Underground Railroad announce February tour

‘White Night Stand’ is Underground Railroad's most accessible record to date.

'Proof that ambition isn't a dirty word' 8/10 Jeremy Allen, NME, June 11th
'A truly impressive return' 4/5 Polly Rappaport, The Fly, June 2011
'Could obliterate a roomful of slackers with its sheer power'
9/10 Loud & Quiet, 21st May

LIVE:
Feb 14 The Oporto Leeds
Feb 16 The Registry Portsmouth
Feb 17 Lennons Southampton
Feb 18 The Green Door Store Brighton
Feb 19 Adelphi Hull
Feb 20 Stereo York
Feb 21 Mad Ferret Preston
Feb 23 Queen of Hoxton London
Feb 24 Bungalow & Bears Sheffield
Feb 25 Reading Oakford Social Club

Underground Railroad have announced fresh headline dates for February as above, also appearing as special guests of Ultrasound at The Borderline on Thursday 26th January.

In the shape of new album ‘White Night Stand’ Underground Railroad have made a career defining best – an intense, accomplished third that encapsulates a brooding Dystopian vision of modern London: Hailing from Paris, Underground Railroad’s outsider status perhaps has granted them a detached insight into the city's workings. Further inspiration across the album came from Twin Peaks and David Lynch – Marion naming 'The Black Widow', 'The Orchid's Curse', and 'Traces To Nowhere' after episodes of the show, and 'Yellow Suit' in reference to 'Blue Velvet'.

The album was produced in London by Underground Railroad and mixed Paul Walton (Massive Attack – “Mezzanine”, Bjork – “Homogenic”/ “Vespertine”).

click here for more info.

News Posted: Mon 23 Jan '12 13:10     By: Wendy

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SPEECH DEBELLE "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" ALBUM SET FOR RELEASE 13TH FEBRUARY

Speech Debelle returns with the lead single from her forthcoming sophomore album, “Freedom of Speech.” And it’s a love song.

Probably the most accessible and simply enjoyable moment of an amazing new album, “I’m With It” sees Speech showing a different side to her character from either her more introspective earlier work, or some of the politically charged moments on the new record. Speech co-wrote the song with renowned composer Eg White, whose past credits include both Adele albums, work with Florence + The Machine, Rebecca Ferguson and more. Together they came up with an uplifting piece of pop perfection, which main album producer Kwes (Warp, Damon Albarn’s DRC project) then assisted in giving a future-Motown flavour to.

And as a counterpoint to this big tune, the single package also includes “Blaze Up A Fire,” featuring Roots Manuva and Realism, which Speech wrote before last summer’s riots and leaked with a forthright statement in their aftermath, one of very few artists brave enough to speak up at the time.

The record is also subject to a superb package of remixes. Recent Brainfeeder signing Lapalux slows the chorus vocals and constructs an intricate, abstract bed for Speech’s flirtatious words. Leo Zero offers two contrasting mixes, the dub slow-building around the uplift of the chorus, his “remix” much more focussed on Speech’s lyrics. Louis La Roche gives the whole an electro-funk re-rub that, like Leo Zero’s, will sound great on dancefloors. And Hyperdub hero Cooly G strips things right back and concentrates hard on a spacious groove.

With excitement building about the 2009 Mercury Prize winner’s new album, “I’m With It” shows just what a flexible, talented and straight-up enjoyable artist Speech Debelle is.

Tracklist
1. I'm With It (radio edit)
2. Blaze Up A Fire feat. Roots Manuva & Realism
3. I'm With It (Lapalux remix)
4. I'm With It (Leo Zero dub)
5. I'm With It (Leo Zero remix)
6. I'm With It (Louis La Roche remix)
7. I'm WIth It (Cooly G remix)

click here for more info.

News Posted: Tue 17 Jan '12 11:49     By: Wendy

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Hal - set to release new EP 26th Feb and album to follow in April.

Down In The Valley’ EP - 26th February 2012

Last seen some six or seven years back Dublin’s HAL have made good their return. Armed with the new four-track ‘Down In The Valley’ EP - a pocket sized taster of what’s to come with their long awaited second album ‘The Time The Hour’ in April – the trio make their intention clear, to continue where they left off.

A brief historical resume – having formed in 2003, they were then signed by Geoff Travis at Rough Trade in 2004. The following year saw the release of their eponymously titled debut awash with superlative critical acclaim, numerous awards both at home and abroad and healthy sales…Later having experienced writer’s block, years travelling and rediscovering his innate knack of penning a song, singer David Allen returned to Dublin and again hooked up with his brother Paul and Stephen O’Brien to complete the triumvirate and re-ignite the HAL torch.

Opening the account, title track ‘Down In The Valley’ - all multi harmonies and keyboards marks out the ground HAL like to inhabit, ably backed by the equally sublime beauty of ‘Why Do You Come Here’ coupled with another wonderful vocal that appears to cascade over the instrumentation before dissolving seductively into a Scritti Politti-esque finale.

On previous outings both Phil Spector and The Beach Boys have been mentioned. It becomes apparent no more so than on the final two tracks that comprise the EP (along with a Lennon-esque dash of drama )that they still retain their irresistible love of West Coast pop and are able to craft their own original vein of songwriting.

Released on 27th February 2012, the EP will be available on CD and digitally via all usual outlets, the full track listing is ‘Down In The Valley’ / ‘Why Do You Come Here’/‘Motorcars’ and ‘Little Lady’.

The album ‘The Time The Hour’ will follow 16th April.

HAL will be undertaking various live sorties over the coming weeks at a suitable location near you. click here for all things Hal!

News Posted: Tue 17 Jan '12 11:43     By: Wendy

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Pistols At Dawn - debut single, album and video news!

Ahead of the release of the debut album, Pistols At Dawn will be releasing their first official single entitled ‘Backwards’ on 6th February.

With an infectious, slow burn lo-fi groove, ‘Backwards’ is the perfect way in to the song writing talents of the band. It was also a product of the haunted house recording sessions at the remote plague village in Rutland.

The video to the track is now available and brings fresh meaning to the phrase “Why the long face?” click here to watch the video.


The album ‘Tarnation’ is a perfect mix of 70s folk fused with beat-driven psychedelic sounds and will be released on Tres Beau Records on 20th February 2012.

Soundfreak will be featuring a review of the album as well as an interview with the band very shortly so keep your eyes peeled for more Pistols At Dawn action.

News Posted: Fri 13 Jan '12 12:40     By: Wendy

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Funky screenprints and great ideas for xmas presents

My name is David, I am a freelance graphic designer and Illustrator, living in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

I'm a keen screen printer and a member of the Glasgow Print Studio. The style of my work is fun and colourful. All my products are lovingly made and excellent quality.

Visit my blog to find out whats new... www.daviemurphy.com and check out facebook page too at http://www.facebook.com/MurphyMakes?sk=info

click here to view my Folksy store.

News Posted: Thu 1 Dec '11 14:33     By: Wendy

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Kill It Kid - Brand New AA Single ‘Wild & Wasted Waters’ & ‘All To Me’ b/w ‘Sickness Of Knowing’ November 28th via One Little Indian

Following 'Pray On Me' (Kerrang Radio & XFM ‘Single of the Week’) and 'Heart Rested With You' (Zane Lowe's 'Next Hype’) comes the third single from Kill It Kid's 'Feet Fall Heavy' album. ‘Wild & Wasted Waters’ forms half of a new AA single together with a brand new non-album cut ‘All To Me’ on the flip – released through OLI on 28th November. And a non-stop touring itinerary that would shame Dylan continues apace with more dates announced for October & November including a Music Week ‘Breakout’ show at Proud on 9th November (see below).

More UK dates announced for November!
Nov 09 - Music Week 'Breakout', Proud Galleries, Camden
Nov 22 - Academy 2, Birmingham (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 23 - Cockpit, Leeds (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 25 - Tokyo, Lincoln (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 26 - 53 Degrees, Preston (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 27 - Old Fire House, Bournemouth (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 28 - Bodega Social, Nottingham (With Little Barrie)
Nov 29 - Electric Ballroom, Camden (With Vintage Trouble)
Nov 30 - King Tuts, Glasgow (headliner)

The acclaimed new album ‘Feet Fall Heavy’ takes from influences as diverse as The Carter Family, Queens of The Stone Age and Woody Guthrie, pitching the band as a new breed of all-electric bluesmen: Brutal guitar movements and smashing pianos (quite literally) are braced by the unmistakable pounding of Marc Jones (drums) and Adam Timmins (bass) while Stephanie Ward’s bitter croon on songs such as ‘Dark Hearted Songbird’ and Chris Turpin’s roar on ‘Wild and Wasted Waters’ leave one in doubt as to the band’s intensions.

The band spent 10 short days in the studio aided and abetted by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Grace Jones, Florence & The Machine), shirking traditions and pushing the band into new sonic territory - realised through 1950s American catalogue guitars and broken ten watt amplifiers, interspersed throughout with samples of Alan Lomax field recordings.

Broadly, the ‘spirit of the times’ is the core theme of the album - distilled from Turpin’s experience of hearing the sound of crowds spilling out of the local club into the street beneath his room. Drunken fighting, screaming and the cries of revellers are pitted against the hissing 1920s Alan Lomax field recordings emitting from his record player, the juxtaposition inspiring an apocalyptic, discordant note in his mind that is carried over into the music here.

click here for more info on the band.

News Posted: Wed 16 Nov '11 12:22     By: Wendy

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Introducing Pistols At Dawn - new band worth checking out

‘Man, Wolf, Man’ is available for free use online by any soul with an inkling for lo-fi electro-acoustic songs about the states of being human. Kicking off with a cool bass groove, this track is a brilliant illustration of what can be expected from this new band.

Pistols At Dawn spent a good portion of 2011 in a vast haunted house on the outskirts of a remote plague village in Rutland and recorded an album’s worth of material that will see release next year under the debut title ‘Tarnation’.

With the curtains drawn and log fires burning, surrounded by darkened corners and locked, musty rooms, they have stirred up a heady mix of 70s folk fused with beat-driven psychedelia. All of this is wired tightly together by a dark & understated vocal. Reflecting their philosophy and love of all things homemade, the band formed their own label, Tres Beau Records, to release the album.

click here to listen to new track, 'Man, Wolf, Man'.

News Posted: Wed 16 Nov '11 12:16     By: Wendy

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Twilight Sad release new single 'Sick' and announce new album details

The Twilight Sad announce details of their new long-player ‘No One Can Ever Know’, the follow-up to 2009’s acclaimed break-through ‘Forget The Night Ahead’. ‘No One Can Ever Know’ is released across all formats on 6th February 2012, full tracklist as follows: ‘Alphabet’/ ‘Dead City’/ ‘Sick’/ ‘Don’t Move’/ ‘Nil’/ ‘Don’t Look At Me’/ ‘Not Sleeping’/ ‘Another Bed’/ ‘Kill It In The Morning’.

Already flagged by the widely leaked ‘Kill It In The Morning’ and forthcoming first single proper, ‘Sick’ (November 14th), ‘No One Can Ever Know’ marks a sonic shift for The Twilight Sad. Freshly inspired by a listening diet of Caberet Voltaire, Liars, Magazine, Autechre, Banshees, Fad Gadget, PiL and Can, a synth-heavy sound characterizes ‘No One Can Ever Know’, a record thematically akin to the Manics ‘Holy Bible’, Depeche Mode’s ‘Violator’ and Nine Inch Nails’ ‘The Downward Spiral’.

“We wanted to be a lot more spontaneous, get outside our comfort zone - not to fall back into repeating what we've done previously”, explains MacFarlane. “So we moved to London for a month to record at The Pool and got Andrew Weatherall involved to bounce ideas off and to generally reassure us of the direction we were already progressing in – toward a sparser sound, with a colder, slightly militant feel.”

Under the guidance of Weatherall the band experimented with vintage analogue synths - borrowed from Ben Hillier – to work on the core sounds they wanted, finding inspiration too in the distinctive production style of innovators like Martin Hannett and Conny Plank. For the first time the drums were also recorded separately utilising a lot of synthetic effects which allowed for the easy manipulation of the sounds and samples later in the process. Stylistically, the guitars tend to refract John McGeogh (Magazine/ Banshees) or Keith Levene (PiL) rather than the 'wall of sound' approach that defined The Twilight Sad’s previous recordings.

Lyrically ‘No One Can Ever Know’ finds singer James Graham on typically ominous form, delivering lightning bolts of malevolent threat. “I’ll find you - don’t worry” he promises on forthcoming single, ‘Another Bed’ - The Twilight Sad’s most radical and anthemic moment yet, it’s driving disco motorik and glacial keys pushing a dizzy emotional uplift.

Nationwide dates in November:

15 Tue INVERNESS Ironworks
16 Wed EDINBURGH Bongo Club
18 Fri GLASGOW Sleazys
19 Sat PRESTON Mad Ferret
20 Sun YORK Duchess
21 Mon LONDON Borderline
22 Tue OXFORD Jericho
23 Wed LEICESTER Firebug
24 Thu HULL Adelphi
25 Fri STIRLING Tolbooth

Keep your eyes peeled for Soundfreak's interview with the band - we'll be talking about the new album and its sonic shift in direction.

click here for all things Twilight Sad related.

News Posted: Wed 16 Nov '11 11:35     By: Wendy

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Underground Railroad - tour, single and video news

Underground Railroad new single - '8 Millimeters’ released 17th October 2011
One Little Indian Cat. No. 1132TP7DL

You can check out the new video on Vimeo and YouTube: http://vimeo.com/30522574 // http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRCtIB63AmQ (do with it what you will!)

The trio will also be kick-starting their tour tonight at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen in London. Get in touch if you want to catch the band at any of their UK shows (below).

LIVE:
17 Oct Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London
19 Oct King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
25 Oct Spanky Van Dykes, Notthingham
26 Oct The Oporto, Leeds
27 Oct Trof Fallowfield, Manchester
28 Oct The Croft, Bristol
29 Oct The Oakford Social, Reading

In the shape of new album ‘White Night Stand’ Underground Railroad have made a career defining best – an intense, accomplished third that encapsulates a brooding Dystopian vision of modern London: Hailing from Paris, Underground Railroad’s outsider status perhaps has granted them a detached insight into the city's workings.

New single ‘8 Millimeters’ (One Little Indian, 17th October) - written and sung by guitarist Marion - was inspired by the bar of the same name in Berlin’s hip Prenzlauer Berg district, visited during a break from the recording of the album. Inside Marion recollects, ‘there’s always a subtitled 60’s art movie on with no sound – the only source of light!’ Hence ‘the really strange atmosphere down there’ caught her imagination, giving the words their disassociated millennial feel, and the song its uneasy descending blues. The overall impression conveyed is at once intoxicatingly decadent and thrillingly ominous.

Further inspiration across the album came from Twin Peaks and David Lynch – Marion naming 'The Black Widow', 'The Orchid's Curse', and 'Traces To Nowhere' after episodes of the show, and 'Yellow Suit' in reference to 'Blue Velvet'.

The album was produced in London by Underground Railroad and mixed Paul Walton (Massive Attack – “Mezzanine”, Bjork – “Homogenic” / “Vespertine”).
http://whitenightstand.net/

Underground Railroad is: Raphael Mura (vocals/drums), Marion Andrau (guitar/vocals), JB Ganivet (bass).

News Posted: Wed 19 Oct '11 13:28     By: Wendy

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Trapped in Kansas - 'How To Go' EP news

Trapped in Kansas formed in mid-2008 and have been on an exciting journey ever since. This multi-national 4-piece have become one of the most talked about and critically praised bands of the past couple of years in Scotland. Finn LeMarinel (vox/guitar), Colin O’Hara (guitar/vox), Christopher Ward (bass/vox) and Iain Symes-Marshall (drums) create mathematically intricate music that aims to be both thought provoking and sonically magnificent.

Immediately on release of their first recordings the boys were offered a slot at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. Since then they have not looked back and have played festivals such as T in the Park, Rockness, Wickerman, Wizard Festival, goNorth, BFest, Marisilla Rocks in France and headlined Oxjam Glasgow.

They have also done live sessions for BBC Radio 1 and Air 3 and have been featured as both Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson’s band of the week on 6Music as well as regularly championed by the voice of new music in Scotland, Jim Gellatly. Support slots have included amazing bands like This Town Needs Guns, Mimas, And So I Watch You From Afar, Let’s Buy Happiness, The Xcerts, Pulled Apart By Horses, Rolo Tomassi, Sucioperro and Tubelord.

2010 saw their journey continue as the band won “Best Rock/Alternative” act at the inaugural Scottish Alternative Music Awards and combined with European festival perfermances, debut single ‘Towerblock‘ being released through ‘Gerry Loves Records‘ and teaming up with Select Booking Agency, countless live shows, cemented Trapped in Kansas‘ reputation on the Scottish music network.

‘How To Go’ is their debut EP which will be released on October 3rd this year through their own label, Overlook Records.’How To Go’ illustrates the real potential that this band has, from emotional resonance to explosive guitar riffs this EP is set to become something truly definitive for Trapped in Kansas.
All tracks produced and mixed by Stuart MacLeod at Beetroot Studios, Airdrie, Scotland.

Release Date: 3rd October 2011 Label: Overlook Records

Tracklisting :
1. The man does wear the mask
2. I was born
3. Stick to the roads
4. The mask does wear the man
5. Skin & Bone
click herefor more info on the band and their wonderful EP.

News Posted: Wed 19 Oct '11 12:38     By: Wendy

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