point, Eastleigh 11 Sept – The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London 12 Sept – The Thekla, Bristol 13 Sept – The Hare And Hounds, Birmingham 14 Sept – Point Ephemere, Paris |  | |
| ANTIBALAS release new album 13-06-2012 | ||
| ANTIBALAS new self titled album released 6th August 2012 on Daptone Records, listen: http://soundcloud.com/daptone-records/antibalas-sare-kon-kon-redux "They lead the pack .." Pitchfork Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, Antibalas, the 12-piece ensemble credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience have played on stage and in the studio with the likes of Paul Simon, TV on the Radio, Public Enemy and Amy Winehouse, and can count the likes of David Byrne and Questlove amongst their fans. They return with thier first album for five years and first for Daptone Records. Produced by Gabriel Roth - co-founder of Daptone, Dap-King and an original member of Antibalas: /"At the time, there was not a lot of interest in Afrobeat, or in Fela. Because of that, a lot of people looked at Antibalas as pioneers in this second wave of Afrobeat that blossomed around the world.” / In 2007, following the release of the band’s last album, Security, Antibalas’ Afrobeat expertise led to the involvement of several band members in Fela!, the musical based on the life of Fela Kuti, which was a Broadway smash and went on to conquer London and beyond. |  | |
| Searching For Sugar Man 10-06-2012 | ||
| SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - all songs by Rodriguez - released 23rd July on Sony Legacy/ Light In The Attic SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN a film by Malik Bendjelloul, starring Rodriguez, produced by Simon Chinn and Malik Bendjelloul, executive producer John Battsek released by StudioCanal on July 27th - European premiere 13th/14th June Sheffield Doc/Fest and showing BFI London on 16th June "Stunning. One of the greatest, and most moving documentaries ever made." ***** Q magazine “to South Africans in the early ‘70s he was their Beatles and Dylan combined” **** Mojo “one of the great psychedelic, hippy, protest folk albums, right up there with the best of Dylan, James Taylor and Love” 6/5 The Sunday Telegraph “Think Marvin Gaye’s What Goes On re-imagined by Arthur Lee” **** Uncut It’s one of 1970s underground rock’s most unusual stories: the tale of an obscure debut LP by a Detroit singer-songwriter becoming a source of hope and inspiration to the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Now, the story of Rodriguez and his cult album Cold Fact is the basis for Searching For Sugar Man, a revelatory and compelling documentary by filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul. It’s a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music, and that music can be heard on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available 23rd July through Sony Legacy Recordings and Light In The Attic Records. Comprising tracks from Cold Fact and its 1971 follow-up Coming From Reality (reissued to critical acclaim in 2008 and 2009, respectively), the soundtrack begins with the otherworldly Sugarman and acts as a primer to this long-overlooked musician’s fusion of gritty funk, political poetry and blissful psych-folk. Searching for Sugar Man was a big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the world documentary audience award and a special jury award, and it received fantastic reviews at this year’s SXSW and Tribeca film festival. The film will have its European premiere at the 2012 Sheffield Doc/Fest where it will open the festival on 13 June (www.sheffdocfest.com) and will be showing at the BFI in London on 16 June The Mexican-American singer-songwriter Sixto Diaz Rodriguez was discovered in a Detroit bar by producers Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore. They recorded a 1970 album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. Instead, Cold Fact bombed and the Rodriguez disappeared into obscurity, even being subject to rumours that he had committed suicide by setting himself on fire onstage. The album took on a life of its own when a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid-era South Africa. Banned by the government, the album became a country-wide phenomenon over the next two decades, and the soundtrack to a resistance movement of liberal African youth. Back in Detroit, working in construction and renovation (he also ran for mayor), Rodriguez was totally unaware that he was not just a folk hero but a household name thousands of miles away. Eventually, two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero, and their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the many myths they’d heard. Their story forms the basis of Searching For Sugarman. Track listing: 1. SUGAR MAN 2. CRUCIFY YOUR MIND 3. CAUSE 4. I WONDER 5. LIKE JANIS 6. THIS IS NOT A SONG, IT’S AN OUTBURST: OR, THE ESTABLISHMENT BLUES 7. CAN’T GET AWAY 8. I THINK OF YOU 9. INNER CITY BLUES 10. SANDREVAN LULLABY - LIFESTYLES 11. STREET BOY 12. A MOST DISGUSTING SONG 13. I’LL SLIP AWAY 14. JANE S. PIDDY |  | |
| DIIV ANNOUNCE EUROPEAN TOUR 29-05-2012 | ||
| DIIV (formerly Dive) ANNOUNCE EUROPEAN TOUR - video for 'How Long Have You Known' http://youtu.be/cYHK7ts675g 'Oshin' released Summer 2012 (Captured Tracks) After three singles, a video, and a name change, Diiv have announced a European tour - pushing the limits of getting people even more excited for their debut album 'Oshin'. Indebted to classic kraut, dreamy Creation-records psychedelia and the primitive-crunch of late-80′s Seattle, the band walk a divisive yet perfectly fused patch of classic-underground influence. 19 Aug - London, Radfest @ Hackney Down Studios 20 Aug - London, Shacklewell Arms 22 Aug - Brussels, Madame Moustache 23 Aug - France - Paris, La Plage @ Glazart 24 Aug - Switzerland - Pully, For Noise Festival 25 Aug - Luxembourg Luxembourg, congés annulés @ Exit07 26 Aug - Netherlands Amsterdam, subbacultcha @ OCCII 28 Aug - Germany Berlin, Monarch 29 Aug - Germany Hamburg, Aalhaus 30 Aug - Denmark Copenhagen, Bakken 31 Aug - Sweden Stockholm, Brooklyn, Sweden @ Debaser Medis 1 sept - Sweden Malmo, Brooklyn, Sweden @ Debaser FOSSIL COLLECTIVE tour and 'Let It Go' EP released 25 June 2012 (Dirty Hit) http://soundcloud.com/fossilcollective/let-it-go Watch the amazing animated video for 'Let It Go' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5nE1510oYo Let It Go is the début EP from Fossil Collective, a Leeds duo whose music is an intoxicating blend of exquisitely structured songs and glorious, rich harmonies. Having toured the UK with Ren Harvieu and Benjamin Francis Leftwich already, Fossil Collective will be appearing live at the following dates for their first full UK jaunt. 29 May - Glasgow, King Tut's 30 May - Hull, Adelphi 31 May - Manchester, Night & Day 4 Jun - Leicester, Musician 5 Jun - Southampton, Cellar 6 Jun - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 7 Jun - London, Ballyhoo 8 Jun - Chelmsford, Hooga 9 Jun - Leeds, Cockpit 3 DARK DARK DARK RETURN TO UK - PLAY THE FORUM IN DECEMBER http://brightbrightbright.com/ After an amazing 2011/2012 Dark Dark Dark will be back over summer, hitting up Green Man and The End Of The Road Festival in the UK. As well as the National curated ATP festival in December. They have also just confirmed the following, quite amazing, London date. Kurt Vile, Lower Dens, Dark Dark Dark - Live at The Forum, London, 6th December 2012. Info:http://www.atpfestival.com/events/kurtvileforum/tickets.php Ticket Links:http://www.seetickets.com/Event/KURT-VILE-AND-THE-VIOLATORS/HMV-Forum/641025 PATTERNS RELEASE NEW SINGLE 'Blood' on 9th July (Melodic) http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/patterns-blood/s-3yhZr “A heady collision of blissed-out vocal echoes and shimmery weirdness” NME “Patterns boast superior depth and musicianship… it’s easy to get totally lost in the mix of ethereal sounds and shapes” The Fly The young four piece return with their second single to date. ‘Blood’ draws heavily on the worlds of ambient electronica and drone but fuses them onto a pop core, making something altogether more evocative. On the flip side the soft edges of Blood are hardened with an almost post-apocalyptic sounding rave remix from the mysterious NO CEREMONY///. Catch them live in the following places 2 Jun – Bristol, Dot To Dot (21.45 - 22.45 - Start The Bus) 3 Jun – Nottingham, Dot To Dot (17.00 - 17.30 - Red Room) 4 Jun – Manchester, Dot To Dot (15.30 - 16.00 - The Ritz) 18 Jul – London, The Old Blue Last 7 Sept – Bestival, Isle of Wight ISLET TOUR REMINDER, here's a trailer - http://tinyurl.com/cf39jez "Illuminated People overflows with ideas and adventurism" Q "they're a model of how a left leaning rock band ought to conduct themselves in 2012" NME "’Iluminated People' is a shining triumph" Clash "beautifully beguiling" The Fly Islet play their first UK tour dates since the release of debut album 'Illuminated People' earlier this year (reply for copies). If you've not seen Islet live you're in for a treat - combining free-form non-genre specific tribal psychedelic jams with a strong sense of fun (swapping instruments and walking off into the crowd), shamanic harmonies and DIY punk-rock. 29 May - Sheffield, The Harley 30 May - London, Cargo 31 May - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 1 Jun - Birmingham, Rainbow 2 Jun - Bristol, Dot to Dot 3 Jun - Nottingham, Dot to Dot 4 Jun - Manchester, Dot to Dot |  | |
| NATHAN FAKE returns with new single 'Iceni Strings' 24-05-2012 | ||
| http://soundcloud.com/border-community/icenistrings/ Single released 11th June 2012, taken from new album 'Steam Days' released 27th August, both on Border Community. Norfolk retro-futurist Nathan Fake returns with brand new single 'Iceni Strings': a typically bold reframing of the Zeitgeist, where burbling organic synths meet a deliciously crunchy techno rattle in one glorious, exuberant pre-apocalyptic braindance. The Iceni were an ancient Celtic tribe that lived in what is now Norfolk. Fake refers to the track’s melody as "memorable in the way a lot of ancient folk music is" and - only half seriously - "I just felt like the whole track had a total Celtic tribal campfire vibe to it!" A fitting first single for his nostalgically titled third album 'Steam Days' due for release late August on Border Community. Fake will take his blistering one man live set around the world 2012. Nathan Fake Tour Dates: 26th May: Festival Crossover, Nice, France 31st May: Lux, Lisbon, Portugal 23rd June: Cultech, Guimaraes, Portugal 28th June: ME.006 Rendez-Vous, Cabaret Sauvage, Paris, France 30th June: The Beat Herder Festival, Lancashire, UK 6th July: Bloc 2012, London, UK 7th July: Pitch Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands 20th July: Away Game Festival, Eigg, Scotland 5th August: Woodstock 69, Amsterdam, Netherlands 30th August: CAMP, London, UK for Eat Your Own Ears - ALBUM LAUNCH PARTY http://tinyurl.com/76jr3rt / http://tinyurl.com/7l64wgx 11th August: Creamfields Andalusia, Jerez, Spain 1st September: Strandclub Naturel, The Hague, Netherlands 8th September: Dimension Festival, Pula, Croatia 5th October: Mutek, Mexico City, Mexico 'Iceni Strings' Pre-order: http://boomkat.com/downloads/529785-nathan-fake-iceni-strings |  | |
| Gold Panda climbs Mountain 17-05-2012 | ||
| GOLD PANDA ANNOUNCES 7" RELEASE 'MOUNTAIN/FINANCIAL DISTRICT' - 11TH JUNE ON NOTOWN – listen here: http://snd.sc/KWiqaG (sorry, there will be no physical promos) EUROPEAN TOUR DATES / US TOUR DATES Following the release of his hugely acclaimed debut LP ‘Lucky Shiner’ back in 2010, a record that won The Guardian’s First Album Award , Gold Panda – has announced a new 7” ‘Mountain/Financial District’ and a selected tour of live dates and festival appearances. An artist who’s never felt the need to try and find his place, or even give the notion of attempting to fit in credence, ‘Mountain/Financial District’ is another wonderfully singular piece of work. It’s a return that he describes as a “short story,” hinting at something in the future that, even he confesses, could twist in a completely direction to the two tracks here – of which Derwin describes as “modern hip-hop.” He adds, “the 808 snares on ‘Mountain’ are a nod to Noah "40" Shebib and some-time Drake collaborators Boi-1da. ‘Financial District,’ at 125 bpm, though actually feels slower than that because the drum machine pattern on it has a completely different feel. It’s in the rhythms that I depart from that initial hip-hop idea.” Reflective of Gold Panda’s increased time travelling the globe and jumping from place to place, ‘Mountain’ and ‘Financial District’ most definitely sit apart from each other in different atmospheres. ‘Mountain’ the slightly warmer of the two, it’s huge reverberating percussive sound cocooning a myriad of skittering, pirouetting samples. ‘Financial District’ meanwhile revolves around off-kilter drones that play off one another before being hoisted up by the return of that resolute rhythm. The track titles, Derwin explains, indirectly came about after a discussion with Brainfeeder artist Matthewdavid, who told him he needed better names for them. “Listening to ‘Mountain’ again on a trip to Japan over New Year, we flew directly over Mt.Fuji and it seemed to just fit what I was seeing out of the window. ‘Financial District’ was just the opposite of the vast expanse of the mountain I guess. Crowded, synthetic and shiny... repetitive – and of course both can erupt at anytime.” He’ll be off travelling again soon this summer as well, playing both Field Day and Parklife Festivals in the UK in early June before travelling around Europe’s festivals and even calling in at San Francisco’s FYFest on September 2nd. In the UK, the 7” comes out on Gold Panda’s own label NOTOWN. With this year also seeing the release of a new Luke Abbott EP on NOTOWN (hit back to hear this) lead track 'Modern Driveway' streaming here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13585-modern-driveway/ UK / Irish Live Dates below – full US/European festivals here: http://www.iamgoldpanda.com/live/ June 2nd London - Field Day Festival, UK 10th Manchester - Parklife Festival, UK 23rd Ballinlough, Castle Body & Soul Festival, IRE August 19th Leicester, Summer Sundae Festival, UK September 9th Isle of Wight, Bestival, UK |  | |
| múm's the word 16-05-2012 | ||
| MÚM RELEASE 'EARLY BIRDS' - early recordings, rare music and forgotten songs from 1998-2000 or thereabouts. Out 9th July 2012 (Morr Music) Early Birds is a collection of 15 tracks, all of them recorded between 1998-2000 and long-lost or extremely rare, taken from demo tapes or limited edition vinyl releases. Includes the yet-unreleased “Hvernig á að særa vini sína”, that was included on the soundtrack to the movie The Exploding Girl. múm had a trademark even back in the earliest days: their compositions were all about melodies. Yet, that’s about the only thing these 15 songs have in common. Especially the first half of the compilation focuses more on the playful, “full of beans”-type of experimental tracks: pastiche and experimentation are key, and it’s anything goes indeed: they go from hyped-up pre-Electronica sound to jazzy Drum & Bass, and they aren’t even afraid to present a double-neck guitar solo à la Hair Metal done kiddie style. However, as said above, all the early experiments nevertheless share a certain signature sound. The second half of the album is comprised of those quieter, rather massive múm tracks, with only a few analog layers, harmonious and blissful, revolving around each other for minutes. These tracks are somehow reminiscent of minimal music, but then again they are simply too charming, too wistful and clearly not made for academics. ERROR OPERATOR EP LAUNCH - This Saturday at Jaguar Shoes - EP out 21st May 2012 (earFOOD Recordings) http://soundcloud.com/solarmanagement/sets/mustblove-all-around-she-error/s-DWR3P After remix work for the likes of Radiohead, UNKLE, Ghostpoet and The Weeknd, London's Error Operator releases his debut single proper, the sound of twilight hours and late night bus journeys to dystopian boroughs. Remixes by Great Skies and Trikk (also on the bill) make up the the single, and there's an EP launch at London's Jaguar Shoes this Saturday. LUKE ABBOTT RELEASES 'MODERN DRIVEWAY' - Out 25th June (NOTOWN) http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13585-modern-driveway/ “It’s pretty sweet for me to be able to steal an artist off Border Community for a while, and Luke’s amazing; Holkham Drones is what I would have loved to have made.” Gold Panda The slow burning success of Norwich-based producer Luke Abbott’s 2010 LP 'Holkham Drones' was apt in multiple ways, both in the word-of-mouth nature in which its reputation spread - reflective of the music itself, which in its chameleonic electronica revealed layers-on-layers with each rewarding listen. Modern Driveway is Abbott’s first work since 'Holkham Drones' and, whereas for others an EP might simply be a sandbox of sorts, for him it stands alone as uniquely as any as his other releases. Another shift forward for the bedroom artist, tracks like ‘Modern Driveway’ and ‘Carriage’ in particular still possess the dream-like nature that encompasses his sound, but attach themselves slightly more to gridlines, defined edges between textures, and beats. In the past Abbott has traditionally been part of James Holden’s Border Community, and the influence of time on the road playing Border-specific showcases with the likes of Kate Wax, Nathan Fake and Holden himself has undoubtedly worn off. However this EP comes out on Notown, a label set up by Gold Panda at the beginning of his career. Luke explains that the pair came together after moving in the same circles, resulting first in Gold Panda remixing his track ‘Brazil’ for him, “Then I just mention that I was thinking about releasing an EP and he offered to release it, which I wasn't expecting! He genuinely cares about the record that we're making.” 19 May - Spectro at Norfolk and Norwich Festival - Arts Centre - Norwich DOSEONE 'G IS FOR DEEP' Out 9th July 2012 (Anticon) Art-rap veteran Doseone is the founder of the Anticon record label. Doseone's first solo LP for the label he founded 15 years ago finds this one-man Oakland arts colony more lyrically naked than ever, singing instead of rapping, dressed in a Technicolor swirl of synthesizer, drum machine, hacked Gameboy, and layered voice. To call this pop might be misleading, but there are indeed choruses here. To call it R&B might confuse, but these are songs about one hard-working man's ups and downs with life, love, friendship, and fear. Having collaborated under the name cLOUDDEAD with the likes of Yoni Wolf, and currently in the middle of a collaboration with Mike Patton and TV On The Radio, 'G Is For Deep' is a stand alone album, something both considered and impulsive, equal parts brains and heart. |  | |
| Cheek Mountain Thief 15-05-2012 | ||
| CHEEK MOUNTAIN THIEF - new album by Mike Lindsay from Tunng released 13th August on Full Time Hobby Watch the video 'Cheek Mountain' - http://i-donline.com/2012/05/exclusive-video-cheek-mountain-thief/ Live at Tues 11th Sept - Purcell Room, Southbank Centre Mike Lindsay’s love affair with Iceland began in 2006. It involved a girl, Harpa, and an unforgettable New Year’s Eve party. In 2011, Lindsay – best known as the frontman of TUNNG – took to Iceland to rekindle that romance, and to record a bewitching new album under the name Cheek Mountain Thief inspired by the landscape and the people of Iceland. The idea was hatched in 2010, when Tunng were invited to play at the Iceland Airwaves festival. In December that year, Lindsay travelled with Harpa to the small, northern fishing town of Husavik, with its view of Kinnarfjöll – Cheek Mountain. “Everywhere was covered in snow and the sky was pink,” remembers Lindsay. “I witnessed bubbling hot springs and a volcano crater called Hell. I remember feeling like we were in a mythical wonderland.” With Tunng on a break, he hatched a plan to move to Husavik for a couple of months, to set up a studio and record an album. The concept was to arrive with no ideas and very little equipment, recording on whatever he could borrow from the locals. He’d been offered a Fender Jaguar guitar, a Fender Bassman amp, two monitor speakers and a DX7 synth before he even left Reykjavik. “Over the following two months I settled into a very simple life,” says Lindsay. “I worked until six then went for an afternoon swim and hot tub politics with the old guys. All life's problems are discussed in the hot tub. I remember in the first week plugging in the guitar, turning the amp up, standing on the porch looking at the mountains and just playing, loudly, for hours, not another soul around. It was like a never-ending music video.” Soon, Lindsay began to meet a colourful cast of local musicians: drummer Gunni, trumpet player Guðni, violin player Lára Soley, effects pedal-obsessed teenager Oskar, bassist Birki and accordian player Asta, 15, who introduced Lindsay to her school’s marimba band. Before long, the album was being shaped by the people of Husavik’s tiny, 2000-strong community. After two months of wild weather and nightly Northern Lights displays, the changing seasons meant it was time for Lindsay to leave Husavik, albeit with a dozen new songs. “I had the makings of a record telling the story of new beginnings, new people, alien landscapes, and falling in love. It certainly didn't sound like an album of loneliness in the wilderness. But how could it?” The album was completed in Rejkjavik with another host of local characters: a male choir named after the Kaffi Barin pub, producer Sindri (Sin Fang) and electronica artist Mugison, who has toured with Tunng and who, according to Lindsay, “sings like the devil”. The album was mixed by Gunni Tynes from Icelandic band Mum, of whom Silla adds guest vocals, with work being completed in Hafnarfirdi studio, notable for having walls made of lava. By this time, Lindsay had mentally bid farewell to London. “I had fallen in love with Harpa and this new life here,” he says. “The record had become the story of this new life. What a year… what a place… What an experience.” | .jpg) | |
| Cocorosie & Anthony Hegarty, Race Horses Stolen & Searching For Sugarman 10-05-2012 | ||
| Lots of exciting things to tell you about with a new Cocorosie single and Meltdown appearance curated by Anthony Hegarty who guests on their new b side. Race Horses are readying to go with a new label, album, we've heard it and it's uber pop - there's a free taster below - let us know what you make of it. Plus one of the best films we've ever seen, 'Searching For Sugarman' tells the amazing story of one our all time favourite artists Sixto Rodriguez. COCOROSIE new single 'We Are On Fire' released 18th June on PIAS - http://soundcloud.com/pias/coco-roise-we-are-on-fire Produced by Dave Sitek of TV ON THE RADIO; b-side features ANTONY HEGARTY; CocoRosie to appear at MELTDOWN FESTIVAL, London on 4th August ‘We Are On Fire’ is the new single from CocoRosie, the celebrated duo comprising US-born, Paris-based sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady and named for their childhood nicknames. It offers a glimpse into the sisters’ intricately spun, thoroughly imagined world, their music incorporating elements from opera, electronica, and folk; tied together with fairytale lyrics. ‘We Are On Fire’ was recorded with TV On The Radio mainman Dave Sitek in Los Angeles. “Working With Dave is a creative exorcism – musical kinship without boundary’, is how CocoRosie describe working with Sitek. Antony Hegarty (Antony and The Johnsons) lends his distinctive vocals to b-side ‘Tearz For Animals’. CocoRosie previously collaborated with Antony on their Noah’s Ark LP in 2005 and are set to play at the Anthony Hegarty-curated Meltdown Festival in August 2012. RACE HORSES new album ‘Furniture’ coming soon, free download: Mates available now from: http://www.facebook.com/Racehorsesmusic Listen here (private) - http://soundcloud.com/racehorsesmusic/sets/mates-1/s-g8Tr9 Following the critically acclaimed album Goodbye Falkenburg, Aberystwyth/Cardiff-based Race Horses are back with a new album, Furniture, that brings pin-sharp focus to the pop genius hinted at on that debut. They return following some big changes: there’s a new line-up, a new label (the London-based Stolen Recordings, in association with PIAS) and a brand new direction. Furniture is a big, bold pop album informed by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Talking Heads, Roxy Music and Queen. There’s a taster of the band's new material in the form of the percussive ‘Mates’, which is available as a free download from http://www.facebook.com/Racehorsesmusic SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN a film by Malik Bendjelloul, starring Rodriguez, produced by Simon Chinn and Malik Bendjelloul, executive producer John Battsek Released by StudioCanal on August 17, FOR MORE INFO PLEASE EMAIL: zoe@emfoundation.com "Stunning. One of the greatest, and most moving documentaries ever made." ***** Q magazine "The all-too-credible story of a superstar that never was." **** Empire Malik Bendjelloul’s revelatory and compelling Searching for Sugar Man (USA/UK/Sweden) is a documentary about the Mexican-American singer-songwriter Rodriguez, who was momentarily hailed in 1970 as the finest recording artist of his generation, and then disappeared into oblivion – only to rise again from the ashes in a completely different context, a continent away. Searching for Sugar Man is a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music. In the late ‘60s, a musician was discovered in a Detroit bar by two celebrated producers who were struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They recorded an album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, it became a phenomenon. Two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. Searching for Sugar Man was a big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the world documentary audience award and a special jury award. The film also received fantastic reviews at this year’s SXSW’s and most recently at the Tribeca film festival. Searching for Sugar Man will have its European premiere at the 2012 Sheffield Doc/Fest where it will open the festival on 13 June www.sheffdocfest.com. For notes and stills please visit www.studiocanal.co.uk/press |  | |
| New BEAK>>, Irish post-punk and Rock 'N' Roll Farmers 03-05-2012 | ||
| JULY is looking like a good one with a new BEAK> album, the first ever Irish post-punk new wave compilation on a new label set up by the good people at Finders Keepers called Cache Cache and one of the most incredible stories behind a record we've ever heard, Light In The Attic pull it out of the bag again, this time with Ariel Pink endorsed "rock'n'roll farmers" Donnie & Joe Emerson's 1979 'Dreamin' Wild' - http://lightintheattic.net/releases/705-dreamin-wild BEAK> Release second album >> 2nd July 2012 on INVADA Records - hear new track 'Yatton' - http://pitchfork.com/news/46376-portisheads-geoff-barrow-announces-new-beak-lp/ (Geoff Barrow/Billy Fuller/Matt Williams) There is an accepted music industry strategy, mainly from the mouths of experienced music managers and A&R men, that for a band to get ready to present themselves to the world they should go on tour. In most cases this advice works; the band hone their craft on the road so by the time they get on to ‘Later with Jools Holland’ they can amaze with their slick, tight rock performance. However, this doesn’t always work. BEAK> formed by Geoff Barrow - Matt Williams - Billy Fuller in 2009 recorded their self-titled debut album in Bristol, created out of 12 days of improv sessions and then edited into song form. Shorty after releasing it on INVADA records UK and Ipecac records U.S., the band went on a successful tour, playing various festival dates across Europe and the U.S. Buzzing from the tour, Beak> then returned to the studio to start work on ALBUM 2 only to find that the time on the road had taken its toll on the band’s delicately sensitive and creative nature. And, by consequence, had turned them into a truly awful-sounding pub prog-rock band. The magic had gone. It seemed that the band were thoroughly moribund. Until... One rainy afternoon in Bristol after many tortured, truly terrible recording sessions something changed. It may have been the diesel fumes from the bands tour splitter bus had worn off, others say that the band simply turned their amplifiers down. We will possibly never know the true events of that afternoon but the band began to play and, once again as before, their bleak, wobbly anti-blue note sound had returned, but this time with added synthesizers. And so... recorded in one room live (with very few overdubs) Beak>> is upon us. DONNIE & JOE EMERSON ‘Dreamin’ Wild’ Released 2nd July 2012 on Light In The Attic (first ever CD & LP reissue), watch this short docu - http://vimeo.com/39424998 “‘Baby’ has been a staple on just about every playlist/mixtape I’ve assembled in the past 3 years. It is nothing short of sublime.” – Ariel Pink Pacific Northwest isolation mixed with wide-eyed ambition, a strong sense of family and the gift of music proved to be quite the combination for teenage brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Originally released in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is the sonic vision of the talented Emerson boys, recorded in a family built home studio in rural Washington State. Situated in the unlikely blink-and-you-missed-it town of Fruitland and far removed from the late 1970s punk movement and the larger disco boom, Donnie and Joe tilled their own musical soil, channelling bedroom pop jams, raw funk, and yacht rock. Spurred on their high school’s music program, Donnie and Joe received a further push from their lifelong farmer father, who drew up a contract stating that he’d support his sons lofty ambitions with their very own recording studio as long as they focused on original material, sage advice for a man with zero experience in the music business. After taking out a second mortgage to help cover costs, Don Sr. also built his children a 300-capacity concert hall (dubbed Camp Jammin’) replete with ticket booth, stage, and fully functioning snack bar. The only problem was that the projected audience never quite materialised, despite a prime time TV profile entitled “The Rock And Roll Farmers” from nearby Spokane, Washington. Even the Emerson brother’s school pals were nonplussed at their privately pressed long player; hand distributed to local music stores, but not as far as Seattle, five hours away from their rural home. Somewhat rejected by the muted response, but never surrendering, both Donnie and Joe continued down a musical path and are still active as performers today. More here: http://lightintheattic.net/releases/705-dreamin-wild STRANGE PASSION – Various Artists Released 16th July 2012 on Cache Cache (Finders Keepers) - The first ever compendium of Irish post punk and new wave - featuring extensive liner notes, rare photos with the full participation of the featured artists and bands. - Released on Cache Cache a new post-punk record label set up by Finders Keepers dedicated to seeking out shyly excitable electric pop music from the not too distant past. Ireland in the late 1970s and early 1980s was an island in the grip of unrest, with civil and political strife in the north, and a tardy economy and religious hegemony in the south. To be young in Ireland at this time was extremely tough with many choosing to follow the well worn path of emigration. A significant number of those that stayed had little choice but to join the dole as employment opportunities were scant. However, the increasing influence of those windows to the wider world such as TV, radio and print were combining to fuel imaginations and plant seeds of disaffection amongst an increasingly sophisticated and pop literate youth desperate for change. Needless to say when punk entered the mainstream the cultural and social conditions were such in Ireland that a new generation of kids were perfectly primed to tap into its energies and values. Focusing on a three year period from 1980 to 1983, Strange Passion is a compilation of rare, unheralded and unreleased Irish music that emerged after the first wave of punk and new wave bands. Undoubtedly U2 were the breakthrough act from this new generation of acts. However, others such as Virgin Prunes with their Dadist inspired blend of performance art and punk offered a darker vision tapping into the latent energy of their environments which resulted in extraordinary live events and the odd incendiary TV performance. Live legends, The Threat and Chant! Chant! Chant! were gone almost as soon as they arrived but so fully formed were they already that recordings they did leave behind stand as prime examples of post punk music. Tracklisting: 1. Dogmatic Element - Just Friends 2. The Threat - High Cost Of Living 3. Chant! Chant! Chant! - Play Safe 4. Virgin Prunes - Twenty Tens (I've Been Smoking All Night Long) 5. Operatiing Theatre - Austrian 6. Stano - Town 7. The Peridots - No Water 8. Choice - Always In Danger 9. PH - Last Days 10. Major Thinkers - Avenue B 11. SM Corporation - Accentuate 12. SM Corporation - Fire From Above 13. Tripper Humane - Discoland 14. Operating Theatre - Eighties Rampwalk |  | |
| Brother Ali - new video, new album and tour 30-04-2012 | ||
| BROTHER ALI NEW ALBUM AND VIDEO 'Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color' due in August on RHYMESAYERS Brand New Video for "Not A Day Goes By" http://youtu.be/M13sOLyn0ec Soundcloud link http://snd.sc/JB4w0c Soundcloud direct download http://bit.ly/ITRdX4 UK / European shows early May, available for interviews. 'Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color' is the new album from Brother Ali and finds him reborn and rejuvenated. After embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Muslim rapper, inspired by his journey entered the studio, this time linking up with Seattle’s Jake One (50 Cent, De La Soul, T.I., Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa) to produce his fourth album. 'Mourning...' is a poignant, meditative work retaining Brother Ali’s candid personal style with thoughtful, blunt observations on the socio-economic and political systems entrenched in America. But yes, it’s still funky as hell, anchored by Jake One’s pounding beats utilizing martial drums, electric guitars and vocal samples. The album's main theme is about finding a sense of unity amidst the chaos of the current American political system. It's about unifying individuals that are otherwise disenfranchised by creating a sense of community and understanding. A community where we are able to see ourselves in each other and are willing to acknowledge and respect our differences. Check him out on the following European tour 10.05.12 - London, UK - XOYO: http://bit.ly/xpxhT6 11.05.12 - Manchester, UK - The Roadhouse: http://bit.ly/wLUyfL 12.05.12 - Bristol, UK - The Thekla: http://bit.ly/wcwakm 13.05.12 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store: http://bit.ly/xvjUK6 15.05.12 - Amsterdam, NL - Melkweg: http://bit.ly/yCG4fo 16.05.12 - Paris, FR - Le Divan Du Monde: http://bit.ly/xm0Aw0 17.05.12 - Berlin, DE - Festsaal Kreuzberg: http://bit.ly/yTfzSG 18.05.12 - Munich, DE - Hansa 39: http://bit.ly/wWCYBC |  | |
| Cate Le Bon CYRK out tomorrow - new Sept tour, supports Brian Jonestown, Perfume Genius 29-04-2012 | ||
| Cate Le Bon 'CYRK' RELEASED TOMORROW Puts Me To Work video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TrU3jvj3K4Y NEW HEADLINE TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED FOR SEPTEMBER Plus supporting Perfume Genius (May) and Brian Jonestown Massacre (July) “like a Valley-born Nico locked in the cupboard with The Fall” **** Q “Cate Le Bon follows her own path” **** MOJO “her lyrical style recalls the whimsical, pastoral fantasy of Syd Barrett and her music jumps everywhere, from garage rock to harmony pop to electronic….with it’s own sense of logic.” **** The Times “Le Bon is someone whose take on songwriting is so sideways, it would be completely impossible for anyone else to replicate it” Guardian Guide “like an unearthed psych classic” NME 8/10 “absolutely brilliant” Drowned In Sound "Le Bon's days as a farmgirl in West Wales may be long behind her, but she's clearly held on to certain agricultural principles: namely, that the right amounts of patience and nurturing can produce glorious yields." Pitchfork The reviews are in. The second album by singer-songwriter-with-a-difference Cate Le Bon, CYRK, is a bona fide critical hit. And it hits the shelves today, 30 April 2012. The cavalcade of comparisons that crop up in every review – John Cale, Nico, Malkmus et al – give you an idea of the regard in which Le Bon is held. Released on Gruff Rhys’s Ovni imprint, CYRK is a 35-minute blast of colour, ever-changing as it whizzes from the garage pop opener Falcon Eyed to the closing number Ploughing Out, a track so epic it demanded to be split into two parts. “CYRK is like a time travel travelogue which continually returns the sea,” says Le Bon, who took the album’s title from the Polish word for Circus and too inspiration from a trip to the Isle Of Eigg. “I mostly write about the sea, matters of the heart and animals – or a mish-mash of all three.” Cate Le Bon ended 2011 with a two month stint supporting America’s finest guitar destroyer Annie Clark, aka St Vincent. Her time on the road fostered a confidence and assuredness that is evident in Le Bon’s stage presence: with dead-eye stares, guitars held aloft, and the kind of voice that could sink an iceberg, this really isn’t one you want to miss. Tickets for Cate’s freshly booked September tour go on sale TODAY. Catch Cate at Spillers in Cardiff playing some tunes from the album tomorrow at 5.30pm. HEADLINE TOUR IN SEPTEMBER 6th – Leaf, Liverpool http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/ 7th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds http://www.seetickets.com/ 8th – Captains Rest, Glasgow http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_scotland&query=schedule&promoter=pcl&interface=pcl 10th – Cluny, Newcastle http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_northeast&query=detail&event=504792 11th – Telford’s Warehouse, Chester http://www.seetickets.com/ 12th – XOYO, London http://www.seetickets.com/ 13th – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham http://birminghampromoters.com 15th – The Parrot, Carmarthen http://www.wegottickets.com SUPPORTING PERFUME GENIUS IN MAY 7th – The Lantern Theatre, Sheffield SOLD OUT 8th – Captain's Rest, Glasgow SOLD OUT 9th – Deaf Institute, Manchester 10th – St Pancras Old Church, London SOLD OUT 13th – Chapel Arts, Bath 14th – St Pancras Old Church, London SOLD OUT 16th – Botanique, Brussels - Belgium SOLD OUT 17th – Amstelkerk, Amsterdam - Netherlands 19th – Paradijskerk, Rotterdam - Netherlands 20th – Gebaude 9, Cologne - Germany 21st – Prinzebar, Hamburg - Germany 22nd – PrivatClub, Berlin - Germany 24th – Divan Du Monde, Paris - France SUPPORTING BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE IN JULY 7th – London, Shepherds Bush Empire 8th – Manchester, Ritz 9th – Birmingham, Academy 2 |  | |
| Beth & Charles do Later... 17-04-2012 | ||
| Two In House acts have been confirmed for the new series of Later...with Jools Holland. Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny will be on the telly box tonight at 10pm and again on Friday, they also announce a new tour in September below. Also CHARLES BRADLEY the man who released his debut album at the age of 62 (they've made a film made about it www.charlesbradleyfilm.com) will be appearing on the May 1st show. He'll be around for interviews in London to talk about his incredible life and finding success 'n fame at such an age. He's announced another London show at BluesFest on June 30th. "Bradley has all the marks of the soul greats who have gone before him; the testifying smart of Syl Johnson, the grit and gusto of Otis Redding, the raw power of James Brown.." MOJO Check his moves here: http://youtu.be/eQjx4W9qsdE Read more here: http://thecharlesbradley.com/bio Couple of interviews here: http://www.spinner.com/2011/01/20/charles-bradley-heals-heartache-and-pain-of-brothers-murder-w/ / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Z7pQqTYrg&feature=related BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY to appear on LATER LIVE... WITH JOOLS HOLLAND tonight (17 April) BBC2 10pm ANNOUNCES SEPTEMBER TOUR New single ‘ATLAS’ out 23 APRIL on Mute - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82t0vx-U9d4 Limited Record Store Day picture disc released 21 APRIL on Mute “Where she treads others will undoubtedly follow.” Uncut, ‘Debut Album of the Month’ **** “A dazzling listen” Q **** “An extraordinary find” The Sunday Times “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose has an intimate, unusual charm that's all its own” NME “one of the year’s most exciting newcomers” The Sun, 4.5/5 The stunning Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny are set to hit TV screens nationwide when they appear on Later… With Jools Holland tonight BBC 2 at 10pm. The first episode of the landmark TV show’s 40th series, it also includes performances from Mike Skinner and Paul Weller. The show is repeated on Friday at 11.50 with an extended version, also on BBC2. With the dazzling debut album ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ galloping its way to the nation’s hearts, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny are soon set to release ‘Atlas’ as their next single. Currently A-listed on 6 Music, Atlas will be available on Mute from 23 April 2012, with a special super-limited picture disc Record Store Day exclusive appearing two days before on 21 April. Meanwhile, Beth and her band have a busy summer ahead (see festival dates below) and today announce a brand new UK tour for September, with dates as follows. Tickets go on sale 23 April. SUMMER FIXTURES Sat 12 May – The Great Escape festival, Brighton Fri 1 June – Newcastle, The Cluny (Evolution Emerging) Sat 2 June – Bristol, Dot To Dot Sun 3 June - London, The Apple Cart Sat 9 June - Welbeck Abbey (nr Sheffield), No Direction Home Festival Fri 20 July - Huntingdon, Secret Garden Party Sat 21 July - Thirsk, Deer Shed Festival Sun 22 July - Tramlines, Sheffield Mon 23 July - Holt Festival, Holt Sat 18 Aug – Brecon Beacons, Green Man Festival Fri 31 Aug - Moseley Folk Festival, Birmingham SEPTEMBER TOUR Fri 21 Sep – Cockpit, Leeds Sat 22 Sep – Stereo, Glasgow Sun 23 Sep – Library, Lancaster (matinee show) Tue 25 Sep – Deaf Institute, Manchester Wed 26 Sep – Kings College, London - http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=503766&interface=tw_pre-sale&REFID=bjhpre Thu 27 Sep – The Cellar, Southampton Fri 28 Sep – The Haunt, Brighton |  | |
| Captured Tracks go In House 16-04-2012 | ||
| We're pleased to announce that In House is now working with Brooklyn's enigmatic Captured Tracks label. Having been fans of their output for a long time, we'll be working closely with them on the UK releases of all Captured Tracks records. With an immediate start, first up is a show by Sweden's Holograms, TOMORROW at the Old Blue Last, hotly tipped and not to be missed. Then there's a UK tour from Dignan Porch and announcements of releases from Craft Spells, DIVE and Mac De Marco. With plenty of new releases from the likes of Wild Nothing, Soft Moon and Widowspeak still to come, as well as a number of cool re-issues (Medicine and Cleaners From Venus first up) , there's plenty to keep you informed about. It all starts here... http://capturedtracks.com/ HOLOGRAMS Debut UK show @ Old Blue Last - 17th April 2012 video for ABC City (21st May 2012) here http://vimeo.com/35850010 B-side Hidden Structures http://vimeo.com/39798646 "Sweden's Holograms' debut is one of the finest slabs of proto-punk to come out in ages... it's basically the breakfast jingle to the bristling new Nordic Oik movement spearheaded by Iceage. They hit the UK in April. Miss them at your peril." NME With one of the most exciting debut albums due for release this year, Stockholm's Holograms are ditching their jobs in a packing warehouse for a few weeks to go tour. Their sound synthesizes the drudgery of dismal existence with a lust for something better; echoing both the violent abandonment of punk as well as some of the electronic gloss of early 80′s new wave. Check their website for further EU dates and email for guestlist for this much anticipated show. CRAFT SPELLS 'Gallery' EP (25th June 2012) streaming now on In House website With the most impressive performance witnessed by In House eyes at SXSW this year - like a young New Order, Craft Spells is the epitome of the recent uprising of the DIY music scene. Coming from a place not known for its musical history or impact on music culture, it seemed destined for Craft Spells to stay as a bedroom pop project with no final destination in sight. But soon the shear amount of blog volume Justin Vallesteros' work began to generate was unimaginable. The sound is led by Justin’s blissful voice, backed behind beautiful guitar melodies over heavenly synths, pop basslines and looped rhythms. Captured Tracks has released 7″ single for the song 'Party Talk' and the debut LP 'Idle Labor'. Next up is 'Gallery', an evolution in Craft Spell's sound. Gallery fully embodies the contentedness that comes with being home once assured of the worlds infinite possibilities. Speckles of 80's synth pop and drum loops remain the nostalgic centerpiece, representing familiarity, while Vallesteros illuminates himself as more comfortable venturing outward into the abyss of song-writing. Upon shedding the shackles of insecurity, Gallery unearths a resonating versatility amidst the further crafting of Vallesteros' cosmic disco. MAC DEMARCO 'Rock And Roll Night Club' (early July 2012) streaming now on In House website DeMarco’s a weird cat, cultivating an affinity for occult imagery, nudity and social satire. But his most impressive trait is his undeniable and instinctual ability to compose magical pop jangles, of which he’ll likely refer to as “jizz jazz”. His dusted jams have garnished him accolades that are as ever-increasing as his song writing abilities; his sound rendering comparisons, but in a nomadic fashion alluding no distinct origin. Come early July DeMarco’s debut solo mini album entitled Rock And Roll Night Club will ramble into the great unknown guided by Captured Tracks, DeMarco’s inner Elvis a tow. DIGNAN PORCH http://capturedtracks.com/artists/dignanporch/ (album coming soon) "Dignan Porch then, Joe and Sam Walsh, sons of a Northern Line tube driver whose hearts will forever be in Tooting Broadway, 3 other waifs and strays, and when all 5 are in a room together they are completely compelling.” – Henry Withers Lovvers / Human Hair / Dignan Porch Collaborator. Dignan Porch are the sole UK signers to Captured Tracks and as such are playing a whole bunch of UK shows with Omi Palone this month as their album enters its last phases of completion. 20 Apr - The Wilmington, London 21 Apr - The Chameleon, Nottingham 22 Apr - Tye Dye Records, Sheffield 23 Apr - The Fox and Newt, Leeds 24 Apr - Deaf Institute, Manchester 25 Apr - Atomic Vintage, Wigan 26 Apr - Run of the Mill Records, Middlesbrough 27 Apr - Green Door Store, Brighton DIVE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcgBnXnjxyU (album out early July) streaming on In House website next week DIVE is the nom-de-plume of Z. Cole Smith, musical provocateur and front-man of an atmospheric and autumnally-charged new Brooklyn four-piece. Recently inked to the Captured Tracks imprint, DIVE created instant vibrations in the blog-world with their impressionistic debut Sometime; finding it’s way onto the esteemed pages of Pitchfork and Altered Zones a mere matter of weeks after the group’s formation. Enlisting the aid of NYC indie-scene-luminary, Devin Ruben Perez, former Smith Westerns drummer Colby Hewitt, and Mr. Smith’s childhood friend Andrew Bailey, DIVE craft a sound that is at once familial and frost-bitten. Indebted to classic kraut, dreamy Creation-records psychedelia, and the primitive-crunch of late-80′s Seattle, the band walk a divisive yet perfectly fused patch of classic-underground influence. MEDICINE & CLEANERS FROM VENUS box-sets(28th May 2012) streaming on In House website Medicine Box Set- everything completely remastered by Brad Laner, unreleased demos and versions of tracks from these albums and more / CT-148 Shot Forth Self Living Expanded 2xLP / CT-149 The Buried Life Expanded 2xLP / CT-150 Sounds of Medicine LP http://capturedtracks.com/shoegaze-archives/medicine/ Medicine was formed in Los Angeles in 1990 by guitarist/producer Brad Laner as a means for marrying raw experimental textures with classic psychedelic pop song craft. Considered by many to be the foremost American purveyors of what some called Shoegaze or Dreampop, Medicine were one of the few U.S.bands on Creation Records and highly unlikely residents of Rick Rubin’s American Recordings where they released three LPs and many EPs between 1992and 1995. At the time, these records elicited confused head scratching from most and ecstatic devotion from some. Despite Medicine’s willful obscurity,they subversively reached mainstream consciousness via their appearance in the 1994 film (and its #1 soundtrack album), “The Crow”. Medicine imploded in 1995 and Brad Laner has gone on to release an ongoing series of solo LPs and guest appearances on albums such as the current M83 album , “Hurry Up,We’re Dreaming”, Brian Eno’s “Another Day On Earth” and Caribou’s “The Milk of Human Kindness” . 20 years on, these original two records by Medicine are still a bracing sonic slap in the face. Filled with surprises and strange detours, both beautifully melodic and harshly experimental, these reissues are lovingly presented with a complete set of vintage non-LP B-sides and many archival curiosities for those who wish to delve deeper. The Cleaners From Venus VOL.1 Vinyl Box Set (exclusive liner notes, previously unreleased photos and tracks) / CT-145 Blow Away Your Troubles 2xLP / CT-146 On Any Normal Monday LP / CT-147 Midnight Cleaners LP http://capturedtracks.com/reissues/the-cleaners-from-venus/ Lol Elliott and Martin Newell, who together formed the legendary lo-fi band Cleaners from Venus met in the small town of Wivenhoe, southeast England at the turn of 1980s. Newell, a rock singer and part-time kitchen porter who’d left his band the previous summer, and Elliott, a drummer and former hippy traveller, had much in common. They shared a love of sunny 1960s pop music, punk rock and musical comedy. Neither Elliott nor Newell cared much for any kind of musical rule book, both were dismayed by the new right -wing politics which had now taken over their country. Both , were in their twenties, had time on their hands and were keen to create something new. |  | |
| Field Music announce covers compilation; book summer + autumn tour dates 13-04-2012 | ||
| FIELD MUSIC ANNOUNCE SUMMER + AUTUMN TOUR DATES / COVERS COMPILATION Praise for "Plumb" "Homespun brilliance from Sunderland's pop perfectionists" **** Uncut "Like a delicious menu of rock history. Tuck In" **** Mojo "The Brewis brothers fabulous fourth.. fast becoming the cherished eccentrics of British guitar music" **** Q "A fourth album that's fun and breezy yet also complex and meaningful" 8/10 NME "Terrific songs worthy of celebration" **** Guardian *Please use art/tour poster attached for any news stories, 'Terrapin' from the comp. is also streaming now* Field Music 'Terrapin' (Syd Barrett cover) http://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/field-music-terrapin With the release of their recent hugely acclaimed album Plumb, and having completed a sold out tour of the UK, Field music, a.k.a. Sunderland siblings Peter and David Brewis (along with Kev Dosdale on guitars and synth and Andrew Lowther on bass) have just announced a 12 date tour of the UK this coming October following a host of festival appearances across the summer. To coincide with these dates Field Music will be releasing a limited edition compilation of cover versions. If you've come across their versions of Syd Barrett's "Terrapin", The Beatles' "Don't Pass Me By" or Roxy Music's "If There Is Something" you'll know that this will be something worth investigating. David Brewis explains: "Over the years we've been handed excuses to try all sorts of covers. Sometimes we've been quite faithful and other times we've completely de-constructed them. Even though I don't think it's something which comes naturally to us, we always seem to find some element which can turn a song into Field Music". Drawn from a mixture of previous recordings and upcoming sessions at their Wearside studio, the Field Music covers compilation is available to preorder exclusively now from the band's website at www.field-music.co.uk. Full list of summer festival dates + headline shows as follows: 14 April, Independent, Sunderland 07 May, The Black Box, Belfast 31 May, Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona 04 June, Forbidden Fruit Festival, Dublin 23 June, Transmission 003, Jodrell Bank, Manchester 22 July, Tramlines Festival, Sheffield 04 August, Standon Calling, Hertfordshire 12 August, Wilderness Festival, Oxfordshire 18 August, Green Man Festival, Wales 08 September, Bestival, Isle of Wight 03 October, The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen 04 October, Oran Mor, Glasgow 05 October, The Cockpit, Leeds 06 October, Kazimier, Liverpool 10 October, Cellars, Southampton 11 October, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff 12 October, Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 13 October, Sumo, Leicester 17 October, Electric Ballroom, London 18 October, The Haunt, Brighton 19 October, Komedia, Bath 20 October, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry More info and tickets at http://www.field-music.co.uk |  | |
| Beachwood Sparks fly again.. first album for 11 years due on Sub Pop 12-04-2012 | ||
| It’s all about the B’s this week with the return of Beachwood Sparks, Beth Jeans Houghton appearing on Later with Jools Holland next week, a reminder on Le Bon, Cate Le Bon’s tour/new album – London show is the 23rd April. Also Binkunoizu, okay it’s Pinkunoizu play their first headline date in London on 24th April. Read on for more info on all of them... BEACHWOOD SPARKS return with The Tarnished Gold out on June 25th on Sub Pop - hit back for album promos and interview requests Offer free download of lead single “Forget The Song” available here: http://www.subpop.com/artists/beachwood_sparks Click here for album artwork: http://assets2.subpop.com/assets/images/11614.jpg With the June 25 release of The Tarnished Gold, Los Angeles, CA’s much-beloved Beachwood Sparks return with their first new album in 11 years. Available digitally and on such popular formats as CD and LP (double-LP at 45 rpm), the album features the singles “Forget the Song” and “Sparks Fly Again.” The Tarnished Gold is the work of the classic Beachwood Sparks lineup: singer/guitarist Chris Gunst, singer/bassist Rademaker, singer/multi-instrumentalist Farmer Dave Scher, and singer/drummer Aaron Sperske, with invaluable support from guitarist and longtime friend Ben Knight (The Tyde). For the sessions, the band expanded to seven members, with guitarists Knight and Neal Casal (solo artist and former member of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals), with Dan Horne on pedal steel in place of Scher, who opted to play organ, key, flying V guitar and electrified melodica. Also lending a hand were Gunst’s wife Jen Cohen (from The Aislers Set and, more recently, Mystic Chords of Memory), Sparks’ very first drummer Jimi Hey, Brent’s brother Darren (leader of The Tyde), and L.A. indie-rock maestro Ariel Pink. Producer Thom Monahan returned to his familiar spot behind the console (read more: http://www.subpop.com/artists/beachwood_sparks) BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY to appear on LATER... WITH JOOLS HOLLAND next week New single ‘ATLAS’ out APRIL 23rd (also limited Record Store Day picture disc release on 21st) on Mute - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82t0vx-U9d4 “Where she treads others will undoubtedly follow.” Uncut, ‘Debut Album of the Month’ **** “A dazzling listen” Q **** “An extraordinary find” Sunday Times “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose has an intimate, unusual charm that’s all it’s own” NME “one of the year’s most exciting newcomers” The Sun, 4.5/5 With the dazzling debut album ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ galloping its way to the nation’s hearts, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny are set to release ‘Atlas’ as their next single (currently A listed on 6 Music) on Mute on 23 April 2012, with a special super limited picture disc Record Store Day release on 21 April. Beth and her band will also appear on Later with Jools Holland next week. They’ve a busy summer ahead as well with plenty of shows booked in and plenty more on the way… Sat 12 May – The Great Escape festival, Brighton Fri 1 June – Newcastle, The Cluny (Evolution Emerging) Sat 2 June – Bristol, Dot To Dot Sun 3 June - London, The Apple Cart Sat 9 June - Welbeck Abbey (nr Sheffield), No Direction Home Festival Fri 20 July - Huntingdon, Secret Garden Party Sat 21 July - Thirsk, Deer Shed Festival Sat 18 Aug – Brecon Beacons, Green Man Festival CATE LE BON ‘CYRK’ out 30th April, tour starts 23rd April at London Village Underground (sold out), latest video ‘Put Me To Work’ http://tinyurl.com/c5drdnt Listen to Cate’s Record Store Day split with Gruff Rhys - http://www.gruffrhys.com/ “like a Valley-born Nico locked in the cupboard with The Fall” **** Q "Le Bon's days as a farmgirl in West Wales may be long behind her, but she's clearly held on to certain agricultural principles: namely, that the right amounts of patience and nurturing can produce glorious yields." Pitchfork With her second album, CYRK, hitting the shelves on 30 April (ask for promos), Cate Le Bon is set to embark on a string of UK shows with fellow Welsh psych-ster H.Hawkline in support. 23 April – London, Village Underground (Album launch party) – SOLD OUT 24 April – Manchester, Soup Kitchen 25 April – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s (Communion night) 26 April – Sheffield, Harley 28 April – Cardiff, The Printhaus PINKUNOIZU release their debut album 'Free Time!' ("There surely won't be a better prog-psych escapade in 2012" Mojo) on the 16th April on Full Time Hobby, if you have any er.. free time... you should come and check them out live end of April, they will also be playing End of the Road. 24th April - Old Blue Last, London 25th April - Shipping Forecast, Liverpool |  | |
| Everything But The Girl reissues, Dent May, Listen Whitey! Tour 05-04-2012 | ||
| Exciting news for June with 4 reissues planned for Everything But The Girl, Dent May has a new album out which is probably the most accessible thing Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label has released. Also news on Listen, Whitey! author and curator Pat Thomas is doing talks early May... EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL reissues of four classic albums in 2 CD casebound book sets on Edsel Records Eden / Love Not Money / Baby The Stars Shine Bright / Idlewild to get the deluxe reissue treatment on June 4th 2012 CD1 – the original album CD2 – non-album a- and b-sides, unreleased home demos, BBC Radio sessions Book – the lyrics, individual album note by Ben and Tracey, photos from their own collection Everything But The Girl was formed in 1982 by Tracey Thorn (b. Brookmans Park, Herts 26.9.62) and Ben Watt (b. Barnes, London 06.12.62). Both had already had early acclaimed starts in their teens on the UK post-punk independent scene - Tracey with her indie minimal girl group, the Marine Girls (1980-1983, later name-checked as one of Kurt Cobain's favourite bands); Ben with more experimental solo folk-jazz recordings featuring alt-folk icon, Robert Wyatt (1981-1983). All the recordings had been released by London independent, Cherry Red, during its A&R heyday under Mike Alway (1980-1983). The pair met by coincidence at Hull University in the autumn of 1981. Merging their respective early non-rock influences (Tracey: Buzzcocks, Billie Holiday, torch songs, disco; Ben: John Martyn, Brian Eno, Bill Evans) their first release was a stark acoustic cover of Cole Porter's 'Night and Day' (1982) on Cherry Red. Originally intended as a last-minute B-side to two originals, it unintentionally threw the pair into the burgeoning London jazz-pop scene. Returning to work in the relative isolation of Hull, each then released acclaimed minimalistic solo albums that topped the UK Indie Charts - Tracey's 'A Distant Shore' (1982, recorded in a friend's garden shed, incl. cover of Lou Reed's 'Femme Fatale') and Ben's 'North Marine Drive' (1983, incl. cover of Dylan's 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go') before they pooled songs for the Everything But The Girl debut, 'Eden', recorded with producer Robin Millar in the summer of 1983, but not released due to contractual issues involved in their move to Blanco Y Negro/WEA until May 1984. It spawned a Top 40 hit ('Each And Every One') and went on to sell 500,000 copies, while Paul Weller unexpectedly invited them both to guest on a track on the debut album by The Style Council, 'Café Bleu' (1984). The next three albums charted different paths. The breezy folk-jazz of 'Eden' was followed by the politicised electric guitar pop of 'Love Not Money' (1985), the orchestral 60's wall of sound of 'Baby, The Stars Shine Bright' (1986) and the more introspective machine-pop-soul of 'Idlewild' (1988). All three went gold in the UK, with 'Idlewild' also seeing a quick re-release after the band's Top 3 UK Top 40 success with a cover of Danny Whitten's 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' in the summer of 1988. Eden [EDSK 7004] - 17 bonus tracks, including five previously unreleased home demos, and four BBC radio sessions Love Not Money [EDSK 7005] - 11 bonus tracks, including three previously unreleased home demos, and three BBC radio sessions Baby The Stars Shine Bright [EDSK 7006] - 12 bonus tracks, including five previously unreleased home demos Idlewild [EDSK 7007] - 18 bonus tracks, including seven previously unreleased home demos and an outtake /////////////////////////////////// DENT MAY - NEW ALBUM 'DO THINGS' - 11TH JUNE 2012 PAW TRACKS http://soundcloud.com/dentmay/fun "As adept at country as he is samba or barbershop quartet singing. Dent's both a crooner and a pop singer - and also, judging from this, a star in the making" MOJO **** In the years since signing with Paw Tracks in 2009, Mississippi native Dent May has made music that balances saccharine pop sincerity and campy affectation. His debut LP, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, put wry storytelling at its fore, but imbued each track with sweet strums of the titular instrument and earnest harmonies sure to arrest listeners’ sympathies. Eager to explore different styles, the two singles released since the album, “That Feeling” and “Fun,” have seen May plugging in and finding footing somewhere between 60s psychedelia and disco-era balladry in the vein of Ashford and Simpson, a vibe he expands on with his new record, Do Things. Hit back to hear it. /////////////////////////////////// PAT THOMAS TRAVELS OVER LAND AND SEA WITH LISTEN WHITEY!: THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF BLACK POWER Author, lecturer, and music-man Pat Thomas is hitting the road with Listen Whitey!: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power. Meet the mofo behind the book that pays tribute to the Black Power Movement of the ’60s-’70s. Heading across the pond to England, Thomas will be giving talks, signing books, and playing tracks at both bookstores and record shops. While researching this book project in Oakland, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Elaine Brown, and others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective. Listen, Whitey! chronicles the forgotten history of Motown Records’ Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, which released politically charged albums by Stokely Carmichael, Langston Hughes, Bill Cosby, and Ossie Davis, among others. Obscure records produced by African-American sociopolitical organizations of the period are examined, along with the Isley Brothers, Nina Simone, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Watts Prophets, Roland Kirk, Horace Silver, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, Stanley Crouch, and many more. Thomas will give a slide and music presentation, and then sign copies of Listen, Whitey! and the companion CD of the same title from Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records. The album features rare tracks from African-American activists like Dick Gregory, Eldridge Cleaver, and the Last Poets, with protest music by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Gil Scott-Heron, Roy Harper, and more. Wednesday, May 9 - University of Southampton - www.southampton.ac.uk Thursday, May 10 - SPONSORED AND PRESENTED BY THE WIRE MAGAZINE @ Cafe OTO 18 – 22 Ashwin St. Dalston, LONDON E8 3DL - http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/8830/ / www.cafeoto.co.uk / Friday, May 11 Rough Trade East “Dray Walk”. Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, LONDON, E1 6QL - www.roughtrade.com Tuesday, May 15 - Durham University - www.dunelm.org.uk |  | |
| Introducing... Fossil Collective 02-04-2012 | ||
| FOSSIL COLLECTIVE 'Let It Go' EP released 11 June 2012 (Dirty Hit) http://soundcloud.com/fossilcollective/let-it-go Watch the amazing animated video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5nE1510oYo Let It Go is the debut EP from Fossil Collective, a Leeds duo whose music is an intoxicating blend of exquisitely structured songs and glorious, rich harmonies. The group mainstays are Jonny Hooker and David Fendick, two multi-instrumentalists, swelling to a five-piece for live performances. This is a collective by name and nature “we are always looking for people to come on board,” say the duo. The spirit includes collaborators from beyond the world of music: Leeds-based animators Broken Pixel produced the brand new video for Let It Go’s title track, available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5nE1510oYo Painstakingly put together over the a period of months, the video was made using the time-honoured stop-motion animation technique. “It's a love story,” say the duo, who put the story together with the team at Broken Pixel. “A tragic ballooning accident separates two lovebirds, and the story follows the male character as he’s stuck on a island trying to build his way to the moon to rescue his love. It takes many years and a lot of effort for him to achieve this.” As the title suggests, the EP is heavy hearted but hopeful, five songs about struggle, strife and relationships. The slide guitar-driven Without A Fight is about “not giving up on something you love” with Everything But You Is Facing North is about “the contradictions that can occur in relationships”. Currently on tour with soul singer Ren Harvieu, and having toured the UK in February with Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Fossil Collective will be appearing live at the following dates including their first full UK jaunt: Supporting Ren Harvieu: 2 Apr - Kings Tut, Glasgow 3 Apr - Glee Club, Birmingham 4 Apr - The Haunt, Brighton 11 Apr - Bush Hall, London 5 May - Live At Leeds 9 May - The Borderline, London (support) 10 & 11 May - The Great Escape, Brighton 17 May - Liverpool Sound City Festival Headline Tour 25 May - Middlesbrough, Westgarth Social Club 28 May - Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete's 29 May - Glasgow, King Tut's 30 May - Hull, Adelphi 31 May - Manchester, Night & Day 04 Jun - Leicester, Musician 05 Jun - Southampton, Cellar 06 Jun - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 07 Jun - London, Ballyhoo 08 Jun - Chelmsford, Hooga 09 Jun - Leeds, Cockpit 3 |  | |
| Orkney: Symphony Of The Magnetic North 05-03-2012 | ||
| THE MAGNETIC NORTH - 'ORKNEY: SYMPHONY OF THE MAGNETIC NORTH' - 7TH MAY New album featuring Erland Cooper, Hannah Peel and Simon Tong 'Bay Of Skaill' video and interview exclusive: http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/interview-video-exclusive-magnetic-north Album launch party – 23rd May - Wiltons Music Hall, London “When someone comes to you in a dream and tells you to make an album about your homeland – the Orkney islands - would you disregard it? Especially when that someone is Betty Corrigall, the Orcadian girl who in the 1770's killed herself having been cast out by her village after becoming pregnant by a visiting sailor?” In January 2011, it’s the spark that led Orcadian singer-songwriter Erland Cooper to group together his Erland & The Carnival band mate Simon Tong and singer/orchestral arranger Hannah Peel (of last year’s solo The Broken Wave album) to form a new group, The Magnetic North, with a distinct purpose: the recording of 'Orkney: Symphony Of The Magnetic North'. The resulting project took Cooper, Peel and Tong from South London to the far, far north, the Orkney Islands themselves. Immersing themselves in Orcadian folklore, poetry, geography and setting up a portable studio in the living room of Erland's parents’ old house on the Stromness harbour front, they wrote and recorded songs overlooking the forbidding Atlantic Ocean. At the Hoy Kirk (church), they recorded with the Stromabank Pub Choir, which comprises almost half of the Isle Of Hoy’s population, and Cooper recorded vocals in 'The Dwarfie Stane', a huge neolithic rock on Hoy with a person-sized chamber hollowed out inside. “A crazy English spy/soldier called Guilemus Mounsey stayed a few nights there alone in the 19th century and went loopy,” says Cooper. “He carved his thoughts in Persian on the walls of the chamber.” April 4th London, Village Underground (with Other Lives) April 5th Manchester, Academy 3 (with Other Lives) May 23rd London – Wilton’s Music Hall (Album Launch Party) June 28th Orkney – St. Magnus International Festival //////////////////////////////////// PINKUNOIZU 'FREE TIME!' - TOUR EUROPE IN APRIL - LONDON HEADLINE SHOW @ OLD BLUE LAST 24th ARRIL - http://tinyurl.com/6t72tbe "There surely won't be a better prog-psych escapade in 2012" Mojo Named after the Japanese word for “pink noise” and based in Copenhagen and Berlin, multiculturalism is at the forefront of this band’s world – they play an exotic mixture of lo-fi, high-life, nu-folklore, ’60s Asian pop and post-apocalyptic future rock. Self-recorded in the rehearsal rooms in the German and Danish capitals, Pinkunoizu’s debut album 'Free Time!' is a meditation on the concept of time filled with hazy pools of feedback and repetitive beats. “We were trying to look into alternative experiences of time as something elastic, expandable, modal,” says chief songwriter Andreas Pallisgaard. Elsewhere, songs deal with subjects ranging from the Arab spring to cyborgs and feminism. They bring their suitably psychedelic live show to the UK end of April... 24th April London - Old Blue Last 25th April Liverpool – Shipping Forecast |  | |
| Nudes & Backsides 24-02-2012 | ||
| LEE HAZLEWOOD - The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71) released 1st MAY 2012 on Light In The Attic http://lightintheattic.net/press/releases/700-lee-hazlewood-the-lhi-years-singles-nudes-backsides-1968-71 With his handlebar moustache and booming baritone, Lee Hazlewood was one of the defining stars of the late ‘60s. Though he’s perhaps best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra (including writing mega-hit “These Boots Are Made For Walking”), Hazlewood did stunning work away from that particular glamour queen and found latter day champions in Beck, Sonic Youth, and Jarvis Cocker. Now, for Record Store Day, Light In The Attic Records kick off their excavation of the Lee Hazlewood archives with this anthology, Singles, Nudes & Backsides, collecting the best of Lee’s solo songs and duets from his LHI (Lee Hazlewood Industries) imprint. As a true legend of the great American songbook and a rebellious pioneer who left behind a lengthy trail of echo laden pop masterpieces, Lee's influence continues to reverberate today. Between 1968-71, Hazlewood not only released his finest solo work, but produced numerous artists on LHI. From acid-folk and country-rock to pop-psych and soul, LHI issued dozens of long forgotten 45s and LPs. This series will include material from LHI (re-mastered for the first time from the original analog tapes), including duets with Suzi Jane Hokom, Ann-Margret and Nina Lizell who play counterpart to his manly tones, along with Lee's output for other labels, rarities, unreleased gems, and the films of Torbjörn Axelman. This landmark compilation promises to create many more converts. And if we know Light In The Attic, there may be some more gems from the Hazlewood vaults to follow. |  | |
| Ha'way the lads & lassess 20-02-2012 | ||
| Big times in the North East not only for football, but music as well with Newcastle's BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY and Sunderland's FIELD MUSIC both having just released brilliant new albums and both on the road this week.... "the Brewis brothers are the unsung geniuses of British alternative music" **** The Times "like a delicious tasting-menu of rock history. Tuck in" **** Mojo "More homespun brilliance from Sunderland’s pop perfectionists" **** Uncut "the best album of their career" The Sunday Times "these are terrific songs worthy of celebration" **** The Guardian "Plumb is in a league of it's own" The Independent "if there's any justice all, 'Plumb' could be this years 'The English Riviera'" NME FIELD MUSIC'S completely SOLD OUT tour continues this week in support of their much praised fourth longplayer 'Plumb' - hit reply for review guestlist spots, interviews and to hear the new album. 20 Feb Leeds, The Brudenell Social Club 22 Feb Nottingham, The Bodega Social Club 23 Feb Bristol, The Fleece 24 Feb London, Kings College BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY - Feb tour starts (Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on March 1st SELLS OUT) & announces new shows New single 'Sweet Tooth Bird' out today - http://tinyurl.com/6r5qav3 / A short film: http://www.youtube.com/user/themutechannel#p/u/5/2yO7Xt_c79o “YTCN bristles with ideas… enchantingly odd in parts, deftly pop in others” Mojo **** “Houghton follows her own idiosyncratic path. Where she treads others will undoubtedly follow.” Uncut, ‘Debut Album of the Month’ **** “a record oozing with imagination, quirk and class. A dazzling listen” Q **** “utterly distinctive and genuinely impossible to categorise. An extraordinary find” Sunday Times “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose has an intimate, unusual charm that’s all it’s own” NME “Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny will steal your hearts” Clash 9/10 "a ferocious talent" The Observer "She is a star in the making and her musical reach is large" The Daily Mirror, ‘CD of the Week’ “one of the year’s most exciting newcomers” The Sun, 4.5/5 “an airy, fairytale quality” The Guardian ***** “the ranks of British art-popper adventurers just swelled” The Independent ***** ‘New Album of the Month’ Record Collector / ‘Album of the Week’ Time Out With her dazzling debut album, ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’, receiving across-the-board adulation from the press and now on the shelves and on its way to the nation’s hearts, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny have released details of festival shows and fixtures for the coming summer. Currently on an extensive UK tour beginning last Friday in Glasgow and culminating in a 1 March show at a now sold out London’s Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, the Beth Jeans Houghton live experience is not to be missed. For anyone picturing a girl and a guitar, think again – this is a full band performance with Beth plus Dav Shiel (drums, vocals samples) Rory Gibson (bass, vocals), Ed Blazey (guitar, trumpet, vocals) and Findlay Macaskill (violin, vocals). Collectively, they’re The Hooves Of Destiny – a crack unit recruited from Beth’s native North East. If you’ve never seen Houghton before, expect the unexpected: Houghton’s performances are always different, always unpredictable and always wildly entertaining, her between-song chat giving an eye into the slanted world explored further in her inspired lyrics. ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ was created with producer Ben Hiller (Blur / Elbow / Depeche Mode). It introduces one of the most self-assured new bands of the year, fronted by a pop polymath whose blend of psychedelia, glam rock and chain gang folk is quite unlike anything else you’re likely to hear in 2012. Like Houghton’s utterly unique stage outfits, it’s made from disparate individual elements that wouldn’t work on paper, but sing out like a holy choir in the execution. NEW & SUMMER DATES: Fri 16 March, Queen Elizabeth Hall (BBC Radio 6 Music at Southbank Centre) with Gruff Rhys, Laura Marling, Lianne La Havas & Anna Calvi Sun 3 June, London, The Apple Cart Sat 9 June, Welbeck Abbey (nr Sheffield), No Direction Home Festival Fri 20 July, Huntingdon, Secret Garden Party Sat 21 July, Thirsk, Deer Shed Festival CURRENT UK TOUR.... Tue 21 Feb, LIVERPOOL, ERIC'S Wed 22 Feb, MANCHESTER, DEAF INSTITUTE Thu 23 Feb, LEEDS, BRUDENELL Sat 25 Feb, GATESHEAD, OLD TOWN HALL Sun 26 Feb, LEICESTER, THE MUSICIAN Mon 27 Feb, CARDIFF, BUFFALO Tue 28 Feb, BRISTOL, LOUISIANA Wed 29 Feb, BIRMINGHAM, HARE & HOUNDS Thu 01 Mar, LONDON, HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN - SOLD OUT |  | |
| Cate Le Bon & Richard James announce new albums... 01-02-2012 | ||
| CATE LE BON - NEW ALBUM 'CYRK' RELEASED 30TH APRIL 2012 ON OVNI (TURNSTILE) new video ‘Fold The Cloth’: http://vimeo.com/33373552 "Le Bon's days as a farmgirl in West Wales may be long behind her, but she's clearly held on to certain agricultural principles: namely, that the right amounts of patience and nurturing can produce glorious yields." Pitchfork “How would I describe the album?” muses Cate Le Bon. “Cut a remote island in two and place one half to your ear…” Cate Le Bon, the Cardiff-based singer who popped up on Gruff Rhys’s Neon Neon album before issuing her own debut album, My Oh My, in 2010, returns with her second album, CYRK, in April 2012. It follows Le Bon’s extensive tour with St Vincent in the USA, where the album has already been released to much acclaim and Cate is currently on her own headlining jaunt. “CYRK is like a time travel travelogue which continually returns the sea,” says Le Bon, who took the album’s title from the Polish word for Circus and took inspiration from a trip to the Isle Of Eigg. “I mostly write about the sea, matters of the heart and animals – or a mish-mash of all three.” Recorded with producer Krissie Jenkins in Cardiff and set for release on Gruff Rhys’s Ovni imprint, CYRK found Le Bon raiding Super Furry Animals’s collection of synths, pedals and guitars. “We spent days plugging different things into one another – it was so much fun,” she says. Players include Le Bon’s “trusty” backing band (Andy Fung on drums, Steve Black on bass and Niwl’s Sion Glyn on guitar) plus H. Hawkline on synths and Meilyr and Gwion from Racehorses playing brass on Great. “If you listen very carefully,” says Le Bon, “you can hear Gruff Rhys wailing backing vocals on Falcon Eyed too.” The completed album is a 35-minute blast of colour, ever-changing as it whizzes from the garage pop opener Falcon Eyed to piano-led Puts Me To Work and the psychedelic title track. Elsewhere, the delights of Fold The Cloth, The Man I Wanted (“The only time that I have put a recorder track down and not been ridiculed for it. Result.”), the proggy Through The Mill and closing number Ploughing Out, a track so epic it demanded to be split into two parts. “The song ends with a cacophony of instruments, a mixture of everything that has appeared on the album,” says Le Bon. “It's the finale. I make my saxophone debut; it will also be the last time I ever play saxophone. I very nearly ruptured my cheeks.” LIVE DATES AS FOLLOWS 23 April – London, Village Underground (Album launch party) 24 April – Manchester, Soup Kitchen 25 April – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s (Communion night) 26 April – Sheffield, Harley 28 April – Cardiff, The Printhaus RICHARD JAMES 'PICTURES IN THE MORNING' NEW ALBUM RELEASED 23RD APRIL ON GWYMON With songs as gentle as the rolling hills, metronomic fingerpicking and lyrics that mix storybook simplicity with heartbreaking sadness, Pictures In The Morning is the third album from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci co-founder Richard James. An album which will be a welcome riposte to those who remember Richard James as the quiet member of Gorky’s, the architect of the band’s softer side. A strong thread of melancholy runs through its nine tracks. “It’s a sad, reflective album mainly on loss and the melancholia of making and repeating mistakes in life,” says Richard, “But I think there's hope there lurking in the songs too.” LOS CAMPESINOS! SONGS ABOUT YOUR GIRLFRIEND NEW SINGLE RELEASED 19TH MARCH 2012, listen to it here: http://tinyurl.com/7pbx9j5 UK TOUR IN MARCH "focused, punchy and beautifully poetic" Q **** "Los Campesinos! could well be a British The National. 'Hello Sadness', goodbye childlike obscurity." NME "Sundry heartbreak anthems... as they're grown, they've accrued a pleasingly emotional weight." Uncut ***** "Long may true love alude them." The Independent "it's their most fully-realised effort yet" The Fly With fourth album Hello Sadness (released November 2011 on Wichita) confirming them as one of the UK’s best-loved indie bands, Cardiff’s Los Campesinos! are set to release Songs About Your Girlfriend as a single. Before its 19 March release, a video for the chunky-riffed, euphoric track will debut, aptly enough, on Valentine’s Day. Pay attention before directing a loved one to it: the song has lethal lyrical barbs. “It’s an ode to every person you have ever, or will ever lay your dirty hands upon, to let them know they'll never do any better or worse than you,” say the band. A thrilling live band, Los Campesinos! will be heading out on a UK tour to coincide with the single release. Dates are as follows… Tue 20 Mar - Exeter, Phoenix Wed 21 Mar - Bristol, Thekla Thu 22 Mar - London, Electric Ballroom Fri 23 Mar - Oxford, O2 Academy2 Sat 24 Mar - Birmingham, Rainbow Warehouse Mon 26 Mar - Manchester, Academy 3 Tue 27 Mar - Liverpool, O2 Academy2 Wed 28 Mar - Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire Thu 29 Mar - Newcastle, O2 Academy2 Fri 30 Mar - Norwich, Waterfront Sat 31 Mar - Sheffield, Leadmill ISLET ALBUM 'ILLUMINATED PEOPLE' OUT NOW, TOUR IN MAY - hit reply for a finished copy "Illuminated People overflows with ideas and adventurism" Q "they're a model of how a left leaning rock band ought to conduct themselves in 2012" NME "’Iluminated People' is a shining triumph" Clash "beautifully beguiling" The Fly To celebrate the release of their debut album 'Illuminated People', Islet are delighted to announce their first live tour for 2012, bringing their incredible live show across the UK throughout May and June. Live they already have a burgeoning reputation. Spending the summer of 2011 playing festivals including Primavera, Leeds & Reading and Bestival, they beguiled onlookers with ritualistic chants, sometimes delivered away from the song being played on stage; at other times they were seen meandering off into the crowd. In person as in music, they seek to break down walls. Islet’s vision appears to be that of limitless possibilities, not in the sense of the po-faced pedal hoarder, but in the simple joy of exploration. That’s what Illuminated People is; an album that drips with pride and the refusal to stand still, and ultimately one that fizzes with a sense of sheer enjoyment that came through making it. Islet are a group of people completely in charge of their own destiny, through their music you can tell that’s an extremely liberating thought. www.isletislet.com 25 May - Liverpool, Kazimier 26 May - Glasgow, Captains Rest 27 May - Newcastle, Cluny 2 28 May - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club 29 May - Sheffield, The Harley 30 May - London, Cargo 31 May - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 01 June - Birmingham, Rainbow 02 June - Bristol, Dot to Dot 03 June - Nottingham, Dot to Dot 04 June - Manchester, Dot to Dot |  | |
| Absolutely Febulous 11-01-2012 | ||
| FIELD MUSIC album 'Plumb' out Feb 13th and tour, new single 'A New Town' out 27th Feb, listen here: http://tinyurl.com/7m3z4lp Guardian 'How I Wrote' session, just gone up today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/how-i-wrote "like a delicious tasting-menu of rock history. Tuck in" **** Mojo "More homespun brilliance from Sunderland’s pop perfectionists" **** Uncut Recorded with a backdrop of government cuts in North East (they had to build a new studio in Sunderland as the community centre where the old one was got shut down due to funding cuts) and it deals with some more overtly political themes (though not party political) than their previous records all fed through their unique mixer of baroque rock, 80s synths experiments and orchestral pop but this time with a nod to the 50s musicals of Bernstein et al. In fact Peter was particularly inspired by the Willy Wonka soundtrack (the Gene Wilder one not the Johnny Depp one). 06 Feb 2012 Edinburgh, Picture House 10 Feb 2012 Cluny, Newcastle SOLD OUT 18 Feb 2012 Glasgow, Stereo * 19 Feb 2012 Manchester, The Deaf Institute * SOLD OUT 20 Feb 2012 Leeds, The Brudenell Social Club * 22 Feb 2012 Nottingham, The Bodega Social Club * 23 Feb 2012 Bristol, The Fleece * 24 Feb 2012 London, Kings College * * Stealing Sheap support HOODED FANG & PINKUNOIZU split 7" and debut albums out in March, Hooded Fang storm London early February with four shows... On March 5th Full Time Hobby will release a double-sided split 7” featuring cuts from their two brand-new international signings, Pinkunoizu and Hooded Fang. Check it out here: http://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/sets/hooded-fang-clap-pinkunoizu/s-8624w On the one side, Hooded Fang’s Clap is a garage rock riot with surf guitars, ‘verbed-out vocals and danceable ‘60s drum breaks. “It’s a song about one of those single life encounters – just drunken memories really,” say the four piece Polaris-nominated band, who hail from Toronto, Canada. Hooded Fang’s brilliant debut album is titled Tosta Mista; it sounds like the whole of the Nuggets box set condensed into 23 minutes and it’s set for a 12 March release. Early praise: “The Jesus And The Mary Chain in surf shirts” Uncut “the perfect Sixties pop of the Beach Boys with the raw edge of garage punk” The Times “The Strokes-covering Cults-isms” NME “clean, bright, indie pop mixed with ‘60s garage… likely to promote spontaneous bouts of dancing” Loud And Quiet HOODED FANG LONDON SHOWS Wednesday 8 Feb – Cargo with My Sad Captains / Still Corners Thursday 9 Feb – Old Blue Last (HEADLINE SHOW) Saturday 11 Feb – Barfly with Eagulls / History Of Apple Pie Tuesday 14 Feb – White Heat at Madame JoJo’s with Dale Earnhardt Jnr Jnr. On the other side of the vinyl, Pinkunoizu’s Parabolic Delusions is an unpredictable, involved but nonetheless ear-friendly listen that establishes deep, immersive grooves. “This here must be the most poppy piece of music we have ever done,” say the experimental Copenhagen and Berlin-based band, who release their debut album, Free Time!, on 26 March. “Sometimes it's great fun to contrast harsh dystrophic outlooks on the world with jolly dance music. This is such a moment for us.” ERRORS 'Have Some Faith In Magic' released 30th January on Rock Action, touring in February 'Pleasure Palaces' new single out 23rd January: http://soundcloud.com/rock-action-records/sets/errors-pleasure-palaces-7/s-ORULg "Scottish electronicists finally hit their musical stride" **** Q "a shimmering, cinematic classic" **** The Fly "more twisted and brilliant than the last" NME Errors ‘Have Some Faith In Magic,’ on Rock Action Records; their third album, it counts as far and away their greatest shift in sound yet, heralding in a sound of serenely cosmo-gazing sugar-tipped pop. We can't recommend it enough. Feb 9th NEWCASTLE The Cluny Feb 10th MANCHESTER Islington Mill Feb 11th LIVERPOOL Kazimer Feb 12th BIRMINGHAM The Rainbow Feb 13th CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach Feb 14th BRISTOL The Fleece Feb 15th BRIGHTON The Haunt Feb 16th LONDON XOYO Feb 17th LEEDS Cockpit 2 Feb 18th DUBLIN Grand Social Feb 24th DUNDEE Doghouse Feb 25th ABERDEEN The Lemon Tree May 11th GLASGOW The Arches UPSET THE RHYTHM’S KINGDOM TOUR featuring… GENTLE FRIENDLY, WAY THROUGH, PEEPHOLES Over the last eight years Upset The Rhythm have inexhaustibly sought out the best underground sounds from all over the world. With fifty releases under their belt and their inspired series of YES WAY festivals they continually focus the spotlight on the UK’s own idiosyncratic DIY music. February 2012 sees the label hit the road with three incredibly inventive bands from their native soil to bring their pastoral punk, junked rhythms and tribal synth dance parties to the near and far of the United Kingdom. Upset The Rhythm’s Kingdom Tour sees GENTLE FRIENDLY, WAY THROUGH and PEEPHOLES team up to present a revolving lineup that resonates deep within landscape, drawing on forgotten pasts and remembered futures in equal measure. FEBRUARY 2012 Friday 3 – BRIGHTON – Green Door Store Saturday 4 – MANCHESTER – Kraak Gallery Sunday 5 – CARDIFF - Undertone Tuesday 7 – LONDON – Café Oto Wednesday 8 – LEEDS – Brudenell Social Club Thursday 9 – NEWCASTLE – Teasy Does It Friday 10 – GLASGOW – Nice N Sleazy Saturday 11 – LEAMINGTON SPA – Leamington Assembly Sunday 12 – CAMBRIDGE – The Portland |  | |
| Dirty Projections 10-01-2012 | ||
| HANNI EL KHATIB - Tours this Feb and releases new single 'Human Fly' on 27th February (non album track) http://soundcloud.com/alexchase/hanni-el-khatib-human-fly "A visceral take on dirty garage blues... he's also fond of back-porch country classicism, plus 60s RnB and 50s rock'n'roll/doo-wop" Uncut The first-generation American son of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants, Hanni El Khatib grew up in San Francisco raised on a cocktail of skateboarding, punk rock, and 1950s and 60s classic Americana. Hanni has supported Florence + the Machine on two tours, and his music is influenced by pioneers of early rock and R&B. The multi-instrumentalist and producer derives his unique sound from a variety of inspirations including blues, soul, garage rock & doo-wop and performers as varied as Billy Childish, Johnny Brunette, Sam Cooke and The Animals. He tours in support of his album Will The Guns Come Out (email for copies) and can be seen at the following times and places: 01 February - Manchester - The Castle 02 February - Bristol - Thekla 04 February - London - Borderline NAT BALDWIN (DIRTY PROJECTOR) ANNOUNCES EUROPEAN TOUR... IN UK IN 2 WEEKS TIME! "A Little Lost" http://westernvinyl.com/audio/WV88.A.L.L.mp3 / "Weights" http://westernvinyl.com/audio/WV88.WEI6HTS.mp3 "His musical imagination is expansive, while his lack of pretence is admirable" Pitchfork "People Changes is one of the best leftfield pop albums of the year" Drowned in Sound After releasing the album 'People Changes' last July (we have copies), the Dirty Projectors bassist and former disciple of free jazz legend Anthony Braxton is coming back to European shores. The album included a heartfelt cover of Arthur Russell's 'A Little Lost' (link above) and he can be seen at the following UK dates. 23 January - LONDON - Cargo 24 January - LEEDS - Brudenell Social Club 26 January - GLASGOW - Glasgow Art School 27 January - YORK - The Basement 28 January - LIVERPOOL - Leaf 29 January - MANCHESTER - Islington Mill 30 January - BRIGHTON - The Hope For European dates head to his website http://westernvinyl.com/artists/natbaldwin.html STANDARD FARE HIT THE ROAD http://soundcloud.com/in-house-press/standard-fare-051107 "Standard Fare's second album is an accomplished set of intelligent, sparkly old-school indie pop. With nods to The Delgados, Kenickie and Camera Obscura." Q **** "Their guitar-driven pop feels vibrant and fresh, helped by strong melodies and mature songwriting that raise it above the sum of its heart-on-sleeve influences." GQ Standard Fare are jumping on their tour bus in support of second album 'Out of Sight, Out of Town' (released 23rd Jan, again ask for copies) you can catch them in the following places: 20 January - Cambridge - The Portland Arm 21 January - Brighton - The Green Door Store 22 January - London - The Lexington 22 January - Hamburg - Astra-Stube 23 January - Dresden - Ostpol 4 February - Birmingham - The Victoria 15 February - Sheffield - Memorial Hall 16 February - London - Bush Hall 19 February - Sheffield - Rutland Arms 20 February - Nottingham - The Chameleon WEIRD DREAMS JOIN VICE TOUR http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12729-joan/ East London’s psych-indie pop four-piece Weird Dreams are set to release their debut album on Tough Love this coming April. Drop me a line if you want a copy and list action... 25 January - Leeds - VICE TOUR - Nation of Shopkeepers 26 January - London - VICE TOUR - Old Blue Last 27 January - Brighton - VICE TOUR - Green Door Store 28 January - London - X-Posure All Dayer - The Barfly YOUTH LAGOON SELL OUT LONDON'S ELECTROWERKZ - http://soundcloud.com/youth-lagoon/cannons Youth Lagoon's only gone and sold out his debut London show at the bloody Electrowerkz on the 6th March - 2 months in advance! With Manc newbies Patterns (http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/induction) set to support. His album 'Year of Hibernation' (http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15873-the-year-of-hibernation) was a big word of mouth success last year (his whole debut European tour is pretty much sold out) so expect a repush around this show. It also picked up some nice reviews on the way "Massive, confident and sure-footed in its build from organ-hum to shouting-down-mountains choruses” said Pitchfork, and “Located deftly between Animal Collective’s strung-out post-rock and the drum machine-powered sketches of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone” is how Q would describe it. I just think it's bloody amazing. LOS CAMPESINOS! LONDON HEADLINE SHOW REMINDER Los Campesinos! are headlining London's Electric Ballroom on the 22nd March. Their recently released fourth album 'Hello Sadness' saw the band really grow up and flex their muscles, earning rave reviews in the process: "focused, punchy and beautifully poetic" Q 4 stars "Los Campesinos! could well be a British The National. 'Hello Sadness', goodbye childlike obscurity." NME "Sundry heartbreak anthems... as they're grown, they've accrued a pleasingly emotional weight." Uncut 4 stars "Long may true love alude them." The Independent |  | |
| Beth Jeans Houghton debut album and tour 09-01-2012 | ||
| BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY Single SWEET TOOTH BIRD out 20 FEBRUARY 2012 on MUTE, check the ace video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ABPsWq6XZU Debut album “YOURS TRULY, CELLOPHANE NOSE” released 6 FEBRUARY 2012 on MUTE ON TOUR IN FEBRUARY 2012 “YTCN bristles with ideas… enchantingly odd in parts, deftly pop in others” **** Mojo “Houghton follows her own idiosyncratic path. Where she treads others will undoubtedly follow.” ‘Debut Album of the Month’ **** Uncut ‘New Album of the Month’ ***** Record Collector “Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny will steal your hearts” Clash "a ferocious talent" The Observer "She is a star in the making and her musical reach is large" The Daily Mirror With her dazzling debut album, “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose” picking up glowing reviews ahead of its 6 February 2012 release, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny are set to release the giddy (but murderous) ‘Sweet Tooth Bird’ as a single. Clocking in at a brisk 2 minutes 14 seconds (including psychedelic breakdown and trumpet fanfares) ‘Sweet Tooth Bird’ is about sabotaging a relationship that’s too good. Or, says Houghton; “Something that is so good it’s bad. I think there is this strange feeling of guilt that we all get once we reach a stage of happiness. It is human nature to exist with grief and sadness.” Her debut album “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose” was created with producer Ben Hiller (Blur / Elbow / Depeche Mode). It introduces one of the most self-assured new bands of the year, fronted by a pop polymath whose blend of psychedelia, glam rock and chain gang folk is quite unlike anything else you’re likely to hear in 2012. To mark the release of the album, Beth Jeans Houghton will be taking her band, The Hooves Of Destiny, on a canter around the United Kingdom. For anyone picturing a girl and a guitar, think again – this is a full band performance with Beth plus Dav Shiel (drums, vocals samples) Rory Gibson (bass, vocals), Ed Blazey (guitar, trumpet, vocals) and Findlay Macaskill (violin, vocals). Collectively, they’re The Hooves Of Destiny – a crack unit recruited from Beth’s native North East. If you’ve never seen Houghton before, expect the unexpected: Houghton’s performances are guaranteed to be different, often unpredictable and always entertaining, her between-song chat giving an eye into the slanted world explored further in her inspired lyrics. TOUR DATES: Tues 24 Jan, BELFAST, BLACK BOX Thurs 2 Feb, LONDON, HMV Next Big Thing, GARAGE Fri 17 Feb, GLASGOW, THE CAPTAINS REST Sat 18 Feb, ST. ANDREWS, ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY Sun 19 Feb, MIDDLESBROUGH, WESTGARTH SC Tue 21 Feb, LIVERPOOL, ERIC'S Wed 22 Feb, MANCHESTER, DEAF INSTITUTE Thu 23 Feb, LEEDS, BRUDENELL Sat 25 Feb, GATESHEAD, OLD TOWN HALL Sun 26 Feb, LEICESTER, THE MUSICIAN Mon 27 Feb, CARDIFF, BUFFALO Tue 28 Feb, BRISTOL, LOUISIANA Wed 29 Feb, BIRMINGHAM, HARE & HOUNDS Thu 01 Mar, LONDON, HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN http://bjh.tumblr.com/ www.facebook.com/BethjeansHoughton |  | |
| Soul Time! 15-12-2011 | ||
| We've been enjoying the new Lee Fields album for a week now in the office. Amazing production and orchestration courtesy of the Truth & Soul team (also see Aloe Blacc's I Need A Dollar) mixed with real pop-soul hits, it's streaming right away on the In House site and Lee's story is an amazing one to tell. He's doing interviews. Talking of a modern day soul legend, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are back over in March and are currently toasting Daptone's 10th Anniversay in New York this week. LEE FIELDS 'FAITHFUL MAN' ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM released 12th March on TRUTH & SOUL, tours with The Expressions UK early April First single “You’re The Kind Of Girl” available now from: http://soundcloud.com/truthandsoulrecords/youre-the-kind-of-girl There aren’t many artists who keep their cool well into their fifth decade in the business, but R&B veteran Lee Fields is one. With a career spanning 43 years, releases on twelve different record labels and having toured the world over with his raucous-yet-tender voice, the music he’s making today with Brooklyn’s own Truth & Soul Records is the best of his career. Now, with new album Faithful Man, Fields returns to show today’s soul stars how it’s really done. Faithful Man is Fields’ second album for Truth & Soul, the follow up 2009’s well received My World. A label that is reinventing the Motown-style soul factory for a brand new era. Lee’s backing band, The Expressions (also to be heard on Aloe Blacc’s global smash I Need A Dollor and Good Times album, records by El Michels Affair, Adele, Liam Bailey, Ghostface Killah and Jay-Z to name a few) are Truth & Soul’s house band, and their sweeping, string-laden, cinematic soul sound brings out the best in Fields. Back in the 1970s, Fields was nicknamed Little JB for his similarity to James Brown. These days, he’s got a sound that’s all his own. Born and raised in the small town of Wilson, North Carolina, Fields spent his teenage years singing in church and listening to the classic sound of ’60s Memphis. By the late sixties, Lee was touring with the bands who would lay the foundation for funk music, including Kool and the Gang, Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers, and Little Royal. With a catalogue that ranges from funk to lo-fi blues to contemporary Southern soul and collaborations with French house DJ/producer Martin Solveig, Lee Fields has done it all. With Faithful Man, he takes it right back to the old school, with a modern take on a vintage sound. The songs tell tales of love, heartbreak and blues in the time-honoured way. If there were any doubt at all, take heed of Lee’s own words: “Take it from me,” he says on one track, “I still got it.” 2012 UK TOUR with The Expresssions, also playing European shows. April 3rd-London, Islington Academy April 5th-Manchester, Band on the Wall April 6th- Glasgow, abc2 April 7th- Dublin Sugarclub SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS - NEW UK TOUR IN MARCH, Soul Time! album out now on Daptone Records (hit reply for a finished copy) Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have developed an international reputation as the hottest group on today's soul scene, and that’s thanks in part to their stunning, soul revue-style live shows – the reason Jones has been dubbed “the female James Brown”. Following rave reviews for the latest album, Soul Time!, the sensational Jones and co have now announced a set of UK live dates in March 2012, when they’ll be bringing their all-singing, all-dancing, unmissable show to these shores. MARCH 2012 UK TOUR, full European schedule: http://sharonjonesandthedapkings.com/shows Sat 3 Mar – O2 Academy Bristol www.o2academybristol.co.uk Sun 4 Mar – Stylus, Leeds Tue 6 Mar – ABC, Glasgow www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk/ Wed 7 Mar – Rock City, Nottingham www.rock-city.co.uk/ Thu 8 Mar – Birmingham, UK -- HMV Institute -- *venues.meanfiddler.com/hmv-institute/home Fri 9 Mar – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/ Sat 10 Mar – Project, Brighton A collection of rare tracks, B-sides and vinyl-only releases, Soul Time! includes the supercharged funk of Genuine Pts. 1 & 2, a song written for Jones’s 50th birthday, Longer And Stronger, soulful Christmas track Ain’t No Chimneys In The Projects and a cover of Shuggie Otis' psychedelic soul jam Inspiration Information. It’s the fifth album since Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings formed in 1996, since when they’ve gone on to create their own soul empire in the mould of Motown and Stax before them. >From the first note to the last, Soul Time! confirms this blistering band’s status as the world's greatest funk and soul group. Whether you're a lifetime fan, or just getting turned on, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have yet again made a record that will blow your mind. As for the live show, it’ll blow your mind, move your feet and make you sweat. Whenever Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are on stage, it’s Soul Time! All aboard the soul train.. |  | |
| Field Diagrams & Low announce Royal Festival Hall date 14-12-2011 | ||
| DIAGRAMS releases debut album 'Black Light' January 16th on Full Time Hobby and headline London show at The Lexington = January 18th, full UK tour in March Check video for new single 'Tall Buildings' (Jan 9th): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG-k6IMVx7o “Broadcast remapped by James Blake” NME “like Sufjan Stevens and a parliament of owls in a feathery group hug, happily tumbling down an upwards escalator in slow motion” Guardian Guide ‘Single of the Week’ “Diagrams delivers music that’s true to their name: all clean lines and precise, metropolitan pop angles – Hot Chip, Metronomy, even Can, spring to mind.” **** Mojo Crisp, minimalist pop has a new face, and it’s that of Diagrams, aka Streatham Hill-based maverick Sam Genders (available for interviews). Following the well-received Diagrams EP, Black Light is Diagrams’s debut album, fizzing with electronic effects, synth-bass, programmed beats and low-key funk grooves, bringing to mind the leftfield pop of Arthur Russell, Metronomy, Steve Mason and Hot Chip. Beginning as a bedroom-based solo project, Diagrams sees Genders hook up with a rolling cast of collaborators (including Fever Ray co-producer Subliminal Kid, Micachu, and Hannah Peel) to realise his vision. Though not strictly a band, it made sense to take a proper band name. “Our sound is quite precise and angular in places, so Diagrams felt perfect,” says the singer. Diagrams made its live debut to an ecstatic reception and a full tent at this year’s End Of The Road festival. For shows, the outfit extends to a nine-piece group that mixes electronic instruments with brass and woodwind. January 18th The Lexington w/Patterns March 6th Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso 7th Brussels, BE – AB 8th Paris, FR - La Fleche D’Or 9th Heidleberg, DE – Karlstorbahnhof 10th Berlin, DE – Magnet 11th Hamburg, DE – Kampnagel 14th Bristol, UK – The Cooler 15th Manchester, UK – Ruby Lounge 16th Liverpool, UK – Static Gallery 17th Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club 18th Glasgow, UK – King Tuts FIELD MUSIC aka Sunderland siblings David and Peter Brewis have announced three more dates on their headline February 2012 tour in support of their new album Plumb (13th February 2012). The dates include a headline show at Kings College London on 24 February. The brothers (joined for the live show by Kev Dosdale on synth and guitar and new live band member Andrew Lowther on bass) will be supported on selected dates by Stealing Sheep (*). The full list of dates is as follows: 06 Feb 2012 Edinburgh, Picture House 10 Feb 2012 Cluny, Newcastle 18 Feb 2012 Glasgow, Stereo * 19 Feb 2012 Manchester, The Deaf Institute * 20 Feb 2012 Leeds, The Brudenell Social Club * 22 Feb 2012 Nottingham, The Bodega Social Club * 23 Feb 2012 Bristol, The Fleece * 24 Feb 2012 London, Kings College * LOW announce biggest ever shows to date, including the Royal Festival Hall on April 3rd. Having delivered one of their most succinct and accessible albums ever with April 2011’s C’mon, Low are reaping the rewards of years spent steadfastly making stirring, singular music. Having played a series of stunning UK dates in May 2011, filled the 1800 capacity Barbican in June, Low are now announcing two major shows in April 2012. Dates are… 9-11 March 2012 – ATP Festival, Minehead 2 April 2012 – Glee Club, Birmingham 3 April 2012 – Royal Festival Hall, London These shows come after the band’s performance at All Tomorrow’s Parties in Minehead on 9 to 11 March, and mark the largest headline gigs the Minnesotan band have ever played. They promise to be special, soulful evenings, so C’mon down. 2011 has been the year in which Low’s cult adoration has turned to popular acclaim, via the patronage of mega-fan Robert Plant, who covered two Low tracks on 2010’s Band Of Joy, and their brilliant, vital album C’mon, which landed in the top 50 in its first week of sale and acquired superlative-filled reviews across the board: “the best Low album in ten years” Mojo “Once again, Low have changed: once again, they sound like their brilliant selves” Sunday Times, CD of the Week “’C’mon’ is an invitation too intriguing not to take up” **** The Guardian “Strength and restraint – Low’s virtue remains grace, of all kinds.” **** Uncut “More glorious desolation from Minnesotan minimalists” **** Q “a career highlight” The Sun 4.5/5 “the sound of an exceptional band finally ready to step out of the shadows” 9/10 DiS ‘One of the greatest sounds in the universe…’ Nels Cline, Wilco Where 2007’s Drums and Guns railed against the war in Iraq, C’mon feels like a plea for humanity, decency, and common sense in a world gone mad. The album found the band recording and mixing in unfamiliar locations – a church in Duluth, Minnesota and an apartment in Hollywood, California – and with unfamiliar people. Co-producer Matt Beckley contrasts starkly with the sort of indie rock icons (Steve Albini, Steve Fisk, Dave Fridmann, Kramer) with whom Low have collaborated in the past, his credits including Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Avril Lavigne and other pop stars. “I thought it would be interesting to see what a guy like that would do with a band like us,” says Sparhawk. “I know how we sound. I want to hear how we sound with someone unexpected, to make something interesting.” |  | |
| Los Campesinos! say Hello Camden 13-12-2011 | ||
| LOS CAMPESINOS! Announce show at Camden’s Electric Ballroom, 22 March 2012 PRESALE NOW: http://www.loscampesinos.com/gigs/ http://www.facebook.com/loscampesinos?sk=app_137800769578239 "focused, punchy and beautifully poetic" Q 4 stars "Los Campesinos! could well be a British The National. 'Hello Sadness', goodbye childlike obscurity." NME "Sundry heartbreak anthems... as they're grown, they've accrued a pleasingly emotional weight." Uncut 4 stars "Long may true love alude them." The Independent "it's their most fully-realised effort yet" The Fly Currently wowing crowds on the other side of the Atlantic following a sold-out UK tour, the Cardiff-based band are delighted to announce a one-off live date in London, on 22 March 2012 at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. |  | |
| New Old releases courtesy of Karen Dalton, Finders Keepers, Light In The Attic & much more.. 07-12-2011 | ||
| We've an incredible mixed bag of new/old records in the new year with something for everyone, all with amazing stories behind them. There's elusive folk blues (Karen Dalton), Stax teen soul sensation (Wendy Rene), seminal synth library output (Suzanne Ciani), the definitive Black Power compilation and a soulfunk Vietnam recruitment drive all courtesy of in our books some of the best record labels going: Light In The Attic, Finders Keepers and Now-Again. Delve in crate diggers... hit reply for music and the full story on any of the below... KAREN DALTON '1966' released 30th January 2012 on DELMORE RECORDINGS “My favourite singer in the place was Karen Dalton” Bob Dylan “Simply one of the greatest blues singers ever” MOJO Newly unearthed and never released reel-to-reel recordings made of the elusive songstress with her estranged husband Richard Tucker in the Colorado cabin they shared. Karen Dalton was a remote, mercurial creature, a hybrid of tough and tender with an otherworldly voice that seemed to embody a time long past. Only twice was she coaxed into formal studio settings, for 1969's It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best and then again for 1971's In My Own Time. The rest of the time she made undocumented music at home, late nights sitting around with friends, singing songs until the sun came up. In 1966, one of those exquisite evenings was captured by Carl Baron, who lugged his tape recorder to the cabin where Karen and Richard were living; the couple was rehearsing for an upcoming gig when Carl hit the "record" button. The result is this tape, now some 45-years old, carefully exhumed, documenting Karen, at her most pure, raw and unfiltered. On Karen Dalton - 1966 are Fred Neil and Tim Hardin songs, as well as traditional numbers she uncannily makes her own. *Several folks that were with Karen in '66 are available for interviews: Richard Tucker (husband), Dan Hankin (played w/ Karen, Fred Neil and Tim Hardin), Carl Shames, Abralyn Baird (Karen's daughter), as well as Peter Walker and Peter Stampfel. WENDY RENE 'AFTER LAUGHTER COMES TEARS - COMPLETE STAX + VOLT SINGLES plus RARITIES 1964-65' released 7th February on LIGHT IN THE ATTIC http://lightintheattic.net/press/releases/684-after-laughter-comes-tears-complete-stax-volt-singles-+-rarities-1964-1965 It’s been a long time coming, but After Laughter Comes Tears is the first ever anthology of southern soul legend Wendy Rene, whose classic, organ-driven After Laughter (Comes Tears) has been covered or sampled by everyone from Wu Tang Clan (Tearz, from 36 Chambers) to Alicia Keys (Where Do We Go From Here), Lykke Li and El Perro Del Mar. “If I could sing like anyone,” said Lykke Li, “It would be her.” Born Mary Frierson in Memphis, Tennessee, home of Stax Records, Wendy Rene was christened by Otis Redding on signing to Stax as a teenager in 1963 gorming singing quartet The Drapels with her brother and two friends. Both Drapels and Wendy began recording with the greats – that’s The MGs on the group’s Young Man, Booker T. Jones playing organ on After Laughter and Steve Cropper playing guitar on the dance craze-inspired Bar-B-Q, the success of which caused Wendy – then a teen bride – to leave school. The Drapels dissolved almost as quickly as Wendy’s first marriage, partly due to the attention lavished on youngest member Wendy’s solo career. But a real hit eluded the singer, and in 1967, with a growing family with second husband and Stax employee James Cross, Wendy decided to retire from the business. Due to perform one last show with Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays, Wendy changed her mind at the last minute. It was an auspicious decision – that weekend, Redding and four Bar-Kays died when their plane crashed in Lake Monona. *Wendy is available for interviews for the first time SUZANNE CIANI ‘LIXIVATION' released 13th February 2012 on FINDERS KEEPERS Brand new compilation of never before released work (1969 – 1985) by “the American Delia Derbyshire of the Atari Generation” With a sonic portfolio that boasts commissions for the Xenon classic pinball machine, the sounds for the Meco Star Wars theme, the Atari TV commercials and the electronic sound effects in the original Stepford Wives film (amongst many others). The mutant electronic-music CV of Suzanne Ciani is proof that in a 1970's commercial world of boys-toys, monopolised by a male dominated media industry, a woman’s touch was the essential secret ingredient to successful sonic seduction. Suzanne's detailed and academic approach to music and electronics coupled with an impeccable sense of timing and melody (and a good sense of humour) shines throughout this new collection of previously un-released recordings. "Lixiviation" complies and re-contextualises both secret music and commercial experiments of Suzanne Ciani made for micro-cosmic time slots. This is the first sneak peek of the early Ciani metal music and non-pop that later went on see her nominated for multiple Grammy awards for her later achievements which brought synthesiser music to the new age movement. *Suzanne is available for interviews upon request 'LISTEN, WHITEY, THE SOUNDS OF BLACK POWER1967-1974' released 27th February 2012 on LIGHT IN THE ATTIC http://lightintheattic.net/press/releases/685-listen-whitey-the-sounds-of-black-power-1967-1974 The definitive Black Power aural document, release coincides with 200 page coffee table book (on Fantagraphics) of words and photos First ever CD release of Bob Dylan’s 1971 “George Jackson” single, CD debut of many rare and essential late 60’s- early 70’s African-American protest songs and recordings Over a five year period in Oakland, CA – archivist Pat Thomas befriended key leaders of the seminal Black Power Movement, dug through Huey Newton’s archives at Stanford University, spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on eBay, and talked to rank and file Black Panther Party members, uncovering dozens of obscure albums, singles, and stray tapes. Along the way, he began to piece together a time period (1967-1974) when revolutionaries were seen as pop culture icons: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael – and musicians were seen as revolutionaries; Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others. As a result, Thomas wrote a 70,000-word hardcover book entitled Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power – to be published by Fantagraphics in early 2012 – which also includes some 200 full color images of obscure recordings that encompass rock, soul, jazz, comedy, poetry, and even religious sermons blended with Black Nationalism. Light In The Attic Records presents the companion ‘soundtrack’ to the book, For the time first ever, Black and White artists share space on a definitive anthology of the Black Power era. And a reminder on.. EAST OF THE UNDERGROUND : Hell Below / Various Artists - a new compilation released 9th January 2012 on Now-Again http://www.nowagainrecords.com/exclusive-pre-sale-at-stones-throw-east-of-underground-hell-below-box-set/ Soul, funk and rock recorded by US Army Servicemen during the height of the Vietnam War, released as albums by the US Army as recruitment tools. JEAN-CLAUDE VANNIER has just released his first solo album 'Roses Rouge Sang' (Twisted Nerve) for nearly 20 years to a heap of praise. Serge Gainsbourg's Historie De Melody Nelson (which Jean-Claude composed and arranged) is also getting the full reissue treatment on Universal. Jean-Claude is available for rendezvous. “loose, louche orchestral jazz-rock-funk…outstanding” Independent on Sunday "J-CV has been at the forefront of Gallic pop experimentation for four decades” Dazed & Confused “a brilliantly inventive mix” The Times **** “Anything here could slot onto Historie De Melody Nelson… it’s as if Gainsbourg had never died” Mojo "with gentle thrusts of strings, teasing guitar licks and Vannier's insouciant spoken delivery, Roses Rouge Sang is a comforting throwback to a classic era." Uncut **** “sumptuous strings, striking piano and elegant guitar” NME |  | |
| Memoryhouse (Sub Pop) debut LP, FTH sign Hooded Fang, Blanck Mass live & Malcolm Middleton Dec Tour 30-11-2011 | ||
| Details of the debut LPs from two of the best new bands in Canada right now: Sub Pop's MEMORYHOUSE and HOODED FANG, freshly signed to Full Time Hobby. We have promos already. Also, London's BLANCK MASS hatches plan to recreate his stunning album live on home-turf, plus MALCOLM MIDDLETON hits the road this December and pulls off the mean feat of supporting himself. MEMORYHOUSE - DEBUT ALBUM 'THE SLIDESHOW EFFECT' RELEASED 27TH FEBRUARY 2012 ON SUB POP Following on from their much-lauded EP 'The Years', Memoryhouse AKA Evan Abeele and Denise Nouvion are set to release their long-awaited full length debut through Sub Pop next Feb. Entitled 'The Slideshow Effect' (Denise is a photographer), the 10-track album was produced by Abeele with assistance from friend, collaborator, and occasional Memoryhouse bassist Barzin Hosseini Rad. The record finds Memoryhouse taking influence from Emmylou Harris, Dusty Springfield and Fleetwood Mac, in their own words “transitioning from a "bedroom recording project" into a fully realized band". Nouvion’s voice has never been more present than on the new album, which finds her stepping away from Memoryhouse’s past reverbed sound in favor of a more upfront, and intimate vocal affectation. They half-seriously refer to their new sound as “Taylor Swift with Built to Spill as her backing band.” HOODED FANG SIGN TO FULL TIME HOBBY RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM 'TOSTA MISTA' ON 12TH MARCH 2012 Free download of 'ESP' MP3 available now from FTH Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/fulltimehobby/sets/hooded-fang-esp “The Strokes-covering Cults-isms” NME “clean, bright, indie pop mixed with ‘60s garage… likely to promote spontaneous bouts of dancing” Loud And Quiet 'Tosta Mista' is the brilliant debut UK album by Polaris Prize nominated Canadian collective Hooded Fang. With surf guitars, ‘verbed-out vocals and danceable ‘60s drum breaks, it’s a veritable garage rock riot sounding like the whole of the Nuggets box set condensed into an album that’s just 23 minutes long. It’s the sound of sweaty patio parties and hot summer nights, but the upbeat music masks the fact that 'Tosta Mista' is an album about heartbreak, telling the story of singer/guitarist Daniel Lee and bassist April Aliermo’s breakup after five years together. “We decided it was time to change it up,” says Daniel, “So this album reflects a lot of what was going on." The result is an album about: “Love, lust, heartbreak, dramatic shit like that. Melodramatic huh? It’s all kind of tongue in cheek, but very real at the same time.” To hammer that last point home, they titled the album for the grilled sandwiches sold in their Portuguese neighbourhood of Toronto. “We thought it was a funny name for the album cos a lot of the songs are overly dramatic tunes about heartbreak and lust and love." BLANCK MASS ANNOUNCES DEBUT LIVE SHOW IN LONDON THIS DECEMBER “a compelling journey through the mind of a fascinating musician....one that demands multiple listens and leaves the listener wanting more at the end” – The Quietus "epic, beatless excursions into the realms of proggy magnificence" - The Times **** "the perfect soundtrack to voyage through the infinite universe" - Time Out "A debut album of gorgeous distortion and space-age beauty" - Loud & Quiet “One reassuringly cosmic listening experience....like Brian Eno’s Apollo reimagined for the ATP generation” – Q (4 stars) Following on from the release of the beautiful and mesmerising sounds found on the eponymously-titled debut album (Rock Action Records) in June 2011, Blanck Mass makes its first ever live appearance at the intimate Shacklewell Arms venue in Dalston, London on Monday 19th December 2011. Blanck Mass is Benjamin John Power, a young musician in thrall to Carl Sagan, Ennio Morricone and the infinity of nature. Since the album’s release, Power has been busy honing his live set and writing new material, as well as working on ideas for his live show with visual artist and film-maker Alex Turvey, the first fruits of which will be on display at The Shacklewell Arms. MALCOLM MIDDLETON TOURS THIS DECEMBER, SUPPORTS HIMSELF WITH HUMAN DON'T BE ANGRY Straight from the mouth of Malcolm: “Two sets each night, one previewing the soon-to-be-released HDBA album, and the other singing old “classic” MM songs as well as some new ones. And maybe some shit b-sides too. Next year I'll be concentrating on HDBA releases with a new band so this will be the last solo song-based tour for a while.” One the tour you'll be able to purchase two new Malcolm albums "A Quarter Past Shite" is a collection of rare and unreleased songs written between 1994 and 2001. HUMAN DON’T BE ANGRY – "LIVE AT LEEDS" was recorded earlier this year whilst on tour with Aidan Moffat. Only two of the six songs will make it onto the final HDBA studio album so it's kind-of exclusive. December: York, Stereo - Thursday 1st Leeds, Brudenell Social Club - Friday 2nd Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach - Saturday 3rd Bristol, Louisiana - Sunday 4th Nottingham, Bodega - Monday 5th Cambridge, Portland Arms - Tuesday 6th London, Shacklewell Arms - Wednesday 7th SOLD OUT Oxford, Jericho - Thursday 8th Birmingham, The Rainbow - Friday 9th Wakefield, The Hop - Sunday 11th Manchester, Deaf Institute - Monday 12th Newcastle, The Cluny 2 - Tuesday 13th Edinburgh, Electric Circus - Wednesday 14th Glasgow, Oran Mor - Thursday 15th |  | |
| Youth Lagoon Europe.... Toro Y Moi next week... 25-11-2011 | ||
When we first heard the debut album by Idaho man Trevor Powers aka YOUTH LAGOON(pictured), 'A Year Of Hibernation', to say we were excited is an understatement. Dream-like and nostalgic, a sound completely living up to it's online hype - so we're especially looking forward to February/March 2012 when he'll be embarking upon his first full European tour. See 'Montana' video here: http://vimeo.com/28638402 "lo-fi chillwave-esque electronics and introspective song fragments located deftly between Animal Collective's strung-out post-rock and the drum-machine powered sketches of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone" Q "Cathartic flushes of sincere feeling and radiant beauty" The Independent "Catnip for Galaxie500 fans... a kindred spirit to Perfume Genius" Mojo 23rd Feb 2012 Amsterdamn Holland Paradiso 24th Feb 2012 Koln Germany Gebaude 9 25th Feb 2012 Paris France Point Ephemere 26th Feb 2012 Brussels Belgium Botanique/Rotonde 27th Feb 2012 Munich Germany 59 TO 1 28th Feb 2012 Berlin Germany Postbahnhof 29th Feb 2012 Stockholm Sweden Debaser Medis 2nd Mar 2012 Copenhagen Demnark Vega 3rd Mar 2012 Hamburg Germany Molotow 4th Mar 2012 London UK Electrowerkz* *w/PATTERNS (pop-infused psychedelic shoegaze, "a strong sense of emotional sincerity that drifts through magnificently" The Fly) Next week, TORO Y MOI returns to the UK; http://vimeo.com/22678336 http://pitchfork.com/tv/ "groundbreaking" The Times "A dizzying ride on a vapour trail of psychedelic pop, alt.hip hop, French filtered house, whacked-out glitch and digital FX" Time Out "womb-like keys and surf pop harmonising.. you half expect Panda Bear to drop by at any minute but it's not merely an Animal Collective love in; a love of the rap production deity J Dillaz is evident while the heavily filtered swooshing house sounds is symptonmatic of Daft Punkitis" Mojo 7th Dec - Brighton, Coalition 8th Dec - London, The Garage |  | |
| Christmas dos... 23-11-2011 | ||
| We're spoilt for choice for Christmas parties this year. Beth's playing the End of the Road do (also see big tour in Feb). JIM NOIR'S is also playing the host and never ones to do things normally THE PHANTOM BAND have a two-day freak fest 'Phestive Phantomime' on in Glasgow! BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY ON TOUR IN FEBRUARY 2012 & DECEMBER 2011 LONDON SHOWS To mark the release of her much anticipated debut album, “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose” (just shout to hear it!), the brilliant Beth Jeans Houghton will be taking her band, The Hooves Of Destiny, on a canter around the United Kingdom. For anyone picturing a girl and a guitar, think again – this is a full band performance with Beth plus Dav Shiel (drums, vocals samples) Rory Gibson (bass, vocals), Ed Blazey (guitar, trumpet, vocals) and Findlay Macaskill (violin, vocals). Collectively, they’re The Hooves Of Destiny – a crack unit recruited from Beth’s native North East. If you’ve never seen Houghton before, expect the unexpected: Houghton’s performances are always different, always unpredictable and always wildly entertaining, her between-song chat giving an eye into the slanted world explored further in her inspired lyrics. “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose” was created with producer Ben Hiller (Blur / Elbow / Depeche Mode). It introduces one of the most self-assured new bands of the year, fronted by a pop polymath whose blend of psychedelia, glam rock and chain gang folk is quite unlike anything else you’re likely to hear in 2012. LONDON DECEMBER SHOWS: Mon 5 Dec, Dingwalls with Vetiver Thurs 8 Dec, Cargo (End of The Road Christmas Party) FEBRUARY 2012 TOUR DATES: Fri 17 Feb, GLASGOW, THE CAPTAINS REST Sat 18 Feb, ST. ANDREWS, ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY Sun 19 Feb, MIDDLESBROUGH, WESTGARTH SC Tue 21 Feb, LIVERPOOL, ERIC'S Wed 22 Feb, LEEDS, BRUDENELL Thu 23 Feb, MANCHESTER, DEAF INSTITUTE Sat 25 Feb, NEWCASTLE, GATESHEAD OLD TOWN HALL Sun 26 Feb, LEICESTER, THE MUSICIAN Mon 27 Feb, CARDIFF, BUFFALO Tue 28 Feb, BRISTOL, LOUISIANA Wed 29 Feb, BIRMINGHAM, HARE & HOUNDS Thu 1 Mar, LONDON, HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN Praise for current single 'Liliputt'- http://tinyurl.com/6cfvhh5 "a ferocious talent" The Observer "ace folk-pop" NME "She is a star in the making and her musical reach is large" The Daily Mirror "The thinking fans' Florence comes up with a galloping, string-driven stormer" The Sunday Times "Whimsical and a bit wonderful" Time Out JIM NOIR CLUB CHRISTMAS SHOWS and free 4 track ‘Noir Club’ EP, available NOW from: http://www.jimnoir.com/club/ 5 December, Band On The Wall, Manchester with PLANK! 7 December, Corsica Studios, London with Race Horses For the past year, Jim Noir has been releasing EPs, videos and treats to his Noir Club, a loyal band of signed-up subscribers to the Noir Club website (www.jimnoir.com/club). So far, that’s in the region of 50 songs (we've links to them all if interested!) “Some tunes have several tunes inside them too so there are even more really,” says Jim. “I think after this I wont be making any more music ever again. It’s been a challenge. But a challenge is a challenge and I like a challenge. Did I say challenge yet?” Now, as we approach the end of the year, Noir will be turning the virtual Noir Club into a flesh-and-blood Noir Club, with two special evenings of entertainment at either end of the country. On 5 December, Manchester’s Band On The Wall sees Noir plus Welsh Wonders Race Horses and local instrumentalists Plank!, described by Noir as, “One of the only bands I’ve seen for a long time who made me have to pick up my chin from the floor.” At both, Noir will be attempting to play as much of the Noir Club material as possible. To mark the occasion, and in the spirit of the impending season of giving, Noir will be releasing a free, four-track EP of some of the best Noir Club tracks, available from www.jimnoir.com/club The EP comprises the bluesy instrumental jam X Marks The Spot, the harmony-laden ‘60s pop homage Sunny, the spacey The Cheese Of Jim’s Command and the beat-driven, Bonzo-like Ping Pong Time Tennis. Next year, Noir is looking to release a Best Of Noir Club album and a fourth album proper. “I will record the album I’ve wanted to make for years in a real studio and everything,” says Jim. “I think there’s only so many hissy badly recorded fumbles people are willing to listen to. Might be time to go beef.” THE PHANTOM BAND'S 'Phestive Phantomime' - 16th & 17th December at Stereo Glasgow - http://www.phantomband.co.uk/hello/phestive-phantomime/ Never ones to do things normally THE PHANTOM BAND are working with infamous art collective 85A (check this stuff out! http://www.85a.org.uk/) to make the freaky-ish panto your ever likely to witness. The band will be playing live on both nights with a number of special, secret guests (all-girl septet Muscles of Joy and RM Hubbert for starters) and DJS all fed through a DIY soundsystem. There will be art offering from Torsten Lauschmann, 85A and Rachel Maclean and the nights will be dressed up as a 'proper' panto albeit with a weird and wonderful narrative and over 2 nights. |  | |
| Puro look towards 2012 with Silky Eyes.... 17-11-2011 | ||
Puro Instinct announce Primavera Club dates and a new compilation album for release in 2012 as well as new video 'Silky Eyes'... http://www.youtube.com/user/RecordMakers?feature=chclk#p/c/3/pyTrBa2O40E";>'Silky Eyes' video here Puro Instinct have spoken for the first time of their plans for 2012. Kicking off with a compilation album featuring a lot of their beloved Los Angeles cohorts, singer Piper has revealed; "The comp will feature SFV Acid, Geneva Jacuzzi, Arrow Sperske, Reaux Shambeaux, Secret Circuit, the Glendale Pirates and more. That's all we can divulge at the moment." The release will preceed brand new material from the band in 2012 and will follow a number of live shows at the end of 2011; - 26th Nov. Primavera Club, Madrid - 27th Nov. Primavera Club, Barcelona - 28th Nov. Point Ephémère, Paris Says Piper, "We'll be playing some new stuff at Primavera and preparing a lot of material for release throughout 2012. We've been doing a lot of writing and are ready to cast some new vibes out into the world." |  | |
| November to remember... 09-11-2011 | ||
There may only be 30 days in November, but we're nearly half-way through with well over double the gigs still to go... read on for the latest from TORO Y MOI, STANDARD FARE, JOHN MAUS, ELEPHANT, DUTCH UNCLES, COLOURMUSIC, DIAGRAMS, PINKUNOIZU,CLASS ACTRESS, CHARLES BRADLEY, YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS, and SINGING ADAMS.... Jesus. (No, not a gig from Jesus, but you know what we mean)! Firstly ex-Broken Family Band man Mr Steven Adams aka SINGING ADAMS will play two London shows; 9th Nov LONDON The Garage w/The Head and the Heart 10th Nov LONDON The Windmill YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS play London town ahead of their brand new single 'Everything In Front Of You' out 28th Nov on their own YBA Records. It's deeper, darker than ever - think the starkness of The Walkmen, or perhaps Sunn 0))'s doom metal channelled through My Bloody Valentine; 10 Nov LONDON Bar & Grill Two more special shows this weekend from a certain super soul man, Daptone/Dunham's CHARLES BRADLEY (pictured). After the release of debut album 'No Time For Dreaming' (at the age of 62 no less!), and a non-stop world tour following a mind-blowing show at this year's SXSW in Texas, Charles will play Manchester and London... it coincides with the release of single 'Heartaches and Pain', plus the 10th anniversary of Daptone Records. It's not often someone comes along like this, one equally bursting with passion on record as he does live on stage - you can almost feel the pain in his distinctively rough-hewn vocals; the unmistakable voice of experience reflecting his extended, sometimes rocky, personal journey to date. "Bradley has all the marks of the soul greats who have gone before him; the testifying smart of Syl Johnson, the grit and gusto of Otis Reading, the smoulder and shudder of James Carr.. an intoxicating sound" MOJO**** "a man with a pleading, throaty roar and blood-curdling scream worthy of James Brown. A real find" Q**** "impassioned vocals, shimmering guitars and fruity horns... Charles Bradley is the latest veteran soul belter" UNCUT*** Carson Daly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ccXqAQiXI Jay Leno: http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/rickey-minor-and-friends/1342378/ 13th Nov MANCHESTER Band On The Wall 14th Nov LONDON XOYO Brooklyner Elizabeth Harper aka CLASS ACTRESS is bringing her sparkling electro-pop to the UK for the very first time this month - debut album 'Rapprocher' is winning fans all over from Grizzly Bear to The XX, Yeasayer, and even Kylie. Check out the seriously sensual new video for single 'Weekend'; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XdTr23ABQk "an enticing set of raunchy electro infused tracks full of sex-kitten coos and tales of unrequited love and weekend romps" Dazed & Confused "Elizabeth Harper's one classy dame" NME "a sultry electro diva located somewhere between Caroline Polachek of Chairlift and Alison Goldfrapp" Q "feast on the synth-dripping electro pop of Elizabeth Harper" WIRED 20th Nov LONDON Lock Tavern 25th Nov LONDON Forum w/Chromeo Seems good things definitely do come in twos this month... with deux new FULL TIME HOBBY signings each playing special one-off London shows ahead of their debut albums due in 2012. Streatham Hill Leftfield pop troupe DIAGRAMS will play their first headline show at Camp Basement on 22nd November. Whilst eclectic psychedellic Copenhagen 5-piece PINKUNOIZU will support Pink Mountaintops on 28th November at London's Lexington. Talking labels, celebrating their 15th Birthday, MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES are still bashing out the good stuff with a big celebration at LONDON's KOKO 30th November with live shows from THE GO! TEAM, FIELD MUSIC, DUTCH UNCLES and COLOURMUSIC, with the later two also with their touring wheels in motion... Oklahoma-Yorkshire 4-piece COLOURMUSIC return with new single ‘Tog’ which falls somewhere between the Tom Tom Club and Iggy Pop’s The Idiot (with perhaps a hint of a glam rock stomp) - it's both threatening and fist pumping and a great introduction to the band’s joyously convaluted, dirty world; "like The Beta Band backing The Flaming Lips" THE FLY "Sex-cellent genre-busting from UK/US newcomers" UNCUT**** "One serious sonic adventure... a thrillingly loud and experimental guitar record" LOUD AND QUIET "Basically sick as f**k" NME 17th Nov LONDON Hoxton Sq Bar & Kitchen 22nd Nov BRISTOL Louisiana 23rd Nov LIVERPOOL Mojo 24th Nov GLASGOW Captain's Rest 26th Nov DUBLIN Crawdaddy 28th Nov SHEFFIELD The Harley 29th Nov NOTTINGHAM Bodega 30th Nov LONDON Koko w/Go! Team / Field Music / Dutch Uncles - Memphis Bday! 2011's been quite a year for twisted highbrow pop quintet DUTCH UNCLES who return fresh - or not so - from touring around Europe; "From the XTC school of complex time-signatures, Talking Heads go math-pop" THE TIMES "A cerebral cut above" THE GUARDIAN "One of 2011's most exciting prospects, full of Field Music style cleverness" THE FLY "Endless grooves spreading quicker than an infection on an NHS ward" NME 11th Nov LIVERPOOL music week closing party 12th Nov LEEDS Constellations Festival 14th Nov LINCOLN Tokyo 15th Nov SHEFFIELD Harley 18th Nov DUBLIN Academy 2 19th Nov BELFAST Auntie Annie's Porterhouse 22th Nov NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms 23th Nov BIRMINGHAM Hare and Hounds 2 24th Nov GLASGOW Nice N Sleazy 25th Nov CAMBRIDGE Junction w/Wild Beasts 26th Nov BRIGHTON Concorde II w/Wild Beasts 27th Nov BRISTOL Cooler 29th Nov SOUTHAMPTON Joiners 30th Nov LONDON Koko w/Go! Team / Field Music / Colourmusic - Memphis Bday! 2nd Dec MANCHESTER Deaf Institute Not forgetting Memphis' newest signinngs London boy-girl duo ELEPHANT, whose new 'Assembly EP' came out on Monday, a four-track wonder that expands and develops the quiet beauty evidenced on their previous 7” releases Ants and Allured; “Ghostly, Cocteaus-like” THE SUNDAY TIMES “A dreamy affair that recalls the sullen glint of Beach House” NME 21st Nov SOUTHAMPTON Joiners 22nd Nov LIVERPOOL Shipping Forecast 24th Nov LONDON Shacklewell Arms 25th Nov BRIGHTON The Haunt A reminder of those extra JOHN MAUS dates - he'll be supporting Washed Out as well as an in-store at Rough Trade and coheadliner with Gary War and Maria Minerva. Still new to the world of Maus? See what it's all about here; http://www.the-drone.com/magazine/john-maus-interview/ - an amazingly compelling guy who knows how to put on a live show; "80s synth pop beamed in from the surface of Venus" MOJO "anyone who's enjoyed a fruitful encounter with Ariel Pink's home-recorded oeuvre will find plenty to love about John Maus" UNCUT**** "sublime stuff, clever, and blissfully unaware a rule book exists" Q**** "a surrealist ball of aggressive energy telling a black comedy about a world full of fucked-up love stories and social injustice" NME "tense, pulsing synth melancholy in the manner of a bellowing, baroque one-man Suicide" TIME OUT 15th Nov LONDON Heaven w/ Washed Out 16th Nov LONDON Rough Trade instore - lunchtime 17th Nov LONDON The Dome w/ Gary War + Maria Minerva Sheffield gritty pop trio STANDARD FARE will hit the road in support of forthcoming new album 'Out Of Sight, Out Of Town' which drops on 13th Dec. This time think beefed up guitars alongside singer Emma (daughter of late 70s/80s punk band Poison Girls' Bella Donna)'s wicked humour with themes about travel and escapism from small town life... listen to the album's lead single 'Darth Vader' here - http://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/standard-fare-darth-vader/s-wdZjN 12th Nov LEEDS The Fox and Newt 13th Nov LEICESTER Firebug Bar 18th Nov LONDON The Wilmington Arms 2nd Dec SHEFFIELD The Shakespeare 8th Dec GLASGOW Glasgow Popfest 10th Dec GLASGOW Captain's Rest 20th Jan CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms 21st Jan BRIGHTON Green Door Store 22nd Jan LONDON Lexington Lastly TORO Y MOI will play a headline show at London's Garage 7th December ahead of this year's ATP..... |  | |
| ISLET announce debut album... 07-11-2011 | ||
ISLET announce debut album ‘ILLUMINATED PEOPLE’ January 23rd 2012 on Shape (Turnstile) Free track ‘This Fortune’: http://tinyurl.com/Islet-ThisFortune Tour this November Islet have announced their debut album, to be released 23rd January 2012 on Shape (Turnstile). Illuminated People follows 2010’s rapturously received pair of EPs – ‘Celebrate This Place’ and ‘Wimmy’. The ten tracks stand as a bold opening statement from the Cardiff group who have quickly confirmed themselves as uninhibited by conventions, relishing expanse and experimentation. The album was largely recorded on a farm in Worcestershire and for the first time the group worked with an outside producer, Drew Morgan, bringing together what has now become their most coherent record to date. Complete creative control is ensured with the group releasing the album on Shape Records, run by Mark Thomas of the group. The first taster of which is ‘This Fortune’ available for free from here: http://tinyurl.com/Islet-ThisFortune It’s live where Islet have thus far built their reputation, sometimes with ritualistic chants delivered offstage; meandering off into the crowd, percussive breakdowns, always with tumult and joy. In person as in their music, they seek to break down walls. Expect the unexpected when they tour this November: 11 November - Manchester, Deaf Institute 12 November - Leeds, Constellations Festival 13 November - Nottingham, Bodega 14 November - Norwich, Arts Centre 15 November - Brighton, Green Door Store 16 November - London, Lexington 17 November - Cambridge, Portland Arms 19 November - Hague, Crossing Borders Fest, The Netherlands 20 November - Antwerp, Crossing Borders Fest, Belgium 23 November - Cardiff, Buffalo Also available, on tour only, will be a 12" of This Fortune, featuring a vinyl only 15 minute sound collage made by the group; a swirling mass of found sounds, fragmented thoughts and previously unheard tracks. |  | |
| Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory 04-11-2011 | ||
CLOUD NOTHINGS return with brand new album Attack On Memory Listen 'No Future No Past': http://soundcloud.com/wichita-recordings/cloud-nothings-no-future-no Just a year after their eponymous debut, CLOUD NOTHINGS, the Cleveland, Ohio-based group, are soon to return with a stunning new Wichita album, Attack On Memory. And here’s the big news – it was produced by the king of noise rock, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, Manic Street Preachers, and PJ Harvey). The pairing has resulted in a record that’s a huge step forward for the band: more experimental, more varied, but still accessible, taking in post-rock, indie, post-punk and some sheer, unadulterated noise. When we say there are some heavy moments, we mean HEAVY moments, like the nine-minute Wasted Days and the growling No Sentiment. In the months since the release of Cloud Nothings, frontman Dylan Baldi has toured extensively and put a great deal of focus on the band’s live show. Baldi played every instrument on their debut, but here, the full band recorded as-live in the studio – all members playing at once – giving a greater sense of the band’s stage might. Set for a 6 February 2012 release, you can get your first taste of Cloud Nothings' new sound by listening to album opener 'No Future, No Past' here: http://soundcloud.com/wichita-recordings/cloud-nothings-no-future-no Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory - Tracklist: 1. No Future No Past 2. Wasted Days 3. Fall In 4. Stay Useless 5. Separation 6. No Sentiment 7. Our Plans 8. Cut You |  | |
| Field Music 'Plumb' 03-11-2011 | ||
| FIELD MUSIC ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM 'PLUMB', NEW TRACK AND TOUR (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing free download from at http://www.field-music.co.uk Stream: http://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/field-music-i-keep-thinking Field Music (a.k.a. Sunderland, England, siblings Peter and David Brewis) release their fourth album, Plumb, through Memphis Industries in February 2012 (13 Feb UK/14 Feb US).The album, recorded over the course of 2011 at their new studio on the banks of the river Wear in Sunderland, comprises 15 songs in a succinct 35 minutes. It largely abandons the 'classic' song writing conventions embraced on their 2010 double album Measure and instead remodels the modular, fragmented style of the first two Field Music albums; only now shot through with the surreal abstractions of 20th century film music from Bernstein to Willy Wonka and with the off-beam funk and pristine synth-rock developed on the brothers' School of Language and The Week That Was albums. A highlight of the album, (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing, can now be streamed above on Soundcloud and downloaded from their website at http://www.field-music.co.uk along with preorders for the album and tickets for the following forthcoming live shows: Nov 26, Middlesbrough, Westgarth Social Club Nov 30, London, Koko (Memphis Industries 13th Birthday Party) Feb 18, Glasgow, Stereo Feb 19, Manchester, Deaf Institute Feb 20, Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Feb 22, Nottingham, Bodega Feb 23, Bristol, The Fleece Album tracklisting: Start The Day Right / It's Okay To Change / Sorry Again, Mate / A New Town / Choosing Sides / A Prelude To Pilgrim Street / Guillotine / Who'll Pay The Bills?/ So Long Then / Is This The Picture? / From Hide And Seek To Heartache / How Many More Times? / Ce Soir / Just Like Everyone Else / (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing Fellow North Easteners BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY have two London shows this December, the debut album is out late Jan on Mute (hit back to hear that) and new single 'Liliputt' out Monday 14th (I have some 7"s): http://tinyurl.com/6cfvhh5 Dec 5th @ Dingwalls, London with Vetiver Dec 8th @ End of The Road Christmas Party ACE NEW BAND ALERT: HOOKWORMS release EP this winter and London show THIS Saturday... Hookworms are an ace new 5 piece band from Leeds specialising in hypnotic psychedelic rock and Krauty drone pop. The members have punk and garage backgrounds, which is important as has a lot to do with they're energy live and makes them standout a million miles more than your average jam/wig out 'psych' acts. Putting this top debut selftitled EP out end of the year: http://fauxdiscx.bandcamp.com/album/hookworms Already played shows with the likes of Bardo Pond, Wooden Shjips, Sun Araw (who put out a tape HW release on their own label), Dead Meadow, Cold Cave, Hype Williams and Mi Ami. Recent live set: http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/10/hookworms-live-at-brudenell.html Playing Power Lunches Art Cafe in Hackney on Saturday if anyone fancies checking .. http://powerlunchesltd.co.uk/ “Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rocklike they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors. Most excellent burners!” - Cameron Stallones, Sun Ark |  | |
| Errors Have Some Faith In Magic... 01-11-2011 | ||
ERRORS release 'Have Some Faith In Magic' on Rock Action Records January 30th 2012. Free download ‘Earthscore’ available now from: http://havesomefaithinmagic.com/ Full UK Tour in February & support Mogwai at Glasgow Barrowlands December 22nd 2011 After a brief but hugely-influential time away ERRORS return with ‘Have Some Faith In Magic,’ on Rock Action Records; their third album, it counts as far and away their greatest shift in sound yet, heralding in a sound of serenely cosmo-gazing sugar-tipped pop; previously hinted at with Spring single ‘Magna Encarta,’ a further preview is provided with free download ‘Earthscore.’ A group who emerged at the tale end of a period when anything purely-instrumental and guitar-based became lazily tagged “post-rock,” Errors have now distanced themselves from that loose genre so much that any fleeting comparison to it is now completely redundant. ‘Have Some Faith In Magic’ is an LP of sprawling pop, with delicious hooks applied liberally across post-electro scatterings; a complete turn away from previously lauded albums ‘It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever,’ and last year’s ‘Come Down With Me’ - not least with vocals now being included prominently for the first time. “It was just something that naturally happened,” comments the group’s Steev Livingstone, “we had the idea to put vocals in the music a while ago but we always intended that they should be treated as another instrument. We’ve used them in a way that sits really naturally so the music and the vocals don't feel like separate entities.” Fresh from a summer supporting label mates (and bosses) Mogwai in the US, Errors can announce that they’ll again be supporting the band at a dual homecoming gig at Glasgow’s famous Barrowlands on December 22nd with a headlining tour taking place in February. Errors’ fans have long had their faith rewarded by the band; their third album only looks set to continue that trends. February Tour 2012: Feb 9th NEWCASTLE The Cluny Feb 10th MANCHESTER Islington Mill Feb 11th LIVERPOOL Kazimer Feb 12th BIRMINGHAM The Rainbow Feb 13th CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach Feb 14th BRISTOL The Fleece Feb 15th BRIGHTON The Haunt Feb 16th LONDON XOYO Feb 17th LEEDS Cockpit 2 Feb 18th DUBLIN Grand Social Feb 24th DUNDEE Doghouse Feb 25th ABERDEEN The Lemon Tree ERRORS – HAVE SOME FAITH IN MAGIC - Tracklisting: 1. Tusk 2. Magna Encarta 3. Blank Media 4. Pleasure Palaces 5. The Knock 6. Canon 7. Earthscore 8. Cloud Chamber 9. Barton Spring 10. Holus-Bolus |  | |
| East of Underground, Tunng BBC LP, LC! in London & Field Walls 31-10-2011 | ||
| See below for news on an amazing new Now-Again compilation, a Tunng 'Live from the BBC' album, Los Campesinos! matinee show in London on Sunday ahead of a 'proper' date on Monday 7th (both sold out) and a dream team Kompakt doubleheader as The Field & Walls tour together this Nov... EAST OF UNDERGROUND : Hell Below / Various Artists - a new compilation released 9th January 2012 on Now-Again http://www.nowagainrecords.com/exclusive-pre-sale-at-stones-throw-east-of-underground-hell-below-box-set/ *Serviceman Lewis Hitt from EoU is available for interviews, as is NA boss Egon and Sam Lipsyte who wrote the linear notes. Soul, funk and rock recorded by US Army Servicemen during the height of the Vietnam War, released as albums by the US Army as recruitment tools. United States Army soldiers made the music contained in this three album box-set during the politically turbulent early 70s, towards the end of the Vietnam War. East of Underground, The Black Seeds and The Sound Trek were bands comprised of soldiers stationed in bases across Western Germany. While little is known about the bands, the players, and the milieu they came from - other than what can be pieced together from a handful of photos and documents found in a box in the New York Public Library and vague recollections of some of those involved – Now-Again Records have worked diligently with the United States Army and researchers across the country to present this important document of damn good soul and funk music. A sonic time capsule that functions as a snapshot of American culture during this politically charged era. We have a hand full of finished boxsets for those interested in features and it's available to download at http://www.inhousepress.com/ for the merely curious "THIS IS TUNNG... LIVE FROM THE BBC" album released 13th December 2011 on Full Time Hobby For any British band, the first live BBC session is a rite of passage, an entrance to a club stewarded by Peel, Lamacq, Harris and any number of legendary names from the annals of broadcasting history. Then, some years later, you realise that you’ve recorded an album’s worth of material. That’s what the peerless experimental pop band Tunng found, on looking back at a series of radio sessions ranging from their early days in 2005 to the latter days of 2010. This album takes in intimate acoustic performances for Rob Da Bank to their collaboration with Malian desert blues heroes Tinariwen, Tamatant Tilay. Radio 2 legend Bob Harris may or may not be on one track, too. “I seem to remember him ‘playing’ a telephone directory along to one of our songs,” says Phil from the band. “The Tinariwen session was amazing, because we didn't have a clue what we were going to play. It was so great just hearing it slowly come together.” LOS CAMPESINOS! are happy to announce a 'last ditch' London show... "focused, punchy and beautifully poetic" Q 4 stars "Gareth and his gang are sounding stronger then ever" NME "Sundry heartbreak anthems... as they're grown, they've accrued a pleasingly emotional weight." Uncut 4 stars Due to their KCLSU headline show selling out so swiftly and an eagerness to get on and play songs from their new album Hello Sadness (released 14th November, see above getting some great reviews) they'll play a matinee show at Camden Barfly on the afternoon of 6th November (it's sold out in 30 mins but we can get you in). The band will be available for interviews on the 6th & 7th, full tour runs as: 6 November - London, Barfly - matiness show (2pm) - SOLD OUT 7 November - London, Kings College – SOLD OUT 8 November - Brighton, The Haunt 9 November - Cardiff, The Globe (16+) 10 November - Glasgow, Oran Mor 11 November - Leeds, The Cockpit KOMPAKTS 'DREAM' TEAM: Walls and The Field tour together this winter.. Walls and The Field (both signed to Kompakt) have released two of the most praised electronic crossover records of the year (see a heavy amount of praise below). Both straddle that psychedelic electronic pop genre with both using synths and guitars with amazing dreamlike results. They're both touring together in November and a London show/ATP in Dec: 17 Nov Cork, Cypress Avenue IRELAND 18 Nov Galway, Roisin Dubh IRELAND 19 Nov Dublin, Twisted Pepper IRELAND 20 Nov Liverpool, Kazimer UK 21 Nov Manchester, Deaf Institute UK 08 Dec London, EYOE @ XOYO UK 10 Dec Minehead, ATP UK The Field - Leave It (Walls Remix)http://soundcloud.com/walls_band/03-leave-it-walls-remix Walls - Hang Four (The Field's Macarena Remix)http://soundcloud.com/walls_band/walls-hang-four-the-fields Praise for The Field's 'Looping State Of Mind' THE INDEPENDENT “Truly gorgeous” UNCUT 4/5 "Magnificent" THE TIMES 4/5 "Blisfully hypnotic... this is a strong contender for electronica album of the year" NME 8/10 "Expansively, ecstatically excellent" MIXMAG 4/5 "Poignant yet euphoric, Willner once again delivers" LOUD AND QUIET 9/10 "one of the best pieces of dance music you're likely to hear all year... his most consistent and impressive work to date" Q 4/5 "Boundless and ecstatic, this is house music at its very best" THE FLY 4/5 "a marvellous slab of deeply hypnotic electronica... this is comfortably one of 2011’s finest electronic offerings" PITCHFORK 8.5/10 "successful, vital, surprising... The Field's masterpiece-to-date!" Praise for Walls 'Coracle' (they also play with Battles on 16th Nov in Sheffield @ The Plug): INDEPENDENT - Club Album Of The Week "one of the best albums of 2011" THE TIMES 4/5 "as exciting and exquisite piece of electronica you'll hear this year" NME 8/10 "Luminous soundscapes and gracefully wobbling synths..simply beautiful.. so good it'll make you marvel" PITCHFORK "A great utopian future-pop moment" UNCUT 4/5 "Glittering ambience and heady shoegaze" MOJO 4/5 "Understated, clever and trippy indietonica.. a consistently smart and accessible record" MIXMAG 4/5 "'Coracle' is another cracker..epic, a dancier, gutsier follow up" DJ 8.5/10 "Tracks shimmer like spiderwebs on an icy morning" LOUD AND QUIET 8/10 "Triumphant" |  | |
| Nov London shows for Loney Dear, My Brightest Diamond & Fruit Bats 28-10-2011 | ||
| First thing check THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION on Later with Jools Holland this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OGO1pMupWI LONEY DEAR new album Hall Music out now and announces special colour-coded shows dates at London’s St Pancras Church end of November "This is charming. And uplifting. Happy-sad but impossibly soothing" 4 stars, Mojo “Loney, Dear's most sumptuous-sounding record to date… Matching an intimacy of sentiment to a grandiosity of sound” Pitchfork "Some wonderfully sad Swedish pop, made cheerful by twinkling percussion and a gorgeous melody" The Guardian “deeply textured...sweet melancholy” Q “a seductively melancholy and unashamedly serious album, that claws insistently at the heartstrings” Uncut Following a reverent critical reaction to the soon-to-be-released Hall Music album, Loney Dear, aka Swedish singer-songwriter Emil Svanängen, has announced two very special dates at a very special venue – London’s St Pancras Church. http://oldstpancrasteam.wordpress.com/old-st-pancras/ Taking place on 21 and 23 November, the two shows are themed as The Blue Show and The Green Show. Each show will have special, colour-themed lighting, one-off Loney Dear setlists and different support. Emil will be performing solo, but this is no stripped-down show: he’ll be creating a colossal, unimaginable sound through live sampling and looping of drums, percussion, guitars, singing and even the audience. Like watching a master work, the result is a lush, sumptuous wall of sound that belies the fact that only one person is on stage. For an idea of what to expect, check out Emil at work in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSs125xbB1s In between performances, the DJing will be a soundbed curated by Something In Contstruction Records. You may expect to hear Blue Moon and Joni Mitchell on Monday’s Blue night and Green Knight and Scritti Politti on Wednesday’s green night. There will be free colour coded cocktails for early arrivals and attendees will be rewarded for dressing in the appropriate colour. MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND announces European tour dates and new album 'All Things Will Unwind' released this October on Asthmatic Kitty. "All Things Will Unwind is a seriously accomplished piece of work; a hefty nod to musical study and academia but never weighed down by it... the sound of an artist truly ARRIVING and ready to play" Drowned In Sound "stylistically impressive" Uncut Two documentaries available now: All Things Will Unwind: Visuals - http://vimeo.com/29507251 All Things Will Unwind: Stories and Sounds - http://vimeo.com/29869626 Having recently returned to Detroit, planted a garden and given birth to a son, Worden’s latest offering, All Things Will Unwind, draws inspiration from the motor city itself. More folk inspired than much of her recent work the new album addresses the juxtaposition of life and death, class and race, pantries and politics—as heard through the mesmerizing lullaby of a new mother. Growing up outside of Detroit in a family of musical evangelists, Worden studied multiple instruments (her father is an acclaimed accordionist and mother an organist). She became equally passionate about classical and Motown, later pursuing a degree in Opera at the University of North Texas where she wrote and recorded original material for the first time. After moving to New York by way of Moscow, Worden recorded three albums before joining the ranks of Sufjan Stevens Illinoisemakers. She then expanded her musical education further by studying composition under Padma Newsome (Clogs, The National), and turned out several scores for off-Broadway productions. As impressive as her list of recent collaborators, Shara Worden’s voice and arresting live performances have left audiences thunderstruck from the Sydney Opera House to Lincoln Center to the House of Blues. She’s performed under the experimental-pop moniker My Brightest Diamond for the last seven years, and counts Bryce Dessner (The National), Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and each of The Decemberists among friends and fans. They are just a few of the many who’ve fallen in love with Worden’s mystical voice and mythic storytelling. In London, My Brightest Diamond will perform the new album in its entirety with a chamber ensemble and band. 17 November: St Giles Church, London, UK 21 November: Circolo degli Artisti, Rome, IT 22 November: Teatro Martinitt, Milan, IT 23 November: Papiersaal, Zurich, CH 24 November: Maria, Berlin, DE 26 November: Gebaude 9, Cologne, DE 27 November: Le Guess Who festival - Ekko, Utrecht, NL 28 November: Stuk, Leuven, BE 29 November: Café de la Danse, Paris, FR FRUIT BATS announce one off London show "a mini symphony where psychedelia meets strutting rustic rock'n'roll" 4 stars, Uncut Fruit Bats 'Tripper' album on Sub Pop is sometime Shin, Eric D Johnson's best work to date. A real classic sounding affair, like a cosmic country version of John & Yoko' s 'Double Fantasy', with hints of Paul Simon, Jim Sullivan, John Grant and aforementioned The Shins. Hit back for copies of that (will be getting a re-release for 21st Nov) to coincide with a one off London date as part of a wider European tour: 25th November - London, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen They have a good sense of humour too - http://fruitbatsmusic.com/tripper-promo/ |  | |
| IHPhonic Workshop with Gold Panda, Star Slinger, Walls & K-X-P 05-10-2011 | ||
| GOLD PANDA TOUR STARTS THIS WEEK, DJ KICKS, UNVEILS NEW TRACK It’s been 11 months since the release of ‘Lucky Shiner’, a debut album that’s firmly placed GOLD PANDA among the most exciting and innovative new artists of recent times, garnering various plaudits. Less than 12 months ago he was playing to 20 odd people at White Heat, this week he'll headline Koko this Thursday as part of a UK jaunt: Oct 5th - Bristol Thekla w/ Dam Mantle 6th - London, KOKO - w/ Nathan Fake, Dam Mantle and Stay + 7th - Leeds Brudenell Social Club w/ Dam Mantle 8th - Glasgow King Tuts w/ Dam Mantle "Perhaps the most striking thing about Lucky Shiner is how human it sounds." - The Guardian, Winner of The First Album Award 2010 "...breathes the same kind of life into his work as Four Tet." - Pitchfork "stunning first offering..." - Q Magazine In November, Gold Panda will release a 22 track mix as part of the DJ Kicks (!K7) series that weights perfectly between the bright awake and brooding nocturnal side of electronica. The mix includes a brand new GP track ‘An Iceberg Hurtled Northward Through Clouds’ which appeared online last week and received 20,000 plays in 24 hours: http://soundcloud.com/gold-panda/an-iceberg-hurled-northwards/s-2IgB3 Hit reply for review guest list spots, interview requests (Derwin now lives in Berlin so this is a good opportunity to do anything face to face) and the DJ Kicks album. K-X-P TAKE IT 'EASY' IN LONDON OCTOBER 13TH Finnish electro-rock-stomp trio K-X-P are set to unleash a brand new three-track EP (the 12"s are in) to mark their signing to Manchester’s Melodic label on November 14th. Check lead track 'Easy (Infinity Waits)' here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12326-easy-infinity-waits/ These guys have to be seen to be believed live, their Leeds Brudenell show in January is our gig of the year. They play Camp in London on October 13th and can't recommend it enough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwqyjoOqZ_U&feature=related NEW WALLS SHOWS The new WALLS album 'Coracle' is out this month and been getting a lot of you excited, they're in the US at mo supporting Battles (they also play European shows with them and have just announced some more UK ones of their own. "as exciting and exquisite piece of electronica you'll hear this year" The Times "Understated, clever and trippy indietonica.. a consistently smart and accessible record." 4 stars, Mojo 22 Oct Nottingham, Rescue Rooms UK 27 Oct Bristol, Start The Bus UK 16 Nov Sheffield, The Plug UK (with Battles) 17 Nov Cork, Cypress Avenue IRELAND 18 Nov Galway, Roisin Dubh IRELAND 19 Nov Dublin, Twisted Pepper IRELAND 20 Nov Liverpool, Kazimer IRELAND 10 Dec Minehead, ATP UK STAR SLINGER ANNOUNCES HIS DEBUT SINGLE: “DUMBIN’ (FEATURING REGGIE B)” WHITE LABEL 12” VINYL RELEASED 28th NOVEMBER Listen to it here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12501-dumbin-ft-reggie-b/ "Williams' (Star Slinger) style combines the hyper soul sampling of Kanye West or Dipset producers Heatmakerz with a bubbling psychedelia reminiscent of J Dilla's spacier moments." - Pitchfork Darren Williams - better known to the world as beats producer, Star Slinger – has just unleashed his new track “Dumbin’” as a free MP3 and white label vinyl - his first sample free track and Star Slinger’s official debut single. Featuring Missouri-based vocalist, Reggie B, the track finds Williams leaving behind the sample-heavy sound of his previous releases and instead turning to his trusted drum machines and synths, over which he layers and harmonizes snippets of the vocal to build a track that will please hip-hop / r'n'b fans and pop fans equally. Catchy hooks and slick vocals are counterbalanced with off-kilter drums and forward-thinking production. The Manchester based producer first came to attention through his critically adored online only compilation, Volume 1, and has since gone on to remix everyone from Broken Social Scene to Gold Panda, via Ed Sheeran; his last release was the Teams vs. Star Slinger EP (Mexican Summer). Star Slinger is currently on his first North American tour, diving in at the deep end with five weeks of headline dates (now how many folks can say do this before they're released their debut single? He's already sold 300 tickets in NYC!) Check it 'going off' in Seattle at the weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxZdHA7P5U The limited twelve inch single will also feature the exclusive “SS Deep Mix” by the man himself, as well instrumentals of both tracks. We've the full promo of this. http://www.starslinger.net/ http://soundcloud.com/starslingeruk http://www.facebook.com/starslingeruk |  | |
| The Phoenix Foundation return.... 04-10-2011 | ||
"An album that already seems destined to be among the best of 2011" *****The Guardian "New Zealand's finest purveyors of psychedelic Pop" **** The Times "Undislodgable melodies. A lovely album" **** The Sunday Times "Ingenuous pop" ****The Independent "Strident, thrumming and woozy... colourful sketches" MOJO "The future and the past seldom sounded so delightful" Q "Their music is warm, heavy-lidded and sounds like it was recorded under a duvet... a happy, happy record" The Word High, but thoroughly deserved, praise indeed for THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION's album 'Buffalo', and with the past 12 months seeing shows sell out up and down the country, not to mention popping their Glastonbury cherry in high style at the start of the summer, you could say it's been quite a year for the New Zealand band. So what's next on the agenda? How about an upcoming appearance on Later... with Jools Holland w/c 24th October. Plus a special one off headline show at London’s The Garage on 27th October. New single 'Bright Grey' comes out Oct 24th - a swooping, tumbling delight that comes with a Delorean car featuring video directed by Oscar nominated Kiwi director Taiki Waititi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiLWIStImLY&ob=av2n |  | |
| Anticon on-goings.... 03-10-2011 | ||
SERENGETI (pictured) will be supporting WHY? on their upcoming acoustic piano tour. If you've not seen or heard it yet, definitely check out 'California' taken from the Chicago emcee's first album for Anticon 'Family & Friends': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjVpxbfuEoA - witty, clever, fresh and full of swagger, i.e. hip-hop as it should be. 22-Oct-11 DUBLIN Button Factory 23-Oct-11 BRISTOL Colston Hall 24-Oct-11 LONDON Union Chapel 25-Oct-11 BRIGHTON Duke Of York JOSIAH WOLF, drummer and multi-instrumentalist for band WHY?, will follow his first full-length solo LP 'Jetlag' with a handful of show across UK/Europe - this time accompanied by Liz Hodson. The duo's live arrangement is unique - both musicians play multiple instruments (often at once), looping melodies and rhythms to create interesting textures. We're told an album's on its way, in the meantime you can hear their 6-song covers EP 'Under Lovers Covers' here: http://josiahwolflizhodson.bandcamp.com/ or catch one of the shows; 4-Nov-11 BRIGHTON The Haunt w/Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard 5-Nov-11 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club 6-Nov-11 MANCHESTER Islington Mill 7-Nov-11 BIRMINGHAM Hare and Hounds 8-Nov-11 LONDON Star of Kings |  | |
| In your Weird Dreams.... 28-09-2011 | ||
East London psych-pop 4-piece WEIRD DREAMS will release new single ‘Holding Nails’ on 31st October through Tough Love (why not check it out on Ptchfork now: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12412-holding-nails-7/). We don't say this lightly but forthcoming album, 'Choreography' is sure to be one of 2012’s essential debuts. A band who on the surface look more grunge but make bittersweet melodies, pitch-perfect harmonies and sparkling riffs influenced by a love of The Beach Boys and David Lynch films.. singer Doran; "The way Lynch pushes reality to a point where it feels uncomfortable, his obsession with 50s culture, his stream of consciousness approach to working, it’s all there in our music... Weird Dreams is a bittersweet pop band with twists.” Catch the band playing very soon: 16th Oct LONDON Old Blue Last - Binnacle Festival w/Gross Magic 17th Oct LONDON Water Rats - Spectrals album launch 4th Nov LONDON Shacklewell Arms - 'Holding Nails' single launch More dates to come.... |  | |
| THE FIELD return with "Looping State Of Mind" 09-08-2011 | ||
It’s with the arrival of Looping State Of Mind on October 24th (via Kompakt) that you finally realise that, for THE FIELD’s ambient techno explorer Axel Willner, the loop never stops. While fans and critics alike point to 2007’s phenomenal debut From Here We Go Sublime – included in Pitchfork’s Top 100 albums of the 2000s – and 2009’s equally stirring follow up Yesterday & Today as standalone points of the Swede’s music; it becomes clear that they appear as mere snapshots of what, for the producer, is a continual cycle of revolutions. Revelling in the warm recognition of their recurring patterns, imbuing conflicting twin senses of present and nostalgia, familiarity doesn’t breed contempt; for Willner sees each loop as another chance to adjust, to build upon and multiply so that several of even the slightest nuances can combine to form a true aural evolution. Previous ideas have been expanded upon and, more importantly, new ones added; vocal samples now creep around signature sound washes, whispering on the periphery; greater contrast has been added with acoustic instruments such as double bass and piano recorded amongst the samples – the result of recording of in the fully-equipped Dumbo Studios in Kompakt’s home town of Cologne. Many of the initial sketches, however, still came from Willner himself at his home studio in Berlin, suggesting an embryonic growth to the creation process; “some of the ideas stretching back to the debut are still there,” he says, cementing this idea of furthering the re-visited, “but we’ve just made a real attempt to grow the sound.” The album was mixed by Jörg Burger aka The Modernist. The Field "Looping State Of Mind" (CD/2LP/DIGITAL) will be released 24 October (25th in North America) via Kompakt. Tracklisting: 01 Is This Power 02 It's Up There 03 Burned Out 04 Arpeggiated Love 05 Looping State Of Mind 06 Then It's White 07 Sweet Slow Baby Forthcoming Shows: Aug 12 - Cannes, FR @ Pantiero Festival Aug 18 - Berlin, DE @ Festaal Kreuzberg Sept 3 - Pescara, IT @ Nextech Festival Oct 6 - Utrecht, NL @ Ekko Festival Dec 10 - Minehead, UK @ ATP - Nightmare Before Christmas |  | |