music that leads where others follow
CLIENT ROSTER
Thee Oh Sees
Somewhere beyond nostalgia, beyond the garage, somewhere beyond the fireside song and supposed goo-rock, you will find the latest incarnation of Thee Oh Sees (formerly OCS), now a quartet composed of John Dwyer (OCS, Coachwhips, Pink & Brown), Bridgid Dawson, Petey Dammit and Mike Shoun. Their latest album weaves Dwyer's signature AM radio howl with the catchiest of driving tunes, Dawson's gorgeous harmonies, thick spring-reverbed bombast, mighty drums and an undeniable pull.
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Album, The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In - 26th May 2008 (Tomlab) |
Gablé
French pop heritage is littered with smooth and creamy icons - Gablé, however, are a completely different kettle de poisson. Wearing their influences on their sleeves - Moldy Peaches, Meat Puppets and early Sonic Youth, they stick a lovely big lump of absolutely boners, stinky musical cheese in the face of suave ancestry.
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Album, 7 Guitars With A Cloud Of Milk - 19th May 2008 (Loaf) |
The Mojomatics
The Mojomatics heap together hillbilly blues, country, folk and bluegrass, inject it with the melody of British Invasion pop and fire it all out with the breakneck energy of the best garage/punk/rock n'roll. Live and on record, they sound like five 'good ol' boys' - instead its two guys from Venice, Italy!
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Album, Don't Pretend That You Don't Me - 12th May 2008 (Ghost Records) |
The Zen Circus and Brian Ritchie
Hailing from Pisa, Italy, The Zen Circus are one of Europe's best live acts and stalwarts of the Italian Underground. They have been joined on this album by Brian Ritchie from the Violent Femmes. There are also guest appearances from Kim and Kelley Deal (Pixies/Breeders) and Jerry Harrison from Talking Heads. Their music is a mixture of punk rock and folk, influenced by the Meat Puppets, the Minutemen and of course, the Violent Femmes.
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Album, Villa Inferno - 5th May 2008 (Unhip Records) |
Headlights
Headlights was born in a farmhouse just north of Champaign, Illinois in the Spring of 2004. Kill Them With Kindness is alive with a pulse that beats with shoegaze spirit. Through its veins runs the lifeblood of an indie-pop band not afraid to incorporate a synth wall of sound and a mod organ in consecutive songs.
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Album, Some Racing Some Stopping - 6th April 2008 (Polyvinyl) |
YACHT
YACHT is the full-time project of The Blow's Jona Bechtolt, whose production skills on the breakout album, Paper Television - a record that grabbed top spots on year-end lists and music blogs - were lauded by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. YACHTshows are uncluttered inspiring sessions of improbable dance moves and synchronized crowd-waving; the songs shudder happily into the air, and any relationship to "laptop music" is shattered by Bechtolt's own strain of shamanistic bombast.
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Album, I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real - 22nd October 2007 (ERR) |
Frog Eyes
On their fourth album, Victoria BC band, Frog Eyes, stretch their trademark sound further around the evolving, inspired compositions of singer/guitarist Carey Mercer. When you hear all of this swirling around you, you have to ask yourself if any other band could have made this record. It is ugly and beautiful at the same time, raw and unadorned.
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Album, Tears of the Valedictorian - 20th August
2007 (Absolutely Kosher Records) |
Misha
Misha are Ashley Yao and John Chao - an Asian American duo releasing their debut album - a grand mixture of electronic pop and happy/sad love songs with an odd, nostalgic feel. Misha demonstrate their ability to combine earnest lyricism with delicate, bittersweet melodies while keeping their sound clean and pure.
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Debut album, Teardrop Sweetheart - 18th June
2007 (Tomlab) |
Johnny Boy
In 2004, Johnny Boy's second single, "You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve" received critical acclaim from every corner, from Don Letts to Johnny Marr, and was heralded single of the week in broadsheets and music magazines everywhere. They are finally releasing their long-awaited debut album - a wondrous mix of Phil Spector drums, backwards guitars and sampled explosions.
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Debut album, Johnny Boy - 4th June 2007 (Johnny
Boy Recordings) |
Dog Day
In many ways a pop group's success hinges on their ability to write memorable songs. Dog Day from Halifax, Canada, not only deliver in this sense, but also show how simple tunes can convey meaning, beauty and honesty. The result is a pop gem!
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Debut album, Night Group - 30th April 2007
(Tomlab) |
Khan
Khan is a modern-day blues traveller, currently residing in Berlin, after living in New York, Mexico, Cologne and Finland. Producer-musician, Khan is always on the move. With his previous albums on Matador, Khan is a techno legend, and has produced electronic music under at least 10 pseudonyms and collaborations, including Bizz, OD, 4E, El Turco Loco, Captain Comatose, Kid and Khan.
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Album, Who Never Rests - 9th April 2007 (Tomlab) |
The Flesh
Hailing from Brooklyn and Philadelphia, The Flesh's debut album, expands on their distinctive sound, for an addictive set of alluring art-pop anthems. Tied together with a narrative thread of illicit love, the album's diverse 11 songs traces an emotional journey from innocence towards experience - which is both beautifully soulful and darkly sinister.
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Debut album, Firetower - 9th April 2007 (Gern
Blandsten Records) |
Ill Ease
Ill Ease from Brooklyn New York, is the one-woman band in which Elizabeth Sharp plays guitar, bass, drums, tambourine, shaker, car horn and anything else that rattles, buzzes, shakes or hums in a riff-o-matic racket. All Systems A-Go-Go! is the culmination of two years of touring and over two hundred live shows: it is the most leave-your-pants-on the-dance-floor Ill Ease album to date.
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Album, All Systems A-Go-Go! - 9th April 2007
(Cochon Records) |
Lucero
Memphis hell-raisers, Lucero, return with their fifth album, produced by David Lowery (Camper van Beethoven) and have traded in their distortion pedals for keyboards, accordion and organ - courtesy of Cat Power's key-boardist, Rick Steff. To call Lucero 'Memphis's answer to Bruce Springsteen' is not a stretch. It's just how it is!
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Album, Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers - 5th March
2007(Liberty and Lament) |
The Blow
Portland, Oregan based duo The Blow return with their first fully electronic pop album. Call it indie R 'n' B, call it dance pop, this band will garner your attention instantly with their enchanting melodies and nifty beats. The catchiest pop songs of the year aren't on your MTV - they're here!
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Album, Paper Television - 16th
October 2006 (Tomlab) |
Xiu Xiu
Attacking established pop, tearing it apart, and then putting back together. All kinds of weird cut-ups, juxtapositions, classical instrumentation, and unexpected arrangements, alternating between screaming tantrums and wavery whispers. Melody, energy and chaos, as if it's ready to blow apart at any minute, oddly cathartic. The Airforce is a feverish and disturbing set of 11 songs, but it is also the group's most accessible - produced by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof.
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Album, The Airforce - 9th
October 2006 (5RC) |
Les Georges Leningrad
Sangue Puro is the third album, from Montreal trio and Petrochemical rock outfit, LGL. The sepulchral vibes and juvenile fury emanating from the guitar and keyboards will make you dance for yourself in front of the mirror! The ancient vessels explode and sink under the pressure of the killer rhythms.
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Album, Sangue Puro - 9th
October 2006 (Tomlab) |
Erase Errata
Erase Errata's new album, their third, Nightlife, is a look at American life with the fluorescents on. Singer, guitarist, Jenny Hoysten's lyrics are about the government, political disillusionment, and the things that keep us from thinking about what is really going on. After whirlwind tours supporting Sonic Youth and The Ex, the band spent almost 2 years reconfiguring their sound and line-up.
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Album, Nightlife - 2nd October 2006 (Kill Rock
Stars) |
Rough Trade Publishing Compilation Album
Rough Trade Publishing is celebrating its 15th year with one of the best compilation albums to be released this year featuring the most exciting bands from both sides of the Atlantic. A double album with 16 tracks on each, it features bands such as Violent Femmes, Trumans Water, Tindersticks, Rocket From The Crypt, Mule, Snuff, Le Tigre, Transam, Oneida, Tortoise, Godspeed, Clogs, The Futureheads, Animal Collective, Les Georges Leningrad and The Wrens.
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Album, Sweet Fifteen - Rough Trade
Publishing 1991 to 2006 - 18th September
2006 (Rough Trade Publishing) |
An Albatross
An Albatross is a psychedelic sonic orgasm; a barrage of mechanical, jerky and discombobulated time signatures eclipsed by hectic Farfisa organ/synthesizer melodies. The music is unquestionably attention-span friendly for an ADD-diagnosed society: unbelievably short, complex, infectious bursts of polyrhythms and spirit.
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Album, Blessphemy (of the Peace Beast
Feastgiver and the Bear Warp Kumite) - 4th
September 2006 (Ace Fu Records) |
The Plastic Constellations
Taking elements from their Midwestern music scene and paying homage to post-punk predecessors like Naked Raygun, Drive Like Jehu and At the Drive In, The Plastic Constellations do nothing short of give a shot in the arm to the genre with their own brand of frantic desperate rhythm. Another great offering from the French Kiss roster.
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Album, Crusades - 8th
May 2006 (French Kiss Records) |
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
CFTPA is the musical alias of film school drop-out, Owen Ashworth. CFTPA's claustrophobic two-minute character studies shudder with reverbed beats, blown-out chords, simple-but-infectious melodies, layered beneath the sometimes funny but always heartbreaking lyrics of Ashworth's sighing baritone. Etiquette is Ashworth's fourth album, and his intimate character studies are finally getting the production they deserve by expanding his bedroom recording project into a small orchestra.
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Album, Etiquette - 13th
March 2006 (Tomlab) |
Thunderbirds Are Now!
Bursting out of Detroit's pollution-and-crime-ridden streets like Robocop after one too many Yellow Jackets, Thunderbirds Are Now! deliver catchy, smart, melodic, fast, direct and danceable rock with a nod to late '70s and early '80s post-punk. This is their first release on the influential French Kiss label run by Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav.
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Album, Justamustache - 5th
December 2005 (French Kiss Records) |
The Black Madonnas
While building up a devoted following with their unique brand of raw stylish noise, these three erudite gentlemen rockers have been carefully planning the theft of the moon and the foundation of lunar base on which to rock the cosmos. The Black Madonnas have toured the regions with Har Mar Superstar, 80s Matchbox, The Beat Up, Duke Spirit and The Rogers Sisters.
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Album, The Black Madonnas Have Stolen
The Moon - 7th November 2005 (Truck
Records) |
Kiss Me Deadly
Kiss Me Deadly is a Montreal-based quartet that has progressed from an early Dischord influenced emo/math-rock sound to an epic, deeply melodic style of music. The band have just completed a successful US tour opening for Bloc Party. The album is steeped in the 90s shoegazing, 4AD, and D.C. punk while establishing its own quirky and danceable style.
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Album, Misty Medley - 7th
November (Alien 8) |
Numbers
We're Animals is the third full length album from San Francisco's, Numbers. Although the penchant for groove still exists, the pace has changed. Punk riddims holding hands with Kraut rock - think the Slits and Liliput at a party with Can and Eno, discussing Stereolab.
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Album, We're Animals - 17th
October 2005 (Kill Rock Stars) |
Ninja High School
Ninja High School (NHS) has been described as a hardcore band trapped in the body of an indie-rock dance rap group. As a live band, NHS use the freedom from being chained to instruments as an opportunity to explore the performance space, resulting in a participatory blurring of the performance/audience boundary - every show becoming an enchanting, blood-rocking disaster.
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Album, Young Adults Against Suicide
- 10th October 2005 (Tomlab) |
Panthers
Politicised Brooklyn five-piece, Panthers', latest album is produced by Alex Newport (Melvins, At the Drive In, The Locust) and has been compared to Trail of the Dead and Fugazi, with bits of 70s Sabbath sludge and At the Drive-In dynamics - whilst sounding entirely like themselves. Wicked lyrics with real guts.
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Album, Things Are Strange - 26th
September 2005 |
Langhorne Slim
Langhorne's songs come out of American vernacular music - the hillbilly sounds that peaked in the '20s and '30s. His 15-song debut album showcases Slim's incredible ability to narrate a tale about absolutely anything. Each song is filled to the brim with witty metaphors that could put a smile on the saddest boxcar hobo's face. He is some kind of throwback to an earlier time - and yet Langhorne is clearly in love with the 21st century.
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Debut
album, When The Sun's Gone Down - August 2005 (Narnack Records) |
Les Georges Leningrad
After two years, Montreal's notorious post-punkers finally release their long-awaited second album. The band who have dubbed their chaotic tongue-in-cheek concoction 'Petrochemical rock' now operate as a trio and are leaner and more dangerous than ever! The band will be touring June 2005.
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Album, Sur Les Traces De Black Eskimo - 4th July
2005 (Tomlab) www.lesgeorgesleningrad.org |
Coachwhips
Front man, John Dwyer, has finally done a Coachwhips album the way he's always wanted to do a Coachwhips album - more blown out, more raw, more ass-shaking than any prior Coachwhips release. With the buzz and press surrounding this band, the world's begging for that spontaneous, explosive live-esque Coachwhips experience.
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Album, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Live at the Ginger
Minge -
21st February 2005 (Narnack Records) Album, Bangers Vs Fuckers - 22nd November 2004 (Narnack Records) www.narnackrecords.com |
Stained Glass Heroes
S G H hail from Leeds, Macclesfield and Istanbul but now create their unique sound in Camberwell, south London. Despite their scope and disrespect for conventional structure, S G H manage to twist intricate melodies from splintered improvised ideas. They have shared the stage with likes of Saloon, Swearing at Motorists and the legendary Vic Godard and The Subway Sect.
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Debut
single, Rodeo - 23rd February 2004 (Genepool
Records) www.stainedglassheroes.co.uk |
Ben's Symphonic Orchestra
BSO is back with his long overdue second album. After spending time touring with the likes of Lift to Experience, Supergrass and Sparklehorse, the multi-instrumentalist Frenchman, Benoit Rault's album has a quiet and more personal side to it, with a folk part on the album lead by calm and epic ballads.
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Album, Drifting - 9th February
2004 (Microbe) www.microberecords.com |
Grinspoon
Multi-platinum selling artists, Grinspoon, release their anticipated third album followed by a UK tour. In Australia, their home country, this album reached gold status in 10 days and has had four ARIA nominations (Australia's equivalent of the Grammy's). They have toured extensively, sharing the stage with Queens of the Stone Age, Anthrax, Silverchair, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc and have played the mainstage at all the major Australian festivals.
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Album, New Detention - 12th January 2004 (Universal) |
Shesus
Featuring ex-members of Brainiac and Guided by Voices, Shesus have been bringing crowds to their knees with a tight set full of pure, raw Ohio rock. Shesus have shared the stage with The Breeders, Guided by Voices, Enon, The French Kicks, The Dirtbombs and The Soledad Brothers.
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Album, Loves You...Loves You Not - 17th November 2003 (Narnack Records) www.shesus.com |
The Gin Palace
Formed from the ashes of London rockers, Penthouse, featuring the Robert Quine-cum-Spencer guitar blitz of Jon Free, The Gin Palace trio strip it down to rock'n'roll essentials...guitar, drums and vocals.
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Debut EP, Kill-Grief - 6th October 2003 (Artrocker) www.ginpalace.net |
Artrocker Compilation Album
Following on from the hugely successful New Blood Volume 2, Artrocker have put together another ferocious album of some of the finest rock and roll from all over the world - most of whom have played at the weekly Artrocker Club. Bands on this latest offering include Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Hells, The Soledad Brothers, The Donnas, The Rocks and 20 other bands to bring you 74 minutes of a shamelessly good time.
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Album, New Blood: The New Rock and Roll Volume 3 - 1st September 2003 (Artrocker) |
Mates of State
From the label who brought Erase Errata to our shores, they now bring you Mates of State, a boy-girl (husband and wife) circus of good vibes. Two people and some kick-ass pop sensibilities have made for years of good shows (sharing the stage with the likes of Guided By Voices, Magnetic Fields, and Aislers Set) and two successful albums in the US.
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Album, My Solo Project - 14th July 2003
(tsk! tsk! records) |
Jason Morphew
A huge departure from his previous albums, Jason Morphew has recently released his third album in the States, The Duke of Arkansas, to rave reviews. The album features Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta on keyboards and various members of the Beachwood Sparks. Strings, loud guitars, synthesizers, and pedal steel parts abound.
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Single, Sex - 30th June 2003 (Ba Da Bing) |
The Hells
Once in a while there's a buzz about a band before they've even played a gig... occasionally the excitement is justified as is the case with The Hells! And when those gigs did happen with The Soledad Brothers, The Rapture and The Burning Brides, the buzz became justified by the power of their performance and the tangible electricity of their on-stage magnetism.
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Debut
album, The Hells - 9th June 2003
(Artrocker) |
Ex Models
Brooklyn-based four piece follow their own individualistic style toying with rhythms, choppy frantic vocals and art-damaged guitars. Think of the nerdy fury of early Devo meets Gang of Four outtakes. No Wave is finally coming to the UK!
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Album, Zoo Psychology - 12th May 2003
(Frenchkiss Records) |
The Divine Brown
Shows with The Hives, The Datsuns, The D4 and a whole bunch of the New Rock 'n' Roll shining lights, have honed this band into a swaggering, rocking gang with a self-confidence that takes the room.
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Mini-album, How The Divine Brown Saved Rock 'n' Roll - 17th March 2003 (Artrocker) |
Numbers
Another great band from San Francisco, who lead the 'no wave' scene, along with Erase Errata. To coincide with their UK tour in March, Artrocker are releasing Numbers' debut album, originally released in the US on Kid 606's ultracool label, Tigerbeat 6.
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Debut album, Numbers Life - 10th March
2003 (Artrocker) |
Rye Coalition
To say that Rye' new album hits the listener like a bat out of hell is far too easy of a conclusion to reach, you know it's going to rock you so hard even before the CD player closes. Think AC/DC & Led Zeppelin meets Jesus Lizard and you're in for a treat!
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Album, Jersey Girls - 3rd March 2003
(Tiger Style Records) |
Grant Hart
After a 5 year hiatus, Grant Hart (ex-Husker Du) is coming to the UK for a one-off London show. Hart will be performing material from early Husker Du favourites to his recent solo material. His encores of late have turned into 'by request' marathons with few stones left unturned and few patrons left wanting!
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Gig,
Monday 16th December 2002 at the Metro Club, London |
Joe Jackson
Twenty-five years after the recording of Look Sharp, Joe Jackson is reuniting with his original band to perform some UK dates in September.
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UK
dates in September 2002 and new album - early 2003 |
Subway Sect
Legendary front-man Vic Godard is back with his best album for a decade - featuring a number of guest musicians.
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Album, Sansend - 23 September 2002 (Motion
Records) |
Garlic
Compared favourably to Pavement and Grandaddy. Fans include John Peel and New Order.
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Debut album, The Murky World of Seats - 9th September 2002 (Bella Union) |
Erase Errata
Four girls from San Francisco who are creating quite a buzz in the US. Think of ESG, Captain Beefheart and Sleater Kinney and you may get some idea... Firm favourites with Sonic Youth and Le Tigre.
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Debut
album, Other Animals - 5th August
2002 (Tsk Tsk Records) |