Releases
Interpol - Interpol Instores September 7th, 2010
You can always go home again, and so after one lap around the Capital Records track, Interpol have returned to Matador Records for the release of their long-awaited fourth album, a self-titled offering available Sept. 7th, 2010.
The album INTERPOL finds the New Yorker’s exploring dark musical landscapes of layered depth and intensity. In contrast to 2007’s ‘Our Love To Admire’, this self-titled opus hangs together as an album, a set of very different songs that thematically connect.
“The new record falls back towards the first,” drummer Sam Fogarino told Paste Magazine recently. “In trying to move forward, there was an unspoken realisation that you can’t let go of your sonic defining tag. There was an effort in Daniel [Kessler]‘s guitar tone; he rediscovered it playing in his loft space for a year
without anybody. The quality of that tone, played in a big room, is just beautiful. It creates an atmosphere. That big wash of reverb? It’s back.”
Available on US import, Interpol is presented in 4 unique configurations: deluxe CD with O-card (5,000 pieces earmarked for Canada), a deluxe gatefold double vinyl, plus standard CD and LP. Both LP versions feature a complimentary MP3 download coupon.
The deluxe limited edition CDs feature an O-Card and poster, while deluxe limited edition 2 LP sets are pressed on 120 gram vinyl with two 45 RPM 12″‘ discs with large centre holes. There will be limited quantities of a specially designed Interpol 45rpm adapter available.
The album has been prefaced by the track ‘Lights’, which has been downloaded over 200,000 times from the band’s website, and a video directed by legendary artist Charlie White, which is available to view at www.interpolnyc.com
A second advance offering, ‘Barricade’ is available now from iTunes, and will be performed by the band on David Letterman July 29th. A Jon Watts directed video will be premiering in mid-August. Jon has previously worked with TV On The Radio, Fatboy Slim, Death Cab and more.
Interpol will perform on Jimmy Kimmel the day following release with Jimmy Fallon happening in early November.
In the wake of bassist Carlos D’s departure following the completion of the new album, Paul, Daniel and Sam have augmented Interpol’s touring lineup to include David Pajo (Slint, Papa M, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) on bass and Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis on keyboards.
Interpol will debut music from the album on an east coast tour this summer, with confirmed Canadian dates August 9th Montréal (Metropolis) and August 10th Toronto (Kool Haus). Another round of touring will include western Canada commencing in Oct. followed by another North American trek in Jan.
For more information, please visit www.matadorrecords.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“‘Barricade,’ is exactly the kind of energetic, heated track you’d expect from the legendary New York band. After an opening cascade of building drums and guitars, the single bursts open, and the roller coaster begins. As with most Interpol songs, ‘Barricade’ vacillates between intense anguish (“Guess there must be a time / When there’s no more tears to cry”) and pure, humanist energy.” – AOL Radio
““Barricade” features a fairly constant boiling climatic feel. The ups and downs of tempo combined with singer Paul Banks’ urgent sounding vocals, has this single making you pay attention.” – Filter
“It’s a challenge to be dark and brooding by the seashore when July temperatures make your all-black wardrobe seem like a gross miscalculation, but having a brand-new Interpol moper on your iPod certainly helps.” – Georgia Straight (Vancouver) on Barricade
From the highly melodic “Barricade” and “Lights” through the snarling “Memory Serves” and the extraordinary triptych of connected tracks that close the album, Interpol have never made work this emotionally resonant or packed with crescendos.
Mixer Alan Moulder has brought the rhythm section back to the fore, anchoring a thicket of orchestral sound that brings to mind touchstones from black metal to ‘70s art rock, but always remains identifiably Interpol. Hypnotic, bizarre, always indelible, ‘Interpol’ is the band’s magnum opus.
Magic Kids - Memphis Instores August 24th 2010
True Panther Sounds is pleased to present Memphis, the label debut from Magic Kids. Named in homage of their Tennessee hometown.
The album calls on the sounds of a diverse orchestra of local musicians and friends playing oboes, strings, horns, 808s and synths. The songs are unapologetically joyful, unrestrained in their celebration, and fearless in their expression.
There are hints of late 80’s Britpop, the Delphonics’ heartbreaking harmonies, ELO’s grandeur and Belle & Sebastian’s intimacy. Ultimately though the music is all theirs, a collection of eleven instant classics, a glimpse into Magic Kids’ incredible world.
The sound of the album is defiantly contemporary. Recorded at Doug Easley’s studio by Shane Stonebeck (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells), Memphis packs a seriously powerful sonic punch.
The band will be touring all summer with Ariel Pink. onfirmed Canadian dates July 14th Vancouver (Biltmore), July 22nd Toronto (Mod Club), and July 23rd Montréal (La Salla Rosa).
A full North American headlining tour will take place Aug-Sept.
A video for “Superball”, directed by Focus Creeps, will be premiering soon.
Features in Nylon, Paste, Pitchfork, Spin, NME, Stereogum, Gorilla vs. Bear and tons more to confirm shortly.
For the latest, please visit www.myspace.com/themagickids
For more information, please visit www.truepanthersounds.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Without sacrificing its way with a melody, it takes its sweet time (almost four minutes) getting where it’s going. It also feels like the band has picked up a thing or two from Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson. In other words, this is to “Hey Boy” as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is to “Little Deuce Coupe.” – John Sakamoto /
Toronto Star on Summer
“The five piece Magic Kids have got me completely addicted to their sound.” – Alan McGee
“Their infectious upbeat music is instant sunshine.” – Pitchfork
“Rarely has a band with so little output attracted so much attention.” – LA Times
“Magic Kids’ “Summer” makes me think of Elvis Costello crooning vintage Brian Wilson lyrics with the help of Sufjan Stevens’ backup singers.” – Stereogum
“Shades of the timeless pop of Odessey & Oracle-era Zombies on this beautifully restrained track… If the lush, soaring Memphis tracks I’ve heard so far are any indication, this record represents a huge leap forward for the young band.” – Gorilla vs. Bear on Summer
In 2009, a troupe of Tennessean teenagers named Magic Kids dished up one of the year’s best popsongs. Channeling the Beach Boys by way of the Langley Schools Music Project, “Hey Boy” delivered 135 seconds of pure pop bliss: cascading vocal harmonies, Spector-esque wall-of-sound production, tinkling xylophone, blasting saxophone, and sweeping string parts.
Proving they weren’t just one-jam wonders, Magic Kids threw out another couple of killer cuts: the rollicking “Good to Be,” which kind of reminds me of Danielson Famile, and the suitably springy “Superball,” all twee keyboards and sad swipes of violin. Musically speaking, it’s a case of old is the new new: each song is hopelessly, romantically in debt to the Beach Boys, but the familiar chord-changes on display sound gloriously innocent in Magic Kids’ hands.
On the back of such sterling songwriting, Magic Kids have just signed to True Panther Sounds, the impossibly hip imprint that’s recently nestled into a cosy working relationship with indie behemoth Matador. – atl.com
Dylan LeBlanc - Paupers Field Instores August 24th
Rough Trade Records are excited to announce the release of Dylan LeBlanc’s debut full length, Paupers Field, which he worked on with Grammy award winning engineer Trina Shoemaker in Nashville.
The songs on the debut are beautifully nurtured, gently astonishing, stop you in your tracks reveries – gilded with strings, smokey organ lines, and keening pedal steel.
Despite his age (20 years old), Dylan’s worn yearning voice already has the mark of aged experience. Neither the feel nor sound of the album, nor the haunted ghost summoning songs he has written, can be faked. ”If Time Was Wasting” for instance, seems to be wrenched from the heart of ever present currents in Deep South life – where the pull of the past is unavoidable.
Dylan LeBlanc was born in the Parish of Caddo in northwest Louisiana. He was exposed to a wide variety of music whilst growing up in Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Inspired by Willis Alan Ramsey, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Tennessee Williams, he joined the House of Fame as a writer at 18.
Dylan’s approach to music is to write and sing about things that are real, that convey humanity, so all can relate. His inspiration comes from experience, and watching, listening, and absorbing everyday life around him.
Dylan will launch his frst North American tour this fall.
Available on US import digipak CD and LP, vinyl pressings feature a complimentary MP3 download coupon.
- Check out www.dylanleblanc.com where you can see his new video for “If Time Was For Wasting” and to download MP3.
“The Shreveport native’s got a great voice, older than his age with just a touch of a southern accent, but without the gruffness that people usually expect when you say “this kid sounds older than his age.” In the one-sheet LeBlanc mentions drinking a bit while writing this song, and the video shows him smoking, so
that voice may be ruined in a few years, or ten times better.” – Stereogum
“Swaddled in reverb and distinctly mournful in demeanor, singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc’s high, lonesome folk songs will send Ryan Adams fans into paroxysms of delight.” – Spinner
“Dylan LeBlanc, a 19-year-old lad from Louisiana headed to SXSW with the ink on his Rough Trade record deal barely dry. His heartfelt Americana, which owes much to Neil Young and Jim James, is blissfully pure.” – Spin.com
On Dylan LeBlanc’s debut album, Paupers Field, a lost world is brought to life – both in the carefully sculpted songs and rich well of country soul from which those songs emerge. Although the Golden era of Alabama’s fabled Muscle Shoals sound had passed by the time Dylan was born in1990, his ancestral roots and family background connected him to one of the most significant sources in the rich tapestry of American music. His father’s position as a Muscle Shoals session player and songwriter meant that early in life Dylan was privy to the sights and sounds of an unvarnished, vanishing epoch and such legends as Spooner Oldham.
“I grew up around a lot of the session players. When I was 11 or 12 I would watch and ask a lot of questions, so for me it was like going to music college,” is how the tall, gentle voiced, lank haired Shreveport, Louisiana native remembers it.
“It seemed like a much simpler world – it was romantic to me the way everyone sat in a circle and took it from the top, they just played and hit the record button. That’s the path I followed when I made this album.” This music is in the blood.
“For me music is about getting together with a group of people who feel like family – you create a bond, feeding off each other. Just a look or a hand gesture and they know what you are talking about.” Dylan’s progress was natural, organic – learning the ropes working as a sideman, helped define his own world view and artistry through his teens. A friend of such celebrated local outfits as Drive By Truckers, LeBlanc piggybacked on no-one. Paupers Field is a singular record from a singular performer.
Giggs - Let Em Ave It - Instores August 3rd
Following in the footsteps of UK Grime luminaries Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, comes Giggs and his XL Recordings debut full length release, Let Em Ave It.
- The recent elevation of some of London’s premier grime MCs to the top of the charts has created a new challenge for the city’s underground. There’s a need for new voices, new stories, new sounds, a fresh take on the themes of doing what you need to do to get by and survive in some of London’s less glamorous
boroughs.
Step forward the much talked about Giggs. Hailing from Peckham, Giggs (aka Hollowman, an alias he adopted following a stint in prison and a desire to move away from street activity) signed to XL Recordings on the back of an amazing couple of years that has seen him become the most exciting name in British rap.
A truly unique voice, Giggs’ combination of slow flow, dark lyrics, a well-documented past and explosive street sales has got everyone excited. He first burst onto the scene in 2008 with his debut ‘Talkin The Hardest’ freestyle which has become one of British rap’s biggest anthems, racking up over 2 million views
on Youtube.
Mixtapes followed on Giggs’ own SN1 (Still Number 1) label, selling tens of thousands of copies between them as Giggs opened his own shop in Peckham to deal with the huge street demand for his merchandise.
Giggs won a prestigious BET Award for Best British Hip Hop Act in Atlanta last year before being named one of the 15 shortlisted acts in the BBC’s Sound Of 2010 poll this year.
Album track Don’t Go There’, featuring guest vocals from Atlanta’s B.o.B, has already been playlisted by BBC Radio 1Xtra and received big support from the likes of Tim Westwood, Mistajam and Zane Lowe (who recently made Don’t Go There his ‘Hottest Record In The World’).
Giggs raises the tempo with ‘Looked What The Cat Dragged In’. It’s already been smashing up the clubs and the airwaves with Tim Westwood, Mistajam and Zane Lowe all playing it within 24 hours of copies being made available.
‘Ave a listen at www.myspace.com/trapstargiggs
For more information, please visit www.sn1giggs.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“At long last the UK has a homegrown rap talent to be proud of…it’s befuddling how long it’s taken the UK to unleash a hungry street-smart poet comparable to the genre’s US-born greats. – NME 8 out of 10
“He’s gonna blow the f*ck up.” – RWD
“The UK’s hottest rapper.” – Observer Music Monthly
Babylon Central - A FILM BY ERIC HILTON OF THIEVERY CORPORATION - CD / DVD Instores July 27th
ESL Music is pleased to announce the release of “Babylon Central” – The DVD film and the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD packaged together in a US import 6-panel CD / DVD digipak.
The directorial debut from Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation, Babylon Central is an original screenplay and film, shot on location in Washington, DC. The film stars Joe Steger, Neda Zahrie, and W. Ellington Felton, and showcases a musical score created by Hilton in the style of his record label, ESL Music.
Music has been the driving creative force behind Hilton’s career with Thievery Corporation and ESL Music. He has carefully selected 42 different songs for inclusion in the film score. The result is an incredible 17-song soundtrack that includes rare, vintage, out-of print, and unreleased sonic gems, including a
previously unavailable remix of “Amerimacka” by Thievery Corporation.
Grooving fluidly across genres, the Babylon Central Soundtrack features must-have classics like “Leaving Babylon,” a smoky reggae excursion by DC hardcore punk luminaries Bad Brains, “Hang On In There,” a socially charged funk and soul epic by 70’s crooner Mike James Kirland, and “Coming From
The Top,” the massive horn-punctuated break beat showstopper by Thievery Corporation.
Babylon Central is a fictional story from the mind of Eric Hilton and developed into a screenplay by Hilton and Philip Hawken in 2006, a debut for both.
The film is about Sebastian James, a courier by day and aspiring DJ by night. When he fails to deliver an important package for his boss, public relations guru Julian Gold, Seb finds himself an unwitting participant in an economic power-play with a Saudi Prince as the Saudi government attempts to divest from the US
dollar. As Seb begins to fall for the Prince’s daughter, his friends are dragged into the conflict. Throughout his struggle, the dark powers that operate in Washington, DC (modern-day Babylon) are revealed, and the Achilles heel of the US Empire is exposed.
For a complete overview of the film, including the trailor, interview with the director and actor bios, please visit www.babyloncentralfilm.com
For further information, please visit www.beggarsgroup.ca
Rox - Memoirs Instores July 20th
Rough Trade Records is very pleased to present Memoirs, the debut longplayer from massively talented 21 year old South Londoner, Rox.
Available on UK import CD and LP, Memoirs features production from Commissioner Gordon (Lauryn Hill, Damian Marley, KRS One) and London born and bred, Al Shux (Jay Z, Lupe Fiasco, Sway).
Rox has had a clean sweep of critical tips for 2010 including the influential BBC Sound Poll and MTV’s 10 for 10. Amongst many others she has also been tipped in The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror, The Independent, The Guardian, The News of the World, Pitchfork and NME.
Described by The News Of The World as being an “electrifying’ live artist”, Rox has already amassed a handful of significant live dates. A string of summer UK festivals lay in wait before she makes her way across the pond for her live debut on these shores.
ROX has recently returned from LA where she shot the ground breaking video for the single ‘I Don’t Believe’ with last year’s MTV VMA Breakthrough winning Director Taylor Cohen.
From singing in the Churches of South London, to collaborating with Shux and Commissioner Gordon, ROX has achieved so much in her 21 years.
To hear music and for video clips, please visit www.myspace.com/roxmusik
For more information, please visit www.thisisrox.com www.roughtraderecords.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Produced by Al Shux, who created the track for what became Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” this sweetly retro number from the hotly tipped south Londoner sounds a bit like “Until You Come Back to Me”-era Aretha Franklin. Fans of both Keys and Adele in particular, and sweet soul music in general, should find a comfortable, and comforting, fit here.” – John Sakamoto on My Baby Left Me
(Toronto Star)
“Her vocals are elegant, and she never wastes a note, whether the song is a trip-hop weepie (Page Unfolds) or a Motown-influenced dance item (Do As I Say). This is incredibly catchy pop.” – The Guardian 4 Stars
“Rox is a class act.” – MTV
Roxanne Tataei brings conviction to your sound-system; A powerful voice on a stage with a tale or two to tell. Half Jamaican and half Iranian, at the tender old age of 21, her debut album entitled “Memoirs” is the
fortuitous result of hard graft and a singular minded headspace.
Miss Tataei’s youth wasn’t misspent; Saturdays were for Church, for singing, from 9am to 5pm, every week from the age of five to ten. It was here that her voice, love of performance and work ethic took shape. It was at various jovial Jamaican family gatherings that she sang above and beyond her stature, five part harmonies over fried fish and run-dung stew with a solo performance for dessert. These
attributes were eventually accentuated in school plays and a stint with the National Youth Musical Theatre ensured most school holidays were spent on tour. In Rox’s own words ‘It wasn’t long before all that Jazz-Hands stuff got on my nerves’; Chicago (the musical) got swapped for Portishead (the Dummy) and Lauryn Hill (the Miseducation).
And so to the finished album, it’s a game of three halves. It’s about saying goodbye to someone, saying hello to heartache and the putting of her big toe back into loves’ trepidation filled waters. Her lyrics undress her emotions, blatantly, constantly. Throughout the album you get the sense that this is to redress her, not in armor, but in a tailor made power suit. This catharsis isn’t delivered with malice nor weak-willed ‘woe is me’ undertones. It’s about process, working through something difficult, owning hurt and turning it into something to shake your tush to on a Saturday night; ‘My Baby’ is a perfect slice of up yours. The delicate beats driven stirrings of ‘Sad Eyes’ showcases heart, ‘Do as I Say’ is classic southern
soul and ‘Rocksteady’ is triumphant feel-good reggae.
A truly classic album remains perpetually timeless and can only be built upon rock steady convictions that spring from an unwavering ability; Rox has this in spades and by the bucket load.
Mystery Jets - Serotonin Instores July 13th
Rough Trade and Beggars Group are pleased to present the third album from Britain’s Mystery Jets, Serotonin.
After stripping away much of the excess on their lovelorn and warmly-received 2008 album Twenty One, Serotonin sees the Mystery Jets mapping out entirely new musical territories: the synthesizer-fuelled perfect pop of ‘Dreaming Of Another World’, which begins as an aching soft-rock ballad before unexpectedly heading somewhere infinitely weirder.
You can hear echoes of ELO, 10CC, Fleetwood Mac and Supertramp rubbing up against the band’s own idiosyncratic, very British, and occasionally rather creepy psychedelic sensibility.
Produced by Chris Thomas, legendary producer of Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure, the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy In The UK, John Cale’s Paris 1919 and Pulp’s Different Class, the album is available as a US import CD and LP, with bonus MP3 download coupon.
LP pressings come in gatefold heavyweight vinyl with bonus 7” single.
Videos for initial impact tracks ‘Flash A Hungry Smile’ and ‘Dreaming Of Another World’ are forthcoming,
as well as a 10 minute album documentary.
The band have already confirmed sets at this year’s Glastonbury, Lovebox Weekender, Reading and Leeds Festivals, as well as a one off performance at Somerset House on July 8th, with North American dates to be announced later in the summer.
“Flash A Hungry Smile” MP3 available now at www.mysteryjets.com
For more information, please visit www.roughtrade.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
Early press on “Flash A Hungry Smile”:
“One of the catchiest things they’ve done yet”. – NME
“Quintessential English Indie pop”. – Indiescreet
“Pop hit!” – Fader
The Mystery Jets sit around a vast table, upstairs in a plush West London studio. Downstairs in the control room, putting the finishing touches to the third Mystery Jets album, Serotonin, lurks legendary Chris Thomas, of whom the Mystery Jets understandably seem a little in awe. “He can hear things that none of us can hear,” whispers guitarist William Rees. “He’s got dog’s ears.” “And he has the best stories,” nods lead singer Blaine Harrison. “The anecdotes are just unbelievable.”
It is, the band concede, all rather a long way from their ramshackle beginnings in the Eel Pie Island boatyard where the Mystery Jets staged impromptu Saturday night gigs that brought them to the attention of the wider world in 2005. When they emerged, they seemed like a band entirely unlike any other: the lead singer was on crutches, his father was on guitar – Henry Harrison had formed the band with his son and Rees when the latter were both 8 – some of the lyrics were in Latin and the prog rock of King Crimson and Yes was loudly touted as an influence on their debut album Making Dens. “We wanted to be Crimson, Yes, the Floyds and Genesis all at the same time,” says Blaine, “then The Libertines were massively influential.
And some weirder stuff too,” he adds, as if forming a band influenced by King Crimson, Yes and Genesis with your dad when you were 8 wasn’t sufficiently peculiar enough. “There was Afrobeat and Can as well.
Every song on that album had five synthesizers on it and a harp and a wizard’s hat, field recordings of tramps, people sawing wood and hammering. By the time you got onstage you were playing bells with your feet. It was all over the place, but it represented what we wanted to be. We were,” he nods, “ a very confused bunch of kids, very enthusiastic.”
It’s an odd way of going about things, but then again, “an odd way of going about things” could have been the Mystery Jets’ motto, right from their earliest days, when covers of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb and Richie Havens’ La Bamba nestled alongside an 11-minute prog instrumental. And odd way of going about
things or not, they seem understandably delighted with the results. “It feels like we know what we’re doing,” nods Blaine.
M.I.A. - /\/\ /\ Y /\ Instores July 13th
Exploding back into the cultural limelight, M.I.A. returns this summer with her third full length release, /\/\ /\ Y /\, the follow-up to her Canadian Gold selling sophomore album, KALA and the explosive, pioneering debut, Arular.
Prefaced by the singles Born Free and XXXO (currently Single of the Week at Radio 1), the album is available as a standard CD release with 16 page booklet, a UK import gatefold double LP and a deluxe limited edition lenticular slipcase CD with 4 exclusive bonus tracks.
3rd single in iTunes exclusive Countdown to /\/\ /\ Y /\ campaign, Steppin’ Out, is now available for download. Born Free and XXXO are both Top 10 sellers. Paper Planes continues to sell hundreds a week.
Visit www.factmag.com to hear ‘Steppin Up’, which was recently debuted by Zane Lowe on his Radio 1 show (his “Hottest Record In The World”) and Jay Z’s brand new remix of XXXO.
A video for XXXO, shot by Hype Williams, the man behind Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and the Notorious B.I.G.‘s “Mo Money Mo Problems”, will be released imminently.
Working with Kala alum Blaqstarr, Switch, and Diplo, (who has been part of both previous M.I.A. discs) along with Rusko, the later says of /\/\ /\ Y /\ “If you’re an M.I.A. fan and you buy a new M.I.A. record, you want to hear something you’ve never heard before. This record gives you that.”
Rusko, current reigning champ of the dubstep scene, has been called “one of the most promising producers of his generation” by DJ Magazine.
In addition, the album also features production from N.E.E.T. Records recording artist, Sleigh Bells.
- The Oscar and Grammy nominated M.I.A. is never one to turn away from controversy, evidenced by her Born Free video. Directed by Romain Gavras (The Last Shadow Puppets, Justice and DJ Mehdi), it features government troops rounding up and then brutally killing red-headed young men. Banned almost
immediately from youtube, it has garnered over 8 million hits from various sites across the web. It is available to view now at www.miauk.com
/\/\ /\ Y /\ is being supported by a world-wide campaign that is spanning all media, including a MASSIVE web-based intiative. Watch for coverage in GQ, Pitchfork, Rollingstone, Interview, Wired, and Vibe
Currently the June / July cover story in Nylon Magazine, M.I.A. graces the cover of the latest issue of Billboard Magazine with an expansive interview.
M.I.A. is scheduled to appear July 13th on Late Show With David Letterman and July 14th on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
Touring heavily in support of the album with her first North American performance July 17th in Los Angeles, M.I.A. headlines the inagural HARD LA festival, followed by HARD NY on the 24th, and then a run of European festivals before her return to Canada in the fall. - M.I.A. recently sat down with Lynn Hirschberg of the New York Times in what could be the most controversial interview since Frost / Nixon and spawned a storm across twitter…have a read at www.nytimes.com and then check the follow-up from M.I.A. at twitter.com/beggarscanada
“During “Space,” the dreamy future-shock ballad that closes her upcoming third album, M.I.A. repeatedly coos, “My lines are down/You can’t call me,” over a gently percolating beat that sounds like a Sega Genesis practicing its pillow talk. It’s just one of the many observations on our data-drenched Infotainment Age that crop up throughout “/\/\ /\ Y /\,” a stunning, more-or-less self-titled effort from the
34-year-old Sri Lankan native born Maya Arulpragasam.” – Billboard
“So, let’s be clear: MIA’s music is fantastic. A self-taught rapper, songwriter and producer, she makes infectious, inventive tunes that smash and grab from hip-hop, grime, rave and punk, stir things up with Jamaican beats, Indian rhythms, African drums. She samples with abandon, from older artists such as the Clash and Suicide, as well as from the sounds that surround her: cash registers, toy instruments, the Tamils’ urumee drum. Her lyrics are interesting, too: fluid, ambiguous, hard to decipher, they mix up gangsta talk – “Some some some I murder” – with patois, London slang, silliness, personal observation. After just one LP, 2005’s Arular, rapper Nas commented: “Her sound is the future.” – The Guardian
“Boasting a stage name that means missing in action (war zone implied), the Brooklyn-based British Sri Lankan has always been mercurial, volatile, elusive. As much smash-and-grab as cut-and-paste. 2005’s Arular (titled after her absent militant father) and 2007’s Kala (after her refugee single mom) burst with splashes of disorienting static. A fluorescent hall of weed smoke and cracked mirrors. Double-Dutch jumps across borders. But unlike the nomadic cultural-attaché persona she adopted for Kala — after visa issues disrupted plans to record in the U.S. — M.I.A. plants her feet firmly with this self-titled album, which she created primarily in America while tending to a newborn son. Aside from “Lovealot,” she proudly proclaims her intentions as a firstworld pop star, de-emphasizing found collage and “third-world democracy” for melodic sway and punky bluster (aided by familiar producers Switch, Blaqstarr, and Diplo, plus newbies Rusko and Sleigh Bells’ Derek Miller)“ – 4.5 out of 5 – SPIN Magazine
“M.I.A. / XXXO – Easily the most mainstream-sounding track she’s ever recorded, this dance floor-friendly, pop-culture-laden track (Twitter and the iPhone both figure in the lyrics) could be slipped into the middle of mixtape of Madonna, Rihanna, and Britney singles.” – Toronto Star
Cold Cave - Life Magazine Remixes Instores June 29th
Following on from debut album Love Comes Close (“a piece of spectral, spectacular electronic pop” Guardian), New York’s Cold Cave release an EP of remixes for ‘Life Magazine’ as their new single.
A live favourite, ‘Life Magazine’ sees Caralee McElroy’s vocals take centre stage beside a maelstrom of pulsating beats. The accompanying remixes illustrate the core elements that make the band – the dichotomy of leftfield noise and dancefloor pop sensibilities.
The A-side features a remix from legendary producer Arthur Baker (Afrika Bambaataa, New Order) whose efforts transform ‘Life Magazine’ into an epic, hard-hitting proposition poised to ignite many a dancefloor. DJ duo Optimo, whose notorious Glaswegian club night closed recently, provide the Espacio remix.
The more outré B-side contains re-workings from minimal techno mastermind Pantha Du Prince and the noise artist Prurient (aka Cold Cave’s Dominick Fernow).
Cold Cave embarks on a short tour to coincide with the release of Life Magazine, with confirmed Canadian dates June 19th Toronto (Wrongbar) and June 20 Montréal (Le Belmont).
For the latest information, and to stream music, please visit www.myspace.com/coldcave
Visit www.matadorrecords.com to hear the Pantha Du Prince remix.
“Multi-instrumentalist Caralee McElroy steals the show on solo “Life Magazine”. Cooing brightly over a pounding, four-on-the-floor dance beat and heavily distorted keys, she is a ray of poppy sunshine.” – Georgia Straight
“Synth-pop, post punk, new wave, atmospheric industrial— all these references, which came and went and were fashionable again a half-decade ago, somehow manage to feel fresh here. It’s probably because the songs on Love Comes Close are consistently catchy and well constructed.” – Pitchfork
Stornoway - Beachcomber's Windowsill Instores June 29th
4AD presents the label debut from Stornoway, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, which is currently #4 on the UK iTunes chart (#1 Alternative) and poised to debut impressively on the national chart.
Five years in the making, the album is a labour of love that includes over a hundred different instruments: the chimes of a Dutch church bell, one Morse Code message and the sound of several carrots being chopped. More importantly, it is an album of extraordinary beauty, that is by turns fiery and wistful and
exuberant, and that marks out Stornoway as Britain’s most talented young band.
In the last 12 months, they have acquired the support of Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, played Radio 1’s Big Weekend, wooed the crowds at Glastonbury, found themselves shortlisted for Radio 1’s Sound of 2010, played a sold-out UK tour and appeared on Later… With Jools Holland.
The core of the band are Brian Briggs (guitar, vox), Jonathan Ouin playing keys and strings and brothers Ollie and Rob Steadman on bass and drums respectively. Augmenting the quartet for live performances are Brian’s brother Adam Briggs on brass and Rahul Satija playing violin.
Stornoway are endowed with a natural ability to write that very earthy, rooted kind of song; mined deep from the land it was conceived in. Their choral harmonies and use of strings and improvised instruments is also reminiscent of US bluegrass, but what sets them apart and gives them their further mysterious magnetism is singer and songwriter Brian Briggs exceptional ear for that very distinctive of sounds – the
British pop melody.
To stream music, please visit www.myspace.com/stornoway and www.stornoway.eu
For more information, please visit www.4ad.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Poignant and enduring.” – The Observer
“Stornoway tug at every emotional fibre in the body.” – NME
“Our new favourite band.” – The Guardian
“The first great album of the summer.” – The Times
“It’s hard not to be felled by the utter gorgeousness of this record.” – BBC
“Like a blast of sea air that hits you as you alight an overnight train.” – Mojo
“‘Watching Birds’ is surely the most vibrant song ever written.” – Financial Times
“Truly billows the heart.” – TheTelegraph
Stornoway began quietly one freshers’ week at Oxford University, when lead singer and principal songwriter Brian Briggs approached Jon Ouin (keys/banjo/electric guitar/cello) and asked if he happened to like Teenage Fanclub. They began playing music together soon afterwards, in the dining hall of Wolfson College and immediately set to work on their own fledgling compositions. A short while later they were emboldened enough to enter the college talent competition, where they were runners-up to a group of Norse singers, and received a consolation prize of a large bowl of fruit.
2010 is already shaping up to be a strong year for Stornoway, one to match their not inconsiderable successes of 2009. Being booked for an unprecedented four stages at Glastonbury, a headline slot on the Introducing Stage at Radio 1’s One Big Weekend, playing to fans Jay-Z and Dave Grohl on Later…with Jools Holland and hosting their own sold-out show in Oxford’s magnificent Christopher Wren
designed Sheldonian Theatre among the highlights.
January saw the Oxford ‘Faux Pop’ songsmiths being credited with the enviable accolade of a position in the highly influential BBC Sound of 2010 tastemaker poll. It is rare that the BBC gets its predictions wrong and previous early tips from them have all gone on to achieve greatness. The band are now moving on from being phenomenally credible, independent, unsigned artists to signing to 4AD and
releasing their debut album.
Hunx And His Punx - Gay Singles In Stores June 29th
Hunx and His Punx is the homoerotic vision of San Francisco-based performer / personality Hunx, aka Seth Bogart.
“Gay Singles” compiles all the songs from 5 of his now sold-out singles, released between 2008 and 2009, with a bonus track. The initial singles were released, and then quickly disappeared into the vacuum chamber of eBay speculation.
The first pressing of the LP is also now gone into a similar collector’s wormhole, but we’re now proud to share a full and widely available CD release of “Gay Singles” with the world. And it’s about time.
The music is amazing, at once hilarious and deeply good pop songs, like the Gay Ramones mixed with Ronnettes filmed by John Waters.
The music pays homage to his varied influences (The Ronettes, The Ramones, Al Pacino’s “Cruising”). Hunx’s unique style defies genres and serves up equal helpings of 60’s girl group, bubblegum pop, and new wave, with all of the hallmarks of the Bay Area garage rock scene Seth emerged from.
Hunx And His Punx will be in Canada with Austin-based Harlem (Matador Records) for a show in Vancouver July 3 (Venue)
Visit www.myspace.com/hunxsolo for the latest tour information.
For video and music, check out the re-vamped www.truepanthersounds.com
“Perhaps you recognize Seth from his very naked appearance in the “hardcore” version of his labelmates Girls’ “Lust For Life” video (but) the outrageously tarty presentation plus faux naïve musical content highlights a winning group of influences— John Waters, the Shangri-Las, the Ramones— and the collection is surprisingly cohesive for a singles compilation.” – Pitchfork 7.6
“The rebirth of US indie rock. Essential track: ‘U Don’t Like Rock’n‘Roll’ (featuring such lyrical backhanders as ‘You like Morrissey/You like U2/What the fuck is wrong with you’).” – NME
“San Francisco’s Hunx and His Punx (comprised of members from NoBunny and Gravy Train) emulates the Twist rhythms and Buddy Holly backbeats of early rock ‘n’ roll, and succeeds in merging these classic idiosyncrasies with whiny and scrappy power pop.” – Daily Loaf
“San Francisco’s Hunx and his Punx (one of whom is Justin “Nobunny” & another of former Gravy Train!!!!) have injected humor, imagination and fun into their prodigious multimedia output.” – LastFM
“But behind all the debauchery, there’s some damn fine rock ’n roll.” – Paste
The seeds for Hunx and His Punx were planted when Seth’s friend Nobunny, wrote a batch of songs with the intention of starting a Runaways-esque band made up of high school girls. “That’s why all those songs are about boys and stuff,” Hunx says. “But then, he was, like, too creepy or something and couldn’t find any girls.” Seth moved on, adding his own songs and lyrics to the collection. While the songs carry their own weight, Seth’s voice is the star. His voice is awesome- a nasally seductive
combination of a whine and a croon that colours the Gay Singles’ vivid stories.
Bibi Tanga & The Selenites - Dunya Instores June 22, 2010
The future of funk is being written right now by a pair of Parisian groove theorists named Bibi Tanga and Professeur Inlassable. Already having made a stir in France, the group now teams up with Nat Geo Music to bring their fashion-forward funk vision to audiences worldwide by way of their full-length international
debut, Dunya.
Together with Bibi’s band, The Selenites, the duo forges a stunningly original new sound, and creates a space where Afro-futurism meets steampunk, Fela Kuti jams with Sidney Bechet, and Marcel Duchamp gets down to Chic.
Bibi’s music is marked by slinky, sinuous basslines and a wicked falsetto that conjures up Prince and Curtis Mayfield, while producer Professeur Inlassable (“The Tireless Professor”) digs deep beneath the cobblestones of Paris to unearth the sound and spirit of another era.
Album track Red Wine is on the A list on French National radio, France Inter.
Played live on weekly live show on France Inter called Le Pont des Artistes (600 000 listeners per show / every Saturday) and performed Red Wine on national French TV talk show ‘Ce soir ou jamais’ on France 3 with over 500,000 viewers.
Playing festival appearances around Europe over the summer, Bibi Tanga will tour North America in earnest later this year.
Recording live concert on cable TV channel France 0 for a show called Zandolive.
Press features in 3 of France’s top media outlets: Vibrations, Mondomix, Word Sound.
For the latest tour information and to watch video, please visit www.myspace.com/bibitanga
- For more information, please visit http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com
Dunya takes its name from the word for “existence” in Sango, the language of the Central African Republic, and the album is both a vivid snapshot of the present moment in global music and a roadmap to the future.
Deftly juggling English, French and Sango lyrics, Bibi embeds hyper-literate, socially conscious messages about immigration, malnutrition, AIDS, slavery and more in some of the most danceable grooves this side of Gnarls Barkley. “Dunya” takes listeners on a wild, eclectic tour through the history and pre-history of funk,
layering afrobeat rhythms over electro-tinged soul and cosmopolitan trans-Atlantic grooves.
Born in Paris in 1969, Bienvenu (Bibi) Tanga didn’t see his homeland until the age of 2, when his parents brought him home to Bangui, the dusty capital of the Central African Republic. Growing up, Bibi was one of 10 children and spent his earliest years shuttling from Paris to Africa to Moscow to Washington, D.C.,
and Brooklyn, thanks to his father’s diplomatic postings. “I remember the first time that I realized I wasn’t white,” Bibi recalls “I was 4 years old, in Moscow, and the idea of race, of colour, just hadn’t occurred to me before. I always felt like an outsider until I was 10 years old and my parents returned to Paris.”
Thanks to a coup d‘état in the Central African Republic, his father turned from diplomat to refugee, and Bibi’s family ended up living in the suburbs of Paris. “My mother supported us then, she worked as a nurse.
It was hard, but I was happy to be in Paris, because it felt like home to me, I knew I could make real friends here.”
It was in Paris that his musical education began in earnest. “My parents used to go to a lot of parties,” he recalls, “And my father had a lot of records. I grew up listening to everything. Franco and Tabu Ley from Congo, Fela Kuti from Nigeria, Bembeya Jazz from Guinea. I grew up on all of that. American music, too – James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix and of course Bob Marley. I love disco, funk, soul, reggae, R&B. It’s all like a big library to me. I feel like there’s this heritage of black music from around the world,
and I’m the heir to it.”
Together with Bibi’s band The Selenites – Arthur Simonini on violin and keyboards, Rico Kerridge on guitar and Arnaud Biscay on drums – Bibi and Le Professeur craft an otherworldly sound. “We call the band The Selenites because that’s the name of the people who lived on the dark side of the moon.” Bibi explains. “It’s from a story by H.G. Wells. People think our music comes from outer space, like cosmic rays. So the moon is a big inspiration for me, I’m definitely a romantic that way – but my music is also rooted firmly on the ground.”
Cocteau Twins - 180 Gram Deluxe Treasure in stores June 15
Available simultaineously with the Limited Edition box set comes the Cocteau Twins crowning moment,
their beloved 1984 album, Treasure.
Remastered from the original analogue tapes specially for this vinyl edition, Treasure is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, is limited to 5,000 copies with sleeve printed on heavyweight board and newly designed inner bag by 4AD creative maestro, Vaughan Oliver.
On release in 1984 the album topped the UK Independent Charts and even made it as far as number 28 on the National Album chart. The album was not unworthy of the praise received. At the time, it was in true Cocteau fashion-unlike anything else anyone had yet heard.
Treasure proved to be the Cocteau Twins recording highlight, on release it was met with unprecedented accolades from fans and the press. In fact some press response was near hysterical, calling them “the voice of God”.
Treasure marked a trend in Cocteau Twins music to blur the edges more, and further detach the music from any sort of definite structure. The songs themselves rely heavily on effects, and often the sounds one hears are reminiscent of the baroque or more modern gothic/synthetic music (such as Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells”- like Otterley) accompanied by layers of delayed or fuzzed out guitars, and the occasional
acoustic style strummimg rhythm (as on “Ivo” and Cicely” for example).
The Charlatans - Some Friendly 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition instores June 8th
Can it really be twenty years ago that The Charlatans furtively and then confidently appeared in the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays’ slipstream to carve their own distinctive, tough, psychedelic soundtrack for those brief, heady years when Manchester was the centre of the world?
From that auspicious start they experienced career highs and lows, broadened their musical base and endured to become one of the era’s most respected and successful bands.
Beggars Archive is marking the occasion with a gloriously re-mastered re-issue of the band’s No.1 UK debut album, Some Friendly, accompanied by a second CD of singles and sessions.
This Expanded Edition includes Some Friendly restored to it’s original vinyl sequence, plus the second disc of non-album singles and previously unreleased BBC sessions.
It includes the UK top 10 single (and perennial classic) The Only One I Know, the follow-up, Then, and the Over Rising EP.
The artwork has been put together by Kim Peters, the man responsible for all the early sleeves, and it’s as sharp as a Saville Row suit.
To celebrate the anniversary of their first record, The Charlatans will be performing Some Friendly in it’s entirety on selected dates, both in Britain and Europe.
The band are Tim Burgess (vocals), Mark Collins (guitar), Martin Blunt (bass), Tony Rogers (keyboards) and Jon Brookes (drums and percussion).
Tim, Martin and Jon have recorded an XFM special for the 20th anniversary of Some Friendly. The show broadcasts on Xfm (London & Manchester) on Sunday 16th May at 10pm GMT. Listen online xfm.co.uk.
- For more information, please visit http://archive.beggars.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Soaring Hammond organ, rubbery bass, sing-at-the-ceiling choruses — were never better than on ‘The Only One I Know.‘“ – SPIN
When The Charlatans emerged in 1991 with The Only One I Know, there were countless bands that sounded similar to them, but they immediately catapulted to the forefront of the Manchester scene, standing alongside such icons as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. They had such success because they not only rode the groove like so many other Manchester bands, but they could also write great songs, drawing partially from the ‘60s-saturated Roses and the Rolling Stones. These were the gifts that made them among the greatest British suvivors of the time, rolling through tragedy and stylistic changes to amass a terrific body of work – one that was modern enough to play in clubs, but classic enough to stand the test of time.
Ratatat - LP4 Instores June 8th
All hail the return of Ratatat! Evan Mast and Mike Stroud are back to once again redefine the current state of instrumental music.
Ratatat’s new album, LP4, is the duo’s next step forward on the work that they began on LP3. It was conceived during the creative streak that began during the LP3 sessions at Old Soul studios, in rural Upstate New York.
The band describe LP4 as a ‘weirder’ album than LP3, with a much braver approach to the arrangements. There are more instruments featured on the record than ever before, and for the first time a full string section.
The album also features a number of spoken word interludes, one taken from Werner Herzog’s film Stroszeck in which the lead character Bruno S describes the keyboards he owns. The other samples are all courtesy of Linda Manz, the first taken from Terence Mallick’s period drama Days Of Heaven.
While trying to clear the sample, Evan unexpectedly ended up on the phone with Linda herself. The call resulted in a trip to Linda’s house, where he recorded an interview with her, excerpts from which make up the remaining vocal samples.
Ratatat will be touring North America in the summer and fall.
Following a previously successful trip to David Letterman, Ratatat will be making the rounds of late night once again with dates to be confirmed shortly.
Available on US import CD and LP (with MP3 download coupon), the release will feature 3 separate video
treatments.
For more information, please visit www.ratatatmusic.com, www.xlrecordings.com, and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“(Mike Stroud) is Electronic music’s first guitar hero.” – Big Shot
“Almost single-handedly saving and redeeming an entire genre, this two-piece psychotropic orchestra has been concocting tripped-out jams since 2001 with some of the most complicated digital pops and snaps in contemporary music. Hell, probably ever. This is headphone music, the kind that will make your brain bounce.” – Fuel TV.com
“ Where previous albums had the austerity of blueprints, LP3 adds enough shifty overlays and undercurrents to give Ratatat’s music a new dimension of mystery…all the new transformations enrich Ratatat’s music both sonically and psychologically, stoking new drama and hinting at hidden reservoirs of
melancholy.” – The New York Times