Seeing as our last post was some Brooklyn dream pop, we thought we’d redress the balance with some No Wave genius. Action Beat are a noise/improv band with a strong DIY ethic, they tour pretty much constantly and have recently released their second album, ‘The Noise Band From Bletchley‘, on Truth Cult, an imprint of Southern Records. Points of reference for many have included early Sonic Youth, Boredoms and Fugazi as well as Besnard Lakes and Crystal Antlers. Read on to check out their tour dates (they sure love gigging) and grab yourself an mp3 for further listening. A few copies of the album are still available here.
Fanfarlo have completed their long-awaited debut album, ‘Reservoir’, and it’s being intially self-released, which means starting from the Valentine’s Massacre gig on Feb 14th, it can be all yours. They’ve kindly dropped a brand new mp3 from the album for people to get their ears around – it’s a great track and you can grab it after the jump and check out the upcoming tour dates where you can buy the album! Sadly, guitarist/keyboardist/singer Mark left the band just before Christmas – check out his new projects here.
The Black Lips found themselves in the centre of a bizarre getaway after a drunken crowd-baiting set in Chennai. After judging a ‘Battle of the metal bands’ competition for 6 hours, with only whisky for company, they wound up playing a frenetic session involving cursing, mooning and crowd incitement – all of which didn’t go down too well with tour managers and suits. Having to liberate their passports and take a 10 hour road trip to avoid shithole jail cells, they’re now safely holed up with King Khan in Berlin, from where the drummer Joe Bradley spoke to Vice.
Vice Records themselves are dropping the new album ‘200 Million Thousand’ on Feb 24th, and there’s a lovely taster mp3 for you right here. There’s also a chance to make your own video for the track ‘Starting Over’ – go here for details. Also check out the brainfuck cover art and UK tour dates after the jump.
This one kind of passed us by on the recommended releases, but it’s interesting enough to check out. Glasgow’s The Phantom Band are having their debut album, Checkmate Savage, released today by Chemikal Underground, and reviews are rather complimentary: “Were they from Brooklyn rather than Glasgow, Checkmate Savage would already have been acclaimed as a benchmark album for 2009.” THE GUARDIAN [4/5]. Anyway, there’s a newfangled widget system below for you to decide for yourselves, and a list of upcoming tour dates below that…
After last nights screaming performance at Manchester Academy, we are really sorry to say that we have been pulled from the remainder of the UK tour with The Faint.
Read that how you like as we’re not allowed to make any further comments as to the reasons why.
Massive apologies to those who have bought tickets already and to those already on their way to The Scala – we’ve only just had
Selfish Cunt returned with a bang in September. Following their amazing set at Offset, they released the limited-edition album ‘English Chamber Music’ on Sparrow’s Tear Records. The new single, ‘England Made Me II’, drops on December 1st on Sparrow’s Tear and it’s a real cracker. Vocalist Martin Tomlinson comes on like a deranged modern preacher-man while the band jam out some crushing 90s Seattle rock – all in all, a coherent and heavy success. The flip is a nihilistic treat too, with a tuneful riff picked out while Martin almost languidly speaks of “somewhere over the rainbow” before he’s “looking down at all the scum”. A chilling track, even from the band that brought us ‘Britain Is Shit’.
Check out the new video, along with an Artrocker interview and the new tour dates, after the jump.
Awesome noiseniks Parts & Labor have set an interesting challenge – they want your ten-second samples for use on their new album! The sounds you send over need to correspond to any one of these four questions:
1. What’s your favourite or least favourite sound?
2. What are you afraid of?
3. What do your parents sound like?
4. Where are you going, or where have you been?
Full press release and email to send your files to after the jump. Oh, and some UK tour dates. “You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Parts & Labor tear it up, matching its energy with schizoid melodies every step of the way.” – Mike Wolf, Time Out NY.
Video: A Place To Bury Strangers – To Fix The Gash In Your Head
A Place To Bury Strangers, the “loudest band in New York”, finally drop a UK single following their immense debut album, and Meal Deal Records don’t disappoint with this sumptuous 10″ vinyl offering, containing ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head’ and ‘Ocean’ from the album, along with a Lillica Libertine remix of ‘To Fix The Gash…’ and The Clapp’s remix of ‘Ocean’. It’s limited, so get your hands on it here. A swift UK tour is taking place too, around the band’s date at ATP vs. Pitchfork on 11th May. Dates after the jump…
Gravenhurst released the swoonworthy ‘The Western Lands’ in 2007, an album that has earned a huge amount of love from, well, everywhere. Drowned In Sound said the songs are “coming at the listener with teeth bared, fresh claret dripping a trail in their wake”, while The Guardian went with a much less helpful description of “gorgeous, melancholy English psychedelia”, which doesn’t cover the half of it. Hopefully you’ll go and see them on tour soon – dates, video and mp3 for y’all after the jump…
New Bloods shredded SXSW at the Kill Rock Stars showcase, and now their debut album is almost upon us. April 7th sees ‘The Secret Life’ released on Kill Rock Stars, following their out-of-nowhere revelation debut single which dropped last year on Raw Sugar. It was a four track blast of lo-fi violin punk, taking off where The Slits and The Raincoats left off. You can download a song off the new album after the jump, and check out the video for their debut single, ‘A Ritual’. It’ll leave you salivating for more….
