Zomes - May tour + free mp3‏

Distorted keyboard melodies tumble one over the other held together by simple tape-looped drum beats. 'Earth Grid', Zomes' second solo album, is the culmination of Lungfish alumni Asa Osborne's years of exploring meditative modal models. Written, played, and recorded entirely at home on cassette tape, 'Earth Grid', is an intimate and intentionally primitive recording.

If you want to know what that all sounds like, download the taster 'Openings' here.

Or catch him live here:
Wednesday May-11 Espace B Paris France
Thursday May-12 Le Novo Locale Bordeaux France
Sunday May-15 Moog Barcelona Spain
Wednesday May-18 Rhiz Vienna Austria
Thursday May-19 A Studio Rubin Prague Czech Republic
Friday May-20 Kafic Leipzig Germany
Sunday May-22 Victoria London UK

Gaggle release 'The Brilliant & The Dark' for Record Store Day‏

Documenting the Arts Council-sponsored performance at the ICA on December 2nd 2010, Gaggle will be releasing the operatic ‘The Brilliant and the Dark’ on 12" vinyl for Record Store Day.

Limited to just 300 copies, the vinyl will be released on April 16th through Transgressive Records.

Refreshing and modern, Gaggle are the antidote to the traditional all-girl choir and were invited by artists Eileen Simpson and Ben White to rework a 1969 cantata for women's voices.

The radically remixed cantata uses elements from ‘The Brilliant and the Dark’, a work for women’s voices composed by Malcolm Williamson and Ursula Vaughan Williams, and first performed by 1,000 women volunteers at the Royal Albert Hall.

The libretto approaches history from the Middle Ages to WWII through the eyes of women, via characters including witch-hunters, embroiderers, crusaders’ wives, plague stricken women, mourners and war workers, transposed into a modern light by Gaggle who reference 2011 issues such as militarized rape in the DRC or "honour" killings in the UK.

‘The Brilliant and the Dark’ is released under a copyleft license – generating a new resource available for the future reflected by the B-side of the 12” containing samples from the performance for future artists to manipulate as they see fit.

You can watch a video by Eileen Simpson and Ben White featuring Gaggle performing an element of the reworked cantata here:

The Brilliant and The Dark from Open Music Archive on Vimeo.

Meat Puppets free download & tour news

The rock legends that are Meat Puppets are giving away the first track off their new album
'Lollipop', out April 12 through Megaforce Records, for your delectation.

The band are also set to play the following dates.

May 14th – ATP Festival Minehead (performing classic album Up In The Sun)

May 30th The Garage – London

May 31st The Butterfly Factory – Dublin

Dada Trash Collage & Bear Ears - 'Layers of Ice' free mp3

Husband and wife Dada Trash Collage (William Freed) and Bear Ears (Jessica Freed) have teamed up to release their first single entitled 'Layers of Ice' from their upcoming LP 'Ambitious Out Of Control'.

After getting hitched last year, the couple has spent much of their time as newlyweds writing music (both seperately and now, together). This record also marks the first collaboration between William Freed and drummer Richard Bell since 2010's 'Neighbors', who took a hiatus from DDTC during the last record Cool Waves/Bad Days.

The track is night and day - equal parts upbeat and malaise, experimental yet pop. Check it out for yourself
You can also listen to it on their Bandcamp

DDTC and Bear Ears are also gearing up for a self-released 7" in May, which will include two ther tracks from Ambitiout Out Of Control. They are currently raising funds for its release via Kickstarter.

Arbouretum - free mp3 'The Highwayman'

With the Arbouretum European tour just around the corner, we're pleased to offer you a download of their utterly stunning version of Jimmy Webb's 'The Highwayman', one of the standout moments from their critically acclaimed album The Gathering.

You can download it from here.

And catch the guys live at:
18/03/11 : Jam - Brighton (UK)
19/03/11 : Miss Peapod's - Penryn/Cornwall (UK)
20/03/11 : The Deaf Institute - Manchester (UK)
21/03/11 : Captains Rest - Glasgow (UK)
22/03/11 : The Cluny - Newcastle (UK)
23/03/11 : Hare & Hounds - Birmingham (UK)
24/03/11 : The Borderline - Club Uncut - London (UK)

We'll be down the front at the Borderline gig, see you there. :)

The Werewandas - free download single & London shows

Comprised of members of The Fat Tulips, The Cut-Outs, The Phantom Pregnancies, Action Time and Airport Girl, The WEREWANDAS are a five-piece combo of Fujiyama mamas and papas who gleefully massacre rock’n’roll standards as well as their own original Western Bop confections, wishing they were Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps and ending up as a lo-fi, garage-pop Everly Sisters. Predictably, The Werewandas also love Wanda Jackson. There's a 7" due out in June too.

The WEREWANDAS are Heavy Metal Lucy - vocals, Sister Delia - guitar + vocals, Rob Airport Girl - twangy guitar, Paul Fat Tulips - double bass AND Miss Velvelette - drums.

You can download their debut sigle 'My Little Sister' from here.

And catch them live...

20 March - The Lexingon - (w/The Piney Gir Country Roadshow and others for Country Girl Alldayer)
More info here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=197618850265691
5pm to 11pm - Tickets £7 on the door, £5 in advance from www.wegottickets.com

25 April - The Buffalo Bar - (w/ Dan Sartain)

Her Name Is Calla new EP & tour news

Her Name Is Calla produced one of our favourite albums of 2010, so we are obviously excited to hear that they have a new EP on the way. The band release 'Maw' as a 10" and digital download, preview the tracks here. It will be available at tour dates as well as from the Denovali Records website on March 21.

Catch their wonderful live shows here (especially the GoldFlakePaint event in Bristol on April 16 that we'll be at):

27th March - Left Bank, Leeds, UK*
28th March - 13th Note, Glasgow, UK*
29th March - Firebug Leicester, UK*
31st March - Gleis 22, Munster, GERMANY*
1st April - Druckluft, Oberhausen, GERMANY*
2nd April - TBA, Hamburg, GERMANY*
3rd April - TBA, Warszawa, POLAND*
4th April - Stara Szwalnia, w, POLAND*
5th April - Vegelite, Brno, CZECH REP*
6th April - 007 Strahov, Prague, CZECH REP*
7th April - Sektor Evolution, Dresden, GERMANY*
8th April - Paris Syndrom, Leipzig, GERMANY*
9th April - Lovelite, Berlin, GERMANY*
10th April - Rhiz, Vienna, AUSTRIA*
12th April - The Heretic, Bordeaux, FRANCE*
13th April - L'Espace B, Paris, FRANCE
14th April - The Green Door Store, Brighton, UK
15th April - The Borderline, London, UK
16th April - Union Chapel, London UK (Free daytime show -12pm)
16th April - The Croft, Bristol UK
17th April - The Duchess, York, UK
24th April - Dunk! Festival, Zottegem, BELGIUM

*= Tour support provided by Birds of Passage

Sound Of Guns - New video & UK tour news

Fresh from their nomination for XFM’s New Music Award 2011, Sound Of Guns are hitting the road in April and have announced the full list of tour dates, along with the debut of the video for their upcoming single ‘Breakwater’, which is released on Distiller Records on April 04:



Tour dates:

March:

Thu 3 London XOYO – headline show

April dates with The View:

· Mon 4 Dundee, Caird Hall
· Tue 5 Aberdeen, Music Hall
· Wed 6 Glasgow, Barrowland
· Thu 7 Glasgow, Barrowland
· Sat 9 Sheffield, Leadmill
· Sun 10 Leeds, Cockpit
· Mon 11 Manchester, Academy 2
· Tue 12 Belfast, Mandela
· Wed 13 Dublin, Academy
· Sat 16 Birmingham, O2 Academy 2
· Sun 17 Norwich, Waterfront
· Mon 18 Portsmouth, Wedgwood Rooms
· Wed 20 London, Shepherds Bush Empire
· Thu 21 Bristol, The Fleece
· Fri 22 Coventry Kasbar
· Sat 23 Stockton on Tees, Stockton Calling, The Arc

Flash Fiktion: New video and free remix

Following their excellent debut 'Leni / Science Of Sleep', the south London separatist trio, Flash Fiktion, release the euphoric 'Capsules of Sun' on April 04. Singer Matt Rokk says; “The song is about self-enforced optimism; using exterior chemicals to induce interior feelings of happiness and warmth. We’re in a reality bypass right now – into old fashioned escapism rather than new fangled aspiration; we’re celebrating music, fantasy, bright colours and vivid stories.” - and if that hasn't made you want to slap them around the back of the head, you can watch the video here:



And listen to a remix here:

Capsules Of Sun (DID Remix) by FlashfiKtion

Norman Palm album out March 14th, London show & free mp3

Ahead of his album ‘Shore to Shore’s release on March 14, Norman Palm has announced another London show at the Old Blue Last on March 30.

‘Shore to Shore’ is Norman Palm’s first conventional album release, since his last was a self-released 200-page artbook and accompanying loose collection of songs that saw him gain attention from the art press through to Perez Hilton.‘

Hear album track ‘Easy’ here:
Norman Palm - Easy by cityslang