Thursday 27 August 2009

Pure Ecstasy



Pure Ecstasy are from Austin, Texas where I've spent one of the best weeks of my life and one of the worst. They have just released their first 7". There's only 50 pressed, with spray painted sleeves. Get one here

Nate from the band, kindly sent me the tracks over so you can download 'You're In It Now' by clicking on it. Awesome.

The excellent Friendship Bracelet blog describes them thus:

Pure Ecstasy tows the line between the golden shimmers of current heads Real Estate and Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, but with more vocal reverb, almost reminding me of It Still Moves-era My Morning Jacket in its warm echo slack, which is saying something since It Still Moves was one of my favorite records at one point.

However, Pure Ecstasy stays away from the whole down-home Kentucky country thing in favor of a more muffled and less technical vibe. These sounds should soundtrack roadtrips. Not the beginning or end of roadtrips, but the hearty portion of middle America one must pass through to get from one side to the other. This is waiting music for those who like to hit the snooze button, those who enjoy limbo rather than certainty, those who would rather be in it than at the end of it. Forget the beach. Summer's almost over. Time to cruise through the farmland, the endless waves of cultivated soil, cattle, silos, lone powerlines, sun-soaked and sun-baked cornfields.

Friday 21 August 2009

The Babies



The Babies are Cassie Ramone from Vivian Girls, Kevin Morby from Woods and Justin Sullivan from Bossy. They're awesome and 'Meet Me In The City' is the first track to pop up (stolen wholesale from Pitchfork).

Download it by clicking here

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Woods 'Rain On'



Did you know that 'Rain On' by Woods is the 497th best song of the last 10 years? Well it is, look.

'Rain On', coincidently, is the b-side to the Woods single we've just put out. THE B-SIDE!! IF IT'S ONLY THE B-SIDE, HOW GOOD MUST THE A-SIDE BE?? Why not buy a copy for the reasonable price of £2.99 from here?

Monday 17 August 2009

MIT 'Rauch' remixes




Last year we released the debut album by MIT, three Cologne based teenagers we met a couple of years previous at a shit all day festival at LSE in London. It was their first UK gig (and second ever gig), Tamer played a battered old Moog Rogue, Edi played bass and screeched/ sung and Felix played drums. They sounded like Whirlwind Heat, needless to say we loved them.

We kept in touch and eventually helped out with distribution and press on their debut release ('Deine Eltern' 12" EP), which our friends at Haute Areal, the Berlin based label who MIT were now signed to released in 2005(?). After several UK (London) gigs at places like White Heat, Trash, Fabric, and our own Dirty Hearts in Southend, we followed up with the 'Good Book' 7", which picked up some fans and good reviews and what not. At this point MIT were still essentially a synth/ noise/ punk band - like a less screechy Crystal Castles (before Crystal Castles existed).

We agreed to do the album and were eagerly awaiting it. What we wasn't expecting was the band to return with an almost instrumental Krautrock album. Highly stylized, late-night Autobahn, Bowie/ Kraftwerk/ DAF/ Holy Fuck/ Tangerine Dream inspired propulsive synthscapes. Basically we fucking loved it. It got good reviews too -

“An intriguing little rocket of an album” – Dazed & Confused
“Make MIT the massive stars they deserve to be!” – Artrocker
“MIT are indeed the thinking mans electro outfit” – BBC
“Coda is an intense and rewarding trip – 4.5 out of 5” – Gigwise
“This is an eminently palatable album – 8 out of 10” – Drowned In Sound
“There's no denying that Coda is an excellent album which manages to stay minimal while simultaneously bursting with ideas – 4 out of 5” - MusicOMH

And a great review of their 2am gig at London's Kill 'Em All night:

“Whether you want to call it post-punk, art-rock or whatever might be this year's latest label, it's of an artistic standard that massages all the good parts of the brain. It leaves me stumbling out onto a cold Sunday morning London road, all fired up with the potential of music, the glory of all creation, the genuis of rock 'n' roll and all that other jazz that goes through your brain at such a tender and emotional time – 9 out of 10 live review (London Barfly)” – Whisperin & Hollerin

We set about getting some remixes commissioned for a single release, everyone agreed we'd do 'Rauch' as the single. So we ended up with remixes from Border Community signed Luke Abbott , Shitdisco (friends of MIT from a German tour), COMA (Kompakt affiliated minimal techno pop) and Basque electro weirdos Crystal Fighters. What we didn't plan on was never releasing the single. So for the past year we've had these remixes sitting on our computers not doing anything.

So, here you go a taster. Below you can get the Crystal Fighters remix and my favourite of all the mixes, Luke Abbott's remix:

Luke Abbott remix - Zshare

Crystal Figters Remix - Zshare

Woods - Shred Yr Face UK Tour



WOODS , whose debut UK single is out now have been confirmed for their first ever UK tour. They'll be joining Espers and The Cave Singers on the third annual Shred Yr Face tour. Details below:

ESPERS // THE CAVE SINGERS // WOODS

We are very excited to reveal the line up for the third Shred Yr Face tour that follows in the footsteps of previous amazing Shred Yr Face tours (Shred Yr Face 1 - Los Campesinos!, No Age and Times New Viking. Shred Yr Face 2 - The Bronx, Fucked Up and Rolo Tomassi). This Autumn's tour takes a more laidback, lush, psych-folk vibe with ESPERS, THE CAVE SINGERS and WOODS confirmed to play.

As ever, the tour will fully embrace the team mentality created on previous tours and fans and attendees can follow the tour's progress via Twitter (@shredyrface3) and a collective blog. The "super day" on instores will, once again, happen with all three acts playing record stores in London on the same day (times and venues tbc).

08/11/09 : Instores – London (UK)

09/11/09 : The Farmhouse – Canterbury (UK)

10/11/09 : Hare & Hounds – Birmingham (UK)

11/11/09 : Crawdaddy – Dublin (EIR)

12/11/09 : Speakeasy (Radar Club) – Belfast (UK)

13/11/09 : Stereo – Glasgow (UK)

14/11/09 : The Electric Circus – Edinburgh (UK)

15/11/09 : The Cluny – Newcastle (UK)

16/11/09 : The Brudenell Social Club – Leeds (UK)

17/11/09 : Academy 3 – Manchester (UK)

18/11/09 : TBC

19/11/09 : Fleece – Bristol (UK)

20/11/09 : ULU – London (UK)

Thursday 13 August 2009

The Feelies




The Feelies are one of my favourite bands. I Listened to 'Crazy Rhythms' at the back of the Canvey Clipper bus to college when I was 17 on repeat. Even Eastern Lane did a passable cover of 'Fa Ce La' on that Rough Trade compilation from a few years ago.

Apparently they got back together a few years ago, but as far as I'm concerned if a band from years ago aren't 20 years old, skint and malnourished anymore I ain't interested.



The reason for me talking about the Feelies is that Domino Records are reissuing their first two albums - the perfect 'Crazy Rhythms' and the patchy 'The Good Earth', which is great news. If they come to the UK to play I might grudgingly go along and grudgingly admit they've still got it.

Monday 10 August 2009

Woods




The Woods single comes out today, sort of. The vinyl is a little delayed but should be in shops by next week. We're getting them tomorrow so if you've ordered from us you'll get it in a few days.

In the meantime, here's the iTunes link, should you be that way inclined (it's only £1.29 for both tracks):

Woods - To Clean - Single

EDIT 12/08/09: RECORDS ARE HERE NOW AND HAVE SHIPPED. IF YOU'VE ORDERED FROM THE HALF MACHINE SHOP YOU SHOULD GET IT WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS. PROBABLY BE IN SHOPS NEXT WEEK. AWESOME.

Thursday 6 August 2009

Banjo or Freakout 'Upside Down' video

Finally, after releasing the EP a couple of months ago and doing literally nothing in the way of getting a video done, Blake Salzman came along and made one for us! Which was very kind of him.

It's below for you to see. It has the beach, the sea, some people in costumes and stuff:

Banjo or Freakout - Upside Down (Official Video) from Blake Salzman on Vimeo.



There's still a few copies of the 12" HERE, or you can get it from iTunes:
Banjo Or Freakout - Upside Down EP