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New Release
Information
Pack No: 49/12
Issue Date: 3 December 2012
Release Dates Notified In This Pack:
21 January 2013
14 January 2013
[PIAS] UK
1 Bevington Path
London
SE1 3PW
Tel : 020 7471 2700
www.pias.com/uk
21 January 2013
Albums
Alasdair Roberts & Friends ‘A Wonder Working Stone’
Arbouretum ‘Coming Out Of The Fog’
Brokeback ‘Brokeback And The Black Rock’
Chris Darrow ‘Artist Proof’
Continents ‘Idle Hands’
Esben And The Witch ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’
Fall City Fall ‘Victus’
FaltyDL ‘Hardcourage’
Foxygen ‘We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic’
Jane Weaver ‘The Watchbird Alluminate’
Lord Huron ‘Lonesome Dreams’
Matthew E. White ‘Big Inner’
Mountains ‘Centralia’
Nightlands ‘Oak Island’
Oliver Lake ‘Ntu: Point From Which Creation Begins’
Otep ‘Hydra’
Shugo Tokumaru ‘In Focus?’
Ulrich Schnauss ‘A Long Way To Fall’
The Used ‘Vulnerable (II)’
Various Artists ‘FABRICLIVE 67: Ben UFO’
Various Artists / Soul Jazz Records presents ‘Studio One Ironsides’
Wave Machines ‘Pollen’
Singles
Beard Of Wolves ‘Wet Mouth’
Kwes ‘Rollerblades’
Roots Manuva ‘Banana Skank’
Ty Segall ‘Would You Be My Love’
14 January 2013
Albums
Christopher Owens ‘Lysandre’
Dutch Uncles ‘Out Of Touch In The Wild’
Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory ‘Elements Of Light’
People Get Ready ‘People Get Ready’
Serafina Steer ‘The Moths Are Real’
Villagers ‘{Awayland}’
Yo La Tengo ‘Fade’
Singles
Raisa K ‘Feeder’
Alasdair Roberts & Friends
‘A Wonder Working Stone’
CD - DC534CD - 0781484053422
2LP - DC534 - 0781484053415
Tracklisting
•
Drag City Records release the new album by Alasdair Roberts & Friends, entitled ‘A
Wonder Working Stone’. A collection of varied new epics, Alasdair’s latest is by turns
metaphysical, cosmological, phantasmagorical, topical, personal and universal. This is
Alasdair’s most ambitious, fully-realized work to date (an extraordinary claim
following the incredible excursions made on his recent releases ‘Spoils’ and ‘Too Long
In This Condition’).
•
‘A Wonder Working Stone’ continues Alasdair’s long-standing love affair and deeply
creative interaction with the traditional music of his native Scotland (and beyond),
offering an idiosyncratic and nuanced radicalization of that tradition. Indeed, he
questions the very notion of ‘tradition’ in the modern age, with songs addressing
topics such as mortality (as ever), life, love, sex, faith and history.
•
The arrangements of ‘A Wonder Working Stone’ are dense with the music of friends,
realizing the lifeblood of community, and throughout the album, they are presented
with raucously cinematic flair. In the middle of it all, Roberts delivers his unique
‘scordatura’ finger style guitar and distinctive tenor vocals with the backing of a core
group of among Glasgow’s finest musicians - Ben Reynolds (electric guitar), Shane
Connolly (drums), Rafe Fitzpatrick (fiddle, rap), Stevie Jones (bass) and with special
guest vocals from Olivia Chaney, as well as appearances from many other fine
players on strings, brass, flute and accordion, all of which edify and expand the
musical world of Alasdair Roberts and all those friends who listen.
•
“Alasdair Roberts writes new songs that seem to be hundreds of years old. He also
sings songs that are hundreds of years old but sound like they were written
yesterday. He is the most exciting young musician currently working within the folk
tradition of these islands and is, in my opinion, a kind of genius. […] ‘A Wonder
Working Stone’ shows the artist moving forward again […] to add to a body of work
that is both crucial and beautiful” - Robin Robertson, author of ‘The Wrecking Light’,
shortlisted for the 2010 TS Eliot Prize For Poetry
•
‘A Wonder Working Stone’ is the eighth acclaimed album from Alasdair Roberts, and
his second with ‘& Friends’, following 2010’s album of traditional songs, ‘Too Long In
This Condition’.
•
The music of Alasdair Roberts straddles the border between contemporary pop music
and traditional folk music, drawing new listeners from both sides of the divide, as well
as commentators from the scholarly realms.
•
Alasdair Roberts is a touring machine, with and without & Friends. There will be a full
British tour with a big six-person band in 2013.
•
Alasdair has a constant slate of new musical projects, both as a solo and in
collaboration with others (witness 2011’s ‘Urstan’ album with Mairi Morrison),
including ventures in theatre, film and academia, with many more being developed
for the immediate future.
The Merry Wake
The Year Of The Burning
Fusion Of Horizons
The Wheels Of The World
The End Of Breeding
Song Composed In
December
Brother Seed
Gave The Green Blessing
Scandal And Trance
The Laverock In The
Blackthorn
Further information available upon request from:
Arbouretum
‘Coming Out Of The Fog’
CD - THRILL314CD - 0790377031423
LP - THRILL314LP - 0790377031416
•
Rather than spending their time searching for fame, Baltimore’s Arbouretum have
instead concentrated on honing their craft. The band’s poetic lyrics and slow, heavy
build are not stuff of the quick fix. Their music stands in stark contrast to a culture
more concerned with video and track placement than criticism and discourse.
•
Arbouretum have been praised in Mojo 4 star reviews that end with phrases like “It
just does not get much better,” a Guardian piece proclaiming that they are “One of
the most distinctive voices around” and an Uncut 4 star review calling the music
“Dense, thrilling and literate.”
•
Fifth full length album ‘Coming Out Of The Fog’ continues Arbouretum’s journey as
their most focused and best-recorded album to date. Dave Heumann’s vocals soar
atop his guitar solos and Corey Allender’s crunchy bass lines. Arbouretum have
reigned in some of their maximalist tendencies, with every song coming in under 7
minutes. Heumann, Allender, Brian Carey (drums), and Matthew Pierce (keyboard,
synthesizer, percussion) continue to mine the same breadth of styles made familiar
on ‘The Gathering’ and ‘Song Of The Pearl’, notably the languid ballads, fuzzed-out
burners, and heavier songs that have defined the group’s unique doom laden folkrock sound.
•
Throughout ‘Coming Out Of The Fog’, Heumann’s vocals take on a meditative quality,
melodies unravelling effortlessly over Carey’s steady grooves. Syncopated rhythms
come to the fore on ‘The Promise’, building tension, and leading to a climax of synth
swells and chromatic guitar lines. Elsewhere, on ‘Oceans Don’t Sing’, guest musician
Dave Hadley’s plaintive pedal-steel guitar lays a bed for some of Heumann’s most
impassioned singing set to tape. Spending time on pre-production allowed for a more
detailed approach to recording. Carey’s drums were tuned specifically for almost
every track on the album, and tape was used to achieve the warmth only found in
analogue.
•
CD version comes in a 4 panel mini-LP style gatefold package. LP version includes
fully artworked inner sleeve and free download coupon. First 500 LPs are pressed on
white vinyl, remaining copies on black.
•
“Arbouretum have forged a new alloy of psychedelic heavy rock that captures the
narrative power and sonic fury of electric Neil Young, the floral qualities of 1960s
British psychedelia and the textural use of distortion at the foundation of drone and
stoner rock... Arbouretum arises out of the psychedelic swamp blazing with an almost
shamanic power” - New York Press
•
“Gorgeous” - Stereogum
•
“Imagine the mantric ur-song of fellow Baltimorians Lungfish welded to the flannelshirted muscle of Creedence and Crazy Horse played with the fervour of folk rock” Vice
Tracklisting
The Long Night
Renouncer
The Promise
Oceans Don’t Sing
All At Once, The Turning
Weather
World Split Open
Easter Island
Coming Out Of The Fog
Further information available upon request from:
Brokeback
‘Brokeback And The Black Rock’
CD - THRILL312CD - 0790377031225
LP - THRILL312LP - 0790377031218
Tracklisting
•
Brokeback is the longstanding project of Douglas
McCombs. McCombs is a member of Tortoise, Eleventh
Dream Day, and Pullman, and has worked with Tom Ze,
Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Calexico and Yo La Tengo.
•
‘Brokeback And The Black Rock’ features an entirely new
Brokeback band assembled by McCombs and features
members of Tight Phantomz, Pinebender and Head Of
Skulls!. The new Brokeback practiced for over a year
before performing live and then played out and toured for
a six month period before recording the album at John
McEntire(Tortoise)’s Soma Electronic Music Studio.
•
The bass and drums sound natural and full. The guitars
are clear and ringing with just the right growl. And this
band likes reverb. There are moments that recall the more
delicate and nuanced approach of earlier Brokeback
recordings, but the real attraction is the increased dynamic
range of a group of musicians who’ve been playing
together for a while. There are moments of pure release
that would not have been possible in other versions of
Brokeback.
•
CD version in 4 panel mini-LP style gatefold package. LP
version includes free download coupon.
•
Previous Brokeback records have featured Noel
Kupersmith, Mary Hansen and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab),
Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground), James McNew (Yo
La Tengo), Alan Licht, and Joey Burns (Calexico).
•
McCombs is a touring machine - besides his constant work
with Tortoise he has been playing bass in The Sea And
Cake and also touring with David Daniell in support of their
duo recordings.
Will Be Arriving
The Wire, The Rag, And
The Payoff
Who Is Bozo Texino?
Tonight At Ten
Gold!
Don’t Worry Pigeon
Tonight At Eleven
Colossus Of Roads
Further information available upon request from:
Chris Darrow
‘Artist Proof’
CD - DC528CD - 0781484052821
LP + CD - DC528 - 0781484052814
Tracklisting
•
The history of rock and roll in the 1960s is filled with side trips and
familiar names mixed together with more trips involving even more
names, sometimes less known. One of those names still owed a piece
of your mind is California picker, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
Chris Darrow.
•
Already a veteran of several bands and scenes on the LA landscape,
Chris was a founding member of the west coast Kaleidoscope. He
went his own way after the recording of their second album, ‘A
Beacon From Mars’, to pursue music on his own terms. He was part
of the wave that crashed across America throughout the 60s,
sweeping young people everywhere on a journey away from the
world that they’d known, allowing them to take with them only what
they could carry to destinations unknown. They hoped that what they
had might come in handy down the line, and for Chris, his various
stringed instruments served him well as he transmuted the music of
his youth into the passionate times around him.
•
Chris, like so many of his fellow Americans, was hearing the echo of
native sounds in his ears - bluegrass, country music, rhythm and
blues and earthy rock and roll. He liked to play lots of music and
people liked to play it with him. In the couple of years before ‘Artist
Proof’, Chris had guested with his Kaleidoscope bandmates on
several sessions for Leonard Cohen’s debut album, joined the Nitty
Gritty Dirt Band, toured with Linda Ronstadt, John Stewart and Hoyt
Axton, played on sessions with Gene Vincent and James Taylor and
was produced by The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith as part of a group
called The Corvettes.
•
Chris’s solo debut is a rich and powerful dose of California country
rock, written almost entirely by Chris and played with grit and
precision by a cast of great players including Ed Black, Loren
Newkirk, Arnie Moore, Mickey McGee and John Ware.
•
Back in print for the first time in 40 years and finally ushered into the
digital realm, ‘Artist Proof ’s original debossed LP jacket has been
carefully reproduced along with photos from Chris Darrow’s archive,
bringing back the time of a new feeling in American music in all its
melodic, singular glory.
•
CD features bonus demo recordings. LP format includes a CD copy of
the album (with bonus songs included).
Beware Of Time
Lovers Sleep Abed Tonight
Shawnee Moon
Move On Down The Line
Song For Steven
Cocaine Lil
Alligator Man
Keep On Trying
New Zoot
The Show Must Go On
The Sky Is Not Blue Today
We Can Both Learn To Say I
Love You
Beware Of Time (Studio
Demo) *
Song For Steven (Home
Demo) *
Keep On Trying (Home
Demo) *
Move On Down The Line
(Studio Demo) *
The Sky Is Not Blue Today
(Studio Demo) *
(* = CD Only Track)
Further information available upon request from:
Continents
‘Idle Hands’
CD - VR677CD - 0746105067721
Tracklisting
•
“Energy-fueled epic-core with lots of aggression, a healthy
blend of raw shouts and low end growls and foot stomping
hooks” - Kerrang!
•
Victory Records are proud to release ‘Idle Hands’, the debut
album from dynamic South Wales, UK metal / hardcore outfit
Continents.
•
Formed in 2010, Continents quickly established themselves
within the ever-growing UK music scene through their intense
music and stage presence. They are five self-proclaimed “lads
with a party attitude who love getting groups of people into a
room who share their passion for music.”
•
Live, this UK bunch throws a blistering barrage of energy at the
crowd which is evident in their first music video, ‘Trials’, which
received over 10,000 YouTube views in the first few days.
•
“We've always tried to put our own passion for our music
before external influence, the most important thing for us is
that we enjoy the music we play, and if other people enjoy it
too then that's awesome,” said vocalist Phil Cross. “We like to
mix elements of our favourite styles and influences, and then
put our own perspective on things to see where it takes us.”
•
Continents have created their heaviest music to date on ‘Idle
Hands’, while incorporating a fresh take on modern hardcore.
•
For fans of A Day To Remember, Emmure, The Ghost Inside,
and For The Fallen Dreams.
•
Continents have toured with Bury Tomorrow, Deez Nuts, TRC,
Hands Like Houses, It Prevails and First Blood, amongst others.
•
‘Idle Hands’ was mixed and mastered by Peter Rutcho at
Damage Studios (The Ghost Inside, Bury Your Dead, Vanna).
Intro
Idle Hands
Inhale
Pegasus
Twenty Eight
Regrets
Doom
Sheep
Exhale
Trials
Lions Den
Truth And Lies
Further information available upon request from:
Esben And The Witch
‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’
CD - OLE9912 - 0744861099123
LP + CD - OLE9911 - 0744861099116
•
Dispelling any burden of ‘the difficult second album’, Esben And The Witch have
comprehensively transcended any such slump or curse with ‘Wash The Sins Not Only
The Face’, a majestic, haunting and triumphant work that is not ‘difficult’ in the
slightest.
•
Their second full-length brings to fruition concepts that glimmered on their first,
2011’s acclaimed ‘Violet Cries’, but there are no laurels being rested upon here. To
make their second album, Esben And The Witch questioned, challenged and rewired
their past to find the way to their future and have produced their first masterpiece.
•
To quote Daniel Copeman, “We had a clearer idea of what we wanted to achieve on
this album, and how we could achieve it. We’re more focused, more confident.”
•
Their first album took them on the road, and the road took them all over the globe. It
was on these journeys, during van-held conversations, that their second album began
to take shape, the band happening upon an ancient Greek palindrome ‘Nipson
anomēmata mē monan opsin’ which, when translated, gave ‘Wash The Sins Not Only
The Face’ its title.
•
They wanted the album to unfurl like a journey, like a day, where opening songs are
possessed of a brightness, an optimism that ebbs away over the record’s course. The
radiant glide of opener ‘Iceland Spar’, gives way to the bleak lonesomeness of ‘Yellow
Wood’, the moment where the sun sets, with closing track ‘Smashed To Pieces In
The Still Of The Night’ ending proceedings at a peak of drama and intensity.
•
Previously, lyrics were written more collaboratively between the trio; this time Rachel
assumed the sole responsibility herself, honing her words and stories. The lyrics are
inspired by TS Eliot and Sylvia Plath, by the works of Vladimir Nabokov and Philip
Pullman, Salvador Dali and the surrealist movement; that, and van conversations
questioning what it would be like to meet your doppelganger thousands of miles from
home.
•
The result is an album that finds new shades within the Esben palette, and when
placed alongside ‘Violet Cries’, feels like a fuzzy image that’s pulled successfully into
focus.
•
All of this makes you wonder where this road will take them next. More to the point,
it makes you want to savour where Esben And The Witch are at now, because ‘Wash
The Sins Not Only The Face’ is a sublime experience, an album whose mysteries and
riddles will entrance.
•
LP includes a CD copy of the album.
Tracklisting
Iceland Spar
Slow Wave
When That Head Splits
Shimmering
Deathwaltz
Yellow Wood
Despair
Putting Down The Prey
The Fall Of Glorieta
Mountain
Smashed To Pieces In
The Still Of The Night
Further information available upon request from:
Fall City Fall
‘Victus’
CD - VR688CD - 0746105068827
•
“Seething leftfield hardcore delivered from the heart with
maximum passion and power. This band f*cking kills!” Metal Hammer
•
Awed by experiencing Fall City Fall’s wildly chaotic live
show firsthand, Victory Records quickly welcomed the
Calgary sextet to their ever-growing family. Despite being
the freshest faces on the label, Fall City Fall have been
driven relentlessly over the past three years to continue
building the underground hardcore scene from which they
came.
•
Fall City Fall are the next wave of disenfranchised and
innately talented youth to emerge with a delightfully
belligerent fusion of metal and hardcore.
•
‘Victus’ is a 28 minute concentrated ambush of churning,
dizzyingly ballistic songs. Their Victory Records debut sinks
its teeth in deep and doesn’t let go until the very end.
•
Fall City Fall look to disrupt the monotonous landscape in
their genre and do things differently. Far from generic,
overdone, or stereotypical, Fall City Fall rise above the one
note chugging breakdowns to command an unforgiving
and intimate taste of something new.
•
With the unveiling of ‘Victus’, backed by their jaw-dropping
performances, Fall City Fall will push boundaries, expand
horizons, and leave fans with a lasting impression to be
felt for years to come.
•
For fans of Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan,
The Chariot, and La Dispute.
•
Fall City Fall have played with We Came As Romans,
Architects (UK), Abandon All Ships, Skip The Foreplay,
Counterparts, The Devil Wears Prada, For Today, Enter
Shakari and Texas In July.
Tracklisting
St. James
Dissentipede
Anxiety Attack
Bitter To The End
Lovebirds
Many Masters
Many Lives
Shallow Believer
Dead Saints
Taken
Victus
Further information available upon request from:
FaltyDL
‘Hardcourage’
CD - ZENCD129 - 5021392760124
2LP - ZEN129 - 5021392760162
Tracklisting
Stay I'm Changed
•
‘Hardcourage’ is the eagerly anticipated new album
from FaltyDL aka Drew Lustman, currently one of the
hottest new names in electronic music.
•
‘Hardcourage’ features a collaboration with Friendly
Fires’ Ed Macfarlane on ‘She Sleeps’.
•
Falty has released albums on Planet Mu, supported
Radiohead and remixed The xx, Scuba, Roots Manuva
and Mount Kimbie. His music has been remixed by
Jamie xx.
•
‘Hardcourage’
is
the
NYC-based
Lustman’s
masterpiece - an electronic opus inspired by love and
crafted with renewed intent and dedication. The music
here feels incredibly natural, the songs taking the
most perfect of shapes, their emotive rise and swell
both subtle and immensely powerful.
•
The album’s first single ‘Straight & Arrow’ summarises
the musical direction Lustman has taken with
‘Hardcourage’. His move away from a US take on
garage has resulted in a masterful brand of
atmospheric, soul-drenched house and electronica.
•
Press - Reviews in DJ, Clash, Mixmag, Future Music, Mojo, The
Wire, Skinny, Trap, Q, Uncut, Dummy. Features in DJ, Clash,
Resident Advisor, FACT.
•
Radio - Radio 1 Benji B, Rob da Bank, B.Traits, Essential Mix
with Deetron, 1Xtra Benji B, B.Traits, 6Music Lauren Laverne,
Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, XFM Music:Response,
Xposure, The Remix, Kiss 100 Sinden, Resonance FM
Flomotion, Juice 107.2, Totally Wired, Unfold, Totally Radio,
Daily Show, Cambridge 105 FM.
Straight & Arrow
She Sleeps (ft Ed
Macfarlane)
Uncea
For Karme
Finally Some Sh*t / The
Rain Stopped
Kenny Rolls
Korban Dallas
Re Assimilate
Bells
The Love I Need
Further information available upon request from:
Foxygen
‘We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic’
CD - JAG227CD - 0656605222721
LP - JAG227CD - 0656605222714
•
In May 2011, Foxygen’s Sam France and Jonathan Rado
nervously handed off a CD-R of their homemade miniopus
‘Take The Kids Off Broadway’ to producer and visionary
Richard Swift after his performance in a Lower East Side
club. The duo, who had just mixed and burned the disc
that very night, had been devotees of Swift’s outsiderpop
oeuvre since high school, when they first began recording
their own pubescent forays into oddball rock ‘n’ roll (at
least a dozen records were finished before they graduated
high school). Foxygen left the venue that night unsure
whether Swift would truly listen or sling the disc into a
dumpster on his way out. In fact, Swift flipped for
Foxygen’s bugged out, esoteric majesty and called upon
them immediately to say as much.
•
Eight months later, Foxygen was holed up for a week-long
recording session at Swift’s neo-legendary National
Freedom studio, creating what has become ‘We Are The
21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic’, a
precocious and cocksure joyride across California
psychedelia with a burning, bursting punk rock engine.
•
The songs were written in an inspired fury just after ‘Take
The Kids…’ was complete, pouring from their hands and
mouths. Foxygen believe that each song was a message of
peace delivered from cosmic beings who used France and
Rado as their messenger vessels.
•
Bubbling beneath their supreme melodic instincts, there’s a
wild, nervy energy and a raw musicianship that makes
Foxygen incapable of doing anything exactly straight. They
somehow pack a host of musical left turns, lyrical non
sequiturs and decades-spanning bridges into industry
preferred 3 - 4 minute gems that are at both reinvention
and memorial.
Tracklisting
In The Darkness
No Destruction
On Blue Mountain
San Francisco
Bowling Trophies
Shuggie
Oh Yeah
We Are the 21st Century
Ambassadors Of Peace &
Magic
Oh No 2
Further information available upon request from:
Jane Weaver
‘The Watchbird Alluminate’
CD - 011EGGSCD - 5060099503207
LP - 011EGGSLP - 5060099502941
DA - 011EGGSDL - 5060099502958
•
Remaining faithful to her influences of Germanic märchen tales, Eastern
European children’s cinema and mechanical pop music, Jane Weaver
expands her critically acclaimed ‘Fallen By Watchbird’ concept album in this
ten chapter sequel-of-sorts by employing a cast of new actors and narrators
to reinterpret her surreal ‘cosmic aquatic folklore’.
•
Here Jane experiments with volks-music in its purest, most innocent form
using modern tools to re-tell and recycle secondhand stories. Inspired by
post-war cinematic interpretations and hand-me-down mistranslations of
global folk tales, Jane has collaborated with a close-knit group of musicians,
noisemakers and vocalists / narrators to create automatic-music and reilluminate an eleven-page novella about telepathy, technology, lost-love,
wiccan, war and watchbirds.
•
As part of ongoing voice and electronic experiments with the people behind
Pre-Cert Records, ‘The Watchbird Alluminate’ includes a wordless vocal
introduction and interlude from both Demdike Stare and the elusive Anworth
Kirk, while the spoken-word narrative of Finders Keepers’ lost American pop
folk singer Susan Christie is reinterpreted by Ghostbox’s Focus Group with
results comparable to Ruth White’s 1968 electronic / vox interpretations of
Baudelaire’s ‘Flowers Of Evil’.
•
Jane’s own Bird Records label roster contributes two new cover versions of
Weaver’s self-penned tracks re-sung by Italian singer Emma Tricca and
Rochdale’s time-slipped falsetto soloist Magpahi (in a track evokes cinematic
scenes from ‘Night Of The Hunter’ or ‘The Innocents’). Elsewhere vintage
soft-pop royalty appears in the form of a lead vocal from Wendy & Bonnie’s,
Wendy Flower, a close friend and confidant of Jane’s since their first
collaborations in New York and London in 2006 at the request of Jarvis
Cocker for his guest curation at the Meltdown festival.
•
Other lead performances from Weaver add a new poetic twist to the story in
both solo capacity and alongside Samandtheplants’ Sam McLoughlin, whose
‘Natural / Supernatural Lancashire’ library project (with Alison Cooper) from
2010 still resonates as one of that year’s finest new releases.
•
With a unique approach to making non-linear mechanical music, this popup
collective adds a further creative perspective to the oft mistreated ‘concept
album’ virtually eliminating genre distinction in favour of communal noise - a
unique product of genuinely independent music which continues to sprout
further branches.
Tracklisting
Europium Alluminate
(with Demdike Stare)
A Circle And A Star Part 1
(with The Focus Group &
Susan Christie)
The Fallen By Watchbird
(Video Mix)
Turning In Circles (by
Emma Tricca)
Majic Milk
Whispers Of Winter (with
Wendy Flower)
Noctilmina (with
Anworth Kirk)
My Soul Was Lost, My
Soul Was Lost And NoOne Saved Me (by
Magpahi)
Silver Chord (with
Samandtheplants)
A Circle And A Star Part 2
(with The Focus Group &
Susan Christie)
Further information available upon request from:
Lord Huron
‘Lonesome Dreams’
CD - PIASR585CDX - 5414939340727
LP - PIASR585LP - 5414939340819
DA - PIASR585DA2 - 5414939366871
•
‘Lonesome Dreams’ is the brilliant debut album from rising pop experimentalists Lord Huron, led
by Michigan-born songwriting 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.
•
Tales of the great American outback have always been an inspiration, according to Schneider.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m living in one of those stories,” he confides. “I wanted to look at my
life and lives close to me as though they were tales from some frontier novel.”
•
One thing that can’t be ignored with is the scale of Schneider’s ambition. Not content with
writing an album of eclectic beauty, ‘Lonesome Dreams’ 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. “I look at different media as ways to enrich the story.”
•
The result is an album as vast and easy to lose yourself in as a Sergio Leone cinescape. Field
recordings loop and cavernous drums echo while Schneider’s layered vocals drift airily across its
surface like tumbleweeds across a dusty desert sprawl. From galloping recent single ‘Time To
Run’ to the gamelan groove of ‘The Man Who Lives Forever’, its charms are impossible to deny.
•
Lord Huron began as a solo endeavour 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.”
•
Gathering momentum in the States with a fantastic live performance on ‘Tonight With Jay
Leno’, hoards of praise from the likes of Filter, Fader, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and
USA Today, and a recent tour across the US with sold out shows in Chicago, Philadelphia,
Washington DC, Boston, LA and NYC. They will visit Europe for the first time around the release
of the album.
When Will I See You
Again *
•
“Campfire strumming and robust vocal harmonies ghosted by tuneful howls” - Rolling Stone
•
(* = Bonus Track PIASR585CDX &
PIASR585DA2 Only)
“His music sails above those geographic and romantic landscapes as a thoroughly tuneful,
reverberant extension of folk-rock” - New York Times
•
“The last true band you need to hear this year” - Esquire
•
“These songs are sturdy, and what marks they set for themselves, they hit” - Pitchfork
•
Press - Reviews & features in NME, The Guardian, Observer, Uncut, Classic Rock, Clash,
Artrocker.
•
Radio - Radio 1 Phil Tagart, Radio 2 Dermot O’Leary (plus acoustic session), Steve Lamacq,
6Music Don Letts, Steve Lamacq, Amazing Radio B List, Radio 4 Loose Ends performance.
•
Online - Facebook (11,829 likes), Twitter (3,368 followers).
•
Tourdates - February 7 London Old Blue Last.
Tracklisting
Ends Of The Earth
Time To Run
Lonesome Dreams
The Ghost On The Shore
She Lit A Fire
I Will Be Back One Day
The Man Who Lives
Forever
Lullaby
Brother
In The Wind
Setting Sun *
Son Of A Gun *
Further information available upon request from:
Matthew E. White
‘Big Inner’
CD - WIGCD307 - 0887828030729
Tracklisting
•
Moving, redemptive and powerfully soulful, ‘Big
Inner’ is a timeless record told in seven songs that
mingle memory with the rawness of any given
human moment.
•
The references - from the lyrics that echo the
common conditions of love, death, seeking, and
finding, to open tributes to artists like Washington
Phillips, Allen Toussaint, Jorge Ben, Jimmy Cliff,
and Randy Newman - are their own scavenger
hunt through music history and through Matthew
E. White’s place in it.
•
CD in deluxe packaging.
•
“Country-soul apostle Matthew E. White offers
spiritual succour” - Q
•
“Bottomless columns of ethereal soul… magical” Pitchfork
•
“Resplendently somnolent funk” - Rolling Stone
•
“A dramatic pop-gospel record that hits extremes
of the mood spectrum: very easygoing and very
obsessive” - NY Times
•
Press - Uncut Album Of The Month.
•
Tourdates - January 22 The Hope Brighton, 23 The
Lexington London.
One Of These Days
Big Love
Will You Love Me
Gone Away
Steady Pace
Hot Toddies
Brazos
Further information available upon request from:
Mountains
‘Centralia’
CD - THRILL323CD - 0790377032321
2LP - THRILL323LP - 0790377032314
•
Mountains’ music is defined by slow builds, and subtle
transformations, textures and melodic lines that evolve in a variety of
ways to create grand soundscapes and acutely detailed compositions.
For ‘Centralia’ the duo of Koen Holtkamp and Brendon Anderegg
wrote and recorded in a way that mirrors the pace of their music.
While the current trend in experimental music is towards hyperprolificity, Mountains have taken their time on ‘Centralia’, resulting in
an album that is as precise as it is boundless.
•
Holtkamp and Anderegg approached the album layer by layer,
throughout much of the record combining purely-acoustic recordings
with purely-electronic sounds rather than using electronics to
manipulate acoustic source material. Guitar, cello, organs, electric
piano, and more are seamlessly combined with modular electronics,
synthesizers and other sound sources. The result is a fully engrossing
listen, always shifting focus between acoustic instruments, processed
instruments and electronic sound.
•
‘Centralia’ is the most fully realized Mountains album. It encompasses
everything Mountains represent, from the analogue electronic sound
of ‘Air Museum’, to the gentle warmth and improvised grandeur of
‘Choral’. Mountains are utterly singular in their ability to combine
such varied and complex sources into such delicately detailed songs
of perceived simple pastoral ambience.
•
CD version comes in a 4 panel mini-LP style gatefold package.
Double LP version includes a free download coupon with a very small
amount of initial copies pressed on translucent red vinyl.
•
“Mountains’ skilful manipulation of texture and space creates a sound
that stealthily envelops you like an Appalachian fog” - Uncut (4 stars)
•
“Where less-seasoned creators of meandering soundscapes might
overload the listener, Anderegg and Holtkamp seem to be able to
delicately pile sound source upon sound source without disturbing
the calming balance” - XLR8R
•
“A consistently rewarding album, whose layered textures and
pleasant atmospheres are complemented by moments of sheer
blissfulness” - Tiny Mix Tapes
Tracklisting
Sand
Identical Ship
Circular C
Tilt
Propeller
Liana
Living Lens
Further information available upon request from:
Nightlands
‘Oak Island’
CD - SC241CD - 0656605024127
LP - SC241LP - 0656605024110
Tracklisting
•
Nightlands is the solo project of The War On
Drugs’ bassist and multi-instrumentalist Dave
Hartley, and ‘Oak Island’ is the follow-up to his
2010 Secretly Canadian debut ‘Forget The Mantra’.
•
Each distorted, silver-voiced melody is wrapped in
the sounds of 70s AM gold - plucked acoustic
guitars, trumpets, dulcimers and hand percussion.
In using these pop touchstones, the songs become
something close to memories, the faded feelings
that tide in and out of you when conjuring the
past.
•
Harley is a major player and sideman in
Philadelphia’s Fishtown scene that has produced
The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile, Purling Hiss.
Time & Peace
So Far So Long
You're My Baby
Nico
So It Goes
Born To Love
I Fell In Love With A
Feeling
Rolling Down The Hill
Other Peoples Pockets
Looking For Rain
Further information available upon request from:
Oliver Lake
‘Ntu: Point From Which Creation Begins’
CD - USCD41 - 5026328204123
LP - USLP41 - 5026328204116
DA - USD41 - 5026328204130
•
Soul Jazz Records / Universal Sound are reissuing jazz composer Oliver Lake’s ‘Ntu: The Point
From Which Creation Begins’, his stunning rhythmical Afro-centric deep spiritual jazz debut
album originally recorded in 1971. This classic spiritual deep jazz album has been digitally
remastered and is available in bespoke original exact reproduction artwork on hardboard
Japanese-style boxcase CD, very limited (1000 worldwide) heavyweight 180gm audiophile vinyl,
and digital download.
•
This album features in Gilles Peterson / Soul Jazz Records’ own ‘Freedom, Rhythm And Sound’
large-format book of revolutionary jazz.
•
Saxophonist Oliver Lake’s unique career path includes working with Lou Reed, A Tribe Called
Quest, Bjork, composing for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and as a longtime member of the
avant-garde jazz group World Saxophone Quartet. This genre-defying, wide-ranging and crosspollinating creativity is a consequence of Lake’s musical roots in the radical Black Arts
Movement of 1960s Afro-America.
•
Oliver Lake’s career began in a creatively charged time and place. In the late 1960s Lake,
alongside Julius Hemphill and Charles ‘Bobo’ Shaw, co-founded The Black Artists Group (BAG),
the St Louis-based equivalent to Chicago’s Art Ensemble Of Chicago / Association For The
Advancement Of Creative Musicians collectives.
•
Out of this BAG collective came many other variant groups and arts projects, which included
The Human Arts Ensemble, Red Black & Green Solidarity Unit, Onawali Dancers, Malinque
Rhythm Tribe, BAG Drama Dept., Great Black Music Orchestra of St. Louis, Fire-Earth-Air-Water,
Me We & Them and the Julius Hemphill Quartet.
•
The first recordings from Oliver Lake and the Black Artist Group collective, true to keeping with
the era’s radicalism, self-definition and economical empowerment value system, kept a wide
birth from the mainstream music industry and were released on the private pressing record
label, Universal Justice, self-distributed at concerts and events.
•
In 1971, after appearing on two collective projects by The Human Art Ensemble and Children
Of The Sun, Oliver Lake recorded his own debut album ‘Ntu: The Point From Which Creation
Begins’, self-financed for release on his own Passin Thru’ record company. However, shortly
afterwards the tape of this album was put in storage, as Lake and the other BAG members
headed off to Europe in the path of The Art Ensemble of Chicago and other free jazz AfricanAmerican musicians, many of whom were finding a new open-minded audience across the
Atlantic.
•
‘Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins’ remained unreleased until 1976 when an
association with major label Arista / Freedom issued a number of Lake and the Black Artists
Group’s early releases and unreleased tapes. Long unavailable, this album has now become a
rarity itself.
•
Heavily progressive, rhythmical and intense, the album features Lake alongside an all-star cast
of St. Louis’s finest radical, avant-garde and deep jazz musicians, including Joe Bowie (Lester’s
brother, who also later formed Defunkt and worked with James White And The Blacks), Don
Moye (on loan from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago), and regulars such as Charles Bobo Shaw.
•
Lake returned from Europe to live in New York in the second-half of the 1970s to firmly
ensconce himself in the emerging Loft Jazz scene, which soon became the dominant avantgarde movement of this era, with Lake an intrinsic member. At this time Lake also formed the
World Saxophone Quartet alongside Julius Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray, which
continues its own radical path to this day.
Tracklisting
Africa
Tse'lane
Electric Freedom Colors
Eriee
Zip
Further information available upon request from:
Otep
‘Hydra’
CD - VR683CD - 0746105068322
Tracklisting
•
“Aggressive, poetic, fearless, and intense - those are just
some words that describe Otep Shamaya” - Inked
•
“Otep’s unmistakable demonic roar is as savage as ever,
putting even the most brutal of vocalists in the metal
scene to the test” - Revolver
•
After a remarkably storied and impressive musical career
lasting well over a decade, Otep is prepared to go out on
top with the announcement of her final studio album
entitled ‘Hydra’.
•
Otep had this to say regarding her forthcoming magnum
opus: “‘Hydra’ is a concept album based on a graphic
novel I've been writing for two years about a girl corrupted
by the world, corrugated by evil, ripped away from the
golden, molten elixir of creativity, and abandoned on the
placid, jagged rocks of a cruel and barbaric island where
the rats poison themselves. This is a story of her personal
alchemy of theophagy, revenge and righteousness. Her
rise from the smoldering ash as a bruise that never heals
transmuting, therianthropic, to the infinite, still-born
messiah, a vigilante serial assassin, codename: ‘Hydra’.
This will be my last album.”
•
Otep has performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Slipknot,
Mudvayne, Five Finger Death Punch and Shadows Fall,
amongst others.
•
Otep’s ‘Head’ was featured prominently in an episode of
the HBO series ‘True Blood’.
•
Otep Shamaya has published two poetry books, spoken at
the Democratic National Convention in 2008, and is an
avid painter. Some of the activist groups she supports are
RAINN, Carbon Rally, PETA and WSPA.
Rising
Blowtorch Nightlight
Seduce & Destroy
Crush
Hematopia
Necromantic
Quarantine
Voyeur
Apex Predator
Feral Game
Livestock
Hag
Theophagy
Further information available upon request from:
Shugo Tokumaru
‘In Focus?’
CD - PRC2502 - 0644110025029
LP - PRC2501 - 0644110025012
DA - PRC2509 - 0644110025098
•
For the first half of 2012, Shugo Tokumaru locked himself
inside his home studio while working on ‘In Focus?’, often
forgetting to eat and sleep for long stretches of time while
crafting the record’s 15 songs - each of which contains an
average of 20 instruments and hundreds of recorded parts that
are meticulously mixed together to create a single, cohesive
track.
•
As a result of this extreme care and attention to detail, ‘In
Focus?’ - despite its title - represents the clearest manifestation
of Tokumaru’s multifaceted musical vision to date. From slow
building album opener ‘Circle’s perfect transition into standout
track ‘Katachi’, to lead single ‘Decorate’ and the beautifully
delicate acoustic ballad ‘Tightrope’, it’s clear that Tokumaru has
again succeeded in writing universal melodies while singing in
his native Japanese.
•
After Tokumaru completed recording and mixing, ‘In Focus?’
was mastered at Abbey Road Studios, a fitting location for an
artist who grew up listening to The Beatles and Japanese pop
music, and whose music builds on the best elements of both to
produce a unique sound irresistible to listeners regardless of
their generation or the language they speak.
•
“Shugo Tokumaru is a freakishly gifted Japanese bedroom-pop
artist with an effortless command of hundreds of instruments” Pitchfork
•
“Tangles lines with Van Dyke Parks’ West Coast baroque, the
prog-pop bounce of the Asthmatic Kitty stable and Michel
Gondry’s surrealist freedom” - MOJO
•
“A self-contained pop universe with lots of tiny parts in happy
motion” - The New York Times
•
Special edition LP pressed on clear vinyl with download code.
•
Past backing bands have included members of Beirut and The
National.
Tracklisting
Circle
Katachi
Gamma
Decorate
Call
Mubyo
Poker
Ord Gate
Pah-Paka
Tightrope
Helictite (LeSeMoDe)
Shirase
Micro Guitar Music
Down Down
Balloon
Further information available upon request from:
Ulrich Schnauss
‘A Long Way To Fall’
CD - SCREALCD001 - 5051083065610
2LP - SCREALLP001 - 5051083065634
DA - SCREALDA001 - 5051083065627
•
Highly anticipated fourth album from well
respected German electronic artist and DJ Ulrich
Schnauss. The first release for his new label
Scripted Realities.
•
Well known for his unique blend of melodic
electronica, this album continues the multilayered, texturally rich sounds of past works, with
a new updated contemporary production.
•
Ulrich’s music has been heavily used in syncs and
film, and as a well known remixer he has mixed
artists from Coldplay to Depeche Mode.
•
Ulrich continues to tour worldwide, recently back
from a festival in Japan. Further dates to be
announced shortly.
•
The album will be available in a beautiful CD
digipack and on double vinyl with CD insert.
Tracklisting
Her And The Sea
Broken Homes
Like A Ghost In Your Life
A Long Way To Fall
I Take Comfort In Your
Ignorance
A Forgotten Birthday
The Weight Of Darkening
Skies
Borrowed Time
Ten Years
A Ritual In Time And
Death
Further information available upon request from:
The Used
‘Vulnerable (II)’
2CD - HR97502 - 0790692975020
DA - HR9750 - 0790692975068
•
The Used, a rock band reigning from Orem, Utah,
formed in 2001. Since their inception, the band
have released five albums. The latest release,
‘Vulnerable’, hit stores in March of 2012 and
immediately debuted in the US Top 10.
•
With over 3 million albums sold worldwide, The
Used continue to create music that they stand
behind 100%. “‘I Come Alive’ was the first song
completed once we began writing this album. It
sets up the record really well and I like how
diverse and theatrical it is”, says frontman Bert
McCracken.
•
It comes as no surprise when the band decided to
reissue ‘Vulnerable’, featuring 10 tracks including
brand new songs, acoustic versions and remixes of
original album tracks. A two disc collector’s item,
‘Vulnerable (II)’ will be a must buy for fans new
and old.
•
Recorded by longtime producer John Feldman
(Goldfinger, Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, Panic At
The Disco).
Tracklisting
CD1
I Come Alive
This Fire
Hands And Faces
Put Me Out
Shine
Now That You're Dead
Give Me Love
Moving On
Getting Over You
Kiss It Goodbye
Kinda Hectic (Interlude)
Hurt No One
Together Burning Bright
CD2
Surrender
The Lonely
Machine
Disaster
I Come Alive (Remix)
Hands And Faces (Remix)
Put Me Out (Remix)
I Come Alive (Acoustic)
Put Me Out (Acoustic)
Together Burning Bright
(Acoustic)
Further information available upon request from:
Various Artists
‘FABRICLIVE 67: Ben UFO’
CD - FABRIC134 - 0802560013427
DA - FABRIC134D - 0802560013489
Tracklisting
Mix Mup - Before (Dub) [Mikrodisko]
•
Ben UFO is among a handful of specialist DJs who
possess the talent, care and breadth of taste
required to project their personality solely through
other people’s records.
•
‘FABRICLIVE 67’ showcases the different aspects
of the music that he stands for. Accordingly, it is
not a straightforward mix of house, bass music or
techno; it is an indicator of where he has come
from, where he’s at, and a statement of future
intent.
•
Press - Reviews & features in Mixmag, DJ, Crack, Tsugi.
•
Online - Hyponik, Ibiza Voice, Orbita, Playground,
Resident Advisor.
•
Club Promotion - Banner ads to run on major dance
music websites, Big Shot, Resident Advisor and FACT.
Eflyers to established mailing lists, Fabric, Hyponik & Wild
Music. Facebook & Google ad campaign.
•
Further Marketing - Posters displayed in Fabric
nightclub (averages approx 6000 visitors per week).
•
Tourdates - January 11 fabric London (album launch), 19
Bugged Out Weekender Bognor Regis, 26 Bullingdon Arms
Oxford, February 9 Exchange Bristol, 15 Stealth
Nottingham, 16 Mint Club Leeds, 22 Life Brighton, 23 The
Oval London, 26 Tuesday Club Sheffield, March 1 Subclub
Glasgow, 15 Twisted Pepper Dublin, April 12 fabric
London.
Delroy Edwards - Feelings [L.I.E.S.]
Pev & Kowton - Raw Code [Hessle
Audio]
Tim ‘Love’ Lee - The Tortoise (Sex Tags
Mania NYC Mix) [Tummy Touch]
Elgato - Zone [Hessle Audio]
Gesloten Cirkel - Twisted Balloon
[Murder Capital]
Chicago Skyway - It’s OK [Eargasmic]
K-Hand - Project 5 (Untitled B1) [Acacia]
Fluxion - Pendoulous [Chain Reaction]
Minimal Man - Consexual [Guerilla]
Jam City - Club Thanz [Night Slugs]
Herbert - Take Me Back [Accidental]
Lowtec - Looser [Nonplus]
Pearson Sound - Clutch [Hessle Audio]
Mr. Fingers - I’m Strong (Instrumental)
[Alleviated]
Shackleton vs Kasai Allstars - Mukuba
Special [Crammed]
Kyle Hall & Kero - Zug Island [Wild Oats]
Circuit Breaker - Ping [Plus 8]
Osborne - Bout Ready To Jak (Shake
Remix) [Spectral Sound]
Juniper - Jovian Planet [Ominira]
A Made Up Sound - Malfunction
(Despair) [50WEAPONS]
Grain - Untitled [FatCat]
Bandshell - Perc [Liberation
Technologies]
Blawan - And Both His Sons [Hinge
Finger]
Pangaea - Release [Hessle Audio]
Joe - Studio Power On [Hemlock]
Floating Points - Danger (Locked
Groove) [Eglo]
Grown Folk x Main Attrakionz - I.C.E.
(Kuedo Remix) [Templar Sound]
Further information available upon request from:
Various Artists / Soul Jazz Records presents
‘Studio One Ironsides’
CD - SJRCD260 - 5026328002606
2LP - SJRLP260 - 5026328102603
DA - SJRD260 - 5026328202600
•
Soul Jazz Records continues to dig deeper into the vaults of the
mighty Studio One, the most important record label in the
history of Reggae music.
•
Founded by legendary producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd
and famously dubbed ‘The University Of Reggae’ by Chris
Blackwell, Studio One is the Reggae equivalent of Motown,
launching and establishing the careers of countless Reggae
artists - everyone from Bob Marley to The Skatalites.
•
This new instalment features many classic Studio One cuts
alongside a heavy dose of superb rarities and spans all eras everything from classic ska and rocksteady to the deepest
roots, heaviest dub and dancehall roots.
•
As ever the album includes an incredible line-up of only the
finest reggae artists - The Skatalites, Freddie McGregor, Alton
Ellis, The Gladiators, Johnny Osbourne, Cornell Campbell,
Dennis Alcapone, Prince Jazzbo, Lone Ranger - all of whom
made their names at Studio One.
•
‘Studio One Ironsides’ refers back to a time in the 1960s and
1970s when Clement Dodd was at the height of his powers,
releasing so much amazing music that Studio One had to invent
new label names to trick radio DJs wary of playing too much
music from the legendary studio into playing records. These
creatively titled new label names included Ironsides, Money
Disc, ND Records, BongoMan, Forward and more.
•
The large accompanying booklet contains extensive text from
reggae historian Noel Hawks, fascinating information on each
track, and label scans.
•
‘Studio One Ironsides’ is released on CD - jewelcase, 24-page
booklet with card slipcase - as well as on heavyweight double
vinyl in deluxe strong gatefold sleeve with full sleeve notes, and
also as a digital download.
Tracklisting
Fabian Cooke - Mother And
Child
Marcia Griffiths - Mark My
Word
Freddie McGregor - I Man A
Rasta
Prince Jazzbo - Natty Ting A
Ling
The Paragons - Danger In
Your Eyes
Drum Bago & The Rebel
Group - Reggae Version
Don Drummond - Nanny’s
Corner
The Stingers - Rasta Don’t
Stop No One
Lone Ranger - Three Mile
Skank
The Soul Sister - Another
Night
Freddie McGregor - Come
Now Sister
Dennis Alcapone - Joe Frazier
The Soul Brothers - Soho
Alton Ellis - Can I Change My
Mind
Johnny Osbourne - Jealousy,
Heartache And Pain
The Gladiators - Bongo Red
Pablove Black - Jamrec Dub
Cornel Campbell - I'm Still
Waiting
Further information available upon request from:
Wave Machines
‘Pollen’
CD - NPCD0002 - 5051083067850
LP - NPLP001 - 5051083068079
DA - NPDA0002 - 5051083066808
•
Wave Machines release their second album ‘Pollen’.
Working with producer Lexxx (Wild Beasts, Bjork), who
produced and mixed the album alongside the band, this
long awaited follow-up reveals a darker, more nuanced
vision for the lush disco-hook.
•
Simultaneously intimate and epic, haunting and direct,
‘Pollen’ takes the sonic palette the band developed on their
debut and simultaneously expands it and makes it denser.
•
Featuring the single ‘Ill Fit’, ‘Pollen’ points towards what
will be a massive return-to-the-fray for one of the most
promising acts of the last few years.
•
Limited edition LP (300 copies for the UK & Eire) featuring
deluxe reverse board packaging and download codes.
•
Press - Reviews & features in Clash, The Guardian ‘Single Of The
Week, The Big Issue, Q, Clash, Artrocker, The Fly.
•
Radio - 6Music B list, Lauren Laverne session, Chris Hawkins, XFM
Evening Playlist, Radio 1 Huw Stephens interview, Zane Lowe, Huw
Stephens, Phil Taggert, BBC Radio 2 Dermot O’Leary, BBC Radio
Merseyside session, BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Derby, BBC
Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC Radio Lancashire, Juice
FM, Waves Radio, Moray Firth Radio, Maximum FM, BFBS Radio,
Phonic 106, Future Radio.
•
Online - The Guardian premiere, The Fly Track Of The Day, Dummy
Mag, This Is Fake DIY, Umstrum, Fear Of Fiction, PRS For Music,
Clash, Artrocker, Glasswerk, CMU, Not Many Experts, Contact Music,
Hold Your Horses, Mr Jackson, Ear Protection Required, Liverpool
Echo, Shout4Music, Indie Nation, PopScreen, The Miscellaneous Blog,
Mu-Sique, Blogues On Oro, The Glitoris, Your Music Today, GBH
Music, Indie Native, But We Have Music.
•
Tourdates - January 31 Bath Moles, February 1 Liverpool Kazimier,
2 Glasgow Broadcast, 3 Newcastle The Cluny, 5 Nottingham The
Bodega, 6 London Scala, 7 Southampton Joiners.
Tracklisting
Counting Birds
Ill Fit
I Hold Loneliness
Blood Will Roll
Home
Pollen
Unwound
Walk Before I Run
Gale
Sitting In A Chair, Blinking
Further information available upon request from:
Beard Of Wolves
‘Wet Mouth’
7” - PURE289S - 0644918028970
•
It’s 2013 and Too Pure are kicking the hell out of
your stereo with the raucous help of Beard Of
Wolves.
•
Combines the raging approach of Too Pure
luminaries DZ Deathrays with the vicious, sardonic
bite of Eagles Of Death Metal.
•
Special hand-numbered 7”.
Tracklisting
Wet Mouth
Dead Heart
Further information available upon request from:
Kwes
‘Rollerblades’
7” - 7WAP343 - 0801061934378
Tracklisting
Rollerblades
Rosab
•
‘Rollerblades’ is the warming new slice of ‘free pop’ from
Kwes, the 6Music playlisted, Loud + Quiet magazine cover star,
and producer / remixer / band member / collaborator for the
likes of Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, The xx, Invisible,
Gorillaz, Metronomy, Hot Chip, Dels, Ghostpoet and Lianne La
Havas, amongst many others.
•
The track is also the first step towards the release of Kwes’
debut album, planned for Summer 2013.
•
2012 has seen Kwes’ transition from muso’s favourite to aweinspiring musician in his own right. The ‘Meantime’ EP, released
earlier this year, saw him step out from behind the mixing desk
and into the spotlight. ‘Bashful’, taken from the EP, gained a
6Music B-List and he showcased his live show across Europe,
the US and the UK. More recently, Kwes has toured with Bobby
Womack around the US including a slot on Jimmy Fallon.
•
Kwes calls his music ‘free pop’, explaining: “I feel my music fits
around many heads of many sizes and mental dispositions” .
‘Rollerblades’ fits this theme and is a song about lost young
love. It’s beautiful, catchy and is another insight into the
musical mind of Kwes. B-side ‘Rosab’ is a messed up, oneiric
instrumental ode to his bike.
•
The coloured vinyl 7” comes in a plastic sleeve with translucent
velum insert and is limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
•
“Hits a sweet spot with incredible accuracy, doing in a few
minutes what some bands take an album to deliver” - BBC
Music
•
“Somewhere between TV On The Radio and Aphex Twin's more
organic material” - Pitchfork
•
“The junior Brian Eno of experimental UK pop” - The Guardian
•
Press - Features in Arena Homme, The Guardian, NME.
•
Radio - Radio 1, XFM John Kennedy.
Further information available upon request from:
Roots Manuva
‘Banana Skank’
12” - BD222 - 5021392229867
•
The one and only Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva returns to
the fray with a four track EP displaying a perfect balance
between stripped back lyrical goodness and dancefloor
crunchiness.
•
Roots Manuva has toured festivals the world over (on one
memorable night being joined onstage by Usain Bolt), selling
out Brixton Academy and the Roundhouse, amongst others. He
has developed a sideline as a DJ / selecta and recently played
the Boiler Room to great acclaim. He is curating his own Boiler
Room session in January.
•
A very unique 12” on bright yellow vinyl with a screen printed
transparent sleeve.
•
Rodney has performed and collaborated with other artists such
as DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin, The Maccabees, U.N.K.L.E.,
Nightmares On Wax, The Cinematic Orchestra, Beth Orton, The
Herbaliser, Leftfield, Coldcut and Toddla T, and made an
appearance on the Gorillaz album ‘Demon Days’.
•
The last track on Mr Manuva’s acclaimed 2011 album,
‘4everevolution’, ‘Banana Skank’ is reimagined here by WAFA
without losing any of the original's joyful reggae pulse. Not be
outdone, Smith links up his own sequel to the original, a kind of
motoric good trip / bad trip which reminds yet again what a
uniquely talented producer he is. ‘Party Time’ and ‘Natural’
reinforce the point, joined on both tracks by long time Banana
Klan collaborator Kope and together the two trade lines and
verses in the best traditions of hip hop, their voices (and
imaginations) bouncing off each other in an intertwining stream
of consciousness.
•
Press - Reviews & features in Clash, Contact, Bonafide, Soul Culture, Hit
The Floor, Guestlist Network, Q, Drowned in Sound, Daily Mirror, BBC, Muso
Guide, NME, DJ.
•
Radio - Radio1 Toddla T, Annie Mac, Kiss 100, The Hip Hop Show, Sinden.
•
Online - Facebook (49,430 likes), MySpace (23877 friends), Twitter (33,171
followers).
Tracklisting
Natural ft Kope (Radio
Edit)
Banana Skank (WAFA
Remix)
Banana Skank Part 2
Party Time ft Kope
(Radio Edit)
Further information available upon request from:
Ty Segall
‘Would You Be My Love’
7” - DC548 - 0781484054818
•
‘Would You Be My Love’ is the second single from
Ty’s titanic third album of 2012, ‘Twins’.
•
It’s a candy-coated ‘American Bandstand’ type
moment that is sure to guarantee lots of twisting.
The song never quits, bouncing along at a medium
high degree of tempo that is only enhanced by
revolving at 45rpm.
•
Note the depths of longing, loneliness and
melancholy underneath the gleaming waves of the
song, for these represent the other ‘twin’ alluded
to in the title of ‘Twins’: For every thrusting rocker
out for a good time, there’s a retiring romantic,
wanting you to know that he’s afraid of
disappearing from the face of the Earth, and both
of them sharing space inside the same skull.
•
The flipside of the record, ‘For Those Who Weep’,
is a non-album moment dressing an old familiar
scrap of melody in a messianic tunic, as Ty recalls
being compelled from beyond himself to
participate in the spirit-world of music, uniting the
people together. Low-fi production crunch gives
the waltzing acoustic guitars a sweet Stonesy
edge, freeing this simple song to sing intimately
yet anthemically inside our collective head.
Tracklisting
Would You Be My Love
For Those Who Weep
Further information available upon request from:
Christopher Owens
‘Lysandre’
CD - TS001CD - 5051083067706
LP - TS001LP - 5051083067713
DA - TS001DL - 5051083067720
Tracklisting
Lysandre’s Theme
Here We Go
New York City
•
After disbanding Girls earlier this year, frontman
Christopher Owens returns with his highly anticipated
solo album ‘Lysandre’.
•
Owens describes the record as “A coming of age
story, a road trip story, a love story.”
•
Written almost entirely in one creative outpouring and
recorded with former Girls producer Doug Boehm,
‘Lysandre’ follows Owens from San Francisco - where
he’s filled with excitement after writing his band’s
‘Album’ - to New York City and on to the French
Riviera - where he falls in love with the record’s
namesake.
•
Perfectly framed by intricate instrumentation,
gorgeous backing vocals and pristine production,
Owens’ enthralling, personal songwriting takes centre
stage and delivers a heartbreaking rumination on love,
longing, friendship, adventure and the thrill of finding
an audience for your art.
•
Available on CD, 180g vinyl with free download card,
and digital download formats.
•
Press - Features in Fader (cover), Guardian Guide, Wonderland
Magazine (cover), NY Times, V Man, Uncut, The Fly, Tank,
NME, Stool Pigeon, Clash.
•
Radio - Radio 1 Huw Stevens, 6Music Lauren Laverne (plus
session), XFM John Kennedy, NME Radio, Amazing Radio (Clist), Q Radio (playlist).
•
Online - Fader, Spin, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork.
•
Tourdates - December 10 & 11 St Giles London.
A Broken Heart
Here We Go Again
Riviera Rock
Love Is In The Ear Of The
Listener
Lysandre
Everywhere You Knew
Closing Theme
Part Of Me (Lysandre’s
Epilogue)
Further information available upon request from:
Dutch Uncles
‘Out Of Touch In The Wild’
CD - MI0242CD - 5060146093774
LP - MI0242LP - 5060146093798
Tracklisting
•
“Coming from the generation of bookish Manchester
bands striving to throw off Northern Indie’s boorish
image, Dutch Uncles look set to graduate at the top of
the class” - NME
•
“The Manchester band returns with a refreshingly
intellectual approach to merging guitar-based indiepop with electronic dance” - The Independent
•
“Dissonant, xylophone-pocked electro-pop - sublime” The Sunday Times
•
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 their Memphis Industries debut
‘Cadenza’ in 2011 - have made another huge step
forward with ‘Out Of Touch In The Wild’.
•
This is a refined version of Dutch Uncles doing what
they do best - making labyrinthine pop of Escher-like
complexity and crystal clarity.
•
LP format pressed on coloured vinyl (colour to be
announced).
•
First single Fester was A listed at 6Music and received
support from Huw Stephens at Radio 1. The album
will be included in NME’s Albums for 2013 issue.
•
Tourdates - February 5 Newcastle The Cluny, 6 Glasgow Art
School, 7 Leeds Brundenell Social Club, 8 Liverpool Kazimier, 9
Sheffield Leadmill, 12 Cardiff The Moon Club, 13 Brighton The
Green Door Store, 14 London Hoxton Bar And Kitchen, 15
Birmingham Hare & Hounds, 16 Manchester Gorilla.
Pondage
Bellio
Fester
Godboy
Threads
Flexxin
Zug Zwang
Phaedra
Nometo
Brio
Further information available upon request from:
Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory
‘Elements Of Light’
CD - RTRADCD654 - 0883870065429
LP - RTRADLP654 - 0883870065412
•
Over the course of three albums - and as an in-demand remixer of artists ranging
from Animal Collective to, most recently, Philip Glass - the Berlin-based musician and
producer Pantha Du Prince (Hendrik Weber) has been celebrated for pushing the
envelope of electronic music.
•
His newest effort, ‘Elements Of Light’, a collaborative project with The Bell
Laboratory, is doubtless his most ambitious to date: The work is a symphony for
electronics, percussion and bell carillon, a three-tonne instrument comprising 50
bronze bells.
•
The genesis of the project began in Oslo in the summer of 2010, when Weber was
having lunch with local curators Mattis With and Håkon Vinnogg and heard, in the
distance, one of the concerts played multiple times daily on a bell carillon inside the
city hall. Weber was struck by how the frequencies and overtones unfolded
unpredictably, influenced one another, and resonated, more or less, throughout the
Norwegian capital.
•
With and Vinnogg suggested he compose for the carillon, which was developed in
China 3,500 years ago, during the Shang Dynasty, and made its way to Europe
during the Middle Ages. Weber began collaborating with the Norwegian Lars Petter
Hagen, who served as arranger and conductor. For the recording, a bell carillon was
shipped from Denmark to Germany, where Vegar Sandholt, the same carillonist that
Weber had heard during his stay in Oslo, played it.
•
A separate session, in Oslo, brought together a variety of percussionists, including
Weber; Martin Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist, Killl and The National Bank; Erland Dahlen
of Nils Petter Molvaer Trio, Susanne Sundfør, Madrugada, Xploding Plastix, and
Kaada; the researcher and performer Håkon Stene, who teaches at the Norwegian
Academy Of Music; and Heming Valebjørg, of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. They
contributed numerous tubular bells, marimba, xylophone, cymbals, chimes,
handclaps, finger snaps and other percussion.
•
The album is a single continuous work, although it has been broken down into five
tracks named for elements of light: ‘Wave’, ‘Particle’, ‘Photon’, ‘Spectral Split’ and
‘Quantum’. Sonically, the work is a fusion of electronic music and classical
composition, and draws on house and minimalism, jazz and new music, Gamelan and
Western sacred music. Influences include John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Steve Reich,
LaMonte Young and Moondog.
•
‘Elements Of Light’ is a natural next step in the Pantha Du Prince oeuvre. Bells figured
prominently on his last album, the highly acclaimed ‘Black Noise’, which Rough Trade
released in 2010. In a Best New Music review of ‘Black Noise’, Pitchfork said “each
track is its own micro sound world with enough rich detail to draw you back for
deeper investigation.”
•
‘Elements Of Light’ live performances are being planned for late 2013.
•
LP format includes a CD copy of the album.
Tracklisting
Wave
Particle
Photon
Spectral Split
Quantum
Further information available upon request from:
People Get Ready
‘People Get Ready’
CD - HWY028CD - 0632662557822
LP - HWY028 - 0632662557815
•
“People Get Ready is an experience beyond hearing music
in a club or viewing a dance; it is a moving meditation that
suggests dreams” - NY Times
•
Brooklyn-based People Get Ready are Steven Reker, Luke
Fasano (ex-Yeasayer), James Rickman (ex-Lizzie Trulie,
ex-Slow Gherkin), and Jen Goma (A Sunny Day In
Glasgow).
•
In 2006 Reker moved from Arizona to New York City,
finding work as a dancer and guitarist on David Byrne’s
2008-09 tour, as a composer in Yasuko Yokoshi’s recent
dance work, and as a choreographer for Miranda July’s film
‘The Future’. 2009 marked the debut of People Get Ready
in a performance at The Kitchen’s Dance And Process
series, designed to pay homage to both sides of Reker’s
creativity.
•
People Get Ready forge continuing creative bonds with the
formidable list of artists whose paths they’ve crossed. One
of Denniston Hill’s founders, the painter Julie Mehretu, has
provided cover art for their album; the band’s music has
found coveted slots on playlists curated by Byrne and July;
and they’ve shared stages with the likes of Dale Earnhardt
Jr Jr, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, !!! and the
who’s who of Brooklyn artists selected for Aaron & Bryce
Dessner’s scene-defining Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival
at BAM.
•
This album is perhaps the most accessible and radio-ready
album Brassland has ever released. Would appeal to fans
of Talking Heads, Dirty Projectors, Yeasayer, TV On The
Radio.
Tracklisting
Windy Cindy
New June
Three Strangers
Orange Grove
Dark Candy
Shoe
Middle Name
Mr. Shoulders
Zelda Maria
a Squandering
Further information available upon request from:
Serafina Steer
‘The Moths Are Real’
CD - SR063 - 5065002036087
LP - SR063LP - 5065002036148
DA - SR063D - 5065002036094
•
Serafina’s third album, produced by Jarvis Cocker.
•
She is accompanied here by Capitol K, Steve
Mackey, Jarvis Cocker, The Boxettes, Polar Bear’s
Seb Rochford and The Flying Lizards wizard David
Cunningham.
•
Unassuming yet mesmerising, this album confirms
the arrival of a singular talent, a breath-taking
voice and an utterly unique lyricist.
•
LP is pressed on clear vinyl with hand silkscreened
inner, and includes a digital download card.
•
Press - Reviews & features in Uncut, Mojo, Q, GQ, Record
Collector, Loud And Quiet, fRoots, R2, Notion, Easy Living,
Sunday Express, OHM, The American, The Quietus.
Features in fRoots.
•
Radio - Loose Ends, Marc Riley session, Lauren Laverne,
Stuart Maconie, Cerys Mathews, Marc Riley, Tom
Ravenscroft, Gideon Coe, John Kennedy.
•
Online - Nowness, EMusic, Subject, Fake DIY.
•
Tourdates - November 26 Brighton Komedia, 27 Bristol
Louisiana, 28 Exeter Phoenix, 29 London Village
Underground, 30 Oxford Jericho, January 16 The Castle
Manchester, 24 St Leonard’s London (album launch).
Tracklisting
Night Before Mutiny
Machine Room
Ballad Of Brick Lane
Lady Fortune
Skinny Dipping
The Removal Man
World Of Love
Has Anyone Ever Liked
You?
Island Odessy
Alien Invasion
Disco Compilation
The Moths Are Real
Further information available upon request from:
Villagers
‘{Awayland}’
CD - WIGCD294 - 5034202029427
LP - WIGLP294 - 5034202029410
Tracklisting
•
‘{Awayland}’ is the follow up to the Mercurynominated and Ivor Novello Award winning debut
‘Becoming A Jackal’.
•
Engineered, produced and mixed at Attica Audio in
Donegal by Conor J. O’Brien and Villagers’ guitarist
Tommy McLaughlin.
•
The CD is packaged in a white tray jewelcase with
booklet, featuring an O-card with spot UV gloss.
•
Single heavyweight vinyl LP with spot gloss and 4
page booklet, plus download codes.
•
Press - Reviews in MOJO, Uncut, GQ, Clash, Q, Notion,
Artrocker, Record Collector, Guitar & Bass, Independent.
Features in Sunday Times, Stool Pigeon, Telegraph, MOJO,
Q.
•
Radio - Sessions for Lauren Laverne, Monocle 24, John
Kennedy, Loose Ends, Annie Mac, Cerys Matthews.
•
Tourdates - February Sheffield Leadmill, 9 Newcastle
Warehouse, 10 Glasgow Stereo, 12 Leeds Wardrobe, 13
Manchester Gorilla, 14 Birmingham HMV Library, 16 Bristol
Trinity, 17 Brighton Old Market, 18 Portsmouth
Wedgewood Rooms, 20 London Village Underground,
March 21 Dublin Olympia Theatre.
My Lighthouse
Earthly Pleasure
The Waves
Judgement Call
Nothing Arrived
The Bell
{Awayland}
Passing A Message
Grateful Song
In A Newfound Land You
Are Free
Rhythm Composer
Further information available upon request from:
Yo La Tengo
‘Fade’
CD - OLE9942 - 0744861099420
LP - OLE9941 - 0744861099413
•
‘Fade’ is the most direct, personal and cohesive album of Yo La Tengo’s
career. Recorded with John McEntire at Soma Studios in Chicago, it recalls
the sonic innovation and lush cohesion of career high points like 1997’s ‘I
Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ and 2000’s ‘…And Then Nothing Turned
Itself Inside Out’. ‘Fade’ is a tapestry of fine melody and elegant noise,
rhythmic shadow play and shy-eyed orchestral beauty, songfulness and
experimentation.
•
‘Fade’ attains a lyrical universality and hard-won sense of grandeur that’s
rare even for this band. It weaves themes of aging, personal tragedy and
emotional bonds into a fully-realized whole that recalls career-defining
statements like ‘Blood On The Tracks’, ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights
Tonight’ or Al Green’s ‘Call Me’.
•
“Nothing ever stays the same / Nothing’s explained”, the band sing in unison
on the reflective opening track ‘Ohm’. “We try not to lose our hearts / Not to
lose our minds” - a straightforward sentiment for a band that prefer private
intimation to forceful expression, making the song’s resistance to resignation
feel that much more earned.
•
This is the first time Yo La Tengo have collaborated with producer John
McEntire, best known for his work in post-rock band Tortoise as well as his
work with such artists as Bright Eyes, Stereolab and Teenage Fanclub. He
has helped the band hone a set of songs as multifaceted as they are
seamless, flowing from the low key shimmy of ‘Well You Better’ to the muted
motorik kick of ‘Stupid Things’, to the cozy distortion of ‘Paddle Forward’ and
right through to the cagey groove, horns and strings of the gorgeous album
closer, ‘Before We Run’, in which the band’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan
sing “Take me to your distant lonely place / Take me out beyond mistrust.”
•
‘Fade’s emotional core sits at its very centre with two songs, one sung by
Kaplan and one by Hubley. The tender, raw, Kaplan-sung ballad ‘I’ll Be
Around’ pivots around a circular guitar figure set against James McNew’s
calm, pulsating bassline. The song’s simplicity and starkness stand like a
beacon against the emptiness.
•
‘Cornelia And Jane’ features Hubley gently singing “I hear them whispering,
they analyse, but nobody knows what’s lost in your eyes / Sending the
message that doesn’t get to you, how can we care for you?” , supported by
whispering cushions of horns and delicate vocal harmonies. The effect is
both heartbreaking and reassuring.
•
“In the best possible sense, Yo La Tengo can feel less like a band and more
like a beloved national trust” - Stereogum
•
Online - www.yolatengo.com.
•
Tourdates - March 20 Barbican London, 21 The Ritz Manchester, 22 O2 ABC Glasgow.
Tracklisting
Ohm
Is That Enough
Well You Better
Paddle Forward
Stupid Things
I’ll Be Around
Cornelia And Jane
Two Trains
The Point Of It
Before We Run
Further information available upon request from:
Raisa K
‘Feeder’
12” - TCLR001 - 5021392790169
Tracklisting
•
The ‘Feeder’ EP is the first release on
Technicolour, Ninja Tune’s brand new imprint. It is
Raisa K’s first solo release, having previously
collaborated with the likes of DELS, Kwes and
Micachu.
•
Raisa K plays keyboards as part of Micachu And
The Shapes, having met Marc Pell and Micachu
whilst studying at London’s prodigious Guildhall.
After the band finished touring their debut album
‘Jewellery’ worldwide she started working on her
instrumental productions and doing remixes under
the guise m.a.t.h.e.s. with bandmate Mica Levi.
They have remixed and worked with the likes of
The Streets, the London Sinfonietta, The Invisible,
Metronomy and Connan Mockasin.
•
After taking part at the 2011 Red Bull Music
Academy in Madrid, she decided to step out as a
solo artist. Raisa K is still experimenting but for
now expect bold streaks of sound jumping out of
non-genre-specific electronic soundscapes.
•
Raisa has also been playing with Ninja Tune MC
DELS over the past year, proving her eclectic
genre-moulding abilities.
•
Online - Boiler Room mix.
Repetition
Bowl With A Hole
Feeder
Even Better Even Worse
Guitary
Seasick Sailors
Further information available upon request from: