Look what we sneaked online while you were sleeping…
Transmission 12.0….w/e 25/3/2017
Revolutions of a 33 and 45 kind….
This edition features……
Dialects, omega vague, lights and motion, mountains, devil’s witches, henry mancini, lalo Schifrin, the nighthawks, Benjamin schoos, mat handley, new model army, the saxaphones, pye corner audio, faten Kanaan, Richard vinal, yuri morozov, oskar sala, Edward artemiev, sophiaaaahjkl 8901, oiseaux tempete, Lorelle meets the obsolete, gnoomes, barnacles, pull the plug, green seagulls, biscuit mouth, victories at sea, w h lung, skating polly, a year in the country, the assembled minds, time attendant, vic mars, tubular brass, the luck of eden hall, Julie byrne, lake ruth, david liebe hart, deadbear, Charlemagne Palestine, bettie serveert, the veldt, Laetitia sadier source ensemble, cate le bon, the black angels, Darren hayman, goldfrapp, the perfect kiss
Is this a most lulling thing, described by its author as a ‘Sunday morning doodle’ – really, well if that’s the case you really need to stay in more and keep it up. From Mat Hindley, he of Pulselovers and ‘you the night and the music’ fame, with ‘tape exp 1’ which I must admit had us somewhat yawning and stretching ready for bedtime, which i’ll hasten to add, was not meant as a bad thing, but rather more served to highlight the lullaby qualities of this wood land sleepy head whose wonky warping and sepia sprayed nostalgic old school electronic nuances put us in mind of some vintage 70’s animation heading out of Eastern Europe or an Ovaltini overture for a Moomin land preparing the snoozing as night descends had of course an ‘organisation’ era OMD turned their collective minds to doing during a spot of playful twiddling in studio down time Adored in a word. https://soundcloud.com/mathandley/tape-exp-1
Mentioned on numerous occasions though not admittedly this particular track, taken from the heart heavy emotion crusher that is their current ‘if you’re on the water’ single for full time hobby incidentally out now and available on limited 7 inch formats, this is the Saxophones with ‘new tradition’. The flip side therein, utterly crestfallen and heavily hung in despairing sighs, this tortured ballad comes ghosted and cut in a classic thought lost golden age melodic craft, its outpouring yearn washed in drizzles of head bowed bruised reflection to which the wallowing croons are cradled, crystal cut and intensified in a disturbingly beautiful noir intimacy that hints of the beleaguered burn of the Tindersticks.
Another one mentioned previously, we’ve now managed to eke out full sound links for that rather spiffing Pye Corner Audio / Faten Kanaan split that literally sold out on pre-sale of its first pressing the minute the artist’s names were uttered via a rare and unwitting Polytechnic Youth shock record shop exclusive outing. Fear not folks for normal mail order frenzied service will resume when a clear vinyl second pressing announces itself shortly. In truth you can understand the fuss, pair together two of the most cutting edge talents on the chill / cold wave retro electronic scene, daring to have one track at least featuring them in a collaborative face to face, and this was always going to pique the interest of the hauntologist / cold war sound loving cognoscenti. Two tracks lurk within, ‘the darkest wave’ the main event occupies the same future looking dystopian landscapes viewed upon by mark 1 of the Human League some forty years ago, coolly cut in a late 70’s vintage Martin Jenkins’ seductively hollowing shadow traced pulsars forge a grandly frosted enchantment that swerves, swirls and surrounds the disembodied all seeing ethereal ice toned sub conscious narrative of Faten Kanaan, quite sublime if you ask me. Over on the flip, just Pye Corner Audio for ‘mirror lake’ which we may have made mention in previous dispatches, is finitely cut in the spirit of John Carpenter’s recent ‘lost themes’ vibe, a symphonic star gazed kosmiche orbital murmured in entrancing images of futures to come. https://pyecorneraudio.bandcamp.com/album/the-darkest-wave
staying with Pye Corner Audio, those of you with a keen eye for such things will have noted that his band camp page is occasionally populated variously by fanfare-less digital releases, the latest of which is ‘the Spiral’. I’m guessing scores for imagined 80’s straight to VHS b-movie flicks indelibly crafted with a fond admiration for the likes of Carpenter, Friedel, Harrison and Moroder, the former of whom is superbly called to mind on both ‘the spiral’ and ‘descent’ with the first mentioned equipped in oodles of Carpenter-esque tropes albeit somewhat dropped dead centre into John Harrison’s superb ‘day of the dead’ score while ‘descent’ fuses elements from ‘escape from New York’ and refracts them through the mercurial eye of Zombi. As is always the case with these things, best moment of the set is left to the parting ‘it is real’ – a mournful ghost lit reprise soured and shivered in a subtle macabre melancholy. https://pyecorneraudio.bandcamp.com/album/the-spiral
Interlude…..strange sounds electronica
Richard Vimal – Elixir / Aquarythmies / Arcanes….
Oskar Sala – Elektronische Impressionen…
Yuri Morozov – Human Extinction…
Edward Artemiev – Moods…
One for those much loving and indeed fondly missing the kind of grooves tripped out by the likes of the frank wobbly and sons and tigerbeat imprint along with current weird ear dudes Bearsuit, this is ‘Toilet Abstraction Tapes’ – a limited cassette release by Sophiaaaahjkl;8901 via the business casual sound house, a release that isn’t in the least the slightly disconcerting listening experience that its title might initial convey, still i’m not saying it won’t drive you to demented distraction. Blessed with a track simply called ‘Kenny Loggins type beat’, there’s more than a whiff of mischief about this this skittering sonic collage whereupon distantly familiar samples are cut, spliced, speed manipulated and wired, compressed and corroded into a wonderfully crooked sound palette that buzzes, darts and hiccups to a trip toned fusion of Balearic braids, 8 bit waywardness and high wiring wonkiness. Our favourite moment of the set all said, is the mutant oriental sprays that quirkily invade the wig flipped lullaby mash up that is the puzzling tongue twisted named ‘Queenwish Opistognathus Rosenblatti (Ft. Galen Tipton)’ very Whizz Kid, though that said ‘Nvklrfbrtnmwye6 (Be Back Soon)’ is no slouch in the affection stakes despite the fact that it borders on the barking. http://music.businesscasual.biz/album/toilet-abstraction-tapes
New from, well incoming at least, out of the immaculate Sub Rosa stable, Oiseaux-Tempête are set to return to the fray with a new full length entitled ‘”AL-‘AN !’ from which ‘Through The Speech Of Stars’ has been ripped from its grooves and sent ahead as a herald. As with previous releases this features G.W.Sok formerly of the Ex applying the narration. A mammoth and atmospheric track that prowls with seismic rage and disquieting despair across a hulking 17-minute soundscape that’s darkly daubed in middle eastern mystique and towered by the restless visitation of an ancient spiritual tongue. Within, both bruised and majestic, emerging from out of the deathly smoke of conflicts haze and the warring flames of political acrimony and religious division, snarling stoner riffs lacerate to gouge a thickly hypnotic path whose tensely coiled sound palette forges a sonic kinship with a youthful godspeed over which through the brutalised imagery unfurled by GW Sok’s disbelieving spoken words a solemn beauty weaves with fading hope, the effect at once tormented, crushed and welled in bleak harrowing statuesque futility. https://soundcloud.com/oiseaux-tempete/alaan-through-the-speech-of-stars
Those fancying some out there ethereal entrancement might want to turn your radar settings in the general direction of a passing visitation by Lorelle meets the Obsolete whose ‘the sound of all things’ finds itself powered by the pulsing purr of a Gnoomes refit, this seductively lulling lunar light show arrives serenely sprayed in celestial choral configurations and all manner of kaleidoscopically kosmiche traced woozy wonders before drifting off into the great galactic beyond. https://soundcloud.com/sonic-cathedral/lorelle-meets-the-obsolete-the-sound-of-all-things-gnoomes-remix
Tour happenings….
23.03 CH – Thun – Cafe Bar Mokka
24.03 CH – St Gallen – Palace
25.03 DE – Esslingen – Komma
26.03 DE – Leipzig – Akko Bar
27.03 AT – VIenna – dasBACH
28.03 DE – Berlin – Bi Nuu
29.03 DE – Frankfurt – Dreikönigskeller
01.04 ES – Oriheula – La Gramola
03.04 FR – Marseille – Le Molotv
04.04 FR – Lyon – Sonic
05.04 FR – Paris – Supersonic
06.04 UK – London – The Brewhouse
07.04 UK – Falmouth – Beerwolf Books
08.04 UK – Manchester – Aatma
09.04 UK – Brighton – Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
Those of you preferring your radiophonic tones submerged in the tranquil toned ripples of defrosting ice combs whilst of a mind to step outside the hustle n’ bustle and frenzying angst of the day’s toils and into a place somewhat bliss burnt might do well to hook up to a new thing from Barnacles heading out on cassette and CD via a joint head to head by Boring Machines and Non Piangere Dischi. Well I say defrosted but ‘ I hate a barnacle’ the opening salvo and lone preview track showcased here, manages to morph with seamless delight and arrest to emerge from its frost tipped shelling and delicately unfurl amid shimmer toning sprays of quiet euphoria much like I should hasten to add, akin to some kind of bitter sweetly head bowed epitaph like back drop symphonically saluting the starry cosmos as it draws its last breath before that is purring to the end groove kissed in radiant washes of kosmiche pulsars. Begging letters are being cobbled together as you read in order to secure a copy to call our own. https://cirripedia.bandcamp.com/album/one-single-sound
latest edition of ‘pull the plug’ is upon us, the ‘cornflakes’ edition therein with some impromptu introductions from the late and much missed Rik Mayall setting the tone to this show with an anarchic ‘young ones’ clip before the sounds trip out for what is another half hour feast of ear candy starting with the rather wigged out and funk struck infection that is ‘computers singing’ by radio trip, this being the freakily fruity Markey Funk ‘alfomega’ remix. In quick pursuit a brace of cuts one forthcoming one recently sold out from the polytechnic youth sound lab starting out with the 80’s synth washed ‘catacombs’ by Vorderhaus which as it happens we mentioned in despatches only mere days ago, this is the one that sounds like White Rose Movement trading on classic era Duran Duran ‘night versions’. Up next the quite sublime ‘mirror lake’ from Pye Corner Audio, second pressing on white vinyl due soon for mail order take up, a side features that quite mind blowing head to head with Faten Kanaan. Two tracks from Swedish psychedelicists the Greek Theatre via sugarbush records that sound as though they’ve stepped straight out from a late 60’s hipster boutique, the first cut ‘broken circle’ a wonderfully airy fairy slice of woozy psych folk which all said pails in the shadow of the mellowing west coast hymnal drift of ‘Ruby-Khon’ which frankly just needs to be heard to be believed, which leaves Ty Segall to take matters to the end groove with strung out glam psyched stomp of the frantic and fried ‘thank you Mr K’, did someone say the Pretty Things. https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/pull-the-plug-16th-march-2017/
many thanks to both Boring Machines and Non Piangere Dischi for allowing this exclusive stream of a forthcoming joint release by Barnacles. Over the course of two decades, Barnacles better known to kith n’ kin as Matteo Uggeri, has worked with the likes of Controlled Bleeding, Deison, OvO and Giuseppe Ielasi as well as being a member of Sparkle in Grey. Due to land in both CD and limited cassette formats this coming Friday, his latest solo adventure ‘one single sound’ finds him exploring what he describes in his own words as ‘using field recordings, drones, crick and crocks, microsounds and ignorant beats’. What might on first reading appear a little casual, maybe matter of fact and even to some as a tad negative bears remarkable results for what on description reading may hint at something minimalist, sparse and at the very least hard listening, is to the contrary fulsome, terra-forming and lush not to mention a very easy listen. Four tracks occupy the groove on this extended release, as noted previously opening salvo ‘i hate a barnacle’ manages to morph with seamless delight and arrest to emerge from its frost tipped shelling and delicately unfurl amid shimmer toning sprays of quiet euphoria much like I should hasten to add, akin to some kind of bitter sweetly head bowed epitaph like back drop symphonically saluting the starry cosmos as it draws its last breath before that is purring to the end groove kissed in radiant washes of kosmiche pulsars. Very much recalling Matt Bower’s Wizards Tell Lies off shoot the Revenant Sea, ‘as no man ever did before’ emerges through the twilight fog like an ethereal ghost ship amid its hauntingly woozy glassy timbres and subdued symphonic frost opines a seafaring choir of lost souls bewitch to a curious lulling hymnal haze which to the onset of deeply set propulsive beats a crescendo shimmers into ecliptic view before vapour trailing off into the ether or as it happens seamlessly into ‘not even a sailor’. Now it’s not for me to say that this could easily be the sonic backdrop to some river crossing aboard a boat steered by the mythical Charon carrying the dead from the hereafter to the thereafter, but it is, in every way as tense, as dark and damned as a turntable visitation by Father Murphy and rippled in all manner of ceremonial symbolism and primitive spiritualism. Leading matters towards the end groove, ‘in a slow sailing ship’ manages to occupy the finite line between the majestic and the macabre, the atmosphere stilled distractively in doom draped chamber motifs is likewise oddly dreamy whilst daubed and dinked in sparsely toned dub dosed techno motifs.
Incoming on the rather wonderful mega dodo label from whom you can expect mentions for both Brinsley Schwarz and the Insektlife Life before the weeks out, this is Green Seagull who we mentioned here – last missive out….
‘Now I’ll be honest in saying that we sneaked a quick earful of this ‘un with the intention of prepping it for later in the week for mention activity, so smitten with it though that our planned listening for the evening was soon unravelling fast. With a press release that pretty much writes its own review, promising head tripping magic within, okay that’s our words not the labels, but you get the drift. This is heading out of the much-loved mega dodo sound stable June time, limited to just 300 copies all pressed upon 7 inches of vinyl and sure to sell out in the blink of a kaleidoscopic eye, this is the debuting platter from Green Seagull. Two cuts feature within that sound for all the world as though they’ve stumbled out of 60’s time machine, ‘Scarlet’ in short, the finest thing we’ve heard since that rather nifty Wicked Whispers debut, comes kissed and seasoned in a swirling 60’s spell craft whose shimmering chimes, subtle baroque pop weaves and shadowy grooving had us fondly imagining the criminally overlooked Autumn Leaves cutting coolly coalescing shapes whilst joining the magical dots between the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Over on the flip lurks the wigged out ‘they just don’t know’ – a zig zagging slice of Hammond hued slinky strut shimmying 60’s beat pop whose jangling crystalline chimes chirp melodiously to an as were lost Byrdsian vibing whilst simultaneously cooked in a sunny side up Left Banke radiance which on occasion unravels into moments of wiry stoner prog psyche’……
Anyhow we’ve managed to nail sound links to one of the tracks, feast thy ears upon this……
https://soundcloud.com/greenseagull/scarlet
http://www.mega-dodo.co.uk/products/brinsley-schwarz
http://www.mega-dodo.co.uk/products/the-insektlife-cycle
apologies for the slightly frustration aberration, but we do appear to have momentarily separated ourselves from the attending press release that came accompanying the press release attached to this. So while we rummage around, here’s just a little heads up of the latest incoming happenings from the ever wonderful a year in the country collective. Fear not for the will be a much lengthier piece cobbled together highlighting the merits of this along with the previous AYitC outing ‘the forest / the wald’ which for reasons unknown even to us, we have thus far managed not to mention in any great detail. Anyhow enough of the oh pity me malarkey, ‘the restless field’ is your bountiful feast of spring dew harvesting, an as ever exquisitely hand crafted package of dawn and night variations that features a fourteen strong gathering of familiar friends around the mystical and magical ley lines that crisscross these fair green lands each blooded and ghosted in historical flashpoints and historical turning points. As with previous visitations from these mercurial folk, the sounds are spoken in an exquisite phrasing of a lost age old tongue of the land. As said fuller mentions to come, for now let us guide you gently to a triptych of delights with starting with Vic Mars whose contribution to this richly bounteous fayre is ‘Mortimer’s cross (1461)’ – haunted heraldry daisy chained in wind chime florals set upon a lilting music box lull which has the unnerving effect of its rustic idyll seemingly page turning through the ages, disturbingly demurring. Second of the selected ear candy, a new cut from the Assembled Minds entitled ‘3am m5 field raid’ is an ethereal echo reaching through the blurring overlaps in time, an orbital kosmiche ghost light lost and wandering way off it’s 70’s cold war mooring restlessly locked in its own vapour kissed euphoria cutting shimmering shapes. Very much channelling Add N to X, last selection for this particular visit is ‘black stab’ by Time Attendant, what first greets with regal sprays soon dissolves to give over to a starkly cut binary palette of pirouetting pulsars and buzz bleeping analogue whirrs, the effect very remote, very isolationist and yet strangely playful in a Bebe and Louis Barron meet Tristram Cary type way. Incoming May time.
Also arriving May time, a new 7 inch from the much adored Static Caravan imprint with a full album to follow later in the year. This is Tubular Brass with ‘Tubular Bells’ which you won’t be all too surprised to hear is a brass rendition of Mike Oldfield’s multi award winning classic score. Of course known notably among psychological horror fans as providing the distinctive and memorable theme to ‘the Exorcist’, ‘Tubular Bells’ marked the debut recording by the precociously talented Mike Oldfield, a release that would single handed bank roll the fledging Virgin imprint of silver spoon sucking Richard Branson and something very much carved in the sonic image of Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Arranged by Sandy Smith and played by a seasoned gathering of brass playing talent, this new rendition provides a perfect excuse to revisit and again lose yourself in Oldfield’s mercurial melodic maze of lushly toned symphonia with these wind willowed orchestrations blossoming to the radiant rush of a richly invigorating regal rustic elegance that courts and trumps to a deeply alluring timeless heraldic majesty. Arriving in a limited pressing of 300 copies. www.staticcaravan.org
Hipster high priests of hallucinogenically haloed pop-a-delica, the Luck of Eden Hall are due to return to the vinyl fray with an absolutely head tripping sonic odyssey with the release of the 23-minute happening that is ‘make way for the mighty machine’ – yes folks you read right, 23 minutes. This baby is heading out of the taste making Italian imprint Vincebus Eruptum and due for swooning sometime in September. An amazing kaleidoscopic mind ride that’s very much an imagining of a sonic tapestry weaved from the high table sitting progian operetta threads of the Pretty Things in their ‘parachutes’ era, Floyd and Soft Machine with a healthy side serving of Van der Graaf Generator, Todd Rundgren and Genesis making up the mercurial numbers. A mammoth turntable turning technicolour dream coat that takes the band onto a whole new level of wigged out bliss toning, for essentially ‘make way for the mighty machine’ is a humungous kosmick opera spliced with all the trademark TLoEH tropes though here fried into morphing sonic stew whose myriad of influence slipstreams from moments of locked grooved dayglo tweaked garage psych blues, essences of stoner prog, lunar arabesques, airy fairy pastoral undulates and dream draped vapour gazing spacey recitals, something we here suspect that ought to satiate those mourning the absence of the Porcupine Tree.
You might have to wait a day or two while we rummage through our in box to furnish you with all the wonderful happenings in Julie Byrne’s world right now, till then there’s this, admittedly an oversight on our part as it was sent over a little while back – January time I must regrettably cough up to, this is the quite immaculate ‘I live now as a singer’ by, indeed the aforementioned Julie Byrne, the track culled from her current basin rock set ‘Not Even Happiness’ – an utterly entrancing gracefall that sounds to these ears as though its fallen gently from the Twin Peaks soundtrack, beguiling doesn’t cut it, immeasurably beautiful in its vulnerability.
https://soundcloud.com/juliebyrne/i-live-now-as-a-singer
apologies to the folk over at the blog that celebrates itself who are amassing a weekend’s worth of listening lovelies for us to report back on, just as soon that is, that we manage to free the weekend in question. Anyhow we eyed this on the soundcloud player and while i’m well aware we’ve mentioned it before there seems no logical reason why we shouldn’t again given its quite sublime. This is Lake Ruth whose absence from our turntable has been duly noticed and with a degree of concern we should quickly add, this lovely is the jazz lounge tweaked ‘empty morning’ which by our reckoning sounds a lot like a 60’s lunar love note exchanged between the Soundcarriers, Stereolab and Broadcast. https://soundcloud.com/lakeruth/empty-morning
If I were to mention the words electric phantom then I think you know where this is going, featuring a guest appearance by Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin this is ‘insect woman’ by David Liebe Hart – a track that’s best described as a cosmic disco bizarro, it’s a strangely warped listening experience, references to Gary Wilson are duly noted though here moored upon a surrealist palette dinked in the odd, the outlandish and the outsider-ish that recounts a tale of space boy meets alien insect girl. Your everyday pop fayre then flipped and fried through an impish eye. Very strange.
Second single to be pulled off his imminent ‘the trees are dancing’ full length due out next week on all your usual listening platforms along with a super limited gold cassette variation which our mitts are prickling to get their hands on. Anyhow this is ‘Modersohnbrücke’ which I must admit we here adore mainly for the way it gradually aligns and gathers its wherewithal from a point of stuttering bowed chimes to delicately add and blend hypno grooving tribal rhythms, Afrobeat dialects and calypso mirages into a gloriously mesmeric sound palette that blossoms seductively showering all in a joyfully radiant euphoria, quite entrancing all said., oh and before I forget its by Deadbear, essential by our reckoning. https://soundcloud.com/deadbearsongs/modersohnbrucke
Interlude….’strumming music’
Immeasurably beautiful, tranquil and transcendental, just out, this is a limited vinyl issue of Charlemagne Palestine’s 1974 opus ‘Strumming Music’. Recorded in his loft utilising a Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano and the trusted sustain peddle, ‘strumming music’ has often been pigeon holed with the minimalist works of both Terry Riley and Steve Reich in so much as the disciplined use of a restricted spectrum of sound, yet where this differs is in the alternating use of speed, touch and tone as opposed to the building of confined layers, it’s a technique applied with such poise, measure and intricacy that a deeply alluring and demurring haze of fluttering wave motifs and reverberating ripples is created with the result that a maximum amount of variation from such a limited work board / palette is achieved with the effect that at times you actually question whether it is just a piano that you are listening to. In short ‘strumming music’ is at once divine, warm and becalming.
Two record store day specials from schoolkids records finds Bettie Serveert’s recent ‘damaged goods’ full length given the coloured wax makeover. From that set this little nugget entitled ‘love sick’ comes ripped and features a guest appearance from Peter te Bos from legendary Dutch groovers Claw Boys Claw, a primitive slab of snaking strut gouged rock-a-hula wonderfully coiled in an anxious love rushed blindness and scowled in a maddeningly fraught high wiring tension that seesaws with sadistic glee whilst sparring, clawing and squalling to a grizzled garage grooved grind.
Also arriving via schoolkids records for RSD swooning, a new 7 inch from the Veldt, this is ‘Symmetry’ – the flip side ‘slow grind’ will be making an appearance later this missive. An immaculate glacial noir sweetheart seductively traced in softly purred dusk demurred Cocteau-ian whispers, arcing angelic serenades and sepia sprayed sultry nocturnal overtures all converging to create a softly serene and shy eyed svelte swirling love crushed lunar symphonia.
Just ahead of the release of their full length ‘find me finding you’ via drag city, Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble has just announced a newly peeled video to accompany the track ‘Galactic Emergence’ – of course we’ve said on record previously that Ms Sadier is blessed with the kind of voice that’s both sultrily smoked and vulnerably bruised not least dusted in such seductive tones that were she to recite shopping lists or pages from a phone book then our turntable would still purr shyly and swoon beneath her mesmeric and lulling jazz noir whisper. Case in point, ‘Galactic Emergence’ comes faintly breezed in alluring autumnal hues ghosted in thoughtful introspection all sighed and softly haloed in a bittersweet sparsely toned chic that recalls the much missed Le Mans albeit as though marooned in some hermetically sealed bubble with L’Augmentation and found orbiting the lunar wilds.
SPRING TOUR 2017
3/24/17 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN, USA
3/30/17 – 4/2/17 DRILL Festival/The Echo, Los Angeles CA, USA
4/6/17 The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland
4/7/17 Black Box, Belfast, United Kingdom
4/9/17 Full Moon Club, Cardiff, United Kingdom
4/10/17 Phoenix. Exeter. United Kingdom
4/11/17 The Bullingdon, Oxford, United Kingdom
4/12/17 The Green Door Store, Brighton, United Kingdom
4/14/17 The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom
4/15/17 The Crescent, York, United Kingdom
4/17/17 CCA, Glasgow, United Kingdom
4/18/17 Soup Kitchen, Manchester, United Kingdom
4/19/17 The Sage 2, Gateshead, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
4/20/17 Moth Club, London , United Kingdom
4/21/17 The Lantern, Bristol, United Kingdom
4/22/17 The Winchester, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
4/29/17 Motoki, Cologne, Germany
5/1/17 Kulturpalast Linden, Hannover, Germany
5/2/17 Kantine am Berghain, Berlin, Germany
5/3/17 Nachtasyl, Hamburg, Germany
5/4/17 Merlin, Stuttgart, Germany
5/5/17 Worm, Rotterdam, Netherlands
5/6/17 Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
5/7/17 Labokube, Brussels, Belgium
5/9/17 Le Biplan, Lille, France
5/10/17 Espace B, Paris, France
5/12/17 Lieu Unique, Nantes, France
5/13/17 Le Manege, Lorient, France
5/14/17 MV Festival, Dijon, France
5/17/17 Les Bains douches, Besancon, France
5/18/17 Sonic, Lyon, France
5/19/17 Neubad Club, Luzern, Switzerland
5/22/17 Bodega, Nottingham, United Kingdom
5/23/17 The Musician, Leicester, United Kingdom
5/24/17 The Junction 2, Cambridge, United Kingdom
5/25/17 Shop Front Theatre, Coventry, United Kingdom
5/26/17 The Continental Pub, Preston, United Kingdom
5/27/17 South Street Arts Centre, Reading, United Kingdom
9/20/17 – 9/23/17 International Festival Of Psychedelia, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Can’t recall rightly whether or not we’ve featured this previously, but a quick rummage around the recent ear wares of drag city and we upturned this delightfully dizzy and kooky curio from Cate Le Bon. Yes i know it’s been out for ages and you are all probably over its quirky charms no doubt having moved on to the next crooked listening experience, no doubt the new thing from Biscuit Mouth which is looming in the listening shadows readying itself for oodles of audio attention shortly. But anyhow this is ‘rock pool’ from her recent EP entitled – er – ‘rock pool’ – something i’d hasten to add ripe for the listening of those of you well familiar with the post punk doodlings of the Au Pairs, Delta 5 et al…..of course adored around these here parts and why not.
Not content with near blowing us away with the heralding ‘currency’ cut a few weeks ago, the Black Angels step up the ante with a second dose of heavily psychedelicised ‘death song’ goodness with the release of the jaw dropping ‘i’d kill for her’. This bad boy pushes all the garage gouged tweaked kaleidoscopic buttons in a frenzying spectacle of mind fracturing psych wooziness that veers and fragments from moments of snaking smoke glazed desert dry blues opines and vapour kissed stratospheric sky siren swoon toned haloes to all out punch you out flat growling riff whiteouts. In short, the coolest thing in record world right this minute. Any questions?
In addition and high on our own the RSD17 wants list, the bands forthcoming ‘death song’ full length gets a specially pressed ultra-limited glow in the dark wax makeover, details of which are revealed in this here accompanying video clip……
Stateside tour dates……
The Death March Tour
April 26 – The Basement East – Nashville, TN
April 27 – The Mill & Mine – Knoxville, TN
April 28 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
April 29 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
April 30 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
May 2 – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY
May 4 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
May 5 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
May 6 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
May 7 – St. Andrew’s Hall – Detroit, MI
May 9 – The Woodward Theater – Cincinnati, OH
May 10 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
May 11 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
May 12 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
May 13 – Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI
May 15 – Delmer Hall – St. Louis, MO
May 16 – Madrid Theatre – Kansas City, MO
May 18 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX
May 19 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
May 20 – Stubb’s – Austin, TX
Many apologies to Sean and Tim, they collectively being the angular post math punk dudes of Derby known as Biscuit Mouth, who emailed us a little while back alerting us to new groove in the guise of the wilfully erratic and primitively schizoid full length ‘hot change’. I must say it gladdens the heart that folk of mischief like Biscuit Mouth live, breath and walk among us for ‘hot change’ features nine tracks of the kind of nagging skewed blues that we here feel sure would have been embraced by that Peel chap at the sound of the first frayed chord, for here is a melting pot fused of a twisted pedigree that hints and recalls on one hand the likes of the Inca Babies and the Folk Devils whilst on the other sounds like it’s been reared in some secret incubatory lab by those Touch n’ Go dudes fed on a diet of Shellac and Jesus Lizard sonic offerings. Wired and frenzied are the key watchwords here, lunging and leering each of these cuts coming seared in a punctuated and primed noise niked squall the type of which literally leans from the grooves to grab you by the neck and throttle the life out of you, a high wiring spectacle that impishly teeters between chaos and caustic cool, obvious descendants of the Boys Next Door and sadly several years too late to find a loving home on the much-missed Leeds based Brew imprint which while we are here we may as well throw Part Chimp into the list of reference markers for good measure. Still – audacious, acutely off the map and wonderfully deranged, selected listening – in truth all of it given there’s little whiff of a bad ‘un here, but arms forced up the back to choose we’d recommend the waywardly untamed fried and fractious ‘it’s not for everyone’ and the mooching skewed blues splintering of the edgily coiled scab picking ‘a very pleasing night’. https://biscuitmouth.bandcamp.com/
Eyed this on a posting, sneak listening peek of new happenings from the adored Victories at Sea. ‘LITKE’ comes pulled from a forthcoming Static Caravan EP release entitled ‘a place to stay’ and finds the trio crafting a more measured and dream weaved swathing to their lushly honed sonic palette and entering into terrains once upon a time the trademark given of the much missed astray in action Working for a Nuclear Free City as though here in a cosmically crafted collusion with dark captain light captain. https://soundcloud.com/victoriesatsea/litke
as promised earlier, the flip side to that specially cut RSD17 7 inch from Schoolkids records featuring the Veldt, this is the superior ‘slow grind’ a frost tipped celestial visitation of sighing ghost lights submerged seductively in rippling pools of delicately sugar rushed vapour trailing sprays of euphoria, quite a dream draped thing longingly subdued and somewhat serenely haloed in hazy swathes of swirling shoegazey-ness , does it for us.
Now I must admit that this one is something of a love at first hearing around our gaff, debuting platter – on 10 inches of vinyl no less through melodic and out early May – from W H Lung entitled ‘nothing is’ – this cute kosmiche babe babe had us much minded of those self released EP’s from a youthful The Earlies way back in the day before unpeeling and unfurling to blossom into something that hones it’s ear candy craft into something that had us here very much imagining some orbital tryst engaged upon by a forging of talent plundered from the ranks of the Paris Angels and the Silver Apples – indeed that good and something that ought to tweak the ear of those pulsar purred cosmic space cadets among you much adoring of Eat Lights Become Lights. https://soundcloud.com/melodic-records/w-h-lung-nothing-is
Couldn’t resist featuring this, incoming on rivertones towards the end of May, the second volume of Darren Hayman’s exquisite set of rustic postcards ‘thankful villages’. As the press release rightly points out an ambitious folk project set across three volumes, the third is due next year, finds Mr Hayman and Emma rambling through the crooked wildwood aisles of these fair green lands visiting the nations ‘thankful villages’ – these are the places blessed with having all their servicemen return safely after the first world war. A kind of melodic rough guide which armed with synthesisers partly pays homage and simultaneously mourns the erosion of the tradition, the quaintness and the quirky unifying custom of village life, these hidey holes oft secretly hidden and somewhat lost to both time and the advance of modern day commercialism. Inspired by or simply remodelled, Hayman feeds on the history, the beauty and the timelessness of these tranquil settlements to craft this aural journey, from that set here’s ‘cundall, yorkshire’ a wonderful slice of lulling lazy eyed Bucolic breeziness replete with birdsong all oozed with a sepia toned vintage rubbing that sounds as though it’s being piped through on a long wave receiving crystal set.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/178315400″>Cundall, Yorkshire – Thankful Villages #19</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user4274497″>Darren Hayman</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Just ahead of the release of ‘silver eye’, Goldfrapp have just leaked the track ‘moon in your mouth’ – a demurring and mesmeric orbital mirror ball softly teased in pulsing kosmiche kisses all traced in a tender bruising that’s at once elegantly reflective, ethereal and somewhat beautifully beguiled yet bitter sweetly forlorn and vulnerably crushed.
More than a tad smitten by this lo-fi lovely, from what we can gather this is the latest venture of the Yearnings’ Joe Moore called the perfect kiss who are about to release a mini album called ‘disconnect’ via the ever wonderful elefant imprint. Armed with just a mid 80’s keyboard and ably assisted by Holly Vanags on vocal duties, trailer cut, in fact the title track as it happens, is an affectionately sprayed slice of dinkily daubed pristine pretty pop shyly cooing and chirping to a vintage bedroom indie vibe that slyly marvels and swoons to a corner room Dansette eking out the lovelorn crushes of a gathered pile of platters peppered by the sounds of St Etienne, Dubstar, Frente and Ladytron.
Cut with a brooding cool that all the time purrs and prowls to a grunge grooving, this is one of the three tracks you’ll find on an incoming EP due April end via El Camino Media from Skating Polly. Co-written with members of Veruca Salt, ‘hail Mary’ very much delightfully detunes itself into the kind of sonic terrains that recalls both the Breeders and Throwing Muses yet simultaneously spars and scratches with a darkly hollowing simmering tension that wires itself directly into the slow burn creative path of Kurt Cobain.
SKATING POLLY ON TOUR NOW 2017!
04/07 – Seattle, WA @ The Victory Lounge
05/11 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
05/12 – Greenbay, WI @ Lyric Room
05/13 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean (downstairs)
05/14 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
05/15 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
05/16 – Pittsburg, PA @ Smiling Moose
05/17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus
05/19 – Montreal, QC @ Pouzza Fest
05/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
05/21 – Washington, DC @ DC9
05/22 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
05/24 – St. Louis, MO @ Ready Room
05/25 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
05/26 – Norman, OK @ Opolis
06/03 – Mesa, AZ @ The Underground at the Nile
06/04 – Prescott Valley, AZ @ The Shop
06/06 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
06/07 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
06/08 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
06/10 – San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
08/26 – San Bernardino, CA @ It’s Not Dead Fest
Quite frankly immense, this is one side of a head kicking double a side platter appearing shortly through Sunbird records from Glasgow based combo Dialects. shortly to embark on a tour with Toska, ‘illusory’ is an unrelenting and intricately cut sub 4 minute sonic charge that superbly morphs from a starting point that sounds not unlike Battles with deeply unresolved issues to unpeel and unhinge itself with Math-ian complexity to fracture and fragment into a furiously formidable swirling surge of blistering masterclass of progian craftsmanship.
https://soundcloud.com/dialectsuk/illusory/s-0dhQN
31st March – Effigy Weekender, Bristol
18th April – Old Blue Last, London (free entry) w/ Toska
19th April – The Flapper, Birmingham w/ Toska
20th April – The Garage Attic, Glasgow w/ Toska
22nd April – Jumpin’ Jacks, Newcastle w/ Toska
23rd April – Strange Forms Festival, Leeds
Culled from an incoming full length entitled ‘Aversion / Reversion’, have to admit we here a more than a little smitten by teaser track ‘drown’ from Omega Vague, described by their press folk as ‘a cosmic wonderland of dream pop’, do you know, they could be right because this cosmic campervan of sound cruise controls along the starry highways drifting and dissipating amid swirls of feel good lunar flotillas and swathes of lazy eyed lolloping riff mosaics all the time softly murmured in a serene sonic seasoning that imagines an astral magic bus ride undertaken by a gathering of Beatglider, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Ellis Island Sound and Seeland folk. Nuff said. https://soundcloud.com/omegavague/drown
Beautifully poised, majestically scored and utterly divine, this is the chill freeze cavernous cinematic crush of ‘as they sleep’ by lights and motion. The track draped on a swoon setting is taken from their ‘dear avalanche’ set for deep elm, at once elegant and elegiac, comes phrased as though a spectral celestial visitation. Utterly touching and dare we say beguiled.
Stuff…..
Some nifty hairy bearded stoner fuzzed out psych prog blues afoot here…….on this new thang from mountains entitled ‘dust in the glare’
…and then there’s this – a killer fuzzed out gathering of stoner dudes, should appeal to those subscribing to all things Rise Above……anyhow this is the second volume of heavy psyche sounds records sampler series…..
…more stoner doom here with a killer thing from devil’s witches entitled ‘velvet magic’
Now for some uber cool noir lounge vibe……and a rogue blues killer…..
……first up Henry Mancini……
Lalo Schifrin……
The nighthawks
Regardless of whatever technical hitches that have bedevilled us these last few days, the new Benjamin Schoos full length is on our radar and due for critical adoration in a day or two. As the title ‘Professor Chanteur (best of)’ might rightly hint, it’s not a new album as such but more a select gathering of the finest moments to have graced his last three albums. For now, serving as teaser taster here’s the breathless pulse racing surge of the fuse burning cinematic shimmer of ‘Visiter La Lune’. Embraced by his typically trademark chic and charismatic cool, the emotional response setting pitched to maximum, this bitter sweetly haloed gem glides with a mercurial pop symmetry that’s galvanised and sugar rushed upon an epic and atmospherically soaring underpin whose fixed eye glare sours with a forlorn crush. Assez magnifique.
Contact resources….
Email – marklosingtoday@gmail.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/thesundayexperience
Word press – marklosingtoday.wordpress.com
Twitter – @marklosingtoday
Physical – 46 Webster Avenue, BOOTLE, Merseyside, L20 9JF, UK
The end groove….
Interlude…New Model Army
Call it a spot of indulgence, in truth we regret not giving over half as much time as we should to these dudes, so with that in mind four favourites and a trailer type thing for a recent documentary about the band that we are still yet to see…..
‘lullaby’
‘devil’
‘between dog and wolf’
‘Green and grey’
‘sex (the black angel)’ – okay a tough call this given the album’s ferocious title track not wishing to forget both ‘notice me’ and ‘a liberal education’ as well – but this always was for us the albums sore thumb…..
In memory of Rob Heaton RIP…
the sunday experience 