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| Dungen announces new album... 13-07-2010 | ||
| Sweden's DUNGEN are set for a sweet return with a collection of gorgeous rippers and graceful jazz filled polyrhythms in the shape of new album 'Skit I Allt' - out early September on Subliminal Sounds. "Skit I Allt; Fuck it, do as you want, time is passing and it’s changing, forget fears and hang-ups, we are small and everything is pretty insignificant on the whole. How will it be? What shall we do? We often worry so much unnecessarily. Skit i allt, it’s happening now." "Skit i allt - gör som Du vill, tiden går och det förändras, glöm rädslor och hang-ups, vi är små och allt är ganska betydelselöst i det stora hela, hur ska det bli? Vad ska vi göra? Oroar oss ofta i onödan - Skit i allt, det är nu det händer, inte då och inte sen" In what feels like a very short decade, Sweden’s Dungen has mutated at a furious pace. Main man/ producer/ arranger/ singer/ golden child Gustav Ejstes’s lone constant has been change. At ease with effervescent pop, third-eye popping psychedelia, heavy rock, spider-web folk and breezy jazz, Dungen’s dynamism astounds throughout Skit I Allt . Rather than remain only Ejstes’ studio vision, Dungen is a muscular full band now. Guitarist Reine Fiske, bassist Mattias Gustavsson, and drummer Johan Holmegard are fully integrated into Ejstes’ vision of Dungen: “Whether you perceive Dungen as a band or as me and my songs and my productions, the band is something totally free." Supporting their last record 4 brought the US an amazing tour which included a batch of shows with Fleet Foxes (Dungen are a favorite of lead singer Robin Pecknold), that resulted in many magical crossed band performances and special moments at the Party In The Pines Festival at Big Sur. 2010 proves to be just as exciting a year for Dungen as they embark on the largest North American tour they've endured which includes being handpicked by Jim Jarmusch for the All Tomorrow's Parties festival at Kutshers in upstate New York. + gigs in Europe and Scandinavia (see below for the first wave of dates). Listen to the new song Marken Låg Stilla here: http://www.dungen-music.com/index_e.html DUNGEN TOUR DATES - US, UK, and Europe Fri-Sep-03 Buffalo, NY, Mohawk Place, USA Sun-Sep-05 Monticello, NY, All Tomorrows Parties, USA Tue-Sep-07 Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda's, USA Wed-Sep-08 Baltimore, MD, Ottobar, USA Fri-Sep-10 Charlottesville, VA, Jefferson Theatre, USA Sat-Sep-11 Raleigh, NC, Hopscotch Music Festival, USA Sun-Sep-12 Asheville, NC, Grey Eagle, USA Tue-Sep-14 Atlanta, GA, The Earl, USA Wed-Sep-15 Nashville, TN, Mercy Lounge, USA Thu-Sep-16 Memphis, TN, Hi-tone, USA Fri-Sep-17 Dallas, TX, The Loft, USA Sat-Sep-18 Austin, TX, Mohawk, USA Sun-Sep-19 Marfa, TX, TBD, USA Wed-Sep-22 Phoenix, AZ, Rhythm Room, USA Thu-Sep-23 San Diego, CA, Casbah, USA Fri-Sep-24 Pioneertown, CA, Pappy & Harriets, USA Sat-Sep-25 Los Angeles, CA, Echoplex, USA Sun-Sep-26 Big Sur, CA, Henry Miller Library, USA Wed-Sep-29 Oakland, CA, New Parish, USA Fri-Oct-01 Portland, OR, Mississippi Studios, USA Sat-Oct-02 Vancouver, BC, Biltmore, USA Sun-Oct-03 Seattle, WA, Neumos, USA Wed-Oct-06 Minneapolis, MN, Triple Rock, USA Thu-Oct-07 Chicago, IL, Lincoln Hall, USA Fri-Oct-08 Detroit, MI, Magic Stick, USA Sat-Oct-09 Cleveland, OH, Grog Shop, USA Sun-Oct-10 Toronto, ONT, Horseshoe Tavern, Canada Tue-Oct-12 Burlington, VT, TBD, Canada Wed-Oct-13 Boston, MA, Harpers Ferry, USA Thu-Nov-11 Manchester, TBD, UK Fri-Nov-12 London, TBD, UK Wed-Nov-24 Tampere, Klubi, Finland Thu-Nov-25 Åbo, Klubi (Ilta), Finland Fri-Nov-26 Helsinki, Tavastia, Finland Wed-Dec-01 Bergen, TBA, Norway Thu-Dec-02 Oslo, Parkteatret, Norway Fri-Dec-03 Trondheim, Blaest, Norway Fri-Dec-10 Malmö, Inkonst, Sweden Sat-Dec-11 Göteborg, Brewhouse, Sweden Sun-Dec-12 Stockholm, Bryggarsalen, Sweden |  | |
| Jim (and Nick) Fix It For You 07-07-2010 | ||
| Chuffed to bits to be announcing releases from two quintessentially English psychedelic gents, with more than 40 years between their conception! Read on for news for JIM NOIR activity and a hidden gem of an album by a then teenager NICK GARRIE, initially recorded in Paris 1969 - a must for all baroque, psych, folk, 60s pop fans.... JIM NOIR Free ‘Melody Junction’ 4 Track EP available from http://www.jimnoir.com RIGHT NOW! Six Track ‘Zooper Dooper’ EP coming Autumn 2010 You wait and wait for signs of life from Manchester’s celebrated Jim Noir and then, lo!, good things come in twos. The first good thing is a new four-track EP which Jim will be giving away free on his website. The second good thing is news of a new six-track EP, Zooper Dooper that’s going to be available on good old-fashioned vinyl and online at a cost. But hang on, four tracks plus six tracks equals ten tracks equals an album, so why not just do an LP? “The 4 track is the remnants of an album that got dropped on the floor and couldn’t be worked on anymore,” says Jim. “As I started writing more new stuff it seemed to not really sound like what I was doing last year, so I’ve decided to give these away and make people buy the fresh bits. Not to diss my own work, but the reason they are free is because I just think the six track EP is much better.” You see, you gets what you pay for. Jim may have his tongue in his cheek, but there have been few albums dropped on the floor since we last saw him. “Most of the work I did for my 3rd album became lost in the great hard drive disaster of 2009 and all I have left of it is a few mp3s I sent to friends,” he says. “I now have to download my own music from myself to hear what it could have been.” He’s also joking about the quality of the EPs – like all of Noir’s work, these four little songs are packed full of enough hooks and ideas to make other songwriters blush. Most intriguing of all is a track named Shooting Deer. “I’m absolutely not advocating anyone shoot deer. I like deer,” he says. “It’s just about one of my good friends who guides me through the tricky world of love, life, and spelling.” The EP is available for free download from http://www.jimnoir.com from today. Jim Noir is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Davyhulme, Manchester noted for his esoteric dress sense and equally esoteric tunes, which he began making in his childhood bedroom. To date, he has released bucketloads of EPs and two albums: 2005's Tower of Love and 2008's self titled follow-up. He’s also had more kind words thrown at him (see below for just a few of them), tracks on adverts, films and sporting events than we’ve had hot dinners. “psychedelic electro-pop of the most inventively buoyant and retro-futurist kind, recalling The Beta Band and Super Furry Animals, with nods to Ray Davies and Brian Wilson.” Uncut “astonishing and inventive… this is nothing less than the laptop-pop ‘Pet Sounds. I kid you not.” Sunday Independent “Delicious soft-pop with a Beach Boys bent, only with the rainy North West of England as its playground” Q “a Mancunian Ziggy Stardust.” The Guardian Stay tuned for news for news of the Zooper Dooper EP soon. NICK GARRIE 'THE NIGHTMARE OF J.B STANISLAS' DOUBLE CD + BOOK released 4th October 2010 on ELEFANT “one of the strangest psychedelic pop albums from the late sixties” Billboard The Nightmare of J B Stanislas could be the last “lost” album of the ‘60s. Forty years since falling through the cracks of its French label, Nick Garrie’s incredible LP is finally due to get the recognition it deserves with a deluxe re-release on Elefant. This is one for fans of baroque-folk-pop from The Beach Boys’s Smile and The Zombies’s Odessey & Oracle via Love’s Forever Changes. The story starts with a young Englishman who spent the better part of his youth wandering around France, playing in bars and restaurants and sleeping on the beaches of Saint Tropez. Little by little he gathered a small number of followers, one of who recorded an acoustic demo for him in 1968. A year later, that demo found its way into the hands of the record label DiscAZ, and a deal was closed, matching Garrie to producer Eddie Vartan. Vartan enlisted the help of a 56-musician orchestra to record the disc in Paris’s Davou studios, but Garrie – an acoustic lover at heart – distanced himself from the lush arrangements. In the end only the finale Evening remained as its composer wanted, with just a trumpet as backup. The release date was set for 1970, but just when the disc was to be unleashed, Lucien Morisse, head of DiscAZ and the project’s principal champion, took his own life, and the album was lost in the ensuing chaos. Only a few copies were sold; just enough for it to become a major collector’s item, regularly reaching sales prices of more than £1000. Not even Garrie’s family and friends knew it existed until many years later. Today, we’re able to recover a tremendously beautiful and vital piece of baroque-pop, a lost psychedelic classic with lyrics that border on surrealism. The excitement of Deeper Tones Of Blue, the sweetness of Can I Stay with You, the pop perfection of The Nightmare of J B Stanislas are all here for us to find. The reissue follows the rediscovery of Garrie – now working as a parapetetic French teacher – by numerous shining lights of the Scottish music scene, who pulled him out of retirement to record 2008’s 49 Arlington Gardens album with names including Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Ally Kerr and others. Meanwhile, Camera Obscura recruited Garrie to open for them at a Shepherd’s Bush Empire gig. This deluxe edition of Garrie’s 1970 classic comes with a second disc of long-lost demos, singles and recordings, which stay true to Garrie’s original vision for his sound. Three songs are recovered that were recorded in Portugal in 2002, using the almost completely acoustic format that he so longed for on his debut. Also included is an incredible 42-page book telling Garrie’s story in his own words, with the full lyrics too. A necessary recovery, a rebirth: Nick Garrie is back, and The Nightmare of J B Stanislas is finally receiving the archive treatment it deserves. Nick is available for interviews, we have limited number of promos so shout now! The album will be on the in house site very shortly.. |  | |
| Bears Remixed 30-06-2010 | ||
| "Like some lost nugget from the 4AD roster, early 90's vintage... with hints of the Cocteaus and Pale Saints.. Difficult not to be seduced by these chaps" MOJO**** "A band who've slowly crafted avant-garde influences in this hugely impressive prog pop" UNCUT "Dizzy digital grooves, swirling melodies, heavy motorik beats and luciosuly phased vocals... an alluring take on psychedellic house acknowledging early Genesis, MBV and Ride" TIME OUT**** "Like a more enigmatic MGMT.. well worth a listen" THE SUN**** "An alternative for leftfield loners finding chill-wave's banquet too heady and lo-fi's rhythms too care free... Bear in Heaven have the potential to be a fantastic band. Their heavy atmospheres are alluring, the thrust of their wierdo guitar-pop emotionally and physically involving" NME Yep, just a few things said about Bear In Heaven and their recent "Beast Rest Forth Mouth" album. And now, hot off their first European tour, post Pitchfork "Best New Music" and Grizzly Bear blog-baiting endorsements, Bear In Heaven have curated a remix album worthy of both headphones and dance floors. With a roll call featuring the likes of The Field, Justin K. Broadrick (a.k.a. Jesu), Studio, and High Places, "Beast Rest Forth Mouth: Remixed" will be a UK-exclusive standalone album released (with suitably "remixed" artwork) end of August through Hometapes & Dreamboat records. The band will also return once again for UK shows this summer. Bear In Heaven "Beast Rest Forth Mouth" remix album track list: 01. Beast In Peace (The Hundred In The Hands Beast In Beat Remix) 02. Lovesick Teenagers (Twin Shadow Remix) 03. Ultimate Satisfaction (The Field Remix) 04. Wholehearted Mess (Pink Skull Remix) 05. Fake Out (BRAHMS Remix) 06. Drug A Wheel (High Places Remix) 07. Deafening Love (Deru Remix) 08. Dust Cloud (Justin K. Broadrick Remix) 09. You Do You (Studio Remix) 10. Casual Goodbye (Epstein's Galloping Gertie Remix) AUGUST TOUR DATES. Bear in Heaven return to the UK on tour in August: 21/08/10 - London, UK @ Cargo 22/08/10 - Powys, UK @ Green Man Festival 23/08/10 - Edinburgh, UK @ Capital - Fringe Festival 24/08/10 - Belfast, Ireland @ Speakeasy 25/08/10 - Dublin, Ireland @ Crawdaddy's |  | |
| Phosphene Dream: new Black Angels album, Sleepy Sun & Avi Buffalo summer singles & shows 29-06-2010 | ||
| We're super psyched about the news of a third Black Angels album and see below for the summer of love 2010! With releases and tour news this August for Sleepy Sun, Avi Buffalo, The Soundcarriers and The Smiles & Frowns... THE BLACK ANGELS TO RELEASE THIRD STUDIO ALBUM PHOSPHENE DREAM SEPTEMBER 13TH ON BLUE HORIZON RECORDS Revived record label Blue Horizon have announced it has signed Austin-based psychedelic rock band, THE BLACK ANGELS. The Black Angels third album, and first release on Blue Horizon, is the highly anticipated Phosphene Dream, which is set for release on September 13th in the UK. “Phosphene Dream” marks a giant leap forward for the band. Produced and mixed by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Black Mountain) over a period of six months in Los Angeles, the album shows off both sonically and musically a bold new direction for The Black Angels, a fresh take on the neo-Psychedelic movement they’ve been at the forefront of for years. To hear the first track from Phosphene Dream, “Bad Vibrations,” click here: http://theblackangels.com/stream/bad-vibrations/ To download “Bad Vibrations,” go here: http://www.theblackangels.com/ While past albums Passover and Directions to See a Ghost were recorded in the bands hometown of Austin, Texas, the process involved on making Phosphene Dream pulled the band out of their comfort zone and forced them to look at songwriting and recording in a way they never have before. Years of non-stop worldwide touring had turned the band into a tightly wound unit, and those years of work are all on showcase here. The band plans to celebrate the release with more years of touring, starting at the end of August where the band will be playing the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK, Rock en Seine in Paris, and the highly coveted Jim Jarmusch curated stage at ATP in NYC. An announcement of their full fall touring plans will be coming shortly. Live European dates this Aug: Thu 12 Aug – Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway Thu 26 Aug – The Borderline, London, UK Fri 27 Aug – Leeds Festival, Leeds, UK Sat 28 Aug – Reading Festival, Reading, UK Sun 29 Aug – Rock en Seine, France The deal also serves of particular importance as it marks the first band signed to the label since industry veterans Richard Gottehrer, co-founder of distribution company The Orchard, and Seymour Stein CEO of Sire Records (WMG) announced it’s revival earlier this year at MIDEM. Blue Horizon was founded in the late 1960’s, the legendary Blues label was best known for discovering acts like Chickenshack and Fleetwood Mac. Seymour Stein commented, “Great musicianship and performers, mesmerizing vocals, and songs that penetrate the subconscious. That’s the best way to describe Black Angels, our first signing to Blue Horizon records. In everyway the band is perfect choice to re-launch to this iconic label.” SLEEPY SUN ANNOUNCE NEW SINGLE 'MARINA' & AUGUST SHOWS "Everyone from Hendrix to CSN&Y to Pink Floyd to Led Zep turns up in their dusky psych-blues-folk blended with a symphonic approach to song construction that keeps Sleepy Sun sounding fresh." Uncut 4 stars "Like the whole of Fever, it is gloriously hellish" Mojo 4 stars Marina is the latest single from psychedelic giants Sleepy Sun, set for release September 6th on ATP. The opening track of their acclaimed new album Fever, Marina represents the two sides of the band, beginning as a languid, bluesy expanse and building to a tribal beat-driven climax of stomping, screaming proportions. The single will be released as a download and on 10” vinyl with a brand new B-side ‘Horses’. Fever is a band working, like the heroic combos of old - real, made by hand, eyes ahead on an unbridled future and giving two shits for the sideways glance of the lurking trend spotter. A band working, and a working band - Sleepy Sun’s soaring and soul-stirring live shows are already mowing down audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Recent converts Arctic Monkeys chose them as touring partners in the US which ended with them witnessing riots together in Mexico. UNKLE’s lead single from their new LP ‘Follow Me Down’ features ‘Sun singer Rachel Fannan on vocal duties. The converts are fast becoming legion. The four corners of Europe now have another chance to join the legion when Sleepy Sun tour the continent in August. 8 August – Standon Calling, Standon (Main stage, 3:10pm) 17 August – Bush Hall, London 18 August – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (w/Besnard Lakes) 19 August – Edge Festival @ Capital, Edinburgh 20 August – Green Man, Brecon Beacons (Far Out stage, 7pm) AVI BUFFALO NEW SINGLE 'TRUTH SETS IN' AND AUGUST SHOWS "...a bittersweet, magnificent album...Avi is as good a songwriter as anyone who's ever traded under Sub Pop's logo." NME 9 /10 "...sublime, self-titled debut." Mojo 4 stars "Avi Buffalo's songwriting is such sheer delight." The Guardian Fresh from triumphant sets at Glastonbury this Sunday, Avi Buffalo announce Truth Sets In (Aug 16th on Sub Pop) as their next release. The Long Beach-based band whose debut album has had critics frothing with superlatives, winning plaudits for its melodic sensibilities, Avi’s incredible guitar playing and its densely layered lyrics, which provide a fresh perspective on US teenage life. Sung by Avi and bandmate Rebecca Coleman, the understated Truth Sets In has all three in spades. To mark the single release, Avi Buffalo will be travelling to the UK for some much-anticipated live dates in June and August. August 19, 2010 Pukkelpop Festival, Belgium August 20, 2010 Green Man Festival, Glanusk August 22, 2010 Library, Lancaster August 24, 2010 Cargo, London August 27, 2010 READING FESTIVAL Reading August 29, 2010 LEEDS FESTIVAL Leeds August 30, 2010 Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh August 31, 2010 Bodego Nottingham THE SOUNDCARRIERS & THE SMILES AND FROWNS RELEASE PSYCH GEMS THIS AUGUST The Soundcarriers debut album 'Harmonium' was a favourite of ours in the In House office. The follow up 'Celeste' sees them move into a more Kraut-y / experimental direction (even better by us!) whilst still threading through Axelrod, Pentangle, perfect vocal harmonies, 60s psych pop and jazz tinges. That’s out 9th August on Melodic. Here's a track to wet the appetite (cool to use on sites) http://www.melodic.co.uk/ihp/The_Soundcarriers_Last_Broadcast.mp3 The Smiles & Frowns are a duo from Phoenix, Arizona who wind away their day-ze making imaginative psych folk pop that reminds us of White Album era Beatles, Syd Barrett, Oliver Postgate, Curt Boettcher and 60s West Coast pop. Basically what Jim Noir would sound like if he were bored in the desert rather than his bedroom in rainy Manchester. The debut album is out 16th Aug on Manc DIY label aA Recording and it's also their 50th release. Here's a taster (feel free to put on blogs): http://www.akoustikanarkhy.co.uk/Cornelius.mp3 |  | |
| Panda Bear is a Tomboy 10-06-2010 | ||
| Paw Tracks is excited to present the first in a series of limited edition seven inch singles by Animal Collective's PANDA BEAR. There will be several limited singles total (on different labels), and each one will bring us closer and closer to the much-anticipated release of the Tomboy full length. Panda Bear 'Tomboy' (Paw Tracks) released 12th July Tracklisting: 01 - Tomboy 02 - Slow Motion Never one to rest on his laurels, Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) has blazed yet another unexplored sonic trail. The two new songs "Tomboy" and "Slow Motion" maintain the kind of upbeat vibe found on Panda Bear's previous solo album Person Pitch, but forged with a new sonic language that isn't as sample-centric. Dance beats meld effortlessly with electric guitars and Noah's now trademark vocal harmonies to create the NEXT Panda Bear sound. · Limited edition one time vinyl only pressings · First new Panda Bear music since 2007's wildly popular Person Pitch album · Multiple singles will come out on labels such as Fat Cat, Domino, and Kompakt · These songs will not be available digitally until the release of the Tomboy full length · Recorded and produced by Panda Bear at his studio in Lisbon, Portugal Seems the perfect time to tell you about a couple of brand new American acts that have hardly left our stereo.. BATHS and LIGHT POLLUTION: “Will Wiesenfeld connects the dots between the sun-drenched haze of glo-fi torchbearers (Washed Out, Toro Y Moi) and the woozy beat math that lights the spliffs of Los Angeles' Brainfeeder collective (Flying Lotus, the Gaslamp Killer)” PITCHFORK BATHS 'Cerulean' is LA's Will Wiesenfeld project and has a debut album getting released on Anticon early August. Combining songwriting with self-sampling, raw musicianship with synthesized textures. Field recordings with propulsive beats, lush melodies, ghostly choirs, playful instrumentation and stuttering beats - it's almost the perfect combination of all that’s good in electronica at the moment (see above quote from P4K - sums it up perfectly). Apparitions, the first full length album by Chicago’s LIGHT POLLUTION (out on Carpark - Toro Y Moi, Dan Deacon) is a moody masterpiece of a record. Combining catchy melodic flights with an edgy sensibility that manifests itself in the subtle flourishes of pop-psychedelia, sophisticated harmonies and the evocative lyrics of front man Jim Cicero. The band’s dazzlingly inventive soundscapes and choral arrangements push the current boundaries of pop music far beyond breaking point. In Light Pollution, you can hear hints of Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and Deerhunter, but we think they’ve found a sound all their own. Apparitions is incredibly formed and informed for a debut full length. Check the video for 'Drunk Kids' for a glimpse into their world and we've copies of the album in as well now: http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/6857-light-pollution-drunk-kids-carpark Fresh from releasing their highly acclaimed self titled debut on Kompakt, WALLS (http://www.myspace.com/wallsjams) have remixed alt.rock godheads Wilco's epic prog-indie classic 'Poor Places'. The duo submerge Jeff Tweedy's vocals and guitars in an ocean of reverb and delay, layered with slowly blossoming feedback swells and low slung bass, turning it into a gorgeous, blissed out Pop Ambient journey. Find it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/12v5z4 Praise for Walls' S/T Debut Album (we've copies): NME - 9/10, THE GUARDIAN - 4/5, MOJO - 4/5, DJ - 9/10, iDJ - 9/10, VICE - 9/10 Also a good time to tell you about a Franco-Celtic terror disco riot collaboration (!) with Bobby Gillespie on vocals for Romain TURZI's Parisian outfit on their track 'Baltimore'. Inspired by the April 1968 riots in the eastern US city following Martin Luther King’s assassination, reminiscent of Primal Scream era 'Exterminator' the release also features ace remixes by Lovelock, Zombie Zombie, Lynch Mob and Civil Civic. It's out end of July on Record Makers (Sebestian Tellier) and Turzi's first release proper here in the UK. Romain bit of a well connected fella in Paris, runs a psych label and night (http://www.myspace.com/paneuropeanrecording), as well as pals with Zombie Zombie, Acid Washed, Seb, etc. Check the track out right away on Record Makers myspace: http://www.myspace.com/recordmakers "Brilliantly constructed pop gems...with songs like these it can only be a matter of time before the world becomes aware of how talented Richard James is" Mojo 4 stars "James's forte is blissful melancholy" Uncut 4stars RICHARD JAMES's second album 'We Went Riding' has been plenty of praise (see above). It's a beautiful collection of psych folk pop songs from one of the founding members of the cult and highly influential Welsh band Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Album also features Gorkys singer Euros Child and new Welsh songstress Cate Le Bon. It's out June 28th and he is on tour at the mo, his next dates being: June 11 Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach June 16 Oxford - Club Academy June 17 London - Bar Academy FIELD MUSIC's new single 'Let's Write A Book' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06H-Zfwq0w) is out this week and they next play London on June 15th as part of Richard Thompson's Meltdown festival at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Villagers in support. And a reminder AVI BUFFALO play a one off date at the beautiful Deaf Institute in Manchester on 24th June ahead of his appearance of Glastonbury. |  | |
| 'Pains Say No To Love & Aloe Blacc 26-05-2010 | ||
| See below for news on a brand new single and tour dates for THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART. America's next big soul superstar ALOE BLACC's new album details and press day (1st June) and AVI BUFFALO at Glastonbury.. First up, check out TRACEY THORN's appearance on Later last week, fast forward to 22 mins 30 secs, her next single 'Why Does The Wind?' is out 14th June. We've also finished copies of her much praised 'Love And Its Opposite' album in npw. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sfz2t/Later..._with_Jools_Holland_Series_36_Episode_5/ This piece Tracey wrote about her first band The Marine Girls is well worth a read too: http://thequietus.com/articles/04295-courtney-love-and-the-marine-girls-by-tracey-thorn Following the phenomenal success of their self-titled debut album (number 15 in NME’s Top 50 Albums Of 2009, number 19 in Pitchfork’s list, number 5 in Rough Trade’s albums of the year), NYC’s THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART are set to release new single (and non album track) Say No To Love for no greater reason than it’s a summer hit in the making. Fans in thrall to the band’s lovelorn, indiepop heart will not be disappointed: this is, in singer Kip’s words, “a perfect summertime single full of fuzz and feelings.” The band’s debut album took them all around the world, playing shows in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. Still hitting the road hard, they will be popping up at numerous European festivals this summer before returning to the studio in New York to record their second album. The dates include a much-anticipated headline slot at Indietracks. LIVE DATES IN JULY SUN 18 July – Latitude Festival, UK http://www.latitudefestival.co.uk/tickets/index.aspx FRI 23 July – Contempopranea Festival, Spain http://www.contempopranea.com SAT 24 July – San Sebastian Festival, Spain http://www.heinekenjazzaldia.com/?language=en SUN 25 July – Indietracks Festival, UK http://www.indietracks.co.uk/tickets.html WED 28 July – Brighton Concorde 2, UK http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?code=463700 THU 29 July – Heaven, London http://www.wegottickets.com/event/78452 SAT 31 July - U18s Festival, Stirling, Scotland A couple of months ago we mentioned ALOE BLACC's 'I Need A Dollar' (http://vimeo.com/10682667) was a constant fixture on our stereo and the best pop song we'd heard all year - best described as Bill Wither’s darkest moments with a splash of Bobby Womack whimsy and a pinch of Gnarls Barkley. As some of you are probably aware, it's been kicking off Stateside for him (Europe is quickly following suit - Thom Yorke is a fan!) - the various videos for ‘I Need A Dollar’ on youtube have stacked up over 1 million views and it’s on its way to being Stones Throw's best selling single of all time. His album ‘Good Things’ is set for release in September, we have copies in and Aloe will be in London on June 1st for a little showcase (details below) and is available for interviews on the day. “My purpose for music is positive social change,” says Orange County, California native Aloe Blacc, specifically about the circumstances surrounding Good Things, co-written in conjunction with the in-house production team at Truth & Soul Records. ALOE BLACC @ Phonica Records on Poland St on Tues 1 June. Starts 6.30pm til 9ish. Aloe be doing a stripped back set around 7.30pm. Free entry and it’s open to the public. Plus Stones Throw DJs - Paul White & Alex Chase. Following successful debut UK shows at The Great Escape, ATP and in London this week, AVI BUFFALO will return to our shores in June for a Manchester show and two appearances on the Sunday of Glastonbury. June 24th – Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK June 27th – Glastonbury Festival (1.40pm @ Park Stage and 10pm @ Queens Stage) THE GUARDIAN "Avi Buffalo's songwriting is such sheer delight." NME - 9/10 "...a bittersweet, magnificent album...Avi is as good a songwriter as anyone who's ever traded under Sub Pop's logo." MOJO – 4/5 "...heaving like a busy street of sounds sweet and rough." UNCUT - 4/5 "...superior West Coast jangle." THE SUNDAY TIMES - 4/5 "...they combine late-1960s singer-songwriter melodies with Noughties power-pop styles to create their own thoroughly charming sound." THE OBSERVER "Rarely have the vagaries of teenage desire been so deftly and melodiously delineated." |  | |
| Washed Out's Life Of Lesiure 20-04-2010 | ||
| WASHED OUT is about to embark on a European tour and release his debut EP Life of Leisure for the first time in the UK/EU on the Mexican Summer label, 14th June 2010 Washed Out is Ernest Weatherly Greene, a 26-year old from Perry, Georgia who crafts perfect, blissed-out synthpop in his bedroom. Some call it chillwave – the name given to Greene and a bunch of like-minded souls including his friend Toro Y Moi – but Ernest prefers ‘dream pop’. Life Of Leisure is his debut UK EP, and it’s the work of a serious talent: these are six pop songs that drip with emotion and nostalgia; big pop tunes hiding behind waves of woozy, bleached-out synths and lavish but DIY production. Listen hard and you’ll hear samples from forgotten ‘80s tunes: Feel It All Around is based on a sample from Gary Low's 1983 single I Want You. Greene began making music when he moved back to his native Georgia from Columbia, South Carolina to live with his parents in summer 2009. There, he set up a basic studio in his bedroom and recorded by night when his folks went to bed. By the autumn, he’d recorded Life Of Leisure, and the blogosphere was in a spin over his tripped out sound. For Greene, Washed Out was a summer project – the previous year, he recorded lo-fi rock music as Lee Weather. But Washed Out, somehow, has captured the zeitgeist and taken on a life of its own. "My parents live out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of this peach orchard," says Greene. "It's very rural, and there is nothing much going on, so I guess that's had a big influence on everything, as far as just not having much to do. I put a lot into these songs." Given that Washed Out is barely a year old, Greene has played only a handful of shows, including some feverishly received appearances this year’s SXSW and is still feeling his way into the music world: early releases were as limited edition cassettes. However, with Small Black as his backing band, he’s poised to tour the UK in anticipation of this debut EP, providing UK fans with a taste of the sound that looks set to define the next movement in American music. Thu 27th May - LEEDS Nation of Shopkeepers Fri 28th May - GLASGOW Stereo Sat 29th May - BRISTOL Dot to Dot Festival Sun 30th May - NOTTINGHAM Dot to Dot Festival Mon 31st May - MANCHESTER Dot to Dot Festival Tue 1st June - LONDON Cargo Wed 2rd June - BRIGHTON Freebutt Thu 3th June - AMSTERDAM Trouw Fri 4th June - HAMBURG Indra Sat 5th June - GENT Charlatan Sun 6th June - PARIS Villette Sonique |  | |
| ODDSAC - A Visual Album by Animal Collective and Danny Perez 16-04-2010 | ||
| ODDSAC A Visual Album by Animal Collective and Danny Perez SYNOPSIS ODDSAC, is a feature film collaboration between the band Animal Collective and filmmaker Danny Perez. The film was co-conceived by and stars Animal Collective, whose 2009 album "Merriweather Post Pavilion" was named album of the year by SPIN, Entertainment Weekly and Pitchfork. It topped critic’s end of year lists worldwide. ODDSAC is a dense and surreal layering of audio and visual elements that eschews conventional narrative to create a visceral, immersive experience. ODDSAC features an original score with new songs from the band and complex digital manipulation by Perez, a debut filmmaker and visual artist known for his concert projections with musicians such as Black Dice and Panda Bear. ODDSAC represents a new synthesis of music and film, a “visual album" whose songs will not be released in any other form. ODDSAC is the result of over four years of intense collaboration between Perez and the band. "It was meant to be an open-ended marriage of audio and video, the passing back and forth of visuals and sound so that each would inform the other and create an organic structure," says Perez. BIOS – Director Danny Perez Visual artist Danny Perez’s evolving aesthetic is informed by a mutated sense of rhythm and the relationship between sound and image. His unique visual constructions have screened at galleries and museums worldwide. Often in conjunction with touring bands like Black Dice. His debut feature ODDSAC is a collaboration with the band Animal Collective and a visionary visual album, plus their de facto new album. Danny was born in Washington, DC and currently resides in Philadelphia. He graduated from NYU in 2002. Danny is developing his next feature, which he calls a cross between Bully, Altered States, and Evil Dead. BIOS – Animal Collective Animal Collective is a band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in Lisbon, DC, NYC and Baltimore. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deacon, (Josh Dibb), and Geologist (Brian Weitz). Records released under the name Animal Collective may include contributions from any or all of these members - the lineup is not uniform. The band members met in school and started recording together in various forms of collaboration from a young age. The group also runs the record label Paw Tracks on which they have released their own material as well as that of other artists. For more information on the film and a trailer download please visit http://www.oddsac.com European Premiere... LONDON ICA 13th May 2010. Screenings at 6.30pm, 8.30pm and 10.30pm. Each followed by q&a with Danny Perez and members of the band. £12 tickets / £10 concessions http://www.ica.org.uk Party in the bar until 1am with Animal Collective DJ set. Regional Premiers... OH Productions & FutureEverything present ODDSAC : A Visual Album by Animal Collective & Danny Perez MANCHESTER Mint Lounge 14th May 2010. Screenings at 6pm, 8pm Both screenings followed by Q&A with Danny Perez and members of the band. £8 tickets http://www.seetickets.com http://www.ticketline.co.uk Aftershow: Friday 14th May - NOW WAVE @ Islington Mill - 11pm - 3am £3 tickets (or free with Screening ticket) OH Productions & Brudenell present ODDSAC : A Visual Album by Animal Collective & Danny Perez LEEDS Brudenell Social Club 15th May 2010. Screenings at 3pm, 5pm Both screenings followed by Q&A with Danny Perez and members of the band. Aftershow: Saturday 15th May - NOW WAVE @ Brudenel 11pm - 3am £3 tickets w/ DUM DUM GIRLS (LIVE) (or free with Screening ticket) |  | |
| Electric Elephant 2010 09-04-2010 | ||
| ELECTRIC ELEPHANT FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT 27th, 28th & 29th August 2010 at The Garden, Petrcane, Croatia Fast becoming a much-loved fixture on the festival circuit, Electric Elephant will return for a third bash this summer, promising cosmic, spiritual fun on the Adiriatic Sea. Electric Elephant is an escape, an adventure, a musical getaway, and a meeting of like-minded souls set within the little whitewashed fishing village of Petrcane, Croatia. Brought to you by the team behind Manchester’s legendary Electric Chair club, Electric Elephant has once again pulled together a wonderfully wild mix of the best international and UK artists, with more live artists and eye catching DJs to be announced soon. F*ck Buttons and The Phantom Band, who both featured in just about every ‘best of’ chart for 2009, are confirmed as Friday and Saturday night headliners, and they’re both utterly unmissable. Electronic music comes to the live stage via Berlin’s Soundstream, which puts Frank Timm’s never-ending love for disco and refined house music to the fore. Architeq, a 23 year-old producer of cosmic/electronic hiphop from London, will be taking us on a journey from King Tubby through to Carl Craig, while PLUGS are a London-based electro-rock three-piece with a track record for incredible live shows. Folk and acoustic sounds continue to play a vital role at Electric Elephant, and Jesca Hoop comes approved by Tom Waits and Guy Garvey, which is good enough for us. Table comb together different strands of modern folk music to create something new and wonderful, while Hannah Peel takes the delicate sounds of music boxes and a raft of other instruments to concoct gently enchanting suites. On to the DJs and New York’s Francois K, known as the forefather of house music, headlines Friday night with a three-hour Deep Space set on the main stage. Juan Maclean brings the sound of DFA, while Andrew Weatherall returns to Electric Elephant to perform twice: a special sunset Balearic set at the beach bar and a late night jackin’ set to bring the festival to a close on Sunday. Richard Norris & Leo Elstob join forces to present The Time and Space Machine Vs Wig Wam, a unique, four-hour set of warped pyschedelia and spaced out disco on the beach terrace. Internationally renowned Balearic disco king Todd Terje will be keeping beach terrace revellers dancing into the night and pioneering Italian DJ Beppe Loda will be showcasing his ‘Afro Cosmic’ sound. The futuristic house sounds of Berlin come in threes: in addition to Soundstream DJ sets come sets from Prosumer, the resident at white-hot club Panorama Bar, and exciting new producer Hunee. Sticking firmly in the future, Ramadanman – head honcho of celebrated dubstep label Hessle Audio – will be bringing the main stage Funktion 1 soundsystem to life. At the beating heart of the Electric Elephant is Electric Chair and its residents The Unabombers, who once again headline the main stage on Saturday night. Friend of the club Ashley Beedle will bring basement soul magic from soundsystem reggae to sonic Detroit techno, alongside two other Electric Chair regulars Kelvin Andrews (taking time off from writing with some guy called Robbie Williams) and Chris Duckenfield. Completing the current DJ line-up are UK club collectives including London’s Lowlife, Bad Passion & The Local. Manchester’s Naïve Melody and Aficionado and DJ’s Crowhead (Attic Records), Ruf Dug, Doodlebug, Rashid Khan (Content) and Francis Wooff (That Amazing Thing). Electric Elephant was established in 2008 with an aim to create the best boutique festival in the most beautiful surroundings. Travelling to the festival couldn’t be easier, with three airports within a 2.5-hour drive from the site. The nearest, Zadar, is just a 20-minute cab ride away. Accommodation in Petrcane is plentiful, with old cottages and villas on the sea front available and cheap hotels starting at around €10 at night, and there’s space for tents in the woods. You can relax in the sunshine or beneath the pines, swim in the sea and dance into the night under moonlit skies amidst breathtaking surroundings. There’s more too: a magical old boat called the Argonaughty sets sail twice a day with a couple of hundred revellers partying into the twilight, there’s late night cinema, The World Famous Pub Quiz and a massage area within the festival grounds. The festival is kids friendly too, with an adventure playground, vollyball and tennis courts on site. Petrcane itself is a heavenly, 900 year-old fishing village with a forested coastline on the Adriatic Sea. It promises great weather, great restaurants and plenty of fresh fish, fruit and local wine. Sailing boats can chartered and explore the mystical islands. Stunning national parks, waterfalls, mountains and the old coastal city of Zadar are only a bus or taxi ride away. “It’s a beautiful place,” say the organisers. “It’s enchanting… You’ll fall in love.” Tickets £80 Tickets available from the following outlets: http://www.gigantic.com (10% of profits go to Oxfam) http://www.ticketweb.co.uk http://www.skiddle.com http://www.wegottickets.com and Electrik Bar in Chorlton, Manchester, with no booking fee. MORE INFORMATION http://www.electricelephant.co.uk http://www.twitter.com/electricelephant http://www.myspace.com/electricelephantcroatia http://www.facebook.com/pages/Electric-Elephant-Festival/8992097695 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P00B3AM21HY |  | |
| Everything's coming up Roses... 07-04-2010 | ||
| ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL news... following on from her three previous, sold out singles (Another Version Of Pop Song, Start/Stop/Synchro, and Fallen Over) here's Rose's new single 'Find Me Out' coming out through ace Leeds label Dance To The Radio - a totally beautiful elegant ballad taken from forthcoming album 'Without Why'. It'll tug at even the tightest of heartstrings and features cornet sounds courtesy of British Sea Power's Phil Summers. The astute amongst you by now will know Rose has also been hard at work recording with Mark Ronson for his upcoming album as well. In the meantime you can catch Rose at a venue near you now; 28th Apr - BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds 29th Apr - LEICESTER Firebug 30th Apr - CHESTER Telfords Warehouse 1st May - British Sea Power curated Tan Hill Festival @ Swaledale, North Yorkshire Dales 3rd May - LEEDS Bank Holiday Blowout @ Oporto 4th May - LONDON Borderlline 5th May - MANCHESTER Ruby Lounge 6th May - ABERDEEN Club Snafu / The Dirty Hearts Cub 7th May - GLASGOW King Tuts 8th May - EDINBURGH Electric Circus 9th May - LANCASTER The Storey - afternoon Show! 13th May - READING South St Arts Centre 14th May - BRIGHTON Great Escape @ The Komedia Bar |  | |
| More shows! 01-04-2010 | ||
| SLARAFFENLAND are hitting the UK, last time they were here they were with Akron/Family, this time with pals Efterklang - keeping good company then! For those of you who haven't heard the new album 'We're On Your Side' yet, they remind us a bit of Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, and Jonqil - all big rhythmic melodies, brilliant harmonies and lush instrumentation... http://www.myspace.com/slaraffenland 23rd Apr - EDINBURGH Cabaret Voltaire w/ Efterklang 24th Apr - BELFAST Black Box w/ Efterklang 25th Apr - DUBLIN Whelan’s w/ Efterklang 27th Apr - BRISTOL Metropolis w/ Efterklang SEABEAR (pictured) will be hitting the road as well with songs from their new album 'We Built A Fire' which Q awarded 4 stars "Mournful brass, rippling piano, glockenspiel, fiddles and multi-layered harmonies... rerarely is delicate folk-rock tackled with such mastery." 15th May - BRIGHTON Great Escape Festival 16th May - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club 17th May - LONDON Garage 18th May - BRISTOL Start The Bus LALI PUNA are playing a special show as part of the Brighton Festival at the Pavillion Theatre w/John Hopkins on 20th May. Those who've heard their new album 'Our Inventions' (coming out on fab Morr Music label) will know they've returned to their slightly more electronic form of late, but it's no less beautiful with Valerie's distinctive vocals... |  | |
| Breakneck Speed Champs 31-03-2010 | ||
| Tokyo Police Club has just put the finishing touches to their new album “Champ” due to drop this summer on Memphis Industries. According to lead singer Dave Monks the new album will feature “… eleven songs, a Disney character, fuzzy bits, Canadian spelling, ice hockey sound effects, me singing the lowest note in my range, one (1) saxophone note”. They’ve offered up a taster from the album in the form of new track “Breakneck Speed” a languidly ambiguous anthem to lost youth, with Dave delivering the pay off line “It’s good to be back”. Check out Breakneck Speed here: http://www.tokyopoliceclub.com/ The band will also be doing a couple of UK dates as follows: 7th Jun 2010 - MANCHESTER The Ruby Lounge 8th Jun 2010 - LONDON The Scala |  | |
| May Days 04-03-2010 | ||
| Some new tour announcements this May for Mayer Hawthorne, Built to Spill / Dinosaur Jr, Woodpigeon, Erland & The Carnival and The Ruby Suns. MAYER HAWTHORNE heads over for his proper tour of the UK to promote his much praised debut album 'A Strange Arrangement' on Stones Throw. “I loved Mayer Hawthorne's ‘A Strange Arrangement' - he's got a great voice and songs and it sounds so big. It's good pop music.” LILY ALLEN on her favourite album of 2009 “An infectious soul delight” MOJO **** Number 14 in Top 50 Albums of the 2009 “As close to the true lineage of Motown as you're ever likely to find” NME 25-May TUE London, UK ULU 26-May WED Glasgow, UK King Tut's 27-May THU Manchester, UK Ruby Lounge 28-May FRI Leeds, UK Hifi Club 29-May SAT Birmingham, UK o2 Academy 2 If you like Mayer, here's a little sneaky look at Stones Throw next soul pop sensation - Aleo Blacc. 'I Need A Dollar' is simply the best pop TUNE we've heard his year. We're slightly addicted to it here in the office, there will be a full length album end of June: http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/2010/02/aloe-blacc-i-need-a-dollar-how-to-make-it-in-america We're not the only ones loving Aleo, Thom Yorke is too! http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/ While we're on the soul tip, a reminder that SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS play Koko on 14th April and have a new album out early May. Alberta-based WOODPIGEON (a.k.a. Mark Andrew of The Hamiltons) releases 'Die Stadt Muzikanten' at the end of April (hit back for copies). His third full-length album and follow up to his internationally acclaimed Treasury Library Canada is out on on End Of The Road Records. Produced by Arran Fisher, the fifteen tracks on Die Stadt Muzikanten move and contort like a film soundtrack. Lush, grand moments complement Mark’s signature cinematic “pretty-pretty-pop” sound which he'll also be bringing to venues across the UK early May: 1st May: Leeds, Holy Trinity Church, 2nd May: Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire 3rd May: Manchester, Deaf Institute 4th May: Brighton, Hanbury Club 6th May: London, Union Chapel 9th May: Tunbridge Wells, Forum BUILT TO SPILL have been earning rave reviews for their 7th full length album 'There Is No Enemy' (and first for ATP, we've finished copies in). They head over for a joint headline tour with DINOSAUR JR this May! "The seventh full-length from Built to Spill is also their finest since 1997's Perfect From Now On.." Mojo "A return to form for Doug Martsch's single minded and skewed indie - rock." Observer Music Monthly "Terrific... easily the best Built To Spill album of the decade" Pitchfork, 2009 Fri 7th May - ATP curated by Matt Groening Sat 8th May - Academy, Oxford Sun 9th May - Academy, Liverpool Mon 10th May - Black Box, Galway Tue 11th May - Vicar Street, Dublin Thu 13th May - Academy, Glasgow Fri 14th May - Academy, Newcastle Sat 15th May - Academy, Leeds Sun 16th May - Academy, Birmingham Mon 17th May - Junction, Cambridge Tue 18th May - Shepherds Bush Empire, London Sundrenched Kiwi dream poppers THE RUBY SUNS are back with a brand new album Fight Softly (we've finished copies in, it's ace) on Memphis Industries. We're pleased to announce that they'll be bringing their blessed out tropical dance party to these shores in May. The first set of dates are as follows (more to be announced soon): "Ryan McPhun's increasingly sophisticated circular pop melodies lend these songs a depth and poignancy that lingers long after their initial hallucinatory impact. Lovely, life - affirming stuff." Uncut 4stars 13th May Brighton, DiS @ Great Escape 14th May Brighton, Uncut @ Great Escape 25-May UK London Hoxton Bar & Grill 26-May UK Cardiff Buffalo bar 27-May UK Liverpool Mojo Live 28-May IE Dublin Twisted Pepper ERLAND & THE CARNIVAL have a new headline tour this May and will be supporting Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall at the end of it on all four of his dates. Weller is a big fan, as are a lot of you guys: "Orcadian singer Cooper bestrides the stage like some Viking bard airlifted into the 1960s... He's got a sonorous voice, never overshadowed by the rich racket swirling expertly behind him." Observer "For all this meticulous archivism, this is primarily a great rock album. It invokes countless familiar sources - The Byrds, Ennio Morricone, The La's, The Doors, Joe Meek - but reassembles them in such an unexpected way that 500-year-old songs sound utterly fresh" UNCUT****, Debut Album of the Month "Stunning...Erland & The Carnival is an exquisite update of the classic folk-rock sound of the late '60s" Q**** "The folk baton has found a new and worthy hand" MOJO**** "the sound of musicians on an extended honeymoon with each other, barely aware of the delight they instil in their listeners" The Times****, Album of the Week The May tour: Sat 1 May Leeds Live at Leeds Tue 4 May cardiff Arts Inst. Wed 5 May Liverpool Kazimier Thu 6 May London Hoxton Bar and Kitchen Fri 7 May Oxford Jericho Tavern Sat 8 May York Fibbers Tue 11 May Wolverhampton Little Civic Wed 12 May Canterbury Farmhouse Thu 13 May Cambridge Portland Fri 14 May Bristol Club Metropolis Sat 15 May Brighton TGE MOJO Upstairs at Komedia Sat 22 May Glasgow Stag & Dagger Tuesday 25 May London Royal Albert Hall supporting Paul Weller Wed 26 May London RAH Thu 27 May London RAH Fri 28 May London RAH Erland & The Carnival also tour with Wild Beasts and Tunng this month. Looks like May is going to be a busy month then! |  | |
| CocoRosie - New album and UK tour! 25-02-2010 | ||
| CocoRosie 'Grey Oceans' album released 3rd May 2010 on [PIAS] Recordings UK tour through May 2010 Grey Oceans Tracklisting; 1) trinity's crying 2) smokey taboo 3) hopscotch 4) undertaker 5) grey oceans 6) r.i.p. burn face 7) the moon asked the crow 8) lemonade 9) gallows 10) fairy paradise 11) here i come Grey Oceans is the fourth album by 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. The unique voices belong to both girls, Sierra’s harp is ever-present and Bianca plays percussion and children’s toys. The album’s story begins in Paris, where new band member Gael Rakotondrabe, a jazz pianist, became an invaluable collaborator. The first session lasted for five days and five nights of intense inspiration and analogue experimentation. “Everything at that point was based on improvisation,” say the sisters. “The first song we recorded was God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me, a dance song about suicide, spiritual ecstasy and life under the veil.” Breaking to go on tour, recording continued at the end of the road: Buenos Aires. By sheer luck, the girls found both an analogue studio and Nicolas Kalwill, “the engineer all artists dream of – very talented and always willing to patiently work with the total creative chaos in which our songwriting thrives.” Having been so successful in Buenos Aires, they decided to try their luck around the world, finding studios wherever the final date of their tour happened to be, whether Paris, Berlin, New York or Melbourne. But despite their travels, it was at home where they wrote one of the album’s key songs, Undertaker, which samples a tape of their mother singing in Cherokee that they found in a box of her things. And eventually, the process of wide-eyed discovery came to a natural conclusion. “After a year and a half of fairy toil, a couple of these new songs started to push their way into our live shows,” say the sisters. “We knew then that they were ripe and ready to be heard.” Born to part Cherokee mother and American father, Sierra and Bianca spent their childhood living in two different worlds – their everyday life with their mother, a Steiner schoolteacher, and the summers spent with their father, a Shaman who lived on the road. They became estranged as adolescents when Sierra was sent to boarding school, and a “deep antipathy” developed between them. Almost a decade passed, and Sierra was studying to become an opera singer in Paris. Out of the blue, Bianca – then 19 and living in NYC as a creative writing teacher, designer and model – arrived at Sierra’s flat in the French capital, a moment that the elder sister says was “like in Wizard of Oz when it all goes from black and white to Technicolor.” They soon found out they had more in common than they had thought: art, writing, storytelling and music. The sisters released their debut album, La Maison de Mon Reve, in 2004 on Touch and Go Records, followed it with Noah's Ark (which featured a collaboration with Antony Hegarty) in 2005 and then The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn in 2007, with an otherworldly album cover by renowned French artists Pierre et Gilles. Highly in demand on the live circuit, CocoRosie’s live shows have included everything from a trapeze artist to special costumes and a one-off collaboration with the Royal Dutch Orchestra at Amsterdam’s Concertegebouw. Outside of the band, Bianca is an accomplished artist and costume designer, with recent shows in New York, Groningen, Milan and Brussels. In Brussels, she exhibited in 2008’s It’s Not Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, Baby alongside work by Brian Eno, Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, Antony, and David Byrne, a noted fan who invited the sisters to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall. CocoRosie will be hitting the UK May 2010 May 4th - LONDON Union Chapel May 6th - BRISTOL Trinity Arts Centre May 7th - MANCHESTER Cathedral May 8th - BEXHILL ON SEA De La Warr Pavilion May 9th - ATP May 10th - LEEDS Cockpit May 11th - DUBLIN The Button Factory May 13th - NORFOLK Norwich Festival May 14th - OXFORD The Regal |  | |
| Tracey Thorn 'Love And Its Opposite' 18-02-2010 | ||
| Tracey Thorn 'Love And Its Opposite' Album released 17th May 2010 on Strange Feeling Records Free download of opening track 'Oh, The Divorces!' available now from: http://www.strangefeelingrecords.com/divorces.html “When I was young, I imagined middle age to be a kind of comfort zone, but in fact, having got here, I now feel it's more of a war zone. The songs are where I dump all that shit so that I can get on with my life without jumping off a bridge.” This is the thought that leads Tracey Thorn into the starkly beautiful Love And Its Opposite, a collection of songs that are happy and sad, easy and difficult, dark and light. Thorn, of course, needs little introduction. She’s the unique voice behind Everything But The Girl, the duo whose 18-year career went on hiatus in 2000 to allow the singer to raise her family (“I wrote nothing at all for years when I first had the kids,” she says). With new experiences to process, she returned to a wave of critical acclaim in 2007 with Out Of The Woods, her first solo album since 1982’s A Distant Shore. Love And Its Opposite represents her next move, and it’s a reunion of sorts with her EBTG partner Ben Watt, who releases the album on his Strange Feeling label. Working once again with Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson (who collaborated with Thorn on Out Of The Woods before lending his talents to hot new act Delphic), the album was recorded in London and Berlin, where, Tracey says, “it was born in very humble surroundings. Everything about the first bit of recording was incredibly basic, with me playing everything myself, and on a very limited range of instruments.” The album’s less sparse moments are populated by a fantastic cast of guest performers, all of who have a personal connection to Tracey. They are Hot Chip's Al Doyle (guitar & bass), The Invisible's Leo Taylor (drums), singer-songwriter Jens Lekman (guest vocals), Nashville-based singer-songwriter-drummer Cortney Tidwell (backing vocals, drums), and Los Valentinos’s guitarist Jono. Love And Its Opposite is, says Tracey, “a record about the person I am now and the people around me. About real life after 40.” Here, covers of Lee Hazelwood's Come On Home To Me (a duet with Jens Lekman) and You Are A Lover by Budapest’s The Unbending Trees (with whom Tracey collaborated in 2008) join eight originals, each of which tackles head-on the realities of life in its middle years, whether marriage and divorce, (Long White Dress and Oh, The Divorces!), family ghosts (Kentish Town), confronting life alone (Singles Bar) or the collision of youth and adulthood (Hormones). The album climaxes with Swimming, featuring Cortney Tidwell. “I really wanted it to be the closing track,” says Tracey. “It holds out hope for love's survival even when it seems to be in hibernation.” Thorn’s songwriting is the stuff of legend. Fresh out of school in the UK in the early ‘80s, she formed the cult band Marine Girls, whose two-album career of edgy love songs have influenced lo-fi indie bands ever since: noted fans include Kurt Cobain (Nirvana were reportedly rehearsing In Love before Cobain’s death) and The XX. In the ‘90s, Thorn co-wrote EBTG’s global smash Missing before delivering lyrics, title, melody and vocals for one the decade’s seminal ballads, Massive Attack’s Protection. In 2006 she returned to the dancefloor, writing Damage for cult German techno duo Tiefschwarz. Despite spending time out of the public eye in the 2000s, Tracey has been keen to stay engaged with her fans in recent years via MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, where she now corresponds daily, posting photos of her garden, providing Spotify playlists and making casual observations on everything from politics to pop. “At its best, Twitter is a bit like being down the pub,” she says. “You can drop in, see who's there, announce something to whoever is sitting at the bar, then sit down in a corner and join in a conversation or watch a fight.” One of her favourite subjects is The X Factor, though that’s not necessarily to say she endorses it. “My kids asked me this year, ‘If you went on the auditions, would they recognise you?’ and I thought that was very funny. Even funnier really is the thought that I probably wouldn't get through. Simon Cowell made a joke this year about Stacey being ‘a singing candle’ because she couldn't dance and sing, and I thought that summed up my entire career. He was implying that a singing candle couldn't have a successful career in music. Clearly, that's not the case.” |  | |
| F*ck Buttons Olympians 04-02-2010 | ||
| F*CK BUTTONS announce the next step in their continuing mission to expand the sonic landscape with the release of a new single ‘Olympians’ (12th April) and their biggest UK tour to date, including a headline show at Koko. Taken from the band’s second album, ‘Tarot Sport’, which graced the high end of most critic’s best of 2009 lists (Best Albums of 2009 in NME (number 8), Mojo (8), Pitchfork (11), Clash (2), Uncut, Q, The Times, The Fly, The Independent), 'Olympians’ got it’s name after a train journey by Ben took him above the 2012 construction site and the track came on when listening to mixes of the album. Andrew concurs with the suitability of the title “the striving forward drive of this song makes me think of imminent glory’. ‘Olympians’ embodies that feeling, an aural depiction of something vast, that presents something unique with each listen. The single will be released with a special remix and artwork designed by the band. F*ck Button’s journey, crafting gossamer-like white noise and the wheeze of exhausted machinery into hypnotic textures continues as the band play their biggest headline show to date at London’s Koko in April before taking their blistering live set further around the UK. April Tour Tues 20th – Koko, London Weds 21st - Trinity Centre, Bristol Thurs 22nd - Club Academy, Manchester Fri 23rd - TJ’s Woodhouse, Leeds Sat 24th – The Arches, Glasgow Tickets priced £12.50 (£13.50 London) |  | |
| Oh (No Ono) when the Danes go March-ing In! 01-02-2010 | ||
| "Terrific tripped-out pop from Denmark... if Animal Collective can be credited with updating the Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips cosmic-pop template, Oh No Ono blast it into the stratosphere on a rocket of precocious talent.. miasmic, dizzyingly, gorgeous songs built on the grandest and most romantic of scales but steadied by the hand of hook-loving classicists. Bravo!" UNCUT**** "Like MGMT and The Flaming Lips before them, they have a way of combining a deviant sensibility with pure pop that pulls you in... there is much to love here" MOJO "Every track on 'Eggs' is immense, ornate, and majestic" PITCHFORK Just some of the amazing things being said about OH NO ONO's forthcoming new album 'Eggs', their debut for The Leaf Label... and to celebrate, the great Danes will be playing a handful of shows throughout March; Mon 1st Mar 2010 - GLASGOW Captain's Rest Tue 2nd Mar 2010 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club Wed 3rd Mar 2010 - LONDON Garage (upstairs) In the meantime check out the THREE videos made for the track 'Helplessly Young'. Version 1 is our personal favorite, co-directed by the band and Tino Zidore. You can find them all here: http://ohnoono.com/home/?page_id=148 |  | |
| April Showers: new Woodpigeon, Lali Puna & Three Trapped Tigers 26-01-2010 | ||
| Just bringing you up to date on Spring releases and new albums for Woodpigeon, Lali Puna and Three Trapped Tigers third EP. LALI PUNA 'Our Inventions' (Morr Music) - released 5th April More than half a decade has elapsed since the release of Faking The Books, the band's third (and most recent) album, but their impact on electronic rock music is still as strong. Along with sister-group The Notwist, this Weilheim quartet have helped map the musical landscape for modern, experimentally minded pop music, and 'Our Inventions' (somewhat a concept album) finds Lali Puna continuing to push the frontiers of their medium. Sublime, virtuoso electronic arrangements directly lock onto recurrent themes depicting a world full of technology a fixation on progress but also dreamlike and eutopian at the same time... bit of a bonus too - the final track 'Out There' is a collaboration with late 70s Japanese electro pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi (an alternate version of the track that appeared on Takahashi's Page By Page album in 2009). WOODPIGEON 'Die Stadt Muzikanten' (End Of The Road) - released 19th April End Of The Road Records is proud to announce details of the latest full-length album titled, Die Stadt Muzikanten from Alberta-based WOODPIGEON (http://www.woodpigeon-songbook.com) (a.k.a. Mark Andrew of The Hamiltons). His third full-length album and follow up to his internationally acclaimed Treasury Library Canada is set for release, April 19th. Produced by Arran Fisher, the fifteen tracks on Die Stadt Muzikanten move and contort like a film soundtrack. Lush, grand moments complement Mark’s signature cinematic “pretty-pretty-pop” sound.. Songwriter Mark Andrew of the Hamiltons, breathes a glorious new life into Die Stadt Muzikanten, an album both inspired by an extended stay in Germany and of the comparative lives of his ancestors. Hamilton found himself fascinated by the endless inspiration as he recollected thoughts of his childhood and took in the sounds and smells of a place once inhabited by his grandparents, to whom the album is dedicated. “I started thinking in terms of couples,” explains Hamilton of his time in Berlin, “of people coming and going, of walls and windows. Images of boating across the ocean to an unknown new life, and how so many of the movements I took run in the opposite direction from theirs.” Upon his return to his small Calgary apartment, the songs revealed themselves and Die Stadt Muzikanten was born. Also out in April THREE TRAPPED TIGERS release their third EP on April 5th on their own Blood & Biscuits label. EP3 (blue) is the conclusion to the series of releases. It features different tempos and more loops with extra concentration on beats. “the final EP focuses more on texture and atmosphere. It's less chaotic, and there's much less genre jumping. It had to feel like it was the same band, but still developing, and heading for a conclusion.” says Thomas Rogerson. Three Trapped Tigers have, in their short existence so far, proved there really are no limits to their imagination or ability. Expect a mind melting but beautiful melding of melody, progressive live electro with opportune slashes of visceral guitar. Furiously schizophrenic and complex duelling Nintendo-style synths and textural electronica. They have also announced their own headline date at the ICA on 29th April. A real statement of intent from a band who have thus far only released limited edition self released EPs but have an expanding fan base through word of mouth of their blistering live sets. http://www.myspace.com/threetrappedtigers |  | |
| Bear In Heaven - UK Tour April 2010 19-01-2010 | ||
| "A moody brew of surging hormones and consumptive crushes, the album speaks to the misunderstood vampire-- or lovesick teenager-- in all of us" PITCHFORK "Bear In Heaven manage to successfully fuse heavy kraut beats, phased-out vocal effects and a pulsing, paranoid groove." TIME OUT NEW YORK BEAR IN HEAVEN has trapped echoes, tremors, winds, and fading light. They've redefined time, and folded it. They've unbuttoned sound, and realigned it. Within four walls in Brooklyn, Jon Philpot, Adam Wills, Sadek Bazaraa, and Joe Stickney mined the democracy of their collaboration, plus the endless hours of stream-of-consciousness recorded documentation of rehearsals over the past years, to conceive the crystalline form of 'Beast Rest Forth Mouth'; their new album released on Hometapes early April. To celebrate, the band will be embarking on a coinciding UK tour: Apr 20th - LONDON The Lexington Apr 21st - BRIGHTON Freebutt Apr 22nd - MANCHESTER The Deaf Institute Apr 23rd - GLASGOW Captain's Rest Apr 24th - EDINBURGH Sneaky Pete's Apr 25th - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club Apr 26th - LONDON Windmill Brixton |  | |
| Anticon In The Loop With Josiah Wolf 18-01-2010 | ||
| Excited to let you all know about two new Anticon releases coming up - a special extra limited edition vinyl compilation for fans of the dublab series, and none other than the solo debut album from WHY? drummer Josiah Wolf! FEBRUARY 22nd - V/A 'IN THE LOOP: 5' Dublab’s In the Loop vinyl series continues, this time on Anticon and with fresh sounds from the most vivid music-makers around. Like the previous four installments that featured Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Dirty Projectors, Lavender Diamond, Dntel vs. the Postal Service, Prefuse 73, Caribou and many more, this fifth chapter rightly represents a wave of pure creativity: diverse gems from a shining circle of highly-inspired minds. Each In the Loop installment comes in two halves, and number five’s “Future Side” kicks off with tropical tones and vibrant rhythms from New Zealand’s THE RUBY SUNS. “Kenya Dig It?” whips up a bounce and melody that’s self-propelled into the cosmos – astrologers and oracles beware! Next, dynamic young duo TEENGIRL FANTASY deliver “Portofino,” a pure explosion of unbridled energy. This track is like a micro-rave symphony, undulating with arpeggio and raw static. L.A. favorites HECUBA also contribute their artful magic. The beauty of “Miles Away” comes from its paced blossoming: a simple siren leads to a vocal/beat pulse that builds into a blast of laser light love. Last but not least, Tucson’ s ZACKEY FORCE FUNK is a phenomenon set to blow up. His homemade grooves – a balance of raw chaos and beautiful soul – buzz stronger every day. “Bombs” is an apocalyptic lullaby set to a lost Eno tape loop. As the smoke clears all will wonder where the world was before Zackey’s arrival. The “Roots Side” is ushered in on the polyrhythms of LUCKY DRAGONS’ kalimba-crafted psychedelia. These L.A. wizards have found modern motion in ancient material and the world has embraced them warmly for it. “Are We Alright?” Yes, yes we are. Next up, MATTHEWDAVID & OBA create musique concrète for lunar jump rope teams. Their bump-and-clank soundscape “Roomthumpr” is sure to shake speakers to a state of zero gravity. Following that, JULIA HOLTER of the incredible Human Ear Music collective contributes “Moto Perpetuo,” an exercise in elegant minimalism filled with essences of the far east and the far out. Hers is an avant-garde gem that soaks into souls with a feel that flows. Finally, Portland’s WHITE RAINBOW sets sleeping hearts swooning with “Mind Haze Is Clear Delight,” a perfect closing tune for this collection. Its fuzz-filled drone is a miracle of weightless wonder, and ensures that after the echoes soak in, you’ll flip this loop for another listen. Dig in again! In the Loop 5 features covers culled from the epic art experience, “Up Our Sleeve: the dublab covers project.” This chapter stars the sunny styles of Kyotarow Aoki and Moira Hahn. MARCH 29th - JOSIAH WOLF 'JET LAG' (Mixed by younger brother Yoni Wolf of WHY?, cLOUDDEAD) On his debut album, WHY? multi-instrumentalist Josiah Wolf offers a rare solo work with true legs of its own. His voice deep and straight at times and impossibly fragile at others, Wolf deals in tough triumphs, tougher truths, and outright failures. Wolf’s lean poems are set to an autumnal mix of warm folk and easy psychedelia played out (by Wolf alone) on guitar, vibes, kalimba, Hammond organ, bells, bass and drums to name a few. The end result is a sort of chamber pop minus the showy sweeps – virtuosity without the virtuoso – making a record as impressive in its subtle execution as it is a timeless, heartfelt listen. Jet Lag came together following the dissolution of an 11-year relationship, and over the course of a move from California back to the Midwest, where Wolf grew up. It’s no surprise then, that the album contains such deeply moving works as the spooky, Cohen-esque “Is the Body Hung” and the warm, grand tribute to past love, “In The Seam.” It's not all doom and gloom though, with shuffling beats, cool tones and rich textures it's a beatifully lush, albeit delicate record evoking late ’60s Greenwich Village, and something somewhere between Flaming Lips, The Zombies, Daniel Johnston and Paul Simon folk. |  | |
| Retribution Gospel Choir hit the UK 15-01-2010 | ||
| The most important thing to know about rock trio Retribution Gospel Choir is that they are likely the most physically fit band on Earth. Drummer Eric Pollard is a distance swimmer, and Ultimate Frisbee champion with state basketball credentials. Bassist Steve Garrington also dazzles on the court, but it’s his long-distance running skills that mark him a champion. Alan Sparhawk, who plays guitar and sings, has extensive experience in American football, has been scouted for coaching work and stays fit as a distance trail runner and member of the band Low. Certainly, this trio would destroy any other band in a 10k race, then still do the gig. In celebration of new record, 2, coming soon on Sub Pop, the band will be hitting the UK as part of a forthcoming European tour. What to expect? Music that's raw and technologically perverse, visceral and shiny - a true statement of what can be done with a great rock band in the 21st century. Short, inventive pop songs collide with heavy guitar chaos and psychedelia as the record climbs and dives like a twin-engine bomber, all accompanied by a vocal sophistication that’s rare in new music. 10th March - SHEFFIELD Grapes 11th March - MANCHESTER Ruby Lounge 12th March - GLASGOW Captain's Rest 13th March - DUBLIN Whelans 15th March - LONDON Cargo |  | |
| Animal Collective - Panda Bear & Deacon solo jaunts... 07-01-2010 | ||
| PANDA BEAR aka Noah Lennox, core member of Animal Collective, will be embarking on a European tour (including London) early in 2010, with his brand new album planned for released later in the year. Sure all of you are aware, his third solo album Person Pitch featured in pretty much everyone's top album lists at the end of 2007. Years in the making, Person Pitch was a dramatic departure from his previous solo record Young Prayer, the acoustic instruments were replaced with samplers and electronics creating a record suffused with the kind of feel good, modern toe-tapping pop that seems harder and harder to find these days. Fri 15th Jan - GERMANY Berlin, Hebbel Am Ufer Sat 16th Jan - BELGIUM Leuven, Artefakt at Stuk Kunstencentrum Sun 17th Jan - BELGIUM Kortrijk, De Kreun Fri 12th Feb - PORTUGAL Lisbon, Lux Fragil Wed 10th Mar - FRANCE Paris, Cabaret Sauvage Thu 11th Mar - UK London, Heaven Fri 12th Mar - IRELAND Dublin, Vicar Street In other ANIMAL COLLECTIVE releated news. Another member of the band DEACON is embarking on a solo venture, starting off with a string of European dates this January. His full length album is scheduled on the bands label Paw Tracks later this year. To get an idea of the full Deacon solo live show experience, check out the vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6QFMR3ONwM Deacon Fri 8th Jan - ESSAKANE Mali, Festival Au Desert Thu 14th Jan - GERMANY Berlin, Madame Claude Sat 16th Jan - BELGIUM Leuven, Artefakt at Stuk Kunstencentrum w/Panda Bear Sun 17th Jan - BELGIUM Kortrijk, De Kreun with Panda Bear Mon 18th Jan - FRANCE Paris, Point Ephemere Tue 19th Jan - NETHERLANDS Amsterdam, Trouw Animal Collective's 'Campfire Songs' will be reissued and available for the first time ever on CD through Paw Tracks 25th January 2010. |  | |
| Twisted Folk presents: Stornoway and Beth Jeans Houghton - UK Tour in Feb.. 09-11-2009 | ||
| Twisted Folk presents: Stornoway and Beth Jeans Houghton - UK Tour in February 2010 Over the past four years, Twisted Folk Tours have become known for adventurous, hand picked line-ups representing the best in modern folk and twisted popular music. It’s Twisted Folk who put together this year’s highly successful collaboration between UK pastoral pop group Tunng and Malawian desert bluesmen Tinariwen. Who assembled Nina Nastasia, Jeffrey Lewis and William Elliot Whitmore for an extra-special special tour. Sent Howe Gelb and the Voices Of Praise Choir off on a nine-date jaunt around the UK, packaged King Creoste with Jose Gonzalez and Vetiver (then featuring Devendra Banhart) with Micah P Hinson and Vashti Bunyan. They’ve outdone themselves once again with this latest tour, showcasing two of the most talented young acts in the country – Stornoway and Beth Jeans Houghton – in what promise to be some truly unmissable shows. Named after the Hebridean island but hailing from Oxford, Stornoway are a four-piece band of songsmiths, scholars, scientists and men of the earth. The last couple of years have seen them quietly honing their art in the shadows of the dreaming spires, and earlier this year they released their first official single; the critically acclaimed Zorbing. Their charming brand of quintessential pop, steeped in pastoral hues, won them fans across radio and press. They were booked to play an unprecedented 4 stages at Glastonbury Festival 09, Radio 1 asked them to headline their ‘Introducing Stage’ at their Big Weekend and they are one of only a few bands that both Radio 1 and 6 Music have agreed to collaborate on, granting Stornoway a shared broadcast session from the prestigious Maida Vale studios. The band, who embarked on their first tour of the UK in mid-October to coincide with their second single Unfaithful, also performed on Later With Jools Holland in November alongside JayZ and Foo Fighters. "It’s only our second time on the road and we are right chuffed to be following in the footsteps of such twisted folks, and to be performing alongside MegaBeth. We look forward to challenging her to a hand of poker and training her in the art of hackisack. There's nothing we enjoy more than playing live, playing cards, and playing hackisack." Brian Briggs from Stornoway Beth Jeans Houghton is the Newcastle singer who, to paraphrase The Guardian, joins the dots between Gwen Stefani and Vashti Bunyan. Beth Jeans Houghton has been playing guitar since the age of 16. She’s only 19 now. In the meantime, she’s supported Tunng and Tinariwen, hobnobbed with Vetiver, the late John Martyn, Bon Iver and Joanna Newsome and recorded a single, Golden/Nightswimmer with Adem and more recent an EP ‘Hot Toast Volume 1’ with Mike Lindsay from Tunng. She was the popular hit at 2009’s Green Man festival and has been hitting the road with her band, The Hooves Of Destiny. An album is on currently being produced by Ben Hillier, the production mastermind behind Elbow’s Cast Of Thousands, Doves’s Some Cities and Blur’s Think Tank. “I plan to dip my toes into many genres before I quit this mortal coil,” says Beth. “I don't define my music and I try not to let music define me. We are two separate entities, but we get together for a shindig once in a while – and I intend to keep it that way.” The Twisted Folk Tour runs as follows this coming February, tickets £8-10 advance: Mon 8 Feb EXETER PHOENIX ARTS CENTRE - 01392 667080 / www.exeterboxoffice.com Tue 9 Feb READING SOUTH ST - 0118 960 6060 Wed 10 Feb BRIGHTON KOMEDIA - 01273 647100 / tickets@komedia.co.uk Thu 11 Feb LONDON RICH MIX - 020 7613 7498 Sat 13 Feb NORWICH ARTS CENTRE - 01603 660 352 Sun 14 Feb GATESHEAD THE SAGE - 0191 443 4661 Mon 15 Feb LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB - 0113 2454650 / www.lunatickets.co.uk Tue 16 Feb MANCHESTER BAND ON THE WALL - 08452 500 500 Wed 17 Feb BIRMINGHAM GLEE CLUB - 0871 472 0400 |  | |
| Tickley Feather in the UK! 03-11-2009 | ||
| Paw Tracks' four-tracking hobbyist Annie Sachs, better known as TICKLEY FEATHER is playing her first ever UK shows this month across the country in celebration of new album 'Hors D'Oeuvres'. The record was recorded in an old dilapidated farmhouse in the Shenandoah woods, Virginia and brilliantly captures her Southern Gothic meets Existential Hillbilly vibe! If Mum, Kate Bush, and Gilli Smith are your kind of thing this should be right up your street... oh and check out the rather brilliant video for Annie's new track 'Trashy Boys' here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ygLrJfPOUM 14th Nov - BRIGHTON The Lectern 15th Nov - MANCHESTER Retro Bar 16th Nov - GLASGOW The V Club 17th Nov - BELFAST Menagerie Bar 18th Nov - DUBLIN Whelans 20th Nov - CARDIFF Buffalo 21th Nov - LONDON Cafe Oto http://www.myspace.com/tickleyfeather |  | |
| Field Music Return! 23-10-2009 | ||
| FIELD MUSIC RETURN - NEW TRACKS (available on free download at www.field-music.co.uk now), LIVE SHOWS and NEW ALBUM Following a self-imposed three year hiatus, Sunderland's Field Music are all set to return with a new 20 track double album on 15th February 2010. Powered, as ever, by brothers and co-front men Peter and David Brewis, Field Music's line up now includes Kev Dosdale (guitar and keys) and Ian Black (bass). By way of apology for having being away so long two new tracks are now available to download from their website at http://www.field-music.co.uk/ ; the startling blues riff attack of "Each Time Is a New Time" and the melody rich impressionist pop of "Measure". Both tracks are also available to listen to as low quality streams on their myspace http://www.myspace.com/fieldmusic The album is untitled but for practical purposes its called "Field Music (measure)" and the tracklisting is as follows: 01 In the Mirror 02 Them That Do Nothing 03 Each Time Is a New Time 04 Measure 05 Effortlessly 06 Clear Water 07 Lights Up 08 All You'd Ever Need to Say 09 Let's Write a Book 10 You and I 11 The Rest Is Noise 12 Curves of the Needle 13 Choosing Numbers 14 The Wheels Are in Place 15 First Come the Wish 16 Precious Plans 17 See You Later 18 Something Familiar 19 Share the Words 20 It's About Time Field Music will be previewing more of the new songs at a handful of shows starting in Liverpool on 13 November and ending up at the Hoxton Bar and Grill on 7 Jan as follows: 13 Nov The Bumper, Liverpool (Liverpool Music Week) - Free Show 19 Nov The Deaf Institute, Manchester - Box Office: http://www.thedeafinstitute.co.uk/ 21 Nov Captain's Rest, Glasgow - Box Office: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/ 22 Nov Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh - Box Office: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/ 27 Nov The Cluny, Newcastle - Box Office: http://www.theheadofsteam.co.uk/ 28 Nov The Cluny, Newcastle - Box Office: http://www.theheadofsteam.co.uk/ 07 Jan Hoxton Bar & Grill, London - Box Office: http://seetickets.com/ Journalists can download the two tracks, new photos and artwork from http://www.inhousepress.com/ immediately. |  | |
| Long, Dark Nights 13-10-2009 | ||
| THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART have added a second London date to their winter UK tour on December 8th at the Scala. It's their largest London headline show to date and caps an amazing year for the New York four piece. It was less than 12 months ago we watched them play to 30 people when opening for The Wedding Present, the band are now headlining the same 1000 capacity venues themselves. Quite a rise in a year and even more remarkable (and reassuring) considering it's all been done on tiny DIY London label Fortuna POP. The full tour runs as: NOVEMBER Sat 28, London, Reverence Festival @ ICA Mon 30, Bristol, Thekla DECEMBER Tue 1, Liverpool, Academy 2 Wed 2, Newcastle, Academy 2 Thur 3, Glasgow, Stereo Fri 4, Manchester, Academy 2 Sat 5, Birmingham, Academy 2 Tues 8, London, Scala - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/61334 – NEW DATE ADDED! The tour ties in with the release of 4 brand new tracks from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart entitled 'Higher Than The Stars' EP that extinguish all notions of these guys being twee or lo-fi. These are full on pop numbers. That's out Nov 9th. Hit back for copies and the numerous remixes that have been done. MALCOLM MIDDLETON has announced his 'Long, Dark, Night' tour, which will see him to take to the stage on his own, armed with just an acoustic guitar. The best way to see Malcolm perform. He'll be giving away a track left over from his 'Waxing Gibbous' sessions for fans on the night '10 Green Bottles' . It will also be the first chance for them to pick up copies of his girl bands covers EP featuring versions of songs by Girls Aloud, Ladyhawke, The Saturdays and Joan Osborne. We have a handful of copies of these, so shout back quickly for one of those. November Tue 24 London, Bush Hall Wed 25 Brighton, Hanbury Club Thu 26 Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre Sat 28 Exeter, Phoenix - Voodoo Lounge Sun 29 Oxford, Jericho Mon 30 Cardiff, Barfly December Tue 1Cambridge, Junction 2 Wed 2 Bristol, Thekla Mon 7 Newcastle, Cluny 2 Tue 8 York, The Basement Wed 9 Wakefield, The Hop Thu 10 Glasgow, Oran Mor Detroit psych-legend RODRIGUEZ and responsible for one of our favourite albums of all time 'Cold Fact' is back over for some shows this December: DEC 7 - Deaf Institute - Manchester, UK DEC 8 - Thekla - Bristol, UK DEC 9 - Union Chapel - London, UK Scottish indie pioneer PAUL HAIG (Josef K) is making a rare live appearance joining Nouvelle Vague on stage at the Roundhouse this Friday 16th to sing 'Sorry For Laughing' by his former band. It's the perfect opportunity to interview Paul ahead of his new solo record 'Relive' out Nov 16th. THE LONGCUT were fantastic as ever last night in Manchester. They’ve a brilliant new album out ‘Open Hearts’ and their live set for the upcoming tour is a mixture of new songs and some of the classics. ‘Transition’ and ‘A Quiet Life’ must be two of the best tracks released by a Manchester band in the last decade and still sounded as urgent as ever last night. New single ‘Repeated’ is out end of the month and London date is Cargo next Monday 19th. See full tour dates here: http://www.myspace.com/thelongcut Can they really be that good live? This older footage that has just been put up online should answer your question! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRl_uht5efQ We've also got copies of ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL's ace new single 'Fallen Over'. The most inventive and rewarding of her singles yet, Fallen Over was, once again, recorded and produced by Lee Baker in his Brighton studio and is the first to feature her live band The Distractions. Fallen Over is backed with exclusive track, False Hopes featuring just Rose and her piano it provides an elegant flipside to the A-side’s art-rock attack. Listen to it here right away http://www.myspace.com/roseelinordougallmusic Rose will be appearing at In The City this weekend (more to come on some of our new favourite bands playing in Manchester at the festival) - any of you guys heading up for this? Let us know as the kettle is always on and our office is bang in the middle of all the action. |  | |
| Lisa's NME New Band Tips 30-07-2009 | ||
| In House's Lisa gives new bands some tips on writing a biog, for the NME. |  | |